I want to begin my message for
this evening. Of course, obviously, we're going
back to the book of Zechariah. But I want you to go to the book
of, first of all, 1 Corinthians, chapter number 9, if you would. 1 Corinthians, chapter number
9. I was speaking with a dear brother
the other day, And he was relating to me a church that he used to
go to. And he said, it used to be that
they had a sign on the wall that said, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. He said, brother, they have painted
over that sign. And I've been thinking about
that. It's kind of indicative of the preacher's failure of
preaching the gospel there. And so I want to begin my message
tonight here in 1 Corinthians 9-16. This is what Paul says,
although I preach the gospel, What is the gospel? The gospel
is the work that God has already done for sinners in, through,
and by Christ Jesus. It's a finished work. The gospel
is not a proposition. The gospel is a declaration of
a work finished. I wish that God would truly impress
upon your heart the fact that the gospel doesn't say, sinner,
do. The gospel says, sinner, it's
done. It's done. A great transaction
took place at the cross between the Father and the Son of God,
our representative and our substitute. God dealt with him in the fierceness
of His wrath. Because our Savior bore our sins
in His own body on the tree. As Isaiah said, the Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And God dealt with Him in
the most severest way, more severe than any of us could ever imagine. And our Lord Jesus took all of
the whipping, all of the beating, all of the wrath of God that
we deserve for our sins, our Lord Jesus bore it all. And He
finished the work to God's satisfaction. And the Savior in His dying breath
with great triumph in His voice, He cried out, it is finished. The gospel is the finished work
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't try to save people,
He saved people. He didn't put forth an effort
to redeem, He redeemed. He didn't do His dead level best
to reconcile us to God, He reconciled us to God by His death. So here's what Paul says. Though
I preach this gospel, that it's done, I have nothing to glory of. After
all, the gospel didn't come forth from my pitiful wisdom. It came forth from the wisdom
of God. And my love for the gospel, that's
not due to anything in me. God gave me a love for the gospel.
And Paul is saying my ability to deliver the gospel, That's
not due to my gifts, to my abilities. Whatever gifts I have, whatever
abilities I have, God gave them to me, so I have nothing to glory
in. I have nothing to be boastful
of. He says, for necessity is laid
upon me. I have a burden. I have a duty. That's what He's saying. I have
a responsibility. Yea, Woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. This is the Lord's day. This
is Sunday. And all over this nation today,
religious institutions called churches, their doors have been
opened, And men have stood before congregations just as I stood
before you this morning and as I stand before you tonight. And
I would venture to say, and I know I'm not wrong, I would venture
to say the vast majority of the preachers did not preach the
gospel of grace, the gospel of Christ Jesus. And I say, shame
on them. But more than that, the woe of
God abides upon those who don't preach the gospel. A man gets
up and opens up his Bible, and he doesn't set forth the good
news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The apostles said,
for this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. And yet, men don't preach that
message. They don't preach Him who is the very Son of God, who
is God's darling Son, the only Savior of sinners, the only hope
we've got. Men don't preach Him. And don't
preach his successful work? Well, here's what the inspired
apostle Paul said. Woe is upon them! There's a great
big woe hanging over the heads of most of the preachers in this
nation. They have said to sinners today,
I know what they're saying because I used to say it. They're saying
it's all up to you. Make your decision for Jesus.
and that don't give God the glory. Woe is unto you if I preach not
the gospel. Or woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Well, let's go back to Zechariah.
Now, here's where I'm going with this. I don't pretend to be able
to comprehend or give an accurate commentary on all of the book
of Zechariah. I don't. I do, however, as I study this
book and as I've read it through a number of times, as a faithful
gospel preacher, I have searched out in order to find my Savior
in this book. See, that's my responsibility.
That's my duty. And I may not, indeed I cannot,
fully enter into these visions, these prophetic visions of Zechariah. I can't enter into them in the
fullness of them, but I can get the gist of them because I know
Zechariah was a gospel preacher. I know that. So as I read through
the 14 chapters of the book of Zechariah, I'm looking for the
gospel of grace. I'm looking for the gospel of
Christ Jesus. I'm not so much interested in
the literal happenings of the nation of Israel. I am certainly, I have an interest
in the historical facts pertaining to the nation of Israel. But
the scriptures, in the Old Testament especially, are bifocal. There
is the literal understanding of the historical and accurate
renderings of the word of God pertaining to the nation of Israel.
And those are all interesting, but that which we are really
interested in are those things that pertain to us. And that
has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel. So I make
no apologies as I go through the book of Zechariah and point
out to you the spiritual highlights of the book. I read just this past week, I
was reading a commentary of a man whose name you wouldn't recognize
anyway if I called his name. Every once in a while, I'll get
a little something from him. Not much, but I'll read him,
see what he has to say. But he said, there are preachers
who overly spiritualize, always looking for Jesus. Well, that's me. I'm guilty. I'm guilty of that. Let me tell
you something. And I read that and that kind
of lit a fire within me. I'd like to jerk him up from
his grave. I couldn't do that, so that'll
have to be. But I thought about this. I'd
rather stand before God one day, which I will. I'll stand before
God one day. I'd rather stand before God being
guilty of preaching Christ throughout
the book of God than standing before God and not preaching
Christ as ought to have done. I don't make anybody any apology
for looking for the Savior. That's my duty. That's my job. And if you find fault, if it
doesn't suit you, there have been others I've preached to
through the years, it didn't suit them, and they left. Preach too much gospel, Jim,
so we're gonna go somewhere where they tell us how to live, where
to go, and what to do, and what not to do, and so forth and so
on. You just keep on harping on this
one thing, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll stand
before God with that accusation. I've told you this before. I'm
always quoting Scott Richardson. Us preachers tend to do that.
Somebody said of Scott, he's made an idol out of Jesus Christ. Well, I'll tell you what, I worship
him as my God and savior. I'm looking for him in the scriptures. You may be certain of this, Zachariah
was a gospel preacher. He preached Christ. He preached
his person. Simple. Behold the man. Somebody
was telling me as they went out the door this morning, I like
those simple instructions. Behold the man. That's not cloudy. That's not hard to understand.
Behold the man who is the branch. You can understand that. And
you put Zechariah 6 verse 12 with chapter 13 verse 7. Behold
the man who is the branch who is God's fellow. Behold the man
who is God. Behold Him. Look to Him for everything. For your salvation. For the deliverance
of your poor soul. For your forgiveness. For your
righteousness. For everything. Behold the man. That's his person, isn't it?
It's his betrayal, his rejection. Everybody who was anybody in
false religion turned thumbs down on him. They didn't want
him. They tried to kill him as soon
as he was born. When he began his public ministry,
they tried to permanently put him out of business. They hounded
him all through his three years of public ministry. We're gonna
kill him. We're gonna kill him. We're gonna
kill him. Finally, they did. And Judas and the ringleaders
of religion, they conspired together for 30 pieces of silver. What
is it? What's the price? What's the
Savior worth? He's worth The price of a slave. Virtually worthless. And then Zechariah takes us to
his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Behold thy King cometh! He's
coming! That's what Zechariah said, and
he did. And they said when he came into
Jerusalem, Matthew 21, Hosanna to the Son of David, by the Son
of David. That expression means Messiah. Messiah. Save us, we beseech thee, O Son
of David, O Messiah. Save us, save us, save us. Be merciful to us on the basis
of the sacrifice. Save us. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
the reason He entered into Jerusalem was to shed His blood for His
people. And I've read to you several
times, chapter 13, verse 1. In that day there should be a
fountain opened to the house of Christ. to the
inhabitants of true Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. Oh,
blessed fountain of blood. He was open for sin and for uncleanness. Turn back to chapter nine and
verse 11. Chapter nine and verse 11. As
for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water." There's our natural condition. We're prisoners in a pit. What an absolute mockery to say
to any sinner, you have a free will. When the Bible says we're
prisoners in a pit where there's no water. To say that man has
a free will is to mock him in his imprisonment. That's utter
nonsense. Go out here and sum it. to that
federal prison out there. That fence around it. That razor
wire on top. Those guards. And then you see
those prisoners. Are they free? They're not free. They're in prison. But their
condition physically is better than our condition spiritually. We're prisoners in a pit where
there's no water. Back years and years ago when
some ruthless tyrant conquered people. They'd find a dry well
and throw them in the dry well. They couldn't get out. There's
no water in there. There's no refreshment in there.
There's no way to satisfy their thirst in there. And there they
stayed till they just withered and died. Prisoners in a pit
with no water. That's our condition. But, look what it says. by the blood of the covenant
I've sent forth by prisoners." Now listen, even though by nature
all of us, all of us who are the Lord's people, you who are
watching, you who have been brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
to see salvation is all together by grace. Yes, we are by nature
prisoners, but we're prisoners who have an owner. thy prisoners." We've always
belonged to Christ. Oh, we fell in Adam, but we're
not without ownership. And the true owner, our Lord,
He knows exactly where we're at. He knows exactly our condition,
and He knew exactly the only way by which we could be liberated
from our prison. The blood of the covenant. That's
the only way. And our Lord Jesus, He came and
He shed His blood. His blood is the seal of the
covenant. His blood sealed that covenant. Before that, there was a debt
due and payable. But our Lord Jesus came and He
died. He settled all things between
us and God. And as a result of our Savior's
work upon the cross of Calvary, as a result of His blood, God
says, I've sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit. You see, there's
a river of blood that runs all the way through this book. All
the way. It's the blood of the Lamb of
God. It starts there in Genesis chapter 3. when God Himself shed
the blood, the Son of God Himself shed the blood of animals in
order to clothe thy naked parents. And it runs all the way through
to the end of the book. It's a river of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's by this blood that the
prisoners are set free, are liberated. You see, we're held captive by
Satan at his will. He holds us prisoner. You think
your free will is more powerful than Satan's will? He'll laugh
in your face. Oh, you've got to turn me loose.
Right. and no power that can break the
bondage that Satan has you in except almighty power. It's going
to take the will of one who's much greater than you are to
break the will that Satan has over you, to break that bondage. The Lord sets us free. If the
Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. and we're held captive by our
own lusts. Well, just stop. Stop those lusts. That's all you got to do. Just
stop. You need to clean up your heart. How can I do that? I can't do that. What's it going
to take to fix me up? What's it going to take to make
me new? I tell you what it's going to
take to set the prisoner free is the blood of Christ applied
to the prison door. Then it'll open. The blood of Christ to loose
us from our shackles. We're held in shackles. Shackles
of sin and Satan. Not literal shackles on our hands
and on our feet, but spiritual shackles. We're bound. And the only thing that will
break those shackles is the blood of the covenant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, the blood is the essential
thing in the covenant of grace. It isn't that the Lord says,
well, I know you've wronged me, but I'm just going to forgive
you. He can't forgive without satisfaction
to his law and justice. He can't do that. And really, if you think about
it, in order to liberate us, there had to be a prisoner exchange. He had to take our place. And that's exactly what he did. He took our place. He died our
death. See, if we had died on account
of our sins, that's an everlasting death because we can't ever satisfy
justice. But our Lord Jesus who took our
place, such is the greatness and the grandeur of His very
person. He's the God-man. In just a few
hours on the cross of Calvary, He suffered all the hell that
we'd had to suffer forever and ever. By the blood of the covenant,
he sets thy prisoners free from a pit wherein there's no water.
This is how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Yes, there
is power in the blood. There is power in the blood. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses us. And I'll tell you, when the blood
of the covenant touches our hearts, it washes us whiter than the
snow. I mean, we're so perfect before
God, having been washed and robed in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, Even the all-seeing eye of God can't detect any sin. There's nothing there. Because
God said, when I see the blood, that's what He's looking for.
