Well, yet again, we come back
to the book of Zechariah and to the chapter that Peter read
for us earlier, chapter 10, and we're working through these 14
chapters of this prophecy, the next to the last book of the
Bible. The completed kingdom of God
is the restoration of everything that the fall destroyed. The
fall in the Garden of Eden when Satan came in and destroyed that
paradise of God, which was the kingdom of God under the viceroy
ship of Adam that was given by God to Adam. there in the Garden
of Eden. And Satan came in and that was
destroyed. In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die,
God had said to them. You can eat of every fruit of
the Garden, but of this one thing. And it was symbolical of disobedience
and rebellion against God and siding with Satan. The completed
kingdom of God, the triumphant kingdom of God, is the restoration
of everything that that fall destroyed. That's why we read
in Revelation earlier on at the start, looking at that final
preparation for that final battle, the final destruction of the
kingdom of Satan. And what was going on two and
a half thousand years ago in Jerusalem, in the days of Zerubbabel,
and of Joshua the high priest, and Zechariah the prophet, and
Haggai the prophet, and all of these others, what was going
on was the restoration of the ruined temple in Jerusalem. Why? Because that temple was a picture
of the kingdom of God, triumphant. That temple was symbolising,
picturing everything about the triumphant kingdom of God in
its sacrifices, in its priesthood. in its glorious appearance, in
its stones in everyone in their place, living stones in the temple
of God. For, as Paul says to the church,
you, the church, believers today, are the temple of the living
God. It is the completed kingdom of God which is the restoration
of everything the fall destroyed. But more sure. Why? Because it
will never, ever be threatened by a repeat fall. It cannot be
threatened by a repeat fall, so it's more sure. Whereas Adam
and Eve were on probation, as it were, in the Garden of Eden,
the children of God in the Kingdom of God are not on probation.
It cannot ever be subject to a fall again. The prophecy of
Zechariah is giving encouragement to Zerubbabel, who was the rightful
prince. He was the heir of the throne of Judah. And to Joshua,
the high priest and the returned exiles. It was giving them encouragement
to press on. Why? Because what they were doing
was not just a picture, although it was a vivid picture, building
this temple, putting these stones in place, and building it up
right to the very headstone, when they cried, grace, grace
unto it, when they put the headstone up. It wasn't just a picture,
it was instrumental in the accomplishment of the triumph of the kingdom
of God. Because why? God must come. as a man. God, the Messiah, the Christ,
must come, and he must walk the courts of this temple, this building
of stones. He must walk its courts, and
he, the Lamb of God, must fulfill its pictures. He must fulfill
the pictures that the priesthood portrayed of our great high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. He must come as the king of his
kingdom. Are you the king of the Jews,
they asked him. Yes, he's the king of the Jews. He is the king
of his people. He must come and fulfill it.
He must come and fulfill the sacrifices, those animal sacrifices
which were but pictures of what He, our God, would accomplish
when He shed His own blood, when He came, and at the Passover,
when the Passover lamb from the Exodus from Egypt was slain,
He would be our Passover. So Paul says, Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. That was what was pictured there. He came to redeem God's elect. And their qualification in the
time of Zechariah, two and a half thousand years, a bit more ago,
their qualification for the kingdom of God, for these will be there,
all the believers will be there, their qualification, our qualification,
believers today, All depends on that temple being finished
and that Messiah coming and walking those courts. It cannot fail. God has said it. He's spoken
again and again already in the previous chapters. He's already
spoken that he's provided all that is necessary. for the accomplishment
of the success of his kingdom. His righteousness is upheld. The sin debt of his people is
paid. God is glorified. And this chapter,
Zechariah chapter 10, tells us how the restoration is accomplished
and completed. It encouraged them, it encourages
us believers today in this fallen, evil, God-rejecting world. It
encourages us to rest happy in God's promise and in God's provision. God will save, has saved, all
his people entirely by grace. And if it's of grace, and if
free grace, what does that hymn say? We sing it occasionally.
