And without question, and just about all historians I've ever read would agree with this statement, the Reformation, very much so, ended up being the foundation upon which modern Western civilization was built. And only people who don't read anything and know anything say, oh, that's ridiculous. They have no clue what they're talking about. One such scholar that would acknowledge this is Dr. Peter Hammond, and he put it this way. It's very plain, and he has quite the credentials as a missionary himself who really put his life on the line. This man was full of credentials. But Mr. Hammond says, quote, Western civilization has been blessed with the greatest freedom, productivity, and prosperity ever known in history. The liberty, standards of justice, and creativity enjoyed in Western civilization is a direct result of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century," end quote. Now, the Protestant Reformation, I'm not going to give you an overview of the Protestant Reformation. This is a spiritual context this morning. The Protestant Reformation was a protest. That's why it's called the Protestant, they protested. And that protest sprang from the corruption and the abuses and the abuse of power and the tyranny and false doctrine that was emanating from the medieval Roman Catholic Church and had been growing for centuries up until the time of the Reformation. The abuse, the power, it had become an utterly worldly organization that was worthy of contempt and loathing by any righteous man who didn't even necessarily even have a profound or succinct spiritual confession. Just a person with a conscience could see it. And probably the greatest and most noteworthy forces in that Reformation can be summarized in two men, Martin Luther and John Calvin. And obviously there were many many other great men who forwarded this great cause besides Luther and Calvin and many of them preceded Luther and Calvin and you've got Tyndale, you've got Wycliffe, you've got John Huss and others like those. And they were willing to forward this cause at the cost of their life and they knew what they were doing when they got into it, which means they knew full well, in some instances, they expected that they would have to die. That means something. You say, well, Muslims do it when they fly planes in their buildings. It's not the same thing at all. Look at their morals. Look at what they teach in their religion. There's nothing honorable about it. There's nothing moral about it. Look at a Christian and what he's doing and believing and saying and how he thinks men should live and then watch him die. They're totally different. One's a psychosis. The other is God's grace. But it was Luther and Calvin that seemed to, in spite of all these other great men that we've talked about before, it was Luther and Calvin that seemed to make the most lasting impression and noteworthy impressions on Christian thought and practice in the ensuing 500 years. Pretty much no question on that. and I'd like to honor their work. I thought I was going to do this. I thought I was going to do this. So I'm going to take the spiritual principle to talk about and then finally illustrate it in Luther and then illustrate it in Calvin. When I was preparing my thoughts, I realized I can't get into Luther or Calvin at all in the morning service. That was my plan. Okay, I'll do it in the evening. But then as I got into it, I realized over several years I want to do the same thing with different emphasis. So I'm going to use Luther and Calvin. I get into Luther. I never get to Calvin because Luther is such an overwhelming force of nature that you just go into it and I left John Calvin out. Then maybe like two years later I was going to do a similar thing on different aspects of it and I start with Luther. So John Calvin keeps getting dropped. So I said, you know what, I don't have the time to do both, I'm going to do John Calvin tonight, we'll talk about that. We're going to see in his life the illustration of what I'm talking about this morning. So we're not going to get really much history this morning. What I want to do this morning and this evening is get to the heart of what made those two men the warriors they were for the cause of Christ. We can memorize history and facts and be wowed by their boldness. What's the point if we don't have it ourselves? So I want to see what made them who they were. That's more important than the facts and figures of what they did. Those things are important. Now, there are people today that actually take the time to remember the Protestant Reformation. Not a lot do nowadays, but there are some that do. Many Christians almost know nothing about this history, and some Baptists are very famous for saying, well, that's not our history. We're Baptists. We have, you know, they say, where are Baptists? And, you know, you go to the hardcore Baptists, and where are the Bride of Christ? We go back to the first century. And some men who have degrees say, we go back to John the Baptist. Or think of Matthew the Methodist, Paul the Presbyterian, and John, you come on. They have advanced degrees. And I've heard that in my own ears, sitting in a church. That's not our history. Think of how foolish, ignorant, and short-sighted that is. Like, well, I'm a Christian. God intervened, and he did a blessing to help that Christian family over there. Well, it's not my family. It doesn't concern me, so I don't really care about it. Think how shallow that is. God's people are supposed to be one in Christ. So that's the thing. I mean, it's just shallow thinking. It's true in churches. Like I say, most churches ought to be shut down. It's just true. We'd have revival if, I always say, you screwed in 3 quarter inch. We can go thicker, I would. 3 quarter inch CDX with deck screws. So there are some today, however, that do remember the Protestant Reformation, mainly from the Reformed churches, obviously. Not exclusively, but often most likely from the Reformed churches. And they do remember the Reformation. And they remember, it goes beyond just remembering that it happened. When I say remember, they formally celebrate the Protestant Reformation. And they know much of its history. And they may even glory in that history and take pride in that history, because they see themselves as reformed, they say. And they love to declare their devotion to Luther, to Calvin, to Zwingli, to John Knox. And they can expound at length their history. And they love celebrating the Reformation and declaring their loyalty to those principles espoused by the reformers. And I think For many, it makes them feel good to do that. It makes them feel conservative, orthodox, old school, which is fine, I guess, but I'm afraid for many of the reformed today, While they parade about in the basking glow of the illumination of the Reformation for many, I'm not saying all, but for many they know next to nothing about the heart of a man like John Calvin and Martin Luther and they may be able to expound more history on those men than I could or lots of people, it's not the point. I'm not judging them, but you do know a tree by its fruit. The Reformed Church generally has been moving to the left like all denominations, right? That's the history of the world. There's built-in structured degradation and atrophy. And that's, I guess, the nature of men. But it seems as though they don't understand the heart and soul of these men and who they were. I mean, they understand intellectually, oh, they had a passion for the Lord. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ. They were passionate for the gospel. And they say words that are good and true, and that's fine. But to put it in the words of J.C. Philpott, they didn't experimentally understand them. Some people say experimental. That was a favorite word of J.C. Philpott. I've got a quote from him. Let's see, is this it? Yeah, here it is. J.C. Philpott was early 1800s. He was an Anglican minister. He knew the five points of tulip up and down could quote theology and doctrine. He came to the conclusion he wasn't saved. And he came to the conclusion, there's all sorts of clerics in this church that aren't saved. And the rest of his life, you'd be scared to death to read one of his sermons. As a Calvinist of the grief with his doctrine, he's saying, I'm going to expose the deadness. And that happened over time. Just like America is corrupting herself. And the current generation seems to not see it. Or many do, but most don't. And some see it but only in small measure do they see the magnitude of what's actually happening. This is why nations rise and nations fall, this is why denominations rise and denominations fall. Let me read what J.C. Philpott, and boy you know how I love his writing, it's so probing, so spiritual, so go to the root. This section is entitled Experimental Salvation. He says, if salvation implies a previous state from which it is a deliverance, then I say that it is childish folly to talk of being saved if we know nothing experimentally of what we are saved from. All doctrines, notions, forms, creeds, ordinances, and ceremonies short of this manifested salvation are as the dust of the balance and as the driven stubble before the wind. What, for instance, is election except it be revealed to my soul that I was elected before the foundation of the world? What is redemption to me? Except the atoning blood of the Lamb be sprinkled on my conscience. What is the everlasting love of a triune Jehovah? Unless that eternal love be shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost. To see these things revealed in the Bible is nothing. To hear them preached by one of God's ministers is nothing. Now listen to this. To receive the truth into our judgment and to yield to them an unwavering assent is nothing. Thousands have done this who are blaspheming God in hell. A man must have salvation as an internal reality, as a known, enjoyed, tasted, felt, and handled possession, or he will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. I agree with that. And that's the doctrine of Calvin as well as the doctrine of Luther. You see, it's not enough to know Reformation history and Reformation doctrine even. It's not enough to boast of it and to see the good of it and take delight in good things like biblical truths. And it's not enough to even give your allegiance to it. You must, as Mr. Philpott would say, experimentally know the Christ of Scripture. You can see the greatness and the benefit of Luther in Calvin's work. So what? Maybe you can see the truthfulness and the value of the doctrine that they espouse, which I would say is extremely