Will likes to shop almost as
well as I do. So while Shelby and Audrey Grace
were in one of the stores shopping, he and I walked around and we're
sitting in the truck just talking. And for you who don't have any
grandchildren yet, hang on, good days are coming. A little bit,
for some reason, said something about a picture of him sitting
on my desk. I said, yeah, sometimes I just sit for a little while
and look at your picture and think about you. He got real
quiet. He said, sometimes I hug yours. Well, I overwhelmed, as you might
imagine. Had to turn where he couldn't
see me and wipe away the tears. But if that statement from him
so touched the heart of this hard-hearted, sinful man, Imagine
how it touches the heart of our Savior when we take the pictures
He gives us and hug them. You know what I did? I turned
around, grabbed that boy and set him on my lap and I hugged
him. Oh, may God our Savior take us
in His arms this day and hug us to himself as we look at another
picture of him and his word. Turn with me to Zechariah, the
eighth chapter. The typical nation of Israel
was a nation distinctly chosen of God as his covenant people. The Lord God did for Israel what
he did for no nation in the earth. He made a covenant with them
and their representative Abraham long before any of the Jews were
ever born. He redeemed them out of Egypt
by the blood of the Paschal Lamb before they were ever cursed
by His holy law at Mount Sinai. And yet, though providentially
blessed of God, a people magnificently blessed of God. The only people
in the world, the only people in the world to whom God made
known His word, His worship, and His ways. Yet the Jews became,
according to God's infinitely wise and good purpose, a cursed They became a cursed people by
their own hands, by their own doing. Because of their willful,
defiant rebellion and sin, Israel and Judah became a curse among
the nations of the earth. Their idolatry was high treason
against God. Not only that, it was treason
against God that caused others to be treasonous toward God.
Treason against God that gave occasion to the nations around
them to blaspheme God's name. Listen to what the Lord says
by his prophet Jeremiah. Hath a nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their
glory. The Lord speaks by his prophet
and says, whoever heard tell of one of these heathen nations
changing their gods, if they started out worshiping a stump,
they worshiped the stump to their end. Not my people. My people
have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be
astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the
Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out broken cisterns
that can hold no water. Israel turned aside from the
worship of Jehovah, turned from Jehovah to worship and serve
Baal and Ashtoreth and countless other gods raised up by the heathen. So great was their evil that
God's covenant people not only worshipped other gods, they led
idolaters to worship other gods still. You say, well, that's
astounding. Is it really? Is that really
astonishing? It shouldn't be. The fact is
the same is true of all the Israel of God. Though loved and chosen
of God before the world began, as His covenant people, though
redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's darling
Son, God's elect go forth from the womb speaking lies, and are
children of wrath even as others, and by nature a curse among men,
by deed a curse among men, and yet the Lord God himself promises
in his word that he will make them, every one of them, who
are by nature a curse upon the earth, a blessing among men by
his grace. That's the message of Zechariah
13 verse 8. I'm sorry, Zechariah 8 verse
13. The Lord God speaks by the mouth
of his prophet Zechariah and he declares, it shall come to
pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of
Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall
be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands
be strong. Here's the first thing, a curse. You were a curse. What a word. You were a curse. Now I speak plainly for a few
minutes to you who are yet without God my Savior. If I could, I'd pull you up here
sit down in private with you, and talk just to you, and speak
just to your heart. Oh, Spirit of God, do that. That which I have to say is unpleasant,
and it is that which causes an uproar in the hearts of rebels,
and will yours. You may not pull out a dagger
and stab me going out the door, but you're not going to like
what I've got to say. You're not going to like it. But it's
not what I've got to say, it's what God says. And so you better
hear it. You are a curse. A curse. A curse. What do you mean by
that, Brother Don? Let's see what God means by that.
It doesn't matter what I mean. What does God mean by it? It's confirmed throughout history,
and it is confirmed in your heart right now, I have no question. You may suppress it, you may
try your best to silence the screaming of a guilty conscience
in your soul, but you know that what I speak is truth, and it
is declared throughout the Word of God. Every lost soul is under
the curse of God because of sin. I know you've heard all your
life and false prophets and religious folks in churches and silly religious
people who don't know God don't know any better. And they will
tell you, well, God loves you. Smile. God loves you. God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. God loves you and we do too.
And all that nonsense. The Word of God speaks otherwise.
The Word of God speaks otherwise. Nowhere in this book, nowhere
in this book is there a hint given to any sinner outside Christ
that God will ever be gracious to him. Not a hint. Nowhere in this book does God
hint that He loves you until you are born of His Spirit. Nowhere. You mean God begins to love folks
when he saves them? No, no, no, no, no. He loves
us with everlasting love. But you'll never know it and
he'll never declare it till he gives you faith in Christ. The
scriptures, on the other hand, speak like this. God is angry
with the wicked every day. Will you hear me? God's angry
with you. God's angry with him. The Lord is furious, furious,
furious. Yes, God's angry with the wicked. The Lord loveth the righteous,
and him that loveth violence, his soul The wise man says, even the plowing
of the wicked is an abomination to God. Everything he does is
an abomination to God. Everything. We have seen scandal
after scandal after scandal in politics. Another one this past
week. An abominable, wretched, pervert,
abominable, wretched pervert, which is what sodomites all are,
no matter what the day says concerning it. The thought of him setting
and enacting laws, no matter how good the law may appear to
be, makes the law an abomination because his hands on it. You
understand that? That's what God says about all
the acts and actions and thoughts and deeds of the wicked. Right
down to your religion. Listen to this. He says, Your
new moons and your appointed feast my soul hateth. He says, I will tread down the
people in my anger and make them drunk in my fury and I will bring
down their strength to the earth. Turn, if you will, to the book
of Romans, Romans chapter 1. The wrath of God, our Lord tells
us, abideth on the unbelieving. This is the picture the Lord
God would have you to have of himself in his justice. When
you think of God, go ahead and try to forget, I
dare you. When you think of God, when you
close your eyes tonight, when you think of God looking at you,
get the picture of infinite fury with sword drawn and shaking
over your head. Ready? destruction. That's the picture. The wrath of God abideth on you. Romans chapter 1 verse 18, Paul
has been describing man's wickedness and the judgment of God against
all men. and have been telling you, now you suppress the truth
and unrighteousness, you hold it down, you don't want to hear
it, you stick your fingers in your ears and you listen to this
and listen to that and you entertain yourself with this and that and
the other and you try your best to say to God, shut up, don't
talk to me, I don't want to hear it. But this is what it says,
the wrath of God, not the love of God, The wrath of God, not
the mercy of God, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. That is what that means. God
Almighty screams in your soul by your conscience all the time. And it constantly says, guilty,
damned, guilty, damned, guilty, damned, guilty, damned, guilty,
damned. He never says anything else.
And you say, I won't hear it. But you can't avoid it. You suppress
the truth in unrighteousness. For the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
You say, well, why is it that these things are like that? Why
do I have such a tormenting guilty conscience? Why am I convinced
that I am the object of God's wrath? Because of these things,
Paul says, because of what you are and what you do, the wrath
of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. For which thing's
sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience?
Do you hear the Scriptures? The wrath of God is upon you. You're cursed. You've broken God's law from
your youth up. You started out sinning and you
just kept it up. There's not one word in God's
law. Not one word. Not one thing revealed
in Holy Scripture that you not only have not done, but you've
kicked out of the way and transgressed all your life. Oh, not me, preacher. I'm moral. I'm good. I'll tell
you what you do. You go home and tell your husband
everything that you thought today. Let's see how good you are. Stand
up here and tell the whole world everything that's going on inside
your heart in the last ten minutes. See how good you are. You don't
know what's in my heart, yes I do because I know what's in
mine. And I know what this book says is in both. Accept your fleet of Christ and
find refuge in Him. Who alone is refuge for your
soul? Hell will be your portion forever. You're a curse. And yet, the
scripture doesn't merely say that you're under a curse. The scripture says, ye are a
curse. And that's the nature of every
lost human being. Not only are you corrupt and
deserve to go to hell, you corrupt everybody around you. Everybody. You think, well, if I go to hell,
that's my business. It's not yours. I don't harm
anybody but myself, hardly. Your whole life is a corrupt
curse. They are all grievous revolters,
God says. Walking with slanders, they are
corrupt. I have a lot of oil in my skin.
And I have to constantly wipe and wash my hands. Because everything
I touch gets dirty. And Mayor Brown, that's the way
you and I are in our nature. Everything we touch gets dirty. Everything we influence is defiled
by us. That's our nature. Turn to Romans
chapter 3. We shouldn't. Doesn't matter how moral you
think you are, how good mama's always told you you are, or how
good your neighbors think you are. Drinking iniquity like water
You spew out iniquity with every breath. Every breath you draw
is exhaled with iniquity. Man's heart, deceitful above
all things, is desperately wicked. Like the euphus tree, the sap
is all deadly poison. Romans 3 verse 10. As it is written,
there is none righteous. No, not what? There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They
are all gone out of the way. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. But there is worse than that.
Their throat is an open grave, dirty, defiled, rotten. There is none that doeth good,
no not one, their throats an open sepulcher, with their tongues
they use deceit. I can't tell you how many times
I've gotten into a fight because I'd look at somebody and say,
you calling me a liar? If he dare said yes, I was on it. Or he looked at me and said,
are you calling me a liar? And I said yes, and he was on me.
And sad fact is, we both were. That's what we are. All of us. Liars by nature. Deceitful by
nature. No excuse for it. I'm not justifying
it. I'm just declaring the fact. Their tongues are used for deceit. the poison of asp, deadly poison
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,
spew forth cursedness. Their feet swift to shed blood,
anxious to revenge, anxious to execute their anger. Destruction
and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they
not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. I'm so sick and tired of hearing
conservative politicians and news commentators say, we just
believe America's a God-fearing nation. Foolish! It ain't so. No fear of God before their eyes. None whatever. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, Everything that's written in
this book is said to them who are under the law, so that you
will shut up and quit declaring how good you are, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. There was a day when in all my ungodliness, Every time I got in a bind and
had to do something, had to get out of trouble, I justified. Yes, I did it, but that's not really
the way I am. It's somebody else's fault. God
speaks to you as He does so that you will shut up and acknowledge
your sin before Him. become guilty before God. The heart is desperately wicked. When I say the Lord knows my
heart, He sure does. I hope you learn to. Let me tell
you what's in it. Every evil thought that's ever
been in the heart of a man every angry deed ever performed
by man. Murder, thefts, false witness,
adultery, fornication, blasphemy. Bob Pruitt, that's what is in
you and in me. That's our nature. That's our
nature. Our Lord speaks plainly in the
parable of the fig tree. It's a good description of every
man, every woman, every child in this world who lives unto
himself a curse. You know what your place is in
this world? You've just taken up spots where somebody else
could live, cumbering the ground. Just soaking up what might benefit
somebody else. Cumbering the ground. And he
says, cut it down. Oh wait, let me, Lord let me
manure it and dig around it and manure it and dig around it another
year and see if something happens. Okay. He comes back. He says, I've been by here three
years and that fig tree still bears no fruit. and it withered away. Every God-hating
rebel is a curse upon the earth. His very life is a curse, a curse
that calls for the wrath of God upon the whole world. Every lost
man is a curse in his own family. He infects his children with
his own poisonous nature, and by his ungodly character and
conduct, he teaches his own children how to hate God and run to hell. Corrupt fathers corrupt their
families. Corrupt mothers corrupt their
daughters. Corrupt children corrupt one
another. Corrupt teachers corrupt their
students. Corrupt politicians corrupt the nation. You don't
believe me? Just look. Just look. Well, what goes on between two
consenting adults is none of your business. Like hell, what you do affects everybody
around you. Corrupt pastors corrupt their
churches, and corrupt churches corrupt the world. Oh, what a curse every fallen
descendant of Adam is. A curse everywhere. Cursed, and a curse you are by
nature. And unless God intervenes, cursed you shall be forever. There's not one thing you can
do to remove the curse. Not one thing mama can do to
remove the curse. Not one thing the preacher of
the church can do to remove the curse. And every attempt made by men
to remove it, will only make the curse more secure. Not one
thing the psychiatrist, psychologist, or all the pills in the world
can be given you can do to remove the curse. Religion and men just
stupefy the curse, just like medicine stupefies the mind.
Nothing can be done. Children of God, this is what
you and I are by nature. This is what we were when we
came into this world, and this is where we were when God saved
us by His grace. A curse. Look at 1 Corinthians
6. Verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Who are you talking about,
Paul? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor, well, we're a nice company,
so let's say homosexuals, effeminate, anything other than gay, limp-wristed,
effeminate, panty-waist men, that's what he's talking about.
Nor abuses of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit
the kingdom of God." Have I missed anybody, Paul would say. And
such were some of you. Somewhere in there, he stuck
his finger right on you. Ain't that way no more. But ye
are washed. Washed clean. Completely clean. I was a curse and you know what
Christ did for me? All that I once was, He took
away. I was nothing but a curse. Nothing
but a curse. And Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the law. Being made a curse for us. And
He came by His Spirit, sprinkled me with His blood in my conscience. That thing that used to torment
me day and night. That thing that used to drive
me nearly insane. That thing that caused other
folks to think I was probably insane. My conscience now says,
not guilty. No curse. Clean. You're washed. You're
sanctified. You're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. Oh, may God be pleased by His
grace through His Spirit to lift the curse from you. Giving you
faith in Jesus Christ, make you clean today. Look at the text again. The Lord makes a promise. And
I'll just give you the highlights, come back to it another day. Zechariah 8, 13. As ye were a
curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel,
so will I save you. Now this salvation is promised
to a specific people. the house of Judah and the house
of Israel. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed. Now
a confounded world without end is God's Word. Who are these
people, Judah and Israel? They are God's chosen people.
They are God's covenant people. They are God's redeemed people. The Lord God says concerning
Israel and Judah, the children of Abraham, the seed on which
he lay hold, that he might deliver them from death when he came
into this world. Abraham's seed. A people loved
and chosen of God. A people called by Him. My people. A people to whom He says, I will
be your God. A people with whom He made a
covenant and said, I will remember their iniquities no more forever. A people redeemed by Him. Read the book of Isaiah. Let's just turn that for a minute
if you will. Look at chapter 44 of Isaiah. Let me show you this. The Lord God speaks specifically
to Judah and to Israel, calls them by name, calling for them
to turn to Him. And He does so on the basis of
the fact that He loved them, He made them for Himself, He
made a covenant with them, and He redeemed them. Well, this is what we declare
to everybody. I can't declare to everybody
that God redeemed them. I'd be lying if I said that.
I can't declare to everybody God loves you. That's a lie.
It's not so. We've read it in Scripture already, haven't we,
Larry? That's just not so. I can't declare to everybody God wants
to save you. God made a covenant for you. That's a lie. He never
did so. Never did so. Well, what do you do then? We
speak the word of His grace, declaring redemption and grace
and salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ. And if you can
hear it, It's intended for you. There's
a great article in Bulletin today. Brother Joe Terrell wrote it.
If you haven't read it, I'll whet your appetite. Do you remember
the days of dog whistles? When I was a boy, I used to have
dog whistles. I never could get one to work. I was pretty good anyway.
But my whistle disturbed the neighbors and everybody else.
Take that dog whistle and just stick it in. Just blow your heart
out. And nobody could hear it. It
didn't disturb anybody, except the dog. And the dog trained
to come by that whistle, come running. Folks look around, well
what's he doing? I don't know what's going on.
He must have heard something, I didn't hear it. Because they're not
dogs. And when God speaks by His Word
to your heart, moral heart, He causes you to hear. Because you're
one of his dogs. Somebody else said, well, what's
he so excited about? What happened to him this morning? They didn't hear. They don't
have the right kind of ears. They can't tune the whistle in,
no matter how hard they try. Brother Don, I just heard The good news. The Lord's called me. If you've
got a hearing ear, He did. Oh yeah. Look here in Isaiah
44 verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel. For thou art my servant, I have
formed thee. Thou art my servant, O Israel.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. Now watch
this. Return to me. He doesn't say
return to me and I will remember you. Return to me and I will
blot out your transgressions. Return to me and I will make
you mine. No, no, no, no, no. He says I formed you for me.
That means you're mine. I'll blot out your transgressions.
I will never forget you. So come on home. Return to me.
For I have redeemed thee. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord
has done it. Salvation, you see, is God's
work. So will I save you, He says. Election is God's work, not ours. Redemption is God's work, not
ours. The new birth is God's work,
not ours. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is God's gift
to us. It's not our gift to God. It's God's gift to us. is by God's will, not our will. Now, in our text, in Zechariah
8, 13, the Lord promises that he will save his people, Israel
and Judah, in a specific way. Look at it. As ye were a curse among the
heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save
as you were a curse. That's exactly how I'm going
to save you. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. If you ever find out how you
got to be a mess you're in, If you ever really find out how
you got lost, if you ever really discover how it is that you were
born a sinner, how it is that you came into this world a curse
and have lived a curse all your life. If you ever find out, you'll
find out exactly how God saves sinners. 1 Corinthians 15 verse
21. For since by man came death. By man came also the resurrection
of the dead. What came by man? Death by one
man. Sin entered into the world and
death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. How did you get to be a sinner?
Sin did Adam, a representative man. Not only did you sin in
him when he sinned, he died and you died in him. Not only did
you die in him, but when you were born into this world, do
you know what you got from your daddy Adam? You know what you
got from your daddy Adam? You came into the world lying.
Because you got his nature by natural generation. That's how you explain why kids
behave the way they do. That's how you explain it. I was always told it was the
environment. She was always told wrong. That's what we are by nature.
Well, how is it then that men are made righteous? How is it
that men and women are saved by God's grace? By one man. For as in Adam, that one man,
even so in Christ shall all who are in him be made alive. When He lived in righteousness,
I lived in Him. And just as Adam's sin was imputed
to me, His righteousness is imparted to me. When He died under the
sentence of God's law, I died in Him to the curse of God's
law. And when He arose, I rose in
Him in resurrection glory. And now, In the fullness of His
time, by the power of His grace, through another process of generation
called regeneration, He sends His Spirit in omnipotent power
and gives you His nature, washing, sanctifying, justifying you by
His grace. That's how God saves sinners.
And then He says, Make a blessing. As you were a curse in the earth,
so will I save you and make you a blessing. Turn to Isaiah chapter
65. Isaiah chapter 65. Now listen to me, children of
God. Don't let it go to your heads, but listen to me. Listen
to me. When you walk into the restaurant
this afternoon, if folks there only knew what they benefited
from you being there, this is how they'd treat you. They'd bow down and kiss your
feet. If your neighbors had any idea what a blessing you are
to them. They would adore you. What are you talking about with
God? Our Lord said you're the salt of the earth. The only thing
preserving this world from God's judgment is you who are his elect. That's all. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promises. Some men count slackness. But
his longsuffering to us were not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Why is it that God would not
destroy Sodom while Lot was there? Because Lot was one righteous
man who must be delivered before judgment falls on that city.
Look at Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 8. Thus saith the Lord, As the new
wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's sake, that
I may not destroy them all." The Lord God looks at this earth.
You remember what he said to the angel in Revelation? He said,
Touch not the earth. till we've sealed the 144,000
in their forage. Don't touch it. No, no, I know
the vials of wrath are full. The measure of iniquity is full.
Judgment hovers over the earth. But don't touch it. Not yet.
Not yet. There's still some of mine left
who are not sealed in their forage yet. And they too must be called. The sheep must hear the shepherd's
voice, and he must bring them home. And so he preserves the
earth. He causes it to rain on the just
and the unjust alike. That means your neighbor's garden
gets watered at the same time yours does. But the only reason
his garden gets watered is because you live next door to it. You
don't really believe that, do you, brother? Why, absolutely,
I believe that. That's what this book teaches.
That's what it teaches. Not only that, He has made us
a blessing in the earth, but our Lord God, by His grace, takes
such things as He finds in the dumb heap of fallen humanity and makes us a blessing to others
by the gospel of His free grace that we declare. The following
verses in our text. The Lord said, speak ye the truth
to every man to his neighbor. And he's not talking about when
you do business with them, tell the truth. And now please do
that. Do that. Tell the truth. I'm
not suggesting that you don't do that. But that's not what
he's talking about. He's saying, you whom I have
made a blessing, go proclaim the blessing. Go proclaim the
blessing. And God takes such things as
we are, and uses the weak to confound the mighty, the nothings
to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. Now turn to Zephaniah chapter
3. I'll show you one more thing, I'll quit. The day will soon come. The day
will soon come. when the Lord God will make His
people the praise and blessedness of the whole earth. Zephaniah
3 verse 19, Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict
thee, and I will save her that halteth. and gather her that
was driven out and I will get them praise and fame in every
land where they've been put to shame and at that time will I
bring you again even in the time that I gather you for I will
make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth
when I turn back your captivity before the eyes before your eyes,
saith the Lord." And in that day, it's just almost too wonderful,
too wondrous, too glorious, too astounding for me to think
of, much less declare. When he gets done, You know what God's going to
do with me? He's going to make me a blessing
to Him. That He might show to wandering
worlds the exceeding riches of His grace and His glory in Christ
Jesus. He says, as you were a curse
in the earth. So will I save you and make you
a blessing. A blessing. Oh God do that for you, for Christ's
sake. Amen.