Returning this evening to the book of Zechariah and the chapter 13. Zechariah and the chapter 13. Now if you're maybe wondering where Zechariah is, it is the penultimate book of the Old Testament. So if you find the end of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, and you come back one book to the book of Zechariah, then you'll find the chapter number 13 within that book. And we'll read the chapter together, please. Zechariah chapter 13. Let me encourage all the boys and girls, you to have your Bibles as well, young people, follow along in the reading of scripture, and let me encourage the families as best as you can to keep the family in their place. I know that is difficult, but keep the family in their place as we bring God's precious word. Zechariah chapter 13, beginning at verse number one. In that day, there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 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 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 when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophet shall be ashamed every one of his vision. When he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive. And he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husband, man, for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 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 part 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, Then shall they 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. Amen. Let's briefly unite in prayer together, please. Let's pray. Our loving Father, in our Savior's holy and precious name, we come again to thee. Confessing our need as we now come to preach thy word, Lord grant me thy servant the infilling of the Holy Ghost. May everything work smoothly throughout this entire meeting, we cry to thee. May thy blessing be upon the preaching of the everlasting gospel. Speak to hearts, we cry, and move by thy Spirit, reproving, O God, the sinner of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. Grant now, Lord, my help, because I pray this in the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. The Old Testament is like a picture book in which we have many beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he would do for his people on the cross of Calvary. The Old Testament gives us the pictures while the New Testament gives us, as it were, the captions under the pictures to explain what the pictures are all about. And so punctuated throughout the Old Testament record, the Bible reader is given various glimpses of God's purpose in this world. The redemption and salvation of his people by the death of his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The destiny of a chosen people within the human race would be forever altered by the events that would occur on a hillside outside the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Calvary and all that unfolded there is typified and pictured in various Old Testament events. For example, we see the cross portrayed in the sacrifice of Aram in the stead of Isaac on Mount Moriah in Genesis chapter 22. The gospel and the cross is once again presented to us in the Passover lamb that was slain in order to preserve the life of the firstborn in Exodus and the chapter number 12. On the great day of atonement, again the cross is vividly presented. The record of which we read in Leviticus and the chapter number 16. And then those events in Numbers chapter 21. Whenever the Israelites were bitten by the fiery serpents, Moses uplifted that brazen serpent that God told him to manufacture and to make. And all that would look to the brazen serpent was healed off the bite and off its poison and its ultimate death. We find again the cross of Jesus Christ pictured vividly for us. And then there are portions within the Old Testament such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapter 53 that clearly present to the mind of the reader the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. Well tonight we have read another such passage that brings into clear view the death and the sufferings of the Savior, Zechariah in the chapter number 13. The cross is before us within this chapter. Note there the words of the opening verse, verse number 1. What removes sin and uncleanness but the blood of Jesus Christ? 1 John 1, verse 7 speaks and tells us of the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son that cleanseth us from all sin. And thus, the fountain that Zechariah speaks of here in Zechariah 13, and he speaks of in future terms, is none other than the fountain that William Cuyper wrote about in his great hymn, There is a fountain filled with blood. Cuyper wrote, there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. At Calvary, a fountain, full, free, and ever flowing, was open for sin and for uncleanness. It is then for the sinner to aveal of themselves off the only means of cleansing from sin in the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse 7 of the chapter, again Calvary is before our minds. Wake, 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. There is no doubt that these words prophetically speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he would use them, himself, to speak of the events that would unfold the night in which he was betrayed, arrested, and given over to his enemies. Matthew 26 verse 31, Then said Jesus unto them, his disciples, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. These words in Zechariah, they speak of a sword being wakened against the great shepherd. And I put it to you tonight that that sword was the sword of God's justice. The sword that was unleashed and unsheathed against the Son of God when He came to die for sin upon the cross. You see, whenever the Son of God went to Calvary, the sword of divine justice was awakened. drawn from its scabbard and plunged into the heart and the soul of God's only begotten Son. But there is one particular detail of the physical sufferings of Christ found in Zechariah chapter 13 that I want us to consider in this gospel message this evening, namely the wounds in the hands of Christ. The wounds in the hands of Christ. The question is asked in verse 6, what are these wounds in thine hands? What are these wounds in thine hands? Taking the words of that question as my text for tonight, I want to preach a gospel message whose title mirrors those very words in verse 6. My message tonight is entitled, What Are These Wounds? In Thy Hands. Applying these words to the Lord Jesus Christ and wounds that he came to be inflicted with, I believe that the wounds in the hands of Christ are the evidence of a number of things. In the first place, the wounds in the hands of Christ are the evidence of the genuineness of biblical prophecy. The wounds in the hands of Christ are the evidence of the genuineness of biblical prophecy. Wounds in thine hands. The inspired writer is very specific as to the location of these particular wounds. These wounds are not said to be on the back, neither are they said to be on the legs, on the arms or on the head of the person that is being spoken of in Zechariah chapter 13. But rather, they are said to be in the person's hands. Such a wounding of hands finds its fulfillment in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, For at the cross of Calvary the hands of the Savior were kneeled to the tree. Thomas, that doubting saint and doubting disciple, in John chapter 20 looked to see, and I quote, the print of the kneels. in the Savior's hands and feet, before he would believe that who the other disciples had said they had seen on resurrection night was really and truly the Son of God. The wounding of the body of Christ and especially his hands was something that David prophetically spoke about 1,000 years before it actually occurred on that hillside so familiar to us. hill called Calvary. In Psalm 22 and the verse 16 we read these words, For dogs have compassed me, the assembly off the wicket have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. Underline what David said, they pierced my hands and my feet. speaking of these wounds of which Zechariah is speaking of, the wounds that would be inflicted in the hands of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Other passages of Old Testament Scripture, though not specifically mentioning the hands, do speak of the Savior being wounded and being pierced at Calvary. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5, But he was wounded, pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Just turn back a chapter in Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 12, and note the words there in the verse number 10. And 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. As one mourneth, 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. What does it say? They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced. These are prophetic words. The psalmist, Isaiah the prophet, David, Isaiah, Zechariah, they speak about a piercing that is going to be inflicted upon the Messiah, upon the great shepherd and the bishop of man's soul. They're speaking here about a future day, a day when Christ would be taken up the hill of Calvary and there affixed to the Roman gibbet kneeled between two common thieves, taking the central place, the very place of greatest ignominy and greatest shame. There in his sufferings the hands of Christ would be kneeled, bearing the very load and the weight of his full body. And this is what the prophets are speaking about. They are speaking about this piercing, the wounding of the hands of Jesus Christ, and therefore the wounds in the hands of Christ They bring to our mind, they draw to our attention, they alert us to the fact of the truthfulness of biblical prophecy. John Stevenson, writing about death by crucifixion, said the following, Of all the sanguarian punishments, that of crucifixion is one of the most dreadful. No vital part is immediately affected by it. The hands and the feet, which are furnished with the most numerous and sensitive organs, are perforated with needles which must necessarily be of some size to suit their intended purpose. The tearing asunder of the tender fibers of the hands and the feet, the lacerating of so many nerves, the bursting of so many blood vessels must be productive of intense agony. The nerves of the hands and foot are intimately connected through the arm and leg with the nerves of the whole body. Their laceration, therefore, must have been felt over the entire frame. Oh, these wounds in the hands of Christ are not as it were some little thorn piercing as you would think. No, these are deep wounds. These are wounds that are fresh. These are wounds that are blood flowing. These are wounds, oh, that pain and agony courses through the entire body and the frame of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these wounds, as I said, they are a reminder to us of the genuineness of biblical prophecy. And if that prophecy was fulfilled, the piercing of his hands and feet, though ten centuries had elapsed, between the prophecy in Psalm 22 and its fulfillment at the place called Calvary. If that prophecy was fulfilled, then all Old Testament prophecies and pronouncements, even those concerning you, the sinner, will have their fulfillment despite the passing of time. despite the passing of centuries and decades, they will be fulfilled to the very letter. And let me therefore remind you, if you're not a converted individual, if you have no saving interest in Jesus Christ, if you have despised the gospel and rejected the gospel to this juncture, to this moment, to this time in your life, let me remind you of some of the prophecies and the pronouncements in the Old Testament that we find concerning the one who is the Christ rejecter and the Christ denier. Psalm 9 verse 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. That's a pronouncement. That's a prophecy. That's a declaration. The wicked shall be turned into hell. That means you, you the sinner. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 14, for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Yes, those things that you've done, that you've hidden from sight, concealed by the night, hidden behind some closed door, unknown to that wife, that husband, that child of yours, unknown to your brothers, to your sisters, God will bring every work into judgment. That's a pronouncement. What about the one in Isaiah chapter 66 verse 24? And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. And they shall be an a-whoring unto all flesh." These are words speaking of the casting out of the sinner. The going forth of the ungodly into that place of outer darkness and everlasting torment and of punishment where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. These are words that Christ himself would use to express the very punishment that the ungodly will suffer in eternal hell. O sinner, these are pronouncements, these are prophecies, these are things that God has said, and God will fulfill in His good time and His way. And so I would say to you, unsaved one, let such pronouncements, let such prophecies hasten you to Christ. you to flee to Christ run to the Savior this very moment less before this night ends ah before even this service ends you come to see their fulfillment in your life and so these words they speak to me yes about biblical prophecy and of the genuineness of it. But in the second place, the wounds in Christ's hands are the evidence of the grotesque nature of man's heart. The grotesque nature of man's heart. Wicked men took the hands of their creator and fixed them with nails to the cross. that Roman instrument of torture and of death. Think of it. These were hands that handled leprous limbs. These were hands that caressed blinded eyes. These were hands that blessed infant children, that touched the bodies of the dead to raise them to raise them to life. that handled meager lunches, that fed thousands of hungry adults and children with them, that touched the lips of dumb men so that they could speak, that caressed fever-ridden browns. Those lovely, those tender, those kind hands were fastened to a cross of shame by wicked men with nails. And it was from those wounded hands that there came forth blood, ruby, red, royal, redeeming blood that can cleanse the vilest sinner and can wash the sin stain away. The actions of those who crucified the Savior, they revealed to me the grotesque nature of man's heart. Only a heart inspired by sin would wound the hands and the feet of Christ and put to death the innocent, pure, blameless, sinless, flawless, faultless, impeccable Son of God. The Bible speaks of the human heart in these terms. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Mark reminds us that from such a deceitful and desperately wicked heart proceeds all kinds of sinful things, evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murderousness, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. The wounds in the hands of Christ show me how wicked the human heart really is to take one so innocent and treat him in such a manner is revelatory as to the depths of depravity to which the human heart can truly and genuinely sink to. But what about your heart, my unsaved friend? What about your heart? Has the Spirit of God shown you the grotesque nature of your heart? You see, only when a correct diagnosis of man's problem is made, the problem of this human heart, this sinful heart, can the right treatment then be administered. This is where often sinners go wrong. Too often they are deceived by their own wicked hearts. They come to the wrong conclusion, the wrong diagnosis as where the problem actually lies. Their hearts deceive them into thinking that they're pretty good people, certainly not deserving of hell and eternal punishment. Others' hearts deceive them into thinking that God is so loving, so kind, so good, so gracious that he will receive all into heaven. But such thinking is wrong. Because there are none of us who are good. Spiritually good, I speak off. And although God is loving, and although He is good, and although He is kind, and although He is gracious, He is also holy, and He is also just, and He must punish sin. He must. And so I trust, sinner, that you're not deceived by your own heart tonight. so deceived that you're blind to the grave consequences of possessing a heart that is defiled by sin? Because if you are, then I draw your attention to words that we find in the book of the Revelation, words that speak of heaven. Revelation 21, verse 27, and there shall in no eyes enter into it heaven any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, nor maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Is your name written there in the pages wide and fair? Is your name written in the book of life? Is it there? Has it been inscribed in God's book? Nothing that defileth shall enter it. What did Mark say? Mark says that from the heart defilement comes forth and therefore a man, a woman, a boy or girl, a teenager whose heart has never been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ is a heart that is still defiled by sin and thereby that heart will bar you from entrance into God's heaven. the wounds in the hands of Christ, the evidence how grotesque the sinful heart of man is because such people with sinful hearts happily consented to and saw to the execution of the Prince of Life and Glory by means of crucifixion. In the third place, the wounds in the hands of Christ are the evidence of the gravity of sin. The gravity of sin. Sinner, you need to come face to face with a most important question tonight. How serious is the problem of my sin? How serious a problem is it? If it's not that serious, then continue to live on in your sin. For what will it really matter? However, if it is serious, then you need to get your sin dealt with and that to the satisfaction of a holy God. Now some people, they laugh at their sin. others belittle their sin whilst others think little about their sin. But to God, sin is a very serious matter indeed. So serious that it took the nailing of his son to a cross in order to put away sin. Your sin and my sin. That's how serious God took sin. To the sinner, who views their sin as a trivial thing, a little matter, an unimportant issue, I would exhort you to get a sight of the wounded hands of the Savior and see in them the evidence that sin is a grave matter to God. Such is the gravity of our sin that we cannot do anything to atone for our sin. All self-effort is futile when it comes to the dealing of our sin. Rather, it is going to take the suffering, the bloodshedding, and the death of God's own dear Son to deal fully and eternally with the great sin problem. A death that was going to involve the kneeling of His hands and feet to the cross of shame. The cross and the death of Christ on the cross shows to me the gravity of sin. It must be a great thing if it takes Christ to die and atone for sin. One preacher remarked, see the greatness of your sins, which required so vast a sacrifice. They must be infinite sins to require an infinite person to lay down his life in order to their removal. How serious do you take your sin, honestly? How serious do you take your sin? It's very evident that some of you don't take your sin that serious at all, because you're still in your sin, you still run after sin, you still love your sin, you still revel in your sin, and you still haven't repented of your sin. But so grave was your sin that it took the death of the Son of God to deal with sin. So let me ask you, Will you this night accept what Christ did for the cross, on the cross a sufficient payment for sin? Or are you going to try and appease God with your own works, your own morality, your religious activity? And you're going to try and add that to the price that Christ has already paid. Listen sinner, the price has been paid. The gift of eternal life is offered to you in the gospel. All it takes for you is to humble yourself before God and receive by faith Christ's payment for your sins. There is a final truth that I want us to consider with respect to the wounds in the hands of the Savior. Yes, those wounds in the Son of God's hands evidence the genuineness of biblical prophecy, the evidence to us the grotesque nature of man's heart. The evidence to us the gravity of sin, but the wounds in the hands of Christ also evidence the greatness of God's love. The greatness of God's love. John Christendom, one of the early church fathers said, by the cross we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God's love toward us. All the suffering that the Son of God underwent at Calvary, including the kneeling of His hands and of His feet, was inspired by divine love. Those wounds in the hands of Christ are a testimony of how much He loved His people. He loved them unto death, even the death of the cross. and all of its sufferings. Romans 5 verse 8, I read, but God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Because of love, Romans 8 verse 23 tells us that God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Surely it was love of the highest degree, love of the infinite degree that took the Savior to the cross. Because it is the greatest love. when one gives the life of their own son for the rescuing of others. The story is told of a man who worked many years ago on a drawbridge. That bridge would be lifted so that ships could pass underneath it and then the bridge would be put back in its place so then that the trains could safely pass across the river One day, just before a train was scheduled to arrive, the man noticed that his son was playing around the huge gears of the bridge that had been lifted to allow a vessel to pass underneath and that his clothing had become caught within those gears. Seeing that train in the distance, that father had a choice to make. He could save his son. But the saving of a son would mean that scores of people would be plunged to their death as the train would fall into the river below. Or he could save the train, which would mean that his son would be crushed and killed in the huge gears of that drawbridge out of love for the people on the train. The man decided on the latter course. and he sacrificed his son for the benefit of others on that coming train. This human story, perhaps in some small way, helps us to appreciate what God in love did for us when he spared not his own son, but instead he gave him over to death. the death of the cross. One preacher said that the death of Christ was the strongest utterance of divine love. And following, he said, the life of Jesus Christ, we gaze on God's love in unwary toil, in patient endurance, in keenest sympathy and bitter tears, but gazing on Christ's death, we see divine love in agony, humiliation, and shame. Man's highest love to God was when Abraham offered his only son Isaac. God's deepest love to man is seen in giving his only begotten son in sacrifice on Calvary. Thank God the God of heaven did not leave rebellious man to die in his sins and go to hell. He did something in love. Divine love devised a way by which sinful man could be reconciled to holy God. That way was by the death of God's well-beloved Son. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh. by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2 verse 13. In light then, sinner, of that expression of love I asked you, what more could he do to prove his love for you? He has satisfied the demands of God's justice. He has fulfilled the Lord's precept in his living. He has paid the lowest penalty in His dying, and He extends to you a complete pardon from your sins with one stipulation, and one only, and that is that you repent and believe the gospel. That's the stipulation. Repent and believe the gospel. I asked you what more could He do? What more could he give in order to prove his love to you? He gave his best when he gave his son. Surely the wounds in the hands of Christ prove the greatness of his love for sinners like you. What then will you do with the one with the nail-scarred hands? Will you accept him or will you reject him? May it be the former, for that will be to your benefit now in this world and most surely in the world that is yet to come. What are these wounds in thine hands? The answer returns to us. These wounds are the evidence of the genuineness of biblical prophecy. These wounds are the evidence of the grotesque nature of man's heart. These wounds are the evidence of the gravity of sin. These wounds are the evidence of the greatness of God's love. If you're not a Christian, Let me encourage you as the hymn writer does. Let me encourage you to fly to his wounds, ye guilty ones. His love and mercy share. We cannot leave you lost and lone. We want you over there. May you come. to the priest with the nail-scarred hands. May you put your hand into his hand. May this night find you hidden in the wounds of Calvary. May the Lord be pleased to bless his word to your heart tonight.