Take Care, Christ Covenant Church, How You Hear a Sermon

Father I ask that you would come now and guard me from error and grant this people that they would take heed how they hear, and that you would grant people in this room by the hundreds to hear with a good heart, and that they would receive the Word, that it would go down deep and that it would bear fruit a hundredfold. To that end I pray that you illumine me so that I see what’s in the text correctly and speak it faithfully, and that you would illumine us all to hear what you have to say. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I invite you to open your Bible to Luke chapter 8. Luke 8 and we’re gonna read verses 4 to 18. If I were to give a title to this message it would be, “Take Heed or Take Care Christ Covenant Church How You Hear a Sermon.” Take heed how you hear because that’s the point of the text.

So we’ll start at verse 4. When a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to Him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed and he sowed and as he sowed some fell along the path and was trampled under foot and the birds of the air devoured it, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up and withered because it had no moisture, and some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and withered and chocked it, and some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” And as he said these things he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Then his disciples, the witness disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for those others they’re in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.” Now the parable is this, the seed is the Word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who when they hear the Word, receive it with joy, but these have no root. They believe for a little while and in time of testing they fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and their fruit is not mature. And for those in the good soil, they are those who hearing the word hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. This next verse sounds like it’s starting a new section, new image, it’s not. Watch.

No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known or come to light. Take heed then Christ Covenant Church, how you sear. To the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who does not have even what he has or thinks he has, will be taken away.

So for the last few days your pastor and I and several hundred pastors have been thinking and talking a lot about preaching, the power of it, the privilege of it, preparation of it, and so it seemed fitting when Kevin asked me to preach in this service that I would talk about hearing preaching. That’s why I chose this text.

Notice the second half of verse 10. “So that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.” Verse 12. “The ones along the path of those who have heard.” Verse 13. “The ones on the rock are those who hear the Word, receive it with joy.” Verse 14. “As for those who fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they’re chocked.” And especially verse 18 with is the climax of the story, of the parable, and the point of the text, and the sermon, “Take heed Christ Covenant Church how you hear.”

So I think the point is just crystal clear, there’s a big than you see it, take care than which is therefore how you hear. Watch out, take heed is “Watch out, watch out lest you hear badly. Watch out lest you hear passively. Watch out lest you twist what you hear. Watch out lest it goes in one ear and out the other, has no transforming power in your life at all. Watch out that’s on you, not just the preacher. Watch out that you simply not hear at all, there are some of you not hearing at all right now, you’ve got so many other things on your mind. Watch out how you hear.”

There are many bad things that can be said about preaching and there are many bad things that can be said about hearing and there are glorious things that can be said about preaching and there are glorious things that can be said about hearing. And I want this message to just lift the tide of this amazing church a little bit higher in your glorious task of hearing the Word of God.

So it’s a sobering text to preachers because it does not hold out a lot of prospect of success, right, like 25%. It’s pretty sobering. Three soils they abort, bear no fruit. Fourth soil a lot of fruit. That’s not encouraging to a preacher. I don’t think the point of the text is 25% only here in this room. I don’t think that’s the point of the text. Careful we don’t want to press those kinds of percentages, however, however, it’s pretty sobering that a preacher not get cocky, like, “I can do this, I can do 50%, I can do 75%.” No you can’t, Jesus didn’t. Sometimes people say, “The day of preaching is over because its ineffective in changing people.” Well, the answer to that is it’s never been effective in changing everybody, nor has any other form of communication been effective in transforming Charlotte into a Christian city or Minneapolis or New York, or Los Angeles, or Sao Paulo, or Capetown. Why is that? Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

There’s just so much devil snatching of the Word. There’s so much rocky superficiality of hearing. There’s so much word chocking wordiness, Jesus says. So Jesus says, “Strive to enter by the narrow door for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able”, which is another way of saying take heed how you hear. Strive to enter, take heed how you hear. So that’s what this text is about, it’s about hearing and that’s your job when Kevin or anybody else in this pulpit preaches, that’s your job, and this text is about you therefore, so take heed right now how you hear.

Verse 5. Let’s start there. “A sower went out to sow his seed”. And then verse 11 interprets, “The parable is this. The seed is the Word of God.” It’s the Word of God. This is not bad preaching having bad effects, this is God’s Word in the mouth of Jesus and the disciples having modest effect. So he’s telling a parable of the preaching and hearing of the Word of God, not just any word, but God’s Word. And then there are four responses to the Word of God and what we’re supposed to notice especially is that there are four minds of hearing. That’s what he says in the interpretation, so let’s review them one at a time.

