Beloved, all welcome here at this Reformation commemoration. It is indeed a good thing that we may do that, that we should remember the deeds of the Lord of the past and the fact that the way we now may be gathered in church on the Lord's Day, every Lord's Day again, that's also because of God's work in the days of the Protestant Reformation. It's a rich blessing. And in the midst of this all, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ sustains His church, although we may think at times that things are going bad, but the Lord is every day at work gathering people to His church. And so the Lord Jesus alone is our hope and our comfort and our expectation. Shall we read Colossians chapter 3, the verses 1 through 15. Colossians 3, 1 through 15. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, into which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these—anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called, in one body, and be ye thankful. So far. Beloved friends, what was the main content of the Protestant Reformation? It was Christ. Christ for us, Christ in us. It was Christ in all His fullness. The heart of Calvin's understanding of Scripture is that a sinner is brought into union with Christ. And that means then that Christ lives in you, and you live in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those same matters weighed upon Martin Luther. He said, Christ alone is our righteousness. And he was summoned to appear before a great, important meeting, where the emperor of those days, Emperor Charles V, and all the nobility and all the dukes of Germany were all together. The gathering, they called that a diet, and it happened in worms. And there Luther had to stand, and he said, my conscience is bound to the Word of God. And it was all focused on Christ. Christ is the content of Scripture. Because the Lord Jesus Christ paid for the sins fully, and that's why there's no mass sacrifices necessary. There are no duties necessary for us to fulfill, to receive forgiveness of sins. Roman Catholicism had engulfed the people into whole lists of laws and do's and don'ts. And they prescribed all kinds of rituals in order to gain forgiveness, and they could never be sure if they really had forgiveness. They could never be sure if they were really included in Christ. And Luther said it's Christ, because he paid the price of sin. But the Lord Jesus also lived a perfect life on earth, He did that on behalf of His people. He copied our life. And His payment for the iniquity and His perfect obedience are both imputed to the sinner by faith. So Christ is all. We just read those words in Colossians 3 verse 11. Christ is all. And that forms the heart of the Protestant Reformation, because it forms the heart of Scripture. These words are the heart of God's revelation. And the Reformation did not want to do anything else but lead poor sinners into the arms of Christ. And therefore, they were persecuted. Some of them were burned. Some of them had to flee. One million fled from France. It was devastating even for the French economy. One million skilled tradesmen. And they fled. They were not even allowed to flee. They had to choose, be Roman Catholic or dead. But they fled. Boats from England. came close to the French coast and there were people huddled together on the shores. They were put on little rowboats out to the ship at night. Some were caught. It was dreadful. Many could flee or they would flee through the mountains into Switzerland or they would flee through the Mediterranean. A little girl gave a testimony while they were fleeing. Someone asked her, because the Antichrist in France is persecuting us, we're not allowed to obey the Lord Jesus Christ? The French king was for them the Antichrist, and rightly so. Louis XIV, a very wicked man. But the whole gist of it all was, Christ is all. Medieval theology was focused upon works. Works is all. And Martin Luther, by God's grace, he wanted peace with God. He sensed that he had no peace with God. It was God's Spirit working in him, awakening him. And Martin Luther heard from the church he had to work. Well, work he did like none other. He was a law student. That's what his dad wanted him to study, study law, get a good job and a good pay. So he was obedient to his dad and he became a law student. But then it happened. Boys and girls, you and me will know that, I think. He had been home, and he was on his way walking to a German town of Erfurt. And close by is a little village, Stotternheim. It was a big forest. And he was walking there, and he still had a troubled heart. He knew he had no peace. And he was a law student. He had to study law, but he had no peace in his heart. He didn't know really what to do. He just thought, I have to keep on studying and working, doing whatever I can to gain peace with God. And then suddenly this storm erupted, and lightning flashes around him. And poor Luther was petrified. He was so terribly afraid. And he cried out, Holy Anna, help me, and I will be a monk. Anna was considered to be the mother of Mary and she was one of the saints in the Roman whole list of saints and they said you can call upon those saints they're now in heaven and they will ask Jesus to be merciful to you so those Roman Catholics were taught to pray to the saints and that's just what Luther did oh help Anna I will be a monk and that's what Luther did He kept his word. So it's recorded on July 16th, 1505. He invited his friends for a farewell get-together. And next day, he entered the Augustinian monastery of Erfurt. It's still there today. You still see the door where Luther knocked on and wanted to be admitted. to