How often we need encouragement
to believe God. We're so easily discouraged by
the things we see around us, by the evil that rages within
us. How often we need encouragement
to serve Him. We seek to do well, but very
quickly we grow weary in well-doing and our hands hang down and our
knees become feeble. We're easily turned aside from
the path of our known duty. How often we need encouragement
in the work of the gospel. The church of God in this world
is the pillar and ground of the truth. And it is our privilege
and responsibility to hold forth the light of the gospel in this
dark, dark world. our privilege and our responsibility
to preach the gospel to this generation. Our God has put the
treasure, the treasure of his gospel in you and I, earthen
vessels, disposable vessels, that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. And we are to carry this treasure
of the gospel into all the world, preaching the gospel as far and
as wide to as many people as we possibly can in the generation
in which we live, as God gives us the means and opportunity
to do so. But there's so much opposition.
There seems to be so little interest, so little response, so little
fruit, so little success. He desires to evangelize, to
preach Christ to all men in the time allotted us. But this great
responsibility, this great privilege, this great honor, though it is
ours, we are so much like the children of Israel, who when
they had returned to Jerusalem from their Babylonian captivity,
were soon weary of the work and easily turned aside from the
work by many things. As I was preparing this message,
I sat back for just a few minutes and tried to imagine how excited
those Jews must have been when they first came back to Jerusalem. And then when they started clearing
away the rubbish that had piled up in the house of God, And then
when they saw the foundation stone laid, God's going to do it. God's going
to do it. And they got their trowels and
their mortar and started to work building the house and saw one
wall go up a little bit and then another and the corners join.
Oh, I can't imagine the thrill, the excitement, the eagerness
with which they did their work. they began to stand back and
look at their work. And they murmured, and they whined,
and they complained, and they met with opposition, and they
began to consider that such a day of small things was, after all,
terribly inconsiderate and not worth thinking about And they
turned aside from the work and quit. They just quit. They just quit. For something
like 40 to 45 years, they didn't do a thing. Not a thing. Imagine that. So zealous. So filled with excitement. So
anxious to do the work God had sent them to do. And then they
quit. finding more important things
to do, things that they could do, things that they had sufficient
means to do, things that they thought must be done. And I have no question. I don't
have any question at all. They must have said to themselves
and convinced themselves, we will return to this work. We
will go back to building the house of God. We haven't forsaken
it altogether. We'll go back to it. But for
now, we've got other things more pressing, like building fine
houses for ourselves. How often I've seen once zealous,
devoted pastors, men who were addicted to the study of God's
Word and addicted to the preaching of the gospel. become half-hearted
in their labors, addicting themselves to other things, a career, or
golf, or sports, or fishing, or hunting, or social work, or
politics, or some other frivolous, meaningless thing. I've seen so many times once
zealous missionaries quit the field They first meet them, they're
anxious, full of vim and vigor and ready to conquer the world.
And they take off and they spend a few years on the field and
then act as though God had somehow changed his mind and intended
them to do something else, something more important. And so they give
up the work. How often I've seen zealous churches,
many times, In the years I've been preaching the gospel, I've
seen once zealous churches, churches known for their determination
to spread the gospel, become isolated, indifferent, and so
self-absorbed that they do nothing and give nothing for the cause
of Christ, but simply meet together and debate their doctrine and
defend their creed and congratulate themselves on their greatness.
No evangelism, no missionary work, no witnessing, nothing
for the cause of Christ, just self-congratulation, as if the
whole kingdom of God existed in the four walls of the little
house where they meet. How often I've seen once devoted
believers, men and women once anxious to worship God. First
hearing the gospel, they couldn't get enough. Just couldn't get
enough. anxious to hear His Word, anxious to do everything they
can to publish His Word, by some means or other become lethargic,
indifferent to Christ and His glory and the building of His
house. Just, well, I better have for
a while, let others do that. I've done that, I've had enough.
