So let's turn back to the book
of Zechariah with me and let's pray the Lord's blessing upon
his word. We come and come and know and
have your word applied to our hearts by your blessed Holy Spirit
coming and revealing. We only know thee by revelation,
our Father, and we thank you and praise you for these words
which speak of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
will follow. May we find our rejoicing in
He in whom all the beauties of holiness reside. Exalt your Son,
exalt your Word which speaks of Him, our Father. For our good
and your glory we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So let's turn to
this amazing verse in Zechariah chapter 11. As for thee, as for
thee, and the thee is feminine, so the thee is speaking of the
daughter of Zion and the daughters of Jerusalem. This is a particular
group of people. These are his people. As for
thee also, blood of thy covenant I have
sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. As for thee, thy prisoners. When I lived in India, one of
the things that horrified me walking around the villages in
India was that they would dig these pits and they were wells
that they dug to get water. And the thing that was horrifying
is that in the center of the villages, they'd sort of put
some stones around them so you couldn't fall in. But there were
lots of other places, and one of them quite nearby where I
spent a whole lot of time, was a huge pit that if you fell into
it, you died. And it had no markings whatsoever
around it. And they were so common. And
the pits, of course, were the cisterns, and they They were
dug, looking, in India they were dug, looking for water and if
they didn't find water they just left them there. But they were
enormous holes. In fact I remember seeing in
the paper once a picture of an Indian bus that had actually
come off the road and fallen into one of the things. There
was this hole with this bus, 20 or 30 feet of this bus sticking
out of the top of the hole. But the pit here, is where the
king finds his daughter. The word means cistern. It's
a pit. Wherein there is no water, it's
the pit, the same pit that Joseph was put in by his brothers. It's
the pit that Jeremiah spent some time in. They were prisons. They
were inescapable prisons. They were dark. And the only
way of living in the pit was for food and water to be sent
down to you, and the only way of escaping out of the pit was
for someone from the outside coming and doing all of the work
to get you out. And the pit, that's where the
king finds his prisoners. It's a picture of a fallen man,
isn't it? When we fell in our father Adam,
we fell into a pit. We were and are by nature imprisoned
in that pit, in the darkness of that pit. We are captive to
our fallen nature and we are captives to the fact that we
are completely unable to save ourselves by anything that we
do. You cannot get out of these pits. And no matter what you
think of your will and your so-called free will and freedom, in the
pit all of that just becomes vanity. Just vanity. There is no escape unless someone
from outside the pit comes with deliverance. And death awaits,
and close by. And if you were in one of those
pits, you would have very good reason to fear for your life.
When Jeremiah speaks in judgment upon Jerusalem before the destruction
that Zechariah and these others are coming back to restore Jerusalem
again, he says, my people have committed two evils, Jeremiah
2.13, for they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,
and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold
no water. What a great description of man-made
religion. They are hewing out something
for which they believe they will have sustenance in the midst
of drought and famine, they will have water for themselves, and
yet the systems hold no water, and they are in that state because
they have turned from the fountain. They've forsaken me, says God. They've forsaken me. In this pit, all man-made religion
is exposed as a lie. How do you escape this pit? You escape this pit only in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the fact that he says
they are his prisoners. Now the Lord holds all of humanity
in his hands and he has the perfect right to do with all of humanity
as he sees fit and none can stay his hand or say of him, what
are you doing and why are you doing it? But I love the picture
here. I love the picture. This king, this glorious king
who comes, this glorious king who comes and has salvation with
him, this glorious king is just, he comes to this pit where his
prisoners are. And listen to what the scriptures
say. He says, I have sent forth thy prisoners Out of the pit
wherein is no water. When you send someone, you are
with them and you cause them to go from you, don't you? You
send them. He doesn't invite them to do
their very best to get out of the pit that they're in. He sends
them because he has gone into that very pit himself. He sent them out, he says, let
them go and let them go free. And how are these prisoners sent
forth from this pit? As to thee also by the blood
of thy covenant. have I sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein there is no water. By the blood, only
by the blood, only by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
are his captives set free, his captives are sent forth. They
are his captives, they are his prisoners, they are his people.
They're in this prison and he put them in this prison. He put them there that they might
be separated from the world. He put them there that they might
cry out. He put them there that they might
be made to know that they're absolutely and utterly dependent
on another to set them free. Until the Lord has wounded we
will never be healed until the Lord has stripped us of any notions
that salvation is in some way dependent or up to me. Until
the Lord has brought us to a place of darkness and a place of captivity
and a place of fear and a place of helplessness. We'll never
know, we'll never know the glories of God in His salvation. Only
His prisoners sent forth out of the pit where they were will
see His blood as precious. Only his prisoners will cry. Only those who have been sent
forth will be thankful that he came to where you were to send
you out. Only his captives will glorify
his character. All of his name, only his captives
will call on him. by the blood of thy covenant. We come into this world under
a covenant of works and we naturally in our human state believe that
somehow salvation is a cooperative activity between me and God,
that if I do something, God will be caused to respond to me. And
the covenant of works and the law which accompanies it is a cause for people to think
that they can do something to get right with God. And until
God brings his captives and makes them say, Paul marched down that
road, didn't he? on the way to Damascus, thinking
that his legal obedience and thinking that his righteousness
and thinking that his being a participant in the putting to death of the
Lord Jesus Christ and any who followed him, he thought, he
thought that he was righteous and he thought that his obedience
and he thought that his works were meritorious. He says, I
was alive once. I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Paul spent those three days of
darkness. He was the Lord's prisoner. Never
again would Paul ever be able to rejoice in what he did. I
am what I am by the grace of God. Thank God for his deliverance. Thank God. Thank God for him
setting me free. Thank God for him making me captive. Thank God making me his captive. So this covenant is a remarkable
covenant, isn't it? We love to think about it, we
love to rejoice in it. It's a promised agreement, isn't
it? He says to Moses, to Noah, he says, I will establish my
covenant. Again and again in the scriptures
he talks about it as my covenant. It's a covenant. The covenant
that he's talking about is not the Mosaic covenant where there
were two parties to it and one party can do nothing but sin
and one party in their extraordinary pride said, it's an easy thing
to follow God, you just tell us what to do and we'll do it.
You just tell us what to do, we'll be obedient. It's easy
to be obedient, we just need to know. We know what happened. at Sinai and we know what happened. The covenant that saved Noah
and the covenant that saved Adam and the covenant that saved every
one of God's children is a covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He calls it My Covenant. Again and again, he calls it
my covenant. It's a covenant made with Abraham.
It was made with Abraham long, long before the law was given
so that all of the faith children of Abraham would know that the
covenant that saves them, the covenant that secures them, the
covenant that sets them free is the covenant in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the lamb that was slain before
the foundation of the world. Don't you rejoice? I rejoice
to think that the scriptures declare that all of my salvation
was established in a covenant that God the Father, in electing
love, made with God the Son in redeeming love, made with God
the Holy Spirit in quickening and regenerating love, and he
made it before the foundation of the world. Think about it brothers and sisters.
This is the covenant, isn't it? This is the covenant that the
daughters of Jerusalem are going to be rejoicing over. The covenant
is a promise. And the promise was made before
the foundation of the world, and the promise is in a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The covenant is in his blood.
The covenant is in his death. The covenant is in his life,
his death, and his resurrection. The covenant, like the gospel,
is a person. You don't have to turn there,
just let me read these amazing verses in Isaiah and I'd love
for you to spend some time and go and look at the verses around
them because they are just so glorious. He says in Isaiah 42
6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold
thine hand and I will keep thee and give thee for a covenant
of the people for a light of the Gentiles, the heathen of
Zechariah 9, are going to see the light of the glory of God
in this covenant. Isaiah 49 verse 8, the covenant
is a person, thus says the Lord, in an acceptable time I have
heard thee, in the day of salvation have I helped thee. I will preserve
thee and give thee a covenant for the people to establish the
earth and cause to inherit the desolate heritages. It's the covenant of grace, this
covenant of blood. It's called in Isaiah 5410, the
covenant of my peace. It's called an everlasting covenant. An everlasting covenant, Isaiah
553, Incline your ear and come unto
me, here in your souls shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." The sure mercies
of being set free from this pit. Never, ever in this covenant
Is man required to fulfil something for God's promises to come true? God has sworn. God has made this
covenant. It's the covenant that David
rested his head on in his dying moments, didn't he? Although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. One of the problems we have with
the thought of everlasting is that we think that it's going
to start now and last forever, that we get into the covenant
by something I do now. But the covenant, everlasting,
means it has no beginning and it has no end. It begins in God,
it ends in God, and it encompasses everything that's happening right
now. God lives. in eternal present. He knows the end from the beginning.
