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May I turn in your Bibles to 
Zechariah chapter 7, the second to the last book in the Old Testament, 
Zechariah chapter 7. We remember that the prophet 
Zechariah began his ministry in October or November of 520 
B.C. And what is significant about 
his time or his period of prophesying was it was after the exile. Remember 
that God's people Judah, the southern tribes of Israel, were 
carried off into Babylon by way of God's judgment. They had violated 
the terms of their covenant with the Lord, and the time of their 
judgment had come. So God sent Nebuchadnezzar and 
the Babylonians to sack the city of Jerusalem, to destroy their 
temple, and to take the people back to Babylon. In 539 BC, Cyrus, 
the king of the Persians, who had become the world empire, 
defeated the Babylonians and Cyrus was moved to enable the 
Jews to return from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild their city 
and their temple. We have seen that about 50,000 
people went back to Jerusalem. It may sound like a lot, but 
it really wasn't. Many stayed in Babylon. Many 
obviously grew up in Babylon, so they remained there. But these 
exiles, the people who went back, the 50,000, were called upon 
to build the temple, to rebuild the city and the temple, so that 
they would have a place of centralized worship. where they could bring 
their praise and glory and sacrifice to God. So, the Lord God sent 
Haggai and Zechariah to preach to the people, to encourage them 
at this time of temple rebuilding. A period later, Malachi the prophet, 
the last writing prophet of the Old Testament, deals with this 
same group of people. But Zechariah and Haggai were 
contemporaries. The first time he preaches was 
in 520. He did those series of night 
visions. That was in 519. Those seven visions or eight 
visions that he had seen from the Lord. And that brings us 
to chapter 7, December of 518. And here we have two chapters, 
7 and 8, which are didactic in nature. They're teaching. In 
fact, in chapter 7, a delegation is sent to ask a specific question 
about religious observance. And that is the occasion for 
this particular discussion. So, I'll just read Zechariah 
7, beginning in verse 1. Now, in the fourth year of King 
Darius, It came to pass that the word of the Lord came to 
Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, when 
the people sent Sherezer with Regem-Melek and his men to the 
house of God to pray before the Lord and to ask the priests who 
were in the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, saying, 
Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so 
many years? Then the word of the Lord of 
hosts came to me, saying, Say to all the people of the land 
and to the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth 
and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really 
fast for me? For me? When you eat and when 
you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should 
you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through 
the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were 
inhabited and prosperous and the south and the lowland were 
inhabited? Then the word of the Lord came 
to Zechariah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, execute true 
justice, show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not 
oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none 
of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. But they 
refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders and stopped their ears 
so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like 
flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord 
of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. 
Thus, great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts. Therefore, it 
happened that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they 
called out and I would not listen, says the Lord of Hosts. But I 
scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they 
had not known. Thus the land became desolate 
after them, so that no one passed through or returned, for they 
made the pleasant land desolate. Amen. This may seem like something 
of an obscure passage to us in the 21st century in North America. I mean, it was written in 518 
B.C. It was a long, long time ago. But, of course, the issue 
that is addressed here by the prophet Zechariah is something 
very peculiar to the life of God's people. Formalism and externalism 
and simply engaging in those rites and rituals that the Lord 
has ordained, but perhaps doing it without the heart. without 
involving the mind, without engaging the soul. It is not enough simply 
to come to church. It is not enough simply to sit 
in front of the Bible. It's not enough to simply engage 
in religious fasting or to do the right things at the right 
time. But rather, we are to live our 
lives unto God. We are to give Him our all, not 
just our ritual, not just our forms, not just the external, 
but we must bring everything to the Lord our God. And that 
is precisely what is going on here in Zechariah chapter 7, 
verses 1 to 14. We see, first of all, there is 
a question posed in verses 1 to 3. A delegation is sent, and 
while it's a bit obscure in the New King James Version, I think 
the ESV has it very well, perhaps the NIV, I didn't have time to 
check it, But the idea is that this delegation was sent from 
Bethel. Bethel was a little bit north 
of, or was north of, Jerusalem. And what happened at this particular 
time, at this particular date, he is always keen, Zechariah 
is, to tell us the date and time of his prophesying. He says that 
in verse 1, and then he mentions the issue in verse 2. When the 
people of Bethel sent Cherezer and Regem Melech and his men 
to the house of God. wasn't that they were in Babylon 
coming into Jerusalem. I think they were within the 
confines of Judah, but because they were a bit removed from 
Jerusalem, they had a specific question in terms of religious 
observance, in terms of religious fasting. Now notice their specific 
question in verse 3. They were to ask the priests 
who were in the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, 
saying, Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have 
done for so many years?" Seemed like a legitimate question. And 
it is a legitimate question. It serves as the basis upon which 
God, through Zechariah, will point out some very specific 
teaching on religion and what it means to be God's people. 
