Reformation 2025: Seeing Thunder | Part 2

Happy Reformation Day Part Two. Friday, of course,

was officially Reformation Day. And so we wanted

to make sure, actually I needed about four weeks

for this subject, but we're doing it in two,

which means, so Adam was right, there's gonna

be a lot of photos, there's gonna be timelines

and maps, and this one may run a little long,

so be gracious with me, but I wanna make sure

we cover this well. Last week we set the stage

for the Scottish Reformation, primarily by talking

about the early martyrs. that were burned at

the stake for their Protestant faith. And today

we're going to take it from there and talk about

the life and the ministry of John Knox. And he

is the man whose boldness and courage really

drove the Reformation in Scotland to its successful

outcome in the year 1560. It is a wonderful story,

studying this man. A story of both successes

and setbacks. A story of ups and downs. And isn't

that life? Things don't always go exactly as

we plan it. You have your ups and downs. But

it was a story of constant battles for the truth

that Knox and others were fighting in that day.

Here's the thing that's really encouraging for

someone like me and maybe for you as well. This

is a story of a very flawed man in John Knox

who God used mightily, just as he did with Martin

Luther, another flawed man. These were not perfect

men, but they were the right men for their day.

And Knox was a man who would stand firm and not

back down. from God's call. And that's what we're

gonna find out today. The verse that kept coming

to my mind as I was working on this this week,

I kept saying, Lord, what passage could I share

with the body this morning? And in addition to

the call to worship from Matthew 10, which we'll

come back to, which is very important, 1 Corinthians

15, 58 came to mind as well. Because I think

this really describes Knox so well. Therefore,

my beloved brothers, be steadfast. Be immovable.

Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing

that your labor is not in vain. And that really

does speak so much to the life of John Knox.

Now, why do we read biographies and why do we

care to listen to sermons about great men and

women in church history? I hope you know the

answer to that question, but let me just spell

it out clearly. We want to see God's sovereign

hand moving. in human history. We want to see

how God has mightily used his servants, raised

up the right people for the right time, and to

use them in supernatural ways. And in the process

of that, guys, we get to understand a little

bit more about our spiritual roots as a church.

Because as I said last Sunday, we are not isolated

from church history. We are a part of the flow

of what God is doing in the history of his body.

So stories of men like Knox should be, to you

and I, very encouraging and very inspiring. And

so I hope his story will bless you this morning.

So let's dive in. Let's start with our main character.

And by the way, let's just say before we go any

further that John Knox had to have had the best

beard in all of church history. I mean, that

is glorious, right? Now, interestingly, much

of Knox's life, his early life, is very much

unknown. And this doesn't surprise us because

this is true of most people. Until they step

on the big stage, a lot of... Their history in

the past just didn't show up in the history books,

and that's true of Knox. We do know that he grew

up in a staunch Roman Catholic family, as everybody

did prior to the Reformation. We know he was

a top -tier student at the University of St.

Andrews, that he earned his degree in the year

1536, and even served briefly as an assistant

professor at his school. We also know that like

all the great reformers, this is something that's

common to all of them, he was ordained into the

Catholic priesthood. He was ordained as a priest

soon after graduating from university. But it

seems that one of the things that turned his

heart towards Protestant ideas, of all things,

was a job that he took tutoring. the sons of

two noble families in Scotland who both happened

to be early Protestants. And though we don't

have details, it seems that there were some things

as he was teaching these two school -age boys,

there were things being spoken of in those homes

that must have rubbed off on him. But the determining

factor in his life was sitting under the teaching

of one particular man. And guys, this is, again,

a story of God's sovereignty. You have no idea.

In your life, when you sit down with somebody

to teach them, to disciple them, what that person

may end up becoming. There was a guy who helped

to form John Knox's thinking. And we don't even

know his name, although I'm going to give it

to you right now. But he's not famous. But he

poured into the life of John Knox. His name was

Thomas Guion. And he had once been a Dominican

friar himself prior to coming to believe in Reformed

doctrine. And by the year 1543, Knox had done

the same. He committed his life to scripture,

to the gospel of grace. But the only details

he really gives us in his writings about how

he came to that was this sublime statement. And

Knox is known for this, the way he speaks. He

writes this. He says, it pleased God to call

me out of the puddle of papistry. That's sort

of the way he spoke and wrote. Two years after

that is when he met George Wishart in 1545. We

talked about him last Sunday. And Knox affixed

himself to Wishart's powerful preaching ministry,

became his disciple, became his close friend.

And it was from Wishart that Knox really saw

firsthand what it looked like to preach with

boldness and to be faithful and courageous in

his convictions. And as I shared last Sunday,

we know that Knox... became his assistant, became

his personal bodyguard because Wisher's life

was always being threatened. So Knox would stand

next to him while he preached with a two -handed

sword held in front of him to ward off any assassins

who would try to kill his friend. But when Wisher

was eventually arrested and burned at the stake

in St. Andrews the following year in 1546, the

mantle of that ministry passed to Knox. He didn't

know it at the time, but it was being passed

to him. Now, I shared the story last Sunday of

how a Protestant militia had taken over the castle

at St. Andrews, and then they asked Knox to come

in and be their pastor and to be their chaplain

and to preach. And in that role, which he hesitated

to do at first, we actually know exactly what

he preached his first sermon on. It was on two

verses from Daniel chapter 7 of all places, and

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

it was taught in the pulpit of Holy Trinity Parish

Church. on the campus of the University of St.

Andrews. That pulpit from the 16th century is

still in that church today. In fact, here I am

standing in it looking like a dork on the left,

and there I am on the right pretending to do

my Knox pointing my finger. That is John Knox's

pulpit from that many years ago, and it's still

sitting in that same chapel. Now, whether it

was a good sermon or not, we don't know. All

that Knox would say about his first sermon later

was, he said this. Oops, I'm going to come back

to that. He said, St. Andrews was the place where

God first, in public, opened my mouth to his

glory. What a great way to describe your preaching.

