All spiritually strong, strong
in faith, strong in grace, strong in knowledge. Brother Joe Terrell once said,
Christians and preachers are like a red wasp. They never are
any bigger than when they're first born. There was a time when I thought
I was strong. If there was anything on this
earth religious folks could be against, I was against it. Any
way I could stand out in the crowd, I stood out in the crowd,
I thought I was strong. Religious zealots, now listen
to me, religious zealots are never strong. I've never seen
the program, I understand it's a program on TV called The Weakest
Link. They're the weakest link. They always are the weakest link
and think they're strongest. I think I've told you before,
back in 1989 or 1990, I was preaching out in California and a young man came up to me and wanted
to know if I could answer a few questions for him. He needed
some help. And I said, well, of course. And the next words
out of his mouth were these, you should know that I'm really
strong in the Lord. I smiled and said, well, I don't
see how I can help you because I'm not. And I walked off and
got me a bite to eat. Since that time, I believe God's
made that young man strong in the Lord. If the Lord will be pleased,
to speak through his servant today. I have a message for you
who are not so strong, for you who are weak. I want to talk
to you about the strength God gives, and you'll find our text
in Zechariah chapter 10, verse 12. Now, I don't need to remind
you that Zechariah 10 is a prophecy about the salvation the triune
God performs for and gives to chosen sinners in Christ. This prophecy of Zachariah describes
that great work of grace that Christ, who is just and having
salvation, Zion's King, our Lord Jesus, describing that salvation
that he performs when he comes and speaks peace to the sinners
and sends forth prisoners out of the pit by the blood of his
covenant. When he hisses for and gathers
his own elect, whom he has redeemed, he declares in verse 12, And
I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up
and down in his name, saith the Lord. What precious words of
grace. how sure and certain they are.
These are the words, not of a man, but of God our Savior, and they
are certain to come to pass. He says, I will strengthen them,
and they shall walk. His promises are all yea and
amen. That is, they certainly are to
be believed because they certainly shall come to pass. The strength
which God promises to give to his elect is Jesus Christ himself. Christ is the strength as well
as the righteousness of his redeemed. He is the strength given and
the strengthener of his people. Now let me say this at the outset. If at any time we are strengthened
in grace, strengthened in faith, strengthened in love, strengthened
in understanding, strengthened in anything having to do with
anything spiritual, it is the work of God our Savior. If I
am at any time drawn to God in sweet fellowship and communion,
if at any time as I attempt to utter words of prayer my heart
goes out to God in prayer, The only sweet, constraining, irresistible
force that accomplishes that is God Himself drawing me. If at any time you enjoy some
fresh, delightful revelation of Christ, If at any time your
heart is lifted a little above this earth, if at any time you're
unable to walk with God just for a little while in sweet communion,
I'm talking about manifest sweet communion, it is because He has
drawn you to Himself. Not because you have exercised
diligently, not because you have performed the right things for
yourself. I was preparing this message I've been working on
it a while and read lots of things. And folks always seem to, just
determined always somehow to get something in there in which
the flesh can glory. Now, the way you grow in strength
is by exercise. Well, that's true physically,
I reckon, but it's not true spiritually. You can exercise all you want. But godliness, which is just
the form, the exercise, won't improve your strength. It takes
something else, something you can't muster, something you can't
perform. It takes God taking his word
and burning it in your heart. Not once, not twice, but as it's
opened and read, it takes God meeting with his people, making
the worship of his saints blessed to their souls. It takes something
more than just outward exercise in religion. It takes God working
in us always, always. It is by the special mercy the
special grace, the distinguishing love of our Almighty Heavenly
Father, that Christ is ours. And as He who gives His darling
Son gives with Him all things freely, He gives us here strength
in Him. Our text describes the blessedness
of those sinners who are the highly favored objects of God's
love and grace. the objects of the Father's free
everlasting love, the Son's effectual blood atonement, and the Spirit's
almighty irresistible grace. It was God our Father, God our
Savior, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who from old eternity,
as the old writers used to say, contrived That is, ordered, willed,
appointed, and predestined the great work of salvation that
we proclaim in the gospel. It was the triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, who chose Christ as our surety and our
Savior, the one who would come and bear all our sins and fulfill
all righteousness for us and bring us at last into heavenly
glory. It is God the blessed Spirit
the spirit of grace and supplication, who bestows the gift and strengthens
chosen sinners in Jesus Christ with salvation. What a blessed,
holy, compassionate, gracious God we have. May He fulfill this
promise in our hearts today, fulfill it daily in our souls,
that we may walk before Him in faith. All right, let's look
at this 12th verse of Zechariah 10. The promise is written plainly. It's talking about this time
when God comes in the revelation of His Son. When God comes and
hisses for His own, and gathers them to Himself. If the Lord
God will hiss for you today. If He will gather you to Himself
today, He'll fulfill this promise in you today. And He will continue
to fulfill it throughout your days on this earth. If He has
gathered you to Christ, this is the promise He makes to you.
