The reading today is from Luke 4 through 18. One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him. A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered across his field, some seed fell on a footpath where it was stepped on and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted. When he had said this, he called out, Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He replied, You are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the scriptures might be fulfilled. When they look, they won't really see. When they hear, they won't understand. This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is God's word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message. only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell on the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God's word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. The lamp is placed on a sand where its light can be seen by all those who enter the house. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all. So pay attention to how you hear. Those who listen to my teachings, more understanding will be given. But those who are not listening, even what they think they understand, will be taken away from them. This is the word of the Lord. Today's sermon is a sermon to prepare you to hear a sermon the way you ought to hear a sermon. Today's sermon is a sermon to prepare you to hear a sermon the way you ought to hear a sermon. And I hope you are prepared to hear the sermon that I'm going to preach, and you may or may not be. So let me ask you, did you prepare yourself to hear this sermon today? And you might think, well, isn't that a funny question? All I have to do is to come in and sit down after all of the standing and all of the reciting and the liturgy that we do. But then all I need to do is, when it comes time for the sermon, I need to sit down and make sure that I sit up straight enough so that I don't fall asleep and just let my eardrums do what God invented them, created them to do, do their designed work. Isn't that right? Well, not exactly. You see, when Jesus told the congregation that Dr. Hall just read to you about, that congregation in Luke 8, Jesus told his congregation while preaching one of his famous sermons on the topic of hearing the word of God rightly. He said these words, therefore, take heed how you hear. In essence, pay attention to how you pay attention. Pay attention to how you pay attention. Therefore, take heed to how you hear, for whoever has, to him more will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have, will be taken away. Well, Scripture calls us to consider carefully two things. First is the source of sermons we listen to. And I want to pause there for a second because When you think about sitting under the preaching of the word, did you know that there are over 17 qualifications that God himself has set down in the scripture that are required of those who preach his word? And it's your duty to measure that preacher to see if he has those qualifications. You need to know who you're listening to. You need to know the substance of the preacher. But we also need to know how to listen to those sermons. And today we're going to deal with that second question. We're going to deal with how we should listen to sermons. And it's very easy to slip into what scripture calls dullness of hearing. It's easy to listen to the drone of the weekly sermon, week after week, sermon after sermon. without seriousness, without faith. And it's easy for us to listen in that way. And when we do, there will be little or no holy fruit in our lives as a result of hearing a sermon. You see, a sermon is empowered by God to change us. And a great verse that you need to think about, Jeremiah 23, 29, says that God's word, that the proclamation through this prophet Jeremiah, is a fire. It's like a fire. And when a sermon is preached, it's like God placing us in that smelting oven to melt us, to purify us, to cause the impurities to rise to the top and to be scraped off and done away with so that the pure gold or the pure silver or the pure metal will be left. The same verse, Jeremiah 23, 29, talks about God's Word being like a hammer, a hammer that can be used to crush and break up into pieces or a hammer that can be used in the hand of a skilled craftsman with a chisel to tap away and chisel out a beautiful statue that God wants us to become, to reflect His glory. But also, a sermon always affects what God wants it to affect. In fact, in Isaiah 55, another passage that is really worth thinking about very carefully. Maybe you would do that this afternoon. Isaiah 55, Canon 11 says this, For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." A sermon is to be a powerful thing, a powerful message, a powerful proclamation from a man that God has raised up and prepared to a congregation that God has raised up and prepared. I remember when I was a new Christian, 44 years ago, I heard a sermon by my pastor, Reverend Jerry Malkus. He was a magnificent man of God. I loved that man. He was a wonderful man, but he preached a sermon that I'll never forget. He talked about when he was in seminary in St. Louis, and his family lived down in Miami, Florida, and the most inexpensive way to travel in those days was by train. So when school would be out, he would travel down toward Miami on the train. And in those days, as a passenger, you could go from car to car. And they even had cabooses. Do you remember cabooses? And you could get permission to go out on the caboose on the back and you could watch the landscape go away from you. Well, one night he was doing that and he noticed that all of a sudden there was a double track. And they were rocking along pretty fast. So he takes the thing and he says he leaned out to look down the other track, the way the train was going. And all of a sudden, another train was coming the other way. Now, of course, it was many feet away, but it came. so loud and so fast that it startled him. And he said, you see, a sermon can be like that train. He jumped back in it and it shocked him. But a sermon can be big, and it can be powerful, and it can be loud, and it can be startling. And then all of a sudden, it's gone. It's silent. It vanishes. And if you are not actively hearing, as though God has a message for you congregationally, and as though God has a message for you personally, then even the message of God will vanish from your life. It will disappear. So today I want you to hear a sermon that I've titled, How to Hear a Sermon. Now that may sound a little strange since you all are actually hearing this sermon and you've probably all heard a lot of sermons, but it's possible to not hear the sermon you hear today. It's possible for you to not hear the sermon that you're actually hearing right now. But after today, I want you to all see the importance of you doing your part in this thing that we do together called preaching and hearing. You see, I need you. And you need me. A preacher needs a real congregation. And a real congregation, which I think you are, needs a real preacher. And we need to engage with God and we need to engage with each other so that we will receive God's blessing and so that God's blessing will be realized. And I want you to remember what you just recited in your shorter catechism question. The question, what are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? The outward means the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the words, sacraments and prayer, all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. How is the word? made effectual to salvation. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. And how is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation, that the Word may become effectual to salvation? We must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer. receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. So I want to summarize that in this sermon today. And I want to ask the question, what is the right way to listen to a sermon? And we've just heard it in that catechism question. But there are five parts that I want to mention. We need to listen to a sermon with a soul that is prepared, with a mind that is alert, with a Bible that is open, with a heart that is guardedly receptive and with a life that is ready to lay aside sin and pleasures and go into action. Well, the first thing is for the soul to be prepared. Now, most churchgoers think that the sermon starts when the pastor opens his mouth from behind the holy desk on Sunday morning. And, you know, I would ask you, As you have thought of as you're thinking about sermons right now, you think about your personal experience is that you don't have to answer this except to yourself. But would that be your opinion? Have you always thought that the sermon starts when the scriptures read and I walk up here and start opening my mouth and speaking to you? Do you think that's true or do you think that's false? Or did the sermon start earlier? You see, proper listening to a sermon actually starts long before Sunday morning. Proper listening to a sermon starts when you pray for me as your preacher and for yourselves as the congregation. It starts when you begin to ask God to to bless the time that that I invest in praying for you, that I invest in thinking through the scriptures and searching the scriptures and studying the Bible. A real sermon prepares when you pray for me as I prepare to pass on to you what God delivers to me to deliver to you so that you can hear. Your prayers are part of the investment in the sermon and your prayers help create in us and for us a sense of expectancy from the ministry of God's word. And that word is attended to by the very person of God, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, as he acts in power, as he acts personally, as he attends to that word. And this is one of the reasons that when it comes to the sermon, congregations generally get exactly what they have already prayed for. Your soul needs intentional, holy preparation the days and especially the night before the worship service. Well, second, you need a mind that is alert. On Saturday evening, your thoughts should begin to strongly turn toward the Lord's Day. Your focus should shift from the world and the things of the world to the things of God. And you should also be sure to get enough sleep so that on that Sunday morning you're not struggling to stay focused and you're not offering to God your leftovers. You're not offering to God a dull, sleep-deprived mind that has been sucked dry by the things of this fleeting world. Then on Sunday morning, your mind and your heart should be self-consciously and in a careful and expectant way, focused on worship. And it should be focused on your receiving with an anticipation and an energetic mental acuity. You should receive the preaching of the word. And if your body is well rested, your soul is better prepared and your mind can be more in tune. But faithful preaching, you see, appeals to the mind first. And if your body is tired and your soul is not engaged, then your mind will not be engaged. Faithful preaching must appeal to the mind first and then the will and then the emotions. A real sermon does not manipulate your emotions. A real sermon does not try to get you to sign up before you believe something, before you understand something. A real sermon will appeal to your mind so that you will become convinced of what God has said. And when you, as God's real people, when you become convinced of what He says, then you will really do it. Because you already only do what you believe God really means for you to do, what He really wants you to do. You don't do anything else. So if you're not doing something that He wants you to do, it's because you don't believe He wants you to do it. If you're doing something that you kind of think He doesn't want you to do, you really aren't convinced that He doesn't want you to do it. Until you are convinced, you will not change. And you're convinced in your mind. After all, it's by the renewing of your mind that God does His transforming work in your lives. Anybody here know Romans 12? and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." How do you prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? By your life, by your actions, by what you do. So when you listen to a sermon, your mind needs to be fully engaged because the mind is the proper path to the heart. And the heart is the seat of the affections and you do what your heart tells you to do and your mind tells your heart what to do. This requires self-discipline, not daydreaming, but energetically engaging with the sermon is a very important part of the worship that we offer to God. And we shouldn't come and insult God's gift of truth by examining the the extra weight some of us are carrying around, or examining the clothes people are wearing, or the way we wear our hair, those kind of things. We shouldn't insult God's truth by assessing the people around us, thinking about the coming week, or entertaining the others' many, many thoughts that could enter our mind and crowd out the truth if our mind is undisciplined. You see, when we open the Bible, God opens his mouth, and when God is speaking, we should listen. When we open the Bible, God opens his mouth, and when God is speaking, we should pay attention. Romans 10, 17 tells us, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Literally, in the Greek language, that says faith comes by hearing the voice of Christ. If it were translated that way, I think it would have more impact. But when you hear the word properly preached, it's Christ speaking through the man. It's not the man speaking on his authority, but it's Christ speaking through the man on his authority. And you need to pay attention. Well, the third thing is you need a Bible that is open. And what I'm about to say is really big. And this is going to really engage you in the most active way so far. You see, it's pleasing to God. And when I say those words, think of what's bigger than pleasing God. Can you think of anything bigger than pleasing God? I can't. It's pleasing to God. And it's a noble thing. And can you think of anything more noble than pleasing God? I can't. It's pleasing to God and a noble thing for a congregation to make sure that what the minister is saying is in keeping with the Scriptures. It's your duty. That is really big. And you see, the Bible is the standard that we must follow. The Bible is the standard for you. I'm not the standard for you. The Bible is the standard for me. You're not the standard for me. God's Word is our standard. And it's your duty to listen, and to measure, and to weigh, and to ask the question, does this line up? Does this line up? You see, together, something big and important happens. And we see this thing happening in Scripture. One place is Acts 17.11. And in Acts 17.11, The Book of Acts is full of sermons. It's one sermon after another almost. One historical event sandwiched between sermons. And in Acts 17.11, here we have the people of Berea and it says, and the people of Berea were more noble than the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians were the people from Thessalonia. So the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians. And then it tells us why they were more noble. They were more noble, it says, because they listened readily to Paul's message. But, anybody know what's next? They searched the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul and Silas said was true according to the Scriptures. Now, Paul is an apostle. There are no apostles anymore. He could speak God's word. He did speak God's word. And when he spoke, it was written down so that it would be recorded for us today. But Paul could not speak in any way that was contradictory to the 39 books of the Older Testament. When he wrote the 13 books of the Newer Testament, they had to be in conformity to the 39 books of the Older Testament. And the Bereans knew that if Paul said anything that contradicted anything of the Older Testament, then Paul was a false prophet and Paul was wrong. And Paul was either to be corrected and he was to repent and before he could and he was to be tried and proven to see if he was fit to step behind the holy desk again, or he was to be ejected from the pulpit. He was to be removed. And you need to check me out. I am not an apostle. I am not a prophet. I am a prophet in