Light is Given to be Shared

Introduction to Mark 4:21-25 and its Context

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, January 20th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now let us turn together to the fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel, and I would ask you to follow as I read verses 21 through 25. Mark 4, verses 21 to 25.

0:36 Our Lord, having completed his interpretation and application of the parable of the sower, an interpretation given to the disciples and that inner circle of those who are constituting his newly identified spiritual family, proceeds to say to them, verse 21, and he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put on? Under the bushel or under the bed, and not to be put on the stand? For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested. Neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what you hear, for with what measure you meet.

1:42 It shall be measured unto you, and more shall be given unto you. For he that has, to him shall be given. And he that has not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he has. Now obviously, the meaning of these words does not lie on the surface, or does not very quickly and readily yield itself, to just a cursory reading, and if ever we ought to be conscious of the Spirit's help in seeking to understand the meaning of the words of our Lord, it is when we face such a passage as this, let us cry to God that by the Spirit he will open to us his own holy and infallible word. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you that it comes, and it comes to us precisely as it does come to us. We thank you for those portions, the meaning of which is so plain that even a cursory reading causes its fundamental message to shout in our ears.

3:05 And yet we thank you for those portions that are more difficult to understand, that we might be humbled before your word, that we might be brought up short again, to acknowledge that ultimately only he who spoke the words can by the Spirit give us understanding in the meaning of his own truth. Come then, O Lord, by the Holy Spirit, and be our teacher in this time together. Hear us as we plead these mercies, that our souls might be profited, and that we might glorify you, by a believing and an obedient response to your word. Amen. Now, in our ongoing studies of the Gospel of Mark, we come today to our first examination of this collection of several of the pithy, axiomatic, and somewhat enigmatic statements of our Lord recorded in chapter 4, verses 21-22. Now, it needs to be said at the very outset that these and similar statements are found elsewhere in the Gospels,

The Purpose of Parables: Judgment and Grace

4:32 both in parallel passages, such as Luke 8, 16-18, which would be the parallel passage to this passage read in your hearing, but also in totally different settings, such as Matthew 10, 26, and 7, and Luke 12, and verse 2. Now, since the words contained in our text are used in other contexts with differing dominant points of application, it is vital for a proper understanding of the words of our text to remind ourselves of the precise setting in which they were spoken. Amen. Remember, I trust, that the parable of the sower and of the soils was spoken to the mixed multitude described in chapter 4 and verse 1. There is gathered unto him a very great multitude, so that he, that is the Lord Jesus, entered into a boat and sat in the sea, and all the multitude were by the sea on the land.

5:49 Then, in a more private sense, with the group described in verse 10, our Lord, when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve, asked of him the parables. And in that setting, our Lord did two things. He expounded the meaning, the major lines of thought contained under the imagery of the sower and the soils, expounding it to his own disciples, the twelve and those gathered in that inner circle as his spiritual family, described in the last paragraph of chapter 3. But then he also explained why it was that at this particular time in his ministry, the parabolic form of teaching had suddenly become his dominant teaching method. And you remember that I pressed that point two weeks ago, almost, perhaps in the judgment of some, to the point of being tedious, that the question was not what is the purpose of parables in general, or even the purpose of parables throughout the entire ministry of our Lord, but his disciples noticed that at this point there was a transition to a concentrated use of the parabolic method

7:16 as the dominant teaching method. And in reality, the parabolic method is the dominant teaching method. In response to their question as to why our Lord answered in verses 11 and 12 and in the expanded account in Matthew 13 that the parabolic form of teaching, parables given but unexpounded and unexplained, were a manifestation of the judgment of God upon the increasing hardness of the nation of Israel. He spoke to them in parables, verse 12, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest happily they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them. So the parables in which the nature of the kingdom of God is set forth were given to the vast multitudes, unexpounded, and unexplained as a form of judgment. However, to his own, the parables expressed and then expounded were a manifestation of the grace of God to his own. Unto you, verse 11,

8:40 is given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without all things are done in parables. And so this distinction was made very clearly by our Lord. Unto you, unto them. In other words, our Lord was helping these who were gathered about him to begin to be conscious of their unique identity as his newly constituted spiritual family.

