But I want to give us an introduction.
I've read this to you on purpose to give you a sense of what's
going on in the chapter. Now here in our text we find
this man, Joshua. It says, Scripture says, And
he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel
of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan.
Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not
this a bran plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed
with filthy garments and stood before the angel. Now here we
have Joshua the high priest who was brought out of captivity
of Babylon, chosen of God to be the high priest. and to be
one of those men to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Now, this
was the promise of God. The promise of God was this.
In the previous chapter, God sent out an angel to measure
Jerusalem. That Jerusalem, he says in verse
2, he said, why are you going to measure Jerusalem? He said,
because Jerusalem is to be inhabited. Inhabited, verse 4, he said,
"...it shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude
of men and of cattle therein." Now surely this is not speaking
of physical Jerusalem because it did have walls. Jerusalem
did have walls. And you know what? There was
only a certain multitude of the seed of Abraham in this city. So it could be measured. It could
be. If it was speaking of physical,
but this is speaking of heavenly Jerusalem. This is speaking of
the kingdom of God and His sovereign election of grace. Before the
worlds were made, before light was ever called out of darkness,
and heaven, God said, heaven shall be inhabited. And the bounds
of it shall be measured only by the grace of God in choosing
a people, a multitude that cannot be numbered, an elect people
that God would save. And God says of His chosen people,
I will be unto her a wall of fire round about her, and I will
be the glory in the midst of her. God has promised to deliver
Israel from Babylon, to build that city in which the temple
was to be built, wherein God was to reside and to be worshipped.
Even so has God purposed to deliver His elect from the captivity
of their sins. He purposed that we should be
delivered by a representative man, even Jesus Christ, who was
to come and has come and satisfied the justice of God on our behalf."
Now, our captivity was this, the law said, "...cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them." This was captivity. But Jesus Christ came forth and
obeyed the law of God, suffered the curse and penalty of the
law, for us, for He was made sin for us, and our sins were
imputed to Him, and the justice of God exacted a full measure
of punishment on Him. And what was the result of that?
God raised Him from the dead. You see, God raised Him from
the dead to show everyone that He had led captivity captive.
He to show everyone that Jesus Christ was successful in His
work of redemption for sins. And now the Holy Spirit is gone
forth into the world with this message. Verse 6, Ho! Ho! Come, flee the land of the
north, saith the Lord. For I have spread you abroad
as the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord, deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon." Is this
not true of every elect sinner? Were we not scattered abroad
as the four winds of the earth, fallen in the seed of Adam, and
were by nature and choice sinners? But what happened? The Word of
God came to us. As the Word of God is shouted
out and is proclaimed, you know how many times I heard this message
before the Lord actually saved me? Before I actually heard it?
I heard it all my life. Since I was a little kid, I heard
this same gospel message. But it wasn't until God revealed
it to me that it became effectual to my soul, and God saved me. And this is how God does it,
through the preaching of the gospel. And this Word comes in
power, and it tells us to flee. Flee what? Sin. Turn from self. Turn from self-righteousness. You know, I never knew the horror
of sin until God revealed it to me. I never knew I had a need
until God revealed it to me. And when God revealed my need,
He also revealed the remedy, which is Christ. And I've come
to Christ. I've fled my self-righteousness. I've fled all of my works. And I've fled to Christ, in whom
I find all my salvation. Our faith in Christ, our faith
in Christ is a gift of God. Our faith is in Christ, and God
sent Him. Look, that's what He said. He
said, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory hath He
sent me. The glory. Man by nature robbed
God of His glory. And what did Christ come to do?
He sent Him to restore the glory of God as a man. He sent Him
unto the nations which spoiled you. And He tells us, He that
toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Have you come to Christ? Because
this message will not mean anything to you had you not come to Christ. If you're not one of His, this
message will have very little to do with you. This message
is for God's people. This is for those who have come
to Christ. And those who have come to Christ,
listen, you are called to sing. Sing. Rejoice and sing Oh daughter
of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee this
is the promise of God and He that hath the Spirit of Christ
we cry in our hearts Abba Father Almighty Because the Spirit testifies
with our spirit that we are the sons of God. Sons by election. Sons by redemption. Sons by adoption. Sons by birth. By spiritual birth. and now behold in your text."
