Now turn in your Bible back again
to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4, and we have the words and instruction
of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ given to us. The Lord had been privately instructing
the disciples when he had given that parable of the sower. And
then he took them aside and apart, and he began to explain unto
them all the different aspects of that seed that was sown on
the wayside ground, and the stony ground, and the thorny ground,
and then that seed sown in the good ground. And he says unto
them in verse 21, 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 the candlestick? Now you don't hide a candlestick,
you don't put it under something, you hold it up. For there is
nothing hid which shall not be manifested, neither was there
anything kept secret, but it should come abroad. But that
it should come abroad, if any man have ears to hear, Let him
hear. Now here's the title of my message
found in verse 24. Take heed, take heed what you
hear. Luke records it this way. Take
heed how you hear, what you hear, and how you hear, how you hear. Beginning in verse 21 down through
verse 25, the Lord gives to his disciples and all believers the
responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a believer
and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God,
being a servant of the Lord. The responsibility with privilege
comes what? Responsibility. Responsibility. These disciples had the privilege
of the Lord explaining to them the mysteries of the kingdom
and how that seed sown in the good ground does bring forth
fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundredfold. Does this seed of God, the Word
of Truth, does bring forth fruit unto salvation. Now the Scriptures
plainly and strongly declare, that salvation is all of God
and all of grace. And there's no one that I know
of, I better not say that, there are many who preach the gospel
of God's grace And I try to, as best I can, set forth salvation,
clearly and simply and boldly and plain as I can, that salvation
is all of God's sovereign saving grace. Now, I've made that message
clear, I hope, over these years that I've been here, that salvation
is all of grace. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling. I've preached that and read that
many, many times. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to God's mercy that He does save
us. Our Lord said clearly, plainly,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. But with privilege
comes obligation and responsibility unto God. The Scriptures also
plainly and strongly teach us Those saved by grace and taught
by the Holy Spirit are indeed debtors to grace. We just sang
that a moment ago. O to grace, how great a debtor
daily I am constrained to be. And believers are responsible
to serve the Lord out of love to Him. Now He's done so much
for us. and blessed us in so many ways,
how can we not serve Him out of love and gratitude unto Him? Not by fear of punishment, not
by promise of reward, but motivated by gratitude and love to Him. I want you to find a couple of
scriptures here. Find 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Look at verse 14. We are indeed
motivated to serve the Lord as responsible believers unto the
Lord out of love and gratitude for all that He has done for
us. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14, For
the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that
if one died for all, then all were dead, That he died for all
and that means all of his covenant people that they which should
live Should not henceforth live unto themselves We don't live
unto ourselves But unto him which died for them and rose again
now turn back to 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and
we see this verse here that we've had recently in our Bible study
1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 20. He said, for you are bought,
you are bought with a price. Now what was the price? What
was our purchase price? His precious blood. God bought
the church with His own blood. You are believers sitting here. resting in Christ, enjoying the
privileges of being an adopted son in the covenant of grace,
you are bought with a great price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." Right across the
page, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 23 says, you are bought with
a price. Be not ye the servants of men. We are God's servants. God's
servants. Now, back a few more pages, find
Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look at verse
11. Romans chapter 8 verse 11. But
if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh, to live after
the flesh. For if you live after the flesh,
if you just live for self, you'll die. You'll die in your sin. But if you, through the Spirit,
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Father, Father. We look unto Him to provide all
things for us. Now in these verses, the Lord
gives to us, His people, three matters. Three matters. A personal responsibility and
personal obligation unto our blessed Lord. We're under obligation
and responsibility to serve Him. Now here's three of them. Here's the first one. Here's
the first one. Found in Mark chapter 4. Turn
back over there. Mark chapter 4 verse 21 and verse
22. Is a candle brought to be put
under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to be set on the candlestick? For there is nothing hid which
shall not be manifested, neither was there anything kept secret,
but that it should come abroad." Now it is a privilege and obligation
of every believer to make the gospel known Unto others unto
our generation now doesn't mean I'm not saying that that we are
to make others believe the gospel understand that That's the work
of grace But it is our responsibility as his church as his people to
make this gospel known that is to publish it abroad Now didn't
he say this clearly when he departed back to glory in Mark chapter
16 if you want to turn this and mark this in your Bible In Mark
16 verse 15, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. That is our obligation
and privilege of going and preaching this gospel to all people, to
others. Now the Lord asked a very plain
question in which there is but one obvious answer. A light is
not designed to be hid is to be held forth, to shine as light. Now, when I think of light or
water in reference to spiritual things, I think of the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the light. He said, I am the light of the
world. I am the light of the world.
