The blessing of the time of David and the time of Solomon had passed, and now there are these lowly people under the authority of another nation. Well, they had fallen in sin, and God brought judgment upon them, right? And they knew they were a sinful people. But here is the fear. Could they hope in the Lord now, given how unworthy they had been, how worthy they are today? Could they have hope yet of God's love? I can relate to that fear sometimes. Do you ever feel that way? We're going through a trial. We're going through a hardship in our life. Things are tough. And we begin to dwell on our own failures. Begin to dwell on our own weaknesses. And we say, you know what? Maybe God's through with me. Maybe God's just done. Maybe He's just had enough of me. I don't think I would blame Him for that. Easy to feel that way, isn't it? I'm talking to Christians we can feel that way, can't we? We can get that fear. There is nothing that will overwhelm a believer and lead to despair is that thought. Just thinking of our wretchedness before God and thinking maybe he's through with me. But in the third vision of Zachariah, the Lord gives an answer to those fears. It's a good answer. Notice this. Zechariah 3 and verse 1. 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. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with 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. So here we see the priest of God, the high priest, Joshua, and he's standing on trial, if you will. You kind of get a picture of a man standing on trial before the judge, and the judge is the angel of the Lord, which is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ. As we look into this vision, we kind of lay hold of what's being told here, and we consider the message behind this. I think in one sense we see the fears of sin are very much confirmed. Man is filthy and defiled by sin. As bad as we think our sins are, they're worse. But you know, this vision was not given to lead Israel, the Jews, to despair. It's not given to lead believers to despair, but to reveal a hope of deliverance from both the penalty and the power of sin. And that's found only in that angel of the Lord. who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this chapter beautifully proclaims Him. It is a gospel preached 500 years before Jesus walked the earth. A great message of Jesus Christ is preached to us here in Zechariah chapter 3. So I pray this gives you encouragement today. Whether you are struggling with those fears or not as a believer, whether Maybe you're up or down in your emotional, your spiritual state as a believer. We need the encouragement of this chapter. And let me say the unbeliever needs this message of Jesus Christ desperately. You need this gospel. So it's a very important chapter for us to see. I've titled the sermon, the priest of God on trial. We're going to consider what this trial reveals to us, not just about him, but about our lives. So let's talk first of all about the priest standing before the Lord Jesus Christ. The one that is standing before him, the accused, is Joshua. Joshua was one of the primary leaders of the Jewish people that had returned from Babylon. He was one that was looked up to. He was the high priest. The high priest was, if not the most important person in the nation of Israel, among the Jews, he was close. I think most of the time he was pretty much the one they looked up to more than any other. He was one that served in the temple, but particularly on the Day of Atonement, this high priest was the one that would go into the Holy of Holies and he would sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice before the Lord in the place of the people. This was their intercessor. He would go in and he would have the names. He would have this breastplate with different stones on it that would have the names of the tribes of the children of Israel engraved on those stones. And on his shoulders he would have the names of Israel on. And so he went in for them. That's the picture. This is the one that went in the place of the people and sought the Lord for them. He was to wear white garments that showed obedience to the Lord. And his sacrifice that he made there upon the altar in the courtyard and came in and sprinkled that blood before the Lord and the Holy of Holies, this was to typify the repentance and faith of Israel. And they're looking for a Savior who would bring them salvation through his blood one day. The high priest was not the Savior. But the high priest was the message of Savior's coming. He typified the Savior. So here is a great man for Israel. Here is a great man for the Jews at this time. They looked up to him. He led them. He was their representative before the Lord in his temple actions. But here we see him on trial. But it isn't just about Joshua. Joshua was spoken of here, and I think this prophecy was given to Joshua, was an encouragement to him, but it's not just about Joshua. Joshua was a representative of the people. In Joshua, God sees the actions of the Jews of Zechariah's time, and more than that, throughout their history. So we could say the whole nation is before the Lord on trial here. But then in Joshua, as I look at this text, I have to say I see myself here. I could put myself in those shoes. Well, we should. You know, it says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. That's no mere symbolism. You know, it's a reality. Every one of us are going to come face to face with the angel of the Lord. That is Jesus Christ. But we live our lives today before him. Right now, you're before the Lord. He's looking at you and he holds us accountable for our days on this earth, our use of what he's bestowed upon us as his stewards. And notice here in this trial scene that we don't have any lawyers to make excuses. We don't have any loopholes that might be found in the law. And there's no jury to whom the almighty God defers judgment. In his holiness, God is going to judge sin. That's the reality. He's going to judge every sin. And I can tell you our day standing before God is approaching. This is a reality. So we can put ourselves in Joshua's shoes. You should. But what's the condition of the priest? We've looked at the man before God. Let's talk about the position that he was in. Number one, he's accused before God. Chapter three, verse one. 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. Satan standing up against him, Satan standing up to show him unworthy before God, if you will. You know, well, the devil was called in Revelation 12, 10, the accuser of the brethren. That's all his desire. This is the primary purpose of Satan when it comes to the human race. It is to drive a wedge between man and God, to lead us to the destruction that he is facing. You know, we see in Job chapter 1 and verse 8, you don't have to look there, but I'll read this to you. Here is Satan before God. And the Lord says unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for not? Hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Now this Satan loves to be able to do. Oh, look at that wretched human being you made. You see his failure? You see his unworthiness? Oh, you should cast him off. You must cast him off forever. He is a sinner. Satan wants to show this is his victory. Sin has won out. His sin has won out in this world. It has corrupted God's creation. It has thwarted God's purpose. That's the thought that brings Satan glee. Standing up here, he's resisting the high priest. He's standing against him. He's accusing him. Let me say, Satan, desires on another level to impress unworthiness on our minds. You know, sometimes we don't think this, but when we begin to get fearful, God has cast us off. When we begin to get so down on ourselves because of our failures, and I'm not saying we downplay sin and act like it's no big deal, but sometimes when we just keep dwelling on it and dwelling on it, and instead of bringing it before the Lord, we just beat ourselves down about it and say, I'm not even worthy to pray to God. You ever feel that way? I'm not even worthy to walk into his house." I had a person tell me that one time. I encouraged him to come to church and he said, if I walked in lightning, he'd probably strike me. You know, but we can get that way. We can begin to beat ourselves down. You know that's Satan saying, look at you. Why would God use someone like you? Why wouldn't he cast you off? That's what you would do if somebody rebelled against you repeatedly and failed repeatedly as you have done. Surely there's no hope for you in God. Why even seek him anymore? That's a temptation of Satan. It's a mighty weapon to say you suffer and you're miserable because God is angry with you and he's through with you and there's no hope for you in God. to take our guilt and despair over sin and to use it to hinder our faith and service. He's a cunning tempter, a cunning foe. And this is one of his weapons. So we see Joshua, the high priest, was accused of Satan. But I want you to see, secondly, Joshua, the high priest, was defiled. Verse three, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. You know, this is sad, but Satan doesn't have to make up accusations. He doesn't have to. I don't think he would need to blow anything out of proportion. And he doesn't have to take out a magnifying glass and try to search and say, I think I see a spot. No, Josh was in filthy garments. The high priest was to wear a white robe that symbolized purity. Josh was filthy. He looks like somebody that just was drug out of the gutter. Covered in filth, symbolizing sin. Israel, not just Joshua, was full of sin. The Jews were consumed with sin, corrupted with one wickedness after another. And let me tell you, all of us before God were wearing filthy garments in our own self, left to our own righteousness, filthy garments, pride, selfishness, unbelief, lust. conflicts that we won't resolve because we're filled with our own selfish desire. We could go on and on, couldn't we? We're filled with sin. Our lives are black with wickedness, and I'm not singling anybody out here. I'm saying that's the truth of us all, that if we stood in our own righteousness before Christ and Satan rose up to resist