And if free grace, why not for me? Ask him. Believe him. Trust him. Ask him. Who says
that you're to ask him? Look at the first verse of chapter
10. Chapter 10, verse 1. Ascii of
the Lord. Ascii of the Lord. Rain in the
time of the latter rain. So the Lord shall make bright
clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in
the field. Rain pictures grace from heaven. In this country on the on the
eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean, we tend usually to be
complaining about how much rain we get. We get lots and lots
of rain, but we've just had a spell of three or four weeks where
barely a drop of rain has fallen. And everybody's starting to look
at their gardens and think, oh, wouldn't it be nice to have a
shower of rain? Wouldn't it be nice? Some people are shaking
their heads, but no, you know, if you're a gardener, you want
a little bit of rain. Rain pictures grace from heaven. And rain gives
life. You sow seeds in dry ground and
nothing's going to happen unless the rain falls on it. unless
the rain causes it to germinate and to sprout and lead right
the way through. The early rain and then the latter
rain it talks about in the scriptures. The rain to swell the fruit in
time for the harvest. It is entirely God's to give
and to withhold. It is entirely the choice of
God to give it and to withhold it, to give grace of which rain
is a picture, to give grace or to withhold it. You cannot twist
God's arm. You cannot do anything. It's
God's to give and to withhold. But look what he says. Let me
remind you of a verse that we look at occasionally, and it's
a great principle in the scriptures, that God is absolutely sovereign
and does exactly what he has determined from before the beginning
of time he will do. But in verse 37 of Ezekiel chapter
36, thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. God says, I've
got a plan to do things for my people, but they're going to
pray to me first for it. I will be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them, and then I will increase
them. Seek, we're told, in the New
Testament. Jesus said, seek, and you shall
find. Seek, knock, knock, and it shall
be opened to you. Well, what if the sovereignty
of God's determined that he won't open to me? He says, knock and
it shall be open to you. He says, ask and God will give. If a child asks a fish, will
the father give him a scorpion instead? No, he says, if you
know how to give good gifts to your children, doesn't your heavenly
father know how to give good gifts to you? God gives when
his children ask. I don't know if I'm one of his
children, ask him. Ask him. You say, I don't know
how to ask him. He says, I will be inquired of
the house of Israel to do it for them. You say, I don't know
how to ask. I know, I know. Those of us that
have been believers for many, many years, it seems to come
so naturally, the language of the courts of heaven. I know
that, I know that, even in these sinful bodies. But nevertheless,
you say, I don't know how to ask. Well, how about something
like this? Lord God, I believe you exist.
You know, it says in Hebrews that he that comes to God must
believe that he is and that he's the rewarder of those that seek
him. You must believe that there is a God. Lord, I believe that
there is a God. And I believe that you hear your
people's requests. And I don't know if I'm amongst
them, but please be gracious to me. Be merciful to me, for
I have nothing to recommend myself. Be merciful to me. I deserve
nothing but condemnation in your sight, for I am sinful and you
are holy. But please, Lord. Where I'm in
darkness, shine spiritual light into my soul. Do that. Do that in the quietness of your
heart. Ask Him. And why ask? Why ask? Why do
you need to ask? Why does anyone in this world
need to ask? Because look at verse two, for
the idols. have spoken vanity, and the diviners
have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in
vain, therefore they went their way as a flock. They were troubled
because there was no shepherd, and mine anger was kindled against
them." Why? Because All of us, by nature,
in this world, have been listening concerning the things of eternity
and the things of divinity or the things of God. We've been
listening to fallen guides. We've been listening to false
prophets, to false preachers. We've been listening to diviners
of superstitious customs in this world. It's all around us, isn't
it? It's all around us, even people with the best of intentions,
being friendly to one another. It's riddled, riddled with superstitious
customs. We've got the season of Easter
upon us, when the religious world goes mad and talks about the
holiest day of the year. None of that is in the scriptures,
none of it at all. It's just religious customs,
superstitious customs, lies concerning God and the truth of God. and
the world has been heeding their vain comforts. Look, they comfort
in vain. They comfort in vain. They tell
you, as it says in Isaiah, about the false prophets. What do they
say? They say, peace, peace. You're all right, you'll be fine.
