Well, a few weeks ago we were
considering over three Sundays aspects of the rebuilding of
the temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, after
the exile. And we were looking in the prophets
of Haggai and Zechariah and referring to the historical account in
Ezra. Because the temple we saw was
a picture of the way God saves his people. It was a picture
of the body of Christ, which is the church, but also the body
of Christ which was God become flesh, made flesh. He is the
temple of the living God. He is the one in whom the fullness
of the Godhead dwelt bodily as he walked this earth as a man,
full of grace and truth. And yet, in him, he accomplished
salvation for his people. And his people is his spiritual
body, the church, which is that temple not made with stones and
wood and all of the building materials of a temple, but with
living stones, which Ephesians, Paul tells us in Ephesians, we
as believers, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he
says, you are one of the living stones, just as surely As those
stones in the temple got all of their position and their interlocking
from that foundation stone, that chief cornerstone, so you and
me, if we're in Christ, in the temple of the living God, His
church, are fitted together, built on what? foundation stone,
that chief cornerstone, that stone which is a stumbling block
to so many. To the Greeks it's foolishness.
What silliness that you're right for eternity on the basis of
the doing and dying of this man. And for the religious folks,
for the Jews, it's a stumbling block. They trip over it. Surely
we have to do this, we do all of these things and then we're
right with God. We're the descendants of Abraham, therefore we're the
children of God. No, in Christ. In Christ, the
chief cornerstone, in Him. But you look today at the state
of the true church, and by the true church, what do I mean?
I'm in the church that preaches the gospel that this book has
declared to God's people. It's the mystery that has now
been revealed to God's saints, the gospel of His grace, that
God, in Christ, before the beginning of time, the Father chose a people
for salvation. He ordained it all. He chose
a multitude that no man can number, but at any one time as we look,
it seems like such a small number. But it's a multitude that no
man can number. not limited to white folks or
black folks, without race, creed, tongue, all of these things,
tradition, a multitude that no man can number. And he gave them
to Christ, the children whom the Father has given him, before
the beginning of time. And Christ covenanted with the
Father that where the justice of the Father must condemn these
people because they would be sinners, they would fall short
of His glory, His justice must condemn them, He is God, He cannot
change. Absolutely He cannot change.
He cannot sweep it under the carpet. He's of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. The
soul that sins, it shall die. By no means can He clear the
guilty. But He covenanted with the Son
that the Son God the Son would stand in the place of those people,
would be the righteousness of God for those people, would bear
the sins of those people, be made the sins of those people. and would suffer all of the consequences
of those sins, would bear the guilt of those sins, would bear
the condemnation, would bear the wrath of his father, would
pay redemption's price. For the price is blood. He must
die. The life is in the blood and
he must shed his blood. The price of those sins was his
lifeblood. The soul that sins it shall die.
And in the Lord Jesus Christ and him dying, the infinite God
dying in the place of his people, he paid the sin debt of his people. And you go to the books of God.
And you go to the books that will be opened. And as that false
prophet Balaam proclaimed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
I looked for iniquity in Jacob. Oh, he's a sinner. Jacob, he's
a sinner. I looked for iniquity in Jacob,
and I found none. And that's what the gospel says.
I looked for iniquity in my people who were in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I found none. The true church is the people
that believe that gospel. The true church is the people
that believe and praise God and worship God for that gospel of
sovereign grace, of particular redemption. Absolutely. of freedom in Christ, that gospel
of liberation in Christ. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage, of law and rules and regulations. Not to live
as you want, shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid!
God forbid! We live by gospel precepts in
the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking to
Him looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's
what the true church is, but when you look at the state of
the true church, and when you try to find it, it seems like
such a minority. We seem so sidelined, not only
from society, you might expect that, godless society, but from
mainstream religion. That religion which claims to
be evangelical religion. We seem so sidelined, so particular,
so strict in our adherence to this gospel of God's grace. We
seem irrelevant to the world, but you wait. You wait, you see
the seeds of it happening. Every day we seem to be seeing
something else. As Peter was mentioning in his
prayer, we live in a society which is godless. Every pronouncement,
it seems, of our government is one step further towards godlessness,
flying in the face of what this book has taught generations concerning
morality, concerning truth, concerning that which is right and wrong.
And we're soon going to be called anti-society. We're soon going
to be called if we're not already politically incorrect. Oh, you
can't have one of those people be a teacher in a school, in
a state school. You can't have one of those people
because they don't agree with this, they don't agree with that. These people have got extremely
exclusive views. You can't have them working in
your workplace. They'll upset the nice utopian
feeling that we're trying to engender. You can't have these
people because these people are bigots. Whoops! Oh, did I really
say that? Oh, I ought not to have said that. These people
are bigots. You heard a politician say it in the draft of his speech
this week. Bigots. Bigots. Why are you bigots
in society today? Why are the people of God branded
as bigots? For believing God's word. For believing God's word, Paul
says to the Romans, Romans 3 verse 4, let God be true and every
man a liar. I don't care what all these politicians
say about this fact of society or that fact of morality or whatever
else it may be. I don't care what they say. They
can all be liars. God is still true and God has
spoken. So do you lament our sorry state? If this is it, you know, as I
said, think of those that are in a much more constrained situation
than we are in terms of numbers. This looks like a full congregation
this morning, but nevertheless, compared with what people would
consider to be a viable church to commit their family to, we're
a pretty small ragbag. And don't worry, I'm including
myself in all of that. Do you lament that sorry state? Surely you might say we need
to do something. Or wouldn't it be good to have
a bigger church? More people. More people to have
social interaction with. To have more credibility with
mainstream religion. You know? To be able to be put
on the prayer list of a local church as a Bible-believing church
in the area, which of course we're not. We're not regarded
as. Wouldn't it be good to have more credibility with mainstream
religion and the world around us? Well, we get our instruction
from God's word. And the account of building the
temple after the exile period, 2,500 years or so ago, is a picture
to us, and gives us instruction. Because
in it, in that temple, is a picture of the true gospel. That's what
it was for. It was to picture the true gospel.
How can a man be right with God? How can a man be just with God?
Look at the temple. Because in there are all the
pictures of Christ and salvation that is in Him. It's a picture
of the true people of God. The true church of God. They
had a solid foundation in place. In the days of Zerubbabel, when
they went back, they put the foundation in place. That's chapter
3 of Ezra. They rejoiced over it. They wept
bitter tears, those that remembered what the house of Solomon had
been like, before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The solid
foundation they put in place. But for a while, because of all
this opposition, it remained a ruin. far from completion. But God had given a promise that
Zerubbabel will finish it and will bring forth the headstone.
That's in Zechariah, as we saw, Zechariah chapter 4. These things,
as Paul says to the Romans, You hear this often, but these things
were written for our learning. Why? That you might know more
theology. No, no, no, it's much more practical
than that. Look, these things were written
for our learning, that we, through patience, waiting on God, and
comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. here and now, you
and me, we, through patience, waiting on God, and comfort of
the Word of God, because it comforts us. God comforts us in His Word
with words of truth that He will bring to pass, that He will certainly
accomplish. Nothing shall fail of it. And
the purpose of that is to give us hope. We, through comfort
of the Scriptures, might have hope. That's not a, I hope it's
going to be a nice day tomorrow. That's a, I know for certain
these things are coming. This is a solid hope, a sure
hope. So what does God say to us now
through the account of a temple being built two and a half thousand
years ago? Remember, this temple is a picture
of the church, the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's read the first two verses of Ezra chapter 4. So they've
put the foundation in place at the end of chapter 3, and there's
great rejoicing, they're crying for joy. that it's come to pass. The foundation is in place. Zerubbabel
has laid the foundation stone. But chapter four, now, when the
adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, because that's what they really
were, heard that the children of the captivity builded the
temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel
and to the chief of the fathers and said unto them, let us build
with you for we seek your God as ye do, and we do sacrifice
unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Azur, which brought us
up hither. There's an offer. They seem like decent folks,
don't they? You know, they're only trying to be helpful. They
see these people have come back to Jerusalem to build the temple,
and there they go, they're starting, and they think, we need to get
involved with this. Let's go and get involved with
it. Let us help you. Let us build with you. We're
all heading in the same direction. We believe in the same God as
you. We sacrifice to Him. We're on your side, basically.
Let's get involved with you. What does the Word of God tell
His true people to do? when there's the either the temptation
to get involved in these things, the offer to get involved in
these things, the evidence so it would seem that the only reason
you're not succeeding is because you don't get involved in these
things, what does the scripture tell us to do? 1 John chapter
4 verse 1, try the spirits, whether they be of God, try them, don't
take them at face value, test them, Try them. Find out what
they're really saying. You see, what were these people
saying? Well, note in verse 1 what they really were. You don't have
to read many words, do you, to find out what they really were.
They weren't really on their side trying to help. They were
the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin. They were the adversaries
of the people. They wanted to put them out of
business. They wanted them to stop doing what they were doing.
They wanted them not to reestablish, so they thought they'd get involved
so that they could undermine it. So that they could thwart
their attempts. And look what they call them.
You see, it says here, the children of the captivity. Don't you hear,
this is a long word, it's a word that a university lecturer used
to keep using and I used to wonder what it meant until I looked
it up, this is a long time ago, but pejorative means downside
to it, isn't there? The children of the, who are
these people, these, Judah and Benjamin, who are these people
that have come up? They're the children of the captivity. That's
all they are. They're just the children of
the captivity. They couldn't hold their place
here before, and they were taken away into captivity. They despised
them. Really, in truth, they despised
them. And they came with an offer of
help. They came saying, let us build
with you. We're all seeking the same God
just like you do. Look, he said, we seek your God,
verse 2, as you do, and we do sacrifice unto him, Do they? Did you hear that they said,
we do sacrifice? Oh no, they didn't. Do you know
how I know they didn't? Do you know how Zerubbabel knew
they didn't? There was only one place where sacrifice could be
offered that was acceptable to God, in the temple in Jerusalem. That's why the Jews lamented
it in the captivity. That's why Daniel lamented it
and his friends in the captivity. There was no temple in Jerusalem
where true sacrifice for sin could be offered. that which
represented Christ could only be offered there. The reason
why there is no animal sacrifice in the Jewish religion today,
and hasn't been for the last two thousand years, is because
there's no temple in Jerusalem. Because it can only take place
there. They didn't sacrifice to the same God that Zerubbabel
and Joshua, the children of Judah and Benjamin, were sacrificing
to. The first thing they did was establish the altar on the
site of the temple, that they might have sacrifice, and keep
the feast, and put the foundation stone in place. Those were the
first things that they did. But these people claiming to
do sacrifice, it was falsehood. Because there's only true sacrifice
in the temple at Jerusalem. There's only true sacrifice for
sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only true sacrifice for
sin in particular redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ
at Calvary. Anyone who says to you, well
we're all believing the same thing, you believe that Jesus
died for sinners, we believe that Jesus died for sinners.
Yes, but they believe that Jesus died for every sinner that's
ever lived. And that the only thing that
makes a difference is whether you or me make a choice, decide
that that was for me. And in deciding, we make it effectual
for you and me. But that is not what the Scriptures
say. And it's not the same God. And
it's not the same sacrifice. And it's not the same salvation.
It's a sham salvation, which is not effectual. It doesn't
get the job done. It's ineffectual. The true salvation
of the Bible is particular salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
bore what? The sins of his people on the
cross of Calvary. That's what he did. Nothing else.
He bore the sins of his people. and he saves to the uttermost
his people. And how do his people come to
believe him? The Holy Spirit comes under the sound of the
preaching of the gospel and makes that sinner willing in the day
of his power to believe that gospel of grace. And although
the flesh of that sinner says, I don't really like this, I don't
think it's fair, the new man of the Spirit of God says, I
bow to what my God says, for I know that the God of the whole
earth shall do right. They won't give him true sacrifice,
it was a sham. It wasn't the same. Oh, let's
just get together and be friends in an ecumenical sort of way.
You call yourselves evangelical, so do we. We do this, we preach
salvation to people, we look to God the Holy Spirit to save
people, just like you look carefully at what they say and see. Is
it the same sort of sacrifice that these people who offered
help were offering? You see, it's very tempting to
form alliances Wouldn't it have been very tempting? Extra pairs
of hands. You know, they were struggling.
How were they ever going to get it done? They needed more hands.
Materials, the wherewithal to do it. Wouldn't it be good to
have a good building in which to meet? And they say they want
the same outcome as us. Ask yourself, why do we continue
on our own? you know, little groups like
ours and others that there are dotted around the country. There
are churches that say, nearby churches that say they believe
the gospel around here. They say they believe in sovereign
grace. They must contain Christians. They're much bigger. They've
got nicer buildings. They've got mutual support. You
have to look at what they're really trying to achieve. Think
of alliances that have been formed in the past. One I can think
of was In 1644 and 1646, because they produced two editions of
it, but the Baptists produced their Confession of Faith, which
was very simple and very true to the Scriptures. The best Confession
of Faith is the Scriptures itself, but they produced a very good
summary of true biblical doctrine. Persecution came along, and times
got difficult, and they felt very, very small, and the weight
of the state was against them in their liberty to worship God
in the way that they wanted to. There was rules and regulations
about how you could worship, and who could preach, and all
of that sort of thing. And so, there was a move towards an alliance
with Presbyterians by these Baptists. And in order to get on together,
they compromised their position. And what they had to compromise
was their position on the Mosaic law, because the Baptists in
1644 had said, as the Scripture does, you are not under law,
but under grace. The Scriptures had said, you
are free from the law. The Scriptures had said, the
law is not the believer's rule of life, it's his schoolmaster
to drive him to Christ. The Baptists had said all of
these things, but the Presbyterians had said, oh, no, no, no, no,
no. No, we're still under the Old Covenant, in so many ways,
we're still under that. We do all of these things that
was required by the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses is the believer's
rule of life, and what it led to was the 1689 Baptist Confession
of Faith, which added all of this stuff about adherence to
the Law of Moses as the believer's rule of life. And it's now, listen,
this is the key thing, it's now held up in most, if not all,
Reformed Baptist churches in Britain in practice as of equal
authority to Scripture. It's the guide that they quote
and they use. And if you dare to say I disagree
with the 1689 Confession in these points, then you'll be on the pale and
not fit to be listened to and sidelined because you're going
to lead people astray. But the result is that thousands
who think they're in strong churches are being brought yet again under
a yoke of bondage because of these alliances. You see, We
seek here. Why do we do this? Because we
seek to preach the true gospel. And to put it on the internet
and have it so that people can listen to it. And to advertise
it in local newspapers so that if God moves anybody, they know
where they can go and hear the gospel of free, sovereign grace
and particular redemption, effectual salvation preached. And, you
know, we get local opposition. Oh, you say it doesn't seem very
strong. Well, it doesn't at the moment, but it starts with a
seemingly friendly response to things. We get this sort of thing. We're aware of what you're trying
to do in Nebworth, and yes, yes, we're quite interested in how
it turns out. And then things go on, and, you
know, we host a conference, and not just that, but before that,
we have preachers who unashamedly preach the Gospel of Sovereign
Grace, and what do they say? We can't encourage our people
to attend your conference because you've got hyper-Calvinistic
tendencies, and if you've got hyper-Calvinistic tendencies,
you must have antinomian tendencies. And all we have to do is abandon
our hyper-Calvinism and antinomianism, as they outrageously call it,
And then we can all be evangelical friends, ecumenical friends together,
helping one another to build God's temple, his church, in
this area. Now look at Zerubbabel and Joshua's
response. They said, verse 3, Zerubbabel
and Joshua and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel
said unto them, ye have nothing to do with us to build a house
unto our God. But we ourselves together will
build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus the King of Persia
hath commanded us." Interesting that. Quote Cyrus, King of Persia. You're not going to build with
us. We won't compromise the purity of the true gospel, which is
what the temple and the sacrifice represented. We won't compromise
the purity of the true gospel in seeking to advance God's temple,
and we have the authority of Cyrus. Cyrus was moved by God. The prophet Isaiah, 200 plus
years before, said, I will raise up Cyrus as my instrument, the
most powerful king in the world, to do my will, and he will send
you back from that captivity to build his temple at Jerusalem.
