The title of my message tonight
is Hearing the Word of God. Hearing the Word of God. If the Lord will enable me, I
want to give you some plain, simple, crystal clear instruction
about hearing God's Word because such instruction is needed and
we need to be reminded of it frequently and it is given to
us in many ways in the Book of God. Let's begin in James chapter
1 and verse 19. Hear what God says to us here
in his word about hearing the word of God. James chapter 1,
verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
James is writing now to you and me, his brothers, his sisters
in Christ, as I am preaching to you My beloved brethren, I
prepared this message knowing fairly well to whom I would be
speaking, each of you, and I prepared the message for you, for you. I want you to hear what God has
to say. I want you to hear the word of
instruction. It is given for you. I quit a
long time ago trying to preach to folks who aren't here. I'm
preaching to you, Bill. I want you to hear it. Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Anxious to hear. Anxious to hear. Anxious to hear. God give me
grace every time I have the privilege of hearing a man preach the gospel
to do so anxiously. Anxious to hear. Not that man. but anxious to hear God speak
through that man by his word. Anxious to hear, anxious to hear. Let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak. Very hesitant to offer an opinion. Slow to give an opinion about
what is heard. Specifically, slow to speak critically. slow to speak casually, slow
to speak in just banter about this, slow to speak. John Gill
suggests that the words might be read this way, let every man
be swift to hear and slow to preach. Slow to preach, not put
himself forward to preach. I grieve so much for men who
try to themselves preachers. They do so only making themselves
miserable. Let a man be swift to hear, and
as God teaches, then he may send you forth to preach. But be swift
to hear God's Word, be instructed in the Word of the Gospel, and
slow to go about the business of teaching others the Word.
I recall years ago, Brother Mahan had been in a meeting, and he
was sitting down the front row and he was telling me that he
and I were together and he was tired. He wasn't feeling good.
He'd been preaching a lot and had a cold and a young fellow
walked up and sat down beside him and he said, he said, Brother
Mahan, if you don't feel like preaching tonight, I've got something
I can preach. Anxious to jump up and speak
and be heard. And Henry, clear as stone, he
said, I think I can handle it. Let every man be swift to hear
and slow to speak, slow to wrath, slow to be disturbed, angered,
and offended by what God says clearly in His Word to you. Slow to wrath by the Word of
God spoken plainly. Because the Word of God is sharp.
It's quick. Powerful. It's going to expose
our sin. It's going to reprove our evil
habits, our evil ways, and our evil thoughts. It's going to
correct us in our behavior. And we don't much like that. It's just not in our nature to
take it well. Slow to wrath, for the wrath
of man Worketh not the righteousness of God that is to say if you
take offense at the word It's not going to profit your soul
But rather receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able
to save your souls Whenever you come to the house of God You
ought to come to the house of God with an intense desire to
hear God speak by His Word to you. To hear God speak by His
Word to you. The Puritan Thomas Manton made
this observation on this passage of Scripture. If we were as swift
to hear as we are ready to speak, there would be less wrath and
more profit in our meetings. What a wise observation. I often
find that people attend services one place or another seemingly
for no other reason than to find something about which to quibble,
something to disagree with, something to debate and discuss and argue
about, something to criticize. And they can't wait for the preacher
to get done so they can say something about what the preacher has said.
I have often found over the years, folks get excited about a ministry,
get excited about sitting under a ministry, get excited about
the pastors preaching to them all, oh, such a great preacher,
such a good preacher. And then they get indifferent. And then they get angry. And
they no longer profit by the ministry of the man, a faithful
man, a faithful man from whom they profited in the past. And
the reason is almost always because they do exactly the opposite
of what James here commands. They're slow to hear, swift to
speak, and swift to anger. That's sad. That's just fact.
That's just fact. Some years ago, I had a good
friend of mine, and he is a good friend of mine. He got upset
with his pastor over a period of time, and I knew it. I think the pastor knew it, I'm
not certain about that, but after a few years, he chatted one day,
he said, you know, Mother, his preaching has improved recently.
And I said, I'm sure it has. But I suspect maybe your hearing
has improved recently. And he said, well, you're right,
it has. It has. The fact is if you would
hear God speak, come to the house of God anxious to hear what God
says in His Word to you. Hear it and receive it with meekness. Be very careful about what you
have to say concerning it and don't get upset with it. Turn
back to the book of Ecclesiastes. Let's look at a couple of passages
of Scripture. Ecclesiastes chapter 5. May God make us swift to hear
and slow to speak. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse
1. Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the
sacrifice of fools. The sacrifice of fools is meaningless
talk. The sacrifice of fools is a rash
opinion. The sacrifice of fools is a thoughtless
conjecture, particularly concerning the Word of God. Be more ready
to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not
that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God,
for God is in heaven. Thou upon earth, therefore let
thy words be few. In the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter
8, our Lord Jesus gives a parable. We call it the parable of the
sower. And he gives wise instruction about hearing the word of God.
Knowing that multitudes were coming out of the city, they
gathered to hear him. And knowing that most of them
would hear the word with no benefit to their souls, our Lord spoke
to them by a parable. He used the similitude of a farmer
who went out to sow his seed. You're familiar with it, but
let's read this parable. Luke chapter 8, verse 4. When much people were gathered
together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by
a parable. He spake by a parable. That is,
he gave an illustration. A parable is an earthly story
to teach a spiritual, heavenly truth. That's what a parable
is. Nothing strange or mysterious about that. The Lord took a very
familiar picture, something everybody was familiar with, and he said,
let me apply that to the work of the gospel and to the ministry
of the gospel and the privileges of being a hearer of the gospel.
A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by
the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and
as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked
moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell
on good ground, ground that had been plowed and thoroughly broken
up, and well prepared to receive the seed. It fell on good ground,
and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had
said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. And his disciples asked him,
saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it
is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But unto
others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing
they might not understand. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. We're born again not of corruptible
seed but of incorruptible by the word of God that lives and
abides forever. The seed of life is the word
of God. Those by the wayside are they
that hear. Then cometh the devil and taketh
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved. They hear the gospel of God's
free grace, salvation by the crucified Redeemer, free forgiveness
of sin by the merits of Christ's precious blood, perfect righteousness
by our substitute. They hear it and then they walk
out the door and start talking about the weather or politics
or sports Whatever, just, it's gone. Doesn't mean a thing to
them. Doesn't mean a thing to them.
The devil comes and it's gone. Just snatched out of the way. Verse 13, they on the rock, are
they which when they hear, man, they're moved, they're excited. Oh, that's it. They receive the
word with joy. And these have no roots. which for a while believe. They
quickly make a profession of faith and they say they believe. And in time of temptation, when
the sun rises, sun of opposition, persecution because of the word,
they can't take it. They wither away. They fall away. Verse 14. And they which fell
among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth. They
go on for a while. They profess faith and they continue
for a while. But after a while, after a while,
it may be a few days or a few weeks or a few months or a few
years or a few decades. They're choked. Choked. Choked. He's choked. You plant your corn
just a few weeks. It'll spring up. And if you just
leave it there, the corn will spring up and look so pretty,
just leave it. Just leave it. Leave it for a
few more weeks. And watch the corn as the weeds
wrap around it and choke it to death. It's what it says here. They're choked with the cares
and riches and pleasures of this life, the cares and riches and pleasures
of life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground,
the ground prepared, broken up, ready to receive the word, are
they which in an honest and good heart Having heard the word,
keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. They hear the
word and they can't let it go. And they with the patience of
faith continue on holding fast the hope of life in Christ Jesus
