Experimental Calvinism in John Calvin, if you can imagine. So let me start off by making this statement. It is necessary that Christians love the Lord their God with all of their hearts and with all of their souls and with all of their might, or as Christ quotes in the New Testament, mind. necessary. Now, in a modern society, which is very shallow in its theological thinking, many Christians would say, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's a good thing, but you say it's necessary? How can you say it's necessary? Oh, that doesn't sound right, Pastor. I mean, if salvation is by God's grace through faith, and that's a fundamental principle of the Reformation, if that's true, then such wholehearted devotion to the Lord is not necessary for salvation. It may be good, and it may be the means through which you will get God's best for your life, but when you say it's necessary, that sounds legalistic. Look, salvation is of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. And I would reply to, well, should we really put it in terms of necessary? Yes, I would put it in terms of necessary. And let me give you three reasons of why I say it's necessary that we love Him with every fiber of our being. I say that for three very important reasons. The first reason is He has commanded us to do that. It's just that simple. He's commanded us to love Him with our hearts, our souls, and our mind, with everything that we have. It is a commandment. It is not a request. It is a commandment. and considering it is God doing the commanding, it is not optional, which means yes, it is necessary. In Matthew chapter 22, if you just for a moment here, this is all introductory, but in Matthew 22, and starting at verse 34, we read, but when the Pharisees had heard that he, Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence. They were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Now you can see it's a trick question. What's the greatest commandment? I shall not kill. I shall not commit adultery. Don't take the name of God's name in vain. Which is the greatest commandment? Now, whatever you pick, any lawyer could argue, well, what about this over here? And then maybe leave you looking a little compromised in this public discussion. He's trying to entrap the Lord. Which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, what a wise answer. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Now, Jesus is actually quoting Deuteronomy 6, 5. That's the Mosaic law. But he said this is the greatest commandment. All the law is summed up in that truth. And of course the second is love your neighbor as yourself. And all the law and the prophets hang on these two broad principles which are given in the law. There's your greatest commandment. Not commandment one, commandment two, commandment three. That one. Which I think probably put them to silence. So yes. It is necessary that we love the Lord our God with all of our hearts because he has commanded us to do so. Secondly, it is necessary that we love the Lord zealously with every fiber of our being, to put it in more modern phraseology, because it is fundamentally necessary to love him that way if our works and our service for him is to be successful, in all honesty, acceptable as well. In 1 Corinthians 13, in the chapter on love, which all Christians are familiar with, 1 Corinthians 13, and Paul says in verse one, though I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not charity, which is this form of love, is love in action. That's why it's translated here in our King James charity. It's a love that does something, see? But if he can speak with a tongue of men and angels and doesn't have this kind of love, he says, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, which on its own is just an irritating noise. which is how sometimes Christians come across. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity or this kind of love he speaks of, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, profiteth me nothing. People say, well, certainly the apostle is speaking of the charity for the ones to whom we minister these things. We are to show love. This is why we minister. Well, this is true. Love for the people to whom we minister. But this concept does not exclude our love for God. We can't do works on his behalf for his glory outside the context of the love we owe him as well. And that's love. Well, our obedience is love in action. That's why we do these things. You can't extract it. from the love of God. It's also necessary that we love the Lord our God with all of our hearts. Necessary, because that kind of love is the necessary byproduct of genuine conversion. I'm not saying it's necessary to be converted, I'm saying it's the necessary fallout from God-given conversion, a regeneration. Not that we practice it evenly, consistently, and perfectly, but it does become our way, and that's God's grace. In 1 John 4, which probably a lot of us don't have to turn there, right? In the old evangelical church, we used to sing it all the time, 1 John 4, 7 and 8. We always used to sing, Beloved, let us love one another. The love is of God. We sing that so many times. But if I sing it, I think about 70s evangelicalism, so I can't do it that way. Things get in the way because of the, you know, the things tied in. So let's read it. 