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[0:00] Well, good morning again. So glad that you're here with us today. And this morning we're going to be in the Old Testament book of Zechariah. We're beginning today with a series on the cross.

[0:11] And as we draw closer to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we will begin looking forward by looking back. We will primarily be in Zechariah chapter 12 and verse number 10.

[0:26] And this is a prophecy concerning God's judgment on Israel. It's going to also result in Israel turning back to him in a restoration of God's people.

[0:39] And it's going to take place preceding and including the second coming of Jesus Christ. There's going to be a great battle. All the nations surrounding Jerusalem are going to be attacking Israel.

[0:52] And it's going to be a great, great battle. And in Zechariah, this prophecy that we're going to be looking at today talks about Israel coming to the point where they will see the Savior, see the one whom they pierced, and they will mourn over their sin and over their rejection.

[1:12] And when God pours out His Holy Spirit of grace and supplication, and as God's people are asking Him for mercy, He will provide His Holy Spirit, and that will usher in their, provide a way for them to repent, and they will ultimately accept Christ as their Savior and as their Messiah.

[1:36] The first nine verses that we see in Zechariah chapter 12 describes the way the Lord delivers Judah and Jerusalem from the vicious attack of the sieging enemies.

[1:51] And this is most likely referring to the battle of Armageddon that we see in Revelation chapter 16. And this is the greatest deliverance that Israel will have ever received, greater than their deliverance from Egypt, greater than their deliverance crossing the Red Sea, over the victory in the Promised Land, over the Gideon's 300 army that won the battle, over the Seven-Day War.

[2:18] All of these, the Sixty Days War, the Seven-Day War that Jerusalem had back in the 60s, this is going to be an ultimate and an awesome deliverance for God's people.

[2:31] And a still more, still a great deliverance and a permanent deliverance is awaiting Israel one day. And this is a victory that God provides Himself.

[2:46] And the nation and its people today are still not in a place of blessing because they rejected their Savior. As we look in the New Testament, as we look in the Gospels, Jesus, at that certain point, and we see that turning point in the Gospels during His ministry, where He realizes that the nation of Israel has rejected Him.

[3:10] And then ultimately, He turns and provides grace to the nations, to the non-Jews, the Gentiles. And He also talks about how in Old Testament prophecy, that this was something that the prophets looked forward into, but really didn't understand what He was referring to when all the nations would be brought into one under the Gospel in Jesus Christ.

[3:35] That all those who believed and trusted Christ as their Savior would be made into one body. Jew and Greek, everyone who trusts Him. And in that day, that day of judgment, when the Lord Jesus comes back, He says He will pour out His Holy Spirit.

[3:53] We see those prophecies in Joel. We see them in the Old Testament. And as God pours out His Holy Spirit upon the people, they begin to repent.

[4:05] And they, as a nation and also as individual Jews, accept Christ as their Messiah, the one that they so venomously rejected, so vehemently rejected, back 2,000 years ago.

[4:19] And they mourn over the one that they rejected. And what we see is they're showing guilt and remorse over what they have done.

[4:32] And strengthened and delivered, they will overwhelm them, and they will weep bitterly for the one that they rejected. So let's read.

[4:43] Let's go to the Old Testament book of Zechariah. I know it's hard to find. If you have to, go ahead and use your index. Zechariah chapter number 12. And we'll go ahead and begin reading verse 1 all the way to verse 10 to try to get an idea of a context of what's going on here.

[5:00] And verse 1 says, The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

[5:14] Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day, this day forward, when what we talked about, that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples.

[5:33] All who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. In that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness.

[5:49] I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall see in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.

[6:02] Verse 6, In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire pan in the wood pile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves. They shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left.

[6:14] But Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place. Jerusalem. And we're wondering today about what's going to be the outcome of putting Jerusalem back as the capital, and what America and all the countries will be having to do with that.

[6:35] And there are those who don't like that. But one day, ultimately, the Jews will have Jerusalem again as their capital. It will be undisputed, and Jesus Christ will be ruling and reigning.

[6:48] And so the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day, we see that term a lot, in that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[7:04] The one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. Verse 9, It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

[7:20] And then verse 10, our text verse 4 this morning, And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.

[7:31] Then they who look on me, whom they pierced, yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn.

[7:46] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this time this morning, for your word. We ask, dear Father, that you would use this time together to teach us, to encourage us, and also, Lord, to convict us as well.

[8:02] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So as we look here and are seeing that God is going to be delivering his people, he's going to pour out his spirit and they will mourn over their sin and over their rejection of their Messiah, over the Savior, the one who would come as their Savior.

[8:22] And there's beautiful imagery that we see here in these verses. Quite a few images that were given. Verse 2, I will make Jerusalem, depending upon your translation, it might be a cup of drunkenness, a cup of trembling, literally a cup of reeling is what the original language states.

[8:45] And it's like one who drinks too much of an intoxicating beverage and begins reeling and begins tumbling about or begins trembling and who is stumbling about.

[9:00] He says, that's what I will do to the nations who come against Israel. I will make them like a drunken person and they can't even stand up straight. And we go on and he says in verse 3, it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone.

[9:18] Or depending upon your translation, it might say something a little different, but what the wording means is, in the imagery, is a rock that's so big you can't pick it up and you'll hurt yourself if you try to pick it up.

[9:34] And it's as if, or what God is saying is, all the nations who come against Israel, I will make them like a man who can't hold his drink and who tries to pick up a rock that's heavier than he can lift.

[9:47] And then as he goes on in this imagery, he says, I will make Jerusalem, or verse 4, I will strike every horse with confusion and its riders.

[10:00] And he talks about in verse 6, and I will, in that day, I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the wood pile and like a fiery torch in the sheaves. There, everyone else is going to be destroyed who comes against them.

[10:14] And God is going to bring the deliverance to his people. And here's a people who had spurned salvation many, many years before in the first century.

[10:28] Now they look upon him whom they had rejected. And we see that in verse number 10. And they're going to mourn. Why are they mourning over this pierced one?

[10:42] Well, first of all, what we see is these mourners will realize who they've rejected. They're going to see Jesus as he sets foot on the Mount of Olives.

[10:55] They're going to see the one that they rejected. They're going to see the one that was pierced. They're going to see the one who was crucified for their sin. And they're going to mourn over their sin.

[11:07] They've spurned God's love. And verse 10 reveals God divinely bestowing his Holy Spirit on them and awakening Israel in that day.

[11:19] He says, in that day, verse 10, I will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on him whom they have pierced.

[11:29] And the prophecy continues with God in the first person. And the word pouring out denotes a full and abundant refreshing, like pouring out a jar of water over dried, parched ground.

[11:45] I will pour out my spirit upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah on Israel. obviously, this is the culmination of Joel's prophecy in Joel chapter 2 verses 28 and 32.

[12:01] Peter quoted it in Acts chapter 2 verses 16 through 21. So the Holy Spirit being given to the early church and also the Holy Spirit God pours out upon his people during the end time or in that day is, has a, somewhat of a dual fulfillment fulfillment and also Ezekiel 39, 29 if you want to write those verses and to look at at a future time as you're studying this.

[12:30] Isaiah 44, 3 also prophesy of this day that, that Zechariah is talking about and prophesying about in chapter number 12.

[12:42] And the recipients of this spiritual blessing of this Holy Spirit being poured out are the house of David and his inheritance. We know those as the Jews. And they will, this is talking about those who belong to the Davidic kingdom, those who were the recipients of the promise of God that they would be his people and that Jesus who is from the lineage of David whose kingdom would be forever.

[13:09] And this event described in Romans 11, 26, 27, Isaiah 27, verse 9, Isaiah 59, a lot of prophecies concerning the end time, concerning Israel coming back and accepting their Messiah.

[13:28] Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 37 as well. So Christ, what we know the New Testament teaches us is that Christ had come in his first advent, the first time he comes, born of a virgin, and as he lived for 30 some odd years on planet earth, ultimately dying on the cross for our sin, Jesus Christ, the first time he came, came as a savior to sinners, a savior for sinners.

[14:00] He had come to offer forgiveness. He had come to offer eternal life to all of his creation. redemption. And they had, the Jews, his very own people, rebelled against him.

[14:16] They had chosen rebellion instead of redemption. Think about that. Their own Messiah, the one that had been prophesied all the way from the beginning of God's word, all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, and all the way through the Old Testament, through Isaiah, their suffering servant.

[14:36] And Joel, Zechariah, had prophesied of Jesus Christ coming. And they chose rebellion instead of redemption.

[14:47] Think about that. But all is not lost. Because God will make the way possible for his very own people, those who rejected him, to one day receive him.

[14:59] He'll pour out his spirit upon them, provide them the faith that's necessary to trust him. And as they mourn over their sin, mourn over their rejection, as a matter of fact, such mourning is talking about as mourning over an only-born child.

[15:14] Imagine the mourning over losing a child. That's the type of gut-wrenching mourning that the Jews will experience on this day and at this time.

[15:27] God sent his only son to justify sinners. Let's look in the New Testament at the book of Romans, chapter 5, verses 8 and 9. But God demonstrated, God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[15:49] And this brings back to my mind the image of Jesus hanging on the cross and the very ones, Israel, who had said, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.

[16:00] He is there on the cross dying for those who yelled for his death penalty. God demonstrating his love toward us in that while we were still calling for his death.

[16:17] Christ dying for sinners. Verse 9, much more than having now been justified by his blood. we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[16:29] So Jesus comes as the suffering savior to redeem the lost. We also see that they despised and rejected him. Look at Isaiah.

[16:40] Let's go back to the Old Testament. Another prophecy concerning the savior. Isaiah 53, 3. This is a chapter in Isaiah that the Jews pretty well dismissed today because they are not able to to fathom the possibility of their Messiah as one who would have to suffer.

[17:03] Isaiah 53, 3. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him.

[17:15] He was despised and we did not esteem him. That's a picture of his own people. Seeing their very own savior in human form in flesh.

[17:28] They did not look to him and give him any credit whatsoever for being the God of the universe. They didn't esteem him. They didn't give him the honor and the glory on earth that he deserved.

[17:40] The Bible says that Jesus Christ did not see fit to reserve all the glory that was his in heaven but he emptied himself of the glory and all of the privilege that he had at the right hand of God the Father and he chose to humble himself and become just like a human being and he chose to limit his power so to speak in that he became hungry just like us he became tired just like any other human being and he knew what it was like to be despised and rejected and we did not esteem so they persecuted also the prince of peace the pierced prince as we look at our title this morning let's look to Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7 Isaiah 9 6 and 7 is a very common a very popular portion of scripture that we looked at just a few months ago it doesn't seem like it's been that long since we celebrated the birth of

[18:49] Christ but here we are in the middle of March my time is going by but for unto us word of God reads a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father and prince of peace for seven of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the Lord of host will perform this and so we see Israel mourning when they recognize the one whom they had rejected and then next what we see in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 is these mourners remember their response they remember what they did as a nation when they rejected their savior when they rejected their messiah

[19:59] Christ had come to reconcile them to God and while they were guilty he offered them grace think about that when we see in in Zechariah 12 10 God pouring out his spirit of grace and supplication we see two aspects of this going on we see the spirit of grace and what is grace God providing to his people or God providing to mankind what we don't deserve and also what we see is the spirit of grace and the spirit of supplication meaning when we look to God and and we beg for his mercy and so what we see is God's people begging him for mercy and he provides grace that we could never ever deserve while they deserved death he died for them and he died for us and again going back to

[21:01] Romans 5 8 but God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us imagine that Jesus Christ hanging on the cross now we begin today this series on the cross culminate on the Sunday morning where we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior imagine Jesus hanging on the cross the perfect sinless spotless lamb of God taking away the sin of the world and there he is gazing upon the very ones that he came to save rejecting him and praying for them father forgive them for they don't even know what they're doing they pierced him and he prayed for them here they were killing him and he's showering upon them kindness imagine the type of

[22:04] Savior that would do that for them look at Luke 23 let's look at that Luke 23 verse 34 then Jesus said while hanging there on the cross one of the seven sayings of the cross father forgive them for they do not know what they do and they divided his garments took his clothes and cast lots for them and saying all right you win you get this you win you get that do we know anyone today who are resisting this pleading prince I trust it's not you this morning whom the very son of God before you today would be saying accept my free gift

[23:04] I've paid it all I'm here to provide you reconciliation to be reconciled back to God you who do not deserve his kindness do not deserve salvation but rather deserve an eternal punishment because we know that the wages of sin is death and here Jesus is the prince of peace offering us peace with the father through his death and his resurrection do we know anyone who is resisting that pleading prince of peace today that maybe we can be the ones that God uses to bring them the message of peace the gospel the gospel of peace there are millions there are probably billions around the world today who are rejecting the savior there are many many millions untold millions who have never heard of the savior that's why we send missionaries that's why the apostle

[24:15] Paul wanted to go where no other missionary had ever been where the name of Jesus had never even been mentioned before that's where Paul wanted to go and that's where many missionaries are going today and that's where our giving towards missions provides the wherewithal provides the funds for those to pull up stake and to leave the things that America can provide to go to a foreign land and provide the gospel of peace and even those who go to inner city inner cities within our very own country where it's hard for us to believe here in the Bible belt of the south but there are many metropolitan areas in our very own country where there are people who have never heard of Jesus and never set foot in a church building have never heard of the gospel maybe they've heard of

[25:19] God they've heard of religion but they've never heard the gospel this pleading prince is offering eternal salvation one day it will come to his people but it's offered today to those who are alive and then thirdly these mourners according to verse number 10 will eventually repent and repentance is merely a turning around it's an about face it's a changing of the mind it's realizing oh wait a minute I believed this but that's not right now I believe this that's all repentance is it's a change of mind a change of heart where God's people the Jews one day will change their mind and realize oh wait a minute we rejected this savior because we didn't know who he was and now we repent and we accept the truth that he is the

[26:20] Messiah look again at Zechariah 12 10 as we bring this this morning to a close and I will God says pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication then then they will look on me whom they pierced yes they will mourn for him he changes his the poetic language changes to the third person will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn they face the pierced one and they cry out for forgiveness the question is what is our response to this suffering savior what's our response does it even move us a little and what I find is especially for us who've known

[27:29] Jesus for so many years who followed Christ for so many years there is the potential for us to become so familiar with this awesome out of this world gift of grace that we treat it as something that is common and it's so uncommon for the God of the universe to love sinful lost mankind so much that the suffering savior would hang upon the cross and look upon those who had called for his death penalty to say father forgive them for they don't even know what they're doing they don't know who they're doing this to but one day one day he was looking forward to that one day and so what is our response does it does it kind of get you a little bit excited when we talk about the gospel and when we we talk about the cross and it

[28:33] I think the cross of Christ should cause a couple of emotions and they're kind of both opposite ends of the spectrum one it should cause guilt and remorse because of the enormity of our sin my sin your sin is what caused Jesus to have to hang on the cross and yes we include the entirety of of human population who has ever lived and ever will live but let's make it personal it's my sin that caused Jesus to suffer and I know this is a saying we use sometimes if it were only me that has ever lived Jesus would have still come and died for me so guilt and remorse over the enormity and the horribleness of sin and it's our sin that caused

[29:39] Jesus to have to hang and die upon the cross but it also produced joy because Jesus did not stay on the cross Jesus did not remain in that tomb but on the third day on the morning of the first day of the week the Bible says the tomb was what empty the Lord Jesus Christ rose again the very power of God raised Jesus Christ from the dead proving that his death on the cross paid our penalty in full because the last words that Jesus said on the cross before the Bible says he gave up the spirit was or were it is finished it's completed there's no longer any more need for us to pay for our sin there's no longer any need for us to do penance for our sin there's no longer any need for us to walk on our knees and give up food for our time yeah it's good to give up food to lose some weight but that's about it because the

[30:48] Bible says it's finished we no longer need to have to atone for our sin because it's already been done it is finished and what is our response to the cross of Calvary does it produce the remorse that we realize that it's my sin that brought Jesus to have to do this and also the joy of that he would do it for me in the words of Matthew Henry there is a holy mourning the effect of the pouring out of the spirit a mourning for sin which quickens faith in Christ and qualifies for joy for the joy of God let's submit to the Lord Jesus Christ in all we do let's pray Lord God as we have come together this morning as the body of Christ may we rejoice in that you love us and that while we were still sinners our

[31:56] Savior Christ died for us Lord today may we rejoice in the fact that we have the ability to be reconciled back to you I thank you for each one here this morning who have placed their faith and trust in Christ and Lord if there's anyone here this morning who has not done so Lord I pray that your Holy Spirit would prompt them this morning to say Father I know I'm a sinner I know I don't deserve your mercy thank you for what Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary for me and I trust Christ as my Savior and full pardon of my sin and I thank you for the new life that is mine in Christ through your

[32:57]  Holy Spirit Father I thank you for each one here today may we honor you may we live a life that glorifies you Father may we be your mouthpiece to those who don't know Christ as their Savior this week and in all that we do may we glorify your Holy name we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen