Okay, well, come back with me
to Zechariah chapter three, and I've called this message, The
Branch, The Stone, and Men Wondered At, Men Wondered At, and you'll
find a piece in the bulletin. Read those articles there about
this. I noticed in the news last Wednesday
that there was a huge crowd crush in India near the river Ganges. It's one of those periodic times
every few years when the Hindus all gather near the river Ganges
and they're desperate to get into the waters of the Ganges
because they believe that that will wash away their sin and
thereby make them saved for heaven and fit for heaven. Of course,
it's empty superstition. The muddy Ganges, it's a muddy
river in northern India. In the scriptures it says in
Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats cannot in one way take
away sin. That which was the Old Testament
picture of the true salvation, the true redemption from sin
by Christ, but it was pictured in the blood of animals being
sacrificed. But then Hebrews makes it clear
that that blood was a mere picture. It itself could never take away
sin. If that couldn't do it, how on
earth can the muddy waters of the river Ganges do it? It's
only the blood of Jesus Christ. As John tells us in his epistle,
his first epistle, 1 John 1 verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses his people from all sin. All sin. He alone is the
way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. There is none other name under
heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Would you be
saved? Don't go dipping in Ganges and
getting crushed in the process. come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He alone is the way. And the Christian gospel, the
true Christian gospel, the gospel of the Bible, not as distorted
by mankind but as it is, is rational, it's reasonable, it's effectual,
it works. Sin demands death. God said the soul that sins It
shall die. He said in the Garden of Eden,
in the day that you eat thereof, of that forbidden fruit, in the
day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And the record
of the patriarchs is, and he died. He lived to this old, and
he died, and he died, and he died. It's the penalty for sin. It's the payment to the justice
of the infinite God. That payment is that we must
die. But God himself, the infinite
God, in the person of Christ his Son, the manifestation of
the unknowable God, He has paid that sin debt for his elect multitude,
a multitude that no man can number. And what was the currency? What was the payment? It was his lifeblood. The life
is in the blood, and he poured out his lifeblood. God has spoken
by his prophets about his son and about the triumph of his
kingdom. This is what this book is all about. Not just the book
of Zechariah, but the whole Bible from start to finish is about
the kingdom of God and about the triumph of that kingdom and
about the salvation of a multitude of people, sinners, from their
sins in the doing and dying of God himself in the person of
his son. You need to pay attention. You need to take heed. when so
many are deluded, you need to pay attention. So let me just
remind you, by way of background, as to the context of the book
of Zechariah and the prophet Zechariah. They were rebuilding
the destroyed temple and Jerusalem, the temple and the city that
had been laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldean Babylonian armies,
and they'd been taken into captivity as God had prophesied by Jeremiah
for 70 years of captivity. Seventy years were they in Babylon,
away from Jerusalem. It was lying in ruins. But God
raised up the one he said he would raise up. He raised up
Cyrus, the Persian. The Persians came in, in a night,
the night of Belshazzar's feast, when the finger of God wrote
on the wall that you're weighed in the balances and found wanting,
and that very night Belshazzar was slain and his kingdom was
taken from him by the Medes and the Persians and their Empire
came in and took over and we're talking about 500 though it was
best part of a hundred years before it was finished 500 years
before Christ came and he sent them back and as I said last
time he didn't only send them back He gave them the resources
necessary, the money necessary, the letters of authority necessary. In the face of severe opposition
of the peoples around who didn't want it, this heathen king Cyrus
said, the God of heavens told me that there's to be built his
temple in Jerusalem. You people, you Jews, you exiled
Jews, you go and do it. But they'd lost heart because
of the opposition. because it was taking so long
and the spirit might have been willing, but the flesh was so
weak. And Haggai was raised up to encourage them, and he did,
but then Zechariah is raised up to show in visions from God
the place of these people in the grand scheme of God's kingdom,
if I can call it that. Restoring the scene where Messiah
was to come and redeem. Why are you building Jerusalem
and the temple? Because this is where Messiah
must come according to the scriptures. He must come and he must die
here to redeem. We must re-establish it so that
that which was pictured in Solomon's temple and the sacrifices might
be fulfilled in reality when the Messiah, the Lamb of God
himself comes. It's a scene, Jerusalem and its
temple, picturing ever so weakly, ever so faintly, but it's picturing
God's eternal kingdom. And in the visions that we've
seen so far in Zechariah, the first one was the man on the
red horse amongst the myrtle trees. It's a picture of God
with his people in this world of unbelief. And then secondly,
God's word, the carpenters, the preachers, God's word fraying,
pushing back against the worldly powers, the horns of the worldly
powers, whose purpose is to destroy the people of God. He gives them
that picture. Here they are, like mighty horns
trying to crush you, but don't be dismayed. He's given them
carpenters. He's given them people to preach
his word, his word, sharp two-edged sword, to come and to fight back
and to fray, it says. The idea is a victory. They fray
these worldly powers trying to destroy his people. And then
he gives a third vision in chapter two of the certain success of
the new Jerusalem. You're building, you're rebuilding
a temple and piles of bricks and mortar in the Middle East,
which is but a picture, but it's a picture of the New Jerusalem.
