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The Martyrdom of Thomas Hawks

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• Hebrews chapter 11, and notice if you would please, verses 32 through 38. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 through 38. "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were

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• tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

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• I want to bring a message today which I've just entitled, "The Martyrdom of Thomas Hawkes." I read about Thomas Hawkes not too long ago, and I was so moved by what I read, I decided to delve into his life and his death. Many of you know that one of my pet peeves is injustice. And you look around today and you can see injustice on every hand. It is abounding left and right.

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• But the truth of the matter is this: injustice is not something that is new. I've often been asked, in fact I was asked yesterday in an email, "How do we deal with the injustice? What in the world can we do?" Well, I wanted to bring a message which I thought might encourage us in light of the injustices of the day, and that is on the martyrdom of Thomas Hawkes.

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• Whenever we hear the word "martyr" as Christians, we automatically think of someone who has died for his faith in Christ. Certainly, there have been many individuals that have sealed their faiths with their lives. Simply look at the number of people that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Also, we need to look at the various ways in which they were killed. Look in verse 37. The Bible says they were stoned, they were sawn asunder,

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• were tempted, were slain with the sword. Now, I'm sure that there are multitudinous other ways that they were killed as well. In fact, if you'll go back to verse 35, when it says, "Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured." So, I can assure you that torturing can be done in many various ways as well. So, they were put to death in various ways. Again, when we think of the word "martyr," we automatically think of someone who has suffered a violent death for Christ. But let me just tell you that our English word "martyr" comes from the Greek word "martus," which signifies simply a witness. A witness is someone who avers that which he has seen and that which he knows. The word "martyr," initially and originally, was not associated with death. It just simply meant a martyr or a witness.

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• I want to show you. I want you to hold Hebrews chapter 11, but turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 23. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23. Let me just show you several passages how the word "martyr" is used in Scripture. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 23, the Apostle Paul says this: "Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth." Now the word "record" there is the word "martus" or "martyr." So he says, "Moreover I call God for a martyr," or "I call God for a witness," or "I call God for my record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth." So Paul is calling upon God then for witness to the integrity and to the love which he had for the Corinthians. If you would turn right over to the book of Philippians—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians—and notice if you would, chapter 1 in verse 8. Philippians chapter 1 in verse 8.

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• Here the apostle uses the same word "record" again, but he says this: "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." So literally he says, "For God is my martyr. God is my witness." Then if you would turn right over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and look in verse 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 5. Here the apostle Paul again talks about God as being his martyr, or being his witness. Notice 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 5. Paul writes, "For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness," or "God is martyr." Then if you skip down to verse 10, he also calls those Thessalonians martyrs as well. He says, "Ye are witnesses," that is, "ye are martyrs, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe." So once again, he's using the word "martyr." One more passage. If you would turn to the book of Romans chapter 1 and look in verse 9.

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• Romans 1 and verse 9. And again, the Apostle Paul says it like this. Look very carefully, Romans 1 verse 9: "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers." So when he says, "For God is my witness," he is simply saying that God is my martyr. So originally the word "martyr" did not refer to one who died for the faith. It just simply referred to someone who gave a testimony concerning that which he knew. For instance, if you would consider Hebrews 12 and verse 1—you don't have to turn there, but if you saved Hebrews 11, you're right there.

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• In Hebrews 12 and verse 1, Scripture says this: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," or martyrs, "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Thus in this instance the word "witnesses" or "martyrs" refers to those whose lives and actions testified to the worth and the effect of faith, and whose faith received witness in Scripture. So certainly Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 would include those who have died for the faith, but it would certainly include those who had lived for the faith and gave an accurate testimony throughout their lives.

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• So let me repeat this. One does not necessarily have to die a violent death in order to be a martyr. Simply speaking, a martyr is one that witnesses and speaks and lives according to that which he knows. So let me make a statement: Every Christian should have a martyr attitude. When I make that statement, I do not mean that we should desire to die a violent death for Christ.

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• That may happen to some of us, and that certainly could be the end of a martyr attitude. However, what I mean when I say that every Christian should have a martyr attitude is I mean that we should be consistent and constant witnesses for the truth of our Lord and His Word in our lives on a daily basis. That is a martyr attitude. So we have to ask this question: What type of martyr attitude do we display and manifest in our lives?

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• Do we reveal to a lost and dying world our testimony by our faith? Do we indeed speak a word in due season to those who need to hear the Word of God? Do we have the knowledge and the ability to help those that really and truly desire help? So martyrdom is the witness that we have in our lives of Christ and for Christ. But yet you understand that when we talk of martyrs, there are individuals that have sealed their testimonies for Christ with their lives.

