That is such a wonderful song.
I love that song so much. Such a wonderful thing to ask
our Lord for before we worship Him. Open our eyes, our ears,
our hearts. I pray He'll do that. Turn with
me now, if you would, to Matthew 26. Matthew 26 verse 31 says, Then saith Jesus unto them, All
ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written,
I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock. shall
be scattered abroad. It is written, I will smite the
shepherd. I am constantly amazed and in
awe of the mind, will, and purpose of God. The fact that he would even be
willing to do that, Just the fact that he would even be willing
to do that. The fact that he would write,
I will do that. I will smite the shepherd. That's amazing. That is amazing. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the shepherd. Psalm 23 verse 1 says, the Lord
is my shepherd. In John 10, the Lord said, I
am the good shepherd. In Hebrews 13, he said, I am
the great shepherd. In 1 Peter 5, he said, I am the
chief shepherd. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is
the shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep. But do you know that in John
1, it says he is the Lamb of God? This is worthy of some deep
thought and consideration right here. In Revelation 5, the apostle
John saw, standing in the midst of the throne, a lamb. That's what he saw. Jesus Christ
is the shepherd. And John said, when I saw the
one standing in the midst of the throne, I saw a lamb. And it says the 24 elders fell
down before the lamb. Crying worthy is the Lamb. Blessing and honor, glory and
power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne unto the Lamb
forever and ever. Now listen to this. Revelation 7 says, the Lamb who
is in the midst of the throne shall feed his people and lead
his people unto living fountains of water. That sounds like a
shepherd to me. Feed and lead, that sounds just
like a shepherd. It is the shepherd, the Lamb. Revelation 19 verse 7 says, let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage
of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. That
sounds like a husband. The marriage of the lamb. His
wife. That sounds just like a husband
to me. It is the husband. The lamb. Revelation 21 says, the foundations
of the city in glory, there are 12 foundations and each one bears
the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. I thought they were the apostles
of the Messiah. They were. The Lamb. You know what all of that ought
to prove to us? There is only one mediator between
God and men, the shepherd and the lamb. The shepherd and the
lamb. There's only one mediator. There's
only one link between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. God became a man. When it talks about sheep in
here, it's talking about men and women. God redeemed men by becoming
a man. The sheep of the shepherd had
to die because of their sin. So the shepherd made himself
to be a sheep so he could die in their place. Smite the shepherd. How? How? By making him to be the
sheep that had to be smitten. It's amazing that he would even
do that. So amazing. We were his sinful
sheep. If we were chosen by him and
given faith to look to him alone and believe on him, We were his sinful sheep condemned
to be sacrificed for our sin. So God, our shepherd, became
our lamb, our sacrifice for our sin. Turn with me over to Isaiah 53.
We can't speak on this subject without turning to Isaiah 53. And what ought to amaze us about
this chapter is this is speaking of God. You know, really think
about that. Let's think about who this is
talking about. This is talking about God of very God. This is what God did for his
people. A lot of people believe and say
Jesus is the one who can get you to God. No, Jesus Christ
is God. God of very God. This is what God did for His
people. Look at verse 1. It says, Who hath believed our
report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? I tell you who will believe the
report. Whoever the arm of the Lord is revealed to. That's who
will believe it. Verse 2 says, For he shall grow
up before Him, As a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground,
He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. Speaking of Jesus Christ
growing up before the Father, perfect on this earth. But verse
3 says, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from
him, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. If we ever come to realize what
Christ accomplished for his people, if we ever come to realize, everybody
knows that Jesus Christ died on a cross, but if we ever come
to see what Christ accomplished for his people, if we ever come
to see the substitution of Christ for his people, If our eyes ever turn from our
flesh, that's what we need. We need to turn from our flesh. Turn our eyes upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. We need to turn our eyes from
our doctrine. We need to turn our eyes from
our law to Jesus Christ. I was in a place not too long
ago I was walking down a sidewalk
and there was a man who, you know, in his mind was preaching. He had a microphone and a speaker
there and all that. He was telling everybody, you
need to turn from your sin so you can be saved. That was his
wording. He kept telling everybody, you
need to be saved. And you need to turn from your
sin so that you can be saved. And honestly, that's pretty much
what every man says in false religion. That would very commonly
be accepted almost everywhere. You need to turn from your sin
so you can be saved. And the thought went through
my mind. I didn't have time to argue with Him. I wasn't going
to argue with Him. The doctrine is not to be argued,
it's to be declared. You leave all that in the Spirit
of God Almighty. God will do with it what God wants to do
with it. And I didn't go talk to Him. I kept on walking. But
this thought went through my mind. I would love to walk up
to Him and open John 19, verse 30, which says, from the cross
of Calvary, Jesus Christ said, it is finished. I just want to
ask Him. What does that mean? You explain
to me what that means. What did he mean? Is salvation finished or is it
not finished? Did he do it or did he not do
it? Was he lying or was he not lying? In telling people you are not
yet saved and you need to do something, you need to turn from
your sin so that you can be saved. Are you calling him a liar or
are you not calling him a liar? Which is it? If we ever behold the Lamb, people
hear, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world. And they don't do it. And it's
because they can't do it. They can't see Christ. They can't
see the accomplishment of Christ unless it's revealed to them,
unless the arm of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to them. What they think is, he needs
my arm. I see that he needs my help.
I see that he needs my decision. If we ever see Jesus Christ,
if we ever see the smitten shepherd, if we ever see Christ crucified,
we will see our salvation. We will see the gospel of our
salvation. Why was the shepherd smitten? If I still have to do something
so that I can be saved, why was the shepherd smitten? What was accomplished in the
smiting of the shepherd? Verse 4 says, Surely He hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace. Everything that was owed to us
because of our sin, it was on Him. And thank God with His stripes,
we are healed. We are healed. Verse 6 says,
all we like sheep have gone astray, scattered astray, veered, wandered
astray. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord. That means but God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, his great kindness, his great
pity, his great compassion, wherewith he loved his own. Having
loved his own, he loved them to the end. Verse six, 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 us all. If we ever see that, we will
see why the shepherd was smitten. And we'll change our tune. We'll sing a new song. Verse 7 says, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. That was our shepherd. And do
you know what that means? That means he was willingly smitten. He was not forced to the sacrifice
of his death. He laid down his own life. He
gave up his own ghost. He said, Father into thy hands,
I commend my spirit. Verse seven, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb. So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. God smote the shepherd. God smote
the shepherd. Why did God smite the shepherd?
It's because it was the only way. He was the only way. Don't go back, but in our text,
our Lord was quoting Zechariah 13. He said, it is written and
it was written in Zechariah 13. And there in that chapter, God
made a promise. And the only way that promise
could be carried out was to smite the shepherd. Turn with me over
there to Zechariah 13. It's page 1179 in my Bible, and
it's the second to the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi is the last book in the
Old Testament, and then Zechariah is just before that. Zechariah
13. Here was God's promise. His promise
was to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That means his chosen people.
Not every soul on this earth, but to his chosen people. Verse
one, he said, 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. He said for all
of their sin and uncleanness, I will open a fountain that will
wash them white as snow. I will open a fountain of payment. I will open a fountain of redemption. What is that fountain? There
is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and
sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. That dying thief saw the smitten
shepherd. And there may I, though vile
as he, see all of my sins right there washed away. A man named William Cooper wrote
that song, and I've told you his story before. how he was
a man who was very troubled. This man was very troubled over
his sin. So troubled over his sin. He
had a troubled childhood, a troubled upbringing. He lived a life that
he deeply regretted. He was a man who was very aware
of his own sin before God. Some are just more aware of their
sin than others. And this man was very aware of
his sin before God, and it troubled him. It got very bad for him. Very
bad. And it troubled him to the point
that he couldn't find rest or peace at all. So much so, he
was literally put into an insane asylum for one and a half years. When they let him out, he was
just a shell of a person. And he had to go live with a
family who took care of him. And it just so happened that
this family sat in the congregation of a man named John Newton, who
he had the same troubled past, but he was the man who wrote
Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound That Saved a Wretch Like
Me. Mr. Cooper was a poet, he was
a songwriter, and his songs were always songs of depression and
songs of despair. Until one day, by the preaching
of the gospel, he heard and he saw the smitten shepherd. And
he said that the text that day was Romans 3.25. whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation. That means a cover, an atonement,
an appeasement. It means a victim of sacrifice,
a bloody victim. Whom God hath set forth, speaking
of Christ, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. He saw that Christ, the smitten
shepherd, made peace for him through the blood of his cross. And the story is told that Mr.
Cooper was so overwhelmed with joy, he immediately grabbed a
pen and paper and he wrote, there is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from, that means God's own veins. And sinners plunged
beneath that flood. Where were they plunged? In Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary. Sinners plunged beneath that
flood. When he cried, it is finished,
what he was saying was, every soul you gave to me has been
plunged under the blood. It's finished. Sinners plunged
beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Mr. Cooper wrote,
dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God be saved, be called home
to that eternal home where one day we will never sin anymore.
Sin will have no presence with us. whatsoever. In that day there
shall be a fountain opened, a fountain of blood, a fountain of cleansing,
a fountain of redemption. How? How can this be possible? Look at verse 7. It says, Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my
fellow. God the Father said, Send the
sword. to my son. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.
Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will
turn mine hand. That means bring healing redemption
to my little ones. Smite the shepherd, and all my
sheep will be saved. That was the only way. That was
the only way. I'm going to close with this.
Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse 1 says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood, unto the obedience of Christ
and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away. reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not
seen, you love. in whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. Verse 18 says, for as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you who by him do believe in God. that raised him up from
the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God. It might be in God. If we ever
see the smitten shepherd, if we ever see the lamb that was
slain, we will see the gospel of our salvation. That is the
absolute truth. That is the absolute truth. To
see Him, to see Christ crucified and what that means for God's
people that He was crucified. What was accomplished for God's
people by Christ being crucified. If we ever truly see what that
smiting from God means for us, we will see the gospel of our
salvation. Lord, open our eyes that we may see. That's our prayer. All right.