And there will be an innumerable multitude in glory. The population
overflows the walls of it. It's certain. Keep on building. You're building this for Messiah
to come, but you're building it as a picture of the heavenly
Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which is above. And then he talks about
the qualification, Yes, there's going to be a multitude there,
but what about individuals? In chapter 3 he talks about the
qualification for individuals for citizenship. The most revered
of them, Joshua the high priest, is actually a sinner. He's clothed
in filthy garments. And his fellows, likewise, all
of us, are filthy garments. And he gives him a change of
raiment in chapter 3, verses 1 to 5. There he is, we read
it before. He's a brand plucked out of the
fire. He's in filthy garments, standing with Satan there to
accuse him, to resist him. And the Lord rebukes Satan and
says, I plucked him from the fire. He's a brand plucked from
the fire. I've clothed him. Take his filthy garments away.
I've clothed him with the robes of righteousness. I've clothed
him with the garments of salvation. God has done this, and not only
that, he's set a fair mitre upon his head, you know, the the hat
of the priests, the head covering of the priests in the Old Testament,
and it's talked about in Exodus chapter 28, because on that fair
mitre was a plate engraved with holiness to the Lord. These People
of God, dressed in filthy raiment, are actually made the righteousness
of God in Christ. They have a mitre on the head
which says, holiness to the Lord. Brands plucked from the fire,
blands plucked from the consuming fire. Our God is a consuming
fire. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, but we're brands, burning
sticks, burning bits of wood plucked out of that fire before
the fire consumes us. a fair mitre, holiness to the
Lord. But you say, okay, all right,
I hear what you're saying, but how is that blessed transformation
accomplished? How is it accomplished? As we
could ask that question about bathing in the muddy Ganges River. How does bathing in the muddy
Ganges River wash anybody's sins away and fit you for heaven?
There's no satisfying answer to that at all, but There is
a satisfying answer in verses 6 to 10 of Zechariah 3 as to
how God makes his beloved people, who are sinners in filthy garments,
how he makes them the righteousness of God in Christ. So how is a
sinner's raiment changed? This is the first point I want
to come to. How is a sinner's raiment changed?
Look at verses 8 and 9 with me. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee. For they are men
wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant the branch. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall be seven
eyes. And behold, I will engrave the
graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts. and I will remove the
iniquity of that land in one day. God says, how were they
made the righteousness of God? God says, I will remove the iniquity
from them. How does he do it? By a branch
and by a stone, a branch and a stone. Joshua and his fellows
that sit before him represent all the elect of God. God's servant,
the branch, and Christ the rock, the chief cornerstone, the rock
of offense. These are laid before Joshua. This is how you're going to have
those filthy garments taken away and how you're going to be clothed
with that fair mitre on your head and clean clothes. It's
by whom God will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. I will
remove the iniquity of that land in one day. How? By the branch
and by the stone. This is how the elect multitude
of God are stripped, are cleansed, are clothed, and are qualified. for eternity. Made meat, it says
in the New Testament, made meat for the heaven of God. Not by
themselves or anything that they do or anything that they are.
