Will you take your Bibles this morning and turn to Zechariah’s prophecy. We continue to make our way through this amazing book of the Bible, oftentimes called the revelation of the Old Testament, and this morning we are going to be in verses nine through 17 of chapter eight. Zechariah eight, verses nine through 17. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "Prophetic Certainties: the Fuel of Perseverance." Let me read the passage to you. Zechariah, eight, beginning in verse nine,

"'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in the days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

"'"For before those days, there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, And I said all men one against another.

"'"But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days," declares the LORD of hosts.

"'For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

"'"It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and House of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong,"

"'For, Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just as I purpose to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath," says the LORD of hosts,  "and I have not relented,

"'"so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!

"'"These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.

"'"Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate," declares the Lord.'"

This is a marvelous passage that speaks to the issue of perseverance, especially for these people that were so depressed, so beleaguered these post-exilic Israelites that needed to hear these things; and frankly, words that we all need to hear because they apply. They have application to each of us, especially given the growing anti-Christian sentiment that we see in our country.

Let me remind you of the context. You have about 50,000 Jews returning from Babylon back to their land of Judah; the region there of Jerusalem.  And God first spoke to them when they came back through the prophet Haggai, to have them focus their efforts on rebuilding the temple. But of course, the Samaritans in the region hated them and did everything they could to prevent that from happening. And so the Jewish people focused more on building their own homes than obeying the Lord and building the temple. Plus, they also struggled with the reality that they still felt like slaves. They weren't really free in their own land. They were still under the rule of Darius, the ruler of the Medo Persian Empire. So these people were discouraged. They were distracted. They were apathetic towards God in many ways, and their worship became mechanical, became external, superficial, not from the heart. And as a result of all of that, God chastened them; and as we see in this passage and other passages, he brought about drought, and there were poor crops, and the wages were pathetic. There was economic depression, strained relationships, divisiveness among the people. They treated each other with evil intentions. They spoke falsehoods. There was just no integrity, and their judicial system was rotten. Amen?  In fact, Haggai spoke of this in chapter one, beginning in verse two, as he reminds the people of what the Lord speaks to them. There he says,

"'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "This people says, 'The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.'"'

Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in Your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?'

Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Consider your ways!

'You have sown much but little harvest; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.'

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Consider your ways!

"'Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified.'says the Lord.

"'You look for much, but behold it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?' declares the LORD of hosts, 'Because of My house, which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.

"'Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.

"'I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle and on all the labor of your hands.'"

So there you get a sense of what was going on. Oh dear friends, by practical application, may I say to you, my what we forfeit when we disregard the word of the Lord and do our own thing.

So Zechariah then comes on the scene. Again, this by way of context, so you understand what our current text is going to be speaking about. God brings Zechariah on the scene, and he gives him those eight dramatic visions in one night. And the purpose of those visions was to reassure the beleaguered, discouraged exiles, that God had not forgotten them, that he was still going to be faithful to his covenant promises; that there would still one day be future blessings in his kingdom. And those eight visions provide just a panoramic unfolding of events all across history that will occur, not only at the first but especially the second coming of Christ and the consequent millennial restoration of the nation of Israel.

And then, when we came to chapter seven, two years had elapsed since those apocalyptic visions, and much of the walls of Jerusalem were still rubble, as was much of the city in ruins; but private homes were beginning to spring up; and the temple was about half built, the edifice was beginning to take shape so the people could see it. In fact, Ezra tells us in chapter six and verse 15 that the temple project would be completed within another two years and three months. And so the people begin to see a little bit of prosperity occurring here, by God's grace; and they're wondering, well, is the season of mourning over - all these fasts and all these rituals that we've been doing to somehow get God's attention? Maybe, maybe it's time to not do those anymore.

And you will recall that they sent a delegation from Bethel to Jerusalem to speak with the priests and the prophets of Jerusalem. And at that point, God gave them an answer through Zechariah. And basically, at that point, what God did was condemn them for their hypocritical, superficial ritualism, for their counterfeit worship, and he called them to repentance and righteousness.

And then when we came to chapter eight, the first eight verses, the last time I was with you, God provides another panoramic view of the promises to come of Israel's restoration to millennial blessing, to encourage them. He speaks of his protective passion for Israel, his promised presence with Israel, his pervasive peace for Israel, his perfecting plan for Israel; and how profoundly encouraging it would have been for those people to hear these things amidst all of their confusion and frustration and depression and all of the battling that's going on with the Samaritans; to hear that he is going to one day lavish upon them blessing upon blessing, when he reigns in the kingdom, when, by his sovereign grace and by his power, he transforms and restores them as a national entity in the final period of consummating history in the millennial age.

And that brings us to our text now this morning, verses nine through 17. And here what he's doing is practically applying the prophecies that he has given to them, and he's applying them to their current situation; but also, he is using the certain fulfillment of those prophecies, and the ones that will be yet future, and he's doing this so that they can be encouraged to persevere in their present situation. Thus the title that I've given you, "Prophetic Certainties: the Fuel of Perseverance."

Now, before we look more closely at the text, let me remind you of what perseverance means. I think we all have a sense of that. We tend to use that word from time to time in our vocabulary, but it signifies just a steadfast endurance in the face of adversity. The term speaks of the ability to persist, especially as Christians; and to do so with faithful obedience, amidst trials, amidst disappointments, confident that God is actively working in our life, confident that he is accomplishing something that we may not even see, and we may never see, until glory. And I challenge you to pay close attention to this - this section of Scripture - because I believe we are going to have to persevere in ways in our country, in ways that we've probably never even dreamed given all that's going on, because I believe trouble is coming in ways we've never seen before.

Just as a footnote, I'm so thankful that that God has allowed a man like Donald Trump and his administration to come on the scene. Dear friends, he cannot heal this nation. The Neo-Marxist woke wound is too great. It's too powerful. He's not a cure. He's a tourniquet. He's merely slowing down the bleeding and the satanic, woke forces of evil in this country, combined with so many predators in pulpits, are together gaining such power, such momentum; and eventually, I believe their power will cause this nation to bleed out, and this is all part of the wrath of divine abandonment that we read about in Romans, one for example. And when, not if, this happens, we are going to experience persecution and sufferings the likes of which we have never seen before. I mean, can you imagine AOC or Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg, whatever his name is. Can you imagine those people being president? I mean, it's horrifying, when you think about it, it is literally horrifying; and yet it's a very real possibility.

So we must be prepared and forget about all of the political exigencies, all of the problems associated with that. I mean, just think of the reality of living in a fallen world. I mean, we all struggle with our own flesh. We all struggle with disease, right? We all struggle with difficulties, all manner of things. And you want to ask yourself, before we look closely here, how do I respond to trials when they come my way, when I'm weary, when I'm lonely, when I'm discouraged, when I'm being persecuted for my faith, when I'm grieving, when my body is failing me... do I just face these things with a stiff upper lip, just kind of grin and bear it? Or do I get angry and shake my fist at God in some ways? Or do I compromise? Do I anesthetize? Do I try to escape reality through entertainment? Do I just try to pursue pleasure? Or do I persevere with joy, knowing God is at work in and through me for his good purposes, and I relax in that.

You're all familiar with James, chapter one and verse two. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Beloved. is this your testimony? Or is this foreign to you? Or another passage Romans five, the end of verse two, we read, "We exalt in hope of the glory of God." And by the way, he's been talking about the blessings, the benefits of justification. "We exalt in hope of the glory of God." And then he goes on to say, "We also exult in our tribulations." By the way, theterm exult in the original language means to show off verbally, an interesting concept. In other words, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and we even rejoice in our tribulations. It carries the idea, in this context, that I rejoice Lord - not because of the pain that I'm experiencing, and the sorrow and the hurt, the confusion - but Lord, I'm thankful that you consider me worthy to somehow suffer for your sake and to give you an opportunity through me, through the way I handle these things, to put your glory on display. And in the midst of all of that, for you to use these difficult situations to conform me, ever more, into the image of Christ and to enjoy the fullness of what it means to be in him.

So he says, "We exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulations brings about perseverance." The term in the original language means steadfast endurance. That's what tribulation does. It brings about steadfast endurance... "and perseverance, proven character and proven character, hope and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." And there in verse five, when he says that "hope does not disappoint," he's referring to "the" hope; the special one of a kind hope, that is the hope of the glory of God that he was talking about in verse two; when, as promised, every justified believer will one day enjoy an unrestricted personal fellowship with the living God.

Moreover, we will have a personal transformation into the glory of Christ. So that kind of hope does not disappoint. And how can a Christian have that hope, he says, "because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." In other words, God has lavishly inundated every single believer with a conscious awareness of his love for us. One that is so powerful that it permeates our heart, through the power of the indwelling Spirit; and by his power, we are able to fully perceive all that God has done for us and to experience, in some measure, this side of glory his love for us - a transcendent love, a saving love, a permanent love. And this is why we also exult in our tribulations. Now again, I would ask you, does this describe you, or is this foreign to you?

Well, in today's text, we see four principles that God gave to the Israelites, and by extension, to each of us; four principles that are crucial in helping us persevere, so that we not only exult in the hope of the glory of God, but we can even exult in our tribulations. And here, the Lord instructs them to do four things. I've given you four categories that I hope will be helpful to you, He's instructing them to persevere in obedient faith, to persevere in celebratory grace, to persevere in confident assurance and to persevere in unwavering integrity. And I hope this will be an encourage to you, because these truths that were given to these ancient people, are in many ways the same truths that we must hear. In fact, in every way they should be, even though the circumstances that they experienced were different, the ultimate pain and the principles are the same for us. So let's look at these closely.

First of all, I want you to see how he's asking them to persevere in obedient faith. Verse nine, "'Thus says the LORD of hosts. "Let your hands be strong..."'" It could be translated, be of good courage. In other words, I want you to be strong here. Roll up your sleeves. Get back to work, complete the work of the temple that you started two years earlier. Persevere. Do what I've asked you to do. "'"Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets,"'" referring to Haggai and Zechariah, "'"those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built,"'" and here's why, "'"For behold,"'" verse 10, "'" before those days, there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out of or came in, there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men against another."'" And here he's contrasting the previous years of discouragement when he chastened them because of their disobedience, when they selfishly spent their time and treasure on themselves rather than obeying the Lord and rebuilding the temple. And o, the sorrows, dear friends, the sorrows of misplaced priorities. They experienced internal strife, external attacks from the Samaritans, unemployment, poor pay, no safety, unfair trade practices. We look in other passages, and we'll see they had unscrupulous Jewish overlords and injustice in the judicial system; they started practicing phony religion, so they forfeited divine blessing.

But now, given all of the eschatological promises that are going to come to fruition, especially in the millennial age, those things detailed in the eight night visions, blessings that would even begin now as a foretaste of coming glory and blessing - he's asking them, given all of that - I want you to persevere in obedient faith. I want your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to the words from the mouth of the prophets.

By the way, unlike those who disregarded the word and the will of the Lord in the past, who disregarded the prophets who spoke..."those who spoke in the day that the foundations of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid to the end that the temple might be built." Now think about this, how easy it is for all of us to live our lives as if God doesn't exist. That was the danger for them. Oh, they got caught up in their religiosity, but they really didn't...many of them really didn't love the Lord. Think how easy it is to live your life with no thought of what God would have you do on a day-to-day basis; no real desire to know who he is, to honor Him, to feed upon his word; to basically live as a practical atheist, even though you profess Christ. What a tragedy. No thought of honoring him, no excitement about anticipating that day when you will see him face to face in glory, no real love, no longing for the Kingdom.

I might add that the Holy Spirit expands upon this very concept of persevering in obedient faith, in Colossians three. Let me take you there for just a moment. Colossians three, beginning in verse one, he says, "...if ," or it could be translated "since,"

"...you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

"When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

In other words, set your mind on these things.

"Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

“For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,

“and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

"But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abuse of speech from your mouth.

"Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,

“and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him."

Oh Child of God, this is the fuel of perseverance, and without this attitude, you will never be able to persevere in joy and in faith and in obedience when difficulties come your way, you just won't be able to do it. You will never be able to let your hands be strong in service to the Lord. You will never be able to prevail over your enemies because you're not listening to the words from the mouth of the prophet, shall we say.

Over about 40 years of ministry now, I have counseled probably well over 1000 people, and routinely I encounter people whose lives it's just an absolute train wreck. It's like, how could you possibly have made so many poor choices? And maybe some of you are there. I've been there in a lot of areas. I mean, we all have, but some people, Oh, my goodness, bad choice after bad choice. And you, you have to say, my well, you know, what were you thinking? Some of these people were deceived by false teachers and parents or whoever but, and others were self-deceived. Some are ignorant. Many are just self-centered, rebellious, and some people, frankly, are just stupid, and you just have to deal with that. But I will often ask them, "when you were going through this, did you know what God would have you do? Or did you not know? Or did you know, but you really decided to do just your own thing?" And you know what the typical answer is? The typical answer is something like this..."you know, I never really thought about it at the time. I just kind of did...I never really thought, you know, well, let me, let me pause here...maybe I need to talk...what would God have me do given this situation?" But you just kind of go on and do your thing. Now, why is that? Why do so many people fall into that? Why have I fallen into that trap? Why do you fall into that trap and therefore do not persevere in the Lord, in faith and obedience? It because we're not seeking the things above. That makes sense? We're not seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We're not seeking that. That's not a priority in our thought life. We're not setting our mind on the things above, but rather on the things that are on the earth. And we have forgotten that we have died, and our life is hidden in Christ in God. We have forgotten that when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, that we're also going to be revealed with him in glory. Those types of things just somehow are for church on Sunday morning, rather than a part of who we are as a people. Oh, dear Christian, discipline yourself, commit yourself, dedicate yourself to persevere in obedient faith. Let these great truths permeate every fiber of your body. Proverbs, three, verse five, you all know it. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

So first, he's asking them to persevere in obedient faith. Let your hands be strong. Obey me. Finish building the temple. And then secondly, he wants them to persevere in what I would call, celebratory grace. Notice verse 11, "'"But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days," declared the LORD of hosts. "For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all things."'" Now, folks, is this not grace? In light ofall that they have done, despite all of their disobedience, he's not only going to begin to bless them now, but the blessing is going to ultimately come to complete fruition at the end of the age. It's an amazing thing, right? You know, there's not a single person within the sound of my voice who is not a debtor to God's grace. Do you realize that even non-believers are a debtor to God's grace, his common grace; his kindness that's extended to all people through God's general providence. I mean, even non-believers enjoy the sun, they enjoy the rain, and on and on it goes.

But folks, please hear me, no matter how bad the trial, no matter how severe the storm, no matter how discouraging the path, no matter how dark the cloud, the light of God's grace is all around you, if you will but look for it. It's there. You can find things that God is up to, that you do not deserve, that he has given you simply because of his great love for you. So again, he extends his grace to these post-exilic people. But now, in the Hebrew, the emphatic word order indicates that a drastic change is about to take place. "'"But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days," declares the LORD of hosts. "For there will be peace for the seed."'" It's a kind of an awkward phrase; grammatically in the original language. It carries the idea that there is going to be a time for sowing that will be characterized by peace. I mean, you think about this - prior to this, because of war, most of the time the crop, crops didn't even get planted much less cared for, because of all the demands of the military missions. But now the time for sowing will be characterized by peace. Verse 12 goes on to say, "'the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew, and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit...'" literally, to take possession of, "'all these things.'"

I'm going to elaborate more on this in a moment. But previously, we know, according to, for example, Haggai, chapter two, verse 19, it says, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree yielded no fruit. Ah, but look at the contrast, but now, because of God's grace alone, the vine will yield its fruit. The land will yield its produce. Oh, dear child of God, never, ever take for granted the grace of God in your life, even when times are hard. He's always there. He's always aware, he's always active. He's always up to something in your life. He's working a plan for your good and for his glory. And this is really the heart, for example, of Philippians two, verse 12, where we read, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," why? "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  And then he adds this, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." My that is grace and action. No matter how severe the trial, beloved, you must know with certainty that God is up to something in your life to conform you to the image of Christ and bless you in ways that you cannot imagine, even though you may not experience the fullness of that blessing until you get to heaven. But it is coming because we serve a sovereign God, not a contingent God.

And I must add that we should never disregard the content and the goal of God's grace in our life; the instruction that grace produces in our life. Whenever I sign my name, if I'm autographing a book or whatever it is, I I typically put Titus 2:11, through 14 at the bottom of my name. And it speaks to this very issue. It says,

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

Then he says,

"...instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, and righteously and godly in the present age,

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

Dear friends, this is what grace is all about. He lavishes it upon us, even in the midst of our the most severe trial; but because of that grace, it produces within us a love to do these things that we have just read.

So back to Zechariah, eight, verses, 11 and 12. For these people to know what they deserve, yet to see now what they are going to receive, was the fuel that they needed to persevere. This fueled their resolve to persevere. So he's telling them to persevere in obedient faith and celebratory grace, but thirdly, in confident assurance. Notice what he says in verse 13, "'"It will come about."'" Let me stop there. It doesn't say it may come about. It doesn't say it might come about, hopefully, probably....no, no, no, "'"...it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing."'" Notice the personal intervention here of God himself. This is what I am going to do. And will you also notice that both Judah and Israel are mentioned here, and both certainly were represented in the return from the Babylonian exile; and both will be represented as one nation in the final regathering to their land at the end of the age in preparation for kingdom blessing, and we're already beginning to see much of that happening in Israel.

Moreover, I want you to notice back to verse 12. At the end, he says, "'"I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things."'" Again, the term "inherit" means to take possession. And what's interesting, if you look for the word inherit in Scripture, you'll find that the overwhelming use of the term inherent predominantly refers to Israel inheriting their land consistent with God's Kingdom promises at the end of human history. For example, in Exodus 32 beginning in verse 13, "remember Abraham Isaac and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and all this land of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.'" Isaiah, chapter 14, beginning in verse one,

"The Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors."

So my point here, and there's many other passages I can take you to regarding this whole issue of the Israelites inheriting their land consistent with God's covenant promises, but when God speaks through Zechariah here at the end of verse 12, saying, "'I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things,'" we must understand that his promise extends far beyond the temporal blessings of that day and extends into the promised blessings of the millennial age, described in, for example, in the eight visions. And his gracious provision of an abundant harvest in that day really served as a foretaste of the fullness of his grace when he reigns with them and lives in their midst, when all of us will be there in kingdom glory.

And this helps us understand verse 13 as well. There we read, "'It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel...'" By the way, letme pause there for a moment. This curse. What is this curse? Do you realize this was a curse that was a result of their apostasy, that was predicted all the way back in Deuteronomy, chapter 28? This is all part of God's sovereign plan. Deuteronomy 28 verses 15 through 62; and it even predicted their dispersion among the nations of the world in verses 63 through 6. Dr. Merrill Unger said this, quote, "The full reach of Zechariah's words extends to the sufferings and persecutions of this final diaspora sweeping the entire span of the Lo Ammi period. By the way, "Lo Ammi" in Hebrew means, "not my people"..."sweeping the entire span of" - the not my people period - "when their national election has been set aside (Romans 11, one through 12) and the Lord, through Jeremiah, declares, quote, "'I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them." (Jeremiah, 24 and verse nine.)

But then look at the promise here that we have in verse 13 of Zechariah, eight, "'"It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and House of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing."'" Dear friends, can't you see what consolation this would have been to those people in that day? Fuel to cause them to persevere in assurance. My mind, as I was meditating upon this in my study this last week, went to Ezekiel 37 where he expands upon these promises. Remember in the vision of the dry bones that will come to life and when Israel will acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Messiah; when there will no longer be any division between Israel and Judah, and when Christ reigns in their midst forever. For example, in verses 19 and following in Ezekiel 37 we read this,

"'"Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.

"'"The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

"'Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

"'"and I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

"'"They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any other transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God."'"

He goes on to say,

"'My servant David, will be king over them.'"

That's referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the greater son of David. And they will all have one shepherd.

"'And they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.

​

"'They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob, My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their son's sons, forever; and David, My servant, will be their prince forever.

"'I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.'"

Ah, yes, you can persevere in assurance, confident assurance. Back to Zechariah eight, verse 13, "'"It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and House of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong."'" Once again, persevere here in full assurance.

Verse 14, "'For thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoke Me to wrath," says the LORD of hosts, "and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!"'" I'm fascinated with that phrase in verse 14, where he speaks of how the fathers provoked him to wrath, and he says, "and I have not relented." John MacArthur says this in light of that phrase, "God did not fail to accomplish all He intended, nor did He reduce the intensity of what He foreordained. He carried out this full well. They had experienced God's judgment throughout their history. Their ancestors continually provoked God to wrath, eventually resulting in the calamity of exile. Everything God promised in the past, in terms of judgment for Israel's rebellion against Him, was fulfilled. Therefore, everything God ordained and promised for Israel's future in terms of salvation and blessing will also be fulfilled."

Again, back to verse 15, "'"...I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem, to the house of Judah. Do not fear!"'" Folks, what would have happened to them had God continued to unleash his wrath upon them in divine judgment? What would have been their faith if he had not granted them his grace? What would have been their fate if they had no hope? Where would any of us be, apart from grace, apart from hope? Oh, what a merciful Savior. He wanted them to persevere in obedient faith, celebratory grace, confident assurance, and finally, to persevere in unwavering integrity.

