You're saying to yourself, it's Reformation Sunday and we haven't sung A Mighty Fortress is our God. We'll sing that at the conclusion of our service because I think you will find it to be an appropriate response to this morning's message. I take as my text a verse of scripture from the book of Acts, Acts chapter 17 verse 6. Acts 17 verse 6. In God's word we read this at the latter part of that verse. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. Who is the text speaking about? Who turned the world upside down? Well, in Acts 17.6, the Jews were speaking, the people of the town who were upset at the Christians having a successful evangelistic meeting. Many were believing in this gospel, many Jews and many Greeks, and change was afoot, but not violence and rioting. That was the responsibility of the crowds. When people were upset at what Paul was preaching and how people's lives were beginning to change, certain wicked men, evil men, stirred up the crowd and started a murmuring, a smear campaign and almost caused an outward riot. And so the charge was laid at the feet of the Christians. The Christians have caused this civil unrest. The Christians have made a mess of things. There's nothing new with that. That happens a lot throughout history. It was the Christians who were responsible for the burning down of Rome. so said Nero with the burning match in his hand. Christians are blamed for a lot of things. Yet, in the mysterious providence of God, this verse on the lips of lying men is, in a good and right sense, it is true. Christians have change the world. The message of Jesus Christ, the spirit of Christ at work in his church, has changed so much of this world in which we live. Whether or not someone is a Christian, this world is different because Christians have served Christ. In one case, people want to cast blame. This morning, I want to give credit. Can you see the difference? You can walk into a room and say, OK, who caused this mess? Or you can walk into a room, as parents always hope they do, who picked up for me? This is so wonderful. Who gets the credit? Well, as we look at history on this Reformation Sunday, and in particular, as we look at the Reformation, what happened in its wake in these last four or five hundred years, nearly five hundred years, I think the Lord deserves credit for some things that our society quickly gives humanists and the Renaissance and other sources. Let's take a look at what happened in the wake of the Reformation. And just by one final word of introduction, why is it that we celebrate the Reformation today? Children, if you don't know this, or adults, if you've forgotten, on October 31st, in the year 1517, in a small German town, a college town, a young man of the age of 34, Martin Luther, one of the younger professors, posted on the church door his 95 theses, a long poster of things that he wanted to discuss and debate, things that were wrong with the Catholic Church, among them the selling of indulgences and and other teachings that kept men from a right relationship with their God. Luther set out not to abandon the church, but to reform it. And he wasn't the first. We could talk about John Wycliffe, and John Hus, and some of the morning stars of the Reformation. We could go to Switzerland and talk about Zwingli, or wait until after Luther and talk about Calvin in Geneva, or even after that, Knox in Scotland. But in those days, in the early 1500s, began God's great work of reclaiming, restoring biblical religion in the world. We call it the Protestant Reformation, THE Reformation, with a capital R, because of its great importance to the history of this world, and because of its precious importance to those who believe. So, with that auspicious introduction, let me announce that we have 12 things to look at in the wake of the Reformation. You see, I've also just come back from a conference, so the preachers are always energized coming back from a conference. But the conference ended with an hour and a half sermon, so I'm well aware of what happens to an individual's body when the preacher goes too long. So, don't worry, I love you. And I've been where you are, but we're not going to go very long. Really, let's look at 12 things in the wake of the Reformation. I'll save the best for last, if you're listening for it. So please, let's look. Impact number one. In the wake of the Reformation, the Bible was restored as our sole spiritual authority. The Bible alone is the authority for what to believe, how to know God, how to live as Christians, how the church should function, Some of you may know the Latin cry of the reformers, that they had slogans. They didn't have bumper stickers back then. They had slogans. And in two rich Latin words stands a lot of this theology, that the Bible should be our authority. How do we know what's true and right? How do we know whether indulgences are good or bad? The Bible alone, in those two Latin words, sola scriptura. Scripture alone. Scripture first and foremost. is the authority for believers. You may remember Martin Luther, he nailed those 95 theses to the church door. Later on, he had to give an account for the things that he was suggesting and the things that he was writing. And in 1521, they called a council, and they had a strange name for the council, they called it a diet. I don't know why. But they called it the Diet of Worms, W-O-R-M-S, the city where it was held. And at this great council, They put all Martin Luther's books on a table and they said, Dr. Luther, are these your writings? Yes. Are you willing now to recant that these things differ with the history of the church, the things we've always believed, the practices