Is the Reformation Over? | Hebrews 10:10-14

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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All right, it's good to be back with you all. I know we missed last week due to sickness and Some of us are also missing today due to sickness, so We have we do ask for your prayers

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For that and I uh, I was very blessed during my study of church history for the last couple of sermons that I had preached and I hope that every everyone else was edified as well

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It really it really does amaze me how much I continue to learn and and to grow and deepen my faith during sermon prep and the the thing is that I had so many notes that I still wanted to preach on and I didn't really have the time to To cover all of them.

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So I'm grateful today for the opportunity That I'm gonna be able to do that today with you all and share that with you all

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The main theme of today's sermon is in its title and the bulletins as you can see is a question

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Is the Reformation over? Is it over?

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But before we answer this question We need to first identify the presuppositions surrounding this question

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Because what you believe about the Protestant Reformation will determine your answer to this question

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Such as was the Reformation overall good or bad? Was the

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Reformation necessary? Is the work of Reformation still needed or still necessary today?

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Does history tend to rhyme or repeat itself? So now pause for a moment and ask yourself, how would you answer these questions?

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How should we answer them? Those who would answer yes, the

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Reformation is over often do so because they believe that the Reformation was either a lamentable mistake an

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Error that never should have happened because it led to undesirable consequences Which is like what uh, you know our other fellow church historian

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Justo Gonzalez thinks the not -so -good ecumenical church historian that I quoted last time and You know, therefore we

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Protestants need to repent apologize to the Pope and come back to Rome because it was a mistake

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Or if not a mistake Then it was just a temporary event in history that helped to correct certain abuses in the

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Roman Catholic Church state But is no longer needed today because of all the changes that Rome underwent passively and implemented actively including ecumenical outreaches to Protestant churches and and likewise

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Protestant churches making ecumenical outreaches to Rome Such as the

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Evangelicals and Catholics together On the other hand those who would answer no the

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Reformation is not over Often do so because they believe that the

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Reformation and its principles were and still are necessary Because the work of reforming the church must continue to be done

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So Keep this question in mind

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As I seek to answer it throughout the sermon and as we consider certain pivotal events in the history of the church and by way of recap last time

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I preached about the importance necessity and obligation of knowing and understanding church history and Historical theology in the life of doctrine of all

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Christians of all believers we must study church history and historical theology in part because it helps us to understand the

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Bible itself and because God commands us to and In order to answer the question of whether the

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Reformation is over. We obviously need to know what happened then and What it was all about Mm -hmm

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God commands us to use the means he has given the church to build us up in the truth

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Which sanctifies us according to John 17 and and several others passages?

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God's Word Says that we must consider how to stir up one another toward love and good works

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Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some But encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near To obey be submissive to and receive instruction from the elders of the church and The elders themselves must teach and preach the

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Word of God sound doctrine and application of the

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Word That's according to Hebrews and Timothy Because as Paul asserts

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We need to know how one ought to behave in the household of God Which is the church of the

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Living God a pillar and buttress of the truth? first Timothy 3 15

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Because God uses the church a pillar and foundation of the truth both her ordained officers and her members that is all of us and Not just the ones that are alive today, but those who will came before us to support to maintain

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To ground and to preserve the truth in this evil world

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From the Old Testament remnant to her formal establishment in the

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New Testament in the book of Acts So This is critical to understand as a church and as individuals turn with me to 1st

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Thessalonians chapter 2 And 1st

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Thessalonians chapter 2 starting in verse 13 now in 1st

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Thessalonians chapter 2 Verse 13 we read We that is

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Paul Silvanus and Timothy also think God constantly for this

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That when you receive the Word of God which you heard from us you accepted it not as the

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Word of men But as what it really is the Word of God Which is at work in you believers for you brothers became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the

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Jews so here Paul Commends the Thessalonians for imitating other faithful churches of God and we likewise therefore

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Must strive to imitate the faithful churches of God and saints of God in our day

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The ones that model sound doctrine and godliness even in the face of trials suffering persecution and hardship

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This also includes Imitating and learning from the faithful churches and saints of the past Who came before us?

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Whose testimony is is written in the annals of church history?

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by trustworthy Historians like J. H. Merle d 'Albigny Who asserts that the historian ought to embrace in his survey the whole field of human affairs?

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He must of course take into consideration the earthly powers that bear sway in the world ambition despotism liberty

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But he ought to mark also the heavenly powers which religion reveals

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The Living God must not be excluded from the world which he created the world which he governs the world which he predestined to Execute his will upon.