Now then, go see, this is the promise of the gospel, the declaration
of the gospel, the promise to all who believe on Christ, you
should sing and rejoice because God dwells in you, God is with
you, God loves you, He is your Father and you are His children. Now then, but instead of singing, we find
someone Solemnity we find someone very
solemn this man Joshua and Then he showed me Joshua the high
priest and this man Joshua. I want you to know this he was
a believer This man was already one that had been delivered from
captivity. This is one man that God had
chosen to be His high priest. This is one man that God had
set forth to be His minister, to rebuild the temple. This was
a very important position. And God promised that that temple
would be built, that that worship would be restored, and was it?
Was that physical temple rebuilt? Was that worship then restored
in that old time? Yes, it was. They did deliver
them from Babylon. He did tell them. Matter of fact,
He even determined the time, 70 years. 70 years and you'll
be delivered. And then I'll rebuild Jerusalem.
And so now He's rebuilding Jerusalem and the Lord shows Zechariah,
this high priest, standing before the Lord. But there's someone
standing with him. Here he is, he's coming before
the Lord, yet there's someone there, someone else. Who is it? Satan. Satan. Satan is standing at his right
hand to resist him, or to hinder him in his worship. Here he is,
the high priest, he's worshiping God, he's coming before God,
and yet he has someone hindering him someone resisting him now I want you to know the purpose
of my message believer I want you to know this that you should
you should see yourself here this morning as you come to worship do you not feel resistance I'm preaching and I feel resistance.
My flesh is opposing me more than anyone else. But I know
this, the enemy opposes us. God has commanded us to sing
and rejoice and be filled with joy and faith and love. And yet
here we are, most of the time, we mold. Is that not your case? Because it sure is mine. We always have someone resisting
us in our worship, and you're having someone resist you even
now. It is Satan. You know, when Job
met before, I don't have this, but when Job met, it says that
the sons of God assembled themselves, and Satan came also. What was that? They were having
church. They were having worship service. The sons of God is nothing. It's just like you're a son of
God. We've come here to worship. We've gathered ourselves together,
present ourselves before the Lord, and Satan comes also. Don't think he doesn't appear.
Every chance he gets. Now then, how should he oppose
this man? This man was chosen of God. This
man was ordained of God. His work was predestinated of
God. How then could Satan resist this
man who was chosen? How could he accuse this chosen,
ordained, and called apple of God's eye? Verse 3, this is it. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments. This is how he could do it. This
is why he does it. He presents himself, Joshua's
coming before God, and he's dressed in filthy rags. High priest's not supposed to
be dressed in filthy rags. Supposed to be dressed in white
linen. That's how the high priest's supposed to present himself.
And yet Joshua doesn't have it. Believer. How often is this our
case? We are accused by Satan because
of our sin. That's what this pictures. He
is coming before Christ with his sin, and Satan stands to accuse him.
