Luke chapter number 8, and we are picking up in verse 16, we went through a parable from verse 5 down through verse 15, and then we came to verse 16, the Bible says this in Luke chapter 8 verse 16, No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or puteth it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. And then these words, take heed therefore how ye hear for whosoever hath to him shall be given and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. And I want to hone in and focus on those words right there in verse number 18 to start the verse. Take heed, therefore, how ye hear. Father in heaven, Lord, we turn to you now in the preaching hour. God, I pray that you'd help us to receive the word, help our hearts and minds be turned toward heaven and away from the distractions of this life. And God, I pray that you would give us what we need to stand in these last days, to be productive in these last days, to bring you glory and honor. Help us, Lord God, to be committed. Help us to be courageous. Help us to be full of zeal. fervent in prayer. And God, I pray that you would raise up laborers in these last days, even in our midst, from the youngest to the oldest. I pray, Lord God, that you would use us as we see the time closing in. We see everything kind of closing up. We see the rapture nearby. Lord, help us to just be at work for your glory and for your honor. May you be high and lifted up tonight, having preeminence. And we'll pray these things in Jesus Christ's precious and holy name. Amen. There's a warning that's given here in verse number 18 by Jesus Christ concerning the Word of God and what we do with it. When we looked at the last verses last week there from verse number 5 down through verse 15, there was a parable given and we saw four different types of The people and the one who is given the word of God and the Bible says the fowl of the air come and of course Jesus says down in verse 13 or verse 12, the seed is the word of God and it fell there on the wayside and the fowls of the air came and picked it up and it was the devil coming along and taking it out of the hearts of minds of the people that received it so they would not believe and be saved. That's the words he gave. Excuse me. And then we saw that some fell in the rock, a hard place, and because there was no root, when they sprung up, the sun came up and they lacked moisture, the Bible said. They withered and died, and then there was some that was thrown there in the thorns, and because it was in the thorns, they were choked up, and it was choked up from the cares of life, the pleasures of this life, the riches of this life. And then it said, it spoke in verse number 15 of the ones, the seed that fell on good ground, and the Bible said, Jesus speaking, said that that's the seed that fell into the heart, and it says right there about halfway through verse 15, the good, the honest and good heart, having heard the word, and then you can underline those next two words there in your Bible, and keep it. That's the emphasis of what Jesus is dealing with from verse 16 down to verse 18. He's dealing with the fact that you and I had better be careful to and how you hear. That's the word he uses. Take heed therefore, verse 18, how you hear. That was intriguing to me. I've never seen it quite in the way that I saw it as I studied this passage. And he says, he doesn't say take careful heed or be very careful to listen to what you hear. He says, be careful how you hear. Boy, that got my mind to running and thinking about all the things that we hear and how we hear, you know. Men are notorious for hearing their wives, but not really hearing their wives. How they hear is the principle that Jesus is dealing with. They're talking and they're not listening to what they're saying. Or it's like men in class. the professor's up there and he's teaching away and he's, you know, in physics and you don't have an understanding at all of what he's talking about. You lost him on day one. And so he's, you're hearing him, but you're not hearing him to pass. You're just, you're just sitting there because you had to be in class and you paid an astronomical amount of money to listen to him talk. But Jesus says, be careful, take heed how you hear. And you and I are going to look at these three verses here and understand what Jesus Christ is trying to deliver to us concerning the parable. He's speaking again concerning the parable from verse 5 through 15. So that's important that we draw back to memory what was given there so we understand what he's about to say. And by the way, I would say that it must be noted that the Word of God lights the candle of every believer that he mentions here in verse number 16. No man, when he hath lighted a candle... So that lighting of the candle is referring back to the seed, which is, according to Jesus Christ, the Word of God. It's the Word of God that lights the candle in the man. And so I want to show you three things here that I find out of verse 16, 17, and 18 that will help us to take heed on how we hear. Such an important thing. First of all, I want you to see out of the first part of verse number 16, the possession. We see the possession. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see it. The man has a candle. He's in possession of the candle. Matter of fact, if you were to take your Bibles with me and go over to Mark chapter 4, we'll see the other place in Scripture that aligns with this. And you'll see it in just a little bit different verbiage, but very, very similar statement. Mark chapter 4 and verse 21, the Bible says, 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? For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested. or brought to light. Neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear. With what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you, and unto you that hears shall be more given. For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." Mark gives us a more plain, more common speech rendition of what Jesus said. In Luke chapter 8, you're given a writing from Luke, who is the educated, and his perception is always a little bit deeper. And so that's why we went to Luke and began to study the Gospels in Luke right away. But when we come to verse 16 and we find the words, no man when he hath lighted a candle, it gives us the understanding by the writing that there is a possession. There is a candle that is possessed here, and that candle has, first of all, a function. It is to burn until it is extinguished. Now, you can buy cheap candles, and I can't stand cheap candles. I'd rather not even have them, especially anymore, because they use such cheap chemicals, and they may smell good for a moment, but your headache in the next moment isn't going to even matter, or it doesn't matter what that smell is. But those candles, those cheap ones, they come in the little dishes now. They burn down, and oftentimes, the wick will burn all the way down, and there'll still be a ton of wax left in there. It hasn't evaporated. It hasn't done a good job in maintaining, and so oftentimes the cheap candles burn quickly because the wick burns quickly. But we see this candle, this possession that this person has. The Bible, Jesus refers to a man. He's speaking of all men. He says, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, In other words, no man who has received the Word of God, and that Word of God has lit that candle, no man takes into possession a candle for the purpose of hiding it. The candle has its function. It's made of wax that melts slowly away as it's heated up, revealing more wick, which in turn allows a fire to continue to burn. But the wax protects the wick from burning too quickly, but it also keeps the wick from being damaged. The wax keeps the wick from getting wet. A wet wick won't light. If you've ever tried to light a candle that had water spilled into it, it just doesn't work. You got to hold that lighter down in there for a long time until it dries up and then maybe it'll light. Usually it can't even get it to light in the same time period. But the wax on that candle is designed to protect the wick. And its function is to burn, to cause a light, to give light, and to burn slowly and truly all the way through. Talking about candle, the book of Jude, the Bible tells us in verse number three, beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. We have a duty to contend for the faith. The Bible tells us we're to receive the word of God and the word of God lights that candle. And it's our responsibility as the candle, holding that, possessing that candle to make sure that it burns correctly and it burns in such a fashion that in the entirety of our life, we are contending for the faith, giving light to others so they can see the gospel. Now, stick with me because it will all make sense here in just a few moments as we begin to look at it, as we're understanding what a candle is and its function is. Its function is to Again, give light, to show light, and the Bible tells us our function is to fight the good fight. We're to contend for the faith. Matter of fact, in 1 Timothy 6.12, the Bible says, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. Now, the thing about a candle is it has a function, and that is to burn, that is to give light, that is to be set up, as it says there, on a candlestick. It can be smothered, it can be covered up and suffocated when it loses all its oxygen. That's why he says there, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a what? You and I, as a child of God, we receive the Word of God. And it has a function. The Word of God comes and lights, the Spirit of God lights that candle for us, and that candle begins to burn. And if we take that candle and we wrap our vessel back around the old man, back around that candle, it is hidden away, it is lost, and so it will be smothered out by the old man. There's many Christians who have been saved and gone back to their old ways and fed the flesh so many times in so many ways that just like Jesus addresses here, they've taken that candle and they have put it underneath a vessel. I think of a bowl or take this offering plate here. And if you had a little small candle, you flip that offering plate over and lay it over top of one of those little window candles. I don't know what they're called, tea candles or something like that. And you lay that thing on top of it. It won't be long for that thing would smother itself. There's no more oxygen. It can't receive something because it's been covered with a vessel. The candle that the Lord, we are the candle, the wick is being the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, lights that wick up, it lights and it burns, and the function is that the world sees Christ through us by the Word of God who lights us. And if we put that thing under a vessel, if we hide it within the vessel, and we're the vessel, if we hide it within the robe of flesh, It will soon dissipate. It will soon smother out. It will suffocate and it will be of no value, of no use to any man. That's why Jesus says no man, when he has lighted a candle, takes that candle and covers it with a vessel. That's foolish. Nobody does that. In other words, Jesus is saying, sir, ma'am, it is a foolish thing to take in the word of God Sunday mornings and Sunday nights and Wednesday nights and opening up your Bibles for your devotion. It's a foolish thing to take the word of God, light that candle, and then immediately go back to your life and to the things that you love in the flesh and quench the