Now, as I said, I want us to
return to Zechariah chapter six. And I wanna do one more message
before we move on through this book. Basically, I'm going to
be dealing with verse 15. Chapter six, verse 15. This, as you know, beginning
back here in verse nine, and I've preached two messages from
this, but this prophecy, that God gave to Zachariah shows the
crowning of the high priest Joshua, the coronation of a high priest. That in and of itself is a miracle.
It's certainly not in line with the terms of the old covenant
that God made with Israel from Mount Sinai through Moses, for
under that covenant there was no king who could be a priest
and no priest who could be a king. All the true godly kings, what
few there were, and I mean that literally, that came under that
covenant came from the tribe of Judah. And all the priests
under that covenant came from the tribe of Levi, the lineage
of Aaron. And so this shows a covenant
and a salvation of a different order than what Israel was under
under the old covenant. Verse 14 shows us, it says, now
Joshua was crowned, you remember he told Zachariah to go take
the gifts that were being brought from Babylon, the gifts of silver
and gold, and take those medals and make crowns and put them
on Joshua's head. In verse 14 it says, and the
crowns shall be to Helam and to Tobijah and to Jediah and
to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple
of the Lord. Those crowns were not going to
stay on Joshua's head. They're going to take those crowns
off of his head and put them in the temple for a memorial
in the temple of the Lord. So, this crown was placed on
Joshua was not to crown him personally as king. That's not the reason
of this. He wasn't telling Zechariah to
go crown this man personally as a king in Israel. But it was
to make a prophetic statement. That's what this vision is all
about. You put the crown on Joshua's head, but you take it off and
put it in the temple for a memorial. Something to remember here. And
so this whole vision was making a prophetic statement concerning
one thing, and that's the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who himself personally would be both priest and king. You see, this is a prophecy of
Christ. This prophecy would be fulfilled in he who is the priest
king, the priest after the order of Melchizedek. Back up in verse
12, it shows us how Christ, the branch, he's called in verse
12, how he would build his temple. And it's clear here that he's
not referring to the temple that they were building at this time,
that physical temple, but the thing that that physical temple
typified, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ the branch,
the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of the root
of Jesse, the seed of David. He's going to come. That speaks
of His humanity, remember. He's God and man in one person.
He's going to come and verse 12 says, at the end, He shall
build the temple of the Lord. He's talking about the church. And that's God's elect from all
over the world. He says that He shall be a priest
upon His throne. He's going to reconcile the office
of priest and the office of king. And it says there in verse 15,
And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple
of the Lord." Literally means that they shall come and take
their place in the temple of the Lord. They're not building.
We don't build the temple. We don't build the church. We're
just instruments. Christ is the builder of the
church. The Bible says, except the Lord build it. You say, if
we build it, it's gonna fall. But Christ built it, but we're
instruments in that process. We're the tools, you might say,
that he uses. And as individual members of the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, bought with his precious blood, clothed in
his righteousness, given life and called by the Holy Spirit,
we take our place in the temple. Whatever place he puts, you know,
how he fitly frames everything together. And so that's what
that means, they that are far off shall come and build in the
temple of the Lord. We take our place in the church.
We join in the building by taking our place as Christ sets us in
his temple. You can read about that in Ephesians
chapter 2, the whole chapter. Just read the whole thing. That's
what it's talking about. But look at verse 15 again, now
he says, and they that are far off, that's speaking of the Gentiles,
God's elect among the Gentiles, so that's another thing that
is not in order with the old covenant. You see, only the circumcision,
the Jews were members of the old covenant, that national covenant,
that physical covenant, that temporal covenant, that ceremonial
covenant, that couldn't save anybody, wasn't intended to do
that. Now it did point sinners to Christ,
who is the savior of his people. But you see, here's gonna come
those that are far off, and I showed you some scripture last time
that proved that those, when he talks about those who are
far off, he's talking about Gentile believers brought into the kingdom,
all right? They that are far off shall come
and build in the temple of the Lord, and you, now he's talking
to the people of Israel there, And mainly what he's referring
to is God's elect among Israel. You shall know that the Lord
of hosts has sent me unto you. There's gonna be a remnant in
Israel who's gonna know these things too. They're gonna join
in this. And he says, and this shall come to pass if you will
diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. If you will
diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. Now, here's
a question. Is this saying, is this verse
telling us, is it teaching us that the purpose of God from
eternity... Now, you see, when we talk about
God sending His Son into the world, we're talking about the
purpose of God, the will of God from eternity, aren't we? Wasn't
Christ the land slain from the foundation of the world? He's
the Alpha and the Omega. Wasn't he prophesied as early
as Genesis chapter three? Now here's the question. Is this
sign, is this verse teaching us that the purpose of God in
sending Christ to come and establish the foundation of the church
and build his church, is that all conditioned upon or dependent
upon the obedience of the Jewish nation? Or is it conditioned
on or dependent upon our obedience? Now I want you to think about
something. Most people today who call themselves Christian
would say without hesitation a resounding yes. But it's a resounding no. That's
not what this is teaching. First of all, anytime you see
that word if, that little word, if, if, if, There's several ways
you can look at it, several ways it can be translated sometimes.
Sometimes it can be translated the word sense. Sometimes it
can be translated because. But let me give you these two
things. Sometimes if is a condition that must be met. Sometimes it's
an evidence of something else. In other words, I've often used
this analogy like when a baby is born. you would make a statement
and say, well, that baby is alive if it breathes. You're certainly
not saying that the baby gained life because it met the condition
of breathing. You're saying that you know the
baby has life, physical life, given to that baby because there's
an evidence there. It's breathing. And so there
are evidences and there are conditions. This is an evidence here. But
what I want you to do, I want you to follow through the scriptures
with me with some things here. I've got four considerations
I want you to understand about this. What is this verse saying?
He says, this shall come to pass. What's this? Everything he said
here in this vision. Everything he said here about
the branch. The branch is coming. Behold
the man whose name is the branch. Now we know Christ has already
come. Is that right? He's already come. He was born, whatever day that
was. He became incarnate. He was born.
He walked this earth for 33 and a half years. He went to the
cross. He died on Calvary's cross. He
was buried. He arose again the third day.
That's already happened. The branch has come. He shall
grow up out of his place. That's already taken place. He
shall build the temple of the Lord. He started that. He told
Peter and the apostles. He said, he said, upon this rock
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. And he's in the process of building
the church now, calling his sheep into the fold. All of that. He's a priest who sits upon a
throne. He's the advocate. He's the king priest. He's our
prophet, priest, and king. He's the one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He right now is seated at the
right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for
us. He's ruling and reigning and disposing over all things
to the glory of His Father and the good of His people. He's
coming back again to receive His people, gather His people
unto Himself in glory. and to make his enemies his footstool,
all right? Those that are far off are being
called in, that's the Gentiles, he started that and it's continuing
now. There'll be many Jews who will
come to a saving knowledge of Christ, you shall know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me. Now, is all of that, was it all
or is it all or will it ever be all conditioned on the obedience
of any nation, or any family or any human being. Four considerations. First of
all is an if. Let me tell you something. Now
here's what the Bible teaches. If any of this prophecy that
he mentions it, and I'll put it to you this way, let's just
fan it out all over Genesis to Revelation. If any prophecy in
the Bible were to be conditioned on the obedience of the nation
Israel or the obedience of any individual, it would ensure one
thing, failure. Failure. In other words, there'd
be no Messiah. If this were conditioned upon
the nation Israel at any time in their history being obedient
then Christ would never have come. There'd be no salvation,
there'd be no righteousness, there'd be no forgiveness, there'd
be no church. How do I know that? Well, you
know, most people, they think, man by nature thinks in terms
of conditions, in this sense, that in order for me to be saved,
I must meet certain conditions, I must jump through certain hoops,
I must do certain things in order to recommend myself to God. That's
natural. You know, one of the most popular
verses of Scripture that is used during what people call a time
of revival, you know they have revivals usually in the spring
and the fall, is a verse found in 2 Chronicles chapter 7. 2
Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 14. And here's what it says. It says, if my people which are
called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land." And many people, they teach that verse, well, that's
a recipe for revival. Many teach it as a conditional
salvation. Many say, that's what we've got
to get America to do, if my people who are called by my name would
humble themselves. That's America. Many people apply
that to America. Doesn't apply to America. He's
talking to the Jewish nation under the old covenant. And under
that old covenant, let me tell you something. I'll tell you,
this is where it gets a little bit difficult and for us to figure
it out in our minds or to keep things straight in our minds.
Under that old covenant, there were conditional blessings promised
by God. For example, their prosperity
in the land. their the fruitfulness of their
crops many times he said it was conditioned on the fact is the
nation obedient now when we say the nation what you're talking
about there is the from the leaders all and the majority of the people national obedience and there
were times of national obedience but it was very few and very
rare very few and very rare on the whole God describes them
in his word as a disobedient people. I want to show you something. Look over at Exodus chapter 19.
Exodus chapter 19. And you know what's happening
in Exodus chapter 19. They'd been delivered from the
land of Egypt. Look at verse 3 of Exodus 19. And Moses was going up to the
mountain, Mount Sinai, to receive the law. Listen to this in Exodus
19 verse 3, it says, And Moses went up to God, and the Lord
called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Exodus 19 now, verse
3, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, Now understand now, obeying his voice and keeping
his covenant has nothing to do with a sinner working for his
salvation. Even the old covenant exposed
that false gospel. You see, the old covenant was
not a way that sinners could be saved by works. I've heard
people say that in what they call dispensationalism. And during
that time, salvation was by keeping the law. But the law was the
whole law, not just the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial law too. The Ten
Commandments was given, I like the way Brother Tim James put
it, it says you're guilty and you're going to die. That's what
the Ten Commandments said. You're guilty and you're going
to die. You're guilty and you deserve death. And then God gave
him the ceremonial law, the tabernacle, the priesthood, to show them
in type and picture and prophecy salvation by grace, not to look
for salvation in their works or in those physical elements,
but to look to the promised Messiah, that Zechariah, the branch, all
right? So he says in verse five, now
therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant,
then you will be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for
all the earth is mine. And you shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests, and a holy nation." That is a separate nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and
called for the elders of the people, and laid before their
faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And listen
to verse 8. And all the people answered together
and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses
returned the words of the people unto the Lord. They said, we're
going to do that. Now, what do we know about the
history of Israel from the Bible as recorded throughout? Well,
let me just give you one example. Turn over to Exodus 32. Now,
Moses went up to the mountain, he received the law, and he came back down out of
the mountain. And when he came back down out
of the mountain, what did he find? Did he find the people
obeying the law? Worshipping God? Believing God? Just one verse here, Exodus 32
verse 1. And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, and that's a lie
because Moses, that's the way the people thought. That's the
way we think, isn't it? God's delaying. He's not delaying
anything. Everything's right on time in
God's plan and purpose. But when they saw, when they
judged that Moses delayed coming down out of the mountain, the
people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him,
up, get up, Aaron, make us gods, which shall go before us. For
as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we what or know not what is become of him. Now, question, if my people who
are called by my name shall humble themselves, did they do it? The answer is no. You say, well,
some of them did. That's not what that covenant
is about. It's not about individuals, it's
about a nation. Israel, let me tell you something,
Israel under the old covenant is a glaring picture of man in
sin. They're a glaring picture of
man in disobedience to God, man by nature, in need of salvation
by grace. Man who cannot make himself righteous
before God. That's what they were, in need
of salvation by grace. Back over there in Zechariah
6.15, think about this. The reason the people were in
captivity in Babylon was because of disobedience. And here they
were rebuilding the temple and then they got tired and they
stopped and then they had to be spurred on and they had to
be called to repentance continually. And then they finally rebuilt
the temple. The worship of Jehovah was reestablished in Israel for
a little while. But what do we know about the
nation Israel in the period between Malachi and Matthew? Well, you
don't know a whole lot from the scriptures, but from history
we know this. They were a rebellious people.
They were a sinful people. The religion began to surface
in the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Zealots and the Essenes,
but nothing, nothing to do with the covenant that God had given
them. They were rebellious. What do
we know about Israel in the times after the second temple was built?
The time when Christ appeared on earth. What was Israel? They were in sin and rebellion.
But now here's something I want us to all think about. We can
talk about Israel till we're blue in the face. What do we
know about ourselves? What do I know about me? I know
this, I know what the scripture says and I know it's true. I
was born dead in trespasses and sins. Now what if salvation were
conditioned on me? A dead man, spiritually dead.
You go find a dead man. and tell him, tell him, you can
live if, if you'll just get up out of that coffin. You see what I'm saying? The
Bible teaches, well, turn over to Romans chapter 3. Here's what
the Bible says about me, about you, about all men and women
by nature. Listen to it. Verse 10 of Romans
chapter 3. It says, as it is written, There's
none righteous, no not one. Romans 3, 10. Verse 11, there's
none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.
Somebody says, well, you can be saved if you'll seek the Lord.
Well, that's true. Here's the problem, though. There's
none that seeketh after God. Man on his own will not... Now,
the Bible also tells us that there are gonna be some who seek
God. What's that all about? Well, hold on. We'll get to that
in just a moment. But he says, they are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. We're sinners. We don't have the desire, the
will, to even come to God in Christ. To humble ourselves. What does it mean to humble ourselves?
It means to take our place as sinners in need of mercy. It's
to take sides with God against ourselves. Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? I used to think
this way, and I'll tell you something, I never did state it this way.
I never did express it in these words, but this is the way I
used to think. I used to think this way, I'm a sinner, I'm not
perfect, but I've never really done anything that I deserve
to go to hell. That's the way I used to think. I've never really
been that bad. I mean, I sowed my wild oats
and all that, but I've tried to do good and went to church
and all that. You see, that's the problem.
I wouldn't humble myself before a holy God, like Isaiah the prophet. Woe unto me! Like that old publican,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Like old Daniel said, my comeliness
melted into corruption. That's what it is the Humbar
says. Only God will bring a sinner to do that. The Bible says, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them. They are spiritually discerned,
understood. So that's the first consideration
when we think about this. Is all this prophecy conditioned
on the obedience of Israel? Many of the Jews think so. Well,
my friend, if it is, It's failure. We're just living in a dream.
It's not conditional. Here's a second consideration.
The Bible teaches that Christ, who is prophesied here in Zechariah
6, the branch, that he is the surety of the covenant. He's
the surety of the covenant. That means all the assurances
of the covenant of grace, the covenant of redemption, are in
Him. You see that? In other words,
all blessings are assured not because we meet any condition
to earn them or to gain them or to qualify ourselves for them,
but because Christ Himself as God-man has fully met and fulfilled
all conditions. In fact, these blessings of the
covenant, you know what they're called? You read it in Isaiah
55 a while ago. The sure mercies of David. Now let me ask you this, did
David earn those blessings? Did he earn that mercy? Let me
tell you something, if it's mercy, it can't be earned. If it's grace,
it can't be earned. It's undeserved. The sure mercies
of David, and it's not talking about King David, that's talking
about the greater David, talking about Christ. You see, if they
were conditioned on us, they'd never be sure. In other words,
the only assurance we would have would be failure. What did David
himself say in 2 Samuel 23 and verse 5? Listen to his words.
He says, although my house be not so with God. David knew his
house was a mess and I want to tell you something, David knew
that he was mainly responsible for it. He says, although my
house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and what? Sure. For this is all my salvation.
