He Who Hath Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear

Introduction: The Importance of Hearing God's Word

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, January 13th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We have sung together, All our knowledge, sense, and sight Lie in deepest darkness shrouded Till thy Spirit breaks our night With the beams of truth unclouded. In other words, we are blind and unable to perceive the light of God's truth unless God by the Spirit comes and gives us that ability. Let us then seek His face and ask the help of His Spirit as we come to the ministry of the Word.

0:59 Our Father, we confess with shame that so often we come to Your Word in our private reading of it and in the public preaching, assuming that all we need bring to it is a measure of undivided attention and all will be well. And we know to our own grief and pain that You have cursed our creature confidence again and again by allowing us to come away from such seasons empty and spiritually barren. O Lord, we would confess on the threshold of this time of meditation in Your Word that without us, we would not be able to live. Without You, we can do nothing.

1:44 Send Your Holy Spirit upon us that He may take the dullness from our minds, the shades from our eyes. Give us to see aright Your truth. Give us to feel its pressure upon our consciences. Give us to know its persuasive and conquering power in our affections and in our wills.

2:11 We have not come away. O Lord, simply to receive some new bits of information. But, O Lord, we come to have dealings with You in Your Word. Come then and deal with us in grace and in mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2:31 Amen.

The Evident Importance of Jesus' Saying

2:39 Now, will you turn with me, please, to the fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel as we continue our studies in this portion of the Word of God. Amen. For many months now, we have been working our way through the Gospel of Mark in our Lord's Day morning meditations. And in the regular course of these expositions in Mark, we have just completed our examination of the first and most crucial of the major parables, namely the parable of the sower and the soils as that parable, both in its initial utterance by our Lord and in its subsequent utterance, and in its subsequent interpretation by our Lord, is recorded in Mark 4, verses 1 through 20. Last week, we took up that section, verses 10 through 12, in which our Lord answers the inquiry of His disciples and those that were about Him, probably in the privacy of a home, as to the purpose of the parables. And I had every intention of moving on to the next paragraph this morning, verses 21 through 25, however, as I began a serious study of this paragraph, I noted that nestled right in the middle of the paragraph, verse 23, is this mystifying, oft-repeated word of our Lord,

4:05 if any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And as I thought of the presence of that word in the midst of that paragraph, my mind was drawn back to the fact that for many weeks, I read the parable of the sower and the soils, and I read those words in verse 9 of chapter 4, as we read the parable week after week, but that I made no comment, no attempt to expound those words, nor to apply them. And so I had to make a decision. Should I attempt to expound them in the midst of the paragraph, verses 21 to 25, or should I pause to go back to those words as they come to us initially in verse 9 of the chapter, which will set the framework for our understanding of them in verse 23. And after looking at the passage, examining it here and in parallel passages and in other places of the word of God, it became a matter of deep conviction that these words warranted at least a sermon, and perhaps more than one, although God helping us, we shall this morning commit ourselves to seeking to lay hold of the meaning of these words, in our meditation in the word of God today. And what I want to do first of all as we come to these words

5:29 is to underscore the evident importance of this saying of our Lord. As he is there in the boat in the Sea of Galilee, and the multitudes are gathered before him on the shore, after he calls them to pay careful attention to this parable of the sower in verse 2, verse 1, and verse 3, hearken, pay attention. Behold, the sower went forth to sow. Upon concluding that statement of the parable, verse 9 tells us that he then said, who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

6:10 And in the parallel passage in Matthew 13, 9, the same thrust is indicated, that before the multitude seated upon the shore, when the Lord Jesus had completed his statement of the parable, he said those words in its more abbreviated form in Matthew, who has ears, let him hear. And when we turn to the parallel passage in Luke, an emphasis comes through that underscores even more forcefully the evident importance of this saying of our Lord. For we read in Luke 8 and verse 9, verse 8, at the conclusion of our Lord's statement of the parable of the sower in the soils, as he said these things, the latter part of Luke 8, he cried, and the tense of the verb is used to indicate that perhaps he repeated this cry. He was crying out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. While saying these things, that is, while giving the parable of the sower and the soils in that particular context, he cried with an urgency

7:34 that registered in the tone, the intensity, and probably even the volume with which he spoke. He cried, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. Let him hear.

7:50 Let him hear. Let him hear. Let him hear. Let him hear.

7:50 Let him hear. Let him hear. Let him hear. The evident importance of this saying is seen simply by looking at it in its context in the parallel passages to the passage here in Mark.

8:03 Furthermore, when we trace out the use of this saying from its initial recorded use in Matthew 11, 15, all the way through its other usages in the synoptic Gospels, even here in the Gospel of Mark, and then we see that it is used in the synoptic Gospels and then all the way through to its seven-fold use in the book of the Revelation in a somewhat altered form where each of the messages of the risen Lord concludes both with a promise to overcomers and an appeal, he that hath an ear, in the singular, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. And then it is found in one final instance in Revelation 13, and verse 8. So there are 14 undisputed records of the use of this statement by our Lord in Scripture. There is a 15th that is of questionable textual validity, but 14 uncontested usages of this appeal in one form or another. Sometimes it is the shorter appeal.

9:16 He who has ears, let him hear. Sometimes the more lengthy. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. We have in Mark 4 in verse 23 this variation, if any man hath ears to hear, let him hear.

9:33 And then the form in which we find it in the book of the Revelation, he that hath an ear, singular, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Now what can we say by way of summary, having sought to give you a brief overview, overview of the use of this terminology in Scripture, I say it underscores the evident importance of this saying of our Lord. God needs say something only once to underscore its importance. For we are told that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

10:16 It is important if God says it but once. But when we say it, when God speaks a word again and again and again and again, it is the height of sinful indifference and arrogance to ignore that word, to treat it with disdain or simply to pass it off as some kind of verbal filler in the revelation of God. So I trust this brief overview of the strategic place of this saying in the parable of the sower and the sower, in the living ministry of our Lord while he was here upon the earth, and in that ministry that he exercised from heaven as he gave the revelation of his mind and will to John to send to the churches, that each of us is convinced that it's not beating things thin at the edges to spend the time allotted for one Sunday morning's meditation to seek to ascertain what our Lord is saying when he cries, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now having demonstrated the evident importance of this saying, now consider with me the precise meaning of this saying of our Lord.

The Precise Meaning of 'To Hear' in Scripture

11:38 In trying to come to grips with the precise meaning of this saying of our Lord, I am personally convinced that the key lies in trying to find the common denominator in all the various things, in all the various forms in which it is recorded for us in Scripture. We have the form, as I've already mentioned, who has ears, let him hear. Who has ears to hear, let him hear. If anyone has ears to hear, he who has an ear, let him hear.

12:09 The common denominator in every case is the command of the Lord, let him hear. In all of these, the climax of the statement comes in the imperative, imperative, let him hear. Third person singular, addressed. He that has an ear, he must hear.

12:33 Let him hear. Crucial then to an understanding of this saying is an accurate understanding of what it means in Scripture to hear. For basically, this statement of our Lord is an imperative demanding of all who hear, of all who hear, of all who hear, of all who hear it, that they truly hear the Word of God. Now, what does it mean to hear the Word of God?

13:03 Well, when we take up our Bibles and try to trace out the various ways in which this verb, hear, is used, we find that it's used with tremendous latitude. Sometimes it means simply to possess and exercise the faculty of receiving sound. It says of our Lord, He made the deaf to hear. Those who had no faculty of receiving sounds.

13:32 You could hold a firecracker six inches from their ear and have it go off. They would never jump. They wouldn't twitch. They wouldn't blink.

13:38 There was no faculty of hearing. When Jesus healed them, the Scripture says, He made the deaf to hear. That is, He supernaturally imparted the faculty of receiving sounds and having them register on the brain. Furthermore, it means in some contexts to listen to someone speaking.

14:00 That's all. Simply to listen to what they are saying. In this very parable, it is used that way repeatedly. Mark 4, 15.

14:08 And these are they by the wayside where the Word is sown and when they have heard. And all the way through. Verse 16. Who when they have heard.

14:20 Verse 18. When they have heard. That is, they have listened first of all and in the immediate context to the Lord Himself, the Great Sower. As even now, He sows the seed of the message of God.

14:35 And so the word to hear can mean simply to listen to someone speaking. I hope all of you are engaged in the faculty of hearing. You're at least listening to the sounds that are being articulated by my speech apparatus at this time. But now, sometimes it means more than that.

14:53 It means to pay close and concentrated attention to that which someone is saying. Look in our very context. Mark 4 and verse 3. Hearken.

