Turn to Zechariah chapter three. Second to last book in the Bible, Zechariah chapter three. We have the Lord's Supper following
the message and then our meal. Zechariah chapter three, we're
gonna look at one verse, one verse. We will observe here a
promise of God to his own son and as well to the sons and daughters
of his kingdom. Chapter three, verse eight. Verse
8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee. For they are men
wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. My servant, the branch. Zechariah three verse eight.
Now Joshua was a high priest. And that name also could have
a double type of our Lord Jesus Christ, Joshua and the branch. Joshua was a high priest during
this time, as well as the Messiah for sinners and for sufferers.
The high priest offered sacrifices for sin, even though they could
never take sin away. This was a command of the Lord.
But our Lord Jesus Christ is the typical Joshua, and he suffered
for sins and suffered for those who could not honor God. and
he brought us nigh to God. And as our Joshua, our Christ,
was in the world, so too are all those who serve and follow
after him, which we have that in men wonder that, and we certainly
are. But let's go back up and look
at this from top to bottom, stem to stern. Here now, he says,
here now, This could be also thought of as behold. This is
a shout out, as we would say in today's language. Listen with
intent, is what he's saying. This promise of Christ is made
to thy fellows, or associates of Christ, or companions in Christianity,
or fellow children of the Most High. And he says, we are men,
we are people wondered at. But before I get to that, here's
a phrase that is of utmost importance. He says, here now, oh Joshua,
the high priest, thou and thy fellows, that would be those
who name the name of Christ, or have an interest in the redeeming
blood of Christ, that sit before thee. And I just kind of went
over that. I thought, no, wait a second,
we need to look at that. We sit before him. For we, says Colossians 1, have
been made meat. to be partakers. So that's why
we sit. That's why we sit. We have been
broken unto him and before him by sovereign free mercy like
David was in Psalms 51. We now gladly submit to his will,
his way, and gospel truth for he called and quickened and illuminated
us by his free choice of us not our choice of him. Matter of
fact he says in the gospels I have chosen you and you have chosen
me. I have chosen you. We now serve him lovingly and
love him because as first John says we love him because he first
loved us. The cart is never before the
horse. in salvation and God's people
know that and they abhor free will works religion he separated
us from the womb and called us by his grace and that grace was
a voluntary sacrificial grace though undeserved by us yet freely
given Ephesians 2 verse 8 and 9 yet it says We are men wondered at. We are men wondered at. We're wondered at in three ways. We're wondered at by ourselves. Are we not? We are wondered at by ourselves. Secondly, we are wondered at
by this world. And thirdly, we are wondered
at by angels. First, we are wondered at by
ourselves because we didn't choose him, but he chose us. As I said before, we would never
have sought him or followed him because our nature from birth
and nature in practice naturally abhors him and despises him and
would not own him. Isaiah 53 verses one through
three. We wondered ourselves why God
would seek us out, suffer and bleed and die for us. We were
so, like Bruce read in Ezekiel, we abhor. And then Job, I abhor
myself. When Isaiah in Isaiah 6 saw the
Lord, he says, woe is me. That's where the fingers point
inward. And that's why we're a people
wondered at, Well, what makes you so special? Nothing, nothing,
nothing. We wonder at the call of us to
be his sons and daughters and that he is our most kind and
gracious and merciful father. wonder of wonders, why he with
such forbearing and patience would still call us his children,
who perhaps even this morning or yesterday or the day before
or yet later today, who we still walk oftentimes contrary to his
service and contrary to his name. We know what we're supposed to
do. But that which we find, I can't do, Romans 7. That which I would
do, I can't. Oh, brethren, is not the life
of a believer a mystery and a wonder? A wonder. We don't excuse our
sin. We sin way too much. But we wonder. If you want your
free will, if salvation is left up to us, we'd walk away. Every time. Every single time. Secondly, we are wondered at
by this world. And I'm going to have you turn
to some scriptures. Psalm 71. I'm not saying you should be
a bad neighbor. I'm not saying you should be a bad friend. I'm
just saying, if you stick to the gospel firmly and you tell
you're going to be wondered at, that's our problem. We, we, we
hide. Well, I'll get to that in a minute. Psalm 71 and verse
seven, I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong
refuge. Isaiah 8 I'm a wonder to many because
I Serve the Lord. I love his Calling I love his
gospel. I love his doctrine. I love his
people Isaiah 8 and verse 18 Behold, I and the children, this
is Joshua and those who are sitting at his feet, or the Lord Jesus
Christ, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for
signs and for wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts, which
dwelleth in Mount Zion. They're wonders, they're just,
they're a sign. 1 Corinthians chapter four. 1 Corinthians chapter four. In verse 9, Paul says, 1 Corinthians
4, 9, Paul says, for I think that God has set forth us the
apostles last as it were appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle,
that is a theater, mocking, laughing unto the world and to angels
and to men. And lastly, 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter 4, verses 3 and 4. 1 Peter 4, verses 3 and 4. For
the time passed of our life, may suffice us to have wrought
the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness and
loss, excess of wine, revelings, banqueting, abominable idolatries,
wherein now that you're saved by grace, that you're a fellow
with the Lord Jesus Christ, they think it strange that you run
not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Wonder that. An early preacher
said this, my dear friends, you who are afraid to lose your good
name for Christ's sake, I pity you from my heart. Thank God
mine is gone long ago. It's like I said, I'm not saying,
but this is what scripture says. A friend of the world, an enemy
of grace, but bless our Redeemer. With his calling us, he makes
us a separation. He makes the separation. He separates his people from
the world, the precious and the vile. Yes, we must live in the
world, but not join hand in hand with it. Because our allegiance
is and must be with Christ and his people, the church of the
living God. This is the family. And if I
heard that one time, up and only, I heard it a dozen times, were
family. And this was the members talking.
This wasn't the preacher, the pastor. And it was good to behold. Now, they all had different jobs.
They'd wake up Monday, and they'd go do their own thing. But to
make sure they're there, try to make their Wednesday and their
Sunday. Well, we were told they had been
without a pastor for 10 years. 10 years. That's more than any group that
I know right now. Danville's been at least five,
10 years. And boy, it seems like it's just
precious to behold. It's just precious to behold.
Now, they got issues, like we all have issues. But the grace
of God makes us, as he's wonderful, one of his names, titles are
wonderful. God, mighty God, wonderful counsel. He makes us wonderful. He makes us wonderful. And thirdly,
we are wondered at, according to, back to our text in Zechariah
3, we're wondered at by the angels. Oh, how the angels sit and wonder
at God becoming a man and taking unto himself all the sin of all
the elect church, his precious bride. Angels cannot be redeemed. They don't know the ones that
didn't fall, they don't know anything about sin. And so can you imagine?
And when one sinner repents, there's rejoicing in heaven,
the angels, they're in wonder. The holy God in flesh, in servitude
for his condemned people. He justified us, he satisfied
the law. The law has been, justice is
satisfied, law honored, and we are set free. never to be charged evermore. Oh yes, we are wondered at. We are wondered at. But if you
think about the world, you think about Satan in the flesh, and
you can get discouraged that we're wondered at. I like to
be liked. It's becoming less and less important
to me, to be honest with you. I think as we get older we get
more mature and we're less concerned about what people think about
us. That's the good name thing. That's the good name. But don't
be discouraged because let's read on in our text. For behold,
there's that word again. Phrase a little different. Here
now he said for earlier, behold. Listen up, pay attention. Behold. I will bring forth my servant,
the branch, for you sinners, for you my fellows, for you wondered
at by yourselves. That's something
John Sebaugh said all the time. And I think after he's gone,
I think I understand what he's saying. Why me? He would say,
why me? Now other people say, well why
not me? I'm just as good as, that wasn't
his attitude. His attitude was, why me? A sinner. And he was always in pain and
one time he said, the Lord must really love me to give me this
much pain. What a way to look at that. What
a way to look at it. But behold, listen up, pay attention.
Behold, Messiah cometh. Behold the Lamb of God. Look,
the son of righteousness comes with healing in his wings. Micah
chapter four verse two. Yes, behold, there is balm in
Gilead and that's for all manner of illness and hurt and sin and
that's in Jeremiah eight. And he is referred to here as
in Zechariah three as the branch. And that's the root of Jesse.
That's the one that whom we are grafted into in Romans 11. Turn
to Isaiah 11. We'll see, there's many other
passages where he's referred to as the branch, but let's just
look at a couple. Isaiah 11. And verse one and two, and there,
Isaiah 11, verses one and two. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him."
You see, it's a person, but it's a branch, but it's a person,
but it's an illustration. The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and
the fear of the Lord. Now, all these qualities make
him the primary person we should
go to in any situation. Bruce and myself, we may have
a little bit of understanding, a little bit of wisdom, but he
has the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit
of counsel. How much counsel do we need? We need a lot. We need a lot, and there's a
lot of things I don't have. And might, the spirit of knowledge,
and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. He has it all. He has it all. I almost stopped
at verse one, because there's the branch, and that's my illustration.
But I kept reading. I'm like, no. These are his attributes,
his characteristics. Why don't we go to him more often?
Oh, I need help with money. I'm going to go to a money market
counselor. No. I need this and that. I'm not saying, see, these things
are wrong. I'm just saying, we go to him. after, second, third,
whatever. No. We need to go to Him. If we're sitting at His feet,
we need to go to Him first. Turn with me to Jeremiah 23. Look at this one. This should
light a fire under us. Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6. Jeremiah 23 verse 5 and 6 this
is God speaking behold the days come says the Lord That I will
raise unto David a righteous branch I And the king shall reign
and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Now, obviously Christ. And in
his days, Judah shall be saved. Israel dwells safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Do you need
righteousness? If you don't have holiness or righteousness, you
won't be able to see the Lord. So you go to him. You go to him. and he'll reign and prosper and
execute judgment and justice in the earth. It sounds glorious and secure
and wonderful to this poor sinner, all these attributes and characteristics
about our Lord Jesus Christ as the branch. Now in closing, turn
to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34. I ask you are you and am I are
we wondered at are we getting to. And I say a good name, you know,
and I know we go to Ecclesiastes is a good name to be desired.
I'm not saying that. I'm saying if you're, if you're sacrificing
the gospel and your testimony and bringing the church with
you and all these things, if you're compromising that to have
a good name, as he says in Ecclesiastes, it's not contradictory. That's
not what he's talking about. You honor Christ first. And he
says he'll make your enemies at peace with you, but not always.
See, there's a divide. Are you for him or are you against
him? Or you and I, are we wondered at? In the scriptural sense,
are we wondered at? Are you and I resting upon this
branch or are we resting on our insignificant doings or our abstainings? Well, I don't do that. So are
you resting in that? Well, I do that. Are you resting
in that? Rest upon the branch and rest upon this one who I'm
gonna read to you about. Ezekiel 34 verses 22 through
24 and 29 to 31. 22 to 24 first. Therefore will
I save my flock and they shall no more be a prey and I will judge between cattle
and cattle, and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he
shall feed them, even my servant David, the branch, and he shall
feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will
be their God, and my servant David, a prince among them, I,
the Lord, have spoken it." And verse 29 to the end of the chapter,
And I will raise up for them a plant of renown. And they shall be no more consumed
with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen
anymore. Thus shall they know that I,
the Lord, their God, am with them. And they, even the house
of Israel, are my people, sayeth the Lord." The house of Israel,
the elect, the bride, the church. And you are my flock. the flock
of my pastor are men and I am your God sayeth the Lord God
rest entirely upon him and his work we sing that hymn Jesus paid
it all all to him I owe and when he hung on the cross he said
it honoring God, justice, law, your
sins, my righteousness for your sins, and your sins imputed to
me and my righteousness imputed to you, it, salvation, is finished. Can't add anything to it. Can't
add anything to it. May he give us grace to trust
him and him alone. Bruce, would you close us please? You chose us for your glory,
for your purpose. You wanna help? Yeah, let's do
the Lord's Supper. I'm sorry. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, this ceremony
we're doing now is to remind us of you, Lord, there's so many
times that we walk around with guilt or sadness in our hearts
sometimes that we don't, we feel guilty for doing that. There's
so many things that we do in our flesh, Lord, that we're not
happy with ourself. We put ourselves down. It's just old religion that we
carry with us. But Lord, we know that we desire
to be like you and we can't accomplish that. Sometimes that makes us
feel down. Lord, we know that we come here. Like the message this morning,
Lord, we hear how you've done all the work and it We are different,
that we are yours and that we are righteous and we're holy
in your eyes, even right now. Even though we know we don't
feel like it. But Lord, you have this ceremony we do right down
in remembrance of you. We just need to look to you and
not ourselves for all the work you've done. How that you've
included us in this work, and it's so sure and complete. lifts our spirits and causes
us to give us to have strength to walk in this world. So, Lord,
we're so thankful that we do worship you in truth. And all
we need to hear is about you and your characteristics, how
that all things are done for your glory and for our good.
Lord, we just pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. And as they did eat, Jesus took
bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and said, Take
it. This is my body. And he took the cup, and when
he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank
of it. And he said to them, This is the blood of the New Testament,
which is shared for many. Let's have a last hymn, and then
Nathan, would you close us in prayer and ask the Lord to bless
the food? For our last hymn, open your
hymn note to number 400. and 95 stand as we sing Unsearchable
Riches, number 495. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, Wealth that can never be told. Riches exhaustless of mercy and
grace, Precious, more precious than gold. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives
may adorn, pearls that the poorest may wear. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, freely, how freely they flow, making the
souls of the faithful and true. Happy wherever they go Precious,
more precious Wealth that can never be told Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ Precious than gold O the unsearchable riches
of Christ Who would not gladly endure Trials, afflictions, and
crosses on earth Riches like these to secure Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for all the signs and symbols you have placed here
because...