Missing the Mark Series: Failure to Hear

Missing the Mark Series: Failure to Hear

Romans chapter 5, and I would like to read verse 12 again in this chapter. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Then look with me also down in verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

When we think about that word righteous or even the term upright, God made man upright. He created men originally in righteousness. Sometimes in theology that's original righteousness, not the righteousness that came ultimately through redemption. It was the same righteousness of God, but that redemptive work came through Jesus Christ when he died on the cross for our sins. But God created man in uprightness. You know we said that one of the words for sin was crooked, right? It's not straight. It's crooked, and you know there's a lot of things that the Lord wants to correct in our lives as Christians, and you know there's warped and broken and crooked things that he wants to straighten out, right?

And yet we see here that it was by, well we see that sin entered into the world. How did it enter the world? How did it get here? You know we ask that sometimes. How did that happen? How did that come? Well sin entered into the world by one man's disobedience, and the word there for disobedience literally means he failed to hear. He failed to listen. You didn't listen. How many times did I hear that as a child, you know? You didn't listen to what I said. I heard you, but you didn't listen. You didn't. You didn't. It went in one ear, and it went out the other ear. It was evident you didn't really listen to what I said because you did not do what I told you to do, right? You didn't hear the word.

You know we see we saw that, what was it last week? Good ground. They hear the word of God, and they keep it, right? Well if I give you something, if I give my child something, and I hand them something, and if they fail to keep the thing I gave to them, that's kind of like what we do with words, right? To let the words fall to the ground. The word goes in, but it's not kept. It's just, you know, I just wasted my breath. Isn't that what we say? I said it, but it did not. It didn't stick. It just fell to the ground, so to speak.

Now, we know the story well of Adam, don't we? We know the story well of how he was not deceived. Paul will say that. He was not deceived in the transgression. Eve was deceived, but Paul, but Adam sinned with his eyes wide open. He just failed to hear. He failed to listen to what God said, and he did. Instead, he missed the mark in so doing. He missed the mark because he didn't follow God's instructions. He missed the mark because he didn't follow God's instructions.

You know, have you ever had someone telling you, if you follow, you listen to what I tell you, and you do what I tell you to do, you'll get it right. If you listen to what I tell you, don't do what it seems, don't do what seems good to you necessarily. I'm here to teach you the right way, and you do what I tell you to do. You just step by step, one step at a time. That's how the Lord speaks to us, isn't it?

Well, Paul said, all have sinned. All have missed the mark, right? Adam missed the mark. He failed to hear, and we're sons and daughters of Adam, and we have all sinned. We've all come short of the glory of God, but you know, there is one who didn't miss the mark, and it's Jesus Christ, the second Adam. He did the will of his Father in heaven, and he did it perfectly, and when he was done doing the will of the Father in his final act, he was even obedient to the death of the cross, and he finally said, it is finished. It is perfected. It is finished, and he gave up the ghost. He breathed that last breath. Of course, we know he rose again the third day, but he alone has perfectly obeyed the Father. He alone has hit the mark and not missed.

You know, if we miss in even one thing, if we break the law even at one point, then we're guilty of breaking the whole thing, and we have. We have broken. We have fallen short of God's glory, but does it does it bother us? Does it bother us? Does it cause our hearts to grieve? Does it cause us to repent when we think about, you know, like the hymn says, were you there when they crucified my Lord? Does it does it bother us that the sinless one who obeyed the Lord, the Father perfectly, our missing the mark had to be paid for? Our missing the mark, somebody had to pay for it, and Jesus took the penalty. Jesus took the punishment that was owed to us, even though he wasn't the one that missed the mark, even though he was the one who perfectly heard and kept the word of his Father. He said, I'm not come to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.

We said this morning that sin is a deviation from conformity to the perfect will, the revealed will of God, and that word is revealed, or that will is revealed in his words. Jesus came in the volume of the book written of him to do his Father's will, and he did it. He did it perfectly, but we are all children of disobedience, even by birth, aren't we? We're born as children of disobedience, but thank God there came a day when we believed on Jesus Christ's sinless sacrifice for us, and it was there at the cross, like we sing, I first saw the sight, saw the light, the burden of my heart rolled away, the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I'm happy all the day. Why? Because of something I've done, but because of what he's done for me, because I have one who did what I could not do, who obeyed the Father perfectly, and so now I'm not any longer.

We've seen it in First Thessalonians chapter five. Brethren, you are not in darkness. We've passed from darkness to light. We're no longer children of the dark of the night. We're the children of the day. We're no longer children of disobedience, but we are the children of Jesus Christ by faith. We're children of God through Jesus Christ by faith. I'm not in sin anymore. I am in Christ. It doesn't mean I can't sin. It just means that I'm not in sin. I'm not lost in my sin. I am not hopelessly missing the mark because I live, but now it's not my life anymore. It belongs to Jesus Christ, and I was… I am buried with him in baptism, in his death, and I'm raised to walk in newness of life. Life I live now is Christ's. I live by faith. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, and so it's his robes of righteousness. It is his righteousness that the Father sees and not mine. My unrighteousness or even my attempts at righteousness, which are unrighteousness, filthy rags, they're missing the mark.

Well, now that I am in Christ, I'm not told to try to do my best in my own self to hit the mark. No, but I am told in Romans 6, verse 12, I'm told there that, well, verse 11 actually, it says, likewise reckon ye also yourselves, because you're in Christ, right? Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, dead to missing the mark, dead to the old way of living and thinking and doing. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. It used to reign. It used to control. That ye should obey it, that you should obey sin. That was your old master, right? Sin. That you should obey it in the lust thereof. That's all that's in the world, isn't it? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, but now we're to reckon. We are to mark it up and count it to be so that we are dead indeed unto sin because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, and we are not any longer in our sins. We are in Him, and so I reckon, I count it to be true and to be the reality of things that, as it says here, is it says here that I am dead indeed unto sin because of what He's done, and I'm alive to God. I live unto Him. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

There's a lot of New Testament scripture that calls us in one way or another to do this now. Now that you're in Christ, you're not in sin anymore. You're not under condemnation. You're in Christ, and if it be the case that you're in Christ, listen. Listen to this. Count it to be the case if you're in Christ that now the purpose of your life is no longer to yield your yield your members to the old way, but to the will of God. Not because God's forcing you to do something, but out of love, out of gratitude, out of appreciation to Him. We are not debtors to pay off our sin debt now. We could never have done that. Christ did that. We are debtors to love Him with all of our heart now. We owe a debt of love to the Lord. What does the hymn say? It talks about the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. It is all that I can do. At the cross, right? At the cross where I first saw the light, the burden of my heart rolled away, but to give myself away.

Well, being made free, it says in verse 22 of chapter 6, being made free from sin and become servants to God, slaves, bond slaves to God. What is our fruit now? Our fruit used to be disobedient, sinful fruit, but now your fruit is unto holiness in the end everlasting life. We have everlasting life with our Lord and Savior to look forward to, and even now that we're servants of His, love slaves of His, we have our fruit under holiness. We have our fruit under holiness. That's the kind of fruit that we bear now. It's because our fruit comes from Him, doesn't it? Our fruit doesn't come from ourselves.

You know, you can try all you want to get, you know, what, apples out of a grapevine, or you can try all you want to get olives off of, you know, I don't know, olives from a peach tree or something like that. It's not going to produce it. You've got to have, we have a grapevine that's, it's called a razzmatazz grapevine, and it produces a certain sweet little type of grape, but it's grafted into a a muscadine. The root stock is muscadine. Well, because muscadines do well in this part of the world, we never have any problems with that bearing lots of fruit in this part of the world because it is, it holds up to the conditions here. If it was whatever the original, whatever the, I don't know, if it wasn't grafted into that root stock, it probably would struggle and not do very well. Well, because we're in Christ, we can do all things for Him that strengthens us. We can through His grace be more than conquerors. We sang tonight about, you know, conquering now is still to conquer. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, victory through grace. Well, He enables us to obey out of love. Isn't that how He obeyed the Father? He obeyed Him out of love. He went all the way to the cross for love, to do the Father's will, and now He puts that desire in our heart. We could not do it without His strength, without His enabling grace, and He helps us now to hear and to keep the words that is given to us.

In Psalm 94, let's look over there together. Psalm 94, verse number 12. In Psalm 94, verse number 12, I want to read this verse. You know what, as I, as I'm getting, before I read this verse, I wanted to say that, you know, we think about, I think about my children, my wife and I, our children tonight, and even as our children, what do we, what do we want them to do? We want them to listen to us. Listen. I'm speaking to you. You're our children, but just because you're our children doesn't mean you always listen like you should, right? The sheep hear the shepherd's voice and they listen to him. The children are to listen to and obey their parents. This is right. This is what's pleasing to the Lord, right? What's pleasing to the Lord is that we listen to Him. Sometimes the Lord has to use a variety of means, variety of means to get our attention, get us off of the distractions of the other things we might be looking at and listening to and say, hey, listen to me, listen to me. I'm going to lead you right, but you've got to listen.

So as we see here, Psalm 94 verse 12 says, blessed is the man whom thou chastest, O Lord. If you're without chastening, what does Hebrews tell us? Then you're not sons. You're not a son of God. If it wasn't for the Lord's chastening, we would not, we would not even be able to hear and obey what he says. Well, we wouldn't be a child of God, but it says here, blessed is the man whom thou chastest, O Lord, and teaches him out of thy law. We have, we have a personal teacher in the Lord. Not just a, not a harsh teacher, not a teacher that doesn't love us, but a teacher that does love us. A teacher that wants the best for us. He teaches us, sometimes he reproves and corrects and instructs us in the way we should go. He, he teaches us things to correct us in the way we're thinking, the way we're acting. And then when he shows us those things, what do we need to do? Yes, sir. Yes, Lord. That's right. You know, it is, it is a blessing. It is a blessing when God speaks to us through his word and we listen. We listen. It's always for our goods. It's always for our good.

You know, talking about missing or hitting the mark. I thought about the illustration of hunting or, or not even just hunting, but firing a weapon of some sort. Like, you know, I've never actually shot, I've shot a crossbow and a rifle, a pistol, but I've never shot a bow and arrow, but I've watched videos of people shooting them. And I think about, they have to practice. And as they practice shooting that bow and they realize I'm not hitting the target, I've got to figure out, I need to learn. Maybe I need someone to come in and teach me that knows more about it. Where am I going wrong? Why am I missing the mark? Well, if you've got somebody who knows it all and they're not listening to the one who's instructing them, they're never going to see why am I missing the mark? I missed, I took Esther several years ago. I took Esther hunting with me and I shot a dove. And I missed where I was supposed to hit. I hit it incorrectly and it, the deer eventually died, but it was kind of a, oh, it just kind of tore my stomach up, you know. And I thought, what did I do wrong? And I, I went back home and I, I, I, I took the rifle out and I shot again and it was just bullseye, bullseye. What am I doing wrong? How did I miss the mark? Well, I figured out eventually as I thought back on it and I tried to recreate what I did, what I did was just to, instead of the rifle being straight up and down, as I was resting it, the rifle was canted slightly to the side. And even though I had the, the, the crosshairs on the right part of the deer, because the rifle was tilted, it was back, it went back a little bit from what it should be. And I needed to learn. I needed to, I mean, I didn't necessarily, I had some ideas being given me by people, but why? I needed to understand why I had missed, why I had, I did not hit. And I want to just submit tonight that one of the reasons that we missed the mark is because we don't, and I can see this in my own life, I'm not listening to what the Lord is trying to say to me. I'm not listening to what the Lord says. This is what you should do. You cannot succeed if you don't listen. You can't succeed. You cannot, you cannot please the Lord unless you, what does it say? Faith comes by hearing, right? And hearing the word. Well, thank the Lord that we have a constant teacher in the Holy Spirit through the word. He's always, he's always reminding us of the things the Lord has already told us. He's always bringing those things to remembrance, but we must listen, whether it be, like we said this morning, it might be comforting us in weakness, it might be warning us when we get out of line, whatever that may be, the Lord will help us. The Lord will do that.

Well, and when the Lord, when the Lord, maybe I could use the illustration of missing. Well, I was eager then I will, I will probably never miss a beer again because, because of that problem. You know, yeah, it was a bad feeling and I will always remember that because of that particular thing. It doesn't mean I'll never miss again or I'll never miss the mark or that I'll always hit it perfectly, but it probably won't be because of that because I learned and I applied. Well, in a way, it's like Proverbs 28 verse 13 says, look there with me, Proverbs 28 verse 13. You get a lot of, a lot of animal and gardening applications for these sermons, don't you? You get to hear a lot of those things, whether you like it or not, but Proverbs 28 verse number 13, it says here, cause that's, that's the world we, you know, live in. But in Proverbs 28, 13, it says he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth? Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah, that's true, Lord. Yes, I recognize. I confess. That is where I failed to hear. I failed, then that's how I missed the mark. I failed to listen to that. He who so confesseth and forsaketh them, forsaketh what? Forsaketh the sins. Once it's uncovered, once it's revealed, this is what, how you have missed the mark, well, he hears, he confesses and forsakes it, and then shall have mercy, shall have mercy.

You ever been in a conversation where people are talking past each other? They're all talking, but nobody, you're not, nobody's listening to the other person. You just, the words are being spoken, but nobody's hearing what's actually being said. Well, we could read God's word that way. The Holy Spirit could be speaking to us, and we're not actually hearing what the Lord's saying to us. We're reading the words, we're seeing, seeing ourselves in the mirror, and we just keep going the way we are, and why do I keep missing the mark in this thing? Well, because I didn't listen, and I didn't confess what the Word was speaking to me about. Confess, yes, Lord, this is true. I need your forgiveness. I need your grace, and then forsaketh those things that the Lord has showed us about.

I know I've shared this before. The Williams, Ron and, Dr. Ron and Glenda Williams, his wife, when our children were smaller, shared a little triangle with us about obedience. What it means, what obedience means, and in the corners of that little triangle, it says quickly in one corner, and in the other corner, it says sweetly, and then in the other corner, it says completely, and then in the other corner, it says completely, quickly, sweetly, and completely. And this is the obedience triangle. These three corners are all necessary in the triangle of obedience. If we listen to a word that the Lord says, if we really are hearing what the Spirit says to us in our lives, then we will obey the Spirit's voice. We will obey the Word of God, and we'll do it quickly. We'll do it sweetly and completely. Otherwise, we are just deceiving ourselves, aren't we? We are not really listening. We're just, we're actually sinning. We're parakoeing. We're failing to hear. Oh, we, the words, the words go in, and they go right back out, and they just, and they fall to the ground.

Well, we're going to have to be told again, maybe in a harsh way, maybe in a more challenging form of chastening the world. We'll have to knock louder on our door and say, I've been telling you, but you didn't listen. Oftentimes, what I'm trying to say tonight is that we miss the mark more than we ought to in some things, because we don't, we fail to hear, and then respond quickly, sweetly, and completely. I think about the example of Samuel. When the Lord called Samuel that first time, what did he say? He said, the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, here am I. Here am I. Well, he thought it was Eli to begin with calling him, but he says, here am I. Here am I. That was quickly. He responded quickly. That's how we need to respond to the Lord. That's why we need quiet time. That's why we need to meditate on God's word, so we can respond to him.

Let's turn over there in 1 Samuel 3, verse number 8. There are many examples we could look at in the Scriptures, but this is one. One of them that's a very good example, 1 Samuel 3, verse number 8, says this. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time, verse 8. And he arose and went to Eli and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Well, he says, here am I, for thou didst call me. Even after he had been called three times, immediately. Quickly, but sweetly. He didn't say, why do you keep talking to me? Why do you keep calling me? No, he came and he said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And we not get tired of listening to what the Lord has to say to us, because whatever he has to say to us is for our good. Whatever he has to say, we need to have a good response. And then Eli says in verse 9, unto Samuel, go and lie down. And it shall be, if he call thee, thou shall say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and laid down in his place, and the Lord came and stood and called at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, speak, for thy servant heareth. I'm ready to hear whatever you have to say to me, Lord. I'm ready to hear what you have to say.

We, if the Lord, I guess if we miss the mark in our lives, we need to, we need to do more than just say, well, it's just the way I am, I guess, you know. I failed. I made a mistake, but not really say why. Why did I, why, maybe a sin in my life that I keep falling into, why am I sinning in this way? There must be something that I'm failing, I'm not listening to the Lord like I ought to. I'm not hearing what he has to say to me. Why, why is this sin in my life? Why am I, why am I missing the mark? Well, maybe we have a listening problem. The Bible, James, talks about not being a forgetful hearer, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, one who does what God tells us in his Word. Put it into practice when we hear it. Sometimes, I know you've probably said this, I say it, if I don't do it right now, I'll forget. If I don't, if somebody tells me something, and they say, oh, that's right, I better do that right now, because if I don't, it's going, I'm going to forget about it. And in the same way, when God speaks to us in his Word, the time to respond is quickly and sweetly, thank you Lord for speaking to me. Thank you, Lord, for showing me the way that I should go. Thank you, Lord, for providing your Word as a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, to order my steps, and may my steps, I want my steps, Lord, in love to you, because you, you've been so good and so patient with me that I want my steps to be ordered in your Word.

You know, if I pray, Lord, I want you to give me wisdom as a father, I want you to show me the way that you'd have me to go as a husband, as a father, as a, you know, a pastor, when the Lord gives me light, or when he, when he gives me direction, when he gives me correction, in some way that I need to be ready quickly and sweetly to respond and say, thank you, Lord, I will, I will do that. I'll do it right now. When I hear God's Word, do I respond with a sweet and willing spirit toward him? You know, the, the Lord tells us many things in his Word. Husbands, love your wives, children, obey your parents. You know, wives, submit to your husbands, servants, obey your masters. Do I say, yeah, I know that. Or do I say, yes, Lord, I will do that. Yes, I will do that by your grace. And then do I, do I complete, do I do it, do I obey the Word completely? Not just for the first five minutes, but Lord, I want to, I want to, I want to follow you in this thing. Not just because people are watching, but because it's the right way. Just because it's pleasing in your sight. How many times we get distracted? How many times we forget? How many times we, we turn to the right hand, we turn to the left hand. We've been told what to do, but then we, we, we fall to the wayside in those things. May God help us to hear and, and to keep on, keep on listening to the Lord.

When we get up in the morning, speak to me, Lord. Show me the way. Many times the Holy Spirit will remind us of things. I mean, we've, we've seen some wonderful things from God's Word today, but I will need to be reminded again tomorrow. This is the way. Walk in it. This is the way. Walk in it. Just, just obey. Obey me quickly. Obey me sweetly. Put me first. May we, may we, may we not miss the mark because we fail to listen, because we fail to hear. We know that's our sinful nature. In and of ourselves, left to ourselves, that's what we're going to do. We're going to fail to listen. We're going to just, you know, what is this, what does the Scripture talk about? Do what's right in our own eyes. Everyone is turned to his own way.

Thank the Lord. We're not, we're not in our sins anymore. We're not, we're not left to ourselves. We have, we have a Lord and Master, a Savior and a Master that leads us. He speaks to us. He set the example for us. He perfectly obeyed the Father. Thank the Lord. We don't have to be, and we are, because we're not, we don't have to be absolutely sinlessly perfect, but we ought to, we ought to take up our cross and follow Him, right? Deny ourselves, take up our cross, and say, Lord, lead me in the paths of righteousness, for Thy name's sake. Lead me in the right way. Help me to walk day by day. What is it, what is one of those children, the children's songs that is, there's a lot of profound truth in these children's songs, but day by day, what is it, of the three things I pray, to see Thee more clearly, to love Thee more dearly, to follow Thee more nearly, day by day? May that be our desire. Hear, hear what the Lord's saying, and quickly, sweetly, and completely say, yes, I will, I will follow.

Let's pray. Father, if we're, if you've, if you've spoken to us about some area of our life where we, we've been missing the mark, we know we've grieved you in something, we've, we've, maybe many times over, we have, we have failed in a certain area of our lives, Lord, help us to see, help us to see what it is that has caused us to, to do that, Lord. Maybe we're not listening to you when you told us to do something, and if we will correct, if we'll confess that matter, and forsake it, put it aside, and, and, and follow you out of love, then what a, what a change, what a blessing that would bring to our lives, and not only to our lives, but to your heart, and to others around us. Help us not just to hate the consequences of sin in our lives, help us to also, help us to also have a desire to, to change what is causing those consequences, is the, the actual failure to listen to you in a particular matter, and then, and then that certainly will change the consequences in our own lives, and the effects that our, our, our disobedience has had upon others. So help us in that, Lord. We just pray that you would guide us this week. May your word be a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. May we, as we hear your word, as we hear the, the warnings, the corrections, the reproofs, that, that we even are, are brought to our lives, that we would not let those words just fall to the ground, but having heard the word, we would keep it. We would not be forgetful hearers, but doers of the, of that, that word, and we would be blessed, we will be blessed in our deed. We just pray these things now and ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.