During the Sermon, Part 5

The Duty to Take Heed How We Hear During Preaching

0:03 Now let us turn again this morning to Luke chapter 8 and follow as I read in your hearing a text which I trust many of you have now memorized over the course of our several weeks of consideration of this directive of the Lord Jesus. Luke chapter 8 and verse 18, speaking to the inner circle of his disciples, the Lord Jesus 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 thinks or seems to have. The words of our Lord Jesus commanding his disciples to take heed. How they hear clearly establish the duty of paying careful attention to the manner in which we hear the word of God wherever and whenever we are privileged to hear the word of God preached or taught.

1:29 In the opening up and application of this duty, I've structured our approach in terms of a simple principle. It is a simple and very obvious time sequence, and it is a sequence not original with me. It involves taking heed how we hear as that duty applies to what we do prior to the preaching of the word, taking heed how we hear as it applies to what we do while the word is being preached, and then taking heed how we hear as it applies to what we do before the word is being heed how we hear as it applies to what we do after we have heard the preaching of the Word. In this, our eighth message in this series, we're concluding our consideration of the second or the middle category of concern, namely, taking heed how we hear with respect to what we do during the preaching of the Word. Third, I've asserted that as we actually sit under the preaching of the Word, this duty enjoined upon us by our Lord Jesus involves at least two things.

The Sobering Fact and Specific Duties of Hearing

2:50 First, there is a sobering fact to be faced, and there are some specific duties to be implemented. 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. And then the specific duties to be implemented are, first, we must hear the Word of God with the resolute fixation of our minds.

3:35 And then, secondly, we must hear the Word of God determined to render the appropriate responses of heart which that Word preached demands of us. Is not enough that we hear with resolute fixation of mind, we must hear determined to render the appropriate responses of heart which the. word preached demands of us. After establishing the biblical basis for this directive, we had time to highlight only one specific application, namely, that a sin-exposing, convicting word demands an immediate response of true or renewed repentance. Not only does a sin-exposing, convicting word demand this immediate response of repentance, but secondly, a word presenting a divine provision, promise, or prophecy demands an immediate response of true or renewed repentance. Not only does a sin-exposing, convicting word demand this

Biblical Basis for Responding with Faith: Hebrews 4:1-2

4:53 response of faith in that word and in the living God who speaks it. A word presenting a divine provision, promise, or prophecy demands an immediate response of faith in that word and in the living God who speaks it. On what grounds do I say that the words of Jesus, take heed therefore how you hear, involve me, involve you, in the responsibility to render this act of faith in any word that announces divine provision, promise, or prophecy? On what grounds can I seek so to bind your conscience? Well, the foundational text, in my judgment, is Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. In Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, we read, Let us fear therefore, lest a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed, we have had good tidings preached unto us,

6:17 even as also they. But the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united bondage. By faith, with them that heard. Now, the basic context of these verses is quite clear, if you'll just let your eyes drift upward or over the page, however the layout of your particular Bible has the latter part of chapter 3. And in those verses, just prior to these that I've read in your hearing, God is referring to his judgment upon the wilderness, and he's referring to his judgment upon the wilderness, and he's referring to his generation, who though having a clear promise of entering God's rest, failed to enter into that rest, namely the inheritance of Canaan, because of their unbelief. Look at verse 17 of chapter 3. And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, and to whom he swore that they should not enter into his rest?

7:29 But to them that were disobedient, and we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. God here attributes their failure to enter in to the rest promised to their wicked disposition of unbelief. And based upon that negative example, God is referring to his judgment upon the wilderness, and he's referring to his The writer to the Hebrews says, to our danger of falling short of promised gospel rest through unbelief. Here's the parallel. For indeed, we have had good tidings.

8:43 We have had a gospel preached unto us, even as they. So the key issue in these verses is the word of hearing did not profit. And the cause of its non-profit was not that the word was not clear, or the promiser was unable to fulfill the promise, or that the promise was not well presented. The promise was ineffective because it was not mixed with faith.

Unbelief as a Culpable Moral Perversity

9:22 And the verb used here for being mixed with faith, it is the only place it is found in the New Testament, and there is even a problem with the precise form of it, but assuming that our translation is the correct one, and that considering the verb to be rightly translated as not being mixed with faith, it is a verb that you would have used in the secular world of the writer's day if you were describing what an artist did when he took his palette of many colors and would take a little burnt umber and take a little purple here, and would mix them together. He would fold them together so that different colors became one distinct color, the product of that mixture. Now the writer says, the word of hearing did not profit them because it was not mixed, it was not united by means of faith with them that heard. God regards, God regards unbelief as a culpable moral perversity. Unbelief is sin.

10:39 In the unconverted, it is a damning sin. You who are not converted, hear me, if right here and now you had the power to stop every single sin that breaks every one of God's commandments in thought, word, deed, and motive, but you did not believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ, that sin of unbelief in itself would damn you to hell forever. Revelation 21.8 But the fearful as well as liars and whoremongers shall have their part in the lake of fire.

Unbelief as a Crippling Sin Among God's People

11:24 Unbelief is a wicked thing. It strikes at the very throne of the God who is the God of truth and integrity. And as unbelief, unbelief is a damning sin in the unconverted, so it is a crippling and grievous sin amongst God's people. You remember on the road to Emmaus, the account in Luke 24, when these people had their chin bragging on the roadway as they were walking together, and Jesus draws near to them and enters into conversation with them.

12:01 And when he draws them out as to why they are in the state they are in, they say, are you the only one who is in these parts in these days and you don't know what's going on? We've got every reason to be down in the dumps and utterly dejected. Verse 21 of Luke 24, we had hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel. And besides all this, it's the third day since these things came to pass.

12:26 Three days had passed since the one on whom we pinned our hopes was crucified and put to death. Oh yes, there are certain women of our company amazed us, having been early, at the tomb, and when they didn't find his body, they came saying they'd seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. But they treat that like it was nothing. Oh yeah, yeah, we had hoped he was he who would redeem Israel, but three days had passed.

12:53 Oh yeah, some of our women say they'd seen an angel and the angels had a word from God saying that he was alive and certain of them that were with us went to the tomb and found it even as the women had been. In spite of all of this, they're held in the clutches of their unbelief. So what did Jesus say to them? Look at verse 25.

13:15 And he said unto them, O pitiable men, afflicted with this non-moral, non-ethical, non-culpable problem of unbelief. No, he said, O foolish men, and slow of heart in all that the prophets have spoke. Jesus called them foolish men. He didn't mean they lacked something in their gray matter.

13:44 The folly in scripture is moral perversity of the heart. O foolish men, and slow of heart you are more slow of heart to believe the prophets have spoken. Our Lord doesn't treat unbelief as a non-moral, non-culpable spiritual affliction. Matthew 17, 14 through 17, he speaks in even stronger language.

Jesus's Holy Exasperation with Unbelief

14:22 Matthew chapter 17, verses 14 through 17. They were come to the multitude. There came a man kneeling to him and said, Lord, have mercy on my son. He's an epileptic and suffers grievously.

14:36 And they described his condition. I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, O faithless, O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?

15:00 This is one of the few places, there are two, one or two others in the Gospels where Jesus expresses what we could call holy exasperation.

15:10 Holy exasperation. 99, 44, 100% of any exasperation we feel and express is usually sinful. But in the Holy Son of God, it was holy exasperation. Faithless, unbelieving, and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?

15:34 How long shall I bear up under the horrible weight of the moral culpability of your reluctance to believe? Bring him hither to me.

The Evil Heart of Unbelief and Its Consequences

15:49 And surely Hebrews 3.12 seals the case. Look at that text. If we have any notion that unbelief is a non-moral, non-cultural, culpable affliction, take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief.

