First sermon.*)
Because God has commanded us to hear His holy word, and every householder is commanded to present the same to his household.
let us now also do our duty and listen to today's gospel. Thus writes St. Matthew in the 7th chapter:
Matth. 7, 15-23.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Can you also gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? So every good tree brings forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore you shall know them by their fruits. Not all who say to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not taught in your name? have we not cast out devils in your name? have we not done many deeds in your name? Then I will confess to them: I have never known you. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.
From this gospel we are to learn, especially those of us who want to be Christians, that our dear Lord Christ admonishes and warns us with all diligence to hear God's word diligently and gladly, and to beware of false prophets. As if he wanted to say: Dear children, I admonish and warn you faithfully. God's word is now being preached to you in school and in church; listen to it and accept it, because you have it. If you do not, it will be taken away from you again and you will have to listen to the devil.
For so it is, he that will not hear Christ must hear the devil. Whoever does not want to learn from God's word his salvation, honor and discipline, let him learn from the devil all disgrace and harm. In the Word of God one learns how to go to heaven; from the devil one learns how to go to hell. In the Word of God one learns peace and all good things; from the devil one learns sorrow and heartache. The dear Lord has well seen this; therefore he faithfully warns his disciples and Christians, saying: "Watch and listen.
*) Held in the house, 1532.
and learn God's word diligently and gladly, because you have it. If you do this, it will be well with you; but if you do not, the time will come when you would gladly hear it if you could have it. So our dear Lord Jesus Christ teaches and warns us in this Gospel, as we have been told, that we should stand firm in the Word of God and learn it with all diligence. If we do this, there will be no need for us. But if we do not, we must hear the devil.
Now there is no one, as we would have us believe, who would like to hear the devil, for he is a lying and murdering spirit, who can do nothing but strangle, seduce, and put people through all kinds of heartache; as he has already proven enough in the human race. For soon in the beginning, through the fall of Ade and Eve, he made all of us humans die; from the blessed state in which man was initially created, he brought us to death, so that we are full of sins, subject to the wrath of God, have to go under the earth and die. This is what the evil spirit, the devil, has done to us,
that we are all sinners and children of wrath and must die.
This should be a strong warning to us that we should rather hear the word of God than the devil. For here we hear that Christ says: "God will allow it and impose it on us, where we do not want to hear his word, that we have to hear the devil; as if he should say: Adam and Eve have deserved death and God's wrath with their transgression and have carried you all away with them, so that you and all their descendants are sinners and have to die. But I have again saved you from such harm that you have been delivered from sin and death, and I will still help you. Therefore I have given you my word: if you now keep it, you will be saved by me. But if you fail to do so, you will again suffer as Adam and Eve did in paradise, when they allowed themselves to be led away from the word by the devil.
5 So it happened to us in the papacy: there we had to listen to the devil, and almost worshipped what every monk, with leave, fisted and fared, until we finally lost gospel, baptism, sacrament, and everything. After that we ran to Rome, to Compostel to St. Jacob, and did everything, as the Pabst's ulcer led and guided us, until we also worshipped their lice and fleas, yes, even their low garments. Now, however, God has come to us again, and has given us the blessed light of His dear Word, and has delivered us from such darkness and blindness. For this we should thank God from the bottom of our hearts and diligently learn the same. But what happens? God has previously woken us up, but it still does not help. We are now rid of the pope, and now we know again what the gospel, baptism, and sacrament are, and what fruit we have from them, namely, that we are God's children and will be blessed. But how does it work? The old and the young throw the word to the winds, and in the meantime they are occupied with other thoughts. Oh, they say, would I have food for that! What heaven? If I had flour here! Because we then stand by the word, it will also come to that with us again, as it is already before our eyes, that there will come groups and sects, which will again introduce the devil.
(6) Then our Lord Christ warns faithfully, saying, "Take heed; abide in the word of God, hear it gladly, and learn it with all diligence. If you do this, I will be with you in grace. But if you do not, I tell you this: false prophets and wolves will come and tear you apart. Therefore see to it that you hold fast to my word, lest the devil deceive you again; for if you forsake my word, you will be deceived again.
(7) Now this is a faithful warning that should move us to diligently hear and learn God's word. But unfortunately it is of little help; now there are many who say, "Oh, I have already learned the gospel, I can now do it very well, there is no need for me. Yes, many may also go out and say, "What more can we ask of the pastors and preachers? Can we read it ourselves at home? So they surely go there and do not read it at home either. Or if they do read it at home, it is not as fruitful nor as powerful as the word is through public preaching and the mouth of the preacher, whom God has called and ordained to preach and tell you. Christ warns such people here, saying, "Beware, you will be deceived; false prophets will come to you, and they will come in sheep's clothing. You must not think that a false prophet will come, confessing that he is a liar and saying, "I will deceive you and lead you astray and bring you to the devil. All false prophets come in sheep's clothing; therefore your safety is not good. Beware, for you are one of the same disciples whom the devil will deceive. Because thou art so diligent in the word of God, thou shalt know that the devil hath already set his feet at thy door.
(8) We must remember this, that the devil will not come in wolf's clothing, but that he will have a sheepskin around him. How in our time the Anabaptists and the spirits of the mob come sneaking in with good, smooth words: "Dear child, you have had many preachers and heard many things, but they have not preached rightly to you. You
You must not only have God's word, but you must have the spirit, the spirit. Christ is not properly presented to you through the preaching of faith; you must come higher. With such words they make the people rash, so that they listen to them and say: Well, it is not to be despised nevertheless. Thus the devil creeps in, so that one thinks it is St. Paul, yes, an angel from heaven.
(9) Therefore we must beware of the devil. The wolf would deceive no one if he came in the form of a wolf; just as a sheep does not stand still and willingly and gladly let itself be eaten when it becomes aware of the wolf. But if the wolf has a sheep's skin around him, the sheep is deceived, goes to him and does not care for a ride. So does the devil. If he came in his own form, there would be no need. For who would listen to the devil, or become the devil's apostle? But because the devil disguises himself, as St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 11, 14, to the angel of light, there is danger. Therefore let everyone be warned and learn diligently. For it is not to be believed how the devil is a mischievous man, and adorns himself more beautifully than any angel, yes, more beautifully than Christ himself; and his servants disguise themselves as preachers of righteousness, so that whoever hears them finally lifts up and says: "Well, I have been in this place so long and heard preaching there, but never heard such things as I am hearing now; here the spirit is right. So the poor wretch sits, opens his mouth, listens, and thinks that it is all the pure truth that the devil says through his apostles, and so it goes.
(10) It is the same in the house with masters, wives, servants and maids. There is a wicked neighbor who hires away another's servants, does not present himself as an enemy, but comes with good, gentle, smooth words, and says: "Dear Hans, dear Grete, could you not get another master and another wife, who would not beat you so, nor torment you so? Your master, your wife does not mean well with you, keeps you too hard etc. With such words and the like the wicked neighbor makes the servant and the maid think that he means very well, when in fact he deceives the servants from good service. How then the poisonous mouths can so decorate it that
they thus deceive a poor child, pretending to be the best of friends, when they are the worst of enemies. Just as it happens in the house, that the servants are often deceived with good words, through evil mouths: so it also happens in the church, that the devil does not deceive us by saying the same, but by pretending to be Christ's apostle. Everywhere are and do the sheep's clothing, which deceive a poor child in the house, and a poor man in the church, that he is torn asunder. As it is said of wolves, When they are hungry, they howl and bark like dogs, and deceive the poor little sheep, so that they stand still and are hurried. Similarly, other animals are said to take on different shapes and voices, and to deceive both cattle and men.
Therefore Christ warns here and says: "Dear man, dear child, beware, listen to no one but me and my apostles; do not turn to any sneak; keep to my word and to the church, which says: I believe in JEsum Christum, who came from heaven for us men and for our salvation etc. Say after them, I believe that I am baptized, and that I alone am saved through my dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore be silent, thou honey-sweet mouth, thou comest creeping in a sheep's clothing, and yet art the sorrowful devil.
(12) This is how one should do in the home, obeying father and mother, masters and wives. Now if an evil mouth comes and says, "Dear child, do you not see how harshly you are treated? They do not mean you with faithfulness; you could well improve your cause, be in a place where you would have better days. When a poor child hears such things, he thinks they mean well by him, follow him, think he is doing right; and does not see that he is denying God's word, which commands that he should honor father and mother, serve lords and wives, and be obedient. So hear the devil in a good form. But he who wants to be undeceived, let him beware of such evil mouths, and follow God's word. For two things must be one: either to listen to God diligently, or to the devil; there is no other way out.
