chapter 7. We'll be looking at chapter 7 and chapter
8 the Lord willing this morning. And the title of the message
is Man's Vain Efforts and God's Sure Salvation. Man's Vain Efforts and God's
Sure Salvation. Now we read in verse 1, And it
came to pass in Zechariah chapter 7 in verse 1, 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
in Chrislew. when they had sent unto the house
of Shehazar and Rejimelech and their men to pray before the
Lord, and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the
Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should we weep in the
fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many
years? Now, at this time, Israel were
still captives in the nation of the Medes and the Persians.
And they were under the oppression of a heathen king and far removed
from the worship of God and the nation they once enjoyed. But
now then the 70 years had been accomplished, and God had established
again the foundation of the temple in Jerusalem. And so these men
come, these men send forth their ambassadors to the priests and
the prophets which were in the house of the Lord, and they were
asking this question. They said, should we weep in
the fifth month and fast? That word separating myself,
that means to fast. Should we weep and fast as we
have done so many, all these 70 years? He said, these men, they said,
you go up and you ask God this. You ask these prophets and priests,
should we keep oppressing ourselves, separating ourselves, sanctifying
ourselves in this fast? Now, the reason that they did
this in the fifth month was an anniversary. It was an anniversary
of the captivity, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
When King Nebuchadnezzar came in, it was in the fifth month,
and they set that aside. The Jews set that date aside
to fast. It was a date of mourning. You
know, I know this. We have Pearl Harbor. And the
president at that time said that this day will live in infamy.
And, you know, every time that date comes around, we think about
that and we mourn the loss of those men and stuff. This is
kind of similar, but it's a greater because it's a religious thing.
It was a pious thing for them to do. And they did it for 70
years. They kept this fast. A show of
mourning for the loss of the temple and their captivity. But
God responds to these Jews. He responds and reveals to all
that these fasts and mournings were not to Him. They were not to Him. Just as
their feasting and celebrating was not to Him, He said, Your
fasts weren't to Me. He said to these Jews, you did
these things not for me, but for yourselves. Look at that
in verse four. Then came the word of the Lord
unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to
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, when you
did drink, did you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? God did not institute these fasts,
but they were set up by religious men to make a religious show. They were set up by religious
men were not with a true heart of
repentance or love for God, not in confession of their sins,
but rather it became a traditional religious ceremony." What a picture
this is. What a picture this is of all
men by nature. All of us, listen, all of us
by nature have these same sinful traits. For we all are sold under sin,
and not spiritual, but carnal. We are from our birth set under
the rule and dominion of Satan, and shackled in our sins. This is how we come into the
world. We come into this world dead
and depraved, yet very religious. Man is a very religious creature. We are all together, the Scripture
says, as an unclean thing. You know, if you gather up all
of our religious works and you put them in a pile, you know
what God says? It's a pile of dung. That's our best. That's all we've got to offer.
You take all the religious ceremony, all the rituals of man, all the
good works of man, and you put them in a pile before God, and
God says they are unclean. We are all together, God says,
as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses,
Isaiah said, are as filthy rags. Yet what is the best remedy that
man can come up with, seeing we are such creatures of sin? What's the best remedy that man
can come up with is only carnal religion. That's the best that
man can come up with. Outward ceremony, traditional
religious exercise, in other words, works religion. That's
the best man can come up with. The best man can offer and come
up with is salvation by works and free will. By outward fasting. Isn't that
what these Jews were doing? They were outwardly fasting.
They seemed religious to everybody around them. But God didn't look
at that. He looked on the heart and He
saw nothing but sin. That's what God saw. And He said,
your religious exercise is worthless because it wasn't unto Me. You
did it for yourselves. How many people are religious
for themselves? They come to be seen of men.
God says, I don't care about that. I look on the heart. Paul speaks of these religious
men, these same carnal religious men in Colossians. Flip over
there. Hold your place. Hold your place in your text.
But flip over to Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. Paul speaks of these carnal religious
men, of which Paul was one of them. He had some experience
in this, didn't he? He had some experience in religion.
Before Paul's conversion, he was one of these men. Now, Paul
knew this too well, and so do we. He's speaking here
to professing believers in verse Chapter 2 and verse 20 says,
Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ... Wherefore, if you be
dead with Christ... Are you dead with Christ? If
you're a believer in Jesus Christ, listen, when He died, I died. When he suffered, I suffered.
When he endured the wrath of God for my sins, so did I in
him. And therefore, I died with him. So what authority then does the law possess
over me? None. I'm dead. He said if you're
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, that's the law.
Why as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances?
Touch not, taste not, handle not. which all perish with the
using, after the commandments and doctrines of men." He said,
why are you trying to revert back to law? If you're saved
by the grace of God, why would you revert back to the law? Don't
you know that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth? Which things have indeed a show
of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the
body, listen, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. In other words, what he's saying
is our religion never satisfies. You get that? If you got to come
in and do something, next week you're going to realize that's
not enough. And what do you got to do? You got to add something.
You got to do a little bit more. Why? Because the first thing
just ain't enough. It didn't satisfy. Works, religion, never
satisfied. I know that if you were to take,
and you can do this with any religion, but you take the tradition,
say, of the Catholic Church, you know how thick that thing
is? Man, I could probably fill this whole room with the documents
and traditions, and yet, look, here's God's Word. Why do I need
to fill the room with this? Why they have so much? Because
they've got to keep at it and it never finishes. The best religious
exercise, the most pious works, and humiliation of the flesh
are never satisfying. How much less then are those
things going to satisfy the justice of God? Listen, if man is not
satisfied with his own religious works, how do you suppose God
will be? How can God be satisfied with your stuff if you're not?
He's not going to be satisfied. If by the deeds of the law no
flesh shall be justified in His sight, then how in the world
do men supposed by tradition and religious exercise they'll
be justified? These self-righteous men, God
asks, He says, They ask this question to God. They're saying,
God, how long do I have to do this? They've been doing this
for 70 years. They've been fasting and, man,
they've been afflicting themselves and working really hard. And
you know what they got? They got tired. They got tired
of doing it. And they say, God, how much longer
do I have to do this? How much longer? When can I stop
this torturous religious thing? God said, I don't even know why
you started it. I didn't ask you to start it. I didn't command
you to do it. You did it because you wanted
to do it. You wanted to do it. I didn't
accept it 70 years ago. I'm not accepting it now. Why
are you doing it? Is man's religion not a yoke?
Isn't it a burden? Man's religion is a burden. Works
religion is a burden. God is saying, why are you doing
it? I didn't command you to walk
down the aisle, make the sign of the cross 27 times and kneel
down and say a chant. I didn't command you to do that.
Why are you doing it? Stop trying to please God by
obeying things or commandments of men. That's what God's telling
them. Stop it. I didn't tell you to
start it. You shouldn't have done it to
begin with. Why are you doing it now? God didn't command this
religious outward exercise, but God is going to tell them what
He did command. Look, go back. He said, I didn't
command that thing that you're doing, but here's what I did
command. Go back to your text and look
at verse 8. And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This is what he commanded.
Execute true judgment. Show mercy and compassions every
man to his brother. And oppress not the widow, nor
the fatherless, the stranger, neither nor the poor. And let
none of you imagine against his brother Let none of you imagine
evil against his brother in your heart." Here, God deals with the root
of their problem. Even their failure to love their
neighbor as their self. Now, in the New Testament, our
Lord Jesus is confronted by a lawyer, a man who knew the law real well.
And he says, Master, what must I do? Very important emphasis
on that word do. What must I do to inherit eternal
life? He wanted to earn it. And Jesus,
knowing his heart, said, What does the law say? You tell me
what the law says. And he said, The law says, Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your strength, with all your mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. I bet his his his Law instructor
was very proud That's a studious answer. That's a great answer
and matter of fact the Lord said that's a right answer. That's
a good answer Now then if you want to earn it you go do what
you just said You go love the Lord your God with all your heart
with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and
love your neighbor as yourself and If that's what you want to
do, earn heaven, here's God's commandment. Love God with all
your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. But the lawyer, willing to justify
himself, asked the question of Jesus, who is my neighbor? Now why doesn't the lawyer ask
anything about the love for God? Why doesn't he ask anything about
that? Because nobody can see that. You can fake that. You can say, I love the Lord
with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with
all my strength. I can say that. I just did. I just said it. Now how do you prove it? Love
thy neighbor as thyself. The proof is in the pudding,
isn't it? If you truly love God with all
your heart, guess what? You will love your neighbor as
yourself. How in the world could anyone
say they obeyed the commandment to love God if they've not loved
their fellow man? Now let me ask you, have you
ever spoken evil against anyone? You have not loved the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
strength, with all your mind. Our neighbor is not just those
we are close to, not just our kin, but Jesus reveals this.
They are even those that hate you. Did you get that? Hate you. Despise you. And would kill you. That's your neighbor. That's your neighbor. And God
says you couldn't, you're not even supposed to imagine an evil
thing. See, breaking the law is not
just outward deeds. People think that. They say,
well, I didn't murder anybody. Christ makes it very plain. If
you've hated or you've imagined an evil thing, you have murdered. That's breaking the law. You
have broken the law of God. God says you must not even imagine
this. Behold the goodness and mercy
of God's commandments that he has given to his creature. Is
it not just, when I say love your neighbors yourself, I mean,
doesn't, everybody knows that's what you're supposed to do. I
mean, you've got that in your own conscience. You know that
whether you are in the deepest jungle somewhere or you're in
the biggest city. It doesn't matter. You know you're
to love your neighbor as yourself. And yet what does man do? God tells him. Look, go to your
text. This is what we've done. The
same thing they did. They refused to hearken. and pulled away the shoulder
and stopped their ears that they should not hear. Yea, they made
their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law
and the words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in His Spirit
by the former prophets. Therefore came a great wrath
from the Lord of Hosts. You know, as a parent, I tell
my children, don't do this. Don't do this. And when they're
about to do it, I'll reach out my hand at times to stop them. You know what gets my goat? When
I get this. When they pull their, I'm stopping
you from doing something that's going to hurt you. And what do
you do? You throw your shoulder at me. Don't. You do that to God when
you break His commandments. You know what you are saying?
I hate you. That's what we said to God. Every
time we do it, every time we break His commandment, we say,
I hate you. I will not have you to tell me
what to do. That's what we do. That is the
core root problem of man, is sin. God's law is perfect. There's nothing wrong with His
law. The problem is us. The problem is our heart. It's cold and indifferent as
an adamant stone. And because of our depraved nature,
because of our sin nature, because we are born spiritually dead
in trespasses and sins, man's natural response to God's
gracious commands is utter rebellion and hatred. You know one thing
I didn't teach my kids and nobody taught me? To lie. How did I come about that information?
Because I was born dead in sin. I was born a sinner. Born a sinner. Religious man truly gives lip
service to the law of God. They are like a son who has been
commanded of his father to go into the field, and they say,
I'll go, but never does. Never does. We by nature put
our fingers in our ears, and we say, I will not hear the law
of God. I'll make up my own law. That's
what these guys were doing. They were making up their own
law. They said, I don't want to hear God's law. I'm going
to make up my own, and God, you'll accept what I give you. That's
what man says. God's law demands perfect, sinless
obedience, but man's heart says, I will give to God my own works.
I'll give to God what I can do, the best of my efforts, even
though they fall away short. Man says, surely God will accept
my best efforts. Listen, he will not. No. Now God would accept your best
if he was as wicked as you are. Then he would accept your best.
