Thank you, Pastor. Let's be turning
to the book of Jude, please. I have so very many things I
would like to say to you personally. Thank you so much for every expression
of love and care and concern for me, for my wife, for our
family, for our congregation. But I'm not here to talk about
me. Jude, the ninth verse. Yet Michael the archangel, when
contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord
rebuked thee. I'm going to try to bring you
a message tonight. I've titled Michael, Satan and
the Body of Moses. There are many who imagine that
Jude is here referring to something passed along by Jewish tradition.
Others who are hesitant to accept that tell us that Jude is here
referring to a fable that was recorded in one of the apocryphal
books called the Ascension of Moses. The notion that somehow
Michael the Archangel and Satan were fussing about whether or
not Moses' body ought to be resurrected from the dead. Now, if you want
to read a bunch of gobbledygook, you can read about that stuff.
But we recognize this book is written by divine inspiration.
And Jude did not get his information from false Jewish tradition,
and he damn sure didn't get it from some apocryphal book. He
is here describing something, though, that was familiar. so familiar to the people of
God in his day that it needed no explanation and no specific
identification. It was something, when he mentioned
it, it'd be like me mentioning Pharaoh in the Red Sea. Man,
I read about that back in Exodus chapters 13, 14, 15. Just like
that. It was something just that familiar
to them. Something that they readily identified with in their
minds. Now notice in the context what
he's talking about. He's been describing in verse
8 filthy dreamers, these false prophets who creep into the church,
who slither their way under the door and get into the church
and into the pulpit and defile the flesh. The word defile there
is interesting. It means to cast a color upon. They defile the flesh by making
the works of the flesh to be works of righteousness. They
cast the flesh in another color altogether. They're filthy dreamers,
he tells us, who despise dominions. That is, they despise all authority
because all authority represents divine authority. They despise
the authority of God and speak evil of that authority at every
opportunity. God's servants and God's people
are not that way. God's servants are subject to
principalities and powers and they obey in magistrates and
are ready to every good work and speak evil of no man. Here
in this ninth verse, Jude gives us a marvelous example of that
kind of humility that submits to authority and that humility
we ought to exemplify and as he does he is referring to the
meekness and humility that which the apostle Paul by inspiration
calls the gentleness of Christ Jesus our Lord and our mediator. Michael the archangel spoken
of here is Christ himself. That's the first thing I want
you to see. Let's look in the word of God and see if that's
the case. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter
12. Now I know that some folks and
probably some of you automatically when you hear somebody refer
to Christ as an angel or even an archangel you kind of get
your backs up and say, no he's not a created angel, he's God.
I didn't say he was a created angel. I said he is Michael the
Archangel. There is but one Michael the
Archangel spoken of in Scripture. Indeed there is only one Archangel
spoken of in Scripture. Every time the word Archangel
is used in the Word of God, it refers to the same person. And
that Archangel is here named Michael. And he's mentioned again
in Revelation 12, verse 7. And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought against his angels and prevailed not. Neither was there
place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth.
And his angels were cast out with him. Now the word Michael
means one who is God. The word Archangel means the
head of the angels. Michael the Archangel is Christ
Jesus the Lord who is God, the head of all principality and
power. Without question, this passage
here in Revelation 12 refers to Christ Jesus and the work
which he performed when he cast Satan out. In John chapter 12,
our Lord Jesus said, Now is the judgment of the world. Now is
the turning point, the crisis, and the time when the world is
judged by me. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. cast out in the sense that he
who had once held the nations of the world in bondage under
the delusion of false religion, our ancestors, our forefathers
in the Gentile world, you remember reading in school about Greek
mythology? When you were just a saver, had
no interest in religion, and you'd hear about the Greeks and
their gods, and you thought, my, what fools were they? That
was your granddaddy. How come? Why would they worship
Zeus, and Thor, and the sun, and the moon, and frogs, and
lice? Why? Why would they? Because
the God of this world blinded their minds by divine decree,
lest the light of the gospel of the glory of God shine in
their hearts. Until that day that Christ said,
now is the prince of this world cast out. to deceive the nations
no more. He's that angel described in
Revelation 20, who with a long chain comes down from heaven
and binds that old serpent, the accuser of the brethren, Satan,
and cast him out, so that he is now held in check under the
power and dominion of the God-man, our Savior, and the gospel now
goes freely into all the world, and God gathers his elect out
of the four corners of the earth, as our brother just described.
What a beautiful little spaceship. the gathering of that eunuch
by the testimony of Philip the evangelist to Jesus Christ the
Lord by the power of God. How come? Because Satan has been
cast out. And now the gospel goes into
all the nations of the world gathering God's elect from the
north and the south and the east and the west. He says to them
all, give up my sons and bring my daughters from afar and they
are brought to him by the power of his omnipotent grace. Without
questioning This describes the work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the binder of Satan. Now notice the reproachful names
that are given to our adversary here in the book of Revelation. He's called the great dragon.
Because he is the deceiver of the whole world, and he's furious,
this dragon, fire-breathing, and he is a serpent, that old
serpent, the deceiver. The same one who deceived our
Mother Eve in the garden. And because he ever refuses God's
saints, and seeks to turn God against us, and seeks to turn
us against God. He's called the devil and Satan,
the accuser. He goes about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. But understand at the outset,
he's under the dominion of Michael, the archangel. He's under the
rule of Jesus Christ, our crucified mediator, who is head over all
principality and power. The accuser who was cast out
of heaven, has been cast out of his power over the nations
of the earth. And thus by his death on the
cross, the Son of God opened the way for the gospel to come
to you and me. We should not be surprised at
all to see the word angel used in reference to our Lord Jesus
Christ in his mediatorial capacity. Gospel preachers are called angels. Read Revelation chapters 1, 2,
and 3. Those seven churches mentioned in those early chapters of Revelation.
The Lord Jesus sends a message, a letter, commissioned to be
written to each of the angels of the seven churches. Now, if
he were talking about weaned spirit beings, how are you going
to get a letter written to them? There's no one talking about
it. He's talking about that fellow sitting right there. Donald Bell, the
angel of this church. The word simply means messenger.
Every local church Raised up by God, God promises to give
a pastor according to his heart who will feed them with knowledge
and with understanding. And that pastor is God's messenger
to that church. Peculiarly and distinctly prepared
and gifted of God to minister to his people in that place.
And that pastor has God's message. He is God's angel to the church.
Christ Jesus, our Savior and our Lord, is the preeminent angel
of the Lord, the head, the chief messenger of God. As you read
through the Old Testament, almost every time, I would say every
time without exception, but I haven't looked at all of them very closely,
but every time that I'm aware of, you see the phrase angel
of the Lord in the Old Testament, he's talking about Christ. Every
time. It is a revelation, a pre-incarnate
manifestation of Christ our mediator and our redeemer. The angel of
the Lord appeared to Abraham. It was the angel of the Lord
who came to Moses at the backside of the desert. It was the angel
of the Lord who came and gave the law at Sinai. It was the
angel of the Lord who appeared to Manoah and his wife and did
wondrously in the sacrifice before them. He is the angel of the
Lord who appeared to the people of old. Our Savior is called,
in Isaiah 63, 9, the angel of Jehovah's presence by whom we
are saved. He is called in Malachi 3, verse
1, the angel of the covenant. Our Lord Jesus, I repeat, is
not a created angel. No, no, no. But He is the eternal
angel of God's presence. He is described this way in John's
Gospel, the Word. The Word, that medium, that mediator,
set up from the beginning wherever the earth was as the Word, the
mediator, the communicator between God and man. He is the angel
of the Lord, the angel of God's presence. The great prince, the
archangel, before whom Daniel trembled. That one who came to
help Daniel and by whose grace Daniel was given strength. It
is he who stands today as he did in Daniel's day as our great
advocate and defender. Jude would have us, as Daniel
did, to behold Michael, our prince. Michael, the archangel, as we
look upon the Lord Jesus in his office capacity as our advocate,
our defender, and our mediator and savior. Then he turns our
minds to behold him acting as our advocate, our savior and
our defender. He speaks of the contention.
The contention of our great savior with the devil, our accuser,
Satan. And they're contending about
the body of Moses. Look at it, Jude 9. Michael the
Archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about
the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation,
but said, The Lord rebuketh thee. Verse 10. Now these filthy dreamers,
he goes on to speak of them in verse 10, he says, These speak
evil of those things which they know not. But what they know
naturally. They speak evil, not of natural
political things, no. But religious things. Things they know not, but the
things that they know naturally. As brute beasts. Even of those things, they speak
foolishly. He's talking then about something
spiritual. He speaks here of Satan. contending
with Christ about the body of Moses. And it says, Our Lord
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but say, The Lord
be with you. Now if you're interested in reading
about the passage, turn with me to Zechariah chapter 3. I told you in the beginning,
this was something about which the leaders of Jude's epistle
in his day were immediately familiar. He's not here referring to Moses'
physical body. Why on earth do you reckon Satan
would want to resurrect Moses' physical body? I can't imagine any reason. That's
not what he's referring to. And our Lord certainly wasn't
about to resurrect Moses' physical body. What's he talking about? He's talking about the law. Moses
is used throughout the New Testament to refer to the law. Moses is
preached. Moses teaches the Jews to forsake
Moses. And Moses is read every day in
the synagogues and in the temple. So the contention here is spoken
of. was a contention that had something to do with God's holy
law as given by Moses. The contention had something
to do with something that was commonly known to God's people.
And it was specific. Here in Zechariah chapter 3,
I'm sure this is what Jude is referring to. And I'm sure you
will be by the time we finish reading these four verses. Here
is Michael, the archangel, our great mediator and advocate,
contending with the devil, contending with regard to one specific man. He showed me Joshua, the high
priest, standing before Christ, the angel of the Lord, and Satan
standing at his right hand to resist You ever been there? I've been there. I've been there
right often. I've been there right recently.
And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord said to Satan, the Lord
rebuked thee, O Satan. Jehovah, the angel of the Lord,
said Jehovah rebuked thee. O Satan, even Jehovah that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand 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 were stood before him saying take away the filthy
garments from him And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused
thy iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with the
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 him. Now let's look at this slide
by line. First, here is Joshua, clothed in filthy garments. This
is not the same Joshua who led Israel into the land of Canaan,
Moses' successor. This is a Joshua who lived in
the days of Zechariah, during the days of Babylonian captivity.
Ezra tells us that while he was in Babylon, this man Joshua,
who was high priest in Israel, had taken to himself an unclean,
idolatrous Babylonian woman. He had taken for his wife a whore
from Babylon. and he stands now back in Jerusalem
this man appointed of God to minister in the holy place as
the high priest of God representing God's people in the holy place
stands before the Lord in filthy garments as one who's been down
in Babylon and contaminated with Babylon and her gods and her
religion and her evil Why is he called Joshua? Well, if Mama
and Daddy named him that, they'd be happy. For the same reason,
my Mama and Daddy named me Don, because God Almighty ordained
it. Why is he called Joshua? Why
did God have this man Joshua standing here in these filthy
garments, standing before the Lord, this one who would be priest
unto God? Joshua is Jesus. He's one with his Savior. We
give Him the children of God. We who are Christ are one with
Christ, and we always have been. Before ever we defiled our garments,
In the sin and fall of our father Adam, we were one with Christ
Jesus, our Mediator and Redeemer. And when our garments were defiled
and we were unaware of the defilement, we were still one with Him. And
when we stood before the Lord with guilt and defilement all
over us, consciously condemned before God Almighty, justly condemned,
we were still one with Christ our Mediator. So that's the way
God sees us. Now hang on to your seats, I've
got shocking, shocking news for you. Tom Wooten, however God
sees you, that's how you really are. Did you get that? Did you get
it? However God sees things, that's
how they really are. However God says they are, that's
how they are. We're one with Christ Jesus.
Now I've gotten ahead of myself. Here stands Joshua, conscious
of his guilt and his sin, standing before the Lord. In verse 3,
we're told that this Joshua is clothed with filthy garments
as he stood before the Lord. And in verse 5, Zechariah tells
us, and... If I had been writing that, you
know how I'd have written it? I'd have written, But he didn't. And he wrote about inspiration.
And he said, and. And suggests a continuation of
things just as they were before. Not a change, not an alteration,
but a continuation. Joshua is standing here before
the Lord, consciously clothed with filthy garments, and Christ
stood by him. Christ stood by. The Angel of
the Lord standing by is our all-glorious Savior, our Advocate, the Son
of God, our Mediator. Not one of the angelic hosts
He created, but the Angel of the Lord, Jehovah's Messenger,
the Angel of the Covenant, the Angel of God's presence. This
one called the Angel of the Lord in verse 1. In verse 2, is called
Jehovah himself. I'm not dissing, but what I'm
telling you, you see, the angel of the Lord stood by and the
Lord saved, the Lord really did save. This man who is God, this
man Michael, who is God, the angel of the Lord the Archangel
Christ Jesus is our mighty advocate our effectual intercessor who
pleads our cause continually with God Almighty Satan is seen
next standing at Joshua's right hand to resist Joshua You dare to presume to go into
the Holy of Holies as a priest before the Holy Lord God? You? Look at this harlot you
have for a wife! Look at the evil of your days
in Babylon! For 70 years you've been down
there committing adultery against your God! And you dare think
you're going to be accepted as God's priest? Accepted in the
holy place? Accepted before God before whose
eyes the heavens are not clean? Accepted before Him who charges
His angels with folly? Accepted before Him whose name
is holy and pure? You dare think you shall be accepted
of Him? Joshua, look at your works. Look at your works. Just look
at them. And you think you're a Christian. You think you're a Christian. Now let me tell you something.
