Luke 8:16-18

When God shows off, He illuminates everything. Through His Word, and His people, He exposes His plan to the world. As Christians, we know the way to Heaven, and there’s nothing that should hold us back from sharing what we know.

Jesus said in John Chapter 9: verse four, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is yet day because night is coming.
When no man can work. As long as I’m in the world, I am the light of the world.
And that’s how Jesus wants us to think wherever we go, I’m going to take that little light of mine and shine it to the glory of God.
Another thing is this, he turns on the light because light affects the attitude, light affects the atmosphere and the attitude wherever you go.
And maybe you’re the only one in your home.
I read a letter this week from someone who attends this church.
They’re the only believer in their house and everyone’s against them.
That woman takes a mockery from her husband and from her kids.
The father’s got the kids against her and she comes here at a great expense, ridicule and mockery and they watch her like a hawk.
She shows a little bit of temper, she shows a little bit of worry and they’re right on her.
Oh, where’s your Jesus? Now, your car got a flat. Where’s your Jesus now? That’s tough.
But you know what she’s being light and her presence affects the attitude of that home.
And the same is true about all of us.
He says that those who enter in may see the light, what a wonderful, wonderful power that is.
Are you and I light enough to be changing the environment that you and I walk into wherever you and I go, Jesus would have us.
He wants to, he’s in us. He wants the atmosphere of where you and I go to be changed.
I highly recommend to you voices of the martyrs. It’s a magazine V O M 00.0 R G.
You got to get it.
There’s an article where not this particular couple, but there’s another, there’s a woman there in India, in northern India, a Muslim family and uh she became a Christian and they found her Bible, her husband found her Bible.
And uh he went to the cupboard and he got out kerosene and poured it on her and went to light her on fire for becoming an infidel and he couldn’t find a match.
So he told her to wait there and he went next door and someone came and saw what was going on and they removed her from there.
When he came back, he couldn’t find her.
She eventually made it to the people of voices of the martyrs and she was given shelter and she’s a Christian now.
And uh all because her life began to change.
They noticed that home noticed that mom was changing for the better and they couldn’t figure out why you can read about it at voice of the martyr.
This man right here is the sweet looking guy. He’s a colonel in the Iranian army.
And he’s featured in this article, this guy became a Christian and they noticed the change in his life and he couldn’t listen, he didn’t preach to anybody.
They just noticed the change in his life and they began to ask questions, what’s with you? You’re different.
You know what, what that, which was secret had to be let out.
He didn’t, he didn’t say it. It just came out of him, love, peace, self control, gentleness, kindness.
He was arrested. He was tried in a military tribunal and he was found guilty of being a Christian in Iran.
The evidence was overwhelming. People testified and they said, yep, he’s a stinking Christian.
He’s forgiving, he’s kind, he prays he’s peaceful. He’s a threat to this nation.
They put him in prison, they gave him, they gave him a sentence, they put him in prison.
Voices of the martyrs began to take care of his family.
By the way, they do covert secret activity all around the world.
Then the prisoners started getting converted in the prison. I said, what are you doing?
Telling people about Jesus, shut up about Jesus.
You talk about Jesus, we’re gonna kill you if you kill me you just send me to heaven.
So, uh whatever you wanna do, well, then we’re not gonna kill you just shut up.
So others started coming to Christ. You know what they did?
They said get out, get out, get out of this prison.
Go get, listen, what would you do? What would you do?
What would you do if the people who put you in there said go, what would you do?
No, he stayed. He said, oh, no, no, no, I demand my rights.
They said, you demand your rights. You have no rights. You’re a prisoner.
You got to stay here or you go, we tell you what to do. He said, no, no, no. Listen.
And before a jury of my peers, I was convicted by a military tribunal.
And I’ve been given this many years in prison. I’ve gone through this much time. I’ve got 14 months left.
I demand I stay in prison. It’s, you got to keep me here.
The sentence has got to be lived out. They said, oh right. Get back in there.
They put him back in prison. He preached the gospel. He did his time.
They got him out and they said, if you ever see if you ever talk to people about Jesus again, we, we’ll hang you.
Well, you know, I told you guys before you hang me, you send me to Jesus.
Well, we’ll do something to you. What was inside him?
Secret came out the little light in a dark place goes a great way. That’s your life. Oh, Jack.
You don’t mean me? I mean, exactly. You, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?
Raise your hand, keep your hand up. If you believe that he rose again from the dead.
Do you believe that you have said Jesus save me from my sins?
I have nothing to give you. I have no righteousness. I have no money. I have no power.
I have nothing I give you me. That’s all I got. I give you me Jesus. Save me.
If your hand is still up, the Holy Spirit moved inside of you that day, never to leave you or forsake you.
And from that moment on, he will burn his gospel message out of your life.
And it may be by what you say, mostly it’s by what you do and people will take notice.
They may not understand it. They’re going to call you weird. You can put your hand down. You’re great.
They’re gonna call you weird. They’re going to make fun of you. They’re going to attack you.
They’re going to see if you’re real. But the real stuff in you.
And I is the Lord Jesus coming out of us and that’s how it works in Colossians.
Four verse three. Colossians 43. Paul says, praying at the same time for us as well that God may open to us.
The door of his word.
So that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which we have been imprisoned.
Colossians 126 that the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed through his saints to them.
God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of the mystery of the gentiles, which is this Christ Jesus in you your hope of glory.
That word is your assurance of glory. Why Wonderful, excellent. When God shows off, he illuminates everything.
Verse 17 teaches us for nothing is secret. Think about that.
Colonel, Nothing is secret that will not be revealed.
The Gospel’s got to come out here to come out for anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.
It’s going to be exposed. The first thing that we realized here in 17 is that when he illuminates everything he reveals his perfect knowledge, what do you mean by that is perfect knowledge.
This is what we need to know about what God knows regarding this message is that his knowledge revealed is that the secret of the Gospel is an amazing word.
It’s not watch, it’s not sacred. I’m a Christian. Don’t tell anybody. It’s not that kind of secret.
The word, secret word mystery means something that has been revealed, that has been something that men would seek to understand that people would grope about to find out.
What is it? God announces. Listen was this secret when baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Was that a secret?
Yeah, I mean he was born in Bethlehem. You know, I mean he knew anything about Bethlehem.
Only the prophets announced that it was written in the Bible. Keep your eyes on Bethlehem.
And if that isn’t enough of a public announcement, then Jesus is born and the angels show up in the sky.
Today tonight, born in the city of David, Angels began to sing.
How private is that wise men come from Baghdad, from ancient regions of Iraq today makes their way.
We’ve seen the star, we’ve followed it to come and worship him. How private is that?
Nothing private about it. God never intended the gospel to be secret.
It’s never something that you keep under wraps.
It’s nothing that you keep safe and no, it’s designed to get out of the world. Isn’t it awesome?
Listen, what is the first book that was ever published or put out? I should say in a printing press?
The Bible, what was the first book put on audio? The Bible?
What was the first book put on CD. The Bible?
What was the first book preached to 3.3 billion with A B in 1988 by Billy Graham.
Did he preach better homes and gardens? Did he preach something else? The Bible heard by more people.
The Bible every year since God allowed it to be so public. The Bible is the number one.
So book every year around the world. That’s so much.
So, it’s not even included in the New York Times best selling list because it’s automatically number one every year.
Whoever the New York Times best seller book is, it’s number two.
The Bible, the Bible, the Bible. It’s always the Bible.
Listen, you can smuggle Korans into China all you want. You don’t even have to smuggle them.
You have to smuggle Bibles in because the government views him as a threat.
What do you think the Chinese government views the Bible as a threat? Because it changes people’s lives.
The Bible God’s revealed intentions tell the world didn’t Jesus say go ye therefore into all the world.
Can you go? Ye therefore into most of Europe, North America. Oh no.
All the world in John chapter nine verse five, Jesus says as long as I’m in the world, I am the light of the world.
First John 15, this message which we have heard from Him, declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
How many of you are afraid of the dark? You ever seen what’s in the dark?
No, I won’t go there right now.
If you knew what was in the dark, you would want to leave the light on too.
Have you noticed when you’re a little kid? Mommy daddy, what? Leave the light on imaginations?
Go crazy with a kid, right?
And then you become a Christian and you find out it wasn’t too far away from the bump in the night, you know, hey, you know what?
Isn’t it? Awesome? No matter how dark it is, you’ll walk with God. There’s light all around you.
When Jesus is there, when you realize that God has called you to walk in his lightness in his light, the Bible tells us that even with God, even where it’s dark, there’s light all about what an awesome truth that is.
He illuminates everything and that he exposes his plan to the world.
He says, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to the light.
He says, there’s things that when the word of God goes out and even in the life of a believer, when that believer goes out as that little lamp, and this is amazing.
And, and listen, I wanna encourage you regarding our patience when we go out into the world and when we rub shoulders with the people that we know and work with and come in contact with be patient Christian, be patient.
Because Jesus is telling us that wherever that little lamp goes, wherever you go, its effect will eventually begin to dispel darkness and whatever is hidden will be revealed.
This can be something that is so direct and so clear where people supernaturally like when Jonathan Edwards preached his message in early America, people who were not even in the church, but driving down the street, not even hearing the message supernaturally got off of their carriages and off their horses fell on their faces and cried out to God for mercy because they felt convicted and they didn’t even hear the message to someone in our lives.
Maybe you walk up to and you say, hey, how you doing and, and you befriend them and something is exposed inside their heart and they share something with you and they say, you know what, I’ve, I’ve never told anybody this, but I’ve struggled with this in my life and I think you can help me.
How do you answer that? When people come into this church in droves during the week, from week to week, from year to year, I need help.
We say the same thing that the apostles say, we can’t help you silver and gold.
We do not have. But in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk, we give them the Lord.
He’s amazing. Expose the plan that he has to the world.
Things that are hidden, things that are hidden can hurt very badly.
Maybe there’s things in your life that are hidden.
See, Jack, I really, I really want Jesus and, and all the and, but listen, there’s this thing in my life that nobody knows.
Listen, God knows. Yeah. That’s the hang up.
I can live under this horrific shame because it’s just me And I, I, I hate myself for what I did 20 years ago.
I hate it. I’m afraid God does know.
Hey, listen, my friend, God does know and he wants to set you free from it, not strangle you with it.
So you’ve been hanging on to it, trying to bury it, trying to hide it.
Keep it just under the surface and you in your conscience and in your heart, you keep running into it over and over again, you keep running into it.
Nobody knows about it. But you know, and you know, God knows and you think He’s trying to strangle you with it.
God is saying, will you give it to me? I’ll take it.
Whatever that thing might be, things hit and hurt.
Jesus said that when the gospel goes out, it brings to the surface things that need to be done away with that.
Maybe it’s just between you and He.
But listen, he will take care of it and God will remove it.
There’s nothing in this world. There’s no stain remover. He, we will remove it. But God only His blood.
Is that powerful things hidden? Listen. Isn’t that funny? Jesus said everything I’ve said to you.
I’ve said publicly and openly. I’ve said nothing in a corner. I’ve shouted when somebody says, there’s a secret.
Jesus says, well, there is no secrets. Whatever secret is gonna be exposed, the gospels never hidden. There’s no, listen.
If you’re visiting for the first time, there’s nothing secret Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life, no man goes to the father.
But through me right up front, you never have to wonder what Jesus is thinking. He says it.
He says, if any man comes to me, I will never turn you away.
Jesus said for God so love the world.
He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in me will not perish but have everlasting life. No secrets.
Well, what’s the fine print? No fine print, beware of secrets, things hidden.
They’ll ship wreck you every time. Verse 17, we just add this that he announces his ultimate return.
And then I simply mean this in first Thessalonians chapter five verses one through six, the Bible tells us that concerning the times and the seasons of the Lord’s return brethren, you’ll have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord.
So comes as a thief in the night. Don’t raise your hand. Listen, don’t raise your hand.
Did you hear me? Do you think based upon this verse that if you’re a Christian, the day of the Lord will come upon you as a thief in the night, you better know your Bible.
The exact opposite is true. I thought he’s coming as a thief in the night. He is for some people.
Not for me, not for you.
The Lord comes as a thief in the night for when they say peace and safety.
Then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. They will not escape.
But you brethren are not in darkness so that, that they will overtake you as a thief.
You are all sons of lights, sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep but let us as others do. But let us watch and be sober.
Be alert. Isn’t that awesome? If we walk in the light, if we are in the light, as Jesus is talking about being in the light, the return of the Lord will not surprise us.
Then finally we end here verse 18. When God shows off, he adds more of what we have.
Now, this can be good and bad.
He adds more to what we have now watch this When he adds more to what we have.
The first thing I want to realize in verse 18, it says, therefore, take heed how you hear the question is then is how I’m hearing, correct.
So what do you mean by that church? Listen carefully?
This might be a shocker to you every time you and I hear a sermon memorize a verse, read our Bibles every time you and I are exposed to a little bit more light.
You and I are now responsible for that light. Well, pastor, that’s why I’m never coming back.
It doesn’t matter. I just quoted three verses to you a moment ago.
You’re responsible for John 3 16. You can’t get away from it now. Sorry.
Said, oh man. Um, I watch if you’re not listening, right?
You can say, oh, man, let’s go listen to Greg Lori on Monday. Oh, and then you know what?
We’ll get Pastor Chuck on Sunday night and then let’s go drive down and listen to Doctor David Jeremiah.
Oh, and then we’re gonna go up to, oh, and then we’re gonna come Wednesday night and, and then Sunday morning Chino Hills movies.
Well, listen to Jeff. Wait a minute. Do you understand something?
You’re in a whole heap of trouble because if you’re given light, the Lord is expecting you with what you have.
He’ll give more if the light is gonna be shining out of you.
If you take it in and do nothing with it, if you say, oh, that was a great sermon or that was a great message or boy, I laughed or boy, I cried and you walk away and 15 minutes later after you leave the building, you’re not living.
What was announced. If I’m not living, what was announced, we’re responsible. We’re not in a club.
This is not some pep talk place. It’s not motivational speaking.
It’s the word of God and Jesus says this take heed.
Therefore, watch out is the word about how you hear, how not, what, how you hear. Interesting. Huh?
That’s a grave warning. Also, this, He adds more to what we have and that verse 18 teaches us is what I have a good thing is what I’m listening to a good thing.
Are you judging by the way, everything that’s said that you hear on Christian radio and in this sanctuary, are you judging it against the Bible?
He says, for whoever has to him more will be given if you take in listen church, if you take in today’s lesson and you, and you write it down.
But by the way, we should always take notes because we increase our retention by 15%.
If we take notes, I’m I’m gonna do, I gotta do this.
And then you take today’s notes and you put it on the dash of your car or in your mirror when you shave in the morning or when you whatever you do lady in the morning and you look at it and you eat it, you eat it and eat it and eat it and eat it until next Sunday and then you move on to the next thing.
But if we listen and become a forgetful hearer, then we, we, we become those who are heroes of the word and not doers.
This is very critical. Well, wasn’t that pastor good? He was kind of off today.
Oh, that was fun. I wait a minute. The pastor is not on display.
The word of God is being given to our hearts.
We are being schooled by the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
It’s not how funny I might be or how serious I might be.
Did I make you cry this week or did I make you laugh this week?
It’s not that it’s what am I doing with this message this week matters?
And then we end with this here. Is there anything keeping me back?
He says in verse 18 and whoever does not have even what he seems to have will be taken away from him.
What does that mean? It means that the Lord? Look at this is, look at this place.
There’s a lot of light, there’s a lot of light, a lot of sin, a lot of light, a lot of darkness, that’s Las Vegas, a lot of illumination but no enlightenment.
Huh? There’s a light of the world and there’s the light of the Lord.
The world says, look and Jesus has come to me, is there anything keeping me back?
Could I somehow take this truth?
And is there anything not not allowing me to do it?
And that’s a great test?