and the announcements of the Pope? These things are strange and foreign. You need to turn your back on them, forsake them, repent of these writings. Luther said, and this is the paraphrased account, he said, I can't. Because I've been studying scripture And my mind is held captive to the Word of God. And unless you, council members and prosecutors, unless you can convince me, using Holy Scripture, that my views are wrong, I can do nothing but keep my conscience and take my stand here. Here I stand. He took shelter in the authority of the Bible. And you don't know how much courage it took to look at hundreds, indeed a thousand years or more of church history. You'd probably have to go all the way back to Augustine to get good and right theology. Luther says, no, there's some things that are wrong here about justification. There's some things here wrong about this and that. Where did he get these ideas? Just out of his imagination? He got them from the Bible. And so the work of this reformer and other reformers was to say, hey, everybody, the Bible is our authority, not what men have said, not the traditions that we've received. What sayeth the Lord? The Bible was restored as a sole authority. Sola Scriptura. Well, in the wake of the Reformation, secondly, we can see its impact that we now have the scripture in our common language. If you were to go back to the Middle Ages, in order to read the Bible, you had to study what language? Latin. Or maybe Greek and Hebrew, if you could find some of those copies. The Vulgate, Latin. In fact, the common priest in the Middle Ages couldn't even read the Bible for himself because many were illiterate. But because of the Reformation, because of these men of God raised up, and saying, we know what God has said because we've translated it from Greek into English, from Greek into German, into French, into the vernacular, the language of the people. Because we've done this, we know what God says. And they put the Bible in the hands of the people. John Wycliffe, have you ever heard of Wycliffe Bible translators? Named after John Wycliffe. And what did John do? He took the Bible from those academic languages and archaic languages and put it into English. And gave it to his preachers and said, let's go around the towns of England and tell people what the Bible really says. And there was a great hunger for it. And interestingly enough, in the providence of God, the printing press had just been invented. Right around the same time that God awakens men to say, let's get the Bible in the language of the people. John Wycliffe in England, Luther in German, the common tongue. Some people in the church leadership of that day thought it was a profane and vile thing to have people reading the Lord's Prayer in German. The common tongue of the people, the same language that's used in the marketplace, the same language that children use at school or on the play field. God's Word in the plain language of the people. How much have they forgotten that it was Koine Greek, the common Greek of the known world, which Jesus spoke, which Paul wrote. When Luther translated the Bible into German, his translation had more influence upon the German language than the King James, 1603, had upon the English language. Almost 500 years old, Luther's translation is still sold and widely read. So just the fact that he helped codify things in expressions in the German language helped the development of that tongue. And so many languages enjoy the scriptures now. You owe that to the Reformation. You owe that to men who were persecuted and taunted, hunted men, that we have it in English. We can read it for ourselves. A third impact of the Reformation We now practice the priesthood of all believers. This one tends to be forgotten, so I put it up high on my list that we might remember it. The priesthood of all believers. If you're a Christian here today, you are a priest. In the Christian church, we have pastors and elders and deacons and the like, but we don't have formal priests. Because Christ has a direct relationship with each and every believer. And the sacrifice of Christ, spiritually offered on the cross, doesn't require a human priest. But instead, everyone who comes to believe is a priest, and needs no one to stand between him and God. No other intermediary than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Let me remind you what Peter writes in his first letter. 1 Peter, chapter 2. verses 4, 5, and 6. As you come to Him, come to Christ, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are God's temple, we are God's priesthood, and our sacrifices are sacrifices of praise. Why is that a big thing? Most of us understand that we don't need a priest now. But you have to understand that in the Catholic Church, confession and access to the Word of God and to the means of grace required that priest who had grown into that position, copying more the Old Testament than the New. You should know that back in the days of the Reformation, before these ideas took root, if you wanted to grow spiritually, If you wanted to serve God, you had to join a religious order. Be a monk, or be a nun, or go to a cloister or a monastery. Because the common person didn't have access or ability. The Reformation put such a stamp of validity on the individual, the individual Christian, that whatever your calling, whatever your vocation, you could serve God in it. The Reformation brought back to the front and center stage of daily life the scripture that says, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. You can be a housewife, you can be a farmer, you can be a doctor, you can be a plumber, to the glory of God. It's one