The Gospel of Luke 8:16-25 Parable of the lamp & calm seas.

Good morning. We're going to be venturing into this passage Randy just read for us here, Luke 8, 16 through 25. And we'll do it one step at a time. I want to begin, however, by getting some kind of context for what Randy just read. And that is, as you may recall, last week, Luke 8.1, it says, Soon afterwards he, that is Jesus of course, began going around from one city and village to another proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.

So this is the overriding theme in what Jesus is presenting. And then the Kingdom of God is looking at a future time, perhaps as soon as seven years from now, when Christ will return. This is artistry based on a description given in Revelation chapter 19.

And then chapter 20 is the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom. This is a graphic that I presented previously. Between Genesis 15 and Ezekiel 48, we have it that the coming Millennial Kingdom, that is the nation of Israel, will be far larger than it is now, that it will begin at the Mediterranean. And as you see, rather, these stripes of land continuing all the way to the Euphrates River.

So now we have Luke 8, 9, and 10. I have them lettered as A and B. And this was also in last week's passage. His disciples began questioning him as to what this parable meant. And he said to them, to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To you it's been granted to know, but not to everyone. So he begins telling in parables. So Luke 9, 1 and 2, which we'll be getting at in just a couple weeks here. And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons to heal diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim, what?

The kingdom of God. So the kingdom of God is a theme coming up to this and a theme that will follow. He's actually going to shortly send them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. Now, we have this principle that we keep coming back to, of comparison and contrast. It allows us to see what's similar between the gospel of the kingdom, that is, the gospel that there is a coming kingdom and Christ will be the Messiah over it, and the gospel of substitution, as well as the contrast. And we'll talk about the gospel of substitution here. That was true of the parable of the soils which has application to both the gospel of the kingdom, that Christ is going to come as the Messiah and reign over the nation of Israel and all of the nations as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to the gospel of Christ's substitutionary death on the cross, burial and resurrection. Those are two different gospels and people oftentimes get confused. I know the first time I told Nancy about that, she thought I was going heretical. But no, there are two different Gospels.

And he is having them present shortly, starting in chapter 9, the Gospel of the Kingdom. But this is a very important point to make. What's in sharp contrast among the disciples is their level of understanding. The disciples were coming to understand to the point that Jesus would actually send them out the gospel of the kingdom and give them authority to heal. That starts in chapter 9, so he's just right at the edge of having them ready to do that.

They understand the gospel of the kingdom well enough to tell others about it, but Christ's death for our sins, his burial, and his resurrection was something that the disciples were totally clueless about. completely clueless in Luke 9 43 and 45 Luke actually says they are clueless three times using different words each time all the same phrase they didn't have a clue they had no idea they had no understanding that's kind of the Luke's message they really didn't understand that Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again he kept telling them and they go huh and had no idea now Let's ask where and what here.

The things that are said to take place in this passage are in and around the Sea of Galilee. We made the point last week about 80% of Jesus' ministry time was spent in and around the Sea of Galilee. And Galilee extending over towards Cana and Nazareth.

There are three parts of this passage, and we'll be looking at those. Jesus says things that are centered on the subject of light and lamps, and so we're going to see that shortly. When Jesus' mother and brothers come, Jesus applies it spiritually. Instead of just saying, excuse me a minute, my mother and brothers are here, he makes a spiritual statement about that. And third, Jesus and the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat and the waters get really stormy. We'll see how that ends up. In each of the three parts Jesus has something to say. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but in each of those parts Jesus has something to say.

Now here's Luke 8.16.

Now no one, after lighting a lamp, covers it over with a container or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in may see the light. Now, when you say a lamp stand, that may be just an alcove in the wall. It may be a shelf that sticks out of the wall, or it may be an independent lamp stand, somewhat like you see off to the side here. No matter how it's put up there, the idea is you put the lamp up where it can shed light in different places. Let's talk about lamps and oil just so people get the background here. Every Jewish household had at least one lamp.

I brought back, these are not really antiquities, they're just made to look old, right? So they're brand new antiquities, right? Okay. And what they would do is they'd have a lamp and they would have a wick. They'd put olive oil in it, typically, and then it was considered, the woman of the household, it was considered her responsibility to make sure that that lamp never went out. You always have at least one lamp going, even at night. That's your nightlight. So you always have at least one lamp going, and then when you get close to the end, you go down to the merchant, the vendor, and you take your container and you get more olive oil and you always keep that thing filled.

So that would be the responsibility of the woman in the household to keep that up. Most lamps had one wick, typical like this one, and interestingly enough if there were more it was usually three or seven. So three or seven per lamp, and if there were more, it was typically because you had a larger group or you're trying to do some reading.

