During the Sermon, Part 1

Introduction: The Duty to Take Heed How You Hear

0:02 Luke chapter 8, and as we have done for several Lord's Day mornings, I shall read in your hearing just verse 18, the text that has formed the basis and the framework of our present studies. The Lord Jesus in this particular chapter is recorded as having spoken and then interpreted the parable of the sower and the soils, having given that interpretation while alone and in the immediate presence of his disciples, and speaking to them, he says in the words

0:44 of verse 18, take heed therefore how you hear, for whosoever has to him shall be given, and whosoever has not. From him shall be taken away even that which he thinks or seems to have. Our Lord uses a present imperative, keep on constantly paying close attention to the manner in which you hear.

Review of Prior Duties: Preparing to Hear the Word

1:20 This is a duty, a solemn duty, a constant, unrelenting duty that is incumbent upon all who hear. We are privileged to hear the saving, life-giving word of the living God. Having established from the text our duty, I then proceeded to amplify the specific way in which we are to perform this duty, focusing in two messages upon the category identified as this duty as it relates to our activity prior to hearing the word of God. And I exhorted you to do four things.

2:04 First, consciously to cultivate a fresh awareness that you will be confronted with the very words of the living God under the preaching of the word. Secondly, we must consciously repudiate all that would hinder the joyful reception and effective assimilation of the word that will be preached. And here we expounded the clear direction. And here we have the first two messages of 1 Peter 2.1 and James 1.21a.

2:37 And the structure as we saw in the original is clear. There can be no longing for the sincere milk of the word. There can be no receiving of the word with meekness in the language of James unless there is in the language of Peter a putting off of all, and then he names specific categories of sin that must be put off. By thorough biblical repentance.

3:04 Thirdly, I exhorted you consciously to cultivate a meek and an eager disposition of heart in anticipation of the preaching of the word. To cultivate a meek and eager disposition. And there we went back to the same two passages. In James 1.21, receive with or literally in meekness the engrafted word, the only context in which

3:32 the word can be received is a context of meekness. Then fourthly, we are to cultivate a disposition of dependence upon the Holy Spirit and his ministry as we anticipate the preaching of the word. 1 John 2.27 indicates that he is the anointing who teaches us.

A Sobering Fact While Hearing the Word of God

3:54 He is Christ's other presence with us, doing for us what Christ did for his disciples when it is required. As recorded in Luke 24.45, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Having considered that duty as it relates prior to the hearing of the word, we begin to address this morning the issue of the second category of taking heed how we hear.

4:24 And that has to do with taking heed how we hear during the preaching of the word. We begin. With a sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God. A sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God.

4:47 Now I say a sobering fact because facts are stubborn things. They are the immovable realities of God's world as he created it by his sovereign power and governs it in all of its details by his most holy power. Only wise and powerful providence. Even the dictionary definition of a fact underscores this truth.

5:13 A fact is defined as a thing that has actually happened or that is really true. A thing that has been or is the state of things as they are actually in truth. Fact as opposed to fancy. You see facts are such stubborn things that ignoring them.

5:35 Won't remove them, denying them won't destroy them and wishful thinking won't vaporize them. They stand there like the Matterhorn. You can wave your hand and say abracadabra be thou gone Matterhorn and the greatest slight of hand artist and illusionist in our day can't hold up a cloak and wave it and make the Matterhorn go away. Facts are stubborn realities that are part of the world that God made.

6:06 Facts are stubborn realities that are part of the world that God made. Facts are stubborn realities that are part of the world that God made. Facts are stubborn realities that are part of the world that God made. And governance.

6:08 And I say there is a sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God without which we will not truly obey the mandate of our Lord to take heed how we hear. And what is that fact? It is this. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent.

6:38 The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent.

6:52 The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent. The insidious and soul destructive influence of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither sustainable nor permanent.

Biblical Proof: The Ongoing Conflict of Flesh and Spirit (Galatians 5)

7:00 are neither suspended nor negated while hearing the Word of God. Now, in opening up this sobering fact, let me give the basic biblical proof for this fact. On what grounds do I have the temerity to sound so dogmatic and say to you that if you are to hear the Word of God aright, under the hearing of that Word, you must not forget this fact of the insidious and soul-destructive influence of remaining sin and of the devil, which are neither suspended nor negated

7:41 while you are hearing the preaching of the Word of God. Turn with me, please, to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. And in verse 16, the apostle writing to the Galatians gives a very clear, positive, directive, it is an imperative, it is a gospel duty, that I say, walk by or in the Spirit.

