Luke's Gospel, chapter 12, verse 32. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Amen.

May the Lord bless to us this short reading from his word. It has long been my opinion that Luke chapter 12, verse 32 is one of the most precious and comforting verses in the Bible. Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And I think that's a verse that we can easily memorise and readily take to heart whenever it's brought to our mind and attention. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And I've no doubt there are many who in trying times have drawn encouragement from these words, and we ought to continue to do so for ourselves.

The Lord was speaking to his disciples who were indeed a little flock, but these are words that resonate in the hearing of the church in every age. Because just as the disciples were a little flock for number and condition, so are we, and so has the Lord's people in every age. Yes, they are a vast number that no man can number, taken in their totality, but in every place, in every age, they have been but a small group, a little flock.

But this, and this really makes all the difference. They, the disciples, and we, the church. are the flock of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ says, fear not little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, he is speaking about the flock of God, the flock of his pasture, the flock of the good shepherd who knoweth his own sheep and calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.

In the Old Testament church, the people there, the believers were called a holy flock. in Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 38. They were called a beautiful flock in Jeremiah 13, 20. And the Lord calls them my flock in Ezekiel 34, 17. Which shows, I think, both to whom this flock belong and their fitness for his possession. When our God looks upon his church, he sees a holy, beautiful people, properly adorned with a righteousness suitable for his presence. a righteousness supplied by himself. He looks upon that flock and he calls them a holy flock. He looks upon that flock and he delights in their beauty, not because it's inherent, not because it's theirs meritoriously, but because it has been imputed to them upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ's work on our behalf.

This is righteousness supplied by our God. And let us remember that all our fitness is by grace. It's all out of his goodness. Our Father has supplied all that is required to make us holy and beautiful in his sight. And this is a flock of sheep, not a herd of goats, Lord's people are often referred to as sheep and whether we are sheep in the sheepfold where Christ is the door or lost sheep wandering in the wilderness of this world, the Lord Jesus always asserts his ownership over us and promises to find that which is his own and bring it safely home.

And it's for this reason that we need not fear. The Good Shepherd first finds and then carries us home. He bears us on his own shoulder. He leads his sheep in green pastures and beside still waters. Hence we ought to pay attention to his words, fear not. and we ought to be suitably reassured of his care, despite the trials we are called to face. Even in the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil. David could say, could he not? For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

And how do we know we are the sheep of his flock? Because he's with us, because he supplies our need and because we follow him. We hear his voice in the gospel and we love what we hear and we follow where he leads, trusting that he will do our soul good. This isn't sophisticated, this isn't complicated, this isn't profound in the sense of worldly wisdom. This is the simplicity that we find in the Lord Jesus and we find our souls yearning after the things that we have been taught in the gospel and finding pleasure in them. We follow after him.

And ultimately, the ground upon which we stand, the justification for our fearlessness as believers, for our courage and our confidence, is simply this. The Good Shepherd has given his life for the sheep, and it is this conviction that strengthens our boldness. Why don't we fear? because we know our Saviour died to save us. Our sins are all forgiven and we are washed in Jesus' blood. Why don't we fear? Because we know our liberty and our deliverance and daily provision of grace is founded upon his sacrifice and death. because we know our eternal security and everlasting happiness as the sheep of his pasture is certain, as certain, as his resurrection and as his constant intercession for us.

Brothers and sisters, to believe ourselves to be Christ's sheep and to have scriptural grounds, scriptural warrant, To do so under the terms of the gospel of sovereign grace is reason enough not to fear. Whatever this world may throw at us, and however the wicked may rant and rave against us, the Lord says, fear not, little flock, and he gives us grounds not to be afraid.

But we note something else in these words, these verses too. Our Saviour states clearly that the kingdom promises of the Father's grace and goodness are given to us by the Father, given to us freely. Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure. to give you the kingdom. It is His good pleasure that elects us to everlasting life and ordains the way and the means by which we are brought to enjoy that kingdom and the kingdom promises. God the Father loves Christ's little flock and He has determined to give us, freely give us all things in Him.

If it's our Father's good pleasure, then it is good indeed for all that comes from the Father is good. He delights to give good gifts to his children. And it's his good pleasure to give us the kingdom of God. Who is going to resist the good pleasure of God? Who will thwart his purpose and obstruct his will? Pity those who have no confidence in the Almighty God with his sovereign unassailable purpose. Pity them. Such men and women must go through their lives never quite sure if they have done enough, believed enough, obeyed enough. There's no confidence. There's no contentment in such a horrible gospel as that. No wonder they are fearful and afraid.

But let's move on a little bit and think about the Lord's admonition in these verses too. He says, sell ye, or sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. Given what the Lord has just said about the kingdom and God's good pleasure to give the little flock that kingdom, given it is the Father's good pleasure to give us a kingdom, the Saviour then, building upon that, is weaning us from reliance on this world. and he is directing us to trust more completely in his provision.

Now, selling and giving might literally have been referring to the disciples going out into their ministry, relying upon the provision of the Lord and the Lord's people to sustain them and provide for them in their ministry and their going forth out into the world.

But really, the Lord wasn't speaking to men that had great wealth that they could sell and give away as alms. These were poor men. Remember they couldn't even pay the tax that they were supposed to pay at one point. The Lord had to go and take the coin out of the mouth of the fish. These were poor men and I doubt that they had very much to sell.

I think rather the idea is don't depend on the things of this world. or live to collect up valuable possessions, thinking that they will be a store for you in years to come, that they will preserve you in times of need that lie ahead. The real resource is to lean upon the Lord. The real resource for the Lord's people, the bag that doesn't grow old, if you like, are the lively treasures of faith, the spiritual blessings of grace and being able to daily dwell on the faithful mercies of the Lord.

Christ's lesson here in this verse is that we hold the blessings, the temporal blessings, the financial blessings, the material blessings that we have, that we hold those blessings of this world lightly and the blessings of the next world, heaven, we hold tenaciously.

The bag that grows old becomes threadbare and it develops holes so that the contents of that bag spills out. It's only a fool that puts his money in a bag full of holes. And the implication is that we rather ought to use our money wisely, not store it up in a miserly way, but use it as the Lord gives it wisely. Distribute our wealth thoughtfully. Serve the Lord out of the abundance that he has given us. in turn to comfort the poor and supply the needs of our brothers and sisters and finance the work of the gospel.

Moths can consume rich garments. Thieves can steal stored up wealth. Stock markets can collapse. But the gift that feeds the poor can never be stolen nor decay. And we use our money wisely when we place it in God's hands by our liberality towards those in need.

The Apostle Paul directs Timothy in the young man's own ministry to encourage a spirit of generosity in the church. He writes in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, He writes in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, He writes in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, He writes in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, He writes in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

We have a kingdom, a kingdom stored up and waiting for us in heaven. It's a kingdom better by far than the kingdoms of this world. We are royalty. We are princes and princesses. We are kings in these kingdoms. The treasures of this world fail. Heavenly treasures endure forever. and it's our pleasure and it's our honour and it's our privilege to seek after heavenly treasure, the riches of glory, the joys of another world, which immeasurably outshine all that is valuable on this earth. How often, when we are speaking together, we return to the fact that it is in our need It's in our poverty, it's in our troubles, it's in our needs that we provide an occasion for the Lord to supply our need according to his riches in glory. When we have no needs in life, we've no windows or doors where the gifts of God can come in. Sometimes the Lord has to make such a door, has to make such a window by causing a breach in our self-sufficiency and causing us to feel our need.

Our heavenly treasures are the love of the Lord, daily evidences of his mercy, peace that passeth understanding, joy in the midst of sorrow, loss and hardship, It is when we hurt that we discover the wonderful ways in which the Lord binds up our wounds and pours in oil and wine.

And there are heavenly blessings of peace of conscience. a felt knowledge of sins forgiven and cleansed away, forgotten by God, even though sometimes we struggle to forget them. And there are fresh experiences of the Father's love and Christ's healing power and the Holy Spirit's presence, even in the wee dark hours.

There are heavenly treasures and opportunities to do a good deed, to witness for the Lord, to offer a word of prayer, a word of encouragement, a word of comfort to a needy soul. So let us store up such treasures. heavenly treasures, committing both our earthly goods and our gospel service into the hands of the one who will take and use all we have to his own glory and yet never leave us wanting for anything.

Such is our Lord. May my treasure be stored in heaven. and my heart with it. Amen.