Open your Bibles if you would
to Zechariah chapter 3. Zechariah chapter 3. We'll be
continuing our study in this wonderful chapter. This morning we saw how the Lord
himself clothed Joshua, took his filthy rags off him, which
represented the filthy rags of our own righteousness, and clothed
him. And it's God who did this. God
clothed him. Tonight we're gonna look at Christ
anticipated. Christ anticipated. And again,
this morning we looked at the first four verses of this wonderful
chapter, where we saw Christ as our advocate. I'd like us
to look at the rest of the chapter tonight with that in our minds as well,
that Christ is our advocate. Zechariah chapter three, we'll
read verses one to 10. And he showed me, Joshua, sorry. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire? I got a nice note from Brother
Marcus today, and he said that was the scripture right there.
That wording right there was the scripture that the Lord used
to turn him to Christ. That part there that says, is
not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Marvelous. 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, 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 those that stand by. Hear 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. Now branch there is another name
for our great king, the Lord Jesus Christ. For behold, the
stone, and there's another name of him, the stone, that I have
laid before Joshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold,
I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and
I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor
under the vine and under the fig tree. So we see in verses
8 to 10, the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of in one of his titles
in the Old Testament, which is the branch. The branch. And oh, how the saints of old
anticipated the coming Messiah. They looked for the Messiah to
come. We look back to the cross and see what Christ has done
for us. But they look for the coming of the Messiah, the Old
Testament saints. Or they look for the day of his
coming when they would be with the Lord, when they breathe their
last breath. But they did look for the Messiah. They looked
towards him. Job proclaimed this. He said, for I know my Redeemer
lives. He says, I know my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. He was
confident that his Redeemer lived, and he was confident that he
would see God. All by the grace and mercy of
God. He said, whom I shall see for myself. and mine eyes shall behold and
not another, though my reins be consumed within me." So this
morning we saw our Lord as our advocate when he spoke for Joshua. And he spoke for Joshua to Satan
when he proclaimed that Joshua's filthy
garments be removed from him. And he said, that he's caused
an iniquity to pass from. And then he stated again that
God himself would clothe Joshua with a change of raiment, which
again pictures the righteousness of Christ. And this picture does not end
there, beloved. We see in verse five, let's look here in verse
five of Zechariah chapter three, we see in verse five And as soon
as Joshua is clothed with the chains of Raymond, he's given
a charge to keep. 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 then in verse 6, actually,
I'm sorry, verse 6 to 7. 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 those that stand by." Turn if you would to John chapter
8. John chapter 8. We will look
at a text here where our Lord speaks to an adulterous woman. Now the
religious legalists of that day bought this woman before the
Lord. They bought this woman before
the Lord, and they bought her before the
master, and they said, this woman's being caught in adultery the
very act. Now notice they didn't bring
the man. Some commentators believe that's because the man was one
of them. It's not said, but that's what
some commentators believe. And they bought this lady who
they caught in the very act of adultery before the Lord because
they wanted to trap him. But little did they know they're
talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They're
speaking to God incarnate in the flesh. And they said Moses
in the law requires that she be stoned. What do you say? Now, if the
master has said stone her, put the wretch to death, as one old
commentator said, they thought that that would discredit his
reputation for mercy and compassion. Look at verse 1, Jesus went unto
the Mount of Olives, John chapter 8 verse 1, now verse 2, and early
in the morning he came again to the temple and all the people
came unto him and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes
and the pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in
the midst, They said unto him, master, this woman was taken
in adultery in the very act. Now, unless they call him master,
they didn't call him that for the fact that he's their master,
not like we call him master. They just call him that as a
title because he was a teacher. This woman was taken in adultery
in the very act. And now look what, of course,
now these men are experts in the law, right? And they've even
added things to the law. They've even added their traditions
and stuff. Look at this. Now Moses in the
law commands us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? And we see in verse 6 that they
said this to tempt him. They might have to accuse him.
