Living on the Edge

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
The one big question that Christians of all ages and
backgrounds have asked at one point, is God, what is
your purpose and plan for my life? If you've ever
voiced that or are wrestling with that idea right now,
I'm glad you're with us, because today I'm living on
the edge. Will learn straight from the lips of Jesus
what it means to know the will of God, and

(00:32):
a simple answer may surprise you. I'm Dave Druy and
the mission of this daily program is to intentionally disciple
Christians through the insightful Bible teaching of chipp ingram And
in this program he'll pick up or he left off
last time in our newest series, The Road to Calvary.
We are five days into this in depth study of
Mark's Gospel, and right now Chip will continue with chapter four.

(00:54):
So grab your Bible and notes, let's join him for
today's message. Jesus, you and hearing God's word.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome back to our study of the Gospel of Mark.
And I think you're going to love this one, especially
if you have any struggle with God's will. You know
I've pastored almost too long to tell you, but over
three decades and of all the questions that come up,
I would say the most common question in terms of
a counseling with someone that you know who thinks somehow

(01:24):
that you might know a little bit more than them,
it's how do I know God's will? And it's usually
about things like should I take this job or that job?
Should I marry her or not marry him? Should we
relocate from this place to that place? How do I
know the will of God? And certainly there's lots of
good teaching about God's word and wise counsel be willing

(01:47):
to do whatever God wants you to do. But one
of the big things that have helped me the most
is obeying the known will of God is the prerequisite
for knowing the unknown will of God. God. The fact
of the matter is, you have a father. You have
a father who loves you, knows everything about you, all

(02:07):
the hairs of your head. He wants to lead you,
wants to lead me once to guide you. But if
we're not obeying the things he's already shown us, why
would he show us more things or new things? And
so part of that time where we don't know what
to do is also a time where God is whispering
get into my word. Get engaged. Let's walk together. I

(02:31):
want you to obey what I've made crystal clear, which
is a lot. And as you respond to the light
that I've already given you, then I'll give you clarity
and more light about some other things. And that's what
we're going to talk about today. We're in Mark chapter four.
Jesus has just come through a pretty challenging time where
he's been accused of all of his work is done

(02:53):
by the devil. And then your mom's outside because she thinks,
along with your brothers, that maybe you've gone insane or
lost your mind. And Jesus makes this shift, and I
want you to get the context. This is important. The
very end of chapter three is critical to understanding Chapter four.
At the end of chapter three, after his mother shows

(03:13):
up with his family and they want to see him,
he asked this question, who are my mother and brothers?
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him.
These are his disciples, his followers. Here are my mother
and my brothers. Prerequisite for family. Whoever does God's will
is my brother and sister and mother. Well, then it

(03:37):
raises the question, how do you know God's will? Now?
I'm reading out of the NIV, and it has great strengths,
but sometimes to make it flow better, it opens up
in chapter four on another occasion, actually literally it's and
Mark wants us to know that that story about his mother,

(03:58):
and how do you know the will of God? And
he goes right into it, it says, on another occasion,
or and Jesus began to teach by the lake. The
crowd that gathered around him was so large that he
got into a boat, and he sat on it out
into the lake. While all the people were along the

(04:18):
shore at the water's edge. He taught them many things
by parables in his teaching. Listen, here's a parable. A
farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was
scattering the seeds, some fell along the path and the
birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky
places where it didn't have much soil. It sprang up
quickly because the soil was shallow, But when the sun

(04:41):
came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because
they had no root. Other seeds fell among thorns, which
grew up and choked the plants so they did not
bear grain. Still, other seeds fell on good soil. It
came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty sixty
or even one hundred times. Then Jesus said, he who

(05:05):
has ears to hear, let him hear. And that's it. Okay.
The great teacher, the miracle worker, the guy that casts
out demons. He's teaching, and he tells this parable. Now
a parable. The word power means to come alongside. Parables
are in our words. It's more like a metaphor or

(05:28):
a story that has a point to help you see
or understand something spiritual and deeper. But here's sort of
a popular story that, if you understand the implications, it
has great spiritual significance. And when Jesus says he has
ears to hear, let him hear, he's basically saying, if

(05:48):
you have spiritual receptivity, if you are searching and leaning in,
you're going to figure out what I'm talking about. By
this time, people know he's claimed to be the Missage.
By this time, he has followers that are official. By
this time, the religious community has targeted him as enemy
number one. And now he says, family relationship with me,

(06:13):
family relationship with God the Father isn't about blood. Blood's important.
Relatives are important. Family is important, but they don't take
priority of your relationship with God. And that comes through me.
And it's those who do the will of God. And
if you want to know the will of God, here's
a story about this farmer. And so if you have
ears to hear, let him hear. Now we're going to

(06:34):
learn a little bit later when he explains it, and
I'm going to jump ahead just a little makes it
maybe make a little bit more sense. The reason he's
going to use parables is for two points. One is
to reveal the truth, but also to conceal the truth.
You might jot down if you happen to be with
an open Bible and have a place to write things down.

