I invite you, if you are following along in your Bibles, to take your Bible and turn with me to Mark 16, verses 12 and 13, is our text. And as last Lord's Day, we'll have a longer text from a parallel passage that we'll be looking at more closely. But let us read again Mark 16 verses 12 through 13. After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country, and they went and told it unto the residue. Neither believed they them. One of the characteristics that corroborates the fact that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and not a collection of writings written by mere men who sought to promote a new fledgling religion is the fact that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible does not seek to hide or to minimize the most shameful and sinful acts of the greatest prophets, kings, and apostles, many of whom were the human authors that God used to pen without error His infallible Word. We read of the prophet Jonah refusing to go to Nineveh to preach to the Assyrians as the Lord commanded, and rather taking a ship in the opposite direction to Tarshish. Jonah learned the hard way that you cannot run away from God. We look on in utter amazement at the deception of the patriarch Jacob who lies to his father that he is his older brother Esau in order that he might obtain the blessing. We watch in horror As King David commits adultery with Bathsheba and then has her good and faithful husband killed in battle. We shake our heads as we follow Peter into the courtyard of the high priest where he denies even knowing his savior and not once but three times denies even knowing his savior. And we are stunned at the doubt and unbelief of Christ's own apostles who had witnessed His miracles and heard His preaching for three years, and yet find it so difficult to believe that Christ had been raised from the dead even after several gracious signs had been sent by God their way. in order to confirm their faith that he was indeed alive. For you will recall that Christ had told his disciples on more than one occasion that he was going to die, that he was going to be raised from the dead on the third day. In fact, after the resurrection, a group of women reported to them that the grave was empty, that the stone was rolled away, and that an angel had announced to them that Christ had been raised from the dead. They did not believe them. Mary Magdalene actually saw and spoke to the resurrected Christ, and she ran back and told the disciples, and they still did not believe. We shall see even a few more instances in the weeks to come the doubts and the unbelief manifested by Christ's own disciples. Dear ones, these are very, very embarrassing details of men's lives that I'm sure these men, being human, would have preferred to have kept secret. I'm sure if I or if you were in their place, we would have preferred that those sins had been kept secret. But not only were these failings, and many more besides, not kept secret, they were also proclaimed in many languages and in most nations throughout the whole world, so that all could read about their sins, their weaknesses, and their failings. Why did the Lord include in the pages of Scripture some of the most appalling sins of those who trusted in Jesus Christ, who were believers. Let me give you some suggestions, some suggested reasons. First, in order to reveal the desperate need of every man, even the best from among mankind, for the Lord Jesus Christ, their need of Christ, man's only Savior from sin and hell. The second reason the Lord included such sins in the Bible was to make absolutely clear that those who trust in Christ alone for their eternal salvation are not perfectly sanctified in this life. Sanctification is a process by where they grow, but they continue. Having been justified, declared righteous by God, they continue. to be sanctified. They fall, but God lifts them up, raises them up. That's the process. Thirdly, the Lord did not sweep their sins under the carpet because He desired to manifest His hatred for sin, but also He desired to manifest His amazing grace to forgive all sinners. who come to God trusting in Jesus Christ alone and in His righteousness as their only hope of gaining heaven. Fourth, God revealed these heinous sins in order to encourage struggling Christians like you and me. Struggling Christians who fall into similar types of sins. Struggling Christians who find it difficult at times to behold the resurrected Christ. Because the darkness in which we find ourselves, the discouragement, the sorrow, the trials and afflictions have seemed to block out the rays of that sun of righteousness. But these examples are given to us, dear ones, to encourage us to persevere in trusting Christ and not to give up, to encourage us that God will lift us up. God will come beside our side. He will be our help. He will be our stay and our rock of salvation. Even when we fall into the miry pit, He will lift us up. and that we can't look and trust in our own works as being able to save us. We can't trust in our church to save us. We cannot trust in our baptism to save us. We can't trust in our pastor to save us. We must place all of our confidence in Jesus Christ alone. If these men and women of faith from biblical times fell into such grievous sins and God mercifully carried them in their weakness so that they were lifted up from the muck and mire of their sin to be renewed in faith, God will likewise do the same with all who come to Christ by faith alone. And finally, we read about the sins of these fellow Christians in order to further confirm our faith in the divine nature of this book, the Bible. For as I said earlier, the blatant sins of the human authors and heroes of the faith would have been removed from the pages of this book if this were simply the production of mere men, because mere men want to look good. But this book brings shame and disgrace upon men and brings glory and honor to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Let us continue to look today in utter amazement at the mercy of God toward undeserving sinners like you and me. as we see the doubt and unbelief that continues to plague the disciples of Christ after the resurrection of Christ. The main points from our text are these. First, Christ joins two disciples as they travel without recognition of Christ. That point we considered last Lord's Day, so this is the second part of the sermon. And the last two points we will cover this Lord's Day. The second point being Christ reveals himself at a common meal to the two disciples. Mark 16.12 and Luke 24 verses 28-32. And then thirdly, the two disciples make known the good news of Christ's resurrection to the apostles in Mark 16.13 and Luke 24 verses 33-35. And so let us consider the second main point. Christ reveals himself at a common meal to the two disciples. We've read Mark 16.12 and we're going to at this time work our way through Luke 24 verses 28-32. So if you want to turn, if you have your Bibles open and want to turn to Luke 24, that's where we'll be spending most of our time. Last Lord's Day, we left the resurrected Christ walking and talking with two of his disciples. And this would be disciples in a more broad sense. This is not talking about the apostles, but two followers of Jesus Christ. What was particularly unusual about this appearance of the resurrected Christ was that these two disciples did not recognize Christ, either by seeing Him or by listening to Him, because according to Luke 24 16, God had miraculously prevented their minds from making that connection. During the walk to the village of Emmaus, the Lord Jesus took these two disciples through the Old Testament Scriptures, pointing throughout the Old Testament to Christ's humiliation to his suffering, to his exaltation, to his resurrection. All of these things that pertained to Christ, the Lord Jesus lifted up as it were out of the pages of scripture, all of the various references to himself. But these disciples still did not understand that Jesus was to be raised bodily from the dead, even though they had heard from the women the truth of the empty tomb. And even though they had heard the announcement of the angels that Christ was raised from the dead, they could not yet see beyond their own sorrow and their own crushed dreams of a political messiah whom they hoped to reign with as he crushed the Romans and set up his throne there in Jerusalem. Finally, the two disciples and Christ arrive at Emmaus. And we read in Luke 24, verse 28, the following. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went. And he made as though he would have gone further. Apparently, when they reached Emmaus, the Lord did not give any impression that he would stop with them there in Emmaus, but rather gave the impression, apparently by his actions, nothing is stated with regard to his words, that he was leaving Emmaus. This is certainly one of those passages of scripture over which there may be some disagreement as to how to understand what was going on here. I will give you my own thoughts on this particular passage at this time, but I hope it does spur us on to study and to consider these types of places in the Word of God. Why did the Lord give these two disciples such an impression that he wasn't going to stay in Emmaus, but was going to leave Emmaus. Well, first of all, I would suggest because as we see from what follows, Christ did actually intend to leave Emmaus and did eventually do so later on that evening. However, he delayed his exit from Emmaus for a while until he had revealed himself to these two disciples. The Lord, no doubt, had other divinely appointed meetings to keep, as we shall see in coming sermons, and did not intend to spend the night with these two disciples, but did intend to leave Emmaus before the night had passed. That's very evident by what happens subsequently. A second reason I would suggest why the Lord gives such an impression to these two disciples is because he wanted to arouse in the two disciples the earnest desire to continue the blessed time of Bible study that they had enjoyed for the past three hours or so in order that he might reveal himself to them. And it was successful. His giving the impression that he was going to leave Emmaus rather than to stay in Emmaus, it was successful. For we read in Luke 24 verse 29 that the two disciples did in fact constrain Christ to join them for an evening meal. Let me also say this in regard to this whole question. Conditions, dear ones, Conditions are not always explicitly stated in the message God communicates to people. Conditions may be implicitly included in a message, though not explicitly stated in that message. I'll explain. For example, there was no explicit condition stated in the message God gave to Jonah which he was to preach to the people of Nineveh. The message of the Prophet Jonah was simply yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And yet there was a clear condition implied in that message as we later see. And that condition is unless you repent, unless you repent, Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be