the sense of I proclaim the word that was already given to you, but I do not foretell, I foretell what was already said. And you need to check me out. I'm just a man and I can make mistakes. And hear this, you are accountable for what you believe just as I am accountable for what I say and for what I lead you to believe. But on judgment day, you're not going to step before God and God's going to say, well, you hold on to a serious error that's even a heresy. And you can't say, well, my pastor told me that. Therefore, I can't be held guilty. God would say, didn't I give you a book? Didn't I give you a book in your language? Didn't I give you lights so you could read at night? Didn't I give you the ability and the situations where you could study the Scriptures and know what I said? And you would have to say yes. You're accountable for what you believe, just as I'm accountable for what I say and for what I lead you to believe. And if we are all examining the Bible text, Something marvelous is going to happen. We're all going to grow stronger in the Lord. Not just a few of the faithful Bereans, but we'll all be Bereans. We'll all grow stronger in the Lord and we'll begin to measure everything around us. Jesus said in Matthew 22, 29 to a group of people who were twisting the scriptures of the Pharisees, He said to them, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. When you know the scriptures, when you read the scriptures, when you study the scriptures and when you measure what you hear in a sermon, you take on an authority, but you also take on an insulation against heresy. You're no longer a victim. When somebody says something, you should ask, what are they saying? Is it true? And what should I do about it? When you hear me preach, you should ask, what is he saying? Is it true? And what should I do about it? And if if it's not true, you need to correct me so I can correct it. Or you need to rid yourself of me. We need to be careful with God's word. So we need to all examine the Bible text. And our spiritual safety depends on trusting only God in the ultimate sense. What he says in scripture is absolute truth. And we need for his word to calibrate us and recalibrate us all the time. And just on a personal note, I personally like to be quizzed respectfully. Challenge me when you want to, just do it respectfully. I like to be properly corrected. You see, I'm one of these people who, I don't have to be right all the time. I don't have to stand here and speak to you as though I can't make a mistake or I can't get it wrong. I do make mistakes and I do get things wrong. And I want you to love me enough to come to me and say, I want to think through this with you. I want to show you what I understand this to be. And you know, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. We really do need each other. Because this is a two-way street. Preaching requires a legitimate congregation as well as a legitimate preacher. Well, fourth, we need a heart that is guardedly receptive. Now, Scripture gives this an enormous amount of weight. Proverb 423, I remember when I read this verse for the first time, I have a vivid memory of how I have grown since the day I came to Christ, which was pretty wonderful, wonderful day. But I remember the first time I read this passage from Proverbs 4, verse 23, and it says, above all else, and when you read those words, above all else, then you need to stop and pay attention to this, because something big is about to happen. Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the issues of life. Another translation says, above all else guard your heart for it determines the course of your life. Above all else. You see, the heart can be so easily deceived. And Jesus talks about it's from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. It's from the heart that adulteries and fornications and lies and pride and those things come forth. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. And Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Our hearts can deceive us. Our hearts are prone to evil because we have a nature that's competing with the Spirit for control of our hearts. So listening to a sermon, really listening, takes more than your mind. It takes your heart. It requires your heart that our own guard from error, You need to be on guard from error in your heart. You know, sometimes the pastor can say things, you can say, in fact, you can turn on the TV and you can listen to the health and wealth preachers, the blab it and grab it preachers. And they'll tell you, God wants you to be wealthy and God doesn't want you to feel guilty. God does want you to feel guilty if you're guilty. You know, he didn't want no false guilt, but true guilt. He wants you to feel guilty. And then he wants you to deal with that guilt and his son, Jesus Christ. He didn't. That's why he sent his son for us. But, you know, a heart is prone to follow those kind of sweet words, those kind of soft words, those promises of more and more and more of this world. But the Bible talks of more and more and more of heaven and less and less and less of this world. And when you're satisfied with more and more and more of heaven, you'll be satisfied with less and less and less of this world. But our hearts need to be on guard from error. But our hearts need to be receptive to the influence of the Holy Spirit. I have a niece, too. I mentioned her earlier. She was the number one producer in her company, making around 200 grand a