The outpouring of a spirit of grace and supplications (i) (Quality Good)

[0:00] As the Lord may help me today, I will direct your attention to the prophecy of Zechariah, the twelfth chapter and the tenth verse.

[0:13] The prophecy of Zechariah, the twelfth chapter and the tenth verse. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications.

[0:39] And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

[1:00] And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications.

[1:10] They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And I shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

[1:30] This prophecy was made some 500 years before the actual events took place.

[1:43] And yet, with what clear detail are these events described? But, though the events may be considered relative to the day of Pentecost, yet, there has been a continuity of the same outpouring of the spirit of God, the same experience of looking upon him whom each of God's children have pierced throughout the ages.

[2:24] Therefore, whilst we have here a remarkable prophecy, which was to be fulfilled in a very special and peculiar and particular way, yet, that this prophecy is not to be restricted to one occasion.

[2:45] The necessity upon the election of grace is continuous. It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

[3:07] This was surely a precious word to those that had faith in God at this time. It spoke of a day, a gospel day, a glorious day, a day of deliverance, a day of the outpouring of God's power, a day wherein God would affect that which, just at that particular time, hardly seemed possible.

[3:38] Zechariah lived in the time of the captivity and of the rebuilding again of the walls of Jerusalem.

[3:53] And he was to see the temple rear and to hear the rejoicing that took place mingled with the weeping of others who remember the glory of the former house.

[4:08] And yet, in spite of all this, the temple that was the rear then was, to be to speak, glorified in that the very floor of it would be walked upon by the Lord Jesus himself, the glorious God, the eternal Son of the living God.

[4:41] Now we look, first of all, at the great miracle that was performed here. The miracle that was performed under two headings.

[4:56] First of all, as it referred to the Jews at the time of the day of Pentecost, and then secondly, as it may affect everyone that is called by grace and brought to hope for salvation in Jesus Christ.

[5:21] The Gospel day has ever been a glorious day. Those that had faith in Old Testament times doubtless looked for this toward this day when Jesus Christ would be manifested and when the veil would be rent from the top to the bottom, when the glories of truth hidden, veiled to a large extent in the Old Testament times would now be made so clear and so apparent.

[5:58] I will call upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are representative of those who are joined to Christ in the covenant of God, the covenant of grace.

[6:28] The Lord did not pour out the Spirit of grace upon any others, but what kind of characters were these that were to receive of the Spirit of grace the very worst of characters.

[6:53] People of violence may sometimes be regarded, are regarded as the worst of characters. Those that have committed murder are regarded as perhaps the worst of characters.

[7:13] But when we look at the matter in God's view of things, we find that those that have not faith, those that believe not on him whom God has sent, were truly the worst of characters.

[7:35] The people that are lost are lost because they do not believe. The wicked are lost. The person that is in jail, the person that is a murderer, the person that has gone to great lengths and has become a menace to society, is not sent to hell because of that.

[8:01] He is sent to hell because he does not believe on the name of Jesus Christ. equally, those that may continually hear the preaching of the gospel, if they do not believe the gospel, will essentially be lost in just the same way as those other wicked and violent men.

[8:26] Everything revolves around this important point of believing the gospel. the early burden of the preaching of Jesus Christ was just this, repent and believe the gospel.

[8:49] Those words were not directed to the profanes, to those that people generally regarded as ungodly, they were directed to the Jews, to those who were meticulous for the most part in regard to the law, and considered that if they could keep the law, then all would be well.

[9:14] They trusted in the law, they trusted in themselves. The Lord came, and when he came, this was the tone, and the general theme of his preaching, repent and believe the gospel, if there was no change of mind, if there was no change of thinking, if there was still a clinging to the law, then there necessarily could be no salvation.

[9:47] Well, we can read in the accounts in the gospel of those that believed and those that did not believe.

[10:03] The Lord Jesus, because he was gone, he could say, you will not come unto me. Ministers today are not in a position to say conclusively to anybody, you will not come unto me.

[10:22] But God knows whether any of us will not come unto Jesus Christ for salvation. Well, but did not these people come to Jesus Christ?

[10:38] These Jews at that time, did they not come to Jesus Christ? They came. They criticized. They criticized. They tried to find thought.

[10:50] They regarded him as a son of the devil. Solemn it is when Jesus Christ is not believed on. But so was the case with the Jews that are primarily referred to in the words of our text.

[11:12] But amongst them, there were some included under the name house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[11:26] In the next chapter we read these words, in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

[11:42] It was the house of David. It was the inhabitants of Jerusalem to a great extent who were responsible for crucifying the Lord of life and glory.

[11:56] Their enmity knew no bounds and they were willing to go to any length to get this man out of the way. They regarded him, even Jesus Christ, as an imposter, one who would under no circumstances be the true God.

[12:15] They could not receive it, they could not believe it, they did not accept it. If they went any distance at all, it was only to regard him as a man of outstanding ability, of integrity and uprightness, a man that could work miracles, maybe some would go so far as to say that he was a prophet, but for the most time, that which the apostle speaks of later on, was seen in their heart, the natural mind is enmity against God.

[12:52] It cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually deserved. But the time came when, through the preaching on the day of Pentecost, that the Spirit of grace and of supplication was to be poured out.

[13:17] God, and what a day it was, how effectual it was. There had never been preaching like it. The Lord Jesus Christ preached, his preaching truly was powerful, it was effective, and yet in a very special way, the building up, the laying of the foundation of the church in people that were called, was reserved until the day of Pentecost.

[13:52] The Lord's followers were comparatively few. We may complain in these days, and say, how few there are that appear to be true followers of Jesus Christ.

[14:08] surely we must reach this conclusion that there were very few followers of Jesus Christ while he was here upon this earth.

[14:23] I was struck only yesterday with this passage in the scripture, when the Lord spoke to Abraham, and he said, you own, you only have I known of all the people that are upon the earth.

[14:43] Now just think of it, Abraham, you only. We come down to think about God's calling, we come to think about God's election, and God's election in Abraham was down to one man.

[15:04] Well, that's what the scripture says, you only. have I known of all the people that are on the face of the earth. When the disciples met in the upper room, or when they met on another occasion, when the number is recorded, a hundred and twenty, a hundred and twenty.

[15:30] Out of Jerusalem and its environment, a hundred and twenty, and here the Prince of Glory had been preaching effectively, because it was effective in that it was faithful.

[15:47] It was faithful preaching from Jesus Christ. It could not be otherwise. wine. This was a great day when three thousand were wrought upon by the Spirit of God, and were, as it were, the beginning of the church in those days being increasing in number.

[16:14] But then, to come back to the point of the Lord's preaching, repent and believe the gospel. The people, the Jews, were resting upon the Lord, and in keeping of the Lord, and that as far as they wanted to go.

[16:38] Paul gives us a real detail of his own feelings, which is expressive of the feelings of the Jews generally. They wanted to keep the Lord.

[16:50] They thought they did God's service, and they had no other desire to believe on anybody, only to believe in themselves. But we just pass on from there.

[17:04] to the people that gather in the congregation today, that gather in our congregation now. Now, the Lord knows our heart.

[17:18] God's are we trusting in ourselves? If we are, then is the empathy of our heart strong?

[17:32] And does it rise up against Jesus Christ? You may say, well, of course it doesn't. I love Jesus Christ, I have every respect for Jesus Christ. Well, do you believe on Jesus Christ?

[17:44] Because if you love me, you will keep my commandment. Do you believe on Jesus Christ? Do you come to Jesus Christ and say, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cleanse, make it come to thee for dress, help it look to thee for grace, black or foul, high to a fountain fly, wash me, saviour, or I die.

[18:15] Now, this doctrine, this preaching of Christ, will find the empathy of the natural mind rising up and will say we will not have this man to rise over us.

[18:29] I'm a righteous man, I do what I can to my neighbour, everybody regards me as a Christian, you may do so, and you may feel so, and perish in your sins in the end, unless this great miracle takes place of the spirit of God pouring out upon you the spirit of grace and of supplication.

[18:54] There is no question about the work of God, I will pour out upon the house of David, these characters that in 500 years time, in a very specific way, were to be responsible for crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:18] They did not believe on him. Do we believe on him? We need to ask ourselves the question, because if we do not believe on him, there is only one result, and that is we shall perish in our sins, believing on him.

