Well, join me if you would tonight
in our continuing study of the book of Zechariah. Zechariah, we made it to chapter
10. Chapter 10 of the book of Zechariah,
and I would like to read these 12 verses. Now remember as we
read these verses that the Lord declares so often in the Scriptures
He uses pictures, he uses picture words. We're not reading about
things that are literal, we're reading about things that are
spiritual. Much of the Bible is written
in this form, whether it be in verse or whether it be pictorial
language. Sunday when Mike was mentioning
again that passage of scripture over in the book of Matthew chapter
13 and verse 10 where the disciples said, Lord, why do you teach
in parables? And it struck me during that,
that much of the Old Testament is in parables. The New Testament
is in parables and it really is when it comes to the understanding
of it because All of the scripture is spiritually discerned. We're
not going to catch the drift if it's not revealed to us. So
the scripture has meaning. It has a meaning up here where
people oftentimes pick it up and say, well, you're under the
law and you got to do this. And then the Lord takes his church
down to this level and shows us the true meaning of it and
says, I kept the law. It's just a shadow of what You
are by nature, and if I don't get involved, you're all going
to die in your sins. Well, let's read this chapter
and we'll make a few more comments along that line. Chapter 10,
verse 1, ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain.
So the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers
of rain to every one grass in the field. Now, from a literal
standpoint, we depend upon rain, particularly here when we get
14 inches a year. But he's not talking about just
literal rain here, he's talking about spiritual blessings, and
we find ashe of the Lord for this. ask the lord for this for
these blessings all right in verse two for the idols have
spoken vanity do idols speak no they don't speak but they
hear figurative language they speak vanity and the diviners
have seen a lie and have told false dreams they comfort in
vain Therefore, they went their way as a flock. They were troubled
because there was no shepherd. Mine anger was kindled against
the shepherds, and I punished the goats. For the Lord of hosts
has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them
as a goodly horse in the battle." Now, we're going to read through
here, and we find out that there's quite a bit said about being
in conflict, about being in battle. Nowhere in the scriptures do
we ever find God encouraging his people, the church, to cause
people, to make people or educate people into the kingdom, or by
force or not by force. Now, many religions have used
tremendous force to compel people to join them. Well, the Lord
never said that to the church. He never said that. The battle
is the Lord's. It is a spiritual conflict. When
we go up against dead people, it's a spiritual conflict. We
can't raise them from the dead. We can't get them to hear. We
can't get them to see. We can't get them to do anything.
But that doesn't mean that we stop declaring the gospel because
it is the Lord that quickens them. It is the Lord that brings
them to life. It is the Lord that causes them
to love the gospel. So we go through that. But here
it says in verse, in verse 3 that he's going to make them a goodly
horse in battle. Well, people who have preached
the gospel from the very beginning have been a goodly horse in battle.
They have the truth. They have the manner in which
God saves his people. What a Savior. He will leave
no stone unturned. this savior will leave no stone
unturned in order to get the gospel to his people that he
redeemed at the cross and give them the new birth no stone will
go unturned he will find his people i appreciated what we
heard where it says that uh john said with regard god could raise
these stones up and you know really that's what he does he
raises stones up he raises them up from the dead all right verse
four Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail,
out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies
in the mire of the streets in the battle." So when God raises
up his gospel declares, gospel preachers, they're treading in
mire. They're preaching the gospel. And they shall fight, because
the LORD is with them. And the riders of the horses
shall be confounded. And I will strengthen the house
of Judah, and I will save the house of Judah. of joseph excuse
me what a promise as we find this great conflict going on
i want to jump down to verse 12 right now and we'll come back
there verse 12 and i will strengthen them in the lord and they shall
walk up and down in his name saith the lord so victory is
going to be enjoyed victory shall be had the lord will be victorious
in this great battle he will use the means that he is appointed
the foolishness of preaching he will use preaching the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe, and God gives the belief
for them to believe. So let's go back up here to verse
7. They of Ephraim shall be like
a mighty man, and their hearts shall rejoice as though wine.
Yea, their children shall see it and be glad. Their hearts
shall rejoice in the Lord. I will hiss for them and gather
them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they
have increased." So what a promise. I've redeemed them. I've redeemed
them. And I'll lose none of them. So
the gospel will get to them. Either the gospel will be taken
to them, or they'll be moved to hear the gospel. That's the
way God does his business. Who's to say? I remember Brother
Henry saying a number of times in his preaching, will God start
a war or have a war started so his people could hear the gospel?
And that's, yes, yes. He's done it in the past. He
may be doing it now. We don't know. And I will sow
them among the people. That's a wonderful thing. When
God sows somebody who knows something among the people, and spreads
the precious seed. God sows. I will sow them among
the people, and they shall remember me in their far countries, and
they shall live with their children and turn again. And I'll bring
them again also out of the land of Egypt." Now, from a spiritual
standpoint, that's where the Lord found every one of us, is
in the land of Egypt, a place of great destitution and hard
work. That's where he finds us. Just
as the Ethiopian eunuch was found, Philip was sent down to him to
preach the gospel to him. Now, he was a rich man, but he
was as poor as poor could be when it comes to spiritual things,
dead in trespasses and sin. I'll gather them out of Assyria.
What a place to gather people out of, worse than Egypt. Well,
that is the real horrible pit. And I'll bring them into the
land of Gilead and Lebanon, The place shall not be found for
them, and he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and
shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the
river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away. And I will strengthen
them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in his name. What a comprehension, just to
think, what a thought to think about here, that God's people
will all agree. They will walk up and down in
His name, saith the Lord. There's one thing about the gospel,
there's a unity there. We are unified in the gospel. We are unified in God. And there's
not many multiple gospels or variations of the gospel. There
is just the gospel of the good news of a redeemer that actually
redeems his people from their sins, wherever they are. And
also my people out there to make sure that they do hear the gospel.
I just love the promises that we find in this 10th chapter
of the book of Zechariah. Now, the Lord declares there
is a battle, yet he has always been a spiritual battle. Always. Now we can go over to the Old
Testament and we can see that Joshua disconfited a lot of Amorites
and Hittites and Perizzites, but he's never called on the
church to do that. He's never called on the church
to go into a physical battle to convert people, to cause them
to assent to some facts. And when we're causing people
to assent to facts, they're no more saved than they were a thousand
years ago. So it isn't that. It isn't causing
people to consent or assent to facts. We preach the gospel of
a savior that saves, a redeemer that redeems. And when he does
his business, they will consent to the facts. That's the way
it is. All right? And it's not physical
weapons, but spiritual weapons. We find the sword of the spirit.
is the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit. So if
the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, we have no greater
battle weapon than that. It's the Word of God. Salvation is not education. Now after we're saved, we grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, but we
cannot educate people into the Kingdom of Heaven. I'll never
forget having someone very, very important in my life telling
me at the age of 11 he was confirmed in his religion. Now when he
married my mother, he just changed religions, just like I did. Well,
I went from Arminianism to Calvinism. He went from Lutheranism to Free
Will Baptist. And it fit his plan. Well, that
wasn't salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
not just joining because I agree with the doctrines. We mentioned
there that the Bible is written in the form that so often it
is. misunderstood so often because
of the way it's written. It's written in verse. It's written
in figurative language. In fact, the whole Bible is hidden
to the eyes that God intends for their eyes to be hidden from
it. He's the only one. What does that say in Revelation
chapters 1, 2, and 3? He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that hath an
ear. Now we, by nature, we don't have
an ear to hear it. We just have ears to hear physical
things, but spiritual things just cannot get to it. And it
is the Lord that opens that up. And as I reminded us earlier,
that passage of scripture in the book of Matthew, would you
just turn over there to the book of Matthew chapter 13 again?
