“EARS TO HEAR - AND A MOUTH TO SPEAK”

Mark 4:1-9, 21-25

January 27, 2008 Pastor Harpold

Unlike the first three chapters of Mark, filled with action, the fourth chapter is mostly teaching through parables. Yet even the parables are parables of action. Jesus again resorted to teaching from a boat to the crowds.

At this point He is about halfway through His three years of ministry. He was very busy, the pressure was upon Him, and He was physically weary. In fact, He was so tired, that He fell asleep in the ship at sea.

He had used certain symbolic illustrations before, such as telling the woman at the well about the water of life; He told His disciples He would make them fishers of men and that the fields were white unto harvest. And He had talked about salt and light and foundations of rock and sand in the Sermon on the Mount. But these are not parables. Now He has adopted the parabolic method and tells the parable of the sower.

In parable of the sower, there are three areas where the seeds fell that represent the unsaved who do not accept the Word of God. Their lives are like the wayside where the birds devour the seed - the Devil takes away the Word. Others are like the stony ground where there is no depth of soil. Then there are thorns to choke the Word.

We have one-fourth of the seed falling on good ground, which represents the ones who are saved, the ones who receive the Word. There are different degrees of fruit-bearing: thirty, sixty, and an hundredfold. When Jesus and His disciples were leaving the Upper Room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, "I am the true vine." And He wanted them to bring forth fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, three degrees of fruit-bearing.

Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” This is like Charles Stanley when he says, “Now listen!” We might also liken it to the Apostle Paul who urged us to “wake up, the day of salvation is near.”

There were obviously some who didn't understand the parable at all. When they ask Him, He answers with these verses (verses 11-12) that have a certain degree of ambiguity. Let me give you an explanation that might be helpful. The reason that Jesus resorted to parables from this point to the end of His ministry is arresting. His enemies rejected His teachings, and the multitudes had become indifferent to spiritual truths. They were actively interested in His miracles but not in the spiritual application. He now resorts to the use of parables to enlist their interest. The antagonistic attitude of His enemies and the lethargy, indifference and incomprehension of the multitudes necessitated a change to the use of parables so that those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness would be filled and those who wanted spiritual truth could have their eyes opened.

In 1 Corinthians, writes: "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God." Then he goes on in verse 13, "These things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 13-14).

This principle is still applicable today. We can use every means to try to get people to understand spiritual truth, but they must want to understand before these things can he made real to them. If a person's heart and eyes are open and he wants to know, then the Spirit of God is going to bring in the great truth to his heart.

We use the expression you will be lost if you do not accept Christ as your Savior. The truth is that you are already lost. The point should be accurately stated that you will continue to be lost if you do not receive Christ as your savior. It is your reaction and reception to the Word of God that will determine if you will be saved or not.

God's Word is the seed that falls. What kind of soil are you today? Are you one of the poor soils? Or does God's Word fall on good ground?

Now He gives the exposition of the parable up through verse 20.

I'll go over it quickly. The sower is the Son of Man and the seed is the Word of God. The birds by the wayside are Satan. The stony-ground hearers are those who let affliction and persecution turn them from God. That is the flesh, and many people today are letting the flesh keep them from God. Then there are the thorny-ground hearers, those who let the cares of the world distract them. That is the world today. So many people today are letting the world shut them out from God. Then the good-ground hearers are those who are converted genuinely by the Word of God. They bring forth only percentages of fruit and only one third of these bring forth a hundredfold. So we see that we have here a parable with real action.

Light creates responsibility. A man who receives the truth must act. We are held responsible to the degree to which we have had light given us. The light is shining, and your response to the light is all important. The point is, you and I were in darkness until the light of the gospel got through to us. We get the impression that man is a sinner because of his weakness or because of his ignorance. But Paul says very candidly (in Rom. 1), that men, when they knew God glorified Him not as God. Man is a willful sinner. That's the kind of sinners all of us are and the light that comes in will create a responsibility. We are lost, and if we do not accept the Light, if we do not accept Him, we remain lost.

If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

This is action. God demands this action. Faith is action. Faith is acting upon what God has said. How important that is today.

Jesus talks about growing seed. Even today we still don't know too much about the growing of a seed into a plant, then producing fruit. It is a mystery to this day. This parable illustrates the power of the Word of God working in our hearts and lives. What a marvelous parable it is.

Now we have the third parable about seed in this chapter.

Elsewhere Jesus speaks of the mustard seed in terms of faith. I think here, the mustard seed illustrates the smallest amount of faith can grow into a great thing.

Now we find here that when our Lord leaves off teaching, they go out into the sea. He wants a rest because He's tired. He goes to sleep. And then we find this miracle of His quieting the sea.

Do you know what made them fear? It was not so much the fact that He quieted the storm but that it responded immediately. It just leveled out; there was a sudden calm. This miracle was so great that it made these men afraid.

What a wonderful lesson we learn here. He puts us into the storms of life in order that we might grow closer to Him and that we might know Him better.