But the people of Israel had a commanded fast. Fasting, as 
you well know, means to give up food for a season so that 
you can devote yourself to God, specifically in prayer. But also, 
as we read in Isaiah 58, at the outset of worship, it's not just 
the time for me to not eat and then to walk around and grumble 
and complain. No, I'm not to eat, but I'm supposed to go out 
and do positive good. I'm supposed to try and help 
others. I'm supposed to be a blessing to others. Fasting is not just 
walk around all moaning and groaning and complaining and telling everybody 
that you're grumpy because you're not eating, because you're serving 
the Lord. Remember how Jesus taught about 
that in the book of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. Don't 
be like the Pharisees. Rather, anoint your face. Clean 
up. Go out in the world. Do righteousness. Don't call attention to the fact 
that you're fasting. That undoes it. That is an ungodly 
means of trying to promote godliness. And so these people ask a question 
about fasting. They had a commanded fast according 
to Leviticus 16, the day of atonement. And that was the focus of the 
day. It wasn't like fasting and then 
these other things. No, it was the other things. 
The Day of Atonement and all that the high priests did. But 
the people of Israel were to observe a sacred fast that day. But when they went into captivity, 
they had several fasts that they remembered. They had a fast for 
the initial siege of Jerusalem by Babylon. I mean, as it goes, 
brethren, when your city gets ruined, you probably think about 
that, and it's a depressing time, so on that day, on that specific 
date, you would fast, you would pray, commit yourself to God. 
Also, the conquest of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar was another time 
of fasting in the life of these people. And then the murder of 
Gedoliah recorded in Jeremiah 41, the people fasted on the 
anniversary of that particular day. But the specific fast that's 
in view here, you notice there in verse 3, should I weep in 
the fifth month? and fast as I have done for so 
many years." The fifth month was the time when the city, or 
the temple rather, was destroyed. You can see that in 2 Kings chapter 
25. 2 Kings chapter 25. And it's good for you to turn 
here. It's good for you to know biblical history. It's good for 
you to understand what was going on in the Old Testament. That 
it is historically relevant. That this is material and data 
that actually mattered to the people at that time. But in 2 
Kings 25, it is a record of the fall and captivity of Judah. 
And you notice there in verse 8, it says, And in the fifth 
month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth 
year of the king, of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, 
the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came 
to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord 
and the king's house, all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, 
all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. And all 
the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the 
guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. So on this 
fifth month, When they would fast, it was to remember in a 
very particular way the destruction of the temple. And so we go back 
to Zechariah 7. They send this delegation from 
Bethel to ask the priests in the house of the Lord, should 
we still fast? Remember, Zechariah is prophesying 
about two years after they started building the temple. The foundation 
has been laid. The structure is up. About two 
years later, it would be finally completed and dedicated to the 
Lord. So, with this structure standing, 
it seems like a legitimate question. Should we continue to fast? Should 
we continue to do this now that our temple is being rebuilt and 
restored? Should we, in the fifth month, 
stop to fast and pray and remember the fact that it was destroyed? 
However, the answer that is given by God through the prophet indicates 
that it wasn't such a legitimate question. I mean, on the surface, 
should we? Well, look at how they ask it. 
Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so 
many years? Seems to have become a tedious 
practice. It doesn't seem as if they were 
saying, instead of fasting on this day in the fifth month, 
perhaps now we should rejoice that our temple is rebuilt. No, I think they were getting 
weary of engaging in this particular activity. Thomas McCombsky said, 
perhaps the question was sincere, suggesting that the people should 
turn the fast into a celebration of the temple's completion once 
it was finished. The delegation's vague recollection 
of the period during which they had observed these fasts, these 
how many years, indicates otherwise. For these words reflect a weariness 
with the required abstinences. Zechariah saw the question in 
this light and answered accordingly. So they weren't legitimately 
wanting to stop now that the temple was built. They were growing 
weary and tired with giving up food on that fifth month or in 
that particular day of the fifth month to remember an event that 
probably wasn't as significant to them anymore. And then that 
brings the answer to the question. Notice verses 4 to 7. The people 
are addressed. The people of the land, which 
is Judah, and the priests. It wasn't just confined to the 
laity. This is a problem with the leadership 
as well. And notice God's question to 
the people here. Verse four, say to all the people 
of the land and to the priests, when you fasted and mourned in 
the fifth and seventh months during those seven years, did 
you really fast for me? For me? This isn't what they 
bargained for, is it? God has a way of finding us out. 