[19:41] There is a time, and because our natures are what they are, that we do not believe on Jesus Christ, has a change been wrought? Has God brought repentance into our souls?

[19:56] When will that be? It will be when God pours upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace of supplication.

[20:08] We have no stones to throw at these people who are there, crucified for Lord Jesus Christ. If our eyes are open to sinfulness, wickedness, villainy, evil, of our hearts, we do know that we have no stones to throw at these people, of the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of those that were responsible for the, that is responsible literally for the killing of our Lord Jesus Christ, they, out of those were sons whose hearts were affected, and who were brought upon by the spirit of God, so that they repented and believed the gospel.

[21:02] but not before, the spirit of grace and supplication had been poured out upon them. Now what we see here, we see, must see, in the present day, it is not very often seen, it was never very often seen, but it is a work which continues, every day this word will be a prophecy to the church of God, I will pour out, pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, those who are chosen unto salvation, loved of the father, as the brand plucked out of the fire, every one of them, not one of them shall be lost by the son of position, which was Judas, I will pour out upon the house of

[22:03] David. Pouring, well, there is a continuity in pouring, there is indeed a beginning, we may say in respect to literal things, there is an end, tea is poured out of the teapot, and it is continuous, isn't it?

[22:29] Continual, and so it is with the Spirit of God to the generations of God's children, there is a continuous pouring out of the Spirit, now the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, again, pouring out for the most part is very silent, much can go on without any noise, was it not so on the day of Pentecost, was there a noise, there was indeed a sound of a mighty rushing wind, but the effect in the hearts of the people, well, was there a noise?

[23:14] We might be affected by outward things sometimes, but our influence changed, I say, is it affected by great noise, literally, our heart is not torn apart, literally, we are not caught upon necessarily to birth forth with anguish of Spirit, the fact that some have done so is not to be denied, dispositions are different, some are more extrovert, and others are more introvert, but see that as it may, the feeling of anguish upon the Spirit will be the same, these people around the day of Pentecost, they were brought in guilty, now we must ask you, I must ask myself, have we, have I, been brought in guilty, been aware that I have sinned, and come so to the glory of

[24:14] God? God, it is affected when, and only when, the Spirit of grace and suffocation is poured out upon the chosen people of God, but how effective it is, how effective it is, there were all kinds of people gathered together on the day of Pentecost, a lot of people were in Jerusalem, I believe Josephus sells up, but at that time, because of the Passover and so on, there would have been something in the region of a million people in Jerusalem, when Jesus Christ was crucified, and indeed, we find from the account of the Acts of the Apostles, that they had come from all parts, and they spoke different languages, and yet, by the power of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, everyone heard in his own tongue, everyone heard in his own tongue, now you know, this is not to be confused, with the

[25:28] Pentecostal movement of the present day, that is a product of the devil himself, but this was the outcome of the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon these poor people, one moment they were in enmity, the next moment they were broken in their spirit, one moment they had no self feeling of guilt, and the next moment because of the quick work of the Spirit of God, they fell down, and the Spirit of Grace clearly came forth from their hearts, men and brethren, what shall we do?

[26:17] We ask ourselves therefore, this morning, as the weather, we've come to that point, because this is the beginning, this is the beginning, people of course, may say, well my experience is this, and my experience is that, but surely included in that experience must be this, which is clearly the effect of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of grace being given to them.

[26:52] Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Suddenly, the Spirit of grace has opened their eyes, the Spirit of grace has opened their ears, the Spirit of grace had affected their hearts, and instead of being obdurate, they have suddenly known a vital change, the stone being taken out of their hearts, and they themselves receiving a heart of flesh.

[27:36] Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

[27:51] Now, we have cases in history, perhaps cases in our own lives, we might have been guilty of some harsh treatment to a person that we didn't know, and afterwards we were told who they were, and perhaps we said, if I'd have known that, that was so and so, I would not have done what I did do, I would have not spoken harshly as I did do, I would not have treated them as badly as I did do.

[28:30] Well, if that might be our experience, or the experiences of people amongst men, how much more, if we should say, having acted harshly, spoken harshly, about Jesus Christ, we should have to confess our ignorance and say, I did not know.

[29:00] We have much reason to bless God, that he is gracious, compassionate, non-suffering, and merciful to us in regard to our sense of ignorance.

[29:16] the apostle himself in writing to Timothy, he has this clause because I did it ignorantly.

[29:28] Now, can we reflect? Will the Holy Ghost pour out upon us the spirit of grace so that we can reflect upon our lives and the things that we've said about Jesus Christ?

[29:45] Have they been honoring to him? The way in which we have acted toward Jesus Christ, have they been honoring to him? Can we see that we've belittled his righteousness, talked little about his death, preferred our own righteousness, preferred to rely on what we have done?

[30:06] now this can be done, can so easily be a point in our heart, you see we are parathes by nature, whatever people may say, if we're religious, and our religion is natural, we are parathes, we can't get away from it, and when we're born again of the spirit, we're very conscious, but that can be in us and felt in us too, I thank God I'm not like other men are, or even a Republican, and the sad part is that the guide of the Pharisee was himself, he trusted in God, hell we need to guard against trusting in ourselves, we are plagued with Phariseeism sometimes, are you plagued with it?

[31:00] You may be born again of the spirit, you may be a true father of Jesus Christ, but are you playing with a phariseic spirit sometimes, where you much prefer to rest upon what you have done, what you have thought, and what you have spoken sometimes, much referring, you've got something to look at, you've got something that you can say, well now I did that, and I said that, and wasn't it good?

[31:37] I thanked God that I was able to do it, but you weren't trusting in Jesus Christ, and the spirit of Phariseeism was born in upon you, because of your poor fallen nature, and you see, though I say these things, I say them because I know they're true, I say them because I felt them myself, and because I have felt them myself, I realize the precarious nature of our situation day by day, and what an infinite blessing has been poured upon anyone, upon myself, and upon some of you too, that the spirit of grace, and of supplication has come upon us, been poured out, been, as it were, poured in quietly, effectively, but nonetheless really, and what has the spirit of grace made us do?

[32:38] It has brought us to repentance, it has brought us to say, what shall we do? Here I've got a nature that is pulling me down, I have a nature which is bringing me to trust in myself, and all the time I'm trusting in myself, I'm despising the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I'm despising the life of Jesus Christ.

[33:02] This is what the apostle Paul felt when he said, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He couldn't get away from it, and neither can you or I get away from it.

[33:17] But there is a day wherein God, the spirit of God pours upon his children, those chosen unto salvation, the spirit of grace.

[33:29] And because they have the spirit of grace, therefore they cry unto God, and as they cry unto God, so they suffocate. You see the words here, the spirit of grace and of supplication are joined together.

[33:44] If we have the spirit of grace, then we shall suffocate. Now you may ask the question, what does that mean? Well, it means to pray. But then, not all prayer is suffocation.

[33:58] It means to cry aloud, and yet, not all crying aloud is suffocation. Well, what is suffocation? We may pray in our ignorance, not realizing the essential intercession of Jesus Christ.

[34:17] people may cry out, what must I do? I've made a big mistake, my whole life's been a blast, though I thought it was a pure life. What shall I do? A suffocation.

[34:31] In the preaching of the gospel, we must ever present to you the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, one that is able to have compassion on the ignorant, and upon them that are out of the way.

[34:43] the spirit of grace, and of suffocation. It will be the spirit of sincerity. People are sincere.

[34:56] We cannot rest upon sincerity. There have been people, as I once heard a godly minister many years ago say, who have been sincerely mistaken.

[35:10] And how sad that is, to be mistaken in our sincerity. But nevertheless, the grace of God will make us sincere. And when we come to God, we shall know how essential it is, whoso cometh to God must believe as he is, and that he is rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

[35:34] We shall see the necessity of it. But how can we? We are paralyzed, abide the power of sin in us. How can we? Here, the glorious gospel is said before us, I will pour out, I will pour out grace, and I will pour out supplication.

[35:55] I will pour out of my spirit, and my spirit working in you will direct you suddenly, instantly, take of the things of Jesus, and show you that new and living way, which is consecrated by his blood whereby we may enter into the holy place.

[36:19] To supplicate, it certainly means sincerity, it certainly means an intensity of spirit, supplicate, oh, you can bring it down to this, the blind man, he said, that was by the wayside begging, he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me, and he was supplicating.

[36:45] How much supplication is there in our lives? He was supplicating everything depended upon mercy of God being bestowed upon him.

[36:57] Now, there's a good deal of prayers that have been said without a great deal of supplication in them. When is it then that we can truly supplicate when God pours out of his spirit, the spirit of grace and of supplication?

[37:18] And it is centered in this, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. Now, you will not cry for mercy until you know that you're a bad sinner.

[37:31] You know that you have been responsible by reason of your sins for the one, for one who has loved you and loved you with an everlasting love.

[37:45] What can you do about that when you think that you have been a murderer of Christ? Oh, how intense is the anguish of the spirit that must surely be yours.

[37:58] What shall I do? What shall I do? What shall I do? God pours out the spirit of grace and of supplication that the Lord Jesus in his teaching had referred to the Old Testament many times.

[38:23] That was his Bible. We should ever remember that. And he said this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men, all kinds of men unto me.

[38:43] by what means? I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication.

[38:57] That's the means. going back to the Old Testament to read about the people that were bitten with the fiery serpents because of their sin.

[39:12] And their sin, you know, was virtually a rejection of Christ. They complained about the manna. And the Lord Jesus says later on in John 6, I am that bread.

[39:31] They complained about the manna. I know it was typical. I know the manna was sent to feed their bodies. But they complained about it. It was God's provision.

[39:42] And equally so, they were brought under the curse. And yet God was compassionate. God was compassionate. Would you have to say this morning that your heart rejects Jesus Christ will not have this man to reign over us?

[40:02] But there is mercy to the same Lord Jesus Christ whom you have crucified. Mercy. mercy. And so, when that brazen serpent was raised upon the pole in the midst of the camp, whosoever looked.

[40:25] That's all they could do. Have we been in that place in our experience? That's all we could do. look. No question of getting to heaven by the works of the flesh.

[40:36] That's all we could do. Look. And what do we find? Recorded in Psalm 34, they looked unto him and were lightened.

[40:48] And their faces were not ashamed. They saw here was salvation. Here was that which was given to these people that looked.

[41:02] Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the one that would come. But there was an effect.

[41:15] Immediately, they were healed in their bodies. Immediately, the venom was stanched. And they looked. They had faith.

[41:26] They were saved. They were delivered from the curse. They were saved from the result of their complaining.

[41:38] Oh, to be saved from the result of our complaining. How easily we can complain. You see, are we complaining about God's provision?

[41:51] God's provision is the food. Sometimes God's provision of our accommodation. Now, God knows whether we're complaining. You could look over all those people in Israel in those days, and it is possible that some may not have opened their mouths.

[42:08] And yet, God saw in their hearts they were a complaining people. And all this complaining was a rejection. Rejection of Christ. This was emphasized a little later on, when they wanted a king.

[42:23] king. Oh, how upset for Samuel was when Israel wanted a king. But God said to him, Samuel, they have not rejected you.

[42:39] They have rejected me. See, we can read through the history. people wanting certain things, and it may seem legitimate according to the minds of men, but in how many things that are legitimate to the minds of men, there is this.

[43:02] they reject me. They reject me. Bring that closely to bear upon our own secret lives, that is, the life of our hearts.

[43:20] In the things that we do, in our complaints, in the things that we say, is it really a question that boils down to this. They have rejected me.

[43:32] It is very solemn for us to read that there was no change of heart between the Jews that lived in the days of Moses and those that lived in the days of Christ.

[43:50] Because they said, these latter, we have no king but Caesar. So there was no change of heart. They rejected Christ.

[44:02] they rejected God as their king. And yet, amidst all those people, and amidst the people that are upon the earth today, there are some, broadly speaking, in this gospel day, included Gentiles as well as Jews, Jews, in the number of the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that have poured out upon them the spirit of grace and of supplication.

[44:43] Now, you see, anything that is poured out upon you, you cannot resist, and neither can you command it. It is the sovereign will and purpose of God.

[44:56] for you. God is Xu. He has himself.