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I had also previously quoted Philip Schaaf on the importance and indispensable necessity of church history for all

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Christians And I'm glad I have the chance to present these quotes that I had to take out of my previous sermons

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But a church history according to Schaaf has in the first place a general interest for every cultivated mind as showing the moral and religious development of our race and the gradual execution of the divine plan of redemption if history in general be as Cicero describes it the witness of time the light of truth the life of memory

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The directoress or teacher of life the herald of antiquity or as Diodorus calls it the handmaiden of Providence the priestess of truth or the pillar of truth to put the

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Christian Terms around it and the mother of wisdom Then the history of the kingdom of heaven is all of these in the highest degree

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This is what the history of the church is all about and This is also how

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Schaaf defines church history, which I didn't get a chance to quote last time he says

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The history of the church is the rise and progress of the kingdom of heaven upon earth

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For the glory of God and the salvation of the world This is the objective conception of church history in The subjective sense church history is the faithful and life -like description of the origin and progress of this heavenly kingdom it aims to reproduce in thought and to embody in language its outward and inward development down to the present time

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It is a continuous Commentary on the Lord's twin parables of the mustard seed and of the leaven

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It shows at once How Christianity spreads over the world and how it penetrates?

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Transforms and sanctifies the individual and all the institutions of social life

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It thus embraces not only the external fortunes of Christendom But more especially her inward experience her religious life her mental and moral activity

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Her conflicts with the ungodly world her sorrows and sufferings her joys and her triumphs over sin and error

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It records the deeds of those heroes of faith Who quote subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stop the mouths of lions

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Quench the violence of fire escape the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong wax valiant and flight and fight turn to Turn to fight the armies of aliens

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And this is an older translation of Hebrews 11 Amen This is an excellent and cogent recap of what

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I preached on before There is just and notice how he also said that That that this is a that church history is a continuous commentary on the

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Lord's twin parables of the mustard seed and of the leaven because in history we see that the the the parables illustrate how

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Christianity has true and false converts Has those who are professing believers who prove to not be believers and true believers who?

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Show themselves to be faithful and it's like the the catechism question that I quoted in the first sermon about Church history the visible church being all of the professing believers those who profess

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Christ doesn't mean that they necessarily are true believers But they profess Christ so There is just one disclaimer with what

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Schaaf said when Schaaf claims that church history focuses more especially on the inward experience of believers as Opposed to the external fortunes of Christendom.

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It sounds sort of pietistic Due to his emphasis on subjective and personal experience

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So I think a better way to explain what church history is is that it focuses on how the doctrinal convictions of believers throughout the ages have become manifested in the world in the external world

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Anybody remember why and I've mentioned this many times before the reason is because doctrine always

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Precedes practice always Doctrine is always more fundamental than practice

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Always it's inescapable That is a very important biblical maxim

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And keep this maxim in mind because it relates directly as to whether the Reformation is over or unnecessary

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Now not surprisingly the Thanksgiving holiday that we just celebrated

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Just so happens to be stuffed pun intended with church history and the

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Reformation I Hope you all had a blessed day of Eucharist with friends and family

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Now I know I when I mentioned this, you know, like Eucharist wouldn't wouldn't the world why would

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I use that word? isn't that what the Romanist Church does the Eucharist and The answer is no

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Absolutely not No way The word Eucharist comes from the

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Greek word. I've got a stale Which is the usual verb for to thank to be thankful or to give thanks in both the

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Septuagint which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament and the Greek New Testament So that's what

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Eucharist actually means what it really means is Thankfulness to be thankful and to give thanks

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God calls us to be a Eucharistic people a Thanksgiving people a grateful people

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The Romanist Church state on the other hand defines their

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Eucharist as Quote the blessed sacrament of the altar in its twofold aspect of sacrament and sacrifice of Mass and in which

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Jesus Christ is truly present under the transubstantiated appearances of bread and wine

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This is a complete perversion of what the word Eucharist actually means in Scripture Okay They mean it as This this the priest offering a sacrifice literal sacrifice of Christ again on the altar of the the

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Mass whereas Eucharist in In the Greek New Testament in the

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Bible means that we give thanks for what God has done for us Total perversion of the meaning of the word

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It is a denial of the plain teaching of Scripture regarding Christ's finished sacrifice in Hebrews chapter 10 so turn with me there so we can

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Settle this matter once for all to use the language of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 10 starting in verse 10 so in Hebrews Chapter 10 in verse 10 we read and by that will

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We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all

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Once for all and Every priest stands daily at his service

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Offering repeatedly the same sacrifices. This is the Old Testament priests the

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Levitical priests Of which can never take away sins but when

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Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down He sat down at the right hand of God Waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet for by a single offering

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He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified all time once for the emphasis here is blatant once for all and You know when

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I protested and evangelized the local Roman Catholic Church's idolatrous veneration of the Apostle Jude The gentleman

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I had spoken to Repeatedly denied that the Romans Church teaches that their sacrifice that their

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Eucharist is a resacrifice and reoffering of Christ's body and blood but Pope Leo the 13th on the other hand published a papal bull in 1896 entitled on the nullity of Anglican orders meaning that they believe that the

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Anglican priesthood is illegitimate Which declares and affirms the

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Eucharistic sacrifice of the true body and blood of Christ on the altar of the mass

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Paragraph 25 of the bull says But the words which until recently were commonly held by Anglicans to constitute the proper form of priestly ordination

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Certainly do not in the least definitely express the sacred order of priesthood

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That is priesthood according to the Roman Church or its grace and power

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Which is chiefly? primarily the power of Consecrating and of offering the true body and blood of the

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Lord That is a direct quote from the Council of Trent in session 23 and That sacrifice which is no mere commemoration of the sacrifice offered on the cross in other words it is a real sacrifice a resacrifice and If that wasn't clear enough according to the

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Catholic Encyclopedia numerous heretics such as Wycliffe and Luther repudiated repudiated the mass as Idolatry while retaining the sacrament of the true body and blood of Christ In truth the

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Eucharist performs at once two functions that of a sacrament and that of a sacrifice though the inseparableness of The two is most clearly seen in the fact that the consecrating sacrificial powers of the priests coincide the real difference between them is shown in That the sacrament is intended privately for the sanctification of the soul

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Whereas the sacrifice serves primarily to glorify God by adoration

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Thanksgiving prayer and expiation of sin

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Expiation as a very important Bible term the removal of our sin and it being placed on Christ Sacrifice on the cross.

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It is the removal of sin and of guilt so they are literally saying that the offering of the sacrificial

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Eucharist on during mass is a sacrifice that expiates sin

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Meaning it's not over. It's never over you have to constantly do it and you have to constantly participate it in it because it's not

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Once for all completed which is a blatant contradiction to what scripture the scriptures we just read in Hebrews 10

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Notice too how the Pope's How the Pope's still continue to quote the

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Council of Trent for their pronouncements The council which condemned the

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Reformation in its entirety Notice how the Roman is still denounced

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Wycliffe and Luther as heretics Even though you know, they have these ecumenical gatherings and they say they're all we know we're fine.

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We're okay with Luther now No, they're not No, they're not They're liars. They're hypocrites.

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They are blatant liars and manipulators in the spirit of diatrophies because they

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Clearly pronounce and continue to pronounce Luther Wycliffe and all those who believe

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Like they do which would include all of us heretics Notice how the

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Roman Eucharist is an enormous blasphemy to use the language of the

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Belgic Confession a Blatant rejection of Christ's sacrificial death and life and death on the cross where he declared it to be finished once for all time so ask yourselves is the

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Reformation over Was it really necessary? Is it necessary today?

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Very important to consider this in light of what is still going on now and speaking of the need for reforming the church

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I Wanted to come with an another quote from William Prescott's Excellent history of the conquest of Mexico because it directly it is directly relevant

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To church history and to the question of whether the Reformation is over This quote is a continuation of the one

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I read last time which is about The reasoning that the Pope gave for claiming and conquering pagan lands

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And he says he I quote The difficulty that meets us in the outset is to find a justification of the right of conquest at all

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But it should be remembered that religious infidelity now, which means anything that went against the papacy at this period until much later was regarded as sin to be punished with fire and faggot in this world and Eternal suffering in the next

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This doctrine Monstrous as it is was the creed of the Romish in other words the of the

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Christian Church and now you know Prescott Side note here Prescott is obviously referring to the

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Roman Catholic Church, which is not the true Christian Church We wouldn't obviously say that the Roman Church is not part of the true

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Christian Church Because they deny the gospel among many other idolatrous heresies the basis including the sacrificial offering of the

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Eucharistic Mass the the basis of the Inquisition and of those other species of religious persecutions which have stained the annals at Some time or other of nearly every nation in Christendom so this doctrine of This justification is based is the basis for all of these perversions and Horrendous acts of atrocity that the

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Catholic Church did and the Inquisition and other similar Acts of terror and Antichrist under this code under this understanding of the

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Roman Church The territory of the heathen wherever found was regarded as a sort of religious waif which in default of a legal proprietor proprietor in other words a

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Catholic proprietor was claimed and taken by Taken possession by the

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Holy See which is the Pope and as such was freely given away by the head of the church

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To any temporal potentate whom he pleased that would assume the burden of conquest thus

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Pope Alexander the sixth generously granted a large portion of the Western Hemisphere to the

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Spaniards and of the eastern portion to the to the Portuguese These lofty pretensions of the successors of the humble fishermen of Galilee far from being nominal were acknowledged and appealed to as conclusive and controversies between nations in other words this doctrine of the

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Magisterium of Rome was used as to finally resolve controversies in these matters of disputes of land and territory as opposed to our final authority, which is sola scriptura scripture alone the rallying cry of the

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Reformation He continues with the right of conquest thus conferred came also the obligation to retrieve the nation sitting in darkness from eternal perdition

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This obligation was acknowledged by the best and the bravest the gownsmen in his closet the missionary and the warrior in the crusade however much it may have been debased by temporal motives and mixed up with worldly consideration of ambition and Avarice or greed it was still active in the mind of the

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Christian conqueror Christian conqueror quote -unquote the concession of the

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Pope then founded on and enforcing the imperative duty of conversion was the assumed basis and in the apprehension of that age a sound one of the duty of the right of conquest

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So this beloved is The historical context that led to the

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Reformation itself We will further see the contrast between the

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Pope's megalomaniacal claims as well as the heavily armed conquistadors, which means conquerors in Spanish as Opposed to the

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Protestant pilgrims who were meagerly equipped to settle the land as opposed to be armed for war

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Stark contrasts with that picture With the approach that they that they took this is one of the countless reasons why

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Protestants historically and unanimously denounced the Popes as the

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Antichrist Antichrist and even codified it in several confessions

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Protestant confessions our Own 1689 London Baptist Confession for example in chapter 26, which is of the church says it says in a paragraph for the

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Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church in whom by the appointment of the

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Father all power for the calling institution order or government of the church is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner

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Neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense Be the head thereof

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But is that Antichrist that man of sin and son of perdition that exalts himself in the church?

