Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching in the Old Testament.
I've got two messages out of one chapter that I'm going to
preach from the book of Zechariah. So take your time and find the
book of Zechariah. It's one of the latter books
considered to be what biblical literary scholars call the minor
prophets because of the length of the books. But this is the
prophet Zechariah chapter three. And the title of the message
is taken from Zechariah chapter three and verse four. And it's
a change of raiment. A change of raiment. And this
is where he's in a vision that the Lord gave the prophet Zechariah
of Joshua the high priest standing before the judgment seat. standing before the judge and
being accused by Satan, but the Lord steps in, Christ steps in
and pleads for Joshua, the high priest, and says, I will clothe
thee with change of raiment. So this is change of raiment,
a change of raiment, part one. And like I said, I have two messages,
we'll cover this chapter. One of the things that I enjoy
doing as I read and study the Bible, God's word, is going back
into the Old Testament and reading and studying and thinking about
the types and the pictures that are there from Genesis to Malachi
concerning the glorious person and the finished work of Christ.
Now there are people who don't believe that these applications
refer to Christ. But they're wrong. And they will
accuse people like me of as bringing, shoving into the scripture that
which is not there. But my friends, if you read the
Bible, in the Old Testament, and you don't see the glorious
person and finished work of Christ, he's there. First of all, Christ
is the second person of the Holy Trinity. He has always been,
always is, and always will be. The Lord Jesus did not come into
existence in His incarnation, His birth. He's always been,
He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the
second person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And that's a mind-boggling truth.
Now His humanity, The human nature of Christ, the sinless human
nature, did come into existence when he was conceived in the
womb of his mother Mary, the virgin, by the Holy Spirit. And then what happened there
is the nature of deity was united to the sinless nature of humanity
that was created for him. But Christ has always been. And
in the Old Testament, we see pre-incarnate appearances of
Christ. And we see that in the creation
itself. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And it goes on down through.
In John chapter one and verse one, it tells us that in beginning
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
And it was created by him and nothing that was created was
created without him. In other words, this was God
manifest in Christ and the creation of the world. He has the preeminence,
all things subsist being upheld by Christ. So he's always been
here, always been in the Old Testament, all throughout. But
Christ is also, you'd have to agree, he's there in prophecy,
and we're gonna see that in the book of Zechariah here. Christ
is all, the whole purpose of the Bible in the Old Testament
is to set forth that one is to come who will be the savior of
the world, not every individual in the world, but God's elect
out of the world, Jew and Gentile, whom God chose before the foundation
of the world and gave to Christ, conditioned all of their salvation
upon him. So he's there in prophecy, he's
there in type and picture, whenever we look, and we could go through
so many there. All of the pictures and types
of Christ that exist in the Old Testament. For example, I'll
just give you just one, just pulling out of the air, is that
rock that Moses struck from which the water came out. Paul in 1
Corinthians said that rock was Christ. And that's a picture
of Christ. Well here, what we have is the
prophet Zechariah being given a vision from God of another
man named Joshua. Now this Joshua here, look at
Zechariah three in verse one, it says, he showed me Joshua,
the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan,
or literally the adversary, because that's who Satan is, he's the
adversary, the enemy, And we'll see in a moment, the accuser
of God's people, the Satan standing at his right hand to resist him,
that is to accuse him, to be his adversary. And so this is
Joshua, the high priest. Now, obviously this is not the
Joshua who led the children of Israel over into into the promised
land and fought the battle of Jericho. That was another Joshua.
Joshua was a common name. In fact, it's the equivalent
of the name Jesus in the New Testament, meaning Savior. But here's Zechariah the prophet.
Now Zechariah, he prophesied at the time of the return of
the children of Israel, actually the southern kingdom of Judah,
from being in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. They returned. If you recall your history, at
the end of Jeremiah's prophecy, 70 years prior to this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian
army came down and destroyed Jerusalem and took the people
in captivity into Babylon, and they remained there for 70 years.
And then that was according to the prophecy. And then when the
Medes and the Persians conquered the Babylonians, there was a
king who allowed, a Persian king, who allowed the Israelites to
come back to Jerusalem. And this was all the plan and
purpose of God. This is God working all things
after his own purpose and will, according to his will. and being
brought back into their own land, they were commissioned through
men like Nehemiah and Ezra. You know the book of Nehemiah,
the book of Ezra. They came in different waves,
different groups, and they were commissioned by God through men
like Nehemiah, Ezra, and Zechariah. For example, to rebuild the temple
of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed and reestablish
the proper worship of God according to the terms of the law of Moses.
Now, when they got back in there, when they came back, they began
building the temple, but then they kind of got lazy and selfish
started building their own houses and neglected the building of
the temple and prophets like Zechariah were sent by God to
encourage the people to repent and to rebuild that temple. The
most important thing in the lives of these people was the worship
of God according to the terms of the Old Covenant. and rebuilding
the temple and reestablishing the priesthood and the sacrifices
because see, all of that was a picture of Christ, a picture
of salvation. And so prophets like Jeremiah
were sent, first of all, the book of Jeremiah opens up in
chapter one with a call to repentance. Repent of neglecting what God
has told us to do, to rebuild that temple and reestablish the
proper worship according to the law of Moses. And the name Zechariah
means the Lord remembers. The Lord remembers his people.
And it's almost like a call to remember what God has done for
you. And so all of that had a temporal,
limited meaning for the people of God, the children of Israel,
the southern kingdom of Judah, so that they could worship properly
according to the terms of the covenant. But here's the point.
Zechariah, along with all of God's true prophets, always made
sure that the people understood that their hope of eternal salvation,
their hope of eternal life, Their hope of forgiveness of their
sins was not in the physical elements of that temple and the
sacrifices and the priesthood, but was in whom those things
pictured, which is the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was to come. And so that's what this chapter
is about, Zechariah 3. Listen to what he says. This
is a vision now. God often spoke to his prophets
in the Old Testament through dreams and visions, and sometimes
pre-incarnate visitations of Christ. Because see, the word
of God, the Bible, was not yet brought together as we have it
today. I don't believe that the Lord
speaks to his people, his preachers in dreams and visions like that
today. But some people argue with me about that because what
we have now is the authority of God's word. And if any preacher
tells me, well, God spoke to me in a vision, I ask him, what
did he say? And if what God said and what
they say God says disagrees or denies what this word says, I
can tell you right now it wasn't from God. If they speak not according
to this word, Isaiah said, there's no light in them. So understand
that. But listen to what he says here.
He says, and he showed me, verse one, he showed me Joshua, the
high priest. This man Joshua at this time
was the high priest of Israel in the light of Aaron. And he
says the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.
Now, some say, well, this is Christ the judge, or this is
God the father. Doesn't matter, this is a messenger
of the Lord. One with the Lord's message,
and it says, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him,
to accuse him. So here's a courtroom, that's
what this is. A courtroom setting of the high
priest of Israel standing before the judge. And the prosecuting
attorney, you might say, is one known as the adversary. And it's kind of like this, you
know, the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God, and we're sinners. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none good, no not one. In other words, this is
what Satan is doing. This is what the adversary is
doing. He's accusing Joshua because Joshua's a sinner. And all sin
demands and deserves death. The wages of sin is death. That's
what we know. God must punish sin. God is a
just God. He's a holy God. He's a righteous
God. Yes, He's merciful and gracious
and loving, but not at the expense of His justice. And you need
to understand, if you're gonna understand this scripture or
even the whole Bible, that this is the judgment here. And so
Satan resisting him in this sense, he's a sinner. You remember back
in the book of Job, when Satan came before God and God said,
consider my servant Job, and then Satan accused Job, said
Job's a sinner, the only reason he serves you is because you've
given him good things in this life, plenty of money and health
and lands and children. And so Job was put to the test.
So it says here that Satan accusing Joshua, and look at verse two. Here's what it says. And the
Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Now isn't
that interesting? The Lord said, the Lord rebuke
thee. And I believe what we have here
is a picture of the judge and the accused. the prosecuting
attorney who's accusing this person, Joshua, who is Satan,
and then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in as the advocate, as
the defense attorney, you might say, for Joshua. And what does
he say? It says, the Lord said, the Lord
rebuketh thee, O Satan. Now, upon what basis is he rebuking
Satan? In other words, he's answering
Satan's charges. Satan says, this man is a sinner. Is he right? Well, yes, he's
right because we're all sinners. Joshua the high priest was a
sinner. Zechariah was a sinner. We're all sinners. Meaning this,
that if God ever gave any of us what we deserve or what we've
earned, it would be eternal damnation. And so what happens here is the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, look at verse two, even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee, is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? Now, Christ steps in, you might
say, and he defends Joshua. But the defense, now here's what's
important. Here's what you need to see.
His defense of Joshua had nothing to do with Joshua's works or
Joshua's will or decision. had nothing to do with Joshua's
human morality or reformations or Joshua's position as the high
priest of Israel. In other words, the defense against
Satan's accusations was not because of anything that Joshua was or
Joshua did. You see that? He brings up two
points for Joshua's defense. Number one is the fact that Joshua
was chosen. Look at it again, verse two. The Lord said unto Satan, the
Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Now what is that chosen? That's
election. Oh, that dreaded doctrine that
people don't like today. Somebody told me one time, said,
I have a problem with election. I said, no you don't. You just
have a problem with who does the electing. You see, as long
as you can think you do the electing, that you make the difference
between saved and lost, you don't have a problem with that. But
if it's God who does the electing, out of his sovereign will, with
no consideration of the persons he chooses, It's a sovereign
election. Then you might have a problem
with that, but that's what the Bible teaches. You can read it
in Romans, you can read it all over the scriptures. Who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies
all of that. So the first point of Joshua's
defense is this. He's part of Jerusalem, the holy
city. He's one whom God chose. God chose him. And that shows,
as Romans chapter nine tells us, it's not of him that runneth,
nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. This
man was a vessel of mercy afore, or before, prepared to this point. That's what Romans nine says.
Now, why is that so important? Because, friend, it shows that
God alone is the only source and originator of salvation.
It shows that God alone makes the difference between saved
and lost. It gives God all the glory and
leaves us with none of the glory. That's why it's so important.
And the Bible says God chose his people in Christ. He chose
us before the foundation of the world in Christ. And Christ said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to him. So that's
the first point of Joshua's defense, God chose him. And it doesn't
matter what Satan says, God chose this person. Now, the second
point of defense here is in this metaphor, is not this a bran
plucked out of the fire? Now what is the fire there? Well,
that's God's wrath against sin. God must punish sin. The Bible says of those who die
in their sins and appear before God without Christ, God is a
consuming fire. His wrath abides on those who
stay in unbelief and die in unbelief and appear before him without
Christ. But this brand This person, Joshua, whom God chose before
the foundation of the world, has been plucked out of the fire.
He's been removed from the wrath of God. Does he deserve the wrath
of God? Yes. Has he earned the wrath of God?
Yes. But he's been plucked out of
that fire. Now, how has he been plucked out of that fire? By
redemption through the blood of Christ. That's how sinners
are plucked out of the fire of God's wrath. You see, God chose
them, but He must do so, and He chose them to save them, but
He must do so on a just ground. And that just ground is His wrath
being removed by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Christ
stood as their surety, having all of their sins imputed to
Him, all of their salvation conditioned on Him. He came and became their
substitute, took our place under the law, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. Satisfied
the justice of God, redeemed us from our sins, and brought
forth an everlasting, perfect righteousness whereby God is
just to justify sinners. and that righteousness is imputed
to us. And this is where we go now, look at verse three. He
says, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood
before the angel. What does that mean, filthy garments? Well, that's our sin, our depravity. In other words, we cannot plead
for ourselves because as Job said, if I argue with God, I
may give him one reason, but he can answer me back with a
thousand as to why I should be condemned. The filthy garments
here represent man's works of self-righteousness. It's a filthy
garment. Isaiah said it was even a filthy
rag. And so what you have here is
a picture of man in his sin. We fell in Adam into sin and
death. We're born into this world spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins, come forth from the womb speaking
lies. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We
have no defense for ourselves. When Satan accuses, we have no
defense. But if the Lord of glory steps
in and says, now I've got a defense, and here it is, God chose him,
Christ redeemed him. Now, those filthy garments, what
happens? Look at verse four. And the Lord
answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying,
take away the filthy garments from him. Take them away. Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee. and I will clothe thee with change
of Raymond. I'm gonna give you some new clothes.
Take away those filthy garments. What does that mean? Wash away
his sins in the blood of Christ. His sins have been purged by
the blood of Christ. Justice has been satisfied. The
law's not been perverted by the death of Christ. He kept the
law. He obeyed unto death. He died, was buried, and he arose
again the third day. Why? Because in his death, he
brought in the ground of the justification of his people. What is justification? That is
the forgiveness of all our sins based upon a just ground. And
the just ground is the blood of Christ. But not only that,
it is righteousness declared for us, imputed to us, the righteousness
of Christ, the righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel,
charged, accounted to us, and so that we're justified before
God. And the Bible says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Our filthy garments
of sin have been taken away. Now that's not, this is a metaphor,
understand that. This is not saying that sin is
just an outward thing that we wear as a cloak. Sin comes from
the heart. But sin demands and deserves
death. And so how can we get out from
under that sentence of death? Only through the blood of the
Lamb of God. And he gives us new clothes,
a change of raiment. He takes away our filthy garments
of sin, and he gives us his garment of righteousness. And that's
righteousness imputed. Now again, that doesn't mean
that it's just some kind of an outer cloak. This is a metaphor. The imputed righteousness of
Christ. Romans chapter four and verse six, where Paul referring
back to David said, where David in Psalm 32 was describing the
blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth, accounts,
reckons, righteousness without works. And David said that in
Psalm 32 when he said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. And again, like I read, I quoted
here in Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth, and
verse 34 says, who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea
rather, is risen again, and is seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for us. So salvation, as to our
right standing with God, has to do with a change of raiment
metaphorically. It means my sins were imputed
to Christ and He died and put them away and His righteousness,
evidenced by His resurrection, is imputed to me. And so Satan's
accusations will not stick. He says, he looks at me and he
says, well, you're a sinner, you deserve death and hell. That's
true, but my sins have been taken away. That dirty, filthy cloak
of my sins has been taken away by the blood of Christ. They
were imputed charge to him, he died for them, he died for me,
and he gave me his righteousness. Now that righteousness demands
life. And we'll talk about that in
the last part of this chapter, how that which Christ has done
for us legally will result in what Christ does for us by His
Spirit, spiritually in giving us life and bringing us to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. But that's
the picture, a change of Raymond. Oh, it means everything. What
a powerful, powerful thing it is to know Christ as the Lord
our righteousness. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.