World Impact with Billy Wilson “The Power of Grace”

(Billy Wilson:)  Today on World Impact we’re going to be talking about the amazing story of the Reformation and Martin Luther. Today we’re in Wittenberg, Germany, and we’re going to be ministering on the power of grace.  Stay with us.

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(Billy Wilson:)  Welcome to World Impact. I'm Billy Wilson and today World Impact is in Wittenberg, Germany.  We’re going to be talking today about a discovery that changed the world. On the door behind me, in 1517 on Halloween, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses in protest against the Roman Catholic Church practice of indulgences.  Now indulgences were used to buy people out of purgatory and into heaven. Many times the poor in the population paid their money in order to get their loved ones into eternity, or so they thought.  This money was used to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Luther was standing against this practice. For he believed the only way to be saved was by grace and faith alone. Now he wrote a number of things in those 95 theses that changed the world and changed Germany in his day. One of them said this. It was theses number 86. 

Why does not the pope whose wealth is today greater than the riches of the richest build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers? 

Luther was standing strong against the Catholic practice of trying to get to heaven by your own efforts or your own means. Luther had discovered the power of God’s grace. Now on this program we’re going to be talking about God’s grace. If he touches your heart I want you to call me at 1-800-95-SHARE. We’re going now to Luther House and we’ll be there for the sermon today as we talk about the power of grace. 

(Announcer:)  1510. A young Augustine monk from Germany traveled to Rome seeking enlightenment. Instead he found grief. Some 50 years earlier, Pope Sixtus the Fourth expanded the application of indulgences to include the dead. According to Catholic practice, an indulgence is a good work, prayer, or moment of deep spiritual significance. These earthly acts are intended to accompany heavenly acts of confession and sacrament along the path to sanctification. By changing indulgences to something that could be applied to dead family or friends and then charging for them, Pope Sixtus created a nearly limitless source of revenue, and another pope began appointing church officials in return for monetary tribute. By 1510, Pope Julius the Second was using both of these methods to aggressively raise money for rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Augustine monk Martin Luther returned home deeply concerned for the church he loved. Soon thereafter Archbishop Albert, who borrowed heavily to buy his high church rank, promoted the sale of indulgences in Germany. Many of Luther’s parishioners purchased them and then claimed they no longer needed to repent of their sins. Luther was outraged. People were paying money for the free gift of grace from God. Hoping to set things right, he nailed a list of 95 such issues to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, on All Hallow's Eve in 1517. These 95 Theses, along with Luther’s other writing about grace, ignited the Great Reformation and forever changed the face of Christianity. 

(Billy Wilson:)  Today World Impact is in Wittenberg, Germany. I’m sitting now in Luther House, Luther’s museum, the place where Luther lived.  In fact, in this very room were some of his living quarters in the early sixteenth century.  This Augustinian monk would make a discovery that has changed the entire world for the last 500 years. It was a discovery of the grace of God. Today we’re talking about the power of grace. Now Martin Luther would say about grace some of the following things. First of all he would say, 

“Christ is no Moses. No exacter, no giver of laws, but a giver of grace. A Savior. He is infinite in mercy and goodness freely and bountifully given to us.” 

He would also say, 

“Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick and not to decorate spiritual heroes.” 

Now grace is mentioned first in the Bible in Genesis chapter six. Let’s read about it in verse five. 

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." 

And then in Titus in the New Testament, chapter two verse 11 it says, 

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." 

Now one writer said that mercy is not getting what I deserve, but grace is getting what I do not deserve. I’ve heard a lot of definitions of grace over the years of ministry around the world. One of them of course is the acrostic God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This is grace. Another that I like a lot is the desire and the ability to do God’s will. It is God’s grace that empowers us to do the will of God. Now the word grace in the Old Testament comes from a Hebrew word that means graciousness or favor or pleasant. And in the New Testament Greek it comes from the word “charis”, the same word we get for charismatic, or giftedness or gifts in the New Testament. And the word in the New Testament means benefit, favor, gift, joy, liberality, pleasure, and again the word graciousness. God’s grace is his graciousness toward us that allows us to be saved. Now there are several things I want to share with you today about God’s grace. 

The first I want to talk about is that this notion of grace, where did the notion of grace come from anyway? Obviously in the early sixteenth century Martin Luther’s discovery in his own heart of the power of God’s grace to save man was an idea that changed the known world and has continued to change the world for 500 years. And yet Martin Luther did not come up with the notion of grace himself. This was God’s idea. Throughout Scripture grace has been the idea of God. God’s way to reach out to a sinful, fallen man and restore him into the image of God. In Genesis chapter six and verse eight it did say of Noah that he found favor or found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  In a world that was under disfavor, in a world that was under judgment, in a world that would be destroyed, Noah found, discovered, the grace and the favor of God, and thus he was saved. So the notion of grace comes from God. 

The second thing I want to talk about today concerning grace is the necessity of grace. Grace is needed because of man’s sin and because we have fallen. When Adam failed God, when he sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, the image of God in him was marred and literally was destroyed. That image, in order to be restored back unto God, would need supernatural help. Now as we read in the book of Romans, we understand the complete depravity or fallenness of man. In Romans chapter three verse twelve it says, 

“All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one.” 

