The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century has often been described, and I think rightly so, as the greatest revival since the day of Pentecost. It was without doubt a mighty and miraculous move of God, and that at a time when the Gospel was at low ebb. For hundreds of years most of Europe had been submerged in popish darkness. The majority of priests were either wretched or wicked men. Scandalous sins prevailed within the church. Dark, pagan, heathen practices were accepted as normal. And instead of true worship, worship based on Scripture, the worship that was followed in cathedrals and chapels across Europe was anything but God-glorifying. It not only disobeyed God, it actually dishonored God. And true Christianity had been replaced by a Christianity that was more devilish than divine. Worldliness replaced godliness, and false religion had taken the place of the true gospel. In fact, I think it's impossible to overstate the dreadful spiritual condition that existed in that period of time. But then in the early 1500s, God raised up men. I suppose first of all there were men like John Wycliffe of England and John Huss of Bohemia. And then later in the 1500s, the early 1500s, God raised up men, men who are more familiar to us, men like Martin Luther, men like Zwingli and Calvin and Knox in Scotland and many other reformers throughout the land of England. He converted those men, saved them from the sin and superstition of potpourri. delivered from the bondage of false religion, filled them with His Spirit and enabled them to stand forth as champions of the gospel. As a result of their labours, these men whom God had raised up, as a result of their labours, the reformation that had first dawned in the days of John Wycliffe became a mighty movement for the glory of God. I think it's important to note that the Protestant Reformation was not a minor event in the annals of church history. This was not a localised stirring in the hearts of just a few men. It was not a small, stumbling, staggering advancement in relation to the Gospel. And neither was it a fanatical revolution by men who were ignorant and unlearned. That's how the enemies of the Reformation right to this very day like to portray it. They like to suggest that the Reformers were misguided men, that they were misled, that they were mistaken. They may grant that they were sincere, but then they'll follow that up by saying they were sincerely wrong. And they will claim that the Reformation was not as dramatic, not as powerful, not as widespread as some suggest. There have always been men throughout history since the days of the Reformation who have sought to minimise these glorious events. But their efforts have failed, for the Protestant Reformation was not a work of man. It was a movement of God's power which impacted on the lives of many right across Europe. If you read the record of church history of this period, it's clear that the Reformation affected Europe socially. There were many social reforms that came in the wake of this move of God. The Reformation only affected Europe socially, it affected Europe economically. Rome had kept her people in poverty. Priests became wealthier as the people became poorer. And with penance and indulgences, money was given hand over fist to the leaders of the church. That all changed in the light of the Reformation. And economically, Europe was affected. Then again, Europe was affected nationally. This in many ways was, there was a national movement with better governments and better laws. And the Reformation impacted on Europe on those various ways, but far above any of that. The fact remains that the Protestant Reformation affected Europe spiritually. And of course, that's what interests us tonight. One historian has noted of the Reformation, the day had at last arrived when God was to demonstrate his power and begin a thorough reform of his church. Various clauses are usually given for the Reformation. The real power lay in the gospel of grace and the preaching of it. And the direct cause was the raising up by God of a number of men whom He had chosen to take the leading part in this work. And that really strikes the key note of this whole matter. God in His providence, God in His mercy, raised up men to preach the true gospel. Their chief concern was the glorious doctrine of justification by faith alone. Their chief interest was the essential nature of the gospel. This is what the Reformers preached. We thought of that briefly this morning. It's what the Reformers taught. It's what the Reformers published. It's what the Reformers stood for. That a man cannot be seared by his own works, but by the finished work of Jesus Christ. And when God revealed that truth to these men, and that truth embraced them in the mighty way that it did, the shackles and the superstitions and the sins of Rome were cast to the side. Men had been won by the free grace of God. And they came to understand this fundamental truth of salvation. And like a spreading flame, the fire of the Reformation began to spread. And the fire of the old gospel of redeeming grace began to go far and wide. And God moved. And the Reformation was established. And I think it's important to note that the Reformers were very bold in their preaching. They were unashamed. of their stand for God. And as a consequence of that boldness, and a consequence of that confidence in their message and their contention for the faith, it was inevitable, it was simply inevitable, that they were going to come into open conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn't very long after Martin Luther kneeled his 95 feces to the chapel door on October 31st, 1517 that he discovered that Rome was utterly opposed to this message of justification by faith alone. Some claim that Martin Luther was taken by surprise by that response. I think there's merit in that thought. Luther was glad to have discovered the gospel. He was glad to have learned and have revealed to him by God that the just shall live by faith. But what shook him, what shook Martin Luther was the hatred, the hatred that the Roman Catholic Church showed towards this teaching of the Word of God. And as Luther preached and the other reformers preached, and other people were being saved and brought out of potpourri, and this work was spreading, it was clear that the battle lines were drawn. Luther and the other men now faced a great choice. We can't fall on the side of potpourri again, or stand for the gospel and separate from Rome. And of course such was the nature of that choice that it really was no choice at all. These men had no option, they had no alternative. No alternative but to separate from a system that denied the glorious gospel of the free grace of God. You know something, that's the controversy of this day still. It has to annoy any right-thinking Protestant. It has to really grieve us when we hear of modern church leaders who profess themselves to be Protestant, doing all they can to undo this biblical and Reformed principle of separation. We're no strangers to this idea in this country. For years we have leading denominations in Ulster, Making no attempt to disguise their desire for what they call organic union with the Church of Rome. Weeks of prayer for Christian unity. Pulpit exchanges between priest and minister. Ministers fraternals with all sorts of people involved. These are all commonplace. And with this emphasis on joint worship, and this emphasis on joint fellowship, and this emphasis on joint services, it's clear that there are many in our nation, prominent church men, ministers, who claim to be Protestant. There are many who desire a return to Rome. It's very strange. The Reformers came out of Rome. But there are modern day church leaders who would have us to go back. Now both can't be right unless the Roman Catholic Church has changed. And it hasn't. It hasn't. Always the same is its motto. So the reformers came out. We would have men who would take us back. Both can't be right. That's why a subject like this is of extreme importance. Why did the reformers emphasize the doctrine of separation? Why were they separatists? Why did they leave the Church of Rome? Well, I want to look at that subject tonight. And there are three things I want to draw your attention to in regard to this whole matter. You may say, first of all, that the Reformers' separation from Rome was based on their faithfulness to Christ and His Gospel. It was based on their faithfulness to Christ and His Gospel. If there's one thing that you must never forget about the Protestant Reformers, it is their love and their loyalty to the Word of God. When God took the scales off their eyes and opened their hearts and their minds to the Gospel, They embraced it as the Word of the living God. It reminds me of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2 in verse 13. When Paul wrote back to that church, he said, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us. Ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh in you, also that belief. When Paul came with this message to the Thessalonians, they received it not as the Word of man, not as the product of man's imagination. They received it as the Word of God, which effectually worked in them. And that was true of the Reformers. They did not view the Gospel as a man-made innovation. They did not consider the Scriptures to be the work of human writers. They did not reduce the message of justifying grace to one gospel among many gospels. Rather, they realized that this word, that just shall live by faith, and that a man is justified not by the works of the law, but by simple saving faith in Christ. They recognized, they realized that was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There was no question. When their hearts were opened to this, they realized this was the truth. And that Rome's way of salvation was false. They knew that penance could never and would never save a soul. It had to be Christ alone. And that message gripped their souls. And it was their faithfulness to that message, their loyalty to the Gospel, that led these Reformers to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. I think it's good to understand this, that these men, these reformers, did not separate from Rome because of some personal whim or fancy. They didn't separate from the Church of Rome because it was convenient. It was anything but convenient at that particular time. They didn't separate from Rome because there was some social advantage for them to gain if they left the Church. Rather, their separation from Rome was simply out of love and loyalty to Jesus Christ and His Word. They understood. This comes to the heart of this matter. They understood that the doctrines of Rome were in opposition to the doctrines of Scripture and therefore there had to be a parting of the way. As I thought on this theme and studied some papers on it, I discovered this sermon by Martin Luther. It's entitled, No Compromise with the Church of Rome. In that message, he made this statement. The world at the present time is discussing how to quell the controversy and strife over doctrine and faith, and how to effect a compromise between the church and the papacy. Let the learned, the wise, it is said, bishops, emperor, and princes arbitrate. Each side can easily yield something, and it is better to concede some things which can be construed according to individual interpretation, than that so much persecution, bloodshed, war, and terrible endless dissension and destruction be permitted." Then he goes on to say, here is lack of understanding. For understanding proves by the word that such patchwork, such compromise, Such compromise is not according to God's will, but that doctrine, faith and worship must be preserved pure and unadulterated. There must be no mingling with human nonsense, human opinions or wisdom. The Scriptures give us this rule, He said, we must obey God rather than men. Luther went on to say to someone else, we are convinced that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist. Just as we cannot worship the devil himself as Lord and God, so we cannot put up with Satan's apostle, the Pope. And what was Luther saying? What's the thrust of his argument there? His loyalty to the Gospel meant that he could not involve himself in this patchwork of compromise. and his loyalty to the Word of God demanded separation from Rome. John Calvin, another great reformer, was just as clear on this matter of separation when he said, If the true church is the pillar and ground of the truth, it is certain that no church can exist where lying and falsehood have gained sway. He went on to say of Rome, Instead of the ministry of the Word prevails a perverted government. compounded of lies, a government which partly extinguishes, partly suppresses the pure light. In place of the Lord's Supper, the foulest sacrilege has entered. The worship of God is deformed by a varied mass of intolerable superstitions. Doctrine is wholly buried and exploded. The public assemblies are schools of idolatry and impiety. Wherefore, in declining..." Now listen to what he says here. having described the Roman Catholic Church. He says, wherefore, in declining fatal participation in such wickedness, we run no risk of being dissevered from the Church of Christ. And what he says there is simply this, that the Church of Rome is so corrupt that it's not the Church of Christ Therefore, when we separate from it, we are not being severed from the Church of Christ. He went on to say to some, we seem slanderous and mean-spirited when we call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist. It is certain that the Pope of Rome has transferred to himself the very properties of God and Christ. There cannot be a doubt that he is the leader and standard-bearer of an evil and abominable kingdom. This is what the Reformers thought about the Roman Catholic Church. It's what they believed. And of course, it was contrary to the teaching of Scripture. The Roman Catholic Church was in opposition to the Word of God and out of loyalty to the Word of God. The Reformers realized that separation from Rome was right. Separation from Rome was necessary. And separation from Rome was scriptural. And the very basis of this was the recovery of the gospel. When these men discovered that the just shall live by faith, not by works of Rome, when they discovered what the true gospel really was, That led these reformers along the path of separation from the false religion of Romanism. And it was a step of faithfulness to God and to His Word. Is that not what Paul is saying in 1 Timothy chapter 6? Look at what he says there in verse 5, verse 4. Let's go back to verse 3, "...if any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness." In other words, a man does not speak according to the Word of God. If he does not come with sound doctrine, if he does not come with a message that is in agreement with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul describes that kind of man. He is proud, knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof come of envy, strife, wailings, evils, surmisings, perverse disputings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth. Supposing that Gideon is godliness, what are we to do with a man like that? What is the Church of Christ to do with a denomination like that? And he gives the answer there in verse 5, "...from such withdraw thyself." Separation out of loyalty to Christ and his gospel. That's what's lacking in these modern times. You ever wonder why there's such a clamour? Why there's such a clamour to join with Rome? It's because there's such a weak view, such a wrong view, such a non-scriptural view of the gospel, of justification by faith alone. You know, it's no accident that those who are wrong in their theology, and especially in regard to salvation, will also be very wrong in their company. I've mentioned here before the name of a preacher in America called Rick Warren. He's the pastor of one of the largest churches in America. And on his website, the question is asked regarding the difference between Christianity and Catholicism. The answer to that question includes these words. Because we both believe in the Bible, talking now about Christians and Catholics, because we both believe in the Bible, what Catholics believe and what Protestant churches believe, when it comes to the basics, are pretty much the same. For instance, we both believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. And given that statement, that's what that person believes. That's what's on their website. Pretty much the same. We all believe the same. There's no real fundamental difference there. Given that statement, it's no surprise he's quoted as saying elsewhere, I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody. He's quite happy to fellowship with everybody. Take the case of Billy Graham. But he claims on record as saying there are many ways to God. Doesn't that explain his uniting with Roman priests on his worldwide crusades? And when there are leading evangelicals, and I'm thinking of a man by the name of Dr. Robert Schuller, I mentioned this morning our brother Deccanio was doing a documentary on ecumenism. He has some of this information in that documentary and when it's finished, obviously it'll be finished early next year, we'll try and have an opportunity some night to view it. But there is in America a National Association of Evangelicals and our brother Deccanio interviewed Dr. Robert Shuler at one of those meetings. And he asked him whether people can be saved without God. Robert Schurter said, I don't know. I don't know. Isn't it any wonder when a man talks like that? A keynote speaker at the National Association of Evangelicals? Isn't it any wonder when he speaks like that that there's little separation from Rome? When men are not loyal to the Scriptures, When men are not loyal to Christ, when men are not loyal to the gospel, they will fellowship with anybody and they will accept any kind of religion. If we're all the same after all, why would we need to separate from each other? You can trace this right through the history of Israel. When they pursued the Lord, what did they do? When they pursued the words of the prophets, when they pursued the law, When they pursued the commands of God, what happened? They followed Baal. They followed Baal. They raised up altars. They had their temples. They had their sacrifices. They had their false worship. And it all stemmed from the fact that they were no longer loyal to the Word of God. And when a person abandons the Word of God, when a denomination abandons the Word of God, that denomination, that person is going to feel quite happy associating with anybody and everybody. The Reformers were different. Their separation from Rome was based on their loyalty and their love to Jesus Christ and his gospel. And love and loyalty to Christ and his gospel demands that we remain a separatist church. A Christian demands that. If we are loyal to Christ, loyal to his word, we cannot fellowship with Rome. Because the teaching of Rome is opposed to the teaching of God's Word. And if we're loyal to Christ and loyal to the Gospel, then we can have no part with those who want to join with Rome. It's impossible. Birds of a feather flock together. We've got to be of a different feather from those who want to join with Popery. that of love and loyalty to Christ, the reformer separated from the Church of Rome and maintained a stand for Jesus Christ. And we need to do the same. We need to do the same. That's what this church was built on. This church was built on preaching the gospel, standing for Jesus Christ, separating from apostasy, from ecumenism, from Romanism. And God blessed that stand. God blessed the separated position of the free church. And we can't afford to give one inch on that. We can't afford it. We'll lose out with God. And like the Bible, they're written across the door. The Reformers' separation was based on their faithfulness to Christ and His Gospel. Let me say secondly that the Reformers separated from Rome at great personal cost. Standing for God is not always easy, and it certainly wasn't easy in the days of the Protestant Reformation. Whenever Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door, he immediately became the object of Popish opposition. When he was brought to the Diet of Worms and made to answer his charges, charges made against He wrote to his friends. This was before he actually came to the great council. He wrote to his friends and said, I have no intention of fleeing nor of leaving the Word in danger, but I mean to confess it unto death so far as Christ's grace sustains me. But I am certain, he said, that the blood hounds will not rest until they put me to death. In another letter at the same time, he wrote to Melanchthon, his friend, and he said, if I do not come back, if I do not come back from this summons and this court that I'm going to, and my enemies murder me, I implore you, dear brother, that you will go on teaching and standing fast in the truth. His enemies didn't murder him, but they did murder many of his fellow reformers. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were done to death for loyalty to Christ. Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned to death for refusing to accept the Roman Church. Roland Taylor was sent to his death against the faggots for maintaining the Christian profession and his love and loyalty to the Gospel. Taylor was a remarkable man. He was director of Hadley in Suffolk and he was burned at the stake on the 9th of February, 1555. His last words to his wife and family were these. Picture the scene, the man's tied to the faggots. He's about to be burned to death because he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He's standing surrounded by officers of Rome. ready to do him to death? What did he say? For God's sake, beware of potpourri. For though it appear to have in it unity, yet the same is vanity and anti-Christianity, and not in Christ's faith and virity. Beware of potpourri! The man was about to die at the hands of potpourri. willing to die rather than give up his faith in Christ, rather than agree to popish heresy. You know the list is almost endless. Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Christians ought to read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Read the harrowing accounts of men and women who lost everything, life included. life included, rather than submit to the doctrines of Rome. They were men arrested, hunted, hunted down, arrested, charged, tortured, beaten, tormented and eventually put to death. Faithful unto death rather than give in to potpourri. I think there's something very significant about that. Men who are faithful unto death. You know, we can read about the reformers and hear them preached upon, these martyrs of the faith. We can go into Martyrs Memorial Church in Belfast and walk around and see the busts there right along the outside of that seating area in Martyrs Church. Never stop to think what it meant for those men to go to the stake and die because of love to Christ, faithful unto death. Here were men who loved the Lord and His gospel more than life itself. They could have recanted. They may have been spared. But they loved the Lord. They loved His gospel. Christ meant everything to them. He meant more than life itself. And they were prepared to pay the price of separation and stand for God. They lived with spiritual and eternal values and views. These men were happy to give up everything. Happy to lose their churches. Happy to lose their possessions. Happy to lose their homes. Happy to lose their wealth? Happy to lose everything this world counts dear? Because they knew this world is only a passing thing, and they had their eye on eternity. They lived and died with eternal values in view. They were men who realized that death was not a loss, but death was a gain. It was Paul who said, for to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. I think it was Calvin who translated that verse, for to me to live or die, Christ is gain. That's how these men thought. They didn't view their death as a loss. They didn't view their martyrdom as some kind of defeat. Some kind of desperate, dreadful situation. They viewed death as a gain. They were going to see Christ. Some of them actually went to the stake and they embraced it. Because death was not a loss, death was a gain to them. They were men who were willing to suffer for Christ who had suffered so much for them. That's how they viewed this. Christ had gone to Calvary and been put to death there, voluntarily. The most sacrifice that they would make would ever be too much. They loved Christ. And here were men who let nothing, nothing destroy their faithfulness to God. Can you imagine it? Stripped and clothed in a peasant's garment, Sometimes coming with a pointed hat on your head with the word heretic written across the front of it. Through a baying crowd crying for your blood. Right up to the martyr's stake. The faggots piled around it and you chained to it. And the gunpowder brought. And the man coming with the torch and setting fire to it. And you standing there in the open gaze of them. and women and being burned to death because you love the Lord Jesus Christ. Rome put men to death because of their faithfulness to the gospel. I tell you, this room hasn't changed a bit. It reminds me of Naboth, you know, in 1 Kings 21. King Ahab came and asked him for his vineyard. He said, I'll give you money for it. I'll give you a better vineyard for it. Naboth said, no, I'm not selling my vineyard. It wasn't just some twisted notion Naboth took. He said, the Lord forbid it me. I'm bound by the Word of God. I'm bound by the law that I'm not permitted to sell my vineyard or give my vineyard away. Of course, there were charges trumped up against him. Sons of Belial came and said he blasphemed God. He was taken out and put to death, prepared to stand for God at the highest cost. You know, Naboth could have bargained there. He could have bartered with the king. He could have changed his mind that he was being tried. He could have said to Ahab, well, I've changed my mind. I've looked at that Old Testament law. And really I don't need to be so narrow, I don't need to be so strict in the interpretation of it. I think there's a cause there, there's a space there for me to give it to you since you're the king. Not a bit of it. He wouldn't sell it, he wouldn't give it to him. Because the Word of God forbade him from doing such a thing. I think it's interesting that Nabal Naboth's vineyard did come into the possession of Kinahab. He took the vineyard. But Naboth kept his testimony. Living for God at highest cost is a timely lesson for us here. That's what strikes me about modern day Christianity. There's a desire to be popular with everybody and unpopular with nobody. So there's an acceptance that are joining up with Romanism, false religion, the ideas and the interests and the innovations of the world. If you want to pay the price of standing outside the camp for God, I know that separation is not easy. It's not easy when everybody else is all together and you're left outside. It's not easy when there seems to be such a desire for this kind of thing. Churches getting together, even in a local situation. Putting statements out together. I'd rather stand for Jesus Christ. Seek to defend the Gospel. It's what we've been singing tonight. I'm not ashamed to own my God or to defend His cause. Maintain the honor of His Word and the glory of His Christ. Separation comes with a price. Thank God there were Reformers prepared to pay the price and stand for Jesus Christ. I'll say one last thing tonight. The Reformers' separation from Rome secured the furtherance of the Gospel for succeeding generations. Luther and Calvin and the other reformers have served God in their own generation. They lived for the moment. They were men for the moment. They were men raised up of God for the times. As it was with Esther, they had come to the kingdom for such a time as God brought them to the kingdom for. They were men raised up of God for that time. There's no question about that. But their influence did not end with their death. It's said in Hebrews 11, verse 4, "...of Abel, he being dead, yet speaketh." Could that not be said of the Reformers? They labored. Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon, Calvin, Knox. down the list of them, those men laboured in their generation, but others have entered into their labours. You think of the great historic Protestant creeds, the great statements of faith, the great articles of religion, and they carry Reformed doctrine. You see, the impact of the Protestant Reformation in many ways lives on to this day. This is what made Britain great. I read an article just this past week, and the writer was making this comment. He said, the Church of England, indeed the United Kingdom, and the British Empire are children of the Reformation. The open Bible and the preaching of the Word are the foundation stones of those liberties that defined our nation at its birth and through its greatness. Protestantism is not some bolt-on accessory to Britishness, rather it used to be the nation's glue. What was he saying there? He was saying that the open Bible And the preaching of the Word are the foundation stones that define our liberty and define this nation at its birth and at its greatness. It was the Bible that made Britain great. It was Reformation principles that made this nation what it was. And now we have a keen and waiting want him to be the defender of faiths, the multicultural faith that his placement is keen. Is it any wonder Britain's losing its greatness? Lost its greatness. Is it any wonder? Any wonder when the Bible's banned in schools and in places? Any wonder when you can't even mention Christmas because it happens to have the name of Christ in it? You can't have reference to Easter holidays? And our nation is rapidly, rapidly casting the Bible to its side. And we wonder why it's in the mess it's in. This land, this nation of ours was great because of an open Bible and because of the preaching of the Word. What a glorious heritage we have. You know, that is the Protestant heritage. It's not murals. It's not culture. It's the Gospel. It's the Gospel. And the separation of the Reformers from the Church of Rome secured the furtherance of the Gospel for generations to come. Now what does that teach us tonight? If we want to see the Gospel advanced in our generation and in generations to come. We've got to maintain our separation from Rome. We've got to maintain an open Bible. We've got to maintain the preaching of the Word. You know we have much to thank God for in this land. I don't think, if I'm honest, I don't think we always appreciate it. Just what we have by way of spiritual privileges in Ulster. What we have by way of spiritual heritage and inheritance of God. And there are those who would take these things from us. Let me say this in closing tonight, we need to remember the Reformation. We need to remember the Reformation. Some would have us forget, some would say there's no need to do this kind of thing at the end of October. Now that's the whole cry of the media and the whole cry of secular society, the whole cry of the ecumenical movement, just forget about Protestant Reformation. Let's remember what God has done. Let's remain true to the Word of God that lies at the very heart of our Protestantism. Let's resist every attempt to reverse their affirmation and let's resist every attempt to return to Rome. Let's pray for a glorious revival of true religion. Let's pray for the conversion of our Protestant countrymen. Let's pray for the conversion of women Catholics. It's the truth that sets them free. It's the Son who sets them free and him whom the Son sets free. Thank God is free indeed. That's what we ought to work for and pray for in this time. that God would move and send us a revival. Maybe you're not saved tonight. Maybe you've never known what it is to receive Christ as your Savior. You call yourself a Protestant, loyal, interested in what's happening and interested in these things, but you're not saved. Maybe even you love to hear of Lutheran. Luther stands against the Pope and against Rome, and it thrills your soul, but you're not saved. It's time tonight you were. But I trust before this meeting comes to an end that you'll trust Christ. You'll realize that Christ and Christ alone is the Savior of sinners. And He will be your Savior. if you cry to Him for salvation. May God bless His Word to our hearts tonight, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our time around Thy Word tonight. We cry to Thee, O God, that Thou wilt preserve the testimony of the gospel in this country. Remember, O God, our nation. Remember our nation in these days. O God, have mercy on us. Father, lead us on with Thyself, we pray. Bless those who are not saved in this meeting tonight. Lord, be gracious, we pray. Save precious souls. Speak to those who are backslidden and cold at heart. Draw them savingly, Lord, to Thyself. We pray for Jesus' sake, Amen.