True Blessing from God, Part 1

Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful for your great love toward us and that while we are your enemies, you bestowed great acts of kindness and compassion upon us. We're thankful, Lord, that because of your saving work in our lives, that love now sheds abroad in our hearts. We're grateful for that. And today, Father, we just ask that, Lord, you'd help us to understand more about our responsibility to you, that truly, Lord, we would glorify your precious and wonderful name, that we would truly leave different than when we arrived, because we will have left having seen the glory of our God.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 11, Luke 11.

And I want to take you back to two verses that we covered last week and spend just a few moments on them today. Well, not really a few moments, maybe a few weeks on them over the next course of the weeks ahead, because they're very important to us as a body of believers. As you recall, we have looked at what Jesus did in Luke chapter 11, when he healed the man who was demon possessed. And the crowd marveled at the miracle of our Lord. They always marveled at the miracles of our God, because whenever the Lord touches something, it changes dramatically.

It's a brand new thing. In fact, when we are saved, we are called a new creation because the Lord God touches our souls. And we have told you that when God did a physical miracle during his days in Galilee, in Judea, those physical miracles are representative of what he does in the spiritual life of a person when he saves them. And when Christ performed the miracle, the multitudes would begin to marvel at the work of God. But soon the word began to spread that what he did, he did by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies.

Remember that story? And so that began to spread. Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, knowing what was going on in their minds, knowing what they were whispering to themselves, began to offer them an opportunity to believe. And our God is so good. He's so brilliant about what he says. He sums up what he says by saying, you know, you're either with me or you're against me. I want you to be for me, but evidently you are against me. And the main course of those who are against him are the religious kind of people, those who have had a moral reformation.

And he defines that for us. We looked at that last week, that those people with a moral reformation are the worst enemies of our God. Oh, they look good on the outside. They dress nice. They look nice. They say nice things. They do nice things. But on the inside, there's not been a transformation. And they are the ones who are part and parcel to blaspheming the name of God. And right in the middle of our Lord's conversation, he is interrupted by a woman. You know, I always marvel about the people who think they have the gall to interrupt the son of God, but they do.

We'll see this as we go through Luke, that people just blurt out things. Here is the Lord giving a dissertation explaining about who's with me and who's against me. And some woman pipes up in the crowd and says these words, Luke 11 verse number 27. And it came about while he said these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you in the breast at which you nursed. Just right out of the blue. That's what she says. Just blurts it out. And what the Lord does is respond to that because within his sovereignty, within his control of all of life's events, this provides the perfect opportunity to describe those who are with him versus those who are against him.

He has already talked to us about those who are against him. And now this woman speaking up, he doesn't, he doesn't deny what she says. He doesn't scold her for, for what she says, but he takes the opportunity to explain to the people, these are the ones who are with me. And so he responds by saying in verse 28, on the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. These are the ones who are with Christ versus those who are against him. Only those who listen and have obeyed have experienced a spiritual transformation.

Those who might listen and not obey will experience a moral reformation, but not a spiritual transformation. And so these two kinds of people are contrasted, which provides us an opportunity to look at what it means to listen to God and then to obey God.

Now, what the woman says is true about the mother of our Lord, Mary. In fact, if you turn back with me to Luke chapter one, we covered this some five years ago, Luke chapter one, you know, the familiar story about how the angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she was going to, she was going to have a child. Well, she says, how can that be? I'm a virgin. I remember Mary's around 13 at the most 14 years of age. You know, every time I say that people say, well, how do you know that? Because that's when people were betrothed to be married.

They married young in those days. In today's day and age, we marry a lot older, late twenties, early thirties, sometimes forties, sometimes fifties, sometimes sixties and seventies. But in those days they married at a very young age and every Jewish woman who had daughters would pray that one day maybe their daughter might be the mother of the Messiah. Every young girl growing up would anticipate maybe that she would be the mother of the Messiah. So here was Mary and all of a sudden the angel Gabriel shows up to her and begins to explain to her that she is blessed and that she is going to be with child and explains to her how that's going to happen.

He says, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, verse 35, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy offspring shall be called the son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. And she who was barren is now in her sixth month for nothing will be impossible with God. Now let's say you're 13 or 14 years of age and the angel Gabriel comes to you while you're in your home. He speaks to you about some supernatural act of God upon your life.

