Mark 4:21-34
Parable Epilogues
Outline:
I. \\#Mark 1:1-15\\ Introduction
A. \\#1:1-8\\ Jesus Was Announced
B. \\#1:9-11\\ Jesus Was Authenticated
C. \\#1:12-13\\ Jesus Was Proven
D. \\#1:14-15\\ The Bridge
II. \\#Mark 1:16-2:28\\ Meet Jesus
A. \\#1:14-2:12\\ Jesus’ Authority
1. \\#1:16-20\\ Jesus Has Authority over Men
2. \\#1:21-22\\ Jesus Has Authority in Doctrine
3. \\#1:23-28\\ Jesus Has Authority over Demons
4. \\#1:29-39\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sickness
5. \\#1:40-45\\ Jesus Has Authority over Disease
6. \\#2:1-12\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sin
B. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Cares for Sinners
C. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Is Not Like Others
1. \\#2:13-17\\ He’s not like everyone else.
2. \\#2:18-22\\ He’s not like the disciples of John or the
Pharisees.
3. \\#23-28\\ He’s not like the Pharisees.
III. \\#Mark 3:1-35\\ Things Are Changing
A. \\#3:1-6\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the Pharisees
B. \\#3:7-12\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the People
C. \\#3:13-19\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and His Disciples
D. \\#3:22-30\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the Scribes
E. \\#3:31-35\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and His Family
IV. \\#Mark 4:1-10:52\\ The Words and Power of Jesus
A. \\#4:1-20\\ Bad Weeds Kill Good Seeds
B. \\#4:21-34\\ Parable Epilogues
When we crossed into chapter 4, we moved into the largest section of
Mark’s gospel. I am calling it, "The Words and Power of Jesus." In
this section, Mark did what the other gospel writers did. He WOWED
his readers with Jesus, with one sermon after another, one miracle
after another, one impossibility after another.
\\#Mark 4:1-34\\ parallels \\#Matt 13:1-58\\. I have said several
times of Mark’s gospel that it is fast paced, that Mark condensed and
summarized—even more than the other writers—portions of Jesus’ life.
That is just the way Mark wrote. This section is no different.
In this chapter, Mark skipped some parables and just gleaned from the
others; but in the way Mark presented these parables, he gave truths
that—to me—differ slightly from Matthew. For that reason, I titled
this section, Parable Epilogues. An epilogue makes final comments
about what has already been said. In this smaller parables, Jesus
makes some comments about what has already been said.
Remember what Jesus said of His first parable:
Mark 4:13 …Know ye not this parable? and how
then will ye know all parables?
I. Epilogue #1 \\#21-23\\ - Is a message to the SOWER.
Mark 4:21 And he said unto them, Is a candle
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed?
and not to be set on a candlestick?
22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be
manifested; neither was any thing kept secret,
but that it should come abroad.
23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
A. The message is: WHAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED, SHARE!
B. The is a message to encourage the sower.
1. Whether we are speaking of a light to shine or seed to
sow, it is to be shared.
2. The seed that we have received, the seed that has
produced fruit in our lives, the seed that has changed
our eternity—that seed is not to be hid but to be shared
with the whole world.
3. It is the duty of every light to shine and the duty of
every fruitful vine to plant another seed.
4. This is the order of life.
C. Jesus emphasized this truth with questions in \\#21\\ and
a statement in \\#22\\.
1. \\#21\\ What good is a light that is hid under a basket?
a. None.
b. Even more. It is both foolish and dangerous.
c. Every believer has received something that is foolish
for them to hide.
(1) Hiding your light denies your loved ones the
life that you have, both now and in eternity.
That’s foolish.
(2) Hiding your light denies you the rewards that
God offers. that’s foolish.
(3) Hiding your light puts you in rebellion against
the God that saved you. That’s foolish.
d. And putting a light under a basket is also dangerous.
(1) Some of the younger generations may have never
used a candle or an oil lamp. They have had
lives of backup generators and battery-powered
flashlights.
(2) But those from the old days know how easily just
the heat from a flame can start a new fire,
especially if something as flammable as a basket
was place over it.
(3) Hiding our light is definitely dangerous to those
who need its light. If every Christian does
it, today’s lost will die lost.
(4) But I believe it will also cost the saved
something, something dear, something precious.
(5) I believe it is costing us our nation at this
very moment.
e. Don’t hide your light and don’t horde your seed.
2. \\#22\\ Then again, no one can hide anything as powerful
as God’s Word.
a. God will see that it is brought to the light.
b. But in doing so, you will lose your reward.
D. What you have received, share.
II. Epilogue #2 \\#24-25\\ - Is a message to the HEARERS.
Mark 4:24 And he said unto them, Take heed what
ye hear…
A. \\#24\\ The message is: TAKE HEED TO WHAT YOU HEAR.
1. This is not a message about SELECTIVE hearing; but a
message about CAREFUL hearing.
2. Jesus was not saying, "Don’t listen to certain things,"
although there are some things to which we should not
listen.
3. Jesus is saying, "Listen carefully to what you hear."
a. Understand it.
b. Act upon it.
B. Take heed to what you hear. Why?
1. Because you are responsible for the seed.
a. Once the seed leaves the sower’s hand, it is no longer
the sower’s responsibility. It is the hearer and
God’s.
b. The seed is the Word of God, and that includes the
gospel.
(1) That seed produces eternal life when heard,
understood, and received; but it leaves the soul
lost if not understood and received.
(2) Nothing is more important that getting,
understanding, and receiving that seed.
(3) Yet, even in this assembly, there are some like
I once was.
(a) I sat in church while the seed was being
cast all about me.
(b) Some of God’s precious seed hit my face and
bounced into my lap, but it did me no good.
(c) My heart was hard and cluttered.
(d) I was not receiving the seed.
(4) I thank God for grace.
(a) God kept sending sowers with more seed.
(b) God kept sending sowers to plow up my field.
(c) God kept sending the Holy Ghost to push the
seed into the stony ground; until at last,
a single scrawny seed took root.
(d) That scrawny seed has produced this
scrawny vine, but I praise the Lord for
it.
(5) My point is you need to quit letting the seed
hit you in the face.
(a) The seed is all around you.
(b) Listen to the message.
(c) Receive the seed.
(1) Jesus died on the cross for you.
(2) Jesus rose from the dead for you.
(3) Jesus created this church and put you in
it for you.
(4) Trust Jesus as your Savior today.
2. \\#24\\ Because the more you care for what God has given
you, the more God will give.
Mark 4:24 …and unto you that hear shall more
be given.
a. This is a repeated, powerful teaching of the Bible.
b. I have likened it to the flow of water though a garden
hose.
(1) When you kink a hose, nothing gets in or out.
(2) But as long as water can get out, fresher water
can get in.
c. Christians are not storage containers.
d. We are garden hoses.
e. The key to understanding the Bible is to explain it
to others.
f. The Word of God should flow through us to others, and
when it does, we are not only being blessed to
fulfill our purpose, but we will also be rewarded for
it.
g. \\#25\\ makes this a universal principal.
Mark 5:25 For he that hath, to him shall be
given: and he that hath not, from him shall be
taken even that which he hath.
(1) It is not only true of the Word of God, but also
of money, possession, talents, and loved ones.
(2) The more you are willing to give, the more God
will give to you.
(3) The more you are determined to hoard, the less
God will bless you.
III. Epilogue #3 - \\#26-29\\ - Is another message to the sower.
A. It is a message of ENCOURAGEMENT.
Mark 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God,
as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and
the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not
how.
28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself;
first the blade, then the ear, after that the full
corn in the ear.
29 But when the fruit is brought forth,
immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the
harvest is come.
B. The message is: WE DON’T HAVE TO KNOW HOW. WE JUST HAVE TO
SOW.
Mark 4:27 …he knoweth not how.
C. Remember:
1. The sower is the soul winner.
2. The seed is the Word of God.
3. The soil is the hearts of the hearers.
4. The fruit is lost souls being saved and saved souls
growing into mature Christians.
D. The sower does not have to understand how the seeds will
produce. He just sows in faith, knowing that it will.
1. Tonight, I am the sower.
2. We are all the soil.
3. I have a limited audience.
a. Most of you have heard me preach many, many times
before.
b. Some of you have heard me preach from this text
before.
4. I could conclude that it is a waste of time and effort
to preach to you again, but who I preach and I often I
preach to them is none of my business.
5. The sower’s only concern is to spread the seed.
6. Once the seed leaves the sower’s hand, it is no longer
his responsibility. It is the hearer and God’s
responsibility.
7. As \\#27\\ says, the sower can go to sleep and wait for
God to do His work. waiting for the time when the
fruit is ready to be harvested.
a. Surely, some have fallen asleep too early.
b. And some have slept for too long.
c. But the thought is that after the sower spreads the
seed, he is finished until it is time to go harvest
the fruit.
E. \\#27\\ We do not have to know how evangelism works.
1. We just have to sow the seed in faith.
2. Take the Word of God and share it.
IV. Epilogue #4 \\#30-32\\ - Is a another message to the sower.
A. It is yet another message of ENCOURAGEMENT.
B. The message is: THE SMALL GROWS LARGE.
Mark 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken
the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall
we compare it?
31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which,
when it is sown in the earth, is less than
all the seeds that be in the earth:
32 But when it is sown, it growth up, and
becometh greater than all herbs…
C. Isn’t it amazing that our God knew we would need encouraging
and so provided it for us!
1. Soul winning has always been difficult but especially
when…
a. Things happen so slowly!
(1) \\#26-29\\ Jesus hinted that the seed produces
seed but it does it slowly.
(2) Winning a soul to Christ can take a long time.
b. Things happen so small.
(1) Sometimes it seems that you are accomplishing
nothing at all.
(2) There are times when we not only fail to get a
harvest, but we fail to give them the whole
seed!
(3) We have the our "Screen Door" presentation.
(a) We have sinned.
(b) Jesus died for our sins.
(c) If we will repent the best we know how and
believe, God will save us.
(4) that is about as small as you can make the seed,
the small grows large!
2. Bringing people to Christ is much like farming.
a. In both cases, the growing of a garden is
unexplainable.
(1) Ask the farmer how he got the seed to sprout and
grow; and if he is honest, he will tell you he
did not.
(2) He just planted the seed and did what he could to
make it possible for the seed to grow, but God
made the seed sprout and grow.
(3) The same is true of soul winning.
(a) There is only so much the soul winner can
do.
(b) God must show up if the gospel seed is going
to sprout and grow.
b. In both cases, the work is slow.
c. In both cases, the majority of growth is out of our
sight.
(1) Unless you plant your seed in a glass box, the
kernel always does its business out of sight.
(2) And even if you have a glass box, unless you have
clear dirt, you still can’t see much.
(3) So is the work of the Holy Ghost.
(1) The Holy Spirit breaks the sinner’s heart
with invisible conviction.
(2) The Lord Jesus paints him an invisible
picture of Calvary.
(3) The Father woos the sinner’s heart with an
invisible love.
d. In both cases, the smallest seeds produces the largest
reward.
(1) A mustard sees is no larger than the head of
needle, but it produces a large tree.
(2) The words we speak seem both small and worthless,
but they can produce the greatest of all fruit,
an eternal soul.
All of this points us back to the main parable, the first parable.
They are given to encourage us to spread the seed we have received.
Outside of receiving it, there is no greater purpose in this world
than spreading the seed of God’s Word.
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