[0:00] Now friends, shall we come for a little time this evening to a verse we will find in the psalm that we read together. The book of Psalms, Psalm 72, and we will begin again at verse 16.
[0:15] Psalm 72, verse 16. There shall be an handful of corn in the air upon the top of the mountain. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.
[0:30] And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. This is one of the greatest of the Messianic Psalms.
[0:46] This psalm is full of Christ. He is the king who is represented here as the one who shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the end of the earth.
[1:05] He is the king of kings and the lord of lords. Now this psalm was written by King Solomon.
[1:17] Spurgeon suggests that the spirit and the matter of the psalm are David. But that he was too near his end to be able to write the word.
[1:31] And therefore Solomon caught his dying father's song and fashioned it into verse. And without robbing his father, he made the psalm his own.
[1:47] It is therefore the prayer of David that the psalm of Solomon. And beyond all shadow of a doubt, the lord Jesus Christ is the great subject of this psalm in the glory of his millennial reign, in his present state of exultation, and as he will be revealed at the end of time.
[2:21] There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
[2:36] Now as we meditate on these words tonight, we would like to notice that we have here, first of all, an insignificant beginning.
[2:51] An insignificant beginning. Now this word from the Lord assures us that from small beginnings, great results may spring.
[3:09] A handful of corn, a mere handful of corn, shall yield an abundant harvest.
[3:24] Sometimes I think that as Christians, we are too pessimistic. that we are given much to decry the state of the time and to bewail the lack of spiritual life in the land.
[3:49] And we're in danger of forgetting to be thankful. To be thankful for the blessings that we have and for the privileges that we enjoy.
[4:01] And I must say that in my recent travels throughout the church, one of the things that has heartened me most of all is to see so many young people interested in the things of God.
[4:26] To see that genuine interest. We see it in all parts. I was in Stornow recently and the church was thronged with young people.
[4:39] young people who were earnest in their Bible study who were seeking diligently to follow the Lord and to be witnesses to their own contemporaries to go out into the community to bring the message of the Gospel.
[4:56] You see it in other places. You see it in other places. And I think here too you agree and to be thankful for the number of young people who were obviously interested in the things of God.
[5:10] There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the tops of the mountains and the fruit thereof shall shake like blood in one.
[5:22] And the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. And after all what a blessing it is that there is a handful.
[5:35] You remember the words of Isaiah except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant we should have been of Sodom and been like unto tomorrow.
[5:54] But now you see the faithful are a living seed and they shall multiply in the land. The churches' beginnings were small the handful of corn in the earth but the increase shall be the most astonishing.
[6:16] astonishment, astonishment. Astonishing. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
[6:29] Remember how our Lord said that the little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. the nations will follow the hills and Mah爱 arose one of the Guthr partition and he was born with and He was born with and Naaya gods of the world.
[6:57] I mean squalor. Ah, who would have imagined that this is the Messiah, that this is God's deliverer, that this is the one that the Lord has raised up for the salvation of His Redeem.
[7:16] He was the carpenter of Natara, going about his ordinary everyday work. And when he became the preacher of Galilee, his followers in the moon were humble fishermen.
[7:36] As the Apostle Paul said, not many mighty, not many nobles are called.
[7:47] But God has chosen the weak things and the things which are despised and the things which are not, to bring to naught the things which are.
[8:01] The wise men of the world scoffed at the church from the beginning. Herod and his soldiers mocked him and set him at naught.
[8:15] And to the wisdom of this world, the gospel is foolishness. The natural man sees no beauty in Christ, but he should desire him. He is without form and without comeliness, a root, out of a dry ground.
[8:40] The natural man sees no Hola, such The natural man sees no secrets, the natural man hide. And to arrive people without ribbons. A little despised, harmful of corn.
[8:53] But then too friends, think of the unlikelihood of success. The unlikelihood of success. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain.
[9:11] The top of the mountain surely is the most barren ground imaginable. What hard soil there is there, where the snow is lying all the year round.
[9:29] And you would think of the seed being sown there. How impossible to expect that there will be results, that there will be a harvest.
[9:44] What farmer in his right mind would ever think of throwing the seed there upon the tops of the mountain?
[9:55] How unlikely it is that that hard soil will yield a crop. And yet, such is the figure that here represents the spreading of the gospel in the world.
[10:17] In that place where there is such poor soil. There where there is not much depth of earth.
[10:28] On the tops of the mountain. Would you not think that the very winds of heaven would blow away that seed? Or that it would be washed down by the teeming rain?
[10:43] The harmful of corn? The unlikelihood of success? Think of the infant church at the beginning.
[10:55] In a hostile pagan way. Think of the strength of the opposition. There was the hostility of the Jews.
[11:09] To the Jews, the cross of Christ was a stumbling block. Think of the prejudice of the Jews against Christ.
[11:23] Or again, look at the Gentiles. Think of the might of the Roman Empire.
[11:34] Arrayed against the church of God. .
[11:49] The youth, the Christian who had this world created. There was no soit. No soit. There was no majesty in the 어린 lying夢. No should beJohn Duran.
