Well, as you can see, my text
for today is simply one verse, Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7,
which reads, and the sheep shall be scattered,
and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." In my Bible,
and perhaps yours, the words that were added by the translators
are shown in italics, and if we leave them out, the first
part of that verse would read, "'Awake, O sword, against my
shepherd, and against the man my fellow.'" And we're going
to look at this entire verse in its fullness. But the description
of Christ here, the man, my fellow, is what caught my eye and prompted
my study of the passage. And as such, I've titled today's
message simply that. The man, my shepherd. And in
this verse we can know with a certainty that the one that's described
here in this prophetic passage is God's shepherd and as the
man and as God's fellow is one in the same and none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ confirmed as much in that
passage that Mark read there in his discourse with the disciples
at the Mount of Olives there on the evening before his death
on the cross. Look at that again in verse 30
of Matthew 26. It reads, and when they had sung
him hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith
Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this
night, and then referring to Zechariah 13, seven, He said,
for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of
the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen
again, I will go before you into Galilee. Well, in quoting from
Zechariah here, he confirms he indeed is the one to whom God,
through the prophet, was referring to as my shepherd, the man, my
fellow. who here in Matthew 26 was about
to be smitten by the sword of God's justice in his death on
the cross. So we're going to focus on three
main aspects of this verse. First, forgive me for the frog
in my throat this morning. The commission or the command
given to the sword first. Secondly, the glorious person
against whom the sword was commissioned. And then thirdly, the consequences
of this deadly stroke. So first, the commission, or
the command that's given here to the sword. Notice first it's
a command that's from God, as it reads, it says, sayeth the
Lord of hosts. And then notice that the instrument
of death here is the sword. And this is a metaphor. It's
a sword of God's inflexible justice that would execute the death
sentence on the sinless son of God, but a just sentence due
against all the sins that, not that he committed, but that were
imputed or accounted to Christ. And so that the sword, to use
the words as inspired by the Holy Spirit to Zechariah, so
that the sword could receive or hear this command, he's personified
here in this verse. And the sword here, in representing
the unerring, the all-wise, holy justice of God, that sword would
only answer to God. It's his voice, it's none other
that the sword would hear. It would remain in its sheath,
if you would, and not be awakened until the very hour that God
had appointed for it to do its work. And notice then that the
command to the sword is twofold. The first, the verse begins with
the command to awake, O sword, And that makes me think of the
forbearance of God and not dealing spontaneously with our sins as
they're committed. You know, the sword of God's
eternal justice against the sins of his dear children, his elect,
had remained asleep, had slumbered, if you will, had remained inactive
since the very first sin of Adam. and throughout the respective
lifetimes of each of the objects of his everlasting love in each
successive generation all the way up until the cross. See,
God from eternity past having accounted unto them the very
merit that Christ, the promised Messiah, would later accomplish
by his doing and dying. God's justice having been satisfied
by the God-purposed and therefore the inevitable death that Christ
would and did die. Likewise, the sword of God's
justice, it slumbered as it pertains to exacting his justice due unto
the sins of all of his elect, including those of us who lived
on this side of the cross. Not imputing their sins unto
them, But likewise, having reckoned the very demerits of their sins,
even before they were committed, before we were even born, to
our substitute and surety, Jesus Christ, and all that from eternity
past. When I think of this command
from God for his sword of justice to awake and to do its work,
and of the absolute certainty that this would take place and
that it did take place, I'm reminded, you know, of the
power and the sovereignty of the living God of the Bible.
When we consider how crazy this world can be at times, how chaotic,
we should take comfort by remembering that our all-powerful God is
sovereign, he's fully in control. And you know, as we're told in
Romans 8, 28, for those of us who love him, who are the called
according to his purpose, He tells us that this mess of affairs
sometimes actually are all working together for good, for our eternal
good. And we should take comfort in
that. And I think as we look at the
sword smiting Jesus Christ and the certainty that that would
happen, we gain a renewed sense of how certain God's promises
are. And certainly that's one we should
use as a comfort to ourselves. So here in this verse we see
the sword of God's justice had remained in its sheath, if you
would, all this time. It would only answer to the command
of our sovereign God to awake at God's precise appointed hour,
and not until then. Considering John chapter 7, Christ
was teaching in the temple and he angered those who were listening
to him when he told them that they didn't know God, the Father
who had sent him. And as a result, we read in John 7.30, then they
sought to take him. They wanted to kill him, but
look, no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet
come. They couldn't touch him. See,
this sword, this sword of God's eternal judgment against sin,
it would only answer to God at his appointed hour. Again in
John 8, Christ had told the Pharisees that they neither knew him nor
the Father, and we read likewise in John 8 20, these words spake
Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple. In other words,
just as he had said back in chapter 7, and again, no man laid hands
on him for his hour was not yet come. But at God's appointed
hour, and not until then, the sword would awake. And Christ
knew full well when and for what purpose. You remember after his
triumphant entry into Jerusalem as the hour of his crucifixion
approached. In John 12, 27, he told the crowd
gathered there, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say,
Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. And then after the last supper,
he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, as Mark read in Matthew
26, with three of his disciples. One of the gospels says they
awaited about a stone's throw away as he went to pray. He told
them to watch and pray as he left. And each time he would
come back and he'd say, can I not be gone even an hour? And you
can't help but fall asleep, as we read there. The third time,
we read of that in verse 44, Matthew 26, said he left them
and he went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same
words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them,
sleep on now and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand and
the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise,
let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth
betray me. And as Mark went on to read there,
Judas had approached with a multitude in his portrayal of Christ, even
as Christ was speaking these words to his disciples. Well,
Think of the gracious mercy of God in sparing us by not sparing
his own son, by calling it his appointed time for the sword
of his justice to awake. But as I said, that command's
too full. He not only commanded the sword
to awake, but he also commanded it to smite this one who was
to endure the just punishment of God due unto the sins he bore.
So acting upon the full authority of God, the sword of God's justice,
you see, it wasn't brandished as some threat. This isn't speaking
of God's manifestations of his wrath due to temporal circumstances
and dealing like with the nation of Israel, as we often read about,
and others in the Old Testament. No, this isn't a sword threatening
us in any way to motivate us from a legal motive to straighten
up our act and get right. No, it was sent to smite. It wasn't a rattling of the saber.
That means it was sent to slay him, to deal a death blow that
would fully atone for the sins he bore, paying the sin debt
that was due those sins in full. And when you think of that, to
believe, as many do as I once did, that Jesus Christ lived
and died for everyone without exception, that he loved everyone,
that's actually a denial then of that redemption by his shed
blood, by which all for whom it was shed are saved. See, his
death on the cross, as some of you've heard it said, it's not
a mere attempt made, but it's a payment paid, and that in full. In Romans 6, 23, we read, for
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. We often quote half of that verse,
one or the other, but I like them when they're together because
I believe here it says the wages of sin is death, and the sentence
was to be fully executed upon the sin bearer, and that is so
that the gift of eternal life. might be given to each for whom
he died, and that, see, upon a just ground, through that justice
satisfying work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the death that was extracted. See, full remission, full payment
was made, and thereby, when remission is made, what happens? The debt
is forgiven, and it was forgiven for all the sins, for all those
for whom Christ died, his chosen sheep in Christ. He was smitten. When you think of what it took
to satisfy the justice of God, no less than the precious blood
of Christ, it ought to make us marvel at some of our former
thoughts and the thoughts of others. When we would look at
our difficult times or whatever and say, I know why God's doing
this to me. I shouldn't have done this or
I shouldn't have done that. Or when others will come up and
say, Things are going really well for you. You must be living
at the foot of the cross, you know, as if you were earning
that. You see, those thoughts in themselves
are awfully sinful, for they have us imagine, as we're all
naturally inclined to do, that anything we could do, something
we could do or something we could refrain from doing would take
care of that which actually took. the physical and soul suffering
and death of the eternal God-man. We dare not to place our doing
or some decision that we make in rivalry with what it took,
the precious blood of Christ. So we see in our text this two-fold
command to the sword of God's justice, to awake at God's appointed
hour and then to smite, to deal a death blow. Now I want to delve
into this glorious person against whom the sword of God's justice
here was commissioned. And we'll do that given the three
descriptions in this verse. The sword was to awake, it says,
against and smite first God's shepherd. God, speaking through
Zechariah, said, awake, O sword, against my shepherd. And then
he commands the sword to smite the shepherd. Notice he refers
to him as my shepherd, his shepherd. And he is God the Father's shepherd,
if you think about it. He was chosen by him, he was
called, he was set up, he was sent by him. In the everlasting
covenant of grace, Christ, God the Son, willingly became accountable
to God the Father for the sheep, the flock he was sent to save
by his doing and dying. Those, as described in Ephesians,
one who were chosen in him before the foundation of the world,
chosen in Christ. The title shepherd here refers
to his office as mediator. As we read in 1 Timothy 2.5,
there's one God, one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. This one that we're talking about
who is God's shepherd, he's that same one who said in John 10.11,
I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Remember, he told the Pharisees
that came to him, and he says, you believe not on me because
you're not my sheep, in that same chapter, I believe. Well,
Bill's been preaching recently from Isaiah 53, and recall that
verse six, which Jason mentioned this morning. It speaks of the
flock in this way. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the shepherd. the iniquity of us all. That
is, all of us sheep that by nature go astray. This one mediator,
this shepherd, we're told in Acts 20, 28, he purchased this
flock, the church, with his own blood. And on that basis, God's
shepherd is indeed then the shepherd of each and every one for whom
he was smitten, for whom he lived and died, who in each generation
just as surely will receive his blood-bought gift of faith and
repentance." That's good news. The one he calls his shepherd,
I can call my shepherd and cry out with the psalmist, the Lord
is my shepherding. Because of that, I shall not
want. And if he's your shepherd, you shall not want either. Well,
secondly, know that this glorious person against whom God's justice
was commissioned against. He's called the man, as it reads,
a Waco sword against my shepherd and against the man. You see,
for God's justice to be satisfied due to the sins of the sheep,
Christ had to come to this earth and be made like unto those whose
sins he bore. Paul wrote, to the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 15, beginning verse 20. But now is Christ risen
from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. And we read in Romans
5.19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one, and I believe there the sentence structure
suggests by the obedience of one another man, shall many be
made righteous. Well, as 2 Corinthians 5.21 teaches
us, the sheep are made righteous in him. God the Father, having
made him to be sin, having put to his account the sins of all
his sheep, and in turn made them the righteousness of God in him,
having imputed or put to their credit that very righteousness
that he established in full satisfaction to God's law and justice. See,
Christ is truly man. coming under the same jurisdiction,
if you would, of all humanity, in other words, subject to and
commanded to obey the revealed will of God, said of himself
in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, think not, I'm come to
destroy the law of prophets. I didn't come to destroy them,
I came to fulfill them. Every jot and tittle, he said.
And by his sinless obedience unto death was the law and justice
of God fully satisfied. And I believe, both in preset
by his perfect sinless obedience, which we certainly know he did
render that, as well as by the penal demands being met by his
suffering, the just penalty, his obedience unto death that
were due unto the sins of his flock that were imputed to him,
or counted unto him, whereby they are justified, declared
not guilty. Recall from Genesis how Satan
had triumphed over the nature of man in the fall of Adam, but
then in Genesis 3.15, the same nature, a man, was promised to
conquer death, hell, and the grave, for all for whom Christ
would ages later live and die on this earth, Said to Satan
there, the serpent, in Genesis 3.15, he says, and I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. Well, her seed here can only
refer to Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived
by the Holy Spirit, not by the seed of man. calls God is just,
and so because salvation's a matter of his law and justice, the same
nature which had rebelled should obey. And that perfectly by the
one man whom the Bible tells us knew no sins, who even offered
himself up without spot, Jesus Christ. And then likewise, the
same nature which sinned, humanity, must atone. This man who was
God, really died. And do you see something? There's
something here that I just can't adequately express about the
majestic wisdom of God in this. Here's God's one way of salvation,
in and by the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We read more of
the necessity of Christ's humanity in Hebrews 2. beginning in verse
14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same. That through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death. He had
to take into union with his deity humanity to die. He might destroy
him that is the devil and deliver them. In other words, he dealt
him that he bruised his head as we read in Genesis 3. And
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him he was indebted. It behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren. that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God.
Things like God being who he says he is, a just God and a
savior. See, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. This is the only way, see, that
God could be true to himself as both a just God and still
save sinners. This shepherd or mediator was
truly man. As I read earlier in 1 Timothy
2.5, there's one God, one mediator between God and man, God and
man, the man, Christ Jesus. You know when you hear Christ
Jesus, you remember he told Joseph, he said, I shall call his name
Jesus. That name means for he shall
save his people from their sins. That's the God who saves. So when it says here there's
one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, it's to say the man God
who saves. Lastly, this one against whom
the sword of God's justice was to smite is identified not only
as his shepherd and the man, but he's also identified as God's
fellow. And I really like that description,
especially as I studied that, did a word study of that. As
our text reads, it says a Waco sword against my shepherd and
against the man that is my fellow. That word means to be God's fellow,
it means to be his equal. It's an expression of the closest
possible relationship as in the next of kin. It's an equality
that can't be undone. In other words, this shepherd
who would be born into this world, this man, was also none other
than God himself. Yes, he was fully man, but he
was not a mere man. He was a man that was God's fellow.
Christ made that claim of himself in John 8, 58, excuse me, He said, verily, verily, I say
unto you, before Abraham was, I am. As Jason mentioned in the
10 o'clock hour, he's referring to the eternal I am, the uncreated,
eternal God. For a mere man to claim he was
God, see, that would be considered blasphemy. And because they did
not believe him to be God, manifest in the flesh, they considered
him a blasphemer. But God's word makes clear that
no, he truly was God manifest in the flesh. This was the man
that was my fellow. As Paul wrote to the Philippians
in Philippians two, beginning of verse five, he said, let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but he made himself of no reputation and took him the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." Think of that. What condescension, what humility,
what love for his sheep is reflected in this one who the Apostle John
said he was the word that was with God. He was the word that
was God, the word that was in the beginning, the word that
he goes on and later says, but the word that was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He, God, took into union flesh,
and that means all the infirmities of the flesh, and yet we're told
he did all that without sin. Being in the form of God there
in verse five, six, excuse me, means he's the exact image of
God himself. This is God's fellow. You know,
we'll sometimes refer to other humans as our fellow man. Well,
this one could be referred, in a sense, as a fellow god, not
as in another god, because it's one god consisting in three persons.
Perhaps we'd be better say it as this one is a fellow person
of the godhead. And being found in fashion as
a man, in verse eight, means he truly was born, lived, and
died as man. Now, it would be robbery. Robbery
is what? Taking something that doesn't
belong to you. Well, it would have been robbery
for any mere man to consider himself God's fellow, his equal. But not this man. It wasn't robbery
for him, the Lord Jesus, for he was very God. I noted earlier
how because God's law and justice were concerned, Christ's humanity,
his incarnation, was an absolute necessity. The same human nature
that had rebelled in sin would need to be the same nature which
should atone. but because sin is against holy
God. That's what the psalmist said.
He said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. And all of
God's divine perfections then are concerned. Well, then the
one who willingly undertook the redemption of the sheep, he must
be the man that was God's fellow, Jesus Christ, the God-man. See,
none but man could die so as to redeem. Likewise, none but
God could render an offering valuable enough to accomplish
redemption. I know some of you've heard this
example before. You know, in the Old Testament,
the animal sacrifices, which all were a picture of the one
sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, they were all offered
as instructed upon an altar. The altar is what set that offering
apart as a sacrifice. so as to distinguish it from
the random slaying of an animal. Well, likewise, it's appropriate,
as some of you have heard it said, to say that this one who
God the Father called my man, my fellow, he offered the sacrifice
of his humanity on the altar of his deity. It was his deity
that set apart and made efficacious his sacrifice, whereby he established
an everlasting righteousness." That took a God-man, and that
for all of his sheep. As we read in the first part
of 1 Timothy 3.16, and without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
That's mind-boggling. Well, we've seen from our text
that the command given to the sword of God's justice was to
awake and to smite, and that against the glorious person of
Christ, the one God called his shepherd, the man, his fellow.
And now I'd like us to further consider the consequences of
this deadly stroke. And of course, I'll first just
mention the most significant consequences that we know from
other scripture. They involve the earned exaltation
of Christ to the right hand of the Father, based upon his successful,
finished work of redemption, whereby those for whom he died
are saved from their sins. So I'm speaking of the consequence
of eternal salvation itself. And of the very highest manifestation
of God's glory is seen in this, the person and work of Christ
in saving his sheep. We could go to a lot of scriptures,
but one I love and just want to share briefly here that speaks
for itself is Ephesians 1. Beginning in verse 3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we, we sinners who put him to death on the cross,
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's
how real this thing of imputation is. God putting to our account
what he accomplished for us, just as our sins were put to
his account. having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in Jesus
Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, and all that according to the riches of his grace. And
as I say, that kind of speaks for itself. But I want to look
at the two consequences of this deadly stroke that were specifically
mentioned in the latter part of Zechariah 13.7. It reads,
and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon
the little ones. First it notes the sheep should
be scattered. And that has an immediate application
to the disciples of Christ as they abandoned him at the cross. And yet that was necessary because
as as was prophesied of Christ in Isaiah 63, he had to tread
the winepress of God's wrath, it said, alone. In other words,
in doing his redemptive work, he was to receive no comfort
or assistance. He willingly offered himself
a ransom for the sins of his sheep without any human assistance
or even the aid of angels. All of that just as the triune
Godhead had purpose. Earlier there in Matthew 26,
where he quoted this passage from Zechariah, well, later on
there, after Judas had betrayed Christ and led the multitude
to him and to take him away, we read, or as Mark read in verse
56, but all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets
might be fulfilled. And then look, then all the disciples
forsook him and fled. And that's just, and Jesus had
told them they would earlier in the chapter when he said,
you'll be offended by me and you'll be scattered. Then the
disciples were told in John 20, 10, after his death, that then
the disciples went away again into their own home. Well, clearly
they suffered here in unbelief. And so they disbanded. They thought
it was over. So we see the immediate application
here of this prophecy to his disciples. for they did indeed
scatter. I also believe this could be
in reference to the scattering of all of God's sheep, believers
all over the world, scattered in order to spread the gospel.
You know, right after his resurrection, when he first appeared to the
disciples in Galilee, is when he gave them his great commission,
telling them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. And then look at that last phrase
of our text again as it reads, He said, and the sheep shall
be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
Now, we know that the Bible, and in particular the apostle
John, often referred to God's elect, Christ himself referred
to them as the sheep. And the little ones to whom God
says he will turn his hand upon appears to be referring to the
same sheep that are scattered. And that throughout the world,
the sheep to whom he does see turn his loving hand of grace
in the day of his power. As I read earlier from Isaiah
53 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of Saul.
The Bible teaches us that by nature we're all that way, saying
in Romans 3.12, they are all gone out of the way. We often
quote from Proverbs 16.25, there's a way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That means
the way of salvation that initially would seem right to us by nature
isn't. That's why God's called on all
men everywhere to repent. We're inclined to think there's
something we can do to save ourselves, or at least contribute something.
We've got to do our part, as so many will tell us, so as to
really make the difference. But the truth is, the Bible says
we're born dead in trespasses and sin. We have to be born again.
We have to be given spiritual life to have the faculties, the
eyes to see, the spiritual faculties, the ears to hear, the hearts
to embrace the truth of God and how he saves sinners. Else we'll
never, if we're not given that life, if we never receive that,
then the shepherd didn't purchase it for us. But if he did, we
will see it, and we will come to understand that our only hope
is to be found in Christ. You know, only then do you really
need mercy. We talk about how we, I used
to talk about how I love mercy at a time. I didn't really need
mercy, I just need to cut my end of the deal that they told
me I needed to do. Do my part and receive him, you
know. Well, in any event, lost my place here, but we find out
that our only hope is to be found in Christ, washed in his blood
and clothed in his perfect righteousness. At the end of the text there,
we see that second consequence of the work of God's sort of
judgment against his shepherd, the man, his fellow. Justice
now has been fully satisfied, the debt's paid, the debt forgiven,
righteousness established, And that ensures that God's hand
of grace will draw each and every one of his otherwise wayward
sheep unto himself in their respective lifetimes, just as sure as Christ
died at the precise hour God had planned. It's interesting
that Zechariah 13, seven begins, I think, with the hand of God's
justice, the sword, and it ends with the hands of God's grace. Because the hand of saving grace
would not be there without the hand of justice having awakened
to smite. This hand that turns to the little
ones, it's not the hand of justice that was laid on Christ. If it
were, God would be unjust to exact further punishment from
those for whom he had already suffered that punishment, for
whom he died. And here it's not. Referring
even to the hand of chastisement, here it's referring to the hand
of grace, mercy, power, and protection, and drawing his sheep to himself
and keeping them. And his declaration is, I'll
turn mine hand to the little ones, I believe is as sure and
as certain as any other promise of God. Due to God's holy and
unerring justice, the righteousness that Christ established, it demanded
he come out of that grave. Just as that same righteousness
imputed to his sheep, it demands their resurrection unto spiritual
life and ultimately unto heaven's glory itself. Just as sin imputed
to the substitute shepherd of the sheep demanded he die. We
see this clearly in Romans 8, 10. If Christ be in you, the
body's dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. If his spirit dwell in you,
It's because he's already raised you to spiritual life, and here
he's telling us, and that ensures, that's the earnest, the Holy
Spirit being the earnest, the promise of being raised into
heaven's glory, eternal life in heaven. This hand of grace
is turned to what God calls here the little ones. And that's an
appropriate description when you think of how defenseless
and how helpless. All of God's sheep would be at the judgment,
facing the accusations of Satan because of our sins, were it
not for our standing in Christ, having the perfect merits of
his finished work put to our accounts, whereby we're declared
no, not guilty. This is so that all glory, see,
might belong unto God. If you'll just think about how
little these little ones to whom God is gracious are, well, first
we know they're little or few in number. Christ said, wide
is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and
many be that go in there are yet, but straight is the gate,
narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and few be that
find it. You see, they're humble, these little ones. to be little
in their own estimation when the Spirit convinces them of
sin and righteousness that would have them bowing at the feet
of Christ knowing nothing else would do for them. And you know,
these little ones, I don't think they're believing as a difference
maker either. They're brought to realize how they're actually
of little faith, all prone to the same unbelief, The disciples
had shown it as death and for which Christ immediately upbraided
them when he appeared to the 11 remaining ones in Galilee
after his resurrection. You can read about that in Mark
chapter 16. Christ had done for all of these
little ones what none of us had any hope of doing for ourselves.
Well, in keeping with my title, the man, my fellow, in closing,
I'm just gonna paraphrase some encouraging words that I read,
written by a guy named Robert Hawker in a daily devotional
that he wrote on Zechariah 13, seven. Taking all the these and
thous out of it, in essence he said this, whenever you look
up to the cross, whether daily, hourly, or continually, never
lose sight of this glorious union of God and man and Jesus. Fix
your eyes, your heart, your whole affection upon him. And while
you're resting, all your assurance of pardon and mercy and peace
and the joy of this life and the glory of that which is to
come wholly upon Jesus, he said, oh, let your ear of faith receive
in transports of delight this proclamation of God the Father
concerning him, the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord
of hosts. You see, no other could have
accomplished salvation. Only this one that God calls
the man my fellow could and he did get the job done. Thank you.