God Uses Luther’s Flawed Pen to Recover the Gospel | Mark 1:14-15, Rom 1:16-17

This is essentially part two of last week's sermon, or maybe even part three.

I've been preaching on the Reformation. As I mentioned, I really love this subject and the history of the church.

I'm going to continue preaching through Martin Luther's life and specifically the 95 theses that he wrote and posted on 1517, the year 1517.

But first, I did have a correction to make, a correction to make regarding, oh, and you know, yeah, well,

I want to submit this correction now. I mentioned that Luther's name change, that when he changed his name from Luther to Luther, I was mistaken about the definition of the name

Eleuterios, which is what he would call himself, it does not mean to bring light.

It actually means the free man. So that's what it actually means. It's kind of close because the two can be related, but he would call himself

Eleuterios, which means, it's Greek for the free man. And this,

Roland Bainton, in his book, in his book, Here I Stand, his biography of Luther, which

I brought again today, I highly recommend everybody to take a look at that. He says that in the years 1517 through 19,

Luther was so sensible of his affinity with the humanists, the Renaissance humanists, as to adopt their fad of Hellenizing vernacular names.

So that's why there was a sort of a trend that was happening because of the

Renaissance and the humanism. And Hellenizing, of course, is to basically to Greekify.

It's from the word Hellas, which is another name for Greece, a Greek name for Greece.

So, and the reason I want to preach through this, continue to preach through this also, is because Protestants have largely forgotten their

Reformation heritage and conflict with Rome. So we need to be mindful of both of those things.

Even to this day, to this very day, we have just such a lack of awareness of these issues and of the

Reformation and of Roman Catholicism and how, even today, it's still a problem, a big dividing line.

But many are falling prey to the deception of Rome and this false ecumenism that many are pushing, including so -called

Protestants. So we have to be careful with those things. Another reason, though, is that Roman Catholics themselves also tend to be very unaware of what their church actually teaches, officially teaches.

They tend to be extremely unaware, though they often say that we believe the same things, which is simply not true.

So do not be deceived. We need to learn church history and learn to appreciate church history and its importance in the life of the

Christian for these very reasons. These are just examples, key examples, of why it's so important to know these things.

I spoke to a gentleman when I was preaching at the local Catholic church and he was very well read and he knew the

Bible and a lot of what he said sounded very good, but then when I asked him if he had read the

Council of Trent, he hadn't. He had no idea really what it said and that's part of the problem with Catholics is that even the ones that appear to be better prepared to defend their faith still don't know what the church officially teaches because they tend to mediate things through apologists and apologists are very, they're very forked tongue.

They tend to be, they tend to massage a lot of things that Rome says and teaches in order to make it look and paint it, paint it in a positive light that it really doesn't deserve.

And so the Council of Trent clearly anathematizes those who believe that justification is by faith alone and that's why we have different Gospels and that's why

Rome herself is a false church because it doesn't preach the biblical gospel. It has another gospel which there is no other gospel but the one that the

Bible teaches. So that's why we need to know these things.

We're gonna go through these things in a bit more detail today. So continuing on the theses where I left off,

Luther denies that the Pope has any power over people in purgatory in theses 25 and 26 and then in 27 to 29 he attacks the idea that when the coin in the coffer rings the soul from purgatory springs.

He sees it as encouraging sinful greed and says that it is impossible to be certain because only

God has ultimate power in forgiving punishments in purgatory. Now you can see that Luther is still entertaining the idea of purgatory which of course is unbiblical but I also wanted to make another correction here because I misspoke last

Sunday when I was commenting on this saying that when the coin in the coffer rings a soul from purgatory springs.

I said that a soul springs from heaven but that's not the case.

They spring from purgatory to heaven supposedly according to the

Roman Catholic Church and they still teach this to this very day. They still affirm this as we will see.

Now we have another character into the mix regarding these indulgences and that is

Johann Tetzel. Johann Tetzel was a

German Dominican friar whose preaching on indulgences considered by many of his contemporaries to be an abuse of the sacrament of penance sparked

Martin Luther's reaction including the 95 theses. It was because of these indulgence preachers that really provoked him.

Tetzel became a peddler of indulgences and it caused a scandal in Germany that evolved into the greatest crisis the

Reformation which is the Reformation in the history of the Western Church. So this guy was very provocative that he's the one that would say things like oh even if you violate the mother of God herself you can be forgiven if you buy an indulgence from me.

So very vile wicked man and that's what the

Church of Rome leads to. It promotes these things and we will see that this is in fact the case.

In Luther oh so yeah in thesis 28

Luther also says that it is certain that when money clinks in the money chest greed and avarice increases but when the church intercedes the result is in the hands of God alone.

So here you can see Luther escalates his attacks on indulgences and rebukes and mocks those who push and peddle them.

So public service announcement now you'll you'll you're if you if you study this you will see that indulgence preachers these

Roman Catholic itinerant preachers are really the original prosperity preachers right.

Nowadays they say sow your seed and you'll be rich and wealthy and famous but back then it was by an indulgence that you'll be released from purgatory or your family and friends will be released from purgatory and so really that's where this comes from it's from the

Church of Rome and sadly Protestants have taken that on in a different form and you know that's still another prosperity false prosperity gospel but nonetheless it's in the same vein.

So theses 30 through 34 deal with the false certainty that Luther believed indulgence preachers offered

Christians and thesis 32 he says those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be will be eternally damned together with their teachers together with their teachers.

So here the lines are clearly being drawn this is just ouch ouch ouch all the way for the

Church of Rome that's a false assurance the Reformation was really a lot about the basics the foundations of the

Bible and the biblical teaching one of them being assurance because buying an indulgence gives you no such thing no such assurance that's not what it's about it's about believing the gospel in the spirit of God bearing witness that you are a believer.

So he utterly condemns both those who have he's simply stating a reality those who think they are assured are are damned eternally together with their teachers so and we as a reminder once again we cannot forget that the

Reformation is still not over we may not have to deal with indulgences in the

Protestant churches anymore even though the Catholic Church still pushes them but there are many similar errors today that plagued the church because anytime anytime you preach something that is not only false but also you consider more important than that which is most important according to Scripture namely the gospel whether it's critical race theory or racism or wokeness legalism federal vision final salvation lordship salvation prosperity gospel pietism fellowship with Romanism or with other false teachers who claim to be evangelical you are already compromised you are already compromised and this is where we need to take a stand because these are the things that matter most in the eyes of God and according to Scripture the gospel is of first importance so if you undermine the gospel you are anathema like Paul says you cannot have a false gospel and as believers we need to be straightforward about the truth of the gospel like Paul says in Galatians 2 we have to be straightforward and not be hypocrites like Peter was when he sat at the table with the

Judaizers and affirmed indirect that that false behavior that they had of becoming a

Jew in order to be saved by circumcision so these things are still happening in a very multiplied form not just from Rome no wonder right because Satan disguises himself as a minister an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness they want to look like they are sound even though they are not so in theses 35 and 36

Luther attacks the idea that an indulgence makes repentance unnecessary thesis 37 says any true

Christian whether living or dead participates in all the blessings of Christ in the church and this is granted him by God even without indulgences indulgences are not at all what they have been made out to be by these preachers these false prosperity indulgence preachers and they are rather instead detrimental and unnecessary

I also want to make a correction about last week because I said that repentance is not a one -time act and we have to be careful to make proper distinctions here because repentance is a change of mind and that is a one -time act when we believe the gospel we change our minds about the gospel we go from not believing or not properly understanding to understanding and believing the true gospel that is a one -time act that results in fruit in keeping with that initial act of repentance that God gives us and of course repentance is a gift from God because Paul says if God perhaps perhaps grants these opposers repentance so repentance is a one -time act in that sense but like Luther said in thesis one a believer's life is marked by repentance because we also still sin and when we sin we should have godly sorrow that leads to repentance to change our mind about that sin and to stop sinning to want to stop sinning so there are distinctions with which we have to direct which with with regarding what repentance is directed at whether to the gospel or whether to sin we have to be aware of these things that the

