How To Receive Greater Revelation | Mark 4:24-25 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

I, echo the sentiments of David when he said in Psalm 16, as for the saints of the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. I'm delighted to be in the presence of God's people this afternoon, and I hope you are the same. We haven't been in the gospel of Mark for some time, but today we continue. And so open your bibles with me and come to Mark chapter four as we look at two verses together as a family, trusting that the Holy Spirit has much to say even in these two verses. Mark chapter four.

And meet me at the words of Jesus in verse 24 of Mark chapter four. If you're a person here who does not have a Bible, come see me after the service. I wanna give you a Bible. I want you to have a copy of God's word in your hand, especially when you come to the house of God, and more importantly, from Monday to Saturday as well. Mark four twenty four.

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. Lord, with these two verses before us, we ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Lord, protect us from confusion. Guide us into divine clarity. And Lord, may your word inspire obedience in our lives. And not just obedience out of duty, but delight. May it cause us to worship you as we face with the living voice of God.

We ask, Lord, that as your words here were just read, you would give us the grace to pay attention and reap the great benefit that these principles have to offer us in this life. We give you all praise and honor in Jesus' name. Amen. It's quite interesting to note how much the Lord Jesus throughout his time here on Earth and even beyond his earthly ministry mentions the necessity of hearing. The careful reader of the bible will even remember that in the final book of sacred scripture, Christ himself re repeats the statement and the charge to the churches that he addressed of that day.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Several times, he brings that up. The relationship between Jesus and man's hearing is far beyond his capability of making the deaf whole again. The miracle worker that you and I worship is also the teacher of teachers. He is the creator, yes, but he is also the communicator of divine revelation.

And as the communicator of truth, he also has an expectation of how his audience should engage with the truth that they come into contact with. What you and I are doing this afternoon as we are sitting under the preaching of God's word, and what you do in your private time as you come face to face with the written word of God is no small thing. We should not be for one moment allowing ourselves to slip into indifference or passivity when we are in such a place, whether it's privately or corporately like today. We see here that according to Christ, receiving the truth, having that projected on us requires a level of awareness and discipline that will determine pay attention to this. That will determine whether or not we will be rewarded with spiritual riches or we will forfeit those spiritual riches.

It is all contingent upon one thing, and that is hearing and hearing rightly. That is essentially what Jesus is saying in these two verses. Christ wants us to know how you and I can maximize, absolutely capitalize on the revelation he has to offer. And yet at the same time, he warns us how we can forfeit the truth that is available to us in a way that can change us in profound ways. The maximizing or the minimizing of the manifestation of God's insight and wisdom pertaining to the things of this life and the things that are unseen are wholly dependent upon Jesus' instructions here and how you and I adhere to them.

Perhaps you have observed, like I have, how there are just some Christians who have such a firm grasp on the word of God. And more than that, they seem to only go deeper and deeper in understanding divine realities. And at the same time, you can look over just very closely and see Christians who are in that same person's environment, who have the same access to the resources, and the vessels that God used to bring things to clarity concerning his word, and yet they remain unskilled, and they are stagnant over the years concerning the word of righteousness. How does this occur? Do we not all have the same Holy Spirit living in us?

Do we not all have the same Bible at our disposal? Again, do we not all have access to resources more than any time of history? Ability to receive from gifted teachers and preachers, not just in your local setting, but even across the world? Jesus' explanation to why it is that some seem to grow in revelation, while others don't is plain and clear here. Come back with me to verse 24 and look at this precious verse concerning this subject.

Jesus says, 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. This seems ambiguous, but it's really clear when you think about it. It's very simple. Essentially, what the Lord is saying is this, the standard of action the standard of action and attention that you give to anything will ultimately determine the level of gain that you will receive in return.

That's a law that applies to almost everything in life. And what the Lord is trying to convey here is that it also is related to how your spiritual perception and expansion is realized. Now that's the main thought, and we can we can be grateful to understand that that is the main thought. But there are still questions that we need to explore. Here's the question I have when I come when I come to this verse.

Earlier this week, I said, well, if that's what the Lord is saying, then one, what is the measure necessary for me to apply in order to know spiritual success? What is it that is needed of me? What standard must I adopt and practice in order to know greater and greater revelation? And secondly, which I kind of answer, what exactly will be added to us if we use the appropriate measure? That's what I wanna answer this afternoon because my desire for you, especially for those who are eager to uncover gold in God's word, and to see precious realities and provisions of his grace.

And from there to experience a greater personal transformation as a result of what you come into contact with. This message, I pray, will be a blessing to you and that it will instruct you. Because this text here is a launching pad, and it will launch us into other places in the bible to discover exactly what it is that God requires of us in order to open more and more doors in the corridor of divine truth. And I hope that that is something that you would want because today, I wanna present to you three measures. Three measures needed to receive greater revelation from God.

Receive greater revelation from God. And this is what precisely Christ wants to get at. And I can assure you based on the authority of the word of God that if you if you embrace what I'm about to tell you, and I will reference it as much as I can with the scriptures, you will set yourself on the path, on the course of glorious growth that will only increase until you arrive into glory itself. Three measures, three disciplines, three practices, whatever word you wanna use for the person that says, I don't wanna be a babe in Christ anymore. I don't wanna just drink milk anymore.

Give me meat. Give me meat. Oh, this will bless you for those who are intimidated by the content here. For those who who don't believe that they have the ability to understand these deep things. All of this is for those who are simply going to hear what God has to say.

Three measures. Let me give you the first one. The first one is right here in the verse that we just read. If you and I wanna grow in greater revelation concerning the word of God and the things of God and the ways of God, then you must do this. Pay attention.

Pay attention. That is the first instruction. Jesus declared it. Pay attention to what you hear. Pay attention to what you hear.

For the Lord to call us to pay attention means that you and I can hear the word of God like you are right now. You and I can even read the word of God in in a way that I wish you you'd hope you do throughout the week and still do so ineffectively. If you want a class example for that, look at the Pharisees. How many times has the Lord engaged with the Pharisees and he says, have you not read? I mean, what an insult.

You're talking to the experts of the law of the day. And you're saying, have you not read? Obviously, they read. They didn't just read. They memorized large portions of the Hebrew scriptures.

And yet Jesus, by asking that question is saying, you didn't really read the way you were supposed to read. You didn't really see what you were supposed to see. You absorbed the information. It was there. You can rehearse it, but you didn't really read it.

In other words, you really didn't pay attention to what God was trying to say to you. That's why he makes this clear call for you and I to be mindful of whatever is being presented before us. But what does that really mean? What does it really mean for me to pay attention, which is becoming a lost art in our day, by the way? We can't pay attention to almost anything without checking a notification or checking this or scrolling to that and then refreshing this.

Pay attention. To pay attention is an act of the will, and it is a willful decision to ignore other elements around you or within you as you choose to carefully put your attention on an object worthy of consideration. It is an aspect of concentration. It it almost like, I kinda feel silly almost giving you a definition of what it means to pay attention. It almost seems like a silly thing to review.

But as I said, for Jesus to give that instruction then, how much more is it relevant for us now in an age of so much distraction, of so much saturation, pulling your attention in so many different directions? And I cannot think of a greater and stronger biblical example of how God rewards those who pay attention than a text in the Old Testament that ironically was something that the Lord opened my eyes to on a summer night while reading my Bible on my bed. I want you to go there with me in Exodus chapter three. Exodus three, and let's begin there in verse two. Exodus three verse two.

This is the chapter where Moses is called by God to be the shepherd and the leader of the people of Israel, to be the deliverer of those who are oppressed under Pharaoh's tyranny. And in Exodus three two, as you're there, listen to what I'm about to say. The Holy Spirit does not waste one word in his word, not one word. And you're gonna see that I hope in this. Exodus three verse two, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

He looked and behold the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned? I find it so fascinating how the Holy Spirit records the very words that Moses spoke to himself as he, in his peripheral vision, saw something that was strange. A burning bush, but it was not consumed.

It just kept burning. And perhaps it wasn't a strange thing to see burning bushes in the wilderness, but this was different. It didn't stop. It didn't turn into smoke. It didn't consume the object that it was consuming.

And we see here that this catches his attention. And if you if you don't have the ESV, which we read from here on the pulpit, if you have a King James, it will read for you, I will now turn aside. If you have the NASB, it will say, I must turn aside. Whatever translation you hold, what we're seeing here is that Moses is communicating this curiosity that is prioritized. Something now piques his curiosity and it is more important than anything else going around him, and he must seek to understand this phenomenon.

I must, I will, I need to see what this is all about. And what's more significant about Moses's decision to turn his attention to this burning bush was the timing of it. Go back to verse one. What are we told in verse one of Exodus three? We're told there that Moses was leading the sheep, real sheep, the sheep of his father-in-law, that that was his employment.

He was managing and supervising this flock. And so let me put it this way, Moses was at work, or maybe at the end of his work, we don't know where he's at with his shift, but we know that he is performing a duty. And God saw it necessary to come at this specific point, but that detail enhances. It enhances here the great interest that Moses had in in this strange sight and what he was witnessing. He would turn aside to see this display.

Listen. Even if it cost him some time to turn his attention away from a duty, an important duty, a good duty, a faithful duty. And yet still, this was so important that he even wanted to look elsewhere and give his full attention to this. But there's more. Look at verse four.

This is what really blesses me. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see the Holy Spirit wants to make sure to confirm to us that the Lord spoke only after he perceived that Moses was willing to give his full attention to the burning bush. For what reason? In order to tell you what Jesus wants to tell us, That the Lord rewards those who sacrifice the time to pause and pay attention to what he desires to say to us.

