How Well Do You Listen to God?
Reflecting God’s Character • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today’s Reading from God’s Word
Today’s Reading from God’s Word
1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:
2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever ignored a warning because it wasn’t what you wanted to hear?
Today, we’re going to begin with a story about a king who only wanted good news, even when the truth could have saved his life.
In 1 Kings 22, we meet Ahab, a wicked king of Israel
Jehoshaphat, a godly king of Judah,
And Micaiah, a prophet who dared to speak God’s truth.
Let’s see what their story teaches us about listening to God.
Background:
Ahab was a wicked, ungodly man.
Ahab had been battling Assyria for years, but 1 Kings 22 opens by telling us there had been 3 years of peace.
Earlier, Ahab joined up with others & beat the Assyrians back across the Jordan.
Ramoth-Gilead had been one of Israel’s cities of refuge, located on the East side of the Jordan.
Settled long before Israel entered Canaan. The city was theirs.
Ahab invites Jehoshaphat to go to battle with Him.
Jehoshaphat says:
4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
Before going into battle, Jehoshaphat urges Ahab to consult the Lord.
Ahab calls 400 prophets together. These are apostate prophets of the order created by Jeroboam when the kingdom was divided.
22:6 - they speak as one - there is no voice of dissent – all united – the Lord would give them victory.
22:7 - Jehoshaphat is skeptical. Don’t you have any prophets of the Lord?
Ahab says: 22:8-9; 13-14
8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man who can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king shouldn’t say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
9 So the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah!”
13 The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, “Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me.”
Before focusing on what Micaiah said, we need to focus on God.
22:19 – God is pictured as meeting with the heavenly council.
22:20 – who will entice Ahab to go up & fall at Ramoth-Gilead?
22:21 - One spirit said he would. (this is probably Satan) How would he do it?
22 “The Lord asked him, ‘How?’ “He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “Then he said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’
Now back to Micaiah.
22:15 – the first thing he said to Ahab was what he wanted to hear.
15 So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?” Micaiah told him, “March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king.”
22:16 – Ahab did not like it. Told Micaiah to say the truth.
16 But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
22:17 – 2nd thing he said.
17 So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, “They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.”
22:23 – the Lord proclaimed disaster.
1 Kings 22:23 ““You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.”
22:26-28 - They prepare for battle by imprisoning Micaiah.
What’s stunning here isn’t just that Ahab was deceived, but that God allowed it.
God permitted Ahab to hear what he wanted to believe.
Why? Because Ahab had already hardened his heart.
If we think God will not allow us to reach ungodly conclusions in our thinking & decisions, we deceive ourselves.
God will always give us the freedom to choose.
God always allows us to believe what we wish to believe.
To justify anything we want to justify.
But when we reject His truth, he will allow us to chase the lies we prefer, straight to our own ruin.
Just because we call ourselves godly in no way assures us that God sees us as godly.
Ahab is not the only one who has surrounded himself with yes-men.
Centuries later, Paul warned Timothy about the same danger in 2 Timothy.
Sound doctrine, Jesus’ unchanging truth, gets sidelined.
Today, as we study together, I want you to listen for words like:
truth, teaching, heart, love, forgiveness, and faith.
You can also be on alert for the words listen and service.
Paul’s Warning: The Timeless Temptation
Paul’s Warning: The Timeless Temptation
Paul’s last letter. A personal letter.
He wants Timothy to continue teaching & stressing the apostles’ doctrine
2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
because:
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
During Timothy’s lifetime, there would be dangerous times coming.
Note 2 things from verse 3:
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
People would refuse to listen to sound doctrine.
People will have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
Sound doctrine is the teaching handed down by Jesus and His apostles and inspired teachers.
It encompasses biblical morality.
12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
It also encompasses matters of doctrine.
17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over,
We’ve been handed over to it, or placed under its authority.
This teaching serves as a standard to follow. Biblical doctrine molds and forms those who have been handed over to it.
Sound doctrine is not open to personal interpretation.
What Jesus and His apostles left for us is stable, secure, and unchanging.
Now, back to 2 Timothy.
4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.
When people do not want healthy teaching, what do they want?
