And I just have to pause here for just a moment and say this. I really speak to you this morning as a lay person. I'm a layman. At that, I'm a very simple man. You could best describe me as a simple lamb. And I would say I would speak to you now as pastors as a voice of maybe hundreds or thousands who are just like me from the standpoint of being a lay person longing for this kind of pastor. And let me say this to you. Pastor, we are struggling under your cowardly, weak, shallow, pathetic preaching. And we do not need our ears tickled. Show us Christ! Show us this kind of courage! And the question that I have for you men this morning is, are any of you ready to man up like this man. Because as a simple lamb, we struggle Sunday after Sunday. John Rogers did stay, and he was immediately arrested. First, he was under house arrest. He had three examinations or trials that were nothing more than a mockery. to disgrace and deride him. And Rogers knew that the prospect of life melted away with the condemnation, and that it was only a matter of days or hours before he would face a fiery end. Yet he remained unmoved. At his last trial, his last condemnation, these were the words quoted by John Rogers. He said this, Well, my Lord, here I stand before God and you, and all this honorable audience, and take Him to witness that I never wittingly or willingly taught any false doctrine, and therefore I have a good conscience before God and before all good men. I am not afraid, but shall come before a judge that is righteous, before whom I shall be as good a man as you, and I do not doubt but that I shall be found there a true member of the true Catholic Church of Christ and everlastingly saved. And as for your false church, you need not excommunicate me from it. I have not been in it these 20 years. The Lord be praised. These were among the last words of a man who was about to be burned at the stake. And his honesty and determination to stand up for the truth are apparent, and were apparent for all to witness. But Rogers asked humbly for one favor, one favor. And this is hard, this is hard for me. I'll tell you, I read it last night as I reviewed these notes and I wept. Because I am a man and I have a wife that I love and children that I love. And he only had one request, and this was his request. that my poor wife, being a stranger, may come and speak with me so long as I live, for she has ten children that are hers and mine, and I would counsel her what were best for her to do." He just wanted to counsel her. She shall not come to you. You understand that the pain of this as a man, the responsibility we feel towards our wife our kids. Listen, there was no John Hancock life insurance, man. He was going to die, and his German wife, who was a foreigner, and these kids were going to be destitute. And they denied him even the opportunity to speak with her. But he remained firm. He maintained his firmness and his kindness in his last days in prison. He agreed only to have one meal a day. Well, the other meal should be given to those prisoners on the other side who didn't have enough. And on the final night of his life, he laid down and he committed his soul into the hands of his Savior. He slept like a baby. They had to wake him up out of his sleep the morning of February 4, 1555. And they would drag him from his prison home, and Mary was going to make a spectacle to drive fear into the Reformation. You've got to understand, they did not know how the Reformers were going to hold up. Many were fleeing. She was going to make John Rogers a spectacle. So, he leaves his prison home on his way to Smithfield, and they line the streets. Past his his flock Past his wife Adriana of 18 years and 11 kids One whom he would see for the first time Fox writes Of those 11 kids 10 able to stand and the other still on the breast in his mother's arms would meet him on the way and After he was bound to the stake and before they would set the faggots on fire in official form, he was presented a full pardon if he would simply recant. But what do we know about Rogers at this point? Do you think he was about to equivocate? He utterly refused it. Utterly refused it. The fire was lit. and began to consume his legs, and he was seen, listen, washing his hands in the fire as they were burned off. And he had said, that which I have preached I will seal with my blood. Washing his hands, what was that? That was an act of a clear conscience. clear of being a sinless man, perfect? No. But his conscience was clean as he went to the stake, and Rogers was the first martyr who suffered under the reign of Mary. His courage at the stake would provide a glorious example to all who would trod the same fiery path. In conclusion, I just have one question for you, and that is, what about you? This is the question I have for you. What is the legacy of your life in ministry? Can you stand with Rogers and say that you have stood for the truth regardless of the opposition you have faced, and ministered without compromise, even in the midst of dangers or loss? Or, or, is your legacy been that you have gone the way of Cain, adopting the latest self-styled ministry and worship? Or, have you rushed headlong into the era of Balaam for money? Oh, I know what your doctrinal statement says. But what happens when you stand up to preach? Because believe me, as a lay person, I've been in far too many churches that have prostituted the Word of God for popularity, for ego, for filthy lucre. And these are men that are drunk on ego and influence and power. And I hope you haven't drank that same Kool-Aid. Have you, for a large financial reward, sold yourself and your ministry out only to lead God's people into sin? For a moment, I want you to think about your own legacy against the backdrop of William Tyndale and John Rogers. And we don't venerate We don't venerate people and men. We venerate the testimony. And they stand over your shoulder and my shoulder. We have a stewardship, listen believers, that has been passed down to us in blood. And men, lose all rather than lose your integrity. And when all else is gone and your people abandon you for the fancy building and the rock band down the street, still hold fast to a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which