They had no idea what I'm preaching
on this morning. And I didn't have any idea what
they intended to sing. I think they mentioned it to
me, but like a lot of things, I forgot. But they sang about
Jesus, rock of ages. Well, I want to talk to you about
that rock of ages, building on the stone that God laid. Look
in your Bibles, and we're just going to look here briefly at
Zechariah 3. And I'm just going to mention
this verse, read it to you, and then we're going to go to the
New Testament for the bulk of the message this morning. And
then we'll come back to this tonight, and I'll try to do an
exposition of Zechariah 3, verse 9. I'll give you a couple of
minutes to get there. Alright, Zechariah 3, verse 9,
the Speaker is our God. Jehovah He's conveying a message to his
servant and His servant is going to write down the words Not only
for that generation not only for those people But even for
us today This is written for us In fact,
we read in the book of 1 Corinthians that the things that happen in the Old Testament, the things
that are written, are written for our benefit, for our instruction. All right, let me read this to
you. Zechariah 3, 9, 4, Behold the
stone. I can just preach a whole message
on that. Any preacher of the Gospel could.
Behold the stone. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. Behold Him. Look
to Him. Would you see Him? Oh, that God would open our eyes. I'm talking about spiritual eyes
now. So that we would behold this one whom God called the
stone. He is that rock of ages they
sang about. For behold the stone, watch it,
that I have laid. Who laid him? Who laid this stone? Who laid this rock foundation? Our God did. I'll deal with that
a little more this evening, but He laid this foundation in old
eternity. Our Lord Jesus has always been
the stone that God laid, the rock that God laid. He's the
bedrock. All of God's salvation is built
on Him. In fact, without the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is no salvation. You see, He not only has saved
us, but He Himself is our salvation. You remember there when our Lord
Jesus was just an infant, and Joseph and Mary took Him to the
temple, and there's a man in the temple, Simeon. He's waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting to
see the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God said, you're
not going to die until you see the Son of God, the only Redeemer. He was born. They took him to
Jerusalem. They entered into the temple.
And that old man, faithful unto God, kept by the grace of God, he saw that little infant. It's like the Spirit of God whispered
in his soul. There he is. I'm going to tell
you something. God's got to point him out to
you. God's got to direct your attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, preacher, I don't understand
why people don't believe on the Son of God. This gospel, it is
good news to the thirsty from a distant country. God has sent
glad tidings of great joy. A Savior is born. We're talking
about redemption. We're talking about forgiveness.
We're talking about acceptance with God. Why don't people believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? They don't see their condition. They don't know who He is. They
don't realize there's no salvation in any other. Do you know? Has the Spirit of
God revealed to your soul that Christ is the only Redeemer? This is the only way God saves.
Through the Savior and His work of redemption, Has the Spirit
of God whispered into your heart, into your soul, that which He
whispered into the heart of that man, Simeon? This is the One. This is the Savior. This is that
Holy One of God. This is that One promised throughout
all the Old Testament. pictured in all the offerings,
all the sin offerings, all the trespass offerings, in the morning
sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, in the Passover feast when a
lamb was killed. A male of the first year without
spot and without blemish. Has the Spirit of God whispered
into your ear, into the very ear of your heart that this is
the one? Here He is. In fact, this is the one you're
hearing about right now. Oh, that the Spirit of grace
would work within all of our hearts, the hearts of those of
you who are watching as well, to convince us that this Jesus
of Nazareth is God of very God, He's the only Savior of sinners, He laid down His life in order
to rescue His fallen people, in order to wash away all of
our sins, in order to robe us with the garments of salvation. Oh, Spirit of grace, whisper
that into my heart. Whisper to me once again, this
is Him. This is the One. And Simeon, having seen the Lord's
own son, I just suspect tears run down his face. Holding that baby, he said, Lord,
I'm ready to die. Because mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation. Thy salvation. And you see, God says here in
Zechariah 3 verse 9, Behold the stone that I have laid. Behold
Him. Behold Him as the eternal God. Behold Him as the great Creator
of all things. Behold Him who has all power. Behold, him who left heaven's
glory, came down here and robed his holy soul, his deity, with
the vestures of human flesh. He made himself to be like one
of us. He said in Hebrews chapter 10,
A body thou hast prepared me. How utterly astounding! A body? A body to contain God? The Lord said of Solomon's temple,
where is the house you're going to build me? The whole world
can't hold me. And yet God dwells in a body. Miracle of miracles. No wonder
we read in 1 Timothy chapter 3, and without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Behold His deity, the deity of
this stone that God laid in the covenant of grace in His purpose
of salvation. Behold the reality of His humanity. You know, He loved to go by the
title Son of Man. He loved to be called that. He
referred to Himself. He said, the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost. He's not ashamed to
associate with us. He's not even ashamed to call
us brethren. That's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 2. The Bible says He's bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh. Behold Him who is God and man,
the God-man Christ Jesus. God to satisfy God. Man to meet
all of our needs. Behold the stone. Behold Him
as the only Savior of sinners. There is no other salvation.
