Zechariah chapter 13. Zechariah chapter 13. Zechariah is describing for us
God's work and God's ways of grace with his people. He's telling us in verses 7,
8, and 9 of this 13th chapter about that which is the sure
result of Christ Jesus being crucified in the room instead
of his people. And that which is the sure result
of Christ's death is that all they for whom he died shall be
saved by his omnipotent mercy. But God's way of doing that God's way of saving his people. I promise you if you will read
this book is altogether contrary to anything that has ever been
imagined or conjured up by religious people in this world. His ways
are not our ways in any area and more Clearly, that is demonstrated
in the business of saving his people than anywhere else. We would, if we could, make things
far easier for me. We would, if we could, bypass
the trouble and the difficulty and the heartache. We would,
if we could, prevent pain and sorrow and agony of soul in men
and women. But that's not God's way. And that's not the best way. And every wise father knows that. Every wise father knows that.
I recall years ago, Faith was just a little girl, and We didn't
use nurseries. We didn't use them. I didn't
insist on them being used because I made certain my daughter behaved
in church. And when she was old enough to
sit, she was old enough to behave. She didn't have to have toys
to play with. I wouldn't tolerate it. And I wouldn't tolerate her
talking and squirming about. And as often as she caught my
eye looking at her, she knew what was coming. I would leave
the pulpit immediately when I got done. Take her by the hand and
take her to the back room and wear her butt out. One day, one
of the old men in the congregation, he said, Brother Don, you're
going to give that child a complex. I said, I intend to. I intend
for her to do exactly what I say do the first time I say it and
I won't tolerate less. I caused her much pain. when she was growing up, on purpose, on purpose, inflicted pain, drew
tears from her eyes, and often she must have surely thought
I was full of anger at her. She must have surely thought
That which moved me was not a heart of love that broke as I inflicted
the pain, but a heart of anger that enjoyed inflicting the pain. Well, why would you do that to
a darling little blonde-headed, curly-haired, well, she wasn't
curly-haired, but blonde-headed, blue-eyed girl? Why would you
do that? Well, look at her now. I wanted her to be a good mother,
a good wife, a good citizen, one who exercises all the responsibilities
of an adult in this world and wanted to prepare for it. I wanted
that which I knew was best and the only way that comes about
is with discipline from a father's hand. Zechariah 13 let's begin
at verse 7 Title of my message tonight God's
little ones tried by fire And I promise you it will not be
as you expect Awake Oh sword against my shepherds Against
the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd
The Lord Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd laid down his life for
his sheep he willingly Voluntarily of his own accord by his own
might laid down his life for us No man took it from him But
let us never imagine that since our Lord Jesus died freely and
voluntarily of his own will and laid down his life, let us never
imagine that his death was anything less than the violent slaughter
of divine justice executed upon one who was made worthy of the
slaughter of God's holy wrath. when he who knew no sin was made
sin for us. The glittering sword of divine
justice was awakened against him with all the fury and anger
of an offended God. We can't even begin to imagine
the infinite magnitude of our Savior's sufferings. and agony
as he endured all the hell of God's wrath against sin as our
substitute. Religious folks like to argue.
The papists, you know, they say Christ went to hell and suffered
in hell. And some idiot Protestants believe
the same thing. Nothing could be further from
the truth. No indication of that in scripture. But understand
me, understand me. Eternal hell, suffered by all
the multitudes of the damned forever, cannot compare to the
sufferings of the Son of God when He was made sin for us. Darkness covered the earth and
engulfed Him. He cried as one utterly Abandoned
by his father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He
said, I am a worm and no man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. I am poured out like water. All
my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It's melted in the midst of my
bowels. because innumerable evils have
compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. O God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from thee. Much We talk of Jesus' blood,
but how little is understood of his suffering so intense,
angels have no perfect sense. Who can rightly comprehend their
beginning and their end? Tis to God and God alone that
their weight is fully known. Who can wonder? Who is surprised,
who could be surprised that the sheep should be scattered when
the shepherd was smitten under the fury of God's holy wrath
by the glittering sword of his divine justice. How confused
those disciples, those sheep must have been. How astonished. how utterly terrified they must
have been when they saw Him whom they trusted as their Redeemer,
whom they trusted as the Messiah, now put to death, put to death
in the most shameful way imaginable, as one cursed of God hanging
on a tree. The Lord God said, Awake, O sword
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered and his next word his next word
is as full of mercy as his waken sword was full of fury and and not a contrast a continuation
a continuation of the very same thing And as surely as the sword
is awakened against the shepherd and smites the shepherd, just
as surely as Jesus Christ died, I will turn mine hand upon the
little ones. What grace! What goodness! What mercy! I will turn my hand
upon the little ones. The Lord God speaks with utmost
tenderness regarding His elect, His little ones, for whom the
Son of God, the Shepherd, was smitten. They are His little
lambs, His little children, His little people. They are little
before men. Little before God and little
in their own eyes Little ones to him belong They are weak,
but he is strong Listen to what he says about these little ones
Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water Only in the name of a disciple only because
he's one of my little ones Verily I say unto you he shall in no
wise lose his reward But whoso shall offend one of these little
ones, which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths
of the sea. Even so, it is not the will of
your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish. I will turn my hand upon the
little ones, God says. I will turn my hand upon them
to save them. I will turn my hand upon them
to protect them. I will turn my hand upon them
to do them good. The hand of omnipotent mercy
and grace. The hand of tenderest love and
affection. The hand of guidance and care.
The hand of security to preserve and keep them. I will turn my
hand upon the little ones. upon these little ones the Lord
God will never turn his hand of justice no no that hand of
justice was turned upon the surety and justice will not allow that
both the surety and they for whom the surety suffered and
died be punished oh no this is not even specifically primarily
talking about the hand of chastisement The Lord God because he loves
every son whom he chastens indeed does chasten his own But this
hand is the hand of mercy and grace It is the hand of his good
providence and his grace ordering all things for the salvation
of his people And look at the next line in verse 8 God's little
ones are his elect remnant They're referred to here as the third
part of the inhabitants of the earth. The third part who must
be saved, though all the other two-thirds are left to die. They must and shall be saved
this third part because God chose them in everlasting love. They
must and shall be saved because God has ordained their salvation.
They are predestinated from all eternity unto everlasting life.
They must be saved because Jesus Christ shed his blood to redeem
and save them. Zechariah 13 verse 8 It shall
come to pass that in all the land the land of Jerusalem, the
land called the House of David, the land called the Israel of
God. It shall come to pass in all
the land of grace and mercy, saith the Lord God, two parts
in this world shall be cut off and die, but the third shall
be left therein. I have a very good friend, Brother
Bill Carver. If you had heard him pray one time like I heard
him pray, you wouldn't think he was a friend. We were in a
meeting down in Knoxville, Tennessee. Several of us there, just mostly
preachers there, fixing to have lunch, and they called on Bill
to pray. He attends the church at Cherokee, where Brother Tim
James is a pastor. He was giving thanks to God for his goodness
and mercy and grace and teaching us to love one another. He said,
Lord, you've even taught me to love Don Fortner. And you know,
he's not an easy man to love. I love folks who pray honestly.
Well, Bill, Bill has made his livelihood dealing with things
that other folks consider trash. and I think he's sold it now,
but all his life down in Waynesville, North Carolina, he maintained
a cloth shop. And if you walked in it, you'd
never dream it was a place where folks actually go get stuff to
make stuff. All he ever bought were remnants,
just remnants. He'd go to factories and he'd
buy at basement bargain prices, things the factory otherwise
would have to throw away. And he'd gather them up in his
truck, take them back to Waynesville, put them in his shop. And then
he would sell them to 50 housewives at bargain basement prices to
them so that both he and the housewives were happy. And he
continually made a profit dealing in other folks' throwaways. Just
in remnants. That which others considered
nothing. Useless. Worthless. Not worth the bother. What are
you going to do with that? Well, we'll get somebody in here
with a hand truck or an end loader and we'll scoop it up and haul
it to the dump. Why? Are you interested? Well,
I'd kind of like to have that. I'd kind of like to have that.
