It is a great delight for Shelby
and I to be with you. We have been looking forward
to it for some time. If you will open your Bibles
to the book of Jude. While you're turning, I want
to take just a few minutes before I bring the message to say a
few things I believe will be encouraging to you. Alan has
already mentioned the Free Grace Radio broadcast over the internet
five years ago this week. Brother Larry Brown and I, one
of the men in our congregation, were in Cherokee, North Carolina
at a Bible conference together with some other preachers in
a motel room. And I'd had something on my mind
for a good while. I wanted to make use of the internet
for broadcasting the gospel regularly. And Larry found a way to do it
with Regress Radio. And we are broadcasting every
week, and have been for the past five years, one to three messages
by over 60 gospel preachers. These messages are heard literally
around the world. Every month we hear from folks
or have folks download messages from between 85 and 100 countries. Next month will be five years
since we started this. I think, you may know better
than I, I don't look at the stats much, I think there have been
something over 750,000 messages downloaded around the
world. That's a lot of people. That's
a lot of people. There are churches, groups of
people, and I refer to them as churches where two or three are
gathered in Christ's name. groups of people, two, three,
sometimes two or three families meeting together. The only means
of gospel ministry they have is through that message or the
messages brought over Free Grace Radio. It's been a tremendous
means of ministry that I believe has been blessed and honored
of God. Several years ago, Brother Mahan and I were visiting. He'd
been preaching for me just before he moved to Rocky Mount. And
I was out of town, and I asked him, I said, could you and Doris
stay over? I think I can get back in time. We can have a little
time together at breakfast. So we, Shelby and Doris and Henry
and I met. We chatted a little bit. And
this had just been going on for a while. And I wanted to encourage
Henry somewhat with the hearing that he was receiving through
the internet as well. And he made this observation.
He said, the Lord said before he comes this gospel will be
preached among all nations. Maybe this is the way he'll do
it. And certainly it has been a tremendous means of ministry.
I appreciate you participating in it and I appreciate your praying
for God's blessings upon it. We support missionaries. Nothing
will replace a man preaching the gospel to God's people in
an assembly like this. But we recognize God gives us
opportunity and we seize the opportunities God's given us
for the glory of His name and for the furtherance of the gospel.
All right, Jude, verse 1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. This man, Jude, was our Lord's
brother, but he considered it a greater honor to be his servant
than to be his physical brother. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father. Sanctified, set apart, made holy
by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. And Jude got the order correct.
sanctified from eternity, preserved through the ages of time in Jesus
Christ, and at the appointed time of love called by God's
grace. Mercy unto you and peace and
love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation Judas saying, I took
up my pen and I was determined to write to you about the blessings
of God's grace, the common salvation we have in Christ Jesus. But
it was needful for me, it was needful to write unto you and
exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered to the saints. And here's the reason for this
need. For there are certain men Crept in unawares, they slither
in like snakes under the door. Crept in unawares, who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation. That is, this doesn't take God
by surprise. Ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness. Now let me tell you exactly what
that means. You've heard folks accuse your pastor, the one talking
to you now, and others who believe the gospel of God's grace. We
declare plainly, as the book of God does, that Christ is the
end of the law. Believers are not under the law.
And they say, you folks turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.
You say it's all right for God's people to sin. You've never heard
that man or this one hint at such foolishness. What do they
say? They turn the grace of God into
lasciviousness for they declare that the preaching of the gospel
leads to lasciviousness. And these are the very men of
whom Judah is speaking. These who say preaching free
grace leads to lasciviousness, they turn the grace of our God
into lasciviousness and denying, denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ, denying his person, his work, his grace,
and his glory. I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that
believed not, those that perished in the wilderness because of
unbelief, and the angels, which kept not their first estate,
but left their own habitation. He hath reserved an everlasting
chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great day."
Beware and remember that folks who abandon the gospel perish
without life and without faith and without hope before God.
Verse 7. even as Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over
to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also, these filthy dreamers,"
he's referring to these same folks These certain men crept
in unawares, who turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness.
