Does that mean what it says? Is our Lord just speaking to have something to say? That's the idea of many people I have talked with. It seems they equate "hearing" with spasmodic church attendance, without ever realizing that you can "hear" and yet not hear And our Lord said if you don't "hear", you are not of God.
A family whom I pastored a number of years ago came to our church recently. I inquired as to their church. What a shock! They had been attending a Pentecostal church and told me it got a little wild sometime, but they liked the pastor. When I asked the obvious question, "How do you reconcile what he teaches with what you heard years ago?" They replied, "Oh, it's not much different." They had never "heard" God's words.
A young man visited our church and said he was glad to find a "sovereign grace" church, and he would be coming on a regular basis. I have not seen him since. Has he heard God's words? I don't know, but I do know that "He that is of God heareth God's words." That means he continues to hear and makes it his life to "hear".
While I was writing this article a man came to my door This man was a lawyer who was returning some papers I had given him and we both forgot about. He told me of his wife's death in which I sympathized greatly. The lawyer said he had joined a church, because the pastor preached his wife's funeral. So I thought, is that good reason to be a part of something? Does the pastor tell forth "God's words?" This seems to be of little consequence to most people.
Tell me what God said! Everything else is dung. I do not want to hear the sovereign Lord say to me, "Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."