Hearing God’s Word Properly

Hearing God’s Word Properly
Romans 10:11-17

INTRO: Good morning church. For our text this morning let's turn to Romans 10:11-17. Whenever I sing or hear that song, Break Thou the Bread of Life, I imagine what it must have been like to be on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and listen to Jesus speak the word of God. What a blessing that would have been.

We can't go back in time to be in that location and enjoy that blessing, but we can turn to the Scriptures and we can read the word of God for ourselves. What a blessing that is! We need to appreciate that.

We need to have the desire to want to hear the word of God at all times and to hear the word of God properly. In our text, we read, “11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'' 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13. For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'' 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!'' 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?'' 17. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

In verses 14 and 15, a series of questions is asked. We learn from those questions that preaching, teaching God's word is very important. That has to do with the overall theme of the Book of Romans.

In Romans 1:16 Paul said, “16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17. For in it (i.e. the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith.''” The importance of the gospel or the word of God is expressed in these verses.

God's word must be taught for people to believe and then call on the name of the Lord so that they can be saved. Gospel preaching is so important that people just simply cannot be saved without it.

We notice that something else is emphasized in these verses. Not only is preaching God's Word emphasized, we learn from verse 17 that hearing God's word is also important. By hearing the Word of God, we're able to develop faith.

We understand from Hebrews 11:6 that we must develop faith to please God. It says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” As a result of hearing the Word of God, we're able to develop faith which as we know is belief and trust, and then we're able to please God.

I. Hearing God’s Word - We've just read how important it is to hear the Word of God, but we must hear the Word of God properly. I suggest that perhaps there are various ways of hearing, and we are concerned about hearing God's Word in the right way.

A. Let’s begin by showing that there are different ways of hearing Scripture. Jesus presented this lesson in one of His parables. Let's turn to Luke 8, and consider Luke's account of the parable of the sower which we are all familiar with.

1. Here Jesus is showing four ways of hearing the Word of God. Let's begin with the parable, and then we'll look at the explanation. Start at Luke 8:5f. “5. "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6. "Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8. "But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.'' When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''” A sower, or a farmer, went out to sow his seed, and as he did so, the seed fell upon different types of ground.

a. There's the wayside ground, it's hard and crusty. The seed cannot penetrate it. Since it cannot penetrate, the seed doesn't have a chance. It can't germinate and produce a plant. What happens? The birds see it and they eat it.
b. Then there's the rocky ground. Think of this as a thin layer of soil that's on some rocks. A seed here can germinate and bring forth a plant in that small amount of soil, but as the plant grows, it can't develop a healthy root structure. There's very little moisture. Consequently, in the heat of the day, the little plant doesn't have a chance. It just withers away.
c. There's the ground that's infested with thorns. There's enough soil there for the seed to bring forth a plant. Unfortunately, there are also thorns or weeds if you prefer, and they grow up with it. The consequence is that the little plant is smothered by all the thorns. It doesn't have a chance.
d. Then there's the good ground. The good ground receives the seed. The seed produces a plant. The plant matures and it produces fruit. That's what the sower wants. The sower wants to reap a great harvest. That's why he sows the seed in the first place.

2. In Jesus’ day, and even now in some places, the seed is sown by broadcasting it over the ground. This method of planting involved scattering the seed by hand over a relatively large area. As the seed is broadcast, it does fall upon various types of soil. Imagine the people in the Lord's audience listening to this parable. Anyone who knew anything about agriculture back in that day would have been very familiar with what the Lord was talking about. Perhaps they could even identify with going out and sowing the seed themselves, or maybe they had a relative who did that and had the same experiences.
3. When Jesus finished that part of the parable, He indicated that there was a profound spiritual lesson to learn. He said. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Jesus said I'm teaching you a very important lesson. I want you to hear it well.

B. What is the lesson that the Lord wants us to take from this parable? We're very fortunate in that the Lord explained this.

1. As we look at the Lord's explanation, first we notice that the seed is identified for us and we don’t have to figure that out. “11. "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” The seed is identified for us very clearly. Jesus, in explaining the parable, is showing four ways of hearing the word of God.
2. Jesus is talking about someone who goes forth to teach the Word of God. As the teacher or preacher is engaged in the work of presenting God's Word, they need to understand that there are four ways in which people will hear. Keep in mind that when I’m talking about a preacher or teacher I am talking about all of us as we engage with others to teach them the gospel. It may be teaching one or teaching many. Jesus is showing how the word of God, the seed, is received.

a. Let's see what Jesus was talking about when He talked about the wayside soil. Luke 8:12 – “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” Here's an individual who hears the Word of God but it doesn't take root in their life. They can't be saved. They enjoyed the blessing of hearing scripture from you, but there was no desire to learn. As the soil is hard, so is that person’s heart. Consequently, they lose it.
b. In Luke 8:13 Jesus continued explaining His parable. “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” The shallow soil, overlaying rock, produced quick but impermanent results. This stands for the easily converted, the easily lost. Jesus is talking about someone who hears… the person hears with joy and obeys the word of God. Unfortunately, they do not develop a healthy root structure and when put to the test, they fall away. That type of hearer cannot produce any fruit.
c. Luke 8:14 – “And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” The hearer in this category is blessed in that they hear the word of God and receive it into their life. Unfortunately, other things in their life take over and what happens? They do not bear any fruit.
d. Then in Luke 8:15 – “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” This good ground is the way that we need to be—striving to hear God's Word—with an honest and good heart. When we hear it, we keep it and then bring forth fruit with patience.