They thought, oh. Shirley, this is good. We're
going to trip him up this time. We're going to trip him up this
time. That's what they thought. We're going to get him. We're going
to trip him up. But Jesus stooped down and with
his finger rode on the ground as though he had not heard them,
or as though he heard them not. He just stooped down on the ground
and rode on the ground and acted like he didn't even hear them.
Now, this is God incarnate in the flesh. He can read their
thoughts. He knows the intents of their
heart. He knows why they bought this woman before him. He knows
they want to trap him. He knows that. Now, if he answered, forgive
her, they thought that that would vindicate their claim that he
was a lawless rebel. And in that way, they thought
they'd catch him. It was a real problem here, indeed. And it's a problem that must
be dealt with. How can the Holy Lord God be both merciful and
just? How can He be both gracious and
true? How can God both forgive sin
and honor His law? And we see in verse 6 that our
Savior stooped down and wrote on the ground, as though He heard
them not. And note in verse 7 that they
continue to badger him. They continue to badger our Lord,
looking for an answer. And our Lord stands up and says these words, these words
which cut these men to the soul. Look at verse 7. So when they
continued asking him, He lifted up himself and said unto them,
look at this, look at these words. Now you talk about cut to the
quick. He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone at her. And then what does he do? Look
what he does in verse eight. And again, he stooped down and wrote
on the ground. Now, we do not know what our
Lord wrote on the ground. Lots of people have speculated,
but I'm not going to speculate. There's no need for us to speculate. We don't know. But he wrote on the ground, but
they who heard his words were convicted by their own consciences.
These self-righteous legalists, they were sent packing. They
were sent packing by the words of the master. Why? Because none of them was
without sin. Not one of them. And note, they
left with the eldest. They left starting at the eldest. Look at verse 9. And when they
heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out
one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. The
oldest one left first. They knew they were sinners.
See, they come to get him, and he just turned the tables on
them, didn't he? He turned the tables on them. And Jesus was
left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. Again, these self-righteous
legalists were convicted by their own consciences. And then they
went away. One by one, out they went. And all our Lord said to them,
is he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone
at her. Oh, my. Now notice the compassion
of the Lord flow forth in verse 10. Look at this. This is wonderful.
Oh, all scripture is wonderful. Look at the compassion from our
Lord, though. Look at this. And you know what?
This is how compassionate he is to sinners like you and I.
Look at this. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are
those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?"
Well, at first they were, weren't they? At first they came and
they were condemning her. They said, look, we found this
woman in the very act of adultery. And then the Lord says, well,
whichever one of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
And off they went. And now she's left alone before
the Lord. She's left alone before the Lord,
and he says to her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath
no man condemned thee? Now listen to what one grace
preacher said about the fact that our Lord stooped down twice.
In this text, he stooped down twice, our Lord did. Listen to
what one grace preacher brings about. The fact that our Savior
stooped twice is significant. It has a direct connection to
what he said to the adulterous woman. The Son of God stooped
once to become a man. He stooped once to become a man.
He left the glory of heaven and stooped to become a man. He bore our sins that he might bring in everlasting
righteousness for the sinners by his perfect obedience to God's
law in our place. Then he stooped a second time
to die in the place of sinners. burying our sins in his own body
on the tree. And then what did he do? Then
he arose again. Then he arose again to declare redemption accomplished
by the satisfaction of divine justice. Then upon the basis
of his finished work of redemption, when he had lifted himself up
the second time, he spake to the woman words of forgiveness.
He stooped down to come to this earth. He stooped down a second time
to die in the place of sinners, then He rose again. And what
happened when He rose again? Well, we have forgiveness of
all our sins, don't we? All of our sins. And then look at verse 11. She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus
said unto her, neither do I commend thee. Go and sin no more. Look
at that. Our Lord silenced her accusers. Silenced her accusers. And he
spoke forgiveness to her, didn't he? He spoke forgiveness to her. Satan's our accuser, isn't he?
We saw that this morning. We saw that this morning. He's
our accuser. And the law of God's found us
guilty, right? And the justice of God demanded
satisfaction. for our sins. And you know the
Lord Jesus Christ has silenced them. He silenced Satan. He crushed his head, didn't he?
He can bring accusations against us, but the scripture says that
we will never be condemned in Christ. Never. We're justified by God himself. And he's silenced the law of
God against us, hasn't he? Christ has silenced the law of
God against us because he satisfied it in our place. And Christ has
silenced the justice of God, which demanded satisfaction,
right? It says, the soul that sinneth, it must die. So the
great sinless sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, dies in the
room and place of his people, and he's silenced now the justice
of God. And then, as you've often heard
me say, he's extinguished the wrath of God that was against
us. by dying in our ruined place. So who is he that condemneth?
Right? Paul wrote. That's what Paul
wrote about the believer. Who is he that condemneth? It's
God to justify it. Our accusers have been silenced,
beloved. Our sins are forgiven, just like
what happened to this lady here. Isn't that wonderful? Absolutely
wonderful. And he silenced all our accusers
by the shedding of his precious, precious blood. And he ransomed
our eternal souls on Calvary's cross. And this lady that we
see in John, she's clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
beloved and in glory. Oh, and we see that she's fully
and freely forgiven, because look at this. Look what the,
look what. Look what the Lord says in verse 11. Neither do
I condemn thee. He doesn't condemn his people,
does he? Unrepentant sinners are condemned,
but those in Christ are not condemned, beloved. He says here, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And we see the Lord charged her
to go and sin no more. That charge always follows the
word of forgiveness. But let us not imagine that this
command implies that forgiveness is conditional. No, it's full and free. Our Lord
said to Joshua over there in Zechariah chapter 3, Verse seven, 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 shall also
keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among those
that stand by. Joshua's filthy garments had
already been taken away from him, hadn't they? Which pictures our righteousness? And now he has a fair mitre upon
his head, and he has new garments upon him. And when our Lord said to the
adulterous woman, go and sin no more, notice the words that
he said to her, neither do I condemn thee. She's saved, beloved. She's one of God's lost sheep. Sin, once forgiven by the Son
of God, can never be laid to our charge again. Rejoice in
that. I'll say it again. That's wonderful.
Sin, once forgiven by the Son of God, by the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he said that to her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin
no more. When he said that, neither do I condemn thee. Those sins
could never be bought against her again. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. So
sin once forgiven by the Son of God can never be laid to our
charge again. Listen to what it says in Romans.
Actually, turn there if you would. Romans chapter four. We gotta
look at this verse here, because it's just wonderful. Romans chapter
four. Romans chapter four, verse eight. How can we say that? How can
we say sin once forgiven by the Son of God can never be laid
to our charge again? Look at Romans chapter four,
verse eight. Blessed is the man and woman, blessed is the man,
right? To whom the Lord will not, what?
Impute sin. Blessed. We are blessed. Remember what the Lord said to
Joshua in Zechariah 3, 4, and he answered and spake unto him
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. Blessed, blessed is the man or
woman to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And our Lord said
to that lady over there in John chapter 8, verse 11, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. The charge given to Joshua and
given to the adulterous woman is the same charge given to us.
This is a charge we must keep. It is the evidence of saving
grace, not a condition that we must meet to obtain grace. No, it's the evidence that we're
born again. It is said in the book of Hebrews chapter three,
verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast unto the end, being born again, being
forgiven of all our sins, being saved by the grace of God, we
must hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end. We keep looking to Christ, beloved. We keep looking to Christ. In a word, it's as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. We walk in the ways
of Christ, don't we? Clothed in His perfect, spotless
righteousness. And the angel of the Lord said
to Joshua and says to us, I've taken away your sin. I've taken
it away. That's wonderful news. Wonderful news. I've clothed
you with the garments of salvation. You've been made righteous in
my sight by my righteousness. That's what the Lord says to
us. Now, if you walk in my ways and
keep my charge as you look to me and trust me, You will govern
mine house and keep my courts, and I will give you a place to
walk among my people. And this is evidence of salvation.
Him doing that is not what keeps him saved. The Lord is the one
who has saved him. But it's evidence that the work
has been done in him. Hence, James writes, faith without
works is dead. There are not works that save.
There are works that show evidence that you have been saved. Again, evidence of salvation,
evidence of the grace of God at work in your life, evidence
of the forgiveness of all your sins. And beloved of God, those
who have received mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ, how do
we live? Well, we live by faith, don't we? We struggle every day. But we live by faith, we live
by looking to Christ. And by His grace and by His power
and by His mercy, He keeps us looking to Him. Let's look at verses 8 to 10
now of Zechariah chapter 3. And we'll see here Christ anticipated.
Look at this. 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. And again, another name for the
Lord Jesus Christ. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts.
And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor
under the vine and under the fig tree. So we see in this portion
here before us that the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
tells Joshua and his fellows that everything pointed in a
vivid picture of God's saving grace described in verses 1 to
7, which these men wondered at, had been performed in anticipation
of the coming of Christ, by whom redemption must be accomplished. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to save his people from their sins, and he accomplished that. when he died on Calvary's cross
in our room and place. We serve a successful savior. He sought out, he came to this
world to die in the room and place of his people and he succeeded. He purchased us. So we see here
in these verses a great messianic prophecy. These verses speak
of our Savior's coming into the world to save his people from
their sins. He alone is Jehovah's righteous
servant. Listen to these verses in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter four, verse two.
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and
gracious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and
calmly for them that are escaped of Israel. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Isaiah 11, verses one to two.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, a branch
shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. In the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. That's, again, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
who we've seen in our text is called the branch. Jeremiah 23
verses five and six, behold, the day comes sayeth the Lord
that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. Righteous
branch, righteous branch. Remember he's the, he's the,
the, the, uh, we're just, we're the branches and he's the vine.
He's the righteous branch, the one righteous branch. We just
shoot off out of him, don't we? Yeah. Behold, the day has come
to save the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch, and the king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved.
He shall be saved. Judah will be saved. That's us,
beloved. That's God's people. And Israel shall die safely.
And this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. Christ alone is spoken of also
as a stone in verse nine. Look at Zechariah. Zechariah
chapter three, verse nine. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall be seven
eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graven thereof, saith the
Lord of hosts. and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. So we see our Lord spoken of
as a stone as well. Listen to this in Psalm 118 verses
21 to 23. I will praise thee for thou has
heard me and art become my salvation. God's our salvation. The stone
which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the Lord's doing.
It's the Lord's doing. It's not our doing, it's the
Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes, Psalm 118, verses
21 to 23. And then in Isaiah 28, verse
16, it says, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation stone. And again, that's Christ.
Christ, the foundation stone. A tried stone. He was tried and
tested, yet without sin. A precious cornerstone. He's
precious to his people, isn't he? A sure foundation. Oh, beloved, we're built up a
spiritual house on a sure foundation. And our foundation is Christ
Jesus, our Lord. He's a sure foundation. See,
when man builds a foundation, It's awful shaky, isn't it? It's
shaky. There's no foundation. When man
tries to build a foundation based upon their own righteousness,
they're going to find out they have a foundation of lies. But
all those who are in Christ, we have a sure foundation, beloved.
It's a foundation that God has set. He laid the stone in Zion. Zion's a picture of the church.
Sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. He that believes when they're made willing in the day
of God's power, they make haste to Christ, don't they? That's
what we did. We made haste to Christ. Look at verse 9 now of
our text here. Again, Zechariah 3, 9, for behold
the stone that I have laid Before Joshua, upon one stone shall
be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graven
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest. Oh, and he has our names engraved
upon his heart. He's the almighty, the almighty
advocate and intercessor for God's people. Look at the latter
words of verse 9, and I will remove the iniquity of that land
in one day. Look at that. One day. Where the Lord Jesus Christ,
spoken of in this passage as the branch and the stone, is
the one who's coming. Who would take away the iniquity
of his people. And when did he do that? At Calvary's
cross. So this is a messianic, again,
these are messianic verses. Speaking of the coming Messiah. And look what it says there.