will adorn your ministry. And when you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. and do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of the truth. Let's close in prayer. Father, we do confess to You that we live in a time and a place where the shallow and superficial The cowardless preaching of your Word has infected all of us at one level or another. We know very little of this kind of courage or what it means to really count the cost in terms of losing everything. Father, we're pathetic. We think losing a few in our congregation or not having the same things that we see others, that somehow we're suffering some level of loss. But that's surely foolishness in your sight. Help us this morning to be stirred, to be challenged. by taking a walk down the old paths. And at the same time, Father, I pray that this morning and the time that they interact with these Bibles and the history, those who are being faithful, who can stand with Rogers and wash their hands in the fire with a clean conscience, would be greatly encouraged and emboldened this morning. that you would infuse in them more courage, more of a glimpse of heaven, a glimpse of eternity, knowing that we will all come to the place where we will give an account for our ministries. And what others think means nothing, but that this would be a group of men and pastors who would bring to their hurting, struggling flock Christ. They would show them Christ. Again, we thank you for Dr. Lawson, for this pulpit, for this church, for this conference. We pray that you would continue to use it mightily as we look to collectively honor Your precious, ever-living, transcendent Word. And in His name, Amen. David, thank you so much. I'm overwhelmed. In a good way. I think we all need to be stirred at the deepest level. To be heroic for the faith. To be champions for the Word of God. And at times, it takes so little. to discourage us or to cause us to shift course. And when we hear of the accounts of Tyndale and Rogers, it should nail our feet to the floor and pour concrete down our spine. and cause us to stand strong to preach the Word of God. This baton has been passed down to us, and there's blood on this baton. When I used to play football, my coach would tell us, you don't get a game jersey. until you get blood on your practice jersey. You show me some blood on your practice jersey, you'll get a game jersey. Every one of us needs to man up, as our speaker has said, and get some fortitude. And it is only by God's grace, 2 Timothy 2.1, be strong. in the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be no longer tumbleweeds, but oak trees, rooted and grounded in the sovereign grace of our God. You need to get to know William Tyndale. You need to get to know John Rogers. While you're flying with the turkeys, you need to soar with some eagles. I used to pastor another church in this town. You can go up on I-65. Go up one exit, and you'll see the mausoleum I used to pastor. And for me, it was a time I'm going to have to decide which way is this going to be. Is this going to be God's way, or is this going to be man's way? And you just shove all the chips out on the table, and it's all or nothing. And so I chose to walk away from a lot, for us to come really to a warehouse We went from a million-dollar organ to a little electric synthesizer in seven days. And eventually ended up here in a transitional neighborhood, a building that was collapsing. But we have a clear conscience that we have honored the Word of God. I remember when I walked away from that, I never cried once. Until John MacArthur called me. He picked up Tyndale's biography by David Daniel. He just began to read Tyndale to me over the phone. And I just began to cry out of a sense of fellowship with someone who has sanity in the midst of the insanity. You need to read about Tyndale. You need to read about John Rogers. You need to go get a book like Light from Old Paths by J.C. Ryle. and just read chapter by chapter the martyrs who were burned at the stake by Bloody Mary. In Jonathan Edwards' resolutions that he wrote at age 18 and 19, one of the first resolutions, it's a single digit, I think it's like number nine, to think every day of the death of the martyrs. Now that would be a morbid thought to a slap-happy church, but it is gravitas to the soul. Jonathan Edwards knew something, that we need to be men of conviction. And Jonathan Edwards was run out of his church after 22 years of pastoring by a 90 to 10 vote. But he had already dropped anchor and he'd already set the course for his life. He was a man who contemplated the death of the martyrs day after day after day. That I will not equivocate on the truth. Every one of us to different degrees, but every one of us in the depth of our soul, we need to contemplate the death of the martyrs and what it is to pay the price to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Too many of us want to play cream puff football. You need to get a helmet on and play tackle football and be willing to pay the price, to be a follower of Christ, but to be a preacher, a preacher of the Word of God. Compared to Rogers and Tyndale, I've never had a bad day, never had a bad day. Worst days of my life are good days, compared to being strapped to the stake and being torched for the truth. It's good for us to be in the locker room, as it were, and have the coach talk to us about carrying out our ministry faithfully. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad, David, you've come and shared with us your exhortation we take to heart. It has not fallen on deaf ears. That seed has fallen on good soil. I know these men, and they will take it to heart. We need to have a break. I need to go cry. And then Dr. Ferguson will speak to us. I don't even know. Everyone has a program. Tell me, when do we start back up? 1030? That's easy. I'm always behind. We'll be back here to hear the Word of God from another man God has providentially brought from the other side of the globe. He's brought David Parsons from the West Coast. He's brought Sinclair Ferguson from beyond the East Coast, from Scotland. There is much that God has intended to pour into you in this conference. God bless you. You're dismissed.