On Revelation 3:1-6 focuses on the church in Sardis, presenting it as a symbol of a partial revival during the Reformation. While acknowledging the significant work of reformers like Martin Luther in recovering the simple gospel, an open Bible, and religious liberty, the message highlights that their efforts were incomplete, leading Christ to declare their works imperfect. The sermon contrasts the reformers' achievements with their shortcomings, such as Luther's compromise with political powers and his differing views on the Lord's Supper compared to Zwingli, illustrating that even great revivals can fall short of perfection. It concludes by urging believers to appreciate and uphold the foundational principles of the Reformation, learning from both the reformers' successes and their failures.
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I shall read again tonight in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter three. The book of Revelation chapter three in verse one. And unto the angel of the church and Sardis write, These things saith he that have the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works that thou hast the name that thou livest and are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.
For I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief. and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angel.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. Now we have a subject tonight that's a good deal more pleasant than what we had last night. Last night we were speaking about a very dark blank picture in Thyatira. We were speaking about the worst woman in Holy Scripture. I believe that the most beautiful thing in the world is a good woman. And on the other hand, the most dangerous thing in the world is a bad woman. And certainly Jezebel is the most reputable character in the whole of Holy Scripture.
When we get her name mentioned, I think that what we get there is a symbolic picture of a period of church history. We give a little outline of it last night. Now there are a number here tonight that haven't been here before. While I'm not familiar with everybody, I know that there are some that haven't been here on the other night. And I think it might be as well just to occupy just a few moments in going over the ground that we have already covered so that we can pick up the threads of what we want to speak about tonight. In these seven churches in Revelation two and three, we believe we have a three-fold picture of the church. is first of all the primary application.
I think that at that time in the last decade of the first century there were seven churches in Asia, the Roman province of Asia. And the Lord Jesus here is giving a message to them. He was the one who could look with eyes like a flame of fire into these local assemblies. He could see the conditions there. And the Lord Jesus as priest and judge is looking into the internal condition of each one of these churches on his passing judgment upon it. Where he can see anything to commend, he commends it. When there's anything to condemn, he condemns it.
And so to speak, just like a surgeon or like a doctor, he's diagnosing the condition in each one of these churches. That is the primary implication. Now the second, a practical application. There are certain lessons that we can take and apply to ourselves. And I think that at every period of church history, there are certain conditions among the people of God on what we find in these seven churches we can use in a practical way. I've been trying to do that each night. It's so easy to get our heads filled with doctrine and to get an intelligent grasp of Holy Scripture.
And that is a very good thing. But unless it reaches our hearts and gets down into our feet, and unless it's put into practice, well, what use it is? All that an intelligent grasp of Holy Scripture can do, that is unless it's put into practice, is just fill our heads with knowledge and conceit. And generally, a person that's full of spiritual pride, I think is a very, very pitiful sight. there are lots of people just as proud and conceited as they can possibly be with their knowledge. But after all, these things, if we know them, we have to put them into practice if they're going to be of any use at all.
And so there is the practical application of the Word of God. And then what we have a looking at, more particularly during these nights, is the prophetic application of the lessons in these churches. Now there are seven of them all together. and they're divided in two parts. There's first of all the first four that form a unit, and then there's the last three. Now the first four run consecutively, giving us four periods of church history. We've already covered that ground. The first one in Ephesus we get, Apostolic Day. It's what you might call the Apostolic Church on the conditions there.
The second one in Smyrna, we get the afflicted church, the days of persecution, lasting for about two hundred and fifty years, when many, many thousands of God's dear saints became martyrs. They have got the martyr's crown. They wear the crown of life, the martyr's crown. We thank God for them. Oh, it stirs our blood. And it gives us a good deal of joy to think of so many that have laid down their lives for Christ. We get that in Smyrna. The days of persecution, first of all, the apostolic church in Ephesus, and then the afflicted church in Smyrna. And then in Pergamus, we find that Constantine the Roman emperor became a nominal Christian.
And persecution stopped. Instead of persecution, it became a popular thing to be a Christian. and the church was patronized by the Roman Emperor. And consequently, the testimony went down. It's what you might call the affiliated church. And wherever we find the world coming in among the people of God, the testimony, it burns very low. And the result is that it goes down, it deteriorates. That is what we find in Pergamon. And then in the fourth church, the fourth one of this unit, we get the apostate church.
We have been pointing out that in each one of these churches, there's an influence working to completely destroy the work of God. In Ephesus, it was the Nicolaitans. That was the separation of the people of God into two distinct classes. That is the clergy and the laity. And no infringing of the laity on the property. and also on the prerogatives of the clergy. That is Nicolaitanism. Now on the second one, we find the synagogue of Satan. That is the principle of legality. What we find in the epistle of the Galatians, the synagogue of Satan.
And in the third one, we find the doctrine of Galatians. And that doctrine was that the people of God should intermarry with the world with the Moabite. And the result was, that God had to come in and judgment upon his people. It was the third influence that Satan used in destroying the church's testimony. And then finally we get the ultimate an apostasy in that wicked woman, Jezebel, that introduced three things among the people of God. The first one was idolatry, and it was characterized by prostitution, immorality of the grossest form was introduced among the people of God.
And then secondly, those persecutions. She was the one that was responsible for the death of the prophets of Jehovah. And the woman, you remember, that said that Elijah, the prophet of God, that should take off his head before the day passed. And as a result of that, Elijah had a plea for his life. Persecution was introduced by that wicked woman. And then the third thing was political domination. Now, we were pointing out last night that what we get in Jezebel is the ultimate in apostasy, and it does give a very vivid picture of what took place during the Dark Middle Ages. I didn't go into a lot of detail about it last night on the count of times, but I just want to say in passing, before we look at Sardis, where we get a wonderful revival here, in these first four churches, they're run consecutively from apostolic days.
right down to those days of apostasy in the dark Middle Ages when practically every vestige of light and pure truth, evangelical doctrine was buried under heaps of ecclesiastical tradition. Now all we need to do is to look at any church history, not as any reliable church history, and you'll find that these are four periods of church history. First of all, the apostolic period, and then secondly, the days of persecution. Then thirdly, that day when the church was allied to the world in the days of Constantine, and then finally one thousand years from AD five hundred to AD fifteen hundred a thousand years of apostasy and darkness.
Now we're not stretching our imagination at all in laying that out. And I think of these first four churches forming a complete unit, we get that consecutive, these four consecutive periods of church history. Now in the last three, we find here churches that are running side by side. I believe we have Thyatira with us today. And those things that were introduced in the church in the Dark Middle Ages, we have them with us today. I want to look at that in a moment. And then in Stardust, what we want to look at tonight, we get a wonderful revival. We believe that took place in the sixteenth century under Martin Luther and other great reformers that God raised up at that time.
And then in Philadelphia, we get a return to apostolic principle. I think the highest height of revival we get in Philadelphia. And then at the end, we turn to lay of the sea. And at the end of the church period here upon earth, again we find it dropping down. The backwash from a revival, or what you might call the backlash from a revival, it ends up with the Lord outside a closed door, standing and knocking at that closed door and asking for admission. Oh, I do believe that we have these four conditions in the world today running side by side.
First of all, we have Thyatira. I believe we have Sardis. I believe we have Philadelphia. And I'm absolutely convinced in the world today, in the church's testimony, we have Leo the Seed. But what we want to look at tonight is Sardis. And we get here, I believe, a wonderful revival. Becoming rather unpopular today to talk about the Reformation. I have seen in popular magazines quite recently quite a number of apologies for Martin Luther. and that revival that took place in fifteen seventeen. I'm not going to apologize for him tonight. He was just a man like another man.
He had his failures and his weakness, but we do thank God that he was a man that was raised up by the Holy Ghost. And I believe that that remarkable revival that took place at that time, I believe is something that we should understand clearly today as a work of the Holy Ghost. And we thank God for the great principles that were recovered by those dear men. Now, the first thing I want you to notice about the passage that we have read here tonight is the introduction. The Lord Jesus here is presented as the one that has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. You notice that in each one of these churches, the Lord Jesus is presented as a remedy for the condition.
We've been trying to point that out night after night. And do let me say, beloved friends, tonight, no matter what the conditions are among the people of God, be the ever so dark or be the ever so pathetic, always the remedy of the person of Christ and the Word of God. This is a twofold remedy. You know that some people pull a long face today and with the look at conditions in the church and in the world to say, whatever is coming to, beloved friends, there's a remedy. And the remedy is, first of all, the person of Christ. And secondly, the gracious ministry of the Word of God in the power and energy of the Holy Ghost.
That is always the remedy. And the Lord Jesus in each one of these churches is presented in a different way. On some of these items of glory and majesty that we find in chapter one, these items are taken and applied to each individual church. Now, in service, The word that's given here, the introduction is the one that has the seven spirits of God and who holds the seven stars. No, I think that that needs a word of explanation. I don't want you to go away with the idea at all that there are seven individual spirits of God. That is not the teaching of the vantage, and certainly not the teaching of Holy Scripture.
I think that what we get here is a seven-fold operation of the Holy Ghost. And again we were to take time tonight to turn over to various passages of the Word of God, particularly Isaiah chapter eleven. You would see there that the Holy Spirit operates in a sevenfold way. Here is the complete operation of the Holy Ghost among God's people. And it's perfectly evident that what we get here is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is the first, the fundamental thing. You know, the age in which we live is the age of the Holy Spirit, the age of the Holy Ghost. In the Old Testament scriptures, we find God the Father working.
Many, many magnificent titles of God in the Old Testament. He's called her Jehovah. Not only is he called Jehovah, but we find him as El Shadiah, El Elion. Lovely, lovely titles of God in the Old Testament. is God the Father who operates in the Old Testament scripture. And then for thirty-three and a half years, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, he was here publicly manifest, visibly manifest here upon earth. But today, since he has died, risen, and ascended to God's right hand, the age in which we live is the age of the Holy Spirit.
He is the one who is operating. He is the executive of the Godhead, and the one who's carrying out the mind of God today in the world is the Holy Ghost. And here we find his seven-fold operation in connection with Sardis. Now, it's perfectly evident that what we get here is the work of the Holy Ghost. And I do believe that what happened in those days during the Reformation, the Holy Spirit was working again among his people to cause a tremendous revival. We thank God for it. And then second night is the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand. The word is, he that hath the seven spirits of God on the seven stars.
Now the other night we were pointing out that what we get on the stars are the men who receive the word of God from the risen Christ. They're called the messengers of the churches, the angels of the churches, the messengers of the church. that is those who have their ear up to the throne and who receive the message from the risen Christ and have the responsibility of conveying that message to each local assembly. Now here Christ is standing and it's emphasized that he has the seven stars. We mentioned the other night that in the world of sport and the world of entertainment they talk about stars, they're stars.
These are outstanding characters that we see in these different fields today. But you know, God has his stars too. And they're certainly not in the world of sport or entertainment, but what we get here are stars that are in the right hand of Christ that brightly shine and who bring the Word of God in the power of the Holy Ghost to his people. I would like to suggest that in the Reformation, the period that we want to speak about for a little while tonight, there were seven outstanding names. Now, again, it's evident that we won't have time to go into these names here tonight in any detail. But if you examine church history, there were seven outstanding men that God raised up at that time that were principally responsible for that revival.
And I think that maybe what we get here in the seven stars gives a little indication, a little pointer to those outstanding individuals that God raised up. I want to mention a few of them. The first man, he was called the Morning Star of the Reformation. His name was John Wycliffe. Now he was brought up in the Church of Rome, who was nothing else at that time. And I think about thirteen sixth days, if my memory serves me right, he was an outstanding scholar. But the only Bible... in the world at that time was the old Latin Vulgate Bible.
The people, the ordinary people in the street, the rank and file of the population at that time weren't able to read it. The Word of God was not in the hands of the people. And John Wycliffe made up his mind that before he died, he said that the boy who followed the plough, he would be able to read the Word of God in his own town. Now he took the old Latin Vulgate Bible and he translated it. He organized a body of preachers that were called Lullard. And they used to go around in England, where John Wycliffe was born, and they went around preaching the simple gospel of God's grace. John Wycliffe was the first man, I believe, associated with this tremendous revival, and he is called the morning star of the Reformation.
It's an amazing thing to me that the man died in this bed. He did. He died a natural death. But do you know that thirteen years after he died, the church was so in sense by the wonderful work of revival that that man was responsible for, that he actually dug up his bones, dug up his grave, took his corpse out of the grave, and burned it and threw it into the river beside the home, beside the place where he was born. Actually, persecution had followed the man through the grave. But John Wycliffe was the man who was called the morning star of the Reformation. I think maybe he's one of these stars.
Then there was another man over in Bohemia, in what we know today as Czechoslovakia. His name was John Hut. Again, it would be interesting to trace his life. Well, now he suffered. He was burned at the stake. He was a man who preached pure evangelical doctrine. Long before Martin Luther was born. And John Huss, as a result of his preaching, he was indicted by the Roman Catholic Church. And he was ordered to appear before the Pope in Constance. He was a little bit afraid what would happen. And he demanded a safe conduct, which was given to him.
That was a conduct to come down and appear before the Pope and answer the charges that were made against him. and he would have a safe conduct there and back again. But you know, it wasn't honored. And dear John Huss, on the way back home to Prague in Bohemia, he was arrested and he was burned at the stake. I think there's a little indication at the end of this letter here of what happened to him. You know, when he was taken out, burned at the stake, he was dressed on a long robe and painted all over the robe. There were devils and demons, and all kinds of wild characters painted on the robe, and a dunce's cap on his head as he was taken out of a burned at the stake.
You say, what was his crime? The crime was preaching the simple word of God and the gospel of God's grace. The only crime that ever he committed, and yet he was burned by the church for that as a heretic. But as he was being led out of the stake, it was a man pushed his way through the crowd, and he pushed his hand out, and he shook hands with him. He said, God bless your brother John. My, that man had courage to do that. And while the world was pushing him out of this world and burning him at the stake, there was a man who had the courage to push his way through the crowd and take the man by the hand and give him a good hearty handshake. He said, God bless your brother.
I believe that that man will get us a reward in heaven for what he did. John Hus has been called the John the Baptist of the Reformation, a marvelous man of God. But the third one was Martin Luther. And I think that we can't look at Sardis without thinking of that dear man. Now there are all kinds of on-kind critical things said about Martin Luther today. And it always galls me. It always makes me feel irritated when I hear anybody say anything about him. Now he had his failures and his weaknesses. People say he was uncut. Well he was. He was the son of a miner, brought up in very humble circumstances.
But God spoke to his heart through a thunderstorm. And while the thunder was crackling in the sky and the lightning, he got thoroughly awakened about his condition. And the result was that he went into the church and he became a monk. Now he was under conviction of sin, but the man was absolutely in the dark as far as salvation was concerned. The man that was in charge of the monastery, a man called John Stop It, when Martin Luther went to him and told him just what was wrong. He said, I'm under conviction of sin. He said, I don't know what's wrong with me. The Holy Spirit was working in the man's heart, and he couldn't understand what was wrong.
He could neither sleep nor eat nor drink. And the man who was in charge of the monastery, he said, there's a Bible down in the crypt. He said it's chained to a pillar down there. He said, go down there and read it. Now Martin Luther knew how to read Latin. And he went down to the crypt in that monastery. And when he came to a passage in the first chapter of Romans and he read these words in Latin, the just shall live by faith. It was a message of God to his soul. Now it wasn't at that point that Martin Luther got saved. It wasn't at that point that he got converted. He was under conviction of sin. And the man in the monastery, who had directed him to the Bible, he said, Man, he said, Why don't you look at the wounds of Christ?
Notice what he said. But still, Martin Luther, he didn't have life. He didn't have assurance from God. Now, he made up his mind. He would go to Rome. And he said, If there's any place in the world where I can get help, he said, For my condition, it's surely in the center of Christendom. And he took that long journey to Rome. And when he arrived there, he heard about a place in Rome where there was a holy staircase. It's still there. It's in one of the churches in Rome. I saw it a few years ago. It's called the Scala Santa. The holy staircase in Rome. And Martin Luther made up his mind.
He would go there as a penis. And he would walk on his hands and knees up that staircase. repeat the Lord's prayer on every step as he went up on his hands and knees. And while he was climbing up the staircase, he had just arrived about halfway up, when just like a bolt from the blue, I believe it was a message from God. The word that he had read in Germany out of the old Vulgate Latin Bible, the just shall live by faith. God opened the man's eye. And he saw that the only way that he could have salvation was through the work of Christ upon Calvary's cross. It wasn't in his works or anything that he could do at all.
But justification was through faith in the work of Christ upon Calvary's cross. I believe it was a revelation of God the Spirit of that dear man. And instead of climbing the other steps up to the top of the staircase, he stood up upon his feet. A regenerated man. A man who was born again, and he walked down the steps, and he went back to Germany, and he started the Reformation. It was the Holy Spirit of God had wrought a work of regeneration on that man's heart. It was done through the Holy Spirit. It was done through the Word of God. The agency was the Word. But the person who was responsible was the Holy Spirit, and he was truly born again, and he started to preach this Reformation doctrine.
When he went back again, the more he saw the abuses in Rome and the association where he was, the more disturbed he became. Now, I don't want to say anything to try to amuse anybody here tonight, but you know, there is an awful lot of things that happen in Martin Luther's life, and it is a little bit amusing. On the other hand, it's far, far too serious and far too solemn to be amused about it. You know, over there in Wittenberg, in Germany, where Martin Luther was at the time, they had in the church there a piece of wood, and they said it was a piece of Noah's Ark.
They had some suit, and they said that this suit was taken from the furnace where the three Hebrew children had been put in the fire in the book of Daniel. They had a glove, and they said that in the glove, those the bread of St. Joseph that had been captured in the glove by Nicodemus. And these things were exhibited in the church. Not only that, but they had some old bones there. They had several heads. And to say, one was the head of St. James, and the other was the head of John the Baptist. And these old bones and relics, people venerated them. Do you know even over in Europe today there are several heads of John the Baptist?
He must have been a remarkable character. And these things are exhibited in the churches over there. And actually, I just simply can't understand it. But men who have a thorough classical education, men who are doctors and lawyers, and some who have PhD degrees, they actually still belong to that church. And they have to believe that these relics that they have in the churches over there that are authentic, it has the stamp of the church upon it. Now Martin Luther was rather a gruff man, but at the same time he had his two feet on the ground, and he had brains in his head, and as he looked at these things and looked around him and saw what was going on in the church, he was terribly disturbed and upset.
God had opened his eyes to the truth of Holy Scripture and the gospel of God's grace, and when he started to preach and saw these things, he said some very, very plain, blunt things. There was a man came around selling indulgences. They were building the church of St. Peter's at Rome at the time. And this man who came around, he had a feather stuck in his hat. And he said it was a feather that had been plucked from the wing of the angel Gabriel. And he was going around, Tetzel was his name, and he was selling these indulgences. And in case you don't understand what an indulgence is, it simply means that if you want to commit a sin, Now, it could be the sin of adultery.
It could be any sin in the book, any sin on the calendar. And before you commit the sin, you can put down dollars and cents and you can pay for it. And you can actually have an indulgence and you can get forgiveness for the sin before it's even committed. Martin Luther was indignant when he saw this. And the money that was being collected was being sent over to Rome to build the present church of St. Peter's. And when Martin Luther saw it, he said this, he said, if that fella comes around here, he said, I'll knock a hole in his drum. That was what he said. He was crude. He was a little bit rough. But he was a man who knew what was going on around him.
And when these people did come around, he made up his mind. He was going to put a stop there. Now, he wrote out his ninety-five thesis. different things that he had believed that God had taught him by the Holy Spirit from his word. He wrote them out on a piece of parchment. And on the thirty-first of October, fifteen-sixteen, Martin Luther, he took that document and with a hammer and a nail, he nailed it up to the door of the church in Wittenberg, and he started to preach the gospel of God's grace. He was the man that God used at that time to bring the whole world back. to the simple doctrine of the gospel of God's grace through the blood of Christ, without works, or without payment of any kind, justification, through faith, in the work of a crucified, unrisen, and glorified Christ was the doctrine that Martin Luther believed and that he taught.
Now those hammer blows, when he nailed those ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, those hammer blows were heard around the word. And we do thank God that a marvelous revival, it resulted. Martin Luther, he was the man that God raised up. He was a star in the hand of the risen Christ. Now there were other men. I just want to mention a few of them. I can't go into detail about them, because the outstanding man was Martin Luther. He had a friend called Philip Melenthal. It's a rather remarkable thing. He was the theologian.