(06:54):
Proverbs chapter two one through five. It's a picture of
the person that God reveals himself to. God doesn't throw
truth out on the top of the ground. He wants
us to search and to dig and to be sincere
and have intentionality. Now let's pick up the explanation. When
he was alone, the twelve and the others around him

(07:17):
asked him about the parables. He told them. Underline this
next line. It is so profound. The secret of the
Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to
those outside, everything is said in parables, so that they
may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing

(07:37):
but never understanding. Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.
He's been rejected by the religious leaders, He's rejected by
his family. He's told them there's going to be new
wine and new wine skins. He's saying, it's a new day.
The kingdom has come. I'm the king. I'm now teaching
you secrets of the kingdom. Basically, he's saying a little

(07:59):
bit later, the kings and prophets have long to look
into and understand the things I'm sharing with you, and
this parable is the most important parable. In fact, he
will say, if you don't understand this parable, you can't
understand any of the other parables. And let me cut
to the chase, and then I'll explain it. He's actually

(08:20):
going to say, my words, my actual words, and your
response to my actual words is how the kingdom comes
into reality. In fact, John will later say he was
the word, he is the logoss And so he's going
to explain, first of all, why do I use parables, Well,

(08:42):
it's to reveal truth. And then here it's to conceal truth.
Some people will just manipulate truth, don't just use truth.
They won't respond. They're not honest, they're not sincere. They
might be curious. And he says, for those I don't
want the truth. If they have that attitude and respond
to that truth in that way, it will bring more

(09:04):
and more condemnation on them. So I'm going to conceal
it now. He goes on. Then Jesus said to them,
don't you understand this parable? It's kind of like, hey, guys,
those hard hearted, dull people, But don't you guys get it?
How then will you understand or can you understand? Is
the idea any parable? Then he explains it. The farmer

(09:28):
sows the word. Some people are like the seed along
the path where the word is sown. As soon as
they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word
that was sown in them. Others, like the seed sown
on the rocky places, hear the word and at once
receive it with joy, But since they have no root,
they only last for a short time. When trouble or

(09:50):
persecution comes, they quickly fall away. Still others are like
seeds sown among the thorns, and they hear the word,
But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth,
and the desires for other things come in and choke
the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed on good soil,

(10:13):
hear the word, accept it and produce a crop thirty
sixty or even one hundred times. What was son?

Speaker 1 (10:23):
You're listening to Living on the Edge, And we'll get
back to our series, The Road to Calvalry in just
a minute. But first, if this teaching has ministered to you,
consider becoming a monthly partner. Your regular financial support goes
a long way to help us encourage pastors, create resources,
and share Jesus with today's youth. Visit Living Ontheedge dot

(10:43):
org to learn how to support us. Oh with that,
here again his chip.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
So here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying it has
been revealed to you the secrets. The word is mystery,
not mysterious. It's a mystery as in profits of old
kings who are exploring and wanting to know, even the
solomons of the world what I'm sharing with you. These
things haven't been revealed until now. This is how God's

(11:10):
kingdom comes into existence, and I am the King. And
then he explains, the Son of Man is the sower,
me the Messiah. What I sew is my words, God's words.
That's why I brought them. They bring life. That word
falls on different human hearts, the soils. It falls on

(11:31):
some that are hard hearts, they're not responsive. It falls
on shallow hearts. The soil is really shallow because it's
on top of limestone, solid rock, and so the plant
can't go deep, so it pop up. But as soon
as there was heat or difficulty or tribulation, you know,
it wouldn't grow. So he says, there's hard hearts people

(11:53):
that Satan has blinded, there's shallow hearts and people who respond, yeah, yeah,
this is great, this is great. Don't we all know
some people like that, you know, they pray to prayer
and said, oh I love Jesus, this is great, and
then wow, it didn't go well with my family or boy,
I'm having trouble at work, or I had no idea
this was going to be this hard, and pretty soon

(12:15):
they're not in God's word and they don't want to
come to church. And they had an experience, but I
doubt they ever came to a saving faith. And then
there's the kind where the word of God comes and
there's lots of growth. By the way, right, thorns have
to grow up. There's lots of growth, there's lots of activity,

(12:36):
but there's not fruit. And the fruit here is very,
very important. There's two kinds of fruit in scripture right.
One kind of fruit is the fruit of the spirit.
When you follow Jesus and you receive his word and
you put it into practice, little by little by little,
you become more loving, You become more kind, you have

(12:56):
more joy, you become faithful, love of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness,
self control. That's the fruit of the spirit from Galatian
chapter five, verses twenty two and twenty three. It doesn't
happen all at once, but there's a transformation from the
inside out. But there's another kind of fruit that has

(13:17):
to do with ministry fruit. It's a John fifteen kind
of fruit where Jesus before he leaves, is talking to
the disciples, and you know, if you abide me and
my words abiden you, you ask whatever you want and
you bear much fruit. And he tells him, I want
you to have fruit that lasts and then later on
he's going to say, I'm gonna lay down my life
and I don't call you slaves anymore. You're my friends.

(13:39):
I'm gonna make all things clear to you, and you're
gonna have a testimony of me. And his expectation was
they would do after he left, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, everything he did. So they were going
to lead people to Christ. They were going to disciple
other people. So there's fruit of ministry that's external, of
your life having impact on others, and there's fruit that's internal,

(14:02):
where Jesus is changing your life to make your character
more and more like his. And in both cases, what
he says is our response to the truth of God's
word determines whether that happens. And the varying factor is
the condition of our heart. This good seed in good

(14:23):
soil produces fruit one hundredercent of the time. Let me
say that again, good seed in good soil, God's word
in an open, receptive heart that takes the word and
puts it into practice. All three of the what's called
the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Luke, and Mark all have this story,

(14:44):
and it's all a pivotal critical story of everything Jesus does,
but only Luke tells us what a good heart looks like.
He says, those with a good heart who are noble,
who receive the word idea put into practice, who endure
or even persecutions, and they bear much fruit with joy.

(15:04):
And so Jesus is saying is that you can have
a lot of activity, you can be really busy, you
can have Bible knowledge. But he says, and I think
this is probably the biggest challenge with American Christians, the
deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things. Guess what,
other things aren't bad, they just can't be as important.

(15:28):
He says. What chokes out the word is the deceitfulness
of riches, the desires for other things, and the worries
of this life. I mean, you have that and I
have that. Right, we would all have more christ Like character,
We would all have a greater impact in people's lives.
If literally the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires for other things.

(15:50):
Our lives are going crazy. Our phones are dominating our mind.
We got all this research about screen time. Our kids
are playing so many sports they don't even have time
to come up for air. We are busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy,
and I hear all the time chip, I really would
like to be in God's word, but I'm just too busy.
At the end of the day, I'm too exhausted. And

(16:11):
if you knew the demands of my life and what
I have to do at my job, and all I
want to say is, there's one hundred and sixty eight
hours in every week. There are twenty four hours in
every day. We all have exactly the same amount of time.

(16:33):
What differentiates those who follow Jesus and those who know
about him? A person who is a fan to a
follower is someone whose priorities say God's word, since it's
the secret of the Kingdom, since it's the power that
the Spirit uses to change me, since it's the key

(16:55):
to the kingdom, of knowing the king, since it is
what Jesus has said allows life to come from the
Father into us and through us to others. Followers make
the priority of his word vital in their life. They
still have other things. They still struggle with worries of

(17:15):
the world. There are times and seasons where they're still
deceived by riches, but the word gets choked out by busyness.
The word gets choked out by money, and the word
gets choked out by just hobbies and stuff that aren't
bad but their secondary. And if that isn't convicting for us,

(17:39):
especially as Western Christians, I don't know anything that is.
In fact, what he's going to say when he summarizes
all of this is that your response to God's word
will determine your relationship to the Lord. Period, huge problems,
no time in God's word, people in God's word dealing

(17:59):
with their proms inappropriate ways. There is no power in
your life if you're not in God's word on a
regular basis. In fact, it's not just being in it.
Notice he's going to give now a couple pictures that
are going to be so important about the priority of
not just knowing it or being aware of it or
hearing it. He says, do you bring a lamp to

(18:21):
put it under a bowl or a bed verse twenty one? Instead,
don't you put it on a stand? For whatever is
hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed
is meant to be brought out into the open. If
anyone has ears to hear, let him hear carefully consider
what you hear. He continues, with the measure that you
use it, it will be measured to you. And even more,

(18:42):
whoever has will be given more. Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be taken away. So what
he's saying here he goes to these disciples, He goes,
when you hear the truth. First of all, the truth
isn't meant to be this private little relationship. Truth is
so that everyone hears. It's like you don't take a

(19:03):
light and bring into a room put a bowl on
top of it. It's illogical. The light is here, what's
it do? It illuminates and it exposes. And then he says,
measure that would be a little like a scoop or
a measure in some big scoop or small scoop. In
other words, however, you respond to the truth, whatever measure,
that's the measure that receive. And then he gives this

(19:26):
axiomatic principle that it has changed my life, and I
pray it'll change yours. If you respond to the truth
that God gives you, you get more. If you don't
respond to the truth that God gives you, little by little,
you'll get less. And here is another insight. Even in
the last few years. This certainly is a story about

(19:46):
people's salvation and response to the truth, but I believe
this can be the story also of all of us.
At times, I would just encourage you to evaluate where
is your heart in response to God's word? Because he says,
the lamp is on the stand. And then later he
talks about there's a process, the parable of a growing seed. Says,

(20:07):
this is what the Kingdom of God is like a
man scattered seed on the ground night and day, whether
he sleeps or he gets up, the seed sprows and grows,
though he does not know how all by itself. The
soil produces grain, first the stalk, then the head, then
the full kernel. In the head, as soon as it
is ripe, he puts in the sickle because the harvest

(20:28):
has come. And his point is, first the word needs
to be received and acted on, and then it's a process,
just like a seed goes into the ground. It doesn't
happen all at once, so don't get discouraged. And then
finally he talks about a mustard seed. Because so often
there's such small beginnings, we think, oh, this will never

(20:48):
amount to anything. He says again, he said, what shall
I say, the Kingdom of God is like or what
parable shall I use to describe it. It's like a
mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you can plant
in the ground, yet when planeted, it grows becomes the
largest of all the garden plants, with such big branches
that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.

(21:09):
With many similar parables, Jesus spoke the word to them
as much as they could understand, and he did not
say anything to them without using a parable. But when
he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
The mustard seed was to remind them that God's work
in us, and God's work through us starts very small,

(21:33):
but as we're faithful, what happens is God grows us,
and then he impacts others. And you know this little
group of twelve that started here, we are a couple
thousand years later, and I think the last statistics were
something like well over a third of all the people
on the planet have some kind of relationship that are
called Christians. Is everyone born again? I doubt that. But

(21:56):
it has been the most massive, amazing thing that has
ever happened in all time and all history. And if
you look at the impact of whether it's education or hospitals,
or orphanages or laws. This Jesus who came with these
twelve who are willing not to just agree with him,
not be a fan, that be a follower, have changed

(22:18):
the course. So let me encourage you. You want to
know God's will right, Remember how we started about the job,
about this girlfriend, about where to invest your money. Obey
the known will of God and God will show you
the part you don't know, because he's your father and
Jesus is your friend, and he loves you, and he

(22:41):
wants to show you his will even more than you
want to know it.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
This is living on the Edge and Chip's message today Jesus,
You and hearing God's Word is from our series The
Road to Calvary, Walking with the Real Jesus. And before
we move on, I hope you'll check out our resources
for this study in the Book of Mark. Both Chip's
message notes and our new free digital devotional will help
deepen your faith as we get closer to Easter. To

(23:10):
learn more of isit Living on the Edge dot org
or the chip Ingram map, Well, Chips back with me
in studio and Chip there are countless people listening right
now who have real spiritual needs, and so as we
continue to create new programming and develop resources that address
those needs, the expenses of the ministry are a monthly issue.

(23:30):
So take a moment if you wouldn't talk to those
who've considered partnering with us before but just haven't made
that commitment.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
You know, Dave, really, only about two percent of all
the people that listen partner with us financially in any way,
and I think sometimes it's because they just don't think
what I could do would make a difference. But I
just want to encourage some of you that feel like,
you know, hey, you know, boy, God's really using this
in my life, but I'm just not in a position.
Maybe you could do something really small, but God could

(23:59):
take your small gift and do something really big with it. So,
you know, thanks so much and appreciate anything God lead
you to do.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Thanks Jif well, if joining the Living on the Edge
team is an idea that makes sense to you, let
me encourage you to become a monthly partner now. You
can do that today by visiting Livingontheedge dot org or
by calling Triple eight three three three six zero zero three.
Take a few minutes to help others benefit from the
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(24:28):
six zero zero three or go to Living on the
Edge dot org. App listeners tap donate and thanks in
advance for supporting us any way that you can. We'll
be sure to join us next time as Chiff continues
his newest series, The Road to Calvary. Until then, I'm
Dave Druy saying thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge.