It's a privilege to do this, to worship, and also to attempt
to preach God's word. And I'm really
glad to help Brother Gabe and Hannah out, being down here. I can't tell you how much he
has helped me. My, my. not only preaching so many times
while I was away, just countless times he preached to the people
there while I was away or whenever. But not only that, but He helped
me build a couple of houses. The last one we built, and it
is going to be the last, I hope, but he was there every single
day. I mean every day for about six
months running. And I couldn't have done it without
him. But I remember the very first house we built in Rocky
Mount 25 years ago. You remember that? I gotta tell
this, his dad was in the siding business and Gabe grew up and
learned that well. And I met his dad and mother
then, more than that, 27 or 28 years ago. Marvin came up to
help us put the siding on our house. Well, Gabe was 12 years
old at the time. And Gade cut every piece of siding
that went on that house. 12 years old, he cut every piece. That's something, I'll never
forget that. And we all fit. But I am thankful for him and
I know he feels I know what he's feeling right now. This is his
pulpit. You're his people. His heart
is in this. He'd rather be preaching to you.
But you don't understand how difficult it is to prepare three
or four messages a week on top of working, doing manual labor
or whatever. And you all understand. I know
he feels a little bit guilty. I know. I know where you're coming
from. and out of place. He wants to be doing this. But
you understand, I know you do. People back home understand me
being here to help him. We canceled our services. That'd
be the other Wednesday night. We're not under the law. Not
under the law, there's no mandatory meeting on Wednesday night, but I'm just glad to help. Go back
to Luke 12 that Brother Gabe read for you. We're not going to look at all
these verses, but I want you to look at verse 32. Again, verse 32, the Lord says,
fear not little flock, for it is your father's, fear not little
flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. It just gives him great pleasure
to give you the kingdom. He's talking to his people in
verse 1 it says very plainly they say there was an innumerable
multitude of people like on the mount a sermon on the mount and
it says he began to say unto his disciples first of all it's
important whenever you're reading the scripture I know Gabe's told
you this that you learn who is speaking to whom Is he speaking? And what's the subject? Or else
you don't understand what's being written here, what's been written
here. That's vital. So the world, religion, misapplies
the scriptures nearly all the time. Apply it to people that
God's not speaking to. Right here, he calls his disciples,
he says, your father. Right? Like the Sermon on the
Mount. He was speaking to his disciple. And now we speak this
for you and I. Go over to verse 41. After he spoke, Peter said unto
him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us or even to all?
He's talking to just us or everybody. And the Lord didn't even really
answer him. But we are concerned often about, we want to apply
Paul told young Timothy rightly dividing the word of truth. That's
what that means. Giving it to whom it belongs.
You don't want to comfort unbelievers. Unbelievers don't need comfort.
God said comfort my people. Unbelievers need to fear the
Lord. They need to repent. They need
to come. The point being that we can preach
the word and the Holy Spirit will apply it to whom it belongs
to. So we don't have to worry about comforting those that don't
need comforting and warning those that don't need that. But anyway.
This was a great blessing to me, this verse, when I was a
young believer and I was struggling, I was worried if I was a believer
or not. I was struggling as most young
believers do and even older believers at times struggle whether or
not we're one of God's children, one of His people. I was working
on the railroad and started as a brakeman, and I walked many,
many miles down the railroad track. And I was walking along
down the the railroad track, and I was just worried about
my soul. And I had a little Bible in my
back pocket, and I pulled it out, and it fell open to that
verse. And I read that verse, it says,
fear not, little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to
give unto you the kingdom. Boy, I tell you, I don't even
remember walking the rest of the way. I was about two feet
off the ground. I had such peace and comfort. Your father, If
he's your father, it's his good pleasure. It just gives him great
pleasure to put you in his kingdom, to give you the kingdom. Fear
not, fear not. The Lord said fear not often,
didn't he? I know Gabe has brought this
to your attention often. More than anything else, he commanded
that fear not, fear not. You can turn into the Psalms
and the Proverbs, nearly every page, you'll find something about
fear, fear of the Lord. Fact is, if you fear the Lord,
you need not fear anything else. You need not fear anyone or anything
else. So this is to his disciples. Now those, that means those who
love, follow, believe the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe I do.
Do you believe what he said? You trust him. He's your, all
your salvation. You hang your soul on everything
he said. Then you're a disciple of the
Lord Jesus. This is to you. He says, fear not, fear not.
It's your father's good pleasure. He said some things before he
said that. He warns us. He tells us to beware of something.
He said, beware, verse two, verse one, beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. He says, everything that's hidden
is going to come out. Now, now listen, God's people's
sins are hidden and that's not going to come out. Sins are covered,
but he's talking about hypocrites and most religious people are.
He called the Pharisees hypocrite. That means an actor. That's what hypocrite means,
acting apart, trying to be what you're not. Most religious people
are hypocrite. The world knows that. That's
why they say that, don't they, about church. They say that about
going to a bunch of hypocrites down there. Well, it's true. It's true because people work
with religious people and they see all the inconsistencies. You work with religious people. I know there's some sincere people.
I know that. There's some devoted people.
But for the most part, they're hypocrites. They're acting. God's
people aren't hypocrites. They're not playing a game here.
They're not playing a part. They're serious. Christ is their
life. They're real. They're honest,
aren't they? If this man's a hypocrite, you
better not listen to him. He's not, he's real. This is
his life, and he's serious about it, and so are all of God's people.
And I know there's some devoted people, like Catholics, there's
some devout Catholic, but for the most part, that religion
is ridiculous, isn't it? It's ridiculous. They're playing
a game. So he says, beware of that. Don't be a fake, a phony. Be open and honest. Brother Barnard
used to say, honest people don't wind up in hell. That is, be
honest before God and honest with yourself and honest, open,
come clean before God. And we have some hypocrisies,
yes, but God's people aren't hypocrites. We have some unbelief,
right? But we're not unbelievers. You
know the difference. So he warns about that. Then
he says, don't be afraid of men. Verse four, don't be afraid of
them that kill the body. Fear not. Don't be afraid of
men. And we are, aren't we? We all
are. Yeah, we are. And our Lord constantly
says, why are you so fearful? Why are you so fearful?" And
they were amazed at his courage. I mean, they were amazed. At
one time they said, Lord, don't go to Jerusalem, they'll kill
you. And he said, he set his face like a flame. He said, no
man taketh my life from me. Didn't he? Many times they sought
to take his life and couldn't. They couldn't touch him. You
know, it's the same with a believer. You know that your days are appointed,
your bounds are set, you cannot pass. Your death is already determined
by God. That's not fatalism, that's scripture,
right? You're immortal until God finishes
with you. And whatever or whoever it is
that takes your life, be it cancer or my brother was killed in Vietnam,
okay? The bomb was blown. Well, who
did that? The Vietnamese? God did it. Didn't he say, I kill, I make
a light? Deuteronomy 32, 39. I kill, I make a light. I'm the
one that do it. I wound, I heal. Don't fear man. Don't fear man. It's just that,
boy, I need that. Why are you so fearful? We have
some constant fears about things, and there are three kinds of
fear. Two of them we're born with, and the third we need. There's natural fears. We're born with... When man sinned
in the garden, it says the first thing, Adam and Eve were afraid. Before that, they were not afraid
of anything. They had no need to be afraid of anything. We're
born with fear of the dark, fear of the unknown, aren't we? Fear
of predators, fear of thieves, fear of all kinds of things.
That's kind of, some of that is self-preservation. But still,
the older you get, hopefully you lose some of those fears,
fear of the dark. Or at least if you're a father,
you've got to act like you're not afraid. But, you know, those
are natural fears, aren't they? Everybody has those, they're
born with them. Then there's unbelief, fear of things, fear of the elements,
fear of whatever. And that's unbelief. Our Lord
says to the believer, you need not fear anything. The Lord raises up the stormy
wind. The disciples, you know, they were afraid of the storms.
And the Lord was, did he have fear? He was asleep. in the ship. He's the one that raised the
boat. He was the one that raised the storm, wasn't he? Why? To
show them, nothing can happen to you while I'm with you. One time, when he came walking
on the water, he said, and they thought they saw a spirit, didn't
they? Listen to what he said. He said,
be not afraid, it is I. And people, whatever it is, whatever
it is, it's him. He does whatever it may be the
fiercest storm, the worst calamity, whatever it is, sickness, death,
all that. It's him, whatever it is, whatever
it is. Peter wrote this one time. He
said, now you're in heaviness through manifold temptations.
If need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptation.
If need be. Who determines if it need be?
If need be. That's what he said. If need
be. You're in these heavy trials and so forth. Well, if it be,
it need be. Or it would not be. Because what
does the Lord say in Romans 8, 28? We know. It's not doctrine. God's people know this because
they know who's in control. We know that all things, all
things, get a hold of that, work together. For what? For good. We don't see it, we don't know
it, but the Lord can't lie. For good to them that love God,
who are called according to His purpose. All things, no matter
what it may be. Why are you so afraid? I mentioned
three fears. Natural fears, fears of things
that are just unbelief, and the fear of the Lord. We're not born
with that. We need that. That's a good kind
of fear. Fear Him. You need not fear anyone
else. If you do fear Him, you won't.
Fear of man brings a snare, but the fear of the Lord is a refuge. I could just quote you so many
verses along that. Why is he so fearful? He said
to Philip one time, have I been so long time with you, and yet
you haven't known me? All of them, he said, while I
was with you, three and a half year. They never worked a day. They gave up everything. They
depended on Him for every single meal of every day. They never
provided one single meal. They left their homes and their
families, their wives and their children to go on the road to
walk with the Lord. And after three and a half years,
He said, Did you lack anything? No, Lord, nothing. And then he's
leaving. He's leaving now. And they're
all worried. And he says, Philip, Philip says,
show us the father. Have I been so long time with
you and you don't know me? I am the father. I am your father.
I'm your mother. I'm your brother. I'm your friend. I'm your provider. I'm your Lord.
I'm your everything. Fear not. Fear not. You're not
afraid. And you know, we're like little
children, aren't we? We are, and the Lord has to, he keeps
calling his disciples that, little children, little children. And
he talks about the sparrows, look down at verse 6, five sparrows
so too far, there's not one of them is forgotten. I know you've seen starlings,
same kind of bird, starlings. How many starlings would it be
at one time in the sky, flying around, landing in trees and
everything? Thousands, thousands. What are starlings worth? You'd
like to get rid of them if you could. Well, there's not one
starling that's forgotten, that's not provided for by the Lord.
That's hard to believe it. It's true. The Lord's never given
the exaggeration. Never a figure of speech. Ever. Not one. Not one falls to the
ground without your head in it, Bob. Isn't that what he said?
More than that, he said, not a hair of your head. Not one
hair. Now, you say, I don't understand. a little... if the Lord's not
in control of the smallest thing, a germ can kill you, Kenton. A germ can kill you. If he's
not in control of the molecules, we're in trouble. So a hair is
a big thing compared to these germs. Look over at Luke 21.
This is a powerful verse of scripture right here. And I wish I could
get a hold of it. Wish they'd get a hold of me.
Now Luke 21, he's telling his disciples, he's sending them
out. preach and he's telling them what all is going to happen,
wars and rumors of wars and you're going to be betrayed, he said,
of your parents and your brethren, your kinfolk and your friends.
Verse 16, you'll be betrayed and kinfolk, friends, some of
you shall they cause to be put to death. He's telling them up
front, they're going to kill you. He said, you'll be hated
of all men for my name's sake, but he said, now, verse 18, not
a hair of your head shall perish, until it's time. Now look at
this verse 19. In your patience, possess ye
your soul. In your patience, that is, waiting
on the Lord, believing Him. Patience, trial of your faith
worketh, what? Patience. Patience, experience. If you wait, you'll see. Patience,
work, experience. You don't learn anything until
you experience it, until you go through it. You don't learn
anything. You can learn it in your head, but until you go through it,
you won't believe it. And you experience it, and you
say, he's right, isn't he? Why don't I worry about that?
But we can't help him. He knows our friend. I'm so glad
he knows our friend. They said, in your patience,
get a hold of yourself. Get a hold of your soul. Where
is your soul? Who has your soul? Who has your family? Who has
everything in his hands? Who? Your father. So, oh my,
what a verse that is. We fear men, we wanna be a witness
to the Lord. He says in verse eight, back
in Luke 12, verse eight, whosoever shall confess me before men,
him shall the son of man confess before the angels. I'm ashamed
of times when I feel like I've denied him, like Peter, aren't
you? Should have spoken up and didn't. And then there are times when
I've, you know, I'll just be honest.
That's what I told us to be. I like Scott. Scott used to say,
I'm not preaching now. I'm telling you the truth. But
this really is easier than walking out there and talking to somebody
one on one. If you give me several hours
to prepare a message and stand up here and give you a pre-thought
out prepared message and I don't have to answer questions, this
is easier. It's not easy now, mind you.
That's the spirit of God if it's going to be effectual. But to
stand face to face with somebody out there in the world, you don't
have a Bible in your hand. Well, you're totally dependent
on the Spirit of God, aren't you? To give you courage, to
give you words to say. You want to say the right thing,
don't you? You don't want to say too much.
You don't want to say what you think. You want to say the Word
of God. And so many times, I tell you, I feel like I'm stumbling
all over myself. Do you? Is that the way you feel? You
feel so incapable of talking to people. Well, the Lord said,
in the same sense that he told the disciples, in verse 11, he
said, they're going to bring you to the synagogue before magistrates
and powers. Take no thought, however, of
what thing you shall answer, what you shall say. In the same
scene, people do, I do talk to people, and when people want
to ask me a question, even our people, when they say, I got
a question for you. I know you do that too, don't
you? What are they going to ask me? And what I'm doing at that
moment is praying, Lord. And that's what we all need to
do when we're confronting people. Lord, give me words to say. Give
me wisdom. Give me courage. Don't let me
be afraid of their faith. Never forget a verse I read when
I was a young believer over in Isaiah. He told Isaiah, who are
you to be afraid of a man that shall die and not be afraid of
me? Why would you be afraid of man
and not me? That's what the Lord said to
Isaiah and that convicted me. Oh my. So he says, Lord will
give you words to say if you ask him. Then he tells us to
beware Of covetousness, verse 15. There's other things. This one
man wanted the Lord to make sure that he got his inheritance. If you're worried, we're worried
about everything. This man was worried about, he
wasn't going to get what was coming to him and his father's
inheritance. Well, you're not, you won't,
but don't worry about it. We don't need it. You don't need
it. He's going to tell us that you don't need him. But he's,
in verse 15, so he says, take heed and beware of covetousness.
Covetousness. Covetousness is a terrible sin
that we're all easily beset with, aren't we? Every one of us. You're
honest. And we say, be honest, didn't he say? We're all covetous. He calls it idolatry. So he says,
beware of it. Beware of covetousness. It's
so, we're so easily beset with it. And man's life is not things. Christ is our life, the believer's
life, not thing. It doesn't consist in abundance
of thing. And he gave the parable of the
rich man, you know, who said, this is what I'm gonna do. Oh,
are you now? Oh, are you now? Didn't James
say, don't say you're gonna do anything tomorrow, but say if
the Lord will. We're all bad about that. We
need to have that in our vocabulary. If the Lord will. We don't know
if there will be a tomorrow. Most not thyself with tomorrow.
You don't know that there will be. And he'd say, if the Lord
will. If the Lord will. He called that
man a fool. This night, he said, your soul
will be required of you. That fellow that was making all
these plans. This night, your soul will be required of you.
And I thought about this. We ought to live as if this was
our last night. Every one of us ought to live
like this may be my last night on planet earth. Then what would
we think about these things? Then what would we be concerned
with? All right. Then he says in verse 22, take
no thought for your life, what you eat, your body, what you
put on. Life's more than meat, body more
than rain. speaks of the ravens, neither
sowing, nor don't have barns, and don't reap, but the Lord
feeds them. He said, aren't you much, how
much more are you better than the fowls, God's children? So
you gonna let them go hungry? No, no, no. And David said this
one time. He said, I've been young and
I now am old. Now listen to this. And David
had lived in a hostile time, a hostile country. Enemies surrounded
him. Went through terrible, terrible
trial. He was on the run. He was in
exile all the time, wasn't he? Most of his life, except for
30 years. Well, he said, I've been young
and I'm now old and I have never, ever in my life seen the righteous
forsaken. God's people are righteous. How
are we righteous? Not by works of righteousness
as we have done. Uh-uh. Righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has made unto us righteousness. If we believe and trust Christ,
if we're in Christ by faith, we're righteous. Get that straight. You know that. You're taught
well. There's a righteous and there's a wicked. The righteous
man, though he feels like he's the most sinful man on earth,
if he trusts Christ, he's righteous. Sinful man, the man out in the
world, the wicked man, he can seem like the most moral fellow
on earth, the most religious fellow on earth, but if he's
not trusting Christ, God says he's wicked. Doesn't matter how
many wonderful works they do. Didn't the Lord say that? They're
workers of iniquity. If they're not looking to Christ,
they're not in Christ, if he's not their righteousness, they're
wicked before God. But now the simplest faith and
belief in Christ makes that person righteous. Righteousness is imputed,
it's charged, it's reckoned to us by Jesus Christ. Not something
we do, it's something he does for us, something he does to
us. That's righteousness. But David
said, that's where I was at, he said, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. Oh no, nor his seed begging bread. Ever, ever, ever. David said, I've never seen one
of God's people begging bread. And he said, having food and
rain, but didn't he say that's it? That's all you need, food
and rain, food and rain. Why didn't he say shelter? Because
you really, really, you just need a tent. Didn't Abraham live
in tents for how long? A hundred years? A hundred years. Isaac? So he says, don't take
thought. That's what the Gentile, that's
what the people of the world are concerned about, food and
raiment and so forth. And verse 30, he said, all these
things do the nations of the world seek after. Your father
knows you have need of these things. Seek ye the kingdom of God, all
these things shall be added unto you. Romans 8, 31 says, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. That's the
unspeakable gift of God, the son of his love, put his son
to death for his people. Now he that did that, how shall
he not with him, with that gift freely give us all things? The
rest is nothing. food and raiment and shelters,
nothing compared to him giving his son. You know he's going
to, if he gives Christ, if he puts you in Christ and sent Christ
to die for, he's not going to let you go hungry. So he says, your father knows. All right now, verse 32. Fear
not, little flock. Give me five more minutes, would
you? I went too long Sunday, I'm not going to do that tonight.
Five more minutes. Seven. Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. The Lord can say more in one
and two syllable words than we can say in a lifetime. 16 words here, I believe. He says, fear not. Fear not. Anything. Anyone. Don't be afraid. Fear God. But nothing and no
one else. Don't do it. Fear not. Fear not. We have temporal needs. Your
father knows that. We've got present troubles and
trials. He sent them. He knows that. Don't be afraid. It's going to be okay. It's going
to be okay. Let me tell this illustration.
There was a young woman back three or 400 years ago, traveling
on a wooden sailing ship, heading over to a foreign country. And
it went through, it was a long voyage, six months, and there
were great storms and troubles. And she was going over to marry
a prince. who was to be heir to the throne,
king, and she was gonna be his bride, so she was gonna be a
queen. All right, during that stormy
voyage, and long voyage, somebody noticed that she was just so
calm all the time, and he asked her, and she said, you know,
she said, I'm gonna soon be a queen. This is nothing. This little
rough voyage and cramped quarters and all this little brief trouble
I'm going through is nothing compared with what I've got to
look forward to. What did Paul say? Our light
afflictions, which are but for a moment, work a far more exceeding
eternal weight of glory. He said they're light. They're
nothing compared to what we're going through. It's going to
so far exceed the former things aren't even going to come to
mind. Aren't even going to be remembered. for the glory. My, my. Fear not, little flock. We fear being cast out, don't
we? Fear the Lord's gonna cast us out because of our sin. What
did he say? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, didn't it? Cometh to me. And him that cometh
to me, I will in no way, under any circumstance, for any reason,
ever cast you out. Oh, I love that, don't you? I
will not cast you out. Can't be cast out. Fear of falling
away. You fear of falling away. We
will fall. We will fall to temptation. We
will fall into sin. Fall away? No. It's not possible. If we belong to the Lord, it's
not possible. Not possible. Fear not. Little
flock. Little flock. It's a little flock
here tonight, isn't it? How many of the Lord have? Walking
around with Him all the time. Less than this. All the time. Little flock. Twelve gathered
around Him. They left everything. They dropped
everything and everyone to follow Him. To hear Him. To trust Him.
For Him to care for them. They were full of fears. You
know they were full of fears. They were facing enemies all
the time. Every day. Hostile people. They were afraid. and storms and trials and they
had worries. They worried about their family
at home. They worried about their daily needs. They worried about
the future. They worried about it all just like we do. And he
kept telling them over and over again, fear not, fear not. Little flock, now here's something,
a very comforting thing. The word little, the Lord uses
little as a term of endearment. The world thinks, The world would
look at this little flock right here and say, that's just a little
church. I mean, they'd say it with disdain
and, you know, they mean it in a bad way. That's little. We
got a big church. Well, hmm. You know, truth has
never been in numbers. Truth's always been a minority.
Always been in a minority. In fact, the Lord, so many times
he had them, he cut the people, Gideon, 32,000. 32,000 went out and the Lord said, cut
them down. Cut them down. It's got two minutes. Cut them
down, down to 300. You know how many people the estimate were
on the earth at the time of the flood? Millions. Some say billions.
Matthew Henry said billions. When there were eight people
in the ark, eight people of God's choice. That's right. He put eight people in there.
He said, shut the door. He shut the door. Eight people.
Lot and two others. Three people. About half a million
people inside them. Little flock. There's no truth
in big numbers. It's usually in the minority.
Fear not, little flock. Little. God's people are little
in number. Spurgeon said this, listen to
this. He said, after my death, and he preached to many, and
he, this is what he thought, he said, after my death, most
grace churches will be 50 people or less. That's what he said. It's about
true, isn't it? About true. God's people are
little in number. They're little in possessions.
The disciples had nothing but a couple old boats and some nets.
They're little in status. Fishermen, little people. He
said, oh, they're my little flock. They're little in their own eyes.
We're nothing. I'm nothing. Who am I, David
said, and what is my house? I'm just a shepherd. Oh, that's
who the Lord chooses. If you're not little flock, it's
your father. Your father, if God is your father,
what does that mean? We don't yet rightly know, but
it means everything. I was born with a wonderful,
I had a wonderful father. I'm so thankful for him. You
had a wonderful father, didn't you? So thankful for my father,
my, my. How much more, he said. You give
good gifts to your children, don't you? Don't you just delight? You don't need anything from
them, do you? Do you, Tony? You don't need anything from
them, but it gives you great pleasure, doesn't it, to give
to your children? Great pleasure, it's your delight.
How much more, you say? You're having fun. How much more?
Your father's good pleasure to give you, to give it to you. You don't earn it. To give it
to you. You don't work for it. By grace
are you saved. He's the God of all grace. He's
gracious. He loves. He delights to give.
He said it's more blessed to give than to receive, didn't
He? He's the blessed one because He gives and He delights to give
you the kingdom. The kingdom? He didn't say half
the kingdom, Chris. He said the kingdom. All of it. All of it. Whatever
that is, oh my. My, my. It's an eternal kingdom.
It's joy, unspeakable, full of glory, peace, eternal rest, eating,
drinking, the married supper of the Lamb, worship, singing
with Christ and His people forever. The kingdom, and I can't describe
it because I haven't seen it. It's an unseen kingdom. It's
an eternal kingdom. He says, it's your father's good
pleasure to just give it to you. Just ask. He says, ask and I'll
give it to you. The whole thing. Christ has it
all in Him. It's His. It's His. He's the
heir, isn't it? What does He call us? Joint heirs. Like a husband and a wife. Does
the wife get half of what her husband had? She gets it all.
Fear not, little flop. I hope I've learned something. I hope I've learned, my, my,
what do I need to fear? And we will tomorrow. Tonight,
we will. We'll lay in bed, worried as
things worry, and we wait for the morning. But maybe this verse
will come back to our mind. Fear not. Little flock. Little. It's all the better. It's your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Okay. Lord bless
you. Fear not. Must be dismissed in
prayer.