Untitled Sermon (13)

Scripture Introduction:

This morning we are not going to be in Luke but rather we will move to Zechariah 12:10-13:1. It’s the day after Christmas. The presents have been unwrapped. And if you ask kids what is the most exciting thing about Christmas they would say the presents—but I think what they mean, in some ways, is the anticipation. It’s the presents under the tree. It’s the hope of what could be opened.

I am kind of that way when I see new stores opening up in town. Will it be a Chick-fil-a? Will it be some place to get a steak in town? Or will it be the 54th bank or the 22nd car wash?

There are new buildings going up over by Wal-Mart. I’m holding out hope that they’ll be exciting. Or some of the abandoned buildings in the downtown area. I would love to see that beautified. What will open up next?

In many ways that is what Christmas is all about. It is opening up something which has never been opened before. This morning we will look at Zechariah 12:10-13:1. As we read this see if you can tell what is now opened up because of Christmas.

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Sermon Introduction:

That which is opened is the fountain which will cleans from sin and uncleanness. That is what I want to show you briefly this morning from Zechariah 12:10-13:1.

For some reason I keep coming back to the prophet Jeremiah. I think we might start studying that on Wednesday mornings and evening. But Jeremiah 21:8-10 has always seemed to me to be a somewhat strange verse.

Jeremiah 21:8–10 ESV

“And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

Here is why I say that verse is strange. Because “the city” that is being referred to there is the holy city—Jerusalem. It’s the center of the Promised Land. God says if you stay and fight for it—then you’ll die by the sword. If you go into captivity by the Babylonians…if you surrender…then you’ll live. Shouldn’t they stay and fight for the Promised Land? Isn’t this what God had given? Shouldn’t they fight for it?

But that really gets to the heart of what Jeremiah is about. Will you listen to God’s Word over tradition, culture, and your own intuition. Can you discern the word of the Lord (which often seems counter-intuitive and grating)…can you discern the Word of the Lord over the word of the lying prophets (which often sounds exactly like what we want to hear—it just fits)?

What happens in Jeremiah is that a ton of people turn against the prophet. It’s what we have been seeing in the gospel of Luke. We’d rather believe a comfortable lie than an uncomfortable truth. And so they try to kill the prophet.

Jeremiah would have been like Debbie Downer, though. It’s somewhat understandable. We don’t like to hear that message. Things aren’t okay here. Things need to change. We aren’t following God faithfully. We’re coming under judgment. We don’t like those kinds of messages. We’d prefer the one that says everything is wonderful—even if it isn’t.

As we saw with the Pharisees a couple of weeks ago the human condition is one where we’re okay with things “looking” healthy more than we are concerned with things actually being healthy. But Jeremiah is actually a message of deep grace as well. It’s not just “you’re messed up”…it’s also “God fixes all things”.

I’m supposed to be in Zechariah though and not Jeremiah…but we aren’t prepared to hear this great news from Zechariah if we don’t first grasp the unpleasant news. You don’t rejoice over a fountain for cleansing if you aren’t convinced that you’re absolutely dirty.

A couple years ago for Christmas the kids got me a mini-deep fryer. I love to make fried portobello mushrooms. This requires dipping them in egg and milk and then rolling them in my secret concotion of spices to make the batter to fry them with…as I do this my hands get absolutely yucky. It’s not only the mushrooms that pick up the batter it’s also my fingers.

It’s so refreshing and fulfilling whenever I’m able to put my hands under the faucet and get all the gunk off. I can’t imagine if there wasn’t a fount there and I had to go through my day with all the batter caked onto my hands. It’d be miserable for me—and it would impact the people around me as well.

But I think sometimes the gunk doesn’t get so bad or impact people so much…it’s not like those fried mushrooms it’s more like just your every day dirt and grime. And in that case we’re a bit more like little boys who think that they are clean just by being in the presence of a bath tub. But you aren’t clean unless mama says you are clean. I think it’s the same way for us and the Lord. We aren’t clean just because we say we are. We aren’t pure just because someone else says something good about us or has a good view of us. No…we are clean when the Lord declares us clean. We are pure when the Lord declares us pure. We are whole when He says we are. We are righteous when He says we are.

When we feel that…then we’re able to rejoice at this good news of God’s grace…

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened up for the house of David...” You and I know that we need it. Maybe it’s not one of those pressing things like having batter all over your fingers and its obvious. Maybe it’s an undercurrent…but we all realize that something isn’t exactly right. And we so we’re trying to get clean.

The Jewish people felt this very much. Their culture was a constant reminder of this. And as we’ve been seeing in Luke the Pharisees were holding onto this system…as if it was the actual fountain…instead of coming to Christ who IS the fountain…but I’m getting ahead of myself…and it’d be helpful for us to see how we ourselves have incomplete efforts at getting clean.

Our incomplete efforts

Church activity. Formalism (going through the rituals). If I have the right calendar and my life is filled with the right activity then I’ll be clean. Then I’ll be pure. Then I’ll be acceptable.

Legalism. (Being a good person. Following all the rules. Do’s and don’ts). If I just do all the right things I’ll satisfy God’s requirements. If I just keep the rules.

Emotions. If I just feel the right things. Bouncing from spiritual/emotional experience to experience. Perpetual church camp. If I can just get the feels right.

Activism. There is evil out there. If we can just stop all that evil out there everything will be better. The problem is something outside of me. That’s what is making me feel icky.

Biblicism. Theological precision. If I can just believe all the right things and have all my ducks in a row.

Relationships. If I can just get all my relationships in order. Fellowship. Family. Etc. Get all those in order then maybe that feeling of things not being right will diminish.

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But none of these can actually clean us. We need this fountain opened. That’s why it’s opened. That’s why we have Christmas.

So how is the fountain going to be opened? Now let’s look at Zechariah.

II. the pierced one opens up the fountain.

12:10 is a beautiful passage. It’s beautiful for what happens…but it’s also amazing for what it proclaims about God.

“Me, the one pierced”. They will look on me…on him whom they have pierced. That’s Trinity, right there, it was not God the Father who was pierced…it was the Son. The Father is pouring out mercy through this piercing of “Him”. It’s an astonishing passage.

And it was fulfilled at the Cross when Jesus was pierced in the side. And his blood poured forth. And then we read in this text that there will be great mourning...

What is this mourning? Luke 23:48

Luke 23:48 ESV

And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

But we also see it in Acts 2:23

Acts 2:23 ESV

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

But there is more here, I believe, that is even potentially fulfilled for us today. It could be pointing to a mourning that would come whenever Christ returns and an unbeliever realizes everything that has happened. But it’s also, I believe, what happens in the heart of a believer. Our eyes are opened in the here and now and we realize.

I think John Newton captures this in an old hymn/poem:

In evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear, Till a new object struck my sight, And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree, In agonies and blood, Who fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never till my latest breath, Can I forget that look; It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair, I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there.

Alas, I knew not what I did, But now my tears are vain; Where shall my trembling soul be hid? For I the Lord have slain.

A second look He gave, which said, “I freely all forgive; This blood is for thy ransom paid; I die that thou mayst live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays In all its blackest hue, Such is the mystery of grace, It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief and mournful joy, My spirit is now filled; That I should such a life destroy, Yet live by him I killed.

– John Newton

Yes, Jesus was born to die. He was, as it says, pierced for our transgressions…but this piercing has opened up the fountain....that’s what we see in 13:1…on that day…the day when he is pierced…the day when the mourning happens…there is a fountain opened up.

But for who? What does it mean “for the house of David”? Is this only for ethnic Jews? I think the whole of Scripture would testify otherwise. Christ is for all. He is for you and he is for me. What does the inhabitants of Jerusalem mean…it’s all those who will be the people of God…it is not ethnic Israel who is the house of David—it’s is those who trust in this pierced One. It is they…we…who will be cleansed by this fountain.

But I would have us notice something else here. What is the difference between a stream and a fountain? Why are there empty creek beds in one place but a flowing creek in another place? Why is Big Spring Park never dried up…even if it’s in the dead of summer and we haven’t had rain for weeks…but you go a little ways over to another creek and you can see rocks and if there is any water it’s in a stagnant pool or it’s totally dried up?

It’s because one is a fountain and the other a stream. Streams dry up. Fountains don’t. You could maybe out sin a stream of grace. You’ve done too much. You’ve blown it too many times. You’ve done something far too vile. There is no way that you can be cleansed by this little trickle of water....

Oh but that’s not true of a fountain…It is always flowing…it is always cleansing. I love these words from Spurgeon:

“The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them.”

It’ll never run dry.

Application: It doesn’t dry up. You are clean. If we went further in Zechariah we would see something else…just notice the heading there in your Bible to that next section...”Idolatry cut off”....that’s what grace and cleansing does. It’s transformative as well…13:2, etc.

This alone will actually cleanse…

Come to the fountain. You need to get under the water…under the fountain to be cleansed. That is the only fitting response. Repent and believe.

Revelation 1:7 ESV

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

I want to close by telling you a story of a hymn that maybe you’ve heard before. There is a fountain filled with blood. This is the original from the pen of William Cowper...

READ COWPER VERSION

That hymn was likely written in 1771. Years before this, Cowper had been in a very deep depression. But he struck up a friendship with John Newton and the two began writing hymns/poems together—from this we have both There is a Fountain and others like Amazing Grace.

Some have told Cowper’s story as if he grabbed hold of the gospel, it was expressed in this hymn, and he lived out the rest of his days in the bliss of being redeemed. But that’s not what actually happened. In 1773 his brother died and this threw him into another deep depression. It was so bad that he felt that he might have been the only person who was a believer in Jesus who was damned. It didn’t make any sense. But he tried committing suicide three times.

During one of these particular seasons Newton had expressed his sadness that Cowper was unable to see the truth of that beautiful hymn that he had penned. Newton understood that the stream never dried up. Cowper was not given that comfort.

Eventually the light broke through and Cowper could see again…he had about 11-12 more years of what he called the happiest and most lucid period of his life. In 1796 a dear friend died—and Cowper never recovered he died in 1800 in despair.

Why am I closing it this way? Why share the story of the man who wrote of the fountain filled with blood…but also the man who struggled to really believe and grasp his own words? I share that to say the most important thing for Cowper and for us was the object of his faith…not the strength of it. A weak faith can lay hold of a strong Christ. Cowper’s hymn is true…even if Cowper overcome with anxiety, depression, and madness was not able to fully live in the joy of it.

In 1780 Newton wrote these words to Cowper:

In his favour is life. His smile would amply overbalance the frown of the whole creation. Yes, my friend, when the Lord shall break the fetters that have so long entangled your spirit (and of this happy event you have yourself conceived and expressed a hope) you will rejoice, and I shall rejoice with you.

Yes....

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave, Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing thy power to save.

He is mighty to save. Jesus indeed paid it all…and because of this…because of the power of his blood…we have hope. Trust in Him today.