How would you respond? I got to tell my folks. I can explain to them. How's Mary going to explain the fact that she's pregnant to her folks? How's she going to do that? I mean, that is an issue. Would you not agree with me? That would become an issue. How's she going to talk to Joseph about this? I mean, how is she going to explain to Joseph that she is now going to be great with child with the son of the most high God? How is he going to believe her? How are her parents going to believe her? That becomes a very obvious kind of question for this 13 or 14 year old young lady.

But I want you to listen to what she says. And Mary said, behold the bond slave of the Lord. She saw herself as a slave of God, a bond slave of God. She saw herself as a servant of the most high God. Meaning if she is a servant of the most high God, the most high God can do anything he wants, anything he wants, and she won't question him. If you see yourself as a servant of the most high God, you can actually say to God, Lord, you can do anything you want because I'm your slave. Makes no difference what I think.

Do what you want. And then she says this. Listen carefully. Be it done to me according to your word. Whatever you say, I'm going to obey. I've listened. I've heard what you have said. And now let it be done to me according to your word. The reason Mary was blessed, the woman got it right, was that she heard the word and obeyed the word. She obeyed the word. She didn't question the word that God gave her. She didn't doubt the word that God gave her. She didn't even begin to throw up all kinds of what ifs because of the word God gave her.

Well, what about this? Or what about that? She didn't do that. 13, 14 years of age, she saw herself as a slave of God. Be it done to me as your word has explained. And the Lord God gave her a confirmation. God was so good. Your cousin Elizabeth, she's barren. She's up in years. We discussed this years ago. She's way up there in her eighties, maybe even her nineties. She's six months pregnant. Nothing is impossible with God. And so she runs to Elizabeth to listen to what happens. This time, Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to the city of Judah.

It entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby lived in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, blessed among women are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And now has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.

Mary, you are blessed. And not only are you blessed, but the Greek syntax is such that not only are you blessed, but all who believe the way you believe in God's word will be blessed. You'll be blessed. I think it's important that we understand what true blessing from God really is. I think you're here and I'm here because we want God to bless our lives. We don't want God to curse our lives. We want God to bless our lives, right? Well, how does that blessing actually come? How does God want to bless your life?

And how do I know that I can be guaranteed a blessing from God, listen carefully, every single moment of every single day? How can I have that assurance? Blessed are those who hear and obey. If I listen and I live what I heard, I will be blessed. So I want to talk to you today and next Sunday about true blessing from God, because I want you to experience the greatest of all blessings. And it begins with listening. A very simple thing, listening to what God says.

Now, you know that Luke 10 verses 41 and 42 talk to us about the priority of the believer to listen to what God says.

The whole story about Mary and Martha. We spent three weeks on that story, just so you understood that the priority for us is to listen.

Now we're back there again, because it becomes again, something on the forefront. You need to listen because so many people don't listen.

They say they do. They kind of go through the motions. They kind of show up, but they got all kinds of distractions in their ears. They have wax, spiritual wax in their ears, and they don't hear what God has to say. And so now we're back to where we were at the end of the 10th chapter of Luke, realizing that there was Mary who chose the best part. The one thing that was needful. What Martha did was good, but it wasn't the best. What was best is that Mary would sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to everything that he said, because she would hang on to every word that God had spoken.

That's where the true blessing really, really lies. That is the priority. It was William Gladstone, who years ago, centuries ago, said these words, tell me what your young men are doing on Sunday, and I will tell you the future of England. Oh, that's so good. Tell me what your young men are doing on Sunday, and I will tell you the future of England. So let's put it in modern day terms. Tell me what your sons are doing today, and I'll tell you their future. Fathers, tell me where the fathers in America are on Sunday, and I will tell you the future of their families, right?

Because the heart of a nation rides on the heart of a family, and the heart of a family rides in the heart of the father who leads that family. Tell me where your father is on Sunday, and I'll pretty much guarantee the future of your family. William Gladstone got it right. England went the way, the wrong way, fast. You know, we need to make sure that we want to hear what God has to say. I've been the pastor of Christ Community Church for 16 years, 16 years coming this Saturday, okay? 16 years I've been at Christ Community Church, and you know, over those 16 years, we've had people come and people go, hundreds of them, thousands of them, literally.

And you know, there's one thing that we hear quite regularly, because we call people, we talk to them, and we hear these words, you know, because we call them, say, you know, we haven't seen you, we've missed you, yada, yada, yada, and we hear this frequent phrase. You know, we've been so busy. Really, man, we've just been so busy. We just, we just haven't had a chance to get back to church. Too busy for God. Too busy to listen to what God has to say. How can you be so busy that you don't want to listen to what God has to say?

Somebody's got their priorities all messed up, right? And I just, I don't ever get that, doesn't, I don't know, I don't get it. Maybe I'm just slow of learning, slow of heart, I don't know. I don't get that. Too busy? We've been, there's been so many things on our plate, we just haven't been able to spend an hour and a half with God once a week. We just can't do it. We're just too busy. In other words, we're just too busy to listen to what God has to say. And I just go back and say what William Gladstone said, if, tell me where you are on Sunday, and I'll tell you the future of your life, the future of your family.

I'll tell you where you're going to be. And it's not in a good place. It's not the place of blessing. It's not. It's not. But do you want to be in the place of blessing? I do. And that's why the Lord would often say, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Remember the seven churches in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2, Revelation 3? That's how each letter to the church ends. He who has ears to hear, let him listen.

Make sure you hear what the Spirit says to the churches. You need to listen about the condition of the church. You need to know what the Spirit of God has to say. In that great parable of the sower and the soil, that great parable that sets the tone for how the Word of God will spread in the church age, and how people will respond to the Word of God from the time of Christ's ascension to the time of Christ coming back to take the church home to be with Him. How are people going to respond? He gives that great parable about the sower and the soil, and it all deals with how you listen to what God has to say.

How do you listen? Because some listen and don't obey. Some listen and do obey. And so Christ would say in Matthew's account, in Matthew chapter 13, verse number 9, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In Luke's account, in Luke 8, He says, Take care how you hear. In Mark's account, in Mark 4, He says, Take care of what you hear. Because what you hear and how you hear is so important to spiritual blessing in your life. The writer of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5, verse 11, would say, Be careful that you don't become dull in your hearing.

Become calloused and cold. Ah, you've heard it for so many times, it just kind of bounces off one ear, you know, back on the floor again. I've heard that before. Really? Have you? If you've heard it before, and if you're not doing it, then you really truly haven't taken it to heart. You haven't listened to what God said. You have become dull in hearing. You become calloused and cold to the things of God. And so the writer of Hebrews warns those Jewish people, Be careful that you don't become dull of hearing.

It was the Thessalonican Church in 1 Thessalonians 2, 13, who, when they heard the Word of God, put out the welcome mat and received it because they wanted to obey it. And that's why that church became a model church to all the other churches as to how to respond to God's Word. Because when they heard it, they put out the welcome mat, they embraced it, they accepted it for what it was, the Word of God that effectually worked in their lives because they listened and they obeyed. And that was the center of their blessing.

How about you? When you hear, do you obey? It was Jesus who said these words in John 5, verse 24, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. You hear my word and not only do you just hear what I've said, but you actually believe that everything I said is true and you trust everything I say, you embrace all that I say, then you are the one who passes out of judgment into life.

That is the essence of true blessing, is it not? To be able to experience eternal life with the Lord God of the universe. He would be the Lord God who spoke to Joshua way back in Joshua chapter one. He said in verse number eight, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Joshua, look, I know you're a busy man.

You oversee two million Jews. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people to oversee, but you need to make sure that if your leadership is going to be where it needs to be on the level that you need to be on, you need to make sure that you meditate not just in the morning, not just in the evening, but you meditate on my word day and night. And then once you have heard what I've said, because you have listened through meditation, then you do all that's there. Not just some things that's there, all things.

Don't just listen to meditate and say, well, you know, I'm not sure I'm going to do that. I don't have to do that to lead, you know, two million disgruntled Jews into the promised land. I can do something else. No, you do all this there. You do, you will make your way prosperous. You will have success. Success in life is always associated with listening and living the word of God. Always, always. Why? Well, just one chapter earlier, a couple of chapters earlier, Deuteronomy chapter 32, Moses said this, verse 44, Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.

