I spoke with a man earlier this
week that was expressing how he came to love the Lord Jesus. He heard the gospel preached
for the first time just a few years back, four or five years
ago. And he said, until that point
in my life, I was very religious. I went to church every Sunday.
And then as soon as I got out of church, he was cussing and
drinking all the way. He says, I went to church every
Sunday to relieve myself from the guilt of what I lived during
the week outside of church. And then I heard about the gospel,
the good news of grace. And he says, I fell in love with
Jesus. You know, you can replace the
word Jesus with grace, and you'd be talking about the same thing.
Christ becoming flesh, God Almighty leaving the majesty of where
He was in heaven and coming to this earth is pure, unadulterated
grace. He didn't have to do that. He's
God. He could have done anything. He could have thrown everything
out the window and recreated everything, but that was not
his way. His way is exactly what we see
in the world today. What? Are you serious? You mean the death of the trees
and all that, that's his way? Absolutely. If it's not, If everything
is not under the sovereign rule of God, then what are we wasting
our time doing calling Him God? We call Him God. Those of us
who know Him. Because He has made Himself our
God. The world doesn't believe it.
The world doesn't know it. We were talking about another
man who is distraught in his life because
he feels like he just doesn't love God enough. The brother of this other man.
And he was concerned about how he
couldn't have fellowship with his brother anymore because there
was no love for the Lord there between the two of them like
he has for God. And I gave him some encouraging words, words
that I hope the Lord uses to bring a little comfort to him
and to his brother. Our Lord is very clear in His
Word that He does not reveal this to all mankind. Our Lord
says, I thank Thee, O Father, of heaven and earth, that Thou
hast revealed these truths unto babes. We're babes. We're gray-haired
old babes, but we're babes. Yeah. We're just like that little
child back there in the back that trusts her parents so much
for everything. She looks to you for everything.
We look to Christ for everything. Just like that. We were looking
at that in our Friday night Bible study. If the Lord has revealed who
He truly is to you, He doesn't do that to all mankind. He didn't do it to Pharaoh. And there's a lot of other names
I could list off for you in the Bible that He did not reveal
Himself to at all. So when you're sitting back and
you're thinking to yourself, oh, how could God because God has loved you from
the beginning on the foundation of the world. Open your Bibles,
if you would, to the 13th chapter of Matthew. I've brought this
message several years back, revamped it, reworded it in some ways. Hopefully it will make a little
more sense than it did the first time. It's a message that I pray
the Lord will bless those who have never heard the Gospel before. And I know the Lord will use
these words to bless those who have. And the title is this,
Blessed are your ears. That's the Word of God. That's
what the Word of God states. Blessed are your ears. For you
hear. You hear the truth. The question
is, do you hear the truth with your heart? This man who said
he fell in love with the Lord, it was because in his heart he
knew he didn't deserve anything of God. Yet God loves a people. And because He loved them, He
sent His only begotten Son to be their propitiation, their
payment, their substitute. That's a great word for the Gospel,
substitution. What I deserve, my God took.
What I have earned in this flesh, my God has taken upon himself. How many of you folks have ever
attended a motivational meeting? You know, like sometimes a company
will send their employees off to a motivational meeting. We can pump them up. When they
come out of the meeting, they're like, I'm gonna save the world. I can do it. I joke around a
little bit about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Martin Short on Saturday
Night Live. We're going to pump you up. Yeah, it's motivational. That's
kind of what churches are today. You go into a church, anyone,
and what are you going to hear? You're going to hear about, you
can be so much better if you'll just turn yourself over to God. If you'll just stop smoking,
if you'll just stop doing this, if you'll come to church on Sunday,
if you'll come down to the aisle, the front of the aisle here,
and pray this little prayer, you can be such a better person. That's what most of the pulpits
have come today to pump you up, motivational speeches. A country singer once wrote a
song titled, Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. That's what we do, isn't it?
That's what we do in our nature, in a state of natural self. We love to hear things that make
us feel better about ourselves. Pastor Tim James once preached
a message and he asked this question in the message. Do you feel better? Do you feel better afterwards?