I quoted in Sunday School this morning, Acts 4.12. Neither is
there salvation in any other. And no use to look anywhere else. Neither is there salvation in
any other. There's no salvation in the Pope. There's no salvation in Buddha.
There's no salvation in this pitiful, weak Jesus who wants
to do some things, but people hold His will checkmate, keep
Him from doing what He wants to do. There's no salvation there.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other
name. Hear the Word of God. There's
none other name. Here's this stone that God has
laid. There's none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. He's the one
you've got to know. You don't need to know me. Some people fell out with a preacher
years ago who had a radio program, and he never mentioned his name.
Folks wrote in and said, well, who are you? He said, you don't
need to know me. They said to John, who are you? He said, I'm just a voice. That's
why he said, I'm just a voice. You don't need to know John the
Baptist. You don't need to know me. You
need to know my master. And you'll never know him unless
he introduces himself to you. That's absolutely necessary. God said, behold the stone that
I have laid. Behold him who saves his people
by His obedience unto death. There was the necessity of His
life of obedience. Somebody's going to honor God's
law, or we're all going to die. He did. He was made under the
law. Made under the law. And He obeyed
every precept of it. And he not only obeyed every
precept of the law, but he himself suffered the penalty for us breaking
the law. Here's a good- think of his death
this way, it was a penal sacrifice. Penalty for the wages of What? Sin is what else? Death. The wages of sin is death. Somebody's
going to die for sin now. There's just no question about
that because God's just and holy. He's got to punish sin. The wages of sin is death. God
would have to cease to be God if He didn't punish sin. His
holiness must strike out against it wherever He finds it. He must
pour out His vengeance upon it. Well, thank God all of the sins
of the people of God were put on the Son of God. They were all charged to Him.
So much so that in Psalm 69, the Savior talked about, My sin. My sin. But Lord, You didn't commit them.
I did. But Lord, You didn't transgress
God's law. I did. But Lord, You don't have
any iniquities. I've got nothing but iniquities.
He said, Wait. I bore responsibility to save
you from old eternity. And those sins which were yours
are yours no more." He said, they're mine. They're
mine. And justice, oh, justice. Strict, oh, so stern. No mercy and justice. Justice
sees all of our iniquities have been laid upon Him. He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree. And justice seeing our sins there
on the Savior, justice leaves us alone. Justice
is not going to deal with us. Sure dealt with our Savior though. Behold this stone God has laid. Behold Him suffering, bleeding,
dying. Why? Why, my soul, must He die for
my sins? You ask any child of God, why
do you love the Lord Jesus so much? Why do you seek to worship
Him? Why do you seek to honor Him?
I'll tell you why. He took my place. He died my
death. Oh, blessed Redeemer. Why do
you preachers insist on talking about Jesus Christ and His bloody
death all the time? Because He saved us by that death. His blood washed away all of
our sins. Behold this stone that God has
laid. No salvation anywhere else. Say, I want to be accepted by
God. I want to be holy in His sight. Jim, how can I be? In the Savior. in the Savior. And you see, God, I made this
statement Friday night when I was preaching for Brother Eisen.
God has always looked to His Son for satisfaction to His justice
and for Him to bear the full, here's that word again, penalty
for our sins. And He bore it all. Years ago, I was raised free
will Armenian. We sang a lot of songs that actually
some of them in this song book, they're just junk. But we used to sing a song, I
am satisfied with Jesus. I am satisfied with Jesus. Let
me tell you something. I don't want to be critical about
the songwriter. I don't want to be too critical.
I'm already critical. The issue is not, are you satisfied
with Jesus? And the rest of that song goes,
but a question comes to me. You remember that song? As I
think of Calvary, Is my Savior satisfied with me? That's not the question either. The issue is not, are you satisfied
with Jesus? And really the issue is not,
is Jesus satisfied with me? The issue of all issues is this,
get it now, is God satisfied with Jesus? Isn't that right? That's the issue of all issues.
Is God satisfied with this stone that He laid in old eternity? Is God satisfied with it? Well,
let's see. Our Lord Jesus died suffering
the vengeance of a holy God. He hung His head and gave up
the ghost. His soul went to paradise. He's resurrected three days and
three nights later. Forty days later, He ascends
to glory. Is God satisfied with Him? Well,
you listen up. God said, take your seat here
at My right hand. You sit on the throne of universal
sovereignty. God made Him Lord. He's Lord
of everybody. In fact, Paul says He's Lord
of the quick and the dead, the living and the dead. You may
be dead in trespasses and sins and you haven't been quickened
by the Spirit of God. I've got news for you. Here's
a news bulletin. He's still your Lord. And you may have been born again
by the power, the awesome power, the effectual power of the Spirit
of grace. He is most certainly your Lord
and you have bowed to him as such. God is satisfied with him. And
God is satisfied with everybody in whose stead he died. Don't you miss that? There's no hell that awaits any
of those in whose stead our Lord Jesus bore the full penalty for
sin, which is death. That's one of the most awful,
awful heresies that there ever was. I asked somebody the other day,
I said, is there anybody in hell for whom Jesus paid their debt?
If there is, God's not a just God. debt paid and still going to
be punished for that debt? Our Lord Jesus took the bill
of our transgressions, He paid for it with His blood and stamped
it as it were, paid in full, and then God still sends somebody
to hell whose debt has been paid in full? What kind of God is
that? There's no justice there. Old
Brother Toplady said, twice payment God will not demand. First at
my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine. What's your
hope, preacher? Christ died for me. What is going to be your plea
when you stand before the Holy God on that great and final day
of judgment? Lord, Jesus died for me. I will plead then what I plead
now. The blood. I plead the blood. This is the stone that God has
laid. Behold Him. Now, go to the New
Testament, to Matthew chapter 7. Look at Matthew chapter 7. I'm talking about building on
this stone or rock that God laid. All of you know this story. You
learned it in Sunday school when you was a little kid. You learned
this. Matthew chapter 7. The story of the two builders.
Let me give you three things, and I'll give them to you real
quickly. Our Lord is speaking, number one. He is addressing
religious people. His hearers here on the Sermon
on the Mount, and this is the very end of it, they are not
irreligious people. They're not non-religious people. They're all religious people.
They're all what we would refer to as churchgoers. And there were some who believed
the gospel of grace, some to whom the Son of God had been
revealed, and others were in their unbelief. Number one, this is addressed
to religious people. Look at verse 21. He says, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. There
are some people who do the will of God. And that expression,
doeth the will of God, I like another translation that says,
who take heed, take heed to what God says. Well, what does God
say? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. John chapter 6. Our Savior, the
bread of life. That's what that chapter is all
about. And the Savior said, this is the Father's will which is
sent me, that of all which see me, who come to me, they have
everlasting life. This is the will of God. It is
God's will of command. It's not an invitation. This
is not an offer. This is the command from your
God. Believe my Son. Look to Him. Look to this wonderful stone
that God has laid, this rock of ages, this rock in a weary
land. Look to Him. You see, religion
is not a bad word. The Bible talks about true religion. There are two religions in this
world. True religion and false religion. Our Lord is speaking to people
who are religious. There are some of them who do
His will. Those who do the will of His
Father. Who take heed to the will of the Father. What is God's
will of command to all of us? Look to my Son. Believe Him. Trust Him. Come to Him. That's
God's will of command. Our Lord Jesus is speaking to
some people who, by the grace of God, took heed to the Gospel
call. See, the Gospel is to be obeyed.
