Jesus comes to every one's home.
In the most holy, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
In the dark valley, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
In the low, low, low, Jesus comes.
In the low, low, in the deep, Jesus comes.
For the last year, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
In the low, low, low, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
For the last year, Jesus comes.
For the songs of Jesus, Jesus comes.
For the joy of his peace, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
In the low, low, valley, Jesus comes.
Together is the one's home.
Amen.
Let's turn ahead to the song of the five.
That song of the five, the one I surrender, the one who is cross.
Song of the five.
There is a river
While it's true it's a glory
Why do I just think that I'm well lost?
Love of God
Oh, may it more than the truth
Oh, my sacrifice
God is one
Oh, have no hatred of mine, that were pleasant far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine, delight my soul, that my Lord.
And that is time for the announcements.
All right, well, thanks for coming out, everybody, this morning, if you'd like to go ahead and
sit with your hand, let me be brought to you, of course, we have our service time, it's
listed in the upper left-hand side, as always, we're back here tonight at 5.30 p.m., again,
on Thursday at 7, we'll be going through Genesis, chapter number 10, so come on back out for
that, we've got the Churchwide Soul Winning, as well as the Regional Times, and Solidations
for the date thus far.
Over on the right-hand side, the donuts this morning are in honor of those celebrating
the birthday month of March, which apparently is nobody in the church this month, so we're
still going to eat the donuts, I'm sure everybody probably knows somebody that had a birthday
or anniversary this month, so don't feel like you have to crush the donut under your foot
for the fallen homies or anything like that, you can still have one.
Now, if your birthday is not listed in the bulletin or anniversary you'd like it to be,
please get that information to me and I'll be sure to include it in the future.
Also, below that, we have an announcement about Pastor Roger Jimenez from Gary Baptist
Church out there in Sacramento, California, he's going to be preaching up in the Tempe
Church, that's this Wednesday, on March 6th at 7 p.m., and I know brother Adam is planning
on taking a church ban up there, so as space permits, it's kind of a first come, first
serve basis, if you want to go up there and catch a ride, the church ban's going to be
going up there, and so probably, you know what time you guys are going to want to head
out of here, approximately?
I think around five, five thirty.
Five, five thirty, so that'll give you enough time to probably catch the service, so they
probably get back sometime between ten and eleven, I'd have to imagine, it's about an
hour and a half there and back, so, but that's it, you got that opportunity to go up there
and hear some great preaching, that's always a great service when Pastor Jimenez
comes out.
Also, we have the Tempe events up there, just some small town soloing events that are going
to be taking place later this month.
The Tempe group, with brother Randy Cooper again, if you're interested in participating
in any of these, please speak to me at any of the arrangements.
That'll do it for announcements, let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get
into this morning.
Let's go ahead and sing it one more time.
Let's sing it one more time.
You see, when we receive knowledge, that makes us accountable.
If you would, go to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter number 12.
That's what happened with the Jewish people, with Israel at that time.
They had been given a lot of the oracles of God come unto them.
A lot of preaching had been done.
Christ himself is there. He's being rejected.
What happens is, when we receive knowledge, when we're given an advantage, we're also held to a higher level of accountability.
This is what Jesus taught in Luke chapter 12, look at verse 47.
Verse 47, and that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
So the servant, the guy who knows what God wants, who knows the Lord's will, but has become complacent and does not prepare himself,
neither does what has bidden him, is going to be beaten with many stripes.
He's saying there's going to be a higher level of accountability for that servant that knows what is supposed to be done and has grown complacent.
But he that knew not, verse 48, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.
So the same guy who is a servant but doesn't really know what to do because he hasn't been told, is going to have less accountability.
So we can apply that today by saying this, that if you're coming to a church where doctrine is being expounded,
where the word of God is being taught, and you're receiving instruction, and you clearly understand it, and then ignore it,
and say well I'm not going to do it, you're going to be held to a higher level of accountability.
Now is God going to, is anybody going to come beat you with literal stripes? No.
No, you know, the stripes there are talking about like a whip, like the stripe that it would leave, right?
So obviously you're not going to get a physical punishment, right?
But God might punish us, God might have more chastening for us, or it just might be that we're going to be held more accountable in eternity.
And that, I do believe, and we're going to get into that in a minute here, okay?
There will be an accountability given in eternity.
And your complacency or your obedience will be manifested in eternity, okay?
I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit there, but I'm just trying to lay the groundwork right now.
Knowledge creates accountability, and if we become complacent, then, you know, we're going to receive a punishment of sorts,
either on this earth, and certainly in eternity, it will be, it will be known.
And what, you know, the other thing we can learn from this is that when we fail to comply, it's frustrating, isn't it?
I mean, think about the parent and a child.
You know, when you tell your kid to do something, and they just, they pretend, you know, they had that selective hearing,
it's like they heard you, but they're just ignoring you, right?
You know, you got to tell them again and again. It's frustrating.
It's frustrating, you know, for me, whenever I have to hear my wife repeat herself to her children.
You know, it upsets me. I'm like, why aren't you listening to your mother?
Why don't you do things immediately? Obey right away. That's obedience.
You just do it the first time, right?
And look, we're all guilty of that, to some degree, OK?
But, you know, that same principle of, you know, ignoring the commands of leadership, it doesn't, it frustrates leadership, right?
And obviously, God is the greatest leader. Like, that's who we're most accountable to.
So when God, you know, is teaching us and instructing us and giving us opportunity, and we're ignoring it, it frustrates God.
I mean, how couldn't it? That's kind of what he's showing us in Luke 12, that the master, you know, of that servant becomes frustrated and says,
well, you know, there's going to be a greater punishment for you, OK?
And I'm just trying to get that concept in our minds as we move forward through the parable here.
And if you want to go back to Mark, chapter number four.
So he starts out by showing us that he gives this parable and then the 12 have to come to him and say, interpret.
Tell us what this means. And the reason why Jesus did that, why he kind of left everybody that was there on this cliffhanger,
you know, kind of gave a parable and just kind of walked away and then explained it later privately,
is because he's showing us that some people are not permitted to understand these things because their ears are dull of hearing,
because their hearts have waxed gross, because they have come complacent.
So that doesn't seem very fair. Well, you know, I mean, maybe Jesus just understood it wasn't worth it.
Why waste your breath? Kind of a thing. Maybe he understood that, you know, I could sit here and take another 15,
20 minutes to explain this parable of these people. But you know what?
Their ears have grown dull of hearing and they've closed their eyes.
They don't want to hear it anyway. Why waste my breath? You know, we've probably all experienced that.
You know, where we say, you know, if I told I could help this person, I could teach this person.
They're not seeing something. I could give them instruction. I give them advice. But you know what?
I already know how that person is. And it probably would just be a waste of my breath.
You know, that would just frustrate them. Right.
But he does give instruction to the 12, those that come under him. Right.
And that's who we want to be in the Christian life. We want to be people that are close to the Lord
and are willing to do those things which are commanded of not to be like the majority of people who really,
you know, are just there to see Jesus do a trick or something. Okay.
The sower, he goes on explains here, the sower soweth the word and these are they by the wayside where the word is sown
when they have heard and when they have heard Satan cometh immediately taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
So he gives the parable of the first type of ground, the seed that is sown by the wayside. Okay.
It's a particular type of ground. The problem with this ground is that when that seed is sown,
it's immediately snatched away by Satan. And what he's referring to here is the preaching of the gospel. Okay.
The sower is the one that goes out and preaches the word. Right. Because he says the sower soweth the word. Right.
The gospel. He preaches the word of God. Most people understand this parable.
I don't feel like I need to go into a lot of background on that. People, that's a very well accepted interpretation of this passage.
That's what he's saying. Okay. And he's telling us that there's going to be a lot of people when we go and sow seed,
when we go out and preach the gospel, they're going to hear and whatever we say to them,
whatever's preached on them is going to be snatched away out of their heart by Satan. And that's unfortunate, isn't it?
And it shows us, you know, that we have a real enemy in this world who's trying to prevent people from getting saved.
That's why it's so important to preach the gospel and to preach it in abundance. I mean, think about being a sower.
Right. I used to have a job a long time ago where we would go and seed topsoil. You know,
people would have topsoil spread on their new home. You know, we would go and backfill lots
and then we would put out four inches of black, dark, rich soil and then we would have to go sow that seed.
You know, we didn't go around just going like this, like a little seed here, square foot. No, you put a lot of seed out.
You get a spreader. You know, you go out there and you would just put as much seed down as you can.
And so you want because you want that grass to come in thick and full. You know, that's how we have to preach the gospel.
That's that's how it needs to be done because there's a lot of people there.
They're going to come and try and snatch away that seed. There's a lot of fowls in the air.
They're going to come and try and land and take that away and keep that seed from germinating and ever taking root and growing.
You know, I think about this a lot, especially when we're out knocking doors and trying to reach people with the gospel.
It's like, I'm grateful for everybody goes. It's like, but we need like a hundred times more people doing this.
I mean, because that is the Great Commission to preach the gospel to every creature.
And it's like, what about those people that today just wasn't their day?
You know, we need to get back to them. It's like not only we need to preach the first time to everybody,
we need to go back through again and preach it again because some of that seed never took root.
Some of it was snatched away immediately. You know, they they came to the door and there was someone who was willing to preach the gospel to them.
And, you know, the foul of daytime television was on or whatever.
Because the game was on there or they had something on the on the on the on the stove.
And it was, you know, that was just snatched away before they could even have a chance.
You know, we have to go out there and give people a second, third, fourth chance.
It's a huge job. Huge. But let's move on through the parable here.
And they these are these likewise, which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness.
Now, some people have said that these people are not did not get saved.
I do not believe that because if we hear the word and receive it, what is it to receive something to believe it?
Right. To not reject it, but to receive it. These are saved people.
And I'm not going to get into, you know, all the minutia of that because it's really not the point of sermon this morning.
But they'll they'll they'll say things like in verse 17, these have no root in themselves.
