The following 32-minute video is a Q & A panel on the Protestant Reformation, held at Ligonier Ministries. From left to right, the panel consists of Pastors Stephen Nichols; Sinclair Ferguson; Derrick Thomas; Burk Parsons and R C Sproul. [The video is from 2018].
The following highlights indicate the questions, time of question and pastors who answered; and a brief noting of their responses:
- Question 2: How was the gospel message lost in the first place and how can we avoid losing it again?
- Nichols: Paul marveled that the Galatians were entertaining a false gospel… every generation seems to be tempted to “improve” God’s gospel message; they actually obscure it in the process.
- Thomas: there seems to be a predisposition in everyone to begin in the Spirit and to try to be made perfect by the flesh – it is almost as if we need to rediscover the gospel daily
- Ferguson: a reformation is necessary whenever the church hides the gospel. Luther first held a Bible in his initial year as a monk; ordinary men and women knew nothing of the scriptures…. In the contemporary world, the gospel message is being hidden via biblical illiteracy and / or deliberately
- 50 sec. Parsons: Many churches profess to know the gospel but when you listen to their sermons, Sunday school lessons, teachers… you do not actually hear the gospel being taught. They talk about the gospel, Jesus, sin… [he seemed to be saying that they do not explain the gospel but only refer to it ‘the gospel’ as though everyone knew the gospel message already, when in fact, no one does]
- 4m55s, Question 3, what is the difference between sin, iniquity and transgression?
- Ferguson: sin = missing the mark; transgression, crossing the line established by God’s law; and iniquity, Psalm 51, the sense of twistedness in us as a consequence of these; all of these words are different angles on one and the same reality – our opposition, disobedience, hatred, diversion from God’s law and God
- 6m 45s, Sproul: we are debtors who cannot pay our debts [sin debt]. God has the absolute right to impose upon His creatures obligations, we owe it to Him to obey; when we do not, we become debtors to the law. We want to be able to do something instead of saying, “I am helpless, I’m a debtor who cannot pay my debts.”
- The only way I can stand before a just and holy God is if someone else pays my debts to God. The ONLY One who has earned the right to pay another’s debt is the Son of God.
- That is why we talk about Justification through Christ Alone, who alone has the merit to pay for us; He is the treasury of merit, nothing can be added or taken from Him
- [Below video there is a link to hear all or any part of R C Sproul’s series on Justification by faith alone, parts are listed also]
- 9m 40s Question: Does God favor pastors over normal Christians?
- Thomas: an important reformation principle here, the priesthood of all believers, a profound rediscovery at the time of the reformation; that the sacerdotal system is now unnecessary
- Parsons: as shepherds of God’s people, we have authority to declare the word of God
- Ferguson: James stated that teachers are held to a higher standard of judgment, pray for your pastors
- 13m 20s Question: a Latin phrase about always reforming
- Sproul: every heretic appeals to that motto, confusing novelty with reformation
- There always remains reforming work to be done… to conform the church to the word of God, to the truth of scripture17M 20S Question What should we say to folks that think the issues that caused the reformation are no longer issues today?
- Sproul: he referred to a British theologian who says that is the case. If so, then why is the Roman church still selling indulgences; why it treasury of merit; why are these and more taught in their catechism?
- However, it is 19th century protestant liberalism, more than Catholicism that buried the gospel in our day
- Nichols: such questions aren’t asked in Latin-America; for example, a Catholic church recently displayed a sign opposing a protestant ministry, asking people to pray to Lady Fatima (Mary) for deliverance
- 20m Question: what personal characteristic of Martin Luther do you esteem?
- Sproul: he was a beggar who knew where to find food and told others about it. Luther’s own personal struggle of faith, lacking assurance and being extremely aware of his sinfulness, caused him to rejoice when he discovered the truth that the righteousness he needed was Christ’s.
- Our problem is that we do not know ourselves and we do not know God [as the Bible states we are]. For example, in Isaiah 6, when he encountered the glory of Christ, he fell on his face and cried, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
- When Luther tasted the true gospel [that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to those who are saved] his soul was set free, hence, he was able, by grace to stand for that great truth
- 23m 15s Nichols: courage and boldness…. To be a real Christian, you make assertions, he knew that; his assertions were based upon God’s declarations in the Bible
- Sproul: one needs to experience fear if courage is displayed. In spite of his fears, Luther found his there – Sproul recited a couple of lines from Luther’s hymn A Mighty Fortress
- 24m 40s Question: what is the biggest threat to Christianity today?
- Ferguson: Christianity, in this century, it is a greater threat than Islam
- Thomas: post modernity, questioning of truth. People asking what it is; is there any such thing as truth? The truth is your opinion against mine….
- Those things make it very difficult to state objective facts about the gospel.
- Also, the burgeoning knowledge of the ‘fake news’ industry, has people asking if they can believe anything [2018]
- [Currently, those things have become worse, and we have the trans movement, so regarding truth, Isaiah described us in the following: Isaiah 59:14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed. 15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.]
- [See below video for other verses that speak to the matter of the absence of truth and the word of God in a land]
- But the gospel stands on real facts, truth, from history [But people have been rewriting history in our day, and who can recognize the truth of history?]
- 28m Question: has the young, restless reformed movement built on or distracted from the message of the Protestant Reformation?
- Parsons: That’s a complex question; one thing, truth is never a fad; God’s truth accomplishes what He intends
- We need to proclaim His truth and contend for it; and mentoring; making disciples…
- 30m 40s Question: Where should our confidence be placed as we leave tonight?
- Sproul: where was it for Luther, Calvin, Knox? Luther did not find in in Luther…
- We are profoundly grateful for what they did in their hour, at a time of such crisis in the church, for the necessity of the gospel. What a glorious and wonderful thing that God used these people; Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
- We honor them for their boldness, courage and commitment to the truth of the gospel; they knew, as we do, that our confidence can only be in Christ
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
***The following link is to the DVD Luther, at Amazon. It is a quick study on the Protestant Reformation. It shows why the reformation took place and Luther’s struggle. [I viewed the other movies on Luther and the reformation, this is the most interesting and portrays the event well.]
***R C Sproul’s (FREE) teaching series, Justification By Faith Alone, is comprised of 15 lectures, each approximately 20 minutes: 1, After darkness, light; 2, Luther’s discovery; 3, The selling of Indulgences; 4, Here I stand; 5, God’s legal declaration; 6, The great exchange; 7, The means of salvation; 8, By Christ Alone; 9, The essentials of Biblical Faith; 10, By faith or by faith alone; 11, The carnal Christian; 12, Synthetic justification; 13, The remission of sins; 14, Peace with God; and 15, Q & A
Link: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/justification-by-faith-alone
THE FOLLOWING VERSE AND CROSS-REFERENCES SPEAK TO THE LACK OF TRUTH IN THE USA IN 2022:
Jeremiah 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Cross references to the above verse from the Treasury of Scripture, an E-sword commentary:
nor: Jer_2:30, Jer_5:3, Jer_6:29-30; Isa_1:4-5; Zep_3:2
correction: or, instruction, Jer_6:8, Jer_32:33; Psa_50:17; Pro_1:7; Zep_3:7
truth: Jer_5:1, Jer_9:3-8; Isa_59:14-15; Hos_4:1; Mic_7:2-5
From the above list that most apply to the US today [NLT used for ease of understanding]:
Jeremiah 5:1 “Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city.
Isaiah 59:14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed. 15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.
Jeremiah 9:3 “My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me,” says the LORD. 4 “Beware of your neighbor! Don’t even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend. 5 They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning. 6 They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,” says the LORD. 7 Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people? 8 For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows. They speak friendly words to their neighbors while scheming in their heart to kill them.
Also, a verse that applies to all of the above, from Amos 8:
Amos 8:11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.