What a song. Why would you ever be anxious
if that's so? Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of his dear son,
I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. The same love wherewith he loves
his son, that's the love he loves to me. Luke chapter 8. I've entitled
this message, Take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. Now, this is what the Savior
says. The Savior says to his disciples, you take heed how
you hear. You know, it's a dangerous thing
to hear the gospel. What we're doing right now is
dangerous. Take heed how you hear. In Mark's account, it says, take
heed what you hear. And that is certainly just as
important. What you're hearing may or may
not be the word of God. I want to hear the Word of God.
I don't want to hear the Word of Todd. I don't want to hear the Word
of men. I want to hear the Word of God. Take heed what you hear,
and take heed how you hear. Now, notice he says in verse
18, take heed therefore how you hear. Now, whenever you see a
therefore in the Scriptures, and it's in there so often, look
what it's there for. What is he referring to when
he says, take heed, therefore, how you hear. Verse 16, no man,
when he had lighted a candle, cover it with a vessel or put
it under a bed, but set it on a candlestick. that they which
enter in may see the light." Now, let's talk for a few moments
about light. We have light in this room, don't
we? What would happen if we turned off the lights in here? It'd
be dark. That was Aubrey's first joke.
She said, close your eyes. I'd close them. She goes, it's
dark. That was really cute from her. Might not have been so dark,
but it was cute from somebody else, but it was cute from her. The purpose of light is to see. Ephesians 5.13 says, Whatsoever
doth make manifest is light. If I'm in a room with no light,
I cannot see. Light spreads the truth. Light spreads reality. When the light is turned on,
we see things as they really are. That is the purpose of light. Light, like God, is invisible,
but we cannot see without it. That's an amazing analogy. What the light exposes is either
loved or hated by the one who sees. Do you remember the Lord's
words in John chapter 3? This is the condemnation that
light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. They did not like
what the light exposed about them. Light exposes us. Light shows what we really are. I say once again, light spreads
reality. Light is not given merely to
expose our sinfulness, but light is given to show us who God is
and how he saves sinners by his grace. Turn to first John chapter
one. Verse 5. This then is the message which
we've heard of Him in declaring to you that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. Now, it's expressed both positively
and negatively. Positively, God is light. and
negatively, in him is no darkness at all. This is God's nature. When light enters, I love the
way when you go into a dark room, every morning I stumble up into
upstairs, into my study, it's dark, I can't see, I grope around
trying to find the light switch. When I turn it on, the light
floods into the room. When the light enters, darkness
flees away. Darkness cannot stand before
light. It can't fight it off. It flees
away. Light is diffusive. It penetrates. Nothing can stand against it.
Think about how totally dependent we are upon light. Well, we couldn't eat if we didn't
have sunlight. I mean, the sunlight, that's the basic the lowest part,
the most important part of the food chain, photosynthesis. And
what happens out of that? It's the building block of everything
we eat. Light has what is called, and
I think I'm pronouncing this right, this is a big word, inviolability. What's it mean? It means it can
come into contact with all things and be affected by nothing. The
light can come into contact with the dunghill and it's not affected
in any way. That is our God. He is light. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter eight. We're going to come back to first John in
a minute, but turn with me to John chapter eight. And when
he's talking about taking heat, how you hear, he's talking about
light. Verse 12, the Lord Jesus said,
Verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now, why did
he say this? I am the light of the world.
Now, he said this directly after one of my favorite stories in
the Gospels. Look in verse 1 of John chapter
8. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives, And early in the morning,
he came again into the temple. And all the people came unto
him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. There were eyewitnesses
that had seen her. And when they had set her in
the midst, they said unto him, Master, this feigned respect. Master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act. Now, Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? Now, I
looked up every reference to the adulterer being stoned. And
you know, with every reference in the Old Testament, it always
had the man and the woman. Every time. Where was the man
here? It's interesting. They take the
woman. I kind of think this was some
kind of setup. They wanted to find out what they could do to
the Lord, so they put this woman in a position where she could
fall They had the man do this and let him go. They brought
her because they thought we've got the Lord in a position where
he can't possibly win. Now, Moses and the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This, they
said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Now,
here's what they thought. If he says, let her go. We can
say, where is your respect for God's holy law? God's holiest
law says to stone her. And if you let her go, all you
prove by that is you don't have a true respect for God's holy
law. And if he says stone her, then
we can say, why you said you're the friend of publicans and sinners.
Where's your mercy that you speak of? They thought, we've got him
in a fix, in a no-win situation, we can expose him. Boy, they
thought, what is even more humorous than that is they thought that
they could trick omniscience. This is he who has all wisdom. So what does he do? Verse six,
but Jesus stooped down with his finger, he wrote on the ground,
as though he heard them not. I just, I love the deportment
of our Lord at this time. He acted like I'm not listening
to you guys. He was writing on the ground. And I know that we
are only speculating. Many people have speculated what
he was writing when he wrote on the ground. It's a speculation. But I believe that he wrote,
thou shalt not commit adultery. Remember when the finger of God
wrote? The Ten Commandments. Here, once again, we have the
finger of God writing. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Verse seven, so when they continued
asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them. He. That is without sin among
you. And beloved, I believe he's talking
about that sin. I don't think he's talking about
sin in a generic sense. He's talking about that particular
sin. And if you haven't committed
it physically, you've committed it in your heart. And that is
just as bad in God's sight. The Lord said, whoso looketh
on a woman to lust after in his heart, hath committed adultery
already with her in his heart. He that's without sin, throw
the first rock. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. I like to think of what he was
writing again when he stooped. You know, there's only two times
we read in the Bible where the finger of God wrote. First, he
wrote the law, thou shalt not commit adultery. And the other
time is in Daniel chapter five, where we read of that hand that
wrote on the wall, the hand of God, thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. They saw what he was writing. Verse nine, And they which heard
it, being convicted by their own conscience, you know, they
felt guilty. You know, in reality, I'm being
a hypocrite. I've, I've, I've done this and here I am trying
to get her condemned, but notice it was their own conscience.
It wasn't the Holy Spirit because it was the Holy Spirit. They
wouldn't have left Christ. They would have fallen at his feet
asking for mercy, but it was their own conscience. And they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last,
and Jesus was left alone. and the woman standing in the
midst. I love to think about this. All
these fellows had left and there is the Lord Jesus Christ and
this woman alone. Scared, didn't know what was
going to take place. Verse 10, and when Jesus had
lifted himself up, and this is the second time in this story,
he lifts himself up. He stooped twice to right, he
lifted up himself twice. Now, when our Lord walked upon
this earth, He had two stoops, didn't He? What a stoop when
the mighty Creator took upon flesh and took upon Him all the
limitations of being a man. What a stoop when the Word was
made flesh. But there was another stoop that
was even greater when the Word who was made flesh was made sin. What a stoop that was when he
bore our sin in his own body on the tree. What a stoop, what
a stoop that was when the violence that's in every one of his people
was placed upon him. What a stoop. So now when he
lifts himself up again, he's speaking to that woman on resurrection
ground. And look what he says. When Jesus
had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, He said unto
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus
said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. You know the reason he didn't condemn
her? There wasn't anything to condemn her for. That is the
power of the blood of Christ. There was nothing to condemn
her for. I do not condemn you because
there's nothing to condemn you for. Go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I'm the light of the world. He is the light of how
God can look at me and say, there's nothing to condemn me for. Now, go back to 1 John. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. The light of God's holiness looks
over the believer and says there is nothing to condemn him for.
The light exposes things as they really are. This is the way I really am without
guilt. Now, let's go on reading verse
6. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him, if we say, well, I pray, I read His Word, I speak to Him,
He speaks to me, we have communion, I walk with Him, I've got a relationship
with God, I've got a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
I know Him, He knows me. If we say we have fellowship
with Him, and walk in darkness. And that walking in darkness,
somebody says, well, that means they're living a double life.
They're claiming to be a Christian, yet in the dark when nobody sees,
they're doing unclean and sinful things and evil things. Now,
don't do that. But that's not what he's talking
about. What he's talking about is the darkness of salvation
by works. If we say we have fellowship
with him and we walk in darkness, we're liars. And we do not tell
the truth. It's not even real. Now, the light of the gospel Look
what he says in verse 7, but if we walk in the light, the
light of how God can look at me and say, I don't condemn you.