Correcting Misconceptions: Light is to be Shared, Not Hoarded

9:14 So he says, unto you, something is given. Unto them, a form of judgment, judgment is being manifested. Now, in order to correct any notion that what is revealed to them in secret is to be forever kept as a secret, our Lord then proceeds to give to us the words that have been read in your hearing and that will form the basis of our meditation this morning and, God willing, next Lord's Day morning. Our Lord wants, our Lord wants to correct any notion that because the parable has been expounded to them in secret, that they are to keep that exposition as their own little in-group secret. He wants to correct that notion and he does that in verses 21 to 23. But then there could be a further misunderstanding. Because he had said to them, and blessed are you, unto you it is given, to know, they might presume that once we're a part of the inner circle to whom it is given to know, we can therefore be careless with respect to what we hear and what we do with what we hear.

10:35 And verses 24 and 5 are calculated to correct that notion. To be a recipient of the mysteries of God is a privilege which must not be presumed. And if one is found in the inner circle of those to whom the mysteries are given, with that position comes a tremendous responsibility. Take heed what you hear.

11:04 And if you do not properly receive and use what you hear in this inner circle, what you appear to have will be taken from you. So you see verses 21 to 25 are calculated to correct two factors. Fundamental misconceptions which could naturally arise from our Lord's answer to the question, why do you speak to those who are without in parables unexplained and unexpounded? And so our Lord is a wise pastor.

11:40 Not only establishes an immediate truth, but he guards it from possible misconception down the road. Well, this morning, we'll have time only to address the first area of concern. In verses 21 to 23, our Lord is teaching that this light that is given to his inner circle in secret is light to be shared with others to the farthest reaches of the earth. And he does this in the form, first of all, of raising some questions, making some assertions, and then issuing a command.

The Questions Raised: Common Objects and Obvious Answers

12:22 So we have in verse 21, the questions raised. Verse 22, the assertions made. And verse 23, the command issued. All right then, first of all, the questions raised.

12:38 Now, although there are some technical difficulties as to whether or not the Lord is making assertions or raising questions, the fact that almost every translation which I have consulted, translates these words in the form of a question, indicates that most responsible students of the word and men competent to make judgments in these matters do believe that these things come in the form of questions. And as we look at the questions raised, we must first of all consider the major objects included in the questions, and then secondly, the essence of the questions and their assumed answer. First of all, then, the major objects included in the questions. If you lived in an ordinary home in Palestine at the time in which our Lord spoke these words, these four items would be household words and household commodities to you. Look at the text.

13:45 Is the lamp brought to be put under the lamp? The bushel or under the bed and not to be put on the stand. So you have these four major objects in the questions raised. The lamp, the bushel, the bed, and the stand.

14:07 Now, as we've said so often, you've got to put yourself in the time capsule and not slap upon these words a significance with respect to what you think of when you think of the question. You think of a lamp, a bushel, a bed, and a stand. Our Lord was speaking of things that were common to the culture of that day. Now, when he said the lamp, what was he referring to?

14:33 Well, obviously, not a lamp that had batteries in it or that had a cord that you'd plug into the wall, nor was it a candle, as the old authorized translates it, but it was a lamp, something like you've seen pictures of. The Aladdin's lamp sort of looked like a gravy boat, with a pinched lip, and a wick would be drawn out of it, and often there would be an opening at the top, sometimes two openings, one for air and one in which the oil was placed, but it was made of earthenware, inexpensive earthenware, sort of a terracotta, clay-type lamp, and it would be a common household item, and apparently, in many of the poorer homes, perhaps they only had one such lamp, our Lord uses the definite article all the way through here, is the lamp brought, and the bushel, and the bed, and the stand. But be that as it may, it would be a lamp that would hold oil, would have this pinched lip with a wick pulled out, and when you needed light, perhaps from an existing fire where the woman of the house did the cooking, the wick would be lit, and this lamp would illuminate the room, or the home in which it was placed. Now, what about this matter of the bushel? Well, it refers to a utensil used to measure grain and other dry goods.

16:01 We are told that the matios was a Roman measuring instrument or vessel equal to about one-fourth of a bushel, approximately our pet, sort of be like the wastebasket that you have in your bedroom, and in every home, they would have this to use when they went to market, didn't have supermarkets where you had scales and everything were weighed on them. So if you were to buy a certain commodity, you would take your bushel, your peck measure with you in order to measure out your dry goods. So every household would know what the bushel was. Now, what about this matter of the bed?

16:41 Was it referring to a waterbed or a platform bed or a hide-a-bed? No, the word is used most often, in the New Testament, to describe that thin little mattress like a pallet or like a thicker sleeping bag that would be rolled up when not in use and put to one side and then rolled out at night in order to sleep on. Sometimes the word is used to describe what would be more like our couches, and it was those couches that would be put up alongside a table, and in the Gospels you will read of certain ones who were reclining at meat, that is reclining as they ate, upon a bed or upon a couch. And it's difficult to know in this context which use is more significant. In one case, the figure of speech would be more graphic and almost graphic to the point of being ludicrous. In the other it wouldn't be quite as forceful, but nonetheless the point would be made.

17:46 And then what about the stand? Well, the stand is a very important part of this. stand in an ordinary poor home would often simply be, and I saw something similar to this in Pakistan, where there was a support column made of some form of stone or stone and masonry. They would simply have one stone stuck out a little further, a flat stone that would be like a built-in shelf on a column. The same way as if this pulpit were simply this size straight down and this little shelf was out, that could be the stand on which they would place the lamp. It would be up high enough so that the light of the lamp would radiate and fill the entire room. In more wealthy homes, they actually had a separate lampstand, sort of like the stands that some of you have on which you hang your plants. And this is the word used in the book of the Revelation. Christ was seen in the midst of

18:39 the seven lampstands. So our Lord may be referring to that instrument found in a more wealthy home, which was a separate item. Made of metal, on which the lamp would be placed or hung, or simply this more homely kind of an arrangement. Now then, having considered what the major objects are in the questions, now let's go to the essence of the questions and their assumed answers. Question number one. Does the lamp come in, literally, does the lamp come in, whether brought by the lady of the house? The man of the house or a servant? Does the lamp come in in order to be placed under an inverted wastebasket? Is the lamp brought in to be put under the bushel? It's getting

19:37 dark at night. Company is coming. And people want to go into what we would call the sitting room or the parlor, which would simply be a relatively bare room. And again, I have seen these things. I've seen these things. I've seen these things. I've seen these things.

19:48 In the Middle East and in Pakistan. And so someone calls for someone in the house or a servant to get the lamp. What would you think of that servant if, as he came through the door with the lighted lamp, instead of putting it on that shelf, on that central support column, or on that lamp stand, he set it on the floor, went to the nearest place to the pantry where the woman kept her peck measure, and he took the peck measure that was like a wastebasket. And came over and put it on top of the lamp. You'd say, well, what in the world is the crazy fellow doing? He comes in with something that is meant to radiate light, and then he puts something over it which precludes the lamp from fulfilling the very function for which it was made and presently lit. Why, the question, it's ludicrous. Our Lord raises a question, the answer to which is obvious. Is the lamp brought to be

20:49 put under the bushel or, the second prong of the first question, under the bed? What would you think if the servant came and set the lamp on the floor and then picked up the rolled mattress and set it on top of the lamp? Or, if he's referring there, not to that type of bed, but to the couch, what would you think if he went over and put it under the couch so that it would just shed a very dim light out from underneath the couch? You see, the question is very simple. He takes ordinary commodities and raises this question with two prongs. Does the lamp come in to be placed under the inverted peck measure or to be placed under a rolled up mattress or under a couch? And what's the obvious answer, kids? Is that what your mommy and daddy would do with a lamp? Would they put it underneath

21:46 a wastebasket? Suppose all your lights went out in a...

21:49 storm and all you had was some candles and mommy went to the cupboard and got the candles and lit them. After she lit the candle, what would she do with it? Would she take and put it underneath the wastebasket so you couldn't see its light? Of course not. She would put it on a candlestick somewhere where it would give the most possible light. So, the question has an obvious answer. No, you do not illuminate or light up a lamp in order to bury the lamp to its light under a bushel, under a peck measure, or under a bed. And then he asks the second question, is it not brought in to be placed on a stand? That is, is it not brought in to be put on the object and in the position from which it will give the maximum measure of light to all? And what's the obvious answer to that question? Yes. You say, Pastor, you're...

22:49 laboring the point is so obvious, why bother? Well, you see, I didn't raise the questions, Jesus did. And he must think that the point is so vital that he would not confuse us with anything other than questions the answer to which is very obvious. And the questions raised have a very obvious answer.

23:13 No, you do not bring in the lamp to put it under a bushel or under a bed. Yes, you do bring in the lamp to be placed in the position from which it will give optimum light.

The Assertions Made: Hidden Truth for Manifestation

23:32 Now, those are the questions raised. Now, verse 22, notice the assertions that Jesus makes based upon those questions and their obvious answers. For, and that's the connective word, Now, what follows is stripped of all figurative language. What is to follow is stripped of all imagery and we're no longer in the presence of lamps and bushels and beds and stands.

24:02 For, there is nothing hid save in order that it should be manifested. Neither was anything made secret but in order that it should come to light. And you have what is called here two Hina clauses of purpose. Whatever has been made secret is in order that it should come to light and whatever is hidden is in order that it should ultimately be made manifested.

24:42 So our Lord is here asserting that the hidden is hidden now in order that eventually it shall be openly known. The secret is secret now in order that it shall become open, general, conspicuous in days to come.

25:06 Now, when we bring together the questions raised and the assertions made in their context, do you see their evident meaning and intention?

25:18 These words, were spoken by our Lord as a corrective to any incipient misconception regarding the present method of instruction adopted by Him at this time. What is He doing at this time? He's teaching those without in parables as an expression of God's judgment upon their willful blindness. God now brings to that willful blindness, judicial blindness.

25:52 And this was continued right through this segment, verse 34 of the same chapter, without a parable, speaking not unto them, but privately, in secret, in the hidden place, to His own disciples, He expounded all things. But lest any of His followers get the notion that Jesus was raising up a following, like many of the Greek philosophers did, who would gather around them those whom they called the initiated ones, those to whom they would pass on their secrets, and outsiders could only drool and could never be included, lest they would have any notion that this drawing of His own into an inner circle and their disclosing the secrets of the kingdom had as its ultimate end, to set up a society of the initiated ones, He corrects that right at the outset and says, No. If I am lighting the lamp of truth in your minds, it has one end in view. Not that it should be hidden under a peck measure. Not that it should be hidden under a bed.

27:09 No. It is hidden now to the end that ultimately you may be the instrument of making it known to all. It is secret now that it might eventually be proclaimed upon the housetops. This secrecy is but a temporary expedient in order to secure the widest possible proclamation of truth in days to come.

27:39 Perhaps the best scriptural commentary on this is Matthew 10 and verse 27. Matthew 10 and verse 27. What I tell you in the darkness, in secret, in the hidden place, keep secret. No.

28:03 What I tell you in the darkness, you speak in the light. And what you hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do you see the emphasis? The truth is revealed to a few in secret with a view that it may be proclaimed to the many publicly.

28:31 And so the great thrust of this passage of the word of God is nothing less than our Lord's corrective of any notion of exclusivism. He is concerned to underscore for his own people that the ending view in all of this private toovering is that ultimately the many shall know and hear his truth in the imagery of the passage that the lamp of truth shall be set in its most strategic place and radiate its light to as many as possible. Now having examined the questions raised, the assertions made, the obvious meaning and application to his hearers, now notice the command issued in verse 23. The command issued in verse 23. He that hath ears to hear, if any man hath ears to hear, I'm sorry, if any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. Better rendered, if anyone has ears to be hearing, he must hear.

The Command Issued: If Anyone Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear

29:53 He is under solemn obligation to hear. Now then, what is its application to us sitting in this place this morning? Well, I want to speak first of all to the unconverted amongst us. What a privilege is yours.

30:12 You live now, not then. You have a privilege which the masses seated upon the shore of the Sea of Galilee did not have. They had the parable of the sower and the soil spoken by the Lord of Glory, but he turned his back on them and walked away and left it unexplained and unexpounded. The mystery of the kingdom was veiled from them.

30:44 You've been privileged to sit here week after week for a total of some twelve weeks, while the parable which they heard has not only been read in your hearing, but the interpretation which only the inner circle heard has been read in your hearing and expounded phrase by phrase and word by word illustrated and pressed upon your conscience until you are utterly without excuse if you do not understand the meaning of the parable, of the sower and the soils, namely this, that when you hear the word of God concerning Christ and His gracious reign of grace, His gracious kingdom of salvation and deliverance from the power of sin and of darkness, if you hear that message and do not embrace it so as to bring forth the fruits of repentance and faith and a life of loving attachment to Christ and all of the holy fruits that flow from that, you are utterly without excuse. You're a stranger to the kingdom. My friend, you are in a far better position than those who actually sat upon the shore and heard the Lord Jesus utter the words of that parable of the sower

32:12 and of the soils, because the full mystery hidden for ages and generations then only explained to the inner circle is now the deposit put in the hands of everyone who will receive it and certainly in the hands of every man called upon to preach. And what are we commanded to do? Not to go around and try to mark out the special initiated ones to whom we can whisper saving truth in their ears, but we are mandated to say to everyone without distinction, ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he that has no money come buy wine and milk without money and without price. We are commanded to say, be reconciled to God. God in Christ has come to us in mercy. Stack arms, turn from your sin, flee to Jesus Christ and you will find Him to be a gracious and a powerful Savior.

33:21 Do you have ears to hear? For what purpose has God given you ears? Whatever purpose may be secondary, surely this is primary that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and with those ears that you have sitting here this morning you might hear the open mystery of the Gospel that God has come in Jesus Christ to save sinners and He will refuse no sinner who comes in the self-condemnation of unreserved repentance and in the self-withering abandonment of faith. He will refuse no such sinners. What a wonderful thing to know as a preacher that we don't have to keep anything secret. We are mandated to declare the whole counsel of God's truth to you. And so I say to you in the light of our Lord's words, he that has ears to hear he must hear and my unconverted friend you must hear.

34:34 You now have before you the secrets of those garden discourses, the intimacies of the upper room, the full revelation of those things which in the days of His flesh were only known by our Lord and His inner circle. They've now become common domain. Common domain! Where once they were like precious statements stored up in someone's safe deposit box.

35:04 Now they're placarded upon the billboards of any highway of life. And God speaks to us openly concerning His beloved Son. And to my unconverted listeners this morning I say in the light of these words if I'm to be true to my commission he that has ears to hear let him hear. My friend, the mysteries of the kingdom of God, God's mercy and saving purposes in Christ are now fully declared.

35:38 And the lamp of that truth we do not put under a bushel. You don't sit in a place where there's an occasional allusion made to sin and repentance and faith. You don't sit in a congregation where the preaching once in a while obliquely might infer you have a problem and might somehow infer if you listen carefully enough that the problem is sin and that somehow if you listen even more carefully the answer is Christ. You don't sit in any such place.

36:10 You are told openly, plainly, fervently, passionately that you're a sinner under wrath. But God is infinite in mercy and you're a sinner under the gracious invitation of this merciful God to come to his Son, repent and believe and all of your sins will be blotted out and you will find acceptance in the Beloved. But obviously in the context this word had particular relevance to that inner circle, to those who were gathered about him with the twelve, those who constituted his spiritual family as he delineated them at the end of chapter three. Who is my mother and my brothers? Looking round about he said, Behold my mother and my brethren, whosoever shall do the will of God the same as my brother, my sister and my mother. Oh dear child of God, do you have ears to hear?

Application to Believers: Displaying and Proclaiming the Light

37:19 Then you must hear the message of this warning of our Lord. What is the great thrust of this passage? Here's the thrust of it. Whatever light is given to us in the context of our peculiar intimacy with Christ and his word is given that we might put it in the place of most prominent display.

37:45 That's the message of the passage. Whatever light is given to us in virtue of our more intimate attachment to Christ, we are under solemn obligations to put it in the place of maximum display. And I can do no better than read from Bishop Ryle's comment on this passage in which he extracts this as the major principle. We learn from these verses that we ought not only to receive knowledge but impart it to others.

38:24 A lamp is not lighted in order to be hidden and concealed but to be set on the lampstand and used. Religious light is not given to a man for himself alone but for the benefit of others. We are to try to spread and diffuse our knowledge. We are to display to others the precious treasure we have found and persuade them to seek it for themselves.

38:53 We are to tell them of the good news that we have heard and endeavor to make them believe it and value it themselves. It becomes all Christians to lay these things to heart. It is high time that the old tradition that the clergy alone ought to teach and spread religious knowledge should be exploded and cast aside forever. To do good and diffuse light is a duty for which all members of Christ's church are responsible whether ministers or laymen.

39:27 Neighbors ought to tell neighbors if they have found an unfailing remedy in time of the plague. Christians ought to tell others they have found medicine for their souls. If they see them ignorant and dying for lack of it what saith the apostle Peter? As every man has received the gift even so minister the same one to another.

39:57 They will be happy days for the church when that text is obeyed. In other words dear people of God we are under solemn obligation to be enterprising and zealous in seeking to take whatever light is given to us in secret and to make it public knowledge. Whether it's the light that comes to us in our own devotional reading of the word personal or family worship the light that comes in our Sunday school class the light that comes in the public exposition of the word the light that comes from the many good Christian books available to us whatever light comes to us is not to be placed under the peck measure of a false modesty surely not under the bed of shame of Christ certainly not under the peck measure of some kind of concern lest we appear as religious fanatics. Is the lamp brought in to be put under the peck measure or under the bed obvious answer no. Is it not brought in to be put upon the stand obvious answer yes for there is nothing hid there is nothing which the Lord discloses to you in the deepest intimacies

41:24 of your special acquaintance with Him in the closet at the table in the sanctuary in the classroom in these hidden places nothing hid save that it should be manifested He gives it to you in secret that you and I might proclaim it openly there is nothing made secret but that it should come to light and oh what a word from God to us as we stand on the threshold of the new opportunities before us in entering that new and beautiful building that is to the east of us what a tremendous responsibilities we think of all our Lord has disclosed to us in virtue of our more intimate ties with Him in the place of His appointment it was in the house that they were gathered about Him and may I say without any forcing of the imagery it is in the house of God the special dwelling place of Christ with His people that week by week He opens up the secrets of His heart to us to nourish us yes to build us up yes to comfort us yes but oh dear people He gives us that light that we may pass it on to others

42:50 God have mercy upon us if we simply revel in the beauty of that light and constantly bring it under the prism of our scrutiny and admire the full hue of its colors if we simply place it in different relationships to be dazzled by it no the lamp is to be put upon a stand and that lamp is the quality of life that you live as that life is shaped by the truth and that light is the verbal explanation you give as you give to every man an answer of the reason of the hope that is in you you see that's why I said there are cities similar words in other contexts Jesus had already given the sermon on the mount you remember what He said in that sermon on the mount to His people you are the light of the world a city set on the hill how do they become that what He told them in secret became the formative influence of their life individually and corporately so that as that truth became embodied in them they became the light of the world oh may God help us to realize that with the privilege of having the Lord Jesus open to us His truth comes this solemn responsibility

44:18 I close with a very cryptic word that I found in one of the commentators this particular man who wrote back in the 1800s mentioned that when he was in seminary in a foreign country a certain a certain wise old man who was teaching him said this to him I quote young man hold up your lamp before men hold it up fearlessly let it shine but do not dash it into anybody's face that says it all hold up your lamp before men hold it up fearlessly in that school in that shop across the back fence in every situation where you can wisely under the impulse of the enterprising love of Christ and burden for the lost where you can convey the truth as it is in Jesus hold it up hold it up fearlessly and let it shine but do not dash it into anybody's face we are not advocating that you walk up to total strangers grab them by the tie and look with a glassy eyed stare that freezes them in their tracks and say are you saved if not you're on your way to hell

45:45 we are not advocating that kind of coarse God dishonoring un-Christ like way of dealing with men no we're advocating doing what Jesus did when in the presence of an immoral woman he made her feel at ease long enough to be able to draw the conversation around to living water to see what our Lord Jesus did when with a cast off of society standing under the condemnation of all of her peers he drew her to the place where she was prepared to forsake her sin as well as embrace his mercy when he said go sin no more neither do I condemn thee dear people God has privileged us to receive much light and in days to come we shall receive more light why does he give us that light that it might be placed upon the lamp stand the things disclosed in secret are not to remain secret but he discloses them that they might be known he that has ears to hear he must hear let us pray

Prayer and Final Exhortation

47:07 our Father we give you thanks and praise for our Lord Jesus Christ the master teacher we marvel at his wisdom as the great shepherd of his people we thank you that after disclosing to his own that they were given the privilege of greater insight by grace than issuing this warning lest they become smug and self-centered in that privilege O Lord may his words have that profound effect upon our hearts of giving us a tremendous sense of responsibility that everything we have come to know of the secrets of your ways as revealed in scripture we may jealously seek to put in the place of greatest prominence both in the way we live and in what we say to others write this word upon our hearts we pray for those who believe in Jesus our Father who have been privileged to hear the open secret of the gospel and yet who still will not hear who will not embrace that message O may the entreaties of this day

48:34 be made effectual to draw them away from their sin and into faith union with your dear Son write your word upon our hearts we plead these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen