Mark chapter four. And I want to read verses 23
to 25. Mark chapter four, verse 23.
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto
them, take heed what ye hear, With what measure ye meet it,
shall be measured, excuse me, with what measure ye meet, it
shall be measured to you. And unto you that hear, shall
more be given. For he that hath, to him shall
be given. And he that hath not, from him
shall be taken, even that which he hath. I'm just gonna stop
right there. These are the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples. Hearing is important. Hearing is essential. Eight times in Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, this statement is recorded in one form or another. Matter
of fact, you can just back up to verse nine of chapter four,
And he said unto them, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. I think we need to give the more
earnest heed to this statement. Please understand, I personally
have found this statement to be true. None of the words of Jesus Christ
recorded in the scriptures are fluff. Nothing is off the cuff. Nothing
is a throwaway statement. I will confess that when I first
read these statements, I just thought it was basically a throwaway
statement. Now you're going back 30 years
and I was ignorant as a doorpost as far as the truth of God. But
I was trying to learn. But I remember reading these
and thinking, you know, that's just something he said after
he said a parable, Walter. That's what I thought. Because
I didn't get it. But everything our Lord Jesus
Christ said that is recorded in this book is vital. It's just as perfect as, for
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Every
single word and the lack of understanding is my problem. Not what he said And I find that out every day
still But what this shows here What
this shows here from man's viewpoint from the point of view of a man
is the beginning of faith in man Now it's from our point of
view. Because everything from our point
of view starts with hearing. Actually having ears to hear. This is where it starts. For
us, from our point of view, you're gonna hear things once God has
done something for you. I'm not saying that's where God
starts. This is where it starts for us. Once you start to hear
things, that somebody may have said to you 14 times or 400 times,
but all of a sudden you're gonna actually hear it and it's gonna
sink in. That's a difference. Because
I can tell you this from the beginning, ears to hear are not
natural to man. They are never natural to man. And that's why our Lord Jesus
Christ made this statement and made it repeatedly. And that's
why these men wrote it down for our knowledge, for our learning,
and for our admonition. Verse 23 says, if any man have
ears to hear, let him hear. Guess what? The first word, here's if, I
think I covered that last week. I'm gonna cover it again. It's
a word of possibilities. There's a possibility of yes,
a possibility of no. There's a possibility here of
ability and inability. Well, and actually in our case,
there's a certainty of inability until the ability is given. A
possibility of having and of not having. That's what he says.
What does this mean? Very clear, very plain, not all
men have ears to hear. It's a qualifying statement.
If, if, if. And it does say any man. Yes, that's what it means. Any
man. Now this clearly does not state
that any man can hear. That's what people wanna say.
That's what people wanna think. That's the way they talk about
the parables. Oh, he told parables so that all men could understand.
Guess what? He said the exact opposite. I
speak in parables, so what? Some will hear and not understand.
Why? Because the natural man understands
not the things of the Spirit of God. And whatever Christ spoke
was a thing. of the Spirit of God, whether
we know it or not. But he does say any man. There are those who want it to
say every man. There are those who want it to mean every man. But that's not what he said.
And that's just a God's honest truth. That's not what he said.
It does say that this statement that he is making here concerns
man. This is not a statement about
angels, about spirits, about devils. None of the above. This
is if any man. Big man, tall man, short man,
strong man, weak man, male or female. Rich, poor, weak, strong,
young, old, or Jew or Gentile. Any man. He didn't call out any
Jewish man. There's a lot of people wanna
say that, of course, our Lord spoke to the Jews. Well, our
Lord did come to the Jews. He came unto his own. What's
the rest of that statement say? His own received him not. And
he did tell Nicodemus, for God so loved the world. Okay, that's
not everyone in the world, but that is the whole world, Jew
and Gentile. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. There's no limitation here on
the part of God. It's any man. And then it says this, and this
is just a wonderful statement to me, have ears to hear, to
hear. It's not just if any man have
ears. That's the way some people want to preach it. If any men
have ears, if you've got ears, you can hear and you can understand
the gospel of God. No, you can't. You may understand
it intellectually, but that's not the same thing as understanding
it spiritually. You have to have ears to hear. And those are the ones that he
says, let, what? Him hear. There's a difference
spoken here. And this is the crux of the matter,
is ears to hear. Because I do mean this, having
physical ears is not enough. And this is not an exclusion
of deaf people. He's not talking about physical
hearing. He's not talking about physical hearing. But he is talking
about hearing. Now, does that make sense? It
does if you know him, but yeah. This is not a question about
physical ears or physical hearing. Our Lord here was speaking of
spiritual things. And this is not something given
to every man. Why? Because he said, if any
man. And if he'd have meant every
man, he'd have said, every man that has ears to hear, let him
hear. Or every man has ears to hear, let him hear. That's not
what he said. And the only reason he didn't
say that is because that's not what he meant. He meant this. This is not about a physical
difference at all, because the difference here is spiritual. First Corinthians 2 and verse
14 says this. But the natural man, what, receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither what can he know them? See, we're talking about ability
here, Paul was writing. Because they are spiritually
discerned. Verse 15 says this, but he that
is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no
man. See, there's a difference between the natural and the spiritual. And there's a difference between
the natural hearing of the ears Having ears to hear It's about
spiritual discernment by hearing This is what our Lord came to
do. I read it last week. I came to preach unto men vocally This is the way he's decided
to do it He could have came and mentally implanted in your brain
the truth without ever saying a word. God has the capacity. God has the ability. Luckily,
we don't have any, but we don't have to have any. But he chose
not to do that. He chose to come and to preach
and to use your physical ears so that you would hear a spiritual
message. But the difference is between
men. There's no difference in God.
Let, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear. What does
that mean for the one who doesn't have ears to hear? It means he's
not gonna hear. That's what it means. You can't
have the positive without the negative. You can't have the
negative without the positive. Because if you have ears to hear,
guess what? Jesus Christ said, let you hear.
and you're going to hear. Christ is speaking here of ears
to hear. That small little word, to. And I look every single one of
these, these eight different times where it says, it says
ears to hear. Every single one of them. Because that little word to denotes
purpose. and is the purpose of Christ
to give ears to hear to his people. I wanna show you just something
right quick in Acts chapter nine. This is Paul's account when he
was Saul of Tarsus. This is the story of Saul's conversion.
And I'm just gonna read one verse here and one verse in Acts 22. Acts chapter nine and verse seven.
Speaking of Saul, and the men which journeyed with him stood
speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Jesus Christ had spoke to the
apostle Saul. Apostle Paul, who at that time
was Saul of Tarsus. Christ had spoke to him and said,
you know, Paul, Paul, why persecuteth thou me? And Paul answered, Who
are you, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus. These men that were with him
heard a voice, but they didn't see anything. Now look at verse,
chapter 22, Acts chapter 22 and verse nine. This is Paul relating
his experience to others in Jerusalem. Well, let me go ahead, verse
seven. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And, verse nine, they that were
with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard
not the voice of him that spake to me. Those are the words of
the Apostle Paul. Now I thought about this years
ago, it seemed a little contradictory. It's not. But I thought it was. In these two verses. Because
what is the difference here is this. Very carefully, between
these two verses, hearing a voice is not the same thing as hearing
the voice of him that spake to me. There's a difference between
having ears to hear and not having ears to hear. These men heard
a voice, but they didn't hear the one that spoke to Apostle
Paul. They didn't hear the voice of
God, Jesus Christ. There's a difference between
the natural man and the spiritual man. There's a difference between
natural ears and spiritual hearing. If you have ears to hear, he
will give you someone to hear. Because two things, Paul, Saul
at this time, had been given ears to hear and Jesus Christ
was speaking to Saul of Tarsus. Now what does he say about ears
to hear? Three words, let him hear. This is not a request. This is a flat statement. If
any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. Let him hear. Emphasize whichever
word you want because they're all equally important. Let him
hear. This is a command of Jesus Christ. And him who has ears to hear
shall hear. But who hears? Only the individual
that has ears to hear. That has been what? Given ears
to hear. Because every man does not have
ears to hear. This kind of hearing is not natural
to man. Now how can I say that? Well,
I can say it very plainly because it's scripture. Deuteronomy 29
and verse 4 says this, yet the Lord hath not given you, given
you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and what, ears to hear
unto this day. If you don't have ears to hear,
it is because the Lord has not given them to you. That's the
negative. That's just as plain as I can
be. And the same goes for eyes to
see and a heart to perceive. Man doesn't have it, naturally. And if he doesn't give, you don't
have. That's what it says. Now secondly,
the positive. Proverbs 20 and verse 12 says
this. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, what? The Lord hath
made, what? Even both of them. So if you have ears to hear,
the Lord made them. You didn't make them. You can't
make them. The natural man cannot understand
the things of the Spirit of God. But the Lord can make you an
eye that sees and an ear that hears. And only the Lord makes
you eyes that see, ears to hear, and a heart to perceive, to understand. That's not too simple, that's
just true. That's just the way it is. Because that's the way
we are. Fallen, depraved creatures, dead
in sins and transgressions. Spiritually dead to God and to
the things of God. Look how far afield religion
has gone. Just be honest, folks. Look how
far afield they've gone. That's because they don't have
ears to hear. They don't have ears to hear this book. They
don't have ears to hear the master's voice. They might hear a voice,
but they ain't hearing the voice of him that was speaking to the
apostle. that was speaking to Saul of
Tarsus. And there's a world of difference between those two
positions, between hearing a voice and hearing the voice. If you have ears to hear, if
you have eyes to see, if you have a heart to understand, it's
because the Lord gave it to you. What is it? Every perfect gift
comes down from the father of lights. God has a perfect record in giving,
Walter. This is another thing I don't
quite understand. God has a perfect record in giving.
He gives you something, you have it. You understand? I can give you
something, you can reject it, you can throw it away, and according
to Seinfeld, you can re-gift it. Give it to somebody else.
That don't work with God's gifts. His record is perfect. If he
gives you ears to hear, Christ said, let him hear. And guess
what? You're gonna hear. You're gonna
hear. You're gonna hear. This is where
it starts with us. You're gonna hear. Because every
time he gives, the recipient of that gift receives. Then he says this and he said
unto them take heed what you hear with what measure you need
it shall be measured Unto you or to you and unto you that here
more shall be given Christ explains the importance of hearing the
Word of God truly hearing because hearing Having ears to hear leads
to more hearing Hearing is where it starts for
man, and guess what? Hearing is where it continues. A believer never says, I have
heard enough. Disciples of Christ, believers
of Christ, are hearers of Christ. And to him that hears, more is
given. There is a growth. I'll say it
till I die, because I believe it. There is a growth in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And I am not talking about progressive sanctification, because there
is no such thing. We were sanctified a couple thousand
years ago. At the same time, we were perfected,
Walter. How? By one offering. But for us,
To him that hears, that's the subject still here. He that has
ears to hear, guess what? More's gonna be given. He's not
gonna leave you, thank God he didn't leave me as ignorant as
I was. And we are to continue in the
apostle's doctrine. This is where we are, here. This is why we're here. To hear
from him. You don't have to hear me, I'll
say that. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm not
scared of it. I'm not important, he is. And what he said is important. Now if I'm speaking the words
which he said, you better pay more earnest heed. Now if I'm
speaking nonsense, y'all don't have to listen. But I'm doing
my best not to speak nonsense. And by his grace I won't be,
because he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. They're gonna
hear. I have heard the truth of God
in Armenian churches. I know this might shock some
people. It's rare, but I've heard it.
And you can hear a little bit of truth every now and then.
But the problem is, they got way too much leaven on the side.
And the best time that I've ever heard the truth in an Armenian
church is when somebody was quoting a scripture. Because if you're
quoting the scripture, it's right, even if the guy speaking it's
wrong. And yes, they will use scripture to deny the Lord that
bought them. But that doesn't devalue the
scripture. If you got ears to hear, you'll
know the difference too. Because to him that hath, more
shall be given. Mmm, but he that hath not from
him shall be taken even that which he hath He that hath not He that doesn't hear If any man does not have ears
to hear has absolutely nothing of any spiritual value. That's
just a fact. What he has is going to be taken
away from him. Now, those aren't my words. I said them, but that's
what he said. That's just as true as if you
have ears to hear, let him hear. If you don't have ears to hear,
and that's still the subject, he's going to take away whatever
you've got. and you actually have nothing. If you don't have ears to hear,
you cannot hear the word of God, and you cannot hear the word
of God. Now is that the Bible or Jesus?
Yes. Yes. You can't hear nothing. Because with Christ is everything,
and without Christ is absolutely nothing. Without ears to hear,
what did Stephen say while Saul was listening? You will always
resist the Holy Ghost. That's what he said. My conclusion is this. What this
shows is the beginning of faith from man's point of view. It's
the same thing as introduction. Because everything from our side,
from our point of view, starts with hearing the word of God. And we start to hear when we're
given ears to hear, and not before. Now, just because you're starting
to hear doesn't mean there ain't gonna be a fight. Doesn't mean
you're not, you know. We may fight against what we
hear and who we hear. And we'll argue. Walter, we might
even debate. But guess what? Christ said,
you're gonna hear. This is where it starts for us.
And it doesn't end there. It continues on. To him that
hath shall more be given. This is the beginning of faith.
This is where it is. Saul kicked against the pricks.
That's what he said. And Saul kicked against the pricks
until he didn't. You know? Until he heard the voice of him
that spake to him. From our point of view, this
is where it starts. And also from our point of view,
This is where it never ends. Because any man with an uncircumcised
heart and ears does always resist the Holy Ghost. That's a fact. But every man that has a circumcised
heart and circumcised ears hears the word of God and believes
the word of God. It may take a little while. I
remember talking to Walter, we went back and forth more than
once. I remember with myself, I went back and forth within
myself a couple of times or more. Circumcised ears are ears to
hear and a circumcised heart is to understand what and who
you have heard. And this is the gift of God coming
down from the father of lights. Because there is no way on God's
green earth to hear without ears to hear. That's just as certain
as hearing with ears to hear. Because those who have been given
ears to hear, let him hear, let him hear, let him hear. They
hear him in his word, they hear him in his gospel. And they hear
the voice of him that spoke to Saul of Tarsus. Those that truly hear, and I
believe this with all my heart and the scriptures back me up,
shall believe. They shall. Not maybe, not can
be, not, well, God made it possible. What's the new one? God made
it available. Salvation of it, no. Christ said, he that hath
ears to hear, let him hear. They're gonna hear. They're gonna
hear. Because his will is done on earth
as it is in heaven. Our Heavenly Father, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for giving ears to
hear. And thank you also for giving
something, someone to hear. For your gospel to be preached
and proclaimed where you want it, to whom you want it, and
for bringing me to hear it and others, and bringing me to believe
it and others. Thank you, in Christ's name we
pray, amen.