Will you hear me? Our God, the God of all grace,
the God of glory, only deals with remnants. I said, Brother Cecil Roundtree, experience God's mercy only because
He finds himself worthless and useless and fit only to be cast
away. Well, I'm not that way. I hope
God will make you that way. If he doesn't make you that way,
you're going to hell. Surely you didn't mean that pastor.
If he doesn't make you that way, you're going to hell. God deals
with nothing but remnants. He declares a remnant shall be
saved. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. God has not chosen to save all
men. It is not his purpose, desire
or intention to save all men. But there is a remnant chosen
from among men out of the ruins of Adam's fallen race who must
and shall be saved according to the purpose of God. And everything
God does, everything, everything he's ever done, everything, everything
he shall do is just for that remnant, everything. People talk
about common grace and benevolent mercy and a sense in which God
loves everybody. What nonsense. What nonsense. Go ask folks in hell if they've
got some sense of God's love. What utter idiocy. Go ask the
folks who perished under the flood if they've got some knowledge
of God's love. That's idiocy and totally contrary
to the scripture and blasphemous for it makes the love of God
utterly meaningless. Well, but Brother Don, the unbelieving
and the reprobate, even those who perish, enjoy the sunshine
and the rain and good health and prosperity as the nation
prospers. Yes, sir, they do. Because God
does it for His elect. And when God sends judgment and
pestilence and disease, that too He sends for His elect. He does all things for His own. only for his own, altogether
for his own, always for his own. The Apostle Paul once wrote,
I do all things for the elect's sake. Well, with regard to Paul,
that was sort of true. That was sort of true. But our
God does all things for your sake. Can you get hold of that? All
things are yours. All things are for your sake. Here's something else about this
remnant. God is long-suffering toward this remnant. He puts
up with men. He bears long with men. He forbears
wrath upon men. And often does so for a long
time. But God is not long-suffering
with all men. He is long-suffering to usward,
Peter said. Not willing that any should perish.
Any who, any of us to whom he's long-suffering. But that all
should come to repentance and knowledge of the truth. Well,
how do you know that's what that means? Because right down a few
verses later, Peter says we know that the long-suffering of our
God is salvation. If God's long suffering with
you, God's saving you. If God's long suffering toward
you, God is saving you. Oh, you mean God preserves the
world so that he may save his elect who shall be born in the
world? Well, that makes pretty good
sense, doesn't it? That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
How? How come God didn't pour fire
and brimstone on Sodom? Abraham prayed. And he prayed
exactly according to that which he knew about God. If there be
one righteous, I'll not destroy the city, God said. And there
was one righteous man in that city. And God would not destroy
that city until he had brought Lot out of the city. and God
will not destroy this world until he has brought the last of his
elect and gathered them to Christ in his sovereign mercy. He is
long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance and knowledge of the truth. How
often have you heard preachers make statements? Maybe you make
them yourself sometimes. We all do, regrettably. Totally
contrary to all we know about the revelation of God. Well,
the Lord's going to come and judge this world soon, or he's
going to owe an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah. No, no. How come God didn't destroy Adam
in the garden? He said, in the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. But Adam didn't die. Oh, but
he died spiritually. God said he was going to die.
He didn't die. How come? Because in his loins
were a people out of whom should come all the peoples of the earth
out of whom should come God's elect whom God Almighty determined
from eternity he would save by his grace God's remnant in this world is
always small and feeble He says concerning them, the remnant
shall be very small and feeble, Isaiah 60. And in the end, there
will be a great multitude which no man can number. But in this
world, always a small minority. Always had been, always will
be. Folks frequently suggest to me
one way or the other, that I'm out of step with the world. That's
not by accident, that's on purpose. I plan to stay out of step with
the world till I leave this world. You see, I'm not of this world. Our master said so, didn't he
James? I'm not of this world. I am of that remnant. He's chosen
out of this world. It's called a third part. Revelation
16 we're told Babylon representing all the world in darkness Babylon
shall be divided into three parts Just as he's described here in
Zechariah 13 8 a third part shall be kept alive Those few in Sardis
who have not defiled their garments, they are God's remnant. They
are the hundred and forty and four thousand who will stand
with Christ and by him on Mount Zion in the last day being redeemed,
not with all men, but from among all men. God will save his remnant. If I could convince, really convince
every gospel preacher in this world of one thing. It would
be this. There is no need ever to compromise,
no need ever to back up, no need ever to fear, no need ever to
alter anything. If your purpose is the saving
of God's elect, Just preach the gospel. Brother Scott Richardson
says, stand up on your hind legs and tell the truth. And God's
going to save his remnant. It is written, all Israel shall
be saved. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace and the remnant shall be saved. All right now, look at verse
9. The hand of God that is turned
upon these little ones to save them will do so by bringing them
through fire. Through fire? Through fire? Read it. I will bring the third part through
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 we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God All who wash their robes and
make them white in the blood of the Lamb must come through
great tribulation. They must pass through the fire
and be refined as silver is refined, tried as gold is tried. Now I
remind you again, the passage is describing God's mercy, not
his wrath. His grace, not his judgment.
Zechariah is here talking about that which God does for his children,
his chosen redeemed people, chosen redeemed sinners, when he turns
his hand upon them to save them. He refines them with fire. Turn to Isaiah chapter 43, or
chapter 48, verse 9. Similar passage. If you want to find God's people,
I'll tell you where to look. Look in the fire. If you want to walk with God,
you'll walk with God in the fire. That's where he's found. That's
where people are found. Isaiah 48 verse 9 For my name's
sake will I defer mine anger and for my praise will I refrain
for thee That I cut thee not off Behold I have refined thee
but not with silver as silver but not with silver I have chosen
thee in the furnace of affliction I've chosen you I've chosen you
in the furnace of affliction for mine own sake Even for mine
own sake will I do it? For how should my name be polluted
and I will not give my glory unto another When God confirmed
his covenant to Abraham you can read it in Genesis 15 at your
leisure He gave him three things By which he confirmed his covenant
to him And when God confirms his covenant to chosen sinners
and giving them grace and faith in Jesus Christ, he gives them
these three things. He gave Abraham an altar of sacrifice,
blood atonement. He gave Abraham a burning lamp,
the guiding light of his spirit and his word. And he gave Abraham
a smoking furnace, burning affliction. Anything precious and valuable
must be tried The wise man said the finding pot is for silver
and the furnace for gold Not wood hay and stubble, but the
Lord trieth the hearts Back in numbers 20 or chapter 31 God
gave a law Everything that could abide the fire. God required
to go through the fire. Everything. Everything. If it couldn't abide the fire,
it had to be washed. If it could abide the fire, it
had to go through the fire. And silver abides the fire. Gold abides the fire. And whenever there is a sacrifice
offered to God, read this book. Throughout the book, there is
fire. You and I are to present our
bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God by Jesus
Christ. But no sacrifice is ever offered
to God except it be burned. We could not be conformed to
our Savior were we not burned in the furnace. Revelation 1,
John saw him. He said he had feet. And I never saw feet like that
before. They looked like the feet of a man that had been burned
in fire. The furnace of affliction, like
the refiner's fire, has lots of uses. When blessed of God
to our souls, this is what the furnace will do for us. It purifies Doesn't change any properties
of that which is precious God declares you're his precious
ones Honorable because he loved you Made honorable because his
son redeemed you His silver, his gold with which he makes
up his crown But what he does in the fire is take away the
tin and the dirt and the wood and the hay and the stubble.
The furnace takes hard steel. I have some friends in West Virginia
who work in the Kaiser Aluminum plant and they work with a molten
aluminum. Can you imagine huge vats of
aluminum running like water? Fire takes hard steel. and melts it so that it is easily
molded exactly as the refiner has purposed. Fire. Fire gives great light. I used to drive by Armco Steel
up in Ashton. And then when they had those
blast furnaces burning, it looked like the whole building was glowing.
giving off great light. In the fire and nowhere else we learn to
see things clearly. Nowhere else. You want to see things clearly
in this earth? You go find you a clear day, get you a mountaintop
and look out and you'll see things clearly. You want to see things
clearly spiritually? The mountaintop won't do it.
