Good morning. Would you please bow with me? Father in heaven, we need to hear from you today through your word. Your word has been read from Jeremiah. Your word has been read from the book of Acts. We have seen how your servants have struggled with being obedient to you and being obedient and then grieving the negative feedback they got, grieving the persecution they received. We have lived in the West for centuries without much negative feedback, and yet we're living in a time when more and more we see that it costs something to be a Christian, it costs something to name the name of Christ to stand up. Oh Lord, would you speak to our hearts as we read from the book of Hebrews and consider what your servants have done in the past. May we gain courage and strength. May you be honored and glorified. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Please, if you have your Bibles, please look at the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Next Sunday is Reformation Sunday. That means that if you're a Protestant who cares about what God's done in the past, that you will be remembering the Reformation heroes. And in chapter 10 of Hebrews, we're going to be looking at one of the things for which they stood fast. Hear the word of God. We're going to read verses 1 through 18. The author says, for the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make those who approach perfect. For there would then, excuse me, for then, they would not have ceased to be offered for the worshipers once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins, But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year where it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. As the author of Hebrews, and we're not quite sure who wrote it, but it's an inspired book in the New Testament, that it appears that the sacrificial system was still going on in ancient Israel. In other words, he's talking about something that he said this wouldn't be going on if it was effectual, but it keeps going and going and going. Then he goes on, he says, therefore, when he, Christ, came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offerings you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me to do your will, O God. Previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burn offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will, we have been sanctified. Notice the tenses, by that will we have been, something in the past, sanctified, set apart, made holy, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. In the English Reformation, approximately 330 men, women, and children were martyred, were killed by the Roman Catholic leaders of England for standing up for something that we don't give much thought to. And we're going to look at that today. It was considered a heresy. It was considered a damnable sin for what the Protestants believed. The Protestants did not believe in the Roman Catholic mass. They believed in what we now call the Lord's Supper. And we're going to look at that more closely. 330 people died and they were not shot. They were, for the most part, burned. A couple were hung, but for the most part, they were burned alive. Meant to be a testimony to others, you don't want to cross the Roman church. But I think more importantly, we want to be reminded that It's possible in any day to have to stand for things that we maybe take for granted as just kind of common or ordinary, but they're not. And we may have to pay with something more serious than somebody curling their lip or laughing at us. During the reign of Bloody Queen Mary, as she was called, 330 people were, for the most part, burned alive at the stake. Having been privileged to visit England one time, I was able to go to Oxford and see the big axe in the middle of the road where several people gave their lives and were martyred at that spot. Let me give you some of the names of the people and their occupations. Only a handful were important, significant people, spiritual leaders. There were spiritual leaders, but most of them were laymen just like yourselves. The most prominent person who was martyred was Lady Jane Grey. Her husband, Edward VI, had been king. He died at the age of 16. They were married as teenagers. She was briefly tried, they tried to make her the Queen of England but Edward VI's sister, married, quickly arrested Lady Jane Grey and had her imprisoned and took over the queenship or the leadership of England. They sent in apologists and theologians to try to talk Lady Jane Grey out of her faith. But she was so knowledgeable of the scriptures and so well versed in what the Bible actually taught that she was able to refute those who were sent to counsel her wrongly. Finally, she was taken out and beheaded. She was 17 years old. Nichols Ridley and Hugh Latimer were two elderly pastors and theologians. Latimer was also something of an evangelist, though he was 80 years old, but he went around preaching the gospel with great power and great effect. They were martyred, they were burned alive, tied to a stake back to back. They piled up the faggots or tinder around the base of and sometimes they would tie sacks of gunpowder around and put them in the people's armpits or around their