Olive oil was used as a standard fuel and it was sold by vendors in a marketplace and kept on hand by those who had olive trees and olive crusher because that's what they would do first is crush them and then a press to press out the oil. There were three pressings. The first pressing went to the temple, the second pressing was used in cooking and cosmetics, and the third press was the one that was used for the oil lamps.

Now, Given that the light source would be an oil lamp, covering the lamp would actually be inclined to snuff it out. If you put a basket over the top, you may have a fire. But if you were to use some kind of ceramic cover for it, it would be likely to just snuff it out. It wouldn't get enough oxygen, right? And putting a lit oil lamp under a bed is either going to snuff it out or light the bed on fire. So one or the other, it could be an exciting time.

So in the worst case scenario, you've either got no light or way too much if the bed lights on fire. Now, in this case, what does the light represent? And it's one thing to point out, in different parts of scripture, light represents different things. How do we know the difference? Context. Context. In this case, just as the seed that the sower broadcast into the different soils was the word of God, so also is light the word of God here.

Including the gospel of the kingdom, that Christ is the Messiah who will come and rule over Israel as Israel's king, and rule over the nations as king of kings and lord of lords. And it also includes the gospel of substitution, that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. And so the light from the lamp in this parable is the Word of God, just like the seed was for the sower. And the lamp is the person who has the Word of God to share with others. Obviously, these disciples, who up to this point, they haven't been going out and telling people about the Kingdom of God, but that's soon going to change. chapter 9 verses 1 and 2. The person who has been given the Word of God has it in order to share that light with others. That includes us too. And it looks at what's the context that the Lord has called us to share light.

He's going to send them out starting in Luke chapter 9. We're going to see that Jesus sends them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom. which they understand, and he also gives them the power and authority to heal, which is going to be something amazing. They've been watching Jesus heal, but now they're going to have that authority, which is going to be something astounding for them.

We find out from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 10, that as he sends them out two by two, and that's in Matthew, that's not here in Luke, as he sends them out two by two, He sends them only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He tells them, don't go to the Gentiles and don't even go on a road that leads to the Gentiles. Only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

So Luke 8.17, For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. What does he mean by that? Well, what he means is this.

The word mystery that we took a look at last week, Luke 8.17, states the biblical definition of the word mystery.

That is, a mystery, Luke 8.10, as we looked at it last time, is a truth that has not previously been revealed, but has now been revealed. And by the way, the Bible is consistent, Old Testament on into the New, as to that definition of mystery. It's consistent, Old Testament into the New, as to that definition, a truth that was previously not revealed but is now revealed. It's different from our use of mystery, isn't it? Our use of mystery is something often that remains mysterious, but the biblical use of the word is something that was unknown that is now revealed.

Another passage we made note of last week, Colossians 1.26 actually uses the word mystery and then defines it. So the mystery which has been hidden from the ages past and generations, but now has been manifested, now has been revealed to his saints.

Colossians 1.26. So that's the defining verse for the word mystery here. The disciples themselves, starting in chapter 9, will be revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Things that have not been revealed before, but have now been revealed.

So here's Luke 8.18, so take care of how you listen, for whoever has, to him more shall be given, and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him. Now you might scratch your head at that and say, what does that mean? Okay, so let's talk about that. What do you do with the truth you have? That's really the question.

What do you do with the truth you have? Is God going to keep giving you more truth if you don't respond in faith to the truth that you have. It's a principle that on the one hand, those who take the truth that they have and apply it by faith, those who take the truth that they have and apply it by faith will be given more truth. But those who take in truth and don't apply it by faith, or turn it into a lie, those will not be given more truth. Let me give you an illustration. Nancy and I, some years ago, and boy, it seems like the decades roll on, right? Nancy and I, some years ago, were fortunate enough to hear a fellow speak who, as a matter of fact, he pronounced his name.

I just, I can't do that because I can't do all the pops and clicks and stuff like that. He said, don't worry about pronouncing my name, just call me Gus. Gus, it turns out, lived in a remote village in Africa. It had minimal connection with the other villages. It did have some, but not much.

And Gus, as he tells the story, was the village juvenile delinquent. He would get into trouble often. And so the solution of the elders was to hold him down and force pepper water up his nostrils. And that was supposed to drive out the evil spirits that was making him misbehave the way he was. So here's Gus.

Oddly enough, this guy who was a chronic juvenile delinquent also said to God one day, and by the way, the village taught animism, that is, the spirit of the rock, the spirit of the tree, the spirit of the river. The village taught animism, but he said, God, if you're there, and that's not anything that the village leaders had taught, God, if you're there, I want you to reveal yourself to me. Soon thereafter, his best friend, Gus's best friend said, in a neighboring village, there's a missionary that tells people about God.

