Has God ever opened to you, opened
to you the fountain for sin and for uncleanness? Have you ever
been enabled? Are you now enabled by God the
Holy Spirit to wash your soul clean in the fountain filled
with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins. If the Lord will enable
me, I want to discuss that which is revealed here in Zechariah
13. The title of my message is, When God Opens the Fountain. Zechariah is here describing
the believer's experience of grace when Christ is revealed
to and in the chosen center by God the Holy Spirit. In these
first six verses of his prophecy in chapter 13, Zechariah shows
us what happens when God opens the cleansing fountain to his
elect. In verse 1, he declares that
the fountain is opened to all. upon whom God pours the spirit
of grace and supplications. When God the Holy Spirit comes
in the saving operations of his grace, the fountain is open and
sinners are made clean. No exceptions. When God the Holy
Spirit comes in the saving operations of his grace, His works of grace
are always effectual. We speak of irresistible grace. Somebody says, well, why talk
about God's grace being irresistible? Because you can't resist it.
It is that which always accomplishes its design. When the Spirit comes,
the fountain is opened, and sinners are made clean in their consciences. The coming of the Spirit has
nothing to do with the putting away of sin. That was done by
Christ, the fountain opened at Calvary. But the coming of the
Spirit applies the blood shed at Calvary to the sinner for
whom that blood was shed, and the sinner is made clean in his
conscience by the sweet experience of grace. Look at verse 1. 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. Then in verses two through six,
the prophet tells us what happens, what comes to pass in the center
when the fountain is opened to our souls. 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. And it shall
come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, then 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 through that prophesieth, or
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 a rough
garment to deceive. But he shall say, I am no prophet. I'm a husbandman, for man taught
me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, not
to the false prophet, but to him upon whom they look, whom
they have pierced, described back in verse 10 of chapter 12.
One shall say to him whom they have pierced, what are these
wounds in thine hands? And he shall answer, those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. All right, here's
the first thing. In that day. In that day, there
shall be a fountain open. Whenever I receive a letter,
I always look for two things first. I first look to see who
wrote the letter. And then I look at the date when
the letter was written. I do so because I recognize that
I cannot properly understand what is in the letter unless
I understand who wrote it and understand when it was written.
I might misread and misapply it if I fail to observe when
the letter was written. In Zechariah 12.1, you will see
when it was that this letter was written. It was a letter
sent to us by God Himself, the burden of the Word of the Lord.
And in verse 10, we see the date of the letter. It identifies
the time when this letter comes to us. I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And look at verse
13, chapter 13, verse one in that day. He's talking about
this day when God pours out the spirit of grace and supplication. In that day, when God gives his
grace to the sinner, there shall be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In other words,
as soon as a sinner has Christ revealed in him. As soon as the
sinner sees Christ and looks to Him, looks upon the Savior
whom he has pierced, as soon as the sinner is made to mourn
for his sin, as soon as he looks to Christ and mourns, he is comforted. As soon as you mourn for him,
you obtain the mercy you need from him. As soon as you're made
to know your filth before God, the fountain is open to you for
cleansing from all sin. This is what David said in Psalm
32, we read, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity
have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. As soon as I confessed my sin
in my heart, before the words could come out of my mouth, thou
forgavest the iniquity of my sin. As soon as I said in my
soul, I have sinned, the prophet said to me, the Lord has put
away your sin. Peter says, repent you therefore
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Not
blotted out from the book of God's law and justice. The blood
of Christ did that. But as soon as the sinner repents,
your sins are blotted out in your own conscience, in the court
of your own conscience. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I love what John Trapp said.
