Exposition/Application of Luke 8:18

Introduction: The Preaching of the Word as God's Primary Means

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, May 14th, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Will you turn with me now, please, to the Gospel according to Luke, the Gospel according to Luke, and the 8th chapter, Luke chapter 8. The hymn we have just sung takes the lines of its thought directly from verses 9 through 15, or we might say from 5 through 15, in which we have our Lord's utterance of the parable of the sower and the soils, and then his own interpretation of that parable. And now I want to read in your hearing the passage that will be the focus. The focus of our attention in the ministry of the Word this morning, verse 18 of Luke chapter 8. 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 that which he seems to have.

1:34 Take heed, therefore, how you hear. It is the firm conviction and the unashamed confession of this congregation and its leadership that God has ordained the preaching of his word as the primary means for the calling out of his elect and for the maturation of his people unto the stature or the fullness of the stature of Christ. Such passages as 1 Corinthians 1, 21 to 24, Romans chapter 10, verses 12 through 15, 1 Peter 1, 23 and 24, clearly establish the former strand of that. That unashamed confession, namely, that the preaching of the word of God is the primary means ordained of God for the calling out of his elect. Likewise, such passages as Ephesians 4, 11 and following, Titus 1 and verse 9,

2:53 clearly establish the second strand of that confession, namely, that it is the preaching and teaching of the word that is the primary means ordained of God for the building up of the people of God. And we find ourselves, therefore, very much at home with the answer given to question 155 in the larger catechism, how is the word made effectual unto salvation? The answer? The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners, of driving them out of themselves and drawing them unto Christ. Semicolon. That's the primary function of preaching. Semicolon.

3:58 In the salvation and conversion of sinners. But then the answer goes on of conforming them to his image and subduing them to his will, of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions, of building them up in grace and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. That is, unto their final and completed salvation.

The Devil's Strategy Against Profitable Hearing

4:37 Now, if you were the archenemy of God,

4:42 the archenemy not only of God in his person, but in his saving purposes, if you were that foul fiend of hell called in Scripture the devil, and you were determined to thwart, to hinder, to frustrate, or even attempt to overthrow the saving purpose of God, how would you go about your nefarious task? How would you set out to give vent to your fiendish and soul-destructive purpose, to overthrow the purpose of God to save and to sanctify? And how would you justify his people? Well, you say, if I were the devil, I think the answer to that question would be quite obvious. If God has ordained the preaching of his word as the primary weapon in his arsenal to destroy the kingdom of the prince of darkness, you would, if you were the devil, no doubt, seek to undermine, to erode, to negate, to hinder,

6:04 or even to put an end to the pure, powerful preaching of the word of God. In the place of the pure and spirit-anointed preaching of the word, you, if you were the devil, and so would I, would substitute superstitious religious rituals for the preaching of the word. You would substitute, aesthetic and beautiful liturgies for the preaching of the word. Or you would offer the full array of musical entertainment appealing to the full spectrum of musical tastes, from classical to hip-hop and to modern rap with its driving beat.

6:55 But now, suppose you failed as the devil in your effort to overthrow, to negate and put a stop to the pure, spirit-anointed preaching of the word, and you failed to move it from its central and strategic place in the life and ministry of any congregation. What would be your next means of attempting to defend your own territory and to hinder any further incursion, of God and the work of His grace, upon that territory? Having failed to overthrow the pure preaching of the word of God, if you were the devil, would you not seek to do something to turn aside, in the very context of the pure, spirit-anointed preaching of the word, men's commitment, to hear that word as they ought? Would you not, if you were the devil, seek to destroy the profitable hearing of the preached word? Would you not employ all of your cunning and fiendish powers

8:22 to neutralize the profitable hearing of the word of God? Now, these thoughts are not just the spillover of a weary, jet-laggy mind of a preacher, but according to our Lord Himself in Luke chapter 8 and verse 12, this is precisely what the devil does seek to do in defending his kingdom, in seeking to hold captive all of his subjects. Where he fails to distort or to replace the pure, spirit-anointed preaching of the word, he seeks to hinder a proper reception of that word. And Jesus, in interpreting His own parable, says in Luke 8 and verse 12, And those by the wayside are they that have heard, then cometh the devil, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.

