Luke 8:16-21
Our reading today is in Luke’s
gospel. It is chapter 8, verses 16 through
21. Last week, we considered the
parable of the soils. And today, Jesus, with a mighty
crowd before him, he declares to them again the importance
of listening well to the word of God. And so we give our attention,
as Jesus has called us. To be good listeners, we give
our attention to the reading and to the preaching of his word.
Here, God’s word now from Luke chapter 8, beginning at verse
16. Jesus says, No one after lighting
a lamp covers it with a jar, nor does he put it under a bed,
but he puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see
the light. For nothing is hidden that will
not be made manifest. Nor is anything secret that will
not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear for
the one who has more will be given and from the one who has
not even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. Then his mother and his brothers
came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
And he was told, your mother and your brothers are standing
outside desiring to see you. But he answered them, my mother
and my brother are those who hear the word of God and do it. Let us pray together. Oh Lord,
without your help, have eyes that are blind without your help.
We have ears that are deaf without your help. We have hearts that
are hard without your help. We have hands and feet unwilling
to serve you. So we ask for your help. We ask
for your blessing. We ask for your spirit. Make
us alive. Unstop our ears, uncover our
eyes, soften our hearts and make our hands and feet ready to run
with the good news of the gospel into this dark and dying world
with the hope of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s
in his name we pray. Amen. There are two kinds of
people in the world. Now, some of you are thinking
there’s Republicans and Democrats. No. There’s two kinds of people
in the world. There are those who don’t listen
to God’s word. They don’t listen to God’s word
because they’re dead in their sins and trespasses. They don’t
listen to God’s word because they are superficially nodding
to God, to Christianity, to religion, but with no heart change. The
rains come down. The floods come up and because
their house is not built on the rock, it is destroyed. There are two kinds of people
in the world. There are those who do not listen to God’s word,
but there are also those who do listen to God’s word and they
listen because they have been made alive in Jesus Christ. They
have been raised up by the Holy Spirit and filled and they take
care to hear. They take care to believe. And
they take care to obey the word of God. The rains come down,
the floods rise up and their house stands because it is built
on the rock. Jesus is telling this lesson. He is preaching this sermon to
massive crowds who have come out to hear him. They’ve come
out to the Galilean countryside to hear Jesus. They’ve heard
about him. They’ve heard the stories of
healings and spirits being cast out. They’ve heard of his wise
words proclaimed from the lips of a carpenter’s son. They’ve
come and he’s explaining to his disciples, not everyone hears.
Not everyone hears. Isaiah had the same ministry.
You’ll go to people who have eyes but don’t see. You’ll preach
to people who have ears, but they’re stopped up. You’ll preach
to people whose hearts are hard and do not have a softness toward
the word of the living God. The parable of the soils we considered
last week, Jesus says the seed is the gospel. Some of it falls
on the path around the field. Some of it falls among the rocks
that were cast out so the soil could be cultivated. Some falls
in the briars. The seed that falls on the path
is snatched up by the birds. It’s like Satan snatching the
word from us where we cannot hear it and receive it. The seed
that passes or that falls upon the rocks, it sprouts up quickly,
but because it has no roots and no moisture, it fades away. And the seed that falls among
the thorns is choked. It does not grow into maturity. And it’s like the cares of this
world that help us, that keep us from seeking first the kingdom. But Jesus says the Good seed,
the gospel, falls on the good soil and the good soil is those
who hear the word. They take care to hear it and
they treasure it and they believe it and they obey it. And it produces
some 20, some 60, some 100 fold. And Jesus was teaching his disciples.
He’s teaching us to be good soil, to hear the word, to hold it
fast in our honest and good hearts and bear fruit with Patience. What is the word of God look
like in the Christian life? What is the word of God look
like in the life of a true disciple? What are the benefits that we
can receive from the scriptures? Think for just a moment, if you
will, before we land on Jesus teaching here about the word
of God benefiting people in the Bible. Adam and Eve had Jesus
or they had God the Father walking with them in the garden. They
had his direct revelation, no pages of scripture, but the very
voice of God himself. Moses met with God face to face. Moses received the word and put
it on tablets and delivered it to Israel. David, who was a poet,
who was a man after God’s own heart, who wrote much of the
book of Psalms, he met with God in a special way. The prophets, the spirit of the
Lord came upon them. And they said, thus says the
Lord to the people of Almighty God. And when there was a prophet
in the land of Israel, there was feast. But without the prophets
of God, when God removed his prophetic vision, it was famine.
And God says over and over in the scriptures, there is a famine
in the land for the hearing of the word of God because of your
disobedience. And so we live in a long line
of Christian heritage of godly heritage, where the word of God
dwells among us richly and plentifully. But what really matters is how
do you hear it? What kind of listener are you?