Peace, peace, when there is no peace, for it is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. There is no peace,
but they say peace. You see, We're not just talking
about false religious leaders, of which there are plenty, but
we're talking about the whole culture of our godless, God-rejecting
world. We're talking about TV dramas.
I don't know if you find this, but I just can barely stand to
watch any TV drama anymore. And the reason is this. that
the people that write these things in these days are entirely bought
in to the evil of this kingdom of Satan, of this godless world. And they're all written from
that paradigm, from that basic philosophy of the godlessness
of this world. And novels, how many novels can
you read which are written without the corruption of that kingdom
of this world, the kingdom of Satan, written by godless people,
peddling the philosophy of Satan's kingdom, bowing down at the image
of the beast. If you read Revelation 13, And
verse 15, those dreadful beasts, which are the marks of the kingdom
of Satan in which we live. And the words talk about an image
of the beast being set up. And the second beast persuades,
if I can use that term, the people to bow down to that image. This
world is bowing down to the image of the beast. That's what they're
doing. but they will come under the just judgment of God. Verse
three, my anger was kindled against the shepherds, these false shepherds,
and I punished the goats. Anger was kindled against the
false shepherds, and God punished the goats. He left them under
just judgment. In Hosea 4, verse 17, we read
an interesting thing about how God's judgment manifests itself. In this world, it says, Ephraim,
in Hosea 4 verse 17, Ephraim is joined to idols. Somebody
who should have been one of the people of God is joined to idols. And what does God say to do with
him? Let him alone. Let him alone. Just leave him
to his own devices. And you say, what's going on
in this world? This world of falsehood and idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of anything
which is not the true God. This world, which rejects the
truth of God, God says, let them alone. What forever? No, until
the final judgment. God will judge. Vengeance is
mine, says the Lord, I will repay. But for now, let him alone. God
says, these people that reject him, they've made their bed,
they can lie on it. You know that expression? They've
made their bed, they can lie on it. But God deals differently
with his flock, with his sheep. Look there, for the Lord of hosts
hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them
as a goodly horse in the battle. He deals differently with his
flock, with his sheep. He makes a difference between
the goats and his flock. And so my next point is this,
the house of Judah is visited. He visits his flock, the house
of Judah. distinct from the rest of the
world in general. The goats, as it says there in
verse 3, distinct from that, God has his sheep. God has his
flock. Jesus said, fear not, little
flock. He calls his people his little
flock. Fear not. He the Lord of hosts look there
in verse three for the Lord of hosts has visited his flock the
Lord of which host the Lord of hosts the Lord of a multitude
of people what's it saying he the Lord of hosts His elect host. His elect host of souls that
He loved before the beginning of time. His elect host of souls
that He bound in union with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
they might be made the righteousness of God in Him as He punished
their sin and took it out of the way. The Lord of hosts of
His elect host of souls. He's looked on them from eternity
with gracious intent. he loved them from before eternity
and he will bring every last one of them finally to glory
ask that he show you that you are among the flock that he has
visited in grace the lord of hosts hath visited his flock
the house of judah and why judah why judah Judah was one of the
12 sons of Jacob. You know, there was Abraham,
Isaac, then Jacob, and he had 12 sons. And one of the 12 sons
was Judah. In Genesis 49, Genesis 49 is
when a very old Jacob is preparing to die, and he's prophesying
concerning his 12 sons. And in verse 10, he says this
of Judah, the scepter, do you know what a scepter is? It's
a symbol of kingly power, the symbol of authority, the symbol
of sovereignty. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, those that will come from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet. The rule shall be there until
when? Until Shiloh come. Who's Shiloh? The word means peacemaker. Until
the peacemaker come. Who is the one who makes peace?
