October 31st - Reformation Day, An Eyewitness Account

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Text – Romans 1:17

Good morning, isn’t it a beautiful Wednesday October 31st, Anno Domini 1517? My name, for today, is Reverend Scherer, Augustinian Monk in Wittenburg, electorate of Saxony, Confederation of the Rhine, which is in Deutchland. Something is going to happen today, I fear, for Brother Martin has been complaining of the validity of some of the practices within the Papacy. I share some of his concerns, but he has written 95 charges against the Church and the Pope, surely this will bring great dissension and maybe even cost Brother Martin his life! I mean, a few may start a dialogue, but 95 will start a war!

Let me give you some background. The year is 1517, Anno Domini, which means 1,517 years after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, as estimated by a Scythian Monk named Dennis the Short in AD 525. Throughout this time the Lord has had a church on earth, a representative of his kingdom, an ambassador to the heathen.

This church has had such great saints in it as Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp bishop of Smyrna who remained true to Christ in such great persecution, Augustine of Hippo who wrote that great systematic theology, Nicholas bishop of Myra who stood up to that antichrist Arius who denied Christ as God, Patrick who converted Ireland, Boniface who converted our beloved Germany, Francis who preached directly out of God’s Word in the open air and called men to repent and trust in Jesus Christ, Savonarola who fought corruption within the Church, and Christopher Columbus who has just recently taken the gospel to previously undiscovered heathen lands; time would fail me to tell of all of the great men and women who stood and even died for the one true faith delivered once for all.

But alas, there is great corruption within the Church, just last year John Tetzel came to Wittenberg to sell men tickets to sin, called indulgences! Only a hundred years ago there were two Popes operating in Christendom…at the same time! It is said that there is a prostitute in Rome for every ten men, and some of them even dress as nuns! It is a sad day in the Church, surely something must be done.

I have here a Bible authorized by the Papacy, translated by that godly man Jerome of Stridonium. Beloved, I would that you could read this book, but it is in Latin, and you speak German, and most of you cannot even read that language. I could read it to you, but I am untrained in how to interpret it for you, and the true meaning seems to be veiled to my eyes; from Rome comes the message of which I will preach to you on Sunday, and even then I will deliver this message to you in Latin, a language I hold a masters degree in from Erfurt, but still find difficult to understand.

This Book is God’s Word to us, and the German language is too harsh for us to dare translate it into, lest we blaspheme our Creator. Two men whom the Church leaders hate, Jon Hus and John Wycliffe, did presume to translate this Book into the vernacular, the common language, of the people. Wycliffe into the English language, and though sentenced to death by burning escaped only by natural death, a stroke most likely. Hus into the Bohemian language, and he was burned at the stake for it. Aha, Wycliffe did not escape the fire though, for they burned his bones along with Hus’. Oh how the Church hates these men!!! But…I am not so sure they were in the wrong, for I have been reading this Book in a new light ever since I have been talking to Professor Luther.

Brother Martin asked me to read Romans 1:17, which was strange because my Bible does not have numbers in it, which won’t be added until 1558, but he asked me to read this verse. Fraulein Hannah, would you read this for us?

Romans 1:17 Iustitia enim Dei in eo revelatur ex fide in fidem sicut scriptum est iustus autem ex fide vivit.

Isn’t that beautiful! How have we missed that until now? It means things that we have not been taught by the Church, it says that our greatest fears are relieved by our amazing God, it sets my heart at ease! It attacks those who say we can buy our way into Heaven, it rejects our Prince’s relics which we look upon to hope for Heaven, and it rejects that wolf Tetzel who comes and steals from our widows and orphans by selling them a license to sin. Oh how I hate that extortioner Tetzel, who uses religious ignorance and our sinners’ heart to deprive us of us sustenance and sends the money to Rome to build that worthless Basilica of St. Peter.

Oh beloved, this verse in Romans is so beautiful; Brother Martin says when he read it a light broke forth over him! He felt that he was instantly born again, and that he entered into the kingdom of paradise through open gates! Oh the beauty of this verse, don’t you agree? What? You don’t understand it! Oh, forgive me, I forgot that you do not speak Latin.

Oh beloved, in order to translate this for you I put my own ordination at risk, I break Roman law not to preach the Word of God in the vernacular of the people! Oh, but is it wise to obey men or God? I must speak that what I have seen and heard of this Christ!

Romans 1:17 Sintemal darin offenbart wird die Gerechtigkeit, die vor Gott gilt, welche kommt aus Glauben in Glauben; wie denn geschrieben steht: "Der Gerechte wird seines Glaubens leben."

Now you must see it! Surely you see it?! No? Oh, we’re not German, we’re only pretending, let us try one more time!

Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

The righteous shall live by faith! We are not saved by indulgences, or prayers, or offices, or relics, or Sabbaths, or priests, or baptisms, or Church membership, or communion, we are saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, received through faith, for, righteousness is revealed from faith for faith! Beloved, you have no idea how this puts my soul at rest, I had tried so hard to keep the laws of God, but in my body I feel that I am slave to sin, that I have no ability to choose good nor God, and that my sin had utterly separated me from Heaven! But thanks be to Jesus Christ who paid for my sins, who bore my condemnation, who indeed paid it all, and now beloved, all to him I owe.

And now Brother Martin is going to start a theological war with the Papacy, he has detailed how Rome has failed to adhere to the Bible, he has placed the Bible as his sole authority. I would like to take some credit for this, for Brother Martin was once an amazing priest of the Roman Church, a better priest could not be found. He took his ordinances seriously, he spent hours in confession boring the confessional priests with peccadillo, or petty sins, and he became exceedingly angry on that day when he heard me joke in my duties. For you see, when we Roman priests take the bread for communion and lift it in thanks, we are required to say, “Hoc Est Corpus Meum” and declare the bread to be the very body of Jesus Christ, but beloved, in my boredom and God feeling so distant, once I said, “Panis es, et panis manebis,” which is certainly the truth, that “Bread thou is, and bread thou shalt remain.” Dear Brother Martin overhead and became irate, but ever since then he has diligently studied the scriptures and has genuinely become a new man! I wish that I could take credit for his conversion, but I know that all honor and power belong to the Holy Spirit of God.

At this very moment Brother Martin is on his way to nail his list of grievances to the door of the Cathedral where all public announcements are made. Ninety-five grievances, no more, no less, all vehemently attacking the corruption of the Church. Are these Theses perfect? No, by no means, I see a great many errors even in my early reading of the Holy Scriptures, but I have no doubt that Brother Luther will grow much in the following years, that is, if he survives this war he is about to declare. I have no doubt that he will grow greatly in his understanding of the Word, especially as he has confided that he would like to translate the Bible into the German language. But as for these Theses, some are quite good and accurate, I have here a few of his theses which I would like to read,

#1 When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

#21 Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved.

#27 There is no divine authority for preaching that as soon as the coin in the coffer clings, a soul from purgatory springs.

#32 All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

#52 It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity.

#62 The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

#82 To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."

These are the statements which Brother Martin has taken to the church. I tried to stop him, asking him if his life and the unity of the Church were worth him making his statement. He replied to me that he sought peace if possible, but truth at all costs.

Today, I see that Martin Luther is birthing a veritable Reformation of the Church! I see that unless God does a mighty work in the hearts of the Papists, we must split and become two churches, one following the truth, and the other a lie. Oh that this division would not have to happen, for many of my friends are loyal to the Papist cause, and it is my fervent hope and prayer to God that they may be saved. But see that there are great distinctions which will grow out of Martin Luther’s call for truth, something which some day may be called the Solas of the Reformation.

Sola Fide – Faith Alone, we see this preached oh so clearly in Romans 1:17, that we are saved not by works plus faith, but by faith alone. We trust in Christ, and it is counted to us as righteousness.