Verse 16, "'"These are the things which you should do..."'" When I read that passage, I can see my father and hear him speak to me, "Son, sit down, this is what I want you to do." And boy, when he spoke, I knew that was absolutely what I was going to do. There was no debate. This is what I was going to do because my father had spoken and because I loved him and I feared him, therefore I obeyed him. "'"These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another, judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate." declares the LORD.'" Beloved, please understand, a proper apprehension of God's grace will always animate our love for Him, and that will forcefully motivate us to godly living. We will want to obey Him out of desire, not out of duty.

And here, the Lord addresses four issues pertaining to character and conduct. It's interesting. You have two positive injunctions concerning truth and righteous judgment, two negative prohibitions concerning devising evil in one's heart and another deliberately lying while solemnly appealing to God as your witness, which evidently was common amongst them. Sohe says, first, "speak truthfully to one another." I mean, think how duplicity and deception destroys relationships and destroys empires. Think of all the lies that we have endured over the past. I don't know, even just few years in our country; lies that have just destroyed people. Now, many of them are being exposed.

Secondly, he wants them to render honest and just judicial decisions. Boy, we've seen that in our country too, haven't we? Where the judiciary has abused their power. We've seen it with lawfare. I mean, can you imagine what a wonderful country this would be if our politicians, if our judges, if our schoolteachers, if our preachers, if the media were to actually tell the truth and manifest genuine integrity where their words would be fair and true? This is what God wanted with them.

And then he's got two negative prohibitions. He says, "don't devise evil in your heart." This literally means, don't secretly plot something wicked to do to another person, all right? And then finally, "do not love perjury." And this has the idea of deliberately lying while appealing to God as your witness, as if somehow, he knows that you're telling the truth and he affirms what you're saying, when all along it is a lie. No wonder he says, "'for all these are what I hate,' declares the Lord."

So bottom line, dear friends, don't expect blessings in your life if you love what God hates and you hate what God loves; that's what he was telling them, that's what he's telling us. And we must all examine our lives under the penetrating light of God's righteous standard that we see here. And if your spiritual life is a dumpster fire, I can guarantee you that you're living in violation of these standards, in violation of all that has been said here from this pulpit this morning, and God's just not going to bless that. Especially as a believer, you will forfeit divine blessing in your life, and you will live under a cloud of divine chastening. But my, what encouragement these words were to those discouraged people.

So in closing, dear, precious church family, especially those of you that are hurting, if you're staggering under the weight of some heavy burden; if your heart is breaking by some great storm of suffering, I would just challenge you to persevere in obedient faith. Let your hands be strong. Keep honoring the Lord in your service to him, and by his strength, you will prevail over whatever is happening, and you will enjoy that soul-satisfying presence of Christ in your life.

And secondly, persevere in celebratory grace. His goodness abounds even in the midst of the most horrible situation. His grace is all around you, and it waits full consummation; it is coming. He's always there. He's always aware. He's always active. He's always doing something in your life for your good and for his glory.

And finally, persevere in confident assurance, because his promises are sure, his love is eternal, and he is going to come and take you unto himself. Lamentations three, verse 22, "The Lord's loving kindness is indeed..." what? "...they never cease." They never cease. They're always there, "...for his compassions never fail, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him." To the person who seeks him.

And then finally, persevere in unwavering integrity. I mean, what a mockery it would be for us to ask for help in time of need, when we ignore his word and reject his will; which I might add, is a certain indication that you have no appreciation of God's grace and his love for you; nor do you have an understanding of the person and the work of Christ. And therefore, you will forfeit spiritual blessing and spiritual empowerment to do his will. When these four heart attitudes are firmly anchored in your soul, you will persevere with joy for the glory of Christ, and you will be able to exult in the hope of the glory of God and even exult in your tribulations. I trust this is the heartfelt cry of your heart. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for your word that is so powerful, it certainly cuts to the very core of each one of us. And I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will cause your word to bring healing, bring comfort, bring conviction, Lord, whatever, and we trust you to that end, and we pray that our lives might manifest the glory of Christ come what may. And Father, for those that do not know you, I pray that you will bring such conviction to their heart that they will be utterly miserable until they bow the knee to Christ, until they acknowledge their sin and humbly cry out for a mercy they do not deserve, and experience the miracle of the new birth to be saved by grace, alone, through faith, alone, in Christ, alone, and it's in his name that I pray. Amen.