Not, hey, that was the first day I got to talk

to the people. No, God opened my mouth to his

own glory. By the way, the other pictures, let

me just go back to those. St. Andrews, if you

go to Scotland, you need to go there. a beautiful

university town. So that's the chapel. That's

the inside of that same chapel where his pulpit

is. That's the campus of the university on the

right. So as you walk through there, you know,

the guide we were with said, yeah, these buildings

are older than your country. I was like, oh,

that's nice. I mean, just absolutely beautiful.

And just, this is the town. You walk down the

street, just, I mean, Christmas card, right,

Grant? If there was snow, it'd be perfect. Just

a beautiful town. Okay, enough of that. So those

who heard Knox preach in those first couple months

were amazed. In fact, it was said by some unknown

observer, they said, others lop off the branches

of the papistry, but Knox strikes at the root

to destroy the whole. He instantly, in just the

first few months, became known for bringing the

thunder. That's why we've called this series

Seeing Thunder. That became his reputation. And

people noted right away, listen, if they burned

Wishart, they're going to burn this guy as well

because he seems to be even more aggressive than

his mentor. And very quickly, he was summoned

to answer for his preaching by the prior general

of the local Augustinian order. And Knox... probably

a little naive at this point in his ministry

career, stormed into this meeting without any

fear whatsoever and to the face of the prior

declared the papacy to be a false office. A false

office saying no man can usurp Christ as head

of the church. And then he went on to attack

the mass as idolatrous and declared that all

Catholic ceremonies go beyond the commands of

scripture and therefore must be stopped. That

was Knox in a nutshell. He never held back. He

brought the thunder. And oftentimes, one of the

things that caused him trouble was he lacked

any sense of tact or diplomacy. But somehow,

God supernaturally protected him from being arrested

at this point, and he began to move on. Now,

I'm going to give you a timeline here throughout

the rest of the message so that you can follow

along on the dates. I mentioned this last week.

In 1547, Knox and his fellow Protestants were

actually captured by the French Navy after they

laid siege to the castle at St. Andrews, and

he found himself... confined to a French ship

as a galley slave. So get this now. For 19 months,

he was chained to an oar with little food in

deplorable conditions. And honestly, without

God's protection, it's a miracle he survived

because many didn't. But that was his punishment

for having rebelled against the authorities in

St. Andrews. Later, a story would emerge, and

I think this is probably true, that the crew

on this ship would often go down into below deck

and just try to convince all these slaves to

conform to the Roman Catholic faith and to pray

to Mary. And of course, Knox would refuse. So

at one point, Knox was taken above deck, and

a statue of Mary was pushed towards him, and

the crew demanded that he kiss the Virgin Mary.

And what did Knox do? He took the statue in his

arms and he threw it overboard. And he said to

the crew, let our lady now save herself. Let

her learn how to swim. John Knox, ladies and

gentlemen. Now on two occasions during those

19 months, he noticed that he was rowing within

sight of the steeple of St. Andrews. And he writes

later that he never surrendered hope that someday

he would get back there and preach again. And

he would. In 1549, God spared Knox's life. He

was actually released from slavery through a

prisoner swap with France. But at that point,

it wasn't safe for him to stay in Scotland. He'd

already created enough enemies. So he began a

life of exile. And this was to mark John Knox's

life. He spent less time in Scotland than he

wanted to and many years away from his homeland.

So in this case, he decided that he would go

to London. He had seen the Church of England.

And yes, Henry VIII had brought a measure of

reform there. But in Knox's opinion, it wasn't

even close to being as reformed as it should

be. So his goal was to bring more reform to the

Anglican Church. And when he came to London,

he was well -received by the Protestants there.

In fact, for the next four years, he would preach

at various locations in England. directed by

the one and only Thomas Cranmer. If you know

your English history, Thomas Cranmer was the

Archbishop of Canterbury and the driving force

behind Reformation in the nation of England.

Cranmer first sent Knox to the northern town

of Berwick, which was just three miles away from

the Scottish border. By the way, it was there

that he met his wife for the first time. Her

name was Marjorie. A year later, he was then

assigned to a parish in the city of Newcastle.

And then in 1551, this is important, he was honored

to be recommended to be one of six royal chaplains

assigned to serve and teach the King of England.

Now, at this point, a few years earlier, Henry

VIII had passed away, and the throne had passed

to his only son. If you know the story of Edward

VI, he came to the throne at the ripe old age

of 14 years old, and he needed teaching, he needed

tutoring. And by all accounts, Edward was a remarkably

smart young man. He was, get this now, he was

thoroughly Protestant in his ideas and able to

articulate what Protestant reform theology was.

And so Knox had high hopes for Edward and high

hopes that he would bring greater reform to England

and that maybe if England got more reformed,

it would spread north up into Scotland. So Knox

came back to London and he taught. the young

prince privately and also preached in his presence.

Knox preached in places like Westminster Abbey.

He preached at Windsor Castle in the presence

of young Edward the King. And Knox was convinced,

although Henry had divorced England from Rome,

that the Church of England was still way too

Catholic. So with Edward, he had a chance to

really shape the young man's mind and to hammer

home all the ways that the Anglican Church needed

to be reformed. And then just to walk that talk,

In the year 1552, Knox was offered an actual

Anglican position as a bishop, the Bishop of

Rochester. And he said, no, thank you, because

the Church of England is not yet reformed enough

for me to join it. And he said, no, thank you.

He said, I will remain just a simple preacher

of God's word. That's what I love about Knox.

