Sir Lord graciously helps me
I turn your prayerful attention to the chapter we had before
us this morning Zechariah and chapter 4. Sir Lord helps me I want to focus
on verse 10 this evening Zechariah 4 and verse 10. For who hath despised the day
of small things. For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet or the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel
with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro through the whole earth. at Zechariah
4 and verse 10. The latter part of this verse
that talks about the eyes of those seven, it's spoken of in
the chapter before, if you just look for Clarity, so Zechariah
3 verse 9, it says, for behold the stone that I have laid before
Joshua. Upon one stone there shall be
seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts. So these seven eyes, there's
a perfect knowledge. We see seven in the word of God
is a number of perfection. So seven eyes, symbolizes perfect knowledge,
perfect understanding. And that is what we have in the
law. The Lord knows everything basically.
He knows everything that's going on and everything that's going
on in your life. And here we have the background of those
some of you were not here this morning. We looked at this account
in the Old Testament When the temple had been destroyed at
the time of the captivity, 70 years later, there was a rebuilding
of that temple. First of all, it was the foundations
that were built. And we noted that there was a
16-year gap between the foundations being built and the actual rest
of the building taking place on top of that foundation. We
pointed out that, as we've sung that beautiful hymn, the first
hymn this evening, about the sure foundation stone which God
in Zion lays. And that's the foundation that
was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. As there was a temple, a physical
building, the Bible uses this picture very strongly of how
this is a picture of the Lord Jesus and how he is building
his church. And the foundation of that church
is none other than himself. I will build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus said, when
Peter had said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. Upon this rock, I will build
my church. and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. So we have this imagery here
of the temple. The temple being built, the foundations
were built, and then the enemies arose, and there was difficulties
arose, and then the building stopped then for 16 years. And
it was under the prophecy of Zachariah and Haggaiah that two
particular individuals were stirred up. by God to be a channel of
that blessing to God's people. And that was Joshua the high
priest and Zerubbabel. Joshua the high priest being
in the priesthood, he was the priestly, the line as it were. And then Zerubbabel was the kingly
line. He was the governor in the line
of Christ. You can read of it in Matthew.
So we have the king and the priest. And then we have Zechariah and
Haggai, which were the prophets. And so there's picturing the
three-fold nature of prophet, priest, and king, which all ultimately
were looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, who is prophet, priest,
and king, who will build his church. This was a physical building. This was a picture. But it was
foreshadowing something that was building a far more glorious
church. One that would never pass away.
You see, this building got destroyed. Jesus walked in it. This temple
that was built by Zerubbabel, Jesus walked in it. That's why
Haggaiah says that this house shall be greater than the last
one. The Lord Jesus never walked in Solomon's temple. But even
though it was great, it got destroyed in 70 AD. Not one stone would
be on another, Jesus said. 40 years after Jesus died, that
came true. And that temple was totally destroyed.
So we're talking about a temple that was a physical temple that
didn't last forever. But it's picturing a spiritual
temple built upon a foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
shall never pass away. And the building materials are
not mortar and cement and bricks and stones. They are people. They're human
beings that have been plucked out of nature's darkness and
brought into the marvelous light of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
read about that beautifully in Ephesians and you. hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. That's how every one
of those stones became part of that building. It was through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, their faith in Jesus Christ,
they became living stones, lively stones, as Peter puts it, built
up into a spiritual house. And so the Lord is pleased in
his word to use many pictures. And this is a picture, a picture
of a building. And as we read about it in Ephesians,
that beautifully terminates at the end of that chapter, in whom
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together
for an habitation of God through the spirit. See, God is going
to inhabit this temple. God is going to dwell in this
temple. You see, if you're not part of
this temple, you're not going to dwell with God. You're going
to be cast out forever in darkness. But if by God's grace you've
been brought to see something of your emptiness in self, something
of your depravity by nature, and brought to have true repentance
towards God and faith in Jesus Christ, and to be part of this
building, then you will be an habitation of God. through the
Spirit and you will be able to worship God. You will be a fit person to be able to worship
God. You think about it, if heaven
is a place of continual worship, if you went on to a lot of people
that live around you and said, would you want to worship for
one hour on Sunday? They said, of course, a long
time. I don't think I want to do that. Would you want to worship
eternally? been awful thought. But you see, the Lord's people
have little foretaste of worship, and they come to love it, and
they come to delight in it, and they come to realise that what
must it be to be there, where they are incontinually worshipping
the Lamb. It's a totally different mindset.
And you see, unless you're part of that building, you'll never
be there. You'll never be part of that
worship. It will be an alien concept.
We read in Ephesians, it says that, that at that time you were
without Christ, being aliens, foreigners that means, from the
Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. What a desperate
situation. But that's where we all are by
nature. Enemies to God. Filling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind. Having as much of the fill of
the world as we can. Enjoying the lust, the pomp,
the pride of life. That's the motive of us by nature. But you see, and you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. I've opened your
eyes to see something far more precious than this poor, poor,
poor world can ever give. This is life and life eternal
that they may know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Now
this is the grand temple that God is building and this is the
wonderful unspeakable privilege if we are part of it. Unspeakable
privilege. to be left without God and without
hope in the world. Yes, you may be the richest person
in the world. You may have all the fame that
the world can ever give you, but if you're without God and
without hope in the world, you are poor. Eternally poor. But if you have Christ, you have
everything. You're eternally rich. You're
with Him. You'll be part of this building. Your part is being
prepared for glory. To be with Christ, which is far
better. Two stark opposites. And the vital thing is to be
on that foundation, on the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this is very
serious. This is very serious. In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth to an holy temple in the Lord, in whom
ye are also builded together for an habitation of God. through
the spirit, habitation of God. Do you love God in your heart
now? Do you delight to worship him now? Do you delight to have
communion with him now? Well, then there's an evidence
that you'll be there in glory. See, there's a little paradox
that said if you don't get to glory before you die, you won't
get there afterwards. If you don't have any foretaste
of worship here below, I don't think you've got any evidence
that you're going to have them in heaven because you don't know
what worship is. But if this is what you delight
to do here below, then may it be, by God's grace, your portion
to be there eternally. Well, that is set in the scene. I want to now then talk about
what it is to be one of these stones, what it feels like. You see, our text says, for who
hath despised The day of small things. The world like big things. They
like to be big and great and talk big and talk proud on everything. And they do so, they want to
do that on a Christian level as well. They want to have all
the benefits immediately. But here we're told, for who
hath despised? the day of small things. You
see, there were those that were weeping when the foundations
were laid at the temple because they weren't as great as Solomon's
temple. It wasn't as great in their eyes. It wasn't going to
be as majestic. It wasn't going to be as earth-pleasing as Solomon's
temple was going to be, or was, sorry. They could remember. But
Solomon's temple didn't last forever. You see, if we're tied to the
here and now and the glamour, the glory of this world is passing
away. If you grab with all your hands
all the glory of this world, you'll have nothing ultimately. But if by faith you've been led
to see the glory of Christ and his kingdom and his glory and
his suitability, the world may laugh at you. The world may say
you've got nothing. Come and look at our pleasures.
But if you have Christ, you have everything. So as we look at this text, for
who has despised the day of small things? I want to look in Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the prophet who
had prophesied to the people, telling them that if they didn't
repent, they would go into captivity. They ignored him. They ridiculed
his message. but it was absolutely true and
he loved Israel and that was one of the really hard things
for Jeremiah. He loved Israel and yet he was portrayed as being
somebody who was a traitor to Israel because he said that they
needed to give themselves up and go into obey the people that were over
them, because that was for their good, but that they treat him
as a traitor. Very, very hard for Jeremiah,
who did love the people of God. Well, if you look in Jeremiah
1 and verse 9, we read this. This is God's commission, really,
to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 1, verse 9, then the
Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto
me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Now, if you think that, now what are
these words going to be? Well, we're going to build up.
We're going to build people up. We're going to make a grand thing. Well, before there was going
to be any building up, there was going to be a lot of breaking down. Look at what verse 10 says in
Jeremiah 1. See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull
down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. You say, well, there's a tremendous
lot of negative things at the beginning of my ministry there.
A tremendous lot of negative things. And yet this is what
was necessary. And you see when the Lord is
working in our hearts and because this is true of a nation but
it's true of individuals in each of our hearts God needs to do
this work to root out to pull down to destroy to throw down. You say what's that about. Well
You see, we need to... Israel needed to be taken away
from their idolatry. They were idol worshippers, Israel
was. They loved their gods. They loved all the idol worship and all the wrong
ways. They loved it. They were wedded to it. And God
says, you cannot have me and Mammon. You have one or the other,
you don't have both. So the first thing that needed
to be done was to actually root out, pull down, to destroy, to
throw down. You say, what a negative ministry. For who hath despised the day
of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet. in the hand of the rubber ball.
The plummet is a plumb line. Understand it's if you want to
get the vertical you have a weight at the bottom of a string, you
hold the string high up and it tells you exactly where vertical
is. Used to make buildings stand
straight and be of the right proportions. And you see here
we have a prophecy that the plumb line that is going to be in the
hand of Sir Rubble. Sir Rubble is going to be involved
in this building project. And he's going to be making sure
that the walls are straight, that they're according to what
they should be. Not just any old how, oh that'll
do. No, the building's got to be
a glorious building. having neither spot nor wrinkle.
It's got to be straight upwards. It's got to be a right building.
But what about all the rubbish? What about all the sin? What
about all the uncleanness? You see, if you look in Colossians, Colossians 3 verse 5. Well, perhaps I'll read from
the beginning of Colossians 3. It's a beautiful account. If you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on the
things above, and not things on the earth. For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is your
life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Then comes this statement in verse 5. Mortify, put to death,
therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry. A whole list of things that need
to be sorted out. See I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull
down, and to destroy, to change, for us to turn away from these
things, to turn away from uncleanness, to turn away from idolatry, to
turn away from the things that this world calls good and great.
There's got to be a pulling back, there's got to be an overthrowing
of that old way of life. We don't just have the old way
of life and then put a new way on top and we've got both. No,
we need to destroy that old way of carrying on. Yeah, new creatures
in Christ to root out, to pull down, to destroy, and to throw
down, to build, and to build and to plant. Well, if somebody
is, the Lord is working with that plumb line in the heart
of one of these precious stones,
and there's the pulling down, there's the destroying, there's
a turning away from evil, the seeing more and more evil in
our own selves and how far short we come from the glory of God. We don't feel very great and
we don't feel very big and we don't feel that we're getting
on very well. All it seems at this hand of God working in our
lives is just uprooting more and more and more filth and rubbish. For they shall rejoice. and shall
see the plummet in the hands of Abbael. With those seven,
these are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through
the whole earth. You see, God knows what he's
doing with his people. He is bringing them down and
down so that he may then build them up. You see, he's not doing
this in anger. He's not doing this in hatred.
He's not doing this for any bad reason. He's doing
it in love. You see, he did it with Israel.
He sent them into captivity. They had to leave their land.
They had to leave it all. They lost so much. They were
so small. And people will say, well I want
a lot more religion than that. I want something that's great
and I can speak to everybody about how great my religion is.
But these little ones, they feel despised. But you see
the word is an encouragement here. For who has despised the
day of small things? If these things are real, And
if these things are done by the hand of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel
is a type of Christ. He is a foreshadow of one that
was greater to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, prophet, priest,
and king, not just a governor, but prophet, priest, and king.
He has in his, and it says that the eyes of the Lord which run
to and fro through the whole earth. He knows what he's doing.
He doesn't afflict willingly. He doesn't do it for any wrong
ends. for they shall rejoice and see
the plummets in the hand of Zerubbabel. When I was something around 20
or 21 years of age, I was very blessed under the
preaching of, some of you remember, a man called Clement Wood, lovely,
gracious man. And he preached from a word in
Nehemiah, Nehemiah 6 and verse 16. And it said this, for they perceived
that this work was wrought of our God. This was the rebuilding
of the wall in Nehemiah's day. And this actually was the enemies.
