I don't want to really address the portion that
we've read other than by way of introduction just to draw
your attention to that last verse here in that portion we read
up to verse 9 in Isaiah chapter 1 and those words except the
Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant we should
have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. The prophet is, of course, is
addressing the people of God, Israel, or Judah, the covenant
people of God, a type of that true Israel. And what a sad situation. Our sinful nation, A people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that have corrupt us,
that have forsaken the Lord. Now, in many ways these words
are when we think of that situation that pertains even in our own
once favoured land. We remember that they are not
all Israel, that are of Israel. It was never the case that there
was the remnant. And that's that remnant that
is being spoken of in verse 9, except the Lord have hosted left
unto us a very small remnant. I do like the precision that
we find in the translation in our authorized version, not just
a remnant or a small remnant, a very small remnant. And I want to say something tonight
with regards to that doctrine of the remnant. I'm sure we feel
our own fewness, our smallness, but directing you to words that
we find in the gospel in Luke chapter 12 and verse 32 the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself as he addresses his own disciples,
fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. So the subject matter really
that I want to take up is that of the little flock and to divide
the matter into just two parts and to say something of the fact
that this is the flock of God And so to notice something of
the marks of those who are that flock, which is the true church.
And then secondly, that they are the favorites, the favorites
of God. First of all then, the flock
of God. And what are the marks? Well,
the mark of the child of God here we see in a sense, is fair,
although they are bidden to fear not. Fear not, little flock. There are many fear nots in scripture. Certainly we find them back in
that book of Isaiah, and as we saw from the opening words of
the prophecy, Isaiah is very much ministering to a very small
remnant. And you know, I'm sure you have
noted, as you've read through this book, the many times that
they're told not to be afraid. Isaiah 41 and verse 10, fear
thou not. for I am with thee, be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness." And how emphatic it is, not just the
fear not, but the singular pronoun there in the middle, fear thou
not. And then again at verse 13, I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. And then again in chapter 43
and verse 1, Now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,
and thee that form thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Verse 5, Fear not, For I am with
thee, I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from
the west." Oh, there are these many, many fear nots that God
so graciously speaks. Go and think of the language
of the psalmist in Psalm 103. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. It's them
that fear him. What is that fear? It's a fear
that they have to one who is their father. He remembers their
frying. He knows that they are dust. It's that filial fear. And, of course, we have to distinguish
these two types of fear in Holy Scripture. There is a fear that
is tormenting. Remember the language of James,
where he He speaks of the demons. They say there is one God. They
do us well. The devils also believe and tremble. Why do they tremble, the devils?
Because they are fearful. We see it at the beginning of
the Lord's ministry, as He heals the man possessed. Let us alone,
what have we to do with thee? Thou Jesus of Nazareth, I know
thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. O thou afraid, there
is that fear that hath torment. And that is really the fear that
is being spoken of here in the text. And the Lord Jesus says
to his little flock, fear not. or we're not to have that tormenting
fear, what we should desire is that filial fear, that fear of
the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, that fear of the Lord,
which is the beginning of knowledge, or it's life eternal, to know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent, if we do but know that fear. But thinking of how at
times believers are fearful in an unhealthy sense, We have many
external fears. Maybe we fear with regards to
this world, where we have the necessities of life sometimes.
We wonder how we're going to cope. And when we take account
of the context here, isn't the Lord addressing those fears? We need not such fears. Look
at what we read previously at verse 22. He says to his disciples,
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what
you shall eat, neither for the body, what you shall put on.
The life is more than meat and the body more than raiment. And then again at verse 27 he
says, Consider the lilies, how they grow, they toil not, they
spin not. And yet I say unto you, that
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothed the grass,
which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? This is part and parcel of what's
sometimes referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, the Sermon
on the Mount, back in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, following
here we have a similar sermon, similar truths that the Lord
is speaking, but he is surely reminding his disciples, his
little flock, that they have no need to be afraid with regards
to their necessities. David says, I have been young
and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread. There are external things sometimes
that make us to be very much afraid. Maybe we're afraid sometimes
about wood trials. Well, that is certainly the lot
of the people of God Paul for example reminds us when
he writes there in the end of Romans chapter 8 that remarkable
8th chapter of Romans he says as it is written for thy sake
we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter that's a little flock, it's a little flock of
sheep and they're accounted as sheep ready to be slaughtered. They're looked upon by many as
the off-scouring of all things. Or they're poor and they're an
afflicted people. There are these external fears
then, but the Lord says to us, fear not. But besides those external
things that might sometimes come upon us and seem to overwhelm
us, there are also many internal fears. Maybe we're fearful as
to the reality of our Christian profession is our faith, a real
faith, a genuine faith. We're fearful that we might yet
fall away, be guilty of apostasy. We feel so often we backslide.
We fear lest we might be those who are presumption. And I often
think about those passages, those striking passages that we have
in the epistles of the Hebrews. You have the language there in
chapter 6. You know the passage. Hebrews chapter 6 at verse 4.
It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have
tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of
the world to come, what favoured people? Maybe we can say we've
known a little of these things, but then he says, if they shall
fall away. Oh, it is impossible if they fall away to renew them
again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. And we wonder,
well, is that me? Oh, we're fearful. There's not
only that passage, there's a similar passage later, chapter 10, verse
26 following. We're fearful, you see, but why
are these things left on record? Well, we need to be aware of
the dangers of falling away, the danger of apostasy, the danger
of any presumption. What should we desire? Surely,
we should desire those who would desire that we might know something
of that real spirit of adoption. Oh, there is a spirit of adoption.
Paul says again in that 8th chapter of the Roman Epistle, you have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption. That's what we want, not the
spirit of bondage that brings fear with you. We want that spirit
of adoption to come and to address God and to address Him as our
Father, and even to take up that tender word, Abba. Abba, Father,
we approach Thee. Oh, there's a need then for many
fear nots, and the Lord God sees that, and so we have all these
fear nots recorded, so many as I said there in Isaiah, but these
words have fell from the lips of the Lord Himself. Fear not,
little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom, says Christ." What a blessing it is to be that
little flock. Again, I think of words in Isaiah
35, verse 4, "...say ye to them that are of a fearful heart,
Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come and save you." Or
do, as we come into this new year, do mark those words, remarkable
promise there in Isaiah 35 and verse 4. And who is the one who speaks
these words of comfort? It is Him who is the Good Shepherd. Doesn't the Lord, amongst all
those great I AM passages in John's Gospel, declare Himself
to be the Good Shepherd? John chapter 10 and verse 14. I am the Good Shepherd, He says,
and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. Another sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." The Lord
Jesus is that one who is the good shepherd, who is ever mindful
of his little flock. that people that the Lord God
has given to him in the eternal covenant, how He cares for them.
Again, the language of Isaiah, Isaiah 40, 11, "...he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his
arm, carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that
are with young." Well, this is the great promise in the Old
Testament, of course, we have that threefold office amongst
God's Typical people of Israel, the office of the king or the
prince, the office of the prophet, the office of the priest, and
they're all prefiguring the Lord Jesus Christ, but how they failed
the people so miserably. Read through that 34th chapter
in Ezekiel, the woes that are pronounced upon Israel's shepherds.
But then what do we have in the midst of all of that? We have
the promise. In verse 23 he says, I will set
up one shepherd over them. He shall feed them. Even my servant
David, he shall feed them. And he shall be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David, a
prince among them, I, the Lord, have spoken it. Oh, the Lord addresses His people
then. He addresses that flock, it's the flock of God, and of
times they are fearful. But there's not only the fears
of the flock, there's also the fewness, they feel their smallness. It is but a little flock, and
it's interesting here because the word that we have as flock
is really the diminutive literally it is little flock but there's
also the adjective before it so if it was translated very
literally it would say fear not little little flock it is a very
small flock it's the doctrine of the remnant and we have it
do we not throughout scripture go back to Genesis chapter 7
the time of the floods, how many were saved, how many were to
be found in the ark, it was just eight souls. Eight souls. And you know, that antediluvian
world, that world before the flood, I was struck by this recently
in reading, a guy reading in Luther, when he deals with it,
he has a commentary of course on Genesis, and he points out
that that was the the greatest, the finest civilization that
the world ever knew. We were talking, I think it was
with David, and maybe Cliff was there on, it was the last Lord's
Day evening, and that those men you see, those who peopled the
world in those days, the descendants of Adam and Eve. I know Adam
and Eve fell, but they were giants. It was the greatest civilization
the world has ever known, and yet, how it sank into the most
awful sin and iniquity and in the end there were just eight,
eight saved at that time. And then of course we have other
events, we have the cities of the plague, the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, the wickedness, those things that came after
the flood. or the sins of men. And that's what's being said
there in Isaiah 1 and verse 9, except the Lord of hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been as Sodom
and like unto Gomorrah. Well, in a sense, in this nation
we're worse. We are Sodom and Gomorrah, but
if you read on there, doesn't the prophet go on in that opening
chapter to address them? As if they are Sodom and Gomorrah.
Oh, how opposite the Word of God is, how appropriate even
to us today as we gather together just a handful in the midst of
this city, in the midst of this wicked nation. No wonder sometimes God's people
are made to cry out, how long? Wasn't that the experience again
of that man Isaiah? We have the record of his call
to the ministry, He's called to be a prophet there in chapter
6. Verse 11 then said, I, Lord,
how long? Oh, he has an awful message to declare,
you see. Go tell these people, hear ye
indeed, but understand not, see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of these people fat, make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and
be healed. Isn't this a situation that we face so often? People
don't want to know, they don't want to hear. And he says, Lord,
how long? And he answered, until the cities
be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord hath revealed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land. Well, he's speaking to Israel, he's speaking of the
70 years that they're going to go into captivity. The land will
be left desolate. But then the remnant again, Yet
in it shall be a tent, and it shall return. That's our comfort. That's our comfort. We have to
look to that God, though we feel ourselves to be so few and so
insignificant. Again, the words of Isaiah, Isaiah
41 and verse 14, Fear not thou worm, Jacob, it says. and ye
men of Israel." But if you look in the margin there, Isaiah 41,
14, it tells us that the Hebrew is literally, ye few men. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and
ye few men of Israel. Oh, we know they're not all Israel
that are of Israel. And even today, you know, there
are places where not for us to judge, we have to leave these
matters with the Lord, we pray for a spirit of discernment,
to separate the precious from the vile. We know they're not
all Israel that are of Israel. You are the true Israel, they're
a very small company. I will live in the midst, says
God, and afflict it, and poor people. and they shall trust
in the name of the Lord." Here is the flock of God then, out
of people who are often fearful. They want to be delivered from
all of that tormenting fear. They want to know more and more
of that true fear of the Lord. Or when we come together to gather
to to praise God, to reverence His name, to be awed in His holy
presence. But we feel, we feel our fewness,
we feel our smallness. But then turning secondly, to
observe how these are the very favorites of heaven. What does
God say? Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Oh, the Lord Jesus, the eternal
Son of God, God of God, He says it's your Father's good pleasure,
He knows. He is that one who is party to the eternal covenant.
He knows what the purpose of God is. And here we're reminded,
you see, of the comfort of God's sovereignty. What a comfort it
is, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Those that Isaiah was ministering to
were going to go into exile. But they would not languish forever
in captivity. There would be a restoration. They would be brought out. And
so he says that. Chapter 37 and verse 32, Out
of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they shall escape out of
Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. All the
shalls and the wills you see. God says I shall go forth. The
zeal of the Lord shall do this. This is the comfort of God's
people. And how that dear man John Kent
understood that when we think of so many of his hymns. He speaks
of that little flock. as they are gathered into the
fold. And what does he say? They are fenced with Jehovah's
shells and wheels, firm as the everlasting hills. Or they are
safely gathered into the fold of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does
he not say, I am the door? By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. He goes in and out. He finds
pasture. He has experiences, and in and
out and up and down. Strange experiences, but he's
kept. And he's kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation. He's in Christ. The shalls and
the wills of that eternal covenant. It is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. And that cannot be frustrated. If we're in Christ, all the promises
of God in Him are yay, and all the promises of God in Him, they're
amen. It's not a yay and nay gospel that we have, it's a yay
and amen gospel. Thank God for that. And so we're
not to despise the day. We're not to despise the day
of small things. We're saying those words. in
our opening praise, but what call we small things, since whole
cancels some? It is greater than all things,
except those to come." How true it is. We have the Gospel. Oh, we have the Gospel of the
grace of God. We have all that God has accomplished in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at the language there then
in Zechariah 4.10. Who hath despised the day of
small things? asked the prophet, for they shall
rejoice, they shall see the plummet in the hand of the rubbable."
Who is the rubbable? He's Christ. He's a type of Christ. He's there in the line of Christ.
In Matthew chapter 1, as the rubbable, the Lord Jesus, the
plummet in his hand, he says, I will build my church. The gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Oh, there is so much comfort
then in the truth of God's sovereignty, the fulfilling of His purpose.
That's what the Lord comforts His little flock with. It is
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We know
how the gospel is to be preached. It's to be preached to all the
ends of the earth. We believe in that, the preaching
of the gospel. going into all the world, says Christ, preach
the gospel to every creature. But then, He has also told us,
many are called, but few are chosen. And we know that the
Lord's own ministry was ever a dividing ministry. How many
times in John? John 7, 43. 9, 16. 10, 19. A
division. A division. A division. Why? Because of Him. Because of His words. All the
Lord Jesus, you see, there is that dividing. And it was so
also with the apostles. As Paul says there at the end
of 2 Corinthians 2, we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in
them that are saved and in them that perish, he says. A very
solemn thing. God's Word. How it separates. How it makes a difference between
men. And remember, I know I've mentioned this before and it's,
I always think of Sidney Norton when I think of John chapter
6. He was a man who said, it's the
chapter of the great diminishings. It's the chapter of the great
diminishings. It's a long chapter. Now did it open after these things?
Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias,
and a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles,
which He did unto them that were diseased." The multitudes that
are following the Lord Jesus Christ. But then we come to the
end of the chapter. And what do we read? Verse 66. Jesus says unto the twelve, will
ye also go away? Look at verse 66. From that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
That's why the Lord says to the twelve now. Everybody else has
gone it seems. There's only the twelve left.
Will ye also go away? What was it? What was it that
was so offensive? Well, it was the preaching of
the Lord. And what did He preach? He preached
the sovereignty of God. He preached the necessity of
the effectual call of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
That was the only way anyone could ever truly come to Him.
Look at what He says there previously, verse 64. He reminds him of what
he had been saying in his ministry. He says, There are some of you
that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And
he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me. Call him. It has to be given to them of
the Father. And it's from that time. He's
referring really back to verse 44. That's what he'd been saying
to them in the course of his preaching from that time. It
was the offense of sovereign grace. It is an offense to men.
That gospel that we seek to preach, it does come to some as the savor
of death unto death. They don't like it. And yet,
this very doctrine, how does it come to those who are the
little flock, the ones that the Lord is ministering to? Well,
you know the language of the Church of England, Article 17.
It's full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort. I love
that. That's the doctrine of predestination,
the doctrine of election. It's full of sweet, pleasant,
and unspeakable comfort. And why is that? Because we have
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have to look only to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what the Lord says
here in His sermon in Luke 12, verse 31? He says, Rather seek
ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto
you." It's having the right priorities. It's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when the Lord challenges
the twelve at the end, what a response we get from Peter. Lord, he says,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. the
Son of the Living God. All the little flock, all their
hope, as well as all their faith, all their trust, their hope also,
it all centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where we have
to hope also. All that Christ has done, He
has paid the debt that was owed to the Holy Lord of God. He has
redeemed His people by the shedding of His precious blood. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. No curse for the little flock,
just all the blessings of the Gospel, all the blessings of
the sovereignty of the grace of God. Fear not, little flock,
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the King. May the Lord be pleased to bless
this truth to us. Amen.