Zechariah chapter 13. And I'm
going to do the same thing I did with Rose today. I'm going to
read this entire chapter. It's a very quick chapter. And
it has so much of glory to our Savior as we heard in that hymn. In the book of Zechariah chapter
13. Now, an interesting thing about the book of Zechariah,
there are 13 times in chapters 1 through 13 that
the three words that we find in this verse are used in that
day. There are seven times in chapter 14 alone. So it has some
importance. But in that day, there shall
be a fountain open to the house of David. And for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, this is the reason it shall be opened. It is of
the Lord. He has purposed it that he would
save his people from their sins this fountain is open for sin
and for uncleanliness and it shall come to pass in that day
saith the lord of hosts that i will cut off the names of the
idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembered and
also i will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass
out of the land. As we looked at this some time
ago, we saw that this is some of the beautiful results that
God grants to His children. And when He saves them by His
grace, He does so much for us. And part of it, He takes this
from the worshiping of dumb idols to worship the true and the living
God. That is true repentance to be turned to the Lord. And
it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, then
his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him,
Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of
the Lord. And his father and his mother
that begat him shall trust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the prophet shall be ashamed, every one of his
vision When he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear a rough
garment to deceive." They're not going to wear identifying
marks and say, I'm the preacher, I'm the preacher. I'm a sinner
saved by grace. And it is so true in visiting
among grace preachers to find out that most of them had some
sort of religious orientation or even pastoring, before pastoring,
I use that in quotes, before the Lord saved them. And it strikes
us at times about the lies we shared about God. But the Lord
has forgiven. He just keeps us humble. I remember
Pastor Henry Mahan shared with me, and I have two or three pictures
of my hometown in my picture, never forget where you came from.
Now, he didn't mean that. He meant never forget you are
a saved sinner. And it shall come to pass in
that day the prophets that shall be ashamed, every one of his
vision when he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear a rough
garment to deceive, but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a
husbandman, for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thy hands?
Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house
of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord." You
know, there's a passage of scripture that says that there will be
a child born and a son given. We have that kind of connotation
so many times about the Lord, that He is not only man, but
He's God. He's the God-man. There is one
mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. And even in those names, that
title, Jesus, Savior, and Christ Jesus is the anointed one. God
come in the flesh. And then it tells us here, it
goes on, and smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered,
and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. And it shall
come to pass, All the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall
be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I
will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them
as silver is refined, and I will try them as gold is tried. They
shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, it is
my people, and they shall say, the Lord is my God. Isn't that a blessing? This passage of scripture in
verse 8 has a parallel passage in the book of 2 Samuel. Would you turn with me to 2 Samuel
chapter 8? In 2 Samuel chapter 8, there's
an incident in the life of David with regard to Samoabites. in
the book of 2 Samuel 8, verses 1 and 2. And I don't know all the reason
why the Moabites were having a tiff with Israel, but David
went and it tells us, and after this, it came to pass that David
smote the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Methagammon
out of the hand of the Philistines. Now, as we look at David, he's
just so typical, so pictorial of the victories that our savior
has won over every one of our enemies. David is led to do this,
and he just does it. And God was with him, yes. He
was a king, yes. He's a historical figure, yes.
But he is a picture and a type and a shadow of our Savior, the
Lord Jesus. And then it tells us in verse
two, and Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down
to the ground, even the two lines measured. He put to death. Now he divided the surviving
army of, or peoples of Moab into three groups, and he caused two
of them to lie down on the ground, and this is what happened to
them. And then it tells us in the next part, and with one full
line to keep alive, so the Moabites became David's servants and brought
gifts." Now that's so typical of what the church, we are, we're
only survivors because of the grace of God. We're only chosen
because of the grace of God. We're only in the Lamb's Book
of Life because of the grace of God. Nothing that we have
ever done ever got God's attention except our sin. And as a result
of that, he purposed to save a people before the foundation
of the world. So David is a picture here and these Moabites are a
picture. They're a picture of those without Christ and they
are a picture of those with Christ. And what do they become? Became
David's servants. And what does the church become? Christ's servants. And bring
Him gifts. What's our gifts? Gifts of thanksgiving,
gifts of praise, gifts of honor, gifts of exaltation. Talking
to somebody the other day, I said, the Lord loves to hear His word
brought up in prayer. And when we were going through
the Psalms, it struck me how often the Psalms are the words
that we would like to say, but He has them written down for
us. And when we use them, they're just honored to the Lord. Well,
let's look at these two verses of Scripture that are brought
out. There shall be a sifting in the church, not a sifting
of the church, but in the church. God never brings these trials
to prove people to be His people. He brings these things upon the
visible church to cause those who are not believers to be identified. He knows those that are his.
He's not trying to discover them, but he is going to bring these
things upon the visible church so that they might be separated
out. So let's look at a few of these things. You know, in the
book of Genesis chapter six, would you turn there with me
as the Lord is dealing with Noah. Genesis chapter 6. Now except
for the grace of God, Noah would have been mentioned in this piece
of scripture. By nature he is, by grace he
is made a servant of the king. In Genesis chapter 6 and verse
13, it says, God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come
before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and
behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Now we follow this
out and we find that Noah, his wife, three sons, and their wives
are the only ones that enter into that ark. And they're only
ones delivered from this great deluge, this judgment that comes
upon the face of the earth. So he's not trying to prove who
is, he is demonstrating who isn't in the kingdom. Who isn't? These,
all these lost people that are, they were, they were put in the
line to die. They're not put in the line to
live. And that's what the Lord did.
In the Book of Malachi, travel again across the Old Testament
into the Book of Malachi, and we have these words recorded
for us. knows those that are his. He is not trying to prove
who are his and who are not. He knows them. But he is demonstrating
those who are not will be identified. And here, in the book of Malachi
chapter 3, Malachi chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, it says, Behold,
I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. and
the lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even
the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in behold he
shall come saith the lord of hosts but who may abide the day
of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like
a refiner's fire and fuller soap who's gonna stand only those
made righteous by the righteousness of Christ are the ones who are
going to stand. They will have no effect on them, but it will
certainly have effect on others. And in that same book in chapter
4, book of Malachi chapter 4 and verses 1 through 3, we read this,
for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven in all
the proud, all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day
that cometh shall burn them up saith the lord of hosts that
it shall leave them neither root nor branch but unto you that
fear the name shall fear my name shall the son of righteousness
arise and look at this with healing in his wings healing in his wing. This is the great physician. He's the healer of all our maladies,
all of our sin. And it goes on to tell us, he
shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall. The righteous,
sometimes I take this too literally, the righteous shall be fat. You know, and he's meaning that
they shall have the picture of what we see in those sacrifices,
that fat that was offered, how it was part of the blessing.
And so those righteous shall have the blessings of the Lord.
And then in verse three, and ye shall tread down the wicked,
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. What
produces that? We don't actually get into a
tiff with people and stomp on them. The gospel does that for
us. The gospel separates. The gospel draws in the elect.
It separates those who are not elect. It makes a difference.
To some, it is the life unto life, and to some, it's death
unto death. We find that example. Stephen didn't preach any different
than those 12 on the day of Pentecost. Stephen preached the gospel.
He went to the Old Testament. Well, that's where Peter and
the rest of them went to, too. Went back there and Stephen is
stoned to death because they were so irritated at the gospel,
at the truth of the gospel. And then on the day of Pentecost,
preached the gospel. They, like everyone else, what
must we do? And there wasn't any must do
in the message. It's all been done. Grace. All
right. As we follow this through, we
find that in the book of Matthew chapter 3. The book of Matthew
chapter 3, another passage of scripture that the Lord has used
to share with us what is brought out here in the book of Zechariah
chapter 13 verses 8 and 9. that there will be a refining,
there will be a difference, there will be the Lord taking care
of business here. And in Matthew chapter 3, we
read these words, verse 10 and 11, the scripture says, and now
also Now also is the axe laid at the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire." Not a word is said here about the
sheep. Not a word is said about the
elect. That's not what this trial is about. It's not what the refining
is about. It is about to demonstrate who
is not they will soon identify themselves they went out from
us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they
would have continued with us now that doesn't mean that someone
moves to somewhere else and goes to church there that that's what
that means it means people who do not want the gospel will leave
we pray that god in time will convince them because he's the
only convincer that it is the truth, that it is the gospel,
that Christ is the only Savior, and that he will save them. In verse 11, I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. God's wonderful salvation
is typified here. To have that spiritual baptism
is another statement about the new birth. In the book of Matthew
chapter 23, Matthew chapter 23, as we find this message goes
throughout the Scriptures, Matthew chapter 23 verse 35. And we have
to say, we have to say that the trial
is for the discovery of nominal Christians from the elect, true
believers. These trials are never made by
way of discovery, whether they are elect or not. The Lord knows
those that are His. He's not trying to discover who
is His. That's what's taught so often.