But God is holy. God is nothing like us. Therefore is the wrath of God
come upon all the sons of Adam's race. Because of our sins, He
has scattered us into an utter wasteland. that is barren and
cursed. That's what he says in verses
13 and 14. Therefore, it has come to pass
that as he cried, and they would not hear, so they cried, and
I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts. But I scattered them
with the whirlwind among the nations, whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after
them, that no man passed through nor returned, for they laid The
pleasant land desolate. Listen, God made you and me,
when He made Adam, He made a perfect man. What happened after Adam's
sin? The heart of man became a desolate
wasteland. Do you realize that you by nature
cannot generate one righteous deed? Not one! And yet God demands perfect obedience. And we have not given one ounce
of righteousness. We can't. We're desolate. Man's heart is desolate. Alright, what if I just close
the book right there? Okay, that's all God says. Go
home. What a sad condition that would
leave us. But look, there's another chapter.
There's another one. There's another word from God.
Listen, this is the word of hope. Man's religion is vain. That's
chapter 7. Oh, but here it is, God's sure
salvation. Does anybody need a sure salvation?
Because I'll tell you, there is nothing sure in this old man. There's nothing sure because
I have no righteousness in myself. I need something that is a sure
thing. And here it is, God's sure salvation. Verse 1, Again the word of the
Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
Listen, I was jealous for Zion, with great jealousy. And I was
jealous for her with great fury. This is the word of the Lord
came unto the prophet again. And this word jealous is not
like an evil jealousy. We get jealous. But that's not
the jealousy that this word institutes. It means an affection. It's a
heart-wrenching affection for a loved one that is distant from
you. And he says, I am zealous for
Zion. I'm zealous. This is a sincere heart of God
to be zealous for the salvation of Zion. And God expresses it
not just once, but three times in the same verse. He says, I'm
jealous for Zion with great jealousy. I'm jealous for her in great
fury. Oh, the grace of God is on display
here. God loved Zion. You know, that's not that little
place over there in Jerusalem. That is a picture of God's church,
of God's elect, God's people. Behold how God has loved His
people even before the foundation of the world. You know, God doesn't
never start to do something. You know that? He never started
to love me. If He started, that means that
He didn't do it before and He did it now. That means He changed.
God cannot change. And so therefore, all that God
has been, God is now. And God has loved me and His
church from before the foundation of the world. And He says to
His church, He said, I am zealous for your salvation. I'm set for
it. Scripture says in Ephesians 1,
"...in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself." Oh, there is hope for Adam's
race even because before the world began, God purposed to
save some. God purposed. God purposed to
save some of Adam's race. He sets some of them as objects
of eternal, immutable, sovereign love, as vessels of mercy. And God says of these elect,
I have loved thee. In Jeremiah chapter 31, I believe
verse 3, God says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Did you hear that? That God's love is everlasting. It never ends. So then, all those
that God loved before the foundation of the world, He loves in time.
And He will always love them in eternity. But how does God display this
love? How do I know if God loves me? He says, therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn... Have you been drawn? This is
how God displays it. He draws us by the gospel of
His Son. God's loving display of grace. He draws us, not with legalistic
tradition, but with loving kindness, even the display of His love
when He sent His Son to die in our stead. God says to Zion,
I'm zealous for your salvation, I'm zealous for your salvation,
I purposed it, I planned it, and I'm going to send my Son
to accomplish it. In verse 3, he said, Thus saith
the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem. Is that not a beautiful picture
of what he was going to do when he came? He said, I'm going to
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. When the Son of God condescended
to be made man, the Scripture says, He dwelt among us. God was manifest in the flesh. How blessedly is this fulfilled
when Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, came down in the flesh. And John says, we beheld His
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Behold, you sons of Adam's race. Behold how God purposed to save
His people, even by His Son, Jesus Christ. This man has God
chosen and predestinated to be the representative of all His
people. Listen, Adam was a representative
man, and when our father, your father, and my father sinned,
we sinned in Him, and we died in Him even before we had ever
been born. That's what the Scripture tells
us in Romans 5. But there is another representative man. There
is another one, a second Adam, which truly was chosen first.