When I see the blood, He says, I'll pass over you. When He sees
the blood of His Son, He passes over us. Oh yes, this is the fountain
filled with blood. Oh, plunge in and lose all your
guilty stains. And then there's the reception
of our Lord Jesus due to the work of the Spirit of God. It's
what we talked about this morning from chapter 12 and verse 10.
Now let me talk to you about this tonight. Look at chapter
14 verse 9. Let me talk about the kingship
of this one that we've been talking about. Here's his kingship. Chapter 4 verse 9. This is toward
the end. This is looking toward the end
now. When Zechariah uses the expression, in that day, he's
either speaking about that particular day of redemption or the day,
the gospel day, which began at the first coming of our Lord
Jesus and ends at the second coming of our Lord Jesus. And
here he says this in verse 9, And the Lord shall be king over
all the earth. In that day shall there be one
Lord, and His name one." He's talking about this man. Remember he said back in chapter
6, Behold the man who is the branch. And now he says that
man who is the branch, he's the king. Now he was already king
by virtue of being God. But God came down here and joined
Himself to our humanity, the God-man. And by His obedience
unto death, He earned the right as the God-man to be the King. And He rules over all. I mean,
He rules the devil, all the demons, all the elect angels, all men,
women, boys, and girls. He rules over all countries,
all nations. He rules over all history in
the past. He rules in providence. Nothing
moves or exists without His will being exerted over them or that. Doesn't make any difference.
All things move at His command. His will is being worked out. We pray, we're taught to pray
in the Lord's instructive prayer, Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven, and it will be. His will is being done. So I don't see how. Well, you
can't understand the infinite mind and purpose of God. We're
just little peons. But everything and everybody
in the world liked so many pieces on a chessboard. One of our men, Andy, was telling
me he finished tied for second for chess in the whole state
of West Virginia. I congratulated him. I was in
Michigan. He sent me a text. He said, Pastor, I just wanted
you to know. I said, congratulations. Let me tell you something. Our
Lord controls all the pieces on the chessboard. That's everybody. And he moves this pawn this way,
and this knight this way, and this bishop this way, king and
queen and everybody else to fulfill his purpose. This is his kingship. He's king
over all the earth. This is his universal reign. And his reign means that he's
bringing his people to a knowledge of himself. Or you see, he's
the king of grace. All of the elect are being brought
to him. Look back in chapter 8. Verses
7 and 8. Chapter 8, verses 7 and 8. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. I love this. You've got to love
this. I underline this. I will save
my people. It doesn't matter where they
live. In the east country, from the west country. I will bring
them, that's effectual grace. And they shall dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem, not a physical city, but a spiritual city, the
city of God, Jerusalem, the city of peace. Watch this, and they shall be
my people, and I will be their God, and it'll all be done, watch
it, in truth and in righteousness. That's the only way he can do
anything. In truth and righteousness. Our Lord Jesus said, I will build
my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against them. It'll try. The gates of hell
will try. The demonic forces will try. But as I wrote in that song that
you sang this morning, though all the foes oppose Him, they
can't thwart His will. They can't frustrate what God
has set out to do. The Lord promises the salvation
of His people. Look back at chapter 14, verse
8. And in that day, and it shall
be in that day, in that gospel day, the living water shall go
out from Jerusalem, from the city of God, from the people
of God. We preach the gospel. That's
what we do. We send forth the gospel. Those
of you who are watching by way of internet, the living water
is flowing out to you. It shall be in that day that
the living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them
toward the former sea, half of them toward the hinder sea. In
summer and winter shall it be. We just keep on preaching the
gospel. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, in season and out of season,
preach the gospel. Preach it in summer, preach it
in winter. Preach it when people seem warm
and receptive of it, preach it in winter. When they're cold
and undisturbed and seem like they don't want to hear it, just
keep on preaching the gospel. It'll do its work. The gospel of grace will accomplish
the purpose of God. And I'll tell you, this one who
is king, he's a God of judgment, too. Look here in chapter 14, verse
1. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. And I'll
gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. The city shall be
taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished, and half of the
city shall go forth in captivity, and the residue of the people
shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go
forth and fight against those nations." That's when He fought
in the day of battle. I know the enemy is always on
the trail of God's church. Always trying to eliminate us. That's what the enemy wants to
do. Close the doors where the gospel of grace is preached. But we have somebody fighting
for us. Just like he fought for Israel
against the Egyptians. Just like he fought for Israel
when they had opposition from other nations. The Lord fights in the day of
battle. And He's going to win. And all of His enemies are going
to be punished. See, the Gospel will be successful. And the enemies shall be defeated. He's going to fight against them.
Can you imagine anybody fighting against the Son of God? That's a battle you're sure to
lose. oppose God himself who is king? And here's the last thing. The worship of our Lord Jesus
Christ will be forever. We will worship him forever.
Look at verse 16 of chapter 14 and see if I can help you with
this. And it shall come to pass that everyone which is left of
the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from
year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and keep the
feast of tabernacles. That is, people who are brought
out of heathen false religion, brought into Jerusalem, brought
into the city of God. These are Gentiles. along with
the Jews worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. They will keep
the Feast of Tabernacles. What is the significance of that? Those of you who have studied
the Scriptures, you know there were three great feasts that
the men had to attend, Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles. Why didn't he mention Passover?
Why didn't he mention Pentecost? Why the Feast of Tabernacles? Well, the Feast of Tabernacles
really pictured three things. It certainly depicted the faithfulness
of the Lord in providing for his people during their wilderness
journeys when they lived in tabernacles or tents. But that's not why this is mentioned
here. And this feast also reminds us
the Feast of Tabernacles indicated the last in-gathering harvest
of the year. And we're going to celebrate
and worship the Lord who will have all of His people brought
in in this final harvest. All, all of his wheat should
be gathered into the barn, so to speak, into the garner, as
the scripture says. But the real, the real significance
of this is this feast directs our attention to the fact that
our Lord Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh, in this world. It puts the focus on Him as being
the God-man. The God-man. This is why I'm persuaded, this
is why the Spirit of God had Zachariah mention this. We shall
come and worship Him as at the feast of tabernacles." Always
mindful of this, that that man whom Zechariah said, behold the
man, He's God in the flesh. He's God who tabernacled down
here. John 1, verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt. What does that word dwelt mean? That's right. Tabernacled. He's
exactly right. That word dwelt in John 1, verse
14 means tabernacled. And the Word was made flesh and
tabernacled. He tabernacled down here. And John said, we beheld His
glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And I'll tell you
this, when we get to glory, when we get to heaven, it's going to be all about honoring
the God-man. That's what it's all about. I
was talking to somebody not long ago. And they were talking about a
loved one who had died, and they said, I'm so looking forward
to seeing so-and-so when I get to heaven. And this dear person
said, and there are others in my family, I'm looking forward
to seeing them too. And I said, what about the Lord
Jesus Christ? Oh yeah, yeah, Him too. Oh my. You see, He is heaven. He's the glory of the city of
God. Who is this one who is signified
by the Feast of Tabernacles? God in the flesh. And when we
see Him, and we'll see Him one day, face to face with Christ
my Savior, we'll see Him. You know who we'll see? A man. That just confounds me. It makes my poor soul rejoice. I'm going to see the man, the
man Christ Jesus. Behold the man who is the branch,
who is God's fellow, God's equal. We're going to see Him, Ron. And I'm fully persuaded He's
going to be the one who welcomes us when we get to Heaven. He'll go kiss us on the cheek,
Joe, and go say, welcome home. Enter the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. And it will be our greatest
joy to worship the God-man forever and ever. I'm not through with the book
of Zechariah by any long shot. I'm going back to chapter 1 next
week. And I'll go as far as I feel
like the Lord's giving me messages. But next Lord's Day morning,
we'll go to Zechariah chapter 1. But we're always looking for
Christ. Let me tell you something. You
don't go wrong there. You can't go wrong looking for
the God man.