WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 I want to start this morning by explaining why 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:06.719 here at Oak Hill we observe Reformation Sunday 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:09.599 each and every year. I know that a lot of you 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:11.300 are newer to Oak Hill. If you've come in the 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.699 last 12 months or so, you may have seen what's 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:16.899 coming up and wonder why we do this. Because 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.179 I realize, our elder team realizes, that not 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:22.379 every church takes the time to observe the Reformation. 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:25.519 So before we just dive into our service, let 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:28.640 me give you a brief... primer on the value and 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.339 importance of Reformation Sunday so that you 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.420 can understand what we are as a church and why 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:35.700 we think this is important. First of all, we 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:38.619 do this in October because October 31st is the 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:41.799 true date on the calendar when Martin Luther 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:45.960 nailed his 95 theses on the door of Castle Church 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:50.539 in Wittenberg, Germany in the year 1517. Very 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:53.820 important date. And in doing that, he lit a theological 00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:57.000 fire that burned across most of Europe and forever 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.359 changed Christendom. So the history itself matters 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:04.200 to us. It definitely was a movement of God. He 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.620 orchestrated this not just to reshape the church, 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:10.260 but actually to reshape Western civilization 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:13.079 as a whole. You may or may not know this, but 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:15.140 through the Reformation, we're the beneficiaries 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:18.579 of a long list of foundationally good things. 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:22.079 Things like freedom of conscience, Freedom of 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.299 assembly, freedom of worship, individual dignity 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:28.480 and human rights, the spread of literacy and 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:30.799 education, not to just the upper classes, but 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:34.319 to every level of society. The priesthood of 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:36.980 all believers, not just one small group of clergy. 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.260 And of course, the translation of the Bible into 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:43.219 everyday common languages. We are all the beneficiaries 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:45.900 of those things. So the Reformation matters. 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:48.640 On top of all that, we as a church at Oak Hill, 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.280 we are rooted in a combination of various streams 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:56.239 of the Reformation. Baptist, Reformed, and Evangelical. 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:58.900 And so the Reformation is a huge part of our 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:02.099 historical roots. Now, here at Oak Hill, those 00:02:02.099 --> 00:02:04.519 roots stretch back further beyond the Reformation, 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:06.560 all the way back to the early church, actually 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.300 to the apostolic church of the New Testament. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:11.900 But then to the first 500 years of the early 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.719 church, to the early councils, and then to the 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.639 brilliance of the reformers from the 14th to 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:21.080 the 17th centuries. Guys, these things matter 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:24.159 because as a church in 2025, we're not isolated 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.479 from the history of the church. In fact, we're 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.520 built on the shoulders of many faithful saints 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:33.099 whom God raised up in ages past. Saints who at 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:36.680 a very high personal cost led a charge to recover 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.419 the truth about things that we hold dear today. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.780 Things like the authority of scripture, the gospel 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:45.599 of God's grace, the doctrine of biblical justification 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:49.840 that we're saved by faith alone. Through the 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:52.099 reformers, by the way, who were all just men, 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:54.639 they were flawed just like us. But when we study 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.960 their lives and we see the courage they showed 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:59.939 in the face of overwhelming pressure to fold, 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:03.460 it inspires us to stand up in our day for what 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:06.139 we know to be true and right. So there's a lot 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:08.319 to consider at the end of every October. And 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.219 here's one of the things that's often overlooked. 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:13.020 We tend to think of the Reformation as that past 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:16.120 historical thing. But the very truths that were 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:19.020 recovered back then are still there. vital issues 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:21.840 for the church today. And those battles still 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:25.039 need to be fought. So Reformation Sunday reminds 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.360 us that we have to have boldness to stand up 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.819 for the truth. It's required of every generation 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:32.280 to fight for these things. And the church is 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.740 always in need of being reformed. You know why? 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.699 Because our hearts are prone to wander. Always. 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.620 We're always drifting away from what is true 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:42.840 and right. So, in fact, this was the rallying 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.099 cry of many in the 16th century. It goes like 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:49.520 this. Ecclesia reformata. Semper Reformanda, 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:53.939 which means the church reformed and always reforming. 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:56.740 So the battle for the authority of God's word 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.800 and the true gospel is relevant in every age. 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:02.060 And that battle is going to continue right up 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:04.960 until the day that Jesus Christ returns for us. 00:04:05.669 --> 00:04:08.050 Now, in past Reformation times, we've studied 00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:10.270 all kinds of topics. We've talked about the Reformation 00:04:10.270 --> 00:04:12.650 in Germany. We've talked about the life of Luther. 00:04:12.729 --> 00:04:15.069 We've looked at Switzerland. We have analyzed 00:04:15.069 --> 00:04:17.329 the great solas of the Reformation last year. 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:19.769 You may remember we did a whole two -week series 00:04:19.769 --> 00:04:23.029 on the life of Calvin. And this year, both today 00:04:23.029 --> 00:04:24.850 and next Sunday, because this too will be a two 00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:27.490 -part message, we're going to look at the Reformation 00:04:27.490 --> 00:04:30.850 in Scotland. Because that is a very unique story. 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:33.250 And so I can't tell you, having just gotten back 00:04:33.250 --> 00:04:35.129 from there, after two weeks, I can't tell you 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:37.709 how excited I am to jump in. But for now, I want 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:40.990 to start this morning with a hypothetical situation 00:04:40.990 --> 00:04:46.350 to get your minds going. What would you do if 00:04:46.350 --> 00:04:48.689 the United States government officially endorsed 00:04:48.689 --> 00:04:52.810 and aligned itself with a particular form of 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:56.149 doctrine and worship that you were convinced 00:04:56.149 --> 00:05:03.589 was false? Not only that, what if it then insisted 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:07.870 that every church in America teach that form 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:12.689 of doctrine? That you only sing from one state 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:16.089 -approved hymn book, that you only say prayers 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:20.430 from one state -approved prayer book, and that 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:26.029 you practice a state -sanctioned liturgy? What 00:05:26.029 --> 00:05:28.050 if the churches in America were closed to any 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:31.199 other form of doctrine and worship, including 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.300 the one that you believe was true. In other words, 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:38.500 what would you do if you were faced with true 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:42.500 religious tyranny without the freedom of conscience, 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:45.600 without the freedom of assembly and worship? 