Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I press your careful attention to Isaiah chapter 17, the chapter
that we read, and reading for our text, verse 6. Verse 6. Yet gleaning grapes
shall be left in it as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three
berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost
fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. Isaiah 17 and verse 6. especially it's the thought,
the gleaning, grapes left in it. The context is speaking of
when the Lord does work and does bless, when man does look to
his Maker, and in the days when there is a harvest, but very,
very few grapes are left. We have in the Word of God a
history set forth as we in these Gospel days preach the Gospel. We have the Old Testament history
that is before us. We have the account of Noah and
how the eight persons were the only ones that were left, gleaned,
as it were, from the earth. All the rest were destroyed by
the flood. But the Lord saved Noah and his
house. He blessed them, he kept them,
and from them has sprung all the earth since. We wouldn't
then look upon those days when there was only eight, eight on
the earth and say, well, No hope is there. How low, how low it
is. Give it all up. Nothing, nothing
left. Why? Because God had ordered
it. God had seen it. God had first
said that he would destroy the whole earth. But then he made
a provision. He made a provision in the ark,
beautiful time of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereby
Noah and his family were saved. Then we have the Count of Lot
and Abraham pleading with the Lord, if there be but ten righteous
in that city, would he spare it for ten's sake? And the Lord
would have done, but there were not ten in it. And in the end
it was just Lot and his two daughters that were really saved from it. His wife turning back became
a pillar of salt. The Lord had mercy on him and
brought him out, brought his daughters out. Again, would we
be discouraged in that? There were so few, no doubt we
would have loved that there'd be more, many more. But there wasn't, and the Lord
did save those few. Those years later when the children
of Israel were coming against Jericho and into the Promised
Land. Then we have Rahab and her house,
and it appears very different than the case of Lot. Her family, her relatives, didn't
laugh and scorn as Lot's did to him. I suppose we might say one great
difference was that in the days of Lot there was just the word,
the word of Lot, the word of the angels. In Rahab's day, all
of the city could look out and they could see the destroying people of God coming, knowing
that the Lord had given them the land and given them to displace
them from it. Rahab says that they remembered
40 years before when the Lord had parted the Red Sea for them. And they were yet to see the
rivers of Jordan as well. And so in one sense, Rahab's
family Those of our household had that to see, to convince
them of what actually was coming. But we would remember our Lord's
words. In the account of Lazarus and
the rich man, the rich man that lifted up his eyes in hell, he
thought that his brethren would surely hear if one were to rise
from the dead, if Lazarus was sent to them. But our Lord said,
neither would they believe. If they did not believe Moses
and the prophets, neither would they believe, though one rose
from the dead. But we have these accounts where
a whole city is destroyed, a few are saved. The whole city is
destroyed and the household It saved no shelter with Rahab with
the golden cord or the scarlet line in the window. Our Lord has said when he comes
the second time, shall he find faith on the earth. And from what has already happened,
we can anticipate that days like the days of Noah, like the days
of Lot, like the days of Rahab, will be the case when the Lord
comes again. That there shall be those that
are converted is very clear because the Apostle says, and we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the air,
that is, The dead in Christ shall rise first, and those that are
alive shall be caught up with them in the air. There shall
be the Lord's people, though it may be very few, and though
there may be many religious people, yet very few in whom there is
the true and real faith at that time. There will be a harvest,
there will be a harvest of souls right up to the end of the world. But we are not to expect that
that harvest will always be the same. It will not always be as
in the days of the apostles, when at one time 3,000 were added
to the church, or 5,000 added to the church, in the days of
Whitefield. the days of the Reformation. And we know it will be different
in various lands as well. Lands like ours that have known
those times of revival and great blessing now more represent what
we have in our text, a harvest that has already taken place,
and yet there are a few, few grapes, few olives, on it may
be very different in other lands where the Lord's blessing may
be much more abundant, much more pronounced. But we look at that
that is around us and see those things and sometimes it can be
very, very discouraging. But when we see what the Lord's
purposes are and what he has foretold and the pictures that
he has given, then there can be encouragements even in those
things which are discouragements. In our text there is two illustrations. There's the illustration of grapes,
a vine, and an illustration of an olive tree. And these illustrations
run right through the scriptures we read in Psalm 80, the Lord
hath brought a vine out of Egypt. We read in the Song of Solomon,
also of the vineyard, which is Solomon's. And we read of our
Lord speaking of the vine, I am the vine near the branches, my
father is the husbandman. Very often these Illustrations
in our text are used throughout scripture to represent the people
of God. And here we have the harvest
that has been done, has been carried out. And sometimes in
the case like the olive tree, it was harvested by beating a
tree. Those that were fully ripe, they
fell down or with the grapes they were gleaned, but it remains
just a few left in it. Two or three berries in the top
of the outmost bough, four or five in the outmost branches
thereof, saith the Lord God of hosts. Naturally speaking, very
difficult, very hard to actually get. man could not naturally
pluck them out of his reach. And what a picture then of days
of harvest in the spiritual sense, when God still has a people,
but that people is very small and very few, when there still
are those to be gathered, but the picture is like our text,
and not like the olive tree full of berries or the vine covered
in the grains. And so this word, it pictures,
it pictures, I believe, especially what we see in England at this
time. So few, you would remember How
our Lord was asked, are there few that be saved? The disciples asked it. And our
Lord's answer was not to tell them how many, but to tell them
to press unto the kingdom and to seek it themselves. And that
message is still the same. The vital thing is that we are
saved. If it was the days of Whitfield,
if it was the days of the early church, and we were able to record
how many thousands there were that believed and were saved,
but if we were left out, we would be in the same position as if
we were left out now, when there's only few. How vital that there
be a personal personal knowledge of salvation, that we ourselves
are gathered by the Lord, that we are brought to faith, that
we are brought to be harvested, as it were, by the Lord. I wanted to look this evening
at four ways in which we may be encouraged in such a day as
this, when we picture these few grapes and few olives scattered
about. The first is this, that we are
to be encouraged that the Lord knows our day as he did those
days that are before us. often thought of dear David,
having served his generation, he fell on sleep. And we are
warned not to say, why were the former days better than these? That we do not inquire wisely
concerning this thing. It's easy for us to do that.
It's easy for us to, as it were, seek that we might serve our
day in the same way as those of our former generation served
theirs, when there was a very different harvest being gathered.
In no way do I suggest the gospel be watered down or changed in
any way. But we are to remember there
is a different day, the day in which we are living, that many
have no concept of God whatsoever. And many have a concept that
is taught by religious leaders in that everyone is saved, or
God loves everybody, and his atonement for sin is so general
that there's no problem, there's no need for personal faith at
all. And this is taught in many so-called
churches. And we might think, well, surely
these things are great hindrance, to our day, but our Lord's day
was coming to his own people, the people that had the scribes,
the Pharisees over them, that were lading them with many, many
burdens. And the Lord taught and instructed,
and he met those false teachings with the truth, the same as the
apostle did with the Galatians. when they would have false teachers
come and join works with salvation by grace. He pointed out if we
look to the Lord in one point then we are duty bound to obey
it all. It's either by grace or it is
by works. And we have to remember then
that every generation has those things that come against the
truth It has numbers, whether great numbers or whether few,
and it has the Lord's servants, and the Lord knows that day and
that generation. The kingdom of God standeth sure
having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. I don't say this in any way so
that we're just lethargic, we don't pray for better days, we
don't pray for great increase and revival, we should be in
great expectation of what the Lord would do and pray for it
and seek that many might be brought to a knowledge of the Lord. That we should also be mindful,
be able to, as our Lord said, Read the signs of the times. Be able to take actual notice
of it. If we are to sigh and cry on
account of the abominations done in the land, then we're actually
noticing what is happening in the land. We're noticing what
is taught and what men are trusting in and what they're going after.
We're noticing the empty seats. We're noticing the disinterest
that there is, we're noticing in our parliaments the neglect
of the word, or of prayer, or obeying the Lord. And so when
we have a picture that is pictured here, we say the Lord knows there
shall be a situation like this, where he shall have a people
One in that congregation, another in that congregation, one in
that church, one in that city, one in that place, and the Lord
knows where they are. And when we then notice in Providence
that he sends his word, he sends his servants to get those souls,
and we might say the Lord's servants, they didn't know where they were.
They weren't told who it was, but looking back and see how
they've been brought to the word, how the Lord has ministered to
and helped and strengthened even one of his people. And we realise this encouragement. In our day, the Lord knows this
day. As thy days, so shall thy strength
be. It does not only need to be applied
in the way of length of days, it may certainly be a great comfort
to dear aged friends. But as our days, our days are
not days of horse and cart, our days are not days when most of
the labourers were physical labourers, our days are days when many are
labouring in an office, behind a desk, mentally, a very different
situation than in former years, bringing very different challenges
and different paths. But the Lord says, as thy days,
so shall thy strength be. In all the changing scenes of
life, with all of the inventions and the modern communications
and things like this, None of it has taken the Lord by surprise. And He will use those things
for the good of His people, and He will find them out. And like
we said with this picture here, some might be completely missed
on those top brow bows. The labourers themselves would
have been unable to find them, unable to get them at all. And
we put that in a spiritual way. The Lord knows where his people
are. He knows how to send Philip into
the wilderness by the eunuch. He knows how to be on the well
when the Samaritan woman comes. He knows the widow of Zarephath
and sends Elijah there. And when he reminds Israel of
that, they're enraged at that. Because the Lord is saying there
were many widows in Israel at that time, but Elijah wasn't
sent to any of them. But to this one outside of Israel,
the Lord knew where she was. And he was sent to her. And that
still goes on. The Lord still finds out his
sheep, finds out his people. And so we would be encouraged
in this first place of the knowledge of our Lord, the knowledge of
his people, where they are, the knowledge of the day in which
we live, the particular challenges, the particular discouragements,
the few that believe, that attend the solemn feast of Zion. The
Lord knoweth. We have not gone outside of the
counsel and purpose of God. But then secondly, we are not
to despise the day of small things. We think of how Zechariah was
brought to prophesy concerning the second temple. Again, there
was a contrast between what had gone before. The first temple
had been very grand, very magnificent, and the old men, they had seen
it. And when they saw the foundations and the second temple being built
up, it was nothing compared with what had gone before. And while
there were some, They were singing, they were praising, there were
others they were mourning, they were sad. They were the same
thing. They were seeing the same second
temple. Some were sad, some were glad. And the Prophet had a message
for them, a message for the sad ones. Reinforce what they were seeing,
agreed with what they were seeing. but then said that the glory
of this latter house should be greater than the former. Our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ should walk in that second temple,
and he did. But when our Lord was here, he
said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up again. They thought he was referring
to that literal temple, that he was referring to his body. He is the great antitype of the
temple of God, the temple at Jerusalem. When Solomon dedicated
it and prayed the long prayer that wherever his people were
to go, if they should look toward that place and pray toward that
place, Lord would hear them and forgive. And we know how Daniel,
three times a day, opened his window toward Jerusalem. Of course,
at that time, the temple was destroyed. But he was looking,
looking as bade, not to that literal temple, but what it stood
for, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so in Zechariah's day, there
was what they were seeing. But then there came the word
of the Lord. Unacknowledged what they were
seeing, it was true. But put a blessing on it. And the word is that we are not
to despise the day of small things. And really, in that time, it
sets forth the coming of our Lord and the Gospel of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. What greater thing can be ever
preached or set forth than the way of salvation through Jesus
Christ alone? That God hath devised a way to
put away the sin of his people, to send forth his only begotten
Son, and to have him be made in the likeness of his brethren,
yet sin accepted, made under the law and made of a woman,
for the express purpose of redeeming his people that were under the
law. The two on the way to Emmaus,
when they were so sad, they had viewed things, and things that
looked very discouraging, They said, we trusted it should have
been He that should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
this is the third day since these things were done. But our Lord
again, He pointed them to the Old Testament. In all the scriptures,
the things concerning Himself, ought not Christ to suffer these
things? very often in the preaching of
the word. The Lord has laid that foundation
in the Old Testament and he sanctioned this in that sermon on the way
to Emmaus, the sermon that Philip preached to the eunuch. And we
have these illustrations here in what sometimes is referred
to as the gospel according to Isaiah. An encouragement for
them of their day an encouragement for those that followed the 130
or so years later when they were brought into captivity, but an
encouragement for the Church of God in its day, when Christ
not only has been promised, but He has come and He has put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and that He has redeemed His
people, and He has saved not just some of the Church, But
the whole of the Church, and the whole foundation of salvation,
of redemption, is that our Lord and Saviour has risen again.
He hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised
him from the dead. A day of small things, but may
it be a day of real things, real works of grace, Real souls saved. The widows of Zarephath. The ones, the twos. Found out,
sought out and saved. Because our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ has loved them with an everlasting love. He has come
and redeemed them and saved them. and will have them called and
have them brought. Let us not despise the day of
small things. Truly it has been right through
the history of the church, and as we said before, the Lord's
coming. Shall he find faith on the earth? But the promises of the Lord
stand firm. And those promises and expectations
of a coming Messiah for the first time, they stand for the coming
of our Lord the Second, and when He shall present the kingdom
to His Father. So in the changing scenes that
we have, though it be as viewing the people of God, a few grapes
here and there, a few berries on the utmost bounds, Those small
things, don't despise it. No, it is still a day under the
blessing of the Lord, known by Him, and the Lord's work goes
on, even in those days, the same as it did when the second temple
was being built. The third encouragement is this.
There is a remnant according to the election of grace. There
is a people that the Lord has chosen and loved with an everlasting
love. Paul deals with this as concerning
firstly the Jews, or predominantly as the Jews in Romans, Romans
9. And also Romans 11, Romans 9,
verse 27, Isaiah, he goes back to Isaiah, also crieth concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. So a great number
of people, but only just a remnant, just a few. that are saved, just
like a piece of cloth would be cut and the remnant just cast
away as if it were just a small part. And then we have in the
11th chapter, verse 5, and this is when Elijah had said to the
Lord that, They have killed Thy prophets, dug down Thine altars,
and Thine left alone. and they seek my life. What a
reminder. Those people before us have felt
that they've been just left alone. And yet we're reminded of the
answer of God unto him. I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. And you
think, how could Elijah not know that many just in Judah, but
he didn't. There are many we don't know
in England, in United Kingdom at this time, let alone elsewhere
in the world. And the Lord has reserved them
to himself. He knows those. They are his
blood-bought people. They are his people that he will
save. And so the apostle applies that. Even so then at this present
time also, There is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if it be grace, the free
unmerited favour of God, then it is no more of works. Otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. And he says, What then Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, that the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. There shall be
a people that shall obtain it, a people that are foreknown,
people that the Lord has put away their sins at Calvary, that
he has loved with an everlasting love, whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those in every nation, kindred
and tongue, those in Every day, in every generation, there are
those that are elect according to the full knowledge of God
the Father, and they also must, must be brought. If it were said, well, it all
depends on man, man's knowledge, man's will. man saving himself,
or the eloquence of the ministers of the gospel. We feel in these
low days how much the Spirit's withdrawn, how we don't labour,
we don't pray as we should, we don't preach as we should. How vital for the Holy Spirit,
that same power, to be poured out upon us. We should never
be striving as if With our preaching, it did depend on us. And with
our seeking, the Lord, that if it did depend on us, we should
act as if it did, but know all along that it is the Lord. Accept the Lord, build the house.
They labor in vain that building. There's no room for fatalism
or indifference or carelessness. This is for those who see the
low state of Zion and it touches them. They mourn. They're sad
because of it. They see their own heart. They
see their own distance from the Lord and how they're not what
they would be and it causes them grief and sorrow. But then there's
this that we rest on. There is a remnant. The Lord
does know his dear people. How beautifully in John 10, No
man shall pluck them out of my hand. My father that is greater
than me, no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. But then the fourth encouragement
is that which was said of the children of Israel when they
were to go out of Egypt. It was what Moses had said to
Pharaoh that there was not to be a hoof left behind. We read in Exodus 10, Pharaoh
called unto Moses and said, go ye serve the Lord. Only let your
flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go
with you. Moses said, Thou must give us
also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the
Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with
us, there shall not an hoof be left behind. And dear Paul, the
Apostle Paul, he says on one occasion when animals had been
used as or oxen. Doth God care, would
he say, if not a hoof be left behind? But that only applies
to the animal kingdom. No, God's dear children, there
shall not be any of those left behind. There shall be any that
are forgotten, any that are said, well, there's enough. Don't worry about the ones and
twos, no. It's very telling when our Lord
would teach on repentance, that he chooses to give the illustrations
where a shepherd has a hundred sheep. Ninety-nine are safe,
they're alright, but one's lost. And he goes after that lost one
to find him. For the woman with her, Ten pieces
of silver, one is lost. If he doesn't sew it, it doesn't
matter. I've got another 99 or so left. No. Everyone is precious. Everyone must be brought to repentance. Everyone must be saved. Not one
of those on the utmost bow. Not one of those that has escaped
as it were when most were saved and most were gathered. What
an encouragement. You might be increasing in years,
getting on in life, and you look back, and you look back and see
many have stepped down into the waters before you, many being
saved. The young, you think there's
no, No hope for me. I've been bypassed again and
again. But there is. And when we think
of this illustration, what encouragement and what help there is. If these
grapes could have feelings or be able to express what they
went through, one would say, well, this tree once, this vine
was once full of grapes. Or the olive berry would say,
there's stacks of berries around me at one time. And they were
all gathered. And I was left, I was passed
by. No hope for me. And yet the picture is, the Lord
will not leave any. His harvest shall be gathered. Those that are found in Christ,
those that come as it were in the last hour, the same as those
that have toiled in the burden and heat of the day. Those that
are found in the last days shall he find faith on the earth. Those
in the lead up to Noah's day, it must have got very, very few. And those that were alive then,
how many could they really have fellowship with? How many could
they speak of the things of God? It is these days that we are
to be encouraged, while the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest,
summer and winter, cold and heat, The Lord still lengthens out
the world because he still has his people in it. Sometimes they're
found in the most obscure places, but the Lord knows how to bring
them. Them also I must bring. This then is the encouragement
here. yet gleaning grapes shall be
left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries
in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful
branches thereof, saith the Lord God of hosts, and we have covering
all our Lord's promise, lo, I am with you always, even and to
the end of the world, the Lord's servants are still to labour
with an expectancy of success, even in labouring with vines,
with trees like this, and every one of God's dear children are
precious to Him. And sometimes we think, well,
Wouldn't it be a waste to one of the Lord's servants if they
were to have to labour for many years and all it is is for one
soul, to feed one soul. The message to Peter, feed my
sheep, feed my lambs. But to the Lord it's not a waste. No, he loves his dear people
and he'll look after them here and gather them at last. Father,
I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. The Lord bless us in this word
and encourage us through it. Amen.