us, to accuse us, Satan's going to have an easy time of it. Satan's got an easy task. He could point to God's law and say, look, your law is holy, just and good. You're a righteous God that must judge evil. Then he could take any day of our lives. He could probably take any 10 minutes of our life and say, look at that. See how evil he is. He's unworthy. Pretty easy to resist us when we're defiled as we are. But number three, let me call to your attention Joshua's defense of himself here. Do you read Joshua's defense, what he says in his own defense here? Well, I don't. It's not in my Bible. I don't hear him speak a word. What can he say? His garments kind of speak for themselves. He's got nothing to say. And he can do nothing about those filthy garments. What's he going to do? You ever get a spot on your shirt and you grab a rag, maybe you don't look at it, you start to wipe it, and you look down and you say, well, that rag had ketchup on it. I've done that once or twice, like at a restaurant. Picked up one of my kid's napkins. That's dangerous. There's usually stuff all over the kid's napkins, and you wipe yourself with it, and you make the spot worse. You know, that's what happens when we try to clean up our lives. Isaiah 64, 6 tells us we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses, all the self-righteous actions that we think we can do, all the good works we think we can do to make up for our sin, when we're doing it with that mentality that I'm going to make myself right before God, that kind of righteousnesses are as filthy rags, dirty rags that as we try to clean ourself up with it, it makes us even dirtier. And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Man might be swayed by words or promises or by good deeds, might forget wrong deeds of the past, wrong actions of the past. But we're talking about a holy God here. He must judge sin. So let me tell you, if we're in the right mindset and we stand there before him defiled in our sin, what are we going to say? What are we going to do? What work can we do to erase it? Joshua knows there's nothing I can do. I can't say anything to Satan. I can't say these aren't defiled garments. I'm not a sinner. I am. No word is said by the priest. But I want you to notice what happens here. You know, Satan might have hoped that the Lord would be speechless, that Jesus would have nothing to say, that maybe with a sigh he would say, I guess you're right. And he'd pronounce judgment on the Jews. They're defiled in sin. He'd admit, I wrongly chose these people. I wasn't able to keep them. I have to cast him off. I mean, what could he say to these garments? How could he ignore the righteousness of his law? But what does the Lord say? The Lord said unto Satan in verse two, 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? You know, I kind of picture here, I don't know what Satan looks like, but I kind of picture the smile being wiped off his face. He's got kind of a in this vision, he's got kind of this gleeful look. Oh, look at this wicked man in his defiled garments. And he hears the words of Christ and. All his joy is gone. The Lord rebukes him. Satan, there's no merit to your accusation, there's nothing that you can say or do that is going to condemn my priest or my people. They are mine. You know, that sounds wonderful, doesn't it? That's encouraging. It's an encouraging vision. So many of these visions here in Zachariah are so uplifting and are meant to comfort the people. But you know, sometimes we can give comforting words that don't really erase the danger outside, right? Oh, it's OK. And you don't know if it is. Is that what's going on here? Is God saying it's OK? And yet the sin is still there? I mean, he is a righteous God. What's the foundation of this rebuke then? How can he rebuke Satan when we're sinners and he is holy? Well, let me give you several reasons that are brought out in the text that make it real words of comfort for God's people. Number one, the Lord rebuked Satan on the basis of his election. You know, if this salvation was on the basis of Israel's worthiness, if Jesus said, Oh, but I think they're good people. Look what they've done. Look how they chose me. Well, they've Forfeited their blessing many times over by choosing idols if they gained their salvation for themselves They've lost it But that's not what the Lord says It says the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee These are my People this is my city and these are my people that I've brought back into it and I have made them my people the reason they're my people because I said they're my people and Because I want to make them my own. You know, when we make a decision, we can be fickle. We can make wrong decisions. We can change our mind. But we're talking about the immutable, all wise, eternal God here. God doesn't make wrong choices. He says, these are mine, I have chosen them. You know, that's a comfort God would have us to know. You realize this, that we are called his elect 22 times in the word of God. We're called Christians three. He wants us to know you're my chosen. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 tells us according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace where any have made us accepted in the beloved. I like Romans 8 33 it says who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justify it. That kind of answer Satan right there. It's kind of goes right in hand with what we're seeing tonight. Who's going to charge those that God has chosen? And has justified. God says, no, these are my people. If I stand in my own worthiness, my prayers or my promises or my experience or my religion, and Satan rises up to accuse me, I have nothing to say. I have no hope. But if I stand by faith in the eternal purpose of God, if my hopes rest on his unchanging love bestowed on me through Jesus Christ. There's nothing Satan can say. This is mine elect. That leaves Satan silenced. But there's more. The Lord rebukes Satan on the basis of his redemption. He says, it's not this a brand plucked out of the fire. Of course, he's black. You know, things that get plucked out of the fire look black. They look look kind of rough. They are darkened by the flames. Here's a man that his life has been stained with sin. For sure, this is a people that they have a history of sin. But I have drawn them. out of that sinful condition. They're no longer being consumed and destroyed by it, for I have plucked them out and drawn them unto myself. This is what we're chosen to not simply chosen to heaven, but chosen out of sin to be God's people. He's purpose to deliver us in his love, not because of goodness or worthiness in us, but his unconditional love. He draws us out of that fire. But then, thirdly, the Lord rebuked Satan on the basis of his cleansing. In 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. I will clothe thee with a change of raiment. That's a wonderful picture, isn't it? Those sin stained garments, all the failures that Satan says it wants to accuse us of stripped away in an instant. And in its place here is a perfect, gleamingly white robe put upon the priest. Now, says Christ to Satan, what sins were you referring to? Which stain are you going to accuse my child of? What will you accuse my chosen of? Be gone, you father of lies! My people, my chosen people will be mine forever, holy and without blame, before me in love." This is the response of the Lord to Satan. You know, that sounds wonderful. But again, let's go back to this, how can we? Be cleansed. Didn't Satan have a valid argument? God is holy. His law is righteous and good. We failed it. We've sinned. God can't ignore this. Or he would not be righteous himself. He must fulfill his law. He must judge sin. But the chapter doesn't stop there. There's an answer in what follows. Satan is rebuked and chased away. And now Jesus speaks to Joshua and to his people. Notice this in verse 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me into the nations which spoiled you. I'm sorry, I'm in chapter 2. In chapter 3, verse 8. Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Wondered at. You people that are wondered at for how God loves you and blesses you. Wondered at. The angels look down and wonder at the grace of God bestowed upon you. It's the wonder of the world, the love of God for his people. Behold, I will send forth my servant, the branch. That term branch is a term for the Messiah. It's understood as a name for the Messiah. In Jeremiah 23 verse 5, Behold, the day has come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and the king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Isaiah 4, 2 says, In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And of course, we could get into detail about why he's called the branch at some point to his lowly, humble beginnings, but also his fruitfulness and his glory that he brought forth the branch, speaking of fruitfulness of blessing. But this is a term for the Messiah that is going to be brought forth. That's the point. The Messiah is coming. And notice verse nine. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." So here is a stone. He's called the branch. Now the Messiah is referred to as a stone. That brings a couple of thoughts here. Number one, the Messiah is a foundation stone. You know, they're they're taking what are they doing right now? They're taking stones and they're building a temple, right? They're seeking solid stones upon which to build. They're just laying that foundation at this time of the temple and a saying here, the Messiah is going to be the true foundation. Of the salvation of my people, the cornerstone. Isaiah 28, 16, Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. Jesus says this upon this rock, this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. None of the accusations, none of the attacks, none of the trials and persecutions Satan can rise up are going to overcome those who rest on Jesus Christ. He is a foundation that will not be moved. But another thought I have is the stones. We talked about the high priest, right? Going in. This is the high priest Joshua on trial. Well, we've talked about those stones on the breastplate of the high priest. He would go in and on his shoulders he would have stones and on those stones would be what would be engraved the names. Of the tribes of Israel. Well, here is an engraved stone this spoken of here. And that kind of brings that thought to mind an intercessor. That would stand before God in my place, a true high priest. And that's what Jesus Christ was. He went to the cross, not wearing physically a high priestly garment that had a stone that said Paul Brown or the First Baptist Church enlisted our membership out. But I'll tell you, if your name is in the book of life, your name is written on his heart. Your name was born upon his shoulders and he went to the cross. With those Believers the father had given to him those chosen people and he bore their sins And he paid the price of their transgression in full and he rose again to intercede for them You know others like to talk about the engraving of the wounds In his hands and in his side and in his feet and indeed the price of our sin Was that it was that penalty of his death and you know, he's in heaven today. How is he described as a lamb slain? Isn't he? Still, he bears the engraved wounds, but those are beautiful to the eyes of the believer because that says the price is paid. Engraved with the price of sin paid in full, and he lives today for his people. It's a deep picture, this stone, and you can get differing ideas from commentators indeed, but without question, it pictures Jesus Christ that is the hope of salvation. And, of course, we see here it has seven eyes. Again, you'll get a lot of different views on the seven eyes. Brother Ron preached a good sermon called The Seven Eyes a little before I came as pastor. That's on Sermon Audio. If you ever want to listen to it, you can hear a whole sermon on the seven eyes of the stone. Some say that that speaks of the Wisdom of Christ is all-seeing, all-knowing nature. Some say it's the eyes of God's people. Upon Him look the eyes of all the earth. Seven's a number of perfections, so it speaks of all eyes. A total of eyes looking to Christ. All believers looking to Him as hope. And of course, every eye looking upon him and bowing one day and saying he's Lord. Or others, the eye of the father looking upon his beloved son and saying, I'm well pleased and looking on his people through him in love. But the point of this whole passage, and we could go in depth on all these things. The point of the whole passage is the Messiah is coming. You've seen this vision. You've seen Joshua, the high priest, the filthy garments removed, the clean garment taken. Satan rebuked the Lord, rejoicing over him in love. And you say, how can it be? The Messiah is coming. That's how. A savior is coming. The one the high priest pictured is coming. Look at the end of verse nine. Here's the point. It says, I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. You know, when you think about it, there's never been a work as great as salvation. Not even when God spoke the world into existence. Not when he, with his infinite sovereign power, moves armies and lifts up and casts down. Nothing God has ever done is so amazing as when he removed the iniquity of his people through his son, Jesus Christ. A greater miracle than even healing the blind or raising the dead is when Jesus laid down his life there at Calvary and said, in his dying breaths, it is finished. And that veil in the temple was rented too. No more is there needed. A man like Josh would go in. We have a great high priest that's finished the work. And Jesus is risen again to intercede for his people evermore in heaven, not sprinkling blood, but standing there himself, the true sacrifice, having finished the work. What a beautiful thought. In Jesus Christ, Satan's attacks are rebuked. Now, if you stand before God and your hope is self-righteous, you have no answer. There is a reason to despair. And if you die in your sins, you will despair. But I'll tell you, if Jesus is yours, maybe you fall and maybe you've struggled. Maybe you're going through just a trial. Maybe there's been something you repented of long ago, but Satan keeps bringing it to your mind. Bring it before the Lord in repentance and faith just as you first came to Christ. And I think as we do that with the right spirit, We're going to come to the heart that Zachariah had. Notice what he says in verse five. I like this. Zachariah kind of interrupts and you think, who would interrupt Jesus Christ? But I think that the prophet gets so excited he has to interject. He says, and I said, let them set a fair mitre upon his head. And so they set a fair mitre upon his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord stood by. That miter, that bonnet completed the outfit of the priest, made him ready to serve. So what the prophet is saying is as he's redeemed, as he's cleansed, Lord, let him now serve you. Let him now honor and worship you. Let him come into the temple and do your bidding as you have called him to do. Isn't that the spirit we get when we lay hold of Christ and Satan's accusations are done away with and we think on the beautiful, wonderful grace and love of God and we're lifted up out of our failures to walk with him again? What do we want to do? We want to say, Lord, let me serve you. Let me live for you today, if our hearts is right. Lord, as you saved me, give me the strength to live for you, to honor you, to show forth the beauty of your grace upon me. And what's the Lord's response? Verse 7, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Come and serve, and I'll give you grace to do so. You have the blessing of serving me. That's what salvation's about. People think, oh, it's about getting out of hell. It's about serving the Lord today and in glory. In verse 10, And that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. When God removes the iniquity of the land, what happens? People are blessed. That's the picture. People find true peace and contentment in the Lord. Isn't that a beautiful chapter? I can't tell you, I understand everything about it. Brother Ron did not give a direct answer about what the seven eyes meant. He preached a good sermon on it. There's some things that are hard to understand, but what I do understand is that Jesus Christ has come. I can read this chapter and see the hope they had then, and now I can read the full gospel and say, I've seen how the iniquity of the land is removed, how the iniquity of God's people is removed on that one day at Calvary through Jesus Christ. Believers, let's rejoice in that. Let's never lose that comfort. But I say to the unbeliever here today, you are living before the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, your life is filthy and sin. I don't care who you are. I don't care who what person you try to compare yourself to. The standard is God's righteous holy law. So any sin. Is a stain that condemns you before him forever. We're all filthy in his sight. And let me tell you, the day is going to come if you continue that way. You're going to die and you're going to stand before God and it won't be Satan. Rising up to accuse you. Satan himself is cast out. But I'll tell you what will accuse you is God's law. The books will be opened of his omniscience, of his righteous, holy wisdom, beholding all men and judging them according to the standard of his law. And those who are outside of Jesus Christ before that great white throne will be found wanting. Many may stand and say, Lord, have I done many wonderful works? But Jesus response, depart from me. I never knew you. What a fearful thought. That's a reality. But even today, this gospel is preached. There's a God of grace. There's a God of mercy and love to all who would seek him. You say, I don't know if I'm chosen. Well, again, I said this many times. That's not our responsibility to determine that. Our responsibility is to look at our filthy garments and say, there's nothing I can do about it. I see a savior, though, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see how the iniquity is removed one way and one way alone through that man, Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. And I come to God, not at boasting in myself, but trusting in him, my cornerstone, my high priest alone. That cry is heard. And the same hope that we see revealed here in Zechariah chapter 3 can be rejoiced in by every believer. The filthy garments of sin done away with, a robe of righteousness imputed through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross is found. Oh, that you would look to him if you have not. And believers, that we never let go of that hope and that joy we have and God's grace bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the message you've given us tonight. We thank you for this Beautiful chapter, Zechariah chapter three. I pray you would continue to impress it upon our hearts. Perhaps we don't understand every detail. There's some things that are, maybe we will not know until we're with you in glory. And yet we, one thing we can see is there's hope of salvation for the sinner. Not in anything we can do, but in your unconditional internal love through your son, Jesus Christ, who have you sent. Oh, that you would encourage your people here today. If we have strayed from you and perhaps we're lamenting our sin and instead of turning from it, we're brought to despair by it. Oh, Lord, reveal to us again anew the message you brought to our hearts at the first when we were saved, the message of Jesus Christ and his perfect love and the absolute hope of redemption that's found in him. May we as believers never lose sight of it. But Father, I pray for the unbeliever that it's here that you would touch their heart as only you can, and that you would draw them by your power, that they would see the filthy garments that they can't erase. They know the accusations that Satan would make are all real, but they would know there's a Savior that takes away iniquity, that has taken it upon himself, borne it to the grave, and risen again with it no more. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand, please, and turn to hymn number 236. Sing the first two stanzas. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.