During the Sermon, Part 2

The Duty to Take Heed How You Hear

0:02 Luke chapter 8 and verse 18.

0:10 Our Lord Jesus, in the company of the inner circle of the disciples, speaks to them and says, 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 seems to have. As we have addressed ourselves to this subject, we have seen in Luke 8 and verse 18, that it is the duty of all who hear the word of God

0:54 to give conscious, careful, continuous attention to the manner in which, in which they hear it. And now we are opening up three major categories within which this duty is to be performed. Namely, before or prior to the hearing of the word of God, during the preaching of the word, and then after the preaching of the word. Last Lord's Day morning, we began our consideration of what is entailed in taking heed, how we hear during the actual preaching of the word of God.

The Sobering Fact: Sin and Satan are Active During Preaching

1:38 And I stated on that occasion that the materials that I prepared and proposed to set before you can be arranged under two basic headings. As we ask the question, what does it mean to take heed, how I hear during the preaching of the word, I have suggested that there is first of all a sobering, a sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God. And there are some specific directives to be implemented while hearing the word of God. We then began to look at the sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God.

2:21 And what is that fact? It is this. The insidious and soul-destructive influence of our, of our remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither suspended nor negated during the hearing of the word of God. The insidious, the subtle, the hidden, the wily, these not-so-obvious workings that are destructive of our soul's highest interests, these influences of our remaining sin and of the devil

3:06 are neither suspended nor negated while we are under the preaching of the word of God. I want us to look at the biblical basis of asserting that the very activity of the devil himself is not suspended nor is it negated under the preaching of the word of God. Now, for any who have any reservations about a preacher concentrating on texts that will address the nature and activity of the devil, may I simply remind you that according to 2 Timothy 3.16

3:50 all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction, and righteousness, including the Scriptures that describe to us the fact of the devil's existence, the nature of his activity in general, and the reality of his activity in the midst of preaching in particular. And while some may say I came to a Christian church to hear Christ preach, I haven't come to hear about the devil. Well, my friend, it is Christ. Himself, who is the author of Scripture.

4:32 And Christ has told us things concerning the devil. And according to 1 John 3.9, for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And our concern in drawing your attention to passages dealing with the activity of the devil, particularly in conjunction with the preaching of the word, is not to magnify the devil, but that we might, by the grace of God, know his workings, so that applying ourselves to the grace and strength and conquering power of Christ, we would not fall prey to his influences

Confirming Voice of the Past: Thomas Brooks on Satan's Devices

5:16 under the preaching of the word. And furthermore, I set before you the confirming voice of the past with reference to the necessity of this exercise. Thomas Brooks, a Puritan preacher of the 1600s, preached a series of sermons to his people. And then, because they were so helped by them, they pressured the man of God to put them in print.

5:42 And they have come down to us as his well-known treatise, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. And in what the old Puritans called the Epistle Dedicatory, that is, a letter indicating to whom they are desirous that their printed words would come and why, Brooks wrote as follows to his own congregation.

6:10 Beloved in our dearest Lord. That's how he addressed his congregation. Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan's devices are the four prime things that should be first and most, studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here nor happy hereafter.

6:47 It is my work as a Christian, but much more as I am a watchman, to do my best to discover the fullness of Christ, the emptiness of the creature, and the snares of the great, deceiver. When I have stated in your presence that there is a solemn fact with which we need to reckon when we are actually sitting under the preaching of the Word as you now are, that fact being that neither our indwelling sin nor the activity of the devil are suspended or negated in this setting, on what grounds do I make

Biblical Witness: Luke 8 and the Parable of the Sower

7:30 such a dogmatic assertion? Well, first of all, the explicit witness found in the very context of our initial text, Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. Here we find our Lord infallibly interpreting his own parable of the sower and the soils.

7:57 The record of the parable is given in verses 4 through 8. Verse 9 tells us, and his disciples, asked him what this parable might be. And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may see, and hearing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this.

8:30 The seed is the Word of God. And those by the way side are they that have heard, then cometh the devil.

8:46 The seed is the Word. They have heard, then cometh the devil. And takes away the Word from their heart that they may not believe and be saved. Now it is obvious from the passage in Luke, that the primary focus in this parable and our Lord's interpretation of it, is the devil's activity upon the unsaved who hear the Word of the Gospel.

9:23 But there is a broader principle involved in this parable, that when the good seed of the Word of God is sown, Satan is both present and at the same time at the same time at the same time. Satan is both present and active and will do all within his power to hinder its reception, its germination, and its ultimate fruit-bearing potential. And though he realizes that to perfect success in an unconverted man until the stronger than the strong one overcomes him, he is nonetheless successful

10:08 in the heart of the people, the people of God, to the extent, in the language of Ephesians, chapter 4, that they give place to the devil. As he holds in captivity all who are his subjects, who have yet to be translated out of his power and into the kingdom of God's dear Son, so he continually harasses and seeks to regain the ground lost in the lives of the true people of God. And from our Lord's words we learn that nowhere is

Satan's Strategy: Attacking True Gospel Seed, Not Bogus Seed

10:51 the seed of the word of God sown, but what the archenemy of God and of the souls of men is very much concerned with what happens to that word in the hearts of those to whom it comes. When men stand with the name of preacher and give out the bogus seed of human philosophy, pop psychology, religious entertainment, or heretical views of God, man, sin, or the way of salvation, Satan need not be present and active. Such bogus seed

11:34 can never produce the fruits of true repentance rooted in a knowledge of God and of ourselves. Such bogus seed of human philosophy and pop psychology and religious entertainment and heretical views of God and of sin and of the way of salvation, these do not disturb but rather enforce the kingdom of darkness who erects his kingdom upon the fabric of lies. For he is called a liar and the father of it, he builds his kingdom upon the lie. And wherever men in the name

12:18 of being preachers perpetrate lies, there the enemy is content to leave people to the horrible, damning influence of those lies. But wherever he finds the activity of true gospel seed, wherever he finds a sower sowing the word, he knows that his kingdom is dismantled by the word of truth. And you have that clear example in Matthew 16 that in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will seek to snatch away the word

Satan's Influence Through Peter: Matthew 16 Example

13:03 that is sown in the very presence of Christ. For you remember in Matthew 16 21 and following, Jesus has just in a most explicit way following Peter's great confession of his identity that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and the third day be raised up. Our Lord was sowing the word and truth by way of prophecy concerning what he must undergo to secure salvation of men. Peter has just confessed him

13:47 to be Christ, son of the living God. He now says in fulfillment of my messianic task and identity, I must go to Jerusalem, I must suffer, I must be killed, I must be raised up. But what happens? Peter took him and began to rebuke him.

14:11 His own preconceived notions about how Messiah would accomplish his messianic task, his own preconceived notions as to how Messiah should come to his place of reign and power was such that there was a rejection of that seed of the word of God coming from the very lips of truth incarnate. I must go to Jerusalem, I must suffer, I must be killed, I must be raised. But Peter turns and rebukes him and says, be it far from you, Lord, this shall never be to you. And who does our Lord see as very, very

14:54 active in that setting? One of his own. He has just said to him, flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but my Father which is in heaven. Where does our Lord see this prejudicial disposition in Peter's heart coming from?

15:15 He causes a rejection of the seed of the word in one of his own true disciples. Look at his response. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get behind me. And he gives him one of the standard words used to describe the devil.

15:34 Get thee behind me, Satan, Satan. He calls the rock. He calls his adversary. Get behind me, Satan.

15:50 He heard in the words of Peter the very hiss of the serpent himself. He heard the overtones of the proposals of the wilderness. Don't go the way of rejection and suffering. You want the kingdoms of the world which are rightfully yours now, which will be yours by way of messianic inheritance?

16:17 Take the shortcut, Jesus. Bow down and worship me and I'll give them to you now. And the Lord says, So worship the Lord your God, and him only shalt you serve. He sees the influence of the adversary coming out of the mouth of one of his own intimates, one of his own disciples.

The Birds of Heaven: Satan's Heightened Activity During Preaching

16:42 There is a personal devil and there are hosts of hell like the birds that follow the sower. They may be perched merrily on the limbs of their trees or sleep in their nests as long as the sower is home in his house. But the moment he puts on his seed bag and goes out to his field and begins to reach into his seed bag to cast his seed, the birds leave their perches, the birds kiss goodbye to their nests and they are there in proximity to the sower because they are determined to have a crop full of seed.

17:26 Every time any man of God stands in this place with the seed of the word of God, the birds of heaven circling around your head and your heart desirous, smashing any seed that would cause your life to be transformed either in initial converting grace or brought more and more into conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear people, you can't afford the luxury of careless

18:11 listening to the word. You must take heed how you hear. Why? Because of this solemn fact that the activity of indwelling sin and of the devil himself are neither suspended nor negated under the preaching of the word.

18:34 In fact, according to the parable of our Lord Jesus, the activity of the devil is heightened. The birds leave their nests when the seed gets out of the sower's seed bag. They are most happy when the seed is being most. One of the old writers has said, perhaps nowhere is the devil more active in all the universe because he knows if that takes root

19:17 in those who are not saved, it will under the blessing of the Spirit of God be the instrument of their salvation as Peter says, having been begotten again not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed by the word of God which lives and abides forever. And what is it that ultimately brings about the sanctification of God's people? Is it feelings in the midst of Christian entertainment? Not having the happy goose bumps because someone makes the seal good?

19:55 No! Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Application: The Danger of Indifference and the Call to Sensitivity

20:08 Receive with meekness the engrafted word as newborn babes for the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Satan knows that it is not merely the word spoken in our ears but taking root in our hearts that is the grand instrument of God not only to deliver subjects from his kingdom but to bring those who've been delivered into maturity in Christ. For you who are not converted who are tempted to sit here, you young and old alike, week after week, hear the word and go out. No reflection on your state

20:53 is lost under the wrath of God. No reflection as we heard last Lord's day that you've been bitten by the serpent and you are on death row. The venom of sin is in your system. Recognize that there is someone who says I got him for one more Lord's day a little bit harder.

21:16 A little bit more incense. I can't wait till he goes next week. And if he acts the same way if she acts the same way I'll put another callous on the soul as they hear preaching only to turn away with indifference and before long I'll have such a thick callous upon the soul that the likelihood that they'll ever be saved is minuscule. You see kids, rather than congratulate yourself that you get through another Lord's day unmoved, unbroken, no fears of hell it ought to cause you to fall on your face and say oh God have I been given up that I've gone through another Lord's day and sat under the preaching and no fear of hell

21:59 no desire to be saved God have mercy on me Am I a Pharaoh though I'm only 10 years old or 12 given up to a hard heart some of the most wretched notorious hardened sinners will be produced where there is the purest preaching of God that will scare the liver out of some you're really trying to scare the kids yes, but I'm not scaring them with phantoms but with horrible, shocking sobering realities

22:44 you better believe there's a devil who's determined to keep you as his subject you better believe it enough to cry mightily to the Lord Jesus to overcome his power to give you a heart sensitive to the word and for you who are the people of God every time you come to the preaching of the word though you've gone through a due process of prayerful preparation settle it as you come to sit under the word neither your remaining sin nor the activity of the devil are going to be suspended or negated in that exercise of the ministry of the word of God