Tell me more. Tell me more. And his friend wouldn't tell him. His friend said, I don't want to talk about it. But Gus kept pursuing it and found out and went to that nearby village and heard that missionary and became a believer. He responded. He asked God for truth. God gave him truth, even though, you know, here he is, this, you know, primitive man in Africa in a remote village. He asked for truth. He responded to the truth and God gave him more.

But what we see here in this passage, there are those who are not responsive to the truth, who are not looking for the truth. And so we'll see some examples of it, of those who didn't believe the truth they were given. One of them is the Jewish leaders. They were not careful to take the truth and believe it.

As a matter of fact, their responses are beyond puzzling. Let's take it for instance. Here's Lazarus gets raised from the dead, right? And the Jewish leaders hear about it, and what do they want to do? Do they respond? Wow, Jesus really must be the Messiah! He must be who he claims to be if he raises people from the dead. No, what do the Jewish leaders want to do? Kill them. Right? Kill them.

This is really dense, right? That response. Some appeared to believe, but did not truly believe. In John chapter 8, Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, now that belief is a superficial belief, if you continue in my word you are truly disciples of mine. And by the end of the chapter they're picking up rocks to stone him. They didn't believe, correct? And then Judas saw miracles and heard the truth but he was a betrayer. He was a betrayer. Can you imagine?

Seeing Jesus heal someone, seeing Jesus raise someone from the dead, seeing Jesus cast a demon out of someone again and again for three years, Judas did that. Judas heard all these words that we're looking at in Luke. He heard them personally for three years. And at the end of three years, he's asking, but what's in it for me? But what's in it for me? Here's Luke 8, 19 and 20.

And his mother and his brothers came to him, and they were unable to get to him because of the crowd. And it was reported to him, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wishing to see you. Now, one of the things we have a slide here I believe it's page 2 of your handout.

This is the family tree of Jesus put together and it has some notes there that we'll go through here because I think you'll find them helpful. Here it shows Jesus and then James and Joseph, Jude and Simon and then sisters which this chart shows is Salome and Mary. But let's take a look here.

Since Jesus was born of a virgin Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus as he was of Jesus' other siblings. So Jesus was properly a half-brother to these siblings. Jesus' brothers, however, did not believe in him, this is from John chapter 7, until after Christ was resurrected.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus appeared resurrected to James, the one who was the author of the book of James. James and Jude, actually I have here Jacob and Judas, in the original it would have been Yaakov. That's a real different sounding from James. And Judas were the authors of the New Testament books by those names.

The names James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon are given in Mark 6.3, that's where we get those. as is the fact that Jesus had sisters, but however they're not named. The names Salome and Mary are from documents outside of scripture, recorded elsewhere and not from the Bible itself. That has less certainty because it's not inspired scripture, but it may well be accurate. Jesus brothers, okay, James is the one about the about whom the most is recorded and so we have you know multiple references to him all the way to the books of James and Jude and Also in the writings of Josephus Josephus wrote about James even wrote about his death in the early 60s ad an ossuary box from New Testament times has been found with the inscription James actually Yaakov is what's written on there James son of Joseph brother of Jesus this went through a seven-year trial in Israel the Israel Antiquities Authority claimed that this was fraud and by the time it was all done the judge dismissed the case and a number of experts not all of them Testify to this effect, but a number of the experts even those on the side of the prosecution Testified know this looks like the real thing. So really it looks genuinely as if it's the Ossuary box that is the bone box of James son of Joseph brother of Jesus It is the only ossuary box that has James son of Joseph out of the hundreds that have been found and And it's the only one that also has Brother of Jesus on it.

And it was found in Silwan, just kind of, as a matter of fact, Nancy and Courtney and Ingrid and I were there just a few months ago.

Alright, so Jesus told they're standing outside, that means that they were inside when Jesus was speaking and people couldn't get in the doorways. And we mentioned previously that the culture was very different. It was okay to go and stand in the doorways and come in if a rabbi is present speaking. So that was fine, but there were so many people crowded around that the family couldn't get in. So we're not told why Jesus' mother and brothers are there, what they wanted to talk to him about. But Jesus used their presence for a spiritual point.

And this is what he said in Luke 8.21, And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it. So Jesus isn't intending to downgrade the importance of his own family. He is, however, making the point that the spiritual relationships are even more valued. Are even more valued. Why does Jesus say, these who hear the word of God and do it? Why would he say that?

Because it's not all about knowing stuff. It's not all about knowing stuff. Someone can have a doctorate degree from seminary and go to hell. Right? It's not all about knowing stuff. Doing what is heard implies you believed it and put it into action. It's not just spiritual data storage. You know, there's kind of an illusion that some people fall under, and that's the idea of, boy, if I know a lot of Bible stuff, that's good, right?

Well, maybe not, if it's not believed and understood and applied. Just like coming into the church here does nothing for you spiritually, just standing in the room. Any more than going into the garage turns you into a car. It just doesn't happen that way.