Are you walking out of there in euphoria, thinking to yourself,
Oh, I can do it! I'm going to save the world! This man that I spoke, speaking
with, telling me about how he fell in love with the Lord. He
said, the funniest thing is this. I don't like myself a lot more
now than I did before. But I love the Lord so much. His joy that he brings to my
life as my Savior outweighs anything
that I can think of myself. I had another man not too long
ago who said, it just seems like it's getting worse. It just seems
like the more I attend services, the more I listen to the Gospel,
it gets worse, this flesh. I got a big old smile on my face
going, yep, it sure does. You know why I smile? Because
that's the Lord showing you what you are. And when He shows you
what you are, He's not going to stop there. He's going to
show you who the Savior is. And then you start thinking to
yourself, no, wait a minute. My Savior is God Himself. That's
great! That's awesome! The things I
can't do, I know He can do. I can't walk in any righteousness. I don't have any of my own. That's
the worst part of it. That's the part that we see more
and more of every day. I don't have any. There's none
there. I go and I feed the poor. I give money to this. I go to
church on Sundays. But it doesn't do any good. But
here's something that does it even better, and that's my Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. There's where the joy comes in.
That's the joy that lifts you up out of that sorrow of what
we are in the flesh. is Christ is revealing to us
who He is. He's God. Sovereign Ruler of
all things. Isn't that great? I don't have to depend on John
Reeves for salvation. I've got one who's done it already.
He said it is finished. And when he says it's finished,
guess what? It's not like you and I. I'm doing a job out in the yard
or something, and it's finished. What do you mean it's finished?
Look, John, you missed a whole spot out there. Christ doesn't
miss anything. He's perfect in all that He does. Do you feel better? What a great
question for any who sit before a pulpit and listen to one speak. Do you feel better? Is the message
from the pulpit glorifying man? Is it, you can be better if you
just do this? Or does it glorify the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ? You know what God's Word tells
us? It tells us in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 17, But he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. What that means is that If I'm
going to glory in the fact that I may help the poor, it's not
that I help the poor, it's that God has put me in a position
where I can. Instead of me being one of the
poor, He's given me the ability to help them. That's who gets
the glory, Him, not me. I hear this all the time. We
brought 37 people to church on Sunday, and 36 of them turned
to the Lord. We brought 36 people to the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Aren't
you proud of what we've done? Where's the glory in that? Who
gets the glory? We. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. That should tell you right there
that something's wrong with the message coming from that pelvis.
when the glory goes to men. I would suggest you get up and
walk out. If somebody's standing before you in a pulpit and they're
taking glory for anything, run. Run as fast as you can. God will not share His glory
with another. That's the Word of God, not my
interpretation. That's His. And when God says
something, He means it. The only message that will bring
true hope to a lost and sinful world is this. It's the message
of Christ and Him crucified, period. That's what a Calvary
is all about, the Song of Calvary. It's about Christ and what happens
at Calvary. What happened? God laid down
His life for His people. That's what happened. Do you
know that every single time the Lord Jesus spoke of going up
to Jerusalem and dying, being hung, being crucified, every
single time He closed with this and being raised on the third
day. Not once did He not speak of
that. See, that's part of Christ and
Him crucified. God the Father accepted. See, that's what Christ and Him
crucified is. It's the sacrifice. It's the blood payment. Did you
know that the cost of sin is death? It's the death for sin. Sin that He never committed.
Christ never committed any sin, folks. He was perfect in all
that He did. What did He tell His parents
when they finally found Him after they got separated when they
went up to Jerusalem that one time? He said, don't you know
that I ought to be about doing my Father's will? Well, what's
the will of the Father? That He should lose none! Well,
how is He going to lose none? He's got to be perfect! God the
Father has to accept the payment. He has to accept the blood sacrifice. And that's what the death of
the cross is. It's a sacrifice for God's people. It's a sacrifice that we can't
make. I don't care what you do, you're
not going to be able to satisfy the justice of God in the flesh. Oh, folks, go out. Sin no more. Turn away from sin. But when you can't, when you don't, God's people
have an advocate and that's the one who went to the cross. This is what drove that man to
love God. This is what drives John Reeves
to love God. Can I say this? This is what
drives you to be here today. Because it's no different than
the message I preached last week. Or the week before. Or every
week since the time I've been put here in this position. It's
the same message. God loves a people. And He died
for that people. Blessed are your ears for being
able to hear that with your heart. Because the world wouldn't have
it. You know what the world does? They get up and walk out of here
right now and go to some other church that makes them feel good
about what they're doing. I don't want to make you feel
good about what you're doing. I want to make you feel good
about what He did for you. Amen. The message is Christ and Him crucified.