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against Christ and All that is called God whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming

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These are strong words. Amen. These are strong words and so many people deny this and squirm at the at the notion of what what

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Hmm is it but the look at the Pope? He's such a nice old man. Look at him. He's so he's so innocent and harmless Baloney nonsense the

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Pope is blasphemy personified Who claims to be the sovereign supreme pontiff of Christ It is blasphemy of the highest order

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This by the way does not refer to just one Pope But to the office itself to the papacy and therefore to all

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Popes Now I have a story to tell back when

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I was in college my medieval literature professor

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Taught us that the Apostles claimed to have a higher authority Because they were the more spiritual

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So the more spiritual ones had a higher authority than the less spiritual ones now

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This of course is false even a cursory reading of Scripture will show you that Jesus himself refuted this notion because he said the one who wants to be first has to serve all the rest

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Right. Amen. It's the upside -down Kingdom and The Apostles were always confused by that.

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So what I want to be first. It's a well now you got to serve everybody Well, it's true that God ordains men with imputed authority to govern the church

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They nevertheless are subject to the same if not higher standards stricter standards

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This is one of the fundamental contrast between the Roman Church's claim of papal infallibility and the biblical

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Apostolic or ministerial authority that Scripture teaches the

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Apostles emphatically subjected everyone including themselves to the same doctrinal standard

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Everyone was subject to the same standard and teachers like James 3 says were subject to an even stricter standard because those who

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Put themselves on a platform to teach and have influence over God's people will receive a stricter judgment a stricter hearing

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So Remember We're Galatians 1 let's turn there now to Galatians 1 to clear some of this up In Galatians chapter 1 we see

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One of the clearest Passages that highlights the primary importance of the gospel of the necessity of having a pure pristine biblical gospel in Galatians chapter 1

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Starting at verse 7 We read There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary

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To the one we preach to you. Let him be anathema accursed condemned to hell excluded from salvation as We have said before so now

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I say again if Anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive.

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Let him be anathema He is so emphatic about this he says this twice in the same sentence

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In the same verse same passage this again

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Is the difference between biblical authority? Which is always subject to checks and balances the church has checks and balances that it has to answer to Everyone in the church has to answer to it including the

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Apostles themselves. They don't have some special higher authority That like the

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Pope has of megalomaniacal tyrannical claims of land and and spiritual authority over everybody else

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Mm -hmm So it is a difference between biblical authority and spiritual abuse of authority

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Between the Pope and true apostolic authority between the

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Apostles and the reviling domineering diatrophies Who was the real first Pope?

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It wasn't Peter Peter wasn't the first Pope if you want to look at who the first Pope was read the letter of 3rd

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John where you see who diatrophies was and the domineering reviling things that he did

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We should therefore ask ourselves again. Is the Reformation really over?

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Do we still have Pope's to deal with? Do we still have abusive domineering men who take over and usurp churches

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Who abuse and twist the truth by reviling and manipulating the flock? Who pervert church discipline and wrongly excommunicate believers from fellowship?

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Who deserve the same judgment they are illegitimately applying to those who do not deserve it?

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Ring any bells Sound familiar most of us came from abusive churches like this

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Like the old past Christian Church This is still happening today

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It's a very common problem sadly But it needs to be judged biblically according to Scripture They had these men have to be judged and exposed so I Want to circle back now to Thanksgiving because something interesting also came up during our family's

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Thanksgiving celebration which highlights the importance of knowing the past and the history of the church

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It is providentially appropriate to preach about the history of Thanksgiving and how it relates to the question of whether the

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Reformation is over in fact Because Thanksgiving is all about church history

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It's a it's fascinating stuff But it has become popular in Academia and in our culture to denounce this day because the pilgrims who came here are accused of Barbarity and of invading the noble savages the natives

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This is symptomatic of a major problem affecting many today

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Including church attending Christians This problem is having a view of history that is shallow simplistic and ignorant

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It is a failure to do what the renowned historian William Prescott whom

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I quoted on earlier Says we must do in order to properly understand

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Learn from and judge history and which scripture also likewise admonishes us to do

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That is to judge the action fairly and make proper sense of it

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We must transport ourselves to the age to when it happened We must do that in order to judge fairly

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And to understand and learn even secular academics understand this

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That just as the pilgrims don't represent all English colonists the Wampanoags Who feasted with them on Thanksgiving don't represent all

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Native Americans? They are not all the same. You cannot just Ignorantly and and Foolishly say well, they all did this they all did that they were all bad

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They were all you know just a bunch of invaders that took advantage of the natives or the natives were all just Innocent harmless noble savages who were peacefully living you know living in their societies until you know the

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The wasps came right the white Anglo -Saxon Protestants came and they destroyed everything That's a very common.

