Thank you very much. Let's go
back to the book of Zechariah this evening, and we'll go again
to chapter 1. Zechariah chapter 1. The man
who wrote this, inspired by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of
grace, his name means Jehovah Remembers. He first began to
preach the gospel about, oh, 520 or 25 years before the Lord
Jesus was born. To kind of give you an idea,
Isaiah ministered about a little over 200 years before Zachariah. So you have Isaiah ministering
720 to 750 years, somewhere right around in there, before the Savior
was born. And then a couple of hundred
years after Isaiah preached, then God raised up this man,
Zechariah. In one night, God gave him several
visions. Look at verse seven, and then
the first part of verse eight of chapter one. Upon the four
and 20th day of the 11th month, which is the month Sebat, and
by the way, that would be about our February. And if you want
to get an earlier date, back up in verse one, the eighth month,
the second year of Darius, that would be our mid-October to mid-November. So then, a little bit later in
the month of our February, He says, in the second year of Darius
came the word of the Lord unto Zachariah, the son of Berechiah,
the son of Ito, the prophet, saying, I saw by night. And let me stop right there.
God showed him something, and he showed him something at night. At night. You know, The people
of God, we often feel like we're in the nighttime, a time of gloominess. Do you ever feel in your life
that sure is a lot of darkness around me? I mean, I have the
light of the gospel. We're thankful for that. I understand
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. God's given us light
on that. We're so thankful for the bloody
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him who is our righteousness,
we stand perfect before the majesty on high. But as far as everyday
occurrences, the troubles and tribulations, the events that
you, the people of God, and that I, one of the people of God,
the things that we go to, Lots of times we feel like it's
nighttime. You ever feel like that? It's
kind of gloomy sometimes. You know, this is not unusual
for the people of God to feel like it's somewhat dark. After Malachi preached, You know, there was 400 years
of silence. You get to the middle of your
Bible, to the Intertestament part, before the New Testament
and after the Old Testament, there's about 400 years of nothing
but silence. A dark period for the people
of God. And in the book of Matthew, and
of course in Luke, it records that in that darkness, in that
gloominess, just a few believers, there weren't many, just a few
folks looking for Messiah. standing on the tiptoes of faith,
looking for that one whom God would send, that seed of the
woman promised way back in Genesis 3 and verse 15. A few people
looked for Him, but by and large, it was a time of great darkness. But God caused the light to shine. in those times of darkness. In
fact, the father of John the Baptist, he said, light is risen. He said, the sun of righteousness
has come. He said, the day star from on
high, it's gonna shine. Then of course, he's speaking
of our Lord Jesus. And in the darkness of that night,
in the darkness and gloominess of that period in which very
few people loved the gospel of God's grace. Very few people
were looking for Messiah to come. Very few people were interested
in the gospel. In those dark days, suddenly
God sent the light of the world, Christ Jesus. And I'll tell you
this, in those dark days that you have to endure, and you will
endure them, may God enable you to see that
one who is the son of righteousness piercing through your cloudy
skies. And I know it may seem dark to
you, There's a song. I bet you Mike knows it. Back of the clouds, the sun is
always shining. The Lord is always there. He's
always present with his people, no matter how dark things may
be. Now, remember the situation here
in Zechariah. The Jews have been in captivity
70 years. Babylonian captivity. And then
God caused another group of people to come in and they conquered
the Babylonians. And then God raised up a new
king among the Persians. His name was Cyrus. And Cyrus
was the one, as I told you this morning, he was the one who made
a law. He made a statute saying all
the Jews are liberated. They're free. Go home, rebuild
your temple and worship God, for your God, He is God. These people have been in a gloomy
state, 70 years of captivity, in darkness, in darkness. Very discouraged, very gloomy. unsettling times. And some of you, all of you who
are the people of God, you're going to go through unsettling
times. But always remember, there's
still that light of God's grace. It always shines on you. And
though you may not in some circumstances be able to perceive that light. He who is your light is still
with you. And he said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. And things may become very gloomy
for you. I don't know what God has in
store for you. I don't know what God's going
to bring you through, but He will bring you through the darkness. Those floodwaters of troubles,
they're not going to drown you. And those fiery trials, they're
not going to consume you. Why not? Because the Lord is
there. And you know, in those dark,
dark times, At times, they proved to be great times of blessing. Like those people who waited
for Messiah. Dark days. and a few people meeting
together, and there's Simeon, and there's Anna, and a few other
saints of God, and they'd meet together, and they'd pray together,
and listen to the Word of God together, and offer the sacrifices
together, and they'd say, will He come soon? And all of a sudden, He came. He came. And He pierced through
their darkness. He did, that one who is the light
of the world. So here is Zechariah. It's at
night. They are in Jerusalem, and for
18 years, there has been no labor in building the temple. There
has been no labor involved in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Dark days. Gloomy days. Does nobody care? Is there anyone
who loves the gospel? And in the midst of that darkness,
God first of all raised up Haggai, a much older man, and he began
to preach two months before Zechariah did. And then Zechariah began
to preach. He had a much longer ministry
than did Haggai. But we're not at a loss to know
their message. Our Savior said to the Jews,
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think ye have eternal
life, and these are they that testify of Me. We know who Haggai
testified of. The desire of the nations is
coming. That's what he said. He's testifying
of our Lord Jesus. And then Zechariah, he's also
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. All the prophets preached of
him. In the book of Acts, when the
apostles stood before King Agrippa, He had been arrested and he told
King Agrippa, he said, I'm just preaching the same message all
the prophets preached. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. So Zechariah at night, God came
to him. God spoke to him. Let me read
this to you. Verse 8. I saw by night and behold
a man riding upon a red horse. That's the title of the message,
a man on a red horse. And he stood among the myrtle
trees that were in the bottom. And behind him there were red
horses and speckled horses and white horses. Then said I, oh
my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with
me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man
that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are
they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the
earth. And they answered the angel of
the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have
walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth
sit still and is at rest. And then the angel of the Lord
answered and said, O Jehovah, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy
on Jerusalem? and on the cities of Judah, against
which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years,
those seventy years in captivity. And the Lord answered the angel
that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with
me said unto me, Cry, cry thou saying, thus saith the Lord of
hosts. I am jealous for Jerusalem, and
for Zion with great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased
with the heathen that are at ease. For I was but a little
displeased." See, he's sore displeased with one group, but just a little
displeased with another group. And they helped toward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies." That's good news. Lord bringing mercies with him.
My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and
a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. And he tells
Zechariah, cry yet, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities
through prosperity, they shall yet be spread abroad, and the
Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. End of first vision. We'll get
to the next vision, the Lord willing, next Sunday morning.
There are many mysterious portions of Scripture in the Word of God. We all acknowledge that. And certainly this is one of
them. If I should ask, as Philip asked
the eunuch regarding this passage of Scripture, understandest thou
what thou readest? I suspect most of us would say,
how can I except some man guide me? Some man guide me. Such is the mystery of this portion
of Scripture that even right at the beginning, and we can
echo the words of Zechariah in verse 9, after he sees all these
horses, he sees a man riding a red horse, And then that same
man gets off his horse, he stands among the myrtle trees, and behind
him there are red horses and speckled horses and white horses.
Zechariah said, Oh my Lord, what are these? I need help. I need help to understand what
this means. And don't we And shouldn't we,
perhaps let me rephrase this, shouldn't we always, when we
come to the Word of God, say, what are these? What does this
mean? Well, I know this. I know that
Zechariah is gonna lead us to the Savior. I do know that. I
may not understand on the surface exactly how he's gonna get me
there. but He's going to direct my attention
to the Savior. Whatever this vision means, whatever
truth it illustrates, this vision was not only valid
in the days of Zechariah, it is still valid this evening. And you know this. The Word of
God is not like farmer's almanac. You know, here
we are in October, and if you follow farmer's almanac, I don't
know whether you plant for the almanac or not, A lot of Nancy's
dad always planted according to the signs of the almanac.
