Hear the word of the Lord. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. As much as in all riches I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways, I will delight myself in your statute. I will not forget your word. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The entrance of God's word gives lights. It gives understanding to the simple. Your word is very pure. Amen. What is it that we believe? I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God from God, light from light. true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father. Through Him all things were made, who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. Thus he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. And with the Father and the Son together, he is worshipped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets. I believe in one holy, universal and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. I'm going to call on Pastor Anthony Stunder of Living Waters Community Fellowship again to lead us in scripture reading and prayer. Eternal and merciful God, we bless and praise you for all your goodness and especially for the mercies we commemorate this day. Praise be to you that sent your only begotten son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins and gave us your word to make your salvation known to all nations. We praise you today that when the church was in darkness and in need of reformation, you rekindled the light of your word through your servant Martin Luther, who taught our ancestors the gospel of salvation. We thank you for your word which exhorts us to be, in Hebrews 6 verse 12, followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. We praise you that you have preserved that heritage and saved us from persecution and error. We thank you for defending our churches and schools from the assaults of Satan and for giving strength and success to your word, always providing faithful shepherds to feed your sheep with your word. We sincerely repent, confessing our sin in gratitude, indifference, and unbelief. We do not deserve that you continue to feed us with your word. But we ask you, Lord, that you will deal with us, not after our sins, but according to your infinite compassion. Do not let the gates of hell prevail against your church. Preserve us from human traditions, doctrines of men, and those subversive errors which lead us onto false paths. Grant those in authority peace and good government. Let truth, justice, and liberty live in our land so that without restraint or any barrier, we may continue to enjoy the blessings of your word. Preserve for us and our children the saving gospel and the right use of the sacraments until you return. Send us blameless teachers, capable ministers of the New Testament, and faithful stewards of your ministries. Give them wisdom and boldness to proclaim your salvation. Let us never misuse the gospel to give ourselves false peace in a dead faith. Keep us in the light of your truth and let us walk as children of the light. Let us be a city on a hill to shine for all until Christ comes again. Increase our faith in numbers. Restore those who are deceived by error and let your word be known amongst all nations of the earth. Close us with your power that we may fight a good fight and keep the faith until we obtain the crown of righteousness laid up for us in heaven. For your son's sake, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us hear the word of the living God as it's found in Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 17. The word of God comes to us from Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 17. See the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins. Its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be in disgrace. Ecclesia reformata reformanda est. The church having been reformed is still to be reformed. And the five solas that inspired the Reformation, the five Latin phrases that epitomized and encapsulated the core of the Reformation are sola scriptura. Scripture alone is the ultimate authority. Sola gratia, salvation is by the grace of God alone. Sola fide, salvation is received by faith alone. Solus Christus, Christ alone is the head of the church. Salvation only comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ through his atonement on the cross of Calvary. Soli Deo Gloria, which is inscribed in one-man coins in Salafiqar, a hark back to our Protestant heritage. Everything must be done to the glory of God alone. Now these great Reformation principles challenge us to regular and rigorous self-criticism. We need to constantly re-evaluate our personal lives, our congregations, our families, our missions, our society in the light of these great Reformation principles. Scripture alone is our ultimate authority. Salvation is by the grace of God alone. We are saved, we receive our salvation by faith alone. Christ alone is the head of the church. He is the only salvation. He is the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. And soli deo gloria. Everything we should do should be to the glory of God alone. Now the general tendency in most churches is to regard the status quo as normative and right. We have always done it this way becomes something of a divine authority. But scripture is our final authority for all matters of faith and conduct. We've always done it this way is not good enough. What does the scripture say? We applaud the reformers for challenging the customs and the superstitions of their day. Indeed, where in the Bible are you told to pray for the dead? Where are you told to venerate angels? Where in the scriptures are we told to pray to the saints or to worship Mary or use images or statues? Believe in the existence of purgatory? Where does the scripture require ministers to remain celibate priests? Where are we told to pray through the rosary with 10 prayers for Mary for everyone for the Father? Where in the Bible do you read of Popes or Cardinals or of monks and nuns, inquisitions? Where do you read of transubstantiation or the assumption of Mary? There's no infallibility of the Pope taught in the Bible. The Reformers, by championing Scripture alone as the ultimate authority, freed the Church from many unbiblical heresies, from the superstitious beliefs, from the burdensome practices. However, we would be much deceived if we were to assume that the Church of today is not similarly in need of reformation, a back-to-the-Bible reformation and a spiritual revival today. Our beliefs and our practices ought always to be subject to examination and re-examination. In the light of Scripture, our life, our programs, our activities, our institutions, our publications and our personnel must continually be subjected to evaluation in the light of the Word of God. We need to dare to look at ourselves and at our ministries through the mirror of God's Word, under the searchlight of Scripture. We dare not allow inertia and stagnation to take root. The Church, having been reformed, is still being reformed. Reformation is an ongoing, lifelong responsibility, and it is our duty. Some have regarded the work of Reformation as being complete by adopting confessions and catechisms of the 16th century Reformation movement. We hold to the Synod of Dort, we hold to the Westminster Confessions. That's good, but that's not enough. It's not enough to have the truth in our head. We need to have the truth in our heart and we need to live it in our lives, in our hands and our feet. You can miss heaven by just 11 inches, the distance between your brain and your heart. It's fine to have the script in our head, but we need it in our heart and our life as well. The motto of the reformer John Calvin was, promptly and sincerely in the service of my God. His emblem was a heart aflame in the hand of God. The truth on fire was the goal of the Puritans. Head and heart, doctrine and devotion, all for the glory of God in balance. The greatest enemies of the Reformation are apathy and complacency. We dare not settle for less than God's very best. God gives the best to those who leave the choice to Him. Do you believe God can choose wiser and better than you can? If we believe in an all-knowing God, we must. God can choose a better marriage partner. God can choose a better career. God can choose a better everything than what we would choose. Whether we're talking about our fashions, whether we're talking about our priorities, whatever we do, our sports, all of these, God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him. God is not trying to steal our joy. He's trying to make our joy fulfilled. But there's no joy in breaking God's commands. There's only grief there. God is trying to protect us from going over the edge of the cliff if we follow our own desires and the world's fashions and fads. As heirs of the Reformation, we need to build upon the firm foundations which were laid by faithful men and women in the past. But we are expected to progress further, and to build further, because the work of Reformation is not yet complete. It can never be complete. Ecclesia Reformata Reformanda est. The Church, having been reformed, must still be reformed. So much in our homes, so much in our hearts, so much in our communities, our congregations, needs to be transformed by the word of Almighty God. We need to renew our minds by reading scripture, by studying scripture. There's no excuse for a Christian not having read the whole Bible. There's 1,187 chapters in the Bible. If you read just four chapters a day, you can get through the whole Bible in one year. How difficult is that? We really need to be more involved in being Bible-reading Christians. To say I believe the Bible is not good enough, we need to be reading it and studying it and obeying it. We need to revitalize our devotional lives by praying through the Psalms. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, the biggest book of the Bible, the middle book of the Bible. We need to restore the prayer meeting to the central place it belongs in life of the local church. When I was converted 47 years ago, 1977, the prayer meeting was attended by almost all the members of the church. The prayer meeting was vibrant and dynamic. But the next year they introduced TV and so forth, and before you knew it, the prayer meeting was suspended, temporarily suspended, for the last 47 years, because it conflicted with Rich Man, Poor Man, a TV series. And the Thursday night outreach, which many of the members of church took part in, door-to-door evangelism, that got temporarily suspended because of the world at war. And then the first church business meeting I attended, they voted to keep the support of missionaries at 100 rand a month, but they voted to put 4,000 rand improving the acoustics. I mean, remember this when a rand was worth a lot more. And they needed to pave the parking lot because some people's church shoes were getting muddy getting out of their cars in winter. So I learned very quickly acoustics and your shoes are more important than missions. I mean that's just one example of how you can see churches today need some serious reformation. Our congregations need to become a house of prayer for all nations, making disciples, teaching obedience to all things that the Lord has commanded. We need to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, delighting ourselves in the Lord, humbling ourselves, praying, seeking his face, turning from our wicked ways. We need to rekindle the fires of spiritual zeal by working for a back-to-the-Bible reformation, applying the Lordship of Christ to every area of life. Our Lord Jesus Christ declared, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. In the immortal words of Professor Martin Luther, if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God, except precisely that point, which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, then I'm not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing him. For where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. To be steady on all the battlefront besides is mere flight and disgrace, if he flinches at that point. If I had a place to stand, I could move the world. The Greek engineer Archimedes was referring to the wonders of the lever. In principle, the capacity of a lever is unlimited. An ordinary weakling could move a rock the size of a house. All that he'd need would be a fulcrum, that is, a pole strong enough that it would not break and long enough to multiply the force. That and a place to stand. The force multiplying physics of the lever is a function of distance. The heavier the object or the weaker the person trying to move the object, the longer the pole or fulcrum would need to be, and the further away from it you'd have to stand. However, with the right fulcrum, with the right bar, with the right distance, all you would need to do would be push the lever down and the boulder, no matter how heavy it was, would move. So theoretically Archimedes hypothesized that with the right fulcrum, with the right bar and the right distance, you could put a lever to plant earth and move the world, as long as he had a place to stand. Now on the 18th of April, 1521, the 37-year-old professor of Wittenberg University, Martin Luther, found himself hauled in front of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, standing before the assembled ecclesiastical and political might of Europe. Luther was presented with a simple choice. Will you repent and reject everything you've been teaching about the gospel, reject all your writings, or will you be cast out of the state as a traitor and out of the church as a heretic? Effectively, you'll be burned to death at the stake. And Martin Luther's reply moved the world. He changed history because he had a place to stand. Dr. Martin Luther declared, my conscience is captive to the word of God. Here I stand. Our Lord Jesus declared, your faith can move mountains. Well, Martin Luther's faith didn't just move mountains, it moved the world, because he had a place to stand, and he made his stand on the word of Almighty God. Martin Luther stood on the word of God. The fulcrum he used was the gospel, and this was balanced on the bar of the law of God. So Dr. Martin Luther actually fulfilled what the Greek engineer Archimedes had merely hypothesized about. Standing on the Word of God, using the Bible, the Law of God, and the fulcrum of the Gospel, Martin Luther's faith didn't just move mountains, it moved the world. He changed history. He brought an end to the Middle Ages. He ushered in the modern world. The Protestant Reformation, and the resultant Scientific Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, and the Information Age in which we are today, is all the fruit of the Reformation. It produced the most productive, prosperous, free nations in the history of the world. All this because Martin Luther made a stand on the unchangeable word of Almighty God. So, what are some of the issues you and I must take a stand on in our day and age? We want God to bless our country, but we cannot expect God to bless those who are in rebellion to his laws. Our societies need a back-to-the-Bible reformation, and our churches desperately need a spiritual revival. As in the days of the reformers, today we are facing both internal and external threats. Internally, we're facing a renaissance of paganism and perversion. Externally, we're facing threats from an aggressive, radical Islamic jihadist movement and an intolerant secularism. Even more seriously, there's crisis in the churches. Most of our people are ignorant of history, and even more seriously, many are ignorant of the Bible itself. We have a very superficial grasp of scripture in average churches. I know this because I've done Bible exams even in Bible colleges. We've had Bible college lecturers and principals fail a Bible exam, which is multiple choice, for goodness sakes. How difficult is that? But there's ignorance on basic biblical teaching, ignorance on basic church history. You can go to a Christian school in Cape Town and say, what is 31 October? And the kids will shout out in unison, Halloween! Have you never heard of the Reformation? And you see the kids looking confused in a Christian school. What's the Reformation? And so today you've got even Christian households participating in Halloween and ignoring the Reformation. Many professing Christians today are compromising, cowardly, ineffective. Many churches are filled with the weak and the worldly. the lukewarm and inactive, and many just went tamely along with the lockdown. In 2020, we had something like two million churches worldwide locked down. Arch-heretic Fauci and his Covid cult managed to lock down more churches than Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung and Emperor Nero combined. Absolutely stunning. Never in history have so many Christians been such wimps that they would roll over and play dead in front of the world. When the churches were closed in the Soviet Union, it didn't close the church. Churches continued to meet in secret. In China, they never closed down the church because when they closed down the official churches, the underground church carried on. I found this in Albania even, Romania, all over the world, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola. The church does not shut its work services just because the state tells it to. But in the Western world and in South Africa, we saw churches happily, tamely just shutting down their churches. Well, because the government said so. What happened to the Apostle Peter's response? We must obey God rather than man. With many Christians in defeat and retreat, we're facing a resurgent paganism, a pervasive perversion, arrogant humanism, aggressive transgenderism, intolerant secularism, and violent Islamic terrorism. To counter these threats, we need the faith and the boldness of a Martin Luther. We need the courage and conviction of an Ulrich Zwingli. We need the doctrine and the devotion of John Calvin. We need the evangelistic zeal of William Tyndale, the dedication of William Tyndale. We need the faithfulness of a Heinrich Bollinger. We need the steadfastness of Jan Hus. It would appear that humanism has hijacked many, many churches. Theistic evolution is uncritically accepted. Worldly entertainment and rock music predominates in many youth groups, which are indistinguishable from a nightclub. Antinomianism, hostility to God's law, egalitarianism are pervasive. All too many churches seem to be more conformed to the world than transformed by the renewing of their minds. Compromise, cowardice, and corruption are pervasive. Many churches are neutralized by an eschatology of defeat and retreat. Escapism and defeatism have sucked the life out of all too many congregations. Rapture fever, end times obsession, have so distracted all too many congregations that they're ineffective in fulfilling the Great Commission, and they're not looking for Christ, they're looking for Antichrist. What is needed if we are to rescue our churches from worldliness and work for biblical reformation and spiritual revival? In this clash of civilizations, in this World War of World Views. We are needing to make a stand in the classrooms and in the university campuses, on social media and on websites, in bookshops and in marketplaces, in pulpits and in parliaments, in homes and in hearts. We need to make a stand on the word of God. We need field workers for the Reformation, like the Lollards that Wycliffe sent out to proclaim the gospel and sing the gospel in English in the marketplace of England. We need to have Christians going in the highways and byways, on the internet and door to door. We need to remove idols. We need to reemphasize biblical reformation doctrines. We need to revive worship and renew the prayer meetings. We need to revitalize our families, restore biblical economies, reform society, reestablish Christian schools, restrict government to biblical limits. Reformations need literature, they need leadership training, and they need itinerant evangelists. I've got a series of hours being a Reformed Baptist, we believe in our alliteration, so here's a series of hours. Steps to Reformation. Reflect on the state of our churches, our families, and our souls. Realize how far we have fallen. Remember how the Lord led and spoke to us at the first. Recognize the dangers of antinomianism, egalitarianism, secular humanism, and worldly music. Repent of the worldliness and the wickedness, and do thorough restitution. Remove those things that are detestable to God. Return to God in repentance, in faith, and in humility. Revive the prayer meeting. Goodness me, how many churches don't even have a prayer meeting? Re-emphasize biblical doctrines in our preaching and teaching. Restore missionary vision and Bible study as central to our church life. A persecuted church Christian friend in Romania, Dr. Paul Negrete, said to me, in Romania, we don't measure our members by how many attend the Sunday morning service. We measure our members by who attends the midweek Bible study and prayer meeting. That's the heart of the church. And by that standard, how many members do we have? You have some churches where they've got thousands on the Sunday morning service, and they've got six or 12 at a prayer meeting or a midweek Bible study. That shows you how big that church really is. Paul Negrete also said, as a Romanian Christian under persecution, it's easy to tell who a real Christian is. A real Christian loves God. A real Christian loves to study the word of God. A real Christian loves to pray. And a real Christian hates sin. We need to renew our devotion to Jesus Christ in all areas of life. We need to resolve to honour the Lord's Day as a day of rest and a day of worship. We need a back to the Bible reformation. We need to re-emphasise the biblical doctrines of the Reformation. We need to re-orientate our discipleship programmes. We need to re-focus on the biblical worldview and re-commit all of our members to regular evangelism. We need to reform our society, applying the Lordship of Christ to every area of life. Our families need reformation. Parents, particularly fathers, need to return to teaching and training children in the law of God, both by instruction and by example. Our congregations need reformation. We need revived prayer meetings. We need to get back to the Bible, moving the congregation away from entertainment to biblical education, spiritual edification. Enlist every member in fulfilling the Great Commission. Our communities need reformation. We need to clean up our communities, figuratively and spiritually. We need to apply the Lordship of Christ to all areas of life. Our country needs reformation. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then when I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. If we want God to heal our land, we need to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, turn from our wicked ways. We need to inform, inspire, and involve. We need to motivate and mobilize. We need to educate and enlist people. It's essential that we're informed, inspired, and involved in fulfilling the Great Commission, working for a back-to-the-Bible reformation, praying for revival, applying the Lordship of Christ to every area of life. We are involved in a world war of worldviews. And the battlefields include the rewinding of history, the education of the next generation, the entertainment industry, the news media, religious institutions, political institutions. These are the five great culture-carrying, culture-transforming institutions of Saudi. Education, entertainment, news media, religious and political institutions. These are the five areas we need to be involved in if we're working for reformation. The Reformation was a defining moment when the Christian courage and convictions of reformers like Professor Martin Luther met the crossroads of decision and engaged the battlefields of belief and behavior. The decisive actions they took were blessed by God with an outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, which made the Protestant Reformation one of the greatest movements for faith and freedom in history. Professor Martin Luther's actions were described like that of another Elijah. confronting the false prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel. And there are many similarities between the religious superstitions and the corruption confronted by Martin Luther in the 16th century and the national apostasy of Israel. confront the Prophet Elijah in the book of 1 Kings 18. It was a defining moment when conviction and courage confronted corruption and cowardice. And Elijah came and said to the people, how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him. But the people answered him, not a word. Sometimes silence is golden, but other times it's just plain yellow. Elijah stood alone against 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, and Elijah challenged him to a contest. 850 false prophets versus one true prophet. It seems like he's outnumbered, but one with God is a majority. Elijah would build his altar. They would build their altar. Each would pray, and the one who answered with fire would be recognized as the one true God. But the people answered him not a word. What cowardice, they nailed the colors to the fence. The people of Israel were so backslidden, they were so apostate, they weren't willing to make a stand. They didn't say a word. They remained uncommitted, waiting to see how things would turn out. Now they'd surely back the winner, but they were waiting to see which way the wind blew and on which altar the fire fell. As there were more prophets of Baal and Asherah, they started first. And from morning until noon, the false prophets called out to the name of Baal. They leapt about. There was much shouting, screaming, songs and dances. They even cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed. They worked themselves into a frenzy, but no answer, not a word. After several hours of futility, the false prophets had just exhausted themselves. Then Elijah called to the people, come near to me. So all the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was broken down. And that's where the problem starts, when the altar's broken down, when our worship and devotion is broken down. So Elijah first relayed the stones. And this is symbolic of the foundational doctrines, which we must all know. But stones are not enough. It's not enough to know the great truths of scripture in our head, we must believe them in our heart. And this is symbolized by the wood that was laid on the altar. Because you'd only lay wood on the altar if you expected fire to fall to incinerate it. And so we must not only know the truth in our head, we must believe the truth in our hearts. On top of the woods and stone, Elijah placed the meat of the sacrifice. We need to put flesh to our faith. We need to put feet to our faith. It's not enough to know the truth in your head. It's not enough to believe the truth in your heart. You need to live the truth in your hands and your feet. We need to, over the sacrifice, the wood, the stones also, pour water. Elijah poured vast amounts of water until the sacrifice and the trench around it was saturated. This symbolizes the prayer with which we should soak our lives, our faith, and our doctrines. And it came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came there and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I'm your servant, that I've done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sackcloth, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water, evaporated the water, even the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell face down on the ground, and they cried out, the Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God. There is a time to stand up. And there's a time to step up, there's a time to speak up. And this is what Elijah did on Mount Carmel. He confronted the fourth prophet of Baal. And although heavily outnumbered and opposed by the wicked king Ahab and the wicked queen Jezebel, Elijah had the conviction and the courage to fight the good fight of faith. There were two altars, but only one had the fire. Jesus spoke of two men who built two houses on two different foundations. You could look and say, well, what's the difference? They're both houses, but the foundation matters. When the rain falls, when the wind blows, when the storm rages, when the flood rises, the house built on the sand will collapse. The house built on the rock will stand. And there are two ways, Jesus said. There's the broad way that leads to destruction, it's smooth, it's downhill, it's easy, it's popular. And there's the narrow road that leads to life. The broad way might be easy, but it's the narrow way that leads to life. You couldn't get to Frontier today by staying on the N1. You had to go off into the side paths and the stop goes and road works and so on. And so it is, you don't choose your road by the quality of the road, by how many people on, is it going to the destination you want to get to? And we should not choose the broad road that's popular. We should choose the road that's going in the right direction. What road are you on? What foundation are you building your life on? Jesus said you'd know a tree by its fruit. There's a bad tree and a good tree. And you know the tree by its fruit. What is the fruit of your life? Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Or is it the fruit of the flesh? And so, we need to make a clear stand. What is the fruit of your life? Are you for Christ or are you against him? Jesus said, you're either for me or you're against me. You're either gathering or you're scattering. If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father who is in heaven. But if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father and the holy angels. Now despite the social pressures and the political dangers and the ecclesiastical pressure, Elijah stood up. Elijah stepped out. Elijah spoke up. He spoke up for Jehovah God. He confessed the Lord before men and God most powerfully answered his prayer with fire on the altar. In the Reformation, bold believers made a similar stand for righteousness and truth. Professor John Wycliffe of Oxford University spoke out against the superstitions and the corruptions and false teaching of the Roman Catholic apostasy. Wycliffe proclaimed, Christ alone is the head of the Church. Scripture contains everything necessary for our salvation, and all other authorities must be tested by Scripture. Professor Jan Hus of Prague University gave his life standing up for the truth of God's word against papal idolatry. Jerome Savanarello was burned at the stake in Florence for his brave attempt at reform, showing even Italy had a reformer. And Professor Martin Luther boldly confessed his faith before the assembled might of the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. Unless I'm convinced by scripture or by clear reasoning that I'm in error, For popes and councils have often erred and contradicted themselves. It is dangerous and unsafe to do anything against one's conscience. I cannot recant, for I am subject to the scriptures I have quoted. My conscience has captured the word of God. It is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against your conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me God. Amen. The Reformation was inspired by a great vision. Without a vision, a people perish. What is your vision? What are you living for? Reformers like Dr. Martin Luther were living for a vision far bigger than themselves, far bigger than their times, far bigger than their nations. Their vision continues to impact the world and bless the world even hundreds of years later right to this date. The word of God declares, who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will make a stand for me against the workers of iniquity? The young shepherd boy, David, although he was the youngest and the least of one of the smallest tribes of Israel, he rose up, he made a stand against the blaspheming Philistine giant Goliath. You come to me with your sword, your spear, and your javelin. I come in the name of the Lord God of Israel, whom you have defied. In many ways, the Reformation was a David versus Goliath operation from the beginning. Courageous reformers challenged the political and ecclesiastical authorities who had abused their powers and who had distorted the scriptures. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses and 95 arguments against papal indulgences and superstition to the door of the castle church, the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg. He burned the papal bull excommunicating him publicly. He burned it in Wittenberg. He stood firm before the emperor. He refused to back down from his scriptural position. The prophet Nathan could go and confront the king. You are the man. Scottish reformer John Knox confronted the wicked Mary, Queen of Scots, in the same spirit as the prophet Nathan. John Knox described Mary, Queen of Scots, as a traitoress and a rebel against God. The Queen, trembling and in tears, declared, I'm more afraid of the prayers of John Knox than of an army of 10,000. I don't know how many presidents are afraid of the prayers of the Christians in a country. In fact, some apostate like Obama could call on the purpose driven life pastor to come and pray at his inauguration. Instead of praying a John Knox type of prayer, he prayed a Lord bless Obama and all that sort of type of thing. A man whose first acts in presidency was to legalize abortion and fund abortion and to send more money to Africa to kill more babies in Africa and then you've got an apostate minister saying Lord bless President Obama. How many people today are afraid of the prayers of the local pastor? Daniel courageously stood firm under three pagan kings. Exiled from his own land in his childhood, Daniel is an example of steadfast integrity. He served the governments of Nebuchadnezzar and Belchazon, Babylon, and in Persia. And he served under King Darius of the Medo-Persian Empire, but without compromise. He refused to meet other titles from the king's table. He courageously confronted Belshazzar over his blasphemous abuse of the elements from the temple in Jerusalem. You have been weighed in the balances and you are found wanting. Daniel. was commanded to only pray to the King. But Daniel continued to faithfully pray to the Lord God Almighty, and for this he is thrown into a den of lions. Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli stand out as courageous and principled Daniels, standing firm, faithfully explaining the Word of God amidst many dangers and threats. As John the Baptist courageously preached against sin and confronted corruption and hypocrisy, even losing his head for exposing the wickedness of King Herod, Professor Jan Hus stands out with the same spirit and with the same courage. The word of God declares, so I sought for a man amongst them who would stand before me in the gap and build up the wall on behalf of the land so that I should not have to destroy it. Are you standing in the gap and interceding on behalf of the land? Are you helping to rebuild the walls? Are you impacting your world for Christ? God now commands all men everywhere to repent. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn to the wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. Have you humbled yourself? Are you praying? Is your desire to obey God promptly and sincerely with your whole heart aflame in the hand of God? We need doctrinal steel in our backbones. We need Holy Spirit fire in our bellies. Every choice we make sets us more down the broad road to destruction or the narrow way to eternal life. There's so many defining moments where we need to respond with conviction and with courage. with determination and with decisiveness. However, we sometimes come across such major defining moments on which far more than our own eternal destinies depend. On such occasions, we need to respond with a vision, the courage, the dedication, and the determination of the prophets and the reformers of old. When the time comes for you to stand up, stand up boldly. When the time comes for you to step out, step out in faith. When the time comes when you must speak up, speak courageously and speak with Christian convictions, the truths of the Holy Scriptures. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Those from among you shall build up the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. May the Lord fill us and empower us with His Holy Spirit to be faithful to His Word and to be effective in His service. Let us pray. Lord God, we pray that the examples of the reformers like Professor Martin Luther may inspire us to go back to the Bible, to love you wholeheartedly, to fear you alone, to work for biblical reformation, to pray for spiritual revival. Lord God, may you find us faithful to your word. Make us more effective in your service, we pray, as we work for biblical reformation and pray for spiritual revival. In Jesus' precious and holy name, amen.