During the Sermon, Part 3

The Command to Take Heed How You Hear

0:02 And now we return again to the text that has been the basis and framework of our recent series of studies together. I refer, of course, to Luke chapter 8 and verse 18. In this particular portion of the word of God, Luke has given us his spirit-inspired record of the parable of the sower and the soils, and has recorded the fact that our Lord alone with the inner circle of his disciples expounds the basic significance of that parable, and then addresses some what may be rather difficult to understand words to his own in verses 16 and 17 of Luke chapter 8. But then speaking to the inner circle of his disciples, he says in 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.

1:23 Now in these words of our Lord Jesus, read in your hearing, we are given a claim. clear command focusing on the duty to carefully and constantly pay attention to the manner in which we hear the word of God. This duty announced by our Lord is pressed home to the conscience by the statement of a very solemn principle. Take heed therefore how you hear for whosoever has to him shall be given and whoever has not from him shall be taken away even that which he seems to possess. Clearly indicating that bound up in our response to this command are the most vital issues of possessing true spirit. Spiritual and saving light or losing the apparent possession of true saving light and a grasp upon the truth of God. Having then established this duty of taking heed to the manner in which we hear the word

Hearing During the Preaching: Sobering Fact and Directives

2:45 of God I have been seeking to open up this theme under three major divisions taking heed how we hear prior to the preaching of the word during the preaching of the word and subsequent to the hearing of the word preached. We have completed our studies on the subject of what it means to take heed how we hear with respect to the preparation of our hearts for the hearing of God's word and now we are concerned with the matter of taking heed how we hear under the actual hearing of the proclamation of the word of God and I have suggested that our duty to take heed how we hear with respect to hearing the word itself warrants our consideration of two categories of concern first a sobering fact to be faced while hearing the word of God and then some specific directives to be implemented while

4:02 hearing the word of God the sobering fact to be faced is this that the insidious and soul destructive influences of remaining sin and of the devil himself are neither suspended nor negated under the preaching of the word of God we spent one whole message opening up Galatians 5 17 and Romans 7 21 to 23 to demonstrate the fact that the influence of remaining sin is very much with us under the preaching of the word of God if our remaining sin is active and if the great enemy of our souls is active under the preaching of the word then there are certain directives that you and I must implement in dependence upon the spirit of God if we are to profit in the midst of that insidious activity of remaining sin on the one hand and the devil on the other hand the first is this

Directive 1: Hear with Resolute Fixation of Mind

5:23 we must hear the word of God with a resolute fixation of our minds we must hear the word of God with a resolute fixation of our minds now why have I chosen the words resolute and fixation well to be resolute means to be set in one's purpose to be resolved to be tenacious to be inflexible to be unyielding and unbending consider the biblical basis for this directive turn to Matthew chapter 22 if you will please Matthew chapter 22 verse 35 and one of them a lawyer not a lawyer in the sense that we think of lawyers in our day but one who was well versed in the law of Moses and in rabbinic traditions and the application of those things to the life of the Jewish nation asked him a question trying him putting him to the test teacher which is the

6:46 great commandment in the law teacher among all the commandments given by the God of the covenant through Moses the great instrument of the law of Moses delivering that law to our nation, which is the great commandment in the law. And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. Our Lord Jesus said that the commandment that stands above all other commandments on a scale of importance is the command to love the one true God with the whole of the heart and the soul and the mind. .

7:52 . Without attempting to make hard, fast, categorical, and medically precise distinctions between these various departments of our humanity, one thing is clear. We are under solemn obligation to fix the affection of our hearts and our souls and our minds supremely upon the one true and living God. Now the question is this, how will that love to God with all of the mind express itself?

Biblical Basis: Love God with All Your Mind

8:29 Well, surely, one of its paramount expressions will be this, that when God is speaking to us in His Word, whether in the private reading of that Word, in family worship, but in a special way, when by God's institution that Word is being expounded and expressed. And preached by one whom He has furnished and given to His church as a teacher of that Word, one sent in His name, then surely to love God with all my mind is to give my mind with resolute fixation to the preaching of the Word of God. But then from the first and great commandment, as the biblical witness to this practical directive, the first commandment of our Lord, the first commandment of our Lord, the first commandment of our Lord, the first commandment of our Lord, the first commandment of our Lord, the first commandment of our Lord, one chapter over from Luke 8. Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9.

Biblical Basis: Let These Words Sink Into Your Ears

9:33 The Lord Jesus has just performed an amazing miracle on an epileptic. Verse 43 of Luke 9 says, And they were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all things which He did, He said to His disciples, now forget the picture. Everybody is creaking, amazed at what they could see of this marvelous display of the mighty power of God through the Lord Jesus.

10:04 He turns to His disciples and says, Let these words sink into your ears. And then He begins again to explicitly lay out what lies before Him. For the Son of Man shall be delivered up into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, it was concealed from them that they should not perceive it.

10:30 And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. On the one hand, the text is unashamed to say they did not understand. Understanding at this time was withheld, and yet wonder of wonders, the Lord begins the section by saying, you're responsible to understand. Let these words sink into your ears.

10:53 Don't allow them merely to glance, so bleakly, off the outer vestibule of the ear, but let them sink down into your ears. That is, hear them and receive them with resolute fixation of mind. You cannot let the words of God sink down into your ears, given the activity of indwelling sin in a personal devil, without a resolute fixation of your mind. Upon those words, as they are being read, and as they are being preached.

Biblical Basis: Consider What I Say

11:33 Then you have thirdly, the clear directive of the Apostle Paul, 2 Timothy chapter 2. Turn there, if you will, please, with me. 2 Timothy chapter 2.

11:46 Writing to his precious and favorite spiritual son. And he was that, and Paul was unashamed to make it known. If anybody got jealous that Timothy was, Paul's spiritual pet, that was their problem. So long as they could not charge him with being unrighteous in his dealings with others, he had every right to make it known.

12:09 Timothy had a special place in his heart. The same way the Lord Jesus made it known that Peter, James, and John had a special place. And among Peter, James, and John, John was the only one that leaned upon his bosom. So this notion that you can't have special friends and make it known because others may get jealous, the jealousy is their problem.

12:29 Sinful favoritism is to be condemned. But special affinity based upon spiritual and intangible chemistry that makes for intimate friendships is a purely innocent Christ-like reality of human relationships. And after writing some directives to Timothy, calling him to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, giving him the task of passing on the legacy of the apostolic tradition to faithful men, calling him to say, I suffer hardship, reminding him that he labors in the gospel not only as an athlete, but as a soldier. Then he says in verse 7 of 2 Timothy chapter 2, this very interesting thing, Consider what I say, for the Lord shall give you understanding in all things. Now the word consider is a present imperative of a verb which means, Timothy, gather up all the stuff of your gray matter, and focus it upon the things that I've said. Timothy, give with resolute fixation of mind your attention to what I've said. Think upon it.

13:43 Think upon it continually. Think upon it in a concentrated, focused, spiritual way. Gather up the faculties of your mind and focus them like a laser beam upon what I've said. Consider what I say, for the Lord shall give you understanding in all things.

Divine Understanding Through Human Endeavor

14:04 Well, wait a minute. If the Lord gives the understanding, if knowing truth in its saving, sanctifying power is a matter of the Lord giving understanding, then don't I just sit back and wait for the heavenly zapping? Lord, bring the light. Put the light on.

14:21 I'll thread the words through my head backwards and forwards. Lord, flip the switches. No, that's not the way it happens. He said, Timothy, you think, you consider, you take all of your cognitive mental faculties and with resolute fixation of mind give yourself to the contemplation of what I've said and as you do in the midst of and through the instrumentality of your own endeavor, the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

14:55 You see, the Holy Ghost was never given to put a premium on mental labor. Lazyness and lack of mental fixation.

15:05 The Holy Ghost was never given to put a premium upon any form of laziness. He was not given so that preachers can just amble up in neutral in the pulpit and begin to talk and hope that somehow the Holy Ghost will pick them up and just carry them out and the truth will do its work. No! He was given that as the preacher gives himself to his task with all of the faculties of his redeemed, humanity, God might be pleased to take his pathetic efforts and make them the instrument of spiritual light and life and energy to the souls of men.

15:42 But his working does not cancel the necessity of ours. But his working makes our working effectual and that's precisely the same with listening to the word of God. Take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear.

