The Central Mediator: Trusting Jesus in a World of Self-Reliance

• Jesus as the Angel of the Lord [00:06:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the 'man among the myrtle trees' as Jesus, citing textual evidence such as being called 'the angel of the Lord' and speaking to the 'Lord of hosts' (the Father), indicating divine identity.
• Divine Initiative and Grace [00:30:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that salvation is initiated by God's mercy and grace, not human effort, as seen in the Lord rebuking Satan and plucking Joshua from the fire.
• Conditional Blessing and Obedience [00:33:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that while salvation is by grace, believers are called to obedience and repentance, with blessings contingent upon walking in God's ways.
• Repentance and Faith [00:59:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that salvation and fellowship with God require coming to Him, repenting of sins, and believing in His name.

• Sermon Illustration [00:06:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the historical context of the 70-year exile in Babylon, explaining that God scattered His people due to idolatry but promised to bring them back and rebuild Jerusalem, establishing the theme of divine mercy and restoration.
• Sermon Illustration [00:31:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical narrative of Joshua the high priest being clothed in filthy garments and then given new garments by the angel of the Lord, illustrating the removal of sin and the bestowal of righteousness.
• Sermon Illustration [00:44:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical narrative of Hagar in Genesis 16, who, after being cast out, calls the Lord 'Thou God seest me,' illustrating God's presence and provision in desperate circumstances.

• Pastoral Charge [00:01:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to turn to God, referencing the biblical text from Zechariah 1:3.
• Pastoral Charge [00:20:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to turn to God and repent of their sins.
• Pastoral Charge [00:21:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to actively repent, draw near to God, and submit to His authority, contrasting this with the stubbornness of their ancestors.
• Pastoral Charge [00:29:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > Cry out to Jesus in His name to cast away the devil's accusations.
• Pastoral Charge [00:33:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to actively desire obedience and pursue God with their whole heart, rejecting passive or self-centered living.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Okay, I guess I need to say that again. But as we're looking in the book of Zechariah, it does point to Jesus, to his work as the Messiah, and as our mediator.
[00:00:12] And it is a wonderful book that is deep in the Old Testament. It is the next to the last book of the Old Testament, as you are looking.
[00:00:28] And it is similar, has a lot of similarities with Revelation.
[00:00:33] And actually, the more I have studied Zechariah, it helps to understand the imagery and how Revelation is put together.
[00:00:42] So, let's jump in here.
[00:00:55] Here now, the reading of God's Word.
[00:00:58] In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, Zechariah, the son of the son of Edo, the prophet saying, the Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers.
[00:01:19] Therefore, say unto them, thus says the Lord of hosts, turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
[00:01:31] Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings.
[00:01:45] But they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.
[00:01:50] Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
[00:01:54] But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers?
[00:02:05] And they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
[00:02:18] Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Sabbat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo,
[00:02:31] The prophet saying, I saw by night and behold a man riding upon a red horse and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom and behind him were their red horses, speckled
[00:02:46] and white.
[00:02:48] Then said I, oh my Lord, what are these?
[00:02:51] And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be.
[00:02:58] And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
[00:03:09] And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.
[00:03:22] Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long will thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years, or seventy years?
[00:03:43] And the Lord answered, And the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.
[00:03:50] So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
[00:04:03] And I am very sore displeased with the heathen or the Gentiles that are at ease.
[00:04:09] For I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction.
[00:04:16] Therefore thus says the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies.
[00:04:20] My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
[00:04:29] Cry yet, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet truse Jerusalem.
[00:04:43] Then looked I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.
[00:04:47] And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these?
[00:04:52] And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
[00:04:57] And the Lord showed me four carpenters.
[00:05:00] Then said I, What come these to do?
[00:05:03] And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head, but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles,
[00:05:15] Now that might be the first time that you have really read Zechariah 1.
[00:05:26] And if so, that is okay.
[00:05:28] Or if you've read it before and didn't understand it then, that's fine too.
[00:05:33] We're going to look in here and kind of peel the layers back and see some of the things that the Lord has for us, especially in reference to Christ and to his salvation.
[00:05:47] Because it is all there, and it is all within the whole book of Zechariah.
[00:05:54] So I guess the first question that has to be answered is, who is the man among the myrtle trees?
[00:06:05] Are you sure about that?
[00:06:08] All right, great.
[00:06:11] So do you all agree with that?
[00:06:16] That the man among the myrtle trees is Jesus?
[00:06:18] The answer would be yes, it is.
[00:06:21] All right, so the scene that is here is the Lord has brought his people back from Babylon after being scattered from Judah and Jerusalem and even from the northern kingdom and going to Assyria.
[00:06:36] He has brought his people back to the land of Israel, and the temple needs to be rebuilt.
[00:06:43] All right, we had the three score in 10 years, the 70 years, they were in Babylon for 70 years.
[00:06:50] And the Lord promised, hey, I'm going to bring you back.
[00:06:52] He sent them to exile because they were worshiping idols.
[00:06:56] They were blatantly and purposely worshiping idols and saying, the Lord doesn't see.
[00:07:02] And if he does see, he doesn't care.
[00:07:04] We can do what we want.
[00:07:05] And the Lord's like, no, I told you that if you did that, that I would scatter you.
[00:07:10] I would destroy you.
[00:07:12] And when you turn back to me, I would bring you back.
[00:07:15] And so that's what a good majority of the latter part of the Old Testament deals with.
[00:07:24] In going into exile and God bringing them back and of Him showing mercy and speaking comfort to them and saying that He would choose Jerusalem, that He would build her up, that He would prosper His people.
[00:07:37] Did you see that in there in chapter 1?
[00:07:40] Kind of see those themes?
[00:07:41] Those are going to be recurrent through Zechariah and on into the New Testament.
[00:07:48] And so it's like Jesus is showing up.
[00:07:52] He is showing up Himself to help rebuild His people and to bring them hope that only He can.
[00:08:01] This is why Jesus is seen as the mediator.
[00:08:04] He comes between us and the justice and the wrath of God.
[00:08:12] Now, another thing here that we see is that in verse 8, it says, okay, Jesus is described as a man, right?
[00:08:20] He comes with a red horse.
[00:08:22] That's kind of cool.
[00:08:24] And you wonder, oh, what does the red mean?
[00:08:27] Is it some kind of code?
[00:08:28] Is there some kind of number thing that, no.
[00:08:30] It is, red is the symbol of judgment, that Christ is coming with justice, with judgment, also with mercy.
[00:08:41] but that that no one can thwart his plan and his purposes and what he wills and what his word is is going to be accomplished and so these other angels that are sent out on these different
[00:08:55] color horses that they are just kind of assessing what is really going on and bringing report back they're doing recon pretty cool then we also see in a few more verses in chapter one in
[00:09:13] in verse 11 it says and these angels come back and they talk to the man in the myrtle trees but he's not called the man verse 11 he is called the angel of the lord that's another indication
[00:09:28] that this is jesus and that jesus is god himself god the son and then you see in verse 12 says then the angel of the lord jesus answered and said oh lord of hosts who is he talking to he's talking
[00:09:49] to the father so more times than not within zachariah whenever it mentions the lord of hosts It's talking about the Father.
[00:09:57] But you also see where the Father and the Son are kind of both referred to as the Lord of hosts, which shows the unity of the Trinity.
[00:10:06] That the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they are all equal.
[00:10:09] They are all God.
[00:10:10] They have the same Spirit, and they have different purposes, but they are all united together.
[00:10:17] And the Holy Spirit kind of shows up too in a few chapters later in a very kind of just obvious way.
[00:10:26] But in verse 12, the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, will thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah against which thou had indignation these seventy years?
[00:10:43] Notice how Jesus frames that so it comes across in a negative sense in the way, will you not have mercy on Jerusalem?
[00:10:52] so that the response of the father to his son, whose their will is the same, says, yes, I will have mercy on my people.
[00:11:04] And so what this is showing, it's like, yes, for the rebuilding of Israel, yes, for the building back of his people in this time period, but this is also to us, to God's people now that Christ is active among his people
[00:11:22] and among His church and that He will come in and among us to lead us, to help us, to encourage us and to teach us.
[00:11:35] This shows us how Jesus is a personal God to His people.
[00:11:42] He is not a God that is far off, that doesn't care about what's going on, that doesn't know what's going on in the world.
[00:11:50] He has caused everything to happen.
[00:11:52] he knows everything about you he knows all of your struggles he knows all the things that you're dealing with he knows what makes you tick things that you like and things that you don't like
[00:12:07] and he kind of knows what our um what's the right word like our proclivities are like like kind of kind of what we are drawn to sometimes good sometimes not he knows all of that and he
[00:12:23] comes to draw us to him so that he can work in us and his glory can shine through us and so that sin will not win the day in our lives and that we will be a reflection of christ and his mercy and
[00:12:42] his glory and i mean to me this is so uplifting this actually changes the way that we live and what our thoughts are and what our goals are and what should drive us so that we want to live for
[00:12:56] this god who can't let us go who calls us to repent so that we will be in constant unbroken fellowship with him and so that he can guide us in everything that we do all right so wanted to
[00:13:14] just show you kind of give you a snapshot of uh zachariah and all the chapters i had like you know quotations or sections of each chapter to read and i figured i'm not going to do that to
[00:13:27] the to to you all so so i tried to put it on one slide all right so emilio if you could okay great the slides up here this is real small print i hope y'all can can read this uh i can make copies
[00:13:39] later but this is just uh can y'all see this okay okay great all right so just to run through this shows you how central Jesus is in Zechariah and what his plan is for his people then and for now.
[00:14:00] All right, so it says that Zechariah 1, Jesus is the man of the myrtles, the angel of the Lord, and our mediator.
[00:14:08] In chapter 2, he says that we are the apple of his eye.
[00:14:16] I mean, there's just nothing like that.
[00:14:18] there's nothing better than that and it's like and and it even says like in psalm 40 that the thoughts that god has toward us are more than can be counted more than the sand on the seashore
[00:14:33] i mean it's it's not like he's just ready with a hammer to smack us when we mess up i mean there might be times that he does that but the thoughts that he has for us for good are more than can be
[00:14:44] counted we are the apple of his eye and he will dwell in the midst of us as his people as his church in zechariah 3 we see that the lord cleanses us from sin as he does joshua the high priest
[00:15:00] pointing to jesus as the great high priest and it calls joshua the branch which is like a an indicator a hint a pointing to that the messiah will come so joshua the high priest in Zechariah's time that was helping to rebuild the temple
[00:15:18] was pointing to the Messiah.
[00:15:22] And also at the end of chapter 3, the Father says, I will remove the sin of the land in one day.
[00:15:34] Speaking of Christ and His crucifixion.
[00:15:38] Zechariah 4 shows that Jesus is the cornerstone and the headstone of the church.
[00:15:44] zachariah 5 jesus will ultimately destroy wickedness from us as such a cool story i'll just give you a little bit of explanation there it talks about how that that there's this this huge uh kind of like a bushel basket all right kind of like a it's it's it's called an e-faff uh but
[00:16:05] it's the size of a bushel basket and there are these two i mean this is kind of weird the divisions but it's cool at the same time has two women with storks wings and they are carrying this
[00:16:17] basket off and inside of it is wickedness and so it's like god is removing wickedness from his people and he's taking it to the land of shinar which is representative of babylon and at the
[00:16:31] end of revelation god says hey i'm going to destroy babylon which is representative of all evil that is on the earth so it's kind of a cool parallel there all right zachariah 6 shows jesus
[00:16:43] is our high priest and the king and so priest who is a king zachariah 7 jesus said that we are to live for him only zachariah 8 jesus is the temple in which god's presence in the midst of will be
[00:17:00] in the midst of his people forever and that we are part of that temple as the body of christ that we They're actually stones that make up the temple.
[00:17:10] All right, Zechariah 9, Jesus is the king that comes on a donkey.
[00:17:15] Fast forward to Easter, the Palm Sunday.
[00:17:18] There's a prophecy there.
[00:17:20] Zechariah 10, Jesus will have mercy upon us and hear us.
[00:17:24] We know that God will show mercy to us, right?
[00:17:28] But how many of you think of Jesus actually hearing you?
[00:17:34] Hearing what you have to say.
[00:17:36] hearing what is on your heart as we come to Him and we bring our hearts before Him, that is the kind of God that He is.
[00:17:45] A very personal and intimate God.
[00:17:49] Zechariah 11, Jesus is the one sold for our sin for 30 pieces of silver so that we would be redeemed by His blood.
[00:17:58] So this is a prophecy of actually the 30 pieces of silver that Judas got to betray Him.
[00:18:05] And when he said, okay, hey, I betrayed innocent blood, and he throws the silver back, they take it and they buy the potter's field.
[00:18:14] That's actually mentioned here in Zechariah 11, even down to the potter.
[00:18:21] That would be the potter's field.
[00:18:23] Zechariah 12, Jesus was prophesied that he would hang on a cross.
[00:18:28] It says that they will look on him, on me, whom they have pierced.
[00:18:36] Zechariah 13, Jesus is the fountain that cleanses us from our sin.
[00:18:41] And when John and Steve were up here singing that song, that was not planned.
[00:18:45] That's just how the Holy Spirit brings everything together.
[00:18:49] Zechariah 14, Jesus will dwell with us and in us forever as in the Feast of Tabernacles.
[00:18:57] So this is talking about the new heavens and new earth, the kingdom of God when Christ returns.
[00:19:03] and so that's kind of a snapshot if anybody wants a copy of that i'll i'll make some after the service all right let's let's uh go back to chapter one just get a a few more things there
[00:19:19] so i i know that some of y'all are wondering what time period this happened in right like like what year this was well actually it was a little it was a little later or like before that
[00:19:34] But that is a good guess.
[00:19:37] I'm just curious, how many of y'all were thinking that?
[00:19:39] Man, I wonder what time this was in.
[00:19:41] That's fine.
[00:19:43] It is in 520 B.C.
[00:19:47] It is in this first prophecy that Zechariah gives.
[00:19:51] Well, 450 B.C. is when the wall was built.
[00:19:54] That's like Ezra and Nehemiah.
[00:19:56] The temple was done before the wall was built.
[00:20:00] All right, so in verse 2, the Lord says that the Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
[00:20:11] And so this is talking about why they had to be exiled, why they had to be punished and go away from the land.
[00:20:21] And so I love in verse 3, Therefore say thou unto them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you.
[00:20:34] The Lord so many times in the Scriptures says, Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.
[00:20:43] He says, You will find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart.
[00:20:49] And so He keeps kind of going on in the sense of like a quick recap.
[00:20:55] He's like, Don't be like your fathers.
[00:20:58] Don't be like your ancestors.
[00:20:59] Don't go away with me.
[00:21:00] Don't be stiff-necked.
[00:21:03] Come to me.
[00:21:04] Bow to me.
[00:21:06] Repent of your sins, and I will heal you.
[00:21:09] I will raise you up.
[00:21:10] I will fill you with my power and my purpose.
[00:21:16] Let's see here.
[00:21:20] A few other things.
[00:21:27] In verse 14, it says, The angel that communed with me, talking about Christ, said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and Zion with a great jealousy.
[00:21:47] Do you know and realize that the Lord is jealous for you?
[00:21:53] He is jealous for your time, for your attention, for your devotion, and for you to be with him of all the things that we do in a day all the things that we put our attention to how much do we give to god on a daily basis and it says in joshua chapter one
[00:22:17] one of the verses uh here in a little bit that we're going to look at says that we are to meditate on his word day and night and then we will be strong and courageous so it's not talking about
[00:22:29] once a day it's actually talking about twice a day what do you do i mean we all have kind of like our little ritual before we go to sleep right i'm just guessing because i know that i do
[00:22:41] and i know people in my family do so what do you do what's the very last thing by and large that you do before you go to sleep all right that that that that that is a good one i have and what i do
[00:22:58] is not that it's better than praying it's just because i wouldn't do it you know i mean i might pray say thank you lord you know whatever you know please forgive my sins please help me living
[00:23:08] for you that sort of thing but i would be doing stuff on my phone i'd just be so tired okay i'm about to fall asleep i put my phone down and i've started actually trying to read a chapter or a
[00:23:21] portion of a chapter before i put my phone down and i can tell you it has made all the difference even after doing it for three or four days i mean it's not like i've been doing it for weeks or
[00:23:33] months here okay and you know i do read my i do read my bible but right before you go to bed i'm just telling you it makes a world of difference because what we do is our habit why not make that
[00:23:47] your habit instead of all the other things that we can look at and give our attention to and so it's not just before you go to bed but jesus says i am jealous for you for your time instead of
[00:24:02] giving your time and attention to everything and everyone else, give it to me.
[00:24:08] Because it's like He's going to take that and do something great with it in our lives that is for our benefit.
[00:24:17] Not like it's a punishment, not taking anything away, but it is to bless us, to refocus us, to give us clarity, and to show us how to live in a better way.
[00:24:36] Let's see here.
[00:24:39] A lot of these things we've already talked about.
[00:24:44] Look at verse 18.
[00:24:49] This can be kind of confusing, talking about the horns and the carpenters.
[00:24:54] But it's actually, once you see it, it's like, then you've got it.
[00:24:58] So in verse 18, it says, Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw and beheld four horns.
[00:25:12] And I said unto the angel, unto Jesus that talked with me, What be these?
[00:25:17] And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
[00:25:24] And the thought came to me as I was reading this, Who better to explain this than Jesus himself?
[00:25:32] And so he is saying to Zechariah and to all of God's people and to us, says that the horns in these visions are the ones that cause havoc among his people.
[00:25:43] that kind of gave punishment out for when God's people would go away from Him.
[00:25:52] And in God's mercy and in Him wanting to bring us back to Himself, it says in verse 20, And the Lord showed me four carpenters.
[00:26:03] Then I said, Who are these? What have they come to do?
[00:26:07] And He says, Okay, the horns are which scattered Judah, so that no man could lift up his head.
[00:26:15] But the carpenters come to fray them, to like cast out those that would bring havoc and judgment to God's people, to restore them.
[00:26:26] You know, the carpenter builds up, so God is rebuilding His people.
[00:26:31] He is rebuilding us.
[00:26:33] He wants to put our lives back together.
[00:26:36] I mean, how many of y'all have made the right choices every day and every minute of your life?
[00:26:43] None of us.
[00:26:44] but God is saying if you come to me if you draw near to me I will help to overturn those bad or those unwise decisions or those things that happened to you that you couldn't really help
[00:26:59] that other people were doing to you and I will help to restore those things but it is only as we draw near to God it is only as we repent of our sins it is only as we are seeking Him
[00:27:14] and to live for him totally and completely.
[00:27:23] All right, so I just want to look at a few more things in Zechariah to kind of spell this out a little bit more.
[00:27:31] Although, I mean, really, I could end there, and I think that you would have got it.
[00:27:39] And I know some of you would want me to end, but Joseph would be like, you know, Pastor Joseph would be like, man, what are you doing?
[00:27:46] All right, so Zechariah 3, let's look at that real quick.
[00:27:53] verses 1 to 10 so this is where joshua the high priest is being cleansed and it shows the cleansing power of christ and how joshua the high priest how he still needed to be cleansed from his sins
[00:28:12] and yet as a man and as the high priest he was pointing to christ in the coming of christ that it's like only jesus can take away sin so it's a great chapter here verse one and he
[00:28:30] showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord okay so in this vision all right joshua doesn't know this is going on this vision jesus is standing with zachariah and with joshua the high priest and satan is standing as at his right hand to resist him
[00:28:52] so the devil is there to accuse the devil tries to accuse us but it is only in the name of jesus that we could cast him away because of jesus's power because of what jesus has done because he
[00:29:10] has died for our sins but yet so much time in our in our lives and our struggles that we have we don't call out to jesus and we believe the lies of the devil and that's where the devil is trying
[00:29:22] to beat us down and beat us down and beat us down and all we have to do is cry out for the name in the name of jesus and the devil has to flee we have power that we don't realize that we don't
[00:29:37] grab on to all right verse two and the lord said unto satan because satan was resisting him or accusing joshua saying how bad he was saying how sinful he was like you the the the devil was saying about
[00:29:55] joshua he really doesn't want to live for you he doesn't care about you look how dirty he is because of his sin and because the waywardness of his heart and this is comparable to any of us and the lord said unto satan the lord
[00:30:11] rebuke thee oh satan notice how the lord doesn't just say i rebuke you he says the lord rebuke you even the lord that has chosen jerusalem rebuke you is this not a brand plucked out of the fire that for any of us the only thing that saves us is god
[00:30:33] reaching down and pulling us out of the fire from being totally burned and totally consumed and it is only his mercy and grace that rescues us because we can't do it ourselves do you see that
[00:30:45] this is the gospel this is how beautiful this is and this is the absolute truth of god for us verse 3 now joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel now this
[00:31:03] is his garments as the high priest but it is symbolic of his humanity and his sin and so he is appearing as filthy and dirty because of his sin and verse 4 and he answered and spake unto those
[00:31:20] that stood before him saying take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said behold i have caused an iniquity to pass from thee and i will clothe thee with change of raiment he's like
[00:31:33] i will give you new clothes i will take away your sin in a very similar way as isaiah beheld the lord in the in the temple in isaiah 6 when the lord appeared to him and it says the smoke was in
[00:31:46] what would fill the temple and isaiah saw the lord and he's like woe is me for i have seen the lord of hosts and that was actually talking about christ and then an angel flies to the altar
[00:32:03] and takes a coal from the altar and touches isaiah's lip and says says your sin is forgiven is taken away so a very similar thing happening here in verse five and i said this is that
[00:32:18] zachariah chimes in he says let them set a fair mitre upon his head or you know kind of give him the hat of the high priest so they they set a fair mitre upon his head and clothed him with
[00:32:30] garments and the angel of the lord stood by and there is jesus and the angel of the lord The Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, if thou wilt keep my charge,
[00:32:48] then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.
[00:33:02] Notice how there was a little bit of a condition there.
[00:33:05] Okay, our salvation is not conditional on our obedience.
[00:33:10] God saves us by grace.
[00:33:12] We don't deserve it.
[00:33:13] We're never going to be perfect.
[00:33:15] We're always going to struggle with sin of some sort until we go to be with the Lord while we are here on this earth in this body.
[00:33:24] But notice that Jesus didn't say, you can live however you want and it's fine.
[00:33:30] I will bless you regardless.
[00:33:33] I will bless you all the time.
[00:33:35] and I will take care of you, and you can do whatever you want.
[00:33:38] No.
[00:33:40] He says, you are still to obey me.
[00:33:43] I will forgive you, and you have to repent, but you have to try.
[00:33:48] You have to want to do it.
[00:33:51] You have to come after me with all of your heart.
[00:33:56] In verse 8, he says, Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at.
[00:34:05] For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch.
[00:34:09] So Jesus is actually saying, hey, I'm going to come.
[00:34:13] The Messiah, the mediator, the one who's going to set everything right.
[00:34:18] And the one who will bring complete cleansing.
[00:34:22] Verse 9.
[00:34:23] For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes.
[00:34:31] Now, you know how I said the Holy Spirit was going to come in?
[00:34:33] That's talking about the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:35] And you might wonder, how do we know that?
[00:34:38] Where do we find that?
[00:34:40] Well, is there anyone here that knows about a lamb having seven eyes?
[00:34:49] Where?
[00:34:50] In Revelation.
[00:34:51] Where in Revelation?
[00:34:54] In chapter 5.
[00:34:56] It talks about Jesus as the Lamb of God that looked like it had been slain, comes out, and he has seven horns and he has seven eyes.
[00:35:05] And the seven eyes are the Holy Spirit.
[00:35:10] It shows the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:35:14] They are all together.
[00:35:15] They have one will.
[00:35:17] And yet they are three separate purposes accomplishing that one will.
[00:35:22] And so while Jesus is not able to be every place at the same time, He is through the Holy Spirit.
[00:35:29] That's why it's representative by seven eyes.
[00:35:35] And so before Joshua is this stone with seven eyes.
[00:35:42] So it's saying the Holy Spirit is going to help you.
[00:35:45] He is going to equip you.
[00:35:46] He is going to empower you.
[00:35:50] But if we are set on sin, if we are walking in sin, if we are preferring sin over to obeying God and giving our heart totally to Him, do you think that the Holy Spirit is going to lead us and empower us where He wants us to go?
[00:36:09] He is not.
[00:36:10] He is going to kind of step back.
[00:36:14] I'm not saying a person can lose their salvation.
[00:36:19] What I'm saying, though, is that we as believers, we have to be totally committed to God.
[00:36:28] We have to be choosing Him rather than sin, and knowing that we are going to sin, and we are going to make mistakes, but we fall on our knees and we repent of those.
[00:36:39] A person who doesn't want to repent, wants to go their own way, is probably not saved at all.
[00:36:48] Doesn't want to be in the presence of the Lord.
[00:36:56] Alright, let's see here.
[00:36:59] In the middle of verse 9, it says, Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
[00:37:12] Pointing to Christ and His crucifixion.
[00:37:15] Him actually becoming sin for us, even though He was perfect.
[00:37:20] Because He was perfect, He took our sin upon Himself and He paid the wrath of God for it.
[00:37:29] Verse 10, And in that day saith the Lord of hosts, Shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree?
[00:37:37] speaking of the blessings of God.
[00:37:40] That if we submit ourselves to God, that His blessing will pour upon us.
[00:37:45] That as it talks about in Malachi, and actually it's talking about in reference to giving.
[00:37:54] It says, if you come and you submit to Me and you obey Me and you give to Me, and you bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, what will God do?
[00:38:05] He will open the floodgates of heaven, Open the windows of heaven and He will pour out so much blessing upon you that you will not have room for it.
[00:38:17] This is not a message on giving, but it is interesting in what is being spoken about there because God wants, remember how He said He is jealous for us?
[00:38:28] He is jealous to be Lord of every part of our life.
[00:38:34] Everything in our life, even our money.
[00:38:36] he wants us to have a heart that wants to give all of ourselves to him all right so that's zachariah three um let's see here uh one look at zachariah 7 verses 4 to 11 majority of like say that summary
[00:39:01] sheet for all the chapters and what it contains that that really does give us uh a really good picture of what the will of christ for us and for his church in zachariah but let's look at
[00:39:17] chapter 7 verses 4 says then came the word of the lord lord of hosts unto me saying speak unto all the people of the land and to the priest saying when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seven
[00:39:35] months even those 70 years did ye at all fast unto me even to me so there the lord is saying what were the motive of your hearts why did you fast did you fast just going through the motions
[00:39:52] because you thought it was a good idea were you really seeking me this speaks to our life and our motivations and how we live and are we living for ourselves are we living for the lord
[00:40:05] He goes on in verse 6.
[00:40:38] Zechariah saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion to every man to his brother.
[00:40:48] And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor.
[00:40:53] And let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
[00:40:57] But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, so that they should not hear.
[00:41:03] And so here the Lord is saying, who are you living for?
[00:41:10] The things that we do every day, are they for yourself?
[00:41:13] Are they for your own enjoyment?
[00:41:15] Your own to fulfill our own selfish desires and needs and whatever else?
[00:41:19] Or are they for the Lord?
[00:41:22] And we know what the answer is.
[00:41:24] Every part of our day, everything we do is supposed to be for the Lord.
[00:41:29] That's how He pours out His blessing and His mercy upon us.
[00:41:33] that's how we don't get trapped in sin and we get this disconnect that gets further and further and further away from god all right um we mentioned in zachariah 12 where jesus says that they shall
[00:41:52] look upon me whom they have pierced he says that he will pour out upon the house of david still This is the first part of verse 10.
[00:42:05] He says, I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications.
[00:42:14] And the reason that we get grace is because Christ came and was pierced for us.
[00:42:21] And it says, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
[00:42:35] I mean, it can't get any clearer than that, right?
[00:42:39] In talking about Jesus.
[00:42:45] Alright.
[00:42:46] There's a few more verses that I want to look at, not in Zechariah, but other verses, because I want you to see how this is not just in Zechariah, this is in all of Scripture,
[00:42:59] how God, how Jesus, the Son of God, He is the God who comes to us.
[00:43:07] he wants to be in fellowship with you more than you can ever imagine it's something that we have to work into understanding we have to meditate on we have to keep seeking the lord to truly get it
[00:43:23] because once you get it this will revolutionize your life you won't live for yourself anymore you will live for him i mean sure there's things responsibilities in life that we have to take care of things we have to do you know people we have to help but in the way that we do them is for the
[00:43:44] lord's glory that he will shine through us so that we have opportunities to tell people about jesus that he's the only one who can help us and carry us and that they need to know him too
[00:43:55] and be saved all right so starting in genesis genesis 16 verse 13 to 14 this is where where Abraham is, this is where he marries Hagar, Sarah's maidservant.
[00:44:18] Sarah gives her to Abraham because they're having trouble having children, and they are not truly trusting in the Lord.
[00:44:27] As he said, he will provide a son even in their old age.
[00:44:33] And so when Hagar conceives, she starts looking down on Sarah, and Sarah's like, get rid of her.
[00:44:45] And Abraham, as a good or a bad submissive husband, says, yes, dear, whatever you want to do.
[00:44:55] And so Sarah cast Hagar out, and Hagar doesn't know what to do.
[00:45:04] She's in a hopeless situation.
[00:45:07] And so the Lord speaks to her and says, Go back and submit to your mistress Sarah.
[00:45:15] And so what she says about God is very huge and huge for us.
[00:45:22] So in verse 13 says, She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me.
[00:45:29] Or you are the God who sees me.
[00:45:32] Who sees everything about.
[00:45:33] who sees truly what is going on.
[00:45:38] For she said, Here have I also here looked after him that seeth me.
[00:45:46] And so therefore that well was called the God who sees me.
[00:45:51] In Genesis 22, you don't have to turn there necessarily.
[00:46:01] I'm going to start going real fast through some of these verses.
[00:46:06] When God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and he does.
[00:46:14] And there's a lot to that story, and we're not getting into all of that.
[00:46:18] But as he lifts up the knife to sacrifice Isaac, God stops him and says, stop.
[00:46:26] He says, now that I know that you will obey my voice, now that I know that you will not withhold from me your only son, I will bless you.
[00:46:35] and so Abraham called the name of that place in Genesis 22 14 Jehovah Jireh which means the Lord will provide or the Lord will see to it this is the same God this is the same God that we
[00:46:53] serve that loves us that he says he will provide for us and the question is do we believe it do we believe it every day do we believe it in everything we do in how we live because that's that's the
[00:47:06] point what we're getting at in joshua chapter one when god speaks to joshua moses has just died and he says i'm just going to read verses one to nine here it says now after the death of
[00:47:24] moses the servant of the lord it came to pass that the lord spake unto joshua the son of none moses's minister moses's servant saying moses my servant is dead do you think joshua already knew
[00:47:36] that i mean why did he say that because because he was saying everything that's happened before is going to be different now and you're not going to know what to do and yet i am going to be with
[00:47:50] you you are not going alone he says now therefore arise and go over this jordan now and all this people unto the land which i do give to them even to the children of israel and verse three i love
[00:48:06] verse 3 this is like kind of one of my if you want to call it a life verse or just a verse you hang on to it says every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have i given unto you
[00:48:18] as i as i said unto moses so if we are trusting in christ this is not health wealth gospel this is not prosperity gospel this is just claiming the promises of god that if we are faithful to him
[00:48:32] if we are seeking after Him, if we are seeking what His will for us is, and to live by His will, the truth of the Word of God, He says that every place you go, God will give it into your hand.
[00:48:46] That He will take care of you and bless you.
[00:48:49] And either we believe it or we don't.
[00:48:51] Because if we believe it, then it's like every step we take is for the Lord.
[00:48:56] And He will honor that.
[00:48:58] It is revolutionary in thinking and living like this.
[00:49:03] It is easy to forget, and that's why God has to come back and remind us.
[00:49:09] Verse 4, From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even under the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and under the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
[00:49:21] There shall not be any man be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
[00:49:27] As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
[00:49:29] I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
[00:49:33] That's not just for one thing, that's for everything in life.
[00:49:38] But he says, Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.
[00:49:46] Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou may observes to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee.
[00:49:56] Turn not from it to the right hand and to the left, that thou may prosper wherever thou goest.
[00:50:02] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
[00:50:14] For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success.
[00:50:22] Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage.
[00:50:26] Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, is made for the lord thy god is with thee wherever wherever or whithersoever thou goest god gives us this promise that if we will devote everything in our hearts in our lives to him
[00:50:44] that he will lead us that he will and and he will bless us he will give us success and people who i've seen people all the time and i've been in those ruts in my life where it seems
[00:50:58] like everything is going wrong so nothing is going right it's not so much that we're of what we're doing wrong but it's that we are forgetting god and we're trying to figure it out ourselves
[00:51:12] and god's saying if you will just focus on me if you will come and and and and turn to me and cry out to me i will lead you and you will be strong and successful all right so we're not gonna have
[00:51:28] time to go through all these verses i had so i'm going to go through and just pick pick some of the uh of the high points i did want to mention psalm 23 6 because we sang the lord uh we sang psalm 23
[00:51:40] the lord is my shepherd i shall not want um you know verse 4 is great where it says you know even though i walk through the valley of shadow of death i will fear no evil because you
[00:51:51] are with me great great verse my favorite is verse six surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever i've mentioned it before
[00:52:08] in in some sermons but this verse is so powerful because of what the word follow means when it says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life well that word follow in the Hebrew
[00:52:25] is actually a war metaphor it means to chase down an enemy so it's not like you know God is like you know in his goodness and mercy he's just following behind you no it is that he is chasing you down
[00:52:42] like an enemy to do what to bless you to show you his favor to give his forgiveness to you that verse alone should revolutionize your view of god he is not a god that is far off he is not
[00:53:00] a god that doesn't care about what you're facing he he wants to be all up in your business he wants to chase after you and overtake you so that you will live for him and not for our own selfish
[00:53:15] ways like i said that verse alone should change your complete and total view of god and how you live for him all right other passages i mean there's so much you know there's matthew chapter 1 where jesus uh where matthew highlights that jesus being born of a virgin and and and and
[00:53:45] coming to be born as a man fulfills a prophecy in um in isaiah chapter 7 where it says that that he his name will be emmanuel god with us if if you are saved and the holy spirit lives inside of you
[00:54:05] then god is with you that means everywhere you go everything you do god is with you he lives inside you by the holy spirit and you're taking him with you and that means when we have
[00:54:19] the choice and the time to say yeah probably i probably should be reading my bible right now but i don't feel like it i probably should be going to church and going to bible study
[00:54:29] to seek after god but i don't feel like it that means he's with you in those decisions Now, Pastor Joseph and I are not saying that you have to be here like all the time, every day,
[00:54:42] and you don't get anything else done in your life.
[00:54:44] But how much are we seeking after God?
[00:54:48] Whether it's to come to church on Sunday, whether it's to come to a Bible study, or whether it's to read the Bible on our own and pray and seek after Him.
[00:55:02] Can't forget this passage.
[00:55:05] John 14, 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, he will obey me.
[00:55:15] But this is even better after this.
[00:55:17] And my Father will love him, and we, the Father and the Son, will come unto him and make our home or our abode with him.
[00:55:30] Where does God do that?
[00:55:32] Where does He make His home?
[00:55:34] Right inside our hearts.
[00:55:35] inside of us but it as we are seeking him trusting and believing in him and submitting ourself to him man it's just i have to choose what to leave out here i'll just jump to the last one
[00:55:56] to uh uh to to to to revelation 3 19 to 21 says as many as i love i rebuke and chasten That means the Lord is pruning and making us into whom we should be
[00:56:14] through chastening us, through disciplining us, through bringing difficult times so that we'll look beyond ourselves and look to Him and say, God, I need help. I can't do it.
[00:56:25] He's like, that's exactly what I wanted you to do.
[00:56:27] Because that's what you need. You need me.
[00:56:32] And He says, be zealous therefore and repent.
[00:56:35] We are to repent zealously.
[00:56:39] I had people at Morsel ARP that said my favorite word was to repent.
[00:56:43] And you know what? They were right.
[00:56:45] Because we are to zealously repent of our sins to come closer to God.
[00:56:53] Verse 20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
[00:56:56] If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.
[00:57:03] This is how God wants to be with us.
[00:57:06] He is jealous for this time with us.
[00:57:09] And He is saying, come to Me.
[00:57:11] Because only then will you have true peace.
[00:57:15] Only then will you have true rest.
[00:57:19] In verse 21, to Him, I think this is Pastor Joseph's favorite verse, and it's a great verse.
[00:57:26] He says, to Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and sat down with my Father in His throne.
[00:57:39] So if Jesus is the only one that can help us to overcome, and He says, come to Me, when we do, He says, hey, jump up here.
[00:57:47] You can sit on My throne with Me.
[00:57:50] Instead of us trying to do it ourselves and figure it out ourselves and to live for ourselves.
[00:57:57] So brothers and sisters, This is the God who is always with us and will never leave us.
[00:58:08] Who wants to be in communion and fellowship with us.
[00:58:12] This is the God who chases after you because He wants for you to know Him in this way.
[00:58:24] And He also wants us to grow as we grow in our faith, as we grow closer to Him, as we realize these promises, then He wants us to tell other people so that they can be saved,
[00:58:35] so that they can know His salvation because apart from Christ, there is no salvation.
[00:58:43] It is His way or the highway and that is the highway to hell.
[00:58:48] It is only through Christ that we have any chance.
[00:58:56] And so the Lord wants us to know Him.
[00:58:58] He wants us to share His faith.
[00:59:02] And this is what we as the church are supposed to be about.
[00:59:08] When we are excited about Christ, when we are excited about living for Him, when we are excited about growing closer to Him and knowing Him more, and when we are excited about sharing our faith, isn't that what revival is?
[00:59:24] Isn't that what we pray for?
[00:59:28] I mean, we want not only for this church to be filled, we want people's lives to be changed in mooresville and around the world for people to be seeking the lord with all of their hearts to going after him but it can only start in us
[00:59:46] as the lord is working in our heart and drawing us close to him and he has said if you will draw close to me i will draw near to you i will save you we have to come to him and repent of our
[01:00:04] sins in his name to be saved but we also have to repent to be in fellowship with him to come close to him for him to work in our lives and that is what god wants for us today amen thank you all
[01:00:22] right well let's look to the lord in prayer and pray to that effect oh lord god lord i do pray for myself i pray for everyone here oh lord pray for everyone that is listening oh lord that you
[01:00:39] will work in us the things of christ lord that you will help help us and give us the desire to want to live for him more than anything else lord we pray that that you will help by the holy spirit
[01:00:57] within us as we have submitted to christ lord that we will make the lord jesus our first love that we will do everything for Him and through Him.
[01:01:11] And Lord, we pray that You would forgive us of our sins, that You would help us to turn from our selfish ways.
[01:01:21] Lord, that You would help us and empower us and strengthen us to simply want to live for You and for You to be glorified in us.
[01:01:33] Oh Lord, we pray that You would bring revival here in our church that You would bring revival in the town of Mooresville and in our nation and throughout the world.
[01:01:48] Lord, we want Jesus to be lifted up.
[01:01:53] Lord, we thank You that You do not let us go, that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ.
[01:02:01] Nothing.
[01:02:04] And that along with Him, that You will graciously give us all things.
[01:02:11] oh lord these other things that you will give us is is is only as we are living for your will and as as you bless us according to your will not according to ours so lord help us to learn
[01:02:28] these things help us to to to to want you more than anything else lord please work in our hearts please help us to share this good news that you have given to us that Jesus is the only
[01:02:44] way of salvation and peace and rest and forgiveness and mercy we thank you and we praise you and we ask this in Jesus name Amen our final hymn is In Christ Alone it will be on the screen if we can stand and sing this together