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God. Why is that? For God is love. So when I say it's necessary that we love Him with all of our hearts, Oh, God is love, and if he dwells in us, and that's what's necessary for conversion to be a reality, his indwelling his people, then yeah, he that loveth not knoweth not God, because God is love. So this idea of to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind is necessary for all of these reasons. The indwelling of God's spirit in regeneration does not make a person apathetic and lukewarm. That's our doing. His doing is in conversion. He gives us something and that something we carry with us for our life. It can ebb and flow according to our hardening of hearts or fiddle around with sin. But we've had this experience because he's come and he has indwelled us. We've met him like we were talking about this morning. We are conversant with his presence and this is the necessary fallout. Notice in the passage we read this morning in Isaiah, I think I just forgot to get to it. Well, maybe I did. But he says, what to me is I'm undone. I'm a goner. Why? Because I've been in the presence of God. The Lord didn't say anything negative to him, but notice, then the angel got the coal and put it on his lips and says, look, your sins are forgiven. Don't worry. And then he says, The Lord says, well, who'll go for me? And Isaiah says, here am I, send me. So obedience, zeal, and the desire to serve was the direct outflow singularly of being in the presence of God. God just has a way of making that come out. And the only reason it can come out is because he's entered within. Because we don't have that in us naturally. And that's just the grace of God. When God regenerates a man, there's a heart transplant. We have made new creatures in Christ and old things have passed away and all things have become new and everything changes. This zeal, this experimental Calvinism, this experimental salvation, this This, I didn't just learn it and I know it, I repeat it, I boast of it, I join it, and I just expound, and I give my devotion to it. And J.C. Philpott says, so what? That's nothing. Oh, I've devoted my allegiance to the purity of the gospel. That means nothing. Your allegiance, oh, you're saved by your allegiance, is that right? He says we're talking about a miraculous transformation of the inside of a person. Experimental, you know by experiencing. John Calvin had that and there's so many ways we can paint that picture to show it to you. As a young man, Calvin, when I say young man, I don't mean as a boy, but when he was older and still young, he got in contact with some of Luther's works and he read them. John Calvin was 25 years the junior of Martin Luther. In a sense, you could call him like the second generation Reformation just about. And he had great respect for the German reformer and after Calvin came to Christ not that long after. He was studying theology, doctrine, philosophy, doing all these things, but then after he actually saw the gospel, understood what the Protestant movement was doing and went to the scriptures, saw it, and he came to Christ not that long after. He wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion. I mean, he's in his 20s. And he wrote the institute, I mean it went through revisions and it sort of grew with his knowledge and maturity, but he wrote that. And it's a powerful systematic theology of Protestant thought. And it's quite the work and it doesn't come from, it can't come from a pen of someone who's lethargic in their spiritual walk, I can guarantee you that. I sound like Trump when I say that, I can guarantee you that. Well, after he wrote that, he wrote that anonymously. He did not put his name, because he's a coward? No. No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand John Calvin. No, no, he wasn't going to put his name to that. It wasn't about him. And he didn't naturally like the limelight. Let the people hear the truth. And don't let people and personalities get in the way. And let them judge whether what we have said is true according to Scripture. Well, word was kind of getting out. We think John Galvin wrote that. And that became sure and sure. And Rome was not impressed with what he wrote. So the long and short of it is he became a wanted man. And so he had to flee France. That's where, you know, he was a Frenchman. And so he and his brother and his sister, along with two friends, fled France, Catholic France, and they headed for the free city of Strasbourg. And, you know, there's all some twists and turns in the way. But he was passing through Geneva, and he wasn't going to. He wanted to get to Strasbourg, and his whole point was he was a very scholarly, precise, kind of thinker. He was like, you know, very intense that way. And he wasn't one that was looking to get up and talk before people, that kind of thing. He discovered that people wanted to hear from him. His thoughts were powerful and he thought that he could do best as like a scholar for the Reformation. He could delve deeper into things and organize their thoughts and put them properly and create like a real systematic theology that would be a help to the Reformation. And he thought he needs to get in some isolated place where he's not going to be molested, and he could focus on writing a theology that can undergird this movement of God's grace. And he felt these are his strong points, and this is what he ought to do. And so he wanted to get to Strasbourg. But on the way going there, you know, King A, definitely like King B, and their two armies decide to fight. And the battle is right in the way of where he's going. So he had to take a left-hand turn or a right-hand turn. And he had to go to Geneva and go around the fighting. So they were just stopping accidentally, coincidentally, I guess it was sheer luck that he had to go around the battle. And so they were just going to go to Geneva, stop, go in and in, spend one night, and then boom, off to the land of the free in the home of the scholarly. And he could spend his days there writing to support the Reformation. But William Farrell was there in Geneva and they had just founded a brand new Protestant church there in that land and it was not organized and he was a little bit unsure. He wasn't sure how to like put this all together. But then someone ran up to him and said, the guy that wrote The Institutes of the Christian Religion is downtown. He's in Geneva. What? He's in Geneva right now. And so William Farrell says, and so he hightailed it over to that inn. There's John Calvin in the inn. And he's there to plea with John Calvin. Look, we've just founded a brand new Protestant church. You're the author of the Institutes We need you to help us set this up and organize it. This is a movement, and we need help. You're just the kind of guy." And Calvin was like, oh, no, you know, you got the wrong guy. I mean, that's not my