9:45 And in every other part of the parable of the sower and the soils, there is underscored the fact that each person represented by a different soil, has heard the pure preaching of the word of God. For in verse 11, Jesus says, Now the parable is this, The seed is the word of God. And that seed sown by the wayside represents those who have heard, even from the lips of him to whom God gave the Spirit, not by measure, but in the plenitude of his fullness. And yet the devil was active so that they were something less than profitable hearers of that word. And likewise, in every other instance, verse 13, These are those on the rock who, when they have heard, You see, he was not able to hinder the pure, spirit-anointed preaching of the word, but he was able to take advantage of conditions in the hearts of the hearers that rendered them something less

11:11 than profitable hearers of the word of God. And it is in the light of this very basic principle that I've been constrained before entering upon the next regular and more lengthy series of studies before us to bring this brief series of studies on this word of our Lord Jesus in Luke 8 and verse 18, Take heed therefore how you hear. It has been nearly 18 years since I preached a series of sermons based on this text. And as I preach on the text, I have not taken out my old notes, blown off the dust, and changed a word here or there. I am in the process of constructing four new sermons based upon this text, and I am utterly unashamed that I am re-preaching the text on which I preached 18 years ago. In fact, my only shame is that I've waited this long to preach on it again. For so critically, is this mandate of the Lord Jesus to take heed how we hear.

Exposition of Luke 8:18: A Serious Duty and a Solemn Principle

12:37 That is surely as much of my life has been taken up with preaching to myself, preaching to the students in the academy, preaching to pastors in various parts of our country and around the world on the great issue of take heed how you preach. I believe I have been delinquent in giving due emphasis to this word of the Lord Jesus which puts the spotlight not upon the preacher and how he preaches, but upon the hearer and how he hears. And so before us is the word of our Lord Jesus, 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. Consider with me as we focus our attention upon this portion of the word of God. First of all, a brief exposition of the words of the text.

13:55 Then we'll consider secondly a statement of the duty mandated by the text and then thirdly an explanation for the necessity of the duty set forth in the text. First of all then, a brief exposition of the words of the text. And there are two units of thought set before us. First, a serious duty commanded by our Lord and then secondly a solemn principle articulated by our Lord.

14:37 First of all, a serious duty commanded by our Lord. The duty commanded is couched in these words, take heed therefore how you hear. I had occasion two weeks ago in studying with you Matthew 28, 18 to 20 that in the commission given by our Lord His servants are solemnly charged that having made disciples through the blessing of the Spirit of God upon the preaching of the word, those disciples are to be gathered into visible communities of baptized, confessed adherence to Christ and within those communities they are to be taught all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. Here is one of the things that Christ commanded His own disciples and therefore it comes within the corpus, it comes within the orbit, within the sphere of that which they in turn are to pass on to others not as information teaching them to observe, teaching them to keep

16:05 whatsoever I have commanded you. And the serious duty commanded by our Lord comes in the form of a present imperative use of a very common verb in the New Testament that means to look, to pay attention to, to give heed to and therefore what our Lord is saying is be consciously and constantly looking to the manner in which you are continually hearing the word. That would be an extended paraphrastic translation to give the sense of the words which our Lord spoke. Be continually giving conscious, constant looking to the manner in which you are continually hearing the word of God. Now the assumption is with respect to those who received this command that they are exposed to a ministry constituted of the word of God. In other situations our Lord warns people about error and heresy.

17:32 He says take heed of the leaven of the scribes and of the Pharisees referring to their teaching. But here in the setting in which the Lord Jesus himself is speaking he is admonishing the people who have the privilege of sitting under a ministry that is a sound ministry. That is it is a ministry that attempts to set forth what is described in verse 11 of this chapter as divine seed identified as the word of God. And though that word is explained and amplified and illustrated and applied by human words it is a setting forth of the word of the living God himself. And so our Lord lays upon his own disciples this serious duty in the form of a commandment indicating that it is a perpetual duty. They are to constantly take heed to how they listen to how they react to the proclamation and teaching of the word of God.

18:59 Take heed therefore how you hear. So we have a serious duty commanded by our Lord. But then we have a solemn principle articulated by our Lord. Look at the text.

19:15 For here is the connection. Why is it essential to take heed therefore how we hear? Well, because of this principle. 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.

19:42 The solemn principle articulated by our Lord is simply this. Those who truly possess spiritual understanding by taking heed how they hear receive yet more understanding. Those who truly possess spiritual understanding by taking heed how they hear receive yet more understanding. Take heed therefore how you hear for whosoever has to him shall be given. But then the solemn principle has a dark negative dimension. Those who seem to possess spiritual understanding by refusing to take heed how they hear lose even what they seemed to possess. Those who seem to possess spiritual understanding by refusing to take heed how they hear lose even what they seemed to possess.

