Zechariah 3 verse 1 to 5 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
fine 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. Well good morning everyone.
It's great to be with you this morning. Those
of you who are regular at Grace can see I'm not
Michael. Michael has a much cooler beard than
I do. But my name is Tim. I'm one of the pastors
at All Nations, and it is great to be with you
this morning. If you have your Bibles, please
keep them open to Zechariah chapter 3 as we hear
from this somewhat unusual passage together.
But before we do, let's pray and ask for God's
help. Heavenly Father, you tell us that the preaching
of your word is the smell of death to those who
are perishing, but it is the smell of life to
us who are being saved. So we simply ask that
by the power of your Holy Spirit, many here this
morning might find it the smell of life, some
even for the very first time, because we ask
it in Jesus' name, amen. In the 1800s, there
were a series of books written, and these books
were called rags to riches stories. You might
have read some of them, but the basic plot of
all of these stories is the same. A boy or a
girl is born very poor and then they grow up
to be rich and famous. They're born as an orphan,
as an outcast. They're born with absolutely no
money to their name, but then they grow up through
hard work and a little bit of luck to be rich
and powerful and famous. In fact, if you think
about it, that's pretty much the story of every
single Disney movie ever made. Kids, just think
about the story of Cinderella. Cinderella is
born as this poor, neglected, forgotten sister.
Cinderella is a girl whose life is filled with
dirt and rags. Until finally, Cinderella is loved
by Prince Charming, and in the end, she becomes
a beautiful princess. The whole story of Cinderella
is rags to riches. And friends, the passage in
front of us today in Zechariah chapter three
is the greatest rags to riches story ever told.
And even better than that, this story is not
a fairy tale. Because behind all of the strange
symbolism in Zechariah chapter three is a true
story. A true story of how guilty sinners like
us are loved by the king of this universe. A
true story of how guilty sinners like us are
snatched from the fires of hell that we deserve.
A true story of how dirty, guilty, rotten sinners
like us are given the most glorious riches. that
we can imagine. Our passage this morning is a
true story of rags to riches. This passage comes
in the book of Zechariah. And Zechariah was a
prophet after the exile. Some of you may know
the history, but the nation of Judah was sent
into exile for their sins. They were sent away
from the promised land to the country of Babylon.
And now 70 years later, God is bringing his people
back to the promised land. That's where the book
of Zechariah starts. But even though the people
are back in the promised land, things are not
going well at all. Judah is still... a weak nation.
They're living in the ruined city of Jerusalem.
The temple is still lying in ruins and the people
feel small and powerless. They're surrounded
by these mighty nations and mighty armies and
they're starting to feel a little bit discouraged.
In fact, the people in this book feel like some
of us might feel this morning. Because sometimes
as Christians or even just people living in this
world we feel the pressures building up on us.
We see the culture changing out there. We see
the conflict and the fights that happen in our
churches or our families. We look in the mirror
and we see the sin in our own hearts and we start
to feel outnumbered and discouraged. But friends
it's into this kind of setting, it's to discouraged,
weak, sometimes outnumbered people like us that
God sends the prophet Zechariah. And Zechariah
brings these ancient people, he brings us this
morning a message of incredible hope. The greatest
rags to riches story ever told. So let's try
to understand this strange passage in three points
this morning. First, dirty rags, dirty rags versus
one and three. I don't really know whether they're
popular, but back where I come from in America,
we have all kinds of courtroom dramas on television.
And if you've ever seen one of those courtroom
dramas, you know that sooner or later, the guilty
person is sitting on the witness stand, and the
lawyer, the prosecuting attorney, is questioning
them, the tension is building, and the lawyer
is getting ready to prove to everyone their guilt.
And you know, that's the picture in Zechariah
chapter 3. That's the picture in verse 1. If
you have your Bibles open, look with me at verse
1 again. Verse one, then he showed me Joshua
the high priest standing before the angel of
the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand
to accuse him. Like all of those courtroom dramas
on television in verse one, Zechariah sees a
court scene. Only Zechariah here is seeing the
heavenly courtroom. And in this heavenly courtroom,
Joshua is standing trial. Joshua, the high priest,
is on the witness stand. And the tension is building.
