Now as we continue in our Reformation month studies, we're going to read in Ezekiel chapter 22. Ezekiel chapter 22, reading from verse 23 to the end of the chapter. The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls, They have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes, in the midst thereof, are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls. and to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy, Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath, Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God. Amen. The Lord will add His blessing to this reading from His Word for His name's sake. Tonight, I want us to take as what Bob Jones Jr. would have called a pretext rather than a text. A text is for exposition. A pretext is for launching from a particular platform, a much wider ranging discourse. And that's what we're going to do tonight. The words of verse 30, at the beginning of the verse, I sought for a man. I sought for a man. Charles Hodge, the great Princeton theologian, spoke of a class of preachers whom he described as world controllers. He was speaking of men who had peculiar power with God. and who consequently had peculiar power with men. He was describing men who molded the age in which they lived and were not molded by it. In giving this description of this peculiar class of preachers and spiritual leaders, Hodge was admitting that most preachers are to their shame the product of their age. A reflection to greater or lesser degree according to their spirituality of the society that spawned them. Whereas the world controllers were people who refused the stamp of the age in which they lived and rather by dint of spiritual power and energy placed their own God-given stamp on their generation and indeed upon the generations to come. When we come to the period in church history known as the Reformation period, we stand amazed at the number of great men, good men, who stood forward to take up the cause of Christ and his gospel. We look from country to country, whether it's Germany, or Switzerland, or Scotland, or England, or Scandinavia, or even for a while in France, although to a much lesser degree there. But we look at those nations and we are amazed at the race of preachers that God raised up Men whose ministry stamped their country forever. Men who by the preaching of the Word of God shook an entire continent and changed the course of the history of the world. In that Reformation period, When the Lord sought for a man, he found many of them and used them mightily. We can only admire the sovereign purpose that worked so widely and so wisely in raising up such men as the Protestant reformers. J. H. Merle d'Aubigné my favorite historian of the Reformation, for the simple reason that he writes with passion. He does not write with cool detachment. I think his scholarship is as good as anyone else's, but scholarship without fire is a dead thing. He writes with passion as one who was converted in Geneva during a period of revival under the ministry of Robert Haldane, a Scottish lay theologian and preacher. Merle d'Aubigné describes the quick distribution of Reformed truth and principles as being of heavenly origin. It was not the result of human collusion. For example, you read of Luther working in Germany. You would imagine that he somehow had an influence on Zwingli and the early Swiss reformers and the work moved from Germany over the border to Switzerland and from Switzerland on and so forth. But the facts do not support such a theory. Merle d'Aubigné likens the spread of the gospel to the spread of light as the sun rises. The light disseminates its brilliance from one place to another, distributing its benefits. Certainly the sun of righteousness in those days arose with healing in his wings. And thus it is. that before the name of Martin Luther had even been mentioned within the bounds of Switzerland, as early as 1516, remember Luther, though he started lecturing in the University of Wittenberg before this, Luther did not gain notoriety until 1517, when in the 31st of October, he kneeled his thesis to the church door. That's when he started gaining notoriety. That's when his writing started getting carted all over Europe. But in 1516, according to his own testimony, Zwingli was already preaching the evangelical doctrines, already pointing people to Christ, already he was sounding out the peculiar and special notes of the Protestant Reformation, though it would be an anachronism to call it Protestantism at that time, since the name Protestant did not really arise until 1529. We're not going to that one tonight. Nor was he alone. When you read the history of the movings of God in Switzerland in those early times, you find that when Zwingli started being moved of God to preach evangelical doctrine, there were parish priests who themselves were being stirred here and there throughout the Swiss cantons. And it appeared that for no reason. Now there was a reason, but certainly it was not human collusion. Here and there, man's eyes were opened. Their minds were stirred to study Scripture. Their hearts were moved to preach Christ. And as early as that, before Luther even became notorious, the Vatican began to get very frightened at what was happening in Switzerland. And for reasons that do