A Verse for the Year (2 of 2)

There are people who think that in order to do God's work, you have to be able to do specially trained or somehow particularly gifted. And while training and talent are helpful, as we'll hear today on Truth for Life, there is one essential requirement for doing God's work.

Alistair Begg is teaching from Zechariah chapter 4. Our focus today is in verse 6. I have three words for this Sunday, even as I had three words for last Sunday.

This morning, we have return, resource, and reign. Now, the word of the prophet, of course, is a hard word. I mean, straight out of the gate, he is issuing a call to repentance.

Why? Because it is necessary. The false prophets did not issue calls to repentance. The false prophets made their money, if you like, by telling the people what they wanted to hear. God says through Jeremiah, you shouldn't have anything to do with these false fellows, because what they do is they heal the wounds of my people lightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. It is absolutely no help to be told that all is well with you, if all is not well with you. And clearly, all is not well. So, the word of the messenger prophet to the people of God is to return to him.

The first word of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people who gather to listen to him was a word to repent. Well, what had been going on with these people? Why did they have to return to him? Well, because they were separated from him.

In what way? Well, they had gone back and they had seen the circumstances, and they had seen the challenge that they faced, and they were tempted to down tools almost immediately because of the pressure that was on them, just like the people remember coming out of Egypt, oh, we had great food back in Egypt, and we'd come out here, it's a dreadful place. Now, we've come back to Jerusalem. Look at it, it's so small. Look at the place, it's all broken down. Let's just do something else. Well, you say, where are you making this up from?

You've got a fertile imagination? No, I said to you, I have to read Haggai. And at Haggai, that's exactly what Haggai says to the people. He says, are you going to panel your family room and neglect the house of God? Is that how you want to deal with this situation? You better return to God. Well, is this a problem about paneling family rooms?

No. It is about laying down the kingdom business and taking up our own personal business. In other words, they've decided that in point of fact, it really is too much. And their problem lies in their desire to become normal.

Normal. To be like everybody else. You see, the people of God are not normal. The people of God were peculiar in all of their dimensions. God made them and gave them signs of peculiarity to show in the fabric of their life, the distinction that existed in the core of their life. But when the distinction in the core of their life was no longer there, all they had left were the externals.

And when they then tired of the externals, then they said, why don't we just do it the same way everybody else does it? Now, it's kind of an old word, but it is a real word, the word backslidden. Slidden back from where we were. The call to return to the people of God is a necessary, realistic call. We must put the hat on as it fits, individually and as a church.

Loved ones, all that has gone on in the last 35 or 40 years is as nothing unless we respond to the word of the Lord through Zerubbabel to his people to make sure that we are engaged with, that we are repentant of our sin, that we are returning to the Lord, that we are constantly going back in the same way that you sustain a marriage by saying, I'm sorry, I was an idiot. Please forgive me. Let's try this again. I love you.

Do you love me? Let's go. It's a constant series of new beginnings, of reparations, of restorations, of returns. And a marriage that goes down is a marriage where the people have refused to return when they needed to return. And that's what had happened to the people. And the word of the Lord from Zerubbabel to the people was, you tell them, don't mess this up like their forefathers did. That's why they were in Babylon, but instead have them come back to me, return to me, and I will return to them.

You see, they were where they wanted to be, but they were not what they needed to be. God is concerned that we become what he desires for us to be, far more than about the geography of things. The second word is resource. You see, because the call to repentance comes through the mouth of the prophet before the promise of the resources.

And the promise of resource is, of course, here in the verse 6, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, why is this so incredibly important? Well, if you look down at verse 10, you will see that the reference is made to whoever has despised the day of small things, who has despised the day of small things. And of course, that is exactly what these people were confronted with. From their perspective, it was a day of small things.

Nothing much was happening at all. What's the point in all of this? Why do we keep going? Why do we face all this opposition? We're constantly discouraged. And this is not an uncommon perspective in the church of Jesus Christ at this point in the 21st century.

If you talk to anyone who's lived any length of time at all, they will almost inevitably tell you, oh, you should have been around here in X, you know. You should have heard old Mr. So-and-so. Now, he could preach. That was what we call preaching, you know. We had Mr. So-and-so. He was an organist par excellence.

That was where there was some real singing, you know. And so it goes on and on and on. But now, look at us. Here we are in this day of small things. We're opposed.

Christmas displays at Macy's have got no Christmas in them at all. The ball dropped in the midst of rampant paganism. And look at us, an obscure little group of people settled in here, a funny bunch of people at this time on a Sunday morning on the east side of Cleveland and so on. Well, would you despise a day of small things? You think God doesn't work? You see, do you want his word only in the earthquake? Or do you want to hear his voice in a still small voice? Do you want to meet him in the whirlwind? Or do you want to hear his whisper? Now, you see, it is to those who are in that predicament that the resource then is so important.

You're going to despise a day of small things. Listen, anything that is accomplished is not by might, is not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. You say, well, that was a good word for a discouraged group of people. Indeed, but it was a vital word for a very strong leader like Zerubbabel. It's quite a name, Zerubbabel, isn't it?

Anyway, it is. It's a striking name, and he was a striking character. He's recorded as being the governor, as being the leader.

You will notice that it says here in verse nine that the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will also complete it. He was the key man. He was a strong leader. He was at the very outset of the building project, and God's plan was that he would be there at the end. He was the driving force. He was the one who said, come along, I think this can be accomplished. How vitally important that that kind of leader understands the resource and the necessity of the resource.

He's Zerubbabel. It's not by might, it's not by power that anything is going to take place. It's by my Spirit. Now that, of course, is not something that emerges in Zechariah chapter 4, which we have, interestingly, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit at work here, but it is something which runs through the whole pages of the Bible.

The indispensable and timeless requirement of doing the work of God is the power of the Spirit of God. So that anything that diverts us from that, anything that is offered as a substitute for that, is ultimately worthless. We have books up the stairs that appear mysteriously on the table in the workroom, and if you see them lying there, they're because somebody's decided he or she no longer wants them. And then you're allowed to pick him up and take him away with you.

It's very appealing to me as a Scotsman. Just sometimes I take them just because they're free. There's always the possibility you could sell them somewhere else, I suppose. But anyway, most of the time I pass them by and I've been walking past a particular book for two weeks.

Haven't said anything to any of the other members of the team, but it's been noticeable to me that nobody picked it up. It's a book, I can't remember the title of it, but it's basically about how do you get your church to where it needs to be? How do you get the church to the next level? And it's full of aphorisms. I look to make sure I wasn't misquoting anything. But for example, one chapter begins with Einstein, the significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

I have to think about that. Another chapter begins, behold the turtle, he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out. Wow, that's deep. Another chapter begins, I've been in business 36 years, I've learned a lot, and most of it doesn't apply anymore. And one chapter begins with a quote from Wayne Gretzky, I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

Whoa. Now this you're supposed to read, you take home and read in your bedroom so that you might know how to get the church where the church needs to be. Now I'm not being dismissive of practicalities and the lessons can be learned along all those lines.

I take that. But all of that together multiplied by 12 is no substitute for spiritual endowment. And the idea that we have moved on from the place where this was a necessity is an absolute lie.

An absolute lie. The leadership of the New Testament church was a significant leadership. And yet, what were they told to do? You're going to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, but don't go yet. I want you to go back to the upper room in Jerusalem and gather with the people there and wait for what? Wait for the resource.

Wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon you. Then you can go. Then your words will be worth twice as much. Then your influence will be far greater. Because you then, being a conduit, will simply be that which funnels out to the world the story of the kingdom of God.

That brings me to my third and final word. And that is the notion of God's reign and God's kingdom. Because that is really what all of the Bible is about. The unity of the Bible is found in the fact that it is the story of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you turn to chapter 14 and to verse 9, it's all building to this. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. And on that day the Lord will be one, and his name will be one.

Now, you think about this. The prophet is reminding his people that that which they have affirmed at the beginning and the ending of their daily routine is going to one day be recognized by all. What is it that they have affirmed? Well, it's the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.

He is the one true and living God. And one day that will be apparent to all. You have this picture here back in chapter 4 of the capstone. And it shall bring forward, Zerubbabel shall bring forth the top stone amid shouts of grace, grace to it. It's hard to read that and not think about what Peter says when he picks up again from the Old Testament.

And he says the stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone or has become the cornerstone of the building itself. And what the Bible is saying and what Zechariah is conveying is that ultimately when you take all of these visions and you take all of the call to return and you realize all of the resource that is poured out upon God's people, eventually the truth will dawn and the world will see that Jesus Christ is actually the capstone. That in contrast to the idols, he has power. In contrast to the vicious rulers of governments, he doesn't break broken reeds, and he doesn't snuff out the old wicks that are not as bright and as vibrant as they once were. Behold, my servant, my chosen one, says Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 42. Here he is. Here is the one who comes. Now you say to yourself, well, isn't there a bit of a leap from Zechariah to Jesus?

How do you just make that big jump all of a sudden? Verse nine of chapter 14, and now we're in Jesus. Well, you know. Jesus, Matthew 21, says to his disciples, now I want to ride on a donkey into Jerusalem. If you go over this house, you'll find a donkey. If anybody gives you a bad time, just say, the Lord needs him.

And it was as recorded. And then what does Matthew say? This took place to fulfill what the prophet Zechariah had said. Behold, your king comes to you riding on the donkey on the fall of a donkey. The unity of the Bible, loved ones, is not a unity that exists because it's an amalgamation of all these collection of different stories from different places. The unity of the Bible lies in the fact that it is the one story, it is the one word of the one God concerning the one salvation that is found in the one person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the whole story right there. So when in all of this chaos and discouragement in Jerusalem, the word of the prophet comes to the people, it is number one, get back into a right relationship with God, return. Number two, don't try and do this on your own steam.

Here are the resources. And number three, realize that one day the rule and the reign of God will be apparent throughout the whole earth. That's what Paul is saying. One day at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Because you see, we're no longer building temples al-azarabbable.

If you get your head there, you'll miss the point, trust me. The kingdom of God comes first in the person of Jesus, then through the preaching of the gospel throughout the world, and then, and then, and only then visibly and fully when Christ returns. So in the meantime, as we think about this, the real addition to the temple is an addition that comes by way of life's added. Again, I was reading in the mail this week from Truth for Life. One of the letters came in. There's a man, he said, I was driving in my truck, and I'm sure there was much more to it than this, but I was driving in my truck. I heard such and such a message.

I pulled my truck in at the side of the road and I did exactly what you said to do. I actually said, Lord Jesus Christ, I repent of my sin. I believe that you came to be my Savior. I ask you to come and invade my life and make me who you want me to be. And he says, I'm writing to you today to tell you that he is actually true to his word. It happened.

He did it. I am a new person. I am, if you like, a living stone. A living stone. We're adding stones through in this children's way. Wee stones, funny-shaped stones being added to the building. The building that we're engaged in building into the next generation has got virtually zip to do with the auditorium or any other physical structure. We are building day by day as the moments pass away. A temple that this world cannot see.

And every victory won by grace will be sure to find a place in that building for eternity. In between the services, I was thinking about this in relationship to Peter, and with this I will stop. After the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter decides, I'm going back to normality. I'm just going to be normal. I'm going fishing. I'm just going back. This thing is over. I'm just going back to do what I was doing before.

And what does Jesus do? He says, well, fine. You're going to do that. You can go ahead and do it. I don't need you. I got another half a dozen fellows I can use instead of you. No.

No. Jesus pursues him. Jesus comes and he meets him on a beach.

And they have the breakfast. And he says, Peter, return. Return to me, Peter.

And when you go, don't go and try and bypass that upper room. You go there so that the resources that I will pour out for you will be made available to you and will flow through you. And then, and only then, get out on the streets of Jerusalem and be prepared to say, there is salvation in no one else. For there's no other name under heaven given among men by which they must be saved. We go to all the world with kingdom, hope unfurled. No other name has power to save but Jesus Christ the Lord. Return, take hold of the resources, and proclaim that our God reigns. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

Alistair returns shortly. As we just heard, we are empowered and equipped to accomplish God's purposes as his spirit applies his word in our lives. That's one of the reasons we're passionate about teaching the Bible each day on Truth for Life.

With clarity and relevance, we believe the scripture is true and it teaches us everything we need to know about how to serve our King. Along with the teaching you hear on Truth for Life, we love choosing books that we can recommend to you. Books that we select with great care and that keep our mission in mind. And today, we want to recommend a book that will help you approach 2024 grounded in the peace of God. It's a devotional book called Refreshment for the Soul, a year of daily devotional readings from The Heavenly Doctor. This is a collection of readings written by Puritan preacher Richard Sibbes that explores the attributes of Jesus.

It's written to help you focus your thoughts on Jesus as you go through each day in this new year. The readings have been compiled by a pastor who was so encouraged by Richard Sibbes writing that he wanted others to benefit in the same way. Ask for your copy of the devotional Refreshment for the Soul when you make a donation to support the Bible teaching you hear on Truth for Life.

You can make that donation on our mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair. Father, thank you that your word really is a lamp that shines on our pathway. In so few words and in such short order, we can begin to grasp how high and how wide and how deep is the love that you have shown to this weary old world in the person of your son, Jesus. We want to ask both as individuals and as a church that you will enable us to heed your exhortation and to embrace your promise in returning to you, that you will forgive us for regarding it as a day of small things and deciding we could just be normal and give up on it. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, we pray. And as we think of proclaiming the reign of the Lord Jesus, that we pray that first of all he may come and reign in our hearts. We ask this to his glory. Amen.

I'm Bob Lapine. Join us tomorrow when we'll begin a study in the book of Ephesians. We'll learn what God is doing with those he has redeemed and how we can tell if he is at work in our lives. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.