Thank you, Carol. It's outstanding,
just outstanding. When trouble comes, where do
you look for comfort? When you have times of darkness,
heartache, chaos in life, turned upside down, and there are no
billboards pointing to tell you what's going to be around the
next curve. Where do you find comfort, peace, and rest for
your soul? We fall back upon blood atonement
and rejoice to know that he who loved us and gave himself for
us, he who put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself,
sits upon the throne of the universe and rules everything exactly
as he will. We fall back into the arms of
our sovereign God and rest on him who does as he pleases in
heaven above, in the earth beneath, And in all deep places, he works
his sovereign will. And that God is our Father, too
wise to err, too good to fail, too good to do wrong, and too
strong to fail. And we fall back upon God's providence,
God's good providence. God who works all things together
for good to them who are the called according to his purpose. And in redemption by Christ,
in the sovereign character of our God, and in the assured declaration
of God's providence, we find soft pillars upon which to rest
our heads, upon which to find peace for our hearts, in the
greatest times of difficulty. Turn to Zechariah 6. God's prophet Zechariah and the
faithful in Israel were in what must have been for them a time
of great confusion and difficulty. After seventy years in Babylonian
captivity, They had been sent back to Jerusalem by God's decree,
exactly as He declared 250 years earlier He would do. Sent back
by Cyrus, and sent back to build again the house of God, to build
again the city of Jerusalem, to reestablish the worship of
God in the holy city. But the task appeared to be impossible. Their hearts were overwhelmed
by the difficulties facing them, and it appeared the work would
never be accomplished. So the Lord appeared to Zechariah
in a series of visions, visions by which he encouraged his prophet
and his people to continue steadfast in their service with him, to
go on in the labor he had committed to their hands, to go back to
Jerusalem, assuring them of the success of their labors. In chapters
1-5, the first seven of these visions are given. Let's take
a brief glance at them. First in chapter 1, verses 7-11,
the Lord showed Zechariah a man riding a red horse, standing
in a grove of myrtle trees. The grove of myrtle trees represents
God's church. It's found in a piece of bottomland
surrounded by high, oppressing mountains. People these days
talk about mountaintop life and living on the mountain. There's
a song, I'm living on the mountain underneath the starry sky. Not
me. I've been now blessed of God
for nearly 45 years. to walk in the sweet day-by-day
experience of his grace. But most of that time has not
been spent on the mountaintop. It's been spent in dark valleys. But I'll tell you something about
valleys and mountains. I just came back from California,
and you cross those high mountains, do you know what grows at 14,000
feet? Nothing. Just bleak rocks, nothing. The air is thin and you get a
little dizzy. The ground in the valley is where
fertility is, and that's where God puts his church and keeps
you, that you may grow in his grace. Keeps you continually
looking up to him, that you may walk before him, trusting the
Redeemer. But all is well. Because that
man riding on the red horse is our Lord Jesus Christ. And in
this book you'll find him always standing in the midst of his
churches, always in the midst of his kingdom, always with his
people, always present to help, to strengthen, and to encourage.
Then in chapter 1, verse 18, Zechariah saw four horns and
four carpenters. The four horns represent the
powers of the world, political and ecclesiastical powers, constantly
oppressing God's people. Animals with horns usually get
their ways. That's just the way of life. Animals with horns generally
have power and push their way around, and that's exactly how
we see things in this world. But all is well. because the
four carpenters are gospel preachers, and by the preaching of the gospel,
the horns of those wild beasts are smashed to pieces and frayed. God, by his gospel, in spite
of political and ecclesiastical power, in spite of the powers
of the earth that men naturally fear and dread. God, by his gospel,
accomplishes his will in all places and at all times. Then
in chapter 2, the prophet saw the Lord Jesus as a man with
a measuring line in his hand who measures and determines the
dimensions of his holy city, the Jerusalem which is above. The city of our God is measured
by our Savior, and it is a city foursquare, if you read in Revelation
21 and 22. It is a city of perfect symmetry,
exactly according to the order and purpose ordained before the
world began, and at every stage of time, it is exactly as God
would have it in this world. We often lament, your pastor
and I talk usually several times in a week, and we often lament
the state of things in our day, and rightly so. We lament the
state of the Church. I'm not talking about just the
apostate religious world around us, the state of the Church in
general, and rightly so. But having said all that, we
continually encourage one another with this assurance. God's Church
right now is exactly as God intends it, and he is doing all things
exactly as he purposed for the saving of his people. All is
well. Christ is still on the throne.