be a monk. Luther was convinced that there behind the walls of the monastery he would find peace with God. Then God will reward me. So Luther was inside the monastery, and he worked, and he flogged himself, and he shut himself up in his little cloister. You can still see that cloister there, that little room where he was. sleep on the floor, it's all stone floors, and at the time he locked himself in, he stayed there, not sure how long, I think a day or two, they heard nothing of him, they knocked on the door, they finally broke the door open, there he was lying on the ground, trying to find peace. You see, the storm outside of Stotternheim didn't really stop when he went into the monastery. There was no lightning or thunder there, but the storm in his heart and his soul continued on. Luther had especially chosen the Augustinian monastery because that was very strict And Luther thought, if I live as strict as possible, then I will find peace with God. But he did not find peace with God. He was in distress, and he asked the governor of the monastery, Johan von Staupitz, what should I do? And von Staupitz said to him, you should look at the wounds of Christ. That's what you should do. And on top of that, Luther you should start studying theology that gives you something to do and that's what he did in that monastery and slowly and steadily it dawned upon Luther that righteousness the word that he hated because he thought God demands righteousness and I can't do it but then it dawned upon him that righteousness is not something we accomplish. It is God's free gift that he gives to us and is based on the finished work of Christ. Now, that was a development in Luther's life. 1505, he went into the monastery. Eight years later, 1513, that's when it started, a bit that light started to break through. 1517, the publication of the Ninety-Five Theses. But the actual change came a year later, in 1518, when he meditated on Romans 1, verse 17, that the just shall live by faith. And then it dawned upon him, then it became clear to him, that righteousness is God's gift in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. And he started preaching that and teaching that, but it was contrary to the Roman Catholic doctrine. And so people were, he was very popular in Wittenberg in Germany, but the Roman Catholic Pope was not so impressed. And so eventually they summoned him to appear before that Diet in Worms in 1521. And there they asked him, are these your books that you've written? Are you going to recant these books or not? And then Luther's whole hall full of people. They were all the Roman Catholic dignitaries and all the bishops and the archbishops. And Luther trembled because he stood alone against one and a half thousand years of Roman Catholic theology. Who am I? And he trembled. He said, I need a day. Okay. That was given him. And the next day he came back in that same gathering. And that's when he said, my conscience is kept captive to the word of God. I will recant nothing. That was very dangerous because people thought Now they're going to lay hands on Luther, and they're going to kill him. They're going to burn him. And Luther heard all those rumblings, so he went quite quickly out of the worms on his way back to Wittenberg. And on his way back to Wittenberg, suddenly there was a posse of men, masked men, on horses, and they grabbed Luther, and they took him away. People didn't hear from Luther for a year. They didn't know where he was. They thought he was dead, but they were friends from the Prince of Wittenberg in that area of Saxony, and they took him to the Wartburg. The castle is also still there. You can still see the room where he studied, where he translated the Bible. He was all alone, but he was safe. And Luther's theology is characterized that by faith sinners are placed in a new relationship to God, and that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes our salvation. We are brought into a new relationship with God, man who was sinful, guilty, lost, but God is their Savior. It's through Christ. John Calvin also went through quite a development in his life. There are some comparisons even with Luther. Calvin writes of himself that he was stubbornly devoted to the superstitions of Rome, and he initially didn't want to believe what he also read in those books of Luther that were spread quickly throughout Europe. He resisted it because Calvin says it's ingrained in man to hold on to what they once had learned. And Calvin had also learned that you had to worship saints, you had to ask saints to pray for you, you had to do works, you had to do penance, you had to confess your sins, you had to go to mass, do all kinds of works But then Calvin writes, it was by an unexpected conversion that God drew my heart to obedience to him. And then he started to, and also what was difficult for Calvin was that the church, the church, the holy church, it's been there for a hundred years, a thousand years, fifteen hundred years, and now I have to stand up against the Church. The Church has taught that. Were they all wrong? But then he realized that the Church of Rome was opposed to God's Word. That's why God's Word was not read by the people. It was kept from the people. Calvin studied God's Word. He knew Greek and learned Hebrew. He knew it. and he realized the Church of Rome is opposed to God's Word and then he had the liberty to withdraw himself from the Church of Rome at that time he was a law student first in Paris and then in Bouges another place in France and then he was convinced of the reformed understanding of God's Word and he never went to seminary, he never had a seminary