Join me in Zechariah chapter
13, and we're going to spend our time mainly in verse 1, but
I'd like to read this entire chapter. It's nine verses long,
and we have in here so much said about our Savior as it was brought
out during His ministry. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanliness. And it shall come
to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut
off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no
more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets
and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. It shall come
to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, that his father and
his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not
live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord. And
his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him shall
thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, every one of his
vision. When he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear the rough
garment to deceive. But he shall say, I am no prophet. But he shall say, I am no prophet. I am a husbandman. For a man
taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto
him, What are these wounds in thy hands? Then he shall answer,
those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 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 upon
the little ones. And it shall come to pass that
in that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall
be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I
will bring the third part to the fire, and will refine them
as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and
I will hear them. I will say, It is my people,
And they shall say, the Lord is my God. What a wonderful chapter. Now there's some in here that
is hard to be understood, but it is all pointing towards the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have here several references
to the ministry of the Lord. We have several references here
to his end of his life here and his going to the cross on our
behalf. He was wounded for our transgressions. But we're going
to spend our time tonight in verse one. In that day, there
shall be a fountain. Now, someone who can take words
and put them in order, much better than I can, wrote a song from
this passage of scripture. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. What a wonderful statement that
that man made as he reflects on this passage of scripture.
Well, here it says, in that day. Now, the time is not proximate,
but fixed and known to God. Whenever we read these, words
in that day. We may not know the day but the
Lord knows that day and he has it fixed. He has the exact day
fixed in his eternal purpose. And we find that Abraham, just
turn with me if you would over to the book of John chapter 8
and verse 56. As we find here the Lord speaks
about Abraham, Abraham chapter 8 and verse 56. These words of
encouragement for the church because in this we find how he
treats us, how he dealt with us. It says, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. Now, in that day, Abraham saw
him. So long ago, Abraham saw him. Abraham, God dealt with him.
God brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees. God brought him
out of that religion. God put aside all those idols
and brought him out. And it says, your father Abraham. Now, they had him as from a literal
lineage. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
sharing with us that I dealt with him on a spiritual realm.
In that day your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad. The greatest day of his life
and that day continued all of his life and continues to this
day as he rejoices in the rich grace that he found in Christ
Jesus as God revealed God to him. in the book of Ezekiel chapter
16. I think we've been here recently
but we want to go back to the book of Ezekiel chapter 16 and
we find in this passage of scripture a statement with regard to Israel. Your father was a Hittite and
your mother was an Amorite. Now, he goes down through there
and lists what kind of birth this was. And in Ezekiel chapter
16, and there in verse eight, let's read that verse of scripture
together. It says in Ezekiel chapter 16, verse eight, now
when I pass by thee, now he's out in the field, we see this
picture, we see this type, we see the shadow of where the Lord
finds each one of us. We are in our loathing. We're
dead, if you please. Dead in trespasses and sin. When
I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. Now that's that day. That day,
the time of love, when he walked by, when he saw, and I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness, yea, I swear unto
thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God,
and thou becamest mine. So in that day, what a glorious
day it was, as we find Ezekiel writes about the Lord coming
by a people that he's known from eternity, a people whose names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, a people that he had
love for from eternity, a people that he was going to die for
from eternity, and said, when I walked by you, you were dead,
but I said live, and it was that day of love. He demonstrated
his great eternal love on his people in that day. So as we
look at this, we find that this is a place in the book of Zechariah,
going back there to chapter 12, verse, chapter 13, excuse me.
