Martin Luther was a person...
Illustration
Martin Luther was a person of deep conscience and a faithful son of the church. His sense of sin was immense, and he realized that it was an offense to God even more than it was an offense to his people. It was this sense of sin, in fact, through a sequence of events, that got him into a monastery.
There he tried everything suggested to him in order to do away with the guilt of his sin. He fasted faithfully, coming close to death from the discipline a time or two. He whipped himself in penitence, thinking by the mortification of his body that he could do away with his sin. He did penance in Rome on a trip made in behalf of his superiors in hopes that he could find peace there. He used every rule, every device, every possibility he could discover to gain peace with God by doing away with or paying for his sin. No sacrifice was too great for him if only he could rid himself of sin.
It was only when, through the course of time, as a result of continuing study of the Scriptures coupled with consultation with very evangelical co-workers, that he found peace in Christ, the One whose blood was shed on Good Friday so long ago. Only when Luther discovered the truth of the passage, 'Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), that he added, 'Lo, I have come to do thy will.' And by that will Luther discovered he had been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Luther had found the peace he so longed for.
There he tried everything suggested to him in order to do away with the guilt of his sin. He fasted faithfully, coming close to death from the discipline a time or two. He whipped himself in penitence, thinking by the mortification of his body that he could do away with his sin. He did penance in Rome on a trip made in behalf of his superiors in hopes that he could find peace there. He used every rule, every device, every possibility he could discover to gain peace with God by doing away with or paying for his sin. No sacrifice was too great for him if only he could rid himself of sin.
It was only when, through the course of time, as a result of continuing study of the Scriptures coupled with consultation with very evangelical co-workers, that he found peace in Christ, the One whose blood was shed on Good Friday so long ago. Only when Luther discovered the truth of the passage, 'Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings' (these are offered according to the law), that he added, 'Lo, I have come to do thy will.' And by that will Luther discovered he had been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Luther had found the peace he so longed for.