He makes peace through the blood of his cross. It's our Lord Jesus
Christ. Until God come as man. Judah
will be the one that will bear the rule. And unto him, Shiloh,
the peacemaker, the Messiah, the Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. Unto him shall the gathering
of his people be. This is Christ. This is Shiloh,
our peacemaker from the tribe of Judah, for he was of the tribe
of Judah. The house of Judah symbolizes
the church of Christ, the people of Christ, members by nature of this human race as wayward
asses. I pointed out last week in Job
chapter 11 and verse 12, where it says there, vain man born
like a wild asses cult. And in identification with the
people of God who are born like wild asses cults, Jesus rode
into Jerusalem. He rode into Jerusalem on a foal,
the cult of an ass. He identified with that fallen
man. But in Christ, look what he makes
them. He identifies with us in our fallen state like a wild
Assis colt. But look what he does at the
end of verse three. He made them as his goodly horse in the battle. We saw him sitting on that goodly
horse, on that white stallion in Revelation 19. And all of
his people on horses with him. He's made, Christ is made his
goodly horse. Do you find this, absolutely
enthralling. You know, if you're a child of
God, your heart thrills at this. Isn't God's truth like a multi-faceted,
multi-sided jewel? And you look at it one way, and
you see glorious colours shining through, and you turn it slightly,
and you see different perspectives of it, turning and catching the
light. It's wonderful the way God opens
this multi-faceted truth of his gospel of grace to us. Verse
four, out of him, out of Judah, out of the tribe of Judah, out
of the one who comes, Shiloh who comes, out of him came forth,
what does it say? The corner, funny words. Out
of him came the corner and the nail and the battle bow and every
oppressor together. What do we make of that? Well,
it must be talking about Christ. It must be talking of him. Out
of him came forth the corner. Psalm 118. You know, you say,
well, you only quoted this to us a couple of weeks ago. Well,
I'm quoting it to you again, because the more we do that,
the more it sticks in the mind, doesn't it? In verse 22 of Psalm
118, the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone
of the corner. The cornerstone. He's the chief
cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It
is marvellous in our eyes. He is the foundation of his temple
of living stones, which is the temple of the living God. He
is that foundation stone. Out of the tribe of Judah came
the Messiah, who is the corner, the chief cornerstone of his
people. And then out of him came the
nail. Look at Isaiah chapter 22, if
you can. Chapter 22 and verse 23. I will fasten him as a nail in
a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his
father's house. The idea being that the nail
is a solid, firm thing to hang things from. You can hang your
soul's future off this nail, which is in a solid place. He
is a nail. He is the nail in a solid place.
Trust in Christ, nothing is going to move that nail. And three,
he's the battle bow. The battle bow, look back a chapter,
just probably on the same page. Verse 13 of chapter nine. When
I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised
up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece. This is,
the battle by which the kingdom of God shall triumph. We saw
it in Revelation 19 earlier on. This is speaking of the triumphant
kingdom of God. God's kingdom will triumph. And
then, look, even this. Out of him, every oppressor together,
even the oppressors of God's kingdom, all accomplish God's
purposes of grace. You would say, oh, if only we
didn't have this oppression or that oppression or these oppressors.
Oh, how much more triumphant the kingdom of God would be,
but you know they're all in the eternal purposes of God. For,
we glibly quote that verse of Romans 8, 28, but he does cause
all things to work together for good for his people whom he loved
before the beginning of time. Then in verses five to seven,
in verses five to seven, he hears his people He says, they shall
be as mighty men which tread down their enemies in the mire
of the streets in the battle, and they shall fight, because
the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the
house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them, for
I have mercy upon them. And they shall be as though I
had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God and will hear
them. And they of Ephraim shall be like mighty men, and their
heart shall rejoice as through wine, yea, their children shall
see it and be glad. Their heart shall rejoice in
the Lord. God hears his people. He says,
I will hear them. God has a people, an elect multitude,
the objects of his mercy from before the beginning of time.
The fully restored kingdom of God to pre-fall perfection plus
there not being any risk of another fall, his kingdom is going to
triumph. And this is the people of their
God. They're attentive, he's attentive
to their cry. He says, I will hear them when
they cry. I will have mercy upon them.
And he's echoing verse 15 of the previous chapter. The Lord
of hosts shall defend them and they shall devour and subdue
with sling stones and they shall drink and make a noise as though
through wine and they shall be filled like bowls and as the
corners of the altar. This is a picture of joy and
of rejoicing and of triumphant and victory over all the powers
of Satan and hell. Why? Because God has mercy on
them. There in verse 6 he says, for
not I will have mercy upon them if they do, he says I have mercy
upon them from before the beginning of time. God has been merciful
to his people. I have mercy upon them, and they
shall be as though I had not cast them off in the fall. Because
he fully restores, he fully redeems, he fully recovers his people.
