(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Matthew chapter 16 and we're continuing our series on the Protestant Reformation and the first two sermons were kind of introductory as we talked about how Protestants are mentioned in the Bible in Revelation chapter 17 and not in a good way, obviously, as they're referred to as harlots. And we gave kind of some introductory stuff last week, okay? Now when it comes to this sermon series, the next three weeks we're going to look at the various branches of the Protestant religion and then kind of the last couple of weeks we're going to kind of look at what our Baptist heritage is and kind of the false Baptists that are out there so we can kind of know where we came from. And so one of the major branches of the Protestant religion and the Protestant Reformation was the Lutheran branch coming from Martin Luther. In fact, Martin Luther is the most famous person from the Protestant Reformation, okay? Now before we kind of get into this verse in Matthew 16, there's a teaching called, I might mispronounce this, but it's called sette vacantism, okay? And sette vacantism, what that translates to is the seat is vacant, okay? So basically, on the seat is what it's saying, nobody's sitting on the seat. What that's teaching is there are people that are Catholics that believe in the Catholic religion, but they believe the Pope is the devil, okay? There's a lot of Catholics out there, and so it's kind of done this weird thing with the Catholic religion, how there are some branches of the Catholic religion that say, I'm old school Catholic, right? I'm Maka Lumon Catholic or whatever, but I don't believe in the current Pope. Even though I believe in their authority, it went wrong, okay? And so why I'm teaching that is basically that's what Protestants are, even if they do not want to admit it. Because what they believe is that Peter was the one who was the authority given by Jesus Christ, and the church went wrong, okay? They would say that they're not sette vacantis, but they are because they pretty much believe in the Catholic church. Martin Luther said, I did not leave the Catholic church, the Catholic church left me, okay? Because he was a Catholic. So basically, he believed that the throne had gone wrong and the person who was the Pope was wrong, but he still believed in the Catholic religion, okay? Now usually when you talk about sette vacantism, people link it back to 1958 when it says since the death of Pope Pius XII, basically after him, they believe that the Catholic church completely changed. Because about 50 years ago, the Catholic church did change. They changed the way they worship, they changed the way they did everything because they were not reaching young people, so they basically changed the religion and most people stuck with the religion. They changed the way they worship and everything like that, how the system was. So a lot of people that were Catholic said, hey, I'm Catholic and this is not Catholic and the Pope is basically the Antichrist, but that's pretty much what Martin Luther was as well. Now, to give you a little bit of history on Martin Luther before we get into the Bible, Martin Luther was born in 1483, okay? A lot of people do not realize this, but he was a Catholic monk who lived in a monastery, okay? He was the most zealous Catholic monk. He would basically sleep outside in the snow sometimes and he would basically be half dead. And he was doing that because old fashioned Catholicism believes that harming your body will give you forgiveness. I mean, there's a place in the Philippines known as Pampanga where people are crucifying themselves. And look, I really didn't think it was that prevalent until I was in Pampanga for Easter, you know, a year ago. And I was like, man, they really are beating themselves right in front of you. Just people beating themselves and crucifying themselves. And people believe by beating themselves that gets them forgiveness. That's not a new thing just in the Philippines. That is a Catholic teaching, okay? They say you beat your body and it gives you forgiveness. So Martin Luther thought by sleeping in the snow and almost dying, God will let me into heaven. Okay? He was a Catholic priest and that's what he believed, okay? And so Martin Luther, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1507 and in 1510, Martin Luther visited Rome. He's in his mid 20s at this point, 26, 27 years old. And Rome was known as basically the holy city if you're Catholic, right? I mean, the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church. So Rome, you would think of as the holy city. So just like for the Muslims, it's Mecca. And then every other area has their holy city, the Jews, Jerusalem. Basically Rome was his holy city. So he figured when I go to Rome, people are going to be so godly. Everybody's going to be reading the Bible. Everybody's going to be praying. Everybody's going to be so zealous. I mean, this is the heart and soul of the Catholic Church and our religion and the true church. And so when he gets to Rome, what he noticed was all the priests had little boys as sex slaves. He saw all this gambling and prostitution and drunkenness. And it's just like, man, it ended up being like that. And that's why he left the Catholic Church. He went to Rome expecting this is the most holy area on the planet. And when he got there, he realized this is the most wicked city on the planet, the heart and soul of the Roman Catholic Church. So basically he left the Roman Catholic Church. One of the things he complained at to the Pope was he believed that the priest should have a limited amount of little boys to be pedophiles to. And the Pope said there is no limit to how many the priests can have. And the reason why is because the Roman Empire was very powerful, so they owned the world, they could do whatever they want. And they were wicked, evil people. So Martin Luther, he wanted to reform the Catholic Church. And the famous story is he had the 95 theses. And I'm sure you learned this in class growing up, you might have forgotten. He had the 95 theses, and basically he slammed them on the door of the Catholic Church. And you know, basically, he was standing in the way of the Catholic Church saying the Catholic Church is wrong. And that is what you hear in school. Now I didn't have time to go into it, but if you actually read the 95 theses, it's very apparent that Martin Luther was still Catholic. He still talked about how the priest can forgive sins, okay? He did not leave the Catholic Church. In fact, he was only suggesting a few changes to the Catholic Church. So when he leaves the Catholic Church, guess what? Not much changed. Look I grew up Protestant and it's not a whole lot different than the Catholic Church because he did not leave the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church left him. Here's a quote from Martin Luther. He said, confidentially, I do not know whether the Pope is Antichrist himself or his apostle. So miserable is Christ that is the truth corrupted and crucified by the Pope in the Decretals. And so basically Martin Luther, he still believed in the Catholic Church, but he thought the Pope was basically the Antichrist. He thought he was basically the devil and this wicked person. Now look at Matthew chapter 16. So basically what I'm trying to teach you as an introduction is Martin Luther did not leave the Catholic Church. When he left, he just said, we're going to go old school to what the Catholic Church was. So it was still Catholic. Matthew 16 verse 18, the Bible reads, and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Last week we talked about this is the theme verse of the Catholic Church, how they believe the church was started upon Peter. They believe Jesus was saying upon this rock, upon you, Peter, the church is built, when in reality Jesus was saying upon this rock because Jesus is the rock throughout the Bible. The Lord is the rock, okay? But here's what I want you to understand. If this is referring to Peter, if Peter is the rock, what the Bible says is the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So if Peter was actually the rock, then you know what? You could not leave the Catholic Church because the Catholic Church had that authority and the gates of hell is not going to prevail against it. So it's not possible to say, I believe in old school Catholicism but the Pope is evil because the Bible says the gates of hell are not going to prevail against the Catholic Church and so the seat of authority