Grace to Hear (Part Two)
Text: Luke 8:4 – 21
So this morning, we are going to look again at Luke 8 but we’re going to read a little further this morning than we did last time. And we’re going to again be talking about God’s grace, and having ears to hear… If you remember from last time, we said that the text was saying that having “ears to hear” means you’re a person who can understand the truth of God, and process that truth, and apply it correctly… and if you are a person who has a correct understanding of salvation… and understanding of God’s sovereignty in salvation, then you got that by grace. It’s a gift that has been given to you from God, by His grace. And so we’re going to continue to dig into that this morning.
(READ Luke 8:4 – 21)
Ok, so there was a crowd of people along with the disciples… Luke describes it as a “GREAT CROWD.” This may be hundreds of people, or even thousands, but verse 9 tells us that it was only the disciples who actually approached Jesus and sought out understanding of the meaning of the parable. Everyone in the crowd should’ve done that, but only the disciples did. And Jesus told His disciples that TO THEM it had been GIVEN. In other words, it was a gift of God’s grace to give understanding to His disciples. That’s why Jesus used parables… Jesus explained to the disciples that the whole reason He was teaching in a parable was so that people WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND, because to them it had not been given.
So what we’re seeing in this passage is that there are two kinds of hearing… One is with our physical ears. The ability to hear sounds, and noises, and things like that. And the other kind of hearing is to hear with “spiritual ears”… Which allows a person to rightly understand what God is saying. The disciples had ears to hear. The crowds didn’t. The crowds heard the words of Jesus, but didn’t understand. To them, Jesus was just giving a basic lesson on farming. To them, Jesus was saying, “Make sure you sow your seeds in the right spot.”
But as we all know, there was a lot more to it than that.
You see; 1st Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is folly (or foolishness) to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”
And 2nd Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural person DOES NOT accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (or foolishness) to him, and he IS NOT ABLE to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
So if we go back to our text here in Luke and we look at verse 18, listen to what Jesus says, “Take care then how you hear.” Now this is interesting to me, because we tend to read that and not give it much thought… How many times have we all said (Myself included)… “Oh I hope the pastor gives a good sermon today.” “I hope the Sunday School teacher gives us a good lesson.” But did you guys know that the Bible actually talks very little… and I mean VERY LITTLE about preaching style. It’s concerned with content, but not style. And we all do that. We say, “I like the WAY this guy preaches, and the WAY this guy teaches.” But the main thing the Bible talks about when a pastor is preaching, or when a teacher is teaching, or when a Christian is sharing the Gospel – is the CONTENT of their message. Not their preaching or teaching style. In other words, “WHAT” we say, rather than “HOW” we go about saying it. Preaching style is something of our own personal preference. And the point here is that preaching is important… I’d even say it’s essential based on what Scripture says and teaches… but hearing is also extremely important.
“Take care how you hear!”
There’s a story about an older couple who were driving from Dallas Texas to Oklahoma City. They were both in their mid 80’s and as sometimes happens, the wife had a serious hearing problem. Anyway… just as they crossed the state line into Oklahoma they were pulled over by a Highway Patrolman for speeding. The Trooper asked the husband if he knew how fast he was going and the wife, not being able to hear very well asked, “What did he say?” The husband replied, “He asked if I knew I was speeding.”
Looking at the husband’s driver’s license the officer said, “I see you’re from Texas.” And the husband said, “Yes officer, we’re from Dallas.” Again the wife asked, “What did you just say?” And the husband told her, “I said we’re from Dallas.” The State Trooper shook his head and just making conversation said, “The meanest woman I ever knew was from Dallas.” The wife again asked, “What did he just say?” To which the husband replied, “He said he thinks he knows you.” (Taken and adapted from an illustration found on Sermon Central).
We have to take care how we hear. That’s what Jesus says here in our text.
In other words, when we are listening to God’s Word, don’t be flippant about it. Don’t tune out. Give your attention to what you’re hearing. Now why is that so important? Well, because of what Jesus says in the last part of verse 18, “… For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”
And people say, “What does that mean exactly? To him who has more will be given (Has what?) and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away?” Well… remember Church, context determines meaning. So jump back up to verse 8 and look at the last part of the verse, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Why? Because – whoever has, to him, more will be given. If you have spiritual ears, you’ll be given understanding. Go down to verse 15 (READ)… what does that person have? An honest and good heart. What are they given – fruit. They bear fruit with patience. You see; verse 11 tells us that the seed is God’s Word… the problem isn’t with the seed in this parable, it’s with the soil. The seed’s going to produce after its kind, but if the soil is bad… if the heart isn’t right… if you don’t have ears to hear… then you’re not going to bear that fruit. So if you have ears to hear, if your heart is good ground, you’ll be given more.
And whoever doesn’t have… what’s that?