20:59 Those who seem to possess spiritual understanding by refusing to take heed how they hear lose even what they seem to have possessed. Surely that is the clear teaching of our Lord. And whosoever has not he was one who has not but seemed to have some measure of strength and some measure of spiritual understanding but by refusing to take heed how he hears loses even that which he seemed to possess. Now obviously a time factor is involved in the outworking of this solemn principle. This does not all happen in one of the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Our Lord is assuming a time factor is involved in which someone who hears the mandate take heed how you hear does not lay that mandate to heart and over a period of time because he does not take heed

22:27 how he hears what he seems to have possessed is lost and he is ultimately revealed for what he really is. A man a woman a boy a girl utterly devoid of any true saving spiritual apprehension of the Word of God. And dear people thirty three years in one time enough for me to see this principle worked out again and again and again and again and I fear I see it being worked out yet more before my very eyes. There are sitting in this place today some who over three decades they are being heed how they hear and they undeniable ornaments of this solemn principle that taking heed how they hear what they

23:56 possessed three decades ago that they now possess to a degree that only God can measure as taking and given and given and given again.

24:15 And from little seedlings, they've become mighty oaks.

24:22 From little flowers that you wondered if they would ever take root and ever bud and blossom, they have become a veritable flowerbed of the graces of likeness to Christ. And everything about them savors of Christ. This principle I have seen with my very eyes.

24:51 But it's enough to make me weep that I've seen the darker side of the principle.

24:59 I've seen it with some who've sat under this ministry for 5, 10, 15, 20 years. And they seem to have something when they first began to sit under it. They seem to...

25:18 to possess some spiritual perception and understanding and spiritual life and insight and hunger. But because they have not taken heed to how they hear...

25:36 That which they seemed to have possessed has obviously been taken away.

25:45 And they have, when they open their mouths to speak of Christ, a hollow ring. A ring of unreality.

25:55 No one comes to them when they're seeking counsel in the midst of their struggles, in the midst of their periods of darkness. No one ever, without provocation, spontaneously speaks of them, regardless of the great diversity of personalities. No one ever speaks of them as ones in whom there is the blossoming forth of an ever-growing conformity and likeness to Christ. No one ever says, oh, if I could only know Christ the way He does or she does.

26:36 If I could only walk before the Lord the way He does and she does. And over the years, what has happened? I'll tell you what has happened because you have not taken heed how you hear what you say. What you seem to possess has been taken away.

27:00 And while like a tree that has dried up from the roots for a number of years may occupy the same place in the backyard or in a field and have all the same external dimensions that it had when it was a living tree, it is dead, brings forth no fruit, it has nothing, no green leaves. It has merely the form of what it once was when it was a living tree.

27:39 This, I say, is a brief exposition of the words of our text. A serious duty commanded, buttressed by a solemn principle articulated by our Lord. In summary, listen to the comments of one very perceptive, commentator by using the word therefore, a little gar, a little logical connective in the Greek.

28:11 Our Lord sets forth this last half of the verse as a reason for our manner of hearing. It will help us to hear aright in all of our hearing. Let us remember well that whosoever has to him shall be given also the result of our hearing. The verse says, whosoever has not, even that which he seems to have shall be taken away from him.

28:42 The man who hears with a good heart and the full measure of attention and eagerness to receive the word, more and more of the word shall be given to him. So much depends on the right way of hearing. But he who has not is he who cares for the word. He who cared not how he heard, who gave the scantiest measure of attention and desire, and perhaps begrudged even that with the result that he had not, and that even what he thought he had in his hearing was taken away from him. So fatal is the wrong way of hearing. The end. The agent in the two passive verbs shall be given, shall be taken away.

29:41 Passive verbs. The agent is God. He gives and he takes away. These are not arbitrary acts.

29:51 He sends Jesus to give his word. And they who keep hearing aright grow richer and richer. God can give to them. And thus God does give because giving and enriching us for eternity are his delight.

30:05 But they who hear amiss resist God from giving thus to them so that the more they continue hearing in that state, the worse their state becomes. They may think they have sufficient or even superior knowledge without this word of Jesus, but this they will find is valueless and they will end up in hell. Everlasting poverty.

30:40 This then is a brief exposition of the words of our text. A serious duty commanded by our Lord. Take heed, therefore, how you hear. A solemn principle articulated by our Lord.

30:59 For whosoever has to him shall be given and whosoever has not from him shall be taken away. Even though he is not given. Even though he is not given. Even though he is not given.

31:08 Even though he is not given. Even though he is not given. Even though he is not given. Even though he is not given.

31:09 Even though he is not given. Which he seems to have. Now from this brief exposition of the words of our Lord, consider, more briefly, a statement of the duty mandated by the text. I'm preaching Puritan fashion this morning.

The Duty Mandated: Conscious and Careful Regard for Hearing

31:25 I've given what I trust is a responsible exposition that has carried your conscience that what I have said the words mean they do mean. Now then I want to bring into a distilled essence this that is mandated by the text. A statement of the duty mandated by the text. And here is the doctrine or the duty.

31:52 It is the solemn and constant duty of all who are privileged to hear the word of God preached. To consciously and carefully regard the manner in which they hear. May I run it by again?