But even that message does not bring hope to everyone, does
it? We're talking about blessed are your ears. In John 5 verse
39-40, I'll get to Matthew in just a moment, sit tight, put
it on your lap there. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 39-40
we read these words, search the scriptures for in them you think
you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. That's the Lord Jesus speaking. You think you might have eternal
life? That psalm that Mike read for
us, thanks again brother, I really appreciated that. That just blessed
me so much. That was all about Christ. It
was all about God the Father turning his back on God the Son.
That's looking in the scriptures and seeing Christ. And then he says this, and ye
will not come to me that ye might have life. That's every one of
us who know the Lord today. And if you're hearing the gospel
for the first time, the only reason you're hearing it is because
of Christ. The God of all creation, the
Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth and preached himself and
men turned a deaf ear. Not only did they turn a deaf
ear to what he was saying, they hung him on a cross and killed
him. Exactly as he had purposed them
to do. It's the only message that will
bring peace to God's people, but not all will hear or listen
to it. The gospel is preached to many,
but few will understand. Look at verse 15 through 17 of
Matthew chapter 13. For this people's heart is waxed
gross. He's talking about his people.
He's talking about the very ones that he promised to. Did you
know that the very ones he promised to, he blinded and gave them
deaf ears for a while so that the gospel would go out into
Gentile world? Did you know that? I forget what verse that was.
It's not right in front of me at the moment. But we were looking
at that. Oh, Romans 11. Romans 11. Read it sometime.
It's all about the Lord. It's all about the Lord causing
blindness and deafness on His people. This is who He's talking
about right here. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them, and who hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them." Wow. That's not commentary from John. That's not even a commentary
from Matthew. If you have the Red Letter Bible, that's a direct
quote from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Does the message you're hearing
make you feel better about your walk in this world. Mark your
spot here and turn over to 2 Samuel chapter 23. 2 Samuel. David, king of Israel, a man after God's
own heart, at the end of his life, He could look back and
see all of his walk in this world, all the good that he had done,
all the bad that he had done, and you can imagine all the pride
that one might have taken up in whatever wonderful things
that may have been accomplished. David accomplished peace for
Israel for a long, long, long time. If you read the Bible as
a historical point of view, Israel was fighting all the time. They
left their land and went into the land of Canaan, and they
fought everybody. And when they weren't fighting
somebody, somebody was fighting back to them. They were having
to kill people left and right. It's a very bloody book. But
when David came along, when David came along and was made the king
of Israel, peace came upon Israel for a long period of time. So
think about that. Think about that. And he's at
the end of his life, and he's thinking of those things that,
you know, he may have accomplished as the king, the good things.
You know, look what I did. I brought water in from this
other area, and we grew plants in an area that wouldn't grow.
You know, those kinds of things. He also had some bad things to
think about, didn't he? He knew that the death of Uriah
and the affair that he had with Bathsheba was against God. I'm sure there were many regrettable
things. Scriptures give us at least one
that we know of. As one of elder years would lay
in thought and look back over their time on this earth, the
carnal mind might consider such things, things that make one
feel good about themselves. Yet this one, who was set before
us in holy scriptures as an example, took no comfort in his own hands. In Philippians we read, there
is therefore now no, no, that's in Romans chapter eight, one.
