Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Zechariah │ Msg 3940 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Zechariah │ Msg 3940 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: There are two distinct styles of motivation. One is the
0:07
Speaker 1: aggressive and highly charged emotional style that appeals to the will.
0:16
Speaker 1: It relies on fear and if necessary, embarrassment and sometime
0:26
Speaker 1: public demand to motivate us to get a job done.
0:32
Speaker 1: This is what we might call extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation,
0:39
Speaker 1: it offers tangible rewards. It provides us with visible stimuli
0:47
Speaker 1: to get the job done, or hopefully to get the
0:51
Speaker 1: job done. That's one kind of motivation, the extrinsic type.
0:57
Speaker 1: And then there is a second style of motive, which
1:01
Speaker 1: obviously is the intrinsic style, which is not nearly as
1:07
Speaker 1: cheerleading in style, but is quiet. It is deep, It
1:16
Speaker 1: is much less emotional, It is much more inspiring. It
1:24
Speaker 1: does not hold out the carrot and offer us a
1:28
Speaker 1: lot of bait. It never uses embarrassment or guilt or
1:36
Speaker 1: fear to get us motivated. Now, frankly, it takes both
1:45
Speaker 1: types often to get a tough job done. Let me
1:50
Speaker 1: use an example that will help clarify these two styles
1:53
Speaker 1: of motivation, and let me use the world of football
1:57
Speaker 1: to do it. There are two different style of coaching
2:02
Speaker 1: illustrated by two different types of men. One would be
2:07
Speaker 1: the Vince Lombardi type, and if you follow the game,
2:12
Speaker 1: you understand that the George Allen or the John Madden
2:22
Speaker 1: type of coaching interesting. None of those guys are still coaching,
2:27
Speaker 1: but nevertheless it's a viable style of coaching. I remember
2:33
Speaker 1: reading in Kramer's book on his days with the old
2:37
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers. He said there was one time that
2:40
Speaker 1: Vince Lombardi caught him in a thirty one Flavors which
2:44
Speaker 1: was off limits. And here he stood, the giant of
2:48
Speaker 1: a man that he was with an ice cream cone
2:51
Speaker 1: behind his back, embarrassed and scared to death that coach
2:57
Speaker 1: Lombardy would notice the ice cream. And as only Lombardy
3:01
Speaker 1: could do it, he talked to him for the longest
3:04
Speaker 1: time while it just melted down all over his hand.
3:09
Speaker 1: He shouldn't have been in that ice cream place, and
3:12
Speaker 1: the man knew it, and it was just sort of
3:15
Speaker 1: his style. And then there is the Tom Landry or
3:20
Speaker 1: the Bum Phillips type of coaching that relies on just
3:26
Speaker 1: quiet inspiration. In fact, Phillips uses words like love for
3:32
Speaker 1: his players. It's almost unheard of for a professional coach
3:38
Speaker 1: to use the word love to motivate his men. He
3:43
Speaker 1: tells them that they don't need him nearly as much
3:46
Speaker 1: as he needs them. He gives them what one player
3:51
Speaker 1: calls dignity in the game. In the world of the military,
4:00
Speaker 1: it would be like comparing Patent to Eisenhower or MacArthur
4:10
Speaker 1: or a church Hill. We stand firm in this land,
4:17
Speaker 1: said Churchill. Against all odds, we will win. I mean
4:24
Speaker 1: it was just love for country that motivated the people.
4:28
Speaker 1: That's intrinsic motivation. He offered them nothing you remember but
4:33
Speaker 1: blood and sweat and tears, and for many of them death.
4:39
Speaker 1: But the pride of Britain was at stake. Now it
4:47
Speaker 1: isn't that the men who inspire motivation are not emotional,
4:53
Speaker 1: but their emotions are under such great control. You watch
4:59
Speaker 1: Tom Landry on the sideline. It looks like he's watching
5:03
Speaker 1: a ballet. It looks like he's watching someone put guess
5:07
Speaker 1: in his car. I mean, there's a point or two difference,
5:11
Speaker 1: and it's the last quarter and a couple of minutes
5:15
Speaker 1: under control. When you think of a prophet, you probably
5:21
Speaker 1: like like I. You probably think of the Elijah type,
5:25
Speaker 1: or the Jonah, or the Joel or or Ezekiel blazing
5:33
Speaker 1: like a lightning bolt across the sky, flashing here and there,
5:38
Speaker 1: and rebuking and shaming and speaking of doom and judgment
5:44
Speaker 1: and arousing the guilt of the people. But you know,
5:48
Speaker 1: there is another style, like Jeremiah, who could have written
5:54
Speaker 1: his book in tears, or Zechariah, not so much a
6:01
Speaker 1: prophet as he was a poet. There is an appeal
6:09
Speaker 1: to the conscience, not so much to the emotions in
6:15
Speaker 1: the book of Zechariah, and it comes on the heels
6:19
Speaker 1: of Hagia, where the man who lived at the same
6:22
Speaker 1: period of time has rebuked the people for living in
6:25
Speaker 1: these fine homes in the suburbs, and hear this little
6:29
Speaker 1: temple of God remained unfinished. Shame on you for those
6:34
Speaker 1: beautiful places to live, and the place of worship lies
6:38
Speaker 1: in rubble. Shame on you for starting and not finishing
6:42
Speaker 1: a job. Get at the task, and they did, but
6:46
Speaker 1: they began to wear thin. I mean, you can just
6:50
Speaker 1: motivate extrinsically so long, and then there must be inspiration,
6:57
Speaker 1: and that's when Zechariah comes in. One writer put it
7:02
Speaker 1: down this way. He does not rebuke or condemn or
7:04
Speaker 1: beerate the people. With striking colors and vivid imagination he
7:11
Speaker 1: paints glowing pictures of the presence of God to strengthen
7:15
Speaker 1: and to help the people. Words of inspiration flow from
7:20
Speaker 1: his lips. His hope for a new kingdom rests upon
7:26
Speaker 1: the faith he has in his own people. You get
7:31
Speaker 1: the difference in style. Now, both of them help get
7:35
Speaker 1: the job done. But there was something about Zechariah that
7:40
Speaker 1: was sort of healing to the wounds that had been
7:43
Speaker 1: opened by the captivity. I remember having in my high
7:50
Speaker 1: school years an excellent biology teacher. Science teachers are either
7:56
Speaker 1: excellent or crummy, and mine was excellent. And he had
8:03
Speaker 1: a challenge in front of him. The room was filled
8:05
Speaker 1: with the athletes for some reason. Those were the ones
8:10
Speaker 1: that got that class at that particular period of time
8:13
Speaker 1: in that high school. And this man stood in front
8:18
Speaker 1: of the class and he began. He began to teach
8:23
Speaker 1: the course. Early on, he said to us, I will
8:27
Speaker 1: never raise my voice. I intend to have no discipline
8:35
Speaker 1: problems whatever. But I tell you, if you listen to
8:39
Speaker 1: me for these few weeks were together, it will change
8:43
Speaker 1: your life.
8:45
Speaker 2: Man.
8:46
Speaker 1: I mean, in a matter of days, these guys were
8:48
Speaker 1: on the edge of the chair watching this frog get
8:51
Speaker 1: slid open, and that stuff coming out all over the place.
8:54
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. I mean, I still remember stuff about
8:58
Speaker 1: Amba and Paramesium. You know, I never use it, but
9:01
Speaker 1: I remember that stuff.
9:03
Speaker 2: Good Night.
9:04
Speaker 1: God really communicated because it was an inspiring kind of leadership.
9:10
Speaker 1: He motivated me to want to learn for what it
9:13
Speaker 1: would do for me. Zechariah doesn't say shame on you
9:17
Speaker 1: for your houses. He says, look at the way God
9:21
Speaker 1: will be lifted up when we finish this task. I mean,
9:26
Speaker 1: look at the place where God will be glorified. Think
9:30
Speaker 1: of the benefit for Zion. Why Israel will never be forgotten.
9:36
Speaker 1: Messiah will inhabit this nation. There is a warmth in
9:44
Speaker 1: his leadership. Now. The man himself, as you open your
9:48
Speaker 1: bible to this book, has an interesting name. It means
9:52
Speaker 1: God remembers, or he whom Jehovah remembers. He is the
9:58
Speaker 1: son of a pries at least indirectly. Way back there,
10:03
Speaker 1: Ido mentioned in verse one was a priest, and in
10:07
Speaker 1: a distant way he is still in that priestly line.
10:12
Speaker 1: He is a man who follows on the heels of
10:17
Speaker 1: an emotional, motivating kind of leader. In HAGII, the project
10:23
Speaker 1: is still underway. The temple is still not built. The
10:28
Speaker 1: people are still working at it and they're getting tired.
10:33
Speaker 1: And let me fill you in in the background. Back home,
10:36
Speaker 1: there was a crop failure. There is a financial reversal.
10:40
Speaker 1: There is a depression that has set in, and the
10:45
Speaker 1: devaluation of the shekel, the financial worries, the lack of crops,
10:51
Speaker 1: the poor harvest has these people demoralized. And Zechariah, seeing
10:57
Speaker 1: the strain across their faces, steps in and says, it
11:01
Speaker 1: can still be done. And I believe in you more
11:04
Speaker 1: important than that God does. We'll get it done. He
11:11
Speaker 1: makes up for the severity the bluntness.
11:16
Speaker 2: Of Hagias's style.
11:18
Speaker 1: By the way, before I go any further, and I'll
11:19
Speaker 1: say a little more about it later on, it really
11:22
Speaker 1: bears a lot of attention on our part. It really
11:26
Speaker 1: is deserving of us to think about our leadership with others, fathers,
11:32
Speaker 1: mothers with families, and pastors with flock, and you that
11:37
Speaker 1: teach with class or your disciples. It says a lot
11:41
Speaker 1: for your leadership if you will vary your style and
11:44
Speaker 1: not always rely on severity. Sometime the compassionate style, the
11:52
Speaker 1: sympathetic understanding style, is much more inspiring. Severity has its
12:02
Speaker 1: place but only for a brief time. Zechariah will linger
12:07
Speaker 1: a long time. Keep that in mind now his call
12:11
Speaker 1: to repentance. Verse two. The Lord was very angry with
12:15
Speaker 1: your fathers, and therefore say to them, thus says the
12:19
Speaker 1: Lord of Hosts, return to me, declares the Lord of Hosts,
12:25
Speaker 1: that I may return to you. See that's an intrinsic motivation.
