Luke 8:17-18

Luke chapter 8 reading verses 16 through 18 our focus is going to be on verses 17 and 18 this morning no man when he hath lighted a candle covereth with a vessel or put if it under a bed but set if 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 heed therefore how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whoso hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this morning. There was a minister that was once preaching on why people don’t benefit from hearing the word of God. And one of his points was that some people don’t profit when they hear the word of God because they’re excessively generous. He exclaimed what? You tell me you’ve never heard that before? He says, let me tell you how they do it. They hear the sermon and the minister preaches on one sin or another sin. And they give this part of the sermon to the other people of the congregation and keep nothing for themselves. And thus as the sermon proceeds, they generously give away much of the message. to others. So without a self-applying conscience, you may keep no portion of the sermon for yourself. Well, that’s not for me. That doesn’t apply to me. So don’t be excessively generous when you hear the word of God. Hort it all for yourself. Take it to heart is what we want to say. Now, Jesus has proclaimed in this section of scripture that believers are, are the light of the world. He talks about being a light in verse 16. And Matthew, in expanding this idea from this verse 16, mentions the fact that, as believers, we are the light of the world. He’s the greater light, we’re the lesser light. You are to provide spiritual light for the darkened world around you. You’re to be a light or a candle, if you would, or a lamp. of some sort. And you’re not to hide your light. You want to give it the maximum exposure. You want to spread it as much as you can. In other words, enlighten as much of the world as you possibly can. Now in verse 17, the Lord emphasizes your responsibility as the message bearer to others. What are you going to tell them? When you give out the message, what do you tell them? And in verse 18, the Lord emphasizes the need to properly hear the Word of God when it’s preached. There is a blessing involved in that, but there’s also a curse involved. And we’ll look at both aspects of that in verse 18. But let me begin by saying this from verse 17. You were to proclaim the whole counsel of God. Verse 17 says here, for nothing is secret that shall not be made man. neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Now, some people apply this particular verse to the day of judgment, and there is a verse elsewhere that is similar to this that is applied, it seems, to the day of judgment, and suggest the idea that all is going to be disclosed on the day of judgment, everything that’s been done in your life. and of course if we would take it that way that certainly would be true i mean there’s no question that that is a true statement however this does not seem to be the application that jesus is making because you have to connect verse 16 and 17 together he’s talking about being a light and then he’s talking about uh what that light is going to do what we what are we supposed to do with that light Jesus is speaking of diffusing light and that seems to correspond with the passage in Matthew 10. Look with me at Matthew 10 if you would. There’s a very similar statement here and this has something different than the day of judgment. I’ll begin with verse 25. It says here Jesus says, it’s enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. if they have called the master of the house Bielzebub how much more shall they call them of his household. Fear not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear, that preach you upon the house tops. you see the disciple is to give out the message of God, even what Christ whispers in our ears, so to speak, is to be proclaimed, not just what he has taught openly and publicly. So the meaning seems to be, even those things that would be wrapped up in parables or privately revealed by Christ when he was with his disciples alone should be manifest by his disciples to the world. Even what was whispered to them in the ear, in a secret manner, if you would, was eventually be publicly and openly proclaimed not only in Judea, but in Samaria and out eventually to the uttermost parts of the world. The flat roofs of house talks of the world. were ideal places for people to preach. You could preach to a group of people below you, and they were flat, and they had sort of a, according to the law, they had to have some kind of railing up there or some type of protection. And so you could stand at the railing, and you could speak to people. The general application of this text is to declare the whole council of God. All that the scripture tells us, we’re to declare. Everything Jesus said to them, he says, teach the people. And this, I think, is important passage of Scripture for us to consider it. In other words, we’re saying this. Whatever is revealed in Scripture is a proper subject for teaching and explaining these truths to the people around us. They need to hear everything that God has said. As Acts 20, verses 26 and 27 reminds us, as Paul says to the Ephesians, the elders of the Ephesians, wherefore I take you to record this day that I’m pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. I didn’t hold anything back. Everything that God has revealed to me, Christ has revealed to me, I have taught you, I have explained to you. I have explained to you. If all Scripture is given to you, by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, then what is there that we’re to withhold? Seems like everything is useful. Everything is beneficial. There are those who never speak on election, let’s say, or predestination, because it’s too frightening. You know, we can’t tell people that. It’s going to upset people. That runs contrary to our text. Years ago, a Roman Catholic priest, a father, Volgentio, spoke on Pilots’ question, what is the truth? What is truth? And he told his audience that he had at last found the