Psalm 81: Open Ears, Opens Hearts for Salvation! Psalm 81:8-10

Text: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, Have they not heard?”

Romans 10:17-18.

          “He that hath an ear, let him/her hear what the Spirit (capital S., God!) saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death (Hell, and the Lake of Fire).”

Revelation 2:11.

Good morning, open-eared Christian!  You and I have that ‘new song’ to sing, a song of deliverance; a song of joyful worship unto the Living Lord God Jehovah, in Christ Jesus, because, once we were lost in our sins, and now we are found in God’s family to worship the Lamb forever.  Hallelujah!  Can you resist shouting it from the rooftops?  I can’t.  Glory…

“And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”  (Psalm 40:3)

The Lord God gave me this verse from Psalm 40:3 the day He saved me – in cell 9, H Block 6, at the maximum-security Maze Prison for political prisoners, here in Northern Ireland, on August 12^th, 1979.

I had been an Ulster Freedom Fighter terrorist, in the early and mid-1970s, and had been rightly incarcerated for my vile terrorist actions, and placed on solitary-confinement.  In my profound rebellion and sin, I had refused to wear the prison uniform of a common criminal, and was protesting on what was called ‘The Loyalist Blanket Protest’ with other political activists, for political recognition status, having been engaged in politically motivated offences.

My rebellion knew no limits, as I engaged in ‘gross personal violence on prison staff’, and was called ‘that maniac McClinton’ by the prison guards. ‘My name is legion…’ (Mark 5:)

Left alone in solitary-confinement cells for over two years, there was nothing to stimulate the mind, but a King James Version Bible had to be in every cell of the British Prison System – and so I began to read this old dog-eared prison edition to pass the long days.

 “So, then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

In God’s Sovereign grace, praise His Name, He ‘quickened’ me as I read the Gospel truths; granted me the faith absolutely necessary to believe; granted me true repentance from my gross life of violence; and saved me from my vile sins. Thanks be to His Holy Name!

That was when the Lord God gave me Psalm 40: verse 3, as a promise for the future as His servant. “And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”  (Psalm 40:3)

The Lord has fulfilled that promise to me in wonderful ways for the past 47 years since.  Hallelujah!  I have seen with my own eyes, many precious souls saved, redeemed by Christ’s precious Blood, through being ‘quickened’ by my preaching of God’s Word and the Gospel of Christ Crucified for our sins. I have been enabled to strengthen the hearts and hands of many young Christians, and many not so young have benefited by my ministry in the Word.

All praise, honour, glory and thanks be to the Lord God.  We can do nothing without Him!  (John 15:5)

Verse 8. “Hear, O My people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, IF thou wilt hearken unto Me. Hurried reading is of little benefit; to sit down a while and meditate is very profitable.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 350)

If the Lord God, via the universal call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is speaking to the hearts and souls of sinners – it is of vital, Eternal, importance to sit down quietly and seriously mediate on what is being read or heard with the eyes and the ears of those on their way to Hell. 

If true saving faith cometh by hearing – and it does – then sinners need desperately to open their ears to hear.  By God’s Sovereign grace and will, He will then ‘quicken’ (make alive) dead spirits, to not only hear and receive Christ’s Salvation, but also to have the very heart of their being to be opened to receive all the wonderful blessing of a truly gracious Lord God.

Verse 10: “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Egypt is often a type of ‘the world of the unsaved’ when reading Holy Scriptures.  God’s people, Israel, were enslaved in Egypt, and labouring under a terrible burden – and the Lord God brought them out by the hand of Moses.  You and I were enslaved by Satan and our sins, unsaved, and wallowing in a world on its way to a Christ-rejecter’s Hell, when God the Spirit ‘quickened’ us as we heard/read God’s message of deliverance and Eternal Salvation.

“And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead in sins (Spiritually dead, unsaved), hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;)” (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Verse 10: “…Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Open thy mouth wide, then, O Christian; stretch out thy desires to the uttermost, grasp Heaven and earth in thy boundless wishes, and believe there is enough in God to afford thee full satisfaction. Not only come, but come with boldness to the throne of grace: it is erected for sinners, even the chief of sinners.  Come to it then, and wait at it, till you obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Those who expect most from God are likely to receive the most. The desire of the righteous, let it be ever so extensive, shall be granted.”  (Benjamin Beddome, 1717-1795)

Verse 10: “…Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. This is also God’s promise, especially to preachers, Sunday-school teachers, Bible Teachers – we should never doubt if we are going to be enabled to present a sound Gospel message, the Lord shall fill our mouths.

Thought: Open ears to God’s Word, produces open hearts and mouths for Christ.