Solo Christo – Christ Alone, that our salvation was accomplished totally by our great God and Saviour on the cross and in his resurrection, not that he opened a way or made it possible for us to be saved, but that he has forever secured for us salvation, if we trust in him. Would someone please read for us Hebrews 10:14, in English, please,

Hebrews 10:14 by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Sola Gracia – Grace Alone, of course we see now that it is not Christ plus our good deeds, but Christ alone that has saved us. Beloved, I have thought on this long and hard, and it seems that we must view grace in light of justice. For justice is when we get what we deserve, and having transgressed the laws of Heaven, what we deserve is the punishment of God. If God were to merely commute our sentence and give us mercy, we would be freed from punishment, but we would still miss Heaven. Here is grace, that what we did not deserve, entrance into the very kingdom of Heaven, God has given us as a free gift, purchased at so great a cost on Calvary’s cross.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone, no-one can or should speak for God apart from his Word, it is how he speaks, it is what he intends for us to know about him. The Archbishop of the Roman Church, known as the Pope, has claimed to be able to speak for God, but we have seen him fail time and time again, and it has become clear to those of us reading our Bibles that the Word is how God speaks to us, not through prayers, not through funny feelings, not through hunches, not through dreams, not (dare I say it) through Popes; but by the very Word of God.

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria – Brother Martin has put it so well, The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God. The purpose of our salvation is not primarily for our benefit, it is to exalt our Sovereign Lord, demonstrating the extent of his justice by punishing sin so violently on the cross, and magnifying his grace by giving us the righteousness of his Son freely; truly this is a gospel worthy of all acceptation.

1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

Sola Sacerdos – One of the reasons I became an Augustinian Friar is because of the things which the Papists believe the priest, the Sacerdote, is able to do. For example, you saw earlier that it is believed that I have the power to turn bread into the very body of Christ. The priest in the confessional is able to forgive sins, it is believed, and a priest can turn your money into a pardon for sin in paper form.

The Church, and I myself, have become guilty of Sacerdotalism, of worshipping the priesthood instead of God! It is tragic, beloved, and if what Brother Martin has deduced from the Bible is true, it is just a matter of time before this separation of priests and laity fails and we become a church of Sola Sacerdos, of one priesthood, where there is no distinction in God’s eyes between male and female, slave and free, Jew and Greek, and priest and parishioner.

In a Sacerdotal religion, only priests can approach God to receive grace, but in a religion of priests, everyone can enter into the holiest of places, for Christ has made us a congregation of priests, and now we all can enter into his holiest of places.

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

This has huge implications for me beloved, for I stand before you in this priests’ frock, a manner for separating me from you and identifying myself as having more grace and favor than you. But if this Christ esteems us all the same and gives to us all of the same privileges, then this outfit means nothing.

These things, beloved, that I have said to you are radical to the Church at Rome, truly I could be defrocked just for saying them, that is ejected from their priesthood, but to reject the tradition of men and be welcomed into the priesthood of Christ is gain, for though it took so long and so much effort to earn this frock, I count it as rubbish compared to the gain I have in Christ, being found in him with a righteousness not my own, but one received through faith, knowing the power of his resurrection. This may mean that I must suffer many things for his name’s sake, but I know that I will be made like him in his death, with a full assurance of partaking in his resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-9)

Beloved, I perceive that in the future as this Reformation of the church continues, the wearing of vestments, of robes, will become a matter of greater and greater contention. Men ordained to the gospel ministry, having read their Bible, will refuse to put on a robe, and some of them will even die for it. Others will attempt to redefine the purpose of this robe, stating that it is to take the emphasis off of the pastor and put the emphasis on the Word. Those that redefine this robe will begin to refer to it as a Geneva Gown, named in honor of the Geneva Reformation which will be sparked in only a few years. Two-hundred years in the future George Whitefield will preach in a robe very similar to this one for 18,000 sermons, calling two entire nations, England and America, to repentance in the Living Christ.

But as for me, beloved, I will be reminded that this Reformation is born in Sola Fide, and it is growing in Sola Scriptura, and these two are vitally important, as are the rest, but if this Reformation survives until Christ returns, it will be sustained in Sola Sacerdos, with every believer knowing that they are a priest of the most high God, Christ our overseer of the church, and these priests will take their duties seriously, knowing the scriptures, and carrying the gospel of grace to all peoples. For beloved, there is great darkness in the world today, even in the Church, but this Reformation will preach under a banner of “Post Tenebras Lux”, that out of the darkness comes the light. This world is set to explode in light, for the Word of God has been revealed. Within fifty years, a man burned in Britain will say to his companion, “Play the man, Ridley, for we this day shall light such a candle in England as I trust shall never be put out.”

In just a few years a new believer, William Tyndale, will translate the Bible into English, and he will say of the Roman priesthood, “A boy behind a plow will know more scripture than you.” He will lose his life, burnt at the stake, for his belief in the priesthood of believers, but his prediction will come true. Brother Martin, starting this war, will spend years in seclusion hidden in a castle as he translates the Old and New Testaments into German, and God will mercifully spare his life and bless his efforts. The printing press, invented less than 100 years ago, will ensure that these Bibles are disseminated, and that gospel tracts containing the glorious gospel of Christ will flood throughout the continent and the British isles.

I represent any number of reformed believers, my name is lost to history, but my labor in the Lord was not in vain. I will remove this robe and preach no longer in Latin, but in the vernacular of the people, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of Christ. I will not submit to a man acting vicariously in the place of Christ, but my affections and loyalties will only be to the King of kings. Many whom I represent will be hunted and killed by the Papal Church, but this gospel of Christ will not fail before it accomplishes its purpose, that someone from every nation and tongue will praise the name of Christ for his grace and sacrificial death on the cross.

Beloved, as you hear this message, I implore you first and foremost to be reconciled to God through faith in Christ and Christ alone. Then know your Bible, for it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its content. Men have bled and died so that you can own this Book and read it in English. They have given their lives in the gospel ministry, knowing that any gain apart from Christ is utter rubbish, and that each of us has only one life, and it will soon be past, and only what is done for Christ will last.

July 18th - Psalm 62 - The Sola Psalm

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Text –Psalm 62

Since we’ve completed Second Peter and are still a few weeks away from welcoming the new sixth graders to class, I want to take a few weeks to look at some topical things. Do you have any questions that it seems like we never talk about? Which topics would you like us to look at?

Today we’re going to look at Psalm 62, which has been called the “only” Psalm because it talks about our hope being “only” on God. This is one of my favorite Psalms, but it’s not one that gets taught on a lot because it’s not really a stand-alone Psalm, it would be hard to give you a direct application from it, especially in one day, so today I’m going to teach it in relation to Second Peter. In order to understand how we got here, let’s do probably our last review of Second Peter.

In Second Peter it talks about how we know we are Christians trusting in the finished work of Christ, that the Bible being our sole authority on matters of God, it warns us of false teachers who do damage to the truth, and finally it gives us an assurance of victory by Christ.

In that assurance, are we supposed to just stand around gazing upward waiting for Christ? No, we are to be living lives of godliness and holiness, and Peter says we ought to be hastening the day.

So how can we hasten the day? By preaching the gospel. What did Peter say people would do with Paul’s writings to pervert the truth? They would twist his words to say things he didn’t mean. Let’s look at a good example before we get to Psalm 62.

Colossians 1:24-25 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known…

Paul literally says there is something that Christ’s suffering did not accomplish! This is utterly amazing and if it weren’t written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I would say it is blasphemy! But when we understand Second Peter, this makes perfect sense, Christ lived the perfect life and died for our sins, and was raised for our justification, but if we look at Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are saved by grace, through faith, then we see Jesus took care of the grace part in his death and resurrection, but the faith part must also be accomplished, which Jesus will do through his church.

This is one of the verses that gets twisted to destruction, many think that Christ did a lot, but he didn’t do everything, therefore we must work for our salvation. However, Paul is saying that Christ does everything, just in two different stages, first on the cross, and second through ministry.

