From Zechariah chapter 3, it's about the fifth book before the end of the Old Testament, and we're reading from the NIV, so you can follow in the Bibles provided for you, or in your own Bible. Zechariah chapter 3 is one of the eight visions of Zechariah. A little history. 20 years ago, I mean local history, 20 years ago, Pastor Howard Zile retired from the ministry. And we were without a pastor for a while. Some of you with good memories and a bit older may recall that Dr. Godfrey and I simply took over the pulpit for a year. And Dr. Godfrey preached from the Psalms and I preached from the other 65 books of the Bible. Well, after a year, we had had three declines. And we were going into our second year of vacancy. So then, at least I thought, we better have something like a series of messages. And I began a series of messages on the visions of Zechariah. And after just three of the visions, Pastor Kaminga interrupted that series by accepting our call. So, those of you who have been waiting all these years for a continuation of that series, this morning we have vision number four, although it's in chapter three of the book of Zechariah. Well, I don't expect any of you to remember way back there, But I remember and I keep a record and here is the word of the Lord from the fourth chapter of the book of Zechariah. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, take off his filthy clothes. Then he said to Joshua, See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you. Then I said, Put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood by. The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua. This is what the Lord Almighty says. If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements. Then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts and I will give you a place among these standing here. Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you who are men symbolic of things to come. I am going to bring my servant the branch. See the stone I have set in front of Joshua. There are seven eyes on that one stone and I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord Almighty. And I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. In that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree, declares the Lord Almighty. And now, turning to the New Testament, we see what was symbolically presented in the Old Testament in the person of Joshua, the high priest, is fulfilled in the person of Jesus, our really only high priest. Listen to Hebrews chapter 9, beginning with verse 11. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made. That is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. Dear friends in Christ, the Bible is an inspired account of God's determination to save a lost world. It records both the words of God and His deeds, both what He said and what He did. And the Lord determined to fulfill his purpose in a divine human partnership that we call the covenant. This, from eternity determination of God to save a lost world, as a partnership between God, the party of the first part, and humanity, the party of the second part. Now, what was tragic about this relationship, which we call covenant, is that though the divine side was always faithful, God never went against his own word. His promises are sure. The human side forever failed. And it seems that repeatedly in the history of redemption, God had to sort of start over with a faithful few. That was dramatically presented in the time of the flood, wasn't it? One family in the whole human race. Now, the population of the world wasn't that terribly extensive in that day, but it was certainly a large number of people unfaithful to covenant. So, God sort of starts again with a family of Noah and his family. And after untold centuries, untold thousands of years, it seems the same thing happened and God has to call somebody else out. His name is Abraham. From a pagan environment to be God's faithful covenant partner. and God makes these great promises to Abraham that in his descendancy there would be one who would be a blessing to all nations under the sun. But Abraham had eight sons. Only one was faithful, Isaac. Isaac had two sons. Only one is faithful. He wasn't that faithful either. Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons. And for a while it seems like there's a nation under the Mosaic order anticipating the realization of God's plan of salvation. But you know, and the Bible tells us, that those twelve tribes became mostly unfaithful too. As a matter of fact, about 500 years after Moses' time, you have David and Solomon and then a divided kingdom. And ten northern tribes became pagan at the outset. And they never cared about partnership with God to fulfill His purposes in this world. And only one tribe has left, Judah. And if you wonder where that twelfth tribe went, well, they were sort of destroyed in intertribal warfare. The tribe of Benjamin doesn't count anymore. So just one tribe. But they too imitated the ways of the pagans and that one tribe becomes largely unfaithful. So God has to discipline them and sends them off into exile to a land called then Babylon, today called Iraq. Nature does repeat itself, doesn't it? At least we have reminders of that every day. And that's where Zechariah comes in. Now, Zechariah and Haggai were probably born and raised in captivity. But they grew up, God was faithful, his word was still present, and they became prophets among God's people. And in God's providence, when the Persian Empire takes over from Babylon, King Cyrus is kindly disposed toward these Jews and he says, Look, those of you who want to return to