neck because the phosphorus would light up and flame up and kill them. As the flames consume their bodies, Hugh Latimer was overheard above the roaring fire. He tells his friend who's on the backside of the stake, be of good cheer and play the man, act like a man, Master Ridley. For by God's grace, we shall light a candle in England that shall never be put out. And Protestants in England still cling to that. Thomas Cranmer was a famous theologian. He had been Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the author of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, a reformed document. He was made to watch his two friends and coworkers, Ridley and Latimer, be burned alive. He was imprisoned and tortured and manipulated. And finally, he recanted his faith in Christ and accepted Roman Catholic teaching. But rather than commuting his sentences they had promised, they said, no, we're going to kill you anyway. He was led away to be burned at the stake, too. But he was allowed to speak before his execution. He recanted his recantation. In other words, I take back what I said. I just said it under duress. I didn't really mean it. He recanted his recantation of biblical doctrine. And they yanked him off the platform. As the fire was lit and burned all around him, he stuck his hand into the flame. He said, this unworthy hand betrayed my master first, Into the fire first you must go. And he held his hand in the fire until it was a charged stump. After suffering in the fire for a time, he cried out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And moments later he cried out, I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. John Rogers, and by the way, these men's literary works were things they wrote and preached to sell in print. John Rogers was a theologian and a pastor. When walking to the stake upon which he would be burned, he was made to walk past his wife and 10 children. One of the children had been born while he had been imprisoned. But he wasn't allowed to stop and talk to them, but he only was able to smile at them as he walked by. As he walked, he recited the 51st Psalm to himself. And the French ambassador who watched the whole thing later said, Rogers walked like a man who was eagerly walking to his wedding. In other words, they didn't drag him kicking and screaming and crying. He walked steadfastly and confidently. John Hooper was a pastor, a theologian, and a bishop. He was to be burned with John Rogers, but the last minute they moved the site of his execution to the city of Gloucester in the site of the cathedral where he had ministered as a bishop. A man who had been converted under his ministry, Sir Anthony Kingston, tried to persuade him from dying, telling him that, Sir, life is sweet and death is bitter. Consider what you're doing here. But to this, Hooper nobly replied, eternal life is more sweet and eternal death is more bitter. He was offered a full pardon and it was written on a slip of paper and placed before him if he would recant. He told him to take it away. It is said that few suffered more in the fire than Hooper. Three times the fire went out and they had to relight it. Normally once the fire got going, it was a blazing fire, you would die within maybe 20 minutes to a half an hour. It took him 45 minutes in the flames before he died. He only stopped beating his hand against his chest when it had turned into a charred stump. As he prayed aloud, Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Roland Taylor was a lawyer. Then he became a pastor and a seminary professor. He was made to walk through the streets of the town in front of his own parishioners to the stake. As he walked, he cried out to them, I have preached to you God's word and God's truth, and am come this day to seal it with my blood. He was burned at the stake without moving or crying out, but he did pray, merciful father, for Jesus Christ's sake, receive my soul into your hands. As he was burning, his life was shortened by a guard who hit him in the head with a halberd, which was a, anyway, a weapon and crushed his skull and put him out of his misery. Robert Farrar was a pastor, a theologian, and a bishop. As he was being burned at the stake, he told the onlookers, if I move in the fire just one bit, then do not believe my doctrine. He did not move a bit. He held his hands out until they were burned to stumps. A bystander put him out of his misery by hitting him in the head with an axe. Being burned alive is very gruesome. It's something you probably never even considered. When your hand is being burned, the fingertips come off and your blood boils in your veins and bubbles out the end of your fingers. I'm not trying to be gruesome, but just to give you an idea what a horrific way it is to die. And it's meant to scare everybody who's watching. John Lawrence was a pastor. He was too ill to walk to the stake. He was carried sitting on a chair. They put the chair on top of the bonfire and he was burned alive sitting on that chair. John Bradford was a pastor and evangelist, burned the stake with other martyrs. And as he burned, he preached to the watching crowd to repent before it was too late. And then he turned to encourage his fellow martyr, a layman by the