During the Sermon, Part 5

Introduction: The Duty to Hear with Appropriate Heart Responses

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 9, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 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.

0:55 And whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he thinks or seems to have.

1:08 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. In the opening up and application of this duty, I've structured our approach in terms of 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.

2:04 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 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. I've asserted that as we actually sit under the preaching of the word,

2:49 this duty enjoined upon us by our Lord Jesus involves at least two things. 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.

3:41 And we looked at three specific texts of scriptures that establish this responsibility and sought then to identify those sins of the mind which, if indulged in under-preaching, will neutralize our benefiting from the word preached. 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

4:32 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. Such a response we saw illustrated in both Old and New Testament incidents, and the opposite response of impenitence characterized by rationalizing delay as in the case of Felix, Acts 24,

5:20 rejection and hatred of the messenger that brings that convicting word, Acts 5 and Acts 7, or rejection of the word itself, the king who in Jeremiah 36 cut out that word and threw it into the open fire, These are the responses that we must not render, but rather as a convicting word comes to our hearts in preaching, there ought to be an immediate response of renewed repentance. Now in our time together this morning, I want to address two more examples, and this is not an exhaustive list, but simply two more specimens or examples

Responding with Faith to Divine Provision, Promise, or Prophecy

6:08 of what it is to render appropriate responses which the Word demands of us and to render them while that Word is actually coming to us in the act of preaching. 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 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.

7:07 Now in open up this second appropriate response, I'll follow the very simple outline that I used last week, the directive established from scripture, and then the directive applied and illustrated. First of all then, the directive established. 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?

Biblical Basis: Hebrews 4:1-2 and the Danger of Unbelief

7:57 Well, the foundational text in my judgment is Hebrews chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. And then we'll look at several other texts that buttress this foundational text. 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, even as also they.

8:35 But the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united 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 generation, who though having a clear promise of entering God's rest,

9:22 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, but to them that were disobedient.

9:48 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, the writer to the Hebrews says, let us fear therefore, lest happily a promise being left of entering into his rest. Lest having promises that speak not of the rest of an earthly Canaan, but of a heavenly rest secured by the person and work of the Lord Jesus, we should come short of it.

10:41 Well, why should that generation be used as a parallel to our danger of falling short of promised gospel rest through unbelief? Here's the parallel. For indeed, we have had good tidings. We have had a gospel preached unto us, even as they.

11:03 They had a word of promise announcing God's good will towards them. They fail to enjoy the fulfillment of that promised blessing because of unbelief. Now in the gospel, the good will of God is announced to us in the accomplishment of the work of Christ. But, as that word of hearing did not profit them because it was not united by faith, so likewise the word and promise of the gospel will not profit us unless it is mixed with faith.

11:48 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. 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,

12:35 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.

Illustration: Dry Mortar and the Necessity of Faith

13:25 now I racked my brain for an illustration that would somehow make clear what the writer is saying and this is the best I could come up with I tried it out on my wife late last night and at least rang some bells with her at that hour so perhaps it will ring a bell or two here someone wants to build in his backyard a retaining wall and so he knows that he must get some well cured concrete block You say block if you've worked in construction. You say blocks if you're an ordinary person. So I'll say both block and blocks to please the construction folk here. And then to help the other folk to know that I'm referring to blocks plural.

14:10 And this person, not very experienced in practical matters, knows you've got to have something to keep the block adhering one to another. so he goes to Rickles or Home Depot and says what do I need in addition to the block or the blocks well you need some mortar well do you have that oh yes we have pre-mixed mortar over here and one of the most popular brands is Sackrete where you can get pre-mixed mortar or even pre-mixed concrete that has aggregate in it but this particular pre-mixed mortar just has the proper ratio of sand and of cement, but this poor chap has never done any construction work, so he goes home and he figures out where he's going to put his block, and now he's got his

14:55 bag of mortar. And so what he does is he lays his first row of block, and then he takes a little shovel, and he shovels out a little row of the dry mortar on top of the block, and then he puts another row of block, and he says, I think I ought to alternate these so that we don't have one right over the other. He sees that they're staggered. And so he gets his block up about four courses, and then one of his kids comes out and says, Daddy, what are you doing?

15:21 He says, I'm building a wall. He says, well, that doesn't look like a very strong wall. Oh, it is a strong wall. And he said, no, I don't think so, Daddy.

15:29 And this kid pushes on it, and it tumbles over. What's the problem? He had a well block He had premixed mortar at the right proportions of both good proven Portland cement and the right amount and right kind of sand What was his problem He failed to read on the bag that said you must take this pre-mixed mortar and you must mix in a certain amount of water. And until you mix in the water which causes a chemical reaction and turns it into this slushy stuff that will harden up and cause those blocks to adhere one to another, the mortar use did not profit.

16:25 Why? Not being mixed with water. the mortar was adequate in itself to do the job it just needed some water to be mixed in to make it effective as a bonding agent now look at our text the word of hearing did not profit them was there some defect in the word of hearing no, no defect in the word of hearing It was the word spoken by God himself. That word which is repeated many times in chapter 3.

17:05 Today if you hear his voice. Harden not your heart. It was that word of promise. If they would obey him and follow him.

17:14 He would grant them the promised rest. There was no defect in the word of hearing. The defect was. That they did not mix it with faith.

17:26 It did not become a bonding agent in the soul by means of faith. And therefore the scripture says they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. And therefore how many times must it be said of you and of me that we have sat under the preaching of the word. And the word of hearing has come to us in the form of presenting a divine provision.

17:59 Announcing something that God has done for us in Christ. Delineating something that we are in Christ. Or a word presenting and setting forth a divine promise of what God for the sake of Christ is committed to do for us. and to be to us a word of divine provision, a word of divine promise, or a word of divine prophecy, an announcement of God's intention to do something with respect to His church, to His people.

18:38 And when those words of divine provision and promise and prophecy come, I say it reverently, They come like the premixed mortar, but they will not profit us until they are mixed with faith in our own souls. many a time we are as unstable as that wall put up with dry mortar simply because we have not responded with present acts of faith to that word of provision that word of promise and that word of prophecy

Old Testament Illustration: Ahaz's Unbelief in Isaiah 7

19:25 Now let us look at several illustrations of this from both the Old and the New Testaments. Please turn to Isaiah chapter 7 for a very graphic Old Testament illustration. and I've deliberately chosen this passage to demonstrate that when Paul tells us that all scripture is profitable for teaching in many of these portions that on the surface seem to have little to teach us as believers under the new covenant they are rich in their instruction In Isaiah chapter 7, we have the record, beginning with verse 1, of what happened when Ahaz was king in Judah.

20:17 and it was a critical period in his experience it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah that Rezin, the king of Syria and Tika, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel went up to Jerusalem to war against it Syria and the northern tribes enter into a confederacy to conquer and besiege Judah I should say besiege and conquer Judah but it says they could not prevail against it and it was told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim and his heart trembled and the heart of his people as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind

21:06 when Ahaz receives this news of this confederacy aimed at his being conquered and subjugated both he and his people in very graphic language, it is said that as the trees of the forest tremble before a mighty wind, so their hearts trembled with fear. And into that situation, God commands his servant Isaiah to go and speak a word of promise and prophecy. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shear Jashub, your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field, and say unto him,

21:55 take heed and be quiet fear not neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Ramaliah God says don't be afraid of these two they are nothing but a couple of smoking sticks and that is the butt end of the sticks that's what God is saying they are not the raging forest fire of consuming military conquest that you think them to be you and your people are trembling like the trees of the forest in the presence of a mighty wind all there are are these two sticks

22:42 and they're just the butt end of the sticks that are smoking, that's all what do you have to be afraid of? again, God uses graphic imagery in calling the people of God to the rest and the quietness and the stability of a believing confidence in God's protection. Take heed, be quiet, do not be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tales of smoking firebrands. Verse 7 and 8, he goes on to prophesy that the present situation is such that you need not fear that Judah is going to be conquered.

23:22 and you will be incorporated into these two powers. That's essentially what is said in the subsequent verses. But now notice how this word of prophecy and promise concludes. Verse 9, And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son.

23:42 If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. The last part of the verse again. The commentators differ as to the proper rendering. But there is no question with regard to the first part.

24:00 If you will not believe. It could be rendered. It is because you are not established. Or surely you shall not be established.

24:10 But one thing is clear. When this word of promise and prophecy comes. Not only to Ahaz. if ye will not believe he speaks to Ahaz and to all who were with him those who were trembling like the wind if you will not believe you shall not be established this word of prophecy and promise that has come demands here and now a response of faith it is demanded of you because it is the word of Jehovah it is the word of the covenant keeping God it is the word of the God who cannot lie

24:57 now you see the armies you perceive a scenario that makes you tremble like wind stop it and the way you stop it is by believing the promise of your God there is the principle you see That no matter what we perceive to be the circumstances that surround us, we come into the house of God and in the providence of God, in the course of our regular reading through the Psalms, or our regular reading through the Old and the New Testament, in the preaching of the Word, in the phrase of a hymn rooted in the Scripture, God Himself comes to you. His trembling, His doubting, His fearful saint with a word of promise.

25:49 A word of prophecy not presently given by some so-called prophet, some present organ of revelation. But through the word of the prophets already inscripturated in this blessed book. And sitting there in that very situation in which you come in trembling like a leaf. And God says, stop your trembling.

26:12 Be quiet, be still. This is reality as I determine it. What you see, it may be very real in your eyes. And you've deduced that in the light of this and this, this will be the consequence.

26:26 And therefore, I now tremble. God says, reality is not determined by what you see or by what men plan.

26:34 They have purposed evil against you, verse 5. but their purpose verse 7 shall not stand reality is determined by my will and expressed in my word not by what you see and what you deduce and now comes crunch time shall I continue to look upon the circumstances that make me tremble like a leaf or shall I in faith when that word comes to me in the midst of the preaching and teaching and reading of that word, shall I lay hold of that word and of the God who stands behind it? Or shall that word be like the dry mortar that binds nothing together

New Testament Illustration: Mary's Faith in Luke 1

27:26 because it's not mixed with the water of faith? Here is a classic Old Testament example. Turn now to the New Testament, Luke chapter 1. Simply trying to establish that it is our duty under the preaching of the word to give appropriate responses to that word while it comes to us in the special presence of God and His gathered people.

27:56 Luke chapter 1, the very familiar incidents often brought to our remembrance the Advent season that we're going to have Christmas in July.

28:11 You remember the setting the angel Gabriel comes to Mary during the time when her cousin already pregnant with the one who will be John the Baptist and as the angel comes into the presence of Mary it's a frightening experience and he tells her, reassures her not to be afraid that she's highly favored, the Lord is with her. Verse 29 of Luke 1, But she was greatly troubled at that saying, and cast in her mind what manner of greeting this might be. And the angel said unto her, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, now notice, here's an announcement, here's a prophecy, a word of prophecy.

28:59 you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus he shall be great shall be called the son of the most high the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end and Mary said unto the angel now notice what she said very carefully how shall this be She didn't say, how in the world could this ever be? No, she says, it shall be. You've said it, I believe it. You've said, I shall conceive and bring forth a son, that he shall be called Jesus, he shall be great, son of the most high,

29:45 he shall be given the throne of his father David. I embrace that word in faith. But I have a question about how you're going to bring it to pass. That it shall come to pass, I do not question.

29:59 How shall this thing be? It shall be. But my question is, how, seeing I know not a man. I have not had sexual intimacy with any man.

30:11 I have no intention of having such until Joseph and I are married. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. Wherefore the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth your kinswoman, she also conceived a son in her old age.

30:33 And this is the sixth month with her that was called barren. For no word from God shall be void of power. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And what do those words say?

30:51 Well, they are not only words of consciously resigning herself up to be the instrument through which God would bring his incarnate Son into the world. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, I am the possession and at the disposition of my Lord. But she says be it unto me let everything come to pass that you have said will come to pass It was her confession of unwavering faith That what the angel said would come to pass would come to pass That not just a deduction I made but if you read on you remember that shortly thereafter Mary arose and went to the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth

31:37 Verse 44. When the voice of your salutation came in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy, Elizabeth speaking, and blessed is she that believed. For there shall be a fulfillment of those things which have been spoken to her from the Lord. When Elizabeth under the inspiration of the Spirit describes her cousin Mary, here is how she describes her as the one who is blessed and she is blessed in her capacity as the believing one.

32:15 That is the designating description of Mary. she had a word coming with respect to that which had never occurred in human history a virgin is to conceive without any sexual intimacy with a man since it was a word from the God who spoke worlds into being out of the womb of nothing she doesn't doubt for a moment she has a question of God's method once he gives an explanation concerning the method she says no big deal I'm your handmaiden what I am my body my reputation

33:01 all that I am is your possession in covenant fidelity behold the handmaid of the Lord and you are God who can do all your holy will if you say that the spirit will effect a conception that will result in my being the human instrument through which Messiah shall be brought into the world. Be it unto me according to your word. The response of my heart is one of unmixed, unshaken faith. So that when Elizabeth meets her and John leaps in Elizabeth's womb, she identifies her in her first response as the blessed one who is the believing one.

33:52 You see that in the passage. How long has it been since God's come to you in the preaching with a promise, with an announcement of a provision in Christ, with a prophecy of what he will yet do in you and for you and for his people and for this sin-cursed world at the coming of his Son? it is so stupendous as the thing God said he would do to Mary yet she believed she mixed faith with that word that came from the living God and the Holy Spirit has moved Elizabeth to validate that from the human standpoint

New Testament Illustration: Zacharias's Unbelief and Chastisement in Luke 1

34:40 it was Mary's faith response that marked her out and gave her unique blessedness from the living God. You see the contrast? You turn back in this chapter when God came to Zacharias and said, Zacharias, not by miraculous conception, but by ordinary marital relations with two people old and stricken in age and perhaps by a rejuvenation of their reproductive faculties but not by bypassing the normal manner in which children are conceived God says to Zacharias your wife who has the nickname the barren one

35:27 is going to be a mother and you're going to have a child and this child will have a special destiny and my purpose well how does Zacharias respond? well look at verse 18 And Zacharias said to the angel, Whereby shall I know this? I'm an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. His was not a question about God's method.

35:51 It was a question about whether or not God would really do it. What assurance can you give me beyond the fact that you tell me God said he'd do it?

36:00 Can you give me a little added something rather than just the bare word of God? But, you've said, angel Gabriel, come from the presence of God, that Elizabeth shall bear me a son, verse 13, and that I will have joy and gladness, and that he will be a Nazarite, and he will be instrumental to turn many to the Lord his God. But how shall I know this? I need something more than the bare word of God to lay hold on.

36:36 It was a cry coming out of an unbelieving heart. How do we know it? Read on. Verse 19.

36:43 The angel Gabriel said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak unto you to bring you these good tidings. I stand in God's presence. I bring you God's word. What more do you need, Zacharias?

37:01 Because you wouldn't take that as enough. There's going to be temporary chastisement. Behold, verse 20, you shall be silent and not be able to speak until the day these things shall come to pass. Why?

37:18 Because you did not believe my words.

37:25 There it is, plain as the nose on your face.

37:29 You were responsible. Once the word of the living God came through me, Gabriel, his messenger, you needed nothing more.

37:43 When you say, how shall I know this? You should know it because Almighty God has said it. Period. because you've not been satisfied with that I'll give you a sign I'll shut your mouth until the day of the child's birth and then God did that remember the whole incident but you see how central was this matter when God's word of promise and God's word of prophecy came to Zacharias he was under solemn obligation to respond immediately with a response of faith that says if God declares it in His promise and His word of prophecy then I rest in the word

38:29 and in the God who has given that word.

Application: Unbelief as Culpable Moral Perversity

38:35 Now let me apply this directive. I hope I've established it from the Old Testament passage from these two New Testament passages resting down upon that central passage of Hebrews 4, 1 and 2. When the word of God comes with the assertion of a divine provision, the setting forth of a divine promise, the announcement of a divine commitment in prophecy, the divine intention for the future, it must be mixed with faith. When God says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, that's to be mixed with faith so that in spite of the fact

39:22 that in my own spiritual nostrils I can still smell the stench of that expression of irritability manifested to my wife or my children that's been confessed and yet the smell of it lingers in my spiritual nostrils. The echoes of it still bounce around in the chambers of my own soul. Am I truly in the confidence of faith resting that that manifestation of irritability and carnality has not brought me under legal condemnation? I am as accepted in the Beloved as though I hadn't blown my cork.

40:03 As accepted in the Beloved as though that irritability never manifested itself. Is it true that there is now, right now, no condemnation? The vindication of the day of judgment has been brought forward into the theater of my own heart and conscience here and now if I am in Christ. That's a word of God's provision that must be mixed with faith.

40:34 The word of promise, my God shall supply all your needs. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. God's words of prophecy that come to us in my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, and if I go, I come again to receive you to myself.

40:56 All of His words that point to what He purposes to do. You see, our problem, dear brothers and sisters, is many of us regard unbelief as a non-moral, non-culpable spiritual disease. Now, follow me closely. If you had a child who contracted measles next year when measles was making the rounds, would you discipline your child for contracting measles?

41:24 You say, no, that's a non-culpable contraction of a kid's disease. When measles hits the town, every kid gets the measles. would you chide one of the older members of our congregation who began to manifest that they were afflicted with Alzheimer's disease? Would you call upon the elders to sit them down and admonish them for getting Alzheimer's?

41:50 Say, Pastor, of course not. That's the contraction of disease that has no necessary moral connotation. No ethical culpability. I believe many of us look upon unbelief that way.

42:05 But God doesn't. God regards unbelief as a culpable moral perversity. Unbelief is sin. In the unconverted, it is a damning sin.

42:21 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 and the unbelieving, as well as liars and whoremongers, shall have their part in the lake of fire.

43:03 Unbelief is a wicked thing. It strikes at the very throne of the God who is a God of truth and integrity. and as unbelief is a damning sin in the unconverted so it is a crippling and grievous sin amongst God's people. 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 and when he draws them out as to why they are in the state they are in, they said, are you the only one who's in these parts in these days

43:48 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.

44:05 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 would redeem Israel but three days had passed.

44:32 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 said.

44:46 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. And he said unto them, O pitiable men, afflicted with this non-moral, non-ethical, non-culpable problem of unbelief.

45:04 No, he said, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

45:18 When Jesus called them foolish men, he didn't mean they lacked something in their gray matter. Folly in Scripture is moral perversity of the heart. Oh, foolish men and slow of heart! You have a heart problem for which you are morally and spiritually culpable.

45:41 Slow of heart to believe in all that 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. Matthew chapter 17, verses 14 through 17.

46:07 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. They described his condition.

46:17 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?

46:39 This is one of the few places, there are one or two others in the Gospels where Jesus expresses what we could call holy exasperation.

46:50 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? How long shall I bear up under the horrible weight of the moral culpability of your reluctance to believe?

47:23 Bring him hither to me. and surely Hebrews 3.12 seals the case look at that text if we have any notion that unbelief is a non-moral, non-culpable affliction take heed brethren lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief what constitutes brethren what constitutes them as those who have an evil heart to the extent that the spirit of unbelief

48:09 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 as bound up in His sure words of prophecy. is to be guilty of sinful unbelief.

The Necessity of Faith Responses During Preaching

48:58 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 pew 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

49:43 by his word through his servants 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. Lord, I will let the reality of my spiritual orientation be determined not by what I feel. I feel as carnal as a whole barnyard full of goats this morning, Lord. but 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

50:30 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. I will not be the slave of what I feel.

50:55 I will be the beneficiary of what you have declared is mine in Christ.

51:08 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 faith. 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.

51:52 and we say, O 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 fathers 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. This is Gabriel who stands in your presence.

52:20 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.

52:44 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.

53:00 He brings it in his hands and he says the responsibility to fulfill it is on my back. 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, they promised.

53:15 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. That's not to be the measure of our faith. It is to be the greatness of the God who speaks the promise.

53:38 And I say it reverently, God could speak out a billion more promises and not begin to erode one gram of the infinitude of His power.

53:51 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.

54:04 Your God is Too Small. Oh dear people how often we limit the Holy One of Israel to use scriptural terminology. By being more like Zacharias. Your word in the promise is not enough God.

54:20 Give me something else to assure me it can come to pass. 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.

54:32 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, Zacharias, that's to be the end of discussion. You won't be able to speak until the day is born because you didn't believe the word.

54:49 Dear people, may God help us. May God help us by his grace that when we come to sit under the word, that we not only give due preparation, use those little printed outlines of those four things that we set before you from the word of God in preparation for coming to the word that we might take heed how we hear, but while we are sitting under that word preached, may we do so constantly remembering that sobering fact. Our indwelling sin and the devil himself have not vacated the premises have not said truth for the next hour no they are active

55:36 and will do all in their power to neutralize the effect of the word and therefore we must take heed to these directives listen to the word with determined fixation resolute fixation of mind and then respond to that word with appropriate responses. When a sin-exposing, convicting word comes, renewed repentance is the proper response. When the word of divine provision, divine promise, divine prophecy comes, the only appropriate response is that of renewed actings of faith, taking that dry mortar of the word,

56:25 mixing it with faith so that it bonds to the soul and we become strong in the grace that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the third response will have to wait for another Lord's Day.

Breaking the Tyranny of Feelings and Believing God's Word

56:44 If God will help us to just lay hold of this today I believe for many of us it perhaps could break the back of certain areas of impasse there's that stubborn sin it simply will not be mortified as other sins have been mortified when you read in your Bible for you died and your life is hid with Christ in God you find it hard to believe that when you read know you not that so many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so should we walk in newness of life.

57:32 Likewise, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You say, how can I believe that I in Christ have died to sin's dominion and I in union with Christ have risen to newness of life when all I feel this day is the raging tumultuous power of this area of unmortified sin trying out to be gratified in a way that is contrary to the word of God. Well, what are you going to believe?

58:09 Are you going to believe the tumult of your remaining sin? Are you going to believe what God has said about you? in union with Christ sin's lordship over you has been cancelled sin shall not exercise lordship over you it's a great usurper what are you going to believe? you say but I don't feel I don't care about your stinking feelings God doesn't care about your feelings and for this feelings oriented feelings govern generation it is crucial that the tyranny of what you feel is broken.

58:51 If you will not believe, you shall not be established. Isn't that what God said to Ahaz? Yeah, but look at them. The armies are out there.

59:01 Their generals are hobnobbing. They're amassing their military personnel. They're amassing all of their weapons of war. God says, don't be afraid.

59:12 I'm ordering what the generals do and where the armies go and who's going to be king where I govern the nations not these fellas over here having their powwow stop being afraid if you will not believe you shall not be established may God help us dear people as the word comes to us week by week not only exposing our sin leading us to renewed repentance but setting forth divine provisions, promises and prophecies we shall be a people like Mary blessed as the believing ones in whom there shall be a performance

Call to Repentance and Faith

59:59 of the things that are promised of the Lord 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 him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out

60:47 let us pray our father how we thank you for your holy word we thank you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and we pray that you would forgive us for our sins of wicked and perverse unbelief. Unbelief that dethrones you. Unbelief that limits you. Unbelief that would make the measure of what we can figure out to be the measure of what we expect from you.

61:24 Oh Lord, forgive us. We remember your word through the prophet saying I have written unto him the ten thousand things of my law, but they were accounted as a strange thing. Surely, Lord, you have unfolded the treasures of your provisions for us in Christ, in the Scriptures. You have held out the exceeding great and precious promises.

61:48 You have given us sure words of prophecy. And so much of it profits us so little because of our wicked unbelief. unbelief. Oh God, we cry with that nobleman. Lord, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. With the disciples we cry out, Lord, increase our faith. And for those who have yet to believe on your dear son, oh God, convict them.

62:17 Even as you have said the Holy Spirit would do when he has come, he would convict the world of sin, of sin, because they believe not on your Son. Oh, that he may bring deep conviction of the wickedness of unbelief. And may some repenting of that sin cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus, even in this place this morning. hear then our prayer and seal your word to our hearts we plead in our Savior's name Amen