year. Young girl, 20s. And she became a Christian. And she realized that all that she was accumulating and all the fun that she was having was not worth one soul going to hell that she could, humanly speaking, take the gospel to, and God could save. That's a heart that was captured and transformed and sent in a certain direction. It's not what God called me to do. He didn't call me to cross salt water and take the gospel to dangerous places. And she's in dangerous places. But she's doing exactly what God wants her to do. She's not following whims and lusts and promptings of the world and the flesh and the devil. but she's following God's Word. And I hope you're asking yourself the question, am I following God's Word? Is being part of this church following God's Word? Is playing the music for this church part of God's Word? Is inviting people to this congregation to worship here, is that in keeping with God's Word? Is that what God is prompting me to do? Well, we need to be careful to follow God's Word. And Jesus says, and this is what Jesus says, He says, that my sheep hear my voice. Now that's important because if it's God's Word, Christ is saying it, His sheep are going to hear His voice. And what do His sheep do when they hear His voice? They follow Him. They obey Him. They trust Him. They rest in Him, but they also labor in Him. But Jesus also went on to say something else that's very, very important. Jesus also says, that the devil's sheep hear the devil's voice and refuse to hear his voice and refuse to obey his commands. That's found in John 8, 43 through 47. He even says that their father is the devil. So we need to be careful who we're listening to and we can know who we're listening to by looking at the scripture. So you must have the written text of the Bible to test your heart and to guard your heart from being led astray by the world of flesh or the devil or by false shepherds. You need to be able to measure a sermon and the man giving the sermon according to the scripture. I want to tell you, you have enemies. You may not know you have enemies, but you have enemies. And if a man were to break into your house with a gun and kill your body, he hasn't done you nearly as much damage as a preacher that you sit down in front of and let him tell you lies that will kill your soul. You know where that's found? In Matthew 10. It's much more important for you to protect your soul than for you to protect your body. Yet we all lock our doors at night. I have a gun right by my bed. You better not come unannounced. You might be in trouble. Come anytime you want to announce, but don't come unannounced. But you have enemies. And those enemies are active. And those enemies are vicious. And those enemies are after you to destroy you. And there's lots of them. So heed this warning. The Holy Spirit will never prompt you to do anything that violates the written text of Scripture. And any preacher who tells you to ever do anything that's even on the fringe of what the written text of Scripture says, you need to say, oh, that's not true. Foul, I cry foul right here. Well, fifth and last, we need a life that is ready to lay aside sin and go into holy action. Something important happens when we hear a true sermon. God speaks to us, and when God speaks to us, He doesn't say sweet nothings. When God speaks to us, He always says important somethings. No sweet nothings. Always important somethings. And when God gives us an important something, when He tells us that through His Word, then we need to move, we need to act in faithful obedience. And to not do so is to say, God, I'm wiser than you. And God, I'm not going to let you be my God. I'm going to be my own God. I'm going to be my own authority. But we need to hear the Word and we need to act in faithful obedience. In James 1, 22-25, we have these words. Don't just listen to God's Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself walk away and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, notice that, if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. Good sermon listening always applies the Bible to daily life. It helps you know what promise to believe. It helps you know what sins to avoid. It helps you know what divine attributes to rest in and to appropriate for yourself and in your circumstances. The Scripture tells you what virtues to cultivate. The Scripture teaches you what goals to pursue. The Scripture tells you what works to perform. The Scripture tells you, and you might have never heard this before in your life, but the Scripture tells you who and what you're supposed to love and who and what you're supposed to hate. There are things you're supposed to love that you may not love. There are things that you hate that you may shouldn't hate. There are things that you love that you may should hate. And there are things that you hate that you may should love. So there's always something that God wants us to do in response to the preaching of His Word. And true Christians, and I believe that's you, I know a pastor one time told me that he wishes that one third of his congregation were Christians. Think about that. A PCA pastor in Columbia, South Carolina, said he wishes one third of his congregation were actually believers. But true Christians are people who yearn to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, James 1.22. So now you know how to hear next week's sermon. So I want you to come prepared to listen. Amen. Amen. Prepare yourselves now to receive