May it please God to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this morning. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Zechariah, chapter 3, and we'll read verses
1 and 2. The prophecy of Zechariah, chapter
3, and reading verses 1 and 2. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at his right hands to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Just to repeat what I said before
we read this chapter this morning, this prophecy was given at the
same time that Haggai gave his prophecy and it was after Judah
had returned from Babylon to come back to Jerusalem and had
been encouraged to commence the rebuilding of the temple and
the walls and then had been halted and they'd been taking it easy.
And now there was a desire and encouragement for them to continue. And so we have this position
here with Zacharias. Given this vision of this picture
of Joshua the high priest, there are a number of Joshua's in the
Bible. And this is one of the Joshua's.
Obviously it's not the Joshua who was the high priest in the
time when Israel came into Canaan. but it is a joshua and he was
the high priest and we see the position that he was standing
before the angel of the lord who is we believe the lord jesus
christ and there he was standing before him and we see then there
was satan next to him standing at his right hand to resist him. And this surely is a picture,
a figure, that we can perhaps understand today. In our position
you might say, well of course this is many years after, well
of course it is, but bless God if you and I are found before
Jesus in prayer, standing before him, standing
before him at least in a spiritual way, we may be sitting or we
may be lying down or we may be kneeling but nonetheless in essence
standing before the blessed Lord and in that position to realise
that our great adversary the devil is very keen and very anxious
and tries all he can to distract us and to resist us from praying
to God, seeking his face, desiring his blessing. And therefore,
as perhaps we do find when we endeavour to pray, it's not always
easy. In fact, often it's very hard. And we find we are distracted. Well, if we feel that and find
that, then we should recognise it's no new thing. And here we
have the example clearly stated for us to note that the devil
is always trying to resist us in the things of God. Trying
to resist us, praying to God. Trying to resist us, following
the way of the Lord. Trying to resist us, doing good,
trying to resist us doing anything, which is in accordance with God's
Word. He's there. He's a very keen
foe. My friends, he doesn't give up.
He doesn't give up easily. He'll keep on and therefore recognise
that our spiritual life is not easy. And it's very easy to then
fall under his power. Rebecca recognised that so many
times in the Word of God the devil caused his people to fall. We know of course it was so in
the very beginning in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. We
know it was of course in David's case. And so many there are in
the Word of God who Satan came and influenced. He tried to resist
the Church of God, the people of God, in their attitude of
being before the Lord Jesus. He doesn't want us there. He
doesn't want us to acknowledge that this is the true God. He
doesn't want us to have any communion with the Blessed Saviour. He
wants to separate us from our God. And so this morning, perhaps
we are discouraged. Perhaps even today, we may have tried to pray and we
haven't been very successful. And we felt our prayers haven't
really got through. And therefore, perhaps we're
sad. I hope we are if that's the case.
And I hope we're not amongst those who just say a few words
and pat ourselves on the back and say, well, I've said a prayer
this morning. You see, what does that mean? That means you pray
to yourself. But if we really pray to God,
and if we've really been blessed with access to God, And it's
spoken of as the throne of grace. And it's a wonderful privilege
and a wonderful favor. And when we are privileged like
that, you see, we have the evidence in our own heart that there we
have access. And therefore, to believe in
our prayers are heard and our prayers are answered. But be
not discouraged if you and I find it's so, so difficult. Press on. You see, we read together
in that fifth chapter in the first epistle of Peter, encouraging
words. And clearly Peter knew the conflict. And the true Church of God knew
the conflict. And having said, he comes and he says, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God. And that means what it
says. That means not to keep a proud
position, but to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God,
acknowledging that he is our king, our lord, our master. And not pretending, but truly
humbling ourselves, and therefore coming to this place, casting
all our care upon him. believing he cares for us. And then the apostle says we
are to be sober and we are to be vigilant. Why? Because your adversary the
devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
He is always on the outlook to consume us. He's always on the
outlook to make us disobedient to the Word of God. He's always
on the outlook to bring about things which to our mind are
more attractive. He'll bring before you the things
of this world. He'll bring before you the lust
of the flesh, the pride of life. And he'll try and make them attractive.
And unless the Holy Spirit keeps us, they will be attractive.
And we'll find they turn us away from God. Instead of walking
with God, we're fine walking away from God. And that's why,
bless God, we have a wonderful word of encouragement and strengthening
for us here today. He walks about seeking whom he
may devour. And then what are we to do? Well,
here we have this word. Now, just remember, you might
say, well, I can't do anything. The Apostle Paul said, I can
do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Don't give
in to the lies of the devil. Whom resist steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world. Don't think that this
is something unusual, but recognize this is something The Church
of God suffer. It's an affliction. But the Word
of God tells us it is through much affliction that we shall
enter the Kingdom. And sometimes we think that's
only a physical one. Well, it's not always that. Sometimes
it is, but sometimes it's a spiritual one. And it is an affliction
when the devil is powerful in our hearts and stops us, as it
were, seeking the Lord and doing the will of God. Oh, he's a great
adversary. Never think lightly of the devil. Never think he's an easy foe.
He's a mighty foe. And his great aim is to destroy
your and my soul. That is great desire. But he
says then, but the God of all grace, who has called us unto
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered
a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. And what's
the result? To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Now let us not forget,
bless God, we have a great God. And these words that were written
by Peter 2,000 years ago are as appropriate for us today as
they were then. And so be encouraged And if perhaps
you know what it is to feel that Satan's trying to resist you,
then you see we are to resist the devil and to seek that you
might be blessed with these words. And the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan. Even the Lord hath chosen Jerusalem. Rebuked, that means the Lord
has chosen the church of God. That means the Lord has chosen
you and me. is like this, a brand plucked out of the fire. Now,
if God before us, who can be against us? And may God give
us faith and strength to pursue, pursue the narrow way. It is
a narrow way, which takes us to glory. It's not a broad road. It's not a smooth road. It's
a rugged road. There are many obstacles. There's
many things in the way. Bless God, if God is with us. If God is before us, who can
be against us? Because we shall not fail. And by his grace we
shall be able to press on. So let us remember here, this
is what we have as the Lord graciously showed to Zachariah. so that
he might be able to describe it to the Church of God and especially
in that day when you think that you would have thought really
that Judah would have been better because they disobeyed God so
so badly that the Lord had brought to pass that which he told them
they would be taken captive, Jerusalem destroyed, the temple
thrust broken down and they were going to Babylon for 70 years
and so it came to pass. So they would have been very
aware They were dealing with a true God who told the truth
and didn't say something and not do it. And yet here they
are returning into that Jerusalem, encouraged by God, encouraged
by the king of Babylon, and yet now, turning away. because of the enemies of God
who brought an evil report and they were willing to follow it
and settle down and look after themselves more than the house
of God. And my friends, today we're very
similar. We tend to look after ourselves more than the things
of God. How important it is that the
reverse is true and the reverse should be our desire. that we're
not following ourselves, we're not pleasing ourselves, we're
not following the material things of this life, which just are
attracted to us, but they are passing, and they'll die, and they'll
vanish away, but your soul and my soul will live forever. So
what is important? It's important that you and I
found following the gracious Word of God, following the commands
of the Lord. Now my friends, the commands
to Judah and Israel of old were very clear. They were to follow
what God had set before them. The Word of God has not changed.
It's changed perhaps in one situation and we don't have to follow all
the ceremonial law which was told by Moses. But there are
still those things which the Lord commands us to do today. And we should not think that
the Word of God is irrelevant. And we should not think that
it has no message for us today. And we should not think that
you and I can carry on in this poor old world just doing our
own will. It is a wonderful blessing if
by the grace of God we are able to come and submit ourselves
and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. James also
speaks similar words in his epistle It's an epistle which is very
instructive. And in that epistle, we read
in the fourth chapter, these words. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. You might say, well, let's hear
what it says before. OK. Do you think that the scripture
saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,
but He giveth more grace. Isn't that wonderful? That's
what the Apostle Paul found, didn't he? When he had that thorn
in the flesh. He prayed he might be delivered
from it. And you might pray, well, I don't want to do that.
I want to be delivered from it. What did God say? He gave him,
I giveth more grace. And so here we have it here.
But he giveth more grace. My friends, God gives grace.
He gives us unmerited favor to do his will. And there's no more
blessed position than to do the will of God. And it's a very
difficult and hard place. If you walk contrary to God,
if you walk in a different way, if you're walking against him,
first of all, you won't be comfortable in your mind. And be honest before
God. If you're walking contrary to
God, you won't be comfortable in your mind. You'll be very uncomfortable
and you'll be battling You'll be battling. Why? Because the
old devil's there at your elbow, pointing to you the wrong way.