They want their conclusions affirmed.
To ensure this happens, they surround themselves with teachers they want to hear.
They did not have to change their desires to be transformed, because what they heard justified their desires.
How Well Do We Listen to God?
How Well Do We Listen to God?
And, what does this have to do with reflecting God’s character?
In all ages, people have the same problem.
They want to hear what they have already concluded as being OK.
People have always wanted to hear what they agree with before anything is said.
In general, people have never wanted healthy teaching that brought them to a better understanding of what it meant to be closer to God.
The scripture tells us what we need to hear. It is the word of God.
3 For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive.
4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.
5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness—
6 and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.
11 As you know, like a father with his own children,
12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
I want to follow in the example of the Thessalonians, don’t you?
But beware – God allows us to hear precisely what we want to hear.
How is my hearing?
How is my hearing?
God allows me to believe what I want to believe.
Am I approaching his word objectively? Honestly?
Will I allow the Bible to say what it says?
Before I can consistently reflect God’s character, I must treat what it teaches objectively.
There is no room for I don’t agree with that.
There is no basis for the idea that any biblical teaching is not relevant to today’s generation.
How pliable is my heart?
How pliable is my heart?
Do I possess the type of heart that is willing to do what God wants? No matter what?
Will I truly be willing to submit to God’s teaching?
9 “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.
Applying Sound Doctrine to Daily Life
Applying Sound Doctrine to Daily Life
We must apply sound doctrine to the way we think & live.
This is the key to reflecting God’s character. It will not work any other way.
We must be careful, lest we divorce what we believe from how we live.
David Chadwell: Among Christians there has occurred an enormous spiritual divorce, and that divorce causes must people who are not Christians to be totally unimpressed with us.
What great divorce?
Everyone but us can see it:
In our pleasures
In our greed
In the way we treat people & act outside the church building.
We call ourselves godly because of our religious positions.
We don’t call ourselves godly because of how we think and live.
Do you regard yourself as a godly person? Why?
Because you believe the right doctrines?
Or, because Jesus has changed the way you think & act?
Let there be no doubt that God has emphasized our need to put our religion into practice with practical daily service:
1 But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching.
7 in everything. Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching.
8 Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.
10 or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.
God has had a lot to say about:
people helping people
praying for people.
Being holy instead of living for pleasure.
Being pure instead of living for greed.
Letting Jesus be Lord instead of our desires being our Lord.
About letting Jesus change who we are.
Its choosing forgiveness when we’d rather hold a grudge.
Its serving others when we’d rather chase our own pleasures.
Belief without action is a divorce God never signed up for.
As We Close
As We Close
In June 2009, Asia Bibi, a Christian, was working as a farm laborer in Pakistan.
On a hot day, she went to get water from a well to share with her Muslim coworkers.
Some refused to drink from the cup, arguing that her Christian faith “contaminated it.”
An argument ensued when she failed to yield to pressure to convert to Isalm.
Asia was accused of insulting the prophet Muhammad.
She was reported for blasphemy by a local cleric and arrested.
In 2010, she was convicted of blasphemy against Muhammad and sentenced to death by hanging.
She spent nearly a decade on Pakistan ‘s death row, often in solitary confinement for her safety due to threats from Muslims who wanted to kill her.
In 2011, Muslims assassinated a governor and a federal minister who spoke out in her defense and called for blasphemy law reforms
In 2018, she was acquitted, triggering massive protests by Islamic groups who demanded her execution.
She was placed in protective custody by the government of Pakistan and eventually granted asylum in Canada, where she now lives with her husband and children under assumed identities for safety.
In 2020, she published a book detailing her ordeal, including brutal treatment in prison, yet expresses her forgiveness toward her accusers, and a longing to return to Pakistan one day, despite the risks.
Such a simple gesture of kindness — offering water to those who hate you.
Many of us do far less, under far less extreme circumstances.
How far are you willing to go to reflect the character of God?
Are you willing to listen to God...even when it stings?
Is your heart pliable enough to obey Him, no matter what?
Are you committed to reflecting His character more consistently?
Today, let’s commit to seeking God’s word honestly and living it out boldly.
Will you give yourself to Him today?