destroyed or overthrown. This idea of implicit conditions is made clear in Jeremiah, chapter 18, verses seven through 10, where God says if a nation repents of its sin, once destruction is promised by God upon the nation, God will spare it. Repentance then is an implied condition that even though he promises that that nation is going to be destroyed, as in the case of Nineveh, if they repent, he will spare it. And on the other hand, if a nation is promised blessing by God, but yet that nation falls away from God, the implied condition that God states is, I will judge that nation. in spite of the promise that I have made to them if they turn their backs upon me and walk contrary to me, I will judge that nation. Now if the Lord can include implicit conditions in verbal communications, I would suggest he can also include implicit conditions in nonverbal communications as we see here in Luke 24, 28. If the nonverbal impression that the Lord left with these two disciples was that he would continue on his way and leave Emmaus, the condition was, because what we see follows, unless you compel me, unless you constrain me to stay with you. Thus, I would submit that the Lord Jesus neither lied by his words nor by his actions in this case, for he did intend to leave Emmaus And later on that evening, he did leave Emmaus. But the implied condition was that he would temporarily stay in Emmaus to bless these two disciples if they insisted that he eat with them. Moving on from that particular controverted issue, the word used in Luke 24, verse 29, to communicate how seriously these two disciples were in having Christ's fellowship with them is not a mere invitation to have dinner with them. It is a very strong word, which in various contexts means to physically force or coerce someone to do something. In this context, we should not understand it to mean that these two disciples literally pinned Christ to the ground until he finally agreed to join them for fellowship and a meal. But it does mean that they went beyond a mere invitation. They prevailed. They persisted. They insisted that Christ stay with them until he consented to join them. Beloved, when was the last time You manifested a holy violence, as it were, a holy violence in your appeal to know Christ, to commune with Christ, to be set free from sinful habits, to be delivered from enemies within and without that would destroy you. Have you taken more of a passive approach in prayer? where you simply make simple requests to God in prayer and then walk away casually? Or are you rather taking heaven by storm in a reverent way by pleading with God to grant you contentment in the situation in which you find yourself? By knocking down, as it were, the doors of heaven for Christ to grant you victory over that besetting sin in your life? By giving the Lord no rest until He restores the peace, purity, and unity of His church. By wrestling with Christ, as did Jacob, until He brings you wisdom and understanding of His revealed will. If you were a supervisor and had two men applying for the same job, with basically the same abilities, And one of them came to you and said, I would really like to have this job, but it's really no big deal if I get it or not. Whereas the other man came to you and pleaded with you, I really need this job because I will not be able to buy food and medicine for my children without it. So which of the two would you likely give the job, all things being equal? It's not a very difficult decision. would say to the one who was most earnest and urgent in a special appeal to you. Dear ones, God calls us. God calls us to ask and keep on asking. He calls us to seek and to keep on seeking. He calls us to knock and to keep on knocking for His Spirit to be supplied to us in full measure to meet the needs that we have in our lives. That's what He tells us to do. You're not imposing yourself upon God when you do so. You're simply obeying Him. You're simply taking Him at His word. It's not exercising a lack of faith. It's exercising faith to do that very thing. To be urgent in your prayers. Not casual and flippant, as if nothing's really at stake here. This is serious business when we come before God in prayer. by way of rejoicing before God, but by way of seriously requesting and petitioning God for the things that we need in our lives. Although these two disciples did not yet recognize the Lord, they wanted the fellowship that they had enjoyed with Him along the road to continue and not to end, and so they invited Him. to stay with them, to share a meal with them. And dear ones, the Lord Jesus will be a mere stranger to us and will pass out of our homes and pass out of our lives if we do not urgently plead with Him to stay with us and to bless us. At times, our prayers are so casual, they put us and others to sleep. Where is the holy wrestling with the Lord for that which he has already promised us? Remember, God has said, ye have not because ye ask not. James 4.2. The Lord Jesus, having been constrained to stop with these two disciples, he sits down at the table, and interestingly enough, he without anybody apparently saying anything. He assumes the place of the master of the home as he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to the two disciples, according to Luke 24 30. This is not a sacramental meal, even though the words sound vaguely similar to those used at the Lord's Supper. for only bread is mentioned but wine is omitted, it's not mentioned. Nor can this be a sacramental meal for there are no words of institution or instruction