Hearing and Keeping God's Written Word: A Sermon Study of Luke 11:27-28

Let’s pray…

“Father, I bless Thee that Thou hast sent Thy Son into the world, who is Your only Son, who lived sinlessly and perfectly, and who is the only matchless Lord and Redeemer.  No human being compares with Your Only Beloved Son.  He is one of a kind.  He is eternally unique.  May Romanists understand the truth of divine Scripture, and flee from their errant teachings, and cling to the only Redeemer and Master, Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient Lord incarnate.  May we hear the Word of God and keep it with all our hearts.”  Amen. 

Luke 11:27-28 says in the NKJV:

27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

          The passage at hand is in the Gospel of Luke, and it was written by Luke who wrote the Book of Acts.  This Gospel and Acts were written around 63 A.D.  The purpose of Luke’s Gospel was to set in order those things of Christ.  At that time in tradition and writing there had been false teachings and corruptions. Luke puts into writing the certain and infallible proofs of Christ.  Luke did not hold that to safe guard the doctrine of Christ in its purity was to use oral tradition.  Rather to safeguard the doctrine of Christ in truth was to put it to writing as we have.  Eusebius writes of Luke in Book 3 Chapter 24 that Luke sought to “free us from the doubtful opinion of others by himself giving a reliable account through his Gospel…”  Irenaeus speaks of Paul, the teacher, and Luke, the disciple.  That Paul kept back nothing but spoke the whole counsel of God.  Ambrose speaks of Luke, carefully searched out these things, and Chrysostom spoke of the phrase “concerning all” which means as he says, “in short” or “in general” and that Luke speaks of those things which are necessary. 

          In the beginning of Luke 11 we see the Lord God incarnate, teaching His people to pray.  His was and is the Master of all Masters on prayer.  He addressed His heavenly Father with great adoration, devotion and commitment that is unparalleled in the history of men.  Although religious teachers taught people how to pray as the Lord Jesus did, we see the Incarnate Messiah teaching the doctrine from heaven.  It was not merely an earthly doctrine but it was a heavenly doctrine, taught and commanded to Him from His Beloved Father.  The point of this prayer taught by Christ Jesus is so we are instructed and guided on what to do and how to teach others, for it is Christ who teaches the doctrine that is divine.  The “Lord’s Prayer” seen in the blessed Gospel of Matthew differs slightly from what Luke provides.  Matthew provides the sermon of Christ, and therein the Prayer is provided, but Luke provides the blessed Prayer of Christ for His people in response to a question.  When Jesus refers to Father as calling His name, it is equal to Abba.  It refers to the Father in the blessed family.  The petition when Jesus uses the word name is that people would hold God with high reverence.  When Jesus refers to the kingdom, it is the very prayer of Christ to have it established.  This was the prayer intention of the Lord Jesus.  Jesus refers to forgiveness, and it is this where sinners need forgiveness.  The Lord Jesus was the Lamb without blemish; the Lamb of God without spot; the blameless Lion of Judah.  People must forgive others or they will not receive forgiveness.  God’s people turn to Him in repentance because by God’s kindness His bids His people such a thing.  Without repentance it is impossible to have forgiveness.  We must remember that forgiveness is based on nothing less then work of Christ Jesus Himself.  It is not based upon the ways of men, or their works of satisfaction.  Rather Christ satisfied divine justice, and His Beloved and Blessed Father accepted Christ’s work in the behalf of His people.  Verse 7 in Luke 11 speaks of a family in a one-room house where the entire family slept, and if a person got up, it disturbs the whole family.  Verse 8 speaks of how friendship is not enough but rather persistence is the reason why he gets up.  Verses 9 through13 speaks of asking, seeking and knocking.  Verses 14 through 23 speak of a house divided.  Verses 24 through 26 speaks of an unclean spirit returns.  Now we come near to the text at hand.  It is in reference to keeping the Word of God. 

          A certain woman came from the crowd raised her voice and spoke to the Lord Jesus.  Oh, how many of us desire to speak to Him!  We must remember that we hear the Words of God in the Holy Scriptures.  When we hear Christ speaking to us by His very words in the Gospels, and when He appeared to blessed Paul, we are safe to say that 1.) it is infallibly sure that God has spoken in His word in this world, 2.) that we cling to it with our very lives and to do it for His glory, and 3.) that we become instructed by the Word to live it out in our lives.  So many people believe God has not spoken, but in fact, dearly beloved people, He has, indeed, spoken.  God has not left Himself without a testimony of Himself from Himself to His people, and for the world to see.  The divine Word of God is sure Light of truth in a dark world filled with damnable errors and heresies.  The woman said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”  The woman spoke the truth.  The Lord Jesus did not deny that His mother was blessed.  But He clearly said, to hear the Word of God and to obey the Word of God is far more important in the life of a believer.  It is one thing to call His mother blessed, but it is quite another thing to believe doctrines made with the hands of men. 

          Today as in the days of Luther, but perhaps, more so, since there is television, radio and the Internet, that people who claim to follow Christ speak often, and perhaps, more of His blessed mother.  But as Christ said it is far more important to hear and obey the Word of God.  I would say this:  It is far more important to hear and obey the Word of God then to prayer to the virgin Mary; it is far more important to hear and obey the Word of God then to embrace the dogmas of Rome, such as, the bodily assumption, Mary as Queen of Heaven, as Mediatrix and Advocate, and even co-Redeemix; it is far more important to honor the Exalted Christ then to honor Mary by calling her mother in speech or in prayer.  People do a better deed to honor the Word of God and commit our lives to it then to practice the idolatry of men who pollute the world with their word rather then the divine and heavenly, pure Word of God.  How dangerous it is to honor doctrines of men rather then the doctrines of Christ!  How spiritually destructive and harmful, it is to embrace the traditions of men, rather then submitting to the divine surety of the pure Word.  It is in the pure Word of God, not traditions of men, that we find divine truth rather then man-made inventions. 

          Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb…!”  (Luke 1:42).  So it is biblically acceptable to call Mary blessed, but the Lord Jesus is saying, “Don’t stop there!”  He is saying it is more then that.  We must hear the Word and obey it.  Sometimes people dishonor the Word of God by stopping short.  We must submit to the whole of revelation seen in divine Scripture.  Sometimes people go to far and worship her by praying to her and having doctrines that exalt her, and parallel Christ Himself.  This is scripturally wrong, spiritually repugnant and in terms of worship, it is a serious spiritual offense against the God of the Bible.  It is He alone Who should receive prayers, for God is the only proper object of it.  When people pray they worship, and if prayer is worship, which it is, we must worship God alone, as Jesus did to His Father, as Stephen did to Christ, and as Mary herself did to the Father in heaven.  Therefore we must joyfully pray to the Trinity because in Him who have delight and purpose.  If someone wishes to object and say, “but we should pray to the mother of Jesus”—my response is: did the mother of Jesus pray to saints?  The only example in the divine Word is Mary praying to God alone.  So if we take her example, we must submit to Scripture, and pray to God alone.  Let’s look at the prayer of Mary called the Magnificat:

a.)     The Lord is magnified (v. 46).

b.)     She rejoices in God which is from God’s grace, and God is her Savior (v. 47).  If God is her Savior, she was a sinner, and needed a Redeemer like all of us. 

c.)     God regarded the lowly state of her handmaiden, and generations will call her blessed (v. 48).

d.)     God is mighty and has done great things for her, and God’s name is holy (v. 49).

e.)     God’s mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation (v. 50).

f.)       God has shown strength with His arm, and He scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts (v. 51).

g.)     God has put down the mighty in their thrones, and He has exalted the lowly (v. 52).

h.)     God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich God sent away empty (v. 53).

i.)        God has helped Israel, His servant, and He remembers to have mercy (v. 54).

j.)        God has spoken to our fathers, and to Abraham and his seed forevermore (v. 55).

We see that Mary worshipped God alone.  Her prayers were to Him alone.  If we wish to call her blessed, consider what she did and did not do.  First, she worships God in the purity of her faith, and second, she does not pray to saints.  Mary knew nothing of praying to saints, or the dogmas that people ascribe to her.  She prayed to God alone, and God blessed her with His predetermined plan of having the Messiah, but she was not co-Redeemer.  It is Christ who is only Blessed Redeemer, and we must honor Him, for it is far better to so and God gets far greater glory when we do.  Do you honor Christ above all others? 

We can take a higher and most blessed example in prayer: Christ Himself.  Who did Christ pray to?  He prayed to His Heavenly Father alone.  May we take His example and submit to His Blessed Father in worship.  It is also proper to worship the Three Persons of the Trinity.  We worship One God, and yet He is revealed in Three Persons.  There is eternal delight in the way of the Trinity; we do not need to turn to saints, to pray to them, because we have an all-sufficient God who supplies all our needs in abundance and truth.  When people become discontent with praying to God, we must turn in repentance, and receive forgiveness, and renew our lasting obedience to Christ, and serve Him with gladness.  Do you enjoy praying to the Blessed One?  And because of Him, are you not blessed?

          It far better to say:  “Blessed be the Christ of Scripture; who live perfectly; atoned sufficiently for sin; bodily rose; ascended into heaven; and He is now seated at the right hand of God.  Blessed be the Christ of the divine Word.  I bless You Lord Jesus.”  Let us say with the Psalmist, “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation..” (Ps. 18:46 NASB).  “My foot stands on a level place;In the congregations I shall bless the LORD” (Ps. 26:12 NASB).  “Blessed be the LORD,Because He has heard the voice of my supplication” (Ps. 26:8 NASB).  “Blessed be the LORD,For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city” (Ps. 31:21).  “I will bless the LORD at all times;His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 34:1).  “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah” (Ps. 68:19 NASB).  “Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders” (Ps. 72:18 NASB). Have you blessed God today in a great way that will bring Him great glory, honor and praise?  May all glory, honor, adoration, veneration be Yours, Holy Trinity, forevermore.  Amen. 

          We should raise our voices to the Lord Jesus and bless Him with praises.  Have you raised your voice to Christ in praises; in songs and spiritual hymns?  Do you love to praise Him and delight in Him?  Doesn’t God get glory when you pray through Christ and worship Him with unadulterated worship in singing unto Him praises and songs of joy because of what Christ His Only Beloved Son did in your place and mine?  We ought to make much of Him.  We ought to bless Him for all eternity, and joyfully sing for His glory.  God is blessed when we make much of Him, and we must decrease and He must increase.  It is Christ who atoned for sin; He was the spotless Lamb of God, and He took the full weight of our sin upon the tree.  His life was immaculate and His atonement is all-sufficient.  He did not die for His own sins but He died for the sins of His people.  He died in their behalf.  We are hopelessly lost and in desperate need of an actual Redeemer.  The Lord Jesus is the Son of the Blessed One.  God is the most blessed Being in existence.  No human being can compare with His blessedness.  Blessing comes from Him and blessing is found in Him.  God is the One who blessed the Virgin Mary, and God’s departed saints are experiencing the intermediate state, in eternal blessedness, joy and peace.  Let us not look to blessed creatures but we must look to the One who has Blessedness in and of Himself.  We must honor Him and glorify Him. 