After all, there are two kinds of people in the world. There
are those who hear the word of God and there are those who do
not. We who live in 2019, who have
our copies of God’s word, many of them, we have them on our
phones, our tablets, on the bookshelves at home, coffee tables. There
are many in the pew racks in front of us. We live better than
people of any other age. For Jesus was speaking to a people
of oral tradition. They had to hear and they had
to remember what was spoken from the word of God. But we also,
in addition to these wonderful copies of God’s word that we
have, we have Jesus, the living word. Israel did not. And we are part of the church
throughout the ages who have the voice of Jesus. Are you a serious listener? Are
you a student of the word? Are you a doer of God’s word? Well, let’s look at Jesus teaching
today and see how he can help us, how he can bless us, how
he can encourage us and nurture. I want to speak of four things
God’s word. will do for you. God’s word first
will make an evangelist out of you. God’s word, verse 16 tells
us, will make an evangelist out of you. No one after lighting
a lamp covers it with a jar. No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a stand so that those who
enter see the light. You understand Jesus is speaking
of a culture without electricity, right? We’re just, Really, 125
years into the modern era, when my wife’s grandmother, a couple
years ago, turned 100, the kids asked her, what’s the greatest
thing you have seen come to pass in your lifetime? And she said
it was when the electric company ran a wire down the road in West
Tennessee out near Memphis. And they had a light in their
house. Some of you call your power bill the light bill. You
remember when that was all it powered. Jesus is speaking to
a culture where it was by lamplight. It was an oil lamp. It was a
light in the house. Some of you have camped. You
know what it is to be with a flashlight only. You have to shine it this
way and that way. And now we live in these LED
lighted homes where there’s light everywhere. There are really
no shadows. And so Jesus says God’s word
will make an evangelist out of you. Because we do not put the light
under something, we put it on a stand for all to see. Word of mouth does a lot of good,
doesn’t it, for advertising? I mean, it’s by word of mouth
we find out about the best ice cream shop in town. It’s by word
of mouth that we find out a new store. is opening up. It’s by word of mouth we find
out that the newest restaurant is really a good place to eat
and it’s friendly to your budget. It’s by word of mouth we find
out good things. We also wear our brands. We wear
it across our chest on our t-shirts. We put it on stickers on the
backs of our cars. People know if we love UNC or
Harley-Davidson or the Blue Devils or Simply Southern or whatever
brand name is we love, we wear it. We stick it across the things
that we drive. And converts to the gospel of
Jesus can’t wait to tell others about the gospel. They can’t
wait to tell the good news. They can’t wait to say, this
is who Jesus is and what he has done for me. I hope you’ll love
him and have faith in him, too. I was reading a biography over
the last six months and another pastor and I would read this
biography, a chapter at a time. We’d get together monthly, drink
coffee and discuss it. And the biography was of a minister
named Robert Murray Machein, who was in Scotland some couple
hundred years ago. And he was a man known to be
dedicated to the Lord. In his young age, he died at
the age of 30 or 31 after a very hard and short ministry. But
he was very dedicated to the Lord personally, but he was also
very dedicated to the Lord in ministry. And he says something
in his biography that really struck me. It’s one of those
things, not only do you underline it with a pen, but you highlight
it and you put a sticky note in it so you can turn right to
it and see it. He said this, I wish as a minister of the gospel,
I could all over again become effectually called, mean to be
preached to, to be empowered and raised up by the Holy Spirit
and given new life all over again so that I could preach the gospel
to my countrymen with zeal. What a saying that is. Have you
ever thought about that? I mean, what is he really saying?
He’s saying there are some days I feel hard-hearted, cold-hearted,
indifferent, and yet Jesus has saved me. We talk in here sometimes
about how saved people do what? They sing. Saved people also
tell the gospel. The word of God will make an
evangelist out of you. And so if God has lighted a lamp
in your heart with the gospel, he has brought you from darkness
to life, from death to life, then you need to stand up on
a stand and shout from the mountaintops that there is a savior. that
there is a gospel and that there is salvation in only Jesus and
in him alone. So as you get around the community,
as you have people enter into your life, and it may be the
people who are close to you, or you may be one who is out
and about town and community. Let me ask you this. Do people
see the light? The word of God will make an
evangelist out of you. But God’s word will do a second
thing. God’s word will show you what you’re actually made of.
