True Blessing from God, Part 2

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today. Truly, Lord, you are a great God and worthy to be praised. And you truly are a holy, holy, holy God. Father, forgive us for our unholiness. Forgive us, Father, for falling so far short of the great standard that you have set. Yet we know because of your love and your grace and your wonderful mercy and kindness that, Lord, you will take us where we are today and move us toward Christlikeness. And we ask that the things we learn today will enable us to live for the holiness of your name.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The prophet Samuel was a tremendous man of God. And there was one thing that necessitated him in terms of his being a great prophet. One thing necessary that he must learn to do before he could ever become a spokesperson for God. And that is, he needed to listen to God. The story is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 3. It reads as follows. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days. Visions were infrequent. And that happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place.

Now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well. And the lamp of God had not yet gone out. And Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. That the Lord called Samuel. And he said, here I am. Then he ran to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. But he said, I did not call you. Lie down again. So he went and lay down. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. But he answered, I did not call my son.

Lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time.

And he arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, go lie down and it shall be if he calls you that you shall say, speak Lord, for thy servant is listening. So Samuel went and laid down in his place. Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, speak for thy servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

And that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. For I've told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity, which he knew because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. So Samuel laid down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, here I am. He said, what is the word that he spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you. And more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that he spoke to you. So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. Then Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail. And all Israel from Dan, even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

Now that's a very familiar story to those of us who have grown up in the church, but it's a story that helps us understand how crucial it is to listen to what God says.

Samuel had to learn to listen if he was going to be a prophet of God, right? He had to speak the things that God told him to speak. Isn't it interesting that this great prophet once learning to listen, had to speak words of judgment to Eli about his family because he knew what his sons did, but he did not rebuke them. So Samuel told him, and God would deal with Eli's sons in the chapters that follow. But isn't it interesting that all of Israel knew that Samuel was confirmed by the Lord. All of Israel knew that a true prophet of God will always speak the words of God, even if the words of God are judgment upon those who need to be judged.

Samuel listened, Samuel responded, and Samuel was obedient to God. And the Bible says that this man was blessed.

The Lord was with him, was he not? And all Israel confirmed that he was a prophet of the Lord. To confirm what Christ said in Luke 11, 28, blessed are those who hear my words and observe them. If you listen to me and you do what I say, you are the blessed person. And Samuel was that blessed man. And as he would go through life, he would begin to speak more and more prominently the words of God as God would give them to him. And God would continue to bless this man's life because he listened and he obeyed.

Well, that's true today as it was in Samuel's day. It's always been that way. For those who listen and obey, there is true blessing that comes upon them from the Lord God. And so we're looking at Luke 11 verses 27 and 28 because they are words of great importance to us today. They're words that determine, listen carefully, whether or not you truly have had a spiritual transformation, not just a moral reformation. They are words that prove that you have done more than just clean up the outside of your life to make yourself look good.

But in reality, there has been something internally that's taken place that has revolutionized your life. Because that's the context of Luke 11. Christ comes against those people who had this outward conformation to religion and contrast them to those who had an inward transformation because of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this woman in Luke 11 who speaks out, who blurts out as Christ is speaking about his mother, talks to us about true blessing. As his mother Mary would see herself as a bondservant, so Samuel would see himself as a servant of the Lord.

Speak Lord for your servant is listening. And it's imperative that we understand that to be a good listener you must be a servant of the Lord, right? That's what Samuel was. That's what Mary the mother of Jesus was. And so we've learned that the Bible speaks about the discipline of listening, the duty of living, and then the delight in learning all that God wants you to learn through listening and obeying. This is Christianity 101. This is the most elementary lesson in Christianity. Learning to listen to what God says.

And so we've begun giving you some principles about what it means to listen. And we told you last week that you need to listen quickly. James chapter 1 verse number 19. Let every man be quick to the hearing of the word. It is something that we do quicker than anything else. This is what we run to. This is what sets us apart from the world. We want to hear what God has to say. We want to know what God has to say on the issue, on the matter, on my marriage, on my finances, on my eternal destiny, on everything.

We want to know what God has to say. We really don't care what anybody else has to say. That's irrelevant to us. What does God have to say? So we are quick to hear what God is going to say. We are ready to hear. And so we listen quickly. And once we run to where we can hear God's word, we sit there and listen.

Number two, quietly. We listen quietly. That is, you know, God gave you two ears and one mouth for a great object lesson. Did he not? Could you imagine if we had two mouths and one ear? We'd be huge. We'd be so huge. We'd lose our ear. You couldn't be able to see it anymore because we would gain so much weight putting food into both mouths. But God gave us two ears and one mouth because he wants us to listen twice as much as we speak. But we don't do that. We love to talk, don't we? But we need to sit and listen quietly.

And so we look at Psalm 62, which says, My soul waits in silence for the Lord. It awaits in silence. And so we sit and listen quietly. That's why James would say in James 1, let every man be quick to the hearing of the word and slow to speaking the word. Because you need to be a listener. And so principle number one, you listen quickly.

Principle number two, you listen quietly. Principle number three, you listen expectantly. You listen expectantly. If you go back to that same Psalm, Psalm 62, it says these words in verse number five, My soul wait in silence for God only for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold, I shall not be shaken. The psalmist said my hope, my expectation is from him. When we listen, we listen not only quickly and quietly, but we sit and listen in great expectation to what God says.

We listen expectantly. We expect God to speak when we go to church. When God's word is open, we expect him to speak. When we spend time in God's word alone, we expect God to speak to us because that's what his word does. His word is the method by which he communicates to us his will for our lives for each and every day. And so when we open the word of God, when we go to church to hear the word of God, we go expectantly. That is, we can't wait to hear what God has to say. I hope that when you come on Sunday mornings, you come like expecting God to show you through his word exactly what it is you should be doing.

I hope there's an expectation there. I know that when I open my Bible and I study my Bible throughout the week, I study it expectantly. I expect God to show me himself. I expect God to show me what it is I should be doing as a pastor, as a father, as a leader, as a husband. I want God to show me through his word. So I listen expectantly. The Bible says over in Psalm 119, verse number 81, these words, with all my heart, I'm sorry, wrong verse, verse 81, my soul languishes for thy salvation.

I wait for thy word. My eyes fail with longing for thy word while I say, when wilt thou comfort me? My soul might be fainting. My sight might be failing, but there is an expectation that I have for God to speak and to answer me. Listen to what the book of Proverbs says. Proverbs chapter eight, verse 32. Now therefore, O sons, listen to me. For blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorpost.

For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. Do you see the expectancy there? He waits daily. He watches expectantly. He listens intently because he wants God to speak. Folks, this is crucial because we need to be not only quick listeners and quiet listeners. We need to be expectant listeners. We expect God to speak. That's why over in Proverbs chapter four, it says this, verse one, hear O sons, the instruction of a father and give attention that you may gain understanding for I give you sound teaching.

Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, then he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live. In other words, Solomon would say, when I was young and when I was little, my father used to say to me these words and I would listen to his instruction. This is what Solomon remembered about his father. He would speak to me the words of God and they said, acquire wisdom, acquire understanding, do not forget her or do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her and she will guard you, love her and she will watch over you. Sons, seek wisdom for in wisdom there's protection. For in wisdom there's direction. You'll be guided. You'll be protected. You'll be sheltered. So when I come to God's word and I begin to listen to what God has to say to me, I listen expectantly for God to speak concerning the issues that are important for him to get across to me. I don't go and listen expectantly because I have an agenda for God to answer. I go expectantly waiting for God to tell me what he wants to tell me based on what he believes is the most important thing for me.

I listen to him expectantly. I want him to speak to me. Remember Acts chapter 10? The man Cornelius, a devout centurion, a devout man, he sought the Lord. He would become that Gentile convert that would open the door to the Gentile world. Peter had received a vision while in Joppa and that vision from God on his rooftop helped him to understand that God was opening the door to the Gentiles. He didn't understand it at first but these men from Cornelius came down from Caesarea to Joppa to get Peter to bring him to Caesarea that he might speak to Cornelius the truth about the living God.

And so these men went down and they got Peter, they moved him to Caesarea and the Bible says these words in verse 31.

Cornelius your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and invite Simon who is called Peter to come to you. He is staying at the house of Simon the tenor by the sea. And so I said to you immediately and you have been kind enough to come. So anyway he knew what God had said and he went immediately and listened and obeyed what God had said. Now then listen carefully we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.

Now folks that one little phrase right there tells you where Cornelius is at. We are here to hear all that the Lord commands. Is that you? Are you here today to hear all that God commands or are you here today because you have an agenda? Are you here today to hear what you want to hear or are you here to hear all that God has commanded? That was Cornelius. There was an expectancy on his part. He wanted to know what the Lord God said and so Peter whatever God commands you to say say it because we're here for one purpose and that's to hear what it is the Lord God has commanded.

That is an expectant listener and that's how we should be. We want to listen quickly yes. We want to listen quietly yes because we don't want there to be distractions. We don't want there to be anything that would that move us away from the intent on listening to the Lord and we want to listen to him expectantly. Expectantly. So important. So Cornelius provides for us an example a model a framework for how it is we listen to the Lord God expectantly but there's more. Not only do we listen quickly quietly.

Now you can you can measure your life against these principles because I don't know what you do at home and I don't know what you do in the confines of your office at work or how you live your life and the privacy of where it is you go but you listen quickly quietly expectantly and then you listen listen carefully openly openly that is as a psalmist said in Psalm 119 18 open my eyes Lord that I may behold what wonderful things out of thy law. Now you must understand what the psalmist said open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things out of thy law.

Isaiah 9 verse number 6 says that one of the titles the Messiah is that he will be called what wonderful right. In the book of Judges we realize that the name of God is wonderful. So the psalmist says open my eyes that I might behold the wonderful things out of your law. Those wonderful things pertain to God his character his nature his identity. In other words when I come to the scriptures I am listening for God to tell me exactly who he is exactly how he operates exactly what he wants me to learn about him.

That's why so many of us don't listen and don't hear what God's saying because we don't come because we want to know God we come because we want to know something else other than God. We're going to need to come to know God. I mean what else is there to know? I mean what is it you want to know? The Lord God said through Jeremiah let not the mighty man boast in his might or the rich man boast in his riches right but let him who boasts boast in this that he understands and knows me that I am the God who exercises loving kindness and justice and mercy on the face of the earth.

If you want to boast about something get the fact that you know who I am. And so we we go and we listen openly. Why? Because you know what so many times we don't listen with with an open heart and an open mind to the things of God. We hear things that we don't like. So what do we do? The hair on the back of our neck stands up and we determine in our heart well I don't want to do that. That that's not for me. So we don't listen openly to what God has to say. We really don't want our eyes to be open to to the truth of God because that would require us to change our our behavior, our attitude, our lifestyle.

But we need to be open to all that the Word of the Lord says because the Word of God is going to comfort us as well as convict us. So we're we're really eager to open up to the comfort of God's Word but we don't want the convicting of God's Word. So when Samuel hears the Word of the Lord and realizes that he's got to tell Eli, Eli you didn't parent right. You blew it as a dad Eli. Now I'll let you know that God's going to judge you and your boys because you were a bad dad. Could you imagine going to church and hearing that sermon if you're Eli?

Wouldn't be going back to that church because that wasn't very comfortable was it? Nobody wants to hear they're a bad dad. Oh except those who are open to what God has to say in His Word. Mark it down. Those who are open want to know the correction that will set them straight that they might honor and glorify the name of God. Oh yes we want the comfort but we must be open to the correction that comes that that that stinging rebuke that says you know you didn't do it right. Go back and make it right.

Go back and ask for forgiveness. Go back and humble yourself that you might be set on the right course that you might honor and glorify the name of God. Would it be that everybody who came to a Bible believing church and heard the Word of God and it's set to correct their broken lives their bent lives that they would say you know what I want to be set straight and therefore Lord I will obey and I will follow what your Word says. I've listened expectantly and I've listened openly to all that you have to say and Lord I do want to follow your your Word more than anything else.

That's why James says back to James chapter 1 verse number 19. Let every man be quick to hear the Word of God slow to speak the Word of God and slower at becoming angry at what you hear the Word of God say. Why? Because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. That's what he goes on to say James 1 19. The anger of man you get angry at what you hear the Word of God say it's not going to produce the righteousness of God in you. You got to be open to hear what God has to say and willing to respond to the authority of God in your life that you might glorify his precious name.

Are you open to what God says to you through his Word? Are you open to receive correction when you need to be corrected? Are you open to receive rebuke when you have violated the truth of God's Holy Word? Are you open to submit to the authority of God in your life? You know you know as a pastor you you know you know I know I wear glasses and I'm supposed to wear glasses that is and I don't wear them so I can always see what's going on out there. But you know I always know when you're with me and when you're not.

Don't think that I don't know whether or not you're tracking with me when I'm preaching. I might not see so good but I know a lot and I can know when you're tracking with what God's Word's saying. I know it better than you think I know and although my eyesight might not be able to see the clock in the back which is irrelevant to me anyway. The body language that you give off is clearly evident. Oh by the way not just to me but everybody around you. They know how it is you receive the Word of God.

If you're listening intently expectantly and openly and quietly and quickly. There's something about a Christian that sets him so far away from the world and that's how they hear. How they hear. That's why Jesus says blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it because my people they can't wait to hear what I have to say.

Is that the way you are? My people just can't wait to hear what I have to say God says. They hang on every word that I speak. Look at the ministry of Christ.

Those who followed him hung on every word. Peter said when Christ said in John 6 when many many people turned away he says you're going to go away too. Peter said where else are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. Your words have value. Your words are potent. Your words give us life. Where else are we going to go to hear that? We want to hear Lord what you have to say and that's the way we should be. So we listen openly. We're open to rebuke. We're open to correction. We're open to comfort.

We're open to whatever God commands because we want to listen to God speak and then we listen reverently. We listen reverently. On the man of transfiguration God the Father said this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Why? Because he's my son. He will only speak the words that I command him to speak. You listen to what he has to say. So you listen reverently because it's God who speaks. It's God who speaks. You see when you go and you you begin to to listen to the word of God. You read the word of God.

You're set to hear what God has to say. You're hearing the master creator of the world. The architect of all of life's events. The God who rules all of mankind. He is speaking. This is not some preacher preaching. This is the Lord God of heaven speaking to you through his word. And so therefore I'm going to listen reverently. There's a respect in listening to the word of God. You know that when as a parent you have a semblance of authority because you're a parent. But isn't it doesn't it irk you when your children don't really listen to what you're saying and you're the authority figure in their life.

Kind of goes in one ear and out the other. You show me a parent who doesn't listen to their a child who doesn't listen to their parents and I'll show you a child who's going to grow up not only disrespecting authority but going to have a hard time even following what God has to say in his word. And so as parents we want our children to listen respectfully. So we teach our children as you would teach your children to listen to those in authority with respect. Why? Because they're in authority. Well the Lord God of the universe is the supreme authority.

He's the Lord God and so we listen not just respectfully. We listen reverently because it's God himself who speaks. That's why Samuel said speak Lord for your servant is listening. If I listen reverently I see myself as a servant. My God is Lord and the master follows or the servant follows the master's words. The Bible says in Psalm 138 verse number two thy thy word of the Lord is magnified even as thy very name.

So so the importance of God's word is crucial right because it's magnified it's lifted up even as the very name of Jesus. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So God's word is on the same level the same plane as his name. So when God's word is spoken I listen reverently. It's God who speaks. Psalm 33 says verse 6 by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.

He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Why? For he spoke it was done he commanded and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of his heart from generation to generation blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. They listen reverently to God speaking. They want to hear the word of the Lord. What does God say?

And so I know that I'm a good listener when I am quick to hear what God has to say. And as quick as I am at getting there to hear it I am just as quiet in listening to all that he says. Because I know that he's going to speak a word about himself to me and I need to hear it so I go across everything that I thought was right and he's going to correct me he's going to rebuke me but I'm open because I'm going to listen openly to all that God says and then I'm going to listen reverently because it's he who speaks.

It's God who speaks and I want to follow what the word of the Lord says. Then I listen gratefully. I listen gratefully. I am thankful for what I've heard even though it might be a stinging rebuke against my life. I listen gratefully. In other words the psalmist has said in psalm 119 verse number 62 these words. At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous ordinances. There is praise that's there. Psalm 119 verse number 7 I shall give thanks to thee with a brightness of heart when I learn thy righteous judgments.

In other words when I hear how right your judgments are specifically when they relate to my life I shall arise and give thanks to thee because you have spoken. The bible says in psalm 63 these words psalm 63 verse number 1 oh God thou art my God I shall seek thee earnestly my soul thirsts for thee my flesh yearns for thee in a dry and weary land where there is no water thus I have beheld thee in the sanctuary to see thy power and thy glory because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips will praise thee so I will bless thee as long as I live I will lift up my hands in thy name my soul is satisfied as with morrow and fatness and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips when I remember thee on my bed I meditate on thee in the night watches for thou has been my help and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy my soul clings to thee.

I listen gratefully. I get up and I say thank you Jesus for speaking. Thank you father for what you have said to me. How good would it be if when we left on Sunday mornings we left on Wednesday nights or we got up from listening to the word of God being preached in some other location or the reading of God's word we spend time in God's word listening to God speak to us through his word that we would get up and say thank you lord I'm grateful for what you've said for now I know not only who you are but what you want me to do and I want to enact those things and I want to I want to listen with a grateful heart.

I listen gratefully. So I ask myself the question how come how come and we're not going to finish the outline today just in case you were wondering so it will be a third part that will be next week just in case you were wondering how I'm going to get through all these points why is it we don't listen quickly why don't we run to church when the doors are open why is something else more important to us on Sunday or or Wednesday as to why we wouldn't run to hear the word of God speak oh why is it that when I get there I don't sit quiet enough to listen I'm so distracted I'm so there are there are so many other things that I may get you today there are so many things in your mind going around about your business about your marriage about your family about your finances that you just you just can't concentrate you can't sit quiet enough because there's so many distractions in your life you might be quick to get in here but distracted once you arrive you don't sit quietly or don't listen expectantly I'm expecting God to do something else other than what he necessarily has for me to expect from him or I don't listen openly or reverently so therefore I can't listen gratefully because I had nothing to thank God for because I was too busy not listening to what he had to say how come how come well back in 1958 that's the year I was born by the way between 1958 and 1960 in Fort Sills Oklahoma they gathered together men who had enlisted in the army and they began to train them and instruct them they would put them in a classroom and and they would begin to go through the issues of warfare and they found a common denominator among all the men in the room they were bored some of them fell asleep during the during the lecture they fell asleep they yawned they sat back and looked disinterested and they wondered why well five years later between 1965 and 1967 in the same city in the same state in the same classroom with different soldiers there was a completely different attitude nobody fell asleep nobody did in fact they were so eager to listen that they were always there on time never late taking copious notes intent in understanding everything they needed to know about warfare what was the difference those men were going to Vietnam they knew they were going to war they knew they were going to battle and they didn't want to miss anything because they were fearful for their lives we come to listen but we don't know we're involved in a battle we don't know we're going to war we don't know anything about being a soldier for jesus christ we don't understand that we are involved in facing the enemy every single day of our lives and if you could grasp that to understand that that that satan is at work to destroy your church he is he wants to destroy our church he wants to destroy your family your marriage your children he wants to destroy your testimony in the marketplace so he is doing all he can to bring temptation your way to bring all kinds of things your way all kinds of distress all kinds of turmoil all kinds of disappointment so that you can lose your testimony lose your family lose your church lose your marriage lose it all because he doesn't care about where you're going he doesn't care that you're trying to honor the lord he just wants to destroy your testimony your ministry and we're so blind we don't even see it we we think our enemy is our boss or our enemy is our spouse or our enemy is uh the guy they're not your enemy you're not at war with them you're at war satan and those are things you cannot see but things you need to be aware of that once you understand the battle you're quick to hear what the commanding officer has to say about the battle right sure you are and you want to sit so quietly that you don't miss anything he's going to say because if you miss it it might really be a hindrance to your personal situation today or tomorrow and when you hear it you are so expectant that you can't wait to write it down to put it in action and even when he says you've gone to battle the wrong way you're going to say you know what you're right i'm fighting the wrong enemy here i need to be fighting the right enemy and you're open to all the ssa because it's the lord god of the universe who is your commending officer and you listen reverently hanging on every word and then when you leave you say thank you jesus thank you thank you thank you that now i know my marching orders for the day and i'm ready to do i'm ready do that but listening is only half the issue how do you know you have listened listen carefully how do you know you have listened quickly quietly expectantly openly reverently and gratefully because you might be sitting there saying well i did those things what's the measuring stick that tells that's how you've listened well see that's why the word of god is just so relevant so practical so so easy to understand it's the second aspect the lord god hear and observe you've heard now you do if you hear and don't do you didn't hear you might think you heard but you did not james says james says very quickly very simply that look you go and you look into the the mirror you behold yourself in a mirror you see a blemish you don't deal with the blemish it's there instead you turn around and walk away you don't fix what's there you are a forgetful hearer and not a doer of the word of god you got to do what god says you have to obey what god says it was a late vance havner who wrote in his book jesus only these words he says let it never be forgotten that although we may do nothing about the word we hear the word will do something to us the same sun melts ice and hardens clay and the word of god humbles our heartens the human hearts truth heard and not acted upon is a dangerous thing spiritual impulses which are not translated into action have a disastrous reaction it is well known that that many movie goers who are continually being excited and stirred in the world of make-believe become emotional drunkards but there are also religious drunkards and bible conference drunkards and church drunkards who go from meeting to meeting constantly being stirred but doing nothing about it until their souls become fed up their morals or their moral muscles deteriorate and they lose their capacity for being aroused presently they they suffer from a moral letdown a religious hangover they delude themselves they have heard the best preachers they have read the best books they have had their ears tickled and their emotions thrilled but as with a stimulant the doses have to be increased and after a while there is no effect no matter what they read or no matter what they hear an alarm clock that fairly blasts us out of bed on the first morning may eventually fail to arouse us if we continually ignore it something like that happens to those who hear the word of god and do not do the word of god he is so right we need to be not just hearers of the word but doers of the word in fact psalm 119 verse number 60 says it this way or verse 57 now through verse 60 the lord is my portion i have promised to keep thy words i entreated thy favor with all my heart be gracious to me according to thy word i considered my waist and turned my feet to thy testimonies i hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments the psalmist says i hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments as quick as i was to hear the commandments i was just as quick to obey the commandments i did not delay we've told our children over the years delayed obedience is disobedience right delayed obedience is disobedience when the lord god speaks to delay in responding is disobedience so you respond immediately because you've listened reverently expectantly to the king of the universe who speaks to you psalm 119 verse 129 says this thy testimonies are wonderful therefore my soul observes them why do i observe the law of god because thy testimonies are wonderful they're wonderful and therefore i can't wait to obey me this becomes crucial for us why because there are a lot of people who audit church they come and listen but they don't do anything you ever met those people they listen but they don't do anything they audit church they come and they hear and they might think the sermon's good and they might think that what they heard was good but but but they're not gonna do anything about what they heard we can't do that because jesus is blessed are those who not just hear but they observe there's a discipline in listening and there's a duty in living there's a duty to obey what god says in his word and so john he would say it this way by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments the one who says i have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him now that is so black and white john says if you say you know him and you refuse to do what he says in his word he doesn't say maybe go back and pray about it some more he says very clearly you're a liar the truth is not in you how could he say that how could he be so black and white so strong because christ said if you love me what you'll obey me that's what jesus said if you love me you'll obey me and then john goes on to say these words but whoever keeps his word in him the love of god has truly been perfected by this we know that we are in him how do you know that you are in christ john tells you he says the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked first john 2 verse number 6 so how do you know you abide in christ you want to walk as jesus walked that's how you know you know you listen but you live in light of the word of god you follow what god's word says he would go on to say this in first john 3 verse number 10 he said by this the children of god and the children of the devil are obvious anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of god nor the one who does not love his brother those who are not interested in practicing the righteousness of god are not of a god who who truly is righteous the one who doesn't love his brother then the love of god has not been perfected in him he can't claim to know god and so it's imperative that we learn not only to listen but to observe what god says in his word jesus said in john 13 verse number 17 if you know these things blessed are you if you do them you see the constant refrain is this if you listen and you obey you will you will be blessed you'll be blessed by god so you have to ask yourself is your life today being blessed by god is your work being blessed by god is your marriage being blessed by god is god honoring himself in those things if not you must go back and ask yourself where i have listened but not obeyed where i've fallen short in not being obedient to god it doesn't mean because there are troubles god's not blessing your marriage don't don't hear me say that because a lot of time through the troubles comes the intimacy that we develop with god that goes far beyond anything had there not been any difficulties at all and god uses those difficult experiences to draw me closer to him that i might be quick to to hear what he has to say that i might be open to to the rebuke that he has to give that i might be able to balance submission to his authority and say yes lord thank you for what you've heard for without this difficulty without this trial i would not have been ready to hear to listen to obey and now i am now father i will obey you i will gratefully thank you for all that you have given to me and i will obey your word as best as i possibly can through your spirit's help and then watch how god begins to bless the obedient person because he wants to live in the light of his glory oh folks this is so crucial it's so important to us it's it's it's the basic of our of our christian life do we listen do we listen because we know that we're engaged in a battle that's way beyond anything we can handle in the flesh we cannot so it must be handled in the spirit well that only comes through the spiritual resources that god himself gives so therefore i must be in his word on my knees trusting him for all that he has to give and all that he wants to do and so i come to listen because i want to know what god says and then i want to obey how do i do that how do i obey what god says well that's next week you come next week we'll show you the principles of obedience let's pray together father we thank you for today and all that you do help us lord not to be just hearers of the word but doers of the word that we might experience the true blessing that god himself gives to those who honor him above all things we pray in jesus name amen