Okay, thank you, Matt. Well,
we're involved in the study in the book of Zechariah, and we
find ourselves this morning again in chapter number 12 of the great
prophecy of Zechariah, whose name means Jehovah Remembers. And that's a blessed meaning
to his name, and it's good for all of us who are the people
of God to always keep in mind that our great God and Savior,
Jehovah who saves, he always remembers his people. And we're
so thankful of that. All right, Zechariah chapter
12. Let me read this to you briefly. The burden of the word of the
Lord for Israel saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the heavens
and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit
of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem
a cup of trembling and all the people round about when they
shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day, in that gospel day, and this is an expression
found often in the book of Zechariah, the gospel day is from the beginning
of our Lord's ministry to the very end of this age of the gospel,
this age of grace. We're in this day now. we have
been since our Lord came. So he says, in that day will
I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that
burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all
the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that
day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment,
and his rider with madness. And I will open mine eyes upon
the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people
with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall
say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength,
and the Lord of hosts their God. And that day will I make the
governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like
a torch of fire in a sheath. They shall devour all the people
round about on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem
shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the
tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and
the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them
at that day shall be as David. And here is an astonishing statement
And I'll deal with it in a few minutes. And the house of David
shall be as God. Even as the angel of the Lord
who went before the Israelites as they journeyed through the
wilderness. Look at verse nine. It shall
come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all nations
that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And that day shall
there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of
Hadad Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn
every family apart. The family of the house of David
apart, and their wives apart. The family of the house of Nathan
apart, and their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi
apart, and their wives apart, the family of Shimei apart and
their wives apart, all the families that remain, every family apart
and their wives apart. In many ways, this is a difficult
passage of scripture to set before you, and yet in other ways, and
once I, by the enablement of the Spirit of God I trust, once
I try to break this open for you, I think you'll understand
what this passage is all about. Now, first of all, historically,
we know that the Israelites had been released from Babylonian
captivity, border of Cyrus. And so they're going back, several
thousands of them went back according to the release of King Cyrus
of Persia. And they went back with these
instructions to rebuild the city of Jerusalem that had been ransacked
by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. And so they go back,
thousands of them, and they begin to rebuild the temple, and they
begin to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Now, there was some
discouragement, and for two or three years, the construction,
the reconstruction of the city and the wall stopped. But then
it started up again. And as we come to Zechariah chapter
12, the walls have not been fully rebuilt and the temple has not
been fully rebuilt, though the worship of God has resumed within
the city of Jerusalem because the brazen altar was the first
thing built. And so the sacrifices resumed
according to the purpose of God and according to the order of
King Cyrus. So the worship is going on as
they offer their sacrifices, but the building of the city
has been long and very, very slow. And that left them open
to the enemies of Israel because the walls weren't rebuilt. They
were partially rebuilt, but still there were openings in the walls
and the city was open to the many attacks of the enemies.
But here's what the, historically, here's what the chapter's all
about. The Lord says to Israel, to Jerusalem, to Judah, he says,
do not worry, I will be your defense. And though the enemies
come again against the city of Jerusalem, they will find that
I am your defender. And when they attack Jerusalem,
Jerusalem will be to them, as it says in verse 2, a cup of
trembling or a cup of poison. When they touch you, God said,
it's like they touch me. And remember earlier in the prophecy,
it says, the Lord said, he that touches you is as though he touched
the apple of mine eye. So the Lord wants them to know,
I will be your defense. I will be your defender. And
if they come against you, you will be to them, Jerusalem will
be to them as a result of the attack and as a direct result
of the strength that the Lord will give them. Jerusalem would be like a heavy
stone that the Lord drops upon the enemies of His people. So
on the surface, historically, that's what this is about. And
you got that now, right? You have an understanding then
of the historical meaning of chapter 12. But there's a deeper
meaning. There's a spiritual meaning.
See, understand this. If all we see in the Old Testament
is the historical accuracy of how God worked in the nation
of Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, if all we see is the historical
content of the Old Testament, we are not spiritually benefited. Our Lord Jesus, He instructed
those two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24.
He opened to them the Scriptures and they beheld Him in all of
the Scriptures. We must behold the salvation
of God, the deliverance of sinners, and the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ even from this 12th chapter of the book of Zechariah. Now when he speaks of Israel,
when he speaks of Israel, what does Israel mean? One who is
a prince with God. That's what all of God's people
are, we're royalty. You who believe the Lord Jesus
Christ know this for certain, you are the children of the King. You are royalty. In fact, in
Christ Jesus we read we are kings and priests together with Christ
Jesus. When we read of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
also should be taken not only literally as we consider this
historically, but it should be considered spiritually because
Jerusalem is the city of peace. You see, our Lord considers Jerusalem
to be His true people. You'll read in the book of Revelation
chapter 21, John, in the end, he sees the new Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven as a bride prepared for her bridegroom.
Jerusalem isn't the true Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusalem. The
new Jerusalem is not a literal city. It's a real people. It's a people who've been redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved by the grace of
God. We are the new Jerusalem. Jerusalem
means city of peace. Our Lord Jesus made our peace
with God by the blood of His cross. Let's don't ever get weary
of preaching about and hearing about the bloody death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I know that's too sophisticated
for a lot of religions today. They say, you preach that old
slaughterhouse religion. We do preach the redemption that
is in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He saved us by His death. He redeemed us. What does that
mean? He bought us back to God. He paid our debt. The reason
you are saved this morning The reason so many of us and so many
of you who are watching and thousands upon thousands upon thousands
of others who have gone on to glory or who shall yet be brought
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and they shall also join us in
glory. The reason is because of the
sacrifice of Christ that paid our debt of sin. We're saved
by grace, aren't we? We're saved by grace through
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then the third term that
is used to refer to the people of God, not only Israel, we're
royalty, we're the children of God. And not only Jerusalem,
but we're the city of peace. Christ made our peace, he is
our peace. But then we're called Judah. And Judah means praised. Who is to be praised for us being
the children of God? Who gets the glory? Read again
Ephesians chapter 1. God who chose us. God the Father
who chose us unto salvation. The scripture says it's all to
the praise of the glory of His grace. And then he talks about
the work of the Son of God, who died for us, who redeemed us.
And be sure you understand this from Ephesians 1 verse 7, wherever
you have redemption, there has to be the forgiveness of sins. It cannot be that God has received
the merits of the bloody death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
then that the merits of that death fail to save those for
whom that blood was shed. Where there is redemption, the
result has to be forgiveness of sins. That's why you're forgiven.
Because Christ died for you. You say, but I asked for forgiveness.
I know. I wanted forgiveness. I know.
But neither your faith nor your repentance merited forgiveness. Not your repentance and not your
faith and not your tears. Your faith isn't powerful enough
to put sin away. It took the blood of the Son
of God to pay our sin debt. We are Judah. God be praised. And then at the end of chapter
one of Ephesians chapter one, we read of the work of the Holy
Spirit. It's to the praise of his grace,
the work of the father, to the praise of his grace, the work
of the son, to the praise of his grace, the work of the spirit,
to the praise of his grace. Now, let me see if I can, in
just a few minutes, break open this chapter to you in a spiritual
way, in a spiritual way. And I'll give you four things.
Number one, The divine burden. And I touched on this a little
bit last week from verse one. The burden of the word of the
Lord for Israel. Not against Israel. So often
when the scriptures talk about the burden of the Lord, it's
against people. But this is for Israel. This
is for his people. Does God have a burden? In the
scriptures, Human characteristics are often attributed to God in
order to accommodate our feeble thinking. And I'm thankful God
writes that way. When we have a burden about something,
and some of you, you have a burden about your children, want your
children to be saved, you have a burden about your grandchildren,
Maybe you're burdened with illness in your family, you carry burdens,
you carry things that are weighty to you. And God would have us
know that He bears a burden. And this burden is vital to Him. I said last week three things
are important to God. His glory, and His Word, and
His people. God would have us to know that
speaking as a man, He has a burden for His people. He bears us upon
His heart. And when we read that the Lord
has a burden for Israel, He has a burden for the children of
God, let's narrow it down even more. He has a burden for you. He has a burden for you. He bears
you, all of His people, He bears you upon His heart. It's as though
God Almighty says to us, I love you so much that that which I
constantly keep in focus is your everlasting salvation. God bears
the burden. How much of a burden is our salvation
to the Lord? So much so that he sent his son
to die for us. That's how focused God is. You
see, the grace of God is not in general to all the world. The grace of God is focused down,
it's narrowed down to individuals. He saved me. He was burdened about me. I was upon his heart. He's been
focused upon me from before the foundation of the world. And
you take the words that I just used about myself and you turn
them around and make application of them to you. The Lord is burdened
for you. So much so that he spared not
his own son, but gave him up for us all. How great, how deep
is the depth of the love of God for each one of us who have been
brought to know Him? And those of you who are watching,
how great is the depth? He sent His Son to die for us. Sin must be punished. There's
a penalty that God demands for our transgressions, and it is
nothing less than death. Death alone will satisfy divine
justice, and justice guided in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the reason you're saved. That's the reason you know God.
That's the reason your sins are washed away. That's the reason
the spirit of truth, and I'm gonna be speaking tonight from
James 1 18, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth
that we might be a kind of firstfruits unto God. That's the reason he
dealt in grace with us. Oh to grace, how great a debtor. That's what we sing in Come Thou
Fount. The Lord has a great burden for
himself. Well, how do we know that the
Lord will fulfill this desire of his heart to save his people? How do we know he has that kind
of authority and that kind of power? Well, look at the rest
of verse one. Well, this is the one who stretcheth
forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth,
and formeth the spirit of man. You'll notice, and I've mentioned
this to you from time to time, the end, the suffix, E-T-H, that's
the perfect tense. And what this means is this is
something that is continually going on. The Lord would have
us know the heavens that are stretched out, I keep them stretched
out. I keep them stretched out. And
the foundations of the earth that I laid, I keep them laid
out. And the Spirit of man within
Him, I keep your spirit safe and saved in the Lord Jesus Christ. God will keep creation going
until all of His people have been brought into the fold of
salvation. And then Hebrews chapter 1 says,
God says He'll fold it all up as a curtain, as a vesture. That's what he says there in
Hebrews chapter one. He'll fold it up as a vesture.
I don't know much about this global warming. People know a
whole lot more about that than I do. I know that weather runs
in cycles. I don't know too much about that,
but I'll tell you this. Don't you worry that somehow
or another we're going to destroy this earth and destroy the heavens
and destroy the earth. God who stretched them out, He
keeps them stretched out. He keeps the heaven stretched
out. He keeps the earth founded. He preserves the spirit that's
in man. And you see the reason He keeps
the heaven stretched out and the earth founded and keeps the
spirit alive in the hearts of His people is because God's people
are here. Now what's going to happen when
God takes all of his people out of this world? That's when he'll
bring it all to an end. The reason the earth is preserved,
the reason it's kept is because we're here. Because of the Lord's
burden for us. Here's the second thing, divine
protection. And really this is in verses
two through seven. Our Lord paints a picture for
us, and I hope we can see that Jerusalem is surrounded by many
enemies. And these verses show what's
going to happen to all of those who oppose the true people of
God, who oppose Israel, Jerusalem, or Judah. You see, for years and years
and years, the enemies of the Gospel, the enemies of the Word
of God, The enemies of creation, the enemies of the providence
of God, the enemies of the salvation that is of God, they have railed
against the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I would recommend,
if you have not read Fox's Book of Martyrs, It's an excellent
book. Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It's quite an old book. We have
a few copies, I think, in the book room or in the library.
You can check those out and read it, bring the book back. Won't
cost you anything other than a little bit of valuable time
or time that will be rendered valuable because you read the
book. There have been thousands upon thousands of God's people
whose lives have been laid down for the cause of the truth. Rivers
of blood, human blood, have been shed by people who would not,
would not turn against the truth of the gospel of the grace of
God. And they'd rather forfeit their
life, be burned at the stake, be cast to the lions that rather
do that than say, I do not believe in Jesus Christ anymore. And
there are people in this world today who are sealing their witness
with their blood. So I thought the Lord's gonna
protect him. He protects our souls. Now he'll protect our
bodies as long as it pleases him to do so. But those who oppose his people
be a cup of trembling or poison. In fact, if you have your Bible,
you look in the center column. I have a center column in my
Bible. I like the Cambridge Bible. They've been making Bibles longer
and English Bibles longer than anybody. But in the center column
of my Bible, under trembling, it says poison. See, to oppose the work
of God is like drinking a cup of poison. You're only hurting
yourself. The Lord said, I will work and
who shall let it? And that word let means who shall
hinder it. Who shall stop my work? You seek
to stop God's work? Seek to put the church of our
Lord Jesus Christ out of business? Why, it's as if you were drinking
a cup of poison. You're just killing yourself.
Because you can't stop the work of God. Our Lord Jesus said,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. It will be like you drinking
a cup of poison to rise up against the purpose of God and the salvation
of his people. It will be like you having a
stone lowered upon you that will mash you to death for you to
oppose as an enemy of the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ. God says in verse three, All
that burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces. You see,
God has a burden, but the enemies of the gospel have a burden too.
Because the enemies of the gospel would put the church, the true
church of our Lord Jesus Christ, would close it down. Would shut
the doors. Stop the voice. Stop the message
of free and sovereign grace. We don't want to hear it anymore.
So they come to oppose the true church of our Savior. And the
Lord says they're just cutting themselves in pieces. In fact,
the Lord says in verse 4, In that day I will smite every horse
with astonishment and his rider with madness. You see, in those
days the most powerful animal that was most advantageous to
them in the time of war was the horse. All the things that men
look to for their strength and for their power, God says he'll
smite them. He'll smite them. And in verse
five, in verse six, he talks about the governors of Judah.
Well, who in the world are the governors of Judah? Preachers
of the gospel. Because you read in Hebrews chapter
13, we rule. Preachers of the gospel rule
according to the purpose of God. And preachers of the gospel,
here's what we preach. The Lord is our strength. The
Lord is our strength. We all readily admit we're weak. A little later in this passage,
we're feeble. We have no strength, but when
we were yet without strength in due time, what happened? Christ
died for us. Christ died for us. And preachers
of the gospel gladly tell the saints of God, don't be afraid. His strength is made perfect
in your weakness. Wasn't that what the Lord told
the apostle Paul in the book of 2 Corinthians? When he besought
the Lord three times for the messenger of Satan that had been
sent to him, whatever that was, the Lord said, you'll keep that. He'll keep you humble. But know
this, my grace is sufficient for your need. And I speak to
all of you who are the people of God, to those of you who are
watching, I don't know what you're going through, I have no idea
the trials, the troubles, the difficulties that you're encountering
in life, but I will tell you this, the Lord's grace is sufficient
for you. You see, this grace that saves,
it doesn't forsake us. Grace keeps us. Grace preserves
us. Grace teaches us. My wife's been quite sick this
week, and remains so. She told me last night, she said,
you know, I feel like I'll just live in a bubble. She tried to go to sleep, and
I was laying there thinking, you know what, all of the people
of God, we are in a bubble. We're in a bubble because the
Lord, our God, protects us. All children of the Lord. And
I'm not saying throw caution to the wind. I'm not saying that
at all. Marty and I were talking about this earlier this morning. I believe I'll live till the
Lord's pleased to call me home, but I'd look both ways before
I cross the road. But I'll tell you what, nothing
can harm us. God's Jerusalem. Though the walls
may not be built all the way around us, yet there's an invisible
wall. The Lord our God surrounds us. He is our refuge and He is our
strength. Oh, children of God, be greatly
encouraged. No harm can come to you, no real
harm. Can't harm your soul. Ah, there's
divine protection, divine protection. And I must go quickly, let me
show you from verses seven through nine, the divine defense. The divine defense. Look at verse
seven. The Lord also shall save the
tents of Judah first. That the glory of the house of
David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah. There is glory to be shown, but
it's the glory of Christ. You're not going to get any glory.
You say, well, I was saved before so-and-so. I've been a Christian
for a number of years and so-and-so has only been a Christian for
a few weeks or a few months. Don't take any glory in that.
You were effectually brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
by divine grace. You don't get any glory there.
But glory goes to God. God who chose you, God the Son
who redeemed you, who paid your sin debt, who satisfied the justice
of God in his cross death. And the glory goes to the Holy
Spirit who effectually called you to Christ. That's right,
isn't it, brother? Called us to Christ, drew us. Don't try to take any glory.
Don't try to take any glory. The Lord is our defense. In fact,
he says in verse eight, in that day shall the Lord defend the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. He that is feeble. Anybody in
here feeble? I am. I'm feeble. You know what he says? You shall
be as David. You know what I think this refers
to? I think this refers to David when he's going up against Goliath. David was not a large man. King Saul, who offered him his
armor, he was a big guy, his head and shoulders above everybody,
but not David. Saul said, put on my armor. He
said, I can't even move in all this stuff. He's a feeble man,
but he goes out in the strength of an almighty God. And I'll tell you what, one stone
put into that sling, and David let go of that. Watch
what a feeble man does by the power of God's might. Hits him
in the forehead and down the giant goes. He towered over David. Ah, but he had the strength of
God. When I come before you to preach,
I feel like a feeble man." That's what Paul said. Brandon, isn't
that right? In 1 Corinthians 2, he said,
who's sufficient for these things? Who can do this? I'm a feeble
man. Paul says a little later in Galatians,
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. How can a feeble, weak,
sinful man preach the glories of Christ Jesus to people in
any good come of it? Only by the power of God. Because
the power is not in the preacher. The power is in the Lord. He
will save His people. though we're weak. And then he
says, in the house of David, read that as the house of Christ,
shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. You
say, we shall be as God? Listen, our Lord Jesus, by the
grace and power of God, has been made unto us, the last two verses
of 1 Corinthians 1, to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Did you know in the Lord Jesus
Christ we are as holy and as righteous as He is before God? Isn't that a thought? Stan, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, Joe and Tom and all of you who are the people of God, we
stand right now in the beauties, in the perfections of our Lord
Jesus Christ, even as our Savior is perfect and pure before God. That's tremendous. Boy, that'll
float your boat, and if it doesn't, if that didn't put wind in your
sails, I don't know what will. even as the angel of the Lord
who went before the Israelites. He is our defense. And then,
lastly, the divine gift of grace, verses 10 through 14. In this
gospel age, verse 10 is a powerful verse, we may preach on it next
Sunday morning. God says, I will pour upon the
house of David, upon the house of Christ, upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. Who has
to pour out the grace? The Lord does. You can't pour
it upon yourself. He holds the vessel of grace
and only the Lord can pour out his grace upon you. Oh, God, be gracious to me. Be gracious to each one of these.
Be gracious to you, you who are watching. The spirit of grace
and supplications. And when the Lord does that,
then we're gonna look at the one whom we pierced. It's often been asked, who killed
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I know all things have
to go in the purpose of God. I know that. But what, which men, which people
were active in his death? Well, you could say Judas, you'd
be right. Herod, Pilate, the Sanhedrin,
the Roman soldiers. But you know something, you've
left somebody out. I'll tell you who killed him.
We did. We did. Our sins. Why, why did the Savior
suffer at Calvary? Why did God pour His infinite
wrath into the Holy Soul of the Son of God? Because He bore my
sins, my sins caused His death. I know we can talk about how
wicked the world is, and boy, it is a wicked world. But I sure see a lot of wickedness
in here. And I'm just looking at the top
of the ocean. And in that day, when we see
how bad off we are, he says in verse 11, in that day there'll
be great mourning. And he gives an illustration
as the mourning of Hadad Rimnon in the Valley of Megiddon. He
said, what in the world happened there? One of the greatest kings
of Judah was King Josiah. And he was mortally wounded in
battle. And all of Judah had high hopes
that there would be a restoration of the glory of the kingdom of
Judah. But then they brought back to
Jerusalem the near lifeless body of King Josiah and people wept
and he died. Everybody's heart is broken.
I tell you when your heart will be broken over sin, Your heart will be broken over
your guilt when you see, when you're enabled by the Spirit
of God to see Christ Jesus had to die to put your sins away. That's when your heart will be
broken. It'll be sure enough broken.
Broken by God. And you'll mourn. And it won't
be a hypocritical mourning You say, Jim, what are those last
three verses? And the land shall mourn every
family apart. I can tell you what that means. Individuals will mourn. It's
not just a general mourning. You'll mourn. My sins, my sins caused his death. My transgressions that he bore
meant he had to suffer. He did all of that. He suffered all of that. He endured the wrath of God for
my sins. And that breaks my heart. He
says, you'll mourn like a parent mourns for only son who died. And we'll mourn because our sins
caused the death of the Son of God. Oh, how thankful we are we have
a substitute, someone who bore our sins in his own body on the
tree. I say to all of you who are the
people of God, be greatly encouraged. The Lord is your defense. And
I say to all of you who are still lost in your sins, do not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that the grace of God
will get a hold of your heart and show you a suffering, bleeding,
dying savior and break your heart. And if he does, You'll believe
Him. You'll look to Him. Say, this
is the Savior I must have. I flee to Christ Jesus, the Lord. And you'll say somewhat like
Fannie Crosby said, pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble
cry, while on others thou art calling. Do not pass me by. Hymn number 235. We'll close the service with
235. And I'll ask you just sing the first verse, 235, and then
we'll go home.