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.600 And what if, in addition to all those other regulations 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.279 that had come down from the state, this stipulation 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.660 was also included, that if you refuse to obey 00:05:55.660 --> 00:05:58.430 the government's law concerning doctrine, or 00:05:58.430 --> 00:06:00.670 if you speak out against what the government 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:05.629 has told you to believe and do, you could be 00:06:05.629 --> 00:06:09.550 arrested. You could have your homes and your 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:13.110 property confiscated. Maybe even burned at the 00:06:13.110 --> 00:06:18.990 stake as a rebel and a heretic. Can you imagine 00:06:18.990 --> 00:06:23.250 that? Would you still risk gathering in secret 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:26.370 to practice your faith as you were convinced? 00:06:27.079 --> 00:06:28.800 The Bible tells you. Would you take that risk 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:32.519 still? Would you consider taking up arms against 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:36.240 your government? Those types of questions are 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.240 not easily answered for people like us, right? 00:06:38.339 --> 00:06:40.620 Because, praise God, we've never had to face 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:43.699 them. But they were very real questions for our 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:47.040 spiritual forefathers who had to face those questions 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.779 back in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Remember, 00:06:51.860 --> 00:06:53.680 back in those days, there was only one approved 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.579 church in the West. It was the Roman Catholic 00:06:55.579 --> 00:06:58.560 Church. And its leadership, beginning with the 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:01.980 Pope, who wielded absolute power, and then down 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:05.079 the line through the cardinals and the archbishops 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:08.959 and the bishops, they tolerated zero dissent 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:12.019 from the nations of Christian Europe, from the 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.860 citizens of Christian Europe. Over the centuries, 00:07:16.019 --> 00:07:20.100 what had begun is this humble, persecuted apostolic 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.779 church in the New Testament had, through the 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:25.930 accumulation of wealth and power and greed, grown 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:29.709 into this massive institutional force that in 00:07:29.709 --> 00:07:31.569 many corners of Europe was a breeding ground 00:07:31.569 --> 00:07:35.089 for corruption and abuse. And as early as the 00:07:35.089 --> 00:07:37.490 12th century, many were looking at what was happening 00:07:37.490 --> 00:07:40.449 and saying in a practical sense, the church has 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:45.459 lost its way, that reform was badly needed. The 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:47.800 God -breathed scriptures were no longer the guiding 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:49.740 light of the church. Instead, it was ruled from 00:07:49.740 --> 00:07:53.160 the top down by this vast hierarchy of gluttonous 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.139 men who were building a religious system for 00:07:56.139 --> 00:07:59.939 the benefit of the institution itself while filling 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:04.220 their pockets with financial benefits. One thing 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:07.259 was for sure, the sheep who they were claiming 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:10.449 to shepherd were not being fed well. In fact, 00:08:10.449 --> 00:08:12.629 the people were starving from lack of good preaching 00:08:12.629 --> 00:08:14.730 and teaching. They were starving from a lack 00:08:14.730 --> 00:08:17.750 of theological knowledge and understanding. In 00:08:17.750 --> 00:08:20.350 short, the pure gospel had been obscured by all 00:08:20.350 --> 00:08:23.610 these layers of liturgy and ritual and tradition. 00:08:24.730 --> 00:08:27.529 And for the average medieval European worshiper, 00:08:27.589 --> 00:08:29.829 here was the message that they were getting from 00:08:29.829 --> 00:08:33.450 their church. Imagine this. Attend the Mass. 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:39.409 Take the elements. Say these prayers. kneel when 00:08:39.409 --> 00:08:42.710 we tell you to kneel, put a coin in the coffer, 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:47.090 and don't ask any questions. You can't read Latin, 00:08:47.149 --> 00:08:48.970 so don't worry about what the Bible says. We 00:08:48.970 --> 00:08:52.529 will tell you what you should believe. And as 00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:54.730 long as you identify with us as part of this 00:08:54.730 --> 00:08:57.750 Catholic church and you participate in the seven 00:08:57.750 --> 00:09:00.289 sacraments that we have given to you, then you're 00:09:00.289 --> 00:09:07.929 accepted by God. But was that true? What do you 00:09:07.929 --> 00:09:11.909 think happens when a worshiper like that one 00:09:11.909 --> 00:09:15.009 day finds out that he can actually hear the scriptures 00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:20.990 read in his own language? What happens when a 00:09:20.990 --> 00:09:23.230 man can finally hear what Jesus actually taught, 00:09:23.429 --> 00:09:26.730 hear it for himself, read it for himself in his 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:30.230 language, actually hear what the Apostle Paul 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:33.190 wrote about grace? and about faith and about 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:35.629 salvation, about how to be justified in the sight 00:09:35.629 --> 00:09:38.509 of God, when they're able to open up the Bible 00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:40.929 and either read or hear what the church is supposed 00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:45.049 to look like. What happens when people who've 00:09:45.049 --> 00:09:48.389 been kept in the dark for so long finally get 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:50.409 a glimmer of light, when they hear the truth 00:09:50.409 --> 00:09:52.250 for themselves, when they're finally allowed 00:09:52.250 --> 00:09:56.620 to exercise freedom of conscience? What happens 00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:58.679 when God gets a hold of people like that, when 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.159 he begins to renew their minds and brings them 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.399 to life through the power of his word applied 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:06.779 by the Holy Spirit in the heart? What happens? 00:10:08.019 --> 00:10:10.759 And what happens when simultaneously the institutional 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.220 church is telling them, don't do that, don't 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:15.620 listen to those voices, that's dangerous information, 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.860 and by the way, if you do, we'll arrest you. 00:10:20.460 --> 00:10:22.580 Put that mixture together and you know what you 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:27.730 have? You have a revolution. Welcome to the Reformation. 00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:33.250 Grab your Bibles. And let's open up to Philippians 00:10:33.250 --> 00:10:38.850 chapter 3. I just want to briefly read once again 00:10:38.850 --> 00:10:40.769 our call to worship passage for this morning. 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:45.710 Philippians 3 verses 7 through 11. By the way, 00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:47.669 as you're finding your way to that passage, let 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:50.370 me briefly explain to you the title of this two 00:10:50.370 --> 00:10:52.549 -part series that we're doing. We have called 00:10:52.549 --> 00:10:55.970 it Seeing Thunder. And that is a reference to 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.629 the primary historical character that's going 00:10:58.629 --> 00:11:00.909 to come in this story of the Scottish Reformation. 00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:04.509 His name is John Knox. It's been said by historians 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:07.129 that Luther was the spark of the Reformation, 00:11:07.409 --> 00:11:11.830 that Calvin was its pen, but Knox was its thunder. 00:11:13.490 --> 00:11:15.929 And we'll see why as we go along. Knox was a 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:17.830 force to be reckoned with. He was the kind of 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:20.909 tough, relentless fighter that God required for 00:11:20.909 --> 00:11:24.940 the task at hand in that time. And even in his 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:28.080 day, some 300 years later, Charles Spurgeon famously 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.679 said this about the need for reform in the English 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:33.960 church. He said this, John Knox's gospel is my 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:36.720 gospel. That which thundered through Scotland 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:41.639 must thunder through England again. So we're 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.240 gonna look at his life. First, let's read this 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.759 passage, and we're gonna read through this slowly. 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:47.779 And as we do this, I want you to think about 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:51.460 what someone like John Knox would count as loss. 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:57.120 For the sake of the gospel. This is God's word. 