Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – A specialist suggest surgery for a 94-year old woman who was losing her hearing.

She promptly vetoed the idea.

"I'm 94 years old, and I've heard enough!"

I think a lot of people feel that way about the Bible.

We’ve been in church for years.

What’s new to learn.

We’ve heard enough?!

That’s the danger Jesus addresses to His crowd of fickle followers when He says in Lu 8:8, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He intensifies the concern in Lu 8:18, “Take care then how you hear.”

In a world where some people are dying just to get a part of the Bible in their hands, we, with our multiple versions and copies have utterly forgotten how amazing it all is.

In Deut 4:11-16 Moses lovingly reminds the Israelites, 11 “And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.

You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

(Skip to v. 15).

Therefore watch yourselves very carefully.

Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves.”

Their neighbors worship idols they can see and talk to, but who never speak in return.

Their gods are silent.

The one true God is never seen, but He is there and He is not silent.

He’s not just a vague God who is out there somewhere.

He’s a God who is spoken and who claims the right to be heard.

He has Words, and so Jesus says, “Take care then how you hear.”

Then in v. 10 Jesus reveals that His parable has 2 purposes – to reveal truth to those who will listen – and to conceal truth from those who have heard enough.

*I.

To Conceal Truth* – The idea that God is so loving He will not judge is not found in the Bible.

It is a satanically-inspired vision of God that brings apathy to many.

Listen to how God describes end-time events in II Thess 2:9: “The coming of the lawless one (the Anti-Christ) is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

(They would not listen).

11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion (who sends delusion?

God does.

Why?), so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

That’s a chilling promise, Beloved.

It validates the principle that continued rejected leads to condemnation.

Reject truth long enough and God will conceal it forever.

*II.

To Reveal Truth*

Thankfully, there is another side to the coin.

God longs to reveal Himself to those who want Him.

Take care then how you hear. 4 hearing aids!

*A.

Passion*

To hear God, you must want to hear God.

David instructed his son, Solomon in I Chron 28:9, “The LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.

If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.”

That promise is just as good today as it was then.

Seek the Lord and you will find Him.

Fob Him off and you condemn yourself.

We must be like the woman who went to the bank to open a joint account.

When asked if the account would be with her husband she replied, “Oh, no – I want a joint account with someone who has a lot of money!” Can’t argue her strategy.

She wanted all she could get.

That’s exactly the attitude for those who would know God.

We must want Him above all else.

*B.

Perseverance*

It takes effort, work, perseverance to hear God.

That’s why Moses tells Israel in Deut 4:29, “You will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

God wants everyone, but He is weeding out those who don’t want Him.

To hear Him we must persist.

The disciples did.

They made a lot of mistakes, but they didn’t give up on Jesus and He didn’t give up on them.

They insisted on knowing.

Lu 8:9, “ . . .

his disciples asked him what this parable meant.”

They persisted.

To us that means study to understand the Word.

That’s how we hear God.

The world is full of people who want a college degree but they never get there because they won’t pay the price.

Similarly a lot of people want to know God, but they will not persist.

Carrying a Bible around or having one on the coffee table will not do it.

The message doesn’t just ooze out thru leather!

Others think merely reading the Bible is enough.

“A chapter a day keeps the devil away!”

Well, there is value in reading, but to really hear God, you have to dig.

Walter Martin in Screwtape Writes Again has the head demon instructing his nephew, “You wasted a great deal of time bothering about your patient’s daily habit of reading the enemy’s word. . . .

One of the most successful ploys (to keep people from studying the Word) has been to equate reading with study.

Urge them to concentrate upon how much they read rather than on either its meaning or practical application.”

God instructs us in II Tim 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

That’s more than mere reading.

Psalm 1:1-3: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2) but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Get into a Bible study that gives you a daily challenge of reading and questions to contemplate.

That can add quality to time in God’s Word.

Get a notebook and do the following as your read:

*1.

Observe* – Read the passage several times noting such things as verb tense, repeated words and phrases, who is speaking and to whom.

Is the passage drawing a contrast or stating a purpose?

Are there other passages of Scripture that help interpret this one?

Follow Rudyard Kipling’s advice, “I keep six honest serving men/they taught be all I knew./

Their names are what and why and when/ and how and where and who.

I sent them over land and sea; /I sent them east and west/ but after they have worked for me/ I give them all a rest.”

You will be amazed at what you can dig out of a passage by the simple process of observing – and how fast the time flies.

*2.

Outline* – Some of you will take to this, some not.

But if you like puzzles and grammar – outline the passage.

This is especially helpful in the NT epistles.

You’ll be amazed at the truth that jumps off the page.

*3.

Develop Principles* – You are listening for God, right?

So ask, what does this passage teach me about God and how He works?

You are looking for universal truths derived from your reading.

Write them down.

*4.

Read a commentary* – A good commentary or study Bible can help insure you’re on the right path.

What have they seen that you didn’t?

And perhaps you will have seen something that they didn’t.