Zechariah chapter 6. We're going
to look at the last verse of that chapter. Zechariah chapter
6 and verse 15. But please put your finger there
and turn with me to the book of 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse
16. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16. A number of times in the book
of Zechariah we ran into Zechariah asking this question, what are
these or what meaneth this? And I take comfort in his questions
because so often in reading the Scriptures I have the same questions.
What does this mean? How can I apply it? And over
here in the book of 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16 is a wonderful
verse that shares with me that some of the writings of the New
Testament are hard to be understood. And I want to read this, 2 Peter
3, verse 16, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
things in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction. Now there are some things in
the writings of the Apostle Paul that are hard to be understood.
And there are some things in the Apostle Peter's writing that
are hard to be understood. But this I know about all the
scriptures and as we have been studying the book of Zechariah,
there are some pictures and types and shadows here But everything
glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not one thing that is
ever written in the Word of God that will not honor God. So if
we see something that looks like this doesn't look right, it's
probably not. We're looking at it from some human standpoint. So as we go through the book
of Zechariah, I like what our brother Hocker had to say. Just a few words he said here
with regard to chapter 6. Whether we see all or not in
this chapter, we know chariots and horses and mountains and
hills all minister to the promotion of God's glory. So what do they
mean? We may be a little short on the
complete meaning of all those things, but we know this. They
honor the glory of God. So when we look at them from
a slant that does not honor God, we're not looking at them correctly.
We need to back up, reevaluate, or just simply say, Lord, would
you reveal this to me so I can look at it again tomorrow? That's
some of the verses here in the book of Zechariah chapter 6.
So now turn over there with me to the book of Zechariah chapter
6. And I'd like to read the last verse or part of it and then
we'll read the rest of it. The last verse, verse 15 of Zechariah
chapter 6. And they that are far off Now
I want to stop there for just a moment because we're going
to find as we go through the scriptures that by nature everybody
is remote, far, distant, distant lands or literally in distant
far places from God. Now we may be spread out across
the world. But that has nothing to do with
this far out, this far away place. Because in the fall, spiritually
speaking, we're far from God's glory. We as Adam, by nature,
didn't want God's glory around us. We don't want it around us.
We don't want God's righteousness because we want our own. We're
far, far away. As it tells us there, and they
that are far off, and truly everybody by birth is far off from God. We're not even close. We're not
even in the same hemisphere as God's glory, as far above heaven. As far above the heavens as above
the earth is the heavens is it God's glory above our glory?
And that's just we can't put it into words to have absolute
life and absolute spiritual death They're on opposing ends. So
God's glory is far off. His righteousness is far off.
His holiness, His wisdom. We want our wisdom. We depend
upon our wisdom. But we find out when God regenerates
us, when He gives us a new birth, Christ becomes our wisdom. And
we don't question Him. We don't question His statements
about Himself. We don't question His statements
about God. We don't question His statements
about salvation. We don't question statements
about Him being our righteousness and all our righteousness. So,
by nature, we're far off. We're far off from His sanctification.
By nature, we don't have any, but we're working hard to get
it. But in Christ, we have all sanctification. Instantly, we
recognize the fact, we're given it, whether we recognize it or
not, but we have eternal sanctification. God looks at us from eternity
and set us apart. His Holy Spirit would come and
work the Word in us. It's been a promise and all of
it is taken care of by God and we have nothing involved in it.
We're just Sticks in the mud until we're raised to newness
of life. So here we have, and as Romans chapter three verse
23 brings out, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. So that's how far we are. We're far off, we're far away. Now let's look at the rest of
that verse though. The position is shared with us
throughout the scriptures of where we are by nature. We don't
go but just a short distance in any direction. Brother Craig
found a copy of that. The camp. The camp of Israel
around the tabernacle there. The camp. You don't have to go
in any direction very far. You're going to find out sinners.
