Zechariah chapter 1. As we start a series on Wednesday
nights on this wonderful book of the Old Testament, this gospel
according to Zechariah. I would like to read the first
two verses of this chapter and then we're going to look mainly
at verse 1. There's so many rich verses in
this chapter that have to do with the glory of the Messiah,
the glory of Christ, our redemption, our sanctification. So much is
said in here, but it begins in this verse. In the eighth month,
in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto
Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Ido, the prophet,
saying, the Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Now I asked myself three questions
when I read this verse of scripture, and we're going to deal with
those three questions for part of our lesson tonight. The first
question that I asked is, where did the word of the Lord come
to Zachariah? I found this answer and we'll
look up some verses in just a moment. The word of the Lord came to
Zachariah to this world where Zachariah lived. Secondly, when did the word of
the Lord come to Zachariah? It was during the reign of a
very pagan king. It doesn't take us long to study
about the Persians to find out they had many gods and they were
ruthless folks. They were a pagan group. And
number three, who was the Zechariah the word sent his message to? And we find right here in this
passage of scripture that this man is the son of Berechiah,
the son of Ido the prophet. So looking at these three questions
that were brought up that I found interesting, where did the word
of the Lord come to Zechariah? It came to this world. What was
this place like? We know the answer to that. It
doesn't take us very long to read in the scriptures to find
out that the world at one time, the creation at one time, was
altogether lovely. And we realize as a result of
the fall of Adam, and that fall, the sin of Adam is imputed to
us, and we have our own sin too, that this world, every Adam of
this world was touched by the fall. And if you would turn with
me just a few books to the New Testament, since we're only two
books away, the book of John chapter one, John chapter one
and verse nine, these words are recorded about the entrance of
the Messiah. And yet they speak volumes about
the condition of the world when the Messiah came. And this is
the same condition of the world in the days of Zechariah, same
condition of the world in the days of Isaiah, same condition
of the world in the days of Moses or Job. The condition of the
world has not changed, it has not been modified, it has not
been improved upon. Here in the book of John chapter
1, And there in verse 9 it says, this was the true light. Now
John is speaking about the Lord Jesus. This was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world. Now we know that this he is speaking
about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him. He was in the world. He came into the world. He came
and tabernacled among us. He came and tabernacled among
humanity. We know the story about His coming,
the word of God concerning His coming. It says that He was in
the world and the world was made by Him. And here's the condition
that He was met with though. The Creator God, the Lord God
Almighty, was met with this condition. The world knew Him not. Now that's a sad condition. When
the God of heaven comes to this earth in the person of Christ
Jesus, And this is the commentary about the world and what it knew
about God. The world knew him not. There
was not a single individual that by nature that has ever been
born that would know God in the spirit. We must be born again. We must be regenerated. We must
be quickened. We must have the spirit dwell
in us. And then we have this realization,
we have this recognition about God and we're going to have pretty
much the same recognition about God. We're going to have pretty
much the same realization about God because God does not give
his new birth to people that continue to think about him as
a little God. He gives his new birth to people
and in that they are caused to know him as Lord. Goes on to
say in verse 11 of this chapter, and this is the place that the
word of the Lord came to. that we read about over in Zachariah. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. Now we can say a lot about that.
We can say, oh, that's the Jews. We can say that about every lost
sheep, everyone who is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. This
is also their commentary. They received him not. And the
only way that we will receive him as he gives us the heart
to believe. And then we receive him. Zechariah
lived in a world that is written about here in the book of John
or written in any book of the Old Testament as well as the
New Testament. Would you look with me to the book of Isaiah
chapter 1? Isaiah chapter 1 shares a great deal about what kind
of place the word of the Lord came to. Now, the more we read
about the place that the word of the Lord came to, the more
we realize it was all of grace that anybody ever had the word
of the Lord. It is not the best of places. God came in the flesh and no
man knew him. God came in the flesh and no
man received him. We know the next verse there
in that list though, to those he had appointed, to those he
loved, to those he died for, they would look upon him as Lord. Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter
one, verse six, it says, from the sole of the foot, even unto
the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. So this is the description of
humanity that Zechariah lived in, the world that he lived in,
at the time that the word of the Lord came to him. So once
again, we have to comment that if it wasn't for the grace of
God, there would be no reason for God to come into the place
of that condition. Nobody was looking for him, except
those who were appointed, those who had the revelation of Jesus
Christ. But they didn't have it by nature.