the Lord. Now in this parable, our Savior
plainly tells us that there are few who hear the word receive
any saving benefit by the preaching of the gospel. Now three things
are obvious in this parable. The preaching of the gospel is
sowing the seed of life. Sowing the seed of life. Shelby
and I planted a garden all our lives up until just a few years
ago. But you know we never did that with the intention of seeing
nothing grow. We never went to the work expecting
nothing to go. When we'd go start plowing the
garden, Bobby would come out here and plow it and we'd work
the ground up and lay it off and go to the store and buy the
seed and the fertilizer and plant the garden and it takes a lot
of work. It takes a lot of work. We did so in anticipation that
soon we're going to go out there and dig those first potatoes. Get that first mess of fresh
green beans, those first sweet peas, those first ripe tomatoes,
the first sweet corn. Oh, what an anticipation. Put
it up and eat it all year long. We expected fruit to come. I
go out and preach the gospel. I've come here tonight to preach
to you with the expectation that God, by His grace, is going to
make His Word word of life to you and spring forth in your
heart and bring forth fruit for you who believe not everlasting
life in Christ Jesus and for you who believe to spring forth
with life in you believing on the Son of God and the Lord is
telling us here that only those hearts made good by grace That's
the only kind of good heart there is. It's a new heart, one born
again of the Spirit. Only those hearts made good by
the regenerating grace and power of God the Holy Ghost receive
the Word to the saving of their souls. And then once we've received
the good seed of the Gospel, once we've received the Word
of God into our hearts, we must take care that nothing chokes
it out. So Brother Don, that's God's
work. It is indeed. It is indeed. And our Lord warns
us, Lindsay, to beware of the deceitfulness of riches and the
care of this world. That's your responsibility and
mine. Beware that you let nothing choke out of you. The sweet influence
of the Word of God. You who are genuine believers,
beware that nothing chokes from you. The sweet influence of God's
Word. And beware that nothing keeps
you from profiting by the Word. And then our Lord Jesus gives
a warning. Look at verse 18. He gives a warning. Take heed,
therefore, how ye hear. Take heed how ye hear. Over here in our text, he tells
us how to hear. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, and slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. I want to do just two things
in this message. First, I want to show you that
we ought to cherish preaching of the gospel and seize every
opportunity God sets before us to hear his word. And second,
I want to offer you some suggestions as to how to profit by hearing
the word. Number one, we ought to seize
every opportunity God gives us to hear the gospel. Take care. that nothing chokes out the influence
of the word with you. I remember well, when first I
professed faith in Christ, I remember well how excited I was to get
back to God's house that night. how excited I was, anticipating. I had never been excited to go
to church before in my life. But I was excited to go back
and hear again the good news of God's free grace. Excited
to go back on Wednesday night and hear the preacher preach
again. Couldn't wait for Sunday morning to roll around again
so I could go hear those men who taught me the gospel in that
Sunday school class and that preacher who preached the gospel
to me, hear it again. Excited to do so. And I realized
that when Shelby and I started dating shortly after that, I
didn't have enough money to do much when we'd go out on a date,
and there wasn't much else to do that was fit to do. So all
summer long, we went to church almost every night. We'd find
somewhere to go, here's somebody preaching the gospel. And when
we couldn't, we'd get together with other folks and talk about
it all the time, all the time, with excitement. Oh, God, keep
that excitement alive in me. I want to be like Simeon and
Anna, waiting in God's house to see God's Son. And I want
you that way. Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. I want to be like Nephibosheth, always sitting at the king's
table, feasting at the king's bounty. I want to be like Mary,
sitting at the Savior's feet, anxious to hear His Word. And
I want that for you. Let us take care, take care that
we hear the word. Hear the word of the gospel.
I'm not talking about just going to church. I didn't learn this
for a little while. But I'm not talking about just
going to church. Make certain that you go to hear the gospel
of God's free grace where the gospel is preached. I can't tell
you how often I get letters or telephone calls from people all
over the world. This happens regularly for folks
all over the world who will ask me questions about spiritual
things, about doctrinal things, about the scriptures. And this
is the reason they tell me they've contacted me. I'm calling you,
I've written to you because my pastor doesn't preach the gospel.
Or the church where I go, they don't believe these things. And
usually my first response is, why go? Why do you go there? If a man doesn't preach the gospel,
don't listen to him. I don't care who he is, don't
listen to him. Ever. If a church doesn't believe the
gospel, find another one. Don't attend there. We must not
forsake the assembling of ourselves together with God's people. Not
with infidels, with God's people. Make certain that you hear the
gospel of God's grace. And don't ever delude yourself
into the foolishness of thinking that religion is good. People,
I hear folks, and you think, haven't you heard what I've been
preaching to you all these years? Well, he's going to church. I'm sure
glad for that. I wish he wouldn't, unless he's going to hear the
gospel of God's grace. Religion is not good. Religion is damning
if it's religion without Christ. The practice of religion is damning
if it's religion without Christ. We must take care that we make
clear the gospel of God's free grace and proclaim the gospel
of God's free grace and hear the gospel of God's grace. I'm
weary. more than weary of hearing folks
talk about believing the gospel, but not worshipping God in his
house, or worshipping in some synagogue of Satan, calling it
worship, hearing some Arminian Babylon about free will and works.
That's not worshipping God. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory. God forbid that I should find
any confidence in any trust in, any comfort in, anything except
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross by which I am crucified
unto the world and the world unto me. Turn back to Psalm 122. Psalm 122. This place on this hill, out
in the middle of the country, is an insignificant place. And
this congregation is an insignificant congregation. And the most insignificant
thing in the whole bunch is the one talking to you. Just insignificant,
insignificant. But I'm going to tell you something
about this place that makes it the most delightful, most blessed
place in the world. This is the place from which
God sends out His commandment to bless His people with life
everlasting. God commands His blessing upon
His people from His house. Psalm 133, verse 3. Look here
in Psalm 122. No wonder David sang like he
did. God commands His blessing upon His people here. He said,
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
I'm going to meet with God's people. I'm going to be in God's
house. I'm going to be at God's altar,
worshiping my Redeemer, trusting my Savior, singing His praise.
My feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. I know some folks will take this
the wrong way. I know you won't, but I say it
for no reason except to be of an encouragement to you. God
saved me 40, almost 48 years ago. And it has been my delight and
my privilege to worship him in his house. Now let me tell you
how many worship services I've missed in 47 years, nearly 48
years, when I wasn't incapable of getting to the house
of God. I can tell you how many I've
missed. Not a one. Not a one. What do you do when
your family comes to visit you? I worship God. What if they don't
like it? I still worship God. What if they're still over at
the house? I still worship God. I've done it many times. Why
would you do that? Because this is more important
than anything else. more important than anything
else. My feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem
is built in God's church. The city of God is built as a
city compacted together, perfectly built. Whether the tribes or
the host of God's elect go up, the tribes of the Lord under
the testimony of Israel The testimony of Israel is the Ark of the Covenant.
They go up to the place of God's sacrifice, go up to Jesus Christ,
our Ark, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Why do
we come here? To give thanks to God. To give
thanks to God. I can't always come like I want
to. In fact, I don't ever come like I want to. But I can do
this, I can come here and give thanks to God. I can come here
and show you that we ought to give thanks to God. To give thanks
to the Lord for His great mercy. To give thanks under the name
of the Lord for there are set thrones of judgment and thrones
of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of God's church. the peace of God's people. They
shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and my companions'
sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. Why is this of such
great concern? For you, my brothers, my sisters,
my companions, peace be within thee. Because of the house of
the Lord, our God, I will seek thy good. David said in Psalm
84, a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness. I would rather be a doorkeeper. I'd rather stand right there
and open the doors and say, welcome, son. Welcome, brother. Come on in.
rather stand right there and just open the door and shut it,
open the door and shut it. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God than to dwell in any other place in the world. This is our privilege. Turn to
Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians 4. This business of hearing the
Word preached is so important that our Savior specifically
gave the ministry of the gospel to his church as one of his ascension
gifts. Look here at Ephesians 4 verse
11. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers. He gave these men to teach you
and instruct you with his word. for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. God has always gifted specific
chosen men for the work of the ministry to serve the souls of
men. Men whom he specifically called
to this work are those men he sends forth to preach the gospel.
Jude tells us that Enoch who lived before Noah, the seventh
from Adam, prophesied, preached concerning the Lord's coming.
Peter tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
God never left Himself in this world without a witness and He
never will. Even those earliest times God
had men, prophets, to teach the Word and preach the Word to His
people. After he gave the law at Mount
Sinai, the Lord God constantly separated to himself men for
the work of the ministry. He had prophets to teach his
people, and he had priests to pray and intercede for his people.
And though the Jews were scattered because of their sin, though
God's church was in times of languishing because of their
sin, all the while, though he brought great physical judgments
upon them, God always had Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's and Isaiah's and
Daniel's and Hosea's and Jonah's to proclaim the Word. Now great
as those days were, we live in a better day with better provisions. We have now the complete revelation of God
in His Word. The whole revelation. Everything God has to say, He
says right here. Everything. Everything. Everything
God speaks by His Spirit to you in day-by-day experience is right
here in His Word. A few weeks ago, I was preaching
and a fellow I've known for a long time asked a question. I was
really surprised. He said, started talking to me
about his dreams. He said, what do you think about
dreams? I said, the dreams. He said, I'm talking about dreams
that come true. I said, I've had a few. I've had a few insignificant
but dreamed about something come to pass exactly like I dreamed
of. What do you think about that?
Nothing. Nothing. Well, does God speak by those
things? Oh, no. Don't trust your dreams. Oh,
no. But I dreamed this and this is
exactly what happened. That doesn't mean a thing. That doesn't mean
a thing. We believe what's written here. This is God's Word. He's
given it to us. After giving the law at Sinai,
God gave his prophet to teach the law, and now he's given us
his word by his apostles. And after 2,000 years of faithful
preaching from faithful men, God still has his witnesses and
still gives pastors according to his own heart. When the Lord
Jesus, our great high priest, had finished His work, when He
had redeemed us by the sacrifice of Himself, when He put away
our sins by His blood, when He ascended up on high, He gave
these men to preach the gospel. And He said, Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And He said, Lo, I am with you to guide and assist
and strengthen and comfort you. all the time, even to the end
of the world. Now, having said that, it is
my responsibility to preach the gospel to you faithfully. That's
my responsibility. It is my responsibility to give
myself wholeheartedly, entirely, consistently to this labor and
this work. And it is your responsibility
to hear receive and obey the Word God gives. Most people are
utterly insensible of this great gift, and do despite to the Spirit
of grace, crucifying the Son of God afresh, putting Him to
an open shame by willfully refusing to attend the ministry of the
Word, to attend God's ordained means of grace. Now let's see
if I can make good on that. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. Verse 25, the apostle tells us
to consider one another, to evoke unto love and good works forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see
the day approaching. For if we sin willfully," what's
he talking about? David is talking about forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together. If we sin willfully,
if we sin willfully, after we've received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment, and the fiery indignation which
shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite under the Spirit of grace. George Whitefield put it this
way. He said, we may foretell the
deplorable condition of such men. Behold them cast into hell,
lifting up their eyes, being in torment, and crying out. How often would our ministers
have gathered us as hens gathered her chickens under her wings,
but we would not. Oh, that we had known in our
day the things that belong to our everlasting peace. But now
they are forever hid from our eyes. Many, many, many years ago, I
heard a sermon by Brother Ralph Barnard. The title of the message
is called The Hounds of Hell. And he spoke as only Roth could
of men in hell whom he had preached. And he said, I can see them,
and I can hear them. They see the face of this old
preacher, and they cry, get him out of here! Get me away from
him! Stop his voice! Don't let me
hear him! Because the voice of this preacher
is going to torment them forever and forever, from whom you heard
the word and despised the word. All right, now here's the second
thing. Let me give you some suggestions that I hope by God's blessing
will help you to hear the word with profit to your souls all
the time. Number one, don't ever come to
the house of God to hear me, to hear Lindsay on Sunday morning
Bible study, to hear any preacher we have here or in any other
place. Don't ever come to the house of God Just to gratify
your religious curiosity. Just to answer questions. Just to gratify your curiosity
about something. Brother Bobby was talking to
me yesterday, somebody asking him about whether we go immediately
to heaven when we die or not. Now, the scriptures are very
clear about that. I understand that. But I said to Bobby, Satan
will give you lots of things. entertain yourself with on the
way to hell. And it doesn't matter what it
is, if it takes you away from looking to and trusting Christ. Whatever it is, leave it alone.
It doesn't matter if we talk about church doctrine or church
discipline or prophecy or all the things that religious folks
study, all the stuff they delve into, don't do that. Don't do
that. Paul speaks of those who are
ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. That just exactly describes what you were talking about,
doesn't it? Ever learning. Always learning something new.
Always learning something religious. Always learning some doctrine.
Always learning some point. Always learning something. But
never able to get hold of and rest in God's truth. never able
to rest in Jesus Christ crucified because they have a form of godliness. But in their form of godliness,
deny the power of God, the power of godliness, which is the gospel.
Second, listen carefully, attentively to the message God sends his
servant to deliver to your soul. I don't know how to communicate
this like I want to. I beg God incessantly, I beg
God incessantly not to allow me simply to put some words on
paper and come here and give you a lecture on doctrine or
religion or theology or morality or anything of the kind, but
rather to give me the message you need this hour, this day. And I do that wherever I go.
God, give me your message for your people. Give earnest heed
to the things that are spoken from God's word and take care
that you hear what God says to you by his word. It's the word
of the king. Listen to it. It's the word of
pardon for condemned felons. I can't imagine a felon who has
the possibility of pardon being pronounced not being anxious
to hear it. It's the reading of a will. In a matter of fact,
that's exactly how the apostle describes it in the book of Hebrews. You come to the house of God
and it's like reading the will. Reading the will. If you thought
that some very, very wealthy person had died and you were
named in the will and you thought, man, man, they're going to read
the will today. I believe I'll go fish it. read
the will today, I think I'll stay home and watch gun smoke.
I don't think so. I don't think so. You would be
anxious to hear what He left for you. Children of God, come
to the house of God asking God to read out to you the will of
His grace given in Christ Jesus to you before the world was.
Come to the house of God. We ought to at least be as attentive
children of Israel were at Mount Sinai, when God spoke the law
to Moses with thundering and lightning and threatens of the
law, those Jews sat up and paid attention. They sat up and paid
attention. How much more anxiously we ought
to hear about free forgiveness, blood atonement, everlasting
mercy, complete justification. Third, third, don't allow Satan
to Are any by whom he is served to prejudice your mind against
faithful men? I wish you would write that down.
I wish you'd write it this way. God don't allow Satan or any
by whom he served to prejudice my mind against faithful men. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. They're sent of
God to preach the gospel to you. Let's look at a few scriptures.
First Thessalonians chapter 5. I take great care, great care,
not only in ministering to you and others wherever I go to preach
the gospel, But in having men in here, you've been privileged
of God. You've been privileged of God to hear the best of preaching
there is from the best of men. You just heard Bruce Crabtree
this past Tuesday night. I wrote to someone today, another
preacher. I said, I don't know a finer
man anywhere. I don't know a finer man anywhere. Faithful, faithful, faithful,
faithful, faithful. Oh, how he's proved himself faithful.
Don't let anybody say anything to you that might prejudice your
mind against such a man. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't
do it. Cherish him and put out of your...
Don't even listen to it. Just put it out of the way. Don't
even listen to it. Pay no attention to it. You and Brother Bruce
agree on everything? Everything that matters. Everything
that matters. And what we disagree about? It
don't matter. It don't matter. Look here in
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 12, We beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the
Lord. God's servants labor in the Word. They are made overseers over
you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very
highly in love. to esteem them very highly and
love them, love them, love them for their work's sake and be
at peace among yourselves. And I promise you, I say this
to churches everywhere, I say it everywhere I go, the peace
of the congregation will depend in great measure on your esteem
for God's servant in your midst. Now you can bank on it. Paul
said, let no man account us as the better man's sole account
of us as the ministers of Christ, the servants of Christ, and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Fourth, as you ought not be prejudiced
against God's servant, so you must be careful not to depend
too much on the preacher or think more highly of him than you ought
to think. Don't ever Don't ever allow yourself
to get into the Corinthian habit of applauding one faithful man and
despising another. Don't allow that to happen. Don,
that just never happened. It just never happened, not with
you, me, or anybody else. Don't do it. I like to hear this fellow
preach. I like to hear that one preach.
I don't like the way he does this. I don't like the way he
says, don't do that. Paul, Apollos, and Peter are
just servants by whom God ministers to your soul. Esteem them as
such. Don't place your hope on them. Don't attach yourself to their
coattails, but rather follow Christ as they proclaim Christ
to you. Let no man glory in men. not
in Paul or Henry or Don, not in Todd or Bruce or Moose, but
rather glory in Christ, for we are all yours and your Christ
and Christ is God's. Number five, seek grace from
God always to apply the word personally to yourself. Brother Don, it sounds like you
were preaching just to me today. I was. That's exactly what I
was talking about. Just to you. Just to you. Well,
that's offensive. Offensive? My soul, it ought
to be the most delightful thing in the world. That's God's Word
specifically for you. Take it to yourself. Don't sit
there and listen to the gospel. And boy, I tell you what. David Peterson, he's sick tonight,
but he ought to been here to hear that No, don't do that. That's that's not your business
Don't be concerned about the splinter in his eye. You got
two by four and you're not take care of Now if you would receive
the blessing from God by his word when you hear the gospel
preached Let me tell you something you can do now. I'll come back
to this again the Lord willing next Tuesday Before you come
to hear the gospel Set your life in order so that you come to
the house of God alert, anxious to hear, desirous of
hearing, awake and conscious. Now, I recognize sometimes you
can't do anything about those things. I recognize that. You
understand that. This past Saturday night, I slept
just a little bit less than two hours Saturday night. And it
wasn't because I didn't try, I just couldn't go to sleep.
I just couldn't go to sleep. But don't do things that'll keep
you from being alert to hear the Word of God. Don't do things
that distract you from it. And before you come to the house,
pray. Pray for this preacher. Oh, pray for me. Because I can't
do my work except God enable me. and pray for yourself, that
God will speak to you by his word. And pray for sinners in
our midst, that God might be pleased to call out his elect.
And while you're listening to the sermon, continue seeking
the Lord. Listen attentively, praying for
God to speak to your heart for Christ's sake. To expose your sin. God, make
me to know myself. Show me my sin. Expose my corruption. Expose my evil heart and my evil
ways and correct me, to reprove me and comfort and establish
my soul in Christ Jesus the Lord. Revive my languishing soul. And
when the sermon's over, I've I know somebody's going
to take this wrong, and I don't mean to put down laws and regulations
and all this stuff, but try to talk about what's been
preached, rather than about a bunch of nonsense. Talk to one another. You go out to dinner, you go
home, talk to your family, talk to your sons and daughters about
the message that's been preached. Discuss the things of God with
one another, that they'll stay in your mind and in your heart,
and that God will refresh you with them. Discuss the word and
cherish it cherish it for Christ's sake finally brethren pray for
us pray for me that the word of the Lord may have free course
and Be glorified even as it is with you for Christ's sake Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel. I beg of you, pray for me. Pray for me as I seek to labor
in the word for you. and preach the gospel of God's
grace to you and to others wherever God opens a door for us around
the world. Pray for his blessings upon the
world. Years ago, years ago, a young lady I knew well, she cherished
Shelby and I. I've been a pastor all her life.
She just cherished us. She loved to spend time at our
house. And when she got to be about 14 years old, mom and dad
got mad. Oh, they got mad. Walked through
the door and speak. Got mad. And that girl, she turned, the last time I saw
her, the last time I saw her, Alan, she flipped the bird at
me. Last time I saw her, this young
teenage girl, despised the ground I walk on and ruined her life. Ruined her life. By the influence
of folks who ought to have led her to hear the word of God and
worship God. God make us helpful to one another,
helpful to those we influence. and not harmful for Christ's
sake. Amen.