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You know narrative being pushed by post -colonial Relativistic Perspectives in our woke culture, so There were native conflicts and wars not only with the pilgrim settlers, but also amongst themselves amongst the natives themselves for example in 1677

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Reverend William Hubbard Recounts that quote things had been very prosperously and successfully carried on in all the force said colonies and jurisdictions from the year 1620 to the year 1636 at Which time the

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Pequod Indians the most warlike and fierce of all the Indians in that part of the country?

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Who had made all the rest of the Indians to stand in awe? meaning in fear Having committed many barbarous outrages upon their neighboring

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Indians Both the Narragansetts on the east side and the

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Mohicans on the west side of them and Also upon the English and Dutch as they came occasionally to traffic with them and in the year 1634 having barbarously murdered

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Captain Stone and Captain Norton as they were trading with them Okay, so much for the idea of the noble savage right these these natives were not noble savages

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Okay, that doesn't exist Men are depraved apart from Christ. They are evil wicked and depraved

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It is men who deny the scripture which says all men are

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Sinners all men are evil and there is none who does good apart from Christ apart from the gospel apart from the redeeming regenerating power of the spirit all men are evil and depraved

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To varying degrees So we cannot therefore Shallowly paint all the pilgrims into the most uncharitable slanderous picture we can find

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Just as we cannot likewise paint all the natives into the most noble innocent victims to satisfy our woke relativistic culture of victimhood

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This is not reality The Puritans and Other Protestant separatists were in fact dissatisfied with the state of the

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Church of England with the limited extent of the English Reformation and With the reluctance of King James the first of England to enforce and force further reform that is

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Protestant reform and This is King James whom the

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King James Bible takes the name after In other words the pilgrims who essentially founded our country

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Settled here because they believed that the Reformation was not over and still needed to continue

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That's the main reason why they came here it's pretty amazing when you think about it this way

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The founding of our country is based on this conviction The reason then for Thanksgiving is actually to celebrate the very opposite of what is often claimed

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By these these liberals and woke people Because the pilgrims thanked

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God for his providence and the natives for teaching them how to cultivate the land

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And they were able to survive the harsh winters and the harsh weather the pilgrims

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Started the Thanksgiving feast to celebrate God's providence together with the Wampanoag Indians that was the whole point of it was to celebrate and peace and thankfulness to God and to them

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Total white rewriting of history to deny that that fact and That's not also to deny that there weren't other atrocities committed by By certain people not everybody who had this noble intentions that certain

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Pilgrims had there were obviously bad actors the Trail of Tears and a lot of other atrocities committed on the natives

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But you have to think about it in a biblical way as well because there's a lot of There's a lot of natives today who still have a grudge about what happened and Refuse to accept the reality of the situation that they're in and as believers, we're called to forgive

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We have to forgive and move on What's done is done. It's it's done. Was it sin?

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Yes, it may very well have been sinned, but It's done. We can't keep holding grudges to the past and and and And and And and hold a grudge and bitterness against those things

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So Now let's start wrapping up with some practical application recommended resources and approaches to studying church history

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This is where it's going to get kind of fun and a little interactive So well and before I do that You know, there is very controversial with issues like slavery and the natives and how they were just sort of Pushed out of their land and you know all of these things

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Sin happens in the world That's not to excuse everything that the the pilgrims did or the colonists did but at the same time

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We have to remember even even our country has made efforts to Make reparations or Restorations to the

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Native Americans, that's why there's affirmative action and things like that and obviously there's a lot of dispute or controversy debate about that as well, but you know we have to at some point we have to leave it in God's hands because it is for God to judge ultimately right and wrong

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So And of course we don't celebrate that in Thanksgiving we celebrate the

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Thanksgiving part of it so Now back to church history

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Remember not all churches not all church history books and perspectives are equally valid or useful and some are downright deceptive and misleading

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All histories have a bias. The question is whether the bias is good or bad Is It biblically consistent or biblically contrary

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As I said before the best church histories make mature balanced competent interpretations and judgments about people events churches and doctrines from an explicitly

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Protestant bias that is informed by Scripture and Because they define the church according to scripture as opposed to the mushy ecumenical bias that many historians historians like Justo Gonzalez suffer from We want to avoid those guys

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I Also mentioned that the best way to study church history individually and as a church is through a five -fold approach of first of number one overviews of surveys of church history

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Number two is biographies Three is visiting historical sites four is doctrinal treatises and creeds confessions and catechisms written by God's historic servants of the church and Men like Luther and Calvin and men like that theologians and five audio and video resources

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And also brought some copies some of my own personal copies for show -and -tell so Gonna have some fun with this

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But but there's also a public service announcement that I need to make Be sure to practice

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Identifying the biases and perspectives of whatever it is that you read whatever it is always identify

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Look for the bias and perspective that the author is pushing They may try to hide it.

