How Do You Hear

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. of the book of Luke. [00:00:35] We have been looking at the book of Luke on Sunday mornings as we've had opportunity with various breaks and other concentrations for a year and a half. And we've gotten this far. Luke chapter 8, we would like to look at verses 16 through 21 this morning. [00:01:09] No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known, and come abroad. Take ye therefore how ye hear, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. [00:01:49] Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it. As we look at this passage, I would encourage us to be reminded of its context, particularly that which precedes it, the parable of the soils. [00:02:37] We looked at a couple of weeks ago, the sower going out to sow. The Scripture says, the Lord says as recorded in the Scripture, that the seed is the Word of God. There are various kinds of soils, and it would appear that only one, the good ground, is redemptive. There are distractions in the other three, distractions of various kinds as we think about the various soils. [00:03:25] And it would seem to me that beginning in verse 16 we have an amplification of what has been said. And we'd like to look at it just following through the passage. First of all, the candle. Secondly, the haves and the have-nots, which is an application of the candle. And thirdly, true family. [00:03:59] What is true family? As you look at this passage, we need to remember that the candle that is spoken of, lighting a candle, is a reference not to the wax candles that we are used to thinking about, But to the lamp of that time, which was a clay vessel with a tea kettle type spout, out of which came a wick, and the lamp was filled with oil, and the wick was lighted, and it gave light. [00:04:49] The candlestick, as in the book of Revelation, would be the lampstand. I'm not sure that that information is all that helpful, just some clarification of what the Scripture is speaking about here. It has some application that is interesting, as you think of what fuels the fire and so on. But it says here, no man when he hath lighted a lamp or a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed. [00:05:31] We are talking about the gospel in this context, the seed of the Word of God that has been sown. And now it is likened unto a light. And that light is portrayed by the Lord in three ways. One, having been lit, is put under a vessel. [00:06:07] The vessel is an instrument of work. It is an instrument of vocation or business. Secondly, put under a bed, an instrument of relaxation, what we call R&R, recreation and relaxation. [00:06:40] and instrument of ease, worldly ease. And the Lord here is saying you do not take the gospel and overshadow it with business or work Or on the other hand, you don't overshadow it with recreation and ease and entertainment and those sorts of things. [00:07:21] I find it very interesting. As you think of languages and how they are used to communicate, I am told that in the Chinese language, the character or letter or symbol for evil is made up of two parts. [00:07:52] It is made up in the top part of that character by the symbol for secondary. And is made up in the bottom part of that character by the symbol for heart. In other words, the secondary is put over the heart and that equals evil. In the Chinese mentality. [00:08:25] Not too bad. Not too bad at all. When that which is secondary rules the heart, we have fallen into evil. And as you think about what the Lord is saying here, He is saying, no man in his right mind takes a candle or a lamp, lights it, and then covers it up. [00:09:00] Either by things of business and work. I think this relates a bit to the conversation that he had with Martha and Mary, as far as that goes. But it is not to be overshadowed or covered or unfocused by work or pleasure or anything else. The gospel must be first or in the meaning as I would understand what the Lord is saying, [00:09:36] if it's not first, it's nothing. It's useless. It's stony ground, it's roadside, it's thorns in the light of the parable of the soils. Very important then is we would apply that to our lives. What part does the gospel have? What part does the gospel have in your life? [00:10:11] Is it something added to who you would be otherwise? Or does it transform you? Is it something you simply add on for your religious factor? But that becomes covered by pleasure and relaxation or business and work. [00:10:51] And what the Lord is saying is that doesn't make any sense. The gospel is transforming. It changes the life. As much as the lamp changes the room, a room of darkness becomes a room with light. And what the desire of the person who uses the lamp is, is to make it as effective as possible and therefore you put it on a lampstand so that it shines more. [00:11:33] So that people can see better. And so it is with the gospel in our lives. We want to have it magnified. And the Apostle Paul speaks about that in the book of Philippians. That Christ might be magnified in my body. Whether it be by life or by death. And so the Lord himself is giving commentary on the gospel and on the truth of the word of God. [00:12:07] And he is saying it is not a closet issue. We talk about people being closet this and closet that these days. And there are people that would be on the list of closet Christians. You wouldn't necessarily know that they were a Christian, though they in their heart claim to be. And the Lord said that's not how it is. There are no closet Christians. There are stony ground people. [00:12:40] There are roadside people. There are thorny ground people. But the Christians are only the good ground people. Those who show forth, albeit imperfectly, and we are living in denial if we think we do this well, because we don't, but we should be doing it. Showing forth the light of God in our lives. [00:13:15] Not overwhelmed by business, work, pleasure, relaxation. He also says in verse 17, nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest. Now again, we can pull this out of its context and probably make it mean something that it doesn't. [00:13:48] Think about the context. Light. Soils. In other words, a true Christian cannot be a secret Christian. A true Christian will be manifest. Not ought to be. Many of us have been taught that. Ought to be manifest. That's not what the Word of God teaches. [00:14:18] Although it is true that he ought to be. But the fact of the matter from the Scripture is he will be. The true Christian will be manifest as a Christian. That cannot be hid. So it says, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Now the broader application of verse 17 that God will reveal everything is also true but not from this passage. [00:14:53] In such passages as 1 Corinthians 4.5 and Romans 2.16 We have the confidence that there is nothing secret that will not be revealed. If you think you're keeping something secret, you are deceiving yourself. It may not become known now, but it will become known. And if it's a matter of sin, if you don't confess it now, it will be played on the big screen at the judgment for everyone to see. [00:15:27] But it will become known. That is true, but that is not the particular emphasis of this verse. This verse has to do with the fact that you cannot be a secret Christian. And sometimes we have the idea that all some people need, including ourselves, is a kick in the seat of the pants to be a better Christian. And we ought to, as a brotherhood, be willing to give that kick and see the pants when necessary. [00:15:59] But the fact of the matter is, you can kick an unsaved person all you want and he's still an unsaved person. And I think we need to understand that sometimes we're working with unsaved people instead of saved people. And we need to take them back to the gospel. Because the lamp hasn't been lit. and the soil has not produced fruit and we're thinking wrong [00:16:30] assuming that they are Christians when they are not. This brings us then to the haves and the have-nots and it flows in the context of thought It is supported by such passages as have been referred to this morning already from Revelation, [00:17:01] the message to the churches, and other such passages where the Lord says that the person who is not genuine will lose even what he appears to have. And that is what he says again here. And the stony ground, so-called stony ground Christian, who is not really a Christian at all, as I would understand that soils passage, the stony ground person will lose what he appears to have. [00:17:37] He will appear to be a Christian for a time. The thorns, thorny ground, that speaks of in verse 14, that which fell among the thorns, or they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, bring no fruit to perfection. Those and others. As you think about what this is saying then, [00:18:08] The one who appears for a time to be a Christian, but however we want to do the theology, loses out, whatever, will lose that which he even appears to have. Isn't that what the Lord is saying? So the one who has will receive in the doctrine of the gospel. And the one who has not, the truth, thoroughly, will lose. [00:18:50] It will be taken away from him, what he seems to have. That's kind of sobering, but I believe that is a principle as you look at the Scripture. Faith then, saving faith, receives bounty. Unfaith or lack of faith loses even what it appears to have. And then finally, and this again is a part of the context of what the Lord is saying. [00:19:30] It's really the intense application, I believe. This little interchange between those with Him, with Christ, and His mother and brethren, and what all this means. We talk about true family. What is it? Is it your blood brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles? [00:20:05] Or is it something else? And I believe the Lord says it's something else. That these blood relations that we have here today are earthly. And in that flow of thought, the Lord talks about not having marriage or giving in marriage in heaven. That also is earthly. It's good. All blood relations are good. Married relations are good. [00:20:38] But there is a true relationship with others that transcends those blood relationships. Now, many of us here today are related by blood with others here today. And we look at that and we say, well, it's not as much as some churches, and that's true too. [00:21:13] But can you imagine a congregation where no one is related to anyone else in blood relation? I've worked with some of those congregations. They do exist, by the way. Not in our circles, usually, but they do exist. They have no commonality other than they live in the same area. They live in the same geographic area. That's the only commonality some churches have. [00:21:49] Now, it is left to them to demonstrate what this principle is, maybe more so than with us. But there's a downside to this. But let's do the upside first. It's left to them in this sense that they have nothing to draw them together other than heavenly things. And that is really the proof of the pudding, as we would say. Now, the downside is that with some of us who have common cultural things, [00:22:31] we can be bound together falsely, as far as heaven is concerned. Cultural things are fine. And we'll be talking a bit about that this afternoon. But they're neither here nor there. As far as heaven is concerned. So how should we be bound together? It doesn't matter whether we're related in blood relationships here on the earth. [00:23:07] That's neither here nor there as far as church is concerned. I don't think it's good or bad. It's just a fact. But if that is what binds us together, we are in big, big, big trouble. Because only the bond of the Lord Jesus Christ is what matters in church. We are here preparing for heaven. That is the issue. [00:23:38] And in heaven, if I understand it right, and I may be going out on a long limb here, but if I would understand it right, in heaven there are no side relationships. I know some people think otherwise and they're welcome to do so and I have no great disagreement with them, but I would ask them to prove that from Scripture. There's one relationship. That's the relationship with Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. [00:24:10] And then that which flows from that one relationship with each other as the Bride. So yes, we're related to each other in that way. But whether we are blood brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers and so forth down here, I don't think it's going to make any difference up there. And the fact of the matter is we are here preparing for there. [00:24:45] It is true, I believe, that we are only doing things worthwhile here if we are in that process preparing for there. And so, our relationship as a congregation must be, if it is to be valuable at all, must be centered around Christ and His Word as brothers and sisters in Christ. [00:25:19] The other things are fine. We don't deny them. We shouldn't try to harm them. But they're just here. The relationship that matters is the relationship that we have in Christ. And I believe that's what he is saying here. His mother, Mary, a very important person in the Bible. I don't think we could deny that she is among the very important people in the Bible. [00:25:51] A chosen vessel through whom God the Son came to this life. A consecrated woman. And then the half-brothers, I would understand these brethren to be. As you read the Scripture, they were also sisters, we believe. But this is apparently Mary and her sons, those younger in human age than Jesus. [00:26:34] Now it would seem to make sense that he ought to give them some attention. And I'm sure he did. As you read through the New Testament, you'll find the Gospels, You'll find that he gave attention right to the end when he turned Mary over for care to a disciple. So these things mattered to him, but he had the priorities perfectly straight. We don't always do that. We aren't God. [00:27:05] He said, notice verse 21, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. Is that how you measure your brothers and sisters? That's how we ought to measure them. [00:27:42] See, if blood relationships here on the earth were as important as sometimes we tend to make them, the Lord would have handled this quite differently. But He handled it in a way to make the point that we need to hear. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are in fact Now listen to me now. [00:28:17] Our brothers and sisters in Christ are in fact more important in the eternal perspective than other blood relationships. That's not the way we live. I think I can say that for all of us. At least that's not the way we live all the time. But that, I believe, is what the Lord is saying. [00:28:50] We need to be continually preparing for heaven. Some of us have the double blessing. because our blood relations are going to be in heaven with us. But should we cultivate the blood relationship or should we cultivate the heavenly relationship? I think the scripture is saying we should cultivate the heavenly relationship [00:29:21] even if it is also a blood relationship. How does this fit in with the parable of the soils? Quite well, I think. And I think that's why it's here in this context. The focus of what it is to be good soil is to hear the Word of God, the message of the Gospel, [00:29:53] With such clarity that in fact it produces fruit from roots that are going way down in our souls and lives. To hear savingly the gospel is to then subsequently produce fruit. [00:30:28] How then do you hear? Do you hear the word of God unto obedience as verse 21 implies? Then we are on the road if we only hear it with our ears. [00:30:59] It says in verse 18, take heed how you hear. We only hear it with our ears, but we don't possess it. We're still playing around with human-earth relationships. We're letting the business, the work, the relaxation, the rest, the bed, in other words, So the vessel dominate and overshadow the lampstand or the lamp instead of putting it on the lampstand. [00:31:40] How do you hear? That's the question the Lord asks, I believe, of us today. And he says, take heed how you hear. Take heed how. Be here. That's bond prayer. Thank you, Father, for your word. It's challenging. We do tend to get in certain grooves that become very earthly. [00:32:22] And some of us may have never gotten out of those earthly grooves and we don't know what it really means to have eternal life. You know our hearts. You have said there will be nothing hidden. And so if there are those among us who have never truly come to know Jesus [00:32:53] as Lord and Savior, Work with the conviction of your Holy Spirit to bring them to the point where they truly hear, where the seed brings forth and multiplies, and where the light is put on the lampstand. [00:33:27] Direct us in this day as we share together. May it be with reflection upon your truth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.