[12:00] There was no ASHLEY��ants. How was it? The강our with you unbelief. When the Holy Spirit was outpoured in power at Pentecost, all the barriers were broken down. They were swept away.
[12:20] And within a comparatively short time, there came a day when the Emperor Constantine declared himself to be a Christian.
[12:34] And Christianity became the recognized religion of the Roman Empire. It was hard soil.
[12:45] Ah, the preacher of the Gospel is well aware that in labour, in a difficult field, where the soil is hard, where there is much to discourage us, and where the adversary is telling us that our task is in vain, where he is suggesting to us that we might as well give up that hope, have we?
[13:20] When there are so many opposing Gospels, when the forces are arrayed against the Church at the throne, when we think on the hardness of the human heart, when we think of the sinfulness of man's nature, when we think of the sinfulness of man's nature, there are times when, if we take our eyes away from the Lord, we are cast down, we are discouraged and depressed.
[13:59] When we think of Simon in fisheries that can mean that doesn't о undefiled against the men capable of burning, moreared against the long as he besotted against the Smith before he thinks of살ting that they 이� Kerr and the promise is that the fruit thereof shall shake like leaven.
[14:29] The story is related of the great disruption feature of Patamas Katsuri. But towards the end of his ministry, the good man was very depressed and scurried.
[14:47] He did a wonderful ministry. He was the means of setting up orphanages for thousands of neglected children.
[15:06] And of opening schools for them and providing medical aid. Apart from his spiritual triumph as a minister of Christ.
[15:21] The old man was feeling cast down in his last days. And he was invited to go out to the United States. And one day he was preaching in the city of Boston.
[15:37] And at the close of the morning service, a very fashionably dressed man came into the vestry. And he said, you will not know me Dr. Gartman.
[15:51] And the minister looked at him and he said, no my friend, I am afraid I cannot place you at all. And he said, do you remember that on a certain cold, wintry day in Adindana, 40 years ago, you saw a little bare-footed boy in ragged clothes at the top of the mountain.
[16:21] And you took him by the hand. And you brought him to your church, St. John's Tree Church, that we now know as St. Columbus. And he said, there were some ladies there preparing food.
[16:36] And they gave me a plate of soup. And I had a meal. Then I was introduced to the mission Sabbath school. And you know Dr. Gartman, it was in that Sabbath school that I found Christ.
[16:55] And he said, I have been in America for many years. And today, I am the managing director of one of the biggest multiple concerns in the United States.
[17:13] And I have seen to it, that wherever the serum has a shock, that our Bible class is immediately commenced.
[17:26] And there have been many conversions. And in almost every city in the United States, we have witnesses to the Gospel of Christ.
[17:39] And Dr. Guthrie's heart was uplifted. And he wrote in his diary that this text came to him with powers.
[17:51] There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. And they of this city shall flourish like grass.
[18:05] And the top of the earth. And the little handful of corn, sown in half places. Half sown perhaps where man would say it was impossible, where they would dissuade us from going with the message of Christ.
[18:22] There, there in the most unlikely place, there was the great harvest. The great harvest. The great harvest. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.
[18:37] But then, friends, the last thing we see in our text is this. The glorious result. The glorious result.
[18:49] The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. Yes, that unlikely field shall yield such an abundance of corn.
[19:06] The ears being thick and high and full of corn, then shaken by the wind, shall make a noise not unlike that that is sometimes made by the top of the trees of Lebanon when the strong winds blow.
[19:25] Of course, it is figurative language. But it describes the great and the phenomenal success of the preaching of the gospel.
[19:41] The way of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. The citizens of Jerusalem, they are the subjects of Christ's kingdom.
[19:55] And they shall be so numerous. They shall flourish like grass of the earth. They shall plants dear.
[20:14] They shall not be so optimistic, Polsce Eve's holy and imperial giant поп revitalized in orderly. so shall I see the number, the triumph of Christ, the glory of the finished work.
[20:27] He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Oh, my friend, what a wonderful thing, what an encouragement to the church, what a message for us to take to heart.
[20:41] Think of it, this wonderful transformation that the grace of God makes in a synagogue. The group that all shall shake like Lebanon.
[20:59] It is said that William Carey, the first missionary to India, labored for seven years without a single conger.
[21:15] And one day a government official met him. And he said, Mr. Carey, what is the future for Christian missions in India?
[21:30] And William Carey replied, the future, sir, is as bright as the promises of God.
[21:43] The future is as bright as the promises of God. And, oh, friends, shall we not, from this text, take encouragement to obey the great commission, each one of us in our own place, to go out into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.
[22:08] Shall we not seek through grace to adore the doctrine of God our Savior, to live holy life, to walk among men as those who belong to Christ, as those who have been bought with a price even with the precious blood.
[22:26] And we are meant to express our thankfulness to God for His goodness to us over the communion season.
[22:38] Oh, then let us show our thankfulness by our life. Open thou my lips, said the psalmist, and then I will show forth thy praise.
[22:53] Let us give Him the glory. Oh, let us not by our unbelief limit the Holy One of Israel. Let us remember that His power is still the same, that the Lord Jesus is upon the throne, that He is working out His purposes of grace.