would be still correct. The reason why so many people want to leave the Catholic Church and they say the Pope is evil is because there's been many Popes throughout history that have been pedophiles. We had a sermon where we talked about the evil Popes in history and it's like the most wicked things that you could possibly imagine. Not just someone who's a sinner but someone who's a reprobate, evil, wicked person, okay? Now turn in your Bible to Galatians 3. So here's what I'm saying. If the Catholic Church is correct, which it's not, if the Catholic Church is correct, it's still correct. Because if that's referring to Peter, then the gates of hell are not going to prevail against the Catholic Church. So it's not possible, it's not logical to say that you're a set of a contest, that basically the Catholic Church is correct but it went bad because the Bible says the gates of hell are not going to prevail against the Catholic Church. So look, if you believed in old school Catholicism, then you still have to believe the Catholic Church today is correct. The problem with that is the Catholic Church is different than it used to be. The current Pope, Pope Francis, says you can be an atheist and go to heaven. The Catholic Church used to say there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. Now you don't even have to believe in God to go to heaven. So the Catholic Church has changed and it leaves you with a problem if you believe in old school Catholicism because you have to believe the current Pope is correct and yet he's completely different than former Popes. Now so Martin Luther, he supposedly gets saved, which is not true, but he basically was drinking alcohol like he always did, he was a drunk. And basically in Galatians 3, he read this verse while he's basically, you know, half drunk. Okay. Galatians 3 verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident for the just shall live by faith. So he read this verse and he said, wow, I guess salvation is not by works or by living a good life, but the just shall live by faith, it's by faith alone. Now we agree that salvation is by faith alone, but you can tell based on other things Martin Luther taught that he didn't really believe was by faith alone. We talked to many people that claim salvation is by faith alone. And when you ask them questions, then they start telling you all these works that you have to do. We'll talk about that later on in the sermon. But turn to Acts chapter eight, Acts chapter eight, Martin Luther is famous for the fact that when he was younger, he was not a heavy person, but he became very heavy when he was older. And the reason why is because he drank a lot of alcohol. That's the reason why he gained a lot of weight and you know, that's known. And yeah, he would, he's basically like every drunk. He would say it's wrong to get drunk while drinking like eight beers a day. Okay. He says, what's wrong to be drunk and I'm not a drunk. I just drink, you know, six beers every night. It's like, no, that means you're drunk. Okay. It's like drunks will say, well, you know, it's like the thing is I can drink a lot of alcohol and I don't feel tipsy or whatever. Yeah, that's the definition of a drunk. Your body is so used to drinking alcohol that it doesn't affect you. That is what a drunk is. Your body gets used to it and it's no big deal to you to just drink and drink and drink. That's exactly what a drunk is. Okay. So one of the teachings of Martin Luther is on infant baptism, Martin Luther and the Lutheran church today, they believe in infant baptism. That when a baby is born, you sprinkle a little water on their head and somehow that kind of gives them a little bit of salvation and forgive some sins. Okay. That's what Martin Luther taught. That's what Catholics teach. That's what Protestants teach. You don't have to raise your hand, but if I asked you, did you have water sprinkled on your head as a baby? Most of you would raise your hand and you know what? I would too. Okay. Because I was raised Protestant and I got that little water on my head when I was a baby. Okay. And so Acts chapter eight, notice what it says in verse 36, and as they went on their way, they came onto a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And the eunuch says, I want to get baptized. What's stopping me? What's hindering me from getting baptized? And Phillip said, if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Remember, we just talked about how salvation is by faith alone. How can you tell if somebody's saved? Do they believe? And Phillip says, if you believe, and the eunuch says, I believe. So Phillip assumes he's saved and he is saved. Okay. And so basically after that, we see that he baptizes them. They go into the water and they come up out of the water. So the mode of baptism in the Bible is by immersion, because you're picturing the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's done if you believe. Okay, look, if your only baptism in your life was a little water sprinkled on your head as a baby, you were not baptized. Why? Because baptize or baptism means to immerse. It's from the Greek word baptizo, which means to immerse, which means you go in the water and you come up, you're picturing the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay. Here's a quote from Martin Luther. He said, there are scripture passages that tell us that children may and can believe. Though they do not speak or understand that there are scripture passages that tell us that children may and can believe, though they do not speak or understand. Okay. Children can believe without understanding is what he's saying. Okay. I grant that we do not understand how they do believe or how faith is created, but that is not the point here. Okay. So it's just like, children can believe even if they can't speak or they can't understand. Well, here's the thing. He's half right. The Bible does mention that children can believe, but not babies. Okay, there's a difference. Yes, the Bible says the faith of a child because yes, a child can believe, not a baby. My son is too young to believe. My daughter is too young to believe. Okay. Yes, children can believe, but not a baby. Okay. There is no verse of a baby getting baptized. So I would love for him to point to the verse of a baby getting baptized because they don't baptize you when you're eight years old in the Lutheran church, they baptize you when you're like eight days old or two weeks old or three weeks old. Okay. They baptize babies, not when they're children old enough to understand. Look, babies, obviously they cannot believe. Okay. They don't have the capacity to believe and understand the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay. Turn to Acts chapter 16. Acts 16. And look, here's the thing. I could spend an hour just on that one topic, but quite honestly, it's like if I'm trying to argue with someone that believes a baby can believe and understand, it's like, I'm wasting my time because it's obvious they can't, and there is no baby that gets baptized in the Bible. Now, what they will do is take you to Acts chapter 16, and they'll say, we'll see, we do see a baby getting baptized. Well, let's look at what it says in Acts 16, verse 30, and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved in thy house. Okay. You will be saved if you believe your house will be saved if they believe anyone. It's an individual thing. Verse 32. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he in all his straight way. So verse 33 is the big verse to prove infant baptism. Their argument is the entire house gets baptized proved to us that there was not a baby in that house. It's just like, that's your verse. It's like the whole house gets baptized. How do you know there wasn't a baby in that house? It's like, well, proved you there was not a baby in that house. Verse 34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and they rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Did you know verse 34 tells us that all of his house believes, not just him. So look, I'm sorry, Mr. Martin Luther, but a baby cannot believe. If you want to still argue, a baby can't believe, then go ahead. But it's like, this is your verse to prove it, that everyone who got in the house got baptized and there might've been a young child. Well, the Bible says everybody in that house believed, okay? I don't believe a baby can believe. I think common sense would tell us that, and there is no baby that you can see that actually gets baptized in the Bible, which is why you go to verse 33. So look, I think it's pretty obvious in the Bible, people get saved first, they believe, and then they get baptized by immersion. You never see a baby getting baptized and you never see water sprinkled on someone's head for baptism, okay? It's not in the Bible. Turn to Matthew 15, Matthew 15, you say, well, how does Martin Luther answer that? And this is the same thing the Lutherans believe here today. It's not just Martin Luther. This is what Martin Luther said, since our baptizing has been thus from the beginning of Christianity, and the custom has been to baptize children, and since no one can prove with good reasons that they do not have faith, we should not make changes and build on such weak arguments, okay? So he says that basically everything I just said was a weak argument, where it says you have to believe first, and he said since the beginning of Christianity, the custom has been to baptize babies. The beginning of Christianity are the words in this Bible, Matthew chapter 16. It's like why wasn't Jesus baptized as a baby if that's the custom from the beginning, okay? Show me the baby getting baptized. Where's that custom in the Bible? Because look, the beginning of Christianity was not in the fourth century AD. It was the words of the Bible in the New Testament when Jesus was here. Show me the baby getting baptized. Since the beginning, you believe first and then you get baptized. So why does the Protestant church baptize babies? Well, they do it because the Catholic church baptized babies, and they're Catholic. Why does the Catholic church do it? They started it to get money. They wanted money, so they said, hey, if you baptize your baby and then you give your little love gift of 2500 pesos because it's a special event, it's like, well, help erase those sins from your baby. That's where it came from, okay? Matthew 15 verse two, Matthew 15 verse two, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? So here in verse two, they say, we've got a tradition that was passed down to us. Why aren't you doing this? And then Jesus saying, you know what, you're transgressing the commandments of God. What is Jesus saying? He's like your tradition. You know what? Just because it's a tradition doesn't mean it's right, okay? And the tradition mentioned in Matthew 15 is not sinful to wash your hands, but just because something's a tradition does not mean it's a commandment of the Bible or even in the Bible. So, yeah, Mr. Martin Luther, that might be a custom or a tradition that you have been doing and the Catholics have been doing. That doesn't mean it's in the Bible, and it doesn't mean it's right. Turn to Psalm 71. Psalm 71. I'll show you the big verse they use to try to prove that babies can believe. It's in Psalms chapter 71. Psalm 71. Psalms chapter 71. Psalms is right there in the middle of your Bible. So if you open up the Bible right in the middle, you'll probably turn right to it. Psalms chapter 71, verse number five. Verse number five, it says, for thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holding up from the womb, thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually of thee. So in verse six, he says, you've been holding up from the womb, okay, right from when you're inside the womb and when you're born. And then in verse five, it says, you know what, thou art my trust from my youth. So they say, well, see, a baby can trust. No, no, no. Verse six says you're holding up from the womb. It says thou art my trust from my youth, okay? Youth is not the same as a baby, okay? Someone who's eight years old is in their youth, but they're not a baby. And yes, they have the ability to believe. So yeah, you know what, children can believe. Praise the Lord for children that get saved at a young age, okay? I hope my son gets saved when he's five or six or seven years old, and then he can understand the Bible. He has the Holy Spirit of truth inside. He can start reading the Bible and learning. Yes, people of their youth can get saved, okay? But not a baby. You're holding up from the womb, but you put your trust from the youth. That's not the same as from the womb, the youth, okay? Here's a quote from Martin Luther. In Luther's small catechism, 1529, he writes that, about baptism, it works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this as the words and promises of God declare. So according to Martin Luther, baptism forgives sins, it delivers you from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this. I thought it was whosoever believeth in him should not perish but of everlasting life. I didn't know that when somebody got dunked in the water, had a little water spring on the head, that would be salvation. And so, I mean, good night. If that were the case, I could just start flicking water at you right now. It's like, man, three people got saved, another two. It's like you have visitors and it's like you just throw some water out in the crowd. It's like, man, we got 22 saved here today. It's just like, that's not salvation, my friend. It's like, baptism is a picture of salvation. You're showing, I believe that Jesus was buried and rose again. That's not the salvation though. What you're doing is showing that you do believe, but that's not the belief. That's not the salvation. That doesn't work forgiveness. So what did Martin Luther teach? He taught that baptism forgave your sins and gave you eternal salvation. Turn in your Bible to John three, John three. What do Lutherans believe today? They believe that baptism works forgiveness of sins. It delivers you from death in the devil and gives you eternal salvation. That is what Lutherans believe. Okay. Basically at the moment of baptism, Lutherans believe that is the moment a person gets saved. A baby that's four weeks old, they receive salvation the moment they are baptized. And what takes place when you're baptized is that will work faith inside of you. So when you're older, you'll fully understand these things, but that a baby still believes when they're baptized at a couple of weeks old. So they receive salvation when they're a few weeks old. That's what Lutherans actually believe. You say, why is this? Well, what you have to understand about Martin Luther and let me say this, that Martin Luther lived and then like 30 years later, John Calvin lived. Okay. So Martin Luther came before the time of Calvinism and John Calvin. If you're not sure who John Calvin is, he's the famous teacher that taught there is no free will. That basically you're just like zombies and robots and God creates some people that he wants to burn in hell and God is happy when people go to hell and he's excited about it and he gets glory in sending people to hell, but there's a small number of people that he's chosen to go to heaven and it's not your free will. It's just him deciding I'm going to create, you know, brother Ermin and I just want to see him burn. I just want to see him burn and I get glory out of that. Look, that's an evil God that you believe in that would just create someone and say, I just can't wait to watch them burn. Okay. That's what Calvinism believes. That's what John Calvin taught. Martin Luther came before John Calvin, but I can tell you from reading a lot of things from Martin Luther, Martin Luther was a four point Calvinist. If he had lived after John Calvin, he would have been a four point Calvinist. You say, what does that mean? Well, this belief that there is no free will has five main points within Calvinism. It's the acronym is TULIP, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. I don't have time to go into that. You know, I preach it all the time. I'm sure I'm going to preach about it in the future as well, but basically what Martin Luther believed is we do not have free will to believe on Jesus Christ. Okay. But what Martin Luther also believed is even though you are forced to believe, the one point of Calvinism he does not believe in, and I'll prove it to you, is he does not believe it's eternal. He believes you're forced to get saved, but you have the free will to throw away that salvation later on. So basically he's worse than John Calvin. A lot of Baptists like Martin Luther, but literally he believes you can lose your salvation even though you're forced to get saved. Okay. Now just a little bit of history here before I get into this. And here's the thing. What I'm saying now, people are going to disagree with. They're going to say, no, Martin Luther was not a Calvinist. He was a good guy. Well, let's see if that's true. Just some basic stuff on