of the impacts of the Reformation. Number four, the Reformation brought us religious liberty once again. The Reformation brought us religious liberty once again. Oh, I'm going so fast I can hardly do justice to any of these, but you need to know that and make those connections. Let me quote from a modern-day writer, John Robbins. He says, Luther argued that Christians were free of the arbitrary control of either the church or the state. God alone is the Lord of the conscience. Here's a quote from Luther himself. It is with the word that we must fight. By the word we must overthrow and destroy what has been set up by violence. I think he was in view of everything from the Holy Roman Empire to the Inquisition, forcing people to believe, are you going to be a Christian or not? Luther was speaking of that. He continues, I will not make use of force against the superstitious and unbelieving. No one must be constrained. Liberty is the very essence of faith. I will preach, discuss, and write, but I will constrain none, for faith is a voluntary act." The Reformers knew that if you read the Bible for yourself and you were convinced that the only way to be saved is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, and that this book was now your spiritual authority, not some pope, you needed the freedom and the liberty to follow that conscience. For what does it mean to believe deeply in one thing but to do another? It's hypocrisy, it's not conversion. The reformers, whether it be in Zurich or Geneva, or John Knox fighting in Scotland for liberty, the reformers brought much civil liberty to all as they fought for the religious liberty of Christians. There are certain facts in history which the world tries hard to forget and ignore. The consequence is that the world shuts its eyes against them. Little by little they sink out of sight of the students of history like ships in a distant horizon. or are left behind like a luggage train on a siding. One vivid example of this is the burning of our English reformers. They were killed for what they believed, denied their religious liberty. J.C. Ryle continues, It is fashionable in some quarters to deny that there is any such thing as certainty about religious truth, or any opinions for which it is worth to be burned. Yet, three, four hundred years ago now, there were men who were certain they had found out truth and were content to die for their opinions. It is not very bad taste in many quarters to say anything which throws discredit on the Church of Rome, yet it is as certain that the Roman Church burned English reformers as it is that William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings. Truth is truth, however long it may be neglected. Facts are facts, however long they may lie buried. Men died in the Reformation era to procure religious liberties. Hundreds of men. He gives one statistic, just speaking of how the Reformation came in England. It's a broad fact that during the last four years of Queen Mary's reign, what was her nickname? Bloody Mary? During Queen Mary's reign, no less than 288 persons were burned at the stake. This is in England. were burned at the stake for their adherence to the Protestant faith. In 1555, 71 were burned. In 1556, 89 were burned. In 1557, 88 were burned. In 1558, 40 were burned. 5 were burned in the last week of Mary's reign. It must be remembered, out of the 288 sufferers, 1 was an archbishop, 4 were bishops, 21 were clergymen, Fifty-five were women and four were children. Famous men in their day, Hugh Latimer, Ridley. Latimer saying to Ridley as they were chained together to a stake that they might be burned in one fire, economizing their martyrdom. He said, be brave, play the man, Let me quote Latimer's words to Ridley. Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out. And they did. Religious liberties came because men and women in the Reformation era found the truth, cherished the truth, and died for the truth. Would you? Is it possible that our children might have to die to preserve the truth in their day? Be put to death by the tolerance police? It is possible. If it can happen in England, it can happen in New England, in America. Thank God for religious liberties we have now. Impact number five. In the wake of the Reformation, the role of preaching was restored to prominence, the role of preaching. You think of what it meant to go to church in the Middle Ages. It was to venerate relics or to say certain words. And most of the words were in Latin anyways, and a bell would ring and they'd pass out stuff. And typically, the average congregant wouldn't even get the communion elements. It would be the priest or someone else that would take them on their behalf. Worship was in a deplorable state, and preaching was basically unknown. But when scripture was restored and people had access to it in their own language, they were craving to know what it meant. So the Reformation brought an emphasis on preaching. Luther's sermons, Calvin's sermons, fantastic to read. These men weren't just systematic theologians or political activists. They were preachers. And when God's word got into them, they were motivated. And when it got into their people, they were motivated. Yes, sometimes the crowds that heard Luther preach went too far. And there were uprisings and other things. I'm not saying the Reformation was all without warts. Calvin, the great preacher of Geneva, would preach. three to five to seven times a week. Luther often preached up to nine times a week. They'd have a daily sermon and several on Sundays. Knox had that thundering voice, would preach even to the Queen in bold fashion. Wouldn't show up in the Oval Office