15:05 That's the word. Listen. Hear. Pay concentrated attention to what I am about to say.

15:13 Behold, the sower went forth to sow. So that when he concludes by saying, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. It wasn't the first time. It wasn't the first time they heard that verse.

15:25 The Lord told them on the very threshold, pay close attention. In chapter 9 and verse 7, the Father uses the word this way with respect to His Son on the Mount of Transfiguration. There came a cloud overshadowing them and there came a voice out of the cloud. This is my beloved Son.

15:47 Hear ye Him. That is, do not allow His Word simply to cloud to your ears and register certain concepts on your mind, but pay careful attention to Him. Give to Him undivided, concentrated attention. But then there are other times when the Word means nothing less than to listen with attentiveness, perception, leading to the reception of the Word in faith and obedience.

16:22 There are times when to hear means nothing less than to listen with attentiveness, with spiritual perception, leading to a reception of that Word in faith and obedience. Notice its usage this way in Mark 8 and verse 18. Mark 8 and verse 18.

16:49 Having eyes, do you see not? And having ears, hear ye not? You see what he's saying? You have ears and you hear in the sense of merely receiving sounds and perhaps even giving attention to what I say, but you have no perception leading to your heart and life being given up to the obedience of faith to that Word.

17:14 You hear, but you do not perceive and understand. So you see the word hear at times means more than merely receiving the sounds, merely receiving them with concentrated attention. It means nothing less than that attentiveness leading to perception and reception of that Word unto faith and obedience. Luke 10 and verse 16.

17:41 You have a similar usage of the word. Luke 10 and verse 16. He that hears you, hears me. And he that rejects you, rejects me.

17:55 And he that rejects me, rejects him that sent me. In this context, hearing the servants of Christ sent out by Christ meant nothing less than receiving their word as the Word of God in the obedience of faith. And anything less than that is regarded as rejection of the Lord Himself. Another instance of this, Luke chapter 16.

18:23 In the instance, of the rich man who is in hell and suddenly he becomes very outgoing in his concern for others. And he says to Abraham, I have five brethren. Luke 16, 28.

18:39 I have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they come into this place of torment.

18:48 Send him to my father's house to witness, to speak to them. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them, hear them. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent.

19:02 And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead. No doubt being good Jews, they heard Moses and the prophets week after week as they went up to the synagogue every Sabbath. Some of them perhaps went up during the week. They heard, but they did not hear.

19:24 He said, let them hear. Let them give attention with spiritual perception leading to the obedience of faith to that word. And Moses and the prophets are enough to cause them to repent and to believe and be spared this place of torment. And then one final example, John 10 and verse 27, where one of the distinguishing characteristics of the true people of God is this, my sheep hear my voice.

19:56 And I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life. One of the distinguishing marks of Christ's sheep is they hear his voice. Now certainly, it is not a distinguishing mark of the people of God that they simply listen to his words, simply pay careful attention to his words, or even confess their conviction that they are the words of Christ. The mark of his sheep is that they hear his voice.

20:26 The mark of his sheep is that they hear his voice. They hear his voice. They hear his voice. They hear his voice.

20:26 They hear, that is, they hear in such a way as that word becomes regulative of thought and life. They hear my voice and they follow me. Now having given you this brief and specimen survey of the wide range of meaning with which this word hear comes before us in scripture, in what sense does our Lord obviously use it in this cryptic saying? Who has ears to hear?

20:58 Let him hear. What is he demanding when in the imperative he says, let him hear? Well, obviously he is not simply calling upon people to pay careful attention, nor is he simply calling upon them to come to a level where they perceive the inner kernel of the significance of his words. He is calling upon them to do nothing less than to listen to his words.

21:27 Than to attain an accurate perception of his word resulting in faith and obedience demanded by that word. In other words, our Lord is making it plain when he completes his utterance of the parable of the sower in the soils that he is not content that he has a rapt audience upon the shore hanging upon his every word. The very fact that they left their towns and villages and came to gather by the sea side showed that they had more than a passing interest in his word. The fact that they were listening to the word of God on something other than a formally designated religious day, there was an interest to hear the word of God from the Lord Jesus. But he is not content that they merely give careful attention and say, never man spake as this man spake. He is not content that it could be said of him the common people heard him or listened to him gladly when Jesus has uttered this strategic parable which in his own words the understanding of which is a key to understanding other parables and the whole message of the kingdom. He is content with nothing less than that men who hear him know that a solemn obligation is laid upon them that they now hear with the hearing of perception

22:56 and with the hearing that leads to the obedience of faith to that very word. And so he says in essence at the end of his giving of this sermon, do you have the faculty of hearing? Have my words registered on your eardrums? Then I command you to retain them until your thought and actions, affections, and wills are regulated by them.

The Authoritative Command to All Who Hear

23:25 What would that mean in the context? In the context it would mean O he who has ears to hear let him hear do not rest until the soil of your own heart proves to be good soil into which my word has come and germinated and is springing forth in the fruits of new life in union with myself that produces fruit unto perseverance continuous fruit bearing. Now I would assert that these words then are primarily and explicitly an authoritative command to all who hear the word that they fulfill their duty of understanding and receiving that word. That's the essence of what our Lord is saying in this oft-repeated word he who has ears to hear let him hear. Now it's interesting that this is the word he spoke to the vast mixed multitude upon the shore. You find a similar example of its usage in Matthew 11-15.

24:37 He is speaking to the multitudes concerning the identity of John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would come preceding the coming of Messiah. And after telling them that Elijah has come he says to those multitudes he who has ears to hear let him hear. Now again to the multitudes seated upon the shore he has this word he who has ears to hear let him hear. But this is the word that he also speaks to the inner circle of the twelve and those who are gathered with him in private.

25:16 For as we read further on in Mark chapter 4 the paragraph to which I made reference at the beginning of our study in the midst of speaking to those who are about him with the twelve in a private context he says in verse 23 if any man has ears to hear let him hear. Likewise in Matthew chapter 13 it is evident that he expounded privately not only the parable of the soils but the parable of the tares. Matthew 13 36 Then he left the multitude went into the house and his disciples came unto him saying explain the parable of the tares and when he was finished explaining to his own verse 43 he that hath ears let him hear. So you see the command comes alike to the unconverted mixed multitudes and to the circle of his own newly emerging spiritual family who he previously identified as those who hear the word of God and do it. What does he say to the vast multitudes to whom he has spoken the parable uninterpreted unexplained unexpounded he says he who has ears to hear if you have been able to let these words register on your consciousness do not stop short of receiving them with

Illustration: The Man on the Railroad Tracks

26:45 perception and the obedience of faith that's his word to the vast multitudes but he speaks precisely the same word to his own and in his oft repeated usage in the seven letters to the seven churches it is a word to those who are within the pale of the confessing church it is not a word to those on the outside he is saying to those within the church he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches let me try to illustrate what I've tried to demonstrate from the scriptures themselves by way of an illustration of my own making some of you have driven on route 80 to where it goes over the Delaware water gap or through that area and you have noticed it wends its way along the Delaware river and it winds following the course of the river and there used to be a railroad on one side of the river that followed the basic course of the river up a few feet from the high point of the river and the road is on the other side now imagine a man who every day around 4 o'clock in the afternoon he's retired he loves to take a walk along the path the other side of the river from where the railroad used to be but he lived back in the times when the railroad was still operating when the trains would still run over those tracks

28:14 and he'd go out every day for his walk and take his binoculars he was a bird watcher and he just enjoyed drinking in the beauty of God's handiwork as well as getting a little cardiovascular exercise to keep himself in shape and so he's taking his walk one day and as he's walking along he looks across the river at that point it's quite wide and some of you have made that drive know that it may not be very deep but it's quite wide at certain points and there on the railroad tracks he sees someone who appears to be sitting cross-legged Indian fashion right smack in the middle of the railroad tracks now because he goes out every day at 4 o'clock he knows that at 4.17 almost to the second every day the train comes by that very spot and so he stops and looks and says it is it is somebody sitting cross-legged what in the world is he doing he must be a stranger who's not aware of the fact that a train's going to come by there in a few minutes and he says I've got to find out what he is doing so he takes his binoculars and he focuses and sure enough the man sitting there cross-legged making daisy chains right smack in the middle of the railroad tracks making daisy chains so he glances down at his watch and notices that it's about 4.12 another five minutes the train's going to come by so he cups his hands and he starts yelling hey there can you hear me no response