He would Joshua, the son of none. When Moses had finished speaking all these words to Israel, he said to them, take to your heart all the words, which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully. Even all the words of this law. In other words, you've heard what I've said. You must observe it. You've heard what I've said. You've listened to what I've said. You must now enact it. You must now live it. Why? Verse number 47, for it is not an idle word for you. Indeed, it is your life.

This is not some vain word, empty word that we're speaking, some idle word that just kind of, some kind of chit chat here among the nation of Israel. This life is your word. And this word is your life. It pertains to everything. In fact, he goes on to say this, and by this word, you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. Why? Why will you prolong your days? Because you will have experienced the blessing of God. You've listened and you have obeyed and God honors those who honor him.

That's true blessing. And that's why over in Psalm one, it says these familiar words, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. His delight is in the law of the Lord. He loves to listen to God speak. He loves to listen to the word of God. So much so that he doesn't do what he's not supposed to do. He does what God says he's supposed to do.

And then look what happens, it says, and he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he, what he prospers. Prosperity comes to those who listen and obey the word of God. He says very simply, you will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Those trees were prominent trees. They were the strongest of all trees. They were the tallest of all trees. You become the prominent individual.

You become the productive individual because it's those trees that yield their fruit in due season. You become the one who is able to withstand pressure. You now are the one who can persevere when others don't. Why? Because your leaf does not wither. There is perseverance in your life. There is strength and stability in your life. And there is prosperity because whatever you touch prospers. Great things happen because you have listened and obeyed the word of God. Folks, spiritual blessing is so important, but so many people miss it.

They just miss it. Their lives are in dullsville. Their lives are filled with dread and depression and they've missed the essence of true blessing. And it all goes back to listening to what God has to say and then acting upon what he says obediently by following through. As Mary saw herself as a bond slave of the Lord God, saying, be it done unto me according to your word. Whatever your word says, let it happen. Just go ahead and do it, God, because I am your slave. I am your servant. Whatever you want to do, just do.

Because I've listened and I, at my heart's desire, want to obey. And Elizabeth would come back and say, oh, you are blessed because you believed in what was spoken to you. You acted upon what was true and now you are blessed upon all above all women. What a tremendous blessing that Mary would have received. Did Mary have hardship in her life? Sure she did. Similarly, it would say that her soul would be pierced through with great pain because of what they would do to her son. But she experienced true blessing from God because she listened and obeyed as a servant.

Of God. The question comes for us, how well do we listen? How well do we listen? James said this way, James 1 verse 25. But one who looks intently at the perfect law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. He'll be blessed. He looks into the perfect law of liberty. He hears what God says to him and he acts upon it.

He's not just a hearer of the word, he's a doer of the word. He listens to what God says, he acts upon it.

James says this man will be blessed in what he does because God would have touched his life in a significant way. So I want to talk to you about the discipline of listening. And then I want to talk to you about the duty of living. And then I want to talk to you about the delight in learning. Three points we're going to cover this week and next week, Lord willing, that you might understand true blessing as it comes from the blessed one himself, the Lord God of the universe. We'll begin with the discipline of listening.

How is it I am to listen? What are the characteristics of a good listener? So that I don't miss what God says, right?

I don't want to miss anything he's going to say. So I want to become very disciplined in my listening to all that God says.

The 19th century, there was a Danish religious philosopher by the name of Soren Kierkegaard. He said a lot of things, most of which don't make a lot of sense. But there were a few things he said that made great sense. And one thing was this. He said, too often in their church life, people adopt an attitude of the theater. Imagining the preacher is an actor and they as critics, praising and blaming the performance. Actually, the people are the actors on the stage of life. The preacher is merely the prompter reminding the people of their lost lines.

That's good. You know, we go to church and we expect to be entertained. So we look at the music, we look at the message and the minister and we say, okay, well, it was good today.

It was bad today. It was so-so today. It was okay, yada, yada, yada. As if we are the critics who say, you know what? We're going to pass judgment on what we saw today in church. Mr. Kierkegaard says, no, it's the other way around. You are on the stage. And what the pastor does is to remind you of the lines that had been lost. Reminds you about how you are to live and what you are to say based on what God has said in his word. You are the actors on the stage. So my job is to remind all of us, what does God say?

About how we are to live, right? How do we respond to what God says? What has God spoken to us through his word that we need to listen to? Let me review for you just some verses in scripture because we're all about listening.

You know, one day I thought it'd be good just in this little two-verse episode here to come and just read the Bible for an hour on Sunday morning and see how people listened. Can you imagine just coming to church and having someone read the Bible to you for an hour? Probably half of you would fall asleep. The other half would begin to doodle or take out your cell phone and text somebody or say, boy, I wish I was at your church today and not my church because all my passion is doing is reading the word of God for an hour, you know?

But what would it be like if you came to church and we said, let's open your Bible, let's read, let's read every psalm this morning, all 150 of them. Just follow along with me as I read and all I want you to do is listen.

How effective of a listener would you be? You know, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4.13 that we are to be committed to the reading of the scriptures.

Why? Because people need to learn the discipline of listening, of listening. I'll be the first to let you know, it's hard.

It's hard to be a preacher in today's day and age. You know, I'm just a talking head is all I am. Talking head. And you come to church and you listen for an hour. Most people just can't do that. Over the years, people have said, oh, we just can't sit there for that long. It's too long. Your pastor just preaches too long. Really? Yeah, we can't sit there that long for a whole hour? No, but they can do anything else for an hour, can't they? You ever notice that?

You can do anything else for an hour. Maybe read a book, a novel, go to a game, watch television. Oh yeah, but we can get up every once in a while. Hey folks, you can get up here too. I don't care. People get up all the time to walk out. But see, the bottom line is, what do you want to listen to? Where are your priorities? See, what's the most important thing to you? Is it as Mary's was, to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to everything he said? Or was it like Martha, who was distracted? Because she thought that the service of the Lord was more important than the listening to the Lord.

Not realizing that her service is affected by how well she listens. See? So crucial. And so let me tell you what the Bible says about listening.

Turn me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 15. Just let me read a few verses to you this morning.

Proverbs chapter 15, verse number 31. He whose ear listens to the life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. In other words, he neglects the discipline of listening. He neglects the discipline of listening to reproof. And reproof comes through the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. God's Word is given for reproof, right? It's a life giving reproof. Well, the one who listens to that life giving reproof is the one who dwells among the wise, not among the foolish.

Look at Luke, I'm sorry, Proverbs 16, verse number 20. He who gives attention to the Word shall find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. So he who listens to the Word is going to find that which is good. You don't listen to God's Word and find that which is bad. See that? You find that which is good. Over in chapter 19, verse number 20 of Proverbs, it says, listen to counsel and accept discipline that you may be wise the rest of your days. You want to be wise for the rest of your days on earth?

Listen to counsel and accept discipline. That's just not the counsel of someone speaking to you. It's the counsel of God's Word in the context of the book of Proverbs that speaks to you and shows you the error of your way that you might dwell among the wise. Verse 27, cease listening, my son, to discipline and you will stray from the words of knowledge. You stop listening to the discipline of the scriptures. You'll stray from knowledge. You'll stray from an understanding of God and you will fall by the wayside.

Proverbs 28, verse number 9. Proverbs 28, verse number 9 says this, he who turns away his ear from listening to the law, listen carefully, even his prayer is an what? Abomination. Did you get that? You turn your ear away from listening to the law, even your prayer is an abomination. How many people do you know that have been praying for years about something and nothing's changed? Ask them this, have you refused to listen to the law of God? Because those who do, their prayer is an abomination. That's why it's so important to know what God says in his Word before you go to prayer, right?

So you know how to pray. And then it says, over in verse 14, how blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. In other words, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord comes through the knowledge of what God says in his Word.

And yet he who hardens his heart against that which God says, listen, will fall into calamity. And then it says over in verse 1 of chapter 29, a man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. In other words, you hear the Word of God, you refuse to listen and obey, you now become broken beyond remedy. That is, there is no possibility of remedy for you because you've heard, you have refused to listen, you have refused to obey. That's why back in Proverbs chapter 1, turn back there with me, if you would, please.

Proverbs chapter 1, Solomon says these words, Proverbs chapter 1, verse number 5, a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel. And he goes in to talk about wisdom and the wisdom that comes from God through those who listen to the Word of God. And then he says this, verse 20, wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square, at the head of the noisy street she cries out, at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings, how long, O naive ones, will you love simplicity?