Well, again; the context tells us. The one who doesn’t have… That’s the three types of bad soil that Jesus mentions in the parable. It’s talking about the failure to hear correctly. Look at the first soil… there in verse 12 – they think they have the Word, but the devil comes and steals it away… Verse 13, the second soil, they think they have the Word, and they even received it with joy, but they had no roots, and gave up when things got hard. They had a superficial faith, not a deep, strong faith.
There’s an old story of a Samurai in Japan, who was a great swordsman and martial artist. And he was teaching the young students how to become Samurai, but one particular student was struggling, and was becoming frustrated. So the old sensei (teacher) took the young man outside of the dojo, and asked him what was going on. The young student said, “Master, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get how to do it. All the other students are so far ahead of me”. About that time they had entered the garden and the old Samurai pointed at a small bush and said, “Do you see that bush?” And I was like “Yeah.” Then he pointed at a bamboo plant, it was probably 15 feet tall and he said, “Do you see that bamboo plant?” And I was like, “Uhm… yeah.” And he said to me, “I planted both of those at the same time. The bush came up quickly, but a year went by and no bamboo. The bush continued to grow but another year went by, and no bamboo. The third year, the bush reached the height it is now, but no bamboo. Finally, in the 4th year the bamboo sprouted, and now 5 years later, look at how tall it is. The bush grew up quickly, but the bamboo spent all that time growing roots.”
Some people never grow spiritual roots… then when a test comes along, they give up… they say it’s not worth it. What they thought they had; is taken away.
Look at verse 14 – they think they have the Word of God, but the cares of this world, and the riches and pleasures of this life. They get too caught up trying to keep up with the Jones of the world. They want the what the world can offer them, and forget that everything the world offers is temporary. They get focused on all the things going on in the world, and what they thought they had; is taken away from them… That’s what Jesus is saying here… “To the one who doesn’t have; even if he thinks he does have it, it’s going to be taken away.”
How are you hearing the Word of God? Are you taking care how you hear? Are you applying yourself to understanding? Are you like the disciples who came to Jesus and wanted Him to explain the parable. Or are you like these other people, the crowds?
See there’s hearing that hears the words, but it’s gone as soon as you walk out the church doors.
By the time you’ve finished lunch if someone asked you what the Sunday sermon was, you couldn’t tell them. And we’ve all been there. Then, there’s a hearing that lasts until times get hard, and a person starts drifting away from God, and starts looking for answers and meaning in other places. And saying, “Man this Christianity stuff isn’t worth it.” “Man this going to church stuff isn’t working.” Then there’s a hearing that seems to be doing well, until we take our eyes off of Jesus and start chasing after riches and pleasure, and concerning ourselves too much with the world.
But – There’s also this other kind of hearing… the kind that ultimately bears fruit and results in mature believers who follow the Lord, and love the Lord, and live for the Lord. You see; that’s the kind of “hearing” that Jesus is talking about. He’s not just saying, “Hey you need to hear the sounds coming out of My mouth.” He’s saying that we need to understand, and apply His Word.
John 10:27 (READ).
So Jesus’ sheep hear His voice. He knows them… and what else do they do? THEY FOLLOW HIM!
Now go back to Luke 8 and look at what Jesus says in verses 16 & 17 from our text. Do you catch that? What Jesus is saying is “Hey, if you have ‘ears to hear’ and if it’s been given to you to understand – YOU ARE going to bear fruit eventually. It’s going to happen.” If you don’t bear fruit… then the soil was bad… but if the soil is good YOU WILL BEAR FRUIT!
And if that still wasn’t enough evidence of what Jesus was saying, look at what He says in verse 21 of our text… “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the Word of God and DO IT.”
Church, please understand me here. It’s a sad thing when I see people who have friends or family members who aren’t showing signs of being saved, and they say to me.. “Well pastor, I know that the seed was sown, and that they’ve heard the Word.” But if it’s been five or six years and there’s been no change, you might want to think about re-planting some of that seed… you might want to think about sharing the Gospel with them again. If you guys who farm went out and planted some winter wheat and it didn’t grow in a year, would you not plant the following year, and just say, “Well I know the seed was planted year ago, so I’m just going to wait until it springs up?” NO… you give it a little time, but if too much time goes by, you plant again. If it doesn’t grow again… then you know you’ve probably got a problem with the soil… you need to fertilize it, and add nutrients to it.
Sometimes we have to share the Gospel again, and again, and we have to pray that God would make the heart able to receive it. You know… make it good ground. We have to pray that God would change the hard heart to a soft heart. We have to pray that we would grow deep and strong roots. And we have to pray that we don’t get distracted by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world. We have to stay focused and stay on mission.
And so Church, that brings the question to us. Is our heart fertile ground? Do we take care how we hear? Are we bearing fruit in our lives?
IT all starts with God’s grace and with knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior… That’s how you get your heart to be good ground.
CLOSING