That’s what verse 17 teaches us. God’s word will show you
what you’re made of. Verse 17 says this, for nothing
is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret
that will not be known and come to light. several years ago,
about 10 years ago I think it was, I had an MRI. That’s an
experience. You go into that machine and
for me I shut my eyes and I breathed real deeply and I never opened
my eyes until I got pulled out of that drawer. But while you’re
in there and that thing is figuring out what’s wrong with you, for
me I was greatly dehydrated and suffering from some massive headaches,
couldn’t function. And so they were trying to see
what was wrong with me. They probably found out what was really
wrong with me because that thing could see everything, but you’re
in there and it sounds like you’re laying in a construction zone on the highway
and the jackhammers and all that sound is there. And if that’s
not bad enough, you get a bill for it later, but it sees inside
you. It sees what the human eye can’t
see. It sees what the physician guesses is wrong, but needs to
confirm. And we have x-rays for broken
bones. We have PET scans for cancer. We have all these machines
that can, well, they can see inside us. God’s word does that. But God’s word does it way, way
better. God’s word, verse 17 teaches
us, will show us what you’re actually made of. Hebrews chapter
4, verse 12 says this, God’s word is living. God’s word is
active. God’s word is sharper than a
two edged sword. And what God’s word does when
it engages in your life is it pierces. It pierces into the
division of soul and spirit. It pierces into the division
of your joints and your marrow. I don’t think too much about
that. But what it’s saying is God’s
word. It gets in you and it exposes you. And it discerns the thoughts
and the intentions of the heart. God’s word is that powerful.
God’s word is that amazing. God’s word is that penetrating.
God’s word is that revealing. Jesus says here in verse 17,
nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything
secret that will not be known or come to light. Are you a listener of God’s word?
Are you one who lets the word do its work? Is it is it exposing
to you your sin, your shortcomings, your weaknesses? And is it showing
you not only your folly, but God’s wisdom? We were told early
on with having kids, your job as a parent is to to drive out
the folly from your children, drive out the foolishness. But
it’s not enough to do that. You also have to put in wisdom.
And so parenting and really the same sanctification growing as
a Christian is having the folly, the foolishness driven out of
your life by God’s word and you replace it, you replace it in
your heart with wisdom. And that’s what the word will
do. It will show you where you’re a gossip. It will expose where
you’re a slanderer. It will show your hatred towards
your fellow man. It will show your murderous thoughts.
It will show your lust. It will show everything about
you and it will expose you. And Jesus says, if it’s hidden,
it’ll come out. If it’s tucked away, it will
be exposed. And so the word of God, as we
listen to it, as we let it do its work in our lives, It can
do mighty things, including showing what we’re actually made of.
My mother, when I was a little kid, used to tell us she had
eyes on the back of her head, didn’t you? And we believed her
and somehow she knew things. Somehow she figured it out. Now
that I’m a parent, I know her secret, but it scares the kids. Got eyes on the backs of the
heads. But should we not be more fearful of Jesus, who in our
study of Revelation on Sunday nights, we’ve recently discovered
that Jesus, when he comes to the seven churches, he gives
a little explanation of part of his character. And Jesus in
one part is the one who has eyes like a flame of fire. My mother
never said that. Jesus has eyes like a flame of
fire. He sees, he knows, he exposes. And what you think is hidden,
it’ll come to light. Who you really are will be exposed. Jesus will unmask you. He will
unmask you. That’s what hypocrisy is, isn’t
it? It’s hypocrisy, isn’t it? It’s wearing a mask. It’s pretending. And the word of God will take
that mask off. And so as we grow together in
grace, as we walk together in the Lord, as we grow in the ministry
of the word and the spirit and Jesus changes us day by day,
we become unmasked. And that’s the painful part about
being a Christian, isn’t it? Sometimes as we live together
in Christian community, and it could be the church, it could
be marriage and family. If you’re seriously walking with
the Lord and growing, your sin will be exposed to others. But
so will theirs. And we know this and we’re gracious
and we’re kind. We grow together even in the
hardships of sanctification and our exposure of our hypocrisy. God’s word, as we hear it, it
reveals. And we ought to repent. We ought
to turn and we ought to walk with the Lord. God’s word will
make an evangelist of you. God’s word will also show you
what you’re actually made of. There’s a third thing. God’s
word will determine your eternal blessings or curses. That’s what
verse 18 teaches us. God’s word will determine your
eternal blessings or curses. Look at verse 18. Jesus says,
take care then how you hear. For the one who has, more will
be given. And from the one who has not,
even what he thinks he has will be taken away. We aim to do what will bless
us. We eat right. We exercise, we
take our vitamins. If the doctor prescribes a pill
or offers a surgery, we do it. We will go after any regimen
that will help us better our lives and we’ll go after it with
zeal and gusto and energy. In fact, we’ll become obsessed
with it. And just today, riding up Edgewood Avenue, the same
people I always see are out running. And I see those people not only
running on Edgewood. I see them on Shadowbrook. I
see them on Church Street. I see them in the neighborhoods.
