Thru the Bible

Guest (Male): It's a great day to be in God's Word, and we're so glad that you're along for the ride as we journey through the Bible together. Now we're going to continue our study in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, picking things up in chapter 7. So if you've traveled with us before, you know that we love hearing from our fellow passengers. And we love sharing your letters, too. And why is that? Well, because they're some of the clearest evidence of how God's Word is changing lives. And that tradition goes all the way back to our founder, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. In fact, here's Dr. McGee with one of his favorite letters.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I would like to share with you today one of the most remarkable letters that we have had. I'm not going to give the place because it's a small place up in Idaho. I think it's an outstanding letter. Will you listen to it?

"I was an intellectual Bible student and Christian for 80-odd years. Tuned into your program 10 months ago. Did not agree on many points, but listened each day because of the good things you said and taught from the Bible. I admit I was prejudiced, and I prayed sincerely that I might be kept from receiving any erroneous teaching. I thank God each session for the blessings I had received and put what I did not agree with on the shelf.

Through the weeks, I found more and more that I could agree with, and the shelf became more and more empty. The Bible began to be illuminated and my hunger for the things of God became ravenous. I laid aside all books and depended entirely upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my study of the Word. Now I am reveling in the depths and heights of the wonders of this precious Word. Oh, the mercy and patience of a loving Heavenly Father with such stupid souls as I. How multifarious are His ways. Praise God for your radio ministry. I'm on solid ground now and know that I have been born again into the family of God."

And friends, if our radio ministry didn't accomplish anything but just a letter like this, I frankly think it was worthwhile. But these can be multiplied. And the thing that's remarkable about this letter, of course, is this man is over 80 years of age. And it's marvelous what the Spirit of God can do when He takes the Word of God and makes it real to us.

Guest (Male): That really is true. As Dr. McGee often said, it's marvelous what the Spirit of God can do when He takes the Word of God and makes it real to us. Let's ask Him to do just that.

Heavenly Father, we come with open hearts knowing that You're able. Would You take Your Word and make it come alive to us through the power of Your Spirit? And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now let's join Dr. J. Vernon McGee for today's journey in Zechariah 7 through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now friends, last time we got to the seventh chapter of Zechariah and we moved down actually as far as verse 6. And I'm going to move up to verse 4. But in case we have some new listeners today or someone that missed it last time, let me give the background for this particular section. This is a historic interlude in the prophecy of Zechariah. We had the 10 visions, and now there's a historic interlude.

We have here a delegation that came down from Bethel or Bethel, as we customarily call it. It means the house of God. And they came down from there. It was called the house of God by Jacob when he thought he had run away from God as well as his father and his brother Esau. When he got there and spent the night and God gave him that vision, he said, "This is the house of God, the very gate of heaven." But unfortunately, the Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam put one of the golden calves in Bethel. It was a place that belonged to the Northern Kingdom.

And so this delegation that came down from Bethel indicates that people from the 10 so-called lost tribes weren't lost at all. Some of them were Bethel. And if you'd read Ezra very carefully, you'll find out that those that returned came from cities all around the Sea of Galilee. So that the entire 12 tribes were represented, but very few of any of them actually returned—less than 60,000 all told.

Now they came down and they came down with a question. And their question was a very simple one in a way. They had begun to fast before the Babylonian captivity and during it. You remember in Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down. We wept when we remembered Zion." They put their harps on the willow trees and they just sobbed out their soul there. And so that became a religious function.

Now actually, God never gave fast days. He gave feast days. It was their own idea to fast. And even when they fasted, they'd never done it really to the Lord, as we indicated last time. But God didn't come out and say that it was wrong to fast, and He didn't say it was right, either. He didn't answer the question directly, and yet He answered the question.

And so you have here the answer that He gives in verse 4. I read, "Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying..." Now Zechariah will give them God's answer concerning this. And we're going to find that there actually is a threefold answer to this question concerning a religious ritual. Their point is this: we've been fasting, we've been weeping and wailing, and it looks pretty silly now and it's got very boring. After all, it's a religious rite we're going through and we're not getting any results. God doesn't seem to be blessing us. And what's wrong? What should we do about it?

Well, there will be a threefold answer. The first is, beginning here at verse 4, when the heart is right, the ritual is right. And that goes down through verse 7. Then verses 8 through 14, when the heart is wrong, the ritual is wrong. And then the third answer we'll get in chapter 8: God's purpose concerning Jerusalem is unchanged by any ritual.

And that ought to answer the question of a great many folk today who are saying, "Oh, let's do this or that and hasten the coming of Christ." My friend, you couldn't move it up one second by anything that you do. Don't you know that He's running this universe? And that anything that you do is not going to interfere with His plan or program? You can't interfere with Him. And these people thought that a ritual might have something to do with changing God's plans. God lets them know in chapter 8 He intends to accomplish His purpose.

Now let's notice this first of all: the ritual is right when the heart is right. Verse 4, we read, "Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month"—and that was August and October—"even those 70 years"—now that's during the 70 years captivity—"did ye at all fast unto me, even unto me?"

God makes it very clear to them, and actually a good translation would be, "Did you really fast? Did you really fast unto God? Did you really do it unto Him?" After all, God's making it very clear now that He does not approve nor does He condemn the ritual. He inquires into the motive. And He actually avoids the question. In their specific case, they'd fasted, as they said, these so many years. You can read between the lines there. It had become boresome to them.

Worshiping God had really become boresome. And the Lord is saying to them, "If you really want to know the truth, God says I was bored with you also. I thought you were very boresome." I'll be very frank with you that I think there are a lot of so-called Christian services today that causes God to yawn. I think that He says, "Ho hum, here they go again. Jumping through some little hoop as if they think that will please Me."

Now God says you didn't do it unto Me, and God produces evidence. Verse 6: "And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" When the fasting was over, you couldn't wait to get to the table. When you were eating, did you do it unto Me? You remember Paul says to the believer, meat doesn't commend us to God, whether you eat or whether you don't. But whatever you do, whether it be to eat or to drink, do all to the glory of God. Now if you can fast to the glory of God, you fast. But if you're doing it for some reason other than the high motive, then don't do it. That's exactly what He's saying.

It's the same thing that He says: "Faith without works is dead." Our Christian faith is not a Sunday affair. Sunday clothes that are put away on Monday morning are no good. And the test of the Sunday service is the life the next day. And He's going to deal with them in the last part of this chapter on these very specifics that had to do with their business dealings, their social contacts, and their amusements. And these were the things that revealed that what they did, they did not do it unto the Lord at all. And there's something more important than a ritual. And that will determine whether the ritual is right or not.

Verse 7: "Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities round about it, when men inhabited the Negev and the Shephelah?" The Shephelah were the plains around Beersheba. Reminds me of the plains of West Texas. And that's the reason I didn't like it, because as a boy I lived in West Texas. That's in the days before they irrigated that land there. And I want to tell you, when a wind came through it could really blow up a sandstorm the like of which you've never seen or heard of before.

And that land is the same thing. God says to them, you went through all this ritual before. And when you were in the land, what happened? Why, you went into captivity. Why? Because you did not obey Me. And then He's going to begin in verse 8 to show that a ritual is wrong if the heart is wrong. And when He does that, actually that's another way of saying the same thing. God will put down on their lives specific commandments—the commandments that have to do with the man's relationship to man as well as God.

And my friend, this idea today that we can serve Christ, even go through a little ritual of doing something, and we're not really right with Him... The Lord Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" And I think it's the most wonderful thing. You know what I would have done if I'd have been in His place after His resurrection and had come to Simon Peter? I would have balled him out for denying Me. And I would have told him what kind of a fellow I thought he was.

You know what the Lord Jesus said to him? He said, "Do you love Me?" My friend, it's not the ritual you go through. I want to pass on to you something now with this tremendous thing before us that is very pertinent for us today. Some church members—to them religion is a rite or a ritual, or a legalistic and lifeless form, a liturgical system marked by meaningless and wearisome verbiage.

You know, there's a lot of religious garbage in our so-called conservative and evangelical churches today. There is a ceaseless quoting of tired adjectives and a jumble of pious platitudes. I hear this today. Let me pass on some of them to you. "We want to share our faith." Most people don't have enough faith to share, friends. It's not your faith that you share about how wonderful you are or what wonderful things God did for you. You witness to Jesus Christ, who He is and what He did for you. You're not sharing anything, but we use that.

And now we talk today in salvation: "Commit your life to Jesus." Commit your life? What do you mean? Or they say, "Yield your life to Him." Do you think He wants your life? He says our righteousness, even our so-called good deeds, are filthy rags in His sight. What are you going to do, send Him your dirty laundry? God doesn't want your dirty laundry, my friend.

We've gotten in the habit of using words that are taking away the real meaning of the Gospel. And here is another word that sure is being worn out today. The tread is really becoming thin on the word "love." And that's a high word of Scripture. And it's been worn out on the freeway of present-day usage. It's been emasculated of its rich, vital, virile, and vigorous Bible meaning. It's been degraded to the level of a bumper sticker that says, "Honk if you love Jesus."

And a fellow in a little car the other day, I noticed people ahead of me were honking and going around him. He was driving very slowly in the fast lane on the freeway. And car after car had to detour around this guy. And I came up and I thought, "Well, I'm going to honk at this fellow." And then I saw the sticker. The sticker said, "Honk if you love Jesus." And I went around him and I gave him a look. And I felt like if I could have got to the place where I could have spoken to him, I would have told him that if you love Jesus, you don't run around honking your horn. If you love Jesus, you're going to live a life of obedience to Him and you will be courteous to other people.

Well, may I say to you that today there's a great deal of churchianity that's bland and bloodless, tasteless and colorless. It's devoid of the warmth and feeling. There's no personal relationship with Christ that is meaningful and productive. It's like that liberal. He said it made him sick to hear people talk of a personal relationship with Christ. Well, I'd sure make him sick if he listened to this program, because that's the thing you have to have, my friend, is a personal relationship with Christ. And your ritual and your liturgy is not worth a snap of your fingers unless it's got a life that is related to Jesus Christ.

Now may I move on? If there's no deep yearning for a life that's well-pleasing to Him, no real study of His Word, no stimulating desire to know His Word, not excited about the Bible and the Word of God... Church membership for a great many people today in certain churches is just like a young man falling in love with a furnished apartment and marrying an electric stove and a refrigerator and a vacuum cleaner and a garbage disposal and a wet mop. That's just about what it means.

I heard of a maiden lady years ago who was asked why she had never gotten married. And she gave this very interesting answer. She says, "Well, I have a stove that smokes, I have a dog that growls around the house, and I have a parrot that cusses, and a lazy cat that lies around all day loafing and then's out half of the night. Why do I need a husband?"

May I say to you, that's the kind of a relationship that a great many folk have to God and to Christ today. And yet they have a ritual in which they jump up and down and run all around. But it's meaningless. Let's stop playing church today and start loving Christ and living for Him.

I want to share with you right now two of the most remarkable letters that I've had in many a day. The first one comes from a little town in Tennessee, and I'm not going to identify it because I do not want to identify these people. They've written wonderful letters. Listen to this:

"I discovered your program out of Memphis only about six months ago just when I needed it most. Isn't that just like our lovely Lord? I am a born-again Christian, only two years old. That's really something for a 55-year-old grandmother to have to admit. My husband is a retired regular Army dentist, heart patient. We moved 33 times in 26 years before retiring on this little farm here in the boondocks. We played church. I even taught a women's Sunday school class and my husband was a deacon. I can't speak for him, but all I had was head knowledge and very little heart knowledge. And the young minister in the church where we have gone for 14 years is so liberal, he thinks the belief in the virgin birth unnecessary and sees no conflict between transcendental meditation and Christianity. We stuck it out for a year and then left the church. I would be less than honest to say I don't miss a church home since I've had church homes like that."

Now will you listen to the other letter? It comes from Southern California, and I'll not identify the place. And this is a very remarkable letter. Will you hear it carefully?

"I am a wife and mother under 30, and I've been a Christian since I was three and a half. I've often thought of writing but didn't think I had anything meaningful to say. Well, I've changed my mind. Several years ago, I knew a lady quite well who was constantly pushing your program at me. This lady was a terrible housekeeper, had an unhappy husband and marriage and five unruly children. But she listened to her Christian programs from morning till night. Naturally, I associated her fanaticism with you and would not listen.

During the past three years, however, I've been listening to you weekdays and sometimes on Sunday before church. And I found you to have a rare gift. I'm certainly glad you dedicated your work to Christ. I love the study of the Word. I get so much from your theology and your knowledge of the Scriptures. I wish that I could find a pastor locally who preached as well. Time is so short, and I'm glad you're filling each minute with the vital news of God. I wish I could have seen past that lady's disorderly life a long time ago. God bless you in your work, thou good and faithful servant."

I want to say to you, friends, here was a woman who listened to all the Christian programs, a fanatical Christian who had a home in a mess. You've heard people say that, but here is a mother and a wife that saw that, and it kept her from the Word of God for years. My friend, the test of any ritual, any program, is the life.