Sermon Tone Analysis

Pre-Intro

*(SLIDE- TITLE) Well good morning how are we today?

Good.. Good

For those of you that are for the first time, let me say welcome once again, my name is Daniel and I am one of the associate pastors on staff… and it is a privelage for me to be able to share with you this morning.

Let’s jump right into it, shall we.

I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 7

I hear some pages rustling and that is a good thing… I know some of you are opening up an app in your phone a Bible app to get there and that’s all good today… But

Can I just encourage you in something?

and please hear me this is not a rebuke but an encouragement… how many know there is a difference.

Can I encourage you when you come to church on a Sunday morning to carry a Bible with you, like and actual physical Bible.

I have the you version app here in my phone and I use it for reading plans… I know I can mark and highlight and share things.

But I also believe each of us should own a Bible.

If you don’t have one you can pick one up in the bookstore today… we have many different options there… If you honestly can’t afford one we have one that we can give to you.

But I think it is good that we hold the word of God and we learn to navigate our way around it… that we mark it up with notes and thoughts and underline passages.

*(SLIDE) “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” -Spurgeon

“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” -Spurgeon

Want to encourage you to get a Bible and get into it.

Amen?

So again that is an encouragement not a rebuke.

*(SLIDE) This Thursday, October 5th is bring your Bible to school day… So young people… I want to encourage you….

I know it’s on your phone… But if your reading the Bible on your phone at school nobody knows if you are snap chatting or tweeting, or if you are on your insta… But when you open a Bible in school or you set it on your desk people are gonna take notice… who knows what conversation might begin from you carrying the word of God in your school… and adults… in your workplace.

I think it great that we have these days such as bring you Bible to school Day, and See You at the Pole Day of prayer and Back to church Sunday.

I understand the purpose of all of these things, but I have to be honest with you, I have to be transparent that I am really somewhat discouraged at the state of the church today that we have to have specific days for all these things.

I just can’t help but wonder what would happen if we began to carry our Bibles into our schools and workplaces on a regular basis, if you set it on your desk and read it at lunch… if we prayed more than once a year at our flagpoles and in our places of employment, if we got back to church… I don't know… every Sunday??

Maybe I’m a bit radical but I don’t think we are gonna see change in our culture and in our region if these things are only annual events in the life of believers and not a lifestyle.

So that’s another encouragement.. not a rebuke… well maybe a bit of a rebuke… If the Holy Spirit is convicting you with those things… go with it.

I just think too many Christians today see Christianity as events rather that a lifestyle rather than it being who they are.

I want our church to be marked as people who are not ashamed of the gospel.

People who take it out of this place to a world that so desperately needs it.

If you’re with me on that say amen?

Intro

Today we are continuing our series which is focusing on the history of the Reformation and the core truths of the reformation.

Today we are continuing our series which is focusing on the history of the Reformation and the core truths of the reformation.

*(SLIDE)Today we are continuing to focus on the idea of Sola Scripture, Scripture Alone.

Today we are focusing on Sola Scripture, Scripture Alone.

The idea holds that the Holy Bible is the sole infallible rule of faith and practice.

It is THE AUTHORITY for Christian faith and practice.What pops into your mind when you hear the word “authority?”

What pops into your mind when you hear the word “authority?”

This truth holds that the Holy Bible is the sole infallible, meaning it doesn’t err, rule of faith and practice.

It is THE AUTHORITY for Christian faith and practice.

What pops into your mind when you hear the word “authority?” 

Authority is one of those words that is kind of frowned upon in our western culture today.

We live in a culture that emphasizes personal freedom, the ability to choose our own destiny, the right to do things the way we want to do them; and, the concept of authority really doesn’t fit into that particular outlook on life.

“We are free from the constraints of authority,” we think.

But I don’t think that we can talk about even basic Bible truth without getting into the whole idea of the authority of scripture?

You see, the concept of the authority of God’s word is so clearly articulated in the Bible, and is a principle so clearly taught by Jesus Christ, that we can’t get away from it.

If God is God and we are not God, then God has the right to exercise his authority over us by the words he has given in the Bible.

So the Bible is the supreme and only infallible authority that we as Christians have.

History - Church History

When we think of the reformation we often focus in on one event, when on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses or statements to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany.

But at it’s core the reformation was a conflict over authority.

For Martin Luther, his 95 Theses were really an invitation to debate.

He was challenging the church to debate primarily over the issue of indulgences.

Now what are indulgences?

Well most people in the church at this time believed in purgatory, believed in a place of torment to which people went after death so that they could be purged of their sins before moving on to heaven.

So a man by the name of Johann Tetzel, began selling indulgences, which were really promises from the Pope that gave people time off of purgatory.

It was the fast-pass to heaven if you will.

If a line at Six Flags is purgatory, that’s often what those lines feel like to me.

Then the fast pass to the front of the line would be indulgences.

Tetzel was saying you could buy a way out of purgatory for your loved ones.

He even had a little advertising slogan for these indulgences, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

So Luther is hearing this and being the good scholar and theologian that he was, he saw this and he could not leave it alone!

His theses were a protest against the indulgences and really against the churches preoccupation with wealth.

These statements were not particularly radical, at least not by the standards of Luther’s later thoughts.

He wasn’t questioning at this point the existence of purgatory, but he hit the church right where it hurt the most… in the pocket.

So the church called on a man by the name of Johann Eck to debate Luther over the issues he raised

In April 1518, Luther was invited to Heidelberg, Germany for a debate.

During that first debate Luther didn’t really touch the matter of indulgences.

Luther's main point in that debate was that religion… teaches exactly the opposite of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He really began to confront the teachings of the church that had made indulgences possible in the first place.

According to the custom of that day, one of his students presented Luther's position.

He stated that the law of God, though it is certainly good and true, cannot make people good.

Even if one could fulfill the law, it would have no effect on the goodness of his nature.

All human works are sins, as long as the person performing them is a sinner.

Luther honestly did not think that this was such a novel discovery.

He saw that Jesus in his teaching had frequently said that a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree evil fruit.

People cannot make themselves into good trees by decorating themselves with good fruit.

Only God can make a tree good....

Luther's point was that religion, in making God into a referee who hands out rewards and penalties based on men's works, teaches exactly the opposite of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He saw clearly that the Gospel teaches that good works cannot make a man good, and only those with a new nature can do genuinely good works.

Now John Eck, was formerly Luther's personal friend, was a professor of theology as well.

He was a powerful debater with a great reasoning ability.

Eck, was formerly Luther's personal friend, was a professor of theology as well.

He was a powerful debater with a great reasoning ability.

And as he studied the ninety-five theses, he saw that the principles behind them would justify the teachings of a man by the name of John Huss.

*(SLIDE) Now who was John Huss?

My father mentioned John Hus last week John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher.

He was burned at the stake for what was considered heresy against the doctrines of the Church.

So Eck saw this connection.

He thought if I can connect Luther’s thoughts to one known as a heretic by the church… Then certainly I have him beat.

Well a second debate was arranged to take place in Leipzig, Germany in the summer of 1519.

Andreas Karlstadt, who was a colleague of Luther, a professor at Wittenberg was scheduled to debate with Eck .

So Luther was really attending the debate as a spectator.

So three professors came from Wittenberg, Carlstadt, Luther, and Melanchthon, traveled in two ordinary carts, accompanied by two hundred students from the university who traveled on foot.

They came to the debate with a posse, can you picture this?

They were rolling deep!

The students went along primarily to show their support.

But they also carried with them battle axes in case they needed to defend their professors lives… can you picture that?

Now if you are traveling to a debate with 200 university students all carrying battle axes you know there is a good possibility this could be a heated debate.

Well the debate began and midway into the debate, Luther could not stay a spectator anymore.