The Fifteenth Evening Lecture (Pages 138-150)

For this evening’s lecture, Dr. Walther opened up by discussing the papists and the Antichrist's teaching that no one in the present life can be assured that he is in a state of grace with God, and how our Lutheran Church teaches the very opposite. Then he asks the question, “How could the Christian doctrine be called the evangel, that is, glad tidings, if those who accept it must be in constant doubt whether their sins are covered, whether God looks upon them as righteous people, and whether they will go to heaven?” The simple answer to that is, it can’t. Then Walther covers that the Lord requires His followers to wrestle with their own flesh and blood, the world, the devil, and that they be faithful unto death. Then he covers how the doctrine of doubt is the host horrible error into which a Christian can fall, because it puts Christ, His Redemption, and the entire Gospel to shame. Then Walther tells a story from when he was at University, and a pietistic candidate kept repeating his assertion that Walther wasn’t a converted Christian because he didn’t suffer agony to become one. This happened so much, that Walther  began to ask himself whether he was really a Christian. That is just one example of how Pietism is dangerous. Walther was brought out of that miserable condition by getting a letter that was so full of comfort that he couldn’t resist its arguments. Later, Walther covers Fresenius’ three rules that a sinner must observe. They were; Pray for grace, be watchful lest you lose grace, and meditate upon the Word of God in a proper manner. The three rules appear to be Gospel. Then Walther explained how Fresenius throughly elaborated on those three rules. Later, Fresenius concludes his explanation of the three rules for “such as are not yet converted, but would like to be” with these remarks: “Any one putting these three rules to practice with all possible fidelity will in a short time become a different person, and the grace of God will work in him so effectively that he will discover in himself with growing distinctness the marks of a new creature in Christ.” Following that, Walther talked about how the apostles were asked, “What must we do to be saved?” by their hearers, they returned no other answer than this: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Then Walther draws the lecture to a close by talking about how sincere Lutherans show as great zeal in their refusal to lead men to Christ by a roundabout way.