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• And many times, their deaths were violent. And their violent deaths were brought upon them simply because of their faith in Jesus Christ. One such martyr was Thomas Hawkes. Sometimes his name is spelled H-A-U-K-E-S as well as H-A-W-K-E-S. He, along with many others, suffered in the Marian persecutions. When I talk about the Marian persecutions, I'm talking about Queen Mary, who also was known as Bloody Mary, who reigned from 1553 to 1558. Queen Mary followed her brother, Edward VI, who died at a very early age. I want you to listen to what Bishop Burnett says concerning Edward VI.

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• He calls him "that incomparable young prince." Edward VI died on the 6th of July 1553, and he goes on to say, "Never perhaps did any royal personage in this land die more truly lamented or leave behind a fairer reputation. Never perhaps to man's poor fallible judgment did the cause of God's truth in England receive a heavier blow." His last prayer before his death ought not to be forgotten. So King Edward VI's last prayer before he died prayed this: "O Lord God, defend this realm from papistry and maintain thy true religion." Edward VI was born October the 12th, 1537, and he died July the 6th, 1553. He was King of England and Ireland from January the 28th, 1547 until his death.

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• He was crowned on February the 20th at age 9. In February 1553, Edward VI, who was 15 years of age, fell ill. When his sickness was determined to be terminal, he and his council drew up what he called a "Device for Succession." And what he did in this device for succession was an attempt to keep England from reverting back to Catholicism. And so Edward then named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as the one to inherit the throne.

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• He bypassed his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth. However, as quickly as Edward VI died, Mary of course challenged Lady Jane Grey. And within 13 days after the death of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey was deposed and Queen Mary came on the throne. Now Queen Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, who was a Spaniard. And of course Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon produced Mary, who is of course better known as Bloody Mary. Mary had been brought up from her infancy as a rigid adherent to the Roman Catholic faith.

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• She was indeed a papist of the papists. She was conscientious, she was zealous, she was bigoted, and she was narrow-minded in the extreme. Mary was born in 1516, and suffered what you and I would call an absolutely terrible childhood. And when I say a terrible childhood, you have to remember that Henry VIII had numerous wives. And of course what he was looking for was a male heir. And when his wives could not produce a male heir, then he would divorce them, have them annulled, etc. And of course Catherine of Aragon did not give him a male heir, and consequently he wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and of course he constantly called Mary illegitimate.

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• And not only that, he neglected her and caused all kind of problems. So she was humiliated by her father over and over simply because he wanted to divorce her mother. This and other things caused Mary to become so bitter that she hoped one day to really exact revenge. So Mary then began her tumultuous reign at age of 37. Her first act was to repeal the Protestant legislation that had been enacted by Edward VI, hurling England into severe religious persecution. So she immediately began to pull down and to destroy everything that Edward VI had made possible. She wanted to restore popery in its worst and most offensive form. So Queen Mary then decreed that all England should return to Catholicism.

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• Now Mary and her advisors were not content on just depriving and imprisoning the English reformers. It was resolved that they were going to make those reformers abjure and recant their faith, or else they were going to be put to death. One by one they were called before special commissioners and they were examined as to their religious opinions and called upon to recant upon the penalty of death. There was no alternative.

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• There was no third option. So the English reformers then either had to recant or they had to face death. They were either to give up their Protestantism or they were to be burned alive. Refusing to recant, they were handed over then to the secular power. They were publicly brought out and chained to stakes, they were publicly surrounded with faggots, and they were publicly sent out of the world by the most cruel and painful of deaths, that is death by fire.

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• Now Protestants in England and Wales were executed under the anti-Protestant legislation that punished anyone judged guilty of heresy against the Roman Catholic Church. Now the standard penalty for treason in England at that time was to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Those of you who remember seeing Braveheart, how he was literally cut up while he was alive but then he was supposed to be drawn by horses and quartered—cut up and then sent to the four corners of the kingdom. You might say that was the standard execution for anyone guilty of treason.

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• While Mary brought around burning at the stake. It's a well-known fact that during the four years that Queen Mary reigned, there were no less than 288 people who were burned at the stake for their adherence to the Protestant faith. Now listen carefully. In 1555, 71 were burned at the stake. In 1556, 89 were burned at the stake. In 1557, 88 were burned at the stake. In 1558, 40 more were burned at the stake for a total of 288. In other words, the faggots never ceased to blaze or to burn while Mary was on earth, and after she died, a week after her death, there were five more martyrs who were burned alive in Canterbury. Of the 288 who suffered death by fire, listen carefully: one was an archbishop, five were bishops, 21 were clergymen, 55 were women, nine were girls, two boys, two infants, not counting the farmers and the workers. So Mary then was indiscriminate.

