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Our scripture reading this evening
is taken from two passages. First of all, from Second Chronicles,
Chapter 34, the first seven verses. Second Chronicles, Chapter 34,
the first seven verses, where we read of the Reformation
under Josiah. Josiah was eight years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his
father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the
left. For in the eighth year of his
reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God
of David his father, And in the 12th year, he began to purge
Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves,
and the carved images, and the molten images. And they break
down the altars of Baalim in his presence. And the images
that were on high above them, he cut down. And the groves,
and the carved images, and the molten images, he break in pieces. and made dust of them and strewed
it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And
he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed
Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of
Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali with their
mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the
altars and the groves and had beaten the graven images into
powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land
of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. Next, we turn to Jeremiah chapter
4. Jeremiah chapter 4, and read
verses 5 and following. Jeremiah 4, beginning at verse
5, where the Lord says, Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem,
and say, blow ye the trumpet in the land. Cry, gather together,
and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defense
cities. Set up the standard toward Zion. Retire, stay not, for I will
bring evil from the north and a great destruction. The lion
has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles
is on his way, he has gone forth from his place to make thy land
desolate, and thy city shall be laid waste without an inhabitant. For this, gird you with sackcloth,
lament and howl, for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned
back from us, and it shall come to pass at that day, saith the
Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of
the princess, and the priest shall be astonished, and the
prophet shall wonder. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, surely
thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying,
Ye shall have peace, whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the
daughter of my people, not to fan nor to cleanse. Even a full
wind from those places shall come unto me. Now also will I
give sentence against them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds,
and his chariot shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us, for we are spoiled. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart
from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy
vain thoughts lodge within thee? For a voice declareth from Dan,
and publisheth affliction from Mount Ephraim. Make ye mention
to the nations, Behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers
come from a far country, and give out their voice against
the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field are they
against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against
me, saith the Lord. Thy way and thy doings have procured
these things unto thee, This is thy wickedness, because it
is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. Mine bowels,
my bowels, I am pained at my very heart. My heart maketh a
noise in me. I cannot hold my peace, because
thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm
of war. Destruction upon destruction
is cried, for the whole land is spoiled. Suddenly are my tents
spoiled and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish. They have not known me. They
are Sottish children, and they have none understanding. They
are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void, and
the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains,
and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld,
and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens
were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of
the Lord and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said,
The whole land shall be desolate, yet will I not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent,
neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee
for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into
thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken,
and not a man shall dwell therein. And when thou art spoiled, what
wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though
thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest
thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair.
Thy lovers will despise thee. They will seek thy life. For
I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as
of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the
daughter of Zion that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hand,
saying, Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied. because of murderers. Yes, we're here for the 500th
anniversary of the Reformation. Really, in an evening like this,
we can do two things. We look backwards at the history
that has led up to this very moment. We look backwards at
what God gave some 500 years ago in giving this monk, Luther,
that desire to have the church reformed and nail 95 theses to
the church door at Wittenberg. We look backwards, but we also
look forwards. And that's why we're also happy
to see so many children here, students. We're looking forward
to what our past is so that we know what the future ought to
be. May he bless you all and give us a good evening. This
evening we want to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation. Well, children, that's a mouthful. 500-year Reformation. Can you
count to 500? That takes a while, doesn't it?
Maybe you are 10 years old. Some people become 100 years. Then you're old. What do you
think of 500 years? That's a long time. Now we live
in 2017. 500 years ago it was the year
1517. That long time ago The Reformation started. Now
the word Reformation. What does that mean? Reformation. The first syllable, Re, means
again, or anew. And the word Formation means
that something has formed. Reformation of the church means
that the church formed again, anew. And that happened. 500 years ago. And we are used to saying that
the Reformation started on October 31, 1517. What happened on that day? Well,
listen carefully, children, then I will tell you something. Look
over there. A man walks through the street
wearing a long robe and it's held together with a cord around
his waist. It's a monk. A man who lives
with other religious men in a big building, a monastery. He's very smart. He can study
the Bible and other books about the Bible. The man is crossing the road,
holding a big piece of paper in one hand and a hammer in his
other. He walks straight to the castle
church of the town of Wittenberg. It's a nice town in Germany.