just to have his photograph taken. Knox showed up to say, thus saith the Lord. The word preached, as well as printed sermons, were welcomed greatly since the Reformation. Impact number six, we need to credit the Reformation for opening again a door, you ready for this one? A door for congregational singing. Congregational singing was kind of a foreign thing in those days preceding the Reformation. One scholar said, in the Protestant churches we take for granted our singing tradition. We forget that singing is to belong only to the monks and the priests and their choirs. But as a result of Luther, lay people erupt in song, and composers are inspired. It was an odd thing for Luther to pick up his guitar and encourage people to sing in their homes as Christian families, and to bring into worship not just the formal choir and the instrument people, but to abandon that and say, OK, the congregation is going to sing. That was something new. but something biblical, something recovered in the reforms of those days. Martin Luther himself wrote many hymns, and we're going to end with one today. Ein Feste Berg. I don't know German, so I probably messed up the words. A mighty fortress is our God. He wrote a lot of hymns, and he sang them in his homes. And he said children ought to learn music so that they can sing them in worship of their God. Think of it. We sing hymns. We have hymnoes. Our worship changed. because of these men and their correctives. Thank God for it. Impact number seven. At the Reformation, doctrine and spirituality were linked and organized. I had to slip this in because in the Reformation, men were writing great books. John Calvin wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion. That's the short title. It's a longer title to it. But back in the 1500s, as he As the 1530s, he came up with this first edition. It was fairly slim. It started out simply as being an exposition on the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer and then the Ten Commandments. And it would grow in successive editions all the way into the 1550s to a very large book. But it was written so that the person in the pew might have access to theological descriptions of the Christian life. Not only did Calvin seek to state a theology, he sought to apply it to Christian life. He wasn't just writing for the academics, he was writing for the people of his church. The same with Wilhelm Abrakel in the Dutch congregations. He wrote a four-volume work now in English, only after hundreds of years, The Christian's Reasonable Service, and he has a chapter there on how to pray, a chapter there on how to sing, a chapter on all the practical things that we need to know. So it was a great time of organized theological thought and writing. Indeed, Calvin's Institutes, by anyone's account, is one of the books that changed the course of history. One assessment by John McNeill, let me share with you. Calvin's system of doctrine and polity has shaped more minds and entered into more nations than that of any other reformer. In every land, it made men strong against the attempted interference of the secular power with the rights of Christians. It gave courage to the Huguenots. It shaped the theology of Palestine. It prepared the Dutch for the heroic defense of their national rights. It controlled Scotland to the present hour. It formed the Puritanism of England. It has been the basis of the New England character. And everywhere it has led the way in practical reforms. His theology assumed different types in the various countries into which it permeated. while retaining its fundamental traits, a vital spirituality in the doctrine of the Reformation. 8. The Reformation's emphasis on scriptural authority, a written document, the Bible alone, led to Western civilization's grasp of constitutionalism. all of a sudden occurs to men in a more powerful way. If the Bible is a written document to which all men appeal to understand our faith and conduct, can't we have a written document, a law, a constitution to rule our land instead of sinful men or groups of men? One scholar has written this, Luther's major contribution to Western political thought was the idea of a written constitution limiting the power and authority of the church and later political leaders. There is a direct connection, he writes, between the Reformation Christ sola scriptura and the American idea of the Constitution, not any man or body of men, the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Not the king is the law, but the law is king. Do you know who put that forward? one of the sons of the Reformation, a Puritan named Samuel Rutherford, are very political ideas. The American Revolution, do you know that it was called the Calvinist Clergy's Uprising? Because these ideas from the Reformation fueled American thinking and patriotism and brought about the freedoms that we enjoy today under our Constitution. There are those direct connections. Let me point to a few others before we get to our big one at the end. This will be impact number nine. The Reformation gave rise to the Protestant work ethic and capitalism. Now don't throw anything. Sometimes capitalism has a dirty name. And I'm not here to advocate economic policies from this pulpit. But I do want us to see that when the gospel changes lives and when the Reformation reclaimed so many individuals and started changing whole nations, There was an impact upon how men conduct their affairs. There was such a thing as the Protestant work ethic. And the ideas that are behind capitalism and the free market system and the way some economies in the West operate come from Reformation roots. Democracy, constitutionalism, religious