Would you join us tonight in
our continuing study of the book of Zechariah? Zechariah chapter
11. I'd like to read verses 7, 8,
9, 10, and 11. Zechariah chapter 11, beginning
with verse 7. And I will feed the flock of
slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock, and I took you to
to me two staves, the one I call beauty, and the other I call
bands, and I fed the flock. Three shepherds also I cut off
in one month, and my soul loathed me, and their soul also abhorred
me. Then said I, I will not feed
you, that that dieth, let it die, and that that it is to be
cut off, let it be cut off, and let the rest eat every one the
flesh of another. And I took my staff, even beauty,
and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had
made with all the people. And it was broken in that day,
and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that
it was the word of the Lord. It is interesting and yet it
is somewhat discouraging to read some of the commentaries on this
passage of Scripture. and much of the book of Zechariah
and much of the prophets because it has so often been brought
in that they want to incorporate passages like this that they
can't understand into something of end time study. And I would
like to read a few verses before we get started in the actual
study of our lesson. The commentary that the New Testament
has on the Old Testament. And we brought this up many times,
but I need to keep it in my mind that the New Testament has a
great commentary about the Old Testament. And the Lord's commentary
about the first five books of Moses is what he shared with
the Pharisees, that they thought they had salvation in the scriptures
because they were Jews. But the Lord shares with us,
and if you turn with me to the book of John chapter five, The
book of John chapter five, I want to look at a few verses of scripture
that share with us a commentary about the Old Testament. It is
not filled with end times data. It is not filled with end times
verses. It's filled with the person Christ
Jesus and his righteousness. We will never find it as telling
us that we're going to be saved by keeping the law. It will constantly
share with us that we're saved by the grace of God through the
righteousness of Christ. Well, here in the book of John
chapter 5, turn with me to John chapter 5, and there in verse
46, we have the Lord Jesus speaking to a group of religious people,
and they claim to believe the books of Moses. Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Now, we've been through the book
of Leviticus. It is the book of Christ. We're in the book
of Numbers. We're still finding that that's
the message of the book. It is the book about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus, and his righteousness, and it is only by Christ and
his righteousness that we are saved. Well, here, the Lord shares
with these religious folks, he said, for had ye believed Moses,
ye would have believed me. for he wrote of me." Now that's
the best commentary on the Pentateuch that we'll ever find. Gill can't
improve on that. And I like reading John Gill.
And even Robert Hawker cannot improve on that. And I love reading
Robert Hawker. But Moses spoke of me. Moses wrote of me. So when we're
in those books, that's who we should be looking for. All right,
turn with me to one of those verses that's just stood out
for us for a long time, and that's in the book of Luke. The book
of Luke, there in chapter 24. And there's a couple verses in
Luke chapter 24 that share with us the Lord's commentary on the
Old Testament. Now, he shared with his disciples
these words. Now, how long it took him to
go over all of that, I don't know. It's taken us some time
to go through some of those books of the Old Testament, but it
didn't take him more than 40 days, because after his resurrection,
that's all he was here. So he spent some time with them
explaining the Old Testament, and this is the commentary on
it, Luke chapter 24, And there in verse 27. Now there's a lot
that goes with this, but for our time, let's read this. And
beginning, now this is what he's sharing with these disciples.
And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, and Zechariah is
one of those prophets. Isaiah, I met a man yesterday,
I cannot pronounce his Spanish name, but it's Nahum. And I said,
that's an Old Testament prophet. And he said, yes, I was named
after an Old Testament prophet. Well, Nahum spoke of Christ. Well, it says here, in beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. Now, I'm sure that he
left enough for those fellows to think about the rest of their
lives, just like he does us. When we get into the scriptures
and we see Christ, we have something to think about the rest of our
life. And in that same chapter, chapter 24, verse 44, We have
these words about the Old Testament. This is the Lord's commentary
on the Old Testament. And in this passage of scripture,
he brings up the Psalms. Now, if you'll notice here, Psalms
is not capitalized. So Psalms meant those books that
were in script, or excuse me, in musical form. And Psalms is
one of them. Song of Solomon's another one.
Lamentations is another. And we find some of the book
of Zechariah is that same way. So here it says, Luke chapter
24 verse 44 and he said unto them these are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me so we have his
overview commentary about the entire Old Testament Now, as
we read the New Testament, if you have a book that shares with
you the verses from the Old Testament that are used in the New Testament,
you'll find that about half the New Testament is quotes from
the Old Testament. it is those verses of scripture
are the text for many messages in the new testament and then
we have the comments that make up the rest of the new testament
and that is the preaching of christ from the old testament
so the book of zachariah is in that great group of passages
in books from the old testament that preach christ and if you'll
turn with me back to the book of john chapter one or go ahead
But we're going to back up in the book of John to John chapter
1 and there in verse 45. There is a testimony by a man
when he came to his brother and wanted to share with him the
gospel of Jesus Christ. That Christ is the promised one. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. In the book of John chapter 45,
Philip findeth Nathaniel. and saith unto him, We have found
him whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. Now he
is sharing with us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit as John wrote
it down. We have found him who the Old
Testament has been written about. He says, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, he's more than Jesus, or
the Messiah from the Old Testament. He's been brought down to an
individual that is here among us, Jesus of Nazareth, and we
know him as Joseph's son, Mary and Joseph. Now, they're going
to understand, either here or later, that he's more than Joseph's
son. He was raised in the household
of Joseph. He no doubt became a carpenter's
son at a trade, but he's more than that. On his mother's side,
he is Jesus. On his father's side, he is Christ
Almighty. So Philip shares this with Nathaniel,
and the Lord comes to him and talks to him about that very
thing. So we have these commentaries about the Old Testament. We have
these commentaries, and not once have we run into from Matthew
to Revelation. Well, let's go to Jude first.
Matthew to Jude. Do we find any of the Old Testament
is applied from an eschatological standpoint? It's Christ in him
crucified. It is the gospel. It is his righteousness. It is we're not redeemed by the
blood of those animals, but we're redeemed by the blood of the
lamb. We're not going through life. We're not going to inherit
heaven by the works of our righteousness, but it's his righteousness. imputed
to us, and Moses in the law and the prophets did write that Jesus
of Nazareth, here he is. And then he came and visited
with him. In the book of Acts, we have
another couple of verses that I'd like to look at here. When
we think about those passages in Zechariah chapter 11, we're
gonna go back and say, we've got to find Christ here. Now,
sometimes we come to the point, we say, I'm not completely sure
what it's about, but I know what it's not about. It is not trying
to prove some eschatological theory that came up in the 1800s. Well, here in the Book of Acts,
Chapter 26. Acts chapter 26 and verse 22. Acts chapter 26 and verse 22. Having there obtained help of
God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to the small
and the great. Now if we back up, we find this
is Paul speaking. And he said, having therefore
obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both
to the small and the great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come. I'm only
preaching what Moses said. I'm only preaching what Jeremiah
said. I'm only preaching what Zechariah
said. And that is the message of Christ,
that He is the only Savior and we're not saved by Sinai, we're
saved by the blood of Christ. And then, in chapter 28 of this
great book of Acts, you know, in a lot of Bibles it says the
Acts of the Apostles. It should be the Acts of the
Holy Spirit through the Apostles, the Acts of God through the Apostles.
But here in the book of Acts, chapter 28 and verse 23, this
is recorded for us. And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many unto him into his lodging, to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God. persuading, testifying of the
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of
the law of Moses and out of the prophets until morning till evening.
Jesus Christ is the kingdom of God personified, the kingdom
of Christ personified. He's a king and he rules over
a kingdom and his people are his are the subject of this great
king. So, these prophets throughout
the scriptures were declaring the same message that is declared
by a gospel preacher today. The blood of Jesus Christ, the
righteousness of Christ is our only salvation. It's the election,
I heard tonight, the election of grace. The election of grace. How wonderful is that? The election
of grace. Now, in Going back to the book of, earlier
in the book of Acts, Acts chapter one, if you would, for just a
moment. Acts chapter one, and verse six. Now there's one
passage of scripture, and this is after the resurrection. There
was some discussion prior to the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ about this subject, but there's one time in all of
the rest of the New Testament that the question comes up about
whether Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. Now this
is the answer the Lord gives on this subject. I think it's
good enough for us too. Alright, the book of Acts chapter
1 verse 6, it says here, Acts chapter 6 verse 6, Excuse me, Acts chapter 1, there,
it reads better. It reads differently I should
say. Acts chapter 1 verse 6, it says, And when they therefore
were come together, they asked Him, saying, These disciples come to the Lord
Jesus in a very careful inquiry. They're going to ask a question
that they have been taught. Their teachers had no more insight
into the Old Testament than lost people today have. They could
not see the message in the Old Testament. And they taught that
God would eventually restore the kingdom to Israel like some
of the prophets brought out. But it was in figurative language.
The restoration is going to be the church brought out of darkness
to Christ, brought to life. So let's read here, it says,
Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel? Good question, and he gives the
answer. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
unto me. Now that's the message of the
restoration is not part of the message. The message is me. The message is Christ. You shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. You're going
to go to Jews and Gentiles, half Jews and half Gentiles, you're
going to go out with this message. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received
them out of their sight. From this point on, we don't
find them ever going to that subject. It wasn't necessary. The Lord had answered their question.
And He told them what they're going to be preaching. Me! You're going to preach Christ.
That is the subject. Now He is going to take care
of His people for their time and for their eternity. He has
it in His hands. Now, over in the book of Luke,
if you turn with me to the book of Luke. Again, Luke chapter
24 and verse 27. Beginning at Moses now there's
a word in here that I want to pick up on before we get back
to Zechariah It tells us in Luke 20 chapter 24 verse 27 and beginning
at Moses and all the prophets he expounded Now I've read that
that word. I've read that verse many many
times I've quoted it many many times, but I failed to look up
that word what that word expounded means and Now I had an idea what
it means, and I wasn't wrong in what I thought about it, but
this word really means is translated from the Greek word, let me just,
to unfold the meaning of what is said to explain or to expound,
to translate into one's native language. Now that's what the
Holy Spirit does for us. To expound. Now this word is
used six times in the New Testament. One is right here in the book
of Luke where we just read it. And there are five other times.
Would you believe it? Four of those are in the book
of Corinthians and have to do with speaking in, and the King
James puts unknown. They should have done that. It
should be tongues or languages. If you're gonna speak in languages,
you need to have someone interpret. That's what this word means.
To expound is to interpret. So that was carried through to
that subject. If Brother Lance came here and
he only spoke in that pidgin English, we'd want somebody to
interpret because what he would have to say would be no benefit
to anybody. And Paul brings that out in the
book of Corinthians. It's no benefit to speak in a
language that nobody understands. Now, if you do have that, make
sure you have someone there to interpret. And, you know, Brother
Henry used to go down to Mexico, and he would preach in English
because he didn't know Spanish. But the brother down there would
interpret into Spanish so those people could say hallelujah with
everybody else about the preaching of Christ. So that was very important. So this word means to put into
language, our language, to expound it in the scriptures, to bring
it to light, to let us see what it means. Well, let us go over
there now. if we would to the book of Zechariah
chapter 11. We want to return there and we
want to seek Christ, not some fable. Now I believe in end times. I believe since the time of Christ
we've been in the end times. That's what we read. We are in
the last days. And God would have wrapped this
up a thousand years ago if that was the last sheep. But thank
God, He has purposed, he will continue this world. There will
be spring and summer and fall and winter until his last sheep
is saved. And then they're all taken out
and bow before him in a glorious recognition of him as absolute
Lord of Lords and King of Kings. We're going back here to the
book of Zechariah for just a few minutes tonight. As we look at
this subject that is brought up here, He says in verse 7,
I will feed the flock. I will feed the flock of slaughter.
Now the flock of slaughter, and I like what Dr. Hawker had to
say about this, the flock of slaughter plainly means the Lord's
people. It is the Lord's people. Old
Testament Lord's people, Between Testaments Lord's people, New
Testament Lord's people. That's the flock of slaughter.
And as the great ones of the earth oppressed them, they are
very properly called. They've been oppressed from the
very beginning. Our first brother in Christ was slain. Abel was
slain by his brother and this action and attitude towards our
brothers and sisters in Christ from the very beginning has continued
and continues and will probably continue until that day the Lord
shouts with great victory over this earth and he takes us out
of it. So we are in his very bosom as he was taken as a sheep
to the slaughter. His people are in him and we
were truly taken there too. We were in Christ when he was
We're in Christ when His beard was plucked out. We're in Christ
when He was taken and nailed to the cross. We're in Christ
when that cross was raised up. We're in Christ when He cries
unto His Father and when He gives up the ghost and He's taken off
the cross and buried in the tomb. And then when He resurrects,
we're in Christ in all of that. We get to sit down now in Christ
at the right hand of the Father with Him. Someday it will be
in person, but now by the spirit. So this flock of slaughter, every
oppressed child of God should remember this, that he is the
shepherd and he is the one. I will feed you. Now in that
verse of scripture, it tells us, oh poor of the flock, I took
unto me two staves. The one called beauty, the other
called bands. Now did you notice where that's
couched? The first part of that verse, he says, I will feed the
flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And the
last part of that verse of scripture, and I fed the flock. So I'm going
to look at these two things that are spoken of here, these two
staves, as some way that God is using Christ to feed the sheep. He's feeding us. There's something
about these that we need to go and find out. How is He feeding
us through these things? Well, we've seen in the past
that the Lord uses types and shadows and pictures to feed
the flock, to feed the people of God. And in this, we also
find that He is going to use these two items to feed us. Now,
it's by His rod and His staff. He comforts us, but what does
that mean? How does He comfort us with a
rod and a staff? Well, we can say a shepherd used,
most of them just used a staff, and they used, they pulled sheep
that had fallen over out, and you know, herded and so forth. Well, the Lord does that with
His Word today. His rod and His staff. The Word
is what comforts us. We need the Word of God. We need
that comfort that comes from the Word of God. And it's not
necessarily, I'm going to find something to comfort you tonight.
I don't know what you need comfort from. But the Holy Spirit is
able to take care of that. So, let's look at this. It's
a wonderful picture of the Lord's care. And He took unto Me two
staves, the one called Beauty and the other called Bands. And
as we look at these two staves, I believe it is important to
remember that the place where they're found is between feeding
and fed. I'm feeding you. I fed you. So somewhere in here, I'm going
to find something to munch on. I'm going to find something to
enjoy, to appreciate about the Lord. And these things are here
on purpose. and they're not future, they're
today. They were there when Zachariah preached the gospel, they were
there when Moses preached the gospel, they're there today when
God preaches the gospel through us, these things. This word beauty,
as we look at it, it's a Hebrew word also is used in Psalm 27
in verse four. Would you look at it with me
there? I will feed the flock, I fed the flock, and this word
beauty, in Psalms 27, Psalm 27, the same word is used
there. And I have found, as I read how
a word is used in various places in the Bible and how it's translated,
and in the couching of the words with other verses, words in that
verse, I am blessed by how the Lord teaches us from these picture
words the very attributes of the Lord Himself. So in Psalm
24, verse 7, Psalm 24, verse 7, it says, Lift up your heads. 27-4. There
we go. 27-4. I'll get used to this notebook
here. 27-4. Thank you. 27, for one thing have I desired
of the Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life. Now notice this,
this is the same word used for that rod, that staff named beauty. It says here, to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Now what do we see
when we see the beauty of the Lord? I see him as a complete... Complete Savior. I see someone
who is able to take care of all my sin. I find someone here and
it's beautiful to see him in all of those capacities. That
he is the Savior of his people. That he's the one that stood
in the place and spoke up for his people. Someone spoke up
for me, I, you're beautiful. And this is what the Lord does
for all his people and has ever done this. The people look at
the Lord as you are the most beautiful. You have all the glory
of the Godhead bodily. You have every bit. And Jesus
told his disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So if we get to see the beauty
of holiness, the beauty of the Lord, we've seen the glory of
God. And so it is, he's the beauty
of the Lord, our God. And the same word is used again
in the Psalms, in Psalm 90, over in Psalm 90, and there in verse
17. Psalm 90 in verse 17. Oh, and let the beauty of the
Lord our God be upon us. What is that? Oh, His righteousness. The beauty of the Lord. Let the
beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. You know, there is a
beauty about the righteousness of God that God requires, but
it is the only thing He accepts, is that gracious coat of righteousness
imputed to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And He goes on
to tell us in that same verse, He says, "...and establish thou
the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish
thou it." Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. What glorious beauty we see in
the Lord, that we find no fault in Him. Pilate expressed it,
we believe it. I find no fault in Him. He is absolutely beautiful in
all His righteousness. He is absolutely beautiful in
every attribute, in every characteristic. He is always for his people.
He speaks up for his people all the time. He is always in their
place. He's always their sacrifice.
He's always, and on and on we go. We never end up. Men have
written books about the attributes of God and cannot come to a conclusion
about it. And so the church just says,
well, I look right here and let the beauty of the Lord be upon
me. I'll take it all, it's ours.
How beautiful is the Lord to His people. And he says, I've
got a staff here, and I'm going to call it beauty, and this beauty
is my great beauty on the behalf of my people, and with it, I
will comfort my people. I will be their comfort. Let's
look again here in the Proverbs. Proverbs 3. Proverbs chapter
3. This word is again used here,
Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 17. This is speaking about wisdom.
Who is our wisdom? We read that over there in the
book of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The Lord is our wisdom. And
here it says, her ways are the ways of pleasantness. and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them
that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her."
What a glorious statement about the Lord on the behalf of His
people. And if you'll read there in verse 17, her ways are the
ways of pleasantness. He maketh me to lie down in pleasant
places. I don't have to fear. What's the Lord saying? He's
taken all fear. We can come boldly to the throne
of grace. We're not impinging upon the
Lord to come into His presence. So we have this wonderful statement. And in Proverbs 15, verse 26,
turn there with me if you would, as we look at the same word translated
again. In Proverbs 15, verse 26, so
His staffs, beauty, all the glory of God, all the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, all the righteousness,
all the peace that passes all understanding, every characteristic
and attribute, I have this to guide my people and encourage
them and bless them and as we read here, in Proverbs 15 and
there in verse 26, the scriptures share this, the thoughts of the
wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the
pure are pleasant words. What are the pleasant words of
the pure? The Lord our righteousness, salvations of the Lord, the words
of the pleasant words. And in chapter 16, just the next
chapter over there, Verse 24 and 25, we have these words. It says, pleasant words are as
a honeycomb. Pleasant words. Oh, I have a
staff. I'm going to call it beauty. I'm feeding my flock. I fed my
flock. And here's what I fed them on.
my staff of beauty. I want you to look at my son
Jesus Christ the Lord. We have found him who the prophets
and Moses have written about. We have found the Savior. We
have found the one that the Old Testament spoke about. We have
found him who has been promised to take away the sins of his
people. We found him who has promised
to lay down his life, a ransom for many. We've found here, what
a joy it is. Here in the book of Proverbs,
chapter 16, verse 24, it says, pleasant words are as a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and health to the bones. Oh, to have that
staff of beauty. It's like sweetness in our mouth,
as it tells us there in the book of Proverbs. And there in verse
25, it says, there is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the
ends of there are the ways of death. But this way is the way
of pleasantness. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb. Today for breakfast Nancy and
I had a biscuit. She wanted honey on that. What a delightful food to put
on something. And the Lord says, this is better
than honey in the honeycomb. It's sweeter. The church has
feasted upon the beauty of Jesus Christ in every century. He is glorious in all of his
attributes. Who is this that cometh forth
from Edom wearing dyed garments from Basra? Powerful, glorious
in his movements, and has salvation in his hands. That's a glorious
thing. And then we go on and we find
here that there is another There's another, besides beauty, there's
bands. There's bands. It tells us there
in the book of Zechariah. Let's go back there to Zechariah
chapter 11. Zechariah chapter 11, and we
have the other of the staffs mentioned. Zechariah chapter
11, verse 7, it says we have two. I call one beauty, one I
call beauty, the other I call bands. And I fed the flock. Now there's something about this
word bandage. It's to bind, to take a pledge, or to hold by
a pledge. You know, when we think about
the Lord Jesus, He pledged before the foundation of the world and
carried out that pledge in the covenant of grace. What thrills
the church like finding out that He made a promise and He kept
His promise at the cross. That He had all His people in
mind He had those stones on his shoulders and on his breastplate.
He had the names of his people graven in the palms of his hand.
