Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Zechariah 9. The name of the message is Prisoners
of Hope. Do you know that, well, we're
in this body? First of all, we're born into
this world and we are prisoners of sin. We're prisoners of sin,
beloved. Sin held us captive. As soon
as we're born into this world, we're born sinners. And we're
in the prison house of sin. But do you know the born-again
believer? is no longer a prisoner of sin,
even though we struggle with it all the time. Do you know
now we're prisoners of hope? That speaking of, well, we're
in this body. We have a hope, beloved. that
we didn't have before. We're now called in the Scriptures
the prisoners of hope while we're trapped in this mortal body. It's amazing. Listen to this.
In Zechariah 9, verses 9 to 13, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and hath salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of
an ass. That's just a donkey. And I will...
cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow shall be cut off. And he, being the Messiah,
this is speaking of the Messiah, shall speak peace unto the heathen.
I love that. I have to say I love that. He
spoke peace to this heathen. Oh, my. And his dominion shall
be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends
of the earth. As for thee, by the blood of
thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein there is no water. Beloved, we were in a pit where
there's no water. That's a pit of sin. We couldn't
free ourselves from that pit. Turn you to the stronghold, ye
prisoners of hope. Who's the stronghold? The Lord
Jesus Christ is our stronghold, beloved. O my, turn you to the
stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee, when I have bent Judah for me,
filled the bowl with Ephraim, and raised thy sons, O Zion,
against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty
man. Beloved, we were one time again
prisoners of sin. We were locked up. We were locked
up in the prison house of sin. We were shut up in the prison
house of sin with no way to free ourselves. And look what it says
in verse 12. Oh my. Verse 12 of chapter nine. The born again, blood-washed
saints of God are no longer the prisoners of sin. We're now called
the prisoners of hope. We have entered into the stronghold
by the grace and mercy of God. We've been brought into the stronghold.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this. Turn you to the
stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee. Oh my. The only hope we have as sinners
to be saved is through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. Look
at verse 12 again, I'll read it again. Turn you to the stronghold,
turn to Christ, flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners,
ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee, Zechariah 9, 12. Once the Holy
Spirit of God reveals Christ in us, once he gives us a confident,
lively assurance of faith and assured hope before God, as long
as we live in this body of flesh, we're prisoners of hope, beloved.
We're prisoners of hope as long as we live in this body. Oh,
I ask you, do you not have a civil war within you, beloved? between
the flesh and the spirit. Listen to what Paul the Apostle
wrote. He struggled just like us, beloved. In the book of Romans
chapter seven, verses 19 to 25, he says, for I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelt no good thing. Paul's saying I'm
a sinner. Oh my, for the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. I
don't have the strength to do good on my own. For the good
that I would do, I do not. But the evil, which I would not,
that I do. You having the same struggle
with Paul? Oh, we all do, beloved. We all do. Now, if I do that,
I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find in the law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. We delight in the holiness of
God, don't we? In the holiness of the law of
God. But we know we can't fulfill it. Look at this, but Christ
did it for us, beloved. Look at this. But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Now think of that. Can we deliver
ourselves? No. Can any other person who's
a sinner deliver us from this body of death? No. But there
is one who can, beloved. I thank God, verse 25, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I serve
the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Beloved of God, is this not so? with we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God? Are we not constantly constrained
with the apostle to declare, by the grace of God, I am what
I am? Are we not constrained to declare
that, beloved? Oh, my. And I ask you, are we
not captive of Christ? Oh, my. We see in God's book
that unless He draws us, we'll never seek Him. We cannot hear His voice, except
when He speaks to us by His word. We cannot call upon Him, except
He calls us. We cannot run after Him, except
He draws us. We cannot turn to Him, except
He turns us. We cannot seek Him except He
seeks us. We cannot worship Him except
He inspires worship in us. We cannot speak to Him until
He speaks to us in our natural state and we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God through His Word. Then now we can speak
to Him. My, oh my. In our natural state, we want
nothing to do with God. We don't want to speak to God
in our natural state, but after the Lord saves us, we seek Him.
We speak to Him all the time, don't we? Oh, isn't that amazing? And beloved, beloved of God,
marvel at the fact that He keeps us and holds us by His grace.
We cannot resist the slightest temptation. Can you? I can't. unless it's by His power, except
He saves us from the tempter's power. And we marvel that God
works in us, doing His will and purpose, restraining us from
sin. How much trouble would we get
ourselves in as believers if God didn't restrain us? Oh, my. We marvel. We marvel that we are upheld
by the right hand of God's righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. He upholds
us, doesn't he? When we fall, we cannot cease
from our downward spiral. I've experienced that, have you? When we fall, we cannot cease
from our downward spiral of iniquity, except he stretches out his arm
and catches us, beloved. and keeps us in his mighty hand.
And when we are fallen, we can't get up, except he picks us up,
beloved, and causes us to stand. So then marvel at what our text
proclaims here. We are called prisoners of hope. And beloved, yes, we are prisoners
in these houses of clay. called our bodies, but blessed
be his name. We are Christ's prisoners of
hope. We are prisoners of hope, and ours, the scripture says,
is a good hope. It's a good hope, beloved, because
it's founded in and on the perfect, finished, complete, sinatoning
work of the Lord Jesus Christ in the room and place of his
people, sinners such as we. Praise God, God saves sinners.
I was telling someone the other day, if God hadn't chosen some,
heaven would have none. No one would be saved. Christ is the hope of Israel.
He's our hope. We have a good hope through grace. We're prisoners of hope, and
we have a good hope through grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ,
because Jesus Christ is our hope, the God-man, God incarnate in
the flesh. He's the hope of Israel and the
Savior of the world, the scripture declares. It is He who has saved
us from our sins by the shedding of His precious blood. And we're
born again of God, by God the Holy Spirit. And we're given
faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the stronghold.
And we boldly declare we're prisoners of hope. What a hope we have. You know, one day we'll be released
from this body of death. And then we'll see him face to
face, beloved. What a day that'll be. And think
of this. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is given to us by
the Father, right? Sent by the Father, why? To save
us from our sins. It is through Him, through the
stronghold, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that we're justified
before God, because He was raised for our justification, beloved.
He's the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He never sinned in His
life. Not a thought sin, not a word sin, not a deed sin. And
the scripture says, he offered himself up without blemish, perfect,
spotless. And our sins and iniquities were
laid upon him, and he bore them all. And then he cried those
wonderful words, it is finished. Salvation's accomplished. It's
done. Oh my. So he's, he's our hope. Christ is the hope of glory.
And think of this, the hope of the hypocrite will be cut off.
They hope in themselves. And we were all there before
the Lord saved us. They hope in themselves. They
say, well, surely if I do this or I do that, God will save me.
It isn't dependent on anything you or I do. It's all dependent. Salvation for sinners is all
dependent on what the Lord Jesus Christ did in Him alone. God
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He never said that about any
other man. And you know what? If he's pleased
with the son, he's pleased with all who are in him. Oh my, praise
God. What a wonderful savior is Jesus
Christ our Lord. So the hope of the hypocrite
shall be cut off. His trust like a spider web.
You ever hit a spider web and it's gone? Gone. That's what the hope of the hypocrite's
like. But for the redeemed of the Lord, our hope maketh us
not ashamed because the love of God is spread abroad in the
heart by the Holy Ghost. So let us meditate and think
upon this. The Lord is my portion. By the
grace of God, the Lord's my portion. Our hope is his mercy. We're
looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. Our hope is his great grace and compassion. Our hope is his
faithfulness. Our hope is his great goodness.
Our hope is his salvation, which he obtained for his people. So,
beloved of God, how delightful it is to know that if I'm a prisoner
of hope, then I'm safe in the stronghold of God. And his name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Though I'm a prisoner in this
body of flesh, I'm a prisoner of hope. In my hope, I will enjoy. Let us enjoy this hope, beloved,
while we're in this body of flesh. Then our hope one day will become
a reality when we breathe our last breath, beloved, as all
of God's born-again, blood-blessed children shall be presented,
shall be presented by God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
How shall we be presented before the presence of God? Faultless. Listen to these wonderful verses. And Christ will do it with exceeding
joy. Listen to this in Jude. Jude
24 and 25. Now unto Him, that's being Christ,
that is able to keep you from falling. Christ is able to keep
us from falling, beloved. That's glorious. And to present
you faultless. That's blameless in the Greek.
Oh, it's wonderful. Faultless before the presence
of his glory. With exceeded joy were his bride
beloved. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. And what do we say as God's
people? We say hallelujah, amen, and amen.