That is such a wonderful song. I love that song so much. Such a wonderful thing to ask our Lord for before we worship Him. Open our eyes, our ears, our hearts. I pray He'll do that. Turn with me now, if you would, to Matthew 26. Matthew 26 verse 31 says, Then saith Jesus unto them, 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. It is written, I will smite the shepherd. I am constantly amazed and in awe of the mind, will, and purpose of God. The fact that he would even be willing to do that, Just the fact that he would even be willing to do that. The fact that he would write, I will do that. I will smite the shepherd. That's amazing. That is amazing. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the shepherd. Psalm 23 verse 1 says, the Lord is my shepherd. In John 10, the Lord said, I am the good shepherd. In Hebrews 13, he said, I am the great shepherd. In 1 Peter 5, he said, I am the chief shepherd. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the shepherd, the shepherd of the sheep. But do you know that in John 1, it says he is the Lamb of God? This is worthy of some deep thought and consideration right here. In Revelation 5, the apostle John saw, standing in the midst of the throne, a lamb. That's what he saw. Jesus Christ is the shepherd. And John said, when I saw the one standing in the midst of the throne, I saw a lamb. And it says the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Crying worthy is the Lamb. Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne unto the Lamb forever and ever. Now listen to this. Revelation 7 says, the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed his people and lead his people unto living fountains of water. That sounds like a shepherd to me. Feed and lead, that sounds just like a shepherd. It is the shepherd, the Lamb. Revelation 19 verse 7 says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. That sounds like a husband. The marriage of the lamb. His wife. That sounds just like a husband to me. It is the husband. The lamb. Revelation 21 says, the foundations of the city in glory, there are 12 foundations and each one bears the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. I thought they were the apostles of the Messiah. They were. The Lamb. You know what all of that ought to prove to us? There is only one mediator between God and men, the shepherd and the lamb. The shepherd and the lamb. There's only one mediator. There's only one link between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. God became a man. When it talks about sheep in here, it's talking about men and women. God redeemed men by becoming a man. The sheep of the shepherd had to die because of their sin. So the shepherd made himself to be a sheep so he could die in their place. Smite the shepherd. How? How? By making him to be the sheep that had to be smitten. It's amazing that he would even do that. So amazing. We were his sinful sheep. If we were chosen by him and given faith to look to him alone and believe on him, We were his sinful sheep condemned to be sacrificed for our sin. So God, our shepherd, became our lamb, our sacrifice for our sin. Turn with me over to Isaiah 53. We can't speak on this subject without turning to Isaiah 53. And what ought to amaze us about this chapter is this is speaking of God. You know, really think about that. Let's think about who this is talking about. This is talking about God of very God. This is what God did for his people. A lot of people believe and say Jesus is the one who can get you to God. No, Jesus Christ is God. God of very God. This is what God did for His people. Look at verse 1. It says, Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? I tell you who will believe the report. Whoever the arm of the Lord is revealed to. That's who will believe it. Verse 2 says, For he shall grow up before Him, As a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground, He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Speaking of Jesus Christ growing up before the Father, perfect on this earth. But verse 3 says, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. If we ever come to realize what Christ accomplished for his people, if we ever come to realize, everybody knows that Jesus Christ died on a cross, but if we ever come to see what Christ accomplished for his people, if we ever come to see the substitution of Christ for his people, If our eyes ever turn from our flesh, that's what we need. We need to turn from our flesh. Turn our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to turn our eyes from our doctrine. We need to turn our eyes from our law to Jesus Christ. I was in a place not too long ago I was walking down a sidewalk and there was a man who, you know, in his mind was preaching. He had a microphone and a speaker there and all that. He was telling everybody, you need to turn from your sin so you can be saved. That was his wording. He kept telling everybody, you need to be saved. And you need to turn from your sin so that you can be saved. And honestly, that's pretty much what every man says in false religion. That would very commonly be accepted almost everywhere. You need to turn from your sin so you can be saved. And the thought went through my mind. I didn't have time to argue with Him. I wasn't going to argue with Him. The doctrine is not to be argued, it's to be declared. You leave all that in the Spirit of God Almighty. God will do with it what God wants to do with it. And I didn't go talk to Him. I kept on walking. But this thought went through my mind. I would love to walk up to Him and open John 19, verse 30, which says, from the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ said, it is finished. I just want to ask Him. What does that mean? You explain to me what that means. What did he mean? Is salvation finished or is it not finished? Did he do it or did he not do it? Was he lying or was he not lying? In telling people you are not yet saved and you need to do something, you need to turn from your sin so that you can be saved. Are you calling him a liar or are you not calling him a liar? Which is it? If we ever behold the Lamb, people hear, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And they don't do it. And it's because they can't do it. They can't see Christ. They can't see the accomplishment of Christ unless it's revealed to them, unless the arm of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to them. What they think is, he needs my arm. I see that he needs my help. I see that he needs my decision. If we ever see Jesus Christ, if we ever see the smitten shepherd, if we ever see Christ crucified, we will see our salvation. We will see the gospel of our salvation. Why was the shepherd smitten? If I still have to do something so that I can be saved, why was the shepherd smitten? What was accomplished in the smiting of the shepherd? Verse 4 says, Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace. Everything that was owed to us because of our sin, it was on Him. And thank God with His stripes, we are healed. We are healed. Verse 6 says, all we like sheep have gone astray, scattered astray, veered, wandered astray. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord. That means but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, his great kindness, his great pity, his great compassion, wherewith he loved his own. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. Verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. If we ever see that, we will see why the shepherd was smitten. And we'll change our tune. We'll sing a new song. Verse 7 says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. That was our shepherd. And do you know what that means? That means he was willingly smitten. He was not forced to the sacrifice of his death. He laid down his own life. He gave up his own ghost. He said, Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. Verse seven, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. God smote the shepherd. God smote the shepherd. Why did God smite the shepherd? It's because it was the only way. He was the only way. Don't go back, but in our text, our Lord was quoting Zechariah 13. He said, it is written and it was written in Zechariah 13. And there in that chapter, God made a promise. And the only way that promise could be carried out was to smite the shepherd. Turn with me over there to Zechariah 13. It's page 1179 in my Bible, and it's the second to the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament, and then Zechariah is just before that. Zechariah 13. Here was God's promise. His promise was to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That means his chosen people. Not every soul on this earth, but to his chosen people. Verse one, he said, 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 to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. He said for all of their sin and uncleanness, I will open a fountain that will wash them white as snow. I will open a fountain of payment. I will open a fountain of redemption. What is that fountain? There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. That dying thief saw the smitten shepherd. And there may I, though vile as he, see all of my sins right there washed away. A man named William Cooper wrote that song, and I've told you his story before. how he was a man who was very troubled. This man was very troubled over his sin. So troubled over his sin. He had a troubled childhood, a troubled upbringing. He lived a life that he deeply regretted. He was a man who was very aware of his own sin before God. Some are just more aware of their sin than others. And this man was very aware of his sin before God, and it troubled him. It got very bad for him. Very bad. And it troubled him to the point that he couldn't find rest or peace at all. So much so, he was literally put into an insane asylum for one and a half years. When they let him out, he was just a shell of a person. And he had to go live with a family who took care of him. And it just so happened that this family sat in the congregation of a man named John Newton, who he had the same troubled past, but he was the man who wrote Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound That Saved a Wretch Like Me. Mr. Cooper was a poet, he was a songwriter, and his songs were always songs of depression and songs of despair. Until one day, by the preaching of the gospel, he heard and he saw the smitten shepherd. And he said that the text that day was Romans 3.25. whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. That means a cover, an atonement, an appeasement. It means a victim of sacrifice, a bloody victim. Whom God hath set forth, speaking of Christ, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. He saw that Christ, the smitten shepherd, made peace for him through the blood of his cross. And the story is told that Mr. Cooper was so overwhelmed with joy, he immediately grabbed a pen and paper and he wrote, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from, that means God's own veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood. Where were they plunged? In Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Sinners plunged beneath that flood. When he cried, it is finished, what he was saying was, every soul you gave to me has been plunged under the blood. It's finished. Sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Mr. Cooper wrote, dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved, be called home to that eternal home where one day we will never sin anymore. Sin will have no presence with us. whatsoever. In that day there shall be a fountain opened, a fountain of blood, a fountain of cleansing, a fountain of redemption. How? How can this be possible? Look at verse 7. It says, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow. God the Father said, Send the sword. to my son. 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. That means bring healing redemption to my little ones. Smite the shepherd, and all my sheep will be saved. That was the only way. That was the only way. I'm going to close with this. Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse 1 says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood, unto the obedience of Christ and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love. in whom though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Verse 18 says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God. that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. It might be in God. If we ever see the smitten shepherd, if we ever see the lamb that was slain, we will see the gospel of our salvation. That is the absolute truth. That is the absolute truth. To see Him, to see Christ crucified and what that means for God's people that He was crucified. What was accomplished for God's people by Christ being crucified. If we ever truly see what that smiting from God means for us, we will see the gospel of our salvation. Lord, open our eyes that we may see. That's our prayer. All right.