And now, Father, prepare us to receive your word. Silence the distractions of our minds. Give us humble and teachable hearts. Bless your servant as he opens the scriptures. Guard him from error and enable him to speak clearly, faithfully, and boldly. By your Holy Spirit, take the word preached and apply it particularly to each of us. Convict the careless, awaken the unbelieving, comfort the troubled, strengthen the weak, correct the wandering, and build up your people in faith and holiness. May we not merely hear your word, but receive it with faith and bring forth fruit in obedience.

For fix our eyes upon Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Until that day when faith becomes sight and we worship before your throne without sin or sorrow, in Jesus’ name we ask it. And again, God’s people say amen. Our sermon text this morning is Mark chapter four, verses 21 through 34, not the misprint that’s in the bulletin. Beginning at verse 21 in Mark four, listen to God’s word.

And he said to them, is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand for nothing is hidden except to be made manifest. nor is anything secret except to come to light. 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.

And he said, the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.

And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests with its shade or in its shade.

With many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

Please be seated. Well, this is a chapter, as we began last Lord’s Day, this is a chapter about hearing. Jesus has been teaching beside the sea. We’ve had great crowds gathering. He’s spoken to them in parables. He gave the parable of the sower. The seed is the word, the soils represent different kinds of hearers. Some hear, and the word snatched away. Some hear with temporary joy, but they have no root. Some hear, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. Others hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit.

So now, in verses 21 through 34, we see that Jesus is continuing on with teaching, teaching us about the kingdom of God. He gives us more parables, a lamp, a measure, a growing seed, a mustard seed. And then Mark tells us that Jesus spoke the word to the crowds in parables, but privately he explained everything to his own disciples. The main point here is that the kingdom of God is revealed in Christ.

It grows by his hidden power through the word and it moves certainly toward glorious harvests. So therefore we must take care how we hear. We must sow the word faithfully and not despise the small beginnings of Christ’s kingdom. That’s a lot here. And we can say more, but the passage doesn’t merely tell us what we must do. It first shows us who Christ is and what he has done.

He is the lamb who has come into the world. He is the sower of the kingdom word. He is the seed which, or who dies and bears much fruit. He’s the mustard seed king whose humble beginning becomes worldwide dominion. He is the Lord of the harvest and he is the patient teacher who gives ears to hear and explains his word to his own disciples.

So let’s look at the text under four headings. First off, the kingdom light must be received here in verses 21 through 25. He says in verse 21, is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand. It’s an ordinary household picture. No one would light a lamp and then place it under a basket. No one lights a lamp and then hides it under a bed. A lamp is lit to shine, to give light. It’s placed on a stand so it may do just that for the room.

So Jesus is using this simple picture to teach something profound about the kingdom of God. Kingdom has come in him. The light has entered the darkness. The truth of God’s saving reign is being revealed through his person, his word, his works, and eventually through his death and resurrection. He, in this text, tells us to think of this in this way. Christ himself is the lamp who has come into the world. and his humiliation as glorious as veiled.

He came as a true man, born in lowliness, raised up in Nazareth. He was opposed by religious leaders and misunderstood even by his own disciples. Yet he was not hidden forever. His identity and saving work were brought into the open through his preaching and miracles and death, resurrection and ascension, and the outpouring of the spirit and the proclamation of the gospel.

So at this point in Mark’s gospel, though, much still seems hidden. Jesus teaches in parables. Many hear, but they don’t understand. The crowds are amazed, but many remain spiritually dull. The religious leaders are already opposing him, and the disciples themselves are slow to grasp who he is and what he has come to do.

Yet Jesus says the lamp is not meant to be hidden. It’s not meant to remain hidden. Verse 22, for nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light. The kingdom is hidden for a time, but not forever. The glory of Christ is veiled in humility, but it will be revealed. The mystery of the kingdom is not God’s secret uncertainty. It is God’s appointed revelation. And what was promised of the Old Testament was shown in shadows and types as was spoken of by the prophets, but has now come in Jesus Christ.

He is the lamb. His gospel is the light. His word exposes darkness and gives light in him was light. And that means that the cross itself, though it looked like darkness, became the great manifestation of God’s light at Calvary, men thought they’d extinguish the lamp. There, God revealed his holiness and justice, his mercy, his wisdom and love there. The light of the world gave himself for sinners. There are darkness was judged in him that we might become children of light.

So when Jesus says nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, we should see the pattern of his own saving work. His glory is hidden in humility and then revealed in resurrection. His kingdom was hidden beneath weakness and then manifested in power. His cross was hidden wisdom and then proclaimed as the power of God unto salvation.

So we must not treat the word of Christ as a small thing. When scripture is read, Christ speaks. When the gospel is preached, the light of the kingdom is set before us. When the Lord summons us to repentance and faith, he is not giving religious suggestions. He is bringing the light of his kingdom to bear upon the conscience. And so in verse 23, he says, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. This is not a casual saying. It’s a summons.

It is possible to have ears and yet not hear. It’s possible to sit under sermons and yet not receive the word. It is possible to be near the light and yet remain in darkness. Here is the grace of Christ, the one who commands hearing is also the one who gives ears to hear.

By nature, sin makes us dull, proud, distracted, resistant, and self-deceived. We may hear the sound of Scripture without submitting to the Lord of Scripture, but Christ, by His Spirit, opens the heart. He illumines the mind. He humbles the will. He makes the word effectual.

So when you come to worship, pray this, Lord Jesus, Give me ears to hear. Do not let me be a careless hearer. Make your word fruitful in me. And then he presses the matter further here in verse 24. 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. Take care what you hear. Give heed to the word. Do not be a careless hearer. Do not judge the word merely by whether the sermon was interesting, whether the style pleased you, whether the length suited you, or whether the preacher said something memorable. Ask yourself instead, what is Christ saying to me? What truth must I believe? What sin must I repent of? What promise must I embrace? What duty must I perform? What comfort does Christ give to my weary soul?

It’s a searching word for every congregation, including ours. It is possible to become familiar with sound doctrine and yet remain spiritually dull. It’s possible to love reform theology and not tremble at the word. It’s possible to know catechism answers and yet neglect prayer. It is possible to sit in a faithful church for years and yet be spiritually barren. Jesus says, pay attention to what you hear.

And then let’s look at verse 25, for the one who has. More will be given. And from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now this is both a promise and a warning. To the one who truly has, more will be given. The one who receives the word by faith will receive more light, more understanding, more grace, more fruitfulness. True hearing grows. True discipleship deepens. The life God gives does not remain barren. but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

A person may have outward privileges. He may have baptism. He may have church membership. He may have family heritage. He may have doctrinal knowledge. He may have a good reputation among Christians, but he does not have Christ by faith, even those outward privileges will not save him. Indeed, they will increase his accountability. This is a word to those who consider themselves religious but are fruitless. Don’t confuse nearness to the kingdom with entrance into it. Don’t confuse outward possession with inward grace. Do not confuse hearing sermons with receiving Christ.

And yet, Let no trembling believer despair, because Christ forgives careless hearing when we repent. The disciples themselves are slow to understand, and yet Jesus patiently teaches them. He’s merciful to weak disciples who come to him. He doesn’t cast out those who say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. He gives more light to those who receive the light they have. And this is also a word to those who are tempted to hide the lamp.

Christ didn’t give us his light so that fear might cover it. He didn’t teach us his word so that embarrassment would shut us up. The lamp is not to be hidden under the basket of respectability, nor under the bed of private religion, nor under the fear of man.

Let Christ’s light shine in your home. in your speech, in your decisions, in your worship, in your mercy, your repentance, and in your witness. But remember, we don’t shine with a self-created light. We shine with a borrowed light. Christ shines upon us, and then Christ shines through us. He enables us to confess him without fear of man, to speak of him without shame, and to display his grace and repentance and forgiveness and holiness and mercy and truth, not harshly, not arrogantly, not foolishly, but clearly and faithfully. The lamp has come. Take care how you hear.

A second thing notice here in the text, the kingdom seed grows by God’s hidden power. Look at verse 26 with me. The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. Well, again, we see this description of the kingdom in terms of seed. In the earlier parable, the seed’s the word, but here the emphasis is on the mysterious growth of the seed after it is sown.

Christ fulfills this first as the great sower. He came preaching. The time is fulfilled, he says, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. He scatters the seed of the word throughout Galilee and Judea. After his resurrection, he sent his apostles to preach the gospel to all nations. By his spirit, he continues to sow the word through the ministry of the church. Every faithful sermon, every true gospel witness, every Sunday school and catechism lesson, every missionary labor, every scripture read in the home is part of Christ’s ongoing work as the exalted sower through his appointed means.

Verse 27, he sleeps and rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. This is A farmer’s scattering seed, that’s real labor. He doesn’t sit around the house and call laziness faith. He goes into the fields and sows. And yet, once the seed is sown, something happens beyond his power. He sleeps, he rises, night and day, life begins beneath the surface. And the seed sprouts and grows, and he doesn’t know how.

The farmer works, but he doesn’t create life. He sows, but he does not command the seed to live. He participates, but he’s not sovereign. This is a beautiful and humbling picture of the kingdom, isn’t it? The kingdom advances by the sowing of the word, not by human force, not by worldly spectacle, not by manipulation, not by entertainment, not by political power, not by clever technique.

The church sows the word of God and God gives the growth. I, as a pastor, need this word. Elders need this word. Parents and grandparents need this word. Sunday school teachers need this word. Missionaries need this word. Every Christian who’s ever prayed for an unbelieving loved one needs this word.

You can sow, but you cannot regenerate. You can teach, but you cannot give a new heart. We can plead, but we cannot open blind eyes. We can disciple our children, instruct them, pray with them, bring them to worship, speak of Christ in our home, but we cannot make them love the Savior. We can preach with all of our might, but we cannot raise the dead. Only God gives life. And Christ enables us to obey this by freeing us from the unburdenable burden of trying to be the Holy Spirit. I guarantee you, you take out your ID card, and the name Holy Spirit is not there.

Parents, we’re called to sow faithfully, not to regenerate our children by anxiety. Pastors are called to preach faithfully, not to create faith by force of personality. Churches are called to use the ordinary means of grace, not to replace them with entertainment or pressure. Evangelists are called to bear witness faithfully, not to trust cleverness. Christ gives both the seed and the calling. We don’t invent the message. We sow what he has given, the word of God, the gospel of grace, the whole counsel of God. And that humbles us, but it also comforts because It humbles because we can’t boast.

If anyone’s converted, God gave the growth. If any believer matures, God gave the growth. If any church bears fruit, God gave the growth. If any mission work prospers, God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, but only God who gives the growth.

But it comforts us too because the kingdom does not depend on our power. The seed has life because God has ordained it so. The word does not return empty. The farmer may sleep, but God doesn’t. The preacher may be weak, but the word of Christ is not weak. The church may be small, but the spirit is not small. Verse 28, the earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. There’s an order. There’s progression there. There’s growth in stages, first the blade and then the ear and then the full grain.

And that’s important for us, especially when we may tend to be impatient. We often want harvest immediately. We want instant sanctification, instant maturity, instant church growth, instant conversions, instant answers to prayer. But Christ teaches us the kingdom growth is often Gradual.

Don’t despise the blade because it’s not yet full grain. If you look at yourself, do you see only weakness? Do you say my faith is small, my repentance is weak, my prayers are poor, my love is cold? Well, don’t make peace with spiritual infancy, but but do not deny the reality of grace because it’s still immature. A blade is not yet harvest, but it is life.

Weak faith, if it rests on Christ, is true faith. And why may weak faith be encouraged? Because faith doesn’t save by its size. Christ saves by his strength. A weak hand may receive a strong savior. The smallest true faith lays hold on the whole Christ.

So parents, don’t despise small signs of spiritual interest in your children. A question asked, a verse remembered, a prayer spoken, a tender conscience. These may be blades. Nurture them. Don’t crush them with harshness. Don’t neglect them through spiritual laziness. Sow and water and then trust the Lord.

And a word to us as a small congregation. we must not despise gradual work. A few gathered for prayer is not nothing. A sermon heard with faith is not nothing. An elderly saint persevering in hope is not nothing. A visitor welcomed warmly is not nothing. A child learning the catechism is not nothing. A quiet act of repentance is not nothing.

These may be blades of kingdom life, And yet the blade is not the end. God brings growth toward maturity. Christ does not save us to leave us barren. He gives life and the life he gives grows by his spirit through his appointed means. And then here in verse 29, but when the grain is ripe at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. The kingdom moves toward harvest. See, history’s not aimless. The word is not sown forever without consummation. The hidden growth one day will be openly revealed.

There will be final gathering, final judgment, final vindication, final glory. And Christ is the Lord of this harvest. The same Lord who sows the word and gives growth will return to gather his people and judge his enemies. His resurrection is the pledge that the harvest will come. All hidden things will be revealed. The righteous will be vindicated in him. The wicked will not escape judgment. The kingdom that began in hiddenness will be manifested in glory.

And that should sober the unconverted, because the delay of the harvest is not denial of the harvest. God’s patience is not permission to remain in unbelief. The sickle will be put in when the harvest has come. But this should also comfort those who are afflicted saints, because our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Your tears are not unseen. Your prayers are not forgotten. Your hidden obedience is not wasted. Much of God’s work is underground before it’s visible.

And here we must see Christ himself. He is not only the sower, but he’s also the seed who was buried and rose again, Jesus says in John 12, 24, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. The greatest work of God once looked like a defeat. The son of God nailed to a cross, dead, buried. Yet from that buried seed came resurrection, life and everlasting fruit because Christ died and rose.

