The book of Zechariah chapter
four. And I'm going to start with verse six. We've gone over
verse six a little bit. But it's just one of those verses
that seems to be a central theme. Not only is it a central theme
to the book of Zechariah, but it is a central theme to the
Old Testament as well as the New Testament. The first scripture
shares this, particularly the last part. Now, we do remember
that Zerubbabel is a governor. And the Lord says here, and he
answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord
unto Zerubbabel, saying. Now this came as a response to
the building of that temple, that physical temple. But this
is truly God's work in building his spiritual temple, the church.
It is not by might. It's not by seeing. just as I
am 29 times. It is not by might nor by power,
not by our might and not by our power, but by my spirit saith
the Lord of hosts. That word Lord is mentioned twice
in that verse and Lord of hosts is the final. Now, this theme
is carried throughout the Old Testament. We read with Jonah,
salvation is of the Lord. And those two verses of scripture
fit together so clearly, so perfectly. It's salvation of the Lord, it's
not by power, it's not by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
That's where our salvation comes from. That's where our sanctification
comes from. That's where our redemption comes
from. That's where it is from God above. good gift, and every
spiritual gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
there is no shadow or variableness of turning. So it is he sending
them down to us, and he is pleased to honor the gospel. That's one
of the glorious truths of God's word, is he is pleased to honor
the gospel of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and pleased to
honor the preaching of his blood and righteousness. Now, we may
not see in every service someone is saved, but God's people are
cared for in the preaching of the gospel. They are fed in the
preaching of the gospel. They are made better for this
life. Now, he never has changed our
flesh, but our lives, we look at things differently under the
preaching of the gospel. We look at affliction better
under the preaching of the gospel. We look at trials better in the
preaching of the gospel. And so we find that the Lord
uses that so clearly in our lives, in our saved lives, he uses the
gospel. And as it's brought out here,
it's not by power, it's not by might, it's not by our prayer
life, it's because of his grace. Then we also find, and turn with
me, keep your finger here, cuz we're gonna come back, but turn
with me back to this. You remember the circumstances
coming out of Egypt. It's interesting when they left
Egypt, not a dog barked. God shut every mouth of every
dog. They left, and they left in a
hurry, and they left to get out, and before they get completely
on their journey, the Lord brings it to Pharaoh's mind, what did
I do? What did I do? I just let all
the workforce leave. So the Lord moved on him to go
after them. And it tells us here in the book
of Exodus as the children of Israel appear to be boxed in. They appear to be, they're going
to fall at the hand of the Egyptians. And yet the Lord never lets his
people fall to the hand of the Egyptians. Never. It's always
in his purpose for their glory, for their good, and for the glory
of God, and for the glory of the church. So here in Exodus
chapter 14, verse 13, we find that Moses said to the people,
fear ye not. Now this, just like Zechariah
chapter 4 and verse 6, it's not by power, and it's not by might,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Folks, stand up and get in a
hurry here. Well, let's just read it. It
says, and Moses said unto the people, fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again no more
forever. That host is coming. You'll never
be bothered with them again. So the Lord's satisfaction at
the cross took care of all of the issue that we have with sin.
He paid for it completely. God's people will never have
to be brought up before that again, never have to answer for
that again. Now we deal with it in our life,
and eventually this life is going to be given over to death. But
in that, when he comes, we'll be given a new body that we don't
have to deal with this. But just that common theme throughout
the scriptures It's not by power, it's not by might, it's by my
spirit, saith the Lord. Well, another passage in Psalm
3. Turn with me to Psalm 3. As we
find this is just continuously going on throughout the scriptures
that God is encouraging his people by God. He doesn't encourage
us by ourself, He encourages us by God. God encourages His
people. And He encourages the Gospel.
And the Gospel is truly boiled down to this, not by power, not
by might, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. All good blessings
come from God. Here in the Psalms, Psalm 3. Psalm 3, and there in verse 8,
the Scriptures say this, Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people,
Selah. What a wonderful thing. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation belongeth to the Lord.
Salvation is given by the Lord. Not by power, not by my might,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord. So all the Old Testament prophets,
all the Old Testament preachers, all the Old Testament, they declared
the same thing that Zechariah was told to declare, the same
thing that is true today, the gospel is finished in Christ
Jesus the Lord. He is the author and finisher,
not by our power and not by our might. And we're not gonna squiggle
out any more of God's blessing by our goodness because there's
not one good bit about us. It's because of his grace. All
right, over in the book of Jeremiah, there's another verse I'd like
to read. Jeremiah chapter three. Jeremiah's dealing the same thing
with all those that are gonna read him. Much is said in the
book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, throughout the scriptures, it's just brought
out. But this theme, that Zechariah was called on to bring to our
attention. Just remember, building this
temple, physical temple, it's of the Lord, and building the
spiritual temple. It's of the Lord. He furnishes
the blocks. He furnishes the mortar. He furnishes
the power. He furnishes the deliverance.
He furnishes, he hews it out of a quarry. He's in charge of
it all. I'm just reminded of what went
on when those blocks, great blocks of stone were brought in for
the temple. Not one hammer and not one saw
was heard on that site. It's not by power. It's not by
might. They're going to fit because God ordained them that way. And
it is true about the church. You know, people, I can just
hear the saints at Jerusalem says, that guy Saul is not going
to fit. He's not going to fit the plan.
He's not going to fit the building. He's not going to fit. And yet
God pared him down in salvation and he fit Perfectly all right
look at Jeremiah chapter 3 Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 23 Jeremiah chapter
3 verse 23 truly in vain patient hope for from anywhere else,
but God Salvation can't be hoped for anywhere else It's not going
to be on an elevated place like this. It's just not necessarily
that God's not up there necessarily. It's not by power, not by might,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Remember that woman at the well?
She said, our father said in this mountain we're to worship,
and you say in Jerusalem you're to worship. Well, she's just
sharing with us what religion does. And this mountain, and
Jeremiah's letter of the Holy Spirit to leave us this truth. Truly in vain is salvation hoped
for in the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Oh my
goodness, how people hope for salvation in the wrongest places. Forgive me for my English. The
worst of places, they hope for salvation. And yet we find here,
truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. He just
cuts to the chase. Here it is. Salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is of God. It's not
by power, it's not by our strength, but it's by His Spirit, saith
the Lord. And then lamentations of all places, to find a wonderful
passage of scripture is in the book of Lamentations. Right after the book of Jeremiah,
Lamentations chapter 3. In all the trouble that is written
about by Jeremiah in this book of Lamentations. It is lamentable
how he felt towards Israel. It was a sad state of affairs. But right in the whole thing,
the crux of the matter is this. Verse 26, chapter 3, verse 26.
Lamentations chapter 3, verse 26. It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly Wait for the salvation of the Lord. What
are you going to tell your kids? It is good, quietly wait. What are we going to tell our
parents? What are we going to tell our grandchildren? It's of the Lord. You're not going to make it grow
any quicker. Trust the Lord. Don't move a muscle. Well, it
is good for a man that he should hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. Not by power, and not by might,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. It is the Spirit that gives us
the new birth. We can't get there on our own.
Spirit, by taking the truth of the Gospel, the good news of
salvation's complete and glorious salvation in Jesus Christ the
Lord. Complete. His blood and righteousness. So, word after word after word. And then finally, turn with me
to the little book that's hard to find called Habakkuk. Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 2. I'm more and more sold on these.
It's so easy to punch in. Habakkuk chapter 2. Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse
4. Habakkuk is led by the Spirit
to put down these words that the Apostle Paul quotes three
times in his words. The Holy Spirit moved upon Habakkuk
to write what the Apostle Paul is going to write three times
in the New Testament. And it says right here, Habakkuk
Chapter two, verse four, behold, his soul, which is lifted up,
is not upright in him, but the just, the justified ones, those
who are justified in Christ, those who are just, shall live
by his faith. The just shall live by his faith. And we find this brought out
in the New Testament. The just shall live by faith.
No simpler. That's as far down as we can
cut it. The just shall live by his faith. Or, not by power, nor by might,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Or, salvation is of the Lord. Or, trust in the Lord for all
your salvation. It's just everywhere in the scripture. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. God works a work of grace, and
he's the only one that can work that work of grace. I had a note
in my Bible. I didn't realize it was there,
but sometimes it's worth reading. It says, the Lord never made
midwives. We're not midwives. The Holy
Spirit is the one that bears the children. So trust the Lord,
trust the Lord. Present the gospel by all means
and ever means. Present the gospel, declare the
gospel that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. All right, as we
look at those verses there, in the book of Zechariah, going
back to the book of Zechariah, chapter four, we find some astonishing
things happen later in that same chapter that prove by power and
not by might. Now, we have in Zechariah chapter
four, as Zechariah is permitted to see something. I had a discussion
today with a fellow, and he was talking about the book of Revelation.
I says, you've got to look at the book of Revelation through
spiritual eyes. Well, if you're not saved, you can't do that.
You want to look at it through physical eyes. And I said, I
used to see in a gray roll on the wall when the preacher was
preaching the book of Revelation. And there was a lamb as had it
been slain with seven horns and seven eyes. And it was a monstrosity. How could God ever be represented
by that? Well, the book of Revelation
is just telling us He has all power. Seven horns, perfect power
and perfect omniscience. He has seven eyes. Perfect omniscience. He knows what's going on the
world around. He knows what's going on with
us right here tonight, and he knows what's going on with the
other seven and a half billion people that are in the world.
And he knows all about those that have already died, and he
knows all about those that are going to be born. I mean, that's
seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. So you look in
the Bechariah chapter 4, and we want to read there verses
12 and excuse me, 11 and 12, then answered I and said unto
him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of
the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered
again and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which
through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? Now he is seeing more than he
knows he's seeing. He's seeing the fulfillment of
verse six. He's seeing that all of this oil is coming out of
these olive trees and going into a representation of the church
called the candlestick. We get over to the book of Revelation
chapters one and two and we find out that that candlestick Those
seven lamps are the seven churches of Asia. This is representing
the church, and where does the church get its light? Where does
it get its sustenance? Where does it get its ability
to be active? Not by someone coming along and
pouring oil in us like they did that lamp in the tabernacle.
It's by the Holy Spirit pouring upon us the holy oil of unction. It's God working in us both to
do and to will of his good pleasure. It's God's oil upon us, and it
comes from a place we don't even recognize. Now, God uses the
preached word, but we have no ability to make it effective.
We can't make it effective, but when God does it, it is effective,
and it drains right into all those cups. Zechariah saw more
than he saw. He's asking, what is this? But
as he describes it, he sees it as a glorious way that God facilitates
the growth of his church, the feeding of his church, the oil
of the Holy Spirit to his church, and they have nothing in this
world in the ability to produce it. He says, I'll take care of
it. I'll put the oil there. Now over in that tabernacle,
a priest came along on a daily basis with that very special
oil and poured it in there and poured it in there and poured
it in there. Was it morning to night? It might have been. But
here, this never has to be tended by anybody. It's the Lord. So
it says there, and then in verse 13, and he answered me and said,
knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no, my Lord, I don't
understand what this be. But in his description, he shares
with us more than he ever said. All you have to do is see this
picture of bringing the oil in from olive trees that stand by
the side and realize this is supernatural. This is not human. This is not a human device. Fulfilling
verse 6, not by power and not by might, but by my spirit saith
the Lord. And this is the way the church
is fed. This is the way the church is
glorified. This is the way the church is
honored. This is how salvation comes. Every good gift and every spiritual
gift cometh down from the Father of lights with whom there is
no shatter or variables of turning comes down. Everyone comes down. We don't raise it. I've said
several times when it comes to giving, I'm sure thankful the
Lord drops it instead of us having to raise it. And that's what
he does. He lowers the blessings. We can't
raise it. We just can't get there from
here. So what a glorious statement that Zachariah was left to write
for us even though he didn't comprehend it and we don't comprehend
it like we should. But he did see something there
that is so glorious and that is God took care of the oil for
the lamps. And that lamp stand represents
the church of the living God. He answered me, I don't know
completely. And again, I thank the Lord.
Get upset, I don't understand this. Well, you fool. No, he doesn't say that. You
know, every time he mentions that in the New Testament, I
have heard preachers just run those disciples down because
they didn't understand what God was teaching them. You know what
God is teaching them? You'll never understand it unless
I reveal it to you. That's what he's teaching them.
You just will not see this. I can bring it out and bring
it out and bring it out and bring it out, but until I reveal it
to you, you'll never see it. So he's just teaching them, it's
of me. It's top down. Every spiritual
blessing comes from God. I'm the one that brings the oil.
I'm the one that brings the blessing. Wait on me. If you don't understand
it now, wait. If God be pleased, you'll reveal
it. If God is not pleased, wait. And I'm thankful that God reveals
much to some that is able to come along and share it with
us. Some of the preachers that come
our way reveal the great truths of God and my mind just goes,
my goodness. It's almost like reading Hawker.
Why didn't I see that? Well, it wasn't time. But when
we see it, we rejoice in the truth of it. We rejoice in the
glory of it. We rejoice in the oil coming
down from God to us. The answer still leaves us wanting,
though. Did you notice that? Zacharias
said, I don't know what this is. And then he answered and
said, now he tells us the truth of the matter, but still, I am
wanting when it comes to the understanding of the very truth
of the Master. What's it say in verse 14? Then
said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the
whole earth. Here's the answer. What does
that mean? What does that mean? You know, we could go over to
the book of Luke and there is an archangel. Oh, just turn with
me. Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Verse 11. Now, Gabriel, the archangel,
appeared unto Zacharias and Mary depart." Now notice what it says
here in Luke chapter 1 verse 11. And there appeared unto him
an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar
of incense. appeared unto me an angel of
the Lord standing on the right. And when Zechariah saw him, he
was troubled, and dropped down to verse 19. And the angel answering
him said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of
God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these
glad tidings. Now, I just have difficulty looking
at Gabriel as anything else. than the Son of God. His name
signifies that. His being signifies that. Now
if it isn't, He's a very good representation. I'm not going
to be dogmatic, but he stands. What does it say there in verse
19? Stand in the presence of God, and I am sent to speak unto
thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And verse 26 of the
same chapter, it says, and in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Gabriel,
once again, is the ambassador. Who's the true ambassador of
God? None other than his son, Jesus
Christ. He is the true ambassador. We
are sub-ambassadors. We are sub or under. He is the shepherd. There's under-shepherds. All right, as we look at this,
we find that this candlestick is mentioned over in the book
of Revelation. And it tells us that the Lord
is walking among the candlesticks, and there's seven stars. Now
when I grew up, those seven stars is called the angels of the church.
They're talking about some guardian angel over all the churches of
the Lord. Well, you can't read it that way. These seven stars
are the pastors of those churches. God has put those pastors in
place, and those seven churches had pastors. that were to preach
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus
to the people. And when they had a problem,
you know what the preacher had done? He hadn't been preaching
the free and sovereign grace of Jesus Christ the Lord. And
he said, you need to get back there. That was the warning. And if you don't, I will nab
your candlestick. I'll snuff out. And I think that's
what happened in Ephesus, because there's no longer a church in
Ephesus. The Lord does that very thing. Paul was used to warn
the churches during his time, don't fall for the dummy stuff. Keep your eyes on Christ. Don't
fall for the false. Keep your eyes on Christ. Don't
go to margarine when you can have real butter. Don't take
some spirit when you can have the spirit. Don't take some oil
when you can have the oil. And he goes through that several
times. Well, what I see here in the
book of Zechariah And you read commentaries, and everybody has
an idea about it. Some of them said these two anointed
ones, one is Zerubbabel, who is the governor, and the other
is Joshua, the high priest. Well, I cannot find a human being
that can fill these spots. They shouldn't be substituted
in there. No human being, human beings have just been ushered
out of the process when Zacharias said, now those pipes are coming
out of those trees and running right down into the church. Now,
I'm going to say Zerubbabel on this side and Joshua the high
priest on that side, I have just gone against the total gospel.
