Martin Luther on Preaching Against Sin, Even If Others Hate You!
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| This is not Luther's invention, it's the Bible! |
The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther had that quote written above, "Always preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you." I am afraid but "Easy Christianity" has definitely gone against the Biblical cry of "Salvation by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone." to preach the utter heresy of Antinomianism either directly or indirectly, where they tend todeny that salvation by faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably produce good works. They can say all forms of Antinomian heresy saying, "Well some Christians will get saved, as long as they believe in Jesus, they are saved even if they continue to live like Devils. Not being able to live the way you want is works salvation. To say salvation is by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone is contradictory to salvation is by faith alone."
If you are saved, then there has to be some change that though a person has not yet reached perfection but instead, they have entered the narrow road to life, your life gets a change anew and there's a huge difference between a false convert who revels in sin and the immature Christian who struggles with sin. The immature Christian does not revel in sin and is incapable of living like a devil compared to the Antinomian who somehow thinks he's saved and revels in so much sin." Whenever I raise the hammer against Antinomianism, these followers of "Easy Christianity" are quick to get defensive and say, "Of course we believe in good works as part of the Christian life but not all Christians will have their reward in Heaven." That my friends is an utter heresy.
One of the biggest consequence of "Easy Christianity" was the late George Sodini. In contrast to what Cornerists and Arminians think, it was not the teaching of eternal security that led Sodini to do what he did. Instead, Sodini was a convert through an Antinomian "gospel" which is not another. This statement would definitely be a statement against Sodini who claimed to be a Christian but in fact, his works proved he was unsaved and degenerate, he was not saved to start with:
"But our Antinomian friends wish in their folly to flatter secure men and to make them good by reminding them of [imputed] righteousness though such an age as ours is incapable of being terrified by the lightning of the Law. One account of the great sense of [false] security it's necessary to thunder and lightning with the Law."
The whole problem behind Tetelestai Christian Church and its preacher was this, they taught a salvation does not result to a changed life, hence there's really no distinction between the goats who have no listening ear and the sheep of Christ who have a listening ear. Jesus warned in John 10:27 that the sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. One mark of true conversion is becoming less disobedient and becoming more obedient. There's no way that any real or sound minded Christian Church that even if this church may not be Reformed, but if they are truly Christian and I know some of them quote John Calvin while disagreeing with TUPIP will say, "I don't agree with Calvin's doctrine of election but certainly, I agree true conversion will eventually lead you to endure to the end by God's grace!"
On Galatians, Luther also said from his Commentary on Galatians 3:10:
"This is the principal purpose of the Law and its most valuable contribution. As long as a person is not a murderer, adulterer, thief, he would swear that he is righteous. How is God going to humble such a person except by the Law? The Law is the hammer of death, the thunder of hell, and the lightning of God's wrath to bring down the proud and shameless hypocrites. When the Law was instituted on Mount Sinai it was accompanied by lightning, by storms, by the sound of trumpets, to tear to pieces that monster called self-righteousness. As long as a person thinks he is right he is going to be incomprehensibly proud and presumptuous. He is going to hate God, despise His grace and mercy, and ignore the promises in Christ. The Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins through Christ will never appeal to the self-righteous."
If the Law reveals your sin, it reveals itself as the hammer of death and you were saved in spite of your unworthiness to receive forgiveness and said said, nobody is really worthy to be forgiven as salvation is the grace of God. I couldn't imagine getting converted and sinning all I please, even if I cannot lose my salvation, I still cannot imagine sinning as if there is no Law. The reason is when God saves a person, He sanctifies a person and by grace, they endure to the very end then again, all of it is the work of God as Philippians 2:13 says that it is God that works in you both for His good will and pleasure. In other words I can proudly say, "Sola Deo Gloria!" and "Ad Maoirem Dei Gloriam!' to what Luther had said.