When I read those words slowly, it it just ministers to me so deeply. When the Lord saw. He sees. He might be silent, but he's always seeing. He's always observing.

He's always calculating. He's he's always understanding. He's always there. And in this moment, though he's manifesting through the burning bush, there are burning eyes that look past through everything else and see the very motive that this Moses had. And when the Lord saw and he observed that Moses wanted to respond to this voiceless shrub, it was only then that the searcher of hearts was willing to unlock his voice and give him greater revelation.

Think about that. Because in the context of this shepherd, God's voice was heard through a burning bush. Your context and mine is different. Now we have a burning book. This is where and when and how God speaks to us.

But what happened here with Moses is the same for us. In the same way God waited for Moses to even pause on his duty or to prioritize this ambition, not neglecting his duty, but pausing and sanctifying and consecrated a portion of time of his day to say, let me come to this burning bush and see what it's all about. In the same way God waited for that, that kind of attendance and that kind of attention, it is no different with you and I. He is no different than you and I. The same eyes through that burning bush is the same God who sees what we do with this supernatural book.

Well, how often do we walk by it in our homes? How often do we turn our attention away from it? How often do we get so caught up and and we tell ourselves that we'll give what we have left, the crumbs of our time to God's word, and we wonder why he is not speaking. God requires the necessary attention and attendance before he does. Why?

Because he's a king. I read this quote from Spurgeon many months ago, and I put it in my phone as a reminder, little notes. It's a wonderful feature in your app, your phone. And I think it relates even to our subject today. Spurgeon said, what should we think of a petitioner?

What should we think of a petitioner if while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly? What should we think of a petitioner if, while having an audience with a prince, should be chasing a feather or catching a fly? Yeah. It's quite humbling. So my instruction here is very simple, and I thank God that God made it very simple.

The first thing that we must do in order for us to be postured for God to grant us greater revelation, things that will exhilarate you and bless you and bring answers to you, we gotta give him some attention. We gotta be able to learn how to pause and say, I I'm gonna give a portion of my time to push away all these other things and to just meet with God's word. And God sees that. He sees that. Let me offer some practical tips of how we pay attention to the word of God.

Eliminate as many distractions as possible. Eliminate as as many distractions as possible, not just when you're alone, but even when you come to the house of God. When you come to the house of God. I say this all the time. My ambition coming to the house of God is not to sit with somebody that I like.

I want to be in a in a sphere, and I wanna position myself in a way in which I have as much of exposure to God's word with the least amount of distractions. I don't know what it is about Christians. They're, like, afraid of the front row. That's my favorite spot to be. I love that because, I I mean, some people have the grace to be back there, and that's fine too.

I just know myself. I wanna see the least amount of heads so that I can hear all that is being said. Now when you are alone yes, as we all know this, this is very this is very simple. Eliminate as many distractions. But here's the thing, my brain is very loud.

So even if I put these things away and I close the shades and I lock the door, this cranium is filled with things. And it doesn't it doesn't hesitate to remind me of my laundry and what meal I need to make, and what I need to take care of. Can I offer you a a a tip that helps me? From time to time, as you're with God's word, read it out loud. Read it out loud.

Submit your senses to the engagement of the word of God. Now that doesn't mean you have to read it the whole time. If you can, then do it. But I'm saying from time to time, pause and declare read out loud the word. And I will tell you something fascinating.

Oftentimes, the most revelation I get from God's word is when I'm hearing it from my own mouth. There is this shift of focus. You go into another gear when you are not just reading it with your eyes, but you're hearing it with your ears, and your lips are declaring it. Now there are some times where I wake up and my I just don't wanna say anything. My voice still needs to warm up.

So I'm not saying I'm perfect at this. But I can tell you every time I have done it in private or reading it with somebody one on one, there's just this heightened experience of the word of God. So do that. Do that. Give a realistic amount of time with the word of God.

Don't be inspired from a message like this and say, I'm gonna give three hours. I'm gonna wake up two hours early, and I'm gonna read. That's a great, great motivation. I'm glad you're excited, but be realistic. It's better to give God fifteen, thirty minutes of concentrated time than an hour and a half of you periodically falling asleep as you're reading the word of God.

Let's not measure our success by time here. Let's read and engage and absorb all that God has to say. Brothers and sisters, we must pay attention. If we can't go to that step, then the rest of what I'm about to say is not gonna help. But let me bring you now to step number two.

How do we receive greater revelation from God? Well, let's go to second Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy chapter two. Let's look here at verse four together. Paul says to his spiritual son, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. And look what he says in verse seven. Think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Point number one, pay attention.

Point number two, ponder frequently. Ponder frequently. Now what Paul does here is he gives Timothy three metaphors of what the Christian experience is like. He wants to inform him of what it's like. He tells him that it's like being an athlete.

He tells him it's like being a soldier. He tells him it's like being a farmer. And after giving these analogies, he gives him an instruction. Timothy, think. Think.

And the word there is to reflect. It is to ponder. It is to meditate. It is to sit on something until it becomes more and more obvious. Consider its meaning, Timothy.

Consider its application in your life and your ministry, Timothy. Now what I find so interesting is that when Paul gives these analogies, he does not give a detailed explanation of how they work and how they apply. Did you notice that? It's almost like in rapid fire fashion. Yeah.

Let like a soldier, like an athlete, like a farmer, think. Well, it would help if you just elaborate a little bit more. No. No. No.

No. No. I'm giving you these. I'm giving you enough, but now you need to take it. Here's the baton and run with it.

Think about how these things relate to the Christian experience. Think about the realities of a farmer, of a soldier, of a runner in the context of God's word, in the boundary of his word, and now think about how this works. Now it would make sense for Paul to say, think about these things full stop period. That would make sense. Yeah.

I obviously have to think about it. But he attaches the charge with a promise. Think over what I say. Here's the promise for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. In other words, Paul assures this man, he assures Timothy, if he does what he's supposed to do, which is to ponder, then God will do what only he can do and that's give illumination.

We can't miss that. This is a supernatural thing. This is a supernatural thing because the latter experience is contingent upon our compliance with the former exhortation. In essence, God will not provide insight to the person who does not think about them, who does not internally investigate the interpretation, the implementation of it. In the same way that God was looking for Moses to turn and pay attention before he spoke, God at the same time looks into our hearts to see if we are thinking about his truth.

Let me put it this way. Revelation comes not to just readers, but to thinkers. Revelation comes not merely to readers, but to thinkers. The people who come to the word of God and ask the who, what, when, where, how questions. And it is those people who ask those questions, not just to themselves, not just as they bounce back and forth with the word of God, but even to their God.

It is those people in which the promise is made, supernatural guidance will come, and answers will be provided. This is a promise, and that should encourage the student who is fearful. I remember coming to the Bible at one point early in my life and not knowing where to start. I remember hearing other people talk about the things of God. I remember not even being able to know what books were in my bible when the preacher said turn to this book.

And it can be overwhelming, and it can be discouraging, and it can be frustrating to know yourself and see how slow you are to grasp certain things. But if that is you, remember what Paul is saying here. The Lord will give you understanding in everything. Everything. Now he could have said in what I just said, well, how a Christian is like this and like that and like this, but he doesn't just limit it to what he just said.

He says, in all of the counsel of God's word, God is willing to teach you personally. God is willing to become your personal tutor when he sees that you're willing to learn. But hold on, brace yourself here because he says, God will. The Lord will give you understanding in everything, and he stopped there. That's important.

You know why? Because many of us interpret it, the Lord will give you understanding in everything immediately. He doesn't say immediately. He's a good teacher. He's the perfect teacher.

And he knows exactly what to disclose to you at what time. Remember what he said to his own disciples? He goes, I have so much more to say to you, but you can't bear them now. It's like, if I reveal this to you, it will overwhelm you. It will crush you.

You're you're such a a a state of sadness. You're so overwhelmed emotionally that it's not gonna benefit you right now if I reveal these things to you. So the Lord knows exactly when to make known what, But that is not our duty to determine. It is our responsibility to simply do what he tells Timothy and that is to think. That is to think and to realize that, yes, there might be a shell over the scripture as we read it.

But as we bring our thoughts to that shell and allow our thoughts and our meditations and our questions and yes, sometimes even our righteous frustration to crack at that shell. At the right time, the Lord will supply a grace that will break it open and for you to enjoy the fruit therein. The Lord will give you understanding in everything. And this is why you and I have to understand. God in many things works with people who are willing to work, who are willing to work.

Even when the Lord calls many in the bible, if not all, what you will find in the objects of his calling is that those people who are servants of his in the ministry were found working when he called them. And in the same way, we come to this word and we must engage with it before the Lord comes with the tools necessary to make it real. How does the Lord do it though? How does he give understanding? Is the answer as simple as he deposits clarity in your mind and he provides the wisdom for you to grasp it just out of nowhere, supernatural, like an epiphany?

Sure. You can do it that way. I don't think that's the only legitimate avenue though. He has many means by which he makes known these things. And I'll prove to you one, because some of this this has happened to many of you.

When you've come to the house of God, whether it's here or elsewhere, and earlier that week, you read something or there's something that you've been pondering about or a situation where you're trying to see how does God's word make this make sense. And all of a sudden as you come here unsuspectingly, you hear something and there it is. There's the answer. It came forth. It illuminated.

It shined light. And some of you even said, I've heard you say. You said, you know, brother, I've been I've been thinking about this for the past few days, or I've been trying to wonder. I need to know more about this subject, and here I am. I came this day and not knowing what you were gonna speak on, and you said it, and that's what I needed.

Is that coincidence? Is it coincidence when you go to another place or a conference or whatever the case may be and something happens in this transaction? No. It's the Lord. The Lord giving you understanding.

That's what happened with the psalmist, Asaph. This man had so many questions about suffering. He didn't understand how the wicked could prosper and the righteous there who are faithful to God are being punished, so it seems. He doesn't understand how those who are wicked could be rewarded with life, and health, and families, and vacations, and raises. And so he he was so overwhelmed wondering if he washed his hands in vain, if he's following the truth and obeying righteousness in vain.

And so he says in Psalm seventy three sixteen, but when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Let me say this. Asaph, as much as he was in a place of great frustration, was a thinker. He meditated. He thought about it.

He was wondering. He was trying to put the pieces together. He prayed. He ached. When he thought about this and how to understand, it was a wearisome task.

And then in verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end. Until I came to the house of God where God's law is being performed and God's word is being declared. It was in that setting where the Lord gave me understanding. But before the Lord gave him understanding, he was already thinking. He was pondering, he was chewing the cud of the word.

And God says, I see your thoughts. I see how it's a wearisome task. I see how you're seeking understanding. Here it is. Here it is.

The Lord can do it while you're in prayer. The Lord can do it while you're systematically reading through the bible, and there is a portion of scripture that brings light to a mystery that you read early on in that month. The Lord can do it and I've experienced it where you're going out to lunch with a spirit filled brother or sister in Christ. Nothing planned, but there you are talking and talking about the things of God, and there they bring something up. Brother, I've been thinking about that for so long, and you just gave the answer.

Or brother, I've been going through this situation, and you just brought light to it with that reference, with that story in the Bible, with that proverb. The Lord can do it by putting a book in your hand with with a wonderful author who had insights in the word of God. The Lord has many means, but the goal is the same and the promise is the same. He will give you understanding, and he will find a way to give you understanding. But before you can even expect for the Lord to do that, you heard it so many times, but pay attention.

Not just pause and pay attention, but pause and ponder. Or or ponder as you go. Ponder as you go. And this is the gateway of experiencing truth and watching it make an imprint on our lives. And it I'm telling you, it is one of the most exhilarating things that when you wrestle with the word and God comes and brings relief, it's like just this rush of water to your soul.

And as much as it is invisible, the sensation from that is the Lord spoke to me here. God just revealed something to me. Whatever means he uses, you know what your thoughts are like. You know the the prayers in your heart, and God comes and he just thunders it, or he whispers it. And it blesses you.

Thomas Watson, Puritan. He says, quote, the reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fires of meditation. And I think if we're honest, and I'm I'm gonna be honest with you, the coldest times that I've had with the word is when I rush through it or when I don't take at least a piece of it with me to hold on to and to let roll in my mind or to to savor in my mouth. Those are are very very limited in their benefit. When I'm satisfied with this checking off that I read something so that if somebody at church says, when did you last read?

I could say, I I read, two days ago. That's not Christian. That's not what God wants us to do. Pay attention. Don't just pay attention, though.

Take it further. Ponder. Ponder. As much as you can, ponder. As much as you can.

When when you're in that empty space of not having to engage your mind in something that requires so much, whether it's work or helping your kids or whatever the case may. Just bring bring it to yourself and bring it before the Lord. Lord, what is was that? I don't get this. I didn't understand that fully.

Could you help me? He might answer then. He might not. But he will. That is the promise.

Pay attention. Ponder. Here we are in our final step. You have to meet me in John 14 though to know it. In John 14.

John fourteen twenty one. Hear the words of the master. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, He it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him, and here it is, manifest myself to him. We know one thing about this.

Jesus is not speaking about salvation and how to attain it. Paul said in Romans three twenty that it is not by the works of the flesh that we are justified. No human being will ever be justified in his side by adhering to the law as perfectly as possible. So knowing that with the concert of the rest of the word of God, we can eliminate that interpretation of what Jesus is saying here, if you obey my commandments, I will love you. The context clearly suggests that Jesus is giving this instruction with a promise to believers.

He's speaking to those who have already believed on him. And not just those who have believed on him, but who have because of their submission to his lordship, his commandments. And so from there, he's speaking to those who follow him of what they ought to do with his commandments in order to know a particular glorious reward. This is what he is saying. You, my people who have my commandments, those who keep what they currently know will be loved by my father and will be loved by the son.

That kinda scares people because I'm sure the first question that pops into our minds is, well, doesn't God love everybody? Is not his love available to all? Yes. That's true. But not everybody experiences his love the same way.

Not everybody, even among the children of God, can enjoy that holy love in the same way that others do. The father and the son seek to lavish and manifest their love by the spirit, but is contingent again upon something. He says those who have my commitments, who have access to them, who might even know them. So you can put that under the category of yeah, you're you're attentive of them and maybe you know them. But here's the third thing, we gotta go beyond paying attention.

We gotta go more than just paying attention. We must ponder Here's point number three, we have to put it into action. Put it into action. Those who have my commitments and keeps them, keeps them, cherishes them, and then exercises them. With whatever revelation that you have at this time on 01/15/2023, wherever you're at right now, what you do with that in terms of its application in your life will determine a manifestation of Jesus in your life.

This is what the Lord is looking for. See, here here's what I'm trying to say, and this is where honesty is so important. It's important all the time, but especially with a point like this. It would be dishonest to claim that every Christian loves Jesus the same. I know it's hard to hear, but it would be dishonest to say that.

And as a result, that love is proven. It it would be it would be dishonest and unrealistic to say that every Christian obeys Jesus the same. Now are we willing to acknowledge that? I hope we can all acknowledge that it is not true that every believer in this world loves the Lord the same and obeys the Lord the same. Now if we're willing to submit to that, then we have to also accept the last part.

If that is the case, then not every Christian experiences Christ in the same way. And that is exactly what Jesus is doing here. He's making a differentiating mark. This is precisely what the Lord is communicating. The manifestation of God.

Now think about that. This is not theoretical. This is a real manifestation of God is only reserved to those who not just read, who not just understand, but who seek to implement what has been made known to them, and say, Lord, I wanna I wanna really see this lived out of my life. The Lord is not promising physical manifestation. I'm sorry to disappoint you if that's what you're hoping for, but he is promising to you.

He's referring to a spiritual enlightenment, something that can be just as real as something appearing right before you. Something so real in the soul where he enlarges your knowledge of his glory and his wisdom and his power and his grace and his might. Where the eyes of your heart now begin to open and you you perceive things beyond this world and what it has to offer. There's another dimension. And Christ, what he's promising here is I will be more real to you in this world.

The father will be more real, and the means by that is the Holy Spirit whom I have sent will be the agent in making that a reality in your life. What an amazing promise. I mean, take every other treasure away and give me that. The manifestation of Christ, not just when I die, but even as I live, he can intensify the intimacy that my heart longs for, and he is perfectly wise in doing it exactly how he needs to do it. And I believe that includes making this word so loud.

How else will Christ manifest who he is apart from his word? Surely not. But even as this word comes alive, things around this world become more alive as it is all connected and submitted to this. The Psalmist said something incredible. In Psalm twenty five fourteen, he says, the friendship of the Lord.

Now, the Hebrew word for friendship is the secret. The secret counsel. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make known to them His covenant. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him. You can't fear God unless you're willing to obey God.

That equation is settled. The friendship of the Lord, friendship with almighty God, friendship with Jesus Christ, the resurrected king, friendship with the Holy Spirit who knows all things and can do all things. Yes. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. And then he says, and he will make known to them his covenant.

I don't think that means he'll he's gonna introduce to you the way you can come into covenant with him. I think it means that he will unravel and unwrap the layers of the glories of the covenant that you're in with him already. And so as you fear him and you say, I'm coming into covenant with you, Lord. And I want to walk in your ways and I want to obey the commands of your covenant. I may fail, but, Lord, my heart desires it.

Here's the promise of God. Let me reveal to you the glories of my covenant now. And you begin to see things, and you go deeper than just Jesus died on the cross for my sins as glorious as that is. But then you you see the the the the parts of that, the details of that, the implications of that, the promises of that, the prophecies of that, and your eyes begin to open and it will take an eternity of an eternity to realize all of it. And it can begin now.

It can begin now. Pay attention, ponder, put into action. And the promise of God is there's revelation coming your way. Perpetual growing more of me in your life. Now that's Mark four twenty four.

We still have one more verse. So hang on. Mark four twenty five. We're concluding with this verse. Not with this verse, but with the thoughts of this verse.

Mark four twenty five. Jesus said in verse 24, pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you. We learn about three measures, and still more will be added to you. We know what he's gonna add to us.

More of the truth. In verse 25, he says, for the one who has, more will be given. That's repeated now of what we just heard. And from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Okay.

The first part of verse 25, we covered. We haven't touched on the second part. It seems cryptic. What what are you trying to say, Lord? From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away?

It's not as perplexing as we think. For those who hear, absorb, diligently meditate on the truth that has been given to them, more truth will be given to you. Right? That is the promise. But for the person who is a hearer, he he's not absent from the environment of hearing.

For the person who does hear but is careless, they don't pay attention, they don't care to give a piece of even an ounce of real estate in their brains, to those who have no desire to to put the words of Christ into action, the opposite effect will take place. If the first part means, if I absorb those three measures, then I'm going to grow, then what Jesus is saying here is, if you don't, then something else will happen. Careless hearers are in danger. This is what the Lord is trying to say, of not only failing to graduate in Revelation, but of blunting whatever truth they might possess even now. That seems strange.

Right? That seems strange, but again, this law is an operation in the material world. Think about physical exercise. If I give myself to working this body out and my goal is to be more in shape, put on more massive muscle, and reduce fat. That's gonna require discipline.

And the more I train myself, what's gonna happen? The more I'm gonna be able to lift over time, push, pull, move. That is the trajectory. That that's the promise of those disciplines being adhered to consistently. But what happens if I stop?

What happens if I pause? What happens if I neglect it? Now, if the answer in your mind is, well, you you just kind of leave off where you stopped, that's not the right answer. For those who have exercise, you know what happens. You not only pause, but you begin to lose.

Now, your physique is taking a different shape. It doesn't freeze when you stop and then you get to resume when you want. That'd be wonderful. No. Now, you see a reversal taking place.

And your body is taking a different shape and you're losing your strength more and more. Let me borrow the words of Jesus. You begin to what you have now removed from you. What about learning a language? I've seen this in my own life, I'll confess.

My family, my siblings and I, we grew up learning French up in Canada. We went to French elementary school and French high school. I'll be honest. I haven't practiced the language in years. And I used to be able to write essays in French and do presentations in French.

You know what's happening now? I'm losing a lot of it. I I I didn't just stop and now I'm at the grade 11 level where I where I left French school and went to an English high school and then an English college. That didn't happen. I'm losing touch with grammar, basic vocabulary, basic terms.

My my head's getting cloudy, and things are now evaporating more and more and more. And for people who lose a language over time, if they keep going in that direction, they if they have a revived concern and desire to relearn it, they gotta go back to the basics. You actually gotta go back to the ABCs and rebuild the foundation. Here's what the Lord is saying. What happens with your body, what happens with the language happens in the things of the spirit.

When you pause and you neglect and you refuse to ponder, pay attention, and put into practice, what the Lord is saying is, not only will you stand still, that's actually a category in spiritual growth that doesn't exist. You'll begin to revert. This actually happened to a group of Christians, and this is my final text. A group of Christians that the author of this book wanted to take them deeper into spiritual truths, but he, knowing his audience, could not hold their hand and take them there because they did exactly what Jesus warned about. Hebrews chapter five and verse 11.

This will now make sense. What Jesus is saying in verse 25 of Mark four will now make sense. It actually happened to a group of Jewish Christians. Hebrews five eleven to 13. The debated author writes, about this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child So much to stay and to say about this passage. First point, these Christians have become dull of hearing, meaning they didn't start that way. At one point, their ears, their antennas were wide open. They were eager.

They were hungry. They wanted to learn more. They want to see how Jesus fulfilled these Jewish prophecies. They want to see how he was the substance of the shadow. They longed for that.

But over time, they became dull. What does that mean dull? Well, very simple term is bored. They became disinterested. They became distant.

They became satisfied with the level that they were at. And here's the scary part, they're dull of hearing, but they're still hearing. They're still present. They're still in attendance. They're here, but they're uninterested.

They're here, but they're inattentive. They're dull of hearing. And what happened to this group of Christians is like what happens to you and I when we get on a flight. And, like, every flight, the flight attendants come into the the middle of their aisle, and they do their safety protocol presentation. Right?

I've been on many flights. Every single flight, they did that. But be honest, do you really pay attention? Are you hearing it though? Yes.

But are you paying attention? No. And I think that's a scary thing because they're giving you the exact instructions. If this thing goes down, this is what you need to do. And here we are making sure we can hold on to our data before we take off and texting, and that's fine.

And here these people are, these faithful preachers. Right? It's funny, but how we listen to that is how often Christians listen to the message every week. You're hearing it, but you're not really paying attention. This is exactly what it means to be dull of hearing.

And I wanna tell you something, because I love you. The moment that you catch yourself being bored with the engagement of God's word, whether it's personally or corporately, is a warning sign to a spiritual sickness that you might have caught. It is not a light thing to become dull of hearing. You realize that these Hebrew Christians were on the verge of apostasy. And I think what played a role in that, though not immediately, is that the beginning point was very much this.

They became dull of hearing. And when you become dull of hearing, you become dull of affection. When you become dull dull of affection, you become open to other things that can persuade you in a different direction than Christ. And so we see here that these Christians began to see and hear the word as a tedious thing, and that's dangerous. Now look at this.

Secondly, the same group of Christians who become dull of hearing, according to the estimation of the Holy Spirit through the author, this group apparently should have reached the level of teaching others. That's significant. That's not to say that these Christians should have occupied a position of a teacher in the church. No. No.