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:01.360 Whatever things were gained to me, those things 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:04.940 I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:10.039 More than that, I count all things. What's included 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:14.559 in all things? All things. Even our physical 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:18.220 life, right? All things to be lost in view of 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:21.639 this, the surpassing value. Of knowing Christ 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:25.259 Jesus, my Lord. Because that's eternal, isn't 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:29.080 it? For whom I have suffered the loss of all 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:35.100 things and count them all as rubbish. Worthless 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:39.940 in comparison. So that I may gain Christ and 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:44.340 may be found in him. What an important statement. 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:49.799 Found in Christ. Not having a righteousness of 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.960 my own derived from the law, that's not possible. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:57.159 I have no righteousness of my own. But that which 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:01.299 is through faith in Christ, Christ makes me righteous. 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:04.759 And through faith, which was a gift from him 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:08.600 in the first place. The righteousness which comes 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:11.779 from God on the basis of faith that I might know 00:13:11.779 --> 00:13:15.320 him, not just intellectually, but in the heart. 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:19.919 Right? to give my life to him, to know him, and 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.500 the power of his resurrection, resurrection living, 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.759 and the fellowship of his sufferings. That's 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:29.240 the part we don't like so much, right? Everything 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:30.919 else looked really good up until that point. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:34.299 But the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:38.940 to his death, the way he died, in order that 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:42.080 I may attain, again, eternal picture to the resurrection 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.590 of the dead. But look again, the fellowship of 00:13:45.590 --> 00:13:47.529 Christ's sufferings being conformed to his death. 00:13:48.110 --> 00:13:50.509 Keep those words in mind as we walk through the 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:55.250 story of the Scottish martyrs. After the Reformation 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:59.070 in Germany, it kicked off around the years 1517 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:02.230 to 1520. If you had looked at Scotland at that 00:14:02.230 --> 00:14:04.470 time, you'd say there's nothing about Scotland 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:06.870 that would lead you to believe that very soon 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:08.850 it would become a Protestant nation for almost 00:14:08.850 --> 00:14:12.730 a thousand years. Scotland had been a very typical 00:14:12.730 --> 00:14:16.649 and very devout Roman Catholic country. But soon 00:14:16.649 --> 00:14:19.250 after Luther lit that fire in Germany, Scotland 00:14:19.250 --> 00:14:21.649 would find itself gripped by a religious civil 00:14:21.649 --> 00:14:26.009 war that would very quickly result in a reversal 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:28.970 of her national policy. Get this, in just 35 00:14:28.970 --> 00:14:32.169 years, she would go from being a staunchly Roman 00:14:32.169 --> 00:14:35.789 Catholic country to a solidly Protestant country. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.679 And really there's three things, as scholars 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:40.259 look back, step back and look, there's three 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:42.000 things that contribute to that. Their list is 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.480 on the screen. Number one, the steady and secret 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:48.059 infiltration of biblical truth into the land. 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:50.740 Things that have been kept from the people were 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:54.500 now finding their ways in. Number two, committed 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:57.419 leaders like Knox and others who took that truth 00:14:57.419 --> 00:14:59.799 and they preached it with incredible boldness. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.419 And by doing that, they infused courage. and 00:15:03.419 --> 00:15:06.159 steadfastness in Scottish nobles and clan leaders, 00:15:06.379 --> 00:15:10.139 bringing them over to the Protestant cause. God 00:15:10.139 --> 00:15:12.100 works through his people, through his servants. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.279 And number three, the failure of Catholic authorities 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:20.139 from Rome to Edinburgh to recognize their cold 00:15:20.139 --> 00:15:23.139 and heavy -handed ways. They failed to do their 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:25.940 own internal reform before it was forced upon 00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:31.139 them by their own subjects. On the street level, 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:32.919 the story of the Scottish Reformation is the 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:36.139 story of churchmen and theologians and nobles 00:15:36.139 --> 00:15:39.840 and monarchs. Makes for a great movie. But on 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.320 a much higher plane, this is the story of the 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.980 prevailing power of the gospel that is too compelling 00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:50.080 and too powerful to remain hidden forever. That's 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:53.820 the big idea of this morning. There is a general 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.700 truth about the human spirit, and it's true of 00:15:56.700 --> 00:15:59.590 all people. in all ages and all places, when 00:15:59.590 --> 00:16:03.970 they see an institution using fear and intimidation 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:08.029 and in violence to enforce ideas, it causes people 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:11.269 to look at that and go, hold on a second, is 00:16:11.269 --> 00:16:15.809 that justified? When an institution says you 00:16:15.809 --> 00:16:18.350 will agree with us and fall in line or else, 00:16:18.409 --> 00:16:21.789 it naturally doesn't sit well with us, does it? 00:16:23.330 --> 00:16:25.669 Now, most people won't stand up and do anything 00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:29.179 about that. They'll recognize it and say that's 00:16:29.179 --> 00:16:31.480 bad, but they won't do anything about it. And 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.279 the institution is counting on you doing nothing. 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:39.919 The human tendency is to back down out of fear 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.200 and self -preservation. That's what the institution 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:44.980 wants. But there will always be a small percentage 00:16:44.980 --> 00:16:48.139 of people who are convinced of their righteousness 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:50.840 of their cause who will have the courage to stand 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:54.779 up and say, no, I won't fall in line. I won't 00:16:54.779 --> 00:16:58.059 back down. We saw this happen in the early centuries 00:16:58.059 --> 00:17:00.940 of the church, right? In the face of Roman threats, 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:04.819 men like Ignatius and Polycarp and Justin stood 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:09.039 up and said no. And they were put to death under 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.259 the reigns of wicked pagan governors and wicked 00:17:11.259 --> 00:17:16.140 pagan emperors. But those persecutions that were 00:17:16.140 --> 00:17:18.740 designed to scare away other dissenters actually 00:17:18.740 --> 00:17:20.859 had the opposite effect historically, didn't 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:24.279 they? So much so that the church father Tertullian 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:26.180 wrote this around the turn of the third century. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:28.500 He said, the blood of the martyrs is actually 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:32.500 seed for the church, which is counterintuitive, 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:37.400 isn't it? But the spilling of blood of the martyrs 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:40.359 actually grows the church. In other words, persecutors 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:43.500 be aware when you put one martyr to death, you're 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:46.480 planting the seeds for many more to spring up 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.670 in his place. And that's exactly what happened 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:54.210 in Scotland in the 16th century. Only the shocking 00:17:54.210 --> 00:17:57.309 difference in all this between what I just described 00:17:57.309 --> 00:17:59.009 in the early church and what we're going to talk 00:17:59.009 --> 00:18:01.950 about in Scotland is the identity of the persecutor. 00:18:03.170 --> 00:18:06.009 Back in the day, it was a pagan Roman empire. 00:18:06.269 --> 00:18:11.410 In Scotland in the 16th century, it was the visible 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:17.190 church. Think about that. Don't brush that off. 00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:20.559 Listen again to what I'm saying. The visible 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:24.240 institution that claimed to be the bride of Christ, 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:29.680 whose leaders claimed to represent Jesus' voice 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:34.839 on the earth, began to arrest, torture, and brutally 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:39.240 execute professing Christians who dared to challenge 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:45.220 their teaching. Sometimes when we do Reformation 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:47.759 Sunday, I get accused of being a Catholic basher. 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:52.400 I'm not. I'm just, this is history. This is what 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.380 it is. And we ought to have great empathy for 00:18:56.380 --> 00:18:58.420 our Roman Catholic friends who are locked in 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:01.900 a system and are blind to it right now. So I 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.440 don't want, I'm not hating on Catholics. I'm 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:06.380 just, we're speaking about brute facts here. 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:10.319 Now, as you probably know, the history of the 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.640 church is a history of constant disagreement. 00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:15.900 You see it in every generation of the church. 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.279 But the question always is, well, not that is 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.339 there disagreement, it's how do we handle disagreement? 00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:23.779 And we see this even in the first century, right? 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.220 Even in the apostolic period, guess what? People 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:30.099 disagreed. Shocking, isn't it? But what did they 00:19:30.099 --> 00:19:31.720 do with it? How did they handle that disagreement? 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.720 Well, those in authority, apostles wrote letters 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.119 to the churches and said, we need to push people 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:41.579 to repent and come back to what is true. Is that 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:46.269 a godly way to handle things? 100%. In the early 00:19:46.269 --> 00:19:49.210 centuries of the church, in the first 500 years, 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:52.170 you see church leaders entering into vigorous 00:19:52.170 --> 00:19:55.470 debate, trust me. They didn't hold back. They 00:19:55.470 --> 00:19:58.569 produced detailed theological works to justify 00:19:58.569 --> 00:20:01.130 their arguments. And then when disagreements 00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:02.769 continued, what did they do? They called church 00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:05.930 councils. And they came together, and by the 00:20:05.930 --> 00:20:08.009 end of those councils, they'd established creeds 00:20:08.009 --> 00:20:10.450 so that everybody understood what is orthodox 00:20:10.450 --> 00:20:13.349 and what is heretical. But in the medieval period, 00:20:13.609 --> 00:20:18.970 there is a major shift, a major shift. It's no 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:22.470 longer about entering into reasoned debate. It's 00:20:22.470 --> 00:20:25.309 no longer about writing detailed theological 00:20:25.309 --> 00:20:28.369 works to justify what we teach. It's an issue 00:20:28.369 --> 00:20:33.930 of raw power. You have to know that. Do not question 00:20:33.930 --> 00:20:36.730 or challenge what we tell you. You're not qualified 00:20:36.730 --> 00:20:40.619 to object. don't ask questions and fall in line 00:20:40.619 --> 00:20:43.539 or else. Guys, when an institution becomes so 00:20:43.539 --> 00:20:46.500 powerful and so corrupt that it no longer feels 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:49.920 it has to justify its positions by words and 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.980 reason, it can simply condemn you to death for 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:57.059 disagreeing. It's time for reform. Isn't that 00:20:57.059 --> 00:21:01.599 true? It shouldn't be forgotten that the so -called 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:05.069 one true church of Jesus Christ has to this day 00:21:05.069 --> 00:21:08.069 put to death hundreds of thousands of professing 00:21:08.069 --> 00:21:12.509 Christians over the centuries. And we shouldn't 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:14.609 allow Roman Catholic apologists, they like to 00:21:14.609 --> 00:21:16.869 do this, to gaslight us into thinking, well, 00:21:17.029 --> 00:21:18.529 you know what, it's okay because that's just 00:21:18.529 --> 00:21:20.869 the way things were back then. No, it's murder. 00:21:21.349 --> 00:21:23.529 It's tyranny and it's murder. That's what God's 00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:28.150 word says. And those who perpetrated that tyranny 00:21:28.150 --> 00:21:31.839 and that murder in the name of the church. We'll 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:33.619 have to answer at the judgment seat of Christ 00:21:33.619 --> 00:21:38.720 for it. Now before we dive into the history of 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:44.299 the martyrs, let's look at a map. I mean, you 00:21:44.299 --> 00:21:46.900 knew this was coming. Plus, I just need to lighten 00:21:46.900 --> 00:21:50.240 the mood. That was heavy. Just in case you're 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:52.240 unfamiliar with the geography of the British 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.039 Isles, here's a look at them. What you see there, 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:02.039 that big pink area in the south, that is... England, 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:05.359 very good. To the left there, you see Ireland 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:08.420 and that small section at the top, that's Northern 00:22:08.420 --> 00:22:11.319 Ireland. They are two separate nations today, 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.019 Northern Ireland. And then up in the north in 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.000 the yellow there, that is Scotland, correct? 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:19.200 And there are some dots there that represent 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.119 key cities that we will mention in today's story. 00:22:22.339 --> 00:22:25.240 So take a look. The blue dot is the capital of 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.079 Scotland. That is Edinburgh. The green dot is 00:22:29.079 --> 00:22:34.440 Glasgow. The red dot is the coastal city of St. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.460 Andrews. A lot takes place in St. Andrews. And 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:40.460 then the purple dot there is the city of Perth. 00:22:41.940 --> 00:22:44.160 So just so that you have an idea of the geography. 00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:46.119 Now, the first shot that was fired in the war 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:49.559 for truth in Scotland happened in the year 1528, 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.319 and it happened with this guy. His name is Patrick 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:56.119 Hamilton. A decade earlier, Luther had begun 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.200 turning the world upside down, simply asking 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:01.200 questions about how the Catholic Church was selling 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.779 indulgences, the abuse of that situation. And 00:23:04.779 --> 00:23:07.640 as Luther's ideas then began to sort of expand 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:10.960 and germinate, they were being put down in the 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:14.640 form of pamphlets. And they were being translated 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:17.640 into languages other than German. And they were 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:20.539 being printed. And they were being disseminated 00:23:20.539 --> 00:23:24.329 through parts of Europe. And Lutheran ideas had 00:23:24.329 --> 00:23:28.809 begun to trickle into Scotland in 1528. So much 00:23:28.809 --> 00:23:31.410 so, this is so funny, the Scottish Parliament 00:23:31.410 --> 00:23:36.150 actually had to pass a law, pass a law banning 00:23:36.150 --> 00:23:40.589 the importation of anything from Luther. The 00:23:40.589 --> 00:23:46.130 government passed a law to stop these ideas from 00:23:46.130 --> 00:23:49.099 hitting the shores of Scotland. As a Catholic 00:23:49.099 --> 00:23:51.240 nation, they said, we can't allow those ideas 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:53.619 onto our shores. Luther is not welcome here, 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:57.180 and if we catch you in possession of his materials, 00:23:57.259 --> 00:24:00.940 you will pay a price. Yet, Lutheran materials 00:24:00.940 --> 00:24:03.559 continued to be snuck into the ports of Scotland, 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:05.900 and they were getting into the hands of the common 00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:09.660 people. Something else was going on at the very 00:24:09.660 --> 00:24:14.099 same time. In that same year, 1525, an Oxford 00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:17.039 scholar and linguist by the name of William Tyndale 00:24:18.349 --> 00:24:22.390 had done the unthinkable. What is the unthinkable? 00:24:22.470 --> 00:24:27.849 He translated the Bible into English. He had 00:24:27.849 --> 00:24:29.990 taken the New Testament Greek manuscripts of 00:24:29.990 --> 00:24:33.569 Erasmus and over a three -year period had translated 00:24:33.569 --> 00:24:37.329 them into this guttural common language of Old 00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:41.910 English. But he didn't have papal approval to 00:24:41.910 --> 00:24:45.769 do that. He didn't have approval from the Catholic 00:24:45.769 --> 00:24:48.779 Bishop of London at the time. And so he found 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:50.960 out that the authorities were targeting him. 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.519 So he took his manuscripts and he fled to Germany, 00:24:54.579 --> 00:24:57.460 to the city of Cologne, and there he began to 00:24:57.460 --> 00:25:00.779 try to print and publish his work in English. 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:03.220 But then word came to his printer that he'd been 00:25:03.220 --> 00:25:06.299 discovered in Germany. So Tyndale had to run 00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:09.559 for his life with just the first 22 chapters 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:13.099 of Matthew completed. That's all he had at first. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:16.400 And that work, which one copy of it still survives 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.039 to this day, it's in the British Museum, is called 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:21.619 the Cologne Fragment. It actually looks like 00:25:21.619 --> 00:25:25.980 this. What an artifact that is. Look at the artwork. 00:25:26.619 --> 00:25:28.400 That's the beginning of Matthew. You see the 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:31.880 genealogies there, if you can read it. Only the 00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:34.660 first 22 chapters at that point. And the Cologne 00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:38.339 Fragment was smuggled into Scotland. Now, Tyndale 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:40.759 escaped. He eventually got to Holland where he 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.740 was able to begin to print again and he finished 00:25:43.740 --> 00:25:47.119 printing his entire New Testament from Holland 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:50.259 and that work also found its way into Scotland. 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:52.660 This is what I meant when I said when people 00:25:52.660 --> 00:25:54.640 finally get a little bit of light, they finally 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:57.240 can see the Bible for themselves, read it and 00:25:57.240 --> 00:25:59.700 hear it in their language. It's a game changer. 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:02.759 And by the way, historical note, for this great 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:06.549 service to Christianity, nine years later, Tyndale 00:26:06.549 --> 00:26:09.829 was burned at the stake by Catholic authorities 00:26:09.829 --> 00:26:15.410 for translating the Bible. His final words were 00:26:15.410 --> 00:26:18.190 this, Father, open the eyes of the King of England. 00:26:20.569 --> 00:26:23.869 Patrick Hamilton was 19 years old when Tyndale's 00:26:23.869 --> 00:26:26.950 New Testament and Luther's material were coming 00:26:26.950 --> 00:26:29.009 to the shores of Scotland. Now, he was a unique 00:26:29.009 --> 00:26:32.910 young man. He was a noble Scot by birth. In fact, 00:26:32.910 --> 00:26:34.990 he was the great -grandson of King James II. 00:26:36.269 --> 00:26:38.410 He was an important young man. He was raised 00:26:38.410 --> 00:26:41.809 in power and wealth and privilege. At the age 00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.609 of 14, he'd studied abroad in Paris. He was a 00:26:44.609 --> 00:26:48.230 real scholar. He'd gone on to Holland. He studied 00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:52.529 under Erasmus. And in both places, he came into 00:26:52.529 --> 00:26:54.589 contact with the writings of Luther and Philip 00:26:54.589 --> 00:26:57.150 Melanchthon. And what he saw in those writings, 00:26:57.269 --> 00:26:59.670 and he made this clear, was a connection between 00:26:59.670 --> 00:27:03.269 the Pharisees of Scripture and their works -oriented 00:27:03.269 --> 00:27:06.690 view of the law. and the works -oriented view 00:27:06.690 --> 00:27:08.710 of salvation that was being taught by the Roman 00:27:08.710 --> 00:27:11.950 Catholic Church. He made that important connection. 00:27:12.710 --> 00:27:15.309 And he came to embrace the gospel of sola fide, 00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:18.369 salvation by faith alone, and he saw it as the 00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:21.390 only hope for his Scottish countrymen. So at 00:27:21.390 --> 00:27:26.670 the ripe old age of 20, 20, he came back to Scotland, 00:27:26.789 --> 00:27:28.930 he came to the University of St. Andrews, he 00:27:28.930 --> 00:27:32.869 became part of the teaching faculty, and his... 00:27:33.390 --> 00:27:35.630 People are wont to do as they teach, guess what? 00:27:35.730 --> 00:27:37.710 The truth about what they believe comes out and 00:27:37.710 --> 00:27:40.349 he begins to speak publicly about his Lutheran 00:27:40.349 --> 00:27:43.089 leanings. And that did not meet with approval 00:27:43.089 --> 00:27:46.269 from his colleagues. In fact, soon after the 00:27:46.269 --> 00:27:49.750 Bishop of St. Andrews interrogated him, recommended 00:27:49.750 --> 00:27:53.150 that he face a public trial for holding heretical 00:27:53.150 --> 00:27:55.190 beliefs and understanding where that might lead, 00:27:55.450 --> 00:27:59.589 Hamilton decided to flee. And he went to Germany. 00:27:59.609 --> 00:28:02.230 He went to Wittenberg. He met Luther. He sat 00:28:02.230 --> 00:28:05.769 under Luther's teaching for six months. And then 00:28:05.769 --> 00:28:07.670 he traveled to Marburg where he studied under 00:28:07.670 --> 00:28:10.170 a man named Francis Lambert who had been a French 00:28:10.170 --> 00:28:12.849 Catholic monk who had also been converted to 00:28:12.849 --> 00:28:16.730 Lutheranism. And Lambert wrote later about Hamilton 00:28:16.730 --> 00:28:20.750 this incredible condemnation, not condemnation. 00:28:21.809 --> 00:28:24.329 This is what he said of Hamilton. His learning 00:28:24.329 --> 00:28:27.980 was of no common kind for his years. Still a 00:28:27.980 --> 00:28:31.200 young man. And his judgment in divine truth was 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:35.079 eminently clear and solid. His object in visiting 00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:38.180 was to confirm himself more abundantly in the 00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:41.960 truth. And I can say truly, I have seldom met 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:44.140 with anyone who has conversed on the word of 00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:47.000 God with greater spirituality and earnestness 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:50.970 of feeling. While he was at Marburg, Hamilton 00:28:50.970 --> 00:28:53.549 began producing his own theological pamphlets, 00:28:53.750 --> 00:28:56.750 which he offered for public debate. Come, let's 00:28:56.750 --> 00:28:59.569 talk about these things. One of them was titled, 00:28:59.650 --> 00:29:02.630 and this is a really catchy title, Errors and 00:29:02.630 --> 00:29:07.990 Absurdities of the Papists. Subtitled, Touching 00:29:07.990 --> 00:29:12.210 the Doctrine of Law and Gospel. These became 00:29:12.210 --> 00:29:15.869 known as Patrick's Places. They were deeply theological 00:29:15.869 --> 00:29:18.769 and brilliant, and they also made their way, 00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.859 to England and back to Scotland. And in that 00:29:21.859 --> 00:29:25.000 same year, Hamilton once again mustered up the 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.220 courage to return to Scotland, fully convinced 00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:30.380 of his need to bring reform to the church there. 00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:34.039 His friend said, please don't come, Patrick. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:36.299 It's too dangerous. But his heart for his people 00:29:36.299 --> 00:29:40.019 and for his country was too great. This time 00:29:40.019 --> 00:29:43.259 he avoided going to St. Andrews. He chose to 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:47.519 do open air preaching in the fields around Inverness. 00:29:48.619 --> 00:29:52.140 Talk about humility. He didn't need a big church. 00:29:52.259 --> 00:29:54.900 He didn't need a big cathedral. Just fields and 00:29:54.900 --> 00:29:59.359 hungry people. And predictably, once again, his 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.920 words came to the attention of the authorities. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.059 The Archbishop of Scotland summoned him to come 00:30:05.059 --> 00:30:08.910 to St. Andrews and defend his... his positions 00:30:08.910 --> 00:30:10.970 in private interviews. In over three weeks, he 00:30:10.970 --> 00:30:13.289 was able to speak openly about what he believed 00:30:13.289 --> 00:30:15.710 in front of the archbishop. He was even given 00:30:15.710 --> 00:30:19.650 a chance to debate a Catholic friar. And it was 00:30:19.650 --> 00:30:22.450 his effectiveness in those settings that led 00:30:22.450 --> 00:30:24.990 the archbishop to demand that he be put on trial 00:30:24.990 --> 00:30:28.490 for heresy. Hamilton's friends begged him to 00:30:28.490 --> 00:30:32.069 flee the country, but he refused because he wanted 00:30:32.069 --> 00:30:35.519 to keep pressing the issue at the court. But 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.160 when he arrived at the proceedings, he found 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:39.960 there were 13 charges leveled against him. Among 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:41.779 them, these statements which he had preached. 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:44.440 Number one, that baptism does not remove the 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:48.920 depravity of man. Two, that a man is not justified 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:52.839 by works but by faith alone. Three, that remission 00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:55.960 of sins cannot be obtained by means of penance. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:00.380 Neither Hamilton's youth, his good character, 00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:02.779 or his noble birth was going to save him from 00:31:02.779 --> 00:31:05.670 the bloodlust of the authorities. So the council 00:31:05.670 --> 00:31:08.390 found him guilty on the official charge, listen 00:31:08.390 --> 00:31:10.369 to this, this is the official charge, holding 00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:12.690 and maintaining the heresies of Martin Luther. 00:31:16.029 --> 00:31:19.950 Not that he was being unbiblical. Nothing else 00:31:19.950 --> 00:31:23.309 to say, well, this is why. Biblically, this is 00:31:23.309 --> 00:31:27.109 why he's a heretic. No, he just holds to the 00:31:27.109 --> 00:31:30.210 teachings of Luther. Guards escorted Hamilton 00:31:30.210 --> 00:31:33.069 to the site of his execution, which had already 00:31:33.069 --> 00:31:35.960 been prepared. in front of the gate of St. Salvatore's 00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:38.420 on the campus of the University of St. Andrews. 00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:41.359 As he approached the site, he still had a copy 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.640 of the Gospels in his hands, which he gave to 00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:45.920 a friend along with his faculty cap and gown. 00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:49.759 And when asked if he would recant, he looked 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:52.319 at his accusers, and this is what he said. As 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:55.079 to my confession, I will not deny it for awe 00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:59.500 of your fire. For my confession, I always get 00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:04.309 emotional when I read these. I'm sorry. For my 00:32:04.309 --> 00:32:07.809 confession and belief is in Christ Jesus, therefore 00:32:07.809 --> 00:32:11.029 I will not deny it. I will rather be content 00:32:11.029 --> 00:32:14.069 that my body burn in this fire for confession 00:32:14.069 --> 00:32:17.170 of my faith in Christ than my soul should burn 00:32:17.170 --> 00:32:22.910 in the fire of hell for denying the same. The 00:32:22.910 --> 00:32:24.950 executioner bound Hamilton with an iron chain 00:32:24.950 --> 00:32:27.589 to a stake and lit the fire beneath him, but 00:32:27.589 --> 00:32:30.920 unfortunately it was a very damp day. as it usually 00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:33.099 is in Scotland, and the wood would not light. 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:39.640 Hamilton stood there hour after hour as the pile 00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:41.859 just smoldered. At one point, to speed things 00:32:41.859 --> 00:32:45.579 up, the executioner threw gunpowder on the wood. 00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:48.039 It exploded, but it still didn't take his life. 00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:53.720 After six hours of agony and suffering, and finally 00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:55.779 on the brink of death, he cried out in pain. 00:32:58.569 --> 00:33:02.910 How long, O Lord, shall darkness overwhelm this 00:33:02.910 --> 00:33:06.509 nation? How long will you suffer this tyranny 00:33:06.509 --> 00:33:09.630 of men? And then he uttered his final words, 00:33:09.710 --> 00:33:14.069 Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Patrick Hamilton 00:33:14.069 --> 00:33:20.509 was 24 years old. As I was contemplating his 00:33:20.509 --> 00:33:23.789 life this week, this passage from Mark, Mark 00:33:23.789 --> 00:33:27.069 chapter 8, came to mind. Jesus summoned the crowd 00:33:27.069 --> 00:33:29.130 with his disciples and said to them, if anyone 00:33:29.130 --> 00:33:33.509 wishes to come after me, he must deny himself 00:33:33.509 --> 00:33:38.390 and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever 00:33:38.390 --> 00:33:42.390 wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever 00:33:42.390 --> 00:33:45.849 loses his life for my sake and the gospels will 00:33:45.849 --> 00:33:49.710 save it. For what does it profit a man to gain 00:33:49.710 --> 00:33:57.789 the whole world and forfeit his soul? Patrick 00:33:57.789 --> 00:34:00.329 Hamilton embodied that truth right to the very 00:34:00.329 --> 00:34:02.789 end of his short life on earth. But friends, 00:34:02.849 --> 00:34:05.630 I have this feeling in my heart that the current 00:34:05.630 --> 00:34:08.989 life that Patrick Hamilton is enjoying is glorious 00:34:08.989 --> 00:34:13.590 beyond what we can imagine. Today he's considered 00:34:13.590 --> 00:34:15.349 the first martyr of the Scottish Reformation, 00:34:15.570 --> 00:34:19.429 but he certainly won't be the last. And his execution 00:34:19.429 --> 00:34:22.409 did not sit well with the people of Scotland. 00:34:23.530 --> 00:34:26.130 They knew of the gracious character of this young 00:34:26.130 --> 00:34:30.369 man. They sensed injustice in his death. In fact, 00:34:30.409 --> 00:34:32.869 one writer of the day wrote this in the local, 00:34:33.030 --> 00:34:35.550 I guess you'd call newspaper of the day. It says, 00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:38.550 the reek of Patrick Hamilton's death infected 00:34:38.550 --> 00:34:43.289 all on whom it did blow. To this very day, you 00:34:43.289 --> 00:34:47.150 will find his initials set as a monogram in the 00:34:47.150 --> 00:34:50.710 cobblestone pavement at the exact site where 00:34:50.710 --> 00:34:59.559 he was executed in St. Andrews. That's us. We 00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:06.239 were just there. It's powerful. Now, we've talked 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:08.639 about a couple of foundational dates, which means 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:10.880 I want to give you a timeline. I know that's 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:13.780 not a surprise either. For you visual learners 00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:17.590 like myself, remember Luther's 95 Theses. are 00:35:17.590 --> 00:35:20.949 posted in the year 1517, the accepted dates of 00:35:20.949 --> 00:35:23.849 what we call the Scottish Reformation, 1525 to 00:35:23.849 --> 00:35:28.210 1560. 1560 is when Scotland becomes officially 00:35:28.210 --> 00:35:31.750 a Protestant nation. So we're gonna start walking 00:35:31.750 --> 00:35:33.650 down this timeline just so you can see these 00:35:33.650 --> 00:35:36.889 dates. Luther on one end, the end of the Scottish 00:35:36.889 --> 00:35:39.469 Reformation on the other, and we have the martyrdom 00:35:39.469 --> 00:35:44.550 of Hamilton there in 1528. Now, in spite of the 00:35:44.550 --> 00:35:46.590 public's reaction to the execution of Hamilton, 00:35:46.849 --> 00:35:49.329 the Scottish authorities were not done. They 00:35:49.329 --> 00:35:52.449 pressed forward with more persecutions. There 00:35:52.449 --> 00:35:54.429 was a young man named Henry Forrest, a young 00:35:54.429 --> 00:35:57.429 Scotsman who had dedicated his life to Christian 00:35:57.429 --> 00:36:00.610 ministry, so much so he had become a Benedictine 00:36:00.610 --> 00:36:05.110 friar of the Catholic Church. But soon after 00:36:05.110 --> 00:36:07.150 making that commitment, he'd become aware of 00:36:07.150 --> 00:36:09.469 Lutheran teachings. He had heard the preaching 00:36:09.469 --> 00:36:12.889 of Patrick Hamilton. And he was present on the 00:36:12.889 --> 00:36:17.070 day that Hamilton was put to death. And in 1533, 00:36:17.289 --> 00:36:20.489 five years after Hamilton was executed, Henry 00:36:20.489 --> 00:36:24.150 Forrest was arrested because he was caught in 00:36:24.150 --> 00:36:30.250 possession of an English New Testament. That's 00:36:30.250 --> 00:36:32.969 it. He was caught in possession of an English 00:36:32.969 --> 00:36:35.869 New Testament. But because the archbishop was 00:36:35.869 --> 00:36:38.070 unable to convict him based on public testimony, 00:36:38.909 --> 00:36:41.730 The archbishop, get this now, sent a fellow monk 00:36:41.730 --> 00:36:45.869 to go hear his confession under false pretenses. 00:36:46.130 --> 00:36:49.769 And trusting the sanctity of confession, Henry 00:36:49.769 --> 00:36:53.429 Forrest admitted his beliefs. Quote, Patrick 00:36:53.429 --> 00:36:57.070 Hamilton died as a martyr, he said. And his articles 00:36:57.070 --> 00:37:01.250 were true. This was then relayed to the authorities 00:37:01.250 --> 00:37:03.769 and Forrest was brought before a council. He 00:37:03.769 --> 00:37:06.590 was stripped of his holy orders and he was accused 00:37:06.590 --> 00:37:10.489 of heresy. In response, he looked at the monk 00:37:10.489 --> 00:37:13.369 who had betrayed him and he said, shame on your 00:37:13.369 --> 00:37:17.250 falsehood. Shame on you, revealer of confessions. 00:37:18.110 --> 00:37:21.429 After this day, let no man trust a friar. Haters 00:37:21.429 --> 00:37:24.690 of God's word and deceivers of men. And then 00:37:24.690 --> 00:37:26.750 he turned to the archbishop and he said, take 00:37:26.750 --> 00:37:29.710 from me not just my orders, take my baptism as 00:37:29.710 --> 00:37:32.510 well. He would have nothing to do with the Catholic 00:37:32.510 --> 00:37:36.110 Church. Henry Forrest would spend the next few 00:37:36.110 --> 00:37:38.179 months in the... prisoned in the Tower of St. 00:37:38.340 --> 00:37:40.900 Andrews before being taken to the north style 00:37:40.900 --> 00:37:43.420 of the Abbey Church where he was burned alive. 00:37:47.559 --> 00:37:49.860 The Archbishop of St. Andrews, who now had been 00:37:49.860 --> 00:37:52.400 elevated to the position of Cardinal, then went 00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:55.320 hunting for even more heretics that he could 00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:58.519 use as public examples, as if he could scare 00:37:58.519 --> 00:38:00.960 away the people from truth. He became aware of 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:03.300 two young men in the city of Glasgow who had 00:38:03.300 --> 00:38:06.489 recently been arrested. Jerome Russell was a 00:38:06.489 --> 00:38:09.550 monk as well, a Franciscan monk, and 18 -year 00:38:09.550 --> 00:38:12.710 -old Alexander Kennedy was a Scottish poet, and 00:38:12.710 --> 00:38:17.030 both had been publicly, both publicly expressed 00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:20.250 support of Reformation principles. And on the 00:38:20.250 --> 00:38:22.769 day that they were examined, Kennedy surprised 00:38:22.769 --> 00:38:26.869 everyone, 18 years old, when he fell to his knees 00:38:26.869 --> 00:38:29.230 and began to praise God and thank him for the 00:38:29.230 --> 00:38:32.900 trial. And as he looked at his accusers in the 00:38:32.900 --> 00:38:35.860 eyes, he said, now I defy death. Do what you 00:38:35.860 --> 00:38:41.960 please. I praise my God. I am ready. According 00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:43.980 to eyewitnesses, Jerome Russell was even more 00:38:43.980 --> 00:38:47.039 blunt and more eloquent. He said this. This is 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:51.579 your hour, he said, the hour of darkness. Now 00:38:51.579 --> 00:38:54.300 you sit as judges as we stand wrongfully accused 00:38:54.300 --> 00:38:57.599 and wrongfully to be condemned. But the day shall 00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:01.619 come. when our innocence shall appear and you 00:39:01.619 --> 00:39:04.960 shall see your own blindness. To your everlasting 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.440 confusion, go forward and fulfill the measure 00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:12.360 of your iniquity. Man, I hope if this ever happens 00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:17.940 to me, I have words that eloquent. Wow. More 00:39:17.940 --> 00:39:23.219 martyrdoms. Still, that wasn't enough. In the 00:39:23.219 --> 00:39:26.360 year 1543, six members of the local mercantile 00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:29.230 community in the city of Perth were arrested 00:39:29.230 --> 00:39:32.570 for having Protestant sympathies. Now, these 00:39:32.570 --> 00:39:35.449 six people were not churchmen. They were not 00:39:35.449 --> 00:39:37.570 theologians or monks or priests. They were just 00:39:37.570 --> 00:39:40.789 everyday folk who had embraced the materials 00:39:40.789 --> 00:39:43.070 that had come over from the continent, come across 00:39:43.070 --> 00:39:48.349 their vision, and they had read it. Two of the 00:39:48.349 --> 00:39:51.710 men worked with barley. They were farmers to 00:39:51.710 --> 00:39:54.409 make whiskey in Scotland, which everyone does, 00:39:54.530 --> 00:39:58.010 by the way. Two of them were farmers. One was 00:39:58.010 --> 00:40:01.269 a skinner. Two others were butchers. And the 00:40:01.269 --> 00:40:04.250 sixth was a woman by the name of Helen Stark, 00:40:04.510 --> 00:40:08.309 a wife and a mother. The charges leveled against 00:40:08.309 --> 00:40:11.110 them included this, interrupting a friar in the 00:40:11.110 --> 00:40:14.230 pulpit to ask a question about his understanding 00:40:14.230 --> 00:40:18.909 of the scriptures, eating a goose on All Hallows' 00:40:18.929 --> 00:40:23.150 Eve, which was a fast day in the Catholic Church, 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:26.199 And in Helen Stark's case, are you ready for 00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:31.139 this? Do not throw anything at me. Declining 00:40:31.139 --> 00:40:33.519 to call upon the Virgin Mary during childbirth. 00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:41.159 That was an actual charge against her. And even 00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:42.780 though there was great sympathy and intercession 00:40:42.780 --> 00:40:45.219 made by the townspeople to square their lives, 00:40:45.300 --> 00:40:47.880 these five men, I'm just gonna read their names 00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:52.980 because it matters. William Anderson, James Finlayson, 00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:56.920 James Hunter, Robert Lamb, and James Ravelson 00:40:56.920 --> 00:41:00.619 were taken to the gallows and hanged for those 00:41:00.619 --> 00:41:04.079 crimes. As for Helen Stark, the council did not 00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:07.719 have the stomach to watch her hang, so they drowned 00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:13.840 her in a sack in the nearby river. These are 00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:20.079 known as the Perth Six. Three years after that, 00:41:20.710 --> 00:41:23.429 the most important martyr of the Scottish Reformation 00:41:23.429 --> 00:41:27.630 was executed. And this one was truly the hinge 00:41:27.630 --> 00:41:30.010 point that sparked the movement. His name was 00:41:30.010 --> 00:41:34.730 George Wishart. Like Hamilton, Wishart descended 00:41:34.730 --> 00:41:38.030 from a noble Scottish family. Like Hamilton, 00:41:38.190 --> 00:41:41.289 he was a learned scholar. And like Hamilton, 00:41:41.449 --> 00:41:43.690 through his studies, he became absolutely convinced 00:41:43.690 --> 00:41:48.340 of Reformed theology. Wishart first came into 00:41:48.340 --> 00:41:50.320 contact with the gospel, get this, while teaching 00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:54.719 New Testament Greek. He was a linguist. He'd 00:41:54.719 --> 00:41:56.860 studied the classics at the University of Aberdeen. 00:41:56.920 --> 00:42:00.039 He had taught languages as a schoolmaster. In 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:02.820 1538, a decade after Hamilton had been executed, 00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:05.780 Wishart was first accused of being a heretic. 00:42:05.820 --> 00:42:08.659 And while Hamilton had run off to Germany, Wishart 00:42:08.659 --> 00:42:12.239 ran off to Switzerland. And there he was profoundly 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:15.909 influenced by the teachings of John Calvin. A 00:42:15.909 --> 00:42:18.130 few years later, after proving himself theologically, 00:42:18.190 --> 00:42:21.210 get this, Wishart was invited by King Henry VIII 00:42:21.210 --> 00:42:25.030 to come to Cambridge to join his faculty of reformers 00:42:25.030 --> 00:42:28.650 that he was assembling there. He spent time teaching 00:42:28.650 --> 00:42:31.309 at Cambridge, and in spite of the risk, he returned 00:42:31.309 --> 00:42:35.110 to Scotland in 1544 with the very simple goal 00:42:35.110 --> 00:42:37.989 of preaching the gospel and exposing the pagan 00:42:37.989 --> 00:42:40.690 idolatry that he believed had come into the church. 00:42:42.059 --> 00:42:44.960 And when he found that churches in Scotland, 00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:47.320 when he got back, he expected to be embraced. 00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:49.480 When he found churches were closing their doors 00:42:49.480 --> 00:42:51.360 to him because they'd been ordered to close their 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:54.420 doors, like others, he went out into the fields. 00:42:55.150 --> 00:42:57.429 into the hills of Scotland and began to preach 00:42:57.429 --> 00:42:59.869 to large crowds that were hungry for the truth. 00:43:00.050 --> 00:43:02.550 He spent time preaching in public spaces around 00:43:02.550 --> 00:43:05.889 Montrose and Dundee. And one incident in particular 00:43:05.889 --> 00:43:08.030 that's worth mentioning in Dundee, listen to 00:43:08.030 --> 00:43:10.829 what happened. The new Cardinal of St. Andrews, 00:43:10.829 --> 00:43:14.190 a wicked man by the name of David Beaton, he 00:43:14.190 --> 00:43:17.469 sent a priest in disguise to attend one of Wishart's 00:43:17.469 --> 00:43:20.969 sermons, but with the goal of assassinating him, 00:43:21.150 --> 00:43:26.360 an archbishop. an archbishop. But when the plot 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:28.780 failed and the crowd realized that this assassin 00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:31.780 was there to kill Wishart, they wanted to lynch 00:43:31.780 --> 00:43:34.360 him on the spot, and Wishart defended the man. 00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:38.800 He actually told the crowd to back away. He forgave 00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:41.420 the man. He freed the man and sent him back to 00:43:41.420 --> 00:43:45.260 Cardinal Beaton as a message of grace. You think 00:43:45.260 --> 00:43:50.789 that didn't impact people? After that close call, 00:43:50.869 --> 00:43:52.849 Wishart left Dundee. He went to stay in East 00:43:52.849 --> 00:43:55.809 Lothian where God orchestrated a divine meeting 00:43:55.809 --> 00:43:59.010 between himself and a young man by the name of 00:43:59.010 --> 00:44:02.610 John Knox who became not only his disciple but 00:44:02.610 --> 00:44:06.190 a very close friend. In fact, Knox, who was known 00:44:06.190 --> 00:44:08.309 to be sort of a tough guy and very good with 00:44:08.309 --> 00:44:11.530 a sword, volunteered to be Wishart's personal 00:44:11.530 --> 00:44:14.230 bodyguard and would stand next to him in the 00:44:14.230 --> 00:44:18.309 fields while Wishart preached. sword in hand, 00:44:18.389 --> 00:44:22.909 just in case another assassin came his way. This 00:44:22.909 --> 00:44:26.269 was the heart of John Knox. But it was clear 00:44:26.269 --> 00:44:28.230 that Wishart's ministry was upsetting all the 00:44:28.230 --> 00:44:30.389 wrong people. He was a marked man. He knew it. 00:44:30.869 --> 00:44:34.170 And so one night during their travels, George 00:44:34.170 --> 00:44:37.409 Wishart turned to Knox and ordered him to depart. 00:44:38.969 --> 00:44:41.769 He knew deep in his soul he was going to be betrayed. 00:44:41.869 --> 00:44:46.110 He wanted to spare Knox. So according to Knox's 00:44:46.110 --> 00:44:49.789 own recollection, Wisher turned to him and said 00:44:49.789 --> 00:44:53.309 this. He said, return to your barons, meaning 00:44:53.309 --> 00:44:59.630 his students, and God bless you. One is sufficient 00:44:59.630 --> 00:45:06.230 for this sacrifice. Wisher was arrested within 00:45:06.230 --> 00:45:09.809 a week. He was condemned by the church council 00:45:09.809 --> 00:45:12.510 to burn at the stake. And Cardinal Beaton planned 00:45:12.510 --> 00:45:15.809 to make sure that Wishart was publicly humiliated 00:45:15.809 --> 00:45:18.369 in front of him. He chose to have him executed 00:45:18.369 --> 00:45:21.690 just outside the castle at St. Andrews where 00:45:21.690 --> 00:45:23.750 Beaton lived and worked so he could watch it 00:45:23.750 --> 00:45:28.250 happen from his bedroom window. And on March 00:45:28.250 --> 00:45:32.710 1st, 1546, Wishart was burned alive as the cardinal 00:45:32.710 --> 00:45:35.909 coldly watched from his window. Now the ruins 00:45:35.909 --> 00:45:38.800 of that castle, We were just there a week ago. 00:45:39.320 --> 00:45:41.980 They still stand. They're pretty beaten up, and 00:45:41.980 --> 00:45:46.320 you'll learn why in a bit. See that window? That's 00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:50.619 where Cardinal Beaton stood, gleefully watching 00:45:50.619 --> 00:45:56.239 George Wishart burn to death. But when he came 00:45:56.239 --> 00:45:58.760 to this place of death, Wishart knelt and he 00:45:58.760 --> 00:46:00.780 prayed, and then he addressed the watching crowd 00:46:00.780 --> 00:46:04.340 with these words. I love that people recorded 00:46:04.340 --> 00:46:07.840 this. He said, If I had taught the doctrines 00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:09.780 of men, I would have received greater thanks 00:46:09.780 --> 00:46:13.900 from men. But for the true gospel, which was 00:46:13.900 --> 00:46:16.360 given to me by the grace of God, I suffer this 00:46:16.360 --> 00:46:21.019 day by men, not sorrowfully, but with a glad 00:46:21.019 --> 00:46:26.159 heart in mind. This grim fire I fear not. I know 00:46:26.159 --> 00:46:28.400 surely that my soul shall sup with my Savior 00:46:28.400 --> 00:46:34.519 this night for whom I suffer this. As the fire 00:46:34.519 --> 00:46:36.920 was lit, he said of those who had persecuted 00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:41.059 him, I forgive them with all my heart. And finally, 00:46:41.059 --> 00:46:42.960 he said to all those who could hear his voice, 00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:45.760 he left this. He said, I beseech you, brothers 00:46:45.760 --> 00:46:49.239 and sisters, exhort your bishops to the learning 00:46:49.239 --> 00:46:51.639 of the word of God that they may be ashamed to 00:46:51.639 --> 00:46:58.340 do evil and learn to do good. Like Patrick Hamilton, 00:46:58.539 --> 00:47:02.320 today the initials GW are built into the street. 00:47:03.469 --> 00:47:06.269 there in St. Andrews on the site of his execution. 00:47:08.989 --> 00:47:11.929 So we have a last martyr. Not the end of it, 00:47:12.010 --> 00:47:15.650 but this really is the hinge point for the Scottish 00:47:15.650 --> 00:47:18.429 Reformation. And here's what makes Wishart's 00:47:18.429 --> 00:47:20.949 execution so important. It's not just that John 00:47:20.949 --> 00:47:24.409 Knox was his disciple, that this was Knox's mentor. 00:47:24.690 --> 00:47:27.349 The bigger issue was the response from every 00:47:27.349 --> 00:47:30.050 corner of the Scottish countryside at the death 00:47:30.050 --> 00:47:32.789 of Wishart. Beaton was already disliked by the, 00:47:33.130 --> 00:47:35.429 by the clan leaders, by the Lairds of Scotland. 00:47:35.889 --> 00:47:38.170 They had grudges against him for all kinds of 00:47:38.170 --> 00:47:41.369 things, but now the injustice of this, the speed 00:47:41.369 --> 00:47:43.550 at which Wishart was put to death, they began 00:47:43.550 --> 00:47:45.710 to see that there was this growing tyranny of 00:47:45.710 --> 00:47:48.250 the Catholic Church because the people had known 00:47:48.250 --> 00:47:51.369 Wishart and they had seen his character. They 00:47:51.369 --> 00:47:53.949 saw how he cared for people. They saw how he 00:47:53.949 --> 00:47:56.510 forgave. They saw how he preached the truth of 00:47:56.510 --> 00:48:00.190 God's word and they had seen his sacrifice now. 00:48:00.489 --> 00:48:02.289 for the cause of Christ, that he would not deny 00:48:02.289 --> 00:48:05.530 his Lord. So when the nobles and the lairds stepped 00:48:05.530 --> 00:48:08.210 back and they said, look at the Protestant martyrs 00:48:08.210 --> 00:48:10.030 of St. Andrews, look how they carried themselves, 00:48:10.329 --> 00:48:12.510 and then compared them to the Catholic authorities 00:48:12.510 --> 00:48:15.010 that ruled over them, there was no comparison. 00:48:16.750 --> 00:48:21.670 And the smell of an uprising began to form. Although 00:48:21.670 --> 00:48:23.730 Wishart didn't have a long gospel ministry in 00:48:23.730 --> 00:48:26.630 Scotland, its effects were very long -lasting. 00:48:28.010 --> 00:48:29.989 His heart for preaching in the fields helped 00:48:29.989 --> 00:48:32.989 to lay a foundation of biblical truth among the 00:48:32.989 --> 00:48:35.469 people of that region and in the sovereign plan 00:48:35.469 --> 00:48:37.949 of God. It was the foundation that Knox would 00:48:37.949 --> 00:48:41.849 build upon over the next 14 years to turn Scotland 00:48:41.849 --> 00:48:44.590 to a Protestant nation. Now, I'll wrap up with 00:48:44.590 --> 00:48:46.869 this. There is an interesting PS to the story 00:48:46.869 --> 00:48:52.019 of Cardinal Beaton. It'll set the stage for next 00:48:52.019 --> 00:48:54.000 Sunday's message. Next Sunday we'll really focus 00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:56.880 on the life of Knox and how those last 14 years 00:48:56.880 --> 00:49:00.579 came about. But two months after Wishart had 00:49:00.579 --> 00:49:04.340 been humiliated and executed, a group of Klan 00:49:04.340 --> 00:49:07.659 leaders from the county of Fife hatched a plan 00:49:07.659 --> 00:49:12.119 to get revenge. Disguised as stonemasons, a well 00:49:12.119 --> 00:49:14.599 -trained group of operators snuck into that same 00:49:14.599 --> 00:49:17.519 castle at St. Andrews. They overwhelmed the guards. 00:49:18.440 --> 00:49:21.619 And they paid a visit to Cardinal Beaton in his 00:49:21.619 --> 00:49:25.800 bedroom. Not only did they stab him to death, 00:49:26.019 --> 00:49:29.460 they returned his humiliation of Wishart by hanging 00:49:29.460 --> 00:49:33.219 his body from that very same window where he 00:49:33.219 --> 00:49:37.360 watched Wishart die. And so for the next two 00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:39.860 years, catch this now, a Protestant militia, 00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:43.940 a Protestant militia led by Protestant clan leaders 00:49:43.940 --> 00:49:48.349 controlled St. Andrews from that castle. One 00:49:48.349 --> 00:49:51.269 year into their rule from that castle, those 00:49:51.269 --> 00:49:54.449 same clan leaders sent word to John Knox. And 00:49:54.449 --> 00:49:56.269 they said, will you come to St. Andrews? Will 00:49:56.269 --> 00:49:59.530 you join us in this garrison in the castle? Will 00:49:59.530 --> 00:50:04.510 you be our chaplain and our preacher? To this, 00:50:04.590 --> 00:50:07.230 Knox hesitated. He responded by writing to them, 00:50:07.289 --> 00:50:10.030 I cannot accept such a role without a clear and 00:50:10.030 --> 00:50:13.340 lawful calling from God. But after further urging 00:50:13.340 --> 00:50:16.260 and days spent in prayer, Knox eventually accepted 00:50:16.260 --> 00:50:19.179 their invitation and he joined the Protestant 00:50:19.179 --> 00:50:22.980 garrison at the castle. And he began to preach 00:50:22.980 --> 00:50:25.760 for the first time. He'd been a bodyguard. He'd 00:50:25.760 --> 00:50:28.039 been present with Wisher, but now he was in charge. 00:50:28.500 --> 00:50:33.460 You're our preacher. And he began to teach the 00:50:33.460 --> 00:50:37.820 word of God to the men in this castle. Now I'll 00:50:37.820 --> 00:50:39.679 share more about this next Sunday, but very quickly, 00:50:39.760 --> 00:50:42.420 the political situation in Scotland at this time 00:50:42.420 --> 00:50:45.139 is important. Four years before Wishart was executed, 00:50:45.500 --> 00:50:49.440 the king of Scotland, James V, had died. And 00:50:49.440 --> 00:50:52.699 his heir was one daughter, and she was an infant. 00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:55.800 Now she would grow up to be a very controversial 00:50:55.800 --> 00:50:58.880 figure. Her name is Mary Stuart. We know her 00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:02.059 as Mary, Queen of Scots. But while she was an 00:51:02.059 --> 00:51:04.980 infant, her widowed mother, took control of Scotland 00:51:04.980 --> 00:51:07.840 as the regent in her place, and her name was 00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:13.360 Mary of Guise. And this Mary was not Scottish. 00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:17.840 She was French. She was from a very powerful 00:51:17.840 --> 00:51:21.400 French house, the House of Guise. And her two 00:51:21.400 --> 00:51:23.880 goals in life became these. Number one, protect 00:51:23.880 --> 00:51:26.260 her daughter's throne, and number two, increase 00:51:26.260 --> 00:51:30.219 French influence over Scottish politics. So when 00:51:30.219 --> 00:51:32.960 Mary of Guise was told about this Protestant, 00:51:33.630 --> 00:51:36.110 Clan leaders have taken over the castle of St. 00:51:36.269 --> 00:51:38.989 Andrews. She reached out to her contacts back 00:51:38.989 --> 00:51:42.510 home in France and said, I need some help. And 00:51:42.510 --> 00:51:45.469 soon enough, French Navy ships were spotted off 00:51:45.469 --> 00:51:48.690 the coast of Scotland. For weeks, they bombarded 00:51:48.690 --> 00:51:51.250 the castle from the sea as Knox and his fellow 00:51:51.250 --> 00:51:54.989 Protestants barricaded themselves inside. And 00:51:54.989 --> 00:51:57.050 they held out for weeks, but eventually the French 00:51:57.050 --> 00:51:59.750 Navy landed. They surrounded that castle with 00:51:59.750 --> 00:52:02.110 soldiers and with cannons, and they said, you 00:52:02.110 --> 00:52:05.349 have one chance to surrender, which they did. 00:52:06.389 --> 00:52:10.070 Smart move, saved their lives. But among the 00:52:10.070 --> 00:52:12.250 men that were arrested that day, Knox was not 00:52:12.250 --> 00:52:14.230 seen as an important man. So you know what the 00:52:14.230 --> 00:52:17.489 French did with him? They took him as a slave. 00:52:18.650 --> 00:52:22.389 So catch this now. For the next two years, the 00:52:22.389 --> 00:52:24.570 great reformer of Scotland was forced to live 00:52:24.570 --> 00:52:28.110 below the deck of a French Navy ship chained 00:52:28.110 --> 00:52:31.670 to an oar as a galley slave. He rode for two 00:52:31.670 --> 00:52:35.750 years in the French Navy, day in and day out, 00:52:35.789 --> 00:52:40.489 as a slave. And later he would admit he never 00:52:40.489 --> 00:52:42.650 physically recovered from this period of his 00:52:42.650 --> 00:52:46.369 life. But we'll unpack all that next week as 00:52:46.369 --> 00:52:50.260 we talk more about... Knox's Protestant reforms. 00:52:50.500 --> 00:52:52.980 For today, I just want to leave you with this 00:52:52.980 --> 00:52:55.179 one thought, coming back to where we started 00:52:55.179 --> 00:52:57.920 at the beginning of the message. If you were 00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:00.360 suffering religious tyranny at the hands of your 00:53:00.360 --> 00:53:05.780 government, what would you do? Just consider 00:53:05.780 --> 00:53:09.519 it this week. Think carefully about it. Don't 00:53:09.519 --> 00:53:11.179 just think emotionally. Think biblically. What 00:53:11.179 --> 00:53:15.300 would you do? Whenever we talk about martyrs 00:53:15.300 --> 00:53:17.139 for the cause of Christ, it's worth considering. 00:53:18.360 --> 00:53:21.559 What things am I willing to count as loss in 00:53:21.559 --> 00:53:24.860 view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ 00:53:24.860 --> 00:53:27.539 Jesus as my Lord and my Savior? What are we willing 00:53:27.539 --> 00:53:33.260 to count as loss? We all know Paul wrote these 00:53:33.260 --> 00:53:36.039 famous words, right? Philippians chapter one. 00:53:37.079 --> 00:53:41.039 For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 00:53:44.110 --> 00:53:47.050 Is that a slogan that we live by? Just a slogan, 00:53:47.110 --> 00:53:51.349 or do we actually believe that? I pray that none 00:53:51.349 --> 00:53:53.150 of us has to be in the position of a Patrick 00:53:53.150 --> 00:53:56.750 Hamilton or a George Wishart, but it's always 00:53:56.750 --> 00:53:59.250 profitable to ask the question of our own hearts, 00:53:59.409 --> 00:54:02.050 given that kind of test, am I willing to give 00:54:02.050 --> 00:54:07.730 my all for him? Consider that this week. In the 00:54:07.730 --> 00:54:14.389 meantime, happy Reformation Day. Honestly, may 00:54:14.389 --> 00:54:17.190 we as a church continue, continue to remember 00:54:17.190 --> 00:54:21.409 our history well. May we honor those who have 00:54:21.409 --> 00:54:24.269 gone before us, honor those who have paved the 00:54:24.269 --> 00:54:26.949 way to the freedoms that we enjoy today, and 00:54:26.949 --> 00:54:30.929 may we never, never, never, never take the gospel 00:54:30.929 --> 00:54:35.230 of God's grace for granted. Amen? Let's bow our 00:54:35.230 --> 00:54:40.269 heads. Father, when we look back at things like 00:54:40.269 --> 00:54:44.769 this, we are overwhelmed by The level of sacrifice, 00:54:45.150 --> 00:54:49.730 the level of courage that these men have showed 00:54:49.730 --> 00:54:52.710 in the face of great testing. Lord, we also know 00:54:52.710 --> 00:54:57.170 that in those moments, we 100 % believe that 00:54:57.170 --> 00:54:59.849 it was you that was strengthening them for that 00:54:59.849 --> 00:55:04.429 time. And so we praise you, Lord, for their examples. 00:55:04.570 --> 00:55:06.429 We praise you for the work you did in their lives. 00:55:06.510 --> 00:55:08.630 We praise you for the movement that was created 00:55:08.630 --> 00:55:11.050 through your servants, God, that you were doing 00:55:11.050 --> 00:55:13.630 a work in Europe at that time and that we sit 00:55:13.630 --> 00:55:18.010 here today because you did that work. So we praise 00:55:18.010 --> 00:55:21.250 your name above all else. We can talk about the 00:55:21.250 --> 00:55:23.250 great deeds of men, but Lord, it's about you. 00:55:23.289 --> 00:55:25.789 It's about what you've done through them. So 00:55:25.789 --> 00:55:27.869 thank you for the inspiration of these examples. 00:55:28.369 --> 00:55:31.639 Lord, may it cause us to Spend time even this 00:55:31.639 --> 00:55:35.159 week asking good hard questions of our own heart. 00:55:35.800 --> 00:55:38.800 What are we willing to give up? Are we willing 00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:41.000 to sacrifice all? Thank you for that. Thank you 00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:42.860 for our time together this morning. In Christ's 00:55:42.860 --> 00:55:44.179 name we pray. Amen.