There is no quality, qualification, anything in the people of God
themselves, but it's entirely by the branch. I will bring forth
my servant the branch, the stone that I have laid before Joshua. Who is this? It is Christ, the
Messiah. The branch, it's a word that
appears in several books of the Old Testament. It's speaking
of Christ, the Messiah. It's the netzar in the original
language, from which comes the Nazarite. You know, Jesus was
a Nazarite, it's said. He came from Nazareth. The sprout is another translation
of it. The plant of renown. Let me just
show you. in one or two places. In Isaiah
11, go to Isaiah 11 and look at the first four verses, because
here we have this same idea of Christ the Messiah being portrayed
as this branch, this growth from the ground, growth out of some
roots. In Isaiah 11 and verse 1, there shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David.
He was the son of Boaz and Ruth. Or am I missing somebody? I might
have missed a generation out. This is the lineage. And a branch shall grow out of
his roots. A branch, there it is, there's
that word. And the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding
in the fear of the Lord, And he shall not judge after the
sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears,
but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
he shall slay the wicked. And then look down in verse 10.
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. This is speaking of the church
of God in Christ. To it shall the Gentiles seek
and his rest shall be glorious. And then look at just across
the page in Zechariah chapter six and verse 12, we have it
again. And speak to him saying, this
is speak again to Joshua, speak to him saying, thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts saying, behold the man whose name is the branch. Note it's in capital letters.
And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord. Does your mind not echo with
Matthew 16? This is Christ saying, I will
build my church in heaven. and hell will not prevail against
it. I will build my church. The old translations say this,
who are one, the Talmud and the Targum. They say, behold the
man, Messiah is his name. This is who it is. How is the
filth of sin removed from God's elect? Some religious folks say
you must go and bathe in muddy Ganges. What does the Bible say? How is the filth of sin removed
from God's elect? Answer, it is born by a fitting
substitute. I'll remind you of this chapter
because I can't move on from this without reminding you of
this. But Isaiah 53, you know the chapter above all others
that is the prophecy of the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
place of his people. The Messiah, the Christ in the
place of his people. And what does it say about him?
Where have your sins gone, O people of God? Verse 4 of Isaiah 53. Surely he, Christ, the branch,
See, it even says in verse two, he shall grow up before him as
a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground. Here he
is, he's the branch. Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, our sins, the consequences of our
sins. We esteemed him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted. Verse 5, how are our sins taken
away? He was wounded for our transgressions,
for our sins. He was bruised, he bore the punishment
of our iniquities. The chastisement that brings
about our peace, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes of punishment, we are healed. Verse six, all
we like sheep, all God's people, all God's elect, like sheep have
gone astray. Sheep are pretty stupid, dumb
animals. Off they go, wandering and get
lost. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way. And listen, the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. That's of all my people. all
my people, the people of God, the elect of God. Verse 8, he
was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare
his generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Verse 11, verse 11, he shall
see the travail. God, the judge, shall see the
travail of his. God, the redeemer's soul, and
shall be satisfied. his justice shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge, by knowing him, shall my righteous servant,
Christ, shall he justify many. How shall he justify them, their
sinners? He shall bear their iniquities and take them away.
The one who is man to represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who is man, son of Mary, with human blood, a man in flesh like
our sinful flesh, The one who is man to represent his people,
to die as a man in the place of his people, to shed his precious
blood, the blood of humankind for remission, this one is infinite
God. Hence he is able to save, as
it says in Hebrews 7, verse 25, he's able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by him. Have you come to God by him? Here he is, infinite God, with
infinite capacity to save, yet as a man, God contracted to a
span, as a man, to die as a man, to shed man's blood for man's
sin, to pay the penalty. It's explicit in the New Testament.
In 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, this idea of God, Him being
the branch and the stone, without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. Christ said He reveals the mysteries
of salvation. of God's purpose to his people. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Who was this walking amongst
us? It was God manifest in the flesh. That's why it keeps saying
in Isaiah, there was no strange God among you. God was manifest
in the flesh. This is why he didn't rebuke
Thomas when he'd risen from the dead and showed himself to the
disciples. And Thomas saw that, he said, I won't believe unless
I see the prince in his hands and in his side. And he said,
come here, Thomas, come and look. And when he saw them, he fell
to his knees and cried, my Lord and my God. And Jesus didn't
rebuke him. There was a man standing in their
presence and he didn't rebuke him because God was manifest
in the flesh. He was justified in the spirit.
He was seen of angels. He was preached unto the Gentiles.
The Gentiles will seek unto him. We just read it in Isaiah. He
was believed on in the world. We believe on him. His people
believe on him. And he was received up into glory. This is who he is. This is the
one. This is our God accomplishing
his people's justification. The God-man is God's servant. It says that in Isaiah 42, verses
1 to 4. God says, behold my servant,
and he's speaking of Christ. He humbled himself, it says in
Philippians chapter 2. He humbled himself to the role
and the office of a servant. Behold my servant, whom I uphold. Mine elect, the choice of God,
in whom my soul delighteth. God delights in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, by which he
means he will save those who are sinners amongst the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street. The bruised reed he shall not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. Verse four. He shall not fail,
nor be discouraged. He has a purpose of saving his
elect multitude from their sins. And is he going to succeed? He
shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in
the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. his elect. This is Christ, the branch, accomplishing
his people's justification. It says in Romans 4.25 that Christ
was lifted up on the cross of Calvary, he was lifted up for
the transgressions of his people, to be stricken, to bear their
punishment, and raised again from the dead for their justification. We're justified because he was
raised from the dead. How does that justify? It's the
vindication that God's justice is satisfied. with the sacrifice
that he made. He's also the stone. The next
verse, the stone. Behold the stone that I have
laid before Joshua. He's also the stone in God's
redeeming purposes of grace. The stone which the Jewish builders
rejected. We read about it in 1 Peter chapter
2, but just look at Matthew 21. This is Jesus himself speaking
to them. to the Pharisees, verse 42 of
Matthew 21, Jesus saith unto them, did ye never read in the
Scriptures Where do we go for our doctrine? Oh, to this book,
or to that commentary, or to the creed of that church. No,
we go to this book, the Word of God, as near as we can get
to it. That's why we use this King James
authorised version, because there's... I'm not saying it's 100% perfect,
but there is nothing better in the English language, and that's
why we use it, and that's why we don't use the more modern,
trendy translations. We stick to this because it's
the truth of God. Did you never read in the scriptures
the stone which the builders rejected. You can imagine builders,
you know, you imagine the bricklayer and he picks up a brick and he
goes, oh, I don't fancy the look of that. And he looks at it and
he thinks, oh, this isn't a properly formed brick. And he chucks it
away. He chucks it in the rubbish, puts it in the skip. The stone
which the builders rejected, those Jewish religious leading
builders, they've rejected him, the stone. The stone which the
builders rejected, the same him, is become the head of the corner. He is the chief cornerstone,
as we read in 1 Peter chapter 2. This is the Lord's doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes. Therefore, I say unto you, the
kingdom of God... He's speaking to the Jews, which
were the builders who rejected it. Therefore, I say unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you. and given to a nation,
which is his church, which is his people, a multitude which
no man can number, from every tongue and tribe and kindred.
It will be given to a nation, bringing, shall be taken from
it, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof, the
fruits of the kingdom of God. And whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to power. I'm reminded of the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar, that great, emperor in Babylon and Daniel, the prophet,
was able to interpret it to him. And it says, in that dream of
this huge great statue representing all the kingdoms of worldly history,
of Old Testament worldly history and their great power, that there
was a little stone formed without hands and it grew and became
bigger and bigger and it ground all the rest to powder. That's
what that is picturing. He is the chief cornerstone of
the living temple of God, of the church of God, of the people
of God. He, this stone, is the rock of
ages, cleft for me, broken for me, in whom I see the glory of
God. Moses said to God in Exodus 33,
he said, show me your glory. And it will suffice me. And God
said, come here and stand by me. And he put him in the cleft
of the rock. Picture in Christ, that rock
was Christ. It says it explicitly in the
New Testament. He put him in that place of safety. And that's where all God's people
are safe. Rock of ages, cleft for me. Let
me hide myself in thee. What are these eyes? It says
there are seven eyes. Do you know? I don't definitively
know. They could be the all-seeing
eyes of he himself, of God himself, who sees with eyes. Frequently,
in Revelation, he's pictured as having piercing eyes that
see right through to the very core. But it could be all of
the eyes of his people. Because what do we look at? We
look at him. He's shined the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And we go on in our race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus. And what's this graving? What's
the engraving? I will engrave the graving thereof.
Engraving the names of his elect. How many a multitude that no
man can number, but a number known exactly to God. and they're
on his hands, pictured in scripture. The names on his hands, meaning
that, you know, when you write yourself, you're not supposed
to do it in exams, but you write yourself a crib note and you
write the answer to a question. Well, he says, your names are
written on the palms of my hands. The priest in the Old Testament
had a breastplate with the names of the tribes of Israel engraved
on his heart, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ with his people
there. It speaks of particular redemption. It speaks of limited atonement. Oh, I don't like that term, say
the religious folks. It's what the scripture says.
He died for a particular people. He died just for them, to save
them from their sins, to take them to eternity. He wrote their
names and only their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. Oh,
to have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
God says that for them, He says, for them, in verse nine, I will
remove the iniquity of that land in one day. What is that land?
It is Emmanuel's land. What is Emmanuel's land? It is
the church of God, the body of Christ, the elect of God, his
covenant people. This man, this man, it says in
Hebrews 10, 12, all the things that were pictured didn't actually
achieve anything. They only pictured it. But this
man, when he came as the fulfillment of the pictures, offered one
sacrifice for sins forever. Thus, he made his people free
from punishment. I will remove the iniquity of
that land in one day. Who shall bring any charge against
God's elect? Who shall do it? Nobody can.
Satan can't. Satan who stood there by Joshua
the high priest to accuse him. Satan the accuser of the brethren.
He can't do it. Why? Because Christ has died
and taken it away. He bore the guilt. He bore the
filth of his people's sin. He bore all of those things.
He paid the penalty for it. And he's made his people free
from that punishment, from that guilt, from that filth, from
that dominion, from that sorrow of sin. This is how. You ask me, how does it work?
This is how God changes his people's filthy garments, which we are
by nature. for the garments of salvation.
Tell me, if you can, how does bathing in muddy Ganges or any
other baseless religious superstitious ritual accomplish anything of
value? Well, quickly, I must move on,
but there's a two-fold result of this. In verse 8, Hear now,
O Joshua, the high priest, and thy fellows that sit before thee,
For they are men wondered at. The church of God are men wondered
at. This is the first one of the
two-fold result of this accomplishment of the righteousness of the people
of God. Sinners worthy in themselves of hell are made the righteousness
of God. I've written an article for the
bulletin, so please read that if you can get it. But I put
there that there are three ways in which The people of God, who
are sinners redeemed and made the righteousness of God, are
wondered at. Firstly, the angels wonder at
it. The sinless angels are amazed,
knowing the righteousness and holiness of God, shielding their
faces from the gaze of the holiness of God. They desire, says Peter,
to look into these things of salvation. They wonder at the
Church of God that people like us, clothed in filthy garments,
can have that filthy garment taken away and be clothed in
the garments of salvation and made the righteousness of God
in Christ. In Christ, God has made his church what it says
in Ephesians 5, 27. Paul writes, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And you look
at us and you say, but look at us, we're covered in spots and
wrinkles. But in the justice of God, and in the judgment day
of God, it's a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, that
it should be holy and without blemish. The angels wonder at
God's people, at the brands plucked from the fire which they deserved,
made the righteousness of God in Christ. But the unbelieving
world wonders too. not in reverent awe, not in admiring
awe, but suspicious, in suspicious contempt for the faith of these
people, for the trust of these people, for their conversation,
which is not the conversation of this world, but is the conversation
of heaven, their inability to enjoy the pleasures of this world's
sin. You know, as it said of Moses,
in Hebrews chapter 11, it says of him, that he wouldn't, although
he was brought up in the palace as the adopted son of Pharaoh's
daughter, he refused the pleasures of sin and he chose instead the
reproach of Christ to be with the people of God. The world
looks on with contempt at the believing church of God. Satan
accuses and calls for cursing on this people. He always has
done. Satan accuses this people of
not being fit for heaven. That's why he's Satan, the accuser
of the brethren. But look, when he called back
in Numbers 23 and verse 21, he called on Moab, Balak and Balam. Balak was the king of Moab. He
called on Balam, because he was a pseudo-prophet of God, he called
on him to curse Israel. Even Balaam said, I can only
say what God gives me to say. And this was his second oracle. He said to him, he says, God
has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Curse him. God has not beheld
iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness
in Israel. The Lord his God is with him.
