Reformation video

Order of Service

• Video Presentation — The English Reformation (Michael Reeves)
• Discussion
• Closing Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Glory of Christ and the English Reformation

Scripture: No single passage

I. Introduction to the English Reformation

A. Michael Reeves introduces the significance of the Reformation through personal experience working in Oxford B. The cross of brick on Broad Street marks where Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer were burned for their belief in justification by faith alone

II. Luther's Question: How Can I Be Saved?

A. Medieval Roman Catholic teaching on salvation by grace

1. Based on a misapplication of Romans 5:5 — grace poured into our hearts interpreted as a process of becoming more justified through transformed behavior
2. Grace treated as spiritual energy to enable holy works, not as free imputed righteousness
3. Mary held up as the supreme example of one "full of grace" and therefore ready for holy works

B. Luther's crisis of conscience

1. Despite strict monastic discipline, his conscience could not give him certainty of salvation
2. The more he relied on human traditions to remedy his troubled conscience, the more uncertain he became

C. Luther's Reformation discovery through Romans 1:17

1. Justification is not a process of being made holy but a declaration based on the righteousness of Christ received through faith alone
2. Luther's marriage image from The Freedom of a Christian: the sinner gives Christ all her sin and shame; Christ gives the sinner all his righteousness
3. Richard Sibbs (the "Heavenly Dr. Sibbs") applied this: "There is more righteousness in Christ who is mine than there is sin in me"

III. The Second Question: How Can I Know What Is True?

A. John Owen's answer in The Reason of Faith (Works, Vol. 4)

1. The Bible is not trusted on the authority of a pope or scholar
2. Scripture is self-evidencing — it illuminates God, exposes the human condition, and makes sense of the world in a way nothing else does

B. William Tyndale as the supreme example of this conviction

1. Translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English
2. Over 16,000 copies smuggled into England when it was illegal to own
3. Martyred near Brussels in 1535, strangled and burned, with his last words: "Lord, open the King of England's eyes"
4. King Henry VIII subsequently made Bible reading in English legal, and "Bible shouters" gathered in churches to read Scripture aloud

IV. The Discovery of the Glory of Christ

A. Before the Reformation, Christ was seen primarily as an example to follow — impressive but not loved B. Luther's key insight: before you take Christ as an example, you must receive him as a gift C. This is what turned cities, towns, and lives around — a glorious Savior freely giving himself through justification by grace alone through faith alone

V. Thomas Goodwin and the Application for Today

A. Goodwin struggled for seven years with the same doubts Luther and Reeves experienced B. A wise pastor's counsel: stop depending on your own feelings and performance for peace with God — rest entirely on Christ C. Goodwin's diagnosis of his day (and ours): "The minds of many are so wholly taken up with their own hearts" that, as the psalmist says of God, Christ is scarcely in all their thoughts D. Goodwin's dying words: "Christ cannot love me better than he does; I think I cannot love Christ better than I do"

VI. Post-Video Discussion Highlights

A. Question raised: How does Christ's death and resurrection function as payment for sin?

1. Christ died bearing our sin and facing the full wrath of God — nothing short of hell on the cross
2. Because he was without sin, God raised him — justifying his Son and, in him, all who are united to him by faith

B. Application: What does resting on grace look like daily?

1. The need for church leaders today who feed congregations with these truths from the pulpit, as Sibbs, Owen, and Goodwin did
2. 2 Corinthians 12 — Paul's thorn in the flesh given so he would not become elated but would continually depend on God's grace and mercy alone
3. The gospel is the once-for-all faith delivered to the saints (Galatians 1:8–9) — it does not change across generations and connects the church of every age

C. Recommended reading

1. Richard Sibbs, The Bruised Reed — on the mercy, compassion, and tenderness of Christ toward sinners
2. Michael Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame — an accessible introduction to the Reformation