Reformation Required

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Well when we when Mike and I were talking about what we might do on Halloween Eve this evening also known as Reformation Sunday We had a few different ideas, and we thought it might be good
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I suggested this one so of course I like it to just go through the 99 theses of 95 or 99 or Eileen or I yeah 95 why do
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I always want to do the 99? I don't know. There's only 95 of them if I you know it's kind of like you should not add or subtract from the 95
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You know it's interesting if you read, and I would encourage you it doesn't take that long to read through all 95 of them and You can tell that Martin Luther was not
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He wanted to reform the Catholic Church This wasn't like a declaration of independence
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This was kind of I mean he did not say the Pope is a fake and a fraud and he said some rather Harsh things, but he said a lot of nice things, and he said a lot of things that sound pretty
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Roman Catholic What I said tonight that you know
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I think I would like it if everybody dressed up as their favorite reformer And I was gonna dress up as mine I Think part of the idea of the
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Reformation is Semper Reformanda Which is to say always reforming we are always in in that sense we are all reformers
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If we just looked at the theology of Martin Luther when the Reformation started or actually when he just nailed those with his
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Complaints his points of disagreements with Rome up on the door of Wittenberg when he mailed it to The guy whose name
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I forget at the moment, but when he did that I Think his over time his theology definitely changed, and I think that's evidence
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I Think that's evidence so Semper Reformanda always reforming the church needs to constantly look at itself compare itself to the
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Bible and change when necessary So tonight is going to be a little bit different It's gonna be in a true or false format, and I would encourage your participation even correct me on 99 95.
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That's fine Just raise your hand so that we can keep a little bit of continuity here
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I find by the way I kind of chuckled a little bit, and you'll see why later on when we chose onward
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Christian soldiers because there were some unfortunate circumstances that came about because of the use of force during this period so Number one true or false
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Martin Luther was the first reformer false
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And I wrote here, and I think this is very clever so listen carefully There were many before him.
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They just didn't live I mean you can go back through history and whenever there was some kind of group that said you know what we think the church
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Has lost its way, and we're gonna hold to the gospel what happened to those people Yeah, they in fact.
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You know I've mentioned. I sent out an email some time ago about a Reformation era game that I wanted to play and you know how the
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Roman Catholic player gets points in this game He's actually playing the Pope the papacy and he gets points by burning
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Protestants, and I thought That really is the truth listen Jan hus Lived more than a hundred years before Luther but listen to this this is from the now
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I went to the original sources the Roman Catholic Encyclopedia here listen to this at an early age talking about Jan hus this man from Either Austria or Czechoslovakia depending on how you want to look at it, but at an early age he went to Prague Where he supported himself by singing and serving in the churches his conduct was exemplary and his devotion to study remarkable in 1393 1393 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the
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University of Prague and 1396 the master's degree he was ordained a priest in 1400 and became rector of the
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University in 1402 About the same time he was appointed preacher in the newly erected
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Bethlehem Bible Chapel. Well. It's just Bethlehem Chapel But listen to this through 45 propositions of the latter
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Or though 45 propositions the latter were prescribed in 1403 by Church Authority Hus translated what he was doing was against the rules he translated a work of Wycliffe's Into the
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Czech language, and he helped to circulate it from the pulpit He weighed in against the morals of the clergy the hierarchy of the church and even the papacy
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Taking an active part in the movement to reform so Jan hus father of the
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Reformation not Listen what happens Pope Innocent the seventh who was followed by Guilty the eighth
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So That's an old joke Pope Innocent the fourth or the seventh directed the archbishop to take measures against the heretical teachings of Wycliffe especially the doctrine of consubstantiation which
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Luther later adopted consubstantiation Who knows what the doctrine of transubstantiation is the
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Roman Catholic doctrine of that Wes? Okay that the wine and the
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Eucharist actually become the body and the blood of Christ therefore when they hold the wafer up You kneel before it because it is as if you are kneeling before Christ But consubstantiation is would later be adopted by Luther And it's this idea that there is some kind of there's a real presence of Christ, but not the literal body and blood of Christ in the in the host and in the wine
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But This was heretical Wycliffe's thoughts were heretical according to Rome and so the our archbishop agrees and etc etc
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Skipping ahead here a little bit in the story when When he received when hus received a document bearing the seal of the
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University of Oxford eulogizing Wycliffe Hus read it from the pulpit in Triumph and eventually it was ordered that all writings.
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This was the Roman Catholic Church all writings of Wycliffe should be handed over for correction hus obey the orders
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Declaring that he condemned whatever errors these writings contained. That's a nice way of a political way of saying hey if there are any mistakes
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I condemn those mistakes, but I'm not admitting any so then a war breaks out and hus who's again now the
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Head of the university was called to account by the archbishop for his
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Wycliffe like tendencies and He was actually reported to Rome with the result that Alexander the fifth condemned any preaching
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That used Wycliffe's writings Hus continued to work in favor of Wycliffe's writings, but at the end of August he was summoned to appear in person
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This is August 1409 Summoned to appear in person before the Pope instead he sent a representative and at February 1411 a
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Sentence of excommunication was pronounced on him and published in all the churches of Prague Hus continued to defend
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Wycliffe Even when he was declared a heretic, but here's where we get to the interesting part here
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Eventually Hus is Again, he's for a second time excommunicated and his home is actually quarantined
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He's sealed the police come and surround the place. You know they got the microphone and all right
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Yeah, and come out with your hands up the Pope orders him to be imprisoned and his church is
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Burned to the ground. It's pretty much what they did with everything And Toward the end of 1412
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He leaves Prague takes refuge somewhere else and while he's there. He writes something called of the church
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Then he wrote something called six errors now there you've got a problem. You know when you're saying six errors about the church
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Anyway, and make a long story short. He is tried Condemned and burned at the stake on the 6th of July 1415
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Just under 100 years before the Reformation starts This is how
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Rome dealt with her enemies. I found this online another site between 1540 which is about 20 years or so after the
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Reformation started and 1570 Some 1 million Protestants were publicly put to death in various countries in Europe overall some 50 million were martyred by the
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Roman Catholic Inquisition for heresy between 606 AD and the middle of the 19th century a lot of people
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So was Martin Luther the first reformer no, and there are other groups in history as I said number two
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True or false by the way some of this is gonna be historical and then we're gonna we're also gonna be quoting Martin Luther eventually
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Here I think starting with number three and also looking at the Bible true or false number two The Roman Catholic Church has enjoyed an unbroken succession of Popes in Rome from Peter Ford It's it's false
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I Mean there are a number of ways I could prove this I could give you different Catholic sources Which would list different Popes and leave it for you to figure it out
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But I like this I look this up The Western schism or papal schism.
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This is one of my favorite things in all of history. I think this is this is fun two men simultaneously
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Claimed to be the true Pope And you say well, how could that possibly happen? Well, they were both elected by the
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Cardinals Here's what happens Pope Gregory the 11th died did you ever
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I mean is there like a limit to the number of names they can have You know Spread out a little bit
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Anyway, Gregory the 11th died the Romans rioted to ensure the election of a
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Roman for Pope So the Cardinals fearing the crowds Elected a
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Neapolitan when no viable Roman candidates presented themselves Pope Urban the sixth
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Was elected in 1378 and urban had been in a respected administrator
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But as Pope he proved suspicious Overbearing and prone to violent outbursts of temper.
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I Like this the Cardinals who had elected him soon regretted their decision You know, they all sat around and then they do that puff of smoke thing
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I guess they probably did it back then but now they're like, oops. We made a mistake The majority removed themselves from Rome to the north there where they elected
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Robert of Geneva as a rival Pope on September and 20th of the same year Robert took the name
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Pope Clement the seventh and reestablished a papal court in Avignon The second election threw the church into turmoil
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There had been anti Pope's rival claimants of the papacy before but most of them had been appointed by various rival factions in this case a
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Single group of leaders and the church had created both the Pope and the anti Pope.
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So the infallible Church Infallibly selecting her infallible victor of Christ on earth made a mistake
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So that's false number two number three Sure false penance and repentance are the same thing false
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Don't get too comfortable in this whole false thing. This is Luther from thesis number two
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There is no inward repentance which does not outwardly work divers
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Mortifications of the flesh, what does he mean? What's he saying?
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Guesses, I see that hand. That's right.
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Repentance changes things. Let's turn to 2nd Timothy Chapter 2 and a passage that we know well, however, sometimes fail to employ 2nd
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Timothy chapter 2 beginning in verse 24. This is hard sometimes especially when you're dealing with Roman Catholic apologists because you want to be quarrelsome verse 24 and the
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Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome But kind to everyone able to teach patiently enduring evil
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Correcting his opponents with gentleness God may perhaps that God may perhaps grant them repentance
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Leading to a knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him
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To do his will now what we see there is repentance leads to what a knowledge of the truth, which then does what?
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They come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil. There is a change in Attitude which then exhibits itself in a change in Activity in other words, they're no longer involved and engaged and ensnared by their sinful
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Ways they've been freed from that Penance is an outward action.
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What is penance? How do you do penance in the Roman Catholic system? Wes Okay, it's you're going to on your own
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Make up you're gonna pay the price for your own sin. And what does that entail?
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Lou Okay, it pays the temporal penalty for sin
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What other kind of penalty is there besides temporal penalty? Eternal penalty
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So whatever your temporal punishment is You can make up for that by saying are you know when you see it in the movies?
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They go into the confession booth, you know father. I've sinned. What did you do? I stole a car. I robbed a bank You know, whatever.
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Okay. All right, that's bad better say three Hail Marys and for our fathers and come back and see me next week
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What about that? I Mean we know about Martin Luther that he spent years
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Wrestling with this. In fact, you know the stories often told where he would go into the confession booth and then do what?
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confess and then leave and Come back right away and start confessing again.
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That's a lot of time six hours a day spent confessing Why? Because there was no relief from the burden of sin
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Under the Roman Catholic system when you are yourself You're responsible for relieving the burden of your own sin, and it's just step -by -step
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Okay, I climbed up a step and then I fell back and then I climbed up a step and then I fell back. That's exhausting
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Let's look at Psalm 51 verses 16 and 17 Psalm 51 verses 16 and 17
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For you will not delight in Sacrifice or I would give it
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You will not be pleased with a burnt offering the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a
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Broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise We don't
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We cannot make up for our sins But why would
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God not despise a broken and contrite heart? Because it's the opposite of the outward sign it is an inward action that's taking place.
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It's actual repentance It's a change of mind. It's an agreement with God about sin It's a desire to turn away from God to earth from sin to hate that sin to view sin as God views it
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This whole idea of penance is just completely unbiblical as we'll see number four True or false because of the
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Pope's inherent authority he can forgive sins Yeah Which one of you?
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Somebody told me a joke this morning, but I won't tell it Pretty funny.
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Talk to me after the service It's it's false You know and really the giveaway is the first part because of the
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Pope's inherent authority and we can argue about that later But you know each one of us couldn't can forgive sins committed against us
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But we can't forgive sins against Others listen what Luther wrote. He said the
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Pope cannot remit any guilt Except by declaring that has been remitted by God and by ascending to God's Remission listening and the
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Pope cannot remit any guilt He cannot forgive any sins or any guilt that someone has
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Except by declaring that it has been remitted by God and by ascending to God's remission
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The Pope in other words Luther writes is not in charge Let's look at Luke Luke 5 verses 18 to 24
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Luke 5 verses 18 to 24 Luke writes and behold some men were bringing on a bed a
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Man who was paralyzed and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus and When he saw their faith, he said when
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Jesus saw their faith he said man your sins are forgiven you and The Scribes and the
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Pharisees began to question saying who is this speaking but who speaks blasphemies?
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Who could forgive sins but God alone? The implication is no one
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When Jesus perceived their thoughts he answered them why do you question in your hearts?
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Which is easier which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven you or to say rise and walk
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Which is easier to say it's easier to say your sins are forgiven you because nobody can tell
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Your sins are forgiven you but if I take someone who is lame someone who is
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Crippled and I say rise and walk and that guy doesn't rise and walk then
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I've got a problem But I can say your sins are forgiven you all day long So which is easier your sins are forgiven you will
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Yeah, it's easier to say that But that you may know that the
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Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins in other words because I can do What's easier to say?
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I'm gonna show you what's harder to do He said to the man who was paralyzed. I say to you rise pick up your bed and go home and then what happens
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Picks up his bed and goes home a Man can only forgive the sins of those who trespass against them the
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Pope's authority only goes that far Just like any of us the
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Pope purports to have this authority on the basis of which passage Yes, Matthew 16 18 and 19
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Which says this and I tell you this is the Lord speaking and he says I and I tell you you are
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Peter and on this rock I Will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
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I Will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and they apply this to the idea of sin and the idea of Being able to loose the penalty for sin in purgatory
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Listen what Luther says in thesis number 26 The Pope does well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory
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Not by the power of the keys, which he does not possess but by way of intercession Says, you know, it's a good thing, but he doesn't have the power to let anybody out of purgatory
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But by way of intercession in other words by praying for them. That's a good thing Leon Morris talking about Matthew 16 18 and 19 said this there is no doubting that Peter is assigned a preeminence
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Which we clearly see in the early chapters of Acts, but it is not an absolute preeminence in other words
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He's not the Pope and We must be careful in defining it in any case.
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There is no mention of any successors of Peter Whatever position is assigned to him as personal and not transmissible to those who would succeed him
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Jesus is speaking of the Apostle and not of those who followed after him I mean there are a number of ways
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He could have said that if you wanted to but he didn't say that It's interesting because it's some of Luther's other works.
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He basically said, you know what you can have the Pope you can have Mary You can have all these things. Just give me the gospel. That's my own paraphrase, but it was all about the gospel for him number five true or false
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It is possible to have your sins removed after death false listen a
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Luther and this is a thesis 10 and thesis 11 I just mushed them together
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Ignorance and wicked are the doings of those priests who in the case of the dying reserve canonical penances for purgatory
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In other words some kind of deal to relieve people of their sins in purgatory
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This changing of the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory is quite evidently
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Listen to this one of the tears that were sown while the bishops slept He's referring to the parable of the tears
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Where you know someone comes in during the night and the servants don't notice who it is. He says this
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Much like that parable, you know, somehow they've snuck in during the course of the night and Introduce this doctrine of purgatory
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What scripture comes to mind when you think about the idea of purgatory and whether it's unbiblical any scriptures come to mind
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Absent with the body present with the Lord for those who are going to heaven, right? Ultimately, you know,
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I think it's important to note purgatory is a place for those who are going to They're gonna go to heaven but here's the problem with the whole doctor of purgatory purgatory is kind of a holding place where some of the sins that you had that clung to you that weren't forgiven because Maybe you didn't get the last rites or whatever or you skipped church right before you died or whatever the situation was
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I Guess actually you couldn't go to heaven after that according to Roman Catholic theology But if you had some venial sins some second -class sins and they weren't forgiven for whatever reason before you died
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You go to purgatory to actually pay for those to suffer for them before you go to heaven
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So purgatory is kind of a holding place for those who are actually someday gonna get to heaven But they have to pay for their own sins
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But I was thinking of Hebrews 9 verse 27 It says and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgments.
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There's no New Testament There's really not even a hint of purgatory of that whole idea.
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It just doesn't exist You die and then you appear before God to give an account for your life
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Number six the doctrine of purgatory is consistent with the gospel False Listen to Luther.
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This is theses 27 and 28 They preach man and that's important to understand.
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They preach man not God's Word Who say that so soon as the penny jingles into the money box?
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The soul flies out of purgatory It is certain that when the penny jingles into the money box gain and avarice can be increased
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But the result of the intercession of the church is in the power of God alone
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I mean that was the the whole saying right when into the
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Box or whatever they called it into the coffer, you know a coin When the coin into the coffer rings a soul from purgatory
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Springs hmm But they preach man He said not
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Christ not his word. Listen to this is from who's who in Christian history Johan Tetzel Tetzel is the guy who was running around Doing this and he's chiefly famous for selling of indulgences which provoked
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Luther to write his 95 theses Which marked the beginning of the Reformation?
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He made a name for himself as a preacher of indulgences his first major work of this type
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Was the selling of indulgences for a cardinal and at 1517?
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How about this title Pope Leo the 10th made him? Inquisitor and Commissioner of Indulgences for all of Germany his shameless commercialization of the indulgence provoked
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Luther's attack Martin Luther hated this whole idea of indulgences
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Let's look at Colossians 1 verses 13 and 14 Colossians 1 verses 13 and 14
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And again when we when we think about this, why is this so important? Well, it's important for a couple things
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If these were minor issues, then Luther should have let them go but ultimately these doctrines attack the very heart of the gospel if someone says
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I'm a Christian and And I understand Roman Catholic doctrine and I believe
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Roman Catholic doctrine and I'm a Christian well, there's a conflict there You can't agree with doctrine that Contradicts the
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Bible and then call yourself a Christian Colossians 1 verses 13 and 14
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Talking about God Paul writes this he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us
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To the kingdom of his beloved Son in Whom in other words in Christ we have redemption the forgiveness of sins don't need some kind of Indulgence some kind of papal dismissation don't need to give a gift
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Kissmacher said this we have been transplanted into the kingdom of the Son of God's love in whom we have our redemption that is our deliverance as the result of the payment of a ransom
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Not money ransom, but a substitute ransom a sin bearer
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We were ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ No amount of money can buy you out of purgatory there is no such place as purgatory
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Number seven true or false those who obtain indulgence from the Pope are blessed False Luther writing in the thesis 32 and thesis 33
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I Said thesis more tonight than I've ever said in my life Quoting they will be condemned eternally together with their teachers people who get an indulgence together with their teachers who believe themselves
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Sure their salvation because they have letters of pardon or an indulgence Men must be on their guard against those who say that the
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Pope's pardons are that in estimable gift Inestimable I can say it gift of God by which man is reconciled to him
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That's blasphemy to say that somehow a an indulgence a pardon granted by the
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Pope is That which reconciles us to God is blasphemy
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Luther wrote I'm sorry, not Luther Luther was focused on Romans 1 16 and 17.
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I Said it this morning, you know, maybe that should be our new buzzword for Reformation Sunday. The just shall live by faith
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Romans 1 16 and 17 Paul wrote for I am NOT ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of salvation
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Power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the
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Greek For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith
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Not by faith plus something else but faith Leon Morris Wrote Paul is simply emphasizing the place of faith faith through and through or as Ronald Knox renders it faith first and last
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The centrality of faith is important and must be clearly seen Faith is that attitude in which acknowledging our complete?
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Insufficiency for any of the high ends of life. We rely utterly on the sufficiency of God Not our own merits not some kind of dispensation.
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We purchased from the Pope nothing but faith number eight
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Godly sorrow over sin is a necessary part of the Christian life. See I told you not to get comfortable with false.
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That is true Luther thesis number 39. It is most difficult even for the very keenest theologians at one in the same time to commend to the people the abundance of pardons and the need of true contrition
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In other words Luther says you can't have it both ways. You can't say you know what to get out of purgatory
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You need to get the Pope's Approval you need to get an indulgence you or you can even you can get out more quickly
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If you pay some money or if you pay money on the behalf of on behalf of some relative that he or she can get out earlier
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You can't say that on the one hand and then say there needs to be godly sorrow on the other hand 2nd
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Corinthians 7 10 says this for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret
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Whereas worldly grief produces death. In other words, there's a a sense in a
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Christian of Genuine regret of grief over their sin that is in direct conflict with this idea of you know
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I mean think about it this way if you could somehow Game your way into purgatory and leave some money behind for your relatives to pay your way out of purgatory
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Then you can live however you want number nine
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True or false charity is more important than the buying of indulgences true
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Luther thesis number 45 Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need and passes him by and Gives his money for pardons
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Purchases not the indulgences of the Pope but the indignation of God You want to get
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God mad at you go buy an indulgence instead of helping someone in need echoing James who says in Chapter 2 verses 15 and 16 if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them
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Go in peace be warmed and filled Without giving them the things needed for the body.
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What good is that? So the answer is no good How do you demonstrate your faith in that you don't and this idea of purchasing an indulgence?
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Instead of giving money to the poor is just flat -out wrong number 10 true or false
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Luther was pretty enthusiastic about the building of st. Peter's Basilica False I had to put that question though.
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When do you hear this one? This is thesis number 50. I Don't have a Bible verse to go to this one
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But listen to this Christians are to be taught that if the Pope knew the exactions knows what an exaction is
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It's kind of like extortion It's a harsh demand
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For money sometimes with a threat of force If the
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Pope knew the exactions of the pardon preachers in other words people like Tetzel who were out there pushing these indulgences
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He would rather that st. Peter's Church should go to ashes Than that it should be built up with the skin flesh and bones of his sheep.
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It's pretty harsh but you know
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I would say maybe it doesn't even go far enough because Luther gives the Pope the benefit of the doubt saying he Doesn't know what's going on number 11 true or false church teaching and scripture both have authority
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Thank you for that that's false Talked about this before it is one of the amazing
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Inadequacies of the church of Rome that says you know what? Yes, we have a scripture But in order to interpret it properly, what do you need?
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the magisterium church teaching and Tradition and The truth is they present them as all equal tradition church teaching or the magisterium and scripture, but what happens when tradition
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Scripture are in conflict Tradition wins what happens when tradition or I'm sorry
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Scripture and the magisterium or church teaching are in conflict Magisterium wins, that's how we have all manner of false doctrine out of Rome Listen what
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Luther says? Injury is done the Word of God When in the same sermon an equal or longer time is spent on pardons indulgences than on this word
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I like that one. I like this one even better number 56
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The treasures of the church out of which the Pope grants indulgences are not
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Sufficiently named or known among the people of Christ What does he mean? What does that mean the treasuries of the church out of which the
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Pope grants? Indulgences are not sufficiently named or known among the people of Christ. Why don't we know that much about him?
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They don't exist. There's a little bit of problem. So he gives us a little sarcasm to make his point What is the treasury of merits
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I was reading about it is so Confusing, you know when even reading the
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Roman Catholic Encyclopedias on this because it's impossible to explain.
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Here's the basic idea Jesus and his perfection his excess merit as it were is put into this
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Treasury and Then of course they say every single one of these Encyclopedias said the same thing that guess who the number two contributor to it is you know if if Jesus is like the
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Bill Gates of the Treasury of Merit the next person, you know, Steve Jobs is Mary So every person who somehow exceeds what is necessary to get into heaven contributes to this
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Treasury of Merits problem
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And that's just unbiblical true or false the New Testament does does speak of a treasure of merit
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Should be Treasury of Merit. It's false Listen what
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Luther says in thesis number 62 the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God The Pope can't give anything out of the
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Treasury of Merit because it doesn't exist What he should have been doing and Luther says this over and over again is preaching the gospel
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Listen what Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 4 verses 5 to 7 for what we proclaim is not ourselves
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But Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake for God who said let shine let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ But we have this treasure in jars of clay
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To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us The treasure is the gospel.
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The treasure is the truth about Christ the treasure is that the glory of God came to live in a
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Human form and the person of Jesus Christ live a perfect life Die a substitutionary death and be raised on the third day.
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That's the treasure Number 13 true or false papal pardons can pay for some sins, but not all of them.
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That's false Yeah, it's obviously false. You can get comfortable with that one Luther thesis number of 76
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We say on the contrary that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of venial sins
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So far as its guilt is concerned Nothing not even a traffic ticket it has no value whatsoever number 14 true or false
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The most loving thing the Pope can do is allow people with sufficient resources to pay the way of others out of purgatory
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Why that's pretty loving let him out of purgatory Listen what Luther says thesis number 82
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Why does not the Pope and this is a question? I've asked many times even before I read this the 99 or 95 theses.
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I always wanted to be 99. I Guess it's you know being in New England too long. We have the 99 and it just seems
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Why isn't it the 95 anyway? Why does not God or why does not the
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Pope empty purgatory? for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an
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Infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church
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The former reasons would be most just the latter is most trivially says listen there are souls on the line
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People are suffering in purgatory and the Pope won't let him out Says then what you're gonna give him some money, and you're gonna let him out so you could build a church let them out
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It's really twisted.
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Well. You know I can give you an indulgence, but it's gonna cost you some money Break out your checkbook number 15 true or false
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Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss reformer who left the pastorate to go to war that's true
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And that's why I was laughing when we did the honor of Christian soldiers listen to this
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You know it was a time of great tumult, but it's it's interesting because they Zwingli was formerly involved in a war.
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It's called the first capo or a couple war I'm not really sure, but it did when they when they resolve this war it did not
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Define the right of unhindered preaching in the Catholic States in other words there were some localities where?
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the Catholic Church did not allow Protestant preaching and Zwingli didn't like that he interpreted this peace treaty to mean that preaching should be permitted but there were five states that suppressed any attempts to reform in other words to hear the gospel and the group of cities that Zwingli was part of Considered different means of applying pressure to the five states to force them to relent a couple of them wanted quiet diplomacy
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Zurich another city -state in Switzerland wanted armed conflict Zwingli and another leader unequivocally it advocated an attack on the five states
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I'm gonna preach the gospel to him whether they wanted or not Burn another city took a middle position which eventually prevailed and at 1531
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Zurich reluctantly agreed to impose a food blockade in other words. We'll just starve them until they received the gospel
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It failed to have any effect in October burn decided to withdraw the blockade, but on October 9th 1531 the five states these
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Catholic states declared war on Zurich Zurich's mobilization was slow due to internal squabbling and on October 11th 3 ,500 poorly deployed men encountered a five states force nearly double their size many pastors
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Including Zwingli were among the soldiers The battle lasted less than an hour and Zwingli was among the 500 casualties in the
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Zurich army should have stayed in the pulpit Ulrich He had considered himself listen first and foremost a soldier of Christ Second a defender of his country the
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Confederation third a leader of his city Zurich He died at the age of 47
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Not for Christ nor for the Confederation, but for the city of Zurich Listen to how the moody handbook describes it
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While Calvin ministered to the French -speaking population of Switzerland Ulrich Zwingli Served the
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German -speaking people of Switzerland Zwingli studied at Bern Vienna and Basel Then entered the
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Roman Catholic priesthood from 1506 to 1518 it was during the latter days of this period that while studying
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Erasmus's Greek New Testament who knows who Erasmus is a humanist the leading light of the
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Enlightenment, I mean he was a brilliant man and Luther's Kind of foil his opponent
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But while studying Erasmus's Greek New Testament Zwingli was converted to Christ, you know
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I like that because previously he'd been a Catholic priest He wasn't necessarily Christian, but now he gets converted to Christ and to Reformation views in 1519 while pastor of the great
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Cathedral Church in Zurich Zwingli began to preach expository sermons and to denounce
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Roman Catholic practices In a public debate before the City Council's wingleys views were adopted causing the spread of the
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Reformation Priests married images were banned the mass abolished and church property was confiscated for educational use
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Zwingli interestingly, this is one of the reasons I want to mention him tonight. He adopted the memorial view of the
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Lord's Supper Which is what we believe In other words that it hit that the wafer and the the wine had no
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Efficacy whatsoever that it's just a time to reflect on the work of Christ and This caused
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Luther to break fellowship with him, even though they both agreed on salvation by faith alone And as we read
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Zwingli was killed in 1531 some highlights of the
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Reformation as we conclude here Penance This idea that somehow you could pay for your own sins indulgences that you could literally pay for the sins of others so they can get out of purgatory and Confession were all abolished.
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Of course The Roman Catholic Church then launched the counter -reformation where they inserted into the
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Bible. What what did they put into the Bible? the apocrypha Because it was the only means they had of really kind of establishing the doctrine of purgatory among other things
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You can't really prove it, you know here they hear these, you know pesky little Protestants running around talking about Scripture alone.
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Well, we'll show them because we'll add something into the scripture that proves what we wanted to prove Confession also abolished why because we're not a hierarchy
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I was gonna look into why they wear that anybody know why they wear those funky uniforms. I mean the Cardinals everybody they all have
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I Mean, I I have my theory about why they do it. Does anybody know? Okay, I decided to ask but the
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Reformation ultimately went from questioning indulgences Questioning extra biblical practices of the
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Roman Catholic Church and step -by -step Changed the landscape of Christianity so that today we look at it.
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We say salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone to the glory of God alone and all truth is known by Scripture alone
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Sola scriptura Sola fide sola gratia soli deo gloria solus
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Christus Scripture was to be this is something else that happens scripture was to be taught in the language of the people
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I mean, this was an amazing thing The Roman Catholic Church was so afraid of what people would do when they got the
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Bible that they didn't let people read it Why did they despise?
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Wycliffe Tyndale husks and all these people because they wanted the people to have the
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Word of God in their own language the shame of that I Mean there would be schisms and disagreements.
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You can't have that The just shall live by faith not by penance
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Not by indulgences Not by any works, but by the finished work of Christ alone
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Let's pray father.
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We're thankful this evening for the Reformation for the life of a man like Martin Luther as flawed as he was as sinful as he was by his own accounts or that you would start a massive movement away from a
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False system a system of works a system devoted not to glorifying you but to exalting man and to Raising up the authority of men over other men
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Or that you would accomplish that is amazing
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That you would bring about the circumstances that would finally allow the truth To be held forth without fear to think of the fruits that we enjoy
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Today as a result of what was begun Almost 500 years ago
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Lord. We praise you for The ability we have today
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To read your word to own your word to study your word to hear your gospel preached to not be in fear of some religious authority throwing us in jail
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Burning us at the stake costing us our livelihood
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Selling our property selling our wives and children into slavery Lord how you have blessed us
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For each one here tonight as we think about our own lives and what we deserved That's some kind of temporal punishment maybe a few prayers half -heartedly meant
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But that we deserved your eternal wrath And yet you sent your son to die in the place of us while we were your enemies
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What a great Savior you are father.