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They may try to suppress it. They may try to claim. They don't have one It's a lie everybody has a bias and a good in order to properly understand the agenda behind the book that you're reading it is important to understand and Identify those biases and perspectives

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That is how you will get the most out of reading church history because everybody's gonna have a bias of Perspective of church history and of the event or person or doctrine or conflict that they're discussing

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So I Recommend So so the the first one which is the church history surveys those are for starters to get your feet wet

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These are shorter books That Give you a big picture of of the history of the church

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I recommend this book Called church history a crash course for the curious by Christopher Catherwood Because it's a very short.

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It's a short, but it's an unabashedly Protestant survey of The history of the church.

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It's the subtitle is a crash course for the curious very good little book because it's it's it's a very

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Protestant perspective and it shows it's very helpful and There is there is also

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The Trinity Foundation Also offers a very solid set of 30 church history tracks by dr.

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Ronald Cook Called a Protestant view of church history. So that's exactly what we're looking for a

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Protestant view of church history. I have I have the first one here. I have the collection because of one of the one of the

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The the board members of the Trinity Foundation sent it to me. I was very grateful for that This is the first track called the early church, so these are also very solid perspectives of of church history that are often very neglected or just not even or contradicted by by modern a lot of the modern ecumenical garbage so There is also a longer

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Single volume, excuse me Single volume Survey, oh boy.

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I hate when I bend the pages when the This one is called church history in plain language by Bruce Shelley It's also available on audio, which is very useful.

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Some of these are not available on audio But the audio books are also very good helpful to read

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So there's this one as well It's also very useful There there's also a very a very good modern

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Multi -volume church history that I would recommend for everyone is the one by Nick Needham which is called 2 ,000 years of Christ's power and sadly,

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I don't have a copy of that, but it's a four volume set I think and And That one is excellent as well.

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It's he's a reformed Baptist and he writes from that perspective and it's very well written very readable and They'll also now

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Once you've kind of looked at those when you're ready for The real solid meat you can check out the older works of church history from Philip Schaaf J .H.

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Murrow Groton Guinness James Wiley and so on those are the ones that I preached about last time.

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Those are excellent I mean you can you can dive into those at any time because they're free online You can pretty much look at them online and take a look at them as well

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There are tons now for biographies. There are tons of Good and engaging biographies that you can read.

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Those are very it's very useful and profitable to read biographies Christian biographies But beware, but this is where you have to be careful you have to be aware of the bias and perspective

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That the author is pushing Not only the one that the author is pushing but also the bias of whoever the author is writing about so you have to be careful with both of those things and identify them properly and discern them and Compare them with scripture, and I've read some excellent, you know

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Biographies like Roland Baten's Roland Baten's Here I Stand which is a biography of Luther.

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This is like the classic Standard biography of Luther that is very good

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Very very good. I still haven't finished it, but it's very very good There's also

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Stephen Nichols biography of R .C. Sproul, which I forgot to bring but that one's also very very well done and There's even good biographies about men that I strongly oppose or disagree with such as Lyle Dorsett's biography of A .W.

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Tozer. It's very useful because it reveals the character and the

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Biases and the perspectives of the person that they're writing about so it kind of really showed a lot of the

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What Tozer was like and some of his major Imbalances that led him to a lot of trouble and problems with his marriage and other things so And of course, there's no shortage of bad ones too, which

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I've also read and You know one one really bad example is like Stephen Lawson's biography of Martin Lloyd -Jones called the

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Passionate Preaching of Martin Lloyd -Jones. That one was really oh gosh, that one was really tough to to sit through because it was basically hero worship and Just celebrating everything about Martin Lloyd -Jones even celebrating his imbalances and his deficiencies and his flaws

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Which was just not very useful not very edifying For those reasons and others

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And There are you know, and there's others that like Ray Rhodes's biography of Susie Spurgeon Which is

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Charles Spurgeon's wife, which is really some of these are just so trivial. They talk about trivial stuff and trivial

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Details of their lives. It's like, you know, this is really not it's not that useful and edifying You know, it's good to know that the

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Spurgeon and his wife were genuine Christians But you know, it's just it's some of it.

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It's just very trite and trivial now But there's also historical trips now, these are awesome for learning church history and homeschooling as well

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Because even visiting like local sites and the local Roman Catholic sites in our in our area like the the mission, you know the

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San Elisario mission and those those historical places are also very Very useful to get a feel for what happened in the past in the history of The professing church and It is and of course one of the most important ones is that To read works written by God's servants in the past Such as Luther's bondage of the will or Calvin's is institutes of the

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Christian religion, you know Luther's Babylonian captivity the church or The the the the address to the nobility of the

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Christian the German nobility all of these Classic works of you know,

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Augustine's confessions. All of these classic works are very important to read And to be get familiar with in addition to the historic creeds confessions and catechisms particularly of the

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Reformed Church Which are Extremely important for our

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Edification and understanding of of the systematic understanding of the scripture

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You can also find most of the older resources for free online or dirt cheap even on audio as well

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But I want to really emphasize to take advantage of audio and video resources as well Because in our day and age it is very helpful to be able to study

58:55

Church history theology scripture just about anything It really makes it easy to study because you can plug something in and to your headphones and just listen to it throughout the day when you're doing other menial tasks and And things like that and I actually started re -listening to James White Church history as a result of this sermon series

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On a sermon audio and it is very engaging and useful just really good good stuff to know and and also a good exercise for For you all to try to doing is to is after you read a book to review it

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Write a review of it That's very helpful to just what do you think of the book?

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What is your overall? Judgment of the book was a good was a bad wire.

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Why not? That's very useful I like to do that on Goodreads and I can also send you my

59:49

Goodreads Profile if you want to see reviews of the books that I've read As I try to do that because it helps me to kind of retain what

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I what I read There are also plenty of lectures sermons videos

01:00:02

Documentaries teachings and free online. It's all free online that we can recommend Including ones from Chapel library as well, and I've got some more of those

01:00:12

These are actually free you can get for free From Chapel library.

01:00:18

This is a glorious institution the church in history By Stanford e Murrow, this is parts one and two and parts three and four

01:00:27

This is about the church Through the early church through the Middle Ages and the

01:00:33

Reformation and the modern age through the modern age And also some of the booklets that I talked about last time

01:00:40

That also we're also useful To get a perspective on church history, you know, why read church history and why should

01:00:48

I be interested in church history? and why read the Puritans today and then there's also

01:00:53

I actually ordered a copy of Philip Schaaf's creeds of Christendom Which is tremendously useful and but they only sent me the this the second one which

01:01:04

I was disappointed about but this This is really useful stuff. It's just amazingly Valuable wealth of information there as well.

01:01:13

And I also Wanted to highlight. I know we've mentioned Tim and I mentioned

01:01:20

Gordon Clark the Trinity Foundation John Robbins a lot because they're one of our favorite ministries and the his

01:01:25

Gordon Clark's book on historia Historiography secular and religious is also an excellent book that I've started to read

01:01:34

It's Historiography is how we view history What is it's a philosophy of history and I use this book to help me develop and a biblical understanding of history when

01:01:45

I was preaching on it, so Remember as well, none of these resources are perfect.

01:01:54

None of them are perfect but They you know, they may all contain statements that we disagree with but they are some of the best that I'm aware of they are

01:02:04

Really you're gonna get the most of your time from from those so now let's let's go ahead and Explicitly answer the question is the

01:02:17

Reformation over This should be obvious the answer should be obvious by now it is an indubitable.

01:02:26

No One of the mottos of the Reformation that I've preached on before actually

01:02:33

Answers this very question That motto is Semper Reformanda always reforming

01:02:41

Which in its fuller sense means the church reformed and always

01:02:46

Reforming according to the Word of God in other words. The Reformation of the church is never really over Not in this life

01:02:58

It doesn't end until Glorification which is after we die. So while we're still in this life

01:03:05

We always need to strive to reform ourselves and conform ourselves to the

01:03:12

Word of God That is why The Reformation is never over it's always necessary and it's always needed and you see the blasphemy of Rome Still alive and well today in many ways more subtle and subversive than it was in the past More dangerous therefore as well so You see the symptoms of many churches

01:03:42

Dire condition and I'm not just talking about the Catholic Church. I'm talking about Protestant churches so -called

01:03:48

Protestant churches as well and the condition of many of these churches is

01:03:55

Is They're they suffer from a lack of Confessionalism a failure to systematize scripture and ignorance of the past Modern evangelicals have a very hard time making proper sense of scripture and struggle to think and act with rational logical and biblical consistency

01:04:17

Consequently many end up sliding down towards a slippery slope back to Rome And though the historic creeds and confessions particularly from the reformed tradition

01:04:29

Clearly concisely and accurately summarize the major doctrines of the Bible many so -called evangelicals and Protestants have forgotten

01:04:37

Their conflict with Rome and their their confessional heritage They disregard it

01:04:45

Which has been overtaken by ecumenism ecumenism Irrationalism biblicism a no creed but Christ mentality

01:04:55

All of these things which are detrimental to the faith Christianity is a system of doctrine that is logically consistent

01:05:04

For God is not the author of confusion but of peace and has given us a spirit of power and of love in a sound mind of truth in a sound mind the remedy

01:05:16

To all of this therefore is to return to the ancient paths To remember our

01:05:22

Christian heritage and our Reformation roots to grasp instance to end systematize the first principles of the oracles of God like Hebrews 5 says

01:05:33

Again, the Reformation is most certainly not over There is still much work left to do in ourselves as a church and the church at large

01:05:47

Gordon Clark Sums up our view with such wisdom that is hard to come by in our day.

01:05:54

This is just really good stuff He says there have been many times in the history of God's people for example in the days of Jeremiah When refreshing grace and widespread revival were not to be expected

01:06:10

The time was one of chastisement and judgment If refreshed if this century is of a similar nature

01:06:18

Individual Christians here and there can find comfort and strength in a study of God's Word But if God has decreed happier days for us, and if we may expect a world -shaking and genuine

01:06:31

Spiritual awakening then it is the author's belief that a zeal for souls

01:06:37

However necessary is not the sufficient condition For this to happen

01:06:44

Have there not been devout saints in every age Numerous enough to carry on a revival

01:06:53

Twelve such persons are a plenty What distinguishes the arid ages meaning the dry barren ages from the period of the

01:07:02

Reformation When nations were moved as they had not since pot As they had not been since Paul preached in Ephesus Corinth and Rome is the latter's fullness of knowledge of God's Word To echo an early

01:07:20

Reformation thought when the plowman and The garage attendant know the

01:07:27

Bible as well as the theologian does and know it better than some contemporary theologians

01:07:32

Then the desired awakening shall have already occurred Amen to that This is what true spiritual awakening and revival actually are

01:07:47

It is not some intense dramatic experience in a revival meeting or a tent meeting that comes and goes and Which night and which mean we might not even witness ourselves or participate in Though they are definitely happening

01:08:04

They are happening in our days good and but good and bad and We come from a church many of us come from churches that that that that encourage this stuff this this wild this dramatic experiential stuff and you know but That's not what true spiritual awakening is about biblically speaking

01:08:29

Take comfort and joy Then brothers and sisters and be encouraged by this the real awakening is the light of truth

01:08:43

The light of truth the knowledge of God and his word the power of discernment

01:08:53

Maturity of thought the renewing of our minds the wisdom of our

01:09:01

Christian heritage That is what?

01:09:08

awakening is truly about because an awakening of sound doctrine

01:09:14

Prepares our minds for action and being sober minded according to 1st

01:09:20

Peter Chapter 1 Results in wise judgment and sound practice

01:09:30

Why? because doctrine and theory always precedes

01:09:36

Practice always it always does Let us conclude then with an amazing word of encouragement and direction from 2nd

01:09:46

Peter chapter 1 This is just an amazing passage. I really

01:09:52

I Was blown away by it when I when I read it recently and just it just blew me away with how amazing

01:09:59

God's providence is I Hope we can really come away with this that We are

01:10:12

We don't have to seek for these wild corporate Ecstatic experiences.

01:10:18

It's all about seeking God in his word and in sound doctrine and sound theology and All of these resources that we've talked about already in church history and historical theology and sound, you know

01:10:33

Doctrinal treatises all of those things that is how we achieve a true spiritual revival and awakening and Have true peace of mind

01:10:42

So in 2nd Peter chapter 1 Starting in verse 2

01:10:48

God's Word says may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our

01:10:56

Lord in the knowledge of God His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness through The knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence

01:11:17

I'm gonna read I'm gonna repeat this again His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness

01:11:27

Through the knowledge of him Who called us to his own glory and excellence

01:11:35

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them

01:11:42

You may become partakers of the divine nature Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire

01:11:50

For this very reason then make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self -control

01:11:59

And self -control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they keep you from stumbling from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind

01:12:25

Having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins Therefore brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election for if you practice these things

01:12:36

These qualities you will never fall For in this way, you will be richly rewarded for you

01:12:43

There will be richly rewarded for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our

01:12:48

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Therefore I intend always to remind you always to remind you of these qualities

01:12:57

Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have

01:13:05

Let us then always Be reminded of these things to know them to embrace them and to be firmly established and grounded in the truth that we have

01:13:18

Through the Word of God our final authority through the history of the church through the historical theology of the past through doctrinal treatises through the confessions through all of these resources that God has given us

01:13:33

In order to empower us through the knowledge of him For all matters of that pertain to life and godliness that is what we must understand

01:13:45

Doctrine is everything it is a foundation that drives everything else

01:13:50

If we make that a priority the rest we follow with The right conviction that is rightly aligned with the truth

01:14:01

With that said now let us close in a word of prayer Our precious

01:14:08

Lord and Heavenly Father. We thank you for the opportunity to Receive your the

01:14:14

Word of Truth Father God. We ask that you would bless your word and he would bless the hearers and that you would

01:14:21

Empower us Lord and help us to grasp your word and to grasp the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence and By which knowledge we have all

01:14:32

All things that you have given us that pertain to life and godliness it is such an amazing thing

01:14:38

Lord that we can take comfort in Simply knowing you knowing your word that that is the ultimate revival the true spiritual awakening and revival that So many people chase after and look for in the wrong places

01:14:55

Father help us to grow in these matters to grow in these things and to apply them faithfully to our lives

01:15:02

Both as individuals and as a church Lord help us to also Likewise as individuals and as a church to continue to pursue these things in our studies and in our corporate studies in our individual studies of church history of historical theology and all of these important matters that help us to grasp your word as a whole and to Systematize it and to understand and reap the benefits from the doctrines that you teach in your word

01:15:30

Father God We thank you Lord, and we ask these things of Jesus Almighty all -powerful name. Amen Thank you for listening to the sermons of thorn crown covenant

01:15:53

Baptist Church Where the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety has applied to all of faith and life we strive to be biblical reformed historic confessional loving discerning

01:16:04

Christians who evangelize Stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith

01:16:09

If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church Sermons and ministries such as Semper Ephraim on the radio and thorn crown network podcast

01:16:19

Please contact us at thorn crown ministries comm and may the mercy peace and love of our triune