You get in the fire. And you'll never get in it on
your own. God has to put you in it. We're
naturally averse to it. But in the fire, we learn to
see things clearly. We see something about ourselves. And the vanity of everything
perishing and the beauty and the glory of Christ our Redeemer. What mercy it is for God to put
us in the furnace. It's his hand that brings us
into the furnace but he will cause us to go through the furnace
and when we're in the furnace he's in it with us. You remember
when Nebuchadnezzar cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the
fiery furnace? He looked over in the furnace and he said, how
many men do I throw in there? They said, three, O king. He
said, I see four of them in there. And one of them looks to me like
the son of God. And he pulled them out of the
furnace and they didn't even have the smell of smoke on their
clothes. What happened to them while they
were in the furnace? Not a hair singed on their arms. Nothing. The only thing that happened
to them is the cords that bound them were burned off of them. I will bring thee through the
fire. Fear not, O Jacob. I have redeemed you. I've called
you by your name in your mind. When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel. What fire
is he talking about? Turn to Jeremiah 23 for just
a moment. Let me show you. He's talking about the fire of
divine, God-wrought, Holy Spirit conviction, which squeezes repentance
from our hearts as we are caused to look on Him whom we have pierced. The psalmist said, fire and snow
and vapor and hail, stormy wind fulfilling his word. Thus saith
the Lord, behold, I will kindle a fire for thee. Now look what
it says in Jeremiah 23, 29. Is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord. When God turns his hand to save
his own, he puts his own in the fire. For some, they must abide
the fire a long time. And the fire will burn slow.
For other metals, the fire may burn more fiercely, but burn
for a shorter while. But the fire, they must abide. And they must be brought through
the fire. And when they come out on the
other side, the Lord God declares, they shall call upon me. They shall worship me. And they
shall say, this is our God. And I will say, these are my
people. But the fire continues. You see,
as long as we live in this world, we will continue in the fire,
in the furnace of affliction. And the trials, the fire, the
troubles, will never be so severe as they were when God brought
us through hell to bring us to his son. But the fires we continually
need. He chastens those whom he loves.
He's chosen us in the furnace of affliction with trials, heartaches,
domestic trouble, sicknesses, weaknesses, diseases, wars, all the things that others endure,
God's people also endure, and they endure those things with
an added pain and a joy that nobody else has.
We endure them with the full awareness that our father brings. He brings them because we need
them. That's the pain. He brings them
because he loves us. That's the joy. And he will not
let us go. He turned his hand upon you and
no man can pluck you out of his hand. After considering all his heartaches,
troubles, and difficulties. The apostle Paul in Romans chapter
7 speaks of being made aware of sin and death in his members. And the sin and death in his
members crushed him. And so it is with all God's people. We must be constantly made aware
of the sin and death that is in us by nature. The sin and
death from which we must soon, and bless God, shall soon be
delivered. But we must walk in this fire,
leaning upon our Redeemer. And we experience other difficulties. First 2 Corinthians 4, the Apostle
Paul describes the things he suffered as a servant of God.
Shipwreck, abandonment, beaten, left for dead, stoned, all those
things. And he said, our light affliction. How can that be? Our light affliction. Woman loses her husband, man
loses his wife. Father and mother lose their
children. Our light affliction. You watch your sons and daughters
live with their fist in God's face, wreaking havoc upon their
lives. Our light affliction. Paul, what
are you talking about? Awake, O sword. spite the shepherd, the man that
is my fellow. And in the light of what he suffered
for me, our light affliction, featherweight affliction, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For we look not at things which
are seen, but the things which are unseen. For all these things,
all up, they are temporal. The things which are unseen, all up, they are eternal. And the fiery trial of your faith,
when it is over, will make heaven more glorious. than it ever otherwise
could have been. And when God is done, and he's
brought us out of the fire, and the fire is no more, we'll lift
our hearts to him and say, oh, this is our God. And he will
bend his heart to us and say, these are my people. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea. He rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of
never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works
His sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take the clouds. You so much dread are big with
mercy and shall break in blessing on your head. So judge not the
Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace behind the
frowning providence. He hides a beaming face. Amen.