These men who deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, these filthy dreamers. You read Jeremiah's prophecy
in Jeremiah 23. The whole prophecy in Jeremiah
23 tells us that false prophets, those who bring false doctrine,
are filthy dreamers. They're filthy dreamers who defile
the flesh. That is, they cast the flesh
in another color. They make the works of the flesh
works of righteousness. False doctrines are dreams. Those who proclaim such false
doctrines are themselves filthy dreamers. By their nocturnal
pollutions they defile the body of Christ and they defile the
flesh. false doctrine, the exaltation
of man's will, of man's works, and of man's worth, always results
in corrupt behavior. I can't remember which of your
English preachers it was. I believe it was John Berridge.
Before God saved him, he said, I preached good works until there
was hardly a sober man left in the village. The preaching of
good works, the preaching of law righteousness, the preaching
of religious morality, always leads to corruption. Always leads
to corruption. it seems that we would understand
that clearly if we just observed what we can in a physical way
in any society where works religion becomes dominant. I'm fixing
to go to Mexico and Mexico papacy takes off its mask and it shows
itself to be the pagan idolatrous religion that it is. Though Mexico
has no national religion papacy is the religion of the land and
a more corrupt crooked, perverse society doesn't exist upon the
earth. From the top to the bottom, everything
is corrupt. And that's what always happens
with the religion of works. Men presuming that they can do
good always perform that which is corrupt and evil. In a word,
these wicked, filthy dreamers are men who despise dominions. What's Jude talking about? Despised
dominions. They despised the fact that God
is God. They despise and refuse to bow
to Christ as the Lord. They speak evil of dignities.
A more accurate translation would be they speak evil of glories. They speak evil of God's being. They speak evil of the glory
of God's wise and good providence. They speak evil particularly
of the glories of Christ's accomplishments as our Redeemer. These wicked
religionists love and promote strife, endless debates about
meaningless things, all the while promoting ungodliness, all the
while defiling the flesh, pretending to be concerned about and defend
the things of God. They're not the least bit reluctant
to speak evil of dignities, of dominion, of power, of God's
authority or any authority God has appointed. Particularly,
Jude is referring to these men who crept into the church and
they attempt to undermine the work and ministries of those
men God has set over his church as faithful pastors. And then
Jude gives a rather strange statement in verse 9. Look at verse 9.
Jude says yet. He seems to shift gears. He's
been talking about these filthy dreamers, these false prophets
who crept into the church, who would undermine everything concerning
God's work, God's character, God's glory, and God's gospel.
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 rebuke thee. Doesn't
that seem a little out of place to you? Seem strange? It should be. The only reason
it seems strange is because men looking at this statement by
Jude have imagined that Jude is simply referring here to something
that was promoted by Jewish tradition a fable of Jewish tradition or
perhaps that he's referring to a fable recorded in one of the
apocryphal books concerning the ascension of Moses and that this
thing is something that was Most people didn't have any idea what
it was. But Jude's writing here to God's people, to God's people
in the churches, and he's saying, I'm referring now to something
that you all know well, something that's very familiar to you. Who's familiar with this? Who
knows what this is talking about? Jude was moved by the Holy Spirit,
not by fables, not by something written in the Apocrypha, but
by the Holy Spirit of God and he records something that was
as commonly known in the early church as the children of Israel
being delivered across the Red Sea. Turn over to the book of
Zechariah. Let's see if we can find out
what Jude's referring to. chapter three. Now just hold
your place in Zachariah chapter three and we'll get to it in
a moment. I want to first show you who this Michael the archangel
refers to and then what particular point in history Jude is referring
to when he speaks of Michael the archangel and standing before
the Lord and rebuking Satan and then the lessons from it. First,
let's look into the word of God and find out who this angel is
that Jude refers to as Michael the archangel. The word archangel
is used five times in the scriptures, just five times. It's always
singular, never plural. There is just one archangel. The word angel, as you well know,
simply means messenger. God's pastors in Revelation chapters
2 and 3 are referred to as the angels of the churches. God's
angel for you has just been speaking to you. That? An angel? The word simply means messenger,
God's messenger for you. So that in each local church,
God sets a pastor who is God's messenger to deliver God's message,
to bring God's gospel to his people. The word archangel refers
to this one angel overall, this one angel who is Jehovah's messenger. Without question, this angel
is our Lord Jesus Christ. I had you turn to Zechariah,
hold your pants there, but look at Revelation 12, Revelation
chapter 12. This one archangel is named Michael. Here in Revelation 12, you're
familiar with the passage. It refers to the war that took
place in heaven. And there was a war in heaven,
verse 9, or verse 7 rather. Michael and his angels. Now this
is not just Michael who is the archangel, it's Michael and his
angels. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon. And the dragon fought and his
angels and prevailed not. Neither was their place found
anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world, he was cast out into the earth. And his angels
were cast out with him." The word Michael means this, one
who is God. One who is God. The word archangel means chief
or head of the angels. Michael the archangel is our
Lord Jesus Christ who is our God-man mediator, the head of
all principality and power. Now without question, the work
described here in Revelation 12 is the work of Christ Jesus,
our great Lord and King, he who bound Satan and cast him out. Look at verse 9 of Revelation
12. Notice the reproachful names given of our adversary. Because
he's furious with rage, he's called the great dragon. Because
he is the deceiver of the whole world, he's called that old serpent
who deceived our mother Eve in the garden. Because he ever accuses
God's saints, he ever seeks to turn God against us and to turn
us against God, he is called the devil and Satan, who is a
roaring lion who goes about seeking whom he may devour. Mighty Archangel
Christ Jesus our Lord cast out the accuser from heaven. This
is the accuser who was cast out, who has been cast out by his
power, cast out of his power over the nations in Revelation
chapter 20. We read of this angel who comes
down from heaven and he has a mighty chain in his hand and he binds
the devil, Satan, the accuser, and he casts him out that he
should deceive the nations no more so that the gospel would
go into all the nations of the world. prior to the coming of
our Savior, prior to his crucifixion and death, his ascension into
glory, the gospel of God's grace had been preached to no one but
the Jewish nation. And now God has cast off the
nation of Israel and has cast out Satan who deceived the nations
and he sends the gospel into all the world so that all of
Israel, that is all God's elect, might hear the gospel and be
saved. And then at the end of a little
season, the Lord Jesus says, this angel will loose the devil
again, and he will again deceive the nations. I am much inclined
to believe that we live in that little season when Satan has
been loosed upon the earth to deceive the nations again. To deceive the nations with the
religion of man of works, righteousness, religion that sets man in the
house of God demanding that man be honored and worshiped as God.
This one is the one of whom our Savior spoke. When in John 12,
He said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me. Now sometimes I hear folks, they
talk about, hear somebody say something about Christ being
the angel of the Lord, the archangel. They say, oh no, you can't refer
to Christ as an angel. He's not a created angel. He
created the angel. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
the messenger of God. He's referred to as the angel
of the covenant, the angel of God's presence. To refer to him
as the angel of the Lord is no more disrespectful or dishonoring
than to refer to him as the word. He is the one by whom God reveals
Himself, or to refer to Him as the God-Man Mediator. He is not a man created by men. He is the God-Man who created
all men. He is not a man created by God,
but the God-Man who created all men. He is the God-Man, our Savior,
and He is the Angel of the Lord. So that in the Old Testament,
Whenever you read in the Old Testament of the angel of the
Lord appearing to men as he did to Manoah and his wife, as he
did with other angelic creatures when he came and stood in Abraham's
tenth door, the angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate revelation
and manifestation of Christ Jesus our Redeemer. He is the angel
of the Lord who stood by Daniel and caused Daniel by his word
to wither before him And Daniel said, I have no strength. And
the angel who's speaking to Daniel strengthened him and caused Daniel
to stand again on his feet. Jude would have us, as Daniel
did, to behold Michael the prince as we look upon our Lord Jesus
in his office capacity as our mediator and surety. Now get
the context. Jude is talking to us about these
certain wicked men, false prophets who creep into the church and
they always creep in under pretense. They never come in and raise
their hands and say, look here, I'm here to deceive your souls.
They come in claiming to be the servants of God, claiming to
preach the word of God, claiming to declare the gospel of God,
but in doing so they speak evil of the very revelation of God
in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They always represent the good
news of the gospel as that which is evil and corrupt and thus
represent those who proclaim it as evil and corrupt. Well,
how do we handle that? How do we handle that? We don't. We don't. We don't have to. This is all according to God's
purpose. And God's will is being performed. God's people will yet be saved. God's glory is yet being revealed. All is well. And Jude refers
us to something that ought to make our hearts completely confident
of this. And the thing he refers to is
back here in Zechariah chapter 3. Here's the second thing mentioned
in our text. Michael, the archangel, has a
contention. It is a contention of our Savior
with the devil about the body of Moses. Michael, the archangel,
when contending with the devil disputed about the body of Moses,
does not bring a railing accusation against him, but said, the Lord
rebuke thee. What's this talking about? What's
this talking about? The words body of Moses do not
refer to Moses' physical body. People have the crazy idea that
somehow Satan was contending with the Lord Jesus about Moses'
physical body. What would he want with that?
Moses in scripture is used to refer constantly to the law. Moses is preached unto them.
Moses holds a veil over their face. When Moses is read, a veil
is over their face. Moses in the scripture refers
constantly to the law. So the body of Moses spoken of
here is referring to the law of God given by Moses. And the
contention here spoken of was a contention that had something
to do with God's law. The contention had something
to do with that which was something that was commonly known among
God's people to whom Jude was writing here. The contention
he's talking about between Michael the archangel, our great advocate
Christ Jesus, and the devil is described here in Zechariah 3.
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 brand plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. Verse 4, 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. This is the
angel of the Lord. This is Michael the archangel.
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. Now, I had no idea, as I was
preparing this message yesterday, that Brother Allen was going
to be preaching to you and dealing with the very same time frame.
This Joshua we see standing before the Lord in filthy garments of
course is not Joshua who succeeded Moses as the great deliverer
of Israel. This man Joshua was a high priest,
a high priest in Israel who served the Lord God and was very instrumental
in rebuilding the temple after Israel came back out of Babylonian
captivity. Turn to Ezra, if you will, the
book of Ezra. This man Joshua had, along with
other priests, taken to himself a Babylonian wife, and so had
defiled himself. before he could serve the Lord
God as priest in Israel, this man must be cleansed. Look in
Ezra 10 verse 18. And among the sons of the priest,
there were found that had taken strange wives, namely of the
sons of Joshua, the son of Josedek, and his brethren. and Eleazar,
and Jerib, and Gadaliah. Here is this man, Joshua, standing
before the Lord God, conscious of his guilt. He's been brought
out of Babylon, this man who was chosen of God, ordained of
God to serve God as the priest. He's among the priest's sons.
But he's been in Babylon. His family's been in Babylon
with Israel and Judah for 70 years. And now God's delivered
them out of Babylon. Cyrus, by the order of God, has
ordered Israel, at Cyrus's expense, to go back to Jerusalem and build
again the house of God, the worship of God, and the city of God.
And Joshua comes back to Jerusalem. But he comes back to Jerusalem
with a Babylonian wife. And he stands before God aware
of his guilt, aware of his sin, aware that he has defiled himself
among the Babylonians. He said to be here in verse one,
standing before the Lord. In verse three, we read, now
Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the
Lord. In verse five, Zacharias says,
and the angel of the Lord stood by. That angel of the Lord is
Michael, the archangel. It is Christ Jesus, our glorious
savior and advocate, the son of God. As I said before, this
is not one of the angelic hosts he created. This is the angel
of the Lord. He's called such because he's
Jehovah's messenger, the angel of the covenant, that one who
is God's messenger to his people, that one by whom God makes himself
known to men, that one by whom God speaks to men and by whom
men draw near to and speak to God. He is the one called the
Angel of the Lord in verse 1. He is called Jehovah Himself.
we know that because in verse two michael tells us that he
is the lord that is jehovah this man who is god the angel of the
lord the lord jesus christ he is our mighty advocate with the
father our intercessor he is our priest that one touched with
the feeling of our infirmities that one who is able to say to
the uttermost all who come to god by him john says this as
he writes his epistle He says, my little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. Don't sin. Don't sin. Children
of God don't ever take sin lightly. Can I say that more firmly? You understand this. Don't sin. Don't ever look at your sin as
a light thing. Don't ever look at the fact that
we live in this body of flesh and have to war with our own
flesh continually as a light thing. Don't pass it by as something
to be excused, something to be looked upon lightly. It is not
a light thing. Don't sin. But my dear Evelyn,
as long as you live in that body, Sin's mixed with everything you
do, even right now. And you can't help it. You can't help it. Is there anyone
here who would dare deny that? Anyone? If so, man, woman, or
child, you stand up and talk, and I'll sit down and listen.
Sin is mixed with everything you do, with every thought you
have. Everything, your best, noblest,
highest ambitions, your best, noblest, highest aspirations
are so shot full of sin that our most righteous deeds are
filthy rags before God. Filthy rags before God. Don't
sin. What happens when a believer
sins? Isn't that an absurd question? When don't you sin? When don't
you sin? That's absurd. What happens when
a believer sins? When don't you sin? There's not
a time, not a moment, ever. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. But if any man sin, if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Don't sin, but when
you do, don't despair. By the cliff some months ago,
I was preaching through the Gospel of John to our folks. And I got
to John chapters 13 and 14. And the chapter division is so
unfortunate, so very unfortunate. Our Lord Jesus said to Peter,
before this night is over, you're going to deny me three times. Before this night is over, you're
going to deny me three times. Peter, you've got to learn some
things about yourself. You've got to learn that you're
not stronger, or better, or nobler, or more righteous than another.
You've got to learn some things about yourself, and before the
night's over, you will deny me three times. Do you remember
what the Lord's very next word was to Peter? You remember what
the very next word was? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. So that in the teeth of
your sin, in the teeth of what you know you are, yet, behold,
the advocate is yours. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the
propitiation for our sins. Here is Joshua and Satan standing
at Joshua's right hand to resist him. Joshua standing before the
Lord fully aware that he's a sinful man. He's broken God's law. He's defiled
his garments as God's high priest and Satan stands to resist him. Have you ever been there? Peter,
I've been there many times. I'm there most of the time. Most
of the time. Most of the time. In fact, I
find myself standing precisely where Joshua stood all the time
with Satan at my right hand ever resisting me. How does Satan resist you? How
does Satan disturb your faith? How does Satan cause you to start
looking at yourself and question God's goodness? Start looking
at yourself and question Christ's righteousness? Start looking
at yourself and question the sufficiency of Christ's blood?
Start looking at yourself and question the sufficiency of God's
grace? How does he do that? He raises up the body of Moses. That's how he does it. He raises
up the law. The law which Christ has ended. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You are dead
to the law. Now I know we've tried our best
to, how can I put it? I won't say we, I'll say me.
I have tried my best over the years to try to state things
in such a way as to be careful that babbling, legalistic will-worshippers
won't get too offended. Now, when we say that Christ
came and he's the end of the law, that doesn't mean that he
abolished the law. Yes, he did. Yes he did. He abolished it. He abolished
the types, the ceremonies, the commands, the curses, everything
in the law. He abolished it. That's what
the word end means. We're dead to the law. Dead to
the law. That means that the law is useless? Oh no. No. He's abolished the
law insofar as his people are concerned. And he did it by fulfilling
the law. Meaning every requirement God
has in the law for you. Every requirement. So that the
law has no relationship to God's people. None whatsoever. Well, but Brother Don, what is
the law's role in our lives? You are not under the law, but
under grace. Surely that's not what Scripture
means. Well, the next verse puts it this way. You are not under
the law, but under grace. Oh, it can't mean that. The next
chapter, you are dead to the law by the body of Christ. Oh,
oh, that just opens the floodgates to life's righteousness. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Well,
how then does Satan attempt to raise him up? He comes to you,
he comes to me, as we stand before God conscious of our sin. And
every believer is constantly conscious of his sin. not conscious
in a guilty sense. For we have our guilt taken away
by the blood of Christ. We're conscious of the fact that
we are worthy of eternal damnation in ourselves. And here Joshua
stands with his filthy garments. He's God's priest. He knows he's
God's priest. He's sent back to build God's
house, but he's defiled himself. And the law demands perfection.
And Satan says, you're filthy. Moses demands that you die, and
yet you hope for mercy. The law demands holiness, and
you don't have any. The law demands it shall be holy
to be accepted, and dare you hope that the holy God will accept
you? What a sad, sad picture we have
here in Zechariah. If that's all there were to the
picture, it would be sad indeed. But bless God, that's not the
whole picture. Look at the next line. In verse
2, Zechariah 3. This is what Jude refers to back
in Jude 9. The Lord said unto Satan, even
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire? Here's a picture of the Lord
Jesus making intercession for his elect. Satan is our adversary,
but Christ is our advocate. Satan's our accuser. Christ is
our intercessor. Now notice Joshua says nothing. Joshua says nothing. He has nothing
to say. He can't defend himself. He has
defiled his garments. He can't pretend to be good.
He has no goodness. He can't pretend to have obeyed
God. He has disobeyed God. He says nothing. Joshua did nothing. He stands in silence before the
angel of the Lord and before the Lord and the Lord pleads
his cause. Hold your hands here in Zechariah
and turn back a few pages to Micah. Micah chapter 7, verse
8. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned against Him until He plead my
cause and execute judgment for me He will bring me forth to
the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. Look at chapter
7, verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee?
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue all our iniquities. Thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. When the Lord Jesus here says,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, he wasn't yielding ground to
Satan. He wasn't implying that somehow he didn't dare raise
his voice against Satan, that somehow he lacked the authority,
the self-sufficient omnipotence with which to speak to Satan.
Rather, our Lord Jesus is speaking as Joshua's advocate and as our
advocate. He speaks as our advocate in
court, declaring the basis of divine pardon. He says, the Lord
rebuketh thee. when the Lord Jesus contended
with Satan, silencing forever his legal accusations against
Joshua, he spoke as the angel of the covenant, as Michael the
archangel, as our mediator and advocate, and he points to the
irrefutable ground upon which Joshua stands before the Lord. the irrefutable ground upon which
God's elect stand before God, the irrefutable ground upon which
we dare stand before God with confidence. How can you do that? How can I dare approach God drawn
near into the holy place within the veil. How dare we come to
God and stand before him acknowledging and confessing all that we are
by nature, hoping for acceptance with him. He speaks that which
is our right to be there and that which is our security there
as he rebukes Satan as our advocate. The Lord Jesus durst not speak,
because he did not need to speak. He's already spoken. It's not
as though he didn't dare speak or had no power or authority
to speak, but rather he speaks as our advocate and pleads only
righteousness and justice according to the very demands of God's
law and points to our ground of acceptance. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now here in Zechariah,
our Lord gives us three reasons why Joshua and every believing
sinner must be cleared of all charges. Three reasons why God
in justice cannot and will not impute sin to His own. First,
our accuser is silenced by the word of Christ, our advocate.
The Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. It's as much as if he had said,
God will forgive my people because I said it. The merits of Christ, his blood
and righteousness, as he stands as our advocate in heaven, our
intercessor, our great high priest, ever plead for the non-imputation
of sin because Christ is ours and we're his. He stands before
God with our names and as our high priest engraved upon his
heart and engraved upon his hands and he says, forgive them. Forgive
them. Oh, forgive they cry, nor let
that ransomed sinner die. Second, our accuser is silenced
by God's purpose of grace and election. Our advocate says,
the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuked thee. It's as though he laughed in
the devil's face and said, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? When you stand before the Lord
God in filthy garments, the garments of your own doing
in your best deeds. You have nothing to fall back
upon except the finished work of Christ and God's eternal purpose
of grace in him. The Lord rebuked them. He chose
Jerusalem. His purpose stands fast. He'll
never change his mind. And then the third thing, our
accuser is silenced by the immutability of God's grace, by the humble
state and condition of God's elect in this world. Our Savior
looked at Joshua standing there with filthy, tattered garments
and said, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? When I read that, I looked at
it, scratched my head and said, What comfort is that? Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? How does that help? Now I know. Our Lord was saying, I will not
charge my people with sin for two reasons. I've saved them
and my grace is immutable. By an act of omnipotent mercy,
by an act of irresistible grace, he plucked us as firebrands from
the fire, and he will never cast us back into the fire. He says,
I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob, such things as you and I are. Can you get a
hold of that, buddy? tricky, deceitful, conniving,
wretched, sinful sons of Jacob. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed." What is it that gives you peace
before God? Your works? No, His goodness. Your righteousness? No. His grace. Your merit? No. His immutability. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And the Lord says, as he laughs
at Satan, I'm not done with him yet. This is a bran plucked out
of the fire. It's as though the Lord had said
to Satan, What else would you expect from him but filth? He's
covered with the ashes of the fire. He's a bran plucked out
of the fire. But this is not the end of things.
He who plucked us out of the fire will finish his work in
us and for us. He will present us at last to
himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Turn back to Jude. Hold your hands here in Zechariah.
We'll be right back. Turn back to Jude for just a minute. Look
at verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you If this weren't written in the
book of God, I couldn't believe it, let alone say it. He'll present
you faultless. Faultless. Internally or externally,
faultless. Before the presence of His glory,
with exceeding joy. His joy or yours? Yes. with exceeding
joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty
and dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. As our Lord laughs in Satan's
face as our advocate, he is saying he will never charge us with
sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. How come? Because Moses is dead. Moses is dead. Christ met every
demand of God's law for us. Christ satisfied every demand
of divine justice in our stead. He lived in perfect obedience
to God as our representative, and died under the wrath of God,
fully satisfying the justice of God as our substitute, so
that the law of God now has nothing to say against us. How can I state it? God in heaven has no reason ever
to be angry with you who are in Christ. Never. Displeased with that which
we do? Yes. and will show his displeasure
with the evil we do, just as he did show his displeasure against
David's sin in 1 Samuel, but not with his own. We who are
his are accepted in the beloved. And that acceptance never rises
and never falls. It never varies. Our relationship
with God, our acceptance with God, our nearness to God, our
oneness with God, our Savior, never fluctuates. We're one with
Christ. And the law can no more speak
against us than it can speak against Him. This is God's work
of grace. Look at it. Verse 3, Zechariah
chapter 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake
unto those that stood by. That is, the angel of the Lord
spoke to those who 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. I've taken
it away from you. and I will clothe thee with the
change of raiment. I believe it's back in Leviticus
chapter 8. There's a whole chapter that
describes the clothing of God's priest. God's priest. I believe that's talking about
us. He's made us under our God's priest and kings. And He's given
us the clothing of God's priest with which we should serve Him.
Now watch this. And I said, I don't know who's
speaking there. Is it the Lord, God himself?
Perhaps. Is it Christ, our mediator, the
angel of the Lord? Perhaps. But it seems to me that
the one here speaking is Zachariah the prophet. He seems to be saying
amen to the Lord's declaration of grace. Zachariah says, amen,
let it be done. Let them set a fair mitre on
his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head. Do you remember what was set
on the priest's crown? On that fair mitre he had a plate
of gold set right on his head so that everywhere he went, everything
he did, it said, Holiness to the Lord. Holiness to the Lord. Hold your hands in Zachariah
and turn over to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 9, I believe
it is. Yeah, chapter 9, verse 7. Look
at this. Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart. That's just talking about common.
Ordinary daily things. Go your way. Eat your bread with
joy. Drink your wine with a merry
heart. Walk before God in this world with delight, with satisfaction,
with rejoicing. Read on. For God now accepteth
thy works. What works? When I get done here, I'm going
to have a glass of that water right there. God accepts that. And in a little
while, I'm going to drive across town, get on a plane, fly over
to Ireland, and I'll probably sit right close to that lady
there and hold hands with her most of the way over there. God
accepts it. Well, that's not what he's talking
about. Let's see. Let's see. Let thy
garments be always white. Let thy head like no ointment.
You're God's priest. live joyfully with the wife whom
thou lovest all the days of thy vanity." All the days of this existence
of vanity in this world. Which he hath given thee under
the sun all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this
life. and in thy labor which thou takest
unto the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with all thy might. For there is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest."
So while you live in this world and you go about your business,
you serve God. You serve God. You see, we don't
just serve God here on Sunday morning. Steven, you're talking
about the long hours they're demanding now. I'll make it a
little easier for you. You're not serving your employer. Serving God, you mean doing what
he does? Serving God? As much as this
right here, if you walk by faith. If you live trusting Christ,
our lives are His. Devoted to Him. Given to Him. And God accepts your words. Holiness to the Lord. Back in
Zechariah. And clothes Him with garments. the garments of salvation,
the spotless robe of his righteousness, the white linen garments of accepted
priests, the white linen garments of perfect holiness and perfect
righteousness, so that our Lord Jesus lived in this world for
33 years in perfect compliance with the
heart of Jehovah. And he didn't do that for himself.
He didn't owe anything. He did that for me. I did that in him. Lived as a man,
the full length of a man's life, in perfect compliance with God
Almighty. And then he died as my substitute. I died in Him, satisfying all
the wrath of God, and God looks on me in His Son and smiles all
the time. All the time. Never a time when
He doesn't. Now, let's go back to Jude 9. I'll wrap this up. What's the lesson? What's the
lesson? What's Jude teaching us here?
What is God, the Holy Spirit, teaching us here? The Lord Jesus
Christ, that man who is God, is our great savior, the archangel,
the prince, the head of all principalities and powers. As such, he is our
great advocate, our high priest, our mighty intercessor. What
a great defender he is. He stands before God and says,
the Lord rebuke thee. What do we do when Satan would
raise up Moses and accuse us? How do we respond? Don't. What do we do when men
accuse us and slander us? How do we respond? Don't. Christ is our advocate. Christ
is our intercessor. I'm often asked why I don't respond
to folks who write and say various things. I don't need to. I don't
need to. The fact is that there's nothing
you can say about me that's not true. Nothing evil. There's nothing
evil you can say about me that's not true. I know it's true. So I can't defend that. And there's
nothing you can say about me that will alter God's opinion
of me. I'm accepted and beloved. And
there's nothing Satan can raise against me that will alter the
fact that I'm redeemed with Christ's precious blood. Compassed with
trouble and distress, What fears possess my mind? Savior, I long
to see your face for grace and peace divine. With broken heart
and waiting long beneath this crushing load, I own my sin,
confess my wrong, and stretch my hands to God. My wretched
heart, my God, I mourn, and for my sin I weep with every lust
obscene, I burn and sink into the deep. As Satan raises Moses
up and roars against my soul, Lord Jesus, my poor cause take
up and make your servant whole. Arise, O Lord, shine forth in
grace, your precious blood apply. Embrace my soul, dear Prince
of Peace, blessed rock higher than I. Speak, Savior, Let me
hear your voice. Show me again your face. Oh,
hear my inmost groans and cries. Revive my soul with grace. Amen. Our Father, how we thank you for our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus. How we thank you for your great
mercy, love, and grace in Him. And we thank you for perfect
righteousness in our Savior. And I thank you for this body
of believers in this place. God bless them. As they labor
together, make their labors effectual for the glory of your Son, for
the increase of your kingdom, for the in-gathering of your
elect. For Christ's sake I pray. Will you bless our time of fellowship
together, knit our hearts even more firmly together in the sweet
fellowship of the gospel? Amen. Thank you, Pastor.