Turn with me back to Mark 4. Mark 4. In this chapter, our
Lord gives four parables. Four parables. A parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning. That's what a parable is, an
earthly story with a spiritual meaning. And verse 34 says, But
without a parable spake he not unto them. Our Lord did not preach
to the people unless it was in the form of a parable. Isn't
that interesting? That's interesting, isn't it? Our Lord did not preach
to the people except it be in the form of a parable. Verse
34 goes on to say, and when they were alone, he expounded all
things to his disciples. He spake the parable to the multitude. And then he explained the meaning
to his disciples. And that's exactly what the Lord
has done since the beginning. That is exactly what he is doing
today. And that's exactly what he will
do until he returns. This Bible right here tells the
whole story to the world. It tells the, they can read it
for themselves. It tells the whole parable to
the word, to the world. It is full of earthly stories,
isn't it? It's full of earthly stories.
Cain and Abel. What's the moral of that one?
Don't kill your brother. That's not it. That's not it. Noah's Ark. What's the moral
of that one? God loves animals. That's not
it. Abraham and Isaac. What's the
moral of that one? Isaac was lucky. There happened
to be a ram caught in the thicket. That's not it. Boaz and Ruth. What's the moral
of that one? This book is full of earthly
stories. And they have been declared to
the world. But only to his disciples does
he explain the meaning. Only to his disciples. Only to
those that he has chosen to save does he give eyes to see, ears
to hear, and a heart to believe the truth in God's word. Only
to his elect. That's it. He said in verse 11,
Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God. But to 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. So our Lord
gave four parables in this chapter. And he gave us the meaning of
the first one. And he said in verse 13, they
all mean the exact same thing. He said, no, ye, not this parable. How then will, you know, all
parables, they are all about Christ. They're about his choice. They're about his work and they're
about his result. Every single one of them. He
ended the parable of the sower in verse 20 by saying, these
are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word. How'd they do that? God gave
them ears to hear. God did it. Verse 20 says such
as hear the word and receive it. Had they do that, God had
to get rid of all those rocks. Take out that heart of stone,
put in a heart of flesh. Verse 20 says such as hear the
word and receive it and bring forth fruit. How'd they do that?
Christ had to deal with their. Thorns had to deal with their
sin. He had to make them pure again.
He had to make them right again. He had to make them ready to
receive seed, and then he had to make that seed grow. And he
went on to say some 30 fold, some 60 and some 100. Now with
that in mind, here's the second parable that he gave. Verse 21. He said unto them, is a candle
brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed and not to be
set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid which
shall not be manifested. Neither was anything kept secret,
but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear." And then right after he said that, verse 24,
he said unto them, take heed what you hear. With what measure
you meet, it shall be measured to you. and into 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." He gave those that had an ear to hear
an exhortation, a warning and an exhortation. He said, take
heed what you hear. And this was very interesting
to me. That word what, Take heed what you hear. That word what
means who and how much. That's what the word means. Take
heed who you hear. And I'm just going to tell us,
it's not Gabe Stoniker. Take heed who you hear. And take heed how much you hear. And that's exactly what our Lord
said in Luke's account. Look over at Luke chapter eight
with me. Verse 16, he said, No man, when
he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth
it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which
enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall
not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be
known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how you hear. Take heed what you hear, take
heed who you hear, take heed how you hear, and take heed how
much you hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken,
even that which he seemeth to have. My margin says, thinketh
that he hath. That's a serious warning, isn't
it? Serious exhortation. My prayer for this congregation, and I am a member of this congregation. This is where I worship God.
This is where I hear the gospel. It comes out of my mouth and
it goes into this ear right here. This is where I worship God. I'm a member of this congregation.
My prayer for this congregation is that I will and we all will
continually, continually put more importance on the preaching
of the gospel and the hearing of the gospel with every year
that goes by. Okay, this is the last Sunday
of the year. This is my prayer for this member
of the congregation. I'm going to start it right here.
My prayer is that in 2016, I put more importance on preaching
this gospel than I did in 2015. That's my prayer. More importance on the preaching
of the gospel and the hearing of the gospel with every year
that goes by. What we hear who we hear, how we hear, and
how much we hear. I pray in five years, 2020, I pray in five years, we all
have a greater sense of the importance of this word than we even do
today. And I believe we have some degree
of of that understanding. This is important, isn't it?
I pray in five years God would give us a greater sense of the
importance of His Word than we even have right now. I pray in
10 years, in 15 years, in 20 years, I pray that God greatly
blesses us with the ability to put little or no importance on
this life. I pray God blesses us with that
ability, that gift to put very little to no importance on this
life and all importance on His Word. Wouldn't that be a blessing? The preaching of it, the hearing
of it, the reading of it, 30 years. I pray in 2045, This is my prayer. I'm going
to look this up in 2045. We're going to go back on sermon
audio. In 2045, I pray that God won't
allow any of us to become gospel hardened. That's my prayer. None of us. If God leaves us
to ourselves, what do you think will happen? I pray that God
will not allow any of us to grow tired of hearing that same old
glorious news. That same old glorious news. I pray that we'll all be sitting
on the edge of our pew crying, tell me the old, old story of
the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for me. Just tell me what
Christ did for me. Don't you want to move on to
some isms? We got Christ and Him crucified down there, some
isms we're ready for now. No, let's not go there. Just
tell me what He did for me. May we all from this day forward
take heed what we hear, who we hear, how we hear the fervency
of it. how intently and how much we
hear. There is life in this Word, isn't
there? There really is. You can preach
this Word and watch dead men live. There is life in this Word. There is faith in this Word. There is hope and there is comfort
right here in this Word. How does all of that come? Our
Lord said it comes by hearing, didn't He? By hearing, I'm talking
to myself. Take heed what, who, how, and
how much you hear. Now go with me back to Mark chapter
four. In verse 24, he said, with what
measure you meet, it shall be measured to you. He's saying,
if you hear much, you'll have much comfort. Think about that. If you hear much, you'll have
much rest, and you'll have much peace, and you'll have much faith. It comes by hearing. You hear
much, you'll have much. I would love to have much faith,
because we just said in the Bible study, these present distresses
are coming, aren't they? Wouldn't you love to have much
faith? How does it come? By hearing. It comes through this word. He
said at the end of verse 24, and unto you that hear shall
more be given. Not just, I don't want to just
be here in attendance. I don't want to just be counted
among. I want to hear. I want to hear. Lord, the ears
of my heart are open. I want to be blessed this morning.
I tell you this all the time. My great desire is for you to
walk out of here blessed by God Almighty, but I want to be too.
Lord, the ears of my heart, they're open. Our Lord said, are you
hungry? Open your mouth wide and I'll
fill it. That's what he said. Open your
mouth wide and I'll fill it. Verse 25, for he that hath to
him shall be given. He that has a desire and a hunger
and a need. Lord give me that, give me that
desire, give me that hunger, give me that need. He that hath
to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall
be taken even that which he hath. If I hear little or if God doesn't
give me a heart at all, and I'm going to have little or no comfort,
little or no peace, rest, faith. So Lord, give us the wisdom and
the blessing of putting all of our importance on Christ and
his word. Hearing, preaching, reading, one thing needful. It's
the one thing needful in this life. All right now, verse 21
says, He said unto them, Is a candle
brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed and not to be
set on a candlestick? A candle and a candlestick. That
candle is Jesus Christ. That candle is the good news
of His word. It's the gospel that we preach
and we believe. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
1. Revelation 1, verse 1 says, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. That's who this is, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And in verse 10, John writes,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great
voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto
the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna,
unto Pergamos, unto Thyatira, unto Sardis, unto Philadelphia,
and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto
fine brass as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice was
as the sound of many waters, and he had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. His countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. He is the light. He is the light. In glory, there's no need of
the sun. The Lamb is the light thereof. He is this light. Verse 17, And when I saw him,
I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are and the things which shall be
hereafter, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels or the pastors of the seven churches. And the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches,
that perfect number of elected congregations, my people, the
church. He is the candle, we are the
candlestick. Kingsport Sovereign Grace is
the candlestick to this city. We are this candlestick. Our Lord has called us. He has
gathered us. He has assembled us together
for one reason only, and that's to lift up the candle. That's
it. To lift up the candle. To glorify
the light. We're not here to glorify ourselves. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. We're here to shine the light
of truth in a very dark and false world. By God's grace, that's
what I want us to do this morning. I want us to shine the light
of truth. Look back with me at Mark chapter
4. Verse 21, He said unto them,
Is a candle brought on purpose brought to be put under a bushel
or under a bed and not to be set on a candlestick. What good
is a candle if it's not lit? What good is a candle if it's
not lit? We have some candles on our mantel. I've preached a while, now I'm
going to tell you something. We have some candles on our mantel,
and they're for decoration. They are, it's a short mantel,
so they're scooted right up next to our TV. We never light them, never. If we did, it would ruin our
TV. It would absolutely ruin our
entertainment. That's false religion. That is false religion. That's this false religious world
that we live in today. They have this man, Jesus, set
up for decoration. He's there. But if the light
of truth was lit, it would absolutely ruin their entertainment. It
would ruin it. And when the show is over, it
can be just as dark as dark can be. You turn the lights out in
my living room, even though we got candles up on that mantle,
it's just as dark as it can be in there. It's not lit. It's not lit. Lord help us to
lift up the light. the light. Lord let your light
shine in this dark world. Go straight to the heart of the
darkness right here. Right in the heart of the darkness.
Give us all eyes to see. All of us. We have been given
this light. We have. While we have it, I
want to shine it on three places. I want to shine it there every
time we come together and I want to shine it there this morning.
