Well, good evening, and it's
so good to be here. Thank you for your prayers on
our behalf and our travels. We bring you tidings from Brother
John Reeves and the folks down there at rescue, and continue
to remember them in prayer. Join me tonight, if you would,
in this wonderful book of Zechariah, The Gospel According to Zechariah. We're going to be looking at
some wonderful passage verses here tonight. And I think we
could all agree that this whole chapter, this whole book as we've
studied it so far, is filled with Christ. That's one thing
we can be guaranteed of when we go into the Word of God, into
the Bible, we're going to find it's filled with Christ. How
much time he spent with his disciples, showing them all things in the
scriptures concerning himself, it doesn't say. But we have a
lifetime of enjoying the Spirit's instructions on the things of
Christ in the Old as well as the New Testament, the message
of the gospel. Here in the book of Zechariah,
and we're gonna be, I would like to read verses one through seven. One through seven. And we'd like
to spend a little time on five, six, and seven tonight. Zechariah
chapter three, verse one. 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 rebuked thee. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake
unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with a change of raiment. And 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, 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. Hear now, O Joshua. Now we're not going to be looking
at verse 8, but I just want us to notice right up at the next
ridge, We have this, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. What a beautiful thing to behold,
what a beautiful statement, and what a beautiful study, we look
forward to that. But let's back up here just a
little bit in this book of Zechariah, and Lord willing, we'll pick
out some things, you'll reveal some things that will do our
heart good. We notice in this verse that
we're drawn to, in verse six, verse six, The angel of the Lord
protested unto Joshua saying, now when this was translated,
this word protested doesn't mean what we have today. It means
something else. It means that he was charged. Where did I put that here? He spoke very solemnly to Joshua,
or he gave this charge, or he admonished Joshua. He's not protesting
about his garments. He's not protesting about him
being cleansed from his sin. He's not protesting about his
life before he was cleansed from his sin. He is charging him.
So we're gonna look at this and say that the Lord God of heaven
is setting before us a sacred ordination, or a sacred setting
apart. He's giving him a charge. This
is what you will do. This is what you'll do. Now,
if we get, we're gonna get down there into verse seven, and it
says several times the word if is used there. We're gonna find
out that this, if we leave it in that just simple if form,
we're gonna find out that Joshua gets this before he gets his
robe. And that's not the truth. We
get this as a result of getting our robe of righteousness, of
being cleansed from sin. But let us look here for just
a moment at the thought of the ordination. He's being set apart.
The angel of the Lord charged him. The angel of the Lord said,
this is a very solemn thing I am doing. This is he admonished
him, and you know we're going to look at some verses tonight
about the word Messiah or Christ Because those two names those
two titles that are given both mean anointed or set apart or
in some manner ordained and this happened before the foundation
of the world the Lord was set apart by In the covenant of grace,
he was ordained for this purpose, to be the savior of his people. And he's charged with that. God
the Father, and I could say God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
charged him with this, that you will be the savior who will save
my people. And he was set apart for that
task. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. It wasn't the mere thought of
Adam sinning that caused that to happen. It's the covenant
of grace before all. We just can't go to the time
yet. We haven't been able to see that yet. So let's look here
at this thought of this one set apart, the God's true ordination. In the book of Acts chapter 13,
we have what the Lord does from a human standpoint for people. In Acts chapter 13, there are
some things that take place here that are so perverted today. I remember many years ago, 50
years ago now, that they wanted to set hands on me and ordain
me. Well, after I was saved, that
was just a piece of paper that meant absolutely nothing. because it is not men that ordain,
it is God that ordains. Men recognize the ordination,
but God does the ordination. Men recognize the setting apart. People recognize that, churches
recognize that, but it's God that does the setting apart.
Well, here in the book of Acts chapter 13, we have verse one,
now we're in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets
and teachers, as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger
and Lucis of Cyrene and Manan, which had been brought up with
Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. We've got some people here in
the church at Antioch that are ministers, that are servants.
They have heard the gospel, the truth of the gospel, God brought
to them, the effectual working of the Holy Spirit. God brought
to them the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. God brought
them out of where they were to himself, and he gave them the
new birth, and they're here in a place where they were studying
and worshiping God. I was reminded tonight of something
Brother Mahan shared with me about school. Go to school and
learn who discovered America. and get in a gospel church and
learn about Christ. That is the college of the Lord
when it comes to the things that be of God. We're not going to
find schools that are going to teach like the word of God and
like churches should be teaching. Now, I'm not going to interfere
with anybody that goes off to a school and tries to get some
higher education about the Bible. But I'll tell you right up front,
if they come to me, I'll tell them, get in a gospel church.