Zechariah chapter 8. is written in the book of God
specifically to encourage us to go on, to run with patience
the race that is set before us, to lift up the hands that hang
down and to strengthen the feeble knees, to endure hardness as
good soldiers of Christ Jesus. Zachariah's message in this chapter
is all encouragement. Now, if you want to see a summary
of it later on, you can read 1 Corinthians 15, 58. This is
the summary of what Zechariah says. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. Did you hear me, my brothers
and sisters? my companions in the building
of God's temple, my friends in Zion. Did you hear me? Your labor,
your labor, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let me show
you. In verses 1 through 8 of Zechariah
chapter 8, the prophet of God tells us that the salvation of
God's elect is sure. It is a matter of unquestionable
certainty, for the Lord God declares, Behold, I will save my people. Now I readily concede, for those
who may hear this message who are very precise in their literal
interpretation of the scriptures, I readily concede that this passage
before us refers to the great prosperity of Jerusalem after
the people of Israel were delivered from Babylonian captivity and
when the city was rebuilt and the temple was rebuilt in that
city. That is the literal historic
reference point in this chapter. But if all people understand
If all you understand about this prophecy refers to the literal
gathering of Israel, either in the past history or in that which
is yet to come, and the physical, material prosperity of those
people, you have woefully misunderstood the book of God. That which is
written here was written by the Spirit of inspiration for us
and to us. The whole chapter declares and
assures us of God's great grace determined upon His elect in
Christ. Now, I want you to see this and
see it clearly. Hold your hands here and turn to 1 Corinthians
10. 1 Corinthians 10. The Apostle Paul wrote to the
Romans and said, whatsoever things were written aforetime, I reckon
that includes Zechariah chapter 8, it was written aforetime.
Whatsoever things were written in the book of God beforehand,
in the Old Testament, were written for our learning, for this purpose,
that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope. That we might obtain by the Scriptures
that patience and consolation that's in Christ and comes from
Christ, giving us hope. Look here, 1 Corinthians 10,
verse 11. Now all these things, all that
happened to the children of Israel in the Old Testament, all the
historic experiences, the trials, the captivities, the bondages,
and the deliverances, the falls and the restorations, the turning
away of Israel and God gathering Israel again to himself. their
idolatry, their spiritual whoredom, going after other gods, and God
jealously destroying other gods that would steal away the hearts
of His people and restoring His people to Himself. All these
things happened unto them, look at it, for ensamples. Do you see that in verse 11?
1 Corinthians 10.11. All these things happened unto
them for ensamples. That is, that they might Be examples. And they are written, they are
recorded in the book of God for our admonition in this present
day upon whom the ends of the world are come. Now, back to
Zechariah chapter 8. 18 times in this one chapter,
18 times in 23 verses, the Lord our God and Savior is called
the Lord of hosts. the Lord, the Master, the Ruler,
the God of all the armies of heaven and of earth. All the hosts of heaven, earth,
and hell are under His rule, under His thumb, subject to Him,
controlled by Him, and used by Him. And thereby, in calling
our God and Savior eighteen times the Lord of hosts, We are assured
that everything promised in these 23 verses is sure because it's
all His work. Nothing in this chapter is described
as something that depends on you. Nothing in this chapter
is described as something that somehow waits upon you. Everything depends entirely upon
His power, His goodness, and His purpose. Now let's just take
a brief look at the things our God promises us here. Verse 1. Again the word of the Lord of
Hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I was
jealous for Zion with a great jealousy. I was jealous for her
with great fury. A loving husband is jealous for,
not jealous of, but jealous for his wife, the object of his ardent
love. He's determined to allow nothing
and no one to come between them. And so, our blessed Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, our husband, declares that he is jealous for
us, his bride and church, the church that he ardently loves,
having espoused us to himself from everlasting. And he will
allow nothing and no one to separate us from him. Any rival that comes
to him, comes to his bride, any that would pull her away from
him, any that would tug at her heart, any that would draw her
away from him, he goes after with inexhaustible fury. With fury. Fury. Jealous he is. Look at verse
3. Thus saith the Lord. How I love
to read those words. Zechariah uses them again and
again to assure us he is conveying God's message to his people.
You hear These television evangelists trying to get you to send them
some money, they'll close their eyes and squint and say, I'm
getting a word, thus saith the Lord of hosts, thus saith the
Lord of hosts. Lying, deceitful men. But God's
servants, God's prophets, truly come with God's word, assuring
you that that which they speak is God's very word and giving
proof that it is God's word by the word. Because of his loving
jealousy for us, Zechariah tells us that God, our Savior, has
said, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called
a city of truth, a city of faithfulness, and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts shall be called the holy mountain. Joel put it this
way. Then will the Lord be jealous
for His land and pity His people. Not jealous of His people. Not jealous against His people.
But jealous for His people. Because of His love for us. Our
Savior has come to Zion and to Jerusalem, His church, His espoused
bride, His holy city, His holy nation and holy mountain in mercy
and in grace to dwell in the midst of her. That is to tabernacle
in her midst, taking up permanent abode with her and in her. Certainly these words have reference
to the incarnation of our Savior. The Word was made flesh and dwelt,
tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
certainly they refer to Christ coming to us in His great grace
and salvation, causing His people to look to Him and say, Lord,
this is our God. We have waited for Him. We will
rejoice and be glad in His salvation. And certainly the prophecy here
speaks of Christ coming to us. in the sweet revivings of His
grace, day by day, continually restoring His fallen ones, continually
uplifting His downcast ones, continually comforting the disconsolate,
continually encouraging the discouraged. He comes to us in sweet revival. We often pray for the Lord to
send revival, and I fear we neglect recognizing and giving thanks
to him for the fact that he does so continually. We've experienced
in this place continually the reviving work of God's grace. Were it not, the deadness that
stole your heart would have taken you away a long time ago. The
coldness that steals over you would have destroyed you long
ago. The barrenness and the emptiness and hardness of my soul would
have long ago destroyed me. He who is the truth Abiding with
His people makes His church a city of truth, a city of faithfulness. And He calls His people, His
saints, His faithful ones. His presence makes His church
the house of the living God and the mountain of the Lord of hosts,
the holy mountain. It shall be exalted in the last
days upon the mountaintops. And all nations shall flow to
it. Turn to Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah
2. Now turn to Micah. Turn to Micah
chapter 4. It's exactly the same prophecy with just a little bit
more detail. Micah chapter 4. Micah tells us exactly the same
thing that Isaiah did in chapter 2. Verse 1. In the last days it shall come
to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. like water in a mighty flowing
river. Verse 2, and many nations shall
come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach
us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for the law shall
go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Certainly
this is talking about the ultimate consummate building and erection
and finishing of the kingdom and church of our God. And yet
it is that which is being done in this the last days. I hear from people, Brother Larry
Brown can tell you, on the website we have folks who come and download,
listen to sermons, watch the messages on video, download Sermons
and notes, studying the Scriptures, some for hours at a time, from
all across the world. From all across the world. Saying,
let us go up to the mountain of God, to the house of God. He will teach us of His ways.
We will walk in His paths. For the law comes out of Zion. The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Verse 3. And he shall judge among
many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks. And nations shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more, in Christ all being
made one. But they shall set every man
under his vine, and under his fig tree, and none shall make
them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it. And then, ultimately, this shall
come to pass. As John beheld, I looked, and
lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty
and four thousand, having his father's name written in their
foreheads. Now, verses 4 and 5 speak of
the blessed peace of God's people. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of
Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very
age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in the streets thereof." Now, without question, Without
question, this is not talking about the great blessedness of
old men and women living in the physical city of Jerusalem and
enjoying great prosperity and peace, little boys and girls
filling the streets, playing and singing, playing and dancing
in the streets day after day without fear while they're going
to hell. That's not what it's talking
about. The prophet's word is a promise of spiritual gospel
blessedness to sinners who come to Christ. Sinners to whom Christ
has come. Let me show you. You have a similar
passage in Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 31. He says almost exactly
the same thing. And if you'll compare what we
read here in Jeremiah 31 with Matthew chapter 2 at your leisure,
you'll find that Matthew tells us by the Spirit of God, who
is speaking in Jeremiah 31, that what he said in Jeremiah 31 is
fulfilled in this gospel day with the coming of Christ. Jeremiah
31 verse 11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion
and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat,
and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and
of the herd. And their soul shall be as a
watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Then
shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old
together. For I will turn their mourning
into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their
sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of
the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied
with my goodness, saith the Lord. Verse 15. Thus saith the Lord,
a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rael, weeping
for her children, refused to be comforted for her children,
because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, refrain
thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work
shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end,
saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own
border. Yes, there is a day coming when
our joy and peace will be perfect, perfect without interruption.
But even now, God satiates the soul of His people, does He not?
He fills our whole souls, the souls of redeemed, chosen, saved
sinners, trusting Christ, walking through this world with the joy
of faith and peace that passeth understanding. Now look at the
picture. Old saints. Y'all forgive me, we have some
here. Old saints. Folks who are aged in grace. And yet because of the weakness
of age, their knees, the pillars, the strong pillars begin to bow. And yet they walk in Zion with
their staff in their hand, leaning more heavily, leaning more fully,
leaning more completely upon Christ Jesus, the staff of life,
than ever before. Children playing in the streets
of Zion are representatives of fearless peace. I couldn't help but to think
of all the bombing that we've seen in Lebanon and Israel in
the last few weeks. And no children playing in the
streets because there's constant danger. Where there's constant
danger, the children are kept inside, moved to shelter, watched
carefully, the eye of the mother, the eye of the father constantly
upon them, never letting them out of their sight. But children
playing in the streets. Some of you, like myself, are
old enough to remember the days when mom and dad could open the
door as soon as the kids got up in the morning, got done with
breakfast, and shoo them out of the house and forget them.
Just forget them. Play in the streets. Romp and
run and play all day long with no fear of danger, because nobody
was going to hurt one of them. Nobody was going to hurt one
of them. Wasn't about to happen. They were scared to death to
do so. Wouldn't dare do so. See, when the children are playing
in the streets, there's no war and no danger. Nothing to make
them afraid. That's God's people walking in
Zion, trusting Christ Jesus, the Lord. children playing in
the streets of Zion are represented as a fearless peace. And if that's
what it's like now, imagine what it will be like when our God
makes all things new. The Church of God is His family,
and His quiver is always full. His quiver is always full. There's never an empty spot in
God's house. Never. Not at any time. In every age, in every generation,
in every place, every child the father has born in his family
is in his house. And he has born in his family
all he wants in his house at the present time. And when he's
finished, He will have all his chosen, adopted sons and daughters
in his house. But even now, the children of
God are playing and dancing, playing at the hole of an asp. dancing before the serpent of
hell with no fear, because there's no danger before them, and praising
Him continually. Oh, pastor, that's impossible. That can't happen. That's not
going to happen. That's exactly what the Jews
said when the Lord commanded them to build again His house,
and they gave up the work because it was too great, and they couldn't
do it. And so Zechariah picks up in
verse 8 and tells us that God declares, none of it depends
on you. It seemed impossible to Israel
that the temple would be rebuilt. Just as it often seems impossible
to us that God is building, will build his kingdom and complete
it. And it seems impossible only
because of carnal reason. Only because we measure God by
our own stake. God forgive us. In verse 6, the
Lord assures us that with Him, there are no difficulties. With
God, all things are possible, even the salvation of my soul
and yours, even the salvation of all His people. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, if it be marvelous. Do you have a marginal translation?
If you have a marginal translation in your Bible, if it be Difficult
in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days. Oh,
it looks impossible. Difficult. Difficult. Oh, difficult. In the 26 years we've been together,
everything God Almighty has been pleased to use us to accomplish. Looked impossible, did it not? Impossible. We can't do that.
Take on another missionary, we can't do that. Take on this minute,
we can't do that. We can't do that. Difficult. Seems difficult to Him. Should it also be difficult in
my eyes, saith the Lord of Hosts, Just because you think it's difficult,
you think I ought to look at it as a difficulty? The Lord
God is saying we must never judge Him by our measure. Though things may be difficult,
even impossible for us, there are no difficulties with God.
