Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201336
|
00:11 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time.
00:14 God's book, The Bible 00:18 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:24 It Is Written 00:25 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 00:38 Now I want you to stick with me today, but how would you react if I read 00:43 these words? 01:19 Doesn't that make any sense? No? Let's try this: 01:50 How about that? No? What's the matter, have you not brushed up on your Greek 01:54 lately? What about your Latin? I don't speak latin and have probably done a 02:01 very poor job myself. 02:06 What I read to you in both cases was Revelation 14:13. First in Koine 02:11 Greek - what the New Testament was originally written in, then I read in 02:15 Latin. The predicament of not understanding the scriptures that you just 02:20 experienced just a moment ago is the same predicament of all of 02:24 England in the 16th century and before. There was no Bible readily 02:30 available in English. Only Wycliffe had translated it into English, but that was 02:37 handwritten and not so easily attainable. So - for the common people, 02:43 their only source of truth and the Word of God was through the clergy. Then 02:49 in about 1520 onto the scene came a Roman Catholic priest who had 02:55 been educated at Oxford University and Cambridge as well. He believed that 03:00 all men should be able to have the scriptures in their native tongue. He 03:05 sympathized with the principles of the Reformation and his 03:08 preaching put him at odds with many in the clergy His name was William 03:14 Tyndale. He is often not recognized for his contributions in the 03:19 Reformation, some scholars, however, refer to him as the "father of 03:23 the English Reformation," or as "the apostle to England." He believed that 03:30 God had called him to bring to the people of England the Bible in 03:35 English. So William Tydale went to the bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall 03:42 to request the blessing of the church in his translation. No such 03:47 blessing was to be given. So Tyndale translated anyway. He was financed 03:57 for this immense project by a good friend of his, who was also a port 04:02 merchant, Sir Humphrey Monmouth. Once, over dinner, while arguing with 04:09 another priest, the priest taunted Tyndale with the statement, "We are better 04:15 to be without God's laws than the Pope's". Tyndale was so infuriated by this 04:21 priest, that he replied, "I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my 04:26 life ere many years, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know 04:31 more of the scriptures than you!" Because the situation grew far too 04:38 dangerous in England, Tyndale knew that he must move his base of 04:43 translating somewhere else. It is difficult to know exactly where Tyndale 04:49 did all of his work because he was a master of hiding and moving before 04:55 any authorities could find him. However what is clear is that Tyndale visited 05:00 Hamburg and Wittenburg, Germany - where in Wittenburg he met with 05:06 Martin Luther. But Tyndale continued his work of translation, until finally 05:11 he began to print that Bible somewhere in Cologne. His friend 05:16 Humphrey Monmouth continued to finance him and helped get the Bibles 05:21 into England by smuggling them in on grain shipments. 05:30 As the word of God began to spread, it caused great anxiety among the clergy, 05:35 as well as the political leadership of the country. King Henry VIII, who was 05:40 the king of England at the time, was in the midst of controversy himself, he 05:44 had married his dead brothers wife, Catherine of Aragon who had produced 05:48 no male heir to the throne. So he went about trying to get the pope to 05:53 allow a divorce. It was truly a big mess. It was in this political setting 05:59 that the English Bible made inroads to England While at first, King Henry 06:06 was very enchanted with Tyndale, when he found that Tyndale would not 06:10 support his divorce claims, he was infuriated Meanwhile Tyndale 06:15 continued to translate and print the English Bible In 1525, the English NT 06:21 was finished and made its way all across England. Tyndale continued his work 06:27 and united his efforts with people like John Frith and Miles Coverdale. 06:35 Work began on the OT and all was going well. A new bishop came to London, 06:43 Bishop Stokesly - he was a cruel man, who wanted one thing more than any other 06:49 and that was the capture of William Tyndale. Tyndale was a difficult 06:55 man to find, for he knew there were many who sought after his life. He was 07:00 working in Worms and the completion of the Old Testament was to come 07:05 soon. While working there, Tyndale had found a new friend, who helped him a 07:10 great deal, Henry Phillips, who was also an Englishmen. One day as 07:16 Henry and William were returning from a church service where William had 07:20 preached - Henry insisted upon buying lunch for William Tyndale. As they 07:24 walked, soldiers came capturing William, thinking his friend to be 07:30 in grave danger he called for Henry to run, but he simply replied, this is 07:36 the man. Unbeknowst to William Tyndale, he had been betrayed by Henry 07:44 Phillips, who had been financed by Bishop Stokesly. 07:52 William Tyndale was taken to Vilvoorden Castle in Belgium where he was 07:59 arrested and imprisoned. Let me read to you the charges that went against 08:05 Tyndale: First: He maintains that faith alone justifies. Second: He 08:11 maintains that to believe in the forgiveness of sins and to embrace the mercy 08:16 offered in the Gospel, is enough for salvation. Third: He asserts that 08:21 human traditions cannot bind the conscience, except where their neglect 08:26 might occasion scandal. Fourth: He affirms the freedom of the will. 08:31 Fifth: He denies that there is any purgatory. Sixth: He affirms that 08:38 neither the Virgin nor the Saints pray for us in their own person. 08:43 Seventh: He asserts that neither the Virgin nor the Saints should be invoked 08:48 by us. He had been labeled a heretic, and on October 6, 1536 - William Tyndale 08:59 was strangled and then burned at the stake. He died a martyr's death - 09:04 trying to bring the Bible to the common people in the common language. In 09:11 1537, Miles Coverdale finished the work of William Tyndale and the 09:17 entire English Bible made its way across England This time with the stamp 09:23 of approval of the king. The Tyndale Bible was such a good translation that it 09:29 was the foundation work for the King James Bible, which was commissioned in 09:35 1611. William Tyndale.he was a man willing to die for his faith, a man 09:43 willing to die to bring the Word of God to the common people. 09:52 Please open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 14 and verse 13 10:21 A simple and concise statement pronouncing a blessing on those who die 10:26 in the Lord. I would like to point out three items of interest in this text. 10:34 The phrase "in the Lord." The first blessing is pronounced on those who 10:40 die in the Lord. The Greek word in can be translated within, among, or for. The 10:48 point is this, those who have their full trust and faith in the Lord Jesus 10:54 Christ, who die before his return are blessed. Notice the context of the 11:01 passage, Revelation 14:12 11:15 Those who die in the Lord or for the Lord are those who have been true to Him, 11:21 by having their faith in the reality that we are saved by our faith in Him 11:26 and the fruit of that faith is their obedience to Jesus. 11:34 Sometimes the idea of faith is made to be very complicated. However it 11:38 doesn't need to be complicated. The word in Greek for faith and belief 11:43 are the same word. The Bible is quite simple, and defines faith in Hebrews 11:52 11:1 states, 12:08 The word substance can be translated confidence, or foundation. Let's read it 12:12 again with one of these other definitions, 12:22 Faith in Jesus can be summarized by saying that he is the very foundation, 12:26 the very substance, the very essence of who you are. Being in the Lord, 12:32 literally means in Him. Your very nature is so much into Him that you 12:37 become like him. So, are you all about Jesus. Is He your very foundation and 12:44 substance? The second blessing is actually not found in the text, it is 12:58 in fact a glaring omission. Notice the text states that those who die 13:06 in the Lord are now resting from their labors, it does not say "blessed 13:12 are they who die in the Lord for now they reside in paradise with Jesus." 13:18 It is this glaring omission that I find very important to point out. We 13:24 had a whole series, Is Heaven for Real, where we covered this topic. And 13:30 you can go to our website ItIsWrittenCanada.ca and there you can find that 13:37 entire series. But it would seem to me that when we speak of being blessed 13:42 for being in the Lord, we would want to present the greatest and nicest gifts 13:48 that we will receive. And since we know that eternal life in the paradise of 13:54 heaven is the eventual destination of those found "in the Lord." Why does 13:59 the text not say, blessed are those who die in the Lord, for now they are in 14:03 paradise? Well we know the answer to that question It is because the Bible is 14:08 clear from cover to cover that when a person dies they go to their rest 14:14 awaiting their resurrection. KJV Ecclesiastes 9:5 14:29 KJV Psalm 6:5 14:44 Over and over again the Bible clearly points out that death is a totally 14:49 unconscious state of being where we await the coming of the Lord. And why is 14:59 this a blessing? Isaiah 57 answers such a question in verse 1 15:26 There is a blessing to those who have fallen asleep in Jesus because 15:30 they have been taken away from the evil of this world and await the return 15:37 of Jesus. 15:42 The third blessing is that "their works follow them." This point is intimately 15:52 tied to point number one. A person who is in the Lord will have works that 15:59 follow them. In other words they have a legacy. The legacy of William 16:04 Tyndale is the Bible in the language of the common people. The legacy of 16:13 Martin Luther is justification by faith alone. The legacy of John 16:18 Wesley is sanctification by faith. And the list goes on and on. But here 16:24 is the key question that we must ask of ourselves in this 2nd beatitude of 16:31 Revelation What is your legacy? Hmm. What is the legacy of this generation? 16:40 And What should it be? I don't know exactly, but I have some ideas. How about 16:48 this generation building a legacy of renewing a faith in the scriptures? The 16:57 statistics are difficult to come by for Canada alone, but when we look at 17:03 statistics for a belief in the Bible, they are startling. However in the 17:12 US 49% of those in the US don't believe the Bible is totally accurate. 