As we approach unto God, as we seek to worship God, as we seek
to serve Him this morning, I tell you this, you are constantly
being accused. Now Joshua surely had sinned
against God. Either that or he permitted it. Some commentators, well I know
this to be true, but they married in Babylon. When they were in
captivity they married women of Babylon. And that was against
the law. And now that they had been delivered,
that the guilt of that sin was coming up before Joshua. Either
he himself had married one, or his sons had married one. But
he had come now with the guilt of this before God. And so Satan,
seeing the conscience of God's chosen man, pricked, Seeing this
man is guilty of a sin, confessing it before the Lord, he takes
the opportunity to fire his darts of accusation and resist him
in his communion with Christ. Consider this, Satan says, oh
Joshua, how in the world could you possibly think you're God's
high priest? How could you stand before God
in such filthy garments? How can you approach and be accepted
of God? Surely God's people will not
come to Jerusalem now. Surely it will be empty seeing
that you are filthy and full of sin. Surely God will not fulfill
His word now. Is this not our case, believer? We who are called of God to faith
in Christ, we are called to flee from self-righteousness and look
to Christ. Surely the gospel comes so sweetly
to our hearts, it distills like the dew in the gentle rain, and
we believed on Christ. Oh, the wonders of His grace
when we first believed. It's magnificent. It was refreshing. We come to God. I like this hymn. I wrote it
down for you by John Kent. He wrote this. He said, We were
at peace with hell and war with God. In sin's dark maze we wandered
far, indulged our lust and still go on, as far from God as sheep
could run. Glory to God we never shall rove
beyond the limits of His love, fenced with Jehovah's wills and
shalls, firm in the everlasting hills. The appointed time rolls
on apace, not to propose but call by grace. To change the
heart, renew the will, and turn your feet to Zion's hill. Isn't
that our experience? That was our experience. He turned
our feet, we ran away and now we run to Christ, we run to God. So we believe and we sing and
we set to work and worship our God to proclaim His word. For we are now kings and priests
unto God, heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Yet, we like Joshua
still are strapped and laden with that old man. We're still
strapped with it. The flesh in which dwelleth no
good thing. We are weighed down with the
body of this death which is nothing but filthy rags. Now if any man claims to be free
from sin completely in his nature, he's a liar. I don't know if
anybody knows this or not, but there are many people teaching
this, that when a man is saved, he doesn't sin anymore, and they'll
tell you flat-footed they don't sin. I tell them they just sinned
because they lied. They don't like that very much.
John said this, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. Therefore, we By our fleshly
nature can do no righteousness. All we do is mix with sin. Now, surely we're not aware of
all our sin at all times, are we? Are you aware of all your
sin at all times? I imagine you would go mad if
you knew all the sin that you commit every day. But when we, like Joshua, And
like David was, are guilty of such outward evils, surely this
rouses the enemy of our souls to cast darts at us. Paul said, if thy brother be
overtaken with a fault. How prone are we to sin? Believer,
how prone are you to sin? How often are we ourselves tempted
and drawn away with our own lust and enticed? How often do we
forsake our Lord? How often do we deny Him as Peter
did? How often do we set our affections
on the world as Lot did? Or fail to wait on God's promise
as Abraham did? And when our sin overtakes us,
we are found out before the Lord, and what can we do? What can
you do? When you're found out, what do
you do? I tell you, you should do what
Joshua did. He came before the angel of the
Lord in silence. He came confessing. That's what he was doing. In
his filthy garments. Notice Joshua, he didn't try
to change his clothes. He didn't try to hide his clothes.
He came as he was. He was confessing his sin before
God. That's what we should do. Are
you found out? Are you found out? Confess thy
sins before Christ. He's come before the Lord and
Satan's accusations. All he can say is truth. What else could he say? He was
guilty. What else do you say when you
come before God in confession? When Satan accuses you of sin,
what can you say? That's right. I confess. I just come in confession before
the Lord as Joshua did. And there he stands in the filthy
garments of his sin. And this we say, against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I don't dare try to hide my sin
from God. It is a foolish effort. What
do you suppose you've ever hidden from God? You try. We come confessing. This is what believers do. We
don't try to hide it. We come confessing it. For what? Mercy. You see, I come confessing
my sins to Christ for mercy. That's what Joshua came. Don't
hide your sin from Christ, confess it. Come even as you are. Come even as you did at first.
How did you first come to Christ, believer? Did you not first come
confessing your sin? How should you come today? Confessing
your sins the same as you did at the first. Confessing our depravity. Isn't
that what we do when we come and confess our depravity? David
did. He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned. You know what he said? He said, in sin
did my mother conceive me. I was shapen in iniquity, Lord.