Romans 3:23 says, 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

And Romans 7:18 says, 

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.” 

Martin Luther would say,

“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.”

When we realize we are totally fallen, totally depraved is the theological term, we understand we need God’s grace even to have the faith to believe him for salvation. Luther would use the word total grace or sola gratia. Only by grace, he would say, can a person be saved. Now there is a theology that says that though man has fallen he still has a spark of the divine. He still has the ability to choose. It was called Pelagianism, or even semi-Pelagianism. However God’s Word smacks against that. God’s word teaches that when we are fallen away from God, we cannot recover ourselves except through God’s grace. In fact the Old Testament proves to us over and over again that we are sinful and we need a Savior. R.W. Barber says it this way, 

"He who has not felt what sin is in the Old Testament knows little what grace is in the new. He who has not trembled in Moses, and wept in David, and wondered in Isaiah, will rejoice little in Matthew and rest little in John. He who has not suffered under the Law will scarcely hear the glad sound of the Gospel."  

But you and I understand we are totally fallen away from God, and we need the power of His grace. I want you to stay with me now, and I’ll be back in just a moment with the second part of this sermon from here at Luther House, Luther Museum in Wittenberg, Germany as we talk about the power of grace.

(Announcer:)  Luther taught the concept that scripture, faith, and grace alone open the door to a vibrant prayer life and relationship with God. Stuart Greaves from the International House of  Prayer has insight into why some struggle with accepting God’s grace in their lives.

(Stuart Greaves:)  As believers, we’ve got unsettled issues. We’ve got all kinds of brokenness inside of us, are trying to, are trying to find our way forward in the grace of God. But a lot of times when people don’t pray the first thing that strikes them is, well maybe I’m not disciplined enough. Or maybe I don’t love the Lord enough or whatever. And those reasons might be true. But I think one of the greatest hindrances to people having a consistent life of prayer is that they are not convinced that the person that they’re talking to likes them. And no one can endure a conversation with someone you think doesn’t like you. They may be crazy about you. But if you perceive just in the slightest that they don’t like you, then it’s going to be a very, it's going to be a horrible conversation, and then you want to end that thing as quick as you can. You might like them, but if you don’t think that they like you, that just causes all kinds of confusion. And so it is so important that we would feast, that we would meditate, that we would pray through the Scriptures the revelation of God as a bridegroom, the God who is deeply in love with human beings. But if in our heart there’s a cry that says Lord, I want to be totally yours. Lord I want to walk fully obedient to you. Lord I am going to wage war against all the areas in my life that disagree with you. That person is very pleasing to the Lord even though they are still struggling with those very issues in their lives. And when we discover how much God loves us the inevitable response is for our hearts to love him back. Now what that does is when we understand that God enjoys us in our weakness, what is does, it keeps us from running away from God when we stumble. Rather, it causes us to run straight into the embrace of God where we actually find in it the necessary transformation in our soul.

(Announcer:)  God poured out his Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  This is that blessing foretold by Joel to empower the servants of God. And the study book, This Is That, will bring you face to face with the Holy Spirit. Combining wisdom from the ministries of Jack Hayford, Derek Prince, Ron Luce, and many others, This Is That will show you how to live the Spirit-empowered life. And as a special offer, order now, and we’ll include this DVD of World Impact shows from Germany. This is That, and four episodes of World Impact, yours for just 25 dollars. If you desire a real encounter with the Holy Spirit, the essays, reflections and journaling sections of This is That will help you explore Him beyond measure. Call 1-800-95-SHARE or go to worldimpact-dot-tv today.

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(Museum Curator:)  Luther House is the house where Luther lived for about 35 years. You can see a lot of his writings he did. You can see the rooms Luther and his family lived in. You can also see important paintings. For example the ten commitments table and other portraits of important persons of the Reformation time. There are people coming in this house because they are following the steps of their faith, of their church, of Luther. They are deeply impressed about the Luther room that has been kept in its original conditions. You can, you can even smell the Reformation history time. And this is a very special place, and some groups start to sing. And I even had the chance to see people start crying because they are at this special place that is still here.

(Billy Wilson:)  World Impact today is in Wittenberg, Germany. We’re at Luther House, or Luther Museum presently, and I’m sitting in the Great Hall. Now the Great Hall was used shortly after the death of Luther for lectures about Luther’s teaching for many, many years. Students have gathered here over the centuries to learn about Luther’s teaching on grace. Today in our program we’re talking about the power of grace. 

In the first part of this sermon I talked about the notion of grace and the necessity of grace. In the second part of our sermon today I want to give you three other views about grace. First of all I want to talk about the nearness of grace. Paul says through the book of Titus that God’s grace has appeared to all of us, to all men. Whoever we are, God’s grace has come to us. Big or small, rich or poor, all of us need God’s grace, and God’s grace has appeared to all men. Jerry Bridges says it this way, 

"We are brought into God’s kingdom by grace. We are sanctified by grace. We receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace. We’re motivated to obedience by grace. We are called to serve. And finally we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace."  

Second Peter chapter three verse nine says 

It is not God’s will that any should perish. And because of that, God’s grace has appeared to all men. 

So we have the nearness of grace. And fourth today we have the nullification of grace. Grace can be nullified by the wrong response in our lives. There are two responses I want to talk about. The first is legalism, and the second is license. Legalism is a deterrent or a death, a killer of grace. And license is a danger of grace that happens in many people’s lives. Now we see the dilemma of legalism found in the Old Testament. Legalism is trying to do God’s will from our own power and our own strength. It simply doesn't work. We can’t please God or be righteous by our own power, our own ability. This happened in the life of Abraham. Abraham had a promise from God that he was going to have a son. He decided of his own power and ability to make it happen. So he has a son by Hagar who is called Ishmael. Ishmael is born of Abraham’s own works. Then he has another son by Sarah. This son was miraculous, given by the grace of God. This was the son of promise. We see through Scripture then, this dilemma between Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael by works and Isaac by grace through faith. This dilemma has played out around the world through religious controversy for ages, and happens many times very near close to us in the Christian church. I want to say clearly today, the only way to be saved, the only way even to have enough faith to believe the gospel, is through the grace of God. Ephesians chapter two verse eight and nine, one of Luther’s favorite Scriptures, says, 

"It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast."  

And in The Message version it says it this way. 

"Saving is all His idea and all His work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God gift from start to finish. We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing." 

So legalism, trying to do God’s will by our own power, is not the answer. We need grace. The second danger of grace is license. This is taking grace to its extreme, and using grace as a covering for our sin. Paul says this in Romans chapter six verse 15.  

"What then, shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means." 

And Jude verse four says, 

"What is happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license, which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master."  

License has always been a danger of grace. In other words, that people would say that they're under God’s grace and they’d go on sinning. This was not the intent of grace. God’s grace came to teach us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly and righteously in this present world.  Dietrich Bonheoffer talked about cheap grace. This is grace that is cheapened by the license of individuals taking grace to its extreme. He would say this, this German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer would say, 

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, and grace without Jesus Christ. 

Man’s free will is empowered by the grace of God to choose. We can resist grace, and if so, fall away from Christ. Or, we can respond to grace by believing God for our full salvation. Finally is the nurture of grace today. God’s grace teaches us. It nurtures us. It changes us. Luis Cassell says, 

"If God wants you to do something, He’ll make it possible for you to do it. But the grace He provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of the fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in crisis."  

Moody said,

 "Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal, it’s a way to live. The law tells me how crooked I am, and grace comes along and straightens me out."  

So today we talked about the notion of grace, we’ve talked about the necessity of grace, we’ve talked about the nearness of grace and even the nullification of grace, and finally, we’ve talked about the nurture of grace. One thing is for sure; if you’re going to be saved, it is by the grace of God.  Martin Luther discovered that almost 500 years ago and that discovery will change your life. Today you can experience the power of grace.

(Song lyrics:) Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His Word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine

(Billy Wilson:)  God's grace is amazing and reaches to you wherever you are, even a thousand miles away.  Today we've been talking about the power of grace, and I'm very honored and humbled to be kneeling right now beside the grave of Martin Luther, the great theologian and great reformer, whose discovery of grace changed the entire world.  When Luther nailed those 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church here in Wittenberg in 1517, he started a spiritual revolution, a revolution of the discovery of the power of grace. Today as you watched this program, I pray that you have discovered the power of God's grace in your life.  If not, then you know you're desperate. You know you need help. Today if you need help, if you need God's grace in your situation, I want you to call me right now in the United States at 1-800-95-SHARE.  Go to the address on your screen or write us through our website at  worldimpact-dot-tv, that's worldimpact-dot-tv.  You can leave your prayer request there, and we'll be glad to pray for you and minister to your heart in the days ahead.  

Now today on this program, we believe that by the power of God's grace we can stand strong.  Martin Luther was willing to stand against the powers of his day, the Roman Empire, to say that it is only by grace through faith we can possibly be saved.  Luther would say in one quote, "Where Christ is, there He always goes against the flow."  And Luther found that when you stand against the flow in your generation, God's grace stands with you.  John Newton, the slave trader whose heart was changed for Jesus Christ, who wrote the great hymn Amazing Grace and ultimately fought against slavery, would say, "I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I hope to be, but still, I'm not what I used to be, and by the grace of God, I am what I am."  God's grace is able to change your heart today.  Thank you for joining us on this World Impact program from here in Wittenberg.  We appreciate so very much your prayerful and your financial support.  Be sure to order the book, This Is That, that's been offered on this program.  We want to put that in your hands and help you find the power of the Holy Spirit in your life on a daily basis.  And we really appreciate you partnering with us so that we can share God's Word and God's love and God's grace with the world we live in.  So today I'm Billy Wilson.  We've been here in Wittenberg, Germany.  I'm at Castle Church where Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door and changed the world by the power of grace.

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