Verse 5, “Some fell along the path, trampled underfoot, birds of the air devour it.” Verse 12 interprets, “The one along the path of those who hear, the devil comes, he takes away the Word from the hearts so that they may not believe and be saved”, which should make you get really vigilant because that’s gonna happen in this room and the Bible has lots to say about how to keep the devil at bay, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Don’t let this happen, take heed how you hear. You’ve got resources as a Christian to keep this from happening.

Verse 6, “Some fell on the rock and as it grew up it withered away because it had no moisture”. Remember Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered.” Verse 13 interprets, “Those on the rocky soil are those who when they hear receive the Word with joy, and they have no firm root.” They believe for a little while and in time of temptation or testing, it could be temptation to sin, or testing with suffering, they fall away, it wasn’t real, that joy was superficial, it wasn’t real.

Verse 7, “Some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up withered and choked it.” And then verse 14 interprets, “As for what fell among thorns, those are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares, riches, pleasures, what a trilogy of devastation in the heart of hearers, carers, riches, pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature, it is just chocked out.” Go home and you totally dismiss what was said and onto Instagram, onto YouTube, on to TikTok, on to the television and kakaka, it’s gone.

And then at the end of verse 8 Jesus makes sure we got the point about hearing, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” That means that they’re not just ears on the side of your head, there’s ears in your heart. Just like, remember Paul said in Ephesians, “He prays that the eyes of the heart would be enlightened.” So there’s eyes in your head and there’s eyes in your heart. There’s hearing with these and there’s hearing with this. This can hear words, this hears glory, beauty, wonder, desirability, preciousness. And so Jesus said, “If you’ve got ears, hear. Take heed how you hear.” And then to stress the issue of hearing even more, and this is shocking, He tells us before He gives the interpretation, He tells the purpose of the parables in that particular situation. Can that be the only purpose, it’s just this purpose here and now.

Verse 9, his disciples began questioning him as to what this parable meant and he said in verse 10, “To you it has been given, to you disciples that I have chosen, you didn’t choose me, I chose you, to you disciples who are mine it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for those others, they’re in parables so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” That’s shocking, isn’t it? So to those Jesus has chosen, his disciples, the mystery or the secrets, the value, the worth, the beauty, the hard truth of the kingdom is opened and He gives them the gift of understanding and then in verse 10, “To you it has been given to know the secrets”, but second half of verse 10, “To others it’s in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.” So again the issue is hearing, hearing they may not understand. There’s two kinds of hearing. You can hear this way with the ears, you hear this way and the parables have this function of not only illumining, but blinding and judging, it’s scary. There’s salvation in these parables and there’s judgement in these parables.

We get a picture of what Jesus is doing here and why he’s doing it from the fact that he quotes Isiah 6. I’ll read it to you. This is Isiah 6:9-10 and he is saying that what Isiah was commissioned to do happens in his ministry as well. “Go and say to this people Isiah; “Keep on hearing and do not understand; keep on seeing and do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.” In other words, the time had run out for Israel and the Word of God was no longer going to illume them, it was going to harden them.

When the gospel is preached, when the Word of God is preached, the fact that someone doesn’t get saved doesn’t mean the Word was not effective. This teaches us something really important about preaching. It’s a terrible work. Do you remember what Paul said, and I’ve crawled into these words many times because I’ve stood before people like you for a lot of decades and born this weight. He said, this is Corinthians 2:15, “We are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. To the one a fragrance from death to death and to another a fragrance from life to life who is sufficient for these things.” Paul could hardly bear it that when he opened his mouth some perished through resistant hardening and other lives because they smelled the gospel’s sweetness and he didn’t decide which were which, God did.

There is a point of resistance in the human heart, resist, resist, resist, resist, after which God may give you up. Do you remember Romans 1:24, “God gave them up to the lusts of their heart.” Verse 26, “God gave them up to dishonorable passions.” Verse 28, “God gave them up to a debased mind”, and that strange verse in verse John 5:16, “There is a sin that leads to death and I do not say that you should pray for that.” All of which underlines Jesus’ point in our text, therefore take heed how you hear.

Just think of the weight of what’s happening in this room right now. Don’t be cavalier about hearing God’s Word week in and week out. It is either softening, saving, healing, bearing fruit, or it is hardening, blinding, dulling. Which are you? And the text says, “Therefore take heed how you hear.” Notice in verse 18 the reason given why they should be so vigilant to take heed how they hear. Here’s the argument, “Take heed how you hear for to the one who has more will be given and the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.” What does that refer to? They’re two halves, right? There’s the positive side and the negative side. He who has more will be given, he who doesn’t have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away. What is that referring to?

Let’s take the positive side first. It’s referring to the one who has more will be given is the fourth soil. You have a good heart, you have an honest heart, you have a receptive humble, hungry, eager believing heart, it’s gonna bear fruit a hundredfold in your life, that’s the more. And the negative, whoever does not have even what he thinks he has will be taken away. That’s the first three soils.

Verses 12 to 14. There’s a hearing of the Word of God, but in every case it looks like they have and then they don’t have. Verse 12, the first soil. They think they have the Word of God, the devil snatches it away. Verse 13, the second soil. They think they have the Word, joy, no root taken away. The third soil, verse 14. They think they have the Word of God, worries, riches, pleasures taken away. Even those who have, because the Word of God was landing on their hearts, they don’t have. That’s what verse 18, second half of the verse is referring to. Whoever does not have a good heart, even what he thinks he has, because he sits there under the Word, he doesn’t have, it’s taken away and whoever has a good heart, receptive heart, believing heart, humble heart, he will have more because he’s gonna have a hundredfold fruit. Your fruit, the fruit as you walk out and enter your week will be a sweet confirmation God has given me a new heart. And the evidence, I take heed how I hear and what I hear bears fruit.

Now, the most puzzling part of this text, as if we hadn’t had puzzling parts of this text already is verses 16 and 17. What are they doing here? Verse 16. Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. Jesus, what are you doing? This is about hearing and sowing of seed and a good heart and now you’re onto a different image of lighting a lamp and putting it under a bed and we’re not supposed to do that. What are you doing? Because verse 18 clearly picks up the conclusions of the parable and says take heed how you hear. He hasn’t shifted away from His point.

So here’s my best effort. I’ll commend it to you for your consideration. Bearing fruit and lighting a lamp are two ways of talking about the effect of the Word in your life and the Bible talks about, let your light so shine that men may see your what, good deeds, fruit, let your light so shine that may we see your good deeds and give glory to your father and people see it and they give glory to God, they enter so you can talk about the effect of the Word. That way it is like light or you can talk about it like the text does and say, “It bears fruit”, that’s what it does, it bears fruit and fruit comes out on a tree and you can pick it and eat it and say, “I want that, that’s life giving, I’m coming in”, and the effect is the same, the point is the same whether you use fruit language or light language, it’s the same. So I think Jesus is simply saying the same thing in verse 16, that he just said in verse 15 that if you hear the Word with a good heart you’re gonna bear fruit, eat it and come in to your life or into the kingdom, into the church, into salvation, and he says now, “Don’t put it under the bed”, whether it’s fruit, don’t put it in the cupboard, take it to the farmer’s market, and don’t put your light under a bed or under a jar, let it shine. That’s why the Word was preached, that’s why you heard the way you did and then comes the warning in verse 17, “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” What’s that referring to? I think it’s referring to those first three soils.

You hear, looks like you heard, the devil snatches it away. You hear, looks like you heard, and there’s no moisture at all, no watering, it dries up and dies. You hear, looks like you hear, nothing is hidden that will not be manifest and what’s hidden in all three of those first three soils is they don’t believe, they don’t believe, but it looks like they do. Joy, there’s joy in the second soil, and they don’t, it’s hidden, the unbelief is hidden. People grow up in a church and they’re gone, they’re gone and never come back. It comes to light, it will come to light, deep underlying resistance to the Word of God is not gonna remain hidden, it’s gonna come to light, sadly, but it’s better to know it than to be deceived all the way to the end.

And therefore we come to verse 18 and you can see why after verses 16 and 17, nothing is hidden, it’s not gonna come to light, you’re not gonna be able to deceive everybody that your happiness is superficial, it’s not real, it hasn’t gone down deep. You’re not gonna deceive everybody, it’s coming to light, therefore, we see that in verse 18, or then take heed, then how you hear Christ Covenant Church. To the one who has a good heart, more will be given. Do you have ears to hear, do you have a new heart? There is a hearing that defeats the devil, there is a hearing that endures trial, and there is a hearing that bears fruit and is not chocked out by television or Instagram or YouTube or anything else, it lives, it’s powerful, and that’s what I want for you, that’s what you want, which means that you need that kind of heart.

This church is called Christ Covenant. I’d love to go back into the history and think, “Now how did they come up with that title, Christ Covenant?” That’s not even a sentence. What’s the verb, but I bet I know, I bet I know. Ya know, when you read the gospels, I’m almost done, this is my, I’m landing this plane, when you read Luke don’t ever just pick out a chapter, pick out a verse, or pick out a story and think you can get it right without the end of the book. Just, that’s not the way Luke thought, nor Matthew, nor Mark, nor John, they want you to interpret every word of their book in view of the whole book, and at the end of the book Jesus holds up the cup and says, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” What does that mean? What you know what the New Covenant promises, I presume you know because that’s the name of your church. In Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart”, Christ Covenant Church it’s who you are. “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone, this fruitless heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.” That’s the New Covenant and Jesus held up the cup and said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood”, and so you all know how you get a new heart, a heart that sits under the Word of God and says yes all the way down. You get a new heart by getting under the blood. You get a new heart by coming to the bloody cross of Jesus where your sins are wiped away and your righteousness becomes real because it’s His righteousness, that’s how you get a new heart and you can’t hear the Word of God rightly without it, it’s just gonna be so bad. Three soils are just gonna wreck so many lives so take heed how you hear means first get a new heart and you get a new heart by virtue of the New Covenant and the New Covenant was purchased by the blood of Jesus and therefore you come to Jesus and he fulfills the New Covenant in your life and you get a new heart, a soft fleshy, when he talks about a fleshy heart it means tender, soft, touchable, you touch it, it feels. The heart like a rock you feel the Word of God, you love the Word of God, it’s all receptive, you hear as you ought to hear.

You know I’m sure you are a blessed church. I was thinking this morning, good night this church is blessed even though they’re Presbyterian. I mean there are thousands and thousands of churches across this nation and the world that do not have what you have. Your standards of faith are just shot through with glorious biblical teaching, holding your leaders accountable, and then your leaders, I only know a few of them, I know Kevin especially, stands behind this pulpit, he usually stands down here like this, he’s tall, he stands behind this pulpit. I’ve watched him, when I’m sick and I stay home from church, I watch Kevin sometimes. You are fortunate because you hear the Word of God. So the Word of God is built into your name, the Word of God is built into your standards, the Word of God is built into your elders, the Word of God is built into this pulpit. You are a blessed church so take heed Christ Covenant Church how you hear. That’s your job, right, this text is all about your responsibility under that blessing as it comes to you week after week. Meditate on the Word of God before you come, eat an appetizer of the Word of God Saturday night, turn off the television early and get in sync with what the spirit is about to do the next morning. Prepare your mind and heart, get rid of the chocking worldly entertainments and get your mind in the flow of what’s gonna happen in this service. Get a good night’s rest. I mean it’s just crazy, is it not, what so many Christians think, “I’ve gotta be alert for Monday because I make my living and I can stay up until midnight on Saturday night and be drowsy at the place where I hear God o mighty talking to me.” Ha, that’s crazy. You go to be earlier on Saturday night, not later because Sunday is the most important morning of the week. You’ve gotta be all there, you’ve gotta be there with your mind and your heart, alive, hungry, eager, full of the Holy Spirit, ready to hear the Word of God and battle the devil who’s trying to snatch it from you and the rockiness that makes it just dry up and all that worldliness of riches and desires, those are gonna chock it out, that’s major warfare.

Come hungry, come teachable, desire the Word of God. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb, why wouldn’t you come hungry and take heed how you hear. So, Christ Covenant Church may God make you a people who hear the Word of God with a good heart and bear fruit hundredfold so that the fruit is rich for the city of Matthews and wider Charlotte to eat and your light is shining and in the years to come just hundreds and hundreds of people see the fruit of your life and come into the kingdom.

Father in heaven thank you for this church. Thank you for what you have wrought here for the decades. Thank you for its present health and growth and faithfulness and now I just pray that this text, take heed then how you hear, would make them all the more hungry, all the more vigilant, all the more joyfully receptive, and fruitfully responsive to the Word of God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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