65% of 17:21 the those without religious affiliation say that Satan is not a living 17:24 being but is a symbol of evil. 57% state that a good person can earn his 17:30 or her way into Heaven 51% assert that when Jesus Christ lived on earth, He 17:38 committed sins. (2004) But even more startling are the statistics of 17:43 those who are members of the church: 7% believe that God is the total 17:51 realization of personal human potential. 15% say God is no longer involved 17:58 in their life. By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) Christians adults said 18:05 truth is always relative to the person and their situation. 4% of 18:11 Christians said they had consulted a medium or spiritual advisor within 18:17 the past month. 61% of Christian adults view gambling as a morally 18:24 acceptable behavior. Friends what will be our legacy? A people who are 18:33 hypocrits, who say one thing and then do another. A people worried about 18:39 their own personal business and material possessions than that of 18:44 Christ's A people who have no time to be witnesses for Jesus by living a 18:50 loving Christ-centered life. What will be your legacy? What will be my 18:56 legacy? 19:01 William Tyndale died trying to bring the Word of God to everyone. He was 19:08 fulfilling the gospel commission. His very essence, his very 19:11 foundation was preaching the gospel. He knew he would die, but he knew 19:19 what his legacy would bring. As William Tyndale was being tied to the 19:26 stake, upon which he would be burned, his last words were, "Lord, open the king 19:35 of England's eyes." It was his very essence. We too, all know that if the Lord 19:45 doesn't come first, we will die. What is it that we are all about, what is 19:51 our very essence and foundation, what will be our legacy? It is not too 20:01 late to change. It is not too late for us to strive to leave a legacy like 20:06 that of our forefathers. Won't you join me today, in consecrating our lives 20:14 to be in the Lord and to leave a strong legacy? To be someone who is found in 20:22 Him.In Jesus and who's legacy and influence is positive for the 20:27 kingdom.The beatitudes of Revelation promise that you will be blessed 20:35 by leaving such a legacy. Jesus - my Jesus I love thee. 20:43 He is the one that can give you that strength to leave such a legacy 20:53 胜 Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; 21:05 For Thee all the follies of sin I resign 21:17 My gracious redeemer, my Saviour art Thou 21:30 If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 21:54 I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me 22:06 And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree 22:19 I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow 22:32 If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 22:56 In mansions of glory and endless delight, 23:08 I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright; 23:20 I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow; 23:34 If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 23:46 My Jesus, 'tis now. 24:15 >>Chris: Let's pray. Oh Heavenly Father, we love Your son Jesus because we 24:20 know that it is through Him, through His grace, through His mercy, through 24:24 His strength, that we can be in Him and that we then can leave a legacy that 24:33 will benefit your kingdom. Lord, we want to be good people. We want to be 24:39 people who others love to be around. We want to be people who are known for 24:46 their love of Jesus. So change us, mold us, and make us into that people. 24:53 This is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. 25:19 The book of Revelation is a blessing to read, a blessing to understand, 25:24 and a blessing to follow the leading of Jesus. I want to offer you today a 25:28 free set of lessons called "Focus on Prophecy." It'll help you understand the 25:34 book of Revelation better, and to become more like Jesus and follow Him every 25:40 day of your life. Here's the information you need to receive today's free 25:45 offer. 26:48 The revelation of Jesus Christ. Literally the unveiling of Jesus Christ. 26:52 This book that so many say is a hard book to understand is actually the 26:59 unveiling, the revealing of the true character of Jesus. That's what It Is 27:05 Written Canada is committed to. Helping people find a relationship 27:10 with Jesus Christ and follow Him. I want to invite you to go to our 27:14 website, itiswrittencanada.ca. There at our website, you 27:20 will find a number of resources to help you in your walk of following 27:25 Jesus. You will find a link to our Youtube page where you can watch all 27:29 the archived programs. You'll also find a link to our Facebook page where 27:35 you can like us. And then you'll also find a link to Twitter where you can 27:40 follow us on Twitter and be updated about what's happening with the 27:44 ministry. Jesus is looking for a people who will follow Him, no matter what 27:49 the cost. Friends, it's time that we get serious with Jesus, spend time in 27:55 His Word, read His Word, study His Word, and follow His Word. Thank you for 28:00 joining us today. I invite you to join us again next week. Until then, 28:06 remember, it is written: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 28:12 word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 28:18 $$$$ |
Revised 2020-02-13