Chapter 13, I've been in chapter 12 so long. Chapter 13 and verse
one, the scriptures share this, in that day, there shall be a
fountain opened. Now there's three things I'd
like to look at in this verse of scripture. Number one, who
is that fountain? Number two, who is that fountain
for? And number three, what does that fountain do? And they're
all answered in that verse of scripture. It tells us in, there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanliness. Now,
who is that fountain? Well, let us be reminded of a
negative side of this that the Lord reminded Israel of. And
that's found also in the book of Jeremiah. So if you join me
over there in the book of Jeremiah, in the book of Jeremiah chapter
two, we find that Jeremiah, a preacher of righteousness, all of the
prophets knew what grace was. They were all sinners saved by
grace. And as they gave the message,
it was a message that came directly from God. It is not a message
or writing like we do. I wish my lesson plans were inspired,
but only the word of God is. Now, when we write down a passage
of scripture, that's inspired. We pray that what we have to
say about that passage of scripture is pleasing unto the Lord, that
honors Him. That's our goal, is to honor
God, to honor Him in His Word and preaching of His Word. Well,
here in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 2, we have this said
about a fountain that was rejected. It says, for my people have committed
two evils. They have forsaken me. Now who's that fountain? It's the Lord. That fountain
is the Lord. That's where we go to. We're
not going to get salvation any other place. We're not going
to find salvation any other place. And no other place is given for
our salvation. In that day, they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters. And not only have they done that,
they've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. They have gone
ahead and build themselves cisterns. It says here, and hewn them out
cisterns. Now that's just like saying every
religious denomination and organization in the world is nothing more
than a hewn cistern and what does it say? And can hold no
water. There is no help there. There is no deliverance there.
There's only that. And by nature, we reject, by
nature, we have committed, we've forsaken the fountain of living
water. I'm so thankful that by the grace
of God, He brings His people to Him. He brings His people
to Him. And we have that great delight
in Him as our living water. And in the book of John, this
is brought up again, John chapter 7, In John chapter seven, as
we look at this fountain of living water, they have rejected me
a fountain of living water. And they have hewn out cisterns. Now listen to this, over in the
book of John chapter seven, verse thirty-seven. John chapter seven,
verse thirty-seven, the scriptures share this. It says, in the last
day of the great day of the feast, you know, There's going to come
a time in every one of our lives when God saves us that we're
going to have the last day of that. It will be the last day
of that. We'll not have that with us anymore. It will be taken away from us.
We find that there in the book of Zechariah. I'm going to take
care of all the idols. So in the last day of that great
day of the feast, now that was an honorable feast. It was ordained
of God, but that's going to be over with. We have one place
to feast and that's in Christ. Jesus stood and cried saying,
now he's not invited to stand, but he does stand. Why? He's
the Lord of glory. He knows what must be said. And he says this, if any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scriptures have said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. So the only one, and he qualifies
this, if any man thirst, you know, by nature, we don't thirst
after spiritual things. We thirst after everything else,
but spiritual things are not on the menu. Why? Because the
natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they are spiritually
discerned. And we cannot comprehend that,
we cannot understand that until after we're born again. We think
we know something, and we find out we didn't know anything,
because the scriptures are spiritually discerned. We would look at events
as historical. We'd look at them as good stories,
moral stories. And yet, after the Lord saves
us, we find out everywhere we look is the message of the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus the Lord, how he saves his people from
their sins. And so it is. He is that fountain
of living water. He is that which we need to come
to, but we don't know how to come to until he gives us the
thirst to do that. Going back to the book of Zechariah
for just a moment, in chapter 14, we're getting ahead of ourselves
but I want to look at chapter fourteen because in chapter fourteen
we have some some more of this great gospel message that Zechariah
has had from chapter one through chapter fourteen. In Zechariah
chapter fourteen verse eight and nine chapter fourteen verse
eight and nine and it shall be in that day that living waters
shall go out from Jerusalem half of them toward the former sea
and half of them toward the hinder sea In summer and in winter shall
it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that
day shall there be one Lord, and His name is one." What unity
we have in the Godhead as is mentioned here. But there's going
to be a living waters. This is going to be brought up
in other places that we want to read about, but we find how
glorious it is. that there is a fountain that
is so free and so full and so effectual and so able to take
care of the problems. Now, in the book of Ezekiel chapter
47, Ezekiel chapter 47, there is mention of a river of
living water, a fountain overflowing. now notice this with me in the
book of Ezekiel chapter 47 and there verse 1 chapter 47 and
verse 1 now it gives us to some degree the depth of this river in this passage of scripture
it is so phenomenal that we think we know something until we go
a little further, and then we find out it's deeper than that.
And then we go a little further, and then we find out it's deeper
than that. Well, it says, afterward he brought me again, verse one,
to the door of the house. Who's our house? And who's the door? And behold,
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward,
where the forefront of the house stood toward east, and the waters
came down from under the right side of the house to the south
side of the altar. And then brought me out on the
way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without
unto the utter gate by way that looketh eastward, and behold,
there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had
the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand
cubits, and he brought me through the waters, and the waters were
to my ankles." Well, there's enough water there for us to
study the rest of our life about the Lord Jesus Christ. But he
said, well, as Brother Mike brought in that, let's launch out into
the deep. All right. Again, he measured a thousand.
