Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'm picking up
where I left off last week in Zechariah chapter 3. The book
of Zechariah, the Old Testament prophet Zechariah chapter 3. And the title of this message
is A Change of Raymond. This is part two. I'm going through
chapter 3 of Zechariah, a change of Raymond. Last week I made
the point that this change of Raymond, look in verse 4, he
talks about that. This is where I got the title
from. Where Joshua the high priest of Israel at this time, standing,
this is a vision. that the Lord gave to Zechariah.
And the vision had to do with the high priest of Israel named
Joshua at this time. Not the same man as Joshua back
in the Battle of Jericho, but the same name. And that name
Joshua means savior. It's the equivalent of the New
Testament name Jesus. But here's Joshua, the high priest,
the head priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, the judge,
And Satan, standing at his right hand, accusing him. And the Lord
Jesus Christ has become his, you might say, his defense attorney.
And Satan is accusing this man, saying, this man's a sinner and
deserves death and hell. Well, that's the case with all
of us. I've often said that if God ever gave any of us what
we deserve and what we've earned, it would be death and hell. Now
we need to see that. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And even right now, if God gave
me, even as a just, listen, even as a regenerate born-again believer,
which there's no other kind of believer but a born-again one,
even as a person who knows Christ, if God were to switch horses
in the middle of the stream, so to speak, and decide to judge
me and give me what I've deserved and earned, it would be death
and hell. And what I'm saying there is this. This is what the
gospel is all about. This is what grace is all about,
is that salvation and all of its blessings and benefits have
nothing to do with what I've earned or deserve. It's all of
grace, unearned. undeserved based on Christ and
His glorious person and His finished work. And so when he says here,
look, this is the angel of the Lord pleading for Joshua. He has two points of his defense. He says in verse two, 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 brand
plucked out of the fire? Now I urge you to get last week's
message or listen to it on our website because I made the point. There are two points of his defense.
Number one, God chose him. Number two, Christ redeemed him. That's what this means. This,
when he says, the Lord hath chosen Jerusalem and he's a brand plucked
out of the fire. The fire there is a metaphor
for God's wrath. This is God's wrath and this
man has been saved from the wrath to come by the blood of Christ
That's what that's what salvation is all about saved from the wrath
of God by the blood of Christ And so verse 3 talks about Joshua
clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. That's
our sinfulness Joshua was a sinner It's what I am and that the filthy
garment is the sins and the works, the human righteousness of people. You see, that's what I'm saying.
If you think that God saves you or keeps you or blesses you based
upon your works, your morality, and you go before God and plead
what you've done for him, you're standing before God in filthy
rags. Sin and so the angel of the Lord
verse 4 it says that spoke spoken to 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 Take away the filthy garments. What does that
mean? my friend if we're one if we're children of God if we're
one of his elect and have been plucked out of the fire of his
wrath by the blood of Christ and Our sins have been washed
away. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And that's all my righteousness,
the blood of Christ. And so I stand before God washed
in the blood of Christ, and he says in verse four in the last
part, I will clothe thee with change of raiment. That's his
righteousness imputed to me. He took away my filthy garments.
and he gave me that clean garment. And often in the Bible, salvation
legally is represented by a garment that we wear. And that's a metaphor. You know, a lot of people take
that too far and they say, well, you're saying it's just an outward
thing or what they call a pasting on righteousness or something.
No, no, no. It's a legal matter. that God
has looked at His people, He looks at His people, and they
are in right standing with Him because their sins have been
put away by the blood of Christ and He has imputed, charged,
accounted righteousness to them so that He cannot charge them
with their sins. We're sinners. But God cannot
charge us, he says in Romans 8.33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who can condemn us? Verse 34.
Christ that died, yea rather is risen again, seated at the
right hand of the Father. Now, as this passage goes on,
it begins to describe what comes out of that change of Raymond.
My sins have been imputed to Christ. His righteousness has
been imputed to me. That's the legal aspect or realm
of salvation. It's called justification. I've
been justified before God. How can a sinner be just before
God, be made right before God? And then how can God be just
and justify a sinner? And the answer is, blessed, as
Paul put it in Romans 4, 6, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. So to be justified is to have
all my sins forgiven on a just ground and to be declared righteous
before God. I'm in right standing with God.
Now that's the legal aspect. Now salvation, also includes
a spiritual aspect which we experience in ourselves because of this
change of Raymond. Imputed righteousness. The Bible
says in Romans chapter eight and verse 10 that the body is
dead because of sin, but the spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit,
is life. Life applied, life imparted because
of righteousness. Now righteousness is not imparted,
but life is because of righteousness which has been imputed. And that's
where he picks up here. Look at verse five of Zechariah
three. He says, 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." Now that fair mitre, that was
a fair, a beautiful, a crafted headpiece. And you remember back
in the book of Exodus where Moses was describing all of the garments
that the high priest would wear. And one of those things was that
helmet that he had on his head. And across the front of that
helmet, it was engraved, holiness unto the Lord. Now that helmet
is the headpiece. And it represents the knowledge
that God gives of this raiment, this change of raiment. What God has done through Christ
to save us from our sins. And that's what that fair miter,
holiness unto the Lord. Holiness, the holiness of God
is his uniqueness. And what that represents is God
showing us in salvation who he is. We hear the gospel and learn
of the father, and that means we're drawn to Christ. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. You see, that's what sets the
true and living God apart from all the idols of the world. I
don't care what religion you study, other than the religion
of Christ, the religion of the true gospel, the true religion
of the Bible, you won't find any God amongst men like our
God. He's both a just God and a Savior. That's amazing. How can a holy
God, who is just and righteous and true, how can He, in justice,
save sinners from their sins and not condemn them? How can
He do that? The only true religion that has
that answer is right here. God chose them, Christ redeemed
them. Christ took our place, the place
of his sheep, not everybody without exception now, but the place
of God's elect. And he said in John six and verse
37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that come to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again the last
day. And how does he do that in a
just way, along with mercy? Through the blood of Christ,
through the righteousness of Christ imputed. And that's the
knowledge that God gives us, the gospel, which is the power
of God unto salvation. It's from faith to faith, revealed
knowledge to knowledge believed. And he said, set a fair miter
upon his head. And the angel of the Lord stood
by, look at verse six. He says, and the angel of the
Lord protested unto Joshua saying, in verse seven, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the Lord of an invincible army that cannot be
defeated, if thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep
my charge, my ordinance, Then shalt thou also judge my house,
and shalt also keep my courts, you'll be the keeper of the courts,
and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Now, if thou wilt walk in my
ways, this is what I'll do for you. Now that sounds like work,
Sid. Well, now here's where you gotta
be attuned to the realities of the law and the gospel, the law
of Moses. You see, the law of Moses was
a covenant that God made with Israel unconditionally because
of Abraham, a promise he made to Abraham. But their prosperity,
the children of Israel, their prosperity in the land of promise
was conditioned on their obedience. And that included the king, the
majority of the people, the high priest, all of them. Now, what
do you know about that covenant if you read the Old Testament?
You see, most of the Old Testament records the history of Israel
under that covenant for about 1500 years. It was from the time
of Mount Sinai to the cross. And so what do you know about
that covenant? Oh, here's what you know. If you read it, they
failed miserably. in meeting the conditions. He
says, if that will walk in my ways, well, on the whole, the
majority and the time that Israel was under that old covenant,
they didn't walk in God's ways, they failed. Now, don't be self-righteous. You say, well, those weak, pitiful
Israelites, if I'd have been there, I'd have done better.
No, you wouldn't have. You see, that law was a testimony to reveal
the sinfulness of man, to reveal the impossibility of salvation
conditioned on sinners, and to show them that the only way of
salvation was outside of themselves. It couldn't be based upon their
works or their decisions or their walk. So in that temporal covenant,
they failed. The law was given to show them
their trespasses and their need of salvation by grace. But this
is a prophecy of Christ here in Zechariah. And the next verse
caps that, proves it. And what he's talking about here
is the gospel covenant, the covenant of grace, and the if there is
not a condition that sinners must meet in order to attain
or maintain their status before God. The if there is an evidence,
mark that word down in your mind, an evidence of the grace of God
already having been given. And that's what the gospel covenant
is. The gospel covenant, the new covenant, the covenant of
grace, is not conditioned on sinners. It's conditioned on
Christ. And Christ fulfilled all of its
conditions and secured the eternal salvation, the justification
and the life of all for whom he lived and died and arose again.
So whenever you see an if passage under the gospel covenant, it's
not a condition that we must meet in order to attain or maintain
salvation. It's an evidence. that God has
already given us freely all things in Christ. And so we look at
this verse seven, walking in his ways, keeping his charge,
all of that. You know what that is? It's the
evidence of a sinner brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works and perseverance, continuing to look unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. when the Bible says, if
you believe, under the gospel covenant. If you continue under
the gospel covenant. That's not saying if you don't,
you're gonna lose your salvation, no. There's no such thing as
losing salvation if you're truly saved by the grace of God. Grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord, Romans 5.21. So how do you know that this
is talking about the gospel covenant through Christ? Well, look at
verse eight. He says, here now, O Joshua the high priest, thou
and thy fellows, those other priests, that sit before thee,
for they are men wondered at. Now what does that mean? It literally
means that they're types, they're pictures, they're signs. The
priesthood of Israel, the high priest, was a picture of Christ. All the other priests, they are
pictures of God's redeemed, justified, chosen people. Attending. You see, the book of Revelation
says that Christ, our great high priest, has entered in once into
the holy place for us with his blood, and he's made us kings
and priests, or some translations say a kingdom of priests, whereas
we have every right to come unto God and be accepted and blessed
through the blood of Christ. And they're men wondered at.
That means they are signs, they're types, they're pictures. And
he says in verse eight, they are men wondered at, and he says,
well, look at it. He says, verse eight, for behold,
I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Now, who is the branch? Well, the branch is a term that
speaks of the humanity of Christ. He's called, listen to this,
let me show you just a couple of scriptures here. In Hebrews
11, one, or not Hebrews, Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied of Christ as
the branch. He says in verse one of Isaiah
11, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Now who was Jesse? That was David's
father. And a branch shall grow out of his roots. That's talking
about, that's a prophecy of the human nature of Christ, the sinless
human nature of Christ. He's the branch. Now he is both
God and man. God manifest in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. The word,
the eternal word, the second person of the Trinity, the son
of God made flesh to dwell among us, tabernacle among us. That's
who Christ is. But whenever you see these prophecies
of his humanity, it's talking about his whole person. God manifest
in the flesh. Let me show you another one.
This is Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 5 now listen to this It says
behold the days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David
a righteous branch That's Christ the prophecy of Christ and a
king shall reign and prosper. That's his lordship based upon
the success of his work. He died, he was buried, he arose
again. And he's seated at the right
hand of the father ever living to make intercession for his
people, ruling and reigning and disposing of all things for his
glory and the good of his people. So a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Now, how's
he gonna execute or work out judgment and justice? First of
all, by his death on the cross. He satisfied the justice of God
for his people, for his sheep. And again, not for everybody
without exception, but for his sheep. the ones whom God had
given him. And secondly, by bringing the
gospel of judgment, right judgment, to their hearts. In the gospel,
we see how God can be just and justify the ungodly. We see how
our only hope is the blood and the righteousness of Christ.
And verse six of Jeremiah 23 says, in his days, Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. That's spiritual Israel. And it says, and this is his
name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. How
is he the Lord our righteousness? By the imputation of his righteousness
to us, that change of Raymond that Zechariah's talking about.
Go back to Zechariah chapter three in verse eight. So he says,
here now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows
that sit before thee, they are men wondered at, they are signs,
they are wonders. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. Now look at verse nine. For behold,
the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall
be seven eyes. Well, what is that stone? Well,
the stone is a picture of Christ. Remember in the New Testament,
it talks about how the Pharisees rejected him. He was the stone
that the builders rejected. They rejected him. He's the rock
of the church. He's the foundation stone of
the church. The church is built upon him.
He's the chief cornerstone. All things are measured by him.
Righteousness is to be measured by Christ. He's the heart of
the church, the head of the church. He lays the church brick by brick
and he's the stoner. What does it mean seven eyes?
Well, seven is the number of a perfect finished work and perfect
knowledge. Seven eyes is a picture, a metaphor
for perfect knowledge. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. So this stone has seven eyes. This is Christ who has
perfect knowledge. He is omniscient. He knows it
all. And look at verse nine again.
He says, behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the
Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in
one day. Now what day is that? He removed
the iniquity of his land, which is his church. He did it on the
cross. It was removed. For by one offering,
Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Them whom God set apart in sovereign
electing grace before the foundation of the world. Those whom God
set apart in justifying them and adopting them into his family.
Those whom God set apart by redeeming them on the cross. Those whom
God set apart in the new birth when he brings that knowledge
to their hearts and minds of salvation by his grace. For by
grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves is the
gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. That's
what he's talking about. Christ removed it all. We sing
a hymn, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. There's another
way of singing that hymn. It says, Jesus paid it all, all
the debt I owe. When I stand before God at judgment,
as a sinner saved by grace, my account will read, paid in full,
washed clean by the blood of Christ. righteous in Christ. I've had a change of raiment.
And so in verse 10, as he concludes this vision, this prophecy, it
says, in that day saith the Lord of hosts, shall you call every
man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. Under
the vine and under the fig tree. What does that mean? Well, that's
a proverbial phrase. And what it expresses is the
greatest tranquility, the greatest security, the greatest enjoyment
of a possession. When people need not keep within
their walled towns and cities, and lock themselves up in their
houses because of dangers facing them. Here they can sit down
in their gardens, their fields, their vineyards, and just simply
enjoy the fruit of the blessings of God. So that's a proverbial
expression, prosperity and peace. And here what he's talking about
is the greatest prosperity and peace that comes through the
reign of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Over in the
book of 1 Kings chapter four, let me just read you this verse
in verse 25. It talks about the peace that
reigned over Jerusalem and the kingdom under Solomon. Now that
didn't last, that was a temporal peace. And it says in 1 Kings
4.25, and Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine,
under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days
of Solomon. Now after Solomon, there was
turmoil. That's speaking of a temporal, earthly peace and prosperity
that didn't last. But what Zechariah's talking
about, in the branch that comes forth because of this change
of Raymond is a peace and prosperity that never ends. It's the peace
of God that passes understanding, it's peace made by the blood
of His cross, which resulted in righteousness that's imputed
to His people, the change of Raymond. And it all comes through
our great and glorious High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
our Redeemer, our King. Hope you can join us again for
another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.