He’d been it the controversy for almost 4 years.  On April 17, 1521 Luther was told that they were waiting, and he was called to give an account of himself at the Diet of Wurms, a council convened and overseen by the Holy Roman Emperor in the German city of Worms.   The Holy Roman Emperor, German princes, theologians, city officials, pastors all waiting to hear from Luther. They brought him over to the building next door and he was told that they would hear him at 4:00pm.  The time came and he was ushered into the room.  There before him was a pile of 25 books that he had written. One of these was his writing called The Freedom of a Christian. In there, he wrote to the same issue that we hear Jesus speak in the Gospel reading for today from John 8: that of our freedom in Christ. He wrote therein one of his most famous quotes, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”^[1]

John Eck, the main proponent, pointed to these books and asked Luther if he was ready to admit that he wrote these books and that they contain heresy.  With nervousness, he answered.  “Yes, they are mine.” He could not speak to the heresy though, and asked for specifics.  Later, he asked for more time, he was granted a day.  We still have the very notes he scribbled that night in preparation for the next day.  And then the time came.  He was questioned again about the heresy and he was asked to give only one answer, only one word, “Recant.”  To take it all back, to deny what he has written.  The first day, he was very nervous, but this day, he stood confident.  The discussion went on, several times Luther was urged to shut up and simply say the word, “I recant.”  Finally, it came down to the end. What Luther said next took a hand in shaping the rest of history.  Knowing he could be executed, what he spoke next he said in both German and Latin, so that all who overheard had no doubt what he said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils alone, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.  God help me. Amen.”

To the frustration of his opponents, he quickly left and was taken outside. Thousands were waiting, and he held up his hands and cried out, “I’m through! I’m through!”  Pretty much from that moment on, he had a death sentence upon him.  Luther refused to recant, refused to take back, the confession that Christ and His Word are the foundation upon which we stand. That the conscience is free from external coercion by anything but the Word of God. That Word is God’s truth, and that this word of truth sets free. Free from sin. Free from death. Free from the devil.  Freely given and freely received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 

But this freedom comes only from the Son of God who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.  There is only one way to be a Christian.  There is only way to have freedom of the Gospel.  To abide in the Word. The written and proclaimed Word of God, the incarnate Word of God. To abide in the Word made flesh is the life of faith, it is abundant life flowing from Him to us, and through us to our neighbor. We find our freedom in faith. Or rather, it finds us. This is how we are made free. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (8:36).

Let us not fall into the trap of the Jews who did not want to recognize their sinfulness. Your sin enslaves you.  It throws the shackles of death upon you. The world, and even sometimes we, are like the Jews are too blind and too stupid even to realize it.  Since the fall, all people are sinners and enslaved to sin, bound to self-centeredness, doomed to death, and blind to their slavery.

And let us also not fall into the trap of the Medieval Church, the idea that a sinner must do something in order make satisfaction and remove the sin before God.  That the sinner must set himself free by means of acts of penance, by good works and fasting, by paying money to try to earn God’s favor. 

The Jesus has died on the cross to forgive your sins and the sins of the world. By faith, and faith alone, your sins are covered by Christ’s blood.  No matter how terrified your conscience. No matter how guilt ridden and ashamed. No matter how dark and twisted your thoughts may be, Christ has set you free.  St. Paul writes the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  Through faith in Christ, you are forgiven, and your conscience is captive to the word of God. “I must listen to the Gospel. It tells me, not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for me.” Luther

Your knees may knock’s like Luther on that first day during his trial at the Diet of Worms. But your foundation of Christ will not move and will not fail. And you will stand before the world to be called to confess the truth that sets free, who is Christ our Lord.  And you will be called to recant.  Already, the world calls for us to recant, to take it all back. You believe Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to heaven, recant. You believe that God created man and woman and that marriage is a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the Church and cannot be changed.  You say that life begins at conception and goes until natural death, that abortion and euthanasia are murder of the weakest among us, recant.  You say evolution is a myth, bad science, and irrational but that God created the world by means of His Word of truth, recant.  You say that God has given His Church the keys of the kingdom of God, the authority to proclaim and speak the Word of God as the royal priesthood unto the forgiveness of sins, recant. Recant.  Accommodate. Recant.

We can no longer simply sit by and watch. As Christians, we must stand before our culture and say, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant. God help me. Amen. I will not change my beliefs. I will not give up Sunday mornings for worship. I will not let my children be indoctrinated by a world that does not know Jesus.” The world acts as if it knows how to say and do everything better than God Himself. It treats God like the student, and the world wants to be the master. Instead, we teach our children, in our homes, in our school, in our church, what God has done for them in Christ, and then we teach them how to be missionaries and Christian apologists to their world.

And we will confess, and we will do it joyfully. We will confess by abiding in the Word of Christ, by living out our marriages in a Christian manner, by preserving and protecting life at all stages, by speaking the truth in love.  And the world will hate us because of it.  It will not like it and it will not accept it.  It will seek to belittle God’s church, to shame God’s people, and we will suffer with joy and shout it all the louder – The righteousness of God is received through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

And we will say, recant sin. You have been forgiven, sin.  You did your worst to the Son of God and He sets His people free by His death and resurrection. In Christ, you are enslaved, sin.  You are the prisoner. Recant devil. I am free of your snares. You are condemned and have no power over me. Recant death. For Christ is risen. And we will stand in the grave, never to die again.  With Luther, with all the saints in glory, with the prophets and apostles of old, we are captive to the Word of God, the truth that sets free. God help us. Amen. 

* Based in part off of Matthew Harrison’s sermon preached on July 9, 2016 at the LCMS Synodical Convention