name of John Leaf, a young man. He yelled out to him, be of good comfort, brother. We shall have a merry supper with the Lord Jesus this night. Humphrey Middleton, John Flankish, Nicholas Sheridan, pastors burned together at one stake in one giant bonfire. John Philpott was a pastor theologian and he was burned at the stake until his body was literally reduced to ashes. Now these are 11 different groupings, but they were spiritual leaders. But the vast majority of the people who were killed were laymen. And I'm going to give you some of their names and their occupations. The majority of the 330 martyrs were laymen, not ministers, not seminary professors. George Marsh, farmer, burned at the stake. Rollins White, fisherman, burned at the stake. He was so interested in the word of God that he sent his son to school on a day when most people didn't go to school. His son learned to read and write. His son would come home and read the Bible out loud to him. And he committed so much of the Bible to memory that he became something of an evangelist in his neighborhood, but that got him into trouble with the spiritual authorities and he was burned at the stake. He told those watching, you pray to your God and I will pray to my God and we shall see who answers in heaven with salvation. Thomas Osmond was a fuller. A fuller was an older name for a laundromat, burned at the stake. William Butler, weaver, burned at the stake. Thomas Bradshaw, weaver, burned at the stake. Thomas Osborne, a fuller or a laundryman, burned at the stake. Nicholas Chamberlain, weaver, burned at the stake. Richard Webb, weaver, burned at the stake. Thomas Tompkins, weaver, he was beaten, tortured with fire, then finally burned at the stake. William Hunter was a 19-year-old apprentice tradesman, burned at the stake. Thomas Haybed, wealthy landowner, burned at the stake. Thomas Cowston, landowner and farmer, burned at the stake. William Piggott, Occupation Unknown, burned at the stake. Stephen Knight, Occupation Unknown, burned at the stake. John Cardmaker was a pastor, and John Warney was a upholsterer. They were burned at the stake back to back. John Artillay was a farmer, and John Simpson was a farmer, and they were burned at the stake back to back. John Tooley, poultry farmer, hanged. His body was then cut down and then burned to ashes. Thomas Hawkins, landed gentleman, burned at the stake. While in the flames, he clapped his hand three times in happy anticipation of waking up in heaven. Thomas Watts, a curtain and drapery maker, burned at the stake. Nicholas Hall, bricklayer, burned at the stake. Christopher Wade, occupation unknown, burned at the stake. Margaret Polly, housewife, burned at the stake. Thomas Ivesom, carpenter, burned at the stake. John Denby, landed gentleman, burned at the stake. Patrick Packingham, burned at the stake. William Coker, William Hopper, Henry Lawrence, Richard Collier, Richard Wright, William Stone burned in a large bonfire together back to back to back in three stakes. Elizabeth Warney, upholsterer's widow. I'd listened to her husband earlier as being burned at the stake for his faith, and she was later arrested and also burned at the stake. Joan Warney Lunsford, having watched her father and mother burned at the stake and not recanting, she also refused to recant and was burned at the stake. Robert Smith, artist and scholar, burned at the stake. George Tankersfield, cook, burned at the stake. Anne Potter, Joan Trunchfield, two single women burned at the stake back to back William Alland, day laborer, burned at the stake Richard Koo, an elderly sheep shearer, burned at the stake Thomas Cobb, butcher, burned at the stake George Kattner, Robert Streeter, Anthony Breward, George Broad Bigby, James Tuddy, burned at the stake in one giant bonfire Thomas Haywood, John Garway, burned at the stake. Robert Glover feared that he would dishonor the Lord while being burned alive. Wouldn't you fear of doing something that would dishonor your Lord in the fear of that time? But while praying in the fire with his head down, he suddenly opened his eyes, lifted his head and exclaimed, he has come, he has come, and he died. Cornelius Bungie, hat maker, burned at the stake. William Woolsey, policeman Robert Piggott, house painter George Roper, landed gentleman, burned at the stake along with their Bibles William Wiseman, tailor, burned at the stake Thomas Whittle, pastor Bartlett Green, landed gentleman John Tudson, mechanic John Wendt, mechanic Thomas Brown, Isabel Foster, burned at the stake together on a giant bonfire John Lomas, Anne Albright, Joan Catmer, Agnes Smith, Joan Soule, burned the stake together in a giant bonfire while they loudly sang hymns. John Mondrill, gardener, burned the stake. William Coberly, tailor, burned the stake. John Spicer, brick mason, burned the stake. Hugh Laveruck, A lame man who managed to paint houses when he could find work. He was burned at the stake along with John Pierce, who was a blind man. Laverick yelled at his friend in the fire, by this priest hell brother tonight you shall see and I shall run. One unnamed pregnant woman was burned alive and while being burned alive gave birth to her baby. Her baby was picked up and thrown back into the fire