He had his people in mind before he ever came down to this earth
and was born of the Virgin Mary. He had a promise. He was going
to keep that promise. He had a pledge and he would
keep that pledge. And that's the glory of this
one. What do we have else to feed
on? But the beauty and bands were pledged of our Savior, the
Lord Jesus. What a statement is made here,
to bind by pledge. The first time that this word
is used is found in the book of Exodus chapter 22. Turn with
me there to the book of Exodus chapter 22 and in verse 26, and
it's kind of an interesting verse of scripture where this pledge,
this word is pledged. And this is the same word that
we find over here for bands. We have a staff of bands. We
have a staff called bands, and by it, he's feeding the flock
and he's fed the flock. You know, in our age, he's feeding
the flock. Those that have gone on before,
he's fed the flock. Same thing. All right, Lotus
here. Exodus chapter 22 verse 26. If thou at all take thy neighbor's
cloak or raiment, coat, to pledge as collateral, thou shalt deliver it unto him
by the sun going down. What's that mean? He needs it
at night to keep warm, return it. Well, we have the word pledge
here. If you take it as collateral, if you take it as a pledge, I
have a staff, the Lord said. Its name is pledge. Its name
is bands. And by it, I'm symbolizing to
my church that I've taken upon myself a pledge to deliver everyone
spotless. Not one will enter into heaven
with a spot of sin on them. It is taken care of by the pledge
the Lord made. And his collateral is his blood. I will cover the debt by my blood. To take a neighbor's float, this
same word is used a number of times in the same manner. In
one place in the book of Deuteronomy, no man shall take the nether
or the upper millstone to pledge for he taketh a man's life to
pledge. You have grinding stones. You
take one or the other, you're going to kill the man. He can't
grind his grain. Pledge a promise you take it
as a as collateral and we find that this goes on throughout
the scriptures the same idea So the Lord has shared with us
I'm gonna feed my I'm feeding my flock and I've fed my flock
on these two wonderful statements. I have staffs of comfort Staffs
of beauty. I have staff of beauty How beautiful
is the Lord how beautiful is the feet of our Lord? How beautiful
is the feet of Him that is the Gospel. How beautiful. And I have a promise. I've made
a promise. I've made a promise to all my
lost sheep. I will find every one of them.
It's a pledge I will keep. And He has the collateral. He
by Himself purged our sins. And you know the church says,
there's no greater comfort than this. He's taken care of the
sin issue. He's taken care of all my sin.
He's made me like I've never sinned. He's brought me to a
place that I can call upon my Lord. I can call God my Father. Comfort. He is feeding them. He fed them. And He has two staffs. Beauty and bands. And by that, He comforts
His sheep daily. and He has throughout all ages.
Now just a moment, we have just one or two minutes, I would like
to go to Zechariah, just to set up for next week, Lord willing.
Zechariah chapter 11, verse 8. Zechariah chapter 11, verse 8,
and I want to read two verses of Scripture in the book of Jeremiah
that kind of complements this, and then we'll set the tone for
next week. Zechariah chapter 11 verse 8,
it says, three shepherds also I cut off in one month. Oh my
goodness, if you could just read what this means. Oh, it's these people, it's that
people. The Lord already shared with us who this is. He's going
to take care of lion kings, lion prophets, and lion priests. Those
evil shepherds. You know, kings should be good
shepherds. Priests should be good shepherds.
And prophets should be good shepherds. Turn with me to two verses in
the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 2. And with
this, we'll close. Jeremiah chapter 2. But Lord
willing, we'll pick up here next week. Jeremiah chapter 2. First verse is verse
eight. The priest said not, where is
the Lord? And they that handle the law
knew me not. The pastors also transgressed
against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked
after things that do not profit. What a statement. He's going
to take care of these. evil prophets. He's gonna take
care, I'm gonna kill three of them in one month. Well, he deals
with these prophets, these kings, and then the other one is in
the same chapter, verse 26. As a thief is ashamed when he
is found. How's he ashamed? I'm sorry I
got caught. I've been okay. But it goes on
to tell us here in Jeremiah chapter two, verse 26, So is the house of Israel ashamed. They, their kings, their princes,
and their priests, and their prophets. The Lord is going to
take care of these. You know, we may be captivated
in religion by these oppressive people, but you know what the
Lord said He promised? I'll slay them, I'll take care
of them, Get you out of that by the gospel. I'll take care
of it. All right. We'll stop there tonight.
And Lord willing, we'll pick up here at verse 8 next time
as we come together.