I hope over the coming weeks
to preach a series of messages through the Minor Prophets. I'm not going to do a verse-by-verse
study of these prophets, and if you don't know what the Minor
Prophets is, they begin with Daniel and go through to Malachi
to the end of the book. I don't really have a special
order, As I read these things and I'm impressed of God, that's
how I'll bring the message and I want to bring at least one
message from each one of these minor prophets. Now, in the scriptures,
I preached on this not too long ago out of Romans 16, that God
has commanded through the scriptures, which were the Old Testament
scriptures at the time, that these things be preached, this
Redeemer be preached, His salvation be preached through the Old Testament
Scriptures. This is the commandment of God.
I know and I'm guilty of it. I spend a lot of time in the
New Testament. I want to lay a solid foundation
for you and so on. But that foundation is built
upon the prophets and the apostles, not just the apostles. the prophets
and apostles. And it's important for you to
see these things. And we dealt with some of these
things here in Zechariah. We dealt with the scripture that
I've chosen to preach from this morning, already in the book
of Mark and also in the book of Matthew. But the prophet Zechariah was
sent of God to Israel. to assure them that he was watching
over them. Now they were in troubled times.
They were in a hard way. They had enemies all around them.
He's already, in the reading that I did for you just a few
minutes ago, he mentions on and on and on some of the things
that were going on all around them, all around them. But those
things are no different than what we got going on around us.
This could be yesterday's newspaper. We could be talking about those
things. We're concerned about the new president. We're concerned
about this. We're concerned about that. We're
upset about this and upset about that. And God sends his prophet
to Israel, Zechariah. You know what Zechariah means,
what that name means? It means God remembers. God remembers. He hasn't forgotten. He's not ignorant of what's going
on. He remembers. In one place in
the New Testament, it says this. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. So we just, Look at that like
a blank check, but that's not what he's talking about. He's
talking, where is these promises? In the book of Zechariah. Next
week, Lord willing, I wanna bring a message from Zephaniah. And these promises, there's promises
here. Promises, great and precious
promises. Peter talked about those great
and precious promises. They're all yea in Him. We have
to see these promises that were given were given and secured
in Christ. They're not just blank checks. They're not just sent out there,
you get a hold of this and start dancing around a fire, no. They're
all secured in Christ. These promises are yea and amen
in Him. They're unchangeable in Him.
They're sure in Him. And Zechariah was sent of God
to assure them that he was watching over them, he would be protecting
them and securing them against all their enemies. They were
surrounded by heathen idolaters and nations who had no regard
for them or their God. They had gods of their own, gods
of silver and gold and gods of wood and stone. Gods, Paul describes
in Romans 1, like undecorruptible man, and four-footed beasts, birds,
and creeping things. In Ephesians 4.17, he said they
walked in a vanity of their minds. That's how they walked. Alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that's in them, and these nations were
filthy in their morals and wicked in their behavior and hostile
in their manners toward Israel. Hostile. Ignoring the light of
conscience and creation and changing the glory of the incorruptible
God into vile images, images more suitable to their natures,
God gave them up. to uncleanness through the lust
of their hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.
Is that not what's taking place all around us? Well, it's commonplace
anymore, isn't it? Surrounded by vile and wicked
enemies, God assures them of his presence and protection.
But what I want us to consider here this morning is that this
prophecy is not for the natural sons of Abraham, although it
does, there are some things that take place in the natural, but
these promises are not for the natural sons of Abraham, nor
the blood kin of those that Moses led out of Egypt, but these promises
are to the church of the living God. Now, how do you know that's
so? Because he told them to go to
such and such a place and get an ass and a foal of that ass
and bring it to him, he's gonna ride it right downtown Jerusalem,
right down through the... A man had never sat on that foal,
never sat on him. Now, I tell you, I grew up with
horses and... And now that I'm telling you,
you don't sit on one. You don't just climb up on there
and ride him down the street till he's been broken. But that
thing was as gentle as a lamb. And you will be too when the
Son of God puts his saddle on you. He'll ride you and you won't
buck anymore. You'll quit bucking. You'll quit
bucking. You'll just go ride along. You say he speaks all through
this book of Jerusalem and of Israel and of the literal tribes
that make up that body. Well, let me read you something
from Romans 9. Romans 9, verse 6. Paul's praying for his kinsmen
according to the flesh, the Jews. He's praying for them. What's
he praying? He's praying that God might save
them. Save Israel? Well, they already saved. No, they didn't know God. They
didn't know God. And so he says, not as though
the word of God had taken none effect. What about all these
promises back here? Talked about God's blessings
on Israel, God's blessings on the sons of Jacob. What about
that? What are we gonna do with them?
We can't just tear them up and throw them out of the book. We
can't ignore them, it's part of the Bible. What are we going
to do about it? Well, Paul said, not like the
word of God has taken on effect. Don't get that idea. Just because Israel rejected
Christ and despised him and put him to death, because Israel
yet rejects him and denounces him and refers and refuses to
believe on him, it's not as though the promises were unfulfilled
or the word of God had taken on effect. Romans 9, 6. They are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Now that second Israel's referring
to Jacob. God changed his name to Israel.
And that's why he calls all his sons Israel. Neither, verse seven,
because they are all the seed of Abraham are they all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, a promised son. a son of supernatural birth.
So what's all this mean? All right, verse eight, Romans
chapter nine. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, are you listening? These are not the children of
God. These are not the children of
God. I read that to a friend of mine
one time, and he said, well, just in case, I'm gonna treat
them like they are. There is no just in case. This
is God the Holy Ghost speaking here, and he said they're not
the children of God. But the children of the promise,
they're counted for the seed. Romans 2, verse 28, he's not
a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he's a Jew which is one inwardly
and circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit and not
in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. Galatians
3.26, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's how a man knows that he's
a son of God right there, by faith. There's no other way to
know it. No other way to know it. And if you be Christ, chosen
by him, redeemed by him, preserved in him, then are you Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise. How do I apply these promises
to me? By faith. By faith. Well, how can I have any assurance
in them? They're secured in him. Remember what I told you? All
the promises of God are yea and amen in him. The question is,
am I in him? That's the question. To him give
all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. And this prophecy is
unto all them that believe. All right, what's this prophecy
say? Let me give you six things. First of all, it says to all
that believe, rejoice. Rejoice. Oh, come here. My president didn't make it.
I didn't go home. God's president didn't make it. Hey, we look at it. Looking at
a man and saying to herself, well, he ain't gonna do us no
good. God may not have purposed to do good. God may be taking
this nation down. It certainly appears like he
is. But whether he is or not, that's God's man. There is no
power except that of God. If God puts a man in power, he's
in power. I don't care if it's Pharaoh in Egypt. He told Pharaoh, the one he dumped
in the sea, you know what he told him? He said, for this cause
have I raised thee up. He's not talking about raising
him up from a child, he's talking about raising him up to his kingly
position. I made you Pharaoh for no other
reason except dump you in the sea. Can I tell you something? I already
know who's in charge. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. The government,
are you listening, should be on his shoulder, his shoulder. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
his power and authority is given to him of God and it's total,
it's sovereign, it's unchallenged. He don't reign if, he reigns. He's not hoping to win the victory.
He's sat down. He's already won the victory. He's not trying for assistance
across the aisle. I get so sick of hearing that,
don't you? Do politicians run a profit? We're looking for help
across the aisle. God's not looking for help anywhere.
