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Now also many nations are gathered
against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, let our eye look
upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts
of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel. for he shall
gather them as the sheaves unto the floor. Arise and thresh,
O daughter of Zion, thou make thine horn iron, thou make thy
hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, thou consecrate
their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord
of the whole earth. Now gather thyself in troops,
O daughter of troops, he hath laid siege against us, They shall
smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou,
Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of these shall he come forth unto me, that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up,
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth
then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel. He shall stand and feed in the
strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord
his God, and they shall abide. For now shall he be great unto
the ends of the earth. Amen. We'll read the reading
there. Let's ask the Lord's blessing upon us as we seek to consider
his word this evening. Lord, we give thanks for thy
word. and for its many truths and applications in our lives. We pray, O Lord, this evening
that as we come to it that you would give us a spirit of understanding. Lord, that we might have a listening
ear. Lord, that you would grant that
the words that I speak are the words that thou wouldst have
heard. So, Lord, we pray. Bless us to that end for the
glory of thy great name. Amen. There are many examples
in scripture of a little resulting in a lot. We heard the children
singing last Sunday about the gift of Jesus Christ and of God
coming in the flesh to save our sinful souls from death and from
destruction. And that there was a very visual
display of the greatest of truths coming from the smallest mouths.
As the scripture says, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
hast thou ordained strength. The little thing is a big theme
in the word of God. Remember Elijah who stood upon
the mount and the Lord said, go forth and stand upon the mount
before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by. The great and
strong wind rent the mountains and breaking pieces the rocks
before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after
the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, a still small voice. As Joshua came to old
age and would soon die, he reminded Israel, for the Lord had driven
out from before you great nations and strong But as for you, no
man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. One man of
you shall chase a thousand for the Lord your God, he it is that
fighteth for you as he hath promised. Here's another interesting one.
Remember Samson? Whether or not he himself was
large or small doesn't change the fact that with the jawbone
of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have
I sling a thousand men. Such a little thing, the jawbone
of an ass, yet a thousand of the Lord's enemies met their
end by it, heaps upon heaps. Elijah, again, remember the cruise
of oil and the barrel of meal, and how he was sustained by the
smallest measure of oil and of meal, enough to make three cakes
for him and the mother and child who hosted him in Zarephath?
That's that small amount, and yet the Lord sustained him on
that little thing. David versus Goliath is an obvious
example as well. How that little shepherd boy
standing with a sling and stones against a man of war, clad in
armor, standing with a spear as thick as a weaver's beam,
and out of littleness came the destruction again of the enemies
of God and his people. But then also consider how that
by the means of just 12 apostles, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ was spread throughout the world and that Christianity
was established and founded as far away as Europe and India
so that we today have the completed canon of the word of God in our
very hands. I mentioned earlier about the
children singing and it used to be not so very long ago that
we had two Sunday schools here. We had one based in Cranford,
which is where the Cranford Banks is, and another based here at
Feltham. And every year, they would hold a special service
for the anniversary of each Sunday school. There would be different
times of the year. And the children would come and give a presentation,
some theme or other. And I and my siblings, obviously,
attended the Cranford Sunday School. We were always here for
the Feltham one. I distinctly remember that the
Feltham Sunday School anniversary, no matter what the theme was,
it would always have one song every time. I think some of you
will know the words. I don't know if my wife does,
but she was attendee of that Sunday School. Little is much
when God is in it. Little is much when God is in
it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown, and you can
win it if you go in Jesus' name. Little is much. Well, I'd say
that my subject this evening is littleness, or more specifically,
greatness out of littleness and greatness into littleness. A
lesson in humility. Despise not the day of the little. And you immediately guessed probably
a while ago what verse I want to consider this evening. I may
even be on screen. Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. So in considering this subject
then this evening, I want to consider first of all the littleness
of beginnings. Here we're considering the wider
