OceanSide church of Christ

 Previous Return to Sermons Next  Click to download Audio

A FAILURE TO HEED GOD’S WORD

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   A description of God’s Word.

1.    It is divine.

2.    It is absolutely perfect.

3.    It is man’s only standard.

4.    It will be the measure used to judge man in the Last Day.

 

B.    We are speaking about the precious Word of God.

 

C.   God’s Word is His method of communicating with man.

1.    He does not speak to men directly.

2.    He does not send angels to communicate His message.

3.    Men do not get God’s Word through dreams and visions.

4.    Men are not inspired by the Holy Spirit today.

 

D.   God expects all humanity to give heed to His holy Word.

1.    Joshua 22:5

 

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you…

 

2.    2 Peter 1:19

 

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where unto ye do well that ye take heed…

 

E.    It is always in man’s best interest to take heed to God’s Word, but he does not always do this.  It was one of the problems addressed by Jeremiah during his ministry to Judah.

1.    At least 12 times in his prophecy, Jeremiah notes that the people of God had not hearkened to the Lord’s word.

2.    Two examples;

a.    Jeremiah 6:19

 

Hear, O earth:  behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

 

b.    Jeremiah 25:3

 

…the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye have not hearkened.

 

F.     Why does this happen?  Why do men fail to hearkened to God’s Word.  More pointedly, why do the people of God sometimes fail to hearken unto the commands of the Lord?

 

I.              MEN ARE STUBBORN/PROUD

 

A.   The definition of the word “proud”:

1.    Lofty self-respect

2.    The belief in one’s superiority in some respect

 

B.    Men often belief that their thoughts and opinions tower high above what God has to say on the matter.

1.    Abraham and Sarah knew better than God and brought Ishmael into the world through Hagar.

2.    Pharaoh knew better than God and refused to let God’s people go.

3.    Saul knew better than God and spared Agag and the best of the flocks and herds.

4.    Naaman knew better than God and went away in a rage from God’s prophet and still in his leprosy.

5.    The Jews knew better than God in the days of Jesus and crucified the Son of God.

 

C.   Verses:

1.    Psalm 10:4

 

The wicked, through the pride of his heart, will not seek after God…

 

2.    Proverbs 11:2

 

When pride cometh, then cometh shame:  but with the lowly is wisdom.

 

D.   If a person believes that he can live his life anyway he/she chooses after obeying the God, that individual is proud and arrogant. 

1.    His self-will was supposed to have died in conversion (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20).

2.    He was bought with a price, the blood of Jesus, and now he belongs totally to God (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

 

II.            MEN ARE IGNORANT

 

A.   Definition of ignorant:

1.    It comes from the root word “ignore.”  The ignorant have ignored God’s Word.

2.    The ignorant know little or nothing.

3.    The ignorant are uninformed about God’s holy law.

 

B.    Ignorance falls into two broad categories:

1.    Unwilful ignorance: 

a.    Perhaps a person is a new Christian and just does not know.  He has never been taught God’s will on various matters.

b.    Paul confronted this type of ignorance in Athens (Acts 17:23).

 

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.  Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

 

2.    Willful ignorance: 

a.    This involves a person who knows but intentionally turns from hearing God’s Word.

b.    Peter confronted this type of ignorance in his second epistle.

1)    Some of the false teachers contended that all things continued as they had from the beginning of the world.

2)    Peter claims that these individuals were “willingly ignorant” of the flood of Noah’s day (2 Pet. 3:5).

 

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of the Lord the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished.

 

C.   When it comes to spiritual things, it is not good to be ignorant (Hos. 4:6).

 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…

 

III.           MEN ARE EVIL

 

A.   There are some people in our world who are just evil.

 

B.    Evil: 

1.    The definition of evil is “morally wrong.”

2.    The definition of the word does not immediately enable us to comprehend how bad evil really is.

3.    Synonyms describe evil in more detail:  wicked, base, vile, depraved, corrupt, vicious, and sinful

 

C.   In 1 John 3:12, Satan is referred to as “that wicked one.”

1.    He is the being from whence all wickedness flows.

2.    There is nothing good, wholesome, or moral in him.

3.    He is the exact opposite of God who is all good (See Mark 10:18).

 

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?  There is none good but one, that is, God.

