Zechariah chapter 8. I want to
say it is just absolutely wonderful to be at the place where I get
to preach the Gospel every time I open this book. Every service
we have, we get to preach the Gospel. We pray that we're never
led to some other thing or idea. The Gospel is the only thing
that will comfort the sheep, and it is the only thing that
God uses to save the lost sheep. It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ
Jesus. And we find that so plainly taught
here in the book of Zechariah. Now, I was thinking earlier that
if what we find in the book of Zechariah is only the history
of Israel and only blessings to Israel, then I don't believe
that God would have intended for us to have it, because I
have no doubt there were other writings in the Old Testament
that we do not have. But because this book is in the
canon, because we have it in our Bible, there is spiritual
blessings here. We may not live in the day and
time that these things were written, and we may not ever see, except
in our figment of our own imagination, a temple being built, but we
can look into the scriptures and find that God is building
His temple, the church, And he is going to explain some things
here in this eighth chapter of the book of Zechariah. We've
already seen many things that he has taught us from the scriptures
here in the book of Zechariah chapter eight, but tonight is
just overwhelming. It just flooded my soul. I would
like to start with verse one of chapter eight and read down,
and we're gonna read down to verse 12, and we're gonna spend
our time in verse 12 tonight. But let's just read this together. Again, The word of the Lord of
hosts came to me saying, notice who's speaking and we want to
emphasize this. This is the God of heaven speaking.
This is the Lord of glory speaking. This is the God of our salvation.
This is the God that is the Savior. And it says, thus saith the Lord
of hosts. I was jealous for Zion. And we think about how interested
God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit is.
in his church how interested and how interested from eternity
past to this very moment he is jealous over it and he watches
over the the body of christ he watches over the church so carefully
and he also watches over all those that will be in the church
in time you know uh the completed church and it says it goes on
to tell us here I was jealous for her with great fury, so interested
I'd take care of her in any circumstance Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I am returned unto Zion. What a wonderful thought to realize
that God has returned unto Zion. Though we were cast out in the
fall, he returned to us in Christ. And he shares with us and will
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called
the city of truth and the mountain of the Lord of hosts and the
holy mountain. So we notice here, it is the truth is brought to
the church and it is the truth that the church upholds. and
preaches, and then he goes on to say, and thus saith the Lord
of hosts, there shall be yet old men and old women dwell in
the streets of Jerusalem. This is a statement about the
position that God's people have in the church, how we're at peace,
we're at peace with God, and we have brethren and brothers
and sisters in Christ that we have sweet fellowship with, and
we're at peace with them in the gospel. And then it says, and
every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets
of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof. How precious it is to have this
kind of peace in the church, and this kind of peace with the
Lord, this kind of peace with one another. Verse 6, And thus
saith the Lord of hosts, If it be marvellous in the eyes of
the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be
marvellous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts? Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east
country and from the west. I like what he says there, I'm
not going to try, but I will save my people. And wherever
they are, in whatever part of the world they are, in whatever
country they are, whatever language that they speak, i will come
to them i will save my people and he is about that business
this very day he's about the business of saving his people
now we find out that we have been saved and we are being saved
and we will be saved so he's continuing to do that for everybody
that He has purchased with his own blood, and he says there,
and then I will save. He's about the business of knowing
where they are. He's jealous over them. He protects
them. Not one of them will ever see
death until he saves them by his grace. And then I will bring
them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they
shall be my people." How important this is that we realize that
the Lord is the one that will bring us. He's the one that brings
us out of darkness. He's the one that brings us into
the kingdom. He's the one that watches over
us and carefully guides and directs us. He makes us both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. How precious it is what God does
for us, for we find out we're incapable of doing anything that
is required. We're incapable of doing anything
that is good. We're incapable of doing any
righteousness on our own. And then we find out, hallelujah,
He's already done it for us. We relish and delight in the
work and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. And
they shall be my people. What a thought just to think
that as we assemble ourselves together to be called the people
of God. as all the body of Christ wherever
they are throughout the world in the symbol at the feet of
the Lord Jesus spiritually speaking right now and then eventually
at his very feet how precious it is to be called and to be
known by God as his people that God would call us his people
that there's no barriers now that sin has been put away and
that we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
It is the blood of the covenant that has brought peace and that
we can settle. And then it says here, and they
shall be my people. Not only is he our God, but he
creates in us the mind that will say, he is my God. He is my one I worship. He is the one that I love. He
is the one that takes care of me. He is the one that watches
over me. He is the one that is the captain
of my salvation and he will see the work through. He is the author
and he is the finisher of our faith. He is in charge of all
these things and so he will do his work. And they shall be my
people and I'll be their God in truth and in righteousness.
God doesn't have to lie to us about anything to bring us to
Him. He teaches us and tells us the truth and that He is all
righteousness. He is all our righteousness and
He is all righteousness. So there's righteousness nowhere
else. We do not produce it. We do not
have it in ourselves by nature. It is the righteousness of Christ.
So, how God shares through the prophet Zechariah these great
and marvelous, and we'd call them New Testament truths, but
there was New Testament truth in the days of Zechariah. There
was New Testament truth in the days of Abel. There was New Testament
truth in the days of Moses. All through the Old Testament,
there is the New Testament truth that Christ is the Savior, and
that He is all righteousness, and we are incapable on our own
to do anything that would please God. We're dead in trespasses
and sin, and he's the one that walked by us in our blood and
says, I'll give you life. I'll raise you, and so he does
that. Then in verse nine, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, and I don't know how many times up to this
point we have been given that glorious name of Lord of hosts,
Lord of hosts. This is that Lord of the armies
of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say, what doest thou? He will perform all His work. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
let your hands be strong. Ye that hear in these days these
words by the mouth of the prophets. So last week we looked at that
and how important it is that God would give us hearing. We're
deaf to the things of God. We have uncircumcised ears unless
He would come along and open them up to give us the spiritual
ears to hear Him in the gospel to hear his glory and then it
says to hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets
so when we read in the old testament we're reminded of what the lord
jesus christ said moses spoke of me and so did the psalms and
so did samuel and so did joshua and so did all of the old testament
prophets As the book of Revelation shares with us that Jesus Christ
is the spirit of prophecy. He is what the prophets were
declaring throughout the Old Testament and by the mouth of
the prophets. These prophets spoke by the same
spirit as the apostles in the days of the Lord Jesus and afterwards. The same spirit that caused John
or Peter to write what they wrote and we have in our Bibles. is
the same spirit that gave these men of God these words, this
prophet, and they always agreed on this, that Jesus Christ is
the Savior. And they agreed on all of the
sweet truths of the gospel. They agreed on all the sweet
truths about righteousness. They agreed on the truth about
sin and the truth about man. They all agreed on this because
it was the same spirit that was directing all of them. And then
it says here, which were in the days that the foundation of the
house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be
built. Now, when I was reading a couple
of commentaries on this subject, immediately they went off onto
today and what's happening in the world and expectations about
what's going to happen and signs of what's going to happen. Well,
that's not what it's being talked about here. This is sharing with
us the glories of Christ, the glories of the Lord of Hosts,
the glories of the prophets that the Lord of Hosts moved in, and
the message that the Lord of Hosts moved in these folks, and
that is the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus,
where it tells us here that the temple, truly the temple, is
the church. Truly, we have a temple, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and everybody that He ever saves
is in Him, part of Him. We're in Christ. And then it
tells us in verse 10, for before these days there was no hire
for man, nor any hire for beast. There was no hope. There's just
no food. There's no water. There's nothing
in those days. And we find that the Lord caused
that. He said, the day you eat Adam, you shall surely die. And
when he ate, he not only died, but brought that death upon his
entire posterity. You and I, in our generation,
he brought that upon them. and then it tells us here in
verse 12 verse 11 but now i will do not be unto you but now i
will not be unto you the residue of the people as in former days
saith the lord of hosts now notice verse 12 this is where we want
to spend a little time tonight it's logically it just logically
broke up into a wonderful outline notice here it says for the seed
shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, and the
ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their
due, D-E-W, and I will cause the remnant of this people to
possess all these things." Now isn't that interesting? What
a wonderful passage of scripture that the Lord gave to us through
the Prophet Zechariah who was a preacher of righteousness just
like Noah is recorded. He's preaching the righteousness
of Christ And because of the righteousness of Christ, we have
all these spiritual blessings. We have every one of them. This
passage of scripture reminds me of that wonderful passage
of scripture over in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse
3. Would you join me over there
as we look at this wonderful verse of scripture? in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 3. Over here in Zechariah it says,
and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all
these things. They're going to enjoy this.