I think it is biblical appropriate to speak of the Virgin Birth.  What the woman said is related to this.  The New Geneva Study Bible helped me in my explanation about the Virgin Birth which is included in a summary of words herein.  The Gospel of Matthew and Luke speak of the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.  The two stories are harmonious and completely agree.  The birth of Jesus is the only marvelous conception.  If people compare the birth of Jesus with any birth, they simply do not understand the virgin birth of which Scripture declares.  The Virgin Mary became pregnant by the work of the Spirit of God.  This happened before she had any relationship with Joseph.  This is seen in Matthew 1:20 and in Luke 1:35.  The majority of Christians believed and accepted the Virgin Birth of Christ.  But in the nineteenth century this was questioned.  At that time it became a pivotal issue.  It was a debate over “Christian supernaturalism and the deity of Jesus” (The New Geneva Study, 1603).  Modernism flooded the world with Jesus as “uniquely godly and insightful teacher” (p. 1603), and therefore, the Virgin Birth was believed to be untrue, and it was done by “unnecessary skepticism” (p. 1603).  The Virgin Birth of Jesus is a precious and blessed doctrine of the Christian faith.  It is proper to include it with what the New Testament Scriptures say about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord Jesus had “eternal dignity and glory” (p. 1603) before the world was.  The Lord Christ entered into incarnate life which declared His marvelous and glorious work that He came to fulfill, and He fulfilled it perfectly.  Matthew and Luke show how through the miraculous birth of Jesus “came to fulfill God’s purposes of redemption…”  (p. 1603).  The Lord Jesus experienced sorrow, for He was the Man of Sorrows, and He sufficiently died for sin.  The Virgin Birth is un-comparable with any birth, and it alone is properly called the Immaculate Conception.  It is biblically foreign to Scripture to call Mary’s birth the Immaculate Conception.  As the Scripture is solely and uniquely the Word of God, so, too; is the birth of Christ solely unique.  We do not know if the Virgin Birth was the only way Jesus could have came into the world.  But do we know that God chose to have Jesus be born of a woman who was a virgin.  We must honor this doctrine by submitting to it because Scripture teaches it.  The Virgin Birth sets Him apart from all others.  As The New Geneva Study Bible says, “It is appropriate that He should be born in this unusual way, cine He was not implicated in sin, like all others since the Fall.  Mary was not an exception in this respect, any more than David or Peter, though her sins are not recorded as theirs were.  Through His death, Jesus became her Savior and the Savior of the rest of the church with her.” (p. 1603).  So, then, do you obey Scripture and believe the Virgin Birth?  Heretics reject the Virgin Birth, and we should not be like them, but embrace divine Scripture, and what it teaches. 

Let’s turn to the next verse in Luke 11:28.  If you do not catch the slight difference in the versions, now, have isolated verse 28:

NKJV: “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

ESV: “"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

NIV: “"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

NASB: “"On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."

          The NKJV uses “More than that…”  The ESV and NIV uses “Blessed rather…”  And the NASB uses “On the contrary…”  As we have already seen Christ is not saying His mother is not blessed.  But even when I say this, I do not mean it in the Romish sense, for it is contrary to everything in Scripture, the purity of the Word and sound doctrine.  Let us turn to the great Augustine who spoke of hearing and keeping the Word of God:  “Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ.  To someone who said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” he replied, “Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”  Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship?  Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart then in her flesh” (ACCOS, p. 195).  I think this verse speaks volumes against Mary as co-Redeemer, for it more valuable to have Christ in the heart.  So, then, having Christ in the heart is far more important then conceiving Him, or being related to Him.  It is essential to have Christ in the heart.  But this does not mean the Virgin Birth is of little significance or importance.  Hear another of the faith.

    I think what Matthew Henry wrote captures what the verse is saying.  He wrote, “The applause which an affectionate, honest, well-meaning woman gave to our Lord Jesus, upon hearing his excellent discourses. While the scribes and Pharisees despised and blasphemed them, this good woman (and probably she was a person of some quality) admired them, and the wisdom and power with which he spoke: As he spoke these things (v. 27), with a convincing force and evidence, a certain woman of the company was so pleased to hear how he had confounded the Pharisees, and conquered them, and put them to shame, and cleared himself from their vile insinuations, that she could not forbear crying out, "Blessed is the womb that bore thee. What an admirable, what an excellent man is this! Surely never was there a greater or better born of a woman: happy the woman that has him for her son. I should have thought myself very happy to have been the mother of one that speaks as never man spoke, that has so much of the grace of heaven in him, and is so great a blessing to this earth." This was well said, as it expressed her high esteem of Christ, and that for the sake of his doctrine; and it was not amiss that it reflected honour upon the virgin Mary his mother, for it agreed with what she herself had said (ch. i. 48), All generations shall call me blessed; some even of this generation, bad as it was. Note, To all that believe the word of Christ the person of Christ is precious, and he is an honour, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Yet we must be careful, lest, as this good woman, we too much magnify the honour of his natural kindred, and so know him after the flesh, whereas we must now henceforth know him so no more.

2. The occasion which Christ took from this to pronounce them more happy who are his faithful and obedient followers than she was who bore and nursed him. He does not deny what this woman said, nor refuse her respect to him and his mother; but leads her from this to that which was of higher consideration, and which more concerned her: Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it, v. 28. He thinks them so; and his saying that they are so makes them so, and should make us of his mind. This is intended partly as a check to her, for doting so much upon his bodily presence and his human nature, partly as an encouragement to her to hope that she might be as happy as his own mother, whose happiness she was ready to envy, if she would hear the word of God and keep it. Note, Though it is a great privilege to hear the word of God, yet those only are truly blessed, that is, blessed of the Lord, that hear it and keep it, that keep it in memory, and keep to it as their way and rule.”

          The blessing of God comes with the hearing the word of God and obeying the Word of God.  Hearing the Word of God and obeying the Word of God is essential for the Christian.  The obeying of the Word of God can only be accomplished through the work of the Spirit in regeneration.  Without the work of the Spirit no one can truly hear the Word of God and no one can obey the Word of God.  People may hear it with their ears, but not have it in their hearts.  Paul spoke of something like this in Acts 28:

25They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
 26" 'Go to this people and say,
   "You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
      you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
 27For this people's heart has become calloused;
      they hardly hear with their ears,
      and they have closed their eyes.
   Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
      hear with their ears,
      understand with their hearts
   and turn, and I would heal them.'

 28"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"

We need spiritually ears to hear and spiritually open minds to comprehend the Word of God.  The Spirit makes Christians blessed by hearing it and obeying it.  Obeying the Word of God is of, by and from grace.  It is the grace of God and by personal responsibility.  We must submit to the divine Scripture, for in it we hear the divine message of God, and we read the divine treasure of God that does nothing less then nourish, edify and produce growth in the believer in Christ.  There is no book like it. 

          So many in today’s church do not hear the Word of God preached, nor do they obey it in their lives.  It is eternally important to value the Word of God in our lives with great care and submission.  We must submit to the Word of God and we must obey it with great and eternal devotion.  We hear the plain reading of Scripture in church.  It is the public reading of Scripture.  Do you submit to the divine Scriptures?  Do you treasure the reading of Scripture?  Have you valued it in your life by faithful hearing and reading each day?  Have you neglected the hearing and reading of the divine Word?  Are you consistent in hearing what it means, applying in your life by the grace of God and submitting to it in lasting devotion?  Is the Word of God hidden in your heart?  Do you act on the Word of God, and do you seek to live it out in your life?  It is difficult to live the Word out in our lives if we do not submit to grace.  It is only by grace that we submit, and we must honor the Word of God in our lives by what we say, do and think.  Do you act on the Word of God?  Have you heard it; have you understood it; have you acted on it?  May we hear and obey the Word of God.

          Who is the one who perfectly heard and obeyed the Word of God?  It is none other then Christ Jesus.  He read the Scriptures, for they spoke of Him.  He understand perfectly what the Scripture taught, and He obeyed it without one sin.  Have you looked to Jesus to hear the Word and obey it?  Do you look to Jesus to help you understand the Word?  In Scripture we see Jesus teaching the Living Word through His proclamation.  May we submit to Christ and take His example of hearing and obeying the Word of God! 

Let’s pray…

“Father in heaven, we acknowledge that we do not always hear what Your Word teaches, and we acknowledge we do not always obey it.  But we ask You to help you grow in knowledge, and help us to obey the Word of God.  We love Your truth; we love Your Word; we want to obey You.  We love to commit our minds on Your matchless truth.  We desire to keep the Word but You know better then all of us how weak we are.  By Your grace through Your Beloved Son, may we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.  May Your Son by Your Spirit gives us hearts to study diligently and fervently the Word of Truth.  We commit our lives to the anchor of the Word that keeps us from falling away, and that keeps us strong, and Your Word, Father, points us to Your Son.  You said of Your Son, “Listen to Him.”  For indeed He speaks the truth.  I am only a nobody and have nothing other then You, Holy Trinity; give all of us strength to joyfully obey You, and the passionate desire to live Your Word out in our lives. All for Your glory.  Amen.