Zechariah chapter 9. The title of the message is,
The Word, the Purpose, and the Salvation of the Lord. The Word, the Purpose, and the
Salvation of the Lord. In this chapter of Zechariah,
we definitely have all three of these, and if I had an outline,
this would be it. I would give it to you at the
onset. Sometimes it's very difficult to see my outlines when I'm going
through it, but I give it to you just so you can have it for
your later study. First of all, I'd want us to
see the Word of God, the importance of the Word of God. Second of
all, the purpose of God in calling or electing and calling His people. And third, the Savior and salvation
of the elect. So we see this in the very beginning
of the chapter, the burden of the Word of the Lord. The burden
of the Word of the Lord. The prophet, by this, gives his
authority for speaking. He gives His whole purpose for
speaking and writing this prophecy, the burden of the Word of the
Lord. This is not the opinion of the
prophet, for without the Word of God, His Word is as meaningless
as anyone else's. People often ask my opinion. Well, really, my opinion don't
matter, and neither does yours. The only thing that matters is
this, the Word of the Lord. This is the authority. Not His
dreams, not Himself, not His visions, but God's Word. And you know, this was a very
dangerous thing in the days of the prophets to declare this. If a prophet came and declared,
I have a Word from God, If His Word did not come true, if it
was not fulfilled, the Scripture says they were to take that man
out of the city and stone him to death. It was a serious offense
for a man to say he had the Word from God. In Jeremiah chapter 23, the Lord
says, I am against them who steal My Word. You know, men take the
Word of God and they take part of the Word of God and then they
apply it to their own wisdom, their own knowledge, their own
creeds, their own doctrines. God says, I am against them. Jeremiah 23 says, that word of
those false prophets shall not profit my people at all. How many preachers, so-called
preachers, would be laying dead today if that were the case,
if they were under the law? How many men standing in the
stead of God would be dead in our day, had they been in the
same time as this prophet? Many have come in the name of
Christ even, saying they have a message. But what is their
message? I've had a dream. That's their message. Their message
is Dr. So-and-so said this. The message
of false prophets say, well, the traditions of the fathers
say this. Well, our church creed says this. You see, none of these false
prophets will prosper God's people at all. Therefore, every prophet
in the Scripture, as well as every gospel preacher today,
must have this. In order for their word to be
valid, in order for them to have any authority at all, they must
have, thus saith the Lord, That's the authority. Thus saith the
Lord. The Word of God is the authority
by which we preach. Let false preachers tell their
dreams. Let false priests trust in their
traditions. Let the self-righteous work mongers
and free willers preach salvation by the works and will of man
as much as they want. But we must preach the Word of
God. We must preach the Word of God.
This is the burden of every man called of God. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Paul said this
to Timothy, I charge you in the sight of God, I charge you, preach
the Word. Nothing but the Word of God is
sufficient. to save the souls of men. Preach
it when, Paul? In season and out of season. When it's popular and when it's
not. When men will hear it and when
men won't hear it. Preach it. Reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering. What is our authority to reprove,
rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering? It is the Word of God. Not my
word, the Word of God. And it is this Word that God
uses to speak to His people. It is this Word, the Word of
God. Paul was very clear. In Galatians
chapter 1, he said, We? Or an angel from heaven? We know
that's not going to happen, but he made it such a stretch of
the imagination. He says, even if it were so,
if an angel were to come down from heaven, shining in all his
glory, and preach to you another gospel, let them be accursed. How plain and simple are those
words? There is not many Gospels. There
are not many words of God. There's one Word, one Gospel. And we preach that. Preachers
of the Gospel are not sent to strive or to debate with men,
but simply to declare the Word of God. I tell you this, yes,
when you have people that are opposing the Word of God, you
may defend it. You should defend the Word of
God. Defend it. We defend the Word. Yes, we are sent to persuade
men. But how is this defense and persuasion
to come? Not by giving another platform
to a false prophet of equal statute. What they do when they debate,
you know what they do? They take a false gospel and a false prophet
and elevate him to be equal with the same man preaching the Word.
We don't do that. We give them not an hour, not
a minute of our time. We declare the Word of God. Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherd. We preach the gospel of Christ
unopposed. You know the Word of God is unopposed?
It's just not opposed. Preachers of the gospel, we're
not sent to strive, we're here to preach, declare. For what
are the dreams and traditions of man compared to the Word of
God? You know what God said they are? He said they're like chaff
to the wind. He said they're like a shrub
to the fire. They're like a broken rock to
a hammer. Their word is nothing. Behold,
all flesh is grass, and the glory of man is as a flower of grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth away, but the word of
God endureth how long? Forever. Forever. And this Word, Peter
said, this Word of God, which by the gospel is preached unto
you. Believer, we preach the Word
of God, and this is our authority. Therefore, no matter where in
the book we go and find our text, this will be our topic. Jesus
Christ and Him Crucified. This will be the sum and subject
of our message from top to bottom, inside and out. I determine not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Him crucified. Jesus said this,
beginning in Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them
in all the Scriptures things concerning what? Himself. What is the Word of God? It is
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. In John 5, 39, Jesus said, Search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
They thought they had eternal life by their obedience to the
scriptures. They thought they had eternal life by their merit
of obedience to the law of God. But they are they that testify
of me." The Word of God. It's Jesus Christ and Him alone. Therefore, this morning, I have
purposed to declare to you the gospel. And so in doing so, by
looking at this burden of the word of the Lord, look at this
in verse 1, the burden of the word of the Lord and the land
of Hadrach and Damascus shall be the rest thereof, when the
eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be turned to
the Lord. Now, beginning in verses 1 through
8, what we're going to see is the Word of the Lord concerning
God's purpose of saving His elect people, even the Gentile nations. God had purposed that the Gentiles
should be brought in to the fold, His elect people. This is not only the natural
seed of Abraham, but also the Gentiles by nature. And look
at this. This word, Hedrach, that's the name, I believe, given. They
vary on exactly who this is, but it's a heathen god or heathen
nation near Syria and Damascus. These were heathen nations, heathen
people. And listen, the Word of the Lord
shall be the rest of these heathen nations. They shall find rest
in the Word of God. The eyes of man shall turn to
the Lord as all the tribes of Israel have done. In other words,
God is declaring His calling of the Gentiles as well as the
Jews. They shall rest in the Word of
the Lord. And in verse 4, He tells us about
this destruction that's going to take place. He said, Behold,
the Lord will cast her out, and He will smite her power in the
sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. This, friends, is
a picture of the destruction of the enemy of man's soul. You read that book, The Holy
War, man's soul. There was Emmanuel the king and
Diabolus had taken Mansoul and Emmanuel was to deliver Mansoul
from the enemies. And that's an allegory of what
Christ has come to do. Christ has come to take the power
of Satan out to deliver man from death and hail in all his enemies. And when Christ came by His death,
He has broken down that middle wall of partition that separated
Jew and Gentile. He broke it down by His death. And so that the elect Gentiles
should be brought in even as this scripture promises. That they should be brought in
and rest in the same precious salvation that the Jews had. Now, before this, there were
Gentiles who were chosen and redeemed of God. Before the calling
in of the Gentiles, you remember there are many in Scripture,
aren't there? Ruth is one. Rahab the harlot is one. Naaman
the leper. You think of the woman, the widow
of Serapta, who Elijah came to. There were Gentiles at this time
scattered. But I tell you, there were not
many. For the most part, at this time, God saved those of the
nation of Israel. But God had promised that a day
was coming in which there would be no distinction of people. He said, there's going to come
a day when I'm going to call those people that were not a
people. I'm going to call those people
who are not called by My name, they shall be called by My name.