8:14 That's the imperative. I am under a solemn obligation to walk in the Spirit, under the control, under the guidance, under the constant influence of the Holy Spirit, and, this will be the result, you shall not fulfill the lusts, the desires, the desires of the flesh. Now, why is such an exhortation needed? And why is such a promise or an encouragement appended?

8:45 The central exhortation is walk by or in the Spirit. The encouragement is that in so doing you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Well, why should that be of such concern to me? Well, verse 17 answers that question.

9:01 Notice it begins with the logical connective for. This is reality, Paul says. If you're tempted to take lightly the mandate to walk in the Spirit, and regard with indifference this encouragement, in so doing you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh, let me wake you up to reality. This is reality, Paul says, for every one of you.

9:22 For the flesh lusts, desires, yearns. The flesh is constantly desiring, yearning, lusting, longing, in a direction that is opposite to that of the Spirit. For the flesh is lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit is continually desiring, longing, and in a holy sense, lusting against the flesh. Here the apostle sets up this adversarial relationship between the Spirit and the flesh.

10:06 And he goes on to say, These are contrary. They are set in diametrical opposition to one another. These are contrary, the one to the other, that you may not do the things that you would. And the second passage on which I rest the case is Romans chapter 7.

Biblical Proof: The Indwelling Law of Sin (Romans 7)

10:29 Romans chapter 7, verses 21 to 23. The apostle in this marvelous epistle, has clearly established that in union with Christ, all true believers have died to the dominion and reign of sin, and that all true believers have been released from the mastery of the lordship of sin, and have become fundamentally the slaves of God and of righteousness. That's Romans 6 in the sentence. He has demonstrated that in the clearest statements possible, by using analogies and imagery and illustrations,

11:14 from human experience and the great truth of Romans 6, in answer to the question, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, may it never be. Megan Otto, the denoiter, that phrase that was opened up in our hearing last week, may it never be, God forbid. And then he opens up the glorious truth that in our union with Christ, we've died to sin's dominion. In our union with Christ, we've been released from sin, from sin's mastery, and we have a new master, and we have a new sphere of moral existence, righteousness, and holiness.

11:54 But then here in chapter 7, the apostle goes on to affirm further that in our union with Christ, we have died to the condemning, galling power of the law of God. We have died to the law in its condemning and galling power. That, that then raises the question, well, is the law sin? Verse 7, and he says, no, it is not sin.

12:20 And from verses 7 through verse 13, he describes the function of the law in pulling away the scales that were over his eyes so that Paul, who previously looked in the mirror and saw a creature acceptable to God on the grounds of his own self-wrought, personally woven fabric of man-made righteousness, now saw himself, but naked and full of open, ugly, wounded, putrefying swords. He saw himself a sinner, dead, unclean, vile, and guilty. And the law was God's instrument to show him his true state. But then moving on into the present tense, beginning with verse 14,

13:06 it is that same law which when the apostle holds his life as a Christian in the blazing light, of the breadth and the depth and the magnitude of the demands of that law, he is conscious that he is not yet fully and totally conformed to it. And in the agonizing first-person acknowledgement of the realities of his present struggle, we come to verse 21, I find then the law, that is, the principle of operation, that to me who would do, good, evil, is present. For I delight in the law of God

13:51 after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin, which is in my members. Now note briefly what the apostle is saying in verse 21. He speaks of a personal, experiential discovery. Notice the language, I find, I discover, this is personal, this is experiential, this is not theoretical.

14:28 I find then the law, that to me who would do good, evil is present, and literally is near at hand. Do you ever feel a great stirring up of indwelling sin when you say, I think I'll sit down, and kick my feet up, and read the headlines of the newspaper? No. Why?

14:51 Because though that may be good, it's not the highest one. But how come, if three minutes before you said, hey, I think I'll sit down, and read my Bible, all of a sudden you thought of 50 things you ought to do, your mind became dull, your spirit became heavy, your eyeballs felt like someone injected a couple of cc's of lead, how come,

15:15 this is how come, when I would do it, I find them, a law that to me who would do good, evil is close at hand. And the more noble, the more intensified the good, the more active will be remaining sin. Now apply that to our subject. What are we talking about?