And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge. Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you, I will make my words known to you, because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention, and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof, I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer, they will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof, so they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be satiated with their own devices, for the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, and the complacency of fools shall destroy them, wisdom cries, but so few listen, and all of a sudden calamity comes, calamity like a storm upon your life, you cry out to God, he does not hear, because you refuse to listen to all of his counsel, but he closes with this verse, verse 33, but he who listens to me shall live securely, shall be at ease from the dread of evil, isn't that good?

Talking about blessing, you want true blessing from God, listen to what he says, you live securely, you live with stability, and you can go to sleep without the fear of evil overtaking you, because you've listened to me, you've followed me, you've you've obeyed my voice, this is the most important lesson you will ever learn in your Christian life, is how to listen to God, I mean ask your children, what's the most important lesson your children learn from you? How to listen to you, right? If your children listen to you, guess what?

Your family just flourishes, doesn't it? What do you say? How many times have I said, how come you don't listen to me when I talk to you about this? How come you didn't listen to me when I said this? If you listen, just think how things will be for you, if they listen and obey, how great is your family experience, right? Well same is true in your spiritual experience, you need to listen to what God says and obey what he says, it's as simple as that, it's lesson 101 in the Christian life, learning to listen to all that God says, we just don't, do we?

Oh we listen to the good things that we think are good, we listen to some things, but all things, yeah I don't know, so how am I supposed to listen? Let me give you a few of them, we'll get as far as we can this morning, that was all introduction material to what we want to cover this morning, anyway, but we have to cover that because you need to know what the Bible says about listening and the Bible's filled with it, oh how many times did the Lord say, you have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, but I say to you, remember that?

Matthew 5, over and over again, you've heard that it was said, you're willing to listen to somebody else, but you're unwilling to listen to me, isn't that not the way it goes? Well so and so said, really? Who is so and so? Well they're important to me, well what does God say, right? That's the most important thing, what does God say? And so Jesus says to the people of Israel, you've heard that it was said by the ancients of old, all your rabbis have taught you this, just let you know, they're all wrong, I say to you, this is the intent of the law, they interpreted the law as they saw the law, I'm going to interpret the law for you as it really truly is, this is how it really is, didn't listen, because when God said it, it didn't sit well with them, so they reinvented the law of God in their own mind, so that it could accommodate their self-righteous lifestyle, we do the same thing today, we listen to what God said, we don't like that, so we reinterpret the law of God, we reinterpret a verse, so that it fits in line with where I'm at, so I can feel good about myself, and Jesus says the same thing to us, you've heard that it was said by the pastors of old, but I say to you, this is what it really is, you listen, so how do we listen?

Number one, always listen quickly, quickly, you say quickly, I say quickly, James chapter 1 verse number 19, what does James say, this you know my beloved brethren, but let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, that is not a verse about how to have a good relationship with your spouse, or with your friends, it has nothing to do with that, has everything to do with the word of God, because the context before talks about the word of God, and how man is saved by the word of truth, and the context after that talks about getting rid of all filthiness, so that we can receive the word of God, which is planted in us, so the whole context is about the word of God, and James says let every one of you be quick to the hearing of the word, slow to speak the word, and even slower at becoming angry at what you heard the word say, and then he goes on to say, because the anger of man never is going to produce the righteousness of God in your life, don't become angry about what God says, but be quick to hear, let me ask you a question, how quick are you to hear what God has to say, you can do this own assessment, right, when you hear someone speaking the word of God, do you quickly run to hear it, because you want to listen to all that God says, you know, we're at an election time, right, and I'm always astounded at the number of people who are quick to hear what the candidates in the election say and believe, I always marvel at that, got to hear what they say, got to hear the debate, got to hear what's going on, really, how come, well, I got to determine how I'm going to vote, well, I think you ought to vote, I do, but remember what God said, their heart is in his hands, he turns it wherever he wants it to go, he's in charge of everything, and yet we are so quick to hear what a politician has to say and we are slow to hear what God has to say, look this way, what's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning, the very first thing you do, what's the first thing you do, how quick are you to hear what God has to say, listen to it quickly, doesn't mean you listen fast and move on, it means you get quick to get to where you need to be that you might sit and listen to what the Lord has to say, what's the first thing you do, well, the first thing I do in the morning, I get up, I go to the gym, there's nothing wrong with going to the gym, folks, in fact, as I look around, maybe some of you need to go a little more often, I don't know, nothing wrong with going to the gym, I'm all for going to the gym, I'm all for physical exercise, it does profit, it profits a little, but it does profit, 1 Timothy 4, 7, it does profit, okay, but, but does it profit you more than your spiritual soul and the food that you can receive from God, do you listen to God's word quickly, that is, are you looking for a way to quickly get to where the word of God is preached and where you can hear the word of God so you might know what he says, that you might obey what he says, that you might experience a blessing from God, that's the point, are you quick to the hearing of the word of God, number two, not only do you listen quickly, but you listen quietly, say, well, of course you listen quietly, no, because a lot of people like to talk when God's speaking, do you ever notice that, we like to talk, we like to be heard, we really do, we do have a higher estimation of ourselves than what we really ought to have and we think that people want to hear us, we think that God wants to hear us, well, God does want to hear you, he wants you to pray to him, he wants you to communicate with him, he already knows this on your heart before you even speak a word, he knows all those things, okay, but that's why, that's why Ecclesiastes 5 says that when you go to the house of God, go there to listen and don't go there to speak, go to listen, God doesn't need any information from you, God needs no counsel from you, God doesn't need to tap into your wealth of wisdom as to what he's going to do next, just go and listen to what God has to say, that's important, and so you listen quietly, let every one of you be quick to hear and slow to speak, that means don't say anything, just, just be quiet and listen, you ever talk to somebody and they're always trying to get a word in edgewise and you're trying to explain to them the situation and they just, they just don't be, they just don't be quiet, they just keep talking and you say, if you could just listen just for a moment, just listen for a second and let me explain to you, if you just listen and sometimes I think that's the way God is with us, just, could you just listen for a minute, what's Habakkuk say, I think it's Habakkuk 2 verse number 20, the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent, just be quiet, don't say anything, just be quiet, listen to what God has to say, I, I love what the psalmist said in, in Psalm 62 verse number 5, my soul waits in silence for God only, from him is my salvation, he only is my rock and my salvation, verse 5, my soul wait in silence for God only, I wait in silence for God, that's a hard thing for us to do, is it not, because by nature, we are doers, we love to engage in activity, we have to do something, we're very task oriented as Americans, we have to get it done and so we read verses like Psalm 62, my soul waits in silence, listen, during times of crisis, we don't like to sit quietly and listen, do we, what do we do, we become very, very active, inactivity seems to be the worst policy, but the psalmist says, it is the best policy, we hear the words, do something, do anything, just do and all the while, we listen to Satan's advice and neglect to listen quietly for God's advice, do something, do anything, just get us out of the mess we're in, do it now, psalmist said, my soul waits in silence, in this crisis, my soul waits in silence for God only, I want to hear what God has to say, sometimes dads, that's the best way to lead your family, not to make a decision, but to say, you know what, let's listen to what God has to say on this matter, well, how long will that take, a week, maybe two, a month, maybe three, a year, maybe four, we don't have time to wait, we got to act now, we got to do it now, my soul waits in silence for God alone, that's a hard lesson to learn, but if you want to listen effectively, you got to listen quickly and you got to listen quietly, listen to the words of Isaiah, the Lord God speaks to the nation of Israel, Isaiah chapter 30, verse number 15, listen to what he says and tell me or see if this is not convicting or not, this is so, I read this and I was like, put the knife in, rip me open, you know, this is just horrible, listen, for thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel said, in repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust your strength, the Lord says, if you return to me, come to me, listen to what I say and embrace all that I say, obey me, trust me, you'll have strength, you will, your strength lies in your ability to listen to what I've said and obey what I've said and then he says these words, but you were not willing to listen and that could be, that could be etched on all of our tombstones when we die, but you were not willing to listen, you were not willing to trust, you were not willing to sit in patience for God alone, I was not willing to wait for God to speak because I have an agenda, I have a plan, I've got an organization, I'm in charge, I gotta do, Israel was that way, to wait in silence for God, no, to listen to what he said, no, no, no, this is what they said, verse 16, you said, no, just no, not we'll pray about it, just no, no, for we will flee on horses and we will ride on swift horses, no, no, we're going to act, we're going to do what we need, we're going to go to battle and we are going to act because we have swift horses, we are going to fly to the battle and the Lord God said in between those two phrases, oh, therefore you shall flee, you think you're going to fly to battle, oh, you're going to flee in battle, therefore those who pursue you shall be swift, you think you're swift, oh, no, no, no, those you pursue are going to turn right around and pursue you and they will be swifter than you are, this is this, one thousand shall flee at the threat of one man, you shall flee at the threat of five until you are left as a flag on a mountain top and as a signal on a hill, this is so good, this is so good because Israel says, you know what, we are going to go to battle, we're going to do, we're going to act, we don't have time to sit and wait in silence on God, we're going to do, we got, we got a job to do, we have an organization to run, we have a business we have to oversee, we are going to do it and we're going to do it our way and we have the horses we need to make it happen, the Lord God says, well, you do have the horses but, but you're not trusting me, instead of flying into battle, you're going to flee from battle, he says, remember the promise I gave you back in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, that because you're in the minority, the nation of Israel is always in the minority, because you're in the minority, when, when one of you goes to battle, thousands will flee from you, that's a promise God gave to Israel, I think he repeated three times in the Old Testament, because you're small in stature and small in numbers, one of you will go, five of you will go and thousands will flee from your presence, and God says, you know what, just the opposite this time, five of your enemies will come and thousands of you will flee, the role, the roles have been reversed, because you won't wait in silence on me, because in quietness and in trust will be your strength, you won't do that, I'm going to turn the tables on you and you're going to experience firsthand what your enemies experienced when you did trust in me and wait on me, because you need to learn your lesson, how many people do we know that are in the midst of learning a lesson, because they have yet to be quiet and trust in their God, listen to what God says, he says, therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you, for the Lord is a God of justice, how blessed are all those who long for him, that's what he wants to do, he longs to have compassion, but you would not listen, you would not wait in silence for God alone, you're too busy to listen to his voice, you have too many other activities that take up your time, that cause you not to run quickly to hear all that he has to say, and when you get there, you refuse to sit in silence, because to sit there in silence is just so deafening to you, you must get up, you must act, you must do, because you're a doer, and because we did not wait for God to act, God says their roles will be reversed, your enemy will pursue you, you won't pursue them, you will flee from them, they won't flee from you, and when one of them comes, thousands of you will flee and run, and all that's left, he says, to your left is a flag on a mountaintop, and as a signal on a hill, all that's going to be left is an abandoned banner on the top of some lonely hill saying we were once here, we were once trusting God, we were once believing in God, but no more, that's all that's going to be left, but I'm compassionate, and I long, long for you to wait upon me, that's our God, remember what the Lord God said, and with this I'll close, Psalm 81 verse 11, but my people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not obey me, the two always go hand in hand, listening and obeying, trusting and obeying, so I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices, so I did, they were stubborn, I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, Psalm 81 verse number 12, oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways, I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries, do you know how quickly God wants to turn your adversaries, do you know how quickly God wants to deal with your enemy, how quickly than you can imagine, and all he asks is that you listen and obey, that's it, just listen and obey, he says verse 15, those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to him and their time of punishment would be forever, but I would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you, oh I want to satisfy you, I want to bless your life unlike you have ever seen before, all I'm asking is that you listen, that's it, and obey, that's it, you know the Christian life is not rocket science, you ever think about that, God's not asking us to do things that we just, oh man we can't do that, you got to be kidding me, who's going to do that, it's not the way the Christian life is, Christian life is just summed up by listening and obeying all that God says in his word, and God says you do that, I'll satisfy you, oh I will satisfy you in a way you have never been satisfied before, that's true blessing from God, do you want that, I do, I want that every day of my life, but I got to listen quickly, and I got to listen quietly, let's pray, father thank you for today Lord and the beautiful truth of your word, I pray father you make us all better listeners that we leave today realizing that Lord what you say in your word is more important than anything in the world, we should drop everything at the moment we hear it when it comes to your word, that we might truly say, speak Lord for your servant is listening as Samuel did, that we might learn to be blessed as he was blessed because of his listening ear, we pray in Jesus name, amen.