He ordains all things. That's why he declares himself
to Moses, and the Lord Jesus Christ declared himself throughout
John's Gospel, as I am right now. That's why you can say in
Romans 8, verse 1, right now there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus. Sure mercies of David. had nothing to do with David's
obedience. It had everything to do with
the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. God in this covenant
is looking to his son for everything. God in this covenant sent his
son into this world to save this bride, the daughters of Jerusalem,
the daughters of Zion. And the words of this covenant
are glorious words, aren't they? The promise of this covenant
is always, I will and they shall. I will come and they shall be
sent out of this pit. The freedom of the prisoners
is never dependent on them. God gets all the glory for who
he is. And who he is is revealed in
how he saves. His person and his work are inseparable. A God who tries and a God who
fails and a God who relies upon men to do something is not the
God of the Bible. There is no peace with that God. There is no salvation with that
God. It's just a figment of man's
depraved imagination. There is no escaping any pit
with a God like that. This blood was shed, this covenant
blood was shed from the foundation of the world. The names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the Book of Life of the
Lamb, having been slain, Revelation 13, 8, from the foundation of
the world. The blood buys a church. It's the blood of God which buys
a church. It's the blood of God that gathers
the church together. It's the blood of God that causes
the church to be the place where the Lord Jesus Christ gets glory
for himself. in this world. The blood was
not shed as God's response to what man had done, but God's
eternal purpose enacted. It's the blood of the everlasting
covenant. The blood of the covenant was
shed from the foundation of the world by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God The blood of this covenant was proclaimed
in promise in the garden in Genesis. The seed of the woman will crush
the serpent's head. The blood of this covenant is
typified all through the Old Testament in all the sacrifices,
all the blood that was shed from the garden and beyond. This blood
is applied to those who are in the covenant. Notice what he
says, thy prisoners are sent forth. This blood is shed actually at the time of Christ's
death. This blood is shed effectually
in its application to sinners, those in the pit. This blood
is finally there at the consummation of all sin, all things, is made peace by His blood. There is peace between God and
God and therefore there is peace between all who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
that pit. He went to that pit for what
man has done. for what man has not done, for
what man is, for where man is found when Christ comes in power. The pit has no water. The pit has no water. The water
speaks of the blessed spirit of God. It speaks of that which
sustains life. If you're in a pit with no water,
you're not going to live for very long. In that pit, you will
find that you are utterly dependent. How few, how few are the daughters
of Jerusalem and the daughters of Zion. How few have been delivered
from this pit. Do you remember being in a pit?
