Amen. Well I am very glad to be with you tonight and to share with you sitting in the meeting here in person. We have been following the meetings online and enjoying the ministry of God's word over the year that has passed and we thank God for the sounding forth of God's precious truth and it is a privilege always to come down and to join with you once a year as we have been doing. Our brother mentioned 11 years since the publishing of the addresses on Israel passed. Hard to believe that that amount of time has passed, but we're very glad to the Lord's mercy that has enabled us to come down year by year and to seek to minister from God's truth. That is a privilege that we do indeed rejoice in. We're turning our attention please tonight to the book of Zechariah to the 13th chapter here and our subject has been given to us tonight the open fountain and the spitting shepherd which really breaks the chapter here into two sections that we will want to look at tonight as we seek to delve into this chapter of God's word and seek to bring forth some truths there from. We could just read please the verse 1 again and the verse 7 of the chapter where you will find the very words that are in our title this evening. 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. And then the verse seven, a weak old sword against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, make the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. With God's word before us, we will just Take a moment to seek the Lord's face again. Seek his help as we come to minister God's truth. For without his help tonight, then our coming to his word will be in vain. We need his help tonight. We need the Holy Spirit to come upon us and to open the scriptures of truth to us for his glory this evening. Let's seek the Lord's face. Father in heaven, we do thank thee tonight for our smitten Savior. We thank Thee for the cross of Calvary and for the cleansing blood of Christ that has purified us from the awful stain of sin. And Father, as we meet before Thee here tonight, we pray that Thou wilt still our hearts in Thy presence, that Thou wilt open the Word of God to our hearts and to our souls. And Father, tonight, even as we meet in this place, we remember Israel. We remember the Jewish nation. And how that animosity that rests upon them solely because they're thine has again manifested itself in this world in these last weeks. And we pray tonight for the peace of Jerusalem. Oh Lord, we don't pray for some hobbled together peace that politicians conjure up in their imagination. We don't pray for the peace that comes through the declarations of the UN The like, Lord, we pray tonight for the true peace of Jerusalem to come. We pray for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and for thy people's recognition of him, even what we will be looking at tonight, Lord. Lord, we pray that thou wilt have mercy upon my people and bring that day Bring the day of thy kingdom, of thy glory. Bring to an end man's day of reign. Lord, we say to thee afresh, come quickly. Oh, the day grows darker, and we long for the coming of the Son of God, and whose manifest glory in this old world. And give us grace, Lord, Through the dark days that are to come, give us grace to stand faithfully by the sight of Christ. Lord, this is only achieved through thy grace. Lord, we pray for thy help tonight as we open up the scriptures of truth. Be here in our midst. Close us in with thyself. and open up the council of heaven to our souls. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. The open fountain and the spitting saviour. We begin our study in this chapter 13 tonight by pointing out at once that there is a day A very special day in view for us all to consider here in this chapter. Note if you will, the first words of the chapter. In that day. And right away, this day is forcefully thrust upon our attention as we begin to read in this chapter. In that day, in that day, three times, In this short chapter, for it is but a short chapter, we find these very words used in the verse 1 here, then in the verse 2, and it shall come to pass in that day. And then the verse 4, and it shall come to pass in that day. Three times in these nine verses. This day is singled out for our consideration. Added to this, you will find this phrase repeatedly used in the foregoing chapter, chapter 12, and then in the following chapter, it's found again numerous times in the chapter 14. Well then, what day is it that's to view here in this place. Well, that's not difficult to establish because it is the day of the Lord, the day of days for Israel, the day of the glorious revealing of her Messiah. The day of Israel's Messiah being manifest in all His glory and in all of His power. That's the day that is to view here in this place. The day when she contritely weeps over her sin of rejecting her Messiah. The day she is most wonderfully converted. That's the day that is in view here in this place. It's the day spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. If you turn back there to Isaiah chapter 66 for a moment Isaiah's prophecy the chapter 66 and the verse 8 who have heard such a thing who have seen such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion revealed, she brought forth her children. That's the day that's to view here in our