Sermon for October 25, 2026, Reformation Day (Observed)
Romans 3:19-28 (Reformation Day—Observed)
“What God’s Might Has Done”
Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT
October 25, 2026
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text is the Epistle Reading from Romans 3:
19Now we know that as much as the Law says, it is speaking to those within the Law, with the result that every mouth might be stopped and all the world might become accountable to God. 20Therefore, from works of the Law, no person will be declared righteous before Him, for through the Law is knowledge of sin. 21But now, apart from the Law, a righteousness of God stands revealed, while being borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets, 22that is, a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 24while being declared righteous as a gift by His grace through the redemption, the one in Christ Jesus, 25whom God set forth publicly as an atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood in order to show His righteousness on account of the passing over of the sins which had occurred previously and were yet unpaid 26in God’s forbearance, for the purpose of showing His righteousness in the present time, so that He is righteous and declares righteous the one of faith in Jesus. 27Then where is the boasting? It was excluded. Through what kind of Law? Of works? No, but through the Law of faith. 28For we hold that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from works of the Law.
The Great Reformer Martin Luther wrote in the second stanza of his famous Reformation hymn, which we have just sung: “With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected.” A much older translation of the German says, “’Tis all in vain, do what we can, Our strength is soon dejected.”[1]
Isn’t that an amazing way to state the Biblical truth of Romans 3? “Therefore, from works of the Law, no person will be declared righteous before [God]. . . . For we hold that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from works of the Law.” Doing the works of God’s Law does not and cannot make us right with God or righteous before God’s holy presence. But, this is not because the Law is imperfect. Quite the contrary, the Law is good and perfect because it is from a good and perfect God. Paul highlights one of the good purposes of the Law in that “through the Law is knowledge of sin.”
We learn what sin is and what it is not according to God’s Commandments. We come to know in the First Commandment that whatever we fear, love, and trust in most is really our god, and that we ought only to place our fear, love, and trust in the Triune God. Not to do so is sin, falling short of the mark the Lord has set for us. We come to know from the Second Commandment that we are to “fear and love God so that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”[2] When we do the things we should not and fail to do the things we should, we sin, falling short of God’s glory. God’s Law in the Fifth Commandment teaches us that we “should fear and love God so that we may not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.”[3] Again, if we do what we are commanded not to do and fail to do the good we are supposed to do, we have fallen into sin.
And what does sin do to our relationship with God? It separates us from Him and actually makes us His enemies. Sin puts us squarely under the bull’s eye of God’s wrath and places us under His earthly punishment and eternal condemnation. David prayed in Psalm 143, “Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you” (Psa. 143:1-2 ESV). In other words, as Paul has written, “For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the first couple chapters of Romans, Paul has illustrated how this is true for both Jews and Gentiles. It is true for all of God’s human creatures. It is true for you and me.
What can you and I do, then, in order to make things right between us and God? “’Tis all in vain, do what we can, Our strength is soon dejected.” Try, and try, and try as we might, we cannot keep God’s Law and Commandments perfectly as we should. We fall short of God’s glory. We sin. As Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Romans 7, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. . . . So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand” (Rom. 7:18b-19, 21 ESV).
Luther’s colleague at the University of Wittenberg and fellow reformer, Philip Melanchthon, wrote in The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, “If the promise were to depend upon our works, it would not be sure. If forgiveness of sins were to be given because of our works, when would we know that we had received it? When would a terrified conscience find a work that it would consider enough to reconcile God’s anger? (Ap AC XX.87).[4] These are great questions! If we are still subject to our sinful flesh, the devil, and the world, and our keeping of the Commandments is imperfect, what can you and I do to appease God so that He will not be angry with you and me? Only perfection will do!
As sinners, then, we’re stuck. We’re held prisoners by our sinful nature. We can never work enough, be rich enough, act nice enough, be good enough, or try hard enough to set ourselves free from sin, appease God, and so get into heaven on our own. No might of ours can overcome our sinful nature or our desires nor the actions done by us on account of our sinful flesh, the world, and the power of the devil.
Does this mean that salvation from sin and eternal death is hopeless for humanity? Oh no, no, no! Listen to the Word of the Lord from the pen of St. Paul, “But now, apart from the Law, a righteousness of God stands revealed, while being borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets, that is, a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God while being declared righteous as a gift by His grace through the redemption, the one in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth publicly as an atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood.”
“’Tis all in vain, do what we can, Our strength is soon dejected.
But He fights for us, the right man, By God himself elected.
Ask’st thou who is this? Jesus Christ it is, Lord of Hosts alone,
And God but him is none, So he must win the battle.”[5]
God the Father chose the right Man, His only Son, to fight the battle for us against the devil, the world, and our flesh. Jesus Christ, Lord of heavenly Armies, “God of God and Light of Light, very God of very God,” took on human flesh so that He might live under the Law for us, as our substitute. Where we fall short of God’s glory and cannot keep God’s Law by our works, the Lord Jesus did. And our Mighty God and Lord now credits us with His perfect keeping of the Law. “He is righteous and declares righteous the one of faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).
And that declaration of righteousness is ours because Jesus won the battle against sin, death, and the devil with His suffering and death and the cross and resurrection from the dead. God’s might in His Son Jesus, “the atoning sacrifice for our sins,” has taken away our sins. Christ Jesus has paid in full our punishment for sin and has made us right before God through His blood shed for us. And joy of all joys, you and I are “declared righteous by faith apart from works of the Law.”
No might of ours has accomplished this for us. Only Jesus. His perfect life and righteousness is credited to us as our own. The valiant One Whom God elected has suffered, died, and is risen from the dead. His saving work paid for our sins and won eternal life for us. When God looks at us, He sees us covered in Jesus’ righteousness. God sees us washed clean in the Savior’s blood. Forgiven!
Martin Luther wrote a number of hymns for the Church to sing. These hymns were not only praise to God but also taught the Christian faith according to the Scriptures. While A Mighty Fortress is arguably his most famous, Luther has another hymn in which he tells the Bible’s story of salvation based in part on today’s Epistle text. In our hymnal, it is hymn 556, “Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice.”
Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice,
With exultation springing,
And with united heart and voice
And holy rapture singing,
Proclaim the wonders God has done,
How His right arm the vict’ry won.
What price our ransom cost Him!
My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God’s judgment fought,
Dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.
But God had seen my wretched state
Before the world’s foundation,
And mindful of His mercies great,
He planned for my salvation.
He turned to me a father’s heart;
He did not choose the easy part
But gave His dearest treasure.
God said to His belovèd Son:
“It’s time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of My crown,
And bring to all salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with You forever.” 12
Amen.
[1] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), 285.
[2] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 318.
[3] Ibid., 321.
[4] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 200–201.
[5] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), 285.
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