C. Jesus taught very clearly these four ways of hearing the Word of God, and since there are several wrong ways in which God's Word can be heard, we need to listen very carefully to the warning that Jesus gave in Luke 8:18. “Therefore take heed how you hear.”

II. Hear God’s Word Properly - From this, we see it's not enough to just hear, we need to strive to hear properly. If we do not hear properly, we cannot develop any faith. If we do not develop faith, then we cannot please God. Since we're interested in pleasing God, we want to know how to hear God's Word properly so it can lead to the development of our faith, which leads to a production of fruit and that pleases the Lord.

A. Let's look now at some scriptures which teach us how to hear God's Word in the right way. For one thing, we must hear with understanding.

1. Let's look at Matthew 15:10. Here Jesus was teaching a multitude of people. “Then He called the multitude and said to them, "Hear and understand:”
2. What were Jesus’ opening words on this occasion? He said, hear and understand. Understanding is very important. While that may seem obvious to us I ask, is it always easy to understand Scripture the first time you read it? Not always.

a. Have you ever had that experience? Jesus said, hear and understand. Can you hear one time and understand everything perfectly? I know I don’t. But if we hear with the proper desire and hear over and over again, finally we begin to understand. To hear properly, we must hear with understanding.
b. A person may read Scripture and become frustrated because they don't understand the whole Bible at one time. There's a lot of information recorded in God’s word, and we have to be patient. We also have to practice some perseverance. You can't just hear something one time and grasp the entirety of it. As obvious as this should be we often find in the religious world that people latch on to one thing and fail to study the whole and gain full understanding.
c. Study often involves repetition and also a willingness to look elsewhere in scripture for help in understanding what you are currently studying. It has been said every time you study a passage, you'll learn something new. That is if you had the desire to learn.

3. Jesus said, hear and understand. By the way, I had always thought if I said something one time, people ought to get it. That ought to be sufficient. I learned that even in explaining something to aerospace engineers’ repetition is required. Go back and study the Lord's teaching and see how many times He repeated something that He'd taught earlier. Consider also how many times a concept is repeated by inspiration in God’s word.

a. Why is that? Because we as humans sometimes have a hard time grasping something we've only heard once. As you teach or preach don't expect people to grasp something the first time you say it, because Jesus repeated some of the same lessons over and over.
b. I suspect we or someone we know has bought something and when it comes to setting it up they don’t even read the directions. I've seen people read directions and throw them away and say, I can't understand that. That's silly, isn't it?
c. What's worse is taking this grand old book, trying to do just a casual reading and say, I can't understand, then close it up, never to read it again. That's sad. We must hear and understand.

4. By the way, the same parable that we read a few moments ago is recorded in Matthew, chapter 13. Let's look at verse Matthew 13:19. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.” You see how it helps us to study the same statements found in the various Gospel accounts. We're able to learn additional details as Jesus was explaining the wayside hearer. Here it says that he “does not understand”. To hear properly, we must hear with understanding.
5. Along those lines, Ephesians 3:4 says, “by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ”. That verse shows us that we can read and we can understand the word of God. The Bible even acknowledges the fact that some things are somewhat challenging for us.

a. The apostle Peter in 2nd Peter 3:15-16 says, “… our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand,”
b. While some scripture might be challenging, that's not saying that it’s impossible to understand. If we study and rightly divide the word of truth, we can understand the will of God. To hear with understanding, we must hear with the right attitude and we must have a desire to understand.

6. Let's look at Psalm 119:18. “Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.” That's a wonderful request to make. Whenever we hear and study God's holy Word, ask the Lord to help us open our eyes so that we can see the things that He wants us to see.

a. What about a person who doesn't approach Scripture with that attitude? This might be a rather crude illustration, but it would be like me having glasses, which allow me to see, and then refusing to wear them. Does that make any sense? No, it doesn't. What's a whole lot worse is not having the proper desire to know God's will.
b. Having glasses to aid my vision and then not wearing them is one thing, but looking at Scripture or hearing Scripture without a burning desire to know the will of God and then put it into practice, that's what's sad. Psalm 119:18 is a wonderful prayer, a wonderful request for us to make whenever we study Scripture. That request I believe, like Solomon’s request for wisdom, pleases God. A person, who will approach Scripture with an optimistic, positive disposition, will be able to understand.

B. Let's look at Acts 17:11. This verse is very familiar to us. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”[ESV] To hear God's Word properly, we need to hear with eagerness, but also with discernment.

1. Those people enjoyed the blessing of hearing an inspired apostle preach. Did they just accept blindly what Paul said? No. They received Paul's message with readiness of mind, that is, with eagerness. While they were eager to hear, they also exercised discernment. What did they do? They searched the Scriptures daily to determine whether the things they were hearing were right.
2. Someone once asked me if it would bother me if someone checked out what I'm preaching. It would be wonderful if they did. On occasion, I have even tried to select sermons that might stir up the desire to check it out. That's what we're supposed to do.
3. We shouldn’t accept any teaching blindly because if we do we might be following a blind teacher, and you know what happens when the blind follow the blind. Both will fall into the ditch. We have to hear with eagerness, and with discernment to make sure that what we're hearing is the truth.

C. Another point I would like to bring up is that to hear God's word properly we need to do so with a meek or humble spirit.

1. Let's look at James 1:21 which we have just studied in class. “herefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”   “Receive with meekness” is a very important point when it comes to hearing the word of God.

a. People sometimes approach the Scripture with their preconceived ideas of what is involved in pleasing God. That's the wrong way to approach Scripture. We are to let God tell us how to please Him. That's hearing with meekness or humility.
b. Why is it so important that we do that? It is because that word is able to save our souls. Our salvation is at stake. It's imperative that we hear properly, which involves hearing with a meek or humble spirit.

2. As we endeavor to hear with meekness, there's something that must be avoided. We must avoid hardening the heart. Look at Hebrews 3:7-8. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness,”. We need to learn from the mistakes made by the children of Israel. When they heard, oftentimes they hardened their hearts and provoked God.

a. Look at verse Hebrews 3:15. “… Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
b. Now Hebrews 4:7. “again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today,'' after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.''” To avoid hardening our hearts we must receive God’s word with meekness or humility.

D. Finally, as we hear, we must obey. Let's continue at James 1:22f. “22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24. for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James is a great illustrator. Not only did he teach clearly in a straightforward fashion, but he illustrated the lessons he was teaching.

1. What about a person who hears, but doesn't obey? He's like a person who looks in a mirror, sees something out of place, and doesn't do anything about it. He just goes on his way. When we see ourselves in the mirror if something is out of place, our hair, tie, whatever, we correct it. This person sees in the word of God something that is out of place in their life and they do nothing.
2. That's the illustration that James is using to show how important it is that we hear with meekness the implanted word because it's able to save our souls. As we hear, we need to do what the Bible says, that is, to put it into practice.
3. James said again in James 1:25 that a person who looks into the perfect law of liberty continues in it. That's the kind of hearer that we need to strive to be.

CONCLUSION:
In today’s lesson, we have looked at some principles that relate to hearing God's Word properly.
We must hear with understanding.
We must hear with eagerness, but also with discernment.
We must hear with a meek or humble spirit.
As we hear, we must obey.

As we study and hear God's Word, let us understand it and allow it to bring forth fruit in our lives. That puts me in mind of Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. We should each take time in our studies to investigate those nine characteristics that make up the fruit of the Spirit. When you do so, remember these principles we talked about today. God help us to think about these things and always hear His Word in the right way.

Let's go back to that scene that we imagined earlier. Being on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, along with a multitude of people, Jesus is there, and He speaks the word of life.
What a blessing that would have been to be present and to hear the Savior teaching.

The ones who were truly blessed were the ones who heard correctly and put it into practice. Thank God we have His Holy Word to study today.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg

Appendix:
“Critical scholarship has more trouble with Jesus’ words giving His reason for speaking in parables, "that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand," than with anything else in this passage. Some are simply incredulous that Jesus would have used a device specifically to blind and harden some of His hearers; but such was undoubtedly the case. The explanation is in Matthew, where that sacred author quoted at length from Isaiah 6:9,10, thus explaining the use of parables as God’s means of bringing about the hardening of Israel, the parables, of course, not being the cause of the hardening, but the occasion of it.

The real reason of the blindness and unbelief of Israel lay in the fact that they had "closed their eyes" to the truth.
Furthermore, what is said of the parables here is true of the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so designed that stubborn, willful, and self-deluded, hardened hearers of it will actually be destroyed by the holy Gospel itself. Paul said:

We are indeed the incense offered by Christ to God, both for those who are on the way to salvation, and for those who are on the way to perdition: to the latter it is a deadly fume that kills, to the former a vital fragrance that brings to life (2 Corinthians 2:16).

There can be no wonder then that Jesus cried with a loud voice and said: "Take heed how ye hear!"

The dual quality of the parables: (1) enlightening them of right spirit, and (2) blinding and hardening the ones who were evil, must therefore be understood as pertaining to the entire Gospel itself. The same sunshine melts butter and hardens putty; and the same glorious Gospel saves some and destroys others; but the difference lies, not in the Gospel, but is found inherently within men themselves. It is what a man IS that determines, more than anything else, what he gets out of the Gospel.”

From Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible