Introduction: Do you enjoy learning a secret? It makes you
special, right? An insider. In our study this week Jesus
tells His disciples that they have “been given the secret of
the kingdom of God.” Mark 4:11. Doesn’t it seem strange that
the gospel should be a secret? Isn’t this an oddity like
Jesus telling the leper to be quiet about his healing and
the demons to stop revealing that Jesus is God? Let’s dive
into our study of Mark to discover the secret about why
Jesus describes His messages as a secret!
I. The Farmer
A. Read Mark 4:1-2. What do you think it means to
teach “in parables?” (A parable is a story. Try to
remember a sermon you heard in the past. Likely,
what you remember is the story illustrating the
moral point.)
1. What lesson do you find in Jesus’ approach?
(Our sermons and teachings should be anchored
in stories. A young man walking with me
decided that he would tell me about his memory
of my sermons. To my astonishment, he
recalled sermons going back ten years. He
remembered the stories.)
B. Read Mark 4:3. Why would Jesus tell a story about a
farmer? If you wanted the people to remember, why
not tell about a dare-devil and his near-death
experience? (Have you heard of a Memory Palace?
This is a way to remember large amounts of
information. Here is how it works. Think about how
you enter your home and then the rooms in your
home. You place something you want to remember at
every point of your journey into and through your
home. The familiar place in your home anchors the
information in your mind.)
C. Read Mark 4:4-7. What is this part of the parable
teaching you?
D. Read Mark 4:8. What is this part of the parable
teaching you?
E. Read Mark 4:9. Do you have ears? What have you
“heard?”
1. What is this story about? Is it about farming
techniques? (Read Mark 4:14. Jesus tells us He
is talking about “the word.” The words of
God.)
2. If what you heard is, “Don’t sow seed on
paths, rocky, or thorny ground,” and, “plant
seeds in good soil,” how would you understand
this as applied to your gospel outreach? (I
have no idea. Which people are paths, rocks,
thorns, or good dirt? And how would you know
without first getting acquainted?)
3. If the lesson is not the nature of the soil,
but something else, what is it? (It is about
sowing. We should sow as much seed as possible
as widely as possible.)
4. The hope of every public interest lawyer is to
get a case to the Supreme Court to change the
law. For almost 50 years I have been a
litigator with the National Right to Work
Legal Defense Foundation. The Foundation has
helped more than 20,000 employees in more than
2,500 cases. Out of all of these cases, we
were able to get 18 decided on their merits by
the U.S. Supreme Court, and a handful more
resolved on a summary basis by the Court. Do
you agree this is consistent with the farmer
parable?
II. Parable Principles
A. Read Mark 4:10-12. How do you explain Jesus’
statement that parables help people to be confused,
so they won’t turn from sin and be forgiven? Isn’t
that the opposite of every other thing we read
about Jesus in the New Testament? Did Peter mis-
hear or Mark make an error in recording it?
B. Read Isaiah 6:9-10. Is Jesus paraphrasing these
verses in Isaiah? (Absolutely. Notice that the text
in Mark has quotation marks around it.)
1. So what did God mean when he said this to
Isaiah? (This is a prophecy about how the
people will receive God’s message conveyed
through Isaiah.)
C. Read Isaiah 6:11-12. What will happen to the
people? (They will be destroyed.)
1. Is the farmer on a fool’s mission?
2. Is Jesus is quoting Isaiah to warn the people?
(When you think about it, Jerusalem was
destroyed not too long after Jesus brought His
message to them.)
D. Read Mark 4:13. What does this reveal about whether
Jesus wants His followers to understand the
parables? (The clear implication is that He wants
them to understand.)
E. Read Mark 4:14-20. What is Jesus teaching by this
parable? (He is explaining why many reject the
gospel message.)
1. Notice that the explanation is given to the
disciples. Why only to them? (The explanation
seems pretty simple. The difference between
those who cannot understand and those who do
is that those who understand are willing to
learn and take time to consider the message.)
2. Can you think of another reason why Jesus
would teach in parables? (His enemies would
not understand because they hated Him and did
not want to understand. If His enemies better
understood, they would have been better
equipped to oppose Him.)
F. Let’s jump ahead a few verses. Read Mark 4:24-25.
What point is Jesus making? (Jesus now explicitly
says, “Pay attention” if you want to understand. If
you begin to understand, your understanding will
continue to grow. If you stop paying attention, you
will become even more illiterate about the gospel.)
G. How would you summarize what we have learned so far
from Mark 4? (Open your heart! Pay attention!
Concentrate. Consider what Jesus is saying and you
will grow in your understanding.)
III. The Lamp
A. Read Mark 4:21. Doesn’t this statement contradict
the parable approach? Only certain people can see?
(One of the conclusions you could draw from the
farmer story is to avoid sowing seed in certain
areas. This says, consistent with the farmer’s
approach, let the light go everywhere.)
B. Read Mark 4:22. Is Jesus telling us that the reason
for hiding something, the reason for keeping
something secret, is to make it known? Can you
explain that? (Are you anxious to learn a secret?)
IV. Farmer’s Joy
A. Read Mark 4:26-28. What is the good news for the
farmer? (His job is merely to sow the seed, it
grows by itself. The farmer does not need to
understand how the seed grows for this to work.)
1. Should this guide our evangelistic work?
2. I recall evangelistic efforts where several
people were baptized and a year later only one
or two still attended church. Our self-
criticism was that we had inadequate follow-
up. Is follow-up useless? (If I’m growing
something, I follow-up by dealing with weeds.)
B. Let’s jump ahead and read Mark 6:10-11. Is this the
same as the farmer message – our duty is to share
the gospel, not persist in trying to convert
others? (One difference is these people refused
from the start to listen.)
C. Read Mark 4:29. Who is the “he,” here? The farmer
or God? (The farmer is the one who reaps the crop,
but I think this refers to God. The Holy Spirit
works on the individual to bring full conviction,
full growth of the gospel seed.)
D. Read Mark 4:30-32. How should you view your
personal efforts to spread the gospel? (Do not
despise small beginnings! God can take your small
seed and make it a huge tree.)
1. I cannot help but think about this lesson.
When I was young I taught a little Sabbath
School class. When computers arrived, I
drafted my lesson on one. When computers
became small, I taught my class by looking at
the screen. When the Internet arrived, my son
and I put my lessons on it. Today tens of
thousands have these lessons. It grew while I
was sleeping!)
E. Read Mark 4:33-34. Jesus is not here to explain
everything to us. Are we without hope?
F. Read John 14:26. How are the secrets revealed to us
today? (God is still explaining them to us. In our
day, the Holy Spirit is the One who “explains
everything” to us. Praise God!)
G. Friend, God will reveal His truths to you through
the Holy Spirit! Will you seek to become one of
the “insiders” who knows the secrets of the kingdom
of God? Why not make that decision right now?
V. Next week: Miracles Around the Lake.
Copr. 2024, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
