In the latter chapters of his
prophecy, Zechariah describes God's mighty operations of grace
in his people. Beginning in chapter 12 at the
10th verse, he shows us how the Lord God sends his spirit, pours
out his spirit upon his people in the appointed time of mercy,
grace, and love, and opens the fountain to them. opens Christ
Jesus to them, revealing Christ in them, revealing Christ to
them. And as Paul said, he revealed
his son in me. And when Christ is revealed in
the center, the center looks to him. He will not and cannot
look until Christ is revealed in him. And when Christ is revealed
in him, he looks. And when he looks, he mourns. Mourns for Christ as one mourns
for his only son in bitterness before him because of his sin
for which the Son of God suffered and died in his room instead
by which he has offended God's holy character and offended his
God and his Savior. Now, these things are the things
that we experience first. Beginning in chapter 9 of Zechariah,
beginning in chapter 13 in verse 7 of Zechariah, the prophet tells
us about what God did for us in order that he might accomplish
these things in us. Now, you might wonder, well,
why didn't he tell us first what God did for us and then tell
us what God did in us? Good reason. because we can never
know what God has done for us outside of us until we experience
his work of grace in us. Now we recognize, please understand,
the whole accomplishment of salvation, the whole accomplishment of grace,
The whole accomplishment of our reconciliation to God is accomplished
outside our experience. Our experience does nothing to
put away sin. Our experience does nothing to
justify our souls. Our experience does nothing to
make God favorable toward us or us acceptable to God Almighty. Our experience of grace is the
revelation of what has been accomplished outside ourselves. but no man
can understand or know anything at all about what was accomplished
for him in Christ until Christ is revealed in him in the experience
of grace. Is not this what we read in 1
Corinthians 2? The natural man understandeth not the things
of the Spirit of God. You can talk to him about the
love of God all you want to. He doesn't have a clue. You can
talk to him about divine election all you want to. He doesn't have
a clue. He may get it right academically. He may get it in his noggin theologically,
but he doesn't have a clue what you're talking about. You can
talk to him all you want to about the effectual accomplished redemption
of God's elect through the shedding of Christ's precious blood, and
he may get all the I's dotted and all the T's crossed and still
doesn't have a clue. The natural man does not and
cannot, no matter how well taught, understand anything spiritual. He must be taught of God in the
experience of grace. I try to preach the gospel to
you with clarity. These men come and preach to
you. We teach our children, we instruct them. And we instruct
them in facts, in facts, in facts, in facts. I'm not saying F-A-X,
I'm saying F-A-C-T-S, facts. And it's good to instruct them
in the facts, but the facts are not the knowledge of God. This
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. There is no living knowledge
until there is life in the soul. No spiritual knowledge until
spiritual life is imparted to the soul. Now, let's look here
at Zechariah chapter 13, beginning at verse 7, and see what God
the Holy Spirit teaches us about the accomplished work of Jesus
Christ at Calvary, by which and for which All grace proceeds
now to chosen sinners. The title of my message tonight
is Justice Satisfied and Mercy Promised. Justice Satisfied and
Mercy Promised. God's justice being satisfied
is that from which all mercy arises. and mercy can never come
from God who is just, except on the basis of justice satisfied. Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7. 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 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 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. Now this blessed passage
of scripture clearly speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. We recognize
that just immediately reading it, but to confirm it even more
clearly, when our Lord Jesus went out with his disciples to
the Mount of Olives in Matthew chapter 26, he said to his disciples,
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. I want you to hold your Bibles
open here. Zechariah 13 and follow with me as we look at these three
verses together and I pray that God the Holy Spirit Who calls
these words to be written on paper? Will write them upon our
hearts Awake Oh sword What is this sword But the sword
of God's holy inflexible justice, the sword of God's furious anger,
the sword of God's terrible wrath. The word that is used for sword
here is found 400 times in the Old Testament. It was something
commonly known to men. We just have an idea about swords
today. In those days, folks who were
particularly nomadic people all carried swords with them. The
sword was called by Ezekiel sharp as a barber's razor. Usually
it was two edged sword. It was a sharp pointed piercing
weapon, a weapon used as an offensive weapon. particularly in close
combat. This sword, Gideon calls the
sword of the Lord. It belongs to him. It is a sword
God uses against his enemies. Let that set in. It is the sword
God uses against his enemies. This is the sword of divine justice. Not the rod of correction. Not
the rod of correction he takes out upon his children. Not the
rod of correction by which he chastises us when we stray. Not the rod of the shepherd by
which he corrects and regathers the wandering sheep. The sword
of justice. The sword of justice that is
used to pierce and to slash to pieces one who is the object
of fury. Awake, O sword. Awake. The sword of divine justice. God speaks of it this way. If
I wet my glittering sword and mine hand take hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to my enemies and will reward them
that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk
with blood and my sword shall devour flesh. He says, my sword
shall be bathed in heaven. And now he cries, awake, O sword. Why? Why does God command his
sword to wake up because it appears to have been asleep. The sword
being a sharp instrument of destruction is sheathed and kept in its scabbard
until it is needed to awake against the object of anger. God's sword,
as it were, held in the scabbard by his long-suffering goodness
