A Fountain for Sin

Download the Notes: 01122014AFountainForSinZechariah13DonRuhl

A Fountain for Sin 

The true fountain of youth

Zechariah 13

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 12, In the year of our Lord, 2014

 

Prelude: 

  1. Some people thought the Fountain of Youth was in Florida. 
    1. The Tree of Life, eternal life on Earth, grew in the Garden of Eden.
    2. John 5 speaks of the pool of Bethesda that healed people,

      3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had (John 5.3–4).

  2. So many people are going to Florida, looking to be young (?), 
    1. that it is about to become the third most populous state in America.
    2. We cannot go to the Tree of Life, which the Flood probably destroyed.
    3. The pool of Bethesda does not move to heal people anymore.
  3. Why did the Tree of Life and the Pool of Bethesda exist, and 
    1. why do people want the Fountain of Youth to exist?
    2. We are all dying, and
      1. on the way to death,
      2. we experience many health problems.
        1. If we could avoid all those troubles, and
        2. especially death, we would do it!
  4. Brethren and friends, 
    1. water exists that gives us life,
    2. the actual Tree of Life still exists, and
    3. something exists that can heal you of what ails you.
      1. However, you have to be qualified to have access to those things.
      2. You become qualified by washing in a fountain.

Persuasion: 

  1. Zechariah 13.1 – A Fountain for Sin

    1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

    1. “In that day,”
      1. referring back to a day recorded in 12.10–14,
      2. the day when Jerusalem would mourn greatly for someone they pierced.
    2. Although Jerusalem would mourn over the one they would pierce,
      1. it actually opened a fountain for their sin,
      2. making it the true fountain of youth, because
        1. sin brings death, but
        2. its removal by this fountain, brings eternal life.
    3. The house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all people,
      1. can go into the fountain and
      2. find cleansing from sin and from uncleanness.
    4. The fountain that opened happened when man pierced Jesus.
      1. His crucifixion brought forth His blood
      2. by which we can have our sins washed away.
  2. Zechariah 13.2 – God Shall Cut Off…

    2 “It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.”

    1. Because a fountain for sin has been opened
      1. the Lord cut off
        1. the idols,
        2. the prophets, and
        3. the unclean spirit
          1. from the land.
      2. People see the futility of their idols when they see this fountain.
      3. The word of the prophets has been fulfilled.
      4. The unclean spirit no longer torments people.
  3. Zechariah 13.3–6 – Shameful Prophets

    3 “It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. 4 And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. 5 But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ 6 And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’”

    1. After the Lord cut off the prophets;
      1. it would be presumptuous and shameful
      2. to claim to be a prophet.
    2. I know some claim to be prophets today, but
      1. listen to them and
      2. see whether their prophecies come to pass.
    3. Then in verse 6, Zechariah said that someone would ask
      1. the one whose blood had been opened for a fountain after the piercing,
      2. about the wounds between His arms.
        1. Where would He receive these wounds?
        2. He would receive them in the house of His so-called friends.
          1. Even after they
            1. sold Him (11.12),
            2. pierced Him (12.10),
            3. wounded Him (13.6), and
            4. killed Him (13.7),
          2. He still wants them as friends!
  4. Zechariah 13.7–9 – Smite the Shepherd

    7 “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
    Against the Man who is My Companion,”
    Says the LORD of hosts.
    “Strike the Shepherd,
    And the sheep will be scattered;
    Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.
    8 And it shall come to pass in all the land,”
    Says the LORD,
    “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
    But one-third shall be left in it.
    9 I will bring the one-third through the fire,
    Will refine them as silver is refined,
    And test them as gold is tested.
    They will call on My name,
    And I will answer them.
    I will say, ‘This is My people’;
    And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

    1. What happens to the Shepherd?
      1. Someone orders a sword against the Shepherd.
      2. Who ordered this strike against the Shepherd?
        1. Verse 7 says the Lord ordered it against His companion,
        2. speaking to the sword,
          1. not the enemies who would use it.
          2. The Shepherd had to die, but
            1. the killers were not sanctioned.
            2. God commanded that His fellow be smitten with a sword
              1. to open the fountain of the blood of Jesus
              2. for the redemption of mankind,
                1. that we might bath in that blood and
                2. find everlasting life, eternal youth.
      3. What would happen to the sheep?
        1. Verse 7 says they would scatter.
        2. Therefore, He would stand alone,
          1. receive the sword, and
          2. be pierced.
    2. What would happen to the people? (vv. 8–9).
      1. Most would be cut off for rejecting the Shepherd, and
      2. this happened
        1. to the Jews with the Roman war against them,
          1. culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem, and
          2. the long battle at Masada, and
        2. to the Romans when their empire eventually fell.

Exhortation: 

  1. If someone had truly found the Fountain of Youth in Florida, 
    1. would you go there and drink of the water?
    2. If the Flood of Noah had not destroyed the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden,
      1. would you go and eat of its fruit?
  2. If the Fountain of Youth or the Tree of Life, or both 
    1. were located right here in our town,
    2. where would you be eating lunch today?
  3. If the pool of Bethesda was not only in Jerusalem, 
    1. the pool that when the waters moved,
    2. people could go down into the water and be healed, but
      1. it there was one here also,
      2. what would you do after eating from the Tree of Life and drinking from the Fountain of Youth?
  4. I’m telling you, 
    1. that you can eat from the true Tree of Life,
    2. that you can drink from a water of life,
    3. that you can be healed of what ails you, but
      1. for that to happen you have to have someone’s name
      2. written on your forehead.

        1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever (Rev 22.1–5).

        1. In the Spirit, the Lord sees whether His name is on your forehead, and
        2. if so, you are qualified to experience Revelation 22.
    4. To get His name on your forehead, know these things.
      1. He is sinless.
      2. You have to be sinless.
        1. The only way you can be sinless
        2. is to wash in the fountain of the blood of the Lamb.
  5. Listen to Romans 6, as the Holy Spirit shows us how to wash in the fountain,

    3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom 6.3–4).

    1. When someone baptizes you,
      1. the Lord puts you through the death of Christ Jesus,
      2. the event when man pierced Him,
        1. opening a fountain for sin.
        2. During baptism the Lord applies the blood and
          1. He washes away your sin,
          2. using the blood as the cleansing agent.
    2. That is why you can then rise up out of the water with newness of life.