No. No. But it does mean that they should have reached a level of maturity and fullness and familiarity with the word of God that they should have been comfortable enough with giving that truth to someone else by themselves. They should have come to a place where they didn't need to take somebody and bring them to pastor every single time. They should have reached a place, so much time has gone by apparently, that they should have arrived where they could have comfortably discipled another soul based on the knowledge that they have acquired concerning the things of God, but they're not there yet.

And they should be there, which tells me which tells me that this is really the goal for every believer, even now today. What the Holy Spirit desires from you and I is to arrive at a place where we can each of us become teachers, communicators of God's truth to another person who is at a lesser level understanding than us. But again, that doesn't seem to happen in many places. Unskilled, stagnant, and five years has gone by, ten years has gone by, fifteen years has gone by. It's like, how?

Well, Jesus told us how. Throughout that time, you haven't paid attention, you haven't pondered, you haven't put into action, therefore Christ couldn't give you revelation. And so this group of Christians, they're still drinking milk. And he's saying here, you should be teaching. And and what is he referring to?

On your own time, go on your own. He just finished teaching about the priesthood of Melchizedek. And what he's he's ready to do, and I'm a little upset with the Hebrew Christians because it could have been expanded. What he was wanting to do is show how Christ is from the priesthood of Melchizedek and how that Melchizedek priesthood is superior to the one of Aaron. That is what the bible calls meat.

Meat. Milk is Read Hebrews chapter six in the first few verses. That's milk. Repentance, faith, eternal judgment, baptism, the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Not that it's insignificant or unimportant, but we need to move on from that.

And we need to see how these things are expanded in different ways. And he says, I can't do this with you. I can't. Be because you're still there. You become dull of hearing.

Even if I do this with you, you're not gonna be able to understand. So then what does he say? And here's the main point. You need someone to teach you again. They were taught the principles and the basic oracles of God, but he's like, because of this prolonged dullness of hearing, we need to come back to the ABCs of Christianity.

Because what you have can be taken from you. And there's a blur, and there's a inability to be able to articulate and understand the things that saved you in the first place. And here's how I wanna conclude. There is no standing still spiritually. That category does not exist in the kingdom of God.

There is either growing or dwarfing. Those are the only two options. And sometimes we don't realize that we're dwarfing until meat comes our way, and it's a frustrating experience, and we're angry, or maybe even worse, we're disinterested when we can smell the feast that God wants to put before us. But here's the thing, the promises, not for scholars, not for PhDs, not for seminarians, but for all who would just say, I wanna pay attention, ponder, and put into action. The promise is you can go from milk to meat.

You're saying, why is that important? There's many reasons and I won't keep you any longer. Can do a separate message on the joys and the peace and the glories of greater revelation. But let me just give you one to end with. The psalmist, who only had the law by the way, that psalmist in Psalm one nineteen didn't have John, didn't have Ephesians, didn't have the book of Revelation, didn't have the epistles.

You know what he was working with? Leviticus. Deuteronomy, Numbers, Exodus. Christians are like, no, I like Exodus. Genesis.

No, I think Genesis is good. And this is what he says in Psalm one nineteen verse one sixty two. I rejoice at your word like one who finds a great spoil. I rejoice at your word like one who finds a great spool. Can I translate that in modern times?

I have more joy when I discover something in your word than the person who realized they won the lottery. Saying, wait, is that just exaggeration? Is that poetic license? No. That's experiential.

That's something so deep that nothing in this world can offer it. And that's available to you if you would just pay attention, ponder, and put it into action. Let's pray. Lord, with this practical message before us, we now ask that you would give us the wisdom with our work, with our relationships, with the timing, with our schedules, to know how to put these measures into methods. Lord, if there's anything that should stir us into these directions, let it be the joy of the promises of revelation and manifestation that awaits.

Well, we never wanna come to this word because we feel whipped to do it, because we wanna impress someone around us. Oh, no, Lord. That kind of fear will not take us very far. We know that. We just pray that even now that you would energize our hearts to be excited about the bible.

And especially as we start this new year to to recalibrate ourselves to say, I wanna I wanna I wanna know meat. I don't wanna drink milk any longer. But we thank you for these words. We thank you for the promise that you will manifest yourself to us. We cannot fathom what that means, but, Lord, we want it.

And we pray, oh, God, that as we ended this time together with that verse from the psalmist, that we would be able to amen it and say, yes. I know what that's like. I know what it's like when God speaks to me, when God reveals something to me, when I've learned something new in my faith. I know that joy where I can't even sit still, where I must tell somebody who also cherishes the truth about what I know. May that be the caliber of Christianity for this ministry.

Oh, Lord, we love you, for your word has been made known, and it was clear. Now help us remember it. We give you praise as we sing to you out of the overflow of our hearts. Amen and amen. Let's stand and sing to the living God.