Dr. Barrett likes to make a lot of
mileage out of the fact that he allegedly
makes very brief announcements.
He does.
He leaves the half of them out.
And then when I have to make up
for his deficiency, he blames me for making
long announcements.
Humility, of course, stops him from admitting that.
However, there are a few things that we
do need to add.
Some good news, some not so good news,
and I leave them with you.
First of all, the good news.
We rejoiced with John and Rachel Matsko this
week in the very encouraging doctor's report that
Rachel received.
Her cancer is in remission.
John and Rachel understand this is not, at
this stage, medically stated as a cure.
But it is in remission.
Doctors cannot pronounce cancer cured in that amount
of time.
But, as John reminded us in the email
that he sent out, one year ago, Rachel
was told she had an inoperable cancerous tumor.
Then they were able to shrink that.
And then the surgery took place and she's
been bombarded with radiation and with chemotherapy.
And I must say we have all been
very, very encouraged at the fortitude with which
she has approached that.
We have remembered her in prayer over these
last months.
And so I think it is good that
we thank the Lord for a gracious answer
to prayer thus far.
But do continue to pray for her and
pray for John, pray for the family.
That the Lord will continue his good hand
upon her and raise her up to the
fullness of health and strength.
But Rachel, we do rejoice with you in
all that the Lord has done thus far.
So that's some good news.
There's a little further good news of a
different kind.
Mike mentioned Dr. Finozian's meeting here.
And we want you to make sure to
keep that night clear on your calendar.
Make sure you come along.
In fact, you know, I shouldn't have to
say that because Wednesday evening should be the
best attended meeting of the week.
It's the most important.
It's the prayer meeting usually.
And I know that you can get busy.
I've noticed a few Wednesdays that there have
been people missing and we have missed you.
And so we want you to be here
every Wednesday.
It's important that you come and don't just
leave it to other people to pray.
It's very important that you come to pray.
But that Wednesday evening with Dr. Finozian, we'd
love to have you along.
And afterwards, we're going to have a light
reception.
You're not going to have a five-course
meal, but you'll have time for fellowship and
something to drink if coffee doesn't keep you
awake.
Somebody, no doubt, will have coffee.
If it does, you can have water or
something else.
But whatever it is there, Mrs. Gresham is
looking after that.
And we thank her for her willingness to
do that.
But we do look forward to that after
Dr. Finozian's meeting on that final Wednesday evening
of the month.
I shouldn't say Dr. Finozian's meeting.
When Hugh Latimer comes, that most attractive of
English reformers, plain Hugh Latimer, you'll learn something
about church history and you'll be blessed at
the stand of a great man of God.
I have some of Latimer's sermons in my
possession.
I wasn't around when he preached them.
I might look that old, but I wasn't
around when he preached them.
But I have some of Latimer's sermons.
He was one of England's foremost preachers and
a great man of God who sealed his
testimony with his blood.
So that's another bit of good news.
A couple of items of not so good
news for us.
Our brother Jeff Bannister's mother died this past
week.
And we'd like you to keep Jeff and
his family in your prayers at this time.
Many of you who have been here over
many years will remember how in the prayer
meetings, Jeff would labor in prayer for his
mother.
That God would have mercy upon her soul.
And I trust that God has answered prayer.
But certainly she has gone into eternity.
And this is a burden obviously on the
family at this time because though she had,
I think it was hip surgery, knee surgery,
sorry.
Though she had that, she was doing very
well.
And this death came very suddenly and unexpectedly
to pray for Jeff and his family at
this time.
And then Dr. and Mrs. Graff are leaving
town to, have they left yet?
They have left to go and take up
residence in Tennessee.
We trust that you will pray for them
and keep them before the Lord.
They want to remain part of our fellowship
as much as they can be at such
a distance.
But we trust you'll keep them in your
prayers for health and strength.
And for the Lord's blessing upon them in
the everyday things of life.
And also most important at any time in
life, but certainly as you're getting older, is
the view of Christ that is essential to
the faith and power of the gospel in
our lives.
So do remember Dr. Graff and his wife
at this time.
Now those are the announcements and I'm not
going to say anything more about that very
humble book that Mike is turning out.
It will be on the book of Daniel.
It will be about all those charts and
all the rest of it that you've always
seen on Daniel.
Only this will be different.
And it will be the best book on
Daniel that you have yet had opportunity to
read.
So I can't be nicer than that.
But I will expect payment in the morning.
Do keep those things before the Lord.
Now as we continue in our Reformation month
studies, we're going to read in Ezekiel chapter
22.
Ezekiel chapter 22, reading from verse 23 to
the end of the chapter.
The word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou
art the land that is not cleansed, nor
rained upon in the day of indignation.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in
the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening
the prey.
They have devoured souls.
They have taken the treasure and precious things.
They have made her many widows in the
midst thereof.
Her priests have violated my law and have
profaned my holy things.
They have put no difference between the holy
and profane.
Neither have they showed difference between the unclean
and the clean, and have hid their eyes
from my sabbaths.
And I am profaned among them.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like
wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and
to destroy souls and to get dishonest gain.
And her prophets have dobbed them with untempered
mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them,
saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the
Lord hath not spoken.
The people of the land have used oppression
and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor
and needy.
Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
And I sought for a man among them
that should make up the hedge and stand
in the gap before me for the land,
that I should not destroy it, but I
found none.
Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon
them.
I have consumed them with the fire of
my wrath.
Their own way have I recompensed upon their
heads, saith the Lord God.
Amen.
The Lord will add His blessing to this
reading from His Word for His namesake.
Tonight I want us to take as what
Bob Jones Jr. would have called a pretext
rather than a text.
A text is for exposition.
A pretext is for launching from a particular
platform a much wider ranging discourse.
And that's what we're going to do tonight.
The words of verse 30.
At the beginning of the verse, I sought
for a man.
I sought for a man.
Charles Hodge, the great Princeton theologian, spoke of
a class of preachers whom he described as
world controllers.
He was speaking of men who had peculiar
power with God and who consequently had peculiar
power with men.
He was describing men who molded the age
in which they lived and were not molded
by it.
In giving this description of this peculiar class
of preachers and spiritual leaders, Hodge was admitting
that most preachers are to their shame the
product of their age.
A reflection to a greater or lesser degree,
according to their spirituality, of the society that
spawned them.
Whereas the world controllers were people who refused
the stamp of the age in which they
lived and rather by dint of spiritual power
and energy placed their own God-given stamp
on their generation and indeed upon the generations
to come.
When we come to the period in church
history known as the Reformation period, we stand
amazed at the number of great men, good
men, who stood forward to take up the
cause of Christ and His gospel.
We look from country to country, whether it's
Germany or Switzerland or Scotland or England or
Scandinavia or even for a while in France,
although to a much lesser degree there.
But we look at those nations and we
are amazed at the race of preachers that
God raised up.
Men whose ministry stamped their country forever.
Men who by the preaching of the Word
of God shook an entire continent and changed
the course of the history of the world.
In that Reformation period, when the Lord sought
for a man, He found many of them
and used them mightily.
We can only admire the sovereign purpose that
worked so widely and so wisely in raising
up such men as the Protestant Reformers.
J.
H.
Merle d'Aubigné, my favorite historian of the
Reformation, for the simple reason that he writes
with passion.
He does not write with cool detachment.
I think his scholarship is as good as
anyone else's.
But scholarship without fire is a dead thing.
He writes with passion as one who was
converted in Geneva during a period of revival
under the ministry of Robert Haldane a Scottish
lay theologian and preacher.
Merle d'Aubigné describes the quick distribution of
Reformed truth and principles as being of heavenly
origin.
It was not the result of human collusion.
For example, you read of Luther working in
Germany.
You would imagine that he somehow had an
influence on Zwingli and the early Swiss Reformers
and the work moved from Germany over the
border to Switzerland and from Switzerland on and
so forth.
But the facts do not support such a
theory.
Merle d'Aubigné likens the spread of the
Gospel to the spread of light as the
sun rises The light disseminates its brilliance from
one place to another distributing its benefits.
Certainly the sun of righteousness in those days
arose with healing in its wings.
Thus it is that before the name of
Martin Luther had even been mentioned within the
bounds of Switzerland as early as 1516 Remember
Luther, though he started lecturing in the University
of Wittenberg before this.
Luther did not gain notoriety until 1517 when
in the 31st of October he kneeled his
thesis to the church door.
That's when he started gaining notoriety.
That's when his writing started getting carted all
over Europe.
But in 1516, according to his own testimony
Zwingli was already preaching the evangelical doctrines already
pointing people to Christ already he was sounding
out the peculiar and special notes of the
Protestant Reformation though it would be an anachronism
to call it Protestantism at that time since
the name Protestant did not really arise until
1529.
We will not go into that one tonight.
Nor was he alone.
When you read the history of the movings
of God in Switzerland in those early times
you find that when Zwingli started being moved
of God to preach evangelical doctrine there were
parish priests who themselves were being stirred here
and there throughout the Swiss cantons and it
appeared that for no reason now there was
a reason but certainly it was not because
of any human collusion here and there men's
eyes were opened their minds were stirred to
study scripture their hearts were moved to preach
Christ and as early as that before Luther
even became notorious the Vatican began to get
very frightened at what was happening in Switzerland
and for reasons that do not bother us
tonight their first response was not the usual
one of fire and sword their first response
was money they thought they could buy Zwingli
off and of course if they had bought
him off being the most scholarly, the most
brilliant, the most popular of all the Swiss
preachers then obviously they could have stemmed the
whole movement at its beginning so in due
time according to the will of God the
Lord combined the efforts of able men not
only in the Swiss cantons but also in
Saxony and then spreading through Luther's works as
they began to spread through other parts of
Europe even to the outposts of England and
Scotland and in those days believe me they
were outposts they were in the very edge
of civilization the Lord began to put in
able men to advance the movement of the
preaching of the word of God and such
was their power that the effects of their
labors are with us until this present time
I sought for a man and he did
not seek in vain when God sought for
a man he found in an Augustinian monastery
a monk who had so neglected his body
as to bring himself to the point of
death seeking salvation by his self-righteousness and
God sought for a man he found a
priest in Switzerland who had lived for a
time at least like all the other priests
quickened him by the power of the gospel
transformed him by the grace of God and
burned in his heart a desire to preach
Jesus Christ and so it went on he
sought for a man and he found him
on every hand tonight I want us to
take that text and think very simply upon
the subject wanted men of God men of
God men for the hour men who are
like the men of Issachar described so long
ago as men who had knowledge of the
times and knew what Israel ought to do
men who know what it is to live
in the present not in the past that
may sound strange to you when I'm preaching
on something that's historical like the Protestant Reformation
but I am not inviting you to come
and live in the past men who are
living in the past are of no earthly
use to the present we have had far
too much of that in the Christian church
where we're forever harking back to the good
old days and we're forever harking back to
what happened then and trying to recreate what
happened then we want tonight to learn from
the reformers and see the men that God
always needs men who manifest the best features
of the Protestant Reformation men who will be
able to live in the present men who
will put their stamp upon this day and
age men who will put the impress of
divine grace upon America men who will have
power with God wanted men of God men
not wimps men not apologies for men not
what C.T. Studd once called a chocolate
soldier I'll maybe lay hands on his fairly
lengthy poem, well that's giving it high praise
indeed C.T. Studd was a great man,
a poet he wasn't Doggerall would be more
like it but I'll try if I can
remember to lay hands on his Doggerall, the
chocolate soldier in which he likened people who
dressed themselves up as soldiers in the cause
of Christ but being made of chocolate when
the heat goes on they melt they're useless
men that's what we want men of God
men of God who will epitomize the greatest
features of the Protestant Reformation may I say
first and foremost that such men will be
men of one book God's book I've made
reference to this in the past studies dealing
with the reformers but I'm unashamedly going over
this again tonight they were men of one
book now don't misunderstand me they were not
anti-intellectual the reformers had studied scholastic theology
and that's saying something they had mastered the
intricacies of the various schools they could pit
one against the other they had studied scholastic
theology many of them were experts on the
patristic literature the writings of the early church
fathers many of them also were experts on
the ancient classical Greek scholars these were men
of immense study and learning they were men
of a liberal education not in the sense
of liberal equals apostate but liberal equals broad
ranging they were products of the Renaissance they
had studied widely they had drunk deeply at
the fountain of human knowledge but having done
all that they turned away ultimately dissatisfied from
the writings of men even those with whom
they agreed to the writings of the word
of God the thing that marks the protestant
reformers is this that they were men with
an all consuming passion for scripture they were
in this book every single day of their
lives now you've got to remember that back
in the early 16th century the study of
Hebrew was still in its infant stages the
study of Hebrew was just becoming known the
study of Greek was still in its infant
stages Erasmus was the one who first gave
us a printed edition of the Greek New
Testament and suddenly all over Europe you found
young men some of them like Luther from
very very poor surroundings others like Patrick Hamilton
of Scotland one of the royal household at
least of the royal family these young men
gave themselves to the study of Hebrew with
such brilliance that Luther could turn out a
translation of the scriptures that to this day
demands attention and indeed is credited with the
creation of the modern German language you think
of William Tyndale when you take the authorized
version of the scriptures in your hand and
I hope that you will have the wit
to stick with it but when you take
this in your hand never forget that probably
a full 60% of what is written
are the actual words of William Tyndale the
man who vowed that through the scriptures being
translated into English he would put the word
of God in the hands of a plow
