May 28, 2023

The following transcript has been electronically transcribed. Any errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar should be attributed to the electronic method of transcription and its inherent limitations.

 The effort that you put into that, the focus, the paying attention that you put into that is what will determine the return, the spiritual return back to you.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and he said to them, pay attention to what you hear with the measure you use. It will be measured to you and still more will be added to you for, to the one who has more will be given and from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. So there we go with our text this morning.

This all I think reminds us of a modern-day reality that we unfortunately live with today in our culture and our modern Western culture. Today, we live in a culture that increasingly values equity and in fact promotes equity above all else. We have since the founding of this culture that we think of as the American culture.

We've always lived in a culture that valued equality, which is to say equality of opportunity. However, our modern world, our, our woke world, if you will, has come to value, not so much equality of opportunity, but equity of outcome. You understand the difference between equality of, of. Opportunity and equity of outcome.

The two are not the same, but our culture today has come to view inequity in outcome to be a sure sign of inequality and opportunity. So in other words, if you don't have an equal number of people succeeding in every particular area, then that must be because you don't have an equality of opportunity.

That's the culture that we live in. Well, this concept of equity of outcome is a concept that is utterly foreign to the scriptures. So now to just leave the political arena and back to the text, when we turn to spiritual matters, the scriptures know nothing of this concept of equity, of outcome, and this passage is all about inequity of outcome.

So our passage from verse 23, once again, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. That reminds us once again of this theme. It's been a consistent, strong. Theme in the forefront since the beginning of chapter four and even prior. It's the theme of seeing and hearing you. You we can't miss it. It's been so prominent.

The theme of seeing, behold of hearing. He who has ears to hear. He let him hear three times. In chapter four, we read that phrase some dozen or more times in the gospel. We read that phrase or similar phrases. He who has ears to hear. Let him hear if you have eyes to see. See. And so we remember back from chapter towards the beginning of chapter four, remember that double command.

Behold, listen right at the beginning of the parable. Behold, listen. So there's that double command. See, look, behold, and listen. And then Jesus begins to tell this parable of listening and hearing and receiving and the, the parable of the soils is all about hearing and receiving. Halfway through that parable Mark breaks off to, to have his typical sandwich technique of his literary technique, in which he interrupts this story with another story that helps explain the first story.

And so he interrupts that with this. Of course, this coming to Jesus, asking Jesus, you know, but can you help us with these parables? Which Jesus responds by quoting the prophet Isaiah, seeing they don't see hearing. They won't hear. They have eyes to see, but they don't see, they don't comprehend. They don't proceed.

They have ears to hear, but they can't hear. They won't hear, they won't accept. And so once again, this theme of hearing, seeing now once again, we return back to the theme. We are we after the parable of the lamp, which is all about being able to see this illumination of the lamp, the revealing of the lamp, so that you can see we now turn to the next parable.

But that parable begins with, once again, this phrase, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. You've got ears that enable you to distinguish the sounds, the words that you're hearing. Your brain is capable of interpreting those words into meanings, into ideas. So if you have ears to hear, then hear what I'm saying.

Then he goes from that to the command, verse 24, and he said to them, So that phrase right there clues us into, most likely, this indicates a separate occasion because Mark repeats that phrase and he said to them, that probably means that this parable, this telling of the parable took place in another situation.

Another sitting to the same group, he said to them, So the two them there indicates to us that the people that Jesus is talking to is not the larger crowd, the crowd that was at risk of crushing him when he had to have the boat for his safety to maybe get away if the crowd got out of control. It's not that crowd.

Instead, this is the smaller crowd, the, the crowd that back in chapter three, Jesus called unto himself those whom he desired for himself. This is the same group of people here, his inner disciples, which includes the 12 apostles as well as those others of whom Jesus desired for himself. This constitutes the original church.

So if that's important to see that who Jesus is talking to here is not the larger multitude. Some of whom believe in him, some of whom don't believe in him, most of whom are enthusiastic about his power, but most of whom don't believe in him as the Messiah that's here to save them from their sins. Jesus is not talking to that group, but the smaller group of his chosen followers, he said to them, and here we see the command, pay attention to what you hear.

So there's the command, pay attention. And then we see again, once again, the same theme to what you hear. So we talked about the good soil and the things that the good soil does, the good soil hears, and that's the present tense verb, hears and continues hearing, understands and continues understanding, accepts and continues accepting clings.

Two, holds fast. Two and continues to hold fast. Two and bears fruit, and continues to bear fruit. So here we see once again to the same group of people. Jesus says, pay attention to what you hear. Once again, bringing us back to the theme of hearing. And not only hearing, but also everything that goes along with it.

Understanding, accepting, clinging to holding fast. Two. And so what, what present or what, , tenses of the verb might you guess that here is in H E A R is in here? There's two hears there. H e r e and h e a r. What, what tenses of verb would you guess here? Pay attention to what you hear, present tense, hear, and continue hearing.

Why? Because the good soil hears and continues hearing. So present tense, pay attention to what you hear and continue hearing. But then the command is also in the present imperative, which is to say, to translate, literally pay attention to and con, keep on paying attention to pay attention to, and continue paying attention to that which you hear and continue hearing.

You see the super emphasis here that Mark is placing, but not just Mark, but Matthew and Luke. You see the super emphasis that's being placed upon the continued hearing, accepting, understanding. Clinging two, holding fast two. And as Jesus says, the continued paying attention to, so the present imperative, that the imperative just means it's a command.

Jesus is not giving a suggestion here. He's not saying, you know, it would be a really good idea if you paid attention to what you're continuing to hear. Instead, Jesus is issu issuing a straightforward command in the imperative. , you don't even know need to to know Greek. You can tell, just tell from the English right there that Jesus is giving a command.

He's telling his people what to do. Pay attention and keep on paying attention to what you hear and keep on hearing. So that word that's translated pay attention, it's literally the word C or so. If, if you were to say, , if you were to tell someone, if you were a, a native Greek speaker and you were to want to tell someone to, to look at something, let's say for example, there's some sort of situation or incident out in the parking lot, and you were to say, look, you would use that word blepete. Look, so it's a command saying, look, or regard over there. See something over there. So when it's used to indicate something in the physical world, It means to look or behold, look at that. But when we use it figuratively in the spiritual sense here, it doesn't mean to look at with your eyes.

Of course, it means to regard carefully, to consider closely, which is why it's translated. Pay attention to or pay close attention to what Jesus is saying here. He's giving this to command to pay close attention to and keep on paying close attention to that which you. Hear and continue hearing. And so Jesus is issuing this command to them.

We read that and he said, and he said, verse 24. And he said to them, that's in the imperfect tense there. So that would actually literally be translated. And he kept on saying to them, the imperfect indicates a continuing action in the past. So he was saying to them, what this tells us is this. This just wasn't just one occasion that Jesus said to them, you know, pay real close attention to what you're hearing.

Jesus would say this, this would be a mantra that he repeated to his disciples over and over, pay close attention to and keep on paying close attention to that which you hear and that what you continue to hear. So here's the command. The command is to pay very close attention to that which you are hearing, and that's which you continue to hear.

Now, after the command, Jesus is going to follow up the command. With two, we could call them parables or. Maybe to use a modern, a modern phrase. A modern phrase would be the phrase or the word aphorism. Anybody know what an aphorism is? An aphorism is just a short, concise statement that is directing attention to some reality or some truth that's easily seen.

, an aphorism is just a sort of like a catchy little short phrase that teaches some wise thing saying, or some wise directive, and you know, of many, many aphorisms. Can anybody think of an aphorism off the top of your head? Let me put you on the spot here. Somebody. Think of an aphorism. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

A rolling stone gathers no moss. That's a perfect aphorism right there. What that is saying is it's communicating this, this truth. That activity is something that prevents decay activity. Ongoing activity is something that is, if you engage in sort of this active life, then you won't engage in the decay, the moss that would collect on the stone.

That's not rolling. Can anybody think of another one? What about, , the early bird gets the worm, the early bird catches the worm, and that's communicating the truth that, that those who are willing to sacrifice sleep or rest are usually those who would gain the most benefit. If there's some benefit to gain, if there's something to be had or something to be secured, then usually the one who is the one who is willing to sacrifice, rest or sacrifice, sleep or sacrifice, downtime is going to be the first one at it.

Anybody think of another one? Stitch and time a stitch and time saves nine. And that's just communicating the reality that if you are, , aware or thinking about what you're doing, if you're careful about the steps that you're taking, then you'll save time down the road by not making a mistake. Now you see all, all those aphorisms, they are part of our everyday life, part of our everyday vernacular, and they just are this short, little concise saying of wisdom or some acknowledgement of some fact of the world that just helps us to understand the reality around us.

So an aphorism is what we would use that word to describe these things in the modern world. What, what would you think was the biblical word for that same idea? Proverb. Proverb. That's the biblical word for it. Proverb. And so we have a whole book of those that are called Proverbs, which are just that, like a modern day aphorism, an observation of some reality that's easy to remember and it communicates a truth about something.

So in the context that we're in these words that we might call Proverbs in another context, I'm going to call them parables. And the reason I'm going to call them parables is because that's what the text calls them. Look down at verse at verse 33, and with many such parables, he spoke the word to them. Now that sentence right there follows the, the conclusion of chapter four.

Chapter four is full of all these parables. And so Mark himself says, in many such parables like this, Jesus spoke to them. So I'm going to call them parables because Mark calls them parables. And so once again, just to remind herself of what a parable is, a parable is the observation of a physical reality.

That corresponds to a spiritual reality. The physical reality, you can see the spiritual reality you cannot see. And so the parable teaches the spiritual reality by saying the spiritual reality compares to this physical reality. You understand the physical reality, and so understanding the physical reality, you can understand something about the spiritual reality because there's a parallel there.

All right, so the the two parables or one parable, depending on how we define it, the two parables that follow the command, the command is once again, pay close attention and keep on paying close attention to that which you hear and keep on hearing. So the first parable that Jesus then offers after that, because remember, the purpose of the parables is to make the teaching as what.

Clear as possible. It's not to conceal anything or confuse anybody, it's to make things as clear as possible. So Jesus issues the command and remember who he's talking to. He's talking to his inner core of disciples here, and he issues the command to them. Pay attention, pay close attention, give careful consideration.

Give thought, give energy, give effort, give focus to that which you keep on hearing, and then keep on giving focus and attention and care to what you keep on hearing. And then to illumine that, so to speak, to reveal that. He then offers these two parables. The first parable from verse 24, he says, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you and still more will be added to you.

So there you see that aphorism or that proverb, or in Mark's words, this parable. And so the parable is that the, with the measure that you use, it will be measured unto you. So Jesus will use this same formula, this same parable in many other, or at least a couple of other instances, to teach related or similar truths.

Because remember from last week, this is how the parables work. The parables are the observation of a, of a physical reality that teaches about a spiritual reality. And so that physical reality in different contexts can teach different spiritual realities. So here we see this in the context of paying close attention to the things that you hear, the words that you hear, and in the context, what are the things that the disciples are hearing?

What's the context that Jesus is talking about? Clearly, it's the context of the parable of. The soils. Right? And that parable, the seed is the word. So when Jesus says, pay close attention to and keep on paying close attention to that which you hear, the thing that you are hearing that Jesus is talking about, it's not the weather report, it's the word, it's the testimony of Christ.

So here uses this parable or this proverb here to teach this, but he uses it elsewhere. For example, Matthew chapter seven, verse two, for with the judgment you pronounce, you'll be judged. And here it is. And with the measure you use, it'll be measured to you. Same parable, same proverb. But in the context of Matthew seven, Jesus is pronouncing a rebuke of sinful judgmentalism.

The type of judgmentalism that as the text says, refuses to see the log in your own eye while focusing on the specs in other people's eye. And so Jesus, in that context, uses the same parable to say, with the same measure that you dole out this sinful judgementalism. That's the same measure that it's going to come back upon you with or in Matthew, I'm sorry, Luke chapter six in verse 38.

The same proverb shows up again, give and it'll be given to you. Good measure, press down, shaken together. Running over will be put into your lap. And here it is for with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And once again, same parable. Same parable to teach a related but different truth.

That's the truth that has to do with generosity. So, so Luke here is including this parable to teach a lesson of the generosity of the heart. And there the parable fits just as well to say with the same measure that you're generous will be added back to you. So you see how the same proverb, the same parallel, or I'm sorry, the same parable, can work with different spiritual truths because it's simply an earthly reality that says, look, this is a parallel to this spiritual reality.

So Jesus uses it elsewhere, but here he uses it to enforce the command, which says the command, pay attention, pay close, careful, focused attention to the testimony of Christ, which you hear and continue hearing. So he says it with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. So the word measure here works very similar to the same word in English, which is to say that that it can mean two things.

It can, it can be a verb that tells us to quantify something. That's what it means to measure something. To measure something means you are putting a quantity to it. You're taking a substance or a material or a, a. You know, an amount of gasoline, and you're quantifying it by measuring it, by saying, this is four gallons of gasoline, or this is two gallons of gasoline.

And so you're quantifying something, but it also can be a noun that refers to the quantity that you have measured. So if you were to say, give me a full measure of your support, or something of that nature, it's a quantifying of that. And so scripture uses this word very often, very frequently, and it usually uses this word in an attempt of what I'll say to quantify the unquantifiable, which is to say, it's often used in regard to spiritual matters.

And spiritual matters really can't be quantified, can they? But the scriptures will often use this word as a way of saying, here's a spiritual principle that cannot be measured. But it is the full measure or beyond measure. Just a couple of examples to help us see what the word is doing for us. , for example, John chapter three in verse 34, for he whom God has sent utters the words of God.

For he meaning Jesus gives the spirit without measure. That is to say, we, upon conversion, we receive not the limited spirit. We receive the full spirit. There is no measure there. It's an unlimited quantity. It is without measure. Or for example, Romans chapter 12 and verse three, four, by grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment.

And here it is each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now, can you quantify faith? You cannot quantify faith. It's a spiritual reality that you cannot quantify. And so the Bible is saying to the measure of faith, meaning that we can't really. Put a gauge on this thing. We can't weigh it and say, you've got seven pounds of faith, or you've got six and a half inches of faith.

It's an unquantifiable thing. So the measure of faith that God has assigned, or Ephesians four by grace. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift, a few verses later, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So scripture often uses this word because it's trying to put some sort of measurement or quantification on a spiritual principle that is beyond a quantification. So with the measure you use, it will be measured unto you, is what Jesus says. So notice what Jesus has done here. Jesus has squarely placed the burden on whom the hero Jesus has squarely and emphatically placed the burden.

Of the receiving, of the testimony of Christ, of the putting into place of the testimony of Christ, he squarely put that burden upon the hero. Now, we know, we've said this many times―that hearing is a gift of God. Comprehension is a gift of God. Sp particularly spiritual comprehension is a gift of God. So Jesus is not saying here that by your own power you are going to put this full measure of comprehension into place.

But instead what Jesus is saying here, he's putting the full burden upon the hero as if to say it is not enough for you to hear. It is not enough for you to accept. It is not enough for you to understand. It is not enough for you to clinging to the testimony of Christ. None of that is enough. For what?

For what Jesus says is you must do all of those things, but with the measure with which you pay attention, which you focus intently, which you focus closely upon with the measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. So there's this principle here that Jesus is communicating. It's the principle of the return on spiritual investments, the return on spiritual investments.

We, we understand what return on investment is, right? We live in a world that understands returns on investments. You invest some funds here or invest some time over there, or invest some energy over here and you hope to get a return on that. Well, the spiritual world has a return, a, a principle of the return on investment as well.

We just studied a parable about the return on, on investment in the spiritual world. The parable was the parable of the soils, and in that parable, the sower was like an investor, and the sower was taking his seed and investing his seed in four kinds of soils. And only one of those soils gave a return at all.

But that soil gave a bountiful return, a spiritual return. So the principle here that Jesus is communicating is the return on the spiritual investment, the spiritual investment, the focus, the intention, the effort that you expend upon, the receiving, the understanding, the grasping, the clinging to the bearing fruit of the testimony of Christ that you receive, the effort that you put into that the focus, the paying attention that you put into that is what will determine the return, the spiritual return back to you.

Okay, so the scriptures teach this principle in a number of places. The clearest and the most profound place that I could think of is to go back to that book of parables, otherwise known as the book of Proverbs. And we'll find in chapter two verse one, we will find, in fact, a detailed outworking of this very principle.

So follow along and let's notice some things here from Proverbs chapter two, verse one, my son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive, you hear that? Making your ear attentive. You hear the effort in there, you hear the focus you, you hear the intentionality, making your ear attentive to wisdom.

And here it is again, inclining your heart to understanding. That means that you, yourself, you put forth the volition, the effort, the will to incline your heart to understand. Verse three. Yes. If you call out, so there's the calling out to God for help. God assist me in this. I'm putting forth the effort, the calling out to help for insight.

And you raise your voice for understanding. You hear the, the calling out. I'm desperate for this. The calling out for understanding. If you once again seek it, how do you seek it? You seek it like silver in otherwise you, in other words, you value it. You consider it something like a precious metal that is to be mined out of the earth like silver.

If you seek it like you would seek silver and search for it. How do you search for it? Search for it as though it's a hidden treasure. If there were some sort of hidden treasure that you knew about and you had to do some searching for it, you would search for it. How? Quite diligently and quite, , enthusiastically with great effort, wouldn't you?

So you search for this as you would search for hidden treasure. You see how you're considering the wisdom. You're considering this like silver, you're considering it to be like a hidden treasure, and you treat it as such, meaning that you search for it, you seek it out. Then verse five, then you'll understand the fear of the Lord, and then you'll find what?

What will you find? You'll find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth, come knowledge and understanding. So at least two things are shown to us in that passage. The two things that are, the very least thing that we see in that passage is number one, the vehicle for wisdom, the vehicle for receiving wisdom.

And in the Old Testament, if we had more time, we would talk about wisdom in the Old Testament, but just to cut to the chase, oftentimes the Whis, the Old Testament treats wisdom. As a stand in, so to speak, for Messiah or for Christ. Oftentimes we see wisdom personified in the Old Testament as though it represents Christ or the attaining of Christ or the knowledge of Christ.

Okay, so the vehicle, the vehicle through at by, by which this is attained the vehicle through which this wisdom is attained is the vehicle of knowledge, the way that the the heart is made known to wisdom. The way that wisdom comes to the heart is by way of knowledge, and this is what scripture teaches us, that the mind is the gateway through which the knowledge of God comes to us.

, Romans chapter 12, verse two. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It is the mind. It is the thoughts. That is how God enters into our soul, through the gateway of the mind, through the comprehension of his truth. This is why the preaching of God's word, the teaching of God's word, the first goal is the comprehension of what God has said to us because it is through the mind that the knowledge of God first comes.

So this is plainly saying to us that the pursuit of wisdom, the pursuit of knowing God comes through the knowledge of such things. And then the second thing that it shows us is how does that come to us? How does this knowledge of God comes to us? Come to us. The verses one through six of Proverbs two are, are plainly saying to us that it comes to us through two things.

Number one, valuing it, esteeming it highly. And number two, exerting effort to receive it. Exert exerting effort to understand inclining the heart, inclining the ear seeking thinking of it, treating it as silver, as a precious metal, as a hidden treasure that needs to be sought out and found, valuing it and searching it for searching for it as such, and exerting yourself in such a way.

So what this is showing to us in other places, we could see this as well. What this is showing to us is that the Holy Spirit, who is the revealer of truth, is never given to us with the promise of overcoming our spiritual laziness. The scriptures never. In any occasion ever give us reason to believe that the function of the Holy Spirit is to overcome our spiritual laziness, or to bypass our spiritual laziness, or to act counteractive to working around, so to speak, our spiritual sluggishness, our spiritual slothfulness.

Instead, the Holy Spirit is given to us to empower and to motivate, and to energize our efforts, to make our efforts at comprehending the things of God fruitful. The Holy Spirit is never given to us to, in or in order to honor spiritual laziness or to bypass our spiritual laziness. Instead, the Holy Spirit is promised to us to coincide with our effort energizing, multiplying our effort.

The Holy Spirit, his function is not to overcome our laziness. So spiritual, we said, we said this last week, spiritual comprehension is always a gift of God. The understanding of the truth of God, the understanding of the things of God is always his gift to us. But that doesn't mean that his gift comes to those who exhibit spiritual sluggishness, spiritual slothfulness, or spiritual laziness.

The gift of spiritual comprehension is given to those who instead of being spiritual sluggers are as Proverbs chapter two, verse one through six indicates to us those who are exerting effort or back to Jesus's parable. The measure that you use is the same measure that you will expect it to be given back unto you.

So that's the first thing that we see. The second thing that we see is that this exerting of effort, this paying close attention, this devoting oneself to focus and attention is an indicator of true spiritual life. So we said this earlier, and this is easy to see that what Jesus says here, pay careful attention, pay close attention.

It is a command. And scripture teaches us to think of the commands of Jesus as how, as indicators of life that the commands of Jesus given to us in the scriptures. Our willingness, our desire to obey those commands is a clear indicator of spiritual life. Jesus says to us, if you love me, keep my commands, meaning that if you don't keep my commands, that's a pretty good sign that you don't love me.

Or at least to say, if you willingly and knowingly don't keep my commands, that's a pretty good sign that you don't know me. That you don't love me. So spiritual life is indicated by the keeping of Jesus' commands, and this is a clear command that he gives to us. Jesus is not suggesting, you know, if you want to excel in this Christianity thing, if you want to excel in the church and you want to be a leader, then pay close attention to the things that you hear.

That's not what Jesus says. Jesus says to all of his called-out followers, pay careful, close, focused, diligent attention to the testimony of me that you hear and that you continue hearing. In other words, delve deeply and diligently and purposefully and intentionally into the truth, the testimony of Christ, which you hear and continue hearing.

And Jesus says, continue doing that. There is a, let's call it a false idea that I have heard. I've heard this. Probably all my life, but I particularly have made notice of this for the entire time that I have been involved in ministry in the church, which would go back to, , being a deacon and being a, , a teacher of adults and adult Sunday school situation.

So this goes back to at least a, what, 2004 or five somebody died. This is what I've often heard, and you've heard this too, you are the type of teacher that likes to dig deep into the scriptures. You heard that so and so is the type of teacher or the type of preacher that likes to dig deeply into the scriptures.

The necessary implication behind that is that that's not the only acceptable type you follow? Mm-hmm. We've all heard that. We've all been exposed to that. You are the type of teacher or preacher or let's, let's change the analogy. Disciples Fellowship is the type of church. That likes to dig deep into the scriptures as though that's one of several acceptable options.

You follow what I'm saying? So with that line of thinking, okay, so one type of Bible expository or one type of pastor or one type of teacher is the type that really likes to get into the meat of the word, but there's other types and those types might like to focus in other ways or, or there's other types of churches that might find as their main focus.

Other things, this church likes to focus on the deep understanding of the deeper things of God, but then this other church likes to focus on blank. Now take that blank and put anything you want in it. Take that blank and put in it. A vibrant youth ministry. This likes, this church likes to focus on a vibrant youth ministry or this.

This church likes to focus on vibrant children's programs or vibrant programs for the family, or this church likes to focus on a quality music program. This church likes to focus on good quality music, or this church likes to focus on community outreach, or this church likes to have a pastor that knows his place and can tell good stories and keeps it under 25 minutes, fill in the blank with anything you like, and then plug it back into this passage and see what works.

Nothing else works. And so the scriptures know of two and only two kinds of ex exposes of the of the scriptures, teachers of the scriptures. The scriptures only know of two kinds of churches. The scriptures only know of two kinds of believers. One is the Bible teacher or the church, or the individual Christian that focuses intensely and purposely on the deeper understandings of the truth of God and the other kind is unfaithful.

Those are the only two kinds. Those are the only two kinds of believers of Bible teachers, pastors, leaders, and churches that the scriptures have any understanding of. Either you are faithful and you are pursuing as your main focus, the truths of God, or you're unfaithful. There's no third option. There is no third option that you can put back into this clear statement of Jesus and have it work and have it mean anything whatsoever.

The type of church that the scriptures consider to be faithful is the type of church that has as its main intentional purpose is the deeper exploration, the deeper ex understanding, paying careful close attention to those things that you are hearing and those things that you continue to hear. One of the things that I find so spiritually frustrating is this perpetual undying understanding that it is somehow possible to be perpetually ignorant of the truths of God's word and still somehow manage to think of yourself as the fruitful Christian that Jesus says in is the good soil.

I find that so frustrating, and we all know that to be a. Constant reality, a constant perception among our culture that somehow it's, it's like there. That's an an option. A Christian can take a couple of different paths. You can take the path of the bookworm Christian, of the Christian who likes to read, who enjoys studying the deeper things of God, or you can take another pathway and they're both okay.

When Jesus says so plainly, Jesus says so clearly, pay careful, close, diligent attention to the things that you have heard and the things that you continue to hear. We have a midweek service that the stated intention of the midweek service is this passage, the stated intention. Is to come back together and closely, carefully consider the things that God has said to us.

Now, having said that, I leave that entirely up to the Lord because I know there are work schedules, there's life schedules there. Some people travel a long way to get here. I leave that completely up between you and the Lord. But it is to say this, as a church, we diligently pursue verse 24. We diligently pursue saying to ourself, we are on a weekly basis going to hear what God has to say to us, and then we're going to ponder it and consider it.

And we're going to come back together a couple of days later and we are going to consider carefully the things that God has said to us. But most of us who were here this past. Midweek for this past midweek service. Remember, I'll leave names out, but there was one among us who related a conversation of the previous week that this individual had had with some other people in their life who for decades and decades have been known by the name Christian.

And the conversation that this individual had with those people was a conversation that was, quite frankly, shockingly, unbiblical, staggeringly, unbiblical, astoundingly ignorant of the most basic principles of the faith. And somehow we live in a larger Christian culture that thinks that that's still somehow compatible with verse 24.

That somehow we can live our Christian existence out in such a way in which, well, the deeper things will, that's not really what interests me. That's not really, I'm more excited about what God does for my emotions, or I'm more excited about the music that gets me up and going. I'm more excited about reaching out to my community, all of which can be good, all of which can be healthy outcroppings of the word implanted into us.

But most plainly and most clearly, Jesus says to us, here is my command. Pay close, diligent, careful, purposeful, intentional attention to the words that you hear of me and the words that you continue to hear of me. Notice also that Jesus makes no allowance here for the skill or the calling of the biblical teacher or preacher, he says, Pay attention to what you hear with the measure you use, it'll be measured to you.

So Jesus makes no allowance here for the skill of the teacher or for the talent, for the insight, for the communication ability of the one bringing those words. How often do we hear this sort thing, and I've said this myself, how often do we hear this or say something of this nature? I just can't get anything out of that guy.

You ever said that or thought that I, I thought that there's people right now, I could tell you I can't get anything from that guy. Or how often have we said something like this? So and so is such a gifted teacher of the word. He just helps me see. Well, Jesus is speaking to a group of people whom every day, who was their teacher?

Jesus the son of God. The only perfect communicator, the one who saw men's hearts, the one whose word he was teaching was his. And yet he still had to say to them, listen, you must pay careful attention to what I'm saying. You must put forth. Jesus didn't say, listen, you guys have it easy, but the people coming after you write this down for the, for the generations that follow you tell them to pay close attention to what they hear.

But you, you guys, I mean you guys, he didn't say that you must pay careful attention to what you hear. And he was talking to people who day in and day out heard it from the son of God, thereby Jesus was taking out of the equation the weaknesses, the shortcomings or the giftings of whatever biblical expository biblical teacher there may be.

Now that is not to say in any way that it is not an absolute sin. For an expository of the word, to not be diligent about doing just what Jesus did. Deliver the teaching as clearly and as precisely as possible in such a way that's as understandable as possible, but that's a different subject altogether.

Jesus is addressing not the, not the teacher. He's addressing the hero and he's saying it matters, not if you think that they're skilled or unskilled, or a good communicator or a poor communicator. What you are responsible for is diligently paying close and careful attention to what you hear and what you continue to hear.

But notice also Jesus, though he doesn't make any allowance for the deliverer or the mess of the message, he does make a great allowance for the grace of God. Again, verse 24, and he said to them, pay attention to what you hear with the measure you use. It will be measured to you and still more will be added to you.

So Mark's the only one that includes that. And so Mark, what he just included right there from the words of Jesus was this recognition of the grace of God. That's added upon the effort of the individual, the effort of the Christian to hear, receive, accept, understand, clinging to exert the effort. Seek it like a treasure, seek it like silver, mine it like a hi hidden treasure.

Incline your heart to it. All those things to that get added, the grace of the Lord, because this is the character of God. God's character is such a character that whatever he gives to us is abundantly heaped upon with his grace. We should not read what Jesus is saying here to, to mean that what, what Jesus is saying is there's this one-to-one correlation.

You give X amount of effort. Then you'll get the same amount of spiritual return. That's not what Jesus is saying. What he's saying is that the spiritual return is contingent upon your effort. That the Holy Spirit will not just come along and grace you with comprehension and understanding of the things of God without your effort.

But what the Holy Spirit does is he takes your effort and he abundantly multiplies it. Think, think you know, a couple of fish and a couple loaves of bread feeding 5,000 people. That's the principle here. That's the idea here, because this is the character of our God. God is always the one of a character that when he graces us, it is an abundance of grace.

Luke, chapter six in verse 38, , Jesus says this, good measure, press down, shaken together. Running over will be put into your lap. And then there's the saying again for the measure, with the measure that you use. So the picture here, press down, shaken down, put into your lap. It's like. I, I've sort of picture a, a bucket, like a five gallon bucket.

You ever had a bucket and you're trying to fit into that bucket as much as you can, maybe as much dirt as you can, or as much rocks as you can, and you sort of shake it. You shake it down. You sort of compact it down and try to fit as much as you can in there. That's the picture here. Of the grace of God, like God is just trying to shake it down to fit as much grace as he possibly can into our life.

John chapter one, verse six, for from his fullness, we have all received grace. Upon grace, there's grace, and all along behind that grace becomes more grace. Isaiah 55, verse seven, when God wants to pardon, he doesn't just pardon he abundantly Pardons Micah, chapter seven in verse eight. When he pardons our iniquities and passes over our transgressions and shows us love, he doesn't just show us love.

He shows us steadfast love, and he doesn't just show us steadfast love. He delights in showing us steadfast love. John chapter three in verse 16, when God gives, what does he give His only begotten son? Hebrews chapter seven in verse 25. When he saves, he doesn't just save, he saves to the uttermost. And once he saves to the uttermost, he doesn't just save and then leave them, but he then ever lives to make, make intercession for us.

This is the nature of our God. Solomon doesn't just receive all the wisdom in the world. Solomon receives the wisdom of the wisdom of the world, plus the riches, plus the power, plus the peace. Jairus doesn't just get his daughter raised back to life, his daughter's raised back to life, and then Jesus gives her something to eat.

Job just doesn't just have all of his things restored and his health restored, but he has them abundantly restored. Twofold. You see this is the character and the nature of God. So when the effort is given, when the focus, when the paying close attention is given, then along comes Holy Spirit to take that like bread and fish and just multiply it for us.

Because United with Christ, our efforts and his efforts, his supernatural empowering, they all merge into one. I know we looked at these two verses last week, but they are so pivotal for our understanding of this one Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace towards me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. You hear the focus, you hear the paying close attention to what you hear. You hear the inclining, your heart, you hear the seeking after it like a hidden treasure. I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me.

Okay, so you see this merging together of these two. So there's a, there's a brother in Christ by the name of Dane Orland that has really helped me to grasp this in, I think a more complete and more accurate, biblical way. So think of this as if we think about our post Christ, our post-conversion life, think about your post-conversion life, the life that begins at conversion, and then that life that is then this striving towards godliness, this sanctification.

Think of that as a circle and picture in your mind a circle, and your post-conversion life is represented by what's inside this circle. What's inside the circle is your post-conversion life of how you pursue godliness in a real way. All right? So what you put inside the circle determines how you consider how you understand that that post-conversion holiness or godliness is how you are working to achieve that.

So inside the circle, we might put the, the first thing that we might put might be meat. Me and that would represent the idea that salvation is of God. It's his work. But once I'm saved, then that's when I get to work. And I think everybody in the room would immediately recognize that that's just terribly unbiblical that upon salvation.

It's not like God says, okay, there I've given you forgiveness and pardon, good luck God. God doesn't say that. I think we all recognize that. So that's that one. We would discard it immediately. The me goes away. But then the correction of that might sort of overshoot the target. And inside the the circle we might, instead of putting me, we might put God to say, salvation is all of God.

And then after salvation, it's still all of God. From that came, if you remember back in the nineties, you remember that whole Let go, let God thing. That's what it came out of. That it's all God. And just so Just stop. Just stop. It's all God. Right. So you take the me out and you put God in, and somehow you, you, you sense that you're closer to the biblical reality, but that still doesn't square with the scriptures at all, particularly scriptures like first Corinthians 15 verse 10.

So then you might erase out the God and you might try once again. The third try again, you picture the, the circle, and imagine that you take your marker and you draw this sort of squiggly line down through the circle, separating it into sort of two sort of squiggly halves. And on one half you would put God, and on the other half you'd put me.

And that would represent this convergence, this coming together, this God coming together with me. And the two, we combine our efforts and together we pursue godliness. I can't do it alone and God won't do it without me. And so it's this coming together. And we might sense that. Yeah, I, I'm obviously getting much closer to the biblical picture, but this is where Orland really helped me to see we're still not there because our post-Christian life is not this.