to die with her. The youngest Protestant martyr was eight years old. The oldest was an elderly man in his mid 80s. Now what was the heresy, so called by the Roman church, these martyrs gave their lives for? It was the Bible's teaching on the Lord's Supper. What was the Roman Catholic understanding that the Protestants rejected at the cost of their lives? In the Roman Catholic mass, the priest prays over the Eucharist, the wafer of bread and then the cup of wine. When the priest is through praying, the bread and wine have been magically transformed into the real and actual body and blood of Christ. That wafer or host is elevated or lifted up because in doing so, they believe they were doing homage to Christ. We're holding up Christ. According to official Roman Catholic doctrine, quote, the Mass is not a mere remembrance of Calvary, but the actual re-presentation of Christ's death, the continuation of his sacrifice, and is itself the same sacrifice. In other words, the participants in the Roman Catholic Mass really do eat the body and drink the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every time Mass is celebrated, Christ's body is re-sacrificed, they think. But biblical Protestants believe the Bible clearly teaches truths that do not align with this. They do not, they don't simply, not simply participating in the Roman Catholic mass. They believe it was worse than that. They believed it was a blasphemy and it was a blemish on the honor of Christ to participate. In other words, I could do something that I think, well, it's not very smart and not very wise to do this. But it's more than that, it's an insult to Christ. It's a blasphemy of Christ. We just read some verses from Hebrews 10. Verse 10, what does the Bible say? We have been sanctified, set apart to be holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Well, what does that mean? It's a done deal, it's forever. Verse 12, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God. Why did he sit down? Because his work was finished. Verse 14, for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. By a single offering for all time. Verses 17 and 18, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Biblical Protestants understand that the high priestly office of Christ is denied and virtually destroyed in the mass. The Roman Catholic priest offers sacrifices to God upon a Roman Catholic altar. That very act denies that Jesus Christ is our great and final high priest, uniquely fulfilling his ministry. The author of Hebrews argues in the early verses of this chapter, verses one through 10, that Christ so perfectly fulfilled the role of a sacrificial priest, it doesn't need to be repeated. A priest is one who offers sacrifices to God. Jesus Christ, the perfect high priest, offered himself, the perfect sacrificial lamb, to God as the once and for all and unique payment for all of the sins of all of his people. Any other view than the biblical view that Jesus performed a once and for all, never to be repeated sacrifice robs him of his glory for which he alone is due. If you were out with your wife and someone was saying something insulting to your wife and derogatory to her, a godly man would take a front of this and he would stand up for his wife's honor. How much more do we need to stand up for the honor of Christ when his honor is being denied by teaching that's not just wrong or incorrect? And it's not that these people were OCD or hyper persnickety, but these people were concerned about the glory of Christ. Does it matter? The Lord's Supper was given for believers edification as one of the means of grace, but it's been turned into something of idolatry and blasphemy and really of superstition. Do this in remembrance of me. It's idolatry to pronounce the water and the wine as the literal body and blood of Christ, then to lift it up or raise it for veneration and worship. The bread and the juice stay bread and juice. They are created things. They are not their creator God in the flesh. Again, these people were not OCD, they weren't hyper-Persnickety. They were simply wanting to be faithful Christians to their Savior. If Christ once and for all dealt with my sins, then He alone gets the honor and glory of being my Savior and Lord. Now, I don't know that anybody in this fellowship this morning would disagree with anything I've said, necessarily. But we have to be aware in our own hearts, and certainly in the hearts of the people that we are around all the time, that fallen human beings are always works-based. We always see salvation as some kind of a work or a wage. I think it's best exemplified in John chapter 6, the famous passage when Jesus told the giant crowd, there's huge crowds following him after he fed them. And he said, well, you're only following me because I fed you. that he went on to say some things that were so an affront to them that they all left but the 12. They ask him, what works must we be doing to do the works required of God? What does God want us to do? Just spit it out. Speak clearly. What does God want from us? You are the spokesman for God. What does God want us to be working? And Jesus says, this is the work of God. And you can almost see them lick their lips in anticipation. Okay, we got this. The work of God is this, to believe on the one whom he has sent. You're to look away from yourself, you're to look away from your own works, and you're to look to Christ. Believe on the one he has sent. Apart from grace, human beings cannot and will not accept the free gift of salvation. You know, one of the things that surprises you as you do much evangelism is you offer people this Christ and they're not interested. Why? Because apart from supernatural grace changing their heart, salvation is not something they want, or even if they did want it, they would want it on their own terms and through their own means. To work for something and then to be paid is to receive a wage. But to be given something without working for it means it's a gift, pure and simple. But for every person on the planet, pride stands in the way of salvation. I must be saved or I will be damned, but I don't want to accept their free gift. And what some people do is they fudge. They do it this way. I had a neighbor one time who was of a Roman Catholic persuasion. If you did anything kind for this neighbor, something as small as a newspaper was mistakenly thrown in your driveway rather than theirs. You brought the newspaper over and said that the paperboy threw it in our driveway. No big deal. How hard was it to walk over and hand him the paper? But she would bake a pie that afternoon and give it to you. We're all even. I don't owe you anything. Arthur Pink was a pastor after he left Moody Bible Institute and had come to a reformed understanding. He left Moody and was a pastor in Colorado, California, Kentucky, and Australia. While he was a pastor in Kentucky, he had a carpenter in his church who was taking a job on consignment to build a wooden gate for a farmer. Now, most of us have grown up in the days of gates made out of aluminum or PVC or something, but they used to make them out of wood. And over time, the wood would bow and the gate would drag. And so you needed to have someone build you a new gate. And so on the day appointed, the carpenter drove out and behind his pickup, he had a trailer and he had a gate on it. He hung the gate, it swung perfectly, it was well-crafted, exactly what was needed. And the farmer said, this is perfect. This is just what I needed. Thank you. And the carpenter said, well, it's not quite right, and took out a hatchet that he had on his belt and began doing some things. And after a few minutes, he was just wailing on that gate. And the farmer was incredulous. He goes, man, what are you doing? It's perfect. Leave it alone. And that quick, the carpenter turned around and said, I'm only doing to this gate what you've done to Jesus Christ for the 10 years I've known you and talked to you about Christ. You can't leave Christ's finished work alone. You have to always add your two cents. You've got to subtract from it. You need to do something. You can't accept what Christ did for your salvation. Now, credit the carpenter. He was willing to eat the cost of that gate to make the visible point that you're only doing to Christ what you see me doing to this gate. You cannot rest in the finished work of Christ. Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved by faith. That is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one shall boast. But you know if I can I just contribute a little smidgen of my salvation. I had a good week. I prayed more this week. I didn't do my pet sins this week. Can I contribute to my salvation? What if you're killed on the way home? Tragically, I hope that doesn't happen to any of us, but should we be killed in a car wreck on the way home? When you're standing before God, give an account of your life. What will you say? Well, I was coming home from church, and it was a Baptist church. It was a reformed Baptist church. And I was a preacher at that Baptist Church. No. The only thing I would have to say, and if you know your Bible, the only thing you would have to say is, Lord, Jesus Christ is my salvation. I trust wholly and only in him. I have nothing to contribute. I'm a sinner saved by his grace. I only plead Christ. as the hymn goes, nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling. I contribute nothing to my salvation except my sins. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For God made him who knew no sin to become sin, that we, believing sinners, might become the righteousness of God in him. Or as we read in verse 14 in chapter 10, for by a single offering he has perfected forever those who are being made holy. Let me add one final thing. And again, you're probably saying, I agree with everything you've said, but let me show you a way in which you probably don't realize that you and I fall into bad habits where we don't agree. Let's say that you found this sermon helpful and you found this sermon motivational. And you said, you know, I'm going to get up extra early tomorrow and spend time with the Lord. So let's say normally you get up at six o'clock, but you set your alarm for five. But you know, it's kind of balmy weather. It's kind of stuffy in the room. I didn't sleep well. And I rolled over and I hit the snooze button on the alarm several times. And instead of waking up at five o'clock, I woke up at seven o'clock. You're running late. You got to get going. You cut yourself shaving. Ow. but thankful, and you don't have a styptic pencil to put on it, so you get a piece of toilet paper, which always looks fashionable, and you stick it on your bleeding wound, for those of you who still shave, and you're running late for work, you get a flat tire on the way to work. You don't claim Romans 828, you just get mad. One more thing you don't need. When you get to work, your fellow workers chide you for being late. The boss calls you in and gives you some things he, part of his mind he couldn't afford to spare, but he tells you why it's not good to be late. At lunch, you have a chance to witness to one of your co-workers, but you don't feel like witnessing to your co-worker. On the way home, you're caught in the terrible Newcastle traffic. No, I'm teasing. Let's say you're coming home from Indianapolis, and you get caught in traffic on I-69, and you're sitting there just frustrated. When you get home, you come in the door, your wife's in the kitchen, she hears you come in. Dear, is that you? Yeah. Doesn't sound like a happy yeah, so you make a beeline for the bedroom and she meets you back there. You okay? What happened? Was it a bad day? Yeah, it was a bad day. I don't really wanna talk about it. You wanna pray about it? No, not right now. I don't wanna pray. I don't think God wants to hear me. Okay. That's one possible scenario. Or there's another similar scenario. It starts out the same way. You set the alarm for five, but you don't hit the snooze button. A bird lands in the bush outside your window and chirps and wakes you up at 4.30. The Lord wanted me to get up extra early to spend time with him. So you have a spiritual interpretation of this providence. You have a great time with the Lord. The scriptures leap off the page. You sense the Holy Spirit giving you communion with the Father and the Son, and you're delighting in it. You bring your wife coffee in bed. She has a heart attack. You have to put the defibrillator. And she's so shocked by you doing that. And you kiss her goodbye. You kiss the kids goodbye. You kiss the dog goodbye. You're on your way to work, and you have a flat tire. But you thank the Lord that all things are working together for good for those who love God, who are the call according to his purpose. And you get sweaty and dirty and change the tire. get there late for work, and your co-workers give you a hard time for being late, but you don't care, you serve Christ, not them. Your boss gives you some chiding, you don't care, you serve Christ, not him. At lunch, you witness to that co-worker you had an opportunity to witness to the other day, but didn't want to. I want to witness to this co-worker. On the way home, you're stuck in traffic. And you thank the Lord that you have purpose in your life. You're not like all these frustrated people in the cars, in the traffic jams, seated around you. When you come through the front door, you're whistling. Your wife says, honey, is that you? Yeah, it's me. She meets you back in the bedroom. How was your day? It was a great day. You want to talk about it? Yeah. You want to pray about it? Yeah. I feel like praying today. Now, Donald Barnhouse, who taught me this illustration, said, on both days, you would be very wrong. See, the first day you didn't feel like praying because you didn't amass enough brownie points with God. You didn't check enough boxes. And God wasn't really that pleased to be your Savior and Lord. And so your motivation for not praying was entirely wrong. It wasn't based on the finished work of Christ. It was based on your performance that day. And you didn't think your performance was that hot. So you didn't want to pray and didn't think God would want to hear you. On the second day, I checked several boxes. And I want to pray because God would want to hear from somebody like me today. and you're trusting in your own supposed righteousness. On your best days and your worst days, on my best days and my worst days, my only hope, my only access is the finished work of Christ plus nothing. And that's how to remind myself that I don't want to slip into a Roman Catholic mentality of works righteousness, of adding one smidgen of my own righteousness to the finished work of Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that we have role models in history who weren't Martin Luther and John Calvin or Augustine, that weren't Amy Carmichael or Elizabeth Elliot, but they were ordinary people like us that believed in your word and were willing to show they believed by obeying even at the cost of their death. They learn the truth well from their pastors. Thank you that Doug seeks to be a faithful pastor here to instruct the saints on what the Bible teaches about communion with God, salvation, the Christian life. Father, I pray that you would help us to trust in the finished work of Christ and stand for the finished work of Christ at work, at home, at family reunions, at school, wherever we find ourselves. May we honor Christ with our life. We perhaps may not have to honor him with our death. May we honor him with our lives. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.