My pastor brethren, hear me. Hear me. Listen now and hear
me forever. It doesn't matter whether this
preacher says it or one of these says it. It doesn't matter if
Bruce Crabtree says it or Don Fortner says it. Anytime you
hear anybody suggest that you look to you for anything that
Satan accuses you. He's raising up Moses before
you. He's daring to challenge you
to present yourself before God on the footing of works. On the
works of the flesh. And we all tend to want to do
it. We love all. We love it. We love works. We love works
religion. It's as natural to us as breathing
is to a living man. We love it. And when we begin
to see folks in the church not acting quite right, you know.
They don't come to church like they ought to. They don't give
like they ought to. Well, Gary, if you really was
a Christian, you would. If you were really a believer,
you'd read your Bible more. If you were really a believer,
you'd pray more than that. If you were really a believer,
you wouldn't have gotten mad and cussed your wife out. Or her got mad and
cussed you out. If you're really a child of God,
what wouldn't you really have done if you was a child of God?
Kill your neighbor and cover it up? To cover up your own adultery? Just what is it you wouldn't
have done? What is it you wouldn't have done if you were really
a child of God? Curse and deny that you ever
met the Son of God? What is it you wouldn't do? Come
on, tell me! What is it you would not do?
Joshua, how dare you? How dare you? Don Fortner, how
dare you present yourself as a priest unto God? Holy, acceptable
and accepted. How dare you? How dare you think
about coming into the holy place before the Holy Lord God? Look
at your works. Look deeper. Look into your heart. Look at your thoughts, your imaginations. Look at your devotion, your commitment,
your consecration, your faith. Look at you. Look at you. And what does Joshua have to
say? nothing. I agree with you, sir. I agree with you. Hmm. Man alive. If you really want to get an
enemy, I mean somebody who's really hot under the cover, you
want to get him hotter, I'll take all the steam out of him.
It'll be one of the two things. Agree with them. Just agree with
them. Agree with them. If they think
you're faking it and acting modest, they'll get worse. But if they're
convinced you agree with them, they'll find a reason to hit
him. Satan, I agree with you. I got no rights. I got no rights. I can't excuse anything. I can't justify a thought, a
word, or a deed. I can't do it. But blessed be
God, there is one standing by. No, no, I said it wrong. And
blessed be God, there is one standing by who takes up my cause
and never lets it He took it up from eternity and he will
never let it go. How Satan resists us. Telling us God demands perfection. God demands that you die. God
demands holiness. Look at verse 2. The Lord, the angel of the Lord,
said to Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Now here's a picture of Christ
making intercession for his elect. Satan's our adversary. Christ
is our advocate. And Joshua says nothing. Joshua
doesn't do anything. He just stands there in silence
before the angel of the Lord. And the Lord Jesus pleads his
cause. Turn over to Micah. Let me show
you another picture of this. Hold your hands here. Turn to Micah
chapter 7. Verse 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy, when I fall. How often we tell folks, boy,
everybody left there watching you. Boy, they want to see you
fall. They want to see you fall. Todd and I were on television
over there in Lexington. Man, every will, worship, and
preacher in that town will see you fall. They want to see you
fall. They want to see it. I pray for
you. They want to see you fall. And they will. They will. If they don't see
it, the fall is there in heaven. It's there. But you fellas don't need to
be too tickled. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I sinned against Him. I'll bear it until He plead my
cause and execute judgment for me. He will bring me forth to
the light and I shall behold His righteousness. Verse 18,
I'll say, who's a god like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,
he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he, he, oh, oh,
himeth, he delighteth in mercy. When the Lord Jesus says, the
Lord rebuketh the old sainted, he's not yielding ground to the
sainted. Oh, no, no, no. No, he's not implying that somehow
he lacks sufficient omnipotence to deal with Satan. No. No, Satan
is his devil. He does exactly what he intends
for it to do. No more and no less. You mean,
Brother Don, Satan's absolutely obedient to the will of God?
Well, of course he is. Of course he is. I didn't say
willingly obedient, but obedient. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Sometimes I'm getting more mellow
in my old age. You folks, if I lived to be 70,
you'd be thinking something else, wouldn't you? But I'm getting
more mellow. I see children misbehaving now, and sometimes I put up with
it. But generally, if I see a 200-pound man begging a 30-pound child
to do something, After two or three times, I'll say, would
you like me to show you how to take care of that? Well, what
are you going to do? Well, I'll tell you what, if
I couldn't make a 30-pound child do what I wanted him to do, right
now, I'd hide with me and the child. Well, he's not wearing
it. That couldn't have anything to
do with it. I weigh a little more than he does. And I throw
my weight at him. And you know what he does in
response? Exactly what I want him to do. As long as he's in
my sight. Exactly what I want him to do.
Well, you bully. Call it what you want to, it
does what I say. And you call God a bully if you want to. Satan's
under the dominion and control of our Redeemer. Absolutely. All the time. He's always under
his eye. Why does he then stand by and
say, the Lord be with thee, O Satan. When the Lord Jesus contended
with Satan, he silenced forever his legal accusations against
Joshua, speaking as the angel of the covenant, pointing to
the irrefutable ground upon which Joshua must stand accepted before
the Holy Lord God. He said, The Lord rebuketh thee. He does not bring a raving accusation
because there wasn't any need. It didn't belong to his character
and office as a mediator, but rather as our advocate. He pleads
his righteousness and his blood, and according to the demands
of law and justice. The Lord God says, Satan, shut
up. Who shall aid? Anything. to the charge of God's wrath. But who is he that can do that?
God justified us. Christ died for us. He makes
intercession for us. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous and,
isn't that a good word, and he is the propitiation for our sins. Three reasons why Joshua the
high priest and every believing sinner must be cleared of all
charges. Three reasons why God cannot
and will not impute sin to his own. The first is the word of
Christ himself as our advocate. Satan is standing there to resist
Joshua. And the Lord stood by him. And
he said, the Lord be with you. As if to say, at my word, God
Almighty accepts my people. Second, it is by God's purpose
of grace that we stand accepted. Even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem. Ridiculous. Why is that so good? Why did he put that in there?
What's the benefit of telling me the Lord chose Jerusalem?
I'm talking about God. God called Jerusalem. Joshua
here represents all God's elect. And in the midst of every difficulty
and trial and temptation, in the midst of every doubt, of
every satanic accusation, fall back my soul on God's free grace. and rest and be at peace with
God. Third, our accuser is silenced
by the immutability of God's grace and the humble state and
condition of God's people. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? I thought to myself, what kind
of argument is that? But let me tell you what kind
it is. Is not this one that I have saved
by my grace? And my grace never changes. I've loved him and chosen him
and redeemed him and called him. You can't have him. You can't have him. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not concerned. But look at him,
his filthy garments. What do you expect? I just pulled
him out of the fire. I just pulled him out of the
fire. What do you expect from a spread tree? He just came out
of hell. What do you expect? I just snatched
him from the holidays. What do you expect? I'm not done
with him yet. I'll finish my work in him. And when I do, I'll present him faultless before
the presence of my glory, holy and unblamable and unreprovable
in my sight with great joy. Now look at the command given
in verses 4 and 5, back in Zechariah 3. Here's the word of grace effectually
accomplished. Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, stood before the angel, verse 4. And he answered and
spake unto those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee. And I have clothed thee with
the chains of raiment. Oh, blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. And he said, verse 5, Who is
this who speaks? Is it the Lord God? Maybe. Is
it Christ, the angel of the Lord? Maybe. It seems to me that the
one here speaking, however, is the preacher, the prophet Zachariah.
He seems to be saying, Amen, to the angel of the Lord's declaration
of grace. Zachariah said, Amen. Let it
be done. let them set a fair miter upon
his head. So they went and they picked
up this fair miter and set it on Joshua's head and clothed
him consciously before Satan his accuser with garments clean and white They went and found the priest's
mitre, by which he had constant access and acceptance in the
Holy of Holies. Do you remember what that mitre
was? It had a plate right here. Holiness to the Lord. And they put on the priest's
garments. Not those gorgeous costly garments than the priest
wore in heaven. Oh, no, no, no. The white linen
garments that he wore when ministering in the Holy of Holies. The linen
garments of spotless purity and righteousness, spattered with
blood, the blood of a sin atoning lamb. Oh, and the angel of the
Lord stood by. Oh, God, do it now for every
chosen sinner in this place. Amen.