They're going to possess this. They're going to have this. Well,
we go over to the book of Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 and notice
here that these words, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Over there, Zechariah. The remnant
shall have all of these things. Over here in the book of Ephesians.
The remnant shall have all of these things. Shall have all
spiritual blessings. Now if you wonder what some of
those are, just go ahead and read the rest of Ephesians chapter
one. Because it goes on and tells
us, this is a fact about our salvation. That God would take
an interest in this before the world was ever created. as it
tells us here these are some of the spiritual blessings that
we have in all the spiritual blessings it says according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world he
has chosen us in him now we didn't choose him we couldn't vote we're
dead but he chose us and that makes all the difference in the
world that makes all the difference for us. That means that somewhere
along the line, this jealous God over his people is going
to bring them in acquaintance with the gospel. How glorious
is that? And he is going to bring those
people After they've been acquainted with the gospel, the Holy Spirit
is going to come and give them something they cannot produce
themselves, even in a physical sense we can't do it, but in
a spiritual sense it is an absolute impossibility, and that is spiritual
life, that is the new birth. We have this, according as it's
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and Can you imagine that, that a descendant of Adam could
be called holy? Well, that's God at his best. He is a holy God, and he gives
that holiness to his people. We have none of our own. and
without blame, to be without blame. God's people to be without
blame. How great is that? Just think
of the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ, that he has
taken care of all the issues that stood between us and God.
And then it goes on to tell him, having predestined us under the
adoption of children. My goodness, there's one thing
about adoption. Someone chose someone. And that's
what we find with regard to spiritual adoption. God chose a people
to be his children. Out of all people, he chose a
people to be his children. And in verse six, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. To be accepted in the beloved,
to be accepted in Christ. Oh, how precious is the scripture.
Now, we just don't have time to go on here in Ephesians chapter
one, but get your highlighter out and you go through there
and make it all pink or blue because it's all so wonderful.
But go back with me to the book of Zechariah if you would. The
book of Zechariah, there as we find the wonderful blessings
that are brought out. There's four things that are
mentioned there. And the last statement that was made was,
Zechariah 8, verse 12, the last phrase, it says there, and I
will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. Now, the word things is in italics. It was not in the original. It
was added by the translators for clarity, and in this place
it seems to be more clarity. He has possessed all these, everything. God has given us everything in
Christ Jesus. He has caused us to possess all
of these things. I will cause the remnant. There's
one thing about this. We have nothing to do with any
of the shells or the wills of God. is his will and he shall
do his will. The shall give means I will and
it will be done. God has said it shall it will
be done. God's blessings to the church.
So This first passage that we have here, the first phrase in
that verse 12, it says, for the seed shall be prosperous. The seed shall be prosperous.
Well, if you would, join me in the book of Isaiah chapter 55.
Now, we're going to read a passage over in the book of Luke here
in a moment, and it tells us in the parable of the sower,
the Lord tells his disciples, the seed is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. and here it tells us, to the
church, for the seed shall be prosperous. Now, the seed goes
out to all the world. We'll read that in just a moment.
But that seed is purposed to go out, and some of it's purposed
to fall on stony ground and thorny ground. But some of it's purposed
to fall on good soil. So we want to see here, the seed
shall be prosperous. In the book of Isaiah, chapter
55, Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah the
preacher of the gospel, Isaiah the preacher of righteousness
in Isaiah chapter 55 beginning with verse 9. Isaiah 55 and verse
9 has this to say to us and it's a glorious statement about the
Word of God. We are thankful for passages
of scripture in the Bible that share with us information just
like this because it is Very important to realize that when
God's Word goes out, it will be prosperous. It will accomplish. Notice with me here in verse
8 of Isaiah 55, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Now the
church at Jerusalem had to learn that with regard to Saul of Tarsus. The church at Jerusalem, they
had a strong opinion about Saul of Tarsus that was not positive. But you know what? God had a
purpose there, and he made sure that Stephen preached the gospel. And Stephen preached the gospel
to the Saul of Tarsus. Now, the Church of Jerusalem
may have been greatly against all of that, because at the same
time, Stephen is going to give his life. He's going to be a
martyr. Well, here, he says, for my thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my way,
saith the Lord. Now, it is exemplified when we
get to talking about people that are saved. God has a particular
people picked out to be saved. And most of them are just ornery
to the core. And they would just not be the
folks that you and I would pick out. Most people would have never
picked me out. Most people would never pick
someone else out. But here, God has picked out a people, and
he says here, far as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. Now, why didn't we stay in the
religion we were in? Why didn't I stay in some landmark
group? Some people stayed in the Catholic
group. Some people stayed in the nothing group. Some people
stayed here. Some people stayed... Why didn't
we stay there? Why didn't we just live out our
lives in that garbage? That pit. Why didn't we? As far as the heavens are above
the earth, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways. I have a purpose. By grace, I
have a purpose. And His grace really means grace. He will save people that actually
do not deserve it. They don't deserve this. There's
no merit in them. And then it goes on here and
says, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh
it bring forth the bud, that it may give seed to the sower,
and bread to the eater, God has a purpose in watering this earth,
and it will give its produce. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. Now you and I know that when
Zechariah preached He preached the message of the Lord of Hosts. It was not his message. It was
the message of the Lord of Hosts. It was the message of the Spirit.
So what he had to say was the message of God. It was the message
of the Lord of Hosts. It was the message of Jehovah.
It was the message of God Almighty. He went forth out of my mouth,
it shall, now notice this, notice this, it shall not return Unto
me void and you know after we're saved we say hallelujah I'm,
so glad that that word went out and didn't return to you void.
I'm, so glad that it was applicable to everyone that you had chosen
in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world they
Written their names down in the lamb's book of life and this
word would be prosperous to them It would be a word that would
not return void unto them. His word shall be prosperous. It shall accomplish. It will
bring peace and shall be prosperous, as it says here. But it shall
accomplish that which I please. Now, you and I, we all have folks,
loved ones, close loved ones, that don't know the grace of
God. But you know what it says here? It shall accomplish that
which I please. God is going to be pleased with
where he deposits this good seed in the world. He has people there
that he intends to save, and it's his people that he intends
to save. And it is, as it says there,
it will accomplish that which I place. It will be prosperous.
And it shall prosper in the thing whereinto I send it. Now you
and I are left out of the equation when it comes to where the seed
is going to go. We are the dispensers. We are the ministers of the seed,
the word of God, the gospel. We are that. But the rest of
it is out of our hands. All that we find in this passage
of scripture, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. So we have great hope
and blessings in this because God is in the charge of depositing
his word wherever he will and when it is in the proper place
at the proper time and runs into the proper person it will accomplish
his purpose and God shall grant life unto a person that is dead
in trespasses and sin. It shall be prosperous. Turn
back just a little bit there in the book of Isaiah chapter
45 Isaiah chapter 45, what a glorious statement we find through the
book of Isaiah. He points out the truth about
God. He points out the truth about natural man. He points
out the truth about the gospel. He points out the truth about
how people are saved. It is God that does the saving.
It is, and who hath believed our report? My goodness, if it
wasn't for the grace of God and his spirit, nobody would believe
that report. to whom the arm of the Lord is
revealed. That's what we find here in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 45 and verse 23. Notice this with me. Isaiah 45,
23, I have sworn by myself, since there's no greater, he swore
by himself. That's what it tells us in the
book of Hebrews. He is the priest who swore by himself. All the
rest of the priests, they had no, they didn't, there was no
swearing in ceremony. but with the Lord. It was. Here he says, in the book of
Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 23, I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness. Notice that. And shall not return
that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
This is his accomplished work. In righteousness he does this. He is the righteous judge. He's
the righteous savior. He's the righteous God. And here
we have how glorious is it when he does his righteous work and
it will not return unto him void. It shall prosper. This word will
prosper in the hands of the Lord. Now turn with me over to the
book of Luke. Let's go over there to that parable
of the sower. And Luke chapter 8, now it hasn't
been that long ago that Brother Mike was in this passage of scripture
and brought out such glorious truths that are here mentioned. But as we go back and look at
this, let's just read this verse 9 through 15. And especially
verse 11, we want to pay attention to that. chapter eight of the
book of luke and there in verse nine the scripture says and his
disciples ask him say now he has already given the parable
and his disciples alone ask him what might this parable be now
the lord jesus shares with us that it is for the for the children
to have the understanding about it the rest god never intended
for them to understand it They'll look at it from a physical standpoint,
just like they look at the history of the Jews and see nothing spiritual
there. Here we have, he said, unto you,
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Who's
he talking to? He's talking to his church. Unto you, it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Those mysteries
have been hidden. but they've been revealed to
his people down through time, and here he goes, but to others
in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they
might not understand. They're gonna see the physical,
they're gonna hear the physical, but they're not gonna go any
deeper than that. That's why so many people misinterpret this
parable, or misinterpret the scriptures, because they don't
have eyes to see and ears to hear. The spirit hasn't revealed
it to them, but once the spirit reveals it to a person, They're
going to see Christ in this. He goes on, now the parable is
this, the seed is the word of God. And it tells us, as in the
book of Zechariah, chapter 8 and verse 12, shall be prosperous. The word shall be prosperous. Those by the wayside are they
that hear, then cometh the devil, cometh an adversary, and taketh
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved." Now, they're not saved here. They on the rock, are they which
when they hear, receive the word with joy? These have no root,
which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
What happened to the 5,000 that were following the Lord Jesus
Christ? And he began to teach them the gospel. He began to
teach them about sovereign grace. He began to teach them God saves
his people from their sins. There's God that does it and
nothing else. 5,000 men, plus women and children, left him
in a day. And here he says, they fall away. They never were. They
never had tasted the sweet grace of God. And that which fell upon
the thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and
are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and
bring no fruit to perfection. They're just like the rest. They've
never been saved. They have the outward appearance. They're like those Pharisees
who go down to John the Baptist and say, we need to be baptized
by you. And he says, oh, generations of vipers, who hath warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Well, we may not say that, and
we may even baptize them. But time goes on, and they're
gone. But that on the good ground are
they, which in honest and good heart." Now, who gave them an
honest and a good heart? Where did that come from? They
certainly didn't create it in themselves. God had to work a
work of grace here. In an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. These are those where the word
is prosperous. These are those where the word
falls on good ground. Now, good ground has to be prepared.
God has to do a great deal of work. He'd already been at work
with the Ethiopian eunuch before that preacher got down there.
He'd already been there. He'd been visiting with that
guy. He had him open the right passage of scripture. He had
to bring up the right questions. But when he heard the gospel,
God gave him the new birth. And that changed everything. Well, as we hear this in the
scriptures there in the book of Zechariah, for the seed shall
be prosperous. God's word will be prosperous.
Wherever it has gone out, it will be prosperous. He's promised
this. And that's the only thing that will be. Our invitations,
our philosophies, our encouragements, All of that falls by the wayside
because it is the Lord that shall give the seed prosperity. It is the Lord that gives his
seed prosperousness. Now the next thing in that passage
of scripture tells us in the book of Zechariah chapter 8,
Zechariah chapter 8 verse 12, the next thing listed there,
and the vine shall give her fruit. Now it's interesting when we
look at this, that over in the book of John chapter 15, Jesus
said, I am the vine. The vine shall give her fruit. It is the vine that gives the
fruit. Now, turn with me over to the book of John chapter 15,
if you would, when we look at the union of Christ and the church
as declared in this parable. In John chapter 15, beginning
with verse one, We have these wonderful statements about the
Lord and about being the true vine. He is the vine. He's the
vine that gives us the fruit. As Zechariah was caused to write
over there in the book of Zechariah chapter eight, the vine shall
give her fruit. Well, this is a promise that
God in Christ Jesus is going to have fruit. that what he did
on the cross will be prosperous and will be fruitful. That he
has promised to give his life a ransom for many. They shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Well, here in the book of John
chapter 15, notice with me, John 15 verse 1, the scriptures share
with us this. I am the true vine, and my father
is the husband. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit. Now, just recently, Nathan and
Tim and I were out in the woods elk hunting. And you know, as
I looked up in those trees, some of those trees, due to the wind,
they've had some limbs break off and fall right in among the
rest of those limbs. Now, when you look at the first,
it looks like that they are alive. But then you look, they're not
connected. They can't have life. They're
in the process of dying. That's what's going to happen
to those limbs, because they're not attached to the tree. They're
not attached to the vine. And here it says, every branch
in me that beareth not fruit is taken away, and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purges it, or he purges it, that it
may bring forth more fruit. That's God's business with us.
Sometimes it might be COVID. Brother John was just sharing
there while he's laying in the hospital that he and the Lord
had some good visits. Would he have done that otherwise?
Well, we would say, yes, he would. Well, John may differ. That's
what brought him to that position. Now ye are clean to the word
which I have spoken. Abide in me, and I in you, as
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. Now notice here the last phrase, for without me ye
can do nothing. Underline that. Put an explanation
point there. Without me, ye can do nothing. Now if we are to the vine, as
Zachariah writes over here in the book of Zachariah chapter
8 and verse 12, it says, the vine shall give her fruit. Now
attach to the vine, and that can only happen in Christ. He's
the one that does that. We don't go around grafting ourself
into Christ. It takes someone to take the
limb. My dad used to do a lot of grafting.
He had apple trees that had eight or nine different varieties of
apples on them. He always was experimenting like that. But
not once did a limb or a shoot ever do that by itself. My dad
had to do that. And when it comes to being grafted
into Christ, he has to do that. We are not attached to the vine
on our own. We're a sprout out of him. There's
a union that we have with Christ that we could have nowhere else.
So this vine is going to produce fruit. Now if it's not producing
fruit, it's because the vine is not attached. Oh Lord, We
are thankful that you are gracious to cause us to grow out of you,
to be in union with you. And as a result of that, you
are going to produce fruit. Now he's going to do what he
sees fit with every one of his people. I think of Job. You know,
his wife told him, just curse God and die. But he said he never
charged God foolishly. Oh, whatever happens is because
God is causing us to be more fruit-bearing, more conscious
of Him. Now there's one other thing here,
and our time is about up for tonight, but I want to look at
one more thing over here, and that is in the book of Zechariah
chapter 8 and verse 12, it says this, and the ground shall give
her increase. The ground shall give her increase. Over there in the book of, we
just were there in the book of Luke chapter 8 verse 15 talks
about that the seed falling into good ground, it will bring forth
fruit. The good ground brings forth
fruit. When the seed is there, when
God is working, now so turn with me to the book of Romans chapter
6 if you would. Romans chapter 6. The ground
shall give her increase. There's going to be fruit bearing. It's not of us producing it.
We cannot bear fruit. We cannot produce fruit. You know, we talk about works.
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which He hath before ordained that we should walk in them. I want to be willing. He makes
us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That's what
God does. Now, we can't accomplish that.
We can't do it. But He can. And He is pleased to do that.
Over here in the book of Romans chapter 6, verse 22. Romans chapter
6 and verse 22. But now, being made free from
sin and become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness
and the end everlasting life. Made free from sin, become servants
of God. God permits us to be His servants. He creates a servant. He creates
a servant. Wherefore ye are now, excuse
me, and become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and that holiness is God's. And the scriptures say, without
holiness you shall not see God. So he has to do the activity
there. He's the one that produces that. We don't do it. We can't. And then he says, and the end
is everlasting life. And then in Galatians chapter
five, Galatians chapter 5, you know this passage of scripture.
We read it's the fruit of the spirit, Galatians chapter 5.
The vine shall give her fruit. The seed shall be prosperous.
The ground shall give her increase. Here in the book of Galatians
chapter 5, God has purposed this. Galatians chapter 5 verse 22.
and it's not we that produce the fruit it is the fruit of
the spirit when god saves us we have been given the instructions
of the truth by the holy spirit and he tells us here in galatians
chapter five and there in verse twenty two But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
This is the fruit of the Spirit. This is what the Spirit produces. We can't produce it. Once we
say that we're producing it, we're trying to develop our own
self-righteousness. But this is the fruit that God
develops. This is the fruit that God produces.
The ground shall give her increase. God is going to give the increase.
It says there, the fruit of the Spirit are these spiritual blessings,
these spiritual things. And you look at every one of
them. Christ is my love, Christ is my joy, Christ is my peace,
Christ is my long-suffering, Christ is my gentleness, Christ
is my goodness, Christ is my faith, Christ is my meekness,
Christ is my temperance, and all of these things there was
never a law against. How glorious is that? Well, the
final thing over there, and we'll not get to it tonight, but it
says the heavens shall give their due. The heavens shall give their
due. D-E-W. That's another thing. You know, sometimes I go out
in the morning this time of year, and there's dew all over my pickup.
Sometimes in the spring, you walk out to the grass, and if
you're barefooted or in your sandals, you got your feet wet,
because there's dew all over. But we didn't have a thing to
do with it. It came because of an act of God. Well, that's the
same with this dew. This is a spiritual dew that
the heavens shall give their dew. There's a verse of scripture
in the book of Deuteronomy. We'll start with next time, chapter
11, verses 10 and 11. If you want to write those down
and look them up, that's where we'll start. Next time, Lord
willing, as we continue our study of the book of Zechariah, chapter
8, Lord willing, next time we'll finish up verse 12 and we'll
continue on here in chapter 8. As we notice, a preacher of righteousness,
preaching the righteousness of Christ and preaching the product
of the righteousness of Christ. What was that? We just looked
at that. For the seed shall be prosperous. God sends out his seed, it shall
be prosperous. The vine shall give her fruit.
He is the vine, he will produce fruit. We are in Christ. We're attached to the vine. And the ground shall give her
increase. The good ground shall give the
increase. They will be products. They will
have, well, he has promised us that he has impressed his image
upon us. And then we'll look at the heavens,
what they do. Now this is not the heaven of
the heavens where God is, but this is the expanse there. Typically speaking, in type and
shadow and picture. The heavens shall give the due.
We have nothing about that. We can't produce that. But God
does. And what a glorious blessing
that we'll find there. All right. We're going to stop
there. We thank you, each one, for joining us tonight. And we
pray, Lord willing, next time, next Sunday, that we'll be able
to meet together here in our building. And we'll rejoice in
that fellowship.