For our Bible reading tonight, we're gonna read from Psalm 119. and only a few verses, verses 89 to 104. And these verses, really, we're not going to expound them per se. Really, it's just going to launch us into a subject or a study here tonight, really more of a historical study. As I said this morning, Mr. Mook is going to be here on Reformation Sunday, that's October the 27th, and he's going to be preaching for Reformation Day, which is October 31st. October 31st is celebrated for the day that Martin Luther in 1517 nailed his 95 Theses to the door at Wittenberg. But with that all being said about Reformation Day, I've always thought that October really should be given over entirely to understanding and learning more about the Reformation. Now, I don't think it's going to happen every Sunday in this month of October, but I at least want to share with you a study on the Reformation, specifically the Reformation in England. and specifically one particular character. We're not going to get into all of them, but you remember the Reformation in England was roughly from 1525 to 1600, and it was in conjunction with the Reformation that was taking place in the continent on the mainland. Now, the Reformation in England There were a number of key characters or people. You had the likes of John Knox. You had Thomas Cramner, Hugh Latimer. and even Andrew Melville. In the Reformation on the Continent you had, and these are the top or the heavy hitters you could say, you had Calvin, you had Luther, you had Swingly, you had Calvin's successor who was Beza, you had as well Pharaoh who was that fiery Evangelists, and you had others like Bucher, and there were others as well, Bollinger. But tonight I want to focus in on the Reformation in England, and I hope that Mr. Mook doesn't come and speak on the same person. But mind you, he'll probably do it much better than myself. We're going to deal with the person known as William Tyndale. And so we're going to talk a bit about William Tyndale. And so right at the very outset, I'm going to outline for you our study. And so we're going to deal with William Tyndale. We're going to deal with his preparation, his work, his death, and then his heritage. And so we're going to read the word of God and then we're going to get into our subject here tonight. And I trust that the Lord will encourage us and bless us. We thank you. We thank the Lord for these studies. As I was thinking of William Tyndale, I remember hearing Dr. Pinozian in Greenville preached in first person different men from the Reformation and one of the men he preached on was William Tyndale and he does it in such a great way. Unfortunately, you can't hear him live now, but you can tune in to his sermons at Faith Free Presbyterian Church, and you can listen to him do those first-person impersonations from different time periods of the Reformation. Well, let's turn to the Word of God, to Psalm 119, and we'll read verses 89 down to 104. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Though through thy commandments thou hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Amen. We trust the Lord to bless the reading of His word to our hearts. I'm sure you picked up on the different words, testimonies, commandments, precepts, words that were being mentioned here by the psalmist. Well, with God's Word opened up before us, let's briefly bow in a word of prayer in asking the Lord to come and to bless our hearts together. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful once again that we can come into thy presence. Lord, we're thankful that we are to be still and to know that thou art God. And Lord, we're thankful that we have thy Word before us. We're thankful that we have read from thy Word already this evening. We're thankful that we can be washed by thy word and that you can speak to us through thy word. We pray, Lord, that as we prayed already this morning, that we would hide thy word within our hearts. Lord, that we would not sin against thee. We know that thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And so we pray, Heavenly Father, let everyone here be settled that the Word of God is our chart and compass for life. We pray, O Lord, that you will direct us always into thy will through thy word. And we pray, O Lord, now that You will bless us, encourage our hearts, help me in the delivery, give clarity of both heart and mind, and Lord, help us to give Thee all the praise in all that we say and do here tonight. We ask that You will cover and cleanse this gathering by the blood of Christ and fill each one of us now with Thy power from on high. Let us know the move of the Holy Ghost in this gathering we pray, for we ask in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Now as I said I want to deal with the Reformation in England and we're going to deal with William Tyndale. William Tyndale has been called the captain of the army of reformers for the work that he has done. He was fluent in eight