We should never think of difficulty and deity at the same time. The two are mutually exclusive. There are no difficulties with
him, but with God all things are possible and the salvation
of his people is a matter of certainty. Are you in trouble? Carrying a weight, a burden,
a heaviness that words can't describe and you think it's an
impossible burden. I'll never be released. That's
no difficulty to God. He who sinned it, easily removes
it. Do you carry in your soul a weight
of guilt and sin, so pressed down, so crushed, so utterly,
utterly smitten by the corruption that's in you, that you imagine
it's impossible? You cannot, cannot, cannot be
pardoned. God cannot save you. If at all, or at all depended
on you. Impossible. But with God, through
the precious blood of his darling son, by his omnipotent grace,
forgiveness has been accomplished. And it
is accomplished in you merely by him speaking the word. God easily forgives. God easily, abundantly pardons. Between God and man, there's
an infinite difference. So let us never look at God through
the smudged, cloudy glasses of our own emptiness, feebleness,
and weakness. Look at verses 7 and 8. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from
the west country. Now wait a minute. If this is
talking about just the Jews coming back from Babylon, if that's
all Zechariah intends, he writes a terrible mistake because in
his days no Jew had ever gone into the western world. There's
no way to talk about it. He's talking about the saving
of His people in all the nations of the earth. And I will bring
them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they
shall be My people, and I will be their God. They shall, if I can get their
permission, if they are willing, if they will obey. They shall be My people. And I shall be their God. No possibility of things being
otherwise. It shall be done in truth and
in righteousness according to the veracity of my word and my
oath and according to the righteousness of my own Son in fulfilling all
things in His obedience to the law even unto death on their
behalf. The children of God will be saved. I meant to say it just that way.
I didn't say men will become the children of God. The children
of God, His chosen adopted sons and daughters, He will gather
according to His covenant because of His everlasting love by His
almighty power and grace from the rising of the sun to the
going down of the same out of every nation and kindred and
tribe and tongue. And they shall come from the
east and from the west and from the north and from the south
and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. This is what God said. I will sow her, my beloved, my
chosen. I will sow her unto me in the
earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained
mercy. And I will say to them which
were not my people, thou art my people. And when God says,
You're mine, they shall say, Thou art my God. Now, look at verses 9 and following
down through verse 15. With such promises and assurances,
the Lord commands us to get to work. He commands us to give
ourselves faithfully to the preaching of the gospel, to the gathering
of his elect, to the building of his house. We've heard his
word by the mouth of his prophets. Let us now hear it. Our mighty
Zerubbabel, the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid the foundation of his
house, will bring the headstone of the corner and put it in its
place, completing his work with shoutings crying, grace, grace
unto it. There's no possibility that God's
work shall fail. shall not be done. His purpose
of grace will be accomplished. So it says in verse 15, let your
hands be strong. Or verse 9 rather, in verse 13.
Let your hands be strong. In verse 12, we're told that
God will make the work prosperous. He declares, I will cause the
remnant of this people to possess all these things. All good here
and all good hereafter. All the blessings of grace and
all the blessings of glory. Verse 12, we read about it. For
the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit,
and the ground shall give her increase, and the heaven shall
give their due, and I will cause the remnant of this people to
possess all these things. All the blessings of heaven and
earth. Now look at verse 13. God says to you who were a curse, a curse among the nations, scattered
in His fury, scattered in His wrath, scattered, children of
wrath even as others, a curse among the nations. Oh my God,
how well He describes this man. Cursed. Cursed in conscience. Cursed in heart. Cursed in mind. And everybody I came in contact
with agreed. If ever there was a damned man,
Don Fortner's that man. If ever there was one sure for
hell, it's that man. Useless, obnoxious, vile to the
utmost. Ye shall be a blessing. I will make you a blessing, he
says. Verse 13. And in verse 15, He
tells us that God is determined to do well to Jerusalem and to
Judah, to the whole house of Israel, the people of His choice. And so He says, fear ye not. Oh, children of God, don't fear
any vanity in the cause of Christ. Don't fear any frustration. Don't fear any possibility of
failure. That is not our purpose, our
desire, or our intent to see the whole world saved. That's
not it. That's not it. That's not it. We're on the trail, Bill Raleigh,
of Christ's sheep. He came to seek them, and that's
all we do. We're on the business of seeking
out His sons and daughters whom He seeks out. Our purpose is
the salvation of God's elect for God's glory. And let me tell
you exactly who shall be saved this day. Exactly. I'll tell
you exactly who shall be saved today. Everybody God intends
to save. Everybody. And I'll tell you
exactly who will be saved in the end of time. Everybody God
purposed to save from eternity. And oh, blessed be His name.
He's given us the privilege of carrying the good news of free
grace to desperately needy sinners around the world. We can't raise
the dead. He doesn't expect us to do so.
We're not responsible to do so. But, Ron, we can roll away the
stone from the tomb and watch Him work. And that's our business. And then, verse 16, these are
the things that you shall do. Now, notice what it says. Not
these are the things I want you to do, or even the things you
ought to do, or even the things I command you to do. These are the things you... shouting. All religions put men on the
ground of works and set them about to make up a robe of righteousness
for themselves, except the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ
declares not what you ought to be and ought to do. The gospel
of Christ declares what Christ has made you and declares what
God will cause you to do. And these are true of all God's
people. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. Execute
the judgment of truth and peace in your gates, and let none of
you Imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love
no false oath, for all these are things that I hate, saith
the Lord. When God comes to a sinner in
the saving operations of his grace, good works, and by that
I mean, by that the book of God means, works of faith and love. Works of mercy and goodness are
sure to follow. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now, I'm just fool enough to
believe that if God foreordained that Bob Duff exercise mercy
and grace, love and kindness, if God foreordained it, Pretty
confident He will. That's what He said, isn't it?
These are things to which God has ordained us. It's the fruit
of the Spirit working in us. Now, verses 18 and 19. The Jews had
kept their own feast, or fast rather, fast of sorrow four times
a year for 70 years. Four times a year for 70 years,
they kept their fast. What a sad, sad picture. They
were... Do you know what they were doing?
They called it worshiping God. David, they were commemorating
their bondage. ...holy days to commemorate their
bondage. That's what all religion without
Christ is all about. That's what all the religion
invented by men does. It celebrates bondage. Several
years ago, I had a fellow up in the north, up in New York,
been listening to me on the radio up there, and he came down here
several times to visit us, and he'd sit and talk about how he'd
go to church and just come away just so beat down, just so humbled,
beat down, beat down, beat down, beat down. Finally I said to
him one day, I advise you I'd quit going to church. I'd quit. I'd quit. But man is
so foolish in all things spiritual that he loves to be beat. He
loves it. Oh, come lay the lash on my back.
Make me aware that I'm a slave and I'm in bondage. Make me aware
of my terrible condition. God says, come for ye, come for
ye, my people. Declare their sins are forgiven,
their iniquities are removed. They've received of the Lord's
head double for all their sins. And so the Lord here says, That
sorrow and fasting and beating you heaped upon yourself for
70 years, when I bring you into my house, I'm going to turn it
into joy and gladness and cheerful feast of love, loving the truth
and peace. Faith in Christ is described
by the prophet Isaiah as a perpetual feast of fat things, a feast
of wine on leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on leaves
well refined. In Christ, oh, what joy and gladness. We are troubled with difficulties
and afflictions and trials and heartaches. And then the consolation
and the cheer of Christ is most abundant, turning sorrow into
laughter, so that they that sow in tears shall reap with joy."
Now, give me your attention for two minutes. I want to show you
one more thing. You can read it later. We read it earlier.
In verses 20 through 23, the prophet says that men out of
many nations, strong nations, many people, many people, shall
come to the house of God, seeking the Lord, worshiping Him. And they shall take hold of the
skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you. And the prophet said in verse
22, I'll go also. They'll come and take hold of
the skirt of one man who is a Jew and say, we've heard God's with
you. We've heard God's with you. In regeneration, the Lord Jesus
in the time of love comes to dead sinners by the power of
His Spirit. And what does the prophet tell us He does? spreads his skirt over you and
says, live. And the dead sinner lives. And
here the prophet tells us what happens when the Son of God spreads
over his own the skirt of his righteousness, declaring to men
and women the gospel of their salvation, saying, live. He spreads His skirt over us
and we take hold of His skirt. I will go with you. I've heard
God in all His fullness, in all the fullness of His grace and
in all the fullness of His glory is in you and with you. Oh, Spirit of God, cause your
people in this day of your power, by your free grace, to take hold
of the skirt of Christ's perfect righteousness and gather chosen
sinners unto God our Savior. Amen.