Now, Zechariah, by nature, didn't have anything. He falls into
the same group of folks. And then we read over in the
book of Ephesians chapter 2, They were dead in trespasses
and sins. So this is where the word came. It came to the world. Now we
can say it came to Jerusalem. It came to a group of folks that
had left the Babylonian or the person, they'd been held there
for 70 years, the captivity. We could say, It came to the
dowels wherever the word of the Lord comes. This is the condition
that it comes to. There is nobody there by nature
that will recognize anything that God has ever done, ever
will do, and will not recognize the God of heaven. So by the
grace of God, God sent his word to Zechariah, or to Malachi,
or to Isaiah, or to any of the other prophets. All of those
that make up the world at any one time all have a serious sickness,
serious death, serious departure from God and the truth. That
is where Zachariah was when the word of Jehovah came unto Zachariah. There is a pearl of great price
in a swine yard. The word of the Lord. Pearl of
great price now we know the Lord is the pearl of great price But
the Word of the Lord the Word of God is also a pearl and it
came to a very serious place that is a terrible place Number
two, when did the word of the Lord come to Zachariah? It was
amazing that Darius would be mentioned in that verse of scripture.
And yet the Lord was pleased to have the Holy Spirit give
that to Zachariah, that the word of the Lord came to Zachariah
during the reign of Darius. Darius is a pagan king. Darius is a king, he's a pagan
king. He reigned there, was not a Christian
king. And I wonder sometimes if there
ever truly has been a Christian ruler. They have some, we call
it Christian principles. But I wonder if there's ever
been anybody that has ever ruled that was truly a born-again believer. If there was, thank God. But generally speaking, the truth
of the word of the Lord comes during the rule of a pagan king,
a pagan empire. When Christ was up on the earth,
he was born into an empire. But this empire was the Roman
Empire. And it was far from ever being
a Christian empire. The king of the Persians, Darius,
or his grandfather or uncle, depending on who you read, the
Cyrus, they had nothing. that would show to us that they
were Christian. Now we do find that the king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord, and he turns that heart with
us to every will. So when it came time, Cyrus'
heart was turned by the Lord. When it came time, Darius' heart
was turned by the Lord. But that's the time that Zachariah
lived. He lived during the reign of
Darius the king. And we find not much said in
Jerusalem about any person that was in an authority position. It was during the time of Darius. Now I had to ask myself, who
was this Zachariah that this word of God came to? And we find
that he, He was not someone especially special. He was not specially
raised. He was not raised in an area
where there was no sin. He was not raised in a family
where there was no sin. He was not specially treated
in any way that made him acceptable to have the word of God come
to him. God did not send his word to Zechariah because Zechariah
in himself was righteous or in himself had done good works.
But he came to Zechariah and he is identified in verse one
of that verse of scripture. He's the son of Berechiah, the
son of Ido. You know what Zechariah could
do? He could trace his line right back to Adam. He's a lot closer
at this time. But he can trace his line right
back to Adam. And if you can trace your line right back to
Adam, which anybody can do, all we have to do is say, I can trace
my line right back to Noah, and I can trace my line right back
to Adam. Now, I don't know the individual
steps, but I know that that's for certain. Anybody that can
do that is tracing their line back to a very sinful man. that took this world from light
to darkness, took this world from life to death, took this
world from a very special place to a place where sin was evident
in everything. He was a very special person
only because of grace. What does this mean? He could
trace his line back to someone that sinned and that sin is imputed
to us. Adam sinned. We in every sense
of the word were in Adam when he sinned. And yet, Zechariah
was a sinner saved by grace. We find over in 2nd Peter, would
you turn there with me? 2nd Peter chapter 1, 2nd Peter
chapter 1, we find that Zechariah enters a group of folks, like
quite a number of other folks, 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 21,
2 Peter enters into a group of
folks, like many folks, the folks that were used to give us the
Old Testament and the New Testament. It says, for the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God. Now, there's only way we get
holiness. We don't grow it. We don't raise
it. We don't bring it. It's something
that God gives to us. Holy men of God, they were sinners
saved by grace. Zachariah is a sinner saved by
grace. Zachariah is a sinner saved by
grace. He was born again. He was brought
to this place where God revealed himself to him. Holy men of God
speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So Zachariah fits
into this group of those folks Old Testament and New Testament
that were used of God. They were born again believers.
Now we have record of folks that were not believers in those books. But those books were written
as they were secretaries of a holy God. And their holiness was God's
holiness given to them. And they spake holy men of God
spake as they were moved. Now there's an interesting verse
over in the book of Numbers chapter 16. Moses says this. Book of Numbers chapter 16. Moses
said this, and he recognized something about the Word of God.
He recognized something about him and the Word of God. And
it's brought out here in Numbers chapter 16 and verse 28. Numbers
chapter 16 and verse 28. Moses said, Numbers chapter 16
and verse 28. Moses said, hereby ye shall know
that the Lord has sent me to do all these works. How? For I have not done them of my
own mind. I was unable, I was not creative
enough, I couldn't come to the conclusions here. Moses said,
hereby shall you know that the Lord has sent me to do all these
things, for I have not done them on my own mind. And that's the
words that every gospel preacher will say. That's the word every
prophet will say. These are not my words, God gave
them to me. And by his grace, I was able
to record them. And by the preserving grace of
God, his word was preserved. If it hadn't been for that, it
would not be here today. In the book of 2 Samuel, David
has this to say. We've turned here a number of
times in our ministry, because these are the last words of David. But he said something here in
2 Samuel chapter 23, that he also knew that he spoke not of his own words, but the
words of the Lord. Chapter 23 of the book of 2 Samuel,
verse 1. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said, the man who was raised
up on high, the anointed of God, of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist
of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his
word was in my tongue. 2 Samuel 23, verses 1 and 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me. That's what Zechariah could easily
say. That's what David could easily
say. Well, he said it right here. That's what Moses would say. That's what Isaiah would say.
That's what Jeremiah would say. That's any of the Writers of
the Old Testament would say, the spirit of the Lord spake
by me. He used me as his secretary.
I may have had the pen in my hand. I may have had the paper
out in front of me. But when that pen moved, it was
the word of the Lord recorded. And that word was absolutely
God-given. It was a perfect word of God
as it was given to these folks. And also, if you'll turn with
me back to the New Testament, Over to the book of Luke, Luke
chapter 1. What a blessing that Luke chapter
1 is, and in it we find some thoughts about Zechariah and
Zechariah's writings. Because he's mentioned here,
not by name, but by person, the term prophet. Luke chapter 1
verse 68, we have these words. The word of the Lord came down
to this sin-cursed earth. He came down to this earth. We
find that the word of the Lord came to Zachariah during a generally
wicked time, just like it is today and like it was yesterday,
and it will be in the future. There's been no perfect times
in this fallen earth. And then we read that the word
of the Lord came to a man who could trace his line right back
to Adam. By one man, sin entered the world. And so Zechariah was right in
that direct line. Here in the book of Luke, chapter
1, verse 68, scriptures say, blessed be the Lord God of Israel.
For he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up
a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, as he spake
by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world
began. So since the very foundation
of the world, it was given unto his holy prophets, the things
that were going on. Now, of course, not everything
that ever happened is recorded in the word. But everything God
intended for us to have is here, every word of the Lord that he
intended for us to have. So he spake by the mouth of his
holy prophets, which have been since the world began, never
a moment since the time of creation. As there not been a place upon
this earth where someone was preaching the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. Never had to be brought
out of the reformation, never had to be brought out of a time
when there was no faith, when there was no gospel, when there
was no preaching. It has always been here in thanks
being to God. It has and will continue until
that day when the last sheep is saved. In that passage of scripture
that we looked at in the book of Zechariah, there is an interesting
phrase that is used. Would you go back there with
me? Chapter one, verse one. Zechariah chapter one and verse
one. The word of the Lord is mentioned
there in Zechariah. In the eighth month, in the second
year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah. In the eighth month, in the second
year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah. We know that Zechariah was a
sinner saved by grace. God gave him the word of the
Lord. God gave him what he intended
for him to write, and Zechariah, when he sat down to write, did
not add one jot or one tittle to what God had given him. Here
we find in the scriptures, and I'm just going to look at a few
verses here in the New Testament, where this term, word of the
Lord, is used. That's what a statement that
the Word of the Lord. Now, we look in the New Testament
and we find the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is called
the Word. In the Old Testament, God gave
to his holy prophets the Word of the Lord. For us, it's difficult
for us to differentiate between the written word and the word
because in every sense of the word they are the same. Jesus
Christ was spoken of by these holy prophets. He is spoken of
by the New Testament apostles and prophets. And he is declared
by all those preachers of the Old and New Testaments, all those
prophets of the Old and New Testament. And here, if you'll turn with
me to Luke chapter 22, Luke chapter 22, we have these words written
about a man by the name of Peter. Now, the Holy Spirit, after Jesus
is betrayed, we have these words about Peter. Now Peter leaves
us an example and this is an example that the Holy Spirit
will give to every one of his believers. The ability is given
to every one of his believers. What do we find here in Luke
chapter 22 and verse 61? The Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter
remembered the word of the Lord." Now who is he making reference
to? The word of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. the word of the Lord. And this
word, the word of the Lord, spoke to Peter and at first he had
no comprehension. In fact, he had a great amount
of denial that what Jesus said would come to pass. But we find
after the fact that he remembered something. Now, we are thankful
when God brings to our mind the word of the Lord. Whether it
be Zachariah, whether it be Isaiah, or whether it be just like an
incident here. We delight in hearing and remembering
the word of the Lord concerning the death, the burial, and the
resurrection from the Old Testament. But just as good as that is,
is for the Lord to cause us to remember words he said about
us and to us and for us. For he goes right here and he
says, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said
unto him. He remembered the word of the
Lord. He is declaring his deity. He's declaring his veracity,
and he's declaring his truthfulness, and yet it is all about him,
how he had said unto him. Now Peter, I'm sure after the
fact, would have rather not had the part in here that's the word
of the Lord, but it's right here for us. He says, before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Now, in the end, Peter was thankful
that he heard and understood the word of the Lord. What is
promised by the Spirit of God? He'll convince us of sin, of
righteousness, of judgment. God is gracious to give us this
information. And here it says that Peter remembered
the word of the Lord how he had said unto him. Probably he didn't like what's
written, but he did remember what God said to him. And how
precious that is. This is the word of God. This
is the word of the Lord Jesus. This is the word of him. And
it never is thrown out just for common hearing. It is given for
his sheep. Travel just a little bit here
in the New Testament to the book of Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 and verse 25,
and we're going to find as we go through the book of Zechariah,
these passages speak about what took place over there. What was
that that Zechariah was told to say to those that were going
to be his hearers? The first words, the Lord hath
been sore displeased with your fathers. That's Zechariah chapter
1 verse 2. We're going to have the message
of these prophets in the New Testament, the message of these
preachers, apostles in the New Testament is going to reflect
much of what Zechariah had to say. They know firsthand who
the Lord is. He is going to be declaring firsthand
as an author of the scriptures who the Lord is. Here in the
book of Acts chapter 8 verse 25, And they, when they had testified
and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and
preached the gospel. Now, what's the difference between
the word of the Lord and the gospel? Nothing. It's another word for the same
thing. So they preached the word of
the Lord, as it tells us there, when they had testified and preached
the word of the Lord. Now, their preaching of the word
of the Lord stopped at the end of Malachi. But remember, just
as Zechariah was given the word of the Lord, so these ministers
were given the word of the Lord in the Old Testament. And it
goes on to tell us there that they returned to Jerusalem and
preached the gospel in many villages of Samaria. So they're preaching
the word of the Lord, comma, Contained in that, it is this,
the gospel. And we know what the gospel is.
That's preaching Christ and Him crucified. That's preaching the
absolute need for everyone to have a salvation where Christ
is absolutely the only thing that we depend upon. Not any
works on our part. All right, turn with me just
a little bit, and we should get into hallelujah moments here.
Acts 13, verse 48. Acts 13, verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. The Gentiles
were glad and glorified what the message of grace is, what
the message of the Old Testament is. It is a message of the gospel. It's a message about Christ.
It's a message about the Messiah. It's a message about someone
who actually was going to do something about the problem that
we face in that sin. They were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Guess what? That became part
of the word of the Lord, and we get to delight in that. Now,
we could go to the Old Testament and find similar passages of
scripture, but we go to here, Acts 13, 48, and find out they
glorified the word of the Lord, and those that were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. And the next word, the word of
the Lord was published throughout all the region. This is what
they went with. They went with the word of the
Lord. They went with a word that glorified God. They went with
a word that glorified a sovereign God. They went with a word that
glorified a God that before the foundation of the world, He would
have a people set aside for His own glory. and promise to redeem
them and redeem them and bring them out of the corruption of
this world and set them upon a solid rock. We have the word
of the Lord on that. And that's what Zechariah was
going to bring to those folks. When we mentioned last week that
verse of scripture, there is a fountain. It's a wonderful
statement about God's great salvation to all folks that he had before
the foundation of the world. In the book of Acts chapter 15,
Acts chapter 15, and there in verse 36, the word of the Lord
came to Zachariah, came down to this earth, came to him, the
spirit of God spoke to him, he was a holy man of God, God spoke
to him through the Holy Spirit, bring this message to his people
that we still enjoy and appreciate, came down during a very conflicting
time, age of Darius the king, and came to a man that by nature
had no approval of God, had no thought, good thought towards
God, and God saved him by his grace through the preaching of
the gospel, and now he is used to give us those 14 chapters
of the book of Zechariah. Here in the book of Acts, chapter
15 and verse 36, the scripture shares this. And some days after,
Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren
in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see
how they do. What a wonderful thought about
backtracking, seeing how the folks are doing after they heard
the word of the Lord. When God works a work of grace,
When God works and works a grace in the heart, it's worth going
to visit the brethren. And that's what they did, where
they had preached the word of the Lord to see how they do. In the book of Acts chapter 16
and verse 32, remember, It is the spirit that brought the word
of the Lord to Zachariah. Acts chapter 16 and verse 32.
We have these words and they spake unto him the word of the
Lord. and to all that were in his house,
and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their
stripes." Who is this about? Philippian jailer. He just had
Paul and Barnabas whipped, put in stocks, and now they spake
unto him the word of the Lord, and they that were in his house,
and God used that word in a glorious way, and we see the gifts that
God had given him. Number one, he was not interested
anymore in punishing these folks, but washing their stripes. It
was the word of the Lord that they spake unto him. It wasn't
you should repent because you're a Roman soldier. It wasn't you're
born in the wrong household. It wasn't any of those things.
There was no conversation about the religion he was in. There
was only the need to preach the word of the Lord. Doesn't matter
what religion we're in. It's the word of the Lord that
gets us out. Chapter 19 of the book of Acts,
verse 10. Chapter 19 and verse 10, we read
these words. And this continued by the space
of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia, that's Asia
Minor, heard the word of the Lord, Jesus, Both Jews and Greeks. What's that tell us? There's
only one message. It's for Jews and Gentiles. It's
for Jews and Greeks. It's for those who were of the
nation of Israel plus everybody else. It's the same message.
It's the word of the Lord. And there's a one word that's
added there to the rest of these. It's the word of the Lord Jesus. This one. This is the one, the
Lord Jesus, both to the Jews and to the Greeks. And I can
imagine to have these folks there for two years and preach the
word of the Lord to those who came and heard and God by his
grace saved all that belonged to him. In the book of Colossians
chapter three, Colossians chapter three and
verse 16, Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly. There's where it is, that's the
issue. This is the Christ. He is the
issue. Let him dwell, his word dwell
in you richly. You know, we don't go to, we read good books, but we don't
go to them for our proof. We go to this book for the proof.
Those men wrote truths as from this book. We may hold the sovereignty
of God in high esteem by Arthur W. Pink, but he got his truth
out of this book. So let it dwell in you richly.
All of the writings men have with regard to the Bible, good
men, men that knew something, writing something about the book.
We don't go to that. We don't go to articles of faith.
We don't go to the confessions of faith. We go to the word of
Christ. That's where we're settled. First
Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one. I'll never forget going to a
camp meeting. I'm invited to speak there, and
the first thing they asked me is, what confession of faith
did I follow? I didn't know there were any.
I said, I just haven't had time to study them. Well, after time,
we look at those, those men that wrote those things, they were
having an issue, and they wrote, and they brought the scripture
out and said, this is why we believe this. but they went to
the word of the Lord. That's where the weight is. 1
Thessalonians 1, verse 8, for from you sounded out the word
of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also at every
place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we
need not to speak anything. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord. This is what they used. This
is what they preached. This is what they spoke to each
other about. This is what they encouraged
each other in, was the word of the Lord. This is where our foundation
is. This is where we find our hope,
is in the word of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Thessalonians
4, verse 15. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 15. This is our eschatology right
here. And it comes from the word of the Lord. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, take confidence in this, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord will
not precede them which are asleep. Take heart, the word of the Lord
says it. That's our eschatology. Those who are alive and remain
will not precede those who are asleep or dead in the grave.
There will be a general resurrection. All people will be raised. A shepherd will separate them
as a shepherd to separate the sheep from the goats. On the
right hand will be the sheep. On the left hand will be the
goats. And he will judge. And he will welcome those that
he has loved from eternity. And he will condemn those that
he didn't. There's our eschatology. In the
book of 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 1. 2 Thessalonians 3,
verse 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us.
I ask you to pray for us that the word of the Lord may have
free course and be glorified even as it is with you. May the
word of the Lord have free course. May it be able to be declared
freely. declared openly. Paul, the apostle,
was in some places and sometimes he was commanded on his very
life, don't preach the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The other disciples,
he just simply said, the apostle Paul in writing to the Thessalonians,
I just ask you to pray that the word of God will have free course. that his word, God's word, will
not return unto him void, while it will always accomplish that
whereunto he hath sent it. But pray that the word of God
will have free course. First Timothy chapter 6. First Timothy chapter 6 and verse
3. Zechariah is called to go into
a place of Jerusalem and there bring up the word of the Lord
because there were some people there that said they knew but
didn't know and were practicing falsehoods. Here, if any man
teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, This is the measure. Are they
preaching the words of the Lord Jesus Christ? And to the doctrines
which are according to godliness. If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So we can say, what does Christ
say about that? Someone may bring up, well, I
just believe Jesus died for everybody. Well, let's go to the word of
the Lord. Let's go to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
find where he said that. We go to the word and we find
out what he said about who he died for. I lay down my life for the sheep. Oh, well, there must be some
other place. I came not to minister, but to
minister and give my life a ransom for many. And that is the way
it goes. And so let us hear the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ on every subject. And then finally, if
you turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse 25. Now how long are we to do this?
How long has it been declared? Well, Zachariah was called on
by the word of the Lord about 500 years before the birth of
Christ. Moses was called on 1500 years before the birth of Christ. And what do we do now? Here it
is, 1 Peter 1, verse 25. For the word of the Lord endureth
forever. Now, the gospel endures forever. It's the same gospel, it's the
same word of the Lord, it's the same that we need to preach to
the very end. For the word of the Lord endureth
forever. That's what Zechariah was called
on to preach. That's what Zechariah was called
on to say. He's going to say some wonderful
things about the coming of the Messiah, but he's going to be
doing it as the word of the Lord. Continue that. But the word of
the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. This is the word of the Lord
and by the gospel we declare it unto you. The preaching of
the gospel declares the word of the Lord. So when Zachariah
was told here in verse 2, the Lord hath been sore displeased
with your fathers. What's the answer? The gospel
by the word of the Lord. Why would you bring up a fountain
filled with blood? to a people that he had just
said, sore displeased with your fathers. What? That's the only
hope. A fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And by it, his people lose all
their guilty stains. So the word of the Lord, where
did it come to? Came down to this earth. We have
it today, we're thankful for it. When did it come? Came during very turbulent times. It seems that way since the very
creation. Turbulent times. Reign of a pagan
king. And who did it come to? A man. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John or Zachariah or or. We'll stop there for tonight.