Thank you ladies. I have listened
to that song for ever since I was a little boy. I remember ladies
trio in Bassett, Virginia. I remember them singing that
song and I loved it then but I think that's the most beautiful
I've ever heard it sung. Thank y'all. for that good song
based upon the word of God. Let's open our Bibles to the
prophecy of Zechariah. And I'm going to read two verses
to you and then speak to you on looking
to the Lord. The book of Zechariah chapter
eight. And I want to read the last verse
of chapter eight and then the very first verse of chapter nine. Zechariah 8, 23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
in those days, that is, in the gospel days, What are the gospel
days? They're the days from our Lord
Jesus, his first coming unto his second coming. We're in the
gospel days now. Wonderful days to be in. In those
days, the Lord says, it shall come to pass, that 10 men shall
take hold out of all languages of the nations even shall take
hold of the skirt or the hem, as in the hem of his garment,
of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you,
for we have heard, somebody has told us, we heard a good message,
the message of glad tidings, that God is with you, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Now look
at the first verse of the next chapter. The burden of the word
of the Lord. Usually in the various prophecies,
whenever you read the word, the burden of the word of the Lord,
it's a heavy burden, as in a burden of judgment that's coming. It's a burden of gloominess.
It's a burden of vengeance. But the burden that God gave
to His prophet on this occasion is a joyful burden. It's a burden
of preaching the gospel. It's a burden of setting forth
the glad tidings of great joy that the Savior has come into
this world, and He has redeemed a people. He has opened the way
in the glory. There's a way to God for sinners
like us. Is this what Zechariah is preaching?
He has a burden, but the burden is not on this occasion, not
one of judgment. But it's a burden of delight. It's a burden of gladness. It's
a burden of having the gospel of the grace of God to preach
to people who are needy, who are sinful, who are poor, who
are weak, blind, and lame spiritually. It's a burden that he's to go
forth preaching the good news of salvation for sinners in the
Redeemer. And He is the one who put away
the sins of His people. And everybody who believes on
Him, everybody of the Spirit of God gives faith to them to
embrace the Son of God. They may rest assured that your
sins have been fully and finally and freely put away, separated
from you as far as the East is from the West. That's the burden
that God gave to Zechariah and that's the burden that I've got.
That's the burden that all of God's preachers have. The burden
of telling people some good news, the good news of Christ and his
wonderful salvation. Now on this occasion, he says
it's the burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Gentiles. And he's specific, verse 1, in
the land of Hadrik and Damascus shall be the rest thereof. That is, God's gonna give rest
of the soul. Rest in the heart. Remember the
Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, come unto me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you, what's the word
he said? Rest. I'll give you rest. That's the burden that I want
to share with you this morning. If you are led by the spirit
of God to come to Christ, drawn by the Holy Ghost to the Son
of God. You're a sinner. You need the
Savior. You need righteousness. You need
forgiveness. You need Him. Tell you what,
when you come to Him, He'll give rest for your soul. Rest for
your soul. Doesn't mean He's going to heal
all your earthly problems, but it does mean that you are assured
of peace with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, rest. Well, when's that gonna happen?
When does this rest come to somebody? Look at this last statement of
verse one. Here's when it will come, when
the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, when the eyes
of man shall be toward the Lord." When you look to Christ Jesus,
the Lord, that's when rest will come. Ron read the passage in
Isaiah 45. The trio sang, God said, look
unto me, look unto me, ye people, saith the Lord your God. I didn't
know they were going to sing that song this morning. It is
led of the Lord. I love it when things like this
happen. They don't happen by accident.
God led them to choose that song to sing. It goes right along
with that passage that Ron read to us and right along with this
verse right here. You'll have rest. You're troubled
over sin, over your guilt. Are you ashamed? Are you embarrassed
before God? Look to Christ Jesus. He's the
mighty Savior. He's in the forgiving business.
He's in the saving business. He's the one who came into this
world and reconciled His people unto Himself by His sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary. Look to Him and live. Look to
Him for rest. Look to Him for salvation. Don't
look to the church. Don't look to me. I can't help
you except just tell you the truth. But I can't save you. I can't make you right with God.
But he who is God over all, blessed forever, who is the Son of God,
he is the Savior of the sinful. Look unto me, he says. Look unto
me. And he says it this way there
in Matthew 11 again, I quote, come unto me and I'll give you
rest. Actually, the eighth and ninth
chapters of Zechariah, these chapters are full of good news. Now, I'll be the first to admit
this. When we get into some of the Old Testament prophetic passages,
they can be difficult to understand. And I think all of you would
agree with me. And that's true of a good bit
of the Old Testament if you take it, if you isolate it from the
New Testament. But whenever you read an Old
Testament passage of Scripture, let me see if I can help you.
Let me see if I can help you to understand these passages
out of the Old Testament, understand the difficulty in being fully aware of what's going
on, of what the Lord is teaching. Because the Old Testament is
given in deep prophecies and pictures and shadows. And, you
know, we often say if somebody's going to start reading the Bible,
we'd say read the Gospel of John, read the book of Romans. We generally
wouldn't say read the book of Zechariah, although it is the
very truth of God, but it's full of shadows. In the Old Testament,
full of dark pictures and types, whereas the New Testament is
more clearly set forth, the Gospel is more clearly set forth. But
as you read the Old Testament, and I think I can help you with
this, as you read any passage of Scripture in the Old Testament,
look for three things. It's always true. Look for, number
one, the very purpose of God. God is the God of purpose. He's
not the God of accidents. Luck isn't in charge, he's the
God of purpose. And whenever you read a passage
of scripture, look for the very purpose of God. And I can see
the purpose of God very clearly, and you will as well after I
show it to you here in chapters eight and nine. What is the purpose
of God here? Look at verse seven of chapter
eight. Here's the purpose of God. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, behold, he says, listen to me, I'm gonna
tell you what my purpose is. I will save my people. That's
what the purpose of God is. So what's God doing? What's God
doing down through the generations? What's God doing since the beginning
of time? What's he going to do all the
way to the end of time? Behold, hear him say, I'm saving
my people. I'm saving my people. So that
helps us to understand this passage of scripture because beyond the
literal understanding, there's the spiritual understanding of
this. This is speaking about gospel
days, when the Lord, according to His purpose, is going to save
His people. This is what He ordained to do.
So that's the first thing to look for in a passage of Scripture,
the purpose of God. The second thing to look for
is the presence of Christ Jesus. He's always in every passage
of Scripture. He's present everywhere throughout
the Word of God, and He's present here. Notice in chapter eight
again, look at verse three. Thus saith the Lord, thus saith
Jehovah, the great I am. The one who said, I am the bread
of life. The one who said, I am the light
of the world. The one who said, I am the vine.
I'm the vine, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. Thus
saith the Lord, thus saith the great I am. I am returned unto
Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Here's the presence
of the Son of God in this passage of Scripture. He says, I'm going
to dwell with my people. He said, I'm coming again. He
came the first time, He came in the Old Testament in types,
pictures, sometimes He came by way of taking on Himself the
form of a man, the form of an angel. But he said, I'm returned. Notice in verse three again,
I am returned unto Zion and will dwell. The word dwell is tabernacle. I will tabernacle in the midst
of Jerusalem. I'm going to tabernacle on earth.
When did that happen? That's his incarnation. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
or tabernacled among us. Here's the very presence of the
Son of God. Zechariah's talking about the
purpose of God to save His people, and he's talking about the presence
of the Son of God, who in time, a few hundred years after this,
would enter into this world in order to save His people from
their sins by His sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Thirdly,
so we're not only looking for the purpose of God and the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to always be looking for
the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we see the power of the Holy
Spirit in this passage of Scripture? Indeed we do. Look at verse 8.
The Lord says, and I will bring them. What's the Spirit of God
doing during this gospel age? What's the Spirit of God doing?
He's bringing sinners to Christ Jesus by effectual, almighty
grace. He's drawing men to the Savior. He's drawing women to the Savior.
He gives us in our hearts a knowledge of our neediness, of our sinfulness,
and then He woos us, He draws us with the ropes of love. to the Savior. So here we see,
even in this passage of Scripture, we see the purpose of God at
work, we see the presence of the Son of God, and we see the
very power of the Holy Spirit. Let me give you three things
in this message this morning. Number one, let me say to you,
we live in the gospel era. We live in the gospel days, the
gospel days. I know that we live in a time
of ungodliness and wickedness. These are days in which men and
women are involved in things that embarrass us, and yet they
have no shame. This is a day in which it would
seem many people don't mind giving full expression to their depravity
and their ungodliness. There's no denying that. This
is a day in which people are ignoring the Lord, ignoring the
scriptures, ignoring God's commands. They're living for very selfish
pleasures. And I know all that is true. But still, we live in the gospel
day, and that's the best day to live in. We live in the gospel era, the
time between the first coming of our Lord Jesus when He entered
into this world until the time when He comes again. This is
the gospel era. This is the gospel age. And this
day in which we live is the greatest time to live. And I'm thankful
to live in this age. You say, well, and I've had people
say to me, Jim, you were born about a hundred years too late.
No, I was born right on schedule. Right on schedule. And I'm living
in the age in which I'm thankful to live because I have heard
the gospel of the grace of God. And the word of the Lord goes
forth. And there's some people watching
by way of the internet, and they can say, Amen, Brother Jim, because
This day in which we live is the day of the internet when
the gospel can go forth, not only within these four walls
of this building, but it goes beyond these four walls into
the regions beyond, and there are people many, many miles away
who are hearing the gospel of the free and sovereign grace
of God to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ, because this
is the gospel day. It's a great day to be alive.
Notwithstanding all of the ungodliness and the wickedness. It's a wonderful
time because you see the Lord says, I'm going to dwell with
my people. That ought to take all the fears
away. Take all the troubling of the
hearts away. That ought to give us rest. Rest
in Christ Jesus. See, we can be pessimistic and
focus on all that is wrong. It isn't that we don't deny there's
a lot of wrong in the world. I don't deny that. I'm a bird,
but I'm not an ostrich that buries his head in the sand and pretends
that, well, there is no evil. There's a lot of evil out there,
but God reigns. That's what we know. And God
has His gospel of grace that is going forth because it's the
purpose of God to send the gospel forth. And the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His purchase of redemption is going forth
by the power and might of the Holy Spirit of the living God.
It's a wonderful day to be alive. Don't be pessimistic. Be an optimist. God rules. You see, we can get
so negative that we walk around gloomy and sad and dejected because
of the condition of the world. Or we can walk around with joy
in our hearts, still burdened over the sinful condition of
people. But we can walk around in this
world, we can live our lives for the glory of God, knowing
our God rules. Things are not left to go as
they will. The Lord governs all things to
fulfill His eternal purpose. God says, I'm going to dwell
among my people. And I don't know We don't count. We don't count in Sunday school.
I don't know how many people we have. I don't know how many
people got here this morning. But the number of people doesn't
matter. And there may be some of you
who are watching. Maybe it's one person. Maybe a husband and
wife watching this service. Or maybe a small group of people.
But wherever there's somebody who's watching and listening,
who loves the gospel of God's free grace, I tell you, you are
the city of truth. You are the city of peace. And
never forget, don't bemoan the fact of how small you are. God
is always with His people. Always. That ought to give you some joy,
right? When you're by yourself and you're
washing dishes or whatever, you're washing your car, get
to thinking about how good the Lord is to you. Just remember, He's right there
with you. He said, I'm not gonna leave
you. I'm not gonna forsake you. What a blessing. What a blessing. The Lord says, I'm returned to
Jerusalem. I'm returned to Jerusalem. You
see, we are the house of God. The house of God is not a building. Oftentimes in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament talks about the house of God. It's
never talking about what we would call the church building because
they didn't have any church buildings back then. In the New Testament,
the saints of God, they may have met in caves, they may have met
in homes, they may have met in an upper room, they may have
met in a synagogue. But the house of God is not a
building made of wood and nails and mortar or brick, those sorts
of things. The house of God is a living,
breathing assembly of people. People who are saved by the grace
of God. And we meet together. I'll tell
you, we're living in the greatest age. The opportunities that people
have to hear the truth. And I hear from some of you,
go away on vacation, and I'll get a text or an email and say,
thank you for the message you preached to us. Well, they weren't
here. How could they possibly have
said under the sound of my voice and the ministry of our church
when they're not even with us? By way of that internet. And
I tell you, these men who are in charge of making certain that
the signal goes out, that's a very vital job, and I thank you. I
thank you, and those who are watching, thank you too. It's
a wonderful day. It's a wonderful day. What a
blessing. See, we're the city of truth.
That's what the Lord calls us. He refers to us as the city of
truth. Look here in, look at chapter eight, verse
three. Watch how many times truth is
mentioned. In fact, I'll go back to chapter seven, verse nine. Watch how many times the word
true or truth is mentioned. Chapter 7, verse 9. Thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy
and compassion on every man to his brother, setting forth the
very truth of the word of God. And I think I wrote down the
wrong verse there, but that's okay. I'll get the rest of them.
Look in chapter 8, verse 3. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned
unto Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall
be called a city of truth." This is a city of truth here. It's
not the city of error. It's a city of truth. Who is
the truth? Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. Look again a little further down
in verse 8. He says, and I will bring them
and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, the city of peace,
and they shall be my people and I will be their God in truth,
in truth and in righteousness. So perhaps you're of the opinion
it doesn't matter what a person believes as long as they're sincere.
Well, you're wrong. I can't think of a more sincere
people than those religious folks who saw to it that our Lord Jesus
was nailed to a cross. They did that out of sincerity. The Jews, the Sanhedrin, who
stoned Stephen to death. And then Saul of Tarsus held
their coats while they threw the rocks. I can't think of a
more sincere people, a more dedicated people to their beliefs than
those folks. But they knew nothing about the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Here's what's distinctive about
a group of people, be it one or two or a hundred or more,
who meet together believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. God says
it's a city of truth. This is a city of truth. Look
again down in verse 16. These are the things that ye
shall do. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. What does that say? We shouldn't
lie to one another? Well, we shouldn't lie to one
another, but it's not talking about the truth in our conversation. We speak the truth to our neighbor,
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. We speak the very truth
of God. The truth of God. Drop down to
verse 19 of chapter 8. Thus said the Lord of hosts,
the fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast
of the seventh, the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of
Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth,
love the truth and love peace. You see, peace comes from believing
the truth, as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth of grace
alone and Christ alone. There's the truth. We're the city of truth. And then notice this, the second
thing. So not only are we living in this era, this gospel era,
but notice the second thing. This is a time in which people
take hold of the hymn of Christ's garment. Look again at that last
verse of chapter 8. Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
God's got something to say. Will you listen? Will you listen? God's got something
to say. Let's be like Samuel. Heard his
name called. He thought Eli called him. Samuel
just laughed. He runs to the bed of Eli and
says, what do you want? What do you want? Eli says, I
didn't call you. Go back to bed. What are you
waking me up for in the wee hours of the morning? And so Samuel
goes back to bed, and he hears the voice Samuel, Samuel. He runs back into the bedside
of Eli, the high priest of Israel. He says, what do you want, master?
Eli said, would you stop troubling me? Go back to bed. I gotta have
my sleep. I'm an old man, I need my sleep.
Samuel goes back, happens again. He runs to the bed of Eli. Eli
perceived it was the Lord calling his name. Because he calls his
own sheep by name. And Eli said, go back to bed
and next time You hear the voice say, Eli, Eli. You just say,
speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Thus said the Lord of
hosts. Will you hear what God has to
say? Don't stop your ears. Don't shut
this out. God's got something to say. What
is it? He says this. Now watch this.
This is interesting. In those days, in the gospel
days, so we've already established what these days are. In the gospel
days it shall come to pass that ten men, ten men shall take hold
out of all languages. These are people out of all languages. And he says ten men. Did you
know the number ten is very symbolic in the Scriptures? It is a representative
number. It represents the idea of completeness,
fullness, where nothing is lacking. Examples, Ten Commandments. Nothing is lacking. It's full. In Israel, the men had to pay
a redemption price. It consisted of Ten giras. Nothing lacking. Full price. Full price. Redemption money. When God sent the plagues upon
Egypt, how many did He send? Ten. That's the fullness of the
expression of the judgment of God. Finally, God sends death. That's the fullness of his expression
of judgment. In the Gospel of John, our Lord
often used the expression, I am. You know how many times he used
it? Ten times. It's the fullness of who he is. So when we see here 10 men in
the gospel days, 10 men out of all kind of languages, it's talking
about the fullness of the body of God's elect scattered throughout
the world of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue are going to
be drawn to Christ Jesus. That's during the gospel day.
That's what's happening. You know, we have people who
watch and listen to us. in other nations, people that I would never have
an opportunity to preach to, and yet they hear the gospel
of the grace of God. And not just from me, but from
other preachers as well by means of the internet. God's getting
His Word out. You know, it used to be we didn't
understand that passage of Scripture where the Lord said the Gospel's
got to go around the world, around the world, and then the Son of
God comes back. Now we understand how it's going
around the world. You see, the Lord is causing men and women
to take hold of the hem of Christ's garment. You remember that story
in the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew? Our Savior, he felt somebody
tug on the hem of his garment, and he knew virtue, saving, healing
power went out of him. And it was a woman who had an
issue of blood 12 years, and she had spent all of her money
on false physicians. And she heard, she heard, oh
how important it is to hear the good news of Christ. She heard
he's healing sinful people. And she went up to him, she snuck
up in the crowd and just touched the hem of his garment. The skirt of his clothing as
it were. This one Jew. This one real man,
the only real man who's ever lived, and she was healed. We sing that chorus, reach out
and touch the Lord as He passes by. And here's what you'll find,
He's not too busy to hear your hearts cry. In fact, He's passing
by this moment, your needs to supply. So reach out. Grab hold of the hem of his garment. Grab hold of Christ. And if you
do, I'll tell you why you did. Because he took hold of you first. He grabbed hold of you, and then
you grabbed hold of him. And you looked to him for salvation. And then, finally, let every
eye look upon Christ, and that's verse 1 of chapter 9. When the eyes of man, not only
of the Gentiles, but Jews as well, when the eyes of men shall
be toward the Lord, that is, toward that same Jesus whose
hymn we take hold of as in the last verse of chapter 8, every
eye look into Christ. Look at that last statement,
when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of true Israel, shall
be toward the Lord. The Lord said, look unto me,
look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, will
you look? There's life in a look, isn't
there? There's salvation in a look. You ask those Israelites who
were bitten with fiery serpents. And Moses lifted up a serpent
of brass on a pole, and he said, look and live. He didn't say
work. He didn't say promise you're
going to do this, that, and something else. He said, look, look, can
you look? And the Savior said to Nicodemus,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth on him
or whosoever looketh on him, whosoever looks to Christ shall
have eternal life. And we look to him for salvation.
We don't look to the church. We don't look to the preacher.
We don't look to our works. We look to Christ Jesus. Look and live. It's not complicated,
folks. There are a lot of deep things
in the word of God. There's no question about that.
Well, when it comes right down to it, that person who would
be saved, that person who would be forgiven of all of their sins,
will and must look to Christ Jesus the Lord for salvation. And if you look to Him, it's
because He's looked on you in grace and in favor, and then you'll look to Christ
and be saved. We look to Him for salvation.
We look to Him as we live our lives. How do we live our lives? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
then how are we going to wind up one day? We're going to wind
up at the throne of Christ and we'll see Him face to face. We'll
look on Him. whom we pierced with our sins,
that one who laid down his life to save us will look on him and
see him eye to eye and rejoice in him forever and ever. I'm telling you, this is the
gospel day. This is the gospel age. I wouldn't
want to live in any other age because this is the age that
God had me to live in. Don't ever wish that you could
live in another age or another era. Be thankful whenever God
has brought you into this world and for what he's doing in this
world right now. What's he doing? He's saving
his people from their sins. And maybe, just maybe, he'll
save you this morning. Wouldn't that be something? Look
unto me, he says, and be ye saved. All ye ends of the earth. Let's
get our psalm books. We'll sing a closing song.