I want us to begin this second
part of our service by being reminded of those remarkable
verses that I read at the beginning, because in Zechariah 6, as in
many, many other places, throughout the scriptures it speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ coming as a builder. In fact, he was a carpenter for
all of those years until his public ministry and he shall
build the temple of the Lord. And it said twice in Zechariah
chapter six, he'll build the temple of the Lord. Listen to
what the stones are. We are bound to give second Thessalonians
chapter two verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you. I'm thankful that it's a binding
thing, but also I'm thankful that it's something that I do
all the time. I am thankful to God for you, brethren. I'm thankful to God because God
has raised up a place where we can worship him in spirit and
truth. But listen to the description of the brethren. Because, this is how God's love
is expressed, isn't it? Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. We have a God who elects people.
And you cannot declare the gospel without declaring the fact that
God in sovereign love elected a people and he elected them
in the elect one. He put them in the Lord Jesus
Christ from the foundation of the world. This is God's love
language to his church. Chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit. The word sanctification is to
be set apart for God's purposes, isn't it, but it's also We aren't becoming increasingly
holy. Holy is an absolute, isn't it?
Either you are perfectly and completely holy before God now,
or you are not. You're 100% holy or 100% defiled. Sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Now the truth is a person in
the scriptures. The truth is the truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ. In this verse here, it's about
his electing love and about the sanctification of the spirit.
And the spirit is taking the things, John 16, taking the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the greatest thing
the Lord Jesus Christ did? He came as a man to bear the
sins of all of his people, as a man. and he bore them away and he's
made his people to be holy as he is holy, as righteous as he
is righteous. He's robed them with the robe
of his own glory and righteousness. Where unto he called you, it's
the Lord Jesus Christ calling his people to himself, he called
you by our gospel. Does the gospel matter? I've
been told on so many occasions that you can go to any place
you like and hear the Gospel. The Gospel is a rare and precious
thing. The Gospel is the truth, as is
declared here. It's the truth about who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. He calls his people to himself
by our Gospel. How is the Lord Jesus Christ
building his church? He's calling his people to himself. the sanctifying one, the electing
one, the one who is the truth, to the obtaining, listen to this
phrase from God, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. What's that mean? The glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the possession of all of God's children. Brethren, stand fast and hold
the gospel. You hold on to the gospel as
the apostles declared the gospel. You hold on to that one gospel.
There is just one gospel. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel of the glory of God. It's the gospel of the truth
of God. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not my
gospel, but it is my gospel. It's God's gospel and it becomes
my gospel. when God comes and speaks and
gives us life from above so that his gospel becomes my gospel.
Stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or by our epistle. Now the Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, hath loved us. infinite, it is eternal, it is
unchanging. The love of God is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and for those who are not in the Lord Jesus Christ
they have no reason whatsoever to presume that God loves them
no matter how many people stand up in how many pulpits and write
how many tracts they like saying the first thing that they want
to say to anyone these days is God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. God loves you and he wants to
save you. God loves you and he'll save
you if you do these things. There is no gospel, brothers
and sisters, where there's a work of man aiding the Lord Jesus
Christ. We believe. Belief is absolutely
essential. And where does believing come
from? It's the gift of God. And when God's children hear
that, They say, Lord, make me believe. Make me to believe yet
again. Make me to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ one more time. If you're giving gifts, let me
be like that Syro-Phoenician woman. Just be, I wanna be a
dog underneath the table, I just need a crumb. If I can just get
another crumb, as long as it comes from your hand. You stand
fast, brothers and sisters. Lord Jesus Christ, even God our
Father which has loved us and given us everlasting consolation,
everlasting comfort, and good hope through grace. Don't you love that? The everlasting
consolation and the good hope come through grace, which means
that it's got absolutely nothing to do with works whatsoever.
It means that God is not looking. Grace means that God is not looking
to my merits to reward me, nor can he look to my demerits to
unreward me, because he must be looking to his Son. God looks
to his Son for everything that he requires of me. God looks
to his Son, and we look in the same place that God looks. God
looks to his Son, and what does he say? This is my beloved son, in whom
I'm well pleased." When God looks at everyone inside his son, everyone
in union with his son, he says, I'm well pleased. Comfort your
heart and establish you in every good work, word and work. I need my heart comforted all
the time. I live in this body of flesh
which sins continuously and I can't look and find any comfort within
me. I can't look and find any comfort
in anything I do. All of my comfort, all of my
comfort is in the perfect and finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To go back to our text in Zechariah 6, just briefly,
he'll build the temple of the Lord. He'll build the temple
of the Lord. He'll grow out of his place and
he'll build the temple of the Lord. You men are building a
physical temple, but he will build the temple of the Lord.
You are gathered here as a gathering of God by his Spirit to worship
him. We're gathered by God for God
to be exalted in our midst. And that's what the gospel does,
doesn't it? The gospel exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall
build the temple of the Lord. Our great Jehovah, our great
Lord Jesus Christ is a builder. He's a builder. He's a builder. He shall build
the temple of the Lord. I love what it says in Acts chapter
2 verse 47. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. Where did the saved people gather?
In the church of God. Whose church is it? He says, I will build my church. The church belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is not my church. I get very,
very tired of people saying, calling this church my church.
If it's my church, we're all in trouble. I promise you. And
if this is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we're
all as safe as we could ever be and as comforted by him as
we ever will be. I will build my church and the
gates of Hades will not prevail against it. The gates are the
defensive weapons of Hades. Satan keeps all of his goods
in a palace and he keeps them in peace. And the Lord Jesus
Christ comes down and he just bashes the doors down. He says,
then, Lion, you're coming out. You're coming out of this world.
You're coming out of the entanglements of the deceitfulness of Satan.
You're coming out of false religion. But you're not just coming out,
you're coming to me. Salvation is coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ. To whom? Coming. We just keep
coming to him. The Lord adds to the church.
And he uses the most extraordinarily insignificant instruments that
this world could possibly perceive. Why? So all the glory goes to
him. He's building his church and
he uses his gospel. But I love the next verse in
Zechariah. And this is one of the ways you
can tell whether you're hearing the true gospel or not. He shall build the temple of
the Lord. And listen to this phrase from our God in verse
13 of Zechariah 6. And he shall bear the glory.
Who gets the glory? That's a great question to ask,
isn't it? About everything in terms of
your spiritual well-being. Who gets the glory? Who gets
the glory? He will not share his glory with
another. He will build his church. So why? Why do men presume to
build using things that he has not prescribed? How did he build
his church 2,000 years ago? He just preached the gospel.
He preached the glory of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified. You're personally
responsible for his crucifixion. God has made this Jesus, whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. We just preach the gospel
as God will enable us to preach the gospel, and God does this
mighty work. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
come? The word of God came, we began with, wasn't it? Why did
the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? Why was he made flesh
in this world? Well, the very first cause, of
course, is the free grace. It's the love of God the Father
sent Christ. It was that eternal, infinite
love of God that sent the Lord Jesus Christ here in His love. This is the great description
of love in 1 John 4. Here in His love. Not that we
love God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. And that's why He came. For this
cause He came. This hour, it says in John 13,
is the reason He's glorified. And the love of God sent the
Son and the love of Christ caused him to come willingly. He didn't
have to be coerced into coming. He came and he set his face like
a flint to come into this world and he set his face like a flint
to go to Calvary's cross and he reigned and ruled over all
of the events of what man did so that he would be crucified
on a tree, a bloody death. The first cause is love. First
cause is love and grace, isn't it? Grace sends Christ because
of our misery, because of our fallenness, because of our brokenness,
because of the brokenness of this world we're in, because
of our captivity to our nature, our fallen nature, to our captivity. of Satan. Satan ensnares people
and he blinds people and he does so with the purpose of killing
them. Christ came not because of our merits but because of
our demerits. Christ is the lover of his people
and he loved them eternally and he loved them infinitely. In
John 13 he said he loved them to the end, he loved them utterly,
he loved them to the uttermost. Christ taking on flesh was, as
someone said, the plot of free grace and the pure design of
love. We have no notion of the love
of God apart from going to the cross and seeing the love of
God for us. And we should, when we come to
read our scriptures, be absolutely astounded by the love of God
to sinners like us. He says of the Shulamite, he
says of the church in Song of Solomon, she says, my beloved
is mine and I am his. And after she had sinned willfully
and wickedly and shamefully, she's restored to him. And his first words to her, after
all of her wickedness, thou art beautiful, my love. You are beautiful. beautiful and then he says you
turn your eyes away from me because they have overcome me he's overcome
he's overcome with love for his bride if you want to understand
the cross you have to see him loving his May almighty God overcome with
love. See Christ incarnate coming to
build his church is love covered with flesh. It's light covered
with flesh. It's holiness covered with flesh.
