Anatomy of a Man of God: His Ears

Introduction: The Anatomy of a Man of God Series and Purpose

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 18th, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, I am sure that most of you present with us here to worship the living God in this place this morning are aware of the fact that a vital aspect of our church life in this assembly and no little measure of our responsibility as an assembly finds expression in the fact that within this place we operate a four-year comprehensive course of ministerial training called the Trinity Ministerial Academy. And each year, sometime in mid-September, we designate a Lord's Day evening service as Academy Night. And last Lord's Day evening was just such a little bit of a surprise to me. It was such a special night in our church life.

1:07 As is our custom, we permitted the incoming students, in this case four men, to introduce themselves, and then we sought to direct your attention from the Word of God to aspects of biblical truth appropriate to that occasion. And at that time, I began to speak to you on the subject of the anatomy of a man of God. And under that imagery, it was my purpose to set before you some of those spiritual characteristics that are cloaked in Scripture under the imagery of various parts of the human anatomy. And my purpose then and now, and God willing, next Lord's Day, in completing that subject, is very simple and straightforward. It is my purpose to set before you some of those spiritual characteristics that are cloaked in Scripture under the imagery of various parts of the human anatomy. It is my purpose that each of the men in the Academy would have a clearly and biblically based view of what it is towards which all of the disciplines and studies of the Academy are moving, and precisely how they should find expression in what we might call the end product.

2:30 My second purpose is that those who are newer members among us, may catch something of the vision that has burned in our hearts and been a vital part of our congregational life for close to a dozen years. For if you are a newer member of Trinity and have not yet caught something of the vision and holy excitement and burden of what is found in conjunction with the ministry of Trinity, Trinity Ministerial Academy, then to some degree, degree you are a member out of step with an aspect of our church life that is vital and then my third purpose is in the language of Peter for those who are older members among us to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance that you might as it were receive a fresh baptism of holy vision resulting in a new level of commitment to this ministry well under the imagery then of the anatomy of a man of God we had time last Lord's Day evening only to look at the head and the eyes of a man of God and we saw from the scriptures that the head of a man of God is characterized by

3:58 at least three things it is covered with the helmet of the hope of salvation first Thessalonians 5 8 it is filled with a right understanding of the word of God second Timothy 2 2 and Jeremiah 3 15 and it is furnished with tools for a lifetime of fresh and profitable ministry second Timothy 2 15 first Timothy 4 15 then we have the helmet of the hope of salvation first Thessalonians 5 8 it is filled with a right understanding of the word of God we contemplated the spiritual eyes of a man of God and we saw first of all from 2nd Corinthians 4 18 that the eyes of a man of God are fixed on the unseen world of spiritual reality we saw secondly from Hebrews 12 2 that they are focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ and thirdly from Matthew 9 36 and Acts 17 16 we saw that the eyes of a man of God are we saw that the eyes of a man of God are perceptive of the true spiritual state of men about him now this morning we

5:14 continue our anatomical study of a man of God in every single man of God regardless of his age regardless of the diversity of his own peculiar personality traits the measure and development of his gifts and certainly the richness of a more limited or larger spiritual and ministerial experience, you will nonetheless, amidst all of those legitimate diversities, discover in the anatomy of a man of God not only the head we have described, the eyes we have described, but this morning we shall look at his ears and at his mouth and God willing, next Lord's Day, complete the study by looking at his heart, his knees, and his feet.

The First Mark: Ears Continually Open to Hear the Word of God for Personal Conformity

6:20 Consider with me then the anatomy of a man of God as we move down from the crown of his head and down from the crown of his head and down from the crown of his head. And as we move down from the crown of his head and down from the crown of his head, from his eyes and backwards to his ears. And of course by the ears I mean the spiritual faculty of hearing. I am speaking of the ears of the soul and of the heart.

6:47 And again there are three dominant characteristics of the ears of a man of God. And the first and foundational is always, is this, they are continually opened to hear the word of God. Notice I did not say that they are continually opened merely to have some contact with the word of God with a view to getting them into his mouth. But the ears of his soul are continually opened to the word of God, to receive that word into the substance of his own inner life. Will you turn with me to what I believe is the most touching and incisive passage in all of the word of God setting forth this principle. It is found in the 50th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 50, in a section in which we find the servant of Jehovah who is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ speaking.

8:11 Notice the words of verse 4, 5, and 6. Isaiah 50. The servant of the Lord speaking says, The Lord Jehovah has given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to speak. That I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary.

8:36 He wakens morning by morning. He wakens mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.

9:05 I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Now here the Lord Jesus articulates a very vital principle which was operative in his own life as the servant of Jehovah right up to and through his act of consummate obedience even the shame and the suffering connected with his death upon the cross. That's the significance of verse 6. And you will notice that the passage begins with the servant of Jehovah telling us that he has been given from Jehovah a tongue that is competent to minister adequately to the needy among the people of God. The Lord has given me the tongue of them that are taught that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary. And here we have this beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ who spoke as never man spoke, who knew how to speak comfortably to spiritual Jerusalem, who knew how to speak to the heart of men.

10:32 And he tells us that he received this ability from the Lord Jehovah. He received it in his capacity as the servant of Jehovah in dependence upon and from its ultimate source in Jehovah himself. But then he tells us how he received a tongue that was ready and well furnished to minister to the spiritually distressed and to comfort them. And notice how he received such a tongue.

11:11 He wakens morning by morning. He wakens my ear to hear as they that are taught or as the marginal reading has it, as disciples. The Lord has opened my ear and I was not, now notice it doesn't say I was not thick-minded, I was not dull-witted, but I was not rebellious. So that when the servant of Jehovah describes how he became a competent, well-furnished teacher to the weary among God's true people, he said the secret was found in his constant open ear to the voice of Jehovah. The Lord has opened my ear and his ear was opened to the voice of Jehovah not primarily to speak to others, but to receive words by which his own life would be directed and molded

12:38 even when those words would lead him into the crucible and the agony of having men's spittle drip from his face and his beard plucked from his cheek. So that the picture is not that of a man whose ear was open that he might receive in order to impart to others, but rather whose ear was open to receive as a disciple that word by which his own life and walk would be molded. And out of the crucible of his own inner conformity and reception of the word came the spiritual perception and knowledge which enabled him to speak with efficacious power to the hearts of others. Do you see that in the text? Do you see that in the text? Now do you see the profound implications of this for a man of God?

13:49 If the servant of Jehovah, albeit in a posture of dependence, cannot become a competent minister to others, having his own ear wakened morning by morning, that in the crucible of his own personal obedience to the revealed will and word of God, he may be furnished with that spiritual perception and understanding which alone comes in the crucible of an obedient life. If only that way the servant of Jehovah can speak to the heart of needy men, how much more those of us who have to contend with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our remaining sin. And so the first mark of the ear of a true man of God is always this. He has an ear that is continually open to hear the word of God and to hear that word not primarily as a word that he may for others in his official ministrations,

15:18 but as a word by which he would have the totality of his own life shaped and molded and governed. And that's why there are precious few men of God in our generation. We have an army of men of God who have a precious little ministry to the heart of deep, incisive, penetrating, humbling conviction of sin, precious little ministry that comes fraught with the warmth and the passion and the overtures of God's mercy and tenderness

16:27 that reaches to the most distressed spirit and brings consolation and strength to weary wives. The vast majorities have heart because there is to this kind of hearing of the word of God. So much time is spent in administration. So much time is spent in what I would call ministerial piddling.

17:00 So much time is spent before the TV and wasted time in other trivial activities that men are strangers to lowly seasons alone with their and their heart in the presence of Almighty God under the impress of the word and of the Holy Spirit. There is no shortcut to being a true man of God and remaining one. And this is at once both the great burden and the great danger of this time that men spend in the academy. It is the great danger of many of you in this church three times on a Lord's Day. The word comes to the outer vestibule of the ear and yet how easy it is to be hearers only and not doers. Think of the men in the academy.

18:17 It comes to the outer vestibule of their ears for hours on Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday and then again on the Lord's Day. Think of the horrible danger of learning of learning well the unholy art of hearing with a view to speaking rather than hearing with a view to doing and becoming. Oh dear men in the academy I plead with you. I beg you in the name of Christ make these words from the mouth of the servant of Jehovah your meat and drink.

19:01 Pause every Tuesday morning before you come to that first class and say Oh Lord Jesus make me to say with you the Lord Jehovah has wakened morning by morning. He has wakened my ear to hear as a disciple as a learner as one who is prepared to hear and to do that my lessons will come through the crucible of my own struggles and my own spiritual experience that when I pass on the fruit of them to others they will throb and bristle with the vitality of the energy of my own contact with that truth. This is what that dear old woman in Scotland meant when talking with a representative of the denomination in charge of supplying a preacher for their vacated pulpit. She said to the denominational representative Sir, Sir whoever you send us send us a man who knows God other than by hearsay. Send us a man who knows God

The Danger of Hearing Without Doing: The Ezekiel Society

20:31 other than by hearsay. And the mark of the ear of a true man of God is he never joins the Ezekiel society. You know what I mean by the Ezekiel society? I mean this not to be pejorative to Ezekiel but to fix in your mind where it's found in Ezekiel chapter 33 we are told in verses 30 to 32 these frightening words Ezekiel chapter 33 and as for thee son of man the children of thy people talk of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses you were to pass by as a stranger the buzz words were about Ezekiel the great prophet of God who preached the words of God. He says they talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses and they speak one to another every one his brother saying come I pray you and hear what is the word that comes from Jehovah. If you walked into the town at that time as a stranger you'd have said hallelujah revival's on its way. People aren't in church and they're talking about the prophet and the word of God

21:58 and they can't wait to go up to the next meeting. They're saying come let's go up let's hear the word of God. Verse 31 and they come unto you as the people come and they sit there before you as my people. Another stranger comes in and sees this vast multitude sitting quietly attentively listening and they'd say God's come revival has come unlike here this morning where I've seen several young people looking out the windows while I've preached and others with a glassy eyed look of unresponsiveness as though your head is a thousand miles away.

22:34 Not so then he says they come and they sit and hear as the people come but now listen they hear but do them not for with their mouth they show forth much love but their heart goes after their game they pump Ezekiel's hand at the end of the sermon saying wonderful word Ezekiel everything I heard about you was not only true but it's more than true what I've experienced you bring the word of God to us you speak with penetrating and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful and powerful They will be men of God, made such as by the grace of God. They never take out their Ezekiel Union card. They never join the ranks of those who sit and listen attentively and even brag to their peers about the quality of their professors' lectures.

24:01 And you start praying earnestly for the men in the academy that way, and you know what will happen? You'll start praying for yourself that way, that you will not come and sit here Lord's Day by Lord's Day. So a stranger coming in, say, oh, that's marvelous. Five, six hundred people sitting, little children attentive.

24:19 They're following every word of the preachers. My, the Spirit of God must be at work. Ah, my friend, listen, that can all be a charade unless the ears of your soul are open to hear with a view to doing. Unless you can say in the Spirit, in strength of the servant of the Lord, mine ear was opened to what end?

24:46 To the end of obedience, no matter how costly. The Lord hath opened my ear. I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, my cheeks to them that plucked off my hair.

25:03 I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Unless you hear. With a view to obeying, no matter what the cost, you don't truly hear.

25:16 You don't truly hear. If you've set up your defenses and said whatever the word demands, thus far, no further. My friend, you do not truly hear. The mark of a man of God as well as the mark of any healthy child of God is to be found in the ear.

The Second Mark: Ears Continually Responsive to Reproofs and Corrections

25:36 It is an ear that is continually opened. To hear the word of God. But then secondly, and it's obvious we won't get beyond the ear. They are continually responsive to the reproofs and corrections of the people of God.

25:56 Whenever you examine the ear of a man of God, you will not only find it cleared of all carnal wax that would block the voice of God. You will not only find it connected to a heart ready to respond at the impulses sent by the spiritual auditory nerve, by the word of God into the heart. But you will find an ear that often is scarred. And it may be bloody.

26:27 But it's an ear that functions well. Because the mark of a man of God in his ear is this. He's continually responsive to the reproofs and corrections of the people of God. Now listen carefully.

