THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Not by Might, But by My Spirit"Rev. Carl Haak(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) October 23, 2005; No. 3277
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Dear
radio friends,
In the last two weeks we have
considered the truth of God’s Word concerning the calling of every believer to be a
witness of the gospel both in their word and in their life.
We will bring our series to a conclusion today by directing out attention to
God’s Word in Zechariah
4:6. There we read: “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
This is the word of the Lord unto
Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
This, then, must be the motto of the child of God in every calling that God gives
us, in every aspect of spiritual labor, in every task.
Let this truth guide you: Not by
might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
The application of this truth,
of course, is endless. It filters down to
every aspect of our Christian calling and life. It
can be applied, pointedly, to the preacher of the gospel with respect to his sermons and
catechism teaching and counseling and all of his other work. When he has labored faithfully in the ministry of
the gospel, then he must remember this motto: Not
by your might, not by your persuasion, not by your eloquence, not by anything of yourself,
but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
This can be applied to parents. The greatest burden of the heart sometimes for the
parent is concerns over the spiritual life of our children and their safely abiding by
faith in Jesus Christ. This Word of God says
that it will not be by the power of our love, the power of our money, the power of our
persistence, all of which we are called to use, but by God’s Spirit.
This is a word that could be
applied profitably to us in marriage when we face great troubles. The man to whom this Word of God was spoken,
Zerubbabel, faced problems that were called as great as a mountain. So in marriage we can face great troubles —
hurt feelings, resentments, disappointments, year after year of frustration.
God says, “Not by
might…but by my spirit,” the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
This word could be applied to
young people who are looking for strength to resist temptations and are looking to find
something to make themselves feel accepted and worthwhile.
Once again: not by might, not by
anything of yourself, but by that Spirit of Christ in you.
And this Word of God could be
applied to everyone who, as God’s child, is under a load of pain, depression. Once again, hear the Word of the Lord of hosts: “Not by might, not by power, but by My
spirit.”
But the application that we want
to make today is to our series on personal evangelism.
We have seen, very briefly, that we, as children of God, are to embody and
consistently display the transforming power of the gospel.
“Ye are the light of the world,” said Jesus. “Let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We saw, further, that not only is our life, our
manner of life, to be a reflection of the truth of the gospel, but we are also, as God
gives us ability and opportunity, to speak. As
God gives, in His providence, men and women before us in the misery of their sin, we are
to speak of the power of our God, the power of His Word, and the call to come under the
hearing of God’s Word in the church, the preaching of the gospel. And we are to give this verbal witness with
confidence and compassion and out of reality of our own heart and life.
We wish now today to conclude
this series on personal evangelism with a motto for every effort and endeavor in the
kingdom of God: Not by might…but by My
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
We ask, first of all, the
question: What is not by might or by power,
but can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit? The
answer is: the calling that God gives us,
specifically, the calling given to the church (Phil. 2) to hold forth the Word of truth. For Zerubbabel, the man to whom God was speaking
this word, the work that he was called to do was the rebuilding of the temple. That rebuilding of the temple was the testimony to
his day that Jehovah is God and that God is to be loved, worshiped, and served. That calling that was before Zerubbabel in the
service of his God was a calling that he could not accomplish in the way of his own might
and power but could only accomplish through the Holy Spirit.
The setting of this Word of God
in the prophecy of Zechariah is most instructive. Zechariah
is giving encouragement to a man called Zerubbabel, who was the prince and leader of the
people of God at that time, and to Joshua, who was the spiritual high priest (or the
spiritual leader of God’s people) in that day. The
people had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon’s captivity. They had returned with great expectations. But all of these expectations were dashed on the
hard rocks of the realities that they could not budge.
Jerusalem was a heap of rubble, a collection of burnt-out buildings. They set out immediately to clear away the rubble
and to rebuild the temple. And they had
managed to lay the foundation of the temple. But
no sooner had the foundation been laid than trouble set in.
The Samaritans, their neighbors, interfered by reporting to the king of Persia that
the Jews were guilty of insurrection, that their efforts were part of a rebellion — a
rabble-rousing against the king himself. And
the king put a kibosh on the building project for sixteen years. They were, therefore, down. They were in poverty. They were in economic depression. There was cynicism among them. Many had drifted away from the work. There was a feeling of hopelessness —
“what’s the use? We might just as
well quit and move on.”
It was then that God sent the
prophet Zechariah to speak His word. You will
find that word very beautifully in chapter 4 of the prophecy of Zechariah. I will not take the time today to go into all the
details of the vision that was given to the prophet except to say that the vision, when it
is all interpreted and understood correctly in the light of God’s Word, comes down to
this: The church is to emit the light of God,
the truth of God. That is the calling of the
church. And this can only be done in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Further, the Holy
Spirit uses men in the office of pastor and teacher, preacher of the gospel. Therefore, although the people of God felt weak
and discouraged, they must go about their work (the work that God had given them to be a
light of the truth of God in the world) relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit to equip
them and to make their work fruitful.
That is our calling. Our calling as the church of Jesus Christ is that
we are to show forth what we have both seen and heard.
The church of Jesus Christ is a candlestick. The
church is supplied by the Holy Spirit with an understanding of the Word of God. And the church, then, is to hold forth the truth
of God’s Word. God has given to His
church pastors and teachers, we read in Ephesians
4:11, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. And within the body of Christ, each one of us is
given our place — as a husband, a wife, a child — our individual place in the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of this
means that we have a calling to evidence, to show forth, the truth of God in our life and
in our words.
That task is as difficult for us
as it was for Zerubbabel in his day. There
are all kinds of obstacles. The light that we
are called to shed forth will always bring forth opposition.
There shall be the
misrepresentation of our motives. They will
say: “You think you are better.” They will say, “You are a legalist in going
to church twice on Sunday. You must think
that you’re the only ones.” There
will be opposition. We may not evangelize,
perhaps, a Moslem. We may not exclude people
of other religious ideas from our churches, for this shall be called a
“hate-crime.” And then there are
our own sins. My life, we ask, is to be a
consistent display of the gospel of the grace of God?
My life is to embody, give flesh and bones to, the truth of the gospel? I am to say to my unbelieving neighbor: “Be even as I am”? How can that be?
I am a sinner! We see our weaknesses. We are so often timid. We are so often ashamed. We have reservations about speaking of our Savior. We say, “I should have said something, but I
just couldn’t get the words out. What
could I say, and what should I say, and I was deathly afraid to say anything.” It would be very easy for us to say to Zerubbabel
and to the people of God in his day, “Come on. Don’t
get so down about it. It’s not so
gloomy. The Lord God is with you. The obstacles will fade away as you hold fast, by
faith, to God.” But when we face the
same obstacles and, perhaps, even smaller obstacles, we are ready to become discouraged
and to say with the apostle Paul, “We cannot do these things.”
That is when the word comes: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My
spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” That
is the word of God to Zerubbabel in his discouragement and in his inability and in his
hopelessness. And that is the same word to
you and to me. The might and power that are
referred to in that verse of Scripture are not identical.
They have different shades of meaning. “Might”
refers to the combination of forces. It looks
at an army. It looks at the resources called
upon to accomplish a given task, what you would call to get a job done. “Power” refers to vigor, stamina,
resoluteness, persistence, the ability to see it through to completion. The Word of God says, “Not by the pooling of
your resources (not by might), not by the resolution of your own will or determination
(not by power), not by bringing to bear all your forces at your disposal and then being
resolved to ‘hang in there.’”
Yes, God will use men and women. And He will use men and women who are under the
conviction of faith and who rely upon their God. Yet
God says, “Not on the basis of anything of yourself.
But by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”
The imponderable, beyond
investigation, irresistible power of the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, the power of God beyond
investigation, beyond our ability to analyze, by the Holy Spirit God works in us and
through His Word to accomplish His purposes. Understand
that the power of the Holy Spirit always functions through the Word, the Word of God. And the power of the Holy Spirit works through us
through prayer — much prayer. By the
Word and by prayer the Holy Spirit works and brings forth the fruits that God has
ordained.
How shall we perform our
calling? How shall we be faithful as church
of Jesus Christ? How shall we be faithful in
our own lives to live as a witness and to speak as a witness of the blessed gospel? Here is the answer:
Not by anything within yourself. Not
by your resources. Not, ultimately, by your
organization. Not even by your resolution. But by My Spirit.
That means, as far as evangelism
is concerned, that we must depend, first of all, upon the Holy Spirit and, therefore, we
will always brings the Word of God. Our
witness will be biblically based. If we are
to depend upon the Holy Spirit, then we must depend upon the Word that He has inspired.
When we bring that Word of
witness we must see to it that we seek to bring that Word in season to the weary, that is,
we seek to apply the Word of God to the situation before us. But we must bring the Word of God. Always bring the Word of God.
But more. When we rely upon the Holy Spirit in our
witnessing, we bring not only the Word of God but, secondly, we become conscious that the
Holy Spirit is preparing the way ahead of us and behind us — that God is directing
the steps that we are taking and that God is placing us before these opportunities and
arranging the details of our life — that we might speak. It may be that, yes, over the fence you are
talking to your neighbor who is going through a messy divorce. Or your neighbor has just gotten reports back from
the doctor, of cancer. Or, perhaps, your
neighbor is boasting of some wickedness that he hopes to do on the weekend. Now God, the Holy Spirit, is controlling your
steps and has brought you before them and has prepared the Word in your soul that you are
now to speak.
Still more. When we depend upon the Holy Spirit, then we shall
also give our witness under the assurance and conviction that it is the Spirit alone who
can transform them and make our words effective. The
Holy Spirit must open their eyes. They cannot
see of themselves. They are blind. Jesus says that unless a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God.
So, what needs to happen? We go forth with the Word of God, believing that
God has directed our steps, leaving a testimony of His Word, and dependent now for the
Holy Spirit, if it be His will, to bring the Word to the heart. The Holy Spirit must attach the spiritual optic
nerve and implant a new retina and scrub away the cataracts of the eye in order that men
might see and be convicted of the truth. The
Holy Spirit must do this.
So, this means that we must
depend upon the Holy Spirit to equip us with the appropriate words we are to speak.
The Lord Jesus said (Matt. 10:19,
20), “It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of
your Father which speaketh in you.” We
ask ourselves the question: “What do I
say?” The answer of God’s Word is: “Walk in the Spirit, walk in personal
dependence upon your God. Study the Word of
God. Know the Word of God. Treasure the Word of God in your heart. Speak the Word, then, that you need to hear. Say to them the Word that God has given you to
believe in the situations that you face.” We
are dependent upon God.
But what a wonderful place to
be: dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God. There is our confidence. Our confidence is in the power and grace of the
Holy Spirit.
What a word, then, of hope and
encouragement. It was a wonderful word of
hope and encouragement in the day of Zerubbabel. It
gave Zerubbabel true confidence. We saw that
Zerubbabel could easily have been discouraged. The
cause of God seemed so small and so unsuccessful to him.
And he appeared to himself to be so weak. Yet,
God promised Zerubbabel that the work of God would be accomplished through him. And that that work would be realized.
So also is the promise to us. The promise is that God shall gather His church,
that God shall build His house, that God will accomplish His purpose. Therefore, dependent upon God we go forth in our
lives, in our words. And we desire to be
faithful witnesses of Him who hath loved us and called us unto Himself by the power of His
Word.
Let us then be aroused to
obedience. Let us be aroused to obedience in
our own life and our calling to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us not measure success as men measure success
— in numbers. But let us be faithful to
the Word. Let us communicate God’s Word
to the lost in our own way of life. As we
live before them may they see in us the truth. May
we communicate that Word to them as we have opportunity to speak of the Word of God.
Let us bring that Word of God to
those whose faith is weak and whose faith needs to be buttressed and shored up to make it
firmer and stronger. Freely have we received
the Word of God. Freely let us speak of that Word. And
let us depend upon the Holy Spirit, who alone is able to equip us, who alone is able to
give us the right motive, who alone is able to give us words to speak, and who has
promised that He shall accomplish His purpose through us.
Let that be our goal, our motto. And let our words be true to our heart. To God be the glory. May my life and my words be a fit witness of the
truth that God is God and His Son Jesus Christ alone is Savior.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank Thee for Thy
Word. It is precious to us. Grant, O Lord, that this series that we have had
in the past weeks on our calling to be witnesses both in our deed and in our words may
bring forth fruit in our lives. May we be
encouraged that Thou hast promised to us the Holy Spirit.
Now, O Lord, watch over us and care for us in this day and in the week that is
before us, blotting out all of our sins in the precious blood of our Savior. We pray in His name, Amen.