And you know, at fourteen years of age, Philip Melampong, he got his bachelor's degree. At seventeen, he earned his Ph.D. at seventeen years of age. And he went to Wittenberg, and he became Martin Luther's co-worker, collaborator in this great work of Reformation. Martin Luther was the preacher. He was the evangelist. But Philip Melanchthon was the teacher, and he was the theologian at that time of the Reformation. There was another man over in Rotterdam, his name was Erasmus, and he started to study the Greek New Testament, collected all the manuscripts and documents that he could, and he edited the Greek New Testament.
And after he had edited the Testament, Martin Luther, he translated the whole of the Bible, not from Latin. not from the old Latin Vulgate version that was used by the church at that time, but he translated it from the original Greek. And the German Bible today that was translated by Martin Luther, it's still in existence and still being used over there in Germany. Erasmus, he was the translator of the Reformation. There was another man in Switzerland. His name was Zwingli. I think he was the purest preacher of the gospel among these men.
I want to mention him again just in a moment. An outstanding reformer was Zwingli over in Switzerland. Then there was John Calvin. I do let me say I don't go along with John Calvin in some of his doctrines and teachings, but at twenty-six years of age, John Calvin, he wrote his institutes, marvelous piece of work. The amazing thing to me is that these men were young men, and God marvelously used them. There were the stars in the hand of the risen Christ. John Calvin, he went over to Switzerland too and joined up with Zwingli and was responsible for the Reformation there.
Another man in France, William Farrell, God mightily used him. And then over in Scotland, John Knox, I was in his home last year. I spent three and a half months over there in Britain, and I went to the place in Edinburgh, the little house where he lived. And as I looked at his death, looked at his Bible, and looked at some of the things that he wrote, I just bowed my head, and I thanked God for a man like John Knox. He was a man who made Queen Mary the persecutor. She has been called Bloody Mary, on account of the saints of God that were burned at the stake of Scotland at that time.
He made her tremble in her shoes. And actually when John Knox was preaching in front of Queen Mary, she actually wept and she trembled. She trembled as she heard that dear man preach, but she was never converted. Oh, these were the men that God used, outstanding men. These were the stars in the hand of the risen Christ. I believe that this is what we get started. We could go on and on and on about these different men and some of the details connected with their testimony, but time wouldn't permit. All I want to say is that an outline, in beautiful outline here in Sardis, we get a little indication of that marvelous revival of two plays.
I want you to notice that there are six verses here. And the first three verses are the proof. And in the second three verses, the second... The second division of the letter to Sardis, what we get here is a remnant. And we read about a few names. A few names. You know God has always had his mighty few. Don't go away with the idea that always the truth lies with the majority. Bernie Hoskinson doesn't. I have a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Didn't we describe just a moment or two ago about John, huh?
Going to the stake, with that garment covered with demons and devils and ridicule that had been painted all over, with the dunces kept upon his head. But God says, they shall walk with me in white. No longer the garment of ridicule. They shall walk with me in white. for they are worthy. But the first part here of the letter is directed to reproof and connection with the Reformation. Notice what said about it. I know thy works, that thou hast the name that thou livest, and are dead. Be watchable and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
You know, I think there's something very pathetic about this. what the risen Christ has to say about the revival in Sardis. Martin Luther, on the men who were with him, they went a certain distance, and then they stopped. Oh, I do wish they had gone the whole length. You say, did Martin Luther believe in the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church? Well, as far as the gospel was concerned, he did. He had a clear perception of the gospel of God's grace. You say, did he believe in the common priesthood of all believers? He knew that truth, but he didn't practice it. I read a letter just a little while ago that he wrote to his friend Philip Melanchthon, and I haven't have doubted in my mind that Martin Luther knew the great truth of the priesthood of all believers, but he didn't practice it.
He poured his metal into the wrong mold. And instead of allowing the churches that were founded at that time to be completely autonomous, looking through the risen Christ, he lined up with politics. On the elector, Frederick, the elector of Saxony, he allowed himself to be tied up with him. And the result was an alliance between church and state. And the great truth... that God taught him. He never put it into practice. And the result was that God has to say about it here, I have not found thy works perfect before God. You say, did he believe in transubstantiation? Now, we mentioned that word the other night.
