My friends, the Bible is like a vast
gold mine full of wonderful passages of inestimable
worth.
And if you dig deep enough, you will
soon realize its riches.
You'll discover them in that the Word of
God points us to the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
My text today is from the book of
Zechariah in chapter 9, beginning in verse 9.
Here now is the Word of God.
May the Spirit of the Lord attend the
reading of His Holy Word.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
I behold I, the King cometh unto thee.
He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and
riding upon an ass, and upon a colt,
the foal of an ass.
I will pause here, friends, to say, here
is the prophecy of the Son of God,
describing the very scene of Christ's triumphal entry
into Jerusalem.
It announces a coming King, bringing salvation.
Who is the prophet speaking to?
We see he is addressing prisoners, for in
verse 12 we read, Turn ye to the
stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.
Even today do I declare that I will
render double unto thee.
My friends, this verse about prisoners of hope
turning to the stronghold to find deliverance and
blessings presupposes that there are prisoners without hope.
And this is the title of my message
for us today, friends, Prisoners Without Hope.
I want to unburden my soul today, friends,
with this message to you, because I know
it can impact your entire eternity.
I don't know of a single soul in
this whole world that is more pathetic and
pitiful than a prisoner without hope and without
God in the world.
To think that a man will live his
life only for this world and its charms,
to one day go the way of all
flesh and die and be put in a
coffin, lowered into the ground, have dirt thrown
over him and be thrust into a Christless
eternity.
It's the saddest thing known to the human
race.
To die without God is to die without
hope and suffer sin's consequences, as described in
the book of Job about the death of
the wicked.
He shall be driven from light into darkness
and chased out of the world.
Think of that, think of that, the horror
of that, to one day be alive with
the sunlight upon you and then you die
suddenly, you're dragged and chased out of this
world into another world altogether, one you were
quite unprepared for, a region of utter darkness.
Jesus describes hell in terms of outer darkness,
like the outer darkness of outer space, pitch
black, thick darkness, darkness, darkness.
Are you afraid of the dark?
I was in a cave when I was
a young boy and it was so dark
in there, I couldn't see my hand in
front of my face.
Why, it was terrifying.
How would you like to be plunged into
a region like that of complete darkness forever
and ever?
Prisoners without hope is a terrifying thought, my
friends.
As I go through my Bible, I see
that there are three classes of individuals who
are prisoners without hope.
I want to bring these three classes before
you today, friends.
The first class of prisoners without hope are
the angels who sinned.
We read in 2 Peter, Word
of God, as in Isaiah, And we
see
the offers of mercy extend to men, from
the beginning of the Bible right to the
very end in Revelation, for we read, We
find none of these offers made to angels.
There is no glimmering ray of hope to
those angels chained in the dark dungeons of
despair in hell, as lost and damned spirits.
But we cannot sympathize with angels.
We do not understand them.
Angels are unlike men.
They have no gray hairs.
They have no wrinkles.
They never die.
There are no graves and griefs with angels.
We never see an angel.
We do not know how to talk with
an angel.
They are creatures far above us.
Yet they were capable of sin, for they
sinned in their allegiance with Lucifer and were
cast out of heaven to take up their
eternal abode in the darkness of hell, without
God in eternity.
Prisoners without hope are the angels that sinned.
Jesus did not go to the cross to
reconcile angels to God.
No, sir.
Angels do not fit into God's plan of
salvation.
Judgment fell on them immediately, and they were
cast out of God's presence to be placed
in chains of darkness.
There is no hope for them.
They're prisoners without hope.
The other category, or class of prisoners without
hope, are described in 2 Peter as well.
We see the death of the lost and
unsaved in the following striking passage of Scripture.
And spared not the old world, but saved
Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of
the ungodly.
These antediluvians rejected the preaching and warnings of
Noah, and they perished in their sins in
an abysmal drowning of the world.
And the death of the ungodly is seen
also again in 2 Peter.
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, making
them an example to everyone.
Strutting in a pride parade is unto those
that after should live ungodly.
The second class of prisoners without hope are
all sinners who die without God in the
world.
There is no hope in hell of redemption.
Those in hell are beyond the reach and
mercy of God.
It's too late for them.
They are indeed prisoners without hope.
It breaks my heart, friends, to think of
those drowned in the flood, to think of
those who were burned up in Sodom.
They're joined by men and women today who've
lived and died in this very city without
their sins being under the blood of Christ
Jesus.
Every person from every age in every country
who has died without God falls into that
second category of prisoners without hope.
Oh, dear friends, it reminds me of the
time I was standing at my father-in
-law's casket, and his sister walked by, and
she claimed to be a Christian, and all
she could say in a beautiful voice was,
Oh, I hope he knew Jesus.
That's all she could say, because it came
from a guilty heart, because she never wants
witness to him herself.
She let her own brother go to hell
for a lack of witness.
I wonder how many family members are in
hell at this instant that we refuse to
take the time to share Jesus with.
How many friends and co-workers and neighbors
of ours through the years have died without
Christ because we never once witnessed to them.
It's too late now.
It's too late.
They're prisoners without hope.
You won't be going to the cemetery today,
friends, to hand out any gospel tracts for
dead men tell no tales, prisoners without hope.
How many do you know, friend?
My mind goes back to a construction crew
I hired one time to work on my
house.
I would meet them at 7 a.m.
every morning, and one man was always early,
a young man in his thirties.
He and I would wait for the other
two to arrive, and as we waited, we
would talk and shoot the breeze.
We'd talk about the weather.
We'd talk about sports to pass the time.
Back in those days, I had a habit
of reading the daily obituaries in my town's
newspaper.
Well, one morning, over a cup of coffee,
a face stared out at me in black
and white at the top of the page.
It was that young construction worker who came
by my house.
He had died suddenly in a car wreck.
He was only 34 years old, and as
I read his obituary, tears streamed down my
face for failing in my duty to share
Jesus with a young man.
How foolish I was.
Why did God have that young man show
up early every day?
Wasn't it for me to witness to him?
Why was I so dull and stupid at
the time not to do that?
Now he's a prisoner without hope.
Ever since that time, I've never let a
repairman or a worker leave my house without
pressing a Bible or a gospel tract in
his hand with a little verbal testimony for
Christ.
Oh, friends, prisoners without hope.
There's nothing more pitiful in this world than
an eternity.
In our text, in Zechariah, the prisoners of
hope are told to turn to the stronghold
for mercy and blessing.
But how can you turn if you're already
dead?
You cannot.
The tree lies where it falls.
Let him who is filthy be filthy still.
You go from being a prisoner of hope
to a prisoner of no hope.
The third category were class of prisoners without
hope are described in the Gospel of John
in chapter 3, and in verse 36, which
declares, That
person is condemned already.
Oh, I hate to say it, friend, but
there's no hope for the Christ rejecter.
They're prisoners without hope, hardened in sin, turned
over to their own desires, reprobate all the
powerful people in this world who've got money
as their God, who have no interest in
the things of God, are prisoners without hope.
They're individuals full of the world, self-satisfied,
the great issues of eternity never cross their
mind.
If you try to witness to them, they
laugh at you like you're an insane person.
They know nothing of the blessings of eternal
happiness with God in heaven or the miseries
of the damned in hell.
If you try to even talk about Jesus,
they look the other way.
They try to get away from you, though
they walk the streets.
seeking pleasures and sleep peacefully in their beds
at night.
Little do they realize that the whole issue
of life is wrapped up in the few
hours between life and their dying couch.
The ticking of their heart is but a
drum beating the funeral march to their own
grave.
How would you feel, friend, never to see
your home again, never to see your loved
ones again, never to see a ray of
sunshine ever again.
Suddenly, you're plunged in outer darkness, held there
against your will, chained there forever and ever
and ever.
Prisoners without hope!
God have mercy on us!
Prisoners without hope!
There may be some of you here.
Within the sound of my voice, they'll be
taken out of this world before the year
is over.
I've known people.
Six months later, after I was talking to
them, they were suddenly dead.
I was talking to a co-worker, a
young man in his early 40s, years ago,
and we were standing in the hallway of
an office building, and we said goodbye.
Later that night, he got out of bed
right after midnight, took two steps, and dropped
to the floor, dead as a block of
ice.
You have no guarantee of tomorrow, friend.
What if you're resting on a rotten foundation
of a false hope?
What if you die in your sins and
become a prisoner without hope?
Oh, friends, Jesus talks about the miseries of
those prisoners without hope.
Jesus says of them, there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Weeping speaks of great loss and grief.
Gnashing of teeth signifies great anger and regret.
Prisoners without hope gnashing on their teeth beyond
the very reach of God, beyond His mercy.
Oh, please, friend, I beg you not to
end up in that region of darkness and
suffering and despair as a prisoner without hope.
We see the day of grace and mercy
is still open to us.
There is time right now, right now, to
turn to the stronghold for salvation.
Years ago, I preached my first public sermon
in a federal penitentiary.
The guard left me in a room with
another man and with 40 hardened criminals.
And as I looked at their faces, as
I looked around that room at those murderers
and thieves, I was as nervous as a
firecracker on the Fourth of July.
But I preached to them about God and
His forgiveness through His Son, Jesus.
And although those men were prisoners locked up
in a penitentiary, they were not prisoners without
hope.
They were still prisoners of hope for they
were still alive in a day of mercy
and grace.
And when I was through preaching, they lined
up to hug me.
Oh friends, turn, turn, turn to the stronghold
in Jesus.
We see the heart of God in 2
Peter 3.9. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to us, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
Listen to me, friend.
God is longsuffering, not willing that any should
perish.
Why will you die?
Turn ye, turn ye, and be saved.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of
the human heart.
How can I be saved?
Jesus says, I am the way.
How can I be sure?
Jesus says, I am the truth.
How can I be satisfied?
Jesus says, I am the life.
The gospel is for the hungry, the weary,
and the thirsty.
Listen, friend.
You have to feel your need of Him.
No one needs a physician until they first
realize they have a disease.
Look, you've got a sin disease, friend.
Oh my, you've got a poison in your
blood.
And Jesus is the only remedy for sin.
Let me ask you, friend.
Are you hungry for God?
Are you sick and tired of your sins?
Are you thirsty for Christ?
Then come to Him and believe on Him.
Exercise repentance toward God and faith in Christ
Jesus.
Let me ask you another question, friend.
Would you rather be alive in a prisoner
of hope?
Or would you rather be dead in a
prisoner without hope?
I'm so glad that Jesus found me when
I was a 13-year-old boy.
He put it on a pastor's heart not
to let me go to hell.
And that man in the Holy Spirit chased
me down until I was confronted with Christ
Jesus.
And I gave my heart to a bleeding
Christ as a young teenage boy.
I found that fountain filled with blood drawn
from Emmanuel's veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all
their guilty stains.
Don't let this day end, friend.
Don't let it end.
If you need a Savior for sin, go
to God and seek Him earnestly and fervently.
God gets serious with those who get serious
with Him.
Put your pride in your pocket, brother.
Get down on your face.
Cry out to God, your only hope.
A divided heart is like the rich young
ruler who refused to give himself up to
God in a full surrender.
Give it all to Him, friend.
Give it all to Him.
God doesn't want your money.
He wants you.
Don't face your dying moment as a prisoner
without hope.
I plead with you.
Turn to the stronghold of Jesus.
He is your only hope.
Don't die outside Christ's redeeming blood that Jesus
declared.
I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger.
And he that believeth on me shall never
thirst.
Oh, friend, Christ is the bread of life.
He invites poor sinners to come to Him
and believe on Him.
The duty required is to come.
And He's got a pure gospel promise to
all who come.
In Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out.
Oh, friend, Christ held nothing back at Calvary.
How can you hold anything back from Him?
What are you waiting for, young lady?
Jesus is your only hope.
What are you waiting for, mister?
Come on!
Come to Christ.
Surrender all you are to all of Him.
And He is Lord.