Paul wrote to those who were disobedient to the Gospel. And
our Lord is addressing people who were obedient to the Gospel,
but most of them were disobedient to the Gospel. They wouldn't
believe Him. They wouldn't look to Him. They
look to their works, they look to their Sabbath keeping, they
look to their catechism learning, they look to any number of things
other than looking to Christ Jesus. Where are you looking? What's your religion? Is it a
true religion or a false religion? True religion is the religion
of God. It's the religion of truth. It's
the religion of grace only. It's the religion of Christ only.
Is that your religion? Well, that's mine. I'll tell you that. But lots of these folks who heard
him, they wouldn't take heed to what he said. They hated him. Oh, they called him Lord. And
they did a lot of things in his name, but he says this in verse
number 22, Many will say to me in that day, that day of judgment,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? We've
been involved in church work all our life. Well, you think
I'm a heathen? I grew up in Sunday school. I
got all these pins to prove it. Perfect attendance in Sunday
school, unless they called off service due to snow. I got so many stars on my card,
my Sunday school teacher said, you're just the ideal student.
I got that. You want to sit, preacher? I
got it at home in the treasure chest. All these things I've done for
God. You know what I like to hear
people talk about? I don't like to hear them talk
about what they've done for the Lord. Because after you've done everything
God demands, you're still just, you know what the Savior said?
Unprofitable servant. I'd rather hear people talk about
what the Lord's done. Let me tell you what the Lord's
done for me. We used to have testimony services. Did y'all ever have? I probably
didn't hear, but in some places. Well, I want to see you popping
up like popcorn popping. And somebody said, I want to
thank Jesus for saving me. I'll tell you, I was a down and
outer. I was a drunkard, I was this,
I was that, and just go on and on about I, I, I, but then I
opened my heart to Jesus and I let Him have His way with me
and that's their testimony. Well, I don't want to hear anything
like that. In fact, I had a family left me because I wouldn't have
a testimony service. I call them bragamony services. That's what they are. Let me
tell you what I've done for the Lord. I don't want to know what
you've done for the Lord. Don't waste my time. But if you
want to tell me what the Lord has done for you, I'm interested
to hear that. What He's done. These people
bragging all the way to the judgment. He's talking about deception.
They go all the way to the judgment and they're bragging before the
bar of God's holy justice what they did for God. I did it in your name, Jesus. And then while I profess to them,
I never knew you. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. But He says, I don't know you. I've never had any fellowship
with you. I've not had any love for you. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Here's the point. Our Lord is
addressing religious folks. See, we're all religious in here. True religion and maybe some
false religion. I don't know. Maybe in your heart
you believe false religion. Maybe in your heart you believe
your will made the difference. I don't know. But we're all religious. True
religion and false religion. And then secondly, Our Lord speaks
to hearers. He's addressing hearers. Not
only religious people, but hearers. Notice what He says in verse
24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them. Now look down at verse 26. And
everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not.
