Jesus is The Plan - Zechariah 9-14 (July 21) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

I don't know about you.

I love a good plan.

Maybe you're a planner, maybe you're not.

I I'm certainly at times am probably categorized as not a planner, but I do love when a plan comes together and solves a good problem, a big problem.

And my question for you this morning is maybe on a life scale.

I'm not even talking about like what's your plan today, what's your five-year plan?

I'm talking like for your life, what is your plan?

What are you really after in life?

Like, what would need to happen in your life where if you got to the end of your life and you looked back, you would say, yes, that was it.

That's what needed to happen.

Everything went according to plan, mission accomplished.

What's your plan?

Of course, we know as Christians that the more important question is not what my plan is, but what is God's plan.

And as we've been looking through the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, one of the things that we've come to discover is that there's a great problem when our own plans overtake the plans that God has for our life.

This is what had happened in the story of Ezra, as Ezra and the Israelites came back from Babylon to build the temple in Jerusalem.

God's plan to restore his presence among his people.

God's plan, which had really been the plan since Genesis 1 and will be the plan to eternity as it continues, was to be the God of His people.

And God's plan was to restore his presence in Jerusalem.

But the people of Israel had another plan.

When they faced opposition, we were told by Haggai and Haggai 1 that instead of building God's house, they were building their own house.

Their own plans had overshadowed God's plan for their life.

And really, Ezra, what Ezra is doing is teaching us the devastating impact of pursuing our own plan over God's plan, showing us the misery that we invite into our life when we try to pursue our own plans and walk our own paths as opposed to pursuing what God has for us.

Well, Zechariah then, we're told in Ezra chapter 5 that Haggai and Zechariah have a message for God's people.

Ezra 5 · chapter mention

And in one verse, we are told that they speak this message to the people, and the people listen and respond and continue to build the temple again.

And we've been spending the last number of weeks in Haggai and Zechariah because I'm very impressed by that.

As a parent of young children, when someone speaks and people listen, aren't you kind of impressed by that?

And so Haggai and Zechariah speak and the people of God respond.

And so our question has been what are you saying?

And Zechariah's message has really been a message that has laid out God's plan.

This is what God is doing in your midst.

This is the plan that God has for your life.

And Zechariah's message begins with this if you repent, which means a literal turning away from your own plan, from your own way, and walking on the path that God has set in place for you.

If you repent, then you will find the path to ultimate joy, then you will participate in the victory that God is coming to establish in this world.

And so we've seen this through Zechariah.

You'll remember a few weeks ago, as we were in Zechariah chapter one to six, we saw the eight night visions of Zechariah, and there was sort of established this in the first vision that the horsemen in that vision rode out to the ends of the earth, and they saw that no one was interested in God.

And over the next uh six visions, the certain events would happen so that by the final vision, when those same horsemen go out, they find that there is peace with the Lord.

That the Lord has established his plan.

Two weeks ago, as we were in Zechariah chapter 7 and 8, we saw man's plan clash with God's plan as people came from Babylon very likely and asked what they were to do about fasting.

Zechariah 7 · chapter mention

And there we saw what the difference is between a genuine relationship with the Lord and a relationship with the Lord that I think all of us at times struggle with, where you're kind of putting on a mask and you're saying, you know, I know what Christianity looks like, I know how to speak the language, and so I'm just gonna do the things that I need to do.

And God was showing us what a real relationship with him looks like.

And now as we come to Zechariah chapter 9 to chapter 14, we find the third section of Zechariah really, and here God wants to really hone in on the plan.

Zechariah 9 · chapter mention

Look at the word uh the first verse of chapter 9 with me.

It says an oracle.

In fact, if you flip again a few pages to chapter 12, you'll find here again, chapter 12, verse 1, the oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel.

Now, interestingly, if you flip another few pages and go to Malachi, which we will not be going to there this morning, but you'll find in Malachi 1, verse 1, again, notice what it says there, the oracle of the Lord.

Malachi 1:1

Now flip back to me with chapter 9 and let's listen.

That's a great, beautiful sound.

I love that you're with me.

Chapter 9.

What we have here in this third section is two oracles of Zechariah, and many as they look at the end of Zechariah and the book of Malachi consider this to be a unit that closes out the whole Old Testament.

And an oracle is this prophetic vision that was given to the prophets through whom God spoke through.

Not only was it a prophetic vision, the word actually means a burden.

It was sort of like a heavy burden.

And the the understanding that God has for us as He gives us these oracles this morning is this that I have this heavy word for you.

And as you see this vision of how things are gonna play out, it ought to change your life.

This is how the plan is gonna go.

And after you hear this prophetic vision, you're gonna have an idea of what you need to do.

And so there's a need for response.

This isn't just like story time.

Let's listen to a wonderful story.

What Zechariah is doing is painting the future of the establishment of God's kingdom in God's world so that God's people can respond rightly.

Now that is very important for you.

Listen, Christian, do you believe that God has a sovereign understanding and power to accomplish what he wants to accomplish in the future?

You believe that?

You believe that God's will is gonna be done in this world, no matter how tumultuous you know the news is, no matter how upside down this world is at times?

Do you believe that God is gonna establish his plan?

Well then, loved one, if you believe that, then when God tells us what he's gonna do, shouldn't we live in light of it?

Shouldn't we respond properly?

Shouldn't we take our eyes off of you know our navel gazing moments and look to what the Lord is doing and say, God, I am on board with you.

God is saying this, I want to show you something.

I want you to do something about it.

Now it's interesting, in these two oracles that Zechariah has, the first oracle going from chapter 9 to 11, and the second oracle going from chapter 12 to 14, they share a lot of similarities, and we're gonna see this in a lot of different ways.

They begin with God dealing with his enemies, and then they continue with how God is going to deal with the people's sin.

These were the two great problems that the people of God faced.

As you read throughout the is uh the history of Israel, what you find is that constantly they were either plagued by their own sin, which at times took them devastatingly off course from God's plan, or they were plagued by the enemies of the nation of Israel that constantly opposed them, and constantly God's plan was brought to a grinding halt because of their enemies, or because of their lack of personal purity and holiness.

And both of these oracles we'll see deal with the enemies that oppose Israel as well as the sin that indwells Israel.

And interestingly, they end, flip with me again, let's get the heart rate going again to chapter 14, verse 9.

And notice how it ends.

Remember that the people that Zechariah is speaking to are sitting in Jerusalem where the foundation of the temple is built, but it's been gathering cobwebs because there is no temple.

And look at what he says in chapter 14, verse 9.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth, and on that day the Lord will be one in his name one.

God is saying this.

I am gonna wrap everything up.

I am going to accomplish my plan.

I am going to become the king.

And at the very center of this plan, I want you to understand this morning is Jesus.

You want to boil down God's plan for your life.

Can I tell you it right now?

Can I tell you it right now?

Can I speak with like sort of the same sort of prophetic clarity that Zechariah would have spoken into the life of the people he spoke to?

God's plan for your life is Jesus.

It is more Jesus, it is more worship of Jesus, it is more awe of Jesus, it is that throughout your life, whatever happens, that everything leads to this point that you love Jesus more and more.

Now, let me ask you this question.

This is so important, and we need to just take a moment to reflect on this.

Why are you a Christian?

Why are you here this morning?

Why do you call yourself a follower of Jesus?

There are so many answers we might give to that question.

So let me ask you this or are you here for Jesus?

You know what God's doing in your life?

God is orchestrating events in your life, if you're his child, so that you will draw closer and closer to Jesus Christ.

And he's gonna keep doing that until the day that you are perfect in Christ and are fit to spend eternity for him.

That's God's plan for your life.

God's plan for your life is for you to look more and more like Jesus Christ and to love Jesus Christ more and more.

That is the plan.

I mean, I can speak, you know, if you are a child of God, that is the plan.

Everything in your life revolves around this Jesus Christ and his worship.

He came that we may know him and that we may worship him.

And so we asked, God, what are you doing in my life?

And there is an answer.

He is bringing you to Jesus.

That's the center of his plan.

God has a plan, the plan is Jesus.

We see this in the very center of both of these oracles.

Look with me at chapter 9, verse 9.

After speaking of the enemies, and again, we're we're gonna kind of be back and forth in these oracles.

After speaking to his enemies, look at what Zechariah says.

He says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a donkey.

Here, what God is saying is this, how, Israel, how are you gonna have enemies, how are you gonna have victory over these enemies that are oppressing the work of building the kingdom?

Listen, it's gonna come through a man who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

And of course we know that on Palm Sunday that was fulfilled in Jesus who did literally just that.

Look at me with look at me at chapter 12.

Verse 10.

Again, Zechariah has just finished speaking about what he's gonna do to his enemies.

And the question is, how are you gonna do this?

You know, what's your battle plan?

Someone tells you they're gonna beat you up, isn't that the question?

Well, how are you gonna do it?

And again, look at what Zechariah says, and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced.

Listen, you're enough of a biblical theologian to know who is the one who they pierced, who is the one who said he was God who they pierced, it was Jesus Christ.

And here again, in the middle of the oracle, Zechariah is saying this that God has a plan for this, for for your life.

And the plan centers around this one who is a righteous king, who is uh is humble and rides in on a donkey, and and this one who is pierced for the transgressions of his people.

Loved one, do you know what God has a plan for your life?

Well, if God has a plan for our life, and his plan is that we know and worship Jesus more and more and become like him for all of eternity, then we better get on board with that plan.

And so I ask you again, what do you want from Jesus?

What do you want this morning?

What are you here for?

Can we be honest for a moment and and just admit that even in the strongest of our times, even in the most mature moments of our walk with the Lord, there are times when we come to Jesus for the wrong reasons.

Didn't Jesus find that in his ministry?

Isn't it often isn't it interesting as you read through the gospels that so often the people who come to Jesus for something are turned away because they realize that that Jesus actually had a different plan.

And I wonder this morning if maybe the reason that you're even here this morning is because you want something that that really makes Jesus secondary to the plan for your life.

We see this all throughout our world and things like the prosperity gospel, don't we?

Where Jesus becomes a secondary peace.

And the message is this that if you just have faith in Jesus, you're gonna be materially wealthy, and people come in flocks and droves to hear this gospel, not because they want Jesus, but because they want material wealth.

And of course we can look at that and say that that's ridiculous, and that's false worship, and that's not the gospel, and it's to be cursed.

But I wonder if this morning you're here not necessarily for Jesus, but maybe for emotional comfort.

Maybe the primary reason that you come to Jesus is not because you want more of Jesus and love him in the depths of your heart and desire to know him and worship him.

Maybe the reason you're here is because you just want the stability in life.

I don't you don't really care about the transformation, you don't really care about the holiness, you don't really care about serving Christ or serving his kingdom or the church, but you do care that, you know, God would sort of give you this peace like a river, this joy and happiness.

You know, this this just the morningly devotion will give me a positive thought to go through the day, and you just don't really care for Jesus Himself.

I wonder if maybe you're here because you desire social acceptance and and maybe maybe you've learned to live the Christian life.

You learn to speak the Christian eats.

So when you get in a group of Christians, you can really look the part.

And people even look at you and they see your you know moral righteousness and they say, Hey, wow, you're such a good Christian, you are so mature.

And the reason you're here is not for Jesus, but it's because you've kind of learned how to get respect from people in the church and and you've learned how to play the part.

Maybe you're here for moral superiority, you want to feel good, you want to feel righteous.

And you find that you can turn this book into a book of rules that if you follow, you will feel right with God.

And there's a whole host of other ways that maybe you're here and it's not actually for the worship of Jesus.

God's here to tell us he has a plan for our life, the plan is Jesus.

And Zechariah's message is so important here.

Repent.

Get on board with God's plan.

Turn to Jesus.

And this is so important for us.

So we need to turn to God right now and ask him for his help.

Let's pray.

Father, we bow before you.

And God, we acknowledge our sinfulness.

God, if we're honest right now, our life is a constant wrestling match between what we want to do and how we want to establish our kingdom, and what you want to do in showing us the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ and drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him.

And so, God, we pray for your help right now.

Lord, we need a humility in this moment to acknowledge, Lord, that we're not perfect and that we struggle, and that, Lord, we are so far away from who we need to be, but we need a confidence, Lord, that you love salvation, and that you love the glory that you receive from saving weak sinners like us.

And so, God, we're here to pray this prayer of saying, Lord, we need help.

God, we just sang such glorious songs about spending eternity with you, and we wonder how we're gonna make it, Lord.

And here you have a few minutes to show us your plan to bring us there.

And so help us to hear you, Lord.

Help us to listen, help us to be changed by the power of your word and the presence of your spirit, God.

Speak to us, we pray.

Praise us in the name of your Son.

Amen.

So here's God's plan through these oracles.

The plan, his plan for our life is Jesus, that we turn to him.

And the question for us then is how?

And the first thing I want you to see is this that we need to stand in awe of his humble beauty.

We need to stand in awe of his humble beauty.

Now, like I said, both of these oracles begin with a word against the enemies of Israel.

Look at chapter 9, verse 1 to 8 with me.

And scanning there, you can see that there are a number of cities which God has a word against.

He speaks first against the land of Hadrach, then Damascus.

Verse 2, he says, Hamath also, Tyr and Sidon.

Verse 3, he mentions that Tir has built herself up a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and on and on and on, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the king of Gaza, Ashkelon, he goes on and on and on to speak to the enemies of Israel, to tell Israel exactly what he's going to do and exactly the judgment that's going to come upon them.

And what God is really saying to us this morning as we even consider these uh two messages, uh let me just point out quickly the second one.

Again, flip with me to chapter 12.

Beginning there, notice in verse 2, he says, Behold, I'm about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.

The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.

On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.

All who lift it will surely hurt themselves.

God begins by showing the judgment that he is going to place on the enemies of Israel through the people of Jerusalem.

God's plan is that his enemies will be finally and fully dealt with.

But what God wants to speak to us in this moment about is the fact that right now, facing enemies is part of the plan of your life.

You know that loved one?

That until Jesus returns, the plan for you is to face personal, that is, enemies of your own sin, as well as external, and maybe that's a suffering circumstance or a sickness or maybe the sin of another person that affects you.

But the plan is for you to face enemies.

That's good for us to acknowledge.

You know, when you struggle in life, when you have this sin that you just can't get rid of and you're praying, you're saying, God, get this thing out of my life.

I'm so sick of struggling with this sin.

One of the things you need to understand is part of the plan right now is that you grow through the struggle with sin that you have.

God has a plan to defeat that enemy of sin in your life, and that plan is coming, but you aren't there yet.

The day of the Lord hasn't come yet.

And so we acknowledge, that's not that we dive into the sin head first, but we acknowledge that the struggle we have with sin is part of the plan.

So it is with suffering.

As you face suffering in your life, one of the things you need to recognize is that there's a day coming, we're told in Revelation, where all suffering will be totally wiped away.

God says the tear will be wiped from every eye.

There's a day coming where suffering will be no more.

But you are not there yet.

So any suffering that you face, then, Christian, is part of the plan.

Now, you and I, we look at all sorts of different things that are happening in our lives and we say this.

This is not according to plan, God.

You have those things?

Can we have a moment of honesty to say, like, if we're really honest with God, we look at a number of things in our life.

Maybe every morning we wake up and look in the mirror.

You know, you're a mutt like me, so you say, Hey, God, you know, you could have helped me out a little bit here.

And so from the very beginning of the day, you're reminded, like, hey, hey, something's not right here.

And so it is in our lives.

We look at parts of our lives.

Maybe it's the way that our, you know, heaven forbid, our husband or our wife acts.

And we say, God, like, what are you doing?

Or the way that our children have grown and developed.

And we say, God, what are you, what are you doing?

Like, this is not the way it was supposed to go, or our career aspirations, all these things.

We look at life, we say, this is not the way it should be.

And God says it is, because the day of the Lord hasn't come yet.

So you should expect things to not be perfect.

And so long as life is not perfect, it should kind of grow this yearning in you, this groaning, Paul says in Romans chapter 9, this groaning for heaven to come.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Paul says, even creation groans with this longing of like things are not right.

And so we long more for Jesus.

And we understand this.

That God's plan for you right now is that you deal with the enemy.

And I love the encouragement that we get in 1 Peter when Peter talks about our suffering.

You know, he says, right now you've been grieved with various trials.

And he says these words, these two beautiful words, if necessary.

If necessary.

You know, suffering in your life, your struggle with personal sin, your struggle with external circumstances, your struggle with other people.

Suffering is a part of the plan.

God is using it, but but you need to have this hope as a Christian because you've read this oracle from Zechariah that there is a day coming where God will triumph over your deepest enemies, and you don't know how, but for all of eternity, you're gonna look back on your enemies, and together we're gonna be at this banquet feast, and we're gonna look at each other, we're gonna say, Hallelujah! Man, I had that enemy of lust, I just could not get over it, and God crushed it.

I had so much fear in my life, I just couldn't muster up the courage to share the gospel, and now there's no fear.

God has done a work in my life.

My family was so broken by my sin.

My family was so broken by their own sin, and God has redeemed everything, and we will look at each other and we'll worship the Lamb because you know what Jesus is doing?

He is redeeming.

That's what he does.

He's bringing all things to a final conclusion.

And at the end, we will stand and look back and say, everything was redeemed.

This king is righteous, he is just, he's doing a good work.

But we're not there yet.

And so the sin that we struggle with, the suffering we struggle with, it stirs up in this this longing that everything is going to be okay.

But do you you know what also does?

It also gives us this sort of peace in the midst of turmoil because we know everything's gonna be okay.

You ever gone to the doctor with like some sort of uh, you know, maybe you got like a rash or something or some sort of problem that you have?

And you've done, of course, in the Google era, you've done the research yourself, right?

And whenever you do the research yourself, if you research for anything more than five minutes, the ultimate conclusion is death.

Is that right?

I'm gonna die.

I'm done for.

And so you go to the doctor and you say, okay, you know, like, listen, this is what it is.

And I'm you don't even have to look at me, okay.

I know what it is.

And the doctor looks at you and says, you know, that's actually not, you're not right at all.

And there's a reason why we do these years and years of schooling for this kind of stuff.

And actually, that's just gonna take care of itself, you don't need to worry about it.

Don't you leave that place with a sort of peace of like, okay, listen, this is a problem right now, but I know it's gonna be dealt with.

And I don't even need to, you know, you know, like it's gonna heal itself.

And Jesus is looking at you right now, and he's looking at your problems, he's looking at your enemies, and he's saying, Hey, listen, how do you think about them?

Are you so concerned about this thing as though it's not a problem I'm gonna solve?

Or do you believe that there is a day coming where I am gonna in consummation wrap everything up and everything will be redeemed and restored?

What do you believe?

Jesus is gonna heal all things.

Well, the question for us then is how do we expect our enemies to be defeated?

How do you expect the enemies of your life to be defeated?

The problem is when we when we come to looking to Jesus as our Savior, we have all sorts of expectations of how he's gonna do it.

Maybe the expectation you have for Jesus in your own personal sin is that he's gonna like heal you immediately.

It's like this immediate success.

Like as soon as I turn to Jesus, as soon as I get things right, it's gonna, it's not gonna be hard at all.

God's just gonna take away my sin.

And so when that doesn't happen, there's this frustration.

Maybe you expect that the way that Jesus is gonna save you is he's gonna give you like this problem-free life.

He'll fix all your problems, and then everything will be roses and you know, bunnies hopping through fields of flowers, and life will be amazing.

But I and I want you to notice that the Israelites had the same thing.

When they thought about how's God gonna, you know, defeat his enemies, you know what they thought about?

They thought about a king who was on like the, you know, you know, imagine like the most magisterial horse you could ever imagine with all the armor on and all that stuff, and the king is on this.

And when they picked Saul, you know, Saul was a head higher than everyone.

So you looked at Saul and you're like, this is a king right here.

That's what they imagined.

They wanted a king like Saul, who, when you looked at him, you said, Yeah, this is the guy.

But look what happens then in chapter 9, verse 9.

Look what comes.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Behold, your king is coming to you.

Righteous and how having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey.

And Jesus came in a way that you would not even notice him.

And then in in a we already read this in Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10.

Zechariah 12:10

You know, if we're gonna have a leader, it should be a leader who sheds blood, isn't it?

Like we imagine, like, an Aragorn sort of thing, like this is someone who's gonna come and conquer our enemies, and his sword is gonna, you know, scatter the blood of the nations.

But then what happens when Jesus comes?

He is the one who's pierced.

And it's interesting that Jesus does not come the way that Israel expects him to.

And one of the human tendencies that you need to understand about your own heart is that the work that Jesus is doing in your life, he will often not do it the way that you want him to do it.

You want him to do it immediately, you want him to do it easily, and Jesus is doing it humbly and with suffering.

And yet, this is the king that Israel needs to follow.

This is the king Jesus is saying that he is gonna bring victory to.

And so understand this then, Christian, that as God calls you, he's calling you really to a backwards life.

This victory that's gonna happen in your life is not going to happen the way that it happens for the nations.

You look around, and people who don't follow Christ, they seem at times like they have an easy life.

It seems at times like things come immediately to them, but it is all a facade.

And what God is showing you is that by living the backwards life, by pursuing humility, by you know, have you ever thought about the beatitudes?

The beatitudes, like if you think about them from a worldly perspective, are kind of like how to just really quickly mess up your life.

Blessed are the hungry.

Blessed are those who thirst.

Blessed are the meek.

Blessed are those who are persecuted.

Here's what Jesus is doing.

He's looking at his new kingdom and he's saying, hey, listen, you want to talk about success?

You gotta be hungry and thirsty, you gotta be pure, you gotta be meek, you gotta be persecuted and reviled, and that's success in this kingdom.

Jesus is presented as the humble and as the one who is pierced.

This is the beauty of Jesus.

It's not that he reigns through triumphant military victory, it's that he reigns through suffering.

And you know, as a church, this really becomes the foundation of everything we do.

This is why constantly we come back to preaching and right now teaching in our kids' ministry and singing in every song the gospel of what Jesus has done by being pure.

We celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Christ was defeated so that he could defeat finally and forever sin.

And this is why we come back to it time and time again.

Because if you want victory in your life, you know what you need to uh found your entire life on is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because God said this is how victory is gonna come.

It's gonna come through a king who's seated on a donkey, it's gonna come through a king who is pierced.

And so we stand in awe of his humble beauty by constantly coming back to the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Well, we need to turn to Jesus.

This is God's plan for us.

The second thing I want you to see is that in order to do this, we need to recognize the required response.

Remember, Zechariah's message was a message of repentance.

God's desire here in Ezra and also in our day and age is that he would save a wayward people.

We see this all throughout Zechariah.

Again, turn with me to chapter 8.

We were here a few weeks ago in chapter 8.

You'll remember there that in verse 2, the Lord of hosts says, I am jealous for Zion, that is God's people, with great jealousy.

And in verse 7, he says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will save my people.

Verse 8, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God and in righteousness, in faithfulness and in righteousness.

The center of God's plan right now, what God wants to do right now is save people for all of eternity.

You're asking, what in the world is God doing in this world?

And I can tell you the very first thing is he's saving people for his glory.

God loves to do this.

And so listen, there are some people here who, even this morning, you struggle with this assurance of salvation.

I don't really think God wants to save me.

I don't really believe that he has saved me, and I want you to know that nothing delights God more than when sinners turn in repentance to him.

This is why we're told in the gospel that when one sinner repents, that a chorus of angels in heaven sing and rejoice.

Because there's nothing that God loves more than salvation.

So for you to sit there and wrestle with your own salvation and say, I don't, God definitely doesn't want to love me, He doesn't want to save me because of my life and how messed up I am, you do not understand how far away from God's heart you are.

Wasn't that the heart of Jesus?

The more messed up you were, the more eager he was to save.

And like the resume of your sin and your failings and your weakness, the longer it is, the more eager it is you should be to bring to Jesus because Jesus just gets giddy over that kind of stuff.

He loves what he loves the complicated, he's he's the physician who loves the complicated case of, you know, I don't know, my knees not working right, and my liver's failing, and I got this cancer, and my heart's beating twice as fast as it should be, and my cholesterol's high, and the list goes on.

Jesus loves that spiritual case because he's going to heal all those who come to him in faith, and he's gonna get glory from it.

So listen, if you have this long list of why God shouldn't accept you, I want you to understand you are not thinking God's thoughts, you're thinking Satan's thoughts.

The longer the list, the greater the mercy, the more glory God gets.

He's here to save.

This is the center of his plan.

But Zechariah wants you to understand that though this is the center of what he is doing in this world right now, he wants you to understand that it requires a right response.

And so then in chapter 10, there's an issue that we face, and the issue is that God's people aren't listening to God.

In verse 1, we read this: they could have asked for rain from the Lord in the season of spring rain, from the Lord who makes cloud storm clouds, and he'll give them showers of rain to everyone, the vegetation in the field.

But instead, what they were doing was turning to the gods of verse two.

You read what they said in verse two.

Hopefully you're still following with me here in chapter 10, verse 2.

For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies, they tell false dreams, and give empty consolation.

Therefore, the people wander like sheep, and they're afflicted for the lack of a shepherd.

See, the people have a choice.

Am I going to follow this leader, this king on a donkey who's pierced at the side, or am I gonna follow these household gods?

These fortune tellers.

And the reality is that so often in our life, instead of following God, we follow idolatry.

We live for our own plan.

We try to live under our own leadership.

The question for us this morning is this who's your leader?

Who's your leader?

Who are you listening to?

You know, you will always listen to someone.

You know, as a human being, it is impossible to not be led by something.

It's impossible.

You think I'm not following God because I have freedom, but it's just not true.

You have no freedom at all.

We are all bound by something, we're all bound by looking for something.

And can I just in a moment of honesty share with you what you know, when I'm not following Christ, you know what I'm personally bound by?

I've shared this before.

It's by this desire to please other people.

And so the moment I, you know, you know, the moment I take my eyes off of this king who's mounted on a on a donkey, and I stop saying, you know, like I want to follow what Jesus says, you know what I immediately put my eyes on most often is pleasing other people.

And instead of being led to, you know, by actions and habits and attitudes that are pleasing to the Lord, all of a sudden what happens in me is as I'm led by these actions and attitudes and uh whatever the other thing I said was that are pleasing to people.

I want to just please people.

And I'm sure that there are many here who are like that as well, but I'm sure that there are many who I just don't care what people think, but man, I do want some money, that would be good.

Or I do want some control in life, that would be great.

I do want some power, I do want some influence, I do want this, I do want that.

And so you understand that as soon as you're taken out of God's leadership, you are then put under the leadership of something else.

And the problem is that when you allow yourself to be led by any other master other than Jesus Himself, you are being led on a path to eternal destruction.

Do you understand this?

Every other path is towards eternal destruction.

That's why we read here in chapter 11, verse 4 to 6.

It says, Thus says the Lord, my God, become the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

You understand this?

What God's saying is listen, if you want to follow these leaders, these diviners, these fortune tellers, these idol makers, if you want to follow success, if you want to follow influence, if you want to follow comfort, control, whatever it is, if you want to follow them, understand that that is a shepherd that is leading you to slaughter.

Verse 5 Those who buy them, slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich.

And their own shepherds have no pity on them.

For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord.

Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.

You know, there's another response.

First response here is that we allow these leaders to lead our life to destruction.

But there's another response, and look over at chapter 12, verse 10 with me again.

And notice that the ones whom Jesus leads are the ones who, it says, when they look on me in verse 12, on him whom they pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.

On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Ramon in the plain of Megiddo.

And the question for you is this You know what the difference is between those who follow Jesus and those who follow these other shepherds to the slaughter, their own slaughter and destruction?

It is a mourning over sin.

It is a repentance in your life.

It begs us to ask this question this morning what's the worst part of your life right now?

What's the worst part of your life right now?

And can I tell you if the answer is not your own personal sin, if that is the not if that is not the worst part of your life, then you are being led away from so much blessing because there is no blessing greater than when we discover sin in our life and repent of it.

Nothing you do in life can be as effective as repentance.

Do you understand this?

Why is that?

Because our theology of repentance tells us this that when we mourn over our sin and we turn away from it to Jesus, who then cleanses us so that we can walk in newness of life, then the power and presence of God is restored to us.

So listen, you can do all the things you want.

You can read all the books about habits you want.

You can put in all the systems of productivity that you want.

You can read all the self-help book you want, you can go to all the therapy you want to try to do these positive things.

But if you don't restore the power and presence of God to your life and you have done nothing.

So then, loved one, what's the most powerful thing that you can do in this very moment?

It is repent of your sin.

Why?

Because it restores the power and presence of God to your life.

I have this illustrated illustrated for me so often in my own home.

Many of you guys have heard, I've drawn many illustrations from this.

Uh, that we have a shallow well in our home.

Part of the problem with this well is got a lot of iron in it, so our filtration system constantly clogs up.

And praise God for you, you're not gonna have to hear about this well anymore.

We currently have a new drill in the front yard.

We're drilling a new well, and so now I'm gonna have all these illustrations about how deep our well is, okay?

It'll be great.

But one of the problems we have now is that our filter constantly gets clogged, and so eventually, you know, after about a month, you go in and have a shower, and and the water is just, you know, it's just piddly.

And you can do it.

Listen, I've tried and I've done it.

You know, you can put the conditioner in your hair.

That's the secret to hair like this, you guys are all wondering.

Okay?

You can put the conditioner in your hair, and you can stand under there, but man, you gotta stand under there for a long time.

But you can do it.

But you know what the most effective thing you can do?

If you can change that filter and you can get rid of all of that gunk, you know, all that dirt, then the pressure is restored.

And man, it's it's second.

And you know what repentance does is it cleans your heart and it restores the power and the presence of God to you.

So listen, the most important key to your life is not that the person in your family is fixed.

It's not that you're relieved from your suffering.

The most important thing that happens in your life is your own personal repentance.

This is why Jerry Bridges says repentance is one of the Christians' highest privileges.

A repentant life is a life of continuous power, for in our weakness, Christ's strength is made perfect.

This is the most power powerful tool in your life.

So, Christian, let me ask you, loved one, let me ask you, what are you repenting of right now?

What sin are you actively turning away from right now?

And if you don't have an answer, can I tell you that you're walking in weakness?

But so long as you do, can I encourage you that you have the key this week as you turn and repent before the Lord from that sin that you're thinking of right now?

The power and presence of the Lord will be restored to you.

That's the most powerful thing we can do is repent.

The third thing as we see God's plan established in our life, I want you to see is that we expect his coming kingdom.

We expect his coming kingdom.

Look at chapter 14 with me.

I want you to just scan this really quickly.

I want you to see how many times Zechariah is pointing out a day.

In fact, if you were to do this, and maybe you could this week, circle every time he talks about on that day or a day, you will find that God has an amazing day in store for us.

Notice it in verse one Behold a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst.

Notice verse four, on that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.

Notice verse six, on that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost.

Verse eight, on that day living waters shall flow from Jerusalem.

Verse nine, on, and the Lord will be king over all the earth.

On that day the Lord will be one, and his name is one.

And it continues to go on and on and on, on that day, on that day.

Zechariah, what he's doing is he's looking forward to a day in human history.

History where God will intervene, and all sorts of theologians are having all sorts of arguments about how it's gonna happen.

Is it pre-millennial, is it post-trib, is it all millennial, is it post-millennial, is it pan-millennial, it's just gonna all gonna pan out in the end?

All sorts of people are arguing about how, but what's important for you to understand is that it is going to happen.

There is a day where God will intervene in human history.

And he is coming on that day, we are told, both for judgment of those who have not placed their faith in him and for redemption.

And so, can I speak first to those of you who have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ?

How sure are you that you have placed your stake in the ground and you've said that my king is the one who is mounted on a donkey?

My king is Jesus.

And what he says I will do, and wherever he tells me to go, I will go.

That's my king.

How sure are you that your life has been cleansed by the blood that came from Jesus' pierced side?

Is Jesus your Lord?

Has he taken your judgment?

If not, then on this day you will find yourself in front of God and it will be a day of judgment, of eternal judgment.

As you pay for your sins.

But today can be the day of salvation for you as you turn in this moment to Jesus and you say, Jesus, save me.

And you know what happens in that moment, you turn to him, that day you now look forward to as a day of redemption, where Jesus is coming to establish his power and glory, where he is coming to make the story right, where he is coming to bring an end to all things, so that we will look back and we we don't know how it's gonna happen, we don't know how every detail is gonna be wrapped up, but we'll look back and say Jesus did it.

He healed that sin, he defeated that enemy, he solved that problem, he did it all, he redeemed it.

So much application we could draw out of this.

A few things I want to ask you this morning.

Do you believe his coming?

Do you believe his coming?

If you do, you know, one of the primary ways it'll affect your life is in your own evangelism.

If you really believe that the things of this earth are gonna pass away, and that what we're waiting for is a day where uh the new heavens and the new earth will be established and we will dwell in eternity for Jesus Christ, you know what?

All of a sudden you care a lot less about the things of this earth, and you care a lot more about the people who will be there on that day.

And you're filled with this passion, this desire to see lost people saved through your ministry, to at least spread the word so that God can use you as a vessel for him.

And yet I'm so often repenting of this fact that the reality is that when we don't evangelize, doesn't it just show that in our heart of hearts, you know, in our head, sure we believe that Jesus is coming, but in our heart of hearts we're pretty comfortable here and we think we're gonna be okay.

Maybe even this week there needs to be some urgent conversations with some people that you love where you say, hey, listen, you know, I have this belief that cuts me to the core that Jesus is gonna come back someday, and there's gonna be a day of judgment and of redemption.

And how are you doing?

Because I believe it's coming.

You believe in it.

The second thing I want to ask you is this you live in light of it.

You know, so much of our hardship in life is tied to the fact that we're too tied to things that are gonna rust away, too tied to things that are not gonna be with us for eternity, and that we don't love things enough that are of eternal value.

Maybe this week there needs to be some consideration, even as you look at your schedule.

How am I contributing to things that are of eternal value?

How am I contributing to things that will last through that final day?

Last thing I want to ask you is this do you celebrate it?

Do you celebrate the the day of the Lord?

You know, as we turn to communion, there's a really important eschatological detail in communion that I don't think we often get to.

We're told in 1 Corinthians, as as Paul tells us and institutes the Lord's Supper, we're told that we're to eat of the bread and drink of the blood, and in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 12, it says, For often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

You understand there's a principle in as we take the bread and the blood of Jesus Christ, that we are celebrating in a sense the fact that Jesus is coming, and there is a day where we won't do this anymore, we won't need this cup anymore, because we are gonna spend eternity in communion with Jesus Christ.

This is why in Matthew 26, when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper with his people, he said to his disciples, Take and eat, this is my body, and it says, He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it, and saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins.

But listen to what he then says, I tell you, I will not drink of again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.

And as you take this cup in your hands, one of the things that you are doing is celebrating this fact that someday you will sit across the table from Jesus and you he will take the cup again, and you will take the cup, and you will celebrate communion together, and he will look at you and he'll say, I was here, that you're here because I was the plan.

You're here because I was the king that was mounted on the donkey.

You're here because it was my side that was pierced, you're here because I entered into a covenant with you that said, no matter how much you screw up, no matter how much weakness you bear in your life, no matter how much repentance is required, you came day and day and day and day and day and day and day and day.

But this blood covered you.

And so, can I ask you this question?

Do you celebrate the coming of Jesus?

And as we take this communion especially, we turn our attention to this that someday we will have eternal communion with Christ.

If you don't have a cup, if you missed it on the way in, the ushers are gonna come to the front and you can just flag them down and they'll get one into your hands.

We would ask if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus Christ, to let this pass.

This is a celebration for those who on that day are gonna spend eternity with Him and have communion with Him.

If there's any sin in your life that you're unrepentant of, if God has spoken to you in a way and said you need to stop doing this and you're unwilling to repent of that sin, not that you have sin, but you're not walking in that lifelong repentance, we'd also ask for you to let this pass.

You'll notice that there's two layers here.

The first one will get you to the bread.

Let me read for us together as we take this.

Paul says, For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you.

That the Lord Jesus on that night when he was betrayed took bread.

And we had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is a new coven in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, and just hold on for a second.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Until he comes, let's take this together.