Turn with me, if you would now,
to the book of Zechariah, chapter 3. Page 1171 in my Bible. Zechariah, chapter 3. Verse one says, and he showed
me Joshua. And the name Joshua in the Old
Testament is the same name as Jesus in the New Testament. He showed me Jesus. He showed me Jesus Christ. He showed me the Lord Jesus Christ. The high priest. He showed me Joshua, the high
priest. I'm gonna try to do my best today
to not preach to you. I know, excuse me, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna try my best to not preach to you today. I know that's
my calling. I understand that. But my goal
for this morning is to just talk to you. I don't have any control over
whether or not I reach you in your mind and in your heart. That's all of the Lord. Only
the spirit of the Lord can reach a person. But that's my desire
today. That is sincerely my desire. If the spirit of God would be
willing, I pray that he might reach me. I am asking him to
reach me. And I pray that he might reach
you this morning. I pray today is the day. that
He reaches us in a way that would cause us to truly understand
what God has written in His Word, all of it, all of the Word. So let me be candidly honest
for just a minute, okay? A man who will preach the truth
A man who will actually preach the truth in a house of worship that actually
worships the truth of God's Word is hard to find. Very hard to find. The actual gospel of God preached
very simply, very clearly. The actual gospel that saves
people. The one that actually saves people
is hard to find. I understand that that may be
odd. That may sound odd. What do you
mean? There are places everywhere. People are in churches all over
this nation and all over this world, listening to messages
that do not actually save people. That's the truth. People are
in churches right now, listening to messages that do not actually
save people. People talk about getting saved
and being saved who are not actually saved. That is the common situation
for the world of religion. Religion is in a bad situation. People think they are saved,
but they are not saved And the reason that's the case
is because men and women are listening to and they are believing
and they are confessing before God a lie on Him. The message of mainstream religion,
the religion that you can find most anywhere, the broad way
as our Lord worded it. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction. Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.
That's what Jesus Christ said, Joshua. But the message of mainstream
religion is a lie. It declares a God who is not
really God. It declares sin as not really
being sin. It declares the salvation that
Christ accomplished as not really being salvation. It puts salvation in man's hands
rather than in God's hands. And it gives the glory to the
decision and the deeds of man rather than the will and the
purpose and the work of Christ alone. And that's a lying message. That is a false message of lies
and no one will be saved under a false message of lies. The reason I just want to talk
candidly with you is because quite often men and women do
go to a true house of the Lord. We're not the only one. There
are other places that preach God's truth. Thank God. Quite often, when men and women
do go into a true house of the Lord, where the Spirit of God
actually is, and the truth of the Word is
actually being taught, quite often men and women don't really
hear it. Often men and women will go into
one of those places, And, you know, they'll go in
thinking one church building is as good as another, we might
as well go here. And they sit and listen to religious
things being said, but they don't really hear it. You know, they
know that the guy standing up there clearly has a Bible open
and he's saying things that sound like godly things and churchy
things and doctrinal things, but they don't really hear what's
being said from God's Word, the truth of God's Word. When the
truth is preached, Man's total deadness in the flesh is preached. They don't necessarily hear that,
but that's what happens. When the truth is preached, man's
total deadness in the flesh is preached. Can't do anything, can't be anything
other than dead, meaning before God. I know we're all alive before
each other, but before God. Can't make a
decision? He's dead. You know, you'll hear
people say, why don't you make your decision? God says we're
dead and we can't. Can't turn over a new leaf? He's
dead. Can't dedicate? Can't rededicate
his life? He's dead. Can't believe on Christ? Well,
don't you think you ought to believe on Christ? Man can't
believe on Christ. Not in his self, not in his flesh. He's dead. He can't even come
to Christ. Well, aren't you going to come
to Christ? No, not unless God lays hold of me and drags me
to Him. I'm dead. You say, Gabe, why in the world
would you say that? It's because that's the truth of God's Word.
And you being dead in your sins, You hath he quickened who were
dead in sin." Dead. Where the truth of God's Word
is preached, the absolute deadness of man is preached. And therefore,
God's choice in salvation is preached. God tells us in his
word that he did all the choosing in salvation. He said, you have
not chosen me. I've chosen you. John 15. What
do you mean by that? What does that mean? That means
God chose the actual people that he wanted to save. without any influence from them,
without any decision from them, without any doing from them because
they were dead. Where the truth is declared,
God's will and God's choice and God's purpose in salvation is
declared. This is the Lord's doing. This
is all the Lord's doing. God did this start to finish.
God gets the glory for this. When and where the truth is declared,
the success of Christ is declared. And I'm still trying hard to
not preach to you. I'm still trying to just talk to you. So
let me just say that again. Where the truth is declared,
the success of Christ is declared. I pray that we might see this
today. I pray this might reach us today.
Do you notice that in mainstream religion, the whole focus of
it is trying to get people saved? Have you ever noticed that? Doesn't
that make total sense for mainstream religion? In mainstream religion,
the whole focus of it is trying to get people saved. That's the
whole focus of it, trying to get people saved. What are we
doing here? We're trying to get people saved. People talk about trying to win
souls. They want to be soul winners.
They get that from Proverbs 11, verse 30. He that winneth souls
is wise. That's Joshua. He showed me Joshua, the high
priest. Christ is our wisdom. He that
wins souls is wise. That's Christ. That's Jesus Christ. Do you know what the truth of
God's Word declares? It declares that all the souls
that are going to be one have already been won. That's what
it says. Where the truth is preached,
the focus of it is not to get men saved. The focus of it is
to glorify Christ for the salvation he already accomplished. That's, you know, I mean, even
to me preaching it, that's a light bulb thing. Turn the light on
to this thing. To believe that I am instrumental
in the saving of men and women's souls is for me to believe a
lie. He by himself purged our sins
and sat down on the throne of glory. And it's to steal the
glory away from Christ. That's what it is. The man who believes he is a
soul winner does not know God, does not know the accomplishment
of God, and does not know God's Word. You know what the truth of God's
Word says? It says, it is finished. What is finished? The winning
of every soul that the Father hand selected to save. Christ
won all of those souls in the bloodshed and death of His cross. When He bowed His head and gave
up His ghost, crying, Father, it's finished. What that means
is, and what happened right there is, He saved His people from
their sins. All the chosen souls that the
Father said, here, these are ours, save them. Christ did it. And it's done. And the truth
of the gospel is an announcement of that. It through that announcement,
the spirit quickens, gives life, opens the ear, reaches people
and calls them to Christ and calls them to this knowledge. To say that we're going to go
out and now win souls, what that means is we're saying Christ
didn't do it. We have to go do it for Him. And that's a lie. That's a lie. Christ did it. That's a lie on
God. That is what you call a false
religion. That is a false religion. Christ died for the souls that
the Father chose. And Christ saved the souls that
the Father chose. Christ only died for the souls
that the Father chose. And Christ only saved the souls
that the Father chose. Christ was only successful None
of his blood was wasted. Well, he died for that sinner,
but that sinner wouldn't come to him. So that sinner went to
hell. That's a lie. In John 17, he said, I've lost
none of them. None of them are lost. Christ was only successful in
his accomplishment. And the truth of the gospel is
a declaration of that. It is a declaration of Christ,
the successful savior of his people. The gospel of God does
not try to get men and women to do anything. We're commanded to go and tell
how great things Christ hath done for us. We're not commissioned to go
around trying to get people saved. I really want to make that clear.
We're not commissioned to go around trying to get people saved.
We're commissioned to declare He hath saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. We are commanded to declare that,
and God said every soul that the Father chose and Christ saved,
the Spirit will call to believe it. Every soul that the Father
did not choose and Christ did not save will hear it and say,
buddy, I don't believe that. You're crazy. I don't believe
it. I won't listen to that. Every
soul that the Father chose and Christ saved, God will say, come
to me, come to your sovereign, come to your savior. And every
sinner will say, yes, sir. Lord Jesus, I come. Every soul that the Father chose
and Christ saved, the Spirit will call. The Spirit will give
faith and will call to believe that we are not saved by our
works. We're saved by the will and the
purpose. We are saved by the doing and
the dying. We are saved by the mercy and
the grace. We are saved by the blood of
Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone, Christ alone, Christ
alone. False religion tells people that
salvation and the evidence of salvation is in what we do, what
you see us do. That is a lie. Salvation is in
what Christ did. Salvation is in the blood that
he shed, the blood that he brought into the Holy of Holies. to make intercession to God for
the sin of His people. Salvation is in how effectual
that atonement offering was. That means just how full that
payment was. It was made in full, paid in
full. Salvation is in the fact that
by one offering of His own blood, He perfected forever them that
are, not will be, are sanctified. That means holy, perfect, pure. How? In the flesh? No, in Christ,
in the blood of Christ, in the righteousness of Christ, in the
sanctification of Christ. The gospel is not a call to action. We don't get up here and say,
all right, it's time for you to now get up out of that pew and
you come on right down here and you pray what I tell you to pray
and you shake whoever's hand I tell you to shake. And you
get into water and you do this and you do that. The gospel is
not a call to action. The gospel is a declaration of
the finished work of Christ. Salvation is in what Christ has
already done. I don't know if you noticed,
but I've said that once or twice. I'm trying to reach us, begging
the Spirit of God to reach us. The evidence of salvation is
in the Spirit of God quickening a believer, giving that sinner
faith to believe on Christ, to stop looking right here, and
to turn our eyes to the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, He showed
me Joshua. I thought religion was right
here. I kept looking right here. But
finally, God, through His Spirit, by His Word, showed me Joshua,
my high priest. To seek Christ is to see what
Christ has done. It's to look to what Christ has
done. It's to hope in what Christ has
done. It's to trust in what Christ has done. The evidence of salvation
is when a sinner casts his or her all on the finished, accomplished,
successful, intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing the appeasement, seeing
the satisfaction, that's seeing salvation. That's what it is.
That's what Zechariah 3 verse 1 is talking about. It says,
and he showed me Joshua the high priest. He showed me Jesus Christ,
my great high priest. Until God reveals Christ to a
sinner, That sinner will believe that he is his own high priest.
And let me just, I just read that right there. Okay, let me
just talk to you for a minute. Everybody thinks they have to
intercede for themselves to God. Everybody thinks they have to
appease God if God's going to accept them. Naturally, in the
flesh, we're all born into this world believing we have to be
a high priest for ourselves. But when God reveals Christ to
a sinner, the sinner sees and believes, Christ is my high priest
to God. He will believe that Christ is
the advocate, the only advocate that a sinner has before God.
We are not high priests before God. We're dead before God. The
only hope we have is if Christ will be a high priest for us.
We need Christ to intercede for us. What glory comes to a sinner
when he sees that or she sees that? I won't be long. Verse 1, 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, O the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? That's what God's people are.
They are a brand plucked out of the fire. Verse 3, now Joshua was clothed
with filthy garments and stood before the angel. Why was Christ,
our high priest, clothed with filthy garments? It's because
he was wearing the sin-stained garments of all of his people.
Like that Bible study you heard last Sunday morning from Brother
Aaron. on our Lord, washing His disciples' feet. Do you remember
that? They were made clean through Him being made filthy. Their
filth was transferred to Him. Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. Christ stood before the
judgment. Christ bore all the filthy sin of His people. He
suffered the judgment of God on the cross of Calvary. His
suffering was so satisfactory, it was so complete. Verse 4 says,
He answered and spoke unto those that stood before Him, saying,
Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said,
Behold, I've caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with a change of raiment. The Father said, Glorify
Him. Honor Him for what He's done. Verse five, and I said, let them
set a fair mitre upon his head. I said, not unto us, not unto
us, O Lord, unto thy name give all the glory. You did all the
work. You get all the honor. I said,
let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair
mitre upon his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel
of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua. And that doesn't mean he went
against. That means he declared, he intensely testified, he admonished,
he earnestly charged. The angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt
walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and
I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. The
Father said to Christ, if you will obey me, and if you will
earn righteousness for our people, I will accept them in you. That's
what He said. If you will do it, if you will
put away their sin, you establish their righteousness, I'll accept
them in you. Verse 8, Hear now, O Joshua the
high priest, as Christ Thou and thy fellows that sit before thee.
That's the people of Christ. They are men wondered at. For
behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. That's Christ. I thought you said Joshua was
Christ. He is Christ. Joshua is Christ. The branch is Christ. Christ
is all. Verse nine, for behold the stone
that I have laid before Joshua. That stone is Christ. Upon one stone shall be seven
eyes. Seven is the number of completion.
What he's saying is all eyes are going to be on Christ. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. Hebrews 10 says, I had our brother
read it for our scripture reading. It says, men on this earth who
only pictured Christ by being called to the position of priests.
They pictured Christ. There's no more need for priests.
Christ came. They were a picture of the Christ
that would come, our high priest. It says, they daily offered sacrifice
after sacrifice after sacrifice, and their sacrifices of bulls
and goats never took away one sin. But this man right here, This is what it is to see Joshua
the high priest, and he showed me Joshua. This man, Jesus Christ,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down
on the right hand of the throne of God. Why? He was finished. The sacrifice for sin was finished. The sacrifice for sin is finished.
He said, by Christ, my righteous servant, my branch, my stone,
my provided high priest for my people. He said, I will remove
their iniquity in one day. What a day that was. Therefore,
what a day that will be. Verse 10, in that day, saith
the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under
the vine and under the fig tree, the place of rest. He said, because
of Christ, there is rest. There is rest. There is rest. There is rest. There is rest. Now, let me talk to you one more
time, and then I'll be done. I can't tell you how many times
I have heard from people some form of this, okay? I don't like going to church.
What do you do for a living? I'm a pastor. Well, I don't like
going to church. And it's because I can't live
up to what they tell me I'm supposed to do and supposed to be. And I can't live up to the standard
of all those other people who go to church. They're all holy
roller better than me. And they make me feel like they
look down on me. And I need to do better if I'm
going to live up to their standards. And I just can't do it. Okay,
well listen, I wouldn't want to go to that church either.
That sounds like a bunch of hypocrites to me. In the place where Joshua is
revealed, not just religion, not just the law, not just self-righteous
works, in the place where Jesus Christ is revealed, the message
goes from do to done. It goes from you're not good
enough yet to you are complete in Him. Yes, we are all sinners in the
flesh. We are. But Christ came to save sinners.
You just rest in that. When Joshua is revealed, there's
rest. There is rest. When men and women
finally see Christ, their high priest, the one who made the
offering and made the atonement and satisfied God on behalf of
their sin, there's rest. He said, you come to me, I'll
give you rest. Don't go to the law, don't go
to yourself, don't go to anybody. He said, you come to me, I'll
give you rest. Oh, what rest comes to a soul
when that soul can say, and he showed me Joshua. Holy Spirit
of God, please reveal Christ to us. That's my prayer for us.
Lord, please reveal Christ to us. I'll close with this. Go to Hebrews
4. I'll end with this. We just have
to read this. Hebrews 4 verse 9, it says, There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest. I love that. That means you rest
as hard as you can. lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. What is unbelief? Christ didn't
finish the work and I need to go to work. Verse 12, for the
word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. and
of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. What's
our profession? Christ did it all. Verse 15,
for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Oh, may God reveal Christ, our
great high priest to us. And in that, may he give us rest.
I pray every soul here will be able to say, he showed me Jesus
Christ. My grandmother.