Who are they? That's us. Make no mistake, we're
Gentiles here. This is a prophecy concerning
us. Concerning us. We who are called and gathered
of God, all that are called and gathered to God are called the
remnant according to the election of free grace look in verse 7
look in verse 7 of your text after it says I'll cast out all
those and listen what he said I will take away his blood out
of his mouth and his abominations from between his teeth but he
that remaineth. You know what that word is? Remnant. Remnant. But the remnant, the
remnant, even he shall be for our God and shall be as a governor
in Judah and Ekron as a Jebusite. These nations mention It was
interesting to find out exactly where these nations were, these
people that he's mentioned. Hamath in verse 2, Zidon, Tyrus,
Damascus, Gaza. Does any of these names sound
familiar? These were the first nations God sent His gospel to. Antioch, that's where that's
at. Lystra, Tire, siding. Isn't this where the Word of
the Lord spread first? Here it is. Some hundreds of
years before it actually happened here, God promised, these nations
that knew not God shall be called of God and shall be for our God. These are the heathen cities
that he first came to. And notice what he says, I will
take away the blood out of their mouth. What does this mean? Well,
the heathen had such violent and horrific gods that they would
actually take their sacrifices, even human sacrifices, and drink
the blood. You know what the law of God
said about eating flesh with the blood? It was a sin. Yet
they did it in pursuit of their own righteousness before their
false gods. They drank the blood of their
victims. These Gentile pagans did that
which was against the law of God. Yet God's here purpose is, I'm
going to take that out of their mouth. I'm going to take the
taste of blood out of their mouth. They're not going to have a desire
for it anymore. I'm going to take their abominations
out of their mouth. You know what he said? I'm going
to give them a new heart. That's what he's saying. I'm
going to give them a new heart and I'm going to put my spirit
within them. Isn't this the covenant of grace?
to take away the taste of sin out of our mouth. Has He not
done that for you and me by the calling of us to Christ? He has
taken away the taste for sin. I tell you, He has not taken
away the allurement for sin, but I'll tell you what, sin does
not taste good to me. Now to the flesh, it is allured
and it is deceived. And as soon as I eat of the sin
of my flesh, what happens? It turns to ashes in my mouth.
That's what he, taking that taste away. That's what he promises
to do. And he that remaineth the remnant
according to the election of grace, these are the chosen saints
of God, those who are born again of the Holy Spirit, they shall
be as governors. Is that not what he promised
you and me? We shall be as kings and priests unto our God. We shall be as kings and priests
unto our God. Oh, see the greatness then of
God's sovereignty in this. See the greatness of His sovereignty
in this prophecy. God says, I'm God and there is
none like me. What distinguishes God from any
other God? Deity. Sovereignty. God says, I'm God
and there is no other God. How do you tell? Because I declared
the end from the beginning. From ancient times, the things
that were not yet done, saying, all my counsel shall stand and
I will do all my pleasure. Behold then the word of the Lord
that we preach to you. God is absolutely sovereign in
all things. This is the Word of God. We declare,
He has declared the end from the beginning, from eternity
past He has decreed all things, and there is nothing and no one
who can or will ever thwart or change the eternal decree of
God. What is the eternal decree of
God right here? He says, I will call the heathen.
That's what he said. I will take away the blood out
of their mouth and their abominations. And you know what? The remnant,
my remnant, shall be for me. My remnant shall be for me and
they shall be as kings and priests. This is the word of God's decree.
And nothing in the world could ever have changed it. Matter
of fact, can you not see that all of history has moved toward
that? Can you not see from the very beginning of Genesis, everything
had been moving toward the salvation of these vile, wicked sinners? You and me. Everything's been
moving that way. Like these Gentiles, which God
purposed to save. These are the elect. And listen
what he says about his elect. I will encamp about mine house
because of the army, because of him that passeth by, because
of him that returneth, and no oppressor shall pass through
them anymore. For now I have seen with mine
eyes. God here promises not only purposes
the salvation of these heathen Gentiles, but He says this, I'll
also protect them, and none shall come in on them. I'll tell you,
they'll be surrounded. Their armies will pass this way
and that way, but nobody's coming in on them. Nobody's going to
touch mine elect. Well, how will God do this? Now
we see God's Word. We see His purpose in calling
a people that were not His people. Heathen people, wicked people,
evil people. And He says, I will make them
My own. I will encamp about them. I will
protect them. They will be as kings and priests
unto Me. How can He do this? How will
He do this? How will He do this? How will
He make these pagan idolaters His own. How will He save them? These who were given to such
unclean and vile actions. Haters of God, cannibals, immoral,
violent people, haters of God and His people. Now, as the Jews heard this Word
of God, how do you suppose they reacted? The Word of the Lord
is, I will save the blood eaters. That's the word of the Lord.
That's the word of the Lord. If I'm not mistaken, this prophet
was killed by the people. I imagine why. He told them,
God's going to save sinners, and not just you Jews. And the
Jews heard this. They, being much like ourselves,
said, oh, that's impossible. There's no way for God to save
such savages. Surely, it would be more likely
for God to save somebody who's an Israelite, who had been around
the law of God and heard the law of God since they were kids.
Surely, it's easier for God to save someone that's been raised
in the church. How in the world is God going
to save those pagan heathen? That's not possible. and say there's no way to save
such savages, surely he's more likely to save those that have
heard the Word of God. God forbid that we should ever
think like this. We see someone who are drug dealers,
pedophiles, pagans, Satan worshipers, and say, surely it's impossible
for God to save them. Listen, not if He chose them.
You got that? If He chose them, He will save
them. I don't care where they're at.
I don't care what they've done. If they are God's, they will
come. He will bring them. Let us never have this self-righteous
mindset as though so to think that God will only save those
among us. It's not true. God has His people. We think that maybe the Sunday
school teacher, the moral person, the successful person, God's
more likely to save them. Pious and religious, good man. But what the Jews and we fail
to see is this. No matter the condition or state
of a man, salvation is impossible for man. No matter the condition of man,
if he's a moral man, a religious man, or a vile, wretched man,
both have zero chance of saving themselves. Neither one can save themselves.
Therefore, his morality and religious piety and knowledge has no more
power to save himself than any other man. Why? Salvations of
the Lord. That's why. Salvation's of the
Lord. So then all God purposed to save,
He will save. Scripture says, as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. You know who's gonna believe?
As many as were ordained to eternal life, they'll believe. They'll
believe. Therefore God, who has decreed
and purposed to save His people, God will save them all. Pagan, and Sunday school teacher. Pedophile and preacher. By the same salvation, even the
coming and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. He purposed to
save them, now then see, His salvation. Look at this. Go back
to your text. Here's how He's going to save
these blood-eating pagans. Verse 9, Rejoice greatly O daughter
of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh
unto thee. Thy King. How will He save them? By a Savior. That's how. By a Savior. Thy King cometh unto thee. Here
the people of Judah at this time were captives. They had no king. They were no nation. They thought
it was impossible for them to ever regain any status as a nation
ever again. They were annihilated. It seemed
very hopeless for them to ever return to Jerusalem, much less
have a king. But I'll tell you, that did happen
physically in some way. Zerubbabel, I believe, was the
only last governor. He really wasn't a king. Why?
Because after this, Shiloh would come. The king, the Messiah was
promised to come to be king. So this is not physical, but
spiritual. The Jews, like these chosen pagans,
were by nature desolate, barren, and dead in sins. You know, it's really my prayer
that God ever reveal this to us. A man is never closer to his
God than when he understands his depravity. God shows us that His people
run to Him and hold Him so tightly. How sin separated us from our
God, how we by nature were blind to the glory of God, ignorant
to the salvation of God. Isn't this evidenced by our going
about to establish our own righteousness? You want to know if a man's ignorant
of the gospel? If he's trying to establish his own righteousness,
he's ignorant of the gospel. He's blind and he's dead. I tell
you what, I was blind and dead. I sought God by my own devices. We all did by nature. By nature,
though outwardly moral and religious, yet our hearts were as vile and
corrupt as any pagan. Romans 3 tells us that. There's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. There altogether become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. But herein, sinners may rejoice,
because God, purposed to save, has also purposed a Savior. I'll tell you that. You know
who that's good news to? Someone who needs saving. Someone who needs saving, that's
good news. If you don't need saving, a Savior
is never enticing to you, never even enters your mind. But God
has purposed to save His people by a Savior. Purpose of election. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. But how should He save Jacob?
Only by a Savior. And therefore, this call of joy
is not for everyone, but only for Zion and Jerusalem, the church,
the elect. And what is the sum and substance
and cause of our joy? Thy King cometh. Thy King cometh,
which is Jesus, the Son of God. In Psalm chapter 2, God reveals
the hatred of man, He says, against the Lord and against His anointed.
That's what we have by nature. We were against God and Christ.
But you know what? The scripture says, God shall
laugh and have them in derision. Why? I have set my king. You get that? He's already set
his king. They're defying something that
God has already decreed. God has already purposed and
none can move it. He said, I have set my king on
my holy hill. which is Christ. He said, Thou
art my Son. This day have I begotten Thee.
This is the King God has anointed, the eternal Son of God. And He's
anointed Him over all the elect of His people. In that same chapter of Psalm
2, verse 8, it says, The Father declares the inheritance of His
Son. He said, The heathen are Thine
inheritance. You get that? The inheritance
of this king are heathen people, wicked people, sinners, depraved
sinners, and the uttermost part of the earth. That's his inheritance,
and you know what he's going to do with the rest? He shall
dash them to pieces with a rod of iron. Behold, thy King cometh. And
what does he bring? Look at your text. He said, Behold,
thy King cometh, and He is just and having salvation. I don't know if you noticed that,
but those two things are opposed to one another. Justice and mercy. You brought a guilty man into
a courtroom, and he sat him before a judge, and the judge had compassion?
And the judge let him go. Would the judge be just? No.
The judge would be a criminal. You see, these two things are
opposed to one another. Justice and mercy. This prophecy declares the coming
of Christ who is holy and just. And surely we who know Jesus,
when He came, God had given him all power and judgment. You're not seeing to the hands
of this king, God has given all judgment. He said in John 5, he said, all
judgment is given to me of my father. In John 17, he says,
thou hast given me power over all flesh. But do you not see the difficulty
then of the king in whose hands is both justice and mercy? Remember, Jesus was often confronted
about this by the Jews. Take, for instance, the woman
caught in the very act of adultery. Was he not confronted with mercy
and justice here? The woman was guilty. The woman
was caught. The law said she should die. That's justice. And so they brought
her before Christ and said, what will you do? They'd heard him
talk of mercy and grace and forgiveness. And now then they said, well,
if you're going to forgive, how are you going to do it? How are
you going to be just and forgive this woman? You remember what
he said? He said, He that is without sin
among you, let him cast the first stone.
Well, you know they all had to turn away because they knew they
were as guilty as she was. They were as guilty as she was.
Who was the only one who could cast the stone? He was the Son
of God. Only He could cast the stone.
But instead of casting the stone, he said to the woman, neither
do I condemn thee. How could he do that? I'll tell
you how, look at your text. He bringing salvation and being
just, how can he do it? Coming lowly and riding upon
an ass. upon the colt, the foal of an
ass." How could He do it? Because He Himself took humanity
to Himself. He who is God, very God, became
man, very man. He came into this world to be
a representative man for all those heathens He chose, all
of His elect people. He represented them before God. He obeyed the law of God as He
was subject to the law of God. As a man, he became subject to
the law. And in direct obedience to God's
law and faith to God, he obtained the righteousness of God for
them. But not only this, he subjected himself to be punished for the
sins of his people. You see, justice must be satisfied,
and Christ knew that. The only way He could forgive
that adulterous woman is that He Himself received the blow
of the stone in her stead. Therefore, He came
lowly. He came willingly. He came willingly. I love that little song, How
Should a King Come. How should a king come? A child knows the
answer, of course, in a coach of gold on a pure white horse. He should come in the prime of
day and the crowd should shout and the crowds make way. That's
how a king should come. Everybody knows that's how it's
done. That's not how this king came. This king came lowly riding
on the Colt of Folom and asked why, so that he should suffer
in the stead of his people. He came into that city and this
prophecy was fulfilled, wasn't it? In John, I believe, chapter
12, it's fulfilled. He comes in, He's riding on that
colt, the foal of the ass, and what do they say? Hosanna! Blessed
is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. And what did He
do right after that? He cleansed the temple and He
died. That's what He did. Those two
things are what He did. He cleansed the temple. Isn't
that a show of what He did in His righteousness? He made us
righteous before God. And then He died as a sinner's
substitute. How can the heathen be accepted?
Because he was numbered among the transgressors. Because Christ
as our representative died on the tree. in our room and staid
and notice the result of his coming burst in I will cut off
the charity free him and the horse from Jerusalem and the
battle bow shall be cut off by nature we were at enmity against
God not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be we
were at war with God how absurd is that yet we were But God, by Christ,
hath made peace. He made peace. God said, I took
away the chariot. I took away the horse of my law
that was coming for you. The bow, the arrow of my justice
was aimed at your heart. But in grace, it was shot at
his son. Now then, justice satisfied.
Justice is satisfied. And what does he say? And he
shall speak peace. Unto who? The heathen. Isn't that what God purposed
to begin with? Isn't that the word of the Lord? to speak peace
unto the heathen. And His dominion shall be from
sea to sea, and from river to the ends of the earth. God hath
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, every
tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. And you know what's great? I
do that now. That's the difference between
a lost man and a saved man is this, faith in Christ alone. Surrender to Christ. Absolute
surrender. And as for thee also, by the
blood of the covenant I have set forth thy prisoners out of
the pit wherein there is no water. Who is the gospel to be preached
to? Jesus said that the Spirit of
God is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor. Not physically poor, spiritually
poor. To the blind. To the prisoner. to those who are bound by sin
and can't break free. That's who the gospel is for.
To the prisoner in the pit that has no water. You know why the scientists were
so excited when they thought they found a molecule of water
on Mars? Because if they found water,
they could find what? Life. Ain't no life up there. I tell
you, and there was no life in us until we heard the voice of
the Son of God calling. And he said, Prisoner, come out of the pit. Come to
me. If the Son of God shall set you
free, you shall be free in Well, those Pharisees say, well,
we're Abrahams. We don't have, we've never been
in bondage. Not talking to you. Not talking
to you. I'm talking to people who can't
free themselves. I'm talking to people who's got no life.
I'm talking to dead sinners. I'm talking to hopeless, worthless
heathens. Why? Because they that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And listen what
he says, turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. You know what he does to these
prisoners? He becomes our refuge. And now we are prisoners, not
hopeless, prisoners of hope. You know, his word doesn't mean
wish. means confidence. This is the Word of God. I've
purposed to save you heathens and take the blood of sin out
of your mouth. I will save you and camp about
you and none shall harm you. How? I've sent my King with salvation
and justice. he came lowly riding on the colt
of fold of an ass for what so that he should make peace by
the blood of his cross that he should call out his prisoners
from the pit that hath no water and bring them into a stronghold
a refuge even himself under penalty of death I've just preached to you the
Word of God. If I have not preached to you the Word of God, then
I should be as a false preacher. But I know I have preached the
Word of God to you because this is your own experience of grace. Everything I've told you, you
can completely identify with. Why? Because you're the heathens.
I'm the heathen. I was purposed and saved of God
through Jesus Christ. And you know what? I am kept.
Kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. And so are you. Rejoice. Rejoice in what? The Word of
God. Rejoice in it. This is our joy. This is our
comfort, even the Word of God. May God bless this to you.