truth. That’s much searching. He had discovered the truth. And he held up a New Testament, and he said, it’s right here. But adding sorrowfully as he returned the New Testament to his podcast, he said, but it’s a sealed book. I have no intention of telling you the truth that’s been revealed to me. He, the priest, could note. They couldn’t. How that is opposed here to the idea of scripture, that even the things taught in secret, explain them all, teach the people everything that I have taught you. There was a poor Irishman that was speaking with a priest, and he was up, the priest was upset with him because he was reading his Bible. There’ll be no good, come, of you reading the Bible, he told this poor Irishman. The Irishman says, why does written search the scriptures? Please, your reverence, I was just reading that you are to read it to your children. You don’t have any children, so who’s this for? How do you account for that? And the priest said, ah, the like of you can’t understand this book. And the Irishman said, well, if I can’t understand it, then it won’t do me any harm. And if I can’t understand it, it may do me some good. The Roman Catholic Church would wish to withhold the truth of God’s word from you. And just to understand this clearly, why do you think they had their masses and everything in Latin for so many years? to keep people in the door. Your duty is just the opposite of that. You’re to shine as much light as you can with regard to God’s word. Make it all known. I have found sometimes some of the obscure things that we know from Scripture, sometimes people ask questions that here we are. We happen to know this and we can relate it to them because God has revealed it to us. And so you never know what you’re going to need. This is like your toolbox. This Bible is a toolbought. It’s got all the tools in it. But you need all of them. You may not need everyone at once. And some are more useful than others, perhaps, at times. But you’re going to need them all somewhere along the line. Everything that God has revealed is useful to us. Beneficial. So your duty is to give others the whole truth revealed by God. Now, you have a duty to give others. to receive the whole truth. While the whole truth is to be preached, our text seems to imply at least this idea. Well, if the whole truth is to be taught, then the people who are listening ought to take in the whole truth. You ought to be willing to receive all that Jesus taught, whether it be in secret or whether it be public. The scripture says in 2 Timothy 4.3 for the time will come when they peace. will not endure sound doctor the danger would be that people wouldn’t want to hear all that Christ has said Isaiah 3010 says prophesied not unto us right things speak unto us smoothings don’t tell us the truth tell us something that is soothing. Tell us something that is soothing and isn’t that what we find in our so-called churches today I use so-called because some of them are own churches in name only, that we don’t want to offend people, we don’t want to upset anybody, so we’re not going to say anything that’s going to cause any waves. We’re not going to preach against sin powerfully, tell them that they need to repent, things of this nature, because that might upset and they may not come back. So nothing offensive is to be said. Who are you to decide what is offensive and what isn’t offensive? Who are you to decide among God’s? truth what to give the person and what not to give the person. There are many places you’ll never hear any of the hard sayings of Christ. You’ll never hear it. They’re kept secret. The doctrine of God’s sovereign election is twisted and distorted in such a way that you would think that God’s foresight of the decision of man’s free will is what it’s all about. Really? the duty of a Christian is to obey the Ten Commandments as a rule of life. But there are a lot of places that won’t teach that. Oh, we can’t be bringing the Ten Commandments out and using it to measure people’s lives with. So they tell them, oh, you can remain a carnal Christian. You can have your so-called profession of faith, and you can live like the world. you can be as sinful as you want to be and you’ll be okay because you prayed this prayer back in 1972. You will listen in vain to some preachers to hear the most blatant types of sins even condemned. How is it that so many church organizations allow for homosexual ministers? How is that even possible? go to a funeral service and you’ll hear everybody goes to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven. And that’s why people will go to the, you know, they’ll go to these things and they want to hear some kind of rosy, upbeat statement. The doctrine of hell fires too frightening for people. But when you go to a funeral service, probably the best thing the minister could ever do for your soul is teach the way of salvation and Christ, and what happens to those who do not believe on Christ that hell awaits them the judgment is coming for you can’t do the dead person any good You’re speaking to the living and you’re telling them you should prepare for death You need to be prepared for the day you’re going to die because you’re going to die just like this person did But how many people want to hear that they don’t want to hear that in the book of Jeremiah? We read the prophets prophes I false they only prophesy good things. Nothing bad. The priests bear rule by their means. They follow their own ways, not God’s law. And my people love to have it so. Why do you think the priests talk that way? Why do you think the prophets prophesied that way? Because the people don’t want to hear anything different. People sit comfortably during the church service because they never hear a church service. discouraging word. They never hear a rebuke. I never hear a call to repentance. Never anything about changing their ways, their lifestyle or anything like that. They want to be assured that all is well with their soul. So they’re never alarmed. There’s no wake-up call, so to speak, from the pulpit. My friend, that’ll never happen if someone teaches everything that