Turn to Zechariah, chapter 9. Zechariah, chapter 9, title of the message, Thy King
cometh unto In verse 9, we have the prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom. And we see the subject, those people, a description of
the people of his kingdom, what kind of condition they are in. what he has saved them from.
Now, verse 9 starts with, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem! We have good news today. We have good news. thy King cometh
unto thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is the one spoken of here. He's
the one being prophesied of. He's the true Messiah. He's the
true monarch of heaven and earth. That's the reason I read Psalm
24. The earth is the Lord's, the fullest thereof, the world,
and they that dwell therein. They all belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's His. It's His. And this King, here's the good
news, this King, Zion's King, cometh unto thee. What condescending grace that
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would come unto me. Most of them sin for their subjects,
don't they? They send an army or an embassy and say, go get
such and such a person. But not the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. He comes to them. He comes to
us. He comes to the center. He comes to where we are. He
cometh What a condescending grace that he should do such a thing.
He's not sending for us, he's coming for us. And he's not coming
to gain our acceptance, but he's coming to make us accepted. That's what he's coming to do,
to deliver us, to present us spotless before his Father's presence. And notice
the character. of our King, the King of Zion,
the King of glory. He is just. I tell you, there's nothing I
can appreciate right now than just. You say, you don't want
to deal with the justice of God? Well, not me personally. As I
am, I lose. But I'm sure glad He's a just
God. I'm glad He's a just God. I'm glad he cannot be bought
off, bribed. He's a just God and a Savior. But it says here he's just. This
world has seen many unjust kings, but Zion's king is just and holy. In him there is no sin. There is no sin in our king. Scripture says, he that rules
among men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and that's
our king. This describes him. This is one
of his attributes that makes him so admirable. He's just.
He rules with equity. And another reason for this rejoicing
and this shouting aloud is he's just in having salvation. He's coming to save, not to destroy. The disciples at one time, they
were so upset. And they said, you ought to call
fire down out of heaven and burn these men up. He said, I didn't
come to destroy the world. I came to destroy. I came to save. I came to save. The first ones that would have
burned up would have been them. It would burn us all up if it
wasn't for Him. He came to save, or saving by Himself. That's what that means, saving
by Himself. It's not Him and a multitude
of angels. It's our Lord by Himself. By Himself, He purged us from
our sins. By himself he saved us from the
curse of the law. By himself. What a powerful king.
What a powerful king. Saved him by himself. He has
the power to save. It says in Hebrews 7.25, he's able
to save unto the uttermost. And I heard someone say, to the
gutter most. He's able to save to the gutter
most them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives
to make intercession for them. He's able. No one has so far
gone he can't save. No one. Our king is a mighty
conqueror. He has the power over death.
The keys of death and hell are in his hands. They're in His
hands. He has the power over it. He's
conquered death, hell, and the grave. He's conquered Satan. He's conquered everything that
stood in His way in saving us. Mighty, mighty King. He has overcome all our enemies
by Himself. And here's another description
of our king. Lowly. Lowly. You know what that means? Approachable. That means he's approachable.
The kings, the great men of this earth, are not approachable. Not by the common people. Not
unless you've got something that can benefit them. The common
people just cannot approach. I know. They can't come close.
But our King commands sinners to come to Him. He comes to them
and says, Come to Me. When He called the disciples,
He went and called them. They were not looking Him up.
He went by and said, Come follow Me. They were in a ship. He said,
come follow me. He went to where they were and
said to them, commanded them to come and follow him. And they
were just fishermen. They were called unlearned and
ignorant men. That's how the world termed them.
He comes to centers through the downtrodden, to the chief of
centers and says, come to me. Come to me. It also means this,
he made himself of no reputation. In one way or another, one fashion
or another, we try to make ourselves a reputation. I mean, it might
be just a little one, but we want at least a little one in
some form or fashion. He made himself of no reputation. He sought no recognition and
honor from men. He said, I don't seek the honor
of men. He sought the honor that comes from God only. No reputation. And notice how
he comes into town here. Notice here in verse 9. He comes
into town. Now listen, this is the king
of glory. This is the king of creation. This is the king of
Zion. He comes into town on an ass. That's how he came into town.
