In The Master's Service

YE HINDERED

Elder Mark Green

"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that are entering in ye hindered" (Lk. 11:52).

Of all the people in the world who ought to have been teaching the truth concerning the Messiah and who ought to have been pointing out the signs of His coming and identifying Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, it should have been the rulers of the Jews. They spent the most time in studying the law and the prophets. They were in the best position to know these things. Instead, they refused to enter into the knowledge of the truth and did their best to hinder others from entering. They opposed on every hand the teaching of the truth that Jesus was "very Christ," or that He was indeed the Christ.

It is a mistake to think that people cannot be hindered in their pursuing gospel truths. If that were the case, it would have made no sense for the Lord to have said what He did in our text. Of course God's children can be hindered from the paths of gospel obedience! It happens all the time. Some are confused to the point that they simply do not know what the truth is. Their minds are overloaded with much false information and they simply are not able to distinguish which of all the theories they have heard is the truth. Others are kept out of the kingdom by fear. We find this in the case of the Jews who believed on Jesus, but who, for fear of persecution, did not profess Him. Others are lured to sleep so that their sense of urgency is dulled and they become slothful; they fail to give “the more earnest heed." There are many ways that God's people are hindered.

One of the best ways to hinder someone is to make him believe that he cannot be hindered. Many 20-year-old young men drive recklessly because they believe they cannot die; it might happen to others, but not to them. They are "bullet-proof, and so they drive recklessly. When we think, "It could never happen to me," then we are at the greatest risk for it to happen to us. If we think that we cannot be hindered, then we probably will. The key of gospel knowledge is worth having. Let us press into the kingdom to have it, and let us put off all the things that would hinder us in the way!

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