That's where you'll really learn the gospel. And it'll be far
greater than going and listening to, and Brother Bill said he
went to seminary and not one of his teachers believed in the
divine inspiration of scripture, the virgin birth, and two or
three other things. Not one of his teachers. And
here it is, a seminary teaching the Bible. Well, save yourself
some time, get in the gospel church. Well, here they are.
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said. Now, this is so often left out
of the program. This is so often left out of
the plan. What the Holy Ghost is going
to do, he's going to do. It says here, the Holy Ghost
said, separate me Barnabas, and Saul for the work whereunto I
have called them. Separate to me these two men."
Now, that word separate means to mark off from others by boundaries
or limits. Mark them off. to a point, to
set apart for some purpose, to exclude as disreputable. Now it's used in a positive sense
and it's also used in a negative sense and here it's used in a
positive sense because it was through this that the gospel
was going to be preached and where was the gospel preached?
Why did the Holy Spirit lead Saul and Barnabas to certain
places? Because there was sheep there
and for no other reason. He took them where the sheep
were. There were those who needed to hear the gospel at that time. They were appointed to life at
that time. So he moved them out to preach
the gospel. Why wasn't the gospel taken to
other places? Because there was no sheep there.
That's just it. Why do we have missionaries who
believe the gospel in certain places of the world today? Because
there are sheep there. Why are we here? Because there
are sheep here. and when that is finished as
Ephesus is no longer there, the sheep had been saved and it was
over. There's no longer a need anymore. Now, we pray in time that it
might come back. We pray a place that loses may
have the blessing of the gospel brought back to them. But only
sheep are going to hear what God has to say and that's where
he's going to send the gospel. and we notice here that it was
not some board, it was the Holy Spirit that led them. How did
we meet? I look back sometimes and I just
stand amazed at how we met at a funeral. Of all places to meet
somebody that wants to hear the gospel, it's at a funeral. We
weren't planning that. Nancy and I were not planning
to go there to find out if we find a church that would take
us, and the people that came there were not looking for anything
else but to honor the person that had passed away. But in
the purposes of God, God moved the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
moved upon us. So here, separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called him. And when they
had fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away.
What does that mean? May God bless you in your travels. If we were gonna do it today,
we'll shake hands, or when Brother Lance is around, we hug him.
God bless you as you travel. May you minister the gospel wherever
you go. And that's what this means. And
that's what Joshua, the high priest, is charged by God. I'm going to have some things
for you to do, and it's gonna be brought out in that next verse
and the rest of that chapter, but I charge you I charge you,
it's a serious thing to be charged with the gospel. Well, turn with
me, if you would, over to the book of Matthew chapter 25. This
same word is used here, but it's in a negative sense, because
here we have the Lord as a shepherd. Matthew chapter 25, and there
in verse 32, Matthew 25 and verse 32, we have these words. It says, and before him shall
be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another. Now, there's no argument about
which line you get in. This God, the God of the Bible,
is all powerful and sovereign in every word he speaks. And when he spoke the world into
existence by the word of his power, We wish we had some of
that, but we don't. He does, and he practices it. And that's why when his word
goes out to his lost sheep, it will be effectual. It will stir
them. It says, separate them from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. So this group
is gonna be set in this place, and this group is gonna be set
in that place, and there's no argument, there's no discussion. It is going to fall out that
way, and he is going to speak to those on the right hand, welcome.
