I beg you to turn for scripture reading, please, to the Old
Testament book of Zechariah, Zechariah Chapter 1.
Zechariah One and reading a few verses from the opening verses,
in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the
word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Barakaya the son of
IDO the Prophet, saying, The Lord has been sore displeased
with your father's. Therefore say thou unto them
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord
of hosts. I will turn unto you, saith the
Lord of hosts. Be not as your father's, unto
whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your
evil doings. But they did not hear nor
hearken unto me, saith the Lord your Father's.
Where are they? And the prophets?
Do they live forever? But my words and my statutes was
I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they now take hold
of your Father's? And they returned and said, like
as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our
ways, and according to our doings, so have they dealt with
us. Upon the 4th and 20th day of the
11th month, which is the month Sabbath, in the second year of
Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of
Berechiah, the son of Widow the prophet, saying, I saw by night,
and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among
the Myrtle trees that were in the bottom, and behind him,
where their red horses speckled and white.
Then said I, Oh my Lord, what are these?
The Angel that talked with me said unto me, I wish you thee
what these be. The man that stood among the
Myrtle trees answered, and said, These are they whom the Lord
hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the
Myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the
earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest,
Amen. We're ending there.
That 11th version of the Lord had his own blessing to the
reading of His word. Amen.
We're all familiar with the freers, like father, like son.
It implies that children have turned out like their parents
and there's no doubt but something of the parents
constitution or characteristics probably found in each one of
us. They may be proud of that, or
you may be disappointed, but it's something we have no
control over. If you discover something in
yourself that you would rather wasn't there, then you may have
to work to overcome and whatever you see as as a shortcoming.
On the other hand, maybe you're honoured to think that somebody
sees something of your father or mother in you.
I trust you love your parents. Never be ashamed of them.
But we can we ask parents, if your children turn out like you,
will you be proud of them? Do they see you as a man or
woman of God? You're, you know, influence is
so important, especially in young people growing up.
Here's a passage of scripture for God warns Israel not to be
like their fathers. The early generations of Israel
had disobeyed the Lord, who brought to reap terrible
consequences. Bible's right when it says that
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
They had Israel had leaders like Moses, Abraham, Malaysia, godly
kings such as David. Yet in spite of all this, in
spite of all the benefits they enjoyed, they got away from the
Lord, fell into idolatry, despised the Lord.
The the seeds of disobedience always lead to a better harvest,
and that's something Israel was to discover in their case.
That harvest was God's judgement.
God warned the that particular generation of Jews not to be
like their fathers. God gave them those whatever
instructions the Lord gave them earlier in in in life, those
instructions still stood. What he told them a century
earlier was still relevant. Indeed, it is still relevant
even to us today. You see, God's Word is forever
settled in heaven. His Word is unchanging.
God is unchanging. Some few years back somebody
gave us one of those. We tear off calendars were you
as we page for each day of the year and a little motto at the
bottom of each 11 occasion. The motto read the The world
changes so fast that you couldn't stay wrong all the
time. That suggests that things that
were wrong yesterday probably are OK today.
However, that's that's human philosophy.
God, however, is an unchanging God.
He doesn't give some command today and change his mind
tomorrow. His word is forever settled in
heaven. The 10 commandments will never
alter no matter what this world thinks.
And King Charles, not that many months ago, come out with a
statement that the 10 commandments need to be
rewritten. Is that just to suit man's
modern thinking? He's off the rails there if
that's what he thinks God says in Malachi 316 For I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. So if it wasn't right for a man
to commit murder or adultery or steal 6000 years ago, it's still
not right today. This world is changing.
New ideas are forever coming to the fore, new methods are always
being brought in, and things are not done today the way they were
even a generation or two ago. I mean even simple things like
learning to read and write. The wee children come home from
school and what they're going through baffles grandparents.
You know what it is baffled me at times to see the way they
they do their arithmetic and the way they pronounce letters and
all the rest is totally different.
This world is changing all the time and sadly not always
changing for the better as far as sin from mankind is
concerned. Men are waxing worse and worse.
And that's just one piece of evidence that the end is near.
Jesus Christ is coming soon. One thing that never changes is
the word of God. And when it comes to the
preaching of the gospel here to you, people are looking for new
methods. It almost seems as if they're
hoping that somewhere that they'll discover, oh, there's a
new way of finding peace with God and that they'll be able to
find assurance of heaven without having to worry about this
repentance and, and giving up their sin and being saved and
all that. If you love anybody who's
thinking or looking for that kind of solution, they're on a
wild goose chase. They're backing up the wrong
tree. No matter what methods may be
employed in presenting the message of the gospel, the old
truths will still stand. Sin is still sin.
Whether men like to talk about it or think about it or not, it
always has been. It always will be sin and the
wages of sin will always be death.
Why? Because God's Word says so.
Sin carries the death penalty and the only way to be cleansed
from sin is by the old. The age-old method of repentance
and crying to God for His mercy and forgiveness.
Blood atonement was the rule back in Genesis.
That hasn't changed, it never will.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I mean, if people could get to heaven under their own steam, as
many suppose, there was no need for Christ Jesus to die on a
cross. That's the whole thing.
There was no other way that man could be sealed other than by
putting to death the sinless Lamb of God and and the sooner
then come put his trust in his faith in what Christ
accomplished at Calvary. Away then with modern
philosophies. There is no new method, just old
fashioned repentance and conversion.
As we look into these words and Zechariah, it's just a a couple
of things I want to pick up from this passage concerning Israel.
Firstly, the truth they had to face.
The Jews after their return from Babylon had been extremely
remiss in rebuilding their temple.
Remember the police had was lying in ruins.
They've been gone 70 years. The prophet High guy came among
them preaching the word of God and he sought to stir up the
people to get to work and get the temple put back in order.
As the people of God, they had a duty to do all in their power to
see the work of God go forward, and as long as the temple lay in
ruins, that was a very pure testimony.
Regrettably, High Guy's words weren't heeded as they should
have been for, and so God sent Zachariah to further stir them
into action. None to the same principle, but
a slightly different context. It's often it's often been the
case that when unsealed men and women listen to a certain
preacher, maybe for a number of years, they become accustomed to
his exhortations to repent and believe the gospel.
Many become so used to doing nothing about it they can sit
under the sound of anything he preaches, and they seem totally
unmoved and certainly not moved towards repentance at all.
But then a visiting speaker comes along preaching the same
message, and suddenly they respond and come to Christ.
I don't know, people maybe become complacent.
They say familiarity breeds contempt, and that's very true.
Some can be so used hearing the gospel message, they they could
preach it themselves, but yet they can sit on the side of it
and they never seem to be stirred in their conscience.
This is where we have to urge caution.
If you're on the sea of the sea, whether you're used hearing the
message or not, or used rejecting it or not, accustomed
to neglecting your own soul's great need, do.
Beloved, do be advised. Procrastination could land you
in a lost eternity. We wouldn't wish that on anyone.
But there may come a time when God will suddenly stop speaking
to your soul. And if that happens, you'll be
beyond rescue. And that will be disastrous.
God has said in Genesis 6 and three, my spirit shall not
always strive with man. And the Bible is clear on this
today. Today is the day of salvation,
not tomorrow. This book says boast not thyself
of tomorrow. I know it's not what a day may
bring forth. That's why it's important to be
saved today. There is a time when a person
can't be saved, but there's also a time when he can't.
It's not often enough. It's not enough to be to be told
we need to be saved, need to be told why.
What is it to be saved? It is to recognise that you've
been born in sin. You know, people will argue that
I'm not a Sinner, never do any harm.
A man's not a Sinner because of something he does wrong.
He does wrong because he's a Sinner.
The heart of the problems, the problem of the heart we're born
in. Sin can't help that.
But we all come into this world on the same footing.
Sin is taking lost souls to a lost tournament.
That's why, out of love for your soul, Jesus Christ died on the
cross. He has taken your punishment for
you, and today He offers you the gift of everlasting life through
faith in Himself. Then it's finished work.