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• She was willing to burn anybody or everybody that did not submit or bow to the Roman Catholic Church. Now I want to hasten and point out that the Roman Catholic Church was the agency that condemned the martyrs for heresy and then handed them over to the secular power for execution. So the Roman Catholic Church and England are both guilty before God for the murders of these innocent and godly people.

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• You'll remember it was Pilate who tried to wash his hands from the blood of Jesus Christ. But the blood remained. It was Pilate who sentenced Christ to death and to be crucified. And yet He acknowledged His innocence. He said at least three times, "I find no fault in Him." And yet He cowardly and wickedly condemned Him to death. Do you remember what our Lord told Pilate in John 19 verse 11?

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• He said, "He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin." And what did the Jews cry out? "Crucify Him! Crucify Him. Let His blood be upon us and upon our children." Moreover, they desired a murderer to be granted his freedom rather than Christ. "Give us Barabbas and not Christ." So it doesn't matter how Pilate tries to wash his hands. Doesn't matter how the Jews try to proclaim their innocence. The truth of the matter is both the Roman Empire and the Jewish people are guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ. It's that simple. You remember?

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• Samson had slain the Philistines. And the men of Judah went up and bound him. While he consented to be bound, and he said, "Just promise me this, that you will not execute me, that you will not take my life." "No," they said, "we won't take your life." But they were willing to turn him over to the Philistines who would take his life. So they were just as guilty as if they had taken his life. So just like the Roman Empire and the Jewish people and the Judahites could not wash their hands from the blood of Christ and or of Samson, neither can the Roman Catholic Church nor the state of England or the government of England cleanse themselves from the blood of these martyrs.

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• Both were complicit in their deaths and both are justly condemned. Thomas Hawkes came from a respectable family of Essex. He was carefully reared and he was sent as a page at the court of King Edward VI. As he grew in years, he was noted for his comeliness of person and his gentle manners. John Foxe, in his book, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, says this of Thomas Hawkes: "In education, he was erudite; in person, comely and of good stature; in manners, a gentleman and a sincere Christian." Since the death of Edward VI, everything had changed.

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• Hawkes knew that those who held to the Reformed faith were in danger, so he went back home. He was not going to stay at the court. He was not going to change his faith just because Mary, who was now the head of the state, was a Roman Catholic. Thomas Hawkes had married while he was at Oxford, and soon after coming home, a son was born unto him. He was not interested in having his son baptized by a Romanish priest. Therefore, he refused to have the child baptized. He would not allow the child to be baptized in the papal manner which at that time had become mandatory because of the decree of Queen Mary.

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• Now you have to remember that many of the Protestants at that time also believed in infant baptism. Certainly the Baptists did not, but many of the Reformers at that time were associated with the Church of England and some were Presbyterian. The Church of England had recognized King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church on February 11, 1531. During the reign of his son, Edward VI, in 1552, 42 articles were written under the direction of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer—by the way, who also suffered death at the hand of Queen Mary. It was this document, these 42 articles, that Calvinistic thought reached its zenith in the influence of the English Church. But these articles were never really put into action due to the king's death and the reunion of the English church with Rome under Queen Mary.

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• So Thomas Hawkes basically had become a marked man because of his absences from mass. He strongly opposed and voiced his opposition to the current religious regime and also met with other Protestants. But what really put the nail in his coffin was his refusal to have his newborn son baptized into the Catholic faith. That is what really brought things to a head. Hawkes was arrested in the summer of 1554 and he was taken before Bishop Edmund Bonner and questioned concerning his religious beliefs and then he was imprisoned in Newgate. Since Thomas Hawkes had delayed his son's baptism, his enemies used this against him and charged him, listen to this, with being unsound in religion. And sent to London and placed him in the hands of Edmund Bonner, who was the Bishop of London. When Hawkes was brought before the Bishop, he was asked why he kept the child from being baptized for so long. Hawkes replied, "Because we are bound to do nothing contrary to the word of God. His institution I do not deny, but I deny all things invented and devised by man."

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• In one session they tried to teach him that if his son died he would be damned and that only by baptism would his sins be washed away. That is the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, by the way. So Hawkes reminded them that only by true faith and belief in Christ Jesus are sins washed away. His accuser said, "How can your child, being an infant, believe?" Hawkes replied, quoting 1 Corinthians 7 verse 14, he said, "The deliverance of it from sin standeth in the faith of his parents.

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• The unbelieving man is sanctified by the believing woman, and the unbelieving woman is sanctified by the believing man: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." So he was insistent that baptism did not save. Each time they insisted upon their rituals, Hawkes would answer them with Scripture. Each time they tried to convince him of the importance of the ceremonies and traditions of the church, Hawkes would only show them how the Scriptures proved them wrong, but he did so very powerfully. Later on what they did is they brought some individuals who had recanted to speak with Thomas Hawkes to try to encourage him to recant, but to no avail. Hawkes then said that he believed he was doing better for the child by keeping him away from baptism than by taking him to a Roman Catholic priest.

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• After a good deal of argument, the bishop asked him if he would have his child baptized according to the form set forth in the service book of King Edward VI. To this, Hawkes replied, that was the very thing that he desired from his soul. The question, however, was a mere device to find out Thomas Hawkes's real faith. So the bishop then sent him a prisoner to the gatehouse in Westminster and commanded the keeper to confine him closely and not to permit any outsiders to speak with him.

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• Now during Hawkes's imprisonment various plans were devised to make him recant, such as arguments, reading—listen to this—taking him to sermons and the like, but all proved absolutely useless. Hawkes's standard answer was this: "I am no changeling." In other words, "I'm not going to change. There's nothing you can do about it. I'm not going to change." At last the bishop summoned him with several others to appear publicly in the consistory court of St. Paul's where the charges were read against him. Now listen, they then urged him to recant that they might not pass upon him the awful sentence which they were obligated to pass upon him if he did not recant, which was death.

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• To this he firmly replied that he had rather suffer death than renounce his faith in the gospel. When the Bishop of London urged him to return to Catholicism, he said, "No, my Lord, I will not. For if I had a hundred bodies, I would suffer them all to be torn in pieces, rather than I will abjure and recant." So at that particular time, Thomas Hawkes, along with five others, were sentenced to death by fire.

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• Hawkes then was sent back to prison. It was February the 9th, 1555 when Thomas Hawkes and the five others were condemned to be burned at the stake. Hawkes was to stay in prison for four months before his ordeal by fire. While in prison, while he was waiting to be taken to the stake, this time, some of his friends were allowed to visit him. His friends were absolutely horrified as well as terrified by the sentence imposed upon him—death by burning. In fact, they were so terrified and so horrified, they asked him, did he think it possible that one could endure such torture and such pain for one's faith in Christ? Thomas Hawkes said that he thought it was absolutely possible that one could endure the greatest of all tortures and be elevated above the pain and misery because of his faith in Jesus Christ. And so his friends then urged him, if he would, to give them some signal that the pain was endurable. They wanted some sign that it was possible for a Christian to endure such torment and such pain and be above it.

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• So he agreed that with God helping him, he would raise his hands toward heaven to show that the pain was bearable. When the time came for Thomas Hawkes to be led to the place of his execution, he walked willingly. He was fastened to the stake with a chain. He then was able to address the crowd and Lord Rich, particularly, who had accompanied him to the stake, admonishing Lord Rich of the dreadful consequences of shedding innocent blood.

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• He then prayed a very fervent prayer. I could tell you what happened, but I'd rather read to you the short account written by John Foxe. This is absolutely amazing. Here it is: "Not long after, Mr. Hawkes was led away to the place appointed for slaughter by Lord Rich, and being come to the stake, mildly and patiently prepared himself for the fire." Can you imagine it? Mildly and patiently prepared himself for the fire, "having a strong chain cast about his middle, with a multitude of people on every side compassing him about, on whom he had spoken many things, and poured out his soul unto God in prayer. Afterwards, the fire was kindled. When he had continued long in the fire, and his speech was taken away by the violence of the flame, his skin was drawn together and his fingers consumed with the fire, so that it was thought that he was gone.

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• Suddenly, and contrary to all expectation, this good man, being mindful of his promise, reached up his hands in the burning flames over his head to the living God, and with great rejoicings, as it seemed, struck or clapped them three times together." A great shout followed this wonderful circumstance. And then this blessed martyr of Christ, sinking down in the fire, gave up his spirit, June the 10th, 1555.

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• The awestruck multitude stood speechless at this unlooked-for signal from one whom they thought already dead. But his friends, remembering the promise he had made to them in prison, were thus convinced of the wonderful power of faith to support believers through every trial. Can you imagine? He not only raised his hands, but after his skin was grown together, his fingers consumed with the fire, he clapped them three times to show that a saint could endure the stake and be blessed during the torture.