I will strengthen them in the Lord. And those who are strengthened
in the Lord shall walk up and down in the name, or in my name,
I'm sorry, in his name, saith the Lord. Now the first thing
that's obvious to me as I read this passage is something that's
not stated, but rather is implied, and that is weakness. Those to whom this promise is
made are folks who find themselves weak. Weak. There is nothing promised in
this text to the strong, to the mighty. Who should give strength
to the mighty? Why should strength be given
to one who is not weak? Only the weak shall be made strong. I've said this repeatedly. I keep on saying it because I
need to hear it myself and you do. The Lord God, read this book
carefully, when He speaks what He does, it never speaks of God
giving life and death, not one time. It never speaks of God
taking men from low and lifting them up. But rather it speaks
of God as being that one who kills and makes alive. who empties and fills, who abases
and lifts up, who strips and clothes, who wounds and heals. I take that to be a clear indication. You will never be given life
until God kills you. Oh, Brother Don, all of us are
born dead. They sure are. Find me a dead
fellow. Find me one. You find me a sinner dead before
God, I'll find you a sinner who's been made alive before God. God will never clothe you until
He strips you. He will never quench your thirst
until He makes you thirsty. He will never feed you until
He makes you hungry. He will never fill you until
He empties you. He will never exalt you with
His grace until He abases you. And he will never give you strength
until he makes you weak. That which needs strengthening
is weakness, and weakness is what we are. And I don't know if I can stand
becoming any weaker. When Paul, Saul of Tarsus, first
speaks as a young apostle, a young preacher. He was a grown man,
but he was a young preacher. He said, I am less than the least
of all saints. That's some statement. I am less
than the least of them. As he moved along a little bit,
he said, I'm less than all the apostles. I'm the lowest of all
of them. Just before he died, he wrote,
I'm the chief of sinners. The more he grew, the weaker
he got. Not a pretense weakness, a real
weakness. The more he knew the Lord, the
more convinced he was, he knew little of Him. Our Lord Jesus
said, without me, you can do nothing. That's another one of those statements.
You'll be smart to carry that just as far as you can carry
it. Without me, you can do nothing.
You can't know anything. Without me, you can't know God. Without me, you can't please
God. Without me, you can't approach
God. Without me, you can't walk with
God. Without me, you can be of no
benefit to anyone. I am personally, always have
been, a fairly strong man physically and even emotionally. But spiritually,
I am a man of utter weakness. And I thank God I'm learning
something about that. Turn to the 102nd Psalm. Psalm
102. Verse 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let
my cry come unto Thee. Hide not Thy face from me in
the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in
the day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed
like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart
is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat
my bread. because of thine indignation
and thy wrath, for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that
declineth, and I am withered like grass." When Daniel saw
that great vision of the Lord Jesus given to him in Daniel
chapter 10, he said, there remained no strength in me. For my comeliness
was turned into corruption, and my comeliness was turned in me
into corruption, and I retained no strength." Do you find yourself
like that? We are weak-headed. Weak-headed. I'm not talking
about natural things. I'm talking about spiritual things.
The head is the seat of knowledge. understanding, wisdom. The head
is the seat of remembrance. The head is that which we equate
with knowledge. And the fact is, with regard
to this man and you, the whole head is sick and the whole heart
faint. So that we can understand nothing
aright except Christ by His Spirit teaching. We can know nothing
right except Christ by His Spirit give us understanding. We can remember nothing properly
except Christ by His Spirit call His grace perform for us and
in us to our remembrance. We are weak headed. We have a
worse problem. We're weak hearted. Ager said,
I neither learned wisdom nor have I knowledge of the Holy.
Job said, canst thou by searching find out God? No, and we can't
know him in our hearts. The heart, oh, how weak is thine
heart, saith the Lord. The seed of our affections. The heart. The heart is deceitful above all things. The heart. The heart. Deceitful above all
things. And you dead sure don't know
it. Who can know it? Who can know it? Oh, how weak
is this heart of mine. Strong and stiff and hard as
steel with regard to everything carnal, fleshly, earthly, everything. With regard to everything toward
which this heart ought to withdraw and flinch, it's hard, firm,
resolved. with regard to all things spiritual. How weak. Set your affection. That's set your heart on things
above. My son, give me your heart. And the response ought to be
immediate and lasting. Oh, my God, yes! I will set my
affection on Christ alone. I will give my heart to Christ
alone. But daily, I find myself setting
my affection elsewhere and giving my heart elsewhere to my own
self. The heart's deceitful above all
things. Desperately wicked. And we're
weak-handed. The hand, somebody said the hand represents
work. It does everywhere except in
this book. Everywhere except in this book. You know what the
hand represents in this book? Faith. Faith. The hand is that by which
we receive any gift offered. Get your gift. My birthday folks
give me gifts. I just get them. Just take them
with a hand. That's exactly how we receive
Christ. Believing Him. So as many as
received Him to then give you power to become the sons of God.
The hand speaks of faith in Christ by which we lay hold on the Son
of God. by which we hold Him and we have
received Him, we have laid hold on Him, we hold Him in the hand
of faith. Oh, how weak this hand. How weak this hand. I'm so thankful
that that same faith which speaks of us receiving and holding Christ
is described as seeing Christ. It's even described as something
less than that. It's described as looking to
Christ. Whosoever sees Him lives, but
that's not all. If any man look, he shall live. Look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. I'm
the Lord. I'm God. Beside me there is none else.
Look. It takes eyes to see. But a stone cold blind man can
look. Look. Look. Weak in my head. Weak in my heart. And the more I realize that,
the more I understand that it is not my hold of Christ that
saves me, but His hold of me. It is not my holding Him that
preserves me, but Him holding me. It is not my seeing Him that
keeps me, but His seeing me. It is not my looking to Him that
gives me life, but He is looking to me. Oh, but God, don't we
have to look? Yes. Don't we have to see? Yes.
Don't we have to hold? Yes. Yes. And we're responsible
to see and responsible to hold fast. But the only reason we see is
because He continually gives us light. And the only reason
we hold fast is because He continually holds us. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4. Now I want you to see this. I want
you to see this fact clearly. Verse 7. We have this treasure. Has the God of glory opened the
windows of heaven and opened your heart and dropped into your
soul the treasure of His grace and salvation? Look where He
dropped it. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Earthen vessels. Went to the auction Saturday
night somewhere and they had found some clay pots somebody
had made. Not rare, exquisite clay pots,
just clay pots. Just clay pots. Some child's
kindergarten class pottery. Just clay pots. And you picked
that up and looked at it. That looks like something one
of my kids might have made. Let me look at that. And you
drop it. And it shatters. That's the word
used here. We have this treasure in broken,
empty, dirty clay pots. That's where God put it. in broken, empty, dirty clay
pots. And he did it deliberately that
the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Don't be surprised if you're made deeply and daily
sensible of your weakness, of being frail and broken and dirty
vessel into which God communicates the treasure of his grace. Don't be overcome, overwhelmed
by the fact that you are startled by your inward corruption. In our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Our souls cleave to the dust. The depth of our soul's depravity,
the corruption of our hearts, the evil of our nature, should
not destroy our confidence in God, but only increase it. I used the word should, didn't
I? I promise you, the knowledge
of who and what you are will not destroy, but will only increase
your confidence in God. I promise you. A man who thinks he stands is headed for a fall. They who
think more highly of themselves than they ought to think are
utterly useless. This is the thing I want you
to see. It is the will of God. It is by divine arrangement that
the heavenly treasure of God's grace and salvation in Christ,
that which makes us rich for eternity, is lodged and broken
pieces of empty, dirty clay pots like you and me, so that no flesh
glory in his presence, so that you have nothing in which to
boast, nothing. You can stick your thumbs in
your lapels or pop your suspenders and strut and say, now there,
look here, I'm better than you. I'm not like other men are. I'm
not like these fellas are. I'm not perfect. I wouldn't say
that. Oh, Larry Brown, I ain't like
him. Now look at the strength promised.