and he's gonna speak to those on the left hand, depart, and
that's just the way it's gonna be, and nobody's gonna argue
about it. Why? Because God's doing it, and he's
saying, separate. This is, I have ordained it,
and you are ordained to eternal life, and you are ordained to
non-eternal life, to hell. You know, so often we skip verses
of scripture that share that there are those folks that are
ordained. to the left-hand side and to
the right-hand side. Sometimes I just leave it and
say that God just leaves them alone. But when we read in scriptures,
it's more serious than that. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Romans. The book of Romans, this is much
like we're going to see with Joshua there in the book of Ezra. Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter
1. Paul was seriously charged in
the book of Acts chapter 13. He was charged by the Holy Spirit. He was charged by the Word of
God. Faithful preacher. Be a faithful
preacher. It's come more and more in a
discussion. I've talked to several preachers
that are my age group or a little later, and I just shared with
them that I think that a whole lot of what Paul is sharing with
the folks there at Galatia is if a preacher comes along and
he's changed due to mental, Disarrangement, stop him. Stop him. Don't let him go on. He wouldn't
want to go on if he knew what he was doing. He'd want to be
stopped if he knew what he was doing. So stop him. And in love,
we need you to sit down. That's all there is to it. And
be thankful. All right. Give me the grace,
guys, when I get to that point. You say, sit down. And I hope
I will. All right, here's Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God. That's the charge we're going
to see with Joshua over in Ezra. Charged, separated into the gospel
of God. What a serious thing it was for
God to come down and charge him. Just like he charged Moses. Just
like he charged the prophets of old. It was no small thing
that he would take them from the plowing. It was no small
thing that he'd take them from sheep herding. They were just
as happy as a clam doing the plowing and doing the sheep herding,
but God came along and called them. And now they had a charge. What is it here? Separated unto
the gospel of God. Don't go to the left hand or
to the right hand on this. Stick with this to the end. As
long as you're capable, stick with this. And many of those
Old Testament prophets and preachers of the gospel paid for that with
their lives. Just as we heard read recently
about John the Baptist. He paid for preaching the gospel
with his life. Paul. paid for preaching the
gospel with his life. But they would not come back
at us in a heartbeat once they passed over the river and are
in the presence of the Lord. Well, one other place, would
you turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter one, as we
think about this ordination, this setting aside, as the Lord
himself, the word Messiah and the word Christ means to be anointed
or set aside for a particular task. And there was an ordination
that went on in the covenant of grace. The Savior was ordained
to be the Savior. Now there wasn't a time element
on this. There was an eternal element on this. He is the eternal
Savior. to save eternally all that the
father had given him, and he loves them with an everlasting
love. And he has an everlasting redemption for them, he has an
everlasting sanctification for them, he has an everlasting,
everything is everlasting. We discover it in the new birth. We could care less, number one,
and we wouldn't even be interested at number two. It's out of our
league, number three, until it's revealed to us. We just don't
have anything in it. And then we find all of this
took place before the foundation of the world. And God's people
say, hallelujah, because I'd have never turned on my own.
I know what I am. I would have never bowed. I would
have never come. I would have never got out of
the pit. I'd have never. And yet we have this wonderful
blessing of the effectual working of the Holy Spirit upon God's
people and the one ordained. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
all the covenant promises in the cross, on the cross, and
now is about applying that to lost people that he knows where
they are and the gospel is going to go to them. It's not a mistake
when someone preaches the gospel in Central Point. It's not a
mistake. It's not a mistake that someone
preached the gospel down there in San Diego. Wasn't a mistake.
It's on purpose, God ordained it. Wherever we were and wherever
the gospel came to us, it wasn't a mistake, we were there on purpose.
All right, Galatians chapter 1 and verse 15, it says, Paul
said this, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and call me by his grace, he was so intimately
involved with me, separated me from my mother's womb, knew every
step I took. He knew every lie I would tell
on God. He knew everybody I would arrest
and everybody that I would have put to death. Even while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. And Paul is such a prime
example. But here he looks back and he
says, I know now, I was separated from my mother's womb. And it
goes on to say, and he called me by his grace to reveal his
son in me. This is it. This is where I was
set apart. I was set apart in the covenant
of grace, but it became reality when the gospel was brought to
me and God worked a work of grace in me and gave me the new birth. Now, he doesn't create a better
us, he puts his spirit in us. We get to carry this old flesh
to the grave. All right, let's go back to the
book of Zechariah. In chapter seven of Zechariah
chapter three, verse seven, The angel of the
Lord said in verse 6, the angel of the Lord, the Lord himself
said, I charge you, I set you apart, I ordain you, however
we want to explain it. God had an interest in this person
and he had an interest in him just like we have an interest
in Isaiah or Jeremiah or John the Baptist. John the Baptist
was filled with the spirit before he was born. I don't understand
that, but I know that God's people are marked out for salvation
before they're born. All right, Zechariah chapter
3, it says in verse 7, now I know these words could not be a condition. Many people want to take these
as a condition. If you follow this through, then
you will be okay. Well, if that were true, then