 

4.    Thus, those who side with the evil one want nothing to do with God and His proclamations.

a.    They proclaim that God’s Word is false.

b.    They will say that it is man-made, not divinely inspired.

c.    They try to find contradictions that are therein.

d.    They want us to believe that God’s Word is immoral.

 

5.    There have been evil men who knew more Bible than some Christians, but they would NEVER give heed to it (2 Tim. 3:13).

 

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

 

IV.          MEN ARE SELF-INDULGENT

 

A.   In this point, we are not referring to proud or evil men.  We have in mind those who refuse to hearken unto the Lord’s word because they would rather indulge in the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world.

 

B.    Jesus notes that this can happen to those who have been converted. 

1.    These individuals are the thorny soil.

2.    Matthew 13:22

 

He also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

 

C.   Paul reminds us that men can become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:4).

 

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

 

D.   Pleasure is fun; God is boring.

Pleasure is fulfilling; God seems irrelevant.

Pleasure makes one happy; God is depressing.

 

E.    We see these individuals making poor spiritual choices all of the time in life.  Pleasure, riches, and the cares of this world are chosen every time over the things of God.

 

V.            MEN CANNOT SEE PAST THE MESSENGER

 

A.   God has chosen to communicate His Word through human messengers (1 Cor. 1:21).

 

…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

 

B.    This means that an imperfect human being is responsible for communicating the message of God to other human beings.

 

C.   The recipients often fail to separate the message from the messenger.

1.    They do not like his personality.

2.    They do not enjoy his style of delivery.

3.    They become critical of what they deem as flaws.

4.    They pick and choose their “favorites.”

5.    They constantly challenge the messenger and his message.

 

D.   There were those in the first century who were critics of the apostle Paul (2 Cor. 10:10).

 

For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

 

E.    The critics have not learned the lesson found in 1 Corinthians 3:4-5.

 

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.

 

1.    Choosing sides based on the man who brings the message is wrong.

2.    It is not about the man but the message.

3.    All messengers are “but ministers by whom ye believe.”

 

VI.          MEN ARE DECIEVED

 

A.   One of the main reasons men do not heed the Word of God is because they are deceived.

 

B.    It began in the Garden of Eden.  The Bible tells us that Satan deceived the woman (1 Tim. 2:14).

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceive was in the transgression.

 

C.   Satan’s deceptive tactics continue to this day:  adding to the word, taking from the word, and manipulating the word (Ex., baptism).

1.    The Bible tells us that a man must be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:16).

 

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

 

2.    Three things men do to baptism.

a.    They take from the Word of God and say it is not necessary.  They affirm that men are saved by faith alone without baptism.

b.    They change the act of baptism into sprinkling or pouring instead of its being immersion or a burial (See Col. 2:12).

c.    They add things to baptism such as speaking in tongues or the act of foot-washing in order for a person to be saved.

 

D.   Satan will also allow us to deceive ourselves. 

1.    We use our own reasoning and rely on our own opinions about faithfulness, worship, sin, and a host of other matters.

2.    I Corinthians 3:18 begins with these words:  “Let no man deceive himself.”

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   Psalm 119:9

 

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

 

1.    Cleansing is what it is all about.

a.    The soul stands in need of cleansing.

b.    To be like Christ, one must be cleansed.

c.    The life we are to live is supposed to be clean.

d.    The only way to enter into heaven is to be cleansed.

2.    This is accomplished by “taking heed” to God’s Word.

 

B.    If we fail to hearken, we will reap the horrible consequences (Jer. 25:17).

 

Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hand to your own hurt.