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• Now let me make some applications. The testimony of Thomas Hawkes should remind us of the testimony of King David in Psalm 23 and verse 4, where David said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." Even though the death of Thomas Hawkes was detestable and cried of injustice, it was such a testimony to those who were against him, and a wonderful consolation to those who supported him, that it brought comfort and hope in knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us. What did David say? "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why? "For thou art with me."

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• Let me tell you something, folks. We can endure anything and all things by the grace and the mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The second application is this. I want you to think. If our sovereign God is able to sustain and uphold us in the cruelest and most torturous of all circumstances, will He not do so if it's His will that we die of natural causes?

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• I mean, if He can do it in the greatest, certainly He can do it in the least. We have to understand that we're never alone. We're never forsaken. Not in life, not in death. Our Lord said in Hebrews 13 and verse 5, "For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Listen carefully. A Christian should never be afraid to die. We may not want to die. We may not be eager to die. But we should never be afraid to die. Why? Because our Lord has taken away the fear of death. I want you to look in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. And I want you to look at verses 14 and 15. Hebrews 2, beginning there with verse 14. Hebrews 2, verse 14.

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• The Scripture says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Why were we subject to bondage? Because we had fear of death.

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• But what did our Lord do? He delivered us from the fear of death. Because we're no longer in bondage to sin. That's why I'm telling you, a Christian may not want to die, he may not be eager to die, but he's not afraid to die. If you're afraid to die, there's something seriously wrong. Death holds no fear for the child of God. We must remember, for the child of God, death is life. Let me tell you something.

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• The truth of the matter is this. We do not die. And we cannot die.

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• Now, it is true that we might drop this mortal shell. But just because we drop this mortal shell, or this mortal body, does not mean that we have died. You know what our Lord said in John 11, verses 25 through 26? I want you to listen to this now. Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life:

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• he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" He that believeth in me shall never die. Do you understand that our Lord has taken the pains out of death for us? He's not only taken the pains out of death, He's taken the fear out of death. And He has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And He's told us that we cannot die. Why then should we fear death?

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. I want you to understand that for the child of God, death is life. How can I say that? Because death is merely the entrance into life. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1: "For we know"—not hope, not think, not maybe—"for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved"—that is, our bodies—"we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

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• So we have a glorified body. He says in verse 2, "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." Now watch what he says, "For we that are in this tabernacle"—that is this body—"do groan, being burdened." Roy said it to me again today, "Pastor, why didn't you tell me getting old had all these pains?" Well, it does.

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• There are certain things I can no longer do that I used to could do. And my body does not respond the way it used to respond. So, he says, "For in this tabernacle we do groan, being burdened." And yes, we're burdened. "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." What is death for the child of God? It's life. It's life. It's entrance into the presence of God where the psalmist said, "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Here's the truth. If Thomas Hawkes and a multitude of others endured gladly, willingly, victoriously, the most cruel and torturous means of death that man can impose upon anyone, how much easier would it be for God to undertake for us if we died of old age or died a natural death?

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• You know, we always rejoice at a birth. But the book of Ecclesiastes tells us it's better to rejoice at a death. When a child is born, you have to think of everything that he's going to have to face and go through and endure. But when a believer dies, his work is over, and there's nothing but life and nothing but joy. I'll tell you this. I heard about an old Confederate veteran who was sitting in a barber chair, and the old Confederate was a Christian. The barber was a Christian. And they got to talking about death and dying. And the barber asked the Confederate veteran, "Do you really believe that when you die that you're going to heaven?" "Well, yes I do," said the Confederate veteran. "I really believe that." "Well," he said, "what do you think you might do when you get to heaven?" "Well," the old Confederate veteran said, "well, I understand that when we get to heaven, the Lord will put us doing some kind of work at which we're good at and enjoy."

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• "Oh," said the barber. "Well, what kind of work do you think the good Lord will put you to doing?" "Well," he said, "I think the good Lord will put me to work killing Yankees, if there's any there." Well, you know, we laugh at that. But you know, it is true. It is true that we don't know what life is until we die. Life does not begin at 40.

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• For the Christian, it begins at death. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we love Thee. We thank Thee. We give Thee praise, Lord, for men like Thomas Hawkes, men like John Huss, Thomas Cranmer, Ridley. Lord, many of these who were burned at the stake and who endured gladly and willingly and joyfully one of the most cruel punishments placed upon men. And yet, Lord, you undertook for them, enabled them, empowered them, gave them grace and glory. Help us, Lord, to see that Your grace is sufficient for us. And that, Lord, we're more than conquerors through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In whose name we ask and pray for grace to serve Thee and bow to Thee, through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Thy name we ask it. Amen.

  #55 | 48:22 to 49:45 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T14:16:38Z