Jesus Christ. And He has come down to earth
to be a representative man for all of the church of God. The Scripture calls Him in verse
3, it says, And the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy
mountain, The holy mountain of God, we
could not approach. Remember that first mountain?
What was the first mountain? It was Sinai, wasn't it? In Sinai,
there's the law being given, God coming down on that mountain.
And you know what he said? He said, if you touch the mountain,
you would die. The songwriter said, Indignant
justice stood in view, To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice
cried with frowning face, This mountain is no hiding place. There's no hiding place in the
law. There's no hope in the law. But there's another mountain.
Mount Zion. Mount Zion. which is in contrast
to this. And Mount Zion, listen, it's
not desolate. Verse 4, He said, There shall
be yet old men and old women to dwell in the streets of Jerusalem,
and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And
the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing
in the streets thereof. Picture Jerusalem, how it was
desolate, how it was barren because of the sin of the Jews. But God says, I'll inhabit it.
You know what this is a picture of? The picture of our heart.
That heart that was desolate. When we come to faith in Jesus
Christ, that heart is filled with righteousness and joy and
peace and everlasting life. That's what happens when God
inhabits the heart. Gives us a new heart. And even now, Jesus is setting
up His throne in the hearts of His people. And listen what He
says. Listen how sure that His Word
is. Now this is God's Word. Just as sure as He said their
religion's vain, Man's religious efforts vain. I've given you
my law. You've rebelled against my law.
But here's a hope. I have a people. I've sent my
son to die for them. And now I am calling them. And
look what he says in verse 7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Behold, I will save my people. Now is that any lingering doubt
in that sentence? Is there any doubt, does the
Lord leave any room or measure of doubt about His salvation? No. He said, I will. And when God says, I will, He
shall. Who's going to stop Him from
doing His will? Nobody and nothing. He said,
I will save my people, where? From the east and from the west.
He says in Isaiah, I'll say to the north, give up, and the south,
keep not back. Bring my people from afar. This
is what the Gospel is sent out for. We sent out a message. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And this message comes in power,
not from the preacher, but from the Spirit of God that comes
and dwells, penetrates the dead nature, and gives a man life.
And life and faith and hope and love for God that was not there
before. This is the grace of God. He
said, I will save my people. I'll save them wherever they're
found. No matter how far they've gone. No matter where they've
been. No matter how deep in sin they are. No matter how moral
they think they are. I will expose their sin. I will
cause them to confess. And they shall believe on My
Son. This is a sure gospel. My brother, we have talked many
times about you coming in and hearing the gospel in this place.
And you say, what if? What if? There was no what if! God said He would call you before
He called you. And when He called you, that
was evidence of what He said He would do. It's fulfillment. He said, I will save my people.
I'll bring them in. 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." Listen, in truth, this is not a lie. God is my God and I am His Son
in truth, because God who promised it cannot lie. How do I know
I'm a son of God? God said it. I have no right
to say it. I have no merit in me to say
it. God said it. There's my authority. There's my hope. There's my confidence. And there rests my faith in Jesus
Christ, who has accomplished all my righteousness, all my
wisdom, all my sanctification, all my redemption. And you know
what? He will bring me to Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem. Who will stop my God or undo
what He's done for me? Do you realize for me to be lost,
God would, of necessity, have to dethrone His Son? And that
just ain't gonna happen. You see how sure this is? This
thing is set. This thing is unmovable. This
thing was purposed before you. You just now understand it. What then will stop it from happening? Nothing and nobody. You see how pathetic man's religion
is? God said, I didn't even ask you
for all that. And there you did. You went out and did it anyway.
Putting a burden on yourself for nothing. You couldn't obey
my law. You didn't obey my law. But look, I have a people. I
sent my son to redeem them. And I will save every single
one of them. And not one shall fail. That, my friends, is a firm foundation,
one that I rest my very soul upon, even the promise of God. And if you've not, why would
you not? Why would you not? Is that not
the most wonderful thing you'd ever heard? It is if you're a
sinner in need of salvation. most wonderful thing in the world,
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, all my hope. I pray God will bless this day.