history from 500 years ago, there's a man known as Erasmus. Okay. Erasmus is a pretty famous person in history. He's a large reason why we have an English Bible today. Okay. Erasmus was a Catholic priest. You might not know that, but he was a Catholic priest and Erasmus wanted to reform the Catholic church. You might not know that either. Why? He did not link up with the Protestants. He actually wanted to reform the Catholic church. He was a Catholic priest and he's a large reason why we have an English Bible here today. And so Erasmus wrote a book and it was called On Free Will. He wrote a book to say that we have free will. And look, didn't we just sing the song whosoever will may come? That's what I believe. Anybody's able to believe on Jesus Christ. It's a personal choice. You in this room are saved, not because God forced you to believe. You chose to believe. Okay. And so Erasmus wrote a book called On Free Will. I've not read that book. Okay. But here's what I'm going to say. Martin Luther wrote a response book because he disagreed with it. And what he wrote was called On the Bondage of the Will in 1525. And to a lot of Protestants, that is the most important book of the Protestant Reformation. So Erasmus writes a book on free will, and Martin Luther responds with a book that bashes Erasmus and disagrees with it called On the Bondage. What does it mean to be in bondage? It means you're enslaved, like a prisoner is in bondage, on the bondage of the will. And look, I have read about 30% of that book. It's a long book. I didn't finish it. I got the gist of it. But in that book, Martin Luther very clearly says there is no free will, and the whole purpose of the book was to respond to Erasmus' book that we do at free will. So Martin Luther believed in Calvinistic teaching. Okay. Even though he's before John Calvin, he did not believe in free will. Okay. Look, when you screw up in your life, you can't blame God and say, well, God forced me to commit adultery. That was your choice. Okay. It was your choice to believe on Jesus Christ. And this idea that, well, if I do wrong, I can just say this was part of God's plan. God wanted me to be a drunk for five years and a drug addict. It's like, no, that was your choice. Okay. And so, look, Martin Luther believed there was no free will. So he wrote that book on the bondage of the will. Okay. Here are some of the quotes from Martin Luther about free will. He said, free will is a nonentity. A thing consisting of name alone. So basically it does not exist. We talk about free will, but there is no free will because we are robots. That's basically what he believed. Okay. Now I'm sure in the 1500s, they probably didn't know what a robot was, but that's pretty much what he believed that we're robots. Okay. And we're basically just like puppets on a string that God is forcing to do certain things. He also said this, the will of man without the grace of God is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bond slave of evil since it cannot turn itself to good. So basically saying it's not possible to believe, it's not possible to get saved. He also said this, all the passages in the Holy scriptures that mentioned assistance are they that do away with free will. And these are countless for grace is needed and the help of grace is given because free will can do nothing. So let's see what John three says. Let's see if Martin Luther's right. When a person gets saved, are they forced by God to believe or did they in their own free will choose? What does it say in John three verse 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Look, we can look at hundreds of verses, but when you're reading this verse, the Bible says Jesus died for the whole world, not just the Calvinist. God so loved the world, not just God so loved the elect. Did it say God so loved the elect in John three 16? God so loved the world, every single person that he gave his only begotten son for everybody that whosoever believeth. Jesus died for everybody. And if you choose to believe when you hear the gospel, you receive everlasting life. It's that simple. Okay. John three verse 36. John three verse 36. It says he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son of God and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Notice if you believe he that believeth, he that does not believe. My Bible does not say he that is forced by God to believe on Jesus Christ. Is that what yours says? No, it's your choice. He that believeth. Okay, we have free will. You say, Brother Stuckey, why is it that you're teaching or why are you saying that he thought you could lose your salvation? Well, here's a couple of quotes from Martin Luther. Through baptism, these people threw out unbelief. So you get baptized, that forces you to believe. That's when faith starts. Through baptism, these people threw out unbelief, had their unclean way of life washed away and entered into a pure life of faith and love. Now they fall away into unbelief. And he's referring to in this passage, people that would basically be saved and then they fall away and they lose their salvation. Here's another quote from him on Galatians five, verse four. And turn to Galatians five, verse four. Turn to Galatians chapter five, verse four. Now what's going on in the Church of Galatia? What's going on in the Church of Galatia is that there are people saved, but false teachers have confused people about salvation. And they're coming in saying, you got to follow the law. And if you're really saved, you're going to do this. And there's a lot of people that are confused. And he says, you know, you've fallen from grace in Galatians five, verse four. And what he's saying is, it's just like, you know, you're saved by grace through faith. And now you're kind of mixing and adding these things. And you're saying that we're saved by hope that's seen, right? Like we just talked about, we're saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. And they are basically trusting in the evidence and the works and things like that. Well, here's a quote from Martin Luther, though, his interpretation of Galatians five, verse four, because the Bible says you have everlasting life, you get saved. And everlasting means spiritually, you're going to live forever. Which means when the Bible says the second death in Revelation 20, when it says the second death, if you have everlasting life, you could never go to the second death, because it's life that lasts forever. So this is what he said in Galatians five, verse four, he says, ye are fallen from grace. That means you are no longer in the kingdom or condition of grace. When a person on board ship falls into the sea and is drowned, it makes no difference from which end or side of the ship he falls into the water. Those who fall from grace perish no matter how they go about it. The words ye are fallen from grace must not be taken lightly. They are important. To fall from grace means to lose the atonement, the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness, liberty and life which Jesus has merited for us by his death and resurrection. To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage of the devil and everlasting condemnation. That is his commentary on Galatians five, verse four. Does it sound like he believes in eternal salvation? Sounds like he believes you can lose your salvation. That's not what we believe. We believe the gift of God is eternal life. Turn to Romans 13, Romans 13. This is what Lutherans believe today. They believe at the moment of baptism that basically works faith inside of you and then you will receive, you know, eternal salvation. I'll tell you a story at the end of the sermon in the conclusion that kind of talks about that, but basically it works salvation into you, but then you still have the choice after God has forced you to get saved to decide you want to go to hell and to throw away your salvation. Okay? What the Bible says is you have your free will choice to believe on Jesus and when you do, that's an eternal decision. It's everlasting. It's eternal life. Okay? Now we're going to switch from Martin Luther to talking about Ulrich's Wingly for a little while because what we're talking about is the Martin Luther branch of the Protestants and there's a few famous names. Okay? Another name is Ulrich's Wingly. Okay? You might not know who that is, but here's some information about Ulrich's Wingly. He attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly center of Renaissance humanism. He continued his studies while he