I remember being in a pit. And I remember being in a pit
that I didn't know was a pit when I was in religion. Only, only the revelation of
God in Christ Jesus. The revelation of Him crucified
and Him shedding His blood as the glorious God-man. There's
water, Zechariah 13 says, there's a fountain opened in that day,
there's a fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. God's children drink at that
fountain when they're set free. The fountain, the pit again,
is very deep. Man is in there by his own acts. Escape is impossible. The pit
is very deep. The sides are vertical and slippery. The darkness in the pit is very
great. The only light in the pit is
from above. There's none in man, nor with
him. And death is an ever-present
reality. Has God brought you into his
presence like he did the Apostle Paul? That you're made to tremble at
his holiness and his very being? that he's making you a prisoner
in this pit has caused you to cry out, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. You think of all
the people. You cast your mind through the
gospel accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again and again and again,
people came to him like the leper in the pit. He was full of leprosy. And he said, Lord, if you will. He came through those crowds. He had to have his mouth covered
and he'd say, unclean, unclean. There is no delivery from leprosy
unless God acts. The woman with the demon possessed
daughter, the woman with the dead son, Mary and Martha was
Lazarus every time. Who came? The Lord Jesus Christ
came to those imprisoned. The blind man imprisoned in his
blindness, the lame man imprisoned in his frailty and inability
to walk. All of them are pictures, aren't
they? They're all pictures of people who are in a pit. In a
pit which reflects the fall. In a pit such that escaping from
the pit glorifies the only means to escape. How awful this pit
is, is measured by the only means of escape from it, by the blood
of Thy covenant. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ alone sets the prisoner free. Has God made you a sinner? Has God made you a Romans 7 sinner? That sin is there with everything
you do. Sin is mixed with every thought
that you think, every act, every good deed is mixed with sin.
So you'll cry out like Paul, O wretched man, that I am. Not that I was, but that I am. Has God's holiness and has God's
law come to me and slain me and caused me to be in a pit where
I'm crying out, Lord save me. I'm sinking like Peter beneath
the waves, Lord, save me. Lord, have mercy upon me, the
sinner. If he sent you out of that pit,
do you rejoice in God, my saviour? Do you see his blood as precious? This world treats the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ as a common thing. a common thing, common
to all humanity. You read their websites, you
read their declarations. I wanted to read you Todd's article
from our bulletin It's on the second page. Let me say at the
outset, the Bible does not teach or imply that Christ died for
all men without exception. He died for the elect, his sheep,
his church. Yet most of what goes on under
the name of Christianity teaches he died for all men without exception. There are even men who say that
they believe in election who still believe his blood was shed
for all men without exception. Such teaching and preaching has
these six monstrous implications. If Christ died for all men without
exception, and all men without exception are not saved, then
he failed in his intentions. If he died for all men without
exception and some that he died for are not saved, his death
does not save. If he died for the sins of all
men without exception and some of those men are still punished
for their sins, God is not just. He punishes the same sin twice. If Christ died for men that God
loved and they are not saved, God's love is meaningless. If
He can love you, He can love you and you can still be damned.
What a monstrosity. If God loves all men and Christ
died for all, God is not immutable. He changes in His disposition
toward men that are under His wrath. If Christ died for all
men without exception and all without exception are not saved,
salvation is by works. Christ's death does not make
the difference but what the sinner does or fails to do. Universal
redemption is more than a mistake in theology. It is a denial of
the gospel and a message of salvation by works. The implications of
such teaching are truly monstrous. Listen to what he says. Listen
to what the daughters of Jerusalem rejoice over. Listen to what
they shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. As for thee, by the blood of
thy covenant have I sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein there is no water. And then he has this plea to
us, isn't he? Turn ye to the stronghold, you
prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee. That double is the double that's
spoken of in Isaiah chapter 40. It's the call, isn't it? It's
the call of God's. preachers to his people in this
world, he says, you comfort my people. The only people who will
be comforted by the gospel is my people. The ones who are prisoners
said, for you comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. She receives the
inheritance of the firstborn. And that word double means folded
over. The sins of God's people are
folded over and covered in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he made you a prisoner of
hope, You're prisoners, if you're a
prisoner in a pit, and you're a prisoner that's in a pit where
he's come to you personally in that pit and sent you out of
that pit, you'll also be a prisoner of hope. We rejoice in hope. We rejoice being prisoners. Made so by the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that comforting? Every time
I think of the eternal covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I can rest, I can rest my eternal
soul in the glorious, glorious Saviour. We read it often and it's just
good to close by going back there again Paul says he's an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God and he's writing to the saints
at Ephesus. To the faithful in Christ Jesus. What a great place to be in Christ
Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as
He has chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. to the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted. What a great place to be. What
a great acceptance in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. What a saviour, what a salvation,
what a pit to be sent forth from. May the Lord bless his words
to the hearts of his people. Let's have a break.