32:16 When we distill the teaching of this passage into its essence, this is what it says to us. It is the solemn and constant duty of all who are privileged to hear the word of God preached consciously and carefully regard the manner in which they hear. That's the duty mandated by the text. And as I spend much of my time as I've already indicated seeking to extract from the word of God and from masters of the past and the present who have sought to apply their minds to what makes effective preaching what makes true biblical spirit anointed preaching what it ought to be and can be. And as I have no scruples about seeking to set forth the teaching of the word of God and the light of general revelation as it interfaces in this whole matter of preaching and give myself to hours of such ministry as I did in Ireland. So I have no reservation in standing in this congregation this morning

33:44 and saying it is not enough that to every man who stands in this pulpit the word of God comes home to his heart. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching and to lay upon the conscience of every man who stands in this place of trust to take heed how he preaches. So God says to you every one of you you take heed how you hear. It is not enough to have in our pulpit men who take their task seriously who bend their God given mental faculties their divinely imparted spiritual faculties and powers and graces and gifts to dig into the word to ascertain its meaning bending all of their powers in dependence upon God to parcel it out in a way that is clear and simple and well structured and where necessary illustrated and applied to the conscience and seek to do so in the power and demonstration of the Spirit of God. No one ever did this to the degree that our Lord did. Yet it was our Lord who said

35:09 it is not enough that you have standing among you truth incarnate to whom the Spirit has not been given by measure who is the divine sower in your midst of whom it is said no man spake as he spake they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth the common people heard him gladly he nonetheless says to his hearers take heed how you hear and if it were necessary for the Lord Jesus to have good hearers for his people then how much more this message to be received how much more when we sinful men with our native blindness and with our own peculiar innate twists and turns of mind and disposition and temperament that enter into our best efforts to preach the word if it was true that our Lord Jesus preacher had to have hearers who took heed how they listened to his words. How much more

36:30 when you sit before those of us with all of our weaknesses and limitations and sins, when we attempt to bring that word to your ears and into your hearts. Well, having given a brief exposition of the words of the text, the serious duty commanded, the solemn principle articulated, a statement of the duty mandated by the text, that it is the solemn and constant duty of all who are privileged to hear the word of God preached, to consciously and carefully regard the manner in which they hear that word. Now, thirdly, I want to give an explanation for the necessity of this duty. The Lord did not articulate this duty arbitrarily.

Explanation for the Necessity of This Duty: Ezekiel's Hearers (Entertainment)

37:25 Now, some would question and say, well, in the light of what the word of God says about itself, why should this be necessary? Does not the word say of itself that it is a sword? Is it not called the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6.19? Is it not called in Hebrews 4.12, the word of God which is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing the thunder of soul and spirit? Is it not called the sword of the Spirit, joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart? Is it not called in Jeremiah 23.29, a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Is it not called in Psalm 109.105, a lamp and a light? If the word is all of those things in itself, then surely, preached in the power of the Spirit, it will carry itself into men's hearts, regardless of the disposition.

38:27 With which they hear. Well, there's one little element of truth in that. There is an element of truth in that, that often the word makes for itself a good reception. But whatever truth may lie in that dimension of biblical teaching, I still have the Lord's text, the Lord's words before us in our text. You are to continually, consciously, deliberately take heed how you are continually hearing. The word of God. And the reason for this, the explanation for the necessity of this duty is found in many parts of scripture. I want to give you just a sampling of why this duty is necessary, bringing in the broader teaching, what the old writers would call the analogy of faith, the general teaching of the word of God. Look first of all with

39:30 me. Look at the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 33. Now Ezekiel, as you know, was a prophet.

39:44 A true prophet. Not one of these modern fanatics who stands up, shivers, shakes, and puts on a funny voice, and then in the first person says, thus saith the Lord, and then usually in very poor Elizabethan English, proclaims to be speaking in the name of the Lord. It always amazed me that the Lord couldn't speak. He couldn't speak better Elizabethan English. But be that as it may, he is a true prophet.

40:13 A true Nabi. One who when he opened his mouth, his mouth became the very organ of the words of God. The prophet spoke the very words of God. So that when he spoke, he could say, thus saith the Lord, and what the prophet said is what the Lord said, and what the Lord said is what the prophet said.

40:37 There is a true prophet endowed with spiritual unction as well as spiritual illumination. And this is what God had to say to the prophet Ezekiel. Chapter 33 and verse 30. And as for thee, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord.

41:11 Now let me ask you something. If we had, as they had in those days, in the climate that made it possible, open holes in the side of the houses where we have what we call windows, where we have glass and double glazing as they call it over in the UK, and we would say storm windows or Anderson or Pella windows with two or three panes for insulating purposes. But imagine. Imagine where all the windows are. It's open, a warm balmy climate, and you're walking down the street and you overhear the conversation coming out of the houses on your street. And everyone is saying one to another. Notice what it says. The children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord. They're saying, Look, let's go hear what God's word is. Let's hear what

42:06 the latest word from Jehovah is. Let's hear what the latest word from Jehovah is. Let's hear what the latest word from Jehovah is. You'd say, I'm in a town where there must have been a revival. There must have been an outpouring of the Spirit of God. The whole town, the streets, and all the villages. Why, when we overhear the conversation, what they're talking about is, Let's go hear the prophet. Let's go hear what the word of the Lord is. We want to attend upon the word of God. You see that in the passage? But now notice, God says, And they come unto you. The people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words. These people weren't skipping church. These people weren't going out fishing when it was known the prophet was going to be holding forth the word of God. These people weren't conjuring

43:05 up a bellyache when they had no bellyache as an excuse, a providential hindrance to miss. The time when the prophet of God would be holding forth the word of God, what they were saying in their houses, they were validating by their actions. They weren't just talking about it. They did something about it. In their houses, they're talking, saying, One to another, Come, come, let's go hear what the word of the Lord is. We want to hear the word that is coming forth from the Lord. And lo and behold, when they knew that the prophet was going to speak in the name of God. There they were, he says. They come unto you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words. Up till now, it looks like revival times. Everybody's excited about the word. People are urging one another to come and hear the word. They're gathering in the place where the word is preached. A stranger would say,

44:08 There must have been a visitation of the Holy Ghost. Look at the people, talking about the word, gathering. Where the word is to be preached. I'll read on. They hear thy words, but do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. There was a condition in their hearts when they're jabbering away in their houses, saying, One to another, Let's go hear the prophet. Let's hear the word. And when they went up to the place where the prophet would speak, there was a condition in their hearts, unchallenged and undealt with. And when they sat, and when they listened,

45:02 there was a condition in their heart that was not dealt with. He says, With their mouth they were showing much love to God, to His servant, to His word. But their heart goes after their gain. It was given over to covetousness. Well, why in the world was this man so covetous?

45:22 world would they continue then to hear the prophet, who would expose their sins and cry out against the state of their hearts? Verse 32, And lo, you are become unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. Ezekiel, you see what's happened? They have become content to hear you preach the word of God. And because the word was coming through Ezekiel in terms of the way God put Ezekiel together, and it was coming through him with dimensions that satisfied aesthetically and intellectually, he said, all of this talk about going up and hearing the prophet was not because they had a heart set on knowing and doing my will. You have become high class, inexpensive concert entertainment.

46:37 Isn't that what it says? Look at it. I didn't write it. You are unto them as a very lovely song, or as the marginal reading has it, as a love song. What happens when you hear a love song? Well, if you are romantic at all, you feel all lovey and gushy. Doesn't make you any better. You may go home and treat your husband or your wife the same rotten way, but for the moment you're carried along by the love song, and you get tinglings up and down your spine and feel so good. You are become unto them as one who sings a pleasant song, or can play

47:23 well on an instrument. When did you ever see anyone going to Lincoln Center to hear Itzhak Perlman and stop him and say, sir, where are you going? Oh, Lincoln Center, why? Well, don't you know Itzhak Perlman is going to be playing tonight, and he's going to be playing this and that and the other, some of my favorite violin pieces. He's even going to attack Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin, and then say to him, why are you going? Well, sir, I'm going because I want my heart ripped. I want to know my sin. I want to know my sin. I want to know my sin. I want to know my sins. I want to face myself. I want to face my God. Is that why people go to hear Itzhak Perlman? No, you go to be carried along by the sheer ecstasy of a man who is one with

48:09 the instrument and the music. And I know of no other musician. If you have no appreciation for Itzhak Perlman, you just forgive me for indulging my own appreciation of a man who seems one with his instrument and with his music, and it just flows out. But you see, there's no moral impact. There's no ethical demands. There's no demands made upon me in terms of what I do with my time, my money, how I treat my wife, how I treat my people that work under me and with me, how I relate to my children. No, I've had a marvelous, uplifting, aesthetic, musical experience that's left me morally unchanged. And that is the moral impact. That is exactly what had happened under the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel. There is

49:05 no automatic blessing from the preaching of the word of God, even from a prophet. And if that's true of a prophet, how much more of those of us who make no claim to being prophets. We only claim to be pastors and teachers given to the church, seeking accurately to represent the mind of God as found in the written. In the word of God, by responsible exposition of those words, and by some measure of an orderly presentation of those words, but unless you take heed, how you all, and the exercise of a love song, and a beautifully played violin. Some of us have been preaching for four decades and we're still trying to learn how to preach. Still asking God, help me, Lord, to be a better person than I am. I'm still asking God, help me, Lord, to be a better person than I am.

50:19 I'm still asking God, help me, Lord, to be a better person than I am. I'm still asking God, help me, Lord, to be a better preacher. Reading and studying the scriptures and the writers who've addressed the issue. Listening to other preachers continually by tape and where possible in person to see if we can catch a thread here, a thread there, to weave it into the fabric of our own ministry to be better preachers. But listen, unless you as a people become better listeners, all of our endeavors will come to naught. Because there is no order. There is no automatic blessing that comes from an enthusiastic attendance upon the preacher and his message. Ezekiel's experience is the living proof of that.

51:19 Dear people, I thank God for the enthusiastic attachment to this ministry that many of you have. But have you faced the fact it could be no more than what was expressed in Ezekiel's day? Oh, you love it when I or someone else who's preaching gets caught up in his subject. And the sweat begins to pour and the energy begins to manifest itself right to the fingertips and down to the toes and in the vocal cords. And you find some kind of thrill and exhilaration.

52:01 But at the end of the day, years ago, 20 years ago, except what you seem to have then is by degrees being taken. And the problem is conditions. And I am not about to pour myself into two new series of preaching and have it go down the tools because of something in your heart that only you can do.

Explanation for the Necessity of This Duty: James's Hearers (Self-Delusion)

52:56 Second passage, James chapter 1. Trying to give an explanation for the necessity of this duty. We've seen the necessity in the experience of Ezekiel, which was one in which people showed a great enthusiasm. To hear the word of God. But it has become like a love song, like a well-trained voice, a well-played instrument, a form of spiritual and aesthetic entertainment. But no heart dealings with God. But here in James 1, there is a different problem. Verse 22. But be ye

53:45 doers of the word. And not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. For he beholds himself and goes away and straightway forgets what manner of man he was.

54:18 Now notice once again, here are people who are taking the time to go where the word of God was being preached. They weren't going to a place where they were being given pop psychology. They weren't going to a place where they were being given a rock concert interlaced now and then with a word about Jesus and the man upstairs and the fair sky by and by. No, they were in a situation where the prayer was being preached. And they were in a situation where the true word of God was being brought home to them. Called in verse 21, that word which is able to save your souls. They were under what we would say a sound biblical ministry. They were under the kind of ministry described in the previous hour where the points were being established from the scriptures. Where the word of God

55:17 was being taught. Where close attention and scrutiny would validate the preacher is preaching the word. That's the ministry. Now, they're taking the time. They are subjecting themselves to the disciplines necessary to be where the word was being preached. However, James says, if you are not doing what the word demands, whether it's believing the promises expounded, or whether it is embracing from the heart the duties that are delineated and described, whether it is following and embracing the pattern of Christ extolled, whatever it is and whatever it means in any given sermon to be a doer of the word, they were not doers.

56:11 Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Now, notice what he says, deluding your own selves. You see the person who takes the time to place himself under a biblical ministry and listens to that ministry but does not implement it by whatever demands it makes upon him is in a horrible posture of self-delusion. You see that in the passage? Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deluding yourself. Now, you see where this is going. You see this in the passage. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deluding yourself. Now, they are doing what the word demands. They are subjecting themselves. They are not doers. in your own selves. Well, how does that equation lead to self-delusion? Well, precisely in

57:00 this way. I need to know what God says. God speaks in His Word. I'll go where His Word is faithfully preached and taught, and I will listen to that Word. Now I've made the effort to go, and to go where it's the pure Word of God that's being taught and preached and read. I am not going to some liberal church. I'm not going to some place where all you get is entertainment and psychologizing of the Christian faith. No, I want the Word, the pure Word, nothing but the Word. And so you hear the Word, and you know that that's a virtuous thing. But you see, when it comes to implementing what that Word demands, whatever the broad spectrum of implementation may involve, and you don't implement it in the strength of God, you don't implement it in the strength of God. You don't implement it in the strength of God. You don't implement it in the strength of God.

57:51 You don't implement it in the strength of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, out of love to Christ, yes, but at the end of the day, James says, you are hearers, not doers. You are deluding yourself. Why? Because you think that having put yourself under a sound ministry, in the company of others who've put themselves under a sound ministry, many of whom are implementing the directives of that ministry.

58:21 That somehow you must be the better for both that exercise and that association. And that is pure self-delusion. You are not the better for that discipline or that association. For until that Word becomes part of you, by faith and obedience, it has done you no good. It has done you no good. You are like the man who picks up the mirror to see where he has smudged his face while doing his tasks in the garden, before he goes out to a proper social setting in the evening that demands a clean face. He looks in the mirror, he sees a smudge on his left cheek, a streak on his forehead, and he sees a smudge on his right cheek, puts down his mirror, and in thirty seconds forgets what he saw, and he sees a smudge on his right cheek,ILLY for Allah. This is power. This is the boys father and

59:25 the last step in the afterness, which is to meet in the holy place and go to theiber , along to the minim Toyota, and then to God as in cloth. It doesn't matter how many of you have ever Sisters фe and that's exactly, please it's waiting for your younger sister, this is a revelation that you've taken the decision to take and that's all, but if you would rise now and make the movement. Now you may have wished, not by Holy Mary, not byш f you, but by Christ, but by God Content with yourself. Yes, how many have tempted God to speak to a hmab ?

59:44 Yes, by Jesus Christ ! 1 Is going to be weak? lines Yes, Lord! Yes, it's going to be great.

59:50 this ministry week in, week out, month in, month out.

59:59 I hear from pastoral reports and in my own pastoral oversight visits as your elders pull the synopsis of our interaction of couples married 10 and 15 years and still fighting like cats and dogs. When you've heard series after series on the Christian family, on husbands loving your wives and wives being in submission to your husbands, we've had retreats for men, for women. You've been blotted with the Word.

60:41 Jesus said, Take heed how you hear, for what you seem to have by degrees is being taken away. And the day of judgment will reveal that you never had anything to begin with.

60:59 That's frightening.

61:01 That's frightening. But that's, that's why Jesus said, Take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. Some of you sitting under this ministry where the Word of God has been applied to your conscience in terms of keeping short accounts with God and with one another and with your children and humbling yourself and keeping a good conscience and where the issues of the impingement of the aggressive forms of sin that all of us feel coming, that is, from the television and the other forms of media you've been warned and the issues we've addressed.

61:42 But it's made no difference. You watched your R-rated movie on your VCR this past week.

61:50 No difference.

61:53 You watched stuff on the television that would not have been permitted five years ago and anything other than an X-rated movie housed somewhere on 42nd Street in New York City. And yet you watched it. You're not taking heed how you hear.

62:21 You're coming. You're hearing. But you're not doing. And the reason you don't go home and fall on your face and cry to God for mercy is you have so deluded yourself into thinking you've done God and your soul a favor by taking the time to come and hear your full self-delusion.

62:45 You'll still go home and stuff your face full of three times as much calories as you need. To sustain your strength and continue to break the Sixth Commandment by the way you treat your body.

63:02 It makes no difference.

63:06 You're not doing what you know you need to do.

63:11 You swear in getting a handle on those sins of the flesh. You're prepared to engage in a spiritual endeavor likened unto whacking off right hands and plucking out right eyes. But you're not prepared to do it. Why?

63:28 Because you're deceived into thinking because you've heard a place that says you ought to and you keep coming back to a place that says you ought to. Therefore, you must be all right. You're a hearer and not a doer deluding your own self.

63:44 Therefore, Christ says, Take heed how you hear.

Explanation for the Necessity of This Duty: Hebrews' Hearers (Lack of Faith)

63:50 With our time having gone, let me give just one final text. Hebrews chapter 4. Why do we need the Lord's words? Take heed how you hear.

64:00 We saw from the passage, in Ezekiel, no automatic blessing comes from hearing the word, even hearing it enthusiastically. We saw from James that hearing but not doing can actually promote self-delusion and keep us out of touch with our true spiritual state. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2, speaking of that wilderness generation that rotted, whose carcasses rotted in the wilderness all twenty years, old and upward died in that forty-year period. Verse 2, Indeed, we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they, but the word of hearing did not profit them. The word of hearing did not profit them because it was not united by faith with them that heard.

65:02 Whose word was it? It was God's. It was God's word. It was God's word.

65:09 God's word giving promises of the blessing that would come to covenant fidelity. But that word did not profit them at all. Why? It was not mixed with faith.

65:24 Why do we need to take heed? How we hear? Because unless we hear in faith, the word preached were the living God himself to come in the person of his own beloved son and stand here and speak his own word, it would do you no good if it were not mixed with faith.

65:50 Question number 159 of the Catechism says, How is the word of God to be preached by those that are called thereto? Listen to what it says to us preachers. They that are called to labor in the ministry of the word are to preach a sound doctrine diligently, in season, out of season, plainly, not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and the power, faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God, wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers, zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people, sincerely, aiming at his glory and their conversion, edification, and salvation. What a task for us preachers to live up to that simple answer to that question. Each one of those adjectives and each one of those descriptive phrases footnoted with scriptures that indicate that's how we preachers are to preach. But then question 160 is this.

66:57 What's required of them that hear the word preached? It is required of those that hear the word preached that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer. Examine what they hear by the scriptures. You know what the proof text for that is.

67:16 Acts 17, 11. Receive the truth with faith. And you know what the proof text for that is.

67:24 Meekness, love, and readiness of mind as the word of God. Meditate and confer of it. Hide it in their hearts and bring forth the fruit of it in their life.

The Hearer's Duty: Diligence, Preparation, Prayer, and Obedience

67:40 In subsequent sermons I want to deal specifically with how do we take heed to our hearing before the preaching one sermon, during the preaching the second sermon, and after the preaching the third sermon.

67:58 We're not given to banners, to overhead projectors. They may have their place in the teaching situation. But will you permit a little indulgence of holy fantasy this morning? If I could persuade my fellow elders and deacons and then I think we'd have to persuade the congregation and have them have a congregational void or boulder, you'd boycott it.

68:21 So I think it would have to go the full route.

68:25 And we could have one banner that just before I preached would drop down on that back wall where none of you would see it. Right where the beam comes down and where the eye of the video camera is. A banner would drop down in big bold letters that only this preacher would see. You know what I'd love to have written on it?

68:47 2 Timothy 4.2 Preach! Preach! A word!

69:00 A message! So that all the while I'm preaching and every time I look over here and over here and over there it's constantly saying preacher you have one task. Declare as an ambassador as a herald as a k-roots the message that God has given.

69:20 But then I'd like another banner to drop down the minute I stood up to preach and whoever was leading the service went to his seat. And I'd like it to drop down about two feet behind me so I couldn't see it. But that every time you looked at me you couldn't help but see it unless you actually did something like this just like the line on your bifocals and you made your own line to block it out. It came down within about six inches of my head.

69:46 So looking at me you'd have to see it. And you know what would be written on that banner?

69:57 You hear!

70:01 So that all the while you're looking up and listening at the preacher you hear the word of Jesus saying take heed. Pay diligent constant close attention to how you're here. And the preacher sees his banner preach preach and oh dear people what would happen in the blessing of God if in the power of the Holy Ghost the preacher never moved from the directive of his banner and you never moved from the directive of yours.

70:43 I doubt my fantasy will become reality but I believe the Holy Ghost can make it such in our hearts that you will come to every service in this place as determined to give the entirety of your redeemed humanity to taking heed how you hear as any preacher worthy to stand in this pulpit will give himself in the entirety of his redeemed humanity to do nothing but preach the word.

71:29 And if that is true then the unseen and most important person in this place will smile as his revealed will in scripture is being worked out in our midst by the power of the Holy Ghost. Then we shall see measures of the saving and sanctifying power of the word that we've never witnessed in this place before.

71:59 And that for which we've yearned and cried perhaps in the blessing of God we will yet see.

A Solemn Warning and Call to Obedience

72:09 Take heed how you hear. Remember the issue at stake. You may go out and say, oh well, Pastor Martin's been away a few days. Been on a preaching tear so he comes back all hot and lathered.

72:21 He'll calm down a little bit. I've weathered a few others of these over the years and it'll be back to business as usual. May I say it lovingly in God's name. If that's what you're thinking please don't come back because all I'll do is preach you into a hotter place in hell.

72:38 That's all I'll do. All I'll do is preach you into a hotter place and I don't want to do that.

72:47 For to whom much is given of him shall much be required. He who knew not his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes but he who knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes.

73:01 No, I beg you in the name of the God whom you profess to know and love go home today and say, oh God, prepare me to learn afresh whatever it means to take heed how I hear and whatever demands your word makes upon me in taking heed how I hear with respect to preparation before preaching engagement of mind and heart during preaching and whatever disciplines essential following preaching oh God by your grace I'm prepared to obey the voice of your son take heed how you hear let us pray.

Pastoral Prayer for Profitable Hearing and Church Integrity

73:49 Our Father we acknowledge that once again we have trafficked in various sober issues this morning we tremble at the thought that what any one of us seems to possess in the way of spiritual understanding would be taken away from us and it would be made evident to all if not in this life in the day of judgment that we never had anything to begin with. Lord have mercy make your word to find its way into every heart. Thank you for those who through the years are monuments of your truth. That to him who has shall be given.

74:33 Thank you for those who have learned the discipline of taking heed how they hear. Thank you for the many who are monuments of your own word of promise and we pray that their number shall be increased. Oh God we beg of you either break or remove from this place those who simply want to be like Ezekiel's hearers who want a good performance but who have no desire to have a good heart. Lord don't let Trinity Church lose its spiritual integrity by the multiplication of those who come for a concert who come for a concert of preaching but who have no desire to be like Christ to hate their sins to follow you holy. Lord God break them or remove them. Amen. That this may be an assembly of those who hunger and who thirst to know and to do the will of God.

75:43 Hear our cry and seal your word to our hearts we pray in Jesus name. Amen.