to move away from the minor prophet
here, but the Lord again has opened this book to me, and I
am very encouraged by it. And I pray you will be too. Zechariah chapter 4, and we'll be looking at verses
1 through 10 this evening, and the purpose of this message tonight. The purpose of this message that
I preach to you tonight is the same purpose of our text here
in Zechariah, which is to encourage the saints. Encouragement of
the church. The title of the message is just
that, the encouragement of the church. Tonight, by the grace
of God, I pray that the Spirit of God would use the message
that is written for this people of Israel at this time, that
the Spirit of God may show you this is a message for you, His
church, for your encouragement. We all are often like Israel
here in this text. Remember, Israel returned from
captivity. They had built the wall, they
had built their houses, and yet they were discouraged. They had
laid the foundation of the temple and they were discouraged that
it was not as grand as the former temple. And so what did they
do? They began to throw up their
hands and quit. They didn't want to go on. They didn't want to go on. But
the Lord sent, if you read the Haggai, you'll read a message
of great rebuke. But here in Zechariah, which
is the contemporary of Haggai, you read such great encouragement,
encouragement for the saints. And we often, like Israel, become
distressed. We are often cast down. We are
opposed on every side by the world, the flesh, and the devil. As believers in Christ, we are
prone to all common evils and circumstances of man. Believers,
we're not immune from disease or sickness. We're not immune
from tragic events or accidents. We are not even immune from death. All of these things that happen
to man happen to us. And so these things, these become
discouragements to us. And yet the church, as believers
in Christ, we have even greater difficulties than those that
are common to man. We have such difficulties as
sin, Satan, and the world, which all oppose us. All are opposed
to the worship of God and our communion with God. Yet Jesus
says to us, the world shall hate you. Why? Because it hated me
before it hated you. But the encouragement also comes
in this, the Lord said, Be of good cheer, for I have overcome
the world. Are you oppressed by the world?
Are you oppressed by those around you? Be of good cheer, even though
they hate you. Satan, the prince of the power
of the air, is against us. He does always resist men from
coming to Christ. And when we find Christ, when
we find all our salvation in Him, when we come to Him, He
still casts His fiery darts at us to discourage us, to accuse
us before our God. He is continually tempting us
with sin, and when we do sin, He accuses our hearts of sin.
And yet it is the shield of faith that God has given us to quench
His fiery darts. Faith in Christ, who says, the
Prince of this world, is cast out. Jesus' final cry declares
to us, it is finished. And that cry has dealt a death
blow to our enemy and crushed his head. And we also must contend
with not only the world, the Satan, but we must also contend
with sin. Not just sin of others, but mainly
the sin of our own flesh. We are constantly bombarded by
our own wickedness. I read this today, that the natural
man within us is like a geyser that pours out stench and foul
filth. Constantly seeping through every
pore of our body, sin is mixed with all I do. For in my flesh,
the apostles said, dwelleth no good thing. We are daily aware of sin, and
yet our Lord encourages us, encourages your heart, believer, for He
has already put it away. Do you not see that every time
there's a discouragement, there's an encouragement in the Scriptures?
Do you not see that? David, remember when David sinned,
he committed adultery, and he killed Uriah the Hittite. And
when Nathan came to him and he said, Thou art the man, David, and the sword shall not depart
from your house. And God said, He'll take your
wives from you, your concubines from you. And two of his sons
were killed as a result of his sin. And so David in his grief
confessed his sin and said, I have sinned against God. And what
was the encouragement in this? There was a lot to discourage,
but there was encouragement even in this. He said the Lord hath
put away thy sin. He already hath put away thy
sin. Are you grieved because of your sins? Is the hand of
God's chastisement grievous on you? Confess your sins. Turn from your sins. And God
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Even by the blood
of Christ his son that has taken them away. Therefore, it is true
that all God's saints need encouragement. Is that right? Who here does
not need encouragement? Seeing we have such enemies,
seeing we have such great foes, we surely need great encouragement. Great encouragement. And this
can only come from the promises of God. The promises of God. If you remember Christian and
hopeful in Pilgrim's Progress, when they strayed from the king's
highway, they found themselves on the property of the giant
of despair. And you remember when he found
them that he drove them, he forced them into the castle, Doubting
Castle. And you read of how they were
daily beaten by the giant despair and held in that dark dungeon
and shut up with iron gates. Have you ever been in the Doubting
Castle? Have you ever been beat by despair? How did they escape? Well, if
you remember, It's actually in our text, if you look somewhere,
look in verse six down at the bottom, not by might nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord. How did they escape? Christian
always had a key about his neck. It was the promise, the key of
the promises of God that opened every door in the doubting castle
and gave them a way of escape. Even so, believer, every believer
has such a key to escape doubting castle. And which promises free
us from the beating of despair? Here in our text, in this chapter
of Zechariah before us, we have such a passage of encouragement.
You have such a passage of encouragement here. Let's read this. Look in
verse 1. And the angel talked with me,
came again, and waked me as a man that is waken out of his sleep. And he said unto me, What seest
thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all
of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps
thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the
top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one on the right side
of the bowl and the other on the left side thereof. Here in
this text, we have such great comfort of promise. The Lord
Jesus Christ comes to the prophet, and he shows him the vision of
a candlestick with seven lamps, and over the candlestick is a
bowl, and that which feeds the bowl of these seven lamps are
two olive trees. So here you have a candlestick. It has seven candles on it, on
the stick. Above the candlestick is a bowl. And over the bowl on either side
are two olive trees, feeding the bowl with the olives. And as you see it come out of
the bowl, seven pipes feed the seven lamps that give it continual
oil. Now this prophet, half asleep,
like most of us in doubt and fear, we're half asleep. That's
what happens to us. We become half asleep. And so
the angel gives him this great vision. And come to find out he has no
idea what it is. Look at that. He says that in
verse 4. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these things, my Lord?
And the angel that talked with me answered and said, knowest
thou not what these things be? I tell you the truth, when I
first read this, I completely identify with the prophet. I
had absolutely no idea what this meant. I had no idea. And so he This happens to us. Surely we can relate to this
when we study the Word of God. How often should we be full grown
and be able to understand and eat meat, but yet we revert back
to needing milk? How many times has the Word been
delivered to us, that God has sustained us, God strengthened
us, God supplied our every need, and yet when a new trouble comes,
how often do we doubt that He'll supply our needs? How often do
we doubt that He'll give us strength this time, or that He'll even
be willing to do so? We doubt our God often. Remember the whole purpose of
this prophecy, my friend. The whole purpose of this prophecy
is because of this sort of fear and unbelief in the prophet's
day was caused was the cause of his being sent and given this
vision. Now remember at the time that
Israel had set free, again, they were sent to rebuild the temple,
but because of the smallness of the temple, they were discouraged. Consider this. Israel was weak.
They had no army. They had just been delivered
from captivity to build this temple. They had no money. They
were poor. The only money they had was from
their captors to give to them. They were oppressed. You remember
Sanballat and Tobiah oppressed Nehemiah in the building of the
wall and that had continued. They were continually oppressed.
And now they were greatly discouraged in their labor. They stopped
working. They stopped building. What then should encourage them
to continue in their labor? Even that which encourages the
church today, the promises of God. the promises of God, which
are not meant only for this time, but also for us, who are the
true Israel of God. I tell you, the church today
is in much the same way as Israel was here. I cannot tell you how
many people have, because of the smallness of the church today,
have thrown up their hands and quit. How many today have thrown
up their hands and quit? Who think they don't matter.
They've quit. They said, well, the church is
not what it was. And so they throw up their hands
and quit. But this vision here is an encouragement
to us, to us who are believers in Christ of the church. First
of all, see this, the candlestick, what is it? What is this candlestick
here? This is a picture of the church
of Jesus Christ. All of the body of Christ, all
of the elect of the Father, all of the redeemed of the Son, and
all of those called by the Holy Spirit. Are you a believer in
Christ? then you are, my friend, the
golden candlestick. You and I make up this light
that is presented here. See this in the New Testament.
I want you to see that this is not just something that I pulled
out of thin air. Look at Revelation 1. In Revelation 1, when the Lord
Jesus appeared to John, In verse 12, John said, And I turned to
see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with
a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps with a golden
girdle. Now look down in verse 20. And
the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right
hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches. Those are the ministers of God. When I read that today, I was
struck to my heart. I am a star in the hand of my
God. Oh, how humbling that is! But
how true it is! It's true because He tells me
it's so. Now, you may not see it, and
I can't look in the mirror and see it, but I know this is so. I am in the hand of my God to
deliver to His church the gospel. And notice this, And the seven
candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." What
are the candlesticks? The candlestick is the church.
The church. Behold you saints of God who
gather together tonight. Behold thy Lord and Savior that
walks in the midst of us and holds us who are His preachers. You are His candlestick. You are His light in this dark
world. Consider what a great glory and
power is ours since Christ is now in our presence. Do you realize that not everything
that's called a church has any power or glory? Only those who
are His true church, who meet together, have both power and
glory because of the presence of Christ. He meets with us every
time we come in. Do you realize this building
is glorious? Not because of its construction,
but because of its saints that gather in it. Because Christ
meets with us every time. How many times has he ever absence
himself from this worship service? How many times? He has never
been absent. He is always present. He is still
walking among his golden candlesticks, his churches. Consider that when
we worship. And see, we are said to be made
all of gold. What does that mean? This speaks to you and me of
our value to God. Our value to God is pictured
as gold. Do you not read the scripture? I'll read it to you over in Psalm
135. Psalm 135 and verse four. It says, for the Lord hath chosen
Jacob unto himself, and listen, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. You are the treasure of God. You are his treasure. You are of such value and purity
in his eyes. We are by nature sinners, by
birth rebels by choice, and yet God has made us partakers of
the divine nature, Peter says. Partakers of the divine nature. This is the new creation that
God has created inside of us, which is created after true holiness. Is that not a precious promise?
Are you found doubting? Are you found discouraged? Are
you downcast? Behold, you are the golden candlestick
of your God. Isn't this what He purposed for
us, that we should be conformed to the image of His Son? Isn't
this what John says of us? As He is, so are we in this present
world. Oh, see, church of God, you who
are bought with the precious blood of Christ, listen, you
are the light of the world. You are. Not one day you shall
be. You are. You are the light of
the world. Stop waiting for someone or something
else to light the night of this generation. You're it. Do you hear me? You're it. You are the light of this world. I don't know if there'd be any
other in this city. I'm sure there are. I just don't know where. So I
know this, you are the light of this world. False religion can give no light. Politics can give no light. I'll tell you what, there are
a lot of people who are up in arms in politics right now, and
they're going to be all disappointed. Every one of them. I don't care
which one you elect. They'll all be disappointed.
Why? They can't give light. Only you
have light. Only you. We are the instrument of God,
the Holy Spirit, by which the gospel is preached and by which
sinners are saved. You, the church, stop waiting
for someone else. You're it. You're it. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. How else are they going to hear
except you be sent? And you are sent. You are sent. Does this make us fearful? It should. It's a very awesome
thing. It's an awesome privilege we
have. Are we fearful because we are small? Are you fearful
because we're small? Are you doubtful because we're
too poor? Surely we're too poor. We can't
reach people. Surely we're too weak. Yes, if you should fear. You
should fear if the source of our light were to flow from ourselves,
you should fear. If the source of our strength
would flow from this world, surely we would fail. Surely the gospel
would be extinguished if it were relying on our strength. But see, behold in this vision,
let us see that our light and the source of our light does
not come from us. It comes from God. See where it comes from. Behold,
on the side of the bowl there are two olive trees. And these olive trees overshadow
the bowl. And it's from the bowl that comes
down that feeds the lamp. Feeds the lamp. The oil to all
seven lamps are fed by the supply of these two trees as it goes
through the bowl and then from the bowl through the pipes to
the lamp. And behold, the source of our
light and heat comes from the triune God. Consider that the
oil that has lit our souls is the oil of grace. The oil of
grace. It was the grace of God the Father
who loved us and chose us to salvation. This is where our
light comes from. It comes from God who chose us. We didn't choose ourselves to
be the light of the world. We didn't put this upon ourselves. We received this as a grace of
our Father who has chosen us. And it is the grace of the Holy
Spirit that took the blood of Christ and applied it to our
hearts. And all of this comes by way
of the bowl. Who is the bowl? It is Christ. Notice in your text, look at
this. He says, And I looked, and behold, a candlestick, all
of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it. Who's above his church? It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mediator between us
and God, by which we receive all of the supplies of grace
that keep this light going. Again in Pilgrim's Progress,
you remember how there was a fire, and one man on one side was pouring
water on it, and he couldn't quench it! Why not? Because on the other side was
a man pouring oil! Why is it you've not been quenched?
Why is it that your faith still stands? Why is it you believe
and continue to believe? All because you are supplied
with the oil of grace and faith and love and peace and joy, meekness,
temperance, faith, all of the graces of God you are supplied
with. And it doesn't come from you.
It comes from God through Christ to us. He is the mediator of
the new covenant of grace, and the oil comes from Him, the bowl
of the candlestick. Therefore, believer, let us not
fear, let us not be distressed by our smallness of our size,
nor the weakness of our flesh, nor the poverty of our purse.
These should be no discouragements for the church of God. Consider not these things, but
rather consider the Lord from whom all blessings flow. Consider
where your strength comes from. The Lord said to Paul, My grace
is sufficient for thee. My grace. How is it that you'll continue
to keep going? Grace. That's how you started. That's
how you'll keep going. Grace. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the mediator between us and God, our intercessor who has himself
put away our sins forever. And as the olives drop into the
bowl, you see that olives must be crushed
in order to produce oil. And so then, where are they crushed?
How is it that the trees produce the olives? How is it that the
oil comes to us? They were crushed in the mediator. You see that as soon as all of
the graces and mercies of God fall into Christ, they were crushed,
and out comes the blood. Even so, Christ takes all of
the supplies of love and grace and power, and by His death makes
them effectual to us. Now go back to your text and
look at verse 6. Now, he didn't understand this vision, and I
pray that you do. Can you not see it? Can you not
see the beauty of it? You are the golden candlestick.
Christ is the bowl from which you receive all the blessings
of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Now, then he answered
and spake unto me, he said, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. Praise God for this promise that we have because we in ourselves
have no might. We have no power. Therefore,
the success of the church is not dependent upon our efforts,
but rather by the Holy Spirit of God Therefore, we as the church
of Christ, listen to me, shall prevail. We shall prevail. Look at this in verse 7. Go continue
on in verse 7. Who art thou, O great mountain? What is this mountain? This mountain
is our weakness. Our poverty is our weakness.
Our sin is our weakness. It is a great mountain in front
of us. When I told you you are the light
of the world, did not every excuse in the world rise up before you? Why is it that you can't be effectual? Why is it that this church cannot
be successful? I get that all the time. Mountains
rise up right in front of me. I feel discouraged every time
I turn around. How can a congregation so small
and poor do anything in this world? How can we do anything while
we are posed by the world, the flesh, and the devil? How shall we overcome such opposition,
such distress, and such despair? Notice this. Before Zerubbabel
thou shalt become a plain. Who is this Zerubbabel? He was
a governor that the Lord had chosen. You remember Joshua?
We spoke of him in chapter 3. He was the high priest. This
man Zerubbabel was the governor. These two men both picture Christ. Joshua pictured him as our high
priest. Zerubbabel pictures him as our
king. As our king. And notice this,
he says, before Zerubbabel, that is before the Lord Jesus Christ,
all our great mountains will be made flat. How is it that you shall succeed
as being the light of the world because of Christ? He will clear
our way of all difficulties. In Luke chapter 3, this is what
John the Baptist message was. Luke chapter 3 and verse 4, as
it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet saying the
voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord
make his path straight listen every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked
shall be made straight and the rough way shall be made smooth
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God How is it that the way is made
plain even by Jesus Christ? Shall the world or sin or Satan
oppose him in building his church? Who shall stand against him? Jesus himself said upon this
rock, speaking of himself, upon this rock I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus is
the foundation of His church. Consider that He was counted
a small thing. Wasn't our Savior counted a small
thing by men? The Jews counted Him too small
to be the Christ. Too small. He was too insignificant. Surely he couldn't bear the weight
of the church. And so he was disallowed by the
Jewish builders. And today, men still refuse Christ
to be enough. They still think him to be too
small. Therefore, the false church and
false religion, they try to add to his works and his blood. They add their own works. They see the building of the
foundation. As we declare the gospel, we
tell them that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Believe on Him.
And they look at that foundation, they say, well, that's too small.
So I've got to add to it. I've got to build on to it my
own works, my own will. We know the Scripture says that
If you were to add anything to Christ, He shall profit you nothing.
Galatians 5, verses 2 through 4, Christ shall profit you nothing.
How many today, how many profess churches who count the blood
of Christ as an unholy thing? I'm not saying that they count
the blood of Christ to be sinful. What they are counting it, that
word unholy in Hebrews 10 means common. They count the blood
of Christ as a common thing. It's for everybody. It's common. It's for everybody without exception. Only then to leave the foundation
of redemption upon man's will. Not so for us. Not so. Not so for the church of Jesus
Christ, for Jesus Christ is the foundation stone laid of God. Behold, I lay in sign for a stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Jesus is the stone that was set
it not by religious builders who rest their souls on shifting
and sinking sand. But Jesus Christ is the stone,
even the head of the corner. Upon whom do we rest all of our
salvation? Upon whom do we trust that He will build His church
and the gates of hell shall not... Do we trust He's built it on
Peter? Heavens, no! We know this, that the church
is built on Jesus Christ and nothing less but His blood and
righteousness. Now notice in verse 7. Who art
thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt be a plain. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace! Grace unto it! This headstone is not the foundation. This word headstone means the
last brick. The last brick. The last stone of the temple. Be encouraged, church of God.
Shine the gospel light, for this is the promise of God to us,
his church. that as sure as Christ is the
foundation stone, even so will Christ finish the building. Christ will finish this work. Christ is our foundation and
we are His building. Peter says that we are living
stone. Living stones that make up a
spiritual house. How is this church to be built?
By grace. By grace. The grace of election,
the grace of redemption, the grace of regeneration. And how
will this church be finished? The same way it began. Notice
he says grace, grace. Grace from the beginning and
grace to the end shall finish it. Finish this church. The church shall be finished
not by power, not by might, but by the Holy Spirit, by the grace
of God, who calls all of his elect people. As you shine your
light, as you are the light of the world, church, listen, shine
with confidence, not in you, but in your Savior. He will finish the work. There will not be one of His
people that will not be found of Him. This is the will of the Father,
that I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. Therefore, the whole church shall be saved, how? By grace. By grace. Behold, you church
of God, thy is irrevocable. Behold Him. Look at verse 9.
And the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house.
His hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the
day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. Look, you church, and behold
who's building this thing. Who's building this church? Who
has the plummet? You know what a plummet is? A
plummet was to measure, to make sure that the building was square.
To make sure that the building wouldn't fall from one side to
the other. Who's got the plummet? Not you,
not me. He's doing this. This is His
work. And it should be marvelous in
our eyes. It should not be despised. I can't tell you how many times
my heart looks at the smallness of the church and weeps. But
I should look to Christ and rejoice. I should look to Christ and rejoice,
not weep. This is His building. He's doing
the building. I'm just the light. just the
light. Behold, the plummet is in his
hands. His building shall not fall,
and every brick that he had purposed to place in this building will
be placed even to the last stone. Behold, you who are the light
of the world, the church Declare the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless
of our weakness, regardless of our poverty, and regardless of
our circumstances. It is our privilege and duty
to preach Christ. For our power and success comes
from the grace of God. Therefore, despise not the day
of small things." Remember, it's the small things God has purposed
to use. Isn't that what He said in 1
Corinthians? He said, has He not chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, the
base things of the world? Not many mighty, not many noble
are called. So what is the church made of?
Nobodies and nothings. That's what we are. That's who
we are. Nobody and nothing. And yet God has chosen us to
confound the things that are mighty. by preaching the gospel. Look back up in your text real
quick. I'll give you this. I didn't intend to. If you look back in verse 2,
it says that the bowl was on top and the seven lamps thereon
and seven pipes to the seven lamps. In other words, there
were pipes attached to the bowl that were then attached to the
lamps. You know who those are? Those are ministers of the gospel.
Matter of fact, that word pipes is the word lips. Lips. You are the light of the world. How? By witnessing, supporting
the gospel. This is what we do. This is all
we are. We are the light in the hands
of our master. You remember the woman who lost
the coin? You're the candle in the hand of the master to find
his coins, to find his lost coin, his precious treasure. That's
what we're here for. That's what we're here for, to
shine the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ We are His people. And He knows when and where to
find His people. You and I don't. Am I right? I don't know where to look. Neither
does the candle. Who knows? The master who holds
the candlestick, that's where who's looking. You're just a
shine. That's all our business is. And
listen, one day, One day, in one church service, there's going
to be one man preaching, and one, the last one, consider this,
the last one is going to believe, and it's all over. I was talking to Eric Richards
tonight, and I said, my heart and prayer to God is that you
tonight will be preaching, and the last one will be saved, and
we just all go home. Wouldn't that be great? All of
a sudden, boom, it's gone. We're gone. That's it. It'd be over. When that last
stone is laid, this whole thing is over. I tell you, that day is coming.
It's nearer now than it was when they wrote this. It's nearer
and nearer now, isn't it? One day, God will wrap this whole
thing up, but until then, until then, remember what you are. You are the candlestick. Remember
where your strength comes from. It comes from God, through Christ,
your mediator. Remember, it is not by your power,
not by your might, but by the Spirit of God that saves sinners. Is there a great mountain in
your way? Behold, Zerubbabel, thy Christ, thy Savior, he will
make it flat, because he has promised to build his church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against him. Now I'll
tell you what, you should be encouraged. I should be encouraged. I should
learn not to despise the day of small things. My Savior is truly victorious. And He will build His church.
And you know what? He'll use us to do it. Isn't
that something? Us? Look how small. Look how weak. That don't matter. That's what He uses. small and weak, so that he receives
all the glory for it. May God, the Holy Spirit, encourage
you. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.