Alright, let's turn back in our
Bibles to Zechariah, chapter 8. And as we conclude this chapter,
I've entitled the message, From Fasting to Feasting. From Fasting to Feasting. And of course, fasting to the
People of this day, this situation here in Zechariah 8, fasting
was an emblem of sorrow. And, of course, feasting is an
emblem of joy. So what we're talking about is
from joy to sorrow. And I really just have two points
in this message, in these last few verses, and number one is
this, is that there is joy and peace for sinners only in Christ. Only in Christ. There's no real
joy and peace for sinners in anyone else or anywhere else.
There might be moments of joy, moments of peace, but it's a
false peace, it's a fleeting joy. There's only joy, eternal
joy, spiritual joy and peace for sinners only in Christ. And
then the second point is this, is that there is joy and peace
for all sinners equally. Jew and Gentile in Christ. And that's the, I believe that's
the real issue that this comes to. Let's read verses 18 and
19. This is the third or fourth time
in this one message of Zechariah to these people that he had made
this, he had opened his prophecy with this statement. And the
word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, In other words,
the prophet is making sure the people understand that he's not
preaching his own opinions, his own ideas, even his own words,
but as he's preaching the words of the Lord, the Word of God,
the Lord of hosts, the Lord who cannot be defeated, the Lord
who in himself is an invincible army, Christ in himself, God
the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in himself, is
an undefeatable army and so whatever's being prophesied here cannot
be defeated it's sure and certain to come about it's not contingent
upon man for this Lord here is Jehovah this is the covenant
God of all grace and mercy who doeth as he pleases among the
armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth who works all things
after the counsel of his own will what an amazing God We serve. He cannot be defeated. And this
word came unto me, Zechariah said, and here's what it said,
verse 19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and
the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to
the house of Judah joy and gladness. Now, the fast that he's speaking
of, as you remember, were the fast that they had partaken of,
that they had kept during their 70-year captivity in Babylon. And each one of these fasts,
these were not commanded by the Lord under the Law of Moses,
the Old Covenant. They were fasts that the people
had come up with to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. And what
happened when The foreign army of Babylon surrounded the city,
entered the city, destroyed the temple, and killed the governor
of Judah. And all of these months and these
times of month, these mark a particular time in the stages of the fall
of Jerusalem, the fall of Judah, and they're going into captivity.
So they were kept as times of sorrow, times of mourning, times
of sadness. But, like everything else that
man devises, and like everything else that man tries to perpetuate,
it had degenerated into false, self-righteous, religious, heartless,
truthless, Christless ritual. That's what had happened. And
you remember this delegation in the first of this chapter,
a delegation from Babylon, that had come back from Bethel, rather. And in the seventh chapter, they'd
come back and they said, well, the temple's being rebuilt, should
we continue to keep these fast? And God, through the prophet
Zechariah, showed them that their heart wasn't in it. I tell you,
you don't have to read very far in the scripture to find out
that one of the things that God hates the most is the religion
with the lips but no heart. Remember our Lord talked about
that. He said, this people draw nigh to me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me. And that's what was going on
here. And he says these fasts, these solemn fasts, He says they're
gonna be turned into joy and gladness and cheerful feast. Solemn set times, you may see
that in your concordance. Times set by God. And he says
therefore, now because of that, love the truth and love peace.
Now Zechariah, just prior to this and in other passages of
scripture, and then we could add the prophet Haggai who was
Zechariah's contemporary, We could add the other prophets.
They had all prophesied of the coming of the Messiah. These
prophecies are prophecies of Christ. This book is a book of
Christ. When our Lord set his disciples
down and taught them out of Moses, the law, and the prophets, he
taught the things concerning himself and the death that he
would die in Jerusalem and of his resurrection. the atonement,
the putting away of sin, the establishment of righteousness.