calling. You need a leader. You need a pastor. I'm not a pastor. I'm a scholar. I need to write. The Lord's people need a foundation for their thinking to act. And I can do that. I can tell that from the trajectory of all that's happened in his life. We'll hear from him a little bit more directly in that. But I'm not a pastor. That's not me. He said, no, no, you need to do this. We have that need. You have the wherewithal. You have the understanding. We need to do that. And he was very hesitant. So he records this whole situation. See, if John Calvin's commentaries in the Bible, and this is the book, it ends off the book of Joshua. Well, it's Joshua, and then it goes into the first 35 chapters of Psalms. So when you get to the section where he's writing a commentary on the Psalms, there's an author's preface. So in the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, he gives us a little bit of his history, and he gives us this little portion, which I think would be good for us to read. So this is what John Calvin writing in his Introduction to the Psalms, giving a little bit of his own testimony. I'm jumping in the middle of a long thing he's giving. He says, wherever else I have gone, it be nice to read what comes up to this. Wherever else I have gone, I have taken care to conceal that I was the author of that performance. The performance he's talking about is the writing of the Institute of the Christian Religion. He wrote it as anonymous, no name. He's always tried to do that. He says, and I had resolved Now he's writing this after the fact, he's remembering this now. I had resolved to continue in the same privacy and obscurity until at length William Farrell detained me at Geneva. Not so much by counsel and exhortation, though Farrell did appeal with counsel and exhortation, and it wasn't working. He says, not so much by counsel and exhortation did he detain me, as but by dreadful imprecation, which I felt to be, when he said dreadful imprecation, John Farrell pronounced a curse on John Calvin. John Calvin kept saying, no, you got the wrong guy. I'm not a pastor. No, no, no, I got to get off and I got to write and study theology. We need to build this up. No, you know, you got the wrong guy. And he kept appealing to him and it wasn't working. And so John Farrell, I don't have the exact words in front of me, but John Farrell was something along the lines of, that if you're not gonna serve God's people when we have a need right in front of you, when there's a new church that's just blossoming here and God's given you these gifts and you won't do it because you've got your own plan, then God will curse your studies, he says. God will curse your studies, you will not profit because you won't use them in the providence God has given you and you'll be an anathema You know, Calvin was listening to all this. You know, he had a tender conscience. He says, Farrell detained me at Geneva, not so much by counsel and exhortation, but by a dreadful imprecation, which I felt to be as if God had from heaven laid his mighty hand upon me to arrest me. As the most direct road to Strasbourg, to which I then intended to retire, were shut up by wars I had resolved to pass quickly by Geneva without staying longer than a single night in that city. And he says some other things and then he continues on and he says, upon this, Pharaoh, who burned with an extraordinary zeal to advance the gospel, immediately strained every nerve to detain me. And after having learned that my heart was set upon devoting myself to private studies, for which I wish to keep myself free from other pursuits, and finding that he gained nothing by entreaties, he proceeded to utter an imprecation that God would curse my retirement and the tranquility of the studies which I sought if I should withdraw and refuse to give assistance when the necessity was so urgent. And then he just says, by this imprecation, I was so stricken with terror that I desisted from the journey which I had undertaken. You know, his whole life is just changing because this is the Lord's doing. It's like Job says, let me take off Shimei's head. Here he is kicking stones at David. Yeah, David, you're no good. Yeah, you know. Job says, let me cut this guy's head off. David says, let him alone. Maybe the Lord sent him to correct me. Well that's what, it's a humble thing for David to do. And that's what Calvin was doing. I think the Lord sent this man to correct me. And so there's an intense faith. that Calvin had and you can just see the zeal and how he thought and what he was doing. He was zealous even if he was being called out of his comfort zone. It was out of his comfort zone to help establish and arrange this church and to be a leader. He wasn't looking for that. But the Lord called him. It's like when I had to ask your dad. Pastor Grugini says, go ask so-and-so, so-and-so, and Brother Harry if they'll all share about 10, 15 minutes next week, the prayer meeting, and have Harry talk about this. And Harry was not a guy that was inclined to go up and talk that way, right? So he's asking me to, and I knew Harry was not, I'm going to scare the devil out of him. I want him to live through me asking this question, you know? And so I go up to Harry, I keep it straight. I say, Harry, you know, we're talking as elders and Pastor wanted me to ask you, would you be willing to take 10 minutes? I've never seen him do that before. Would you be willing to take 10 minutes and of the sermon next week and do that. And as I said it, I am not joking. You think I'm exaggerating. I saw the color leave his face. It almost went from the top down. If he was pale white, he became pasty white. It just, I saw, you know, it all went to his ears. And I said, so as I'm asking the question, he knew what I was asking. I just saw him. I mean, I literally saw him go pale. And then as soon as I'm done asking, it didn't take long, would you be willing to do that, just take 10 minutes? And he just said yes. That meant a lot to me. Because the yes was in the presence of utter fear of having to do something like that. It's not what he would naturally do. The yes was far more meaningful. than any person that would be inclined to do it. And that's good. We're happy for people inclined, but you know, it didn't matter. You want me to do that? I'll do that. Like, wow. Well, that's what John Calvin was doing, you know. He was having a hairy guy experience, I think, to some degree. You have to understand, in Calvin's view, As we already indicated this morning, personal salvation is not the purpose of our existence, it's not the purpose of the existence of a church either. That's what people think, oh, the church is in the business of saving souls, let's go out there and save souls. People come to Christ, it's extremely important because without that they don't have anything. But we're talking from our perspective. But Calvin was a very, it's in everything. You and I don't exist and churches don't exist To save people, we exist to glorify and magnify God for who he is and his truth. You need to be saved to do that with understanding. So salvation is really important for us to be able to fulfill our obligations. But even without salvation, we're supposed to do that, but we don't, we sin, we dishonor God. That's why we need to be saved. But we've got it all wrong. It isn't about us. God didn't create the universe so that I could be saved. But the universe exists and I'm part of the universe. So that we can see him as he is in all his glory. Let me lay this down here. Yeah, I want to read this. It's like material management. Although sometimes I go up here with a mountain of books, right? You almost see me come with a Samsonite luggage with books in it on Reformation days. I'm actually walking pretty late today. So there was a cardinal, a Roman Catholic cardinal. Sadele was his name. And Cardinal Sadele was trying to woo the reformers back into the fold of the Mother Church. He had no intention of yielding or compromising with the Republicans, with the reformers. He had no intention of, you know, making any concessions. But he was going to play kissy-poo and nicey-nice and try and win them over. And he was doing this with Calvin. So, of course, John Calvin, this wasn't going to work. So Calvin responded to the good cardinal who's trying to extend an olive branch without any compromise to the gospel truth they discovered. And he responds this way, Calvin to the cardinal, he says, your zeal for heavenly life is a zeal which keeps a man entirely devoted to himself and does not even by one expression arouse him to sanctify the name of God. You see, what Calvin was saying is your method of salvation, you do this, you do this, you do this, you pay an indulgence, you kiss a relic, You take a holy pilgrimage. You keep the commandments. Now you've gotta strive, and God's so holy, you really gotta work, and so it's all about what can I do, what can I do? I gotta try how to, and so now the whole focus is on what you can do, and you now become the center, and John Calvin's saying, you don't leave room for one iota of the concept of salvation to bring glory to God. See, for John Calvin, it really was about the glory of God, even salvation. It's not about you and I now having a good ending. I mean, that's a real blessing to us. We're not mocking that. But that's a means to an end, brethren, is how he saw it. And was Calvin right? Oh, yeah, I think he was right. Well, there's another thing here. Calvin says to the Cardinal later on, he says, that the aim of all of life, he says, quote, is to set before man as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God. That's pretty plain. Now, is he right, though? Oh, that all sounds bold and wonderful. Is it biblical? Well, sure. I mean, we'll just do a little two-minute Bible study in that. I mean, that's all that we need, I think. Ephesians 1, right? We're going through Ephesians on Sundays. A little interruption here because of Reformation Day. But Ephesians 1, so we'll be familiar with this. and starting at verse four. Paul writes, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated, that is a destiny that was predetermined. Having God, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. So we are predestinated by God. Our destiny by God was determined. A destiny to do what? To be his adopted children. To be brought into the Commonwealth of Israel. The mystery of the gospel. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. And how does that happen? By Jesus Christ. To himself, we're reconciled to him. Well, why did he do this for us? Why did he make us his children at the great cost of Jesus Christ and his shed blood? Why did he choose us? Well, he tells us, according to the good pleasure of his will. That's why he chose us. You say, well, I don't still understand the reason. Too bad. Pleased God to do it. And why did he, no, so why did he preordain our being becoming the adopted children through the blood of his only begotten son? And this he did because it pleased him to choose us. Well, why is all this happening? It tells us. Verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace. You know, it's all right there. Our salvation is to the praise of the glory of God and his grace. So yeah, I think Calvin's right. I mean, it's just as plain as that. And that's a big thing. Listen, I'm giving you a big example. I'm giving you a big example to show you that what Calvin said is true biblically, that we exist for the glory of God. This is the biggest thing, because that's how we think. The biggest thing is salvation. Well, the biggest thing, salvation, is not the biggest thing. It's meant to achieve the end of the glory of God. Not about you, it's about him. So that's a big thing, right? Salvation. It's even true in really little things. It's all to the glory of God. I'll give you one example of that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul's talking about eating meat, meat to idols, and some people think it's okay, some people think it's wrong. What's a person to do? How are we supposed to think? And he's clarifying that. And on that subject, we pick it up here in verse 30, 1 Corinthians 10. Verse 30, he says, for if I by grace be a partaker of this kind of meat that some people think might be questionable to eat, he says, for if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? It's sanctified by thanksgiving and prayer. So, you know, there's no meat. They can sacrifice it to a dog. I say, well, give me that piece of meat. Thank you, Lord, for providing, enable me to snatch this out of the arms of the idol of a dog to supply the nourishment for your elect. In the name of Jesus, I thank you for your gift. It's sanctified. So there's nothing that goes into the belly, see, that defiles a man. And then he says, so why, Why come after me for this? Don't you understand? And then verse 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. So we are saved and Christ died so that we could be saved for the purpose of the glory of God. Now. What we eat and drink is to the glory of God. So the big things and the little things. And I think it's obvious everything in between therefore. And he even expands it and says, in whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. So we can't question Luther's premise. It's just, you know, you can find it anywhere in scripture. Now, I want to read you something. There was only one correspondence that ever existed between Luther and Calvin. There was a time when Luther was sending an emissary, a messenger, to a group of theologians, and he knew that Calvin was gonna be there. So he told the messenger, greet brother so-and-so's brother, and greet John Calvin for me. But that wasn't a direct communication, just you know, Send my regards to John Calvin who's going to be there too. So, I mean, but that's not really a correspondence. There was only one correspondence between Luther and Calvin that ever existed. It was a letter that John Calvin wrote to Martin Luther. The only communication they ever had directly. And Martin Luther never read it. Not because he didn't want to. He never knew it existed. You say, well, what was going on here? Well, that's what I want to read for you here. And it's just really great. So I gotta give you the setup for the letter here. So let me read a little bit about what was happening. The author here, given this little piece of history, says, a great practical difficulty presented itself to the Protestants in France, where Calvin was, where they were in constant danger of persecution. Of course, at this point, I think Calvin had left. They could not, because these are Protestants, now France was utterly Catholic. Calvin had to flee. But now, after he fled, he wrote the Institutes, word gets around, it's starting to catch on in France, and there's now people sympathetic with the Protestant cause there. But they had a problem. It says, they could not emigrate en masse. Wall of France can't just leave France. They could not emigrate en masse nor live in peace at home. Because it's Roman Catholic. They couldn't emigrate en masse nor live in peace at home without concealing or denying their convictions. You gotta do one or another if you wanna live. A large number were Protestants at heart but outwardly conformed to the Roman church. They excused their conduct by the example of Nicodemus, the Jewish rabbi who came to Jesus by night. See, they said, now see, if we just come out and clean, well, they're gonna hang us. So we've got to, you know, play along. Isn't that what Nicodemus did? He came to Jesus stealthily by night and then went back and mingled with the Pharisees. So we're justified. This is what they were saying. Calvin, therefore, called them Nicodemites. Nicodemites. The faithful people that clap from the bleachers. Hooray for you in the field. They won't go down to the field, you see. Roger Williams knows this kind, you know. The unseparated, we're with you, brother. The Nicodemites charge Calvin with immoderate austerity. Quote, away with this Calvin. He is too impolite. He would reduce us to beggary. You have to flee, no way to support yourself. He would reduce us to beggary and lead us directly to the stake. We listen to him is what they're saying. Let him contend himself with his own lot and leave us in peace or let him come to us and show us how to behave so we can get along with the Roman Catholic leadership here. So that's their view. The French Protestants were under the impression that Luther and Melanchthon had milder in more practicable views on this subject. And thus they requested Calvin to proceed to Saxony for a personal conference. They're saying, well, Luther, I mean, Calvin, you want us to just stand for our faith? We'll die and we can't all take off. You're asking too much. But we think Calvin, I mean, Luther and Melanchthon, they have a little more understanding. You're just too severe. So why don't you go talk to Martin Luther and let us know what he thinks. We'd be interested. You revere him, right? Why don't you get his opinion? Because that's what they thought. about Luther. Well, Calvin didn't go to Wittenberg to talk to Luther. Instead, he wrote to Luther. But what he did is he wrote a letter to Luther, then took it and inserted it in a letter to Melanchthon, and said to Philip Melanchthon, Luther's right-hand man, look, this is a letter I wanted Luther to read. But I want you to use your judgment whether you think you should give it to him. You say, what's he talking about? OK. I'll read to you what Calvin was saying to Melanchthon in his cover letter. And contained in it is the letter that maybe you'll give to Luther. I hope you do. But use your judgment. Now, why is Calvin approaching it this way? Well, listen to Calvin. in his letter to Melanchthon. He writes, with regard to Dr. Martin, there will be somewhat more of difficulty. For so far as I could understand by report, because he's never met the man. He doesn't have the internet. He's never seen him on YouTube. So it's hearsay. He says, so far as I could understand by report, and by letters from different persons, the scarcely pacified temper of the man might, on very slight occasion, break out into a sore. On that account, therefore, the messenger will show you the letter which I have written to him, that on examination of the contents you may proceed as you think advisable. that nothing may be attempted therein either rashly or unadvisedly, which may hereafter produce unpleasant consequences. I am aware that ye will do all that ye can worthily accomplish to the utmost of your power in everything seemly and befitting." So he's leaving it to Melanchthon's judgment because word was out that, well, you know, Luther could be a hothead. There might be something in there. Then you kind of put a riff in the Reformation. So he's saying, look, use your judgment. You know him. Well, Luther never saw that letter and Melanchthon replies back to Calvin and says this, I have not shown your letter to Dr. Martin. This is an April 17th, 1545. I have not shown your letter to Dr. Martin, for he takes many things suspiciously and does not like his answers to questions of the kind you have proposed to him to be carried round and handed from one to another. I have to read into that a little bit, but I would imagine that Luther was thinking, you know, I know a lot of eyes are on me. There's been a great influence in Germany. Now you've got these people in far off lands like France, and there's a Protestant movement beginning there, and they want me to give them advice on what to do, and I'm getting the, you know, the side of John Calvin, and I don't doubt the man, but does he have the whole story? And then people are going to take my answers. It's going to be passed around, taken out of context, and then they're going to use it and say, you know what? He's suspicious because, you know, everybody's out to get him. Everybody's out to get Trump. Well, everybody was out to get Luther. So he's nervous about that. That's what I would judge as what he's driving at. We're told Melanchthon substantially agreed with Calvin. He asserts the duty of the Christian to worship God alone. Matthew 4, 10, Melanchthon put, to flee from idols, 1 John 5, 21, and to profess Christ openly before men, which is kind of at the heart of what Calvin was asking about, to profess Christ openly before men. But he, Melanchthon, took a somewhat milder view as regards to compliance with mere ceremonies and Non-essentials. So it seems as though Melanchthon had a little softer view of separation than John Calvin, like, no, I agree, but, you know, there's some room here. It isn't real essential stuff, so maybe we can let it go. Booser and Peter Martyr, two other Reformation leaders, agreed with this opinion of Melanchthon. By the way, these are the same friends of Luther who were probably saying, whoa, Luther, you're going too fast, slow down. We gotta be practical here. You're absolutely right, but we gotta be careful how we, you see, this is what. So Busser and Peter Motter agreed with this opinion of Melanchthon's. The latter, Peter Motter, refers to the conduct of the early disciples who, while holding worship in private houses, still continued to visit the temple until they were driven out. That's a pretty ingenious argument on their side. So they're saying, see, the believers met in homes, but they kept going to the temple to appease the Jewish masses. So you got to play a little politics and be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And this was the approach. So what did the letter say that Calvin sent? Well, I'll read it for you. Did he have this zeal, you know, did he have this experimental knowledge that did something inside? I think he did. So here's what, here's the letter Martin Luther, in my view, should have been able to read and never was able to. He never knew he didn't answer John Calvin's letter. January 21st, 1545, Calvin writes, to the very excellent pastor of the Christian Church, Dr. M. Luther, my much respected father. When I saw that my French fellow countrymen, as many of them as had been brought out of the darkness of the papacy to soundness of the faith, had altered nothing as to their public profession and that they continued to defile themselves with the sacrilegious worship of the papists, as if they had never tasted the savor of true doctrine, I was altogether unable to restrain myself from reproving so great sloth and negligence in the way that I thought it deserved. You know, what is there not to love? I mean, is this guy zealous or what? I mean, I hope you, you know, when you're reading it to someone, you know, is it, are they grasping at all? I'm just going to read that again because I just think it's amazing. He says, in other words, they're acknowledging Protestant truth, but they've not altered anything in their public profession, so as not to arouse the Roman leaders. So they haven't changed their public profession, secretly, they agree with us though. He says, and that they continue to defile themselves with the sacrilegious worship of the papers. They're doing that, he's saying, as if they had never tasted the savor of doctrine. In other words, he's saying what we're saying this morning. Did they only get it in their head? I mean, didn't they get it in their heart? He says, I was altogether unable to restrain myself from reproving so great sloth and negligence in the way I thought it deserved. You know, in that statement, he sounds just like Roger Williams. You can mix the two up. They talk about the doctrine of separation. Well, Roger Williams would say something almost exactly the same, as you know in our studies of Roger Williams. He continues, he says, how indeed can this faith, which lies buried in the heart within, Do otherwise, then break forth in the confession of faith. In other words, if it's truly in our hearts, how could it not just come bursting out and we make our confessions? That's what Calvin's saying. What kind of religion can that be which lies submerged under seeming idolatry? Then he catches himself, he's preaching. He says, I do not undertake, however, to handle the argument here in my letter, because I have done so at large already in two little tractates that he wrote, wherein if it shall not be troublesome to you to glance over them, you will more clearly perceive both what I think and the reasons which have compelled me to form that opinion. The reading of them, indeed some of our people, while hitherto they were fast asleep in a false