Thank you, ladies. Appreciate
that. Well, let's go back to the book
of Zechariah. This morning, I want to speak
to you from chapter 7. Chapter 7. Now, at first reading, You may
consider this to be a difficult portion of scripture to understand. I hope that God the Spirit will
enable me to shed some light on this portion of scripture. Let me read all of the chapter
to you to begin with, okay? Zechariah chapter seven, verse
one. And it came to pass in the fourth
year of King Darius that the word of the Lord came unto Zachariah
in the fourth day of the ninth month of Kislev. when they had
sent unto the house of God Cherezer and Rejemelech and their men
to pray before the Lord, and to speak unto the priests which
were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets,
saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself
as I have done these so many years? Then the word of the Lord
came, the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Speak
unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When
ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even
those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? It's a very important question. And then that's followed by another
question. And when ye did eat, and when
ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for
yourselves? And this is followed by yet another
question. Should ye not hear the words
which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem
was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round
about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain. And
the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy
and compassion, every man to his brother. And oppress not
the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor. And
let none of you imagine evil against his brother in their
heart." But they refused to hearken. Now he's talking about Jerusalem
and the condition of Jerusalem back before the captivity. in
Babylon that lasted 70 years. So those indictments he just
brought against them there in verse 9, that was before the
Babylonian captivity, and Jerusalem just didn't pay any attention
to the word of the Lord. So, verse 11, they refused to
hearken, those people, They refused to hearken, they pulled away
the shoulder, they stopped their ears that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should
hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts has sent in
his spirit by the former prophets. Therefore a great wrath from
the Lord, there came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.
In other words, that's the reason Israel was taken into captivity. Because they didn't pay attention
to what the Lord said. Therefore, in verse 13, therefore
it has come to pass that as he cried, that they wouldn't hear. And so God says, then they cried,
and I wouldn't hear, saith the Lord of hosts." In other words,
God sent prophet after prophet to them, warning them of the
uselessness of a heartless religion, directing them back to view the
Messiah, to keep in mind God's gonna send his son, the seed
of the woman, Offer your sacrifices, therefore, from a heart full
of worship and thanksgiving unto God for the great salvation that
is to be had by those who believe on the Son of God. But they wouldn't
listen. They wouldn't listen. That's
the reason God sent him into captivity. Now let me read the
last verse. But I scattered them. They wouldn't
hear me. They wouldn't believe me. They
wouldn't embrace my word. They paid no attention to what
my preacher said. But I scattered them. I scattered
them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not.
Thus, thus the land was desolate. that no man passed through nor
returned, for they laid the pleasant land desolate. Now, stay with me. It has now
been two years since this servant of God, Zechariah, two years
since he received the visions that we've studied about in chapters
one through six. It's been two years. And all
you have to do is just go back to the first chapter and you
can read the first verse or two. And then you see here in verse
one here, this is the fourth day of the ninth month, even
Kislu. So it's been two years since
the Lord spoke to Zechariah by way of these visions that then
Zechariah gave out to all of the people. Now I would think
that since then, he's been preaching the Messiah, he's been preaching
the Son of God. I don't doubt that for a moment.
Peter said, you'll remember in Acts chapter 10, when Peter went
and preached the house of Cornelius, and he preached the Lord Jesus
unto them, he said, unto him give all the prophets witness. That's what he said. Unto him,
unto Christ Jesus. This Jesus who was crucified,
buried, and risen again. This Jesus who's the only Savior. This Jesus who is God's sacrifice
for sin. This Jesus who is our sin offering. This Jesus. This Jesus whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus. By believing
in His name, this Jesus I preach to you, by believing in His name,
your sins are remitted. Your sins are forgiven. And I'm sure Zachariah continued
to preach. Not only Zachariah, but the man
who preceded him by just a few months, even the prophet Haggai. His name means The festival of
God, that is rejoicing in the Lord. That's what Haggai's name
means. Zechariah's name means the Lord
remembers. He always remembers. He remembers
his covenant of grace. He remembers his people. He remembers
that blood shed upon the cross of Calvary that washed away all
the sins of his people. And Malachi, Malachi's name means
God's messenger. God's preacher. These three men
were preaching. Their ministries overlapped.
First it was Haggai, then Zechariah, then Malachi, and then God had
nothing more to say for 400 years. You get to the end of Malachi
chapter four, there's 400 years of silence between the last verse
of chapter four and the first verse of Malachi chapter one.
And that which broke the silence was the very coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom all the prophets preached. So Zechariah is spoken to by
the Lord. Now, keep this in mind, too. Back in those days, if you wanted
to hear from God, if you wanted a message from the Lord, there's
one of three preachers you could listen to. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and
that's all. That's all. Hold your place here. I want
you to look at a verse of scripture over here in 1 Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3. Oh, there were a lot
of false prophets. There were a lot of false priests.
And there was a lot of activity going on in the temple. Remember,
this is two years after the instructions came to rebuild the temple of
the Lord. Samuel chapter 3. By this, by
the time that our text finds us there in Zechariah chapter
7, the walls were about halfway built. It will be finished in
two more years. But it was such of a, such a,
at least enough of the temple had been built, that they could
gather together again in the temple for worship and for sacrifices. Remember, the very first piece
of furniture to be built in that second temple, the restoration
of the temple was the altar burnt offering. And so this was what
the Lord had ordained and given the word to Cyrus when he sent
the Jews back to Jerusalem, that they should again worship God
by means of a blood sacrifice. And so the worship is resuming
even though the temple wasn't finished. But still, there were
only very few preachers who preached the gospel of God's grace. And it was then like it was in
the days of Eli and the days of Samuel. And you'll know from
the rest of this third chapter of 1 Samuel, Samuel, he's gonna
be ordained to be a prophet of God. But notice verse one. and the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. There was no open vision. Now the word precious really
carries with it a twofold meaning. Number one, rare. Scarce. Hard to find. Difficult to locate
anybody who is preaching the Word of God. Doesn't that summarize
our day in religion? It's very difficult to find anybody
who's interested in exalting Christ Jesus the Lord. Men and
women and children are being bragged on. Want you to feel
good about yourself? You're wonderful people, you're
kind people, you're charitable people. Now keep doing good,
keep doing good and God will take you to heaven one day. That's
false religion and they're delighted to tell you that over and over
and over again. Most preachers are nothing more
and nothing less than religious psychologists, men who are trying
to get you to feel good about yourself. They're motivational
speakers with just a little dab of religion thrown in just to
make you feel better. Well, that was the day in which
Samuel lived. He's just a lad here in 1 Samuel
3. And the word of God was rare,
but know this, the gospel of God's grace, though it is rare,
it is very precious, it's rich. It's full of the riches of God's
grace. This is a costly message. For you see, the good news to
us of forgiveness and righteousness and acceptance with God, it came
at a tremendous price, the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is why we keep emphasizing
this message. It honors God, it honors Christ,
it honors the Holy Spirit, and it helps us poor sinners. We need to hear it. We need to
hear that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was rich, became poor. He laid aside the crown of glory
in order to come down here and wear the crown of thorns. He
laid aside his heavenly palace in order to come down here and
be born in a manger. He laid aside being the master
of the universe in order to be the servant of Jehovah, God's
righteous servant. The message back then was rare.
Wasn't many people preaching it. Eli's two sons, boy, they
were as crooked as a black snake. Those guys, they didn't have
anything, anger and hatred toward God, trying to get rich, just feeding
their own flesh, full of carnality. But it says the word of the Lord
was precious then. Not many people preaching it.
That costly message. And there's not many people preaching
it now. when we first, years ago, Nancy
and I went over, was that our 25th wedding anniversary, I believe,
went to Maui. And we got over there, beautiful,
one of the Hawaiian islands, went to Maui, and was gonna be
there on the Lord's Day, and so I get out the yellow pages.
That's when you actually had a phone book. I got the yellow
pages out. I'm looking through churches,
and I called church after church to see if anybody over there
believed the gospel. I finally got a hold of a woman.
She's a secretary at a Grace Baptist Church. Surely, if there's
anybody preaching the gospel, it's at a church called Grace
Baptist Church. And I asked the preacher who
was there, and she said, no, he's not here. I said, can I
help you? And I said, well, maybe you can. I told her who it was.
And I said, I'm looking for somebody that preaches sovereign grace.
She said, I don't know what that is. Well, that told me all I
needed to know. And I began to sit forth for
her sovereign grace. And she said, there isn't anybody
on this island that preaches anything like that. I said, well,
thank you for your honesty. I'm telling you, this is a rare
message. It's a precious message. Look at all the churches around
us, all the churches in Boyd County, all the churches in Kentucky,
all the churches, so-called churches in the United States of America.
How far have you got to go to hear a true preacher of the gospel?
I mean somebody who consistently week in and week out, rings the
gospel bell, points sinners to Christ, tells people who he is,
he's God, he's man, tells people what he did, he laid down his
life to satisfy God so that God's justice would be honored and
in order to save his people from their sins. How far have you
got to go to hear somebody say, King Jesus reigns. He doesn't
want to reign. He doesn't want to be the Lord.
He is the Lord. Bow to Him, proud sinner. Stack
your shotguns up in the corner. Kiss the ground. Bow down. He's the King. How far have you
got to go to hear somebody say that? And I'm telling you, It
is now, like it was in Samuel's day, and like it was in the days
of Zechariah, the word of God was rare. It was rare. You'll notice, by the way, before
I leave this passage, it says in the last part of verse three,
there was no open vision. No open vision. Oh, people were busy with religious
activities. There's no shortage of religious
activities today. But as far as open vision from
God, somebody just receiving a message from God. Oh, There's no gospel preaching
much today, but there's a lot of religious entertainment. There's
no true praise of God, but sure are a lot of programs. Yesterday, we had a beautiful
wedding, and several of you attended,
and I appreciate your support of Sarah, and Tyler, and we pray
for them and wish them well as they begin a life together. But
after we had eaten, and I went back for seconds to bring Nancy something home,
I brought her home two huge plates of food, which she needed help
in eating. And I was glad to accommodate.
But I got to talking with the owners of the facility there. And they said, you ought to come
out here at Christmas. I said, really? The lady told
me. She said, we have a live manger
scene. Last year, thousands and thousands
of people came to see that live manger scene. Well, they had
horses and a camel. and I don't know what other animals
they've got there. And I thought to myself, the
word of God doesn't tell us to remember his birth. It says remember his death. That's
what the That's what the Lord's Supper is all about. And really,
that's what baptism is all about. Both of those ordinances that
God left His church set forth in symbolism and in typology,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And when we take the Lord's Supper
next Sunday, the Lord said to His disciples, when He instituted
it, He said, this do in remembrance of me. This is my body broken
for you. This is my blood shed for you. The blood of the New Testament. See, we don't want to hear that
message. I say we, I mean our generation. They don't want to hear it. They
don't want to hear about substitution. They don't want to hear about
justification. They could care less about propitiation. These Bible words, Bible words. They want to be entertained.
They want to feel good about themselves. That was the way
it was back in the days of Eli and young Samuel. And that's
the way it was in the days of Zechariah from these men who
had just come from Babylon. They were not irreligious men. I read to you about them there
in verses two and three and four. These men were, they were coming,
they had just come back, go back to Zechariah 7. These men, Cherezer
and Regemmelech, and their men, they went to the temple, what
was built of it, they went to the temple to speak to the priests
and to speak to the prophets of God. I'm assuming, therefore,
that they met with Haggai and Zechariah and possibly Malachi
at that time. Let me give you three or four
things as we have time to get through these. Here's the first
point. Two braggarts. These men are
boasting. They're boasting of what they
did for God. Watch it. These two men and men
with them, who had just come back from Babylon, they go to
the temple, verse three, and to speak to the priests, which
were in the house of the Lord of hosts and of the prophets,
saying, should I or should we continue to weep in the fifth
month, separating myself as I have done these, lo these many years? They came on behalf of other
men, and here's what they're saying. When we got to Babylon,
we knew we needed to do something for God, so we continued to fast. In fact, you can read some history
on this. They had four fasts every year. So they've been doing this for
70 years. And I don't mind telling the
prophet about them. I don't mind telling the priest
what they did. They've been observing these for 70 years. They had
one And I'll just, in case you're interested, I'll give you these
things. On the 17th day of the fifth
month, they kept a day of fasting and humiliation in remembrance
of the day that the Chaldeans destroyed the temple. On the
ninth day of the fourth month, they kept another annual fast,
weeping and mourning in remembrance of the destruction of Jerusalem.
And then every seventh month, they held another fast in remembrance
of the murder of a man named Gedaliah, you can read about
that in Jeremiah, and the captivity of the Jewish remnant in the
more remote parts of Israel. And on the 10th day of the 10th
month, they kept a fast commemorating Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem. Now all of these fasts, they
actually did them. You can read Josephus and some
of the other historians. They actually kept these four
feasts every year for the 70 years that they were in captivity. And at first glance, we might
think that was a wonderful thing to do. While they were in Babylon, they
wanted to be religious. And so they observed these four
fasts. However, God only ordained one
fast once a year. That was on the Day of Atonement,
as recorded in Leviticus chapter 16, When Aaron the high priest
would take two goats, cast lots for them, one for the Lord, one
for the scapegoat, the one goat died. That pictured Christ crucified,
Christ smitten, Christ sacrificed for sinners. That goat was said
to be for the Lord. Because you see, the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost was for God. So I thought he died for us,
he died for our sins. But he died to satisfy God, he
died to honor God, that had to be done. And then the second goat was
called the scapegoat. Ere laid his hands on that goat,
the live goat, after the blood of the other goat had been put
on the mercy seat inside the Holy of Holies. Aaron came out,
laid his hands on the second goat, symbolizing a transference
of guilt, even symbolizing the transference of all the iniquities,
all of the guilt, all of the sin, of all of God's people,
of all of the ages, transferred to our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died under the wrath of God and so bore our sins away. so far away that he removed them
from the very memory of God. God said, you sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. And Aaron, after that symbolizing
act of transferring of sins, he chose out a fit man, that's
our Lord Jesus Christ, the only fit man worthy to die for our
sins. And that fit man led that goat
out of town, out of the assembly of the saints into a land uninhabited
and came back without them. There's the resurrection, there's
the victorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated and
illustrated. Then they had a fast. And that
fast was not only to weep, it was to pray, And thank God for
a substitute. Thank God for a sin bearer. Thank
God for an innocent victim that take our place. That's the only
fast God ever authorized. But you see, those people in
Babylon, they wanted to act religious. They wanted to act religious,
and really, Really, they're bragging about it. Should we continue
to do this like we've been doing so many years? People love to
brag about what they've done for God. I wish I'd hear somebody
brag about what God's done for them. You hear somebody, we don't have
those bragamony meetings, excuse me, testimony meetings. We don't
have those here, I've had them in the past. When I was at camp,
every Friday night around the campfire, I'd say, who'll give
a testimony like popcorn? I want you to be popping up all
over the place. And they'd pop up and then pop
off with their bracket. Well, I'm glad I gave Jesus my
heart. I decided this. I went forward
in my, I, I, I, I. God said, that kind of stuff
smoke in my nose. And you see, that's what these
men are doing. I have done this so many years. Surely I get credit for that. Do you know how many times I've
missed Sunday school over the last 25 years? Nothing. Zero. I've been faithful. I got all
my pens. Vows for it. And every supper that's held,
I always bring a covered dish. And I visit the sick, and I take
them food, and I do this, and I do that. And God says, I don't
wanna hear anymore of what you've done. Oh, that somebody would
stand up and talk about what God has done for poor, wretched,
hell-deserving sinners. That's what we need to hear.
Somebody who doesn't brag on the flesh, but puts the flesh
down and brags on the Son of God, who alone deserves the glory. These men are looking for glory.
Zachariah's not gonna give it to them. And the Lord's not gonna
give it to him because as the two brackets, here's the second
point. The word of the Lord. That's
verses four and five. Pay attention to what Zachariah,
the message Zachariah receives from the Lord. God says in verse
five, now you speak to the people of the land and to the priests
saying, when you fasted, Back there in Babylon, in 70 years,
when you mourned in the fifth and the seventh month, even in
those 70 years, did you do it for my glory? Did ye at all fast unto me, even
to me? You see, this is a question we
need to all be asking ourselves. Why do we do what we do? And I would ask you, why are
you here this morning? You see, the thing that God had
against Israel was, they went through the forms, they went
through the ceremonies, they went through the rituals, but
there was no heart in their worship. In fact, the Lord Jesus, he quoted
Isaiah, who said, you draw near to me with your lips, but your hearts are far from
me. A heartless religion. A Christless religion. The word of the Lord. You see,
these people, when they were in Babylon, They had no authority
to have a fast because that was only a connection with a sacrifice. And they had no sacrifice. But they're very proud of what
they did, just like people are today. Proud of what they do
in religion. But the Lord says, I know why
you did it. You did it for yourself. It wasn't
about me. It wasn't about honoring God.
And I'm gonna ask you, what are you doing here this morning?
What is your attitude? Why are you here? Why do you
do what you do? Jim, why do you do what you do? Why do I do what I do? It's only a value if we do it
for the glory of God. You see, really a worship service,
that's what people call a worship service, it's not so much for
us, it's for Him. It's to adore the Lord, it's
to brag on Christ Jesus, to tell people who He is and what He
did and why He did it and where He is now and what He's doing
now and what He's gonna do. And I'll tell you, that kind
of preaching is rare. It's rare. The Word of the Lord. So my question to you is pretty
much the same question that the Lord had Zachariah ask these
people. Are you doing this for me, God
says? Are you doing this today for
the Lord? I hope so. I want to, don't you? I want to be here to honor him.
to glorify him. You see, when the Lord said,
did you fast unto me? And then he asked this, in verse
six, and when you did eat, when you broke your fast? When you did drink? Did you not
eat? Wasn't it about you? Come on
now. That's what he said, wasn't it
about you? Let's be honest now. I fear that much of what goes
on in religion is not about Christ at all. It's about you. It's about you. It's about you. It's about me. And sadly, it's
not much about Him. God forgive us. God help us. God help us. He said, you did it for yourselves.
You see, they did fast and they did weep in Babylon. But they didn't fast and weep
in association with a sacrifice, because they didn't have that. They fasted and they wept and
they mourned on account of they didn't like their living conditions. Lord says, it's all about you,
wasn't it? I tell you, the Lord can lay
his finger on exactly what's going on. And that's what he
reveals to Zachariah. So, it brings me to the third
point, our only authority, verse seven, or verse eight. Oh, verse
seven and eight, excuse me. Should ye not hear the words
which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem
was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round
about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? Shouldn't we remember that the
reason Jerusalem was overtaken was because they forgot God? Oh, they had a temple. They had
the ceremonies of religion. They had big crowds. They had
excitement. They had a lot of religion going
on. Only one thing missing, God wasn't
there. What's missing in religion today? What's missing in so-called churches
today? There is no Christ, no gospel,
no blood, no righteousness. That's what's missing. That,
my friends, is a fatal flaw. God said, that's why I put you
in captivity. Well, I thought the Lord cared
about Israel. He first of all cares about his
glory. And they forgot him. He put him
in captivity. Here's the only authority is
the word of God. You see, men prefer outward acts
of religion to a heart of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what they prefer. They prefer religious entertainment. Let's all go out and see a huge
manger scene. Oh, isn't it wonderful? Baby
Jesus there. Had a live baby pretending he's
Jesus. Oh, it just sends chills all
over my spine. That's how people talk. We go
to here to see the living Christmas tree and hear choirs sing great
cantatas. Of course, it means nothing that
they hate the Son of God. It means nothing that they have
no use for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means nothing
that they care not for the glory of the Son of God who's been
exalted to be the Lord over all. Let's all gather around and sing
these songs with the choir. And we'll all feel sorry for
Jesus together. Poppycock, that's just garbage. God says, I don't want that.
Be very careful of outward shows of religion. Religion without heart. I know
we dress because we're coming to meet the king, so we dress
accordingly. But let me tell you something,
being here this morning, that doesn't impress God. I'm telling
you, this doesn't impress God. You're not doing God a favor.
Surely nobody thinks that. God's impressed with his son.
Now you hear me, God's impressed with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we're gonna honor God,
we're gonna have to honor his son. And we're not gonna parade
people up here giving away all kind of rewards and making people
feel good about coming to church. It's so nice for you to take
one hour out of your busy week for God. We ain't gonna congratulate
you. You better be thankful God continues
to give you breath. You eat his food, you drink his
water, you breathe his air. You live off the mercies of God
every single day. Oh, God calls me to be a true worshiper,
a true worshiper. Here's the last thing. Why does
God send wrath then? That's verses 11 through 14. Why does this send wrath? And
I'll back up to verse nine. He says, execute true judgment. You better get interested in
how justice can be satisfied. And how God can show mercy and
compassion to others. And then, consequently, we show
mercy and compassion to others. But, here's the sad thing, verse
11. They refused to hear. Those people
before the captivity, they refused to hear. Therefore, as going into bondage,
and here come Nebuchadnezzar overtaking them, they said, oh
God, help us! Oh God, help us! God said, you
wouldn't hear when I call through my prophets. I'm not gonna hear
you either. You say, well, that's pretty
strong. It sure is. You, if you do not
give to God the glory that he demands, if you do not honor
his son, God's gonna make it mighty rough on you. And it's gonna be a captivity
a whole lot worse than going into physical captivity. It's
going to be a captivity of your soul forever and ever in hell. Why do we do what we do? Have
you ever heard this statement? The motive proves the value of
what you do. See, it isn't just what you do.
I'm thankful you're here this morning. I wouldn't fuss at anybody
for coming to hear the gospel, but why do you do what you do?
Why do I do what I do? Motive determines the value. When we come here, let's consciously
come to honor our God through the preaching of the gospel of
the grace of God to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. That make
sense? I hope it does. Let's get our
song books. We'll sing the closing song.