Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Luke 11:28 But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
TREASURE THE WORD OF GOD!
There was a time when the souls of men yearned and longed for the Bread of Life, but were deprived of it. And that time is not so far removed from us, only five centuries ago. But how did it happen that people's souls didn't have this food? Not many centuries after the days of the Apostle Paul, selfish men, evil men, and seducers succeeded in gaining the upper hand in the Christian church. Then through scheming and by their trickery, they took away the Bible from people and put in its place the teachings and doctrines of men, which Christ says are absolutely no good for the soul.
For example, in place of the Bible doctrine which says that man is not justified by his works, but alone through the merits of Christ, they taught that man must, by his own works, work out his own justification and salvation. In other words, they simply turned the Word of God around (and the people, without access to the Word themselves, were easily deceived). The church did this not only with one teaching of God's Word, but with many.
But things are not so today, because God is gracious and let one of those men whose soul was starving gain access to Scripture. And that was Dr. Martin Luther. Because he was a priest in the Catholic Church he had access to the Bible, which was not accessible to the common people. Through study of God's Word, he saw the false doctrines of men and after his soul had been revived by the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, he translated the Bible out of the original into the language which all his countrymen could understand. He thus made it possible that people again had that wholesome soul food, and were revived-- knowing that Jesus had paid for their sins as well! Not only did he bring back this food for the soul, be he also did what our text says: he kept it! That means that he guarded it and treasured it so that those men who tried to mix into it the doctrines of men were put to shame.
For example, when Ulrich Zwingli tried to teach that in the Lord;s Supper the bread and wine were only a picture of Christ’s body and blood, Luther said, "That is not what Scripture says, but this is what Scripture says, 'This bread and wine is My body and blood!'" And what he did with Zwingli he did with many others, so that the true soul food, although it is adulterated by many today, is still being preached pure and simple to many millions.
And you are among those many millions. Therefore you are indeed fortunate and favored by God. Yes, you became as our text says, blessed by hearing the Word and keeping it, yes, by treasuring the Word of God!
