In the name of Christ Jesus, dear Christian friends,

One of the most famous moments of the Reformation was at the diet of Worms when Luther was put on the spot and asked if he would recant or take back what he had written or said. After taking time to think about it, Luther said those famous words that unless he could be convinced from Scripture that he was wrong, he could not and would not recant. Then he said, "Here I stand." Of course, no one could prove that he was wrong from the Scriptures because all of his doctrine came from the Scriptures. When it became clear that no one could show him that he was wrong, he boldly took a stand on God's Word, saying, "Here I stand!" And that is exactly what we should do. May God help us, as he helped Luther, to...

1. Beware of false teaching. It's dangerous!

Many people today don't think false teaching is a big deal. They think of it as a little difference of ideas, like in politics. But false teaching is very dangerous. False teaching is deadly like poison. Suppose that someone was mixing up some juice for Bible Class today, but just put in a little cyanide. Now, let me assure you that it would mostly be good juice. It would be more than 99% juice! There's a lot of healthy vitamin C in there. But, people who drank that juice would die. Mixing just a little poison into someone's drink can kill them! So, we don't want anyone to poison our drinks. But, here's the real point: False teaching is poison for your faith, for your soul. It doesn't take that much false teaching to lead you to hell! We don't want poison in our drinks, and we don't want any false teaching in our teaching, our preaching, or our reading materials. Beware of false teaching. It's dangerous! It could cost you eternal life.

Now, let's talk about a few of the common poisons, some false teachings that are still prevalent today.
Legalism was a big problem in the church of Luther's day, and it is still a big problem today. Legalism is misusing God's law, like saying that you can get to heaven by doing good works. Many people think that they can get to heaven by "being good," but no one gets to heaven that way! You will not get to heaven by your so-called goodness. It is legalism to teach that Jesus did not do enough on the cross to save you, that you must do the rest yourself. It is legalism to emphasize activity and doing things for the Lord to such an extent that it becomes dangerously close to working your way into God's favor. The Bible plainly says that we are not saved by our own works, but only by faith in Jesus.
Liberalism is another common poison today. Liberalism is the idea that anything goes. It is the idea that there really are no sins, or if there are, we should just tolerate them. Liberalism is the idea that you don't need to follow the Bible anymore. Just take a vote and decide for yourself. The biggest so-called "Lutheran" church in America today would make Luther's skin crawl because they no longer follow the clear words of the Bible. They can't even bring themselves to call homosexuality a sin. They can't even say that Jesus is the only way to heaven. That brings us to the next dangerous heresy...
Universalism is the false teaching that everybody goes to heaven. Every once in a while you hear this from people in funeral homes. No matter who it was, or what that person believed, they say that he's in a better place, because everybody goes to heaven. That's not true. There is only one way to heaven, and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. There is no other way. But, does that mean that all those people all over the world, people who have their own religions, are perishing? Yes! That's why we need to do mission work! We need to reach out to all the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, because all other world religions are false religions and do not lead people to heaven! Jesus said, "whoever does not believe will be condemned." Universalism tends to come from our next dangerous false teaching...
Rationalism is the false teaching that something has to make sense to you before it will be true. But many of the teachings of God's Word transcend and surpass human reason. Who can understand that God has no beginning? Who can understand the doctrine of the Trinity? Some truths are beyond our comprehension. A believer will simply accept God's Word, even if it is beyond our human reason. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Pr 3:5). Many people believe that nothing is happening in Baptism because they can't see it or understand it. But God washes away sin and gives faith in Baptism. Many people think that the Lord's Supper is nothing but bread and wine, because that's all that they can see. They think that it makes no sense to say it is Jesus' true body and blood, so they just don't accept that part of God's Word. But God's Word is clear, even if it is hard or even impossible to understand. God does not have to submit to our human reason! Our human reason must submit to God, and his Word! That brings us to yet one more major poison of our era:
Unionism is uniting in fellowship with someone who does not agree with you on the basis of God's Word. There should be no union without true unity of faith. Do we really believe the same about the teachings of law and gospel, of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, of conversion, and the rest of Scripture? Every doctrine of God's Word matters! We should not fellowship with false teachers or Scripture says that we share in their wicked work (2 Jn 11). God forbids unionism and seeks to protect our faith when he commands us to "Keep away" from false teachers and persistent errorists. May God help us to...

2. Hold to Jesus' teaching!

That's what it really means to be a Lutheran. It means that we obtain all of our teachings of Scripture alone. It means that we are not going to follow some pope, or even our own human reason. Anybody can claim that they follow the Bible, but it's another thing to prove it from Scripture. We seek to do this anywhere, anyplace, anytime. That's why we have Luther's Small Catechism and the Lutheran Confessions. These documents are not added to Scripture. They summarize Scripture, and confess what we believe according to the Bible. I challenge anyone to open our Catechism and see the proof. There are nearly 1700 Bible passages in the Small Catechism to answer key questions about our faith. Take a look and see!

We want to hold to Jesus' teaching. But, what is Jesus' teaching? Jesus taught the Law. He showed people their sins. He revealed that we are all sinners. But Jesus also taught the Gospel. He was the one who said the words of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus is our Savior. He lived a perfect life for us, and died on the cross to pay for all of our sins. He rose from death having won forgiveness for all of our sins. So, whoever believes in him shall not perish (in hell, as we deserved), but shall have eternal life (in heaven). Believe in Jesus as your Savior!

Jesus taught many other truths too. Really, the whole Bible is Jesus' book. And God has revealed it for our learning. How well do you know the Bible? If you are going to hold to Jesus' teaching, you have to know what you are talking about! It's one thing to not be sure, and to seek help. It's another to insist that you know, when you really don't know what you are talking about. We would love to discuss God's Word with you. We would love to share Jesus' teachings with you in the Family Bible Hour. Consider attending Bible information class, or Bible Class.

If you know the truth, the truth will set you free! You will know that you are FREE from the power of sin, death, and the devil. We are FREE, because of all that Jesus' did for us. He redeemed us from sin, so that we are free from the shackles of sin to serve God and one another.

We are free from legalism too. The church of Luther's day had all kinds of man-made rules that were not in the Bible. You need to know what the Bible really says, and doesn't say, so that no one can bind you with man-made commands anymore. You can have what so many have fought for, and died for: FREEDOM!

(31-32) Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Amen.