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God’s Over-the-Top Grace | Zechariah 3 | Eric Ortlund · Chapel Talks

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  I just want to do something very simple this
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  afternoon. I just want to look at the problem
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  in this chapter and how over -the -top, abundantly
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  gracious God is to Joshua, going far beyond what
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  Joshua strictly deserves. We're going to have
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  to use our imagination to appreciate how awful
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  it would have been to have seen a high priest
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  clothed in filthy clothes. You see that in verse
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  3. That's the problem. The word there, that doesn't
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  just mean kind of stinky, throw him in the...
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  washing machine, they'll be fine. It's excrement.
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  It's stuff that if you touched it, you wouldn't
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  be able to think until you washed your hands
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  for a long time, right? Now that's bad enough,
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  but a high priest's clothes represent his ministry
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  in a way they are his ministry. The high priest
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  can only go into the holy place when he's dressed
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  as the high priest. So for a high priest, in
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  his priestly clothes, for that to be, certain
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  English words are coming to my mind which I don't
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  want to say, to be filthy. That means that Joshua
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  has completely disqualified himself as priest.
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  A high priest in filthy clothes is like a surgeon
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  with broken hands who can't move his fingers,
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  or an airplane pilot who can't see, or something
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  like that. The whole point to a high priest is
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  to guide people out of the realm of uncleanness
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  and death into God's holiness and life. But if
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  he's dressed in filthy clothes, that means he
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  needs to be priested. He absolutely cannot do
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  this. This is as bad as it gets for a high priest.
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  Now, we don't know exactly why this happens.
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  He says in verse 2, he's a brand plucked from
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  the fire. We don't know if Joshua made some horrible,
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  catastrophic mistake on his own and he's defiled
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  himself. We don't know if some great injustice
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  was done to him and it broke him and he just
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  wasn't able to keep going. We don't know if it
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  was something that just happened to him that
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  traumatized him. Whatever it is, this man has
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  been in the fire, and he's completely compromised
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  and broken in his ministry. That's how bad the
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  problem is at chapter 3. Now, everything else
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  is going to be about God's grace, okay? I keep
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  losing track. There's like nine ways God is gracious
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  to Joshua here. First is right there in verse
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  2. The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord rebuke
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  you. Now, okay, in the vision, it's the divine
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  courtroom. So you've got different angels standing
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  around. Zechariah in the vision is able to see
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  this. I think Joshua experiences it too. And
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  we don't know what Satan exactly says, but it's
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  not that hard to tell. Satan is there going,
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  guys, am I the only one here not taking crazy
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  pills? He's defiled. He can't be a priest anymore.
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  We're actually not told what Satan says, but
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  you know that's what he was saying. And the devil
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  is objectively correct about this, right? Right?
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  and the Lord won't have any of it. Twice he says,
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  the Lord rebuke you. God has a kind of vehemence
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  and jealousy and protectiveness for his servants.
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  He will not put up with an accusation against
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  them, even when it's blatantly true. In verse
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  2, the Lord is speaking. Why does he say, the
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  Lord rebuke you? Why doesn't he say, I rebuke
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  you? I'm not sure. I think my guess is that it's
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  as if God's rebuke of the devil's accusation
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  is so vehement and powerful, it almost becomes
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  this thing in itself. It's like God becomes a
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  verb for a while. And you see, he says it twice.
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  Even when their guilty is charged, they have
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  given God every reason to give up on them. The
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  Lord is so protective. Twice he says, I will
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  not hear that from the accuser. That make anyone
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  feel kind of loved and protected and special?
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  Yes, that's the first grace. Not just that he
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  says it twice. Notice, we don't even hear what
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  the devil says. The devil doesn't get any speaking
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  lines. It's obvious what he was saying. But the
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  Lord's rejection of the devil's accusation, true
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  though it is, is so total and final that it's
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  like in the heavenly records what the accuser
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  has to say, it's just not even written down.
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  It doesn't even matter. Okay, that's the second
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  grace. Third grace. Do you notice the order verses
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  1 through 3 are written in? It would make more
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  sense if it had Joshua in filthy clothes, the
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  accuser accusing, and then God says, no, the
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  Lord rebukes Satan. We don't even figure out
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  what the problem is until after hearing about
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  God's rebuke. It's as if the text is so protective
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  of Joshua, even though he doesn't deserve it.
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  We don't even learn what the problem is until
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  Joshua is, as it were, safe from the devil's...
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  valid accusations within God's protection. Guys,
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  I feel like I'm not doing justice to this. It's
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  objectively true that Joshua is dressed in dirty
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  clothes, and God won't hear any accusation, true
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  though it might be. He will not permit it in
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  the heavenly courts. What a good person. Wow.
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  And we don't even find out what the problem is
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  until God has already said, no one can accuse
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  that man, no one, even when it's true. Here's
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  another grace. When Joshua's objectively guilty
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  and the devil makes his accusation, God doesn't
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  say, oh, I wonder what I should do. What do you
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  have to say for yourself, Joshua? Without even
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  being asked, Joshua says, I will not let you
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  accuse my servant. I think that's the fourth
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  grace from now on. I think number five is, what
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  does God do next? Put clean clothes on him and
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  put a clean turban on him. He cleans Joshua up.
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  And notice, this is at God's initiative. Joshua
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  is not standing there saying, Lord, please clean
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  me up. Do you notice Joshua is silent and passive
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  through the whole chapter? He doesn't say anything.
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  He just receives. Without being asked, God puts
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  clean clothes on him, and that means a restoration
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  to ministry. If Joshua is dressed in clean clothes,
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  he can keep on being a priest. And do you notice
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  how you get to the Lord rebuke you in verse 2,
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  and you get two stages to the put on clean clothes,
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  put on a clean turban? Almost as if it's too
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  good to skip by too quickly. We just want to
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  enjoy this. And notice the angel was standing
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  by in verse 5. I bet this was very much not a
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  boring experience for Joshua. Quick side note.
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  You all know that angels are not cute, chubby,
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  naked babies. Yes? If you didn't grow up in this
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  country, there's a painter named Paul Rubens.
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  He paints scenes from the Gospels. Chubby, naked
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  babies are angels. That is not very unbiblical.
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  Apparently, some angels look like human beings.
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  This is going to sound weird. Some of them look
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  like big, fiery snakes. Ask me about that in
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  lunch. It's actually true. Cherubim look like
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  the kind of thing we read about in Ezekiel 1,
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  this amazing, terrifying amalgamation of creatures.
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  God, in his wonderful creativity, myriads and
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  myriads of supernatural angelic servants and
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  of different kinds. I don't think it's an accident.
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  Anytime an angel shows up, almost the first thing
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  they have to say is, don't be afraid. Because
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  they're so impressive on their own. And the angel
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  is standing by as Joshua gets clean clothes put
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  on him. And he doesn't even have to ask for it.
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  Now, verse 7, God does lay a charge on Joshua.
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  There's an if -then. If you do this, you will
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  get this privilege. And if you don't, you won't
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  get this privilege. God does not here say, Joshua,
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  I clean you up. Now go live any way you want.
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  He says, Joshua, if you walk in my ways and keep
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  my charge. Walk in ways is just a very general
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  term for obedience. Just obey me. keep my charge,
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  shamar, God's mishmared, it gets used in different
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  ways. It is specifically used in Exodus for priestly
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  duties. That means God says to Joshua, now that
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  I've cleaned you up, Joshua, I want you to obey
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  me, and I want you to do your job as a priest.
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  There's a grace there, because God doesn't put
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  Joshua on probation and say, all right, we'll
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  see how this goes. He just looks at him and says,
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  you're a priest again. And also, God doesn't
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  lay any extraordinary extra burden on Joshua
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  as punishment. He just says, do your job as a
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  priest. At the same time, there is a command
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  here. God has this poor man who's been in the
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  fire, who's been defiled and broken. God has
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  restored him and cleaned him up. And then God
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  looks him right in the eye and says, Joshua,
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  I want you to obey me and I want you to do your
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  job as a priest. The parallel to that. whether
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  or not you're planning on being a teaching elder
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  or not. The stuff about elders and deacons, you
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  know, not being quarrelsome, able to teach, gentle,
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  good families, and so on. That's the kind of
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  thing. I want this to linger with us. The God
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  of the Bible has this wonderful bias and disproportion
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  toward grace. I'm convinced every single chapter
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  in God's Word shows he's not kind of half good
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  and half mean. He will tilt toward grace all
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  the time. But you read any chapter you want to
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  in the entire Bible, you know God is the most
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  morally serious person you will ever meet, yes?
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  And here, God looks at his servant who's been
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  saved and says, I expect you to obey me. Now
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  I fully believe, having been clothed from on
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  high, Joshua did walk in God's ways and kept
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  God's charge, yes? But can we all hear this?
