Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 7. We're going
to be going over this chapter. And then we're going to be going
into chapter 8. If I stopped in chapter 7, you wouldn't be
too happy. Chapter 7 is a chapter of somewhat
of rebuke. But chapter 8 is a chapter of
hope. So we want to make sure we get
both of these this morning. So we'll be in Zechariah chapter
7. And the title of this is, Man's
Vain Efforts and God's Sure Salvation. Man's vain efforts. That's what's
taking place in chapter 7. It says, And it came to pass
in the fourth year of King Darius that the word of the Lord came
unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month even in
Chishu." Now, if I get these words wrong, you're just going
to have to correct me in your mind, because they get complicated. He said, "...when they had sent
unto the house of God, Shezar and Rejemeloth, and their men,
to pray before the LORD, and to speak unto the priests that
were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophet
saying, should I weep in the fifth month separating myself
as I have done these many years. Now, at this time, Israel was
still in captivity. They were still captives under
King Darius. They were under the oppression
of that heathen king and they were far removed from the worship
of God. They once enjoyed the worship
of God. They once enjoyed the presence
of God. But because of their sin, because
of their rebellion, you remember, God sent Nebuchadnezzar to take
them captive. And at this point, they had been
captive 70 years. 70 years. And if you remember
the promise of God, that they were determined 70 years of captivity,
then they would be set free. Now at this point, they had already
went back Darius had already allowed them to go back and start
the foundation of that temple. They built the foundation. And
so, now then, at the beginning of this chapter, they're saying,
look, we want you to send these men, these men, back to the house
of God for us. We're in captivity. We'll send
these men back to the house of God, and we're going to ask a
question. I want you to ask a question,
and this is the question. In verse 3, should I weep in
the fifth month separating myself as I have done so many years? In the midst of this bondage,
these 70 years, they're asking them to go back and question,
what shall I do this again? Go to the house of God and ask
the men of God, shall we continue to fast? That's what they've
been doing for 70 years. On the fifth month, the fifth
month was an anniversary month. It was the month that the temple
was destroyed. And when they went into captivity,
what they did is they started declaring a fast. The Jews did. They said, well, we're going
to put a memorial on this day and we're going to fast on this
day. And so on the anniversary of
that destruction, they would fast. and they'd show their mourning
at the loss of the temple. But notice God responds here.
He said, To them the word of the Lord of hosts came to me,
saying, Speak unto all the people of the land and the priests,
saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month,
even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto Me, even
to Me? And when you did eat, And when
you did drink, did you not eat for yourselves and drink for
yourselves? Should I hear your words which the Lord hath cried
by the former priest and Jerusalem and the inhabitants in the prosperity
and the cities thereof round about her, when the men inhabited
the south and the plain? Now listen, God responds to these
Jews and He said, you committed these fasts, you made these fasts. But you didn't do that to me.
You didn't do that for me. This fasting and celebration
was not to him. He said, you did these things
not for me, but for yourselves. And they did all these fasting
and mornings on their own. They didn't receive a word from
God. They didn't receive a command from God to fast in the 5th and
the 7th and the 10th month. They did that all on their own. He didn't institute it. He didn't
command it. But they set it up anyway. They
set it up anyway. Not with a true heart of repentance. They didn't do it out of repentance.
They didn't do it out of love for God. They didn't do it out
of confession for their sins and their disobedience. But rather,
it had become nothing more than a religious ceremony, a religious
ceremony. Let us be warned of that. The
danger of tradition and religious ceremony is here pictured. These
men set this up on their own. God didn't command it. What a
picture this is of us by nature. Isn't this what man does by nature?
Isn't this what our nature does? Our nature is so prone to this. We were sold under sin by nature,
carnal. We were from our birth set under
the rule of Satan, under the dominion and shackles of our
own sin. We are all together by nature
as an unclean thing. We are all filthy and full of
the grossest of sins. And just like these Jews, they
were unable to approach unto God in that temple. Why? They were separated from God.
We by nature were separated from God, just like these Jews were.