He put it this way, God will cross out the black lines of
your sins with the red lines of His Son's blood. If we confess
our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But you can mark it down. No
forgiveness will be experienced in your soul until sin is confessed
in your heart. It won't happen. It won't happen. It won't happen. Until God makes
you a sinner before Him, He will never give you mercy from Him. It will not happen. The problem
with most folks in this world, religious and irreligious, is
that most folks are too good for grace, too good to be saved,
too good for mercy, too good to need a substitute, too good
to cry out for God's goodness and mercy and plunge into the
fountain that is drawn from Emmanuel's veins. If at this moment, God
will enable you to look to Christ whom you have pierced right now. Right now. Oh, look away to Him. If right now you look on Him
whom you have pierced and lament and loathe your sins because
you see that your sins have pierced Him, this very moment God speaks
forgiveness to your soul. Can you look? Look at him, Darwin, and hear
forgiveness. Hear him say, I have blotted
out thy transgressions. Are you broken under a sense
of sin? Broken with guilt? If you are, I've got good news
for you. Christ Jesus The Son of God,
my Lord and Savior, is the fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. The fountain open is open for
sinners. It was for sinners that he bled
and died. It is for you, you who are conscious
of your great guilt and your great foulness, that there is
a fullness of forgiveness freely in Jesus Christ. If you look
to Christ, This forgiveness is yours. He died for you. He loved you and gave himself
for you. He chose you in everlasting love. He's called you by his grace.
And the evidence of that is your looking to him. You will never
know. You will never know that he died
for you till you look to him. You will never know that he chose
you till you look to him. You will never know that you've
been called by His grace until you look to Him. But looking
to Him, God Almighty declares, this faith is the evidence of
things not seen. This faith is the substance of
things hoped for. All right, here's the second
thing. There shall be a fountain opened. In the Levitical law,
you'll remember there were numerous, numerous purification ceremonies
where water was used. Before one could enter into the
tabernacle, into the holy place, or into the temple later, they
had to first bathe in a laver, a great sea of brass that was
before them, and be cleansed before they could enter in. All
those ceremonial purifications, all those ceremonial sanctifications,
All those ceremonial cleansings were but pictures and representations
of what Zechariah is here describing. A fountain opened, overflowing,
ever flowing, is a fountain available and accessible for sinners. We
often see fountains in open parks. Just standing out in the open.
Several months ago, I was with Will over at one of the parks
in Lexington. He and I were just walking around. People were all
over the place. He and I just spent a little
time there. They had their ball games there sometimes. And I saw a
fountain standing right in the middle of that thing. Just standing
right there. And there were dirty, sweaty
kids running around. I mean, just dirty, sweaty kids. They'd been out there playing.
And they'd run by that fountain stop taking gulps of water. I never heard one pause and ask
or even appear to think to himself, is it all right if I take a drink?
There stood the fountain. That means you take a drink.
I never heard one or even saw one look as though he imagined,
I wonder if I'm fit to take a drink. There's the fountain. He's thirsty.
And he just drank. I never saw one think to himself
or ask anyone, do you reckon this fountain is here for me?
He's thirsty. There's the fountain. And I would
see the children one after another go and drink and drink and drink
and drink from the fountain. Some of them even would stoop
down and wash their dirty faces in that fountain. And then there
were some folks like myself, kindly well-dressed, and they
weren't running around. They weren't too sweaty. And
they'd walk by the fountain. And I could hear them thinking. They'd take their handkerchief
out and wipe the sweat from their brow. They'd look at that fountain
like they could almost taste the water. And then they'd look
at those dirty, snotty-nosed kids. And they wouldn't dare drink
from that fountain because they just too good to drink from such
a fountain. That's a pretty good description
of sinners who walk right by the fountain and refuse to drink
and refuse to bathe because they're too good to do so. That's the only reason you don't.
Offer any excuse you want to. Offer any excuse you want to.
The only reason you will not drink from the fountain is because
you're too good to drink from the fountain. Because you're
too good, you think yourself too clean to defy yourself with
the fountain. You imagine somehow that in plunging
into that fountain, you will find yourself polluted. Oh, no. This fountain so thoroughly washes
away pollution. that though untold millions plunge
in and bathe, the fountain remains pure and perfect. If you pass
by the fountain, the blame lays only one place, on your head. And I pray to you, You folks
y'all preach God's sovereign you preach the man's Utterly
depraved you preach the man can't come to Christ unless the Spirit
brings him to Christ. You're right We do and we're
not ashamed of it. We tell that plainly what we
believe in this place Well, if that's the case then God must
be to blame you take that up with God if you dare God Almighty
declares the blame to be yours and only yours and yet You will
never come and drink. I know you won't. Ye will not
come to me, the Savior said. No man can come to me, the Son
of God said. You never will and you never
can. You will never drink, you will
never wash, you will never be cleaned by this fountain until
God the Holy Spirit comes in the mighty operations of His
grace and sweetly compels you to come and drink and wash and
be cleaned. That's what we see in the next
slide. In that day, there must be a fountain open to the house
of David. To the house of, wonder why he
said that. There's a fountain open for everybody in the world.
No. Never has been, never will be.
That's just not so. The fountain was not opened in
God's decree. It was not opened at Calvary,
and it is not opened by the Spirit of grace to everybody in the
world. It is open to a specific, very clearly named and identified
people to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, that must mean one of two
things. Either all Jews and only Jews
shall be saved or all Those who really are Jews, and only they. Either all David's physical seed
and Jerusalem's physical inhabitants, or all who are spiritually represented
by them. And obviously, it is the latter. This fountain is open to those
very same people upon whom God pours his spirit of grace and
supplications. They're named exactly the same
in chapter 12, verse 10, the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. Who are these people? Well, they're
God's elect, the whole Israel of God. Those for whom the fountain
was opened in eternity, it is opened at the time of grace by
God the Spirit. Those for whom the fountain was
opened at Calvary when Christ died in our stead, it is opened
in the day of His grace and power. The fountain is opened by the
preaching of the gospel. I open to you the fountain, but
I can't open the fountain. Paul said, Christ, by my epistle,
is evidently set forth crucified among you. And we evidently set
him forth. We declare the fountain open. But we can't open the fountain
to you. Yes, I can. If God will speak
through these lips to your soul. God, the Holy Spirit, by the
preaching of the gospel, opens the fountain for sin and for
uncleanness. The Lord Jesus took the sins
of his people upon himself. He suffered in the stead of his
elect, so that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but
have everlasting life. And if you believe him, you're
washed from your iniquity through the blood shedding of God's darling
Son, and you're one of his people. Again, I repeat, you're believing
is the evidence of that. Bob Duff, if you look to him,
he paid your debts. Your looking got nothing to do
with paying the debts. You understand that. But your looking is proof
he did. And if he paid your debts, they're
paid. If he bore your sin, you can't bear them. Justice won't
allow it. If he was punished in your stead,
you cannot be punished. Justice demands that every soul
for whom Christ died must go free. Justice cries as loudly
as mercy for the freedom of his people because justice satisfied
demands the sinner go free. Joseph Hart put it so very well. He said, this fountain, though
rich, from charge is quite clear. The poorer the wretch, the welcomer
here. Come needy and guilty, come loathsome
and bare. You can't come too filthy. Come
just as you are. This fountain in vain has never
been tried. It takes out all stain whenever
applied. The water flows sweetly with
virtue divine to cleanse souls completely. though leprous as
mine. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Do you find yourself believing?
It's because you have everlasting life. The fountain is open to
the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. All
who come and wash in the fountain shall be cleansed from all sin
and uncleanness. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the redsome church of
God be saved to sin no more. I love that word open. Once opened,
the fountain is never shut. It never runs dry. Christ is
the inexhaustible fountain of cleansing. Martin Luther once
said, Christ is still as fresh to me
as if this very hour he had shed his blood. Just as fresh. Because this fountain
is a continually springing well of grace. He was the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world and he shall be the lamb slain
when the world stands no more. He's the fountain opened. Opened
in eternity by God's decree. Opened at Calvary by God's justice. Opened in the day of grace by
God's spirit. Opened now. Opened forever. Opened even in eternal glory. Christ is the fountain opened.
Now, here's the fourth thing. Look at verses 2 Three, four,
and five. Let me show you the result. When
God opens the fountain, you can bank on it. He has a reason for
it. And his reason shall be accomplished. Here the prophet declares to
us that when the fountain is opened to a sinner, God the Holy
Spirit performs mighty wonders of grace, granting the sinner
life and faith in Christ. Something happens. This cleansing
from guilt and sin is followed with a great change. Did you
ever notice in scripture that God's gifts of grace almost always
come in pairs? Where there's redemption, there's
regeneration. Where there's pardon, there's
peace. Where there's forgiveness, there's cleansing. Where there's
blood shedding, there's sin forgiveness. Where there's justification,
there's sanctification. Where there is a new record,
a new nature is given. Where faith is found, repentance
is found. The fountain opened for the putting
away of sin and opened for cleansing is Christ the Lord. And the God
of all grace who opens the fountain to his people takes away the
idols out of the land, all of them. He even cuts off their
names. so that the idols are no more
remembered. Look at verse 2. 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, the land of
his elect. not the land of the United States,
not the land over in Palestine, the land of his elect, out of
the land of his church and kingdom. It shall come to pass that when
any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that
begat him shall say to him, thou shalt not live. How come? How come? for thou
speakest lies in the name of the Lord. And his mother and
his father that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. Now, using the figurative language
of inspiration, here Zachariah describes the blessed consequences
of sinners being cleansed in the fountain of Christ's blood.
Idolatry, false religion. false prophets, unclean spirits,
and their influence are removed from us and we are removed from
them. Hold your hands here and turn
to Psalm 139. Now, I want you to see this. I'm going to camp
here for just a few minutes because it's needed. Grace experienced
in the soul creates such an attachment to Christ, such a love for Christ,
his interest, his gospel, his glory, and his people, that the
enemies of Christ and his gospel become our enemies and are utterly
disowned by us. I know people say, well, the
Lord commands us to love our enemies. Yes, but he doesn't
command us to love his enemies. There's a big difference. Now
I hear these idiots talk about, we love you. Why, you never even
met me. You don't love me. You can't
love somebody you don't know. No, no. No, no. No, no. In Deuteronomy 13, you can read
it at your leisure, a law was given in Israel. God commanded
that if a son should prophesy falsely, that son was to be stoned
to death. And he didn't just command that
the son be stoned to death. He commanded Mama and Daddy to
cast the first stones. Read it for yourself. Read it
for yourself. Look here at Psalm 139, verse 21. Do not I hate
them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved with those
that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. What on earth is David talking
about? Let's see if I can illustrate it for you. Back years ago in
High Point, North Carolina, matter of fact, the Fundamentalist Preachers
Association still meets in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point very
regularly. Roth Barnard was at one of the
meetings. Of course, they didn't dare ask
Roth to preach. They had better sense than that
by this time. But Roth was at the meeting, and they were getting
ready to dismiss, and they said, it's good to have Brother Roth
Barnard with us today. Brother Barnard, would you pray
for us as we're dismissed? And I wish I had some of that
man's gumption. It's a true story. I ain't lying at all. He stood
up, and he said, Lord, they've asked me to pray for them. God,
I can't pray for these folks. These men run up and down the
country butchering your gospel, butchering your name. preaching
blasphemy against you, I can't pray for them. God bless Ralph
Barnard, amen. I count them my enemies. This
is no new thing with me. I count them my enemies. Thank
God we're no longer under the law. I bless his name that rebellious
sons are no longer stoned to death because I lived as one
all my life. And I bless his name that false
prophets are no longer to be executed. Yet we must and do
side with God against his enemies. Even if his enemies are our nearest
kin, we side with God against them. You will not find this
preacher. And as long as I have anything
to do with this congregation, you will not find this congregation
associated in any way with our many and free will works. Religion
is the damning idolatry of this age. We will not have anything
to do with it. It is the blasphemy of our God.
They're not brethren who hate the gospel, but enemies for Christ's
sake. Those who oppose our God and
oppose the gospel of His grace, oppose His Son. And they, opposing
God and His Son, shall perish under His wrath. And if they
happen to be blood kin, we say that's just right. Well, Brother
Don, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm here to tell
you I know exactly what I'm talking about, because most of my kin
are just that way. Most of my kin, I love them dearly
as my friends and my brothers in the flesh. Do anything on
this earth for them. But in all things spiritual,
we've got nothing in common. Nothing. We worship a different
God. We believe a different gospel. And we recognize God's justice
and bow to it. When God saves the sinner, He
takes the sinner out of Babylon. Have you ever noticed how Babylon
is used in this book? The book of Zechariah is all
about Israel being delivered from Babylonian captivity and
God restoring his people. But it's not just about that
physical captivity. Babylonian captivity is the captivity
of God's elect in religious darkness and bondage. And it's represented
so throughout the scriptures. Babylon represents all free will
works religion. Call it by whatever name you
will. He represents all false religion,
and God's command to his people with regard to Babylon. I know
I hear folks all the time, well, I'm in the church down here,
they don't believe anything, they hate God and hate the gospel,
but I believe the Lord had me to stay there and reform the
church. Rebuild the church. Revive the
church. You can't revive death. It can't
be done. God's command throughout the
scriptures is given clearly, it is given repeatedly, it is
given six times in virtually the exact same words. His command
is, come out of her, my people. And his command is followed by
a reason, that you be not partaker of her sins. What? What? Folks all over this town
today, have done the very same thing you've done. They've come
to church. When they put on the necktie
on this morning, they were sinning against God. And they walked
in the door, and they read scripture. And as they did, they were sinning
against God. And they sing, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And as they
do, worshiping their own will, they're sinning against God.
And they give their money. and they listen to the sermon,
and they say amen, and they go home walking to hell just like
they were when they came in, sinning against God. God says,
come out of her, that you be not partaker of her sins, her
religious practices, her doctrines, her ceremonies, her blasphemies. If you don't, you will receive
her plagues. We are totally to abandon false
religion. Touch not the unclean thing,
God says. Align yourselves with Christ,
His gospel, and His people. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. I want
you to see this and see it clearly. Those who refuse to come out
of Babylon shall receive the plagues of Babylon because they're
still part of Babylon. Here in 2 Corinthians 6, fundamentalist
preachers religious leaders totally ignore what's being said here
about separation. And they say, now this means
that, boy, you can't dare go there and shop because those
folks sell beer. I remember years ago, I was talking to Brother
David Collier about this. It was 1972, I think it was. I was
down here in Lexington at a Bible conference, and Brother David
and Brant Seacrest and I were walking around, and Glenn Archer,
and I was thirsty. We were walking downtown Lexington,
and I just saw a Coke sign. So I walked in this place and
got a Coke. And I walked back out, and those fellows were looking
around. All of them. They were looking around. Brother
Don, that was a pool hall and a bar. Oh, was it? Yeah. I just wanted a Coke. That's what I got. Oh, you can't
do that. That's worldly. Oh, that's ungodly. Don't do that. That's not what
this is talking about. Darwin, this is talking about
separating yourself from all false religion. Read the chapter. It's talking about adultery and
fornication and harlotry. Not the kind you buy downtown! The kind you buy at the church
house! God says in verse 17, Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
things. and I will receive you, and I
will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty." All right, now here's the fifth thing.
Does this mean that there's no mercy for those poor, deluded
souls engulfed, deceived by the idolatry of Arminian freewill
works religion? Of course not. Many of you were
converted out of Babylon's hoarding, weren't you? You were sleeping
in the arms of that deceitful woman described in Proverbs chapter
7, when God called you by his grace. Most of our brothers and
sisters in Africa, India, Mexico, New Guinea, were all idol-worshipping
pagans when God called them by his grace, just like family and
friends who are idol-worshipping pagans sitting in Baptist churches
all over the country today. Look at verses 4 and 5, and you'll
see that there is mercy even for false prophets, too. Zechariah here describes these
false prophets who are among God's elect, who are of the house
of David and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who must be saved. When the fountain is opened to
them, When they are called of God, when they experience the
sweet grace of God in Christ, they are ashamed and cease to
deceive men. Verse four, 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 a rough garment to deceive. They'll quit pretending
to have been Elijah. The prophets shall be ashamed
of his vision. That which they once told out
is the gospel, they now know to be false. They're so clearly
convinced that it's so, that they blush and bleed in their
souls to think how they have been deceived and how they have
deceived others. They weep because of the souls
they have murdered, proclaiming lies. Smile, God loves you. Jesus died for you. The Holy
Spirit's trying to save you. They weep in their souls because
with the lies of free will, works, religion, they have murdered
the souls of men. Murdered them. The blood of many
is on their hands. Knowing that though they've been
straddling hell's mouth itself, God preserved them. They blush
with shame and disgrace themselves in the presence of God and His
people. They cry with Ezra of old, O my God, I am ashamed and
blush to lift up my face to Thee. My God, for our iniquities are
increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto
the heavens. This is fulfilled literally when
the scribes and Pharisees who nailed our Lord to the tree,
were converted like Saul of Tarsus, who was standing, consenting
to the stoning of Philip, holding the clothes of those who murdered
him. And now they've converted by grace, and they say, beware
the concision. Beware these workmongers, for
we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Not
only do those converted deceivers blush with shame, They acknowledged
that they had been prophets of deceit. In fact, no prophets
at all, not shepherds who feed the sheep with knowledge and
understanding, but husbandmen who fleeced the sheep and feed
themselves upon the sheep they slaughtered. Look at verse five.
But he shall say, I'm no prophet. I'm a husbandman. For man taught
me to keep cattle for my youth. What's he talking about? What's
the difference between a shepherd and a husbandman? That man sitting
right back there under the back of the church building, he's
a husbandman. He keeps cattle, keeps them for money, lives off
of them, fattens them up, slaughters them, and eats them. That's what
husbandmen do. And that's what false prophets
do, claiming to be shepherds. Shepherds feed the sheep. They
don't feed themselves on the sheep. Shepherds serve the sheep. They don't seek to be served
by the sheep. The husbandman says, I'm no prophet, but a husbandman.
I'm not a shepherd, a husbandman. And I learned the tricks of my
trade from men just like myself. I went to seminary and got a
degree in it. They serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their
own bellies. And yes, thank God, Christ Jesus
saved Jerusalem sinners too. Martin Luther was a raving lunatic
papist when God called him by his grace. John Calvin was a
pagan idolatrous pope worshiper when God saved him by his grace.
Hugh Latimer, that great famous martyr, was likewise a pagan
when God saved him by his grace. William Tip Taft. Whether L.R. Shelton had been preaching for
years, Southern Baptist preacher, preaching and practicing will
worship all his life, God called him by his grace. Whether Donny
Bell was a wild Pentecostal when God saved him by his grace. Whether
Tom Harding was a Mormon when God saved him by his grace. Darwin
Pruitt sitting right there, United Baptist as he was, God saved
him by his grace. Thank God. There's mercy even
for false shepherds when the fountain is opened to the false
shepherd. Now, look at verse 6. And one
shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands?
Then shall he answer, those with which I was wounded in the house
of my friends. Not one shall say to the false
prophet, But one of these false prophets, to whom the fountain
is open, looking on him whom they have pierced, chapter 12,
verse 10, shall say to him, what are these wounds? And he shall
say, these are the wounds I received in the house of my friends. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The Son of God made me His friend
in covenant grace from old eternity, though I was His sworn enemy,
and laid down His life for me, His friend, reconciling me to
God. And these wounds, Lord, how'd
you get those? I took your sins and made them
mine. and stood naked before God's
sword of justice and cried with my father awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow. Smite and slay the shepherd. And now I turn my hands on you,
my friends, my scattered sheep, and you're gathered.