Illus: One woman’s three year old daughter, Beverly, was playing with her toys. Her mother, who was folding laundry across the room, noticed Beverly's shirt was dirty and needed to be changed. After calling two times with no response, her mother gave her the full three name call: "Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?" Beverly answered, "Yes, Mama. My ears did, but my legs didn't."
Many parents are thrilled to send their child off to join the Army, Navy, Marines or the Air Force. WHY? Because they have an ulterior motive. They know that when they join one of these branches of service, they are going to learn what obedience is.
Illus: A friend often told me about the problems he had getting his son to clean his room. The son would always agree to tidy up, but then wouldn’t follow through. After high school, the young man joined the Marine Corps. When he came home for leave after basic training, his father asked him what he had learned in the service. “Dad,” he said. “I learned what ‘now’ means.” (Contributed by Jan King, Humor in Uniform, Readers Digest, May, 1996, p. 174.)
Illus: Oswald Chambers said that the root of all sin is the suspicion that God is not good.
This is so true! The reason that children and adults disobey the Lord, is because the devil has brainwashed them to believe that the SINFUL LIFE IS FUN, and the CHRSTIAN LIFE IS FILLED WITH MISERY!
But reality shows us this is not true. Look around at all the lost people and observe the misery surrounding their lives.
The reason God tells us not to do something is for our good. He is not trying to make us miserable!
Illus: In Josh McDowell’s book called the “New man,” he illustrates how obeying God’s Word is for our good. He tells how a High School guy wanted to go swimming with his girlfriend at midnight. The neighbors down the block had a pool, and he knew it. So they ran down there, scaled the fence even though there were “No Trespassing” and “Do Not Enter” signs. Just as he hit the diving board, the girl yelled, but it was too late. There was only a foot of water in the pool. He broke his neck, and he’s in therapy to this day. He didn’t realize that the signs on the fence - the precepts - would have protected him. (Josh McDowell, New Man, March/April 1995, p. 55)
We tell our children to do certain things because we want the best for them, and certainly do not want to see them hurt in any way! But as parents, we get frustrated because they seem to have a hearing problem.
The problem of people not hearing what is said is not limited to children alone. Just think how much it must grieve our Heavenly Father, when He has given us the Bible, His Word, and we choose to not listen to His instructions.
I want to quickly look at some different types of hearers in the Bible. First there are the...
I. FAKE HEARERS
Jer. 5:21 “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; WHICH HAVE EARS, AND HEAR NOT:”
What a blessing that God gave us ears with which to hear the sounds around us.
When we are young, we take for granted our eye sight and hearing. As we grow older, and eyes and ears are not as good as they once were, WE THEN START TO RECOGNIZE HOW BLESSED WE WERE WHEN THEY WERE FUNCTIONING AS THEY SHOULD!
HEARING LOSS IS A TERRIBLE THING! But while we all recognize it is a terrible thing PHYSICALLY, we do not recognize how terrible it is when someone has a SPIRITUAL HEARING PROBLEM!
Some people go to church each Sunday and appear to listen to the Word of God as it is preached and taught. But the fact is, they HEARD the message, BUT THEY DIDN’T HEAR!
Illus: President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling that big smile, and saying the usual things at all those White House receptions. So, one evening he decided to find out whether anybody was paying attention to what he was saying.
As each person came up to him with extended hand, he flashed that big smile and said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning."
People would automatically respond with comments such as "How lovely!" or "Just continue with your great work!"
Nobody listened to what he was saying, except one foreign diplomat. When the president said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning," the diplomat responded softly, "I'm sure she had it coming to her."
Listen, many have FAKE HEARING PROBLEMS, this is why many of the folks can sit under some of these television preachers that preach things that this Bible does not teach, and no one will ever confront them about it. Why? Because they are not really listening to what is being said. If they did, they would know what they are preaching is not in the Scriptures.
In their world of emotionalism, they are on such a high that the preacher can preach out of a Sear’s and Roebuck catalog, and they will go out the door telling him how much they enjoyed the sermon preached from God’s Word.
Illus: For example, some folks have been singing the same church hymns for fifty years. But yet when what they are going to sing is announced, they have to grab a hymnal, because they do not know the words after singing that same hymn for fifty years.
WHY DON’T THEY KNOW THESE WORDS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS? Because they HEAR those beautiful words of those hymns over and over again, but those words have no meaning to them whatsoever, because they have been faking worshipping God in song.
Some do a great job of faking that they are listening to the Word of God. But some do not even bother to fake hearing the Word of God. I am convinced that some folks can sit up in church while the Word of God is being preached, and sleep with their eyes open.
What a shame to sit where the Word of God is being preached and not have ears to hear it. There are the FAKE HEARERS and there are the ...
II. FORGETFUL HEARERS
James 1:22 24 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and STRAIGHTWAY FORGETTETH what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
The FORGETFUL HEARER HEARS the message, BUT SOON FORGETS what the Lord told him to do.
There are some unusual things that happen to us when we start to grow old. Someone said, “You can tell you are growing old” when…
• You and your teeth don't sleep together
• You try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any
• At the breakfast table you hear snap, crackle, and pop, and you're not eating cereal
• When you wake up looking like your driver's license picture
• When your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio
• When happy hour is a nap
• When you say something to your kids that your mother said to you, and you always hated it
• When all you want for your birthday is to not be reminded of your age
• Your idea of weight lifting is standing up
• It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired
• You sit in a rocking chair and can't get it going
• The pharmacist has become your new best friend
• Getting "lucky" means you found your car in the parking lot
• Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt - doesn't work
• You sink your teeth into a steak - and they stay there
• You finally get your head together and your body starts falling
apart
• You wonder how you could be over the hill when you don't even remember being on top of it
• Your memory is shorter and your complaining lasts longer
But it seems like one of the most distinguishing problems with old age is our memory.
Illus: People blame age for forgetfulness. We have heard the term “senior moment” used to excuse it.
This is a problem for some of the elderly people, and it is a physical problem they have no control over. But most folk’s problem is not PHYSICAL, but SPIRITUAL! The Word of God seems to go IN ONE EAR and OUT THE OTHER.
The reason that many can not remember the Word of God is because the Word of God is not important enough for them to remember.
Generally those things that we consider to be important, WE REMEMBER!
Illus: What would you say about a man who forgot to show up for his wedding? Do you think he could convince the bride that she meant a great deal to him? I DO NOT THINK SO!
Illus: There used to be a television commercial that E.F. Hutton, the broker, produced. When he gave out financial advice, they would say, “When E.F. Hutton talks everyone listens!”
But listen, when God speaks to a person they ought to listen!
Many of us can remember times when the Lord spoke to us in a service. Perhaps it was to:
• Put away a particular sin in our life
• Reconcile things with another Christian
• Witness to a particular person
• Give toward a particular project
We heard God speak to our hearts, but later we forgot all about what God told us to do. But the reason we forgot was because we did not revere His Word, and consider it to be important enough to remember.
There are FAKE HEARERS, FORGETFUL HEARERS and there are ...
III. FAITHLESS HEARERS
Matt. 13:55-58 “Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And HE DID NOT MANY MIGHTY WORKS THERE BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF.”
FAITHLESS HEARERS HEAR, BUT THEY DO NOT BELIEVE THE MESSENGER OR THE MESSAGE!
These people had the greatest teacher/preacher that ever walked on this earth. But all they could see was a carpenter’s son that stood in front of them.
But notice the penalty for their rejecting the Word of God. The Bible said, “HE DID NOT MANY MIGHTY WORKS THERE BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF”.
The same can be said today, God is not able to do mighty works in our churches, because they reject the MESSAGE and the MESSENGER!
They heard a human voice delivering the MESSAGE, and they attached it to a HUMAN MESSAGE. They thought it was the voice of a man, not the voice of God.
There are FAKE HEARERS, FORGETFUL HEARERS, FAITHLESS HEARERS, and there are ...
IV. FINICKY HEARERS
2 Tim. 4:3 “For the time will come when THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”
They hear, but only what they choose to hear, and they only obey what they choose to obey. They have “selective hearing”.
Illus: They remind us of a dear Christian by the name of Red Darby, that lived in Columbia, South Carolina. Red had bad hearing, and he had to wear a hearing aid to assist him in hearing. Sometimes, while he was trying to read the newspaper, his wife Mildred would ask him to take out the trash or do some other odd job around the house. Mildred said there were times she would ask him to do something while he was reading the newspaper, and she would see him reach to his hearing aid, and he would turn it off, and this would provide him with the excuse he needed!
Illus: Years ago, the Reader’s Digest let it be known they were going to produce a condensed Bible that would take less time to read. They were going to select certain passages of the Bible they considered to be important, and place those passages in this condensed version of the Bible. The announcement caused an uproar among Bible-believers. Why? Because no one has a right to tamper with the Word of God and exclude any portion of the Bible. NO ONE!
Christians do not have the right to be SELECTIVE IN OUR HEARING of the Word of God. But there are some today who reject the Word of God when it...
• Goes against their lifestyle - living in sin
• Tells them to stop doing something they like to do
• Tells them to start doing something they don’t want to do
• Tells them to give God some of their time and money
As long as the Bible tells them to do what they want to do, they will accept it and obey.
This kind of hearing is called “Selective Hearing”. That is, they hear, but they select what part they want to hear.
Illus: It is a little like bringing a child to a buffet meal. There are many vegetables available:
• There are peas
• There are carrots
• There are Brussels sprouts
• There are string beans
But the child will bypass the vegetables, and select the hamburger, hot dogs and French fries.
It is not a choice made based on what is of nutritional value, it is a choice made on what the child DECIDES he wants!
We live in a time when it is convenient to shop around for a church, like you would shop for a used car. People have different criteria for their selection. Some liberal Christians want:
• A preacher who is not loud
• A preacher who does not preach more than 10 to 15 minutes
• A preacher who only preaches about love, kindness, etc..
• A preacher who uses a watered down version of the Bible
• A church where nothing is expected of them
• A church that will entertain them (and provide snacks)
• A church that is centered on music not preaching
• A church where giving is not emphasized
They will “shop around” until they think they have found what they want. But even after they find their ideal church, they will still pick and choose what they will hear and obey when the Word is preached!
Psa. 50:16-17 “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and CASTEST MY WORDS BEHIND THEE.”
You can expect the wicked of this world to reject the Word of God. The only time they will use the Word of God is when they can use it to prove their point, or to get their way.
But Bible Christians don’t select what portions of the Scripture they are going to accept.
There are FAKE HEARERS, FORGETFUL HEARERS, FAITHLESS HEARERS, FINICKY HEARERS, but I am glad to tell you also there are-
IV. FAITHFUL HEARERS
Matt. 7:24 25 “Therefore WHOSOEVER HEARETH these sayings of mine, AND DOETH them, I will liken him unto A WISE MAN, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
Praise the Lord for believers who will come to the place of worship, and listen to the Word of God as it is taught, and preached, and then obey the voice of God.
It is refreshing to see people listening intently, with their Bibles opened, taking notes, who want to hear and understand and obey the Word of God!
These are the hearers that God blesses. May God help us to be...
• HEARERS OF HIS WORD
• DOERS OF HIS WORD!
James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Conclusion:
Illus: I am reminded of the TV commercial for cell phones. The man is talking to someone on the other end and he says, “Can you hear me now?” He moves to a new location and repeats the process. Each time the person on the other end of the phone says that they can hear him.
God is talking to you today.
• Can you hear Him now here in church?
• When you get home, will you hear Him then?
• When you get to school tomorrow, will you hear Him then?
• When you get to work, will you hear Him then?
We looked at several types of “HEARERS” today. We looked at the ...
I. FAKE HEARERS
II. FORGETFUL HEARERS
III. FAITHLESS HEARERS
IV. FINICKY HEARERS
V. FAITHFUL HEARERS
Let me ask you now, “Which type of hearer are you?”