They're all that. And we find out in the church,
we don't have to go very far. We just look in the mirror. We
run into this sinner. And the sinner that says, woe
is me. Brime undone. There we are. Well, let's look
at the rest of this verse and we find out that by the grace
of God, the promise of God, that nothing but grace brings us to
this position where it says, and they that are far off, now
notice this, shall come and build the temple of the Lord. Now I'm
just amazed at that, that those who are so far off, those who
are so dead in trespasses and sin, that God would say here,
and he says it in a number of places, that God would say here
that they that are far off shall come. They will come out of that.
They'll come from that far country. They'll come out of that state.
They'll come out of that stupor. They'll come out of that death.
And here we have, and come and build the temple of the Lord. Now they're not gonna be interested
in building their own treasures. They're not gonna be interested
in building their own religion. They're interested in building
the church of the living God. They're interested in promoting
Christ in the church of the living God, promoting Him and His glory.
So as we look into the scriptures, we find that this reminds us,
it takes us to a place over in the book of Acts. So would you
turn with me to the book of Acts chapter two, The book of Acts
chapter 2, and this is from the Old Testament, and we'll be back
there just momentarily. But in the book of Acts chapter
2, we have these wonderful words shared with us about the grace
of God. That God is going to go get those
who are afar off. That He will pull them out of
the place that they're in. He will lift them out of the
pit that they're in. He will, by his mercy and by
his grace, he will do wonders. And here in the book of Acts
chapter two, beginning with verse 37, the scriptures share this.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts
and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and
brethren, what shall we do? Now that's the question that
every lost person brings to God. What can I do? What shall I do?
Well, the works of God, Now remember, it's the work of God for us to
believe. We can't do it by ourselves. It's the work of God. Well, here
it goes on to tell us in Acts chapter 2 verse 38, Then Peter
said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ. Now this repentance, we can't
get there from here. God, oh, we pray that God would
grant repentance to the Gentiles. It's His granting of repentance. And that repentance is not just
sitting and mourning over our sin. It's turning from dead works,
turning from our old idols, turning from our old religion to the
living God. We're just swung around. It's so great that it just spins
our head. is so wonderful that everything
that God does is on our behalf and brings us from that place
that is far off. Well, he goes on to tell us in
here Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are
far off. Now notice the qualifying mark
here. Don't stop there. We need to continue on. We need
to recognize how does this happen? And it tells us here in this
verse. 39, it says, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. Now we'll never leave the far
off unless we get a call from the Lord. And that call comes
through the gospel and the Holy Spirit's great power. Most religionists
underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit so much. Sanctification
depends upon you and a little bit of the Holy Spirit. But sanctification
is the act of God's Spirit upon us, cleansing us before God. And it is a continuous, all-powerful
work that the Holy Spirit does in us and for us. He didn't quit! It's a powerful, powerful Holy
Spirit that works in us both to will and do of His good pleasure.
It is His Holy Spirit that reveals the Word of God so clearly to
our hearts. It is that which causes us to
rejoice in the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus the Lord.
It is His righteousness that we delight in because it's revealed
to us by the Holy Spirit. We're taught of God through His
Spirit about all these wonderful things that we have in Christ
Jesus. The Apostle Peter, sharing to these people, said, there's
a call of God, and that call of God's gonna bring people out
of afar off, and bring them, where? To Christ, and they will
be building his temple. He's building his church out
of all these people that he calls out of every nation, people,
and tongue. The promise is unto you, to your
children. How wonderful is that? There
would be no hope. I was asked not long ago, what's
the use of your preaching? God saves only his people. Why
don't you just be quiet? Because I am assured success
because of it. Nobody else has any hope of success,
but those who preach the gospel, the truth of the gospel, and
that Jesus Christ laid down his life for a people that he knew
beforehand, it assures success. Now, it is in our success, and
we don't have to appear to be successful, because God will
be successful. He's going to be successful in
all that He says and all that He does. Now, in the New Testament
again, the book of Ephesians. In the book of Ephesians. What
a glorious book. Remember when Brother Mike's
Bible one time, it was just almost all colored. You color verses that have the
sovereignty of God in it, Ephesians is colored. It's colored. Well,
here in the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 37, look there. Uh-oh. Oh, 13, excuse me, verse
13. 2, 13. now but now in Christ Jesus ye
who sometimes now he didn't leave us there he doesn't leave us now we may
be left in America or Germany or Papua New Guinea but we're
not left far off from the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not left
where we were born to. We're not left there. He brings
us, it says here, but now in Jesus, in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made close, are made nigh. By what?
By our works? No. By our righteousness? No.
It says here, made nigh by the blood of Christ. We're brought
close to God by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ paid
for all our sin. We're now accepted in the beloved. We're accepted in Christ. For
He is our peace who hath made one and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity. Oh, the punishment that the Lord
Jesus Christ endured on the cross, that we would no longer be enmity
against God. He put it away. He made us love
God. That is his promise of the new
covenant. And they shall love me. I'll
be their God, they shall be my people, they shall love me. We
don't have to muster up love for God. The Holy Spirit has
given us in the new birth the love for God and the love for
His Word and the love for all the truths that are contained.
Now we may not understand them and we may say, I don't understand
that. But when the gospel is brought to us and that is brought
to our attention and taught in truth and in fact, we say, that's
right. That is it, that built in that
part of what I didn't understand. Having abolished his flesh, the
enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body. What? God's the offended party. We're
the offending party. But thank God for the reconciler. Being reconciled. Having reconciliation. Having God's approval in Christ
Jesus. Both under God in one body by
the cross. Now, this is not possible. There
will be no reconciliation. There will be no friendliness.
God towards us, outside of the cross, outside of the death of
Christ, outside of Christ, having slain the enmity thereby. And it goes on, and came and
preached peace to you which were afar off. Hallelujah, wherever
he found us. He came and preached peace to
us. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, and no other place. I heard a preacher tonight on
that Zoom meeting I listened to, in religion he'd go to bed,
never had a night's of peace. Always was wondering what he
could do better, what he could do more. When the gospel was
brought to him, the Lord saved him, he went to bed peaceful. At peace, because now the work's
all done. Everything that was required
was taken care of by the Lord Jesus Christ. Came and preached
peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh. Now,
this just shares with us that the same message is to those
that are far off and to those that are already brought in.
We don't have two messages. We don't have an evangelistic
message. We want to get people saved and
then we're going to teach them doctrine. Preaching Christ to
teach doctrine. Preaching Christ is teaching
doctrine. So there's not two messages.
To those that are far off, it's a message. To those that are
not, it's the message. It doesn't change. We are caused
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ through the preaching of the gospel. It covers all
the subjects. It fills in all the gaps. It
takes care of everything. And as we go through the scriptures,
verse by verse, we find out it covers everything that we need. In fact, it covers a whole lot
more than we can understand. but how full it is. Through verse
18, and through him, we both have access by one spirit unto
the Father. Now therefore, ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Notice the pattern? Notice the
logical order of things? That picture of how those 12
tribes were lined up and how the Levites were lined up and
what was right in the middle of everybody, the tabernacle,
which is a picture of Christ in the midst of his church. Orderly,
such order was ordained of God. And then it says here in verse
20, He's the chief cornerstone in whom all the building, fitly
framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. Fitly framed together, come from
all backgrounds, all nationalities, all, all, all, from places that
we didn't even know were far off. But they are. Without Christ, we're far off.
In Christ, we're made nigh by the blood of Christ. And as a
result, the message that we send out to preach in New Guinea is
the message that's preached here. When Brother Lance comes over
here and preaches to us, he's not preaching a different message
than he preaches down there to those inhabitants of New Guinea. He's preaching to save people
down there and lost people. When he comes to here, he's preaching
to save people and lost people. So it's the same message. It's
the message for those who far off and those who are nigh. How glorious is the message of
Christ. Now, let's go back to the book
of Zechariah. Trust you kept the finger there
or a bookmark or something and look at verse chapter 2 there
Would you look at chapter 2 and verse 11 chapter 2 and verse
11? Zachariah chapter 2 and verse
11 and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day
and shall be my people and And I will dwell in the midst of
thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me
unto thee. Now notice this very glorious
pattern. Where's the Lord gonna be? In
the midst. What has he done? He's going,
many nations shall be joined to the Lord. People from every
nation, kindred, people, and tongue. In the scripture, so
often we find out that these people that are out there, the
lost sheep of the house of Israel, are Gentiles. A lot of Gentiles
are called by that name. Jews and Gentiles fall under
the name of the house of the Lord, the temple of God, the
elect of God, and oftentimes we find the name Israel applies
to everyone that is saved out of every nation. So Israel has
a special place. With spiritual Israel, Israel
has a much more special place. They could falter and fail and
fall and die in the wilderness. But the children of God, whether
Jews or Gentiles, all of Israel shall be saved. And we delight
in that. Not one will be left out. Not
one will be left behind. But all Israel shall be saved. Now here, you remember the account in the
book of Luke of a person who has a hundred sheep? And one
of them gets lost. And Matthew says he's out in
the mountains, and in Luke he's in the wilderness. Well, it doesn't
make much difference, does it? It doesn't make much difference
where we are by nature. But the good shepherd, when he
recognizes that one of his sheep is lost, he goes after that sheep. And he goes into the mountains
or the wilderness, wherever. He never once doesn't know where
they are. Now talk about having a GPS. There is a GPS in every one of
the Lord's lost sheep. And the great shepherd knows
where every one of them is. hundreds of thousands of years
before they're even born. He knows where they are. And
when they're born, He knows where they're born, and He knows where
they're moving, because He's moved them there, and He has
them in His right place, and He sends out the gospel, and
the Holy Spirit follows in the preaching of the gospel, and
after the gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit comes and does
His work. And he brings those lost sheep
in the wilderness or in the mountains, wherever they are. It tells us
that the Good Shepherd puts that sheep on his shoulders and carries
them back. And he is rejoicing coming back. You know, the Lord
God Almighty rejoices in seeing the fulfillment of his death,
burial, and resurrection in the life of his lost sheep. Every
lost sheep that is found Hallelujah, one more. Now he knows where
the last one is that's going to be saved. Born or unborn today,
we don't know. But he knows because he has his
spiritual GPS on them. They are, he knows where they
are. He knows in what country, what language they speak. He
knows their parents. He knows all about them. He knows
their education. And he knows, just like with
the rest of us, that their education doesn't mean a thing when it
comes to spiritual things. Their religion doesn't mean a
thing when it comes to spiritual things. They must have the gospel
preached unto them, just like he's had it preached to everyone
that's ever been saved. Someone came, faithfully preached
the gospel, and the Holy Spirit makes, applies it, and by the
new birth brings them that are afar off nigh by the blood of
Christ." We just relish in that whole theme, that glorious theme
of how God saves His people from their sins. Now, go with me to
the book of Isaiah, if you would, chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. In Isaiah chapter 43, we have
again, some wonderful words about this great subject that He will
bring them from afar off. They shall come. They shall come. I love the subject, because without
it, none of us would come. I love the subject of irresistible
grace. What's the other term for it? I don't know. Factual calling. Calling. Actual calling. There's another term, but irresistible
grace is just wonderful. Amen. Because it is. They shall come. They shall come. He will bring all his lost ones
out from afar and bring them nigh. All right, Isaiah chapter
43, verse six, Isaiah chapter 43, and there in verse six, it
says, I will say to the North, give up. The one who created the North
will say to the North, give up. Keep not back, bring my sons
from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone
that is called by my name. I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. What does that say? Keep not
back, bring my son from afar, my daughters from the ends of
the earth. This is a command of God. Those that are afar off
will be called and made nigh, will come and build a temple. Now from a physical standpoint,
there might have been a bunch of national Jews that heard Zachariah's
message and say, we need to go down to Jerusalem and help them
build that temple. From a spiritual standpoint, it means much more,
because that is active in our day when God calls his people
out of every place imaginable and brings them to the temple,
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he makes them part of the church,
makes them part of the temple. There in, in verse, Eight, bring forth the blind
people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Let all
nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled
who among them can declare this and show us former things. Let
them bring forth their witness that they may be justified or
let them hear and say, it is truth. Yea, are we witness, saith
the Lord, in my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know
and believe me, and understand that I am he, and before me there
was no God for him, neither shall there be after me. I, even I,
am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior." And that's what
the church agrees on, to know the truth. that He is the Savior. He is the only Savior. He's the
Savior that has true salvation. He is a Savior that actually
saves His people from their sins. Now all people were scattered
as a result of the fall, but we find out that God's in the
business of bringing them back. There is an account over in the
book of Exodus that truly shows us how people move away from
the presence of God. Exodus chapter 20. We're just
going to read verse 18 there, and the rest of the chapter shares
much about this subject, but notice here that God's on the
mountain. The glory of God is on the mountain.
The sovereignty of God is displayed on this mountain. Exodus chapter
20. God is there, and notice what people do. This is just
a natural thing when God's present. I can remember when I heard the
gospel for the first time, I said, I'll never go back and hear that
man again. I don't want to hear that. I
said to Nancy, I hate that man. But in some way, I was compelled
to go back. I thank God for it. He took me
against my will. He made me willing to go back.
Well, heard six or seven messages from that man and every one of
them, I don't want to go back. Well, notice here, this is the
reason. It wasn't the preacher. I was
just mad at the postman for delivering the message. He delivered the
bill. You ever got mad at the postman
for delivering the property tax? Why'd you have to do that today?
Well, here in the book of Exodus chapter 20 and verse 18, it says,
and all the people saw the thunderings and the lightning and the noise
of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. Now, what should that
do to a believer? Moses was willing to stay. This
is my God on display. This is what God does. This is
who God is. Well, notice what happened here.
And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. Now that's Adam from the very
beginning. He and his wife went and hid
themselves in the garden. What? From this God. And everybody
will hide themselves from this God. Now when we get real chummy
with a God, it's not this God. You know, How foolish we are
in our religion. We use the term, God is my co-pilot. Isn't that foolishness? That
is just absolute foolishness. He better be the pilot. That
is just too familiar a term for the church. Just too familiar. He's the savior of his people.
He's the redeemer of his people. And we're in awe of Him. But
these people move. Now, let's just go over here
to the book of Jeremiah, if you would. The book of Jeremiah,
as we think about what happened there in the book of Zechariah,
when that great preacher of the Gospel, that preacher Zechariah,
he said, They that are far off shall come and build the temple
of the Lord. God's in His business of bringing
His people out of their far offness. bringing them nigh, fetching
them out of Lodivar, if you please, and bringing, even crippled,
bringing us to the presence of the king. We get to eat at the
king's table. This is food of God. The Bible is God's food for us,
the word of God. In the book of Jeremiah chapter
30, Jeremiah chapter 30, Jeremiah chapter 30 and there in verse
10 Jeremiah chapter 30 in verse 10 the word says therefore Fear
thou not. Oh my servant Jacob saith the
Lord neither be dismayed. Oh Israel for lo I will save
thee from afar and thy seed from the land of their captivity and
Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet and none
shall make him afraid. We don't have to fear what men
can do to us. We rest in him. None shall make
him afraid. What a glorious statement he
makes here in the book of Jeremiah. Now Jeremiah has a lot to say
about Israel going into captivity and then From that a far-off
place bringing out his elect out of every nation kindred people
in tongue bringing them and what? Rejoicing they have chapter 31
and verse 3 Chapter 31 verse 3 the Lord hath appeared of old
unto me saying yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love
where therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee where has he
drawn us from and far off, Lodibar, wherever we could find ourselves.
Now when God, in the book of Genesis, when
God moved everybody that spoke a certain language to a certain
place and moved them off to some place, he put his elect with
those people and those people and those people and those people
and those people when he moved them to the places where they
could speak, but he never forgot them. They're in a place far
off, but he knows where everyone is in every age and they will
hear the truth of the gospel. Now it might be through sermonatio. It might be through a missionary.
It might be that they're brought someplace else that they never
heard about to hear something about the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But God's going to get his people where they
can hear the gospel. No one has ever been saved without
the truth of the gospel. Never. It doesn't work that way. People can say, well, I'm the
exception. That's just too exceptional. It's not that way. God has a
purpose in this. In Jeremiah 46, would you join
me in Jeremiah chapter 46? He's going to get his people
from afar. Bring them to build the temple. They will be the
lively stones in the temple. They will be in one place. There's
a church here. There's a church there. There's
a church over here. There's a church. Churches preach the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace. That's the churches. Now out
of all those churches, there is the church of the living God. Those in heaven, those on earth,
make up that general assembly in church of the firstborn. Here
in the book of Jeremiah chapter 46, and there in verse 27, it
says, but fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed,
O Israel, for behold, I will save thee from afar off. and thy seed from the land of
their captivity. And Jacob shall return and be
in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. How glorious. Turn with me. We're close to
the book of Daniel. Would you turn with me to the
book of Daniel chapter 9? Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter
9 verse 7. Now notice this verse, would
you please? Daniel chapter 9, verse 7. How'd they get there?
How did they get far off? Now notice, Oh Lord, righteousness
belongeth unto thee. But unto us, confusion of faces. In our natural state, it's just
confusion. Can you remember some of the
things you said before the Lord saved you? Confusion, oh my goodness. as at this day to the men of
Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel
that are near and that are far off through all the countries.
Now notice this, whether thou hast driven them. Now how did
we end up in the far country? We were put there by God. He
put us where we were. We were driven there. Adam and
Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden. God's people are driven
to the places that they are because of their trespass, that they
have trespassed against Thee, and yet we find out that even
though God drove them, put them, placed them in the place that
they are, wherever they are in the world, in whatever generation
that He placed them there, He has promised to get them. I promise to save them. I promise
to bring them. And that's what we have here
in the book of Zechariah. We have God's promise that all
of those that are far off... Let's go there to Zechariah again.
Zechariah 6 and verse 15. It says there, "...and they that
are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and
ye shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me unto you."
That's one thing we know. When the preacher of the gospel
comes and God saves us, we know that man was sin of God. He didn't
come on his own, he was sin of God. That's what Zechariah was
to these Israelites. He was sin of God with a message
of God and God in his purpose determined to save all that were
far off in that generation wherever they are. And were, because he
made a promise, I will lose none of them. They will all be found. Now there is a verse, and we'll
not deal with this part of the verse, our time is about up,
but there's a part of that verse that tells us, and this shall
come to pass, last sentence of that verse, if ye will diligently
obey the voice of the Lord your God. This will happen if you
diligently obey. I know this, we can't do that
on our own. I know this, we cannot do that
on our own. We find out that God alone, scriptures are very
plain that our salvation is not dependent on our works but upon
the work of God. So we will look back and see
the work that he performed that allows us to say I've obeyed
the voice of the Lord. It's the work of grace that allows
that. So we'll spend a little time
on that last sentence next time. And as we look forward to another
time in the book of Zechariah, we're about to get to chapter
seven. I think next week we may get there. So Lord bless you. And we look forward to coming
back here next Wednesday night, Lord willing. And remember the
prayer requests that were mentioned. Let's pray and watch one for
another.