Bible teaches okay so that's a very important distinction that we need to properly understand now theses 39 through 40 argue that indulgences make true repentance more difficult thesis 40 says true contrition seeks and loves penalties in other words it acknowledges that sin has consequences that we may need to account for right like King David when

King David committed the horrendous sin of adultery and sent

Bathsheba's husband to in the front line so that he would die and essentially murder he recognized that sin has consequences and that's why he fasted for three days and God punished him

God had punished him for it yes there are covenantal differences that we have to account for but nevertheless sin has consequences that we may still have to account for not in purgatory okay that is a lie of Rome but we still may face consequences in this life but liberal pardons from indulgences in other words

Luther says only relax penalties and cause them to be hated or at least furnish an occasion for hating them so in theses 41 through 47

Luther criticizes indulgences on the basis that they discourage works of mercy by those who purchase them and highlights what

Christians are to be taught instead okay so see for example thesis 43 says

Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences thesis 45

Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need and passes him by and gives him money for pardons purchases not the indulgences of the

Pope but the indignation of God the wrath of God so as you can see things continue to get spicier and spicier ouch that's again drawing the line as it should be as it should be drawn with Rome the line is still there we have to recognize that it is still there with Rome Rome is not our friend

Roman Catholics are not our brothers and sisters in Christ and if by chance there is somebody who calls himself a

Roman Catholic that might be saved it is not because they are Roman Catholic it is because they are inconsistently believing the gospel and still calling themselves

Roman Catholic again Rome does not have the true gospel we have to recognize that thesis 47 says

Christians are to be taught that by that they're buying of indulgences of is a matter of choice not compulsion or obligation so you can see

Luther is still not hasn't fully shed the Romanist teachings that later on in life he does end up correcting always reforming right that's why the powerful

Reformation motto is that we as a church must be reformed and always reforming in light of God's Word and truth to make sure that we shed ourselves of the errors or inconsistencies or contradictions that we may have as believers that's why we to continually grow in the grace and knowledge of our

Lord and Savior through sound doctrine in the means of God's grace so thesis 48 through 42

Luther now takes the side of the Pope and gives him the benefit of the doubt thesis 50 says that Christians are to be taught that if the

Pope knew the exactions or the ways and doings of the indulgence preachers he would rather that the

Basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes then built up with the skin flesh and bones of his sheep that's why he was pushing indulgences because he wanted to pay for the big fancy buildings in Rome and here he gives clearly the

Pope the benefit of the doubt that he is a wise and benevolent leader and it's these indulgence preachers that are corrupting the

Pope's real intent he may not apparently

Luther may not have been aware that Pope Leo the 10th was the one who commissioned

Tetzel and the indulgence preachers to sell indulgences to finance all of his extravagant building projects again in Rome and there's a series of church history tracks by Ronald Cook which

I recommend to all of you as well they are worth they are worth reading because it is what

I when I preach on the series of church history this is a Protestant view of church history and that's what we should look for a

Protestant view of church history because this is what helps us give us a biblical perspective of the history of the church we need to look at it through the right lenses and we all have lenses we cannot be unbiased when it comes to history or anything else we need to have the right lenses and that's why material like that is good to look at to help us equip us to have a proper perspective of these things and cook in one of those tracks on the

Reformation says that Tetzel was also given a special concession from the

Emperor to sell indulgences anywhere in the Empire and later on he obtained a papal brief an official papal brief permitting him to sell indulgences throughout

Germany okay so this is this was directly commissioned from the Pope himself I suspect that Luther may have known that but he was maybe trying to force the issue in a way that would still allow the

Pope to save some face now here Luther shows that as he reflected later on in life was still a raging papist so he still had some allowance for having a