So they said, we've got Cyrus' commission. Moved by God, he
has commissioned To do what? If you read back in chapter 1,
it's to re-establish true gospel worship. I'm paraphrasing in
New Testament language, but that's what it was. He commissioned
them to go and establish true gospel worship back in Jerusalem.
A temple. sacrifices and he gave them all
of the vessels from the temple of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar
had taken away when that first temple was destroyed. What were
those vessels? They were all symbolical in aspects
of the gospel. They were all supporting the
picture painted in that temple of the way God saves his people. And he said, they said, back
to those who offered their help, we will only do this with those
who are 100% committed to the purity of the cause. I've called
this the importance of gospel purity. 99% isn't good enough. You must be 100% committed to
the purity of the cause. We won't adjust it in any way
Because you end up with such a mishmash, such a mix-up, that
the next thing is the truth of the true gospel of how God saves
his people is totally diluted. How do we test possible alliances? Let me read these scriptures.
You might want to turn to 1st John and 2nd John. 1st John,
I've already quoted a bit of it, but let me quote it in full.
1st John chapter 4, verses 1 to 3. Don't worry, I'm not going to
keep you a long time, but this is important. 1 John chapter
4, verses 1 to 3. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
that means every preacher, every religious offer of help, those
that come along claiming to be spiritual. Believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. Hereby we
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And that is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now, already,
it is in the world. When John was writing, he was
a very old man when he wrote these epistles, 90 or 100 years
old at least. 2 John, verses 7 to 11. 2 John, verses 7 to 11. John writes, for many deceivers
are entered into the world, those who would deceive the true people
of God, who believe the true gospel of God. They confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come, listen to these words, if there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God's speed, for he that biddeth him God's
speed is partaker of his evil deeds." If you look at those
two passages, it gives us a test by which to test whether those
that want to form alliances or those to whom we would have to
amend our stance in order to form alliances There's a test. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
and the doctrine of Christ. Did you see that? As we read
those verses, those words. This is the test. Jesus confessing
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and the doctrine of
Christ. What's that talking about? That
seems rather a simple test to pass, doesn't it? At first sight,
you know, you go to them and say, do you believe that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh? Well, loads of people do. The
whole Catholic Church believes that Jesus Christ was a man who
walked the earth. It can't mean just as simple
as what it says there. This is what it means. This is
what it means to you who believe. This is what it means. The man
Jesus, whose name meant what? Savior. Joshua. Jesus. The man
Jesus. is the Savior of his people,
because Jesus, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. This man, Jesus, the Savior of
his particular, specific people, is come in the flesh. Paul preaching
in Athens, he says, this Jesus, Acts 17, this Jesus whom I preach
to you is the Christ. The man Jesus is the Christ.
What's the Christ? What's the Christ? The Messiah.
The promised one of the Old Testament. God's promised redeemer. The one by whom he would save
his particular people. How did he do it? He came in
the flesh. God incarnate. That the man who
walked this earth was fully God in every respect. And fully God? Infinite incapacity. Perfect
in holiness. A lamb without blemish and without
spot. One who is able to save his people
by the skin of their teeth. Doesn't say that. To the uttermost. Save them to the uttermost. save
them absolutely. If He does it sovereignly, He
does it without any help from them whatsoever. He does it to
the uttermost. He is able to make sinful people
holy that they might see God, not with any contribution from
them. He does it entirely from start to finish. He makes his
sinful people holy in his sight. He is able, because he's infinite
God in flesh, he is able to be made the sin of his people, specifically,
fully, to every last sin and that alone, that they might be
made fully, absolutely, in every requirement of the justice of
God, the righteousness of God in him. I am righteous in him. This is the gospel of grace.