important, but still, so what? In and of itself, so what? And you can even, and this may seem strange, you can even feel a flush of joy and pride over their fateful work for Christ. You say, that's evidence that I'm saved. No, it isn't. So what? Without the Spirit of God working in our own hearts and souls, then that knowledge and that emotion we may have connected to that history and even the doctrine is of no use to us. It's profited those people that are in that estate nothing. So experimental Calvinism, we're really talking about experimental salvation, but let me just say experimental Calvinism, which I see both in Martin Luther and John Calvin, is really say, what is this experimental? It's a call to a genuine, divinely given, sovereignly dispensed, heartfelt faith that causes a person's zeal and his drive and his joy to be centered, not on his own salvation. That's the current thinking. It's all about me. It's centered on the glory of God. We take ourselves out of the center, and he's in the center. And I've got to tell you, brethren, some people, they think, well, you're splitting hairs. No, it makes all the difference in the world. You see, there are many spiritually neutral and lukewarm Christians. that are devoted to Calvinism, that can be devoted to good doctrine, Bible doctrine actually, devoted to the five points of TULIP, all five. Total depravity, unconditional election, and then they tremble. Don't say it, don't say it. John MacArthur can't spit it out of his mouth because he's Calvinistic. Limited atonement. Now, they just about want to chop your head off when you say that. They don't know what they're talking about. Irresistible grace. You can pronounce all these things with great boldness in the presence of great Christian opposition, never mind the world's opposition. But if that's all you've got, is those five points that you can expound on, quote the Bible verses and explain, then your doctrine is lifeless. It's without genuine passion, or you may have passion, but it's directed in the wrong direction. It's passionate about being right, being smarter than the other theologian, having the answers than people looking up to you. That's just pride and arrogance that has to be judged and purged. And many of these people, they get all excited because they're right, but they don't have the joy that Mr. Philpott's talking about, that Calvin's talking about, and that Luther's talking about. So you can be experts on the Reformation, you don't have what they had. You just look like you're a disciple. These people exist, brethren. But in truth, when the Spirit of God himself, no man will need to teach you, because the Lord will teach you. When the Spirit of God teaches you, When God's word is revealed to you by his grace, of his utter sovereignty and glory in saving a soul, then that believer is humbled before that glory and holiness and majesty and power of God. When he experiences it in here, It causes him to pursue holiness in the shallow. The shallow churches that should have the plywood over their doors will say, well, that's legalism, that's works righteousness. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying when you've been regenerated by the sovereign power of God, the byproduct is a pursuit of godly living. And you pursue godly living as a means to glorify God, it's not about you, as a means to honor God in the presence of man. And that very pursuit of godly living which we all, even the best of God's people, falter in, There's a weakness to the flesh, so no God-fearing man pursues it in perfection. We all have our faults, but it's there. That's part of the reality of regeneration. And because God has done this for them, they pursue that godly walk bring glory to God in the pursuit of doing that brings them joy and fulfillment. I think a lot of people religious people church going people they think well I've got to be good and do this here and not do that and I got to be good here and do this and not do that and maybe they shouldn't do that and they should do this and they're right technically but they want to have the glory of being God-fearing people, so they have to do what they don't really enjoy doing. That's a person who's religious, but it's never been changed. I'm saying for God's people, the experimental salvation that is given by God causes the person to have a completely changed perception. The pursuit of godliness brings them joy. Not like, oh, everybody will see my works and they'll bring praise to me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know, that's the only way. Some people can interpret it because they haven't been touched by grace. No, I'm saying, you know, like John the Baptist, he must increase and I must decrease, and that would make John happy. We're talking about the happy Calvinists. They like to portray the sour, austere, stern Calvinists that have all this There may be a sternness and a backbone to the doctrine, but a biblical Calvinist, a Christian, really. I mean, Calvin didn't invent one thing. A Christian finds joy in that. So we should be happy in the truth. B.B. Warfield, who was one of the most well-known theologians from Princeton, from that reform camp. B.B. Warfield put it this way. Now listen carefully to this. It's actually a good statement. He says, the whole outworking of Calvinism in life is thus the efflorescence of its fundamental religious consciousness, which finds its scientific statement in its theological system. Now, that's a powerful and concise statement, but it needs to be translated into English, you know? So, you know, at first you might think, well, that's just some egghead, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Actually, he does know what he's talking about, but he hasn't learned to talk yet. So let me boil this down to plain English. The driving force and the most foundational reality of a true spirit-led Christian It's true spirit-led Calvinism, make it as you want. It's not the doctrine of predestination and election, because that's what most people think. Oh, Calvinist, yeah, it's predestination this, election that. Predestination, election, predestination, election. You listen to a lot of reform, they have never-ending sermons on predestination and election. They re-litigate the thing over and over again because they don't know what else to do. Rather than take that truth and now use it for the glory of God, they're not sure how to do that. So what Mr. Warfield is saying, let me get beside myself here, the driving force and the foundational reality of true spirit-led Christians or Calvinists, I'm not saying that only people who understand Calvinism are Christian, but we're trying to grasp this doctrine here. The driving force behind these people is not the doctrine of predestination. It may sound like it because they talk about it. It's not the truth of God's sovereignty in election. You say, well, what is it? It's the glory of the Lord God Almighty. That's what undergirds and moves the experimental Christian, particularly the experimental Calvinist. Because sometimes, even after we're saved, it takes a while to learn some of these things in here. Not that we weren't saved, we were, but we weren't having it shown to us, we were missing out on some of the glory. But once you've seen that glory, it does something. I'm saying for the true biblical Calvinist, the main thing for him is not predestination in election, it's the glory of God. Do we like to talk about election? Sure we do. Well, see, so that's the point. No, no, no, no, no. Yes, we may like to talk about election and predestination and the sovereignty of God, But ask yourself a question. Why do we like doing that? I mean, for some people, well, I don't want to talk about that. That's like dry, you know, sophisticated. They want to leave that for the seminary or something. That's not practical. I've had people say that to me. Why does this biblical Calvinist love talking about predestination? Not because predestination is a thing that moves him. The reason he loves talking about it is because it brings glory to God, it helps us just a little bit more to see the fullness of his majesty and once you've tasted of that reality you're addicted and it's all about him. It is so practical and people don't seem to always understand that. You see the fundamental question should not be how can I be saved? Modern Christianity, that's how it is. How does a person get saved? I need to be saved. How do I get saved? That's not the most fundamental question. It's a very important question, but that's not the question. The question isn't how can I be saved, but for the experimental Calvinist, put it that way, but how can God be glorified? How can we see him more as he is? God may have made the universe for man's benefit. And you know I'm the first one to say that. He made the stars, the moon, the sun to mark seasons, for us to be able to gauge direction, to give us warmth and light. The universe was created for man. The creatures that fill the oceans and the land were made for man. Man was created in God's image, not a monkey, not a fish. And yes, God made the universe for man's benefit, but the universe does not exist for the glory of man. He may have made it for our benefit. Why did he make it for our benefit? So that we also would learn and understand and bring glory to God in our lives. See, there's a backslidden way of very easily converting everything about us. And it's a subtle thing, there's not necessarily malice with it when you start off with it and then you're caught in it and you don't even know it. That's how sometimes things are. We don't mean wrong when we start down the wrong path but we're going down the wrong path. Salvation is not an end in itself and most Christians think of it that way, it's a means to an end. And what is that end? The manifestation of God's holiness. His grace, His love, His truth, His glory. When God becomes the end purpose for which we live, instead of us, then we will zealously pursue His will. And our heart's desire will be to love, to serve and to obey him and we'll want to do that because we've learned that he is holy and that he is glorious and that he is worthy of all praise and it's only true of him. There's a defect with everything else. Now let's go to Isaiah 6 and look at that text. Because without understanding all this, going through the history of the Reformation is just history. Isaiah chapter six, the passage we read. Isaiah six and starting at verse one. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah speaking, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. Would you ever stop and ask yourself what did he see? God is a spirit, what did he see? I don't really know. Those were the words he used to describe it. Above it stood the seraphims, angelic-like creatures. Each one had six wings. With twain, with two, covered his face. With twain, he covered his feet. And with twain, he did fly. Can't get some women just to cover their heads. When it's commanded in the scripture, well, that's awfully embarrassing. We can't believe that doctrine anymore. Then go someplace else. Not here. Look at the angels. I think if you go in the presence of God, you'd want to cover your whole body and disappear. And one cried unto another and said, the angels, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Now this next verse. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. See, there's this word to us. He saw the posts move at the sound of his voice in a place filled with smoke. Now, it's Isaiah's reaction. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Why is he feeling this way? Did anyone accuse Isaiah when he came and saw the Lord's temple filled, his train filled the temple and the seraphim? Did anyone say anything to Isaiah? Did the Lord say, now Isaiah, you got sin issues I want to deal with. No one said anything to Isaiah. But Isaiah is assuming, I'm going to die. Woe is me, I'm undone. Why? Because I'm utterly sinful and the people I represent, the children of Israel, we're all totally unsinful. Well, where did this all come from? He tells us. Four, that's where this idea came from. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He came to an acute awareness. of his own personal failures and sins just by being in God's presence with the Lord saying nothing about it. Yes? Can I ask a question? Yeah. Well, he's in a vision. He sees the Lord on his throne. So this is a vision of the Lord on his throne. So what more can I say? Yeah, right. So he says, woe is me for I am undone. But remember, he realized I'm a sinner just because God is before him. And he knows that my people are sinners too. I'm undone. I'm a goner. I've seen God. Let me ask you a question. Was not Isaiah a believer? Yes, he was. Wasn't he a follower of the Lord before this? Yeah, he was. And someone says, well, then why is he thinking this? The Lord didn't condemn him. He knows of the mercy of God. I think Isaiah fully knew of the mercy and the grace of God. But when he gets in his presence, everything changes. The answer as to why Isaiah felt this way, the answer is simply the Lord revealed himself to Isaiah. Didn't reveal Isaiah, although he did, but he just revealed himself, may I say in part. He revealed himself in part to Isaiah in this vision. God showed Isaiah who he is. He is the sovereign Lord of all and the whole earth is full of his glory. In the presence of God's glory, in the presence of God's light, the vileness of our own darkness is naturally exposed without him saying one thing. In the presence of God, there are no secrets. There are no excuses. In his illuminating presence, all is laid bare. Not because he's sending secret signals, telepathic God signals to you. No, no, no, no. It's something you and I haven't experienced like that. It's you're in his presence and everything is just stripped for who you actually are. And that's how Isaiah reacted. You know, Moses said to the Lord very famously, right? He said, I beseech thee, Lord, show me thy glory, right? It's quite a request. Show me thy glory. And of course, the Lord very famously responded and said, well, Moses, but he didn't say, well, Moses. He said, thou canst not see my face, for no man can see me and live. Now that doesn't mean God made up some weird rule. If you visually see me, I will kill you. When he says no man shall see me and live, he doesn't mean I will kill you. What he means is man's constitution and his finite fallen estate cannot bear under the presence of that kind of holiness and wisdom and sovereignty. It's too much for our constitutions. We would just die of natural causes. No man can handle that. I mean even the cowardly lion found it hard to go in front of the oz, you know, thought he was going to die of a heart attack. No man can seed me or shall seed me and live. You know Jacob wrestled the angel, right? What a weird story that may seem like but Jacob wrestled the angel and after the fact he marveled. He marveled that he still lived after seeing the angel of God, Jacob. He was like, I'm marveling that I'm alive because I came in, he says, I came in contact with God, but what he means is the agent of God was an angel. He thought he would die. And Gideon, the same thing. When Gideon realized that he had just seen an angel of the Lord, He cried out in fear and just assumed that he was now going to die, Gideon did. And of course God responded, had to verbally respond to him, and the Lord said to him, fear not, thou shalt not die. He had to be told he wouldn't die. And the funny thing is, you know, when the angel came to Gideon, you know what he said to Gideon? Before Gideon says, I'm going to die, The angel didn't say, now Gideon, the Lord has a problem with you. Oh no. No, no, no. The angel comes to Gideon and in essence says, Gideon, the Lord is with you and he's going to give you victory. He was told a good thing. The Lord is with me and he's going to give me victory. Great. And he turns around, I'm going to die. That's how, and by the way, that's how powerful the presence of God is. And these are angelic representations. It isn't the Lord directly. So whether it be Moses or Jacob or Gideon, if you think about it, aren't these all men of God? Aren't these all believers? Yes, they are. Yet when they come in God's presence, in a limited form of his presence, They all assumed they were going to die. The same is true with Isaiah in verse five. He says, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And how do I know this? For mine eyes have seen the king. That's all too. The Lord of hosts. You know, the power of his presence it continues in the passage in verse six, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, thy sin is purged. Now, there's some imagery here. Obviously, the Lord didn't need a cold to be forgiven of his sins by the Lord. But obviously, the angel is condescending to a mortal who is used to earthly things. And he went through this act to show, look, the Lord has forgiven you. Like, calm down. Don't die of a heart attack. The Lord has forgiven you of your sins. Here's a token of that forgiveness to put him at ease. Now, the only thing the Lord hadn't said to Isaiah, hey, I'm with you. And he just saw him in his glory, assumed he was going to die, understood immediately the fullness of his evil and sin. Oh, he was a godly man, but he was the son of Adam like everybody else. And he knew the sinfulness and wickedness of the nation. And the angel had to say, look, You're right. In the presence of God, all is true. But the Lord forgives you of your sins. And what is Isaiah's reaction? Verse 8, And also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us to bring this message of God to the children of Israel who are also sinners? And Isaiah then said, I, then said, Isaiah, here am I, send me. Wait a minute, we've got motivation, desire, and drive and zeal that is the direct and singular byproduct of coming in contact with the sovereign presence of God. That's what made Isaiah who he was. That's what made John Calvin who he was and Martin Luther. And any God-fearing Christian, I suppose it's a matter of degree. Now here's my point for you and I in 2020, in this new covenant age. They came in contact with a representative of God and thought they would die because they're in his presence. Here's the thing. God dwells in us. And we take it for granted. There's different reasons why we do. But God dwells in us, brethren. When we have been given God's Spirit, the very manifestation of His holiness is witness to us from within. We don't need to look and see a temple and a train. That witness is born to in us. We don't need a vision of it. It's born from within. We should experience the presence of his sovereign majesty and power by virtue of regeneration. And if a person's life is not affected by these things, And I would question whether or not the Spirit of God has actually ever made manifest his presence to that person. Don't misunderstand, a Christian can get busy with the affairs of life and he can ignore the presence and grow numb and not receive the benefits of living in that presence. But if he's genuinely a Christian he's experienced it, I'll tell you what, in conversion it very much seems that way. And conversion can be different for different people depending on their background, it's not always a drop to your knees and fall into tears situation, for some people it is. But there's a still small voice that speaks and the Lord's saying, I'm calling you. You can't explain it, well why would he do that? No, that's just me thinking. But you know it's not, but you say, well, you're not hearing a voice. It's like there's an inner witness on calling you. You come to me and you say to yourself, because I remember going through this, that's me saying that to myself. But I was saying that just to go through it. I knew that's not me saying that. I didn't hear any voices or anything like that. Experimental Calvinism is really nothing more than experiencing God's sovereign glory from within. Now that, brethren, when it happens, it's life changing. So question, what does all this have to do with Reformation Day? Everything. Because without it, Reformation Day is just dead history. Doesn't amount to much. It's your Westminster Confession, your 1689 London Baptist Confession, your Heidelberg Confession, whatever confession they use. It's just a lifeless creed. Might be accurate or mostly accurate, but that doesn't matter. It's just a lifeless creed. Maybe a most excellent creed. But that creed will not save you. That creed will not change your life. Christ saves you and Christ changes your life. And brethren, until Christ himself is your Savior and your Lord and Master, which he is when he becomes your Savior, The Westminster Confession, the Apostles' Creed, the 1689 London Baptist Confession, the Five Points of Tulip aren't going to do anything for you, but may be served to condemn you in the day of judgment. So in 2020, Christianity doesn't need so much Martin Luther. They don't need so much John Calvin or the Institutes of the Christian Religion or, you know, Joel Osteen's books, I don't know what the name of his books are. How to be happy and to know that God is your cheerleader. We don't need any, we really don't need that one. We