So He's addressing religious people, yes, but He's also speaking
to people and addressing people who are hearing the Word of God,
like you're hearing. You're hearing the servant of
the Lord declare the glories of His Son. Two kinds of hearers. Those that
hear and believe. Those that hear and say, I'll
just hold on to my refuge of lies, thank you very much. God knows I've tried to live
a good life. You know, there's some people foolish enough to
still believe. Their good works will outweigh
their bad works in the day of judgment." Won't you hear the sayings of
the Lord? Won't you hear? It's not what
you do. It's who He is and that which
He has done. Let's stop talking about you
doing some things. Doing the will of God is taking
heed to the will of God. It's looking to Christ only for
everything. Lord, I'm looking. The Lord said,
look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for
I am God. Moses told the people, you've
been bitten with a fiery serpent. God told me to put the serpent
of brass on a pole. And he said, you look, you live. Look and live. That's what I
say. No, that's what God says. Look to my Son. Behold the stone
that God laid. Will you behold Him? Look and
live. I'm telling you, there's life
in a look at the Savior. Oh, God give you eyes to see
Him. and eyes to see your neediness before Him. He's addressing hearers. You see, it isn't like you have
not heard the truth. I can say with Ezekiel, I am
free from the blood of all of y'all if you perish. Because
in my simple way, as I have laid it out, I have set forth Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, the only Savior of sinners by His
bloody death. Salvation is by grace and it's
in Him. You don't misunderstand what
I'm saying. I know you don't. So hear me. If you perish, Are you to be pitied? Or are
you to be blamed? Roll that one over a little bit. Say a man comes to my door. He
says, I'm hungry, preacher. Well, come on in. My wife's got
supper on the table. We're just getting ready to sit
down and eat. Come on in the house. He comes in the house.
He sits down. And we're eating roast beef and, well, I can't
eat mashed potatoes. I eat that fake stuff. Mashed
cauliflower. Things like that. And green beans
and some things I can't eat. But here's a wonderful meal that
Nancy has set out on the table. Man said, I'm starving to death.
Well, here's your napkin. There's your knife and a fork.
Just have at it. And he sits there and he doesn't
eat. If he dies of hunger, is he to
be pitied or is he to be blamed? Man's dying of thirst. He said
before him, a bucket of cold, cold water come from a well deep
down in the ground like goes over at South Point. Good water. Won't drink it. Dies of thirst. Is he to be pitied? Or is he to be blamed? Somebody hears the gospel of
grace. The gospel of God's Son. Say, well, that's good enough
for some people, I'm sure. Really, I'm okay. I'm okay. I know I've made some mistakes,
but I'm doing the best I can. Thank you very much. Appreciate
you. Dies and goes to hell. Let me
ask you a question. Is that person to be pitied,
or is he to be blamed? Here are these hearers. They're
religious, they're hearers, and watch this lastly, they're builders.
Our Lord illustrates what He's saying. He talks about two kinds
of builders. Wise builders and foolish builders. Wise builders. You see, all of
us here today, I believe, I think this is an accurate statement.
All of us here today and all of you who are watching, we all
have some kind of hope that one day we'll wind up in heaven. Now, we may not understand what
heaven is, maybe you don't understand that, and you don't understand
what everlasting life is, but you just believe that everybody
here believes, well, in the end, I'll be alright. I'll be alright,
preacher. Because we're all builders. But
you see, some people are building on the sand. And that's what
our Lord, He sets forth those who build on the rock, that blessed
stone God laid. But other people build on the
sand. And the sand is anything that you do as a basis and a
foundation for your salvation. Let me just read what the Savior
said. Look at verse 24 again. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon the rock." That rock they
sang about. The rock of ages. That rock God
laid in His eternal purpose of grace. The rains descended, and
the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house, all
kind of trials and troubles came, and then finally you stand before
a holy God, and your house stands, because it's built on the rock
Christ Jesus. It stands forever. A preacher,
how long is a man saved? as long as the Savior is still
alive and all-powerful. That's how long I'm secure. As
long as the rock lasts, we'll last. Could I get an amen on
that? Amen to that? Found it on a rock. And everyone
that hears these sayings of mine and doesn't take heed to them,
shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon
the sand. And the rains descended, the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and
it fell, and great was the fall of it." It's examination time. Oh, I'm
not going to give you a test. you need to examine your heart. What is the basis for my hope
of glory? And if you ask me that, I'd say
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our Lord hides us in the rock. in this blessed stone that he
laid. Get your songbooks, let's sing
a closing song. He hideth my soul.