Christ teaches because he spoke on hell more than anybody else. He talked about the judgment to come. He talked about sin and how wicked it was and what a violation of the Ten Commandments really was. And it wasn’t just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. We can go on and on, but all that God has said is what people need to hear. So you were to proclaim the whole counsel of God. I think that’s what verse 17 is about. Now verse 18, you’re to take heed as to how you hear God’s revealed truth. Here’s what he says. Take heed therefore, how ye hear. For whosoever half to him shall be given. And whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Now friends, let me say this morning, and I think this is important. It’s not a light thing to hear the word of God. Take heed how you hear. You’re given a caution here. Stop and think about the fact that God’s voice is found in the word. God speaks through his word when it is proclaimed faithfully. Now we might hear speeches of men. We can take them or leave them. But when the Lord speaks, it’s not a matter of us saying, you know, taking it nonchalantly. It’s the Lord who’s speaking here. It’s not a trifling thing. Then to hear the word of God because God is speaking through this means. For this reason, you read in the scripture, about those who tremble at the word. in Isaiah 66 in verse 5. they have a right sense of what is taking place when they hear the word of God. God is speaking. You know, when Israel was at Mount Sinai, God spoke to them from the mountain top. And they said, don’t let him speak. Those are you go up and talk to and you come down Moses and you tell them. what’s what he said. It was terrifying to them. My friends, God is still speaking. He’s speaking here through his word. When you come to the assembly of God’s people and you join in the worship of the most high God, you ought to think how awe-inspiring this assembly is where the gospel is preached. It’s not other than the house of God. It’s the gate of heaven. For God meets with us. That’s why worship is so important. You’ll recall when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, what happened? The people that heard the message, they were pricked in their heart. And they said on the Peter, and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They were terrified by the situation they were in. For he told them that they were going to perish. They need to flee from the situation they were in. That they were guilty of crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Lord of glory. My friend, the Word of God is quick. It’s alive. It’s a powerful thing. Sharper than a two-edged sword. It can pierce into people. It can get down into their soul, so to speak. Conviction. Now, the Word of God also does more than just bring conviction. of sin. It can also lift your spirit. We were listened to Anna’s Psalm tape on the way here. And there was a Psalm that has mix your trembling with your mirth. You know, when the Word of God is taught, there’s something in it should make us tremble. But there’s also something that should cause us to rejoice. We might have to tremble before we rejoice. but there’s something also there to benefit our souls. During the days of Nehemiah, the priests and the Levites caused the people to understand the law by explaining its meaning. We read in Nehemiah 8, verses 7 and 8. And at first, when the people heard the law proclaimed and explained to them, the Bible says they wept. What did Nehemiah and Ezra say to them? Don’t be Grieved, rejoice. What might make you grieve it first also contains within it hope and encouragement. These are also the effects of God’s word. The word of God wounds, but it heals. It has the bomb in it as well as the knife or the sword, so to speak. And so the people made great mirth and celebrated because the understood the words that were spoken under them. I like that Psalm 19 when it talks about the Word of God. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. There are promises in the Word of God. There are encouragements in the Word of God that rejuvenate the downcast, the discouraged. Jeremiah said, thy words were found and I did eat them. I partook of them. And they were the joy and rejoicing in my heart. In Jeremiah 1516. Isn’t that way it should be too? God’s truth first makes your heart right. It corrects you with regard to sin, but then it gives you the joy that you should have with the right spirit, the right heart. Free grace that’s found in Christ always brings the heart. joy. Always. heavenly truth and the blessing of salvation always is a comfort to our soul. Friends, the sweetest joys on earth come to those who know God’s truth as it is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They’re the sweetest joys on earth. So you should realize it’s not a light thing to hear the Word of God. There’s something powerful here. Not only conviction of sin, but also brings joy to the soul. Secondly, you should realize it’s not an easy thing to hear Word of God. You should hear attentively. Now, many people sit in church. They’re there physically, but their minds are not on what’s being spoken. Your mind has a tendency to drift away sometimes. When the Word of God is preached, you can be thinking of a thousand other things. There are a lot of distracting thoughts, you don’t think Satan’s busy where you’re a church? You don’t think he’s working while you’re here? He’s working? He would like to distract you as much as possible. When you come to church, there’s a sense in which we need to have a conscious effort to clear our minds of all the worldly things around us, the worldly thoughts, and say, I’m going to focus on what God says in his word today. I want to hear what God has to say to me. I read of a handicapped man who was mentally deficient. But he excelled at one thing back in the 1800s. He was really good at carrying messages from one place to another and delivering them word for word. And that’s what he did. That was his job. And when the person told him the message, he would always stand with one hand closed over one ear, as the guy spoke into the other ear. As soon as he received the message, he put his other hand over his other ear. So now he has both ears closed by his hands, and he would run to the next person that he was supposed to deliver the message to. When asked why he did this, he said that when he heard the message, he didn’t want it to get out the other ear, so he put his hand up on this side. And then upon receiving the message, he didn’t want it to lose any of it, so he put a hand on both ears and then ran, so that when he got there, it would still be in his head. Now that’s sort of amusing for us to think about. There’s no reality to that. But if I could say this this morning, maybe there is some wisdom and at least the sentiment of what he’s trying to do. Take pains to carefully hear the word of God and retain it. Hear attentively. Here with faith. You need to believe that every word of God is true. We’ll come to pass. You know, during a wilderness journey, the declaration of God’s word did not profit the Israelites were told. Why is that? Well, the writer of He Hebrews tells us. He says the reason why it didn’t profit them it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2. Unless your faith is active, as you’re hearing the word of God, how can you benefit from the word of God? A lack of faith then can hold back God’s blessing. When God spoke to Abraham, you read that God believed, or Abraham believed God. He believed. what God said. He didn’t stagger in unbelief. And so when we hear God’s word, and we should follow Abraham’s example, we should believe what God says to us. Here with faith. Hear with prayer. You ought to pray for God’s blessing before you come to church. Before the sermon is even preached, you should have prepared your heart to receive the word. And even when it’s finished, we should pray that God would apply it. We should follow David’s example in Psalm 119, verse 18, open thou mine eyes that I may behold, behold, wonders, things out of thy law. Here is the grand effect of many who hear the word of God because they come to hear it, but they lack preparation to receive it. If you fail to ask for a blessing from God’s word, you may not receive one. And ye shall receive, are the words of Christ. So learn this lesson. There’s nothing automatic in the spirit of realm. Just having your body sitting in the seat and hearing the message with your ear does not guarantee that it’s going to benefit you. You have not because you ask. Ask. Ask. And you shall receive. So if you realize it’s not an easy thing to hear the Word of God. Thirdly, you should realize there is a blessing as well as a punishment associated with hearing the Word of God. There’s a contrast here between Him that Hath Him who only seemeth to have. You see that contrast here in this verse. He that hath is the one who has faith in Christ. And so he gains all the advantages, all the blessings, all the spiritual benefits of the Word of God. If you are truly saved and you hear the Word of God rightly, you shall be given more blessings. Matthew’s Gospel in 1312 says He shall have abundance. Your privileges shall be continued and increase. we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And hearing the Word of God will enable us to do that if we hear it. the more knowledge granted to you of the Word of God the more you’ll be able to understand. you can keep building on what you’ve already learned. More will be given to you. On the other hand, who is or have not faith in Christ? And therefore, no spiritual eyesight cannot improve his condition. Whatever you may think you know about biblical things, you will not benefit from it. Indeed, that advantage will be snatched away from you. What he says is. seemeth to have. He doesn’t actually have it. He may profess, he may show up, but he doesn’t have it. As a graceless person, you’ll be stripped of the apparent knowledge that you think you have. It will prove to be transitory. It will prove to be shallow. There are many people who seem to be religious, but their religion is in vain. Your knowledge is spiritually defective. You can be like the scribes and Pharisees. There are people who Paul says are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Demas. When Jesus talks to him about the new birth or regeneration, he doesn’t understand it. And what did Jesus say to him? 310 of John? Aren’t thou a master of Israel? Aren’t you one of the chief teachers of Israel? And no, it’s not these things? How is it? You don’t know this. Because he only seemeth they have it. Lesson one is this. If you’ve not been saved by grace through Christ, you are promised that your spiritual knowledge and insight will be defective. It will be taken away from you. If you are saved by grace through Christ, you are promised that your spiritual knowledge and insight will increase as you hear the word of God. This is why we should always pray for spiritual illumination. And I try to talk to people when I’m witnessing to them and try to get them to read the Bible. One of the things I tell them is, You need to pray that the Lord will open your eyes so that you will understand what you’re reading. Because we should realize this book is such a book that it requires illumination by the Spirit. Your soul will not benefit from your religious knowledge unless your mind is illuminated. And you are saved by grace. So you take heed as the how. hear God’s revealable. As one minister said concerning why people don’t benefit from hearing the word of God, he says the problem is too generous. Don’t give everything away. Don’t say, oh, that’s for so-and-so next to me. It’s not for me. It’s all for you too. Take it all to heart. In your witness to others, don’t hesitate to reveal to them the whole counsel of God. There’s nothing in the script. that’s going to be detrimental to them. Oh, I better not tell them this. It’s too early. Everything in the Word of God is beneficial. And you’re hearing the Word of God, make sure that you hear it rightly, because that’s the way you’ll be benefited, and you will grow in grace and acknowledge of the Lord. Let us close with the Word of Prayer this morning.