Summary of Directives and Application to Mental Sins

15:57 And in the light of this sobering fact that the, the insidious activity of indwelling sin and of the devil are neither suspended or negated under the preaching of the word, it surely demands that we hear with resolute fixation of our minds. The first and great commandment demands it. The specific command of our Lord, let these words sink down into your ears, demands it. The clear directive of the apostle in 2 Timothy 2, 7, demands it.

16:34 Now by way of application, do you see how vital it is to resist all mental sins while the word is being preached? Do you see how vital it is to resist all mental sins? If God's truth must first of all fasten itself on the mind before it can possess the heart and it must possess the heart before it can mold the life, the battle is won or lost between your ears. That's made plain in the parable of the sower and the soils.

The Battle for Truth: Head, Heart, Life

17:08 The sower sows the word. These are they by the wayside. The word is sown. They understand it not.

17:16 Then cometh the devil and taketh away the word lest they should understand and be saved.

17:26 God's saving and sanctifying work, I say it reverently, begins not between your ribs but between your ears. The truth must fasten itself upon the mind. Now it must go beyond the mind and lay hold of the heart. But there is no direct avenue to the heart.

17:50 There is always a road from the head into the heart. And if it gets into the heart, it's never a cul-de-sac. It will then cut a thousand roads out into the life. For out of the heart are the issues.

18:08 The issues of life. Head, heart, life by the power of the Spirit in a context of responsible, resolute fixation of mind upon the truth that is preached. Are you prepared to say before Almighty God, O God who made me, great God who in Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit has been pleased the way holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, You are worthy that when your word is read and preached and applied it should have all of the loops attaching to the hooks of this resolute fixation of the mind.

Are You a Christian? Your Response to the Word

19:04 Perhaps your response to that question is one of the clearest indications whether you're a Christian or not. Because if you're an unconverted person you know what your determination is? You're going to keep that word as far away from you as you can. You may sit and look at me because you know if you don't your mom or dad will be on your case when you get home.

19:21 You may feel their elbow in your ribs sitting here. I see that sometimes. I see a kid starting to wander and I see a parent and the boy's face is right up there again. Good for you parents.

19:33 It won't hurt their ribs and it won't hurt your elbow. But you know why you keep putting the word aside? You know why some of you you may even recite the alphabet forward and backwards and think of a thousand things. You're the innocent looking little girl or boy but you are deliberately making your mind think of anything but what the preacher's talking about.

19:50 You know why? Because you're a slave of the devil and he holds you in the prison house of ignorance and error and as he knows if the light of God's truth gets in he's going to lose you. Don't cooperate with the devil in your own damnation. Boys and girls, men and women the entrance of thy words give light.

Plea to the Unconverted and God's Ordinary Way

20:10 It gives understanding to the simple. It is only when the truth of God begins to dawn upon you it is that truth by which we are begotten again. Oh, I plead with you my unconverted friends don't shut out the truth by mental gymnastics and mental trips around the world. I pray that God will help you to think upon his word to lay his word to heart to think upon the great issues of the God who made you and the God before whom you'll stand in judgment and the God before whom you'll stand in judgment and the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son the God who says to you in the word and promise of the gospel come unto me and I will give you rest. Whom it comes to me I'll in no wise cast out. Faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of God. Now I know and I say this in closing there are times in history when the spirit of God has come in such power upon the preaching of the word that men could do no other than listen even if they didn't want and would to God such times would come.

21:23 The story is told of one man who said that under any preacher he was a ship builder he said he could lay the keel in every plank from stern to stern from the port to the starboard side that's left to right in the non-nautical depot stern to stern from the back port to starboard he said he could lay the keel in every plank under most preachers he said when we got under Whitfield he couldn't lay one plank he couldn't lay one plank what he meant was that the spirit of God so rested upon Whitfield when he preached with such power that he found himself listening in spite of himself thank God for such times but that's not God's ordinary way God's ordinary way is that if you don't care enough about the salvation of your soul and the sanctification of your life as a Christian to come to the word with resolute fixation a bind that serves you right to be given over to be given over to the damning or the crippling influences of ignorance and the latter take heed take heed how you hear