Instead, our post-Christian life is the circle with both God and me written inside in such a way. Picture it like this. My efforts, Paul, I worked harder than anyone, and along comes the spirit and like with the wings of an eagle, takes what I give and it's me. It, it won't happen without I, Paul worked harder than any of them, but it was not me.

It was the spirit. And so underneath comes the spirit and together this is the union of Christ. This is Christ and me. One. This is what Paul says to the Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer Paul, but Paul is now united together with Christ. This is the full picture of post conversion life.

This is the full picture of union with Christ. God will not honor laziness. God will not honor spiritual slugger, but he will come along with his empowering spiritual multiplication and like the wings of an eagle, take our efforts and raise them to spiritual heights. And that's what Jesus is saying here for what they'll measure that you use.

It'll be measured back to you and much more will be added. There's, it's not a one-to-one correlation. It's not a one in one out, two n two out. This is the union of the believer. With Jesus Christ in such a way that our efforts are then greatly multiplied Many times over. God has determined that the pathway to knowing him is the pathway of diligent attention to what he has said to us.

So that's a good way to think of this. I think that God has determined that the pathway to knowing him or the place of knowing him, think of it like that. Like the location. The location in which this blessing, the blessing of knowing God. Paul says to the Philippians that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, that the location of knowing him is the location of the diligent attention to what he has said to us.

All right. So think of it like this. I've used this analogy before, and I'll use it again because I'm not a very creative person. I can't come up with a whole bunch of good analogies, so I'm going to use the same one I've used before. I'm going to tell you a parable. And the parable is the parable of the time.

Few years ago when we lived in Burlington. All right, so in Burlington there are two Chick-fil-A, about two, maybe three miles apart, one exit apart, two Chick-fil-A. Now, back before everything got crazy and all of a sudden a chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A was $8 and back when, when there was a time that on special occasions we could sort of go and, and treat ourselves to Chick-fil-A.

There was an occasion that I took, it wasn't all our whole brood, but it was, I don't know, four or five of our kids and me, and, and we went to Chick-fil-A. We're going to sort of treat ourselves to Chick-fil-A. And this was back when the mobile ordering app was new. You use the MO Mobile ordering app. Love that thing.

Love it. Put in your order. Boom, you sit at your table. And anyway, it was brand new. And so if you use the mobile ordering app, you know how it works. You go on there and it asks you what restaurant you want to order from, and it tells you the ones that you've recently ordered from. And it also tells you the ones that are close to you.

And remember, there's two Chick-fil-a's like two miles apart. So I just, you know, punched the one put in my order. It was like $40 of food paid for it. And we're sitting there and we're sitting there and we're sitting there and I start thinking, it never takes Chick-fil-A this long. And then I ask about it, and you know what happens?

I had ordered and paid for the food at the wrong Chick-fil-A. The food was paid for, it was prepared, it was packaged, it was on a tray. They were trying to give it to me, but I was not in the right place to get it.

That is how, if you take that to the spiritual level, that is how we are to think of the diligent focus and attention to that which God has said to us. That is the place in which he has determined that is where my blessing will go. That is where I will bless them with the greatest blessing of all, the blessing of knowing me.

It's not because their effort was so well organized and so energetic, but it's because they were in that pl in that location with their effort. That is the place that I have determined I will come underneath their effort and I will magnify it and I will bless them in that location. That is how we are to think of Jesus' teaching here.

No other place, no other place is the place that God has said here. It's where I will bless not the beach, not not a mountain scene, not on your morning walk. Now those locations might be the location where you are when the spiritual location of diligent attention to his word is where your soul is. But there is no location other than this location that God has said.

Here is where I will bless with my greatest and most profound blessing for with the measure that you use. It will be measured to you and still more will be added to you. Now, Jesus follows this up with the second, if you want to call it a second parable, or an extension of the first, first parable, verse 25.

For to the one who has more will be given and from the one who has not even what he has, will be taken away. So to the one who has more will be given, that is an echo of the end of verse 24. But then also he says to the one who has, what he has will be taken away. And that word, that word taken away, that that word can be a very forceful word.

It's the same word we saw back in chapter two to describe the tearing away from the patch, the garment from the patch, right? So this tearing away, this removing even what he has might be taken away. So it's a little bit confusing how it's worded here. And we might think, well, , what does it mean that what he has will be taken?

Does he have it or does he not have it? How can something he doesn't have be taken away? We understand his meaning here, right? But nevertheless, Luke makes it a little clearer when Luke tells the same parable in chapter eight, verse 18 of Luke, take care of then how you hear for the one who has to, the ha one who has moral will be given and from the one who has not.

Here it is even what he thinks he has. We'll be taken away. All right, so there's the idea there made a little bit clearer for us and Luke, that there's not the actual having, but it's the perception it, it's the false thinking. I think I've got, so right now we're thinking which soil, thorny soil, these are tears.

These are tears who think that they have attachment to Christ, but there's no fruitfulness. So what you think that you might have, even that is going to be taken away. So once again, the same parable. Jesus uses the same words elsewhere to teach related truths. Matthew 25 verse 29, with the parable of the talents.

Jesus says, for to everyone who has more will be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. That's the parable of the talents, which is teaching the idea of the, of the rightful, godly, stewarding of God's resources. Luke 19 verse 26. That's the parable of the 10 Minas, a similar truth there.

The same parable shows up. So we see once again how Jesus will use the same parable in different situations, in different contexts to teach different realities. But here he says, to the one who has moral will be given and to the one who has not even what he thinks he has will be taken away. So what this parable is showing us is the principle of eternal spiritual movement, the, the principle of constant spiritual movement.

We talk, we touched on this last week, we touched on this to say that the scriptures . Want us to think of our life in terms of a pathway. We're on a pathway, we're in a, we're moving down a pathway. Either that pathway is a wide pathway leading to a wide gate, or it's a narrow pathway leading to a narrow gate.

But we're always moving on that pathway, either closer to God or further from God. Here, that teaching is made explicit when Jesus says to the one who has more will be given, and from the one who has not even what he thinks he might have will be taken from him. So in other words, what Jesus is saying is there is no such thing as the static soul that there are only two types of souls that the scripture knows.

One is the soul that is growing and learning and paying close attention to what the testimony of Christ has come to them. And the other soul is the one who doesn't know him. Can you see that in the text? Can you see that? That's what Jesus is saying. There's only two things going on here. One is there is a soil or a soul, S O U L, or S O I L.

There is a soul that is being given more, who has, who has fruitfulness, who has this diligent focus and paying attention. And to that soul, more is being added. And the only other option Jesus says is the one who doesn't have, you might think you have, you might be the tear or you might be the withered plant who at one time thought you had, but you've belonged since died.

Or you might be the hard pack ground. Either way. Jesus says there's two souls. One soul is being added to and the other soul doesn't know me. Those are not my words. Can you see? This is what Jesus is plainly and straightforwardly saying Either you know me and you are progressing actively along the path of knowing me more, and you are paying close attention to the testimony that you've heard of me and continuing to do that.

Or even though you might think that you know me, you don't. This hearkens us back to, of course, one of the most frightening letters of the New Testament. Hebrews chapter five and verse 12. Just to paraphrase, paraphrase, Hebrews chapter five and verse 12, here's what the writer says. By this point, you should have been teaching others,

but you have so neglected that, that you can, no, you, you can't even handle spiritual food. You must be given spiritual milk like an infant, like a baby, because your spiritual digestive system can't handle food. It must be given milk. What's milk? Partially pre-digested food. That's what milk is in which the infant who has such a sensitive digestive system cannot handle undigested food.

They must be given partially pre-digested food, not to gross anybody out, but that's what milk is. They must be given partially pre-digested food in order for their system to handle it. The writer to the Hebrews takes that into the spiritual realm and says, this is you. Your spiritual digestive system is so underdeveloped that you can't even handle actual food.

You must have it pre-digested for you. Now need, I say that the letter to the Hebrews then goes on to give. The most frightening warnings in all the New Testament to say, do you even know him? Do you even know him? Because the one who knows him is the one, as Jesus says in verse 25, there's two options. You either know me and you're paying attention, close attention to what I have given to you, and you are progressing and knowing me, or you don't know me at all.

What this is showing to us is that true grace that is implanted in the soul necessarily produces an unquenchable thirst for more grace. That is the nature of God's grace. The nature of God's grace and whatever dimension it comes to us automatically produces within us a thirst for more of it. If God blesses you with the grace of hating a particular sin in your own life, That will necessarily cause you to thirst for more of that hatred of that sin in your life.

If God blesses you with the spiritual grace of patience, that will necessarily create in you an appetite or a thirst for more of that grace. That is how the grace of God works. , Psalms 30, Psalm 34, verse seven says, taste and see that the Lord is good. And so if tasting of the Lord, if tasting of his grace does not produce a recognition of his goodness and a desire for more of that, then we don't know our God at all.

Then He's not a good God. He's not a God that can say to us, taste and see that I am good. So necessarily a grace of knowing him. Produces a thirst and a hunger to know him more. Look at some of the Scriptural evidence. Acts, chapter 17 and verse 11. This is speaking of the Bereans who received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so or if this.

That's the, that's Eon believers who received the words of, of Paul in power and conviction with full conviction. Chapter two, verse 13 that day. Paul says, I thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted as the word, not of men, but as it really is the word of God.

Or look at Psalm, not one 19, Psalm one 19, the whole Psalm, which is the longest chapter in the Bible. That whole Psalm is all about the thirst and the hunger for knowing God through his word. Just take a look at some of the examples from verse 10, with my whole heart, I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments.

Verse 14, in the way of your testimonies, I delight. As much as in all riches. Verse 18, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Or verse 20, my soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. Do you see the thrust of the psalm is to say, the one who has been brought to know the Lord automatically, thirsts and hungers to know him more because grace, the grace that's given to us, produces in us an appetite for more of that grace.

This is why the writer to the Hebrews will say in Hebrews 12, verse 29, our God is a consuming fire. The nature of a fire is that it consumes all the fuel that it has. A fire never says, oh, I, I've kind of burned long enough. I'm, I'm sort of tired. I'll, I'll leave the rest of that wood alone. That's not what a fire does.

A fire consumes all of the fuel that it has. Our God is called a consuming fire. Because to taste of his grace automatically means you are given an appetite for more. The scriptures know nothing of any type of true believer in Jesus Christ, or true follower of Jesus Christ who does not seek him with their whole heart.

Jeremiah chapter 29 in verse 13, you'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Now, that doesn't mean that all of us perfectly every day in day in and day, day out always seek God with our whole heart. But it is to say that the scriptures know of no one who truly belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and seeks him one day out of seven or a couple of Sundays out of the month.

Or when it might be convenient, or when your life might be in trouble, or when you might have your back against the wall. The scripture knows nothing of those who know God and seek him half-heartedly. The scriptures only know of those who have tasted of the grace of God and seek him with their whole heart.

Admittedly, imperfectly, admittedly with short fallings and stumblings, but ne. But that is to say that the one who has tasted of the Lord necessarily seeks them with their whole heart. That is why Jesus can say to us, the greatest commandment is love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.

Pay close, diligent, careful, and focused attention, and continue paying careful attention to that which you have heard and that which you continue to hear.