Right. So they don't have the root of David. You know, that's that's just a lot of conjecture.
OK, that's that's a lot of, you know, just trying to make connections that really aren't there.
OK, sometimes we can go a little overboard in our interpretation of things.
We need to just let the scripture speak plainly for what it's saying here.
These heard the word and immediately receive it with gladness. And they receive it. They're saved.
They have no root of themselves and so endure for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake.
So why would it you know, if they're not saved, what would persecution matter to them?
You see what I'm saying? Because that's the reason why they are offended and fall away.
Don't bring any fruit into perfection is because of the affliction of persecution that becomes comes because of the word.
Right. A lot of people get into the Christian life at first and they and they're they're excited about it.
But the Bible says, yeah, and all day that live God in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution.
You know, when that starts to get real in people's lives, that's when a lot of people fall away.
When they start, they decide, you know, I didn't sign up for this. You know, I'm glad for salvation. I'm glad Jesus died for me.
I'll take that. You know, I'll take my fire escape. I got my ticket punched to heaven.
But as far as the rest of this that comes along, you know, you all can have that. I'll pass. Right.
And these are they, it says in verse 18, which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things enter in, choke the word and become unfruitful.
And what he's talking about here in verse 19 is the danger of misplaced priorities, having improper priorities, the wrong priorities in life.
OK, this takes out a lot of people. I've seen this just in the short five years that I've been a minister down here full time.
I've seen this in people's lives. If people are get on fire for God, they want to start serving the Lord and then they just get distracted by careers.
They get distracted by jobs, hobbies, activities, just other things, not even necessarily sinful things that creep into their lives and choke the word and become unfruitful.
OK. And I know I've preached this and I pointed this out several times. But the problem here is what's what's really frustrating about this is that these people could be successful as a Christian.
They could do great things for God. Right. And all can. But, you know, they have the ability to bring something to perfection.
They have they can support life. Right. Because remember, you know, the stony ground. The problem is that it's not the proper ground.
It's got too much stone, has no depth in it. They can't get a root down. Right. So the problem is the ground.
OK. It can't withstand the heat of the sun because it has no depth of root. Right.
The other one, the wayside, obviously never even takes root because it's on the wayside. That hard, packed ground that's been trodden under can't even penetrate the soil and is just on the surface for the birds to snatch away.
Right. Those are unsafe people. This one with the thorny ground is supporting life. I mean, think about it. Thorns are a plant just as much as anything else.
Thorns have roots. They go have, you know, they go through the process of photosynthesis and everything else. It's life. It's living. That ground is supporting life.
It's just it's supporting the wrong kind of life. Right. So you can see how it's a matter of wrong priorities.
It's good ground, the ground of work. But they're more concerned about growing this hobby, this career.
You know, they're more concerned about the things of this world, the riches and the cares of this life than they are the preaching of the word of God.
Misplaced priorities. And I'm not going to go I'm going to run out of time before I know it.
So I'm just going to skip ahead here a little bit and turn you over to Matthew six.
Just remind us again, this is why Jesus tells us to lay up treasures in heaven, OK, to have our priorities right to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
In verse 20, And these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit, some 30 fold, some 60 and some 100.
Now, what makes the ground good? It's free of stone. So it has depth and it's free of thorns.
It doesn't have the cares of this life creeping in and choking out that fruitful vine of Christian living.
Now, it's interesting here, verse 20, it says that they these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit.
Right. So the good ground has the seed sown on it and then brings forth fruit.
And what is fruit? It's just another like an actual piece of fruit is just a delivery system for a seed.
Right. The apple has the seed in it that can then germinate and become another apple tree.
Right. So this is if you would go to Proverbs chapter 11, I know a lot of us know this, but let's just take a look at it very quickly.
Look at one verse of Proverbs chapter 11. So you see this concept here that the seed is sown.
That sowed germinates, grows up in the good ground and then produces fruit.
And what is that fruit? More seed. Right. It produces more seed that's going to be sown.
And that's how we are as Christians. You know, we hear the gospel, we get saved.
And then if we're on good ground, if we're clear of the of the of the thorns in our lives,
if we've gotten the rocks out of our lives, if we've broken up that follow ground and receive the word of God and have the right priorities and not have come complacent and have not become dull of hearing,
you know, we will begin to bring forth fruit also. And what is that fruit? More Christians. We will reproduce after our kind.
This is what is made very clear in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree. Right. The fruit of a tree is a tree. Right.
And anyone, we all understand this. Right. Maybe we need to explain these these farming concepts a little bit more because we're all a bunch of city slickers and we're so out of touch.
You know, we're like, I thought fruit showed up at the grocery store. You know, I thought they made it at the grocery store.
It's like, no, someone grew that somewhere. Right. There was an orchard where that was grown. OK.
It's like, what do we have in abundance here? We have a lot of here. We'll revive the debate. Is it pecan or pecan?
It's pecan. OK. And it is right. Someone challenged me on that. That's how it's pronounced.
We have a lot of. But, you know, for those of you that are a little bit. I'll say it the way I like to say it, because it's it just sounds more dignified pecan.
Right. We have the pecan trees here. Right. There's pecans down here and pecans up there.
That's what we grow around this region. Right. But what you know, if that I wish I would have chosen another fruit because I don't like that word pecan.
But, you know, if that thing that pecans falls into the ground, what's it going to bring forth? Pecans?
No, it's going to bring forth a tree. Right. So I'm guessing everybody gets the theory.
You know, I'm from the cherry capital of the world, Traverse City, Michigan. And, you know, we have pits in the cherry as a seed.
If that cherry goes in the ground, it's going to bring forth more cherry trees. That's how we're supposed to be as Christians.
This is what it means to live a fruitful Christian life. That's what we bring forth.
You know, the fruit of the spirit is something that the spirit brings forth in our life.
The love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, weakness, temperance.
That's the fruit of the spirit working in our lives as we walk in the spirit and are full of the spirit.
It bears that fruit in our lives. However, we as Christians, we have to endeavor to bear fruit in another way.
And that fruit is other Christians. OK. Because the fruit of the righteous is another tree of life.
How does he end the verse? And he that wineth souls is wise. So soul winning is a biblical term.
And we can debate on how it ought to be spelled. But, you know, to hyphenate or not to hyphenate.
I'm a non hyphenator when it comes to soul winning. But the point of this is, is that, you know,
our fruit is the souls that we win to Christ. The people that we win to Christ, that's the fruit we're supposed to be bearing in our lives.
And how do we do that? By clearing out the thorns, because, you know, it's going to take effort on your part to win souls to Christ.
You have to have the right priorities because soul winning is work. It's labor.
And I get it. We all have busy lives and we all have to carve out time to make it happen.
We all have to say, you know what? This is important to me. This is the fruit that I'm supposed to be bearing.
I'm going to go preach the gospel on Sunday afternoon, on Saturday afternoon, on a weeknight.
I'm going to get with Brother Gabriel. We're going to go out. We're going to preach. I'm going to go out on my own.
I'm going to get with another brother. We're just going to go on our own. You know, I'm going to go to this soul winning marathon.
I'm going to go to that small town soul winning event. You know, that's you put it making soul winning a priority.
I'm not saying you have to do all of it. But, you know, we have to carve out time in our lives to bring forth fruit unto perfection.
And this is why some people bring forth thirty and some sixty and some a hundred.
Because some people, you know, are able to make it more of a priority.
Some people, you know, they're going to be thirty fold Christians, but we need them to.
Maybe they're in a different season of life. The busy mother. Right. The busy dad.
The busy parent who, you know, has a very full schedule and it's very difficult for that.
They can't just break away at a moment's notice and fly to Fiji. Right.
They can't. They're not going to just go on the Fiji trip and go to.
You know, they can't go to the Philippines and help win twenty eight hundred people to Christ like just happened because they have all these responsibilities.
Right. But look, we need the thirty fold Christians, don't we? It all adds up.
I mean, what if what if we were only going to go soul winning if we were a hundred fold Christians?
Well, I'm only going to go if I can win a hundred people. If I'm guaranteed to win a hundred people the Lord, I'll start soul winning.
Every year. Because, right, we're talking about there's a seasonality here.
We're talking about a tree that brings forth fruit annually. Right. So it's in the terms of a year.
I'll go soul winning if I can win a hundred souls to Christ every year.
Well, you know, you just you know, you might be setting the bar too high for yourself because there's you know, there's a season to life too.
You know, if you're some middle aged person with a career and responsibilities and you can't just break away at every moment to go on these,
you know, super receptive soul winning trips, you know, a hundred might not be realistic.
But what if that's the attitude everybody had? Well, I'm only going to win one hundred. We would win less souls.
In reality. Because, you know, the third, you know, if we have let's say we have, you know, four people that I'll say, hey, I can't win one hundred,
but I can win thirty. Right. How many souls would that be? One hundred twenty. Right.
If we had we had four people that won thirty souls a year, that'd be one hundred twenty.
That'd be more than one person bringing forth one hundred in one year.
I'd rather have four people that could win thirty souls to Christ every year.
Then, you know, one person that could win one hundred, because that would actually in the long run win more souls to Christ, wouldn't it?
But that would take that, you know, whatever fold you're going to bring forth, however many you're going to bring forth,
it's not going to happen if you're complacent. Okay. And you say, man, you preach on soul winning so much.
Yeah, I know. Because it comes up so much. And don't grow dull of hearing on this point.
Don't don't let your heart wax gross. Don't close your eyes.
Don't come dull of hearing when it comes to the preaching about the preaching about the preaching of the gospel.
You know, we need to hear this. We need to be reminded. This is what we're here to do as Christians, to win souls to Christ.
Well, I've never won a soul of Christ. I don't know how to do it. Well, you're in the right place.
There's lots of people here that know how to do it. You know, and they could take you out and you can learn.
You know, you can learn the ropes for as long as it takes and go be a silent partner and never undervalue the silent partner.
You know, if we have four people and, you know, none of them are talkers, you know, that's three that are talkers
or that are non talkers or one that is, you only have one team. Right.
But if you get one more talker, you know, now you have two teams.
We have two people going out that can both preach the gospel and then two non preachers show up that are learning the ropes.
Now we have two teams that there's value in that.
And eventually those people will become, you know, soul winners themselves in time.
I guarantee you that. I promise you that if you go soul winning long enough, you're going to and you're a silent partner.
Eventually it's going to get the place where you're just going to you're just going to elbow your soul any partner out of the way.
You're going to hip check them on the port porch, you know, into the shrubs or something and say, I got this.
You know, and you're going to preach the gospel. I mean, that's how it was for me.
I mean, I didn't know how to go soul winning and I go out soul winning in about six to eight weeks in.
I'm just like, man, I could do this. And I would be like, why did you say that?
You know, and I got critical, which was a wrong spirit. You know, I'm like, man, I could do better than this guy.
And then I did it and I was like, OK, I couldn't do as good as that guy.
Because a lot of it, you just have to get comfortable doing it. Right. Which just takes time. Right.
And look, that's that's a big reason why people won't go soul winning because they're just they're uncomfortable with the idea of preaching,
of talking to a stranger about their eternal soul. Right. And I get it.
You know, it's it's it's especially at the beginning, it can feel awkward.
But you just you just know what the only way to get through that is to do it.
And to me, it's like at this point I've been doing it so long, I might as well be talking about the weather.
I've asked people so many times, hey, are you 100 percent sure you're going to go to heaven when you die?
It's like saying, you know, so what do you know, how about you know, how about these?
I don't know, some team, you know, it's like I'm talking about sports, weather, you know, politics.
It's like not that I talk about politics or sports, really.
You know, I try not to talk about the weather, especially around here.
But, you know, it's just it's just as natural as talking about anything else because because you made it a priority.
And look, I'm not trying to lift myself up. I'm just using myself as an example.
And in other words, other people in this church, we could say the same thing about people that were not complacent,
not dull of hearing, that understood what Jesus is stressing here, that we need to win souls to Christ and went out there
and cleared out the thorns in their lives and went out there and sowed some seed.
And they could say the same thing and say, you know what? It's just as natural to me as anything else.
I could talk to a person about the gospel as easily as I could talk to them about anything else.
It's just they've done it so much. But it's only people that are not complacent on this point.
That have not allowed the thorns to choke them out in this world.
Look at verse 21. Let's go back to our passage in Mark 4. We've got to wrap this up.
It says there in Mark Chapter 4. So he gives the parable, right? He gives the parable.
Hey, you want to know what this is? Well, because your ears are not dull of hearing,
because your heart hasn't waxed gross, because your eyes have been closed. I'll go and explain it to you guys.
You have this privilege, OK? Because I know you guys will actually do something about it.
I'm not going to waste my breath. I'll tell you what it means. And he tells them it's about soul winning.
It's about bringing forth fruit. OK? He gives them that.
He interprets it and says, hey, be the good ground, basically. But then he says in verse 21,
he said to them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed not to be set on a candlestick?
And verse 21 is connected, right? Jesus explains the parable and says, hey,
there's some people that bring forth 30 and some 60 and some 100 fold fruit in this life.
And then he connects it with verse 21. He says, a candle is not brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed.
What's he saying here? He's saying in light of the fact that you have received the word
unto good ground and you can bring forth fruit. Don't hide the light.
Don't put the light of the gospel under a bushel. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but rather on a candlestick and give light unto all them
that are on the house. Look, the gospel is meant to be proclaimed. It's not meant to be sat on and hidden.
God's not trying to play peekaboo with the world. He's not playing hide and seek.
Christ has come, has died, has been buried and risen again. We have his word.
We have the inspired word of God. He wants it proclaimed throughout the whole earth.
He wants the whole world to know that the Lord is God.
He wants all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth.
He has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. It's our job to go do it.
He's saying don't hide that light. It's not meant to be hidden.
You need to bring forth fruit and you're not going to do it if you're going to hide that light under a bushel or under a bed.
That just sounds like such a huge fire hazard. Putting candles under beds.
What are you asking? You're just going to burn the place down.
It's to be set on a candlestick and be displayed so people can see the light and find their way through.
People, the wicked of this world, they stumble. They walk in the darkness.
They know not at which they stumble. If our gospel be hidden, it is hidden in their lost.
It is hidden to those whom the God of this world hath blinded their eyes.
They walk in darkness. We have to shine the light of the gospel in this world.
That's what this church is here to do. That's the mission of this church.
Look, I'm all for us doing other things. We want to go do other things
and have fun as a church and get together and socialize and fellowship and all that.
That's great. But understand, that is not the meat and potatoes of this church.
That's the gravy. The meat's the preaching of the word of God.
The potatoes, the starch, that's the energy to get you out there and do the work.
All these other frivolous things that have no bearing on eternity, that's just gravy on top.
Sometimes that gravy boat's full. Sometimes that gravy boat's running a little dry.
We're coming to kind of a dry season on the gravy.
The gravy days will come again. We'll pour some more gravy, but let's focus on the meat and potatoes of this ministry.
Preaching the word, preaching the gospel, getting out there and not hiding this light.
That's what we're here to do and pray forth fruit.
Now, I want to get to this point, and I know I'm past my time a little bit here,
but let me just make this last point because I did say we're going to get through all these verses.
Verse 21, he said, He said unto them, Is a candle put under a bushel or under a bed, and not to be sent a candlestick?
Verse 22, For there is nothing hid that shall not be manifested,
neither is there anything kept secret that it should come abroad.
This isn't a hard shift. Jesus isn't jerking the wheel here. This is all connected.
So what is the parable about? About doing the work of God, having the right priorities.
The passage is about not being complacent. It's about doing God's work, preaching the gospel, not hiding the light.
And he's showing us, and I believe verse 22 is telling us that our work shall be manifested.
That it's going to become apparent, just like that servant who knew who lived,
just like that servant who knew whose Lord's will and did it not was held accountable.
We are going to be held accountable for the works we do or do not do.
We'll be rewarded. You know, accountability can be a good thing if you have a good report.
We're going to receive reward. He said, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Our works, our lack thereof, will be made known. And that will be in eternity.
Now, if you would, just go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. I know I got you here, but it's Sunday morning.
You know, there's coffee back there. There's donuts. You know, you should have had some before you got in.
Let's get through this this morning. I'll try to move through quickly.
Our works are going to are going to be held accountable. That's what I believe.
Verse 22 is referring to when he says there is nothing hid. Okay.
Which shall not be manifested. Neither was there anything kept secret.
It's not talk because some people say, Oh, your sins are going to be found out.
Well, I don't believe that. I don't believe God's going to like some people said just crazy things like God.
When we get to heaven, God's going to replay all our sins in front of everybody.
Now, that might make it for good preaching. That's a good scare tactic to try and get people to live right.
But it's not biblical. Okay. God God forgets our sins.
If we confess our sins to forsake them, we have mercy. We have an advocate with Jesus Christ the righteous.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and justice to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It's not going to bring up all our sins. It's ridiculous to think that. Okay.
But what is going to be made manifest, what is going to be come abroad is going to be the work that we did.
Right. Because just think about it. If I said, Hey, you know, next week, everybody that memorizes this passage of Scripture is going to get a reward.
You're going to be able to tell who did memorize the passage. Right. Because they won't have a reward.
Right. Their lack of works is made manifest. And the fact that they didn't receive reward. Okay.
It's the same thing in heaven. Bible says in John four.
There are yet four months that come at the harvest. To say not there are yet four months that come at the harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, live with your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages. He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.
The guy that goes out into that field and works the harvest and reaps in the harvest goes out and preaches the word,
sows the seed and brings forth fruit and has a harvest. He will receive wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.
An eternal reward. And that he that both that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Right. So there is an eternal reward for our labor. Okay. First Corinthians three makes this very clear.
Verse nine. We are laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building.
Jump down to verse 12. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Kind of a cryptic passage.
But what we know for certain is that every man's work shall be made manifest.
The works and the labors that we did for Christ in this world shall be made manifest in heaven, in eternity.
When exactly? I don't know. Is it during the millennial reign? Is it just prior the millennial reign?
Somewhere in there, there's going to be a judgment where our works are tried so as by fire.
Perhaps that fire is a reference to the word of God. Okay. But he says, verse 14,
If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
Okay. That's Paul. Jesus just said in John four that he that reapeth receiveth wages until life eternal.
So there is a reward. So our works shall be manifest.
That's what I believe Jesus referring to in Mark 4 22 when he says there's nothing which is hid,
neither which shall not be manifested. Now there's anything kept secret that should come abroad.
Because it's all in the context of laboring and bringing forth fruit. Okay.
So he's saying, look, you know, labor, work for the Lord, preach the gospel because it's going to be known.
And it's not going to be a thing of of trying to embarrass people and say, oh, you didn't do enough or you didn't do anything.
It's just going to be we're going to see in heaven the people that did work and didn't and didn't work.
Because some people are going to have more reward in heaven than others. This is a fact.
We don't you don't all get a participation trophy in heaven. It's not how it works.
God's not concerned with your feelings. Okay. And he shouldn't be because everyone has this.
It's all an equal footing. We all have the same opportunity. Your Bible.
You know, if you got a King James Bible, which is the one you should have, says the same thing.
Mine does has the same gospel in it. If you're saved, you have the same Holy Spirit that I do and anybody else does.
We both live in the same city. We're both surrounded by the same amount of sinners.
And we can both carve out time out of our busy schedules to go out there and preach the gospel.
We all have are on equal footing to go out into the late into the into the harvest and labor for the Lord and to receive wages.
And if we choose not to, that's on us. But the problem is, is that the reason you have to constantly bring this up is because human nature is not very good at thinking ahead.
We really don't think about what it's going to be like in the future. I mean, even just in goal setting, you know, annually.
You know, I want to do I want to accomplish this goal by the end of the year. We get so unmotivated because, you know, we're just so concerned about the here and now.
Now I'm trying to get people motivated and get the priorities right in light of eternity. Right.
This far off thing, you know, which is really only a breath away when you think about it. But that we have to think about this.
This is something that we have to keep on our minds that every man's work shall be made manifest.
And be rewarded. And it's going to be manifest. You say, how? How are we going to how are we going to know?
Well, I believe that work or that reward will be manifested in different ways.
If you would go over here in First Corinthians, just go over to just go to Matthew, chapter number 20, Matthew, chapter number 20.
One way in which will be are that that work will be manifested or every man's work shall be made known is in the glorified body.
OK, because the Bible says in Daniel, chapter 12, that they that shall be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.
And they shall turn many turn to righteous and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
And Paul tells us that there are stars that that differ in glory. Right.
Some stars are brighter than others. Some stars you can see at dawn and dusk. Right.
Some stars shine even when the sun has become to come up there because they're brighter than other stars.
Right. And they that shall be wise. And who's wise? We looked at it early in Proverbs.
He that win his souls is wise and they that shall be wise and win souls shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.
And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
It sounds to me like the people that go out and preach the gospel and do the work that God has commanded us to do.
That that know the Lord's will and do it. That understand we're held accountable and go out and do it.
They're going their work will be manifested in their glorified body. They'll have a brighter glory.
They'll have there will be something about that that that body where they shine brighter perhaps in some way.
Some some something about that glory will will be different than other people.
OK. It's not fair. It is fair, though. It is fair. We can go preach.
You know, it's just some people choose not to. They have other things that are more important to them in this life.
It's like, OK, well, you know, you will be held accountable.
How about authority in Christ's kingdom?
I don't have time to go to Matthew 25 and remind us the parable of the talents.
The one that, you know, went and brought back more talents. You know, he was given two, brought back 10.
Another one was given two, brought back five. Another one went and hid his talent in the earth.
Right. And and it was said to each of them, you know, be thou over 10 cities, enter down the joy of the Lord.
They were given authority in Christ's kingdom. You know, that's something else.
The Bible says that we shall rule and reign with him. He has made us a priest and kings unto our God.
You know, in Christ's millennial reign, you know, there will be certain people that are given more authority upon this earth than others.
This is what the Bible teaches. And how is he going to base that?
What's that going to be based upon?
Probably the people that have studied and read and learned the word of God and have done the preaching
and the soul winning that they're supposed to be doing on this earth in the here and now.
You know, imagine being a guy that's, you know, done the reading, done the studying,
been at church, being faithful, doing the work, going out, preaching the gospel, having the right priorities,
and then getting getting to heaven and seeing some bum and get that authority.
Some spiritual, you know, bum who just kind of coasted through the Christian life and didn't really do anything for God.
That he's going to be over 10 cities. No, it's based upon merit. That's how that's doled out.
That's what that parable tells us in Matthew 25.
How about your proximity of your mansion in heaven to Christ?
Right, because I believe there's going to be literal, you know, Jesus said,
in that, you know, I go to prepare a place for you. If we're not so, I would have told you in my house there are many mansions.
And when you think about how massive heaven is. Right.
It's it's as long as it is tall as it is wide. It's four square. The New Jerusalem.
And when you break it down, I haven't done the math, but it's like it's like from Phoenix to Seattle is one length.
It's a massive city. Right. So there's no mansions. What's the need for all that room?
It's like there's got to be something in it. We're not just kind of floating around, you know, in this giant cube that's full of nothing.
Right. No, there's mansions there. If it were not so, I would have told you. Right.
But here's the thing. You know, all those mansions can't occupy the same space.
And Christ, you know, he is the temple. And, you know, we're probably going to be at different proximities.
That's, you know, that's a long way to be away from Christ.
Let's just say, you know, roughly it's like from Phoenix to Seattle. Right.
To kind of give us an idea how big it is. And Jesus is like halfway in between.
What would be halfway in between? I can't say Las Vegas because that's where Jesus is going to be.
Kind of in the center, I'm imagining. Right. Salt Lake. Mormon country.
But, you know, it's just the geography. Right. You know, just any anything, any conclusions you draw on your on you now.
So but just for using a geography, you know, I don't want to be in Seattle in heaven.
I don't want to be in Phoenix. I want to get as close to Salt Lake as I can. I want to be as close to Jesus.
I want my mansion parked right up next to his. How could you say that?
Well, that's exactly what James and John, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked Jesus.
She had a request and he said, what is it? And he's paraphrasing.
She said, granted that it should be to my two sons that they should sit upon your right and left hand and glory in heaven.
And he said, you know, can you be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?
Can you drink the cup that I drink? And they say, yeah. He says, you can.
He says, but it's not given unto me to determine where you're going to sit in heaven.
OK. And look, I'm out of time.
But the Bible talks about people that are going to be people in eternity that dwell in the presence of God for all of eternity.
Those that overcome. Right. Those martyrs.
That their reward is to be close to the land, to close to the throne of God than other people.
That's part of our reward, folks. So, I mean, think about it.
God is trying to incentivize the soul winning here. It's not like he's like, just go do it because I told you to.
And look, if that was it, if that was the only reason to do it, that's reason enough.
If God's just like, well, people are going to die and go to hell if you don't preach the gospel. Isn't that motivation enough?
I mean, it should be, you know, and that's really our motive.
But there's nothing wrong with with laboring for reward.
You know, that's not some vain thing. That's not some something to be ashamed of.
I mean, God's saying, hey, I'll reward you. The work will be manifested. The day shall declare it.
You know, nothing. There's nothing that's secret that shall not come abroad.
You know, you might not receive accolades and a pat on the back in this world.
But if you go labor for me, if you don't hide that light under a candle, if you're not complacent like these other people,
if you understand this parable and apply it to your life, I will reward you.
And how will I do that? Well, you can have a more you'll have a more excellent glory in heaven.
I don't know. You'll shine as the firm and brighter than others. Right.
You'll you'll have more authority during the millennial reign. How about having a mansion that's closer to me?
I mean, I don't know. Obviously, we see through glass dark.
We can't ever understand everything about eternity. But it just when you start to put the pieces together,
it kind of seems like there's going to be some people that are are looking at Jesus through binoculars.
And eternity, they might get a moment in front of him.
But then it's like for the rest of eternity, you know, you're kind of being some people are going to be in standing room only.
And look, there's nothing wrong with that. Beats hell by a lot.
Right. But it's like if we're headed there anyway, if we're all we already know we're going there.
Why don't we just use some episodic future thinking and try to put ourselves in that moment and understand that it's a reality.
That these rewards are real. That Jesus wasn't just, you know.
Just saying things to fill up lines in the book in the Bible when he said.
Every man's work shall be made manifest. And don't hide that light.
I had you go to Matthew 20, right? It doesn't matter.
I already already quoted it. But the point of the sermon is this.
What do we learn from Matthew four is the danger of becoming complacent.
It will rob you of your reward. It robbed these people.
Right. It robbed them. They showed up. Oh, man, Jesus is going to break it down for us.
And it gives them just this real basic parable. And they're like, OK. Yeah.
Well, that's it. Right. I mean, what if I just come in this morning, we just read, you know, those first 13 verses or so.
OK, let's close the word of prayer. Didn't expound it. Didn't explain any of it. Go home and figure it out.
You know, you probably give up. So I'm not going to figure it out.
If we didn't have the rest of the verses, you know, we wouldn't we wouldn't know what it meant.
The 12 had to come and explain this. Right. We don't want to be in that crowd of people that don't understand these things.
That are just, you know, have become complacent. Our ears are dull of hearing.
You go deaf to the preaching the word of God, the exhortation to go out and preach the gospel, go deaf to that.
Close your eyes to that. It's going to rob you in eternity.
And it's not I don't I don't know that you're going to be, you know, moping about heaven for the rest of return.
I'm sure you're going to be you know, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of our God.
You know, you'll be glad to sweep the floor in heaven. But, you know, when you see brother or sister, so and so go marching by and she's out shining you.
You know, she's got more reward. She's got a stack of crowns. And it's like, well, you could have had some.
You could have had some if you wanted some. You know, if you were down, you were there and there with me.
You know, brother so and so has got a way. Let's go visit your mansion. Well, you should come see my view.
It's a whole lot closer to Jesus than what you got. You're going to you're going to want to be at their mansion all the time.
They're going to kick you out. Right. Complacency robs us. It robs us in this life and in the next.
You know, misplaced priorities will come at a price. You know, we can enjoy the cares and the riches of this life now.
But you know what? We give it all back. As the song says, by and by, when I look in his face, that scar tattered face,
I'll wish I'd given him more. No matter how much work we do, no matter how many souls we win,
how much we labor for God, when we look into the face of Christ that first time, we'll say, I just I wish I'd done more.
Every single one of us, from the most zealous Christian to the least and everywhere in between,
every single person will look in the face of God and say, I wish I'd given him more.
You know, and that's not that's let's try to minimize that.
OK, and understand that when we misplace our priorities, when we are complacent,
it all comes at an eternal price that cannot be valued, that cannot be measured on this earth.
So in closing, a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for these folks that have come out.
And Lord, thank you for people that have a burden to reach the lost, Lord, and to see people saved from hell and the Lord to to earn rewards in heaven.
Lord, I pray it help us to stay motivated, to stay not not to to be inspired to go win souls, Lord,
not to feel like it's some burden that we must bear, but also that it's, you know, a great opportunity or to to earn rewards for you.
Lord, thank you that you give us salvation freely and Lord, that you also reward us for our labors.
And Lord, truly, you are good. We praise you for it. In Jesus name. Amen.
All right. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are.
Let's open up our hymnals to the song of 263.
The song of 263, Verily, Verily.
Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Ver
Verily, Verily, Verily
Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily
Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Verily, Ver
Have ever last been well.