Go back to Mark, Chapter 4. The title of the message, Take heed
what ye hear. This is the Lord telling us this.
Take heed. Give great attention to what
you hear. As I was sitting up here, going
over my notes, I thought no one, no group on this earth has sat
under a greater ministry than this group has. I'm not talking
about mine. I'm talking about sitting under
Henry Mahan. We sat under one of the greatest
preachers, I believe, Definitely in our day and one that's ever
been on this earth. I believe that. Take heed to
what you hear. When we hear men who are supposed to know
about what they're talking about, we listen. When the president
speaks, we want to hear what he has to say. Or if there has
been some medical breakthrough, we want to hear about it, especially
if we have the problem that the medical breakthrough can help.
We want to turn it up a little bit. We turn the volume up a
little bit. We want to hear what he has to
say. How much more, when we come here, the Word of God is opened
and read and preached from, how much more Should we give heed
to what we hear when Christ speaks, when his word is read? When his word is read, he's speaking. When his preacher is standing
preaching, he's speaking. I hope I'm not the one standing
here doing this by myself speaking. If so, both of us are in trouble. means little, means very little
compared to what God says, doesn't it? What we say, what men say,
what we say, it's going to just vaporize. It'll just go on. It'll disappear. I'll die and
it'll be forgotten. But when God speaks, when God
speaks, My soul. It means, listen, it means everything.
It means everything. When Christ spoke, he spoke of
God. Scripture says, no man know,
our Lord said this, no man knoweth the father save the son, and
he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. When he speaks of
God, This is not his idea of God. This is not his imagination
of God. This is the truth. This is who
God is. Now, we can still get things
wrong, can't we? Not him. Not when he spoke. He came from
that place. He came from above. He was seated
at the right hand of the Father. You know, in John 14, he said
there was many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would tell
you. Because he came from that place. He ought to know. And
when he speaks, he spoke of God. He spoke of sin. He spoke of
salvation. He spoke of heaven. He spoke
of hell. He spoke of eternity. He spoke
of the things that matter. You know, I say a lot of things
that don't amount to a hill of beans, really. Don't we? We say things that can be left
off and nothing be harmed. But when our Lord spoke, he spoke truth and wisdom. It's embodiment of wisdom. And
every word was full of meaning. Every word was full of meaning. Everything he had to say, eternity
was hanging on it. You reckon we ought to take heed
to what? And here it says, what you hear.
And Luke it says, how you hear. With what measure you meet it
with, it shall be measured to you again. Let us take heed to what we hear. Our Lord tells us this. All right,
here in verse 21, he tells us this. Is a candle brought to
be put under a bushel? Do you light a candle, bring
it into the room only to hide it, only to put a bushel over
it or under a bed and not be set on the candlestick? The gospel,
which I believe here is the lit candle, is not given Our Lord
did not come into this world to give it and to keep it hid. He didn't hide it in all these
parables and dark sayings and keep it hid from His disciples.
Now, it was hid from the wise and prudent. He said, Thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent. Pharisees couldn't
see it. But now there is a multitude
of sinners that the candle is lit for, and they are going to
see. He's going to give understanding.
That's what He's saying. The gospel, which is the lit
candle, is not given to be hid, but to give light. How did you come to understand
something of who God is? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Through the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. It is light of the knowledge
of God in the person, in the face of Jesus Christ. It is knowledge
of how God can be a just God and a Savior. Job says, I know
it's so of a truth, but how can man be just with God? How are
you going to find that out? Through the gospel. Through the
preaching of the gospel. Simply standing here and preaching
the gospel. And some are going to see it
now. They're going to see it. God's going to enable them to
see it. They're going to be enlightened. And they're going to understand.
It is through the preaching of the gospel that we understand
who Jesus Christ is. Unto you it is given to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. As nothing hid, look
here it says, for there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested,
neither was anything kept secret but that it should come abroad.
There's nothing hid in these parables. See, he just gave the
parable of the sower. And then when the disciples got
along with him, he expounded the parable, the meaning of it.
And he's saying here, there's nothing hid here from you. I'm
going to give you this. I gave this parable. I'm going
to give you an understanding here. He just gave this parable of
the sower and the different types of ground. And there's nothing
hidden in these parables, but what will be made manifest to
his disciples. to His people. Sooner or later,
you're going to understand the gospel, especially as you grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. You're going to understand these
things. The Holy Spirit, our Lord said,
and John, the Holy Spirit would take the things of mine and show
them unto you. He said in one place, I have
many things to say unto you, but right now you can't handle
it. You can't handle it. But as you
grow, As the Holy Spirit teaches you, you're going to understand
some things. I understand some things now
more than I did 20 years ago. And nothing, he said, was kept
secret. None of the doctrines of the gospel. Particular redemption. You understand that, don't you?
You understand that. You understand how God can be
a just God and a Savior. You understand particular redemption.
The typical message out there today is that God wants to save
everybody. Jesus Christ died to save everybody.
Why don't you let him save you? You know that's not so, don't
you? You know that's not so. How do you know that's not so?
I'll tell you how you know it's not so. It's not a secret to
you. It's been revealed to you. That's
how you understand it. Turn over to First Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 2. Let me start reading in verse
6. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world that come to nought, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the thing which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto us." He's revealed
it to us. By His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit,
for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Nothing's kept secret. He said
all these things, the gospel, the mystery of the gospel, it's
revealed to you. It's the lit candle. It's not
brought to be put in under a bushel. It's given, it's brought and
it's lit to give light. And that it should come abroad.
That is, it should go throughout the whole world. You know, this is not a secret
society here. We don't have, this is not a secret society. You know, there are clubs out
there. Boy, you know, people can't grow
up. They've got to have their clubs.
They have them in school. Then they get out of school. Then
they've got to have some other clubs, you know. They've got to have
their clubs. This is not a club. This is not a secret society.
We preach the gospel to all. I got a call from a lady from
Proctorville, 85 years old, the other day, the other night. And
she was just going on, what a blessing it was to her. And she said,
85, she can't really get out. She told me she couldn't really
get out and go anywhere. She said, you know, I've known
about election, predestination. I know about that. But she said,
I never really realized, until listening to our radio message
program, how much Christ had to go through to save me. I thought
to myself, it went from a doctrine to a person. Now that's when
something's going on. And it goes from election, and
it goes to the person who chose. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. That's election there, God choosing us. But this lit candle,
this gospel, it's not hid from God's people. He reveals it to
them. It's not a secret, and it's going
to go throughout the world, and it has. It started there in Jerusalem,
and it has gone throughout the world. The gospel is to be preached
throughout the world. Paul said this in one place.
He said, I've kept back nothing that's profitable to you. I've
told you, I've expounded to you the whole gospel. I've told you
everything I know. Everything I know. Now it says
in verse 23, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Do
you hear? He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Let him hear the message of the
gospel. Let him hear the good news. Let
him hear the teaching of God's Word. The Lord said, Let him hear the
hearing ear and the seeing eye is of God. And if God gives you
a hearing ear and a seeing eye, if He gives it to me and He's
given you one, we will hear. Because He just commanded it.
He just said, Let him hear. Let him hear. And then he follows it up with
this. Let him hear. Pay attention to it. But now
he that hears, that's a great privilege, isn't it? It's a priceless privilege to
be able to hear the gospel. I'm not talking about just hearing
somebody. I mean, hear it in your heart. Hear it in your soul.
You know when it's preached. You hear it. That's a great privilege,
but there's also a great responsibility that comes with that. He says
in verse 24, take heed what you hear. Take heed. Give great attention. Give great
attention to it. Lay it up in your heart. It will
be useful to you in time to come. Meditate upon it. Now, usually when we think of
meditating, we think of some guru sitting on a yoga mat, but
that's not what he's talking about. That's not meditation.
That means to think about it. Roll it over in your mind. Give great thought to it. This
is the Lord speaking. When I read the Bible sometimes,
sometimes I just read and I don't know what I read. I think, what
are you doing? I try to rest my mind. I say, wait a minute, back up.
Back up. You're reading the Word of God. Don't read just to be ready.