served as a pastor in Glarus and later in Einsiedeln. Okay? I don't know. Brother Matthias can correct my pronunciation and all these like European vocations. I don't know how to pronounce that. Where he was influenced by the writings of Erasmus. Okay? So once again, Erasmus is a famous person. Okay? He was influenced by Erasmus, Ulrich's Wingly. Okay? Now Ulrich's Wingly was also a Catholic priest who wanted to reform the Catholic church. Now when it comes to Erasmus, let me just say this, Erasmus did not join the Protestant Reformation because he wanted to reform the Catholic church more than Martin Luther and he didn't agree with Martin Luther because he knew Martin Luther was still Catholic. Okay? And Erasmus kind of died in the state of still being a Catholic or whatever, but that's why he didn't join him. Okay? So Ulrich's Wingly is a pretty famous character. Now Ulrich's Wingly, one thing he's famous for is murdering Baptists. Okay? Murdering people like us. Okay? Now, Martin Luther, he never murdered any people like us. In his writings, he said, we deserve the death penalty for baptizing people, but he never had the power or position where he could actually murder us. But if he was a president, we would all be murdered. Why? Well, you got baptized. Okay? It's like, there's your evidence. It's like, you got a picture, you got baptized. There's the death penalty. Okay? And that's what Martin Luther taught because he said that was heresy and we would deserve the death penalty. And that's what Ulrich's Wingly actually did. Okay? He said, why is this? The Catholic Church basically owned the world, the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church, and basically they had this state-run religion and you were forced to do what they said, forced to believe what they said. Okay? That is different than the millennial reign of Christ. In the millennial reign of Christ, you have commandments and rules you have to follow, but you cannot force somebody to believe something. What the Catholics and the Protestants did is they tried to force people to believe. So when the Protestants controlled an area, they would also force you to do what they said and force you to believe what they said. And if you didn't believe it, they would kill you. Okay? And so there's a famous story where there's this guy, Felix Mons is his name. And on January 5th, 1527, he was executed or killed because he got baptized. And the way they killed him is they drowned him in water. And the reason why they drowned him in water is because of the fact, if you're going to get baptized in water, we're going to teach you a lesson by drowning you in water and killing you in water. So that's how they killed him. Okay? And so basically the Protestants, when they controlled areas, if you did not baptize babies, that's the death penalty. There's a lot of people today that are so freaked out by all the rules of the government, like all the government's asking us to do things. It's like, good night. You wouldn't have survived 500 years ago because 500 years ago you were getting killed if you didn't baptize your babies. Okay? What we have today is very much a light affliction compared to what they had 500 years ago where you were actually killed for what you believe. Okay? Now, Martin Luther, let me read this to you real quickly. He said this, since the gods or rulers beside their other virtues are to advance God's word and its preachers, are they also to put down opposing doctrines or heresies since no one can be forced to believe? He asked that question, because no one is forced to believe this. The answer to this question is as follows. First, some heretics are seditious and teach openly that no rulers are to be tolerated, that no Christian may occupy a position of rulership, that no one ought to have property of his own but should run away from wife and child and leave house and home or that all property shall be held in common. These teachers are immediately and without doubt to be punished by the rulers as men who are resisting temporal law and government, citation Romans chapter 13 verses 1 and 2. They are not heretics only but rebels who are attacking the rulers and their government just as a thief attacks another's goods, a murderer another's body, an adulterer another's wife and this is not to be tolerated. Basically what he's saying is when the religion gives you rules you have to follow if you disobey being a heretic, you deserve that punishment. He talks about deserving the death penalty being a heretic, okay? Well let's see what it says in Romans 13 and let me say this, there are a lot of opinions of Romans 13. I've heard a lot of different things preached even recently, a lot of different opinions. We're going to see what the Bible does say. Romans 13 verse 1, let every soul be subject onto the higher powers for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God, okay? See the Bible says that basically God has powers that he's put, authorities in our life and he's speaking here about a governmental authority in Romans chapter 13 verse 1. He has established a system of government. Now here's the thing, our country or the US or whatever country, they do not perfectly follow the government and the rules listed in the Bible, okay? That does not change the fact though that basically God has instituted having a government, okay? Let me give you this example. My son Zephaniah, okay, I give my son certain rules to follow. Do you think he always listens to every single thing I say or do sometimes he's makulit? Sometimes he's makulit, right? So what happens when he disobeys? He gets a punishment, right? See if I tell my son to do something and he does not want to do it and he disobeys, whether or not what I'm saying has a main purpose or not, he's still expected to obey, right? I mean aren't children expected to obey their parents even if they don't understand? And look, I wouldn't do something like this but if I told my son I don't want you to eat with a fork, I want you to eat with a spoon and he chose to disobey me, he would get in trouble for that. Why? It's not because of the act he did, it's because he's disobeying because you're expected to obey authority. Now authority doesn't always have the right rules. I make mistakes sometimes, okay? And so look, all authorities are going to make mistakes or be wrong that does not change the fact that in our household my son doesn't make the rules, okay? I'm the one who makes the rules and he's expected to obey it. The only time he would ever write to disobey what I say is if I ask him to tell a lie. I ask him to steal something. Then he disobeys, you say why? Because the Bible tells you not to do that. But otherwise, he's expected to obey. If I tell him he has to go to bed at 8.30 p.m., it doesn't matter if he wants to stay up until 8.45 or not. He has to obey, right? It's the same thing with the government. If the government asks you to do something and it's not a sin, you're supposed to do it according to the Bible. Look, in the Bible, did Jesus pay taxes? Yes he did. And you know what Jesus said? He's like, you shouldn't have to pay taxes. But you know what? Pay taxes. And that's what he did. Okay? And look, when it comes to something like this, because a lot of people are saying, what about like wearing masks and everything? Look, does the Bible say it's a sin to wear a mask? No, it doesn't. So here's the thing. If the government says, you know what, it's illegal not to wear a mask, you know what God would say? You're expected to obey what the government says. Why? They're not asking you to rob a bank. They're not asking you to steal. And look, that's not a popular opinion because I know most people, they don't want to listen to what the government says. But most people I know, most friends would probably say, I don't agree with that interpretation. Well, that's what Romans 13 says. He's not, the government's not asking us to sin by wearing a mask. Now, do I like wearing a mask? No, I don't. I don't like doing it. But at the same time, the Bible says you're supposed to obey authorities, okay? I don't always have the perfect rules for my son, but he's still expected to obey me. Okay? Now, here's the difference between what I'm saying and Martin Luther's saying. Martin Luther was saying in Ulrich Zwingli that if you get baptized by immersion, you get the death penalty. Well, here's the problem with that. That's against what the Bible says, okay? The Bible says when you get saved, you're supposed to get baptized, and now you're going against God's word, okay? It's not something where it's like, hey, you know, you have to wear a mask. No, they're saying you get the death penalty for being baptized. And so what Martin Luther's saying is anything the government says, you have to obey, even if it's against the Bible. Anything they say. That's right. Okay? Verse two. Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. So the Bible says if you just do good, if you just do what's right, if you just obey the laws, you're not going to be afraid of the government, okay? And look, I don't always agree with what the government says, but you know what? If I'm just obeying what they say, I'm not going to be afraid of being arrested or getting in trouble. Okay? Verse four. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So I want you to understand the problem with what Martin Luther taught in Ulrich Swingley. They said that if you get baptized as an adult, you get murdered for that. Well, that's obviously against the Bible. Now they're going way above their authority because they're looking at certain things in the Bible and saying, that's wrong, okay? Now turn in your Bible to, turn your Bible to John six. John six. And look, starting next week, we're going to go verse by verse through the book of Romans. So I don't want to spend too much time on Romans 13, but I want you to say, I just want to say this that, you know, throughout human history, there have been times that have been a lot more difficult to live in. Just because things are a little, and let me just be honest with you right now. I'm happy. I'm not miserable. I see a lot of people that not at our church, but I see a lot of people online that are just miserable and complaining. It's like, God hates complaining. God hates murmuring. It's like, you know, I can't complain about my life right now. Do I wish this whole thing happened? No, I wish this thing hadn't happened. I wish we didn't have a lockdown and the virus and everything that's happened. But here's the thing. I'm not miserable right now. And quite honestly, if you're saved, you should never really be miserable as a Christian because you're doing better than 99 percent of the world. And it's like, here's the thing about complaining. When people, if you were to complain about how hot it is outside, oh, it's so hot. I'm miserable. Did you realize that complaining doesn't cool off the temperature? Did you realize that? I mean, it doesn't. It doesn't cool it down. Say, man, it's so hot. It's like, gee, thanks. I didn't realize it was hot. It's like, I thought it was cold. No, I mean, did you realize it does not actually make it cooler? What it does is it makes everybody focus on, yeah, you're right, it is hot and it makes everybody miserable. It's like, you know what? Complaining is not something you want to be around because it's something that spreads. It's infectious. Right now, I'm in a good mood. I think my life's fine. I'm happy. I wish everything hadn't happened. Yeah, it makes it inconvenient. But quite honestly, as Christians, we shouldn't be miserable right now. It's like you're saved. You're on your way to heaven. You're still able to read the Bible every day. Look, in the past, the Catholic Church would have murdered you for having a Bible. You get to freely open the Word of God every day. You can freely pray. There's no law against you praying. You can preach the gospel and get people saved. It's like there's no reason as believers that we should be miserable and complaining. Just my life is terrible. My life's not terrible right now. It's actually pretty good right now. And as believers, it should be good. You should be in a good mood. And here's the thing. When it comes to Christianity and you're serving God, if you're filled with the Spirit and serving God, the result is that when things happen on the outside that you don't like or they go wrong, you're still going to be in a good mood, okay, when you're filled with the Spirit. But if you allow every little thing that happens in the outside of your life to make you feel miserable, you're going to always be miserable. Why? Because your life is a series of ups and downs. And let me tell you something. If we do have the end times in our life, it's getting a whole lot worse than this, okay? This is nothing compared to what the end time is going to be. So if you're miserable now, you're really going to be miserable during the first three and a half years at the beginning of sorrows, okay? Now let me just mention this about Ulrich Swingley. Ulrich Swingley and Martin Luther, they did not actually team up, okay? The reason why they did not team up is they disagreed about the topic of the Eucharist, okay? The Eucharist is the belief from the Catholic Church that when you eat the communion bread, it turns into the body of Jesus. That is what the Catholic Church taught. And that's what Martin Luther believed because he was Catholic. Ulrich Swingley didn't really believe that. So they were not really close friends. Actually, Martin Luther said he was not sure if Ulrich Swingley was saved because he didn't believe the bread turned into the body of Jesus in your mouth. It's like, all right, whatever. So Ulrich Swingley, he also was a Calvinist. I don't have time to quote this, it would take too much information. But let me just show you in Matthew chapter six, verse 29, we're already going to be at a long sermon. There's a lot of notes here. John six, verse 29, John six, verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Verse 30, they said therefore unto him, what signs show us thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. So manna is bread. Verse 32, then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. What you're seeing in these verses in this chapter is he uses the examples of bread and drink with salvation. Now this is just an example. Throughout the Bible, Jesus gives examples because notice in verse 35, it talks about believing. What he uses as the example is when you eat the bread, it's like believing on Jesus. Jesus is our true bread. It's not saying that when you take communion, the bread literally turns into the body of Jesus inside your mouth. This is what Catholics say. If you eat the bread of communion, when it's inside of your mouth, it's the body of Jesus. If you take it out, it's just bread. Put it back in the body of Jesus. Take it out. It's bread. Put it back in. It's the body of Jesus. It's like, what in the world? It's like, what kind of a stupid hocus pocus thing is that? Okay. This is just an example Jesus is giving with a bread of life. Okay. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I'll raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And so what Jesus is doing is saying, you know what? I am the true bread. And if you believe on me, you will have everlasting life. So when he's talking about bread, it's just an example. Okay. It's just symbolism that he's giving. Okay. And what Jesus says in verse 47, look, Jesus said a lot of things. He said, I am the true vine. It doesn't mean that he's literally a vine. It's an example he's giving. Okay. There's a lot of symbolism in the Bible. And I'll prove this to you. Verse 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Verse 47, if you believe you go to heaven, right? Verse 48, I am that bread of life. Verse 48 is the verse that the Catholics and the Lutherans would go to to say, we'll see Jesus that the bread you take at communion is literally the body of Jesus when it's inside your mouth. You can see in verse 47, this is linking to salvation, saying it's by believing. It's just an example. Okay. Verse 52, the Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. So Jesus says, unless you eat the flesh of myself and drink my blood, you're not going to have life. Now us that are saved, we understand he's using symbolism. We understand he's not saying be a cannibal. Okay. We understand he's not saying you're literally supposed to eat people's body and drink blood. It's just an example. Okay. If people get this, unsaved people like Martin Luther or Orrick Swingly, they're not going to get it. Okay. The Catholic church, they don't get it. Okay. Verse 54, who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Go down to verse 66. So here's the thing. When I read this, it's no problem because I understand the point that he's trying to make is salvation is by faith alone, and he is the only true bread. It's not Muhammad. It's not Buddha. It's not Shiva or whomever. It's just Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. He's