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Luther

2 Kings 22:1-20

Psalm 119:1-24

Who has shaped your life as a Christian?

Martin Luther
July 1505
“Help me St Anne; I will become a monk”.
… a misguided and sinful act.
Firstly, wrong way to bring security to your eternity,
Secondly, he had disobeyed his Father in doing so.
… but the comfort never came.
… captivated by the holiness and majesty of the living God and his own encounter with him.
Do you FEAR God?

Luther’s world
…no central government, bureaucracy or army that was German.
… Roman church … in opposition or competition to these ruling princes.
… resentment towards the church
… instability
… the printing press

Luther’s discovery
God speaks through his fixed and unchanging “external word”.

In this psalm David always says that he will speak, think, talk, hear, read, day and night constantly – about nothing else than God’s Word and Commandments. For God wants to give you His Spirit only through the external Word.

Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture.

Word, Jesus and the Spirit
Neither the indwelling Spirit nor the incarnate Word (Jesus) leads us away from the book that Luther called the external word.

For us today
Firstly – It is easy to lose God’s word
2 Kings 22
God word must be central in shaping our understanding of God and our obedience to God in our lives as God’s people.
What does that mean in your life and my life?
Firstly, a passion for God’s word
Secondly, trust the authority of God’s word.

His family

Suffering and service

I have decided to mobilise everything against Luther, my kingdoms, my dominions, my friends, my body, my blood, my soul. Charles V

… relentless slander
… suffered physically.
Suffering did not become an excuse for laziness or opting out of serving God.

His trust in God in all circumstances

That the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore your first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory–not for yours or any other person’s–He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words. For no master of the divine words exists except the Author of these words, as He says: ‘They shall be all taught of God’ (John 6:45). You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit