A Renewed Ear

Title: A Renewed Ear

Topic: New Years Message

Theme: Prolonging the Days of Christ

A truth worth grasping today is found in Isaiah 53:10. I love the way the New American Standard Bible translates it, “But Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering. He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10)

Introduction: It is that time of the year when we hear those New Year resolutions. Many proclaiming this or that - but there is one I would like to run by you this new years season. 1 Peter 1:13-16 gives us the perfect New Year resolution, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'” Let us pray!

There are three ways to accomplish holiness to God: 1.) Have a “Undefiled, Mouth, we talked about that last week 2.) Have Undefiled Ears and 3.) Have Undefiled Eyes - today we will talk about our ears.

Propositions: I would like to propose to you that the church that gets used of God to carry the message of Christ on to the next generation has Christians who grasp the powerful truths found in this message.

Christians can experience the same kind of life that the Apostle Paul lived. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

King David foresaw of a time when “…future generations will be told about the Lord.” (Psalm 22:30) A time when people of God would “…proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn…” (Psalm 22:31) The Apostle Peter wrote about the work of Christians in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Transitional Sentence: A desire of the heart for Christians should be to have an undefiled ear. Isaiah 50:4-5 says, “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious, I have not drawn back.” (Isaiah 50:4-5) Isaiah 50:4-5 is a passage about Jesus Christ and His relationship with the God the Father.

I like how the New American Standard Bible translates it, "to listen as a disciple (NAS) "The Lord God has opened My ear." Many have convinced themselves that defiled ears are ears that listen to all that is displeasing to God. The real problem is that those who let their ears listen to the call of the flesh, the world and the lies of the devil are people who have no desire to have their spiritual ears tuned to the Holy Spirit of Christ. With Jesus Christ dwelling in the spiritual hearts of born-again Christians, they can enjoy God waking their spiritual ears with an attitude of listening. They can have ears of a learned disciple of Christ. They can have ears that not only hear the call of God but have understanding.

Each and every one of us can fall into a mode of spiritual sleepiness and needs to be awakened daily so we can have a desire to meditate upon God’s commands and precepts. We all need the Lord God to waken us with a desire to be in the Word of God and meditate upon it as we make daily choices in this world. In Luke 21:37-38 we read that Jesus taught every day in the temple and the people got up in the morning to hear Him teach.

Christians have the Word of God and they can ask the Lord to give them a listening heart and be like the disciples of Jesus, have daily teaching of the things of God and of Christ. Here in America, Christians can choose to watch and listen to worldly programming or choose to meditate upon the Word of God through Christian music, books and movies at any time they want. We are a nation that has an abundance of Christian music, DVD’s and Biblical teachings. Today’s messenger listens to the Word of God attentively, submissively and gladly because it is God who has awakened his spiritual heart.