It's one of the fundamental things in the Church of Rome even today. And again, just let me explain what it means. Transubstantiation. is the central doctrine, the central dogma of the Church of Rome even today. It means that after the sacrifice of the Mass, when the blessing is given, that it is no longer bread. It has been actually transformed into the actual blood, body, sinews. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's called a non-bloody sacrifice for the living and for the dead. And every time it's offered upon the altar of Rome, they believe that it's again another sacrifice of Christ upon the altar.
Now that is transubstantiation. You say, did Martin Luther believe that? Well, he didn't go the whole distance. He believed in what he called consubstantiation. One is transubstantiation, that is Rome. Martin Luther believed in con substantiation. And he explained it in this way. He said, with the bread and under and over the bread is the actual presence of the body of Christ. Now Zwingli down in Switzerland, he understood perfectly the teaching of the word of God concerning the Lord's Supper. He believed that it was just bread.
but it was a picture, a metaphor, a symbol of the actual body of Christ. And so swingly he made a journey from Switzerland up to Germany to talk to Martin Luther about it. Oh, I do wish it had never happened. But he did. He went up there. And on the castle of Marburg in Germany, the two men had a meeting. Now both of them were giants, outstanding servants of God. but I believe that Zwingli understood the teaching of the Word of God far, far better than Martin Luther ever did. They decided they would have a conversation about the procedure at the Lord's Supper. Now, before they started to talk, Luther took a piece of chalk out of his pocket, and on the green-based tablecloth in the room where they were sitting, he wrote these words.
This is my body. He wrote the four words in Latin. This is my body. And he said to Zwingli this. He said, I don't want any argument. He said, I don't want you. He said, to try to twist the Word of God. This is what the Word of God says. This is my body. And he said, that's what I believe. And Zwingli was the most gracious man. And he says, my dear brother Martin. He said, I know the Word of God says, this is my body. But he said, it also says, I am the door. It also says, I am the true vine.
He said, these are figures of speech. He said, they're metaphors. And when the Lord said, this is my body, he didn't mean at all to say that it was the actual material body, but it was a representation of it. And he said, when we sit at the table, he said, we take that bread. It's only bread. But it is a picture, a figure of speech, of the actual body of Christ that was offered upon the cross. Martin Luther lost his temper. And he stood up from where he was sitting and shouting at the top of his voice, he said, Zwingli, you're trying to twist the word of God. The word says, this is my body, and that's what I believe. When Zwingli saw he wasn't getting anywhere with him, he went round to the other side of the table.
And they said, my dear brother Martin, he said, I see we're not going to agree about this matter, but he said, at least we're brethren in Christ. He said, give me your hand. I'm going back to Switzerland. And Martin Luther, he put his two hands behind his back. And he shouted at the top of his voice. He said, Zwingli, you're no brother of mine. And he turned on his heel and left the room. The two men never met again. But from that room there came the Lutheran churches. of Germany and Scandinavia, Northern Europe that exists to the present day. And from that same room they came the Presbyterian churches of Switzerland and France and Scotland and the rest of the world.
Oh, it's an awfully serious thing to differ about these things. And it came from that little seen there in that room in the castle of Marburg in Germany, do you wonder that the Lord Jesus says here, I have not found thy works perfect before God? Oh, this just completely covers the ground. And my dear brethren, and sisters here tonight, do let me say that this is a scene that has been repeated again and again among outstanding servants of God. God works in a marvelous way to cause a revival. Revival power. Revival glory among his people. But the devil is working too. And wherever you find the Holy Ghost working, you'll find that the devil is right there.
And even right at the very beginning, he can do things. that will completely smash any work of God. So the Lord Jesus has to say here to Martin Luther, unto these dear men, I have not found thy works perfect before God. Now there were other things. Martin Luther recovered three things for us. And I'm awfully thankful for them today. It's what we call today Reformation Principle. And as long as God leaves me here, I would like to hold on to them. Now the first thing that Martin Luther and these dear men recovered was, first of all, the simple gospel. Salvation through faith in the finished work of Christ upon Calvary.