16:16 What constitutes, brethren, what constitutes them as those who have an evil heart to the extent that the spirit of unbelief prevails? An evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. Dear people, not to believe God's pronouncements of his gracious provisions for us in Christ. Not to lay hold in faith of his promises that may seem to commit God to things that lie beyond what we can possibly conceive of. And failure to mix faith with his intentions regarding the future is bound up in his sure words of faith. Prophecy is to be guilty of sinful unbelief. And as you and I sit under the ministry of the word week by week, as that word comes to us, if it comes in the form of a sin-exposing convicting word, it demands of us an immediate response of a tender heart and of renewed repentance sitting there in the peace of God.

Preaching as Two-Way Communication: Responding with Faith

17:43 As we saw last week, preaching is not one-way communication. It has these three pivots, the living God, his servants who speak and his people who sit under that God and receive his word. And as his word comes to them, their hearts have dealings with him who has spoken to them by his word through his servants. And there should not only be those renewed and specific acts of repentance, but there should also be in the presence of every clearer expression of God's provisions for us in Christ, fresh actings of faith.

18:23 Lord, I will let the reality of my spiritual orientation be determined not by what I feel. I feel it's carnal this morning, Lord. You have said, I'm accepted in the beloved. You have said that those who receive your son, you constitute them your sons and your daughters.

18:52 You have said, I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. You have said that I was chosen in him. You have said that he redeemed me by his precious blood. You have said that I've been sealed with the spirit till the day of redemption.

19:11 I will not be the slave of what I feel. I will be the beneficiary of what you have declared is mine in Christ.

Mixing God's Promises with Faith

19:30 God opens up the great storehouse of his provisions. But that word preached will not profit us any more than the dry mortar profits to make a strong retaining wall if not mixed with water. Those declarations of God's provisions must be mixed with the blood of God. The setting forth of God's what Peter calls exceeding great and precious promises will not profit us unless they are welded to the heart by faith.

20:13 And we say, oh Lord, as Mary no doubt did, this has never happened before. I've never seen it before. I've never heard of it in all the history of our lives. I've never heard of it in any of your dealings with the patriarchs and on through the whole history of the nation though you have done many and mighty works for your people though there is no precedent.

20:38 This is Gabriel who stands in your presence and if you say to me that the spirit shall come upon me and the one conceived in me shall be son of God, rightful heir to David's throne, then God, be it unto me, according to your word. This is your promise. God, it isn't my responsibility to fulfill it. It's on your back.

21:05 You brought the promise in your hands. The burden of fulfilling it, Lord, is on your back, not mine. Oh, dear people, if we can get hold of that principle. You see, God doesn't put on your back the responsibility of fulfilling the promise.

The Measure of Faith: God's Greatness, Not Likelihood

21:21 He brings it in his hands and he says the responsibility to fulfill it is on my back. And as you read through Hebrews chapter 11, this note comes through that those so-called heroes of faith, the key to that is this. They counted him faithful that promised, believing that what he had promised, Romans 4, he was able to do. The measure of our faith is not what we can see of the likelihood or the possibility of what God has promised coming to pass.

21:50 That's not to be the measure of our faith. It is to be the greatness of the God whose power beats the promise. And I say it reverently, God could speak out a billion more promises and not begin to erode one gram of the infinitum to this power.

Warning Against Limiting God Through Unbelief

22:12 As one of my fellow elders reminded me just before we came out from our prayer time, an English preacher wrote a book entitled Your God is Too Small.

22:25 Your God is too small. Dear people, how often we limit the Holy One of Israel to use scriptural terms and terminology by being more like Zechariah. Your word is not enough, God. Give me something else to assure me it can come to pass.

22:46 And God didn't bend to his request and God didn't just tap him on the shoulder and say, well, you're an old man, this has been a rough day and your faith is a little weak so I'll overlook it. God says, no, I'm going to chastise you and humble you and teach you a lesson. When the word of God comes to you, Zechariah, that's to be the end of discussion. And if you're sitting here as a rank unbeliever, never having seen the suitableness of Christ to what you are as a hell-deserving sinner, I call upon you in the name of the God of heaven to repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for this is his commandment that we believe on the name of his only begotten Son. Cast yourself upon the Savior and he has promised that all who do so none, none will be turned away and it comes to me I will in no wise cast out.