you This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church, relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. When Martin Luther began his protests against the false gospel of Roman Catholicism nearly 500 years ago, he did not think that events would come to a point where he would be on trial for his life for the Christian faith in so-called Christian Europe. But that is what happened. He suffered persecution at the hands of so-called Christians. What happened to Martin Luther? Could it happen to Christians today? Stay tuned for the answers as we continue our series of messages titled, Remembering the Reformation. Our Father in Heaven, we live in a time of growing crisis within the visible church. We live in a time in which authentic biblical Christianity is becoming intolerable, not only in secular society, but in much of the professing church itself. As we look into your Word today, Father, may those who are truly yours see their duty to remain faithful to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Before we look into the Word this evening, I'd like to do something that I don't ordinarily do when I preach invariably. before a congregation or on our radio broadcast, I first direct our attention to the Word of God. But this evening I'd like to take a few moments to introduce the passage that we're going to be considering, which is Psalm 31. And I'd like to introduce it for our consideration in a particular way. On October 31st, 1517, the great reformer Martin Luther, as we know, nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg. Why did Luther do this? He did it because as he studied the scriptures for himself, he was a doctor of the church. And as he studied the scriptures for himself, he had a growing certainty that the church and the Pope were wrong. He had a growing certainty that man is made right with God, according to scripture, by being justified by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ alone as full and final atonement for sin. And this essential understanding came into the heart of Martin Luther by a great work of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. And it caused him to realize that if this is indeed true, then everything that the Catholic Church has been saying and doing comes into question. Everything. The entire system of the baptism of an infant so that that infant might have, as the Church claimed, his original sin cleansed. The entire system of confessions to a priest and penances prescribed by a priest in order to gain favor and forgiveness. for sins subsequently committed. The abuse of the sale of indulgences by the church to raise money for various works and to fill the coffers to enrich men who held positions of authority within the church. Indulgences by which it is claimed that the Pope had the power to forgive sins. And the church still issues indulgences today. And the problem of indulgences became so severe, this was one of the driving forces in what Luther nailed to the church door. By this time, Pope Leo X was authorizing the sale of indulgences in Germany that claimed to absolve the person who purchased this indulgence from all sin, past, present, and future. Do whatever you will, sin however much you will sin, It's all forgiven because you paid. And the church claimed that you could purchase this same indulgence to free a loved one who had died before you, who the church claimed was in the fires of purgatory. Luther's questioning of these things soon became a growing protest of these things. His 95 theses were written originally in Latin. They were taken down from the church door at Wittenberg. They were translated, the printing press having been invented and brought into general use just a relatively short time before this. Luther's 95 theses were published in the native languages of the various nations and peoples of Europe. They were printed and distributed widely. And so the people themselves and growing numbers of the priests of the church began to question, along with Luther, the very foundation upon which the Roman Catholic Church had been built, which was that man is not justified by faith alone, but is saved by his baptism and by his works, and that the church, not God himself, is the dispenser of salvation. Luther wrote many other books during this period after he nailed the theses to the church door that called pardon me called these things into question and also called the attention of the people began teaching the people that the fact of this great truth of justification by faith and that not only is justification by faith alone in Christ alone, but also that God expects those who believe in Christ to demonstrate that by an outworking of that faith by a sanctified life through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. And all of this brought Luther into growing conflict with the authorities of the church and with the Pope himself. And one of the Pope's great concerns was that suddenly, because of Luther's teachings, the sale of indulgences in Germany, which the Pope was using to fund the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the largest church in the world, that income fell off dramatically because of Luther's preaching and writing as it began to spread. And some of Luther's friends warned him. that what he was doing would place his very life in danger. They reminded him of what had happened to John Haas a century before, that he had been burned for the faith in the Czech Republic, not far distant. And Luther's friends feared that the same would happen to him. And indeed, those in authority in Rome did want Luther to suffer a similar death. And so three and a half years after Luther nailed his questions to the door of the church, he was summoned by the emperor, Charles V, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who was acting on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was summoned to appear before the emperor and the nobles of the empire and the cardinals of the church at a council in the city of Worms in Germany. And the intention of this council and the men who convened it was to expose Luther as a heretic in Roman Catholic terms and to condemn him to death. Now it is worth noting why the emperor and the leaders of the church intended to do this. They said this, we must unite in opposition to the Muslims. The Muslims are preparing to storm Europe. They're preparing to storm the gates of Vienna, the emperor said. We must unite in a crusade against Islam and therefore any theological differences within the visible church must be put down. And those who hold those differences must be crushed. We must do this for the greater good. Doesn't that sound like what we hear in our time? We are told that religious conservatives, and I'm putting that in quotes, must all unite against Islam. We must all unite against abortion. We must all unite on this crusade or that crusade. And in order to do that, we must put the claims of biblical Christianity aside. The parallels with the situation 500 years ago are striking. And so Luther went to appear before this council and he knew at this point that he was indeed going to be on trial for his life. And so we understand from the historical record that as he prepared to come before the emperor, Psalm 31 was very much on his heart. And so with this in mind, with this background, I'd like for us to read this Psalm this evening and think as we read this, of what Martin Luther faced. Think of the trap that had been set for him. Think of the growing opposition that he faced. Think of the fact that Martin Luther trusted in his God as a mighty fortress. With these things in mind, let us read Psalm 31. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for an house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me. For Thou art my strength, into Thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy, for Thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in adversities. and has not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou has set my feet in a large room. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly, my innermost parts. For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance that they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel, for I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee, O love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. We understand that from the historical record that Luther may well have read this psalm and indeed prayed this psalm on the evening before he was to appear before the emperor and the officials of the church. And we know that Psalm 46 was also very much on his mind at that time, and it was from these two psalms that Luther would compose, the words of the great hymn that we sang as a congregation on Sunday morning and was sung again with such authority on Sunday evening, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. He didn't write that hymn until a few years later, but clearly the truth of refuge in God as his fortress was already very much on Luther's mind as he went before this council. And so on April 20th, 1521, Luther appeared before this council. He was confronted with a table full of copies of his various writings, and he was asked if they were his, and he replied that they were. And then he was asked, will you recant these writings and the beliefs they contain? Will you or will you not recant? No debate, no discussion. Will you or will you not? And Luther answered by saying this. He said, I'm asked to retract these writings, but they are of different kinds. In some of them, I discuss faith and good works. And if I were to retract these writings, I would be going against denying accepted Christian teaching. But in others, I attack potpourri and assail men who have ruined the Christian world and have afflicted the bodies and souls of other men. If I were to attract those, I would be like a cloak covering evil. And then he said this, unless you can convince me, unless you can convince me that I am wrong by scripture and not by popes or councils who have often contradicted one another. I am bound to my beliefs by the text of the Bible. My conscience is captive to the word of God. Therefore, I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand, Luther said, I can do no other. God help me. Amen. That was Luther's response. because Luther had been guaranteed safe conduct to travel to this council by the emperor. The emperor was at first not convinced that he should act against Luther, but the representatives of the Pope convinced Charles V that he must act on their behalf. And so in May, May 20th of 1521, a month later, Charles V issued this edict concerning Martin Luther. It said this, 21 days we give him to recant his beliefs. After that, his books shall be wiped from the memory of man, so he thought. His followers, the emperor said, whoever they may be, shall be condemned. And this Luther himself shall be under our curse. No man shall harbor him, no man protect him. I declare him an outlaw, free to be hunted, free to be seized by anyone, anywhere, and to be put to death at will. But by the providential mercies of God, Prince Frederick III of Saxony, where Luther lived, a man known as Frederick the Wise in history, who was an uncle of the emperor, but a defender of Luther. Frederick, after this council was over, Frederick had Luther spirited away to a place of protection within his realm, a castle fortress called the Wartburg. And thus Luther was protected from the sentence of the emperor. And as the Protestant faith spread, more and more of the surrounding territories came to have rulers who supported Luther, and so Luther's ability to go about in safety was somewhat enlarged, although there were areas of Germany where he could still never go in his entire lifetime because the emperors sentence against him still held. Luther lived for another 25 years after this, under the protection of Frederick and his brother, who was his successor. Luther translated the scriptures into German. He taught openly what we have come to know as the doctrines of grace. And he died at the age of 62, having been used of God to kindle a fire of reformation that resulted in the salvation and edification of a faithful remnant of believers throughout Europe. Dear friends, Martin Luther did not think that he would come to a point where he would be on trial for his life for the Christian faith in Christian Europe. He was at first shocked by the intense persecution and opposition that he began to experience in so-called Christian Europe. In earlier messages in our time together, we've looked at the darkening state of the visible evangelical church around the world today, and especially in our country. We live in a time in which postmodernist thinking has made great inroads into the church, and the keynote of this way of thinking is that there is no singular standard of truth. all views must be tolerated. I was speaking last evening after the service with a lady who was telling me that her son attends a church in Delaware, which is considered to be a conservative evangelical church. But her son tells her that the pastor of that church says that the time has passed when the church should speak against abortion. The time has passed when the church should speak against so-called homosexual marriage. The reason for this, he says, is that these things are now the law of the land, and so those fights are over. Dear friend, those fights are never over. But this nominally conservative evangelical pastor actually echoes the thinking of Pope Francis I, the present pope, who recently said that the church has no right to judge homosexuals or to interfere in their lives. The Pope said that the church must find, as he puts it, a new balance between the church's spiritual and political missions. I don't find in the word of God that the church has a political mission. But this is just one example of what is happening and how self-described evangelicals are slipping into and embracing positions that are also the positions of Rome. all in the name of tolerance. We're rapidly approaching a situation in which the only thing that will be intolerable within the visible church is authentic biblical Christianity. The question is, how will we respond? How will our children and grandchildren respond? May we and they respond with the same heart that David expressed in this psalm? the same words that Luther found so precious as he faced opposition and persecution and even the prospect of death for the faith. Well dear friends we are going to continue to look at the godly example set for us by Martin Luther and the other Reformers as we conclude this message on our next broadcast. Let me remind you that during this series of messages we are offering a free book that calls the people of God back to the kind of Reformation thinking that drove Martin Luther and the others. The title of the book is simply Authority, and we would be happy to send a free copy to anyone who requests it anywhere in the world. You can obtain your copy of the book called Authority by going to our website teachingtheword.org and clicking the contact link on our homepage. Just let us know that you would like to receive the book called Authority and be sure to give us your complete name and mailing address. If you're listening in North America, you can call us toll-free anytime, 24 hours a day at 888-804-9655. Once again, our toll-free number for listeners in North America is 888-804-9655. or you can request the book called Authority by writing to us at Teaching the Word Ministries, Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158 USA. Once again, our mailing address is Teaching the Word Ministries, Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158 USA. And once again, the book called Authority is free to anyone who requests it anywhere in the world as our gift to you. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll join us again next time as we continue this series. And until then, may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. of God.