Salvation by grace. Justification by grace. Through the work of Christ upon Calvary and appropriated by faith. That was the first great truth that the Reformation recovered. The second one was an open bio. You know, up until this time, people didn't have the Bible. Martin Luther translated it. John Whitecliffe translated it. William Tyndall had a good deal to do with giving us their English Bible, or we thank God for these men. And they gave us an open Bible. You know, today, as I look at this precious treasure that I have, I have some things in this world, I wouldn't mind if I parted with them tomorrow.
any material possessions that I have that don't amount to much, and I would gladly part with them tomorrow, but I will want to part with my Bible. No, it's the greatest treasure that I have, God's holy, precious word in my own tongue that I can read and enjoy. It's a living book on the second great truth, the second great treasure that was recovered at the time of the Reformation was an open Bible. Now the third one was religious liberty. You know, I don't think that we appreciate this here. Religious liberty. Oh, I thank God for the founding fathers of the United States. Those dear men that left Europe and days of persecution and come over to this land, they braved the elements.
They braved all kinds of dangers, and many of them lost their lives on why they appreciated religious liberty. And on the Bill of Rights, And on the Constitution of the United States today, we have liberty to proclaim the Word of God. That some would like to rob us of it today. They would like to take it from us. And you know what's happening as far as the reading of the Bible and the schools is concerned, I feel awfully sorry. I feel very, very sorry indeed. That some would like to rob us of this liberty for the reading of the proclamation of God's Word. We can come into a building like this and the law will support and the law will protect those that come in, and for nothing is said derogatory or undermining constitutional government, we have a perfect right to open the Word of God and expand it."
Well, I appreciate that. It's the great truth that has been given to us by the Reformation. These are the three things that have been committed to us as a result of the Reformation. But you know, these are three things that even in Germany. Even in Germany, they were undermined as time went on. And God has to say, you have been aimed to live on your day. Now, what happened to the gospel? This great truth of justification by faith has been undermined in some of the churches today by baptismal regeneration. And you know, wherever you find that, That is, that a few drops of water on the face of an unconscious infant constitutes the child of God.
And what is called today covenant theology, going back to these things, I believe is completely undermining this great truth of the sovereign grace of God and the gospel. Oh, beloved brethren, let's hold on to this. These are Reformation principles, the simple gospel of God's grace. But you know, the second thing is an open Bible. on what has happened. Where did the higher criticism come from that undermines the Bible? Where did the higher critics come from? Where does it originate? Well, unfortunately, it originated in the same country where Martin Luther, where Martin Luther stood like a rock and defied the whole world and gave an open Bible today.
Higher criticism and modernism and liberal... theology, that was where it had its origin to. What's pathetic to think of that. And then religious liberty. These great liberties that have been given to us, these too are gradually being undermined and wrought from the people of God. I just want to say in closing, beloved brethren, that this is a revival. It's a partial revival. It's a halfway revival. And we thank God for the men that were responsible for it. and never allowed anyone to say anything derogatory about these great men. They were giants. They were the stars in the hand of the risen Christ, and we have a tremendous inheritance as a result of the work that they perform.
Oh, may God help us to appreciate it and to stand for it as long as we live down here for His namesake. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, again we bow in our presence with thankful, grateful hearts. We thank thee for these giants in a bygone day, men who were wrought upon by the Holy Ghost, men whose eyes were opened. And our Father, we thank thee for their courage. We thank thee for the work of the day. And our Father, we pray that thou will help us to learn the lessons from their mistakes. We ask of thee that thou will help us in the day in which we live, not only to appreciate these wonderful treasures that have been committed to us, but to seek to act upon us.
Now we ask of thee to bless thy word tonight. We thank thee again for the liberties that we enjoy, and we take the opportunity of remembering the government of this land. Our Father, we pray that those that are in positions of responsibility, we pray that thy fear may be upon us. And we pray that those that are... not only in the executive side of government, but in the judicial side as well. Well, the men who sit in the Supreme Court, those that have the responsibility of formulating laws and carrying them out. O our Father, we pray that thy fear may be upon us, and that thou will govern decisions that have to be made, so that in these last difficult, dangerous days, that these liberties may be long continued to.
We pray thy blessings. Upon my people, and upon each one here tonight. And if perchance there may be one who's not saved, O Father, we pray to speak of their hearts. Open their eyes, we pray, and lead them to Christ. And we'll be careful to give thee all the glory. In the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.