Not across the aisle, not in the aisle, not on his aisle. He's not looking for help. He
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Now if you understand what that
means, you'll rejoice. I tell you, believers in Israel,
when God made this statement through his prophet, they rejoiced. They rejoiced. They knew all
these things were out of their hands. They knew these things
were beyond their capability, beyond their wisdom, beyond their
strength, and they rejoiced. They rejoiced. Rejoice greatly,
O daughters of Zion. Why? Because the Lord Omnipotent reigneth. That's why. That's why. You may get all fired up by the
drums and chants of central religion and do like some did and dance
naked around a totem pole. You may get all excited by charismatic
religion and go babbling in some devilish gibberish, but nothing
short of his august and sovereign reign will ever allow you to
rejoice I can rejoice, it's unbroken, it's unchallenged, I can rejoice. I can lay in a bed covered with
leprosy and die and my nose falling off my face, I can rejoice. Because
it's just temporary. It's just temporary. Now here's the first thing he
says, rejoice, rejoice. That's God saying this. That's
God's message is rejoice. What you got to be down in the
dumps about, huh? Rejoice. All right, what you say next?
Shout. We're so scared to shout, huh? Oh, just don't say election out
loud. Why? Why? God did. His prophets did. Shout! That's what he said. Make it known. Let everybody
in on it. Tell it in such a way that nobody
in your voice range can go away and say, well, I don't understand
what he's talking about. I'd rather you leave here stomping
mad. At least I know you heard me. People go away, well, nobody
ever told me. Boy, I hope that's not the case. Psalm 47, one, he said, oh, clap
your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph,
for the Lord Most High is terrible and he's a king over all the
earth. You mean he's king over there,
over them Muslims? You better believe it. He shall subdue the people under
us, and the nations he'll put under our feet. He shall choose
our inheritance for us. That's pretty plain, ain't it?
He gonna choose our inheritance for us. The excellency of Jacob,
whom he loved. God is gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. There's no rumor to whisper in
the corner, no speculation to privately be hashed out. This
is a fact, a glorious fact. It's a done deal. That's what,
you know, when old Caleb, everybody there said, oh, man, we've been
over there, we looked. They got, yeah, they got big
fruits. We'll show you the fruits. Here's
these grapes as big as bowling balls. Man, that place is, it's
the land of milk and honey. All that's true. But they got
walled cities. There's giants over there. Giants. Nine feet tall. Spears as big
as weavers been. We can't go over there. Caleb
said, why not? It's like a story already told. It's a story already told. God
said I declared the end from the beginning. From ancient times
of things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand,
I'll do all my pleasure. And God in these promises is
telling you what's going to be. What's it going to be? When the
Spirit of God has come, He's going to take the things of mine
Christ did and show them unto you. He's going to tell you things
to come. What things? God reigns in heaven. Christ sits on the throne. He's
arranging providence. I can tell you exactly what's
gonna happen. He's gonna call out all his elect. He's gonna
regenerate them. He's gonna give them faith. He's gonna lead them to repentance,
and they're all gonna repent, and they're all gonna worship
him. How you know that? Because he does all his pleasure,
and none can stay his hand. Who gonna defeat him? You can't come in here. Oh, my soul. What we gonna shout about? Behold,
the prophet tells us, you see it there in Zechariah? Thy king
cometh unto thee. He didn't come to save the world. He wouldn't even pray for the
world, let alone save it. He wouldn't even pray for them.
The high priest would not pray for the world. That's what he
says. He didn't come to call the righteous. That's what he
told those bigwigs in Israel. I didn't come to call the righteous. Thy king cometh unto thee. Oh my soul, think about what
he's saying in this verse. When God himself robed himself
in human flesh and condescended from his throne in glory, to
be made of no reputation. That's the only way your king
can come to you. He has to become a savior. Your king has to save you, and
to save you, he has to be made of no reputation. He has to become
a servant. A servant, can you believe that?
The king of glory, a servant? Peter said, you ain't gonna wash
my feet. He couldn't in his mind conceive that the Lord of glory
would bend down and wash his feet. He said, Peter, if I don't
wash you, you don't have any part with me. He had to become a servant. He
had to live under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. He had to suffer persecution. He had to suffer hunger, pain. He had to die on a cross and
lie in a hole in the ground. He did this for me. Thy King
cometh. He cometh. Oh, and now in the
power of his spirit and the shouting of Zion's children, he comes
for thee. For who? For all those given to him by
the Father, for whom he did predestinate. Them he also called. Who's he going to call? Everybody
he predestinated. That's just so. How's he going to call them?
Irresistibly. I used to tell the folks up at
13th Street, I said, my dad was old school.
We lived in an old saltbox house, two-story log home up in northern
Ohio. Cold, man, be 20 below zero,
and you'd hear that wind through them old paned windows. You'd
hear that wind blowing through the wires in the tree. Cold,
and we'd get down in that old feather bed and get covered up
by them quilts, man, and nothing sticking out but just your head.
And you're sitting down there, and boy, the last thing in the
world you want to do is get out of that bed. And mom come over
and open the stairway door and said, come on down now, breakfast
is ready. Oh, I just sit there with them covers up. Honey, I said, get up, breakfast
is ready. She might come over to her three or four times. Pretty
soon, dad come over. Get up! You know what happened? I got up. I got up. That's the difference between
a general call and an effectual call. God tells you to get up,
you gonna get up. He tells you to come down, you
gonna come down. He gonna tell you to do this, you gonna do
this. His word is effectual. His power is irresistible. Oh. affectionately calls. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come to me. Yeah, but what about this? Ain't
no what about. They all gonna come. They all
gonna be willing in the day of his power. They're not gonna
be willing until the day of his power, but in the day of his
power, they're gonna come. Oh, what are you talking about?
I'm talking about your king coming. That's what I'm talking about.
How does he come? He comes in the gospel. He comes in the gospel. Thy king cometh unto thee. Yes,
but why? Are you listening? He's just
and having salvation. Oh, my soul. Religion said, no,
justice not even a issue. It ain't. When God revealed his glory to
Moses, he told him, he said, I keep mercy for thousands. He
told him all that, I forgive iniquity. But he said, you know
this, I will not clear the guilty. Only way God can save a sinner
is justly. Justly, that justice has to be
satisfied. There won't be any salvation
apart from his justice being satisfied. And here in this promise,
I don't know how many years, 630 years before the coming of
Christ. Here's old Zachariah, and he's
standing out there, and in the power of God's spirit, he's giving
them the promise of the gospel, this prophecy gonna be secured
in Christ. It's coming, it's coming, it's
coming. God remembers his promises. He's coming. And you rejoice and you shout. because thy king cometh and he's
just and having salvation. When God judges a man guilty,
he won't spare him. He won't spare him. You know,
in the Sunday school class this morning, well, last week, actually,
I dwelt on this about Judas. Our Lord said it'd been better
off for him, he'd never been born. God judged him guilty,
he was guilty. And God judged him guilty and
he left him in his guilt. He still let him eat though,
didn't he? Our Lord handed him a piece of bread and handed him
the wine. And he drank it. But he drank
it in idolatry and unbelief. God judges a man guilty, he guilty. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do. In Romans 3 and 20, and if you'll
read the verses that lead up to that, where he's talking about
we have before proved both Jew and Gentile, they're all under
sin. He tells you something about the nature of sin and the vacancy
of God. There's nothing there. And then
he tells them in verse 20, therefore, because of the fallen nature
of man and their ungodly works, by the deeds of the law, no flesh
can be justified in his sight. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. But God, who's rich in mercy and for his great love, wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in trespassings and sin,
he quickened us together with Christ. He put us in Christ. He put us in Christ. He didn't
leave us to stand on our own before his judgment. He put us
in Christ. He put us in a substitute. And
that substitute died, we died. When he bore the wrath of God,
we bore the wrath of God. When God raised him from the
dead and justified him, he justified us. And now Paul said we're sitting
with him in glory. Before God ever spoke light into
and upon his creation, he chose a people and his son to be blessed. That's why he chose us and put
us in, so we could be blessed. How blessed? Blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Why? That we might be holy. That is
in perfect harmony with his character. And then watch this, without
blame. Who gonna blame me? I've had
lots of folks blame me for this, that, and the other. Some of
