Our text is found in the Gospel
according to Luke chapter 12 verse 32. Luke chapter 12 verse
32. Fear not little flock for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Words spoken by the Lord Jesus
Christ as he addresses his disciples words therefore being spoken
to the church. Here we are reminded, are we
not, of that doctrine of the remnant, as that the church is that company called out. That's
the basic meaning of course of the word as we have it in the
New Testament, normally translated church in Tyndale. It's the congregation,
but it is that company who have been called out, called out of
the world, and a small company, a little flock. Fear not, little
flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. Consider the content of this
verse. I want to endeavour to bring
out some of the marks of those who are part and parcel of that
true Church, those who are really sheep in Christ's fold, those
who are of the little flock. And we can observe three things
in the verse. First of all, The mark of the
godly is fear. The fears of believers, Christ
says to his disciples, fear not. Fear not, little flock. There are many fear nots addressed
to the Lord's people and we certainly had several in those portions
that we read earlier. in the prophecy of Isaiah, how
God through the prophet repeatedly addresses his children and bids
them not to be afraid. There in chapter 41 and verse
10, fear thou not, he says, 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 see how emphatic is the exhortation. He doesn't just say there in
that verse, fear not, but we have the pronoun placed in the
middle of the fear not. Fear thou not. God addresses
each individual believer and assures them of his great love
and his enabling so that he will communicate all needed strength
to them. Again then at verse 13 he says,
rather verse 14, well 13 and 14 we can say, for I The Lord thy God will hold thy
right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee, fear
not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee,
saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. God therefore will assure his
children with these many, fear not. And again, of course, we
had it in that other portion that we were reading in the 43rd
chapter, in the opening verse, But now, thus saith the LORD,
that created thee, O Jacob, and didst form thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Verse 5, he says, Fear not, for
I am with thee, I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather
thee from the west, and so forth. these various fear nots are spoken
to God's people both in the Old Testament and here in our text
in the New Testament. Fear not little flock he says. God's children obviously are
a fearful people and they need the Lord to come to them many
times and to assure them. Now of course We have to make
a distinction here. There is another sense in which
God's people are marked by fear. They know that fearial fear,
that fear of the Lord, which the psalmist says is the beginning
of wisdom in the 111th Psalm, or in the opening chapter of
the Proverbs, that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of
knowledge. God's children are those then
who fear him in the sense that they stand in awe before him,
they reverence his name, they understand something of his greatness,
something of his glory. But here in our text as they
are told not to be afraid, not to be fearful. It's not that
fearful fear that is being spoken of, there is another fear. John
in his first epistle speaks of fear that has torment. And we know how that even the
devils fear, as James says. They believe in God and they
fear God. Thou believest there is one God,
says James, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. how they are tormented by the
very thought of God and we see it, do we not, even at the beginning
of Christ's own ministry in the very first chapter of Mark's
Gospel as the Lord performs a miracle as he casts the unclean spirit out of a man
So the Spirit comes and says to him, let us alone, what have
we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to
destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. How the demon is afraid, tormented
by the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is in that
tormenting fear. And I say it is such that is
being spoken of here in the text tonight. Fear not, little flock. Now what is it that sometimes
makes the believer to be afraid? Well there are external fears
are there not? We become fearful with regards
to the necessities of life. We are so full at times of unbelief
and we wonder will the Lord really ever always make that provision
for us. And look at the context in which
our text is found. In verse 22 he says unto his
disciples, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your
life, what you shall eat, neither for the body, what you shall
drink. The life is more than me. and
the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and
God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than
the fowls." We're fearful, you see. And we're
fearful because of our unbelief. We doubt God. And we doubt that
provision that God is able to make for us. Again, at verse
27 here 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. Here is that fear you see that
is associated with little faith, that fear that is bound up with
unbelief. There are those times when, with
regards to outward things and temporal provisions, we become
fearful. And yet what is the testimony
of the man of God in the psalm? David says, I have been young
and now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging rent. But then also sometimes with
regards to these external things, we are afraid of trials and trouble. We know that this is to be the
lot of the godly. In the world you shall have tribulation,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us all that we live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And we live at a
time when at times we might be fearful with regards to the future
when we see the state of affairs in our land and how that Christians
are increasingly ostracized and ridiculed, and we become very much afraid
of the trial, the trouble. Again, we see Paul quoting from
the Old Testament Scriptures, from the book of Psalms, here
in that great eighth chapter of Romans, as it is written,
for thy sake We are killed all the day long. We are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. I'm Christ's children's sheep. And sheep are slaughtered. Here
is a little flock, you see. And the Lord says to His sheep,
fear not. Fear not. We are afraid sometimes
of the trial that we imagine might yet await us. There are
these external things then that make God's children to be so
very fearful. And the Lord comes and He graciously
speaks these many fear nots throughout His Word, Old Testament and New
Testament alike. But then there are also those
internal fears that we might have. Are we not sometimes fearful
lest Ours should not be a real religion, that our faith should
only be a spurious faith. Are we not fearful sometimes
that we might be those who are but presumptuous in the things
of God? Fearful that we might ultimately
prove to be nothing more than apostates? We read those passages
in Hebrews and we find that they are truly such fearful portions
of Holy Scripture. Those words, for example, in
chapter 6 of the epistle to the Hebrews. In verse 4 following,
Paul says, 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, if they shall fall away, to renew
them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh and put into an open shame. And we are made
to ask, Is this me? Is this a description of me?
We sometimes say when we come to these portions of scripture.
We know that there can be no real falling away in those who
have truly partaken of the grace of God. We draw some comfort
from that, that we're still in the way. But will we persevere
in the way? Sometimes we're afraid of ourselves
and afraid of the reality of our faith. There are then these
internal fears also. As believers, are we not those
that would desire that we might always know that spirit of adoption? Look at how Paul writes again
there, in that 8th chapter of Romans and verse 15, he says,
You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. not
the spirit of bondage of going to fear, but the spirit of adoption
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Oh, that is what we want, is
it not? That spirit of adoption whereby we can, in truth, call
upon God and address Him as our Father. And even the intimacy
of that address, Abba, to know that He is our God, that He truly
is our Father in Heaven. Fear not, He says. Fear not,
little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the Kingdom. Going back to the book of Isaiah
and some of the comforting words that He speaks to those who are
so afraid, so fearful in chapter 35, At verse 4 we have this word,
say to them that out 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. Oh God will come and save His
people. And has He not come? Has He not
come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh has He not come
In that great work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, isn't
Christ that one who is the Good Shepherd, who cares for his sheep,
who loves his sheep to such a degree that he gives himself for them? In those great I Am passages,
in John's Gospel, amongst other things, he speaks of himself
as the Good Shepherd. 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. And other 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. It is the Lord Jesus, of course,
who is speaking here in the words of our text. It is Him who is
that Good Shepherd who will come to His disciples amidst all their
fearfulness and assure them. Fear not, little flock, or do
we bear that mark then of those who are Christ's, that mark of
Christ's sheep? We know something of fear. Yes,
that fearful fear. But then, at times, alas, because
of unbelief we are so fearful of external things, of internal
things. We need the Lord to come to us
time and time again and to reassurance. Here is the first mark then,
as we have it in the text, of the true Church. Believers are
fearful creatures. But then a second mark that we
see here is the fewness. The fewness of them that believe. It's a little flock. Fear not,
says Christ, little flock. It's interesting that the noun
that he uses, the word flock, is really the diminutive. Literally, the noun should be
translated little flock. But there's also the adjective
little before it. What it says literally here is,
fear not little, little flock. You see the emphasis there. It
is a very little flock that the Lord is addressing. Isn't that
the true Church of Christ? a very little flock. It's that
great doctrine that we find here in Holy Scripture, the doctrine
of the remnant, just the remnant being saved. We're not to be troubled then by the fact
that we are but a handful of people. How many did God save
at the time of Noah when God's judgments fell upon that wicked
world there were just eight who were saved in the ark just eight
souls that were saved that's back in Genesis and again Isaiah
speaks does he not of the doctrine of the remnant in the opening
chapter of his book he says except the Lord of host had left unto
us a very little remnant. We should have been a Sodom or
like unto Gomorrah. For there was but a very little
remnant there in Israel, the true Israel of God. Now the nation, you see, had
gone after idolatrous ways. The nation was a sinful nation.
And here is the prophet and he's called to minister to these people.
And it's interesting in that opening chapter, he actually
begins to address them as Sodom and Gomorrah. He calls Israel
Sodom. He calls Israel Gomorrah. They
were such a wicked people. And now we often think of Isaiah
as the evangelical prophet. His book is almost like a fifth
gospel, is it not? And yet he has some very strong
things to say even in that very first chapter. The nation is
sunk in iniquity and yet there is that remnant. There is that
true Israel in the midst of all that wickedness and God is going
to deal with the nation of course. When the Prophet receives his
call and is commissioned to be God's mouthpiece, to be God's
servant, there in chapter 6. Remember what we read at the
end of that chapter. Here is Isaiah, in the very year that King Uzziah
dies, he's in the temple, and he sees this remarkable vision
He sees God's throne. He sees God as that one who is
exalted, sovereign over all things. And he feels himself to be so
utterly unclean, unprofitable. Woe is me, he says, I am undone,
because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. And then one of these seraphims,
these angels, these burning ones about the throne of God is bidden
to take a living coal from off the brazen altar, the place of
sacrifice. And that is put upon Isaiah's
lips and he is cleansed. His iniquity is taken away, his
sin is purged. That's the abdication, is it
not, of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the fulfilment
of all those offerings, all those burnt sacrifices that were consumed
upon the brazen altar from whence that living coal was taken. And
then God speaks. I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then
said I, Here am I, send myrrh, and so the prophet is given his
commission. He is God's servant, he is God's
mouthpiece, and what a commission it is. Tell these people, hear ye indeed
but understand not, and see ye indeed but perceive not, make
the heart of these people fat, and 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. Such a negative ministry. God's
Word is not to return to him void, but what comforts him.
And then the Prophet asks at verse 11, 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 have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking
in the midst of the land. That's the exile. They're going to be taken away
from Jerusalem, away from the promised land. They're going
to be removed in captivity. This is God's judgment upon this
wicked nation that he was addressing in the first chapter. And then in verse 13, But yet
in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten
as a tailtree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when
they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance
thereof. A tenth. A tenth of time. the doctrine of the remnant of
Israel. They are not all Israel, that
are of Israel. That is the truth of it, is it
not? The nation of Israel, the ethnic nation, the physical descendants
of Jacob, they are a typical people. But they are not all
the true Israel of God. They are a type of the true Israel.
God's true Israel is a spiritual Israel. There are but few, you
see. And so we read it there in Isaiah
41 and verse 14. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob and
Yemen of Israel, he says. But look at what the margin tells
us. The margin says that it is more literally few men. It's Worm, Jacob and ye few men
of Israel. Oh, it's nothing more than a
handful. Nothing more than a handful. I will also leave in the midst
of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in
the name of the Lord, says God, by another of His servants, the
prophets, the words of the prophet Zephaniah. He also, you see,
speaks of a remnant that God is going to leave in the midst
of Israel. And what is a remnant? They are
a poor people. They are an afflicted people.
But they are a people who are trusting in the name of the Lord.
Or they are not looking to themselves, they are trusting in the Lord,
in His name. And all that His name declares,
because God's name, of course, is a declaration of His character.
God's name is a revelation of Himself. He is the Lord. He is the Unchanging One. He
is the God of the covenant. He's that God who ultimately
reveals himself in the person of his only begotten son and
the angel says they shall call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins. All these poor and these afflicted
people they trust in that name. They are the true Israel of God. But they are, I say, but a remnant. a little flock. The hymn writer
says, Lord pity outcast vile and base, the poor dependence
on thy grace, who men disturb as cause. How they are dismissed you sir,
by men, they are troublesome, they are a pest. to the world,
they are unwanted in the world, they are rejected by the world,
they are the offscouring of all things. This is those who bear
the mark then of the true Church of God. Yes, they are fearful. Oft times they are fearful. Yes,
they have that right fear of God, that filial fear in their
hearts, but sometimes because alas of their unbelief, They know other fears. They doubt God. They doubt themselves. They are a little flock. But
then, here is a third mark with regards to these people. They
are the favourites of heaven. They are the favourites of heaven.
It is Your Father's good pleasure, says Christ, to give you the
kingdom. Oh, from whence do they find
their comfort then? They find all their comfort in
God. And they find it in this, that
God is to them truly God. In other words, it's the divine
sovereignty. It's the good pleasure of God
or they rejoice in all that God is. Let God be God. The sureness, the certainty of
that great purpose of Christ. Again, we turn back to the words
of the prophet there in Isaiah 37. At verse 32 we read, For out
of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount
Zion, the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. There is a remnant, you see,
that is to be saved. Though God's judgment is to come
upon the nation because of their sins, Though God will visit upon them
their iniquities, their idolatrous ways, though they must go into
exile yet, God will ever always preserve that remnant out of
Jerusalem. He says, shall go forth a remnant
and observe the shalls and the wills that we have here in the
Word of God with regards to his people. We sometimes sing those words of John Kent
in him 76, do we not? Fenced with Jehovah's shalls
and wills, firm as the everlasting hills. God fences his sheep. They are
in the fold, you see. There is a sheep fold. And that's
where the Lord keeps his people, preserves them, protects them,
provides for them. And how are they fenced in that
fold? They are fenced with Jehovah's
shawls and gloves. It is God's good pleasure that
He's there comfort. It is that great doctrine of
the divine sovereignty. This people, this church, this
flock, they are those who are persuaded that all the promises
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ are yea and in Him are men. That's it, come for Jesus. the certainty of God's purpose
of grace. And that's a truth, is it not,
even in such a day as we live in. And it is a dark day. And in many ways, it's a day
that causes us sometimes to feel very downcast. We feel our smallness,
we feel our fewness. We see how society by and large
has turned itself all together against the people of God, against
the true Church of Christ, how God's Word is rejected, how
those that bear the rule over us have no regard for God's commandments,
men do only that that is right in their own eyes. And yet God still rules and reigns
and still does according to his will not only among the armies
of heaven but the inhabitants of the earth. That's the amazing
thing, is it not? So, as we look to ourselves we
are not to despise the dying. We're told in Zechariah chapter
4 and verse 10, are we not, not to despise the day of small things. This is a day of small things,
yes. But our God still reigns. And
God in our day is still accomplishing His goodwill and pleasure and
even today God is saving as many as He intended to save from all
eternity. He saves no more, He saves no
less. All these things are in accordance
with his goodwill. Fear not, little flock, it is
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And we have to notice in here
the sovereign will of God even with regards to a little flock. It's the father's will. We know
Now that this gospel is to be preached, it's to be proclaimed
to the ends of the earth. That is the commission that Christ
has given to his church, is it not, going into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. It is to be that public
proclamation of the truth We meet in this fashion but our
services are open services and they're public services and people
can come in if they will and sit under the sound of God's
Word. We don't bar anyone. We invite all that would come.
We desire to see people come and to sit under the sound of
God's truth. There is to be that universal
proclamation of the Gospel but We also know this from Scripture,
many are called and few are chosen. And when we consider the ministry
of the greatest of all preachers, when we consider the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the Saviour himself,
do we not see how that his own ministry was ever always a dividing
ministry? We have those statements on at
least three occasions in John's Gospel, how that there was a
division. In John 7.43, in John 9.16 and
John 10.19. A division. Why? Because of him. A division. Why? Because of his
teaching. Christ's ministry, you see, was
a discriminating ministry. He is the greatest of all preachers,
the greatest of all prophets, the fulfilment of the prophetic
office. And remember what God had said long ago to Jeremiah? If he separated the precious
from the vile, the prophet Jeremiah was told if he did that he would
be as God's now. Well if Jeremiah's ministry was
to separate the precious from the vile, how much more was that
the case with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. His ministry
you see had such an effect it sifted those who came to hear
him and We know from what Paul says with regard to his own ministry,
that that was also a separating ministry, coming to some as a
saver of life, but coming to others as the saver of death. Those solemn words of the Apostle
at the end of chapter 5, sorry, at the end of chapter 2, in 2nd Corinthians. There at verse 15 he says, We
are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved,
and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour
of death, unto death, and to the other the savour of life,
unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God,
but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak
we in Christ. He is wanting to be the faithful
servant of Christ. And yet he knows that his ministry
will have that effect, it will separate. Again we have to consider
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. and how that ministry
so much separated between men. Remember that long sixth chapter
in John's Gospel and the contrast we have at the beginning and
the end. In the opening verses of John
chapter 6 we are told after these things Jesus went over the Sea
of Galilee which is the Sea of Tiberias and a great multitude
followed him. a great multitude followed Him,
because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were
diseased. But then when we turn to the
end of the chapter, verse 66, from that time many
of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then
Jesus said unto the twelve, Will he also go away? What diminishings? A multitude. At the beginning
and then we come to the end and it's just the twelve and the
Lord asks are these also going to leave him? What was it that
brought about such great diminishings? It was the content. of the message,
it was the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here he preaches
the divine sovereignty. What does he say in verse 44
of John 6? No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. No man can of his own volition
come to Christ. Why? Man in his very nature is
in bondage. He's dead in trespasses and sins. No man can choose for Christ.
The Father must draw him. And it was this message that
was such an offence that caused the multitudes to depart from
him. Look at what he says there at
verse 43 of John 6. Murmur not among yourselves,
No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me.
Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written
in the Prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father come
unto me. And how this is such an offence to them. He said later,
you see, at verse 64, 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 it were given
unto him of my father. From that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. It was that aspect
of his teaching that they were murmuring at. That led them ultimately
to reject him, to walk away from him. And this darkness of the divine
sovereignty is such an offence to men. And yet, strangely, what
is an offence to the multitude is such a comfort to the believer, to the little
flock. It is your father's good pleasure,
says Christ, to give you the kingdom. It is a doctrine that
is full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort. That's the
language, you know, that's used in the 17th article of the 39
articles of the Church of England. Amazing, isn't it, when you think
of the state that the Church of England is in today. Article
17 of predestination and election says that, concerning this precious
doctrine, that it is full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable
comfort to whom? To godly souls, to the little
flock. It's an offence to the multitudes,
but it's meat and drink. to those who are truly the Lord's
people. Why? Because they have to look
to Him. The remnant, they feel their
own sinful weakness, they feel their utter inability, their
total impotence, they can do nothing. When the Lord puts that
question to the Twelve at the end of John 6, will ye also go
away? And Peter answers, to whom shall
we go? To whom shall we go, he said.
Thou hast the words of everlasting life, and we believe and are
sure that Thou art the Cross, the Son of God. And so the little
flock, you see, they're always looking to Christ, and they're
always trusting in Christ. They find all their comfort in
Him who is the Sovereign Saviour of the sinner, the One who speaks
of the good pleasure of God. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, or when
that Kingdom comes, into the sinner's soul. I suppose even
in our day there are multitudes who would still vainly repeat
the words of the Lord's Prayer, they utter that petition, thy
kingdom come, and they know not what they ask. When God's kingdom
comes into the soul of a sinner, is it not truly a humbling experience? Are we not then made to see what
we are? And our awful, sinful inability,
the deadness of our souls, and yet God comes and in his mercy
he establishes kingdom in the heart of the sinner, subduing
all the sinner's iniquities, delivering the sinner from all
his unbelief, or that we might know then the accomplishment
of that good pleasure of God, to bear these marks of those
who are the true Church. Those who know something of fear,
that felial fear, yes, we want that, but alas, do we not have
to confess? We have such little faith, we
have so many fears. But we thank God for His many
fear nots. We feel ourselves to be such a little flock that outcasts people. And yet we rejoice in God's good
pleasure. We rejoice in all that God is,
in His divine sovereignty. May the Lord be pleased. bless
His truth to us for His ninth son.