29:43 that was bent over sitting there cross-legged Indian style making his daisy chains he cranks up his volume some more hey over there can you hear me making his daisy chains while he looks at his watch a minute has gone by he's beginning to get hoarse and now he's desperate he'll do anything he knows he can't get across the river he can't throw a stone far enough to get his attention so he begins to flop his arms and jump up and down like a crazy fool and suddenly in the peripheral vision of our daisy chain maker he sees some of this his head comes up and then he's flopping away at him and then he notices as he picks up his binoculars that he reaches up and he pulls off these little earphones he's got a little walkman cassette recorder and he's sitting there listening to music making his daisy chains so he sees him pull his headphones off and he says can you hear me he says sure I can hear you well what's your matter what's your problem he said you're on the railroad tracks a train will be coming by in about three to four minutes get off the tracks do you understand me and he looks back and gives him the thumbs up sign and says I understand you I hear you and he plops down cross-legged and goes back to making his daisy chains and he by this time the poor man is frustrated and cries out do you hear me man a train is coming

31:12 get off the tracks do you hear he sighs and looks up and says yeah it's coming and he cries out again and says man I'm not playing games with you a real train is coming a real train that can destroy you get off the man get off and much to his relief he sees the man pick up his daisy chains and his loose daisies and with a sigh he gets up and walks over to the other side of the tracks in just a few moments later the train comes roaring through right where he sat now what happened think of the process in the beginning when he cried out do you hear me and his head was bowed over he did not hear him no sounds were registering from that man's voice on that man's ears why because other sounds were drowning out his voice but when he got his headset off and no longer had the sounds from the cassette going through the earphones he was hearing him that is the sounds of the man's voice were registering on the man's ears and on the auditory nerve and making some kind of impression on the brain but he was not hearing him he was not yelling and jumping up and down like a fool just to have this man get a few more words in his brain he wanted him to hear him with a view to sparing his

32:40 life so at first he didn't hear then he heard but he really didn't hear then he said I hear but he was not hearing and when he really heard him was when what when he got up got out of the way of danger and away from the railroad tracks if any man has ears to hear let him hear let him hear let him so receive the message of the word of God that that message not only breaks through the din of the earphones of this world sounds that continually would fill our ears it is not enough that we pull off the headphones and pay sufficient attention that we know what Jesus says about the various soils and what happens to the fate of the seed that falls upon those soils it is not enough that we hear and hear with sufficient attention to say yes that is a reasonable and proper understanding of what is taught we have not heard until in our own hearts we can say by the grace of God our hearts have become good soil for the word bringing forth the harvest of that which only the grace of God can produce in his saving mercy he who has ears to hear let him hear

Secondary Meaning: Grace is Discriminating

34:09 here is our Lord's impassioned appeal we may call it his regal command of grace to every listener of the word that we should rest short of nothing but experiencing the transforming power of that word in our hearts that I believe is the clear dominant significance of the words of our Lord however I would suggest that in a secondary and implicit way these words constitute a cryptic assertion that grace is discriminating in giving some men the ability to hear the word while others are never given that ability could it be that this saying arises not as some suggest out of a somewhat parallel terminology found in some of the old rabbis but right out of the book of Deuteronomy I rather think our Lord's terminology would derive from scripture than from rabbinical tradition and what did God say to his ancient people Israel in Deuteronomy 29? verse 2 Moses called all Israel and said unto them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants

35:39 and all his land the great trials which your eyes saw the signs and those great wonders but the Lord has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day the Lord has not given you ears to hear could it be that there is in this statement of our Lord not only that which is its obvious thrust its primary and explicit significance namely an authoritative command to all who hear the word to hear in the truest fullest saving sense but could it be that in a secondary and implicit way these words constitute that assertion that there is divine discrimination who have ears to hear as he says in verse 23 if any man has ears to hear let him hear it would certainly suit the context of the fuller treatment of this passage in Matthew 13 for the Lord there says in verse 16 blessed are your eyes speaking to his own disciples and those gathered with them blessed are your eyes

Present and Perpetual Relevance: A Call to Exercise Ourselves

37:08 for they see and your ears for they hear blessed are your ears for they hear they are blessed ears that's why they are hearing ears they are blessed ears because there is a discrimination made that God who is pleased to give the hearing ear and the seeing eye well having sought to convince you of the importance of this statement of our Lord by its oft repeated presence in the New Testament having attempted to set forth what appears to be the precise meaning of this saying now thirdly and finally what is the present and perpetual relevance of this saying of our Lord what relevance to these words have to us sitting here in this place this morning well first of all they constitute a constant call to exercise ourselves in attaining a saving sanctifying reception of the word of God preached to us they constitute a constant call to exercise ourselves in attaining a saving and sanctifying reception of the word preached to us even though our Lord spoke as no man ever spoke

38:37 even though he spoke as one to whom the spirit was not given by measure yet all the work was not his having labored to teach and preach he now lays a task upon those who hear he who has an ear to hear let him hear he must hear he must give him self in summoning all of his faculties to hearing in the sense of that perceptive receptive life transforming contact with the word of God summoned upon all whose ears received his word to give themselves no rest until that word took root in their hearts and transformed thought and will to , and practice. Now, you dear children, you know what the Lord Jesus would say to you this morning in the light of all that you hear at the table in family worship, all that you hear in your Sunday school class, all that you hear when your pastors speak to you when they preach the word of God. You know what he's saying? You know why God gave you ears?

39:54 Why do you think God gave you ears? Some of you little ones you say, well, God gave me ears so I could have them pierced and have lovely little earrings. Well, you do have lovely little earrings, but that isn't why God gave you ears, just to have them pierced and have lovely little earrings. You know why God gave you ears?

40:12 You say, so I could hear my mommy and daddy when they call me to the supper table. Well, that's good reason to have ears. It'd be terrible not to have ears and not know when it's time to eat. You say, I have ears that I might learn my ABCs and I have ears that I may learn lots of things and that's true.

40:27 But you know the main purpose for which God gave you ears? You know what the main purpose is? And if you never used your ears for anything else, you must use them for this. You know why God gave you ears above all else?

40:39 That you might hear the word of God. That you might learn about God and not only learn about God but not be content until you come to know that God and love that God and serve that God. And so God says to all of your children, do you have ears to hear? Then really hear.

40:59 Don't be content just to be able to answer your catechism questions. Who made you? God made me. What else did God make?

41:05 God made all things. Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory. How can you?

41:09 Oh dear children, don't be content that you just learned your catechism and can answer your questions. Now learn it. You must learn it. But God says you must have ears to hear and you must learn early to pray.

41:21 Oh God, may I come to know you so that I will glorify you. If you made me to glorify you, then Lord, work in my heart that I may know how to bring you glory, that I may want to bring you glory. Lord, give me ears to hear. Dear children, the most wonderful thing you can do with your ears is to receive the word of God by your ears until it takes hold of your heart and because a very part of your life and you love the Jesus whom you hear preached and your ears hear the name of Jesus at the table in the Sunday school class, in this place, from others.

42:00 You hear the name of Jesus. You hear about his death upon the cross. But Jesus is saying, may I say it reverently, Jesus stands by his word and spirit and he says to you children, do you have ears to hear? Then really hear and do not be content until your heart knows the power of that word binding you to the Lord Jesus to love him, to trust him and to serve him all the days of your life.

42:33 You see God says in Isaiah 55, hear and your soul shall live. There is a hearing that is unto life and salvation. Hear and your soul shall live. When you hear the warnings about hell and judgment, don't be like the man sitting on the railroad tracks with the headphones on.

42:57 Dear children, you know what the devil wants to do continually? He wants to fabricate, to make a set of headphones that you'll have on all the time so that even when you sit here in church and your pastors speak to you directly and lovingly and earnestly and at times they warn you, you'll be as deaf to the word of God as that man sitting on the tracks with his Walkman cassette. recorder and his headphones on. It's possible to sit under an arousing, earnest, pointed ministry and be as deaf as that man in the tracks.

43:32 You can be warned of hell and of judgment and the horrible potential for evil in your own heart and we can plead with you to cry to the Lord Jesus to give you a new heart, to make you his own and you can be completely deaf to all of that. Oh, don't allow the devil to sell you his headphones, but you pray that God will give you hearing ears, that you'll be like young Samuel. When the Lord was speaking, he didn't even know it was the Lord, but his ears weren't all clogged up with a lot of other sounds and old Eli said, now you go back, I think it is the Lord the next time you hear that voice, you say speak, Lord, for your servant hears. He wasn't a grown-up man, he was a boy and God began to speak to him. Oh, dear children and young people, this is Christ's word to you, this is his word to you, do you have ears to hear? Then don't use them simply to learn people's names and learn your ABCs and learn your history lessons, let your ears hear and take into the heart the word of the living God. And what is true of children is true of all of us.

44:44 Dear unconverted man or woman, listen to me, you're under solemn obligation to hear the word of God unto salvation. You're under solemn obligation when you are told you're a sinner under the wrath of God. Christ alone can deliver you from that wrath. He has died for sinners, he's been raised from the dead, he's seated at the right hand of God, he lives to make good all of his promises.

45:08 You are under solemn obligation to hear that message with the ears of your heart. If you have ears to hear, then hear. Hear so as to receive the Savior so freely offered. In his own word of gospel promise.

Present and Perpetual Relevance: A Gracious Gift of God

45:25 But then they not only constitute a call to exercise ourselves to hear, but they also constitute a vivid reminder that a hearing ear is the gracious gift of God's grace. Blessed are your ears for they hear. And you see, this is one of the great stumbling blocks to unmortified human wisdom. What God requires as a duty, he imparts as his gift of grace.

45:55 And men can't live with a religion like that with an unhumbled mind. You mean God commands me to repent, yes. And yet he tells me he must give me repentance, yes. And if I don't repent, it's my fault, yes.

46:07 And if he doesn't give it, he's not to be blamed, yes. My friend, that strikes at the nerve of all your unmortified human wisdom if you're going to live with a religion like that. But that's the religion of the Bible. Jesus commands his hearers, hear with the hearing that is unto life and salvation.

46:27 Then when those who have thus heard are gathered around him, he says, blessed are your ears for they hear. God has given you the hearing ear.

46:37 If we fail in the duty to hear, we are culpable and answerable to God. But if we are able to hear, we are humbled that he gave us the ears. So all the blame for our deafness is ours, and all the praise for our hearing is his. And say, in your sinful arrogance, well, God's really covered his tracks, hasn't he, my friend?

46:59 Shall the thing formed say to the thing that formed it, why have you made me thus? Until you get off that horse of your own arrogance and get down in the dust and say, oh God, I can't figure all this out. But one thing I know is that Jesus wasn't playing games. And when he said to me, if I have ears to hear, I must hear.

47:18 I'm determined that I shall hear until the message changes me or sink into hell in the effort. When you get that serious, my friend, there's no doubt where you'll be.

47:31 There's no doubt where you'll be. For God has said, ye shall seek me and find me in the day that you search for me with all your heart. Does the word get beyond the outer vestibule of your ear week by week in this place? Can you discern in the midst of all of the realistic acknowledgement of your remaining sin and pockets of resistance to God's sanctifying grace?

47:56 Can you say yes? I have ears to hear. The word that I hear goes beyond the outer vestibule of the ear, goes beyond the categories of thought in the mind. That word is filtering down into my affections and will and out into my feet and hands and life.

Present and Perpetual Relevance: Earnestness of the Preacher

48:15 Yes, I have ears to hear. Then give God thanks that he's given you the hearing ear to his own word. But then thirdly, these words constitute a vivid picture of the earnestness and urgency in our Lord as a preacher. Jesus was no take-it-or-leave-it preacher.

48:35 You see, he began by saying to his audience, hearken, patience. Yes, you've come out from your towns and villages. You're a hungry bunch who's not content with simply going up to the synagogue and fulfilling your minimal requirements as good Jews up here in Galilee. Yes, you're here and you seem to be a hungry, thirsty auditory, but he doesn't take it for granted.

49:01 He begins the parable by saying, hearken, listen, pay attention. Then he speaks so as to hold their attention and when he's all done, he says, the work is not done. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You see, our Lord is a vivid picture of the earnestness and urgency involved in true preaching.

49:25 Luke gives us that little stroke that we mentioned earlier. Saying these things, he was crying out, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Could it be that he repeated it with increasing volume and earnestness until like one mighty crescendo in a great work of music, it broke upon their ears and he left them with that ringing. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

49:52 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. So that they went away with this conviction, the teaching of the Lord. who's come up from Nazareth, he's not content to simply go back and say, hey, I had a great crowd of good listeners today.

50:09 When the crowd broke up, ringing in their ears would be the consciousness that Jesus as a preacher was content with nothing less than that his word possessed the hearts of his hearers. And my dear preacher brethren, he that saith he abideth in him ought to walk as he walked and ought to preach as he preached. When men leave the place where we preach, they ought to be convinced that we're not content that they were simply there, that their eyeballs were upon us, that they seem to be listening. They ought to be convinced no matter what else they've done, if they leave and that word does not take root in the heart, we have not attained our end.