security, having been awakened, have begun to consider what they ought to do. But because it is difficult either casting aside all consideration of self, to expose their lives to danger, or having riled the displeasure of mankind to encounter the hatred of the world, or having abandoned their prospects at home by fleeing in their native land to enter upon a life of voluntary exile, because of all this hardship that would flow if they listened to what I'm saying, They are withheld or kept back by these difficulties from coming to a settled determination. They're going to have to appoint a committee and study it. They put forth other or pretexts. They put forth other reasons, however, and those somewhat specious, whereby one may perceive that they only seek to find some sort of pretext or other. So they need to find spiritual reasons why they shouldn't separate and it's okay for them to still practice a little idolatry, but we're with you Protestants. And they need to, they're very slow to come to determinations because they're afraid of the cost of following Christ. Well that may mean we have to take up a cross. And Calvin's saying, but they pretend holy reasons. Oh, how many times have we seen this in the Christian community? Backsliding is always portrayed as spiritual growth and blessing. Well, almost always. People do it because they have to live with themselves. And Calvin's calling them on it. But to Luther. But he wants Luther's opinion. They have therefore requested me, he says, that I would undertake to send a trusty messenger to you who might report your answer to us upon this question. Because they don't like Calvin's answer. And because I thought it was a very great consequence for them to have the benefit of your authority, that they might not fluctuate thus continually, and I myself stood besides in need of it, I was unwilling to refuse what they required, so thus he's asking Luther the question. Now therefore, much respected Father in the Lord, I beseech you by Christ that you will not grudge to take the trouble for their sake and mine. First, that you would peruse the epistle written in their name. They must have sent a letter themselves, that was included. And my little books, which is saying you need to separate. that you would peruse them cursorily and at leisure hours, or that you would request someone to take the trouble of reading and report the substance of them to you. Lastly, that you would write back your opinion in a few words. Indeed, I am unwilling to give you this trouble in the midst of so many weighty and various employments, But such is your sense of justice that you cannot suppose me to have done this unless compelled by the necessity of the case. It's a very prudent letter. I therefore trust that you will pardon me. Would that I, now listen to what he says here. Would that I could fly to you. That I might even for a few hours enjoy the happiness of your society. For I would prefer, and it would be far better, not only upon this question, but also about others to converse personally with yourself. They are far apart from each other. But seeing that it is not granted to us on earth, I hope that shortly it will come to pass in the kingdom of God. He signs off saying, adieu, most renowned sir, most distinguished minister of Christ, and my ever honored father. The Lord himself rule and direct you by his own spirit that you may persevere even unto the end for the common benefit and good of his own church. And he signs it, yours, John Calvin. Now, you can't, I can't, read that letter and not see the experimental knowledge of Christ, not see the zeal, the drive, the commitment, the tossing aside of personal consideration, and the glory of God foremost. And you're just naturally expecting, well, don't all Christians do this? He's expecting them to love the Lord their God with all their hearts and all their souls and all their minds. You know, I'm out of time. I had some other things I'd read. Maybe we can do that. Maybe we'll do that next week. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, all Calvin was asking the French men to do that had embraced the gospel Protestant truths but were hesitating to pay the price of separation in declaring themselves. He was only asking them to do what Moses did. So in verse 24, Hebrews 11, by faith Moses, when he was come to years, because he was raised in the house of Pharaoh of Dora, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh of Dora, that made him a prince. He refused the title. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Surely you can see how that would apply to the brethren in France. That's all John Calvin said. You won't suffer affliction with Brother Martin. You won't suffer affliction with myself. You won't do that. Did Jesus suffer affliction in the presence of the chief priests and the Pharisees and the Sadducees? He won't do it. Moses did it. He didn't bring this passage up. I'm bringing it up. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. That's Moses. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt that Moses could have had. For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured. Now why did he endure? Because he saw he who is invisible. He's experienced the presence of God. So world, get out of the way. And Calvin's assuming that these Frenchmen would be more than happy. You know, they just have to be told it wasn't so. See, Pascucci needs to say, there were no good old days. Well, John Calvin faced a lot of what we think we're uniquely suffering under, lethargy, lukewarmness that hides under the cover of spiritual discernment. Who are they kidding? Each other. So, you know, we talk about experimental salvation. I see it in John Calvin. And I don't think anyone talked about that particular subject more eloquently, fully, and consistently, and non-stop. as J.C. Philpott. He's the one who got us rolling on all this. I sat down just to do some history and make some application on Luther and Calvin, and I just, I have a whim, said, well, let me just read this one little thing of J.C. Philpott when I sat down to do the sermon, and I'm reading, and