Okay, we continue in the book of Zechariah and we're coming this week to Zechariah chapter 7. We pray that the Lord will be pleased to enable us to rightly divide the word of truth, to rightly, to see the truth of it. There is, so many people can look at the scriptures and come to completely the wrong conclusions and it's because they do not have the key, they don't seek the key, they haven't been given the key as Christ gave to those disciples after his resurrection in Luke 24. He opened their hearts, he opened their minds, he opened their eyes that they might understand the scriptures. that they might understand the Scriptures. That's what we want, is to have the right key to see what this is saying, because you might find when you first read Zechariah chapter 7 that it's quite an obscure passage. What's it possibly talking about? Well, let me remind you that the whole of Scripture is giving us the message, the answer. I've called this message, How Shall I Come to God? The whole of the Bible gives an answer to that. It gives the answer that it's through Christ and Him alone. But how does this chapter help us? Well, it's, again, another layer upon layer, a precept upon precept. More confirmation. If you ever wanted confirmation, the Scriptures give it over and over and over again. They confirm the truth of God. Isaiah 42, is it? No, 45. End of 44, start of 45. In about, somewhere between about 730-ish BC, something like that. I'm not very accurate, but it's there or thereabouts. About 730, 740 years before Christ, God gave the message to Isaiah that a man would be raised up as a great emperor who would bring his people back to Jerusalem. And the emperor was Cyrus, the Medo-Persian emperor. There was to be the Babylonians, there was to be Nebuchadnezzar and those kings, and then in one night, Cyrus was to come and take the kingdom away. And it's shown to us in The book of Ezra, I'll just read four verses from the start of chapter one of Ezra. Now this is, as near as I can tell, 539 years before Christ came. And it's the fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied 150 to 200 years before, and it's this. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. What was that word of the Lord? You're going to Babylon for 70 years, but then you'll come back. That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Why did a heathen pagan king, a potentate, he would be a man to be greatly feared, why did he say that these captive Jews should go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Why did he say that? Answer, because his heart was in the hands of God. Because as Proverbs says, the heart of the king, whoever he is, whichever king he is, the heart of the king is in the hands of God. So thousands of Jews captive in Babylon for 70 years, exactly as the prophecy had been, Jeremiah had prophesied it, For 70 years there, thousands of them left and came back to Jerusalem, to that area. And that was a long and tortuous journey in those days. And they came and they restored the worship. And they laid the foundation of the temple. And they faced opposition and they set up an altar and they had sacrifices. But the opposition came and stopped them. Stopped them. The king changed. Another king came upon the throne who'd forgotten what was said before. You know how fickle politics is. And in no time flat they were so discouraged that the work ceased for 20 years. until the second year of a king that followed, King Darius. In 519 BC, God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. And to Zechariah, he gave eight visions in one night and followed that by a dramatic portrayal of salvation with Joshua the high priest crowned with silver and gold crowns and It then says, behold, look at the man, look at the man, behold the man who is the branch speaking of Christ. It was a dramatic portrayal of Christ, once and once only. And so the work progressed. And more returned from Babylon. More of the Jews returned from Babylon, dribs and drabs. Two years after that night of visions, we have Zechariah chapter 7. So between the end of chapter 6 and the start of chapter 7 is a space of about two years. Now the message so far of the book of Zechariah is this, that the kingdom of God will triumph. The kingdom of God will triumph. This is what it's all about. The kingdom of God will triumph. The kingdom of God that Satan usurped in the fall in the Garden of Eden, that kingdom will triumph. Satan's kingdom will be destroyed, will be rightly judged. God's kingdom will be triumphant. And how is it going to be pictured? They will finish that temple in Jerusalem, which is a portrayal of the kingdom of God, because it portrays the meeting of God with his people. I will be their God and they shall be my people. And it portrayed how sinners were going to be fitted for the kingdom of God, because Christ the branch, the branch out of the root of Jesse, out of a dry ground, out of the dry ground of unpromising humanity, Christ the branch. would come and he would accomplish the redemption of his people from their sins. He would satisfy the justice of God. God would be just in that sin must be punished and was punished, but God would be just in that sinners would be justified. God's elect, his innumerable multitude, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the earth, will be justly qualified to inherit that kingdom of God, to populate that kingdom of God. Is this not what we're here for? Is this not what we're rejoicing in? Is that we have a hope that we will be in that kingdom? But it's only by God's religion and not by man's religion. How will you and I come to God and find acceptance? I was reading the other day when I was preparing that a few years ago, I don't know which Pope it was, but a Pope in Rome was asked the question, does it really matter what you believe? And his answer basically was, so long as you're sincere, it doesn't matter. God will accept you. So long as you're sincere, any sincere attempt, God will accept it. Don't worry about it. And so thinks the majority of people. It'll be all right with me. God can't be that unreasonable. It'll be all right with me. The question we must ask is this. What does God say? To the law and to the testimony. Isaiah 8 verse 20. To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them. There is no truth in them. So, We have here an account of some of these people coming back from Babylon, and we're two years after those visions given to Zechariah, and the work is progressing and they want to get involved. But they've got a sincere question. They're asking a sincere question. Look at it, in verses 2 and 3 of Zechariah 7. They sent to the house of God, some of these people that had come back, they sent Chereza and Regimelech and their men. So it's a delegation of people. And they sent them to the temple to pray before the Lord. and to speak to the priests, to inquire of the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets that were there, asking, should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done so many years? You see, all the time that they were in Babylon, They didn't have the Temple of Jerusalem there. Obviously, it had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. It had been razed to the ground. It had been made a ruin. Its treasures had been taken away. That magnificent temple had been destroyed. And there they were in Babylon, and the daily sacrifice had stopped. And the remembering of the Day of Atonement had stopped. And all of those pictures of salvation in Christ had stopped. As man is so prone to do, they'd invented their own religious practices that they thought, well, this will be all right. They had a ceremony of weeping in the fifth month and separating themselves. inventing their own religion. And they're asking, we've been doing this and it's been going all right and we've been getting satisfaction out of it, should we continue to keep the religious practices that we performed in Babylon? Will that be acceptable to God? And I'm reminded of the Samaritan woman by the well when Jesus met her and the disciples had gone to buy some food and there he is and he asks the woman for a drink and she starts talking and uh... she says uh... she says that when he when he when he pointed out her condition as a sinner who he was she she said our fathers meaning uh... uh... jeroboam and and and uh... those in in in the northern parts of Israel, the northern tribes, they said, we can worship in this mountain here. But you Jews say Jerusalem's the only place that you can worship. What's the right answer? What will give us assurance of what we're doing? And you know what Jesus answered there. He said, woman, hear me. The day is coming and now is when neither in Jerusalem nor in this mountain, but God will have those who worship Him to worship Him in spirit and in truth. What will give assurance to you and me that your immortal soul is destined for God's kingdom of righteousness and peace and eternal bliss? Because that's the only thing that will enable me to lay me down at night and sleep in peace, knowing that whatever happens, if I'm taken that night or the next day or whenever it is, I'm in that kingdom of God of righteousness and peace. Will religious traditions that have stood the test of time help you? Oh, look how many people are so religious and they're wrapped up in their Anglicanism and their Catholicism or whatever ism it is. They listen to the pronouncements of the synods. Nobody can question their denominational practices. It doesn't matter. what says the scripture it's what what is our denomination put together this is the thing that we must do not what does the scripture say what does our catechism say what does our catechism say oh you know we're sixteen eighty nine all these things seem so important all these confessions surely all that matters is if we're sincere about it isn't it surely the only thing that matters is that we've got to be sincere about it look what he says in verse three Look, we were sincere about these things. We wept. It was emotional. We wept. Should I weep in the film? It was a sincere thing. It wasn't just an outward form, they're saying. And so the answer comes from the Lord, a clear answer from the Lord in verses four to seven. And this is Zechariah himself speaking. Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, Zechariah, saying, speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, when you did all of these religious practices, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month, throughout all those 70 years of captivity, was it at all for me? Was it at all with your hearts aimed at me? And when you did eat and when you did drink, didn't you do it just for yourselves and drink for yourselves because you were having a good party? should you not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity and when the cities thereof round about her and the men inhabited the south of the before you were taken away into captivity the prophets had spoken shouldn't you have listened to what those prophets said shouldn't you have inquired to the law and to the testimony, what has God said? Shouldn't you have inquired what was the message that God gave to Isaiah? What was the message that God gave to Jeremiah? What was the message that God gave to Micah? And so on and so forth. Shouldn't you have inquired about that? Your religious observance was focused on yourselves and not on God. But God's call is this. Zechariah chapter one and verse three. God's call was this. This was the first message that we heard when we started these studies several weeks ago. Did you ever inquire? Did you ever turn to the Lord? Did you ever inquire what the Lord's word was by the former prophets? So he reminds them. in verses 9 and 10. Verse 8, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, look, this is the thing. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, execute true judgment and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother, and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart. Oh, right, so there we know what we're supposed to do. We've got to be really good people, haven't we? We've got to be absolutely honest, and we've got to be so kind and merciful, and oh, we've got to look after the widows, and the orphans, and the strangers, be kind to them, and never imagine any evil. Well, let's do all of those things and God will accept us. You know, it says in there, where it says, execute true judgment, if you've got a margin Bible with a marginal alternative translation, it says, judge the judgment of truth. Judge the judgment of truth. How do we interpret these things? How do we interpret them? You know, we've got to rightly divide the word of truth. There's a right way to divide it and a wrong way to divide it. Oh, that God would show us how to rightly divide this word of truth. When it says these things that religion says, oh, well, I'll just try harder to do all of those things. I'll try to be a better person. I'll turn over a new leaf. I'll stop oppressing the stranger. And I won't imagine any evil against my brother. And then God will accept me. No. Judge the judgment of truth, which begs the question, what is truth? What is truth? I mentioned last week that Pontius Pilate said, behold the man. Well, he also asked the question, what is truth? What is truth? Jesus Christ and the gospel of redeeming grace is truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Judge the judgment of truth. Judge and think in accordance with the gospel. Let me refer you to some scriptures. You don't need to turn to them. I'll turn to them. But Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 17. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Verse 23 of the same chapter. The princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loveth gifts and followeth afterwards. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Then in Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter 5, you see, he's saying these are the right things to do, but how do we interpret how we do those things? Jeremiah chapter 5 and the first five verses, run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any, that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. And though they say, the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely hypocritical religion. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. Why? Because they had hard hearts. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Therefore I said, surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of the Lord. I will get me unto the great men, and I will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord. and the judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds." You see, he's saying, shouldn't you have looked at what these prophets said? Look what they said. And it's summarized well, which is where I want to turn to now and spend a bit of time, in Micah, that we read right at the start, in Micah chapter 6 and verses 6 to 8. Shouldn't they have inquired what the Lord had required of them? Verse 6 of Micah chapter 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? How shall I come to God and find acceptance with Him? If you hear that word acceptance ringing in your mind and you know anything of the scriptures, there's only one place to find acceptance, and that's in the Beloved. Accepted in the Beloved, the Beloved, the Christ of God. Accepted in Him is how we are, not in what we do or the good people that we make ourselves, accepted in Him. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? and bow myself before the high God. Worship him rightly. Acknowledge him for who he is. Shall I come before him with lots of religious practices, with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased if I brought a few rams, but let's bring thousands of rams, then the Lord will be pleased. Or with 10,000 of rivers of oil. Oh, what about this one? The heathen all around were known for sacrificing their children to pay the price of their sins as they saw it with their god, Molech. They would sacrifice their children. They would give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. Will I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? And God, of course, always said that was an utterly evil, wicked practice, and he wanted his people to have nothing to do with those sinful practices. And you say, well, we don't do that these days, do we? You think about it. you think about what this generation has been doing with its children for years and years and years. I'm not going to stand on a political soapbox, but I think if you think you know what I'm referring to. Shall I give of my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? There's a great day of reckoning coming. Verse eight, what should we do? He says, He's shown you. He showed you, O man, what is good. God has shown you what is... What should I do to come before the Lord? How shall I come before the Lord? He's shown you. He's shown you. His word is replete with what you do. He's shown you what is good. What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly? and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. To be accepted, to be judged worthy of God's kingdom, you must do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God. And you say, well, isn't that what the other passage was saying? It's just down to me. Like the rich young ruler came to Jesus and he said, what should I do to inherit eternal life? What should I do? And Jesus said, well, you know what the commandments say, do this and live. And he said, I've done it all, ah, ah. And then the Lord put his finger on the one thing he hadn't done, and he went away sorrowful. What must I do? What moral value must I build up to be able to acquire eternal life, to be qualified to enter that kingdom of God? Well, here's the answer right from the Lord. What must I do? Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Well, how are you doing? And what about me? Am I doing justly and loving mercy and walking humbly? Am I doing all those things well enough? Is my godliness good enough? Is my sanctification good enough? Is it of a high enough standard? But you see, that's to miss the key point. We need to rightly divide the word of truth. Because look, what does it say? It doesn't just say, do justly, love mercy and walk humbly. It says, do those things with thy God. So let's look at each one. Do justly with thy God. Do justly with thy God. What does that mean? It means this, side with God in condemnation of your sin. As David said in Psalm 51, he didn't say, against Bathsheba have I sinned, or against Uriah the Hittite have I sinned, or against the people in lying to them. No, he said, against thee, speaking to God, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. When we do justly with our God, we confess before him that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We agree with his judgment that in me, in my flesh, as Paul the Apostle said, there dwells no good thing. Side with God who alone is just and the justifier of his people by the substitution that he has set forth in his Son. side with God in his justice and his judgment, that the only people truly fitted for the kingdom of God are those who are made the righteousness of God in him. Made the righteousness of God in God, who purchased his church with his own blood, who bore his people's sins and paid its debt by pouring out that lifeblood on the cross. Yes, yes, I'm not saying that it doesn't show itself. You bear, the child of God seeing this, doing justly with God, will bear the fruit of justice in dealings with others, in fairness, in forgiveness. But that's the result, that's not the cause. If you're God's child, he has satisfied his justice for you in his son. Secondly, Love mercy with your God. Love mercy with your God. How do we love mercy with our God? I mean, yes, be merciful, but how do we love mercy with our God? By recognizing this. that it's only God in Christ clearing his people's sin debt that enables God to be merciful to sinners. God cannot be merciful in the sense that he sweeps the sins of people under a carpet and says, okay, we'll just forget about those. No, he deals with them. He deals with that sin. He pays its penalty. His justice is satisfied. He cannot, he cannot overlook sin. God is merciful to sinners deserving hell in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Love mercy with God means love Christ. It means love Christ by whom God's mercy is enabled. Cling to him, heed his voice, follow him. And having experienced mercy, how can you be unmerciful to others? You know, Jesus told that parable, didn't he, of the servant that owed his master an enormous unpayable debt and he was about to be sold and his family sold off and put into poverty. And the man pleaded with the master and the master was gracious to him and forgave him his debt. And then that one who had been forgiven a great debt went out and found somebody that owed him a tiny little bit. and was unmerciful to him. Impossible, said Jesus. Impossible. If you've been shown mercy, you will be merciful to others. And thirdly, walk humbly with thy God. Walk humbly. Oh yes, Uriah Heep, in whichever of Dickens' novels it was, was very humble, wasn't he? He was very humble. But walk humbly with your God, seeing by faith something of the majesty of God. It reminds His people daily that we are nothing except for His grace. It's only by His grace that we are anything at all. Seeing by faith something of that majesty of God causes us to walk humbly with our God. To Him, not to us, be all the glory. What does the Lord require? I quote it so often. The Jews, the Pharisees asked Jesus, what must we do that we do the works of God? And Jesus replied, this is the work of God. This is doing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly. This is what it is. Believe on him whom he has sent. The Philippian jailer, the rough man, in a night, in an earthquake, and the testimony of Paul and Silas, and he cries out because he sees his soul hanging over a lost eternity. What must I do to be saved from this? And the answer comes back so quickly. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You and anybody else in your family, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one more thing. I want to point out, and it's in Isaiah 58. Again, we could have, if we'd had the time, but we don't. We could have looked at Isaiah 58, which is a very, very similar chapter in terms of the right way to approach God. not a hypocritical way of approaching God. And at the end of that chapter, I'll just point this out, verse 13, if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing your own ways. So people think, oh, it means, right, we've got to make Sunday a day of austerity and deprivation. not go here, there and everywhere. We were once in a church where that was read out at the start of the service, meaning this is the way that you've got to keep Sunday. You know, Sunday is not the Sabbath day in its Christian form. Christ is the Sabbath day in its Christian form. He is the one. He is our Sabbath. When we were looking at Hebrews about a year ago, in chapter 4 of Hebrews, I think one of the messages I brought from that was Christian Sabbath day, Christian Sabbath rest, that was it, Christian Sabbath rest. It's our rest from striving for righteousness by our works and trusting in all that Christ has accomplished. That's true Sabbath rest. We, as I've already quoted it, Philippians 3 verse 3, we are the true circumcision, the true people of God. Who are the people who are going to God's kingdom? The true people of God, yes. Well, who are they? We are the true circumcision, not those that go through religious external motions, but those who worship God in the spirit. who rejoice in Christ Jesus. How many times does the New Testament say rejoice? Again I say rejoice. Rejoice in Christ Jesus for he is all my hope. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's the thing. But look what they did. Back to Zechariah, just to close. Back to Zechariah and verse 11 of chapter seven. but they refused to hearken. God's saying this is why he sent them into 70 years of captivity. They refused to hearken and they pulled away the shoulder instead of taking the burden and stopped their ears that they should not hear. God has spoken but they put their fingers in their ears. They made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts has sent in his spirit by the former prophets. We've been reading them. Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. He sent them into captivity. Therefore it has come to pass that as he cried, they would not hear. So they cried, and I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts. They cried to him, oh, save no, too late, too late. I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned, for they laid the pleasant land desolate. The people refused. that message from God, that gospel message from God, and people today refuse the gospel message. Instead, they trust religious activities. They trust superstitions. I mean, you don't have to go far. People we know, people that we count as dear friends, in a way, they have such superstitions about what's going to make it right for them with God in eternity. They say their prayers. They do their penances. They read their Bibles. They perform their rituals. They go through moral reformation. They undertake good works. They perform charitable giving. Anything but Christ alone. I know I've said this many times before, and I won't mention her name, but a sweet old lady talking to her. This is best part of 40 years ago. And she said this to me, which I must say, honestly, it really shocked me. She said, I try to witness to all of my neighbours and tell them what I believe. She said, because, she said, I don't want to go into the presence of the Lord empty-handed. Honestly, I kid you not, that's what she said. I don't want to go into the presence of the Lord empty-handed. And immediately what rattled through my mind at that time was the words of the hymn that we're going to sing to close with shortly. Nothing in my hand I bring. Nothing, simply to thy cross I cling. Not as an object of idolatry, but to that which was accomplished on that cross do I cling. Except Christ, who is made unto me wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sancti... Hold on, let me get it right. Christ who is made unto us wisdom from God, and Oh dear, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that's it. That is the key thing, and it's trusting Him. Because how are we going to please God and be acceptable enough to God to go into His kingdom? How are we going to be acceptable to God? How are we going to please Him? Only with faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So will you heed the call of God? In closing, turn back to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 23. Let me just read these verses down to verse 33 to you. This is a people who have got the word of God, the clear message of God, yet they stick their fingers in their ears and turn away. And this is what God says, turn you at my reproof. I'm talking to you, says God, but turn away, you know. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you and I will make known my words unto you, because I have called and ye refused. I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but ye have set at naught all my counsel. You have ignored what God said, and would have none of my reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes, when your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then shall they call upon me. But I will not answer. Did you hear that? He says to them, to people who've ignored him, God says, they'll call upon me, but I won't answer. They'll seek me early, but they won't find me. For that they hated knowledge, and they did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel. They despised all of my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet. If you go to hell, it will be because of your stubborn, hard, stony heart, refusing God. It says here that they made their hearts, in verse 12, as an adamant stone. That is an extremely hard stone. I've put a little piece in the bulletin, and as I say, I've searched, is there any truth in this? But John Trapp, who was a commentator in the 1600s, he commented on this, that the adamant stone was a stone that was like diamond, so hard, couldn't be softened. But if it was soaked in goat's blood, it would soften and crumble. Now, I can't find any evidence that that is literally true, but nevertheless, it's a very good parable of the fact that the stony hearts of sinners, like you and me by nature, when we're soaked in the precious blood of our scapegoat, the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of that scapegoat, that turns a stony heart into a heart of flesh. May that be the experience of each and every one of us.