They come. at least professedly, to say, 
now that the temple is being built, should we continue to 
fast this way? God says, let's just examine 
this whole fasting thing for a moment, shall we? Have you 
really been doing it for me? Is this something that you have 
done theologically? Is this a heart commitment? Are 
you giving yourself to Me? Are you dedicating yourself? 
Are you devoting yourself? Are you really seeking to have 
a relationship with Me? Or are you simply going through 
the motions? Are you simply engaging in an 
externalism? The question might be asked today. 
Someone might say, should I really go morning and evening? Should 
I really go on Wednesday night? Should I really read my Bible? 
Should I really pray? And God might say, are you really 
doing that for me? So I think the implication is 
that if we're really doing it for God, we will willingly and 
joyfully do what we do. It will not be a weariness. It 
will not become tiresome. It will not become drudgery. 
But when we get wrapped up in forms and externals, when we 
lose the very heart of our religion, That is when those things are 
killers. That's when we feel or experience 
just how bad it is. So the Lord God searches them 
out here. And I would like for all of us 
to search our own consciences. Do we do what we do for God? Do you read your Bible or pray 
simply to fulfill a requirement each day? Do you come to church 
simply to fulfill a requirement each Lord's Day? Do you do nice 
things for people simply to fulfill a requirement? Or is your heart 
in it? Are you really seeking the Lord 
in your religious observances? Are you really seeking the honor 
and glory of God? I think this text brings us to 
consider that everything we do ought to have a theological orientation. That's what he goes on to say 
here. Notice, he says, did you really fast for me? For me? Verse 6, when you eat and when 
you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? What does 
Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 10.31? So then, whether you eat 
or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Are you doing things simply to 
gratify and benefit yourself? Are you in this religious thing 
just so you won't go to hell? Are you doing for God just so 
you'll get some sort of credit? Are you doing for God just so 
your parents will get off your back or your husband or your 
wife won't bother you? I mean, God is searching us out 
here. He's asking a hard question. Do you do what you do for Him? 
Or is it something that you do only to gratify your own flesh? The exercise of religious obligation 
is to be done for the glory of God Most High. All of life is 
to be lived quorum Deo. That means in the presence of 
God. When you sit down to eat. When 
you fast. When you do things for other 
people. When you go to your job according to Ephesians and Colossians. 
When you love your wives. Or when you submit to your own 
husbands. All of that is to be theologically driven. It's not 
like you just shut up. Ok, on Sunday I'm going to go 
do religious things and please God. And then Monday through 
Saturday I'm going to live like a heathen. Sunday, I'm going 
to go do and toe the line, and I'm really doing that for God. 
But Monday through Saturday, I'm just going to live for myself. 
That's not the way Christianity works. That's not what a relationship 
with God looks like. It looks like the whole soul 
involvement. It looks like whatever you do, 
do all to the glory of God. Don't render eye service to your 
employer, but rather serve God. Don't just go through the motions 
at home, but rather, wives, be submissive to your own husbands. 
Ask to the Lord. It is religious in nature. Husbands, 
love your own wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself 
for her. You see that? It's religious 
in nature. So these people probably thought, hey, we just want to 
find out, should we keep this fast in the fifth month? You 
know, Zechariah, is that still on? Are we still doing that? 
Are we still rolling that way? God says, let's investigate something. 
Let's go beyond this external fast. Let's just put the calendar 
aside for a moment. Put your day timer down. Put 
your pen down. Put your Blackberry away. Put 
your outlook away. Don't think about my obligation 
for the month of whatever. But let me ask you something 
God says through the prophet. Do you really do what you do 
for me? Are you really in this for me? Is it theology that drives 
you? Or is it anthropology? That's 
man. Are you man-centered? Are you 
functioning? Are you living? Are you oriented 
based on what men think of you? Or are you the real deal? Are 
you the genuine article? Remember again, Jesus picks up 
this theme in his Sermon on the Mount. When you pray, don't be 
like the hypocrite who stands out on the street corner and 
thinks that he'll be heard for his many words. Don't be like 
that guy. When you give alms, when you 
give charity, don't let your right hand know what your left 
hand is doing. Don't blow on a trumpet and say, 
hey, look at what I'm doing, people. When you fast, don't 
walk around and tell everybody how grumpy you are because you're 
fasting for the Lord. No, anoint your face. Go do good 
things. You see, we can either do what 
we do to be seen by men, or we seek the favor of God. That's 
the point in Zechariah chapter 7. Notice the real issue, verse 
7. Should you not have obeyed the 
words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets? 
Shouldn't you have done that? You're going through these fasts, 
you're going through this religiosity, you're going through these ordinances, 
you're going through the externals, but you don't obey the Word of 
God? Remember, we learned this lesson in 1 Samuel 15. God desires 
obedience. God wants us to obey Him. Not for our salvation. We cannot 
do that. But when we are saved by grace 
through faith, we are to obey. We are to follow the Lamb wherever 
He goes. We are to do what we do for His 
glory and for His honor and for His praise. They didn't obey 
God. They come to ask if they should 
continue to fast. God reproves them for engaging 
in fasting in an ungodly manner. Look back at Amos for just a 
moment. The prophet Amos. We already read Isaiah 58. You 
can go back and compare that later. Isaiah 58, 1-9. Actually, all the way to the 
chapter, because it deals with fasting and Sabbath. Two things that 
they thought, as long as I'm externally in the right place, 
at the right time, doing what I'm supposed to, I'll get God 
off my back. Well, that's not how it works. 
We need to give God our heart. We need to give God our minds, 
our soul, our strength. We're to love Him with every 
fiber of our being. We're not to engage in these 
things externally. Notice in Amos 5, he says, I 
hate, verse 21, I despise your feast days and I do not savor 
your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings 
and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard 
your fattened peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of 
your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. 
But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like 
a mighty stream." That's what Zechariah is all about as well. 
Turn back to Zechariah 7. We've seen the question. We've 
seen the answer. Now notice thirdly, the necessity of genuine religion. Verses 8 to 14. He commands them. Verse 8, Zechariah 7. Sounds 
just like what we read in Amos there. Then the word of Jehovah 
came to Zechariah, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Execute 
true justice. It doesn't matter if you're fasting 
in the fifth month, but you're an unjust wretch. It doesn't 
matter if you're fasting in the fifth month, but you're ripping 
off your countrymen. It doesn't matter if you're keeping 
the external feasts, but you have a heart of injustice toward 
those who need you. You see what he's saying? These 
people didn't bargain for this. We're just wondering if we should 
fast in the fifth month. You can almost hear him now. Is that correct? That's too much 
information. What we call today TMI, right? 
It's too much. We didn't want all that. We just 
want to know if we can get rid of this fast day in the fifth 
month. That's all. We're taking this 
way too far. Well, it's God through the prophet. God uses this time to speak to 
this delegation. He says execute true justice. 
Show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not oppress 
the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none 
of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. That's what 
genuine religion looks like. That's what it's all about. You 
see, when a man is rightly related to God through faith in Jesus 
Christ, when he functions on earth, it is according to justice. 
It is according to mercy. It is according to compassion. 
He is kind-hearted. He doesn't oppress people. He 
may sin, he may stumble, he may do things, but as a characteristic 
of his life, that's not the way he functions. He may wrong people, 
but he deals with it. As a characteristic rule in his 
life, he does what the prophet is commending to the people in 
this particular instance. as God's people look like, verses 
8 to 10. This is nothing new. Let's go 
back for a moment to Deuteronomy 10. Deuteronomy 10. You can write 
these down if you don't keep up here. But Deuteronomy 10, 
verse 12. And now, Israel. What does the 
Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, 
to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, to serve the Lord 
your God with all your heart and with all your soul? and to 
keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I 
command you today for your good. Indeed, heaven and the highest 
heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all 
that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your 
fathers to love them, and He chose their descendants after 
them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. So there is 
this admonition to obey God. This is what the Lord requires, 
to fear Him and to walk in all His ways and to love Him. Now 
go to Hosea chapter 12, the first of the minor prophets. Hosea 
chapter 12. We see this fleshed out in the 
Minor Prophets and then picked up by Jesus in the book of Matthew. Hosea 12, verse 6. He says, So you, by the help 
of your God, return, observe mercy and justice, and wait on 
your God continually. This is what a believer does. 
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You observe mercy and 
justice. You wait on your God continually. 
Turn to Micah 6, perhaps the most famous in this vein. Micah 6, verse 8, He has shown 
you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of 
you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with 
your God. You see, that's a good definition, 
a good description of sanctification in the life of God's people. 
For those who are not here in our exposition of Micah, look 
at this particular context. The covenant lawsuit. The prophet 
is coming and indicting the people on behalf of God for their waywardness 
and for their sin. And look at what they say in 
Micah 6.6. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself 
before the High God? Shall I come before Him with 
burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be 
pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall 
I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the 
sin of my soul? They're not sincere there, brethren. They're not saying, we really 
legitimately want to come before the Lord God. No, the prophets 
said, you're a wayward, you've gone a whoring from the Lord, 
you are sinful, you have violated the covenant. So they say, what 
should we do then? Does God want this? Does He want this? Does He want 
us to offer up our firstborn? What is it? It's wickedness. It's high-handed sin. The Lord 
has never ever commanded that they give the firstborn for their 
transgression. The Lord is not Moloch. The Lord 
is not Baal. The Lord is not one of these 
deities or the pagans that demands child sacrifice. The Lord is 
just the opposite. So they actually have the gall 
to say, well, the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand 
rivers of oil. That's when the prophet says, 
he showed you, oh man. This shouldn't surprise you. This shouldn't make you go, wow, 
we never heard this before. Wow, this is brand new information. Wow, this is revolutionary to 
us. No. And it shouldn't be revolutionary 
for a preacher in the church to say, when you believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, you better treat people justly. You better 
be kind. You better be merciful. You better 
be charitable. You better actually love people. 
Because that's what God has called you to do. You're not to walk 
around like you've got no concern or no care for anyone around 
you whatsoever. No. He's shown you. And what 
is good? What does the Lord require of 
you but to do justly? To love mercy. To walk humbly 
with your God. It's as repeated in Zechariah 
chapter 7. And then turn to Matthew 23. 
Matthew 23. portion I'm sure we're familiar 
with when Jesus indicts the religious leaders, the Pharisees and scribes 
of His day. He pronounces woes upon them. 
He calls them names. He says that they're hypocrites. 
They're like bags of snakes. And in Matthew 23, 23, look at 
what He says. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites. Hey, let's just call a spade 
a spade. Jesus isn't going to mess around. You should be told 
as much. Hypocrites, for you pay tithe 
of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier 
matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. Isn't that what 
Hosea speaks of? Isn't that what Amos speaks of? 
Isn't that what's in Zechariah? This is no new teaching. You 
spend the time to get out your scale and to weigh anise seed. You spend the time to weigh cumin 
seeds. Those are pretty small. I think 
there's a gouda cheese that has cumin seeds in it, right? You 
get it in the deli. You get the gouda with the cumin 
seeds. Those aren't big. To tithe cumin seeds takes some 
effort. The wrong kind of effort. I'm 
not talking about genuine sacrifice. I'm talking, you are a sick puppy 
if you're sitting there with your scale so that you give God 
only a 10% call of your coumancy. If God gets 20%, that's okay. But you see what Jesus says. 
You tied mint? Mint's not a heavy plant. You've 
got to weigh that out too. They didn't have digital scales 
then. Now we throw it on the scale. Boom, there it is. They've 
got to weigh it out. They've got to take some time. 
It probably took more time for them to do this than to grow 
it. You tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin. But what 
have you done? You've neglected the weightier 
matters of the law. Justice, mercy and faith. How 
dare you? Are you going to spend the time 
to weigh cumin seeds and treat your brother with contempt? Are 
you going to spend the time to weigh mint? and treat your brother 
unjustly? You're going to spend the time 
to lay out anus and be unmerciful and unkind? Woe to you, he says. Hypocrites. Woe to you. He says, these you ought to have 
done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain 
out a net and swallow the camel. That was supposed to be funny. 
Not shtick. Jesus wasn't doing shtick. But 
when he said that, he was using a ridiculous example so that 
people would just see how foolish these guys are. Can you imagine 
that? You're going to drink wine, for 
instance, and you would have to strain out any of the impurities. He says you're busily straining 
out the gnat there so that you can drink that without any problem. 
But you strain out the gnat and when you take a swallow, a camel 
falls on you. You fool. Let's spend all this 
time with Mint, Annas, and Pumat and neglect the weightier matters 
of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. You blind guys. That's what's going on in Zechariah. Execute true justice. Show mercy 
and compassion. Everyone to his brother. Do not 
oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none 
of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. And there 
is a historical precedent here. Verses 11 to 14. What does God 
through Zechariah do? He said it's for these very reasons 
that the people went into Babylon. Don't make that mistake. Don't 
engage in that sin. In fact, much of what he says 
in verses 11 and following sound just like Jeremiah's first temple 
sermon in Jeremiah chapter 7. You can read that later. Verses 
1 to 15. He highlights the disobedience 
of Judah. Notice in verses 11 and 12. But 
they refused to heed. It wasn't that they were ignorant. 
It wasn't that they hadn't had Bible study. It wasn't that God 
didn't send them prophets. It wasn't as if God had not shown 
them. But they refused to heed. They shrugged their shoulders. 
They stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they 
made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and 
the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through 
the former prophets, which by way of a sideline note If you 
doubt the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture, look at what he 
says here. They made their hearts like flint, 
refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts 
had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. That was 
the condition of Judah prior to the exile. Zechariah is calling 
these people to take heed. Do not go down that same road. 
Do not stop up your ears. Do not make your heart like a 
flint. Do not reject and despise and refuse the living Word of 
God Most High. You welcome it. You receive it. 
You do what God says. You pray for grace. You pray 
for enablement. You pray that the Lord will guide 
you and direct you and help you to be what you're supposed to 
be in Jesus Christ. Christian, you turn to Galatians 
5. You read the fruits of the Spirit there. And you cry to 
God, make me this man. You have saved me. Not so I can 
be hateful. Not so that I can be lacking 
in peace. Not so I can be the most humdrum, 
gloom guy in the world. But I should be joyful. Lord, 
You've saved me to be gentle. You've saved me to be good. You've 
saved me to be faithful. You've saved me to exercise self-control 
and long-suffering. God, I struggle with these things. 
Help me. Fill me with Your Spirit. Enable 
me and cause me to do what You call me to do. That's what they 
should have done, but that's not what they did. They refused 
to heed. They shrugged their shoulders. 
They stopped their ears so that they could not hear. They made 
their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the word 
of the prophets. God says don't. That then brought 
judgment upon them according to verses 13 to 14. The end of 
verse 12, notice, thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 
What does that great wrath look like? Verses 13 and 14. It's 
the first element. They cry to me and what do I 
do? I don't listen to them. This is chilling. This is terrifying. Therefore it happened, verse 
13, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, So they 
called out and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. Some 
of you children, some of you young people, adults as well, 
you hear the gospel pretty regularly. Pretty regularly. I'd like to 
say you hear it consistently and faithfully every Lord's Day 
in this church. Hopefully you hear it at home, 
at family worship. Hopefully you're reading it for 
yourselves in your Bible. You continue to refuse and reject 
the Lord God Most High, you may find a time when the Lord God 
may reject and refuse you. Now the scripture is clear. that 
all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one 
who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. You come to the 
Lord and He will save you. That's a promise. But if you 
continue to refuse, you continue to reject, you continue to stiff 
arm, you continue to make your heart like a flint, you'll get 
beyond that point of hope. We don't know when that is. I 
would never believe to think that, oh, that person's an apostate 
or whatever. We saw it in Hebrews 6. Some 
people come very close. But because they continue to 
refuse, they continue to reject, they make their hearts like flint, 
Paul the Apostle says there, it is impossible to renew them 
unto repentance. There is a time known only to 
God, where if you continue to reject and refuse Him, He may 
ultimately continue, or He may reject and refuse you. Behold, now is the acceptable 
time. Today is the day of salvation. Don't continue to stiff-arm. 
You hear the gospel, believe the gospel. You hear the truth, 
believe the truth. You don't wait till you're 50. 
You don't wait till you're 70. You don't wait till you're 80. 
If you're 5 or 10 or 15, don't say, well, I want to live first 
and then I'll make my peace with God. That day may never come. 
You need to believe the gospel right here, right now. Don't 
put it off. Jesus is a real Savior for real 
sinners. The one who comes to me, he says, 
I will certainly not cast out. You don't want to get to this 
point. You don't want to be at this place where it says, therefore, 
it happened that just as he proclaimed and they would not hear. So they 
called out and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. Now, 
again, I don't know that this is salvific. I don't want to 
paint an ungodly picture that a sinner can't cry out to the 
Lord and be saved. You cry out to the Lord. He will save you. 
He will save you. The idea is that you want to 
put it off. You don't want to continue to live in rejection 
or rebellion. You don't want to continue to 
discount the gospel of Jesus Christ. You want to treat these 
things lightly. You don't want to wait until you're 25 and then 
all make peace with God. No. You make peace with God right 
now. Believe the gospel and you will 
be saved. Nothing could be worse than to 
have God Most High turn His back on your cries. And then notice 
the judgment. The exile into Babylon and the 
desolation of their land. He said in verse 14, But I scattered 
them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not 
known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed 
through or returned, for they made the pleasant land desolate. 
That's the exile. That's what happened. You see, 
God, through Zechariah, is telling the exiles, don't do this again. 
Don't make this mistake again. Don't refuse, don't reject, don't 
harden. Take the Word and act upon it. And again, I just want 
to qualify. You believe the Gospel, you'll 
be saved. God's not going to refuse you. God's not going to 
reject you when you legitimately call upon Jesus to save you from 
your sins. Please, do that. By way of application, 
one of the things that obviously flows out of this text is the 
curse of formalism. T.V. Moore in his commentary, 
the Geneva series commentary, which is an excellent commentary 
on these post-exilic prophets. He said, they thought that God 
must bless them, indeed was bound to bless them if they rigidly 
observed these outward rights, whatever was their inward character. 
Thus, formalism and religion acted in the time of the Restoration 
precisely as it acted in every subsequent period in the history 
of the Church, leading men to be scrupulous about the mint, 
anise, and cumin, the postures, costumes, and rubrics of religion, 
whilst the weightier matters of justice toward man and piety 
toward God was neglected and forgotten. This is not confined 
to the 6th century BC. This was not confined to old 
covenant Israel. This is something alive and well 
today. We go through forms, we go through rites, we go through 
externals, and we somehow think we avail with God. No. We believe 
the gospel by God's grace. That is what we need. Secondly, 
the necessity of genuine religion. These things are not confined, 
as I said, to the Old Testament. How does James define pure and 
undefiled religion? Similar to these prophets. In 
fact, James sounds or feels a lot like one of the minor prophets. 
He really does. He's about things legit, justice, 
mercy, all that sort of thing. Pure and undefiled religion before 
God and the Father is this, to visit widows and orphans in their 
distress and to keep oneself unspotted from this world. He's 
not saying you get saved by doing these things. He's already spoken 
in James 1.18, "...for of His will He brought us forth by the 
word of truth, that we might become, as it were, firstfruits 
unto God." He's already stated how we are saved. It's by God's 
sovereign hand of mercy and grace. It's by looking to Jesus Christ 
in faith. But a looking to Jesus Christ 
in faith Christian, We'll do these things. We'll visit widows 
and orphans in their distress and keep oneself unspotted from 
the world. And finally, do not reject the 
Word of God. The passage is clear. God spoke 
through the prophets by His Holy Spirit. To reject the prophets, 
to reject Zechariah, to reject Micah and Isaiah and all these 
men is to reject God Himself. The same vein to reject the New 
Testament epistles, to disregard Paul, to disregard Peter, to 
disregard Jesus in the Gospels, is to disregard God Most High. It is to refuse Him. It is to 
reject Him. Don't do that. Believe Him. Come 
to Him. Do not do likewise. This is one 
instance where you're not to go and do thou likewise. You're 
to actually obey. You're not to be like old covenant 
Israel. You're to look to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and He will save you from your sins. Well, let us 
pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for all 
66 books, and we know that it's given by inspiration of God, 
and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
and for instruction in righteousness. And I pray that You would thoroughly 
furnish us unto every good work. And Father, we pray for those 
who do not know You. that, God, they would look to 
Christ in faith and find that great salvation that You alone 
give. Go with us now and watch over 
us in this coming week, and we pray through Christ our Lord. 
Amen.