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[0:00] Good evening. The information sheets you have in front of me I guess and it is on the screen. I want to feel about this side but just a reminder again that this current Saturday there is a commendation on you at 6 o'clock here.

[0:24] The hospitality team tour is a sign up seat at the door for a few minutes. The rest of the information you have here is 9 o'clock in the morning.

[0:44] If you can turn with me on the piece of the second prior to the 11th. Amen. the Spirit will come to believe. And we will come to believe better.

[1:23] And we ask this in the heat of name. Amen. At the front of the church, if you open the door, on the right hand side, you've probably seen it.

[1:35] But at the front of the church, there you'll see, well, boys and girls, can you see that? The door there, on the right hand side, what do you see? A box.

[1:47] What the box is for? No? Any idea? No? Okay, well, it's a wee box that controls the fireworks.

[2:04] So there's a siren. There's various sirens around the church. I don't know if I can see one in here. But there's various sirens around the church. And at the front there, it's kind of like the brains of the fire alarm system.

[2:19] So if there's smoke detected in any of the rooms, or if there's heat that's detected by one of the sensors, then the message is sent to the box that there's a danger, there's a fire in it.

[2:34] It's a box, it's a system that warns us of danger in order that when we get the warning, when we become aware of the danger, that we'll go away from the danger and we'll go to a safe place.

[2:50] So the siren will go off. The siren will give us the warning, it'll give us a signal. But it wouldn't move us. The siren will make the noise, but we could still be sitting in this chair.

[3:07] It wouldn't move us. I remember one day, when the siren did go off, we were all standing here with the touch of teeth. Nobody moved. We have to take action.

[3:21] Now, in this book of Zenderan, the name thrust of the book is a form of encouragement. And I've said that over and over again as the weeks have passed.

[3:35] God, through these visions and through these oracles, he encourages his people to come to him and to return to him.

[3:47] Some have been away from him for many years. And there's a call through the book of Zechariah that God's people, that they would come back to the place that he would have them be, both physically and spiritually, and to do the work that he would have them do.

[4:04] And so there's encouragement after encouragement, picture after picture, where God is bringing the same message to his people. Zechariah 5 and Zechariah 11, they hit a kind of go or go.

[4:22] You have high notes and intelligence. And then there are a couple of chapters that hit a lower note, a minor key. As God makes clear to his people that those who do not come to him, those who do not return to him, that the term they will stick where they are, keep themselves in serious danger.

[4:48] and that's the first thing we come to this evening. There's the declaration of judgment. There's two points, there's probably three points this evening.

[5:01] My notes tonight have more scribbles on them, they have text, so you have to pray for me. I can actually clearly work away from this. I think we probably have three points.

[5:12] There's the declaration of judgment, there's the drama of two shepherds, and in conclusion, I think we can note that there's a decision that you have to make.

[5:22] Ross doesn't have about the screen, but it's pointed to my head in the last hour or so. The declaration of judgment, the drama of two shepherds, and in the decision, the year night afternoon.

[5:37] First of all, the declaration of judgment. We see that in verses 1 to verse 3. Open your doors, O lemon, so that fire may devour your seeders.

[5:49] Wail, O pines you, for the seeder has fallen, the stately trees are ruined, wail, Oaks are Bation, the dense forest has been cut down.

[6:00] Listen to the wail of the shepherds, their rich pastures are destroyed. Listen to the roar of the lions, the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined.

[6:15] This is a declaration that comes from God to the people, and it's a declaration of judgment. in sharp contrast to the previous chapter, remember in the last chapter, in chapter 10, we saw the rich, the loving care of God for his people.

[6:38] God promises his care, he promises his victory, he promises salvation for those who will come to him. For those who will respond to his call and gather them in.

[6:57] That's what's happening in the gospel. That's what's happening when you and I come to a service like this. God through his word, God in the gospel, he's calling us.

[7:09] He's calling us to come to him. He wants to gather us in from that danger of united sin. To bring us in to the nation that he offers and that Christ has paid for.

[7:24] God calls us. His desire is that none will perish. He wants to gather us in. But we know that not everyone will allow God to gather them.

[7:41] ever Jesus when he came to overlook Jerusalem in Matthew 23 verse 37 Jesus he's elevated the whole Jerusalem.

[7:57] He's looking down over this place and these people that he loved. And he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stole those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers your chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

[8:23] God has given us love. He won't force us to come to him. He won't force us to love him against our will.

[8:36] he won't force us to receive the gift of his grace. And I have a box of chocolates here, I can offer them around. Some of them will be taken.

[8:49] And people will say, no, no, no, I'm not taking it. God, as he comes to us in the gospel, as he offers us his grace, there are many people who say, not for me, not for me.

[9:03] there is a warning here, those who reject them, those who refuse to be gathered in, those who determine in their will that they will not have the gospel, the salvation that is offered to us in Christ.

[9:28] The warning here is that for those who are not in their will be no salvation and will of judgment. We have a picture of verses 1-3, a picture where we see emblems of destruction and fire.

[9:43] We scan down these verses there. We see destruction, we see fire, we hear wailing, we see ruin, we see the depths of loss here.

[9:59] It's a picture that came true. It's a picture that has two meanings. 500 years after Zechariah gave this message to the people who were gathered in that place, 500 years after this message was given, the Romans invaded and they invaded through Lebanon.

[10:24] Open your doors to Lebanon and it starts with. in years to come the doors of Lebanon would be opened and the Romans would ride roughshod over Israel as they invaded from north.

[10:43] The commentator says the reference in these verses is to that desolating storm of civil war that caused the colony of the Romans whose legions swept like a hurling of steel over the land and finally prostrated every vestige of independent authority from the cedars of Lebanon to the lowliest cyclists that refused to be subdued and humbled the whole land beneath the mighty power of Rome.

[11:14] History bears witness to the fact that this picture of judgment it came true. God's word 500 years before it came it was fulfilled.

[11:33] And this picture of judgment is a picture which has not just come through in the history of Israel but it's a picture that ultimately will come through for all who refuse to let the Lord gather them under the sign of the gospel and save them through Christ.

[11:58] Those who could determine that they will receive the call of the Lord of Jesus for his judgment. I know probably the majority of us here tonight are Christians but there are many people some here many not here who we know are resisting the cause of the present.

[12:26] There are many people who we know and who we love who are resisting the offer of salvation. There are many people some here some outside who as we think about them and as we picture their faces in our minds eye we are given a very clear picture here we are given a very clear declaration from God that unless they repent unless they receive Christ unless they allow him to gather them in there is judgment that should move us that should move us to pray that should move us to reach out sometimes teachers sometimes parents they make warnings and they say if you don't listen if you don't do what he's saying there will be consequences here's the line don't step over that line there'll be consequences and then the child or the class they move a bit further forward and a bit further forward and before you know it they're weeping over the line and they're way down the road and there's no consequences the child or the people in the class don't say well we don't need to listen you know when God warns us about something it's because he means it he's the

[14:00] God who did not withhold judgment from his son as he died on the cross for those who trust him and he is the God who will not withhold judgment for those who reject his son and who determine that they will pay themselves eternally for their own sin so there's the declarational judgment that we have here in the opening three verses of the chapter the second thing we have here is the drama of two shepherds shepherds God is creative in the way that he expresses himself sometimes he speaks through dreams we see that in the first six chapters of Zephtariah sometimes he speaks through oracles we've seen that in the last few chapters sometimes he speaks through poems that's actually the structure of verses one to three is collected in its form sometimes

[15:14] God speaks through the plain speaking of somebody like Hagar who comes with the same message but in a much more direct way sometimes God speaks through stories and through parables as he did in Christ sometimes he even speaks through dramas and in this next section Zechariah is given this descriptive drama that God is directed and God instructs Zechariah that he must act this out there's two parts that he has to play first of all he has to play the part of the good shepherd and then secondly he has to play the part of the bad shepherd the worthless the foolish shepherd so first of all we have here the drama of the good shepherd and in verses 4 to 6 the Lord gives Zechariah his part the children before

[16:16] Christmas they have the pantomime in school you can still remember Caitlin and her big white boys in the pantomime in school for weeks in advance of the bad and they're feeling their lines their part and they're told away you go and here's your part here's your lines here's your movements this is the drama go and learn it you have to act out on that big night and in a sense what we have here in verse 4 to 6 is God saying to Zechariah here's the script here's what you're going to have to act out this is what the Lord my God says verse 4 pastured the flock marked for slaughter their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished those who sell them say praise the Lord I'm rich the old shepherds do not spare them for I will no longer have pity on this land declares the Lord I will hand everyone over to his neighbour and his king they will oppress the land and I will not rescue them from their hands and then in verses 7 to 14

[17:21] Zechariah he having taken the script having received the directions he does exactly what the Lord requires of him he plays the power of the shepherd and he pastured the flock so I pastured the flock marked for slaughter particularly the oppressed of the flock and I took two staffs and called one favour and the other union and I pastured the flock in one month I got rid of the three shepherds and there are not two of this a lot more than I can go into tonight a lot more than I can get ahead of them than once but what is God saying through this drama in the most simplistic way what he is saying through this drama is he is giving his people the offer of salvation the chapter begins with the warning declaration of judgment that's the dark backdrop but here in this drama

[18:30] God is giving his people the opportunity to come to him he is saying to them in this dramatic way that there is a way to avoid judgment there is a way to be saved so a bit of this in the previous chapter we heard a little bit in Zechariah 10 about these bad leaders who gave the wrong direction they brought in idols they were using the people for their own gain we see that in verse 5 here they were marking these people for slaughter they didn't care for them and these people these bad shepherds they were using God's name to justify their dishonest dealings they didn't care for the people they were leading the people further and further and faster and faster along the road to destruction and

[19:39] Zechariah as God instructs him he takes the role of the good shepherds and he calls them off that road that goes to destruction he doesn't steal from the sheep as the bad shepherds have done but he feeds the sheep he pastures them for a shim he cares for the sheep shepherds back in Zechariah state in that place they always carried two staffs there was a very heavy staff almost like a club that they carried and it was used like a club when wild animals came near they would use this heavy staff to beat them away they had another staff which was a bit lighter and it had a true shape about it and they would use that staff they would use it for support to be on and they would also use it to take hold of them to rescue animals that were trapped animals that had fallen animals that were in danger there's these two staffs and

[20:52] Zechariah here as he's instructed he uses these two staffs of favour of grace and of union verse 7 and he uses these staffs to build up the people as he speaks about God's favour as he speaks about God's union as he brings the gospel to them and Zechariah also as he plays the part of the shepherd he drives away those bad shepherds that seek to attack and destroy the folk Zechariah here as he takes hold of God's spirit he plays the part of the shepherd he sounds this silence that we turn away from the declaration of judgment and take hold the salvation that God offers so what happened next how did the flock how did the sheep respond to this good shepherd would he love him would he thank him for his loving care and for this message of hope and salvation that he brings no to he tells us in verse 8 that they detested him they despised him if you stand down from verse 8 to verse 11 we see that this good shepherd he is utterly rejected he is paid off we don't want him to the people he he severed he offered this severing steel he made redundant verse 12 and so by way of the rejection of this good shepherd the sheep they choose judgment not care they choose dying and perishing over the life that they could have taken hold of verse 9 they choose to reject the favour and the grace of God verse 10 they choose affliction to stick in affliction and to go deeper into affliction and to receive the comfort and the peace that the good shepherd offers it's a tragic run and what makes it even more tragic is it's not a word of fiction this would all come true because

[23:40] Zechariah wants us as we see to Jesus the re-shippered for his care for his sheep was the most comprehensive loving care that could ever have been offered and yet his people the people that he came to us do it some of them despised them and detested them and the dead them and we end this morning about the one who sold for how much did you note it in the chapter and we think that we're in the same scene in the Old Testament and New Testament at the same time not my good how much did Judas get as he struck a deal with the

[24:46] Pharisees with the Sadducees with the chief priests with the religious authorities how much did he get and as he pushed Jesus away he got 30 pieces of silver one commentator can put it more briefly than I can then he says what was the payment that Judas received 30 pieces of silver what did Judas do when he realised how much he had sinned he tried to return the money to the chief priests but they refused to have it back so what did Judas do with the money he threw it down in the temple it's what we read over verse 13 here what did the chief priests do with the money they couldn't put it in the temple treasury because it was blood money so they decided to use the money to buy a field the money strangers in what was that field it was the potter's field again we read the same word in verse 13 everything concerning the

[25:49] Messiah was fulfilled to the wife so we have the drama of the big shepherd and finally here we have the drama of the worthless Jewish shepherd then the Lord said to me verse 15 take again the equipment of the Jewish shepherd or I'm going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost or seek the young or heal the injured or feed the healthy but will eat the meat of the choice sheep tearing off their hoes woe to the worthless shepherd who deserves the flock and they saw it spike his arm and his right eye and his arm completely with his right eye totally blinded so Zechariah in his closing section he's given the second scope to pray the bad shepherd act out the role of the foolish of the worthless shepherd and we see in this drama that the shepherd that is acted out here this part that Zechariah is given to play to illustrate it's the part of a shepherd that is anti-Christ see everything that the good shepherd is everything that Jesus is this foolish worthless shepherd is not

[27:21] Jesus cares for the lost he wants to see the lost saved the foolish shepherd is not he wants to see endowed Jesus seeks out the lost the foolish shepherd doesn't care about the lost he can go anywhere Jesus brings healing to the injured soul the foolish shepherd brings heart Jesus he feeds the hell the foolish shepherd steals from him Jesus protects the sheep the foolish shepherd desires him so we have this sharp contrast in dramatic form and we have this clear picture we see the good shepherd points to

[28:29] Christ and we see the foolish shepherd that points us to the spirit of antithirst and it causes us in conclusion to consider the fact that we have a decision to to make about who we are following we have to consider where those who we are following are leading us we are sheep I won't exact fear but we see here that there are many shepherds there is angry shepherds but there are many others that we see take us off the track so in terms of those whom we are following tonight where are they leading us are they giving us to their salvation or are they giving us in the way of destruction and judgment there are some people under shepherds people whom we have met on spiritual journeys sometimes grandparents godly people in congregations here and elsewhere and they have come alongside us and they have sought to take us by the hand along the way that

[30:14] Jesus who gave us there have been people in our lives who have prayed for us and who have constantly said to us oh Christ but there are others who seek to take us off course and into the thing as Satan come come at us like a Roman line he can come at us through a nap on our phones he can come at us in a workplace he can come at us through the music we listen to the friends that we watch he can come at us through a hobby that overtakes our lives he can even dress up like an angel of light and put on plerical clothes and send people into purpose so the message was we need to be alive we need to be watching we need to be like the believers remember whoever came to preach over there with scriptures at the chapter it's what he's standing hanging out with what

[31:43] I see in this day and this age as was the case in every day and every niche we need to make sure that we are following the track of each shepherd he wants to die of sin he wants us to be saved he wants us not to catch he has done everything in Christ and if possible for us to avoid that the judgment will come you want us he will he says you are trapped to select who you follow that's being encouraged to follow

[32:46]  Christ don't care Heavenly Father we thank you for your word and we pray that you would crystallize it in our mind and sacrament we pray that you would enable us to understand enable us to hear the call of the gospel enable us to recognize the enemy as he seeks to take us off course and enable us to see Jesus to trust Jesus to follow Jesus to avoid the judgment that we know we are deserving of and to find grace and the favor and the salvation that is only in Christ in Jesus name we pray this amen the Lord is my shepherd power and all of the Lord for the God an everyllan an� one