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What was the Protestant Reformation?

11/5/2017

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​We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. (Psalms 44:1)


"We have heard" the text says. But the problem is that, for generations, we have not heard! Our fathers have failed to pass on to their children the good heritage of the knowledge of God's mighty acts; and we have been left to find out for ourselves, or else to remain ignorant.
On this 500th anniversary of the Great Reformation, it behooves us to do what in us lies to make known just what it was, and how it has mightily affected the lives of all nations to this day! Just what are we talking about when we speak of "the Reformation"?
Most of you know that the Reformation involved a rediscovery of the holy Scriptures. You may have heard of the four "solas":
Sola Scriptura -- Scripture alone
Sola gratia -- Grace alone
Sola fide -- Faith alone
Sola Christa -- Christ alone
This is a good summary of the principles of the Reformation; but if this is all we know of it, we will not fully understand what it was, and why it is so important.
It is, of course, impossible to do this subject justice in the space of forty minutes. All one can hope to do is to shed some rays of light upon it, and hopefully to create an interest in those who love truth -- a desire to know more. This presentation will be short on historical details. I have had to leave out much that I would have wished to put in. There is no shortage of books and videos that give that information better than I could have done. My aim is to give you the "big picture", rather than a historical sketch.
It is my belief that it is our duty to recover our Reformed heritage. And it is my fervent prayer that God's people will awake to the glory of their heritage; and to find inspiration and wisdom for the difficult times in which we find ourselves -- times which call for a new Reformation!
What then was that great upheaval that we call "The Protestant Reformation"?
First, it was a resurgence of biblical Christianity in doctrine and practice. As such, it transformed the social life of whole nations. It was such a powerful and sustained moving of the Spirit of God that it even transformed the central institutions of life: the family, the church, the school, the legal system, even governments and international relations.
Second, it was a work of God, born out of the cry of the Christian conscience. It was carried on as a powerful Spiritual revival and a sequence of striking Divine providences. Because it was God's doing, and not man's, it cannot be limited to any one man or any single place. It took its rise in many places simultaneously, building on what had gone before.
Third, it has had lasting effects on the culture of the whole civilized world. It dramatically lessened the power and weakened the influence of the Papacy throughout the world. It left its mark in every sphere of human creative endeavor: literature, music and the fine arts. Most importantly, it started a missionary movement that carried the gospel to the heathen world; and goes on today!
I will endeavor to make a few pertinent comments on these three points.
First, the Reformation of the sixteenth century was a restoration of Christianity to a world that had effectually suppressed it and substituted a counterfeit. This had been effected by the apostasy of the church and its gradual corruption, until it was no longer the church of Jesus Christ; but an organization wholly co-opted for the evil purposes of men: wealth and power.
The church was no longer defined as the whole company of the faithful; but as the clerical hierarchy. The people were merely their servants, and had no voice or vote concerning any matter.
The wealth of nations was being systematically drained away by church taxes, charges for services, and impositions of all sorts. The richest man in England at one time was the Archbishop of Canterbury, and not the King! While the Bishops and Abbots and the horde of locusts called the lesser clergy lived in luxury, the greater part of the spoils went to Rome, which, like our Washington D.C. had an insatiable thirst for money.
The Pope was called "God's Vicar" and had unlimited authority in every area of every man's life. He could nullify a vow or forgive any sin. This kind of unlimited power was logically consistent with the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation, which is that the physical body of Jesus Christ could be conjured up out of a piece of bread by the incantations of a priest (and then eaten by people who could only taste, feel, and smell it as ordinary bread. What a miracle!)
To doubt the universal authority of the Pope was heresy. The clergy were exempt from arrest or prosecution by any secular authority. They literally had license to do what they pleased; and many of them were no better than criminals. Monks and priests, who had to take a vow of celibacy, were notoriously unclean, and a threat to the wives and daughters of honest men. The monasteries in England were systematically investigated under Thomas Cromwell; and many of the practices uncovered there were so vile that they could hardly be believed. Yet these men were, according to the "church", more holy than ordinary men.
