Let's go to the book of Zechariah
chapter 12. Zechariah chapter 12. I have one verse that I want
to read to you and then try to speak to you on the burden of
the Lord. The burden of the Lord. Zechariah chapter 12 in verse
1. The burden of the word of the
Lord for Israel, not against Israel, but for Israel, saith
the Lord. Well, who is this one who speaks? Why should we listen to him?
Why should we pay attention to him? Because he's the one who
stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of
the earth and form the spirit of man within it. If I were to ask you to list
your priorities in life, those things that are most important
to you, what would your list consist of? We're not going to
go around the room and asking everybody You know, but I just
want you to think about that. What are your priorities in life? Surely you have some, there are
some things that are most important to you. And we all, we have jobs
or you have retirement, you have these things, but assuming you
have some degree of financial security, hope you have fairly
good health, But I'll set those things aside because they're
not nearly as important as we might think that they are. If
you were to be asked, what are your priorities? How would you
answer? Now, you've already, you got
it in your mind, don't you? You've already answered it in
your mind. Well, I'll tell you what mine
are. Number one, the worship of God. And when I say the worship of
God, I mean everything that has to do with my relationship with
God and the honor that I owe him and the honor that I try
to give to him, not only in preaching, but also in everyday life. The worship of God, that has
got to be, now listen, this has got to be the most important
thing in your life. There's nothing more important
than worshiping God, knowing God through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing more important
than the salvation of your soul, and if you worship God, if you
honor God through the Lord Jesus Christ, you have this salvation. You have the forgiveness of your
sins. You have the garments of God's
salvation. You have been blessed with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This
has got to be first and foremost. Do you know God? Do you know the Lord Jesus, the
only Savior of sinners? You see, and I'm speaking for
myself, but I know I'm speaking for you also, we need a mediator
to stand between us and God. I can't worship God. I can't
come to God. I can't draw near to God. I can't
even pray to God except through a mediator, somebody who will
go between me and the Lord, me and God. Why, God is so holy
that He charges His angels with folly. The Bible says the heavens
aren't even pure in His sight. Well, what about me? If He charges
the angels with foolishness, and if the heavens aren't clean
or pure in His sight, well, how in the world is God going to
receive me? How can I worship God and know that He receives
my worship, though it be pitiful at best? Well, I come to God
through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He is, the Scripture
says, He is that great friend of sinners. He's the elder brother
that we need to represent us and protect us and defend us. He's the one who stands between
me and God and He presents God to me. He tells me about God
and He reveals God to me through His Word. And then He takes me unto Himself,
and having robed me in His righteousness, He presents me to God and says,
this is one of my children. These are the ones I died for.
I paid His sin debt. You see, this is the priority
of all priorities, to know God, to worship God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. To seek His honor. to seek His
glory. And I say, you are blessed. You
are blessed above measure if you truly worship God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I speak of the worship
of God, I'm talking about the blood of our Lord Jesus. You
can't come to God apart from the blood of the sacrifice of
the Son of God. Sometime read Leviticus chapter
one. All of those folks who came to
God, they approached God on the basis of an innocent victim dying
in their stead, and the animal was killed, and then the blood
was shed. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. In this, the worship of God,
there's the bloody sacrifice of the Son of God. The blood,
there's a river of blood flowing all the way through the Bible,
just flows through it. It's so prominent. And God help
us if we forget, if we neglect to speak about the blood of the
Lamb of God, the blood of the Son of God. On the night when
the Lord passed through and He said He's gonna take the firstborn
in every house, the only houses that were passed over was those
houses marked by the Passover Lamb's blood. Go out there and
mark the bloody, mark the blood on the outside doorposts and
over the top. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And that's as true today as it
was then when God sees the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
spirit of grace applied to our hearts, God says, I pass over
you. That's real important to me. That's real important to me. We know Christ is the savior
of sinners. We need him to save us. And I'll
tell you, I rest my poor soul upon the Son of God only. And
I worship God. That means the word of God's
important to me. It means the substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ is important to me. It means this glorious
gospel of Christ Jesus, the only Savior of sinners, that's important
to me. It's important to you too. That's
important, I know it. It's important to many of you,
hopefully all of you. The worship of God, is that your
priority? There's nothing more vital than
that. If God doesn't work in your heart
and bring you to worship him, you're gonna perish in your sins.
I don't want you to go to hell. I don't want you to perish. I
want to see you in glory. I want us to gather together
and sing the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is vital to
me, the worship of the Lord. And then I would say, and obviously
this follows, my family. That's vital to me. I know you
love your family as I love my family. What's the greatest thing
you could do for your family? Husband or wife, children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, aunts and uncles, cousins and all of them,
all of them down the line of your family. What's the greatest
thing you can do for them? Try to get the gospel to them
and pray for them. Pray for them. Our God answers
prayer. This is how we communicate with
Him. His ears are always open to our
cries. Oh God, show mercy to my family. You see, I am a mercy beggar
for myself, but I'm also a mercy beggar for all my family. Lord,
they don't perish if you don't do something for them. Lord,
raise them from a spiritual grave. Lord, instill with them a heart
that beats in cadence with your heart to love what you love and
hate what you love. Give them a heart that loves
and believes and rests on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
I pray for all my family members. I pray for your family members
too. And then under that, the rest
of the things of the world. But now, let me kind of switch
gears a little bit, all right? Because I got your attention
now. Let me put it into another gear. Since we've considered our priorities, I want to talk to you about what
do you think of the priorities of God? What do you think is
important to God? Well, this is what I came up
with. Number one, his glory. That's important to God. The
reference is, you don't have to turn to it, Isaiah 42, verse
eight, I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory
will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. I
give three things under this first point. Number one, Let's
talk about his glory in creation, in creation. It says here in
the second half of the verses, the Lord that says this, he's
the one who stretched forth the heavens. Notice that E-T-H. You know what that means? It
doesn't mean that he did it once and that's over with. It means
he continually keeps the heavens stretched out. and then he layeth
the foundation of the earth. The earth is founded upon the
sovereign power and purpose of God, and he keeps it founded. Don't worry about man destroying
the world, man destroying the earth. People run around and
say, we're gonna destroy the planet, we're gonna destroy the
planet. God's reserved that right for himself. We didn't create this place.
and we're not gonna destroy this place. You see, the same one
who keeps the heavens stretched out keeps the earth upon its
foundation of nothingness except the will and power and purpose
of God. Don't try to steal his glory
and creation. The Bible says, Psalm 14, The
heaven declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his
handiwork. Day unto day, day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. I'm gonna seek to glorify him
for creation. Number two, let's see his glory
in divine providence. He's directing all things to
the end that he himself purposed before the universe was created.
I give you verse on this, Romans 11 verse 36, for of him and through
him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. What is providence? It is God
governing and God directing and God guiding every single event,
every single event. person and every single thing
to the end that he himself ordained before he ever created the universe.
That's his glory and providence. So we don't speak. We try not
to talk about luck. I know sometimes we probably
slip and say, well, I was lucky right there. We know better. I know better. There's no luck. There's no fate. There's God. There's God. He governs all things. He's directing everything to
the end that He purposed. That means He's directing your
life also. But mainly, number three, His
glory and salvation. Psalm 21 5 says, His glory is
great in thy salvation. Psalm 79 verse 9, Help us, O
God, of our salvation, for the glory of thy name. Behold the great glory of God
in the salvation of sinners. He chose a people unto salvation
before the world began. And you read there in Ephesians
chapter 1, it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's
what the Father did, and then the Son of God. He redeemed us
by His blood, and therefore we have the forgiveness of sins,
and it's all to the praise of the glory of His grace. And the
Spirit of God quickens us. He reveals the gospel to us. and He seals us under the day
of redemption. He preserves us, and that's to
the praise of His glory. Three times in Ephesians 1 regarding
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, Paul uses those words,
to the praise of His glory. Don't try to steal His glory
in creation. Don't try to steal it in providence.
And bless your heart, don't you try to steal it in salvation
either. Don't you attribute to the will
of man that which is the will of God? Don't you attribute to
man the work of salvation which is solely the work of God? I
like that question and answer. Somebody came to Spurgeons and
talked about, said, well, I think I'm saved by my free will. He
said, well, let me ask you a question. Are you saved? Well, he said,
yes, I'm saved. Where are you saved from? I'm
saved from sin. Who really saved you? Person
said, well, God saved me. And then Spurgeon said, well,
did he save you by accident or on purpose? On purpose. There it is. Don't argue with
the scriptures. And don't seek to steal God's
glory and salvation by talking about what you did. It's all
of God. And it's all of grace. So number
one, what's important to God? What is a priority to God? Here's
what I put first is glory. You agree with that? Don't you
think that's right? That's sound doctrine right there.
Number two, what's important to God? What's priority to God? I had Ron read that psalm. It's a wonderful psalm, of course,
but also because of a particular verse in that psalm. I hope that
you noted it as he read Psalm 138, verse 2. David said, I will worship toward
thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness
and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified, listen to this, thou
hast magnified thy word above thy name. Thou hast magnified
thy word, you have it right there in front of you. David says,
above thy name. You see, all of creation bears
the name of God, though men may deny it. But there's something that God
values, even, and I guess I'd have to say a little more than
his name, and that's his truth. You see, I know God created all
things. He'd create another world if
he wanted to. You believe that? He'd create
another world. All he'd have to do is will it,
and it'd come into existence. But he can't create another truth. Because there's just one truth.
That's the truth of his word, and there's the truth of the
incarnate word, the Lord Jesus Christ. And though men have endeavored
to destroy the Word of God, they have failed. And they will always
fail. Because, you see, the Word of
God will endure forever. Have you heard of... I'm sure
you've heard of the philosopher, the French philosopher and infidel,
Voltaire. He cranked out anti-Bible literature. He talked about that... Christianity,
which took 12 men to establish, he said, I'll wipe it all out
myself. You know what he said about the
Lord Jesus Christ? You know what he called him?
That wretch. That's what he called. He called
our Savior a wretch. And he published all these anti-Bible
literature, pamphlets, and he died. He died cursing the name
of Christ. And about 50 years after his
death, his house, where he published
and printed on his printing press, that anti-Bible literature, it
was purchased by believers. And they started printing Bibles. Oh, you can't destroy this book. men a whole lot greater than
Voltaire have tried. God said, heaven and earth will
pass away, but not my word, not his gospel, not his truth, not the book that tells us of
God's identity and man's shameful condition. and of the only Savior
who can help us, who can aid us, who can rescue us, who can
wash us, who can make us righteous. It tells us of Christ the Savior,
and it talks about this salvation that's all of God and all in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This book, One Truth. And that man, that young baby
born 2000 years ago to a young virgin, God in the flesh, who grew up,
never sinned, never did wrong, never told a lie, always treated
everybody fairly, obedient to God, obedient to Joseph and Mary,
obedient to civil law. He died under the wrath of God
in order to save his people from their sin. The book tells us that. You see,
you can go outside and study the book of creation. That's
fine. Study the book of creation. Just
turn the pages. Here just a couple of weeks ago,
I think it was in our local paper, it was the moon and some planet
kind of could be seen with a telescope. Some of you who are into that,
maybe you've got to get out where it's good and dark. I talked
about that in the newspaper. That's fine. Study the wonders
of God's creation. But creation won't tell you how
God can be a just God and a Savior. Creation won't tell you that.
You can study the number of craters on the moon, but the man on the
moon is not going to teach you how God saves sinners. You just
won't learn that way. Well, how am I going to find
out how the God of the Bible saves sinners in His book that
He has elevated above His own name? It will last forever. Don't just leave it on the counter
and let it gather dust, and when the housekeeper comes along,
say, make sure you dust my Bible, get the dust off of it. Shame
on you. Use it, read it, study it, come
here and listen to it. The Word of God, it'll last forever. His Word's important. It's important
to God. May not be important to you,
but it's important to God. Because you see, this book, the
Scripture, is the very highest and clearest manifestation of
God that there is. It is the highest and the clearest
manifestation of God that exists. You want to learn about God?
Don't go pick up a theology book, something that man has written.
Look in the Word of God. God identifies Himself. He's
holy, sovereign, just, true, wise, merciful, gracious, full
of loving kindness and tender mercies. Read the book and find
out who God is. And He's a God you don't stand
before. And read about His darling Son. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's not a god. He's the Son
of God. He's the Son of Man. He's the
only Savior. He's the only one who can help
you. in your mind and in your heart as you read the word of
God, reading about the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospels and really
throughout all the book of God, fall on your knees in your heart
and come to him for mercy. Oh, Christ show me mercy. You agree with that, don't you? What's important to God? His
glory and His word. And number three, His people. Now that brings me back to this
first part of verse one in Hebrews chapter 12. Watch it. The burden
of the word of the Lord for, not against, but for Israel saith
the Lord. You see this chapter, the 12th
chapter, we'll get into it more next week, the Lord willing.
It's filled with promises of grace and salvation and triumph
for his people. And here the children of God
are said to be Israel. Now you know in the scriptures
there are really two Israels. There's national Israel and there's
spiritual Israel. And we know that, we can compare
many, many scriptures. Romans chapter nine. Not all
Israel are Israel. That's what Paul wrote by divine
inspiration. Not all national Israel are really
spiritual Israel, because you got two Israels there. Now literally,
on the surface, the Lord has good news for Israel, because
he was gonna conquer their enemy. But there's better news, there's
the good news of what God is going to do and is doing for
his people during this age of grace. When you think of a burden,
when you think of a burden, you think of something heavy, right? Something you have to bear, a
responsibility. And as you read the word of God,
you'll find like the burden of Habakkuk, which the prophet did
see. Isaiah chapter 30, I believe
it is, Isaiah writes of the burden that God gave him for Israel. Malachi chapter one and verse
one, God gave to Malachi a burden. And we all have burdens. In fact,
the Lord Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, you shall find rest
of your souls. For my yoke is easy and my, what? Burden is
light. So we have burdens. And we know
what the song says. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Don't take it back, will you?
Leave it there. And we try to do that. But though we have burdens, and
many of the prophets of God, they speak about having a burden,
that's really not what this is talking about. It's not talking
about the burden of Zachariah. It's talking about the burden
the Lord bears. That's altogether different now. And the Lord speaks in language
as a man. And he talks about the burden
that he bears. The burden, the responsibility,
the heavy load, the heavy load that our God bears. What is that? burden. It's his love for his people
and his purpose for their great salvation. I suggest to you that which is
important to God, and I put them all on the same level here, God's
glory, God's word, and God's people. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the covenant of grace, he took a burden upon himself in
that great covenant. And the burden, the responsibility
that he took, no one else could bear it but the Savior. He had
to be almighty to carry the burden. My sins and my sorrows were made
His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. He took a burden on Him. It's
the burden of the welfare of His people. He loved us with an everlasting
love. He took this burden on himself.
And it wasn't an irksome burden. It wasn't a burden that he hated
to bear. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
2 talks about the joy that was in his heart to bear this burden,
to take our sins, to take our sorrows. then die unto the wrath
of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, and our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied justice when he died
for us. He had taken this burden on himself. You see, the full responsibility
for the salvation of all of his people has always been upon the
broad shoulders of the Son of God. He bore the burden. and he bore the burden successfully. He died in the room instead of
all of his people. Oh, what a great redeemer. And
I know God was satisfied because Christ was exalted to be Lord
of lords and King of kings. What are your priorities? Only
you can answer that. I can tell you what God's priorities
are. His glory. His glory in creation,
providence, and salvation. And I'll tell you what's a priority
to God. His word. Respect the word of God. Love
the word of God. Read the word of God. Study the
word of God. I think one of the many joys
of heaven will be when the Savior opens up the book of God and
teaches us, gives us a much greater understanding of the scriptures
than we have now. Because His Word, His Word, that's
a priority with God, needs to be a priority with you. That's
right, needs to be a priority. And what's a priority with God?
His people. He bears a burden for us. But it was a burden He gladly
bore. He had a burden for His Israel.
And I'll tell you, He is accomplishing His eternal purpose. He's revealing
the gospel to people all over the world, all through the ages. May the Lord teach us May he
teach us and give us a teachable spirit. Let's get our hymn books
and turn to hymn number 477. Hymn number 477 at Calvary.