Mark chapter four and verse 21. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ who is
speaking and he says, and 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 he said unto them, Take heed
what ye hear. With what measure ye meet, it
shall be measured to you, and unto you that here 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. Amen, may God bless to us this
reading also. Our Saviour here is still speaking
to his disciples. And if we are right in thinking,
as it appears the Gospels imply, that this is still all happening
on the same day as so much else had transpired, how hard-working
and tireless was the Saviour to be about his Father's business. He had already explained to his
disciples that they would be seedsmen. They would be sowers
of the word. They would be preachers of the
gospel. That's why the Lord had called
the 12 and those with the 12 that would be his preachers to
go out into all the world. And he had earlier in his interpretation
of the parable of the sower, told them of the varying reactions
that they would have in the exercise of their ministry. As they sowed
that seed, as they carried that word, that gospel message into
all the world, there would be a variety of responses would
come to them. There would be some who would
be careless. They wouldn't be bothered at all, whether they
heard or whether they didn't, and the gospel would mean nothing
to them. There would be some who would
be curious, and they would think, oh, this is very interesting,
but then we would discover that the trials of the world would
stop them from thinking about the things of God, and they would
be more preoccupied with the challenges that they faced. and
there would be some who would be committed to these doctrines,
these preachings and these preachers. But then good times would come
along and they would be so taken up with their passions and their
lusts and satisfying the desires of their heart that they would
forget the truth of the gospel. And then there would be those
who would be converted under the preaching of Christ crucified. And it was these ones, those
who would be like the good soil where the seed grew, who would
be fruitful, and who would glorify God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
was telling his disciples that there would be a variety of reactions
but also that their preaching ministry would be successful
because there would be those who would be fruitful as a result
of their ministry. So at the very outset of the
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Apostles
in these formative years in which they are being taught by the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour gives them an overview of what
will happen when they begin their preaching. There will be labour
involved, there will be frustration involved, there will be disappointment
involved, but there will be success. And that's a lovely thing to
remember. Whenever we preach the gospel,
there may be a lot of different reactions, but the word of God
will not return void. It will be successful in those
things whereunto it is sent with power of the Holy Spirit. I want
you just to draw your attention to a couple of little things
here in an introduction, if I may. Some of you might have been to
university or college or done an apprenticeship and that's
maybe been an experience of some of you and you're able to talk
about this. Well, the experience of the disciples
here, these people that had been called, some of them were fishermen,
some of them were artisans, some of them were tax collectors.
These people who had been called They were, as it were, beginning
on a three-year college course. That's what they were doing.
They didn't necessarily know it was going to be three years,
but that was the extent of the ministry of the Lord Jesus before
he went to the cross, and these disciples were ushered into their
apostolic role on the day of Pentecost. And in the forthcoming
three years, these disciples would be constantly learning
at the lips of the Lord Jesus. They would be constantly watching
the things that he did and hearing the things that he saw. And the
Lord, like a good teacher, was already pushing them into their
studies, teaching them about their role as seeds men, teaching
them about their role as sowers sowing the seed, and their preaching
duties and the responses that they would get. so that they
would be fitted to that gospel task that was before them, the
great commission that the Lord would give them to go out into
all the world and preach the gospel. And here it is that the
disciples are being taught because while these Stories, these parables
were perhaps preached to a wider audience. The real depth of meaning
was narrowly applied to those who had eyes to see and ears
to hear. And though I'm still, in a sense,
in my introduction here, I just want to make a small observation. The Lord Jesus Christ created
the heavens and the earth created the universe by the word of his
power in six days, six days. But he took three years, three
years of Christ's own work, of Christ's own labors to make these
fishermen fishers of men. Do you see the contrast there?
Do you see the comparison that I'm trying to make? The Lord
Jesus Christ personally laboured for three years to form these
men into the preachers that would be sent out in their apostolic
role. The same Lord who had created
the universe in six days. And that tells me something.
That tells me that preachers are not cast in a mould or manufactured
on a production line, but they're sculpted by the Lord himself. They are forged by the hand of
Almighty God. They are wrought by his will
and his purposes in order to bring his message, communicate
his gospel, and gather his elect. They're not created spontaneously
like the sun was when the Lord said, let there be light or created
the greater light to rule by day and the lesser light to rule
by night and simply brought them into being by the word of his
power. The Lord Jesus Christ did not say, let there be 12
fully equipped apostles. He worked with these men. He
brought these men through trials, he brought these men through
tough experiences, and he called upon them to be diligent, to
be serious, and to learn their practice. As you who've been
to university or done your apprenticeship know, it takes hard work to achieve
anything that is meaningful. And that's what we have before
us here in this passage also. The Lord Jesus Christ is causing
these men to learn over time at his feet those things that
they needed in order to serve his cause and his people. And it is this education, this
fitting them for purpose that we have in view here today. Now having begun his last lesson,
as it were, the lesson about the sower with the importance
of the word. Remember what he said? The seed,
the seed is the word. So he told the story, the parable
to the people about the different soils. But then he says to his
disciple, now this seed is the word. It's the word, it's the
gospel truth. The Lord now Here, in his next
lesson, stresses the universal nature of that preaching ministry. So he is saying to these disciples,
you have to go and you have to preach the word. And you have
to preach it to everyone. The gospel, that word that is
to be preached, is as a light that is not to be hidden. The Father's purpose in salvation
and Christ's work in redemption and his words in revelation were
to be the apostles' gospel that they spread abroad, that they
preached to the whole world. And that's what the Lord is directing
them to realise in this picture, this image of the light shining. You don't hide a light under
a bucket. You don't put it under a bed. Its purpose is to shine
into the whole world, to shine into the darkness. And this was
the lesson for the apostles. The church's message throughout
the ages has to be Jesus Christ crucified, the words of Christ,
the works of Christ, the purpose of God. purpose of the disciples
then and it is the role of the church today to preach the gospel
to as wide an audience as the Lord in providence enables us
to reach. And so the Lord will manifest
his truths to his people. That's the means by which the
Lord brings these truths to individuals. We do not know Who the elect
are? God knows. God has his people. They are spread about in this
world. We don't know who they are, but
we do know where they are. They're in the highways and the
byways. They're in the towns and the
cities where we live. They're in the communities and
the families around about us. They're in our own household.
They're in our own neighbourhood. And so we light a candle, not
literally, we don't literally light a candle, but we do so
figuratively by preaching the gospel so that the light which
is Christ can go out into the world. We are preaching the gospel,
we are sending it forth, and it will fall upon whom it will. The Lord said to Nicodemus, the
wind blows wherever it wants. You don't know where it's come
from, you don't know where it's going to, but it achieves that
which it is sent to achieve. And so it is with the gospel. By this gospel, God the Holy
Spirit will reveal Christ's sheep. He will identify those who are
the elect of God, who are being called from the four corners
of the world. And this was the disciples' role. This was the disciples' challenge.
This was what they were being taught and fitted for. and it's the promiscuous nature
of gospel preaching that is before us here in this little parable.
It is to be declared to everyone. You see, the gospel's not a secret
to be shared just with the initiated, but it's to be set as a light
on a candlestick to lighten the whole house. And thus the Lord
Jesus Christ taught his disciples. This is what the Lord is saying
to his followers. They were to serve by going out
into all the world to preach the gospel. Now look at verse
22 with me in this little passage here. Verse 22, it says, You
see what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here? He's telling
these disciples that they are to preach to the whole world. But he is also telling them that
they are to preach the whole counsel of God. Nothing has been
hid that isn't to be revealed. Now this is very important. and
its importance and its priority is perhaps suggested by the fact
that it is one of the very first lessons that is taught to the
disciples in this their apprenticeship. The covenant of grace, the purpose
of God, the eternal decrees of God and his will for the salvation
of his people is to be preached in all of its revealed glory. Whatever God has taught us of
himself and his purpose in salvation has to be preached to the world. Now that means, to be specific,
that we are to preach election and predestination. We are to
preach blood atonement. We are to preach imputed righteousness
and that there is no other righteousness but that righteousness which
God gives his own righteousness to sinners. We are to preach
salvation by God's grace, not of works. We are to preach forgiveness
of sin by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We have to preach
about personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to preach
about heaven and hell, about judgment and glory, about liberty
and law, about joy and peace in believing. In short, we are
to preach the everlasting promises of sovereign grace. and the sure
accomplishment of God's eternal purpose in Christ for the redemption
of his little flock, his dearly loved and chosen people from
the foundation of the world. Why? Because this is the whole
counsel of God, because this is the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and this is that which will not be hid It will be manifested. Nothing will be kept secret.
It shall come abroad as the sores, as the seeds men take the word
of God. And that's what Paul declared.
Paul understood this also. That's what he declared to the
Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 in verse 27 and 28. He said,
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock. over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood." You see what Paul is doing here?
When he preached, he preached the atonement, he preached the
death of Christ, he preached particular redemption, he preached
that the eternal purposes of God and the whole counsel of
God for those who had ears to hear. And I want to stress this
because I feel it is important. Only the gospel of free grace
can and will do a sinner good. The Lord promised success. The
Lord promised fruitfulness for the disciples' ministry. He said
that there would be fruitfulness because some seed would fall
in the good soil. but then he told them what they
had to preach so that the fruitfulness came as a result of proper preaching
of the whole counsel of God being declared. Only a finished work,
only a sovereign work Only a secured salvation will do a sinner good
because anything else that leaves something to be done by the sinner
renders him incapable and renders him hopeless. Anything else leaves
the sinner without help, without hope. And that's the clear implication
of the Saviour's statement here. By such preaching, knowledge
of saving grace is dispensed and received by sinners. We can't make them believers. That's the work of God, the Holy
Spirit. But God calls upon his disciples,
his apostles, his preachers, his church, to carry the proper
message of the gospel. the gospel of free and sovereign
grace to the ends of the earth. It's this message of the everlasting
covenant. And ironically, it is that very
message that is so often hidden by churches. Why do they do it? Because they desire to stress
free will. Because they want to play on
decisionism. Because they want to talk up
men's efforts. Because they are ignorant of
the true gospel themselves and yet they occupy pulpits and preach
week in and week out to the gathered masses who attend their ministry. But they're not preaching the
apostolic gospel. and they are not doing the work
that God sends his preachers to do. So that is what the Lord
Jesus Christ is telling his disciples and telling his church. In Mark
chapter 4, verse 23, he says, Now, I want us to note that as
well. Amongst the disciples and the
church of all ages runs this confident assurance that the
true gospel preached will be successful in gathering in God's
sheep, his elect people. It just will. And that's what
the Lord is meaning when he says, he that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. He will hear if he's been given
ears to hear. The Holy Spirit, if he has given
a sinner ears to hear, will hear that gospel. And so almost it
appears that God, the Lord Jesus Christ is honouring man, honouring
the preaching of the gospel, honouring the service of the
church to such an extent that he says that the message that
goes forth will be received by those who have ears to hear at
the work and behest of God the Holy Spirit, these two things
will come together for the gathering in of his elect. What a privilege
we have. What a blessedness we have as
preachers, as those who support preachers, as the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ to uphold and maintain this great work of preaching
the gospel. For it is this work that is the
power of God unto salvation. And the church can have confidence
in that. I don't say that the individual members of the church
never have any doubts or don't have concerns about their own
soul's well-being or never any questions about their own salvation. I know that assurance can be
a challenge for many, many people. But those who have tasted and
seen that the Lord is good never have any doubt about the efficacy
of the blood of Christ, or the power in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, or in the uniqueness of the gospel to save. Our doubts
are about our own heart, not in the work of Christ, or in
the purpose of God, or in the promises of God. And that word
there, let, He that has ears to hear, let him hear. It's not
a request word. It's not saying, let me come
in. It's not a request. It's a command. When a king uses the word let,
things happen. Did you notice how many times
the Lord Jesus Christ used the word let in Psalm 109, when he
was calling down those imprecations upon the wicked? These, I almost
said curses, and that's not the word to use, and yet these great
judgments that will fall upon the wicked, these will happen because the
Lord Jesus Christ, as the judge of all men, as the judge of sinners,
has said, let them happen. It's a statement of settled purpose
on the part of God, just in the same way as the Lord Jesus Christ
said, let there be light and there was light. He says to us,
let not your heart be troubled. It's our failure if our hearts
are troubled, because he has put our hearts aright. Be instructed,
brother and sister in Christ, be instructed. Those who have
ears to hear, those who have eyes to see, is a euphemism for
the quickening power, the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit.
And those who are regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, they
will hear that gospel when it is preached. The whole counsel
of God, the gospel of free and sovereign grace. They will know
that gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and they'll know him crucified
for me. All such do hear and see Christ
in the gospel. Now let me make a couple more
points from these last two verses and then I'm done. Notice this. It is the disciples
and those with them, those that asked him the meaning of these
parables, to whom understanding is given. The Lord is still speaking
in parables, and still that purpose of it being both a hider and
a revealer of the truth stands the test. It is to the disciples
and those with them to whom understanding is given and to whom the meanings
of these parables is revealed. A wider audience may well have
heard the parable, but the meaning was largely concealed from them. So in Mark chapter four, verse
24 and 25, we read these things. 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. That's solemn, that's solemn.
There's a strong admonition in this verse too, as if we have
ears to hear. And I hope you will be roused
by the Lord's words and encouraged to make a wise response to them. I'm not asking for hands to be
raised. I'm not asking for commitments
to be made. I'm asking for you in the quietness of your own
heart to reflect upon the words of the Lord Jesus Christ on this
specific particular matter and to deal with the Lord in your
own heart. Make a wise response to him,
you who have ears to hear. When a teacher says to his class,
listen, this is important. When a lecturer says to her audience,
listen, this is important. It is a good idea for us to listen,
to rouse ourselves and to draw our minds back to the subject
that the lecturer, that the teacher, that the master is speaking about. And that's what the Lord is saying
here. He says, take heed, listen to what I'm telling you. Take
heed, listen to what I'm telling you. Now for a long time I was
led to think that the Lord was here telling his disciples to
be careful to whom and to what they listened, in the sense that
they had to be discriminating about who they listened to and
what they listened to. And I don't doubt but that there
is wisdom in such a warning, but it's not here, it's not what
the Lord is saying here. Don't listen to lies. Don't listen
to false testimony. Don't listen to backbiters and
those who are troublemakers. Don't listen to false doctrine.
Don't listen to those who would undermine the whole counsel of
God and the sovereign grace truth. Don't listen to it. We might even say that you could
take this and say, be careful about what you watch on the television
or in the cinema. Don't feed your lusts. Don't inflame your flesh and
your passions. But that's not what this verse
is saying. True as those things might be, what the Lord is saying
is simply this, listen to me, listen to me. He said it to the disciples. He said it to Peter. Maybe Peter's
eyes were closing. Or Thomas was being distracted
by something that was going on around about them. How frequently
that happens. That happens in church. That
happens when we're listening to the service. That happens
when we're reading our Bibles. That happens when we're praying.
How often that happens when we begin to deal with spiritual
things. That we get distracted. That
our eyes become heavy. Well, the Lord is saying, listen
to me. It's almost like he's prodding
us. It's almost like he's saying,
give me your attention. Our mind just wanders away. That's the flesh, that's the
old man at work. But the Lord says, now listen,
listen, take heed. So again, it's not that we are
to be discriminating about what we listen to, but rather we are
to be attentive to Christ. And in the context of these disciples,
he is telling them to be studious, to be serious about the gospel
that he is revealing to them. And it's to us also, if we wish
to deepen our spiritual understanding, if we want more light to be given,
if we want a larger portion of the Lord's blessing to be dispensed
to us. If we want to grow in grace and
deepen our experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we want
to be a seeker, then we have to listen to the Lord. We have
to listen to the gospel and we have to apply it. Let me speak personally on this
matter. I wish, I wish, I were more spiritually
minded. I wish I knew more about the
Lord Jesus Christ. I wish I knew more about the
power of his blood. I wish I understood more about
the dimensions of his love. I wish I experienced more of
communion with him. and the great blessings of the
covenant that he has revealed in scripture. I lament my own
lack of Bible knowledge, my own shallowness in scripture truth,
my own gospel limitations. And I wish I had more. And I
am sure, I am very sure that there is oh so much more to be
had in knowing Christ. Do you remember what we said
earlier about a six day creation of the world? The science, the
scientists of this world are dedicating to studying what God
created with a word, with a word. Science is dedicated to studying
what God created with a word. And yet we, the church, casually
handle what the Lord spent three years telling these apostles. We're casual about it, almost
nonchalant and careless. We're so preoccupied with the
things that are going on around about us. Our minds are wandering,
our eyes are becoming distracted. We are hearing other voices in
the background and we become so distracted and the Lord says,
take heed. Take heed. Listen to me. During the week, I read a beautiful
letter that was written to a man called Joseph Irons in 1850 by
a coal miner of all people, a coal miner from Northumberland. And he was thanking Mr. Irons
for his written sermons. Joseph Irons was a preacher. He was born, I don't know, 1795
or something, maybe a little bit earlier, and lived through
till about 1852, I think. And he was the pastor and preacher
at Grove Chapel in Camberwell in London. So London is quite
a long way from Northumberland. certainly in 1850 and still a
long way today. And this man was writing to Joseph
Irons who had published the first volume of his sermons and he
was writing to tell him how much benefit he had received from
those sermons that Irons or his church had published. And he
wrote that he longed to hear him preach personally but was
too poor and too far away from London for it ever to be possible
for him to visit and sit under the sound of Iron's ministry
personally. And here's the point that I want
to make. He wrote in this letter that I read, in fine Bible language,
of his own personal experience of grace and his reliance upon
the Saviour. Here's just a short extract.
I've culled it and I've written it down. Here's what he said.
So this is the minor from Northumberland. I perhaps ought to give you some
account of who I am and how I came to know anything of these things. And yet I think the matter a
very light one. Not that the dear Lord having
mercy on me is a light matter, but I am such a poor, vile, polluted
wretch that I have and am nothing but as I am and possess from
free, rich, and sovereign grace. I am a Newcastle collier. Belonging
to the County of Durham and I'm now working in Northumberland.
It is 14 years since the Lord met me in Mercy. and after convincing
me of sin and bringing me in guilty before God and passing
sentence upon me, I was freely pardoned in virtue of my blessed
days, man, and received the spirit of adoption as a son and became
a manifest heir to the inheritance of light so that you see I possess
nothing but as freely given me by the richest grace." End quote. Now I know that language has
changed, and I know that vocabulary has changed, and I know that
distractions have grown in step with the blessings that we've
been given. And yet here we are, with the
best education ever, with the least labour ever, with the most
free time ever, perhaps in the history of the world, the greatest
standard of living. And I fear we are persistent
spiritual babies in gospel matters. And I fear that as a preacher
personally today, I would be hard pressed to match even a
coal miner of 100 years ago, 150 years ago. and that ought not to be. That
ought not to be. I take these words of the Lord
personally when he says, take heed. It's me, Peter Mary, take
heed. Listen to what I'm saying. And
what is the Lord saying in verse 25? But that we, his people,
cannot be careless with the gifts that he has given us or blasé
with the blessings that he has bestowed upon us. God calls his
people to service. He calls his church to action. He calls his preachers, O his
preachers, to attentive, studious, serious, handling of his gospel,
to deepen their spiritual understanding and to better serve those who
mourn in Zion. Our gifts must be exercised. Brothers and sisters, ladies
and gentlemen, boys and girls, You who are hearing me today,
our gifts must be exercised. Our responsibilities must be
accepted. Our duties must be done. These
spiritual privileges of life and knowledge and the ability
are not given to be ignored or despised, but to be nurtured,
to be applied and to be built upon. And there's a warning. If we do not put to use the blessings
and the benefits that God has bestowed, he will take them from
us. If we desire spiritual growth,
we must nurture and care for the spiritual seed that he has
sown in our lives and amongst us. We must hear and apply the
gospel that brings fruitfulness. Now these are personal matters,
I know. But as the Lord spoke to his disciples, so the Gospels
speak to us. We have been given the Gospel,
the Gospel of grace. We have in our day been given
an understanding far above most people in the world today. May
the Lord give us grace to take that which we have been given.
and employ it in the service of our King, for his name's sake. Amen.