Ears that hear, and eyes that see…the Lord hath made both of them.
Revelation 3:22 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Proverbs 20:12 “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.”
The first thing I want to stress is….the Lord hath made both of them.
So you see we are responsible to hear because He has given us hearing ears. We are responsible to see, because He has given us seeing eyes.
Both are in the Eternal Life in Christ.
Revelation 3:19-20 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”
For all who hear HIs rebuke and repent….a great deal is promised.
Constant fellowship and overcoming authority.
But what is it that we need? And how is it that we repent?
What we need is reality….and where we need to repent is our lukewarmness.
Do we want HIs constant Presence (“I will come in and fellowship with him”)?
Or would that interfere too much with our plans….today, tomorrow?
(Would some of the thoughts we think and some of the things we do, cause too much embarrassment if we knew He were there with us?)
Philippians 3:7-8,11 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
Paul thought Eternal Life was worth the loss of all things.
What of us? Is it worth anything to us?
Revelation 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
We think we have all that we could ever need.
And know not, that we are…..wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
Now the Lord says we are all of these and this is the Word of the Faithful and True Witness.
And we are blind to it! That is why He says:
Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to….anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”
Lord, where can I get such eyesalve?
The hearing ear and seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them.
(Well Lord, they hear a lot more than I do. Maybe that is because they are listening harder.
Yes, Lord, he sees more than I do. Maybe he is just trying harder to see.)
We refuse to see ourselves as we are,….to go to God and get these hearing ears, and seeing eyes….
….so to anoint our eyes, we are going to have to get honest,…..with ourselves and with God!
We receive as much light as we are obedient to, so be zealous therefore and repent.
To repent means to turn around….a complete about face.
The eyesalve of honesty comes from a good and honest heart….which takes it in…and keeps the Word which is heard.
Luke 8:15 “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
Good only because it is honest.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.”
This thing of being honest, we have to work at it…..in our prayers, in our thoughts, in our actions and reactions.
Get honest….really honest. If we don’t work at it, it will not get done.
But if we do…..like Paul, we can reach “forth to the things which are ahead….the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 