it just changed the whole trajectory. Just the one thought from Mr. Philpott, say, yep, we don't need more Calvin and Luther, we need what they had. And brethren, I hate to say it, but the Reformed are losing it. The Lutherans are liberals today. There's the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, which was like a conservative holdout, but everything is changing. And amongst many Reformed that try to stay the course and they're not going to go, say, to modern worship or they're resisting in some areas, listen to them talk. Observe the subject matter of their sermons. Who's more excited to preach about election than me? But that's their whole thing. It's Calvin, it's Luther, it's Wingly. See, we're good, we're orthodox. But generally, there's something missing. There's a lot of law amongst the reform. Remember Julian Smythe? Minister turns around, Reformed Baptist Church, comes up, and he had just been speaking in his church. He goes up to Julian, the evangelist who spoke at his church. What are you doing? Well, the church is over. I'm going home. I'm going to my apartment. Well, what are you doing here? Well, I need gas. I'm putting gas in my car. It's the Sabbath. And Julian made it very plain to me. The implication was, keep that up. You won't be in this church anymore. Come and visit and do your evangelistic work. That's why when I asked Julian, the Reformed Baptist guy up in, what was the name of that town in Maine? Limerick, yeah, Limerick. He says, oh, you know, he asked me to preach. I preach, you know, asked me two minutes before the evening service. Yeah, I'll do that. So I preach. And then he's like, oh, you've got to join this group. You're independent. Oh, you've got to come with us. And he'd give me all these applications and these pamphlets. Oh, and then give me a call. Let me know how it's going. And if you need any help, we can help you fill it out. And by the way, you know, you need to join our group. So I emailed Julian that night. Well, not that night. I was camping. But when I got home, I emailed Julian. I said, they want me to join the Reformed Baptists. And they're 1689, so I know they got some issues and stuff, but I'm not going to be a nitpicker. And so what do you think? But I had a little reservation. Because I knew some things. But I don't want to judge a whole group by four or five different exposures. And Julian, I sent that like 10 o'clock at night, hit send, and went to bed. Next day I got up, I was recounting this story. Just this afternoon, with Chuck, and I got up there, I think it was the next day, and I looked, oh, Julian responded, good. He was responding like one or two in the morning. He was really eager to answer me, what is this? And I open it, he said, don't do it. I know why you're saying that. Don't do it." It was quite a long email, and he said, I saw your ad. He was staying in Fall River, and we had some ad, and he saw it in a paper over there. I don't know how he saw it, but it was a really different ad. That's how he came here the first time, remember? Then he'd come in all the time, so he'd get to know us and how we operated. He sat there right where Chuck is. in his British socks and sandals. And he says, you have a freedom they don't have. And you will lose it if you join them. Because as soon as you disagree, there's a thing in place in those churches. You don't realize this. I go, what's in place? They don't have a Presbytery, they're not Presbyterians, but they sort of do have that. There's some sort of organization that if enough people in the church, a certain number, say, you know, we think the pastor's leaving the farm, they contact this group of ministers that are a formal panel, and they send someone to go investigate, and that minister can't stop him from coming, and he can give some lessons and some sermons and straighten out this problem. He says, you will no longer, well, he didn't quite say it this way, but he was saying, you'll no longer be Claiborne. Don't do it. And I thought, you know, I was kind of thinking that, but I was feeling like, well, I don't want to be judgmental. I can't judge a whole group from a few people. But I was worried about it. And he came back with like two guns. And that's his group. Understand, that's him. He attended the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. But brethren, that's not even a proper portrait of where most reformed are. Most reformed, they've gone pretty liberal. I mean, that has all its problems, but it's like everything else in the Christian community. You know what's going to be left? Mega churches. And all the little churches where you find the faithful people of God, they'll all disappear. I don't think it'd take too long. And then you've got the megachurches, the entertainment centers, the pizazz, the organization, the organized program, the people eat it up and they're dying of starvation. That's why you have the Horse and Pony Show. Remember when I came here to Clavel? Pastor Guggini had both guns out. Pastor Cugini joined pretty much any group I could think of. They'd try and shut him down. I thought, I don't want that. You know, when you read the New Testament, there's the church in Ephesus, the church in Galatia, the church in Antioch, the assembly in Jerusalem. You don't really see a structured presbytery, except you did have the apostles. Yeah, but wait a minute. They were apostles. There's no more apostles. So I'm very inclined towards the Baptist view of independence. And God sees each and every one of his assemblies. And you know what? It's worked for us. We've been at peace. We've had freedom. You know, it's like Pastor Cugini says, here, the people go, the preacher stays. And that's remained. We don't want to see one person go. We want to see thousands come. But what we want isn't important. The thing that's important is being faithful with God's word. And I found it to be a blessing. And the blessings just get greater, more numerous, more rapid. There's nothing like a free people in Christ. And that freedom comes from the experimental knowledge of the presence of God in your heart. Let's bow our heads in prayer.