in the book of Zechariah, chapter
six. Now, Wednesday night, we got
a little bit of a backstory. So I'm gonna just give us a brief
recap on what's happening here. Zechariah is coming to Israel
after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity had been completed.
And Zechariah is one of the few prophets that come and just give
good news. He didn't give a message of destruction. He didn't give a message of of
captivity prolonging or anything negative, he gives them all positives
and he gives good news to his people. He tells them that the
evil of their father had caused them to be in the captivity.
And where they are now here in Babylonian captivity, if they've
come out because of what their fathers had done, he asked them,
he said, where are they now? What did they accomplish in everything
that they had done, toiled in, thought that they were working
for the right reasons, but it was all the wrong reasons. We
found that out, didn't we? They're dead now. It was a rhetorical
question. And this is what the Lord does. He always shows us
that we deserve wrath. We deserve wrath before showing
us mercy. He always shows us we deserve
grace before giving us grace. He shows us that we don't deserve
grace before giving us grace. He always shows us we deserve
judgment. Now, the angel of the Lord asked this question unto
the Lord. There's an angel communing with Zechariah, and the angel
of the Lord asked this question, how long, Lord, will you not
have mercy on Jerusalem? So understand this angel of the
Lord, anytime we read it in scripture, this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the interceding prayer for the Lord's people. Lord,
how long will you not have mercy on Judah? And the Lord says,
The scripture says, then the Lord spoke. Then the Lord spoke,
and he said, good words and comfortable words. Zechariah said, he spoke
good words and comfortable words unto the angel of the Lord, and
I heard them. The Lord said, I'm jealous. I'm jealous for you, Judah. I'm
jealous for you, Israel. And we know that that word jealous,
that's not a jealousy like we have, that pertains to our flesh
where we're suspicious of a loved one doing something against us
or cheating or whatever it may be. Now that word jealous is,
he's extremely protective of his own. He's extremely protective
of what he's bought. He's extremely protective of
what he owns. The Lord speaks after that and
says, I'm returned to Jerusalem with mercies, not judgment. My
house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord shall
yet comfort Zion when he shall yet choose Jerusalem. Now you're
not going to find this in the sixth chapter. You're going to
find that in the first chapter, but I'm giving a backstory a little bit
to explain where we're landing here in Zechariah chapter six. The question. that I have for
us after hearing that the Lord shall comfort Zion and yet choose
Jerusalem. What comfort would there had
been in them hearing from the Lord, if you'll free yourself
from Babylonian captivity, then I'll comfort you. If you'll come
out from Babylonian captivity, now that they're in captivity,
understand that. They're slaves, they're prisoners. It's not an option that they're
there. They were taken into captivity by the will of the king. They
were overthrown. They had no power left in them
to free themselves. So what comfort would there had
been if the Lord would said, if you free yourself from Babylon,
I'll give you comfort. There's no comfort in that, is
there? There's no comfort in that. Babylon represents the
bondage that we have of sin by the law. It also represents,
they were in captivity 70 years. It's the bondage that we have
to this flesh, isn't it? It's the bondage that we have
in our in being born in sin, being shapen in iniquity, and
being in captivity to this flesh, unable to get out of this captivity
on our own, unable to have comfort based upon what we do. There is no comfort in the Lord
saying, if you'll walk in my precepts, I'll bless you. If
you'll do exactly what I say, then I'll save you. If you'll
do everything that I require, I'll have mercy on you. There's
no comfort in that to me. And there's no comfort in that
to the Lord's people because we know we're in captivity to
the flesh. We are in captivity to the law.
We are in captivity to sin. This is the covenant of works.
The scripture talks about the covenant of works. It's by the
law. And the only thing that the law can produce is death.
And the scripture is very clear. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. They that are in the flesh. Are
you in the flesh? Yes. Am I in the flesh? Yes. Born in the flesh, born
in sin, born under the law. Can I please God then? No. No,
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. God's not saying
do unto them. He's saying, I am, I will, I
have, and you shall. I am, I'm come to Jerusalem with
mercy. I am the I am that has the ability
to have mercy on whom I will have mercy and compassion on
whom I will have compassion. Then he says, I will take away
your captivity because I have loved you with an everlasting
love. This is good news. That's comforting to me. He's
going to do it all and gets all the glory. And he tells them,
we heard this message Wednesday night, but what precious words
there is in the Lord's words when he says, they that touch
you, they touch the apple of my eye. That's how much he loves
his people. How protective are you of your
eye? The apple being the most sensitive part, as we heard Wednesday
night. When you get a piece of dust in your eye, if you're doing
anything, and you stop everything you're doing to get that piece
of dust out, that's the most sensitive part of your body.
