Would you turn with me to the
book of Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. What a glorious statement is
made here in this verse of scripture, this passage of scripture. My
title of my message tonight is terms of endearment. Terms of endearment. Now I'm
only going to cover about three of them, but the Bible is filled
with terms of endearment. I have a little granddaughter,
she's five years old, and she has supper with us almost, can
I say supper here? Okay, supper. She has supper
with us almost every evening with her father and Nancy and
I. And not too long ago, I said
to Nancy, I called her honey or sugar, I'm not sure which
it was, term of endearment. And my granddaughter says, granddaddy,
why did you call her sugar? Her name is grandma. That's her term of endearment
for her grandmother, it's grandma. Well here in the book of Jeremiah
we read these words, in that same time saith the Lord, will
I be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my
people. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword found grace and in the wilderness,
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared
of old unto me sane." Now I want us to notice what he's saying
here. I can just see in my mind's eye,
I like, there's an old preacher in England, his name was Christmas
Evans. And I've read a number of his sermons and he just makes
a message come alive because he uses pictorial language like
Bunyan did. And here we see, can you just
see in your mind's eye, the Lord of Glory. of heaven and earth,
King of kings and Lord of lords, holding his hands to his mouth,
shouting down through the ages in eternity past, before there
ever was a creation, before there was a heaven and an earth, before
Adam was ever created, before anything was ever said done about
this earth, shouting down through the ages to this very hour, what? Yay, I have loved thee. with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee." That just sends shields up my back when
I hear my Savior crying those words of eternity past to a group
of people that the Father chosen Christ, whose names were written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life, and he cries down to this very
hour, to this very place, where we are gathered together, and
he will continue that cry until the very last lost sheep is found,
brought into the fold, and this is wrapped up like a tent just
instantly. He will say, I have loved you
with an everlasting love, and then you will get to hear that
for the rest of eternity. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. We have him speaking of his elect
here, and he has terms of endearment about his elect. I have some
terms of endearment for my wife. I call her beautiful lady. I
call her sweetheart. I call her things maybe I won't
even tell you about. And you know what? The Lord of
glory has shared with us in his word some terms of endearment
for his church. You know, as we go down through
here, we find the bridegroom is no different. In fact, we're
to mock the bridegroom. And the bride is to mock the
bride, as we find it in Scripture. As Paul shares with us in the
fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians, I speak to you concerning
the Lord and His church. We're just a shadow, a type,
a picture of that glorious union. We hear the Lord use terms like
these, upon this rock I will build my church. It's his church, it's his assembly,
and I will build it. We hear him say, my sheep hear
my voice. And follow me, I lay down my
life for the sheep. This is what the Lord terms of
endearment. He calls the church in the book
of Song of Solomon, my garden. My garden, that's a term of endearment. And then we find throughout the
scriptures quite a number more about these terms of endearment. But there's three that I'd like
to look at in the time that I have tonight. And they're all found
in the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Number one, my
little flock. Number two, my little children. And number three, O ye of little
faith. All right, let's look at this.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Luke, chapter 12.
The book of Luke chapter 12, we're going to look at this,
my little flock, my little term of endearment. When we hear those
terms, as the Savior has called us out of darkness to his marvelous
light, as he has resurrected us from the spiritual dead, as
he's brought us to Christ, as he's brought us to life, we hear
him saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, and
I want to show you how I've loved you. You are my little flock. Here in the book of Luke chapter
12, we have these words recorded. Jesus is speaking here and he's
speaking to his little flock. This chapter 12 and verse 32
of the book of Luke, it says, fear not little flock, for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I can't
imagine all I got when I was given Christ. I just can't imagine
all. I find out every time I read
the Bible, I find something else, more about the glories that he's
given the church. But to have him call me my little
flock. You're my flock. It has pleased
me, the Father, to give you the kingdom. You know, we go over
there to the book of, what is it, Matthew? And it shares with
us there that the, as a shepherd divideth the sheep
from the goats. Welcome, welcome, those on the right hand,
to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,
my little flock. And then we go down just a little
bit further, and the righteous answered and said, when did we
do all of that? It's bigger than all of us, isn't
it? Oh, how precious are the words towards the flock. We notice,
my, that's possessive. Little, he's talking about the
size. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And then he's talking about a
flock and a flock has a shepherd. My little flock, I'm your shepherd. I am the guidance for you. Turn
with me to that wonderful psalm that's most often read at a funeral.
You know which one I'm talking about. Psalm 23. Turn with me,
if you would, to Psalm 23. Let's just go down there for
a moment and see my little flock, my term of endearment for my
people. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. And every time God saves one
of his people, that rings in their ear to find out that we
love him because he first loved us and cried it from eternity
down to this very hour until the very last hour this world
will ever be. He's crying out, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. Psalm 23, here we find that the
wonderful statement made, my sheep hear my voice. The Psalm of David, the Lord
is my shepherd. You know, we can't have it any
better than that. We just cannot have it any better
than that. Now, we love it when God gives
us a wonderful under shepherd. You know, those folks down there
at Lantana Baptist Church, they have a wonderful under-shepherd. And you folks here at First Baptist
have a wonderful under-shepherd. And I pray for God's mercy and
grace that those folks out in the Dalles do too. But to have
the shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. Notice what we get. I shall not want. He takes away all the want. He
fills us as he goes on, you see, he maketh me to lie down. There is full restoration in
this shepherd. We lost so much in Adam. We can't even gather together
in our brain how much we lost in Adam. But there is full restoration
in the shepherd, the good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd because
he loved his flock with an everlasting love. He has loved his people
from eternity and he has purposed in time to gather them together
and demonstrate what it is to have a good shepherd. This, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. There is complete leadership
in Christ. We don't have to worry about
it or want about it. He will lead his people. My sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. And I don't know how many
preachers have told me, you know, this person's just running off
over here and they're running away from the Lord and they're
doing nothing for God. They've done it for 50 years.
They didn't ever hear the shepherd. My sheep hear my voice and they'll
follow me. Now, we may go aside for a short time, but he's not
going to leave us there. He's going to drag us right back
in. Same dragging that he did to begin with, he'll drag us
right back in. He'll get us by the ear if you please. He'll
bring us in. He'll put a hook in our jaw.
He'll do whatever's necessary to bring us back under the gospel
again. It's there we rejoice because
the Lord is my shepherd and I'm his little flock. It says there,
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His namesake. Yea, though I walk to the valley
of the shadow of death, I have complete comfort here. I have
no fear here. I have complete leadership here.
I have full restoration here. I have no want here. It's complete
protection, full anointing, full assurance is given to me in Christ
Jesus. He has promised me from eternity,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. and therefore with loving
hands will I draw you." And now we find out what we are. We're
his little flock. That's a kindness enduring term
that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit could call a
sin-cursed people regenerated by the power of God and made
in the image of Christ. You're my little flock. I love
you. You have a shepherd. I'll take
care of you. Oh, because The shepherd of the
little flock is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Even when we
were a sinner, Christ died for us. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Romans chapter 11 and verse five in Romans chapter
11 and verse five. Even so, then, at this present
time, Romans 11, verse 5, even so, at this present time, we
have that good shepherd, we have that great shepherd, we have
that chief shepherd. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
And what does it say here? Even so, then, at this present
time, also, there is a remnant, according to the election of
grace, and you know what the Lord calls him? My little flock. They're mine. I'm the shepherd. They mine. They might not seem
like much, you know, over there when that man made a deal with a father-in-law
to marry a woman and he switched her. He had to work some more
to get the one he wanted. And he paid him in the ring strait
and the speckled and everything else that the father-in-law didn't
want. And you know that's where we are. We're ring-streaked and
speckled and nobody wanted us but him who loved us with an
everlasting love. I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd,
I know my sheep and I'm known of mine. Turn with me if you
would to the book of John as we look at the second term of
endearment that the Lord shares with us. The book of John, John
chapter 33, excuse me, John chapter 13 and verse 33. I don't have to get used to doing
that. I've done that all my ministry. John chapter 13, verse 33. What
does it say? My little children, my little
children. I've added that. Yet a little
while I'm with you. You shall seek me and as I said
unto the Jews whether I go ye cannot come and so now I say
unto you a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. As I have loved you that you
also love one another. How much did he? I've loved you
with an everlasting love. My children, little children.
You know, there's something about that that means so much to the
people of God. We find out, first of all, we
have the same father. All the same father. There are
no stepchildren here. There's no children by marriage. This is all born into the family
because the same father, the same word has been brought, the
gospel, the same Holy Spirit. We're related and we're called
his children. You cannot have it any better
than to have God Almighty call us his child. And not only are
we born children, we're adopted as children. We have double covenant,
if you please. And so my little children, Our
Father which is in heaven. Jesus taught his disciples, our
Father, our Father which art in heaven. No greater term could
we call our God than our Father. It's a term of endearment that
we respond, but his response to us is, my children, you are
my children by birth. All that can pray that from the
heart know their position as children is not because of them,
but because of him. How many of you had a participating
part in your first birth? I've asked that of that young
preacher. How much did you have of participating in your first
birth? And he says, none. And I said, do you think for
the life of me that God is going to give you a serious business
called a spiritual birth and he's going to allow you to participate
in that? No way in God's green earth will he ever allow that.
Who is going to participate in that? The Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, and that's how we're children of God. That's
how he called us my children. That's how we have a birth that
came from him. Of his own will begat he us. That's what God does. It's a
mystery. It's a mystery to know how a
baby is conceived. That's a mystery. Scientists
try to describe it, but it's still a mystery. It's a mystery. And the new birth, so is every
one born of the spirit. The wind. Do you ever get wind
here? Yeah, we get, we get wind out in the Dalles. Right there
in that gorge, wind comes down through there one way in the
spring and another way in the winter, and it's just there. And he said, as the wind blows,
you can see the results of it, but you don't know which way
it came from or where it's going. So is everyone that's born of
the spirit. And what does he term us? Children. My children. Children. Self-generation only bolsters
pride. I've been around too much of
that, haven't you? Oh my, I participated in my birth and all it does is
produce pride in Pharisees. But when God saves us by his
grace, we are humbled in his sight. We're just like we heard
about Mephibosheth. I'm nothing but a dead dog. Just
a putrid dog. Jesus told Nicodemus, you must
be born again. You must be. Oh, there's just
too much going on today in religion. There's no room for the new birth.
Too much work's going on. Too much activity going on. You know, it isn't, most churches
are not happy until they have you there seven days a week,
eight hours at least. They don't give you any time
to stay home and study. But the word of God says we're
born of him, not our own participation, and the term he gives us is my
children, my children. The new birth, regeneration,
begatting by God, brings repentance and faith. You know, I was taught
we have to repent and believe, and then he says, that's just
upside down. That's just upside down. We are
born again, and then we're given the grace to repent and believe.
And repentance is not repentance of sin. We don't have time for
that. Repentance means a change of
mind about God, and that's given to us by God. We are new creatures. We see him in a completely light
that we never could see him before. We're ignoramuses when it comes
to spiritual things. And then I'd like to say a few
words. It's mentioned five times. in the book of Matthew and Luke,
you of little faith. You know, when I grew up in religion,
I was beat because of that verse of scripture. You don't have
enough faith. What's happening to you is because
you lack faith. Oh, my goodness. And then the
Lord uses that, and they quoted those verses of scripture. Turn
with me to just one of them, Matthew chapter 6, if you would.
Matthew chapter 6 and verse 30. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 30,
we have these words recorded, wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass, Matthew chapter 6, verse 30, wherefore, if God so
clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith? Now for a long time in religion,
I couldn't see that as a term of endearment. It was a stick. It was a stick. And yet when
God saves us, we find out, you know, he's just telling us he
loves us there. He loves us with an everlasting
love. He loved us as it tells us in the book of Jeremiah, I've
loved you with an everlasting love. Well, how could that be?
You know, in regeneration, we find out we have nothing to bring.
We have absolutely nothing to bring. Well, I found out this
afternoon, we do have something to bring, our sin, that's all
we can bring. We have nothing else. We don't have any faith. We don't have any peace. We have
nothing. We have no hope. And God gives
us every bit of it. It is found in Christ Jesus the
Lord. We are given everything in Christ. He has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing. In Christ, everything is ours
in Christ. And so, why do we find the Lord
use this as, O ye of little faith and not be a term of endearment?
Since faith is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of God. You know,
we don't have any Ephesians. It tells us there in Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith.
It's a gift of God. Not of works lest any man should
boast. My goodness, let's look at that.
Faith is a gift of God. I didn't have any outside of
Christ. I had none. And my faith is worthless. It
falters. It fails. Man, when I was in
religion, one day I was saved, the next day I didn't know. I don't know about you. I was
fishing one time and I said, Lord, if I'm saved, let me catch
a fish. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? That is
illogical, isn't it? That's stupid, isn't it? Lord,
if I'm saved, let me do this. Lord, if I'm saved, and that
just a seesaw, it's a yo-yo, it's inexplainable. You know what it is? It is you're
just not saved. That's it. Because when God saves
us, he gives us a gift to trust Christ. He gives us a gift to
have faith in God. He gives us a gift to believe
God, to believe his word. I'll never forget a friend of
mine telling one of his family members, that he knew that they're
not saved and they asked why and he said because you don't,
you've never sinned, number one, and number two, you don't believe
the report. The word of God. You don't believe
it. It's brought to you and you, I don't believe that. You know,
that just symbolizes we don't know. But faith, faith is a gift
of God. And I don't have real faith on
my own. How could the Lord be rebuking
me if faith is a little faith? He's sharing with us, if you
have any faith, I gave it to you. I gave you little faith. I gave you any faith. You know,
for a long time I've known that if I understand one verse of
scripture, and if I can understand God gives me the understanding
about one verse of scripture, that's a gift to God. Just one
verse of scripture. If I can see one thing about
Christ, He has revealed it to me. He has shown it to me. I
didn't come to the conclusion on my own because I'm not able,
but He revealed it. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Say it in your words, it
doesn't mean anything. Say it from the Holy Spirit,
it means everything. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven." And who
said that? Jesus Christ said that to Peter after Peter made
that confession. Little faith. Oh, my friends. He's saying to his church, if
you have a little, it's been given to me, given to you, given
to you by the Holy Spirit. And we don't have a single lick
of it without it. No, we just, we just, it's impossible. It's just impossible. The fruit of the spirit, Galatians
chapter five, faith. That's the same word that we
find in Ephesians. Chapter 2 and verse 8, for by
grace are you saved through faith. And over there, it's the fruit
of the Spirit. It doesn't say fruits of the
Spirit. It says fruit of the Spirit. This is the fruit of
the Spirit. If you have any of it, it's been
given to you by God. And so he can, with great joy
and joy to us, say, oh ye of little faith. I am the creator
of it. I'm the giver of it. I'm the
blesser of it. And you'll have none of it. And
you won't believe a word about God until it's given to you.
And once you have a little faith given to you, you'll believe
the word. God's people will never say,
I don't believe it. We can say, and we say it often,
I don't understand it. But we'll never say, I don't
believe it. Because the word is precious to us. It's the message
of Christ. There is a passage of scripture
that I have just fallen in love with, and it's found over in
the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse
13. You know, there are times when
it doesn't seem like I have anything. I just don't have, I'm just dry. I just, well, it says here, if
we believe not. Now, there are people that would
tell you this is not to the church, but this is to the church. There
are times when it just looks impossible. And what are we going
to do if we believe not? Now, oh my, is he going to throw
us down? Is he going to beat on us? What's
he going to do to us? Religion will say, well, you
just lost your salvation. Christ says, yet he abideth faithful. He abideth faithful. The Lord
abides faithful all the time. Though it doesn't seem like we
have a whit of it. We just don't have any of it.
We don't have an ounce of it. We don't have a scintilla of
it. We don't have a milliliter of it. We have nothing of it.
It just seems like it's all gone. I, he said, for you, my little
flock, for you, my children, for you of little faith, I will
keep you. What's it say there? Yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himself. What did he say about his church?
What did he say about his little flock? What did he say about
his children? What did he say about those of little faith? I lose not one of you. and he cannot be denied. He will
have what he has said he will have, the Lord of glory. How
much of the word of God has been revealed to you? At best, a little,
oh brethren, a little, and thank God for that. Oh, he's our shepherd. We're his flock. He's my father. I'm his child. And I have a little
faith. And He gave it to me. I have
nothing else, nothing else, nothing else except what He has given
to us. He is Savior, Savior, Savior. Brother.