God, the Lord, hears his people. He makes them to rejoice in his
salvation. And then, verse eight, verse
eight down to verse 12. They're scattered. Where are
these people? They're scattered amongst the world in general,
but they're summoned by God's call. Look what it says here.
He says, I will hiss for them, or we would say whistle for them. I will whistle for them, and
that's what I've called the message. I've called the message, let
me see, what did? God whistles for his sheep. He
says, I will whistle for them and gather them. Why? Why does
God whistle for them? For I have redeemed them and
they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them
among the people and they shall remember me in far countries
and they shall live with their children and turn again. I will
bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, which symbolizes
the world. and gather them out of Assyria,
and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and
place shall not be found for them. There'll be so many of
them, is what it's saying. And he shall pass through the
sea with affliction, the sea of this world's people with affliction,
and he shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps
of the river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be
brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away, and
I will strengthen them in the Lord. and they shall walk up
and down in his name, saith the Lord. Where are God's elect before
he calls them? Answer, verse 10, they're in
Egypt, they're in Assyria, they're in the world, they're in every
tribe and tongue and kindred. God has his people. In Ephesians
chapter 2, which we read often, in the first three verses, Paul
speaking to The Ephesians, the Ephesian believers,
these Asian believers in Ephesus, they are Gentiles. They're Gentiles.
They were heathens from a heathen culture. They were from a culture
that worshipped the false god Diana. And he says to them, you
he has made, God has made you alive spiritually. You were dead
in trespasses and sins. wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, according to Satan and his spirits, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation. We just thought like them and
we spoke like them and we acted like them in times past. in the
lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others.
That's what we are by nature as sinners under the justice
of God, but God who is rich in mercy. For his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us, made us alive together with him. For by grace, his grace,
I say, So clearly there, God takes his people from the fallen
kingdoms of this world, from the godless nations of this world,
and he calls them. How does he get their attention?
You see, by nature, the people of God are dead in trespasses
and sins. They're death to the voice of
God. Even this creation all around
us, which screams out every day, the truth of God, which testifies
to the truth of God, leaving everyone without excuse, and
yet we don't hear it, we don't see it. We're blind by nature. Verse eight, what does he do?
I will hiss for them. He whistles for them. As a shepherd
whistles commands to his dog, you see the... The sheep trials,
the sheepdog trials were to try and find the champion sheepdog
that's the best one at rounding up the sheep. And the shepherd
whistles commands to his dog. Well, in other cultures, the
shepherd would play a pipe and the sheep would follow him. And
the story is told. of a poor shepherd who fell on
hard times, and he got down to his last two favourite sheep,
probably ewes, they were the breeding ewes, and it was from
where his lambs would come for the next season. But he got so
poor that he had to sell his last two sheep, and off they
went. And more or less straight away,
he found the means to buy them back. More or less straight,
I don't know what it was, this is just a story that's told,
but he found the means to buy them back. And so he went to
the market and there were thousands and thousands of sheep and he
had the money and he went to the people in charge of the market
and said, can I buy back my sheep? And they said to him, yeah, well,
of course you can, but the problem is you've got to find them. Look,
there are thousands of them, thousands of them here. So they
accepted the money and they said, if you can find them, you can
have them, your sheep. So he got out his shepherd's
horn and he piped the tune that those two sheep knew. And those
two sheep, out of the thousands that were there, came running
towards his horn playing. And that's the same idea as we
get in Isaiah chapter five. This same idea, chapter five,
verse 25. If I read that to you, you'll
think I'm reading the wrong verse, but no, bear with it. Therefore
is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he has
stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them,
and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in
the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. This is
the people of God, what we are by nature. rebels subject to
the judgment of God, but his hand is stretched out still,
and he will lift up an end sign to the nations from afar, and
will hiss unto them from the end of the earth, and behold,
they shall come with speed swiftly. He'll lift up a sign, Jehovah-Nissi
is the sign that he lifts up, God our banner, he lifts it up,
and he whistles from the ends of the earth. You know where
to go into all the world, said Jesus. Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. You can't make anybody
believe, but make it widely known. Missionaries have gone. Today
we have the amazing thing which is used for so much evil, but
at the same time, The internet, which now, even now from this
room, to anybody that finds it, can hear the word being preached.