A lonely beast of burden. That's how he came into town.
Not a Rolls Royce. You know, he could have come
into the world now and he could have come into town in a Rolls
Royce. Or like President Bush, he could have flew in on a Hydrogen.
landed on an aircraft carrier. No, he came at a time when there
was no media. There was nothing to give him
a reputation. Can you imagine if he was in
our day doing the miracles that he did? The media would be all
over him. He came at a time when it was
appointed, first of all. He came at the appointed time.
And in a time when he'd just quietly come in, do his business,
go back to the father. Accomplish the work he was sent
to do. So he comes into town on a lonely
beast of burden, proving, proving he truly made
himself of no reputation. He came to redeem. He came to
redeem a people, not to get a reputation. Not to get a reputation. He's got the reputation. He's
God. What more can you? He's God.
He's got all the reputation that you can have. He's God. But when
he came into this world, he didn't flaunt it. He didn't seek the
admiration of men. He came to save. He came to save. And his weapon, his weapon of conquest, it was not a gun,
a cannon, a sword. You know what it was? His word. I will cut off the chariot from
Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut
off, and he shall speak." There is the weapon of his conquest.
I believe that centurion said, Lord, just speak the word and
my servant shall be healed. Lord, just speak the word here
this morning. Sinners will be saved. Thy people
will be edified. Just speak the word. Speak in
power to the heart of your children. Speak in power to the heart of
sinners, and something's going to happen if he does that. But you notice here he says,
he shall speak peace. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. It's not the preaching of hellfire
brimstone. It's not scaring people into
making a profession. It's the good news of the gospel.
It's hearing of the Son of God, His person, His Word. That's
what it's all about. His Word, or the Word of His
Grace, is His weapon of conquest. He's not going to use carnal
weapons. He's just going to speak His Word. As a matter of fact,
He said He's going to cut off the chariot and the horse and
the battle bow so that we may trust Him and not them. His word is more powerful than
any weapon that's ever been formed, any weapon. Now, notice the dominion
of our king. From sea to sea, and from the
river unto the ends of the earth, all other kings have ruled little
dominions on this earth. They've had some territory that
they've been over and had some power over and had a little glory
in it. But the King that's coming unto thee, that's prophesied
here, is over all. His dominion has
no end. There are no boundaries to His
dominion. You know, we have our boundaries
as a country. As the United States, we have
our boundaries. Anybody that comes in here is
an illegal alien. We have our airspace. You're
not allowed to fly in it. There is no place he's not allowed. It's his. There's no boundaries
that keep him out. He said, the gates of hell shall
not prevail against you. In other words, the gates of
hell shall not prevent or keep you out. The gates of hell cannot
keep the gospel out. If he purposes to send the gospel
to a place, to a people, Satan and all evil forces cannot put
that in check. Can't do it. His dominion is
from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. I want you to notice the condition
of the people he is coming to. 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." I have realized that this world
itself is a prison. Honestly, this world itself is
a prison. It's full of sin, it's full of
sorrow, it's full of hatred, it's depraved, and there's nowhere
you can go to get away from it. Where can you go to get away
from it? It is a pit. This world is a pit wherein is
no water. It is a pit of darkness. Apart
from the gospel, man has no light. He has no real, real understanding. Oh, he may know two plus two
equals four, but what's that? He doesn't know God. He does not know God, who is
light, life. He says, here they are prisoners
bound by sin. I was watching a biography. I don't remember who it was about.
I don't remember the particular person, but it was on a serial
killer. And I was watching the biography on this person, and
he was saying he didn't want to do these things. He didn't
try to go to church. I mean, he tried to do many things,
but he said, When the impulse came upon him, it was just too
strong. He couldn't resist it. Bound by sin. Bound by an evil
nature. Everybody in this room has done
things you know you shouldn't do. You've done things against
your own judgments. You say, I know better than that. We make decisions all the time.
We know better than to make them. But that old base nature that
we're born with, yeah, it just gets you. It gets you. Prisoners bound by sin, bound
by Satan, the prince of darkness, bound by the curse of the law,
freedom. Now, if you're in a pit, and
back in this time, they put prisoners in a literal pit. And they put
a rock over it. There'd be no light. There's
no water in it. They'd put them in a pit. They had no freedom to go anywhere.
All rights taken away. No ability to save yourself. In the power of another. Miserable. And this describes
us in our natural state, captives to sin, slaves to the appetites of this
flesh. Why do you think we're always
in more debt than we can afford? Because we're slaves to the appetites
of this flesh. That's why. Under the curse of
the law, that's us by nature. Children of wrath by nature,
even as others. That's what it says in Ephesians
chapter 2. And as prisoners in a pit, that's where God found
us, in a pit of sin, wallowing in it, drinking iniquity like water. No possible way of escape. No
light in this pit, groping around in our own ignorance, not knowing
how to get out. And for the most part, not wanting
to get out. How many times, you know, going through Exodus, how
many times did it say, why did you bring us out of Egypt? We'd
have been better off left back there in Egypt. Ignorant. Ignorant. If any light comes into this
pit, it'll have to come from above. Somebody's going to have
to roll the stone away. The Lord told those men at Lazarus'
grave, roll the stone away. If there's going to be any light,
it's going to have to come from above, because we are in a pit of darkness. Christ said, I am the light of
the world. The light of the knowledge of
Christ must shine in our hearts if we are to see, if we are to
understand, if we are to comprehend who He is and where we are. and our need of Him. And death in this pit is a sure
thing. If Christ, if the King of Glory
does not come and take us out of this pit, this pit of corruption
we're born into, if He doesn't do it, we will perish. Send Him out of the pit. I found
a ransom where it says over in the book of Job, In Job chapter
33, I found a ransom. If you don't have a ransom, you're
going to die in that pit. You're going to die in it. It also says here that they were
in a pit wherein there's no water. You can't live without water.
You've got to have water. And if we are to live, listen,
if we are to live spiritually, We must have the water of life,
which is Christ. We must have Christ, who is the
water of life, or we will die. There's no water in this world
that you and I can drink of and live forever. Our Lord said, if any man drink
of this water there at the well, with the woman at the well, Samaria,
If any man drink of this water, he shall thirst again. If you
drink of this life, this life is what you're drinking. You're
going to thirst forever. But if we are enabled to drink
of Christ, the water of life, you'll never thirst again. You'll
never thirst again. But I want you to notice how
the King of glory is going to deliver His people. How's he going to do it? How
are they going to be delivered? They're in his pit. They're in
his pit because they're guilty. The law has them in the pit.
We're born in a pit of corruption. But the law says you're guilty. You're not going anywhere. You're
not coming out of this pit. You're not coming out of this
prison. You're guilty before God's law. Guilty. Well it tells us there in 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. Frank spoke
about that covenant. I'm not going out of the pit,
now listen to me, I'm not going out of the pit because of my
faith. I'm not going out of the pit
because of my repentance. I'm going out of the pit because
there was a covenant ratified by the blood of the Son of God
on my behalf, and I am sent forth out of the pit because of that.
Now, faith and repentance comes from God saving me. It's the evidence of salvation.
It's the evidence of it. It's the evidence of life. It's
like crying. When a baby's born, it cries. It's the evidence of life. Faith
and repentance, they are the evidence of life, spiritual life. But now, I'm telling you, here's
how the people are delivered. Here's how they are going out
of the pit. Here is how they are going to be delivered legally
out of prison. By the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's how. Substitution is the very grounds
of our freedom. He came. Now listen, the King
of glory, thy King cometh unto thee, the King of Zion, came
into the pit himself and took the place of his prisoners. He came into the pit himself
and set the captive free. And the way he did is by taking
their punishment, standing before God's law as
me, being punished, being put to
death as our representative, our substitute,
taking our place. You remember in the Old Testament
before Israel was set free from bondage, the bondage of Egypt,
the Lamb had to be slain. and the blood applied over the
door and the two side posts. If that did not happen, they
would not go free. Our king, and I don't know if I can say
if this is saying it right or not, but it's like he unrobed
himself and put on my garb, put on my prison clothes. the stench
of me and climbed down into that pit and lifted me out of it and
took my place. That's substitution. He was made to be sin who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. When God made a covenant with
Abraham, it was sealed with the blood of circumcision. And this covenant he made with
Christ was sealed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when God sets the captive
free, it is by the blood of Christ and the eternal covenant of grace
that they go free. This is what the gospel teaches
us. Substitution and satisfaction. That's the heart of the gospel. Now, if he's done this for the
prisoners, if he has died in my place, if I have been set
free by the blood of the covenant, then who can hold me? Who shall
condemn me? As Christ has died, yea, rather
it's risen again. who is seated at the right hand
of the Father. No man, no one can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect. There's not a charge left. And
if God does not charge me, someone else charging me means
nothing. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. Well,
he can accuse you all day long. That's all right. It's not going to stick. It's
not going to stick. Whom the Son sets free, He's free indeed. And I know this command to them
after He turns them loose. They're set free out of the pit. Some of them have been in there
a long time. Here's what He says for them
to do. Verse 12, turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. You prisoners of hope. Do you
believe the gospel? Do you believe the gospel? You
are a prisoner of hope. He says, turn to the stronghold.
Where's that? Seated at God's right hand, Jesus Christ is our stronghold. My only hope and plea is that
when Jesus Christ died, He died for me. He is my stronghold. He is all I have. He is all I
hope to have. He's all I hope for. He's all
my hope. And He's enough. He's enough. He's enough. Lead to that city of refuge.
Run to Christ. He's our stronghold because He's
God. You know, that's enough right
there. To me, that's enough. He's God.
He's our stronghold because He's overcome sin. He's overcome Satan. He's overcome the world. He's
our stronghold because He's overcome all principalities. He's satisfied
the law. He's seated at the Father's right
hand. Shows His acceptance and authority. I'll tell you what, we just have
one stronghold. Just have one. And we have the
only one there is. The Son of God. The Son of God. And I close. Close with a word of comfort.
Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today
do I declare that I will render double unto thee. Now you know
if you're a prisoner in a pit, you've lost everything, haven't
you? You've lost it all. He said, you turn to the stronghold
and I'll double everything. Our expectations of glory are
far below what they really are. I mean, we haven't even come
up to that expectation. I'll give you double for your
troubles. I started reading through the
book of Job two or three days ago. I've been thinking about
maybe preaching through it, but I'm going to read through it first. And that
man lost everything except his life. Couldn't lose it because
your life is hid with Christ in God. God told Satan, he said,
you can't touch his life. You can't touch that. It's in
Christ. But he took everything. One after another, after another,
and that first chapter after another, after another came. And then the next chapter, I
never really caught it before, but the next chapter, Satan comes
to God again. So I don't know how much time
passed between this first set of trials and heartaches, but
there was a period of time passed and then he came again and Job
got hit by a second wave. That's when his skin and he touched
his body and he sat in the and scraped with a posh urn. But at the end of it, what did
he get? He got double the sheep, double the camel, double the
servants. He gave him double everything except his children.
He didn't double his children. Because he had ten in glory,
he had ten here. And so he didn't get twenty kids. He lost the
sheep. They were gone. He lost the cattle,
they were gone. He lost his servants, they were
gone. But when it comes to his kids,
his children, his ten children, he only got ten more. He got
the other ten worth the Lord. I believe that. I believe that's
why he didn't double them and make twenty. They didn't perish. And He'll give you double of
your attainments. Grace for grace. Grace for grace. Grace heaped
upon grace. I tell you what, I'm looking
at a people this morning, sitting, you're sitting here, and I'm
looking at a people who has had grace heaped upon grace. Mercy, heat upon mercy. And He'll give us double of our
expectations. We just, we can't even begin
to imagine what paradise is like. God. Christ. To know Him, see Him,
experience Him without sin. Without sin, without any of this
mess here. Double. And double of your largest
faith. Oh, I tell you, you take the
strongest faith in the world that's ever been, and it's still
puny compared to how we ought to believe God. But double, double
your greatest faith. I heard Henry say one time, expect
great things from God and He'll do great things. Double. I'll give you double.