Little Is Much When God is in IT!

Little Is Much When God Is In It

Deu 7:1-3,12-22-26

FBCW/17 Jan 2016/am – FBCK/7 July 2024/am

INTRO: As the saying goes, Little is much when God is in it, it is a true statement in many ways. We see in our text that God promised Israel the land of Canaan and more but would not give it to them all at once. If God gave to us all we wanted or even what He ultimately wants for us at one time, it could overwhelm us and harm us instead of being a blessing, it could then be a curse and not a help/blessing. If God would have conquered all the land at one time, the land would have been over-run by the beasts of the field. Israel was not ready to rule all the land God would have for them. They possessed it by increments, step by step, little by little. Little is much when God is in it, because God works in small but mighty ways, with precision timing and perfect results. It all begins with listening to His still small voice, in the smallness of His voice of the H.S., we can do much and much can be accomplished. Let’s examine some of the little things of the Word of God and how they may apply to our own lives today. Matter of fact, little can be much/great, in many ways it is relative. Lake McConaughy is a small lake relative to the Atlantic Ocean, but if you had to drink that lake until it was empty it would be much, even overwhelming. Let us contrast what a little can-do w/o the Lord and a little with the Lord, according to His Word. Several instances in scripture, like Mathew 16:6,11 uses word leaven as an illustration to help us understand some difficult spiritual lessons.

I. A Little Leaven: Just as a small amount of leaven/yeast makes an entire loaf of bread rise: Spiritually, leaven in the Word of God is used as a metaphor of sin, false teaching/prophecy to teach us of the far-reaching effect it can have in our spiritual walk, especially in our witness and testimony, and is always used/mentioned in a negative sense:

A. 1Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9–Tells us a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump: is like a little

arsenic poisons the whole tub of water. It may not be fatal, but the whole tub is

poisoned It is like the depravity of man. Man is depraved, it is not that he is as bad as

he can be, but that sin has permeated every faculty of man’s being to some degree.

Leaven illustrating evil, or sin, or wickedness, even a little at a time effects

everything and everyone it touches and spreads. That is why the world is like it is &

outside of Christ there can be no true lasting peace. That is why there is disease,

deformity and death all around us. W/o a right relationship with the Lord, our lives

are filled with leaven and its consequences in our lives and our nation and the world

are felt by everyone. A little leaven is enough to separate us from God. (Small sins)

1. When God is in our lives, when we personally receive Jesus as Lord and

Savior, Our little faith becomes much, in that we live or begin to live new lives

w/o willful sinning and focus on living w/o sin.

2. Jam 4:17 It must be remembered, that “knowing to do good and not doing it is

sin.” Sin is not just about holding the standard of men, but of God and what is

in our hearts.

a. Things I do may not be sin/leaven for you & vice versa, what is sin to

you is not necessarily sin to me. The point is that if we believe it is sin for us than it is. We are not to judge others by our standard, just ourselves.

Beware of a little leaven in our testimony/lives!

3. Mat 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8: “O ye of little faith” a little faith is always good,

and better than no faith but a little faith is not always enough. A little faith in

Jesus is all we need for salvation. But, not a partial faith, a faith that we do

believe that He shed His blood and bore our sins and died in our place and rose

again the 3rd day and ascended into heaven.

This is the beginning of faith that guides, directs, and gets us through the trials

of this life and live a life pleasing to God.

a. “O ye of little faith” as mentioned in the scriptures: Can be w/us, like

w/the disciples, in that we struggle:

i. About meeting our temporal physical needs.

ii. About fear of our circumstances.

iii.. About the doubts in God.

iv. About our self-reasoning.

b. Rom 14:23 tells us that doing whatever we do w/o faith in Christ, not according to the Word of God, is sin. A little leaven/sin hinders & hurts our relationship with God and others. It makes it impossible to please God.

c. That little leaven, of false doctrine, or even small sins can have great

effect/impact in our lives and that of others, but most importantly it

effects our relationship with the Lord.

However: Contrasting, a little leaven, Jam 1:27 tells us; A Pure Religion is what is required. Our faith in Christ is not religion, but religion is to be of faith in Christ and reflect positive attributes. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted form the world.” Love thy neighbors as thyself” Meet the needs of others where you can, temporally and spiritually. Have an attitude of love, beginning with loving God, first and foremost.

B. J Vernon McGee also put it well in that he said: “Christians ought to have a religion

on the streets not just of the sanctuary only.”

1. Our worship is important even essential, but it doesn’t stop in the church

building, it begins here, in the house of the Lord. 1Pet 4:17 “the time has come that judgment/discernment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” It

starts here with you and I personally and collectively. In our worship, testimony, in every aspect of our lives that people see and what God sees.

a. Collectively as a church, Jesus commissions us to GO into all the earth,

And witness:

2. As with our mission emphasis month coming, how we worship God is

important but it begins with saved people doing what the Lord commands. Our mission giving is the beginning of our getting out on the streets of our community and of the world to get the gospel out.

3. We are to live a life of faith, unleavened, which begins with Christ and

continues in doing what He commands, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations….”

We also see another contrast of the word “Little” in the Bible:

II. A Little Time (of this life): We often speak about “Time” and have said that time is fleeting and there is only so much of it so we must redeem it or use it wisely as a precious commodity that it is. But Eternal existence (in the life to come) is w/o measure.

A. Jam 4:14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?

It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Life is

fleeting! Here today gone tomorrow!

1. The parable of rich fool. Lk 12:15-21 “And he (rich fool) said, This will I do I will pull

down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my good.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou has much good laid up for many ears: take thine ease, eat,

drink, and be merry; But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of

thee: then whose shall those thing be which thou has provided.”

2. What do we know of tomorrow. We plan and purpose and live for the future

that we may never attain or see. Live for God, today while you can. Plan for

tomorrow, but live for today.

a. We are created eternal beings, in the image of God, we will spend it in

one of two places, heaven or hell. When we leave this earth, we must

know which, are you ready to go into eternity or will you attempt to

cling onto this world till it’s too late? 1Cor 15:52,53,58 “be ye stedfast,

unmovable always abounding in the word of the Lord,…”

B. Psa 90:10 “The days of our years are threescore years and ten: and if by reason of strength

they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and

we fly away.”

1. Time is fleeting, no matter how long you live, it will end, and the

end is not known. We are to be busy while we have time, to redeem the time,

not to waste it but use it for the Lord. As Christians, our time is little in this life

but everlasting, beyond time w/the Lord. So lets Get in practice now, we will

live it for eternity.

III. A little Profit (in the temporal): But in Heaven, riches (forever).

A. 1Tim 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all

things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” This is not

an excuse for gluttony and laziness, but it does speak of moderation in all aspects of

living, now into eternity. The things of the world profit us little, they entertain us until

we leave this life. So, we are to do things that do profit ourselves and others while we

can. We can see how little profit there is in:

1. The books we buy & the TV we watch. They tell us to Eat right, exercise, keep good hygiene, and all these things are good for us, and it is true, but when they become too important (obsessed w/them) our focus is diverted from what really matters, the Lord. Do what does profit us, here and now!

2. Living according to God’s Word & not the world, profits us in ways we can’t

completely comprehend. Eph 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.:”

a. In Christ, though we may suffer here and now, we are joint-heirs

w/Jesus in heavenly places. Rom 8:17

b. Despite physical death we have eternal life and are immediately

ushered into the presence of the Lord. 2Co 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and

willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

d. For the believer, they are promised eternal rewards for what we have

done in this body, whether good or bad. 2Cor 5:10

For the unbeliever there is little/no profit to living for the world and rejecting Jesus it leads to eternal separation from God.

B. Little is much on this earth, but it has eternal consequences and rewards, now.

1. 2Sam 12:8 “… and if that had been to little, I would moreover have given unto

thee such and such.” Paraphrasing, God said to king David, I gave you everything

you wanted and needed, why did you do what you did. When David was not

close to the Lord he did what he wanted even when it profited little, actually

hurt him in the present and future.

2. Sometimes God give us little or much as we can handle it, but it isn’t enough

for us, we can feel, like king David, entitled and want more than we are to have or need. What God gives us is not enough, God is not enough.

a. King David had it all, a good relationship with the Lord and God gave

him a kingdom and all it possessed. But it wasn’t enough, as his

relationship w/God fell to the side, his heart turned to self. When kings

were to go to war, David stayed home, and he desired another man’s

wife. So much so that committed adultery and she became pregnant, so

he tried to deceive her husband and nation. Ultimately, he had the

honorable husband killed and tried to cover it up in battle, but God

knew and sent the prophet Nathan to tell him of the consequences, and

forgiveness if He repented and turn back.

b. Earthly and physical things are of little profit to us, but a right

relationship with the Lord is enough and living according to His Word

will result in heavenly rewards and riches. Even good in this life!

The Bible may be:

IV. A little Book: But it has Mighty Words. Words of hope and eternal value and salvation.

A. Rev 10:10 “And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up: and it was

in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”

1. We see that little book, the Word of God, is bitter-sweet.

a. It is sweet to the mouth. “My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will

be glad in the Lord..” Psa 104:34 Jesus is the Word. “the word was with

God and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, & dwelt

among us and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:1,14

e. The Word of God, this little book is sweet to the believer because it is

the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God unto salvation, to all who believe.

3. But, for the unbeliever, those who don’t love the Word of God, this little book

is bitter, the judgment of lost man is a bitter pill to swallow.

a. Just as the sweetness of God’s Word to the believer by the promises

of God and getting to know Him through it, is one side of a coin, but

the other side is of bitter judgment coming upon all me whose name is

not written in another little book, the Lambs book of life. Rev 21:27

b. All who reject the sweetness of the Gospel of Christ (O taste and see that

The Lord is good Psa 34:8) if they are not written in that little book of the Lamb’s book of life they will find themselves written in the books of Rev 20:12.

Where the works of the unbeliever are judged and found short of the Glory of God and cast into the Lake of fire. How bitter are those words to swallow.

V. A Little While – An unknown time: But, an Imminent/impending return.

A. Jn 16:16 (A little while and ye shall not see me; and again a little while and ye shall see me again);

Jn 7:33 Jesus told his disciples that He was leaving, and another (comforter-one like himself) would come to take His place, the H.S., and that He would come again, and

they were to be ready for His promised and expected return.

1. Are you a disciple of Christ, if so, are you watching for His return? What are

you doing while you wait for His imminent/guaranteed return? Soon coming!

He will come again, and we will be like Him and with Him.

2. Are you and I fulfilling the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are

we living while we are in this little world, according to the little book with

mighty words.

B. The next time Jesus returns, He comes for His bride, believers, at the

rapture of His saints/those saved. 1Thes 4:16-17, and finally complete His return to

establish His kingdom. He will then judge and punish those who have rejected Him

and caste them into the Lake of fire created for the devil & his angels/demons. Jn

12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the

word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

1. Jesus will return because He said He would, Acts 1:11 in the meantime we are to “watch and pray: (Mk 13:32-33) for ye no not when the time is”, but He will come again and gather to himself the nation of Israel and set up His kingdom and create a new heavens and earth. When he comes is not known, it will come as a thief in the night, we no not when, but we do know it will happen. Are you ready, with what little you have because it will be enough, and He will make it much.

CLOSING: Little is much with the Lord! Because God can and does do much with little. He has done much with little Old you. Therefore, you must do something now with what you have been given, whether great or little/small. Be content with what you have and let God multiply it as you give some of it back to Him, through your tithes, offerings and Missions giving and service. Let us not become discontent or feel entitled for anything, God gives us what He wants for us to have and be glad for it. Little is much not because God blesses it, but because He gave it to us at all.