degree, but it was by his own study of the Church Fathers from the beginning of the Christian Church, the study of God's Word and his great ability we have been taught to study and to think logically. That's how he became more and more convinced of the truth of God's Word, and he had the ability also to put that into words. But they were after him. He had to flee Paris, flee through France, and everywhere there was something moving, stirring among the people. And everywhere he went to little places, small places where there were groups of people, and he would preach to them, and he would administer the Lord's Supper to them. all through southern France. Then he had to leave France and he went into the northern part of Italy in a place called Ferrara. And there was a princess who ruled there, Rene was her name. And she was really in favor of the Reformed religion. There in the heart of Italy, more in the northern part, there were more Frenchmen who came there, and she wanted to have—this is Renée, this princess—wanted to have the true Reformed preaching there. So it happened for a while, it went on and people came and first it was closed, just her and a few of her ladies. But then she said everyone must hear it. So they opened up the big church there in Ferrara and all the people came and Calvin was preaching. They didn't know it was Calvin because he had changed his name. He had a pseudonym. He called himself Charles de Espeville. But Princess Renée knew who he was, so he preached and preached. But there was also Roman Catholics there, and the Pope knew what was going on there, and so he commanded that they arrest Calvin. It's not so well known, I just read it last week in a book of Madeleine d'Aubigné, who gives a history of the Reformation. So while he was there in Ferrara, he was arrested, and he was taken to go further into Italy and to put on trial before the Roman Catholic Inquisition, and they wanted to burn him to death. Calvin was kept captive on his way. And then, suddenly, a group of men appeared, just as with the Luther, a group of men appeared, And they said, give us the prisoner. And they had to give the prisoner to him. And they took him away. But with Luther, they accompanied him to the Wartburg, that big castle. But with Calvin, they went away with him for a while and then they said, now you have to go flee on your own. So he had to flee into Switzerland. That's what he did. And finally he came to Geneva in 1536. He didn't want to stay there. No, he just wanted to study and then Farel and other reformers who had worked there in Geneva. Geneva had a very turbulent history of wars and Roman Catholic opposition and political opposition. and that they had just a few months before the city had officially adopted reformed faith and Calvin came there just one night and he wanted to go on his way into southern Germany and then it was known he was there and William Farrell went to him the man who had initiated the reformation in Geneva and said you have to help us I don't want to help you I'm too, I'm so weak my health is not good and I want to study and I can't teach, I need people to teach me. That's how it all went on and on and then Pharrell realized he's going to leave, I can't take it. And he said to him, you will be cursed and your studies will be cursed if you decline this call to be here in Geneva and to help us. And then Calvin trembled all over. Apparently, Pharrell had laid his hands upon Calvin's head, that your studies will be cursed, your rest will be cursed, and you will be cursed if you do not help us now. We need you here. And then Calvin was trembling, and then he succumbed. And then he gave his broken heart to the Lord. It was his life motto, Lord, I give you the broken heart. And that's how Calvin came to Geneva. And there he stayed for many years. And why did Calvin sacrifice everything? Career, freedom, going through difficulties, because Christ had become all for Him. Christ was everything. He knew that there is strength in the dominion of Christ, that there is purity in His conception, that in His sufferings we find redemption. that in Christ's condemnation, we find remission and forgiveness of sins. In His blood, we find purification. In His descent into hell, we find reconciliation. In His sepulcher, we find mortification of our flesh. And in His resurrection, we find newness of life and immortality. And in His entrance into heaven, we see the inheritance of the celestial kingdom for us. In the Lord Jesus, we find protection, security, abundance, and enjoyment of all blessings through Christ. There is a fearless expectation of judgment. because the Lord Jesus took our place. The Son of God stood as a criminal so that we may stand acquitted before God. Christ was at that time silent that he may now be our advocate in heaven. Calvin writes that our filthiness deserves that all the angels of God should spit upon us. But Christ was resolved, in order that we may appear with boldness among the angels, Christ was resolved that they would spit upon Him. Christ is all. That's the heart of God's Word. You know, it's a full statement. Christ is all. We are never finished in considering who the Lord Jesus Christ is. If Christ is all, what is then man? Paul answers this in Galatians 6, verse 3, that man is nothing. Well, that does not mean that man does not exist, no, man surely exists, but in himself he is nothing. He has no strength, no ability, unless God gives it to him. We say, praise God from whom all blessings flow. That's exactly how it is. All the blessings in your and my life, health and strength and mental ability, intelligent understanding, the gifts of