And the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of
Egypt and has, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely
there is no enchantment against Jacob. I can't curse them. Neither
is there any divination against Israel. I can't do anything against
them, because God has not beheld iniquity in them. According to
this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath
God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise
up as a great lion, and lift himself up and so on. We'll move
on for the sake of time. But there it is. As much as Satan
calls for a curse on the people of God, they can't be cursed.
And then, so there are people wondered at, and then in verse
10, there's the hint at a blessed kingdom. And I'll say no more
than that. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call
every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.
It's the family of God here and now in this world, because there's
nothing sweeter in this world than true Christian fellowship. Yes, I know, blood relations
can be very warm, but there's nothing quite like the fact that
we're brothers and sisters with those who believe what God has
revealed to us. But then, of course, it's not
just now. At the end, when we're taken, or when he comes to take
us, in heavenly sinless bliss. But we mustn't overlook a clear
admonition. That word in verse six, The angel
of the Lord protested unto Joshua. It gave him an admonition, I
would say, is what it is. What is he talking about? He
says, thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt walk in my
ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also
judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give
thee places to walk among these that stand by. Has the gospel
of God called you? Have you heard the call of God? Maybe through reading scripture
or maybe through, more likely, through hearing a preacher. Have
you understood what the words have meant? Have you grasped
the concepts? Have you been made willing, for
he says in Psalm 110 verse 3, that God makes his people willing
in the day of his power. And if you've been made willing,
have you said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, but
I believe, I want to believe, I want to be yours. Have you
embraced Christ, the doctrine of Christ, the presence, the
spirit, the being of Christ? Have you committed to this? Then
if the answer is yes, you aim to walk and to live worthy of
the call. It isn't qualification for the
kingdom, but it's evidence, it's the outworking of God's message
of grace, it's the fruit of that spirit that he's given within.
Strive to live by gospel precepts. It says in Ephesians chapter
4, Ephesians chapter 4, the first six verses, I therefore, the
prisoner of the Lord, this is Paul speaking, I beseech you
that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, the
calling wherewith you are called, with all loneliness and meekness
and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For there
is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
This is God and His Church. Maintain that unity of the Spirit. In Colossians chapter 1, and
verse 10 we read that you might walk worthy of the Lord and to
all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of God. What's that that linked to? See
the that at the start of verse 10? It's linked to everything
that's gone before. What do we need to maintain?
What do we need to maintain and strive in in order to fulfill
this admonition to walk worthy of the calling, keep hearing
the gospel. Keep growing in grace and in
knowledge, because it's only the more you know the gospel,
that the love of Christ constrains how we live. It isn't the law
that threatens and offers rewards and threatens punishments, it's
the love of Christ that constrains. It's that that draws us to follow
in the master's footsteps. How are you going to fulfill
this admonition, walk in his ways, keep hearing the gospel?
Keep committing to the gospel. The more you hear it, the more
God will speak to you. The more you will be humble towards
one another, because how can you be other than that if the
doctrines of the gospel are clear? Not taking offense at what others
say, which we're so ready to do. Forgiving as you've been
forgiven. Let me just remind you of this.
It's from the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 6 of Matthew, verses
14 and 15. If ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. No more of the gospel. Don't
talk about how God has forgiven me if there's an unforgiving
spirit within you. Please do not do that. It's by
this that you fulfill the law of God. It's not just me saying
it. Galatians 5 verse 14. The law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. I repeat, it isn't a qualification. Christ alone has redeemed his
people from the curse of the law and fitted us for heaven.
but as the fruit of that spirit, the outworking of the spirit
of God in the soul, walk in his ways. How different from the
mad pushing of the crowd, desperate to get in the river Ganges before
the others around them. Now then, let me say this, if
there's any, by any chance there's any Hindus or other religious
people, including much Christianity, listening, I mean no harm to
you. I mean no insult to you. I just
ask you, compare what you thought was right from your culture with
what the one true God of the Bible says about sinners being
cleansed from their sins. I can assure you, I can tell
you from personal experience and the personal experience of
all my brethren, if you seek him, God will guide you into
the truth. Amen.