It's the message our forefathers received through.
It's the same message for today. Thank God his His Word never
goes out of date and God's Word assures us it's not His will
that any should perish. But it does bring home to us,
your eternity is at stake. This generation of Jews that
Zechariah was addressing here were people whose fathers had
had the word of God, but despised it.
Children are apartment to follow the example of parents, and to
just walk the same path their fathers of trod.
But the prophet here issues this word of caution lest they should
go the same careless way their fathers and forefathers had gone
and that they would miss heaven. We've talked to numerous people
on the doorstep and often hear somebody say I attend such and
such a church. It was good enough from a
father, from a grandfather, it's good enough for me.
Which just emphasises they're putting their dependence upon
church attendance. That's all they have to lean on
or or tradition. But listen, tradition has taken
multitudes to hell and it happens every year.
God says here, your Father's, where are they?
You walk through any cemetery and read the headstones and it's
surprising. It's lovely to read when
somebody has engraved redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ at home with the Lord. I read 1 not so long ago in the
graveyard outside Hillsborough, gone fishing.
The deceased had obviously loved fishing and that's all he was
remembered for, and somebody imagined that now he's gone
fishing somewhere. God help us.
What will it say when your head's done with Christ?
Which is far better or without Christ because you rejected his
mercy, was serious your Father's?
Where are they? It may be intimated here that
even if your Father's received their salvation is of no avail
to you. I can well remember as a child
hearing God speaking voice challenging me about my need of
salvation and for a time I entertained the thought.
When my mum and dad are sealed so I'm I'm sure the Lord will
not be too hard on me. He'll not let me go to hell.
But the Lord had to bring me to that place where I recognised I
just a Sinner. It doesn't matter about my
parents, their salvation are no use to me.
We read in John 112 and 13 but as many as received him to them
give he the power or the right to become the sons of God.
Even to them they believe in His name, which were born not of
blood. So that rules out inheriting
salvation from parents, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. In other words, with the best
intentions in the world, your friends and your loved ones,
even the praying people of God who want to see you saved, none
of these can save you. It's between you and God, and
you must come yourself, receive Christ into your heart and life
by faith. Why?
Because there's no salvation anywhere else.
Your Father's, where are they? For many of us, our earthly
fathers are in eternity. They live their lives, They walk
the same earth you and I walk. They heard the same gospel that
we hear. They give their response to the
gospel appeal and they either trusted Christ for salvation or
they died without the Saviour and were lost.
It's, it's hard to think about. It was hard for God's servant
here to have to tell these Israelites such news.
But Zechariah was a man who recognised he must one day stand
before God and give account as to how he had breached the word,
what he had done to win souls for Christ.
And we must remember Zechariah is addressing the Jews here.
They are. I'm sure you're aware the Jews
are very family orientated people.
They hold their fathers in very high esteem, blood certainly
thicker than water where they're concerned especially.
And they there were generations of Jews who paid heed to the
message of the gospel as to be seen from reading scripture,
that sometimes one generation after another did walk with God.
But then someone somewhere along the line would would reject that
message. Message that that person and
maybe succeeding generations after him would continue to
reject the Lord till God in his mercy would have to turn the
tide. And again, other generations
would would come and trust the Lord.
Today believing seemed to come and go like just the tide ebbs
and flows. The point is, heed must be given
to the Word irrespective of who the prophet or preacher is.
We read in Luke 16 of a Jew who was wealthy, who saw no need of
the Lord until he died, then it was too late.
He appealed in eternity. He appealed for somebody to send
Abraham to warn the the members of his household still alive on
earth. But.
Abraham said, listen, they have the prophets, let them hear
them. Isn't it too easy to ignore the
preacher who has believed our report?
Isaiah asks. It's true that in many
instances, especially in this country of ours, there there are
many who give a certain mental assent to the gospel.
Some unsealed even comment they they appreciate being told the
truth. There was a fellow walked out of
one of our churches one day and he said to the minister, I love
it when the word hurts. He's not saved.
In fact, he stopped coming to the church.
I love it when it smarts it's but he didn't take it to heart
when it comes to submitting to the word of God and quitting
with sin. People pulled back but God's
words very clear in this except you repent you shall all
likewise perish your Father's where are they are you here this
evening or watching in and you remember a father who loved the
Lord but you thought that ass old fashioned.
That's not for me. It's somebody's Father in heaven
and you're still on your way to a lost sinner's hell.
Did your forefathers pray for you?
Are you going to reject their Saviour, your Father's God?
Would you not trust Christ and follow your Father home to
glory? No, the thought here is the turn
around they must make. Notice the words of these
opening verses in this chapter. In the eighth month, in the
second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah
the son of Berechai, the son of Idol.
The prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with
your father's, therefore say thou unto them.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord
of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Be not as your father's, unto whom the former prophets of
Christ saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from
your evil ways and from your evil doings.
But they did not hear nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.
And you notice the emphasis there is there on the word of
God. Thus saith the Lord of Hostess
is reiterated over and over. This is the voice of God
speaking. And he said to these people,
Listen, your father's heard the gospel and you're rejecting it.
God in his mercy has sent his word to your father's of
generations of gold. And here people are careless
about the things of God. The failing to give heed to that
word. And basically he's saying,
listen, don't you make the same mistake If your forefathers
rejected the word, Don't you make that mistake?
Notice in verse one that says this was the 8th month.
Here we are. As far as this our calendar is
concerned, the 8th month has just passed.
We're now into the 9th and you still not saved this eighth
month. God was calling these people to
repent. He says.
I'm calling you to quit with sin and be saved before you're
destroyed forever. Zechariah is trying to.
Get these people to understand that if if their fathers were
neglectful of the word of God, they they must not make the same
mistake you. See this question.
In verse 5, your Father's where are they and the prophets?
Do they live forever? Those faithful men of God that
had preached to the generations now gone where themselves called
home to higher service. Let's face it, the.
Preacher, like the listener, must one day leave the scene of
time. Why?
Because it's appointed on the man wants to die.
But after this, the judgement and beloved, every one of us
will be judged, and not only on what we have heard, but on our
response to what we've heard. We cannot treat this gospel
lightly. Shrug your shoulders and say,
well, that's for somebody else, not for me.
God has penned these words so that every one of us might give
attention. We fear for.
Those preachers who fail to warn their congregations to flee from
the wrath to come. How can any man stand before his
congregation and not tell men and women of the Saviour who
died to save them? How can he not advise them that
their sin is going to take them to a lost eternity if they don't
repent? A few years ago.
Some ministers with clerical collars on participated walking
the streets of Belfast in a so-called gay pride parade.
Shame on them. God's curse is upon those who
have wilfully chosen that wicked lifestyle flies in the face of
God. Yet those men who purport to be
men of God had the audacity to show themselves among the
Sodomites and say that isn't this wonderful?
Those same ministers. Would need to repent and believe
the gospel that they so pitifully misrepresent.
They're happy to leave. Their congregations along under
the false pretence. But these sodomites are no
different from the rest of us. Well, in a sense, they're not.
They're just sinners in. Need of the same.
Salvation. All have sinned.
And come short of the glory of God.
And the truth of the matter is, whether a man is a sodomite or
not, if he's unsaved, his sin will take him to hell.
And that includes any ministers who are not saved.
WP Nicholson used to make the remark about clergymen waking up
in hell with their congregations round their feet.
They're waking up all right, but it'll be too late.
But to get back to this. Generation of Israelites whom
Zagar I was addressing. Those people were.
Privileged to be Jews, they belonged to that race of people,
especially blessed by God. But whether they enjoyed special
privilege or not, they still needed to be born again if they
were ever to be in heaven. And dated it has.
To be said the. Jew is probably more accountable
because of his privilege. Scripture records that Christ
Jesus came onto his own. But his own.
Received him not beloved people and Ulster have been specially
privileged. This land has been blessed with
gospel preaching. Some parts of the world have
never yet heard the Gospel message.
They're still heathen tribes living in jungles and certain
parts of this planet. They've never heard the name of
Jesus Christ. You can't say that.
Can you? This land of ours.
Is privileged. But what are you doing with your
privilege? You're not aware that Christ is
your only hope of seeing heaven. You need him.
More than anything else in this life, your father's, where are
they? They're an eternity.
Where will you be? We owe a lot to our forefathers.
I mean a lot of engineering skills have been passed down to
us from what they discovered in their day life's.
Made a lot. Easier for you and me because of
certain inventions brought about by our fathers and our
forefathers. We owe it to so many.
Many maybe even sacrifice their lives to give us the the freedom
we enjoy and in some cases sacrifice their lives to let us
have the word of God. Well, you know something?
Else the Bible says about fathers and children.
The second commandment. Forbids the use of images and
idols and worship. Exodus 20, verse four.
I shall not make unto thee any grieving image or any likeness
of anything that's in heaven above, or that's in the earth
beneath, or that's in the water under the earth.
I shall not bow down thyself to them or serve them for either.
Lord thy God am a jealous God. Notice the words visiting the
iniquity of the fathers onto upon the children onto the 3rd
and 4th generation of them that hate me.
What a word that is for any father.
If you don't. Repent of your sin.
God. Will not only judge you one day
for it. But we'll bring.
That judgement down upon the head.
Of your children. Your grandchildren On to the
third and 4th generation, it says.
Would you want that on your conscience?
Now thank. God, there's a remedy.
There's hope tonight if you recognise your sinful condition.
Repent of it be. Prepared to leave your sin take
Christ at his word put your trust in his finished work for
full and free salvation. God says he will show mercy on
the thousands of them that love him.
That's included in the promise of that commandments.
There in Exodus 20, verse 6, you're a.
Father this. Evening.
Why would you? Not.
Lay hold on. Christ, why would you risk going
out into a lost eternity taking your children with you?
Or don't influence your children for hell, beloved.
Too many parents are. Doing that today, even in this
land. They're bringing up children.
And they? Just allow them to.
Do whatever turns them on, and there's no correcting.
There's no instruction in. The word of God, how many
children grow? I was speaking in a primary
school. Time we were.
Up on Bushmills and I happened to make mention of Sunday school
and we. Laugh.
I think it's. About 7 year old, he came to me
afterwards and this is in a loyalist Bushmills area.
He asked me said what's Sunday school?
He hadn't a clue. This is a land.
That's been blessed with the gospel.
And he didn't know what Sunday school is and how many children
are there right there tonight? They're having the foggiest idea
about the way of salvation or the need for salvation.
How many fathers? Are going to have to stand
before God one day and lament. I feel my children feel myself.
Feel my children. Are children going to rise
against their parents and a lost eternity?
Say you never told me. You can see the.
Responsibility. That's here.
Your father's where? Are they?
Can we rephrase? That you fathers, where are you?
Father or son? Mother or daughter, the wise
thing to do it's cast yourself upon the mercy of God.
Finish with sin. Do it now.
Be. Converted.
Take Christ as your Saviour. Know your sins blotted out then.
You can put your. Head on the pillow tonight.
And no. And if you don't open your eyes
on this life again, you'll open them in glory.
There's no hope. Anywhere else for the soul of
man but in Christ. I said it earlier, say it again.
If you and I could get to heaven just doing our own thing, doing
the best we can, and there was no need for Christ to die on a
cross. But that's the whole thing.
There's no other way to satisfy divine justice.
Sin. Must be dealt with, but it was
dealt with on your behalf at Calvary.
Jesus paid it all. Will you meet your loved?
Ones in heaven. Will you take their?
Saviour to be your Saviour when? You put your trust.
In Christ and know the joy of sins forgiven.
Start out for heaven and for home, and bring your children up
in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
I. Trust the Lord will.
Give you that needed grace to do just that.
Remember your little ones. Remember your grandchildren?
They. All need.
The same Saviour the Lord give that needed grace and draw souls
onto himself.