Application of the Sobering Fact to Preaching

15:37 Take heed how you hear. In this place, I trust it's true, we still believe it, we believe the scriptures teach that this is not a theory given by someone who's trying to guard his own turf. But we believe the scriptures teach that preaching is God's primary instrument for the calling out of his people to himself, and for the building up of his people in their most holy faith.

16:07 Well, I ask you then, if God has given to the preaching of the word such a crucial and central place in his saving purposes, where will indwelling sin be more active than in the context of the prayer? For the word. When you would sit down in this place to pour out your heart in worship and prayer, and then give yourself to the hearing and the absorbing of the word of God, if you do not face this fact, you will be defeated again and again and again because you won't recognize. As we shall see, God willing, in subsequent messages,

16:52 that that's not the case. That so-called innocent wandering thought is as effective to neutralize the word as if you sat in this place and thought blasphemous, vile, lecherous thought. The devil doesn't care if he fills your mind with thoughts about the roast at home, or about tomorrow's activities, innocent and noble as they may be, or whether he fills your mind with lusting after a man or woman sitting in a room in this place other than your husband or wife. So long as your mind is not like the mouth in the digestive system of a nursing babe,

17:35 yearning for its mother's breast, he's got your mind off the word of God.

17:45 And you see, you don't recognize it. And you think it's innocent.

17:53 I say we must face this sobering fact with respect to taking heed how we hear under the preaching of the word of God. And that fact is that the insidious, soul-destructive influences of our remaining sin will not touch on the devil this morning. That will have to wait till next week.

Application to Unbelievers: Aversion to Preaching

18:16 I'm not suspended nor negated while hearing the word of God. In closing, I want to make a word of application to you who are strangers to God's grace. I've already addressed you on several occasions throughout the message this morning. But I want to address you again lovingly, and yet pointedly.

18:38 If sin is your master, flesh is the controlling, governing principle of your life. And this explains your utter aversion and indifference to preaching. There are some of you here, young and old, if you were honest, you would say,

18:59 I can think of a hundred places I'd rather be than right here listening to this man quote Bible verses and point his finger and holler and shout and look at me in the eye. There are a hundred places I'd rather be than under the preaching of the word of God. Well, you know why that is? Well, say it's because of the way you shout and holler.

19:20 I don't like it. Well, it may be true. You're not used to somebody. You don't seem to mind when somebody shouts and hollers at the ball game.

19:27 You don't seem to mind when someone shouts and hollers at the pool and at the beach. But let someone get excited and earnest about God! And you feel uneasy. Why?

19:35 Because you know you ought to be excited and earnest about God and you're not. And it's not. The light shining in upon your own spiritual deadness. That's your real problem.

19:44 It's not the volume of my mouth or the pointing of my finger. It's your love of darkness. It's your love of sin. So that's why you have no heart for preaching.

19:54 Because the scripture says in John 3 and verse 19 this is the condemnation. Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Neither will they come to the light. Neither will they come to the light.

20:11 They don't want to come to preaching because the entrance of God's word gives light and understanding. The preaching of the law exposes sin. The preaching of Christ exposes sin as even the law cannot do so odious and vile and foul a thing is sin. Almighty God is willing to give up his only begotten son direct that he should take upon himself a true human soul and body.

20:42 Live in this sin-cursed world and end up on an instrument of Roman execution naked, scoffed, jeered, buffeted and bruised by men and forsaken of his father because even God even God cannot so love as to cancel out his justice in the way of forgiving sinners. God's justice must be served if his love to rescue sinners is to find a righteous fulfillment and my unconverted friend that's why you have an aversion to preaching because you don't have any such view of sin that's why you despise Christ that's why you treat

21:27 the preaching of the gospel with such indifference and what you need is nothing less than what the Bible calls a new heart you need to have God take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and God says when he does the first thing he'll do once he performs that marvelous spiritual implant he says I will then put my spirit within them and write my law upon their heart and only then will you be able to say with Paul I delight in the law of God after my inward I delight in the law of God you'll be able to say because the spirit of Christ has come to engrel you you will say with him who said I

22:11 lo in the volume of the book it is written of me I come to do thy will yea thy law is within my heart you will be able to say I delight to do thy will thy law is within my heart my unconverted man woman boy or girl that disposition that hates preaching has an aversion to preaching it will go on that way until you have a new heart and until your sins are forgiven and blotted out in the virtue of the blood of Christ and therefore you need to go to Christ and say oh Lord Jesus do for me what I can do what I cannot do for myself