Present and Perpetual Relevance: Proper Posture of Receptivity

50:49 And they ought to know it, it ought to be patient in the very tone of our ministry. And then finally, these words underscore the only proper posture with which to approach the word of God. They underscore the only proper posture with which to approach the word of God. As I was thinking about this, he that hath ears to hear.

51:16 You see, the mouth can both receive and give. It's received food this morning, I hope yours has. Your mouth can both receive and then it can give. Give out words, sounds, your hands can receive and they can give.

51:34 But you see, the ear is totally receptive. You can't give anything with your ear.

51:41 It's totally receptive. He that hath ears, let him hear. What is it doing? It's underscoring the only proper posture with which to approach the word of God and that is the posture of total receptivity.

51:57 The ear makes no sound, it holds out nothing, it gives no opinions, it offers no theories, it simply receives sounds. He that hath ears, let him hear. Let him hear. Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.

52:15 The problem with some of you lies right here. You're all mouth and little ear, so ready to give your opinions, your objections, your insights.

52:28 My friend, pray that God will enlarge your ears. The faculty to sit quietly before the living God and let his word begin to sort out what you think about yourself and life and sin and salvation. And family life and career and the world and things and money and sex and entertainment and sports. You need to get quiet long enough to hear.

52:54 Do you have an ear to hear? Then use it.

52:59 For some of you, the ear is shriveling for want of use and your mouth is all out of proportion to your ears. If someone could draw a spiritual caricature of you, it would be a face that's all mouth with a little ear hardly perceptible.

53:14 Oh, make God humble. Teach us during this week, brethren, as we come together. May this text be written upon our hearts. He that that ears to hear, let him hear in our interaction with one another.

53:31 Let's come with the attitude, not that lucky brethren who are here to listen to what I have to say, but all privileged brother. I am to learn from my brethren sitting about the table, walking with one another about these grounds. In the name of the Holy Spirit, I pray. Let us pray.

53:49 In the homes in which we find ourselves. Oh, let's cry to God. Lord, give me an enlarged ear to hear, truly to hear. Because you see, and here we close with that word from the book of the Revelation.

54:03 According to Revelation, the use of that terminology, the word of Jesus is called the word of the Spirit. And the word of the Spirit was found in the letters that came to the churches. So when the elders stood up to read the letter, he would read these letters. words, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. You see, the Spirit's voice is the voice of Christ. And the Spirit's voice was embodied in a letter that came from John to the seven churches. To have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying is not to go to so-called Holy Ghost meetings where someone claims to prophesy and someone utters some gibberish and someone else who says, I'm not interpreting, but just feeling the impress of their gibberish, gives what he calls his interpretation. So you've got gibberish now interpreted by subjective feeling, and that's supposed to be the voice of the Spirit? Nonsense! The voice of the Spirit is in this book. And he that hath an

55:05 ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying in a book. That's the only voice that the seven churches heard. It was in the form of a letter that recorded the utterances of Jesus.

55:19 Amen. May God give to us a heart that comes to this blessed book privately and in its public exposition, believing this is the voice of the Spirit. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. Let him bend his mind to Scripture. Let him pray over Scripture.

55:39 Let him pray Scripture in. Let him live Scripture out. That's how the Holy Spirit calls the church and then forms the church into. The very likeness of the Lord Jesus. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let us pray.

56:12 Our Father, we do bless you and thank you for the word of our Lord Jesus. We thank you that we have that word in written form. But, oh Lord, we do long to have the very thing that that word enjoins upon us. Hearing of ears.

56:33 Oh Lord, give us ears that hear. That do not merely content themselves with receiving the sounds. Oh, may that word take root in our hearts. May we ever come to it in all of its public teaching and exposition and proclamation. In our private reading and meditation of it.

56:54 May we be content with nothing less than that word entering into the deepest recesses of the heart. And there possessing us and molding us and shaping us into the likeness of your Son. We pray that each time we hear the word we may be enabled as it were to bring up the ears from our hearts and to lay them alongside the outer ears so that the word reaching the one will reach the other. Oh God, do this for us we pray even as we give ourselves to hearing as we ought.

57:33 Seal this word to our hearts, bring it to our remembrance again and again, that we may be content with nothing less than truly hearing the word of our Savior. We ask these mercies in his worthy name. Amen.