How Should You Hear the Word of God Preached?
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
Q. 160. What is required of those that hear the Word preached? [From the Westminster Confession, 1647]
A. It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they
attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what
they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love,
meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and
confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it
in their lives.
1. You should attend to it with diligence.
It is as if you were going to meet with the king of the land himself,
one would most certainly plan accordingly, come with punctuality and
listen with diligence. So it must be for the children of God who listen
to the preacher herald God’s Word. God’s people must diligently come to
be fed divine truth. An earnestness must be exuded from God’s people as
they have one primary object on their minds on the Lord’s Day — God.
Nothing else captivates the believer’s mind like Christ does. Nothing
ravishes the believer’s heart like Christ does. Nothing wins the
affections and nothing woos the saint’s love more than the saving gospel
of God’s grace freely bestowed in Christ’s death on behalf of repentant
sinners. So come! Come with diligence! Come with Christ-centeredness!
Come with eagerness! Come with expectancy! Come with frequency! Come
with sobriety and expectation to meet with, commune with, and hear from
the Living God.
2. You should attend to it with preparation.
As one would prepare for an important business meeting, so God’s people
should also prepare to meet with the God of all creation. To prepare is
to make oneself ready to meet with, come before, and stand in the
presence of God Almighty. Preparation must begin with prayer. It must
continue with sufficient sleep. Preparation includes the reading of the
scripture text that will be preached on the following day. Preparation
demands arriving to corporate worship early to meditate, pray, expect,
and adore God. Without preparation, one cannot worship properly. One
gets out of worship what one puts into worship. Without preparation,
little heart warming and soul feeding will occur. As one would prepare
equipment, leave early and take diligence to arrive on time to a
sporting or entertainment event, how much more should God’s child
prepare his heart, his Bible, his wife, his children and leave early and
arrive promptly to worship God. A prepared heart is a ready heart. A
prepared heart is a humble and willing heart. A prepared heart is a
moldable and shapeable heart.
3. You should attend to it with prayer.
To pray is to take hold of God’s power and beseech God to rend the
heavens, come down, descend powerfully, and with supernatural power.
Only God can convert. God’s people must pray for the conversion of
sinners, the edification of God’s people, and the magnification of God’s
Triune name and work in salvation. God’s people must pray in repentance
to rid themselves of all known sin before the Word comes. God’s people
must pray that the minister of the Word would speak with supernatural
power. Indeed, the mouth is that of a man but the voice is that of God.
Pray for unction — the sovereign, effectual power of the Spirit in and
through the preached Word — as the man of God preaches the Word of God
to the people of God. All God’s people should pray for God’s help on the
way to hear the sermon preached. Believers must pray and ask the Lord
to grant assistance while the Word is heard. And saints must pray for a
soft, humble, and willing heart to specifically apply and implement the
sermon throughout the course of the week. O the danger of not hearing
sermons well! O the danger of distractions while the sermon is going
forth! O the danger of hearing the Word and allowing Satan, like a
pecking bird, to snatch the seed of the Word so that it bears no fruit.
Nothing prepares a man of God for worship more than earnest wrestling
with God in prayer. Expect God to work. Pray for God to revive. Adore
God as preeminently worthy! Confess! Rejoice! Pray!
Just as people of old would bake bread on Saturday evenings so it would
be warm on Sunday morning, so the people of God should read, pray, and
study the Scriptures on Saturday nights so that their hearts are warmed
and prepared for worship on Sunday.
** Many more resources/podcasts can be found HERE on the topic of "Expository Listening".