spirit. There is a function. with a candle. A candle has a function. A candle has a flame. It is to bring light. The flame is to bring light. It's to make darkness flee. That's the purpose of a candle. We light a candle for the purpose that we can see what we're doing, so we can see where we're going, so that we can see where we're walking. Jesus addresses this in another place in Matthew chapter 5, I believe it is. He talks about putting a candle set in the light of the world, he says, a light that's set on top of a hilltop the world can see. He says don't put it under a bushel. He's addressing the fact that you and I are a candle and we're a light given by the Word of God under salvation of Jesus Christ. And because of that, we are to set our flame out so the world can see it. In other words, you and I are to live in such a manner that Jesus Christ is lifted up, that people can see Jesus when they look at us. Acts chapter 2, the Bible says, and there appeared unto him cloven tongues like as a fire, and it set upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. that fire that comes upon them is the Holy Ghost. It is a representation of what the Holy Ghost does, and God does that purposefully and intently for the purpose that when we look at the Word of God, it stirs up in the Christian a desire and a passion to serve Jesus Christ. That's your candle being lit every time you come to a service. Every time the Word of God is open and the preaching begins, you are being lit with a flame from the Holy Ghost, and what you will do with it matters. That's why Jesus said, be careful, take heed how you hear. When you're listening to that Word of God and God, the Spirit of God nudges you and deals with you, He said it matters. God is lighting within you. He's lighting your candle. And you must go out into the world and set it up on a candlestick as we'll see as we break down a little more of these verses here. But every candle has a function. Every candle has a flame. And the Holy Spirit is the flame that lights our way with the burning of the wick. That's the Word of God. And we have a function, and we need an unction for the Holy Ghost. In John chapter 14, Jesus, speaking of the Holy Ghost, said, there's a comforter. He's going to come. He says, it's the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He'll teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. See, that's the job of the Holy Ghost. He is to come along, he lights the flame, and the light lightens up the inner being of your body, and the inner being of your mind, and the inner being of your soul, and reminds you not only that you're a child of God, but it lightens up the things that he has written on the tables of your heart. He's written on the walls of your heart. That's why when the preaching begins, you could be preaching out of one thing, and somebody on this side of the room is, God's working on them, it has nothing to do with the message, and somebody on this room, God's working on something completely different, just because the Word of God has lighted upon them, and their flame has been lit, and now he can begin to use them, and the purpose is to take what you received, here in the house of God, outside these walls. Now, every preacher, I suppose, harps on that. But we have got to be careful because Jesus said, take heed therefore how you hear. We've got to be careful to understand that what God gives us in the house of God is for His glory and for His use and must always be passed on for other people. A candle, you and I hold a candle. Every one of us has a candle. The boys just sang about, you have a candle, everybody has a candle. Take your candle, go light the world. There are some who have, they've quenched their candle. They've caused it to go out because they have put a vessel on it. Others have slid it under a bed. But Jesus tells us we have a candle. If you're saved, and I'm talking about those who are saved, he says you have a candle, the wick that's in that candle, the wick that's in you is the Word of God, and the fire, the times that it gets lit is always done by the Holy Spirit, and it's done under the preaching of the Word of God and under reading of the Word of God. And so as we begin to understand that, we come to realize that there is a possession. You and I hold a candle. We have within us the Word of God. We have within us the Spirit of God who lights that candle, ignites that candle, stirs us up. And then can I say this, dear friend, concerning that possession of that candle? The candle not only has a function, it not only has a flame, but it has a finish line. A candle can only burn so long until it burns out. But in its day, it is to burn smoothly and slowly, and it is to burn its entirety all the way down. Every part of that wick is to burn up, and that wax is to have gone away, evaporated. See, a good wax is slowly melting away and evaporating out of there, so that when you come to the bottom of it, there's very little wax left. You know, that's a picture and an illustration for us. I got to thinking about that. It's what Paul stated in 2 Timothy. He said, "...for I am now ready to be offered for the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord and the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing." You see, a good Christian will burn all the way out in his life. A good Christian will be the candle that they're supposed to be and allow God, the Word of God, to burn their entirety of their life. See those cheap candles we talked about, boy, that wick just, it burns down. The word of God, it causes them to just kind of move out of the way and let it do whatever it's gonna do. And then when it's done, it's done. No, it's just, it's still there. And it's just kind of looks nasty and all piled up. I'm thinking of those lavender ones, they're all purple colored. Anyways, but a good candle, it burns down. And when it gets all the way down, it's clear. It gets all the way down there. It's all used up. You see that wick burning. I actually love to watch or get those wooden wick candles, because they have a little crackling sound to them, and they burn slowly and evenly, and they never get below that wax level, and it just burns just properly. You know, that's how a good Christian ought to be. When the Spirit of God lights them, just as it ended there in verse number 15, they are to have heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience, slowly and entirely through their life. And when their flame has come to its end, it should be at the end of their life, not at the end of their walk with God and then they go off into the world living their life how they want. The Word of God ought to saturate your life. It ought to permeate your life. It ought to be at the center of your life forever. And the Word of God ought to be the only thing that keeps you moving in this life. That's what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says, I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. You see, a candle, it must melt. The flame of a candle is hot enough that it causes the candle, the wax around it, to melt away. As the heat gets near that candle, it gets to a certain point where that wax is liquefied. It is then vaporized up into the air, and it slowly melts away that which is not vaporized in time, and it'll get caught up eventually. But that candle, that heat causes it to melt away. That's what the Word of God ought to do to each and every one of us. That's what Jesus is talking about here. He's saying, listen, take heed how you hear because there's four types of people that are going to hear the Word. The ones who will never even get it because Satan's going to come along and steal it from them. Excuse me. Then there's those who it falls on a hard, hard, a hard ground, a rock, the Bible says, and there's no moisture. They don't feed it. They don't take care of it. They don't receive that word and meditate upon it. They just hear the word of God. They take it and they go their way and life destroys them. Then the Bible says there, speaking of the ones that fall on the thorns, he says they get caught up in the cares of life, the riches of life, the treasures of life. They heard all the same word of God. It has the same power that the person in verse 15 gets. But they did not take careful heed to hear the word of God that was given to them. It was just another routine message, another mundane time at church, another check it off the list Sunday morning service. And so they heard the word of God, but it passed by and they did not keep it. And with it see fruit through patience. Jesus is dealing with this and boy, oh boy, does he lay down some hard truth in three verses. The idea, the very question that he poses there, or it's not even a question, it's a statement, the very statement he poses there concerning listening to the Word of God ought to challenge each and every one of us, I mean, down to the quick. God says you better listen to the Word that's given you. No, there's a danger, friend. In our day, we have such access to preaching. We have such access to Bible studies and they call them podcasts and all these different means and avenues and radio that we can listen to so much word of God. And that is a great tool and that's a wonderful thing. But dear friend, if you don't hear correctly and do what you hear, you're in danger. You're in danger that you're going, and the Bible's gonna, it deals with it in just a moment, I'm jumping ahead, but he deals with it, he said those things are gonna be dealt with. You can't take in the word of God, do nothing with it, and expect it just to, no big deal, pass it along. The flame should consume all our wax and wick before we are done, because the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12, here's your test to know if you're really walking close to God, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12, 29, our God is a consuming fire. Your candle is not completely consumed by the flame the Holy Spirit of God lit. If it is either out, or you've just kind of stepped away and there's really no fire, then dear friend, you are not close to God as you might believe you are. So we see there is a What was number one? I forgot. The possession. There we go. There's a possession. Now look here in the second part of verse number 16. And we find there's not only a possession, but there is a placement. Oh, the placement is key. We see that there is a placement. There's three places that are brought up and dealt with here in verse number 16. The Bible says, cover it with a vessel, put it under a bed, or set it on a candlestick. The placement is on the candlestick. Now here's where the study got just incredible. There's so much I want to give you. I don't have time. I'm going as fast as I can. I can already see I'm running out of time. But there's so much here that just started unraveling that I hope that I can even put into words to help you to understand what he's saying here as he is posing that challenge to be careful to take heed how you hear. The placement is on the candlestick. Where else do we find the candlestick in the Bible? We get over to Revelation chapter number one. The Bible says this in verse number twenty, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. You understand where the light's going to come from, dear friend? God's gonna light your wick at the church house. God says, I have designed it for the purpose of the power of the preaching of the cross to light you on fire, to cause you to go out the doors of the church and to go out into the world and declare Jesus Christ and to lift him up. And it all starts at the church house. You understand now why the world is becoming so dark and so many seem to have so little power? It's because there's so few at the church house anymore. Who can be lit on fire by the Holy Ghost under the sound preaching of the Word of God when they're not at the place on the candlestick where God wants to light their candle? It can be set up in the candlestick. I'm talking about a candle. The placement candle can be set up in the candlestick. You know what, you know, I wish I didn't have all these, I was thinking all these illustrations I could do, I wish I had a candlestick right now, just set it right here. I was thinking in my mind, you know, one of the big, I was thinking one, speaking here, seven candlesticks, I was thinking one of the Jewish ones with the, you know, they bend down, they're all the brass and they're shiny. You take a candle, and you don't, you take that candle and you stick it in to that candlestick. You see, a candle belongs in the candlestick. And the candlestick is set up in a place where the light shines around. The candlestick holds that light, where people can utilize it, where it'll be of use to both the candle and, spiritually speaking, speaking of us individually, but it's also for the purpose that, as he states right here in verse number 16, at the end of verse 16, that they which enter may see the light. It is put into a candlestick so that others can see that light. The placement of that candle is in the candlestick. It's not in a vessel. We got too many Christians who take in the Word of God and they go out of the house of God and they're unchanged. They wrap it back in their vessel and they do nothing with it. God says, Jesus says here, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel. That doesn't make any sense. Psalms 101, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, without coming to me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes, and I will hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. It ought to be the Christian's desire to take the Word of God and live it out. not conforming into their life. See, there's a lot of churches right now. They're not, most of them aren't meeting on a Wednesday night, but there's a lot of churches across this land that are not doing things according to scripture and they are taking the word of God and they are, one, they change it around and they make it fit their lifestyle. That's why they change the translations and try to make it a Bible that they can understand. Well, they can't understand it because they're not at the house of God receiving the word of God under the spirit of God. And so there's a suffocation that's taking place. Jesus said the placement of a candle is not under a vessel. It's not to be taken in and kept in the vessel. Too many have covered their flame and quenched the spirit because they continue to feed the old man. It's not meant to be devoured for your own lust and gains. He also says it's not to be placed under a bed. No man takes a candle and places it under a bed. It's not to be placed in only a way a little light gets out that only casts shadows. You know, I thought about that. I was really trying to understand, why would Jesus say, a no man put it under lights a candle puts on a vessel? That makes sense. You don't put it and then plop something over it and, you know, have no light whatsoever. But taking a candle and putting it under a bed, a little bit of light comes shining out. I got to thinking about that. You know what? If it's under my bed, there's going to be all kinds of shadows that come out of there. There's going to be a lot of places you ain't receiving light because under beds is where we store things. We shove things up under there. And if you get just the right kind of dust bunny, it looks like there's a monster under there. And the light, you don't take a candle and stick it under the bed where just enough light comes out that you can kind of see things. You're kind of not sure where to take the next step because of the shadows. You know what Jesus is dealing with here? He's dealing with those who are choked up with the thorns. He says, listen, don't take in the Word of God and tell everybody you're a Christian and you'll attend here and you'll do a little bit here, but don't let it mess with my life and all the pleasures of life and the things I want to do in life. I'll just let people know I'm a Christian, but that's it. No, that's not how the Word of God works. Jesus is saying, take careful heed to how, and we're going to see why in just a moment. Because see, these are all choices that you and I get to make. And we come down to the final point. The candle has a placement, it is in the candlestick. And we come to verse 17 and verse 18, and this is the final point. And this summarizes what Jesus is illustrating for them, and really a warning for you and I to take heed to how we hear. Verse 17, for nothing is secret that shall be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have. We find here in verse 17 and 18 a promise. There's a promise given, and the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians, that for all the promises of God are in him, are yea, and in him, amen, and to the glory of God by us. God gives us some promises, and you can go ahead and mark them down. They're true, they're right, and they're coming to pass. That's what that verse means in 2 Corinthians 1.20. All the promises of God, they're yeah, they're gonna happen. It's happening. And in verse number 17, the Bible makes it very clear. Jesus said, that candle, that word of God that you've been given, the seed that's been sown into your heart, it will be revealed. Nothing that is secret, the Bible says, shall not be made manifest. That means to be brought to light, to be made viewable for all. Everything that was done in secret. Every time the Holy Ghost came down and met you right there on your pew through the preaching of the Word of God, and all those times that you heard the Word of God and acted not upon it, Jesus says right here, it's going to be revealed. That's why he says in another place that all our idle thoughts, every time that we got to hearing the word of God and we thought, Lord, I'd love to serve you like that. Lord, I know you're speaking to me, I need to do that. Lord, I ought to give you that part of my life. Every time that happens, the Bible says that secret is going to be revealed. It's a dangerous thing to hear the word of God. It's the most wonderful thing in all the world. But it's a dangerous thing, because the Bible says, to whom much is given, much will be required. And when we hear the Word of God and do nothing with it, oh dear friend, we have the promise that it will be revealed. Every place the candle's light was supposed to shine, but never did, will be brought out. Every time someone refuses to respond to the Spirit's wooing will be revealed. Every motive behind everything done or not done will be revealed. Every person who stumbled because our candle, our candle was not where it ought to have been will be revealed. Every time that we were supposed to take the Word of God that was delivered in where the candlestick was, remember that, the church house, every time we were supposed to be in the house of God to receive the Word of God and we weren't there to receive the message that we were supposed to take to our neighbor or to take to our family or take to our friends, every time it will be revealed, the Bible says. These are powerful words. This is what Jesus is saying. Do you understand? This is why he gives that warning. Take heed. What a powerful statement from Jesus. Take heed how ye hear. We have an obligation because Jesus says, here's why. It will be revealed. I thought about that enough to really upset my spirit for a little bit. You understand, dear friend, we're gonna stand before Jesus Christ one day. And I'm not talking about that time when our faith becomes sad and we fall down and we're weeping happy and joyous and we're so excited about being in the presence of our Savior. I can't wait till that day, but there's a day too where we stand in front of the judgment seat of Christ and things begin to be revealed. And our inner man gets, it's almost as though he takes, I've imagined this so many times in my mind. We have this projector here. And the Bible says, nothing that is secret. And then he says, because it's something just a little bit different. He says, nothing that is hid shall be known and come abroad, shall not be known and come abroad. He said, even the things that you, that were secret, that God was doing in your heart. And then there was things that God, that happened in your life and you intentionally hid them. All those things will be revealed. I imagine in my mind, a big screen projector. And we're standing there and we come individually before Jesus Christ. And this is just my imagination here. And I just, I imagine as I read words like this, that Jesus begins to deal with us and he's not doing it to destroy us. He's doing it to bring it to the forefront because he's purifying us. See, we can live through this life with no standards and no morality. We can live our life and say, well, at least I'm safe and going to heaven. But there's coming a day when all of us are going to get a standard check. We're all going to be brought under the subjection of Jesus Christ in His way and His way only. And He's going to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is something powerful about that that we have just watered down in our generation. He says that he's going to reveal these things. I just imagine us standing there and he begins to bring out things that were in our heart. I mean, I'm not talking about things that happened and we thought we were right on. I'm talking about the things in our heart and he begins to go through them. And I can imagine just an audience behind as they wait their turn to stand up and stand before Lord Jesus Christ. And he begins to reveal the secrets how oftentimes we needed the Word of God and we did not listen, we did not hear it, we weren't even there to receive it, and God had given a message that was for somebody that you needed to take it to and deliver it to, but you were not even there to receive it. That's what Jesus is talking about here. It's a hard truth. Go back if you think I'm in error. Go back and study this out. Study out the passage from last week and this week and begin to overlap. I'm going to tell you what, friend, it was overwhelming before I had to come out. I had to quit 30 minutes. Normally I stay in my office. You all know I stay in my office and get my mind on that message. I was out actually almost a full hour before. I could not look at this passage anymore because of the intensity of what Jesus is dealing with here. There's a revealing that's going to take place. Every church whose candles were not lit by the Word of God will give an account. You know, I think about the candlestick and the Word of God again. The candlestick being the church, that's what Jesus said. And the candles, each one has a place in that church. And the more candles that are lit by the Word of God, what happens? There's a greater light. And you know, as you look at the light bulbs in our day and age and compare them to the light bulbs from back in Harold's day, you know, they just barely, I mess with, just make sure you listen to it, brother. But they're so much brighter. You think about when you get a candlestick and it's got all those candles on it. I've seen chandeliers in the Biltmore Mansion. You know, they put candles in before the power and they would put all these candles and they would have hundreds of them in there and they would design in such a way that would reflect the light. And they had more light than one of these chandeliers in our auditorium today. How much more the church where the word of God is preached and people are sold out for God and letting God light their candle and they're not hiding it in a vessel and they're not hiding it under a bed, but no, they are standing up in the house of God and they are serving the Lord and they're taking the word to the community. How bright the light and the darkness flees from the light. You know how you turn this dark state? one of the most liberal states in the union, and you turn it back to the Lord, you get this church bright. You keep your candle lit. You keep your wick lit. Jesus is gonna reveal, he says here, every church whose candles were not in their proper place. For instance, when the preacher doesn't preach against sin. When they're promoting immorality or they're not promoting morality, they're not preaching the whole Bible, only the parts that'll draw a crowd. When they're not shining forth the great gospel light, those things will be revealed. God deals with them. That's what we saw in Revelation when he dealt with the seven churches. He said, I've got someone against me. I've got someone against me. I've got someone against me. It's because their light had gone out. He said that in Revelation. He said, if you don't repent, if you don't change, if you don't turn back, he says, I'm going to do what? Take the light out from you. Isn't it amazing when we start taking the Bible and comparing scripture to scripture, how much he reveals to us. I'm out of time, so I'll just give you these last things. There's not only the, oh, I lost my track here. What were we talking about? The promise. The promise that he will reveal, but he gives us a promise that he'll reward. He says right there in 18, for whosoever hath to him shall be given There's a, so there's this promise of reward. God will give and add to those who faithfully respond to his word every time. Remember, you got to, the Bible says that we will get reward if we faint not. That's the key. We can't faint. There's, if we faint along the way, if we don't allow our wick to burn all the way down to the finish line, then there's no reward for us. There's a promise to reveal. There's a promise to reward. And then the terrifying end to his statement here, there is a promise to remove. It's a twofold statement. I won't break it down any further. I'll allow you to meditate on it. I think you got a full dose tonight. He says there in the end of verse 18, for whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. God promises to remove the light from those who appeared to have done things, but really it was for their own gain and their own greed. This would include those who received the word of God, but Satan came along and removed it before they believed and were saved. Verse 5 and verse 12. chapter 8 here. There's a promise given though of the revealing, of the reward, and of the removal. Listen friend, you and I have to be careful that we hear the Word of God and we respond to the Word of God. Now, the wonderful thing about the word of God, and he made it very clear there at the end of verse 15, is it's done in time, in patience. God doesn't just pour something on you, and you walk out those doors and say, well, the preacher gave this to me today, and you just gotta put it in action, 100 mile an hour. No, that's not how God works. See, God compares it here in chapter eight, remember, as a seed. He puts the seed in. Now you cultivate that. Now you continue to go to church, you continue to read your Bible, you continue to pray, you continue to walk with God and he begins to nurture it up and with patience there will be fruit that comes forth in your life. See, I believe our churches have lost this thing. They have lost the idea of a candle in the candlestick. Somebody gets what we call on fire for God, and the first thing they wanna do is run out of the church and go run somewhere else. No, the candle gets placed in the candlesticks. That's what strengthens the church. What are you saying, preacher? Well, I'm closing it out with this. The word of God lights a candle in every believer, and what that believer does with the candle determines what will be done to the believer. We've got things to be done in this church. Sunday school teaching. There's nursery. There's fellowships. There's cleaning. There's all these things that take to run a ministry in a building. There's treasury office. There's deacon office. There's things that have to be taken care of, things that have to be done. There's work that must be done. And see, if we receive the word of God, but we don't act it out in our lives, then we will become like every other dead church. or as the churches you find there in Revelation where God deals with them because they're missing the main thing. Our focus in this church ought to be the gospel light, in prayer, in thought daily. So I leave you with this, asking you of course, what would you do with the Word of God today? But dear friend, what do you do with the Word of God today? Did you take someone to the throne room of the Lord today? Did you take a person in your life whom you know needs a petition, be brought before the God of the universe, did you take them before the throne room today? You see, if we can't answer yes today, or yesterday, or the day before, or last week, or last month, then we're not doing all that we can. We must keep pressing forward in these dark days, and let our light so shine before men.