or are needing help in hearing
and speaking, friends, we would direct your prayerful attention
to the book of the Prophet Zechariah, chapter 13, and the first verse. Prophecy of Zechariah, chapter
13, verse one. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. In that day there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. The Prophet Zachariah prophesied
around 500 years before the birth of Christ. And you will find
in this prophecy, friends, there are different aspects that he
prophesied. Clearly, we have those regarding
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And clearly also we have those
regarding Judah and Jerusalem and that the Lord's people will
be watched over in times of trouble, in times of those enemies coming
against them. It is said that the book is really
divided into two parts, chapters 1 to 8 and then 9 through to
14. Some have even suggested that
the Prophet did not write the later chapters. We leave that
friends. But this we do know that there
is much depth in the book and there's much for us to prayerfully
consider. But certainly he covers the sufferings
of Christ in some of the final chapters and he also speaks of
the enemies that will come against Jerusalem and some have suggested
that indeed here there is that recorded for the final days when
the enemies will get to Jerusalem. Well friends, the interesting
thing for me to some degree about Zechariah is the meaning of his
name in the Hebrew. And it means this, God remembers. And I would say to the young
friends here tonight, God does remember. It's the name of Zachariah
and it's his meaning, but friends, he remembers everything. He remembers
all things that ever I did, says one. He's told me all things.
He remembers, he knows, he does not forget. You and I have a
tendency of whatever age to forget God, but he does not forget his
people, whom once he loves, he always loves, he loves them to
the end, but he cannot forget them. And there were two sides
to this God remembers. There is one that he remembers,
and we'll come to that a little later, our uncleanliness and
our sins against us. He remembers them for a period. We'll come to that. But also,
and he notes those sins, we cannot get away. Friends, it comes to
my mind, be sure your sin will find you out because it will
before the Lord, maybe not before man. but before the Lord it will. But then there is this, that he remembers us in the deep
waters, the troubles, the afflictions, and the trials that he calls
us to walk in. So friends, let me take that
away, Zachariah, God remembers. What a star. Well, we come to
our text, in that day, three words, you will find that regularly
quoted in these last few chapters. We read it in chapter 12, in
that day verse 3, in that day verse 4, in that day verse 6,
in that day verse 11, so on, in that day. But here in the
verse we read, in that day shall be a fountain open, in that day,
which day is that day? This is the day, there's two
days here I believe are reflected, or two types of days shall we
say. One of them is the day when the
Lord Jesus offered himself up upon Calvary's cross for the
dear people that he must save. When his side was pierced, they
could not break his bones because the scripture said none of his
bones shall be broken. They couldn't break his bones,
but instead the soldier pierced his side. As the hymn writer
says, the soldier pierced his side. It is true. And oh, to
be able to say the other line, through faith and through belief,
and because we know something of these things in the heart,
but we have pierced him through and through. But you see, and
forthwith we read in John's gospel, there came forth blood and water. And I do hope that we can come
to speak a little of the fountain of blood and the fountain of
water. And perhaps friends has helped
to differentiate a little between the two. So in that day, let's think about
these two types of days. So there's the day of the Saviour's
death when blood and water ran out of the side of Christ. Yes that's the day, in that day
a fountain was opened. But the fountain is opened in
every day when the work of conversion takes place in a sinner's heart. That's the second type of day
and it's not one day is it friends? You know I was thinking as I
pondered this word You know, what a gospel day it would be
in Zion today across the churches if one poor sinner, one poor
sinner, today is one for whom the fountain is found and is
opened. Because I believe there is a
day when that fountain is to be opened for individual souls.
So in that day, those first three words, let's be quite simple
about this, as I see this friends, there is that day then of the
Lord Jesus Christ and of course he had to rise again so that
the work would be complete because death is not the end. Life is
the end, eternal life, so he must rise a third day. But the
blood and the water that came forth out of his side, that's
the day of redemption as you work. redemption being to redeem
and to pay for the sins, but the other one is the individual
application to a poor sinner of the fountain being opened.
Because I believe the sinner living as they are before the
work of grace is in the heart, they're like this. And there's
two parts to this text, a word in Song of Solomon that I looked
at and have pondered in this way. This is where they are,
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. It's not an open fountain. A fountain that is sealed is
one that is shut. Now, to the young friends, I'll
just say this. When I was at primary school,
I remember we used to have water fountains. We used to drink out
of the water fountains. And, you know, I can remember
a day when I was very thirsty and I went out and all the fountains
outside, you used to press a button and the water would come up quite
high. All the fountains had run, were not working. They weren't
operative. They were sealed up for that day because they were
looking at the water in the school as many years ago. But, you see,
I thought about that. A spring shut up. A spring shut
up. You know, the world will never
know anything of the fountain of life. Oh, to have a desire
that we might know this fountain, that it might flow for us, you
see. Well, you see, it says here,
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. and those in their unregenerate
state before the Lord has converted them, before the Lord has started
to work in the soul, and I do accept friends that with some
you cannot go to a particular time and place and say the work
began there, like Saul on the road to Damascus where it was
so abundantly clear that the Lord had shone in. With some
it is like that, with others it's a creeping work that we
cannot point to the And for some, it can be quite a burden that
that isn't the case. But there was a time, there was
a day, you know, when you felt that hope raised in your heart
that Jesus was yours, that he loved you, notwithstanding all
your sins, notwithstanding all the things that you'd done wrong.
Well, friends, you see, we read a little later in that chapter
in the Song of Solomon, a fountain of gardens. A fountain of gardens,
a well of living waters, that is when the well is opened. So
that's that day, in that day there shall be a fountain opened,
not shut anymore. It's opened because the work
of grace is begun in the soul, the work that will be performed
until the day of Jesus Christ, whether that's the day of us
death or the day of the Lord coming again but friends it will
be completed the author and the finisher of our faith we quoted
in prayer and friends what an author we have and what a finisher
in that day there shall be a fountain opened and you know friends the
fountain of water and the fountain then of blood Now, you see, blood we need in
our bodies, don't we? 10% of our body is blood, you
know, in our body weight. And we need the blood to course
around our veins, don't we, to keep us alive. And we need water,
friends, even more so, actually, because, you know, 55 to 60%
of our body is water. Aren't we remarkably made? Do we ever ponder these things? God's work in creation and you
know our brains are 70 odd percent, 73 I think and our lungs 83 percent
water. You think about how remarkably
we have been made friends and therefore we need to keep ourselves
and haven't we had the warnings in our hot weather to keep ourselves
refreshed with drink? Yes, to keep our hydration levels
up. Well, friends, we think of those
things naturally as we name them, but spiritually we need the water
from the well of Bethlehem. In other words, the water of
the gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us just try to
Briefly think of our thoughts regarding these two fountains.
You know, there's a hymn, 155, and you might want to read it
afterwards, but one of the verses says this, the fountain so dear
here freely impart, unlocked by the spear, as we've touched
on, it gushed from his heart with blood and with water, the
first to atone. which means really to redeem. What is redemption? What does
it mean for blood? Because blood is the redeeming
factor. So the fountain of blood is to
redeem. What does it mean to redeem?
If we have a loan or a mortgage it's paid off and we redeem it.
And all that that we owe through the sin and the uncleanness at
the back end of the verse that we've got, All that we owe is
redeemed, it's paid for by the blood of Christ if we're his. It's completely paid for. Nothing owing. Yes. And so it says this, and then
the water, what then is the function of the water? The water is to
cleanse, the water is to impart life. That comes back to our
point naturally and we would be simple if we could in this,
friends, that we need water for life. So we need water for eternal
life. We need water for spiritual life. The fountain opened, opened for
sin and uncleanness. Water to cleanse. Yes. So it goes on to say, with blood
and with water, the first to atone, to cleanse us the latter,
that is the water, and this beautiful statement, the fountains but
one, water and blood in the same fountain, from the same source,
the riven side of the Saviour. Oh friends, there's a deep here,
there's a depth here, and yet, how wonderful indeed is the truth
in it. Friends, what do you know of
this fountain? You see, I thought of the fountain. There is a very high fountain
at Chatworth House in Derbyshire. 300 feet high, it goes. The water goes 300 feet when
it's fully running. Man-made, I know. And there are
also fountains, because what is a fountain? A fountain is
where the water springs up, naturally or man-made, where the water
springs up. Oh, the fountain of the side
of Christ, the water springing up to save and to cleanse. But
there it comes back to it, this 300 feet in the air, this water
goes. You see, it's a magnificent scene
at Chatsworth House. What of the fountain of life? You know, all I could, this word
kept going through my mind. It rises high. It rises high. You read the word in the hymn,
one of our hymns, and it says this, though your mighty guilt,
we've not talked about your sins yet, or our sins, friends, have
we? It's beyond the wide creation swell, but it says this, an endless
ocean flows. of never failing grace. This,
behold a dying saviour's veins, that sacred flood increase. It
rises high beyond the 300 feet of man-made water in the fountain. the fountain of Christ's blood,
the fountain of water to cleanse. Friends, it rises beyond anything
that can be man-made, anything on the earth. It rises high and
drowns the hills, has neither shore nor bound. Now if we search to find our
sins, our sins can ne'er be found. You know, there was a lady called
Daisy Pilgrim. Could say it's a suitable word,
friends, her surname. She was a pilgrim, too. But she
went to, she attended one of the chapels in Sussex. She died
in 1986, I believe, aged 87. I remember reading her obituary
not so long ago. There wasn't a lot in it in a
sense, it wasn't a very full obituary, but what it did say
was this. She had this line of a hymn on
her mind, not in our book, a hymn and it said this, her sins have
all been washed away. And coming back to that day,
the other thing was this, oh happy day that fixed my choice. You know the hymn? Lovely hymn
there. Oh lovely day that fixed my choice. Well what fixed the choice? The
fountain being opened in that day in our hearts that we looked
unto Jesus for salvation. Fixed our choice. Oh we read
in another hymn that thousands make a wretched choice and rather
starve than come but this day that fixed our choice. Oh happy
day that fixed my choice and on my saviour and my God and
it goes on to say to speak of the precious blood. And friend,
she felt it personally, her sins are all forgiven. Her sins are
all forgiven and she speaks of that early in her married life,
how the Lord spoke to her regarding the blood. I say to you poor
soul, what have you got, what evidence is there for you in
your life that the blood has been applied to your sinful,
wretched, polluted soul? What evidence is there of the
blood and the cleansing effect of the water and that water that
imparts life? You see both were needed, both
were needed from the side of Christ because if it had just
been the blood it would have atoned for the sin but there
would have been no life imparted for eternity. Yes. For he is the resurrection and
the life, the life of all that live and it's through the water
friends. Have you known the application
of the water as well as the blood? Well, you might say, you might
come with that lady of, oh, that lady, what a sinner. Had five
husbands. The man she's now got is not
a husband. And there she's going to draw
water out of the well. And Jesus, being tired, He must
go and say, ah, this was the day of the opening of the fountain. It's in that day, exactly in
our text, in that day, it was a day to save this woman, this
poor sinner, this wretched lady who has had, she's had no husband
because he who she had was not her husband and she'd had five
before. But you see, the Lord Jesus said
to her, she said, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep, and that's how it feels to the poor sinner.
But there are those times when he applies a touch of the sweet
well of Bethlehem to our soul. And we feel it. And friends,
as I spoke naturally, that the body needs water, so does the
soul. Otherwise we get dried up. And
friends, you know, we can get dried up with even being, as
it were, with the round of service. On it goes, round it goes, the
time comes to go to chapel, to church, whatever, and there it
is, the time on the clock and we follow it. But friends, that
time of renewing, that time of life, to really feel we need
the waters to flow into our soul. It's what we need, isn't it?
And well, this time for this lady, it was wonderful. And Jesus said, whoever drinketh
of this water that we've drawn out of the well shall thirst
again, but whoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall
never thirst. And that's the water of, as it
were, in effect, the water, the cleansing water. now water to
cleanse. We know that in the numbers it
speaks of the Levitical, the Levites and the Levitical dispensation
there that the Levites were to wash themselves with water. They
were to be pure in that way naturally. And in the Old Testament terms
we also know that the blood of bulls and goats was to be sprinkled
as a sacrifice, as an offering for sin. We also know that of
course there was the Passover when the lamb, the paschal lamb
as it's known as, that word meaning the lamb of the Passover, had
to be killed and it had to be a prime lamb, it had to be one
that would be killed and obviously sprinkled upon the doorposts
and upon the lintel. And we read there, we read friends,
that then the destroying angel passed over. And so that was,
as it were, a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ and that fountain
that would yet be opened in the New Testament, the new covenant
or the new promise, as the word covenant means, made through
blood, through blood. And that's the thing, friends,
we need the application of the blood. One of our hymns, and
I can't remember which one it is, It's got just those two words
in it. And friends, it's this invaluable
blood. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience ease or
wash away the stain. No, it's the blood, the blood
that we sang of in that lovely hymn by Joseph Irons. Friends, you know, I can remember
coming into Staplehurst Chapel and our dear old deacon, Ben
Field, he was quite a character really. He used to turn up at
the last minute and farmer-like and just give out the hymns in
a fairly laid-back sort of way but he was a dear man, you know,
in the things of God and I remember one Lord's Day, it would have
been about 1985-6, He gave out that hymn and it
ended up with that couplet, we determined not to know, but a
bleeding Jesus. Oh, it went straight to this
poor man's heart. And I believe it was my desire
then that we would know nothing amongst men but a bleeding Jesus,
bleeding for us. Yes, that's the blood, friends. You know, nature's miles away
from this. We can't get there in nature. But to desire something of these
spiritual blessings in that day, there shall be, I love the shalls
and wills of Jehovah, there shall be a fountain opened to the house
of David. Why is it to the house of David?
Now, the house of David, of course, is a Jewish line down from David. And as we know, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is it himself, was in that line. Friends, there were
some sinners that came to know the Lord Jesus Christ in that
line. We can think of Rahab. We can
think of others, all sinners. But how wonderful it is that
they knew something of this blood and they knew something of this
fountain. But the house of David, those who follow after David's
ways, what is that? To seek the Lord, to be amongst
his people. I believe really the house of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem really refers to the
so-called spiritual Israel. That is those whom no man can
number, who are across all generations, across all tribes and tongues,
across the world. Friends, so not just the Jews,
which we might think the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, who for the most part were Jews, although in the
New Testament there were Gentiles and Greeks there as well, as
we know. So Greeks amongst the Gentiles,
of course, anything not being a Jew would be a Gentile. And
the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, we read with that dear woman
that came to him with that prayer, Lord, help me. She came out of
the coast of Tyre and Sidon. She was a woman of Samaria. And
indeed, so was the woman at the well that we've just read of.
For the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans. So we
know that this is not just for the Jews. We know that this is
for the spiritual Israel, the spiritual followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, all tribes and tongues, friends, and the fountains
open to those that the Lord will open their heart. We spoke this
morning of the Lord knocking at the heart. We spoke of that
Peter continued knocking was our word, and we spoke much of
prayer, There was that knocking of the heart and it's those where
the Lord opens their heart they will desire something of the
blood and the water, water to cleanse, a blood to purify. Yes, friends, you know, there
is that lovely hymn, there is a fountain filled with blood. Drawn from Emmanuel's veins and
sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Now, I don't know where you are
tonight, friends, because I want to read this last thing. It talks
for sin and for uncleanness. And then it says separation for
uncleanness. Well, of course, they used to
separate, as we know, those that were unclean, that had the leprosy,
they had to be separated from. Friends we're all leprous souls
with our sins and you know it doesn't matter how good we look
in the house of God and I want to be right in speaking because
it's lovely to see you each here but you see we can look religious,
we can speak religious, we can be wonderful in all these things
but what is in the heart and the Lord Jesus Christ looks upon
the heart and I feel it's like this that you see we can have
sins in religious pride. Oh, we can have sins, you know,
we get a little lifted up even as servants of God. Perhaps we
get an email or we get some feedback and we think, oh, I can do this.
No, my friends, we can do nothing in the work of salvation. We
can do nothing with the work of preaching the gospel without
the Lord Jesus Christ. And sin and uncleanness, it covers
it all. It should come to pass, the next
verse says, In that day, said the Lord of Hosts, that I will
cut off the names of the idols. I wonder if I said to you tonight,
friends, get a little blank sheet of paper and write down two or
three of the things that you might idolize. I wonder if I said it to myself,
what I might put on that piece of paper. You know, I do believe
those dear souls that are brought to love the Lord Jesus Christ
will examine themselves and they will have a look at these idols
and they will desire that they will be cut off from these idols and they shall be no more remembered
yes well we would desire, you see, to be amongst that third
part that's brought through the fire. Those idols and things
we will come away from because the Lord will cause trials and
temptations and difficulties to come into the pathway. So
that, as it were, our faith is tried and that which is of our
own making in our faith is burnt off. So there's just the purity
of the silver and the gold. that is left, that pure religion. And you know, friends, we do
need our sins to be washed away, don't we? And we do need to be
made clean. You know, you think of the water
that's cleansing. It's so beautiful. I do love
Ezekiel. He's a prophet where the Lord
seemed to show him many things through visions and There is
that lovely vision in Ezekiel 47 of the rising of the waters,
the vision of the holy waters. But it ends up like the water
rises and rises, doesn't it? And you will know the chapter
very well as Ezekiel was shown this vision. But the virtue of
these waters, he calls me to return to the brink of the river.
And he said this. It shall come to pass that everything
that liveth with moveth, withersoever the rivers shall come. You see,
these are the fountains. Withersoever the rivers shall
come shall live, shall live. Yes, there shall be a very great
multitude of fish because these waters shall come in thither
and they shall be healed. And everything that shall live,
whither the river cometh? Has the river of God's love passed
through your heart, poor soul? Has it shown you your sins? And has it cleansed you from
them in that sense that water cleanses? You know, again, let
us be simple, friends. We wash our hands in water, don't
we? Water is so useful for washing
and cleansing. But we need that cleansing effect
to give us that hope for eternity. And I do believe the disciples
came to know something of it. The Lord Jesus Christ said this. He poured water into a basin
and he began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the
towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, Lord, dost
thou wash my feet? Jesus said unto him, what I do
thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter. Jesus said to
him, and then Peter said, thou shalt never wash my feet. Oh,
friends, Jesus said this, how solemn it is and how true. If
I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Then Simon says
this, oh, what faith given to him then. Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head. Wash me, Saviour, or I die. I remember as a child, those
words, after a service at Matfield Chapel, those words, wash me,
Saviour, or I die, they went through and went through my mind.
I just could not get them out of my mind, and I didn't have
a clue what they meant. I believe we knew a little of
what it was to pray that the Lord might show us. Well, I believe
it was a few years. But friends, wash me, saviour,
or I die. I thought, well, what does that
mean? How can we, if we're going to be washed, we die if we're
not washed. What does it mean? But you see,
we will die eternally if we're not washed. Oh, something to
seek for, my dear young friends. that we may know what it is like,
Peter, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. But those
waters, to partake of those waters of life. You know, in the Revelation,
I think the Lord Jesus speaks of the water of life. He showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. Yes. the water of life. And he said unto me, it is done.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is a first of the fountain of the water of life freely. Yes. Are you thirsty for this
fountain, poor soul? Am I thirsty that we come up
to the house of God as the expression is on the stretch for a blessing? You know, I read regarding switching
back again to the blood, you see these two fountains that
are together, both necessary. But we go back to a book I read
of Mr. John Broome and that dear man,
you know, he went to preach in Utrecht in Holland. And he preached from Zachariah,
I think it was the chapter before this is what he preached from
as for thee also by the blood of thy covenant that is the blood
of thy promise I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein there is no water and it was the first time he preached
in Holland well there was a there was a man an elderly man that
had gone along to this service a Dutchman and he said I wanted
to go and hear the English Domine, Domine meaning the name for minister. So I went to hear the English
Domine and out of curiosity and he said, but the Lord met
me that night. I'd been 25 years in that pit
wherein is no water. And the Lord met me because I
saw this by the blood of the covenant. I've sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit. Oh, he said, I'm no longer a
prisoner. But now feel to be a child of God. Friends, how
blessed that is. And, you know, I also read a
little later in that dear man's book that that on that first
visit to Holland he sat down with Gadsby's hymn book one afternoon
and the Lord blessed him with the third verse of hymn 596,
redeemed with Jesus' blood redeemed, his beauty's called to trace,
no angel can be more esteemed than sinners saved by grace,
redeemed. You see redemption as we spoke
earlier The debt all paid. What the debt all paid, we sang
of that. What mighty psalm was paid, it
was paid friends. All our sins, a lifetime of sins. You see, Zechariah then he says
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness,
for all sin. and for all uncleanness. Friends,
we're not pure, are we? But you see, when the Lord Jesus
shines, we see a little of the dungeon of our heart. You know,
I've said before, I only occasionally gave out that hymn in the years
of giving out the hymn. I found it too cutting. 310,
the dungeon. The first one, when the spirit
descends to show the badness of our hearts, astonished at
the amazing view, the soul with horror starts the dungeon. Now
I don't know if you friends, younger friends, particularly
perhaps have been to see some of the dungeons. I remember one
school visit into a dungeon, dank and dark and horrid. Your heart and my heart full
of sin, full of inequity, those thoughts, those feelings. all
got to be atoned for, all got to be washed away. I'm thinking
that lovely hymn, are you washed in the blood of the lamb? And
it repeats it, doesn't it? Are you washed? Are you washed? And friends, that's the question
for you and me tonight, to be washed. Because if we're washed,
we're pure, we're clean, we're whole. Yes, it's beautiful, isn't
it? Well, in that day there shall
be a fountain opened, the fountain of his precious blood, the fountain
that, as we will sing of, cries a man of God, the fountain. Oh, yes, that is beyond the 300
feet that we've read of, spoke of, beyond any fountain that
man can make. the scale and the preciousness
of this fountain. Well, friends, I see the time
has gone. I don't want to keep you. May
we ponder this word in that day. And if we've not known that day,
may we pray for it. In that day, there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. for sin and for uncleanness and
just one thing I would say, again, our friend Ezekiel, you know,
he says this, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you
shall be clean from all your filthiness, from all your idols
will I cleanse you. Well friends, I have to say this,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Amen.