The drama is building because the lawyer accusing
Joshua is Satan. Satan, the great enemy of God's
people. Satan, the great adversary, the great
accuser of God's people, is bringing charge after
charge after charge against Joshua. And what
are the charges against Joshua? Well, look at
your Bibles. Look at verse three. The charges
are right there in verse three. Verse three,
now, Joshua was standing before the angel clothed
with filthy garments. Joshua was standing in
the heavenly courtroom of God clothed with dirty
rags. Most of you don't know me very well, but
I'll tell you a fun fact. about myself. Maybe
it's not really fun, but here's a fact about
myself. I'm not great with fashion. In fact,
I don't know anything at all about fashion. I
have absolutely no idea what is in or what is
out. Maybe some of you are right there with me.
And especially when I first got married, sometimes
what would happen is I'd put on some clothes
and I'd get ready to leave the house. But before
I made it out the front door, my wife would see
me and she'd kind of have this patient, sympathetic,
understanding smile on her face. And she would
just say to me, Tim, you're not really going
to wear that, are you? Tim, you're not really
planning to wear that in public, right? Guys,
if you haven't figured this out, let me give
you a free hint. If your wife ever says that
to you, the best thing you can do is just go
and get changed. And at first, we might kind
of think that's what's going on in verse three.
At first, we might just imagine Joshua is really
bad with fashion. Maybe he just forgot to do
his laundry. But you know, the problem here in
verse three is actually so much bigger than bad
fashion. The problem is so much bigger than overdue
laundry, because remember who Joshua is. Verse
one says Joshua is the high priest. And all the
way back in Exodus chapter 28, God gave really
specific instructions about the high priest's
clothing. God gave really specific rules about
the clothes that the high priest had to wear.
God gave a really strict dress code for the high
priest. And basically God said the priest clothes
had to be completely pure. The priest clothes
had to be completely spotless. The priest clothes
had to be completely clean. And God wasn't concerned
about fashion. God wasn't concerned about overdue
laundry. God was making a theological point.
God was trying to teach us something about our
own hearts. Because the priest's spotless robes
were meant to show us that we need... to be spotless.
We need to be pure. We need to be holy. We need
to be absolutely perfect in order to stand in
the presence of a holy God. But the problem here
is Joshua's clothes are not clean. Joshua's clothes
are not spotless. Joshua's clothes are filthy
garments and dirty rags. Satan's accusations
are completely right. Joshua is dressed in dirty
rags, so Joshua cannot stand before Holy God.
To help us get this, let me kind of adapt a children's
story. from RC scroll. When I was young, actually
I still do, I have three older brothers. I'm
the youngest of four boys. And sometimes when
we were young, we'd go outside and we'd play
in the mud. Do any of you do that kids? When
it's raining, you go outside and you play in
the mud. Well, sometimes we went outside, we
rolled around, we jumped in the muddy puddles
and we got covered in mud from head to toe. And
kids, I don't know about your parents, but when
my brothers and I did that, my parents wouldn't
even let us in the front door. When we got covered
in mud, they'd take us out to the back. They'd
hose us off. They'd make us take off all those
dirty, muddy clothes before they even let us
in the house. My parents wouldn't even let us
in the front door with dirty clothes on. Or maybe
you can think about going to Buckingham Palace
covered in filthy rags. The guards at the front
gate of the palace won't even let you in the
front door. Because you see when we're covered
with mud we cannot stand on the clean white carpet
in our house When we're clothed in dirty rags,
we can't just walk in to see the King of England
Do you see it? Do you get it? That's what's going
on in Zechariah chapter 3 Joshua is completely
filthy in the heavenly courtroom Satan's Accusations
are right Joshua is wearing dirty rags Joshua's
heart is dirt with sin Joshua is a dirty muddy
mess and he cannot stand in the presence of the
King of Kings and dear friends the message we
need to get this morning is we have the same
problem as Joshua on our own we are just as dirty
as Joshua on our own we are guilty sinners look
all of you look like you have nice clean ironed
shirts on today. But the truth is under those
clean clothes our hearts are covered with dirty
rags. We may look good to everyone else but left
to ourselves our hearts are a muddy dirty sinful
mess. Because in our hearts, all of us are guilty
of lying. We are guilty of lusting. We are guilty
of cheating. We are guilty of getting angry and
screaming at the people we love. We are guilty
of pride and greed, of worry and of envy. And
listen, we are even guilty of doing good things
for the wrong reasons. We are guilty of serving
other people and then posting about it all over
Facebook so everybody can see what a good job
we've done. We are guilty of serving other people
at church just so everyone applauds us and pats
us on the back. We are guilty of sinning in a
thousand different ways and our hearts are dirty.
Dear friends, the bad news for us this morning
is that Satan's accusations are right. The bad
news for us today is that in the heavenly courtroom,
you and I are sinners. On our own, we are dressed
in dirty rags. And on our own, we can never dare
to approach the King of Kings. And if that's
the bad news, what can we do? What can we do
with our sin and our guilt and our shame? Is
there any way for us to get rid of these dirty,
filthy, muddy rags? It's the second part of our
passage, our second point today. First, our dirty
rags, but second, divine grace, divine grace.
Look at your Bibles again with me and look at
verse two. The Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke
you, O Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem
rebuke you. Is this not a brand? Is this not
a burning stick plucked out of the fire? You
see, Joshua is a sinner. You and I are clothed
in dirty rags. But look at verse two. Look at
the beauty of verse two. The Lord God Almighty
throws out the charges against us. And two different
times the Lord rebuked Satan. And notice why
the Lord rebuked Satan. Verse two, the Lord who
has chosen Jerusalem rebuked you. And at first,
that might seem really strange. The first few
times I read that, I wondered what in the world
is going on here? I thought we were talking about
Joshua and his dirty rags. What does God's choice
of Jerusalem have to do with anything? At first,
it doesn't make much sense at all. Until we realize...
God's choice of Jerusalem is a sign of God's
grace. God's choice of Jerusalem is a reminder
that God chooses the undeserving. You see, God
didn't choose Jerusalem because it was a strong
and mighty and powerful city. At the time that
Zechariah was written, Jerusalem was a ruined,
deserted city with a broken down wall. I don't
know if you ever read the newspapers, sometimes
they publish the list of the top undesirable
suburbs. They publish the list of the suburbs
with the highest crime rate or the highest unemployment
or however they think the right measure is. And
you know, if there was an ancient version of
the top undesirable suburbs at the time of Zechariah,
Jerusalem might have just made the list. Because
even after the exile, most of the Jews stayed
in Babylon. rather than come back to Jerusalem.
Most of the Jews stayed in Babylon, they chose
Babylon over Jerusalem, but friends, verse two
says the Lord chose Jerusalem. God chose this
broken, ruined, forgotten city as a sign and
a reminder of his grace. God chose broken, ruined,
forgotten Jerusalem as a reminder that God does
not choose God does not choose the strong. God
does not choose the wise. God does not choose
the mighty. God chooses the weak. God chooses
the foolish and the undeserving. God shows love
and compassion and grace to undeserving forgotten
cities like Jerusalem. And brothers and sisters,
God shows love and compassion and grace to. undeserving
sinners like Joshua and like you and me. That's
the message Joshua needed to hear. Joshua on
his own was a dirty sinner. He was a dirty sinner
who was like a burning stick about to be burned
up in the fires of God's wrath. But even though
the city of Jerusalem didn't deserve it, even
though Joshua didn't deserve it, verse two reminds
us God in his grace chose to save them. God in
his grace chose to snatch this ruin city and
this guilty sinner out of the fire. And dear
friends, what a message of hope for us this morning.
Because the truth is we are just as dirty as
Joshua. We are just as broken as Jerusalem. We
are just as undeserving as they were. So what
hope do we have? Friends, our only hope is in
God's divine grace. You see, the beauty of the
gospel is not that God saves people who deserve
it. The beauty of the gospel is not that God
saves people who earn it. The beauty of the gospel,
the hope of Christianity is that while we were
still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. The
beauty of the gospel is that God saves us. by
grace alone. Let me take another illustration
from someone else and change it again. Kids,
think back to those Disney fairy tales. Think
back to the story of Cinderella. In all of the
fairy tales I know, basically what happens is
Prince Charming sees the beautiful princess.
and he falls in love. And let me ask you, what
makes the prince love the princess? In all the
fairy tales I know, the prince loves the princess
because of how beautiful she is. Prince Charming
falls in love with Cinderella because of how
pretty she is, how smart she is, how funny and
hardworking and kind and lovely she is. Prince
Charming looks at Cinderella and he falls in
love with her. because she is just so lovely.
But dear friends, do you know what? When God
sees us, God doesn't say, look at how great they
are. When God sees us, God doesn't say, look
at how clever they are. When God sees us, God
doesn't say, look at how good and put together
and deserving they are. No, when God sees us,
God knows. all our worst qualities. God knows
our porn and our pride. God knows our greed and
our gossip. God knows our self -righteousness.
God knows all of those secret sins, all of those
secret sins that we've managed to hide from everybody
else. God knows them all. But Christians, God
says, I love you in spite of all of your sin.
