Thank you, Joy. It's such a treat
to have you here. I want to encourage you all to
read the article that's in your bulletin this morning. It's not
really an article. It's all scripture. Henry Mahan's
name is on it, but basically all he did was just organize
some verses of scripture. and what high regard we have
for the Word of God. 2 Timothy chapter 3, the Lord says
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is profitable. That's my hope
for you and for me. That the Word of God will be
profitable to us for doctrine for correction, for reproof,
and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. God uses his word to prepare
our hearts and enable us to follow after Him. Faith is the means,
but the Word of God is the means to faith. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the Word of God. I want to encourage you
to read those verses of Scripture as they relate to the subject
of giving. If you've been praying about
the possibility of giving extra to help with, we've got contractors
we're paying now and engineers that are working, this is the
time to be a part of that. And so read those verses of scripture
and ask the Lord to put on your heart what he would have you
do, okay? Bert, we're going to sing the hymn on the back of
our bulletin. Let's stand together. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah said, Cain, you meant nothing when free grace awoke me by life
from on high. Then legal spears shook me, I
trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek. Jehovah said, Knew my Savior
must be ? My terrors all banished before
his sweet name ? My guilty fears banished with boldness I came
? To drink at the fountain life giving and free ? Jehovah said
they knew his all things If any man thirsts, let him come. Drink of the fountain of life
freely, freely. I want to read Psalm 70 for our
call to worship this morning. If you'd like to follow me along
in your Bible. Psalm 70. Now here's a true statement. Brethren,
the situation is desperate. Your situation is desperate.
My situation is desperate. The problem is that we're not
aware of how desperate our situation really is. May God give us the
grace to say with David, make haste, oh God, and deliver me. Make haste to help me, oh Lord. Notice over in the previous psalm
where David says in verse 16, Hear me, O Lord, for
Thy lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the
multitude of Thy tender mercies. Hide not Thy face from Thy servant.
For I am in trouble. Hear me speedily. Go back to Psalm 70. Let them
be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul. Let them
be turned backwards and put to confusion that desire my hurt.
Oh Lord, change my raiment. Put my sin away. Let them be turned back for reward
of their shame that say, aha, aha. Let all those that seek
thee rejoice and be glad in thee, and let such as love thy salvation
say continually, let God be magnified. For I am poor and needy. Make
haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer. O Lord, make no tearing. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we have no real understanding of how much trouble we're in. But oh, what hope we have in
knowing that you do make haste to give help to the poor and
to the needy. Lord, we ask that in this hour
of worship that you would cause us to see how much trouble we
are in and then deliver us from our trouble. by causing us to
see how glorious and successful the Lord Jesus Christ is in delivering
your people from their sin. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's turn to number 272. My
hope is built on nothing less, and you may remain seated. Number
272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness fails His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock
I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking
sand His oath is covenant, his blood. Support me in the whelming
flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Zechariah chapter 3. You'll find our text for this
morning. The title of this message is The Branch. The Branch. What a glorious thing it is when
the Lord enables us to see the Lord Jesus Christ in all these
characters of Scripture. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. For lo, I have come to do Thy
will Oh God, He taketh away the first that He might give the
second. All these types and pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ have now been taken away in that we
don't look to the type, we look to the one whom the type points
to. And certainly this Joshua that
we've just studied about in Zechariah chapter three is a type of our
Joshua, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in chapter,
notice in chapter six, People say, well, does Joshua represent
the priest? Does he represent Christ? Does
he represent the church? Well, look, thy word is exceedingly
broad. It all ultimately points to Christ. It points to Him, His glorious
person, and His accomplished work of salvation. And so in
verse 11 of chapter 6, the Lord says, Then take silver and gold
and make crowns. And we just saw that, put a fair
mitre upon his head, is what the angel told them to do for
Joshua, put a crown on his head. And now he says, and take silver
and gold and make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua,
the son of Josedek, the high priest, and speak unto him, saying,
thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, behold the man who is
the branch. So they took Joshua, they took
his filthy garments off of him, they put a new robe of righteousness
on him, they made beautiful gold crowns and placed them on his
head, and then the Lord pointing to Joshua said, Behold the branch. Here's the one that I've been
telling you about all throughout the scriptures, the branch. The
branch is mentioned in Jeremiah, he's mentioned in Isaiah, and
he's pointed to here in the book of Zechariah. Go back with me
to chapter three now. This message is about the branch. And all that the Scriptures reveal
to us about the branch. The Lord saying to me and you,
behold the branch. Look at the branch. Look who
He is. Look what I've done with Him.
Look what I've done through Him. Look what he's accomplished in
securing the salvation of his people. Behold the branch. And now in chapter three at verse
eight, here now, oh Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows
that sit before thee for they are men wondered at. They are men wondered at. If you have had an opportunity to
share the gospel with your unbelieving friends and family members, they've
wondered at you. Are you suggesting? The world wonders. What is it exactly that we believe? Who are these people? And they
will either separate themselves as quickly as they can because
of their own discomfort or they will be confused or they just
wonder. They wonder. For behold, I will bring forth my servant,
the branch. Now the Lord saying to Joshua,
Joshua, this is 450 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the time when the children of Israel are coming back after
the Babylonian captivity. And the Lord is prophesying of
the fulfillment of the Messiah that has been spoken of since
the beginning of time. When the Lord told Adam and Eve,
the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. The serpent will bruise his heel.
That was a reference to the promised coming of the Messiah. And all
throughout the scriptures, the Lord keeps pointing to Christ. And here he says to Joshua, Joshua,
here you are. You've got your filthy garments
taken off. You've got new raiment put on.
You've got a crown on your head. And I'm going to raise up my
servant, the branch. Now in Isaiah chapter 42, the
scripture says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the servant of
God. In another place where the Lord
says to me and you, behold, he says, behold, behold my servant,
the one whom I uphold, mine elect. in whom I am well pleased. Look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my servant. Now, believers
are the servants of God. We desire to serve Him in worship. We desire to follow after him. The scripture says that we're
to do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith.
Paul called himself a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
picture here is that of a slave. And actually this word servant
comes from a word that means to labor or to work. of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the servant of God accomplished the work of
salvation. He said, I did not come to do
mine will, but the will of my Father which hath sent me. What are the first recorded words
we have of the Lord Jesus Christ in the scriptures? In his incarnation,
what do we have? Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? What are the last recorded words
that we have before our Lord bowed his mighty head and said,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit? He said, it's finished. It's finished. I came to serve
my father. I came as the branch, the servant
of God, to bear the labor, the work necessary to accomplish
perfection and the fulfillment of the law. And the Lord Jesus
Christ did that perfectly, perfectly. Notice where he says here, my
servant, the branch. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by his mercy, he hath saved us. It's not our labor. We serve
out of gratitude for the service that the Lord Jesus Christ performed
in securing our salvation. But it's not our labor. It's
not our work that saves us, it's his. And so the Lord saying to
me and you, behold, my servant, My servant, the branch. He served me perfectly. He accomplished righteousness
perfectly. He served me as the sacrifice
for your sins and suffered the full wrath of my justice in order
to put them away once and for all. He's my servant. I'm well pleased with him. Behold
him. Look to Him. Look to His work. Look to His labor. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
23. Jeremiah chapter 23. Verse 5, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. So in Zechariah chapter 3, the
Lord tells us that this branch that we're to look to is the
servant of God. That God's pleased with his service.
God satisfied with his service. And now here in Jeremiah chapter
23, he tells us that this branch is a righteous branch. This word righteous means perfect
obedience, perfect obedience. Now that's what God requires.
God requires righteousness. He requires perfect obedience.
In our righteousness, the scripture says, are as filthy rags. We've all gone out of the way.