At the time of the Reformation and at many other times throughout history, especially today, the church has added all sorts of weird works into salvation and have really added weird things to plain scriptural readings. So one of the reasons I chose Psalm 62 for today is because it is called the “only” Psalm, or for our purposes today, the “sola” Psalm, because it shows us that our hope is to be on nothing less than Christ. One of the reasons God did such a mighty work during the Reformation was because he set men’s affections solely on his word and the work of his Son. This has been summed up beautifully in six solas, and I want to teach them to you today because if you remember these six, you will have a very firm foundation in Christ for your entire life and ministry. Some people think some are more important than others, but they really come as a group.

They are:

1. Sola Scriptura
2. Sola Gratia
3. Sola Fide
4. Solus Christus
5. Soli Deo Gloria
6. Sola Sacerdos

Sola Scriptura

This means that scripture is our sole authority on God, that God does not speak apart from his word and doesn’t need to. Many false teachers today say that they receive “words” or messages from God, and they say, “Well check it against the Bible to see if God really spoke to me.” Verses in the Bible say that God no longer speaks but that we refer to the Bible, but if God were to speak and we checked it against the Bible and the Bible already said it, then we would have to ask why God said it again if it’s already in the Bible?

Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

It could be argued that this is the most important one because when you lose it, you lose all, but just holding to this one while ignoring the others would be disastrous.

Sola Gratia

This means we are saved by grace alone, not as the Mormons and Catholics believe that after everything we do then Christ will add the rest, or as antichristian preacher Joel Osteen says, “If you do your best, God will do the rest.” No, we bring nothing to the table, not a scrap of goodness, for even our best works are stained through with our sin like a clean white bandage laid on a gaping wound. We are not saved because of anything we’ve done, but in spite of everything we’ve done. Grace is unmerited favor, so anything we could add would make it merited and therefore it wouldn’t be grace anymore.

Galatians 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Sola Fide

We are saved by grace, and that is received through faith, and faith alone. If you jump out of an airplane with a parachute on, and you decide that instead of using the parachute, you’re going to flap our arms, you will face the consequences. The parachute is going to do the entire work of saving you from the effect of gravity. Once the parachute is deployed you can flap your arms, but it’s not going to add anything, and if we want to boast in our salvation then we have a very firm threat from God.

Romans 4:2-5 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

Solus Christus

Our salvation was purchased solely by Jesus Christ. His mother Mary is doing nothing to intercede for us, there are no men in Heaven who can give us merit they had left over, I cannot help to save you, it is totally Jesus Christ and his righteous life, propitiatory death, and life-giving resurrection which has reconciled us to God and given us a future and a hope.

Romans 4:22-25 That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Soli Deo Gloria

The effect of the Christian religion is not our sakes, though we gain a lot, it is for the glory of God. When we stand in Heaven we will not be able to say, “I am here because I’m so awesome…” we’ll gladly say, “I am here because Christ is so awesome. I had gone astray, I refused to seek Heaven, and Jesus Christ sought me and bought me and to him belongs dominion and victory and majesty and power and honor and glory forever and ever.”

Isaiah 43:25 I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Sola Sacerdos

This is the one that always gets left of. This means that Christ’s church is made up of one priesthood of believers, that there is no hierarchy of believers in his sight, but that we are all one in Christ Jesus. You had a direct line to God through your mediator Jesus Christ, your prayers are as efficacious as mine because they are filtered through Christ’s righteousness.

Galatians 4:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So all that to say, let’s read through Psalm 62 quickly and we’ll see that when we set our hope in God alone then we will see that ultimate victory when Christ comes to judge the world in righteousness, and that we will be in his favor instead of facing his wrath.

This Psalm is written by David, some people have tried to determine when this happened, many think it was when Absalom as trying to take the kingdom, and I see evidence for that, but ultimately David was in trouble so often from his enemies that this really can fit in many places in his life. We’re going to look at mostly how it relates to us.

Psalm 62 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
How long will all of you attack a man to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God, and that to you,
O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.

The word in Hebrew for “only” is ak, it’s a short little word, but it’s repeated six times in this Psalm. The first verse is cool because it shows us that David, who was under the Old Covenant, was trusting wholly in God. Many people think that under the Old Covenant people were saved by their works. But that’s crazy because the law hasn’t changed and it’s as impossibly holy today as it was then. Just as we can’t keep it because our wills are bound to sin, neither could David. In his great despair he reached upwards towards Heaven and was assured of salvation both from his sins, and from his enemies.

V3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

The writing in verse three is neat, and while you can’t see it in English in Hebrew it is associating both the attackers and the attackee as vulnerable and able to be toppled. The ESV doesn’t capture this very well, but David is saying that in leaning out to push him over, his attackers are about to be toppled.

V4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

David’s enemies, and ultimately Christ’s enemies, made the effort to pull him off his throne in order to enthrone themselves. Think of how many people today sing worship songs and say they love Jesus and then do things blatantly and without repentance that dishonor his name. Various other places in the Bible God expresses his disgust over people who claim to love him, but inwardly are filthy and unregenerate and his enemies. Jesus paraphrases Psalm really well in his beautiful parable of building a house:

Luke 6:46-49 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

At the end of the verse is a Selah, which means pause here and think about whether or not you are honoring Christ in your actions or just with your words.

In the first stanza David says his soul waits on God, now he turns to talking to his soul and ours:

V5-8 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

The Selah here calls us to check ourselves to see if we are hoping in Christ, that he is our only hope of salvation and not anything else.

Verse 9 is going to tell us why we ought not to trust in ourselves:

V9 Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion;

None of us is closer to Heaven on our own than anyone else. We don’t trust in our genealogies or church membership or good name, because this verse literally tells us that they are a lie.

The Hindu religion would do very well to read this verse and take it seriously, because they operate under a caste system where they believe people are born into a Karmic level based on their past goodness and march towards Nirvana. So they see people who are princes and princesses are better people than beggars, and it is taboo for a beggar to seek a better lot in life because they are being punished for their past life… But if they would read this verse, that there is no such thing as a high estate, then they would see that they need to seek salvation in God, not in themselves, because they will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.

V9 in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

In order to understand this verse as the Hebrews would understand it you need to know that God’s glory is described by a word, Kbod, which means weightiness. The Kbod of a thing is how it stands up in a scale, a bowling ball has more Kbod than a feather. God’s Kbod is so magnificent that when our “good” deeds are weighed the scales go up as though they weren’t even there, lighter than air, in fact they even help the scales go in the opposite direction!

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the kbod of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

For those who trust in Christ though, we partake in Christ’s Kbod which is credited to our account through our faith alone.

V10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

I was reading an atheist recently who said if he can find one place where God is not perfect then he won’t be accountable on Judgment Day, which ironically is true, but we know that there is no place where God is not true. The atheist, who really there is no such thing, only angry delusional agnostics, was trusting in deceit instead of God. Our hope is not in robbery, but in Christ.

Now check this out, is being poor a sin? No. Is being rich a sin? No. IF riches increase, we don’t set our affections on them, but we know that if God gave us an increase it is so that we can share out of our abundance. God may very well give you billions of dollars in your lifetime so that you can do billions of dollars worth of good for his kingdom. But you won’t be able to say, “I should be allowed into Heaven because of how much money I spent on Christianity.” Rather, you will be allowed into Heaven on the grace of Jesus Christ.

V11-12 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

We’ve got less time to spend on this than it deserves, but the important point of this psalm is not this verse, albeit there is a ton in this verse. God has spoken and we ought to pay extra close attention. We don’t read the Bible once through and then are done, rather we ought to read little bits every day, so that we are reminded that to God belongs the power and steadfast love, which is my Bible’s sort of weird translation of grace.

There is debate on what the last sentence means but the entire Psalm basically sums it up well for me, that for the one trusting in himself he will be judged for the merits of his work and be found wanting. For the one trusting in Christ he will be justified in Christ and given work to do for the kingdom, which we’ve seen in the past results in rewards of holiness and crowns both on this earth and in the world to come.

Luke 19:17,26 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.' 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

So in conclusion, trust wholly in Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross. His grace is the only thing that can save you, and we know that only through his Word, and the result is ultimately for his glory. Strive to be faithful in his work, not to earn your way to Heaven, but to glorify his name empowered by his Spirit, knowing that you have the priestly duty of proclaiming his excellencies, for he has called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

March 7th - Baptism

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Middle School Bible Study
Bethany in Indianapolis

Hannah's Friend's Family

Text – 1 Peter 3:21 sort of...

This week we're going to do a spin-off lesson from 1 Peter 3:21, this is a topical lesson on baptism, not what Peter intended, but a wider look at the whole Bible. I apologize for having to do this, when I chose Peter I thought he spent more time on Baptism than he does, and I really want to do a lesson on baptism.

The first lesson we can learn just based on the shortness of baptism in Peter's epistle is that it is not something that he is really emphasizing. That doesn't mean it's not important, it's just that it's not the most important thing to him, he has been much bigger on faith and holiness and exalting Christ than on this ordinance. When we get to people who think you have to be baptized to be saved this will be a good argument against that, as some epistles don't even mention baptism.

So let's start with what is baptism. Remember from last week that baptism is not synonymous with water and water is not synonymous with baptism. So what does baptism mean? Immersion. The baptism we're going to look at today is immersion in water, but I really want to smash it into your brain that you can be immersed into Jesus Christ without being immersed in water, and as we talked about last week, baptism into literal death and the subsequent resurrection only corresponds to baptism in water. A great example is Pentecost:

Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Substitute, "Repent and get wet in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins." It doesn't work, we must be immersed into the character and work of Jesus Christ, covered totally by his grace. When Peter said be baptized in Jesus he wasn't thinking of water, rather of Christ's merits.

So moving on to water baptism; baptism throughout history, even amongst Baptists, has varied in how we do it. The biblical type is immersion in water, being dunked. Our official Southern Baptist position is,

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. (BF&M2k, Article VII)

There are three types, and all three can be supported by the Bible, although immersion is definitely the way the Bible describes it and which captures Peter's intention, so let's read his passage,

1 Peter 3:20-21 in [the ark] which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...

Along the same lines, Paul looks at the elders going to see God on Sinai a baptism, and he calls the baptism the Israelites went through to escape the Egyptians was an immersion as well, albeit they didn't get wet,

1 Corinthians 10:1-2 For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

This one is totally backed up by the Ethiopian Eunuch's baptism,

Acts 8:36-39 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

He came up out of the water, not opened his eyes after effusion or sprinkling. Philip here breaks one of the fundamental rules of baptism, which is to remember to bring your baptizee back out of the water!

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

But, Presbyterian's sprinkle, many Baptists through history have poured, so let's look at those and why they could come up with things like that.

Titus 3:4-6 When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior...

It's still totally symbolic, but see why many Baptists have poured through history. John Smyth baptized himself this way, and the reason he's important is because many in his group came over to America after the Pilgrims and became Baptists.

The third kind can also be called effusion, although it's really sprinkling.

Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

While I am thoroughly about immersion, if a person is actually saved then either sprinkling or effusion keep the intent of baptism, showing a cleansed heart by the work of Christ, reconciliation with God, and the hope of glory.

In the first century someone put together a catechism or teaching to train new converts into Christianity. Some people think it was Matthew, I think it was just a good friend or disciple of Matthew. It's called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles or Didache for short. The Didache was written between AD50 and AD65, but was never considered scripture, but it also doesn't contradict scripture, and since it is an early church document we do well to read what it says; here is what it says on baptism:

Didache 7:1-4 Concerning baptism, baptize thus: Having said all these things beforehand, immerse in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, in flowing water. If, on the other hand, you should not have flowing water, immerse in other water, if you are not able in cold, in warm. If you should not have either, pour out water onto the head three times in the name of Father and Son and holy Spirit. And prior to the baptism, let the one baptizing fast; and the one being baptized fast one or two days prior to the baptism; and any others who have the strength.

So if the means is not rock solid and set, then the motive, symbolism, and purpose must be more important than the mode. Let's look at the purpose of baptism.

Matthew 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John's baptism was by water, it did not save, but was an outward expression of repentance. Jesus baptizes two ways, believers in the Holy Spirit, and unbelievers in the fire of Hell. Jesus would come to save, but John's baptism was a demonstration before men, right after John said this we have proof of the purpose of baptism.

Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to keep the command of baptism. The Bible isn't totally clear, in my opinion, of exactly which commands Jesus fulfills here, albeit there were diverse washings and many precursors to baptism which point to Jesus and the resurrection. In this one moment of baptism Jesus likely fulfilled many different washing and sanctification commands.

He also publically demonstrated his obedience to God.

This is why Presbyterians baptize babies, not thinking that the baptism saves them, but as a setting the baby apart for God, dedicating the baby to a godly upbringing and training in righteousness. It's wrong, but at least they have a reason for doing it. The reason it is wrong is that a person has to be baptized, dedicating themselves before mankind to God, of their own volition.

I read a cool story of baptism in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia right before the war started in March of 2003. A soldier had gotten saved and wanted to make a public profession of his faith before all of his fellow soldiers because he had been a great sinner before he got saved and he knew it would be a powerful testimony for his fellow soldiers to see. The problem was there was no rivers or lakes or water and they were going to war the next day, so they called everybody around, explained what was going on, and poured a canteen over his head. The motive was way more important than the mode.

If there is one thing that I dislike about our church building is the baptismal pool. We're setting people apart that we already know are set apart. Baptism should be done as a testimony to the world in Lake Acworth or the Chattahoochee river or somewhere where unbelievers will see and be witnessed to through this obedience.

When Jesus was baptized, besides him just being set apart, he also accomplishes something for us in his baptism. Jesus had to keep every command for us so that he could give us his perfect righteousness after he took our sinfulness upon himself. If he weren't baptized then he couldn't pay for that sin for those who weren't baptized. Consider the Thief on the Cross; was he baptized before he died? No, but Jesus was baptized and his act of righteousness was attributed to the Thief. Think on this for just a moment, Jesus doesn't have to pay for sins we didn't commit, for example, he didn't have to pay for my sin of eating shellfish or ham, because that command was superseded and you can't break a law that isn't a law. So our baptism is obedience to the law, and if we aren't baptized it is sin and will keep us out of Heaven, except that Jesus was baptized for us.

Now something we need to stop on for just a second is how many baptisms there are, because the Apostle Paul is very clear there is only one baptism, but John talks about at least three, one of repentance, one of the Holy Spirit, and one of fire, this is a hugely important part of baptism that you'll run into with the godless Pentecostal movement,

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

He is speaking of one baptism among believers, the initial and irrevocable immersion into the church and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There is no second baptism when someone speaks in tongues or falls over or claims to hear from God. That baptism doesn't exist, at least not from the Holy Spirit. At best it's made up, at worst it is Satan masquerading as an angel of light.

Other crazy beliefs are churches that believe that baptism saves you. These are the Church of Christ and parts of the Lutheran church. They've picked one command to hold to and have ignored all others. There are a ton of commands they could have picked, like "Telling the truth saves you." or "Confessing Christ saves you." or "Taking up your cross saves you." There are at least 613 commands we are required to do to be saved, and we've failed to keep most of them, and just keeping one perfectly, say baptism, isn't going to overlook the others. We need Christ's perfect obedience and the Holy Spirit giving us a new birth. They hold very closely to Peter saying "Repent and be baptized" and 1 Peter 3:21 where it says baptism now saves you, but we've looked at both of those verses and have seen that Jesus saves through his death and resurrection, not the act of being baptized.

