Reformation Day!

 

It is Reformation Day again!  Did anyone notice?  Yes, October 31, 1517 was the day that changed the course of the Christian Church.  Some churches may have preached about it last Sunday and my thanks to those that did.  Other churches are busy with “Harvest Festivals” as an alternative to Halloween instead. But it is a day that should shake us awake every year; a day that should remind us it is never ok to relax and become complacent about our faith or fail to contend for it. 

Yes, we are hearing again the sounds of REFORMATION. But this reformation I am afraid would turn the saints in the grave as they say.  The New Apostolic Reformation is a heretical movement that has nothing to do with the heart of the Reformers of the 16^th century.  They desire not to contend for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but to redefine Christianity and fundamentally change it!  The truth must be upheld at all cost and continually contended for in every generation.  If we fail to carry that torch into the last day, the darkness will overtake us.  But we are the Light of the World if the Light of Christ be in us. 

We must not begin a new reformation, but continue the work our forbearers began and bring it forward till it is complete in the day of Christ. The issue is the same as it was then.  Messiah is the stumbling stone, it is the inability to accept He has done all for us, “It is finished”.  Grace that combines works is not grace.  But many who sound as though they are staunch defenders of the Gospel who attack the current trend of grace teaching because it leads to ecumenism, permissive lifestyle and Kingdom Now theology are equally as wrong because they bring the weight of the Law in as a must to truly be saved.

There is much discussion about the Law.  Most agree the ceremonial Law was done away with but not the moral Law.  Well, if that be the case, most everyone has come short of this kind of saving grace.  If we must keep the moral Law (10 Commandments) and the Bible says if you have broken one, you have broken them all, then everyone who believes the day of rest in God and Worship is Sunday would be lost!  In truth as Christians we should not have any trouble agreeing with God about His Law.  We should agree it is good and Holy; that we should have no other God; we should not make idols for ourselves; we should never take the Lord’s Name in vain; we should honor our parents; we should not kill; not commit adultery; not steal; not bear false witness; not covet but somehow we conveniently excuse and explain away “Keep the Sabbath holy”.

In His teaching, Jesus said of those in that day who would cry out to Him, Lord, Lord! “Depart from me you who are lawless (workers of iniquity) I never knew you”.  The interesting thing is, they call Him Lord, they believe in Him, they have done miraculous works but He does not know them, what could be the reason?  Well, all the moral Law keepers that keep all but the Sabbath have broken them all according to Jesus.  If we tie the stone tablet to our backs and try to climb up Mt. Sinai to reach God, we will die. 

The reformation that men women and children gave their life for was a Christian belief that was rooted in the trust that grace and faith was a gift of God.  No one could earn it or deserve it.  They believed in transformation.  They believed that true saving faith made you new and changed.  It was not the practice of the moral Law that made you holy or righteous; it was Christ in you, the Hope of Glory! 

This generation has preached a false gospel; a jesus who doesn’t change you but counsels you about your past.  He has become Dr. jesus, PhD.  All of your sin is explained away, counseled away and 10 stepped away, but not washed away.   Dear friend, if you think this is about keeping the Sabbath on Saturday and doing the 10 Commandments perfectly, you have missed the point.  Grace is not permission to stay in your sins.  Greasy Grace as the Law keepers call it is not permission to forsake the simplicity of Christ.  The point of the Sabbath is simple.  The Sabbath Law says if you work, you die.  It is amazing of the 10, this is the point of stumbling.  And in the Gospel of salvation it is also the stumbling point.  If you keep the moral Law that you might be saved, stay saved or be counted righteous you will die.  You are lawless, workers of iniquity, no work or you die.    

There are two Gospel commandments we are told to keep; Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and raised from the dead and love one another. No other Gospel saves.  Do we believe that He is enough?  Do we really believe the Gospel at all, that our sins are erased, removed not just covered!  That we are made new, that there is evidence of newness…WE ARE NOT THE SAME! 

We invite people to the altar to accept Jesus into their heart…WHAT?  Here is where we NEED the LAW!  Conviction comes when people see themselves as sinners!  They don’t know the LAW!  If a policeman hauls someone before the judge who was driving 100 mi. per hour and his only excuse is “I didn’t know there was a speed limit” He is toast!  Ignorance of the Law is no excuse!  We must tell them the Law of God that they are accountable to a Holy and Just God and then show them the Way out!

How can we be saved from our sins if we do not believe we need a Savior?  First we have to know that our choice of lifestyle is sin in God’s sight, our parents neglect does not justify our antisocial behavior or defend our substance abuse and thievery.  All those smiling preachers out there convincing people God is not angry or going to judge anyone or cast anyone into hell, if they do not repent, I can’t imagine the rebuke that is coming to them.

God is justifiably angry with this world and He is going to judge it and destroy the wicked because He put His only  Son, His beloved Son on the cross and allowed Him to be brutalized and humiliated and blamed and to die for a world of people who deserved to suffer in hell forever.  And for all whom trust in Him is everlasting glory and peace and joy in the presence of Almighty God for that is His will.  He wants none to perish but all to repent and come into eternal life. 

But all who scorn His Son, and mock Him or do not believe His suffering was complete  enough to set you free forever, even though Jesus Himself told us “who the Son sets free, is free indeed!”  will die in their sins and suffer forever.  Even the Torah keeper, the moral Law keepers, all who name His Name but do not believe He is enough to save and keep them forever, who have a form of godliness but deny the power of God to change them into a new creation will perish.

So let us honor Reformation Day and remember the Saints of God that were torn apart, brutalized, beheaded and burned alive as a testimony of the Grace of God and the power of God to save to the uttermost .  Please, I implore you, shake off the false gospel teaching and return to the cross of Jesus Christ where we shall all find peace and comfort.  Put down the Law from your hands and let Yeshua write it upon your heart and in your mind.  Put on His Righteousness and walk humbly with your God.  Shalom beloved.