God's people have no confidence in the flesh. We don't take any
confidence in what we have done. We don't take any confidence
in what we think. We don't take any confidence
in what we feel. David didn't either. This one
who was set before us in Holy Scriptures, he took no comfort
in his own hands. His thoughts were not of great
things that he may have accomplished. Look with me here, 2 Samuel 23,
verses 1-5. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of God,
of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the Spirit of
the Lord spake by me." Oh, I pray. Did you know the Spirit of the
Lord can speak by you? I'm not talking about in the
things you do. I'm not talking about feeding
the poor, helping this person, doing this for that one. I'm
talking about the way you walk your life. I'm talking about
where your trust is. Where's your trust? Is it in
what you're doing? Or is it what he did? People
know that. They'll know that of you. If
your trust is in him, You're going to act ways in this world
that are going to give Him the credit for it. If your trust
is in Him and Him alone, you're going to act and show the world
by your walk where your trust is. I guarantee you, it's just
going to happen. You're not even going to know
it's going to happen. It's just going to happen. My children
know who my God is. They know who I trust in. They
know who their mother trusts in. They don't know who the Lord
is, but they know who we trust in just by the way we walk. Just by the way we talk. Go on. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me and His Word was what? It was in my tongue. His Word is in my tongue. Well, I'm such a lucky guy. No, there's no such thing as
luck. God rules all things. Did it? You understand what I'm
saying about it being in our tongue? When you tell one of
your loved ones, there's no such thing as Mother Nature, God rules
everything, including what goes on in this world. Every little
iota. They know that the Word of God
is coming from your tongue. Verse 3, the God of Israel said,
the rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must
be just, he must be perfect. He's not just gonna sweep sin
under the rug, folks. We can hide a lot of dirt in
our house by picking up the rug and sweeping the dirt under it.
I know, I know. I'm guilty of that, I can do
that. God can't do that. Sin has to
be dealt with. And he dealt with it by sending
his son. Look at verse 4, and he shall be as the light of the
morning, when the sun riseth every morning, without clouds
as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining
after rain, although my house, writes David, be not so with
God. Yet he hath made me an everlasting
covenant. You might read that and think
to yourself, David's talking about his sons, his daughters,
his wives. No. My house is the dwelling
that we call this flesh. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he, even though this flesh Does all the wrong against
God that it does, my Lord, hath made of me an everlasting covenant,
an agreement, ordered in all things, and sure. Why is it sure? Because it's a covenant with
God Almighty Himself, not with us. It's a covenant between God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the
Father, gave a people to God the Son. Isn't that right? Isn't
that what Scripture says? God the Son paid the price for
that people by laying down His life. And God the Holy Spirit
calls and gives life that they may hear the truth of God's Word. I didn't hear the truth. You didn't hear the truth until
somebody stood before you and preached it. For this is all my salvation,
writes Dave, all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Notice
he did not look on his own deeds. David looked as all of God's
enlightened children do to the only assurance that he knew to
be true. God hath made me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Noah had the same kind
of covenant. Listen to these words from Genesis
9, verse 11. And I will establish my covenant
with you, he said to Noah. What did he do with Noah? He
saved him. How did he save him? In the ark, a picture of Christ. You know how that brazen serpent
they put up on a pole and they told everybody in Israel if you
get bit by the serpent, look at that brazen serpent? That
was a picture of Christ. So was the ark. If you take the
earth and you fill it with water, what happens with water? It levels
itself. And you put a box, a wooden box,
on top of the water, what's the highest point of the earth? That
box. Isn't it? If the whole earth
is covered with water, what's floating on top of the water?
The box, the boat, the ship, the ark? A picture of Christ. When we look to Noah, we can
see the covenant in the way God saved Noah. How did He save him?
He saved him in Christ, the same way He saves us. Abraham had the same covenant.
He says, I will establish my covenant between me and thee,
and thy seed after thee, and their generation, and the everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. Did
you know that God made covenant with Adam as well? Look over
at Genesis chapter 2. Go to the left over to Genesis
chapter 2. This is the covenant that God
made with Adam. Why is this important? This is
important because, folks, we have to see, we have to see the
totality of the fall of man. Over in Genesis chapter 2, look
at verses 15-17. And the Lord God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that
thou eatest thereof. Thou shalt surely die." Every single one of us come into
this world dead in trespasses and sin. You can't get away from it. It's
what we are by nature. Look over Look over at Genesis 3. While
you're turning over there, let me share this with you. Romans 6, verse 23, we see the
wages of sin is death. The very sin that we commit,
the very doubt that we have of who God is and what He's done,
brings us into death, into sin. And over in Genesis 3, verse
17, we read these words, and then to Adam he said, under the
voice of thy wife, and hath eaten of the tree, and of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat, cursed is the ground for
thy sake." Everything about us, folks, everything we can see
with these eyes of the flesh is going to burn up. It can't
be in heaven. It's filled with sin. All that
is of this world is cursed and will burn in the end, and that
includes your good works. That includes everything about
you, and I will fade it. We fade as a flower faded. We
are but a wisp in this thing that we know as time. Look over
at Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Does the message you hear make
you feel good about yourself? If so, you're hearing the wrong
message. If you're feeling good about
what you're doing in this world, you're hearing the wrong message. If so, no, I just read that, sorry. Remember what we just read a
moment ago, back in 2 Samuel. Although my house be not so with
God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things. Where was David's happiness?
Where was his feelings out there? It was in what his Savior had
done. An everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. Sure,
because He is God, for this is all my salvation and all. my desire. This is the message
of joy, the message of comfort. It is a message of rest. Rest
in this, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost
have a pact. They have an agreement, a covenant,
three distinct persons, yes, but one God, one mind, one purpose,
one power, one omnipotence, one omnipresence, and that pact is
to save a people for himself. a number that no man can count.
Look with me if you would at Psalm 89 verses 20-37. Beginning at verse 20. I have
found David my servant, and my holy oil have I anointed him,
with whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat
down his foes before his face, and I will plague them that hate
him. What did we just read back in
Psalm 88? Was it Psalm 88 we read? Yes. Yeah, it was. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and thy righteousness shall they be exalted. Let's
go on back here in our text of Psalm 89 verse 20. But my faithfulness
and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn
be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the river. He shall cry unto me,
Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. That's
what David was doing. That's where his joy was. It
wasn't in something that he had done. It is in what the Lord
had done. Look at verse 27. Also I will
make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him forever, and my covenant shall
stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever in his throne as the day of heaven. If his
children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they
break my statutes and keep not their commandments, Then will
I visit their transgressions with the rod." There's our trials
and our tribulations. The very things that drive us
to see our Lord. Verse 33, Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take away from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fall. Folks, the world is walking in
darkness. Darkness to these truths. You
and I know it, for we once walked in that very same blindness.
Once I was blind, but now I see. Why? Because God was gracious
to me. That's why. We walked in the
same darkness, yet we have always been God's people. We just couldn't
see it. We've heard the Word of Truth
with new ears, God-given ears. We've been converted, and as
it says in Matthew chapter 18, from children, or from wise adults
to children trusting the Lord. And that truth is that salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation through the Son of
the Living God. Salvation through His works.
salvation and where He is right now. Where is the Lord right
now? God has accepted His sacrifice. He sits on His throne. He's not
dead in some tomb anymore. Mary and those folks all went
and saw Him. Many folks, up to 500 at a time, saw Him stand
before them with the holes in His hands. The swords piercing
through His side. Many saw him for what he was
after he was raised from the dead. So, I probably would get a question
like this, so John, are you saying that there's nothing good? Are
you saying that there's nothing good that we can do, that what
we do now, there's no good in it at all? Yes. There is good in us. There is
good in what we do. But that's not our assurance. That's not our trust. That's
not what brings everlasting joy to this poor center. What brings
everlasting joy to God's people are the ears that hear the reason
I do it. Because my Savior has done this
for me. Scriptures tell us not to let
the right hand know what the left hand is doing. You know
why? If you're anything like John, it's because all of a sudden
I'll start looking at how good the right hand is. And thinking
to myself, woo! Not such a bad guy after all.
That's the same thing with good works. I don't need to tell you
what I do for good works. What I need to tell you is about
the good works of my Savior and what He's done for me. God's grace is my assurance.
God's covenant mercies are my delight. Hearing the truths of
God's purpose for His people is what brings peace to my soul. Turn again to Matthew 13. And
may God give us ears to hear these truths while you're turning
back there. Hear the truth of God's perfect hatred for sin.
Hear the truth of the perfect love of God for His people. Look at verses 3-9 of Matthew
chapter 13. And he spake many things unto
them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds
fell on the wayside, and fowls came and devoured them up. Some
fell upon stony places, and there had not much earth. And forthwith
they sprang up, because they had no steepness of the earth.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they
had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. We're talking this morning about
blessed are your ears. Here are the ears of those who
are blessed, but others fell in good ground and brought forth
fruit, some a hundredfold and sixtyfold and some thirtyfold.
Who have ears to hear, let him hear. Now turn over to verse
37 of that same chapter. Turn one page to the right. Verse
37, and He said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is
the Son of Man. It's not you! It's Him! Every bit of it! Salvation is
of the Lord! I pray the Lord speaks those
words to your ears and gives you the peace that only Christ
can give unto you this day. Amen.