May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Zechariah and chapter 13 and we'll read the first verse. The prophecy of Zechariah chapter
13 and reading the first verse. 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. We are wonderfully privileged
today in these New Testament times to have the Word of God
and to have the New Testament and to be able to read the great
and wonderful truths that it contains. And then as we read
the Old Testament, to be able to trace out and see how there
were those wonderful prophecies in those days, which Almighty
God enabled the prophets to write. And no doubt to most of the people
in those days, it was a very dim picture. They wouldn't have
been able to really appreciate it very much unless the Lord
gave them true light from heaven. But today we are indeed blessed
to have the New Testament so that we can appreciate some of
those things which are written in the Old Testament, which point
so very clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we should indeed
be very thankful for it. Well, we read some of those references
in the chapters this evening. I won't go through them again
at this point, but for your own meditation, it is good, and especially
younger friends, to study these things and to be encouraged by
them. Well, in this 13th chapter and
the first verse, the prophet commences by saying, in that
day, And in these two chapters that we read, a number of times
there has been that statement, and in that day. Well, we might ask ourselves,
on what day was that to be? Well, we can be thankful to believe
it sets before us the Gospel day, the glorious day of the
Gospel. which of course was the day when
the Savior came into this world. And it was a gospel day, especially
when he departed out of this world and when he ascended up
into glory there to be seated on the Father's right hand. And so much had been revealed
in his life, in his death, in his resurrection and his ascension. So we can believe that it was
The gospel day that Zechariah was referring to here. And he
says, 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. Now the Old Testament people
of Israel would have been familiar with the need for water, the
need for washing, because of their uncleanness and because
of their sin. And there were so many things
that if they found themselves in that way, really sinning against
God and sometimes just merely touching things, they needed
to be cleansed and they needed to be washed. And therefore they
would have understood something by this verse, there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David, because Israel would
have recognized they were indeed the house of David. And many
of them did live physically in Jerusalem, but nonetheless, they
would also have been spiritually of Jerusalem. So they would have
understood the meaning here. A fountain opened to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. And these things were not to
be passed over. They were not to be ignored because
the law and the ceremonial law very clearly told Israel how
they should wash and be cleansed. And it was necessary to do this,
otherwise they were not able to gather with Israel and worship. Indeed, most times they were
not even able to meet with them. So the need for a fountain, need
for water was very important and very essential for them. So this statement, a fountain
opened to the house of David, and inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness. Again, the Word of God would
have made it very clear to them of the sin which was all around
them and how they needed to be cleansed from their sin. And now today, as we look at
the current situation, surely we must realize that we, as they
were, are sinners before God. And of course, we go right back
to the times of Genesis and Adam and Eve, when they sinned against
God on that terrible, tragic day in the history of the world,
when sin entered into the world, when Eve and Adam were deceived
by Satan himself, the great deceiver of the church of God. And he
still is a great deceiver. And you and I should never underestimate
the skill of Satan himself. And therefore, we will find ourselves
under his influence. And we will find that we are
sinners like they were. And we will find ourselves great
sinners that need to be cleansed that needs to be washed from
our sin and from all our uncleanness. Now we know that today it's not
a physical washing in water that will produce any cleanliness,
any washing away of our sin. Water will not do that. Water was typical in those Old
Testament days, but now there is a much greater need. And thankfully, the scriptures
point us wonderfully to this fountain which has been opened,
which of course is so far better, so much better. than that which
Israel of old had in a form of water. Now today, we are wonderfully
blessed to have the revelation that our
cleansing can only come through one source, and that's not water,
and that one source is the precious blood of Christ. Indeed, as The
Apostle John so gloriously tells us in his first letter and the
first chapter, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Now, this will not mean anything
to us until the Holy Spirit convinces us of our sin and of our sin
before a holy God. and to realize that that holy
God cannot look upon sin and therefore to have been shown
our great need of having our sin removed and the understanding
that we have no ability to free ourselves from our sin and therefore
we need our sin to be taken away. Indeed we need to be cleansed
from our sin and there is a very beautiful verse in the last book
in the bible in the book of the revelation which is a very wonderful
prophetic book but it does speak much of christ in that book and
in the first chapter of that revelation given to john on the
isle of patmos we're told in the fifth verse and from jesus
christ who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." It's a very
clear statement, isn't it? Unto him. My friends, do we look
tonight unto him. We won't look unto him unless
the Holy Spirit has convinced us of our sin and we won't be
a little sinner because when the Holy Spirit convinces, that
Spirit shows us we are great sinners and therefore we need
a great saviour. And what a wonderful blessing
it is for us tonight to realize there is a great savior. There is a great savior. And
so this word is true. There shall be a fountain opened
to the house of David, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin and for uncleanness. Well, water could not cleanse
us. Water could not take away our
sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son can and does. What a mercy then for us tonight,
if we have the wonderful evidence the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed
us and washed us. And it is a very important consideration. It's not something which is irrelevant. You may ask me, why is it not
irrelevant? Why is it so important? If you
and I are to get to heaven at last, if you and I are to be
found with the ransomed saints in glory, it is a place where
there is no sin. It is a perfect place of sinlessness,
of joy and peace and glory. And if we had any sin, we would
not be able to enter in to that celestial place. and how important,
therefore, to have the reconciliation and the realization that, indeed,
this word is true. In our case, the blood of Jesus
Christ cleansed us from all sin. And you may say, well, I'm a
great sinner. Well, the Lord came to save great
sinners, and we're told If we confess our sins, this is the
gospel. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Well, every one of us is a sinner
and all of us need to confess our sins. All of us need to repent
of our sins. We all need to turn unto the
Lord. We all need to receive the wonderful
gift of grace, the unmerited favour to do that which is not
of nature. See, naturally, we don't like
to admit that we're a sinner. We don't like to confess that
we're a sinner. But bless God, when the Holy
Spirit shows us something of our sin. So that we have to say,
indeed, like the lepers of old, we have to say, I'm unclean,
unclean. The lepers, they could not enter
in to the city unless they were cleansed. And they had to cry
out, unclean, unclean. And that's just as we are. We're
unclean. until we are cleansed of our
leprosy or cleansed of our sin. What a blessing it is. We have
a great and glorious God who is compassionate and knows what
we need and supplies that need and shows to us that he has stood
between us and a holy God in garments dyed in blood. You know, David, a man after
God's own heart, he was a sinner. And God showed him he was a sinner. And by the grace of God, he was
able to confess his sins. And more than that, he was able
to write them down. And we have, therefore, a very
gracious word in the Book of Psalms, which directs us to the
condition that David found himself in before God. You see, that
was the situation. He was standing before a holy
God. And when the Holy Spirit brings
you and me to stand before a holy God, we will understand something
that David knew when he wrote the 51st Psalm. And the very first verse tells
us, well, the first two verses tell us, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression, wash
me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Baby didn't pretend he didn't
have sin. He came to God, praying for mercy,
praying to be cleansed from his sin. And as we read on, the third
verse tells us, for I acknowledge my transgressions. You see, here
was a confession before a holy God. I acknowledge my transgressions. It's a great blessing when God
has given us grace before him to acknowledge our transgressions. This was between David and his
God. My friends, the Lord brings us
so that we stand individually before our God and having to
come like this and to confess our sins. And he desires then
that he might truly be cleansed. As we come down to the seventh
verse, he says, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. He needed this fountain to be
opened on his behalf. My friends, all of us need the
fountain of the Saviour's blood to be opened on our behalf. We don't want to find it shut
up and it's closed. We want to know individually
that the Lord indeed has opened this fountain, that fountain
for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Well,
it would be a mercy for us today if we indeed have the evidence
in our heart that the Lord has looked upon us and has graciously
blessed us with true confession, as David was blessed with. He went on to then say, make
me to hear joy and gladness. You see, when we're confessing
our sins, There's not much joy and gladness in that. There is
a thankfulness. The Lord has enabled us to come
to God, not to hide, but to make a confession. But you see, when
the Lord shows us that we, by his grace, are under his blood,
what a difference that makes. We understand, perhaps, What
the Apostle Paul said when he wrote to the Corinthians, he'd
explained to the Corinthians in the sixth chapter, he'd given
a long list, a very comprehensive list of many sins. So none of us can say, well,
of course, I haven't committed any of those sins, because even
if we haven't committed them physically, no doubt we would
have thought of them in our minds. And there is the same condemnation
to a thought as there is an action. And so Paul the Apostle comes
down and tells the Corinthians very clearly, and such were some
of you. Well, that's true of us tonight.
Such were some of us, but then he gives this beautiful statement,
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. This is through the wonderful
blessing and the wonderful favour of that sacrifice the Lord Jesus
made when he gave his life on that cross at Calvary to atone,
to take away our sins so that we are washed So you see, when
we come to stand before that judgment seat of Christ, we shall
be clean. We shall be washed because our
sins will have been taken away and thrown into the depths of
the sea to be remembered no more forever. What a savior we have. What a great and gracious savior. We had Isaiah and his prophecy
also directs us to this when he prayed to God, wash you and
make you clean. Isaiah knew the need for this,
just like David did, just like Zachariah did, just like the
whole church of God does. And may you and I know the need
for it. Wash you and make you clean. Put away the evil of your
doings. from before your eyes, cease
to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow. All these are indications of
the true work of grace in our heart and the true desire to
really be washed and to be cleansed by those things which are the
outworking, the grace of God in our hearts. And then he comes
on to these words, glorious words of invitation to these people,
come now. It's a good word, isn't it? It
doesn't say come in a year's time. It doesn't say come just
before you're going to die. It says come now, come now in
this gospel day, in that day, in the gospel day, come now and
let us reason together. Sure, it's very humbling to think
that we have a God who will come alongside us and reason with
us, show to us our sinful condition and show to us that there is
a fountain open, a fountain open to cleanse us from all our uncleanness. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. This is God speaking, not man. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. And though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Well, what a wonderful word that
is. What a gracious invitation to
the poor sinner. who is laid low, who is burdened
by their sin, burdened by a realization that have offended the Holy God,
burdened to realize it's their sins which have caused the Lord
of life and glory to suffer upon Calvary's cross. And yet the
gracious invitation is, come now and let us reason together
how kind and gracious is our God. What a blessing it is if
the Lord enables us to come into that situation. Come now, let
us reason together. Saith the Lord, thy sins be as
scarlet. They shall be as white as snow,
red like crimson. They shall be as wool. Well, that is indeed a great
truth. And then just to move on to A
verse in Hebrews, you see, it's very easy to think, well, these
things, you know, we can pass them over. We can pass them over. But when the apostle wrote to
the Hebrews, he wrote kind and gracious words. And he said in
the fourth chapter, the seventh verse, he said again, he limited
a certain day saying in David, here we have in this house of
David and now in David, Today, come now, today, after so long
a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. The devil would have us harden
our hearts. The devil would have us not listen
to the word of God. The devil would tell us, there's
no hope for you. You're just too bad a sinner.
You're just too great a sinner. Indeed, you've sinned against
light and knowledge. Well, my friends, you and I can
turn and tell the devil, Christ has died. Yea, rather, he's risen
again. And my hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Well, we rejoice today. I hope we rejoice today. in this
fountain, this fountain which has been opened, which is opened
for the whole church of God, a fountain opened to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. What a God we have. What a gracious,
kind and merciful God. In Ezekiel's prophecy, Ezekiel
wrote and said, the words of the Lord, then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. That of course, symbolic of the
sprinkled blood of the Savior, which cleansed us from all sin. And so tonight, May we come to
our God, confessing our sins, praying for his mercy, realizing
his great love toward us, that love which was so great that
caused him to come in a sinful world and to die that sinatonian
death in order to cleanse us and to wash us from all our sin. Indeed, we should come and say
with a hymn writer on Such love my soul still ponder, love so
great, so rich, so free. Say whilst lost in holy wonder,
why, O God, such love to me. 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. Amen.