Remember old Simeon, what he said? For mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. When a man like David says this is all my salvation,
who do you think he's got on his heart and mind? Christ. And
all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Turn over to
Romans chapter four. Listen to this, I want you to
see this. Romans chapter four. And you know Romans chapter four
is talking about Abraham as being the prime example of how God
justifies a sinner. And God, when God justified Abraham,
He justified the ungodly, He says. And it's not by works,
but it's by grace. When God, listen, when God, when
Abraham came upon the scene, where was he? He was an idolater
in Ur of the Chaldees. He wasn't seeking the Lord. He
wasn't fulfilling any conditions that God laid before him. He
wasn't jumping through any hoops. He wasn't going to a prayer meeting.
He didn't, he wasn't baptized. He didn't go through any of the
motions of religion that people say. He didn't walk an aisle.
He was an idolater in Ur of the Chaldees. That's where he was.
God chose him, God redeemed him, and God justified him and brought
him out. But look here, he says, verse
13, look at Romans 4, verse 13, he says, for the promise, now
that's the promise of salvation, that he should be heir of the
world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law.
It wasn't based on Abraham keeping the law, you see, but through
the righteousness of faith. Now, what is the righteousness
of faith? That's the righteousness of God in Christ. That's what
faith requires us to believe, that Christ fulfilled all conditions,
met all stipulations and requirements. that he is our righteousness.
All right, he says in verse 14, for if they which are of the
law, that is, seeking salvation based on conditions of the law,
be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect. God promised to save sinners by grace, because the
law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there's no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith, which means it is of Christ, that it
might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed. In other words, the only way
that the promise of salvation and the blessings of salvation
could be sure to all the seed, sinners saved by the grace of
God, is to be conditioned on Christ. He says, not to that
only which is of the law, that's the Jews, but to that which is
also of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all who
look to Christ. and believe in Him and rest in
Him. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
wrote in 2 Corinthians 1, this is verse 18, I'll just read it
to you. He says, but as God is true, our word towards you was
not yea and nay, that is the gospel, it's not a might be,
God might save you, God, He's trying to save you, or anything
like that, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached
among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not
yea and nay, But in him was yea, it's a sure thing, that's what
he means there. For all the promises of God in Christ are yea, and
in him amen, unto the glory of God, by us they're sure and certain
in Christ. Ephesians chapter one and verse
10, listen to this, talking about the dispensation of the fullness
of the times. You know what that is? That's
God's marked out time period. that he predestinated from the
foundation of the world. It says, he might gather together
in one, that's his church, all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, that's the saints in glory
and the saints here on earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Does that sound like a conditional
promise to you? on sinners. Back here in Zechariah
6 it says, Christ shall build the temple of the Lord. It didn't
say he might build it. Doesn't say he's trying to build
it. He doesn't say that he'll build it if you'll let him. Does
it? He shall be a priest upon his
throne. I hear people say, make him your Lord. Let me tell you
something, you don't make him your Lord. He's the Lord of his
church and he's the Lord of creation. And it says, and they that are
far off shall come there in verse 15. Doesn't say they might come.
Doesn't say that if they'll cooperate. They shall come. And he says,
you shall know. God will, you shall. What God
will do, you see. And they that are far off shall
come and build in the temple." That speaks of the conversion
of the Gentiles. God's elect people. They'll become
a part of His living temple. You see that? Built upon the
rock. The foundation of Christ. Turn
over to Isaiah chapter 60. I want you to see this one too. This will bless you. Isaiah chapter
60. This is a prophecy of the kingdom
of Christ. in Isaiah 60. The church is built
upon the rock Christ Jesus, the foundation of Christ and Him
crucified. He who came according to the
will and purpose of God and did His great work in the place of
His people made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God. Look at Isaiah 60, look at verse
4. This is a prophecy of Christ and it also speaking of the Gentiles
being called in. It says in verse 4 of Isaiah
60, it says, lift up thine eyes round about and see. all they
gather themselves together, they come to thee, thy sons shall
come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side."
You see, this is a prophecy, these are the sure prophecies.
"...then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall
fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall
be converted unto thee." Whenever you see the sea in prophecy,
that's the nations. And he says, "...and the forces
of the Gentiles shall come unto thee, The multitude of camels
shall cover thee, and the dromedaries of Midian and Ephod." Again,
when you see those animals like that, that's talking about the
blessings, the wealth. We have a wealth in Christ, you
see, that's just a picture of that. "'Oh, they from Sheba shall
come.'" And listen to this, "'They shall bring gold and incense.'"
That's frankincense. They bring gold and frankincense.
and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." This is
what's going to happen. Let me ask you a question. Has
there any prophecy of Scripture that has ever failed? No. Every prophecy of the Scripture
has been accomplished according to the plan and the purpose of
God. What does that prove to me and you? It proves that it
wasn't conditioned on us. Think about it. And did you notice
there's kind of interesting there, he mentions gold and incense
or frankincense. Kind of reminds you of Matthew
chapter two, doesn't it? Remember when the three kings
came from the east and they brought gifts to the Lord? I hate to
kill all these nativity scenes there, but if they've got the
three wise men standing there, it's biblically wrong. Nativity
seems biblically wrong anyway, but I'm talking about three wise
men weren't there at the manger. They came later on. That's why
Herod had every, when he issued the decree, he wanted every male
child two years and below to be killed. But they did come
from, they saw the star. They were believers. I don't
know how they heard the gospel. Some say it was because Daniel
and Ezekiel and men like that took the gospel to Babylon. It
could very well be, and the scriptures were there, part of it. But anyway, these men, through
the providence and power of God, came to know Christ, and they
sought after him. There were three of them, and they brought
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And those gifts were types in
and of themselves. The gold represents his reign,
his rule, he is king. That's gold. God, our king. Frankincense was
a spice that the priest used in their ceremonies. He's a priest. What's the myrrh? Well, the myrrh
was a spice that they used to embalm dead bodies. You see,
the wise men, they were showing forth that this king, who is
a priest, is going to die for the sins of his people. He's
going to put away our sin and establish righteousness. He's
going to bring about forgiveness and pardon, the justification
of his people. God's going to be just to justify
the ungodly through the death of this king priest. But did
you notice here in Isaiah 60, there's no myrrh? Why is that? Because this is not talking about
the death of Christ. This is talking about the reign
of Christ in the millennial kingdom. He reigns as king and priest.
He's already died. He's already accomplished his
death. And he's not going to die again.
He only died one time, you see. And that's what Isaiah is talking
about. You see, he's building a house that'll never fall. And the foundation will never
crack, never fall away, never grow weak, because it's based
upon what Christ, who He is, and what He accomplished on Calvary.
The psalmist wrote, except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain. That's so. Here's the third consideration. What does it take to bring a
sinner to Christ? You know, over here in Zechariah
6, he's talking about they shall come and take their place in
the temple. And they shall know that the
Lord of hosts hath done this, And they will diligently obey
the voice of the Lord. What does it take? What does
the Bible teach that it takes to bring a sinner? To come to Christ. To bring a
sinner to Christ. To bring a sinner to take his
or her place in the temple, the church. To bring a sinner to
obedience, the faith of... Exactly. Two things necessary. Number one, there must be a revelation
of the word of God, a revelation of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
He must be revealed. That's what he says, and you
shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me, and that's a revelation.
You shall know this. You didn't know it before. Israel
didn't know it. Remember back there in Exodus
32? They didn't know what happened to Moses. I know what happened
to Moses. because of God's work, it's revealed
by the Holy Spirit. And secondly, the gift of faith
and love unto obedience. That's repentance. And you know,
you put them both together, you know what you're talking about?
It's what Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you
cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. It takes a new birth. Go back to Jeremiah 31. Listen to what he says here.
in verse 31. This is the new covenant. This
is what the branch is going to come, Christ is going to come
as the branch to establish according to the plan and purpose and will
of God before the foundation of the world. And listen to what
he says here. Verse 31, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Jesus. He's talking about spiritual Israel
there. Not according to the covenant that I made with the fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break." Now, if it was conditioned
on them keeping the covenant, God says they broke it. And He says, although I wasn't
husband to them, although I joined myself to them in that temporal
ceremonial way for a distinct period of time. sayeth the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days say
that I will put my law in their inward parts if they'll let me."
Is that what it says? No. He says, I'm going to do
it. I'm going to do it. He says,
I'll write it in their hearts if they'll let me. No. And I
will be their God and they shall be my people if they'll know.
You see what I'm saying? That's not the nature of salvation.
They shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man
his brother, saying, know the Lord. In other words, so many
individuals under that old covenant, they didn't know God. But not
under the new covenant. They're gonna know God. They're
gonna know their sin. They're gonna know the holiness. They're
gonna know Christ and him crucified. They shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saying, Lord, not just
the high-muckety-mucks, but every one of them. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. I won't hold
it against them. I will not charge them with sin. I will not impute it to them.
They are righteous in God's sight through Christ. Look over at
Ezekiel chapter 36. Listen to this. Verse 24 of Ezekiel 36. He says,
for I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out
of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. You
see, it's not if you let me. From all your filthiness, from
all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you. That's what it takes to bring
a sinner to Christ, a new heart. A new mind, a new affections,
a new will. Conviction of sin. Conviction
of righteousness in Christ. Conviction of judgment. To know
that He died for my sins and put them away. And a new spirit
will I put within you. He says, and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh, one that's pliable to the will of God. Submit, humble
yourselves. If you humble yourself, right
here in verse 26, that's what's happened to you. That's what's
happened to me. And I'll put my spear within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You see that? I'm
gonna cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall keep
my judgments and do them, and you shall dwell in the land.
and I gave to your fathers. One more and I'll quit." Look
at John 6 and verse 37. You see that? And before I read this, let me
just give you the fourth consideration. What is Ezekiel, or what is Zechariah
6.15 teaching? I'll tell you exactly what it's
teaching. It's teaching us, teaching them in that day what Christ
will do, period. Not what he might do, not what
he's trying to do, if we'll let it, but what he will do, period. This is what he'll do. He's going
to gather people from His elect from all the nations. They're
going to know who He is, and they're going to be obedient
to Him. And that's going to be the evidence that they're children
of God. But look at John 6 and verse
37. He says, He says, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Speaking
of His servanthood, This is the Father's will which is sent me
that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but
should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the
last day. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? And Jesus therefore answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can
come to me except the father which has sent me. Draw him.
That's what God will do. And I will raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets. This is from Isaiah
54. and they shall be all taught of God. God's gonna teach us.
Every man therefore that hath heard what Christ tell his disciples,
blessed are your ears for they hear. Those others they hear
not. And hath learned of the Father.
What's that? That's the gospel. How God can
be just and justify the ungodly. How he can be both a righteous
judge and a loving father. That is based upon the blood
and righteousness of Christ. They'll come to me. Come to me. He's going to bring them. So
when Zacharias says that this will take place if you completely
obey the Lord, he doesn't mean that Christ's coming and the
Gentiles being saved in the kingdom were conditioned on Israel's
obedience. God's plan and purpose for the ages will come about
according to His sovereign will and His timetable. What he means
is that Israel would not come to a saving knowledge of Christ
or his kingdom blessings without obeying God fully. That's where
God's gonna bring. That's where he's gonna bring
all his people. It also means that the Messiah's
glorious priest king of Israel, spiritual Israel, shall not be
manifested to the Jews till God would bring his elect among the
Jews to turn to him with obedient patience. He'll bring them, they
shall all know me. And in fulfilling the purpose
of salvation, God commands obedience. There'll be no blessing without
obedience. That's right, because blessings from God brings about
obedience. You see? It's not that obedience
earns blessings, it means that God's unearned blessings brings
about obedience. That's what he's talking about.
And that evidences our faith in Christ, our love for Him,
our trust in Him. And so, we humble ourselves under
the sovereign hand of God and come to Christ and follow Him.
All right.