removing that dirty apparel and clothing him and saying to him,
I have taken your iniquities would be after this verse of
scripture. If this was the condition for the new birth, if this was
the condition for salvation, if this is what we had to do,
then those verses that talk to us about that garment and about
what Joshua was after that new garment was put upon him, he
was clean, then it would be after this verse of scripture. But
we know that's not true because there's no way in this world
that we can keep these words. These are the results of the
everlasting covenant being revealed to us in the person of Christ
Jesus when we're born again. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. These, as it says here in chapter
three and verse seven, thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt
walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge. Sometimes this
word if is translated since. Since thou walk in my ways and since
you'll keep my charge, then thou shall also judge my house or
you're identifying yourself as someone. Now, that's the difference
between putting the cart before the horse and putting the horse
before the cart. Faith, belief, trust, repentance,
all of those things are fruits of regeneration. They are never
the procurement of. Once we make them the procurement
of, we have made works the very most center part of our salvation,
and that is so contrary to all the word of grace. And the Apostle
Paul dealt with this. If it's of grace, it's no more
of works, and if it's work, it's no more grace. Don't even mention
the word grace if you're gonna say, I've been saved by my own
righteousness, because it's not grace. So, let's look at this. Behold, I have, in verse four,
he's already told Joshua, behold, I have caused thy iniquity to
pass from thee. How much was he a participant
in this transaction? Zero. He was not a participant
in getting that, the old cloth off of him. He was not a participant
in getting the new robe on him, and he was not a participant
in being cleansed of his iniquity. This is all acts of God. This is all the blessings of
grace. God does take our iniquities,
and he cleanses us in the blood of Christ, and he gives us himself
as our robe of righteousness, and it's all of God. And as a
result of that, we have been given the ability to believe. Romans 10, how shall I believe
except they have heard? So we're given the ability to
believe, to have faith. We're given the ability to repent,
and repentance is never mentioned as a repentance of sins. That's
religion talking. Religion talks about that. Repentance
is a true change of mind about God. All things have passed away. Behold, all things become new.
That's repentance. God provides that too. We're
moved from the worship of dead idols and the worst dead idol
we could ever worship is our own self-will and our own free
will. We worship it to our dying day
if we're not intervened in. We are caused to turn from the
worship of dead idols to the living God. Turn me and I shall
be turned. That's what the psalmist said.
So it's not us, it's him. This is a wonderful thing. Behold, I have caused an iniquity
to pass from thee. These filthy garments were taken
away. New garments were given. And
besides that, he was given a fair mitre of pure linen clothes,
of the helmet of salvation. was granted to him, just like
is granted to everybody that God works and deals with. If works were required to get
salvation, then all this process would be taken care of after
we took care of it. but we can't take care of it,
never could, never will, and so it's granted to us as a precursor. And then we find out what a glorious
thing this salvation is. Thy sins and thy iniquities are
removed. Joshua is declared to be a child
of God. He's adopted. He's identified
by having what? Christ's wisdom. He's identified
as a child of God. Now he's always been. It's a
blessing when God reveals it to us, that this has been an
eternal thing. Eternity past. God gave a people
to the Son. That's what he said in John chapter
17. In eternity past, God gave a people to the Son. And the
Son, with those people, promised that He would be a Savior that
actually saves. And by that, He intended to be
their Redeemer and pay for all their sin. and take it away,
as we find here, take, I've taken your iniquity away, I've passed
it from you. Well, we looked at that before
and saw that that sin was passed to the Lord, to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Savior, it was passed to Him when He went to the cross.
We couldn't take care of it, we couldn't take care of one
sin, not alone a whole load of it, but He took care of all of
it. It was brought to him, imputed to him, placed upon him, and
when God the Father gave that final crowning blow, and the
response of the Lord is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Justice was served, death was
given, Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, and by that, we know sin
was taken care of because the third day, He came out. Joshua is declared to be the son of God because he is identified having
Christ's righteousness. What a wonderful robe has been
given to him. the robe of righteousness, the robe of Christ, to be clothed
with Christ. He is identified by having Christ's
sanctification. Left to himself, there is no
sanctification. There's not a whit of him. His
fingernail is not even sanctified. It doesn't matter how good we
become, there is no sanctification in what we've done, but there's
sanctification in Christ and it's complete. I appreciate that
message that Brother Mike brought on that subject. We must have
Christ's sanctification. I have to say that was a little
too long, so I shortened it for sermon audio. And Joshua is declared to be
the son of God, to be a child of God, adopted, because he's
identified by having Christ's redemption. He's redeemed, not
by some animal blood that he's gonna get splattered on his coat. Not by going through all that
process, all the lambs. never took away one sin. The
blood of bulls and goats did not take away sin. Not one sin
was dealt with by that. But He, by the sacrifice of Himself,
has made all His children holy, sanctified, righteous. They are
redeemed. And He never once, He never once
offered all of this to Joshua. He just did it. Joshua would
have resisted. Thank God for irresistible work
of God. Irresistible. We'd all resisted.