passage. Therefore, as I have already stated, this is the day of days for God's ancient people. a day the like thereof that has never been seen, only then will the glory of Christ and His redeemed be revealed in all its magnificence to this world. As our studies over this year have shown, Zachariah has much to teach us about this day. as indeed do all the prophets. This day, I believe, was prefigured in the history of the life of Joseph. Do you remember that day when Joseph was revealed unto his brethren after his time of rejection? That was a tremendous day in the household of Jacob. the day that Joseph was being known to his brethren. That was a picture of this day we're thinking of here tonight in our passage. Let us then keep in focus this thought as we give ourselves to the study of this passage tonight. Our attention here in the first place is drawn to the fountain that is opened. Here in the verse one. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. In that day there shall be a fountain opened The preceding chapter had closed with the people here weeping over their great sin and their national crime, their rejection of Christ. And it is to be noted that it was a genuine, a real mourning, a wholehearted lamentation That's what we're presented with there in the closing part of Zechariah chapter 12. All the people weep. Family by family. Look at the verse 11 of the chapter. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadarim. in the valley of Macdonald. There shall be, listen to it, a great mourning. That's how the Holy Spirit described it, a great mourning. Then in the verse 14 we're told, all the families that remain, every family apart with their wives apart. All the families that remain. This was a genuine, this is no superficial mourning. This is a wholehearted, genuine mourning. Man had never known tears, of course, were it not for his sin, sin. It has to be seen, has been, the root cause of all of man's sorrows down the ages. But out of all that great catalogue of sin and evil and wrongdoing that can be rightly and justifiably laid at the doorstep of mankind. Was there ever a greater? Was there ever a deeper? Was there ever a more depraved and debased and unjustifiable sin than the sin that's being wept over here In what's presented to us at the end of Zechariah chapter 12, the father sends his own son, his own beloved son. John, the evangelist, tells us that he came to his own. John chapter one, verse 11. He came to his own, but they received him not. Peter's words point out so very forcefully and declare to us the extent of this crime when he preached and the record we have of it there in Acts chapter 3 and the verse 13. Acts chapter 3 please and the verse 13 where we read Peter speaking forth these words in Jerusalem verse 13 of Acts chapter 3 the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And here, Peter in clear, unmistakable language lays out the great crime of rejecting Christ that the Jews were guilty of. This is the iniquity for which We find them here now mourning, weeping, in the day that's spoken of in this place. Please do not overlook this truth. It's this sin they are repenting of. Hundreds, if not thousands of years have passed. But it's a sin that still must be repented of. And what a wonderful truth is here being impressed upon us now in the opening of our chapter. Where sin abounded, the most grievous of sins. Grace, wonderful grace, sovereign grace, matchless grace, immeasurable grace is here now, much more abounding. A fountain is opened, we're told. What for? To meet the very need of these penitent sinners. A fountain for what? For sin and for uncleanness. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Again, the Apostle John writes in 1 John 5 verse 6, these words, this is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. From the precious wounded side of Christ, there as he hung on the cross flowed forth water and blood. Yes, for individuals repenting of their sin, that fountain has been opened over and over and over again down through the ages. Yet here, here in this prophecy, it is opened in a fullness and to an extent before all see. Well how it was opened on the day of Pentecost. And thousands were converted. But that's but a foretaste of what is yet to be. Because here a whole nation is cleansed and made pure in a day. And this opening verse of our chapter tells us so very plainly what nation it is. To the house of David and the city of Jerusalem 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. But a tremendous, tremendous presentation is set here before us tonight. The sin issue that has blighted and is blighting the people of Israel on this day will be dealt with in the only place where sin can ever be dealt with. from the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then again, this day is further marked here in this opening part of our chapter by a severing and a removing of every vestige of false religion. It's marked by the by the opening of this fountain and the dealing with sin, with the sin issue. But then let's go further here into the verse two. Turn to the verse two and see what it says. 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 these shall no more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. Do you see what we're told here? And as you turn to these words, I asked you to mark who it is that is said to do this thing. The one taking away the idols, expelling the false prophets, is none other than the speaker here. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I, I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. The one taking away the idols, the one expelling the false prophets is none other than the Lord himself. Sad to see tonight there will be many, many a professed Christian who will think this strange. May even think it far-fetched and will be unprepared and unwilling to believe that such a thing is possible. You see, for far too many today, they have drunk so long of the wine of ecumenism and of modernism and their teaching has been so influenced by the leaven of falsehood that they have arrived at the place that their Christ the Christ that they follow, the Christ that they have imagined. Some, however, can sit down contentedly alongside the false god. Can sit down alongside the idol. And so long have they drunk at this poison fountain that the Christ of the Bible is no longer revealed to them. They have buried the Christ of the Scriptures from view. The Christ that we read of here who's coming to reign, the one that's spoken of here, is a stranger to them. The Christ that repudiates the idol. The Christ that severs and separates himself and his people from the abomination of false religion is a unknown Christ to them. Let this be grasped by all this evening. Christ is not in the business of building a one world church that will embrace and encompass and unite all the religions of the world. The Christ that we read of in this book never has, never will have, and never can have anything to do with such a scheme. He repudiates such a scheme. He rejects such a scheme. That's the reality tonight. At his first coming he clearly denounced false religion and all who peddled it. Just take one famous example, and I'm only giving you for the sake of time tonight one example, Matthew chapter 23. No less than seven times in that chapter, he declares, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, and he names them. He doesn't speak in generalities. He names them, scribes and Pharisees. Everybody knew who it was he was speaking of. And he places his woe upon their heads, not just once, but seven times. Verse 13, 14, 15. Verse 23, 25, 27, and 29. Can words clearer be spoken than these? Their path, Christ says, is wrong. That's what he's saying. It's leading to ruin. It's leading to destruction. There is no advantage in following it. All who follow it will bring upon themselves ruin. There is no surprise then when we come to read in our chapter, as we do, of his actions when he comes again. Because remember what we're told in Acts chapter 1 verse 11. It's the same Jesus that's coming back again. It's the same Jesus. Bringing with him the same attitude towards that which is false. Bringing with him the same attitude towards that which is idolatry. In this day there's a fountain opened And there is a removing of all false religion in this day. Notice again, nothing will supersede loyalty to Christ in the hearts of his own. Nothing will supersede loyalty to Christ. Look at the verse three. And it came to pass that when Annie shall yet prophesy, then his father and mother that beget 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 beget him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And what are we being told here? on this great and notable day that is to come, this day of days for Israel, this day when she embraces her Messiah, this day when she weeps and repents over her rejection of Christ, on this day when she comes to partake of the cleansing, healing fountain that has been opened for unrighteousness, Well in this day we are told of one in plain straightforward language arising in the family circle to speak falsely in the Lord's name. A son nonetheless. And what do we read here? The hand of the parent, the father and the mother is first upon him to condemn him to the sentence that heaven has ordained. In this act, there is a going against all that is natural. Parents shield their children from censure. That's right and good in the vast majority of cases. However, here, there is a love superseding family love. Love for the Lord. Here has a greater tie than flesh and blood. Christ, you see, has now been embraced by these souls. The Jew, the Israelite, the inhabitant of the city of Jerusalem on this day loves Christ above and beyond everything else. The rejected son, that stone that the builders had refused has now become the chief cornerstone. He has taken the honored place and nothing but nothing supersedes their love for Christ. That's the day. That's the day that's in view here. What is more, this is not an introduction of something new. No, the Lord has ever sought and ever required this down through the ages. Here it is being but demonstrated clearly before all the world. Both Old and New Testaments speak clearly on this very subject. If you turn back over there to Deuteronomy chapter 13 quickly please. Deuteronomy chapter 13 and the verse 6. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or the son or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is thine own soul, enticeth thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known. thou nor thy fathers, namely the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither shalt thou nigh pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. But thou shalt surely kill him, thine hand shall be first upon him, to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones that he die, because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt from the house upon thee. This wasn't something new. This was but the manifestation of what God had already required of his people in the New Testament. We read those familiar words in Matthew chapter 10, the verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Nothing on this day will supersede the love that people have for the Savior. In this great and notable day again, all pretension, especially in the spiritual realm, will be over. We read of this in the verses four and six here, four through six here in this chapter. All pretension, especially in the field of religion, in the spiritual realm, will have gone. There will be no more the wearing of the rough garment to deceive. deception will have no place amongst God's people on this great day. Of course, this is by no means a surprise because the great deceiver himself, the devil, will be removed out of the way. Yes, and not only this, but he who is declared to be the truth, he who said, I am the way, the truth and the life will then sit upon the throne. and the result being the deceiver will have no comfortable residence amongst God's people on that day. No lie can abide the presence of the truth. It will be expelled. How very different things are presently in this world. Today the lie rides roughshod over the truth in every sphere of life, but especially in the field of religion. But those false prophets and false teachers bringing a message from their own heart And not a message from the Lord will have no business in the Kingdom of Christ when He comes again in glory and power. They'll be out of business. They will fear to speak. They will be put to silence. And those that worship God on that day and in that day will worship Him as He desires to be worshipped. They will worship Him in spirit and in truth. So we have covered somewhat of the first part of the chapter here. Can we turn our attention now to the concluding part of the chapter, verse 7? through nine, where we think of the smitten Savior, or the smitten Shepherd. You will note right away, at least initially, that our attention now is turned to look back. We have been looking forward to the day of Christ, to Israel's day of days, we have called it. the day of Christ's revealing, but now we're caused here at least to begin with to look back to the cross, to the smitten shepherd. These words referred to in verse seven are quoted there in Matthew 26 in the verse 31. If we just turn to that, verse and read it so we can see clearly and plainly that this prophecy is referred to Christ and his crucifixion. Chapter Matthew 26 and the verse 31 please. The verse 31, Then said Jesus unto them, O 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. So there's no doubt here. There can be no doubt. These words refer to the crucifixion of Christ and the events thereafter. So then we may ask tonight why Is there this intertwining, as it were, the first and the second comings of Christ in this one chapter? Is the answer not the Lord wants both the first and the second comings to be treated equally? They're of equal importance? They stand as a whole. They stand together. You cannot have one without the other. Could we say just as you cannot have the Old Testament without the New Testament or the New Testament without the Old Testament, so you can't have the first coming of Christ without the second. And grievous mistakes have been made with regards to this matter. Remember, the Jews erred grievously by overlooking the first coming of the Savior, His humiliation, His dying on the cross. They wanted to get to the glory, and they made a fatal mistake. But sadly, many seen in the church today want to overlook the second coming. and focus only on His first coming. However, God will have us focus upon both equally. How closely related they are, the one to the other. And the prophecies of Scripture bring that out, I believe, very clearly. The prophecies of Christ's first coming were all fully, literally fulfilled, exactly as he said. So will therefore all he says regarding his second coming. We are not to separate them. Rather, the Holy Ghost intertwines them together. You can't sever the one from the other without destroying both. And in these closing verses of our chapter, these three closing verses, There are a number of things to observe. My time is passing on here tonight. I will really do nothing more than but set them before you. There's six things to notice, I believe, in these last three verses. They're all beginning with S. I hope that will help your memory. We have, of course, the smitten shepherd, first of all. and the reader of the New Testament will have no difficulty identifying the one here spoken of. How clearly he is in view in the titles that our prophet here gives to him in this verse 7. He says, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow. He's my shepherd. He's Jehovah's shepherd. David calls him his shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, he says in Psalm 23. Christ himself gave himself this title, the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The one in every way unlike, the false shepherd. For he lays down his life for his sheep. Then do you notice what is stated here as well? He is called the man. A weak old sword against my shepherd and against the man. But that's not all. He is called here my fellow. Whose fellow? The fellow of Jehovah. So here we have declared clearly that great mystery wherein God the Son took into union with himself human nature without sin. That's the shepherd that's smitten. clearly identified. Can we now turn to the smitten shepherd? We must grasp then that the smitten shepherd is in very fact the coming king in glory and power. The smitten shepherd is the coming king in glory and power. The Jew, as we have previously intimated, erred by bypassing the first coming and looking for the glory. But I have to warn Too many Christians make a similar mistake, focusing only on the first and neglecting the second. So the smitten shepherd. Then we have the scattered flock. That's next brought to our attention. This, we also know, took place just as it is set forth here in this place. The smiting of the shepherd was real. It truly took place in all its severity. And the scattering of the flock took place exactly so. So then seeing that these things have been fulfilled as foretold, are we not then to expect and to look for the same with respect to all of the other details that set before us here in our passage? All must see, all must understand tonight, the Lord will see to it that His Word is fulfilled just as He has spoken it. It will be fulfilled just as He has spoken it. The smiting was real, the scattering was real. So now when we move into these next points, see that these things are going to be fulfilled exactly as God has said as well. Because thirdly here we have the sovereign selection in the verses 8 and 9. And it shall come to pass in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. I will bring the third part through the fire. There's here sovereign selection. A third of Israel are chosen of God to be preserved. A third. And what we have in this place is nothing less than the sobering, discriminating judgment of Almighty God. Sovereign selection. Out of God's good pleasure, he sets a third apart for himself. Do you remember Paul quoting the words of Malachi? In Romans chapter 9 the verse 13 records there this sovereign selection as well in these words as it is written. Romans 9 13 as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. Oh how men hate this doctrine but here it is, sovereign selection. Sovereign selection. A third will be saved. Two-thirds will die. Then, fourthly, we have the smelting pot, verse 9. 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. The smelting pot. They brought through the refiner's fire. Brought through the refiner's fire. What Israel has endured in the past weeks is only a little foretaste of what is to come. Never again, she said, when Hitler and the Nazis brought upon six million Jews the death that he did. Never again, they said, but it is happening again. And there's worse to come. There's worse to come, the smelting pot. Our passage warns us of this. We read of it again in the book of Jeremiah. And the chapters 30, Jeremiah chapters 30. And the verse seven, alas, for the day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. The third will be saved out of it. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. Here's a persecution that's to come that far surpasses anything that has been. None is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. There's the smelting pot to be considered. Please note then again, there is the singular supplication that's made here in this verse nine. They shall call on my name and I will hear them. It's not to Mr. Biden they're looking for help. It's not to the Abraham Accords or to Saudi Arabia that they're looking for agreement and for salvation. Oh, they're here brought to an end of every other help. And they're looking again, they're calling again here upon the Lord. They shall call on my name. God says in this place, and listen to it, I will hear them. Is Mr. Biden listening to them tonight? Oh, I extremely doubt it. I extremely doubt it. And if he is listening, he's only listening as long as it suits himself. But here they shall call on the name of the Lord. And God himself has put it here. And he will fulfill these words. I will hear them. When, when they're brought to an end of themselves, an end of their own ability and their own strength, they will look to the Lord and He will hear them and He will save them. And then there's a solemn declaration here. The chapter concludes with this. I will say, it is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my God. The Lord first publicly owning Israel, and they in turn owning their Lord again. What a blessed, blessed day this will then be. What a blessed prospect. Oh, are there not thoughts here, many thoughts, we have very quickly tonight passed over this chapter seeking to bring out its many truths. I trust I have whetted your appetite tonight and you'll return to this chapter because truly it has much to set before us. and many comforting truths even in these days for our souls. The open fountain and the smitten shepherd. May the Lord bless his word for Christ's sake. Amen.