The enemies had to acknowledge that because they'd managed to
complete this building of the wall in 52 days, a record time,
with all the rubbish and all the discouragement and all the
fighting and all the things that were thrown at them, in 52 days
they rebuilt those walls. For they perceived. that this
work was wrought of our God. They look back and realise that
there's something supernatural here. This wasn't just a normal
building project. God was helping these people
to build this wall in a supernatural way. And it's a wonderful thing
in your lives when you're able to look back at how the Lord
has led you, the difficulties you've perhaps come into, the
low places, the emptyings, the times when you feel as if you've
got nothing, as if God is going to plough everything out of your
life and you see sin mixed in everything you do and you think,
well, what have I got? I've got nothing. For who has despised the day
of small things? Small things. And yet, you see,
if they're real things, if we see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel, if we see that he's putting a line down and making
sure that in our lives, that all which is of the evil one
and all that is of sin and self is being thrown away. You see, Saul of Tarsus had this,
didn't he? Oh, he was a Pharisee of the
Pharisees. He was a religious elite. And when God opened his eyes
and showed him that he was actually a wretched, hell-deserving sinner
that had been fighting against him, he realized that all his
righteousness was filthy rags. He realized that all his pharisaical
upbringing and his self-righteousness was all rubbish. We've just been
singing of it in that middle hymn. He had to come, you see,
and realize that I think Paul was pretty small after those
three days on the Damascus road. For hearth despised the day of
small things. I'm sure he felt pretty small,
didn't he? As Ananias came to him and put his hand on him and
said, brother Saul, I'm sure he felt pretty small then, didn't
he? He wasn't the great. He wasn't the great Pharisee
that could say, as touching the law, blameless anymore. Oh, he
had to throw all that away. There was a lot of throwing down,
and it was a bringing down, you see. It was a humble yourselves.
Therefore, under the mighty hand of God. But for what purpose? He may exhort you in due season.
You see, if you become part of this building, whose builder
and maker is God, you will be exhorted in a way that you cannot
believe. Man hath not, eyeth not seen,
nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that fear him. It's a tremendous
blessing. And how do we get there? By the hand of Zerubbabel working
in our lives, showing us our emptiness, our vileness, our
far-offness, See, like Jeremiah, the first things were all negative. I've set thee over the kingdoms
to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw
down. Well, you think, by the time
you've done all that, I've got nothing left. Well, you see, that's when we
come in our emptiness, in our nothing left in us, to cling
to a precious Jesus. Because we've been, everything
else has had to go. And you see, this is that, for who has despised the
day of small things? Israel had been brought down
in captivity. They were poor people. They were
few. They felt very vulnerable. But who has despised the day
of small things? God is behind it, which he was.
God was going to build them up. God was going to bring this temple
to a conclusion. Yes, in Zerubbabel's day, it
was four years. There would be a conclusion.
The temple would be built. The top stone would be added.
There would be the grace, grace unto it, not to the glory of
Zerubbabel. See, that's another thing that
all the stones in this house have to come to realize. They
have to come to the end of themselves. They're not little gods in this
house. They're people who worship the
one and true living God. They're not gods themselves.
They're not after the big I. She's so satanic, you see, that
was the, Satan, he wanted to be worshipped and he got thrown
out of heaven. And you see, if we want to be
part of this building and want to be somebody as well, we can't
be. We can't be. Can't be both. You see, the hand of Sir Rubberball
with that plumb line will come down and it will show us where
we're deviating, where the wall is all bowing out with our pride
and our self-righteousness. He's going to say, the line's
not straight. The line's not straight. But you see, they shall rejoice
and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel because
they know that this man is going to complete the work. And it's
going to be right. And it's going to be precious.
And he's going to make this building fit place for the worship of
God. That's what he's doing. See,
we read about that beautifully in Ephesians. In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord. in whom ye also are builded together
for an habitation of God through the Spirit. But how can you be
a habitation of God through the Spirit if you've got all that
evil, militant and raving inside your heart? It's got to go. Yes, I know we still have our
old nature, but we can't serve it anymore. It has to go. We have to be done with that. Mortify there, put it to death,
don't give it any wiggle room. Not give it some wiggle room
and give it some time to enjoy itself, no. In whom all the building,
in whom also ye are builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. This is what God is doing you
see. And this was very sweet in my life when I look back at
what the Lord had been doing in my life. It didn't seem great
in the eyes of many. Somebody said, well, you know,
how's your religion going on? Well, there wasn't much to talk
about, I couldn't see. But when I look back and realize
that God was working. And it was very sweet because
that was on the Friday. So on one of the annual general
meetings I went to, It was a precious time. That was on the Friday
and on the following Wednesday I got made redundant. God had prepared me for that. And I trusted Sir Rubberball
that had the plumb line in his hand, that he would do what was
best. And it proved to be. The company
that I was with soon after that brought in a five-day working
week, not specifying which days. God is in control, you see. God
has provided for me. But it was wonderful to see that
I could look back and perceive that this work was wrought about
God. It was very small. Others would have said, oh, can't
you say great things about your God? No, well, it was early days. There was much rubbish. There
was many things that God was bringing me down in. But you
see, if God is bringing you down in those things, not to ruin
you, not for you to despair, but for
you to leave everything else and come and be his bride. You
see, that's what he wants. a bride that is taken up with
him. He wants somebody who loves him, who devotes himself for
him. And he'll have your heart. You
see I said it's the Spirit, it's not by might nor by power. He
doesn't crush his people and make them come to the Lord's
house every Sunday, two times on a Sunday. He makes them do
it. No. He draws them with love. And
they come because they feed, because they love him, because
they have fellowship with him, they have worship. He draws them
with love. It's a kingdom of love, not a
kingdom of terror. And so the Lord deals,
you see, for who hath despised the day of small things? For
they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel. Now, you don't just get a, if you're a builder, you
don't build a whole wall up, and when it's finished, you get
the plumb line out and see whether it's straight or not. Do you?
You might check it at the end, but it'd be very foolish to build
the whole wall and then decide that it wasn't straight, wasn't
it? You'd have to take it all down again. So this plummet in the hand is
a rubber ball. is used, you see, through this
project, through this building. And there's rejoicing through
this building. This is not just rejoicing at the end. This is
not just saying, well, when the capstone goes in then I can rejoice. No, we're to rejoice in the Lord's
work when we see it. And when I was young and I saw
that, that the Lord had worked in my heart, I rejoiced. Not
because I was ready to go to glory, no. At that time, at all. But I saw that God had worked. God was working in my life. He
was organizing things to lead me to himself and away from the
poor, empty things of this life. For they shall rejoice and see
the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. You see, on the days of creation, after each day. In creation you
see there's a mirror between the natural creation in Genesis
1 and the new creation, how God works in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. But at each stage in creation
God said it was good. But there wasn't life yet, there
was just light, but there wasn't life, there wasn't order, there
was so many things that needed still to be done but God said
it's good. We're to rejoice, you see, in the very first steps
of God's work. As we see that plummet line come,
as we see it going down and affecting our lives and digging out all
the rubbish and the corruption, you say, we weren't delighting
in that. Well, you see, if you realise that this is in love. You see what Joseph was able
to say about his brethren, ye meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. People perhaps will come in your
lives and oh they'll make life difficult for you. They'll give
you all manner of difficulties in your life and they mean it
for evil. They've got it in for you perhaps. But have you seen the plummet
in the hand of Sir Rubberball? And he's not doing it in anger.
He's using those difficult individuals to make you more like him. to
form you in the image of Christ, that suffering image, to be conformed
to the image of his Son. That's what Zerubbabel has in
mind, Christ has in mind. Your enemies, they just want
to have a fun day with you, they just want to make life as hard
as possible for you. But you see, if you see the plummet
in the hand of Zerubbabel, ye meant it for evil, meant it for good. God's using
all the events of our lives, all the sadnesses, all the misjudgments,
all the things that come upon us which are difficult for us
to bear. If you see the hand, if you see the, if you see the plummet, the plumb
line in the hand of Zerubbabel in it, you can rejoice. Oh, your enemies may be having
a heyday. you can rejoice because God is using it to bring you,
to make you, not just a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction,
which you are by nature, but he's forming you to be in that
building. And suddenly these people that
have been giving you so much trouble, these things which are
so awkward in your life, You can see it all in a different
way and we see that suddenly God is at work. God is at work. Oh, I went through many difficulties.
I went through great sadnesses. I went through great loss. All
these things are against me, says Jacob. They weren't. They weren't against Jacob. Joseph
was yet alive. Simeon would come back. Benjamin
would come back. Benjamin was never lost. You see, for who hath despised
the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet, the plumb line, in the hand of Sir Abbabal. With
those sevens, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and
fro through the whole earth. He surveys everything perfectly. It's not that he doesn't see
what you're suffering. It's not that he doesn't see what other
people are doing that are unkind or wrong. He sees it all. Another picture is the refiner's
fire. You see the picture is that when
they refine gold they put it in that melting pot and they
heat it up. And they remove all the scum, all the impurities. And they keep the heat on until
all the purities come to the top and they take them all away.
And as far as we're concerned, it's a small day. I keep losing
things. I keep having things taken away
from me. I'm losing, I'm losing. But you see, you're losing all
the dross. And so that when the person looking at this refiner,
he looks down at it, When all the impurities are gone, it has
a shiny reflection, a mirror. And so he sees his own face in
that refining pot. And you see, that's what God
is doing with his people. He wants to make them conformed
to the image of his son so that they will be like him, so that
they will be a habitation of God through the
Spirit. You'll never be a habitation
of God through the Spirit if you're chasing the lust, the
pomp, the pride of life. You are utterly incompatible
with worship of God. We've all been there. But if
now your affections are set on things above, you see you're
builded to be a habitation of God. You've been led to know
what it is to worship. You've been led to see your own
emptiness. You've been led to see a fullness
in Christ. You come with all your emptiness
and you see in Christ such a fullness. As we read that in Ephesians
2, you see, For we are His workmanship. He's working on us. created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. You're not to be lazy. Just because
it was not by might nor by power but by my spirit, it didn't mean
Zerubbabel put your feet up. You've nothing to do, Zerubbabel.
No. He had some good works to do. He had some work to do. But
he wasn't going to be the glorified one. He was going to be part
of the building and help to build that. But the glory was going
to be God's. And that's something that God
needs to deal with in each of our hearts. constantly to put
down our own self because the Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's
land. And if we start getting there
and thinking that we'll have our own little club there, the glory
club of us, any minister, we've lost the plot. We are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. This is what he wants
us to do. This is what we've been commanded
to do. This is our purpose in life, to glorify God and to enjoy
him forever, and that's to be part of this building. But now by Christ Jesus, ye who
were sometimes far off, Our hearts are in the world, thinking that
the world and the things of it and the vanities and the pride
and the selfishness and the lusts are all that we want. If only
we could have our full fill of all those empty things, then
we would be happy. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That's the way, the only way. The sure foundation. This is the way. This is the
way to come into this building. Is to be made nigh by the blood
of Christ for he is our peace. He's made peace between a holy
God and an unholy person that we are. We may think like Saul
of Tarsus. Who has despised the day of small
things. May we each be brought to realise
our nothingness in self and how we have everything in
Christ. Dear brother Paul spoke from that, didn't he? As having
nothing. To have nothing is to be emptied.
It's to have nothing. And if you have nothing, you've
been emptied of anything you did have. It's to have this happen to you,
to be rooted out and to be pulled down and to destroyed and to
thrown down. But that's not the end of Jeremiah's ministry, to
build and to plant. You see, as having nothing and
yet possessing all things. And you see, if we are in Christ,
if we are part of this building, we possess all things. We're
being prepared to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, a place where
God dwells. Oh, how often you hear God's
people praying, Lord, that thy presence may be here. If we're
part of that temple, it would be the presence of the Lord is
there continually. What must it be to be there?
You know, perhaps we've had a good Lord's Day and we've worshipped. There's always sin in it. We've
always come short, there's always sin that hounds us and pesters
us here below. But in that building, when we're
part of that building, present unto himself a glorious church,
without spot or wrinkle, no sin, no pride, no jealousy. What must
it be to be there? Hearth despise the day of small
things, for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in
the hand of Zerubbabel. You see, to know that God is
working our lives, yes, to break us down, but not in anger, in
love, to bring us to that glorious place. You see, if we're full
of lust and pride and jealousy, we wouldn't enjoy this building
at all. We wouldn't be ready for it.
It's got to go. And so we rejoice that God is
working in our hearts, forming a people for his praise. May we be amongst them.