liberty, they were not the only social consequences of the Reformation. They were the beginning of a revolution. Harold Berman of Emory University has pointed out, the key to the renewal of law in the West from the 16th century on was the Protestant concept of the power of the individual, by God's grace, to change nature and to create new social relations through the exercise of his will. The Protestant concept of the individual became central to the development of modern law of property and contract. This, along with Luther's idea that all our callings, all labor, not just the labor of monks and nuns, could be done for the glory of God. This led to the development of a free market economy, a free society, and a free market where the political and economic expressions of the religious ideas of the Reformation. You might say capitalism was the economic practice of which Christianity was the theory. That last idea, a quote from someone else. We need to think of those things. And you can see as Christianity spreads to Western civilization, Western civilization takes the Western shape. And these connections are not happenstance. Two other ideas I would put forward to you this morning before we get to our final one. Impact number 10. The Reformation advanced the cause of education. Anybody here interested in education? Anybody going to school tomorrow? I hope so. The Reformation, Martin Luther and Calvin and Knox and all these guys, greatly affected the view of education in the world. Well, why is that? You can certainly say there's an emphasis on literacy. In order to read the Bible that you now have in your own language, you need to be able to read. And so we need to teach children to read. And all the founding of colleges that trace their roots back to the Reformation. Let me quote Lewis Spitz, a great Renaissance and Reformation scholar. He says, the Reformers went beyond the humanists in their stress upon popular education and universal literacy, as well as in their emphasis as a divine vocation. Dr. Spitz says, Luther urged compulsory universal education for both boys and girls with special opportunities for children of exceptional ability. No labor or expense should be spared in educating the youth, he wrote. All who had the wit should be taught to read, so that the scriptures might be widely studied and known. Education was to prepare men for the service in the state as well as in the church. For, as Melanchthon put it, the ultimate end which confronts us is not private virtue alone, but the interest of the public welfare. In the same vein, Calvin wrote in 1541, since it is necessary to prepare for the coming generations in order not to leave the church a desert for our children, it is imperative that we establish a college to instruct the children and to prepare them both for the ministry and for civil government. In 1536, Dr. Spitz writes, the citizens of Geneva had taken an oath that they would maintain a school to which all would be obliged to send their children. In this tradition, the great 17th century educator, Caminius, admonished, quote, let none therefore be excluded unless God denied him sense and intelligence. In 1560, John Knox and his co-workers drew up the first book of discipline, which envisioned a national system of education. And Dr. Spitz's conclusion is this. It was no accident that universal literacy was first achieved in Scotland and in several German Protestant states. literacy because of the Reformation. An eleventh impact of the Reformation is this. Reformation awakened greater work in science. Greater work in science. The Reformation touched all our society, not just religious life, not just political life, but science. Why did modern science and technology develop as as significantly as it did in the 17th century in the West. Why was that? There are connections between science and the Reformation. Let me just quote one scholar briefly. No one can deny, he writes, The preponderance of Protestants among scientists after the 1640s, Lutherans, Anglicans, and preeminently Calvinists, made more scientific discoveries than Catholics, and appeared to be more flexible in putting them to use. Now the reading that I did to follow up on this very thought says, yes, there are some contentions as to how much and how strong a link it is, but no one can deny the link. that some of the greatest scientists in the 1700s and then in the 1800s were sons of the Reformation. God-fearing men who knew that there was an order in the world to be discovered. Long before the modern-day slogan about intelligent design. Well, let me recap our 11 points so far. We've done 11 so far. Number one, the authority of Scripture was recovered. Number two, Scripture in the common language was a fruit of the Reformation. Number three, priesthood of all believers, that your vocation and calling could be pleasing to God. Number four, religious liberties, civil liberties. Number five, the role of preaching was restored, that we could know God's word and read it and cherish it. Number six, congregational singing and worship, thanks to Martin Luther. Number seven, spirituality and doctrine were linked. in helpful writings such as Calvin's Institutes. Number eight, constitutionalism and democracy, the value of the individual, led to those ideals. If only time would allow me to talk about John Witherspoon and his influence on the founding fathers in America. Most of those early men taking from Dr. Witherspoon, Reverend Witherspoon, and a young Princeton college and seminary so much of what they believed about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Where were we? Number nine was the work ethic and its connection