Righteousness from God by Faith
Romans 1:16
- We studied last week that the word for “power” in this verse is the Greek word, dunamis.
- It is from dunamis that we derive such words as dynamite, dynamic, dynamo.
- And the verse 17 furnishes the best historical fact for the meaning of this word.
- Verse 17 has had a greater impact upon world and church history than the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence.
- Indeed, this verse is the basis for the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, or even our U.S. Constitution.
Romans 1:17
- It has been said that the Protestant Reformation was ignited through a Augustinian Monk named Martin Luther, but what often gets forgotten in the historical context is that it was this verse:
- That lit the fire in Luther’s heart
- That lit a fire in Wittenberg, Germany
- That lit a prairie fire that burned all across Europe
- The source of this fire was Jesus Christ because all truth comes from Him.
John 14:6
Jesus said… “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
- But Luther rediscovered the truth of God. All through church history, for the 16 centuries since the time of Christ there were streams who understood that we must find our righteousness in Christ.
- Like the many river streams flowing down Pikes Peak; all streams flow from a source.
- Augustine understood the stream of truth.
- Savonarola, Peter Waldo and Waldensians understood the truth.
- Tyndale, Wycliffe, and John Huss were all “morning stars of the reformation.”
But Martin Luther was a monk when the Roman Church was teaching that only your good works could get you to heaven. The Roman Church at this time had also institutionalized and made the church big business.
- The Pope needed money for the building of St. Peter’s Basilica, and he and his associates came up with a novel idea that could bring in the needed funds for this massive, ostentatious building. They decided to tell the people that they could be forgiven of their sins through giving money to the Church.
- Now, there’s much more theology and depth to this story, but for the sake of brevity, let’s just say that this business scheme involved promising “dispensations” or “indulgences” of forgiveness for dead loved ones and oneself. The people, who were so superstitious at the time, bought this offer. Might we say, “Hook, line, and sinker”?
- One of the most notorious characters and salesman of the time was a man named Tetsel, who had a little saying, “When coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.”
- The Renaissance Church was corrupt to the core!
- Martin Luther, who believed in the theology of Rome, cried out to God for mercy from his sin, daily! He was crying out to God.
- Luther was also a professor at Wittenberg. And it was in preparing to teach the book of Romans that Dr. Luther came across Romans 1:17.
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
- In the Convent Library in Erfurt, Germany there is a picture of young Luther of about 25 years old, poring over a copy of the Scriptures, and an open window of light illuminating the scriptures.
- It was in preparing to teach through Romans that Luther was startled by Romans 1:17.
- Luther comprehended the “justice” of God: That God was righteous and holy.
- Indeed Luther had crawled up steps begging for forgiveness from a holy and righteous God.
- But the entire phrase baffled him: "The just shall live by faith."
Luther’s translation up to that time would have been: “The just shall live by fear, not faith!”
Luther writes about such an experience:
“When I was young, it happened that at Eisleben on Corpus Christi day, I was walking with the procession, when, suddenly the sight of the Holy Sacrament so terrified me that a cold sweat covered my body and I believed myself dying of terror.”
- Luther explains what his translation would be at that time, “The just shall live by penance and by pain. The just shall live by fasting, the just shall live by fear.”
- Luther’s translation: The just shall live by fear!
- But the text reads: The just shall live by faith!
- Fear or faith? Fear or faith? Like for many of us, the truth of God’s Word came alive finally for Luther in a real life situation. It happened in Rome.
- Ex. In Rome there is the Cathedral Church of St. John of Lateran. In it is the famous staircase built in three sections. There are parallel staircases on each side, on the right and left, which people walk up and down. But there is a third staircase in the center that pilgrims come and climb on their knees, painfully, step by step reciting prayers as they go, seeking forgiveness and freedom from their sins.
- For hundreds of years, pilgrims have come to this winding staircase, stooping, climbing, and kissing the steps, crying out to a fearful God for help and forgiveness.
- Luther reached the middle of the staircase and suddenly our text came to mind.
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
- The just shall live by faith! Not fear!
- The just shall live by faith! The just shall live by faith!
- Dr. Martin Luther jumped to his feet and went away rejoicing!
- The story found in the library of Rudolstadt, in the handwriting of his son, concludes, “Thereupon he ceased his prayers, returned to Wittenberg, and took this as the chief foundation of his doctrine.”
- Bishop Lightfoot says that all of revealed religion is found in this phrase. He writes, “The whole law was given to Moses in 613 precepts. David, in the 15th Psalm, brought them all within the compass of 11. Isaiah reduces them to six. Micah to three; Isaiah, in a later passage, to two. But Habbakuk condenses them all into one: The just shall live by faith.”
- Upon the discovery of faith, Luther wrote, “Yes it is like entering Paradise! Before those words broke upon my mind I hated God and was angry with Him because of the law and miseries of life…But when, by the Spirit of God, I understood these words-the just shall live by faith; the just shall live by faith - then I felt born again like a new man; I entered the open doors into the very Paradise of God!”
- So, what is this Paradise of God? What is this door into paradise?
Two Kinds of Righteousness
- The book of Romans speaks of “righteousness” over 30 times.
- There are two kinds of righteousness: Man’s righteousness and God’s righteousness.
- The world has the idea that God’s righteousness and man’s righteousness are just two different phases of the same righteousness, like ascending degrees from the same tower.
- It’s kind of like we have righteousness, but God’s just got a lot more.
- But everywhere the Bible refutes this thinking.
- By definition, righteousness in the Bible, is the state or condition of perfectly conforming to God’s perfect law and holy character.
- Man falls terribly short of God’s righteousness in every area of his life.
Romans 3:23
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Titus 3:5
…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Romans 4:5
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
- Our passage would be better translated: “righteousness from God.”
- In other words, only the righteousness given to us by God can save us!
- And this righteousness from God is only given to us as we believe in Jesus.
- Faith means to place our reliance upon, believe in, to trust in.
- It is believing that Christ died on the cross for all of our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again from the grave.
Romans 10:9-10
…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- Righteousness from God flows into your life when you wholeheartedly believe!
- Saving faith involves three things:
- Mental: Your mind understands the gospel of Jesus and the truth about the cross.
- Emotional: You embrace the truth of the gospel with sorrow for sin and joy for salvation.
- Volitional Act of the Will: You submit your will to Christ and let Him take over your life.
Have you done this? Have you submitted your will to the will of God? Do you need a Savior today?
- You must abandon any hope of finding salvation through your own merits or efforts: The righteousness of man will never reach God.
- Ex. It is like us lining up at Malibu with an Olympic swimmer and we are going to swim to Hawaii. Now the swimmer may get much further than you and me, because he’s an Olympic swimmer, but he will never make it. It is impossible!! So is our righteousness with God. We may think we are a good person, that we have done good things, given to charity, helped the poor, whatever, but you will never be righteous enough!
- Give your heart by faith to Christ today! He is knocking on the door of your life and wants to enter in!
Revelation 3:20
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
- At the end of the service I will give the opportunity to be justified by coming forward and giving your heart and life to Jesus.
Our passage now says, “from faith to faith…the just shall live by faith”
- What does it mean to live by faith?
- This is a parallel verse to verse 16: “…for everyone who believes.”
- I believe he is meaning that the act of believing, trusting in Christ is both a destination and a beginning!
- By placing our faith in Christ we have eternal life right now! You have all you need in heaven.
- But it is also just the beginning of a new journey, a new adventure!
- “Faith to faith” means that the Christian adventure becomes a way of life! It is a way of walking out our lives by faith.
Galatians 3:11
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
- This kind of faith endures!
- That endurance is called the “perseverance of the saints.”
Colossians 1:22-23
…in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”
- You see, those who haven’t had true salvation faith can’t endure when difficulties come. They fall away!
- Like the seed on the road that seems to grow for a while, but when the temptations and ways of this world come, they fall away.
- Faith to faith means that true believers endure!!
Hebrews 3:12-14
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
- Ex. In the early days of the gospel in the South Pacific isles there were many missionaries killed by the cannibals of the islands. Finally John G. Paton arrived in the New Hebrides. When he arrived there was a great epidemic that decimated the population. Through his acts of kindness and compassion, in caring for the sick and dying, Paton was received by the people.
The natives accepted Paton’s presence and he struggled to learn the language. The people became accustomed to Paton interrupting every conversation and asking questions about grammar and customs related to the language. To Paton’s dismay when he began to work on the translation of the Bible he found that there was no word for “faith” in the language.
After much frustration in trying to find the right word for faith, he went on a hunting trip with one of his helpers. They shot a deer and several other smaller game. The weather was hot and the journey very long over the mountains, carrying the game. Upon arriving at Paton’s home, they dropped their heavy burden, and then cast themselves down on the grass to rest.
The native said, after a moment, “Oh, it is good to stretch yourself out here in the shade.”
The missionary revived in an instant! Excitedly he had his companion repeat the phrase again and again. He had found the missing phrase for faith!
And he translated John 3:16 this way: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever stretcheth Himself out on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
And again he translated Romans 10: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and in thine heart stretch thyself out on the fact that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart one stretcheth himself out unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
- Have you “stretched yourself out” on Christ?
- Are you living the “stretched out” life? Are you walking by faith?
- Come to Jesus all the way!!
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