The Ear in the Temple of the Holy Ghost James 1:19 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

When you get saved, your body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost.  So, we want to teach about the various aspects of this temple to see what the Holy Spirit is doing in there.  We’ll look at our minds, our spirits, our eyes, our ears, our flesh, and so forth.  Today we’ll look at the ear.

The ear is a very important part of the temple of the Holy Ghost – we are to use our ears much more than we are to use our mouths – Jas 1:19 be swift to hear, slow to speak – and when we use our ears to listen to the words of God we should make sure that what is said doesn’t go in one ear and out the other – Lk 9:44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears.

We are to use our ears not just to listen but to really hear what’s being said – Mk 4:23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear [this expression appears more often in the Bible than any other expression concerning our ears].  And then once we have heard what the Bible says, we need to be very certain that we make the proper assessment of what we have heard – Mk 4:24-25 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath – the Pharisees judged that the Lord’s words were man’s words and not God’s – thus, they rejected them – consequently, whatever else they knew of the words of God, they lost – the disciples judged Jesus’ words as the words of God – consequently, they learned his words and were given more understanding of the rest of God’s words, as well – by the same token, there are many preachers who represent that their words are God’s words and they are nothing of the kind – take heed.

We are to recognize from scripture which words are the Lord’s and which ones are not – Jn 10:27 my sheep hear my voice – when we discern from scripture that what we are hearing comes from a man and not from God, or worse from a gainsayer, we are to turn away from it [Jn 10:5] – Prov 19:27 Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

We are not to be casual in our efforts to find the wisdom of God’s words; we are to diligently seek it – Prov 18:15 the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge – notice the verbs in these three verses that describe what we are to do with our ears – Prov 2:2 incline thine ear unto wisdom, Prov 22:17 bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise, Prov 23:12 apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge – so we incline our ears toward God’s words and away from others, then we bow down [humble] our ears to hear so that we can learn, and then we apply our ears to what we have learned – like Jas 1:22-25 says, we are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Much of what we learn from the Bible, in addition to doctrine, we learn by reproof [2 Tim 3:16] – it takes a wise person to hear reproof and receive it – Prov 15:31 the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise – and once we have been reproved we are to be obedient to what we have heard – Prov 25:12 so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear [many Christians hear a reproof and continue right on their way without obeying what they heard].

In these “last days” the majority of Christians have turned away from hearing the truth – 2 Tim 4:3-4 but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth – you must continue to hear the truth and follow it no matter how much your ears may itch – not only will turning away from the truth affect your Christian growth and walk but it will also affect your prayer life – Prov 28:9 he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

Once you have heard the words of the Lord, learned them and applied them in your life, you are to tell others what you have heard – Matt 10:27 what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops – that way others who do not know the Lord can hear about him and his words, too – Rom 10:14 how shall they hear without a preacher.