and grace and mercy, all through the ages of time, until the time
came that the sword should be awakened, awakened against one
specific individual, until the time came called due time, until
the time came called the appointed time, when the sword must be
awakened. Know well The one who commands
the sword to awake is God himself. He commands it to wake up. He
orders it. It is he who opens his armory
and brings forth the weapons of his indignation. He says,
I command the sword. It had been a long, long time
since Adam sinned in the garden and we all sinned in him. And
God had kept his sword in his scabbard. It had been a much
longer time since the Lord Jesus Christ stood as our surety in
the covenant of grace before ever the world was and agreed
to assume all responsibility for us even to the satisfaction
of divine justice by the sacrifice of himself under the curse of
God's holy justice. Dying the painful, shameful,
ignominious death of the cross being made a curse for us. As
he himself agreed, now it has come to pass. And he stands before
his father and our father. And the triune God, Jehovah,
cries, Awake, O sword. Against whom? Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd. Against the man? that is my fellow,
saith the Lord of Hosts. Be astonished, O ye heavens,
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of Hosts. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, is first and foremost Jehovah's Shepherd. He is the shepherd raised up
by the triune God in covenant mercy to whom God trusted his
sheep. The shepherd into whose hands
all the sheep were given. He is the shepherd that God appointed
for us. And he is that shepherd of whom
the prophet spoke continually. And now the Lord God says to
his shepherd, concerning his shepherd, Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd. Now don't miss this. Jehovah's Shepherd. is our shepherd. He's the good shepherd who gives
his life for the sheep. He is that great shepherd of
the sheep by whose blood the everlasting covenant was fulfilled
and he is that chief shepherd who was brought again from the
dead who soon shall come again to receive us unto himself. What
a blessed thing to look to heaven and say the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He who is Jehovah's Shepherd
is the Lord my shepherd. Therefore, I shall not want.
Read on. The Lord speaks concerning the
shepherd, my shepherd. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. Now, underscore The man in your
mind. Back in Genesis chapter 1, I
believe it's in verse 26. The triune God holds a conversation
within the persons of the Godhead. And the conversation is related
to us this way. The Lord God said, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit one to another, let us make man in our image. and after our likeness. Now please hear what I'm saying.
The humanity of our Savior is not an eternal thing. Jesus Christ,
God's darling Son assumed our nature in time when he came into
this world. But all humanity was created
by God Almighty because in eternity God had his eye on one man here
called the man and the man of whom he speaks is the image of
the invisible God The Lord God made Adam in the physical and
moral image and likeness of that last Adam who would come into
the world in the fullness of time to accomplish redemption
for us. He said, let us make it man in
our image and after our likeness. In the image and likeness of
this man, man was made. Jesus Christ is spoken of throughout
the scriptures with this distinct special characteristic. He is
called the man. Just as he was about to leave
this world, by the arrangement of divine providence, there is
a Roman governor who has examined God's sacrifice, examined him
as God's sacrifice was brought to him by the Jewish priests
themselves. And he examines him, and examines
him, and examines him. And he says, I find no fault
in him. And at last, he brings him out before the world, crying
for him to die and be crucified upon the cursed tree. And he
says, behold the man. The man. I wonder if that's significant. Listen to this. Blessed is the
man. that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. Whatsoever he doeth, it shall
prosper. Lord, let thy hand be upon the
man of thy right hand. The 127th Psalm speaks of children
being a heritage of the Lord and men In vain building a house,
the Lord must build it. And it says, blessed is the man
who hath his quiver full of children. Christ is that man. The Psalmist
or the prophet Isaiah speaks and speaks of Christ as the man
who executes God's counsel. Our Lord speaks in Lamentations
3 and says, I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod
of his wrath. Zechariah saw him in the opening
chapter and he saw him walking with God's church Among the myrtle
trees and he said the man that stood among the myrtle trees
This man is that one of whom he describes saying behold the
man whose name is the branch and the Apostle Paul Explaining
the whole thing says there is one God and one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus And so God has Pilate to
bring him out, this man who despised him, who's totally ignorant of
what he says, and out of the mouth of ignorant, unlearned
men, like as the high priest in Israel that year said, it's
expedient that one man should die and not all the people. Pilate
comes out like a prophet and he holds out this man who's been
beaten who's covered with his own blood, this man who's now
about to be nailed to the curse tree and he says, behold, the
man! Because Jehovah had said, awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, against the man. This world was created to reveal
one man. This world exists for the glory
and honor and majesty of one man. And that man is the God-man,
our mediator. Clearly these two words, the
man, call our attention to the singular perfection of this one
man who is Jehovah's Shepherd. The word that is used for man
here, there are three or four, I think four words translated
man in the Old Testament. This word means specifically
the mighty, the noble, the valiant man. He who is Jehovah's Shepherd,
our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect man, the perfect son
of man. When you look at Christ, behold
the man. Hold your hands here and turn
to one passage with me. Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter
two. Here, the Holy Spirit inspired
the apostle to, uh, cite the eighth Psalm. And this is how
he speaks. Hebrews chapter two, verse six.
