In One Ear

Good morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.

Have you ever told somebody the truth but they simply wouldn’t hear you?  Have you told someone the truth but they wouldn’t listen to a thing you said?  How many of you parents have spent a few minutes talking to one of your children but then realized that they weren’t even in the same room with you?  If you were to give them a pop quiz after your conversation, it would only reveal that the things that you told them we’re not even heard by them.

When you hear something it means to receive information or listen to someone speaking in order to perceive and to apprehend by the ear.  I think it goes a step beyond this because we need to hear with our hearts.  Really, if it’s not important to you, your heart is not going to  listen.  Itl simply goes in one ear and out the other.  Just like having a radio station in the car that someone doesn’t want to listen to, they simply switch over to a different one and completely tune you out.  They turn a deaf ear.

Matt 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

When somebody’s ears are dull of hearing it means that the topic of conversation is boring and uninteresting to them.  Someone who wants to be a plumber is going to listen and learn from someone teaching them about plumbing.  Someone who wants to learn how to play the piano will learn from someone who is instructing them how to play.  It’s the same with somebody who has decided to live the Christian life.  Those who desire to become a child of God are going to listen to the teachings of God. 

John 8:47 “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”

It is through the teachings of scripture that we learn how to please God and do his will.  If we truly want to love God and serve Him we need to listen to what He teaches in His Word. When we do, a conversion can happen inside of our hearts through the application of the truth. God wants to take us through this change in our lives but we need to be capable of listening.  It is through the scriptures that we are purified and sanctified.

John 17:17 – Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Wouldn’t you agree that if someone was going off to college so that they could become a maintenance mechanic, they would need to listen intently to the commands and teachings of the instructor to become what they want to be.  Sometimes when people attend a class at a high school they choose not to listen because it’s a class that they are not interested in at all.  Instead of listening to the things that they are being taught, they will pass notes, read a magazine from the library, or play games on their cell phone. Even though the teacher is talking in front of the class, they don’t hear anything they say and pay it no heed.

John 8:43 – Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 

This is the way that certain people were treating the Lord Jesus Christ along with His apostles and disciples.  They were preaching and teaching the things of God to the people yet there were those who wouldn’t listen to them at all.  As they tried to educate them in the truth of God’s Word, some were wholeheartedly rejecting it.

John 10:26-27 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

True children of God will listen to the voice and teachings of God.   This is because when we become a born again Christian, we have a new heavenly Father who is educating us so that we can become what He wants us to be.  He gives us apostles and Prophets for this very purpose.

1 John 4:4-6

 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

We become followers of God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ who teaches us the truth and guides us into the will of God but in order to do God’s will we have to hear scripture from our hearts.  We need to open up our ears and minds to biblical truth.

John 10:16 – And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;…………

Jesus is the truth and only those who seek the truth are going to listen to his teachings.

John 18:37 – ……….Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 

Jesus warned some who wouldn’t listen to Him. Instead of loving the only begotten Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ He was hated by the world.  Instead of listening to Him and taking his message to heart they hardened their hearts.  Instead of receiving with meekness God’s word, some where provoking and rejecting it.

Hebrews 3:15 – While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Hebrews 4:7 – Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

When people’s hearts are hardhearted, it’s like trying to talk to a brick wall. The coldness in their hearts won’t allow the information to pass into their minds

Hebrews 3:7-8 – Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Psalms 95:7 – For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,.,, 

In a home, a dad is supposed to instruct his wife and children which is his duty bestowed upon Him by God.  He is supposed to guide them in the way that they need to go.  In order to grow in understanding, the family needs to listen to his headship.  Listening with your heart will result in obedience towards the things he taught you.  You can’t obey if you refuse to listen.  This is how they were treating the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 17:23 – But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.

Many people out there are deceived and actually believe a lie.

John 8:45 – And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Zechariah 7:11 – But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

In order to go through a conversion and become changed into what God wants us to become, we must receive God’s word.  Don’t allow yourself to become somebody who closes off scriptural teaching.  Don’t let God’s Word go in one ear and out the other.

Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody.❤️

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