SPROUL: He was a beggar who found where he could get bread.
And told everybody who would listen to him.
I think that the biggest thing that I… how can a guy stand against the whole world like
he did?
And the only way to understand that is you have to get back into his personal struggle
with his lack of assurance of salvation with his violent search for justification in the
presence of a Holy God, and visit with him in his utter despair.
See, Luther understood who Luther was.
And that's our problem.
We don't understand who God is, and we don't understand who we are.
It's like Isaiah in chapter 6, when he saw the Lord, "I am lifted up."
He's all of a sudden, says, "Whoa, wait a minute.
Woe is me.
I've got a dirty mouth, and I'm not alone.
I live with a whole people of unclean lips."
So, that was an awakening, in his sin.
You didn't have to teach Luther that he was a sinner.
He was a brilliant student of jurisprudence, of the law.
He read the law of God.
He examined himself in the light of the law of God, and he was helpless to save himself.
And when he tasted the Gospel, his soul was set on fire.
And he said, "I'm not going to give this up for anybody in the whole world.
I have tasted the fruit of the Gospel.
And if all of the devils in Hell oppose me, I will say to them, 'Here I stand.'"
THOMAS: He was passionate.
And he was passionate about the Gospel.
He was passionate about people.
He was passionate about life.
He was passionate about enjoying life.
You know the question I want you to ask is who would you like to go out and have lunch
with, Calvin or Luther?
And I really do want to go and have lunch with Calvin because I studied Calvin at some
level and I owe him.
And when I see him in Heaven, I'm going to have to say, you know, "You occupied ten years
of my life, and I really have a bunch of questions."
But I really want to have lunch with Luther because I think that will be way more fun.
FERGUSON: And a lot less healthy
LARSON: Others of you? What do you appreciate about Luther?
NICHOLS: I think it's his courage, and his boldness.
We were talking about this just before we came out here.
With Luther and his debate with Erasmus.
To be a real Christian, you make assertions.
And Luther recognized that Christianity is about assertions.
And those assertions need to be made.
His boldness did not spring from his own intellect or from his own abilities.
It sprung from the idea that he was standing on what God had declared.
But there was a boldness and a courage to Luther and God used it.
SPROUL: Doesn't take any courage to do what you're not afraid to do.
So the one necessary ingredient for courage is fear.
And, in one sense, Luther was a terrified man.
And that's why I love his courage like you do.
That in spite of his fears, you know.
"His rage we can endure, for love is doom for sure," you know.
"Prince of darkness grim we tremble not for him."
Well, he did tremble.
He was scared to death of the world, the flesh and the Devil.
But he held on to the Gospel and found his courage there.