Sinners are forgiven. The spirit is poured out. The church is gathered. The nations are discipled and the final resurrection is assured. So we may so faithfully sleep humbly, rise obediently, and trust the Lord at the harvest. In third place, notice that the kingdom begins small, but becomes great. Verse 30, with what can we compare the kingdom of God? What parable should we use for it? Verse 31, he gives answer.

It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. familiar proverbial image here. The mustard seed was known for its smallness. Now, his point is not botanical classification, okay? The point is contrast.

The kingdom begins in a way that looks small, weak, unimpressive, and easy to dismiss. Think of Jesus’s ministry. The king of the kingdom is a carpenter from Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? His disciples are fishermen, a tax collector, and ordinary men. He has no army, no palace, no earthly throne, no visible political machine. He teaches from a boat. He touches lepers. He eats with tax collectors and centers. He’s opposed by the religious leaders. He will be betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified and buried.

And to the eye of unbelief, this doesn’t look like the kingdom of God. And we must admit to the eye of most believers. It’s sometimes hard to see they could be and that it is. But this is precisely how Christ fulfills the parable. He is the mustard seed king.

His kingdom begins in apparent smallness. A child in Bethlehem, a carpenter from Nazareth, the teacher by the sea, a handful of disciples, a cross outside Jerusalem, a sealed tomb, borrowed at that. Yet from that small and despised beginning comes a kingdom that cannot be destroyed.

That was the point in that Old Testament reading from Daniel. The crucified Christ is raised. The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone. The son of David is enthroned at the father’s right hand. The gospel goes to the nations. Sinners from every tribe and tongue find refuge under his reign. Verse 32.

Yet when it is grown or sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. Small beginning, great outcome. Hidden seed, sheltering branches, humility first, glory afterward. And this reaches back to the Old Testament hope.

God had promised that his kingdom would shelter the nations. In Ezekiel 17, the Lord says he will take a tender sprig and plant it and it will become a noble cedar and birds of every kind will dwell under it. The Lord says that he brings low the high tree and makes high the low tree. And this is what God does in Christ.

He brings down the proud. He exalts the humble. He topples the wisdom of the world through the foolishness of the cross. He establishes an everlasting kingdom through a crucified king. Daniel’s interpretation of that vision given to Nebuchadnezzar saw the dream that kingdoms of this world would fall, but that God would establish a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. A stone cut out by no human hand would become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Jesus is teaching the same truth here in the image of the mustard seed.

This is a word we need here at Faith. We’re not a large congregation. We don’t have the outward impressiveness that many associate with strength. We’re older than we wish we were. We don’t presently have the number of children we’d love to have. We we know weakness. We know limitation. We know what it is to look small.

But the kingdom of God is not measured by worldly greatness. The question is not, do we look impressive? The question is, Is the lamp of Christ being set on the stand? Is the seed of the word being sown? Are we hearing with faith? Are we praying for growth? Are we welcoming those who come? Are we making room under the shade of Christ’s branches? Are we trusting God for fruit we cannot manufacture?

Don’t idolize bigness. Many large things are spiritually hollow. But do not sanctify barrenness either. The mustard seed grows. A faithful church should desire gospel fruit. We should pray for conversions. We should seek the lost. We should welcome visitors. We should disciple children if God gives them. We should encourage one another. We should support missions. We should bear witness in Paris, Texas and beyond. We do not say we’re too small to matter.

Christ says the kingdom is like a mustard seed. And Christ enables us to obey this by giving us kingdom eyes. He teaches us to see as he sees. He shows us that his own kingdom came through humility before glory, weakness before power, cross before crown.

He makes us willing to be faithful in small things because we know the outcome rests with him. That also applies to your own obedience. Don’t do not despise small acts of faithfulness. A short prayer offered in sincerity, a quiet apology, a word of gospel witness, a meal shared, a note of encouragement, a child taught, a sin confessed, a burden carried, a widow visited, a visitor welcomed, a missionary prayed for. Now, these may seem small, but Christ’s kingdom often advances through small things. The birds nesting in the branches also show us the sheltering character of the kingdom.

The kingdom of Christ gathers sinners from the nations. Under his reign, there’s a refuge. Under his righteousness, there is shade. Under his mercy, there is rest. And Christ fulfills us by being the true shelter of the nations. He’s the son of David in whom the Abrahamic promise is fulfilled. In him, all the families of the earth are blessed.

Under his branches, there is shade for the weary and pardon for sinners, rest for the burdened and righteousness for the guilty adoption for the fatherless and hope for the nations. The church is not the savior, but the church is called to be a visible embassy of his sheltering kingdom.

A congregation obeys this text when weary sinners hear the gospel, weak believers are strengthened. Children are instructed, widows cared for, strangers are welcome. The nation’s prayed for in the world and the word is faithfully sewn. Come. Under the shade of Christ. Don’t stand outside admiring the tree, don’t remain in the crowd, only come to the king. There’s shelter. for guilty sinners in his blood. There is pardon for the repentant. There is rest for the burdened. There is grace for the weak. There is a home for those who flee to him.

The kingdom that began like a mustard seed is the only kingdom that will endure. And then the last two verses notice here, the kingdom word is explained to Christ’s disciples with many such parables. Mark writes, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples. He explained everything. He speaks the word to the crowds and parables.

They’re not merely illustrations. They were instruments of revelation and judgment. To the humble hearers, they invited meditation and faith and further seeking. To hardened hearers, they remained dark. The same parable that drew disciples nearer left the careless in their confusion. But privately, Jesus explained everything to his own disciples.

And that’s the difference here between the crowd and the disciple. The crowd hears and leaves. The disciple comes to Jesus and asks. The crowd is interested for a moment. The disciple stays with Christ. The crowd may enjoy the teaching. The disciple wants understanding, obedience, communion with the teacher.

Which are you? Don’t be content to be part of the religious crowd, don’t be content to sit in church to hear sermons and then go away unchanged. Come to Christ as a disciple. Bring Him your ignorance. Bring Him your dullness. Bring Him your questions. Bring Him your confusion. Bring Him your sin. Say, Lord, teach me. Lord, give me ears to hear. Lord, make Your Word fruitful in me. And notice the grace here.

Jesus explains His Word to His own disciples. They are His own. Not because they were naturally wise, not because they were socially important, not because they had already mastered the truth. They were his own because he called them and claimed them and graciously taught them.

Christ is a patient teacher. He does not despise weak disciples who come to him. He does not cast out those who truly seek him. He gives more light to those who receive the light they have, and he still teaches his own. He teaches us now through the inscripturated word, by his spirit and the fellowship of the church, through the ordinary ministry of pastors and teachers and through the means of grace. He does not leave his disciples in darkness. He may humble us by showing us our dullness, but he also graciously instructs us.

Therefore, we obey by remaining near him. Don’t hear him walk away like the crowd. Come to Christ as a disciple. Ask him for understanding, sit under his word, receive his correction, follow his teaching. That should shape our life together as a congregation. We should be a congregation of disciples, not spectators. A congregation that hears the word carefully, that asks, how does this text call us to faith and repentance, to obedience and comfort and hope? A congregation that talks about the word after it’s preached, a congregation that carries the word into our homes, a congregation that prays for the word to bear fruit.

And that should shape your Lord’s Day hearing. Come prepared. Pray for your pastor, pray for yourself, pray for the congregation. Listen with your Bible open and your conscience open. I don’t merely ask, what did I think of the sermon? What did the Lord require of me? What did he reveal of Christ? How must I respond? Take care how you hear, but do not attempt to hear in your own strength.

Come to the one who opens ears. Come to the one who gives life. Come to the one who forgives dullness. Come to the one who teaches his own. Let’s pray together. Lord, our God, we praise you for the coming of your kingdom in our Lord Jesus Christ. You’ve not left us in darkness, but have sent the lamp of your truth into the world. In him, your hidden wisdom has been made manifest. In his cross, your justice and mercy have been revealed. In his resurrection, your kingdom has been vindicated. In his exaltation, your reign has been declared.

Forgive us, O Lord, for careless hearing. Forgive us for sitting under your word with distracted minds and cold hearts and slow obedience. Forgive us for measuring your truth by our preferences rather than receiving it with faith and reverence. Give us ears to hear.

Make us not merely attenders but disciples. Cause your word to search us, to humble us, to comfort us and bear fruit in us. Teach us to sow the seed of your word faithfully. Keep us from trusting in human strength or cleverness or outward appearances, help pastors and elders, parents, teachers, missionaries, and every member of this congregation to scatter the seed with patience and hope. Remind us that we cannot give life, but you can. We cannot make the seed grow, but you give the increase.

Strengthen us when your work seems hidden. Keep us from despising small beginnings. Encourage the weak believer, the weary parent, the burdened saint, the small congregation. Make us faithful in prayer and witness and worship and love and obedience. May Faith Presbyterian be a place where the lamp of Christ is not hidden, where the seed of the word is sown, and where weary sinners find shelter under the shade of our Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And we ask this in his name, and God’s people say, amen.