Turn with me to Zechariah chapter
4. And we'll start in verse 1. Zechariah 4 and verse 1. It says, And the angel that talked
with me came again and walked and waked me, as a man that is
waken out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And
I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick, all of gold, with
a bowl on the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and
seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof.
and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl
and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake
to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my
Lord? Then the angel that talked with
me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then
he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the
Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Which that would be
salvation. We can't contribute anything
to our salvation. And this Zerubbabel, obviously,
we looked at this before, is a type and picture of Christ.
Verse 7, Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbel have laid the foundations
of this house. His hands shall also finish it,
and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto
you. For who hath despised the day
of small things? for they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. These are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro through the whole earth." Now, the one
phrase that I want us to look at is, who shall despise the
day of small things? I've liked this phrase for a
long time, but never really pulled it out. Obviously the context
is the Lord, His grace is sufficient, grace unto it. The Zerubbabel,
the Lord Jesus Christ has laid the foundation of this house. The house will be man's heart.
His hands shall also finish it. He has begun a good work, He
will finish it. But how does He finish these
things? He uses means. He doesn't have to, but he does.
And we come to the phrase, who hath despised the day of small
things? I have four examples. Four examples
where the Lord used small things. Actually, only one person is
named. We don't have in the names of the other three examples.
Turn with me to Esther 4. Chapter 4. Right before Job,
Esther, chapter 4. We'll look at verses 1-9. Four
examples of the Lord using small things for His honor and His
glory to bring forth His gospel, and thereby many are redeemed,
are called, are quickened. perceived all that was done,
and all that was done was to be found in chapter 3, this one
Haman of the court of the king saw that Mordecai bowed not,
nor did him reverence, he was full of anger. Wherefore Haman sought to destroy
all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom, of Hasseras,
even the people of Mordecai. So we know Mordecai is a prominent
Jew in a strange land, and Esther, who is also a Jew, is a queen
to the king of Hasseras. Now this is what's going on.
And when Mordecai perceived all that was done, how that Haman
put out a decree and put it out very quickly to kill and murder
all the Jews, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes,
and he went out into the midst of the city and cried with a
loud and bitter cry, and came even before the king's gate,
for none might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
In every province, whosoever the king's commandment and his
decree came, There was great mourning among the Jews and fasting
and weeping and wailing and many laying sackcloth and ashes because
they read the decree. The decree has already been posted
in all these kingdoms, provinces. We're going to get killed. We're
going to be the final destruction of the Jews. So Esther's maids
and her chamberlains, that is messenger, came and told it to
her. Then was the Queen exceeding
grieved, and she sent Raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take
away his sackcloth from him, but he refused it. Then called
Esther for Hathak." Here's this guy. He's a messenger. He's a Chamberlain. His name
is Hathak, one of the King's Chamberlains. whom he had appointed,
the king appointed, to attend upon her, Esther, and she gave
him a commandment to Mordecai to know what it was and why it
was." What's going on? Why are you grieving? She's still
in the palace. She doesn't know what's going on. So Hathak went forth to Mordecai
onto the street of the city which was before the king's gate, and
Mordecai told Hathak of all that happened unto him, and of the
sum of money that this Haman, this wicked Haman, had promised
to pay to the king's treasurers for the Jews to destroy them. And Mordecai gave Hathak a copy
of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to
destroy them, to show it unto the Esther, and to glare it unto
her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king to
make supplication unto him, and to make a request before him
for her people. And Hatech came and told Esther
the words of Mordecai. And again, Esther spake to Hatech
and gave him commandment unto Mordecai. You've got Mordecai, knows what's
going on, found out what's going on. You've got a queen that doesn't
know what's going on. He's grieved, she knows something's
wrong, so she just pulls this guy out, his name is Hatech.
In the Hebrew, his name means Verity, which means truth or
real. In the wise and ever wondrous
providence of our sovereign God, he uses this messenger to be
used to deliver the Jews from being annihilated. He brought the message of Mordecai
and Esther, that's all he did. Do we not have some message ourselves? A message, we're our messengers
of God, to deliver the sinner from certain death unto life,
liberty, and pardon? As I mentioned, his name means
truth or real. And we, by God's good and powerful
grace, Take the truth of how God can be just and justifier. We take the truth. And this is
the singular message and really the only reality that there is. People in this world, they think
that the reality is now, here and now, is to make money, is
to be profitable, is to relax, is to recreate, is to do anything
but come to the house of God and hear the gospel. So, we take
the gospel to them. You go shopping, you see somebody
you know, we are so guilty of talking about everything but
what they need to hear. That's what we do. Here's this person, he's just
a messenger. Woe unto him if he was not faithful
in doing what he was, he's a chamberlain, he's a messenger. We are apt to overlook the minor
actors in scriptural stories in our absorbed interest in the
prominent ones, yet oftentimes these lesser people are just
as important in their own place and their service is just as
essential to the final success of the whole as the greater ones. Do not despise the day of small
things. That's us here. That's us here. Let us be a faithful haytack.
Turn to me to 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. Remember him, the host of the
king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable
because by him the Lord had given deliverance of Assyria. This
is a Gentile. He's Assyrian. He was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. And the Syrians, when they had
conquered Jerusalem, had gone out by companies and had brought
away captives out of the land of Israel. And they brought a
little maid, a little maid, and she waited on Nahum's wife. She's
in the court. She's just a little maid. That's
all we know about her. That's all we know about her.
She said unto her mistress, Would God, my Lord, were with the prophet
that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And
one went in and told his Lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the
maid, this little maid, that is of the land of Israel. That
is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go
to, and I will send thee a letter to the king of Israel. And he
departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand
pieces of gold, ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter
to the king of Israel saying, Now when this letter has come
unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Nahum, my servant to thee,
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. It came to pass
when the king of Israel read the letter that he rent his clothes
and said, Am I God to kill and make alive? that this man does
send me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore, consider,
I pray you, to see how he seeks a quarrel against me." And it
was so when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel
had rent his clothes that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore
hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me. Let Nahum
come to me. And he shall know that there
is a prophet in Israel. The Lord used this little mate. We don't even have her name. Was used of God to fill the gaps
just so as to cause this mighty leopard to hear of the God of
Israel, to hear of the Gospel. He got humbled. He got healed. And he got recovered from this
foul disease. And isn't there people walking
around among us who are in foul disease? Who were born in sin? And that's all they know? And
that's all they care to know about? They're concerned about
buying and selling and getting gain. But this little maid was
used of God to speak the truth. To make them aware. Is there a place in Jackson?
Is there a place in the Southeast Missouri where the Gospel is
preached? Just tell somebody. May we be
used. In the splendor of the Syrian
court, none could help, nail them, but this little maid. This
insignificant little girl. The smallest links in a chain
are often times quite as important as the greatest links. Our eyes
go to the great links. Our eyes go to that which men
see and men talk about. I don't care. They were ignorant
and unlearned men, but they had been with Christ. Why, the smallest of seeds, the
mustard seed, used to sell in that sunny hill, it can and does
propagate into something large and graceful. Can we not be employed
of God wherever we are stationed or called? Wherever we're stationed
or called. Oh, I need to have more money to be able to talk
with the Lord. No. I need to have a bigger home. No. You don't
need any of that stuff. You have everything we need. We have the mouth, we have the
tongue, The fortitude of grace in the heart? Whatever the gifts He gives to
each child of grace, may we make use of it to the fullest. Honor
God in whatever walk of life we are presently in. I say again,
do not despise the day of small things. Turn to John chapter
6. And I had to look because I thought,
okay, I had never seen this, to be honest with you. Because
this lesson, defeating the 5,000, it's in Matthew, it's in Mark,
or Luke, it's in other places. And so that's where I usually
would go. And it doesn't mention this one situation. I'd missed
this completely. Matthew 6, verses 5-14. When Jesus then lifted up his
eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto
Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this
he said to prove him, for he knew himself what he would do.
Philip answered, Two penny worth of bread is not sufficient for
them, that every one of them may take a little. And of his
disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said unto him, There
is a lad here, there is a lad here, which hath five barley
loaves, two small fishes, but what are they among so many?
And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much
grass in the place, so the men sat down, a number about five
thousand. And Jesus took the loaves. When
he had given thanks and distributed to the disciples, the disciples
to them were set down, likewise the fishes as much as they would.
When they were filled, He said unto the disciples, Gather up
the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them
together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of five barley
loaves, and remained over and above them that had eaten. Then
those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said,
This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."
Pretty interesting revelations. Now, how did they see that? Because
there was a little lad who... It actually doesn't mention even
that there was a lad there in the other two Gospels. So I'm
looking and I'm like, ok, this is one more passage in John 6.
So I'm like, I guess this writer knows what he's talking about.
And I look and there it was. He didn't give the passage where
he took that from. So I looked through the other
places and said, I'm not sure it's there. And here it is. Do we not wish to make known
that prophet? Verse 14, because of what happened,
because this little lad was so unselfish and gave what he could
to the Lord, these men, it's a miracle. They've seen the miracle
Is this of a truth? This is of a truth. That prophet. That prophet. Let us be of service
as this unnamed lad was. He, through the unselfish giving,
was employed by Christ to feed many folk who perhaps, without
the supply of food or miracle, would have perished. We don't
know. Notwithstanding, in God's unbroken and sure providence,
this lad was applied to an end. He helped those in time of need.
He helped those in time of need. May our Lord use us as He deems
best for the supply of rich free grace unto life everlasting,
all to the praise of the glory of His grace. So we may not be
a David, we may not be a John or a Paul, however, we can avail
ourselves to be deployed for God's employ so as to exalt His
free electing grace found only in the Beloved. to be a part, to be put into
service wherever and whenever He chooses to do so. To see that
it is God in Christ who calls us, quickens us, chooses us,
chose us all to humbly bow before His rightful claims. This lad
just happened to be there. And you could say, what if, what
if, what if, you know, what if the little maid wasn't there?
Well, according to the story, Naaman wouldn't have been, you
know. And what if Esther hadn't been
there? Or did not faithfully discharge his service? We know
all things are of God, and this is the story. It cannot be altered
any other way. But I'm saying, once again, do
not despise the day of small things. And lastly, we looked at this
before, 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22, it's about
this wicked king Ahab. We've looked at this story before,
1 Kings 22. This king, he was so wicked he
didn't even dress up like a king. He made sure nobody knew who
he was when he was out there because he was afraid he might
get killed. Well, his time was numbered anyway. In verse 34, 1 Kings 22, And
a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel,
that's Ahab, between the joints of the harness Wherefore, he
said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand and carry me
out of the host. I am wounded." And he dies. We know the story.
He dies. But he did all the things he
could. All the things that man's wisdom
tells him he should do. He had armor, he had this and
he had that. But basically, a nobody, a certain man is not named. drew upon his bow and shot an
arrow. Just an adventure. He's going
to hit somebody. Maybe not. Maybe a horse. Maybe
bounce off the armor. But he just... It found its mark in the breast
of this wicked ruler or king. It killed him, slayed, died. And every time you talk to somebody,
Every time I preach to somebody, anybody's up here? That's what
we're doing. That's exactly what we're trying
to accomplish. Every time we speak the truth, which is the
arrow, is we're trying to kill sinners. We're trying to kill
them of their own hope in themselves. We're trying to slay their trusting
in their armor, their trusting in their their ability to think
and to do all these different things, to trust anything other
than Christ. That's what we're doing. But
we don't take specific aim. We just shoot it. The word certain is italic. Amen.
It's just somebody. But if God has given you the
Gospel, you carry arrows. And that's what we do. We pray
God will smite the proud and humble them and convert them.
That the flesh may be crucified dead and the new creature in
Christ arise to life everlasting. The name, the position of the
shooter is of no concern really. You have the arrows of the truth.
The Word of God. I've quoted this last time I
quoted this at 13th Street, but what Scott Richardson said, A
preacher is a nobody who tells everybody about somebody who
can save anybody. And so is a believer. Or nothing. God says His Word will not come
back void ever. You may be adding, heaping coals
of fire on their head for their condemnation. We don't know. He will utilize whom He will
to speak the truth and the reality, hey tech, reality, truth, or
the gravity of their situation at hand, that they're lost and
undone and they're sinners. We were talking about this the
other day, you know, with this discipline thing that they brought
back in southwest Missouri. Melinda, not too many years ago,
Sinners in the hand of an angry God was required reading in schools. You bet. We may damage the psyche
of the children. I don't think so. I don't think
so. We are to proclaim the good news
of the Savior and substitute for the lawless and for the captives,
and through the gospel, arrows, set them free to serve, worship,
and adore Christ the King of kings. Again I say, do not despise
the day of small things. Let me read you something. When
somebody was ordained, preacher, save, sinner, this is a good
prayer for all of us, but this particular person was being ordained
and he said, O Lord God, Thou hast made me a pastor and a teacher
in the church. We're all kings and priests.
So this applies to everybody. Thou seest how unfit I am to
administer rightly this great and responsible office. And had
I been without thy aid and thy counsel, I would surely have
ruined it a long time ago. Therefore, do I invoke thee. How gladly do I desire to yield
and consecrate my heart and mouth to this ministry. I desire to
teach the congregation. I, too, desire ever to learn
and to keep thy word my constant companion. and to meditate thereupon
earnestly. Use me as thy instrument in thy
service. Only do not thou forsake me,
for if I am left to myself, I will certainly bring it all to destruction." That's us. We, in whatever capacity
He graces, let us fill it to the fullest. To God be the glory
and honor and praise. in this little group, but may
we not despise the day of small things.