Sermon Central
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What Did The Lord Say To Martin Luther?
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Apr 26, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: I Martin Luther heard the Lord tell me that it’s by faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone and Scripture alone that we experience and have a relationship with Him.
What did the Lord say to Martin Luther?
Thesis: I Martin Luther heard the Lord tell me that it’s by faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone and Scripture alone that we experience and have a relationship with Him.
Texts: Martin Luther’s two favorite passages.
Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith!"
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
2 He will,judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.
3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.
5 He will endure, as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days the righteous will flourish;
prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
8 He will rule from sea to sea
and from the River,to the ends of the earth."
9 The desert tribes will bow before him
and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba
will present him gifts.
11 All kings will bow down to him
and all nations will serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long.
16 Let grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon;let it thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Introduction:
Martin Luther is one of the most influential church leaders of the last 550 years. He was a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. He encountered the Lord after years of being trapped in religiousity. His religion gave him no peace, no hope, no love and no personal encounter with the Lord. In his pit of fear and despair caused by a religion of bondage. Luther had a personal encounter with the Gospel and with the Lord.
He elaborated about this revelation by stating that when he had read Romans 1:17 and spent days and nights meditating on it, the light bulb clicked on. He said he finally understood what the gospel was all about. He stated, "I began to understand that the righteous person shall live by faith," ... "This immediately made me feel as though I had been born again and as though I had entered through the open gates into paradise itself. From that moment, I saw the whole face of Scripture in a new light" (20).
To understand his dramatic conversion lets listen to few of his most famous quotes. In these quotes we can see a individual who had changed from a fearful religious man to a man who had encountered the living loving Jesus Christ.
On the Bible:
"The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.¨
"I would like all my books to be destroyed so that only the sacred writings in the Bible would be diligently read."
On Church Practices:
"A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above the pope or a cardinal without it.¨
On human nature:
"Nothing is easier than sinning."
"Human nature is like a drunk peasant. Lift him into the saddle on one side, over he topples on the other side."
On marriage and family:
"Think of all the squabbles Adam and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, "You ate the apple",and Adam would retort, "You gave it to me."
On music:
"The devil should not be allowed to keep all the best tunes for himself."