There was only one church in that time, namely the Roman Catholic
Church. And everyone was a member of
this church. Everyone believed what the priest
proclaimed. And at that time, people were
not able to read the Bible. It was too difficult since there
was no translation in the German language. And many sad things
took place in the church because the priests did not preach the
gospel. They did not listen carefully
to God's word. They did not expound God's word. What did they do then? They merely
followed forms and traditions which meant that everyone gave
heed to the Pope first and foremost. The Pope is the Bishop of Rome
and is the head of the church. What he says is regarded as more
important than God's word. What do you think? Would it go
well in church if one man is head of the church instead of
the Lord Jesus Christ? No, of course not. Every man,
also a minister, has a sinful heart. We all need the Lord Jesus
as our head. He rules over His church by His
word. whose name is Martin Luther,
comes to the door of the Schlosskirche. That's the German name of the
castle church. And he holds up the paper to
the door and hammers some nails through it. And now the paper
is attached to the door. Luther uses the door of the church
as a bulletin board. That was the way to spread news
or information. And we wonder, what does Martin
Luther have to tell the people of Wittenberg? Well, he has written
95 theses to debate or to discuss. These theses are written sentences
which are about the false traditions of the church. Martin Luther has discovered
the gospel of free grace. He has had an arduous and difficult
time. It was so dark in his heart.
He struggled with his sins and he did not know how his sins
could ever be forgiven. But miracle of grace, the Lord
opened his eyes for the beauty of the gospel, namely for the
miracle that the Lord Jesus has merited, but you and I can never
merit, namely the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Luther
discovered, not my good works, not my monastic life makes me
acceptable in the sight of God, only the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And for Luther, a new world had
opened up when he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says
in one of his writings that it was as if the door to paradise
opened up to him. He discovered the riches of the
gospel. Now Luther's eyes are opened
for the many abusers in church as well. There is one desire,
that the church may be purified from all its false doctrines.
And with the 95 Theses, Luther opposes the traditions of the
Roman Catholic Church. And this act, children, is what
we regard as the beginning of the Reformation. Imagine that you lived in Wittenberg
at that time. You stay on the side of the road
while Luther hammers the 95 theses on the door of the castle church
in Wittenberg and some passers-by read the theses. Imagine that
you would ask them, do you think that this is the beginning of
a reformation. They would look at you with wondering
eyes as if saying, what are you talking about? No one expected
a reformation, not even Luther. He only wanted to start a discussion
about his theses since he believed that there were grave errors
in the church. He touched some sensitive nerves
of the church and he was not afraid to do so. Even if all
church leaders were to offend him, he was determined to disclose
the mistakes of the church. Why did he do so? Because Luther
loved the Lord. Because he loved the gospel of
free grace. and because he loved the church. Luther regarded the church as
a sick mother, which you never leave but nurse till she recovers. You will stay with her. That
was Luther's aim. He had a burden to make the church
healthy again. But the Pope and the Cardinals
were offended and indulged a hostile spirit. They threw Luther out
of the church and banned him. But many people followed Luther.
It grew into a great movement that would affect the whole of
Europe. And now we want to commemorate
the Reformation. Or should we say celebrate? That brave action of Luther turned
out to be the birth of a new movement at that time. A movement
whereby the Church of the Reformation began. Actually, because of the
Reformation, we are a Reformed Church. That means that we stand and
build on the doctrine of the Church of the Reformation. which
is nothing but biblical truth. And generation after generation
after generation, this truth was transmitted. That's actually
the meaning of the word tradition. We stand on a reformed tradition,
on the transmitted truth, the doctrine which has been moved
from one generation to another over a time period of 500 years. And the theme of this evening
is celebrate the 500th anniversary of Reformation. And the theme
closes with an exclamation mark and a question mark. Look carefully
at your program. That means that we can read the
theme as a Call to celebrate. Celebrate the 500th anniversary
of the Reformation. That is, remember the miracle
the Lord has performed long time ago. Don't forget God's wondrous
works. And at the same time we can read
it as a question. Celebrate the 500th anniversary
of the Reformation? With other words, is it proper? to celebrate the Reformation
that at one time took place? Would it not be more appropriate
to humble ourselves before the Lord since the church in Canada
and Europe is in decay? Are we not in need of a revival? We want to find an answer to
this question by listening to God's Word. First we want to
listen to the Reformation of King Josiah and secondly we want
to listen to the Prophet Jeremiah who lived in the same time period. And so we divide the theme in
two parts. The 500th anniversary of the
Reformation is first of all a call to remember and secondly a call
to repentance. A call to remember and a call
to repentance. This evening we read about a
reformation as well. In 2 Chronicles 34 we hear about
the greatest reformer of the kings of Judah, namely Josiah. The most important thing we can
tell about this king is that he was a truly God-fearing man. He was only eight years old when
he came to the throne and was made king. And when he was a
teenager, he made the good choice. We read in verse 3 that in the
8th year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to
seek after the God of David, his father. So he was 16 when
the Lord regarded him, when the Lord regenerated him. causing
him to repent and believe in the Lord. And he followed the
footsteps of his ancestor David. Four years after his turning
point, he brought about a huge reformation in this country.
He began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of their high places. That means
that he destroyed the idols, the Assyria poles, the cast idols
and cast images. He cleansed the land of the abominable
idolatry that we felt everywhere. And he began also to restore
the temple. In righteous anger, he killed
the priests of the high places. He acted in obedience to God's
law, which demanded the destruction of those who initiated idolatry. The standards of Josiah's reformation
was the holy law of God. And this rule and touchstone
was almost precise a reformation, must almost precede a reformation.
A firm foundation to stand on is necessary for a reformation.
And that is what we notice in every true reformation. In Josiah's
days also and in Luther's days as well. And Josiah stood on
the foundation of God's word and he departed neither to the
right nor to the left of it, as we read in verse 2. That means
that he did not compromise the service of the Lord. He did not
serve the world and God. He did not tinker with the service
of the Lord one bit. No, he was resolute. Josiah would not tolerate insincere
compromises. He made the good choice according
to God's Word. He was to brighten the depressive
darkness of his days. The Holy Scriptures put their
stamp of approval on Josiah's seal for an honor of God by the
praiseworthy testimony it gives of him as a man who acted righteously
and honorably. And the people of Judah and even
some of the ten tribes of Israel were forced to serve the Lord. Josiah strived after a national
righteousness and religious conscientiousness. He wanted every inhabitant treated
honestly and justly in his country according to God's Word. And
you can imagine that The approach of this king had great effect
in Judah and Israel. The people were not allowed to
serve any idol. Daily life was governed by the
king's righteousness and justice. Josiah achieved a national reformation. The biggest reformation after
King David. Try to picture it, children.
