I want to begin in Acts, the
book of Acts, chapter 26. Acts, chapter 26. Well, the great apostle has been
arrested, that is, the man formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, then
the apostle Paul. He's been arrested and he would
have been executed by the Jews if they had had their way, but
it was learned that he was a Roman citizen. And so he appealed his
case all the way up to Caesar. He, in this chapter, he stands
before the the governor of that area, Judea. And he's going to
say some more things to him, but there's a king there. That
is, he's the king over the region. His name is King Agrippa. And he found out that this man
was gonna be speaking before the governor, And he said, I
want to hear what the man's got to say. And so here in Acts chapter
26, Paul is giving a declaration of the reason that the Jews wanted
to kill him. And I don't have time to go into
all of this. We will at a later date, I'm
sure the Lord willing. But he does say this, so I want
you to go down to verse 21. Acts 26, 21. He said, for these causes the
Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Having
therefore obtained the help of God, I continue unto this day
witnessing both to those who are small, the insignificant
people, and the great people as well, saying none other things
than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Well, what did they say? What
did those prophets say? What did Moses say should come? Well, they said that Christ should
suffer and that He should be the first that should rise from
the dead and should show or manifest light unto the people and to
the Gentiles. Understand this, and I want this
to be clear. That messenger who is indeed
the scent of God, will only say those things that the Old Testament
prophets spoke concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's preachers have the
same message right from the beginning. They set forth the Savior, that
is Moses, and the Old Testament prophets They set forth the Savior
in picture, prediction, prophecy, and promise. They set him forth
in great typology, and they set forth that he's coming, and that
which he would do, that which he would accomplish. Every true
preacher of the gospel says none other things except what's already
been said by God's preachers. We don't add to it. We don't
take anything away. So I use this in order, this
passage of scripture in order to kind of get into the message
again tonight from the book of Zechariah. And so if you will,
go back to the book of Zechariah, and tonight we're going to go
into chapter 9. Do you remember Zechariah is
the next to the last book in the Old Testament? His name means Jehovah Remembers. Jehovah Remembers. He remembers His people. He remembers His covenant. And even in wrath, He remembers
mercy. The Lord remembers. He remembers
His people. He remembers His covenant. And He remembers mercy, even
when He's pouring out wrath. on others. As I read and re-read the book
of Zechariah, I noticed all the different things that this man
had to say about our Savior. I try to keep with me a legal
pad. I take notes. And I have noticed
as I read and re-read and re-read all of the prophecy of Zechariah,
that he gave an accurate outline and definition of our Savior
and His ministry. That's what I want to kind of
give to you. We started this morning by, Behold
the Man. That's the Lord's incarnation. It reminds me of a passage in
1 Timothy. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. We studied this morning in the
sixth chapter where Zechariah says, behold, the man. Look to him. Take notice of him. This man, this unusual man, this
man who is the branch. Actually, the word branch also
includes the idea of a Nazarite. If you read any of the Jewish
history, the Jewish historians actually give a translation of
that passage of Scripture this way. Behold the man who is the
Messiah. That's how they described it.
Behold the man. This is chapter 6 as we studied
this morning. Behold the man who is the Messiah. This is the branch. He came forth
from the root of Jesse and David. And he is the branch who bears
great fruit to the glory of God. The fruit that he bears is a
people that God gave him to save. A people out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. And by his death upon the cross
of Calvary, by his accurate and worthy representation of his
people before the law of God, as He stood in our stead, as
He suffered God's judgment for the sins of people that He loved
with all of His heart. He was dying to save us. He was
dying to redeem us. Behold the man. That's what Zacharias
said. Behold the man, David's son and
David's Lord. But He's more than a man. Look,
hold your place there in chapter 9. Look over here at chapter
13, and I'll have more to say about this passage later on in
this series of messages, but look in chapter 13 in verse 7. Yes, he is man, but he's not
only man. Chapter 13, verse 7. Awake, O
sword, against my shepherd. This is God speaking. My shepherd,
this is the shepherd I chose. Awake, O sword, O sword of justice,
O sword of wrath, against my shepherd and against the man who is also my fellow. And that word means my associate,
my equal, my relative, One who stands eye to eye with
me. This man that Zechariah spoke
of back in chapter 6, now we discover he's God's fellow. He's God's associate. He's God's
equal. While he is the relative of God,
he is the very son of the highest. He is God manifest in the flesh. He had to be God and He had to
be man. He had to be God to know everything
God demanded. To know all the stipulations
of the covenant of grace that He had to fulfill and that He
promised to fulfill. He had to be God. But He also
had to be man because man got us in trouble. It was a representative
man. God deals with all the human
race through two representative men. Adam, the first Adam, and
the last Adam. That's all. In that first Adam,
we fell. We became ungodly. We became
sinful. Whether you like it or not, it
is a fact when you were born into this world, you were a fallen
creature. The reason you came forth from
the womb speaking lies is because you were born a sinner. Adam
was your representative. Adam was my representative. When
he stood, we stood. When he fell, we all fell. All
the human race fell. But God sent the last Adam. God sent another representative
man, and God said, he's my fellow. He's my equal. He's none other than God manifest
in the flesh. The sword of justice took as
its mark the very heart and soul of this God-man, and that happened
on the cross of Calvary. And so Zachariah, he says to
all of us, Behold the man who is the branch, who is the branch. And he's God Almighty. Now, let's
go further tonight. Here's the second thing. And
I'm building. I hope that you will be able
to see I'm building here. Here's the second thing. He sets
forth the Savior's entry into Jerusalem. The Savior's triumphant
entry into Jerusalem. Now go to chapter 9 and look
at verses 9-11. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. He says, shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. Remember what Brother Terry just
read to us a few moments ago. Right out of Matthew chapter
21. And that passage even says, as the prophet said. Well, what
prophet was he talking about? Zechariah. Zechariah. Chapter 9. So he says, Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion, and shout, O daughter of Jerusalem,
Behold, be amazed, be astounded, thy king cometh unto thee. Oh, what's he like? Can you describe
him? He is just and having salvation. He's lowly, riding upon an ass
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And as a result of his work,
There's another work that God's going to do. I will cut off the
chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the
battle bow shall be cut off. In other words, all weapons against
Him will fail. Stack your shotguns up in the
corner. You can't defeat Him. He's God's
Christ. And what will He do? this one
who's coming. Behold the man, and now he comes
into Jerusalem. What will he do? He will speak
peace unto the heathen. Who are the heathen? That's us. Did you know you're one of the
heathen? We're a bunch of heathens over here. I get all kind of
brochures and religious periodicals in the mail and by snail mail
and by email also about sending missionaries to the heathen.
There's no more heathen people in this world than is in the
United States of America. A bunch of heathens here. Oh,
but we've got religion everywhere. It's heathen religion. It's godless
religion. It's idolatrous religion. It's
religion without God. It's religion without grace.
It's religion without Christ Jesus. It's religion without
the blood of the Son of God. This man, this God-man, behold
the man who is God's fellow, he's going to come and he's going
to speak peace to the heathen. and His dominion, it shall be
from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of
the earth. Look at verse 11. And as for
thee also, by the blood of the covenant, I have sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water. He begins by saying,
Rejoice greatly. O daughter of Jerusalem." This
is not spoken to the natural inhabitants of Jerusalem. This
is spoken especially to spiritual Jerusalem, to spiritual Israel. After all, Zion is just another
name for the elect of God. For those who belong to the Lord. And this is worthy of behold. This is something startling.
This is something amazing. This is something magnificent.
Look! Would you see? Would you consider? Thy King is coming! And that's
what every prophet in the Old Testament said. Thy King is coming. He's coming. That's what they
all said. He's coming. Hold your place
there. Look over to Malachi chapter
3. Here's the very last writing prophet of the Old Testament
as the Spirit of God arranged these books. And here's what
Malachi says in chapter 3 and verse 1. Behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord
whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, the angel of the covenant, the mediator of
the covenant, the surety of the covenant. What covenant? The
covenant of grace, the covenant of peace, whom ye shall delight
in. Behold, watch this, he shall
come. That's what all of them said.
He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Who speaks this? The
Lord Himself, Jehovah God, the Eternal God says, He shall come. Who shall come? This man who
is God's fellow. He's coming. And Zechariah announces here
in chapter 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Oh, and shout! Shout for joy! But what is this
about? What is this celebration about?
What is this rejoicing about? What are we delighting in? What
are we to be excited about? The King is coming! The Savior
is coming! The Redeemer is coming! He's
on His way! That's what Zechariah said. He's
coming. You see, they all declared He's
coming into this world to seek and save His people. When our
Lord Jesus entered in Jerusalem, that passage that Terry read
to us, make sure you understand the reason why He came into Jerusalem. He came to die. That's His time. That's His time. From old eternity,
per covenant agreement, He came to shed His blood, the
blood of the covenant, the blood of the everlasting covenant.
It must be shed. If sinners are to be saved, this
One must enter into Jerusalem with His face set like a flint
to lay down His life as the Good Shepherd who loved the sheep. He's on His way to make things
right between us and God. Oh, bless His name. He's coming,
Zacharias said. And oh, the joy of the saints
of God, the joy that thrilled their souls as it welled up within
them. This is the one to whom all of
the saints of God in the Old Testament have been looking.
They've been looking for Him. They've been waiting for Him.
They've been wanting Him to come. And all of these people, they
lived and died without seeing that the Savior actually came.
But nevertheless, the prophets of God said, He's on His way. He's on His way. Rejoice. And those saints of
God in the Old Testament were justified just exactly the same
way we're justified by the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to make things right,
you see, with God for us. I wrote a little article for
you in the bulletin. I hope you read it about the
sinlessness of our Savior. He had no sin. He came to die
for our sins. He took our sins upon Him. He bore them in His own body
on the tree. All the while He, the innocent,
the righteous Son of God, He was dying to pay the debts of
people He loved with an everlasting love. And His bloody death was
the blood of the covenant. Notice the wording of this. Behold,
thy King cometh unto thee. To whom does the thee apply? Well, first of all, to the church. He didn't come to endeavor to
save everybody. He came to save thee. That is
Zion. three great lies that Satan has
passed down, and he has ambassadors everywhere still that are promoting
these three lies. God loves everybody, Christ died
for everybody, and the Spirit of God wants to save everybody.
That's just not so. That's satanic. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. There's a particular people He
comes to save who rejoices in this. O daughter of Jerusalem,
the city of peace, the church, rejoice. Thy King cometh unto
thee. He's coming for you. He's not
coming for everybody else. thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people. That's what he said. That's what
the angel said. He shall save his people from
their sins. Not try to save, not endeavor
to deliver, but to save, to save sinners, which he did by his
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Now read this. Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee. You who are the people of God,
read this personally. Behold, be amazed. This is astounding. Thy King
cometh unto you. Unto you. Unto you. It's one thing to speak in somewhat
generalities and say Christ came to save His church. That's a
truthful statement. But I tell you, we need to bring
it home, closer home to our own hearts. He came for me. He came for me. He suffered for me. He died for
me. Thy King cometh for thee, for
you, for you, you who are watching by way of the internet, you believer,
a child of grace, an heir of God, joint heir of Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel of grace.