them true and some of them what? But not in that day. Nobody's
gonna blame you. Can't blame you. You're gonna
be without blame. You're gonna be before him in
love. Our gospel is a gospel of reconciliation. God was in Christ accomplishing
this great work, not charging, the scripture said, their trespasses
unto them. Hard believing. All that time,
the whole time we were in our ignorance and out here doing
this and doing that, and still are. Still are. You sin every day. We say, yeah, I slip up every
now and then. No, you practice sin. That's what you do. You practice sin. Paul said,
the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that's
what I do. Oh, wretched man that I am. Can you say that? Who's gonna
deliver me from the body of this death? All that time, all this present
time, all them sins are charged to him. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And God exhausted his wrath on
him, and we preach him as a propitiation for our sins through faith in
his blood to declare his righteousness in the remission of sins. He's
just in having salvation. And then fifthly, what does all
this mean? Zechariah 9, 10. Look down in
the middle of the verse. He shall speak peace unto the
heathen. Isn't that what he did? Every
one of us is a heathen. Every one of us. We pretend like
we're not. We dress like we're not, but
we're heathens. Every one of us. He's going to speak peace to
the heathen and his dominion shall be from sea, even to sea,
and from the river, even to the ends of the earth. All right, so what's that mean?
That means that he has the right and power to overcome sinners,
convert sinners, create faith in sinners, and give them new
hearts, new ears, new eyes. Cannot I do with my own what
I will? Doesn't a potter have power over
the clay? I can make one vessel under honor. I can spin another
out of the same lump and make a vessel for dishonor. He has the right and power to
tear down false refuges, cause folks to repent and believe. It means when he comes into a
sinner's heart, he establishes a loving rule, and they willingly
rejoice that he does. My friend, he reigns over this
world, and he reigns over everybody in it. All right, sixthly. Zechariah 9, 12. Turn ye to the
stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I render you double, double. There's only one stronghold,
and that stronghold is Christ. He said, I give unto them. He
said, you believe not, because you're not my sheep. As I said
to you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. And I give, now listen to this, I give unto them eternal
life, and no man, they'll never perish. They'll never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You talking about
stronghold. And just in case you don't believe
strongly enough in Christ, he said, you're also in my father's
hand. And he greater than all. And
no man gonna pluck you out of his hand. You know what his next
statement was? I am the father of one. Oh, your life is hid with Christ
in God. You talk about a stronghold. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. Turn you to the refuge, turn
to God from your idols, turn from religion to the gospel,
from tradition to the word of God. There's a place where one can
hide that's safe from all that pursue him, the city of refuge. Christ is our city of refuge.
The avenger of blood can't come in. God won't permit it. Oh, you prisoners of hope. See,
we're still prisoners. This is where everybody gets
sideways in religion. I don't know why they're so hard
for, well, I do, they're blind. Got a veil over their head, they
can't see, can't hear. We're prisoners. I'm a prisoner
to this fallen nature. I bear it, I walk in it, it's
as much me. In Romans 7, Paul uses two I's. The I that does evil and the
I that would do good. And there's a struggle, it's
going on, the flesh, the flesh, the flesh. It's contrary to the
spirit so that you cannot do the things that you would. And we have within us the spirit
of the living God. And we walk, but we're prisoners,
we're prisoners. But listen, we're prisoners of
hope. We're prisoners of hope. He said, I'm going to lift you
out. You're in a pit. There's no water
down there. There's nothing to drink. And
I'm going to lift you out of that pit. Oh, you prisoners of hope, turn
to the refuge. Run to the refuge. Run to Christ. Run to him. He told that woman
at the well, if you'd ask me, I'd give you water to drink that
would never end. Never end. Everlasting. Be a
well in you springing up into everlasting life, if you'd ask.
If you'd ask. All right, Jesse, how about you
and Walter come and pass out the table?