You know, I read a lot of other books that I do like to read,
but I sometimes read to be read, but not here. Man, don't do that
here. Read for instructions, read for spiritual growth, read
it as the Word of God. Give great attention to it. As
a matter of fact, look at Philippians chapter four. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Give your mind
to these things. If you do, you'll find out that
you'll grow in grace and in knowledge of Him. With what measure you meet it
with, He said, it shall be measured to you again. Study the Word.
Study to know what thus saith the Lord. And more shall be given. You
want more? You want more knowledge? You
want more understanding? You want more peace? You want
more comfort? Then drink what He has given you. It's like this
water, this glass here, if it's full to the top, there's no need
for me to ask you to put more water in it. Drink what you have
been given. That's what He's saying. Put
to use what you have been given. That's why He talks about, they
said, increase our faith. He said, if you have faith as
a grain of mustard seed, you can remove a mountain. It's not the
amount of faith, it's the exercise of it. Exercise what you do have,
and you'll have more. That's what he said, exercise
what you do have. These are not something we hoard
up, these are things you use. Spiritual gifts and knowledge
are to be used. They're to be used. Spiritual
growth comes from using, exercising. You know, just like your body.
If you want a healthy body, if you want your body to be stronger,
exercise it. You just have to use it. You
have to exercise it. And that's the same way in this
matter of spiritual things. You've got to exercise the gifts
and the things that God's given us. The instruction, the teachings,
it's exercising. It comes through, spiritual growth
comes from using what we've been given. The reason why I think we grow
so slowly, spiritually, is because we eat and drink so slowly. You
know, my grandson, when he sits down to eat, you just might as
well, you better have a bucket of patience. Because it's going
to be, you know, what I could eat in five minutes, it'll take
him an hour. He'll be an hour. It takes him a long time to eat
it. We shouldn't be so slow drinking
down and eating what the Lord gives us. And he says here, more shall
be given. You want more? Well, do something
with what you've already been given. I mean, that's simple,
isn't it? That's just so simple. This is where responsibility
comes in. More shall be given, more understanding,
more knowledge, more knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel
or doctrines of grace, more light. Walk in the light you have and
you'll have what? More light. That's what he says. You want more comfort, more assurance,
more faith, more joy, more peace? Well, exercise what's been given
to you and more shall be given. Use
what you've been given and more will be given. For he that hath, to him shall
be given. He that has the gospel in his
soul, he that has a true knowledge of the gospel and uses it properly
shall have more. Have more. The way to have more
is to give it out. We think the way to have more,
naturally speaking, the way we have more, we keep it. But in
the spiritual realm, it's totally the opposite. You give it out. You give out more love. You give
out more kindness. And you just can't run out of
it. But when you just bottle that
stuff up, more is not going to be given. Use what you've given. Use what
you've been given, he says, and more shall be given. It's like
the path of the just. It's like the light that shines
on the path of the just. It shines more and more brightly
until the perfect day. That's not verbatim, but that's
what Scripture teaches us. He shall grow up, that man who
does this, he shall grow up in Christ, and the fruit of the
Spirit shall become more evident in him to others. And he that hath not from him
shall be taken, even that which he hath. He that hath religion
only in form, but not in power, his candle will be put out. His light will be darkness. If the light, our Lord said it,
that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? Judas is a good example. Good example. The Pharisees. Examples. He that hath not. They didn't
have the gospel. They didn't have the Spirit of
God in them. They didn't have the truth. They were a bunch
of liars. They had it in the Word of God
that they were reading. Now, they had the truth there, but
they didn't have it in them. David said, Thou desirest truth
in the, in what parts? It was not in them. Sooner or later, God will expose
the hypocrite and his candle will be put out. Now, here's
a warning, and I close. Take heed to what you hear. If you would grow in grace and
in knowledge of Christ, then take heed to what you hear. Every time you open the Word
of God and read it, every time you hear the Gospel preached,
Give great attention to it. I know this flesh. I know the
weakness of this flesh. And I know it's hard to keep
our minds at times on the message, even when we are reading. The
mind wanders. But our Lord says give great
attention to this. Give great attention to it. We are responsible
for what we do with it. We are. We are responsible for
what we do with it. Take heed. Our Lord says, do
what you hear.