Thank you so much, ladies. I'm
going to be speaking this morning from the book of Zechariah. Once again, Zechariah chapter
5. And I want you to locate that. And then once you get there,
you can back up to the book of Habakkuk. I'll hold you place
there in Zechariah. Actually, first few verses, chapter
5. And back up to the book of Habakkuk
3. Let me read you the verses on
which that song that they just sang is based. Look at Habakkuk 3. 17. Give you a chance to locate Habakkuk. This is what they just sang.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the
field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no hurt in the stalls. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation."
And then he says this, the Lord God is my strength. And he will
make my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon
mine high places." Then he says, give this to the chief singer
on my stringed instruments. Habakkuk saw that even though
all earthly joys and pleasures are done away with, We still rejoice in the Lord.
Always. For who He is and for what He's
done for us. Okay, go back to Zechariah. I
just wanted to read you the portion of Scripture that led to the
writing of the song that they just sang. Go back to Zechariah. And I'm going to read for you,
first of all, the first four verses of chapter 5. Zechariah chapter five, verse
one. Then I turned and lifted up mine
eyes and looked, and behold, a flying roll. And he said unto
me, that is, this mysterious angel who visited with him and
spoke with him, even the Lord Jesus Christ, he said unto me,
what seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying
roll. The length thereof is 20 cubits,
and the breadth thereof 10 cubits. It's 30 feet long and 15 feet
wide. And then said he to me, this
is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. For everyone that stealeth shall
be cut off, as on this side according to it. and every one that sweareth
shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring
it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house
of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely
by my name. And it shall remain in the midst
of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and
the stones thereof. Let me remind you of the previous
visions that the Lord has given to Zechariah. He revealed the
blessings of God to his people. In other words, the first four
chapters of Zechariah are intended to encourage God's people Now,
literally, of course, they were to be encouraged to continue
building the temple of God. They had gotten discouraged.
They stopped building. And so the Lord raised up two
preachers. The one before this is Haggai. And then shortly after he began
preaching to encourage the people, let's get building again. Let's
build the temple and worship our God once again. In addition
to Haggai, then God raised up Zechariah, and both of them were
encouraging the people that, listen, God's going to do His
work. The blessings of God are going
to fall. Be assured of it. everything
that God has said to us. This is the God who bought us
and brought us out of Babylonian captivity and brought us back
to Jerusalem. He will see to it that this building
of the temple is finished and it will be completed. The foundation
has been laid by Zerubbabel and the brazen altar has been built But the work is stopped. Now,
get building again because the Lord says, I'm with you. I assure
you of My blessing. And of course, the message to
the people of God today, because you ask, I'm sure in your mind,
well, what does that mean for us here in February of 2023? What's the message for us? The
message for us, for the people of God, is don't be discouraged.
He even says there in Zechariah chapter 4, don't despise the
day of small things. Remember the Lord said in His
day, ministering to His people, He said, fear not little flock. That's what He said. And I know
we're a little congregation compared to most of the so-called churches
of the world. And some of you who are watching
by way of the internet, just a few folks gathered together,
don't despise the day of small things. While the Lord said,
when I have gathered two or three together, I've gathered you and
you meet in My name, I'll be with you. Don't ever despise
a day of small things. Maybe God will continue to do
great things. I don't know what He's going
to do in the days following our Lord's ascension. And I brought
this out in the Sunday school class this morning. For about
50 days, nothing happened. And the only believers that were
known in the whole city of Jerusalem were those 120 people who met. That's all. Don't despair. God is doing His work. And then
on the day of Pentecost, while the Lord sent forth His servants
preaching the Gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit, they
began to speak in other languages without any proper study of that
language. And God say 3,000 people. Don't ever be discouraged. You
say, well, I don't see much movement in our church. You don't know
what God's doing. The Lord works in His way and
in His own time. It could be that maybe our ministry
now is just sow the seed. and somebody else will come along
and reap the harvest. That's okay. It's good to be
involved in the labor of the gospel. We're all in this work
together that God has entrusted us with. And we preach the good
seed, the good message of the Lord Jesus and His sacrificial
death which saved His people from their sins. And we compel
people, come to Him. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And don't be discouraged now.
