June 25, 2011

• Fear not, little flock (Luke 12:32) | letter 123 on assurance & fighting for joy

     

  
  Sheep,_Cnewr_-_geograph.org.uk_-_208163

  Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

  If you are Christ's, by God's sovereign grace, you are a sheep in His "little flock" (Matthew 13:11).
  If you are Christ's, you have been given power to become a child of God (John 1:12-13).
  If you are Christ's, you have not received the spirit of bondage to fear (Romans 8:15a).
  If you are Christ's you have received the spirit of adoption to cry "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15b).
  If you are Christ's, He does not want you to fear.
  If you are Christ's, He wants you to know it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

  And yet, in spite of all that, in spite of the words of the Son of God Himself,
  do you live in fear, do you live in constant doubt of God's love for you?

  Is your assurance of God's love for you no different than a young teenage girl
  who sits and pulls the petals off a daisy one at a time,
  wondering if her current boyfriend or crush really loves her.

  He loves me...
  He loves me not...
  He loves me...
  He loves me not...

  

  He loves me...
  He loves me not...
  He loves me...
  He loves me not...

  And on and on it goes...

  Daisy

  after daisy...

  after daisy...

  after daisy...

  

  Is that how you see God's love for you in Jesus Christ?

  If you are Christ's, you are
  one of Christ's own elect,
  one of His sheep in His little flock,
  a child of the heavenly Father.

  If you are Christ's,
  you have not received the spirit of bondage to fear,
  but the spirit of adoption.

  If you are Christ's,
  He does not want you to fear.

  Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

  I love how Jesus Christ condescends to us here! O, what a wonderful great high priest we have! He knows our frame! He considers we are dust! We have the eternal stepping into time, we have the Ancient of Days coming to bring real help to men and women and boys and girls in our time of need! We have the Shepherd coming to give help to each and every sheep of His little flock!

  There is NONE like God, O Jeshurun,
  who rides through the heavens to your help,
  through the skies in his majesty.
  Deuteronomy 33:26

  He rides through the heavens for our help! (Who else does such a thing? Who else is an ever present Help in time of trouble?)

  He rides through the skies in His majesty! (Who else does such a thing? Who else is Majesty mingled with Meekness, the Holy God who sits enthroned in the heavens and yet stoops to feed us, to show love to undeserving and powerless sinners like you and me?)

  Consider it! Consider Him! Fix your eyes on Jesus and your affections on things above! When we don't fix our eyes and our affections rightly, that's when the devil gets a foothold and we are overcome by fear.

  John the Baptist cried, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

  O, little flock, fear not. Behold, the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world for each and every sheep of His little flock. Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  O, little flock, fear not. Behold, the Lamb of God whose precious blood was shed to purchase each and every sheep of His little flock. Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  O, little flock, fear not. Behold, the Lamb of God who is the Good Shepherd who guards and keeps each and every sheep of His little flock – and not one of them will perish! Hallelujah! Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  O, little flock, fear not. Behold, the Lamb of God who sent His Spirit to dwell with you forever! Hallelujah! Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  O, little flock, fear not. Behold, the Spirit of God who now dwells within you – you are not orphans! Hallelujah! Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  O, come little flock, fear not! Come let us behold Him and adore Him – fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom!

  Hallelujah! Behold! Fear not, little flock!

  Our Lord knows we will be tempted to fear in many ways – and yet He anticipates that and so He gives us these wonderful words of assurance. Our Savior, our Shepherd, our Good Shepherd knows each and every need of each and every sheep, and He gives us these very words to assure us when we are tempted to doubt and fear. And not only that but He has also sent His Holy Spirit to remind us of His words and to write them in our minds and on our hearts in deeper and deeper ways.

  John 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28  You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
  
  John 16:13  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
  
  Romans 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God...
  
  Hebrews 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
  after those days, declares the Lord:
  I will put my laws into their minds,
  and write them on their hearts,
  and I will be their God,
  and they shall be my people.
  11  And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
  and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
  for they shall all know me,
  from the least of them to the greatest.
  12  For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
  and I will remember their sins no more.”

  
  (A note here about the Holy Spirit. We recently celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Many people look for signs and wonders and seek after gifts and so on and so forth. We have to remember that the Holy Spirit has come to glorify Jesus Christ and one of the main ways He does so is to communicate to us the truth about Jesus Christ and to give us power day by day to uphold, sustain and undergird us in the Christian life – and this power includes our being given a deepening assurance of the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. Shouldn't Jesus' sheep have a real sense they ARE Jesus' sheep, that they ARE part of His little flock? Shouldn't God's children have a real sense they ARE God's children?
  
  We see that great assurance coming to the Church after Pentecost. Prior to that time all Jesus' disciples had deserted Him, but afterwards the Holy Spirit fell from heaven, and they were filled with a spirit of boldness and assurance. The mouths that once were silent or even denied Jesus were opened widely to proclaim all the words of this life! These men and women could not help but speak the things they had seen – even at the risk of their own lives! They loved not their own lives to the death! The Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God consumed these disciples! Does He consume us? These disciples knew Whose they were and so were willing to give their lives for Him! Are we?

  And so this assurance is not only for our own enjoyment of Christ, to give us greater confidence in our own dealings with Christ, but ultimately it is intended embolden our witness to Christ in the world. As we have freely received, we are sent to freely give. Let us remember our Lord's words: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." As we are more and more assured of our sonship, more assured that we are the children of God, more assured that we are of His little flock, more assured of Christ's eternal care for us, more assured of the Father's love for us, how can that assurance but help to make our testimony of Christ ring truer and truer. How can we bear bold and effectual witness to Jesus Christ apart from being given such assurance through the Spirit of God? We can take evangelism classes and become steeped in apologetics, and yes, God can use those means, but the early Church relied on Christ's means: the Word of God, prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us beware of attempting to give testimony to a living God using our own flesh, and neglecting the power God makes available to us through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit! Consider that when we are dismissing the Spirit of God, we are rejecting God Himself! May we take heed and not walk in the steps of the Old Testament Israelites. May we not quench, limit, grieve or provoke the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of the living God! Those things have been written as an example for us!)

  O, what a glorious and good and kind and loving Shepherd we have! He is not a hireling! His desire is for us to have life and life abundantly! Jesus doesn't want us to live in fear or doubt of His love for us. He wants us to be assured of His love and His Father's love for us. And so He exhorts us not to fear and declares to us this wonderful truth: It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom! Our Father is not begrudging us this. He wants us to have the Kingdom!  We have been foreknown and predestined (Romans 8:29-30). He has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but to His own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (II Tim. 1:9). It is God's good pleasure for us to receive His Kingdom and to know the riches of His inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1). Our heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts to His children (Luke 11:13); having given His only begotten Son for us, delivering Him up for us all, will He not freely give us all things (Romans 8:32ff)?

  O, if only the eyes of our hearts were opened to begin to understand and mine the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph.1), to know the breadth and length and depth and height of God's love for us in Jesus Christ (Eph. 3)! Please note that those are prayers the apostle Paul was praying for believers! There is always more to be had! The well never runs dry! Come, all you who are thirsty! Come and drink! Jesus' invitation still stands today:

  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37b-39)

  Come, all you who are thirsty! Come and drink and be filled with the fullness of God! Come and drink of Christ and be satisfied!

  Please read through the verses below from John 10 – and don't just read them, but drink! Drink of Christ! Reflect on the words there, linger with them and ask God's Holy Spirit to be gracious to you and to open up your eyes of your heart to know the love of God for you in ways you've not known before: to really know in an experiential way. The words of the Bible are the words of eternal life. Jesus warned the Pharisees about coming to the Scripture, but not coming to Christ Himself! May each one of us take heed.

  Soak in these words! Chew on them! Savor them – for as you savor them, you'll begin to savor Christ! May God be gracious to you and may the Spirit begin to reveal to you Christ's perfect provision and sustenance for each of sheep of His little flock. (Also, please see my posts below on reading the Word of God. In addition, if you've never read through the book of Hebrews or haven't done so in a while, I'd strongly suggest your doing so.)

  See the Good Shepherd's persevering love and wonderful care for His own, for you if you are of His little flock. Consider how the Son of God Himself laid down His life for you. And consider He is eternal and lives forevermore and is interceding for you to save to the uttermost, and because the life He gives to you is eternal life, because His love for you is an everlasting love, you have no need to fear. Fear not, little flock! O, how could a life that our Savior calls abundant life include paralyzing fear or overwhelming doubt over your position as a sheep in His "little flock"! If you are His, He loves you! As John writes in his first epistle: He loved us first. He loved us in spite of our unloveliness! And He continues to love us in spite of our unloveliness!

  1  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2  But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3  To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6  This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
  
  7  So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
  
  19  There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20  Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21  Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
  
  22  At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23  and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24  So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25  Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26  but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. 27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30  I and the Father are one.”

  If you are of Jesus' little flock, who can snatch you out of His little flock?

  No one!

  Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

  Ephesians 1:15  For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16  I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19  and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20  that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23  which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

  Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Rend the heavens and come down! Revive us again that Your people might rejoice in You!

  ---

  Related:

  Jonathan Edwards' A Divine and Supernatural Light

  My series of posts dealing with past sins & guilt

  My other letters on assurance & fighting for joy – including:

  • the laborer's lamentation and affirmation
  • Letter 1 on assurance and fighting for joy
  • Letter 3 on assurance and fighting for joy (Jesus' desire vs. Satan's desire)
  • Letter 7 on assurance and fighting for joy (remember His love for us while we were sinners)
  • Reflections on my Dad on his 107th birthday* (Letter 33 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • "I thirst! I thirst!" Whitefield's experience of joy (letter 51 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • experimental assurance of the Father's love (letter 67 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • The Lord of bliss offers us bliss today (letter 79 on assurance & joy)
  • Do you know the LORD as your portion? | a hymn by John Newton - letter 80 on assurance & joy
  • asking a hard thing (letter 84 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • "But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish." Isaiah 9:1-7 | letter 92 on assurance & joy
  • He will abundantly pardon for your joy (Isaiah 55) | Letter 102 on assurance & fighting for joy

  Bible Reading: Ezekiel 7–"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
  who are we to say . . . (Christ's atonement and assurance)
  As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
  Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
  Jesus is asking you: "What do you want me to do for you?"

  My posts on the Holy Spirit – including:

  • Happy Father's Day: "Only the child cries, 'Abba, Father'"
  • Blaise Pascal: This day of Grace (November 23, 1654) "Fire...Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
  • Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit
  • How much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them who ask
  • update w/ excerpt: Lloyd-Jones' sermons on the role of experience in Christianity
  • John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
  • Have you believed with your heart ... all your heart? (Acts 8:37)
  • Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
  • the flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance
  • The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)

  On reading the Word of God:

  • Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift
  • my ministry & your attitude toward the Word of God
  • Considering Jesus: (1) Making time to consider Jesus
  • Considering Jesus: (2) Why do we do quiet time anyhow?

  Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheep,_Cnewr_-_geograph.org.uk_-_208163.jpg / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

  Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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