as to the meaning of the bread as is necessarily done in the Lord's Supper where we read this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me. But as the Lord Jesus assumes his rightful place as master At this common meal, the authority and the affection of Christ is so manifested in His words and His actions that the eyes of these two disciples are open to see and to recognize the person who has walked with them, the person who has taught them along the way, the person who has rebuked them for their unbelief, the person who has fellowshiped with them, and the person who has blessed their meal. as being the resurrected Christ himself. As we see in Luke 24 verse 31. The fact that the scripture states that their eyes were opened to understand that this was the resurrected Christ demonstrates again that the reason why they did not recognize Christ was not due to Christ appearing in a different body than the one which he had been crucified in and laid into the tomb with. It was rather due to God's supernatural work of restraining them from recognizing who Christ was. For when their eyes were opened, they recognized him. When the Lord opened their eyes, they recognized him. It doesn't say at that point Jesus changed back into the body that he had before his crucifixion. resurrection. They saw the same person, but now they recognized him as to who he was. That was a miracle on God's part, obviously. Dear ones, our recognizing Christ and our embracing Him as our only hope of eternal salvation is not due to our intelligence. It's not due to our gifts and abilities. It's not due to our financial resources. It's not due to our goodness or our righteousness. Our ability to recognize Christ for who He is and to receive Him by faith is not due to even our sincerity and our good intentions. It is not due to our popularity and how well we are liked by everyone around us. Our sight and vision of Christ, the Son of God, who alone can save you and me from sin and from the just condemnation of hell, which we so much deserve, is due to God graciously opening our eyes to behold Him as the only way, the only truth, and the only life. If today you see Christ, and you embrace Him by faith alone, rejoice with me that your eyes have been opened to see Christ. However, today, if you do not see Christ and have turned away from Him, fear. Fear, because the same Savior is a judge to those who turn their backs upon Him. The same one who will forgive all who come to him will condemn those who turn away from him or play games with him." The eyes of these two disciples were open to see the resurrected Christ as Lord and Master at a common, ordinary meal. I ask you today, who sits at the head of your table when you eat the fruit of God's good to you. Is it Christ that is recognized and seen by you and your family as the one who provides for all of your needs and who alone can bless what you eat and what you have graciously received to your prophet? Dear ones, we do not have to wait until the Lord's Supper to see the resurrected Christ. We should see Him every time we sit to enjoy a meal. Every time we put a morsel or crumb into our mouth or a drink of water to our lips, we should see the resurrected Christ as did these men. We should see him as the master. He's not merely a guest at our table. He is the Lord and master at our table. He is the one who takes the food and blesses it and makes it profitable unto us. Do we at our tables act like the two disciples before their eyes were opened to see the Resurrected Master? Or do we at our tables act like the two disciples after their eyes were opened to see the Resurrected Master? After having recognized the Resurrected Christ, he immediately vanishes from their presence. according to Luke 24, verse 31, where it says, And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And the two disciples then began to reflect on how their hearts were strangely warmed, even before they saw and recognized who Christ was, how their hearts were strangely warmed as Christ preached to them from the scriptures. Notice what they say in verse 32. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? Why did the Lord miraculously vanish from their sight so quickly once they recognized him? I would submit to you that he was teaching and training his disciples during this period of time before he ascended into heaven, he was teaching and training them to trust in him, not because they could physically see him or physically talk with him, but because they could see him and talk with him by faith. He was teaching them that he wasn't going to be there physically for the rest of their lives, for the rest of the existence of the church, that he was going to be their Lord and Savior, but he was going to be reigning in heaven, and that it would be the eye of faith that beholds him. For he was soon to ascend into heaven to sit at God's right hand. Their faith was not to be directed to Christ as he was before his death and resurrection, but as he was since his death and resurrection. One more thing I would like to emphasize before briefly considering our last main point, and that is, dear ones, that faithful preaching, faithful preaching of God's Word should not only leave us intellectually challenged, but it should also leave us affectionately stirred in our hearts before God. Stirred in our hearts hatred for our own sins, with sorrow for our offenses that we have committed against God and our neighbor, stirred with love for the truth of Jesus Christ, stirred with joy at the mercy of Christ, stirred