And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. One day. Oh my. One day. And when he died on Calvary's
cross, he removed the iniquity of his people from and he was
carried away by that scapegoat, remember? Which again was a picture
of Christ. So he was both the sacrifice
that we see in Leviticus 16, he's the scapegoat as well, and
he's the fit man and the high priest as well. He took away
our sins, beloved, in one day on Calvary's cross. Christ the
servant, the branch, the stone, the sin remover, That's what
he's done for his people, isn't it? Is Christ our great high
priest, our advocate, the one who ever pleads our case with
the Father? And he is the one whom we've
obtained salvation in, in Christ and him alone. The fact that
Jesus Christ is himself the sacrifice for our sin declares plainly
that his priesthood is different from all the high priests of
the Old Testament. is different than all the high
priests of the Old Testament. The Old Testament priests were
sinful. Remember last week we saw that they had to offer an
offering for their own sins before they could go in and offer
an offering for the sins of Israel? But not so our Lord Jesus Christ. No, He's the perfect, sinless
substitute and sacrifice. And He offers Himself up, what?
Once. For all His people. Once. Once. He accomplished salvation
for His people. He removed our iniquity in one
day. By that one great act of dying
on Calvary's cross. It's wonderful. So those Old
Testament priests, they were sinful and they were required
to offer a sacrifice for themselves as well as for those who they
represented. And we saw that in that message,
not without blood. They could never come before
the Lord without blood. And our Lord Jesus Christ, think
of this, he offers himself for our sins before God, not without
blood, right? as he offers himself up by the
shedding of his own precious blood. Amazing. So the sacrifices those
priests offered in the Old Testament were inadequate because they
could never take away sin. But they taught the way of salvation
in type through the death of innocent victims. But the scriptures declared that
the blood of sheep and goats could never take away sins. But
Christ, our great high priest, offered himself as a sacrifice
for sins one time. One time. And by his one great
sacrifice, he has put away the sins of his people forever. Hallelujah. Forever. What a great God. Turn, if you
would, to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, we're looking
at verses 11 to 14. Oh, He did it once. His sacrifice was both perfect
and of infinite value, beloved. And that makes Him just the priest
we need and just the advocate we need with the Father. Hebrews
chapter 9, verses 11 to 14. But Christ being come in high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. It's a fact. He obtained it. And look it, he did it for us. He did it for us. We weren't even born then, were
we? But it says, the scripture says He did it for us. He did
it for His people. He did it freely, and this salvation
is full. And He has obtained, and look
what it's called, eternal redemption. I once asked some guy who thought
He could send away salvation, I said, If you think you can
send away salvation, then you don't have the salvation of the
Bible. Because we see right here in
the text here that this salvation is an eternal salvation. He obtained
eternal redemption for us. And eternal there means eternal. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, look at this, who through the eternal
spirit, that's the Holy Spirit of God, offered himself what? Without spot. The perfect, sinless, spotless
Lamb of God offers himself up without spot for us, for we who
are his people. The just one offers himself up
for the unjust. Again, this is grace that you
cannot measure. To purge the offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. And we gladly serve our Lord,
don't we? We who are his people, we gladly
serve him. We gladly serve him. Now let
us look here at verse 10. And think of this too. The one
great sacrifice of Christ, our great high priest, is perpetually
accepted, and it's perpetually effectual. His work is finished,
never to be repeated. And when he was done, he sat
down. He's right now seated at the
right hand of the Father. Work is finished. Look at verse
10 here. We see that we, as born-again,
blood-washed believers, are to enjoy life. Enjoy life. Look at this. In that day, saith
the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under
the vine and under the fig tree. Now, when I was in religion,
I did not enjoy life. I thought I did. But I was so
yoked in bondage of do this and do that that now I look back
at it and go, I was miserable. I was absolutely miserable. Was
it so for you before the Lord saved you? We're miserable in
our sins, weren't we? Miserable. So let us walk in
the truth. Let us as believers walk in the
truth each day that all our sins are forgiven. They will never
be bought against us. They are washed clean in the
precious blood of Christ. And they will never be bought
against us. Praise God. And we know what we've done in
the past. We know what we even do now, don't we? We know we're
sinners saved by the grace of God. All our sins are forgiven in
Christ. They've been put away by the Lord Jesus Christ. They've
been put away by the prophet, priest, and king of glory. And
we saw that clearly this morning, Christ being the advocate of
his people. And it is Christ and Christ alone who's put away
the sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself. So beloved
of God, rest in that. Now, that's the hardest thing
for us to do, isn't it? to enter into that rest. The Lord give
us grace and strength to do that, just to enter into that rest.
The wrath of God against me as a believer, and if you're a believer,
has been appeased. The justice of God has no claim
on us. Satan can accuse us all day long, but the Lord sees us
in Christ. It's amazing. It's truly amazing
grace. And in this wonderful verse here,
the Lord tells every sinner saved by grace to sit down to a constant
feast of love, joy, and peace with God. And we are to abound in hope
by the Holy Spirit of God. He also tells us to call our
brethren to come and join us. Look at it again. In that day,
saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor
under the vine and under the fig tree. Under the vine and fig tree is
a place of rest. It's a place of rest. And when
we're resting, what are we doing? We're ceasing from our labors,
aren't we? We labor through the week and
then we get an opportunity to sit in a picture under our vine
and fig tree and just rest. Just rest. So he tells us to call our brethren
to join us in celebrating this rest. Celebrating that salvation is
ours in and through Christ and by Christ alone. promoting His
glory, giving Him all the praise, proclaiming the blessedness of
the abundant grace that we as sinners have found in Christ.
Oh, how abundant is the grace that we've found in Christ. And
beloved of God, believers in Christ are brought into a state
of grace, mercy, and peace as they sit down under the vine,
under their fig tree, For who are we to fear, none but God? Sin, sin cannot make us fear
because it's done away with. If we're a believer, hell cannot
make us fear because Christ has conquered hell, death, and the
grave. Corruption cannot, for Christ's
holiness is the holiness of his redeemed. And when Satan accuses us, when
our sin presses hard upon us, stand in silence before your
mighty advocate. Just do like Joshua did, just
stand there in silence, right? We've been redeemed by the Lord. We've been redeemed by the Lord.
He who undertook for you from eternity, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ, will plead your cause. He's the one mediator between
God and man for his people. And scripture says he gave himself
a ransom for his people, for all of them. And he ever waits to be gracious
to us. And again, he pleads our cause. And think of this, if
Christ pleads our cause, then all is well. If God himself pleads our cause,
then all is well. We do not need to worry and stress
about things, although we do because we're humans, but we
ought not to. We ought to just sit down under
our fig tree and call our neighbors, our fellow brothers and sisters
in Christ together and rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord.
And again, I say rejoice. Lord, give us grace and strength
to do that. We as your people plead. Heavenly Father, we thank
you for your mercy and your grace. Oh, we thank you for how the
scriptures tell of your coming in the Old Testament and then
how we see in the New Testament your coming. and how you purchased
your people with your own precious blood, and how you died and were
buried. Oh, Lord, but you rose again.
And as the angel said, this same Jesus who you seen going up,
raising up, shall yet come back. Oh, Lord, so we who are your
people, we don't know if you're gonna come back in our lifetime,
but we wait. We wait. We wait for you, Lord. looking for your return, knowing
that no matter what comes our way, that thou art our great
God and that you plead our cause and that you ever keep us and
preserve us. We love you, Lord, because you
first loved us in Jesus name. Amen. you