Again, as Peter mentioned in his prayer, when God looks on
his people, he sees Christ. And when he sees Christ, he sees
the one in whom he is well pleased, his beloved son. He is the one who is his people's
substitute. His people's substitute, exclusively
for the multitude that the Father gave him before the beginning
of time. He is the one in whom his people were put to death. What about my sin? It was, as
Colossians says, nailed to his cross. I died with Christ. I am crucified with Christ, says
Paul in Galatians 2. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. His people were
put to death under the law's condemnation, in him, at Calvary. His people rose in Him to newness
of life. And do you know where the Scriptures
now tell us that we are seated? In heavenly places. You're not
just here in a room in Datchworth near Nebworth. You're in heavenly
places if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is effectual
salvation. This isn't Salvation that depends
on you, or your decision, or your works, or your sanctification,
in any respect whatsoever, it is salvation that is accomplished.
Now test your doctrine. Test your doctrine. You say you're
a Christian. Anybody listening, you say you're
a Christian. You believe in evangelical gospel. Test your doctrine. Is
it effectual? Does it work? Does it give you
assurance? Do you know that it is well with
your soul? Do you know that I will stand
before the judgment seat of Christ and I know the law has nothing
with which to charge me? Who shall bring any charge against
God's elect? It is Christ that has died. I
know all of these things. This is the gospel purity that
we must, with God's enabling, maintain at all cost, even the
cost of being one man preaching to his wife and his young children
in a little village hall, rather than compromise by joining up
with any element, any group that would compromise God's sovereignty
in salvation. Religion, evangelical religion,
all around us says this, it says, you must compromise your doctrine
for the sake of love and getting on. Doesn't it sound so alluring? You must compromise your doctrine
so that we can all get on. You've got a very narrow view
of salvation, but you know, all these are good people, they're
all good Christians. Just compromise and then we can
all be friends. What does God's word say? What
did John say in his second epistle? Don't. He's not telling people
to be antisocial with their neighbors or anything like that, he's not
telling people to have nothing to do with people who don't believe
the gospel. But if anybody, he says, comes to you preaching
anything which is not this gospel, don't bid them Godspeed, don't
entertain them in their efforts in your house and support their
efforts and make it easier for them to do their thing, because
if you do, he says, you're partaking of their evil deeds, because
anything which compromises that gospel is an evil deed. If they
say, Christ died for all, they have not God. That's what John
says. If they say, there is something you need to add to Christ's work,
they have not God. He that doesn't have the doctrine
of Christ has not God. If they say man is not utterly
dead but can be persuaded to believe if we adopt this approach
and that approach and this worldly approach, they have not God.
What they have is religion. the same ungodly religion as
they all have, in essence. You know what Paul said to the
Galatians? But though we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed. And he said, just in case you
didn't hear me the first time, he repeated it to make sure.
we will not build with them. That's what Zerubbabel said,
we will not build with them. Pray God to enable us to stay
true to his truth. Pray God that God will show those
that are his true people in those situations, mixed up with it
for whatever reason, the error of that false gospel that they
adhere to, and seek the truth, and seek the true gospel. What's
the result of it? We saw it. the letter that they
wrote to the authorities, to the king in those days. They
attempted to get the authorities to shut down the building, and
you know what? They succeeded. They did, for
a while. All in God's purpose, wasn't
it? This gap of twenty years or so when nothing happened at
all. But the foundation stone remained there. It was never
moved and as Zechariah told Zerubbabel, you will surely finish it and
bring forth the headstone. So take comfort in this situation. Take comfort. This is for our
comfort. These scriptures are written
for our comfort and rejoice in the hope that we have. We know
God is building his temple. He will complete his church,
irrespective of how it seems, with small numbers scattered
around, seeking to be faithful and true, and to avoid the compromise
that would lead to seemingly much, much broader ways in which
to go.