In short, what was called "the church" was a vast, international criminal conspiracy under the name of the church. The real church was in captivity, as documented in Luther's famous book, "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church".
For centuries before the Reformation, anyone who had the temerity to reject any of "the church's" teachings or practices in favor of the religion of the New Testament placed himself in mortal jeopardy thereby. Anyone who was not regularly seen at mass, or who ate meat on Friday, could be imprisoned, tortured, condemned and burnt. To possess the Scriptures, or even a few verses, in the vernacular language was a crime. Not only were individuals and religious communities persecuted for the gospel's sake; but the Papacy slaughtered whole populations of peaceful agrarian Christians who lived in the Alpine valleys. The demonic brutality of these soldiers of the Pope is documented; but it takes a strong stomach to read of them. He literally made war against nations, such as Bohemia, that declared themselves under the authority of God's word, rather than the Pope's.
If any king or prince resisted his iron hand in his own realm, the Pope could declare his subjects free from obedience, and could command them, and other princes, to overthrow him. In addition to this, the confessional allowed him to spy on everyone, and to pry into every man's inmost thoughts. Remember that the confessional was not optional. One's sins had to be pardoned by a priest, or they would have to be atoned for in the fires of purgatory, or even Hell! Even the royalty of Europe were not exempt -- each had his appointed confessor; and the mighty emperor, Charles V, trembled when his confessor would not give him absolution until he promised to wipe out the Protestants in Germany.
The evils of the Roman catholic cult were so many and so great that it would take a book just to survey them, without going into much detail. The so-called "church" was a terrible, crushing burden rather than a blessing on mankind. It was a cloud of locusts, eating up all the labor of men's hands. It threatened the populace with damnation for minor or even non-offenses, while absolving the most horrendous crimes committed by it's own protected class. Even today, where Rome reigns, these same evils exist.
We talk about the difficulty of "draining the swamp". Yes, it looks impossible. But consider the swamp that Luther and Calvin and all the other faithful men of that age had to drain! And yet they succeeded to a degree almost unimaginable! They could not reform the unreformable false church; but they built up the true church in many lands, and conquered territory held for centuries in darkness with the light of God's truth. They set free the consciences of men bound with the Pope's laws, that they might fear God, and obey His! They restored faith, hope and love to the lives of people, families, churches and communities that had only known moral degradation and oppression.
Second, it was an awakening of the consciences of men, a sovereign work of Almighty God. The awakening of consciences is His work alone. Men do not become more sensitive to the voice of conscience on their own. The tendency is rather for conscience to be suppressed until it gradually becomes silent. It was men whose consciences would not leave them alone that drove on the work. Martin Luther's famous words , spoken when he was on trial for heresy before the Emperor Charles V will never be forgotten:
"Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear arguments... my conscience is bound to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and will not recant anything. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen!"
Calvin documents his own struggles to shake off the convictions he received, and to suppress the thunderings of God in his own conscience. Here was a man who could have become a famous jurist, a Cardinal, or even a Pope! He would rather have been a secluded scholar, writing books somewhere, than be in the midst of the storm, giving up all his comforts, risking his life every day for the glory of God, for conscience' sake!
The fruit of the Reformation shows it to be God's work. The character of the reformers and martyrs abundantly evidence it to be God's work. The innumerable striking providences of God that brought it to pass are further evidence. But ultimately, the fact that the Reformation was founded on God's word, and furthered it, is the surest proof that it was the work of God.
Many people think that Luther was the first to declare the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and so credit him with starting the work; but this is not quite true. Wyclif and Hus went before him by a hundred years, and left behind a numerous body of believers. Lefevre in France and Zwingli in Switzerland both anticipated Luther's formulation of the doctrine of "justification by faith alone" by several years. Before they had even heard his name, they were teaching the so-called "Lutheran" doctrine. The Vaudois had retained the gospel since they moved to those Alpine valleys many centuries before. This fact of the multiple sources of the Reformation adds yet another proof of its Divine origin. That such a movement could begin in different nations and cultures; and yet unite them in a common faith is itself remarkable.
Third, it has had lasting effects on the culture of the whole civilized world. It was not merely a great revival of religion, such as the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century under Whitfield and the Wesleys. This is not to diminish that wonderful work of God, documented in breathtaking detail by Arnold Dallimore in his three-volume work. It differed from this in that it was not clearly "over" in a few years. Nor did any revival in history have the scope or the deep effect on the world that the Reformation did. It was more like the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the first century, when the gospel first went into the world and won conquests everywhere, putting an end to Paganism and transforming the Gentile world.
If a new Reformation were to be granted by Heaven today, it would not only mean the revival of the churches and the conversion of multitudes, but also the end of secular humanism's dominance: a restoration of biblical law in the state, an end to humanistic mis-education in the schools, the salvation of marriage and the family, and a radical reconstruction of the work life of man in the economy.
The Reformation dramatically lessened the power and weakened the influence of the Papacy throughout the world. It did not end it; but it greatly reduced its scope, and ended its dominance. The Protestant nations gained the ascendancy in power, wealth, science and technology, industry and commerce in a short time. This dominance continues to this day in the nations that were once Protestant.
It left its mark in every sphere of human creative endeavor: literature, music and the fine arts. In this, it resembles the first conversion of the Gentiles and the age of Constantine. Art reflects the artist's aspirations, ideas of beauty, and inevitably, his religion. Some of the most important literary works, and those acknowledged as the greatest or the most popular, were written by the Reformers or those of following generations who were educated in Protestant schools.
Most importantly, the Reformation started a missionary movement that carried the gospel to the heathen world; and goes on today! It was providential that Luther's struggles with the Papacy began shortly after the invention of the printing press. By this means, his written works and doings were made known wherever there were people who could read. Entrepeneurs made fortunes publishing his works, and tracts, essays and books by the other Reformers. The instinct of every true Christian is to evangelize -- to share the great news of Jesus Christ with his neighbors. The field was ripe. The whole world was Roman Catholic, and very few had any notion of the gospel. So the work began at home. But it was not long before colporteurs and preachers were being sent out to foreign lands, wherever the gospel had not been preached before. Succeeding generations of Protestant Christians have carried on the work, which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century.
The Reformation was most concerned about the relationship of the individual to God. Everything starts there; but it does not end there. The new-created, enlightened soul then finds that the Word of God is a rule for all of life and all its institutions. Men and women who fear God and not man exert an irresistible force, each in his own sphere, and the world is changed thereby. Even if the world makes a martyr of him, he conquers; for in his honest adherence to his principles, he bears eloquent testimony to the truth and value of them. He glorifies God in his death, and makes an impression on those who look on that is not easily forgotten. Consciences are awakened, and that is what a Reformation feeds on!
Dear brothers and sisters, let us so live that we can be an instrument for awakening the consciences of our fellow human beings! Then they will be open to hear the word of God as never before! And let us never fail to give out the word when we have opportunity. We know not what our witness will effect in others. Perhaps if we were more faithful, we would be seeing a revival of religion even now! Perhaps it is true of us, as it was of the cities of old: "But Jesus could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief." Let it not be so! Hearing of the mighty works of God in the past, let us believe all things with respect to the future. The early Baptist missionary to Burma, Adoniram Judson, was once asked "What are the prospects for the speedy conversion of the heathen?" His answer -- "They are as bright as the promises of God!"



Howard Douglas King
October 28, 2017
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What is a Sinner?

11/5/2017

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​A sinner is not just someone who is not quite perfect. Nobody is going to wake up in hell and say,"If only I hadn't stolen that cookie when I was a child, I wouldn't be here!"
A sinner is not someone who tried his best to be good, but fell short. No one is going to stand before God and say, "I admit I failed; but you are a God of mercy, so I know you won't be so harsh as to disregard all my sincere efforts. So which way to the pearly gates?" Jesus didn't die to make up for our shortcomings.
A sinner is someone who is under the dominion of sin so completely that he is usually unconscious that he is sinning.
A sinner may be very sure of his own goodness -- or at least of his sincerity. But if he is, then he is just practicing self-deceit. A sinner is not good. He's not even trying to be good. He doesn't want to be good -- he wants to do what he wants, even if he knows it to be evil. He sins from the heart. Yes, he sometimes shocks even himself by doing something that he didn't know he was capable of. But this does not mean that he didn't do it deliberately, intentionally.
A sinner goes wrong in three ways:
1) He commits acts that are sinful as to the matter. These are acts forbidden in themselves by the moral law of God. He may keep some of the commandments of God in an outward sense, but not all; and none in the true and spiritual sense Jesus insisted on in the sermon on the mount.
2) He acts from an unlawful motive. Even when doing something lawful in God's sight, often it is only for show, or for gain, or for other evil motives. Sometimes his own self-interest happens to coincide with God's; but where self-interest reigns in the heart, you have nothing but sin. We ought to have God's will as our supreme motive for everything we do. Self ought to be secondary; and the minute we see that God's will and ours conflict, we must sacrifice our selves.
3) He sins in his method. He does something lawful, perhaps even with good intentions, but in a way that is not lawful.
A sinner sins in thought, word and deed, all day long, all the days of his life. He may be outwardly moral, and seem a good neighbor and a responsible citizen, but this is only the outside that he has learned to create to impress his fellow-man. God sees what is inside, and that is the only thing that matters. That is the true man.
We have all seen villains depicted in plays and movies and in novels that are so morally offensive that we find ourselves wanting very much to see them severely punished. We may be moved to anger, as if it was not play-acting, but something happening in real life! But there is no villain in any play that is worse than the common, garden-variety sinner is in real life. Listen to how Jesus describes the things that are generated by the evil heart of man:
And he said, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man." (Mar 7:20-23)
In the New Testament epistles, written to churches, or bodies of believers, there are found "catalogs of sins"; such as Romans 1:28-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:8-11. I used to think that these lists referred only to those who have not been converted, or to believers before their conversion. I did not realize the truth of Paul's words "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing"(Rom 7:18).
The Saints are Still Sinners
The truth is that saints are still sinners. They are no longer the blind and powerless slaves of sin, it is true. There is a new nature, and it increasingly shows itself; but the old self is still there, living within, fighting against the new self. We have stopped doing many things which we used to do; but we are very, very far from perfection. We need to hear this: we need to be humbled by our sins. We need to learn to see our sins as God sees them: to hate our sins, and to use all means to avoid them. We need to "watch", which in Scripture means to "stand guard" against occasions of sin. These things we will not do if we remain blind to the evil that is in our bosoms.
The very fact that the saints are unable to conform themselves completely to the will of God, even though they desire this most sincerely and ardently shows how completely corrupt the sinner is, and demonstrates the native strength of sin in the hearts of all men.
What it Means to be a Sinner
One of the most painful aspects of the Christian life is the knowledge of the sinfulness of man: both our own, and that of others. It is not a pretty picture that we see as we observe our own lives; and it is not encouraging to view the progress of human affairs without the illusions which most people embrace to make life palatable.
In addition, it is grievous to realize how blind people are about their own miserable state. Our catechism teaches us that we are born into a state of sin and misery. (See Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 13-19.) The Catechism explains our awful plight in the following words:
Question 19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
Answer: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.
This is a good summary of the terrible condition that we are in. There are 5 elements, which we will consider one by one:
1. The sinner is alienated from God.
2. The sinner is under His wrath and curse.
3. The sinner is liable to all temporal miseries.
4. The sinner must soon die.
5. If the sinner continues in this state until death, he will be damned forever.
1. Alienated from God
We are not born innocent, or in fellowship with God. A child does not have to be taught to rage whenever his will is crossed: he has to be taught not to. The psalmist said, "They go astray from the womb, speaking lies". God must act to change the heart before we are even desirous of His fellowship. In our hearts, we are all God's enemies. But alienation is a word that cuts two ways: God is also our enemy. He is, so to speak, forced to oppose us, for we are out to sabotage His holy and good plan for the world of men. Our evil words, our wicked actions, and our bad example and incitement of others to sin cannot be ignored. For example, the one who is pledged to care for the widow and fatherless cannot sit smiling while his subjects oppress them. No, we are in need of reconciliation. God is so far from being pleased with us, that he counts us His enemies. The sinner needs to understand that this is a terrible thing: the danger is extreme!
2. Under His wrath and curse
We are not to think of God as losing His temper like we do. When He is angry, it is not something He regrets and tries to repress. His wrath is like the righteous indignation with which a man fights to drive an invader from his home with deadly force. No, when the Lord God acts in wrath and fury, it is willingly, with His whole self. He is therefore "greatly to be feared", as the Scripture says.
What is the significance of the curse of God? What does it mean to be under His curse? A curse is a maledictory oath; as a blessing is an oath of benediction. It means that God has fixed and declared His intention to destroy the sinner. God never goes back on His blessings or His cursings; for an oath of God is unbreakable. Like His wrath, His curse is not something that is owing to a moment of passion, when God "forgets himself" as we do; or "doesn't know what he is doing" or "doesn't mean what he's saying". God's curse is deliberate, well considered. From eternity, He has always intended to oppose those who despise His good laws, and who rather choose to do evil. Nothing can make Him change His mind on this. Truly, the fact of god's wrath and curse should make every sinner tremble!
3. Liable to all temporal miseries
There are innumerable ways to suffer; and human beings have a practically infinite capacity for pain. It requires no proof that life is filled with misery. Though we would rather dwell on our dreams and ambitions of happiness in this life, few ever approach happiness; and those who do so do not find their happiness in temporal things, nor do they live free of sorrow. Rich or poor, old or young, no one can insulate himself from pain, so that he is not touched by it. This is the will of God.
4. Soon to die
Who ever thinks about death? Our culture constantly sets before us images of death and dying; but in such a way that we rarely if ever think what it is like to die, or what it means to die. People will do almost anything rather than willingly give up their lives. The fear of death absolutely drives us. We are so afraid that we cannot allow ourselves to think that we are afraid. Billions take refuge from that fear in the various religions of the world; by trying to conciliate whatever powers there may be to be faced after death. Some try to convince themselves that there is nothing after death; but this too is motivated by their fear of death. The way that men view the world and the way they live are rarely (if ever) determined by rational consideration. The world-views that men adopt are a consequence, in large part, of the way they have chosen to hide themselves from the reality of death, and the fear of what is beyond. It may truly be said that, in the hearts of men, death reigns.
Yet, no matter how long he lives, the sinner will certainly die, and then He must stand before his Judge to give an account of his life -- and enter at last into his eternal destiny as a saint in heaven, or as a sinner in hell.
5. Damned forever without repentance
Forever! What one word has more of hope or of fear in it than this one? Eternal life! Everlasting joy! Eternal punishment! Everlasting pains! If death is not the end -- and no one really believes that it is -- then what awaits us on the other side? It must needs be wonderful beyond all imagining or dreadful beyond our worst fears if it be our eternal destiny! People refuse to confront facts that, if true, cannot be endured. If a man finds that he is ruined with no way of escape; he often loses his reason, rather than face dishonor, shame, poverty, or whatever it is in which his entire happiness consists. But no ruination that we can ever face here can compare with damnation; for all else is temporary. We find ways to bear what we must, and we have family and friends, sometimes, to help us bear up. But our chief consolation in trouble is that nothing in this life lasts forever! But damnation is forever. Oh, my friends! Damnation is forever!
We must pity, preach to, and pray for those who are in such awful danger as this!
If sinners are to be saved, there must be some way for God to reconcile those who are alienated from Him. Jesus has satisfied the honor and justice of the offended majesty of God; and thus made a way for God's forgiveness and favor. Should we not tell them?
If sinners are to be saved, there must be an appeasement of God's righteous anger. This also was accomplished when Jesus died in the place of sinners. Is this not worthy to be proclaimed?
If sinners are to be saved, there must be a lifting of the curse. Some way must exist whereby God neither breaks His word nor carries it out. Infinite wisdom has found out the way: the curse falls on another who is by nature indestructible. He bears the awful load for us, in our place; and is not crushed because He is Divine. The elect sinner, bound to Christ in a covenantal union that has existed from eternal ages, is freed from the curse forever. Is this not good news?
Pity, preach and pray!
Glory to God! Amen!
Howard Douglas King
October 13, 2017



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    Howard King

    Gifted and articulate author, Bible teacher, historian, theologian and member of Hernando ARP Church.

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