When I put the power to do that in the hands of some man, I might
as well go to potpourri. That can't be. It can't be some
prophets. It can't be Moses. It can't be
Joshua. It can't be people. It can't
be humanity. No human can do what is happening
here. So I have to go back to the scriptures,
and I read that there is two. that do what we read here doing. And one of them is Jesus Christ
the Lord. And in the preaching of the gospel,
Jesus Christ is honored, but the Holy Spirit makes it effectual. We preach the gospel, but there's
only one that can make it effectual. So here, I looked at that and
I said, this has gotta be. This has gotta be Jesus Christ
in the preaching of the gospel. He is honored and glorified and
God the Father is honored. God the Son is honored. God the
Holy Spirit is honored. And when the Holy Spirit honors
the gospel, he brings about growth in the church and regeneration
into the lost sheep. So it's gotta be above us. They
might be types, and they might be pictures, and they might be
shadows, but the reality is God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
and honors the Father in all that work, in all that ministry.
It is a mystery. It is a mystery. But let's turn
with me if you John. John chapter 6, verse 45. John chapter 6 and verse 45. Now notice the very first phrase
of this verse. It is written in the prophets. Now if that's written there,
we should be able to go to the prophets and find something about
this. So that means that this was the message in the prophets. It's the message in the Old Testament.
It's the message that we read in Zechariah chapter 4 and verse
6, not by our power and not by our might. Now I add the word
our there, I'm just simplifying it, but by my spirit saith the
Lord. So here in the book of John chapter
6, it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Now who is he talking about?
He's talking about his people. They shall all be taught of God. Now the word might have gone
out, but the teaching is out of our hands. The seed has been
sown, and the Lord is gracious to be the sow seed. One plants,
another waters, but God gives the increase. Here it says, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, notice the results, cometh
unto me. If God teaches us, we come to
Christ. God's never going to fail there.
If you've been taught of God, then you're going to be brought
to Christ. It's going to be Him doing it.
And the preaching of the Word of God, preaching the Gospel,
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit honors
it by the growth in saved people and the new birth in His lost
sheep. And we can't get there from here.
When we learn we can't get there from here, we'll honor His Word.
and preach the gospel, and we'll let him be the oiler. Pour in
the oil. Pour in all that goodness. We
need it every day. We need that oil. It's food. It's interesting that tells us,
and I've got to find that, oh, John 6, 53. We're right there. Turn to John 6, 53. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you. And boy, that has been taken
out of context. That has been broken out. And
it's been looked at, reviewed from a very literal standpoint. And yet the Lord's not talking
literal here. He's talking spiritual. The preaching of Christ's broken
body for our redemption is called our spiritual flesh. Boy, when
Christ is preached, did not our Salivary glands burst forth with
all of that moisture as we chewed on the graciousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Didn't we delight in chewing
on our Savior, ruminate on Him? And then, the preaching of His
shed blood is our spiritual drink. It's spiritual food and spiritual
drink to hear Christ preached. And that's what he's talking
about. But it's him being preached. And so Zachariah, it's a mystery. The word mystery is not used
in the Old Testament. I searched and searched and couldn't
find it. But it is brought out in the
New Testament a number of times. Great is the mystery of godliness. God seen in the flesh. And Paul said, behold, I declare
unto you a mystery. As he talked about the husband
and his wives there, he says, I'm telling you about Christ
and his church. So there's mysteries. And that
word mystery means to keep your mouth closed. You're not talking
about it. And yet the Holy Spirit reveals
it to us, and then we say, oh my goodness, I can ruminate on
this for a long, long time. Well, Zechariah chapter four,
it's not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
And Zechariah, even though he didn't understand, he says, I
do see some pipes coming from those two trees, and they're
oiling these lamps, and God be praised. because it's way above
us. The effects and the benefits
and the length of time it lasts is a lot longer than we could
produce. All right.