Shine it in three places and then we'll be done. First, I
want to shine this light on God Almighty. I want the candlestick
to lift up the light and let's all take this light over and
shine it on God Almighty. All right, let's take it over
to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Let's see the truth about God. Deuteronomy 4, Moses said in
verse 14, The Lord commanded me at that
time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them
in the land whither you go over to possess it. Take ye therefore
good heed unto yourselves. Isn't that what our Lord said
in the text? Take heed. Take ye therefore good heed unto
yourselves for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that
the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire."
Horeb, there is a mountain in Horeb called Mount Sinai. That's
what's in Horeb. God came down to Mount Sinai. Why did God come down to Mount
Sinai? It was to expose sin. That's why he came down. He came
down to give his law and expose sin. And as soon as God stepped
foot on Mount Sinai, the whole thing exploded with fire. The
whole mountain was on fire. You talk about a light? You talk
about a light? The people could see God, and
they were afraid. He told them, do not come up
to this mountain. They were afraid. Moses said,
take heed, verse 24, for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire,
even a jealous God. That is the truth about God. That's the truth about God. The
Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. The word
jealous means angry. That's what it means, angry. What is he angry with? The wicked
every day. Every day, he's angry with our
sin and he's a consuming fire. That's the truth about God. Multitudes
and multitudes of sinners are going to stand before this God
right here. And they're going to see the
fierceness of his countenance. And they're going to hear him
say, depart from me. Why? Sin. Sin. When Adam sinned, we all
sinned in him. All have sinned. When he fell,
we fell. Men and women hear that and they
say, that's not fair. It's not fair. I fell because
Adam fell. That's not fair. I deserve my
own chance. All right, we're going to shine
the light over there. Here's the second place I want to shine
this light. We're going to shine it on man. We're going to hold
this light up and see the truth about man. Go with me to John
chapter 3. God sent the light himself into
this world in mercy. He sent the light of salvation
into this wicked, evil world. John 3 verse 19 says, And this
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world And men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." Here's the
truth about every man and woman born into this world. Not only
do we by nature love darkness, our Lord said we hated the light.
Hated the light. The Apostle Paul wrote, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. Let him be
cursed. We are a cursed people. We're a cursed people. That's
the truth about man if I've ever told it. That's the truth. A cursed people. Well, there's
got to be something in us that God will want. There's got to
be something in us that will make him think we're worthy to
be with him. This scripture says not one thing,
not one thing. The truth about God is he's a
consuming fire. The truth about man is he's a
cursed sinner. And as soon as he goes to meet
God, he's going to suffer his wrath. Now let's shine the light
in one more place. Let's shine it on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's lift this candle up. Lift this light up. And let's all go over to Galatians
3. Galatians 3, look at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Here is the truth
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone knows that Christ died. Everyone knows that. Everybody
knows Christ died. What everyone does not know is
this. Christ did not die for everybody. He did not. But for all that the Father chose
to put in Him, He was made a curse for us. He was made a curse for
us. This is what He said in John
12. You can just listen to this.
John 12 verse 46. He said, I am come a light into
the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Not believeth in. Everybody believes
in Jesus Christ. He said, whoever believes on
me, I came a light into this world. And he did not die for
every soul on this earth, but every soul that believes on him,
he said, they will not abide in darkness. Here's the truth
about Christ. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. And any sinner who cast his all
on Christ, any sinner, who literally cast
all of his hope for safety, for forgiveness, for eternal life
on Christ, he will receive mercy. He will receive mercy. I had
a dream last night. I had a dream that I was asked
to go preach in a church where no truth was. It was full of
people. And I had in my mind I was going
to preach from Ephesians 1. And as I stood up, I couldn't
find Ephesians 1. I kept searching and turning.
And I never could in the Bible find Ephesians 1. And it tore
me all to pieces. I want Kingsport to hear the
truth of Christ. I want this city to hear the
truth of Christ. If this was my last message,
if this was my last message and I had one final thing to tell
Kingsport, it would be this. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abide on him. So
look and live. Look and live. Poor, dead, sinful world. Look and live. Oh, he's a God
of judgment. He's a consuming fire. You are
not what you think you are. Look and live. My brother live. Look to Jesus Christ and live. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. May this candlestick, this local
candlestick, may we forever lift up the candle. Lift up the light. Light brings truth, and if that
truth ever comes to a sinner, it'll set them free. If they
ever see the light, it will set them free. Lord set Kingsport
free. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Set
Kingsport free. Well, back in our text, we'll
close with this. Mark 4, verse 21. He said unto
them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or under
a bed and not to be set on a candlestick? There is nothing hid which shall
not be manifested. Neither was anything kept secret
but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. I love how our Lord told His
disciples in Matthew 10. He said, What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. There's nothing hid that's not
going to be made manifest. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the year
that preachy on the housetops, preaching on the housetops, less
lift the candle up high. Let's lift the candle up high.
Maybe God will let us all say, maybe he'll let us all say, Lord,
open our eyes. Let us say, all right, let's
stand together.