By the Spirit — John Chubik

All right, well, let's open our Bibles to the book of Zechariah, chapter four. And let's pray one more time. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your presence here with us now. And Father, we just pray in the name of Jesus Christ that you would just help us tonight, Lord.

Father, you see what's happening in our hearts and in our minds. And Lord, we just pray now against everything that would distract us from what you want to speak to us, Lord. We pray in the name of Jesus that you would clear our minds and and give us an ability to listen and receive.

Father, we pray for grace to lay aside the things of tomorrow and the things that have already been in this day and just give our minds, our attention wholly to you now. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Zechariah’s Vision and the Word to Zerubbabel

All right, the book of Zechariah, chapter four. Let's read. Let's go ahead and read verses one through six. I want to kind of read through the whole chapter, but we'll do it in chunks. Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me as a man who's wakened out of his sleep.

And he said to me, what do you see? So I said, I'm looking and there's a lampstand of solid gold with a bull on top of it. And on the stand, seven lamps with seven pipes to seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right hand of the bull, the other at its left.

So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me saying, what are these my Lord? And the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, do you not know what these are? I said, no, my Lord. And so he answered and said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts.

So I said, what do you see? So I said, I'm looking and there's a lampstand of solid gold with a bull on top of it. And on the stand, seven lamps with seven pipes to seven lamps. And on the stand, seven lamps.

Two olive trees are by it, one at the right hand of the bull, the other at its left. So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me saying, what are these my Lord? And the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, do you not know what these are?

I said, no, my Lord. And so he answered and spoke to me saying, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts. What's going on here? Well, in the year 538 BC, Cyrus, the king of Persia, let the Jewish people return out of the captivity that they had been in back to their nation.

And 536, the first group went under this man, Zerubbabel, that we read about here. And the first thing they do is they begin to rebuild the temple that had been completely destroyed by the Babylonians.

Yeah. Ezra chapter three tells us how after they had laid the foundation, yet there was great rejoicing. They had a praise ceremony, just praise God that the foundation had been laid. The foundation was there, but then the problems began.

The Samaritans kind of first wanted to join them, then began to resist them. They wrote to the king. They said, you know, these Jews are bad troublemakers. They're trying to build this temple. Stop them.

So the king gave his order, stop building. They had other problems. They had problems with their crops. You know, and it just seemed like the purpose that they had come back to the land for just wasn't happening.

You know, it just wasn't going anywhere. So they just kind of gave up. They just started doing their own thing, building their own houses, forgetting about the Lord's house. And it stops for a long time.

Yeah. And that's the context of the passage we're reading about here. This is 14 years later, you know, and the Lord speaks through the prophet Zechariah. Yeah. And he gives a word to Zerubbabel, this guy who started out building the temple.

And the word is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. You know, often God begins a work in our life. We get saved, and there's a work of God that begins in our life. You know, and things begin to happen.

The Lord begins to work. Maybe we even get into the ministry. We receive a call from God to serve him in some capacity. And we're going forward in the call. We're going forward in the work of the Lord.

And we begin to encounter resistance, difficulty, trouble. We're defeated. We're discouraged. This word is for us. It's the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. It's the word of the Lord to you tonight. Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

What's the Lord saying? What's this word might mean? It's the Hebrew word hayel. It appears 244 times in our Old Testament. It means strength or force, power. Yeah. A hundred times in the Old Testament, it appears in the context of military might, of an army, the power of an army.

You know, in the church history recently, we saw how the crusaders tried to accomplish the will of God with military power, by taking Jerusalem back from the Muslims. That would be the direct application of this word.

30 other places in the Old Testament, it refers to the power of wealth, you know, the power of money to buy things or solve problems. You know, how often the church has thought that its problems could be solved by just a little more money.

You know, if we had that, we could do what God wants us to do. Other places, it refers to the power of bravery, the brave heart, the one who's just courageous to jump into the situation. Now, courage is not a bad thing to have.

But in what the Lord is talking about here, he says, not by might. You can't, what God is trying to do, you can't accomplish with an army. You can't buy it. You can't force it to happen through raw courage.

He goes on to say, nor by power. This is the word koach in Hebrew. It's used 126 times in the Old Testament. And in its most basic meaning, it means just raw physical strength, brute force. I can fix this thing.

I'll do it. You know, in other contexts, it refers to just the kind of force of will or the ability to cope with situations that I might have as an individual. I can make this happen. I'm experienced, I have confidence in myself, you know, I can do this.

You know, nor by power. God is speaking, and he's telling us the ways not to accomplish his will in our life. And then he says, but by my spirit. Everything that God wants to do in the world, everything that God wants to do in and through your life, he's going to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

You know, what gasoline is to a car, what electricity is to these lights, the power of God's Holy Spirit is to his people. You go, no gas, you go nowhere in the car. No electricity, the lights are black.

If the Holy Spirit is not flowing through your life, there's nothing fruitful that can possibly happen. Jesus is very brutally clear about this fact. John chapter 15, he says, without me, you can do nothing.

What does that mean? I mean, I can do lots of things without Jesus. I lived 19 years without him. I fed myself, I dressed myself, I had a job, I had relationships with different friends and people. I studied, I worked.

You know, I had hobbies. Without me, you can do nothing. Nothing that counts for God, nothing that is fruitful in his eyes, nothing that is of any eternal value can happen apart from the work of his spirit in our lives.

You know, without him, we can do nothing. I believe this is one of the key things a Christian has to understand. It's a very basic truth, we've all heard it millions of times. But whether or not this is a truth that lays hold of your life or not will determine to the degree your life is fruitful for Jesus Christ or not.

Without him, we can do nothing. What's the opposite of that? Turn to Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 17. This is part, the kind of the beginning of a prayer of Jeremiah's. He realizes something right at the beginning.

Let's read that. Yeah. There's nothing God can't do. You know, to link our lives with the power of God, the purpose of God, the will of God is to link our lives with, you know, the unstoppable force, you might say.

God can do anything at any moment, anytime he wants. Yeah. I heard one missionary, a missionary in Nicaragua said this one time. And it stayed with me. And it's, you know, God can do more in one second than I can do in my entire life.

You know, I could spend a whole life, 70 years of, of plowing away and doing my best and working hard and, and, you know, just kind of in my own effort, labor all that time. And, you know, God in one second can outdo me.

He can just, you know, poof. He can part the Red Sea. He can cause the fall of the Soviet Union. He can do whatever he wants. I'm sorry, I can't do this much. Yeah, it's okay. Amen. Why would we labor without him?

God Removes Mountains and Completes His Work

Turn back to Zechariah chapter four. Verse seven. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. There's a big mountain in front of Zerubbabel.

You know, the king of Persia. You know, enemies all around. You know, his people have kind of given up hope and just kind of started doing their own thing as workforce. You know, that's a lot of trouble.

What are your troubles tonight? What are the things that are hindering you in the accomplishment of God's will in your life? What are the things that are discouraging you? Or what are the things that Satan is whispering in your ear and saying, you know, you know, you'll never amount to anything.

God will never be able to use you. You know, with the Lord, they can become a plain. The Lord can just deal with them in an instant. And the work of God, it's always a work of grace in our life. You know, and here it says he'll bring forth the capstone with shouts of, I did it.

I did it. Is that what it says? No. You know, it's got nothing to do with Zerubbabel. It's the work of God's grace through his life. That would be a time where, when this thing is built and they put that last stone in place, I believe Zerubbabel would just be totally broken, just seeing God do the impossible.

Man, Lord, you did it. God, you are so amazing. How did you do that, Lord? It's incredible. You know, the work of God's spirit does that to us. Do you remember Peter when he was fishing with Jesus? You know, and all of a sudden there was this gigantic catch of fish as they just cast it out where Jesus said to cast it.

What did Peter say? Lord, I knew they'd be there. No, he didn't. He just fell at the Lord's feet, just totally broken, just saying, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. You know, as God did that thing, it was so far beyond him.

You know, he was just broken by the work of God's grace and power in front of his very eyes. Later, Acts chapter three, after Peter and John pulled up the lame man, healed him. You know, the crowd starts running together, looking at Peter and John.

What are Peter's first words? Hey, why are you looking at us? We didn't do this. You know, it's Jesus that did this. You know, it's God's thing. We got nothing to do with it. You know, the work of God's spirit in our lives, it's always on the basis of his grace.

We never deserve it. We're never worthy of it. We don't reach some point in our life where, okay, you know, now I've, I've reached some level of understanding where God can begin to pour his spirit through my life.

You know, it's a work of his grace. God wants to fill you with the power of his Holy Spirit. God's plan for your life is to do things through your life you can't even imagine tonight. You can't even imagine that such things could be.

For his glory. Let's read a little bit further. Verses eight to 10. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this temple and his hands shall also finish it.

And then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They're the eyes of the Lord who scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.

What's happening here? You know, God is just saying, you know, this good work that I've begun through Zerubbabel, I'm going to continue it to the end. What is God's will for your life that you might know it absolutely tonight?

I hope you never doubt this. God's will for your life is blessing. God's will for your life is victory in the battle. God's will for your life is that the work that he has begun in you would be completed to the end that he has ordained for you to take it to.

How discouraged do you think Zerubbabel was at this point? I mean, here's a man who clearly knew the call of God upon his life. I mean, he knew it. Absolutely. He was so confident of it. You know, he left the comforts of Persia, Babylon.

I mean, he just was willing to drop all that in an instant to come, you know, rebuild the ruins in Jerusalem. In the name of the Lord, believing the Lord, you know, he left everything that was familiar and just kind of struck out to do the will of the Lord.

But then all these problems, this resistance, this, you know, these things he never thought would ever happen. And time is going by. Fourteen years. You know, that's a big chunk. You know, how many times did Zerubbabel just think, man, this is over.

It's done. It's never going to happen. The Lord never thought that. You know, he saw it all along. You know, verse 10 tells us, don't despise the day of small things. God's working. You know, there are things that God is doing in your life right now.

Maybe it's not at the speed you would like it to be or the extent that you would like it to be. But he's been working. And you tonight can stand there and you can look at your past. And you can see the line, the trail that God has brought you down to this moment.

You know, and you can look into your future. And with eyes of faith, you can see where God is taking you. Victory. And fruitfulness. You know, the fulfillment of his will in your life. You know, that's the fact that God wants to kind of lay into our lives tonight.

That's where he's taking us. You know, verse 10. There's, you know, these seven, it says rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. The plumb line, of course, is this thing that you use for building.

It's, it shows you what, how to build a straight wall. You use it as you lay bricks on top of each other, as stones are on top of each other. You know, you've seen guys do use it, right? It just, there's the string that has the thing at the bottom and you hold it up against the wall to see if the wall's straight.

Who's rejoicing to see Zerubbabel at his work? The Lord is. You know, the Lord is rejoicing that he's found a man who, who will do it. Who will embrace it and go forward in it. You know, it says these are the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.

Second Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9. Tells us these eyes are looking for something. It's a verse nine. Yeah, you know this verse. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth, seeking.

What? To show himself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him, are given over to him. You know, the Lord looks down on you tonight. You know, as, as you, maybe you've come here to the Bible college, you know, with a desire to be engaged in the battle, to do the will of God.

He's rejoicing over you. You know, those of you who have come from the region, you're here tonight because you're interested in the will of God for your life. You're interested in being used of God and the thing that he's doing.

This is the thing that brings joy to his heart. You know, he's looking for once and he's found that in you tonight. And he's instructing us of, of how we are to do the thing that he's calling us to do.

The Two Anointed Ones and the Holy Spirit’s Power

Verses 11 to 14. You know, now, or Zachariah asks, you know, what are these two olive trees? One at the right hand of the lampstand and the other at its left. And I, I'm sorry. And I further answered and said unto him, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two golden pipes from which the golden oil drains?

And then he answered and said to me, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my Lord. And said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. What's Zachariah seeing?

Well, he's seeing, uh, what the Jews would call a menorah to the side of the road. And he's saying, you know, what are these two olive trees? And I said, no, my Lord. And he said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.

And I said, what's Zachariah seeing? Well, they sing what the Jews would call a menorah, it's a seven light candlestick kind of thing. It's seven little cups in a row. There was a great big one in the temple, the golden lamp stand.

And every day the priests had to come in and put fresh oil into these little lamp holders so that the lights could keep burning. Zacharias seen a modification of that. There's the lamp stand with the seven little bowls.

But above is a great big bowl. And from that one little pipes are going to each one of these little lamps. And on either side of the bowl there's olive trees standing. From the olive trees, oil is dripping in to this big bowl and then that's just flowing down to the lamp.

So there's a constant supply of oil. There's a constant light. Who are the olive trees? Well, they're people. There's, you know, one is Zerubbabel. The other one we read about in verse three, Joshua, the high priest.

These are the ones God has anointed to do the work in the land at this time. You know, God works through people. The great work of God is accomplished through men and women, one by one, men and women like us.

God has chosen us to work. He could use angels. They do a much better job than we do, probably. But he's chosen to use us. Because we can do things angels can't do. Angels can't live by faith. And they see the spiritual realm.

That's their reality. They see God. They see Satan. They don't have to have faith about anything. It's right before their eyes. We live by faith. God reveals his will to us. By faith we believe. By faith we step into that.

By faith we receive the empowering he gives us to do it. The light is coming from these two guys who are filled with the spirit. And oil in the Bible, of course, always a symbol of the Holy Spirit. These guys are dripping oil into the lamp, and there's light as a result.

People could look at them and see the Lord at work. You are the light of the world, Jesus said. Tonight, God's will for your life is that men and women could look at your life, look at you, and understand things about him.

That's possible as God fills us with his Holy Spirit. It's impossible without it. And now, there's four big questions about the Holy Spirit that we need to answer. Little while back, we looked at these at the Budapest church.

If you were there, forgive me for repeating myself. Number one is, are you born of the spirit? That's question number one. Every man, every woman has to answer about the Holy Spirit. You know, in the Gospel of John chapter three, it tells us we must be born again.

We must be born of the spirit of God to have a relationship with God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So the question number one is, have we opened our heart to Jesus Christ that the spirit of God might come and live inside of us?

He died for my sins upon the cross. The Bible says that I died with him. My old man died there. Galatians chapter two, verse 20 says, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me by his Holy Spirit, you know, and so that there's a new life that God gives us by his spirit as we are born of the spirit.

Born of the Spirit and Baptized by the Spirit

Number two is, are you baptized by the spirit? Acts chapter one, verse eight tells us that we receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon us to be his witnesses. One eight. One eight. Jesus is speaking to the disciples after his resurrection.

Once the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we receive power to be witnesses to him. To be born of the spirit is to be saved, it is to come into a relationship with the Lord. To be baptized by the spirit is to be empowered by the Lord, to be his witness, to serve him.

The Bible clearly teaches these are two separate things. It's possible to be saved, to be born of the spirit, and yet live without the empowering of the spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Turn to John chapter 20.

Maybe this is review for a lot of you guys, I'm sure it is, but we're just going step by step. John chapter 20, verse 22. This is after Jesus's resurrection. He appears to them in his resurrected body after the resurrection.

Verse 22, he breathes on them. And he says, receive the Holy Spirit. Now wait a minute, doesn't the Holy Spirit come in acts? What's happening here? Well, if you will, this is where the disciples are being born again, born of the spirit.

They are receiving. Jesus now has paid the price for man's sin. We can be cleansed by the blood of his sacrifice. Now the Holy Spirit can enter us. So if you will, this is where the disciples are born of the spirit.

But Acts chapter 1, verse 4, the spirit's in them, but he tells them to wait for the promise of the Father. Yeah, they're not ready to serve yet. They know the teaching, they've been listening to Jesus for three years.

You know, they've been watching his life. Now they've got the spirit living inside them, but Jesus says, wait. You guys are not ready yet. You know, verse five, he tells them, John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

And then we have already read verse eight, that the baptism in the spirit is the empowering of the Holy Spirit to serve Jesus, to live as his witness. You know, to be fruitful for the Lord, you know, to be a witness for the Lord, you must be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

It's the provision God has made to enable you to have victory in the ministry he's called you to. You know, it's the provision God has made that you might be fruitful in the calling he has upon your life.

Walking in the Spirit Daily

Number three, are you walking in the spirit? If you've been born of the spirit, you've been baptized of the spirit, where are you tonight? Are you walking in the spirit? You see, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not just a one-time kind of thing that happens once and you're covered forever.

It's a day-by-day, hour-by-hour walking with the Lord in the provision of his power to live for him. I can be born again, I can have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, and yet today walking in the flesh, you know, and, you know, yesterday maybe everything was fine, but where am I today?

You know, and, and this is a challenge, are we, are we tonight walking in the power of the Holy Spirit? Turn to Galatians chapter 5. Chapter 5 verse 16, we know this one, you know, I say, walk in the spirit and you'll not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish, but if you are led, you know, okay, we'll stop with that one.

There's a war going on inside of us. Victory comes as we walk in the power that God has provided us with. Verse 25, you know, if we live in the spirit, here Paul says, you know, if you've been born again, you know, you've received eternal life through the Holy Spirit, then you should also be, I mean, you should be walking in the spirit as well.

Living in that daily relationship with the Lord. It's the place of fruitfulness. It's the place of power. You know, soon, many of you are going out into outreaches, or you'll be involved in the outreaches here in town.

You know, God's provision for you to be fruitful is to be filled with his spirit. I mean, there's abundant provision of God for you to serve him and bear fruit for him in his Holy Spirit. You know, how does that work?

Well, it works the way God wants. You know, as God fills us with his Holy Spirit, as we yield ourselves to his will, you know, God do, fill me that you might do whatever you want through my life, then God can do whatever he wants through your life.

And so, things start. We go out into the outreach, or we head into these different ministry situations. What's going to happen? How's it going to work out? You know, I might not know the answer to that question.

You know, but if I am walking, empowered by God's Holy Spirit, I'm walking in the spirit, then whatever happens, I'll be ready for whatever God wants to do. God wants me to speak. I think I can speak in the power of the Spirit.

God wants me to comfort someone, I can do that in the power of his Holy Spirit. God wants me to deal wisely with some very difficult situation. I can do it in the power of the Holy Spirit, you know, and if I'm not walking in the spirit, then I'm in my own resources, you know, and, you know, that's just, that doesn't always work out so good.

God can do anything. I can do anything, you know, who should be doing the work? The Lord. And the fourth question, do you recognize, do you realize what God is doing tonight to press you in to the life of his Spirit?

Recognizing God’s Loving Push Toward the Spirit

God loves you as a father. He desires his very best for you. God has no children he loves less. He loves you with a father's heart, fully and completely. His will for your life is that you would have the fullness of what he desires to give you.

The best thing that he knows that can happen in your life as his child is to understand the power of his Holy Spirit and to walk in the power of his Holy Spirit. And, you know, often we don't understand that.

We don't understand what this means or how it works. We're afraid or we're nervous about this. I've actually talked to people and said, you know, really, I don't need the baptismal of his Holy Spirit.

I'm fine the way I am. You know, and they're just, you know, I mean, politely just say, you know, God, no thanks. I'm okay. No thanks. You know, but God loves you too much to let you get away with that.

And so, in his heart filled with the love for you, he works in such a way to gently with his fatherly tenderness and care push you in to the best thing that could happen for you. How does he do that? Well, he brings us into situations that are beyond us.

He brings us into places where our resources are inadequate and we recognize, you know, I need something more than what I have. It's very easy to misunderstand these places. God, why did you bring me here?

Do you hate me? Are you trying to kill me? What did I do to deserve this? What's the sin in my life that's brought me here? No. The Lord's just trying to bring you to an end of yourself that you might be pressed into him.

You know, sometimes this happens through a marriage. Sometimes it happens through work situations, financial situations, all kinds of things. Lord, this is tough. It's not working. You know, I'm not making it.

You know, hey. And in the answers in his love, you know, I've got something for you. I've got a best friend who will be with you forever, you know, who will empower you to live the life that I've called you to live.

He's my Holy Spirit, you know. And so what's happening in your life tonight? Is there a push of God in your life to press you deeper into the things of himself? I encourage you with all my heart, step into it.

Stop trying to fight this thing out on your own. Do this thing on your own. And receive the provision that God has given you to do the things you cannot do. Now G. Campbell Morgan once said, when I must do the thing I cannot do, I do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Who said that? G. Campbell Morgan. When I must do the thing I cannot do, I do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. I do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. I have to do the impossible. I have to love this person who it's impossible to love.

You know, I have to speak words that will lead men and women to Jesus Christ. You know, I have to do things that I don't have the wisdom to do or the courage to do. God knows exactly how. And he wants to come alongside.

He wants to be that power in your life, in the person of his Holy Spirit. When I first started teaching in a Bible college, back in 1992, I had never taught in a Bible college before. You know, I had never been in the ministry in any way.

And all of a sudden, you know, through some quirky circumstances, I'm teaching in a Bible college. Yeah, God has a sense of humor. You know, and very quickly I realized, you know, I'm at the end of my resources.

I just don't know how to do this. And worse than that, I recognize, you know, if I don't do this the right way, I actually can really mess people up. I remember an afternoon just kneeling down by my bed.

I believe I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit before that moment. Man, I needed a fresh filling and double filling. I was so deep beyond myself. And I remember crying out to the Lord. And I just remember just it being different from that moment.

I don't know how to say it in words. Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know. Do you need the power? Do you need more power? Call unto Him. Let's pray.

Prayer for Filling and Empowerment

Father, we thank you for the provision of your Holy Spirit. Father, you know where each one of us is tonight. Father, you see each life. You see every need. Father, you see the ones who, Lord, just need a special touch, a special refilling, or a filling from you tonight of your Holy Spirit.

Lord, we call unto you tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Fill us, Lord, in the way that you knew each one of us needs it, even tonight. Lord, those who are in ministry or you are calling them to ministry, may your Spirit fall upon them tonight and empower them in supernatural ways to serve you in that ministry.

Lord, those who are in ministry, I ask you to fill them and empower them and dress them with the opportunities or things that they need in their ministry. Father, those who are struggling with sin, Lord, there is a need for holiness.