languages and he is best known today for his English translation. So those are just a few highlights of the man that we're going to look at here this evening. William Tyndale, in many respects, is the father of the English Bible. C.H. Spurgeon, he aptly said, the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Christ's Church. And so we're thankful tonight at the very outset for the work that William Tyndale provided to the Church of Christ. Now, there are a lot of Bibles. You know that to be so. And there are many homes that have Bibles in them. There are churches and homes around the world that have a Bible. It could be equally said there are a lot of versions of the Bible. When I was in New Hampshire, many folks came into the sanctuary with different versions. And I'm not here tonight to disparage or even criticize those versions, but they came into the sanctuary with different versions. And so to get everybody on board, as it were, with the version that we read, I say we, the Free Presbyterian Denomination, we would have responsive reading. And so we would read from the pulpit, from the authorized, or from the King James Bible. Well, I found that to be quite, not a mess, but at times it was difficult because people were reading from different Bibles. But after a while, the people began to learn what we were doing, and people would bring in, say, a second Bible, the authorized version, if they were going to participate in the responsive reading. So, with all that said, I just want to, again, just mention or stress, there are a lot of versions of the Bible. One of the most popular and I've already mentioned it, is the King James Version, which is also called the Authorized Version. And this version really was prepared under the support of James I in 1611. It's been said, and I quote, It is a sad fact that our Bibles often lie unused, taken for granted, and somewhat on a sideline or on the sidelines in our lives. I remember Dr. Cairns would often say there are some Christians who have Bibles at home that you can write on the cover unread because the dust was so thick. As Christians, we believe that the Word of God is God's revelation. It's His communication to His people. And sadly, there are some who neglect the reading of the Word of God. And again, it's not my desire, it's not my point to, as it were, beat those Christians up. Yes, at times we find ourselves where we are not reading as much as we would like. But I want to encourage you, if you have been slack in your reading, well, every day is a new beginning with the Lord. And though we may have not been faithful day by day in the reading of God's Word in the past, today we can start and we can move forward. And we can read His Word and we can consume it. We can make it our meat and our drink in the days that lie ahead. But I want to ask the question, how did we get our Bible, the Bible that you have, the Bible that I have, how did we get our Bible and what did it go through to get in our hands today? Well, this evening, I want to consider the story, as I've already mentioned, William Tyndale, who, as I've already mentioned, again, is the father, or in many respects, considered to be the father of the English Bible. And so we're going to look at his life, and again, we're going to consider his preparation, we're going to look at his work, his death, and his heritage. But at the very beginning, I want to start with his birth. It was in 1490. And there was a gentleman, and I'm just going to make a mention of this, it was kind of funny. In Northern Ireland, he would often give his testimony. And those who went to Northern Ireland, you know, and you learn quickly from the Irish folk as a whole, that they don't take themselves seriously, but they take the work that they do very seriously. And in many respects, they're very lighthearted, but they're very serious folks at the same time. And I remember hearing this fellow give his testimony, and I can't remember where I heard it, if it was recording or not, but there was a gentleman who would preach or give his testimony, and he would say, I was born like most of you. And that's how he would start, and it was kind of funny. And, you know, yes, he was born, and he was born a baby. Well, William Tyndale, he was born. He was born a baby in 1490 on the Welsh border into the home of really a well-to-do farmer. I'm not exactly sure what his family farmed, but they were well-to-do. He did go to school. He grew up going to school, and then eventually he went to university. He went to Oxford where he earned his MA in 1515. He was then later ordained as a Roman Catholic clergy, or in the Roman Catholic clergy as well. But quickly, he transferred from there and he went to Cambridge University. And it was thought that he went there because he wanted to learn, he wanted to specifically read Greek. He wanted to read the Greek New Testament of Erasmus. You know, it's amazing what motivates some people. that he wants to go