Jerusalem, you may go, resettle the area, and you may build a new temple. Well, not new walls of the city. That came 75 years later. Because, you know, walls are military defenses and the Persian Empire didn't want anything. That was a military threat to them. But he allowed the Jews to go back to resettle Jerusalem and an awfully small, scraggly group went back. Only a small proportion of those who originally went. And that's why the Bible calls them a remnant. Just a piece of the tribe and God starts over again. He's faithful to his promise with these faithful few. That brings us to Zechariah here, which is a series of visions, at least the first six chapters, a series of visions. The captivity is about to end. I say about to end because, well, I'm going to share a little theory I have. which I never remember saying in public because I don't know of any prominent theologians who have suggested this. But you see, if you count the number of years from the first deportation, that is the first group of slaves that the Babylonians took to Babylon, to the return in 537, it doesn't come to 70 years. You know, the Persians kept very careful records. As a matter of fact, in this modern translation from which I read the law, if you read Zechariah, it says that in October and November of 520 B.C. That's how accurate we can be at this point in history if we compare these careful Persian records. But here they are already returned and it was less than 70 years. Ah, but in 587, Nebuchadnezzar's army burned down the city of Jerusalem, including the temple. And Zechariah and Haggai are encouraging the people to build a new temple. And you know, the temple was completed and dedicated. Zerubbabel's temple. Exactly 70 years after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the first temple. You see, the real captivity is the absence of the presence of the Lord in the midst of His people. And that's what the temple represented. God dwelt symbolically between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. But when the temple was destroyed, no more morning and evening sacrifices. No more teaching the kids' catechism. No more Day of Atonement sprinkling blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies for 70 years until Zechariah comes. And he with Haggai encouraged the rebuilding of the temple. And now the presence of God in the midst of His people can be symbolized again. Because a holy God needs a holy temple where a holy people can serve Him. And so what we have here in this vision is this Holy Spirit telling us how to be God's holy people, how to be holy before God. If you're following the outline, you'll notice, first of all, Joshua the high priest had to be made holy before God, and then the people of his day, and finally, you and me, because we're here too. How to be holy before God. Well, in this vision of chapter 3 of Zechariah, we have a court scene. And we're getting accustomed to that now, aren't we? My, there's a channel on our satellite TV that's called Court TV. And you can watch it day and night, I guess. Besides, there are cold case files and the investigation channel and city confidential. And we're always confronted with these court scenes. Where a judge stands behind the big raised table. Kind of a sign of authority. And then on the judge's right, there is the plaintiff. You can always remember what the plaintiff is. That's the person bringing the complaint. In this case, it's the devil, Satan. And on the judge's left, there is the defendant. The one who has to defend him or herself against the complaint of the plaintiff. So here we have God as the judge, sometimes under the rubric as the angel of the Lord, as the spokesman for the Lord, but it's God who is the judge. And the plaintiff, the accuser, is the devil. He is the great accuser, of course. And the defendant is Joshua, who has been elected by the congregational meeting to be high priest. Well, Satan tried to prevent the rebuilding of the temple. If you read Haggai, Haggai is really very specific about this. He's a contemporary, you know, the same year, as a matter of fact, as this prophecy, Haggai prophesied. And he says to the people, look, we have been commissioned by Cyrus the Persian to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And here you are without the enthusiasm and zeal and commitment we need. Oh, initially, those few thousand started building the temple. They laid the foundations, the footing, I guess you builders call that. But then the temple was a hole in the ground for 16 years. Well, the people were busy building their own homes. Haggai calls them sealed beam houses. They had big family rooms with big fireplaces and sealed beams. Well, the temple lay in ruins. The temple looked like a landfill, like a hole in the ground. And the people built their vineyards and they built their dairies. Well, they were goat dairies. Of course, they drank goat milk. You see, they established their businesses. They were establishing their own little kingdoms while God's temple lay in ruins. And Haggai comes in 520, about 16 years, 17 years later, after the initial return. And he said, hey, you've got things backwards. You must put first things first. And you know what? Things are not going well for us just now because God is reminding us that he must have the central place in the life of his covenant community. And as a result of Haggai and Zechariah's efforts, the people get back to work in 520 B.C. And by 5.17, the temple is finished and ready to be dedicated. Well, the devil tried to stop that effort through the laziness and selfishness of the people and through the opposition of some of the tribes around there. But he was unsuccessful. The building is finished. So now what's the devil going to do? Because he doesn't like anything established for God's kingdom. To prosper. So since plan A didn't work, the devil turns to plan B. He turns before God and says, maybe you've got a temple ready, but there's nobody worthy to serve as high priest. Nobody worthy to represent you before the people, to bring your word to the people, and to bring their requests before the Lord. I mean, you know, the devil has a point, doesn't he? After all, it looks like the devil has an argument here. Because in verse 3 it says, Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes. And a little later in the verse, it tells us exactly what those filthy clothes represent. Because it says, see, I have taken away your sin and put rich garments upon you. So, apparently, in this vision, it symbolized Joshua's unworthiness, his own sinfulness, his own depravity. He couldn't serve the Lord in that capacity. So, it looks like, well, the temple is built for nothing. The day and morning and evening sacrifices can't be reinstated. There's no one there to serve properly. Just a bit paused now. You know, this is the devil's strategy, isn't it? Whenever we try to advance God's cause and kingdom, establish a new mission venture, plan a new church, preach the gospel through radio and TV, establish a Christian home for the aged, Christian school, the devil first says, hey, we can't afford it. It's too big a job. Too many opposed. Not enough in favor of it. But when the cause is established anyway, then the devil tries to disqualify the laborers. And that's what he's doing here. But God has a response. And that's in verse 2. Starts in verse 2. Continues later. The Lord says to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? You know, there's a marvelous book written by Johannes Blau. Once, a long time ago, 50 years ago, when I was at the Free University, the President or the Secretary General of the Foreign Mission Society of the Khrifmeer de Kierken, the Reformed Church, the Free Reformed Church of the Netherlands. And in this book he mentions the repeated references in the scripture to chosen, called, and elected. And he says they're really synonyms. So when we read, I chose Jerusalem, speaking of course of that covenant community, for which he had great plans, looking 500 years ahead to the coming of Jesus, and to this man Joshua, well, he was elected, he was chosen, he was called by God as a brand plucked out of the fire. Oh, apart from the grace of God, Joshua would have gone the way of everyone else. And so would we. Consumed by the fires of evil, hatred, anger. All those God dishonoring actions and deeds. Whenever I read this verse, I think of where we lived in Palos Heights, Illinois, before I had the great privilege of joining the Westminster faculty. And we had a family room with a very large natural stone fireplace. And we had a lot of lumber. There's a lot of lumber out there in the Midwest. And that was outside, so we brought it in. But I also had a nice brass holder with some beautiful logs of birch lumber. You know, this white birch. And they were neatly cut, and it was for ornamental reasons. But now, when my son wanted to be helpful when he was a little boy, and he was going to add some lumber to the fire, of course, he took this nice birch and he brings it into the fireplace. And when I saw that, I snatched it back. I saved it from consumption, from burning. We said, no, we use this other kind of lumber, okay, for that. I always think of that because, really, that's where Joshua stood. It's where we stand too, isn't it? Apart from the grace of God, hey, the consuming fire is our lot. God snatches us out. He chose us. He called us to be His people. And that's the case with Joshua too. And then you have this great charge. See, I have taken away your sin and I will put rich garments on you. Put a clean turban on his head. That was the headpiece that the high priest wore. In the front of which it said, Holy unto the Lord. Take off those dirty garments. Put the righteousness of the coming Savior upon him. He is worthy to be my own. I chose him. But now we have a theological problem, don't we? God is a righteous God. How can he simply declare Joshua sinless? Worthy to be his high priest servant. My, some of us haven't gotten over the awful account, awful experience of Jessica Lunsford. Here this sexual pervert who had already served time for molesting little girls and now was up for indictment again? And some judge in Florida said, well, he set him free under his own, how did the lawyer say it? Recognizance, that is, with his own promise that he'll come back on the trial date. And while he's out, free, He meets Jessica Lunsford and he molests her and murders her. And we say, what's the matter with a judge like that? Risking others with his easy approach to those who are charged with serious crime. Well, isn't that what the Lord is doing here? He said, well, let's forget about it, Joshua. Put clean clothes upon him. Let him wear holy unto the Lord on his head. Well, you know, don't you, from the Scripture that it isn't as easy as that, is it? No, there's a reason. You see, the Scripture tells us exactly how God can be just and a justifier of those who are unholy. Not only did He choose them, But God says that he will remove the iniquity of Joshua and his covenant people in one day. I want to read that to you because in verses 8 and 9, we have the description of God's grace in declaring the sinner righteous. We read, listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you. Those were the lesser priests. You men, symbolic of things to come. Sure, Hebrews chapter 9 tells us what the symbol of things to come. The high priest bringing the perfect sacrifice. I am going to bring my servant the branch. The Messiah is frequently called the branch. The descendant of David. the one anticipated by all the ages of the faithful community of the Old Testament time. I am going to bring my servant the branch and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. And that day was Bad Friday, which we call Good Friday. Bad because Jesus bore in His own body the sins of all whoever would trust in Him from Adam to Zechariah to you and me. And that's why it became Good Friday for us. I will remove the iniquity of my people in a single day. Well, and that's why Joshua can be declared righteous. And that's why Satan's accusation can be thrown out of court. And that's why the devil's case against Joshua and you and I and you and me can be a case dismissed. Well, I've spent a little more time on point number one than I should have. And between us, I'm not practicing what I teach. Because I told students that there's a tendency to have the tyranny of the first point. Dominate the whole sermon. And here we are. So I'll have to use point two and three as the application of this message. Well, more than an application because this word really does include the people of Israel in Zechariah's day. This vision isn't restricted to Joshua alone. Joshua was, after all, the high priest. He was the priestly leader of his people. So then when Satan accuses him of being unworthy of God's mercies, he is accusing the whole covenant community. So what Satan says in opposition to Joshua applies also for the covenant community of that day. It means then that for God's people, their sins will have to be removed too by one who is a prophet, priest, and king. The one who would lay down his life as the sin bearer for all his people. We don't need a priest anymore because the perfect priest has come. Jesus Christ the righteous, who ever liveth to make intercession for us before the heavenly majesty. You see, Satan knew that it was from this small struggling group of returned exiles that the Savior of the world would come. Satan probably understood God's plan of redemption better than most of the people of the Old Testament times, maybe some of the prophets even. And so he tried to prevent it. And so he tries to prevent the cause of Christ. He knows he will be ultimately destroyed. Read Revelation chapter 12. He knows his time is short, but he still opposes God's kingdom, God's people. But God's response for Israel is the same as his response for Joshua. I chose them. They are brands plucked out of the fire so that they are not consumed. they're mine. Take the dirty clothes off. Rode them in the righteousness of my Son, the Lord Jesus. And the same thing is true for each of us who trusts in Jesus. It's God's marvelous grace that we celebrate. You know, grace is amazing because sin is serious. I know sin seems to be ignored. I knew a pastor who said he hadn't used the word sin for 20 years. And I said, I thought that was very, very unfortunate. Now we say, well, he made a mistake. My, that athlete in Florida shot and killed his girlfriend, his live-in girlfriend. And afterward, instead of saying he had done a terrible crime, he said, I guess I made a bad decision. So we trivialize sin. And then we trivialize the grace of God. You see, if sin is just a minor deviation from the straight path, then grace becomes just a little nudge back in the right direction. But oh my, then our God went to an awful lot of trouble to solve an awful minor problem. Because He sent His own Son to be the Savior of all who trust Him. Whether in Joshua's day or our day, God declares us righteous and holy only because of Jesus. So that when he looks at your heart, he sees Jesus there. And when he looks at your sins, he sees them all nailed to the cross. And he says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red, blood red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I close with a poem, a poem I learned some over 50 years ago when I was a young seminarian intern in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Don't know who the author is, but it's a poem that I memorized and it's never left me. And it goes like this. Must have been inspired by Zechariah chapter 3. I'm not sure. The author is anonymous, can't tell us. But the poem goes like this. I sinned, and straightway Satan flew before the throne of God and brought a railing accusation there. He said, this soul, this thing of clay and sod has sinned, and I demand a penalty. Hast thou not said the soul that sinneth it must die? Is justice dead? And so Satan did accuse me through and through. And every word the devil spoke was true. Then one rose up from God's right hand, before whose glory angels veiled their eyes. He spoke. Each jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled. the guilty one must die. But wait, suppose I were to take his place and I would bear his penalty. I died that he might spotless be presented before the throne of God. And Satan fled away. Full well he knew that every word my Savior spoke was true. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that Joshua could be robed in clean garments symbolizing your grace and that we too may be clothed in the righteousness of our blessed Lord. Thank you, O Holy Spirit, for touching our hearts with the gospel and help us to be your faithful covenant people in our day to the praise of your glorious grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you.