Pope but his power was much more limited than what it actually was it took a few more years for Luther to later on solidify his convictions about the papacy being unbiblical so that leads us to the question who was the

Pope who was this Pope and what was he like right this is Pope Leo the 10th he was Giovanni di

Lorenzo de Medici he was a Medici Pope from the Medici family it's a family with a very shady history and Philip Schaaf the very prominent church historian which

I've committed to you all before says about him that the chief thing to be said about this

Pope the main thing is that he was a worldling he was a man of the world who would have loved

John Bunyan's vanity fair this guy was very worldly religion was not a serious matter with him pleasure was his daily concern not piety not holiness he gave no earnest thought to the needs of the church and this is the

Pope the Pope led the Cardinals in the pursuit of pleasure and an extravagance in the use of money okay this was

Leo the 10th and it's no wonder that he provoked so much scandal and controversy and that led to the

Reformation on the other hand in spite of his worldliness Leo prayed fasted went to confession before celebrating mass in public and conscientiously participated in the religious services of the church so even though he did these things this this reeks of what

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for and that is one word with a capital

H hypocrites right you hypocrite that is what so aptly applies to many teachers priests

Cardinals prelates all the hierarchy the false hierarchy of Rome is that they are very properly called hypocrites especially the

Pope blasphemy personified now this

Leo the 10th also had the Machiavellian qualities of deception and shrewdness which was so highly esteemed by the political princes of his time okay so he's just a combination of all kinds of ugly and that is why

Luther was so provoked rightly so and so now continuing with the theses in 53 to 55 where Luther complains about the restrictions on preaching while the indulgence was being offered and in 56 through 66

Luther criticizes the doctrine of the Treasury of merit upon which the doctrine of indulgences is based since everyday

Christians do not understand the doctrine and are being misled they are being misled so he describes the treasures of the gospel as nets to catch wealthy people whereas the treasures the treasures of indulgences are nets to catch the wealth of men instead so maybe you can say the priorities are a little bit screwed up when it comes to indulgences this leads to another question about what is the

Treasury of merit let's get it straight from the church's the horse's mouth the

Church of Rome this is from an official papal pronouncement called the indulgent arium doctrina which is an apostolic

Constitution on indulgences this is the arrogance of Rome they believe that they are the one true apostolic

Church this is an official document by Pope Paul the sixth which was promulgated on January the first of 1967 okay this is still official

Roman Catholic teaching which says in their exact words thus is explained the

Treasury of the church which is the infinite and inexhaustible value the expiation of the merits of Christ our

Lord have before God offered as they were so that all of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the

Father it is Christ the Redeemer himself in whom the satisfaction and merits of his redemption exists and find their force now listen here listen carefully this

Treasury also includes the truly immense unfathomable and ever pristine value before God of the prayers and good works of the none other than the

Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints these canonized

Saints who following in the footsteps of Christ the

Lord and by his grace have sanctified their lives and fulfilled the mission entrusted to them by the

Father thus listen to this while attaining their own salvation they have also cooperated in the salvation of their brothers in the unity of their mystical body okay this is official

Roman teaching in their own words that is why we need to be aware of this and quote this stuff when you are conversing and evangelizing

Roman Catholics this is what they teach and they will often deny it okay if you do you'll have to deny the

Pope himself the Magisterium of Rome okay we need to hold

Rome accountable what's wrong with this picture to claim that the

Roman Catholic Church has a treasury of merits that contain the good works of Jesus Christ and other super Saints right that went above of beyond what was required for their own salvation in other words they had to cooperate with God to earn it not that it was by grace but they had to earn it so it was not by grace alone but it also required the works of other

Saints who went above and beyond which can then be used to pardon the sins of others is to commit blasphemy okay this is blasphemy and that's the problem here it is to deny the perfect finished all -sufficient work of Christ himself in his life and his death on the cross it is to deny