grace, everything, it all comes from Him, through Christ to man. By nature, man has no wisdom, no goodness, no sincerity, no strength to deliver himself. The Lord God said in Genesis 8 that man's imagination is evil from his youth on. And Jeremiah 17 tells us, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And then a man has to say, Oh my God, I am ashamed. That's what Ezra says in Ezra 9. I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee. Our iniquities are increased over our head, our trespasses growing up into their heavens. And when you realize this, that man is nothing, and you see that Christ is ultimately precious, that everything in Him is altogether lovely, Christ is all. He has to be all. because the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, physically. Colossians 2 verse 9, He is God who came down into this earth and He walked amongst us, God in human flesh. And when you see that, you say, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. Christ is all. It's a topic you're never finished in thinking about, the implications of it. Christ, you know it's his official name. Anointed, that's what Christ means. We learned that at catechism. Christ means anointed. The same as Messiah, that's also anointed. Christ is Greek. The word in Messiah is Hebrew. All means the same, anointed. And why is Christ anointed? Because, you know that? He is anointed to be prophet and priest and king. As a prophet, He instructs me. And Isaiah prophesied of that in 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, the people to whom Christ speaks. are foolish and ignorant. They don't understand the things that are the Spirit of God. But this prophet reveals himself to ignorant people. And ignorant people become wise because Christ is their prophet. But Christ is also their priest. He offered up prayers and supplications for them. He sacrificed His own body, thereby paying for all their sins on the cross. He's the High Priest. He has compassion. He feels sorry for those who are weak, sorry for those who are yearning to know Him and they think they do not know Him. And He lives always to pray for such people. He's anointed to be king. As a king, He cares for their bodies. He cares for their souls. Yes, He gives health and strength. He carries them through life. And when their bodies are laid in the grave, He still cares for their bodies. He's going to raise them up again in newness of life. And as a king, He re-inscribes his laws in their hearts so that they desire to walk in God's ways. As a king, he leads them that they become very willing to walk in the ways of the Lord. And as a king, he protects them from the assaults of the devil. The devil can't do anything, can't do everything he wants. He's kept at a distance. The devil is bent upon the destruction of God's people. And sometimes the Lord allows some of His people to die as a martyr so that they would be to the glory of His name, that in the face of all the angels and all the devils and all the people, that these people testify that the Lord Jesus is worthwhile even dying for. But most of His people are kept kept from such suffering by His power. He's the Almighty King who watches over them. And these people are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation, and it shall be revealed in the last time. We don't see it now. It's going to be revealed, all God's people will stand before the Lord Jesus. It's going to happen because He is King. He watches over them. So He secures a mansion in the house of His Father for every one of His children, because He's King. So the Lord Jesus Christ is all How can we describe that? He is all. He quenches the thirst of His people. He feeds their souls, because He is the bread that came down from heaven. He clothes His people with the robes of righteousness, and therefore they may be joyful in the Lord. He is their bridegroom, and His love to them is unquenchable. It's immutable love. He is the older brother who is in no way ashamed to call his people his brethren. He is the way to heaven. He is the door to heaven. He is the heaven of heavens. He's the water of life, the greater than Joseph who keeps his people alive through all eternity. He is all. Is Christ also all for you? Because that's most important, that Christ will be all for you. By nature, we think other matters are more important than Christ. So on this Reformation commemoration, it's good to consider that question. Which place does the Lord Jesus Christ have in your life by nature? He is nothing to us. We think other things much more exciting, much more important. So the eyes need to be opened. That's a work of God's Spirit. And then you start to see that you are nothing, that you're lost, and you can do nothing without Christ. And then you see that your so-called righteousness and all your so-called good works and your church faithfulness and so on, it's all filthy rags. You become a naked sinner before the Lord. And the treasures of the world, they cannot satisfy you. But your desire becomes focused upon the Lord Jesus. That's the power of His Salvation. And then you see great preciousness in the Lord Jesus. And that's not just for the blessings He gives. It's not just for the beautiful blessings of justification and sanctification and of adoption and being made co-heirs with Christ, but it is especially that you see great preciousness in the Lord Jesus, for whom He is, not for what you can gain from Him, but for who He is, that He is worth everything. And that's glorious. Christ is all. And Calvin emphasized that therefore, We are to live to the glory of God. That means realizing that Christ is all, and that your focus is upon Him. And Luther emphasized we should realize that Christ is all, and we realize that by looking to the blessed promises of God. And we may come to God pleading these promises, because we need this Christ who is offered to us in the gospel. We need Him for the totality of our lives. It's not just that we need the Lord Jesus to go to heaven or to receive forgiveness of sins, but the totality of your lives. What are you living for? What's the aim of your life? A child of God wants to live with and for Christ. that He takes hold of your life and renews it and changes it, and that your prayer is, What will Thou have me to do? And that you understand something of what Calvin said, Lord, I offer Thee the broken heart. That's what a Christian is. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ in you. For He is all, that He governs your life, That's essential. And when that's the case, then you cannot live without Christ. A fish outside of the water can't live. A child of God cannot then live outside of Christ. If the Lord Jesus would hide His face, it would be more bitter to them than death. And they have the greatest joy in life when they have a perspective upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Has Christ become your all? Is it maybe the case that you're living still outside of Christ? Because you refuse to embrace Him? You refuse to lay down your heart and life before Him? You're postponing that? But it's very real, it's very practical. He must be your Lord, your God, your Savior. that all the keys of your life are laid down before Him. That's what Christian faith is. And then you see that Christ is all. And then you understand those million French people who fled throughout the years France under great distress. But they fled because Christ became all for them. And then you understand that that woman who was kept prisoner in the southern part of France, that castle is still there. It was a big tower. And there she was with other Christian women. And that tower was from here to the wall, a round tower, for 38 years, because she did not want to deny Christ. And there's a brick there, you can still see it today. It used to be in the wall, and on that wall, on that brick is written, Resiste, resist. Don't give up. Now that stone is now brick, is now put on the floor, they have a covering all around it. You can read the words. Why did she do that? Just very simple. I deny, I recant, and she could go home again. She said no, because Christ had become all for her. And that's the essence. That's the reality. And he invites us. You don't teach yourself that Christ is all. He will teach you that. He will teach you everything you need to learn. And He says, Look unto Me, be ye saved, O the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. And when Christ is all, let not the world be all. Let not the pleasures of the world be all. But the first priority in life is not our ease, is not our comfort, is not our prosperity, it's not our ease, it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And if He is all, then we are in Him. And then this glorious King will one day bring you into His presence, And then you will realize that this whole life was actually a training ground, a testing ground, who the Lord Jesus is for you. And after this life we enter our real existence to be forever with the Lord or to be forever outside of the Lord. But that's the reality. But He will usher all His own into His presence. And then Ezra will no longer have to say, I blush because I'm a sinner, I'm ashamed. And then Lazarus will no longer be sick. But then they will forever rejoice in the fullness of Christ, blessed to belong to Him. And as long as we are here in this life on earth, we remain beggars at His throne of grace, because we need everything from Him whatever your age is, whatever your circumstances are, Christ is all. When Luther died, they found a note in his pocket, and it said thereon, We are but beggars. This is true. Wir sind nur Bettler. We are but beggars. Hoc est verum. This is true. That's how Luther was, a beggar, with hope, with anticipation, because Christ had become all for him. And Calvin, he wrote a poem. I think many poems, I don't know all what he wrote. But we end with this poem of Calvin. Thou art the King of mercy and of grace, reigning omnipotent in every place, So come, O King, and deign within our hearts to reign, and our whole being sway. Shine in us by Thy light, and lead us to the height of Thy pure heavenly day. Amen. O ever-blessed Lord, we thank Thee that Thou art all. In the most absolute sense, all. for a needy people, a people who in themselves are nothing, but they may live off the benefits of their Lord and Savior, Christ, who is all. Lord, open our eyes, that we would realize that Thou art all. Maybe we need this to happen for the first time. Will Thou do so? that we would be drawn away from the world, from the temptations and the frivolities and the vanity of this world, and that we would see the real treasures which lie in Thee. O Lord, teach us the way we should go, and work graciously, We may continually see more and more in our lives that Christ is all, that Thou wouldst increase and that we would decrease. Lord God, we thank Thee we could be here together. It's worthwhile to be here and to reflect upon Thy glorious work in the Reformation. We thank Thee, Lord, for this opportunity. Will Thou now go with us as we go home? Will Thou bless also the work of the Christian ministry to Israel? Will Thou bless Thy church throughout this world and remember us in mercy and go with us? We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.