John Piper: Three ways to resist Satan’s efforts to defeat the Word of God as you hear it

Posted on by Pam Larson

Today we come to Mark 4:1-20, where Jesus told the parable of the sower. In the conclusion, he says that Satan takes away the Word of God from people’s minds and hearts so that they cannot believe and be saved.

Here is some encouragement from John Piper, who suggests “three ways to resist Satan’s efforts to defeat the Word of God as you hear it“

1. Prepare the Soil of Your Heart

Verse 20 says that good soil is the key to a fruitful hearing of the Word. I have said it several times before and no doubt will again: devote some time Saturday night and Sunday morning to prepare your heart for hearing the Word of God. The more you take time to humble yourself and purify your heart in prayer and tune the receiver of your mind into the wavelength of Christ, the more powerfully you will hear the Word and the more deeply you will worship.

Don’t play into the hands of Satan by staying up so late Saturday night that you can’t stay awake in worship or in Sunday School. He constantly lies to you telling you that what you’re doing at 10:00 Saturday night is more important than being rested to give your best ear to God’s Word on Sunday morning.

Don’t play into the hands of Satan by letting the newspaper set the agenda of your Sunday morning meditation. Read a Psalm and pray that God meet you in worship as he never has before.

I believe that if we as a church formed the habit of conscientiously preparing our hearts for hearing God’s Word, the Lord might speak with such power that amazing changes would come into our lives for God’s glory and for our joy. So let’s resolve to take time for meditation and prayer and solitude and quiet walks in the snow, so that the soil of our heart is plowed deep for the Word of God.

2. Listen with All Your Might to the Word of God

And remember, the Word is in the hymns and in the anthem and in the prayers and often in the organ, not just in the sermon.

Focusing attention on the Word of God is hard work for us sinners. Add to that Satan’s opposition to your attention! If we come with no resolve to work at listening and fight against Satan, we will be fair game for the birds along the path. They will pluck up the seed and we will leave week after week with no power to bear fruit.

Focus on the content of the worship folder during the prelude. Focus on the words of the call to worship and the prayers and the hymns. Focus on God during the organ praise and the moment for meditation. Pray to God whenever there is a non-directed moment. Go hard after God. Don’t coast in worship. Again and again Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Strive to have those ears and not to be among those who hearing do not hear and seeing do not see.

3. In the Act of Hearing, Welcome the Word of God

Verse 20 says, “But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” All the attention in the world will be of no avail if the message heard from God is rejected.

So set your mind to be open to the Word of God, even if it is new or demanding. This doesn’t mean listening uncritically. Jesus didn’t want mindless acquiescence. Neither do I. The admonition is this: when the word of Scripture stands forth plainly, welcome it. Have a receptive attitude, not a resistant one. Love the Word of God. Be like a miser in search of gold and silver. Snatch up the Word of God as precious pearls.

Be like rich black Minnesota farmland, deeply plowed, free of thorns, free of rocks, moist from the rains of the Spirit, and then receive the power-packed seed of the Word of God. And this church will overflow with fruit—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. May the Lord destroy the work of the devil and make us a fruitful people by his Word.