How to Listen to the Word of God - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, February 7th. Jesus was never too busy to stop and listen to people in need. As you'll hear on today's podcast, that hasn't changed.

The question to really consider is, are you willing to listen to him? Why is it some people come to church on Sunday morning or go to church and they walk away uplifted and feeling confident and comforted and assured and excited about life and looking forward to the coming week and just find out what God's going to do in their life. And then there are those other people who come and they just go away unmoved.

They carry out the same old load of guilt they brought with them, the same feelings of emptiness that they felt when they came in. Why is it that both of them hear the same message, same Word of God, and yet they walk away somehow with totally two different attitudes? Is it because that second group of people have no interest in the Word of God? I don't think so. Is it because that they just shut it out, shut it down, closed it out, and it decided that they do not really have any real interest in the things of God and therefore no one's going to get to them.

They're not going to get any conviction, not going to change anything in their life. That could be a little bit of that in some people's lives, but I don't think that's the primary reason. There may be a number of reasons, but I think there's one reason that oftentimes we overlook, probably hadn't even thought a lot about it, why two people could sit side by side, one receives so much and the other receives so little, or hundreds and hundreds of people in a large group of them, large number of them, walk away so excited and a large number walk away, just sort of ho-hum.

I think there are probably some reasons, but there's one reason I want us to talk about in this message. I want to talk about how to listen to the Word of God, and I want you to turn, if you will, to the book of Nehemiah and the eighth chapter. The eighth chapter of Nehemiah, and I want to give you a little background before we read these first eight verses together. Remember that the people of Israel have come back from Babylonian captivity.

Seventy years they were in captivity as had been prophesied by Jeremiah. Now Nehemiah has come back to rebuild the walls and to rebuild the gates and his fellow servant Ezra was there about 14 years before, and now the walls have been rebuilt and the gates have been rebuilt, and the time of a great festive has come and they're going to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles. And in this eighth chapter and their celebration are all, I believe, of the elements that are necessary for us to understand and all of it's here as to how we're to listen to the Word of God. And so they have assembled now to listen to Ezra and to Nehemiah as they lead them, and I want us to begin in this first verse of chapter eight, and the Scripture says, And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Watergate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men women and all who could understand or who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of men and women those who could understand and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose and beside him stood all of these men whose names I'll not pronounce. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people and when he opened it all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And also here another group that are going to help explain it says, Explain the law to the people while the people remained in their place. And they read from the book from the law of God translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

Now let me say two things right up front. First of all this is not a magic book. There's nothing magic about this book at all. It is the revelation of God. It is the mind of God which He gave two men control in those men by the Holy Spirit. And here we have from Genesis the revelation the mind of God. This is God as He works among men and how He works among men.

Nothing magic about it but there is something powerful about it. But what I want you to remember is this that reading this or being able to repeat it is not enough. Unless you and I understand what it says and what it means just reading it is not sufficient. So what I want to talk about is how do we listen to the Word of God? We read it yes.

How do we listen to a message from God? It's very evident in this passage of Scripture that these people understood how to listen to the Word of God. Remembering now that they came from Babylonian captivity many of them had never even seen a scroll like this before. And when we talk about it we're talking about the law of Moses which was more than likely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Probably what he was reading was more than likely just the portion or maybe the book of Deuteronomy.

Maybe not all of those. And yet they stood awesomely inspired by what was about to happen. And I want us to talk about how to listen to the Word of God because you go to church or you listen to a television program or you listen to a tape or you come to church. And the question is how much difference does it make in your life?

What real difference does it make in your life? I believe one of the reasons it makes a little difference in some people's lives is that they do not know how to listen to what they're hearing. They don't know how to hear what God intends for them to hear.

So the first word I want you to jot down is eagerly. That is a person should come to church or go to church. Their attitude should be to listen to the Word of God eagerly.

Now let me ask you a question. When you come to church and when you go to church on Sunday morning, why do you go first of all? Do you go with a sense or do you come with a sense of eagerness? You want to hear what God has to say. Are you coming? Are you going to church to listen to a man? Are you going to listen to God? Are you eager to hear that God may have something very specific and personal? To say to you, do you believe that sermons are just preached and the Word of God is just read in general and maybe somebody may pick up something that God is going to throw it all out there?

Or do you believe that somehow God has something very specific to say to you each time you hear the Word of God? A sense of eagerness, a desire, a yearning, a longing, a hungering. You see, if you don't have a hunger for the Word of God, you're not going to have a hunger for God.

