We ask you to turn with us to
the book of Zechariah. The Gospel according to Zechariah.
And we're just starting chapter 10. We looked at verse 1 a little
bit last week. We read the entire chapter. And
we encourage you to do that. But we're going to read verses
1-4 tonight. Verses 1-4. And spend the bulk
of our time on that verse 2. Has a great deal to say in verse
2. Zechariah chapter 10 verse 1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the
time of the latter rain so that the Lord will make bright clouds
and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field. Now we mentioned last week and
we want to continue mentioning with regard to the bulk of the
book of Zechariah that it originally was written in verse. And that
meant there was figurative language being used, and we do a great
disservice to the word of God to interpret it literally. We
want to find the spiritual meaning there, and there is a verse of
scripture found in the New Testament that seems to sum up the entire
verse 1 of this Zechariah chapter 10. And that is found in the
book of Ephesians chapter 1. Would you turn with me to the
book of Ephesians chapter 1 This verse of Scripture sums up what
we find over there because that is all talking about the blessings,
and in fact it says, ask the Lord for rain, ask the Lord for
blessings. And he's going to go on here,
Zechariah's going to go on in the next verse and talk about
the futility of talking to idols. In verse one of this chapter,
he said, the benefits of talking to the Lord, the benefits of
taking issues to the Lord, the benefits of praying to the Lord,
the benefits of asking of the Lord. He has knowledge of what
we need before we ask, but he is so pleased that we would ask. That's just having a conversation
with our Father. We're having a conversation with
our Father, who is Almighty God. I almost slipped and said, Well,
I can't even remember what I was going to say now. Anyway, He
is Almighty God. He is the Father of His people. We cry, Abba Father. Well, here
in the book of Ephesians chapter 1, we have a verse of scripture
that sums up that verse 1 of Zechariah 10, here in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3. For in this verse of scripture,
we have where we get all spiritual, every spiritual blessing. We
get nothing outside of the person and work of Jesus Christ. It
says here, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. So we have all spiritual blessings
given to us. As we read the scriptures, as
we hear the gospel preached, we find other spiritual blessings
that we have that we may not have even known, but they're
ours nonetheless. We just get acquainted with every
spiritual blessing, all the spiritual blessings. So over here it says,
ask the Lord of rain, ask the Lord for rain. And we mentioned
that verse in the book of Deuteronomy where we're not gonna be like
we used to be, having to work. We're going to have these blessings
come to us from heaven. God sends them down to us. He's
the supplier of every spiritual blessing. Well, as we go back
to Zechariah chapter 10, we find the futility of going to idols. And we're going to find out that
the futile idol that we all have by nature is trusting ourself
to accomplish something that we can't accomplish, trusting
ourself to accomplish righteousness which we cannot accomplish. We're
trusting ourselves to do that, and it's only after regeneration
we truly understand that we cannot accomplish righteousness. We
can accomplish righteousness by keeping the law. It is an
impossibility, but we all think we can. We think that we are
the exemption, if nothing else, or we, like many people, we're
going to make it okay. Well, here in Zechariah chapter
10 and verse 2, And then I'm gonna read down through verse
four. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have
seen a lie, and they have told false dreams. They comfort in
vain. Therefore, they went their way
as a flock. They were troubled because there
was no shepherd. My anger was kindled against
the shepherds, and I punished the goats or the goat herds.
For the Lord of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah,
and hath made them as his goodly horse in battle. Out of them
came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the
battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. So we'll
get to those verses. as time goes on. But we want
to look at verse two here as this preacher of righteousness
declared the futility of idols. And we're going to see that the
most worshipped idol of all is not a piece of gold, it's not
a piece of silver, it's not a piece of stone. It is our ability to
produce righteousness for God. That is our worst idol. So as
it says, the idols have spoken vanity. for, or because, trust
the Lord, take the request for rain to the Lord, because the
idols are faulty, the idols are vanity, the idols are useless,
the idols accomplish nothing. We find that idols are spoken,
idols are spoken vanity, and we know that there is a problem
with idols when we read about what there was a dear saint did
with an idol of her father. Would you turn with me over to
the book of Genesis? And we find an account over here
and that word idol here is the same word that's used over here
in the book of Genesis in chapter 31. Genesis chapter 31. Now we
know there's a problem with these household idols if we can do
as she did with them. If we can do with the idol, if
we can do with our own determinant will to produce righteousness,
just like this lady did with these household idols. Most of the household idols or
households had pagan idols. We find that throughout the scriptures.
Here's a place that it was found. Laban had them. He had household
idols and his daughter stole them. Well, here in the book
of Genesis chapter 31, let's look at this same word for idol. And if we have this, then we
know we have a problem. Number one, here in Genesis chapter
31 and verse 19, Genesis chapter 31 and verse 19, the scriptures
share this. And Laban went to shear his sheep
and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. Now we
know we have a problem if we can steal an idol, if we can
steal righteousness. We know we have a problem. This
is such an insignificant way of worshiping anything if you
can go in and steal it from someone else. Now the God of heaven is
not going to be stolen. The God of heaven is not submitting
himself to being stolen. The God of heaven is never put
into a position that we so often hear today, and it's probably
gone on since the days of Cain and Abel, that God has done all
he can do. Now, that is such a lie about
God. That's such a lie about God's
righteousness. But we find that this continues
on. There's something else that we find with regard to this idol,
or Laban's idols, and that's in verse 34. Now, if we can do
this, we know we have a problem. It says, now Rachel had taken
the images and put them in the camel's furniture and sat upon
them. Now, if you can sit upon your
God, then you know you have a problem. If you can steal that God, you
know you have a problem. And if you can sit on that God,
you know you have a problem. This is the idol. And we find
that we treat our own ability to do righteousness in much the
same way as we find that this lady treated the idols of her
father. She stole them, she sat upon
them, you can do anything with this. And we expect it to be
respected by the God of heaven and what we're doing. And then
we find in Genesis chapter 35 and verse 4, with regard to these
idols, thank the Lord this happened, but if you can bury them, you
know that there's also a problem. You can bury God, you can bury
righteousness, you can bury all of this, And sometimes we find
out that we truly really want to bury what we thought was our
righteousness, even in our religious state. Here in the book of Genesis
chapter 35, and there in verse four it says, and they gave unto
Jacob all the strange gods which were in their land, and all their
earrings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the
oak that was in Shechem. So they have them disposed, but
they're hidden, If you can do this with your God, then you
have a problem. God is not stolen, God is not
sat upon, and God is not hidden. And we attempt to do that with
our own righteousness. Now we find that our worst idol
that we can come up with, it's not a piece of gold, it's not
a piece of silver, our worst idol in our religious state is
to think that we can accomplish righteousness with God. that
we have works of righteousness, that we are righteous by keeping
the law, and all of those verses of Scripture that are brought
out in the Scripture where Paul was used predominantly to say,
you can't do it. I was in the middle of that,
and it was not valuable. So as this goes on, how wonderful
that the Lord God Almighty quickly delivers His people from idolatry. This is found over in the book
of First Thessalonians. Would you join me there? This
is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, is to deliver us from the attempt
to gain righteousness by keeping the law. You know, that's one
of the things that the Lord teaches us right off. It's not by keeping
the law that we're righteous. It's the blood of Christ that
makes us righteous. It is the imputed righteousness
of Christ that we have. It's not anything that we have
done, any work that we perform, it's not by keeping any law,
anything like that. Here in the book of 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 and verse 9, We find the Apostle Paul was commending
the saints there at Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9
says, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, how you turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God. Now we could just boil this all
down to a very simple statement. They realized emphatically by
the revelation of Jesus Christ that their righteousness was
not gained by keeping the law. They realized that their righteousness
was Christ and Christ alone. They trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
alone and nothing else for all their salvation. And this was
revealed to them. So they put away. God took them
from their idolatry. We truly are idolatrous people
by nature. We're born that way. And we have
idols. But the number one is I can accomplish
it by myself. And here we find that the Lord
takes care of that thing. And when people say they've been
converted, that people say they've been born again, and they're
hanging on to a little bit of idolatry, and that is keeping
a little bit of the law to make sure that they're gonna be okay,
they have never been brought out, they've never been shown
the truth of the gospel, and Christ has not revealed to them
that their idolatry has been taken away. Idolatry is a serious
issue. We find it throughout the scriptures.
One of the commandments was, thou shall have no other god
before you. Well, people think, well, that's a little gold statue
or a little silver statue. It's like over there in the Book
of Acts when those Athenians, wasn't it, they had Diana? For
how many hours they chanted Diana or something like that? They
think that that's the idol. But their true idol is, by doing
this, I've gained righteousness. Well, righteousness is of the
Lord and nowhere else. And so we're going to have this
idolatry is going to be summed up, taken away, put in a sack,
put away, hidden by the grace of God. And we find out that
even though we may have from times we're looking to something
else, the true righteousness is always found in Christ. Nowhere else. We'll go right
back to that. Someone may come along and say,
well you're not keeping the law. And we'll say, oh my goodness.
And then we're brought back by the Holy Spirit. You can't keep
the law. That's not where your righteousness is. Your righteousness
is in Christ. So, we have this wonderful package
that God gives us. He not only saves us, but he
gives us repentance from dead works. to serve the living God. He gives us repentance against
those old idle thoughts. I can do it. And we find out
I can't do it, but He has done it. And we say hallelujah. It's
not a do, it's a done. Alright, turn with me if you
would to the book of Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. In Romans
chapter 8, We find so much along this very
line about the Apostle Paul sharing with the saints at Rome where
true righteousness is found. And we so often look at these
passages of scripture as are found here in Romans chapter
8 verse 5 and 6. But this whole chapter has to
do that previous chapter too and the one before that and the
one after that. But let's just look at a couple
verses here in Romans chapter 8 verse 5. Romans chapter 8 and
verse 5. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. In our religion, we look at that
passage of scripture and says, okay folks, if you're out here
sinning, you have a problem. That's not what it's talking
about. If we're in the flesh, we're trusting our idol of our
own self-righteousness. We're not trusting Christ's righteousness.
We don't know Christ's righteousness if we're doing that. Romans in
verse five there says, for they that are after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh. In our unregenerate state, we
have this idol of self-righteousness. We can't get away from it. We're
enmity with the one who gives us righteousness, God. We will
not settle on his righteousness, neither indeed can we, until
we're born again. And then he takes care of that
issue. He settles it in our mind that
we will trust Him and Him alone for all our righteousness. And
that is right standing before God. That we're acceptable in
God the Father because of the righteousness of Christ. But
they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. What's
that mean? I'm trusting Christ for my righteousness. I have
Him as my righteousness. So it's not sinner man, good
man. It's are you trusting Christ
for your righteousness? If not, You're after the flesh.
And we find that those that are in the flesh are going to die.
That's just all. Well, next verse it says there, for to be carnally
minded is death. What does that mean? Not claiming
the righteousness of Christ. Not having Christ as our righteousness. That means death. To be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So
if we're spiritually minded, we've been given the revelation
of Jesus Christ, and we have the privilege of confessing Him
as our all and all when it comes to righteousness. He is everything.
And we will not depend upon one whit of our self-righteousness. We will not depend upon one keeping
of one stitch of the law. We will not have one stitch of
the law in our robe of righteousness. So to be carnally minded is death. And that is to go through this
life without the righteousness of Christ. He goes on to tell
us there, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So
he has taken away our idols. And in their place, in its place,
Christ takes up the rule and the reign. Christ takes up. He
becomes the most important of every believer. He becomes the
most important of every member of the church. He's the most
valuable. He is the high and lofty. He
has the preeminence. And we admit that. I can't keep
it. Wasn't able to keep it, wasn't
intended to be kept, we find out. We can't keep it. It's an
impossibility. And God never gave it to be kept.
It was simply to show us we can't keep it. What do we do? Well,
prayerfully and hopefully the Lord and His Holy Spirit will
come along and say, here, I'll give you this, my righteousness. I'll give you the righteousness
of Christ, imputed to you. Well, as we look at that verse
of scripture back in the book of Zechariah, we find there that
in Zechariah, God delivers us from our natural idolatry and
our natural state. But in that verse of scripture,
we find that there is a second part that Zechariah brings out
in that verse of scripture. Zechariah chapter 10, verse 2.
I remember when we used to have quarterlies, they'd put part
A, part B, part C. We're going to do that. We're
going to try to complete the whole verse. Zechariah chapter 10,
verse 2, it says, for the idols have spoken vanity. And that
is truly, when we look at that from a standpoint that we're
trying to earn our own righteousness, it is vain. Spoken vanity. No accomplishment here. And then
it says, and the diviners have seen a lie. The diviners have
seen a lie. This word diviners means to be
determined by lot or magical scroll. You know, when we think
about this, we find that these, I'm gonna use the word preacher
in quotation marks because many of them were prophets in Israel. These guys were respected. They
called themselves prophet in Israel. I was reading about that
guy that didn't have a priest, so he ordained himself a priest. And that's just the way it goes,
so you can have that righteousness. Well, these diviners have seen
a lie. These preachers favor passage
of scripture, and I deal with this a lot. The favorite passage
of scripture of a lot of preachers is, I know a man. I know a man. Well, they have no
spiritual authority from what they say, but they know somebody.
And it's by experience, somebody's experience or somebody's issues
or something. I know a man. And my mother's
favorite one is, I knew a fellow that had rejected Jesus so much
that when asked, he just couldn't, I just can't because I've rejected,
you know? When he's dead, that can be said. Nobody has sinned away their
day of grace until we're dead, and that's
it. As a tree falls in the woods, so shall it be. But there's hope
until that day. Now the Lord knows those that
are His. We don't. So I have to observe
people as, every one of them, children of Abraham. Until they
identify themselves otherwise. Until they walk off. And even
in that, I say, well, the Holy Spirit's not through with them.
He can still get them, wherever they are. So we just don't lose
hope. But we just keep going on, breaking
up clods. These folks, they have no scripture
for what they believe, and so they're going to lie about God.
God's done all He can do. Prophets in the Old Testament
shared that very thing. It's up to you to straighten
up so God will be favorable to us. They lie about Christ, the
Messiah. They lie about the Holy Spirit.
They lie about the Bible. They lie about righteousness,
and they lie about sin. They speak vanity. They speak,
as it says here, they have seen a lie. And they practice it. And Zachariah dealt with people
just like this in his day, in his time, and it had gone on
before, and it's gone on after Zachariah, and it's here today.
You know, I don't spend, I don't think I've spent 15 minutes in
35 years teaching what other false People believe. Why? We have enough to teach
about what's right. We have enough to go over what
is right. When we know that, the rest of
it will show itself. And then it goes on to say in
that same verse of Scripture, and have told false dreams. Well, we don't need to know what
these dreams were. Because they're identified as
false dreams. I have to investigate that. I wonder what they meant
by dreams. Well, in a natural state, we all know what kind
of, we had it all figured out. They have told false dreams. They pretended a revelation from
heaven, yet it was only a dream in their head. a concoction,
an idea, a thought. And since it is from a person
that doesn't know the gospel and doesn't know Christ, then
their conclusions are going to be wrong. Even though they may
have a correct thought here and a correct thought there, the
conclusion will always be wrong. So, Zechariah is dealing with
these folks, dealing with folks here in his day as the temple
is being restructured and put back together. They have told
false dreams, and then we see the conclusion of that. They
comfort in vain. Now, you know, there's a lot
said in the Bible about what real comfort is. The greatest
comfort I ever found out was my sins were paid for. That's
comfort. And that only truly is given
in the revelation of Jesus Christ as the comfort giver. He is our
comfort. Why? Because he gave his life
a ransom, paid the price. Now, Isaiah, back in Isaiah chapter
40, we have these words used about comfort. And the subject
of this is why can't he declare comfort? What's the issue that
he can declare comfort? Isaiah chapter 40, that wonderful
passage of scripture about comfort. Isaiah 40 verse 1 and 2, it says,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. All right, how
am I supposed to do that? I'm glad he went on to the next
verse. Oh, be comfortable, folks, be comfortable. Why? Well, the
next verse gives us the answer to that. What does it say? Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. Now there's comfort. To find out that my iniquity
was pardoned. And the only way it could be
pardoned is what it's paid for. He's not going to just pardon
it out of grace. True grace has to be attached
to something. And that grace had to be attached to the death
of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
payment for sin by Jesus Christ. The ransom was paid. Therefore,
he can comfort us because sin is put away. Sin is forgiven.
It says, cry to her that her warfare is accomplished, that
her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. What a wonderful way to put in
musical language. Not just part, but enough to
take care of it twice. So that's comfort, taken care
of. Now Daniel, I've never paid too
much attention to this because it's been couched in the passage
of scripture that has been so maligned. That's in the book
of Daniel, Daniel chapter 9. Now Daniel
was used to comfort. He told about the Messiah coming. But he lists several things here
that would be accomplished when the Messiah came. And that's
comfort. That was the comfort of the church
in the days of Daniel, and it's been the comfort of the church
before Daniel, and it's been the comfort of the church after
Daniel. Today, it is still comforting language to hear what Daniel
had to say. Now I want to start in verse
19 of the ninth chapter. Verse 19 of the ninth chapter,
and here we find that among these Preachers that Zachariah had
to deal with, these prophets that Zachariah had to deal with,
they didn't have any comfort. They couldn't comfort people.
Oh, they might have patted people on the back when they had a lost
member of their family or something. You know, today everybody goes
to heaven. Just everybody. You just read
the newspaper, the obituary column. My goodness. Well, not everybody goes to heaven. And Zachariah dealt with those
who were telling people that everybody does. And God loves
everybody. And his son is going to die for
everybody. He dealt with those folks, and he dealt honestly
and straightforwardly with them. He said the only way that we
can be comforted is what Isaiah shares with us, and we find throughout
the Scriptures. But Daniel brings it up here
in Daniel chapter 9 verse 19. It says, Daniel 9, Verse 19, oh Lord hear, oh Lord
forgive, oh Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake,
oh my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. Three times in that verse of
scripture he invokes Jehovah. Oh Jehovah hear, oh Jehovah forgive,
oh Jehovah hearken and do, Lord. for thy city and thy people are
called by thy name. Now he's talking about the elect,
but they need this deliverance. And while I was speaking and
praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the
holy mountain of my God, Yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer,
even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning,
being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of
the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked
with me, and said, O Daniel, isn't that interesting that this
picture that we're given about Gabriel, about the Lord, speaks
to Daniel by name? My sheep, hear my voice. He knew
who he was talking to. And I believe Daniel knew who
he was talking to. It just isn't some angel, this
is the angel of the Lord. I am now come forth to give thee
skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications
and thy commandment came forth, and I come to show thee, for
thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider
the vision. Isn't that interesting? Thou
art greatly beloved. Why? He's a sinner saved by grace. And he's praying for a people
that are sinners. Seventy weeks. Now notice this.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city. Now notice this. To finish the
transgression. If you stop there, we have enough
to shout about. To finish the transgression. Well, we can go right back to
the Garden of Eden and find out the transgression. We are all
in Adam in the fall. He transgressed against God. His sin was, it's not the magnitude
of it, it's just the sin of it. That's the problem. It was a
sin against God. We don't have to have a great
magnitude sin, we just have sin. to make an end of sins continues
on and I'll tell you the church is on edge by now because we
have really comfort in this verse of scripture. This is what the
Messiah is going to accomplish. Now the benefit of it was applied
to Abel. The benefit of it was applied
to Adam and Eve. The benefit of it was applied
to Noah. The benefit of it was applied
to Enoch. Even though it hadn't happened yet, but he's the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. So the application
of it could happen at any time God chose to when he saved his
lost sheep, gave them the new birth, and they rejoiced in what
he had done for them, took them away from their idolatry of self-righteousness,
and they found the righteousness of Christ. So we have, make an
end of the transgression, make an end of sins. and to make reconciliation
for iniquity. He is the offended party, and
you are the offenders, but let's be reconciled by the blood of
Christ. Sin is put away. He's no longer
offended. Be reconciled. And to bring an
everlasting righteousness This is not just a one-time thing
going to last 15 minutes or 15 days or a lifetime. This is everlasting
righteousness. This is speaking about the righteous
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He gives us everlasting righteousness. He will not revoke it. Though
we sin, He will not revoke it. Though we sometimes may challenge
Him, No, sometimes it's pretty easy to say that Romans 8, 28
is for another brother or sister. Even though we challenge him,
he will not revoke his righteousness. Bringing in everlasting righteousness
and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and to anoint the
most holy. That's what Messiah means, anointed
one. And we find in the next verse,
he's talking about Messiah the Prince. He's going to come. Fulfill
all of these things. Isaiah comforted his people.
Zechariah comforted his people. Daniel comforted his people.
And it's the responsibility of God-fearing preachers to comfort
their people. Why? Sin has been put away. Not
because you asked Jesus into your heart, but because Jesus
Christ went to the cross. That's why. we have forgiveness
of sin. In the book of Romans, Romans
chapter 15, would you turn there with me? Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. As we think about this comfort,
well there's no greater comfort to give somebody than just what
Daniel shared with us, shared with the church. This is God's
business. He did it well. He finished it. Completed it. Nothing's lacking. There's nothing undone. Everything
is taken care of. When He cried, it is finished,
every bit of the Old Testament and every bit of the New Testament
were completed in the work and person of Jesus Christ. Righteousness
completed. Imputed righteousness. I've been
thinking a lot about that. A picture over there about Jacob
and Esau. Jacob put on that hair. You know,
Jesus Christ put on our sin, but He didn't become a sinner.
It was imputed to Him. Alright, Romans chapter 15, verse
4. The Scriptures share this. For
whatsoever things were written aforetime... What was written
Daniel? Isaiah? Every type, shadow, and picture
in the Old Testament, every passage of Scripture redounds to the
glory of God. It says, for whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Comfort of the
Scriptures. Yeah. The work's done. Accomplished. He finished the work. From the
very beginning, he finished the work. He revealed that to Old
Testament people. I use that as a time period notation. He finished it for them, even
though it was not accomplished yet. It wasn't finished, but
as it was finished for them in the covenant of grace. What a
blessing it is that through the scriptures we might have hope,
reading those. What do we read? Comfort, comforting my people. And every time God said they
were going to be successful, they were successful. The battle
is mine, not yours. That's comfort. God's in charge.
And then in 2 Corinthians 1, 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3, we
read this wonderful passage of Scripture, 2 Corinthians 1, verse
3. But just sometime when you're
dished down a little bit, think about what we have in Christ. It will never come to the end
of it, but forgiveness of sin, reconciliation, righteousness, everlasting righteousness. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter
1, there in verse 3 it says, Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God
of all comfort. What does He do? Does He come
along and pat us on the back? No, He reveals Christ to us.
That's far more valuable. Revealing Christ. The work is
His. The work was accomplished. He
is the great I Am. He has finished the work. And
we have comfort in that. Now, Zechariah said, these guys
are not doing that. And you know what? There was
a whole host of people went after these guys. The church stuck
around Zechariah. I've said many times, you know,
if you love the Gospel and you love God, If you lived in the
days of Zechariah, you'd find out where he was because that's
where the gospel was going to be preached. If you lived in
the days of Obadiah, a one chapter book given to us, you'd still
want to hear him because he had the gospel. Well, going back
to the book of Zechariah chapter 10 and closing, we have, for
the idols have spoken vanity. Go to the Lord, ask ye the Lord,
because the idols have spoken vanity. Everything we thought
was right in our religion is wrong. And everything that Christ
said about Christ is right. We just couldn't absorb it, we
couldn't take it in. We're not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. We can't be subject to the law
that He's our only righteousness until it's given to us. The diviners
have seen a lie. Their soothsaying was wrong.
They couldn't absorb, they couldn't see. They're sharing all they
can, which is nothing. And then it says, they have told
false dreams. There's two or three times that
we look at dreams in the Old Testament. We find about Joseph
interpreting those dreams and Daniel interpreting those dreams.
God gave him the dreams and interpreted them. that they were not truthful
in what God gave them. Well, these guys weren't. Therefore,
they went their way as a flock and they were trouble because
there was no shepherd. And then verse 3, mine anger
was kindled against the shepherds. Liar, liar, pants on fire. how wonderful it is to see the
truth of the gospel as presented by Zachariah and faithful prophets
of old, faithful ministers of the gospel during the New Testament.
They spoke about one person as being complete, holy, and totally
all our righteousness.