ZECHARIAH-JUDAH IS ONLY A REMNANT…JERUSALEM LIES IN RUINS.
ZECHARIAH WAS A YOUNG PROPHET WHO STOOD ALONGSIDE THE AGED PROPHET HAGGAI TO ENCOURAGE ISRAEL TO BUILD THE TEMPLE…
ZECHARIAH FORETELLS THE SAVIOR MORE THAN ANY OTHER PROPHET EXCEPT ISAIAH.
CHRIST’S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM ON DONKEY.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
BETRAYED FOR 30 PIECES OF SILVER
HANDS BEING PIERCED
CHRIST BEING WOUNDED IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIEND
JESUS WILL BE PRIEST AND KING
NOT HERE THIS MORNING TO TALK ABOUT ZECHARIAH BUT A PERPLEXING VERSE IN ZECHARIAH 13:7---God says…
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
LET’S ASK A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS CHALLENGING TEXT…
1. WHAT IS THE SWORD?
O.T.= SWORD OF GOD’S JUSTICE AGAINST EVIL! NO MATTER WHOSE HAND THE SWORD WAS IN…GOD WAS SWINGING THE SWORD.
• GENESIS 6-GOD “AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST MY SHEPHERD”…NO NO…”AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST THESE PEOPLE WHOSE HEART IS ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY!” I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT…GOD’S SWORD WAS AWAKENED AGAINST EVIL!
• WAKE UP O SWORD OF JUDGMENT …8 RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE WERE LEFT AFTER THE FLOOD.
• GOD’S SWORD AWOKE AND SHED THE BLOOD OF MILLIONS…SPARING 8.
• I GET THAT…GOD IS SERIOUS ABOUT SIN! SO SERIOUS THAT THE IMMORAL MAJORITY IS NOT THE STANDARD FOR HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE.
• WILL MOST PEOPLE BE SAVED?????????? BROAD IS THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO DESTRUCTION-MANY ARE ON IT.
• WILL GOD PUNISH THE GUILTY?
GOD’S SWORD AWOKE AND BROUGHT JUDGMENT TO MILLIONS…BUT WAS THE SWORD SATISFIED?
GENESIS 19-ABRAHAM- SODOM AND GOMORRAH…
AGAIN- “AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST MY SHEPHERD”
NO NO--- “AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST THESE IMMORAL, UNGODLY SODOMITES-AGAINST THIS WICKED CITY- GOD RAINED DOWN FIRE.
GOD PUT THE SWORD BACK IN IT’S SHEATH.
GO A LITTLE FURTHER IN THE O.T. …
ISRAEL IN CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT…EGYPT-WHERE THEY WORSHIPPED FLYS, RIVER NILE, WORSHIPING FROGS AND EVEN PHAROAH HIMSELF … CREATED THINGS
PERSECUTING GOD’S CHOSEN NATION…HIS CHILDREN…
GOD’S SWORD WAS UNSHEATHED AND RAISED AGAINST EGYPT…ON AND ON
ISAIAH 10:5
“WOE TO THE ASSYRIAN, THE ROD OF MY ANGER, IN WHOSE HAND IS THE CLUB OF MY WRATH!”
I SEND HIM AGANST A GODLESS NATION, I DISPATCH HIM AGAINST A PEOPLE WHO ANGER ME, TO SEIZE LOOT AND SNATCH PLUNDER, AND TO TRAMPLE THEM DOWN LIKE MUD IN THE STREETS.
GOD’S SWORD WAS AGAIN UNSHEATHED---
GOD WOULD USE THE CRUEL ASSYRIANS…
YEAH THOSE ASSYRIANS….STOPPED THE FLOW OF RIVERS WITH BODIES AND BONES OF THEIR VICTIMS.
THOSE ASSYRIANS WHO FLAYED THE FLESH OFF OPPOSING KINGS…PUT HOOKS IN THEIR VICTIMS TO DRAG THEM BEHIND THEIR HORSES..
GOD USED ASSYRIA AS HIS SWORD TO WIPE OUT THE 10 IDOLTROUS TRIBES OF ISRAEL.
THEN GOD PUT HIS SWORD BACK IN THE SHEATH…
BUT WAS IT SATISFIED?…ALL THAT BLOOD OF ALL THOSE PEOPLE. WAS THE SWORD OF JUSTICE SATISFIED?
NO IT WAS NOT SATISFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2.SECOND QUESTION-
AGAINST WHOM WAS THAT SWORD OF JUSTICE TO AWAKE?
THE JEWS WERE LOOKING FOR THAT SHEPHERD…EZEKIEL 34, 37
JOHN 10-“I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD”
JESUS SAID-I AM THE SHEPHERD YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR.
ZECHARIAH 13:7- AWAKE O SWORD AGAINS MY SHEPHERD- AGAINST THE MAN WHO IS MY FELLOW…MY EQUAL
GOD WAS TO AWAKEN THE SWORD OF HIS JUSTICE AGAINST HIS ONLY SON.
3.WHEN????…I WANT TO KNOW WHEN.
MATTHEW 26:31
Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
THE SWORD THAT HAD BEEN OUT OF THE SHEATH AT THE FLOOD…AT SODOM AND GOMORRAH…THE SWORD THAT WAS DRAWN TO PUNISH EGYPT.
THAT SWORD WOULD NOW BE UNSHEATHED AND FALL ON JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION----
4. WHY?????????????
WHY DID GOD’S SWORD OF JUSTICE HAVE TO FALL ON HIS SINLESS SON?
SHORT ANSWER- SO IT WOULDN’T HAVE TO FALL ON ME…AND ON YOU.
IF GOD DOES NOT AWAKEN THE SWORD OF HIS JUSTICE AND CAUSE IT FALL ON THE SHEPHERD….THEN IT MUST FALL ON THE SHEEP.
WHY? WHY DID GOD HAVE TO SLAY HIS OWN SON?
HE HAD TO OR HE WOULDN’T HAVE. ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!
WASN’T THERE ANOTHER WAY?
SACRIFICE A 1000 CATTLE A DAY FOR A 1000 YEARS?
PRAY A MILLION PRAYERS?
CRY TEARS OF REPENTANCE FOR 10 MILLION YEARS?
NOPE-WILL NOT TAKE AWAY ONE SIN.
9 REASONS GOD HAD TO RAISE HIS SWORD OF JUSTICE AGAINST HIS SON
ISAIAH 53
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
ISAIAH 53-TEN REASONS WHY GOD DREW HIS SWORD OF JUSTICE AND BROUGHT IT DOWN ON HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
1. V.4 TO BEAR OUR PAIN AND SORROWS.
a. JOHN 14- “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.”
i. JESUS WENT TO CALVARY SO THAT YOU AND I COULD WALK WITH HIM THRU LIFE AND ETERNITY…WITH CONFIDENCE AND JOY.
ii. I PETER 5:7- “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
1. WHAT ARE YOU HANGING ON TO??????
b. GOD HAD TO AWAKEN THE SWORD OF JUSTICE AT CALVARY BECAUSE HE LOVES ME…HE LOVES YOU!
2. V.5 PIERCED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS
a. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ----God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
JESUS DIED INSTEAD OF ME!
I DESERVED TO HAVE SWORD FALL ON ME!
I DESERVED TO BE CATAPULTED INTO HELL THE FIRST TIME I SINNED.
• JESUS DIDN’T DESERVE TO HAVE PEOPLE SPIT INTO THE EYES OF HIM WHO WOULD WEEP FOR THE VERY PEOPLE SPITTING ON HIM!
• HE DIDN’T DESERVE TO HAVE THE SOLDIERS RIP CHUNKS OF FLESH OUT OF HIS BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• IT WASN’T RIGHT FOR THE SPIKES TO PIERCE THE HANDS THAT FORMED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR YOU? SHOUT OR CRY??
HE DIED FOR MY TRANSGRESSIONS!!!
MY SIN BROUGHT THE SWORD DOWN ON JESUS!!!
HE HAD TO DIE!!! BECAUSE OF MY SIN.
3. AWAKE O SWORD----53:5b HIS PUNISHMENT BROUGHT US PEACE.
a. JESUS DIED TO BRING PEACE IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS.
i. GOD-ENEMY-FRIEND OF GOD,
ROMANS 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
ii. PEACE AT HOME…HUSBANDS/WIVES
1. COUPLE DECIDED TO NEVER GO TO SLEEP ANGRY…HAVEN’T SLEPT IN WEEKS.
2. ARE YOU A PEACEMAKER OR A TROUBLEMAKER???
3. DO YOU HAVE PEACE IN YOUR HEART???
4. HOW CAN YOU PROMOTE PEACE?
4. 53:5c BY HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED… NOT PHYSICAL DISEASES.
a. PSALM 103-- Praise the Lord O my soul…who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.
i. Real problem-not physical, disease of heart.
1. Hatred, bitterness, suspicion.
2. PRIDE-“COOL”
ii. ONLY WHEN WE GO TO CALVARY AND SEE THE SUFFERING SAVIOR DO WE HAVE HEALING OF THE HEART…YOU GOTTA SURRENDER BITTERNESS AT THE FEET OF HIM WHO TASTED THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH FOR YOU.
5. RETURN US TO GOD. 53:6
a. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
6. SATISFY GOD’S JUSTICE-
53:8,9- THE LORD HAS LAID ON HIM THE INEQUITY OF US ALL…for the transgression of my people he was punished.
We had a debt due—SIN-PAYMENT OF DEBT-DEATH.
JUSTICE WILL BE MET!
GOD IS HOLY
GOD IS JUST
EITHER YOU DIE OR JESUS DIES FOR YOU.
WHEN GOD SEES THE BLOOD HE IS SATISFIED.
IT IS A JUST THING FOR GOD TO FORGIVE ME. IT IS RIGHT FOR GOD TO FORGIVE ME.
GOD SAYS IN JUSTICE “SIN IS FORGIVEN”
O.T. DAVID DIDN’T UNDERSTAND IT.
ANGELS DIDN’T UNDERSTAND IT.
DEVIL KNEW GOD WAS HOLY…DIDN’T KNOW HOW HE COULD DO FORGIVE SINNERS.
…DEVIL CAME ACCUSED US TO GOD.
“JOHN MAXWELL IS A SINNER…SO IS HIS WIFE TONYA.”
GOD SAID, “I KNOW THAT.”
“UPON WHAT BASIS ARE YOU FORGIVING THAT RASCAL?”
GOD JUST POINTS TO THE CROSS…COME UP HERE SON AND LET HIM SEE THE BLOOD SHED AT CALVARY.
AND ALL THE ANGELS CRY-“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.” HOLY HOLY HOLY---GOD’S JUSTICE IS SATISFIED…GOD CAN FORGIVE YOU AND REMAIN HOLY.
7. WHY- “AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST MY FELLOW.? IT FULFILLED GOD’S PURPOSE.
a. …It was the Lord’s will to crush Him. 53:10
i. JESUS IS HANGING ON THE CROSS…ANGELS ARE WEEPING AND CRYING…WHAT IS GOING ON…JESUS HAS BEEN WORSHIPPED BY THESE ANGELS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS…DEVIL SEEMS TO BE WINNING.
ii. GOD SAYS…”WEEP NO MORE…THERE’S MY PLAN. THERE’S MY METHOD FOR SAVING SINNERS. IT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.
1. GOD HAS THE DEVIL BY THE THROAT.
2. TEARS OF SADNESS AND DESPAIR TURN TO TEARS OF REJOICING.
3. HEAVEN WAS BEING OPENED TO SINNERS.
a. SALVATION WAS BEING PURCHASED.
b. PEACE WAS BEING SECURED.
c. GOD’S PURPOSE WAS BEING ACCOMPLISHED
d. TRANSITION-WHY DID GOD UNSHEATH HIS TERRIBLE SWORD ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD?
8. GLORIFY THE SHEPHERD-V.12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
a. LOOK AT GOLGOTHA…SEE ANY GLORY THERE???
i. JOHN 12:20-23…”THE HOUR HAS COME FOR THE SON OF MAN TO BE GLORIFIED.”
ii. JESUS HANGS BETWEEN 2 THEIVES…PRAYING FOR THE MEN WHO DROVE THE NAILS INTO HIS HOLY HANDS…SEE ANY GLORY THERE?
iii. HE COULD HAVE CALLED 10 THOUSAND ANGELS TO DESTROY THE WORLD
iv. THERE IS GLORY IS SURRENDER TO GOD…LIVING A SELFLESS LIFE IS A GLORIOUS LIFE.
v. WHY DID GOD SAY AWAKE O SWORD AGAINST MY SHEPHERD???
9. MAKE INTERCESSION FOR THE TRANSGRESSORS…
53:12B- For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
JESUS IS WORKING THIS MORNING…THIS VERY HOUR!
HEBREWS 7:25- “HE IS ABLE TO SAVE COMPLETELY THOSE WHO COME TO GOD THROUGH HIM, BECAUSE HE ALWAYS LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR THEM.”
GOOD NEWS- GET ON MY KNEES…”LORD HELP ME” HELP COMES…
REMEMBER…GOD IS WORKING ORCHESTRATING ETERNAL SOLUTIONS.
YOUR SOUL IS AT STAKE.
PRAY…TRUST GOD TO TAKE CARE OF SITUATION IN A WAY THAT WILL SECURE YOUR ETERNAL SALVATION.
CONCLUDE: THERE ARE OTHER QUESTIONS WE COULD ASK…ONE MORE QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?
Zechariah 13:1
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
GOD’S SWORD OF JUSTICE FELL ON JESUS AND IT OPENED A FOUNTAIN.
THAT FOUNTAIN IS FILLED WITH THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND IT IS OPEN FOR YOU.
JESUS DIED FOR YOU. NOBODY ELSE IN ALL THE WORLD WILL EVER LOVE YOU LIKE HE DID.
WHAT WILL YOU DO? REPENT
1. SECRET SIN…PORNOGRAPHY.
2. PRIDE…COOL
3. BITTERNESS…PEACEMAKER
4. FAITHLESSNESS…FRIENDS WHO ARE NOT YET CHRISTIANS… WILL YOU TELL THEM WHAT JESUS DID FOR THEM?
JESUS IS INTERCEDING FOR YOU THIS MORNING.
“A LITTLE MORE TIME, FATHER.”
“FATHER, FORGIVE ANTHONY, HE KNOWS NOT WHAT HE IS DOING”
GOD’S NOT FAIR!!!
IF HE WAS FAIR WE’D ALL BE IN HELL RIGHT NOW.
1. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT GOD HAS SHOWN MERCY!!!
2. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT GOD GIVES US CHANCE AFTER CHANCE TO REPENT!!!
3. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS, INCLUDING SINS WE COMMITED THIS MORNING SINCE WE WOKE UP.
4. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT GOD HAS SENT HIS SPIRIT TO LIVE IN US-TO GUIDE US AND HELP US LIVE FOR HIM.
5. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT EVERY TIME I FALL TO MY KNEES AND PRAY THAT GOD STOPS WHAT HE’S DOING AND LISTENS TO ANSWER.
6. IT’S NOT FAIR THAT WE’RE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER IN A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN.
GOD’S JUST NOT FAIR!!!
BUT BECAUSE 2500 YEARS AGO GOD SAID, “AWAKE, O SWORD AGAINST MY SHEPHERD, AGAINST MY FRIEND- YOU AND I GET TO ESCAPE SWORD AND RECEIVE THESE BENEFITS.
WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?
COMMUNION: TIME FOR REFLECTION AND RECOMMITMENT.