26:45 No little part of the work of the ministry, both publicly and privately for a true servant of Christ, is that work set forth in such passages as 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look at what that work will be. All scripture, we looked at it in the previous hour, is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching. Now notice, for reproof, for correction, scripture in its very nature is given to be profitable, not merely to set forth objective propositional truth about God and heaven and sin and Christ and hell and ethics and morality and practice. Oh no, it is not only profitable for teaching, but for reproof and for correction. Therefore, in chapter 4, when Paul charges Timothy, notice what he says, verse 2, Preach the word. Be urgent in season, out of season.

27:54 Reprove, rebuke, exhort, which can mean either impel to action with warning and threat or with encouragement. The word takes in the full breadth of significance, but no little part of preaching the word is to reprove and to rebuke. Now, here's the cruncher. It is a fundamental axiom that he who will not be reproved has no right to be prove others unless he would place himself in the horrible category of a hypocrite.

The Wisdom of Receiving Reproof (Proverbs 15)

28:36 It is a fundamental axiom that he who will not be reproved has no right to reprove others, unless he would place himself in the horrible category of a hypocrite. Now, let me quote the significance of receiving reproof in just one chapter of God's word. At random, in my preparation, I said, Well, since this past week I read Proverbs 15 in my reading of Proverbs every day and the 15th passed this week, let me take Proverbs 15 and turn there for a moment, please, and notice the centrality of this matter of reproof in the counsels of God to our hearts.

29:33 Proverbs 15 and verse 5, A fool despises his father's correction, but he that regards reproof gets prudence. Now, the word despise here does not necessarily mean the way we use it to despise in terms of an intense aversion. It can mean and most often means in the Old Testament to regard lightly. He that regards lightly his father's correction, that is, the correction of one placed in a proper position to give it, a fool despises his father's correction, but he that regards reproof gets prudence. If we are to have prudent, wise men of God molded in the academy, how will they be made? Not only by an ear that's open to the voice of God, but an ear that's open to receive reproof from fellow human beings competent and ordained of God to give it. And I've met many men who claim to be willing to take anything from God, but nothing from their fellow men.

30:49 But you see, when you refuse to take reproof from your fellow men, you're rejecting the word of the God whose word you say you're willing to receive. For it's God who said, receive the reproof of a father and you will come into the path of prudence. Verse 10, there is grievous correction for him that forsakes the way, and he that hates reproof shall die. Church history is strewn with the carcasses of ministers who hated reproof.

31:32 I'm the domine, who are you to tell me? And their rotting carcasses across the highway of church history are the fulfillment of this warning. Verse 12, a scoffer does not love to be reproved. He will not go unto the wise.

31:56 You mean I'm to love reproof? Yes, yes. I'm not merely to tolerate it. Okay, Bible says I've got to take it, lay it on me.

32:10 Brother, do you see something in my life contrary to the word? Do you see a grace that would make my ministry more useful that is not present? Do you see a vice that I may be blind to, a mannerism, a way of speaking or carrying myself, acting, or reacting in private, in public, in group situations? My brethren, my sisters, is there anything wherein by reproof I can be made more like Christ, more acceptable to more people, that I might have more ears in order to tell them of my Savior than I love your reproofs?

32:52 And God says it's the scoffer who doesn't love reproof, and he will not go to the wise. He's the beginning, middle, and end of his own wisdom. That's why he hates reproof. He will not reckon that others have more wisdom about how he really appears and how he really comes across.

33:14 He is so cocky and confident in his own self-assessment. The rest of the world is wrong and only he is right. He will not go unto the wise. Furthermore, in this chapter, this is just one chapter, folks, verses 31 and 32, the ear that hearkens to the reproof of life shall abide among the wise.

33:45 He that refuses correction despises his own soul, but he that hearkens to reproof gets understanding. The ear that hearkens to the reproof of life, reproofs that are given based upon accurate observation, based upon perspectives hammered out in the word of God, are a means of life. They are called the reproof of life. And the man who welcomes them, he'll be found among the truly wise.

34:24 He will have a rich ministry. He'll be able to dive into the hearts of his people because he was willing to have someone dive into his heart. He will be able to perceive and make keen ethical and moral evaluations that will enable people to see what and who they truly are. Why?

34:46 Because he was willing for someone who perceived things that he did not see to come and lovingly and faithfully to reprove him. The ear that hearkens to the reproof of life shall abide among the wise, but he that refuses correction despises his own soul. Think of it. A minister given to winning the souls of others while he's treating with disdain his own soul.

The Danger of Rejecting Reproof: The Foolish Old King

35:23 He that refuses correction despises his own soul, but he that hearkens to reproof gets understanding. You see, it is for this very reason that the writer of the Ecclesiastes, the preacher said, and I ask you to turn over to chapter 4 and verse 13. Chapter 4 and verse 13. Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who knows not how to receive admonition anymore. What a horrible picture. Here is a king with all of the privileges and all of the opportunities and all of the wealth and store of wisdom and experience and knowledge. And along comes a poor young man, nothing that is impressive about him.

36:32 But God says that poor and young man yet who is wise with the wisdom of being able to listen to what older and wiser eyes can see and takes reproof. Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, an old and foolish preacher so filled with the distorted view of his own importance and his own stature and his own wisdom and all of these other things in which he thinks himself so high. High and mighty. God says the poor and wise youth is better than that man whose ear no one can get. Who are you? I'm the king. Who are you, young prince? I'm the old king.

37:30 Who are you, inexperienced governor? I'm the experienced king. You see, for every avenue to his ear to prove him, he has a calculated defense, gone from his age, his experience, his position, his influence. He's made himself utterly, utterly impregnable to reproof.

37:52 And he didn't learn how to do that overnight. That's a vicious, devilish art that you begin to learn in your youth. And God have mercy on you men in the academy. If you ever matriculate in that course, it ain't in the curriculum that we lay out, but the devil will do his best to inject it in every single course in your curriculum

38:19 to find clever ways to parry the reproofs of your brethren. And you'll end up like a foolish, old king. What's the mark of a man of God? You look not only at his skull, you look not only at his eyes, but you look at his ears.

The Example of Peter Receiving Public Reproof

38:46 And you find that those ears are open to the word of God, open to receive it for the molding and the shaping of his own life, primarily, fundamentally, and essentially. Secondly, his ears are continually responsive to the reproofs and corrections of the people of God. Even, even, even if he must be published, Even, even, if he must be published, he must be publicly reproved. And in my preparation, I went back over that whole incident in Galatians 2.

39:23 And I wince when I read it. But we read there that Paul withstood Peter to his face in the presence of everyone. You talk about getting shown up. I mean, if Peter had a damaged ego and was full of insecurities, he would have said to Paul, Come on, man, let's get down to it.

39:49 They'd have had fisticuffs. But though the younger in the Lord and younger in age reproved him publicly, Peter did not bristle because of a bruised and insensitive ego that couldn't stand the pressure of public exposure. He did not rise up in the residual pride of the heart that would justify himself. He has received the reproof.

40:19 And if anyone had any doubt when he refers to some of the hard things Paul wrote in his epistles, he doesn't say Paul. He doesn't say our brother Paul. He describes him in 2 Peter 3.16, our beloved brother Paul.

40:39 Brother Paul, who in the front of a whole bunch of people took a lance of reproof and drove it clean through my sternum and out the midsection of my back and left me standing there bleeding. Beloved brother Paul. Oh, how many people I would have offended and caused to stumble had I gone on hobnobbing only with the Jews and proclaiming heresy by my actions that Gentiles were second-class citizens as Peter thought of all the sin that had been avoided by the loving reproofs of Paul. He says, my beloved brother Paul.

41:22 You see, there was something more important to Peter than his own reputation in his own eyes and before the eyes of others. It was being right with God and right with man and useful in the work of the ministry. And you men in the academy, if you haven't come to that place, please voluntarily resign until you do. I mean that.

Application: Protecting Reputation vs. Progress in Grace

41:43 If you have not come to that place in solemn wrestlings with God, where there's something more important than the affirmation of your own identity, the finding of your own ego, the protection of your own image, get out and stay out until God gives you an ear that's willing to be chewed up and spit out with loving reproofs. And that's the problem with some of you members of Trinity Baptist Church. We see others sitting under the same ministry growing by leaps and bounds. And if you grow at all, only God could see it.

42:25 And the reason is you're more committed to protect your reputation than to make progress in grace. You've had your sins pointed out and you excused them. You've had your errors and your follies and foibles and weaknesses lovingly pointed out in the public preaching of the word, in private oversight meetings, in personal counseling sessions, but you've done nothing about it. Why?

42:52 You're more concerned to protect your image. And so it's the nasty elder who's got it out for you. Or it's the nasty elders who've got it out for you. Or it's that nasty brother or sister that's jealous of what you have.

43:10 And when they come to you and point out your fault, that's only a sneaky way that they're creeping up behind you to dig at you because they're jealous of your house. They're jealous of your face, jealous of your figure, jealous of your kids. And you put all kinds of rotten motives into the heart of the one who only comes that you might be found in the way of life. No one will make progress in grace who does not in a secret place with God, no one will say, Oh God, let even my enemy smite me and I shall count it kindness.

43:46 I shall regard it as oil upon my head. And God, if you want to raise up a jackass to walk across the path of my driveway, to speak to me, to turn me into the way of obedience, Lord, rebuke me with a jackass, a donkey, rebuke me with a cockroach. But Lord, don't leave me at the mercy of my own pride. Don't leave me at the mercy of my own blindness.

44:13 Lord, keep me in the way of life. Because he that hearkens unto reproof is hearkening to the reproofs of life.

44:29 Serious business, isn't it? We're not into business making little preacher boys. We want to see God make men of God. This is the way they're made.

The Third Mark: Ears Continually Ready for God's Specific Call

44:42 When they have an ear open to the word of God, open to the reproofs of the people of God, they have ears continually ready and waiting to respond to the specific call of God.

44:58 They have ears that are ready and waiting to respond to the specific call of God. Now let me explain what I mean and then we'll turn to the scriptures. Every man received into this academy is received on the basis of a judgment made by his overseers by the overseers of this assembly that there is a prejudice in favor of believing the call of God is upon him, molding him into a minister of the new covenant. We do not have an infallible revelation.

45:36 The elders who commend them to us don't have an infallible revelation. But taking the word of God and in particular 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 as our guide, we with those who commend these men to us, we need to assess whether or not we see God making a 1 Timothy 3 or Titus 1 man of God. And on that basis, all other things being equal, we welcome them into the academy. So in the sense of their fundamental call to the work of the ministry, that's 80 to 90, in some cases 99 and 44, one hundredth percent settled when they come.

46:18 I'm not referring to that. You see, we have to make a judgment according to 2 Timothy 2.2 about a man's character before we ever welcome him into the academy. These things commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others.

46:35 We must make an assessment of character, faithful men, and of gift, able to teach. Not every sincere, godly, mature Christian man belongs in the academy because sincere, godly, knowledgeable Christian experience is not necessarily a call from the head of the church to serve as an elder. But now I'm speaking about a man's specific call. That is, where and in precisely what capacity and in what circumstances, listen, in what state, in what country, in what land, in what circumstances a man shall serve God.

47:18 And it is this, to which I'm referring under this third heading, that when you study the ear of a true man of God, you will find that it stands continually ready and waiting to respond to the specific call of God. And I give you two examples, and then I will qualify and apply and be done. From the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6.

47:53 You remember the familiar account of the call of the man of God, Isaiah, to the prophetic office. And while fulfilling his ordinary course of responsibility, Isaiah one day is shaken by a sovereign intervention in the way of a vision given to him by the Lord. And in that vision, he sees the exalted Lord upon his throne. And I will not even read the passage, for fear I'll stop and begin to preach on it, and I must not.

48:35 And after that great vision of the holy, exalted Lord, there comes a shocking undoing of his own inner spirit. He is gripped with a sense of his own undoneness. He is shattered, and he cries out of the agony of self-awareness, concerning his sin, particularly the sins of his tongue. And we'll see the significance of that, God willing, next week.

49:01 Woe is me, for I am undone. And God comes to his broken servant with the assurance of cleansing and moral renewal and restoration. Verse 7. Lo, this hath touched thy lips, thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.

49:22 Now notice, in that context of being shattered, overcome, broken and yet blessed, blessed with the assurance of purging and forgiveness, fresh upon the tables of his heart in that posture, may I say it reverently, Isaiah now in such intimate communion with God in the path of accurate self-disclosure, leading to genuine salvation, genuine cleansing, he overhears a conversation within the triune Godhead. Verse 8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? He is one Lord. And yet, who will go for us? Whom shall I send?

50:22 Who will go for us? And I said, Here am I, send me. There was no great extended graphic description of all of the sordid mess that the sin of Judah had brought upon the inhabitants. There was no tear-jerking extended emotional pressure put upon the spirit of Isaiah.

50:54 He came fresh from seeing God, seeing himself, knowing forgiveness. And in that posture, his ears are ready and waiting. And when he hears God saying, Who will go for us? He says, Here am I, Lord, send me.

51:13 Not, Here am I, Lord, I'll grab my duffel bag and start doing something. No, Here am I, Lord, send me. I'm at your disposal. And notice what happened.

51:26 And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear indeed, but understand not. See indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again and be healed. What a horrible thing to tell a young preacher who's just dedicated himself to the ministry.

51:52 I mean, come off it. Doesn't God have any pity? Here's a man who's just been shattered, and undone, and broken. And now he says, Here am I, Lord, send me.

52:05 And God says, All right, go. And in going, I'm going to tell you what your mission is. It will be a mission that is going to be a flop in the eyes of men. You're going to preach, and as you preach, people's hearts are going to become fat and unresponsive.

52:21 And their ears heavy, and their eyes will be shut. What did Isaiah say in verse 11? Then said I, O God, I take it back. Lord, don't send me on a mission that has only the promise of failure in the eyes of men.

52:39 No, Lord. When I said, Here am I, send me. Lord, I had thoughts that when I preached about your greatness and majesty, as that vision unstrung me, and undid me, and broke me, and brought me to forgiveness. So when I would preach about your glory, as I saw you in the sanctuary, as I preached about your sovereignty, as I've seen you on the throne, and as that vision showed me myself, surely it will show others themselves, and you will come with pardoning mercy and grace.

53:10 And I'll have a glorious ministry of conviction, and of self-revelation, and of seeing men embrace your glorious forgiveness, and like myself, become your willing bond slaves. Lord, that's what I meant when I said, Here am I, send me. I wasn't in for this business. He didn't, Dicker.

53:30 Notice his response to the revelation of his specific call. Then said I, Lord, how long? Lord, how long? When I said, Here am I, send me.

53:47 I, the creature, have seen your glory, O infinite, holy, exalted creator and redeemer. I have felt the touch of your forgiveness. I have heard your voice of absolution. Therefore, grace has bound me to you, and opened my ears to your specific call.

54:07 And though everything in my humanity recoils, O Lord, I cannot go back. I've seen you, and I've seen myself, and I've known your forgiveness. How long? We romanticize Isaiah 6, don't we?

The Cost of God's Call and Personal Application

54:26 Ain't much romantic there, folks. But that's the mark of a man. A man of God, because he has lived and continues to live by grace in the orbit of his spirit impressed with the exaltedness of God in his holiness and majestic sovereignty. In something of the pain and acute inward awareness of his own creatureliness and sinfulness and yet wonder of wonders.

54:59 He has joy bells ringing in his breast. He knows he's a forgiven sinner. His posture is, Lord, I wait for your specific call. And when it comes, not by vision as it did here, nor by prophetic utterance as it did in the second passage we'll look at in a moment in Acts 13.

55:24 The man of God, like a Steve Huffmeyer, says, here am I, Lord, send me, though it means going to a climate hot and oppressive to us. Our poor brother Nanny and his family, they're freezing all the time in this weather.

55:42 Mr. Dixon, Pastor Bob, myself, those of us who've been there know the only time you're cool is when you stand wet when you've come out of a cold shower. And you wish you could just put on a loincloth and throw water on yourself every 15 minutes. Oppressively hot for those of us not brought up in that climate.

56:02 To learn a language that makes you twist your tongue in so many shapes. You feel it needs to be a professional contortionist. Mom and Dad not there for the birth of your little one, for the suffering that comes to daughter. Birthdays celebrated in isolation.

56:23 Need I go on? But amidst the trials and the sufferings they have known, to my knowledge, never once has there been any question raised. Is it worth it? You men in the academy have some solemn times with your wives on this matter.

56:44 You wives face honestly this matter of God's call upon your husband. God have mercy upon you if for no good physical reason, we're not talking now about something that would violate the sixth commandment. But if through lack of a spirit imbued with that which Isaiah knew, growing out of a sight of the majesty of God in his own wretchedness and the wonder of forgiveness, God have mercy on any one of you wives that would stand in the way of your husband having an ear that was open and feet that were ready. That's the mark of a man of God.

57:28 He's expendable. Those of you who've been here for years know that almost every time I come back from being away in a place of crucial need where there's so little light and so little manpower, it takes me about six weeks to get saved. And it's settled in my heart that I can justify staying on in this place. When I accepted the call to labor here in 1962, it was a call in principle to live and to die with this people.

58:03 And that commitment has not changed one iota, but I tell you, it gets challenged every time I see places of tremendous need with so little personnel. And I have to afresh say, Oh, God, can I really say, I'm not bound to a comfortable air-conditioned building. I'm not bound to a lovely split-level home. Lord, I'm your free man. Speak, Lord.

58:30 Your servant stands ready to go. What about you parents? Are we going to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers and then whisper, But not my kids. Someone else's kids, Lord, not mine.

58:47 I want to see my grandkids. I want to keep the extended family All nestled together nicely. Oh, do you? Then you ask God to give you a vision of his glory as the exalted holy one in the sight of your own wretchedness until you're broken.

59:05 And you say, I've got no claims. Speak, Lord. Thy servant hears. We don't have time to look at Acts 13.

Conclusion: Healing Sick Ears and a Call to Prayer

59:15 That was the passage we were going to consider from the New Testament. But I close with this exhortation. Dear people, Do you see why John Newton said, Only the God who made the worlds can make a true minister? If this is the anatomy of a true man of God, His head what we described last Lord's Day night, His eyes what we described and now this morning, The description of his ears, Not as an occasional condition, But as the prevailing, Overarching condition of his ears with the recognition that at any time his ears are not open to hear the word of God primarily with a view to being conformed by it and to it that he's got ear sickness and he needs to go to the great physician to heal his ear. At any time when his ear is not ready to welcome and love the reproofs of the humblest Saint of God, As well as his peers, Not to speak of his instructors, At any time when he does not love reproof but despises it, That he realizes Lord, I've got a horrible sickness, Heal my ear sickness Lord.

60:40 And at any time when his ear does not stand ready and waiting for the specific call of God to come in the way of his appointment, The ordinary means, We don't have time to go into all of them, That he'll go to God and say Lord, Heal my ear sickness. And I say again, dear people, if you're going to pray that for these men in the academy, You're not going to do it with any comfort, Unless you can pray that for yourself.

61:12 How's your ears this morning? How's your ears this morning? What condition are your ears in?

61:26 You answer with an honesty that you know God will force upon you in the day of judgment. And if you've got sick ears, Go to the great physician. He's the one who just touched the ears of the deaf and they heard. You go to him and he can open your ears so you'll hear and obey the word.

61:49 He can open your ears so that you'll welcome the reproofs of life. He can open your ears so you're ready to do his bidding, Whatever it may be. Let us pray. Oh God our heavenly Father, We thank you for your holy word.

62:15 We thank you for its livingness. Thank you for your beloved son who is our great example of a healthy spiritual ear. We pray for those of us who know you that you will make us more and more like him. That we may ever have ears open to be taught that we might obey.

62:39 That you would, oh Lord, in mercy, Deal with those whose ears are heavy, Who do not want to be reproved, Who love themselves and love their sin and love their image and love their reputation more than they love you and righteousness. Lord, will you not give them an undoing, shattering revelation of your glory and power That will bring them broken to the foot of your throne pleading for mercy. And we ask that from this group of men and women and boys, And girls, If you delay the return of your son, There will be many who will manifest that they have an ear ready and waiting for your call to specific service. And that from this place a vast army would go forth to take the light of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Hear our prayer, seal your word, And may we find it so fastening itself upon us, That we cannot shake it through the hours of the afternoon, Into the evening hours, on into the coming week. But, oh Lord, mold us by that word, we pray, For Jesus' sake.

63:56 Amen.