People are serious about running. People are serious about exercise
and health. And you know what the Apostle
Paul says? Physical training is of some value. It’s not a
bad thing. But spiritual training has eternal value. God’s word
will determine your eternal blessings or curses. The word of God will
bless us. You know the commandments God
says to the children. of Israel, the children of the
children of Israel, honor your father and mother that it may
go well with you. Disobey your parents, children,
it will not go well with you, not just. Parents angry, not
just earthly fatherly discipline. It will not go well with you,
God says, for generations. Obedience to the word, obedience
to parents, obedience in the life of the church will determine
our eternal blessing. The word of God, if we obey it,
if we heed it, we will be blessed. It will go well, but we will
be cursed if we do not. That commandment to the children,
just by way of example says, but curses on The generations
that come after you for disobedience, the word of God will bless us.
And so when the word of God is proclaimed, let it not fall on
the path and be snatched by Satan. Let it not fall among the rocks
and be a rootless plant. Let it not fall among the thorns
and be choked out by worldly cares. But blessed is the one
who hears the word and treasures it. And it falls on good soil
and it grows and produces salvation, faith, strength and love and
goes on to bless us not only in this life, but in the life
that is to come. Today’s a good day for self-examination.
Oh, Lord. Let your word do its work. Let
it be evident to me that if I hear and believe and obey, not only
can I have salvation through faith in Jesus, but I can know
my marching orders to live until I may get safely home to heaven. We desire blessing. We desire
growth and we want eternal consequences. This morning I was out walking
the dog and as I crossed my lawn, I noticed that my crabgrass is
back. Now, I’ve been doing my fertilizing and weed killing
myself. And so up until this morning, I was really happy.
I was going to Home Depot and buying the stuff. It was working,
but the crabgrass is back. And a few minutes later, a little
bit later, as I was down the street with the dog walking,
I got to thinking, do I care more about the crabgrass in my
lawn or the sin that has taken root in my life? It’s a revealing
question, isn’t it? And I can tell you, sometimes
I’m more concerned about the crabgrass. How about you? Jesus
says God’s word will determine your eternal blessings or your
curses. He says it will show you what
you’re actually made of. He says it will make an evangelist
out of you. There’s a fourth thing, a final thing. We find
it in verses 19 to 21. God’s word will reveal your family
connection. Jesus tells us or Luke tells
us that Jesus’ mother and his brothers came to him, but they
could not reach him because of the crowd. He was told, your
mother and your brothers are standing outside. They desire
to see you. But he answered them, my mother and my brothers are
those who hear the word of God and do it. God’s word will reveal
your family connection. Jesus says, my mother and my
brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. It’s a
family resemblance. If you’re gonna be like Jesus,
you live like Jesus. You love and seek to do the will
of the heavenly father. Last Sunday night, we had a sick
child and mom stayed home with him. And so the girls and I had
a Dairy Queen date. We went down to Dairy Queen and
we walked up to the checkout lady. And I think she was looking
at me and saw my daughters. And she says, man, you have thick
genes. And she was meeting my girls
look like me, heaven help them. But that’s what Jesus is teaching
here. If you want to look like Jesus, you need to hear the word
and you need to obey the word. You know, we live in such a time
where. We come to church, we’re members of a church, we can recite
our stats of how involved we’ve been in the church and all those
are wonderful things, but if you want to bear the family resemblance. You need to hear the word of
God and do the word of God and look like Jesus. The word of God tells us to be
conformed, not to this world, but to be transformed by the
renewal of our mind so that we can be conformed into the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Adam failed to do what
God commanded. And all of us born in Adam are
born in sin and trespasses. But as we are the new humanity
raised up by Jesus, we’re to no longer look like Adam, weak
and sinful, but we’re to look like Christ, holy, obedient. and triumphant over sin and death. Hear the words of Jesus today.
Take care how you listen. Let us pray together. Our Lord
and God, we thank you for the words of the Lord Jesus. And
we want to say as we sing from time to time, I heard the voice
of Jesus say, come unto me and rest. Oh Lord, we are restless. We are wanderers. We are east
of Eden in the wilderness until we find our rest in Jesus. And it’s not just a one time
rest, but it’s a lifelong rest where we continually come to
Jesus. We come in faith and we come
to find rest in the midst of our weary and tiring world. So help us, help us in this great
endeavor. We need your spirit. We need
your blessing and we ask for it now in the name of Jesus.
Amen.