We were unable to worship God. And what is the best remedy that
a man could come up with when he's separated from God? The
best remedy that a man could produce by nature is outward
religious ceremony and tradition. That's the best. That is the
best a man could do. Works. What they were doing was
nothing but works religion They thought by their fasting that
they were pleasing God by an outward show of Religion these
Jews thought I am being now accepted with but you know this without
the shedding of blood There's what no remissionist thing fast
all they want to there was no blood being shed in that religious
ceremony But nothing was doing them no good. You can come up
with free will works religion, outward fasting, outward sacrifice,
outward carnal works and will worship. And you know what that's
missing? Repentance. There's no repentance
in those things. There's no repentance of their
sin. There's no true faith in those
things. Now Paul speaks to carnal religious
men. Why? Because he was one of them.
He knows what it's like to do that. He did that his whole life.
Go over to Colossians chapter 2. See what Paul says to these
type of people. What these Jews were doing. Over to Colossians chapter 2
and look at verse 20. Paul here is speaking to believers
now. This is something that we're capable of doing. You still got
that old nature in you? Me too. So we are to be warned
just like we warn the lost, we are to warn ourselves concerning
these religious ceremonies, traditions, and outward worship. Paul speaking
to believers, he said this, he said, Wherefore, if you be dead
with Christ, in other words, if you are in union with Christ,
If you died with Christ, if you're risen again with Christ, if you
are saved by the grace of God and born again, you're a believer. Listen, if you'd be dead with
Christ, what? You are free from the rudiments
of the world. What is that? That's the trying to obtain self-righteousness
by legal means, by law. by obedience, obtaining righteousness
by obedience. If you're dead with Christ, you
don't need that. You're free from that, from the rudiments
of the world. Why as though living, being born
again in this world, are you subject to ordinances, touch
not, taste not, handle not, which all perish with the using, but
after the commandments and doctrines of men. which things have indeed a show
of wisdom in will, worship, and humility, and negating of the
body, not in any honoring to the satisfying of the flesh."
That's the question to you who are living. You who are living.
Why in the world would you be subject to ordinances? Touch
not, taste not, handle not. Why? It just perishes with using.
It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what you eat or
what you drink. That's not the point. He said,
those are after the commandments of men. These Jews were doing
something God didn't command them. Some man come up and said,
hey, don't you think it's a good idea we fast? Another guy said,
well, man, yeah, that sounds right. That sounds reasonable.
We're over here, we're sad, why not fast? Surely God would excuse
us. Isn't that what Paul said? These things indeed have a show.
They're reasonable. False religion is reasonable
to a natural man. A show is reasonable. It's just
reasonable. Of wisdom, of will-worship, outward
piety and ceremony, humility, neglecting the body. That's what
they were doing. I like to eat, man. I think eating
is good. They were just fasting. They
were hurting themselves. But he said, listen, not to any
honor or satisfying of the flesh. What does he mean by that? He
means this, it's never enough. Why do you think they didn't
stop in the 5th month? They said, well, let's do it in the 7th
month. Well, the 5th and 7th month wasn't enough, let's do
it in the 10th month. You see, it never satisfies. Our religious
ceremony never satisfies you. How much less is it going to
satisfy God? It's not going to satisfy God.
You know why? God didn't ask for it. Why are you doing things
God didn't ask for? You see this in religion, don't
you? People say, well, they do this religious ceremony, they'll
come down, they'll start making signs of the cross, or they'll
bow down 10 times, and they'll bless the food 20 times, or whatever,
and say, okay, where's that found? Oh, no, it's not in there. You
know why it's not in there? God don't want it. God don't
want it. If it ain't in here, I don't
want to do it. God don't want your religious ceremony. These
self-righteous men, back in the text, these self-righteous men,
asking God this question. Listen, how long are we going
to have to do this? That's what they were asking.
They've been doing it for 70 years. Can you imagine doing
something that long? Seventy years they've been doing
this. They say, God, send these men down. They're temples, foundations,
lights. How much longer do we have to do this? Torture ourselves. Can we stop? Can we stop doing
this? It was a burden. All works religion,
listen, is a burden. Isn't it? It's a yoke. It's a
bondage. Listen, it's a bondage men put
on themselves. These false professors, they
can't endure it. God says, I didn't command it
in the first place. He said, you did it not for me.
You did it for yourselves. You did it for yourselves. Is that not true of man's religion?
It's exhausting. Man's religion is exhausting.
I was telling Cheryl just this morning about being a pastor.
Sometimes I want this message to really be effectual to you.
