The Festival of the
Reformation, 2012
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10
AM Central Time
The Hymn #260 O Lord Look Down 1.4
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon
Hymn # 262 A Mighty Fortress 1:86
The Antichrist Opposes the Gospel
The Communion
Hymn #259 Flung to the Heedless Winds 1.64
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast 1.93
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast 1.93
KJV Revelation 14:6 And I
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to
him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
KJV Matthew 11:12 And from
the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law
prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias,
which was for to come. 15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Collect
O almighty, eternal God: We confess that we are poor sinners
and cannot answer one of a thousand, when Thou contendest with us; but with all
our hearts we thank Thee, that Thou hast taken all our guilt from us and laid
it upon Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and made Him to atone for it: We pray Thee
graciously to sustain us in faith, and so to govern us by Thy Holy Spirit, that
we may live according to Thy will, in neighborly love, service, and helpfulness,
and not give way to wrath or revenge, that we may not incur Thy wrath, but
always find in Thee a gracious Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without
end. Amen.
The Antichrist Opposes the Gospel
KJV Revelation 14:6 And I
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to
him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
The Reformation really began about 100 years before Luther,
when various figures in Europe began to place the Word of God above that of the
church authorities. For that reason, the new teachers from within the Church
(there was only one) began to preach against corruption, immorality, and the
selling of indulgences, forgiveness bought from the pope with money and various
other acts.
John Huss led this movement among the Czechs, so he was
burned at the stake in 1415, at the meeting of the Council of Constance. Not
long after, his chief associate, Jerome of Prague, was also burned at the
stake.
Those who attended the Council of Constance and participated
in these murders were awarded an indulgence.
An indulgence may be called forgiveness, but it not quite
that. An indulgence is only a partial reprieve, because the teaching of
Purgatory means the most saintly nuns and monks will still be in that imaginary
place of torment for hundreds of years. An indulgence removes some of that
time, but not all of it. The papacy found that extending one’s fear of
Purgatory, a mini-hell for the semi-saved, was useful in raising funds to endow
churches and keep the prelates well fed.
Indulgences continue today in the Roman Catholic Church. The
Church of Rome prints a book on indulgences so the faithful can see what
sacrifices reduce how many days or years in Purgatory. At Notre Dame a notice
was put up, when I was there, about watching the Pope on TV – the viewing was
worth so many days off Purgatory.
Nominal Lutherans also have indulgence sales. If a wealthy
adulterer feels guilty about his sins, he can give large amounts of money
through Planned Giving Counselors (who have insurance licenses and get a
commission). Once the money is received the donor is praised to high heaven and
held up as an example. Church institutions are still selling forgiveness – and
kind of grace is not cheap grace. It costs millions of dollars. Therefore,
money is the Means of Grace for the sinner, so it is natural that the
institutions also think money (not the Word) is their salvation. If only they
had more!
Huss and then Luther (100 years later) contrasted the
authority of the Word with the authority of the Church of Rome. The Gospel was
not absent from teaching at that time, but very few dared to contrast the true
Gospel with the false teaching of the Church of Rome.
For Huss, the cost for this preaching and teaching was his
life. We joke about burning someone at the stake, but that was the price paid
throughout the Reformation. The Church of Rome used its power to arrest,
threaten, and torture people. They needed to silence anyone who said, “This is
the Word of God, but the Church teaches against it. The Gospel is free, but the
Church is demanding works. The Gospel gives complete forgiveness, but the
Church is teaching partial, limited, and works-forgiveness.”
To save their lives, all the clergy had to do was silence
themselves. They could think whatever they wanted, as long as they did not
teach the truth. Of course, that meant they had to go along with what was wrong
according to the Word.
That was a stark reminder of the material power. The
faithful did not remain in their church situations but ended up in horrid
prisons. They could not stay in any kind of position at all. They faced an end
so terrible that prisoners bribed the executioners to make the fire take action
quickly rather than slowly.
They also faced ignominy and shame. How could they be right
when the stinking crowds gathered and cheered their deaths? When their former
friends shunned them or begged them to recant?
Luther assumed for years that he would be executed for his
teaching. Just for comparison – he posted the Theses in 1517, had to be
kidnapped and be considered dead to save his life, and still had to stay away
from the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. How many would want to spend 13 years under
the threat of execution?
That also meant that Melanchthon and the Protestant leaders
who met with the Emperor were under the threat of execution. By God’s
providence, the Emperor needed Luther’s ruler, the Elector, to keep him in
office. The Elector was called that because he was part of electing the Holy
Roman Emperor, Charles V, a Spaniard who loathed the Reformation.
Huss’ motto was “Truth prevails,” and Luther taught, “The
Word of God is truth.”
 |
| Wartburg (early hideout) and the Coburg (above) - Luther's life was in danger for many years. |
Lutherans identify Luther with
the angel.
KJV Revelation 14:6 And I
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people,
An angel, in Hebrew and Greek, is a messenger. He does not
bring his own word, but only God’s Word. The Biblical angel has no other task
than to do exactly what God has commanded and convey God’s will accordingly.
When an angel spoke in the Scriptures, it was not another
opinion or a new opinion, but God’s will and Word.
So there is only one Truth, and we have an exact measure of
that truth – the Scriptures. To confess the truth, we must not only teach that
truth but separate truth from error. If one thing is true, then all variations
must be false.
The spirit of compromise is the spirit of the Antichrist.
The Gospel can be used to talk about forgiveness, but taught to manipulate,
condemn, and deceive. When people are indifferent, they are joining the
Antichrist as little antichrists (the plural is also used in the New
Testament).
Anti is seen as meaning opposition, but it is more accurate
to see that prefix and meaning a replacement.
No one wants Christ opposed. No, everyone is pro-Jesus.
Every sect and heresy is pro-Jesus. That is the genius of the great Antichrist
in Rome. He talks about Jesus and the Gospel all the time, but the Christ is
supplanted by a clever substitute. Grace – yes, but grace with works added.
Faith – yes, but with works added. Eternal life – yes, but with a few
well-deserved centuries of torture in Purgatory added.
The Antichrist replaces Christ because the Pope is worshiped
as a god (infallible) and is worshiped as such. I have heard Catholic
commentators whisper that the Pope is Christ on earth. He is not just Peter –
but Christ.
That has been carried forward to the priesthood, which has
only magnified the corruption of that office.
Everlasting gospel
The everlasting Gospel is faith
in Christ, without excuses or modifications. The moment we believe
in Christ, our sins are forgiven, taken away, forgotten by God. Which sins –
the great and terrible sins, the multitude of sins, the sins we cannot conquer
(Luther, Galatians Commentary).
And the moment we are justified by faith, declared forgiven
through faith in Him, our life of good works begins.
The only threat to this is being removed from the Means of
Grace - the Word and Sacraments. Many
remove themselves through indifference – especially the clergy. They stop
believing it matters, as long as they are comfortable. Others remove themselves
by falling into various doctrinal errors, one mistake leading to another.
So the baby baptized is in the Kingdom of God, forgiven of
his sins, and doing good works that glorify God. How does that happen? We see
that in the way children relate to each other and love each other when raised
in the Christian faith. One older sister learned that by pretending to cry she
could get baby sister to give her the toy – a bit devious, but it showed the
generosity of the baby.
We overlooked all that and took it for granted until this
Age of Barbarism took over. Now we read about terrible crimes by children, by
parents of children, by groups of teens, and we think of horror movies – but
this is America. Now we know what it means to remove the Christian faith from
our culture, the family from our social structure.
To preach unto them
Preaching means proclaiming,
the herald or town crier. Many newspapers have been called Herald because that
was an office in the pre-print world. A town crier or herald went through the town
and gave the official announcements. Like the angel of the Bible, he did not
make up the message, but gave what he was told to proclaim.
The proclamation must be
correct and in harmony with God’s Word, with no deviation.
For 200 years the rationalistic
mainline churches have proclaimed that everyone on earth is forgiven, because
of God’s grace. They add works to that in the form of social activism and other
demands of the law.
Nominal Lutherans modified
that a bit but offered the same mainline message – everyone is forgiven, absolved,
and saved, based on God’s grace. They are doing just as well as the rest of the
mainline groups – they are fading away fast. It is really a convenient message of indifference from
the little antichrists.
But the Bible always emphasizes
faith in Christ. The proclamation is that Christ has paid the terrible price
for all the sins of the world, and has become sin itself. That Gospel message produces
and maintains faith in Him – faith receiving this forgiveness won through the
battle Christ won against sin, death, and Satan.
Links about Justification by Faith
Luther's Galatians endorsed by reader
Luther's Galatians on Gnesio Lutherans
Roman Catholic adjunct Jack Kilcrease as Humpty Dumpty
Calov, quoted by Robert Preus, repudiated the UOJ position of WELS
Kilcrease, the McCain tutor, equivocates.
Buchholz is anti-Luther
Pastor Bickel on Tossing Rydecki Under the Bus
Church and Changer Jeff Gunn and His Mequon Class of Shrinkers
Paul McCain and Jon Buchholz - Bedfellows of Apostasy
Abraham Is the Common Theme in Justification - Justification by Faith
Pastor Rydecki's Account of His Suspension - October 9th
Intrepid Account October 6th- Pastor Rydecki Suspended
LutherQuest (sic) Opposes Justification by Faith
Warming Up the Tar and Feathers on LutherQuest (sic)
Pastor Bickel Answers Jon Buchholz
Kokomo Statements - WELS UOJ - JP Meyer
Jack Kilcrease Showing Signs of Stress
Dr. Lito Cruz and Brett Meyer Dispatch the UOJ Stormtroopers on Extra Nos
Latest Links
DinoLutheran Asks Impertinent Questions
Clarification from David Becker
Three Comments from Sola Fide
Otten Celebrates Rydecki's Removal: Two Front-Page Stories
Mixed Messages from LutherQuest (sic)
Departing from the Confessions - Berean
Loyalist-Conservatives and Holy Mother Synod
Jack Cascione Dusts Off Iron Maiden
Wauwatosa Influence in WELS
Mighty in the Scriptures - Luther Sermon Passage
False Claims by WELS
UOJ Is Pavlov's House
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| Hunnius repudiated an early form of UOJ, backed by P. Leyser, an editor of the Book of Concord, a biographer of Chemnitz, and an early expert on justification. |