don't need any of those things. What we need is him. What we need is not, like I say, so much John Calvin and Martin Luther. What we need is what they had. Or who they had. The Reformed don't need more doctrinal teaching on God's sovereignty. They know all about that up here. For some of them, they need a heart transformation. They've had a head transformation. That's all nice. They don't need to learn more about the sovereign power of God. They've already learned that when they went to school and memorized those things. They need to experience it. See, if you're in the presence of God, if you actually could, like Jacob, be in his presence, or Gideon, or any of these situations, or Isaiah here, if you're in his presence, all those doctrines, not that they're meaningless, they now become living. It's living in front, it's the presence of God. You no longer think of it as the five points of tulip or Calvinism. All that disappears. Calvin was just very adept at explaining some of these things in the context of God's sovereignty. He was just very good at it, but he didn't invent these things, brethren. So go to Matthew 5. We've got to close here. Matthew 5, tonight we'll see the evidence of what I'm talking about in John Calvin's life to some small degree of time allows. Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, Jesus is speaking and just look at one verse. Verse 6 of Matthew 5, Jesus said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Now notice, blessed are they, they will be happy and blessed of God, who hunger after righteousness and who thirst after righteousness. And the Lord will fill them. Well, that makes it sound as though the true people of God are like, you know, all zealously devoted to Him. Well, yeah. unless you don't really believe in conversion, which many don't, although they claim they do. The question is posed quite wonderfully by Daubigny in his work on the history of the Great Reformation. And let me show you just one little short statement. You've heard this a bunch of times. Here's Martin Luther. The historian here writes, speaking of Luther, he was quite as earnest against the Pope's ecclesiastical authority in Germany as against the temporal power in Italy. And now quoting Luther. Now Luther talks this way in the 1500s. He says, as a first step, it behooves us to expel from all the German states the Pope's legates and the pretended benefits which they sell us at their weight in gold, and talking about indulgences, and which are mere impostures. It's substituting for the gospel. They take our money, and for what? For legalizing ill-gotten gains, for dissolving the sacredness of oaths, for teaching us to break faith, for instructing us in sin and leading us directly to hell. Hear this, O Pope, not most holy, but most sinning. May God, from his throne on high, hurl thy throne ere long to the bottomless pit. Now, you don't talk that way about the Pope in the 1500s. He owns the gallows, you see. He knew that. Now, the historian here asks a question, the next page. He gives another quote by Luther, and Luther says, if my cause is just, it will be its lot to be condemned on earth. In other words, if I'm speaking truth, well, I'm not gonna be liked because of it. They're gonna condemn me in this earth. And espoused only by Christ in heaven, if it's true. Let them come on, then, popes, bishops, priests, monks, and doctors. Let them bring forth all their zeal, and let loose all their rage. Verily, it is their part to persecute the truth, as every age has witnessed," end quote. He's daring them. Come get me. And they did put an edict out, anybody can kill Luther openly. We'll give you a little reward. You won't go to jail. And then the historian asks this question. But where did this monk acquire so clear a perception of public affairs, which the states of the empire themselves often found it difficult to estimate correctly? He had some perception. What could embolden this obscure German to stand up in the midst of his own long-enslaved nation and to strike such mighty blows against the papal authority? What is this mysterious strength which inspires him, he asks? I can answer that question. He's seen God. I don't mean with his eyes. No man can see him and live. But he was revealed to his soul in conversion. What gave Calvin the strength he had? He has seen the Lord and has seen his sovereign majesty and it changed everything. Brethren, I can't do that for a person, God does it. And slowly but surely he begins to speak to the conscience and to know and you know it's him somehow. I remember that myself when I was nine years old. I can listen to some guy say I was saved when I was 65 years old and he had different circumstances but the story is fundamentally the same and we didn't speak the same language and we didn't know each other. How is that? That's how God works and that's what makes these men the way they were. They're not terrorists flying planes into buildings. There are people who say, turn the other cheek and lay down your life for your neighbor and walk honorably and serve God and love your fellow man. I think there's a big difference there. That's the work of God. And it's a sovereign work. And it makes people happy, gives them purpose. And they're the most blessed people in the face of the earth. Let's bow our heads in prayer.