Back here in that text. I will strengthen them in the
Lord. The strength he's talking about
here is Christ himself. Christ is made of God unto us
strength, just as he is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Moses sang, the Lord is my strength
and my song and has become my salvation. When God comes in
saving mercy, he makes Christ to be our strength. The psalmist said, the Lord is
my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him and I am
helped. The Lord is my strength and my
soul and he has become my salvation. Christ is the strength of our
hearts. Christ is the strength of our
heads, our understanding. Christ is the strength of our
heads, the strength of faith. He has made himself our strength
by making himself weakness before God. Turn to Psalm 22. How does God make His Son to
be strength? He made His Son to be strength
for us in exactly the same way He made His Son to be righteousness
and salvation and sanctification and redemption for us. When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
upon the cursed tree and was made sin for us, When he bore the horrid wrath
of God's terrible justice till justice was fully satisfied.
When he was forsaken by his father as our substitute. When he claimed
our iniquities, our transgressions, our guiltinesses as his own because
he was made sin for us. Listen to what he says in Psalm
22, 15. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws,
and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. You see, weakness is directly connected with sin. I'm not talking about physical
weakness, though certainly in this case that's included. But
weakness, spiritual weakness, Darwin, is directly associated
with sin. You can't separate the two. When
Adam was in the garden, he didn't know anything about weakness.
He knew nothing about spiritual weakness, moral weakness, physical
weakness, mental weakness, heart weakness. He knew nothing about
weakness. He was made a perfect man. But as soon as sin is found
in him, He begins to wither and die. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us, He was made weakness for us. And
He was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And He was made weakness that He might be made our strength.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 12. When the Lord God visits redeemed
sinners in saving grace by the mighty operations of His Holy
Spirit in irresistible, omnipotent mercy. Christ has made our strength. Isaiah 12, And in that day thou
shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast angry
with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.
How is that? Behold, God is my salvation.
I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength. He's my strength and my soul.
He also has become my salvation. When my strength and hope perished
from the Lord, he made Christ my strength. This is how the
Spirit of God describes the transformation work of God, the Holy Spirit,
in the center. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 34,
out of weakness we are made strong. Out of weakness we are made strong.
When the Lord Jesus has made strength to his people, God gives
this commandment. You can read it later in Joel
chapter 3. Let the weak say, I'm strong. Let the weak say, I'm strong. That's kind of like Don Fortner
standing up here saying, I'm righteous. That's kind of like
Don Fortner standing up here saying, I'm without sin. Well,
you can't say that. Oh, I better say that. I better
be able to declare that. In Jesus Christ, I am righteous
with His spotless garments on, holy as God's own Son. In Jesus
Christ, I am without sin. He put my sin away, and they
shall never be charged to me. Never. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, I've just spent a good
bit of time acknowledging my weakness. Let me tell you something. I am strong. I am strong, so strong that I
can say with absolute confidence, I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. Not the silly nonsense you see
in the religious world. When I was in school up in Missouri,
they had a judo team or a karate team, I forgot what it was. They'd
go around and have evangelism classes. I know fellows who get
involved in this stuff today. And they go put on demonstrations
in high school and break bricks with their heads and kick through
boards with their feet and all that stupid stuff and call it,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That ain't
it. But in Christ I'm strong because He's my strength. You're
going to persevere? I reckon I will because Christ
is my strength. You're going to continue believing
to the end? I reckon I will because Christ is my strength. Can you
understand what God reveals in His Word? I reckon I can, because
Christ is my strength. Can you walk with God? I reckon
I can. Christ is my strength. This is
what it is to be, as Paul prayed for the Ephesians and I pray
for you, strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. It is to have Christ dwell in
your hearts by faith. that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of God that
passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness
of God. Hast thou not known? Hast thou
not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, giveth power to
the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength? And when Christ becomes our strength,
when he's made strength unto us, he strengthens us. I read something, I can't tell
you how many times I've read it, but I never really grasped
it like I did earlier this morning. In Hosea chapter 12 verse 3,
listen to this, Jacob took his brother by the heel in the And by his strength he had power
with God. That unborn baby flexed his muscles and grabbed
hold of Esau's heel and pulled him back. No. But Christ is strength did. Christ
is strength did. When Christ has made strength
to us, He strengthens us. He says, thy shoes shall be iron
and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. O Lord,
be gracious unto us, the prophet cried. We have waited for thee. Be thou their arm every morning,
and our strength also in the time of trouble. God teach me and teach you every
day When you open your eyes and start to get out of bed and slosh
a little water on your face or take that first sip of coffee,
remember, I will strengthen them, he said. I will strengthen them. You get up in the morning, start
to get dressed for work. You've got a hard day's work
ahead of you, but man, I've done this in the past. I have a strength
enough to get it done today, and you go on. After he'd done
it for a little while, Brother Darwin was talking, I think,
just privately to me, it might have been in one of the messages,
I can't remember, but he said, it used to be, go to bed at midnight,
get up at five o'clock in the morning, ready to hit it again.
Oh, he's got plenty of strength, got plenty of strength. It's
beginning to fade now, though, isn't it? That happens. But not with Christ our strength. Not with Christ our strength.
When you get up in the morning, hear Him say, I will strengthen
them. I'll tell you three things you've
got to face new every day. Every day, new temptation. And the Lord God says, I will
strengthen you. I'll make a way of escape that
you may be able to bear it. Every day, some new affliction. It may be a small thing, it may
be a huge thing. Every day, some new affliction,
some new heartache, some new trouble. Every day. The Lord
says, I'll strengthen them. Every day, some new duty, some
new work to be performed, some new benefit to be given, some new
act of worship before God, some new mercy to one of his people,
some conflict within that must be resolved, some lust that must
be subdued. And Christ says, I'll strengthen
them. Now look at the text again. Look what it says. They shall walk up and down in
his name, saith the Lord." Walking implies ease, comfort, confidence. Walk. Walk. When I was a boy, I used to go
up to Red Shield Boys Club. I was just a kid. When I was
six years old, I'd walk over there several miles from home.
Things were different in those days. Get up and leave, just
a crack of daylight. Be gone all day long and come
home, say just as late as I could get by with staying out. By the
time I'd get home, it'd be getting dark. And there was a shortcut. There's a shortcut. And I remember
this back in 1956, 57. And black folks and white folks
didn't mix together much. And there was a shortcut going
down this alley right through the section of town where all
the black folks lived. And I wasn't wanted there any
more than they were wanted in the street where I lived. But
I was a big boy. I was a big boy. And I wasn't
near as afraid of them as I was of being late when I got home
and my mama catch me. So I'd start down this road. And I'd
get just a little ways down that road and I'd get to picking up
my pace. And then I'd see a light come on. I'll go. I mean run
like a dog was on my trail. Then fast to get out of there.
How come? Because I'm scared to death. I don't do much running anymore. Anywhere. Because Christ is my
strength. And I'm walking up to glory. though I walk down here. Walking
up to God though I walk down into trouble. Walking up to everlasting
happiness though I walk down in sorrow. Walking up to life
everlasting. When I walk down to the grave, Take the Word of God home with
you. He says, I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall
walk up and down in His name, trusting Christ, saith the Lord. Amen.