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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Here I Stand: The Reformation Continues

A message to tell to the world that Jesus is coming back for you and for me.

That is truly a message of hope to share with the world.

As we open the Word of God today, I trust and pray the Word of God will speak to you.

On October 31st, while much of our culture will be knocking on doors and focusing on candy, there will be something far more significant to celebrate.

It's a single event that took place over 500 years ago, and it changed the world.

And since the 17th century, the day has been remembered as Reformation Day.

My message today is entitled, Here I Stand, The Reformation Continues.

Father in heaven, we are living in very, very unique times.

And my prayer today is that you would open our eyes to discern the times that we live in and be able to recognize who we are and why we are here.

That we do have a message to tell to the world.

And I pray Lord that we would leave this place not returning back to our homes, back to our communities, the same way that we entered into this place.

May the Holy Spirit have his own way in us.

There was a buzz in the air in the small town of Wittenberg, Germany.

There was a great anticipation among the residents.

You see in the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, every November 1st was known as All Saints Day.

That made October 31st the eve of All Saints Day or All Hallowed Eve.

Today, we know it by a short name, Halloween.

But on this particular day in 1517, a special announcement was made.

Unlike any other year before, this special announcement proclaimed that on November 1st a massive exhibit of newly required relics were going to be on full display at the church in Wittenberg.

The small town prepared to welcome pilgrims from all over who would come to Wittenberg and they would respectfully bow before all the various relics in display.

Another popular attraction was the sales of indulgences.

You see, it was taught that to be released from purgatory, they had to purchase a piece of paper.

This piece of paper stated that they could enter heaven And they would be insured a spot in heaven if they bought the piece of paper.

And so indulgences were quite popular, as you could only imagine.

Just to give you an idea of how big of a deal it was.

A pilgrim who prayed before the Elector Frederick III's famous relic collection in Wittenberg and purchased an indulgence would have 2, 112, 151 years and 205 days less purgatory to suffer.

Who wouldn't want to suffer over 2000000 years less in purgatory?

I want to get to heaven as quickly as I can.

So you can only imagine, it's a big deal.

And there was a sense of excitement throughout the town.

So when the news came that this was coming to our town, people got ready with great anticipation, except for 1 man, 33 year old monk, short and sturdy, but well respected for he was a professor in the University of Wittenberg.

His mind was troubled by the news, very troubled indeed.

Because after studying the epistles of Paul in the book of Galatians, Ephesians and Romans.

And there was conviction that took place in this man's heart.

And none of this that was exciting the community, none of this seemed right to Luther.

And so the day before the grand sale of indulgences for past, present, and future sins, Luther, sickened by it all, he knew it's time to speak up.

The Holy spirit does not allow me to remain silent.

Because he knew that the next day, November 1st, the church would be packed.

So he chose to go the next day without too much notice.

He quietly made his way up the steps to the castle church door Before he had taken a quill in hand and he dipped it in that ink well and he penned 95 points of debate against the abuse of the sales of indulgences.

And then he walked to the castle church in Wittenberg.

And there he nailed, with the hammer on hand, he nailed his 95 Theses to the church door on October 31st, 1517.

As you can only imagine, at that time very few, if any, suspected that the sound of a hammer striking on that door, nailing that 95 Thesis to that door, would soon be heard around the world and provoke a debate that culminated and was now is called the Protestant Reformation.

So now you know, if you didn't know already, that every year on October 31st, Reformation Day commemorates the Reformation movement started by Martin Luther in the 16th century.

You know, 3 years later, in June of 1520, Pope Leo X, he condemned nearly half of the theses of the 95 theses.

And when Luther received the papal letter condemning half nearly half his thesis, He publicly burned the papal letter and he refused to recant.

He refused and on January 3rd 1521 he was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

Now, he could have been executed at that point, right there and then.

They could have given him a death sentence.

But the German prince, Frederick III, he arranged instead for a hearing at the city of Worms.

The authorities declared him the charges of heresy, and they gave him yet another opportunity to repent.

Before he prepared his final and famous response.

Now keep in mind that he was standing before people who had the authority to put him to death.

And so here this man stands before this papal council and he states these words.

Since your most famous, your most serene majesty and your lordships require of me a simple and clear and direct answer, I will give 1.

I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the council because it is as clear as noonday that they have fallen into error and even into glaring inconsistency with themselves.

He continued, if then I am not convinced by proof from the Holy Scripture or by cogent reasons if I am not satisfied with the very text I have cited and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's Word I neither can nor will retract anything.

For it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience.

And with that declaration, in the very presence of the Emperor Charles V, and various officials of church and state, Martin Luther, as did the disciples of old, He chose to obey God rather than men.

It was a motto that he did not originate, it did not originate from him.

No, this could be traced back to the early church when Peter and the Apostles, they had to stand before authorities as well.

And in Acts chapter 5 verse 29 is where it says that the disciples spoke with boldness And they said, no, we must obey God rather than men.

It would cost his life, but he would not be standing alone.

Christian denominations such as Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists have founders who stood before papal councils and they declared, they said, if unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, if that's the way to secure unity, Then let there be difference, even war.

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Here I Stand: The Reformation Continues

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