In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

Reformation. Justification. These are very big words! Many people don't know what these words mean. We need to explain them often. Today, we celebrate "The Reformation" that took place about 500 years ago when God led Martin Luther to "re-form" the church, or lead it back to Scripture. The church had fallen away from the true teachings of the Bible. Basically, the Reformation had to do with the Bible's answer to this question: "How do people get to heaven?"

When you ask a question like that you can get all sorts of different answers. Recently, in Bible Class, we talked about the answers that other religions give. While each religion has its own unique view, when it really comes down to it, there are really only two religions. On the one hand, there is the religion of works. It says, "You have to do something to earn it." On the other hand, you have true Christianity. It says, "Jesus has done all the work of saving you. Salvation is a free gift." That's what makes true Christianity unique. All other religions teach that there is something that you must do to become right with God and to earn his favor. Only true Christianity teaches what the Bible says, namely that people get to heaven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In other words, God's Word teaches that people are:

And that means... NO WORKS. Please don't misunderstand. God has given us commands. Actually, he's given us many of them! For example, God says in the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods." In our hearts, first place must belong to God! Nothing and no one is to be more important to us than God. We should fear, love and trust in God above all things! If we could keep the First Commandment, we would probably be able to keep the rest. But we have not kept the First Commandment perfectly, and we haven't kept the others either. And that's why we can't earn our way into heaven by our own works! God demands perfection, and we haven't been perfect! We have sinned in thoughts, words, and actions, by what we have done and left undone. We deserve to perish in sin! If we are going to stand on our records, we are going to end up in hell.

So, how can we get out of this predicament? "How do people get to heaven?" All other religions point us to our own works. In Luther's day, even the church pointed people to their own works, saying that Jesus had not done enough on the cross to save them completely. He did part of the work, they would have to do the rest. So, in his early years, Luther tried to earn God's favor by doing good works and suffering. But, he found no peace. How could he ever be sure that he had done enough? How could he know that he had earned God's favor? Eventually, Luther had the opportunity to read the Bible. Luther read these words of Scripture: (28) "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." He read from Galatians, chapter 2, (16) "a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." As Luther read the Bible, he learned the truth.

Meanwhile, outside Luther's window, representatives of the church were selling indulgences! Tetzel claimed that if you bought one, you could buy your way straight to heaven. You could even buy your relatives into heaven! What a deal! People lined up to pay their money. They wanted to buy heaven with money! But Luther realized from Scripture that these claims would certainly not hold up before the judgment throne of God. This was Luther's dilemma in 1517. This was why he nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church Door. He wanted to talk about this. He had studied enough of the Bible to know that indulgences were not right. Luther saw what was happening. People were buying these indulgences, but did not repent of their sins. They didn't even stop doing the sins. They figured that they had an indulgence, so they could indulge! Luther clearly had Scripture on his side. Yet, the Pope had endorsed the sale of these things. And, they sold a lot of them! So he was going against the Pope, the established church, and many people. But, Luther kept coming back to the same question: "How do people get to heaven?" He knew it wasn't by works. He knew it wasn't by buying indulgences.

God had provided the way to heaven, and that way was through ONE SAVIOR. For, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to be our one Savior. Jesus lived a perfect life for us, and died on the cross to pay for all of our sins. The Bible says that Jesus "died for all." He rose from death having accomplished what we could never do. Jesus won our forgiveness nearly 2000 years ago. He revealed it in the Bible. He sent preachers to proclaim his good news to all the world, even here! Jesus saved you. You are forgiven through Christ! Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will go to heaven! How do people get to heaven? By faith in Jesus alone!

But, note carefully that Jesus must be the object of our faith. He is the only Savior. He is the only way to heaven. No one comes to the Father except through him. Many people say that all religions lead to heaven, but that is not true. Many people say that it doesn't matter what you believe, but it certainly does. The only way to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ. He is our one and only Savior.

It will do no good to pray to Mary or other so-called saints. They aren't listening, and they can't help. They weren't perfect either. They could not earn their way to heaven by good works either. If they are in heaven, they got there by faith in Jesus, and in no other way. They were sinners in need of forgiveness too. Only Jesus was sinless. Only Jesus could redeem us. Jesus is our only Savior! And he didn't just redeem us.

He died for all. Jesus is the one and only Savior for all the world. No matter what language people speak, no matter what their customs are, no matter what they look like or where they come from, there remains only one Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, there is no salvation and no hope of heaven. Every religion that points to anyone or anything else for salvation is false. Yes, that does mean that all people who are trusting anyone or anything else for salvation are lost and perishing. People are saved by faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, and in no other way. Perhaps some call this "narrow-minded," but we didn't invent it. God did! This is plainly what the Bible teaches. He has provided one Savior, Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in him will be saved, and whoever does not believe in Jesus as Savior from sin will be condemned. There is no safety net for unbelievers. There is no such thing as purgatory. There is heaven and there is hell. There are believers and there are unbelievers. Believers in Jesus go to heaven, and everyone else will perish in hell. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned.

No, we don't want our friends and relatives to be condemned! That's why we do mission work! The burning urge to preach the gospel and do mission work comes from knowing the truth and loving others. We know that people are not okay apart from Jesus. We know that apart from Jesus, people will perish eternally in hell. And we don't want friends, relatives and neighbors to go to hell. We don't want strangers to go to hell. God doesn't either. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. We want to reach people with the saving gospel, before it's too late. We want to tell them that in Jesus God offers FREE FORGIVENESS!

In a sense, mission work is like passing out free tickets to heaven. They cost us nothing, but they cost Jesus everything. Jesus died on the cross for all people. He bought enough for everybody! He is the ticket to heaven! Whoever holds Jesus in their hearts by faith will go to heaven. And whoever doesn't will perish.

That's what the Reformation was all about! It had to do with this question: "How do people get to heaven?" From reading the Bible, Luther learned that many people had it wrong. We are not saved by what we do. We are not saved by buying indulgences. Jesus saved us! On the basis of his life and death, God "justified" us. God declared us "not guilty" in his court. He gave us free forgiveness through Christ! We, as individuals, receive and benefit from that forgiveness by faith alone. No works need to be added. Jesus did enough.

What great news we have to hold and to share! We have good reason to worship the Lord and serve him each day. Now, we want to obey God's commands, not to earn heaven, but to say "Thanks" that Jesus already earned it for us. Just think, we have free forgiveness and a home in heaven, by faith in Jesus Christ alone! How do people get to heaven? The Bible gives the answer. We are not saved by our own efforts, but by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior. "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Amen.