that true bread. Okay. But notice what the reaction is of some of his disciples. Verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. See, a lot of people that were following Jesus, when they heard this, they just left him. You say, why? Because of the fact they weren't saved. And when he's explaining salvation, they just didn't agree with what he's saying. And they didn't understand what he was saying. Now I want you to realize there are a lot more than 12 disciples in the Bible. A disciple is someone who's following Jesus Christ. And look, there are disciples that are unsaved in the Bible. Being a disciple does not mean you're saved. Okay. So when Jesus spoke, he had thousands following him. And yet many people leave because a lot weren't saved or because a lot just didn't want to really live for God. Okay. So a lot of people leave. And then verse 67, then said Jesus unto the 12, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. So what Peter says is, you know what? I get what you're saying. You have the words of eternal life. It's just by believing in you. That is what he was talking about. Now turn in your Bible to John 8. We'll look at a few more places. And look, everything I'm preaching to you, this is what the Lutherans believe today. Okay. This is the branch from the Protestants. Martin Luther taught you had to be baptized, and that meant you were saved. But he taught you could lose your salvation. He taught a four point Calvinism sort of message. But you know, he taught a lot of things that were even worse than that or just as bad. He did not believe all the books of our Bible are supposed to be in the Bible. There are many books, he said, this is not part of scripture. This is not God's word. One of those books was James. Here's a quote from him about the book of James. Though this epistle of Saint James was rejected by the ancients, he's saying the ancient believers rejected the book of James. I praise it and consider it a good book because it sets up no doctrines of men, but vigorously promulgates the law of God. However, to state my own opinion about it, though without prejudice to anyone, I do not regard it as the writing of an apostle and my reasons follow. Now I don't have time to go through all of his reasons, but look, he did not believe the book of James is part of the Bible. That's my favorite book in the Bible. It's like, I really don't like Martin Luther. It's like, that's my favorite book and you're trying to take my favorite book out of the Bible? Like the book of James is awesome. So when the Bible was written in German by Martin Luther, the books are in a different order because he would put the books that he did not think were part of scripture at the end in a lot of the additions. Okay. So the book of James, he didn't think was scripture. Here's a quote about the book of Jude concerning the epistle of Saint Jude. No one can deny that it is an extract or copy of Saint Peter's second epistle. So very like it are all the words and what he's saying there is true. Second Peter two and Jude are parallel chapters, meaning they teach the same things. They're not worded the exact same, but they're teaching the same things. They're parallel chapters. And he's right. It is a parallel of it. Okay. He also speaks of the apostles like a disciple who comes long after them and cite sayings and incidents that are found nowhere else in the scriptures. This moved the ancient fathers to exclude this epistle from the main body of the scriptures. Moreover, the apostle Jude did not go to Greek speaking lands, but to Persia, as it is said, so that he did not write Greek. Therefore, although I value this book, it is an epistle that need not be counted among the chief books, which are supposed to lay the foundations of faith. So basically the book of Jude is not part of scripture is what he's saying. Okay. What about the book of Revelation? I mean, we're going through Revelation on Wednesdays, right? I mean, of the last three months of our church, is it just a waste of time? Because it's not even what the Bible says, the book of Revelation. About this book of the revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions. I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel, I miss more than one thing in this book and it makes me consider to be neither apostolic nor prophetic. So basically saying, you know what, I miss more than one thing. What he's saying is I don't understand the book of Revelation, so it must not be the word of God. You don't understand because you're not saved. It's like you're the natural man because, hey, hasn't revelation made sense the last three months? I mean, doesn't it make perfect sense when you just look at the verses and explaining The book of Revelation is not confusing, and I can prove to you because it starts out and says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which means the book is revealing to you about the end times. God tells us how the end times are going to happen, and look, there are a lot of other books that he was not too crazy about, but let's just look at a few more places and we'll be done. John 8 verse 47, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. John 8 verse 47 is that someone who is saved, when they hear the word of God, they're going to know it's the word of God, and he's saying people that do not hear them, it doesn't make sense to them. It's because they're not of God. We believe at our church that the King James Bible is the perfect word of God in the English language. We believe the word of God can be translated in any number of languages because God's word is not bound to a specific language, but in the English language, we only use the King James because we think it's perfect. Now here's what I'd say, I've heard people say this, that they don't like the King James because when they read it, they do not understand it. And when they're saying that, what it probably means is they don't understand it because they don't have the spirit of God inside of them to teach it to them. Because look, this is a spiritual book. It wasn't written by a man, I mean it was written by men, but those words came directly from God. Look, if you don't have the spirit of God inside of you, you're not going to be able to understand it. Now if you're saved, you can understand. As a saved person, when I preach sermons, being saved and knowing the Bible, you should be able to understand if what I'm saying is true or not. The first sermon I preached here today was on salvation. I mean as a saved person, you should hear that and say, man, that makes sense. We're saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. But a lot of people would disagree with what I said. You say, why? Because they're not saved. I mean if they hear that message and say, I don't agree. I think that if you're really saved, you're going to get baptized. It's because they don't have the spiritual man inside of them to teach them what the Bible says. He that is of God heareth God's words. Turn to John 10. John 10. Now look, this does not mean that every single thing in the Bible you fully understand or every single thing you have the same opinion. But here's what I want you to understand. Most of the Bible is black and white. Just very clear. It's either black or white. It's not a gray area situation. Is this black or white? No, it's black. It's not confusing. This is black. Most of the Bible is either black or white. Not like this color where it's like, oh, it's kind of in between. Most things it's either this way or this way. When it comes to salvation, it's not a gray area or silver area situation. The question is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Most things in the Bible are black and white. So look, as a saved person, God just tells you how things are. There's nothing to debate about. It's just is the way it is. You say, Brother Stuckey, did God create the earth or is it billions of years old? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, plain and simple. And then he explains in six days. What does that mean? It means the earth is just over 6000 years old. It's not four and a half billion years old. You say, how do you know that? Because that's what the Bible says. It's not a gray area situation. Well, maybe each day represents like 500 million years. It's like, no, it doesn't. If it represents 500 million years, why is it on one day the plants are created and the next day the sun? I mean, plants don't live for 500 million years without the sun. It's like, no, it's just in six literal days, he created the earth and then he rested the seventh day. Why? Well, it's a picture of how we're supposed to be like on the Sabbath when they worship that in the Old Testament, how they would work for six days and rest for the seventh. Not that you work for 300 million years and rest 50 million years. It's saying you work six days and then you rest. That's what it said in the Bible. John chapter 10, verse five, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. So in John 10, verse five, what he's saying is this, if you're a saved person and somebody's teaching something that's false, you should hear that and say, man, that doesn't make sense. I remember a long time ago, I was in a church and I didn't realize this, but the church I was at, the pastor was a Calvinist. Okay. It was the second church I went to after I was saved and I went from one Baptist church to this church because it was King James only, but the pastor was like a full blown Calvinist and I was at the church for a while and me and my friends, and then I remembered he preached a sermon on Jude one where he talked about the preaching lasciviousness and basically preached a whole sermon on saying, easy believism, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ was a false gospel. That was basically his entire sermon. And so me and my friends are hearing this and he tried to be confusing about, but we heard this and we're like, that didn't sound right. It's like, that didn't sound like, you know, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And you say, why? Because Calvinists don't believe that the gift of God is eternal life. They believe in a work salvation and it's like, he preached that sermon and I'm like, whoa, that doesn't sound like the voice of the shepherd. So what do we do? We went to a different church. Why is preaching heresy? You can tell when you're saved because you have the spirit of God. First John four, turn to first John four, last place. First John four, you say, what's my point? My point is this. Martin Luther was a very religious person that never got saved and didn't understand the Bible and is in hell today. You say, how do you know that faith is the evidence of salvation. He said you had to get baptized to go to heaven. He said you could lose your salvation. He didn't believe in the gift of God is eternal life. That's my proof. He was not saved because he believed in a work salvation. Okay. And look, Martin Luther's praised in a lot of Baptist churches. We're not going to praise him here because I quoted his own words. I didn't just tell you, well, this is what he taught. No, I quoted his words and showed you he was a heretic. And so he was the one who started the Protestant reformation so much for the Protestant reformation being a good thing because you have a devil that started it. All it does is confuse people when there's hundreds of churches out here that teach different things. And in reality, they're teaching the same thing. There's only two religions in this world, salvation by faith alone or salvation by works. And there's a million different by works teachers out there. And they make you think it's different, but it's not different. It's the same thing, just leading you down a different path straight from the devil. It's going to send you down to hell. Okay. First John chapter four, verse four, ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The Bible says if you're of God and you hear God's word being preached, you're going to be able to tell it's from God. And look, when it comes to the sermons we preach, we use a lot of Bible at this church. We use a lot of Bible. I don't just get up here and tell you stories. I show you a lot of Bible and I want you to understand something. Many people, they hear these sermons though, and they say, well, I don't agree with that. That doesn't mean that they're all unsaved, but let me tell you something. A lot of people, they would disagree with a lot of things I preach and it's because of the fact they don't have the spirit inside of them. They don't hear God's words. Why? Because they're of the world. They're not saved. Okay. That's the reality. Martin Luther, he was unsaved. Okay. He was not a man of God. And so the Protestant reformation, yeah, it was started by Martin Luther. And guess what? He wrote a whole book about how you have no free will and how he talked about you can lose your salvation. You've got to be baptized to be saved. He wanted to take books out of the Bible and guess what the Lutherans believe today? They believe the same thing. Okay. Just a few last things. You don't have to turn anywhere, but one other thing in history that's important because next week we're going to talk about the King Henry VIII branch. King Henry VIII is actually one of the most important characters in the Protestant reformation and Martin Luther always wanted to become friends with King Henry VIII. He was trying to get England to leave the Catholic Church and King Henry VIII always was like, no. And he wrote a book against Martin Luther and everything like that. But he always wanted to become friends with King Henry VIII and King Henry VIII rejected it. Okay. Now one story I have from college because most of you have probably said I've never given the gospel to a Lutheran. Okay. It's like this is in theory only because you've never given the gospel to Luther. I remember one time I was giving the gospel to someone I knew in college that was a Lutheran. And I remember, you know, I sat down and had lunch with them and I was explaining salvation trying to figure out what they believed. And I was just really confused with what they believed because they basically were saying they knew they were going to heaven and they knew they were one of God's children. They said it's by faith alone. And the reason why they knew that is because they were baptized as a baby. And I'm like, what in the world? It's by faith alone. And you know you're going to heaven because you were baptized as a baby. She believed exactly what the Lutherans believe today, that if you're baptized as a baby, what happens is that means God will put faith inside of you and you'll become one of God's children. Okay. So when it comes to the Lutherans in this Protestant branch, the Lutherans are the most confusing when it comes to salvation. You could give the gospel to a Lutheran and if you don't have experience soul winning, you might think, they say it's by faith alone, you might be like, man, amen, the Lutherans believe the same thing. No, they don't. They're just more tricky about it. Are there saved Lutherans? I'm sure there are some people that are saved that go to the Lutheran church, but those churches do not teach salvation by faith alone. Many of you know Brother Jared Pozarski. We have a lot in common in terms of the fact we were both raised Protestant and he was a Lutheran pretty much his whole life. And he thought, I mean, he even listened to Pastor Anderson for a while and he wasn't saved yet because he assumed he believed the same thing and everything like that. And I was like, you could talk to him. He's probably going to be here the next missions trip we have will probably be out here visiting. He was raised Lutheran and it's just like, you know, I told the story last week about with his baby that he wanted baptized. It's like, he'll tell you the same thing. The Lutherans are the trickiest and many a Baptist would knock on the door of a Lutheran and say, man, they sound saved. They're not saved. They do teach a work salvation. They are just more subtle about it. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see your word on all these topics and about the truth of the Lutherans and this Protestant branch and Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation and he was by no means a believer or a good guy. So quite honestly wasn't of God that this was created. It led to a lot of false churches, God and help us just to understand these things and know the Bible deeper and not just everything in the Bible, but also our Baptist heritage is very important. Our Baptist history help us just to walk away from this series being very confident that we are Baptists and understand that our believers are brethren from hundreds of years ago were a Baptist brethren that were killed and murdered for what they believe. Help us to be thankful, though, that in today's world we do not have persecution. We can freely preach the gospel with nobody stopping us. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.