Spend the brief time that we
have left going back and reacquainting ourselves with the book of Zechariah
and anyone that's been here for any time knows that my prayer
is has been for all of us and our actions have been in accord
with it. I trust most of the time when
the Lord has been merciful to us. He says, Moses said to the
Lord, if thy presence go not with me, carry us up, not hence. Don't let us make a move. Don't let us declare ourselves
to be a church. Don't let us declare with presumption
that this is a place where God has gathered his people together.
Let it be the truth and let it be him who is revealed. And in Zechariah chapter 8, finishes
with a glorious declaration, and it's the one thing that we
want, isn't it? We want to be found faithful. If anyone ever
asks what they can pray for me for, I say just one thing, and
I've said it for 20-odd years, that I might be found faithful.
in any of the circumstances that come, whatever, comes from this
world that I might be found rejoicing and delighting in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Zechariah chapter 8 finishes
with these wonderful words, For we will go with you, for we have
heard that God is Everything is fine. Paul finished
his life and it's just one of those very, very moving passages of scripture and it's
very hard to sort of reconcile other than the fact that in the
providence of God, Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 16, At
my first answer no one stood with me, but all men forsook
me. After all those years of faithful
love and service, you read the last chapter of Romans and see
how much affection he had in his heart for people that he
probably hadn't met but had heard of. And you think of the labours
that he and all men pursued me. I pray that God may, that it
may not be laid to their charge Even in the midst of all of that,
that persecution that we talked about earlier being extended
to the Apostle in his dying days, and listen to what he says. Isn't
that wonderful? That's what he says, that's his
prayer isn't it? That I might know him and the
fellowship of his sufferings and the fellowship of the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ flow over into all of his people. The Lord stood with me and strengthened
me that by me the preaching might be fully known, including these
words that we're reading in 2 Timothy chapter 4. and that all the Gentiles
might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion,
and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will
preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for
ever and ever. Paul rejoiced before he got to
heaven and he rejoiced in heaven. And that's the great cry and
that's the great declaration that's made at the end of Zechariah
Chapter 8. Zechariah is, as we've seen and
it's been some time since we've been in the book of Zechariah,
but Zechariah is a declaration and a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ building his church in this world. This is a picture
of the Lord gathering people. And you know the story, the Jews
had been exiled to Babylon because of their willful and wicked and
persistent disobedience to God Almighty. They were exiled according
to the promise of God Almighty. And they had their 70 years as
promised in that land and they'd been brought back. And like all
of us, They were languishing in the task of building the temple
of God and building the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And
when we see these pictures, we are reminded of the glory of
God doing it all. And when he builds his temple,
when he builds his building with these living stones that he has
grafted and cut out of the rock of our fallen Adam and we're
grafted into Christ and he builds us as living stones into a temple
built by the Lord. And the cries of it, I love what
Zechariah 4 says, he says, not by might, nor by power, but by
my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof, with shoutings crying, Grace, grace, unto it. All of the work of all of the
building of all of the temple of God is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he builds well and he builds wisely. And we
are being built, we children of God are being built together
on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And this is
the glorious picture and Zechariah finishes with just the most remarkable
declarations of the great and sovereign God. And I wanted to
read Zechariah chapter 8 and I just want to make a few comments.
I want you to contemplate some remarkable things in it. 18 times
in 23 verses the Lord describes himself as the Lord of hosts.
which means the Lord of the armies of heaven, the Lord of the angelic
host, the Lord of the host of all of his people. He's not a
Lord without a people. He has a glorious, glorious kingdom,
a glorious, glorious victory. When the victory of the Lord
Jesus Christ is revealed, it will be a stupendous victory.
Please don't think that he's trying and failing. even though
his people throughout time had been few. And like these people
in Zechariah, if you read the books of Haggai and Nehemiah
and Ezra, you'll see that this building was done with much opposition.
And the opposition arose the closer they got to this being
a place where God could be worshipped again. And the opposition came
in all sorts of ways, from those who were openly opposed to it
to those who compromised and said, we want to do it with you. God will build his temple in
such a way that he gets all the glory and his people will rejoice
in sovereign, electing, redeeming, keeping, preserving, glorifying
grace. And the other thing that I particularly
love in the Old Testament reading, the Old Testament and the New
is, as I say so often, every time you read the wills and Lord Jesus Christ. So I just
want to read this chapter and make a few comments as we go
along and then we might be caused to rejoice in our communion with
our great God who is with us and celebrate and remember him
in the Lord's Supper. Zechariah 8 verse 1 And again
the word of the LORD of hosts came. It comes from God and it goes
to particular people. And it came to me saying, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy,
and I was jealous for her with great fury. One of the names
of God is jealous. Don't you love the fact that
he's jealous for his glory? He's jealous for his bride. He's
jealous over his name, his reputation in this world. God's children
love the fact that he's a jealous God. I was jealous for her with
great fury. You interfere with God and his
worship. You get between God and his little
ones. You're in a very, very dangerous
place. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned
unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem
shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts, the holy mountain. And every time we read truth
in the scriptures, we need to remind ourselves that there is
one who is the truth, and there is just one holy mountain, isn't
there? Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Yet shall old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. The
staff that we have in our hand is the staff of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're leaning on Him. He's made us weak and we lean
on Him. And the streets of the city shall
be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, if it be marvellous in the eyes of
the remnant of this people in these days, should it be also
marvellous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. It appears
difficult, that word marvelous means difficult. It appears impossible,
doesn't it? How is God? going to get glory
out of a little ragtag bunch of people that are brought back
from captivity in Babylon, that seems so weak, that seems so
frail, that seems so few. It might seem difficult, but
it's marvelous and it's glorious. Verse seven, thus saith the Lord
of hosts, behold, I will save my people. And obviously the
people is not just the people of Israel. He's talking about,
I will save my elect people. I will save from the East country
and the West country. I'll save them from all the nations
of this world. And that's what they're singing
in heaven now. You can read about it in Revelation
chapter five. And I will bring them and they
shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people. And I will be their God. And He will be their God in truth
and in righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth. He is the righteous one. He is all the righteousness of
Israel. Don't you love that declaration
in Revelation chapter 19? They're robed, aren't they? They're
robed in the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. This is the righteousness
of the saints. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these
words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the
foundation of the house of the Lord of Hosts was laid, that
the temple might be built. Let your hands be strong. Let
your hands be strong. There is no such thing as labour
in the Lord, which is in vain in any way at all. What a glorious,
glorious command of our God that he would allow sinners like us
to be participants in the glory that he gets from building his
house and his temple and walling his city in this world. Verse
10, for before these days there was no hire for man nor any hire
for beast, neither was there any peace to him that went out
or came in because of the affliction. For I set all men, every one,
against his neighbor. Our God is the first cause of
all things, always. So we might look to Him in every
circumstance of life and the circumstances involving His people
as a church. He does it all. But now will
I not be unto the residue of this people, as in the former
days saith the Lord of hosts, for the seed shall be prosperous,
the vine shall give her fruit. We've just looked at the glorious
fruit of union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. the
fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of being in Him, the fruit of
His Word dwelling in us, the fruit of His communion with His
people. And the ground shall give her
increase, and the heavens shall give their due. And I will cause
the remnant of this people to possess all these things. Don't you love the fact that
we have a glorious covenant Then God says, I will and they shall. I will teach them and they shall
come to me. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I will cause the remnant of this
people to possess all these things. Salvation is of the Lord, every
last little bit of it. And it shall come to pass, verse
13. Don't you love that word, that
phrase? It's throughout the scriptures, dozens, hundreds of times. It
shall come to pass. What comes to pass? exactly what
God ordained, exactly what God ordained from the foundation
of the world, exactly what's sealed up in the covenant of
God's eternal grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, exactly what's
in that scroll that the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone is
worthy to open, take and open. And it shall come to pass that
as you were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and
house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. promises, abounding promises,
isn't it? That's the glory of the gospel,
isn't it? He's taken people who were in themselves nothing but
a curse, but because the Lord Jesus Christ bore that curse,
the curse of the law, we are now a people who are a blessing. Fear not. Let your hands be strong. Fear not. What can man do to us? Only what God ordains for man
to do. Fear not, fear not, fear not. Let your hands be strong. For,
verse 14, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, as I thought to
punish you, and he did the nation of Israel, when your fathers
provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented
not. So again, they have just experienced
and witnessed the punishment of God upon these people, haven't
they? They've seen for 70 years their
nation destroyed. They've come back and they've
seen Jerusalem in ruins, the walls and the temple destroyed
and all in ruins, just as all of that is in the providence
of God Almighty. So, have I thought in these days
to do well unto Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Fear not,
just as real as the captivity was, so are my promises, I thought
to do well unto Jerusalem and the house of Judah. These are
the things that ye shall do. You fear not, you let your hands
be strong. Don't you love what the first
time that word fear is used in the Bible is in Genesis chapter
15 verse 1. And God says to Abraham, I am
thy shield. Don't you love that thought,
that God shields us from ourselves, from our enemies, from our sin. God, I am thy shield and thy
exceeding great reward. These things shall you do, you
who fear not, you who are a blessing, you who have been caused to possess
all these things, you who have been saved. Speak every man the
truth to his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth
and peace. in your gates. Let none of you imagine evil
in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath. What are the false oaths? Every
time man says, I will. I will say the sinner's prayer.
I will accept Jesus. I will do these things to prove
that I am a Christian. They're false oaths, aren't they?
I will do this, and God will respond. It's a false oath, isn't
it? Love no false oath. For all these things, these are
the things that I hate, saith the Lord. Why do people imagine
evil in their hearts against their neighbour? One answer, isn't it? They don't
see themselves as sinners. It's the only reason, isn't it? We stand up on the soapbox of
our own self-righteousness and look down our nose at other people. Don't do it, he says. Let none
of you imagine. It's even in the heart, isn't
it? It's out of the heart that evil
things proceed. God's going to give his people
a new heart. Verse 18, And the word of the Lord of hosts came
unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The faster the
fourth month, the faster the fifth, the faster the seventh,
the faster the tenth shall be to the house of Judah joy and
gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore, love the truth and
peace. Truth and peace shall be in your
gates. You'll speak the truth to your
neighbor. We'll declare the gospel. We'll tell people, we'll tell
our brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ has done it
all. The Lord of hosts sits on the
throne. The Lord of hosts is building his temple. The Lord
of hosts is gathering his people together. The Lord of hosts is
in the midst of them. We declare, as the Lord would
allow, we declare the gospel to one another. love him we love him because
he first loved us but God's children love him we love him who is the
truth and we love him who is the peace We just looked at the
end of John 16, that God, the Lord Jesus, went through all
those things and wrote all those things so that we would have
peace. In Him we have peace. Verse 20. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, yet it shall come to pass that there shall come people,
inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall
go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the
Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts, I will go also, speedily. not waiting for anything to change,
not waiting for me to get better, not waiting for me to get right
with God. We go speedily to him to seek him. Yea, many people
and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in
Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. My house, says the
Lord Jesus Christ, is going to be a house of prayer for all
nations. You religious people have made it into a den of thieves. Come and buy without money and
without price. Don't come bargaining with God.
We've got nothing to bargain with. We just come and we seek
Him. We seek the Lord of hosts and
we pray to Him. We ask Him. He has made His people
to be mercy beggars in this world. Every circumstance and situation
in us and around us is too big for us. Lean. Lean and be dependent and rejoice
that we have this one to lean upon. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall
take hold of all languages of the nation, and even shall take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. Who is the Jew? Who is the true Jew? There is just one true Jew, isn't
there? There is one true obedient Jew. saying, and Jew comes from
the word Judah, the tribe of Judah, he is the line of the
tribe of Judah. This is what they'll say, we
will go with you for we have heard that God I love the story of Naomi and
Ruth. What did they hear? In the land
of Moab, which is a picture of this land, this world, this wilderness
world that we live in. They had heard in the land of
Moab, you know the story, John could recite it to you, it's
so special. They'd heard in the land of Moab
that God had visited his people with from heaven, they'd left that
land, like all of us, they'd left that land, they'd left that
house of bread, Bethlehem, and they'd gone to live with the
enemies of God's people. She'd heard that the Lord had
dealt kindly with his people. We have a glorious gospel that
declares that God has dealt kindly with his people. We have a glorious
privilege in this world to be those living stones that are
built into a holy temple in the Lord. 1 Peter chapter 1, it's
a wonderful description what's going on with the building.
The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is ahead
of the corner. He says, verse four, to whom
coming. They're going with him. because
we've heard that God is with you. And that's what we're doing,
aren't we? We're continually going to the
Lord Jesus Christ, we're continually coming, we're continually pleading,
because while we live in this wilderness world, we are continually
in need. We're coming, to whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious. And this is exactly what Zechariah
is saying, ye also as lively stones, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We're made accepted in the beloved. God laid these stones, these
physical stones, in Jerusalem that we might see a picture of
the spiritual building that He's building. You are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar, particular people,
that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light, which in time
past were not a people, but now are the people of God, which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We were a curse and we made a
blessing. Our great God says he will, I
will save you. I will gather you. You will call
on me. You will come and call others
to come. And we will go with you, the
great Jew. How can he be with us and not consume us? Because he
has borne all of our sins and they're gone. That's why he says
we're a holy priesthood. Not holy in ourselves, but holy
in the finished work of our glorious Saviour. Let's bow. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your promises. We thank you that they are true,
they are yea and are men in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray,
Heavenly Father, that we, like these people of old, will hear
and come and rejoice that God is with us. We praise you, our
Father, that the one thing that separated us from you was our
sin. The sin that we are and the sin
that we do, when we praise you, heavenly Father, within the Lord
Jesus Christ, those sins are gone and are no more. And you have made all of your
people for now and into eternity perfectly fit beings in which
you can reside and in which you can commune in delight. O Heavenly
Father, grant us the peace of your truth. Grant us the willingness
to come and to rejoice in the finished work of your dear and
precious Saviour. Make communion with him the delight
of our souls, our Father. We pray in the name of your dear
and precious Son and for his glory and for the good of your
people. Pray in Jesus' name.