As soon as it's touched, isn't it? He says, somebody touches
you, they're touching the apple of my eye. This was not based upon our choosing
or doing. This was based upon our, not
on our commitment. The Lord's not looking for your
commitment or my commitment in order for him to do these things.
He's saying, I've already done this for you. And he just lets
us know about it in time. It's all his choosing, his commitment,
his doing. Those for whom he died in the
covenant of grace. When we were yet sinners, Christ
died for the ungodly. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
them back to the Father, his Judah, his Jerusalem. This is
what the picture is here in the book of Zechariah. The angel
of the Lord said, how long will you not show mercy? And the Lord
said, I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. I'm jealous
for you, Jerusalem. That's the good news. If it wasn't
for the intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
would have been no difference between Judas and Peter. It took the
intercessory prayer. The Lord had to pray for Peter.
That was the only difference. And if the Lord hasn't prayed
for us, we're not his. He has to do the praying. He
has to be the sacrifice, the atonement. He has to be the redeemer. Otherwise, we have no hope. And
that's the covenant of grace. That's the only way sinners are
saved. Salvation truly is of the Lord. It's by his hand. It's
by his purpose. It's according to his will. And
it was before the foundation of the world. We're going to
hear about that the second hour, but in Wednesday, I said this
and I'll reiterate this to us, but in salvation, among others,
the father had three distinct responsibilities in salvation.
The father had three distinct responsibilities. Number one,
to elect a people. Number two, to make Christ's
soul an offering for sin on the cross of Calvary. And number
three, resurrect his son from the dead. That was the three
responsibilities of the father. Now in salvation, the son had,
among others, there's five primary responsibilities that he had.
He had to become a man. He had to fulfill the law's demands.
He had to be the sinner substitute. taking their sin into himself,
and then he had to put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself,
by his own blood. Then he had to die. Those are
the five. Now, among others, God's Holy
Spirit has three distinct responsibilities in salvation. Make God's gospel
effectual when it's preached. If the Lord doesn't send his
spirit here this morning, we're doing this in vain. He has to
make his word effectual. Number two, call the Lord sheep.
Call the Lord's sheep. Calls them to be born again.
Spirit's the one that does the calling. And when he calls, what
does he give? That's the third thing. He gives
repentance and he gives faith. Now, what is our responsibility
in salvation that we just heard? Nothing. Nothing. It is finished. It is finished,
and that's what Zechariah's message is from the Lord. He's saying,
no, I'm gonna have mercy on Jerusalem. I'm gonna raise up this temple.
I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that, and you're
gonna worship me. That's what he says. You're gonna
worship me, and it's all by his doing. Zechariah shows us the
finished work of the Lord's salvation is by God alone. Now look in
our text with me, Zechariah chapter six, and let's read a few verses
here in verse nine, starting with verse nine. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Take of them of the captivity, even Heldi,
of Horbajah, and of Jediah, which are come from Babylon. And cometh
thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of
Zephaniah, and take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set
them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is
the branch. And he shall grow up out of his
place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall
build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and
shall sit and rule upon his throne. He shall be a priest upon his
throne, and the council of peace shall be between them. And the
crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jediah, and
to him the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple
of the Lord. And they that are afar off shall come and build
in the temple of the Lord. And ye shall know that the Lord
of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass if
ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. Now in
this chapter, He has given us all three offices of the Lord
Jesus Christ as prophet, priest, and king. And I had originally
went to focus on those three, but the Lord didn't see fit to
give me the message on that. This morning, he's given me the
message that I've titled the branch. The branch. And yes,
Jesus Christ is prophet, priest, and king as the Lord's branch.
But what does he mean by the branch? Well, I would remind
us going back to Genesis chapter one, that's where it started,
that's where time began. In Genesis 1.11, it says, God
said, let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seed
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is
in itself upon the earth and it was so. Now that phrase, the
tree yielding fruit after his kind in Genesis is mentioned
many, many times. I have a garden myself this year
and it already has some peppers coming up, which I've been very
excited about, but the Lord chose to bless it. I didn't give the
increase to that. We can do everything. We can
plant it, we can water it, we can try to nourish it, but the
Lord has to give the increase. But that pepper plant isn't going
to bring forth a tomato. It's just not. And a cucumber
plant can't bring forth a pepper. You know this to be true. The
tree bears forth the fruit after his kind. Then he says, whose
seed is in itself. I can't take a seed from any
plant and plant it and expect to bring forth a tree or a plant
that is not of what that seed came from. That's what the Lord's
talking about here when he says, I'm gonna bring forth the branch,
a righteous branch. See, we were all born of a corrupt
seed. We were born of our father, Adam,
wasn't we? Or what weren't we? We were born from a dead seed
and all born are totally dead. We're all born totally, totally
dead. We have Adam's blood in us and
his blood is tainted with sin. All who were born after Adam
have polluted blood. Born dead and trespasses and
in sin and unable to please God with anything we produce. Now,
We were looking yesterday, some of us were together, and Al pointed
out that there was an ash tree that was dead. That tree could
not bring forth life anymore, it was dead. It had died, it
was rotten, it was decaying, and it didn't produce fruit,
it produced leaves, I understand that, but if an apple tree's
dead, there is no hope of resurrecting a dead tree, is there? There's
no hope of resurrecting a dead plant, if it's dead, dead. I
mean, if there's a little bit of life in the roots, You might
be able to nurture it back over time. We're not talking about
that. We're talking about dried up and dry ground all the way
down and it's dust. It's dead. That's us being born
in this world, period. We don't have to do anything
in order to merit this death. It's already just us being born
with the seed of our father Adam in us. We're born in sin, immediately. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies, the scripture says. I don't have to do anything in
order to be a sinner, I'm born. Born the chief of sinners. There's
no choice to be made, there's no prayer to be prayed, there's
no give your heart to Jesus for salvation, we're dead. We're
dead. Dead as this graveyard is behind
us and everyone that's buried six feet under, they can't make
a choice, can they? You see how silly that sounds? We don't get to choose the Lord
in being regenerated or bringing forth new fruit. We're dead in
Adam and cannot do anything about it. Nothing. There's nothing
we can do. All that we can produce is death
and sin. And even if we could do something,
God doesn't accept anything we do. Do we realize that? Anything
that we do produce, God doesn't accept it. God doesn't accept
it. God only accepts what He provides
and God must provide what is required in order for Him to
accept it. The Lord was speaking to Nicodemus
on such matters. He told Nicodemus, you must be
born again. Nicodemus did not, could not
understand that. And men cannot understand that.
We can't understand that, can we? How is a man, when he is
old, supposed to enter into his womb a second time and be born?
How is that possible? Well, it's not, is it? But he
says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is of the Spirit. Now understand what the
Lord's saying there is, is the Spirit must birth you. That which is born of the Spirit,
it's His doing. Do we see that? It's not us that
choose to be birthed by the Spirit. That's silly. No, He has to do
the birthing. He has to do the life giving. He has to give the
faith. He has to give the repentance. Nicodemus didn't understand,
but the Lord said, the wind bloweth where it listeth. Yesterday,
I was battling some wind a little bit on a boat, and that wind
blows wherever it wants to. And there's nothing I can do
to prevent it. There's nothing I can do to stop
it. There's nothing I can do to help it. It blew wherever
it want to, and here I am being blown around by it. And what
the Lord said in Nicodemus, so is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. Everyone that is born of the
Spirit, they have no choice. There's no question that the
Holy Spirit gives. He doesn't say, will you allow
me to make you alive? If he did, what's the dead corpse
gonna say? It's dead. He said, Lazarus,
come forth. He didn't say, Lazarus, if you'll
take the first step, I'll take the rest." No, no, he spoke with
his authority as God, and he said, Lazarus, come forth, and
Lazarus came forth. Here's the glorious news of the
gospel. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, while we were dead, while we were dead, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. This is the message that Zechariah
is setting forth by saying, behold the man that is the branch. He's
the one that's going to redeem you back. You can't redeem yourself,
but he's going to redeem you back. Turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 23. Jeremiah speaks on this as well. Jeremiah 23, I think we looked
at this the other night, but Jeremiah 23, verse five. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judas
shall be saved. and Israel shall dwell safely.
And this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness. Jehovah Sitkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now, how is Judah going to be
saved? What did he just tell us? How
is Judah gonna be saved? By what they do? By what decision
they make? No, the Lord is the doer of it. The Lord shall execute judgment
and justice. And who did he execute judgment
and justice upon? We better hope it's not us, because
if it's us, it'll be eternal judgment, won't it? No, it has
to be upon a substitute. It has to be upon the one, the
Lord, our righteousness, the branch, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how Judah is going to
be saved. God had to become a man to satisfy himself, to redeem
his people back to him. We couldn't do it. We still can't,
can we? We still can't do anything to
please the Lord. He has to do it all. Understand
if we have any part, Any part in the work of salvation whatsoever,
we have tainted it by doing something. We've tainted it and it's called
iniquity. All by his doing. I want to show
you that in Galatians chapter four, turn with me there. Galatians chapter four in verse
three. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son unto your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God. See, it was all by his doing,
because He says, because you are sons, not he sent his spirit
and then made you his son. Because you are sons, he sent
his spirit forth to your heart, whereby we cry of a father, because
you are sons. See, this is an eternal salvation.
This is not a temporary salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ has never
seen his people outside of Christ. Because you are sons, because
you are found in the branch, therefore you have eternal life.
Well, how did he find us there? He put us there. No way we could
have done it. We were dead, remember? We're
dead from our father, Adam, his blood, his seed. Everything we
produce is death. This is what the law shows us.
We cannot keep it. And anytime that we try to do
one thing in order to keep God's law or to please God in any way,
it's called iniquity. And God hates all workers of
iniquity. Psalm chapter five, verse five. That's what the scripture
teaches us. You can't please God. You can't
make him happy. Everything we do, if he looks
upon us as a disappointment, it's repulsive. We're polluted.
We need a substitute. Lord, you're gonna have to raise
up a branch. I'm a dead stump, and that's giving myself too
much credit. Dead stump, you're gonna have to raise up a righteous
branch that you're pleased with to bring forth good fruit unto
you. I can't do it. Scripture says, therefore, by
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law, is the knowledge
of sin. That's what the law gave us,
the knowledge of sin. There is no keeping the law,
is there? There is no fulfilling the law's demands. There is no
pleasing the Lord. Trying to do so is literally
being lukewarm in the Lord's eyes. That's what he told the
church of Laodicea. That was the problem. They were mixing law
and grace. If we mix one law with God's grace, we have polluted
it. We're lukewarm. And what did he say? It's nauseating.
He said, I'll spew you out. It's the same word as vomit.
Don't mix any law with God's grace. It's by grace you are
saved through faith, in that not of yourself. Don't try to
do anything because the moment you do something, you've polluted
it. The moment I do something, I've
committed iniquity. I've committed iniquity and the
Lord says, no, no, I will not have that. There's only one thing
that pleases me and it's my son. And he says, I'll vomit you out. Literally everything about iniquity,
everything about us doing something to please God, is disgusting
to him. That's what the word abomination
means. God's not looking for my sincerity. He's not looking. You've got to be sincere enough.
He's not looking for my sincerity. He's not looking for my sorrow.
He's not looking for my best intentions. God is looking for
the faith of Christ bestowed upon you and I. And if you don't
see it, It's because he hasn't bestowed it. And if he don't
see it, we have no hope of eternal life. That's all he looks for
in us, the faith of Christ. And that the scripture is very
clear is our justification before God. If he's given you his faith,
you're justified. If he's given you his faith,
you are justified in his sight. Men say silly things. Jesus, I heard recently on the
radio, I was flipping through and, uh, Literally said, Jesus
loves you the way you are. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. God hates our flesh. God hates
our flesh. Everything about it is putrid
to him. He's holy. He's other, he's high. He's perfect. We're the opposite
of that in every way. God hates all workers of iniquity. And that's all we are by nature
is workers of iniquity. Not Christ. He's altogether lovely. He's altogether wonderful. He
is the life that the Lord spoke of because he's the branch that
broke forth unto the Lord. He could not break God's law
in any way because he was God. He is God's righteous branch
that hath wrought salvation. Christ Jesus successfully redeemed. Christ Jesus has accomplished
salvation. He didn't try. What did the angel tell Joseph
and Matthew whenever his name was to be called? What did the
angel say? Call his name Jesus, for he's gonna try, gonna try
to make a way of salvation. Is that what he said? No. He
shall save his people from their sin. And what? What great comfort
is it to the Lord's people to hear the words on the cross of
Calvary when the Lord bowed his head and said, it is finished.
And we have the affirmation of the father being satisfied with
the Lord's offering by resurrecting his son. So we have complete
assurance that whatever Christ Jesus was accomplishing has been
accomplished. Whatever he was doing is done.
It's over. There's nothing left to be done.
He said, it's finished. Jesus Christ never tried to do
anything. He saved everyone he died for.
He saved everyone he loves. That's why the Lord is our, all
our righteousness, all our righteousness. I go back to our text in Zechariah
chapter six. I'm gonna read verse 12 again
in verse 13. Zechariah six and speaking to
him saying, thus speaketh the Lord of the host saying, behold,
the man whose name is the branch and he shall grow up out of his
place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall
build the temple of the Lord. Now, if you'll notice, he says
he shall build the temple of the Lord and he immediately says,
even he shall build the temple of the Lord. And I thought, why
did he say that twice? Why did he say it twice? The first word
build means that he's going to establish the worship of God
by building the temple. Then he says, and even he shall
build the temple of God. A second word build means he's
going to cause it to continue. He's gonna build with his own
hands everything required for the salvation of the Lord's people,
and the second, he's going to accomplish it. He's going to
finish it. He's going to establish worship,
and he's gonna cause it to continue forever. That's what he's saying
here. He did all the work. Because he done all the work
and pleased the Father, what did the Scripture tell us the
Father did to the Son? He hath highly exalted him. He's given him a name above every
name. And he says here, the Lord's gonna bear all the glory. I love
that. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall
bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and
he shall be a priest upon his throne. And the council of peace
shall be between them. There's your prophet, priest,
and king right there as God's substitute lamb for sinners that
put away the sin of all God's people seated on his throne after
he had finished the work the incarnate eternal God-man, the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, successfully redeeming. And now he's seated. That's what
the throne represents. There was no chair in the tabernacle
or the temple. There's no place for the priest
to sit down. According to Hebrews, we know that. Their work was
never finished. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do? Did he start
pacing back and forth, hoping that we would let him have his
way? Did he start begging men? Did he start saying, well, I've
made a way, but you're gonna have to take the first step.
You're gonna have to let me be God. No, he sat down, didn't
he? Isn't there rest in that for
us? And all those that he lived and died and were resurrected
for are seated in him in the heavenlies at this moment in
Christ Jesus. This is what the branch accomplish. Scripture tells us in Revelation
chapter five that John heard the question asked, who is worthy
to loose the seals and open the book of the Lamb's book of life?
And John said, I looked in heaven and earth and under the earth
and none was found worthy. And I wept. None was worthy.
He knew he couldn't do it. John had no hope in redeeming
anybody. Y'all got worthy. And his name was in that book.
He was hoping, right? So he, he, he was, he was weeping. What did the elder do? He touched
him and said, weep not, John. For behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, the branch, the branch is worthy. The branch is worthy to loose
the seals and open the book thereof. And he did. Salvation is sure. He hath prevailed. He hath prevailed. Now, what was the root of David?
What was the root of David? You ever heard the expression,
let's get to the root of the matter. Let's get to the root
of the problem. Let's sift through everything and figure out where
does it all stem from? Where does it all come from?
What was David's root? It was his hope in the finished
work of Christ, wasn't it? When my Lord said unto my Lord,
sit thou here on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool.
That's the finished work of Christ. When he, Psalm 22, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? What was David's root? faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ given to him. That was the root of
David. And there's where the Lord reveals
himself for his people. It's all David's hope. It's a
foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his hope. On
David's deathbed, he said, though it be not so with my house. Now
one could argue that he meant Absalom, meant his sons and his
daughters and his kinfolk. Everything was in disarray and
everything was, to man's eye, it was not good. Could have meant
that, but you know, I think that he meant this house, the earthen
house of this tabernacle. That's what I think. Even so
it be not so with this house, if the Lord hath made with me
an everlasting covenant. You love the word everlasting.
Never had a beginning. Never had an end. Never is going
to end. Everlasting covenant. He said, this be all my hope.
This is all my salvation. This everlasting covenant that
I had no part of whatsoever. The covenant of grace. You know,
the covenant of works is not an everlasting covenant. It came
in time, didn't it? In time, the Lord gave his law
and said, if you keep my law, you'll live. Man could not keep
his law. It was given to show that we
are dead. We can't keep it. That's the
covenant of works that was given in time. But the covenant of
grace far surpasses the covenant of works, far surpasses the covenant
given in time because it's eternal, because it's everlasting. Why was all David's hope in this
covenant? Well, Christ isn't just the branch. Christ is the root. Christ is
the foundation. Christ is the cheap cornerstone. Christ is the whole temple. Christ
is all in Zion. Everywhere we look, Everywhere
we turn, if we glory in the flesh in any way, you're not looking
to Christ, and I'm not looking to Christ. But if we see Christ
all around, that's Zion. That's His finished work. Everything
about it is full of grace and full of truth, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's all His finished work. It's
all about Him. Men think that they know the
Lord because they search the scriptures. They get knowledge
and they do this and they live a good life and they think, okay,
now I'm sitting a little higher than other men around me and
that's just being a Pharisee is all that's being. The Lord
said, search the scriptures of the Pharisee for in them you
think you have eternal life. You think. That's the problem,
isn't it? We think. I have an opinion.
I don't need an opinion. I need faith. I need to believe
God. And the only way I can believe
him is he gives faith. He said, for in them you think
you have eternal life. He said, they are they which testify of
me. From Genesis to Revelation, it's
the written, the Old Testament is the concealment of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the hidden Jesus Christ.
The New Testament is the revealed Jesus Christ, isn't it? It's
all about Him. It's all about Him. We have the picture here this
morning of this dead stump having new life. bursting forth from
the root, a new branch coming up. I'm sure some of you've seen
dead stumps before and how they just are brittle and frail, but
we have this new branch that comes forth from the foundation. And the Lord said, the foundation
of God standeth sure. Why? The Lord knows them that
are his. comes out of this dry dirt, busting
forth, doesn't it? This branch. Are we not born
from dust? You and I are. From dust thou
art, from dust thou shall return. Christ Jesus had to become dust
to redeem a bunch of dust. Think about that. That's what
he had to be. He had to become dust. We think
too highly of ourselves, don't we? Men don't believe that they're
dust. They believe they have an opinion.
They believe they have power, popularity. Rather, at the end
of the day, we're nothing but a sack of dead dust. And that's
exactly what the Lord had to become in order to redeem us
out of this dry ground that we're walking in. From a dead stump,
he comes forth as the branch of eternal life for his people.
Isaiah tells us this, Isaiah 53, one, who hath believed our
report? Whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. Guess what that word root means,
branch. The Lord did this out of dry ground. It's His purpose. It's His salvation. Came to redeem
His people from under the law. We couldn't keep the law. Romans
8 is clear on that. For what the law could not do
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending forth
His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. That's what he did. That's not
what he tried to do. That's what he did. That's not
what he hoped happens. That's what he's already done.
The Lord, our righteousness has taken our sin and given us life
and his righteousness to every single person written in the
Lamb's book of life, to every single person that he came to
redeem. Now, Peter says, we've been born
again. Now we started out by talking about being born of a
polluted seed, being born in trespasses and in sin, being
born in Adam and therefore dead. But Peter gives us hope of what
this branch has accomplished. Now we've been born again, not
of a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Not of a corruptible
seed any longer, but of incorruptible by the word of God. Now somebody
might say, or you were born because you heard the word of God. No,
the word of God is Jesus Christ. You were born by his doing, by
his choosing, by his saving and by his calling. There's our hope.
Because if it's up to me, remember I'm dead. Remember you're dead.
There's no hope in that. If I have to hear, how much do
I have to hear then of the word? How much do I have to, you have
to hear him and he has to give ears to hear. There's the difference,
right? He gives ears to hear. Born of the incorruptible seed
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Born by
Jesus Christ and his work. Born by the branch of God. Now,
hold your place in our text because I want to turn one place and
then come back. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter four. Isaiah chapter four. Now by the Lord's grace, an obvious
purpose here in Isaiah chapter four and verse two, you have
the title of my message for the first hour and the title of my
second message in the second hour, in the very verse that
we're about to read, the second hour is going to be in that day.
And so that's what it starts out saying, Isaiah chapter four,
verse two, in that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful.
and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent
and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall
come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth
in Jerusalem shall be called what? Holy, even everyone that
is written among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord, now
Understand, he says, who is written. Well, who did the writing first
of all, and who did the making them holy? When the Lord shall
have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, the Lord
does the washing and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem.
The Lord did the purging from the midst thereof by the spirit
of judgment and by the spirit of burning. The Lord did it all.
The Lord did it all. That's the good news of the gospel.
And that's what makes him beautiful to his people. Oh, we love the
Lord, don't we? Not because he first loved us. That's why we love the Lord.
Not because we chose to, because he revealed himself and first
loved us. See, the picture of this branch
and the message here is that we can't bear any fruit. that
is pleasing to God. Somebody recently asked me about,
do you talk about the fruit that your congregation is supposed
to bear? And I said, yes, all the time. And he said, well,
what do you tell them? The fruit of the spirit? And
I said, that's what the spirit bears. That's what the spirit
bears. And that's what the Lord's people
bear, but not according to the flesh. According to the spirit,
because he's the one that produces it. See, it was bestowed upon
us. That's what we produce because of the seed that we've been born
from. If we look to our flesh in any
way, we're looking back to Adam and that polluted seed. And what
does that produce? Death. That's it. There's no
good fruit there. None whatsoever before God. but
through the eyes of faith that he's given us by this righteous
branch that is sprung forth, we bear fruit unto the Lord by
his spirit. It's his fruit. He's the doer
of it. He's the one that put it there. But God, who is rich in mercy,
we're in his great love after he loved us. See, Our fruit is
excellent and comely unto Him because He is the vine and we
are the branches and we're bearing His fruit unto Him. Do we get any glory in that?
Do we get any glory in that whatsoever? No. No, He gets all the glory. It's His vine. He's made us a
branch, a dead that we were dead and He attached us unto Him and
gave us eternal life. Now we produce His fruit. The Lord's only pleased when
He sees Christ's fruit. Only pleased with Christ's faith.
You and I don't have faith. Christ did. And He gives it to
all of His people in time when He says unto them, live. Because
of His faith, we no longer mix law and grace, do we? No longer
try to say do and live. We know that that's death. That's
death. That's all that that is. Don't
tell me what to do. I remember being a kid and standing up to
someone and saying, don't you tell me what to do. Well, that's
what we, that used to be our attitude towards God, didn't
it? You're not going to have this man reign over us. You're
not going to tell me it's all of grace. There's something I
must do. You're not going to tell me I'm not good enough for God. I know I am. I made my choice.
I gave Jesus my heart. That was our attitude, wasn't
it? What's your attitude now towards men? You're not going
to tell us to do. No, it's finished. You tell me
something to do. You've taken all of my hope away.
Every bit of my hope, because I can't do enough to please Him.
And everything I do is iniquity. No, tell me the good story, the
good news. It's finished. There's a branch
that the Lord brought forth out of dry ground and he brings forth
good fruit and then bestows that good fruit unto his people. The
Lord said, I'm satisfied with that one. And I'm satisfied with
that one. Why? Christ in you, the hope
of glory, his branch, his doing. We've been washed of the filth
of freewill works religion. You know, I find it interesting
that the definition of Babylon is confusion by mixing confusion
by mixing. Did you know that? That makes
perfect sense, doesn't it? They were mixing law and grace.
It's confusing. It's just, no, either God did
it all and we're saved, or what all do I have to do to be saved
and please him? Well, the scripture says clearly
that they're in the flesh cannot please God. Flesh is enmity against
God for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So
what am I supposed to do? You're not supposed to do anything.
That's complicating it. It's simple. It's a simple gospel.
God did it all. You're in Babylon if you believe
there's something that must be done. But that's exactly what
all men do in religion, not knowing it. They're mixing. You know, hybrids cannot produce
life. I remember recently hearing of
any plant that you try, you can graft in, that's not making a
hybrid. I'm talking about actually making
a hybrid genetically or trying to breed two species together. Doesn't produce life, does it?
You can't take the seed of that and it brings forth life. That's
why they have to do a lot of stocking and lakes because those
offspring can't produce any life. And that's us trying to work
towards God. We can't produce any life. We're
making a hybrid out of it. Adam and Christ, it can't be
done. The law and grace, it can't be
done. There's no life that comes from that. If it's grace, then
it's all of grace. And if it's works, it's all of
works and no more of grace. Is that not what Paul told us?
No, we must be born by the will of God, born of his spirit, born
by his spirit, of his seed, the incorruptible seed, not of the
will of man, nor of the will of flesh, but of the will of
God. Being born of this incorruptible
seed is exactly what the branch accomplished. It's exactly what
he accomplished being sprung forth. Now we bear his fruit
in us. Now in Christ, we have kept the
law perfectly. Every ordinance, every feast,
every ceremony, the entire law, we have kept it perfectly in
God's eyes because of Christ, our substitute. There's our hope.
Christ became sin for us and we were made the righteousness
of God in him, our branch, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in closing,
I want us to look and I could have preached a message on what
I'm about to show you, but the Lord did not permit me to do
that either. But I want to look back in our
text, Zechariah chapter six. Zechariah chapter six. I want, I hope that we can enter
into this. Zechariah 6, I want to read these
two verses, verse 10 and verse 11, and I want you to notice
each name that I'm reading. Take of them of the captivity,
even Haldai of Tobijah, and of Jediah, which are come from Babylon,
and come thou the same day and go into the house of Josiah,
the son of Zephaniah, and take silver and gold and make crowns
and set them upon the head of Joshua, the son of Josedek, the
high priest. You all know me pretty well and
know that I like to look up the definition of names because it
seems like the Lord hides things in there that most overlook,
I suppose. But when I read these names,
we have here seven names and a place. And we have God's complete
work in the order that they're given. We have God's complete
work in salvation. So I'm going to give you the
definitions. Heldiah means worldly. Tobijah means Jehovah is good. Judiah means Jehovah has known. Babylon means confusion by mixing. Josiah means whom Jehovah heals. Zephaniah means Jehovah has treasure. And Joshua means Jehovah is salvation. Josedech means Jehovah is righteous.
So what is he saying? That's a lot of Jehovah is and
Jehovah has, isn't it? What is he saying? He's saying
you're worldly. First and foremost, you're worldly. You're in the
flesh, born of a corruptible seed. You're worldly. That's
what Heldiah means. But Jehovah's good. Jehovah's
good. That's Tobijah. Jehovah's good. And Jehovah has known, Jediah,
Jehovah has known that you're in Babylon. You're confusing. You're mixing works and you're
mixing grace. But Josiah is whom Jehovah heals. You're whom I'm gonna heal. You're
whom I'm going to heal. Why? Because Jehovah has treasured
you. Jehovah has treasured you before
the foundation of the world. Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah
is righteous. Is that not the gospel? You're
worldly. but I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I know you're going to mix the law and grace, but I'm
going to heal you. I'm going to heal you so that you're going
to speak that which God speaks. I'm going to give you faith.
That's going to cause you to speak that which the Lord requires.
Christ is all. Jeremiah 33, 16. In those days
shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called. Did you get that?
This is the name where she shall be called. the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah said, can you? We bear
his name. See, the glorious part about
substitution is it was a perfect union on the cross of Calvary
where he took all of our sin into himself and gave us all
of his righteousness. It's a picture of marriage. What
the Lord did, the ceremony that was performed on the cross of
Calvary is likened to a bride who stands at the altar with
her husband having her face veiled, not because she's concealing
her beauty, but because she's horrid and ugly. And yet after
the two say, I do, and they enter into the bonds of holy matrimony,
we see that she becomes bone of his bone and flesh of his
flesh. And therefore he's worthy to unveil her, revealing his
beauty in her. That's the picture there. The
Lord Jesus Christ, give us his name. And now our name is Jehovah
Sitkanu. Now our name is the branch, the
one that the father is pleased with. I was going to take the time,
I'll remind us of this, but in Psalm 23, is there any other
comfort to the believer than to know that the Lord did it
all, finished the work? He's the comfort. The branch
is the comfort, isn't he? You know what David said, thy
rod and thy staff, they do what? Comfort me. What's a rod and
a staff made from? It's a branch, isn't it? It's
a branch. Lord, you're the comfort to my
soul. The comfort, the only comfort
to the Lord's people is this branch that sprung forth, bringing
forth life, causing us to have Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Christ is the branch. Christ is our only hope and salvation
and Christ is our righteousness before the Lord. Amen.