not bother us tonight, their first response was not the usual one of fire and sword. Their first response was money. They thought they could buy Zwingli off, and of course if they had bought him off, being the most scholarly, the most brilliant, the most popular of all the Swiss preachers, then obviously they could have stemmed the whole movement at its beginning. So In due time, according to the will of God, the Lord combined the efforts of able men, not only in the Swiss cantons, but also in Saxony, and then spreading through Luther's works as they began to spread through other parts of Europe, even to the outposts of England and Scotland. And in those days, believe me, they were outposts. They were in the very edge of civilization. The Lord began to put in able men to advance the movement of the preaching of the Word of God. And such was their power that the effects of their labors are with us until this present time. I sought for a man. And he did not seek in vain. When God sought for a man, he found in an Augustinian monastery a monk who had so neglected his body as to bring himself to the point of death, seeking salvation by his self-righteousness. When God sought for a man, he found a priest in Switzerland who had lived for a time at least like all the other priests, quickened him by the power of the gospel, transformed him by the grace of God, and burned in his heart a desire to preach Jesus Christ. And so it went on. He sought for a man. and he found them on every hand." Tonight, I want us to take that text and think very simply upon the subject, wanted men of God. Men of God. Men for the hour. Men who are like The men of Issachar described so long ago as men who had knowledge of the times and knew what Israel ought to do. Men who know what it is to live in the present, not in the past, That may sound strange to you when I'm preaching on something that's historical, like the Protestant Reformation, but I am not inviting you to come and live in the past. Men who are living in the past are of no earthly use to the present. We have had far too much of that in the Christian church, where we're forever harking back to the good old days, and we're forever harking back to what happened then, and trying to recreate what happened then. We want tonight to learn from the Reformers, and see the men that God always needs, men who manifest the best features of the Protestant Reformation. Men who will be able to live in the present. Men who will put their stamp upon this day and age. Men who will put the impress of divine grace upon America. Men who will have power with God. Wanted men of God. Men. not wimps, men, not apologies for men, not what C.T. Studd once called a chocolate soldier. I'll maybe lay hands on his fairly lengthy poem, well that's giving it high praise indeed. C.T. Studd was a great man, a poet he wasn't. Doggerall would be more like it. But I'll try if I can remember to lay hands on his Doggerall, the chocolate soldier, in which he likened people who dress themselves up as soldiers in the cause of Christ, but being made of chocolate. When the heat goes on, they melt. They're useless. Man, that's what we want. Man of God. Man of God. who will epitomize the greatest features of the Protestant Reformation. May I say first and foremost that such man will be man of one book, God's book. I've made reference to this in the past, studies dealing with the Reformers, but I'm unashamedly going over this again tonight. They were men of one book. Now don't misunderstand me, they were not anti-intellectual. The Reformers had studied scholastic theology, and that's saying something. They had mastered the intricacies of the various schools. They could pit one against the other. They had studied scholastic theology. Many of them were experts on patristic literature, the writings of the early church fathers. Many of them also were experts on the ancient classical Greek scholars. These were men of immense study and learning. They were men of a liberal education. not in the sense of liberal equals apostate, but liberal equals broad-ranging. They were products of the Renaissance. They had studied widely. They had drunk deeply at the fountain of human knowledge. But having done all that, they turned away, ultimately dissatisfied. from the writings of men, even those with whom they agreed, to the writings of the Word of God. The thing that marks the Protestant Reformers is this, that they were men with an all-consuming passion for Scripture. They were in this book every single day of their lives. Now you've got to remember that back in the early 16th century, the study of Hebrew was still in its infant stages. The study of Hebrew was just becoming known. The study of Greek was still in its infant stages. Erasmus was the one who first gave us a printed edition of the Greek New Testament. And suddenly all over Europe you found young men, some of them like Luther, from very, very poor surroundings. Others like Patrick Hamilton of Scotland, one of the royal household, at least of the royal family. These young men gave themselves to the study of Hebrew with such brilliance. that Luther could turn out a translation of the scriptures that to this day demands attention and indeed is credited with the creation of the modern German language. You think of William Tyndale. When you take the authorized version of the Scriptures in your hand, and I hope that you will have the wit to stick with it, but when you take this in your hand, never forget that probably a full 60% of what is written are the actual words of William Tyndale, the man who vowed that through the Scriptures being translated into English, He would put the Word of God in the hands of a plow boy, make him no more than his priests. These men gave themselves to the study of the original languages of Scripture. They gave themselves to the study of the surrounding literature, the expositions of Scripture from the earliest times onward. Most of all, they gave themselves to the intense study of the Word of God. You see, for the Protestant Reformers, This was the Word of God. That wasn't just jargon. For them, this was God's Word. God's inspired Word. God's sufficient revelation. God's authoritative revelation. They believed it. They studied it. just to show you the dedication when he was still a young priest. Zwingli wanted to be able to carry the New Testament, or at least a large part of it, with him. Given what was available, that was not possible. So he sat down laboriously and he copied out by hand the entire epistles of Paul. And then having copied them out by hand, he memorized every one of them. When men like that talk about sola scriptura, it wasn't just a slogan. This was the expression of their hearts. The Reformers submerged their souls in Scripture. That, I believe, was a major, major reason for their greatness. It is not coincidental that another man whom the Calvinist Charles Hodge named as a world controller was the Armenian John Wesley, of whom it was said he was a man of one book. Wesley's theology left a lot to be desired. Again, I have to make a lot of excuses for him. I don't find him attractive as a character, to be quite honest, great as a man. I suppose those two things don't often go together, attractive characters and great leadership. But whether I find him attractive or not is beside the point. I make a lot of excuses for his background, what he was struggling out of, but I have to say this. He was a man who stamped the world with the stamp of his message because he was a man submerged in that book. In the actual words of Scripture, in the theology of Scripture. I am more than that in the spirit of Scripture. That's the urgent need of today. Wanted men of God, men who are going to give themselves body, soul, and spirit to the study of that book. Men who believe that book, and they don't care what upstart scientist comes along to contradict it, they judge him by the Bible. They do not judge the Bible by his theory. Men who are not going to be blown off course by the fads of the age. the theories of men, men who are so given to the Word of God that it for them is the absolute rock of certainty. There was a time, you know, when that was because of the Protestant Reformation and the things that followed in its train. That was the mark of Protestantism. It was said, though some have tried to say that it is not an accurate statement historically or theologically, I think they're wrong, taking it as the statement was originally intended. The Bible, the Bible only, the religion of Protestants. That used to be our starting point. That used to be our finishing point. That used to be everything about Protestantism. It was biblical through and through. Preachers did not get up to discuss the Vien theories of man. They did not get up to apologize for the Word of God. They did not get up to spout about the doubts of man. I remember reading as a young fellow one of Spurgeon's sermons in which he was speaking about Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture. And he said, I am not here to discuss the doubts of man. I am here to preach the certainties of the word of God. That's where the reformers came from. That's the need of today. men of one book. There are people who say they're called to preach. Well, I'll have to leave them to God. But I want to tell you, and I'm going to be very blunt here, you know, it's very difficult for me to be blunt. People usually come to me and ask me, could you not make your meaning rather more clear? But I'm going to be blunt on this occasion. If your medical doctors read as little medicine and knew as little medicine as the average preacher reads biblical truth and biblical theology, you wouldn't trust your dog to them, never mind your life. And yet, people are trusting their souls. their souls, their whole eternity, to preachers who are as ignorant of the things of God. Because a preacher can spout an odd text or two and say, this is what he calls the Roman's road. And by the way, I have absolutely no controversy with the texts in the Roman's road. None whatsoever. But because a preacher has learned a few pet verses off by heart, don't ever kid yourself that he knows the Bible. Man given to the book. That's the first need of the hour. They know it. From that flows the second thing that we see in the Reformers and we need to see in men of God today. That is, men who feel the power of the Word of God in their own soul. Men of genuine spiritual experience. I've said that the Reformers were scholars. For the most part, they were academics. John Calvin, Luther also in his early days, Luther was training to be a lawyer. I see Tim smiling. But then he got right with God and became a theologian. John Calvin. His first printed work, not a roaring success like a few other books I know, as far as seals went. John Calvin, his first work was a work on law, a commentary on an ancient Greek classic. These men were academics, university professors. people who wanted to sit in the study, people who wanted to spend their times in academia. They were academics, but they were not theorists. You see, the Word of God entered into their soul. It was for them the inner source of certainty and of courage in a word. They not only got to know the Word of God, they got to know the God of the Word. Man, what a difference there is. What a difference there is. Daniel tells us in chapter 11, 32, that the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. If ever you needed an example of that after the times of the apostles, you get it in the days of the Protestant reformers. The people knew their God. and therefore they did exploits. Now let me voice a concern that I have about the days in which we live, especially in this internet age, when you've got a bunch of people who need to start learning English before they start pontificating on the meaning of Hebrew and Greek. And they go onto the internet and they read some internet theologian. and especially of the Calvinistic variety. We're infected and infested with them. And they're coming up with every crazy, stupid notion under the sun. We have Presbyterians out there and they are now part of a new perspective on Paul. I'll maybe get to that later. It's intended to overturn everything that the Protestant Reformation ever established about Paul. What it's intended to do is to rewrite the doctrine of justification. We have Presbyterians out there teaching as a result of this the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We have people out there who having espoused the notion that it's right for them to sprinkle their children and call it baptism, that then it's right because they're baptized to feed the bread and the wine at the Lord's table. Not Not warning the people that the Bible says that if you eat and drink and you're not discerning the Lord's body, you're eating and drinking the condemnation of God. We have academics or professed academics out there. I've read, I don't read too much of it because you would never think to listen to me, but it gets me angry at them. Theorists. Theorists. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I read them and I read them again and I have never read one single sentence that would ever humble my heart and lead me to cry at the feet of Jesus. There's something wrong with theology like that. Something radically wrong with it. God save us from theorists. We need men of God, men into whose very heart and soul the Bible and its truth have come to reside. Men who are governed by this word, who are set on fire by this word. Glory of God, a passion for the souls of men who are ablaze with the love that sent Christ to the cross as we were singing tonight. Christ living in them and Christ living through them. That's what we need. That's what we need. God give us men like that. Wanted men of God. These men in the third place will have a real grasp of the gospel. Not only are they men of one book, into whose soul that Book, that message, has come with life-controlling power. But they are men who have a grasp of the one message. Learned theologians dispute as to whether there is any integrating theme in the Bible. Again, there's no greater blindness than the blindness of an academic with a theory to defend. How you can come to this book and even wonder, is there an integrating theme? You have to call Christ a liar even to question that there's an integrating theme. He is the theme. He said, Moses wrote of me. On the way to Emmaus, what did he do? He took the scriptures and he started with Moses and went through the whole Hebrew canon of scripture and he expounded in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The integrating theme of scripture is the one message from Genesis to Revelation. It's in the types of scripture. It's in the prophecies of scripture. It's in the didactic statements of Scripture. It's in the poetry of Scripture. It's in the prose of Scripture. It's in the Old Testament. It's in the New Testament. It is the one message, and that's the message that gripped the hearts of the Protestant Reformers. They knew what was important, at least for the most part. There were times when, like men, they get carried away. on things of lesser importance and allowed those things to cause needless division. But as they battled for truth, they grasped the significance of the great central theological issues of their day. And can I say these ultimately haven't changed. Authority. Why do we believe what we believe? Merit. How can a man be just with God? On what ground can a sinner find acceptance with God? Merit. Faith. What is it to believe? How does a man enter into life eternal? Then the soul, sufficiency of Jesus Christ as mediator. These were the great issues. Authority. Why do we believe what we believe? Because God has said it. We live in a day when the philosophy of the age is all against anything authoritative. That's the philosophy of the day. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what you call philosophy or theology that rejects the Bible. It changes its name from generation to generation. It changes its emphasis, its approach, but it doesn't change its essence. Whether you go way back, to the fathers of the modernistic movement, the rationalistic movement, Friedrich Schleiermacher. Isn't that a lovely name? I didn't learn German, but it was a proficient German speaker who told me, in German that means the maker of a veil. A very good name for a man who drew the cloth over many eyes. Or whether you come from him, to rationalists, modernists, liberals of a different little school, they all had one thing in common, and that is they rejected the universal authority of that book and God's Word. We live in the age that's now called post-modernist. There's been an awful lot said about that, of course, and it's not my idea to get into it tonight. Postmodernism. There was a time, you see, when the Western world attacked the Bible from the basis of what was called the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers, They were men who believed in the scientific method. They believed in the empirical sciences. Prove it to me. If you can't prove it empirically, I don't believe it. But now we've got beyond that. Because you see, science itself might come up with some moral universals, and modern man doesn't want that. If you wanna know what postmodernism is, it's many things, but reading a, wonderful the things that come into the hands of a preacher at times, but reading a book of philosophy that dealt with this from the point of view of all things of an architect. Postmodernism finds one of its most outstanding expressions in architecture. And the theory is that it stands for, not for integration, but for the opposite. Even in architecture, now I'm gonna get a wee bit worried. I don't want any postmodernist designing the house I live in, for I certainly want a better foundation than he would think of. But anything that would form a universal standard is taboo. Now when you get it into the realm of morals, into beliefs, we're in an age when people, and this is why it's so difficult to witness to people today, you're not even talking the same language. You talk about sin, what do you mean by sin? Who says it's wrong? It's all right for me, works for me. This is my truth, that's your truth. You see, everything is broken off from any integrating authoritative or universal standard. That's the day in which we live. Now, people believe something. It's always good to ask them, why do you believe that? On what authority do you believe that? I mean, if you're going to say, I'm going to commit my life, and if I have a soul, I'm going to commit my soul to this theory. On what authority do you believe it? The Protestant theologians of the Reformation had already answered, we believe it on the authority of God's Word. We believe it because God has said it. Now let me tell you, and this gets away beyond anything that I should be dealing with tonight. If God hasn't said it, then there's no such thing as truth. It's only because there is a God of truth. God is, and God has spoken. The two great, and I'm tempted to expand here, but I'm not going to. The two great starting points of all Christian theology, God is and God has spoken. Unless that is true, there's no such thing as truth. There is no such thing as right. There is no such thing as wrong. There is no such thing as something being better than another, except that you may think it's so because it's more for your comfort for the moment. We believe in God. We believe in Christ who is the faithful and true witness. We believe in him who said, I am the truth. We believe that he has spoken. His word is authoritatively clear. And we believe that he has put his stamp upon the reality of his revelation by his own resurrection from the dead. That's where the apostles stood. That's where the reformers stood. sola scriptura. And that's what makes the issues facing the Protestant churches today so overwhelmingly important. There is a renewed attack upon the principle of the sole authority of Scripture. I haven't time tonight to trace that attack. You have the academic attack. You have the so-called scientific attack. You have the philosophical attack. These are all from identifiable enemies. Do you know in the Reformation times, you know where one of the most potent attacks Well, let me take the two most potent attacks on the authority of Scripture. Do you know where they came from? First, from the Pope, the Church of Rome. who said, we agree that this is the Word of God, and we agree that it is authoritative, but only as it is interpreted by Holy Mother Church according to Tradition, with a capital T. And ultimately, it's Tradition that imposes itself in Scripture, not Scripture imposing itself in Tradition. That is still the position of the Church of Rome. And sadly, Sadly, in our evangelical churches, along with other churches in the Protestant side of the fence, you have men who are willing to dialogue with Rome on the very issue of the full and final authority of God's Word. And even when they say, as the Protestants and ECT, evangelicals and Catholics together, even when they say we're upholding the authority of Scripture, in reality, they are selling it down the river. Then there was another area, and it came from people who are now called the radical reformers, at least from some of them. There were Anabaptists who called themselves spiritual Anabaptists. These were people, and they said, God spoke to me. God said this to me. God said the other thing to me. Listen, I want to be very frank with you. I get very worried when I hear people coming, telling me, God said this to me. God said the other thing to me. Why should I believe you? Give me one reason why I should believe you. Can you show me it in this book? Now don't misunderstand me. I believe that in my study of that Word, God can take that Word and apply it with personal light and power to my soul. But I tell you this, I do not thereby have any right to bind anybody else or his conscience. The Anabaptists who were spiritual Anabaptists, they didn't need the Bible for God was speaking to them directly. They were the charismatics of their age. But let's not lay all the blame at the feet of the charismatics. I listen to fundamentalists and they're for always saying, God is saying to me, he's saying this, he's saying that, he's saying the other thing. And there's not a shred of scriptural evidence for it. And in many cases, in many cases, they are doing the very opposite to what the Bible says. Where's the authority of scripture now? Where's the authority of scripture? As I said to a Jehovah's Witness years ago when she wouldn't listen to a text of scripture, wouldn't listen to anything establishing the deity of Jesus Christ, I said, ma'am, you are afraid of what I show you in the Bible. And I will take the position right now. I am not afraid of anything that anybody can show me as the legitimate teaching of this book. A priori, I will accept what this book says. Now that doesn't mean to say I'm going to accept what you say it says. But let's get to what the book says. That's where the authority is. If you have this book as your authority, you obey it. You obey it. This is not just a theoretical thing. Oh, we believe the Bible to be the word of God. You obey this book. We need preachers who not only learn how to expound the book, we need preachers who know how to obey the book. That's what we need. They knew that part of the gospel, it's authority. The reformers knew the doctrine of merit. Isn't this what got Luther all riled up? When John Tetzel came selling his indulgences, similar things were happening in other places. There were these outlandish claims being made as to how people could have their sins forgiven. Actually, the history of indulgences is a very instructive thing as to show you how you get a little away from Scripture and suddenly you'll go on down, down, until you end up in a morass. At the beginning, it's probable, at least, that indulgences were never meant to be a means of purchasing pardon. In the beginning, it is probable that they were meant to be the expression of gratitude from souls that had been pardoned. and especially who had been pardoned by the intervention of a kind mother church through her priests. So when the priest said, I forgive you, in gratitude then they gave money. But as time went on, that subtly changed until it became the purchasing of pardon. And when John Tetzel came around, He said, as soon as the money drops into the drum, the soul that you're paying for will fly to purgatory. You pay, and we'll give pardon. And Luther was incensed at that. Why? Because he was preaching the merit of Christ. it that gets a man right with God? The merit of Christ. There is no merit in human works. There is no merit in human religion. There is no merit in human praying. There is no merit in human giving. There is no merit in anything that a man can do. He cannot do anything to merit the favor of God. It is sola gratia. It is by grace alone that we are saved. But if it's by grace alone, then it is through faith alone. Now, the Reformers were not fools. They understood quite well, and the Council of Trent, which for political reasons, was not able to meet until the middle of the 16th century. My memory's right about 15, what, 45, and went on for about 15 years. But the reformers knew what Trent made clear, that the Church of Rome believes in salvation by faith. It will tell you it believes in salvation by grace through faith. And we have some foolish people on Evangelicals and Catholics Together, for example, today, who are saying this is a wonderful discovery. This is a basis for renewed cooperation. This is a basis for us pursuing getting together as Christians. There's nothing new about this. The Reformers knew all about that. But Rome then and Rome today detests, detests the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. Sola fide, by faith alone. The promise keepers, I mentioned them a long time back, so I'm not gonna get into them again, but remember this, the promise keepers came up with a statement of faith, which they subtly changed. Why did they change it? Because Bill McCartney himself, a Roman Catholic, leader of the movement, from the beginning wanted full Roman Catholic participation. And when he found that the statement of salvation by faith alone was hindering Roman Catholics from coming in, it was subtly changed. Oh, faith is still in there. But it's not faith alone. Let me tell you, that's not just splitting hairs, that goes to the heart of the gospel. And it leads right into the very next thing that the reformers were always pushing, and that is the soul sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Christ alone. Now these were the essentials. These were the essentials. And the Reformers judged men according to these things. And they judged movements in the light of these things. Let me tell you, my friend, when I say wanted men of God, we need men who have a real grasp of the gospel. We today live in an age when there's an abysmal ignorance of the gospel. Do you realize that most fundamentalist pulpits have never once had one single message expounding the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in the merits of Christ alone? Do you realize that in most fundamentalist churches there has never been in its history one single, one single exposition of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ? Do you realize that in most of our churches, fundamental, evangelical, and even reformed, the people don't know what the ecumenical movement, the movement for union with the Church of Rome is, and they certainly don't know why it is to be totally abominated and rejected? Why is this? It's because there is an abysmal ignorance of the gospel. and preachers are ill-equipped to deal with real issues. Now, the reasons for this differ from denomination or from group to group. In fundamentalism, and I'll start there, not because I'm anti-fundamentalist, but because I am a fundamentalist. In fundamentalism, for far too long, there has been a fear historic, systematic, reformed theology. People are dead scared if we let get people into the study of theology they might become Calvinists. Well sure they'll become Calvinists. Why? Because there's only one form of systematic theology that makes a button of sense. That's why. I'm not going to say anything new here. This is something I said years and years and years ago. There was a very dear friend of mine, and I'll not mention names because I wouldn't want to give a wrong impression, a very dear friend of mine who was a great preacher and a Christian leader and a man of immense importance in the fundamentalist scene here in North America. But he was very fond of talking about paradoxes. And I remember saying to him, look, there's something wrong here. I'm tired of hearing fundamentalist preachers talking about everything in the Bible as a paradox. I'm tired of that. He looked at me. I said, why I'm tired of it and why I suspect it is paradox is the theology of neo-orthodoxy. When you dismiss everything as a paradox, you're simply saying the Bible doesn't make sense. God's a paradox because he's one and he's three. God's not a paradox nor a contradiction. Election and free will, a paradox. not. Just let the Bible speak for itself. Let God be true and every man a liar. As I talked to this very dear friend of mine about this, I just shared my burden with him. We have got to the stage where we're talking about the Bible being the Word of God. We're talking this and talking that and talking the other thing, but at the end of the day, we're really telling our people, the Bible doesn't make any sense. But it does make sense. And the only reason why fundamentalism ever fell into that pit was not that it was becoming neo-orthodox. Fundamentalism is the farthest thing from neo-orthodoxy. But the only reason it fell into that pit was a fear of systematic theology. You've heard it before. Doctrine dens. If you get too much into this theology business, you'll lose your passion for souls. Oh, my dear, come off it. Let's talk a little bit of sense. Let's get a little bit of historical perspective. Who's the greatest revivalist this country ever produced? I bet you—well, I better not bet. I'm not supposed to bet. Well, the thing is, if it's a sure thing, Who's the greatest revivalist this country has ever produced? Most Americans couldn't begin to tell you. Most of them would maybe mention Charles Finney, the greatest plague on revival this country ever produced. Who is the greatest revivalist this country has ever produced? He just happens to be the greatest theologian this country ever produced. the greatest thinker this country ever produced, and I'm talking about the one and only Jonathan Edwards. Don't tell me that theology deadens your soul. If your soul's deadened because of your theology, let me tell you, if your theology doesn't lead you to weep at the glory of God and weep at the damnation of sinners, your theology's not right. Let's get it. Reformed theology doesn't do that unless it becomes deformed. We have preachers who are not equipped to deal with the real issues because they are not equipped even to recognize them. We're living in a day of a man-centered emphasis. I was greatly challenged reading an article by a liberal, a liberal seminary professor. And I had to say I agreed with every word of it. except his own views on theology, which were obviously off the wall. But he wasn't dealing with his own views. He was saying, I have been looking. Can you not identify with this? I have been looking for a church. I'm wanting to hear a preacher who is going to speak of the greatness of God. the glory of God, who's going to be preaching a God-centered message. I've gone to Baptist churches, fundamental churches, evangelical churches, reformed churches. He said recently in our town, and he mentioned the town, I heard there was a wonderful theological Presbyterian preacher. When I went there, I found the very same thing. It's all man-centered, feeling-oriented. You know, a Jim will fix it. Well, this is not Britain. That was a television program they had over there years ago. Jim will fix it. If you had a wish or something you needed done, how to do this, how to get that. I don't know who Jim was, but Jim fixed it. And of course, they showed it in television. Well, that's the kind of preaching we have today. Jim will fix it. Only, we have made Almighty God into Jim. Jim will fix it. How to be happy. How to live a fulfilled life. How to do this, how to do that, how to do the other thing. Man-centered religion. Playing down the emphasis of justification by faith alone and the imputation of the righteous merits of Christ. Redefining the very essence of the gospel. I talked about this new perspective on Paul. I better close my Bible. I haven't got halfway through the message, but I better close my Bible. Otherwise, my wife is going to tell me, didn't I tell you so? Listen, a redefining of the very heart of the gospel. I want to bring everything to that book. But I want to tell you this, and I'll be honest about it right up front. Anything that is posited upon the belief that all the Protestant Reformers got it wrong, on the doctrine of law and grace, on the doctrine of justification and acceptance with God, any theory that's posited on the basis that they got it all wrong is gonna have a hard time with me, and I trust it will have with you too. These were the men who controlled the world. Isn't that a wonderful thought? Man of one book. Man into whose soul this book had come with light and power. It made them what they were. Man who lived in the light of this word. Man of one book. Man into whom this book came with mighty, mighty power. men who had a grasp of the gospel, men who would stand for it to the death. We'll deal with that as I finish this, God willing, next week. These are the men we need today. America needs men The work of God is being shook for want of man. Some of you young men, you get on your knees. I'm not calling anybody to preach. God forbid. alone with God. I remember as a, oh, I think a 17-year-old going before God, an 18-year-old possibly, going, getting before God, getting on my knees and staying there day after day. Lord, what would you have me to do? I will do anything, go anywhere. I want only the will of God. I was not asking God to make me a preacher. I never asked God to make me a preacher. I never thought I ever could be a preacher. But I wanted God's will. Sure, I wanted to succeed in life. Sure, I wanted to be able to get a job and make plenty of money and settle down, travel the world and do all. I had all the views and visions and desires that any normal young person would have, but all those had to be brought to the feet of Jesus. That's what I want you young fellas to do. Because listen, one of these days, very, very soon, We're all going to stand before the Lord. What's going to count in that day? What's going to count? Do you remember the words of the little chorus? Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. When I go out to meet God, my only desire is that my life, to some small extent, will have done something for Christ. If God calls you to be a preacher to do that, then let God do the calling, you do the obeying. But whether you're in the pulpit or teaching in a school, or serving in a shop, or working in a factory floor, or raising children in the home, wherever you are, God says, I sought for a man. I sought for a man. He's still seeking in every age. In every generation, I sought for a man. I wonder, when he comes to where you're sitting tonight, will he find one? Let's bow our heads in prayer. In a moment, the meeting will be over. I trust that the Word of God will ring on in every heart. I trust tonight that if you know Christ, you will make very, very, very sure When the Lord says, I sought for a man, you will honestly be able to say, Lord, here am I. Just whatever you want, here am I. If you're here tonight and you've never known Christ, The Word of His grace has never entered into your heart. The reality of saving power has never transformed your soul. Then the command of the gospel is repent and believe. Repent and believe. That's God's command, the first sermon Jesus ever preached. That's what he said. If we can help you to Christ, Mr. Braham, Dr. Barrett, and I are here to help you. We invite you to remain and let's open God's Word to point you Christward. Father in heaven, fine men of God in this meeting, Indeed, we pray, create men of God in this meeting. Forgive us our backsliding, our coldness of heart. Lord, we pray tonight, make us men of God. Fill the towns and cities of America with men not molded by the society, but who will mold the society in which they live, placing upon it the impress of the gospel of divine grace. Lord, answer prayer and give fruit for this time together. Thy part is with Thy blessing. Keep us in Thy fear, both now and evermore, we pray.