Glad to see Brandon back with
us. I believe that's the right name.
It's been several months. It's good to see you again. Good
to have you tonight. If you will, let's turn in our
Bibles again to Ezra chapter six. Ezra chapter six. We'll read part of verse 14. And the elders of the Jews builded,
and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet,
and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. And they builded and finished
it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according
to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, kings
of Persia. We see once again tonight from
these words that the building of the temple, the building of
the temple when the Jews returned after 70 years captivity in Babylon,
the building of the temple by the Jews prospered. It prospered,
we are told here, through the prophesying, through the preaching
of these two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. We know that there
was a time after they laid the foundation that the work stopped,
and it was for a I believe, about 15 years. And then these prophets
came and they began to prophesy and the work was begun again
and prospered, the scripture here says. And that just reminds
us, once again, how that God has chosen to accomplish his
purpose through the preaching of his word. Now, in this case,
it was, of course, his purpose to build the temple there in
Jerusalem. And it had come almost to a stop
or stand still. And then through the preaching,
the prophesying of these two men of God, Haggai and Zechariah,
the work prospered and they finished the work on the temple. Now,
we looked last Wednesday evening for the first time at the prophesying
of Zechariah. We've looked several times before
at some of the prophesying of Haggai, but last time was the
first time we looked at the prophet Zechariah and his prophesying.
And we saw that, first of all, his message was a message of
repentance. His prophecy begins with repentance,
calling upon the nation of Israel to turn from their evil ways,
that which had caused them to be taken into captivity. That
is, their sin of idolatry, especially, and their immorality. And then
Zechariah was given nine visions. nine visions. And these visions
are all messages from God through the prophet to the Jews to encourage
them in their work at this time in building that temple, that
physical temple there in Jerusalem. Now, they are of special interest
to us, special interest to me as I study through them because
the message of the vision was twofold. Yes, it did concern
the building of the temple and the city of Jerusalem many, many
years ago, but the message also speaks of the spiritual temple
and the city Jerusalem, that is the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to these verses in Hebrews
chapter 12. You're familiar with them, but
I want us to see how the church is referred to as Jerusalem,
as Mount Zion. Here in Hebrews chapter 12, I'll
just read these two verses 22 and 23, but You're come to Mount Zion. You're
not come to Mount Sinai. That's where the Israelites came
when they were given the law. And even Moses, the scripture
there says he feared and shook because of the presence of God
Almighty on that mountain. And the giving of the law was
so much different than the gospel when the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world and gave out the gospel. You're not come to
Mount Zion. I but now listen, but you you
believers right into those Hebrew believers But under all of us
tonight who who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord
and Savior But you are come to Mount Zion And into the city
of the Living God now all of these Names are referring to
the church the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mount Zion,
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly. We're all part of a
general assembly, aren't we? Those who are already assembled
in heaven and those of us who are still here upon the earth.
We're all part of a general assembly, the church, the ecclesia, those
who are called out of the world. those that God calls out through
the preaching of the gospel. We are come to the church of
the firstborn. We know who that is, the church
of the firstborn. He's the firstborn of all creation,
which are written in heaven. So the Lord, the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of by all these names and all of
them tell us something special about the church that we are
part of. Mount Zion. I believe that especially
speaks to us of our protection. Mount Zion, the way it was situated
there in Palestine, the protection that we have. God is all around
us. The angel of the Lord encampeth
around them that fear him. He's all around us. And then,
of course, these other titles as well, other names as well.
A city. Remember, Abraham sought a city,
didn't he? Whose builder and maker was God. His interest, and here's something
very important. Yes, he was promised that land,
that physical land over there of Canaan. And he never owned
an inch of it except that cave in which he buried his wife,
and then he was buried. That may be true, but it wasn't
that land. That wasn't really his interest.
His interest was in a city, a city that hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. Heaven is the city of God. And the church. the called out ones, the church
of the firstborn. In Psalm 48 in verse 2, we read,
beautiful, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great
king. That great king is Christ, isn't
he? Didn't God say, I have set my
son upon Mount Zion? And He sat there as King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. Now I want you to turn with me
again now to Zechariah. As I said, Zechariah was given
nine visions. And we considered last time that
first vision. That first vision, which was
a picture or vision of some myrtle trees. Not giant cedar trees,
not mighty oak trees, but myrtle trees. And in the midst of these
myrtle trees was the one riding upon the red horse, who we come,
as we read through that vision, we come to see is the angel of
the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord was telling Israel
of old through the prophet, through that vision, that that nation
was small in comparison to the other nations of the world, but
it had this great advantage. The Lord was in the midst of
her. The Lord was in the midst of her. And the fact that he
was riding upon a horse reminded us that he's swift to come to
our aid. He's swift to come to help us
in the time of need. He's always in our midst. And this vision ended with these
very encouraging words. If you notice in verses 16 and
17 of chapter one, this first vision, The vision ended with
these words. Therefore, saith the Lord, I
am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built
in it, saith the Lord of hosts. And
a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry, yet saying,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities through prosperity
shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion,
and shall yet choose Jerusalem. What words of encouragement were
these to those who builded at that time on that temple? When the Lord God of hosts, the
Lord God Almighty, when he says, my house shall, He didn't say
my house may be built, my house perchance, my house with a string
of good luck is going to be built. No, my house shall be built in
it. Who's going to stay his hand?
Who is going to keep the word of the Lord from being accomplished? No one. Remember, he rules among
the armies of heaven. and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? He's God Almighty, the Lord of
hosts. What words of encouragement these
had to be to those who built it on the temple. And not only
that the temple would be built, but that the city, Jerusalem,
you can tell from those verses, will be enlarged. Now we know
after the book of Ezra and Contemporary to Ezra, Nehemiah comes on the
scene, and his main work is going to be to build the walls of Jerusalem. These words had to greatly encourage
the builders of that day. Wouldn't they, you? If you were
working on a building and God spoke from heaven through a prophet,
a man of God, you know he's a prophet, no question about it. And God
tells you, your house is going to be built. Now, if God says
it's going to happen, it's going to happen. That's all there is
to it. But these are encouraging words
to you and I tonight, to us concerning the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His church, which he referred
to as God's little fog. Be of good cheer, for it's your
Father's good pleasure to give unto you the kingdom. And his
little flaw, his church in this world is compared still to myrtle
trees. The true church of the Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't have any powerful standing, never has. The false
church, the church of the world, has a lot of power. has a lot
of clout, as they say, in matters of politics and matters of government. But the true church, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is much like a myrtle tree. And another thing about the myrtle
tree is it gives off, when the leaves are crushed, it gives
off such a sweet smell. And when the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is going through Crushing times, persecution times,
through fires, through water, through great trials, it gives
off a great testimony, a great aroma to the grace of God. The grace of God that is sufficient
to keep his people, no matter what the world brings against
her. His grace is always sufficient. They encourage us for they tell
us that Christ by his Holy Spirit is in our midst. Just like he
was in the midst of those myrtle trees, he's in our midst. Where
two or three gather together in my name, he said, there am
I in their midst. I try to encourage myself and
I try to encourage you as well. When we come together, let's
never forget that he is here. He is in our midst when we gather
together in His name. Let's don't be looking around
to see who's not here and who is here. No, let's just rejoice
in knowing that He's here. That's the main thing. He's here. And we see that in the book of
Revelation, don't we? He's in the midst of the golden
candlesticks walking. Those golden candlesticks represent
His churches, and He's always in the midst. They encourage us not only by
telling us, reminding us that He is in our midst, but assuring
us, assuring us that His spiritual temple shall be built. All, A-L-L, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and Him that cometh to me I will
and no wise cast out. Every one of his chosen people
shall come to Christ. Somewhere, as Brother Barnard
used to say, somewhere between the cradle and the grave, God
is going to cross the path of each and every one of his chosen
people. And if he's crossed your path,
And you've surrendered to him as your Lord. Aren't you thankful
tonight? Yes, this temple is going to
be built. One day he will appear before his father and be able
to say, Father, here am I and the children which thou has given
me. And not one, not one is going
to be missing. Now I want us to look just briefly
tonight at this second vision, because it only takes, I think,
four verses here. Verse 18 through 21. Then lifted
out mine eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. And I said unto the
angel that talked with me, what be these? And he answered me,
these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and
Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Then said I, what come these
to do? And he spake, saying, these are
the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift
up his head. But these are come to fray them,
to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their
horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. Let me just say this
about the four horns and the four carpenters. We know in the
word of God that the horn represents power. These were people that
had raised animals. They were in agriculture and
they knew among their flocks, the animal that had the horn
usually had power, had power. And the four horns represent
four powers. But they do not represent, let
me say that again, they do not represent the four world kingdoms
that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar
dreamed a dream and Daniel interpreted it for him. And it was a head
of gold and the silver and the brass, and then the iron, and
it represented four kingdoms. The first kingdom was Nebuchadnezzar,
you, O king, Babylon, and then the Persians, the silver, and
then the Greek, the brass, and then the iron, the Roman. It
doesn't, these four horns or four powers do not represent
those four kingdoms because when Zechariah was given this prophecy,
that first power Babylon had already been defeated. Persia,
the second power, had defeated Babylon. It had already fallen
when Zechariah was given this vision. So then what do the four
horns represent? They represent powers, yes, but
I believe the four points of the compass. In other words,
this tiny nation was surrounded To the north, to the south, to
the east, to the west, they were surrounded by enemies. The Jews had enemies on every
side. And they tried their best to
hinder, to stop the work in the building of the temple and the
building of the walls of Jerusalem. We know that from these two historical
books, Ezra and Nehemiah. So the four horns represent enemies
from every side. And then the four carpenters
represent God's instruments, those that God raises up, you
notice, to fray, that's what it says there, to fray, to defeat,
to overcome. Each and every enemy that rises
up against God and God's purpose to build this temple God has
an instrument to fray it, to destroy it, to take it away.
Charles Spurgeon, many of you I know read his morning and evening
devotionals, and I've read it for many years now, but he has
one of his devotionals on those words in verse 20, which says,
and the Lord showed me four carpenters. And I'll just read as part of
the words that Spurgeon has as a devotional, as an encouraging
word. And I quote, God will always
find men for his work and he will find them at the right time. The prophet did not see the carpenters
first when there was nothing to do, but first the horns. and then the carpenters. Moreover,
the Lord finds enough men. He did not find three carpenters,
but four. There were four horns, so there
must be four workmen. God finds the right man, not
four men with pens to write, not four architects to draw plans,
but for carpenters to do rough work. Rest assured, you who tremble
for the ark of God." And I think some of us do that. We tremble
for the church, don't we? We see sometimes and think sometimes
it looks like God's church is just going to vanish from the
face of the earth. No, you rest assured, you who
tremble for the ark of God, that when the horns grow troublesome,
the carpenters will be found. And I know I've said this and
I've heard others of my friends make this same comment. It just
doesn't seem like God is raising up any preachers. We know of
several sovereign grace churches where they don't have a pastor,
and we're wont to say, well, it just doesn't seem like God's
raising up preachers today. Well, we know that's not true.
God has a work. He'll raise up a man for it.
He will. We can rest assured in that. We know as we tonight in this
year of our Lord 2022, we can look back at this historical
event and we know the temple was built. The temple in Jerusalem
was built. The walls of the city were built,
and the city did spread and grow in spite of all the enemies. Though it was encircled by all
of its enemies, God's purpose was accomplished. We have the
advantage. We look back and see that. We
also know that this is true of the Lord's Church, which has
always been surrounded by enemies in this world. This world has
never been a friend of grace and never will be. We have two
antagonistic kingdoms, don't we? The kingdom of darkness and
the kingdom of light. The kingdom of Satan and the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're at loggerheads and
always will be. There's never going to be peace
for the Lord's Church in this world until the Prince of Peace
comes and takes her out of this world when there's a new earth
and a new heaven. Since the day of Pentecost, there's
always been friction, always been persecution. The Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been surrounded by her
enemies, powerful enemies. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ said
this and what he said was true and we see it tonight, the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. It just ain't going to happen. His church has been persecuted
and run out in the mountains in France and places like that. I can't recall those people's
names at the present time, but God has always had a church in
this world. It may have been a little church. It hasn't been the powerful church,
a church that wields a lot of power in this world, a church
that the presidents and the prime ministers and the keys consult
when they want to do something. No, it's a little flock. that is faithful to its Lord,
to its King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in this world accomplishing
God's purpose. That is preaching the gospel
and being used in calling out God's people, saving God's elect. God allows the evil to come.
It comes from all sides, all around us. But this promise is
always so, it's always true. No N-O, no weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper. It's not going to prosper. Now
let me give us two practical lessons. Number one, the church
of God has always been surrounded with enemies. and will be until
the last enemy is destroyed by Christ. You know what that last
enemy is, don't you? Look with me in 1 Corinthians
15. It's such a beautiful, beautiful passage and wonderful hope and
blessed assurance. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning with verse 20, 1 Corinthians 15, beginning with
verse 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For
since man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ
and his coming. Then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet. But when he saith all things
are put under him, it is manifest that he, that is God, is accepted,
which did put all things under him. And when all things shall
be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all. That last enemy, death, has already
been Defeated, hasn't it? Death was defeated at the cross.
It was defeated at the tomb when the Lord Jesus Christ came. And so for you and I as a believer,
death is not a punishment. The physical death is not a punishment. Not for a believer, not for a
child of God. The sting of death has been removed. No, death for us is just us graduating. come up higher, just being called
up higher. But one day, we're going to see
that there will be no more death. It shall be put away. No physical death, only eternal
death for the lost. Now, the second thing in closing,
the church of God can never perish. For more are they that are with
her than they that are against her. And I just think about Elisha
and his servant. That morning, his servant got
up and went outside and looked up, got outside probably to get
some water to wash his face and pour on Elisha's hands, you know. And he looked up and he saw that
there were enemy forces all around him. And they were not there
to say hello. They were there to capture Elisha. And you remember Elisha prayed
that God would open his servant's eyes. And when the Lord opened
his eyes, what did he see? He saw that there were many more
for them than against them. Spiritual, no doubt angels, angels
of God around God's people. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, the scripture says. Well, I trust
the Lord will bless this word to you and I tonight, and we'll
sing a hymn.