but one in a certain place, that is in Psalm 8, testified saying,
what is man that thou art mindful of him? Are the son of man that
thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor. Thou didst set him over the works
of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he hath put all in
subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under
him. Now, hang on. Look up here, all you men, that
includes the women. Just exactly what is it that
you have under your feet? Just exactly what is it you control? We male men of the male species,
we love to think we're in control, don't we? Oh, don't worry, honey,
I can handle this. I can handle this. We love to
think we're in control, but it is a silly delusion. You don't
even control your breath. What do you control? Well, I control my house. You
want to look at that again? What is it you control? What? What's under your feet? Nothing. But this book says God has put
all things under the feet of man. And there's not anything
under your feet. Read the next line. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. Can't see it. Can't see it. Hold
on. Oh, yes. God Almighty has put
everything under the feet of the man. But we see Jesus who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor. God Almighty has put all things
under the feet of the man Christ Jesus and putting all things
under his feet who is our head has put all things under the
feet of his own elect but he who is our Savior must and is
must be and is more than a man even a perfect man even a noble
valiant man this man is God. This man is God. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the
God man, the man God who saves us. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He must be God as well as man. Fully God and fully man. All God and all man. Or he could not be our savior.
Only he who is man can redeem. For it is man who has sinned.
Justice must be satisfied by a man. But a mere man can never
satisfy divine justice. He who is God alone can be a
competent Redeemer. And in the fullness of time,
our God stepped into humanity. I can't imagine which is the
greater mystery, God becoming a man or the God-man being made
sin. But both are essential. God stepped
into humanity. We use the words because we want
to be so careful. He assumed our nature. That ain't
what the scripture says. The Word. The Eternal Word. Who is face to face with God. And the Word who is God. The Word was made flesh. All that God is. came into this
world as a man and all that God is died upon the curse tree as
a man and all that God is sets in glory as a man and that man
is the man who is my fellow he to whom it was not robbery to
be equal with God made himself of no reputation, and took on
him the form of a servant, and was found in likeness as a man,
and suffered all things as a man, and died as a man, and arose
as man, and rules the universe as a man, and that man is God,
my fellow. One with me in nature, in dignity,
in merit, in worth, in power, in eternity, in being. The God-man
is the man-God, our Savior, whom we trust. The man in whom God
is revealed, the man by whom God speaks, the man through whom
we approach God. And the Lord God says now, Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow. Do you know God never uses that
word? with reference to any other man. He could not. He could not. This one who is
my fellow is my equal. Our Lord said he that has seen
me has seen the Father. God sometimes calls me in his
friends. God calls us his children. But
he never refers to any man as his fellow except this man who
is himself God. Truly, he is God And truly, he
is man. Otherwise, we would yet be in
our sins. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. The very first promise
given in this book, the very first one, you find it in relation
to the fall. As God expels Adam and Eve from
the garden and pronounces the curse upon the race. Satan had
triumphed over manhood in the garden. Satan had conquered man
in the garden. And the very first promise of
God to humanity was this promise. Thy seed, thy seed shall crush
the serpent's head. There's coming a man who shall
redeem my people and shall overturn the works of Satan he had performed. And we know that he was manifested
to destroy the works of the devil and destroy them. He has and
he shall. Who? The man. When Eve brought
forth her first son, somehow we get the idea that those Old
Testament saints, Adam and Eve, you know, we wouldn't suggest
that they were cavemen, but they're not much above that in the opinions
of most, especially spiritually. Eve understood exactly what God
promised. She understood exactly what God
promised. She gave birth to a son and she
said, Oh Adam, I got the man. She didn't know it would be a
long time coming. But she understood that God was going to bring forth
a man from the womb of a woman who would be not a man seed,
but woman seed. And this man is the man against
whom Jehovah calls for his sword to awake. Read on. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. spite the shepherd. Look yonder to Calvary Street and see the
shepherd smitten of God. Jehovah in justice
cries, Awake! and smite the shepherd, my fellow,
this one who is the man, this man who knew no sin, who did
no sin, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. Wait. Wait. Justice put the sword down. You
cannot smite this man. Justice cannot smite one who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Justice
cannot punish one who is not guilty. Our corpse may, not justice. The corpse of other lands may,
not justice. Justice can only smite the guilty. How then can God Almighty in
justice cry, smite this man, my fellow, the shepherd? Ain't
but one way. Because God Almighty has made
him marvelous. transference of all things relating
to this man and his people that no man can understand except
by the experience of His grace. He who knew no sin, He made sin. That thing that his holy soul
most abhors he is made to be. And Sinai's glittering sword
is awakened in fury by the hand of God's justice against this
man, the man who is Jehovah's fellow, our shepherd, God's shepherd,
the one shepherd of the sheep. And only by the slaughter of
the shepherd can the sheep be saved. And so the Lord Jesus
is made sin for us. And God's glittering sword, bathed
in heaven, is thrust into His Holy Soul. until his heart like
wax is melted in him and all the hell of God's fury is poured
upon him so that he's separated from God in darkness and cries,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And at last, as
he swallows up the last speck of that sword in his being, He cries, it is finished. And redemption's accomplished.
And justice is satisfied. And now, he who cries, awake,
O sword, against the man that is my fellow, declares, look
unto me, and be you saved. I am a just God and a Savior. Read on. What's going to happen then?
A strange thing. The sheep shall be scattered. Smite the shepherd and the sheep
are going to be scattered. What? Why on this earth? Did God Almighty give this word
back here in Zachariah 500 years before the Lord Jesus said this
word is fulfilled? The whole prophecy is talking
about the gathering of sheep. But God says right here, smite
the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And I can't think
of but one reason, Merle, why he did that. And that is so every
fool must be compelled to acknowledge this is talking about this event.
This can't possibly be talking about anything else. Our Lord
Jesus said this night, you'll all forsake me. You'll all be
scattered. You'll all be scattered. No,
no, we wouldn't do that. We wouldn't do that. He says
it's going to happen because God said in Zechariah chapter
13 verse 7 the sheep will be scattered and they were scattered
they were scattered and then he says I will turn mine hand what a good word upon the little
ones. Can't you imagine, Rex, what
these apostles must have thought of themselves? Can't you imagine? If I err, I will beg their forgiveness. I'm sure I don't err. Boys, we
can call down fire from heaven. There had not been anybody since
the days of Elijah and Elisha who got power like us. We healed
the sick and we cast out demons. We have been given power from
Christ to have the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever we
bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever we loose on earth is
loosed in heaven. And our Lord warned them again
and again, don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you. Rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. And what he teaches, what he teaches, sooner
or later we're going to learn. He'll see to it. And here these fellows are, Peter
stands tall among them. Lord, this may be true, that
they may all forsake you, but not me. Not me. We've forsaken all and followed
you. No, not me, not me. Smite the shepherd, the sheep
will be scattered, and I will turn my hand my hand of mercy,
forgiveness, restoration, grace, and power to the little ones. See Peter by the Sea of Galilee?
How big is he now? See those disciples on the road
to Emmaus as the Lord opened to them the scriptures and then
made himself known to them and walked out of their presence
How big are they now? They are little ones in God's
sight. And he makes them little ones
in their own sight. Weak, insignificant, nothings. That's a pretty good description
of you and me. I'll turn my hand upon the little
ones. Then in verses 8 and 9, he shows
us that it is particularly his hand
of grace and salvation that's spoken of here. And it shall
come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die, but the third part shall
be left therein. And I will bring the third part
through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined. and
try them as gold is tried. And when I get done, when I get
done, this third part, this remnant according to the election of
grace, this 144,000 who must be sealed before time is no more,
they shall call on my name. They shall call on my name. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, That doesn't mean, Oscar,
whosoever says, I believe in Jesus. It means whosoever shall
worship Him who is the Lord God, our Savior. That's what it is
to call on Him. God says, this third part, the
remnant scattered through all the earth, these little ones,
I'll turn my hand upon them. I'll bring them through the fire.
I'll refine them like silver. I'll refine them as gold. Because
silver and gold, they are to me. And they shall call on my
name. And I will hear them. Because they've been bought with
the precious blood of my darling son. I will say, look here, look
here, this is my people. And they shall say, look here, This is my God. They shall look to heaven and
cry, Abba Father, this is my God. Oh. Wondrous, wondrous, wondrous,
wondrous, wondrous grace, I declare. The God of glory is my God. And I am His. Amen.