But what does the wolf or the devil give in reward? Father and mother may punish you with a rod, but nevertheless they give you food and drink and let you live in their house. God punishes with severity in his word, but also punishes when one disobeys his word, but nevertheless offers and gives his grace and eternal blessedness to those who turn to him through repentance and believe in his Son. But what does the devil give? He tears, says Christ here. Therefore, if you have been listening to the devil and following him for a long time, you are torn apart. According to the Holy Scriptures, this means to be eternally lost and to be eternally damned with the devil into the abyss of hell. This is what happened to Adam and Eve in paradise. To them the devil came with good, sweet words: "Yes, should it be true? Should God have said: you shall not eat from all kinds of trees in the garden? Ye shall die with not death; but God knoweth that if ye eat of the apple, fo ye shall become wise as God, and know what is good and what is evil." This was the sheep's clothing in which the devil came creeping. But when they followed and ate the apple, the reward was to be eternally lost. And Adam and Eve would have remained eternally in death, if Christ had not promised and come and helped them out.
14 It is the same in the crowd. He who will not obey father, mother, masters, wives, which God has commanded, let him finally hear the executioner. He who will not let himself be pulled by his father's rod, let him be pulled by the hangman's rope. Father and mother, even if they poke you with the rod, they still help you to live; but the executioner cuts off your throat. This is how the devil finally pays off his children, even if he comes creeping along at the beginning with beautiful, sweet words. One should learn such things. For in all states it is so, and shall not be otherwise: He who will not listen to God must listen to the devil. But he who keeps God's word has eternal life and a gracious God who does him all good, blesses him and gives him everything he needs, here and there. God does not want to tear us apart as the devil tears us apart. Even though God sometimes stabs a little, He has to do that to keep people faithful to His word.
His rod, however, is not such an evil rod as the hangman's rope and the devil's tearing, which remains forever.
(15) The devil may well pretend, that he may deceive thee: but beware, and take heed, and abide in the faith of the word, and in the obedience of thy father, and of thy mother, and of thy lord, and of thy wives; and thou shalt not be torn asunder. If not, the devil will come to you through his prophets in sheep's clothing and deceive you; as he came to Adam and Eve and deceived them. For as he came to them through the serpent, saying, "God knows that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like God": so shall the devil's prophets come unto thee, and both in the church and in the house shall say unto thee, Why wilt thou go into the church, and hear the word of God? What good will the Word do you? The Spirit must do it. Item: Why do you want to be obedient to your father? Why do you want to serve your Lord? You can have it much better elsewhere. If then thou wilt believe the devil, go thy way, dear child; thou shalt well find how these sheep's garments shall deceive thee, and pluck thee from God.
(16) Hence it is that the world today is so desolate that no one can get along with the people, with the children, with the household, and that such robbery, stealing, disobedience, unfaithfulness is everywhere. For everyone despises God's word and hears the devil in his prophets instead of the word, both in the church and in the home. Therefore there can be no right faith against God and no right obedience against men, no love nor faithfulness. But where there is no right faith in God and no right obedience to men, there must follow pestilence, hard times, famine, war and all misfortune. This is the reward for despising God's word.
(17) Therefore let every man diligently hearken unto the word of God, and say: I will abide in the word of God, I will believe it and follow it, and in such faith I will walk, and be obedient to my father and mother, diligently serving my Lord. What sounds against it I will not hear, nor follow it, however sweet it may sound.
For I know this for certain: If I stay with the Word, believe in God, and am obedient to my parents, my Lord, then I have a merciful God and the devil cannot tear me apart. Whether I have to suffer a little about it, it does no harm. It is better to suffer something here with God than to be torn apart there by the devil. So I do, stand by the word, preach it diligently, and wait for my calling. Whether I have to suffer above the word and above my ministry is not the issue. It is better for me to be called a heretic by the pope and his followers for the sake of Christ than to deny Christ with the pope and be eternally damned with the devil.
18 We should learn from this gospel: Whoever does not want to hear God in his word must hear the devil. Whoever does not want to obey father and mother, let him obey Master Hansen. He who does not want to follow a good friend, let him follow a villain and a rogue. When the devil comes, he comes in sheep's clothing, gives good words; but at last it is called torn, here in the body, honor and good, there in the soul. Therefore we should learn to obey God in His word, so that we will not be torn apart, but may have good days here and eternal salvation there. May our dear God and Father, through His Holy Spirit, grant us this for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.