Well, Susanna is sick this morning,
and so there is no special music. And so we've missed the special
singing, unless one of you wants to. No. No volunteers, I see. OK. Well, just as well. Open your Bibles again to the
prophecy of Zechariah. And this morning, we're going
to begin the 10th chapter. We've been studying the wonderful
prophecy of Zechariah for several months, and I trust that the
Lord is blessing us through this study, certainly has blessed
me as I've been studying and preparing messages from this
book. It's a glorious message of good
news to all of the people of God. As we enter in now to chapter
number 10, I want to read to you the first three verses, okay? Zechariah chapter 10, verses
1, 2, and 3. Here's what the prophet of God
says. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the
time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds
and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity,
And the diviners have seen a lie. And they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore, they went their way
as a flock. They were troubled because there
was no shepherd that is the people of God. They went their way. They weren't hearing the truth.
and they went their way troubled in heart because they had no
true shepherd. Verse three, the Lord says, mine
anger was kindled against the shepherds and I punished the
goats, that is the ones who followed them. For the Lord of hosts has visited
his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly
horse in the battle." My subject this morning is just
a statement, pray for rain. The other day we had a real downpour
over here. Maybe some of you had it at your
house as well. And I was preparing to leave
the office And I had come in here to just check and make sure
everything in the back was okay. I went out and I always turn
the light off in the hallway. And I had turned it back on. And once I opened the door and
entered into the lit hallway, power went out. And it was pitch
dark. because there's no windows there. And then I thought, well, I'll
open the door to get a little bit of light. And I opened the
door, and I got a lot of rain, because it was blowing this way.
And then the lights came back on, and we're thankful when the
lights come back on. We appreciate that. But rain. So the title of my message, Pray
for Rain. In the word of God, rain is used
in four different ways. First of all, it's used in a
gracious way. And really, that's what's indicated
here in Zechariah chapter 10, verse 1. Ask ye of the Lord,
ask him for rain. What kind of rain is that? Well,
it's not the literal rain that falls because, as you know, often
in the Word of God, the Lord will use literal things as a
picture of spiritual things. Like, he talked about bread.
He changed the bread that the little boy brought for his lunch. He changed the bread to, or changed
changed it or multiplied it, I should say, to feed 5,000 people. And then he taught them a spiritual
lesson about that bread. He said, I am the bread. I'm
the true bread that came down from heaven. So use bread as
an illustration. And there are many other things
in nature that he uses as an illustration, fire, water, and
in this case, rain. ask ye of the Lord rain." What
kind of rain? The rain of grace. Ask for a
downpour of God's saving mercies to you in Christ Jesus. Wouldn't
it be wonderful if in your heart right now you ask God, Lord,
rain on me with your great salvation, because let me tell you something,
if you ask Him truly from your heart, the rain will fall. The Lord said, you shall seek
me and fight me when you search for me with all your heart. Lord,
send to me a downpour of your grace. That's what I want. Just flood my soul with your
grace. So ask God, first of all, for
the rain of grace. But then there's another way
rain is used, and you don't want to ask God for this because that's
judgment. In the Bible, rain is sometimes
likened under judgment. And of course, the best illustration
of that is over in the book of Genesis 6 and 7, when God sent
rain from heaven and he opened up the depths below. And God flooded the world. That was a rain of judgment.
In fact, one of the prophets says, the Lord is going to rain
upon you fire and brimstone. I don't want that kind of rain.
I don't want that kind of shower. Because if He pours out His judgment
like that, that rain will never stop. You'll be in a constant
downpour of the wrath of God and the judgment of God and the
vengeance of God forever. We don't pray for that kind of
rain, we pray for the first kind of rain. Pray ye for the rain
that the Lord will send the rain of His grace. I'm undeserving
of His grace, I'm undeserving of the least of His mercies,
but that's what I ask God for. And then there's another kind
of rain that the Lord sends, and that's the rain of troubles
for His people. There in Matthew chapter 7, our
Lord used a parable. Two men building houses, one
built on the rock, one built on the sand. And then the rain
began to fall. What's that? Troubles. That's
great. Sickness, trials, difficulties,
heartaches. You see, those rains, they also
come from God. They fall according to God's
eternal purpose. You say, Jim, I'm a believer,
I'm a child of God, I look to Christ Jesus alone for all of
my salvation, but I feel like I'm in a storm, I'm in a steady
downpour. Well, the Lord sends that downpour.
And he'll test your faith. But he sends those troubles according
to his will. And I don't ask God for those,
except in this sense, Lord, send that rain if that's what I need. If you deem that to be what's
best for me, then you go ahead and open up the windows of heaven
and you pour the troubles out, the winds of difficulty blow
and the rains beat upon my house, I'm built on the rock. And you
see, no matter what God in His providence sends my way, no matter
what God in His purpose sends to me by way of trouble or difficulty
or sickness or whatever it is, my foundation will weather the
storm because I'm built on the rock, Christ Jesus. Or, to be
honest, I'd rather not have those rains fall on me. But I know
that you send those rains. I know that you send those storms.
And if it's your will, if it's your pleasure to send them to
me, I'm thankful I have a great ark in whom I hide, Christ Jesus. Let the storms of life come.
Let the rains fall on me, the rains of trouble and difficulty
and heartache and all of these other things that are not very
pleasant to us. I know, Lord, You send them according
to Your infinite wisdom and You'll work all things together for
my good. And then there's another kind
of rain that God sends. wonderful showers of refreshment
that soothe us as we make our journey through this barren,
parched wilderness. And he refreshes us, just like
you have your garden, several of you do, if you don't have
a way of irrigating. And irrigation's good, but it's
not as good as the rain that God sends, not as good as the
water that God sends. And your tomatoes are looking
a little puny, and your corn is kind of getting withered,
and you say, Lord, please send the rain. And then he sends a
refreshing rain, and you look out at your garden, and it's
like your garden is saying, thank you, thank you. And I'll tell
you, there have been lots of times in my life when God has
sent to me a refreshing, refreshing shower of blessing. And he sends
those warm, encouraging showers just when I need them. That's
the way he does. And so, Zechariah, he speaks
to the children of Israel who had come back from Babylonian
captivity And they've almost got the temple built now, and
yet they need some more encouragement. And this is what Zechariah says,
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. Really,
there are two kinds of rains that he's, or two times that
he's referring to God sending the rain, and that's the rain
right after you've planted the seed. Maybe you're sowing grass
seed, and you sow the grass seed, got one of them little do-wicky
things, you know, and you're spreading the seed, and you cover
it up with straw, and then you say, Lord, Lord, I've just planted
that seed. Would you send some showers now? Would you send some waters now?
And I'll tell you, right now, Right now, the seed of the gospel
is being scattered. It's the good news of Christ
Jesus and His accomplished redemption. There's salvation for sinners
that He has already finished. And I'm preaching you, come to
the Lord. Come to the Lord. Pray ye for
rain. Pray for rain. The seed is going
forth. You who are the Lord's people,
pray for rain. Pray that God will bless the
Word that is being preached right now to bring forth life, because
only He can do that. You see, the seed is good seed. It's the seed of the grace of
God. It's the seed of Christ and Him
crucified, buried, risen again and ascended. It's good seed. But it has to have the moisture
of heaven. It's got to have the power of
the Spirit. Otherwise, your heart will be
like our Lord illustrated in that parable of the seed and
the sower. The evil spirits will just come
along and pick up the seed and take it away. Lord, send us a
shower, a refreshing shower to cause that seed to germinate. You see, I'm not asking you to
do something for God. I'm asking God, Lord, send the
rain. We can't cause it to rain. We get into the dog days of August
and things are drying up, and you want it to rain so much?
I'll tell you what you cannot do. You can't make it rain. As much as we may want it, and
we may all say in a time of, as I'm sure many have done in
times of famine, oh Lord, send the rain. He'll send the rain
according to his sovereign will and pleasure now. It's up to
him. Here I am exalting Christ the
Savior. I'm telling you, He's the way,
the truth, and the life. You can't come to the Father
except by Him. I'm preaching about His bloody
sacrifice, His substitutionary death. I'm sowing the seed. I'm sowing the seed. And I'm
asking God, send the rain. Send the rain. And then there's the latter rain. Lord, send the latter rain. In other words, keep showering
mercies on me. Is there any moment of your life
when you don't need a fresh shower of God's mercies upon you? Ask God for the rain. Ask God
for the rain. Well, let me pursue this point,
ask for rain, not literal rain, but spiritual rain. I want you
to turn some verses with me. And first of all, I'm going to
send you to the New Testament, Luke, Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter
11. Now listen to the words of our
Savior. Listen to what he said. And He's
the one who controls the reign. The reign of grace, the reign
of judgment, the reign of trouble, the reign of encouragement. You
see, our Lord Jesus, by virtue of His successful death upon
the cross of Calvary, because He did the work God sent Him
to do, put away the sins of his people, satisfy divine justice,
bear God's wrath in his own body on the tree because he finished
the work God gave him to do. Christ died, God raised him,
God exalted him, and God made him Lord over everything. He
governs all things. And he's the one who sends the
rain. I can't send it. I can pray that God will send
the rain of his grace to you, but I can't make it rain. And no super duper soul winner
can do that either. No very clever evangelist can
cause the rain of God's grace to fall. The sovereign savior
controls the rain. Now listen to what the sovereign
Savior has to say here in Luke chapter 11 and verse nine. And I say unto you, ask. Wasn't
that what we read over there in Zechariah chapter 10 verse
one? Ask of me rain. Ask of the Lord
rain. And here the Lord Jesus says,
I say unto you, I say to every one of you, Ask, and it shall
be given. He says, seek, and you shall
find. He says, knock, and it shall
be opened unto you. So we've got that backwards.
We've got the Lord doing the knocking on the heart's door.
No, this is not about the Lord knocking on your heart's door.
This is about you knocking on mercy's door. Ask. It'll be given to you. If you
mean business with God, And you ask for the reign of grace, He'll
send the reign of grace because you wouldn't mean business if
He didn't put that in your heart. Isn't that right? I know that's
right. And seek. Seek Him with all your heart. And here's what will happen.
You'll find Him. In fact, He says in another place,
I'm not very far from any of you. He's closer than you think
He is, because He's everywhere. And it says, knocking it shall
be opened unto you. Verse 10, for everyone that asketh,
what's the next word? Receiveth. And he that seeketh,
findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, Will you give him a stone? Daddy,
I'm hungry. Well, here's a rock. Well, you
wouldn't do that. If he says, could I have canned
sardines? Could I have a fish? Will he
give you a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, what
about frying me an egg, Mom? Will you offer him a scorpion?
Now listen to what he says, If ye then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, well, how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him? Ask for rain. Mean business with
God, not just a casual casual glance toward God. Well, Lord,
send me the reign of your grace. Mean business. I wish I could
find some people, and I hope that you are serious. I'm looking
for serious people. People who realize they're going
on into eternity to meet a holy God. And you've got to be righteous
in the Lord, our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all
who come to Him find that He is the Lord, our righteousness.
Forgiveness is only in Him. You don't want to go before God
in your sins. You want to go before God at
the judgment in Christ. That's where safety is. But He
has to send the rain. Our Lord says, You're an evil person. You're
a sinner by nature. You give good gifts to those
who ask of you. I give good gifts to those who
ask of me. You know, back over here in my
text, I hope you maybe put a ribbon there or you save that spot. Notice what it says. Again, in verse one, Zechariah
10. Ask ye of the Lord rain, and
then you go a little bit further, and he will give them showers
of rain. If you've got any spiritual sense
and understanding whatsoever in your heart right now, you're
saying, Lord, would you send rain to me? And the prophet of God says,
he'll give showers of rain. Showers of rain. What kind of
rain is this? Well, go to Deuteronomy chapter
31. Now, let's look at a few references. Actually, I'll just start in
32. Deuteronomy 32. Fifth book of the Old Testament. These are the words of a dying
preacher. He's been pastoring this bunch
of folks out there in the wilderness, bringing them out of Egypt and
in the wilderness. He'd been pastoring 40 years.
He's in a few hours, they're going across into the land of
promise. But he's not gonna go. He gonna
go up on a mountain and the Lord's gonna take his life. But here
are his dying words. Would you listen to the words
of Moses? These are his dying words. And he speaks that which God
gives to him. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse
one. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak. and hear, O earth, the words
of my mouth." Will you hear what God has to say? I kind of like to put my hand
behind my ear and say, speak, Lord, thy servant's ready to
hear. Be like Samuel. Well, what does
God have to say? My doctrines shall drop as what? The rain. The rain. And my speech, my speech shall
distill, come down gently, ever so gently, as a refreshing morning
dew. As the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Lord, I'm like a tender,
tender little herb, tender plant. Send your showers on me. I'm like the grass that's dried
up. We got a patch of grass in our
yard. And evidently back before we
moved there and before Bill and Debbie moved there several years
ago, somebody had a driveway there consisted of like two concrete
pours. and they'd pull their car up
there. Maybe there was a garage there
or something, I don't know, carport or something. But anyway, it's
been covered over now with a very thin layer of dirt and planted
grass seed. And looks really good when the
rain's coming. But I tell you what, if it doesn't
rain pretty soon, we got that brown area is in our yard. In fact, one of these guys that
treats longs, I can't remember what the name of that company
is, but he stopped by and knocked on the door and said, we can
do something about that dead grass out there in your yard.
I said, only if you're going to dig it up and dig up the concrete
underneath it. Only thing that's going to help
grass that's dead and brown and dry and you walk over and it
kind of cracks under your feet, the only thing that will help
it is rain. Rain. God says, my doctrine shall fall
as the rain. Well, what is this doctrine?
And a lot of people, see, they make this accusation against
me and against Bill, made it against Henry, make it against
all sovereign grace preachers. You guys stress too much on doctrine. You put too much emphasis on
doctrine. Well, it's God's doctrine, so
it's gotta be good, okay? And he says here, my doctrine
shall drop, it falls like the rain. My doctrine, God says,
it comes from me, it comes from heaven. Who are you to say the
preacher preaches too much doctrine when the word doctrine only means
or merely means instruction or teaching? That's what the word
doctrine means. That passage I mentioned briefly
in Matthew chapter 7, our Lord gave that parable of the two
builders, two foundations, sand and rock. It says the people
were astonished at His doctrine. You see, the doctrine is good
doctrine because it's God's doctrine and it consists of these things.
Look at verse seven, because I will publish the name of the
Lord. He says, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Doctrine involves
a declaration of who God is in his greatness. because people
are ignorant of who God is. They're ignorant of His sovereignty.
They're ignorant of His holiness. They're ignorant of His justice.
They're ignorant of His grace. They're ignorant of His love.
People don't know who God is. The Lord told the Israelites,
you thought that I was such a one as yourselves. You don't know
who I am. And therefore, the word goes
out, publish the name of the Lord. Tell people who I am. That's what I'm trying to do
right now. And it says, ascribe ye greatness
unto our God. He's great in creation. Rachel, don't you believe that,
you know, we all came from some kind of glob of something or
other? millions and millions of years
ago? No, I don't believe that garbage.
I think it takes more faith to believe what the so-called scientists
have come up with than to just believe what God says, in the
beginning, God created. I'm so simple-minded, I'm just
gonna believe what God says. I ascribe greatness to God in
creation. In six days, he made the heavens
and the earth and all that in them is. I ascribe greatness
to God in creation. Number two, I ascribe greatness
to God in providence. I wrote the song about it. Providence
is God directing everything according to his eternal purpose. Before
the world began, he ordained everything and everybody that
would ever exist, and he purposed the path of every single thing,
and providence brings it all to pass. He's great in providence. I saw somebody a while ago, I
think he was swatting at a fly. The path of that fly or whatever
it was, it flew in front of you. The Lord ordained that path too. Jim, you really believe that?
With all my heart. That's the greatness of God.
So I thought He only controlled the big things. He does control
the big things. He controls the little things
too. He controls the good things. He controls the evil things.
The evil that was done toward our Lord Jesus Christ is the
most wicked thing that ever happened in this world. But that was of
God because God purposed for His Son to go to the cross of
Calvary and lay down His life and give His life a ransom for
many. Judas went forth, the Bible says,
as it was determined. The members of the Sanhedrin,
those 71 men, 70 men plus one, the high priest, who was the
moderator of the group, everything that they did, God was controlling
it all. and every blow of the hammers
that nailed the spikes into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ,
those blows into His hands of those nails directed by the power
of God. God created the metal from which
those nails, those spikes, which were about this long, from which
they were made. God gave men wisdom to know how
to make them and make a hammer that would hammer the men. And
when they were nailed into our Lord's precious hands and precious
feet, our God was still on His throne ruling over all things. And when that soldier came along
and found our Lord Jesus dead, had broken the legs of the two
thieves, come along and saw our Savior had already expired, he
finished what God sent him to do, he gave up the ghost, he
took his spear and he thrust it, thrust it into the very heart
of our Lord Jesus Christ and blood and water came out. I know
who directed that spear. Blood, blood to wash our sins
away. Water to cleanse us, the washing
of the water by the word of God. Say, don't you believe in accidents?
No. We may call them accidents. God's
great in his problems, and God's great in salvation. I'm up here,
I'm up here ascribing greatness to our God in salvation. Salvation
is not of you, it never has been of you, it never has been of
man, never has been, never will be. It's of God. If you're a believer this morning,
I'm gonna tell you more fully tonight why you are a believer.
You were chosen in Christ before the world began. That's the title
of my message tonight. Chosen in Christ. God set you
apart, said you're gonna be my own. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I've given you grace in my son.
I saved you in him. I'm sending him to be your surety,
your savior, your sin bearer, your substitute, the sacrifice
for you. I'm sending him. And he raised him from the dead,
went back to glory. Christ sent down his spirit.
He's called the spirit the gift of the father. He sent the spirit
of God to you. And He come upon you, you heard
the gospel, the seed was sowed, and the Holy Spirit come upon
you like a life-giving shower. Rain, the rain of His grace. Ascribe you greatness to our
God. Well, who do we go to? Verse
4, the one who's the rock, the rock. You hadn't proclaimed in fullness
the greatness of our God until you tell people Christ is the
rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. And his work is perfect, it's
complete, you can't add anything to it. For all his ways are judgment
according to justice. He's a God of truth and without
iniquity, just and right. And I'll tell you something else,
when the rain comes, it gives you the truth about yourself,
too. It says in verse five, God says, they've corrupted themselves.
That's true, too. You see, the message of the gospel
starts with God, goes to Christ Jesus, and then sets forth us
in our neediness. Their spot is not the spot of
his children. They're a perverse and crooked
generation. That's us. Oh, Lord, send the
reign of your doctrine. The reign of your doctrine. Let
me show you another passage script. Go over to Psalm. Let's see,
I wrote this verse down somewhere. If I can find it. Psalm 72, I believe it is. Look at Psalm 72. Psalm 72. So this rain, number one, is
the rain of His doctrine. Number two, it's the rain of
His Son. Look at Psalm 72, verse 6. Now watch this. He shall come
down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water
the earth. Who's that? Well, who came down
from heaven like a refreshing shower? Oh, 2,000 years ago, God rained
on this earth and He sent His Son. He's the rain from heaven. He not only sends the rain of
His grace, He is rain. He is rain. Ask of the Lord rain. Oh, Son
of God, come to me. I read in Your Word, You came
into this world. You visited here. You died for
sinners. You saved the guilty. come down like rain upon me right
now. You say, well, I've been saved
for several years. Come again. Send another shower
to me. You say, Jim, is it right to
ask God to send the rain? Well, that's what the publican
did. God be merciful to me, the sinner. I believe that's asking for rain. I believe that's what the thief
on the cross did. Lord, remember me. Lord, send
the rain. Send the rain. Remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Was his prayer heard? His prayer
for rain? Savior said, today you're gonna
move me in paradise. Oh yeah, he shall come. I like that, he shall come. This is the Psalm for David's
son, Solomon. And he writes to Solomon and
he tells Solomon, he shall come, who? The Messiah, the Son of
God, he shall come. And that's what all of the writers
in the Old Testament constantly preached and wrote. He shall
come, and He did come. And He accomplished the work
that God gave Him to do. He shall come. Let me give you
another reference. Look at Ezekiel 34, and I've
got to move on here, but it's just exciting to me. Ezekiel
chapter 34. Ezekiel 34. Look at verse 22. Ezekiel chapter
34 verse 22. I'll start at 23. God says, and I will set up one
shepherd over them. Who do you think that is? That's
got to be Christ. And he shall feed them, even
my servant David." And so many times when you read David, just
read Christ Jesus. That's who it's talking about.
He shall feed them. He shall be their shepherd. I
love the shalls of the Lord. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and my servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. I will make with them a covenant
of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the
land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep
in the woods. And I will make them and the
places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to
come down, watch it, in his season. Who is this shower that comes
down? It's somebody. And he comes in
his season. He comes freely, just like a
rain shower. You can't force it. It comes
freely. It comes freely upon the rich
and the poor. You may have lots of money, but
you can't buy a rain shower. And you can't bargain with God
when it comes to spiritual shower upon your soul. There's no bargains. He's the sovereign God. Ask. You can't tell God anything.
Ask. Ask for the shower. And he says,
I will cause the shower to come down in his season, and there
shall be, if him, if this one who is the rain, who is the shower
that comes down from heaven, if he comes, there'll be showers
of blessings. And the result will be the tree
of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield
her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall
know that I am the Lord. We're gonna find out who God
is. If he sends the rain, we're gonna find out who he is. When
I have broken the bands of their yoke, we're in captivity. He has to break the bands and
deliver them out of the hand of those that serve themselves
of them. Let me give you one more verse.
Hosea. Just turn over. Next book is Daniel, and then
go after Daniel, go to Hosea chapter 6. Hosea chapter 6. Hosea chapter 6. And look at verse 1. Hosea 6 verse 1, come and let
us return unto the Lord. For he hath torn, he's convicted
us, and he will heal us. He hath smitten, he's wounded
us, he'll bind up the wounds. After two days will he revive
us, in the third day he will raise us up, because we're raised
up in Christ Jesus, who's raised from the dead on the third day.
and we shall live, we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know,
if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as
the morning, and he shall come unto us, he shall come unto us
as the rain, as the rain, as the latter and former rain upon
the earth. Oh Lord, come upon me. Rain upon
this old dried up park center. And if you do, I'll be refreshed. I'll be revived. And I'll give God the glory. Hear me now. Pray for rain. Pray for rain. Well, let's sing
a closing song.