Sermons — not entertainment or big personalities — are central to the building up of Christ’s church. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 16:25-26. Given this fact, we must take listening to sermons seriously, and here’s how: (1) don’t listen with a careless heart; (2) expect God to speak; (3) admit that God knows better than you; (4) hear sermons every week; (5) do what the Word of God commands, and do it today; (6) do not entertain prejudice against the preacher; (7) make specific applications; and (8) take the sermon home and ruminate on it. Know this: the preaching of the gospel not only focuses on how you are saved, but how you are transformed. So, when the word of God is preached, listen like your life depends on it — because it does! 

 

Okay, Romans 16, 25, and 26 makes it really clear that sermons are central to the building up of the body of Christ. Here's how it reads. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. This is the word of God and it teaches us how God makes his people strong, not by entertainment, not by big personalities, but by preaching. You don't have the resources in you to make yourself steady, but God does.

That's why these verses begin with these words, now to him who is able. The strengthening of the believer is something that comes from God. It's a borrowed strength And that strengthening carries the idea of establishing, rooting, grounding, getting mentally settled and stable. This is in contrast to the unmoored mind that drifts with the current. But the man who hears and obeys preaching, that person is strengthened.

And God does this through two things. There's the method, that's preaching, and then there is the message. It's the message of Jesus Christ. And Paul uses it by using different words to describe what the broad range of the gospel is. It's not just a singular message that Jesus Christ saved sinners, but it's preaching from the scriptures.

It's preaching the commands of the everlasting God. And so what Paul is saying is that sermons are the nourishment for the church and they strengthen your immune system. Immune systems aren't built by emergency treatments and mountaintop experiences, but by daily intake. And I think what the apostle Paul is saying is that you can have spiritual anemia by not listening to sermons. You can become malnourished, unable to resist disease and attack.

So let's talk about how should we listen. This is a compilation of lists of how to listen to sermons from George Whitefield, Richard Baxter, and Christopher Ash. First, do not listen with a careless heart. Jesus said, be careful how you hear. And when Jesus said that, he's making it very clear, if you are not careful how you hear, you may never be saved.

Second, expect God to speak. God is speaking through the preaching. It's a divine confrontation. Third, admit that God knows better than you. So don't throw up all kinds of objections to what the word of God says.

And then fourth, hear it every week. Be devoted to the weekly preaching in a local church. It's this kind of faithfulness and routine that builds strength over time. Fifth, do what the word of God commands and do it today because patterns of obedience is how the truth takes root. And then sixth, Do not entertain prejudice against the preacher.

When you stand before biblical preaching, you're not standing before man. You're standing before the voice of God. So don't Let the imperfections of the preacher get in the way of your listening. Seventh, make specific applications. Listening to preaching is dangerous because you either are more hardened by it or you are helped by it.

Eighth, this is what Richard Baxter said, chew the cud. In other words, ruminate on it. Take the sermon home, think it through, pray it through, Preach it to yourself, chew the cut. Entertaining sermons may move your emotions, but biblical preaching actually makes you strong. And preaching is not just information, communication, it's persuasion.

Lloyd-Jones says that preaching is designed to move you from one place to another. So, the preaching of the gospel is not only focused on how you were saved, it includes that, but also how you are transformed. The preaching of the word of God covers justification and sanctification and glorification. So when the word of God is preached, Listen like your life depends on it, because it does. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.