No One Wants To Hear You
“No one wants to hear you.” Unfortunately, we hear this frequently while out street witnessing. In fact, my friends and I heard it while witnessing at MU this last week. I also heard it the week before while open-air preaching at MSU. No one wants to hear you. So does that mean we should shut our Bibles and go home, because no one wants to hear us? Is that all it takes to run an open-air preacher off is just for a mocker to state “No one wants to hear you?”
Our authority is always the Bible, so what does the Bible say? Should I shut my Bible, shut my mouth and go home because no one wants to hear me? Please listen to what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 25:3-7 “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.
You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
Twenty-Three Years And No One Listened
Jeremiah says in Jeremiah Chapter 25 that he’s been preaching to the people for 23 years and the people have not listened. Twenty-three years! I wonder if anyone told Jeremiah to shut up, no one wants to hear you? The prophet Jeremiah goes on to say that the Lord persistently sent prophets to warn the people, yet the people did not listen. I suppose if God kept giving Jeremiah messages to tell the Israelites for 23 years, it wasn’t God’s will for Jeremiah to quit preaching, no matter whether people wanted to hear the message or not.
When Isaiah prophesied in the Old Testament times, the Israelites didn’t want to listen to him either. Isaiah 30:9-14 states: For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
Preferring A Lie Over The Truth?
The Israelites not only didn’t listen to Isaiah, they actually requested that he lie to them. They wanted to hear lies rather than God’s truth. These couple of examples were from the Old Testament, what about the New Testament? Did any of the apostles just go home because people didn’t to hear the message? Of course not. The apostle Paul was beaten with 195 lashes across his back (2 Corinthians 11:24). You don’t get that from telling everyone God is love. Also, one time, Paul was nearly killed by an angry mob throwing rocks at him. They thought they had killed, him, but he got up, walked back into the city (Acts 14:19-20).
John the Baptist confronted King Herod because King Herod was with the king’s brother’s wife. John the Baptist confronted the king over this. How did that work out? The queen demanded that John the Baptist head be cut off and the king granted her request. The king and queen did not want to hear God’s truth and they reacted violently by cutting off John the Baptist head.
What about Jesus? Surely, people weren’t against Jesus preaching, were they? Luke 4:16-30 says: And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Jesus Sets The Captives Free
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
The People Of Nazareth Wanted To Throw Jesus Off A Cliff!
When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. Ok, so the people of Nazareth wanted to throw the Lord Jesus off a cliff! Obviously Jesus didn’t preach smooth things that people wanted to hear. Obviously Jesus preached truth, even if no one wanted to hear it.
This is an amazing example of God’s truth going forth, even when no one wanted to hear the truth. But the ultimate example was actually the mock trial, scouraging and rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people and the Roman soldiers. Pontius Pilate knew the religious leaders wanted Jesus killed out of envy, so he brought out Barabbas and Jesus and said which one do you want me to release.
The Jewish people yelled “Barabbas”, “Barabbas”, Barabbas.” So then Pilate asked the crowd what he should do with Jesus and the crowd yelled “Crucify Him”, “Crucify Him”, Crucify Him!” This is the ultimate of people not wanting to hear the truth, they actually yelled for Jesus to be crucified.
God’s Will
Now I want to make sure that you don’t get the wrong idea hear, nothing happened without God’s direction or intention. Before the foundation of the world, God knew Jesus would suffer, bleed and die in the place of guilty sinners. God knew Adam would sin and that all of us would follow in Adam’s footsteps. We would all partake of the forbidden fruit of sin.
So God’s plan all along was for Jesus to take the place of guilty sinners, to be the substitute for those who repent and believe in the Lord. Jesus, the Just, would suffer in the place of the unjust. The Sinless Son of God would take the punishment that sinful men and women deserve. Jesus who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God.
God poured His righteous wrath over sin out upon His own, sinless, precious Son. Jesus willingly endured the physical torment and God’s wrath, for those He came to save. Jesus died on the cross and was buried. He rose victoriously the third day. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan and God offers eternal life to each and every person who repents from their sins and surrenders their life to Jesus.
Do You Hear The Savior Calling?
Oh, Jesus came to save His people from their sins. Are you one of His? Do you hear the Savior calling? Or are you still running around saying “No one wants to hear you?” Why preach the Gospel when people say “No one wants to hear you?” Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You need to hear that you are a sinner and God is Holy and you cannot save yourself. Jesus is the only Savior.
If God is convicting you over your sins and revealing His Holiness to you do not reject such a great salvation. Do not harden your heart. Don’t continue mocking God. Instead, repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Do this today and be saved. Trust in the Lord Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Jesus spoke truth whether people wanted to hear it or not. Then He would say: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15). Do you have ears?
(This message was proclaimed in downtown Springfield, MO on September 27, 2019)