with hope in the promises of Christ. Dear ones, God did not make us to be cold and calculated computers in our thoughts and in our decisions. He gave us affections. He gave us emotions which are to be sanctified and to be manifested in our worship and our service of God. Faithful preaching, dear ones, is one of the means that God has ordained to stir up within His people those gracious and religious affections toward God and toward our neighbor. That is why sitting under faithful preaching is so absolutely necessary in our growth in Jesus Christ. Not merely reading the Word of God, but faithful preaching of the Word of God as well. Is your heart today indifferent, apathetic, or lukewarm as you hear the preaching of God? Are you merely going through the motions of sitting there, but not being stirred within to know Christ, to trust Christ, to love Christ, and to hope in Christ? Do you care, one way or the other? Does it make any difference in your heart? I can't see it, but God certainly can, and you know it. May God graciously break our stony hearts today that we may not be mere spectators in a worship service, but that we may be participants as our hearts are stirred by Christ and by his preaching. The third and final main point today is this, the two disciples make known the good news of Christ's resurrection to the Apostles in Mark 16.13 which we read earlier and in Luke 24 verses 33-35. Immediately after this revelation of the resurrected Christ, the two disciples returned to Jerusalem with much joy. They had left Jerusalem earlier that day burdened With dashed hopes and heavy sorrow, they now return to Jerusalem with joy unspeakable and full of glory because they know and are certain that their Savior has conquered sin, death, and hell, and that He was raised from the dead to confirm that forgiveness and righteousness and everlasting life are theirs through Christ Jesus. Dear ones, this is the effect of spending time meditating upon the resurrected Christ. We are graciously filled with hope and encouragement when we focus our attention upon the resurrected Christ. There is no gloom and doom in the resurrected Christ. All things are ours in heaven. and upon earth in Jesus Christ who is raised from the dead. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Nothing that Satan may throw in our way can destroy us because Christ lives. No affliction, no financial trials, no sorrows, no heartaches, no burdens, no temptations or sins. for Christ will use it all for our profit while here upon the earth and will finally remove it all when we die and ascend into the joy and glory of heaven. These two disciples quickly walk in the dark of the night. The three to four hours that it would take to travel the seven to eight miles back to Jerusalem in order to comfort the Apostles of Christ who are back in Jerusalem with this good news. What is one evidence of a genuine faith in Jesus Christ? I submit to you one evidence is that you will want to share with others the comfort and encouragement of faith you have received from Christ. Where there is never a desire to talk about Christ and what he has done in one's life, there is no evidence of the work of Christ in that person's life. Where there is such a desire, there is a wonderful evidence of God's grace. For the work of grace, the work of grace must give expression to others. There is something about Such joy in a person's life. If in any other area, something just tremendously good happens to you, are you going to be completely silent about it? You receive a million dollars that you didn't expect. You're going to tell absolutely nobody about that. You're miraculously healed of some terminal disease. Not going to say anything to anybody about that? But when Jesus Christ saves you, when he raises you from the dead spiritually and gives you hope of everlasting life, how can you become silent and say nothing and desire to say nothing about what Christ has done in your life? Where does your silence or where does your joyful communication lead you, and what does it say about the work of grace in your life? When the two disciples arrive in Jerusalem to share their good news, they are rather given good news, for they are told by the apostles and others gathered with them that the resurrected Christ had also appeared to Simon Peter earlier that same day in Luke 24, verse 34. He who had denied his Savior and Master, that same Savior and Master, went out and sought Peter, the one who had denied him, three times, in order to encourage him in his faith. Even believers who have denied the Lord in any particular situation, dear ones, may be forgiven. Even believers who have been silent when they should have spoken can be forgiven for that sin, for all other sins that they commit against the Lord. I can't tell you how many times in my Christian life the fall and the restoration of Peter have been my comfort and joy. We're not supposed to rejoice the sins of others. And I don't rejoice in simply the fact that Peter fell. I rejoice in the fact that Peter fell and was restored back into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ sought him out and appeared to him. When my sin and discouragement, the discouragement over my sin, would blind my eyes to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. It has often been the fall and the restoration of Peter to whom Christ has bid me to look and to behold his infinite mercy to save and how he worked in Peter's life. I pray that it offers to you the same encouragement, the same comfort, as the Lord intended that to offer to all his people. Finally, I would have you see that although there was a renewed faith in the hearts of some of the apostles and disciples of Christ at hearing that Peter had witnessed the resurrected Christ, as we see in Luke 24 verse 34, And how they shared that with these two disciples who were coming to share the good news. We've seen the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ as well. We, however, close on a very sobering note in Mark 16, verse 13, where we read these words. And they, that is, these two disciples, went and told it unto the residue, that is, unto the rest of the disciples, the apostles. And then it says, it concludes with these words, neither believed they them. But we just read in Luke chapter 24 that it says that they told these two disciples that Christ was raised because Peter had seen him. Then Mark chapter 16, verse 13 says that they didn't believe them. So what is going on here? Well, I would suggest to you that unless we grasp the inherent blindness of our corrupt hearts, even after becoming Christians, we will never fully understand and appreciate the light and faith that we have received. We can criticize the apostles here for their doubt in the face of such evidence of Christ's resurrection. But do we have any less evidence of God's faithfulness? God's power and God's mercy to save us, to sanctify us and to provide for our needs. It apparently what happened is that that in Luke chapter 24, a part of the apostles did believe and Luke 24 states that. That they did believe, but apparently there were yet some of them that did not believe, and in Mark 16, it states. That they did not believe. in light of all that they had heard by way of the testimony, the promise of Christ, and then the fulfillment in all these testimonies that are coming forth. Some still did not believe. Apostles still did not believe that Christ was yet raised from the dead. You see, as I said, it's easy to criticize the apostles But don't we fall into the same trap when we see so many evidences of God's mercy and grace and power all around us, and we disbelieve and we doubt and we question God's faithfulness, God's love, God's justice, God's power. We can find ourselves, dear ones, at times swallowed up in our doubt and in our sorrow over unfulfilled plans and dreams. We can find ourselves questioning the power of God, the faithfulness of God, the justice of God, the mercy of God. You see, the same may be said of us as was said of these apostles, O ye of little faith. We need to recognize the inherent weakness that we have and that if we do not keep the eye of faith upon the resurrected Christ, we are exactly like these men. We are no better. May the Lord open our eyes of faith to behold the resurrected Christ as he did these weak apostles. For when our eyes of faith look upon the resurrected Christ, no fear, no doubt, No worry, no discouragement can diminish our hope in Christ as we look in faith to the resurrected Christ. For a resurrected Christ, dear ones, understand this, get this idea, a resurrected Christ conquers all such enemies and brings hope into the lives of all who look to him in faith. A resurrected Christ brings hope. If we have no hope, if we find ourselves mired in discouragement and despair, we are not looking to the Resurrected Christ. We do not see him as the Resurrected Christ, because the Resurrected Christ dispels all of those things in his glory. Amen. Let us stand together in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, glory be to Thy most holy and gracious name. Thank Thee, our God, for opening our eyes to behold our raised and living Savior and Lord. We thank Thee, O Lord, that so many times when our eyes have been taken off of Him and we have fallen, the Lord thou has yet lifted us up again and again and again to behold our resurrected Savior. That our faith is not in vain because it is in one who has conquered death, who has defeated Satan, who has removed hell from those who trust in him. Our Lord and our God We pray that the power of Christ's resurrection would be manifested within us and that we would not be those who are silent about it. O Lord, we thank Thee today that we have the privilege of hearing Jesus Christ preach unto us. Yes, we hear the voice of a human minister, but we are taught in Thy words that He is only a mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. And we have heard Jesus Christ open His Word. And Father, we pray that our hearts have been warmed. We pray that our hearts have been moved and stirred to love Thee, to enjoy Thee, to trust Thee, to hope in Thee. O God, we do commit unto Thee our lives today as living sacrifices, as those, O Lord, who renew their faith in Thee and would be Thy servants and go forth this week to set forth the claims of Christ, the power of Christ to overcome sin and death and hell. We ask, Lord, that thou would accomplish these things, not because we are worthy, but because Jesus is worthy. In whose name we pray, Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. You are welcome to make copies and give them to those in need. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available. free of charge. containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes and videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at SWRB at SWRB.com by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue Edmonton that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta abbreviated capital A capital B Canada T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.