All right, Zephaniah chapter
three. I'm sure you've noticed a pattern
if we have studied through these different prophets, that they
all begin their prophecy by announcing judgment from God because of
the sin of the people. And then later on in their prophecy,
there's a promise of God's mercy and grace for his people. And
they've got to follow that pattern of preaching. Because our guilt
must be exposed before we'll ever beg for God's mercy. Our
guilt of sins got to be exposed before we'll ever appreciate
God's grace. And Zephaniah follows that same
pattern. He spends two full chapters laying
out God's charge against Israel. He lays out the sin of Israel
for everybody to see so that When God comes to judge their
sin, send them to captivity in Babylon, they'll know God's doing
right. Of course he would do that. He's
laid out their sin and their rebellion, and they refuse to
come to him. But then Zephaniah gives sinners some hope. He gives
us hope in Christ. He says in chapter three, verse
eight, wait upon the Lord. Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith
the Lord. Yes, you deserve eternal damnation
for your sin. Yes, there's nothing you can
do to pay for any of that sin. Yes, there's nothing you can
do to avoid punishment for your sin. Your sin must be punished.
But we're told, now you wait on the Lord. You wait on the
Lord to save. And isn't that the theme of the
believer's life? Wait. Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say, upon the Lord. That applies to waiting on the
Lord for salvation. And that applies to the time
of trial and trouble, too. There's no denying the day's
dark, the trial's difficult and severe, but now you wait on the
Lord. You wait on Him. Not only can
He deliver, not only can He comfort, He's promised He will. He's promised
His people He will comfort, He will deliver. So the title of
the message this morning is Assurance in What God Will Do. There are
several I wills in chapter three that give assurance and peace
to the hearts of God's people. As I studied this chapter, I
thought of Art Young. I thought of Mike's dad. He loved
the I wills and the I shalls of the gospel of John. It just
brought peace to his heart, didn't it Mike? That's what I hope the
Lord will give us this morning. I hope the Lord will enable me
to preach the gospel in such a way that the hearts of God's
people will be assured and comforted in what our God will do. And
I also pray that the Lord will enable me to preach this message
in a way that will declare a sure, certain salvation in Christ.
And the spirit will use this message to cause us to flee to
him, to flee to Christ because of the certainty of salvation
and the certainty of the forgiveness of sin in him. I want us to look
this morning at what the Lord will do. And I want us to see
that because that's what salvation is. It's what the Lord has done
for his people, what the Lord will do for his people. It's
not anything we do. It's all what the Lord has done
and what he will do for his people. And there's comfort for the heart
of a believer in knowing this is what the Lord shall undoubtedly
do. So here's the first I will in
verse five of Zephaniah chapter three. The Lord will not do iniquity. The just Lord is in the midst
thereof. He will not do iniquity. Every morning doth he bring his
judgment to light. He faileth not. But the unjust
knoweth no shame. Now the prophet here, he's been
talking about how false religion has swept over the lane and what
that deserves from God. Verse four, he kind of sums it
all up. He says, our prophets are light,
treacherous persons. Their message is light and airy.
There's no depth to it. There's no blood to it. There's
no righteousness to it. They're light and they're treacherous
persons. They deal treacherously with
the souls of men. The priests have polluted the
sanctuary. They've polluted the sanctuary by combining their
worship with the way of the world, the idols and religion of the
world. They've done violence to the
law. They've destroyed what the law is. The law is not a way
for you to earn righteousness. The law points you to Christ.
They've done violence to the Word of God. They've destroyed
it. And that's what false prophets always do. The same thing's going
on in our day. But the Lord says, He will not
do iniquity. Now that's all they do is iniquity.
But the Lord will not do iniquity. And that word iniquity is unjust.
The Lord will not do something that's unjust. Yeah, our land
is just swept over with false religion. But now God's not gonna
accept anybody in that false religion. That would be unjust
to accept someone that comes to him outside of Christ, wouldn't
it? He will not do something unjust. He will destroy. everyone in that false religion.
He'll destroy everyone who's outside of Christ. To spare them
would be unjust, and the Lord will not do iniquity. But now
there's good news for God's people here, too. There's news that
assures the hearts of those who trust in Christ. The Lord will
not do iniquity. He will not do something that's
unjust. When the father put his son to
death, he acted in justice, didn't he? It wasn't unjust when Christ
died on the cross. No, that was an act of justice
because the father made Christ sin for his people and killed
him in justice. And the death of Christ satisfied
God's justice for that sin. His blood, his sacrifice put
that sin away. So the father will always accept
anyone for whom Christ died. To not accept him would be unjust
and he will not do something that's unjust. And I tell you
what else he'll never do. He'll never cast out his people
for whom Christ died. Never. Because that would be
unjust. Because Christ has already satisfied
justice for them. Christ was already cast out for
them. The father already turned his back on his son. So there's
no reason for God to cast you out if Christ died for you. He
already satisfied justice for you. There's no reason for God
to cast out his people That would be unjust. Now I didn't just
tell you something you don't already know. I'd say every person
in this room knows that doctrinal fact very well, don't you? But
here's the truth of the matter. Us and our flesh. Our sin still
fills us with fear because we've got some idea of what our sin
deserves, don't we? We've got some idea of it. So
when trials come our way, we begin to get afraid. I think,
oh, the Lord's casting me out. The Lord's punishing me now for
this. And if you all think that, when you think that, just stop
a minute. Just stop and take comfort in
this. The Lord will not do iniquity.
No, he won't. He will not do something unjust. And it would be unjust of him
to cast you out if Christ died for you. So the trial doesn't
mean God's casting you out. No, He did send it, but not for
the purpose to cast you out. He sent it and He'll send deliverance
when it's time. And until He sends that deliverance,
He'll come for you all. I know He will, because He promised
He would. The Lord will not do iniquity. Here's the second will,
verse nine. The Lord will turn to His people. He says, for then will I turn
to the people of pure language, that they may call upon the name,
that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him
with one consent. Now this comes right after verse
eight, where the Lord said he will destroy every rebel outside
of Christ. He says, therefore wait ye upon
me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to pray. For my determination is to gather
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
my indignation. even all my fierce anger, for
all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. And in the midst of that total
destruction, God says, now you wait on me because I will turn
to my people. In the midst of this destruction,
God will remember mercy and he will turn to his people in mercy.
He will turn to his people in mercy because he already turned
his wrath upon his son, our substitute. He already turned his back on
our substitute in his wrath. So he will turn to his people
in mercy. And this is not a maybe now.
God says, I will. This is a certainty. He will
turn to his people in mercy. So no matter what's going on,
I don't care what's going on. You wait on the Lord. He'll turn
to you. And when the Lord turns to his
people, you'll know it. You'll know he's turned to you
in mercy because when he turns to his people, he gives his people
a pure language. And that pure language is the
gospel. When your language is a gospel
of pure grace, of pure faith, of salvation that's purely in
Christ, God gave you that language. He's turned to you in mercy.
And I'll tell you the result of God turning to his people.
When God turns to His people, they all turn to Him. They all
call on Him, and they all, with one consent, they call upon Him.
With one agreement, they call on Him and serve Him. Because
all God's people are made willing. They've been made willing to
serve Him with one consent, with one will. They've been made willing
in the day of His power. They all come to Christ willingly,
and they all serve Christ willingly, because God gave them a new nature
and a new birth. Here in verse 13, he described,
this is the new nature that he gives in the new birth. The remnant
of Israel shall not do iniquity. The new man born in the new birth
cannot sin. He calls on the Lord, he serves
the Lord, he cannot sin, he shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies. Neither shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouth. They all have that pure language.
For they shall feed and lie down, they're gonna rest in Christ
and none will make them afraid. They've all been given the same
heart, the same nature in the new birth. God will turn to his
people. Now here's the third will. Verse
12, the Lord will have an afflicted and a poor people. Verse 12,
I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor
people. And they shall trust in the name
of the Lord. Now, the Lord promises his people
that for a while he's going to leave his people on this earth.
And while they're here, this is what the Lord promised us.