That's what the light, that's the light of the gospel. That's
the very message of the scriptures. The light of how God can accept
me. How He can look at me and say,
there's nothing to condemn you for. And it's real. It's real. It's not just hyperbole. It's
real. That I'm holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight by the blood of Christ. And the
reason He says I'm holy and unblameable and unprovable is because I am
in fact holy and unblameable and unreprovable through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's light. There's nothing
unjust about it. There's nothing sinful about
it. It's light. God embraces someone without guilt. If we
walk in the light as he is in the light, I love to think of
the Lord dwelling in the light. What's it say? It says we have
fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Notice, he doesn't talk
about there not being any sin, but he talks about us being cleansed
from all sin, and we have true fellowship in the gospel. Now,
the only people that I can have fellowship with are people who
see themselves as nothing but sin, and Jesus Christ is everything
in salvation. I can have fellowship with that
person, but that person who doesn't feel that way, that person who
sees themselves in a little bit different light, I got no fellowship
with that person. You know, in reality, I know
they're not even being honest. They don't even have any light.
Because if you have light, what does light do? Light exposes
you for who you are, but light also exposes how God can love
you and accept you through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of His Son cleanses us from all
sin. You think of the light of the
cross. Just real simply, you think of
the light of the cross. The cross, you can't know God
apart from the cross. But the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ displays every one of His attributes. I mean, the glory
of the cross! The cross demonstrates His sovereignty. Two thieves on either side. One
He saved, one He passed by. The cross displays His holiness. When sin is found on His Son,
He won't spare Him. The cross is his justice. Sin must be punished. The cross
demonstrates his mercy, love, and grace for sinners that he'd
give himself for that. I mean, every attribute of God
is wisdom, is power, putting away sin. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the whole counsel of God, and it demonstrates who
he is. But the cross also gives the
light of who me and you are. Now I'm looking at some people
that I admire, fine people, wonderful people, humanly speaking, salt
of the earth. Also know this, what the cross says about you,
it says you're so evil that you'd kill God if you had the chance. That's what the cross says. And
the one time God left men to themselves and let them do what
they wanted to do, the scripture says, Pilate delivered Jesus
to their will. There's man's will right there.
And they put him to death. And the cross gives the truth.
And I love this. The cross gives the truth about
salvation. You see, the cross tells me that
salvation is not in any way dependent upon me. It's dependent upon
what He has done. And I flat love it that way.
I wouldn't want it to be any other way, would you? Oh, how
we love the light of the cross. Now turn back to our original
text in Luke 8. Verse 16. 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
may enter in may see the light. Now, the purpose of preaching,
the purpose of telling the truth is not to cover it up, but to
make it to where everybody can see it. I want, and you want,
everybody to see the light of the gospel. And look what he
says in verse 17. For nothing is secret that shall
not be made manifest, neither anything hid, that shall not
be known and come abroad. Now, with regard to our sin,
we try and hide our sins from men, but they cannot be hidden
from God. We might not know we're so sinful
and self-serving. We may think we're pretty good
people. I mean, better than most. I mean, you compare me to somebody
else, I can look pretty good. We may think we're in good shape,
but it will all be exposed, seeing that we see so clearly in other
people, but we don't see it so clearly in ourselves. The light
will expose it. May God give us light. I want light, don't you? The cross strips away all of
our religious coverings and exposes what we really are. Nothing escapes.
The light does not lie. Now listen to this. Listen to
this. When the searchlight of God's
holiness looks me over through and through, that light that
has no darkness at all, no darkness will be found. I will be pure
and clean without sin. Without guilt, without fault,
the scripture says holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. Turn with me for a moment to
Jeremiah 50. Hold your finger there and Luke
and turn to Jeremiah 50. Now, do you reckon if God looks
for something, he could find it? If God's looking for something,
can He find it? You better bet. Whatever He looks
for, if it's there, He can find it. In Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for
and there shall be none. Now, if it was there, God could
find it. But this shows the power of the
blood of Jesus Christ. God himself in his holiness is
going to look for my iniquity and there shall be none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve."
Now that's what the light shows. That's God's light. God's light
looks me over. Now, back to our text. The Lord
said in verse 18, Take heed therefore how you hear. Now that's the Savior saying
that, after he talks about light and how everything's going to
be exposed. If we're hypocrites, it'll be made known. If he's
done something for us, it'll be made known. Nothing's going
to escape the light. Take heed, therefore, how you
hear. And then he says this, for whosoever hath, to him shall
be given. Do you have ears to hear? Do
you have a heart to receive? Has he given you this new heart
that actually believes the gospel? Do you hear the gospel and you
find hope in this message? Now, he that hath has this honest
and good heart that is spoken of in the previous parable, that
new heart that he gives, that hears the word of God and bears
fruit. He that hath, to him shall be
given. Oh, the Lord is so gracious in
dealing out his glorious gifts. To him that hath, he'll have given. But, whosoever
hath not, you don't have this heart, you don't have faith,
you don't have the Holy Spirit, you don't have the fruit of the
Spirit. From him that hath not, From him shall be taken even
that which he seems to have. He thinks he's got some stuff.
But it's all going to be taken away. Take heed how you hear. Don't be nonchalant about this. When you come in here to hear,
don't come in here with a bad attitude, or a critical attitude,
or a judgmental attitude. Don't come presuming. May you
have, may I have this attitude. Speak Lord. Speak Lord. Thy servant heareth. Now, I want
to give you seven things real quick about hearing. And they
all go A, B, C, D, E, F, G, first seven letters of the alphabet.
When I hear, now the Lord said, take heed how you hear. First,
hear attentively. Listen to what is being said. And what you hear attentively,
hear retentively as well. Keep it. But hear attentively. Come in here to hear what's being
said. Like Cornelius, we're here to
hear all the things that God has said to you. Hear attentively. Here's the B. Hear believingly. Believing what God has said.
Has God said it? Then I believe it. I believe
what he has said. See, hear candidly. Hear candidly. Honestly, free
from prejudice. You know, prejudice means prejudging.
Prejudging. Have an open and a fair wanting
to hear what God said. Be honest. Be open to what God has said.
Hear the word candidly. D, hear the word devoutly. Hear with reverence and fear.
This is the word of God. The only way to hear this is
devoutly, with reverence. And E, hear the word of God earnestly. With heart and soul. Sincerity, hear it earnestly. And F, hear the word of God feelingly. The whole man moved, the heart
plowed, faith increased, love to God stirred up, zeal for him. Hear the word of God feelingly. And G, hear the word of God gratefully. Aren't you glad to hear the word
of God? Now that is the only way to hear
the gospel. The Lord said, take heed how
you hear. Remember the Lord said, faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So take heed
how you hear, pray for the preacher and pray for yourself. Pray for
the preacher and pray for yourself that you'd have ears to hear.
Now, if the truth is being preached, If the truth of God's word is
being preached, and I'm not being blessed by it, there's either
something wrong with the preacher or there's something wrong with
me. If the truth is being preached,
and I'm not being blessed by it. It could be that that preacher
is in some kind of bad way. He's not walking in fellowship
with the Lord, and he's just spouting out doctrine, and it's
not really coming from his heart. You're not going to be blessed
by that. No matter how good it is, who says something is just
as important as what he says. I mean, in the grand scheme of
things, if somebody is not living what they believe, you can't
really hear them. And even if what they say is true, it doesn't
really mean anything to you. And I understand that. But if
the truth is being preached, it may not be the problem with
the preacher. The problem may be with you. That's where I'd
look first. That's where I'd look first.
Somebody says, well, you got dry doctrine. Well, maybe you just
got a dry heart. Take heed how you hear. Take heed what you hear. And
take heed how you hear. This is a dangerous thing. This
is a dangerous thing. I want to be someone who hears.
And I'm more concerned about hearing than I am preaching. It takes the grace of God to
hear the gospel. Lord, give me hearing ears. May I just be like Samuel. Speak,
Lord, thy servant heareth. Cry with David. Make me to hear
joy and gladness. You ever prayed that? Make me
to hear. I can't even hear. I can't hear
the gospel. It just bounces off my heart
like water off a duck's back. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice. May we be hearers of the word. Let's pray together.