He's called in Malachi chapter 4 verse 2, He is the Son, S-U-N,
of righteousness with healing in His wings. He is the Light. He is the Son of Righteousness.
And by His sovereign power and His sovereign grace, He has commanded
that Light, that Light, to shine in us. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. But God who commanded the Light
to shine out of darkness, He has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ by His sovereign power, His sovereign command.
Therefore, that being so, in the believer, we are called in
1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we are called children of the light. and children of the day. I want you to turn and read this
one with me. Find Philippians chapter 2. We're
to hold forth this light. Hold forth Christ who is the
light. He is the light of the gospel.
How do we do that? Well, let's see here. Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 verse 13. Philippians 2 verse 13. For it
is God It is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things
without murmuring, disputings, that you may be blameless, harmless,
the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."
Now, how do you do that? How do you shine as lights in
this world? Well, the next verse tells us how. Holding forth the
word of life, Christ, the gospel, that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I've not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
We as believers are to hold forth this light. That is, don't put
it under a bed, don't conceal the gospel, declare the gospel,
hold it forth. That's our privilege. That's
our responsibility as believers. Now, our Lord said this, turn
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter
5. See a light. He gives us the
light of the gospel, not to be hidden, but to declare this light
unto all men. That's why he says here in Matthew
chapter 5, verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city
that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it
giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven." He's given us that
light, the light of the gospel. Now what are we to do? Hide it? Conceal it? Compromise it? Nowhere to hold it forth. to
hold it forth as clearly and plainly as we can. Clearly and
plainly as we can. God has so graciously blessed
us with the gospel, enlightened us with the gospel with the purpose
of spreading that light of the gospel, not to conceal it. Now let me give you a good example. Find just one page over, Mark
chapter 5. Here's a very good, I like these
examples. And we can see this example of
someone who has been lightened by God in his heart, being brought
from death unto life, having the light of life in him. In
Mark chapter 5, and we'll see this in a few weeks, here is
a wild man of the Gadarenes. He's a wild, naked man dwelling
in tombs and no one could tame him. He was a crazy maniac until
he met the Lord Jesus And the Lord overcame him, cast out the
demon spirit. And we find this man here sitting,
no longer running, no longer naked, clothed, and no longer
a crazy man, but in his right mind, verse 15, and people were
afraid of him. And when the Lord Jesus, look
at verse 18, when he was coming to the ship, he that had been
possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Here's a man who was in the dark, didn't know anything of life,
of salvation in Christ, and here he meets the Master. And he's
been enlightened in his heart, enlightened in his soul, and
he wants to be with his Master. But the Master had something
for him to do. With privilege and with blessing
comes responsibility. And look what the Lord says here,
verse 19, "...howbeit Jesus suffered him not, But said unto him, Ye
go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee, and had compassion on thee. And he departed, and
began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him, and all men did marvel." That's what we're to do. God
has lightened us, enlightened us, He has saved us by His grace,
and we're to go home to our friends and tell them how great things
God has done for us. Just tell what you know. You
don't need to try to be a theologian, but tell what you know. When
the apostles were beaten for the gospel and commanded not
to preach the gospel, remember what they did? They went everywhere Preaching Christ both in every
house, in all the houses, and in the temple. That is, they
went privately and publicly declaring this gospel Christ is the light. Preaching. Someone said preaching
is simply witnessing It's simply telling one beggar
by another beggar. It's simply one beggar telling
another beggar where he found bread. Is that hard to do? Christ is the bread of life.
