Mark 4:21-25 Luke 8:16-18

Mark 4:21-25
21 And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? 22 “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. 25 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
Luke 8:16-18
16“Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. 17“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18“So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”
The truth is a wonderful blessing from God but it is also a great responsibility before God.  Jesus taught in Parables in order to reveal truth to those who were producing fruit but to conceal the truth from those who were represented by the unproductive soil.  His desire was to be able to spread the truth of God’s Word to all who would hear.  Unfortunately, there were many who could physically hear the words Jesus spoke but were spiritually blind so the seed of God’s truth did not take root or produce fruit.  This was the tragic result that took place far too often when Jesus taught and continues to happen every time the Word of God is taught today.  We must all examine how we are responding to the truth of God’s Word.  He has a purpose in revealing truth to us.  It is a great privilege to receive the truth of God’s Word.  But there are many problems associated with rejecting God’s Word.

THE PURPOSE OF REVEALING TRUTH: The truth is like a lamp.  It is meant to shine brightly and reveal to us who God is, what God expects of us and how we can please Him in our attitudes and actions.  Jesus wants to make it clear that His purpose in teaching in parables was so that the truth could be revealed in the hearts of men.  This has always been the desire of God’s heart.  He wants to be reconciled with men and see men walk in the light of His truth.  The problem is that our hearts are filled with darkness.  Our sin separates us from God and makes us walk in blindness.  Jesus came to shine the truth of the Gospel into the hearts of men.  He held the truth up high and repeated it over and over again for the purpose of leading men to repentance of sin and salvation through faith.  Unfortunately, there were many who had no interest in the truth.  They took the truth and hid it under a basket or shoved in under a bed so that they could continue to live in their own sin.

THE PRIVILEGE OF RECEIVING TRUTH: Receiving the truth is a great privilege.  There are many people in many nations who only have a flicker of truth as seen through creation and conscience.  They do not have the Word of God in their language and there are no believers who speak their language or live close enough to them to be able to tell them the truth about God.  God has given us the privilege of receiving a flood light of truth.  We have multiple translations of the Bible.  We have massive libraries filled with books that have been written about the Bible.  There are thousands of ministers who have dedicated themselves to teach God’s Word to us in our churches, on the radio, television and internet.  When we receive truth, and respond to it by turning from the sin His truth reveals and trusting in His solutions for sin; His light shines even brighter in our hearts and we grow in our understanding of Him.  This allows us to produce more and more fruit for His glory.  When we listen to God’s Word carefully and then faithfully apply it to our lives; God rewards us with an even greater understanding of His truth.  

THE PROBLEM OF REJECTING TRUTH: There is also a problem associated with receiving the truth and rejecting in or failing to respond to it.  When we close our ears to hearting the truth of close our hearts to applying the truth; God will not continue to reveal Himself to us.  Jesus warns those who unproductive soils that are covering the truth with a basket or shoving it under their beds; that the truth they are ignoring is about to be snatched away from them.  We are responsible to respond to the truth that has been revealed to us.  Great amounts of truth generate great amounts of responsibility.  Rejecting that truth by ignoring it or disobeying it will eventually result in our hearts being hardened and our eyes being blinded to the Word of God.  We will stumble through life and find ourselves condemned before God.


APPLICATION: Thank God for the privilege we have of having His Word in our language as well as the many other teachers and tools we have for learning more about God’s Word.  We must take full advantage of these many blessings.  Hold the truth of God’s Word high in our lives and speak to others about God’s Word so they too can walk in the light of His truth.  Beware of laziness and apathy towards God’s Word.  We must never take God’s Word for granted.

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