He's trying to discover who are His. He knows those that are
His. He will bring them the gospel.
He'll bring them the new birth. He'll bring them repentance.
He'll bring them faith. He will bring every necessity
and bless them with every spiritual blessing. So here we find this
again in the book of Matthew chapter 23 and in verse 35 it
says that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon
the earth from the blood of righteous Abel until the blood of Zechariah
righteous Abel. Does that mean he was justified?
I think so. The blood of Zacharias, the son
of Barqaius, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar, verily
I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, how often would I have gathered thee, thy children together,
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. And ye would
not. Now that's the natural response. We're thankful that the Lord
in His providence brings the gathering in. He brings all that
purpose put together about saving His people from their sins. Turn
with me, if you would, over to the book of Revelation. We're
going to read a short section out of chapter 2 and a short
section out of chapter 3. The book of Revelation chapter
2 and verse 8. unto the angel of the church
of Smyrna." Now, when we went through this, and I have certainly
not changed my mind, that angel is the pastor of that church.
He's the messenger. Now, church may have angels over
them, but there is a messenger. That's what that word means.
He's the pastor. He's responsible. And in a lot of ways, what was
going on in those churches is the responsibility of the pastor's
preaching. He has failed in his preaching. Preaching grace, preaching Christ
keeps us straight from that error. Always, I cannot think of a heresy
listed in the scriptures that was not a wrong view of Christ. I just can't think of it. A wrong
view of Christ. All right, here, unto the angel
of the church of Smyrna, write, these things saith the first
and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works. and tribulation and poverty,
but thou art rich." There's no greater statement found with
regard to a church or to a people. than to know their poverty, but
to find out that they are rich." Riches in the grace of God. That
is a blessing. Goes on to tell us, and I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews. They say they
are believers. This is what Paul brings up in
the book of Romans. Not all Israel is of Israel. Here is a very good statement
about that. They say they are Jews and are
not, but are of Look at that. Synagogue of Satan. Fear none
of those things that thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye
shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto the death,
and I'll give you the crown of life. I'm not trying to discover
if you are. But because you are, you will
have some of this happen to you. but those who are of the synagogue
of Satan, as it's brought out there. And in chapter 3 of the
book of Revelation, the same thought is brought up with another
one of the churches, chapter 3, verse 7. The scriptures share
here. And the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy, he that
is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and
no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. It's an interesting
study to find how the Lord reveals Himself to these seven churches.
And if you put them all together, it's kind of like that superscription
over the cross. It's all put together. This is
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. One gospel puts this,
another gospel puts this, another gospel puts this. And those Jews
came to Pilate and said, please say that he said that. And he
said, what I have written, I have written. Well, that's so true
here as we go through these first two or three chapters of the
book of Revelation. I know thy works. Behold, I have
set before thee an open door and no man can shut it. I love
the sovereign grace of God. We don't have that business to
tend to. We're not opening doors and we're
not closing doors. It's the Lord. For thou hast
a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my
name. Behold, I will make them of the
synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but
do lie. Behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet. And I know that I, that and to
know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word
of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation
which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell
upon the earth." So the Lord brings out here in these two
passages about these churches that had honored God in the preaching
of the gospel. He said, this is what is happening.
You're going to see a bunch of people that say they are Jews,
but they are not. They may be among you, but they're
not of you. They may say they are participating
in the grace of God, but they don't know the first thing about
the grace of God. The Lord knows those that are
His. He has promised that He will take care of them. It tells
us In the book of Nahum, the Lord is good, a stronghold in
the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust him. You know,
there's a number of other examples found in the scripture, and we're
going to find two of them in the book of Numbers. This Sunday,
we'll find one of them. It won't be very long, we'll
find another one of them. And that is when the children
of Israel come up to the promised land. You know, 40 days. They were in their spine up.
The Lord gave Moses the directions for them to go, and they spied
out the land. And when they came back, 10 of them had an evil
report. That's what the Bible says. And
two of them had a good report. And one of them, Caleb, tried
his best to convince the others. You know, we can't convince anybody
of anything. And Caleb couldn't either. And they demonstrated that they
did not know God. Two of them did. They demonstrated
that they did know God. There's a lot of pressure put
on them. Can you imagine? As they're talking on the way
back, we don't have that conversation recorded, but I'm sure they were
going through a conversation. Joshua and Caleb says, wow, what
a trip. What a beautiful land. We'll
be here soon. Won't take much. God will overcome them. We'll
have it taken care of. And the others are going, hmm.
I don't know about that. Look at those guys over there.
They're giants. I don't know if God can take
care of them at all. Well, they got back and they
said that. 38 more years. They've already
spent two. 38 more years they're going to
spend in the wilderness. And this generation died off
because of unbelief. Now God did not have to prove
who was his. He demonstrated who was not his. And that's going to be a telling
sign throughout the scriptures. Jesus said with regard to those
on the left-hand side, I never knew you. But to those on the
right-hand side, we have him mentioned in the book of Timothy,
The Lord knoweth them that are his. He protects them. He's with
them. He's not proving anything when
he puts them through a trial. He's not trying to prove anything.
I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. Now another instance
we're going to come up is there's a cousin, a first cousin of Moses
and Aaron and Miriam. His name is Korah. And he comes
up and you know what? He has been talking among the
group. Because he brings a whole lot
of people with him that have the same feeling about Moses
and Aaron. The same feeling. And he has
stirred him up. He's been talking behind him,
and he doesn't know a thing about the gospel. If he'd have known
something about the gospel, he'd have been honoring God. He'd
have been praising God. He'd have been declaring God.
He'd have been declaring the righteousness of Christ. He'd
have been honoring. But he doesn't know the first
thing about grace, and he brings this up. Well, in the finality
of it, God did something, and Moses said, God's going to do
something he's never done before. The earth opened up. and swallowed
them into the pit. And it closed back up. Now, if
you follow that, and we will, you find the rest of the people
say, let's get away from here in case it happens again. Let's
get out of here. So the Lord does this throughout
the scriptures. Now, how does the Lord refine? How does the Lord refine? How
does the Lord identify to us today? I've just brought up three
or four things that I want to go over, and one of them is the
Lord asking a question. Would you turn with me to Matthew
22? How does the Lord identify his
people, make them known to others? How do we know when we're sitting
down with someone who says they believe grace, where do we start?
Well, sometimes I just start by saying, when did you hear
the gospel? Everybody's saved, but when did
you hear the gospel? Now, you're going to get different
answers. And I have. And some people just absolutely
say, you know, I heard the gospel. I wasn't paying any attention.
God slapped me alongside the head. I heard a man say, God
trying to save people. And that shook up a young man.
God trying. God never tried to do anything.
God has always done what He pleases to do. Well, look here in Matthew
chapter 22, if you would. Matthew chapter 22. Matthew 22 and verse 41. Now, He's asking a question.
And this sometimes is just... How does He refine? How does
He reveal? He asks this question. Matthew
chapter 22, verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Now, I would give everyone up
here a $20 bill if the next person who calls me about what this
church believes, they ask that question. I have never had it happen yet. Everything else. Do you sing
the old songs? That's been two or three times.
It isn't enough. Old songs are not enough. What
think ye of Christ? And he goes on to say, whose
son is he? They say unto him, the son of
David. What a question the Lord asked them. And that question
continues to today. What think ye of Christ? Well, if He's ours, He is my
Savior. He's my Lord. I'm a very poor
subject, and I'm a very poor servant, but He is my Lord. Well,
sometimes it's that. But thank you, Christ. Well,
turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ephesians chapter
4, because another issue comes up here. Ephesians chapter 4,
and in verse 14, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. This toss to and fro by every
wind of doctrine is everything that comes along that people
try to influence the church with and the church is not influenced. Now for a moment we might turn
and say, you know, I wonder. And it doesn't ring true. The
world is looking for every, religious world is looking for every wind
of doctrine, every new thing. And we find that the Lord shared
that, and the Apostle Paul shared that, and the rest of the apostles
shared that about talking to people. They're always ever learning
and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They're always
looking for something new. They're looking for some new
knowledge. They're looking for this. And when new doctrine comes
along, It better be new to us and not new. It may be new to us, but it better
not be new, because there is no new doctrine. There's no new
teaching. There is the truth of the gospel,
and it has never changed. The teaching of God has never
changed over time, and it never will change over time. So we're
not looking for a new doctrine. But we notice that people, we
thought, knew something about the gospel being turned by different
things. They create new ideas about the
Lord Jesus Christ. They create new doctrine about
Christ. And you wonder, what are they
trying to prove? What do they want by that? I hope and pray I can just be
settled at the cross with Christ, and this stuff just go off, go
off. Because it has never helped the
church. All of this stuff has never helped
the church. When we find out that the Lord Jesus Christ talked
about baptism, it wasn't a century. And it had been turned into,
this is the way people are saved. And so we're going to have to
we're gonna have to take care of the children and it just goes
from bad to worse. People are not saved by baptism.
People are not saved by the Lord's Supper. They were not saved by
the Passover. So it's all this every wind of
doctrine that comes along and it's new stuff, you find out
it's just old stuff. Some of this new stuff that's
coming along recently, I talked to Brother Gary, I said, where
in the world did this stuff come from? And what's the purpose
of it? He says, well, It was taught over in England before
it got here. And somebody was over there and heard it and brought
it over here. It's like, it's like COVID. It's terrible. It's just terrible.
Well, the Lord sifts out. Today he sifts out people over
doctrine. Is it of Christ? Does it glorify
the Lord? Does it make him more glorious
in the eyes and in the heart of his people? Or is it a shadow? Well, let's go on. In the book
of Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, we find that there's
this wonderful parable given. And the more I study it, the
more I hear it taught on, the more I like it. Because it just
simplifies things so much. The parable of the sower. It's
a wonderful parable. It's so true. We've seen it in
action. We practiced it. And here in
the book of Matthew chapter 13 verse 18. Matthew chapter 13
and verse 18. It says here. Hear ye therefore
the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth away that which is sown in the heart, this is
he that receiveth seed by the wayside. So we have we have those. Verse 18, verse 19. Let's go
on just a little bit. But he that receiveth seed in
the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and
anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself,
but doeth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word, by and by he is offended. Now, Here we
find that sometimes the Lord uses tribulation and persecution,
and it certainly identifies those who are not going to stick it
out. Number one, they don't have the seed. I mean, they had the
seed, but they don't have the ground. And so these things come
along, tribulation, persecution, and I don't want any of that.
And then in verse 22 of that, he also that
receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word,
the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches two other
things sifted out the cares of the world and the deceitfulness
of riches you know wealth is the disciples said
how can a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven now we can
interpret that in two ways those who are monetarily rich because
they're depending on that and those who are self-righteously rich. And they're
depending on that. But how shall a rich man enter
the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord said, it's impossible.
But with the Lord, all things are possible. So we have to depend
on the Lord again. So we have these questions. What
think ye of Christ? What think ye of the Lord? Another
issue of presenting false doctrine. God said there must be divisions. I'm going to fan out the grain
and toss out the chaff by this. There must be, it's going to
come. We don't like to see it. We don't like to see it around
us. We don't like to hear of it, but that's just the way things
are. That's the way God's purpose is. And sending tribulation and
persecution, our cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches. He makes this comment about himself
through John, whose fan is in his hand. and he will thoroughly
purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner, but
the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. Luke chapter three
and verse 17. Now we're thankful for verses
of scripture that share with us, like we read over there in
the book of Isaiah the other day, and we're gonna read that
verse again, but there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. It has always been a remnant according to the election of
grace. Nothing new there. Didn't get started with Calvin.
Got started with those two boys, Cain and Abel. And God had it
in His purpose before the foundation of the world. I'm going to save
my elect. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And that's in Romans chapter
11 and verse 5. And he is predestinated. God
is involved with his people. He has a remnant according to
the election of grace, and he has predestinated them unto the
adoption of children. He's involved, greatly involved,
bloodshed. Purpose given that the Lord would
save his people from their sins His people hear his voice and
because you are not my sheep. You don't hear me. That's the
difference Election is what we find makes the only difference
in the book of Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9 we read this might
have been Sunday might have been last Wednesday Maybe it was yesterday
it's just It's just been brought up so often. Here in the book
of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9. Isaiah understood this. Except
the Lord of hosts. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9. Except
the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been a Sodom and
we should have been like him to Gomorrah. And in that same
book of Isaiah chapter 10, would you turn there with me, Isaiah
chapter 10, there's much said in the book of Isaiah about the
remnant. Here's another passage of scripture that brings that
up in Isaiah chapter 10, and there in verse 21 and 22. The remnant, Isaiah chapter 10,
verse 21, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob unto
the mighty God. For though thy people Israel
be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness. Though Israel be as... There's
a great number. Israel is a great number, has
been a great number, but there's only a few, a remnant according
to the election of grace. So we have to refine our view. If we had a view that all of
national Israel is going to be saved, as it tells us in the
book of Romans, all Israel shall be saved, we're going to have
to refine that. We're going to have to decide on who Israel
is, and then we find out it's the church. All the church shall
be saved, but not all national Israel, and not everybody and
every kindred, tribe, people, and tongue. In the book of Isaiah
chapter 37, again, the subject is brought up. Isaiah chapter
37, as we think about what Zechariah said, there's going to be a division
here. Two-thirds is out, one-third is in. A remnant according to
the election of grace. You know, sometimes I think a
third is a big, big percentage. But here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 37, and there in verse 31, and the remnant that is escaped
of the house of Judah shall again, I like this figure, this picture,
shall again take route downward and bear fruit upward." Isn't
that a beautiful picture? They're going to have roots and
they're going to have fruit. The root is in Christ. The fruit
is from Christ. So we have these wonderful things
that are mentioned here. The remnant is escaped of the
house of Judah and shall again take root downward and bear fruit
upward. The same subject is brought up
in the book of Jeremiah. Would you travel there with me?
The book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 23. And they're
in verse 3. And I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their foes and they shall be fruitful
and increase. Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse
4. I've driven them out. I'm bringing them back. A remnant
according to the election of grace. They shall be fruitful
and they shall multiply. They shall increase. What do we do? I'd like to read
just four more passages. My time is up, but I want to
read 1 Thessalonians 5.21 What do we do? Prove all things. Hold fast,
that which is good. What a few words with such a
depth of meaning. Prove all things. How do we prove
things? By the scripture. It's the only
thing we have. It's not by feeling. It's not
by who has adopted it. It is by the scriptures. We prove
all things and hold fast that which is good. Don't let go of
it. Again, 2nd Timothy. 2nd Timothy. Just a little bit
further. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 13. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou hast heard of me in faith and in love, which is in
Christ Jesus. Hold fast the form of sound words. Where do we get the sound words?
Right out of the scriptures. We don't have any place to go.
It's the scriptures. We don't have any other writings.
I had a fellow ask me today, what is your articles of faith? You know, that's kind of difficult
because I suppose, I told you, I think the church was organized
under some articles of faith, but what? Think ye of Christ. Carries a
lot more weight. All right, Hebrews chapter four.
Two more verses, both of them in the book of Hebrews, and with
this we'll close. Hebrews chapter four and verse
14. Hebrews chapter four, verse 14.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our perfection. What is he saying? We've got
Him. We've got Him. He's passed into the heavens.
He's victorious. He's paid for all our sins. Hold fast to Him. And then finally, chapter 10
of the book of Hebrews, chapter 10 and verse 23, Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised."
Everything is hinged on Christ. Everything is hinged upon Christ
and His Word. We have no decisions to make
about it. We have Him. We have His Word. So, try all
things. Try it. Oh, does it sound good? Does it agree with the scriptures?
There's where we have to go. All right, we'll stop there tonight.
And we're going to be looking at beginning chapter 14, Lord
willing, next Wednesday night. If you would, and I'm not giving
an assignment, if you would, read chapter 14. And I would
be so thankful if the heir of modern day end times teaching
had never entered the church. And writers who look at that
and always put it into some error. We're going to continue to look
at this as when we're reading Revelation chapter 1 and verse
1. Again, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And we're going to do
everything... I still have some grave clothes
from my old teaching, but pray that it doesn't get involved
because it's not sound doctrine. Alright, with that we'll close
tonight.