Remember my depravity. Matter of fact, he makes that
his plea, doesn't he? He makes it his plea. And therefore, John says, if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Let us confess. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. Come, believer, in your rags. Come to him. who alone is able
to save you to the uttermost. Come as you are. Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for
me. Now in verse 2, notice what the
Lord does here. So you have Joshua coming, he's
accused, he's resisted, and he truly is guilty. Now then, notice
the rebuke of the Lord. In verse 2, the Lord said unto,
who? Satan! He said unto Satan, the
Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! Even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee, is this not a bran plucked from the fire? Why was Satan rebuked and not
Joshua? Even the same reason that you
and I, when we come to confess our sins, are not rebuked of
God. He is rebuked because of divine
election. Isn't that what the Lord tells
us here? He says, the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem. Here's the reason Satan is rebuked,
divine election. Even because God hath chosen
this man and justified this man. It was God who chose His people,
loved His people, purposed to save His people. It was the love
of the Father and the will of the Father that Joshua should
be a high priest. Even so it is with us. Believer,
you and I were chosen of God. He said, Satan, I rebuke you
for accusing mine elect. These are my elect. These are
mine. I've chosen them. Now the Lord
was not unaware of Joshua's sin, for he uses the illustration
of a brand pluck. He said a brand. Do you know
what a brand is? It's a cut stick. That's all it is. When you cut
off a stick, it's just a dead stick. There's nothing in the
stick that was of any value. There was no fruit on the stick.
There was no goodness in the stick. There's no value in the
stick. He said, it's just a stick. But
you know what makes that stick precious? I chose that stick. That's why. So then, believer,
as we come before Christ, what is the reason God would rebuke
Satan and not you? Because I have chosen you, a
dead stick. There's no value in the brand. There's no value in Joshua. The
only difference between him and the lost was that God plucked
him out. What's the difference between
you and the rest of the world? Why is it God will not rebuke
you and will rebuke the rest of the world for sin? Because
God plucked you out. I chose you out. from among the heathen. Though
Satan accuse us, though the world condemn us, though even my conscience
assault me, my hope rests in the sovereign grace of God in
Christ alone. Consider that if there was no
sovereign election, there would be no salvation. Had God not
plucked us out, there would have been no salvation for us. Now election, listen, is not
salvation. Election is unto salvation. It is the root of salvation. In Roman 9, Paul proves that
election of Jacob and Esau was by the grace of God. By His Word to Moses, He said,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And whom He will, He hardeneth. That God had taken from the same
lump of fallen humanity and made vessels of honor and vessels
of dishonor. Now the religious and self-righteous
will say this, if God chose some and not others, and His will
is always obeyed, then how then could He punish them? That's
what you'll say. And you know what Paul comes
to? He comes to the height of the end of all human reason.
You know what he says? He says, who in the world are
you to reply against God? The Lord that chose Jerusalem
rebuke you. Who are you to reply against
God? And that's exactly what he does
to Satan. He says, Satan, who are you to reply against me? I chose this one. Shut up. That's
what he said. Shut up. I chose him. That should end all conversation,
all doubt. I chose him. Why am I rebuking
him? I chose him. I purposed to save
him. A brand plucked out of the burning. God is the potter and we are
the clay. He had chosen some men to honor
and some to dishonor. And Isaiah said, if he had not
done this, we would have all been as Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider
those Gentiles who followed not after righteousness have obtained
it. How? through sovereign grace. That's how. Those Jews followed
after the law and they didn't obtain righteousness. Why didn't
they obtain it? Because they sought it not by faith. But we who have obtained it. We obtained it, how? By the sovereign
election of God. The election of God hath obtained
it. And so then, Satan is rebuked. for his assault upon Joshua and
upon every believer, for God has chosen us. Second of all,
he is rebuked because we were given to Christ. You see, God
chose us and then put us in Christ. He made Christ responsible for
our salvation. We were a bran plucked from the
burning, but I tell you, we did not escape the burning judgment
of God. Our sins were not just forgiven
with the wink of an eye. No, God must punish sin. And I tell you, He did punish
our sins. This is how I can go to Him and
confess my sins and be forgiven my sins, even because they were
punished. In Christ Jesus, my substitute. We consider, as we confess our
sins, the Lord does not rebuke the believer even because of
our union with Christ, because in Him we have all righteousness,
wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. We who believe on Christ have
obtained the wisdom of God to see that He is all in all. And
so when we come, when Christ came into this world as a man,
And he honored and put away, he honored the law of God. Consider
this, believer, why you're not rebuked? Because you honor the
law in him. Consider why you're not rebuked.
Because you suffered for sins when he suffered. When he died
for your sins, you died. And when he was risen again from
the dead and justified before God, so were you. So were you. Behold, believer in Christ, we
are the elect of God, not by any merit of our own, for we
come to Him in filthy rags of our sins. Isn't this how we came?
We came in the filthy rags of our sins, and we were forgiven
then, and I tell you, even now it's the same. His grace is the
same. It doesn't change. Now, my son,
he may come to me one time, and I may just let it go. He may
come to me the second time, and I may punish him. There's no
telling what I'll do. But I'll tell you this, God is
always the same. He doesn't change. If He chose
you, redeemed you, and called you, He'll keep you. and nothing
will ever separate you from Him. We have obeyed the truth, we
have believed, and you know this, Christ, God is well pleased with
us. That's why He won't rebuke you. Our Lord said to Jesus, God said
to Christ, This is my beloved son, listen, in whom I am well
pleased. You know where I was? In whom?
I was in him. And therefore, because he was
pleased with him, he's pleased with us, and he will not rebuke
us. And so the apostle Paul in Colossians,
he comforts us. who are still contending with
this body of death, and he says this to you, you are complete
in him. You are complete in Christ. Therefore, who is he that condemneth
you? It is God that justified. Who's
accusing you? God justified me. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again. Who then shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Nobody. Not one person
shall separate us. Not one thing. Behold the joy
of your salvation that Christ ever liveth to make intercession
for you. Do you have sin? Do you have guilt? Come before
Christ. He is thy intercessor. And you
know what? When you come, He doesn't rebuke
us. He rebukes the one who accuses
us. And now then, listen, he says
this, verse four, and he answered and spake to those that stood
before him, saying, Take away the garments from him. And he said, Behold, I have caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a
change of raiment. You notice that he's not ignoring
his sin. He's dealing with it. How does he deal with it? He said, take it away from him. Isn't that what he did at the
cross? He took your filthy garments from you. He put them on his
son. He paid for your sin. Paid for your sin. Take away
the filthy garments from him. Put them on my son. Put them on my son. And behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to cease and pass from you. He said, I've caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee. Isn't that what he told David
when he confessed his sins? He said, the Lord hath put away
thy sin. And what does he do? He said,
I will give you a change of raiment. What is this? He has taken our
sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. And what
has he done? He has made a robe of righteousness,
and he says, put it on him. Isn't this what the Holy Spirit
does to us? He gives us a new nature. He gives us that righteous,
holy nature that's in us that cannot sin. And he said, set a fair mitre on
his head. Put a crown on him. You know your kings and priests
unto God? You put a crown on him. Peter calls it an incorruptible
crown. And you know what they did? So
they set a fair mitre on his head and they changed his clothes.
Why? Because Christ said to. Told them to. Why is it you're
saved and others are lost? Christ told them to. Christ commanded
it. And now then he tells his preachers
to tell you this. This is what we're here for.
We preach this gospel to you who believe that Christ has taken
your sin and that he has given you his holy garments of righteousness. And look at this. And the angel
of the Lord stood by. What does that mean? He made
sure it was done. I remember when I was working
with my dad, he would always stand by. What was he doing? He was making sure it was done
right. It was his name on the line. It was his business that
I was working for. And so the results reflected
on him. And listen. The results of your
salvation will reflect on the Lord Jesus Christ. Your salvation is infinitely
tied with his person and glory. And the angel of the Lord stood
by to make sure it was done. What is he doing right now? He
is standing by to make sure that everything is done. Even as he
purposed. Who then shall separate us from
the love of God in Christ? Shall your sin? Will your filthy garments separate
you? Will Satan separate you? Will your feelings about the
matter separate you? No. It's done. Salvation's accomplished. So you come to your Savior in
your filthy rags, and you'll go away with His glorious, spotless
garments. A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant
mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on. My person an
offering to bring. May God, even now, bless your
hearts with His Word.