HOFC Sermon Archive: Gospel of Mark Part 23: How Well Do You Listen

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SERMON TIMELINE

1. Introduction

2. John the Baptist

3. The Baptism of Jesus

4. Temptation of Jesus

5. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus I

6. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus II

7. The First Disciples

8. A Teacher with Authority

9. At the Home of Simon and Andrew

10. Jesus Cleanses the Leper

11. Jesus Heals the Paralytic

12. Jesus and the Tax Collector

13. Jesus Questioned About Fasting

14. Of Wine and Wineskins

15. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath & Resurrection Sunday 2025

16. Hard Hearts and Hard Thoughts

17. Three Responses to Jesus

18. Jesus Appoints the Apostles

19. The Family of Jesus

20. The Unforgivable Sin

21. The True Family of Jesus

22. Parable of the Four Soils

23. How Well Do You Listen

Today is Sunday. June 29^th, 2025

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we looked at Jesus telling the parable of the four soils, which is about the four types of people who hear the gospel message. Twice, Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In our modern language, we would say, “Listen! This is important!”

We discussed the scripture that says when it comes to the Word of God, you must give full attention. Pay attention to the word you read and hear!

Jesus says in Mark 4:24 “Beware what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you.”

Simply put…what you put into the Word of God is what you will get out.

Many keep God in their back pocket, simmering on the back burner. They draw their God card in times of need, which most times is not a genuine need, but rather a want or desire.

They put very little into reading the word, meditating on the word, or spending time in prayer. As a result, very little of their time goes to God. And as Jesus promises, in return, they get very little back, and wonder why their lives are in turmoil, with seemingly no help from God in their dire situations.

For as much as you put in, that is what you will get out.

“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

2 You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:1-8

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

And we draw near by putting effort into His word, by how well we listen. He who has ears, let him hear!

Jesus repeated this throughout His ministry. He said it about John the Baptist (Matthew 11:15), in the parable of the sower last week (Mark 4:1-20; Matthew 13:9), when he explained to the disciples about the parables in Matthew 13:43.

You know where else Jesus tells us to pay close attention? In Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; Revelation 3:6, 13, 22, He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

It’s a warning from Jesus to take the word of God seriously. Listen to what it is saying. Pay attention. Remember, Jesus said, ‘However much you put in is what you will get out.’

Many people simply do not listen. They speed-read through the text just to say they read it, or to mark off their bible in a year calendar, without getting a single thing from the word.

Let’s look at a few types of listeners in scripture.

I. THREE TYPES OF LISTENERS

a. The “dull of hearing”

Hebrews 5:11-12 “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”

1. When someone is dull of hearing, they don’t listen well

2. They may hear, but not listen

3. When a person has that problem, it is very difficult for others to axplain things to them.

4. The fault is not with the subject material, nor the presenter, but with the listener.

5. Note: These people heard enough about Jesus to be teachers by now, however, because they never intently listened and obeyed, they remained spiritually immature.

ii. Isaiah wrote about these types of people, and Jesus applied it to many in His Day.

1. Dull of hearing

2. Dull of heart

3. Preventing them from

a. Understanding God’s truth

b. Turning from sin

c. Spiritually maturing

d. Receiving Salvation

iii. Why would anyone choose to be this type of listener?

b. Those with “itching ears”

Paul describes this type in I Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

1. Not everyone who believes false teachings was tricked

2. Some look for what they want and follow those who teach that.

3. They run from sound doctrine because it doesn’t feed what “they believe,” and they chase false doctrine for their itching ears.

4. Why do you think so many false teachers have such great followings?

a. The Copelands, Hinns, Duplantis, and all the other false teachers aren’t millionaires because God is blessing their ministry. They are millionaires because they scratch the itching ears of millions who give them money to have their desires satisfied.

ii. These people only listen to what is pleasing to them. They do not like sound doctrine because it makes them uncomfortable.

1. Good

2. It is supposed to

3. Sound doctrine makes you uncomfortable because the Holy Spirit is trying to do a work in you, though you may be fighting Him.

iii. Don’t go searching because of itching ears. Listen to sound doctrine, allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in you, be uncomfortable, allow God to change you so that you will no longer be spiritually immature. This is growth!

1. These types of listeners have good and noble hearts!

c. Those with a “noble and good heart”

Luke 8:15 “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

1. When you listen closely to the word, obey, let the Holy Spirit do a work in you, with will bear fruit, and be able to withstand what comes against you in this life.

ii. The Bereans were this type of listener in Acts 17:11

1. They listened with all eagerness

2. They studied what they heard in Paul’s sermon

3. They received it, and believed it

iii. This is the kind of listener we should be!

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD LISTENING

a. Good listening is essential to being blessed

i. For those willing to listen properly there are wonderful things to learn (Matthew 13:16-17)

ii. These things pertain to wonderful blessings available in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

iii. Remember, Jesus said what you put in, you get out.

b. Good listening is essential to saving faith

i. God has ordained that we are saved through faith in Christ (Romans 1:16-17)

ii. Faith comes through hearing the gospel proclaimed, often listening to a preacher, like when the Bereans listened to Paul (Romans 10:14, 17)

iii. You can even gain faith through intently reading God’s word (John 20:30-31)

1. One reason faith is often lacking is simply because people are not good listeners.

2. They miss out on the evidence in God’s word, which produces faith!

c. Good listening is essential to bearing fruit

i. In the parable of the sower we read last week, the ONLY kind of soil (heart) capable of bearing fruit was the one who listened properly (Luke 8:5)

ii. Bearing fruit comes from understanding the word of God (Colossians 1:6). Only by listening carefully can we understand what we read and hear, and through that understanding, we grow and bear fruit.

d. Good listening is essential to preventing apostasy

i. Apostasy is the turning away from the sound doctrine of Scripture

ii. Following false doctrine

I Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith (Apostasy), paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience…”

1. They sear their own conscience, quenching the Holy Spirit, to believe false doctrines and teachings. This is a choice.

II Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

2. They run from sound doctrine, choosing not to “endure it”

3. They “accumulate for themselves”

4. Teachers who teach what feeds their desires

5. This is a choice

III. STEPS TO LISTENING BETTER

a. Carefully listening to the word is an act of worship

i. How you listen to God’s word being read or preached is as much an indication of your devotion to God as to how you pray or sing

ii. So do it with a worshipful attitude

iii. What you put into the word, is what you get out

iv. Draw closer to God and He will draw closer to you

b. Listen with a mind to act.

Ezekiel 33:30-32 “But as for you, son of man, the sons of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the word is which comes forth from Yahweh.’

31 They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them,

for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their greedy gain.

32 Behold, you are to them like a lustful song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not do them.”

1. They loved to hear the word of God, but for the wrong reason

a. Are we listening because we want to draw closer to God?

b. Are we listening because we want the seed of God’s word into the soil of our hearts so the Holy Spirit can do a work in us and our lives?

c. Are we listening so that we may grow spiritually?

James 1:22-25 “become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who decieve themselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror; 24 for once he looked at himself and has gone away, he immediately forgot what kind of person he was.

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,

this man will be blessed in what he does.”

ii. Listening intently and doing what you have heard or read is the difference between a house that can withstand any storm and a house that is constantly devastated by everything that comes its way.

CONCLUSION

Luke 9:35 “Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”

Have you heeded His word, listened, and obeyed? Or does what Jesus says in Luke 6:46 apply to you?

“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

NEXT WEEK: “Part 24: Parable of the Growing Seed”

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Saturday, July 12, 2025

Gospel of Mark Part 23: How Well Do You Listen

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