As we look at this, it's no wonder that people, me as an example,
could hear the Word and walk away. Just easy to walk away. Because it didn't do anything. It didn't hit a string. It didn't
hit a chord. It hit nothing. I'm thankful
that the Lord was gracious and let me hear it again, and again,
and then by His grace, let me see Christ. Here in the book
of Matthew chapter 13 and verse 10, The disciples asked this
question. I've had an enjoyable time bringing
this subject up with a couple of people that I've been visited
with. Why would the Lord do this? And that's the same thing that
the disciples asked in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 10 when
he had just spoken a parable. Now, those folks, many of them
were farmers, many of them were sheep herders, many of them were
carpenters. He used symbolism, words like that. He even used
baker words. Baking bread. He used carpenter
terms. He used sheep herding terms.
He used grape farmers. He used vineyards and trees. And last Sunday we heard about
figs. That fig tree had to be planted. Someone planted it.
And the Lord comes along and uses those things and puts them
into a spiritual context. Now if you have ears to hear,
you can say, oh my goodness, look at what he's doing. My sheep
hear my voice." Or, I am the bread of life. I am the door. Well, here in Matthew chapter
13 and verse 10, that subject came up, the disciples came and
said unto him, now this is a wonderful question that they ask, and I'm
so thankful it was recorded. I'm sure there were conversations
that the disciples had with the Lord that we don't have those
conversations recorded. But here we do have this, and
we could ask the same question. And I use it sometimes, asking
this question, why did the Lord speak in parables? Well, the
Lord answered that question. He says here in verse 11, He
answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given. So why isn't the Bible so easily
understood? Why isn't everybody that reads
it get some understanding out of it instead of legalism? or
how you should live and they live some other way. Well the
reason is it is given unto you to know the truth of the gospel.
It is given unto you to know the truth of the scriptures.
But unto the general public it is not given. Now why does God
do that? Because it's God. That's his
business. But he is fulfilling exactly
what he said. He chose a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world and wrote their names down in the
Lamb's book of life and had a lamp prepared to redeem them before
man ever fell. So he's God, but he's taken all
this preparation. Why? Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries. Now when we look here at the
10th chapter of the book of Zechariah, we're going to read about some
of the mysteries of the gospel. God in a mysterious way gets
the gospel in front of every one of those he intends to hear
it. God in a mysterious way. He calls it, they're going to
be good horses in battle. He's not talking about getting
a good horse and going into battle. He's talking about laboring in
the battle, preaching the gospel, declaring the truth of it. And
would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, another passage of
scripture that we've looked at a lot, but it needs to be kept
in our minds. Because after I was saved, I
used to wonder, why can't I talk to my family? Why won't they
hear me? Well, you know, the Lord shows
us this is the reason. They don't have ears to hear.
Now, we pray that the Lord will give them ears to hear. We pray
that they may hear in time. But here in the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 14, we have these words given to us that
the apostle Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth. And shared
with them this truth, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. He says, but the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Now that's just clear, plain. But you know I've had natural
men argue with that? And I probably would have too. It was never
brought to my attention. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of God, for they are foolishness unto them. You
know, the gospel is really foolish that God would give his son to
die for sinners when I can take care of it myself. My righteousness
will do okay. It's foolishness. Neither can
he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he
that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged
of no man. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ. So in regeneration, we're given
a wonderful blessing, and that is to realize that this is a
spiritual book declaring the great spiritual truths about
the Lord Jesus Christ, even though it might be an animal sacrifice.
It is sharing with us some of the truths about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, going back to the book
of Matthew chapter 16, another passage that we've often gone
over, and that is the Apostle Peter asked that question by
the Lord. Now the question came up, who
do men say that I am? Well, someone spiritual. Did you notice that? One of the
prophets, Elijah, one of the prophets, someone spiritual. Well, here in Matthew chapter
16 and verse 17, we have Peter, who do you say that I am? Now,
he made a wonderful confession, and I've had people say that
if you can make that confession that you know the Lord, well,
anybody can read that. And many people have read that
and don't have any idea what it means. And, you know, we may
have some questions about all of these passages of Scripture.
But we have the confidence that they are of Jesus Christ the
Lord. Something about Him. Now, there
have been some times, and I've talked to some of the men, I
don't know what this is about, but I know what it's not about.
It's not belittling the Lord. It's not belittling the Gospel.
It's not belittling salvation. It's not trying to take us down
from a high lofty place. I just don't understand it yet.
Matthew chapter 16 and verse 17, Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, verse 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah. And that's, when the Lord says
that, that's a good blessing. Peter, you are really blessed. You are blessed spiritually.
Now Peter's gonna say some things and do some things, but you know
what? He still was blessed to the Lord,
and he could not apostatize. That's security, to know that
I cannot, if I truly know Christ, if He's truly been revealed to
me. So when we find over in the book of John there, they went
out from us because they were not of us. For if they'd been
of us, they'd have continued with us. And you go down through
there a little bit, and we know that A believer sins not, and
that means does not apostatize. A believer cannot apostatize,
cannot leave, cannot walk away. Now if you can leave, alright. It goes on to tell us here in
Matthew 16 and verse 17, And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed us unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
The book of Zechariah, to understand a little bit about it, it has
to be by revelation. The book of Malachi, the book
of Luke, the book of Matthew, the book of Revelation. We have
to have some revelation of the Holy Spirit about those things,
that Jesus Christ is the center. Today I talked to a young man,
and I said most Bibles have right up here at the top, at the book
of Revelation, the revelation of Saint John the Divine. Now,
number one, John would never call himself John the Divine. And number two, the first verse
of the book of Revelation tells us what John wrote about, the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Now we could say that about Zechariah. We're going to find figurative
language in the book of Revelation. We just read some figurative
language here in the book of Zechariah chapter 10. So what
a blessing it is that he would reveal some truth about this
to us. In verse one of that book of
Zechariah, we find that the preacher, this gospel preacher, is sharing
something of great value. Believers, ask ye of the Lord. Now he's going down in verse
two and talk about idols and vanity and so forth and like
that. So we have the conflict. We have the opposites, verse
one and verse two. Ask ye of the Lord rain. Don't go to the idols. Ask ye
of the Lord for blessings. Ask ye of the Lord. Now he's
the only one that can give spiritual blessings. And if he hasn't given
it, it's because he doesn't want to give it. It's not because
we're not smart enough. Because really, we're dumb as
a post. When it comes to spiritual things,
unless he reveals it to us, and we see the blessings of Christ
in it, we're just dumb as a post. We have nothing on anybody else. What do you have that you were
not given? Nothing. I have nothing. Nothing spiritual, no spiritual
truth that I was not given. It's not discovered, it's given. Now another preacher may be used
to help us to understand it, to show us the truth of that
passage of scripture, but we don't have it on our own. We
get it from the Lord. Ask ye of the Lord. Reign in
the time of the latter reign. Now, this is so important here
because it goes back to a place and a number of places in the
Old Testament where people are speaking about the need for water. Now, one of my favorites is over
in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11. Would you join me in Deuteronomy
chapter 11? Moses is going over some of the
differences between what you had down in Egypt and what you're
gonna have over in the land that I give you, the Lord gives them.
In the 11th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. Now, Deuteronomy
is just a spiritual book as the book of Ephesians. Deuteronomy
is just a spiritual book as the book of John. If the Lord wants
us to get something from it, he's gonna let us know that Moses
spoke of me. Moses spoke of the Lord. And
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Moses spoke
of Christ. Moses spoke of the Lord. Now
here in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 10, For the land, whether thou goest
to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt. Keep that in mind. Where I'm taking you is nothing
like the place I've taken you from. And that's truly a statement
about the Lord saving his people. Where we're taken to in salvation
is nothing like where we've been. That's been a dry husk. That's
been a loady bar. That's been a poison pond. That's everything. And, you know,
we just believe anything. People come along and say, Jesus
died forever. Well, sounds good to me. Jesus loves everybody. I just love that. He loves everybody. Well, people will tell us that
down in the pit. But when people tell us that
out of the pit, we say, oh, I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. That's not Bible. That's not
scripture. That's men's invention. That's
idolatry. Well, here it says, for the land
whether thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt
from which it came out, where thou sowest thy seed and waterest
it with thy foot. Now, when we went over this a
long time ago, we talked about this is a foot wheel. I've seen pictures that probably
was like that with clay pots on it, and they spun it and put
water up and put it in ditches. It was a task. It was an all-day
task and it never ended. As long as the plants needed
water, this is how they got it. And most of that water came out
of the Nile River. They used their feet to spin
that footwheel to get the water out so they could get irrigation.
Now he said, where I'm taking you is not like Egypt. You're not going to get your
blessings like that. Now, there's no blessings there
to begin with. There's lots of sweat and strong
legs. That's it. Well, he goes on to
tell us, and waters with thy foot as a garden of herbs. But
the land, whether ye go to possess it. Now, physically, we know
where he's taking his people. Spiritually, The church knows
where he's taking his people. He's taking us out of bondage
and putting us in liberty. Now part of the liberty that
we're going to enjoy is this. We don't have to work for our
keep. The work's been done. Goes on
to say, it is the land of hills and valleys and drinketh the
water of the rain of heaven. Well, how do we get the rain
of heaven to fall? We don't. That's God's business. God sends the blessings. He's
the one who sends the clouds. As I was driving out here this
afternoon, I looked up and here's some of these clouds that look
like fingers hanging down. I said, well, that looks like
rain. Well, I got out here, and I think 14 drops hit my windshield. But you just could see it. Now,
I had nothing to do with the creating of that cloud. I had
nothing to do with the evaporation of the water off the ocean. I
had nothing to do with that wind bringing that cloud here. I had
nothing to do with the water falling out of the cloud. Now,
I know what it is to put a sprinkler on a lawn. Now, I have sand. And I hope eventually this year
to get a lawn, but I know that I might have to water it every
day because that sand just goes, it just drops out and I'll have
a brown lawn. I would love to have a cloud
hang over it every day. for an hour, and then it goes
away. So the Lord is using that picture here when he says, over
in Egypt, this is how you did it. When you get into the promised
land, this is how it's going to happen. I'm going to send
you rain. There in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse
12, it says, a land which the Lord thy God careth for. The eyes of the Lord thy God
are always upon him. And from beginning of the year,
even until the end of the year, I take care of my people every
day of the year. I send them my blessings every
day of the year. It is like rain every day of
the year. So it's going to be a lot different
than Egypt. Down there, you work your full
heads off and not get anywhere. Here, all the blessings are provided. Now, does that make God's people
lazy? Absolutely not. It makes us thankful. Now, over
there in the book of Zechariah, it talks about that. Look at
another passage of scripture here in the book of Jeremiah.
The book of Jeremiah, over there it talked about rain. Here it
talks about rain. We're going to depend on rain.
When God gets us out of the horrible pit, when he saves us by his
grace, when he reveals Christ to us, when we have the new birth,
he's going to send his blessings, every spiritual blessing. We
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. That doesn't mean that it isn't
all ours, but we learn about how much it's ours, the blessings
of the Lord. We have to learn to depend upon
Him. Here in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5, this is an
interesting passage of scripture. You know, sometimes I You have
to rub the type. This passage of scripture is
one of those. Jeremiah chapter five, beginning with verse 20.
Declare, Jeremiah five, verse 20. Declare this in the house
of Jacob and publish it into Judah. Hear now this, O foolish
people, and without understanding, which have eyes and see not,
which have ears and hear not. Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? Will ye not tremble at my presence
which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual
decree that it cannot pass? Isn't that interesting? He's
talking about a physical thing down at the ocean and yet he's
talking about his great power with all things. I've set up
my decree wherever and it's not going to pass. And though the
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail. Though they roar, yet can they
not pass over. The Lord is truly saying to us,
you can roar and complain all you want, but you're not gonna
get any blessings by your works. Blessings come spiritually. But this people hath a revolting,
what a, two words in this passage of scripture, verse 20. This
people hath a revolting and rebellious heart. Now it's easy for us to
say, oh, that reply, no. Here's where we are, by nature,
right here. A revolting, rebellious heart,
they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart. Let us now fear the Lord our
God that giveth rain, both the former and latter, in his season.
He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Neither
say they in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God
that giveth rain. Now he gave them physical rain.
What a blessing it was for them to go out and harvest their barley.
What it was great to go out and harvest their wheat, great to
go out and harvest their grapes, their olives, how great that
was. But they did not understand that
this is coming out as a blessing of the Lord. Neither say there
in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God. This is just
natural man speaking. God spoke to them. I have nothing,
nothing. He's the one that provides the
rain, but turn with me back just a little bit into the Psalm.
Psalm 115. Psalm 115 verses 1 through 8. So we think about asking for
rain. Only the church will ask for
rain. And the church will not ask it
for payment. We inert it. We're not expecting
pain. We're just asking for rain. The
blessings of the Lord. We don't deserve. That's where
grace comes in. Just to understand a little bit
about grace, God absolutely did not give grace because of merit. But He says, ask of rain. Pray. Here in the Psalms, Psalm 115,
Psalm 115, verse one. We read this. Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathens
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Who said that? The church. That's what the church says.
Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they
see not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses they have, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. Feet they have, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make
them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them.
What a comment about idolaters. Now that's just us by nature.
We couldn't hear, couldn't see. You know the famous saying, you're
all the hands that God has, you're all the feet that God has. Well,
thank God that's not the truth. They that make them are like
unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them. Now, if you
go ahead to the book of Jeremiah, one more time, Jeremiah 44. Jeremiah 44, as we think about,
ask the Lord for rain. And then the next verse, idols
are brought up. Jeremiah chapter 44, verse 16. Jeremiah 44 verse 16, it says
this. As for the word that thou hast
spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken
unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever
thing goeth forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the
queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her,
as we have done We and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in
the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then
had we plenty of vittles and were well and saw no evil. Did you read that? We offered to the Queen of Heaven,
and that's why we didn't have any problems. But since we left
off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out our
drink offerings unto her, We have wanted all things and have
been consumed by the sword and by famine. And when we burned
incense to the queen of heaven and poured out our drink offerings
unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink
offerings unto her without our men? Then Jeremiah said unto
all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people,
that were given him that answer, saying, The incense that ye burned
in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, ye and
your fathers, and your kings, and your princes, and your people
of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not
unto his mind? So that the Lord could not longer
bear because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations
which ye have committed. Therefore is this land a desolation,
and an astonishment, and a curse without an inhabitant, as it
is as this day because you have burned incense and because you
have sinned against the lord and have not obeyed the voice
of the lord nor walked in his law nor in his statutes nor in
his testimonies therefore this evil has happened unto you moreover
jeremiah said and all the people and to all the women hear the
word of the lord all judah that are in the land of Egypt. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and
your wives shall both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled
with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that
we have vowed, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to
pour out our drink offering unto her. And ye shall surely accomplish
your vows, and surely perform your vows. What happened after
the Lord brought punishment upon them? We just haven't offered
enough incense to the Queen of Heaven. Therefore hear ye the
word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt. Behold,
I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name
shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in
all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. Behold,
I will watch over them for evil and not for good, and all the
men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed
by the sword and by famine until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escaped
the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land
of Judah. And all the remnant of Judah
that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall
know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs. A small remnant shall return. What a promise. As we think about
what Zechariah said to those folks so long ago, we say it
again. We say it today. Ask ye of the
Lord. Reign in time. For the idols,
verse 2, have spoken vanity. The diviners have seen a lie. They have told false dreams.
This is just the religious world going on right before us every
Sunday. God's a liar. I'm the truth. God would never do any of that
stuff. He would never choose. He would
never die for just a few. He would never do that. And he
goes on to say, they comfort in vain. What comfort do we have? The true comforter. That's the
only comfort that I can give anybody is to declare the true
comforter. And then it goes on to say, therefore,
they went their way as a flock. They were troubled because there
was no shepherd. And now, from here on in this
chapter, we're gonna say, oh, the Lord's gonna get involved,
and there will be shepherds. They will be here and there.
There'll be life horses, and there will be, as it says, I
will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down
in his name, saith the Lord. What a wonderful chapter that
we're going to experience here. We pray for us.