An extreme example is the Catholic tradition of "Last Rites" which is a second baptism, but they can't call it a second baptism because Paul says there is only one. When a Catholic dies they have one final washing in hopes that their sins are washed away, something which can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit and not some outward work. I heard another story of a Catholic soldier who was killed in Iraq, and the Chaplain didn't have any water so he gave the soldier Last Rites with saliva. Here the motive wasn't symbolic, but an effort to be perfected by works of the flesh, and Paul is expressly clear that this severs a person from grace, so that they have no part nor lot in Christ. (Gal 5)

My last page of notes were lost in cyberspace, so I followed this outline for the last five minutes or so:

Our current traditions descend from the Swiss Brethren, who were a club reading books in other languages, picked a good book in Greek, the New Testament, and all of them were converted:

Conrad Grebel - First Baptist Martyr, died in of illness he caught in prison

Felix Manz - Baptized to Death

George Blaurock - Run out of Zurich, later burned at the stake

Michael Sattler - Tongue cut out because he wouldn't stop preaching, burned at the stake

Bad Anabaptists - Munsterites: polygamists and cannibals

Reason we're not anabaptists today: The ana means "re", and we don't baptize babies, so we're not "re" baptizing adults.

Application
-Be Baptized
-Symbolic
-For a Future Raising to Walk in Heaven

October 25th - A Firm Foundation

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Summit in General
Pastor Carey Cash
Atlanta Gay Pride Outreach
Zach Salvation

Text – 1 Peter 2:4-8

The section of scripture we are going to look at today is a great passage; I used to think that Peter stuck it in here because he wanted to say it and didn't know where else to say it; I didn’t realize he was maintaining a theme.

I mean, how could he go from talking about being born again and then go to talking about rocks without a transition? But there is definitely a progression here and this passage is where it is for a reason.

Last week we talked about something that Peter tells us we need to desire if we want to grow up in salvation, what is it? Spiritual Milk. What exactly is that? Specifically it’s the Bible, and the only way we will desire spiritual milk is if we have tasted that the Lord is good.

This is important because it sets our affections on the right thing. I heard a comic last week who was not a Christian and didn’t understand why Christ is so great, and he got big laughs by saying, “What if you got to Heaven and they gave you a harp and a cloud and said, ‘Have fun.’?”

If our goal is Heaven because we want to forever be without pain, there will come a point where it gets boring. If we our goal in Heaven is to fellowship with the saints, then some trillion years down the road we will know everything there is to know about everyone. If our goal in Heaven is to learn everything, there will come a point when we know everything there is to know.

The comedian went on to say that he asked some Mormons what the benefit of Mormonism would be for him, and the answer was that he would get to spend eternity with his family. He answered, “I spent eternity with my family once, it was a road trip, and it was Hell on Earth.” A misunderstanding of Heaven draws from the fact that we so often miss the goal, that we taste that the Lord is good, and he is our goal forever and ever.

In one of Robin Williams’ movies, he goes to Heaven and asks where God is, and an angel tells him that God is up there. The Heaven of Hollywood is without God. Shai Linne has a song that says, “I don’t wanna go to Heaven if God is not there.”

The reason Heaven will be so great is because God will be there, and we will need eternity to love, learn about, and fellowship with our infinite God.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

So once we’ve realized that, once we’ve tasted that the Lord is good, then we desire the pure spiritual milk to grow up into salvation. The first thing we need is a firm foundation, so despite Peter not having a transition, he is moving toward a definite purpose. Now Peter is going to accomplish four things in the following verses, first he is going to tell us why we need to build our foundation on Christ through the scriptures, then he is going to refute any idea that he is the first pope, then he is going to tell us who we are in Christ, and finally what happens if you fail to include Christ in your foundation.

1 Peter 2:4-8 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Roman Catholic Church is built on a foundation made up of two things, first, the Mass, the resacrificing of Christ over and over for the forgiveness of sins, and second that Peter was the first pope. Ironically, and showing their pagan roots, they never cite from Peter’s Epistles to back that up, but from a way misinterpreted verse in Matthew.

Matthew 16:13-20 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" (Note: The context here is who is Christ, not who are the Apostles) Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Based on this passage, the Catholic Church has made up a pretend succession of popes throughout history. Really the first person who wanted to be pope was Constantine in the 4th century. He was a pagan and totally wrecked Christianity by making it the legal religion of the Roman Empire and making everyone call themselves a Christian no matter what they believed or if they were saved or not. He called himself the Pontifex Maximus, or the “Great Bridger”. He set himself up as a mediator between God and men. It wasn’t for another hundred and fifty years did another guy try to be in charge, Leo the First in AD461 called himself the Chief Bishop and the “Supreme Head of all Christendom.” But it wasn’t for over another hundred years after that that someone would be called papa, father, and that was Gregory the First in AD590. The Roman Catholics believe that there is a Papal Succession from Benedict the 16th to Peter, but that’s ridiculous, they’ve had to make up popes to fill the void. In general there has always been a bishop in Rome, so some of the people they pick were genuinely in charge of the Roman church, but some they just made up. Was Peter ever a bishop? No. He was an Apostle, as evidenced by the first verse of First Peter, what he ever in charge of any church? No, he hung out in Jerusalem and James was the bishop of that church, at best Peter was a Presbyter, of which we will talk more about at the end of chapter four and beginning of five.

In about AD1400, there were two popes operating in two different locations, both chosen legitimately by Roman Catholic councils. In 1414 they picked another pope to supersede those two, and so for a couple of days there were three popes operating at once. There is no such thing as papal succession, and Peter wasn’t the first rock.

In Greek, Jesus would have said, “You are Petros, and upon this Petra I will build my church.” Petros is a piece of rock, slightly bigger than a Lithos, a stone, and Petra is a complete rock. So the proper interpretation is that “You are a piece of the rock, and on the Rock that I am the Living God manifest in the flesh is where I will build my church.” So this passage is going to shed more light for us that the great rock is made up of the smaller rocks. We are the Corpus Christi, the body of Christ.

The main gist of the passage we are in is that it is imperative to have Christ as the foundation.

v.4-5 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house...

We come to Christ as our firm foundation, and as we come to him, we ourselves are building blocks to build up a house. This is reminiscent of what Christ said in his Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:24-26 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

When Peter speaks of us building on the living stone of Christ, Peter is saying two things here, first likening the body of believers to a temple that is made up of many stones, and second the "house" that he is talking about is referring to the collection of people. Like the royalty of England is the House of Windsor, or the House of Tudor, or the House of Normandy. This is important when we consider that Peter uses the world "living" to describe these stones, that he isn't just talking about rocks, not just talking about doctrine, but he is specific to be talking about people and specifically the Person of Jesus Christ.

So a house is both a building and/or a collection of royal people, so the house here, Peter tells us is,

v.5 to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Are any of your last names Cohen? In this day and age, if your last name isn't Cohen, then you're probably not a descendent of Levi. Since Israel and Jerusalem we given to the Jews, there has been a massive effort to determine who the priests are so that they can minister in the new temple, if/when it is built. Cohen is Hebrew for priest. Peter was likely not from the Tribe of Levi either, probably from Simeon albeit that is not 100% sure; Paul was from the Tribe of Benjamin but he agreed with Peter that all Christians are priests, he makes an extremely audacious claim as a Benjamite,

Romans 15:15-16 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God...

So which priesthood do you think we are a part of if we're not Levites, and one that Peter and Paul could be members of? And especially Jesus, he had no claim to the Levitical priesthood either,

Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

This is important because a king couldn't be a priest and a priest couldn't be a king under the old covenant, and God did that to show that he was the great High Priest and King of Israel, not a fallible man, and the priesthood we belong to and that Jesus Christ belongs to is one of much older lineage than Aaron in the tribe of Levi,

Hebrews 7:15-17 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

I wish we had more time to spend on Melchizedek, but consider this just a foundation and introduction to his life. He was the priest that ministered for Abraham, he was never born, and he never died, his name means the King of Righteousness, he was declared to be the King of Salem, or the King of Peace. Does anybody know where Salem was? It was Jerusalem before Jerusalem became Jerusalem; the first time we hear it called Jerusalem, new Salem, was when it was conquered by Joshua. Melchizedek was both priest and king, he was Jesus Christ manifest in the flesh, and now we are priests under our Great High Priest, and as Paul and Peter tell us, our duty is to proclaim the gospel of God, and to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

What is a spiritual sacrifice you can offer? Your life (Romans 12:1-2), your words and praise (Hebrews 13:15), your works and sharing what you have (Hebrews 13:16), your prayers (Revelation 8:3), and bringing others to Christ (Romans 15:16), all of this walking in love (Ephesians 5:2); I wish I had time to share with you the verses that say these things, I've included them on the website if you want to look. This was and is one of the most important concepts of the Reformation, that there is one priesthood of believers, in Latin it is Sola Sacerdos, that Jesus Christ is our only intercessor, that a priest cannot confess your sins for you, and that all Christians stand on equal footings of grace before Almighty God.

In order to finish this passage, and stay true to Peter's flow, we'll talk more about priests next week briefly on the requirements of being one, and more about how to be a good priest of the Most High God.

From here Peter sums it up beautifully on why we must build on the firm foundation of Christ and what happens if we try to build on anything else but him.

v. 6-7 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe,

For those who believe, there is honor and glory and blessing forever,

v.7-8 but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Pharisees were in love with the Bible, they weren't so in love with the God that the Bible points to, but they loved being authorities on the Bible and trying to make people obey every last law and then some laws they made up, in order to go to Heaven. They couldn't keep the commandments either, but they were harsh on those who failed. When they met a Man who did keep all of the commandments, they didn't like him, they refused to see that he was the God whom the Bible pointed to, and they rejected him as their Great High Priest.

Even as they rejected him, he still stands in their way and was the downfall of them. They stumbled over Christ because they disobey the Word, as was the plan for everyone who rejected the Chief Cornerstone, the Foundation of Life and godliness.

So in conclusion, we learn four major things from this passage.

First, that Peter was not the first pope, nor is there any Papa other than our Father in Heaven, whom we are able to call Abba, Father, because we are sons and daughters of God adopted and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is one mediator between you and God, it is not any mere man, but it is the Godman Jesus Christ, he is the only one that can intercede on your behalf to the Father, having borne your burden to the cross and paid your fine in his own life's blood.

Second, Jesus Christ is the only firm foundation. If you try to build your life and hope on anything else, great will be your fall.

Third, we are figuratively being built on that foundation to the full body of Christ in the church, and literally we are priests, Sola Sacerdos, of God after the line of Melchizedek, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

Fourth, if you reject Jesus Christ, be assured that he will be your downfall. The stone that the builders rejected is the cornerstone of believers and the stumbling stone of the unbeliever, and when they fall, great will be their demise.

October 11th - Christopher Columbus

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Fall Festival - No Rain
Hannah and her Dad Camping
Kari and her Class Camping
Bethany's Braces
Joshua and Cassandra's Birthdays

Text - 1 Peter 2:10...sort of...

We're going to briefly step out of First Peter to do a topical look at Christopher Columbus. Tomorrow is his day and his life has been so ignored and misrepresented that I think it will benefit us all to look into his life. 1 Peter 2:2 is also Hannah's favorite verse and she couldn't be here today, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to take a week off for something different. I think Hannah misinterpreted and took 1 Peter 2:1 a little too literally, it tells us to rid yourself of all Geil... (KJV)

What is Christopher Columbus famous for? The world will tell you it is for discovering the New World, and that's true, but what he is famous for in Heaven is his devotion to Jesus Christ and desire to see the gospel spread.

Columbus was born in Genoa Italy in 1451, his father was a wool-worker, which Columbus trained to follow, but Columbus wanted to be a sailor. His education is fairly spotty in detail, we do know that he learned Latin because all of the best nautical books were in Latin. Which other great book was in Latin at this time? The Bible. Columbus was put in an interesting privileged position to read the book that most people at his time could not read, and he took it very seriously. On one of his first trips he was in Greece, here was all sorts of political and religious unrest and if I had to put my finger on where Columbus got saved, I'd say it was either in Greece, or because of Greece that he would have looked deeper into his Catholic faith. Ironically, his first voyage to Greece was the closest he would ever get to India.

His profession of faith is, "I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence."

He took his name, Christopher, exceedingly literally; this name means "The Christ Bearer" and he made it his life's goal to see Jesus Christ glorified through his life. His last name seems to have some Jewish roots, albeit we're not really sure what it means. Columbus claimed to be able to trace his lineage all the way up to King David. This may seem strange, but it is totally plausible, conservative Jews take lineage very seriously, and while David, Jesus, and subsequently Christopher would have been from the line of Judah, if you ever meet someone from the line of Levi, they can take you straight up the list of their genealogy to Aaron. Paul said don't get caught up in this, but it's neat that people are able to do it.

Columbus shares a similar last name with Columba who was a missionary to Scotland in the sixth century who converted the Picts. I wanted to mention him because with Columbus we're going to be discussing lots of science and the Bible, and Columba has writings about him that he encountered huge lizards, aka dragons, in Scotland. One of them almost ate his friend. Today we call them dinosaurs, and they certainly didn't live millions of years ago, but only recently vanished from the earth.

So, back to Columbus, the Italian. He was a Catholic, but his letters and journals are very biblical and I have very little doubt that he was saved. On the other hand, he went to Spain to try to get funding for a Western expedition to the Indies. The king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, were thoroughly Catholic and almost guaranteed not to be saved. One evidence is that they hated Jews, and they kicked all of the Jews out of Spain, which is ironic because Columbus was a Jew, albeit a Christian Jew.

If you research this, and I always encourage you to look into these things, you'll find some very flattering language to a "Queen" who many Catholics will want you to believe was Mary, but you'll find if you search it in context, that it was about Queen Isabella and her support of Columbus. One reason I feel that Columbus was actually saved is because even though he was a Catholic, he only worshipped and prayed to Jesus Christ and his Father. One of the ships they gave him was the Santa Maria, Saint Mary, but he didn't name her, she was named after her home port, which was called El Puerto de Santa Maria. Various crew members named her various things, the devout Catholics called her Elegant Mary, the heathens called her Dirty Mary, and others called her by the city she was made in, La Gallega. Interestingly, the name of the Santa Clara was changed to the Niña, which means little girl; the captain of this ship's name was Juan Niño, so it was a play on words.

While God can use pagans (Catholics and others) to do amazing things, I'm certain that Columbus disagreed with much of the Catholic faith and held to a more orthodox Christianity, albeit not perfectly orthodox.

In the 1400's, practically no-one believed the world was flat. Your text books are going to lie to you, because they hate God and the truth. We're going to talk about that more later. Columbus started to research a different route to China and Indonesia, a straight shot rather than going around Africa; few people believed it was impossible, but most felt that it was way too far to sail. And, if there was no land-mass between Spain and China, it would have been way too far to sail.

Columbus heard of a land possibly to the West so he decided to research it, and he did so both from the Bible, and from secular history. It started off when he heard of a body that was found floating across the Atlantic Ocean that was neither black nor white but seemed oriental. At this point, he realized that winds around the equator blew West, and winds farther north blew East, and he felt he could sail West on one and home on the other, no-one purportedly had thought of that before.

In his research he discovered a writing by Diodorus Siculus, a first century BC Greek historian, who recorded that he had heard of a very great island many days journey from Africa. A great scientist and a Catholic named Dr. Mirabilis in the 1200's believed that the sea between Spain and India would be navigable if the winds were right, albeit he never tried it.

Columbus started to search the Bible to see what it said on the matter. He had absolute authority that the world was round,

Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in...

Job 26:10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

A circle of light would require a sphere, and so there was no doubt in Columbus', or most people of his day, that the world was round.

I'm fairly certain Columbus' favorite book was Isaiah, he loved and held to the frequent mention of all types of people in all different locations following after the Living God. Columbus felt like he was divinely guided by God to sail West to fulfill a prophecy in Isaiah 60. I don't know exactly how he picked this prophecy, because looking back, I don't know if I would ascribe him to it, but it's very interesting and it very well may be a direct prophecy of Columbus.

Isaiah 60:9 Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.

Where is Tarshish? Tarshish is in Southwestern Spain. Where did Columbus sail from? Spain, specifically Palos, which is very near to where Tarshish was in Jonah's day, albeit they are not exactly the same place so it is dangerous to force this prophecy.

Columbus had seen enough islands in his travels; Ireland, Iceland, the Azores, the Canaries to believe that there would be islands across the whole ocean until he reached India. He also believed that along with the winds, he would have help by ocean currents which were largely unknown of at the time, and this would keep the distance from being too long because the speed of the ships would be faster.

Psalm 8:8 ...passes along the paths of the seas.

Similarly, in the 1800's, a sailor named Matthew Fontaine Maury read this verse and started to map the ocean currents and do more research on them. He is known today as the Father of Oceanography.

No one could accuse Columbus of lack of research, he would write, "I have met and I have had discussions with wise people, ecclesiastics and laymen, Latins and Greeks, Jews and Moors and with many others of other sects. To this I found our Lord very favorable to my desire and I received from Him the spirit of intelligence: in seamanship he made me abundant, of astrology he gave what was needed, and so of geometry and arithmetic and ingeniousness in the soul and hands to draw the sphere..."

Columbus approached the King of Portugal first, and after hearing his proposal, the king turned him down. People thought he was crazy for wanting to try. Columbus would later write/pray, "At this time I both read and studied all kinds of literature: cosmography, histories, chronicles, and philosophy and other arts , to which our Lord opened my mind unmistakably to the fact that it was possible to navigate from here to the Indies, and He evoked in me the will for the execution of it; and with this fire I came to Your Highnesses. All those who heard of my plan disregarded it mockingly and with laughter. All the sciences of which I spoke were of no profit to me nor the authorities in them; only in Your Highnesses my faith, and my stay. Who would doubt that this light did not come from the Holy Spirit, anyway as far as I am concerned, which comforted with rays of marvelous clarity and with its Holy and Sacred Scriptures."

So he went to Spain and they were all for his voyage, mainly for evangelization purposes, but also they wanted whichever islands that Columbus might discover. Queen Isabella sought help from the Vatican, stating the purpose of the voyage "To bear the light of Christ west to the heathen undiscovered lands." There was also a lot of money to be made, and certainly that is why some people were all for the expedition.

But, the king and queen couldn't pay for it because Spain was broke fighting a war against Muslim invaders. Columbus was going to head for France to seek financing there, which would mean whichever lands he discovered would belong to France, and also Portugal seemed to be changing their minds and were going to finance Columbus, but before that happened three wealthy Spanish men, all nominally Christian Jews, decided to fund Columbus' exploration for Spain. Ironically, it seems that one of their purposes was to seek a new land in which to evade the Catholic church. It is not clear whether they were born-again Christians, non-Messianic Jews, or atheists, however it happened, their goal was to get away from the Roman church.

So Columbus sailed West to go East. They found no islands for a long time and the crew wanted to give up. Columbus told them three more days and if they hadn't spotted land, they would turn-around. At the end of the second day, October 12th, 1492, they spotted land, an island in the Bahamas. They named it San Salvador, the Sacred Saviour. When they landed they met, after a brief search, a people that looked quite oriental, and so Columbus decided they were in India and named the people Indians.

Columbus instantly set out to making friends with the natives, giving them gifts and learning to communicate with them. His first journal entries after landing on October 12th were how important it was for Spain to send missionaries to these people. By November his journaling had changed slightly, he stated that he had begun to try to convert them, and he persuaded six Indians to return to Spain with him to learn Spanish, and possibly to return to their people as missionaries.

I can't sum it up better than Columbus the joy and monumental event that took place when the gospel was introduced to the new world, "Let Christ rejoice upon earth as he does in heaven, to witness the coming salvation of so many people, heretofore given over to perdition."

Columbus is the exact opposite of religious tolerance, he sought a direct route to send missionaries to a people who very much needed Christ. And while much evil came about to the American Indians because of the discovery, many have been saved by Christ and went to Heaven, which they never would have if the New World wasn't discovered. And America wasn't a utopia where everything was peachy. The people that Columbus first met were in imminent danger from cannibals who were systematically working their way around the Bahamas causing the extinction of whole people groups by eating them.

Likewise, later the Spaniards were able to conquer the Mayans and the Aztecs with very little manpower and violence, even though they were outnumbered by ridiculously huge armies. The reason was because many of the Mayans and Aztecs wouldn't fight for their leaders because their leaders were wicked and violent and made human sacrifices. Columbus did infinite good for the kingdom of God and for souls.

But in terms of tolerance, people hate him. One Indian Chief said of him in 1992, "Columbus makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent." So the Columbus you're going to be taught about in school, who loved wealth and titles more than anything, is not the Columbus of history who loved Jesus Christ and sought to see souls saved from perdition, Hell, for eternity. Columbus did like money, and sometimes he would go on mini-expeditions just in search of gold and spices. However, he used a great deal of his wealth to fund missionaries not to the New World, but to Jerusalem, and at the end of his life he had very little wealth remaining, but that is how he intended it. On money he would say, "He who has gold makes and accomplishes whatever he wishes in the world, and finally uses it to send souls to paradise."

So what do we learn?

First of all, the Bible is all about science. It is not science versus the Bible, it is science and the Bible versus enemies of God.

Second of all, education is great if you are putting it to action for glorifying God. Trigonometry was reasonably new in Columbus' day, yet without it there is no way he would have been able to find the same islands on his return voyage. Magellan would also use Trigonometry when he sailed around the world.

Third, Columbus used what he was good at to glorify God. He was a great seaman and navigator. It is said that his handwriting was fantastic, so much so that he was offered jobs to be a scribe. He also could have become a wool-worker like his father, but he took what God had made him best at and used it for the glory of God.

Forth of all, Columbus was a great Christian whose main goal was the evangelization of new people who had never heard of Jesus Christ. He took verses like Matthew 24:24, 28:19-20, and Mark 16:15 literally and seriously.

Fifth of all, tolerance is stupid. Lest people repent and turn to Jesus Christ, they will perish, and we need to be doing the same as Columbus did, seeking to convert everyone we run into, and refusing to compromise on the absolute truth of the scriptures.

Sixth of all, you can do pretty much whatever you want to with your money. The best place to invest it is in the kingdom of Heaven, where you use it to win souls into paradise. This is a running theme in my class and the Bible, that we only have one life, and it will soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last.

Seventh of all, and probably most important, I'll let Columbus sum up, "No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His service."

In conclusion, after it became apparent that what Columbus had discovered was not India or China, but was indeed something quite different, he would sum up his whole life in one pithy statement, "God made me the messenger of the New Heaven and the New Earth."

God has likewise made you a messenger of the New Heaven and the New Earth, for without Christ, souls will perish. Find what you are best at and use it to glorify God in your body and your speech. Preach Christ at every opportunity, and trust in his sovereignty that the works you are walking in were prepared before time began so we rightly represent Christ to all the world, for until the gospel is preached to every nation, the end will not come. We want 1 Peter 2:10 to be true for all people groups.

1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Finally, challenge your teachers when they try to tell you Columbus was only in it for wealth, and that people thought he would sail over the edge of the world and die, tell them that is stupid and is willfully being ignorant of the truth. We'll talk more about this in Second Peter 3.

October 19th - Martin Luther

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Resumed from Last Week
Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This passage was written 700 years before the birth of Christ, I hope you can see him in this Old Testament passage. Many Rabbis today won't read Isaiah 53, skipping from chapter 52 to 54. Their reasoning is that it sounds too much like Jesus for them to read, but their hardened hearts keep them from seeing that it actually is Jesus.

John 10:9-10 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The implication of this verse is that if Christ came to give us life, and an abundance of it, then we must have had death before and not only so, but an overabundance of death. This is exactly what Ephesians 2:1 says, that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. Christ won't make your life peachy, you aren't promised money, possesssions, or popularity, you are actually promised trials and tribulations, but we know that if we are raised with Christ then we have eternal life, and once Christ purges the universe of sin, then we will have perpetual happiness and peace.

Reformation Day
I had a very busy week with evangelism and school so didn't prepare a lesson for 1 Thessalonians 2. This lesson is about Reformation Day, which is October 31st. When most people are saying, "Happy Halloween," I say, "Happy Reformation Day!" The reason it is called this is because this was the day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg. Today I want to share with you why that was important, and so you'll be ready to celebrate Reformation Day this year.

The Six Solas of the Reformation
There are several Solas of the Reformation, some churches claim there were only two, others five, but I maintain that there are six. These weren't written down by Luther or Calvin or Zwingli, but these encompass beautifully what their philosophy based on the Bible taught them.

Sola Gratia - You are saved by grace alone. (Ephesians 2:5)
Sola Fide - Your faith alone is your application for grace. (Romans 5:2)
Solus Christus - We are redeemed by the work of Christ alone. (Galatians 1:3-5)
Sola Scriptura - We know these things through scripture alone. (Hebrews 1:1-2)
Soli Deo Gloria - These are all for the glory of God. (Galatians 1:3-5)
Sola Sacerdos - The result is one priesthood of believers, we bring our sins before the throne of Grace and our Great High Priest Jesus Christ is our mediator with God. (1 Timothy 2:5) We all stand in equal standing. (2 Peter 1:1)

In conclusion, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ known by the Bible for the glory of God resulting in one church.

The Bible teaches these six things very clearly, but people always want to do something to go to Heaven. In the Fifth Century, an Emperor named Constantine realized that he had to do something about Christianity because it was hurting his empire by making people too moral. He had a vision that he would win a great victory under the symbol of Christianity, which at the time was the Chi-Rho symbol, which in English is X-R which is the first two letters of Christ. The problem was that his enemy, Maximillian, had the same vision, so this vision probably was not from God. I believe the devil did a great work to defeat the current church under its own symbol by paganizing it.

Constantine won, and legalized Christianity. It was the worst thing that ever happened to the world and the church. Instead of tearing down the pagan temples, Constantine just built churches next to them. He paid his soldiers the equivilent of $20 to convert to Christianity and effectively killed the church through false converts.

During the 1100 years that the Roman Catholic Church reigned, history has dubbed this the "Dark Ages", because there was not much of a Christian presence. The Donatists, Waldensians, and Lombards were a few real churches, but they were not active in evangelism. The Hussites were the last before Martin Luther, they get their name from the town they lived in, Hussinic, which means Goose Lake. Many of them were burnt at the stake because they were more evangelistic and against the Catholic Church. This is where we get the term, "Your goose is cooked."

One of the reasons the church faired so poorly was because they were deprived of the Bible. They spoke English, French, German, Italian, and the Bible was in Latin, so they couldn't understand it. You have to know that without the Bible, the church will die. There are few things I would die for, one of course is Christ, second is my brothers and sisters in Christ, including you guys, and third is the right to own and read a Bible. Within our lifetimes I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them try to outlaw first purchasing Bibles, and then owning or giving Bibles.

In the 15th Century, Constantinople was sacked by the Muslims, and Greek and Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible flooded into Europe. I believe this was divine, in that Constantine killed the church, and then the city that bore his name fell and the church was revived.

Martin Luther started his life as a lawyer, but then became a Monk. He earned his doctorate by 23, and we see this a lot in the Reformation and amongst godly Christians. Education is not a mark of intelligence or ability, but people with a motivated character often end up with high educations.

Colossians 3:1-3,17 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

In school, it is not so important what you are learning, but that you are learning to the best of your abilities. Working on things you don't like is a great way to build character, for example, if you don't like math, then work extra hard to do well in it so that you discipline yourself to complete hard tasks. Long before I was a Christian, someone told me, Anything worth doing is worth doing well. and this advice has served me well. It similarly served Martin Luther well to do everything he did, well.

As a monk, Luther was exceedingly sensitive to his sins. He used to bore the priests that heard his confession by telling them what they thought were mundane and boring sins. They enjoyed hearing about people's sinfulness, but not Luther's list of sins. Luther recognized this and became annoyed with the church, then he heard a priest, when he was supposed to be "Horpus Corpus"ing the communion bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ say, "Bread thou is, and bread thou shalt remain." Luther was aghast that they would take their religious duties so flippantly, and he dove into the Bible.

He was reading through Romans and came to Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. He realized that faith came externally, that it didn't come from the heart, but that it came from the Word of God. He restarted Romans reading it with this hermeneutic, which is the way you read the Bible.

He got to verse 17, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." He said the "light broke over him" and he was saved, the external gift of faith from God resulted in his salvation. He thought he had found what other Catholics had but that he had been missing for so long. His conscience was cleansed, he realized that all of his sins were paid for on Calvary's cross and that he didn't need to, and couldn't, ever pay God for his sins, but that they were already paid for.

He wanted to reform the Catholic Church at first, which is the biblical model, telling someone they are against God first and trying to get them to change, and then if they won't change, then excommunication or other measures. A man named Tetzel came to Wittenburg, Luther's town, to solicit money for a new church in Rome, he did this by selling indulgences, which is a ticket to sin. This outraged Luther.

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 grievances against the Catholic Church to the bulletin board, which was the door of the church, in hopes that they would reform. Within a matter of weeks this list had been published and sent all over Europe. Some of these were things like saying, "If the Pope had the authority to forgive sins, he ought to forgive them all out of the goodness of his heart instead of having people pay for them." He also wrote a lot about how sins were paid for in the blood of Christ and not through money.

The Roman Catholic Church didn't like that and summonsed Luther to Worms (Pronounced Vorms) and held a meeting, called a Diet, to see if he was a heretic. Luther went to this fully expecting to die. He was a great preacher though and God was on his side. They asked him, "Do you renounce the things you have written?" And he said that much of what he had written was in allignment with the RCC and so to renounce it would be to renounce good doctrine. They asked him about the things he had written against the RCC, and since the crowd was pretty small he asked to be given another day to think about it, but he was really hoping for a bigger crowd to preach to the next day. Someone asked him if he agreed with the Hussites and he had never heard about them.

He read all night about John of Hussinic, the leader of the Hussites, and the next day stated, "I am a Hussite." To a much larger crowd, gathered to see him executed, he then stated his most famous line, "Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me." You are always right if you are standing with the Bible, even in the early 1900's when science had claimed to have proved evolution and there was almost no evidence for creation, you would have been right to have stood on the Bible that God created the universe only a few thousand years ago. Now we know through evidence that the Bible is right, but the lack of evidence 100 years ago didn't make the Bible less right. Stand with the Bible and you'll never be wrong, no matter if an entire Roman Catholic Church stands against you, like it did with Luther.

Luther left Worms and undoubtedly would have been killed if King Frederick of Germany had not sided with him, having likely been converted, and he changed Luther's name to George, knighted him, and hid him in a castle called the "Kingdom of the Birds", which is so named because it was built on top of a mountain. Here Luther studied his Bible and translated it into German, he also wrote his famous song, "A Mighty Fortress is our God."

Once the Bible was translated, the Reformation was unstoppable.

Two last things, Luther married a nun named Katy. When the new Protestants were reading their Bibles, they realized they should be married, so they paired up nuns with monks and they got married without dating or anything. Luther was matched with Katy, who was a few years older than him, and he did the biblical thing, which was to love her because he loved her, not because of anything she did for him or because she was extra beautiful or anything, and by all accounts they had a wonderful marriage.

The final thing, you've probably heard that America is dying. That is incorrect, America is dead. But remember, we serve a God who rose from the grave and raises from the dead. When Luther started the Reformation, the entire world was dead spiritually, and God revived it. God can save the United States, if we preach, people will be saved, and so will the nation.



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