Here's Luke 8.22. Now this is turning kind of the final page here.

Now on one of those days, Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and he said to them, let us go over to the other side of the lake. And they launched out. Here they are. They're getting into the boat. Have you ever done that before? Yeah. Everything's normal. Jesus is in there. Jesus gets in the boat. He is the one who's leading on this trip across the lake. So here they are.

They're starting to move across the lake. One thing to take note of here, this journey across the lake was one like the disciples, many of whom were fishermen, had made many times before. Probably over half of the disciples were fishermen. Also observe here, Jesus told them to go across the lake, or sometimes called the Sea of Galilee, The exact location where they started off and where they ended up isn't known.

However, it appears likely, and it fits the physical description as you see on the other side, that they went to the shore directly east of Magdala. So you have this location here off to the east side, right across from Magdala. That appears to be the likely location where they were headed. So you have this on the map, on your handout.

Now, so in Luke 8.23 and part of 24, it reads this way, But as they were sailing along, he fell asleep, and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke him up, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing! Panic!

Ah! Right? Okay. So Jesus fell asleep. Did he do that intentionally? Maybe so. If we ponder that Jesus had told these men, most of whom were experienced fishermen, they'd seen all kinds of weather and conditions, to go across the lake to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. If we ponder that Jesus was the Son of God who was never surprised by anything, He told them to go across the lake knowing that this storm would come. How could Jesus lead them right into this storm and sleep?

Wow. So here's the rest of the story. And he got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves and they stopped and it became calm. And he said to them, where is your faith? They were fearful and amazed. I imagine they were very fearful and amazed, saying to one another, who then is this that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him. So the disciples were obviously really terrified. They figured this was going to be the end of all of us.

So wasn't it Jesus' job to keep storms from coming into their path? Was that His job? See, a lot of Christians will think, you know, that's God's job. Keep storms from coming into my path. And if God lets something into my path, He's really blown it and I'm going to be mad. Wasn't it Jesus' job to only tell them to cross the Sea of Galilee when he knows it'll be a safe trip across?

Was that his job? Don't they have a right to be upset? Jesus did calm the storm by rebuking the wind and waves. You see, he's the one that made the water. He's the one that made the wind, the air. He's the one that created these things and Colossians chapter 1. He's the one that holds everything together in this material world.

So we ask where is your faith? One of the points we made going through Hebrews chapter 11 is that everybody has faith. The question is where do they place that faith? Everybody has faith. We made the point, even an atheist has faith. Where do they put it?

Where do we place our trust and confidence when the storm waves come into our lives? Did God have a purpose for allowing these storm waves to come into the disciples' lives while he slept through it? Another question. Where do we place our confidence before the storm comes and before we know it's coming?

Maybe that's the issue. Did the disciples learn something new about the Lord through what appeared to them to be a life-threatening event? Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him. They did learn something. Does the one who was willing to lay his life down for us, motivated by love and joy, care about us when we go through the storms? I say motivated by love and joy. Let's take a look at that.

In John 3.16 it says, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

In Galatians 2.20 It says that Jesus loved and He gave.

In Ephesians 5.2, it says that Jesus loved and He gave.

In Ephesians 5.25, it says that Jesus loved and He gave. He was motivated by love to give His life. But that's not all. Why do I say joy?

Hebrews 12.2, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. He was drawn up to the point of the cross by love, and he was drawn to look beyond the cross to the joy set before him. Love brought him to the cross, joy motivated him beyond the cross.

Does God allow anything into our lives that is just simply senseless and useless? This is a useless trial or pain. Does God allow that? I don't think so. Let's take a look here at Romans 8.28-30. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Is that verse saying that everything that happens is good? No, it's not. We can rightfully say this was a very bad thing. Some very bad things can happen to us. We are not, as Christians, forced to just paste on a smile and say it's all good. Because sometimes it isn't. Sometimes really bad things do happen.

But let's look at the good that this next verse describes. Verse 29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. Trials big and small, trials of various kinds will come. The intent of those is ultimately directed towards us being conformed to the image of Christ. So that's the good, not that everything that happens is good. Sometimes really, really, really bad things can happen and God's still going to use it to conform us to the image of His Son. Let me read the rest of it, "...so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren, Christ, and these whom he predestined he also called, those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

God's got something in mind for what's going on in our lives. He is not just bringing around about senseless trials. God doesn't do that. God's using them for an eternal purpose, conformity to the image of His Son. And that's the reason for what we're going through, right? God has a purpose in it.

Sometimes it takes us a long time to find out what that purpose is. But the ultimate purpose is that we will be conformed to the image of Christ when we see Him face to face. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for what you have revealed here. We thank you for this account, Jesus' words, and also just the example and circumstances. We thank you that you do this because you love us and that you see how critical it is that we be ultimately conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, for these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.