context of the prophecy very briefly so that we have an understanding
or an overview of the prophecy as a whole. Micah was a prophet
who was a contemporary of Isaiah. The difference between them was
that Micah's words were directed at the northern kingdom. You
remember the kingdom split, the ten tribes of Israel went away
from the southern kingdom, whereas Isaiah's words were directed
at the southern kingdom of Judah. But there are many similarities
between the two books in terms of their overall message. Isaiah
is much longer than Micah, of course, but the message, the
pattern of the message is very similar. There's a prophecy of
coming destruction due to their sin, followed then by comfort
in the form of the prophecies of the coming Messiah. And if
you turn to Micah chapter two, verses one to three, you will
see these words. Woe to them that devise iniquity
and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light. They
practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They
covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take
them away, so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and
his heritage. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
behold, against this family do I devise an evil or a calamity
from which ye shall not remove your necks. Neither shall ye
go haughtily, for this time is evil. Neither shall ye go haughtily. Here is this pronouncement then
of judgment upon them, a judgment from which they would not be
able to remove their necks. It was coming because of their
haughty demeanor and their sinfulness. Then turn to Micah chapter three
and look at verses nine to 12. There we read these words. Hear this, I pray you, the heads
of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel that abhor
judgment and pervert all iniquity. They build up Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward,
and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof
divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your
sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps,
and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Because of their sin, Zion will
become as a ploughed field, and the mountain of the house, which
refers to the temple mount, will become overgrown and neglected
as a wild forest. Because again of their pride,
and their presumption that even in the midst of their sin they
thought the Lord was still among them and that no evil could come
upon them. But then turn to chapter 4. We've already read these words
but let's do so again from verse 11 because here the tone changes
somewhat. Now also many nations are gathered
against thee. Let's say let her be defiled
and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts
of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel or plan. He shall gather them as sheaves
unto the floor, the floor referring to the threshing floor. And verse
13, arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine
horn iron, and I will make thy hoof brass, and thou shalt beat
in pieces many people. and I will consecrate their gain
unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth."
So the nations round about said, let her be defiled and let us
look upon her in her defilement. The idea being that they take
pleasure in the downfall of Israel. They would gaze with contentment,
with a cheery gratification at what had become of her. The verse
12 says, But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither
understand they his counsel, that he shall gather them, that
is the nations, as the sheaves unto the floor. Then arise and
thresh, O daughter of Zion, I will make thine horn iron. We heard
this morning that the horn refers sometimes and does in this case
to strength. Thy hoofs brass, thou shalt beat
in pieces many people. the Lord would cause the nations,
as it were, to be scattered upon the floor of the threshing, that
Israel themselves might come and thresh and beat in pieces
with the hooves, as it were, their enemies. And the tide changes
as we move into chapter five. Now gather thyself in troops,
O daughter of troops, he had laid siege against us. They shall
smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. to be smitten
upon the cheek, of course, is a sign of disrespect and of dishonor,
that in this way Israel had been brought low. And then comes the
but. But thou, Bethlehem Mephrata,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Therefore will he give them up until the time that she which
travaileth hath brought forth, then the remnant of his brethren
shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand
and feed, or shepherd, or pastor, in the strength of the Lord.
In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall
abide, shall remain, be preserved. For now shall he be great unto
the ends of the earth. So we see here the juxtaposition
of littleness with greatness. Here is the condition of Israel
as a proud field brought low, belittled by their neighbors,
disrespected and denigrated, smitten on the cheek as it were.
Here in the midst of Israel, even in one of its smallest parts,
a tiny village, will come forth one who will be great. This event,
or the coming of this one, is localized to the smallest of
villages, Bethlehem Eshrata. It is thought that Eshrata was
perhaps a part of Bethlehem, referring to the house of Jesse,
who you may recall in Samuel is called an Ephrathite. Or perhaps
it was just another name for Bethlehem. But yet in this tiny
place comes forth he who is to rule. He was going to be of the
line of David, might be another reason why Shrata is mentioned.
