Reviving the Gospel: The Ongoing Need for Reformation

Probably shouldn't surprise us that in the 16th century, the Gospel was obscured. We see this in the first century. We see it in Paul's churches. In his epistle to the Galatians, he's astounded, he's marveling that they were entertaining a different gospel, then he quickly adds, it's a false gospel. So if we see it in the first century, in the churches of the Apostles themselves. It really shouldn't surprise us that in every generation, there's that temptation then to improve upon God's Gospel, as it were, or to obscure the Gospel. [00:44:25]

There is a predisposition I think in the heart of every individual to self-justification. To begin with the Spirit and to be made perfect by the flesh, as Paul says to the Galatians. And so, not just at the Reformation but today also, there is that tendency to revert to self-justification, which is why the rediscovery of the Gospel is something that is a continual and daily need and not just something that occurred in the 16th century. [00:54:33]

And Martin Luther had not actually seen a Bible until the first year of his novitiate, when he was becoming a monk, and he was lent a Bible for a year only. And, that's a real indication of how ordinary men and women knew nothing about the Scriptures. Absolutely nothing about the Scriptures. There was a martyr in Scotland who during the course of his trial, his accusing priest pulled a New Testament out of his sleeve, held it up to the court and said, "This is the book that is causing all the trouble." He was right, of course. [00:52:54]

Most of us are familiar with the Greek term hamartia, for sin which conveys the idea of falling short of the mark. We are made for the glory of God, but what sin does, is it causes us to fall short of the mark. Transgression has the very basic idea of crossing the line. That God has given us His law, and we cross the line. And inequity has the sense, for example, in Sam. 51, of twistedness. That there is a twistedness in us, as a consequence of these. [05:16:44]

And the great thing is, there is also an abundance of vocabulary for the idea of grace. So there's bad news and there's very good news. But when we talk about debt and transgressions, the Scriptures say that we are debtors who cannot pay their debts. God and God alone has the absolute right to impose obligations to His creatures. And He has done that. He has said, "You must do this. You must not do that." [06:36:12]

And, discovering that we are all priests before God, that the individual can approach God by himself, herself, through faith in Jesus Christ. And not through the intermediary of a sacerdotal system. So that is vitally important that just the issue about the Bible being given into the hands of an individual. And that that individual could read and at least discover the rudiments of the Gospel for themselves, through the help of preachers and teachers, for sure. [10:16:63]

But our authority is not in and of ourselves. Our authority is not innate. Our authority is ministerial authority. It's declarative authority. It's authority that is based in the word of God. And so, our job, our call, is to serve God's people by serving them with the word of God. And so, it is important that we have authority. And that the Lord has called us as elders to exercise church discipline, and to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and the whole council of God, that our authority is not in and of ourselves. [11:17:74]

The point of that motto initially was, in the 16th century, not all of the errors in the church were reformed. Not all of the dirty linen was cleansed. There was still a lot of work left to do. And there's always a lot of work left to do. But when we're talking "always reforming," does not always mean, "always changing." You know, there are those today who say as we've heard almost already, that the Reformation was a tempest in a teapot. Or it was all a misunderstanding. [13:51:12]

Once the church has been reformed according to Scripture, it needs to keep on being reformed according to Scripture. But let's get it reformed first. Not changed first, but reformed according to Scripture. So, you know, we just, sometimes we need to be a bit uppity and ask people how good their Latin is. I'm only kidding. I learned that from R.C. [16:36:00]

Luther understood who Luther was. And that's our problem. We don't understand who God is, and we don't understand who we are. It's like Isaiah in chapter 6, when he saw the Lord, "I am lifted up." He's all of a sudden, says, "Whoa, wait a minute. Woe is me. I've got a dirty mouth, and I'm not alone. I live with a whole people of unclean lips." So, that was an awakening, in his sin. You didn't have to teach Luther that he was a sinner. [21:59:38]

And he said, "I'm not going to give this up for anybody in the whole world. I have tasted the fruit of the Gospel. And if all of the devils in Hell oppose me, I will say to them, 'Here I stand.'" He was passionate. And he was passionate about the Gospel. He was passionate about people. He was passionate about life. He was passionate about enjoying life. [22:15:48]

Luther certainly didn't find a whole lot of confidence in Luther. Calvin didn't find a lot of confidence in Calvin. Knox didn't find a lot of confidence in Knox. That's not why we're here talking about these men. Because our confidence is not in those men. We are profoundly grateful for what they did, in their hour, and at the time of such great crisis in the church, for the recovery of the Gospel. [30:54:90]