You who are God's people. Don't be discouraged. The work
is going to be done. In fact, he even says, go back
in chapter 4. Look in verse 6. He answered and spake unto me,
This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel." And Zerubbabel
is the governor. He's the one who led the people
out of Babylonian captivity. King Cyrus had released them. And so Zerubbabel, he's kind
of like their king, their governor, their leader, their guide. He
leads them back to Jerusalem. This is the word of the Lord
unto Zerubbabel. And this is what the Lord says,
Not by might, And the word might, if you look it up, it has the
idea of a vast army. In other words, the rebuilding
of the literal temple in Jerusalem is not going to be a result of
the men of Israel strapping on their swords and taking a bow
and arrow and going forth against the enemy. It's not going to
happen that way. It's not by sheer numbers. And
I know there are a lot of people today, in our day, and this has
been true for a long time, they think, well, if all denominations
could come together and we'd have a vast number of people,
then maybe there would be a worldwide revival. Look what God could
do if thousands and thousands of people all came together from
different walks of life, from different beliefs, from different
denominations. If we could all get together,
lay aside our differences, and all get together and talk about
Jesus, maybe the Lord would send a revival. It's not by might. And the fact of the matter is,
we can't join with all other denominations because everybody
doesn't believe the gospel of grace. Everybody doesn't believe the
efficiency and the surety and the certainty, that's the word
I'm looking for, the certainty of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They preach a general gospel to everybody, a general
love, and a general redemption, and a general calling, and they
make the salvation of sinners dependent upon the sinner. We can't get together in a vast
crusade, get together with all other religious organizations.
There is only one gospel. There's only one way to God. There's only one door. Christ
Jesus and His work of redemption is the way to God. And so it
isn't by a bunch of us ganging up on the world. And the Lord
says to Zachariah, deliver this word to Zerubbabel. It's not
going to be built by might, not by an army. See, they had a lot
of opposition to the rebuilding of the temple. I'm sure some
of them said, you know what we need to do? We need to get an
army together. And we can overcome these Samaritans
who are fighting against the cause of God. And the Lord says,
no, it's not going to happen by might. That's not the way
I'm going to build my temple. And then he says, nor by power. And this is by an individual's
boldness, and leadership, courage, and valor. It's not going to
happen as a result of one man going out boldly to face the
enemy. Well, how is it going to happen?
God says, by my Spirit. By my Spirit. How does God do
His work today? How is God building His church? How is God bringing people into
the fold of salvation, the lost sheep of the shepherd? I know
He has redeemed His sheep. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He bought them with His blood. How does He bring them
into the fold of salvation? By His Spirit. Not by a bunch of us ganging
up on sinners. Not by one man stepping out on
his own. The Lord will build His church. In fact, He is building His church. And He's doing it, He uses men,
and I'm thankful for that. He uses men. He could have used
angels. But angels don't have a real
comprehension of the message of redemption. They don't have
a real understanding of the necessity of one innocent one dying in
the stead of so many guilty ones. They don't have a comprehension
of that. He didn't commission angels to
preach the Gospel, but men. Men who have been saved by His
grace and congregations who stand behind the man who preaches and
who pray for the man, who support the ministry, who are encouraging
the Speaker of God, the Preacher of God in the preaching of the
Gospel. But it's the Spirit who uses
the Word. What does He use? He uses the
sword of the Spirit. You see, it's not gonna help
any of you. Let's say there's an unbeliever
here this morning. If we know that, and I don't
know anybody's heart, okay? I don't know anybody's heart.
But let's say we did. And somebody'd say, you know
what we need to do? We need to get that one person back here
in the Sun School classroom and all of us together And we'll
persuade them. It's not by might. It's not by us. It's by the work
of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus, when He told
His disciples that He was going away, and then indeed He did
go to Calvary and He saved His people from our sins, He justified
us by His blood, He died, He rose again the third day, He
ascended back to glory, the Father accepted the price that He paid,
He told his apostles, he said, now you stay in the upper room. Don't go out and preach in Jerusalem
until I send my Spirit. And then he sent the Spirit. And the Spirit worked through
the ministry of all the apostles, most especially through Simon
Peter. And he preached with the very
power of the Spirit of grace. and people were converted. That's
what we need. We need the power of the Lord,
the blessings of the Lord. After all, the Scripture says
salvation is of the Lord. You say, well, what about the
obstacles though? There's going to be a lot of
opposition to the Gospel. Indeed, look at verse 7 of chapter
4. Who art thou, great mountain?
You think you're going to stand in the way of God? Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt
become a plain. And he shall bring forth a headstone
thereof with shoutings crying, Grace, grace unto it. Listen,
we have many obstacles before us, but there are really no obstacles
to God fulfilling His purpose. And that temple in Jerusalem
is going to be built. Let the Samaritans yell about
it and fuss about it and complain about it. Let the enemies of
Israel rise up, as it were, against it. Every mountain before Zerubbabel,
before the king, before the leader, before King Jesus, before the
governor of the world, every mountain shall be made a plain. Even the mountain of man's unbelief
can't frustrate the purpose of God. I'm so thankful for that. I say to you who are the children
of God, there are no blockades that God can't just knock down.
There are no obstacles that He cannot overcome. Even what appears
to us to be a tremendous mountain You know, the saints of God,
when Stephen was stoned, and we're just about to get to that
in our Sun School lessons, I tell you, they faced a mountain.
His name was Saul of Tarsus. Nobody can stand up against Saul
of Tarsus. But that mountain, by the very
power of the Spirit of God, got knocked down and became a plague. Is there someone in your family, an acquaintance of yours, somebody
that you've talked to about the gospel of grace? And they say,
I don't believe that. I can't believe God chose a people
unsalvation. I can't believe that Jesus Christ
only died for His elect, only redeemed them. I can't believe
that the Holy Spirit only calls those whom the Father chose and
the Son redeemed. I just can't believe that. And
they stand like a mountain before you. Hear me! The Spirit of God
can knock down that mountain and become plain. So you see, these first four
chapters are very encouraging. And really, if I were asked to
give a title to chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the book of Zechariah,
I'd say it's the blessing of God. Here's the promise of His
blessing. And I'll tell you, when He promises
something, it's as good as done. But when we get to chapter 5, It's an altogether different
story. Because chapter 5 is not about
the blessings of God. Here's the title of the message.
It's about the curse of God. You see, on the one hand, God
does bless. But on the other hand, He does
curse. He is a just God, and He is the
Savior. Here is, in chapter 5, this roll. Very mysterious. You see in verse
2, Zachariah, the voice answered him and says, what do you see?
In verse 1 he says, behold, a flying roll. There was something to
see. A flying roll. It's 30 feet long. Well, that
isn't too unusual, just the length of a roll, we might call it a
scroll, or a book. This is how the scriptures were
recorded back in those days, a scroll, or rolled up. And they'd go to a passage of
scripture, they'd just unroll that scroll, and they'd find
it and they'd begin to read. Hebrew doesn't read from left
to right, it reads from right to left. And so they'd begin
reading out of this roll or a scroll. Now it would not be unusual for
this usually, at least to begin with, they're made out of leather.
They're rolled together on sticks, okay? It would be unusual having
made of, being made of leather and they'd Scribes, those who,
or rather those inspired by the Spirit of God to write the Word
of God, you know, he'd say, well, here's the scroll of Genesis,
let's say. I'm going to be reading a portion
of the book of Genesis. When it was originally given,
it wasn't divided into chapters and verses. And so they had unrolled
to a particular place, and they began to read. And as far as
that role was concerned, inspired scroll, it could be 30 feet long
because it's rolled up. You see, got a picture of it
in your mind? Surely you do. But there are two things that
are super unusual. Number one, it's 15 feet wide. And another unusual thing, it's
going across the sky. It's flying. It's flying. And you ask the question, and
I asked the question when I read this and began to say, what in
the world is that? What is that a picture of? And
we don't have to doubt about it because in verse 3, the answer
is given. And He said unto me, this is
the curse. That's what this is. This is
the curse. You see in chapters 1, 2, 3,
and 4, it's been about the blessing. God's going to save sinners.
He's building His church. Remember Christ said, I will
build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. I'll take care of all obstacles. Just trust Me. I'll do it by
My Spirit, by the power of the Spirit. Not by your ingenuity,
not by your wisdom, not by your evangelistic zeal, but by My
Spirit, saith the Lord. I'll build My church. I'll save
sinners. But now he comes into chapter
five, and now he's not gonna talk about the blessings of God
now. He's gonna talk about the curse of God. The curse of God. Let me tell you something about
God's preachers. We have a message to set forth,
and it's unvarnished. It's just clear. And we try to
present it very plain. The blessings of God are found
in Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, He's blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
So we present that. The mercy of God, the grace of
God, the salvation of God, the blessing of God, all in Christ. You understand that? Outside
of Christ, all is curse. Everything's a curse outside
of Christ. In Him, you're safe. Outside
of Him, you're not safe. In Him, you're saved. Outside
of Him, you're lost. In Him you're destined for glory. Outside of Him, unless the Lord
God of glory through the Gospel by His Spirit takes the Word
of the Gospel and puts it in your heart, outside of Jesus
Christ, there's no life, only death. There's no heaven, only
hell. There's no blessing, only curse. Only curse. Now this is a strange, very strange
sight that Zacharias sees. He sees this huge road, 30 feet
long and 15 feet wide. And it goes everywhere. I said, well, Jim, what is this
scroll? What is that picture? What is
that? That's God's law. That's what
that is. That's God's law. And it goes
everywhere. And pronounces a curse upon everybody
who is not found in Jesus Christ the Lord. This is the curse of
the law. I said it's rolled up by the
scrolls of the Word of God. I'm told that even in Jewish
synagogues today, they have scrolls hidden in a cabinet. And let's
say the rabbi says, I'm going to read today from, well, let's
say Zechariah. And so someone goes, the minister
goes to the cabinet where the scrolls are stored. Zachariah. He may have said,
you want me to read out of Haggai too? Be another scroll for Haggai. No, I want Zachariah. And he
finds the location and he begins to read. Now, this roll has writing on
the front and the back. It's written within and without. Because it's all the Word of
God. It's all the Word of God. And
Zacharias sees it rolling, flying, as it were, across the whole
earth. What is that? That role spoke of the law of
God. And it's curse. It's curse upon
those whose confidence of salvation is found in obedience to that
law. That law cannot save you. You say, I'm trying to live by
the Ten Commandments, Jim. That's not why the law was given. It's not a refuge for your soul. It's not a safe haven for a guilty
sinner. In Romans chapter 3, the law
of God was given to shut our mouths and leave us guilty. God
doesn't demand the best that you can do. Get a hold of this.
God demands that you be as good as He is. Now you chew on that
a while. You see, God's law, it examines,
it examines the sinner within and without. Not only your deeds,
but your thoughts, and your imaginations, and your dreams, and your motives. And we're all really guilty of
being lawbreakers. And the law says, and Ron read
this to us in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to
do them. If you tell me I'm trying to
be a good person, Jim, I'm a moral person, I try to be a generous
person, a charitable person. I try to be good to people. Surely
God will accept me. Here's what is therefore demanded
of you if you're seeking salvation on the basis of anything that
you do. Here's what the law says. It
shall be perfect to be accepted. You've got to continue. to do
all things that are written in the law. You see here in this portion
of scripture, he actually, he draws out two infractions or
violations of the law. One of them, he says in verse
three, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of
the whole earth for everyone that stealeth. That's one table
of the law. You know, the old timers, and
I'm sure that they're right about this, when Moses came down from
the mountain, he's carrying two tables of stone. He's carrying
the Ten Commandments, the law of God. And on one of those tablets,
was the relationship of men to men. And that's what he's talking
about here. Don't steal. Don't steal. Now we know from the book of
James that if any man breaks one of the laws, he's broken
them all. You say, I don't steal anything.
Ever covet? Ever envy? Ever want something
somebody else has got? Let me tell you something. We're
thieves in our minds and in our hearts, but mainly we're thieves
against God, because we seek to steal His glory. See, I don't know why you preachers
get so upset about folks who believe in free will, because
they're trying to steal God's glory. Salvation is not by your
will. The Bible says it. Read in Romans
9. It's not of him that willeth,
and it's not of him that runneth that makes an effort, but God
that shows the mercy. Men are trying to take credit
for that which only God can do. You're trying to steal His glory.
The law of God is over people like that. The curse. The curse. And then the second one is in
verse 4, swearing falsely by my name. Taking his name in vain.
That's another table of the law. The first table. There's a violation
of the first table of the law. Here's the law. Violation of
the first table and the second table. You see, here's what's
demanded of you. Now let me have your attention.
I want you to get this. If you are endeavoring by your
own efforts to be pleasing to God, Lord, I'm trying to serve
you. I'm trying to do what's right.
And I want you to accept me on the basis of what I do. Hear
me. This vast role waves over you
and says, guilty. You're guilty. Because God doesn't
demand the best you can do. He demands perfection. This is
serious business right here. Because you see, basically there
are just two ways of salvation that are presented. One is God's
way altogether of grace by His work. He did the choosing. He did the redeeming. He does
the calling. You say, yeah, but we've got
to believe. He gives us faith. It's all of God. That's the right
way. The other way is by man's deeds,
works, will, or worth. And if that describes you, anybody
here, anybody watching, the roll is flying over you and it says
you're cursed. You're cursed. If you set yourself up as one
who's trying to do the best they can do in order to please God
and be saved, then you're guilty. You're guilty before the law
of God. You see, it isn't the best that
you can do that God demands. It's perfection. And God says,
I'm going to bring it forth. I'm going to bring the curse
forth. Know this. Know this. If you are trying
to live by the Ten Commandments, you're just like those Jews in
our Lord's day to whom He spoke in John chapter 5. You search
the scriptures and then you think you have eternal life. These
are they that testify of me. And they said, we have Moses.
Meaning by that, we have the law. We got the law. And he said, in that day of judgment,
I'm not going to judge you. Moses is going to judge you.
And by that, he meant this law. This law. See, salvation is not
by keeping the law. Our Lord Jesus came and as far
as His people's concerned, He destroyed the law. He fulfilled
the law. He honored the law. He accomplished
the law. In fact, we read in Romans chapter
10, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He's the
end of it. Don't seek acceptance with God
upon the basis of anything you say, do, or think. Please, oh
please, oh Spirit of God, you'll have to take the Word and put
it in the hearts of all who hear me. Anybody who's seeking acceptance
with a holy God upon the basis of something they do, you're in for everlasting trouble.
Just being honest with you. Salvations by grace. Cast yourself
upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Become, as the old timers
used to say, mercy beggars. Lord, I have broken your law
all to pieces. Just like Moses threw the law
down and broke them literally, I'm a lawbreaker. But Lord, You
show mercy through Jesus Christ to lawbreakers by Your grace
and through His sacrifice. I come to You through Christ
the Savior. Save me by Your grace. The curse
of God. Let's get our psalm books. 52 is the number. 52.