The line of David, the son of Jesse the Ephrathite. But from
this specific locality, tiny though it be, when it comes to
considering the great ends of the earth, tiny, small village,
shall come forth this great one. Verse four says that he will
stand and feed. And I mentioned that means to shepherd or to
pastor. in the strength of the Lord,
and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Due to this
they shall abide, that is, his people, they shall be preserved,
and they shall remain. For now shall he be great unto
the ends of the earth. Though he was to be ruler in
Israel, he is not limited to that. He is going to be great
unto the ends of the earth. And so thus, out of littleness,
comes greatness. Out of a depleted and humbled
nation, a nation that had been brought low, and out of that
nation a humble village, and out of that humble village shall
come forth the greatest. So indeed little is much when
God is in it. We see secondly here the littleness
of the greatest. As much as we see greatness come
out of littleness. We also see in the same action
the same event the greatest become little. In this event of the
nativity of this great one who is to be great to the ends of
the earth whom we know as our Lord Jesus Christ the son of
the Virgin is the God of all being taking into Union with
his divine nature. the nature of man, so that he
is both God and man. In short, God becomes man. He
becomes an infant, a baby. The Lord of the universe, Jesus
Christ, by whom the worlds were framed, clothed in the mantle
of human infancy, when she that travaileth hath brought forth,
as the verse Three says, then there in her arms would be the
all-glorious and all-mighty God. Our family recently welcomed
a new baby boy into our homes and our hearts, Ezra, two months
old. So at many moments when I've
looked at his little hands with perfect little fingernails and
his little feet and little toes and his little nose, I've held
him and kissed him on the head. a helpless and defenceless little
life. That is what the Lord of Glory
became. That Mary might kiss the head
of the Lord of the Universe is a wondrous thing. But we see
in this the humility of Christ. He set aside his divine glory,
a majesty that we cannot conceive of, that the most ambitious,
powerful, and richest man that has ever lived has not even begun
to imagine in all of its greatness and immensity. And yet he humbled
himself and laid aside that majesty. There is no greater display of
humility than this, and there can never be. The Reformed faith
terms this the humiliation of Christ. Have you ever considered the
humbleness of God? We read earlier from Isaiah 66.
And who there was it that the Lord said that he would look
to? He that was poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. Why does God look for that in
man? Why is it that he prizes that
particular quality of humility in men? It is because there's
a quality that God himself possesses and we are to be like him. I began the service this evening
with the words of Christ. Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
thee and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly of heart. You shall find rest to your souls. We read also from Matthew chapter
18 where he teaches that he that becomes a little child is going
to be the one who becomes the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So again we have littleness resulting in greatness. Indeed it was out
of Christ's humility that his own exaltation came. Philippians
2, notice the first words, let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus. an exhortation for us to be like-minded
with Christ, who, being in the form of God, thought it not a
robbery or a thing to be grasped at, to be equal with God, but
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, note this word,
Because of this, God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, for things in heaven and things in earth,
and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So we have the greatest God,
the Son himself, making himself little that he might be made
great again. So we have examples here then
for us. This insuperable example, it cannot be beaten as an example.
He who was highest became low. What excuse then do we have that
we cannot do the same. So in our application this evening,
we must consider that we must become little in our own sight. In this instruction, I rhetorically
ask three questions as we close. Why, when, and how? Why should we become little in
our own sight? Why so to speak, should we become
humble and pursue humility. First of all, because that we
should not engage in that which is satanic. It was for the sin
of pride that Satan was cast out. The root of the fall of
man was pride. Godhood was offered to our first
parents in the Garden of Eden. knowledge and therefore power. Humility would have led Eve to
submit to Adam's judgment and humility would have led Adam
to submit to God. But instead both of them took
and ate the fruit thinking themselves above the command of God that
they should not eat of it. It was out of the pride of their
hearts. The demons use our pride against
us. The world uses it against us.
There is no kind of pride that is not sinful. Pride is satanic
by definition. Seven things, says the Proverbs,
does the Lord hate. What is the first one? A proud
look. That's when we engage in pride,
we engage in that which is satanic. When we engage in pride, we indulge
the flesh. thinking ourselves worthy of
whatever pleasure might be on offer. When we engage in pride,
we put ourselves before others and we fail to love others, which
leads to our mistreating of them. We fail to love others and we
put ourselves first. We then react with anger to any
slight against ourselves. We cannot bring ourselves to
consider our own sinfulness or in what way we might be in the
wrong. When we engage in pride, we are brought also to indulge
in a covetous spirit, for why we reason to ourselves, should
I not have that thing which I covet? In vain glory, we think ourselves
more worthy of the coveted thing than perhaps he that has it.
When we engage in pride, we look with lust for our own gratification.
It becomes the be-all and the end-all of our lives. In all
ways then, pride leads to destruction. Hell itself was created to the
devil and his angels. Pride has led to their destruction. Now in their pride still, they
seek to drag humanity with them to a place that was not created
for humanity. The demons in the world will
use our own pride to drag us down with them. We must resist
pride. God resisted the proud, but giveth
grace to the humble. And then secondly, why? Why should we see ourselves as
little? So that we should not make involuntary
humbling necessary, since as we have considered, pride is
the sin of Satan, and is therefore satanic by definition. If we
are Christ, then we must be purged of it. Pride cannot be allowed
to reign in us, in which case for our sanctification, and for
our salvation, it must be purged. We must, via the means that God
has provided for us, humble ourselves and purge ourselves of pride
and take steps to do so. Humility is a necessity. If you
cannot humble yourself, then you must undergo humbling unwillingly. In sanctification, which is the
more painful, but the alternative, that pride be allowed to reign
in our bodies. and our minds is much worse. And so the Lord sometimes must
chasten us. A son despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, Hebrews 12 says, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? without chastisement to whereof
all our partakers then are ye bastards and not sons. The Lord will sanctify us in
this world that he may see his image in us. One aspect of that
image that we should be conformed to is humility. So as you consider Christ and
his humble coming, consider your own heart and pray for humility. Then the question also must be
asked, when? When, in what circumstance, should we seek to see ourselves
as little? In our worship and our church
attendance, Jesus' parable of the publican and the Pharisee,
the men that went up to pray, but only one was justified, The
intention of both was to go up to pray, to rise up, as it were,
above the world and have communion with God. But in the case of
the publican, seeing his own sin and worthlessness, he cries
out for God's mercy. Thus he is justified by God's
grace, and in that way he does ascend to the heights, as it
were, of communion with God, because he saw himself for what
he was. Meanwhile, the Pharisee brings
his own virtue to the fore and speaks of all of his good works.
And so he brings down that worshipful act of prayer to a carnal level. And so his pride therefore rendered
him actually to be unable to pray, unable to have communion
with God, unable to worship. And so it goes that he leaves
unjustified. Although he had the intention
to pray and to worship, his pride got in the way of his being able
to do so. Likewise, just as we go to church
and the intention on some level to ascend above the world and
leave behind our earthly concerns for a while as we come into the
place of worship, if we come into the place of worship with
pride in our hearts, Every one of us is capable of
instead pulling down the church to our earthly carnal level.
We must repent and leave those things behind as we come into
the place of worship that our hearts might rise to God in prayer. Both men went up to pray in that
parable. But Jesus said only one was justified. Let it be that each one of us
as we come to pray are justified in the sight of God because we
have resisted pride. We cannot truly worship God unless
we shun pride and humble ourselves. We should make practical efforts
to ensure that when we come to church we have true motives to
seek the Lord in humility and in quietness and a reverent spirit. requires us to ensure that we
are at church as much as is possible. There are many today who make
the conscious decision not to attend church. I can worship
God on my own at home. I don't need to go to a church
to be a Christian. Yes, you can. You can stay at
home alone and love yourself. That is pride. I don't need the
body of Christ. I don't respect the body of Christ. Consciously deciding to isolate
yourself permanently from the body of Christ. If you have no
love for the body of Christ, how can you have love for Christ? Do any of you have this opinion
that I don't need to go to church to be a Christian? You're wrong. You must love the body of Christ. It is self-love, therefore, to
shun attendance at church, or to neglect the importance of
gathering together in communion with brothers and sisters in
Christ, if indeed you are in Christ. We are alienated naturally
from God, and in God's salvation we are brought out of our alienation
from him. But we also must strive to come
out of our alienation from one another. In the word of God,
it was a distinctive mark of the church of Christ that they
had all things common. And so let us strive to cultivate
such a spirit within ourselves and among us also. Then also
we must seek to see ourselves as little in our endurance or
affliction. I heard it once said that we
face God and we face God's final judgment. One of the questions
Christ will put to us is what did you endure for me? Imagine
that moment of this that is to come when we face Christ and
our whole life is there in a single glance. And he says, what did
you endure for me? Perhaps in our weakness we'll
point to some time we spent fasting and praying and a little bit
of self-denial that we attempted, but in our weakness we'll admit
that we did very little, anything at all. We gave ourselves a comfortable
time as far as we could. We attempted to, as much as we
could, ride to heaven on flowery beds of ease, as the hymn writer
puts it. As far as it was possible, we
made our lives as easy for ourselves as possible. We gave in to the
body so often for the comforts and pleasures of the world. And
then in his mercy and in his love, Christ will say, well then,
did you at least accept the involuntary afflictions that I gave to you?
You're unable in your weakness to voluntarily deny yourself,
well then what about that which was involuntary? That which I
gave you, that which I sent to you, how did you endure those
things? Did you rejoice? Did you count it all joy, as
James says? We fall in to die with temptations.
Did you rejoice and give thanks in your sickness? In your grief? In your poverty? In your trouble? You can continue to give thanks
to God. Were you patient? Were you faithful to me during
the trials of this life and the circumstances of this world that
came upon you? How many of us will look at him
and say, yes, always. I was faithful. I endured for
you. And not know that there were times of bitterness in our
hearts. And Christ will show us the wounds
in his hands and his side and his feet. And he'll say, look,
well, I endured for you. How do I love for you? Look what
I endured for you, in patience, without complaint. I was a lamb,
dumb as before Shearer's. Show us those wounds that he
accepted in humility for our sake, all that he endured, and
will we not then be ashamed? If we show bitterness and resentment
in our affliction, then we are displaying pride and not humility.
So let's therefore endure affliction with humility, counting it all
joy and with thankfulness in our hearts. Then lastly we ask
how? How? How is it that we can cause
ourselves to be little in our own eyes? We're very good as
human beings at hiding from ourselves. And so self-examination is necessary. We're very quick to observe faults
in others, but when it comes to ourself, it is not so easy
to see for some reason. I recently heard of an exercise
to do in this regard. Get a sheet of paper and list the names of
people that you know that you hate, if there are any. Then also list the names of those
who you don't hate but you do not have much time for, you have
a prejudice against them. And then list all those people
in another column that you can think of who you think will probably
go to hell. And then for each name, give
a reason for your feeling towards them. A good reason for why it
is that you hate the one you hate, or you are prejudiced against
the one you are prejudiced against, or why the people that you think
will probably go to hell are going to go to hell. Then, after
those reasons have been give and take, those reasons and cross-examine
yourself to see if any of those reasons are present also in yourself. It's been commonly said that
as much as we despise others, we despise because we know that
such things also dwell within our hearts also. Self-examination
and humility. And also confessing of our faults
one to another, This is a biblical mandate, the word of God tells
us, confess your faults one to another. We don't like to think we have
faults, but if we obey the command of God to confess our faults
one to another, then it is assumed that we have them by the scriptures.
And we do have them. We don't like to think about
them. We definitely do not like to talk about them. And that
is probably why the commandment is given, confess your faults
one to another because they are then brought into stark contrast
and visibility before your eyes as it were. Then also prayer, specifically
repentance on a continual and regular basis. We go to the Lord
and we consider ourselves And like the publican did, we cry,
God be merciful to me, a sinner. Or like the blind man who stood
by the way as Jesus walked by and could cry only one thing,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. We must go to the Lord in specific, special repentance
to confess our sins, not only to one another, that confess
our sin before God. Then, lastly, really, consideration,
as we have done tonight, of Christ and his example. How that Christ
humbled himself and became an infant child, though he was the
Lord of all glory, he became that child to be carried
in the arms of a human woman. What humility is that? That he
lived upon this earth and had nothing to his name. No goods,
no credit, one robe, and not a place to lay his head. That
he then went through suffering and pain. That he went to the
cross and that he died and shed his blood. He was the very epitome
of humility. And as we consider him, We can
consider others also. In closing, consider John the
Baptist. In St. John's Gospel in chapter 3, if
you turn there, John chapter 3, at the end of that chapter
you will read the words of John. John who was a great man. John
who was lifted up even by Christ himself as an example. And there arose a question in
verse 25 between some of John's disciples and the Jews about
purifying. And they came unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptiseth, and all men
come to him. Here is the appeal of pride from
the world. This man is getting all the attention,
John. What do you think about this? John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye
yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ,
but I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth
in the ear of him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Here then is the attitude that
we must have In the face of pride, we consider the humility of Christ.
Of the littleness that became great. Of the greatness that
became little. We must beat down pride. We must
be little. We must endure the sufferings
of this current time, this current life. We must be little in order
to make much of Christ. We must, with John, say, He must
increase, and I must decrease. Yet the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy, remember, to be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. And so, in the end, though we
were little, yet the Lord will exalt us in the end. Let us consider
these things tonight. And may the Lord give us grace
to do so in our continued walk with the Lord. Amen.
Little is Much
| Sermon ID | 52924152912852 |
| Duration | 40:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Micah 5:2 |
| Language | English |
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