boy make him no more than his priest
these men gave themselves to the study of
the original languages of scripture they gave themselves
to the study of the surrounding literature the
expositions of scripture from the earliest times onward
most of all they gave themselves to the
intense study of the word of God you
see for the Protestant reformers this was the
word of God that wasn't just jargon for
them this was God's word God's inspired word
God's sufficient revelation God's authoritative revelation they believed
it they studied it just to show you
the dedication when he was still a young
priest Zwingli wanted to be able to carry
the New Testament or at least a large
part of it with him given what was
available that was not possible so he sat
down laboriously and he copied out by hand
the entire epistles of Paul and then having
copied them out by hand he memorized every
one of them when men like that talk
about sola scriptura it wasn't just a slogan
this was the expression of their hearts the
reformers submerged their souls in scripture that I
believe was a major, major reason for their
greatness it is not coincidental that
another man whom the Calvinist Charles Hodge named
as a world controller was the Arminian John
Wesley of whom it was said he was
a man of one book Wesley's theology left
a lot to be desired again I have
to make a lot of excuses for him
I don't find him attractive as a character
to be quite honest great as a man
I suppose those two things don't often go
together attractive characters and great leadership but whether
I find him attractive or not is beside
the point I make a lot of excuses
for his background what he was struggling out
of but I have to say this he
was a man who stamped the world with
the stamp of his message because he was
a man submerged in that book in the
actual words of scripture in the theology of
scripture I am more than that in the
spirit of scripture that's the urgent need of
today wanted men of God men who are
going to give themselves body, soul and spirit
to the study of that book men who
believe that book and they don't care what
upstart scientist comes along to contradict it they
judge him by the Bible they do not
judge the Bible by his theory men who
are not going to be blown off course
by the fads of the age the theories
of men men who are so given to
the word of God that it for them
is the absolute rock of certainty there was
a time you know when that was because
of the protestant reformation and the things that
followed in its train that was the mark
of protestantism it was said though some have
tried to say that it is not an
accurate statement historically or theologically I think they're
wrong taking it as the statement was originally
intended the Bible, the Bible only the religion
of protestants that used to be our starting
point that used to be our finishing point
that used to be everything about protestantism it
was biblical through and through preachers did not
get up to discuss the vain theories of
men they did not get up to apologize
for the word of God they did not
get up to spout about the doubts of
men I remember reading as a young fellow
one of Spurgeon's sermons in which he was
speaking about Scripture the inspiration of Scripture and
he said I am not here to discuss
the doubts of men I am here to
preach the certainties of the word of God
that's where the reformers came from that's the
need of today men of one book there
are people who say they're called to preach
well I'll have to leave them to God
but I want to tell you and I'm
going to be very blunt here it's very
difficult for me to be blunt people usually
come to me and ask me could you
not make your meaning rather more clear but
I'm going to be blunt on this occasion
if your medical doctors read as little medicine
and knew as little medicine as the average
preacher reads biblical truth and biblical theology you
wouldn't trust your dog to them never mind
your life and yet people are trusting their
souls their souls their whole eternity to preachers
who are as ignorant of the things of
God because a preacher can spout an odd
text or two and say this is what
he calls the Romans Road and by the
way I have absolutely no controversy with the
texts in the Romans Road none whatsoever but
because a preacher has learned a few pet
verses off by heart don't ever kid yourself
that he knows the Bible men given that's
the first need of the hour they knew
it from that flows the second thing that
we see in the reformers we need to
see in men of God today that is
men who feel the power of the word
of God in their own soul men of
genuine spiritual experience I've said that the reformers
were scholars for the most part they were
academics John Calvin Luther also in his early
days Luther was training to be a lawyer
I see Tim smiling but then he got
right with God and became a theologian John
Calvin his first printed work not a roaring
success like a few other books I know
as far as sales went John Calvin his
first work was a work on law a
commentary on an ancient Greek classic these men
were academics university professors people who wanted to
sit in the study people who wanted to
spend their times in academia they were academics
but they were not theorists you see the
word of God entered into their soul it
was for them the inner source of certainty
and of courage in a word they not
only got to know the word of God
they got to know the God of the
word man what a difference there is what
a difference there is Daniel tells us in
chapter 11 32 that the people that do
know their God shall be strong and do
exploits if ever you needed an example of
that after the times of the apostles you
get it in the days of the protestant
reformers the people knew their God and therefore
they did exploits now let me voice a
concern that I have about the days in
which we live especially in this internet age
when you've got a bunch of people who
need to start learning English before they start
pontificating on the meaning of Hebrew and Greek
and they go onto the internet and they
read some internet theologian and especially of the
Calvinistic variety we're infected and infested with them
and they're coming up with every crazy stupid
notion under the sun we have Presbyterians out
