Читать книгу The Root of the Righteous: Religious Essays - A. W. Tozer - Страница 8

Table of Contents

It is carelessly assumed by most persons that when a preacher pronounces a message of truth and his words fall upon the ears of his listeners there has been a bona fide act of hearing on their part. They are assumed to have been instructed because they have listened to the Word of God. But it does not follow.

If we would be truly instructed we must be worthy to hear; or more accurately, we must hear in a worthy manner. In listening to a sermon, reading a good book or even reading the Bible itself, much may be lost to us because we are not worthy to hear the truth. That is, we have not met the moral terms required to hear the truth rightly. The text, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void” (Isa. 55:11), does not give support to the notion that God’s truth is effective wherever and whenever it is preached. The lament of the Old Testament prophets was that they cried aloud unto Israel and their words were not regarded. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof” (Prov. 1:24–25). Our Lord’s parable of the sower and the seed is another proof that it is possible to hear truth without profit. Paul turned from the Jews with the quotation, “Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand” (Acts 28:26), and began his ministry to the Gentiles.

Before there can be true inward understanding of divine truth there must be a moral preparation. Our Lord made this plain in several passages in the Gospels. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt. 11:25–26). The Gospel according to John is filled with the teaching that there must be a spiritual readying within the soul before there can be a real understanding of God’s truth. This is summed up in 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” And Paul said plainly, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

When considering a pastor, the average church asks, in effect, “Is this man worthy to speak to us?” I suppose such a question is valid, but there is another one more in keeping with the circumstances; it is, “Are we worthy to hear this man?” An attitude of humility on the part of the hearers would secure for them a great deal more light from whatever sized candle the Lord might be pleased to send them.

When a man or woman becomes worthy to hear, God sometimes talks to them through very unworthy media. Peter, as an example, was brought to repentance by the crowing of a rooster. Of course the rooster was innocent of the part he was playing, but Peter’s Lord had set things up for him so that the rooster’s crow could break the heart of His backslidden apostle and send him out in a flood of penitential tears. Augustine was brought to repentance by seeing a friend killed by lightning. Nicholas Hermann was converted through seeing a tree stripped of its leaves in winter. Spurgeon became a Christian after hearing a humble Methodist class leader exhort a congregation. Moody was led into a clear anointing of the Spirit through the testimony of a simple hearted elderly lady of his acquaintance.

All these examples teach the same thing. God will speak to the hearts of those who prepare themselves to hear; and conversely, those who do not so prepare themselves will hear nothing even though the Word of God is falling upon their outer ears every Sunday.

Good hearers are as important as good preachers. We need more of both.