Let's turn together to Zechariah
chapter 9. I remind you that the children
of Israel had just recently been brought out of Babylonian bondage
after 70 years of captivity and had been brought back to Jerusalem.
Here the Lord God speaks to his ancient people Israel, the nation
he had preserved as no other nation was ever preserved. Though others attempt to destroy
them, this nation was distinctly and remarkably preserved. Throughout
their history, the Jews had been distinctly preserved, remarkably,
manifestly preserved in a way that no other nation was, preserved
as a people. Though they dwelt in Egypt for
400 years, that's a long time to live anywhere for a nation.
They dwelt in Egypt for 400 years, but they never became Egyptians.
They didn't even become, as political correctness today would say,
Israeli Egyptians. They were never absorbed into
the land. In fact, they even lived in a
separate part of the land. They lived in a section called
Goshen, though they wandered in the wilderness among other
nations for 40 years, wandering here and there for 40 years.
Nation after nation, they never became a part of any of those
nations. Though during the days of the judges, they were delivered
to their adversaries again and again and again because of their
transgressions, yet they were never made a part, not one time,
of those people. And the children of Israel were
established as a distinct kingdom publicly with a king of their
own. From that day forward, they were at war incessantly, yet
they were preserved as a nation. And then during the years of
Babylonian captivity, they were for 70 years held captives to
a pagan people, but distinctly preserved as an individual nation
called by the name of Jehovah's Israel. No other nation ever
experienced such distinct Why were they preserved distinctly
as a nation when other nations were absorbed one after the other
into various nations around them? Why not this nation? Because
God had made a covenant with the father of this nation. Back
in Genesis chapter 15, God made a covenant with Abraham. and
promised that he would establish his people as a distinct nation
whom he would preserve. A covenant that was made for
them and with them before ever any of these people were born.
That's the reason God preserved them. And you will recall it
was a bloody covenant. The seal and sign of that covenant
was circumcision. You remember that when Zipporah
was required to circumcise her youngest son, she cast the foreskin
at Moses' feet and said, surely thou art a bloody husband, a
bloody husband to me because of the circumcision. So in Zechariah
chapter 9, in our text this morning at verse 11, the Lord God says
to the children of Israel who had just come back from Babylon,
as for thee also, By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth
thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Now I have
shown you countless times, but it will bear repetition. All
these things the Holy Spirit tells us happened unto them for
examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom
the ends of the world are come. All these things I have just
spoken to you concerning the nation of Israel, all that happened
with that physical nation and the nation itself, all that they
experienced throughout their history as a nation in the Old
Testament was done by God's providence and designed by God to be typical
of his people today, his church, called the Israel of God. called
an holy nation by the Spirit of God. We are distinctly identified
as God's holy nation, not a physical nation. Forget that, but a spiritual
nation. The Church of God is distinctly
called the Israel of God in this book. So as to make us understand,
God's plan and purpose for the world has got nothing, if you
hear it, zero, zilch, nothing. Is that clear enough? To do with
those folks who live on the other side of the water. God's plan
for the ages has nothing to do with the Israeli-Arab conflict.
That's just a diversion to confuse reprobates. God's whole purpose
is the saving of his Israel, his church. And everything that
happened in the Old Testament was typical of what God does
in the saving of his people today. This is what we've seen thus
far in Zechariah 9. The whole chapter, the whole
chapter is clearly identified as speaking about the coming
of Christ and our redemption by him, the grace of God that's
ours in him, and the salvation he accomplished. Behold, thy
king cometh. And this is the context in which
we find our text. Here in verse 11, we have God's
declaration to his church that the basis of our deliverance,
the basis of our salvation is the blood of the covenant that
he made with us in Christ our surety before the world began. Read the words and read them
as God addresses them to you. As for thee also, by the blood
of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein is no water." All the time I've been preparing this
message, I've been praying, God, will you be pleased by the blood
of your covenant today, by the preaching of your word and the
power of your spirit to send forth your prisoners out of the
pit in which they're held. Now, let's see if I can give
you some contextual background to bring all this together. All
believers have some share in the covenant that God made with
Abraham. It was a covenant he made for Abraham who is described
in the scriptures as the father of the faithful. We who trust
the Lord Jesus Christ, believing sinners, are true Jews, not outwardly,
inwardly. Being a child of Abraham in this
biblical sense of the word in the New Testament has nothing
to do with physical lineage. But they that believe the same
are the children of Abraham. That's the language of the New
Testament. We're not the children of Abraham according to the flesh.
Isaac was a child of Abraham according to the flesh, but so
was Ishmael. That's right. Those Arabs over
there, just as much children of Abraham after the flesh as
the Israelites are. Just as much so with this difference. Ishmael was a child of bondage
and works. Isaac was a child of promise.
And Ishmael portrays all who seek to save themselves. Isaac
portrays all who are saved according to the promise of God's covenant,
the promise of God's spirit, the promise of God's grace. We
are the children of Abraham then, not after the flesh, but after
the spirit and after the promise. Abraham is the father of them
that believe. And we who are born of God are
called the children of Abraham, as the Jews of old were typically
preserved, miraculously preserved. How else can you explain it?
How else can you explain those folks being preserved as a nation
through all the things you know they went through? And we don't
know much of what they went through. How else can you explain it except
they were miraculously preserved as a nation amidst all horrible
circumstances a nation could go through? Just as they were
preserved because they were a chosen people. to typify God's chosen
people, the church of his elect. We, the church of God, his elect,
are preserved in this world, preserved through the ages of
time, preserved among all the nations where God has scattered
us in his wrath since the fall of our father Adam, but scattered
that he might gather us again to himself. And so we have our
own connection with this covenant God made with Abraham, because
the covenant God made with Abraham was just a glimpse, just a glimmer
if you will, a light picture of the covenant He made with
us in Jesus Christ before the world began, of which we read
in Jeremiah 31, 32, Hebrews 8, Hebrews 13. This covenant. was the picture, the covenant
God made with Abraham was the beginning of the picture of that
covenant God made with us in Christ and would reveal finally
when the death, burial, and resurrection of our Redeemer in all His fullness.
David spoke of it this way, although my house be not so with God,
yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things. I like that. Ordered in all things. Man, I like order, don't you?
I like everything in its place. I get a little testy when somebody
moves something out of its place and didn't put it back in my
office. I just, I like things in their place. God put everything
in its place before the world was ordered in all things and
sure have come because God ordered it and because Christ is the
surety of that covenant. And David said, this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
That is to say that this covenant, in all that it entails, in all
its accomplishment, this covenant Both in that which is revealed
and that which is yet secret. This covenant which involves
the whole of God's providence throughout the ages of time.
This covenant that is the salvation of my soul. That's all I want. Even when I can't see things
like I ought to. Now let's look at Zechariah 9
verse 11 together. Everything in our text speaks
of this covenant. As for thee also, by the blood
of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein is no water." I'm going to show you three things, and
I'll be as brief as possible. First, let's talk a little bit
about the prisoners in prison, and then talk about the prisoners
in covenant, and then talk about the blood of the covenant by
which the prisoners are set free. The first thing our Lord tells
us is this, we were all by nature prisoners, prisoners in a pit. Wherein is no water. But we were,
even then, in that prison, in our fallen state, before ever
we knew anything about the grace of God. No prisoners. We were
prisoners in a covenant relationship with God Almighty. Ron, that explains a whole lot. That explains why nobody killed
me, though they wanted to when I was a boy. That explains why
I didn't kill myself, though I wanted to when I was a boy.
That explains why I didn't go to hell when I lived my fist
in God's face. That explains a lot. I was a
prisoner in a pit, a pit where there's no water. But I was his
prisoner in a covenant relationship with him, though I had no idea
who he was. A prisoner, oh, I remember what
that's like. A prisoner is one who has no
liberty. No liberty and no rights. Now
I know that's not true today. Our courts are backlogged with
prisoners who think they have rights, and the courts say they
do. That's another sermon for another
place. A prisoner, a prisoner is in a pit with no liberty and
no rights. None whatever. We were carnal,
sold under sin, in bondage to our lust. taken captive by Satan
at his will. Oh, like others, we boasted of
our free will. We thought we were the captains
of our souls, the masters of our destiny. One of the most
popular things folks talk about on television when they see difficulty, I watch these fellows as much
as I can stomach them. Bill O'Reilly, fairly conservative,
fairly liberal, but fairly conservative. But he's a devoted papist. And
every time some trouble comes up, you know what he says? God
gave man free will. That's just about the silliest,
most absurd, ridiculous thing any sane man ever imagined. Free will? Go find somebody on
a chain gang with their manacles around their ankles chained to
a hundred other men with a fellow sitting over them with a shotgun
and tell him he's free if he want to. That's closer to freedom
than man's freedom. Free will? Free. We were prisoners,
not with chains on our arms and legs, but with iron chains in
our hearts, in our minds, and in our soul, and we couldn't
change anything. And bondage. You see, man's will
is just part of his fallen nature, just part of his fallen nature.
So if I have a strong will, I don't doubt that is, but free, that's
another story. If I have a powerful will, you may have, but free,
that's another story. That's another story. Your will
is what you are, corruption, bondage, and sin. That's all. That's all. A prisoner not only
has lost liberty, escape from his prison is impossible. He knows that. I've been there. Oh, I longed
for freedom, freedom from the lust of my flesh, passions of
my heart, those things that were destroying me. I longed for it. Lived in confusion, but I longed
for freedom. I knew the things that I loved
were killing me, and I hated them at the same time I loved
them. I knew it. I knew something going on in here, wasn't I? And
I'd get a little dose of religion, and some fool would tell me I
was free. And I'd shake my arms and rattle
my chains and say, well, I'm free! But I was just as tightly
bound as ever I was before. Last God, the Holy Spirit, caused
the grip of hell to get hold of my soul. And I knew there
was no escape. Oh, I'd pray, try to, just mutter
words. I'd read this book and read meaningless
words. I'd go to God's house, hope to
hear A little bit more of what I'd hear about pardon and redemption
and grace. Oh, how those words sounded sweet
beyond compare. But I never dreamed there was
any for me. I'd go hear the word of God, but all I could hear
was the word of a man reading the word of God. I tried to believe. I did. Just like many of you.
I've heard you say many times, I want to believe. I try to believe.
I try. And you know what I believe you're telling me the truth?
I know you're telling me the truth. I know you are. I know
you are. Don't you believe a man is responsible
to believe? I know he is, but he can't. I know he is, but he
can't. He can't do it. We don't try to twist arms and
manipulate minds and talk people into making a profession of faith.
All that stuff is what religious folks do who have no concern
for God's glory or your soul. I mean no concern. Well, what
do you do? Wait for God the Holy Spirit
to do what He alone can do. I tried to believe and couldn't
believe. Had I known them, I could have used Paul's words to describe
exactly what I felt in that prison. To will was present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I found not. I thirsted. Oh, how I thirsted for some relief,
for some refreshment, but I was in a prison wherein is no water. Those ancient prisons. They weren't
like these palaces they build today in country clubs and call
them prisons. They were pits. They just dig a deep hole. Not
a very big hole, just a deep hole. And they'd throw fellows
in the pit and put a rock over top of the pit so that just glimmering
rays of light would come through at the very best. And some folks
died in the pits. A lot of folks died in the pits.
Men be cast in that pit. with nothing to sustain him,
no food, no water, shut out from light and life, darkness in him
and around him, standing in his own waste and in the waste of
others who had been in the pit before him, nothing around him
but dead men's bones who had died in the pit. Corruption,
just corruption and darkness, corruption and darkness and bondage,
nothing else. That's all that's in humanity
by nature, in this pit, pit cursed, carrying with it the curse of
God's holy law and condemnation, a pit we deserve to be cast into.
That's where we were when the Lord Jesus came to us in saving
grace. But now look at the second thing.
We were prisoners, but we were covenant prisoners. God's elect. are prisoners. That is to say, they are, while
they live in this world, without faith in Christ until Christ
gives them life and faith in himself, they are prisoners in
the same condition, in the same shape, as everyone else. Sometimes fools, usually young
ones, sometimes older fellows are just as bad, but usually
young ones, they'll get hold of a little doctrinal truth in their
I think I know who God's elect are when I see them. I feel this
way toward them, or I sense this about them. I've heard preachers
say, well, I don't know who God's elect, but I believe he is. I
think the Lord's going to save him. I wonder how you can tell. They all look just like to me,
and they all smell just like to me, and I know the smell well. No, no, there's no distinction.
No distinction at all that any man can see, not even a mother
or a father. as to who God's elect are, who
they're not, until God calls them by his grace. They're prisoners
in a pit with darkness in their souls, darkness all around them,
nothing but darkness and corruption and bondage. The elect people
of God are men and women who though fallen, children of wrath,
even as others, they are yet in a covenant relation with God
Almighty. who have been accepted of him
before the world was in the beloved, made righteous by him in the
land slain from the foundation of the world. God Almighty, I
use the word has because I don't know any other way to put it.
I don't want to say looks, and I don't want to say has looked,
and I don't want to say shall look. God Almighty beholds His
people in Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, and that's the only way He ever has, can, or
shall behold them, because He put them in Him before the world
was, though we were prisoners, prisoners in a covenant relation
with God. So, Pastor, that sounds strange to me. Sounds strange
to me. You mean I was in a covenant relationship with God and didn't
know anything about it? That shouldn't sound too strange to
you. You were in a covenant relationship with Adam and didn't know anything
about it? Which of you stood in the garden, stretched out
your hand, and took the forbidden fruit? Which of you in the garden
plunged yourself into sin? Which of you died because of
that in the garden? Not one of you did. All of you
did. Because we did it in a representative. Oh, I don't like that. You talk
about us being in a covenant. Adam acting for us and us dying
and becoming sinners and going forth and speaking lies and having
this nature of bondage and corruption because of what Adam died. I
don't like that. I don't like that. That makes me, that makes
me debate the consequences of what somebody else did. But if
you don't like that, you don't like the gospel either, because
the gospel declares that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. The gospel declares that as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Adam, you see, was just a type,
a representation of Jesus Christ the last Adam. portrays Christ
as a federal head and representative, and Christ is our federal head
and representative, in whom we stand accepted before God. Now,
in the fullness of time, the Lord Jesus comes by His Spirit
to set covenant prisoners, prisoners of hope, free. Turn to Isaiah
61. Our Lord quoted this in Luke
4. I actually read this passage in Luke chapter 4, and it says,
this is talking about me. He's sitting there in the synagogue,
and he said, fellas, this day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears. They didn't have a clue what he's talking about. Most
folks still don't. But this is talking about our Redeemer. Isaiah
61-1. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good
tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. I've come here today to
preach good tidings to the meek. I've come here today to proclaim
liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to them
that are bound. But I can't. All I can do is
say the words, O son of God, will you Speak by your word and
preach good tidings to the meek. Proclaim liberty to those who
are bound. If he does, you'll hear his voice,
and you'll know the good tidings, and you'll experience the liberty.
Read on. To appoint to them that morn in Zion, to give unto them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. One of the hymn writers expressed
it this way. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin
and nature's night. Thine eye diffused the quickening
ray. I woke the dungeon flame with
light. My chains fell off, my heart
was free. I rose, went forth, and followed
thee. The Son of God sets captive prisoners
free and sends forth his prisoners of hope out of their prison,
and he does it, giving them life and faith in himself by the power
of his spirit. But here, the Lord says, now,
Don, boy, you need to learn something. You need to understand something.
Here you stand, a free man. Don't ever get the notion that
you had something to do with setting yourself free. Don't
ever get the notion that it was because you decided you were
going to come out of your prison. Don't ever get the notion because you
decided you'd walk down to the front of the church and get saved.
Don't ever get the notion that you had something to do with
this or anybody else. Lord, how is it that the prison
door flew open? How is it that those chains fell
off? Where'd that light come from? By the blood of thy covenant
have I sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit. I take these
words to me. The blood of Christ is not only
the cause of our deliverance, it's the cause of everything.
Without this covenant blood shedding, prisoners could never go free.
The blood goes in, the prisoner comes out. The blood drops over
the chain, the chain falls off. The blood drops on the bar, the
gate flies open. Where the blood is, freedom is! And until the blood of the covenant
It's sprinkled on your heart, making you free. You'll never
be free. It's the blood of Christ. That's
the essential thing. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. And when we see the blood, we
see the covenant fulfilled. You remember what God told the
children of Israel? He said, when I see the blood, I will
pass. And Don Yorkey saw it a long
time before you saw it. When did he see it? He saw it
before the world was made. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. You came forth from your mother's
womb, speaking lies. Nothing changed. God's eye was
still on the blood. You mean, even then, I belong
to God? If ever you belong to Him, you
belong to Him forever. From forever and to forever. He is eternally. When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. You remember that passage in
Isaiah? God speaks to the vine out in the field, and the vine
dresser says, let me destroy this just dead withered vine.
And the word comes, destroy it not, a blessing is in it. How
often have you heard somebody say, if I was God, I'd destroy
this world. I wouldn't put up with it. Thank
God you're not God. Well, why doesn't he? Why? Why does he put up with all that?
That's an indication of the marvelous good benevolence of God and God's
grace to everybody hogwash. That's not so. There's a blessing
in the vine. There's a blessing in it. The
reason he doesn't send everybody to hell is because he has a chosen
people in the loins of Adam who were in the loins of Christ before
they were in the loins of Adam. And he shall save them by his
grace. How does he do it? By covenant
blood. By a covenant he made with Christ. on our behalf before the world
was. You know that you're not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with
the precious blood of Christ. Precious because it's His blood. Let me tell you a few things
about the blood, and I'll wrap this up, and I pray God will
wrap it up in your heart. The blood of Christ, this covenant
blood, is that which removes the necessity of imprisonment.
Justice satisfied demands that the prisoner go forth. The law
not only consents, the law demands that the prisoner go forth because
justice has been satisfied. The blood, the precious covenant
blood of Christ makes it right for God to deliver us. Deliverance has got to be on
ground of righteousness. It was righteousness that sent
us to the prison to start with. And only by righteousness can
we be brought out of the prison. The blood of Christ, the precious
blood of Christ, this covenant blood, opens the prison door. No force could do it. No skill
could do it. No money could bribe the guards.
It can't be opened by an earthquake or a fire or blood. Not even
the force of God's omnipotence can open the prison. It must
be opened by blood, omnipotent, effectual blood. The blood of
Christ, this covenant blood, makes it completely safe for
the prisoner to walk in. Now I've got to spend a minute
here. In the Old Testament, God gave a law concerning cities
of refuge, where if a man killed another man by accident, he was
still guilty of that man's blood. And the avenger of blood, that
man's next of kin, Not only was it permitted, he was required
by law to pursue the fellow who killed his brother. And God put
up cities of refuge. Six of them. Three on this side
of Jordan, three on the other side. So that any man, anywhere
in the land of Israel, could get to one of those cities in
a day's journey. Somewhere. No matter where he
was, he'd get to one of those cities. And he'd go in that city. And you know what the avenger
of blood would do? He'd take up residence right outside the
gate. Camp right there. You step out of the city, you're
a dead man. You're a dead man. And that man had to spend his
life in prison, in that city, spend his whole life there. And
if he stepped out, you know what the evangelical blood would do?
They'd kill him. They'd kill him. And the law demanded that
he kill him. Well, what kind of barbaric law
was that? You can take that up with God if you want to. I love
it. It was a law portraying redemption. Just what I'm talking about this
morning. There was one condition. under which the Avenger of Blood,
under which the prisoner could walk out of that prison, say,
hello Avenger, and fear nothing. You know what
it was? The death of the high priest. You saw it in this morning's
paper, that the priest died, I'll see you down the road. And
he walks out of the prison, nothing to fear. Will you hear me? The
blood of Christ has silenced the blood Avenger, and I walk
in There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus. The blood, the blood of the covenant,
is the ransom price of my soul by which I go free. It undoes
everything sin has done, purifies and makes me clean before a holy
God. And this blood, this precious
covenant blood, the blood of Christ, is as efficacious as
it has been from eternity. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood, listen, shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
prisoners of hope, till all the ransomed church of God be saved
to sin no more. just as fresh and powerful to
cleanse your soul today as it was when first our Savior, with
His own blood, entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Oh, precious fountain that saves
from sin, I am so glad I've entered in. There Jesus saves me and
keeps me clean. Come to this fountain, so rich
and sweet, Cast thy poor soul at the Saviour's foot. Plunge
in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Amen.