If you tasted of Him that He is gracious, tell others. Tell
others of this. I'll give you another example
of this. Another desire of a believer. Find Psalm 71. Psalm 71. If you knew of a cure to a terrible
disease, and you knew all about it, and God had given you the
insight to the cure to that terrible disease, and your neighbors around
you were perishing because of that disease, and you knew the
cure, and if you didn't tell your neighbors about that cure,
Boy, that'd be awful unlovely on your part, wouldn't it? Awful
unkind on your part to conceal that? And not to run and tell
your neighbors, well, I had that disease, and here's the remedy! And to tell them of that remedy
in the Gospel? Psalm 71, look at this here.
I was looking at this. The desire of David. Psalm 71,
begin at verse 15. Show forth thy righteousness
and thy salvation all the day. That's what I'm going to speak
of. When we talk about righteousness, I'm not going to talk about mine
because I don't have any. I'm going to talk about Him who
is my righteousness. For I know not the numbers thereof.
I'll go in the strength of the Lord. I will make mention of
thy righteousness, even thy only. I'm going to make mention of
it. God thou has taught me from my youth and hitherto have I
declared thy wondrous works now look verse 18 Now also when I'm
old and gray-headed Now I'm getting there quick. I'm getting old
and I'm getting gray-headed Oh God forsake me not until I have
showed thy strength unto this generation See his desire I want
to show your strength unto the generation my generation which
I live and thy power and to everyone that is come, to everyone that
is come. Thy righteousness, O soul, God
is very high, who hath done great things, O God, who is like unto
thee. You see his desire, isn't that
your desire? To see your friends and your
families love this gospel as you do? I know we can't make
them love it, but we certainly can expose them to it I'm glad
someone exposed the gospel of God's grace to me and told me
the truth who cared enough, who cared enough for my salvation,
who cared enough for my soul to tell me the truth, to tell
me of the remedy of God's mercy in Christ Jesus. Now the gospel
was not made a secret to the apostles to be concealed, but
manifested openly, manifested openly to them to declare unto
all people I'm going to show you another scripture on that. Find Matthew chapter 10. Matthew
chapter 10. See, we're not to conceal the
gospel. We're to declare that God is God. That God is sovereign
in all of His purpose and all of His grace. Sovereign in creation.
Sovereign in providence. And sovereign in salvation. Don't
conceal it. Declare it. The power of God
in the salvation is declaring the gospel of Christ clearly.
Salvation is all of grace. Matthew 10, look at verse 26. Fear them not therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in secret, in
darkness, that speak in the light. And what you hear in the ear,
that preach on the housetop. That is, declare it publicly. unto all who will hear." Everything
revealed in the Word of God is to be plainly declared as humanly
possible. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse
12 says this, Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech. Great plainness of speech. Now,
the Apostle said, I've kept back nothing from you and have declared
unto you publicly all over. Find Romans chapter 1. Let's
turn over there. Romans chapter 1. And my desire
is to declare the gospel as plainly as I can, as simply as I can,
declaring unto you the truth of God and to keep back nothing
that is profitable unto you. but to declare unto you all the
counsel of God." This is the Apostle's desire. Look at Romans
1 verse 14. Romans 1 verse 14, I am a debtor,
both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise
and to the unwise. For as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Ashamed of Jesus,
can it be? A mortal man ashamed of thee?
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew, and
also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The
just shall live by faith. So, back to the text. We declare
that there is nothing revealed in the Word of God that is not
to be plainly preached. When we talk about sin and ruin,
Let's speak clearly about what we are in Adam, in Adam all night.
When we talk about redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ, let
us declare that it is a total work of God alone. He redeemed
us with His own blood. When we talk about righteousness,
let us talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord, our
righteousness. And when we talk about regeneration,
let's not conceal anything about it. Let us not hold back. Let
us to hold forth the light. Regeneration the work of God's
grace God who has begun a good work in you. He will perform
it He will perfect it. He will do it. He'll get it done
point number two back to the text verse 23 and verse 24 if
any man have ears to hear Let him hear and he said unto them
and I take this personal To you Take, heave what and how you
hear. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured to you, and unto you that hear shall more
be given." Here's the second point. If any man have ears to
hear, let him hear. We also learn the importance
of diligently attending to the ordained means of grace, that
is, hearing the gospel. We are to diligently attend to
the means of grace. Hearing the gospel. Take heed
what you hear. Be swift to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to rap. Take heed what you
hear and take heed how you hear it. Do you hear this and read
this word as the word of men or is it to you? God's word and
God's truth. God's truth. Nothing... Now listen
to me. Now this is so. Nothing is more important to
a believer and needful. to the eternal welfare of our
immortal soul as the preaching of the gospel, the preaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more important
and necessary for the believer than a constant sitting under
and submitting to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with
emphasis upon nothing more important. Nothing. Now I realize in the
day in which we live solid, scriptural, biblical, Bible preaching and
teaching of the Word of God has been, for the most part, relegated
to the scrap heap. Now that's true. In most places
today, in most places, what we call churches today, good, solid,
gospel preaching has been relegated to the scrap heap. It's now a
day of entertainment. It's now a day of social programming. It's now a day of banana day. It's this day, or that day, or
see how many folks you can pack in. It's nothing but Tommy Rock,
what the old preachers used to call Tomfoolery. Preaching Good
gospel, solid scriptural teaching and preaching of the Word of
God, I tell you, that's what we need to hear. We don't need
entertainment. We've got too much entertainment
now. What we need is preaching, preaching,
preaching. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse
20 says this, Despise not preaching. Despise not preaching. Despise not preaching. Now, I
want you to turn and read this. Find 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy
chapter 4. A day is coming, and I believe
this day is here. Paul writes about this, thinking
what will happen. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse
1, he charges us as believers. I charge thee before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead
at the appearing of his kingdom, Preach the Word. Don't entertain
folks. Preach the Word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. Now look what he says here. For
the time will come. I believe it's here. I believe
it's been here for a long time. The time will come when they
will not endure sound teaching, sound doctrine, but after their
own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall
be turned unto fables." Fiction. Fiction. My friend, the importance
of preaching. The importance of preaching.
It is by the preaching of the gospel that sinners are affectionately
called to the preaching of the gospel. It is through the declaration
of who Christ is and what He has done and a faithfully proclaiming
of that message that God is pleased to call out His people. We read
in the beginning, remember? It pleased God through preaching
to save His people, to call His people. 1 Corinthians 1 verse
21. It is by the preaching of the
gospel that sinners are affectionately called. It is by the preaching
of the gospel that saints are effectually instructed and built
up in the faith, we are to desire the sincere milk of the Word,
that we might do what? Grow. Don't you want to grow? Where there's life, there is
growth. There is a growth in grace. But
we do so by feeding upon the Word. feeding upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is by the preaching of the
gospel that sinners are affectionately called, that saints are affectionately
instructed, and it's by the preaching of the gospel that the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed through the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. Now listen to me. If you care for your soul, and
I trust you do, And those of your family and friends, submit
yourself and them to the constant preaching of God's Word, His
truth. Salvation by Christ, in Christ. Submit yourself unto that preaching. And as God gives you grace, hold
forth that light to your family and friends. Lastly is this. in verse 24 and verse 25. Now
watch this. Take heed what you hear. Take
heed who you hear and how you hear. Would you submit yourself
to someone who was not preaching the gospel of God's grace? Absolutely
not. I wouldn't recommend that you
go listen to a false preacher. I would not recommend. I'd find
somebody who's telling me the truth about sin, and the truth
about God, and the truth about Christ, and the truth about salvation.
And as my pastor used to say, go there and camp for a while.
Pitch a tent and stay there. Set up camp. Take heed what you
hear. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured to you. that here shall be more, and
to you who hear, more shall be given. He that hath, now watch
this, he that hath to him shall be given, and he that hath not
from him shall be taken, even that which he presumes to have,
or seems to have, or thinks that he has. Now, lastly, we learn
this from the Lord's Word. Believers are responsible to
make good use and an honest effort to use what he has freely given
to us to grow in grace. My pastor used to say this, walk
in the light that you have and God will give you more light. Apply yourself, now listen to
me, apply yourself, exercise yourself in the study of God's
Word. In the study of God's Word. We are to be students of the
Scriptures, believers are. Study thyself unto God to be
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the Word of truth. Exercise yourself in the study
of the Word. Exercise yourself in devotion,
meditation upon the Word of God. Don't just read it and then forget
it. Read it and meditate upon it. Give yourself and exercise yourself
in the study of the word, in devotion, in prayer, in seeking
to know the will of the Lord. And my friends, you will grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
here's an illustration. Just as the muscles of our body
are strengthened by regular exercise, you go to bed and lay down, maybe
for sickness or for some other reason, and you don't use your
muscles? What will happen to them? They'll
just wither away. Muscles are to be exercised to
maintain some kind of strength and ability. And just as muscles
of the body are strengthened by regular exercise, even so
are the graces of the soul increased by diligently using what God
has given to us. My pastor used to have another
saying about inspiration about inspiration and he used to say
this and folks would often say to him well I wish I was inspired
as you or I wish I could preach a sermon like you and you know
what he'd say back what would you give he would say inspiration
comes by a whole lot of perspiration a whole lot of work a whole lot
of digging a whole lot of studying Brother Mike Bartram, you know
him. He's a very able musician. Very able piano player. Very
able. Very good. Wouldn't you like
to play piano like Mike does? Lindsay, wouldn't you like to
play piano like... You're good. I'm thankful for you. But wouldn't
you like to play like Brother Mike does? I mean, he just goes
up and down. Someone ask him one day. Oh,
I'd like to play piano like that. He said, would you give your
life to study and practice day after day after day? You work
on it, and you'll be able to play like that, Lord willing.
But if you don't put in effort, what's going to happen? Chopsticks
is all I can play. I've not worked on it. I've not
worked on it. You see the point I'm trying to make? Paul instructed
young Timothy about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are to
be stirred up. To be stirred up. and to use
for His glory. When the Lord gave those talents
to those different men, five and ten and so forth, that man
who had that one talent, given that one gift, you remember what
he did? He didn't use it, he went and hid it. And when the
Lord came back, he didn't exercise that gift and the Lord took it
away from him. My friend, use the gifts that
God has given you to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stir
them up! Stir them up! Now you're sitting
there thinking, well, you know, I'm not a preacher. I can't get
up there and do like you do and preach the gospel. Probably right. But let me tell you this. Every
believer in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is in the ministry. That's right. some part or some
way or some fashion you fit into this body of Christ and it is
our responsibility to walk in what light God has given us and
to act diligently unto the Lord as servants of the Lord. As I
started this message with great privilege comes great responsibility
and obligation. Now, we know, it says here in
verse 25, for he, take heed, with what measure you meet, with
what effort you put in, is what you're going to get back. And
it shall be measured to you. And to you that hear, shall more
be given. But what if you refuse to hear?
You're not going to grow. You're not going to grow. Look
what it says in verse 25, he that hath, for he that hath to
him shall be given, And he that hath not from him shall be taken,
even that which he presumes to have." Now, closing statement. A warning. True grace can never
be lost, removed. It's permanent and solid. But counterfeit grace, counterfeit
false faith, false hope, false faith, will soon be discovered
for what it is, and it shall be taken away." Some of the commentators
think that this is a direct reference to Judas. He seemed to be like
the other apostles, but he was taken away from that which he
thought that he had. Well, I pray the Lord will help
us to think on those things. Take heed what you hear.