Thy king cometh unto you and he came to save you and he came
to you in the day of the grace of God to your heart. He came
to you. He came to you through the preaching
of the gospel. He came to you by means of the
Spirit of God who quickens your poor dead soul. and gave you
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He cometh unto thee. Well, what's
he like? He says he's just. He may be
merciful and he may be gracious, but I'll guarantee he's gonna
be just. He's righteous in all his ways. And he comes having salvation. That's His work. That's the work
He came to do to save. And He has it. He has it. It's His to give. And it's His
not to give. The prerogative is His. Having
salvation. God has entrusted salvation to
one person. Behold the man who is God's fellow. God's given him salvation. You
want salvation? Now you've got to go to him.
It's nowhere else. You're not going to find it anywhere
else. Well, what's he like? What's he like when he came?
Lowly. He said, I'm meek and lowly in
the heart. Riding upon an ass. Not a white
steed. Riding upon an ass and upon a
colt, the foal of an ass. Our brother read that from Matthew
chapter 21. And I know you may see on television
a donkey, a mule, an ass, and say, well, people just jump up
on them and ride along. Those are stubborn creatures. I mean, we even have a saying,
stubborn as a mule. But I'll tell you what, when
the Son of God got on that ass to ride it, He broke it immediately. And if He comes to you, see we're
all like a wild ass's coat. That's how we're described in
that one. That's how the Bible describes us. And when He comes
to us, You know what he does? He breaks us. That's what he
does. We're stubborn, I know, we're
stubborn, we're haughty, we're proud, we're arrogant, gonna
have my own way. But if the king comes to you,
he'll break you. And you'll fall down in the dust
and acknowledge his kingship. and He'll break your weapons. Once we said, I don't believe
sovereign grace. I believe free willism. He'll
break that boat asunder. You won't believe that anymore
after He gets through with you. He won't do anything against
my will. He'll break your will. In fact,
He'll give you a new will. And His people will be willing
in the day of His power. And He'll tear you up about your
sin. And you'll feel guilt. Oh my
soul, I've sinned against the Lord of glory. What in the world
am I going to do? What's going to become of me?
Like those Jews to whom Peter preached there in Acts the second
chapter? We've killed Christ. What are
we going to do? Men and brethren, they said after
Peter preached. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? What shall we do? We've got the
blood of the Son of God dripping from our hands. What shall we
do? He said, you better repent. Boy, you're talking about a change
of mind and a change of heart. May God give it to you. And if
He does, He'll break your weapons. You won't fuss about grace anymore. You won't fuss about sovereign
grace. You won't fuss about divine election. You say, whatever He does is
right. He's the Lord. And you won't fuss about salvation
being all the place. Well, I thought I had to do something. You find out He came and He had
salvation. That's His. That's His to give. He can give it to you or not
give it to you. That's up to Him. And then after He burdens you
about your sin, here's what happens. Look at the middle of verse 10.
He shall speak peace upon the heathen. then he'll say to you,
your sins, which are many, are all forgiven. Can it be? Can it be? That kind of peace for my soul? And he'll rule over you. Because
as it says in verse 10, his dominion shall be from sea even to sea,
and from the river even to the ends of the earth. He rules over
all things and he'll rule over you too. And you'll find yourself
saying just exactly something like Saul of Tarsus said when
the Lord broke him. Lord, what will you have me to
do? What will you have me to do?
and he'll notify you. You'll get the message loud and
clear. Verse 11, by the blood of the
covenant, I sent forth the prisoners out
of the pit from which there's no water. God will convince you
I did this for you. And I'll get the glory. And you'll
say, amen, Lord. To God be the glory, great things
he hath done. Zechariah, he preaches, behold
the man who is God's fellow. And then after setting forth
the incarnation of our Lord Jesus, he then sets forth his entrance
into Jerusalem as recorded in Matthew 21. And then, Stay with
me now, here's the third thing. It's something else Zachariah
does. Look at chapter 11. He speaks to us about the Savior
who's gonna be betrayed. Chapter 11, verses 12 and 13. And I said unto them, if ye think
good, give me my price. And if not, forbear. So they
weighed for my price 30, pieces of silver. And the Lord said
unto me, cast it unto the potter, a goodly price. And I was prized
out of them. And I took the 30 pieces of silver
and cast them to the potter of the house of the Lord. Remember
Zacharias preaching the gospel of Christ to us He takes us,
as it were, by the hand. He says, behold the man who is
God's fellow, the branch. And he said, now this king, he's
coming. He's coming. He's going to make
an entrance into Jerusalem. And the people of God are going
to shout for joy. But he's coming to be betrayed. Who betrayed the Lord? Well,
Judas did. 30 pieces of silver, according
to the law of God. That was the price of a virtually
worthless slave. You see, to Judas, who walked
with the Savior, talked with the Savior, listened to Him preach,
listened to Him teach, observed all of His miracles, observed
and heard His prayers, To Judas, Jesus of Nazareth was virtually
worthless. Isn't that something? Virtually
worthless. What will you give me, he said?
What will you give me? Well, what about 30 pieces of
silver? That's the price of a practically
worthless slave. Deal. He didn't mean much to That's
what Judas was saying. What does he mean to you? To most people, he means virtually
nothing. Most people consider Jesus Christ
the Lord to be virtually worthless. He's not worthy of their time
to come and hear his gospel? Not worthy to be worshipped?
Not worthy to be trusted? Well, he's not worthy of an hour
or an hour and a half a week to come out and hear his gospel.
Well, I've got other things to do. I know. You sell Him out because you
don't have the time for Him. He's worthless to you. Don't
tell me He's worth a lot to you. He's worth nothing to you if
you don't want to hear Him preached and you don't want to listen
to His servant brag on Him. Don't tell me He's worth a great
deal to you. He's worthless to you. Just like
He was to Judas. People all the time tell me Well,
I'm so busy, I do this, I do that. I know the Savior's not
worthy of your time and your estimation. Well, here's $10 for the offering
plate. Okay, cheapskate. He's not even worth your money. He's virtually worthless to you.
You're as bad as Judas. Did you know that? And this whole
society, and all of us by nature, we're like Judas. We consider
Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory, we consider Him to be virtually
worthless to us. Isn't that awful? Our hearts
ought to be smitten. Thirty pieces of silver. Oh boy. But I must move on. Here's the
fourth thing. Stand with me. Got the incarnation
of Christ. We have His entrance into Jerusalem.
We have His betrayal. And here's the last thing I want
to talk to you about tonight. Chapter 13, verse 1. The Savior
would be crucified. You see how I'm going. You see
the direction I'm going now. I'm going to pick this back up
next Sunday morning. The Lord willing. Chapter 13,
verse 1. In that day, let me stop right
there. This is a very favorite, very
favorite phrase used by Zechariah. Twenty times he uses that phrase
in His prophecy. And in that day refers especially
to the day of the incarnation of our Savior, that is His first
coming all the way to His second coming. In other words, in that
day is the gospel day. That's what He's talking about.
In the gospel day. The gospel age. In fact, out
of those 20 times, he uses that phrase in that day 16 times in
the last 3 chapters. It's the gospel age. And he seems especially, he seems
especially to focus in on one day. One specific day. One great event. One which eclipses
all other events. Notice chapter 13 verse 1. In
that day, in that very specific day, there shall be a fountain
opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness. He's directing the minds and
the hearts of all who read His prophecy, even to us tonight. He's directing
our hearts and our minds to one specific day that happened over 2,000 years
ago, the day of redemption, the day when the fountain was opened,
opened for sin and opened for uncleanness. That's the day when righteousness
was brought in. That's the day when God's sword
of justice went into the heart of the God-man. That's the day when our sins
were put away. That's the day when things were
made right. That's the day when justice was
satisfied. That's the day when Christ was
wounded. smitten, crucified, put to death
according to the purpose of God. Behold, the man who is the branch, who entered into Jerusalem in
order to die, who was according to the purpose of God betrayed
by Judas for 30 pieces of silver, And behold that day of his death. Day of all days. And you will remember how that
the Jews wanted to kill him on days other than that day. Because
that was the day of Passover. Oh no. That's not going to happen. In that day, that's when the
fountain was opened for sin and for cleansing. When was it open? When Christ died. Christ died. Turn back to chapter 9 and verse
16. Chapter 9, verse 16, And the
LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people. In that day. That's when the
flock of his people was saved. In that day that Christ died,
when the shepherd laid down his life in that day, that's when
we were saved. You say, well, I wasn't saved
until I said yes to the Lord. I beg your pardon. You were saved when Christ died
if you were saved at all. That's when the great transaction
was made. Don't ever belittle the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ and think that something you do kind
of out trumps what He did. Perish the thought. Arrogant, proud man would take
glory away from the Son of God. In that day, that's when you
were saved. So what about when the Spirit
of God worked within me? He convinced you of what happened
and who made it happen in that day. But the day of your salvation
was the day of Christ's death. That's when the issue was settled.
And you see Zachariah, he takes us by the hand to focus on that
day. Who died? Who died? What did he do? He saved his flock. I am the good shepherd. That's
what he said. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. When was the fountain opened?
In that day. Who opened the fountain? That's
another good question. God did. Only God could open the fountain.
Well, how was the fountain opened? He was wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of peace was
upon him when his stripes were saved. It pleased the Lord to
bruise him. God made his soul an offering
for sin. And here's another important
question. For whom was this fountain opened? For the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. No generalities here. No universalism
here. The fountain was open for a particular
people. The household of David's son
and David's Lord. The inhabitants of the city of
peace. One more question. Why was the
fountain open? For sin to purge it away. and for uncleanness to wash us. Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Those of you who have taught
Sunday school, Bible school, so forth, you're familiar with
what's typically called the wordless book. Spurgeon was the first
one I've ever heard of that used this. Consisted of three pages. Black page, red page, white page. Black page, that's us and our
sin, defiled, unclean. Red page, redemption, the bloody
sacrifice of the Son of God. What happens to the blackness
when it's covered by the redness of the blood of Christ Jesus?
We're made whiter than the snow. Whiter than the snow. What happened on that day? Again,
I'll read verses six and seven. And one shall say unto him, to
the Savior, what are these wounds? Chapter 13, verse six. What are
these wounds in thine hands? Chapter 13, verse six. What are
these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. And God says, awake, O sword,
I guess my shepherd, I guess the man who is my fellow, said,
the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep will
be scattered. And they scattered when he was
smitten. He says, I'll turn my hand upon the little ones. Fountain
opened. And I'll say this to you, and
I'll quit. In a sense, I know redemption
was finished then, in that day. But in a sense, the fountain
for sin and for uncleanness is still open for poor sinners. If I could find a poor sinner, I'd give him some good news.
There's a fountain open. for sin and for uncleanness.
Just plunge in. We sing that song, glory to His
name, come to the fountain, so rich and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's
feet. Plunge in today. Plunge right
in today. Today! Plunge in today! And be
made complete. Glory to His name. If He gives
you grace, you'll come to the fountain for cleansing. You'll
come to the fountain for your sin. And may God give us grace. I
was finishing up this message this afternoon and I just I wrote
this out. Oh Lord, bathe my soul in the
fountain which you opened. As Zachariah instructed me and
as the Spirit of God instructs me, so I obey the gospel command. I behold the man who is the branch. And I plunge in. And you know
what? I've made every widow. That's
what his blood does. I think I heard you play that
song this morning. Power in the blood. Didn't you
play that this morning? Power in the blood. That's the
fountain. That's the fountain. And we're
gonna sing a final song tonight, 222. There is a fountain filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains. Thank you, God, the Holy Spirit,
for giving us the words of Zechariah, of the incarnation of our Savior,
of His entry into Jerusalem to die, of the betrayal of our Savior,
and the substitutionary death by which we were saved. Let's
stand and sing. Closing song. Sing all five stanzas.