Christ alone and consequently it is to therefore catastrophic catastrophically deny the other solos of the biblical gospel because according to Rome you must rely on her system of sacramental penances and the works of people in addition to Christ to fully save you and to expiate your sins in purgatory that is word for word from the official teaching of Rome word for word expiate your sins in purgatory from the same from the same apostolic

Constitution on indulgences highly encourage you all to look this up in the sermon notes and to look at it with your own eyes and to show this to Catholics when we evangelize because that is what we will find in large part in this area that we live in so then it is no longer by faith alone obviously because to rely on your own baptism your own penance your own contrition your own works in addition to God's grace because Rome says you have to cooperate remember and play your part as if God's grace alone was not enough is to deny that we are saved by the grace of God alone and what a scripture say if it is by grace it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace

Romans 11 6 right to say that you have to cooperate with God in your salvation is to deny grace entirely that is a false gospel that is why this is a false gospel because Rome says you must do penance right as opposed to be penitent as opposed to changing your mind but you have to do works of penance do your part in your own salvation then you accordingly get some of the credits as well some of the glory belongs to you so that God alone no longer gets all the glory that he alone deserves no one else deserves the glory of salvation why well what does

Isaiah 42 verse 8 and countless other scriptures say it's almost like Rome did it on purpose to contradict the explicit teaching of scripture this is not hidden right this is something that God is explicitly clear about that he wants us to know and understand clearly and fully

I am Yahweh that is my name I will not give my glory to another to any other nor my praise to graven images what was wrong thinking right this is the exact opposite of what

Rome teaches practices and promotes sadly that is why we have to draw the line where scripture draws it but it's it gets worse because the

Roman Catholic Church state remember it's not just a church it's also an official political state in the

Vatican the Vatican is an official city -state by which the

Pope is the head of it just like Revelation talks about that beast and that whore of Babylon for over 1 ,600 years has mastered the art of replacing scripture with the traditions of men that is what the

Church of Rome has done it is the that Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees for vehemently the sharpest condemnations that you see

Christ pronouncing on anybody are the ones against the scribes and Pharisees where he says why do you yourselves transgress or violate the very commandments of God for the sake of your own tradition you invalidate you nullify you cancel out the

Word of God by your own tradition which you have handed down and you do many such things as that straight from the words and mouth of our

Lord and Savior Christ Jesus to the point where one Sola alone that the

Roman Catholic Church truly holds to is not any of the other

Solas that we hold to it is really Sola Ecclesia the church alone ultimately is what has the final say the church alone is the final authority and determiner of truth not

God not his word but the church according to Rome as opposed to the biblical doctrine of Scripture alone as the final ultimate authority and determiner of truth not any man no other man no

Pope which doesn't exist in Scripture unless you look up Nimrod or diatrophies that's where the

Pope comes from not from Christ but from those wicked men in the scripture and no nullifying traditions of men can ever take away from the authority and glory that God alone deserves and his word remember that's why

I want to encourage us always to know and defend the five

Solas and the law gospel distinction because they are the keys to sound evangelism they are the key to understanding the biblical gospel they are the key to understanding the differences between us and us

Protestants as evangelicals and Rome the other side of the

Tiber River with the Vatican and the magisterium of Rome now this is the same

Protestant response to Rome's tyranny let's look at what the

Belgian confession a Dutch Reformed confession has to say in article 22 called the righteousness of faith this is beautiful beautiful summation of biblical teaching let's take a look here and meditate on this okay we believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery the

Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ with all his merits and makes him its own through faith that is and no longer looks for anything apart from him not to the works of others not to indulgences not to anyone else outside of Christ right for it must necessarily follow that either all that is required for our salvation is not in Christ or if all is in him then he who has

Christ by faith has his salvation entirely not partially not half a salvation it is an entire salvation the whole salvation therefore to say that Christ is not enough but that something else is needed as well such as the works of other

Saints such as the works of Mary such as the prayers of Mary and Saints such as indulgences to say that something else is needed as well in addition to Christ is a most enormous blasphemy against God himself for it then would follow that Jesus Christ is only half a

Savior only a partial Savior only an incomplete Savior blasphemy utter blasphemy and therefore we justly say with Paul that we are justified by faith alone by faith apart from works of any kind amen of any kind that's what the

Bible teaches beautiful however it continues we do not mean properly speaking that it is by it is faith itself that justifies this is very important for faith is only the instrument it is the empty hand by which we receive and embrace

Christ righteousness faith is not a work that contributes but Jesus Christ is our righteousness in making available to us all his merits and all the holy works he has done for us and in our place it wasn't a partial place he fully satisfied those debts that we owed on our behalf and our faith is the instrument that keeps us in communion with him through union with Christ and with all his benefits when those benefits are made ours they are more than enough to absolve us of all of our sins all our sin all of it amen so these are good questions to ask those who still are belong to Rome who still call themselves

Roman Catholics or even others who don't understand the biblical gospel is

Christ alone sufficient for all our salvation or is he not if Christ did not accomplish our salvation entirely then he is only a partial

Savior did Christ satisfy the full punishment for our sin or did he not is he the full propitiation for our sins or is he not according to 1st

John 2 verse 2 what in countless other verses was it finished past tense on the cross as Christ himself proclaimed or was it not finished did he leave loose ends untied did he leave unfinished business or was it truly finished are we going to deny the words of Christ himself when he said it is done no of course not

Christ alone is sufficient then why does the

Church of Rome say that most will still need to expiate their sins in purgatory in their own words in their official documents but not only

Rome why do some Protestants so -called professing Protestants teach that you must present your own inherent righteousness to be allowed into heaven this is a lie of false teaching in Protestant churches like federal vision and John Piper and Lordship salvation also comes dangerously close to these false teachings so we have to be careful because you know the

Protestant reformers and the confessions completely renounce and Christ himself the

Word of God itself renounced this treasury of merit and instead assert that a true church is fundamentally defined by its adherence to the pure pristine gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone based on the ultimate authority of Scripture alone amen this is it this alone is what saves us

Christ alone is what saves us okay and that is where I want to leave you all today to think on these things and to study these things

I hope you see this clear examples as to why it is so important for us to learn the

Word of God the sound doctrine and the history of the church and what the church has handed down to us in this heritage from the

Reformation this is what we need in order to fully grasp to grow properly in the grace and knowledge of our

Lord and Savior and to not be deceived by the lies of the world the flesh and the devil by these ministers these ministers of the devil that are disguised as ministers of righteousness we have to know these things and study them carefully to understand

God and his word properly according to what he says and not according to what false teachers of false religion say amen so I leave you all with that to meditate on and we will

Lord willing continue on this journey this is historical journey through the

Reformation I really greatly enjoy and benefit and a modified by this and I hope you all are as well there's so much good stuff here and Lord willing we'll get to that next next

Lord's Day as well let's bow our heads in prayer our gracious heavenly Father we lift up to you our church before your throne of grace of grace alone as your almighty word says that you have given us all things necessary for life and godliness through the knowledge of him of your son

Jesus Christ through his word through your words Lord your precious word in the sound doctrine that you have given to us as it was has also been preserved by your pillar and buttress of the truth the church the faithful church that that belongs to you father but in order to identify this church in history and in us we must know your word that is the beauty as we know

Lord your your amazing system of checks and balances that we have to not be deceived by the lies of Rome over the lies of these product these these people who call themselves

Protestants but in fact are not because they preach a different gospel that does not glorify and is not in accordance with your truth your gospel you're only the one and only gospel that saves

Lord help us to meditate and think on these things father to study these things diligently and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our

Lord and Savior Christ Jesus as we continue to live these things out and hopefully get the opportunity to share with others who do not know you as Lord and Savior we thank you father we ask these things in Jesus precious almighty name and and for your precious gospel that has given us everything in Christ amen thank you for listening to the sermons of thorn crown covenant

Baptist Church where the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety has applied to all of faith and life we strive to be biblical reformed historic confessional loving discerning

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