All right, if you'd like to follow
along, I'm gonna be in the 85th Psalm, Psalms 85. I'm just gonna
read a couple of verses. And we're gonna wander all over
the place. Psalms 85, beginning in verse
seven. Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and
grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to
his saints. But let them not turn again to
folly. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall
yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the way of his steps. Now, let me start with a little encouragement. I hope to conclude the message
with some encouragement too, but I'm gonna start off with
some. I found this quote by J.C. Ryle, and I really like this.
It says this, let all true Christians
remember that their best things are yet to come. Let us count
it no strange thing if we have sufferings in this present time. It is a season of probation. We are yet at school. We are learning patience, gentleness,
and meekness, which we could hardly learn if we had our good
things now. But there is an eternal holiday
yet to begin. For this, let us wait quietly,
it will make amends for all. Then he quotes 2 Corinthians
4 and 17. Our light affliction, which is
for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an
eternal weight of glory. I like that, I did. We are yet at school. Well, it
goes with what I'm gonna preach today, too, is the other thing.
The title of this message is, again, about the attitude of
believers, but this time it's gonna be about listening. A couple
weeks ago, I preached on looking. Well, one of the other attitudes
of the believer, characteristics of a believer, is listening,
listening. And one more thing, but we'll
get to that in the end here. But here in Psalms 85, 80 says
this, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. I'm gonna tell you something,
if he don't speak, you're not gonna hear him. And that's just
the truth of the matter. But I love this, for he will
speak peace unto his people. And to his saints. Oh my. You understand, God speaks good
toward his people. We may not understand it, and
it may not seem good to us, some of the things we have to go through
down here. But wait. Listen. Listen. Hear what God actually says,
and that is an attitude of the believer, listening. Now, let's
be clear. Unbelievers don't listen. They
may hear. They may hear this gospel message
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who saves and calls, but
they may not listen. And there's a reason for that.
Unbelievers can hear the gospel preached powerfully and truthfully,
but they don't listen. And there's a reason why unbelievers
don't listen to God, to God. The first reason, unbelievers
don't want to listen. I know that's hard to some people,
but I used to be there. I didn't want to hear this. I
didn't want to hear anything. I was happy being as ignorant
as I was. You know why? Because I was ignorant.
I mean, that's just the way it is. Didn't know anything about
God, didn't wanna know anything about God. But here's what the
scripture tells us. Acts 7.51 says this. This is
Stephen preaching his message right before they stoned him.
He says, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so
do you, so do ye. Understand, unbelievers don't
listen because they can't. The natural man cannot understand
the things of the Spirit of God. Now folks, every person here
and every person who hears this word was born naturally. Naturally. And that natural man
is the man before God lays hold of you. before you're given life
by the voice of Jesus Christ. And you understand, it was a
lack in us, not a lack from God. Deuteronomy 29 verse four says
this. Yet the Lord hath not given you
an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto
this day. So the first reason unbelievers
don't listen is they don't want to. Second reason is they can't. Or if you want to, you can reverse
them. The first reason is they can't and the second reason is
they don't want to. It doesn't really matter. But those are
the facts. Those are the facts. Here's the
point. If God doesn't give ears to hear,
you won't hear. You will not hear. Oh my. But therefore, there is a reason
also the believer listens to God, listens to his word, listen
to his gospel. Christ told us. in the very simplest of terms.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Question is, do you have ears
to hear? To hear. What did it say? God the Lord hath not yet given
you a heart to perceive, eyes to see, and ears to hear until
this day. But Christ says, let him that
hath ears to hear. Let him hear. Oh, my. I'm gonna
tell you something, folks. The believer has ears to hear. They do. Oh, I like that. Because the believer is circumcised
in heart and in ears. Oh, my. How's it happen? Well, Proverbs 20, verse 12 says
this. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. You understand, there are those who have been
given ears to hear by God himself. This is not something you can
work up. It's not possible. It's not possible. Because it
says, I remember I was listening to, this is several years ago,
Jim McLarty about this verse here, about you stiff and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did, so do you, right? And he said some people had used
that verse to tell him, see, it's your free will. No, it says
you always resist the Holy Ghost. Why? Because you've got uncircumcised
heart and uncircumcised ears. You cannot, they cannot hear. They cannot understand. And the
scripture bears that out. This is the way the natural man
is. This is the way believers were. But they're not that way anymore.
Oh, I like that. What does it say? I will hear
what God the Lord will speak. I will hear. That's Psalms 85
verse eight. For he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints. Oh. The Lord speaks peace. Here's the thing. Believers Why? Because believers listen. They're listening. Oh, my. But
I'm gonna tell you something. He will speak peace to his people
and to his saints. When is the question, right?
Well, take a look at Psalms 85 in verse four. I'll tell you
when God will speak peace to his saints. Turn us, O God of
our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. He's not gonna speak peace to
you until he turns you. That's the truth. He's not gonna
speak peace to you until he gives you ears to hear. He says, I'll speak peace to
my people and to his saints. Who is that, folks? That's believers. That's believers. Those are the
ones to whom the Lord speaks in his word and in his gospel. Oh my. And they're the only ones
that listen. They're listening. Oh, I like
that. Turn us, oh God, of our salvation. What's he say down here? Show
us thy mercy, oh Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Folks, that's words I wanna hear.
That's words I wanna hear. That's what I'm listening for.
Oh, I wanna hear about his salvation because he gives it to us and
it becomes our salvation. The hearing the word of God and
the words of Jesus Christ. Listening is needful. I use that word on purpose. because I can tell you who told
us that. There was, it's in Luke chapter
10, so we'll go ahead and turn there. Luke chapter 10. There were two sisters, Mary
and Martha, and Jesus and his disciples visited them. Let's write chapter, wrong page. Verse 38 of Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called
Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. Oh my goodness. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me alone, left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou
art careful and troubled about many things. But here it is,
folks, but one thing is needful. One thing is needful, and Mary
hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from
her. Listening to Christ is needful. Mm, understand, Martha's serving
wasn't wrong. You know, both of these are good
things to do, but one is more important. One is more important,
Christ said it's needful. Needful, you understand, that's
not my opinion, that's what Christ said. Oh my. Jesus Christ says it's needful.
What's that mean? Listening is needful, necessary,
required. Listening is vital to the believer,
vital to the believer. Oh, for the one with hearing
ears, oh my. The father said of the son at
the Mount of Transfiguration, while yet spake, behold, a bright
cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud which
said, this is my beloved son. in whom I'm well pleased. Hear
ye him. Hear ye him. Oh my goodness. You understand? That wasn't a
request. He said, hear him. So what are
you supposed to do? You're supposed to listen. You're
supposed to listen. Believers listen. Oh my. You understand, there was what,
Peter, James, and John were the only three up there with Jesus. Now, Moses and Elijah showed
up. God spoke from the heavens, and
he said, hear ye him. Understand what he's saying?
At that same time, he said, you don't look to Moses, and you
don't look to Elijah, you hear Christ. You hear Christ, because
you know what Christ said. If you believed Moses, you'd
believe me. Moses wrote of me. Hear him, hear him, hear him. What's that mean? Listen. This
was a command from God himself. You hear him. Listen. William Gatsby wrote
a song. This is one verse off of it.
I really like this. It says, hear him speak. ye saved
few, for this word is sent to you. You, the objects of his
choice, listen to his saving voice. I like that, I like that. Oh my, you understand, the hour's
coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God, and they that, what? Here shall live. Now I'll tell you this, when
Christ speaks to you, you're gonna hear. When Christ speaks
to you, you're gonna hear. This is the way he works. Understand,
he was standing in front of a tomb of a guy named Lazarus. And he
said one word first. He said, Lazarus, cried in a
loud voice, Lazarus. And I'm gonna tell you right
now, at that moment, in that tomb, Lazarus came alive. Because he heard the voice of
the Son of God. But he didn't stop there. He
said, Lazarus, come forth. Come forth. Oh, and guess what?
You know what happened then? Lazarus came forth, bound in
grave clothes, shuffling, I suppose. I don't know how they bound people
up. I'd say they did a pretty good job. But he came forth. Oh, why? Because when Christ
said his name, Lazarus came alive. And when he said, come forth,
Lazarus was listening. to his master's voice. And he
came forth, he had to. He had to. And thank God, Christ
didn't leave him like that. He said, get him out of them
things, cut him loose. Understand, the voice of the
Son of God is who we are to listen to. It's his voice, oh my. But, There's a direct purpose that I want to tell you about
to listening, all right? Proverbs 1 and 5 says this. A
wise man will hear and will increase learning. and a man of understanding shall
attain unto wise counsels. Let me tell you something, folks.
Listening is good for believers. It's good, it's good. Now the
only qualifier here, and this a wise man will hear, is that
the wise will hear. The only qualifier is hearing.
Hearing, listening. Understand, and this is a flat
statement also. It says a wise man will hear
and will increase learning. Believers listen and learn. Learning. That's the second one
today. The attitude of believers. Listening
and learning. And that's actually my title,
Paul. Attitude of believers. Now, believers know that only
those given hearing ears can hear. And he that hears will
increase learning. That's also a flat statement. I said a couple weeks ago, believers
are to look, looking unto Jesus. looking into his scriptures,
looking to his word. But we are also to listen, to
hear. And we are to learn. I can tell you for a fact, I
am not as ignorant as I was in 1982 when God called me. So what is that, 42 years now? Now I'm still ignorant, but I'm
not as ignorant as I was. I still have much to learn, I
learn stuff all the time. But here's the thing, God just
doesn't leave you in those grave clothes, bound hand and foot
alive. No, cut him loose, let him go,
set him free. What? To walk, to walk, to walk. You understand, he's placed your
feet upon the rock, but he's also ordered your steps. We are
to learn, oh my. Listen, the scriptures here,
for whatsoever things were written aforetime, it's a book right
here, were written for our what? Learning, learning. That we,
through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have
hope. We look because God has given
us eyes to see and to learn. 1 John 4 and verse six says this. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. And he that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby, what? Know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Believers are supposed to learn
something. Believers are supposed to learn something. And God will
teach you. Now, he can teach you the easy
way or he can teach you the hard way. Most of the time we have
to learn the hard way. Earl was fond of saying the burned
hand teaches best. Sometimes I hated it when he
was right. Because it's true. You understand? There's a reason
we're chastised at times. And chastisement is grievous.
It's not pleasant. But afterward, oh, I love this
part. Afterward, it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness. What? God's gonna teach you something. Now, I'm not trying to guess
what it is or anything else. I have no idea. But I do know
God has taught me through adversity. Tribulation does work patience.
That doesn't make tribulation any less or any more pleasant. but the lesson learned is a good
thing, is a good thing. Oh my. Those that know God hear
us and the unbeliever does not hear us. Hereby know what? Hereby we know. Believers know
what? The spirit of truth and the spirit
of error. And I said it here before, I'll
say it again. It don't matter, I'm gonna say it right now. The
believer is the only person who can know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error. Unbelievers only know the spirit
of error. But they don't know it as the spirit of error. Some
of them, some of them may do, doesn't matter. Oh, the unbeliever's the only
one who knows both sides of the equation, because we used to
be and what we are now. and he has taught us, thank God,
the difference. Oh my. I said it before, the
natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit of God,
but the spiritual man, the believer, the regenerated soul, converted
soul, does. He does. Because believers both
look and listen and they learn, they learn. Oh, I like that.
We know we learn because God has given us ears to hear and
we learn. What is this? Proverbs 15, 31.
It says, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among
the wise. Now, I've got to admit, folks,
I don't feel wise a lot of times. or hardly ever. Occasionally
I have these flashes. And then I think I deluded myself.
Yeah, you know, that's what we are. You understand, this is
the thing, standing here before you trying to preach, okay? I
feel sometimes like you guys are gonna figure out I'm an imposter.
Because y'all are pretty smart. But here's the thing, I have
to preach with confidence. and yet have no confidence in
the flesh. I have to talk, but I'm gonna
tell you something folks, the easiest thing about that is to
use this book right here. You understand? I'm not giving
you my thoughts, I'm giving you what God says. And he says, listen,
the ear that heareth the reproof of life abides, lives among the
wise. Oh my. Those that have ears to
hear, those who listen, believers, are wise. Now that sounds like I'm boasting,
but I'm not. Because it is of God are ye in
Christ Jesus. And he, Christ Jesus, is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
He's our wisdom. You understand, the only wisdom
I have is that I know him. And I only know him because he's
given me ears to hear, and then he gave me something to hear,
and I heard it. And I believed it. I perceived
it. And to some amount, I understand it. I understand him. You understand,
the world doesn't. The world doesn't understand
that God can do what he wants, when he wants, where he wants.
And the world understands even less that God does what he wants,
when he wants, where he wants. But the believer knows. He'll
know it when he hears it. Isn't that something? You hear something and you know
it's true. How? He gave you ears to hear
and you're listening. You're listening. Oh, I like
that. Oh, my. Jesus Christ himself likens us,
calls us wise. Why? Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon the rock. Well, if he set
your feet on the rock, he's gonna liken you unto a wise man. Not
because of anything you did, because of what he did. Oh, I
like that. What's my point? Here's a conclusion. The believer is not static. It's not stationary. We walk. Why do we walk? How do we walk? He's ordered
our steps. Why do we do this? Come here
every week? And try to, try to believe him. Try to walk
as becomes the gospel. Why? Because he works in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. I can't take credit
for my walk, neither can you. It's his work, it's his power.
But the believer's not static. This is a part of what we do. This is a part of what we are. Believers look, believers listen,
and believers learn. And that's the proper attitude
of a believer. You understand? Then said Jesus
to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples. Indeed, indeed. That's what I
mean, the believer's not static. Oh my. Continue, that's it, in
my word. Paul told Timothy, study. to
show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be
ashamed. Christ said, God the Father told us from heaven, hear
ye him. We are to look at his word, the
scripture, we're to listen to his gospel preached according
to the scripture, and we are to continue as Christ
told us. Oh, I like that. John 15, nine,
he said, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue. What? In my love. In my love. Oh my. Believers love Jesus Christ.
They love Jesus Christ. You understand, and here's the
thing about love. Believers want to look to the
one that they love. Believers want to listen about
the one they love. And believers want to learn,
learn about the one they love. Oh, I like that. You understand? We wanna continue. Sometimes
I feel I'm not very good at it, but I wanna continue. Oh my. Believers want to learn
of the one they love. They want to continue in his
word and in his love. And here's the thing. Talk about
learning, right? But grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory. To him be glory, both now and
forever. And Peter ends it. Amen. That's what he says. Amen. How are you to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? You're to look,
you're to listen, and you're to learn. That's what believers
do. Here it is, folks. By the grace
of God, that's what believers do. He does it. and he'll put in
you to want to do it. And all I can say is thank you,
God. That's it. I mean, thank you,
God. I still, I know it was a long
time ago, still remember what it was like
to be ignorant and dead, okay? Now I know what it's like to
be alive and still ignorant, but not as ignorant as I was.
But I remember those days. And I was a fairly happy person.
But you understand, now I feel so much better about God than
I ever felt about my life before God. And in that, in him, I feel
good. And in the midst of the tribulation,
in the midst of the trials that we go through, here's the thing. We are not as them who have no
hope. We have a hope. You understand? And this is the thing I found,
and it works. I can tell you it's a work. In
the midst of a trial or trouble or a death or disease, whatever,
every now and then, When you remember, look to him. And it's better. Troubles don't
go away. They will eventually. We got that holiday coming that
J.C. Ryle wrote about. We got the holiday coming. But
right now, even now, you can look to him and listen and learn. Just be a believer, folks. That's
what he's given to us. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Lord, you have been so
good to us and we don't deserve any of it. Thank you. You've given us life and faith Grace without measure, we have
been given in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with Walter
as he preaches. Be with all your men wherever
they're preaching your gospel. And be with the people who are
there listening, and give them ears to hear, a heart to understand,
eyes to perceive, and keep them going, Lord. Help us to continue. In Christ's name we pray, amen.