If you don't have a real intense desire to know the Word of God, then you're not going to have an intense desire to know the God of the Bible. And so when I think about eagerness, I think about three things. I think there are three characteristics at least of people who come to church with a sense of eagerness to hear what God has to say.

First of all, they come consistent. They don't come every three Sundays. That is, if they have an eagerness to hear what God has to say, they're going to be in the Lord's house if at all possible. The second thing that's characteristic of people with an eager desire to hear and to understand is they're going to bring the Bible with them. And somebody says, well, you know, I'm just busy and my Bible's too thick or too heavy or too this or too that. Then get you one that fits you, but bring the Word of God to the house of God to listen to the Word of God explained. And so secondly, they're going to have a Bible with them. Thirdly, they are going to have a pencil or a pen and a piece of paper to jot down to write down something they've heard that God said to them about their life. Now this is very important because listen, if I have an eagerness to hear what God has to say, if I want to hear what he has to say, I certainly want to remember what he has to say. And remember that you and I have an enemy. He is the devil who will do everything in his devilish power to enable you to forget exactly what God intended you to remember.

He's always working at it. So I simply want to ask you, do you have an eagerness, a hunger, a yearning, a thirsting, a longing in your heart? Because people have longings and thirstings and yearnings for everything else in life and you see them filling their lives full of all kinds of things.

Why? That's what they're hungry for. That's what they're yearning for. That's what they're longing for.

They're looking for something to fill up their life and I'm going to tell you there's only one person who can fill up your life adequately and there's only one message that will ultimately satisfy you. You can learn everything there is to learn about everything there is in the world but if you die without the knowledge of the truth you'll be lost forever. This is the most important book there is. This is the most important thing you possess.

You may be a multi, multi, multi, multi-millionaire. I want to tell you something. You can stack up all your money in one pile and you lay the bible over here and I can tell you this is more valuable than everything you own. It's the most valuable physical material thing on the face of this universe apart from God's created beings, his people. Because herein lies the truth as to how you and I can relate to God. Herein lies the truth of how you and I can one day spend eternity with him and here is God's instruction book. If this is God's instruction book I should have an eagerness, desire and a yearning in my heart, a longing to know what does it say about him, what is he like, how does he operate, how can I get in the center of his will, how can I discover life at its best and how can I be absolutely sure that when I die I'm going to heaven. You can put all of the books down beside this one friend.

This is the book of all books. So first of all my attitude should be that I should come to church with a with what kind of a desire to hear the Word of God. Number one, eagerly, longing, yearning, a hungering. The second word I want you to jot down is attentively.

Look what happens here. So then Ezra in verse two, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of the water gate from early morning until midday.

Now they didn't know anything about one hour long messages, thank you. Says in the presence of men and women those who could understand and all the people were what? Attended to the book of the law. Now when it says they were attentive here's what it means. Listen that when he stood up, when he stood up to read, they focused their attention upon what was about to happen. That is they were not about to allow anything else to draw their attention. Now here's the reason. Remember this. This was one scroll.

This was the Word of God given to Moses written down by him. Now listen, they didn't have any pads. They didn't have any pencils. They didn't have any tape recorders.

They didn't have anybody taking shorthand. They didn't even have any piece of scrolls so they could write it down. You know all they had is their memory. They listened very very carefully because they knew what they heard.

The only thing they were going to be able to keep was what they could remember and at least being able to pass among themselves what other people could remember. And so they knew how very very important it was. The Bible says that they listened how? They listened very attentively. They were focused. Their minds were not wandering and I can imagine as they sat there or as they stood there and listened they were so eager they wanted to remember exactly what God was saying. Focused upon what was being said and I wonder when you come to church or when you go to church are you sitting there thinking about other things and what time is it and what are you going to have for lunch and is the cafeteria line going to be long today and what are they serving and I wonder what's going on in your mind while God is in the process of expounding His Word, explaining His Word, revealing Himself, revealing His ways. What is it that you're thinking? What has your attention?

Suppose you had no notes and suppose you had to walk out of here and the only thing you would have is the fact that what you could remember and no one else could tell you what you heard. How little truth I'm afraid you and I would carry out because our lives are so full. Do you think about all the things that clamor for your attention in any given day?

Now you think about this. You think about let's give it about 16 hours a day of all the things that you hear. How much time do you focus, do you give your attention to Almighty God, to His Word in any given day out of seven days? So therefore because it's so little time is it not true that when you and I come to open the Word of God together to say, Lord what are you saying that we should give Him our absolute undivided attention? That the truth is that there's not anything else in the world that matters right now but God speak to my heart.

What do you want to say to me? And so I want to say again the degree of my attention, the length of my attention span up to a point and I realize there's a point at which nobody could stand but so much. But the intensity of my desire and hunger for God will determine what my attention span is. So the first word is what? I'm to listen eagerly. The second word is what? Attentively. The third word is trustfully.

I'm to listen trustfully. Now watch what happens here. The Scripture says in verse three, and he read from it before the square which was in front of the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of men and women those who could understand and all the people were attended to the book of the law and as with the scribes stood at a wooden podium which they'd made for him and that was the first time the Scripture you're going to find think about podiums like this and pulpits and so forth. And so notice if you will in verse five and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing before all the people when he opened it all the people stood up. Now when he opened the Word of God something happened. I don't think it ever even crossed their mind to say I wonder if that's a fake scroll.

I wonder if that's something that Ezra and Nehemiah just got together. I wonder if they're trying to deceive us. No, I don't think it ever crossed their mind that what they were seeing opened up this scroll was absolutely without question the Word of God. And so when we talk about trustingly we're talking about they certainly did not distrust the fact that what they were about to hear was the Word of God given by God to Moses.

Let's think about this for a moment. When I say that you and I should listen to the Word of God eagerly that we should listen to it very attentively and that we should listen to it trustfully. Let me make a distinction. There is a difference in listening or listening to the reading of the Word of God without any question. There is a difference in that and listening to somebody expound or to translate or to interpret or to preach the Word of God. And so I'm not saying to you that you should believe every single thing you hear who and no matter who's doing the preaching.

So I want to make something very clear not to be critical but I think it's very important. You say well then are you saying to me that I should just believe everything you say without any question? No indeed because you see the way you and I learn is not only to listen but to look for ourselves and to study for ourselves. So I want to make this clear. You say well then who should I trust?

So let me give you a few characteristics. Number one if you're listening to somebody open this book and teach the Word first of all you make sure he believes every single word of it from cover to cover. If somebody says to you well we believe part of it don't listen any longer. If somebody says there are portions of the Scripture that are not inspired forget it. If somebody says to you well I believe most of it but I believe there's some this and that and some technical things and things I don't understand.

You know what? God didn't make this book simple. You know why he didn't? If he'd have made it real simple for us to sit down and read it through and everybody understand all of it we would have read a few times and laid it down. What is it that keeps us coming back to the same passage? What is it that makes it possible for us to read the same passage over and over and over again and get something different every time because this is the mind of God and so therefore because there are difficulties in my understanding maybe some things does not mean it there are errors in it. This is God's infallible inerrant word it means it has no errors.

It does not mean that I understand everything simply and clearly. It doesn't mean that I have all the answers to every single thing but one thing for certain the God who created this world is big enough to keep this word pure and so this is the living word the revelation of God and so first of all you ask yourself the question the man who's doing the speaking whoever it is does this man believe the word of God? Secondly is he committed to an honest interpretation of the word of God unbiased and not influenced by some denominational tie he has? Is this man committed to an honest interpretation of the word of God comparing scripture with scripture seeking truth looking for truth not trying to come up with some pet doctrine of his own? Number three is this man committed to at least attempting by his lifestyle to abide by the principles of the word of God? Number four does he understand that the Holy Spirit is the one who is the teacher and not he himself he may be the spokesman of the Spirit of God as the teacher the Spirit of God who lives inside of each one of us he's the one who does the teaching whoever this spokesman is is he's speaking the truth in order to bring glory and honor to God and make the truth simpler so people can understand it so their lives can be changed or is there some personal motive in mind if those things are true of him you say well now what I meant you mean to tell me if all these things are true I'm to believe everything he says no I didn't say that I'm simply saying at least that's a good start and then you have to ask you see you have a responsibility as a believer you have a responsibility not only to listen but to listen listen carefully now with a critical heart I don't mean a critical mind I don't mean that you're being condemning but I mean you're asking questions you're asking the question well how does this match some of the scriptures so when we talk about trustingly we're talking about listening trustfully if you cannot trust the man you listen to to expound and explain the word of God you need to find somebody that you do trust to open the word of God to be true to the word of God to explain the word of God so that your life can be changed to the glory and honor of God that's what this is all about thank you for listening to how to listen to the word of God if you'd like to know more about charles stanley or in touch ministries stop by in touch dot org this podcast is a presentation of in touch ministries atlanta georgia