When I was not quite 17 years
old, God was pleased to reveal his son in me, give me faith
in the Lord Jesus, called me from darkness to light, washed
me in his precious blood, gave me the blessed knowledge of sin
forgiven through the grace and mercy, righteousness and justice,
truth and goodness of God my Savior. And immediately I wanted
to tell everybody about him. I wanted everybody to know of
His grace, His redemption, His forgiveness. I didn't know much
but what I knew and Him whom I knew I wanted everyone to know. It's now been nearly 49 years. And I want more than ever to
tell everybody about Him. I want more than ever to preach
the gospel of His free grace to this generation. I want more
than ever that you who hear my voice should know my Redeemer. And I labor day and night every
day to this end. I labor to this end all the time. And I often am discouraged with
what I see as a result of my labor. I often find myself asking
myself, is anybody hearing me? Does anyone pay any attention?
Is anyone hearing the word? And when we begin to look at
things and measure things As we see them as we observe them
We are easily and constantly discouraged I want you to open
your bibles with me to the book of Zechariah I'm confident God's
given me a message for you Zechariah chapter 4 I'll get to the text
in a moment Zerubbabel was a man chosen of
God to build again the temple at Jerusalem after the Babylonian
captivity and as the builder of God's temple this man Zerubbabel
was an eminent type of our Lord Jesus Christ if you read about
him in Haggai and Zechariah you see clearly that the things spoken
of him are applicable to our Redeemer shortly after Zerubbabel
and his men had laid the foundation and the work was begun. Many
began to despise the work. They looked upon the work the
Lord God had trusted to their hands as small and insignificant. A work that really didn't make
any difference. Remembering the greatness and
the grandeur of that magnificent temple that Solomon had built
Many of the old men who had been around and they had seen the
previous temple, they looked upon the rebuilding of this temple
that was considerably smaller than Solomon's temple, considerably
less glorious than Solomon's temple, would lack many things
the Solomon's temple had. They looked upon it as being
a despicable thing, hardly worth mentioning. Israel's enemies
despised them and despised the work they were doing and mocked
them all the time they were working. Even Joshua the high priest and
Zerubbabel the prince seemed to have doubted whether the work
would ever be completed. And it seems that for a time
they'd just given it up altogether. The Jews were few in number.
The laborers among them were fewer still. Those few Jews who
had been released from Babylon to go back to build the temple
possessed hardly anything. They had no wealth, no strength,
no ability with which to overcome the obstacles before them. The
whole thing just seemed impossible. The enterprise was just too great
for them. Having laid the foundation and
raised up a portion of the walls of the temple, they simply quit. In despair of ever completing
the work, they gave it up. The people of God trembled, and
the enemies of God's people jeered and rejoiced. Then God raised
up two prophets. God always raises up a man to
speak for him when his people need a word from him. He raised
up Haggai and Zechariah to stir up the people, to encourage the
faith of his servants, to lift up the hands that hung down,
and to strengthen the feeble knees. And these two prophets
spoke as voices of thunder and lightning. rebuking the unbelief
and the indolence of Zerubbabel the prince Joshua the priest
and the people of Israel calling all to repentance Haggai's words
if you go back just a couple of pages and read those two chapters
of Haggai and I encourage you to read them Haggai's words are
scorching to read you read these two chapters and if you can Apply
them to yourself and hear God speaking to you. They are scorching
to read. I can only imagine what it must
have been like to hear that man declare the message God had sent
him to declare. Oh, what kind of man Haggai must
have been to stand before the congregation of Israel and speak
as God's prophet such scorching words of rebuke. These Jews to
whom he spoke, he tells them in verse four, chapter one, he
said, you consider nothing too costly for your own comfort. you consider nothing too costly
for your own pleasure nothing too demanding in the building
of your fine sealed houses but then in verse 2 we read that
these same men who spent lavishly what they had for their comfort
who labored hard to build houses for them and their families these
same men said the time is not come that the Lord's house should
be built Why? Because look over chapter 2 verse
3 in their eyes It was in comparison of it of the former temple as
nothing There's a rubble this is nothing
we saw Solomon's temple we were alive during Solomon's day and
Solomon's glory and the glory of the temple that Solomon built
and now you you're going to tell us you're going to build again
the house of God it's nothing and yet scorching as Haggai's
words were against Israel's unbelief and indolence Haggai was sent
to comfort God's people Isn't that marvelous? While rebuking
our unbelief, God always gives a word of comfort. While exposing
our sin, he always speaks a word of comfort and assurance to his
people. Haggai was sent to assure God's people of his faithfulness. He gave them this assuring, comforting,
encouraging word from the Lord God. Look at Haggai chapter 2,
verse 17. The Lord God says though I smoke
you with blasting and with mildew and with hail Then a last line
of verse 19. He says from this day Will I
bless thee? From this day will I bless thee. Haggai assured God's servant
Zerubbabel that God had chosen him for the work and that he
would make his work successful in verse 23 of chapter 2. He
said, O Zerubbabel, my servant, thou son of Shittil, saith the
Lord Will make thee as a signet for I chosen thee saith the Lord
of hosts to the rubber boy Joshua and to all the people of God
God's Word by Haggai was this be strong Be strong For I am
with you be strong for I am with you and according to the word that I
covenanted with you he says my spirit remaineth with you fear
ye not how could Haggai speak like he did as God's prophet
with such courage with such boldness with such confidence with such
strength how could Nathan Go to the King David, who all David
had to do was snap his fingers and somebody cut that man's head
off. How could Nathan go to David and speak with boldness, with
confidence, with courage as the voice of God to his soul? How
could the Apostle Paul stand before the Athenians and rebuke
their idolatry and stand before the Jews and rebuke their idolatry
and stand before the nations and rebuke their ungodliness?
How could John the Baptist go in before the king and rebuke
him for his ungodliness? How could such men have such
courage that were men who spoke as God's prophets as God's ambassadors
with this confidence I am with you and if God is with me I have
no reason to fear anybody or anything or any circumstance
or any obstacle or any situation so the Lord God raises up these
prophets and sends Haggai and he rebukes their ungodliness
and then he assures them that from this day I will bless you
be strong I'm with you I will fulfill my covenant. I will accomplish
my purpose. I will build my house. I will
save my people. I will glorify my name. Do what
I put in your hand to do. And then Zechariah came right
behind Haggai and he said, amen. Brother Haggai has given you
the very word of God. Brother Haggai has spoken to
you God's word. His was also a message calling
for Israel and us to repent, assuring us of God's unfailing
faithfulness, assuring us that God, which has begun a work in
us and with us, will complete that work to the praise of the
glory of His grace, assuring us that the whole building of
God's house is God's work. All would to God we could understand
this. It is ours, Brother Eric, to
labor faithfully as God's servants, as though everything totally
depended on our faithful labor. That's your responsibility as
pastor here. That's your responsibility. That's
my responsibility in Danville. It is your responsibility, people
of God, to labor in the cause of Christ as though everything
regarding God's purpose, the saving of God's people, the furtherance
of God's gospel, the building of God's church, as though everything
totally depended on you. I mean as though everything depended
on you. Realizing all the while that
you can't do anything. Realizing all the while you can't
accomplish anything Realizing all the while this is altogether
God's work. Yeah, let's look at Zechariah
chapter 4 verse 6 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. This building of the house of
God is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
Now wait a minute. They were putting rocks and mortar
together. They were stacking rocks on top
of each other. It takes some might and some
power to do that. He's not just talking about the building of
that physical temple. This is talking about something
far greater than that temple. In fact, the Lord later says,
the glory of this house, the glory of this house, it's going
to be greater than the glory of Solomon's temple. The glory
of this house, even though this house would never have the Ark
of the Covenant, and never have the mercy seat, and would never
have the golden candlestick, and would never have the showbread
table, never have any of those things, never have those marvelous,
marvelous furnishings that Solomon's temple had, that were never recovered,
never brought back, but God said by Zechariah, this house will
be far more glorious. How come? Because he who is the
mercy seat, and he who is the ark of the covenant, and he who
is the light of the world, and he who is the bread of life,
he's going to walk into this house one day, in the flesh,
God our Savior, Christ the very glory of God will appear. He
says now, this building of the house, of the church and temple
of God, is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord. Who art thou, O great mountain? What's this doing? It's a picture. It's just a picture. Here you
are, you have a responsibility to build the house of God. And
there are huge obstacles in the way. No indication that there
were any mountains that Zerubbabel had to remove. They had already
laid the foundation. They had already begun to raise
the walls. What's he talking about mountain? Obstacles. Obstacles. Difficulties. Things that... Man, you just can't do anything
about it. You just can't do anything about
it. Trouble, you can't overcome. Difficulties, you can't take
away. Trials, you can't meet. Needs,
you can't fulfill. Faiths, oh, but who art thou? Oh, great mountain, before God
passed. What's going to stand before
Him? This one who's appointed to build the kingdom. Before
is a rubble before Christ thou shalt become a plane Before Christ every obstacle
leveled out and made a path to walk on and He shall bring forth
the headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace grace unto it moreover
the word of the Lord came to me saying The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house. His hands also shall finish
it. The hands of Christ laid the
foundation in everlasting grace and his hands shall finish the
work. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. When God gets done, ah,
when God gets done, I labor in the preaching of the
gospel with this confidence. Everybody who has ever heard
this man speak, audibly or by written word, everybody who has
ever heard this man speak will know that God sent me to speak
to you. Everybody will know all those
who are saved by his grace and all those who are everlastingly
Tormented in hell by the word. They've heard me preach will
know God sent me now look up for who have despised the day
of small things For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet
in the hand of Zerubbabel, the plummet in the hand of Christ.
With those seven, those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord,
the eyes of infinite wisdom, the eyes of him who sees all
and knows all, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
Now let's focus our minds on this 10th verse. Here's my subject. The day of small things. The day of small things. Who hath despised the day of
small things? Let me make several statements
that I'm confident if God will speak by me to your heart will
help you tonight. First, I remind you that everything
great began very small. Shelby and I, for years, raised
a large garden. For a long time, we raised about
an acre and a half garden. And that was just for me and
her and our little girl. And when the little girl got married,
just me and her and her family. But that's a lot of garden to
raise. And in the late summer, We would have lots of corn. Lots of corn. Oh, man. Go out and pick that fresh corn
off the cob or on the cob and bring it in and boil it just
a little bit and bite into it. Just, oh, that's wonderful stuff. But you know how that corn began?
A little seed in the ground. Little seed. We have a oak tree
out in front of the church building. I planted it myself. It's now
a big tree. It's been there for nearly 35
years. You know how it started? A little acorn. That's all it
was. Just a little acorn. An acorn that squirrels hide
for themselves in the wintertime and go back and dig them up and
eat them. That's how insignificant the
acorn is. That's how the tree began. The
mighty Russian River begins as a small trickling stream, just
a little brook. And in spiritual things, great
things always have small beginnings. You can't imagine how small,
how insignificant. More than 500 years ago, there
was a monk God had saved him by his grace by the name of Martin
Luther. And one day in Wittenberg, Germany,
he walked out to the front door of the church building where
he was and he nailed up a piece of paper. Just a black side piece
of notebook paper, a little bit bigger. with some comments about
things God had taught him. Called it Luther's 99 Theses.
Just doctrine, gospel truth God had revealed to him. And that
started what had become known as the Protestant Reformation
that swept over the world. The whole world. The Great Awakening. Let me tell you how that began.
It began with a group of young college fellows. All of them
were religious as all get out. All of them drunk on the wine
of Babylon's fornication. All of them believed in salvation
by works. But they began to meet in Oxford
University in England. Once a week and then daily for
prayer and Bible study at the time not one of them knew God
But I'll tell you one of the young men in that group was a
fella by the name of George Whitfield. You ever heard his name? God begins great things in a
small way the modern missionary movement we send missionaries
all over the world support gospel preachers wherever God sends
them but the modern missionary movement began with one man by
the name of William Carey who was determined to preach the
gospel to the barbarian tribesmen of India and from that God has
raised up mission works Continually to this day all over the world
so pastor. Why are you telling us this?
well when you have the privilege of Teaching two or three students
in a Sunday school class Don't don't look at that as insignificant
One of them might be named Spurgeon or Whitfield or Paul My wife, every Sunday, teaches
one little girl. One little girl. And she stays
up late getting ready to do it. Every week. Why not more? Because
there's just one who Mama and Daddy's interested in her soul.
That's all. There's just one who Mama and Daddy cares to bring
her. That's all. Well, why would you spend so much time on that?
Oh my, she might be one of God's. She might be one of God's. I
go all over the world preaching to smaller congregations than
this. Do it all the time. Do it all
the time. Why? They're God's people. The Lord's sheep. Oh, my. One of the highest honors I've
ever had on two different occasions. Shelby and I have had friends
who came to us and asked us if we would agree for them to name
us in their will to raise their children should something happen
and God take them out of this world. And that's a big responsibility. That's a big responsibility.
I can't think of a higher honor for any man to give another.
Can you? I can't think of a higher honor
for any man to give another except this. God has trusted us with
the treasure of his grace in this generation. We have this
treasure in earthen vessels. God has put in our hands, you
folks here at San Diego, Brother Craig, you folks up at Cucumber,
God has put in our hands the gospel of his grace. He's trusted
to us the gospel of His grace. What an honor. What a privilege. And the people for whom He has
trusted the word into our hands are His chosen, His elect, His
sons and daughters, His redeemed ones. It's usually God's way. to begin great works in this
world with small things. The whole human race came for
just one man. I was thinking about this driving
over here tonight. Where we live in Danville, three cars at stoplight
on Saturday night is a traffic jam. I mean, we just don't have
the kind of traffic y'all got out here. Things aren't quite
this exciting, but somebody said, what do y'all do for entertainment?
Go watch the stoplight change colors? We live in the country. We live in a rural area. But
driving out here, I started to get on the freeway, and my soul,
miles and miles and miles and miles of lights. And this is
just a few of those people. All from one man God made. God began this whole thing with
just one man. Just one man. The nation of Israel was born
from a fellow by the name of Abraham when he was a hundred
years old. There's one man. Our Lord Jesus
began the New Testament church with just 12 disciples. After
he was crucified, when he was risen again, after the resurrection,
there was 120 of them meeting together in one room. In just
a short while, by the time you get to Acts chapter 2, the end
of Acts chapter 2, there are 3,000 added to the church. By the time you get to Acts chapter
7, there are more than 10,000. And those people scattered with
persecution carried the gospel into the four corners of the
earth. God has chosen to give birth to great things by insignificant
things. And he does that so that no flesh
should glory in his presence. So that he who glories, glories
in the Lord. Why does God do things this way? Why is it that he begins his
work in the day of small things? He does it to show us that the
instruments he uses are absolutely meaningless. Absolutely meaningless. My first year in Bible college,
I was out in Springfield, Missouri. My first theology professor in
the school out there got up on the first day of our class. There
were about 800 freshman preacher boys in the class. And he referred
us to a passage of scripture from the book of Judges and told
us how that God used the jawbone of an ass to slay a thousand
Philistines and he paused for a little bit and looked at us
800 aspiring preachers who just had the world by the tail on
a downhill pull and he said from the looks of things he's still
using the jaw bones of asses. That's just right. You're nothing. And you're nothing. And I'm nothing. Why does God use such things?
So that everybody will know the instrument's meaningless. He
does this to show us that the work is His work alone. And He uses small, insignificant
things to try us and prove our faith again and again and again. Now my purpose in bringing this
message is to encourage and comfort and strengthen you in the work
God has put in your hands. And when you're tempted to give
it up, and you're tempted to quit, you're tempted to ease
yourself of the burden, repent of your sin and your unbelief
and put your shoulder more arduously to the work than ever before.
I want to encourage you who labor with me in the cause of Christ
in this day that appears to be a day of small things never to
despise the day God's given us. This day of small things is the
day God made for us. Now I really believe that. This
is the day God made for me. I have said this a number of
times lately. Maybe I'm trying to convince
myself, but I believe I've got myself convinced. I wouldn't
trade places with any man anywhere in the world at any time in history. This is the day God made for
me. Not only that, this is the day for which God made me. This
is the day for which God made you. This is the day of our appointed
service, our appointed usefulness, our appointed work in the cause
of our Redeemer. The day of God's appointed work
in us, for us, and by us. Now, let me make this statement
as well. in all God's works of grace that
work which is performed and accomplished not by might nor by power but
by my spirit saith the Lord there's usually a day of small things
in the experience of grace there's usually a season when the work
of grace seems to be very small unpromising at best indeed there
are often such days of small things and sometimes they're
very long days days by which God both proves our faith and
our faithfulness but that's the way our Lord said it would be
isn't it? He said how shall I describe the kingdom of heaven to you?
How shall I describe the kingdom of heaven to you? Well, if you
go out here and find that great big purpose driven church. Or
you find that great big crystal cathedral. That's it, no, no,
no. How shall I describe the kingdom
of heaven? It's like a mustard seed. The tiniest, most insignificant
of all herbs. You put it in the ground and
it grows and it grows and it grows and it spreads out huge
boughs and the fowls of heaven come and take shelter under his
boughs. That's what it is. It's a little seed planted here,
planted there, planted here, planted there. And it grows here
and there. And God gathers his elect from
the four corners of the earth under the wings or under the
boughs of that great tree. That work of grace that we call
conversion might be called a day of small things. By the mighty
operations of grace, our Savior brings us out of darkness into
light, translates us into the kingdom of God's dear Son, makes
us children of light, and we thank Him for the day in which
the day spring from on high visited us. It's called day because this
is the day of salvation. This is the day of His power.
This day of grace is the day of His espousals and the day
of the gladness of His heart. And yet it's a day of small things. When God first gives you faith
in Christ, I listen to preachers talk sometimes
and other folks and they start to decide that they're big enough
and smart enough and wise enough and gracious enough that they
know who the Lord's people are and who's not. They know who
real believers are and who are false believers. They know who's
real Christians and who's not. What do you think about this
doctrine or that? What do you think about this thing or that?
Let me tell you what I knew when God saved me by His grace. I
knew I was blind and now I see. That's about what I knew. I was
blind to God, His grace, His glory, His son, His righteousness,
His obedience, His death, His sacrifice, His blood. I was blind
to everything. And now I see that Christ put
away my sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The day of small
things. Man's first converted. Don't
expect them to know everything all at once. I've been in this way for a good
while now. And I'm beginning to realize
that I don't know anything. Now I'm not, I'm not speaking
to impress you. I'm telling you just that I just
don't know. I just don't know much. I feel
like that man, the Lord took him out and made clay and spit
on his eyes and said, do you see anything? He said, I see
men as trees walking. That's not much, but that sure
beats the heck out of not seeing anything. And I now see all being
clearly when it touches me again God gives us light as he gives
us light. He gives us understanding as
he gives us understanding but in the beginning Faith is small
and knowledge is small and experience is small and strength is small
and hope is small we have little Not only is the beginning of
grace a day of small things the whole experience of grace in
this world is a day of small things I used to think I believed God
and I used to think oh how I love
Jesus And I used to think I was confident,
confident of God's goodness. But I have to confess to you,
I struggle to believe God. And my love for Christ is not
something I can sing about. And my confidence in my Redeemer
is not something I talk about. This day of grace while we live
in this world of sin in our hearts. Brother Eric, while we live walking
with this old man all the time is a day of small things. Understand
this too. Though this is a day of small
things, it's not a day to be despised. It's not despised by
our Father in heaven. Your prayers may only be the
cry of a newborn babe before him. But I'll tell you one of the
sweetest sounds I ever heard in my life was the first time I heard our
only child cry. Oh, I've got a child full of
life. And the cry of your soul is the
cry of his child. He hears the cries of his child
and he takes his child by the hand and leads that child and
teaches that child to walk by faith. He gives us strength as
it's needed, day by day. Grace as it's needed, day by
day. He never gives grace that's not
needed. He never gives help that's not
needed. He never gives faith that's not
needed. He gives us His help, His grace,
and that faith that He alone can give day by day as it's needed. See how gracious He is? I only
find in this book one time, one time where we have a picture
of God getting in a hurry. only one time. In Luke chapter
15 we have a picture of a man and his boy had been called and
he's coming home and when he was yet a great way off his father
saw him and arose and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him and kissed him and kissed him. Our day of small things
is never small to our Father. The day of small things is never
despised by our Savior, the Lord Jesus. He receives every child
of grace that comes to him in faith. Be that faith ever so
small. He regards to the beginnings
of grace as buds of a vine in his vineyard, needing constant
special attention and care. He carries the lambs of his flock
in his omnipotent arms next to his heart. The bruised reed he'll
never break, the smoking flax he will never quench, the thirsty
soul he will always refresh, the hungry soul he always feels,
and the broken heart he always heals. and God the Holy Ghost
our divine comforter doesn't despise this day of small things
no you remember how he's described
in Romans 8 he helpeth our infirmities with groans that baffle speech
So let us never despise what seems to be the day of small
things in others. Every believer, every sinner
saved by God's grace, every sinner saved by God's grace is loved
of God from eternity. Chosen as his jewel. purchased at the price of Christ's
precious blood. Watched over, guarded, and cared
for by God the Holy Spirit. Every one of them are those for
whom God rules the world all the time. For whom he raises
up nations and puts down nations. For whom he sacrifices Ethiopia
and Egypt and Saba and men and people for their lives. They're
precious to him. Don't despise them. Don't despise
them. We've gotten too big. Way too
big for our britches. When we think we set in judgment
over folks and we can decide who's saved and who's lost. Now,
I know any infidel, any unbeliever, folks who don't believe the gospel
of God's grace, they're lost. I understand that. I understand
that. But God's people, man alive, they sure mess things up a lot.
In fact, you have. Brian Skiffington messed up a
bunch. And Don Fortner has messed up
a bunch. We ought not be too hard on anybody
else. I ought not be too hard on anybody else. I know something about what goes
on inside me. Now by action and by deeds, I
hide a lot from you. I wouldn't want you to know what
I am. You wouldn't have anything to do with me. And you will find
me in outward behavior, perhaps different from other men, but
not inside. Not inside. And you won't find
yourself different inside either. You won't find yourself any better
than anybody else. So don't despise God's people. Even the most well-established,
most mature believer in this world is in a very low condition. And the more mature they are,
the more they know it. God's people often behave as
people who do not know God. God's people often behave as
unbelievers. God's people often behave as
people of no knowledge of grace and redemption and forgiveness.
I mean by that Mark Iverson, God's people often behave just
like you and just like me. Now that's just fact. That's
just fact. And when they do, they need help. not flogging. Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. What on earth is that talking
about? What's that talking about? Well, when the family needs some
help with their heat bill, help them out. Yeah, do that. When
the family needs a little groceries, help them out. Yeah, do that,
but that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about times,
Cass, when your brother just acts ungodly. when your brother
just acts like someone who doesn't know God. Don't cast him off. Don't beat him down. Help him.
Help him. Pray for him and encourage him
to hear the word and encourage him in the fellowship of God's
saints. Help him. I think one reason that we're
so quick to judge folks, we seem to have a sense of relief. If I see Eric behaving And it's
just really getting under my skin. I'm just really getting
under my skin. And I'm just plumped with it. Well, he doesn't know God. Forget
it. Oh, what if he does? What if he is one of God's? What
if he is redeemed? What if he is loved of God? I
better not forget him. You better not forget him. Help
him. Help him. Always is stretch out your hands to
the fallen. Don't ever fold them up. Well, if you do that, you're
going to embrace folks who are unbelievers. Well, that's happened
before. And you know, it didn't hurt
a thing. It didn't hurt a thing. Our Lord
Jesus Do you know, Bob, when he instituted the Lord's Supper,
he shared his bread and his wine with Judas. Well, I can't worship a man like
that. I can't go to church with a fellow
like that. God save us from our self-righteous
pride. And don't despise the day of
small things in yourself either. He who began his good work of
grace in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
You may think, Brother Don, I have so little faith, so little love
for Christ. I dare not call what I have grace
and hope and love and salvation. Our Lord Jesus says to you, brother
smoking flax, he will not quench the smelly, smoldering, smoking
wick of an oil lantern. Have you ever, some of you have
surely burned oil lanterns before. You ever smell one when you first
put it out? Just stinks. now that wick is blown out but
not quite gold and it just smokes or maybe the filthy waters of
your heart have just almost quenched that thing but it's still smoking
and it stinks to you but the smoke arises to heaven and he smells
it as a sweet fragrance of his child's need and it calls him
to come in mercy. Don't despise the small things
in yourself. He is faithful who's called you,
who also will do it. I recall when I was 17 years
old, Hadn't been long, been a believer,
and I'd been asked to do some teaching and preaching. People
was foolish to do it, but I couldn't say no. I was going through some
trials. I'm talking about tough trials. The kind like your little baby
had when it first started walking and falling in that cushiony
diaper. You knew it wasn't much of a trial, but that child thought
it was going to kill him. Now I was going through one of those
kind of trials and I tried to find some help and I turned to
that passage in 1 Thessalonians 5. Faithful is he that calleth
you who also will do it. That's enough. That's enough.
God's called me by his grace, God will see me through. God
has saved me by his grace, God will keep me by his grace. And
my standing before God, my acceptance with God has nothing to do with
what I feel, or what I know, or what I think, or what I do. My standing before God, my acceptance
with God is Christ Jesus who of God is made unto me wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Our Lord came to a fellow named
Thomas. Did you know Thomas didn't believe
in the resurrection? Thomas didn't believe in the
resurrection. Now the Apostle Paul writes later and says, if
Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, your hope's vain. And
we found false witnesses of God, because we preached that God
raised him up and he didn't raise him up. That's serious business. Thomas didn't
believe in resurrection for a little while. For a little while. He
said, I won't believe unless I stick my finger right there.
And I stick my hand right at his side. And one day the Lord
Jesus walked up and he said, hello Thomas, give me a hand. My Lord and my God. You understand
what I'm saying? Don't despise the small things
in yourself. Peter said, he said, Lord, you
said I'm going to deny you, that's not going to happen. I'll go
with you to judgment and to death. James and John, now they might. Now you can read that any way
you want to. That's exactly what Peter was saying. He said, though all others
forsake you, I won't. James and John might. I've always
been suspicious of them. They might. The Lord said, Peter,
before the rooster crows twice tomorrow morning, you're going
to deny me three times. Do you remember what his next
word was? Do you remember the very next word he spoke? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it. Turn your eyes always away from
yourself to Christ the Lord. as you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord so walk ye in him I'll tell you something else about
the day of small things the cause of Christ in this world appears
as the day of small things just as it was in Zerubbabel's day because it appears as the day
of small things it's despised by many But those who despise the day
of small things don't understand God's work and God's ways. Throughout this book, God just
used the most insignificant things. Did you ever notice that? Noah was commanded of God to
build an ark of gopher wood. You reckon who was impressed
with Noah building that ark? It was a massive thing. It was
something else to behold I'm sure. Especially the folks who
had never heard tell of rain. Especially the folks who had
never heard of a rising river. Especially the folks who had
never heard tell of an earthquake and the earth breaking up from
the deeps. Especially the folks who had never seen a cloud in
the sky. Noah, son have you popped a cork? What's wrong with you? Nobody believes what you're saying.
Nobody does. Go ask your neighbor. Ask your
mom and dad. Nobody's paying any attention
to you. You fool! What are you doing? But by the
building of the ark, Noah saved himself and his household and
all the human race. It's that ark. The Lord God sent
a man to save his people out of Egyptian bondage a man by
the name of Moses who had just as a young man though he was
raised in Pharaoh's house slew an Egyptian and terrified for
his life he ran away was gone to 40 years old and he was sent of God back to
Egypt to bring Israel out of Egypt and Moses said God I can't
do that I can't talk God said don't tell me you can't talk
I made you mouth and Moses brought Israel out
of Egypt the Lord God commanded Moses to erect a place of worship
for him and boy it was impressive. I mean it was impressive. You
think about the temples and the shrines and the pyramids and
all the religious garb the world had. Now Moses is commanded to
fix a place for God to be worshipped. Moses get some badger skins and get some curtains that kind
of look like dirt. And make a tent for me. A tent that one man can put up
by himself in one day and take it down and carry it from place
to place. Make a tabernacle for me and I can picture, man I can
picture folks everywhere they went. Where does Jehovah's people
meet? Where do they worship? Here they
call the only true and living God. You see that big pup down
there? That's their temple. It's called
the tabernacle. God sent his son into the world
to save sinners. And he sent him into the world
in human flesh. And while he walked on this earth,
There wasn't anything about him impressive. He didn't have a
halo over his head. He didn't have wings. You see
these silly idolatrous artist pictures of him, looks like some
kind of a limp wristed, lightened foot, lightened loafers, you
know. Nah, I suspect he's kind of a rough looking character.
I suspect he wasn't pretty to look on at all. I don't know
about that, his physical features. I do know before he left this
world, As he hung on that tree, nobody wanted to see him. He looked like a man who had
been butchered, as he had been. And that man, known by his kinsmen
and friends as a white member, a drunk, a glutton, friend of
publicans and sinners, one who keeps company with harlots. And
when ships are down, his own brethren said to him, You're
his kid. Well, I am his brother, but he's
been in a nut house. He's lost his mind. He's beside
himself. That's Christ the Lord, our Redeemer,
our righteousness, our Savior. God uses what appears to men
to be the most insignificant and the most despised of things.
He called for his messengers, fishermen. Oh, but Brother Don,
he called the Apostle Paul. You know, that used to bother
me. You know, Paul, boy, he was brilliant. He was trained at
the feet of Gamaliel. There's no question he was a
brilliant man, well trained. There's just one problem with
his training. Paul was trained as a Jew at the feet of Gamaliel,
as a Jew. And folks in the Gentile world
looked at that like being educated in a one-room school in the backwoods
of North Carolina. Well, they did learn A, B's and
C's and they did learn to read and write and arithmetic and
not much else and weren't good at that. Paul's learning in the
Gentile world was utterly despised. It didn't do a thing for him.
The apostles, not one of them, not one of them had any credentials
to be recognized by the world. They had no denomination behind
them. They had no system to back them up. They had no team to
go before them. They just went everywhere preaching
the gospel. And you know what they did? They turned the world
upside down. They turned the world upside
down. Children of God, Don't despise
the day of small things. I realize that in the eyes of
the world what you and I are doing is insignificant. Doesn't mean a thing. Doesn't
mean a thing. It's despicable. Folks laugh
at us, make fun of us, religious folks and ungodly folks. What do you think you're doing?
I ain't doing nothing except what God's put in my hand. the
responsibility and the privilege to do. And what God's given me
the opportunity and means to do. And that which God has given
you to do, do it with all your might. Do it with all your might. And you just... And just wait for God to work.
And you wait for God to work. And while we live in this world,
it's probably best that we know little of what God uses us to
accomplish. Our pride just couldn't take
much of it. But there's a day soon to come and that which has been considered
by all a day of small things. shall be spread before wandering
worlds by the hand of our God and our Savior as the utter,
perfect, complete accomplishment of all His will from everlasting
and the salvation of all His people to the glory of His name." I sure would like to be part
of that, wouldn't you? Oh, I'd like to be part of that. And I'm thankful I am. God give
us grace to faithfully serve him in this day and await his
day, the day of his glory in faithful hope and expectation. Amen.