He went by that. But when you get to December
the 31st, you throw the old farmer's almanac in the garbage can, go
buy you a new one. That's not the way it is with
the Word of God. It's always valid. It's always true. The message of this book is always
beneficial to the people of God and always good, always good
for us as we see and perceive our Lord Jesus Christ. You see
all the promises of God. Even the promises in this passage
of Scripture, which is very encouraging to Zachariah because the Lord
is saying, I'm going to build the city again. It will be built.
And the Lord is saying to all of us to remind us, my church
will be built, notwithstanding the opposition, And in spite
of all the false preachers that are out here, I will send forth
My truth, and My church will be built. Sinners will be saved
by My grace. I'll see to it Myself." See,
there's the encouragement. And that's what God's doing today.
You say, what is God doing? What's God all about today? He's
saving His people. He's bringing His people to a
knowledge of grace. to a knowledge of redemption,
to a knowledge of substitution, to a knowledge of satisfaction
of His justice in the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is revealing His gospel to
His people. He is building His church. It will be built. I know there's a lot of religious
lies out here. We're surrounded in this city,
in this country, by people, by men and women, who are not honest
with people from the Word of God. They're not preaching Christ
Jesus. They're not preaching the grace
of God. I know that, but in spite of all of their opposition, they
can't frustrate the purpose of God. Our Lord will build His true
Jerusalem. And He will have laborers who
will faithfully proclaim the gospel of redeeming mercy and
love and grace. And His people will be brought
to Him. As the psalmist said, Thy people,
they shall be willing in the day of Thy power. So you see
this portion of Scripture here, it's as valid for us here this
evening as it was for Zechariah and the saints of God back in
his day. This is a portion that gives
us much encouragement. Let me show you several things. Number one, the rider on the
red horse. In verse 8, I saw by night and
behold. Take a look now. When you see
that word behold, it means stop, pay attention now, behold a man. Over in chapter 6 and verse 12,
Zechariah says, behold the man who is the branch. Behold him. John the Baptist said, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Behold!
Behold a man! And he's upon a red horse. We're not in doubt as to who
this man is. You already know. He's the Son
of God. See, he's identified in verse
11. Did you notice? The Spirit of
God tells us who this man is who comes riding in on a red
horse. He's standing in the midst of
the myrtle trees with the red horses and the speckled horses
and the white horses behind him. It's the angel of the Lord. It's
the angel of the Lord. Who is the angel of the Lord?
He's the messenger of the covenant. He's the Son of God. He's the
second person of the Trinity. And so often we find in the Old
Testament He was pleased to reveal Himself to human beings like
us, and he did so in the form of a man, as though saying, I
will not be ashamed to take flesh and blood into union with my
deity. And he did it all through the
Old Testament. You've read on many occasions
there in the book of Exodus where Moses saw the bush that burned,
but it wasn't consumed. And the Scripture says the angel
of the Lord spoke from that bush. The angel of the Lord. And the
angel of the Lord says, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to
protect my people. I'll fight against their enemies. I'm for you. And now here, hundreds
of years later, Zechariah is preaching, and he gets this vision,
then he gives it to the people, and he tells them about the angel
of the Lord. And they said, bless the name
of God. The angel of the Lord is going
to help us. You see, the angel of the Lord
had not been mentioned for 200 years, at least not in Scripture. The last one to mention the angel
of the Lord was Isaiah. That's why I told you he ministered
some 200 plus years before Zechariah did. He's the last one who mentioned
the angel of the covenant, the angel of God, the messenger of
the Lord. And now Zechariah is informed. that there stands among, really,
the people of God, the angel of the Lord. And they said among
themselves, this is the Protector. This is our Redeemer. This is
our God. And it encouraged them. You see, remember the work on
the temple, on the building, on the walls had ceased for 18
years. They're discouraged, they're
disappointed. And now Zechariah is going to tell them, the angel
of the Lord. He will see to it the building
is built in a literal way it would be built. And this would
encourage the people of God, but in a spiritual way, it's
even more true. You see, the one who stands among
the people of God, because the myrtle trees picture the people
of the Lord, the one who stands among us always, the one who
is not, he's not ashamed to be identified with his people. He's
not ashamed to call us brethren. You see there in verse 11, it
says, And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among
the myrtle trees. And I'll show you, the myrtle
trees, that's the picture of us. The Lord Jesus, where is
He to be found? On His throne? Yes. Everywhere? Yes. With every believer? Yes. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Where is Christ to be found?
Wherever his people meet. Wherever his gospel's being preached. And the amazing thing is, here's
Brother Allen at service over there this morning. He met with
you folks. He met with us here. He met everywhere
his people were meeting and his gospel was being proclaimed.
Where will you find the angel of the covenant? You will find
him wherever his people are gathered together by the sovereign spirit
to worship God in spirit and in truth. The Savior said, I'll
be with you. I'll be with you. And he's with
each of his people. He'll never leave you. He'll
never forsake you. He stood among the myrtle trees. Well, what about these myrtle
trees? This is the people of God. The
people of God. We're likened to myrtle trees. Not giant oak trees. Not stately cedar trees like
the cedars of Lebanon. Just little trees, evergreens. Down in the valley. You see what
it says here in verse 8? He stood among the myrtle trees
that were in the bottom. We're in the bottom land. We're
in the bottom. The Lord humbles us. He keeps
us humble. The Lord will not refuse those
who have before Him a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Listen, there's nothing to you. There's nothing to me. There's
everything in our Master. Don't ever think you're somebody
or there's something to you. Ain't nothing to you. Only thing
you got going for you is the grace of God and Christ Jesus
the Lord. And that's enough. But as far
as you yourself, ain't nothing to you. No wonder the scripture
says it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence
in men. I don't have much confidence
in you, preacher. Good for you. You're a wise person. The only one to put confidence
in, total confidence, total reliance, is Him who is the rock of our
salvation. He'll never fail you. I might
let you down. I won't do it on purpose, but
I could and I may. I don't know what I'll do. I'm
capable of doing anything and so are you. Pray the Lord will
keep us. There's only one who's truly
trustworthy. That's the Son of God. And He's
among the myrtle trees. These myrtle trees They're likened
unto red horses, speckled horses, and white horses. Because you
see, all those horses behind the rider on the red horse are
the same as the myrtle trees, evergreens. We're made alive
by the Spirit of God. And we're like all kinds of different
colored horses. Red horses, we're washed in the
blood of Christ. Speckled horses! That's many
different kind of spots on a horse. Because the Lord has a people
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. White horse! We're
all washed in the blood of Christ and made to be whiter than the
snow. And we all stand behind Him who
is on the red horse. our savior. What's the significance
of the red horse? Well, it speaks, although the
scripture doesn't tell us here specifically, but I've got to
think that the red horse speaks of our Lord's vengeance against
his enemies. Isaiah chapter 63, his garments
are stained with the blood of his enemies. I've got to think
that this also indicates His bloody death upon the cross of
Calvary. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? I used to be whole in unfallen
Adam, but I'm not whole anymore. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. He's on a red horse. On a red
horse. And then he gets off the horse
and he stands among the myrtle trees. He stands with us. Is that marvelous or what? Who's he with? Well, who did
he associate with when he came to this earth? Not the high and
the mighty, not the religious leaders, not the rabbis, not
the chief priests. They didn't want to have anything
to do with it. They said, behold, he's a friend of publicans and
sinners. Hallelujah. I can get him on
that crowd. Sinners. And he's not ashamed to associate
himself with us. He's numbered with us. Scripture
says Isaiah 53 was numbered with the transgressors. He hung between two centers. He saved one of them. And he's
not ashamed to associate with folks like you and somebody like
me. I'm just a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. We don't stand alone. You don't stand alone. When the temptation, the fiery
darts of Satan's temptations come at you, you don't stand
alone. When the opposition of the world
comes at you from seem like every different direction, you don't
stand alone. When your own evil nature rises
up within you and would rule over you, you don't stand alone. Because greater is He that is
with you and in you than that one who's in the world. We don't stand alone. Well, then here's a sad report
and I've got to move on. So the question is raised or
put to the messenger of the covenant and those that are with him.
And the question is in the essence in verse 11, what do you find
out there in the world? What's the condition? And here's
what the report is, the last statement of verse 11. Behold,
all the earth set it still and is at rest. You say, well, that
sounds good. No, that's not good. Set it still? It's the stillness of death. That's what it is. Oh, it's a
lot of religious activity. But it's the stillness of spiritual
death and is at rest. They're idle. In fact, go up here in verse,
look up at verse 15. The Lord said, I am very sore
displeased with the heathen that are at ease. They're at ease. They're not troubled about sin.
You're troubled about sin, but the world isn't. They're at ease. We preach to unbelievers, you
know, the glories of Jesus Christ and the glories of heaven, that
doesn't affect them. And the threats of eternal damnation,
that doesn't move them. What's wrong with them? They're
at ease. And there was a time when you
was at ease, wasn't there? You wasn't troubled. But God shook you out of that
sleep of death. The Spirit of God came to you.
Did a mighty work within you. Using the gospel of His grace.
Somebody told you the truth. And then you got troubled. You
got bothered. You got bothered. and you wasn't
at rest anymore. And you found no rest for your
soul until you rested in Christ Jesus. So that's a very sad report. But look at verse 12. Here's
a great intercessor. Let me see if I can set forth
this as it ought to be said. Then the angel of the Lord answered. He's our spokesman. He's our
covenant head. He's our representative. He's
our mediator. And here he is our mediator speaking
to God. Now listen to me. God outside
of Jesus Christ should scare you to death. He is a consuming fire. Thank
God we have an intercessor. Thank God we have a mediator. Thank God we have somebody who
stands between us and a holy God. It's the angel of the covenant,
the angel of the Lord. As you read in Isaiah 63, the
angel of His presence is what Brandon read to us. Then the
angel of the Lord said, and now He's speaking to the Father. I've got somebody who speaks
to the Father for me. And the Savior says, O Lord of
hosts, here is our intercessor. How long wilt thou not have mercy
on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou
hast indignation these threescore and ten years? How long, Father? He's making intercession for
the transgressors. He's pleading. But, you know,
when we think of the intercessory work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
let's never picture it or portray it as the Savior is begging the
Father to show mercy and that the Father is reluctant to show
it. That's altogether wrong. That's
altogether wrong. The intercession He makes is
upon the basis of His bleeding wounds. That's how He makes intercession
for us. Don't ever imagine that the mercy
of God and the justice of God are on the outs with each other.
And justice says, I'm going to kill them, and mercy says, please
don't. That's not the way it is. All of the attributes of
God work together for the accomplishment of God's eternal purpose of salvation. They didn't work against one
another, they worked with one another. And so now because our
Lord Jesus has died, was buried and arose again, has gone back
to glory, justice and mercy both say, save them! Save them. Justice speaks out as loudly
as does grace and mercy. Save the people that are redeemed. So here's our Lord Jesus. He
says, is it time to show mercy? He speaks as our antecessor. He speaks as the angel of the
covenant. Now look at verse 13. And the Lord answered the angel
that talked with me. He answered him with good words. You know what that means? Glad
tidings of great joy. Glad tidings of great joy and
comfortable words, words that minister comfort to the hearts
of His people. That's what the gospel is. The
gospel is good words and comfortable words. So the angel, our Lord Jesus,
that communed with me, and that's what he does with his people.
