As we were singing that last
verse, I thought, Lord, help me. That last verse, it says, within thy word and thy book
revealed, show me the truth, show me the truth. open my eyes
that I might see the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, if we see him tonight,
the Spirit of God gives us some understanding. We've been made to worship. We've
been made to rejoice, see the Lord. I want you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Zechariah, Zechariah. I'm gonna actually be in Zechariah
two, but I wanna make a few comments out of Zechariah chapter one. You know when the Lord is pleased.
to show mercy to a people of his love and affection. This
was my experience and I know it was yours too. But when the
Lord is pleased to show mercy to a people that he's everlastingly
loved in Christ, you know what he does? He sends a preacher. That's what he does. He sends
a preacher. preacher to speak to the people
concerning his good pleasure and will to save them from their
sins. This is the this is the good
news of the gospel And tonight, I wanna look at a couple of verses
out of Zechariah 1, because that's the case that's set forth right
here. Zechariah 1, verse 1 to 3 says, in the eighth month,
second year, Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah,
the son of Bekiah, son of Edo, the prophet, saying, the Lord
hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou
unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye unto me, saith
the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord
of hosts. It's a miracle of God's grace
that God Almighty would speak to a people, but if the Lord
gonna speak, he's gonna speak out of his word. He's gonna speak
according to these scriptures. Those that the Lord has called
particular vessels of his mercy and choosing, they've been everlastingly
loved, but they fail in Adam's transgression, but those that
the Lord has chosen to show mercy. You know what's going to happen?
He's going to gather them. He's going to gather his sheep.
He's going to bring them openly into the fold of his kindness
and love. But these elect, They're going to see something
of what they are. And they're going to see something
of the mercy of Almighty God. Zechariah, deal in chapter 1,
verse 16 and 17. Here's what the Lord says. Therefore saith... I'm sorry, verse 16. Therefore
thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My
house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and the line
shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying thus,
saith the Lord of hosts. My cities, through prosperity,
shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion,
and shall yet choose Jerusalem. I want you to tell God's people
You tell them of their plight. You tell them of their fall.
You tell them of their fall in the garden. You tell them. But you tell them of my love
toward them. You tell my people of my good
pleasure to show them mercy. I'm gonna show mercy to them.
You tell them. Lord Jehovah had promised that
his people would have all their safety for all eternity in one
place, in the person of his blessed son, in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the foundation and the surety
of that promise is gonna be according to God's word. He says in Zechariah
2, verse 5, For I, saith the Lord, will be
unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory
in the midst of her. God is going to bring His people. He's going to get them unto the
sound of the gospel. That's the power of God unto
salvation. He's going to save them by grace.
He's going to keep them. He promised. He promises this
in the New Testament. He promised it in the Old Testament.
This is the word of the Lord. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. So with that revelation, that
promise of God's good pleasure to a people of God's choosing,
found out of the mass of all humanity, knowing that they were
born spiritually, dead, trespasses and sins, knowing that the Lord
has promised to call them out in power and mercy. I want us to consider for just
a few minutes something out of the book of Zechariah chapter
two that just struck me. I'm gonna look at about four
verses. But there's something that struck
me out of one of these verses that just held me and I began
to look at it a few days ago and I'll be honest with you,
I struggled with it. I really struggled with what
was being said, but I think that the Lord has given me some understanding
on it. And I wanna just share it with
you. It's just one of those passages of scripture that just arrest
God's people. So, let's just look at this.
When the Lord is pleased to save his own, he's gonna call them. He's gonna call them. You know,
the scripture says that my sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life. They're never gonna perish. How
does God people call? How does God call, I mean, his
people? How does he call them? Well,
we've just said it a moment ago through the scriptures, but I
want you to listen. Now let's just look at something.
I'm gonna look at verses six to nine tonight. Zechariah chapter
two. Look at verse six. Look how the
scriptures begins to speak. Ho! Ho! I looked at that, I looked those
words up, I looked, well, one word, said two times, and here's
what it says, here's what it means. Alas! Woe! This is a call that's to be taken
seriously. I mean, we talk about the Lord
calling His people. That's a serious matter to be
considered, how God calls His people. Here's what the Spirit
of God moved Zechariah to write down. Ho, ho, come forth and
flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have spread
you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Alas! Wake up, wake up, alas,
whoa. This call, hear the word of the
Lord. Come forth, the Lord is speaking,
and flee, make escape, take your flight from the land of the north,
saith the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds
of heaven saith the Lord. Now, this land of the north,
I began to read that and I was trying to see the meaning of
this thing. What is this land of the north? Well, in the next verse, in verse
seven, it tells us what the land of the north is. Deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. This land
of the north, there was a physical place in the land that they were,
and it was in the northern part, and it was, but it was a place
where the heathen, where the rebels, where those that knew
not the Lord dwelled. And God's people had, over the
years, they had, because of captivity, they'd mingled with them and
they, traded with them and they began to be real buddy buddies
to them. And here's the call of the Lord,
the call that goes out to God's people. We're all sitting tonight
in a place where we've been blessed to be able to meet together and
hear the gospel, but there's places all over this country
And I, without a doubt, believe that God's people are found in
these places, but are yet to be called out of darkness. I truly believe the reason we're
still here tonight, Chuck, is because the Lord hadn't called
all of His people out. Whenever the Lord calls His people
out, He'd come back to get them. When the Lord's called all of
His people out, He's gonna come get them and take them home.
But for the Spirit of God to move upon a preacher named Zechariah,
to write this down, he says, oh, listen, come forth, flee. Come out of the land of the north,
saith the Lord. Come out of the land of rebellion. Come out of the land of false
religion. Easy believe in Him. Come out. Separate yourself. Have no fellowship with the darkness
of unbelief. This is the same message that
was set forth in Revelation 18, verse 4. And I heard another
voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people. that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues. These that are called, called
to flee and sent forth with a purpose, they're sent forth with a reason. God calls His people out of darkness. He said in that sixth verse,
ho, ho, come forth and flee from the land of the north, saith
the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven,
saith the Lord. I have spread you abroad. I have
placed you according to my good purpose. I spread you abroad. You come out because I have a
place for you, is what he's saying. Oh, the steps of a good man. They're ordered by the Lord.
The Lord had said he's got a people in every nation and kindred and
tribe and tongue, a people that he's gonna call. And that's what
he's saying right here. Ho, come forth, come out of the
land of the north, saith the Lord. I spread you abroad. It's the four winds of the heaven.
I put you where I want you to be. I couldn't help but think
about me. When I was going over my notes
today, going over these, and I was thinking to myself, how
did I get here? You hear? I was born in Alexandria,
Louisiana. Raised up in Louisiana. And then
by the good providence of God, after a couple more moves here
and there and yonder, I ended up in Katy, West Virginia. How in the world could I end
up in Katy, West Virginia? According to the scriptures,
Come forth, come out of the land of the north, saith the Lord,
for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven,
saith the Lord. How did I get here? How did you
get here? God put us here. And he knit
our hearts together. And he made us one in spirit. Put his son in us. And we live and we walk according
to the good pleasure of the Lord. Come out. I've spread you. And then he says in verse seven,
deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of
Babylon. That's where we're all born by
nature. We're all born, you know, right here. Dwelling with the
daughters of Babylon. That's where we are. We're all
born dead in trespasses and sins. Deliver thyself. Now, every person
that's ever been called out of darkness knows that God has revealed
himself to. You know that the exhortation
of the prophet Zechariah under the inspiration of God's spirit
to tell people to deliver thyself. Now, we know that we've been
given a new heart. that shuns all false claims of
self-security and self-worth and self-ability. We know that
by nature, I know what the world says. Accept the invitation that
the Lord has given you. Give yourself, give your heart
to Jesus. He wants to save you. I know
what they're saying. And you know better than that.
We know better than that. But here when the Lord says,
Deliver thyself, O Zion that dwelleth with the daughters.
You know, flee from the land of the north and deliver yourselves. How? How? One way. By faith. By faith given from
above. Faith that didn't originate with
us. All men have not faith. It's given unto you to believe.
It's given. So whenever the Spirit of God
moved upon Zechariah to write down, deliver thyself, you know what a believer says?
Lord, deliver me. A believer's not gonna say, Lord,
I delivered myself. By faith, by faith, we come out,
we flee from the beast, We flee from the bondage of sin because
he's made us willing in the day of his power to flee from the
bondage of sin. We have nothing in which to glory. We have no confidence in our
flesh. All of those that flee and want
to flee, flee because the Lord has made them willing in the
day of his power. I don't have anything to glory
in save Jesus Christ and him crucified. The Lord is saying,
deliver thyself, O Zion that dwellest. Lord, I want to come where you
are. I want to be where you are. I
don't have any confidence in me. And then the Lord, after
he's speaking, he's telling the people, He's telling them, you're
born in captivity. You're born there. He's telling
them, deliver yourself. Ho, ho, verse six. Come forth,
flee, come out. He's telling them, you're in
bondage spiritually by birth. But he calls his people. He calls
them. And why does he call them? Because
he's gonna save them. He's gonna save them from their
sins. Deliver thyself. Verse seven,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. Verse eight
and nine says for. Or let's just say this, because. Deliver yourself because. There's a reason. For thus saith
the Lord of hosts. After the glory hath he sent
me unto the nations which spoil you, for he that toucheth you
toucheth the apple of his eye. For behold, I will shake mine
hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants,
and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Come, come out. Deliver yourself. You that have
been born dwelling with Babylon, the daughter of
Babylon, come out. I'm going to show you mercy.
I'm going to do you good. Come out. For thus saith the
Lord, verse eight, after the glory, after the glory, or following
the glory. I have looked at that, those
three words, after the glory. For after the glory, following
after his glory. Now what glory? You come out
from her, you come out. Come out from among them, be
separate. After the glory hath he sent
me. Here's what the Lord has been
saying. Come out of Babylon. I will save you. I will keep
you. For thus saith the Lord of hosts. After the glory. As I began to
look at that, the Lord has been given a good warning, come out,
deliver yourself. Now there's an amazing truth
that's being said here. He's going to do what he does
because of his glory. He's going to do what he does
because he's going to bring glory to himself. So when he says,
you come out and deliver yourself, for thus saith the Lord, after
the glory, after what glory? After his glory, after the Lord's
glory, after the glory hath he sent me. You know, whenever the
Lord was talking to Moses, Moses said unto the Lord, show me your
glory." Remember what the Lord said.
When Moses asked, show me your glory, show me the glory. There is no glory but God's glory
concerning eternal salvation. There is no glory but His glory. After the glory, according to
the glory, the glory of God, the glory of God's mercy. After
the glory, He sent me. unto the nations which spoiled
you. For he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.
Almighty God talking to, turn with me, turn with me to Exodus. We've read this, but I'm gonna
read it again. After the glory, I kept, I wonder how many times
Glenda heard me say that today. After the glory. There's something
there. After the glory, according to
the glory. according to the glory, following
after his glory. It's just three words that just
didn't register with me at first. But now, come out from among
them. Separate yourself from Babylon
because after my glory, according to my glory, I'm gonna show you
mercy. Exodus 33, Exodus chapter 33,
starting in verse 18, 19. He said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Verse 19, he said, I will make
all my goodness I will pass before thee. I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. So in Zechariah, here's what's
being said. The Lord told him. The Lord had
told him. There in verse nine, Paul come
forth. Flee from the land of the north,
saith the Lord. As the four winds of the heaven,
saith the Lord, deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the
daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after his glory, after the glory,
after the glory of God, after the glory of God, to show mercy
and compassion to whosoever he would. He sent me unto the nations
which spoiled you. After His glory sent me the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's an amazing, that verse
eight right there is another truly amazing passage. I want
you to look at verse eight just for a moment. For thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Now let me ask you this. Thus
saith the Lord of Hosts. Who but God Almighty is the Lord
of Hosts? Verse 8. For thus saith the Lord
of Hosts. Who is the Lord of Hosts? It's
the Lord. It's the Lord God of Heaven.
