I turn once again tonight to
the book of Mark. The Gospel of Mark and the fourth
chapter. The first twenty verses of this fourth
chapter make up a parable. It has three different aspects
of it in one sense of speaking, but it makes up one parable. And the Lord Jesus Christ on
a number of occasions spoke to the people in what are called
these parables. But I want us to look tonight
at one aspect concerning not only this parable, but all the
parables, and even more than that, all of the Gospel, all
of the Word of Truth. And I want you to look with me
beginning in the ninth verse. at what Christ says in the midst
of giving this parable. Verse 9, And he said unto them,
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone,
they that were about him with the twelve asked of him, the
parable. And he said unto them, Unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables,
that seeing they may see, and not perceive, and hearing they
may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should
be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." I call this tonight, Ears to
Hear, because the Lord Jesus Christ
says that this parable and all the parables that he spoke, that they were received only
by those who had ears to hear. And when he says ears to hear,
if you notice in verse 12, he speaks of somebody perceiving
something, and also of them understanding something. When I read this again,
it came to my mind what is true not only in the natural, physical
realm, but also in the spiritual realm, and that is what he says
to us in the book of Proverbs when he says, The hearing ear
and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. That's true with the natural
eye and the natural ear, but it is also true of the spiritual
eye and the spiritual ear. As a matter of fact, this is
something we find a number of times that he speaks in the book
of Revelation. Just hold your place here and
turn over to Revelation chapter 2. Because in these churches that
he speaks to in Asia, if you look first in Revelation 2, And
verse 7, he says, I'm wrong, yeah, Revelation chapter 2 and
verse 7, he says what he says to the church at Ephesus, and
then he says this, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches. And then he goes on and he says
more, and he concludes also, after having said what he says
to the church at Smyrna in verse 11, He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Then again
he says something to the church at Pergamos. And after he says
that, in verse 17, he says, He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And then also after
he says what he does to Thyatira, in verse 29 he says, He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
And then over in chapter 3 of the Revelation, after saying
what he does to the church at Sardis, in verse 6 he says again,
He that hath an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. And then also he says concerning
the church at Philadelphia in verse 13. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And then also,
if you look down in verse 22 of chapter 3, he closes it out,
saying again, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. In other words, not only in these
various places in Revelation, not even in these parables that
he speaks through in the Gospel, but in all the Word of God, in
all the Gospel, this is what is said, to each and every one,
he that has an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit
saith. All have ears for the most part
naturally, but all do not have this ear of faith. Some translate what he says here
as this. whoso understandeth, let him
understand." And he says this as the gospel is preached, as
these parables are spoken, to sinners all of whom are naturally
and spiritually deaf. Let me read you a description
out of one of the Psalms. In Psalm 58, listen to what he
says in verse 3 and 4. He says, The wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison
of a serpent. They are like the deaf adder
that stops her ear. They are likened to a serpent
of some kind that supposedly stops their ear. And according to what we find
in this book, God, in His absolute sovereignty, according to His
will, has determined to leave many in that natural condition. You see, on the one hand, they
are described as those that or in this condition He does not
give them ears. And here is the way it is manifested. They stop their ears to hearing
what God says. As a matter of fact, a number
of times also, even a reference to it in these very verses in
Mark 4 that we read, He speaks of that prophecy that he gave
through the prophet concerning them. He says in Isaiah, Make
the heart of this people fat, that is, they'll have no need,
and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed." Now that very prophecy is made
reference to on a couple or more occasions in the Gospels and
in the book of Acts where the gospel was preached and these
people refused to hear and believe and understand what was being
preached. They stopped their ears. And when that happened, Christ,
or one of the apostles, then made reference to that very prophecy
in Isaiah, that they would have their ears closed to the truth
and message of God's Christ. Zechariah also made reference
to this very thing in chapter 7. He says, but they refused
to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears
that they should not hear." That is the case of every sinner by
nature, even the case of all God's people in their natural
state apart from grace. But God, also according to his
sovereign will gives to his people ears to hear." They are not born
with this understanding. They are not born being able
to perceive what he is saying in the gospel. But they are by
the Spirit of God. They are enabled to hear what
it is that the Spirit saith. You remember that same One who
is called the Comforter or that Periclete? He is also called
the Spirit of Truth. And Christ said, I'll send the
Spirit of truth, and when He's come, He'll take the things of
mine and show them to you. He'll not speak of Himself, but
He will take the things of mine and show them unto you. In other words, He will not only
speak, But He will, as the third person of the Godhead, God the
Spirit, He will not only speak, but He will give the ear to hear. And that's what our Lord is talking
about here. He that hath an ear to hear. And that is who we preach to. Knowing full well the condition
of all by nature, knowing that none of themselves have this
hearing ear, we preach because God has commanded it, and knowing
that He will give to each one of His people ears to hear. That's what He's talking about
here. Ears to hear. And He does so, as He will, to
these whom He will, that He has loved and chosen and that Christ
has redeemed by His blood on that cross. Hold again your place
and turn back to Matthew chapter 11. There has never been a greater
preacher, proclaimer, declarer of the truth and gospel of God
than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I know there are a lot of
preachers in our day, maybe even some grace preachers that think
they're able preachers, but they couldn't hold a candle even to
the Apostle Paul much less Christ. But not everybody believed what
he said. Not everybody loved the message
that he preached. Not everybody, as a matter of
fact, the great majority of the people had no ear, had no understanding
of what Christ was saying. All you have to do is read these
places all through Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, or even
not only him, but the apostles in the book of Acts. You hear
what they preached as they went from place to place, and those
who heard them, the most of them, as a matter of fact, the greatest
of the people. They said, what in the world
is he talking about? This man has gone stark raving
mad. What is it that he's saying?
What is it that he's claiming? Who is it that he says that he
is? Well, that was the occasion most
of the time. And he scolds, if you will, these
great cities where these people had opportunity and did hear
the message that he preached, and they turned and rejected
it. But look down in verse 25 of Matthew
11. When that happened, it says,
at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto these. That's about as clear a statement
of God's right and practice of doing what He will, to whom He
will, when He will, that you'll find in this book. And you know
what? The Lord Jesus Christ was in
a total agreement and delight in it. Look at the next statement. "'Even so, Father, for so it
seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." That tells me just exactly what
I find everywhere in this book, and that is Those who would be
saved and know God, they are in absolute need of a revelation, a miraculous, supernatural revelation. He said, no man knows the Son, except the Father? No man knows
the Father except the Son, and neither except those to whom
they will reveal themselves." You see, Paul asks that question. that applies to everything that
we have of truth and grace and mercy. He said, who makes you
to differ? If you have any understanding
as to who God really is, if you have any understanding or enabled
to perceive to any degree what we really are in ourselves. If we have any knowledge or understanding
of who Christ is and what He came into this world to do and
did, it's because of God's grace. It's because He revealed it to
us. It's because He taught it to
us. As a matter of fact, in John
6, I believe it is, He says concerning all of God's people, all His
elect, and they shall all be taught of God. They're going to be taught of
God. He is going to reveal Himself. He is going to reveal His Son. Turn over from Matthew 11 to
Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, and listen
to what He says in verse 9. Let him hear. And the disciples
came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto
them, Because it is given unto you." You see that? That word, given, is one of the
most important words in that verse. Because it is given unto
you. It's the gift of God's grace. Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given. That which distinguishes the
Lord's people in the understanding, in the knowledge, in the perception,
in the faith that they have concerning Him is just His free grace. Paul said, what do you have that
you did not receive as a gift? And if you received it as a gift, he said, why do you glory in
it? Why do you make your boast in what you know? The only reason
you know it and others don't is because God was pleased to
reveal Himself to you. And so that's why in this eleventh
verse in our text here in Mark chapter four, The Lord Jesus
says that very thing. He says, unto them, unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables. Why do you understand it? And
you know, it's almost as if even at this point and occasion, they
didn't even really understand that they understood. Because it's always hard to get
away when he speaks of a kingdom. It's always hard. for us to get
away from the notions of external things, the things of an external
kingdom, when in truth, the mystery of the kingdom was simply the
things that God in His grace had given to His people in the
King Himself. You've got the King. You've got
the kingdom. You see, this revelation is necessary in the salvation
of all who are saved. And it's not a revelation that
enables us to know everything But it's a revelation that we
might know the true Christ. I may not know all about the
true Christ. I may not know all the glories. I know I'll never know all the
glories of that person who is God and man in the same person. I know I could never comprehend
the depth from which He has saved me, or the glory of His salvation,
if it goes on in the enjoyment of it for all eternity? But He's enabled His people to
know Him, to know Christ, to know the One who is all. to know not only in a measure
who He is as the God-man, but also to know what it is that
in the purpose of God He came into this world in human flesh
to do and did in the saving of our souls. You see, The word mystery in
scripture means really something, well, in human thinking it's
oftentimes something you can't know and can't figure out. That's
not what it means in the Bible. It means simply that which heretofore
was not revealed or made manifest or even more so as in light of
this text, that which God must reveal to us. He said no man can by searching
find out God. Sometimes I think about the multiplied
millions of volumes that have been written about
God, that have been written about the Word of God. I'm talking
about volumes so thick you can't hardly even carry the book. I'm
talking about those kind of volumes that are really thick and heavy
and have that kind of print that's so fine you need a magnifier. Just volumes of words written
about about God and about salvation, about Jesus Christ. And when you read it, you know
that that person, no matter how brilliant they were, no matter
how learned they were, they didn't have a clue. as to what God was saying in
His Word. They can pick out the illustrations
or the examples. They could, as in this parable,
they could see a picture of a man sewing and they could get a lesson
out of it. Well, that means be diligent.
That means to work hard. That means if you're going to
get something, you're going to have to work. They can just do all
these kinds. But Christ said they don't have
an ear to hear. An ear to hear. Turn over to Matthew chapter
16. This is one of the most marvelous
examples of what I'm talking about. Matthew 16, here in Matthew
16 is the occasion when our Lord asked these disciples just the
most simple of questions. He said, who do men say that I am? And
they said, well, some say you're this one, that prophet. Some
say you're John the Baptist. He said, but who do you say that
I am? Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter, who was oftentimes
the most presumptuous and way weak and with all his failures, in verse 16, Simon answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, or that Christ, the Son of the living
God. You're the Christ. You're the
prophesied Messiah that was to come. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona." Now, you hear people
talking about being blessed. Well, when the Lord Jesus Christ
said, you're blessed, it's really blessed. He said, blessed are
you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee. but my Father which is in heaven." Now, I thought about that. It
came into my mind just this very moment. That means if God ever is pleased to make known
Himself to bring someone under the sound
of my preaching to know Christ. I have nothing, not one thing
to boast in. I'm not going to talk about how
the Lord used me, or one thing and the other, or what a great
ministry, or anything like that. If anyone knows who Christ is, he says it is not because flesh
and blood has revealed it to him. You couldn't write enough
books. You couldn't preach enough sermons.
I don't care how good they might be. He said, flesh and blood
has not revealed that unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. That's it. That's it. He uses the truth. He uses the
preaching of the gospel. But no preacher, no person, no
teacher, no personal witness, no one in telling someone the
truth about Christ can make any boast because flesh and blood
cannot reveal who He is to anybody. It has to be God Himself. Turn over to I John chapter 5,
and hear the Apostle John in I John chapter 5 stating this
very thing so plainly. I John 5 and verse 20, he says,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us An
understanding. An understanding. He's not going to say, we understand
everything. We understand every part and
parcel of the Scripture. We understand every verse or
every doctrine. No, we don't. But he says he's
given us an understanding. that we may know Him that is
true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. I want to tell you something
tonight. If God has enabled you in the midst of all the multiplied
millions of people in this in the midst of all the false
gods and false religions and false preaching and all this
great mass of godless trash, if He has enabled you to know Him in truth. You say,
well, preacher, I don't really know all that much about it.
Well, to me that's almost an evidence at the first that you
may know more than you think. Because there's a whole lot of
people who think they know a lot about Him who don't really know
anything about Him. But if He's enabled you to know
something of His glory, of His purpose, of His will, of His
Son. If He's not left you in the darkness
of your own self, thinking that you're in yourself something
that you're not. If He has revealed His grace
to you in Christ and Him crucified. You're a blessed soul. I'm telling you that. Because you didn't do it, and
I certainly didn't do it. But if He's enabled you to trust
Christ and His blood, His very righteousness as your It's God who's done it. It's God who's done it. He's
given us an understanding. He said, He that is of God hears
God's Word. What does that mean, of God?
Well, it means He that has been loved of God and chosen of God
and redeemed of God, but it also means He who's been born of God. That one that God has given ears
to hear, he hears God's Word. As a matter of fact, Christ said,
as the shepherd, he said, he won't hear the voice of a stranger. Paul writes to the Galatians,
he said, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." He said, I didn't have to get a
second opinion. when God, through His Word and by His Spirit, reveals
Himself to us in Christ. You don't ever have to read this
book at what it says and then run over somewhere else and see
if somebody else says it says something differently. As a matter
of fact, it doesn't matter if ten thousand say different. He
says what He says. He said, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He's God's glory. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
2. This is exactly what Paul said. Whoever has ears
to hear, let him hear. And if he has ears to hear, it's
because God gave him this spiritual ear. 1 Corinthians chapter 2
and verse 7. Paul said, but we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. This has been for all eternity. This has been that which has
not been revealed, though it's been pictured and foreshadowed
and typified time and time and time again. He says, which none
of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You just stop
and think of all the great people, so-called, who've lived on this
earth. Kings and princes and queens
and political powers and presidents and people in high places, wealthy
people, people who had understanding of science and literature and
all these things. But the one and greatest and
most important thing and Person of all the universe, they knew
nothing about it. Died not knowing anything about
it. Died in their sins. But look at verse 9. But, as
it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God." So Paul writes to these believers
at Corinth. And a pitiful lot they were too,
just like us. He says, now we, have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God." There's a lot of people who need
to read that verse. God gives His gospel, His Word,
as well as His Spirit to His people that they might know,
that they might have some understanding of the things, the many things
that He has freely given to us in Christ. Which things also
we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual,
but the natural man." He doesn't have ears. He receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them. because they are spiritually
discerned. Paul again says in Galatians,
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. You read that epistle to the
Ephesians, and in that first chapter you hear him say that
he prayed for them, that they might have understanding,
revelation of the things of God in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because he warned this when he
wrote to Timothy. He said, For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Not hearing ears, itching ears. Looking for somebody to scratch
them. Looking for somebody to say what
they want to hear. Looking for somebody to say something
that will make them feel good about their sin. Itching ears. He said that there will be many.
He uses this several times in the Old Testament. He says there
will be some who when they hear of judgment, Their ears will
tingle. That's why it says tingle. But they won't hear. They won't
hear. Back to Mark chapter 4, and just
look with me, and I'll read these other three verses, beginning
in verse 23. Again, he says it. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. And He said unto them, Take heed
what ye hear, with what measure ye meet. 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. Take heed what you hear,
take heed how you hear, take heed to hear what thus saith
the Lord. If you have ears to hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Father, this night we give you
thanks for your great mercy and your amazing saving grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that all preaching of
your gospel, all teaching of your word, is in vain unless you're pleased
to give this hearing ear, this understanding, this ear of faith,
unless you're pleased, Lord, to reveal Christ to us and in
us. Lord, we do believe it is the
need of this present hour. We do believe it is the great
need in this place, that it is the great need in every that you by your Spirit come where we are in our deadness,
having no ears to hear spiritual things, having no capacity to receive
or understand the least of the things of God. We pray that you would come and give this hearing ear that we might hear. We pray again, Father, tonight
for these that we've mentioned. So many weaknesses, sicknesses,
trials. but nothing that could even begin
to compare with this need that we have for these ears to hear and hearts
to believe the truth as it is in Christ. Watch over us as we depart out
of this meeting place. Be to us that paraclete, the
one who would be constantly at our side, to teach us, to lead
us, to protect us. We thank you for all of your
blessings, which you made to be yes and amen in Christ. We thank you and pray in His
name. Amen. Amen.