A desire to find peace with God led Martin Luther to devote himself to a monastic life. Here he was required to perform the lowest drudgery and to beg from house to house. He patiently endured this humiliation, believing it necessary because of his sins. GrH_c 26.3
He led a most rigorous life, endeavoring by fasting, vigils, and scourgings to subdue the evils of his nature. He afterward said, “If ever monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it.... If it had continued much longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to death.”1. With all his efforts, his burdened soul found no relief. He was at last driven to the verge of despair. GrH_c 26.4
When it appeared that all was lost, God raised up a friend for him. Staupitz opened the Word of God to Luther's mind and bade him look away from self and look to Jesus. “Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer's arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death.... The Son of God ... became man to give you the assurance of divine favor.... Love Him who first loved you.”2J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, bk. 2, ch. 4. His words made a deep impression on Luther's mind. Peace came to his troubled soul. GrH_c 26.5
Later, Luther's voice was heard from the pulpit in solemn warning. He set before the people the offensive character of sin and taught that it is impossible for man by his own works to lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased; it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy indulgences, but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He related his own painful experience and assured his hearers that it was by believing in Christ that he found peace and joy. GrH_c 26.6