All is well. He still orders the affairs of
the universe. He says, I will be under her
a wall of fire about, and will be of the glory in the midst
of her. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations, which spoiled
you. For he that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye." Then we come to chapter 3. Chapter 3
is a marvelous picture of redemption and grace in Christ. Here is
Joshua standing before the Lord in filthy garments. This high
priest coming back from Babylon in filthy garments stands before
God. This is that place to which Jude
refers when he talks about the Lord Jesus having said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee. Here the Lord Jesus and Satan
both are standing by this man Joshua. And the Lord Jesus is
standing there to bless Joshua and Satan to resist him. And
the Lord Jesus speaks and says to Satan, the Lord rebuked thee.
And the only reason he speaks, not bringing a railing accusation,
is because he speaks with authority and with power. The work is already
finished, and he says, take his filthy garments off of him, and
put a fair miter on his head, and put new garments on him,
and I will take away his sin. And he says, now this is what
I'm telling you, I will purge the iniquity of the land of my
people in one day. And the whole thing here in Zechariah
3 is a picture of redemption accomplished at Calvary, and
redemption applied to the hearts of God's elect in free and sovereign
grace. And then in chapter 4, he has
a vision of a candlestick. This candlestick portrays the
Lord's Church in this world, constantly supplied with the
oil of grace by God the Holy Spirit, who is constantly given
by Christ our Savior. All is well. God's grace is unceasing,
and our mighty Zerubbabel will build his church. At the end
of chapter 3, there's a foundation stone, the foundation of the
temple, laid before the eyes of Joshua. And this foundation
stone, we're told here in chapter 4, was laid by Zerubbabel. And he will bring the topmost
stone and lay it in its place, crying, Grace, grace unto it. In other words, the Lord is again
telling us all is well. God is accomplishing his purpose. God is saving his people. God will build his church. The
gates of hell shall never at any time prevail against it.
God still sits on the throne, and that God who sits upon the
throne is God our Savior. Look in chapter 5. Zechariah's
sixth vision was of a huge roll flying over the earth, pronouncing
God's curse upon guilty sinners scattered over all the earth. But still all is well. Because
the curse and the judgments following it are according to the justice
and righteousness and purpose of God. Listen to this text of
scripture back in Jeremiah. You can look at it later. Jeremiah
30, the Lord is describing the judgments of God in the earth. We see them every day. Every
day. earthquakes and tornadoes and
hurricanes and famine and pestilence and disease and war and moral
decadence and religious apostasy. All these are the judgments of
God in the world. All these come to pass by the
hand of God's providence according to God's purpose. How long will
these judgments endure? How long will God continue to
pour out his judgment upon men on this earth? He'll do it until
he has performed the intents of his heart. Until he has performed the intents
of his heart. And the intents of his heart
are these two things. The salvation of his people.
and the glory of his name in all the earth by Jesus Christ
our Lord in saving his people." Then in chapter 5, again, verse
5, we see a woman in a basket. This woman sitting in a basket
represents the wickedness of the whole world in false religion,
and tells us that wickedness is always under the Savior's
absolute control. and shall be brought to everlasting
destruction at exactly God's appointed time. All is well,
for even the wrath of man shall praise thee." Even the wrath
of man is under the rule of God our Savior. Now, remember, throughout
these visions, the Lord's purpose is to assure us that all is well. We're just saying it, when peace
like a river attendeth my way, all is well. When sorrows like
sea bevels roll, all is well. All is well all the time. God, teach me to believe what
I'm telling you. Teach me to understand. that
all is well for Christ is on the throne. All is well for God's
purpose is being accomplished. When everything appears to be
out of control, when our hearts are heavy and our souls are distressed
and our minds are confused, our Lord here tells us to fall back
to the comfortable, stabilizing mountains of brass. Now let's
pick up in chapter 6. And I want to talk to you tonight
for just a few minutes about mountains of brass. Zechariah 6, And I turned, and
lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came four chariots
from between the two mountains, and the mountains were mountains
of brass. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second
chariot black horses, and in the third chariot white horses,
and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses. Then I answered
and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these,
my Lord? And the angel answered and said
unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth
from the standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black
horses which are therein go forth into the north country, and the
white horses go forth after them, and the grizzled go forth toward
the south country, and the bay went forth and sought to go,
that they might walk to and fro through the earth. And he said,
Get you hence, and walk to and fro through the earth. So they
walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me,
and spake unto me, saying, These that go toward the north country
have quieted my spirit in the north country. Verse 1, I turned
and lifted up mine eyes and looked. God's prophet turns and lifts
up his eyes to heaven and looks. as if to teach us by recording
his own experience that we must never presume we have arrived
at all truth and all knowledge. Let us ever search out the scriptures
and ever look away from the things of earth to Christ sitting on
his throne and be taught of God by his word and by his spirit. May God the Holy Spirit constantly
cause our hearts to soar to heaven, to turn as if to tell us Christ
is on the throne and he's to be seen everywhere and in all
things. Now, we're told, And behold,
there came four chariots from between the two mountains, and
the mountains were mountains of brass. What are these chariots? What are these chariots? Now
you folks have not had the marvelous privilege I had, I don't think
any of you have, of going to Bible college where folks have
what they call dispensational charts. We had books of dispensational
charts that we had to study. And they would find all kinds
of pictures of chariots and imaginary things and how all these things
fit together and guess what they might be. And everybody had a
notion. This would be that, this would
be that. The chariots are considered by most to be four succeeding
kingdoms and so on. Not at all. Not at all. These
four chariots are the angels of God. That's as plain as it
can be in Scripture. Do you remember what Elijah prayed
that Elisha would see? He said, Lord, open his eyes
that he might see. And Elijah opened his eyes, and
there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and he saw
the mountain filled with such. The chariots are the angels of
God, God's warriors by whom he executes his wise decrees. Hold
your hand to Zechariah 6 and turn to Psalm 68. Zachariah said, Thou didst ride
upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation. Here in Psalm 68,
the chariots of God, verse 17, are twenty thousand, even thousands
of angels. The Lord is among them, as in
Sinai in the holy place. The chariots, then, these chariots
coming from between these mountains of brass are the angels of God. Now, understand the teaching
of this book with regard to angels. There are a host of celestial
creatures created by God called angels who are ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation.
God's angels watch over and protect his people secretly throughout
the course of their lives. God's angels do things I'm certain
we have no knowledge of whatsoever. But more often than not, angels
in scripture do not refer to those heavenly beings. More often
than not, the word angel is used to speak of God's messengers,
of gospel preachers. Do you remember in Revelation
2 and 3 where the letters are sent to the angels of the churches? Right there is the angel of this
church. The word angel simply means messenger. They are those
by whom God works his work in the day in which we live. The
angels of God, we're told by our Savior, with regard to the
tares, he says he shall let the tares and wheat grow together.
And at the end of the age, in the end of the world, in this
gospel age, God will send forth his angels, and they will gather
the tares, bind up the tares out of his kingdom, gather them,
and bind them up for the burning, so that by the preaching of the
gospel, The word of God comes as a word of judgment, and binds
up the pairs. And it comes also as a word of
life and grace, and he gathers the wheat into his garner, and
gathers them as he will, by the preaching of the word. So the
angels of God most commonly refer to those men by whom God sends
his word through the world, by the preaching of the gospel.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. This is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you through God's servants,
his angels. Like chariots of war, they go
forth and are set for the defense of the gospel and the kingdom
of God our Savior. Fighting the good fight of faith,
they are always made triumphant by Christ and are more than conquerors
through him. It is by the angels of God, both
the heavenly creatures and those men who are chosen of God to
preach the gospel, those who are encamped around us, though
unseen by us, and those who stand before us week after week and
proclaim the gospel of God's grace. These are the messengers
appointed by God, by whom God our Savior constantly ministers
to, directs, and protects His elect in this world. by whom
he accomplishes his intents, his purpose of grace concerning
his own. Now, what are these mountains
of brass, these chariots? These chariots come from between
two mountains of brass, two of them. They're described as mountains
of brass, and the work of the angels these chariots takes place
between these two mountains of brass. What are those mountains? Mountains represent that which
is immense, high, solid, strong, and immovable. Brass represents
that which is hard and enduring. These mountains of brass I cannot
imagine representing anything other than The purpose of God
and the providence of God. The purpose of God and the providence
of God. Did you ever stand over a chasm,
a large river like New River Gorge Bridge? Have you ever been
on a bridge and see both sides of that river at one time, standing
in the middle of it? And it looks like if you could just squeeze
it together, the two sides would just fit perfectly. indicating
that there was a great sudden chasm made, made by divine judgment,
but it just split them apart, and you just fit them right together,
just like that. Well, these mountains of brass,
on the one side is the purpose of God, on the other is the providence
of God. God's purpose being that which
he predestined and decreed and ordained before the world began,
and his providence being that which he performs day by day
throughout the ages of time. And they are exact equals. They are exactly alike. His providence
mirrors his purpose exactly, so that there is no variance
whatsoever. variance whatsoever, nothing
out of culture, nothing misplaced, nothing that is ahead of time
or behind time. Everything comes to pass in time
exactly as God from eternity ordained that it should. These
mountains of brass, then, represent God's purpose in His eternal
decrees, God's sovereign purpose of grace and predestination. Let's look at two passages. Romans 8. Verse 28. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. Then he tells us what God's purpose
is, according to which he works all things after the counsel
of his will. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Those whom he ordained in eternal
love to everlasting salvation, he predestined to be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ, that Christ might stand preeminent
and glorious among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now, it doesn't
say whom he did predestinate. It is as though he had called
them, or he was going to call them, or he will surely call
them. It says, whom he did predestinate,
he called, past tense, named as the sons of God, whom he named
as the sons of God, he justified as the sons of God, and whom
he justified, he glorified all in Christ before the world was,
because the book says the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. Look in Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. All blessings come
according to God's Were there no election, there would be no
blessedness, and this was done before the world began. According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him." Now, people
will tell you, the Lord chose us in election so that we would
live a good, holy life. Well, I highly recommend that
you do. But if you think you are, or have, or will, please
don't call me and tell me about it, because I'll tell you, you're
mistaken. You've never had a holy thought,
let alone a holy life. Anybody here different with that?
I'll sit down and let you preach. What thought did you ever have
with which you want to stand before God? There's nothing in
Dwayne. I'm the corruption, and Don Fortner
too. Nothing else. What's that mean
that God's chosen us, predestinated us, that we should be holy and
without blame? Before Him. And before Him, we're holy and
without blame. Can you understand that? Christ
has put away our sins and made us the righteousness of God in
Him. That's not pretend, Andy, that's real. He's put away our
sins by the sacrifice of himself, and made us the very righteousness
of God. Now read on, "...in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." Skip down to verse 11. in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will." The decrees and purposes of God, like a mountain, are
ancient, more ancient than the everlasting hills, high and deep. That is to say, they are dark,
obscure, and hidden until performed. What has God purposed? Wonder what tomorrow will bring. I don't have a clue, but I'm
anxious to find out. I don't have a clue, but I know
whatever it is He's purposed is good for me, and good for
His kingdom, and good for His glory. Whatever it is. It's dark
and obscure until brought to pass. And mountains are firm,
solid, immovable, lasting, durable like brass. That simply means
that God's purpose can never be broken, revoked, or made null
and void. It's unalterable like God himself. God's sovereign purpose of grace,
blessed be his name, can never be disannulled. And then surrounded
by the wickedness and curse of the earth, enduring with his
brethren the trials and troubles of God's saints in this world,
facing all those who constantly made war with the saints. Zechariah
saw on one side this mountain of brass, God's sure purpose,
and on the other side another mountain of brass, God's good
providence. Again, I tell you an exact copy
of his purpose. It's according to the fixed,
immutable decree of God that all things in time come to pass. God worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. In your King James translation,
this is one of the many great advantages of the King James
translation. You have that little E-T-H ending
on verbs. E-T-H. It implies what's known
as the linear tense. Now, that's a ten-dollar word
from a one-dollar print ship. It just simply means there's
something going on all the time. It started and it doesn't stop.
It's just going on all the time. And wherever you read that ETH
ending, it doesn't mean who worked or works or shall work. It means who worked and works
and continues to work. This is what God's doing. He
worketh in sovereign, total ease of sovereignty. He worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. everything with ease. Now, it seems difficult to you
and me, but he's numbered the very hairs of your head. That
implies tender care and minute detail. I remember when our daughter
Faith, just a little baby, Shelby would clean her up and get her
fixed up for bed and put all that smelly powder and stuff
on her and she'd sit around and count her fingers and toes and
kiss them every once in a while. You know why I never saw her
do? I never saw her try to start counting the hair. Impossible
task. She might have wanted to do so,
but it is an impossible task. Our Heavenly Father has numbered
the hairs of your head. Numbered them from eternity for
every day of your existence on this earth. Because with fatherly,
tender care, and with minute detail, he governs everything
for you. What did David say? The Lord
performeth all things for me. Performeth. People have the idea
that somehow God just ordained things, and they come to pass,
and he's not paying attention to what's going on. Oh, no. No,
no. Don't ever get the idea that
God's not constantly involved. He is constantly involved in
the accomplishment of His purpose, His will, in the saving of His
people, in our everlasting good, and in our present temporal good,
for spiritual purposes. He does us good all the time. Everything. But, Brother Don,
I've I've sure found things in my life that weren't good. They didn't appear to be so at
the time. And I've had a few experiences
that I'd never choose them. I'd never choose them. Never. But I'll tell you what I've never
found. I've never come out this side of them and regretted experiencing
them. Pastor, is that your experience? Who wants to have cancer? Who
wants to endure long hospitalization? Who wants to endure bereavement?
Who wants to endure domestic trouble? Who wants to endure
any of that? Nobody! Nobody! But God our Father graciously
and wisely brings it through our lives and brings us through
those things in our lives to teach us our Redeemer's goodness,
grace, and glory, and teaches us to trust Him. I think we shall
spend eternity looking back over these mountains of with wonder at God's goodness
in performing all things for man. But chariots are pulled by horses. The chariots themselves accomplish
nothing. The chariots themselves might
look pretty sitting in a museum, but they accomplish nothing.
The chariots sitting between the mountains of brass accomplish
nothing. They must be pulled by some power. And the power by which the chariots
are pulled are here described as the spirits of our God. The
four spirits of God. God's Holy Spirit in all the
four corners of the earth causing His Word and His will to be accomplished
exactly as He has ordained. And so the chariots are pulled
through the mountains of brass and bring to pass what God has
purposed. We come to preach the gospel,
and the preacher studies and prepares. I've been working on
this message for you all day today, since I got in the office.
Before I went home last night, I started working on it. And
it's utterly useless. And my preaching it is utterly
useless. I could give you some mental
instruction, but it's utterly useless. I might give you some
insight into the book of Zechariah, but it's utterly useless, unless
God the Holy Spirit speaks through these limbs His word to your
heart. And if He does that, then he
will cause this word to meet the needs of chosen sinners throughout
this place. And maybe, maybe even conquer
one of his own this hour by his omnipotent grace and bring you
to trust our blessed Redeemer. But the secret of success is
in the spirit, not in the chariot. Not in the messenger, but our
sufficiency is of God. And then in verse 8, our Lord
says, when the black chariots, black horses pull the chariot
up to the north country, then I'll be quiet. I'll be quiet. When the final
stroke of judgment is brought to pass, And God has fulfilled
all the intents of his heart. The Lord Jesus said, Now I will
see of the travail of my soul, and be satisfied. All that I
have been sent to my Father as a covenant messenger to do, I
will do. And judgment will be over, and
all things made new, and I'll stand before God and say, Lo,
I and the children whom thou didst give me, none of them is
lost. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Amen.