Zechariah, Malachi, and Matthew. So it's way back there. Second to the last book of the
Bible. Zechariah chapter 13. It's like we were talking about
this morning in Bible class. Love the wife, and she's going
to love you back. Terry had to get on me for years.
Every time I'd get Wednesday night, I'd say, good morning. You got on me, Terry. You rode
me hard. Zechariah 13. I'm going to read to you just
basically verses 7-9, but we'll go back and look at some preceding
texts to see where it all starts. Obviously, you know who this
is about. The Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah 13, verse 7. Awake, O sword, against My shepherd. and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little
ones." I will turn my hand, not in anger, in comfort and in peace
to the little ones. That's you and I. And it shall
come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left
therein." The remnant. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And I will bring the third part
through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and
try them as gold is tried. The believer's life is never
an easy life. It's not easy believism. They
hated our Lord, they will despise and hate you if you speak up
for Him. And it's a good thing to be tried
with fire because the dross is what he's after, he gets rid
of that. This is what I like to look at. They shall call,
they, the, who's they? There's the third, the remnant,
the elect. They shall call on my name, says
God. and I will hear them. I will
say, it is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my God. I can hardly read that without
getting choked up. What a phrase. It is my people and they shall
say, the Lord is my God. What blessed language this is. What sweet communication these
folks, these who are mentioned in the third part, have with
God, their God. It's almost the fulfilling of
Amos chapter 3 verse 3, two walking together in complete agreement. God abiding in us. What an adoring relationship.
It's as though the dove has finally returned to the ark. The conies,
those little creatures, rabbits is what they are, are safe in
the cleft of the rock. Fellowship is reunited in and under the sacrifice of the
anointed. That, just that right there would
preach. That would be enough for us to
just close the book, and to think on that for the rest of the day
in total amazement. But when I read that, God says,
I will hear them and I will say, it is my people and they shall
say, the Lord is my God. How did we get here? How did
we get here? Because if I remember correctly,
it says in Genesis chapter 6, that the imagination of the thoughts
of man was evil continually. Right? And then let's turn to Psalms
51. David, a man after God's own heart. Psalms 51. He says in verse 5, Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity and in sin, did my mother conceive me? And yet, God says, it is my people
and they say the Lord is my God. How did this happen? It's not
just by the snap of the fingers. I heard one old hardshell say,
well, if you're one of the elect, somebody says, boo, you're going
to be sick. No. That's not how it works. You've got to hear the Gospel.
You've got to acknowledge the Gospel. Repentance, baptism,
there's all these things. But how did this happen? How
did this happen? How can this be? One such as
ourselves, born in sin and of a woman unclean. How can it be
so said that we are united to our Heavenly Father once again? Turn back to Zechariah chapter
12. And I know I've preached this
many times. I love this passage. It's another one of these passages
that I cherish. Let's look back at Zechariah
chapter 12. And in verse 9, it shall come
to pass in that day in that day. Zechariah chapter 12 verse 3,
in that day. Verse 4, in that day. Verse 6,
in that day. Verse 8, in that day. And now
we're at verse 9, in that day. I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem. This is not a step-by-step. I
don't claim this to be a step-by-step, a stepping list, a step list
of how God deals with sinners, though I'm glad it's here. I'm
glad it's in here. I don't know how the Spirit blows, convincing,
we used to sing that song, convincing men of sin. The Spirit comes,
lists where it goes. We don't know where it came from
or where it's going. I'm glad it came. Tim James said, you
know, about electricity, I don't know how it works, but I know
it works real good. So I'm not one here to explain
the intricacies because I'm a finite person. I'm trying to explain
the infinite. And as I said, one of my favorite quotes of
all time is George Whitfield, I dare not preach an unfelt Christ. So if you're looking for a strict
theological dissertation, you'll be disappointed. I do know that
he says, in that day, it's a day of visitation, he talks about
this in the New Testament, a day of visitation from the great
and terrible God. In that day, or that time, or
that season, when the good news comes to these who are sinners,
that is truly good news. We talked about that when we
were back there reading scriptures and praying for the service.
Good news, that's good news for the guilty. in that day or in
that season. And I'm not saying that you've
got to know exactly when the Lord saved you. So there are
some people who can claim that. Who do you believe them now?
Do you trust them now? Are you worshipping Him now?
I can look back and I remember that, and I remember that, and
I remember that. I remember certain things. It
was the Lord doing work. I don't know exactly when. You
talk to some pastors and they know exactly when. I'm here to
say, I'm glad it's happened. I'm glad I can say the Lord is
my God. And that's what I desire for
each and every one here. But we look back. They said it's
not a step-by-step means, it's not a Roman's road of grace,
it's not anything like that. It's a day or a season of mercy
flowing full and free. Mercy for the undeserving, grace
for the wretched, kindness for the spiritually rude. He says
again in verse 9, In that day it shall come to pass that I
will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
God will destroy all false hopes, all false resting places and
refuges. And then look at what he says
in verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, that's
that third part, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, also
that third part, the spirit of grace and of supplications. And
they shall look upon themselves to see how good they've been.
They shall look upon the law. No, they shall look upon Christ. The sovereign in the agency of
the third person, that blessed Trinity, overrules our ways and
our thoughts and our presuppositions of what we thought the truth
and what we thought grace was. Because everybody's born religious. They say they're an atheist.
They don't know what they're talking about. Everybody serves
and worships something. Money, friends, idolized people,
young people, idolized sports people, this and that. esteems something, worships something. So that day, whatever day that
is, when they hear the truth, He will pour upon the house of
David the Spirit of grace and supplication. And we know that
the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ in this book and reveals
these unto us. Not our own interpretation, not
our own understanding, but the things of Christ because we're
looking at Him. Him whom we pierced." So He'll take, He overrules our
ways and our thoughts and presuppositions of what truth and grace, what
we thought they would be. And He causes us to behold the
Lamb of God smitten, wounded and afflicted and pierced as
the text states. They shall look upon Me whom
they have pierced. They'll look upon Me whom they
have pierced. The suffering Savior, oh, the horrendous sight! We
say the ruined sinner who is coming to a knowledge of the
Gospel, a knowledge of Christ, he says, look at what my sins,
yes, we own it, look at what our sins have done to that sacred
head, now wounded. Look upon me whom they have pierced. I wasn't there. I heard one man
say, If you don't identify with what happened in the garden,
Adam and Eve, you're not going to identify with what happened
at Calvary. I wasn't there. We weren't there at Calvary either.
These are mute points because the grace of God, the Spirit
of God will take the Word of God and cast all of our supposed
wisdom and all these things out. He'll have His way. And we'll
own our sins. And it says in Isaiah, we'll
see that His visage was marred more than any man. Isaiah 52.
And also in Daniel chapter 9, we'll see that the Messiah was
cut off, but not for Himself. He could not sin. He had no sin. In verse 11-14, And that day, in that day again,
there shall be a great morning. That sounds like repentance.
Sounds like repentance. It says in New Testaments, unless
you repent, you'll all perish. And that day, there shall be
a great morning in Jerusalem, as the morning of Hadar and Raman
in the valley of Midegon. And the land shall mourn every
family apart, the family of the house of David apart, their wives
apart, the house of Nathan apart, their wives apart, the family
of the house of Levi apart, their wives apart. Basically, personally,
you can't be safe for your children. You can't be safe for your mother,
your father, your friends, your neighbors. The Lord will personally
prick their heart. Repentance is known and owned
and verbalized, mourning and ashamed of sin. All families
that remain, every family apart, with their wives apart. Chapter
13. I'm glad he doesn't leave us
there. My, oh my, no. And in that day, there's that
phrase again, and in that day, there will be a fountain opened
to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and uncleanness. God revealing himself to be both
the just and the justifier, as Romans 3 says, that glorious
blood-washing fountain opened, that sovereign, majestic, and
supreme, discriminating grace of God opened. For what? There's two phrases here, sin
and uncleanness. I looked those up in the Hebrew,
sin. It's offenses, and we see that
not only have we sinned against our neighbor and our brother
and our friend, but we've sinned mainly against God. David says
that against thee and thee only have I sinned. But I like this
second word, I've never really looked at it, for uncleanness.
Uncleanness. That simply means rejection. For all offenses and rejection. God, you say God rejected us? Depends on whose eyes you're
looking at. If you're looking eternally, no, we've always been His children.
as he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. I don't know about you, but when
the Lord starts to do something in somebody, the worst thing
you can do is try to get accurate and correct, and try to soften
the blow, try to pare off the corners. I wonder if that when he came
down and worshipped Christ at the feet of Christ and said,
made me queen, I wonder if he felt like he was rejected. Probably. You see, God's got to strip us
before he can fill us. And perhaps this is just for
our benefit. Because there's nothing so low
and there's nothing so lonely as to feel rejection. I'm just proffering things to
think about. Rise up. It's almost as though He says,
rise up, take your bed, cast all your sins upon the Savior,
lay Him at His feet, and stand and walk. Walk in newness of
life. Which incidentally is what He's
talking about in verses 2-6. The Lord has redeemed us. That's it, right? No, no. There's
going to be a life after godliness. And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names
of idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered.
And I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass
out of the land, and it shall come to pass that when any shall
yet prophesy, when his father and his mother that begat him
shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies
in the name of the Lord, and his father and his mother that
begat him shall thrust him through when he is prophesied." Verse
5, But he shall say, I am no more a prophet, I am a husbandman,
for man taught me to keep cattle for my youth. It's what he's
saying is here is idols and false teachers and false preachers. We will not support. We will
not follow. We will not bow to them any longer.
He's going to take those idols away. How can we follow these idols
any longer? His love is the theme of our
song. And to do so would be to sin against saving, redeeming
love. It would be sinning against liberty
and against servitude. Oh, thanks be to that blessed
spirit of God that shall keep us on that path to Canaan land. He doesn't just save us and then,
okay, now the rest is up to you. As a matter of fact, it says
that in Galatians. you know, made whole by the Spirit?
Are you now made perfect by the law? Are you going to try to...
Okay, I don't need you. You saved me, Lord. Now, I'm
going to... No. He never leaves us. He never
leaves or forsakes us. And we see these idols, and not
only will He cut them off, but what we thought was right is
not according to Scripture. So we just cast that off. And
these prophets that are once lying upon God or are lying on
God, we don't want to have anything to do with them. They don't have anything to do
with them whatsoever. So we walk in newness of life. Trials and
hardships abound, yes, but the servant is not above his master
yet. In it all, the Lord has promised
to lead and to feed and to conquer all our foes. He does so. My sheep hear my voice. Okay, so we're walking, we're
sojourning. That was Saturday. We put all
these things by the grace of God behind us. And now what? You know what I love about the
Scriptures? Let me read it. Awake, O sword! Well, in verse
6, And one shall say unto him, What are the wounds in thine
hands? And he answered, Those with which
I was wounded in the house of my friends. That's prophecy about
Christ. So my point is, is the believer
never, doesn't want to, get away from the gospel. Now, I thought
about this last couple of days. The men that I know, and the
men that you know, that we know, I would say this, these men consistently,
frequently, You go 10 years ago and listen to Henry. You go 20
years ago, you listen to Henry. You listen to Scott. You go on
Sermon Audio, you listen to George Whitfield, John Bunyan. You listen to these men that
we know, that we've had in. They always get to Christ. That's the difference. These
other men, and there's other men out there that say they're
believers. And I've sent you some information, I've never
heard of them, don't know them. You listen. Because there's a
lot of good stuff in here. But the scriptures teach of Christ. The text teaches about husbands
and wives. All scripture is given is profitable. I'm not saying
you can't Go turn here and teach about children, teach about giving,
teach about the grace of giving and loving and this and that.
But it all centers, Christ is the hub. It all centers around
Christ. And that's what concerned me
a little bit when you got a message, I won't say who it is, a 25 point
message, 25 sermons on how to repent. And I told you this story once
before, And it bears repeating, Moose Parks, the issue of the
day down at the islands was abortion. And he says, well, he got tired
of hearing about it, so he said, well, I'm going to preach some
mess on abortion. And he studied, and of course, Moose Parks, if
you know him, a theological mind, it was perfect. It was outlined
perfect. It was up and down, what the scripture says about
abortion. He said the problem was a visitor came in And he
never saw him again. And the Lord convicted him, and
I'm glad he told me this story because it's really meant a lot
to me. He said, knowing what the Bible says about abortion
will save nobody. And he said the Lord rebuked
him and convicted him that he had an opportunity to tell that
woman the gospel and he didn't. He said, I was accurately, biblically
accurately about what abortion says. And I don't believe in
abortion. We shouldn't have it. But we're
in a sinful world. But for me to stand behind a
pulpit and pontificate the virtues of not drinking, and not having
an abortion, and doing this and doing that, and then your kids
are here, and they need to hear the truth, and we need to hear
the truth. We're still sinners. We're the greatest of sinners.
And the only thing that's going to help is to hear of Christ, Again,
and I believe that's what Paul was saying, I've determined not
to know anything among you, save Christ being crucified. And if
that is somewhat offensive, I make no apologies. I make no apologies. So he says, again, what does
he do? He goes right back into the Gospel.
Awake, verse 7, O sword against my shepherd, and against the
man that was my fellow, I'll smite the shepherd, and the sheep
will be scattered. But I will, God will take care
of, His hands will be on the little ones. One thing I like
about verse 7, Christ is the great shepherd, the man. Christ was God, and yet He was
man. Explain that? I'm not going to
try to. The shepherd against the man. If He wasn't a man, He couldn't
honor God's law, that needed to be honored and couldn't take
our sins as our substitute and satisfy and give us his righteousness,
which we need. So the believer's daily nourishment
comes to the cleansed, back in verse 1, For sin and uncleansing,
it comes to those who are cleansed to always have their kinsman-redeemer
before us. This is not a one and done sojourn.
We constantly need to feed upon Him as He does abide in us and
we in Him. We keep coming unto Him, says
1 Peter 2. This is not an easy believism
decision. It's not what I call a mantelpiece
God. You come Sunday, you bring your God with you, You go home,
you take them and you put them up on a mantle. We'll talk about
Him next time we get together with these fanatical folks. No, it's not a mantle. He's not
a mantle God. It's not a mantle gospel. We
feed, we walk, we sit, we dine. We are continually living upon
the daily bread. The daily bread. And as I said,
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, He's determined not to know anything
among us. Now that means we're sober and we talk about Christ,
but we have to live. We render under Caesar what's
Caesar's. We go to our jobs. We work. We're good stewards
of what we have. But everything we do, everything
we have is tainted, saturated with the love of the Lord Jesus
Christ for us. And as He keeps us and as we
behold all the promises in Christ Jesus for us, and as we acknowledge
and hope and trust solely and singularly and steadfastly upon
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we can boldly say,
the Lord is my God. That's what we can say. Why do
we love Him? Because He first loved us. I
will say, says God, it is My people. And they shall say, the
Lord is my God. That's how we got there. And
I'm glad we're here. And we're going to keep being
here. And we're going to keep gathering
together in this little place called Jackson, Missouri. This
little hole in the wall. This little oasis. Because we
want to be. That's why Bruce and I have always
agreed that that plate is going to stay back there. We're going
to pass it. And other places pass it. I have no problem with
that. Voluntarily, willing, He makes His people willing in the
day of His power. And aren't you glad? He has made
us His people whom He foreknew. And you can boldly say, He is
my God. And then, as we've been looking
at, started this last Wednesday, all the promises in Christ are
for you. What a blessed God. As Maurice
would say, hallelujah, what a Savior. Brandon, would you close us please?