You will be an afflicted and a poor people. Trials and afflictions
will be their lot in this life. And those afflictions are going
to rock them. Wave after wave of affliction
will just pound on those shores. And that's God's way to wean
His people from our ties to this earth. Now look at 1 Peter chapter
4. What I'm about to say runs contrary
to the flesh, runs contrary to the health and wealth and happiness, false preaching of our day, but
it's true nonetheless. There is a reason to be happy. when the Lord sends trials to
his children. Happy? Yes, because that's a sign of
sonship. 1 Peter 4, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened to you, but rejoice, insomuch as your
partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory should be
revealed, he may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. For the spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he's evil
spoken of, but on your part, he's glorified. Now, just like
I said a minute ago, trials are not a sign God's casting you
off. Trials are not a sign that you're not a child of God, Trials
are evidence that you are one of his children. He chastises
all his children. And Zephaniah tells us now, God's
people will be an afflicted people on this earth and they will be
a poor people on this earth. I know most usually this does
apply to being financially poor. And the reason for that is this,
you just don't find very many very wealthy believers because
I know this about my nature. I think you got the same one
I do. If the Lord just, if I won that hundred million dollar lottery,
I'd start trusting in my afforded resources instead of looking
to the Lord to provide. So he just keeps us from falling
into that trap most usually. But I'll tell you what will always
be the case. I don't care where you find them.
God's people are poor. They're poor in spirit. There
are poor and humble people because God showed them what they are
by nature. If God shows you what you are by nature, how can you
not be humbled? How can you not just be put down
in the dust? He showed you what you are. And the reason He shows
us what we are, the reason God's people are poor in spirit, is
so that we will be forced to trust Christ our Savior. If I'm
shown how poor in spirit I am, I'm going to be shut up. to trusting
in the riches of His mercy and grace. If I've showed I don't
have any ability, how poor I am, I'm bankrupt of any ability to
please God, then I'm gonna be forced to be shut up to Christ
and depend on Him to save me when I need help from me. That's
trusting in Christ. Now here's a mark of a believer.
There are poor people, poor in spirit, humble in spirit. But
that poverty and those afflictions, those things don't drive them
away from Christ. No, they draw us to Christ. God's
people are an afflicted people, poor people. But you know what? They continue to believe. Isn't
that what he says here at the end of verse 12? They're afflicted
and they're poor, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The affliction doesn't make them
quit trusting in the Lord. It makes them trust in the Lord
even more. Trials and afflictions, they reveal true faith, and they
strengthen true faith in Christ. Because trials teach us how weak
we are in ourselves. So they teach us to trust more
in Christ. And the less we trust in ourselves, the more we'll
trust in Christ. And that's why the Lord sends
those, that's why they're an afflicted and a poor people.
They will be an afflicted and a poor people. But now here's
the fourth wheel. The Lord will save his people. Verse 17. The Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. The Lord will save his people. This is not a maybe. This is
not, I don't know if he will or not. No, this is a certainty. The Lord will save his people. And someone who doesn't know
the Lord would ask, well, I can read scripture, I understand
the Lord's purpose to save somebody. But how do I know he'll really
be able to do it? How do I know he'll be able to
overcome their rebellious nature? We read earlier, they won't trust
in the Lord. They won't draw near to God.
How do I know he'll be able to make them draw near to God? How
do I know? Because he says here, the Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He is mighty. He has all might,
all power, All ability to save. So you write her down. He will
save. The Lord is not only able to
save. He is willing to save. Now human nature, when we think
about being willing to save, this is who, you know who, you
know who we'd be willing to help? We'd be willing to help somebody
who's willing to go to work and is willing to do some things
to help themselves, you know, and then we'll help them get
the rest of the way up. Our God is so much, His ways
are not our ways. Aren't you glad? He's willing
to save sinners. He's willing to save those who
can't save themselves. God sent His Son to do what?
Seeking to save that which was lost. It was so lost, they didn't
know the way back and they didn't want to get back. That's who
Christ came to save. Now the Lord has saved His people,
hasn't He? When God purposed in eternity
past to save a people, He chose a people in divine election.
They were saved because the will of God is just as sure as an
act of God. They were saved in eternity past. And the Lord has
saved His people when He sent His Son to be the Savior for
His people. God's Son came as a man and He
worked out a perfect righteousness, a perfect obedience under the
law. He obeyed God's law perfectly. And He gave His people that righteousness. He gave them that obedience to
the law to be their obedience. And then He went to the cross
and He took away the sin of His people. He took the sin of His
people into His own body and put it away through the sacrifice
of Himself. The Lord saved His people, didn't
He? At the cross, all through the life of our Savior. He saved
His people. But then that salvation is applied
to the hearts of His people. The Holy Spirit comes. He comes
to God's elect. And He gives them life in the
new birth. They don't do anything to give themselves life. He,
in an act totally outside of them, puts life in them in the
new birth. And they're saved. And the Spirit
dwells in their heart. God is in the midst of thee.
That's what He says. He dwells in your heart. He's
in you by the new birth. Well, you're saved, aren't you?
If the spirit dwells in your heart, can you perish? No, you're
saved. God saved you. And one day, that
salvation's gonna be complete. One day, the Lord will save his
people from this earth. And aren't you thankful? That's
good news. This earth is not a pleasant
place for a child of God to live. We don't belong here. Our citizenship
is not from here anymore. We're not like these people.
We don't belong here. And the trials of this life,
and the weakness of this flesh, and just being able to get a
glimpse of Christ through a glass darkly, it makes this life so
difficult. It makes us so full of sorrow.
And the Lord does it that way. He makes this life difficult.
So one day, you're going to be glad to leave this place. One
day you will. That's right. I remember, I've
told this story before, but it's worth repeating. Janet was pregnant
with Holly. And it was after a service one
night. We're standing by the back door and talking to Henry. And he had talked in the message
about being ready to leave this place. And all through the message,
I thought, man, something's wrong with me. I just do not right
now. I'm being totally honest, you
know. And we were talking, there were
some older, you know, believers who were standing around there
and they were talking about being, I'm ready to leave. And Henry
pointed at me, he said, no, he's not. And he said, he ought not. He's got a young son on the way.
Wasn't a son, a daughter, but a young baby on the way. He ought
not be ready to leave. He ought to want to stay and
raise that child. But I'm telling you, there's coming a day, you'll
be glad to leave this place. That's right. You'll be glad.
The Lord will. Save His people out of this world.
Your journey through here, as sad and as difficult as it
is, you take comfort. It's just temporary. The Lord
will save. He'll save His people out of
this earth, out of it. Here's the fifth will. Verse
17, the Lord will rejoice over His people. The Lord thy God
in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. Now I read that and I thought
about how the believer rejoices in Christ. Seeing the wills of
our Savior, what our God will do. Those things rejoice my heart
as I studied this. And you know, you rejoice in
Christ. You know Him and believe. You
rejoice in Him, don't you? But that's not what this is talking
about. It's easy to understand how somebody like us can rejoice
in our God, isn't it? This is talking about Christ
rejoicing over His people with joy. That word joy means with
glee, with exceeding joy. Christ the Savior has joy to
be with His people. Now the only explanation for
that is grace. The only explanation for that
is what He's done for His people. And if you look back at Isaiah
chapter 62, here's a good commentary on this verse, Isaiah 62. Verse two. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness in all kings, thy glory, and now shall be called
by a new name. which the mouth of the Lord shall
name. That's being married to Christ. You've been given a new
name when you married him. Verse three. Thou shalt also
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem
in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate.
But thou shalt be called Hephzibah. You'll be called my delight. And thy land Beulah, married,
For the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
The Lord delights in his bride. Of course, the only reference
of understanding I have to that is my bride. I remember the day
that I proposed to her, and I rejoiced when she said yes. I mean, I
rejoiced. That made me very happy. And
a few months later, I stood down at the front of the church. I
stood there with my groomsman, Henry was standing there. Some
bridesmaids walked down and they closed the doors. And there I
stood. I couldn't see Jamie. Now, she'd said yes. She'd said
she'd marry me. But there she was behind those
closed doors. And what I was afraid of is they'd open those
doors and there's going to stand her dad by himself saying, Frank,
she left. I'm sorry. I was afraid she could
have done a whole lot better. And I was afraid she couldn't
realize that. But when they opened those doors, there she stood. She was even smiling. And I mean
to tell you, I rejoiced. Oh, how I rejoiced with glee,
with exceeding joy. Now that's just an earthly illustration
of a weak man. But do you mean to tell me that
Christ the Lord, the Prince of Glory feels that way when He
looks at me? You couldn't believe it if God's
Word didn't say it. But God's Word says He does.
If Christ died for you, that's what God says. And despite the
weakness and the sinfulness of our flesh now, you take comfort. the Savior rejoices over His
people. Despite our circumstances that
cause us to sorrow, despite our sin that makes me not even want
to be around myself, yet the Savior rejoices to be with His
people. Now I can find some assurance
there because it doesn't have anything to do with me. It's
all about who He is. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. And here's the sixth will. Verse
17, he will rest in his love. Now those of you who are married
will understand this. There's rest to your soul. To
know that your husband or your wife loves you. Now there's just,
there's a rest and a comfort in that. To know when I come
home, Jan's gonna be there. She hadn't run off, she loves
me. Well, Christ the Savior rests
in his love to his people and her love to him. The marginal
reference there says this word rest means to be silent. Now,
this doesn't mean the Lord never is silent. He never tells his
people, I love you, because he's constantly giving his people
tokens of his love. So I tell you what I am just
sure the silence means. The Lord is silent in his love. When it comes to our sin, and
our failure, he's silent. He's not constantly upbraiding
his people because of our sin and our failures and our weak
faith. He's silent about those things to not shame us because
he took our shame. And you who believe on him will
never be ashamed. Isn't that what scripture says?
We have a lot to be ashamed about, but our Lord does not beat his
people over the head with it. He's silent in his love to me.
Then the seventh will, the end of verse 17, he will joy over
his people with singing. He will joy over thee with singing. Now, have you ever been so happy
that you just started singing? You just break out singing. Seeing
his people makes our Lord so happy. He just starts to sing. The Lord sings. And it seems
like the prophet is searching for the right words here. You
preach to understand this. He already talked about how the
Lord rejoiced over thee with joy. And he thinks in a way,
I didn't make that clear enough. Let me go back to that. Let me
say that a different way. So you'll see how full of joy
the Lord is at seeing his people. His joy over his people is so
great. He just sees. The Lord is happy. to see his people redeemed from
their sin. It makes him happy to see his people washed from
their sin in his blood. It makes him happy to see his
people regenerated by his Spirit. It makes all of heaven happy.
It makes him happy to see his people looking at him with the
eye of faith. There in the Song of Solomon
where he says, you've ravished me with one of your eyes, you've
just ravished my heart. My heart burst with love when
you look at me with that eye of faith. It makes him happy
to see his people looking to him with that dependent eye of
faith. It makes him happy to see his
people made beautiful in his beauty. So in those times we
feel undesirable because of our sin, the Savior is happy to look
at his people because she's beautiful to him. There are times, Janet
comes in, she's been working out in the yard, working in the
flowers or the garden or something. She spent all day in the hot
kitchen or she just wakes up in the morning and I tell her,
oh, you look so beautiful. And she said, no, I don't, I'm
sweaty, my hair is not combed or brushed. I said, oh, you look
beautiful to me. When you're afflicted, afflicted
with your sin, afflicted with your sin nature, afflicted with
your weak faith and rebellion of that old heart and you're
poor in spirit and you feel so ugly, so downtrodden and you
feel so useless. You take comfort. The Savior
says you look beautiful to me. So beautiful, I just have to
sing with joy for you being my bride. Here's the next will verse
or verse 18. The Lord will gather his people
in the resurrection. I will gather them that are sorrowful
for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach
of it was a burden. The Lord will gather together
all of his people in resurrection glory. They're sorrowful here
on earth, but they're his people. He's going to gather them out
of it. This solemn assembly here is the assembly of the saints
in light. And on earth, they had such a
burden of reproach, all this life was a burden to him. It was full of the reproach of
sin. It was full of the hatred of the world. It was a burden
of all the trouble and affliction and sorrow they suffered. But
I'm telling you in glory, when he gathers his people together,
there's not going to be another hint of that. It'll all be gone.
Verse 19, he says, Behold, at that time I will undo all that
afflict thee, and I will save her that halt and gather her
that was driven out. And I will get them praise and
fame in every land where they've been put to shame. The Lord's
going to one day for his people undo every affliction. It'll be undone. He will completely
and utterly save everybody that was lame. Every believer feels
like they're just limping, like Jacob and all of his thigh was
touched and limp the rest of his life. We're just limping
through this life. One day your walk will be perfect.
Perfect. Those at the world driven out
are going to be gathered together to the bosom of Christ to be
forever comforted. And Lord's going to do that for
his glory. When he says here, I'll get them praise and fame
in every land. What he means is that he's going
to get himself fame and glory and praise in every land for
what he's done for you. He's going to gather you, his
people together. And He's going to display you
for all of eternity as trophies of His grace. And you can just
be sure the Lord's going to do it. He said He'll do it. And
you know He'll do it because He's going to do it for His glory.
He's not going to let the glory of His name be diminished. Verse
20, He says, at that time, will I bring you again? Even in that
time that I gather you, I will make you a name and a praise
among all people of the earth. I'm going to turn back your captivity
before your eyes, saith the Lord. All these things that the Lord
will do, these promised he will do, you know, they're all because
of what he already has done for his people. The Lord will save
you because he's already sent his son to satisfy justice on
your behalf. When Christ died for you, justice
was satisfied. So he must save you. Look back
up here at verse 15. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. The believer does not have to
fear dying and facing God in judgment. Because your substitute
was already judged in your place. You don't have to fear judgment.
When the believer stands before the judgment seat of Christ,
there can only be one verdict announced. Just one. There's
not a possibility of another one. Not guilty. Because Christ
took your guilt away. Not guilty. And the believer
doesn't have to fear any enemy. Verse 15, he hath cast out thine
enemy. Satan came as our enemy, didn't
he? He came and he brought sin and
rebellion to man. And Satan has spent all that
time since being the accuser of the brethren. He's the prince
of the power there. Right now, our Lord allows him
to hold sway over men on this earth. But don't you fear him. Now don't go looking for him,
take him on, but don't fear him either. Because Christ, the captain
of our salvation, has come as a strong man armed, and he cast
Satan out by crushing his head at Calvary. And now Christ rules. Your sin is your enemy. Isn't
your sin your enemy? Every sorrow we have is our sin,
isn't it? Don't fear it. Be sorrowful over it, but don't
fear it. Christ has cast it out. What
does scripture say? Christ did the sin of his people.
He cast it behind God's back. It's cast out. And yes, we still
have that old heart of sin, but now Christ rules in the heart
of his people. Read on here in verse 15. The
king of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee. The
king of kings is ruling in the hearts of his people. You're
not going to perish. He rules there. And look what
he says next. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. The Lord will not turn away from
you to do you good. Look over in Isaiah chapter three. Isaiah gives us another good
commentary here. You'll not see evil anymore. Isaiah three, verse 10. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their
doings. Because of everything the Lord
has done and everything the Lord will do for his people. God says
to his prophet, this is your message to the righteous. That's
what you say to him. It will be well with the righteous. I don't care what's going on.
It will be well with the righteous. You're going to be poor and afflicted. It'll be well with the righteous.
That doesn't mean the affliction won't hurt. The affliction will
hurt the body. The darkness will be awful. The waves will be rough,
but no matter what God says, you say to the righteous, it'll
be well with you. You know the worst thing the
pain of that trial can do? The worst thing it can do, one
of two things. To the believer, it'll either
drive you to Christ, which is a blessing, or it'll bring you
to Him forever. That may be the means the Lord's
chosen to take you out of this world, but when He does, what's
going to happen? You're going to be with Him forever.
That'll be a pretty good day. It'll be the best day. It'll
be the best day. And that encourages my heart.
I hope it does yours. It encourages my heart to wait
upon the Lord. But I tell you what, while we're
waiting, while we're waiting on Him to do what He promised
He'd do, let's not sit on our hands. The Lord tells us, He
gives us something to do while we're waiting. Look back in our
text, Zechariah 3, verse 14. I tell you what we can do while
we're waiting. Let's sing the praises of our Savior. He says,
sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel, be glad and
rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. While we're waiting,
let's just sing his praises. And after we bow in prayer, that's
what Mike's gonna come lead us in doing, in singing his praises. And I hope your heart's been
comforted, strengthened, that we might sing his praises. Let's
bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for all the precious promises
of your word. How we thank you that you cause
your people to sit down and be still and hear what the Lord
will do for his people, what he hath done for his people.
That our confidence and assurance and rest is all in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He done all things well. He's
perfected salvation for his people. and just waiting on His time
to gather them all together. And Father, until that time,
we pray for the grace and the faith to look to Thee, to be
the people that You've given one language, a pure language,
to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to preach that
pure language. And we pray You'd bless it. to
call out your people, to call those that as of yet have not
believed in you, that you call them out through the preaching
of this pure gospel, the gospel of pure grace, of pure faith,
salvation purely accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that you might cause this gospel to go forth in power to comfort
the hearts of your people, to assure us and strengthen us in
Christ our Savior, that even in the dark, difficult times,
we might be able to sing your praises, for you're worthy. You're worthy of all of our praise,
all of our adoration, all of our joy, and all of our faith. It's in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We pray you bless your word. We bless your people,
we pray, in his name.