and read the Greek New Testament of Erasmus. I'm going to embarrass Elise, you know, she's starting a new school, it's at Glendale Prep, and she wants to learn Latin, or she is learning Latin. And I think that's very encouraging, but how many kids want to learn Latin? Well, William Tyndale, he wanted to read the Greek New Testament, and so he wanted to read the scripture in its original language. just a little backdrop of the times Tyndale was really living in. At the time, Henry VIII, who had many wives, really was sitting upon the throne, and apparently he was a dedicated Catholic. And though he was a dedicated Catholic, he was not really a friend of the Pope, nor really excited about his rule in England. And so Henry, really was a bitter, he was bitter against the Pope. Henry VIII is interesting. Though an enemy to the Pope, he also persecuted many Protestants as well. And at the same time, he separated the Church of England from papal control. Really, he was a man who was just pleased in doing what he wanted to do, and he got things done the way he wanted to get them done. The church was not in a healthy condition at that time. It was really rife with evil, wickedness in high places, and fornication of every sort. Those who chronicled that time commented that priests were running from the houses of prostitution to the altar to perform Mass, mumbling their liturgies in Latin that no one could understand. Superstitiously worshipping relics like the gown of the Virgin Mary. They were worshipping pieces of the burning bush of Moses. straw from the manger in Bethlehem, and a complete skeleton of one of the babies killed by Herod the Great. The priests were indulging themselves on the blood, sweat, and tears of the common working people. And while this was taking place, New learning in the universities was being taught about the Renaissance, the discoveries of Columbus. You remember Columbus was roughly 1451 to 1506. I remember when I was in Spain and seeing a big memorial to Christopher Columbus. There was the teaching of the Reformer. You may have heard of him in Germany by the name of Martin Luther. All that was taking place during the time of Tyndale. It was in Cambridge that Tyndale was converted from Romanism to Lutheranism. And in the ancient halls of Cambridge, Tyndale became familiar with the Bible and its original Greek and not the outdated Latin. of the Vulgate. And so this now leads me to talk about his preparation, what really led to the work that he is known for. It really was through the reading that his passion was kindled. He was quite the reader and in 1521, William Tyndale moved into a home, into the home of Sir John Walsh at Little Sudbury Manor. And while he was there, he served as a chaplain, something similar to our friend John Huntsman. He was a tutor and even a secretary and preached from time to time in Bristol and would often preach on justification. He was a regular guest at the dinner table at the home he was staying in, especially when guests were in town. And so he had the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Tyndale got to meet and talk with a lot of clerics, and he got to rub shoulders, as it were, with the upper crust from all over England. Tyndale talked a lot about the scriptures, exposing at times the dinner guests of fistul trees and hypocrisy. He preached sermons that made bold appeals as well. And you can imagine that Tyndale was quickly arousing the hatred and the fury of the friars, the prelates, and even the abbots. And so it was one of these times while sitting at one of the meals, Tyndale was talking with a visiting cleric. And he said, and I quote, If God spare my life, ere many years pass, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of the Scriptures than thou does." What a statement to make to a cleric. Tyndale really was echoing the famous words Erasmus wrote. in the preface of the Greek New Testament. And I quote his words, I would to God that the plowman would sing a text of the scripture at his plow, and that the weaver would hum them to the tune of his shuttle. As you can imagine, Tyndale was warned to stop preaching and teaching his message. But instead, Tyndale had a resolve to start his great work of making the Bible available to all in his country. Tyndale left for London to start the work and really to get the ball rolling. He got the permission he needed from the authorities in the church to translate the Scripture. He specifically sought out a fellow, and again, pardon my mispronunciation of some of these names, but he sought out a fellow by the name of Cuthbert Tunstall, who was a Bishop of London, a scholar, and really a close friend of Erasmus. But Tunstall was loyal to Rome and was afraid of the new Lutheranism and he didn't give Tyndale really the green light to start his work. It would be until later that he became Tyndale's most vicious opponent. Things in London weren't so bad entirely. Tyndale met another man, Lord Monmouth, who was an influential Lutheran and a friend to the merchants. And I think this is rather interesting. It was on the docks that the Lutheran literature was being brought in. Tyndale became convinced that his work to translate the Scripture would not be successful in England. And I quote, not only was there no room in my Lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England. Through the providential friendship of Monmouth, the merchants agreed to support Tyndale's endeavor. And so Tyndale left England to Germany in 1524, and he never returned to England again. Tyndale worked on translating, and the merchants smuggled his work into England in bales of cloth. And so now this leads us into his specific work. The Romanist Church in England forbid the Bible to be translated into the common tongue, and did everything in their power to enforce it. One cleric that Tyndale spoke to about translating the Scriptures said, and I quote, we had better be without God's law than the Pope's. The reason to forbid Tyndale's efforts was so that their corruption would not be exposed. As I learn about Tyndale, I learn that Tyndale really was a man of vision. And I cannot help but to think of the proverb, where there is no vision, the people perish. William Tyndale saw the need to reform England. and that no reform could take place really without the Bible. He was convinced through and through and even persuaded of Luther's teaching on the priesthood of all believers. I'm sure we know what that means, but let me just refresh our memories. Protestants believe, and we would consider ourselves to be Protestants, Protestants believe that the saved, those who are born again, those who are the children of God, have access to God directly through Christ. As we considered something of that this morning, we believe that the veil of the temple was rent, and so now there is access. We don't have to go to a priest. We don't have to do anything, but go directly to the throne of grace and make our appeal to God through Christ. Tyndale's convictions were so strong. And he dedicated the rest of his life really to accomplishing his goal in spite of exile, in spite of living in poverty, suffering, and even death eventually. He knew he was going to die, but doing what he was doing. Tyndale's time in Europe didn't go smoothly, unfortunately. He did stay for a short time in Wittenberg, and probably had lunch with Luther. And I was chuckling at that idea. You know, wonder what they had. Potatoes and sauerkraut. I don't know. But, you know, it's possible that they had lunch together. But the bulk of his work was really done in Cologne. The New Testament was ready for printing in 1525, just one year after leaving England. In all the excitement about the translation, an assistant spoke freely about the work. Somebody who was helping Tyndale actually was drinking a little too much wine. And we've heard the saying, and this was used in World War II a lot, loose lips sink ships. You know, here, this assistant, he had an unguarded tongue. And he spilled, as it were, the beans, and the news got out, and got back to Johannes Dobnek, aka Coachellus, a bitter enemy of the Reformation, what Tyndale was doing. A raid was planned, but thankfully Tyndale got word ahead of time, and he escaped successfully with the printed pages and all the manuscripts. You know, you think of the providence of God in Tyndale's life. Tyndale settled in Worms, and in 1526, he published the first complete edition of the English New Testament. It was smuggled into England through the merchants, as we've already mentioned, in bales of cloth, confiscated food and other stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of the copies were confiscated and even burned by the Roman authorities, burned at St. Paul's by cutbert Tunstall. The copies that did survive were sold and the money sent to Tyndale for edited and improved edition. Tunstall hated the Bible, and I'm going to share a quote with you that he said. It is intermingled with certain articles of heretical depravity and pernicious, erroneous opinions. Pestilent, scandalous, and seductive of the simple of minds of which translation many book containing the pestilent and pernicious poison in the vulgar tongue have been dispersed in great numbers throughout our diocese. which truly, unless it be speedily foreseen, will without doubt infect and contaminate the flock committed to us with the pestilent poison and the deadly disease of heretical depravity." He hated the Bible. He hated the Word of God. Tyndale produced new and improved editions, and some even had marginal notes. Tyndale also began his work on the Old Testament, and to do so he had to learn Hebrew. As I said, he knew eight languages. And so here's a scholar, one who really was given over to learning. And in 1530, the Pentateuch was finished and printed in Antwerp, Belgium. He had to do the work twice because the first manuscripts were destroyed when the boat he was on became shipwrecked. Tyndale's work was flourishing and it could not be stopped. It was on fire. It was spreading quickly. As fast as his work got to England, so did the fury and even the frustration increased. It was determined that the authorities would go to Europe and kill Tyndale and stop the poison. Tyndale was hard to arrest, probably because of his friends letting him know in advance to leave. Tyndale did not do his work in secret, really. Ultimately, it was God's hand preserving Tyndale and his work. But sadly, his life was going to come to an end. Dr. Paisley would often say, you are immortal until the Lord is through with you. And that certainly was the case for Tyndale. through the deceptive friendship of a fellow by the name of Henry Phillips. Now, Henry Phillips was one who really was duplicitous in every bit of the word. He ingratiated himself with the authorities in the church. And so he was really, he was not Tyndale's friend by any means. Tyndale was caught. And Ponce, who was a true friend of Tyndale where he lived, never trusted Phillips. You know, his senses just were very uneasy about that man. Phillips persuaded Tyndale one night to go on a walk when his friend Ponce was away. And which then led him to a group of thugs who took Tyndale and turned him into the authorities that were awaiting. Tyndale was imprisoned in the castle of Villevorde near Brussels where he lived for one year and 135 days without heat and without light. He lived without sufficient clothes. He lived without sufficient food. He lived without his friends and he lived without his books. He was only visited by tormentors who told him to recant. Ponce did everything he could to get Tyndale out, but the authorities, thirsty for his blood, were not going to let Tyndale go. Tyndale was tried. He was defrocked and even sentenced to death. And in the early hours, Tyndale was tied to a stake. An iron chain around and a noose was put upon his neck and brush was placed under his feet. In an instant the executioner pulled the noose and Tyndale's body went limp. The brush was ignited and Tyndale's body was burned. But we do have his last words recorded. And He said these, He said, Lord, open the king of England's eyes. And as we think of His death, the words in Revelation 12 and verse 11 come to mind. And I want to read these to you. And it says, And they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death." Tyndale. He came to his end. Though Tyndale's life ceased, yet the work that he did and the heritage that he has left has not been forgotten. The last monument to Tyndale's death and even to his own martyrdom is our King James Version. Two centuries earlier, Whitcliffe's translation was from the Latin Vulgate into English, but it never got printed. Tyndale's was from Hebrew to Greek, and it really was the first English translation to be mass produced as a result of all the advances in the art of printing. One incomplete copy of Tyndale's Cologne edition survives, and two copies of the 6,000 that were printed in Worms are still in existence. The 1534 edition printed in Antwerp is the last and really the best. And it formed the basis for the famous Coverdale Bible. You know, Tyndale's story should really give us an appreciation for God's Word. The words of the Authorized Version, of the King James Version, in essence were written in the ink of martyr's blood. As you think about the Bible, you cannot help to think who really stood behind it. William Tyndale, we owe much of our thanks to the work that he did. We should not take this word for granted. We should not read it only on Sundays. We should not, you know, neglect it because it is our meat. It is our drink. It does give us what we need to survive day by day as the people of God. As I was thinking about the Bible, I did a quick search, and I didn't realize that the Guinness Book of World Records in 1995 did a study and found that 5 billion copies of the Bible back then, in 1995, have been sold and distributed, making it really the best sold book in all of the world. And yet, sadly, it's a Bible, and even more sadly, it's a Bible that's neglected by some of God's people. The Word of God tells us that we are to search the Scriptures because the Word of God speaks of Christ from cover to cover. And to know our God and to know our Christ means that we must read this Word. That we must be familiar with this Word. That we must understand its contents. That we must learn to hide the Word within our hearts. Again, we are so privileged. And yet, sadly, we take our privilege often for granted. I trust that we will leave here with a resolve to read this word more and more and to take full advantage of what God has communicated to us. You know, we know that God's will will be accomplished through His word. And so I trust tonight that this brief study, really this cliff note version of the life of William Tyndale has been an encouragement and a blessing to your own heart.