there and they are now part of a
new perspective on Paul I'll maybe get to
that later it's intended to overturn everything that
the protestant reformation ever established about Paul what
it's intended to do is to rewrite the
doctrine of justification we have Presbyterians out there
teaching as a result of this the doctrine
of baptismal regeneration we have people out there
who having espoused the notion that it's right
for them to sprinkle their children and call
it baptism that then it's right because they're
baptized to feed them the bread and the
wine at the Lord's table not warning the
people that the Bible says that if you
eat and drink and you're not discerning the
Lord's body you're eating and drinking the condemnation
of God we have academics or professed academics
out there I've read, I don't read too
much of it because you would never think
to listen to me but it gets me
angry at them theorists,
theorists I have said it before and I'll
say it again I read them and I
read them again and I've never read one
single sentence that would ever humble my heart
and lead me to cry at the feet
of Jesus there's something wrong with theology like
that something radically wrong with it God save
us from theorists we need men of God
men into whose very heart and soul the
Bible and its truth have come to reside
men who are governed by this Word who
are set on fire by this Word who
have a passion for the glory of God
a passion for the souls of men who
are ablaze with the love that sent Christ
to the cross as we were singing tonight
Christ living in them and Christ living through
them that's what we need that's what we
need God give us men like that wanted
men of God these men in the third
place will have a real grasp of the
gospel not only are they men of one
book into whose soul that book, that message
has come with life controlling power but they
are men who have a grasp of the
one message learned theologians dispute as to whether
there is any integrating theme in the Bible
again there's no greater blindness than the blindness
of an academic with a theory to defend
how you can come to this book and
even wonder is there an integrating theme you
have to call Christ a liar even to
question that there's an integrating theme He is
the theme He said Moses wrote of me
on the way to Emmaus what did he
do?
he took the scriptures and he started with
Moses and went through the whole Hebrew canon
of scripture and he expounded in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself the integrating theme
of scripture is the one message from Genesis
to Revelation it's in the types of scripture
it's in the prophecies of scripture it's in
the didactic statements of scripture it's in the
poetry of scripture it's in the prose of
scripture it's in the Old Testament it's in
the New Testament it is the one message
and that's the message that gripped the hearts
of the protestant reformers they knew what was
important at least for the most part there
were times when like men they get carried
away on things of lesser importance and allowed
those things to cause needless division but as
they battled for truth they grasped the significance
of the great central theological issues of their
day and can I say these ultimately haven't
changed authority why do we believe what we
believe merit how can a man be just
with God on what ground can a sinner
find acceptance with God merit faith what is
it to believe how does a man enter
into life eternal then the soul sufficiency of
Jesus Christ as mediator these were the great
issues authority why do we believe what we
believe because God has said it we live
in a day when the philosophy of the
age is all against anything authoritative that's the
philosophy of the day ultimately it doesn't matter
what you call philosophy that or theology that
rejects the bible it changes its name from
generation to generation it changes its emphasis its
approach but it doesn't change its essence whether
you go way back to the fathers of
the modernistic movement the rationalistic movement Friedrich Schleiermacher
isn't that a lovely name I didn't learn
German but it was a proficient German speaker
who told me in German that means the
maker of a veil very good name for
a man who drew the cloth over many
eyes or whether you come from him to
rationalists modernists, liberals of a different little school
they all had one thing in common and
that is they rejected the universal authority of
that book and God's word we live in
the age that's now called post-modernist been
an awful lot said about that of course
and it's not my idea to get into
it tonight post-modernism there was a time
you see when the western world attacked the
bible from the basis of what was called
the enlightenment enlightenment thinkers they were men who
believed in the scientific method they believed in
the empirical sciences prove it to me if
you can't prove it empirically I don't believe
it but now we've got beyond that because
you see science itself might come up with
some moral universals and modern man doesn't want
that if you want to know what post
-modernism is it's many things but reading wonderful
the things that come into the hands of
a preacher at times reading a book of
philosophy that dealt with this from the point
of view of all things of an architect
post-modernism finds one of its most outstanding
expressions in architecture and the theory is that
it stands for not for integration but for
the opposite even in architecture now I'm going
to get a wee bit worried I don't
want any post-modernist designing the house I
live in for I certainly want a better
foundation than he would think of but anything
that would form a universal standard is taboo
now when you get it into the realm
of morals to beliefs we're in an age
when people and this is why it's so
difficult to witness to people today you're not
even talking the same language you talk about
sin what do you mean by sin?
who says it's wrong?
it's alright for me works for me this
is my truth, that's your truth you see
everything is broken off from any integrating authoritative
or universal standard that's the day in which
we live now people believe something it's always
good to ask them why do you believe
that?
on what authority do you believe that?