He just lived by his principles. But then came

a shocking moment that changed Knox's life drastically,

and this propels him into what I would call the

second stage of his ministry life. In 1553, that

young king, Edward, suddenly died at the age

of 16. And along with him, the hopes of a Protestant

England died as well. 13 days later, the throne

passed to Henry's oldest daughter. So it had

gone to the first son, but now it went to the

oldest daughter, and she was proclaimed Queen

of England. You probably know who she is. Her

name was Mary Tudor. And she was a committed

Roman Catholic. While her younger brother had

been a Protestant, she was a committed Roman

Catholic. So committed, in fact, that her reputation

would go down in history by what moniker? Bloody

Mary, the greatest persecutor of the Protestant

church in that day. She will answer to God for

arresting and executing almost 300 Protestant

reformers in the country of England, including

Thomas Cranmer, by the way, who she put to death

at the Tower of London, as well as famously Hugh

Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Bradford, and

Miles Coverdale, and many, many more. So Mary's

ascension to the throne then put Knox in a real

bind. He knew he would be on Mary's hit list.

So weeks after young Edward died, he made the

very difficult decision to flee across the English

Channel and find safety somewhere on the continent.

And again, this was Knox's life. He was often

on the run. He was always facing adversity and

yet always watching to see where God would take

him next. But always, always, always with a constant

eye, I've got to get back to Scotland. Got to

get back to my homeland. But at this point, he

needed to find a place that was safe. So he landed

in Normandy, couldn't stay long because France

wasn't safe for him either. France was a very

Catholic country at the time. But while he was

in Normandy, he wrote a very important work that's

titled Admonition to England. And he sent it

off through secret channels. And this was an

open letter where he pleaded with the English

believers not to go back. to the Roman religion.

Do not fall back. He said, Queen Mary is worse

than a Jezebel. Do not obey her. They must flee

from idolatry by refusing to attend the Catholic

mass. And then he reminded them, if the government

threatens you, don't forget you have a higher

authority than the queen that you will give an

account to. That's the Lord Jesus himself. So

I'll bring up a map here so that you can see

where he went. This great little black and white

map. So the yellow area up there is Scotland.

Leaving France then, so he traveled. So the dots

up there, the orange dot is St. Andrews along

the coast. The blue dot is the capital city of

Edinburgh. The green dot is London, just so that

you can see where England is. So coming across

the English Channel, he lands in France. And

you can see where Normandy is there. And he crosses

the border into Switzerland where he first goes

to Geneva, which is the red dot at the bottom.

It's very close there to the French border. And

there in Geneva, he meets with John Calvin. And

they begin to not only discuss theology, and

can you imagine being a fly on that wall? Calvin

and Knox talking theology, but also talking strategy

as well. Then he went on to Zurich, which is

the yellow dot there, where he met with another

great reformer, Heinrich Bullinger. But then

the news came to him from England that things

were getting so much worse back at home, both

in England and in Scotland. So he sat down, he

wrote two more works to the English church. Here

are the titles of those two works. A Letter to

My Afflicted Brethren in England, and then this

catchy title. A comfortable epistle sent to the

afflicted church of Christ. So you hear his heart

for his suffering people in those titles. Noxton

received an invitation to come to Frankfurt,

Germany because an English -speaking congregation

was forming there. Everybody was fleeing England

because of Bloody Mary. And so some were going

to Frankfurt, Germany. Some 200 Protestants sent

him a note and said, would you come and preach

to us? Would you pastor our church? And so after

getting advice from Calvin, he went to Frankfurt,

which is that pink dot there so that you can

picture where that was. And interestingly, in

Frankfurt, things didn't go well. This was one

of the ministry failures for Knox. Some of the

Protestants there insisted on... having a church

and an order of service that still was very Anglican.

It wasn't reformed enough, and Knox was not going

to have it. In fact, one of the leaders said

to him at one point, our worship should resemble

the face of an English church, to which Knox

responded, no, it should have the face of Christ's

church. And that was his heart. And so by mutual

agreement, Knox left Frankfurt behind, and he

thought for a moment about going back to Geneva,

But in 1555, he took a massive risk. He snuck

back into Scotland. 1555, after much prayer,

he sneaks back into Scotland because he wants

to get a sense of the temperature of the Reformed

Church in his home country. And he's encouraged

to hear that groups of reform -minded believers

were gathering secretly. Now, remember, at this

point, every church was Roman Catholic. You could

not have, it's not like today. You just can't

go plant a Protestant church. Bishops were in

charge of the churches. There is no Protestant

church to attend. So they were meeting secretly

for scripture reading and prayer. They called

these gatherings. privy kirks or private churches.

And it had to be done in secret because, again,

there was somebody in charge of Scotland. We

looked at her last week. Her name is Mary of

Guise. This woman was the regent in charge of

Scotland at the time. So she was in charge. Protestant

ideas were still illegal, and Catholic bishops

were still hunting for heretics. Yet, over the

next few months, Knox moves about the region

very quietly, very stealthily, and he's meeting

with these privy kirks, and he's teaching them,

and he's administering the Lord's Supper. But

finally, Mary of Guise realizes what's going

on. She becomes aware of him, and she summons

him to come to the royal palace to answer for

what he's up to. Now, everybody said there's

no way Knox would go and meet with this woman.

There's no way. She'll arrest him. Everybody

expected him to flee. What do you think Knox

did? No, he announced as publicly as possible,

no, I'm coming to meet with her. I insist on

it because I want to basically preach to her

Reformed doctrine. Again, a little bit naive,

but very, very courageous. Well, upon hearing

this news, the clan leaders in the north of Scotland,

they got fired up by that. And so they gathered

their militias and they said, we will march to

Edinburgh with Knox for that meeting. And as

soon as Mary of Guise found out that he was coming

with actual military power, she withdrew her

summons completely. So Knox stared her down and

won that particular round. And that brings us

then to stage three of his ministry, another

calling from God that would change the direction

of his life. In 1556, a letter came from Geneva

where he had spent some time. And same thing

was happening there. This large English -speaking

congregation was forming in the city of Geneva.

And they also said, will you come? And will you

pastor our church? And will you teach us Reformed

theology? And so again, Knox agonizes. He leaves

Scotland, his homeland, and he goes to Geneva

because he's convinced that this is something

that God has put on his desk and that he needs

to learn more about pastoral ministry from John

Calvin. So he leaves Scotland and goes to Geneva

and learn he does. He stays in Geneva for more

than three years pastoring that congregation.

And if you can imagine sharing chapel time with

John Calvin. There was a time in Geneva where

both John Knox and John Calvin were preaching

every day of the week in the city of Geneva to

all of these reformed -minded people. Knox would

later write that Geneva was this. This is the

quote. He says, it was the most perfect school

of Christ that was ever on the earth since the

days of the apostles. And he wanted to stay.

It was so comfortable, and there was so much

success going on, but his heart is still with

Scotland. And if you can imagine, His time with

Calvin made him even more passionate about Reformed

theology. In fact, he said this later. He said,

what was first sparked in me by George Wishart

was fanned into full blaze by Calvin. And this

congregation in Geneva was not like the one in

Frankfurt. They followed their shepherd. He put

together a fully reformed order of worship following

Calvin's regulative principle, and they followed

him. And it was just this amazing time, the most

peaceful time in Knox's life. Imagine, he's enjoying

ministry success. He's also enjoying married

life. His wife Marjorie gives birth to his first

son there in Geneva, and yet he knew things were

getting worse back home, and it bothered him

tremendously. Queen Mary was continuing to arrest

reformers. And in Scotland, the other Mary, Mary

of Guise, was still in power. And this is getting

worse. She's now negotiating the marriage of

her young daughter to the crown prince of France.

And if that were to come to pass, it would make

Scotland even more Catholic than it was then.

So bad news coming from back home. And in that

moment of anger and frustration, Knox does something

that he later regrets. It's one of his biggest

blunders. He wrote a 45 -page pamphlet. with

this catchy title. Are you ready? The first blast

of the trumpet against the monstrous regime of

women. I mean, he was battling two Marys at the

same time, and they were both awful. This was

bad. In this work, he argued that women were

not designed by God, physically or emotionally,

to rule nations, that it was unnatural. And this

pamphlet would come back to haunt him later.

Later on, he's going to seek help from Queen

Elizabeth of England. And guess what she said?

Uh -uh, I read your pamphlet. So it came back

to haunt him. Even today in Scotland, though

he is recognized as a hero of Scotland, sort

of like our revolutionary figures, he is still

considered the first male chauvinist of Scotland

because of this. So it sort of haunted him even

all these years later. And then something back

home in Scotland happened that really turned

the tide. That you probably would not, if you

were just a casual observer, you would say that's

not a big deal. But it changed everything because

the nobles, the clan leaders of Scotland, finally

got riled up enough to do something about what

was happening in the land. And it has to do with

another martyr of the faith who watered the church

with his blood. Remember, 30 years earlier, the

Archbishop of St. Andrews had burned that young

man, Patrick Hamilton. We looked at that last

week. That was 1528. 30 years later now, 1558,

and there's going to be another important martyr.

And they could not have chose a worse candidate

to put to death. His name was Walter Milne, and

he was 82 years old at the time of his execution.

Can you imagine? This was a guy who'd been a

parish priest in a small Scottish town called

Lunan. But like so many other Protestants, he'd

come to a conviction about Catholic religion.

He had read the Lutheran material coming across

into the land. He had gotten a hold of Tyndale's

English Bible, and he was convinced of Reformed

doctrine. For 20 years in this tiny little parish

church, he quietly and subtly taught Reformed

doctrine. But finally he came to... the alert

of the authorities. And in 1546, he was declared

a heretic and he had to flee for his life. He

spent 12 years outside of Scotland, both in Germany

and then in Switzerland. And when he turned 82,

he thought to himself, I'm going to go back to

Scotland. I want to see my homeland for one last

time. And he came back and he could no longer

go into his church that he had pastored because

it had been turned into a Catholic parish. So

what did he do? 82 years old, he started doing

open air preaching in the fields in the county

where he had served. And people came to hear

him. And guess what? They went out and arrested

him. 82 years old. And they put him in the prison

in St. Andrews and they tortured him and they

demanded he recant his beliefs, which he would

not do. In fact, on the day that he was put on

trial, he was so weak from both age and being

tortured that they had to carry him up into the

seat of the accused. And in front of the assembly

of bishops and abbots and scholars, he was cross

-examined and he was accused of breaking a whole

series of papal laws. And then he was accused,

get this, of preaching in private homes and in

open fields without approval of the bishop for

preaching the gospel. And you know how he responded?

He said, don't forget also preaching on ships.

Because I've done that too. I mean, he literally

just said, yeah, put that in my charge as well.

Which caused the observers that were there that

day to laugh. People saw courage in this very

old man. Perhaps the most damning testimony came

in response to the question about him denying

that the mass was a sacrifice for the sins of

both the living and the dead. He said, oh, no,

no, no. And he said this, this is a quote from

his trial. He said, Christ was once offered on

the cross for the sins of men and will never

be offered again for on that day he ended all

sacrifice. Amen. And when threatened with death

at the stake, he found the strength to stand

up on his own and he looked at his accusers and

this is what he said. This is all on record.

He said, I know I must die once and therefore

as Christ said to Judas, what you do, do quickly.

Ooh. You should know that I will not recant the

truth, for I am not chaff. I will not be blown

away with the wind. And the observers there that

day, the townspeople, were so offended by the

way this godly old man had been treated. They

refused to sell to the authorities the cords

and the tar that were necessary to perform the

execution. The provost of the town who was in

charge of the executions said, I won't do it.

The chamberlain of the archbishop said, same

with me, I will not put this man to death. Eventually,

they found somebody willing to do it. They got

enough cord, and they bound this 82 -year -old

man to the stake, and the fire was kindled beneath

him. And once more, from the fire, Milne found

the supernatural strength to speak to the crowd.

Now, didn't Adam read from Matthew 10 earlier?

What did it say? When they hand you over, Do

not worry about how or what you are to say, for

it will be given to you in that hour what you

are to say. For it is not you who speak, but

it is the spirit of your father who speaks in

you. And that promise came true in the life of

Walter Milne, the last great martyr of the Scottish

Reformation. Here's what he said. Here's what

he declared to the crowd that day. It's long,

but listen. He said, the cause why I suffer this

day is not for any crime laid to my charge. although

I am a miserable sinner before God, but only

for the defense of the faith of Jesus Christ

set forth in the scriptures. Be no more seduced

with the lies of priests, monks, friars, abbots,

bishops, and the rest of the sect of Antichrist,

but depend only upon Jesus Christ and his mercy

that you may be delivered from condemnation.

I praise God that he has called me of his mercy

to seal up his truth with my life, which as I

have received it of him, so willingly I offer

it to his glory. Wow. Wow. That's what we call

a faithful testimony. Knox would later write

that the execution of this godly old man became

a huge scandal across the nation and a new spirit

of revolution. came upon the clan leaders. Now,

while this was going on in Scotland, Knox is

in Geneva still, and he's putting down on paper

another one of his writings on a very controversial

topic. In fact, on a topic that he and Calvin

argued about and disagreed about. And the title

of his work has come down. It's called The Appellation.

That's a shortening of the title. But here was

the main theme. It's not just the right, he said,

but the duty of the people of a nation to resist

and overthrow any ruler who is ungodly and tyrannical,

even with force. To allow an ungodly ruler to

stay in power, he argued, would invite God's

judgment upon that nation. Still controversial

to this day. And then finally, before leaving

Geneva, he wrote his longest work, his most elaborate

work on a subject that he and Calvin 100 % agreed

and talked about all the time. 468 pages on the

subject, a treatise on predestination. Just in

case you were wondering if the Scottish Presbyterians

were reformed, they are. Predestination, 468

pages on election and salvation. Now, that pushes

Knox in the year 1558 into the fourth and final

stage of his ministry life, and mercifully, it

comes about by another death. In that year, Bloody

Mary, Queen of England, died of uterine cancer

at the age of 42. And two months later, her younger

sister came to the throne, who is, of course,

Queen Elizabeth I. And Elizabeth is a Protestant

sympathizer, very different from her sister.

She ascends to the throne of England, and this

is an absolute game changer. Almost immediately,

that English -speaking congregation in Geneva

makes plans to go back home under Elizabeth,

and now Knox Going back to our timeline. Now

decides that with his congregation in flux, it's

time for him also to return to Scotland. And

that's the last time he would ever leave his

homeland. He goes back to Scotland in 1559. Now,

when he arrives, Mary of Guise is still in control.

And her daughter Mary has now married that Prince

of France. And he's already being called the

King of the Scots. So Knox sees a problem coming,

and with her daughter planning to relocate to

Scotland to serve as the queen, Mary of Guise

realizes now's the time to start clamping down

even harder on the Protestant rebels. And remember,

she's got French troops in Scotland to back up

her royal laws. So after landing in Scotland,

Knox goes right past St. Andrews, it's too hot

there, and he goes to the nearby city of Perth,

knowing that he would have strong support in

that city. On his first Sunday, In the city of

Perth, he preaches in open defiance of Mary's

rule. And on that morning, he preaches on the

idolatry of the mass. He preaches against Catholic

images in the churches of Scotland. And because

of the fire of that sermon, and you can probably

anticipate this would happen, many young men,

Protestant young men, began to riot. in the cities

in the county of Fife. And they began attacking

churches. They began tearing down Catholic altars,

pulling down statues and images from the walls

of churches. It created a huge problem. And Knox

was, he didn't condemn it, but he was a little

hesitant to approve it as well. But the fact

is the momentum of the revolution had now begun.

And this would go on for weeks and weeks. Knox

then announced his intention to go to St. Andrews.

to confront the authorities there, and to preach

in that same place where he had been taken as

a slave and promised to get back to, he got back

to it. But when the archbishop was told that

he was coming, this is what he said. He would

welcome Knox with a salute of a dozen muskets.

So what do you think Knox did? He marched to

St. Andrews. Of course he did. This is what he

said to his friends. He said, my life is in the

custody of him whose glory I seek. Therefore,

I cannot fear their boast nor their tyranny that

I would cease from doing my duty when of his

mercy he offers me the occasion. It's a gutsy

dude. And so Knox comes to St. Andrews and guess

what? The authorities back away. And he enters

the pulpit that I showed you earlier and preaches

to the largest gathering the city of St. Andrews

had ever seen. People want to hear what he has

to say. Guess what he preaches on? Jesus cleansing

the temple. I mean, he's not subtle. And he basically

says, this is what you need to do. You need to

throw off the vestiges of papal religion. And

the crowds are so fired up, they ask him to come

back. He preaches for four days straight. And

so many people convert, 21 Catholic priests in

those four days convert to the Protestant faith.

He's making a huge difference. Then he goes on

basically a tour all over the county of Fife

preaching. And this is what he says about this

time. And again, listen to the humility here.

He's not going, look what a great preacher I

am. Here's what he says about this. He says,

the trumpet of God's word sounded all over the

land. We do nothing but go about Jericho, blowing

with trumpets as God gives us strength, hoping

victory by his power alone. John Knox got it.

It wasn't him. It was God working through him

and God working through the word that was changing

lives. Now, Mary of Guise is enraged by all this,

so she sends 2 ,000 of her French soldiers north

to suppress this rebellion, and when they get

up there, they bump into a surprise. The Klan

leaders have come together and raised their own

militia, a larger force than the French came

with. And the French are forced to withdraw.

And then another big break comes. A man by the

name of James Stewart, who was Queen Mary's half

-brother and the Earl of Argyle, declared his

intention to join the rebellion. They had a royal

on their side now. This is a game changer. He

becomes the flag bearer of something called the

Lords of the Congregation, a bunch of powerful

nobles who come together and they make a pact.

to defeat Mary, to drive the French out of Scotland,

and to establish Reformed theology in the land.

And so this army commanded by these lords marches

to St. Andrews, and they tear every vestige of

Catholicism out of the churches. In fact, here's

a picture. We were just there, as you know. See

that little alcove? See all those blank spaces?

Back in the 16th century, they would have been

filled with statues. They all got ripped down.

Part of removing all the images and all the icons

and all the statues that these guys preached

was idolatrous. So within just weeks then, after

taking St. Andrews, they marched south to Edinburgh

and they chased Mary of Guise out of the city.

And they took possession of the castle at Edinburgh.

How many of you guys have been to Edinburgh?

Have you seen the castle? It's one of the most

spectacular buildings you'll ever tour. They

took the fortress. The lords of the congregation,

these clan leaders and their militia, took it

from Mary of Guise. Now, they knew Mary would

respond in some way, so James Stewart was so

smart, he immediately sent word to Queen Elizabeth

in England and said, hey, we need your help.

There's a Protestant thing happening up here.

We need your help. How did Elizabeth respond?

First of all, I don't want to talk to John Knox.

But I will send forces. She sent a fleet of ships

that anchored outside the city of Edinburgh.

She sent a land force that actually attacked

the French troops at the city of Leith. And so

Mary of Guise was now cornered. She had the Scots

on one side. She had the English on the other.

And she was forced to negotiate. And even before

she could negotiate a treaty, she died. God's

mercy. At the age of 44, of Dropsy, which killed

people back in the day. She dies at the age of

44. That is the final blow against Catholicism

in Scotland, at least for the moment. And then

what comes next over a series of weeks is just

one victory after another for the Protestant

faith. John Knox at this point receives his final

call to ministry, the last one he would get for

the last 12 years of his life. He's appointed

minister at St. Giles Church in Edinburgh. That

is the most prestigious pulpit in all of Scotland.

And for those 12 years, he would preach, you

ready? For up to 3 ,000 people a Sunday in an

old, old building. Here's what it looks like.

If you've been there, St. Giles is a spectacular

cathedral. Absolutely spectacular. That's the

outside. And then on the inside, just beautiful.

The ceilings are magnificent. Look at the pipe

organ, musicians. Just absolutely spectacular.

So John Knox begins to preach in this amazing

church. The French lose their will to fight in

Scotland after Mary passes away. So they begin

to withdraw. And then the Scottish Parliament

gathers in Edinburgh and they pass legislation.

Are you ready? Outlawing the Catholic religion

in Scotland. Papal authority is abolished. The

Catholic mass is declared illegal. All the churches

are to be stripped of their idolatrous religious

art so that, this is a quote, only Christ would

be worshipped. Not Mary and not the saints. And

then Parliament asked Knox to form a council

of theologians to put together a confessional

statement of Reformed doctrine. In just four

days, they authored what's called the Scots Confession,

which basically reflected all the things that

he had learned in Switzerland under the teaching

of Calvin. Very reformed. And the Scots Confession

would be the confessional standard of Scotland

for 86 years until it was superseded by what

we read from this morning, the Westminster Confession

of Faith. And then that was followed by a second

request. Knox was asked to draft a document that

would establish the polity or the church structure

of the Church of Scotland. And he wrote something

called the First Book of Discipline, where he

outlined the need for the church to establish

a structure according to Scripture and Scripture

alone. Unheard of at that time. A church polity

just based on Scripture. So among other things,

he laid out the role of elders and the role of

deacons, the congregation's right to elect its

own minister, absolutely revolutionary, and then

the three marks of a true church. Do you know

what they are? The right preaching of the gospel

by the word, the right ordering and practice

of the two sacraments only, baptism and the Lord's

Supper, and three, the necessity of church discipline

for unrepentant sin. All thoroughly biblical,

not according to popes, not according to bishops,

not according to the traditions of men. Absolute

revolution from top to bottom. John Knox, amazing.

Now, that sounds like a wonderful victory, right?

You know every time we do a historical lesson,

there's always a PS, right? Like what happens

next? I actually have two PSs I want to share

with you, so take a deep breath. We're going

to stick with it because this is the important

lesson for us. First, you have to know that what

I just described, that happens in 1560 and it

officially makes Scotland a Protestant nation.

But listen, friends, the fight for biblical truth

never ceases. I cannot say this loud enough.

The enemy doesn't sleep and he never quits, right?

And we drove that home last Sunday, but I want

to say it again. The battle for truth belongs

to every generation. Just when you think you

have it settled, is when it comes under attack

and it can be lost. So we have to stay vigilant.

John Knox still had a dozen years of fighting

ahead of him and it wasn't gonna be easy. And

here's why. Mary of Guise had died, but now her

daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, was coming to

Scotland, thoroughly Catholic. And so the battle

was on once again. Now, so here's the history.

Here's a picture of, her name is Mary Stewart.

She is the daughter of King James V of Scotland

and Mary of Guise, and that made her a dynastic

prize. Through her grandfather, she has a strong

claim to both the English and Scottish thrones.

And so it's interesting, while he was still alive,

Henry VIII tried to make a match with her and

young Edward when they were both kids to promise

them to one another. But Mary of Guise shut it

down because of her French leaning. She did not

want her daughter to marry an English prince.

So Henry was frustrated by this. And in order

to keep Mary, Queen of Scots, safe, she was taken

out of Scotland. She was sent to the French court

in Paris. And she was promised to a French crown

prince. She was raised Catholic in Paris and

promised to Francis II. There's a picture of

him. Francis was 15, and she was 14 at the time,

but they were raised in Paris and raised as Catholics.

Francis became a king the next year, and this

is all during the time when Protestantism is

rising in Scotland, but Francis was a very sickly

young man, and he died at the age of 16. Life

was short back then. Now, here's the thing. So

Mary, her mother has passed away now. She's now

a widow. And so she decides to leave France and

come back to Scotland and go, where's my throne?

She had every right to it. She is royalty. But

guess what? She was not walking in at a position

of power because the country had moved past her.

The country had not had a royal on the throne

for many years. And now they'd also rejected

her religion, Catholicism. The clan leaders and

the parliament of Scotland were basically in

control. So Mary's walking in as a monarch, as

a royal, and they're like, uh -uh, we're not

interested, which is a difficult thing. Now,

Knox is smart. He knows that she can still be

a threat. First of all, she's charming. She's

beautiful. She's young. And people in Europe

love their monarchs, do they not? So he's worried

that something could come of this. Word gets

out that Mary, Queen of Scots, is thinking about

marrying again, and she has her eye on a crown

prince of Spain, the son of King Philip II, another

ultra -Catholic country. If that match happens,

then Scotland is once again under threat. So

the trouble starts early. Mary comes back to

Scotland. Within a week, she demands to celebrate

the Catholic Mass in the city of Edinburgh. And

they do. They allow her to do that because she's

royalty. Well, Knox is furious. And that Sunday

in St. Giles, he thunders against the queen,

thunders against her blasphemous religion. And

the next day, the Privy Council of Scotland declares

that the queen has violated the act of the Reformation

Parliament in 1560. And from this point forward,

cannot do the mass. She's got to uphold the Protestant

faith or be arrested. So this is the big square

off, the divine right of monarchs versus the

law of the land. Who's gonna win? Well, when

Mary hears this, that she's been threatened,

she summons Knox to her royal palace and she

threatens Knox. And guess what he did? He ran

in there to meet with her, of course, right?

He loves the confrontation and he has the first

of four face -to -face confrontations with Mary,

Queen of Scots. And basically the way this goes,

and man, they have a really good transcript of

how this conversation went. Mary begins by charging

Knox with rebellion, fomenting violence against

the crown. And Knox makes it clear. In his opinion,

monarchs need to be resisted if they're ungodly.

And when Mary then declares, I will defend my

Catholic faith with all that I am, you want to

hear what Knox said? You'll love this. He's saying

this to the Queen of Scotland in private. He

says, That was the nice part of the conversation.

There's a conversation later where Now, again,

she's a young lady. She's 18 years old here.

And Knox is a mid -40s guy at this point. There's

a conversation later on they have where he literally

makes her cry to the point where she cannot recover.

And he stands there for an hour watching her

cry. Just stands there waiting. And she never

is able to regain her composure. And her ladies

come in and drag her out, and he leaves. Like,

the guy was unbending. Anyway, so this verbal

battle between these two goes on. The queen breathing

out threats against Knox. Every Sunday, Knox

is railing from St. Giles against the queen and

her Catholicism. She would later go on to say,

she feared the prayers of John Knox more than

all the armies of Europe. She was scared to death

of the guy because he was so unbending. This

went on for six years. And then interestingly,

in 1567, The Scottish nobility rose up and deposed

Mary. She was involved in a criminal conspiracy

to murder somebody and the nobles deposed her

and locked her up. And eventually she broke out

of prison and fled to England and spent the last

19 years in exile in England until what? Does

anybody know how her life ended? Her cousin,

Queen Elizabeth, beheaded her because she was

involved in an assassination plot against Elizabeth.

So she's a super tragic figure. John Knox was

not empathetic. When it was all said and done,

biblical truth won the day. And the preaching

of Knox was the means that God used to win that

victory. Now Knox dies in 1572 at the age of

58. He was just physically worn out from life

and from ministry. We know that on his deathbed,

he asked his wife to read from John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

He said, this is where I first cast my anchor.

As a Christian, it was John chapter 17, the high

John 17 · chapter mention

priestly prayer of Christ. And she read that

chapter to him as he passed away. Now he was

buried in the graveyard just outside of St. Giles.

And if you've been to Scotland today, you know

that that whole area, that old graveyard, was

paved over and turned into a parking lot for

the Scottish Parliament building, which is right

next to St. Giles. And so there's hundreds of

people buried under this parking lot. But only

one spot is marked, and it's John Knox's. So

that's the parking lot. He's in space 23. Which

is amazing. And just as a juxtaposition, we'll

get to this guy next. The guy on the horse there

is King Charles I. And he's an awful, awful man.

But look at the juxtaposition of a braggart who

ends up commissioning a statue of himself. And

John Knox is buried under a parking lot. And

yet, who walks with God today? And yet, who impacted

the world more? There's no question about it.

So by the way, when we were in Scotland, the

guide that was taking us around is a licensed

guide. And as such, he has access to the royal

archives of Scotland, going back into the time

of Knox. And he said, by the way, do you want

to see some pictures? Here's a picture of Knox's

Bible. Actually, that's his Bible on the left.

He requested to hold Knox's Bible at the National

Library in Scotland, and they brought it to him.

They said, here you go. He literally was holding

Knox's Bible. And when he opened it up, there's

Knox's personal writings on the inside. In fact,

here's some zoom in. There's his name. He literally

wrote his name, 1561 John Knox, and like an outline

of a sermon that he was writing. And this is

in the Royal Archives in Scotland even today.

Amazing. Pretty cool. Okay, that's one PS. Second

PS, and I promise I'll be done. I said it last

Sunday, I'm gonna say it again. Reformation is

never a one -time thing. The church not only

has to be reformed, but keep reforming. Always

coming back to the anchor of God's word. Because

again, our spiritual enemy never quits. When

Knox dies in 1572, if you were an outsider, you'd

say, well, look, things are settled. The nation

is Protestant. But within 50 years, everything

changed. After Mary, Queen of Scots, the next

ruler on the throne of Scotland was James VI

of Scotland. James I of England, that's the James

of the King James Bible. He's the next guy. His

son, Charles I, is a real problem. This is Charles

I. He creates a bloody crisis for the Protestant

faith. Charles was a big fan of the divine right

of kings. He believed that he could do as he

pleased as a monarch regardless of the laws of

his own land. And so in 1637, he imposes a new

liturgy on the churches of Scotland, just by

fiat. All the churches in Scotland will have

a new liturgy. This doesn't sit well with the

people. And in fact, there's an amazing story

that goes with this. Sunday, July 23rd, 1637.

Now remember, Knox dies in 1572, so this is 50

years later. A minister at St. Giles Church,

where Knox had preached. stands in the pulpit

and begins to read from Charles' brand new Book

of Common Prayer. But in the ears of the congregation,

as they hear it, they're like, that sounds really

Catholic. And they're not having it. And a famous

Scottish woman by the name of Jenny Geddes, she

wasn't having it. And as the minister is reading,

she stands up, she picks up the stool that she

has, and she throws it at the guy's head. Yeah.

I mean, these people felt strongly about their

religion. And then she yells this in the congregation.

You'll love this. She says, the devil caused

you colic in your stomach, you false thief. Dare

you say the mass in my ear? That's a gutsy woman.

And that kicks off a whole new reformed rebellion.

In fact, when you go to St. Giles today, there

is a copy of her stool. It's sitting there with

a plaque. It's famous. He just started throwing

stuff. Amazing. So another group of nobles then

come together. Listen, this is amazing. And there's

a facsimile of this in St. Giles. They signed

a national covenant literally with their blood.

Literally, you see it. You see the blood on the

manuscript. Signing to pledge their lives to

resist. King Charles and to resist these Anglican

practices in Scotland. And they end up having

to fight actual military wars. They're called

the Bishop's Wars against their own king, King

Charles I. And they win the battles. They actually

force King Charles to come and to give up his

new Anglican liturgy. But then it gets worse.

His son, Charles II, is the most bloody persecutor

of all. Charles II goes well beyond his own father.

He repeals all of the Protestant reforms that

had been set in place in the days of Knox. He

literally puts bishops back in charge of all

the churches in Scotland, pushing out some 400

presbytery ministers out of their churches. And

when these covenanters come together and begin

to hold outdoor worship services because they

can't go back in their churches, guess what he

does? He sends soldiers to start rounding up

anybody who went into the fields to listen to

the gospel being preached. Catch this now. This

is known in Scottish history as the killing time.

And it is their biggest national tragedy. So

catch this now. According to records from the

1700s, and there's a monument to this, 18 ,000

Protestants were rounded up, many of them executed

within a nine -year period under the reign of

Charles II. Let me give you the scope on that

for a second. When we look at the early church

being persecuted by the Roman emperors, this

is three times that many killed in a nine -year

period as the Roman emperors killed in 300 years.

This is the bloodiest persecution that Protestantism

has ever gone through. In Scotland, under a Scottish

king. 18 ,000. In fact, here's the monument to

it. We took a picture of it. To the bodies that

are buried there. Absolutely stunning. Now, good

news. The reign of terror for Charles II would

end in 1688. And it was ended by a strong man

by the name of William of Orange. Anybody know

William of Orange? An amazing guy. He had led

the Protestant revolution in Holland, the Netherlands,

freeing themselves from Catholic Spain. And then

when he looked across the ocean, he said, I see

problems in Scotland. He brought his Dutch army

to the Scottish shores and chased King James

off the throne. And he and his wife, William

and Mary, we have a university named after them,

right? William and Mary became king and queen

of Scotland. in James's place. From that point

forward, 1688 until today, Scotland is a Protestant

nation. But it took the blood of so many people,

you guys, and that's the big PS I want to get

through. There's a cost to this. I know that

we're Americans. We don't have to fight like

that. Are you grateful for that? Would you fight

for it? Would you stand up and fight for it?

Truth can easily be lost, friends. It just takes

one generation. So commit yourself to it. Okay,

what do we say about John Knox as we wrap up?

Well, he's a guy with rough edges, right? A little

bit pugnacious, perhaps, like Luther, but that's

exactly what God needed in that day. He was the

perfect man for that job. He was bold, he was

courageous, he was unbending. One historian puts

it this way. He says, Knox was not a gentle flute.

He was a militant called to awaken a slumbering

nation from its spiritual sleep. And so there's

many examples of Knox angering people with his

style, with his content. He believed that God

had called him to preach the truth and that's

all that mattered. He was like an Old Testament

prophet. He really didn't care what you thought

of him. He was gonna preach the truth. So while

I don't think today that church leaders should

pattern their speech after him, we should definitely

look at how fearless he was. and how courageous

he was. I think he lived with Psalm 56, 11 in

mind. It says this, in God I have put my trust.

I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

May God continue to raise up men like that with

that spirit even today in our church. Amen? Thanks

for your patience with me. It's a great story.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your

work through this man. We know, God, that...

Apart from you, John Knox could not have accomplished

anything. None of us can. Lord, as I say every

week in my prayer time, my words have no power

in this place. It's only when your spirit moves

in our hearts and minds that transformation takes

place. So thank you, Lord, for what you're doing,

what you've done in all these hundreds of years

since the time of John Knox, what you're doing

in this church, what you're doing around the

world, Lord, as we continue on this Reformation

week. to lift up Protestant reform doctrine and

say, thank you, Lord, that we've come back to

what scripture says and not to the traditions

of men. Thank you, Lord, for that grace in our

lives. Thank you for this church. We praise you

this morning. In Christ's name, amen.