12:29
Speaker 1: You turn back to me, and when you do believe me,
12:34
Speaker 1: I will be there. I will return to you, and
12:36
Speaker 1: you'll have power like you used to have it. Now
12:39
Speaker 1: your father's left me. Verse four. Don't be like your fathers,
12:43
Speaker 1: to whom the former prophets proclaim saying, thus says the
12:46
Speaker 1: Lord of host returned now from your evil ways and
12:49
Speaker 1: from your evil deeds. But they didn't listen, or they
12:52
Speaker 1: didn't give heed it to me, declares the Lord your
12:56
Speaker 1: father's where are? They implied? They're dead and gone, and
13:01
Speaker 1: the prophets back. Then do they live forever? Obviously no?
13:07
Speaker 1: But did not my words and my statutes which I
13:10
Speaker 1: commanded my servants the prophets overtake your fathers. I mean,
13:15
Speaker 1: they have passed on, but my words live on. Then
13:20
Speaker 1: they repented and said, as the Lord of Hosts, purpose
13:23
Speaker 1: to do to us in accordance with our ways and
13:25
Speaker 1: our deeds. So he has dealt with us. He begins
13:31
Speaker 1: with this appeal to their conscience, and he says, walk
13:37
Speaker 1: with God. Unlike your fathers, we do not have to
13:43
Speaker 1: have a royal heritage to live obedient lives. Some of
13:48
Speaker 1: you have emerged from the worst kind of setting. Some
13:52
Speaker 1: of you have a godly heritage. No one is poor
13:57
Speaker 1: who has had godly parents. Some of you did not
14:00
Speaker 1: have godly parents. Some of you have lost your parents.
14:04
Speaker 1: Others of you have been influenced by godless parents. But
14:08
Speaker 1: that need not turn you against God. In fact, he says,
14:14
Speaker 1: turn to me, unlike your father's you return to me,
14:18
Speaker 1: and I'll bless you in a way that they never knew.
14:24
Speaker 1: And beginning with verse seven and on through chapter six,
14:29
Speaker 1: Zechariah appeals to this inspiring style of motivation. He gives
14:36
Speaker 1: eight night visions. Obviously, we have neither the time nor
14:41
Speaker 1: that kind of interest in a survey of the book,
14:44
Speaker 1: but these eight night visions, each one is designed to
14:50
Speaker 1: address a current issue in their day that would motivate
14:55
Speaker 1: them to stay at the task. If you have your
14:59
Speaker 1: green sh sheet, this evening on the side. Opposite the outline,
15:04
Speaker 1: you'll see a chart, and it explains under that section
15:09
Speaker 1: versus a chapter one, verse seven through chapter six, verse fifteen,
15:13
Speaker 1: the encouragement by motivation style where he gives those visions.
15:18
Speaker 1: You'll see them listed for you there. I want to
15:21
Speaker 1: dip into that section and only point out two somewhat
15:25
Speaker 1: familiar and encouraging sections. One is in chapter four and
15:31
Speaker 1: the other is toward the end of chapter six. Turn
15:33
Speaker 1: to chapter four, verse.
15:38
Speaker 2: Four.
15:41
Speaker 1: By the way, when you find it, look back at
15:42
Speaker 1: the chart. Let me say a word about just an overview.
15:44
Speaker 1: The book falls into two sections, and the sections are
15:49
Speaker 1: so contrastive that some critics have said, a different man
15:52
Speaker 1: wrote the last six chapters then wrote the first eight chapters.
16:00
Speaker 1: It is too different to be the same. The same
16:02
Speaker 1: is said by the critics of Isaiah. There is a
16:05
Speaker 1: belief that there is a dual authorship because they are
16:08
Speaker 1: so different. But indeed a man can write with different style,
16:14
Speaker 1: addressing the subject from a different point of view, as
16:17
Speaker 1: both Isaiah and Zechariah do. The beginning of Zechariah's book
16:22
Speaker 1: is a book dealing with the here and now, getting
16:26
Speaker 1: the temple finished. The last part of the book is
16:29
Speaker 1: that intrinsic motivation that says, someday Messiah will come back
16:33
Speaker 1: to Zion literally, and he will reign over these people,
16:38
Speaker 1: and this temple will be a testimony to his grace.
16:42
Speaker 1: So it's a different purpose for writing. Therefore, it's a
16:45
Speaker 1: different style. Just wanted you to see those two different things. Now,
16:49
Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse four, Zechariah answers and says to the
16:54
Speaker 1: angel who is speaking with me, what are these?
16:57
Speaker 2: My lord?
16:59
Speaker 1: Four?
16:59
Speaker 2: Verse five.
17:00
Speaker 1: So the angel who was speaking with me answered and
17:02
Speaker 1: said to me, do you not know what these are?
17:05
Speaker 1: And he said, no, my lord. He answered and said
17:08
Speaker 1: to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel,
17:11
Speaker 1: who was the governor you may remember from our last study,
17:14
Speaker 1: a man very involved in the finishing of that temple project.
17:19
Speaker 1: Now this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel,
17:21
Speaker 1: saying not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,
17:28
Speaker 1: says the Lord of Hosts. Now, mark that verse because
17:31
Speaker 1: you will hear it quoted, and you will want to
17:33
Speaker 1: quote it from time to time, especially after you understand
17:37
Speaker 1: fully what it means. I hope I can help there.
17:41
Speaker 1: And then he asks, what are you, o, great mountain
17:45
Speaker 1: before Zerubbabel? You will become a plain, and he will
17:47
Speaker 1: bring forth the top stone with shouts of grace grace
17:52
Speaker 1: to it.
17:55
Speaker 2: What does all that.
17:55
Speaker 1: Mean, well, among other things, it is addressed to a
18:03
Speaker 1: group of people that saw this enormous obstacle in front
18:06
Speaker 1: of them. The project of finishing the temple is huge.
18:11
Speaker 1: They had very little resources. They had next to nothing
18:14
Speaker 1: in the way of money. They now had lost most
18:18
Speaker 1: of their crops. Their morale was at a low ebb.
18:24
Speaker 1: And along comes Zerubbabel, I should say, along comes Zachariah,
18:29
Speaker 1: the prophet with this night vision. And in the midst
18:32
Speaker 1: of the vision, he says to the people, this obstacle
18:37
Speaker 1: will not be handled by might or by power. It
18:43
Speaker 1: will be done by the spirit of God. And that's
18:49
Speaker 1: the way God works, Not in shouts and screams and cheers,
18:55
Speaker 1: not in the tangible things we often associate with projects,
19:05
Speaker 1: not with great impressive people are vast, vast amounts of money. No,
19:13
Speaker 1: this project will be completed by the spirit of God.
19:18
Speaker 1: In fact, he calls it o great mountain. There will
19:22
Speaker 1: be a day when the governor will place the last
19:25
Speaker 1: stone in place, and it will read, as it were,
19:28
Speaker 1: grace grace onto the whole thing. Great thought, I don't
19:36
Speaker 1: want to be so mysterious in this prophecy that you
19:38
Speaker 1: missed the practicality of it. There are many of you
19:42
Speaker 1: who hear me right now, who are facing an obstacle
19:45
Speaker 1: that is not unlike the unfinished Temple. And because you
19:53
Speaker 1: are of this generation, it is easy for you to
19:58
Speaker 1: be a bit because you haven't the resources to get
20:02
Speaker 1: it done. And I say to you before this very
20:08
Speaker 1: Versus Scripture, verse six, it will not be by might,
20:11
Speaker 1: and it will not be by power. It'll be by
20:13
Speaker 1: my spirit. Francis Schaeffer writes in a fine book that
20:20
Speaker 1: doesn't get much press, entitled No Little People, the central
20:25
Speaker 1: problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor
20:29
Speaker 1: the old Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor
20:34
Speaker 1: even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus which
20:39
Speaker 1: surrounds us. All these are dangerous, but not the primary threat.
20:44
Speaker 2: Now hear this.
20:46
Speaker 1: The real problem is this the Church of the Lord
20:50
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ tending to do the Lord's work in the
20:54
Speaker 1: power of the flesh rather than the power of the spirit.
21:00
Speaker 1: The central problem is always in the midst of the
21:03
Speaker 1: people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them key words.
21:08
Speaker 2: There.
21:10
Speaker 1: Your problem is not in your circumstances, it is within yourself.
21:17
Speaker 1: We can sense this of what this means in practice
21:20
Speaker 1: if we view the statue of Napoleon at the Hotel
21:23
Speaker 1: des a Valid in Paris. As he stands there with
21:28
Speaker 1: his hand in his coat at his breast, he is
21:33
Speaker 1: a personification of I did this. The sculpture has caught
21:39
Speaker 1: the attitude, the attitude of the great man of the world,
21:44
Speaker 1: the one who says, in all three tenses, I did this,
21:48
Speaker 1: I do this, I will do this. This attitude has
21:52
Speaker 1: shown forth so well in the statue personifies quote the flesh.
22:01
Speaker 1: I linger on this point because it is so relevant
22:05
Speaker 1: to our day. You do not get through obstacles according
22:12
Speaker 1: to the flesh, but according to the spirit. You don't
22:16
Speaker 1: solve the battles of life through might or through power.
22:24
Speaker 1: You solve them through the through the spirit of God.
22:30
Speaker 1: There must come a time when you abandon yourself to
22:33
Speaker 1: God and you lean hard on him and say, oh,
22:39
Speaker 1: great Mountain, what are you. It is not by my
22:45
Speaker 1: might or by my power, but God, by your spirit,
22:49
Speaker 1: I will see this through. Now. That's that's one hint
22:55
Speaker 1: at Zechariah's style. There's another one at the end of
22:58
Speaker 1: chapter six that I want you to look at. He
23:02
Speaker 1: comes to the end of these night visions and reflects
23:08
Speaker 1: on a custom that was familiar in those days. The
23:12
Speaker 1: custom was that when there was an accomplished feat, a
23:21
Speaker 1: crown was placed on the head of the high priest,
23:25
Speaker 1: and then it was removed and placed in the temple
23:29
Speaker 1: to be a continued museum piece, as it were, as
23:33
Speaker 1: the people came in and out, that crown would be
23:36
Speaker 1: a representation of an accomplishment that God had done. The
23:41
Speaker 1: priest wore it only briefly, and then it was passed
23:44
Speaker 1: to the perpetual place of showpiece, as a showpiece place
23:52
Speaker 1: in the museum in the temple. In verse fourteen, Now
23:55
Speaker 1: the crown will become a reminder in the Temple of
23:59
Speaker 1: the Lord to these people. They were part of the project.
24:03
Speaker 1: There's a continued reminder. And then he says, and those
24:07
Speaker 1: who are far off, these are people who will come
24:10
Speaker 1: to worship, will come and they will build the temple
24:14
Speaker 1: of the Lord. Then you will know that the Lord
24:18
Speaker 1: of Hosts has sent me to you, and it will
24:22
Speaker 1: take place if you completely obey the Lord your God. Obviously,
24:33
Speaker 1: as I pause over that last statement. You know the
24:35
Speaker 1: emphasis here chapter four. The emphasis was upon resting in
24:41
Speaker 1: the power of the Spirit of God to get you
24:43
Speaker 1: through the obstacle. Are the hindrance in this part. It
24:47
Speaker 1: is a complete obedience to the Lord God in the
24:50
Speaker 1: process of waiting how to do that. We are an
24:57
Speaker 1: emotionally charged people. We are an generation that says, if
25:01
Speaker 1: it feels good, to it, implying if it doesn't feel good,
25:04
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. But if I hear anything from this,
25:08
Speaker 1: I hear obedience is the bottom line. You do what
25:14
Speaker 1: is right and the feelings will catch up with it.
25:19
Speaker 1: And before that happens, friends, it's tough sledding, but it
25:25
Speaker 1: will happen. As God said to Cain, if you would
25:29
Speaker 1: do what is right, Cain, Genesis chapter four, verse seven,
25:34
Speaker 1: your countenance would be lifted up. Now, Cain, do what
25:40
Speaker 1: is right regarding your brother Abel, and I will take
25:43
Speaker 1: care of the feelings that accompany your life. Hold your
25:48
Speaker 1: place here and turn back just momentarily to First Samuel,
25:52
Speaker 1: chapter fifteen, verse twenty. I won't be here long. Just
25:56
Speaker 1: want you to see that familiar words God gave so
26:00
Speaker 1: all through Samuel. First Samuel, fifteen twenty two. Saul has compromised.
26:08
Speaker 1: He has saved back the king that God had told
26:10
Speaker 1: him to kill. He has saved back some of the
26:12
Speaker 1: sheep and some of the oxen that God had told
26:15
Speaker 1: him to sacrifice. And Saul had rationalized in his mind,
26:19
Speaker 1: it'll be okay. I'm going to sacrifice these sheep, and
26:22
Speaker 1: I'm gonna deal with a gag in a different way.
26:25
Speaker 1: Samuel came and said, it's not what God told you
26:27
Speaker 1: to do. Now. The words are in verse twenty two
26:30
Speaker 1: and twenty three, Verse twenty two and twenty three of
26:33
Speaker 1: First Samuel fifteen. Samuel said, has the Lord as much
26:36
Speaker 1: delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice.
26:40
Speaker 2: Of the Lord.
26:42
Speaker 1: Now look at these words that follow. Behold, to obey
26:45
Speaker 1: is better than sacrifice, and to heed, implied, is better
26:52
Speaker 1: than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the
26:57
Speaker 1: sin of divination and in support, and is as iniquity
27:01
Speaker 1: and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
27:05
Speaker 1: he has also rejected you from being king. And Saul responded,
27:10
Speaker 1: I have sinned. It is the twenty second verse that
27:16
Speaker 1: captures our attention. To obey is better than sacrifice. It
27:25
Speaker 1: answers back to Zechariah for us six point fifteen. It
27:30
Speaker 1: will take place if you completely obey the Lord your God.
27:38
Speaker 1: Now my appeal in this prophecy, this evening is to
27:44
Speaker 1: all of us, even though I know for some it
27:47
Speaker 1: is a is an extremely difficult thing for you to apply.
27:54
Speaker 1: Obedience pays rich dividends even when you can not see
28:00
Speaker 1: the end in view, even when your faith is weak. Now,
28:05
Speaker 1: the next major section of Zechariah is chapter seven and eight.
28:10
Speaker 1: And in that section they ask some hard questions. They
28:13
Speaker 1: ask about the fast, and they say, should we continue
28:16
Speaker 1: to fast once we are in this temple? He says,
28:18
Speaker 1: if you fast to the Lord God. Then they ask
28:22
Speaker 1: how shall we govern ourselves? That he says, We'll look
28:25
Speaker 1: at it. Look at verse nine of chapter seven. Govern
28:30
Speaker 1: yourselves with true justice and kindness and compassion, each to
28:34
Speaker 1: his brother. Don't oppress the widow, or the orphan, or
28:38
Speaker 1: the stranger or the poor. Don't devise evil in your
28:42
Speaker 1: hearts against one another. You see, when they got the
28:44
Speaker 1: temple finished, then they could go back to business as usual,
28:47
Speaker 1: and there would be prosperity coming into the land. Now
28:50
Speaker 1: hear this, and the nation would grow, it would become prosperous,
28:53
Speaker 1: and the tendency would be to fall into classes of
28:56
Speaker 1: people and to just sort of look out for your
28:58
Speaker 1: own stuff. And Zechariah says, no, when you govern, and
29:01
Speaker 1: watch out for those that are in need, care for
29:04
Speaker 1: one another, the widow, the orphan, deal in compassion and kindness.
29:08
Speaker 1: Remember this morning, as we talked about compassion. He says,
29:13
Speaker 1: that is the kind of government we must have. Well, then,
29:18
Speaker 1: what will happen to our nation? Chapter eight begins the
29:22
Speaker 1: story that ends all the way into chapter fourteen, and
29:25
Speaker 1: it says, in effect, the nation will be cared for
29:28
Speaker 1: by the Living Lord. And just now, note some very
29:31
Speaker 1: specific words regarding Messiah. As we wind the study to
29:35
Speaker 1: a close, look at chapter nine, verse nine, just across
29:40
Speaker 1: the page. Here, look at the very words Matthew later
29:44
Speaker 1: quotes from at the time of the triumphal entry. Rejoice greatly,
29:50
Speaker 1: o daughter of Zion. We're reading Zechariah nine to nine.
29:53
Speaker 1: Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is
29:56
Speaker 1: coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation,
30:01
Speaker 1: humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt,
30:07
Speaker 1: the foal of a donkey, not amazing remarkable. Years and
30:12
Speaker 1: years and years centuries before it happened. Zukariah pictures Messiah
30:17
Speaker 1: coming on the triumphal day, triumphant day, on a donkey,
30:22
Speaker 1: and pictures it right down to the detail, so that
30:26
Speaker 1: when it happened years later, Matthew said, this is as
30:30
Speaker 1: the prophet spoke back then, and uses the very word
30:34
Speaker 1: Zuckariah gives us. This is a clear prediction of Messiah,
30:42
Speaker 1: who was to come and to enter the city on
30:45
Speaker 1: the donkey. Chapter twelve is yet another one quoted later
30:50
Speaker 1: by John. In chapter nineteen of John twelve, ten, I
30:55
Speaker 1: will pour out on the house of David, on the
30:58
Speaker 1: inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication,
31:03
Speaker 1: so that they will look on me whom they have pierced.
31:07
Speaker 1: They will mourn for him as one mourns for an
31:10
Speaker 1: only son. They will weep bitterly over him, like the
31:14
Speaker 1: bitter weeping over a first born John nineteen, verse thirty seven.
31:21
Speaker 1: When Jesus is on the cross and the soldiers come
31:25
Speaker 1: to break his leg, John records in that verse they
31:30
Speaker 1: looked on him whom they had pierced. Drawn from the
31:37
Speaker 1: very pen of Zechariah centuries earlier, say why worry about
31:43
Speaker 1: a detail like that? Oh, the veracity of scripture is
31:46
Speaker 1: underline again and again. One of the greatest proofs that
31:49
Speaker 1: God tells the truth is the prophecies that are fulfilled
31:54
Speaker 1: within the pages of scripture. Zechariah says this, John says,
31:58
Speaker 1: it's fulfilled. Zachariah says this. Matthew said, it occurred just
32:02
Speaker 1: like that, precisely as God said it would happen. It
32:07
Speaker 1: can trust this book.
32:09
Speaker 2: You can rely on it.
32:10
Speaker 1: If write down to the detail of a donkey, you
32:14
Speaker 1: can be sure that when God gives a promise, you'll
32:16
Speaker 1: keep it. One more, Chapter fourteen, verse eleven, speaking of
32:25
Speaker 1: that grand day when our Savior personally will reign on
32:29
Speaker 1: this earth, the people will live on it. There will
32:32
Speaker 1: be no more curse. Jerusalem will dwell in security. Verse sixteen.
32:39
Speaker 1: It will come about that any who are left of
32:41
Speaker 1: all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up
32:44
Speaker 1: from year to year to worship the King, the Lord
32:47
Speaker 1: of Hosts, to celebrate the feast of booths. And it
32:51
Speaker 1: will be that whichever of the families of the earth
32:54
Speaker 1: does not go to Jerusalem to worship the King, the
32:56
Speaker 1: Lord of Hosts, there will be no reiin on them.
33:00
Speaker 1: There's a gathering of people to worship the Lord, God
33:02
Speaker 1: of Hosts at that time in that kingdom age, when
33:06
Speaker 1: Jesus personally reigns, there will be a personal worship of
33:11
Speaker 1: Christ in Jerusalem that is yet to be, that is
33:16
Speaker 1: yet future. But Zachariah draws on it as intrinsic motivation, saying,
33:22
Speaker 1: the place we are building will be the place He
33:24
Speaker 1: will inhabit. His presence will be in this city. Build
33:29
Speaker 1: it for the king. The pride of the nation is
33:34
Speaker 1: at stake. Some enduring lessons that come to me out
33:40
Speaker 1: of Zechariah are three in number. Motivation can result from
33:46
Speaker 1: being inspired. That's the first, just as much as being rebuked.
33:52
Speaker 1: Sometimes more so, motivation comes from being inspired. And as
33:59
Speaker 1: I said earlier, use it. You know the alternative it
34:04
Speaker 1: is to use people to get a job done. It
34:09
Speaker 1: is easy for us to use people rather than to
34:12
Speaker 1: inspire people, as you use the spirit of God to
34:16
Speaker 1: get it done. One very honest person wrote these words, Lord,
34:22
Speaker 1: I'm like James and John. I size up other people
34:25
Speaker 1: in terms of what they can do for me, how
34:28
Speaker 1: they can further my program, feed my ego, satisfy my needs.
34:33
Speaker 1: Give me strategic advantage. I exploit people ostensibly for your sake,
34:39
Speaker 1: but really for my own sake. Lord, I turn to
34:42
Speaker 1: you to get the inside track, to obtain special favors.
34:46
Speaker 1: Your direction for my schemes, your power for my projects,
34:50
Speaker 1: your sanction for my ambitions, your blank check for whatever
34:54
Speaker 1: I want. I'm just like James and John. Change me, Lord,
35:01
Speaker 1: make me a man who asks of you and of others.
35:04
Speaker 1: What can I do for you? If you are given
35:12
Speaker 1: to severity, think about what you've heard from Zechariah's style.
35:20
Speaker 1: If you are a father who is given to it
35:22
Speaker 1: with your children, think about another style. There's something to
35:30
Speaker 1: say for a quiet, compassionate approach to inspire people.
35:36
Speaker 2: Who are working with you on something.
35:38
Speaker 1: Second, to accomplish something God's way and for God's glory,
35:43
Speaker 1: his spirit must be in control. I see that all
35:46
Speaker 1: the way through Zechariah, not by might or by power.
35:50
Speaker 1: To accomplish something for God's glory, to be done God's way,
35:55
Speaker 1: his spirit must be in control. You have a tough
35:59
Speaker 1: project to do before the end of the year. Let
36:02
Speaker 1: his spirit correct you. Let his spirit prompt people that
36:06
Speaker 1: are to be a part of it. Let his spirit
36:11
Speaker 1: lead you. My wife encouraged me this evening as she
36:13
Speaker 1: shared with me some of the benefits of the lady's retreat.
36:17
Speaker 1: She said, in planning to use various people, she really
36:21
Speaker 1: was prompted by the Lord to ask one particular lady
36:24
Speaker 1: in our church to have a particular part in it.
36:26
Speaker 1: And that lady had been praying for months to have
36:31
Speaker 1: some particular ministry, and it was just the thing that
36:34
Speaker 1: God had prompted. It is beautiful when you don't have
36:39
Speaker 1: to use force, you don't have to manipulate to get
36:43
Speaker 1: people to do something. When you speak and the spirit
36:46
Speaker 1: of God is in it, there's a readiness that accompanies it.
36:51
Speaker 1: To do it God's way for his glory, his spirit
36:53
Speaker 1: must be in control. And the ultimate is, of course,
36:59
Speaker 1: in the final analysis, here's the third God's plan.
37:02
Speaker 2: Will not be frustrated. It's great.
37:08
Speaker 1: I look into the face this evening of a couple
37:11
Speaker 1: that smiles back at me right now, whose background was
37:17
Speaker 1: filled with great, great anguish in the marriage of one
37:24
Speaker 1: of their children. There was disappointment, there was hostility, there
37:29
Speaker 1: were thoughts of such thoughts of anger, that murder was
37:34
Speaker 1: a part of it. Even but the spirit of God
37:37
Speaker 1: there was control brought into the situation, and that marriage occurred.
37:43
Speaker 1: And I just heard them say as recently as two
37:46
Speaker 1: weeks ago, the whole situation has done a turnaround. And
37:51
Speaker 1: you can't believe how these kids are walking with Christ today.
37:56
Speaker 1: We've wrestled with it, fought with it, worked against it,
38:00
Speaker 1: tried to stop it. God was in it, And when
38:03
Speaker 1: we see now the finished product, we say, praise his name.
38:09
Speaker 1: His plan has not been frustrated. I don't know how
38:15
Speaker 1: many of you read much, but there is a times
38:22
Speaker 1: a book that just keeps coming back to my attention.
38:25
Speaker 1: I've read it twice, I'm on it the third time.
38:28
Speaker 1: It is a fine piece of Puritan prayers and devotions,
38:32
Speaker 1: called simply the Valley of Vision.
38:35
Speaker 2: The Valley of Vision.
38:38
Speaker 1: I close with the words from this Puritan unchangeable Jehovah.
38:47
Speaker 1: When I am discouraged in my ministry and full of
38:51
Speaker 1: doubts of myself, fasten me upon the rock of thy
38:57
Speaker 1: eternal election. Then my hands will not hang down, and
39:03
Speaker 1: I shall have hope for myself and others. Thou dost
39:08
Speaker 1: know thy people by name, and wilt, at the appointed
39:12
Speaker 1: season lead them out of a natural to a gracious state.
39:16
Speaker 2: By thy effectual calling.
39:21
Speaker 1: This is the ground of my salvation, the object of
39:24
Speaker 1: my desire, the motive of my ministry. Keep me from
39:29
Speaker 1: high thoughts of myself or my work. For I am
39:32
Speaker 1: nothing but sin and weakness. In me, no good dwells,
39:37
Speaker 1: and my best works are but sin. Humble me to
39:40
Speaker 1: dust before thee root, and tear out of me the
39:47
Speaker 1: poisonous weed of self righteousness. Show me my utter nothingness,
39:52
Speaker 1: Keep me sensible of my sinnership. Sink me deeper into
39:58
Speaker 1: penitence abhorrence. Break the dagon of pride in pieces before
40:06
Speaker 1: the ark of Thy presence. Demolish the babble of self opinion,
40:12
Speaker 1: and scatter it to the wind level to the ground
40:17
Speaker 1: my jericho walls of a rebel heart. Then grace, grace
40:23
Speaker 1: will be my experience and my cry. I am a poor,
40:29
Speaker 1: feeble creature when faith is not in exercise, like an
40:34
Speaker 1: eagle with pinioned wings. Grant me to rest on Thy
40:39
Speaker 1: power and faithfulness, and to know that there are two
40:44
Speaker 1: things worth living. Far to further Thy cause in the world,
40:49
Speaker 1: and to do good to the souls and bodies of men.
40:52
Speaker 1: This is my ministry, my life, my prayer, my end.
40:58
Speaker 1: Grant me grace that I shall not fail. What a
41:08
Speaker 1: great way to end the Lord's day. Grant me grace.
41:12
Speaker 2: That I shall not fail. Let's bow shall we?
41:23
Speaker 1: You have very graciously impatiently listened through the study of
41:30
Speaker 1: this book. We have almost finished a survey of the
41:35
Speaker 1: Old Testament, and God has given us a truth here
41:41
Speaker 1: and there that has just been extremely beneficial to us
41:44
Speaker 1: at the right time. Tonight, I think it is clear
41:50
Speaker 1: that His truth for us is as we draw strength
41:56
Speaker 1: from Him and receive the assurance that his plan will
42:04
Speaker 1: not be frustrated, we stay encouraged. I'm prompted to say
42:15
Speaker 1: this evening that if you have never met the Savior
42:18
Speaker 1: in a personal way, I'd love to talk to you
42:22
Speaker 1: about that. So would one of our men from our staff.
42:29
Speaker 1: If you've never met Christ, I appoint you to him tonight.
42:32
Speaker 2: Who will take away the bleak, cold.
42:35
Speaker 1: Wind of winter, Who will warm your life, make it
42:41
Speaker 1: full and rich within, Give you grace to endure. Lord.
42:51
Speaker 1: The words of the old Puritan.
42:55
Speaker 2: Are as relevant as the day he wrote.
42:56
Speaker 1: Them, perhaps more. Sour day of self righteousness and man
43:02
Speaker 1: worship and big projects done in the power of the
43:05
Speaker 1: flesh for the glory of man, show us again once
43:10
Speaker 1: again that the one who walks in the spirit and
43:15
Speaker 1: does not rely on the strength of the flesh, will
43:20
Speaker 1: stay encouraged. Encourage those tonight who face difficult tomorrow. Some
43:28
Speaker 1: of our professional friends, friends whose practice is not as
43:32
Speaker 1: they had planned or wished it to be. Some of
43:38
Speaker 1: our laboring friends who face difficult straits in their work,
43:42
Speaker 1: thankless jobs and poor pay and hard circumstances and that
43:50
Speaker 1: awful sense of boredom. Encourage them with the fact that
43:55
Speaker 1: you are at work, and you are alive, and you care,
44:00
Speaker 1: and you will use them in your time and for
44:05
Speaker 1: your glory. Take the burden that has been on us
44:09
Speaker 1: all too long, and you bear it, Father, and give
44:12
Speaker 1: us freedom from it. Whether it is our work, or
44:17
Speaker 1: our home or some project, are some great disappointment, Thank
44:24
Speaker 1: you for what we have learned, Help us in the
44:26
Speaker 1: application of it. In the name of Christ, I pray
44:30
Speaker 1: this amen.
44:33
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Zechariah Man of Vision and Faith was
44:38
Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen eighty and the sound recording was copyrighted
44:41
Speaker 3: in twenty eleven by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
44:45
Speaker 3: are reserved worldwide.