We live in an age of compromise.  

We live in an age that tells us that truth is not fixed and is unimportant. As a result, we have few men who are willing to stand up and pay the price for holding to pure doctrine.  

We need more men like the prophet Jeremiah.  

He was a man called by God to proclaim the truth to a nation that would reject him.  Jeremiah cries out, “O Lord, thou has deceived me and I was deceived; Thou hast overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long, everyone mocks me. For each time I speak, I cry aloud, I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones and I am weary of holding it in and I cannot endure it. For I have heard the whispering of many, Terror on every side! Denounce Him; yes let us denounce him! All my trusted friends, watching for my fall say, perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him. But the Lord is with me like a dread champion, therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed…”

We need more men like that great reformer Martin Luther.  

He basically stood against the world for the truth of God’s Word. Can you picture the scene? He is invited to stand before the Diet of Worms. This was a council of men who were opposed to him. He was to be investigated. His life was literally on the line.

And yet when someone wrote to Martin to see if he would indeed appear before this council, knowing that it could mean death, Martin Luther responded, “You ask me what I shall do if I am called by the emperor, I will go even if I am too sick to stand on my feet. If Caesar calls me, God calls me. If violence is used, (and he’s speaking of martyrdom) as well it may be, I commend my cause to God. He lives and reigns who saved the three youths from the fiery furnace of the king of Babylon, and if He will not save me, my head is worth nothing compared to Christ. This is no time to think of safety. I must take care that the gospel is not brought into contempt by our fear to confess and seal our teaching with our blood. This is not the time to cringe, but to cry aloud when our Lord Jesus Christ is reviled and blasphemed…The matter is very serious. We see Christ suffer. If hitherto we ought to have been silent and humble, I ask you whether now, when the blessed Savior is mocked, we should not fight for him. My father, the danger is greater than many may think. Now applies this word of the gospel, “He who confesses me before men, him will I confess in the presence of my father, and he who denies me before men, him will I deny.” He goes on to say, “I will reply to the emperor that if I am being invited simply to recant I will not come. If to recant is all that is wanted, I can do that perfectly well right here. But if he is inviting me to my death, then I will come. I hope that none but the papists stain their hands in my blood…The Lord’s will be done.” 

The Lord’s will be done.

Those are the kind of men we need. We need men who are pure in doctrine and who are committed to it to the point where they are willing to die for it and they are willing to live for it.

Test yourself.

Do you have a desire to know truth? Are you working at growing in your knowledge of the truth? Do you place yourselves in opportunities to learn biblical truth? Are you teachable, and willing to change your views to conform with Scripture? Do you listen to anyone or anything that teaches you false doctrine? Do you have a great desire to uphold the truth of God’s Word? Are you pure in doctrine?