We have no righteousness. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is
called the righteous branch. A king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days Judah shall be saved. So now Jeremiah during the Babylonian
captivity and prior to the Babylonian captivity is prophesying to the
coming of the righteous branch who will accomplish the salvation
of all of Israel. And the Lord's saying behold
the branch, look to the branch, he's my servant. He's accomplished
my service perfectly. Look to him, he's fulfilled all
righteousness. Let men in their ignorance of
God's righteousness go about trying to establish their own
righteousness. For we know that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
Lord Jesus Christ performed perfect obedience to the father. As his
servant, he fulfilled the law and he saved his people. And
this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth
which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt, but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the
seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from
the countries whither they've been driven, and they shall dwell
in their own land. So we're no longer looking to
that deliverance that Moses accomplished in bringing the children out
of Egypt. We're looking now to the fulfillment
of that type that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in bringing
his children from the north and the south and the east and the
west. He's the branch. He's the righteous branch. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
4. Behold the branch. If God ever gives us eyes to
see, if he enables us to set our affections on things above
where the branch, Christ, is seated at the right hand of God,
having accomplished the salvation of His people. We'll bow in worship
to Him. We'll believe on Him. We'll follow
after Him. But you have to have a single
eye, don't you? To have a single eye looking to Christ alone. Look at Isaiah chapter 4 and
verse 1, and then that day And you know what the number seven
is a picture of? It's perfection. It's completion. And these seven women are a picture
of the bride of Christ, the whole church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And during this time, Isaiah
is prophesying of great trial and tribulation that's going
to come against Israel when the Babylonians come in and take
them away into slavery. And Isaiah says, seven women
shall hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and
wear our own apparel. Only let us be called by thy
name to take away our reproach. Lord, we'll be responsible to
do the work that we're supposed to do. But oh, how we need your name.
We need your name to take away our reproach, to take away these
filthy garments, to take away the wrath of that judgment. We
need for you to give us your name. We need for you to be our
Boaz, our kinsman redeemer. We need for you to take us as
Moabites into your family. and make us part of the kingdom
of God. That's what happened. Look, and
in that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and
glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and
comely for them that are escaped of Israel. So now we've read
from God's Word where the branch is the servant of God He's the
righteousness of God. And now the Lord tells us through
the prophet Isaiah that this branch is beautiful and glorious. Only the Lord can reveal the
beauty of Christ to us. When he does, when he does, I
know I referenced this in the first hour, we'll say with Daniel,
my comeliness, My beauty is turned in me into corruption. When Job heard about the Lord
Jesus Christ, he said, behold, I am vile. I'm vile. I'm a sinner. The natural man
thinks his Babylonian garment looks pretty good, doesn't it?
Doesn't he? But when we see the Lord high
and lifted up, we can only come to one conclusion, woe is me,
woe is me. And that's what, the branch is
now beautiful, beautiful. How we are attracted to beauty,
how our eyes are drawn to beauty. might the Lord show us the beauty
and the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in
the song of Solomon when they ask the bride of Christ, the
church, what is your husband better than ours? How is your husband better than
our husband? Isn't that what they wonder at
us? Because they say, are you suggesting that the God that
we worship is a false God? Are you suggesting that we're
not saved? And they wonder at us, and they
wondered at her. Turn with me to the Song of Solomon. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in Ecclesiastes,
that's why. Look at chapter 5. The bride, in verse eight, says
to the people in the city, she says, I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that
I am sick of love. What is thy beloved more than
another's beloved, O thou fairest among women? You think you're
different than everybody else? You think your God's the only
God? You think your beloved's better
than ours? What is thy beloved more than
another's beloved that thou dost charge us? And she doesn't hesitate
to respond. She said, oh, my beloved is white. Now, white is used in the scriptures
to illustrate perfection. Perfection. He's holy. He's holy. Not only is he holy, but he's
ready. He's strong. He's strong enough to save, His
arm is not short that He cannot save, nor is He near death that
He cannot hear. He's white and He's ready. He's the chiefest
among 10,000. Oh, there's none like Him. None like
Him. Now Isaiah tells us in Isaiah
chapter 4, the branch is beautiful. He's beautiful. He's beautiful. He's beautiful in his perfection.
He's beautiful in his salvation. There's no beauty like unto his
beauty. His head is as the most fine
gold. Oh, he's, he's beyond price. He's beyond
price. This branch, who is clearly the
Lord Jesus himself, is beautiful, he's comely, he's
righteous. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
11. Verse 1, and there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. Now here's a picture of a tree
that's been cut down and a branch is springing forth from the stump
of this tree. New growth. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Now, what do we learn about this
branch? Well, he's the Christ. He's the
anointed one. He's the one who came in the
full power of the Spirit of God to accomplish the service that
the Father had sent him to do, which was to save his people.
And he actually did it. He actually did it. And so now
the Lord tells us this branch, he's not only righteous, he's
not only beautiful, he's not only God's servant, but this
branch is full of the spirit. And he will give his spirit to
whosoever asks. And the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Apart from
the spirit of God, if you have not the spirit of God, you're
none of His. And if you being evil know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? You and I are in desperate need
of the spirit of God. Apart from the Spirit of God,
we're left with nothing more than our own wisdom, our own
devices, our own understanding. The values and philosophies of
this world will mandate our choices and our decisions if we have
not the Spirit of God. If we have not the Spirit of
God, we'll not see Christ. We'll not see ourselves as sinners. The Lord said, it's expedient
for you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But when he comes, he's going
to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,
of sin because they believe not on me. That's the ministry of
the Spirit of God. We'll never see ourselves as
sinners apart from the ministry of the Spirit of God, unless
the Spirit of God opens the eyes of our understanding and causes
us to see Christ. in His glory and come to that
conclusion that we have, that we're... What was Isaiah saying
in Isaiah chapter 6? I'm nothing like Him. I'm nothing
like Him. He's holy. He's undefiled. He's separate from sinners. He's
not like me at all. Lord, I need the Spirit of God
to show me that I have a righteousness before you. I have a righteous
advocate, a sin bearer who is seated, having finished his work,
he is seated at the right hand of God and he makes intercession
for me. And the prince of this world,
though he overpowers me often, he's already been judged. Already been judged. He's already
been cast into the pit of hell. He's on God's chain and the Lord
will rebuke him. So this branch now who grows
out of the root of Jesse is seen as one who has wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. We really don't understand anything, do we? Well,
what did we see last Sunday from Philippians chapter 4? The peace
of God is better than understanding. I used to think that that verse
meant, you know, peace of God passeth understanding. I used
to think that it meant the peace of God cannot be fully understood.
But that's not what it means at all. It means that you and
I are constantly trying to get understanding. And what the Lord
is saying is my peace My peace I give unto you. Not as the world
gives. The world gives you peace when
everything is without conflict. When everything is going well,
that's when the world has peace. But you're going to have peace
even when you don't understand what's going on. You're going
to have peace. The peace of God is better than
understanding. That's what the Lord said. I'm the one that's
got understanding. I'm the one that's got counsel.
I'm the one that's got wisdom. Rest in me. Trust me. on the branch behold the branch
look at verse 3 and shall make him of quick understanding and
the fear the Lord and he shall judge he shall not judge after
the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears now if God judges you and me
after what he sees and what he hears from us we're in trouble
we're in trouble. In another place the prophet
Isaiah said, who is like my servant? Who is like my servant? Who sees,
but he doesn't see. What is he? and with righteousness
he shall, I'm sorry, verse three, and he shall not judge after
the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth. In other words, he's going
to put his righteousness on his people and then judge them according
to his perfect obedience. Now there's freedom. There's
hope that I'm not going to be judged based on what I see or
what other men see or what even God sees and hears in my life. He's going to judge me in Christ
and judge me based on his righteousness. And he's going to reprove with
equity. All the, all that you and I have is in equity. That's all we have. But he reproves
with equity. In other words, he's placed his
righteousness on the scale of God's justice. And he's balanced the scale.
And in him, in him, all is equal. all is equal to the righteousness
of God. For the meek of the earth, and
he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with
the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked, and righteousness
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
his reins." Now God smiting the earth is going to happen two
times. It's going to happen When he
brings a sinner to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
going to kill us, put us to death, cause us to see that this robe
that we've been wearing, this righteousness, this Babylonian
garment, and this mixed fabric that we have of law and works,
and the Lord is going to smite us with the rod of his justice
and put us to death. cause us to be made alive in
Christ. And that happens every day. Paul
said, I die daily. I die daily. I'm always looking
for something outside of Christ for my satisfaction. The Lord
has to smite me again and again and again. Draw me back into
His presence. And then the second time is the
smiting of God's wrath towards the entire world and His judgment.
against the unbeliever. I won't be a part of that. Isaiah chapter 60, verse 21, Thy people also shall be all
righteous. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting." This is union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's saying, here's your hope.
Here's your hope. Your hope is that you're going
to have the righteousness of Christ. that you're the branch
of his planting. In another place, the church
is called trees of righteousness, the plantings of the Lord. So
he's referring to his church now as a branch. He said, and
look at the rest of this verse, the work of my hands. Now, what is a servant? A servant
is a laborer. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as the anointed one, the Christ. to work out the salvation
of His people. And He says now that you are
the work of My hand that I may be glorified. So once again we
see the church sitting in heaven and these 24 elders taking their
crowns and laying them at His feet. Turn with me in closing to Zechariah
chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6. This branch is the servant of
God. This branch is a righteous servant. The Lord Jesus Christ is beautiful. He's comely. He's full of the Spirit. And
the hope that we have is union with Him. And then in Zechariah
chapter 6, at verse 12, and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch,
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord." Now turn over one page to Zechariah chapter
4. And here in verse 9, the Lord
Jesus Christ is typified in the life of Zerubbabel. who was the
builder who laid out the plans for the building of the temple.
When Nehemiah brought the Zerubbabel and Joshua, all these men are
types of Christ. The hand, look at verse 9, the
hand of Zerubbabel has laid the foundation of this house. His
hand also shall finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord
of hosts hath sent me to you. Here's our hope, brethren. The
church is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He told Peter,
he said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not be able to prevail against it. The hand
of Zerubbabel lays the foundation. He lays the foundation through
the preaching of the gospel in the hearts of his people. He
causes them to see their need for Christ. He causes them to
rejoice in His beauty and in His accomplished work. He causes
them to believe that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, the
One full of the Spirit of God, the successful servant of the
Father. And He adds them as living stones
upon that stone which the builders have rejected. They wonder after
us because the stone that they reject is the one that God made
to be the head of the corner. And the whole church is built
upon this rock, the branch, the righteous one, the one who builds
his church. One thing I'm for sure of is that everyone that God chose
In the covenant of grace, before time ever began, the Lord Jesus
Christ successfully redeemed them in the sacrifice that He
made when He took on our filthy garments. And everyone that He
died for The Spirit of God in His time will call them out of
darkness into His marvelous light, will give them faith to believe
and make them to be part of the church. He's building the church. He laid the foundation and He's
going to finish it. He's going to finish it. People in religion pride themselves,
they think that gain is godliness. There's a little article in your
bulletin about that this morning, but they suppose, Paul told Timothy,
that gain is godliness. In other words, they look to their new church members, and
they think the bigger the church gets, the more God's blessing
is on them. And the Lord said, from such
withdraw yourself, because godliness with contentment is great gain. To be content with the Lord Jesus
Christ as your righteousness, to be content with the work of
redemption that He accomplished on Calvary's cross as your justification
before God, to be content with His good providence in your life,
as what's best for you. Now that's a gain that this world
knows nothing about. The world wonders at those who
are content with Christ. Because the world's never content.
Never content. I'm content in knowing that all
Israel will be saved, that the Spirit of God in his time will
make everyone of God's elect hear and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. The truth is that the church
that he's building is exactly the same size today as it was
in eternity past when God chose him in the covenant of grace
before Adam ever sinned in the garden. And it's exactly the
same size as it will be when all the saints are gathered together
in glory, seated around the throne, singing praises and worship to
their Savior and to their God. He's going to build his church.
Why? Because he's a successful branch. He's the branch. Believe on the
branch. Rest in the branch. Plead with
the branch. His church, the church of the
branch, is the only thing that's going to survive this world.
Only thing. Nothing else. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the revelation that You've given us in Your Word of Thy
dear Son, and we do pray that Your Holy Spirit would give us
grace to rest in our successful, sovereign
Savior. We ask it in His name. Amen. Number five zero let's stand
together. Fair is Lord Jesus, ruler of
nature, O Thou of God and man the Son. Thee will I cherish, Thee will
I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. ? Fair are the meadows ? Fairer
the woodlands ? Robed in the blooming garb of spring ? Jesus
is fairer Jesus is purer, who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer
still the moonlight, And all the twinkling starry hosts. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines purer, Than all the angels have can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the
nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, great adoration,
now and forevermore be thine. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.