What does James tell us? He tells us this. Wherefore he said, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. If we are ignoring
God, what does it mean? It means we are proud. Proud. And how dare You and I be proud
before God. Terrible, isn't it? To think
that little you and me are willing to stand up against God. What does it mean? It means really
we're fighting against God. Terrible, isn't it? To fight
against God. So, the apostle tells us this. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Come before him. Submit yourselves. Don't have your own program.
Throw it away. Don't have your own excuses.
Get rid of them. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. And as God gives us grace, which
he says he will, resist the devil. And he will flee from you. Don't
encourage the devil. Don't listen to him. Because
my friends, remember he's anti-Christ. He's doing all that he can to
destroy your religion. He's doing all that he can to
destroy your hope. Your little hope. It's a good
hope. Hold it fast. Draw nigh to God. and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. And, there's an and here, and
this is what it says, and, The Lord and he, the Lord, shall
lift you up. Oh, bless God for his truth which doesn't fail. Now, you
see, we have today a stronghold. We have the Word of God. We don't
have to follow the devil. We have God's Word. And now we
have this wonderful picture shown to us to encourage us In our
little life, Zachariah was shown in a vision, Joshua, the high
priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. Well, if you and I know what
that is, and the true Church of God will know what it is,
and it's wonderful if we do, and it won't be very comfortable,
and it won't be very satisfying, But the blessing is to realise
that we are doing God's will and then to hear the blessed
Saviour who rebukes Satan. He rebukes him and he tells Satan
that it's no good because here is a chosen vessel. Here is one
of my chosen. You will not overcome him. You
will not succeed. And he will not. It's a wonderful thing to think
that Almighty God speaks to Satan on our behalf. It's very humbling,
isn't it? It's really most amazing, especially
if the Holy Spirit shows us what we are, how wicked, how vile,
how sinful we are, how utterly undeserving of any notice, and
then to think, The Blessed Saviour comes and intervenes on our behalf. He stands between us. The hymn
writer tells us He stands between in garments dyed in blood. You
say the devil can't face that. Why can't he face it? He can't
face it because the Blessed Saviour died to atone for our sins. He hates that picture. He hates
Calvary. He thought, you see, he'd gained
the victory. He didn't realise that the Lord
was to rise from the dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the
grave. You see, Satan hates it. He can't face it. He's vanquished. He knows he's beaten. and to
think that the Lord on our behalf speaks these words. It's very
humbling, isn't it? But it's very true. And you today
can face the devil with these words. You don't have to dream
up any words yourself, you can come and quote scripture. Don't forget when the Lord Jesus
Christ was baptised and then went up into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil. Yes, the devil then came and
tried to resist and how did the blessed saviour respond? He answered
him from the word of God. That's the safest way. And my
friends, bless God when you and I can quote scripture to destroy
the devil's efforts to turn us away from doing those things
which are right, from being blessed with that union and communion
with the Saviour. If you and I are walking contrary
to God, we won't enjoy union, we won't enjoy communion with
God. We may foolishly think we are, but we're not. Why? Because we are found walking
contrary to God. And the Lord has said, if you
walk contrary to me, I'll walk contrary to you. And that's God's
Word, and don't think it's anything different. And perhaps the Lord
sometimes prods us here and prods us there, to perhaps bring us
in line. And we keep on trying to resist
it. Well, beware. You see, the Lord
is gracious. He's long-suffering. Sometimes
He brings dire judgments. into our lives because we've disobeyed the blessed
word of God. Well, the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord, and the chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a brand plucked from
the burning? Indeed, it really is. And if
we think of the devil, you see, it doesn't change when we read
even in Revelation about the devil in the 12th chapter we
read in the 10th verse this is what we read and I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power is Christ for the accuser
of our brethren the accuser of you and me is cast down which
accused them before our God day and night. See, that's the truth. That's what's happened. That's
what does happen. He accuses us again and again. And he may
say, well, you're not a Christian. There's no hope for you. Throw
it overboard. Forget all about it. It's no
good. Enjoy the world. No, my friends. Bless God. Satan's cast down. Yes, he will not conquer. He
will try, but he won't succeed. And that is an encouragement
to the Church of God. It's a wonderful encouragement
to be able to look forward then to the time of blessed release,
and the time of wonderful freedom, which there indeed is in the
Word of God. And the Apostle John, when he wrote
his epistle, his letter, his epistle rather, He said, Jesus
said unto them, if God were your father, you would love him. For
I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I myself, but
he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear my word? The devil won't
want you and me to understand God's speech. He won't want you
and me to hear his word. And then he tells them very solemnly,
therefore ye are of your father the devil. My friend, is the
devil our father? Is he your father? The devil? And the lust of your father ye
will do. Terrible, isn't it? shocking
very concerning And he said he was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth Because there is no truth in him When
he speaketh a lie He speaketh of his own for he is a liar and
the father of it so friends never believe that which is contrary
to the Word of God and and always weigh things up in the light
of scripture, and never turn away from it, and never listen
to the devil. May it never be said, oh solemnly,
the devil's our father, we're listening to him, are we? Or are we listening to our blessed
father, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Because I tell you the truth,
You believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? It's
a great question, isn't it? Why do we not believe the Lord?
Is it because Satan's standing on our right hand to resist us?
Is he doing all that he can? He that is of God, heareth God's
words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
you are not of God. He was speaking very solemnly
to those who did not know the Lord. But my friends, may you
and I be blessed with the evidence that we do know the Lord, and
He is our God, and that we are following Him, and we're not
listening, therefore, to Satan. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord, the chosen Jerusalem
rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? And I suppose it's true of all
the people of God. We are perhaps, as it were, in
the fire. And yet what a mercy when we
are plucked out. We can't pluck ourselves out.
What a blessing when the Lord plucks us out. Amos also spoke
very similar words in his short prophecy in the fourth chapter
and the eleventh verse we read I have overthrown some of them
as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a firebrand plucked
out of the burning yet have you not returned unto me saith the
Lord Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel. And because
I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." What
all of us are going to have to meet our God. Every one of us
here will have to come and stand before God. There's no escape
to anyone in the world. All of us will have to come and
stand before God. No excuses then. No excuses. No excuses. Therefore this will
I do unto thee, O Israel. And because I will do this unto
thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For lo, he that formeth
the mountains hath created the wind, and declared unto man what
is in his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth
upon the high places of the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts, is
his name." They're very straight words, aren't they? Sometimes
we all need straight words, don't we? Sometimes we need God to
speak to us very straightly and not to have a lot of flannel
all around it so that it's all mixed up with falsehoods. The devil will try and convince
you and me there's an easy way to heaven. He'll tell us it's
a nice easy way. I'll tell you what it is. It's
a broad way which leads to hell. Well what a mercy then if you
and I have the evidence that we are like this, a bran plucked
out of the fire. God has taken us and therefore
he's dealing with us and therefore he's forming us. be like unto
himself. Perhaps a lot of work needs to
be done. But my friends, you know, it's a wonderful mercy
when that word is true. We are made willing in the day
of His power. Made willing to do His will. Made willing to follow Him. Not
sitting on the sidelines. Not just taking it easy. And
not saying, well, that's impossible. No, it's not. The things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. Oh, how relevant the
truth of God is. And you may feel that I'm in
a terrible state. I'm really in a terrible state.
I don't know what to do. We have a wonderful and blessed
example, and there's no greater Testimony than the Word of God
gives us than this in the 22nd chapter of Luke, which is a long
chapter and In that chapter we read among other things Jesus
going into that garden of Gethsemane and He was in an agony Because
he was to do his father's will And my friends that was an exceedingly
hard thing to If you were faced with being crucified tomorrow,
would you be in agony? Well, I'm sure you would. Well,
I'm sure you would, no doubt about that. You'd be in agony. Well, Jesus was. But we have
this wonderful statement of the Saviour himself. And he says
this, Father, 42nd verse, Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cut from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done."
Everyone was willing to do his father's will. Friends today,
are we all willing to do our father's will? Not our father
the devil, but our heavenly father's will. So he says, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. There's two things now. And there
appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. The Lord does come and he strengthens
his people in a wonderful way, a way which you will not know
unless God has given you that grace to submit yourselves to
him. And then he says, and being in
agony, what did he do? These are wonderful words. He prayed more earnestly. He prayed more earnestly and
his sweat was as it were great drops of blood poured into the
ground. What a wonderful example for
us. If we attempt to the devil, if
we feel that Satan is right there by our arm and trying to turn
us away, don't give up, pray more earnestly. Sometimes you
see, by the grace of God, the Lord gives, then, that spirit
of prayer. And we break through, as it were,
through the shed blood of the Saviour. And we find access. We're able to come, to lay all
our case, open-hearted, before our God, because He understands
us all together. The only one that does. We're
able to commit our way unto Him. of trust also in him that he
will bring it to pass, and to realise he will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from those that follow him. Amen.