It's the Lord. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts. What did He say? After the glory hath He sent
me unto the nations which spoiled you. The Lord of hosts said, after
the glory, after the glory of God, to show mercy and compassion
to whosoever He would. He sent me. Now who's speaking
here? This is still God talking. The
Lord of hosts said to me, sent me to the nations that spoiled
you. Jehovah sent Jehovah? Yeah, that's what he said. He,
the Lord of hosts, after the glory, sent me unto the nations
which spoiled you. He that touches you touches the
apple of his eye. I began to read these verses,
Dave, and the more I read, the deeper they got. Here was the
Lord God Himself, the Lord of hosts, after the glory of Almighty
God to show mercy and compassion to whosoever He would, He sent
me, the scripture says. He sent me unto the nations that
spoiled you. After His glory, He sent me,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, to spoil them. God is a just
God. He's a Savior. Oh, the mercy of Almighty God.
to save his people from their sins. The Lord is pleased to
rescue. He don't wait on them. He don't
wait on them. Turn back to Genesis, Genesis
chapter 19, Genesis 19. Come out of her. That's what
the Lord told Zechariah to tell him. Come out of her. Come out
of Babylon. I'm gonna show you mercy back in Genesis chapter
19, verses 15 to 17. This is how God saves his people. Genesis 19, verse 15. When the
morning arose, this is when God was gonna call his people, Lot
and his family, out of Sodom. Morning arose, and the angels
hasted lot, saying, Rise, take thy wife, thy two daughters,
which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the
city. While he lingered, oh, but for the grace of God,
that's what we do, that's what I do, what you do too. While
he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, upon the hand
of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, and the
Lord being merciful unto him, unto Lot. And they brought him
forth, said him, without the city it came to pass, when they
had brought them forth abroad, that he said, escape for thy
life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape
to the mountain, lest you be consumed. Oh, the mercy of God. God sent
a prophet to Israel. And they had dishonored the Lord. But in mercy and grace, God Almighty
called them back to Himself. He called them according to His
good pleasure and mercy to not leave them alone in sin and unbelief. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that
dwelleth with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which
spoiled you. For he that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye. You know, when the Lord is going
to save his people, he does arrest them. And he keeps them. And he teaches them what they
are. And they know it and see it. They know that they are what
they are. But in closing, I want to just
say one thing about whenever the Lord had said, the Lord of
hosts, thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent
me, This is the Father and the Son and their God. They are God. One God. A beautiful passage of scripture. Last verse. Turn with me to the
book of John chapter 20. John chapter 20, verse 24-29. We speak of the tri-unity of
God. And like I said before, nobody
understands. Don't even try to explain the
tri-unity of God. Just accept it, believe it, rest
in it. There's one God. Three persons
set forth, there's one God. The scripture says, John chapter
20, verse 24, whenever the Lord had met with his disciples after
his resurrection, the scripture says, verse 24, but Thomas, one of
the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And
other disciples therefore said unto him, we've seen the Lord.
But he said unto them, except I see, except I see in his hands
the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the
nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again, his
disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be
unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thine finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, Now, my Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blest are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Thomas said something
to the Lord. He said unto the Lord, my Lord, I looked it up. When he said that, my Lord and
my God, it reminded me of what we just looked at back when,
back in Zechariah, when the scripture was talking about Jehovah, the
Lord of hosts, said unto the Lord Jesus Christ, God speaking to God. Thomas,
when he said, my Lord, I looked this up and it says the Messiah,
my Lord and my God, the Godhead, father, son, and
spirit. Brethren, whenever the Lord is
pleased to save his people, I can tell you what he's going
to do. He's going to call them. Ho, ho, come forth and flee from
the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have spread you
abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith the Lord. You
come out of her because I have placed you where I want you. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that
dwelleth with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord
of Hosts, after the glory hath he sent me. Again, this is God
speaking to God. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
after the glory, after his glory, to show mercy and compassion
to whomsoever he will, hath he sent me unto the nations which
spoiled you, He that touches you touches the apple of his
eye. For behold, I will shake my hand. It just, when it said
shake, it said back and forth, violently. I will shake mine
hand upon them, and they shall be spoiled to their servants,
and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. I pray that God Almighty bless
our hearts as we behold the sovereign grace of God to save us, keep
us, and teach us, and not leave us to ourselves. His glory and
our good.