Do they give out medals if you've been here for the three talks? I think we should be giving out extra biscuits for any people who've survived. Good to see us again this evening. And Malay Clear food is great and plentiful. And it's a challenge to me this evening to fight against the effects of that in your being. But I'm sure together we could get through with the islands unclosed. We want to read from God's word from Colossians 3 verses 1-11. This evening we'll be thinking of the legacy of the Reformation. What it leaves for us. How it impacts us. What it gives to us. And one of the things we'll be thinking about is the emphasis on all men are equal. There was that hierarchy within the Roman Church. of tiers and levels, but the Reformation in a whole range of ways desired to show us that, as verse number 11 indicates, that it is neither Greek nor Jew and so on. We're all one in Christ Jesus. We read verses 1 to 11 of this chapter. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you also once walked when you lived in them. But now you must also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth Do not lie to one another, since ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of him who created him. For there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. We come in the last of these talks. who cheered her, to the legacy of the Scottish Reformation. Kate and William, the future King and Queen, possibly of Britain, announced their engagement this week. Maybe you've bought a plate or a mug and you will keep it for years to come. They have so much going for them. And our desire this evening is, isn't it, that there will be a long and a happy marriage. But our chief prayer for them is that they will know King Jesus savingly. And what we've been discussing this weekend, you possibly think they know nothing about. But let me suggest two reasons why they could know more about this than we might think. The first reason is that they both studied at St Andrews for three years. And it's very unlikely that they spent three years in that historic and beautiful town without knowing about the Scottish Reformation which was centred in that town for so much of the changes that took place in it. But a second reason and perhaps a more intriguing reason why they do or will do know about our subject in these days is that William has a connection to the leader of the Reformation, John Knox. The link to John Knox is through his father, Charles, to his grandmother, the Queen, to her mother, the Queen Mother. Her name, the Queen Mother's name, was Elizabeth Bowes Lyon. John Knox's wife was Marjorie Bowes the very same family. And for hundreds of years, the Bowes stayed on the family estate. And then one of the Bowes' heiresses married John Lyon and created the double-barreled name, Bowes Lyon, a daughter of whom was the Queen Mother, the great-grandmother of William. And in tracing his family tree, he will come across John Knox. He may know more about this subject than we think. And we can pray for him at this time that he will not be a ruler if he comes to rule like the Queen Regent who suppressed the Reformation truths nor like Queen Elizabeth, who manipulated the Reformation movement for her own ends, but that he will be a ruler like Edward VI, who promoted and supported the Reformation and made John Knox one of his special six chaplains. The legacy of the Reformation, it has a connection with our country and with our time. We want to think of three things which have been left for us from the Scottish Reformation that can help us and benefit us in our life at this time. Good doctrine, good practice, good examples. The Scottish Reformation has left us good doctrine. There are many theologians In history, many current theologians, and in studying them and looking at them and reading of their works, there is often some area in which they are odd and strange, and you cannot run with them. Oregon, for example, was a great student of the Scriptures, a translator of God's Word, putting six versions in parallel, which is helpful. But he believed in the pre-existence of the soul, And you say, that's a bit odd. But the Reformation doctrine, we can run with in every area. It's lasted. We still hold to it. They handed us down good doctrine. There was little for them to go on. Beforehand, the church was dark, morally and spiritually. They were starting, as it were, from the beginning with an open Bible. And they got it right. This evening we can take up their writings and benefit from their views and use their ideas. The Scottish Parliament requested that John Knox prepare a plain statement of faith that the common man could read and understand and use. The Westminster Confession of Faith took three and a half years to compile. The Scots Confession took four days. The Westminster Confession took a whole body of people from England, Wales, Scotland and the continent. The Scots Confession took six men, all of them called John. But they got it right. In that short and compressed space of time, they got it right. And we get some sort of clue as to where they went for their material besides the scriptures. Much of the language of the Scots confession is echoed in Calvin's first edition of his Institutes. And when the Westminster Confession came to be adopted by the Scottish Parliament about 90 years later on, the adopters were careful to say that we're not abrogating the Scots Confession, but we're merely superseding the Scots Confession and in nothing do we differ from it. As we look back to the Scots Confession, and our doctrine and read it, we agree with it. We still hold it as encased in that later and wider creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith. I encourage you to read it sometime. You'll find it interesting. It's full of beautiful ideas in terms of phrase insights and doctrine and scripture. It's 25 articles or chapters and covers a range of subjects. One of the phrases which they used in relation to the atonement of Christ was, the author of death must die. They speak about Jesus and his divine nature and his human nature. And they talk about how his human nature is weak. They use a strange and unusual word, if I can find it for you here. Imbecilitic. Weak, unable of itself to sustain God's wrath. And so his human nature was joined on to his infinite divine nature, that the human nature of Christ might die, sustained by the divine nature. All kinds of beautiful ideas and phrases and ways of putting doctrine that is pastoral and warm are found in Scott's confession. There's something there for us. to feed our souls, benefit our minds. But one of the most fascinating aspects of this confession is not so much in the piece itself, but in the preface to the document. And in that preface, they offer any man to write to them. pointing out from Scripture where they have erred in their doctrine. And they will read their letter and carefully examine it and reply to them or change what they have written. It's an honest and a careful worded piece indicating their desire to get at the truth and to understand. God's Word right. Such was the satisfaction which Scorgen had with this document that he claimed in his day, Knox's gospel is my gospel. You say, is this not a bit of a contradiction here? We've been talking about the Reformers' emphasis on the sufficiency and supremacy of the Scriptures. And yet here they are bringing out this man-made document with doctrine in it, which ministers and elders and deacons have to subscribe to. Is there not some inconsistency in their thinking and behavior here? On the one hand, saying the Bible's enough. On the other hand, bringing out this man-made doctrine. Confession? Well, there isn't. And we still do the same. And hold the same position. And we say to the world, to the believer, the Scriptures are enough. But we have this subordinate standard in our confession which collates the teaching of Scripture. Many people, many Christian people, come to the same Bible that we have and come up with different doctrine. The Arminians don't have a different Bible. They have the same Bible, but they understand the Bible's message in a different way than we do. Premillennialists come to the same Bible as we do, and they understand end times in a different way, at least than I do. And so confessions are useful. You can say to any visitor, This is what our church believes the Bible to say. But there's always within us that degree of humility and openness that if someone can show us from the scriptures that we are wrong, we have, like these reformers, the willingness to change. Maybe you say, I'm not interested in doctrine. I will never be reading. the Scots Confession. I'm interested in praying. I'm interested in witnessing. I'm interested in bringing up my children and solving my family problems. I have no time for doctrine in my life. Hold on a minute. Doctrine could help you. Could help you to live better. The description of God in the first chapter of the Scots Confession is like this. He is infinite, unmeasurable, omnipotent. You're down kneeling at the bedside of your child as they go to sleep. And you're praying for them and praying over them. And surely this truth that God is infinite would help you. He's there listening to you, watching you. You're dealing in the throes of some painful family problem. Surely this truth that God is unmeasurable would help you, unmeasurable in His love for you and in His grace to support you. You're witnessing to some neighbour that constantly rebuffs you, that's hard and callous and spiteful in the face of the Gospel. Surely the truth that God is omnipotent could give you greater faith and courage and strength that someday He can change that hard heart. Far from it being remote from you and unhelpful to you, doctrine put in this warm and pastoral manner and these six Johns were pastors and the authors of the Confession were ministers and they wrote in a caring and helpful and pastoral fashion. Members of the RP Church have asked me, in the darkness and sorrow of a bereavement, where is my loved one? If they had studied chapter 17 of the Scots Confession, they would have known where their loved one was. The First Reformation has handed down to us good doctrine that's there to be used by us in our life and witness and behavior. But secondly, the First Reformation distant though it is, has handed down to us also good practice. And we were talking about Doctor Who and his shed and going back in time and walking into a reformed church in Scotland 450 years ago and just be like walking into a church service here. The men got it right. And the test of getting it right is the endurance of ideas. being practiced by God's people and we are still practicing what they taught because they went back to the New Testament church. And here in the second book which the reformers compiled, also asked by the Scottish government, a book to show how the church should be run, some practical details and ways, there is an incredible close parallel to how the Reformed Presbyterian Church is still run. This is not from the covenanting times that this originated. This is from a century before then, which was just carried on and fine-tuned by their successors. The Book of Discipline, the first book, meaning there was a second book later on, about 20 years later, the first book drawn up in this 1560, produced in four days