I mean if you're going to say I'm
going to commit my life and if I
have a soul I'm going to commit my
soul to this theory on what authority do
you believe it?
the protestant theologians of the reformation had already
answered we believe it on the authority of
God's word we believe it because God has
said it now let me tell you and
this gets away beyond anything that I should
be dealing with tonight if God hasn't said
it then there's no such thing as truth
it's only because there is a God of
truth God is and God has spoken the
true great I'm tempted to expand here but
I'm not going to the two great starting
points of all Christian theology God is and
God has spoken unless that is true there
is no such thing as truth there is
no such thing as right there is no
such thing as wrong there is no such
thing as something being better than another except
that you may think it's so because it's
more for your comfort for the moment we
believe in God we believe in Christ who
is the faithful and true witness we believe
in him who said I am the truth
we believe that he has spoken his word
is authoritatively clear we believe that he has
put his stamp upon the reality of his
revelation by his own resurrection from the dead
that's where the apostles stood that's where the
reformers stood sola scriptura that's what makes the
issues facing the protestant churches today so overwhelmingly
important there is a renewed attack upon the
principle of the sole authority of scripture I
haven't time tonight to trace that attack you
have the academic attack you have the so
called scientific attack you have the philosophical attack
these are all from identifiable enemies do you
know in the reformation times do you know
where one of the most potent attacks well
let me take the two most potent attacks
on the authority of scripture do you know
where they came from first from the pope
the church of Rome who said we agree
that this is the word of God and
we agree that it is authoritative but only
as it is interpreted by Holy Mother Church
according to Tradition with a capital T and
ultimately it's Tradition that imposes itself on scripture
not scripture imposing itself on Tradition that is
still the position of the church of Rome
and sadly, sadly in our evangelical churches along
with other churches in the protestant side of
the fence you have men who are willing
to dialogue with Rome on the very issue
of the full and final authority of God's
word and even when they say as the
protestants and ECT evangelicals and catholics together even
when they say we are upholding the authority
of scripture in reality they are selling it
down the river then there was another area
and it came from people who are now
called the radical reformers at least from some
of them there were Anabaptists who called themselves
spiritual Anabaptists these were people and they said
God spoke to me God said this to
me God said the other thing to me
listen, I want to be very frank with
you I get very worried when I hear
people coming telling me God said this to
me, God said the other thing to me
why should I believe you?
give me one reason why I should believe
you can you show me it in this
book?
now don't misunderstand me I believe that in
my study of that word God can take
that word and apply it with personal light
and power to my soul but I tell
you this I do not thereby have any
right to bind anybody else or his conscience
the Anabaptists who were spiritual Anabaptists
they didn't need the Bible for God was
speaking to them directly they were the charismatics
of their age but let's not lay all
the blame at the feet of the charismatics
I listen to fundamentalists and they're for always
saying what God is saying to me he's
saying this, he's saying that he's saying the
other thing and there's not a shred of
scriptural evidence for it and in many cases,
in many cases they are doing the very
opposite to what the Bible says where's the
authority of scripture now?
where's the authority of scripture?
as I said to a Jehovah's Witness years
ago when she wouldn't listen to a text
of scripture wouldn't listen to anything establishing the
deity of Jesus Christ I said, mom, you
are afraid of what I show you in
the Bible and I will take the position
right now I am not afraid of anything
anything that anybody can show me is the
legitimate teaching of this book a priori I
will accept what this book says now that
doesn't mean to say I'm going to accept
what you say it says but let's get
to what the book says that's where the
authority is if you have this book as
your authority you'll be it you'll be it
this is not just a theoretical thing we
believe the Bible to be the word of
God you obey this book we need preachers
who not only learn how to expound the
book we need preachers who know how to
obey the book that's what we need then
use that part of the gospel, it's authority
the reformers knew the doctrine of merit isn't
this what got Luther all riled up?
when John Tetzel came selling his indulgences similar
things were happening in other places there were
these outlandish claims being made as to how
people could have their sins forgiven actually the
history of indulgences is a very instructive thing
as to show you how you get a
little away from scripture and suddenly you'll go
on down down until you end up in
a morass at the beginning it's probable at
least that indulgences were never meant to be
a means of purchasing pardon in the beginning
it is probable that they were meant to
be the expression of gratitude from souls that
had been pardoned and especially who had been
pardoned by the intervention of a kind mother
church through her priests so when the priests
said I forgive you in gratitude then they
gave money but as time went on that
subtly changed until it became the purchasing of
pardon when John Tetzel came around he said
as soon as the money drops into the
drum the soul that you're paying for will
fly to purgatory you pay we'll give pardon
and Luther was incensed at that why?
because he was preaching the merit of Christ
what is it that gets a man right
with God the merit of Christ there is
no merit in human works there is no
merit in human religion there is no merit
in human praying there is no merit in
human giving there is no merit in anything
that a man can do he cannot do
anything to merit the favor of God it
is sola gratia it is by grace alone
that we are saved but if it is
by grace alone then it is through faith
alone now the reformers were not fools they
understood quite well and the council of Trent
which for political reasons was not able to
meet until the middle of the 16th century
my memory is right about 1545 and went
on for about 15 years but the reformers
knew what Trent made clear that the church
of Rome believes in salvation by faith it
will tell you it believes in salvation by
grace through faith and we have some foolish
people on Evangelicals and Catholics Together for example
today who are saying this is a wonderful
discovery this is a basis for renewed cooperation
this is a basis for us pursuing getting
together as Christians there is nothing new about
this the reformers knew all about that but
Rome then and Rome today detests detests the
doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone
sola fide by faith alone the promise
keepers I mentioned them a long time back
so I am not going to get into
them again but remember this the promise keepers
came up with a statement of faith which
they subtly changed why did they change it?
because Bill McCartney himself a Roman Catholic leader
of the movement from the beginning wanted full
Roman Catholic participation and when he found that
the statement of salvation by faith alone was
hindering Roman Catholics from coming in it was
subtly changed oh faith is still in there
but it is not faith alone let me
tell you that is not just splitting hairs
that goes to the heart of the gospel
and it leads right into the very next
thing that the reformers were always pushing and
that is the soul sufficiency of Jesus Christ
Christ alone now these were the essentials these
were the essentials and the reformers judged men
according to these things and they judged movements
in the light of these things let me
tell you my friend when I say wanted
men of God we need men who have
a real grasp of the gospel we today
live in an age when there is an
abysmal ignorance of the gospel do you realize
that most fundamentalist pulpits have never once had
one single message expounding the doctrine of justification
by grace alone, through faith alone in the
merits of Christ alone do you realize that
in most fundamentalist churches there has never been
in its history one single, one single exposition
of the impure righteousness of Jesus Christ then
we wonder what's wrong in our churches do
you realize that in most of our churches
fundamental, evangelical and even reform the people don't
know what the ecumenical movement the movement for
union with the church of Rome is and
they certainly don't know why it is to
be totally abominated and rejected why is this?
it's because there is an abysmal ignorance of
the gospel and preachers are ill equipped to
deal with real issues now, the reasons for
this differ from denomination or from group to
group in fundamentalism and I'll start there, not
because I'm anti-fundamentalist but because I am
a fundamentalist in fundamentalism, for far too long
there has been a fear of historic, systematic,
reformed theology people are dead scared if we
let get people into the study of theology
they might become Calvinists well sure they'll become
Calvinists why?
because there's only one form of systematic theology
that makes a button of sense that's why
I'm not going to say anything new here
this is something I said years and years
and years ago there was a very dear
friend of mine and I'll not mention names
because I wouldn't want to give a wrong
impression a very dear friend of mine who
was a great preacher and a Christian leader
and a man of immense importance in the
fundamentalist scene here in North America but he
was very fond of talking about paradoxes and
I remember saying to him look, there's something
wrong here I'm tired of hearing fundamentals fundamentalist
preachers talking about everything in the Bible as
a paradox I'm tired of that he looked
at me I said, why I'm tired of
it and why I suspect it is paradox
is the theology of neo-orthodoxy when you
dismiss everything as a paradox you're simply saying
the Bible doesn't make sense God's a paradox
because he's one and he's three God's not
a paradox nor a contradiction election and free
will a paradox no it's not it's not
just let the Bible speak for itself let
God be true and every man a liar
as I talked to this very dear friend
of mine about this I just shared my
burden with him we have got to the
stage where we're talking about the Bible being
the word of God we're talking this and
talking that and talking the other thing but
at the end of the day we're really
telling our people the Bible doesn't make any
sense but it does make sense and the
only reason why fundamentalism ever fell into that
pit was not that it was becoming neo
-orthodox fundamentalism is the farthest thing from neo
-orthodoxy but the only reason it fell into
that pit was a fear of systematic theology
you've heard it before doctrine bends if you
get too much into this theology business you'll
lose your passion for souls and my dear
come off it let's talk a little bit
of sense let's get a little bit of
historical perspective who's the greatest revivalist this country
ever produced I bet you, well I better
not bet I'm not supposed to bet well
the thing is if it's a sure thing
who's the greatest revivalist this country has ever
produced most Americans couldn't begin to tell you
most of them would maybe mention Charles Finney
the greatest plague on the Bible this country
ever produced who is the greatest revivalist this
country has ever produced he just happens to
be the greatest theologian this country ever produced
the greatest thinker this country ever produced and
I'm talking about the one and only Jonathan
Edwards don't tell me that theology deadens
your soul if your soul is deadened because
of your theology let me tell you if
your theology doesn't lead you to weep at
the glory of God and weep at the
damnation of sinners your theology is not right
let's get it reformed theology doesn't do that
unless it becomes deformed we have preachers who
are not equipped to deal with the real
issues because they are not equipped even to
recognize them we're living in a day of
a man-centered emphasis I was greatly challenged
reading an article by a liberal a liberal
seminary professor and I had to say I
agreed with every word of it except his
own views on theology which were obviously off
the wall but he wasn't dealing with his
own views he was saying I have been
looking can you not identify with this I
have been looking for a church I'm wanting
to hear a preacher who's going to speak
of the greatness of God the glory of
God who's going to be preaching a God
-centered message I've gone to Baptist churches fundamental
churches evangelical churches reformed churches he said recently
in our town and he mentioned the town
I heard there was a wonderful theological Presbyterian
preacher when I went there I found the
very same thing it's all man-centered feeling
oriented you know a Jim will fix it
well this is not Britain that was a
television program they had over there years ago
Jim will fix it if you had a
wish or something you needed done how to
do this how to get that I don't
know who Jim was but Jim fixed it
and of course they showed it in television
well that's the kind of preaching we have
today Jim will fix it only we have
made almighty God into Jim Jim will fix
it how to be happy how to live
a fulfilled life how to do this how
to do that how to do the other
thing man-centered religion playing down the emphasis
of justification by faith alone and the imputation
of the righteous merits of Christ redefining the
very essence of the gospel I talked about
this new perspective on Paul I better close
my Bible I haven't got half way through
the message but I better close my Bible
otherwise my wife is going to tell me
didn't I tell you so listen a redefining
of the very heart of the gospel I
want to bring everything to that book but
I want to tell you this and I'll
be honest about it right up front anything
that is posited upon the belief that all
the protestant reformers got it wrong on the
doctrine of law and grace on the doctrine
of justification and acceptance with God any theory
that's posited on the basis that they got
it all wrong is going to have a
hard time with me and I trust it
will have with you too these were the
men who controlled the world isn't that a
wonderful thought men of one book men into
whose soul this book had come with light
and power it made them what they were
men who lived in the light of this
word men of one book men into whom
this book came with mighty mighty power men
who had a grasp of the gospel men
who would stand for it to the death
we'll deal with that as I finish this
God willing next week these are the men
we need today America needs men of God
we need them in the pulpit the work
of God is being choked for want of
man some of you young men you get
on your knees I'm not calling anybody to
preach God forbid but I want you to
go get alone with God I remember as
a 17 year old going before God an
18 year old possibly getting before God getting
on my knees and staying there day after
day Lord what would you have me to
do I will do anything go anywhere I
want only the will of God I was
not asking God to make me a preacher
I never asked God to make me a
preacher I never thought I ever could be
a preacher but I wanted God's will sure
I wanted to succeed in life sure I
wanted to be able to get a job
and make plenty of money and settle down
and travel the world I had all the
views and visions and desires that any normal
young person would have but all those had
to be brought to the feet of Jesus
that's what I want you young fellas to
do because listen one of these days very
very soon we're all going to stand before
the Lord what's going to count in that
day what's going to count do you remember
the words of the little course only one
life will soon be passed only what's done
for Christ will last when I go out
to meet God my only desire is that
my life to some small extent will have
done something for Christ if God calls you
to be a preacher to do that then
let God do the calling you do the
obeying but whether you're in the pulpit or
teaching in a school or serving in a
shop or working in a factory floor or
raising children in the home wherever you are
God says I sought for a man I
sought for a man He's still seeking in
every age in every generation I sought for
a man I wonder when he comes to
where you're sitting tonight will he find one
let's bow our heads in prayer in
a moment the meeting will be over I
trust that the word of God will ring
on in every heart I trust tonight that
if you know Christ you will make very
very very sure that when the Lord says
I sought for a man you will honestly
be able to say Lord here am I
just whatever you want me to be here
am I if you're here tonight and you've
never known Christ the word of his grace
has never entered into your heart the reality
of saving power has never transformed your soul
then the command of the gospel is repent
and believe repent and believe that's God's command
the first sermon Jesus ever preached that's what
he said if we can help you to
Christ Mr. Bream, Dr. Barrett and I are
here to help you we invite you to
remain let's open God's word to point you
Christward Father in heaven find men of God
in this meeting indeed we pray create men
of God in this meeting forgive us our
backsliding our coldness of heart Lord we pray
tonight make us men of God fill the
towns and cities of America with men not
molded by the society but who will mold
the society in which they live placing upon
it the impress of the gospel of divine
grace Lord answer prayer and give fruit for
this time together now part us with thy
blessing keep us in thy fear both now
and evermore we pray in
Jesus name Amen