That's what this is all about. So Zechariah was another one
of God's choice prophets who had prophesied of the coming
of the Messiah. Now, you've got to understand
something about this. That whenever these prophets
prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, you might say the coming
of the new covenant. Jeremiah talked about that in
Jeremiah 31, for example. Ezekiel talked about it in Ezekiel
36. We could go all through. That
also included the end, the abolishment of the Old Covenant. Christ,
the Messiah of God, would usher in a new age, a new age. bringing in and establishing
a new covenant, a glorious covenant, a better covenant. That's what
the book of Hebrews is all about. Most people just don't get it,
do they? They think we're still under
the old covenant. Or they act like we are. And they apply those
promises that were given to the Jewish nation to themselves today
and to the church today and it just don't fit. You see, we've
got something better. A better testament. A better
sacrifice. A better high priest. A better
tabernacle. That's what Hebrews is all about.
The whole book of Hebrews, isn't it? And it's talking about we've
got Christ. We've got the blood. We don't have the blood of animals.
We don't need the blood of animals. They couldn't take away sin anyway. They were never meant to take
away sin. That's not the reason God gave them to Israel. You
see, they were types, they were pictures. Abel knew that even
before the Old Covenant, didn't he? He brought the lamb. That
lamb pictured Christ, the Lamb of God. So whenever Zechariah
prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, he's talking about the
end of the Old Covenant age, the end, the abolishment of it. Book of Hebrews puts it this
way, he brought in that new issues, that new reality in place of
it. And another thing that when he
prophesied of the coming of the Messiah in this new age and the
abolishment of the old covenant, it also included something that
particularly rubbed the unbelieving Jews the wrong way, the national
Jews. And that is the salvation of
God's elect among the Gentiles. And not only that, he prophesied
that the Gentiles who came under this new covenant, under the
headship of Christ, sinners saved by the grace of God, were saved
in the same way that a sinner among the Jews was saved. By
grace, by mercy, through the blood and righteousness of Christ,
nothing added, nothing taken away. Circumcision had nothing
to do with it. Uncircumcision had nothing to
do with it. Being a descendant, a natural
descendant of Abraham had nothing to do with it. You remember what
John the Baptist, when he preached in his baptism and the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the soldiers came out to hear him? And he
told them, he said, bring forth fruits, meat for repentance.
And remember what his next line was? And think not to say in
thyself, we be Abraham's seed. So that doesn't mean a thing
in the kingdom of God in this new age. Has nothing to do with
eternal salvation. Has nothing to do with making
a sinner righteous. How was Abraham saved? I'll tell
you how God justified the ungodly when he justified Abraham. And
he did it before he was circumcised. Abraham was a recipient of a
righteousness he had no part in producing. It was a righteousness
charged him. Read Romans chapter 4 sometime.
David said the same thing. So we include that the Gentiles
would be saved in the exact same way that a Jew was saved, by
grace through faith in Christ. But not only that, here's another
thing that rubbed the unbelieving ethnic Jews the wrong way, the
legalistic Jews. Not only would the Gentiles be
saved in the exact same way, But when they're saved by the
grace of God, when their sins washed in the blood of Christ,
when they are made righteous before God in Christ, they had
equal standing in the kingdom of God, just as a saved Jew. Equal standing? Now come on now. We be Jews. Are you kidding me? Equal standing? Equally saved? Equally justified? Equally sanctified? Equally righteous? Equally certain
for glory? No way. And that's what the unbelieving
ethnic self-righteous Jew would say. That's why the book of Acts
is so full of the opposition of the Jews to Christ and the
church. And so whenever these prophecies
like this come forth, prophecies of the Messiah, that Christ would
come and usher in this new age, and that the old covenant would
be abolished, and that the Gentiles would be saved, even, listen,
any Gentile who was saved in the Old Testament was saved the
exact same way, by grace, through Christ, who was to come. But
that they'd have equal standing in the kingdom of God, there
are basically two ways they had of looking at that message. Number
one was the way of unbelief and self-righteousness, and it went
something like this. You mean to tell me that my being
a Jew means nothing as far as my salvation goes? That all of
this will be over? We're building this temple here?
We've got such a history. I mean, we can go all the way
back to David, and we can talk about the glory of Solomon. We
can talk about the temple and the Ark of the Covenant. You
mean to tell me that all of this is going to... I love all this,
you see. We've sacrificed. We've been persecuted. And all
of this is going to be over? There'll be no more law as far
as the old covenant law, law of Moses in that sense, in that
code? Where will our identity be? And
then they'd say, I don't want any part of it. And that's why
Christ said they persecuted the prophets which were before you.
That's the way of unbelief and self-righteousness. But the second
way of looking at it is this. It's the way of faith and humility. And it would go something like
this. Thank God that all this burden, all of this will be over. Thank God we'll be free and not
under the bondage of these elements. Thank God there'll be no more
struggles, no more unbelief, no more false religion, no more
captivity. Thank God for his grace in Christ. Now that's the two reactions.
The majority of the nation had the first reaction. The way of
unbelief and self-righteousness, that's just the way it went.
But God had a remnant. And it's always defined, this
remnant was always defined as a remnant according to the election
of grace. That's the remnant. Isaiah spoke
of a remnant in his day. Zechariah speaks of a remnant
in his day. So here come these Jews from
Bethel. They said, well, we've kept these
fasts for 70 years, shall, when we were in Babylon, shall we
not keep them even now? You know, and I thought about
this, and the way they kept them, it was pretty much the same way
that they kept fast in the Lord's day. You remember over here in
Matthew chapter six, he spoke of fasting. Remember he, what
I think he did here in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter
six, he picked out the three things that pretty much all religions
by nature, all false religions by nature, think recommend sinners
to God. One of them is charity, giving. There's nothing wrong with being
charitable, nothing wrong with giving. In fact, we ought to
be more charitable and we ought to be more giving. Isn't that
right? But here's the point, that's not gonna make you righteous
before God. That's not gonna save your soul.
That's not going to wash away your sins, no matter how much
you give. You can be the best philanthropist that ever lived
on earth. That will not save you. You're not saved by works. And then he speaks of prayer.
Most people, that's devotion, acts of devotion. People think
that acts of devotion We'll save them, but it won't. We ought
to be devoted. We ought to perform, we ought to pray. We ought to
be the prayinest people. That's not a good word, but a
correct word, but I'll just say it because it gets the point
across. We ought to be the prayinest people in the whole world. But
praying is not going to make us righteous. Praying is not
going to save us, not going to wash away our sin. Christ makes
us righteous. Christ, his blood washes away
our sins. And then he comes to fasting
here in Matthew chapter six, and he says in verse 16, moreover,
when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. Now, the way he describes fasting
here in the Sermon on the Mount is the way they were keeping
the fast that is listed, these several fasts that are listed
here in Zechariah chapter eight, verse 19. That's the way they
were doing it. And he says of a sad countenance,
and they disfigure their faces In other words, they want you
like that, you know, that's what they do. And he says that they
may appear unto men to fast. They want you to know they're
fasting. Somebody's got to know it. After
all, that's your witness, isn't it? You've heard it, haven't
you, Bob? That's it. You know, somebody's
got to see if nobody sees you, what good is it? And he says, they want to appear
to fast. And he says, verily I say unto
you, they have their reward. What's their reward? Well, they
want people to see them. That's their reward. People see
them. Isn't that holy? Isn't that religious? Oh, I wish
I could be like them, you know, that kind of thing. And he says,
but thou when you, he says in the sermon on man, he says, thou
when thou fastest. Now there was no fast that was
commanded except maybe one under the old covenant. Scholars disagree
on this. I believe it is in the book of Leviticus. It was connected
with the day of atonement. But other fasts, it was all right
to fast. It wasn't forbidden to fast, but why do you fast?
And he says, when you fast, anoint thine head and wash thy face.