This is how God whistles for his people to come. By the foolishness
of preaching, for it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save those who believe. So that he fulfills what it says
in Romans chapter 10. In Romans chapter 10, his preachers
are sent. There's no point going unless
God sends a preacher. His preachers are sent with gospel
news to proclaim. And his people hear those preachers
preach that gospel good news. And he makes his people, who
are dead in trespasses and sins, but he by the Spirit quickening,
makes them willing to believe in the day of his power. And
believing, what do they do? They call on the name of the
Lord, and whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. That's the text that's on our
church sign. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You say, you've been talking
an awful lot about the election of God and about it being fixed
before the beginning of time, but then you say this. Yes, it's
amazing, isn't it? The word of God and the truth
of God, and if he's electing grace, in no way says to any
seeking sinner, you will not come. Jesus said, no man can
come unless the Father draw him, but whosoever comes, I will in
no wise cast out. And if free grace, why not for
me? He gathers those he has redeemed. Only that multitude. You see,
he says, I have redeemed them. These are the ones, verse eight.
I will hiss for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them. Note there, clearly. When Christ
came to die on the cross, he didn't do it to redeem the whole
of mankind. There's music that I love, and
I used to like the music of John Stainer in his piece, The Crucifixion. But do you know, it says, there's
a line in there which means that I can't ever sing that again.
I can't listen to it. with comfort, for it says, for
sins of man since the world began, and they weren't, the only sins
that were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ were the sins of that
innumerable multitude that he loved in Christ from before the
foundation of the world, I will hiss for them For I have redeemed
them. He's redeemed his people from
the curse of the law, and they shall increase. Only that multitude. He hasn't made it possible for
all to be redeemed, if only they will believe. He doesn't make
offers depending on a response from fallen, spiritually dead
man. No, he calls by gospel preaching. by gospel preaching of the truth
of God. And, as he calls, it says in
Acts 13 and verse 48, that Paul and Barnabas went and they preached,
the Jews rejected them, and they went and preached, they turned
to the Gentiles. For so the Lord hath commanded us, saying, I
have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, quoting Isaiah
49, that you should be for the salvation unto the ends of the
earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. and
glorified the word of the Lord, listen, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Who believed? Those that were
ordained in the sovereign purposes of God to eternal life. They
believed. And it's an increasing number,
it says there. I will increase them until the
full number is made up. They're scattered throughout
the world until the end of time. In verse nine, they're scattered
throughout the world. But, in verse 10, they're brought
out of conformity to this kingdom of Satan. They're brought out
of that conformity into the conformity with the kingdom of God and the
children of God, the people of God. God's people kept. through this world's trials and
afflictions. It says there, he passed through
the sea with affliction. I think that's a hint there of
Revelation 17, 15, which says that the waters that you saw
are the peoples of this world. The peoples of this world, in
their fallen state, are alien to the things of God, but he
will bring his people through all of that, and he will strengthen
them in the Lord. Do you believe God? Do you rest
in his accomplished redemption? I have redeemed them. I rest
in the fact that when he died, he died for me. That when the
justice of God demands that I die for my sin, that eternal death,
and that my life is in the blood and that that be shed, for me,
as his child, it was shed in him on that cross. I rest in
accomplished redemption. I confidently hope in God's triumphant
kingdom. When I leave this life, that
is my eternal abode. But in the flesh, with the trials
of life, you feel weak. So often, isn't it the case that
the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak? Well, hear his
promise in verse 12. I will strengthen them in the
Lord, and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the
Lord. Strengthen in the Lord, walk
up and down in his name. Live in him looking unto Jesus. May God bless these gospel truths
to our souls and strengthen us to keep us as we walk up and
down in this world in his name. Amen.