And sometimes I put a burden on myself that isn't mine. I
can't make you understand the Gospel. I want you to. And so
sometimes I even put that burden on myself. We put burdens on
ourselves too grievous to bear. It's not our work. It's not my
work to make this effectual. It's not my work to even make
you understand it. I want to be as simple as I can.
I want you to understand every word I say. But I can't make
you understand it. It's not my job. We don't put
burdens on ourselves. God says, I'm doing this What
do you do in such a situation? Leave it. Stop doing it. God
don't want it. Why are you doing it? Stop trying to please God by
things He does not require. Does that sound plain? Is that
simple? It should be simple, right? Do things He did command you. What do you do? Do the things
He did command you to do. Do the things He did command
you to do. What did He command us? Faith and love. Now there's
your commandments. Go do those. Why would you add to that? You've
got enough to do, don't you? You've got enough to follow. There are no works or determination
of the flesh that can ever deliver you from sin. These guys felt
guilty for their sin, and they were trying to show their contrition
by fasting. Well, God says that's not going
to deliver you from sin. What would? Faith, repentance,
and faith. That would have delivered them
from this. Repentance and faith. Love for God and love for their
brethren. Surely those are things that
God would have received. Not this fasting. None of those
things can deliver us from sin. How often do vain professors
confess this, I believe, I believe, I love God, I worship God, yet
they don't do the things God commands them, they do what they
have made up for themselves. do those things, they do those
things that He doesn't command you, and fail to keep those things
that are plainly revealed. You know, Jesus said this in
Luke 6, 46, He said, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I
command you. How could you do that? Oh, but
we're fasting. I didn't want that. What do I
want? I want you to believe on Me and
love the brethren. You see, do those things that
are commanded of you, not those things that are superimposed
by men. God doesn't honor those things.
God did not command these men to outward religious exercise,
but God did command every one of us, listen to this, be ye
holy even as I am holy. There's a commandment. How about
that one? How about that one? does demand that we be righteous, never by our own standards, but
according to His holy standard. So go back to your text and look
at this in verse 8 and 9. The word of Zechariah is saying,
listen, execute true judgment. Now he's telling them what they
should have been doing. What I've already commanded you
to do, this is what you should be. He said, execute true judgment. Show mercy and compassion to
every man his brother, to oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless,
nor the stranger, nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil
against your brother in your heart." You get that? Not only are they to execute
true justice, what is that? Be just. Be justified. That's what He's
commanding you. You've got to be justified. And
then when you're justified, guess what? All those other things
is what? Love your brother. You know what
He's saying that is? How are you justified except
through faith in Christ? You're not justified except by
faith in Christ. Then what do you do when you
are justified? You love the brethren. It's the same commandments He's
given here. And He said, listen, don't even imagine evil in your
heart against your brethren. Here God deals with the root
problem. Their failure to believe and to love their neighbor, to
love their brethren. You remember in the New Testament,
the Lord was approached by that lawyer. That lawyer came and
said, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus,
knowing that he wants to earn it by obedience, he says, what
says the law? How do you read that? He said,
well, you gotta love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your
mind, and your neighbor Joseph. His seminary professor would
have been ecstatic with that answer. It was a good answer. Jesus did not rebuke his answer.
His answer was spot on. Jesus said, you read it right.
Can you imagine the pride that filled that man's heart when
he heard that? He said, you're right. Boy, I'm right, I'm right. Okay, go do it. Go do it. And then this lawyer, in order
to justify himself, Lord, who is my neighbor? Ever ask yourself
why he didn't ask about loving God? Why did he ask about the
neighbor and not loving God? Listen. You can't see a man's
love for God unless you see how he loves his neighbor. If a man says he loves God and
doesn't love his neighbor, he doesn't love God. He doesn't
love God. That's why he had to justify
himself on that point, because that point he could be seen.
His faith could be seen. His love could be seen. I can't
see God. But you can see the neighbor,
whether he loves his neighbor or not. It's easy to say, I love God.
But to love for the brethren is what can be seen and measured.
You may say you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind,
but the proof, friend, is in the pudding. Do you love your
neighbors yourself? Have you ever spoken evil to
one another? Have you ever oppressed anyone? Our neighbor is not just those
that we love and care about, our kin. This is everyone, even
those that despise you, that hate you, that persecute you. If you want to obey this law,
that's what it means. You must love everyone as God
loves you. God says that you must not even
imagine evil in your heart. If we have, even outwardly, have
never outwardly done it, but inwardly we have sinned. And
so behold, the goodness and mercy of God commands His creatures
to perform. Are these commands of love and
kindness to His fellow man? Is that not reasonable? Seeing
how God gives liberty to all men? You breathing this morning?
Who did that? Do you deserve that? No, God
did that. He did out of kindness. So then,
how do you treat others? Well, you're supposed to treat
them. You're not holy, that's what's got to happen. You've
got to have those things. But because of our depraved nature,
this is impossible. Because we were born dead in
sin, and death passed upon all men, so that all have sinned,
this is an impossible command for us. Be ye holy, even as I
am holy. Be justified. Love your neighbor
even to the root of your heart. Have you done that? That's what
God commanded you. You did that? We must confess. Not even once. Not even once. With all our trying, we could
not do this because we are dead in trespasses and sins. And so then, man's natural response
to God's gracious command, look at what our response is to this
by nature in verse 11. But, what? They refused to hearken
and pulled away their shoulder. You ever had a kid do that to
you? You know, you're trying to stop them from doing something,
they jerk their shoulder away from you like, I won't have you
tell me what to do. That's what we've done to God. We pulled our shoulder. We stopped
our ears and we said, we will not hear. I will not hear you. They made their hearts as an
ardent stone, lest they should hear the law and the words of
the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets,
therefore they came Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord
of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass,
and that as he cried, they would not hear. So they cried, and
I would not hear, saith the Lord. But I scattered them with a whirlwind
among the nations, whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate
after them, and no man passed by. passed through or returned,
for they laid the pleasant land desolate." We had refused to
listen to God. We had pulled away our shoulder.
We by nature pull our shoulders and say in our, sticking our
face, fists in the face of God, I will not have you to tell me
what to do. You know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to set up a fast over here. You said be holy. I'm going to do this. It's what we've done by nature.
It's what we are by nature. We refuse to be holy. Impossible
for us. Religious men, by religion, we
give lip service. We're like that sun. And the
Lord mentions this in the New Testament. The Father says, go
out into the field. And we said, OK. And we didn't
go. Be holy. OK. We're not holy. We're not holy. By nature, we
put our fingers in our ears and we would not hear what God demands
of us. God's law demands perfect, sinless
obedience. But man's heart says, I will
give to God my own works. I will give to God my own way. And God must accept what I give.
That's what man says in his heart. Man says, surely God must accept
me. If God's love, He must accept
me. The problem is this. God says,
thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as yourself. God is nothing like us. He is
altogether different. Therefore, the wrath of God came
upon them, as the wrath of God came upon all of Adam's race,
and we became desolate, wasted. Like Jerusalem is pictured here,
we became wasted and desolate and empty, and nothing passed
through there. We were scattered like a whirlwind,
desolate. That heart that was once made
perfect by God in Adam became desolate. And that desolate heart
now has been passed to all of us. So then what's the evidence
of this? Look at man's religion. They're
giving to God what God doesn't want. And they're refusing to
give to God what God requires. Because we are desolate in our
hearts. Desolate of any means by which
to save ourselves And no amount of religious exercise can ever
make us holy before God. You can fast all you want to,
you can pray all you want to, you can cry all you want to. None of that will make you holy.
None of that will save you. Now then, what if we just close
the book? Is there any hope in those things?
I'm so thankful. God doesn't stop there. And that's
why we have to go into chapter 8 to find any hope. There's nothing
but rebuke and shame in their religion. They would not repent. They would not believe. They
created their own religion. God said, I don't want it. This
is the reason why you're captive to begin with. But I'm so thankful it doesn't
stop there. Look at verse 1 of chapter 8 again. Again. The word of the Lord of Hosts
came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I was jealous
for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with
great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Zion, and will
return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And
Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, a mountain of the Lord
of Hosts, the holy mountain. I am glad God didn't stop there
at the last with the desolation of Jerusalem, but pray to God
He gives us more. Not regarding our worthlessness
and our worthless religion, but regarding His grace. Remember
in Genesis chapter 3, what are those words that are just so
piercing to me as this? And He didn't. With those four words, Death,
sin, judgment came into the world. And I'm so glad for the next
words. But God's voice spoke. God came
walking in the cool of the day, saying unto him, Adam, where
art thou? Who sought who? Adam ran from God. But who was
running toward Adam? God. God was running toward Adam. Is that how He found you? You were running from God. You
had thrown your shoulder. You had already cast Him off.
You plugged up your ears. You would not hear Him. You would
not have Him rule over you. But what? A God. Again, the Word of the Lord came
to me. It said this. that God was jealous
for Zion. You know this word jealous here.
He says it, I think, four times here, three times. Jealous doesn't
mean an evil envy. What he's talking about is zeal.
Zealousness. As one that loves another. As one that loves another. He
said, I am zealous with love for Zion. In other words, all
I do is out of love for Zion. I love Zion. That's what God
says. He says, I'm zealous in love
for the salvation of Zion. He says it three times, expressing
His great desire to reveal to Zion His love for Zion. I like this in Psalm 45. You
don't have to go over it. I'm just going to read this first
part here, Psalm 45 and verse 1. It says, My heart is indicting
you, I speak things that I have made,
touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer." That's God speaking. He said, my heart's indicting
a good thing. You're desolate, you're a sinner, but my heart
is indicting a good matter. Not concerning you and your silly
little past, but my king, my son, my salvation. Oh, the great
grace of God is on display here that God loves Zion, which is
a picture of His elect church. Behold how He loved His people
even before they failed. Even before they failed, He had
loved them. He said, I have loved them. He
said, in love, having predestinated them under the adoption of children. Listen, by Jesus Christ, that's
how much I love you. by Jesus Christ for this one
thing, to bring you to myself. I did it for me. I did it for
me to bring you to me. Is that not love? Is that not
the greatest love? God wants you for himself. And
he says, I'm jealous about it. I'm jealous with great jealousy Oh, the hope of Adam's race is
found in these words, because God has before the world purposed
to save some. Some objects of His eternal,
immutable, sovereign love, as He calls them vessels of mercy,
prepared for under glory. God says that these elect, I
have loved them with an everlasting love, a jealous love, a zealous
love. Therefore, what with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee? Oh, you hear that? That God draws
you. What draws you to Christ? Was
it law? Was it fear? It was love. Now, He did take you. In that covenant of grace Ezekiel,
he said this I will take you and Then I will call you What'd
he do the kingdom of heaven? Before you know what he did he
violently took you He slew your enemy at Calvary
and he took you and Then what'd he do? He took you before you knew it,
right? He saved you before you knew it. And then, at the appointed
time, He drew you. With loving mercy, He draws us. He draws us with the cords of
a man, cords of love, with His loving kindness of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Behold, then, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, who have been
drawn by the Spirit of God, should be called the sons of God. We
who threw our shoulder at God, God said this, I loved you. You did not love me, but I loved
you. What's the evidence? What's the
evidence? Have you been drawn? Do you believe? Have you been justified by the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ? Have you been cleansed? Oh, you're sick. Do you love,
brethren? Yeah. You've been drawn. You've been drawn. Why have you
been drawn? Because He loves you. He loves
you with an everlasting love so zealous that He purposed and
planned our salvation to be accomplished by the only means possible. by
Jesus Christ. You know, we got this saying
in America, there must be some other way. You know, we can't
do something, we always got to find another way. Listen, there
ain't no other way. This was the only way. Only way, by Jesus Christ. In
verse 3 it says, look at this, Thus saith the Lord, I am returned
unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Zion. And Jerusalem
shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts, the holy mountain." He says, I am returned unto Zion. How blessedly was this fulfilled
when He actually returned unto Zion. When Jesus Christ came
in the flesh to save us, He did. He fulfilled this scripture.
I am returned unto Zion. He came unto His own. His own
received Him not, but as many as received Him. then gave you
the right to be called the sons of God. He came in the flesh
as the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. Behold,
the sons of Adam, you sons of Adam and sinners, how God purposed
and planned to save His people even by His Son. This blessed
man, this chosen man to be our representative. Scripture says,
for what the law could not do. Be ye holy as I am holy. What
the law could not do in that it was weak through your flesh. Is the law good? Is there anything
wrong with the law of God? No, what's wrong is us. Look
at the land. It's so beautiful. The law of
God is beautiful. Nothing wrong with that law.
I love that law now. I do. But I know this, I couldn't be
saved by it. I couldn't do it. It was weak
through the flesh, so what did God do? God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, what did He do?