I know how sinful you are, but I've chosen to
save you anyway, not because of how great you
are, not because you deserve it or you've earned
it. Christians, God says, I've chosen to save
you simply because of who our God is, simply
because of God's amazing grace simply because
God sets his love on us in and through Jesus
Christ. Friends, that is so much better than
a fairy tale. That's the message of verse two.
That's the beauty of divine grace. We were undeserving
sinners heading for the fires of hell, but God
saved us simply because of his own love and his
own grace. But how is that possible? How can
a just God legally dismiss the charges? against
us. How can God be loving and holy, loving and
just at the same time? As our final point, it's
the last part of our passage today, dirty rags,
divine grace, and now finally, dazzling riches,
dazzling riches, verses four and five. You know,
sometimes when my clothes get dirty, I try really
hard to clean them myself. I try really hard
to wash the dirt and the mud and the sweat away.
But as my wife can tell you, I'm really bad at
it. Sometimes I try to clean my shirt, but I
just make it worse. Instead of the dirt disappearing,
the dirt somehow manages to spread all over the
whole shirt. And you know, so often that's what
you and I do with our sin. So often we try to
scrub and clean our dirty sinful hearts by ourselves,
but the problem is we only make it worse because
we can't wash our hearts clean on our own. But
verse four says God can wash us clean. Verse
four says the God who has chosen us in Jesus
Christ can wash us clean. Look at your Bibles
again and look at verse four. And the angel said
to those who were standing before him, remove
the filthy garments from Joshua. And to Joshua
he said, behold, I have taken your iniquity away
from you. Behold, I have taken your sin away.
You see, on our own, we were wearing dirty rags.
On our own, we could never stand before a holy
God. On our own, we can never wash our sinful
hearts clean. But brothers and sisters, praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord because God can and
does wash us clean in Jesus Christ. In Jesus
Christ, God takes away our dirty rags forever.
You see, the good news for us today, the good
news that we're celebrating on Good Friday and
Easter Sunday, the very best news you can ever
hear is simply this. In Jesus Christ, God removes
our filthy garments. In Jesus Christ, God forgives
our sins. God washes our hearts completely clean
and all because of what Jesus Christ has done.
You see, Jesus Christ came into this world. Jesus
Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to his
father. Jesus Christ is the only person in all
of human history who never sinned. He never got
the clothes of his heart dirty with sin. Jesus
Christ is the only one wearing perfect, spotless,
righteous robes of his own obedience. But Christians,
the wonder and glory and comfort of the gospel
is that at the cross on Good Friday, Jesus Christ
wore our dirty rags. Jesus Christ had no sin
of his own, but at the cross, God took the dirty
rags of our sin off of us and God put them on
Jesus Christ his son. And then as Jesus Christ
died, God judged Jesus for our sin. God made
Jesus Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us
so that in Jesus Christ our dirty rags would
be removed forever and our iniquity would be
fully paid for. And Christians now in the heavenly
courtroom, God the judge bangs his gavel and
he says, not guilty. God the judge bangs his
gavel and he says, believer in Jesus Christ,
you are not guilty. Believer in Jesus Christ,
I have taken your iniquity away from you because
Jesus Christ has worn your dirty rags and Jesus
Christ has paid for all of your sins. Some of
you may know the name Martin Luther. Martin Luther
was a German monk who lived about 500 years ago.
And like many of us, Luther was a man who really
struggled with the guilt of his sin. He was a
man who knew very well he was wearing dirty rags
before a holy judge. And Luther tried everything
he could think of to get rid of his guilt. But
no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much
he worked, he didn't have any peace. He knew
none of his efforts could make him right with
a holy God. Until finally Luther discovered the
wonder of God's divine grace. Luther discovered
the glory of the promise of verse four. He discovered
the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ. But
you know, like so many of us, even after he became
a Christian, Luther still struggled with guilt.
Even after he became a Christian, he still felt
the accusations of Satan. And when Satan listed
all of Luther's sins, the guilt of it began to
weigh him down. The guilt of it nearly crushed
him. But do you know what Luther did? Do you
know what he said? Luther said, Satan, it's all
true. I'm guilty of all the things you're listing
and even more. But then he said, you can write
this at the bottom of your list. The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins. Dear
friends, that is the message of verse four. That
is the dazzling riches that Jesus Christ gives
to everyone who believes. Look, some days we
look back at our lives. Some days we just look
back at the past eight hours of our lives and
the guilt of our sin comes crushing down on us.
But brothers and sisters, if that is you this
morning, then you can say with Martin Luther,
it is all true. It's all true. I am a guilty
sinner. I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of
anger. I am guilty of substance abuse. I am guilty
of so many things besides, but I trust in Jesus
Christ and he has taken away the guilt of my
sin forever. I trust in Jesus Christ and he has
worn my dirty rags at the cross. I trust in Jesus
Christ and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
me from all my sin. Brothers and sisters, that's
the dazzling riches of divine grace. But as amazing
as that is, there's still just a little more
to this story. Look back at your Bibles and look
at verse four again. Behold, I've taken your
iniquity away from you, and then look at this,
and I will clothe you with pure garments. Verse
five, and I said, let them put a clean turban
on his head. So they put a clean turban on his
head and clothed him in garments. That is. rags
to riches. Now Joshua isn't wearing these dirty
clothes anymore. Now Joshua is actually wearing
these beautiful spotless garments from head to
toe. And the picture here is of the high priest
decked out in all of his glory. The picture here
is of a beautiful bride radiant on her wedding
day. The picture here is of these dazzling riches.
that Jesus Christ gives us. Maybe you can think
about Cinderella just one more time. Because
when Cinderella goes to the ball, she doesn't
just take off her dirty rags. She doesn't just
throw her old ratty clothes in the trash and
then go to the ball. No, she takes off her dirty
rags and then she actually puts on a beautiful
new dress in their place. She puts on a beautiful
new robe and she goes to the ball decked out
in this gorgeous clothing. And friends, the same
thing is true for every believer in Jesus Christ.
Because we don't just need our sins paid for.
We don't just need our dirty rags thrown out.
We actually need new clothes in their place.
We need positive righteousness in their place.
We need perfect obedience to God's law. We need
spotless, royal, righteous robes to stand before
holy God. And that's what Jesus Christ gives
to us. Jesus Christ has taken away our dirty
rags, but Jesus has not left us naked. Jesus
has clothed us in his perfect righteousness.
Jesus has clothed us in his life of perfect obedience.
You see, God takes off our sins and he puts them
on Jesus Christ and then God takes Jesus' life
of perfect obedience. and God credits it to our
account. So believers in Jesus Christ now, when
we stand before God, we are as righteous as Jesus
Christ himself, because we are covered in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our dirty rags
are gone forever, and because of God's divine
grace, we are covered in these spotless robes,
these dazzling riches that Jesus gives. About
80 years ago now, the pastor Martin Lloyd Jones
preached a sermon on these new robes that Jesus
gives us. And after the worship service was over,
one woman in the congregation stopped at the
door and spoke to Martin Lloyd Jones. And after
she was done speaking to him, as she was starting
to walk away, she kind of shyly turned around
and she said to the pastor, she said, Pastor,
I'm so glad I have those spotless robes that
you were talking about. I'm so glad that I'm
covered in the perfect righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And then she went home. And that very
night, she died. She died when the Nazis dropped
a bomb on her house, but she died dressed in
the dazzling riches of Jesus Christ. And friends,
I don't know all of you here this morning. But
I suspect there are at least a few of you here
today who are not Christians. I suspect there
are at least a few of you here today who are
still trying to cover yourselves in fig leaves
and in dirty rags. But dear friends, when you
stand in the heavenly courtroom of God, that
will never work. When you stand in the heavenly
courtroom of God, dressed in your own dirty rags,
there is only one judgment that you deserve,
and that is guilty. But dear friends, if you
come in faith to Jesus Christ, If you plead not
your own works, but the perfect work of Jesus
Christ, then God promises he will forgive all
of your sins, all of your sins. And God promises
he will clothe you in the spotless robes of Jesus
Christ the Savior. So friends, what are you waiting
for? Come to Jesus Christ today, put your trust
in him and receive the dazzling riches that he
alone can give. Because it's not just a fairy
tale. It's a true story that gives us hope and
confidence for this life and the next. It's the
true story that will change eternal destinies
forever. It's the true story that we're celebrating
this Easter week. It's the true, the glorious,
the life -changing story that in Jesus Christ,
God changes our dirty rags into dazzling riches.
Praise the Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you for
your great love for sinners like us. Thank you
for Jesus Christ, our perfect Savior. And thank
you for your Holy Spirit who brings these truths
home to our hearts. And now we simply ask that
by the power of your Spirit that you would stamp
these truths on our hearts. that we may go from
here rejoicing in all that you have done and
eager to share this good news with those around
us. Because we ask it in Jesus' name.