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  Friends, I'm reading this chapter because it's
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  not impossible at some point in your life you'll
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  need Zechariah 3, or someone close to you will
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  need it. you or someone close to you, you'll
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  have a time when you're in the fire and you need
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  to be restored. And I want everyone to hear the
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  grace, but I want everyone to hear verse 7, walk
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  in my ways and keep my charge. Does that make
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  sense? Okay. It's an if -then. If you do this,
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  if you just do your job, then two results follow.
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  First of all, you'll be assigned, I think the
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  NIV had the men, oh, sorry, no, no, sorry, sorry,
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  back up. The first thing, the NIV said it differently
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  in verse 8. No, no, sorry, end of verse 7, the
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  ESV has, I will give you rights of access among
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  those standing here. Those standing here doesn't
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  mean other priests. It means the angels standing
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  there. That's the language in the passage. For
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  an Old Testament priest like Joshua, the tabernacle
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  was the intersection of heaven on earth. The
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  most holy place was literally the divine throne
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  room. And Joshua, just being a priest is a privilege
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  enough. Just getting back to being a priest is
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  a privilege enough. Joshua says, God says to
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  Joshua, Joshua, you're going to be ministering
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  among my supernatural servants who would frighten
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  you if you could see them and you have rights
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  of access. None of them gets to look at you and
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  say, what are you doing here? You need to leave.
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  You're not where you should be. Friends, if the
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  scales could fall from our eyes and if we could
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  see everything that's happening in church on
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  a Sunday morning, I think we'd be on our faces
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  before God. Seeing God's supernatural servants
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  at work to carry out God's will. seeing the spiritual
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  warfare that's going on and seeing the Lord Christ
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  himself move among his people and heal and embrace.
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  And if Joshua, if he obeys God, does his job,
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  nothing extraordinary, none of those supernatural,
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  Joshua will have, God's servants have rights
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  of access among those angels standing there.
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  No one gets to look at them and say, you're in
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  the wrong place. Not only that, they're symbolic.
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  The ESV has your signs in verse eight of the
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  branch. You all know branch is Messiah, right?
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  So if Joshua obeys verse 7, he and his other
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  priest will be signs of a much greater priest
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  to come who will remove all the iniquity of the
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  land in one day. The stuff about the stone, it's
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  probably one of the stones in Joshua's breastplate,
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  and it represents total forgiveness, right? When
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  it says in verse 9, I will remove all the iniquity
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  of that land in one day. God is saying, Joshua,
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  your old covenant high priestly ministry is daily
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  sacrifice and forgiveness for sin. That is real,
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  but it's not absolute. It can't absolutely kill
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  sin. But people will be able to look at you,
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  Joshua, and they'll be able to say dimly, there's
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  a greater priest coming who's going to so finally,
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  absolutely atone for sin. It will all be gone.
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  Friends, like good news from a far off country,
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  God, through Joshua and through the branch, everything
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  you don't like about yourself, every way you
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  know you don't measure up, everything you're
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  ashamed of, God comes to you, embraces you, and
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  he says, I'm going to clear all of that out in
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  a single day. I will heal and beautify and cleanse
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  and embrace and kiss and atone and expunge and
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  all the words in English we have for this so
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  that you could deeply breathe a sigh of relief.
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  and stand before God and his divine servants.
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  And the privilege Joshua has is that his ministry
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  is symbolic of that, is looking forward to that.
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  That's like the eighth grace I think we had so
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  far. Does everyone see how passive Joshua is
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  in this passage? He does nothing. Does everyone
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  see? It's not the quality of Joshua's repentance
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  that brings this kindness from God. It's God
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  himself on his own initiative going way beyond
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  what he needs to do for someone whom God could
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  justly say, you're no longer a priest. Does everyone
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  see how kind God is to his servants when we've
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  given the devil every reason to accuse us? Yes?
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  Amen? Yes? Thank you. Thank you. Amen. One more
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  thing. Under your own, invite each other under
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  your own fig tree and all that. That's Old Testament
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  poetic language. for enjoying everything good
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  God has to give you in the promised land. Experientially,
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  it means having a really great day. And that
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  can sound anticlimactic after this dramatic thing
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  of like angels and everything. But you receive
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  God's forgiveness and there's the most wonderful
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  normalcy that can happen. You just can kind of
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  forget about yourself and enjoy other people.
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  And saints are going to be inviting each other
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  over and hanging out with the most relaxed. Easy
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  self -forgetfulness and just enjoying each other
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  and having a good day. Can we take 30 seconds
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  or so and just savor how disproportionately good
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  God is in Zechariah 3? And then we'll sing again.