In other words, clean yourself up. Look presentable. He says
that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father
which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly. In other words, this issue of
fasting, it's between you and God. It has nothing to do with
how you appear to men. And fasting, the one fast that
was commanded, connected with the Day of Atonement, was really
not to be a day of sorrow and sadness, but it was really just
a way of my expressing to God, of a sinner expressing to God,
rather, that all I need is Christ. That the things of this world,
they have nothing to do with my salvation. They don't contribute
in any way to my salvation. My fullness is in Christ. That's
what it was all about. But over here in Zechariah 8,
he says, these fasts that you keep, The prophets had told them
that they turned the true religion of God into celebrations of sorrow
and bondage. You know, every form of religion
invented by man is a celebration of sorrow and bondage in some
way or another. Sorrow and bondage. I think about
in the book of Jeremiah, chapter two, listen to this. Let me read
it to you. Jeremiah two, verse 11. And he's speaking of Israel. This is right before they went
into captivity too. He says, hath a nation changed
their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed
their glory for that which doth not profit. That's what Zechariah's
talking about here. He says, be astonished, O ye
heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate,
saith the Lord, for my people have committed two great evils.
Jeremiah said, what were those two great evils? Listen, here's
number one. Here's the great evil, the first
one. He says, they have forsaken the
fountain of living waters. Who's the fountain of living
waters? That's Christ. Remember what Christ told the
woman at the well? He's the fountain of living,
they've forsaken Christ. And he says, secondly, they've
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
That's their false religion, that's their works, that's their
fasting. Religious fasting and sorrow had become a way of life.
And it lasted up until the time of Christ, as you can see, and
it lasts today. What are you giving up for Lent? Big deal what you give up for
land. I'm serious. I'm not just being
mean or unkind there, but it means nothing. That's what I'm
saying. And people need to know this.
They don't need to go on in darkness and ignorance. It's all for show. It's all for self-righteousness.
It's all legalistic. But here, Zechariah comes along.
He begins speaking not of sorrow and sadness and despond. He talks about joy and gladness
and peace. He talks about cheerful feast.
He talks about truth and peace. Connected with what? What's this
connected with? Not with our fasting. connected
with one thing, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it's connected with. It's connected directly, it's
founded directly upon the coming of the Messiah, God's anointed
one, to do his great work in the salvation of his people,
both Jew and Gentile. And this is for all sinners.
who look by faith to Christ and rest in him, who plead his blood
and righteousness alone. It's not just for the Jews. It's
not just for the Gentiles. It's for any sinner who looks
to Christ. False, self-righteous works,
religion holds sinners in bondage and sorrow and sadness, but Christ
sets the captives free. And when he does everything,
there is. Everything he has is joy and
gladness. and cheerful feasts, celebrating
and rejoicing in him who is truth and peace. When he says there
in verse 19, therefore love the truth and love peace, you might
as well say it like this, love Christ. He is our truth. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the father but by him. For the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness. Where
are we gonna find that in Christ? And peace, where are we gonna
find that? In Christ. And joy in the Holy Ghost who
leads us to Christ. Rejoice always in Him. And this joy and gladness is
the fruit of the Holy Spirit as He brings us to Christ. To
love the truth and to love peace is to love Christ who is our
truth and our peace. Isaiah spoke of it over in Isaiah
chapter 25. This is a prophecy of Christ.
And listen to how he puts it in verse six, Isaiah 25 and verse
six. He said, and in this mountain,
speaking of the mountain of the Lord, shall the Lord of hosts
make unto, and there's the Lord of hosts again, he can't be defeated.
This is coming, that's what he's saying. He says, he shall make
unto all people a feast of fat things. Fatness there means fullness,
it means health, that's really what it means. We don't think
of it that way today, but that's what it is back then. And he
says, a feast of wines on the leaves. The grapes will grow. And he says, a fat things full
of marrow and of wines on the leaves, well refined. He says,
and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations.
That pale of darkness, you see. Verse 8, he will swallow up death
in victory. Paul quoted this in 1 Corinthians
15, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off all the earth, and for the Lord hath
spoken it. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God, this Lord of hosts, he's our God.
We've waited for him and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will
be glad and rejoice in his salvation. That's what Zechariah's talking
about. Christ turns all our sorrows into joy and all our trials and
struggles into peace. And that's not just poetry. That's
not just a pipe dream. That's not just an idea or a
fleeting thought. That's a reality when we look
to Christ. And just because we're having
troubles here on earth, don't let that eclipse the joy and
the peace we have in Christ. That's what our Lord told his
disciples. When he told them, he said, in the world, you'll
have trouble. But he said, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. So where does this joy and peace
come from? Listen to me, it doesn't come
even from looking at each other. It comes from looking to Christ. How are we to run the race of
grace? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And when he comes to this point, he shows us that even in our
chastisements, there's joy and peace. Turn to Hebrews chapter
12 with me. even in our chastisements. And I'll tell you what, this
thing about being chastised, it's not punishment by way of
payment. We're not paying for our sins.
We can't pay for them. That's why we sing Jesus paid
it all. We may suffer consequences, but
the suffering we go through can't pay for our sins. I've heard
people say at funerals, I've heard other people saying this,
you know, so and so was in heaven because they suffered so much
here on earth. There's not enough, there's not any amount of suffering
that we can do that will earn our way into heaven. Listen to
brother Job, he'll tell you that. He knew that. But it is suffering
many times and it's suffering by way of learning, correction.
That's what God is doing, he's correcting us. We're his children,
he's our father. And he's got to correct us. Sometimes
the chastisements are very, very, very hard. Sometimes they're
light. Sometimes they can be connected with a specific sin.
Sometimes they cannot be. I can tell you one thing, we
just can't figure it out. And the fact that we try is an
act of self-righteousness, I believe. But think about this, even in
our chastisement, look at Hebrews 12 and verse 11. Now he'd already
said, that all of God's children are chastised and the reason
he said they're chastised is because God loves us. Do you
love your children? You correct them. And if you
don't correct them, you know who you love more? You love yourself.
That's right, because you just don't want them to get mad at
you. But see though, the father who loves his children corrects
his children. And that's what he says. So if
you're not chastised, then he says in verse 8 up there, he
says you're a bastard and not a son. You're an illegitimate
child. But now look at verse 11. He says, now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous. When you're
going through this hard chastisement, that doesn't seem to be joy,
does it? It's grievous, it's burdensome. You wanna know when
it's gonna end. And of course, you know, we talk
about trials. I've always told you, you know,
somebody would ask, when's this trial gonna end? And I always
say, soon as the next one begins. But look, he says, nevertheless,
afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. Now, what is that peaceable fruit
of righteousness? That's the peace that we have. by looking to Christ and praying
to him and depending upon him and loving him, you see. So he says in verse 12, wherefore
for this reason lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble
knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which
is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed,
you see. Joy and peace, that's what he's
talking about. Psalm 30 in verse five says it this way, for his
anger endureth for but a moment, in his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Well,
there's joy and peace, but it's only in Christ. It's not in this
world. And I'll tell you, it's not even in your earthly family,
is it? There's not joy and peace. I mean, again, I'm not saying
we can't enjoy these things. We can, but it's not gonna last.
You know it's not gonna last. But that joy we have in Christ,
that peace we have in Christ, that's gonna last forever and
ever and ever and ever. All right, go back to Zechariah.
Now, here's the next thing. Joy and peace for all, equally,
Jew and Gentile in Christ. Now, this is what he's talking
about. Look at verse 20. He says, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
it shall yet come to pass. Now, he's talking about the future
here. See? he's talking about something
to come and he says that there shall come people and the inhabitants
of many cities not just one many cities and he says and he's prophesying
of many people from many cities and he says in verse 21 and the
inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying let us go
speedily that means continually that's what it means it means
willingly It doesn't mean they're going to go fast, even though
it will be fast. I'll tell you what, if the Lord ever shows
you the reality of your sin, you'll run fast to Christ. But
this, the idea here, speedily, means continually and willingly. God will make them willing in
the day of His power. And here's what to pray before
the Lord. Now remember, those fellows who
were fasting, these fellows who came down from Bethel, over in
chapter seven, that's why they came down to entreat, it says
here to pray, in verse 21, to pray before the Lord, which means,
and literally, as you might see in your concordance, to entreat
the face of. What are they doing? They're
seeking an audience with God. They're seeking to commune with
God. They're seeking to worship God. They're seeking to be accepted
with God. That's the issue now. All right,
and he says, they'll come from many cities and they'll go from
one city to another saying to each other, let us go continually,
willingly to entreat his face, to seek his favor and to seek
the Lord of hosts and they'll say, I'll go also. So this is
what he's talking about. They're coming and he says in
verse 22, yea, many people and strong nations. Now that's Gentiles
too. shall come to seek the Lord of
hosts, and they'll come to Jerusalem. And he says to pray before the
Lord, that's where the temple was in Jerusalem. And then he
says in verse 23, now listen to this, he says, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, in those days, these days that are coming, it
shall come to pass that 10 men shall take hold out of all languages
of the nations. Now, why 10? Well, there's a
lot of ideas on this, but 10 is the number of the perfection
of divine order. In other words, God's ordered
it all out, and when it's completed, the number 10 is used to show
the completion of it, like there were 10 commandments, things
like that. But what he's saying here is this. He's talking about
the days of the Messiah. Look at it. He says, 10 men shall
take hold out of all languages of the nations, not just the
Jews but Gentiles too, and it'll be in the completion of God's
divine order of things. Now, Paul wrote of that in Ephesians
chapter 1 when he spoke of the salvation of God's people in
the way of this, he said, it's according to him that worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Now the all
things there means that it's all in order, it's all completed,
there's no vacancies, there's no contingencies, it's all there. Christ said it this way, he said,
all that the father giveth me shall what? Come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He said this is the will, this
is the order. This is the determination, this
is the foreordination of him that sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. That's what the 10 men represent.
And he says they'll come out of all nations, all languages.
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, language,
and nation. And he said, now what are they
gonna do? Now look at it. This is good, isn't it? Look at it,
he says, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a
Jew. Now, what's that talking about?
Well, that's talking about Christ. That's what it's talking about,
him that is a Jew. In his humanity, he came according
to that nation of the seed of David. In his humanity, he was
a Jew. And they're gonna take hold of
him that is a Jew. Now this is not, now listen to me, listen
to me, this is not just supporting the Jewish ethnic nation. I'll
tell you what, look at it. He says, saying, we will go with
you for we have heard that God is with you. Now what's the name
of Christ given in Matthew chapter one at his birth? For his name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. And his name shall be called
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. That's Christ. Now there's a
couple of implications I want to deal with just quickly. Here's
what's happening. Here's sinners coming willingly,
continually in need. Coming to Christ. Coming to the
Savior. come into God's house and his
throne of grace out of all languages and nations, seeking the Lord
of hosts and worshiping him under the headship of Christ, under
the salvation that he provides freely by his grace, under his
blood. They're not bringing blood of
animals here, see. They're pleading the blood of
Christ. They're not coming in their own righteousness saying,
we fasted all for 70 years, that ought to count for something.
No, sir, they're coming because they're submitted to the righteousness
of God in Christ. His righteousness imputed. They're
coming under the headship of Christ. You grab a hold of a
skirt of a Jew today, where's it going to lead you? That's
what it's talking about. Remember the woman with the issue,
if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed.
That's the picture here. Taking hold of his skirt means
embracing him as a savior. I'm going with you. Somebody
said, sink or swim, I'll go to him. There's no sinking with
him, brother. There's no sinking with him at all. He swam through
the sea of our sins and satisfied the divine justice of God as
he was made sin. He paid our debt in full with
the price of his own blood. And that's what it's talking
about. All of this. And this 10 represents the whole
church of God. God's elect out of all nations
according to the divine order of things that God has given
unto him. The completeness, the finishing,
the wholeness, and the success of all of this is not dependent
upon us. but it's dependent upon him that
is a Jew, the Messiah who would come according to the flesh,
the God man, we're complete in him. He's the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's our Savior. What this teaches us is that
our Savior was a Jew. And listen, he told the woman,
his salvation is of the Jews. That's what he means, the Messiah
would come through them according to the flesh. It means also that
there are a people out of the Jewish nation that are numbered
with God's elect, that remnant according to the election of
grace. Romans 11 speaks of that. But it also means that all who
grab hold of his skirt are the true Jews, for he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly And circumcision is not that which is of the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart. That's the new birth. That's
a sinner being brought to Christ. Romans 2, 28, 29. For we are
the circumcision, Paul wrote. We are the circumcision. Who?
Everyone who worships God in spirit rejoices or has confidence
in Christ and has no confidence in the flesh. God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision, being a Jew, nor uncircumcision,
being a Gentile, means anything but a new creation. What's that?
That's his church. That's the ten men here. That's
the wholeness of it. His skirt is his robe of righteousness. The garment of salvation he spreads
over his own in effectual grace. Remember Ezekiel's cast out infant
in Ezekiel chapter 16? Let me read this to you in verse
eight. Ezekiel 16 verse eight. And you remember how the Lord
passed by that cast out infant who was polluted in his own blood?
That's us in our sin. And he said, now when I passed
by thee and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time
of love. God's love to his people. And
he said, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou became
as mine. That's us being saved by the
grace of God. By his regenerating grace, he
brings us to take hold of his skirt. Look at that in verse
23. Ten men shall take hold They'll
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. That's an emblem
of the new birth when the Holy Spirit gives us life and brings
us to believe in him, take hold of him by faith. Lay hold of
him, Paul talked about it. It's an act of faith and repentance.
And it says here that, who's gonna do that? Well, look at
him, he says, they're gonna take hold of him that is a Jew verse
23 saying now listen we will go with you for we have what
heard that God is with you we heard this you see when Christ by his spirit
causes the dead to hear his voice what does the regenerate Born
again, so do. He takes hold of the skirt of
Christ. He takes hold of his righteousness by faith and he
says, I'm gonna go with you. Because I've heard that God,
in all his fullness, in all the fullness of his grace and glory,
he's with you. This is the God man. This is
God in human flesh. And with God's prophet, I'll
cry, I'll go also. Believing sinners lay hold of
Christ, we'll go with you. They heard. Do you hear? Remember what the Lord said to
his disciples? Blessed are your ears for they hear. Blessed are
your eyes for they see. Remember back over in chapter
7 it says they refused to hearken. They pulled away their shoulder.
They stopped their ears. They didn't want to hear. And
I tell you to God's people who've taken hold of his skirt. That's
the only thing we want to hear. That's all we want to hear. laying
hold of him. We've heard, faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. Heard the gospel preached. God is with you, his name, Emmanuel,
God with us. Heard the savior's voice by the
spirit. Christ told some people, he said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and they
that hear shall live. The psalmist prayed, make me
to hear joy and gladness. Take me from the fastings of
sorrow and sin and false religion and bring me to hear joy and
gladness in Christ, the forgiveness of my sins, my eternal and changeable
acceptance before God in Christ, that the bones which thou hast
broken, that's Holy Spirit conviction, may rejoice. David in his repentance
in Psalm 51 and verse 12, he prayed this to the Lord. He said,
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with
thy free spirit. You see, that's how we come from
fasting to feasting. That's how we come from sorrow
to joy and peace. We take hold of the skirt of
Jesus Christ and we go with him for he is God with us.