He condemned sin. He judged my sin. Punished my
sin. Where? In the flesh. Not in my flesh. In His flesh. condemned sin in His flesh. Why?
That the law of God might be fulfilled in us. You got that? So that the righteousness of
God might be ours. That righteousness which God
prepared by Jesus Christ. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. So then we that believe what?
When that says, be ye holy even as I am holy, if you believe
in Christ, listen, you are as holy as God is holy. How? By your religious fasting. Does that make you holy? Does that make you holy? By your crying and your pleading,
does that make you holy? Christ made you holy. His blood. His righteousness makes us holy
as God is holy. That's why He said this. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. And listen, I get
this. He not only came in the flesh
and is in the midst of Jerusalem in that day. Listen, He is in
the midst of us today still. Where two or three are gathered
together, there I am. This is Jerusalem. Look, a bunch of Jews
right here. True Israelites, in whom there
is no guile. He dwells among us. Even more
personal. Does He not dwell in your heart? This text will fill when He comes
into your heart. He said this, I am returned unto
Zion. He said for a moment, I have
forsaken you. But when He came and saved us,
He didn't call it. Jerusalem shall be called what?
The city of truth. Jesus said, I am the way, what? Truth. This word here means faithfulness.
They shall be a faithful city. Faithful. Push the holy mountain. Mount
Zion. This is not talking about Sinai,
is it? I like that hymn, enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than light.
Madly I ran the sinful race, too proud to seek a hiding place. Thus the eternal counsel ran,
almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found what I had no hiding. Indignant justice stood in view,
to Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But just as cry with frowning
face, this mountain is no higher." Now what you found about Mount
Sinai? You're a little fast and you're a little religious ceremony.
Nothing. Worthless. But thank God we are
not come to that mount. Paul says in Hebrews chapter
12, we are not come to the mount that's touched with fire. We
have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God. The assembly,
a company of angels. Beautiful. We have come to Mount
Zion, the inhabitants of Mount Zion. He said this, look at this
in verse 4. He said, Lord of hosts, there
shall be old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man shall have a staff in his hand of very age, and
the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing.
Does that sound pleasant to you? You got some old people over
here and they're just watching these kids play in the streets. At this time, there was nobody
in the street. Jerusalem was desolate. God said
this, I'm going to fill it full of life. Isn't that what He did
for you? You were desolate and God made
you living. You have the wisdom of the elderly
and the joy of the youth. When God saves you, that's what
you're full of life. You're full of life. That's what God says
about mankind. Their inhabitants are full of
life because of the righteousness of Christ, because of the blood
of Christ that is atoned for our sin. Imagine this. That veil
of the temple is now rent. What does that mean? You have
full access to God. Before, you wouldn't hear God
and God said, I ain't listening to you. But now, because of Christ,
listen, you cry to me and I hear you. I'll answer you. I'll answer
you. You who have been a believer
any time at all, has that not been true? And you may have to
wait for an answer. I know you don't like waiting
for an answer, do you? I don't either. We have to wait for an
answer. When have you not been answered?
He said, I'll answer you. Why? You have access. This city
is full of life. The veil of the temple has been
written because of Jesus' atoning blood. This is the only means
by which Heaven will be inhabited. It's by Jesus Christ. Even now, Jesus Christ sits upon
His throne of glory, having been risen from the dead, having satisfied
the justice of God. Hear the words of Him who rules
all things after the counsel of His own will. Look at verse
7. It says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save
My people. Is there any confusion in that?
This is He who sits on the throne of heaven, who rules all things
after the counsel of His own will. He says this. This is a
promise. I will save my people. I don't care if they're from
the east and I don't care if they're from the west. I'm going
to save my people. I'm going to save my people from
the east country and from the west country. 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."
I will save My people. Listen, no matter where they
are, no matter what they've done, I don't care how vile they've
ever been, you can mark this down, God will
save them. And listen, He will not just
save them once. He will continually save them. You know the difference between
an apostate and a true believer? God. Is that the only difference? If left to ourselves, every one
of us would apostate. You can see a believer and an
apostate going down the same road. Somehow, the believer turns. The apostate
keeps going. What made the difference? God
came. God, how many times did that
happen to you? How many times have you fallen and God showed you your sin? Turn. Plead for mercy. And what do
you find? Mercy, don't you? You find grace. You find grace. You find mercy. T.S. sent me that text in Isaiah,
I think, I can't remember, is it 43? This week, he said, I
am thy God. I will help. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. That's why he says this about
us. He said, I will save my people from the east and west country.
I will bring them. What does he bring us? He brings us to
faith. He brings us to repentance. Did he do that once? Have you
been brought to faith once? Have you been brought to repentance
once? No, he constantly does that, doesn't he? Always bringing
us to faith. He said, I will bring them. 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, in faithfulness. There's that word again. He said,
you're going to be a faithful people. Why? I'm a faithful God.
In truth, I'm your God. You're My people. I will be faithful
to your God. He said, I'm going to do this
in righteousness. Because we've been robed with
the righteousness of Christ. Listen to this. God will never
forsake you. How can God forsake a righteous
man? Is that possible? Would God not be unjust to forsake
a righteous man? He would. God says, no, I'm not
going to forsake you because you are righteous. I made you
righteous. So I'm going to not forsake you
in truth because God has promised to save us. He cannot lie. And God is our God in righteousness
because He's imputed and imparted that righteousness by Jesus Christ. And so in verse 9-13, I'm going
to take the time to read this. I don't have the time. But if
you read verses 9-13, then he starts talking about what you
need to do. This is an exhortation now. He
said, look, I'm going to save you. When I draw you, you're
what? You're saved. So all of this stuff that I'm
commanding you to do after I've saved you is not for your salvation.
It's because of it. And when you do it, guess what?
It's acceptable. Your worship this morning. How
many of you were fully, intently worshiping God all the time?
In your heart, mind, and soul. Were you not struggling with
your flesh like I was? I'm still struggling. Doesn't matter. It's acceptable. Why? Because of Christ. God says this, He said, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, Let your heart be strong. Be strong
in what? In the work. In the work. What's your work? Faith and love. You realize that's our law, right?
We're not ethnomians. We're under law. Not the law
of Moses. Praise God. I'm free from that
law because that's the law of sin and death. That law can only
condemn me. Can't help me. Here's my law. Believe on the
Son of God. And then what? Believe on the
Son of God. And then what? Believe on the
Son of God. Of the brethren. And then what? Love the brethren. Then what? Love the brethren. How? As I've loved you. Forgive one another. How? As I forgive you. That's your
law. That's your commandment. And
I believe you go toward the end of that. He's going to say that
again. Look at verse 16. These are the things that you
shall do. Speak every man the truth to his neighbor. Execute
judgment and truth. In chapter 7, it's the same thing. Faith and love. Just being justified
by faith in Christ, and then what? Love your brethren. That's
what you should do. Now, why should you do it? For
salvation? No. No, you don't add any of
that to Christ. You do that because of Christ.
Because of His love. Remember, what constrains us
to do these things? Is it fear? Do you love me because
you're afraid of God? Do you believe because you're
afraid of God? No. The love of Christ constrains.
His love. You know, if I can't really love
you, you know why? Because I'm not seeing His love. His love
constrains me to love you. His mercy, His grace, His kindness.
We should be imitators of Him. Isn't that right? Be imitators
of God as dear children. That's what we should be doing.
Not for salvation, but because of it. So in conclusion of this,
we know this, that man's efforts of religion is vain. God doesn't
want your vain efforts. What He wants, He's already provided. Isn't that right? What's the command He gives His
servants? All is ready. Bring nothing. Don't you get
that robe your mama made. Don't get that robe your daddy
made. Don't get that robe you made. All is ready. Remember
the guy that brought his own? He got cast out. We come as you
are. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
while already. Don't bring your vain religion
into it. Why? God says this, I will save my
people. I will save my people. They don't
save themselves. I will save them. Have you been
drawn by him? Guess what? He will save you.
I pray God will bless this to you, give you comfort, encouragement.
Our Father in heaven, please bless the message according to
your sovereign will and grace. Open our hearts that we should
receive these things and not make up religion, Father, not
make up things to do, just do the things you commanded because
of the great zeal and love you've had for us. I'm so thankful for
your great love that it never changes. Our love fluctuates
and moves, but your love never changes. I pray, Father, that
you give us grace to believe and trust in Christ and love
one another as you commanded in Jesus' name.