Christ coming to establish his church is a revelation and a
reflection of the wisdom and glory of God. in the work. What a masterpiece of extraordinary
wisdom from our God that he found a way to save sinners like us
and glorify every attribute of his being. So that in the very
act of the salvation of his people, he magnifies all of his character,
he magnifies his holiness, he magnifies his justice, he magnifies
his law. He magnifies his sovereignty
in such a glorious way. What wisdom. What a monument
it is. No wonder the people in Zechariah
6 had to take this crown that they placed on the head of Joshua
and put it in that temple as a memorial. He's a king. The other reason that the Lord
Jesus Christ came came into this world was to take our sins, the
sins, the real sins of real men, and take them to himself. God
made him. who knew no sin, we must keep
declaring the fact that the only possible way there is salvation
is that the Lord Jesus Christ had to be the spotless Lamb of
God. He never sinned in thought, word and deed. And right at the
very end of his life he says, Satan has nothing in me. There
is no sin in him for which Satan can lay hold of him. Yet in that
extraordinary transaction, God the Father has made him sin. for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Is there ever
a verse in the scriptures that you ought to have dear to your
heart and repeat it again and again? God shows that the sins of all
of his people must be punished. you think lightly of sin, you
just don't know him. I'm sorry. We want to see what sin is, what
our sin is before God, then you must go to the cross and look
at what God the Father did when he found sin on his son. And that's what God the Father
is doing to every this world outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He must do to them what he did
to his son. He must punish them infinitely,
eternally. He must punish them to the complete
and utter satisfaction of his justice. And brothers and sisters,
you've got nothing to pay. You have nothing to pay that
God can accept. He will only accept what is holy. He will only accept what is like
himself, holy and perfect and righteous. We have nothing to
pay. We have nothing to bargain with
God with. He must punish sin for the glory
of his holy name. He must punish sin for the glory
of his holy law. What sort of a God, what sort
of a King would enact a law and write it on stone and then ignore
the transgression of it? What's he saying? If he ignores
that transgression, he's saying my honour, my glory, my name
means nothing. Our God will have his name honoured. The other reason the Lord Jesus
Christ came and took on flesh was that he might make human
nature appear lovely to God and also at the same time to make
divine nature appear lovely to man. Let me say that again. He
came that human nature might appear lovely to God and the
divine nature appear lovely to man. Isn't that a good statement? Human nature made lovely to God,
how fallen man is in the sight of God, how offensive his religious
efforts are. Isaiah describes all of humanity
and he's describing religious humanity in Isaiah chapter 1.
He says, he says, Nothing but putrefying sins from
the sole of our foot to the head of our heads. He says, you come
to me, come and let us reason together. Though your sins be
as scald, they shall be as white as snow. They be as red as crimson,
they shall be as wool. God finds the religion of men
offensive to him. The religious efforts of men
where they seek to make God their debtor. There is no works where
there is grace. And there is no grace where there
is works. God will cannot be put in our
debt as if he owes us something. From head to toe full of bruises
and putrefying sores, God came to save sinners. Don't you love
that? He came to save sinners. Save sinners. Just listen to
what Romans 3 gives us as a description of sinners. He says, There is
none that understandeth, there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3.10. There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seek after God. They are
all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. And with their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their
lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. And the way of peace, the Lord
Jesus Christ, they have not known. And then there's a summary of
it all. There is no fear. their eyes. Don't you love what
1 Corinthians says? A great description of humanity
and us, isn't it? He says, Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. And the glorious gospel word
is a but, but you are washed. But you are sanctified, but you
are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
Spirit of our God. When the Lord Jesus Christ is
building his temple, he's actually taking those people and making
them perfectly fit. The one thing that every true
child of God finds so true is the evil of what we are. And the one thing every child
of Satan in this world finds repulsive is to have his righteousness
treated as God treats his righteousness. To have what he supposes as his
sovereignty, his free will, treated as it really is, to have his
religion seen through the lens of God's holy word. In John 13, these men that night
were plotting the cruel and humiliating and accursed death of Jesus of
Nazareth. What were they crucifying him
for? Was it for his miracles? No. Was it for his teaching? People today still see the Sermon
on the Mount as one of the classics of teaching about morality. Did they put him to death because
of the things he did? Did they put him to death because
of the teaching he gave in that way? Why did they put him to
death? It was just one reason why the Jews put him to death.
There's one reason why the religious world of all time wants the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. was because of his claims to
who he was. His claims of deity, his claims
of sovereignty, his claims of salvation by free and sovereign
grace, his claims of complete and utter forgiveness of sins. He says, I just forgive your
sins. Your sins are gone. He creates the reality of forgiveness. speaking a word. Oh may he speak
that word to our hearts again today. Jesus Christ took on human
nature that human nature in him might appear lovely to God. He's
washed all that sin away. But also he's made divine nature
appear lovely to us. As I said some time ago in this
service, the children of God and the preachers of God want
to declare the character of God all the time. They want to declare
the name of God. So that when we're calling on
Him, we're calling on Him who is absolutely holy and sovereign.
But the Lord Jesus Christ came to make divine nature appear
lovely to man. Is there anything about the Lord
Jesus Christ that is anything other than glory? We love following him through
the gospels and seeing his acts and hearing his amazing words. But at the end of the day, we
just love his person, don't we? We just love him. We love him
because he's given us a life that allows us to rejoice in
his divinity. in meeting him, in hearing from
him, in him sending his gospel to us. He is coming to reveal
himself to his people. Our sins have separated us from
God. They have left us blinded and
dead spiritually. And he comes. He comes married to his bride
and he makes peace. And his peace We love his appearing. Our Lord
Jesus Christ came as a builder and I just want to close with
two descriptions of him being a builder. Paul is a type, is
an example of all the saved, he says in 1 Timothy 1. He says,
but when, verse 15 of Galatians 1, when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, listen
to what he says, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen. He doesn't have to consult with
man. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
taught him the gospel perfectly and completely. The Lord Jesus
Christ is this builder, this glorious builder of his church.
He's ascended on high, having done his work on this earth,
having borne all the sins of all these people and borne them
away completely, having honoured all of the glorious attributes
of God, he ascended on high and he led captivity captive. And
he gave some to be apostles and some to be prophets and evangelists
and some pastors and teaching, Ephesians 4.12, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ."
And listen to what this builder is doing to these stones. from whom the whole body fitly
joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. He says, and he speaks as every pastor of
God, He says, for I would, Colossians 2 verse 1, I would that you knew
what great conflict I have for you and for them and Laodicea,
and for as many have not seen my face in the flesh, that their
hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, unto all
the riches of the full assurance of understanding, and to the
acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and
of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Why on earth would you go anywhere else for wisdom? Why on earth
would you go anywhere else for knowledge? He has it all. He
is it all, isn't he? We are being built together. We are being built together.
God builds his church and he knits them together. We are the
building of God. There are so many other passages
of scripture that describe what it is for us to be knitted together
in Him. When He knits us together in
Him, He then reveals how glorious He is. And God's people love his appearing. The word of God came, the word
of God comes in the preaching of the gospel. The Lord Jesus
Christ married himself to his bride. And when he makes peace,
it's our peace. Behold, I'm going to keep bringing
you good tidings of great joy for I'm going to be singing about
it. There's a Saviour born. There's a Saviour who's come.
There is a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we do pray that we might be made as lively stones, built
together by you, for your glory in this world. We thank you,
Heavenly Father, that you do it as you have promised, and
you are faithful where your gospel is proclaimed in faithfulness,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself comes and takes his sheep to
himself and there is just one fold and one shepherd and the
sheep hear the shepherd's voice and they love the shepherd's
voice and they follow the shepherd's voice and a stranger's voice
they will not follow. Oh, our Father, cause us to come
again and again to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
see him as he declares himself to be glorified in this earth,
Heavenly Father, bearing the sins of all of his people, bearing
them under the wrath of God Almighty, bearing them under the wrath
of a broken law, but bearing at the same time, Heavenly Father,
all of the glory. We thank you that he says that
his glory is great in our salvation. May we find ourselves glorified
in him and find him glorious. Find us, Heavenly Father, delighting
in the beauties of his holiness. For his honour and for his glory
we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.