by the same six men. Was, as we have seen, disappointingly not approved by Parliament. But nonetheless, writers and historians have looked back and seen that was the book that shaped the nation. And I want to just summarise its contents. There were four main sections dealt with in this book of discipline or church order. which these men produced. The first was in connection with office bearers. And as we look at the office bearers in our church, we have ministers, elders, deacons. That's the same three groups which are set down in this 450 year old book. The minister, he can be called by the congregation. And this was the emphasis of Knox and his men, that all men are equal. that the common man has a say and a voice in the church. It's the congregation that call the minister and the elders vote and the deacons vote and the members vote carries the same weight in Christ Jesus. All men are equal. The congregations as before, ministers were imposed on them and bishops would send their relatives to pastor a congregation. The congregation called whoever they wanted. Had to be approved by the church. We talked about him not being boarded in a pub. There was no laying on of hands. We have that in our church, but they didn't. The apostles had ceased, they said. But the emphasis on the minister in this book was, he must preach. They said, if he reads the sermon, It's just as good as having an idol in the pulpit. They emphasized that the men were to be preachers, to bring God's word in a living and relevant way to the people. The elders, maybe some challenging news for the elders here. The elders were elected for one year. They didn't like them. They were lazy, did a bad job. That was them. They could be re-elected, but they were just elected for one year at a time. But one of their functions was to take heed to the manners, life, and diligence, and study of the minister. And if he wasn't working hard, they were to speak to him. The deacons were to look after the finances of the church, distribute to the poor. And it says, this is 450 years ago, they were to have properly audited accounts. No scandals were to be arising over money in the church. These things we still have today in our congregations. There was two other roles which were used for an interim period in the church. One was that of superintendent and the other was that of reader. A reader was someone who would go and take a service like play preachers. Now and again, superintendents, they looked after vacant congregations and the readers. But they faded out in about 20 years. It was only an interim thing for the church at that time. In 1560, there were 12 ministers in the Reformed Church in Scotland. They met in Magdalene Chapel and the confession was ratified by the Scottish Parliament. Seven years later, there was 251 ministers and 1,048 Reformed congregations in Scotland. God was changing that nation in a fast and a powerful manner. The second broad category was church government. And in embryo fashion in this book of discipline are our church courts of session, presbytery, synod and the General Assembly. And these were teased out and developed over the next 20 years. Worship was the third category that they addressed. Miracle psalms were put into English. They were used in public worship. There was no organ accompaniment. And that was the practice that continued till 1861. Knox encouraged psalm singing practices. Communion was held quarterly. And at communion, one cup was used. This again was emphasizing the equality in Christ Church. The minister drunk from the cup. The elders drunk from the same cup. And everyone in the congregation drunk from that one cup. All men in Christ were one. John Knox, he discouraged private baptisms. He believed that the covenant child belonged not only to that family, but to the church family. And when the child was baptised, he wanted the child to be in the bosom of the church family. The patrimony of the church was the last section. There were three uses of money, one for the ministry, one for education in towns, A schoolmaster was to be appointed by the church to teach the basics of reading and writing, but especially the gospel. In the country, the reader or the minister was to set up a school there. Knox had a vision of a church and a school in every parish in Scotland, and it was a hundred years before that vision was realised what it was realised. Money was for the ministry, for the education and lastly for the poor. They argued in defence of the poor. Knox came from a poor home and they argued that all extra payments which the rich and landlords were taking from the poor should be cancelled and that the landlord should just live off the rent which the poor would give to them. Good practice was handed down from the first reformation and we still worship and behave in this way. Or do we? Perhaps the glaring deficiency among us is in connection to the last point, our care for the poor. A current Reformed theologian, in reviewing the marks of a true church, says that there's generally three marks which are set forth for a true church. The preaching of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and faithful church discipline. But he says, The Scottish Church had a fourth. That was care for the poor. And you say, well, there's no poor now. Sure, the state looks after people, do they? I visited a family besides Ballyclare High School. They had no carpet on their floor. They couldn't afford a carpet on their floor. There's poverty not just in Somalia, not just in Cairo, but there's poverty around your congregation here. And not just financial poverty. There's people who have poor intellect. They need loved and cared for, spoken with. There's people who are poor in making friends and they're lonely and downcast. There's people who are poor in health. The need visited and encouraged and time spent with them. The church has handed us down good practice. You care for the poor. The last point, good examples, good examples, good doctrine, good practice, good examples. There aren't that many good examples. Generally and daily we are pointing out the flaws in those who hit the headlines. Oh there's that footballer again, look what he's gone and done. He's in jail or he's been reprimanded or he's red carded or That celebrity, look at the way she's living and what she's doing. There's many, many bad examples and we spend a lot of our life pointing out to ourselves, to others, the defects and wrongs in people. But what we really need is good examples to inspire us and guide us in a good and positive way. Yes, we know what not to do, but what should we be doing? The Scottish Reformation has good examples. You should be saturating your mind, not in the sins and defects of people currently in the world, but in people of purity and uprightness and integrity that will do better for your soul than knowing the dark secrets of the rich and the famous. We talked about Patrick Hamilton. And some people are going to buy the book. That's great. I have another one here for you to read. This is, you possibly maybe have this plane, Mr. Knox. It's a biography of John Knox. It's readable. It's funny. That's interesting. That's stuff about bulls, lion. It's out here. So there's lots of really interesting stuff about John Knox. He didn't actually have a really long beard. It's all in here. Good examples. And they're there for us. And just as we come to an end of our studies, I want to take just a few moments to highlight a few things from John Knox's life and how he can inspire us and encourage us in a good and in a positive fashion. We talked about his treatment of all men the same. What an example for us. Could we do that in the church? We have our special friends. We have those that we gravitate towards because we've got the same interests. But could we treat all equally with interest and conversation and time? What a thing it would be. Knox, as he gave rules for the burial of the dead, He said there's to be no difference in the pomp given to the rich and the rituals given to the poor. They're both the same. They're equal. Instructions to the minister. He told them to minister to all, not to be hobnobbing with the powerful, the intellectual and the rich. But he says the labourer, And the manures of the earth should be ministered to as well as the nobles. And what a thing it would be for us in our church to treat all men equally. I have reservations about mentioning the second one. Don't be putting yourself forward after the appeals for people to go to the nursing home. and other things, but I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say here. There are people who are pushy, who are self-confident, who want recognition and praise and centre stage. And it's those type of people that knocks challenges. And this is seen In his call to the ministry, Knox was wanting to leave Scotland and go to Germany, as George Wishart had done when persecution began to arise under Queen Elizabeth in Scotland. Queen Mary, sorry, in Scotland. And he was in charge of tutoring some children. And they said to him, well, what are we going to do if you head off? And so they decided to go down to St Andrew's Castle. And there he was in the castle and John Ruff, one of the six Johns, he was preacher there and they began to appreciate the abilities of Knox. He would be debating in the street and in the marketplace and they saw in him gifts that the church needed. And so after consultation with the congregation and another elder, John Ruff, in his sermon on the Sabbath day, preached on the call of a congregation to a minister. And in his sermon, he set his eyes on John Knox and said to him, will you become a minister of this congregation in conjunction with the call of this congregation? John Knox was mortified. He burst into tears and he ran out of the congregation and hid for a week. But he said yes. He was reluctant to do. He was gifted. The elders saw his gifts. And there is two sides to our stewardship of our gifts. There is us recognizing soberly, as Paul says, our ability and seeking opportunities to use them. But there is also the elders seeing in members of the congregation what they can do, and perhaps maybe in a different way, encouraging them to do that. The last trait from John Knox that I encourage you to follow is don't give up. Don't give up in your ministry and in your work and in your service for Christ. Don't give up. There were so many reasons in John Knox's life why he should pack it all in. Why he should give it up. Why he should go off somewhere and write books and hide. But he didn't. Let me give you just three reasons that he fought against in his life. The first is surprising to me anyway. He was physically weak. We think of him as a raging bull, a 16th century Paisley. But he wasn't. People in his day were low stature. And the description of Knox that we have is that he was below medium height. He was a small man. Very dark, with a long face, long nose, deep set, piercing gray eyes. His voice was strong. He had long preacher's fingers, the writer says. His beard neither long nor full. And when George Wishart came to Scotland and there was intimidation and threats on Wishart's life, John Knox, small though he was, became his bodyguard. And it was a sight to see, historians say, this small, fragile man walking around with a two-handed sword to defend John Wishart. But nonetheless, he did it. The French captured St. Andrew's Castle where John Knox had been preaching and John Knox was taken as a slave on a French warship. He was there for 18 months, stripped down to the waist, sat on a bench and that was his living space, sleeping under the bench, lashed on the back if he wasn't oaring fast enough and enthusiastic enough. And when he was in that galley ship, he caught an illness. And such was the severity of that illness that he was unshackled from his bench and put down a well in the base of the ship. And his friend and himself thought he was going to die. He cried out to God at one point, using the words of one of the Psalms that God would hear him in his mercy and heal him. He did recover, but his health was shattered and he lived in pain all of his days. And there was great reason for Knox to spare himself, to take it easy, to sit back, to enjoy what health he could, But he didn't. He didn't. And what a challenge it is to us. If we are feeling ill at all, we don't go to church. We take off the outreach that we're meant to be involved in. Here's a man racked with pain throughout his life, but serving with diligence and effort. A second thing that would have sent us running was attempts on his life and these occurred particularly after 1560 when Mary Queen of Scots came back from France and she was surrounded by a Romanist party which wanted the mass and many Roman Catholic things brought again into Scotland and you know about the great conflict between Mary and John Knox but her friends they wanted rid of of this man who could refute their arguments and defend the truth of the Reformation. They prepared ambushes for him regularly and John Knox had to own a fast horse so that he could escape from those who sought to take his life. One evening, sitting at dinner at the head of his table with his back to the window, an assassin fired at him through the window, and the bullet passed John Knox and embedded in the silver candlestick sitting on the table. And here we are. And someone says a few unthought-out words to us. And we take the huff and find it hard to love them. or forgive them and grumble and complain for weeks. Come on, brother. Come on, sister. They were trying to kill John Knox. He didn't give up. The last reason in his life that he should have given up was he had difficult congregations to pastor. released from the galley ship in France. He returned to England and he was given by the English reformers a church in Berwick, right on the border. Half of Berwick was Scottish and half of Berwick was English. And there was massive bitterness in that town. One half was for Roman Catholicism, the other half was sympathetic to the reforming movement. And there in that town, Knox was a pastor, and he found it hard for two years. Then he moved, after being chaplain to King Edward, he moved to Frankfurt. An English congregation there had called him, and he went to become their pastor. And he wasn't there too long before they voted him out of office. And he was broken hearted and humbled. He went along to the church service just before he left and the people wouldn't let him in. It was easy for him to give up. Weakened body. Slanders about his life and character and family. Difficult experiences in pastoral work. But he went on. On his last Sabbath on earth, he, with the help of his servant, managed to get to St Giles, where he became minister after the Reformation in Edinburgh, clambered up the steps and sat down on the bench. In the early part of the service, he was weak and poorly, but by the end, he was chopping splinters off the pulpit. One eyewitness said that he went along with pen and paper and was taking notes until his hand began to tremble so much he couldn't finish his notation. We give up. We walk away far too easy. But Knox is a good example for us of hanging in there, of persevering, of having his eyes on Christ Jesus and not on his people who are defective. failing and weak. As we live our lives, let us remember this motto which is embossed on the Geneva wall, Reformation wall. One man with God is always a majority. One man with God is always a majority. Pray that your life will be effective. That your life will count in this age and in this time in which God has placed you and called you to live. And be encouraged that God uses ordinary, holy, praying believers. Who else Apart from John Knox, could you name that was involved in the Scottish Reformation? I would doubt if any of you could name the six Johns involved in the Scots Confession and the Book of Discipline. They weren't famous. They were ordinary, common. humble servants of Christ. John Knox was out of the country for most of the time before the Reformation. The Queen was against them, and yet ordinary, praying, holy people provided a work that has lasted to our time and to our day. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we bow in your presence. We thank you that we can learn from your works and ways in the past. And we pray, Lord, for your blessing upon us as we live in this time and in this age. We pray for the young people here, that you will help them to furnish their minds and lives with good examples. They will be inspired and guided in a right and noble way. We pray for those who are older, that they would not be restricted by their failings in life, but that their eyes would be on Christ and that they would be empowered to serve you and worship you. Lord, may your blessing rest upon this congregation, that they would know your presence and power, effective and weak though they are. We pray, Lord, that in this time and in this place, great blessing would come to this community. We pray to you in Jesus name. Amen.