That's sweet, isn't it? He communes with his people.
He said unto me, preach. That's what he told Zechariah.
He says, cry thou, sing. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord of the heavens, the
earth, and everything under the earth. I am jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion with great jealousy. They're my people. I care about
them more than you could ever imagine. I'm zealous to save
them. And he says in verse 15, and
I'm very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease. He says, I was a little displeased
with Jerusalem, but those that I'm sore displeased with, they
helped toward their affliction. In other words, they were tough
on my people. I'm very sore displeased with
them. Therefore, thus saith the Lord. Here comes the good words. Here comes the comfortable words.
I'm returned to Jerusalem. The Son of God asked for mercy.
I'm coming with mercies. I'm coming with mercies. My house
shall be built. It shall be built in it, saith
the Lord of hosts. I'll do my work and let the Samaritans keep up
their opposition, which is what they did. It's the reason the
works ceased for 18 years, because the Jews got discouraged. The
Lord says, I'm going to build My house. Now I know in a liberal
way, it's talking about the rebuilding of that temple in Jerusalem.
But really the message, it's a spiritual book with a spiritual
message. The Lord is building His church.
And it says, a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem
to measure it, to make sure everything is absolutely square. Like when you build something.
You got your chalk line. Make sure it's straight. Make
sure everything's in order. Let me tell you something. Our
Lord is building His church and He's going to make sure everything
is absolutely straight. Nothing's going to be wrong with
this building because this building is absolutely perfect through
the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stretch a
line upon it. Here's what you'll find out. It's absolutely square. It's
the way it's supposed to be. It's done in such a manner, He's
saving sinners in such a manner that the Father Himself can find
neither spot nor wrinkle with any of His people. We're perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 17, cry out
a saying. Keep on preaching. Thus said
the Lord of hosts, my cities through prosperity, they shall
yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and
shall yet choose Jerusalem. The Lord says, my cities will prosper. And you see, what he's talking
about is the prosperity gospel. And that prosperity gospel is
the purpose of God, the pleasure of the Lord. It has prospered
in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord says, my word will
go forth and it shall prosper in the thing
where to I send it. He can't fail. This is prosperity. I'm not talking about riches
of this world. I'll tell you what, we prosper
in Christ Jesus because we're blessed with the riches. Oh,
the riches of God's grace and mercy. What riches are yours? Oh, child of God, hear me. No,
hear the Word of God. I have forgotten your iniquities. They are no more. I've cast them behind my back
due to the bloody death of my son. They're buried in the depths
of the deepest sea. I'm yours and you're mine. And where is He? Where is he
tonight? Where is this rider on the red
horse tonight? Well, he's here with us myrtle
trees. Down in the lowlands. Down in
the bottomland. Us little evergreens. Because you see, we'll always
be alive in Christ Jesus. And he's doing his work. Don't
you ever be discouraged. You say, well, I see all these
big, huge churches. And here we are, we're just a
few people here. Well, I know. But there's one who stands among
the myrtle trees. He's not standing with these
mega churches. He's standing with his people.
Where do you want to be? See, a lot of people like all
that glamour and glitter and excitement and laughter and foolishness,
religious foolishness. They can have it. Let them have a good time because
in this life, this is the only good time they'll ever have. But with us, We have the rider
on the red horse with us all the time. And when we leave this world,
Jason, you know what's going to happen when we leave this
world? When I leave this world, this little myrtle tree, ain't
much to me, but this little myrtle tree is going to be taken into
the presence of the King to be there with Him forever and ever
and praise Him. Thank you for your blood. Thank you for your righteousness.
You see, He is all of my righteousness and He is all of my holiness.
Christ is. We sang in that song about the
Lord being first. I'm not crazy about all the words.
He's our all. Isn't that right? He is our all. He's not ashamed to be in the
midst of us myrtle trees. Let's sing a closing song. Hope
you got something out of that. 75.