Often when a man is asked to
read scripture for opening a worship service, he will consult the
preacher that's going to be preaching and ask him if there is a particular
passage of scripture that he'd like him to read that would support
the message that he's about to preach. Todd knew what I was going to
be preaching this morning, and after you read that passage of
scripture, Fred, Todd turned back to me and he said, did you
ask him to read that? In all of God's word, there's
not another passage of scripture I would have asked you to read
had you asked me what I'd want you to read. Which confirms to
my heart that perhaps the Lord has a message for us this morning,
and I'm very thankful for that. If you'd like to turn with me
in your Bibles to the book of Zacharias, the next to the last
book in the Old Testament. Zacharias chapter 8. I don't
know if you noticed how many times in that passage of scripture,
Fred, that you read the Lord said, I will and they shall. I will and they shall. That's the title of this message. I will and they shall." Zechariah chapter 8 beginning
in verse 7, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will save
my people. not I'm going to try to save
them not I'm going to make an offer of salvation not I'm I'm
I will I will save my people from the East country and from
the West country and I will bring them and they shall dwell in
the midst of Jerusalem and they shall be my people and I will
be their God in truth and in righteousness. When Pilate asked
our Lord if he was the king of the Jews, the Lord responded
by saying, For this end was I born, and for this cause came I unto
the world to bear witness unto the truth. And then he went on
to say, They that are of the truth, hear my voice. I so want to hear His voice,
because I want to know the truth. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
went on to say, I am the truth. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man can come into the Father
except by me. In Ezekiel chapter 37 at verse 27,
my tabernacle shall be with them, Yea, I shall be their God, or
will be their God, and they shall be my people. And then in Jeremiah
chapter 31, verse 33, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. I want to make this point as
clear as I can and that is that our Lord gets the glory for the
I wills and the they shalls. Turn back with me a page or two
to Zechariah chapter 4. Zechariah chapter 4. Verse 9, the hand or the hands
of Zerubbabel, now Zerubbabel is a type of Christ in this passage,
the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house.
That's the I will. and his hand shall also finish
it." That's the, they shall. When he has purposed, he will
perform. Our God gets all the glory for
having, for having purposed salvation and for having performed it.
I will. I will do this. I will save my people. And they
shall. They shall. The scripture makes
it clear in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that the man of sin sits in
the temple of God showing himself to be God on the throne of God. And that's the nature of all
men. Men have come to believe as a
result of the fall that their will is what determines the outcome
of their salvation and so man turns it completely upside down
and he says I will and he shall I will have faith and he shall
save me and the Lord says no I will save you and you shall
have faith man says I will repent and God shall forgive me and
God says no I will forgive you and you shall repent man says I will serve God and
he shall bless me and God says I will bless you and you shall
serve me I'm going to get the glory for the I will and the
you shall. No, the problem with man's will
is that it's the cause of the mess that we're in, isn't it? Man in his pride at the very
beginning was deceived by Satan into believing that that if he
would eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil that his eyes would be open and he'd be like God knowing
good and evil. That was just a temptation for
free will. And I suppose the one passage
of Scripture in all of God's Word that reveals the nature
and the power of man's will is in Luke chapter 19 when the Lord
said that the citizens of the country said of their master,
we will not have this man to reign over us. Now that statement
reveals the nature of man's will, which is pure rebellion against
God. And it reveals the power of man's
will, in that man's will is impotent, because when that master came
back, he slew those people who said, we will not have this man
reign over us. God reigns over all men, whether
they want Him to or not. Man's will doesn't determine
that. Here the Lord makes it clear, I will save my people,
and they shall. I will be their God. I will be
their God in election. I will choose them according
to my own will and purpose in the covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world. I will write their names in the
Lamb's book of life before Adam was ever created. I will. I will elect them. I who foreknew them did predestinate
them to be conformed to the image of my Son and His people. They shall is the evidence of
God's will, of I will. How do I know God has elected
me? How do I know if God has chosen me? Because I rejoice. I rejoice in knowing that had
He not chosen me, I never would have chosen Him. I never would
have chosen him. Lord, tis not that I did choose
thee. No, that could never be. For this heart would still refuse
thee, had thou in grace not chosen me. I will choose my people. And they will rejoice in knowing
that it was my choice. And that's what David said. He
said, although my house be not so with God, yet He has made
with me an everlasting covenant. That's my hope. It's ordered
in all things and it's sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. I will elect them. I will choose
them. and they will rejoice in knowing that their salvation
was completely dependent upon me. There's no salvation, there's
no gospel apart from sovereign election. I will be their God in redemption. I will pay the full ransom price
for their souls. The Lord Jesus Christ struck
hands with the Father in the covenant of grace before the
foundation of the world and committed himself to be the surety of his
people. A surety is one who takes care
of everything necessary on behalf of another. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He is our kinsman redeemer. You remember when Boaz was seeking
to redeem Ruth and he said to Ruth he said there's a kinsman
nearer to you than me and I've got to go reckon with him and
Boaz went to the gate of the city and he reckoned with that
kinsman that needed to be dealt with and that's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ did when he came into this world and went
on Calvary's cross he reckoned with the law of God and he satisfied
the demands of God's law and he became our redeemer, our surety,
our kinsman he did everything necessary in order to purchase
us He entered into the holies of
holies with his own blood and he put that upon the mercy seat. The Lord Jesus Christ made a
promise with the Father and the scripture refers to him as that
lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. so our
Lord is saying I'm going to be your God not only in sovereign
election but I'm going to be your God in redemption in sovereign
election you're going to rejoice knowing that had I not chosen
you you never would have chosen me and in redemption and redemption,
you're going to rejoice in knowing that you are justified before
God. The Lord Jesus Christ was lifted
up for our offenses and raised again for our justification. We have perfect righteousness
before God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says
that we being justified freely by His grace through the righteousness
that is in Christ Jesus. We look to the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ for the hope of our justification before God.
I will redeem them and they will rest all their hope in the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll look to the same thing
that I'm looking to. The Lord told Moses, He said,
when I see the blood I pass by you in God's people, He said,
I will redeem you and you shall be my people. Because you're
going to look to your Redeemer as the only hope of your salvation. Nowhere outside of Him can you
have any righteousness, any justification before God. I will be their God
in effectual calling. I'm going to make the call irresistible. I'm going to make them willing
in the day of my power. I'm going to take out the heart
of stone and put in a heart of flesh. I'm going to unstop their
ears. I'm going to give them eyes to
see. I'm going to call them. I'm going to do for them what
I did for Lazarus when I told Lazarus in his tomb. I said,
Lazarus? The Lord was speaking to Lazarus.
Lazarus was dead. He was dead. And the Lord said
to Lazarus, Come forth. Come forth. That's what I'm going
to do. And the evidence that I call
them is that they're going to come. Is that they're going to
come. When David sent for Mephibosheth,
he told Mephibosheth to come to the king. And Mephibosheth
sat down at the king's table, wasn't he? What did Mephibosheth
say to David? What would the king have to do
with such a dog as I? Mephibosheth, sit here at my
table. Hide those crippled legs under my tablecloth. I'm going
to feed you with my fare the rest of your life. That's what
the Lord does. He calls His people irresistibly
and the evidence that He calls them is that they come and they
keep coming. They keep coming. When the Lord
said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus come down. I must go to your
house this day. Zacchaeus came down. Matthew
is sitting there paying, taking care of business at his money
changing table. And I can just see the Lord walking
past Matthew. He left his table, followed Christ. I will and they shall. They shall come because I have
no place else to go. The Lord Jesus Christ arrested
Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. And Saul asked, Who
art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
And what did Saul say? What would you have me to do?
I will and they shall. They shall. I will call them. I will elect them. I will redeem
them. And they shall come. I was trying to make this point
at home some months ago. young man came up to me afterwards
and he said are you suggesting that our sin is God's fault because
I made this statement I said I said God has to make you be
a sinner he has to make you be a sinner
and no we're not saying that our sin is God's fault we're
saying that we're sinners and until God makes us to see our
sinful nature then we're not going to agree with him about
the condition of our souls. Todd, you gave an excellent illustration or description of
sin last night and the transgression of the law. One of the best descriptions
I think that helped me understand my sinful nature is when the
Lord told Aaron I told Moses when Aaron was preparing as the
high priest to go in and make intercession on behalf of the
people. And he gave very specific instructions about how the headdress,
the mitre, was to be made. And on the front of the mitre
was what was impressed in gold, holiness to
the Lord. And the scripture says that Aaron
had to go in to the tabernacle and bear the iniquity of the
holy things. Bear the iniquity of the holy
things. Now when you and I think about our sin, our minds generally
go to those things that we're embarrassed about or ashamed
of or don't want to talk about. Normally we wouldn't think about
what we're doing right now. as being a sin problem but the
truth is that if God judges any one of us based on what we're
doing right this very minute we're going to go to hell for
it Now, if what we're doing right
now, we come here prayerful, we come here in hopes that the
Lord is going to meet with us, we come here singing as sincerely
as we can, we come here looking to God's Word, and if that's
fraught with sin, what does that say about everything else in
our lives? The tears of repentance must
be washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to be acceptable
to God. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has to bear the iniquity of the holy things. He's got to intercede on our
behalf for everyone. That's it. The Lord makes us
to be that way, doesn't he? And I will. I will be their God in their
depravity. I'll show them their condition
before me. And they shall do what? They
shall agree with me. They shall agree. 1 John 1.9
says if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
you of your sins and cleanse you of all of your unrighteousness. That word confess is a conjunction
of two words that means to speak the same thing. It doesn't mean
to make a list of your sins and identify all of them. There's
no time for that. It means to agree with God. It
means to say the same thing about your sinful condition that God
says about it. Lord, my holy things are sinful. Everything about me is in need
of a righteousness outside of me. And I confess to you that
I'm a sinner. And here's the good news. Here's
the good news and it's a faithful saying. And it's worthy of all
acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Save sinners. I will be their God in election
and they will rejoice in knowing that had I not chosen them, they
would not have chosen me. I will be their God in redemption. And they will look to the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for all the hope of their justification
before God. I will be their God in sovereign,
irresistible calling. And they will come. They will
come. And I'm going to get the glory
for the I will and for the they shall. I will be their God in
revealing to them their sinful nature before me." It's what the Lord did for Saul
of Tarsus, isn't it? He thought he had a righteousness
before God because of his pedigree and because of his outward behavior. And then he says, when the law
came, sin revived and I died. I died. Those things that I thought
were gain to me, now I know were the very things keeping me from
God. God had to make Saul of Tarsus a sinner. God had to make
the prophet Isaiah a sinner. I saw the Lord, isn't that what
Isaiah said? High and lifted up. His train filled the temple,
and the seraphim hovered over him and cried, Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts. What's the first thing out of
Isaiah's mouth? Oh is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean
lips, I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen
the king, I'm a dead man, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner standing
in the presence of a holy God. And then later on in Isaiah chapter
40, when the Lord told Isaiah, He said, Isaiah, I want you to
comfort my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Tell them their
warfare is accomplished. Tell them that their iniquity
has been taken away. And they've received of me a
double portion. And Isaiah said, Lord, where
do I begin this message? Where do I begin this message?
What do I say? And the Lord said, Tell them
their grass. That'll be a comfort to them. Tell them they've got
nothing, they can do nothing, they know nothing. Tell them
they're completely dependent upon my I wills and my they shalls. Tell them they're grass. That'll
be a blessing to them. And that'll be the thing that'll
cause them to look outside of themselves for all their righteousness
and for all the hope of their salvation in my Son. It's what happened to Job, isn't
it? Job. Justifying himself before God. Until Elihu came and preached
the gospel to him. And then God spoke to him. And
when God began to speak, God said to Job, He said, Who is
this that darkens my counsel without knowledge? Job, brace
yourself like a man. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
And the Lord begins to interrogate Job, doesn't He? And what's the
first thing out of Job's mouth after he hears from God? Behold,
I am vile. I see something about myself
I've never seen before. I had heard of thee by the hearing
of my ears, but now mine eyes have seen thee, and I repent
in dust and ashes. I will make them to be sinners. Man, by nature, does not believe
himself to be a sinner. Oh, he thinks he's got some sin
problems, but he doesn't believe that his holy things are sinful. Turn with me to Hebrews 10. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I'm going to show them that they're
grass and they're going to agree with me. They're going to agree
with me. They're going to bow before me.
Take sides with me against themselves. They're going to confess. They're
going to speak the same word about themselves that I have
spoken about them. And I will be their God in holiness.
We heard about that last night. I was so blessed by that message
of the Lord Jesus Christ putting away our sin. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10 at verse 10. By the witch will we are Notice
the tense, past tense. Notice we are sanctified, how? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Now that word sanctified means
to be made holy. And what the Lord is saying is,
I will be your God. I'm going to sanctify you. I'm
going to make you holy. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, this man, the God-man,
the one man who's mediator between man and God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
offered himself, not to you and me, he offered himself to the
Father. He sat down at the right hand
of God. Todd, when you were preaching
last night, you were talking about how in the Old Testament
tabernacle, the one piece of furniture that's conspicuously
missing is a chair. I don't know, somebody correct
me if I'm wrong, but when I read the scriptures, there's only
one piece of furniture in heaven. And that's that one piece that
was missing in the earthly tabernacle. It's the throne of God. There's
that chair. There's that chair. And He's
seated down. He sat down. Why? Because He
finished the work. Henceforth expecting till His
enemies be made His footstool. Now you and I come into this
world at enmity with God. And when God becomes our God
and makes us His people, When He shows us His work of redemption,
when He reveals to us His electing grace, when He calls us irresistibly
and effectually by His Spirit, when He makes us to be sinners,
He sets us down. at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What did he say about Mary? She's
chosen that one thing needful. She was sitting at His feet.
There we are, we're at the footstool of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
by one offering, verse 14, for by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Read on. Whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us, for after that he hath said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds I will write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more, no more. Separated them as far as the
east is from the west, cast them into the depths of the sea. Sin
is gone. gone by the sacrifice of this
one offering. Now wherefore, now here's the
they shall. This is what God said, I will
do. I will sanctify them. I will
make them holy by the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross. And here's the they shall. Now where remission of there
is, there is no more offering for sin. They're not going to
seek to offer anything else for sin other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart of full
assurance. There's the they shall. The only
way that you and I can enter into the presence of God with
full assurance, full assurance, is to know that we have no sin. If Christ's not bearing our sin,
we can't come into the presence of God. I'm going to bear away their
sin and they will come into my presence with full assurance.
Full assurance. Looking to the sacrifice of my
son, they will draw near with full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. I will be their God in love.
The first cause of our salvation is the infinite, eternal love
of God. Scripture says, them which he
foreknew. He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son. And them which He did predestinate,
He called. And them which He called, He
justified. And them which He justified,
He glorified. For God to say He foreknew us
means that He had placed His love on us in Christ before the
world ever began. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Never been a time when God didn't
love His people. herein is love not that we love
God but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation
for our sins that's the definition that God gives of love and greater
love hath no man than this that he laid down his life for his
friends oh what love God said I'm going to love you I will
love you I will be your God in holy infinite eternal love and
you know what You shall love me back in return. You're going
to love me. Now I know it's hard for us to,
because we're so much in love with ourselves, it's hard for
us to discern our love for anything else, isn't it? For anything
or anybody. But when God makes one of His
people to see His love for them, one thing they know, Is the one
thing they love more than anything else? Anything else? Is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the pearl of great price.
Everything else is up for grabs. I've got to have Christ. I've
got to have Him. I will be their God in love. And they shall love me. We love
Him. Why? Because He first loved us. the I wills and the they shalls
are all to God's glory and I want to conclude this message with well I could read the verse that
you read at the beginning but let me let me quote a verse from
the book of Hosea I will take away the name of Balaam out their
mouth and they shall no more remember by that name I will cause them to worship
me in spirit and in truth and they shall not go back they can't
go back they shall not If a person can go back to their
free will, works, idols, they will. They will. But when God says, I shall be
their God, I shall save them, I will, and they shall. they shall forget. Let's turn
in closing to that same passage in Ezekiel 37 that you read from
Fred. Ezekiel 37. Verse 23. Neither shall they defile themselves
any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all
their dwelling places wherein they have sinned, and I will
cleanse them. so shall they be my people and
I will be their God and David my servant shall be king over
them and they all shall have one shepherd they shall also walk in my judgments
and observe my statutes to do them I will be their God And
they shall be my people. I will and they shall. Oh boy,
love it, love it, love it.