Imagine that our Prime Minister Trudeau would make a law ordering
that everything in society must be carried out in obedience to
the Lord. Unborn lives will again be respected. Merits will be restored in honor. All shops will be closed on Sunday. All cinemas and pubs will be
broken down. No pop music will be broadcast
any longer. And at every workplace there
will be daily devotions. No swearing will be heard in
public. And all kinds of entertainment
will be toned down. Reformation in all aspects of
life. That would be a blessing for
every Canadian. Now we assume that we would then
celebrate the Reformation every year, won't we? Back to Josiah's
days, we assume that his Reformation has been accorded as an extraordinary
event which effects would be felt over many decades. It was noticeable and reason
to celebrate. We also experienced the effects
of the great movement of 500 years ago. A reformation took
place. God has sovereignly given us
back the true gospel of free grace by means of people which
the Lord called. The Lord has done wondrous things. And there's much reason to remember
this. Yes, it is a call to remember and a call to celebrate God's
works of the past. But there's more to say. Let
us listen to a prophet who lives in the days of Josiah, namely
the prophet Jeremiah. We may assume that he surely
has recorded this huge movement of King Josiah. You would think
so. But oddly enough, we read nothing
about Josiah's reformation in the book of his major Prophet
Jeremiah. Nothing at all. And we wonder why? Was there
a reason to commemorate the reformation of Josiah? It was a powerful
reformation. People were not allowed to serve
other gods anymore. It was the best ever theocracy. It must have been joyful for
Jeremiah to watch the reformation that was initiated by this God-fearing
king. And yes, I believe Jeremiah has
delighted in it. But when he was to speak the
words of God, we don't read of any gratitude, let alone of any
celebration. during the Reformation in Judah,
the Lord sent Jeremiah to prophesy. Not to acknowledge the Reformation,
neither to encourage the Reformation or the people who strongly supported
the Reformation. No celebration of the Reformation. No. Jeremiah would ask, why do
we need to celebrate the Reformation as long as your heart is not
with the Lord. A reformation is in vain as long
the hearts of the people remain impenitent. And in the time of
Josiah's reformation, a call to repent sounds in Judah and
Israel. Chapter 3, verse 14, Turn, O
backsliding children, saith the Lord, The Prophet points to the
sin of the people. No, not the public sins, since
these have diminished by the Reformation. The Prophet points
to the sin of impenitence. They were still committing spiritual
adultery. That means, children, that their
heart was still focused on everything but the Lord. For sure, Public
life had been purified. Many things had changed in Judah. In an outward sense, it seemed
that all people had turned to the Lord. The reformation of
Josiah seems a great success. And yet, they did not serve the
Lord from their hearts like King Josiah. it happened that the Lord needed
to execute his judgments over Judah but in this chapter we
read we hear about the miracle of
God's long-suffering and faithfulness he continues to warn his people
for we read in Jeremiah 4 verse 14 And we will listen to this
text. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart
from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy
vain thoughts lodge within thee? Wash thine heart from wickedness. Wickedness has been removed by
Josiah. There was no idols any longer.
Josiah had cleansed the whole land. Everything was focused
on the Lord and His will. that Josiah could not wash the
people's hearts. An outward reformation does not
automatically lead to an inward reformation. An outward reformation
does not wash the hearts, but without the cleansing of the
heart there will be no true reformation. It's remarkable that Jerusalem
is mentioned here and not Judah. Jerusalem is the place where
the temple is. It is the place the Lord had
chosen to be His presence amongst His people. In Jerusalem, you
find the Lefites and priests performing their tasks in the
service of the Lord. Josiah reformed the service in
the temple as well. And it was good, of course. But
the hearts of the people who stood in the service of the Lord
remained impenitent. They needed to have their hearts
exposed. They needed to become honest
before the Lord with confession of sin, with a broken and contrite
spirit. They needed to be cleansed from
their sins. The power of sin needed to be
broken. and without true repentance there
will be no true reformation. Though Josiah has done a good
work, though Josiah was a strong-minded in the pursuing a national reformation,
a reformation in truth will be held off as long the people do
not return their hearts. As long as they do not wash their
hearts from sin, they will not escape God's anger. They need
to wash their hearts from their wickedness. And what is the wickedness
of their hearts? Do we need to think of wicked
sins like adultery, stealing, lying and deceiving? Oh, these
are wicked sins. Wicked sins are also enjoying
the sins of someone else. That's what you are doing when
you enjoy watching a movie where actors play to commit sin. Wicked sins like pornography,
violence, addiction to drugs, alcohol, games, work, etc. Wickedness does not only include
outright bad sins. Jeremiah points in this text
to vain thoughts. And what are vain thoughts? Vain
means like air and void. It's worth nothing. It proceeds
from nothing but emptiness. It's without purpose and superficial. And that possesses the people's
thoughts, says Jeremiah. It comes in the place of the
true service of the Lord. It dominates the heart and is
opposed to God. And let us apply this directly.
What are vain thoughts? This does not only include heinous
sins, but also so-called small sins. For example, daydreaming. That seems like an innocent sin.
Some people are inclined to daydream. What is wrong with daydreaming?
They keep you from concentrating on the service of the Lord. Even
when you listen to God's word or read his word, your thoughts
so easily go astray. They take possession of your
heart and mind and expel thoughts about God. Or what about empty
entertainment? That is entertainment without
any content. It's focused on self-satisfaction. Well, you can find it in computer
games, watching movies, superficial chats and text messages. You allow your time to be filled
with satisfying yourself. That is a life that is concentrated
on your ego. Vain thoughts. That does not
mean that there is no place for religion anymore. There can be
even much religion in your life. You live along with the church.
You faithfully attend church services. You believe it is important
to commemorate the Reformation. Meanwhile, it is possible to
remain in penitence. You know about God's truth. You
have memorized the five solas of the Reformation, but you are
a stranger to a broken and contrite heart. You remain focused on
yourself. There is no experience of the
sinfulness of sin and your guilt before God. You don't know anything
of Luther's struggle. How can I ever meet a righteous
God? There is no sincere pray for
grace. There is no desire for God's
love. There is no continual watching
and praying. Which vain thoughts do you need
to be converted from? What in your life fills your
thoughts, your attention, so that you cannot concentrate on
the service of the Lord? No, I fully understand that you
are not so bad as many others. But as long as the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness is not the first thing you seek,
you are worse than the worst sinner. As long as you indulge
your vain thoughts, no true revival will take place in your life.
As long as you indulge vain thoughts as a congregation, there will
be no revival in Canada or Europe. Meanwhile, we can notice God's
judgment on this world. What judgments do we see? Consider the turmoil of this
world. The world is burning socially, diplomatically. Many people live
in distress. There's a lot of unrest in this
world. Persecutions are on the rise. ecclesiastical developments of,
for example. Consider the many denominations
that are present in Canada and in Europe. All different churches
which claim to proceed from the Church of the Reformation. But
the difference between the various denominations can be so great
and unbridgeable, and we wonder how far Have we departed from
the church of the Reformation? In the days of Jeremiah, the
Lord warned the people of Judah, if you don't repent, my anger
will fall upon you. If you don't acknowledge your
iniquity, then I will keep my anger. And in the book of Revelation,
we read about the epistles which are written to the seven churches
of Asia. In the epistle to Ephesus we
read Christ's exhortation. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I
will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out
of his place except thou repent. God will remove the candlestick. That means that God will remove
his gospel. God removes his word. Are you never afraid this is going to happen in our
country? We hear that the church is growing
in China and Korea. in several parts of Asia, it
seems that the Spirit is working powerfully. That's something
to be thankful for. It's also a reason to humble
ourselves. The Lord is sovereign where and
how he works. But should we not wonder why
a revival stays away in our country? And would it not be time to examine
ourselves? Am I remaining impenitent? Am I sloppy in the service of
the Lord? Is the service of the Lord for
me no more than an outward worship without getting involved with
my heart? God will remove the candlestick
out of our place if we don't repent. And I hope You sense with me
that these words are very current. What is left after 500 years
of Reformation? Maybe you counter. Be not so
gloomy, Pastor. There are so many things to be
thankful for. We still have a trustworthy Bible
translation. We still confess the five solas
of the Reformation. And we still confess the three
forms of unity, namely the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism
and the Canons of the Lord. And we still have faithful preaching
based on the principles of the Reformation. I hope you are right. But would you say that this is
enough? What about you? Do you live out
of this reformed confession? Do you live from the truth of
God's word? We need to know a life of repentance. We need to die to self and to
rise in Christ. It is said specifically to spiritual
concerns, wash thine heart from wickedness. that thou mayest
be saved. How long shall thy faint thoughts
lodge within thee? An unrepentant lifestyle or a
sloppy way of life is like permitting faint thoughts to lodge within
you. To lodge within you. What is
a lodge? Well, that someone who stays
with you for a couple of nights. Who? Well, for example, a nephew
or niece, a friend maybe. Would you also offer lodging
to a stranger which you just met on the street? Or a thief? Or even worse, to a murderer?
No, of course not. You would not risk your life
by offering lodging to people who you cannot trust. You are
right. But as long as you keep bosom
sin, a sin you do not want to get rid of, a sin that you nurture,
then you act even worse than someone offering lodging to a
murderer. Even worse? Yes. Because sin brings forth And when you harbor sin in your
heart, you are killing your soul. You know who the devil is. He's
the murderer from the beginning. Sin and devil want nothing but
your eternal condemnation. Do you have a bosom sin? Do you
live impenitently? Are you sloppy in spiritual matters? The Lord asks you this evening,
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? How long? The Lord appeals to your common
sense. Just think about what you are
doing. Do you want destruction? Do you
want to remain lost? Do you want my offered mercy
and grace? There is peace with me. There
is salvation with me. It pleases me to make you partaker
of it. How long shall thy vain thoughts
lodge within thee? Is it not high time to repent? This is an urgent question, a
question which we also hear from the lips of the Lord Jesus. O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stones
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not How often have you heard the free
offer of grace from the pulpit and you did not repent? Bend
your knees and confess to the Lord your sins, your unwillingness,
your blindness and pray the Lord for mercy. The Lord of Josiah
and Martin Luther is still the same and it pleases Him to grant
grace to lost sinners. And tonight I may point you to
the only surety and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, since He is
able and willing to wash you from your wickedness. There's
no way to wash yourself. You need the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God,
whereby God is satisfied. And by the finished work of the
Lord Jesus, you can be reconciled to God. Josiah knew that, though
he did not know the Lord Jesus as the New Testament saints did.
But from the shadows of the Old Testament worship service, he
learned that there is forgiveness of sin through the shedding of
blood. And Martin Luther discovered
that he could not be delivered from his guilt by good works. That he could not be released
from eternal punishment by buying an indulgence. Only faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ can save a sinner from everlasting damnation. Since Christ is the righteousness
given by God. And all those who are engrafted
in Christ by faith shall live. Do you know this truth in the
way of repentance and faith? You need to know this to have
a decent lifestyle and to be a contender of the Reformed. Truth is not sufficient to get
saved. You need to repent of your sins. that involves humbling yourselves
before the Lord with the confession of sin and guilt, with an ardent
prayer for God's mercy. Do you know of this prayer? Children,
are you sad because of your sins? Do you pray ceaselessly for God's
mercy? Luther had a sincere concern
for the people of his days. that they were wholly ignorant
of the seriousness of sin since they believed that they could
simply be released from the penalty by buying an indulgence so the
first thesis Luther opened his 95 theses with was when our Lord
and Master Jesus Christ said repent he intended that the entire
life of believers should be repentance Our entire life should be repentance. Is that the fruit we find in
our midst 500 years after the Reformation? By the gracious operations of
the Spirit, it is found in our midst. But should there not be
more of the spiritual fruit? What is yield of 500 years of
reformation? There is reason to be thankful
for all the Lord has left. We still may stand on the shoulders
of the reformers like Luther, Calvin, John Knox, and many,
many others. There is still a sound biblical
preaching in our country. But if we observe the little
fruit on it, We have much more reason to humble ourselves. Discord
and division in God's church is a tragedy. Secularization
has come into the church. Living in two worlds as it were seems to be a normal
way of life. And the call of the Lord by the
word of Jeremiah are more relevant than ever. How long shall thy
vain thoughts lodge within thee? And what about you? We live in
the last days. The Lord Jesus will come soon.
How long will he stay away yet? It's five to twelve. You can
hear the footsteps of the Lord Jesus in all the world history
and in the world events of today. Seek heart reformation with the
Lord. Seek it in the way of turning
from self to the Lord. Need and sorrowful to thee I
cry. Let thy salvation set my soul
on high. Amen.
Celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation?!
Series Reformation Evening
Celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation?!
1 A call to Remember
2 A call to Repentance
| Sermon ID | 112172057202 |
| Duration | 53:58 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Bible Text | 2 Chronicles 34:1-7; Jeremiah 4:5-31 |
| Language | English |
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