to capitalism. Number 10, emphasis on education also comes from the Reformation. Number 11, great discoveries in science are linked to the Reformation. Let me stop and end with number 12, personal favorite. In the wake of the Reformation we can thank God and let our hearts rejoice that in the Reformation a gospel of grace was recovered. A message of forgiveness was made clear and it wasn't for sale. It was free. The church which had stooped so low as to sell pieces of paper that by giving a certain number of due cuts towards the building of the Basilica in Rome, that you could have forgiveness for polygamy, or adultery, or perjury. And they had a whole price list. What nonsense. Or you could make a pilgrimage and go up the stairs of this or that cathedral on your knees and have certain sins forgiven. A whole religion of works righteousness which was put on the face of Christianity as an ugly mask. was pulled off at the Reformation and people read the Bible. Luther, struggling with his confessional visits that wore out his superiors. Luther, please stop coming to the confessional. I've got my sins. I'm not clean. I'm not right with God. What should I do? I need to confess some more or go to more masses. No, said the Reformation. The Reformation picked up the Bible and read Romans 1, 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. Because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. For in it, in the gospel, a righteousness, not of our own, of God is made known. An alien righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is given to sinners who are struggling to be right with God. Instead of trying to be like Christ or please Christ with all of our religious do's and don'ts and this superstitious, subjective way of thinking, Men at the Reformation stood up and said, you may be saved if you call on the name of the Lord. Men can be born again and have a hope of heaven. If you have Christ, you have heaven. They could delve into 1 John 5 verses 11 and 12. To have Christ is to have life. And this is written that you may believe and know it and not doubt it. A gospel of grace was recovered at the Reformation, putting an end to the dark days in the history of the church. where salvation was sold and bought. My friends, because of the Reformation, because of men reading that and copying the Bible over for us and dying to procure religious liberties and put the government out of the life of the church, to give us liberty to follow our conscience and our convictions, we can hold that gospel and extend it to others so freely. so joyfully. Forgiveness, pardon, peace and joy in Christ. And you know what? Since the Reformation, all the energies that consumed individuals in their superstitious pursuit of rightness with God, all of that wasted energy was now funneled into worship and missions and thinking great things of God and making God known. In the great vein of the Reformation comes a great call to missions. The greatest beginnings to the modern missions movements came from Calvinistic Reformed theologians and pastors. William Carey, others, Andrew Fuller. We could come up with a long list. Almost every one of them tracing their beliefs to the Reformation and saying, if these things are true, I need to go to China. I need to go to India. It was Thomas Chalmers. the founder of the Free Church of Scotland back in the 1830s, and the St. Andrews Seven, who had a great impact on modern missions, taking the brightest of Scotland's youth to send them to the mission field. I'll be talking about Thomas Chalmers briefly tonight. But this good news was discovered again and afresh at the Reformation, and I'm so thankful for it. Because I would have been like the young Martin Luther, how can I write, what do I have to do next? Man is inherently religious by nature. And we would have pursued whatever rat race was set before us had not gospel truth been recovered and preached and passed on. My friends, we need to praise our Lord for such great things that stand in the wake of the Reformation. It is His doing, glorious things He has done. He has, in that sense, turned the world upside down. It had been turned upside down in the rebellion of men, but now, at least among believers, as the kingdom grows, some things are right side up. Let me ask this question. Has Reformation come to you? The authority of God's Word. Not just the traditions of men. Your mom and dad go to church, so you're here too. Has Reformation come to you? An understanding that God has spoken. He's the one who defines what a Christian is, how to be right with him. Not traditions, not other men, per se. Has the Gospel of Grace come to you? It is the power of salvation, that message, the work of Christ. May Christ be pleased with His Church in this day, in this age, in this place. Let's pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for all your works in the history of men, for speaking to Adam and Eve in the Garden, giving them hope, for renewing that hope after Noah, for sending prophets and even godly kings, to rule and lead your people, to tell them of the One who would come. We thank you for intervening in time and space to come yourself, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, to be raised from the dead, and to lead into freedom a great host of captives. We thank you for our life in Christ. We thank you for the grace that is ours, the righteousness in which we can dress ourselves to be ready for that last day. Father, help us to think clearly. Help us to labor hard and long to continue your work in the world until Christ comes again or until he takes us home. This we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.