And you know, some people are going to take this literal. Let's
just look at this as a picture about the great grace of our
God and the great glory of our God and the great salvation of
our God and how he depicts it here by living water flowing
out from the house. through the door. Afterward he
measured a thousand, and there was a river that could, oh, in
verse four, and again he measured a thousand, and brought me through
the waters, and the waters were to the knees. And again he measured
a thousand, and brought me through the waters, and they were to
my waist, to my loins. Afterward he measured a thousand,
and it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters
were risen, waters to swim, a river that could not be passed over.
What fullness we have in Christ. What grace we have in Christ. What benefits we have in Christ. When we think we've used them,
there are more than we could imagine. And so this river flows
out from the Lord. It is continuous. It is a blessing. And in the book of Psalms, let's
back up to the book of the Psalms. Who is the fountain? It is the
Lord. Here in the book of the Psalms,
Psalm 72. Join me in Psalm 72 as we look
at this wonderful passage of scripture. There's a fountain.
In that day, there shall be a fountain. Psalm 72, verse 8. And it says, He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They
that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies
shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of
the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him. All nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the needy, when he crieth the poor also,
and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy,
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. And he shall live, and him shall
be given of the gold, and Sheba prayer also shall be made for
him continually. Daily shall he be praised. There
shall be a handful of corn in the earth, and upon the top of
the mountains the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and
like the city shall flourish like grass on the earth. His
name shall endure forever. His name shall continue as long
as the sun. Men shall be blessed, and all
nations shall call him blessed. There in verse 8, it says, He
shall dominion also from sea to sea, and from river unto the
ends of the earth, as He has dominion over His own river. He has direction in which it's
going. Now it tells us which direction
it's going. You know what direction it's going? Where the elect are.
That's where this river is flowing. He's going out with this river
of grace. He's going out with this river
about himself. And the gospel that will be preached
as this river passes will be the same all the way along. That river does not change in
its direction. Texture does not change in what
it's made up of. It is the same all the way. The
same grace that Abel knew is the grace that God gives today.
The gospel that he heard is the gospel that we hear today. Now,
this fountain is opened. It has long been opened, but
There is an ignorance about this fountain. You know, there's a
passage of scripture, again, let's go to the book of Genesis.
The book of Genesis, it certainly shares with us a truth about
this fountain. To most, it is never seen. They
never hear about it. They hear about a fountain, but
they don't hear about it. There is an illustration made
over here in the book of Genesis. You know, Abraham was required
to have one of his wives leave. But she is allowed to make an
illustration for us here by the providence of God in the 21st
chapter of the book of Genesis and verse 19. God opened her
eyes. So let's back up. Arise, lift
up the lad, and hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great
nation. And God opened her eyes, and
she saw a well of water. Did that well just appear? It
did to her. Genesis chapter 21 verse 19.
The Lord opened her eyes and she saw a well of water and she
went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink.
That well, that fountain there, was it just created at that moment? No, it's always been there. She
just could not see it and how it is with every one of the lost
children of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is impossible
to see the fountain. It's impossible to see Christ.
It's impossible to see where sin can be taken care of until
God opens our eyes. The Lord brought water out of
a floating rock. It looks like so illogical. Human logic cannot deal with
it. That there was a big flinty rock,
some basalt, let's just put it, and God sent a gushing water
out of it that watered up to six million people. I'm getting ready for the message
on Sunday, which is about manna. And one man said that there was
96,000 bushels of manna a small estimate, 96,000 bushels
of manna eaten a day by Israel. That's what they found out there.
That's what fed them. When this water, we cannot measure it, but it
is for all of his people wherever they are. It gushed out. The
Lord opened her eyes. We find that he smote the rock.
And that rock was Christ is what we find in the New Testament.
All right, let's go back to the book of Zechariah for just a
moment. And we're going to read there
in the book of Zechariah chapter 13, Zechariah chapter 13. As
we see again, that prophet shares with us, Zechariah chapter 13
verse 1 says, there shall be a fountain open. Now who is this
fountain open to? Who's going to see this fountain?
The Lord knows who's going to see it before the foundation
of the world. He says, this fountain is opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now we are thankful that God
has placed many Gentiles under that umbrella. The House of David,
what did David say? It's not been good with my house,
but he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, both sure and steadfast. Now that's who the House of David
is. Those he made a covenant for. and on the behalf of, and reveals
that in our salvation, that He has made an eternal covenant
with us, that we were not entering into it. We are the beneficiaries
of it. We did not vote in it. We did
not come up and make suggestions because the Lord knew the desperateness
of our situation that we would not make good choices. Today is not the first time in
human history that people are making poor choices. It's always
been that way. And we would make poor choices,
so he made the choice for us. Now he reveals to us, he reveals
to us his good choice. What does it say about the Lord?
He is my elect. It's my choice. My choice in
the matter is mine. And that's where we find ourselves,
elect in Christ Jesus the Lord. So who is this fountain for? It's for the house of David.
It is the house of David, and it mentions that he made an agreement
for and with them. Those who know even the sure
mercies of David, oh, the mercy that God extended to David, a
man after my own heart, a sinner to the core, a practicer of sin,
one that really shown his smallness and yet God had this to say about
him, I will not hold your sin against you. It's been paid for. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound, those who have heard the glorious gospel. My
sheep hear my voice. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Would you turn with
me again to the book of Ezekiel? Back to the book of Ezekiel.
So much said in these Old Testament books that are brought out in
the New Testament. Nothing new is brought out. There's
nothing new in the New Testament. It is found throughout the scriptures. In the book of Ezekiel chapter
36, Now we're not going to read all of this. We read it about
three times or four times a week it seems like. Ezekiel chapter 36 beginning
with verse 24. For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. Notice that how much is covered. I will bring you from among the
heathen Jews and Gentiles all have their
start as a heathen. We're no different than Abraham,
worshipping idols on the other side of the river. And if you're
on the other side of the river, you're worshipping idols on the
other side of the river. Then will I sprinkle clean water. You will hear something that
you've never heard before. We think we know something, we
don't know anything. It's revealed to us. And ye shall
be clean from all your filthiness and from your idols will I cleanse
you. And the story goes on, the account
goes on, the blessings continue on in this great chapter 36 of
the book of Ezekiel. As God shares his I wills about
how he saves his people. And the only thing that we do,
the only thing that we bring to the table, the only thing
contribution that we have is our sin. We have nothing else
to bring to the table. We're thankful that there is
someone that has taken care of that. In fact, he said, I have
a fountain. for the house of David and for
those of Jerusalem. I have the church in mind when
I am opening up this wonderful fountain. The only reason Jesus
Christ came to this earth was for his church. The only reason
he created the heavens and the earth was for the church. The
only reason that Noah ever built an ark was for the church. That
is it. He has the church in mind, the
glory of the church, In the glory of the church is the glory of
God in redeeming his people from all their sins So we have Who? We have he is the fountain and
he has we have who is going to be using that fountain now in
the book of Zechariah chapter 1 and verse Excuse me chapter
13 and verse 1 It tells us what is this fountain going to do
for the house of David and for the house of Jerusalem, where
the people of Jerusalem. What's it going to do? There's going
to be a cleansing. It is for a purpose. As we read
that, let me get over there again. Book of Zechariah chapter 13
and verse 1. There's a fountain in that day,
and there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now notice this, for sin and
for uncleanliness. Now we'll just sum this up. The
Lord covers this subject so many ways in the scriptures. Different
names are used. Different things are said about
our position before him in the fall. Here he uses two terms. One of them is a heart condition,
and that's sin. We have a heart condition. We
have a heart condition that is so complex we can never figure
it out. It is desperately wicked. And
then we have the results of that heart condition, and that's what
we do with our hands, our feet, our mouth. Uncleanness. It's uncleanness. It is terribly
unclean. There's nothing good about it.
We cannot produce any good thing about it. We cannot raise ourself
out of the calamity that we're in. So we have the problem and
we have the result of the problem and that is uncleanness. But
did you notice that this fountain takes care of all of it? It says,
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.
That's what this fountain is for, is to take care of the problem.
It's gonna take care of the problem that we had in the fall, and
it's gonna take care of the problem that we have produced on our
own. As sinners before God, it's gonna take care of the problem.
He is going to deal with that. He will deal with that at the
cross. That's the reason he came, is to take care of the church.
The book of Daniel, we read this last week, but I wanna read it
again there in the book of Daniel chapter nine. as we think about
this situation. And when the Lord comes, when
He came in His right time, as Daniel brings it out there in
Daniel 9, verse 24, at the right time He came, at the appointed
time He came, we're not going to guess in what month it was.
I don't even discuss whether He's born in December or whether
He's born in March. That's not the issue. The issue
is God came in the flesh. incarnate for the purpose of
laying down his life, a ransom for many. Seventy weeks are determined
unto the people and the holy city to finish the transgression. Oh, and the church just says,
oh my goodness, it's all taken care of. Every bit of it, to
finish transgression, to make an end of sins. to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up
the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. The New Testament was completed.
There's no need for anything else. It's going to be sealed
up. But we notice in here what the Lord Jesus Christ did by
His laying down His life a ransom. By His shed blood, by this fountain
that He is, He is going to take care of the problem. He's going
to take care of sin, and He's going to take care of the uncleanliness
that comes along with it. Our very nature will be taken
care of. Now through this life, through
the rest of this life, we're going to carry around this old
flesh. But the promise is made. The down payment has been paid.
It has been sealed. We are both children of God,
brought into his very presence by the Spirit of God, rejoicing
in the message of grace. In the book of Hebrews, Jumping
way ahead, if you please, the book of Hebrews chapter nine.
Most of what we say is repetition. Just repeating the same thing
over and over. It's been going on that since
Moses started the book of Genesis. And as John finished out the
final book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, that
message is going on all through that time and it has not stopped. it will not stop until the last
sheep is saved lost sheep is saved and then he'll wrap this
up I like saying that it will be wrapped up all right Hebrews
chapter nine Hebrews chapter nine verse twenty six we delight
in this for then must he often have suffered if he's going to
be a priest after the order of Levi he must often have suffered
but since the foundation of the world, but now, once in the end
of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself." And the church says, thank you, Lord. to put away
sin and the results of sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's
what this fountain, that's what Christ is here for. That's why
he came, is to take care of the great problem that came as a
result of Adam's sin. We don't know the depths of it
yet. We only get a shadow of it if we look at Jesus Christ
on the cross, what he had to pay in order to set his people
free, the payment price. And we cannot even grip that,
we cannot grasp it. Great darkness upon the face
of the earth. In the book of Revelation, would you go there
with me, Revelation chapter seven? Revelation chapter seven. Revelation chapter 7 verse 14.
A question has been asked and John
says, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto
me, These are they which came out of great tribulation. Now
that word tribulation has often been applied, misapplied I should
say. Misapplied. That means great
affliction. Tribulation, and I've shared
with you before, the greatest tribulation I ever had in my
life was to find out my religion was worthless. I came close to ending it. It was serious. And by God's
grace, a man starts preaching the gospel. That was great tribulation. I'd been lied to. They came through
great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white. That is illogical. Every time
I have a bloody nose and it gets on a white shirt, Nancy is quick
to take it off and get it cleaned out. Here, it's illogical. Christ is illogical to the human
mind. His way of salvation is illogical
to the human mind. Everything about him is illogical.
You want to hear logic? Listen to the Pharisees. That's
human logic. But illogic, he said here, out
of every came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple. And he that sitteth upon the
throne shall dwell among them, and they shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor
any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them and shall lead them into the living fountains
of water. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, lead them to the fountains of water." How
glorious He does this in our life. He doesn't wait for us
to die and then we wake up in heaven or hell. It's going to
be something He does for us in this life. Great tribulations,
great problems, but they have this as their answer, as what
God has done for them. So, we have a fountain. His name is Jesus. We have a
fountain for some people. the family of David, and Jerusalem. It was never intended
for anyone else. Now, I will never tell anybody
that they're not in that number. We preach to people as if they're
all Jacobs. We talk to people as if they're
all Jacobs. That's the business of God. But
we know that if God does not save them, If he doesn't give
them the fountain, if they're not in that host, he didn't die
for them. He didn't waste his blood, he
didn't die for them. And then we find, what does it
take care of, that fountain? Sin and uncleanness. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And the church delights in that
fountain.