Not by Might nor by Power but by My Spirit

I'd like to begin by reading the first six verses of the fourth chapter of Zechariah, a prophet very near the Old Testament, near the end of the Old Testament. And the angel who talked with me came again and waked me like a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, what do you see? I said, I see and behold a lampstand, all of gold with a bowl on top of it and seven lamps on it with seven lips on each of the lamps, which are on the top of it.

And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left. And I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered me, do you not know what these are? I said, no, my Lord. He 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.

A ragtag remnant of Jewish people had finally returned to Jerusalem from 70 years of exile in Babylon. And they traveled hundreds of miles with high hopes. But now when you get to Jerusalem, they're absolutely devastated.

I mean, the city is nothing but weed covered, rocky ruins in the main where the temple once stood. There's just a pile of aging rubble and they don't see how they can possibly bring anything, any kind of life, any kind of hope for this mess. The people are discouraged.

And Zerubbabel, who would be the king if the Persians allowed him to have a king, is terribly discouraged. So one of the days when the people are just kind of moping around, feeling sorry for themselves and just not knowing even where to start, along comes this prophet Zechariah and he gets up on top of a rock and he says, you've now come to the place where the Lord can do something with you. And these people say, what's the matter with him? He said, now you're to the place where you know you have no power of your own.

You have to depend on God. The word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, the king who really isn't even allowed to be a king, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, this message coming out of the mouth of this feisty prophet was so drenched in the power of the spirit of God that it ignited the hearts of the people, set fire to the heart of Zerubbabel, raised their hopes, and pretty soon they start to build the temple again and they rebuild the city.

And before too long, the temple is standing once more and the city is restored. How was this done? Not by might nor by power, not by human might nor by human power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, the center of this message from Zechariah was, of course, a vision, strange vision.

He has this vision of a lampstand with seven lamps on top of it. And on each side of the lampstand is an olive tree feeding oil into the lampstand. So it all the time burns.

And obviously, the lampstand is the symbol of the presence of God himself, shining as light in the midst of these devastated people. And it's being fed by these olive trees, which are symbolic of the law and the prophets, Moses and Elijah, feeding in almost like the Mount of Transfiguration. And of course, the ultimate fulfillment of this vision comes when Jesus arrives on the scene.

Centuries later, he becomes he is indeed the lampstand and he is fed by the spirit of his father coming through the law and the prophets. He says, I do nothing out of myself, not one, not one word comes out of his mouth, not one thought from his mind, no action except what is given to him by the spirit of his father. He begins his ministry at the age of 30, coming out of the waters of his baptism and receiving the spirit.

Spirit drives him into the wilderness to be tempted. After the temptation of spirit drives him back among the people of Israel to preach and heal, ultimately leads him, the spirit leads him to a cross. And anybody who tells you the spirit just comes to lead you to all kinds of marvelous success and prosperity simply isn't reading the New Testament, leads him to a cross from the cross.

The spirit raises him from the dead. He does nothing from himself of myself. I can do nothing.

It is the father who dwells in me. He does the work, says Jesus, not by might nor by power, not by human might or by human power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, Jesus came into this world, lived that life, died his death on the cross and rose from the dead in order to make it possible for you and me to do exactly what he did, to be led by the spirit, inflamed and inspired by the spirit of God continuously, not just mountaintop experiences once in a while, not just an occasional jumping up and down, but a day in and day out, 24 hour a day, year after year, obedience to the father.

All the time to live like that makes that possible. So that we become the last stand. But in order for this to happen, to be so filled and anointed and continuously replenished by the spirit of God, we have to come to the place where we are willing to rely only for this strength on God's spirit and on nothing else, not by your might, not by your power, but by my spirit.

Acts 2, 1, when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributed and resting upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. This happened to those first believers, this outpouring of the spirit came to them at that point where they despaired of having any kind of strength in themselves.

They had to come to the place where there was no resource to which they could turn nothing. They could lay their fingers on nothing. They could pull out of their minds.

It had to come from God when they got to that place, Pentecost. And so the teaching of Jesus about the spirit and about how this happens to them and to us is found most clearly in Luke 11, 5. And Jesus said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. I have no might.

I have no power. I have no ingenuity. I have no money.

I have nothing. And he will answer from within. Do not bother me.

The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask and it will be given seeking you will find not going to be open to you for everyone who actually sees and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open for what father among you, if his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? But we never get to the place where we ask as long as we think we can do it ourselves.

For instance, if the friend comes at midnight and we have three rich crackers left in the cupboard, we'll say, well, put some peanut butter on the rich crackers and give him that. And that's the best I can do. But when we have nothing and we know we have nothing, then we say, I have I have to go next door and I have to pester.

See, we never really ask and we never really see. And we really never pound on the door of heaven as long as we think we can take care of this thing out of our own resources. And this has been our problem.

And it's the problem of American evangelical Christianity, including the charismatic movement. I can do it. I'm rich, I prospered, I have need of nothing.

Don't bother me, I'll take care of it. It'll be all right. You know, even when we sing songs about the Holy Spirit, sometimes even while we prophesy and speak in tongues, we're drawing strength from our own flesh, from ourselves, from our brains, from our bank account, from whatever we think we have that can do the job.

And as long as we're in that shape, you know, we really don't get the power of the spirit of God, because God says not by your mind, not by your power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. So in his mercy, the Lord has been allowing us to get a little glimpse of where we really are, what our situation is. He lets us run on our own might and our own power and our own ingenuity and our own wealth.

And then in his mercy, he comes and says, what have you accomplished? How many souls have you set on fire? We're not talking about numbers. Have you released any prisoners? Have you been opening any blind eyes to my kingdom? You cannot produce heavenly fruit from an earthly tree. You cannot bring heavenly life with earthly breath, not by your strength, not by your might, not by your power, but by my spirit.

Now, when we finally somehow see what our situation really is as individuals and as a body, that we simply have nothing that can bring life to anybody in ourselves and turn to the father, as Jesus instructs us to, from a point of destitution, blessed of the poor in spirit, there is the kingdom of heaven, desperate, utterly destitute and needy. And we say, my might is nothing, my power is empty and useless, I have nothing to give. Lord God, a friend of mine is coming on a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

These people are coming to us with needs and we are just inadequate and unable to help them. Give us your spirit. Then the spirit comes and then we have Pentecost, the message, the word of the Lord to us, this Pentecost is one of absolute encouragement.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Detroit, all Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth. In other words, there is more, I don't care how, you know, how much you've received already, the Lord is saying to us all there is more. There is an outpouring of the spirit waiting to come to us that will make us effective as witnesses to Jesus, to this world as we've never been.

So that like Zerubbabel, we will build a temple once more and we will restore Zion in truth. That Pentecost that we know we need, that outpouring of the spirit that we all thirst for is closer to us than our breath. It begins the minute we confess to God and to ourselves and to each other that our cupboards are bare.

Friend of mine has come on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. I am empty. I don't have the power.

I don't have the insight. I don't have the vision. I don't have the wisdom.

I don't have anything. I need your spirit, Lord, only your spirit and all of your spirit. That's what I need.

When that is the consistent, clear prayer of this body, the spirit of God will manifest himself to us as he did to Peter and Mary Magdalene and all the witnesses of the resurrection. The Holy Spirit will manifest himself to us in three specific ways. One, he will open our eyes to see Jesus more clearly than we have ever seen Jesus.

Two, he will loose our tongues to proclaim Jesus with a power we have never had before. And three, he will guide our feet out of our own ways into the way of Jesus so that the world looking at us will see our master. First, he will open our eyes to see Jesus.

How does anybody in 1987 see Jesus? Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. I don't care how smart we are, how logical, how profound we may be able to speak or write. Nobody will see Jesus through any of that.

Only by my spirit. He will take the mind, Jesus says, and he will show it to you. And so by the spirit of God, we come to the scriptures, Old Testament and New, and we see Jesus.

By the spirit of God, we come into our room, shut the door and pray and we see Jesus. By the spirit of God, we come together in the body, call on his name and we see Jesus. By the spirit of God, we eat the bread and we drink the wine and we see Jesus.

Secondly, he will loose our tongue to proclaim Jesus to the world with a power we have not had here before. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Algeria, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, languages, as the spirit gave them utterance.

So what did these people from all over the place, these Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia, what did they hear? They heard in their own tongue, their own languages, the wonderful works of God performed by Jesus. They heard about Jesus. They were drawn to repentance before the cross of Jesus.

They came and were baptized in the name of Jesus. Nobody can believe that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. And nobody will believe us when we tell them Jesus is Lord, unless we are anointed by the spirit.

People will only believe that Jesus is Lord when we tell them that if we're under the anointing and so now are burned out, barren, dried up tongues are put in by God's spirit. And we speak as the spirit gives a simple utterance about this Lord of ours, Jesus. And hearts are ignited.

And lines are set on fire and men and women turn themselves around, come in repentance before the cross of the Lord and the Holy Spirit will guide our feet out of our own way, into the way of Jesus, so that the world looking at us will see the master. You are the light of the world, Jesus tells us. The city set on a hill cannot be hit, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, not how doxally sad you are, but your light. And give glory not to you, but to your father who is in heaven, to be able to walk in his love. To have the power to walk in his peace.

To have the power to demonstrate unity in the way we treat each other. To walk in the way of Jesus. He who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

And it shows up in the way, first of all, we treat the people we're living with. And we need to ask ourselves, what's the spirit of God saying to us right now about the person or persons we're living with? Never mind what they did to you. What about you? It'll show up in the way we handle our money.

Can't serve God in that. What are you doing? God watches what we do. We're not begging here.

You understand what I'm saying, but that's an indication very clearly of where God is in our lives. It will show in the way we speak the kind of words that comes out of our mouth, an ordinary conversation. It will show up in the way we conduct ourselves on our jobs, in the neighborhood, and when we travel, when we're on the other side of town, the other side of the country where nobody knows who we are, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

I don't even know where those paths are, but he will lead me for his name's sake. And the angel who talked with me came again and wake me like a man that is awakened out of sleep. And he said to me, what do you see? I said, I see and behold a lampstand, all of gold with a bowl on top of it and seven lamps on it and seven lips on each of the lamps which are on top of it.

And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left. And I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered me. Do you not know what these are? I said, no, my lord.

Then he 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, not by your might, not by your power, but by my spirit. The word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, the word of the Lord to my spirit, you will proclaim to the world that Jesus is Lord and you will ignite human hearts. You will set fire to human lives by my spirit and only by my spirit.

And it will begin the minute you choose to believe this and live it. Let's just wait upon the spirit of God right now. Just silence.

Let him speak to our hearts.