[23:13] And one day, one day that glorious prophecy shall be fulfilled, that all the mighty kings on earth before Him down shall fall, and all the nations of the world do service to Him shall.
[23:34] And the psalmist sees communities being transformed. They of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
[23:49] Think on the blades of grass. Who can number them? And you remember that the saintly John tells us in the book of Revelation, concerning the multitude of the redeemed in heaven, after this I beheld a great multitude that no man could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb with palms in their hands.
[24:22] And this was their song, Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, Unto Him be the glory and the dominion and the power and the honor forever.
[24:40] forever, until Him. Ah, we were thinking yesterday of the cross, of the price that was paid for our salvation.
[24:55] Ah, let us remember the word of the truth. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.
[25:09] He shall be satisfied with the outcome of His redemptive work. When He sees the redeemed brought home, every one whom He has purchased with His blood.
[25:30] The handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountain, the hard places. the great places. Ah, but my friend, let me ask you tonight, what about you?
[25:46] Is your heart hard? Is the gospel seed falling upon it? But ah, the ground is so hard that it never enters.
[26:02] Is it wintry with you? Are the snows lying around? Hiding, hiding the precious seed? Oh, pray that the Lord would soften your heart.
[26:19] That in the day of grace, when Jesus of Nazareth passes by in the gospel, that He would make you receptive to His word.
[26:32] May you of that prayer, Lord, take away the hard and the stony heart, and give me a heart of flesh.
[26:45] Give me a heart that will be receptive to the good seed of the word. And oh, blessed Spirit, cause it to bring forth fruit in my life.
[26:59] Cause it to grow up and to manifest the evidences of grace. And oh, make me, make me to be like that woman of Samaria, having the living water overflowing, bringing blessing to all around.
[27:22] To remember how she left her water pot at the well. And she went into the town and she said to her neighbors, come, come and see a man who told me, all that ever I did, is not this the Christ?
[27:40] And we read that they went out. And they said, now we believe, now we believe on Him, because of the testimony of the woman, because of her testimony.
[28:01] They saw the change of grace. They knew what kind of woman she was. They knew all about her past. But oh, what Christ had done, what the Lord had done for her soul.
[28:20] And many of the Samaritans believed because of the testimony of the woman who said, come and see a man who told me all things that ever I did.
[28:35] Do you remember how our Lord said, I am the light of the wild. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
[28:50] I am the light. He that follows me, I can remember being at sea, and our ship being part of a large convoy, and we were approaching the coast, and their warning had come over the telegraph that there were enemy submarines lurking by.
[29:18] And a signal was given from the Commodore ship, for all the ships to gather in line, and to follow into the harbor.
[29:30] The harbor lights were dim, there was a blackout. But they all followed the Commodore, and they got brought stately into force.
[29:43] And that's what Christ is saying to us. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness. Nor we have renounced the hidden beads of darkness.
[29:58] We have turned to the light, and we are following the light. Jesus said, I am the light. But my friend, if we belong to him, he says to you and to me, we are the light of the world.
[30:17] We are the light. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good work. And glorify your heavenly Father.
[30:32] Not praise you or me, no, perish the thought. That they will glorify our heavenly Father. We are to let our light shine.
[30:46] And now, my friend, as we come to the close of this communion season, let us take these words to heart. Let us rest on that promise of success.
[31:02] And let us take to heart the injunction of our Lord. Let your light so shine. Let men know whose you are and whom you serve.
[31:17] Lazarus, you remember Lazarus of Bethany, was one of them that sat at the table with him. And you remember the result.
[31:30] Many of the Jews came to Bethany to comfort Mary and Martha concerning their brothers. And we are told that many of them believed on Christ because of Lazarus, because of Lazarus, because of what he was, because of the change that Christ had brought.
[31:59] Ah, my friend, then, let us see through grace that we too will be his light in a dark one.
[32:10] There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon. And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
[32:28] May the Lord bless our meditation on his word like his prayer. O Lord, we bless thee for all the promises of thy word.
[32:44] And all thy promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. O then, Lord, give us to take the word to heart.
[32:56] Give us to believe that what the Lord has spoken, he will assuredly perform. And grant then, Lord, that we may go on sowing the good seed.
[33:11] That we may be persevering in the way of holiness. That we may always remember that thou hast said that he that goes forth, reaping as he sows his seed, shall one day return rejoicing, bringing his shield with us.
[33:37] O, give us not to be discouraged by the hardness of the ground. Lord, enable us to remember that with God nothing is impossible.
[33:52] Help us to realize the power of amazing grace. And grant, Lord, that we may be obedient to thy commandments.
[34:06] And that by thy blessing we may be lights in a dark world. And that under thine hand we might be the means of bringing some poor wandering soul into the fold of the Good Shepherd.
[34:33] Now, Lord, make thy word to abide in us that it may bring forth fruit in our life and make us to abide in thee. And then we shall bring forth fruit.
[34:48] Lord, now enable us to sing thy praises from our hearts. Part us with thy blessings and pardon us our manifold shortcomings in thy service and the praise shall be thine in Jesus evermore.
[35:10] Amen.