We'd all said, not for me. We hear our families and friends
say that all the time. It's not for me. I understand.
I understand. When God makes it, then they
will. Then they will. So this message,
verses four through seven, are summed up and found in Acts chapter
13 and verse 48. It's not by the works that Joshua
was going to go and do. He was. He was going to serve
the Lord. You know, even when he didn't
have a good day, he still was a child of God. Even when he
had a bad day, a rotten day, even when he denied the Lord,
even when he said, I cannot sacrifice another lamb today, he still
belonged to the Lord. The next morning, he found out,
I'm in good graces again. All right, here in the book of
Acts, this 13th chapter of the book of Acts is so outstanding,
but this verse 48, just look at that. There was a whole bunch
of Gentiles that were so glad that Paul stuck around and preached
the gospel to them. Those Jews don't want it, would
you preach it to us? What a grace it was for those
Gentiles to say, Bring it to us again. Well, he did, and here
in verse 48, it says, Acts chapter 13 and verse 48, and when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of
the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. There's Joshua. And then he went on to do the
service of the Lord. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. We can't perform one thing positive
without that being the heart and core of it. And we'll just
work our way in a bad state without it. As many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. And how many people and how many
translations want to go around and turn that around just like
people want to take that passage of Joshua being clothed and his
iniquities taken from him and then get down here and say, see,
he needs to do all this and all this. If that were true, that
would have been after those verses and not before. All right, turn
with me to the book of Ephesians. We've mentioned this in just
a couple of quotes, but this passage of scripture over here
in the book of Ephesians chapter 2, and those World famous verses,
8, 9, and 10 of Ephesians chapter 2. We can't get here without
Ephesians chapter 1, but our time is running out, so we'll
let you do that reading. But in verses, verse 8, it says,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. What is
that? Faith is a gift of God. Not of works. Now here's the
reason. lest any man should boast. 1
Corinthians 1, verses 29 and 31, that no man should glory
in his presence. Here, not of works, lest any
man should boast. God knows us well, doesn't he?
He knows what we would do if it was ours. And we find that
throughout the scripture. Can you just hear that Pharisee? He's practicing this. Lord, I
thank thee that I am not, and I do, not of works, lest any
man should boast, be puffed up, for we are his workmanship. That is an interesting statement.
He made Adam of the dust of the ground. We're his spiritual workmanship. We don't have anything that is
ours. We have all that's his. We are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What
an ordination. He's before ordained that we
should walk in them. So we are his workmanship. Joshua
is his workmanship. What he will do is his workmanship.
He will move in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now when he is moved that way,
he will serve the Lord when he's left to himself for just a second.
Thank goodness for the morning, because grace comes in the morning.
All right, going back to Zachariah. one more time before we close,
here in Zechariah chapter 3. Zechariah chapter 3, there in
verse 7. Let's look at this after the
fact of all that God's done. After He pointed out something
to Joshua that he hadn't even realized. You know, as I read
this, the more and more I realize, the more and more I think that
Joshua, when he was there accused by Satan, he says, boy, this
isn't going to go well. This isn't going to go well at
all. I've got the worst accuser right here, accusing me. And
this isn't going to go well. And then he gets to hear Satan
stifle. I rebuke thee. Shut up. He's mine. Here in verse 7, 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." Now, if we're just
real truthful and real honest, we say, I can only do that in
Christ. I can't do it myself. I can only
do that in Christ. Verse 8, here now, O Joshua,
the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee,
for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. They are people to look as an
example. These are an example. Joshua
is an example, a type, a shadow of the real branch. These other
priests that are around him, they're only types and shadows,
but the real branch is coming. You're a type. You're a high
priest. You're offering sacrifices, but
you're just a type. Don't get big-headed over this,
because I'm sending the branch. I'm sending the Savior. I'm sending
Christ. I'm sending the true high priest.
I'm sending the true sacrifice. I'm sending the Savior. Don't
get big-headed in this. Pastors, don't get big headed,
because this is where we get it. He's the branch. We're just
some bushes that hang on. All right, we'll stop there tonight.