What (or Who) Grace is

“When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Martin Luther’s 95 theses, that shook the world, began with this. All the other theses were dependent on it. All of his points about the abuses of the church, the selling of indulgences, the praying for the dead, all of his points, flowed from this one: That when Jesus said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. If our receiving of salvation is based upon our own repentant heart, then no priest can claim authority over our salvation, or forgiveness. If it is based upon our own repentance, then ultimately, we stand alone before God when it comes to the judgement, because the judgement of God looks beyond the appearance of man and to the heart.

I was told once that I talk too much about repentance. I was told I used the word repent 31 times in one sermon. Someone was counting. In the same conversation, I was told I have no grace. But the more I study, the more I reflect, the more I experience the grace of God, the more I want to double down on repentance, because if I double down on repentance in my own life, I double down on the receiving of the grace of God, and if I double down on preaching about repentance, those who hear and respond to the message will experience more and more of God’s grace as they look at their own heart and live a life, like Martin Luther rightly recognized, of one responding to Christ’s command to always be in a repentant posture before Almighty God. It is said that Luther’s last words were, “We’re all a bunch of beggars”. And when we properly realize our own standing before God outside of His marvelous grace found in the blood of Jesus Christ, then our repentant hearts are glad hearts, joyful hearts, redeemed and made righteous hearts!

So today’s passage is one that ought to encourage us. It will

1: remind us of how miserable we are in our sin without Christ.

2: remind us of how He cleansed us, and

3: remind us to keep ourselves set apart for Him by honoring His Word.

Each week, as I prepare to preach on a particular passage, I have the challenge of taking an ancient text, trying to figure out what it meant then, to the people who first received it, and how it applies to us today, as believers in Christ. Not all passages will be easy to do this with. Sometimes it is a struggle to see what the passage has to do with us today. Other times, it is crystal clear that the passage has direct application, and today is one of those times. The message today is a direct parallel of the whole redemptive story. In a sense, it is a summary of the entire gospel story. Once again, we see in an an ancient prophecy that Jesus the Savior is present and active. Let’s read the passage,

Zechariah 3 ESV

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. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”

Once again, this passage should

1: remind us of how miserable we are in our sin without Christ.

2: remind us of how He cleansed us, and

3: remind us to keep ourselves set apart for Him by honoring His Word.

First of all, we are reminded of how miserable we are in our sin without Christ. The Joshua in this passage is a priest, a representative of the people. What is said and done to Joshua is a representation of what is done for all believers in Jesus Christ. You see here a courtroom scene, or a kingdom scene, to be more direct. Joshua is standing before the Angel of the Lord. Who remembers who the Angel of the Lord is? Jesus. And Joshua is being accused by Satan.

Satan is always accusing us. He comes at us with two big lies. The first lie is when he tempts us. He tells us the sin won’t matter, we wont be caught, we will stop before we go too far, but go ahead and just this once you can do the sin. And when we fall to that temptation, his role changes from tempter to accuser. Now the same sin he told us wouldn't matter, he will say, precludes us from receiving God’s grace. He tells us our sin makes us ineligible for God’s kingdom, He tells us that since we sinned, we may as well give up altogether, because we have ruined any chance we have for salvation.

Ironic, isn't it? On the one hand, he tells us the sin isn't so bad. On the other hand, he will bring it up over and over in his role as accuser, trying to bring us low and into despair. Satan has always been the accuser, and here He is, accusing Joshua. Remember Joshua is a representation of all Israel, and in our context a representation of us. And the accuser is not always wrong. We have a sin nature. We make mistakes. We are not perfect. So sometimes, his accusations are not wrong in the sense that we are guilty, but in accordance with the one who has received the free gift of salvation through Jesus, he is wrong to accuse, since Christ has cleansed us. And this is why Satan is rebuked here. We will get back to that shortly.

Joshua’s sin is represented by filthy garments. This language of being dirty and in need of cleansing is found throughout the Bible. In fact, the language at times is rather harsh. The point we are to take is that our sin is ugly. It is reprehensible. Compared with the standard God had in mind at the creation, we fall pathetically short. We have wicked hearts, the Bible says. And to really understand the grace of God, we need to understand our standing before Him, if we are to stand alone, and not with our Advocate, Jesus Christ. To have a proper view of the value of an advocate, we need to understand how much trouble we were in, and how we would be unable to make our own defense. Only when we get this through can we really appreciate and have proper gratitude for the grace of God. And as Martin Luther pointed out in his first thesis, this needs to happen daily.

Let’s look at what scripture says about our sin:

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Here Isaiah is saying that we have all become like one who is unclean. Paul said all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is the witness of all of scripture. But not only have we become unclean, Isaiah says, our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. So our sin cannot be wiped away by any deeds we do. We can smile, buy people lunch, fundraise for wells to be dug in foreign countries, and even share the gospel with others. None of those deeds can save us from our sin. In fact, they are a polluted garment. I realize this may be politically incorrect, but a Hebrew reader of Isaiah would have read this and in that language it says that our righteous deeds are like a dirty menstrual cloth. In our language today, it would be like saying your “good works” are a dirty napkin.

Some of you are shocked that I would say that from the pulpit, and a preacher should never say things just to get a response or peak interest. But Isaiah did use this language, and He was speaking for God as a prophet. Clearly God wants us to think for a moment about how bad our sin is, and how worthless our deeds are when it comes to cleansing sin. No deeds can do this. No action on our part can save us. We are utterly despicable in our sin form God’s view, unless a proper sacrifice can be made in our place, one so perfect that it would permanently cleanse us. What sacrifice could do this? Who can get off the hook of their sin? Who will step forward and save us?

Ezekiel 36:16–17 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity.

Again, God sees the sin as uncleanness. As crass as we may find this, our sin is much the worse. As offended as we may be at the political incorrectness of this prophetic passage, how much more is God offended at our own personal sins, and the sins of a nation quickly spiraling down the moral gutter?

We should understand by now that our sin is a huge problem. On our own we can’t take any steps that would help our problem. On our own, we are like Joshua, standing before God with the accuser ready with his list of sins we have committed, and we stand there looking miserable in our disgusting, dirty, clothes. What way do we have out of this predicament? How can we endure the accusations of Satan, and how can we lift our head knowing that we have failed God and have nothing better to expect than His awful judgment?

So I hope we have realized at this time how serious our sin is. And I hope that we have come to realize our need to repent. When we do this, the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Advocate, our substitute, our Redeemer-kinsman, steps into the scene. We should have known He would come! We should have listened to the prophets who promised that the Messiah would come! Let’s finish the Ezekiel passage, because in it is euangelion! GOOD NEWS!

Ezekiel 36:16–29 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

What great news! In our main passage, Joshua is clothed with new clothes. Who will cloth us? Like the prodigal son, when he realized his awful sin and his detestable condition, and in the repentant state of his heart returned to his father, what did the father do? He took off the dirty, pig stained garments of his son, and clothed him the best robe. God does the same for us through the blood of Jesus Christ!

Isaiah 1:18–20 ESV

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah 61:10 ESV

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Once again, this passage should

1: remind us of how miserable we are in our sin without Christ.

2: remind us of how He cleansed us, and

3: remind us to keep ourselves set apart for Him by honoring His Word.

Now we see that this cleansing is done, and then we see an if…then. AN if/then is a logic statement. If you ever took a class in logic, or even in geometry or algebra, you know about if/then statements. An if/then statement says that if the first thing is, then the second thing is. A simple start to algebra goes something like this: if a=b, then b=a. When you get more complex, it may be if a=b and b=c, then a=c. Another if/then statement could be like one of our rules from a kids program I used to help with: IF you get 3 strikes, THEN we call you parents to come bring you home.

So in verse 7 we see an if/then statement. Joshua is told to walk in God’s ways and keep his charge. If he does so, there is a then. Then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those standing here. Who are those standing here? The heavenly host. If Joshua does God’s will, he will have access to heaven itself.

Our pardon and justification are free gifts from our Lord, but the honor and privilege of future reward, which Joshua is promised here three times, are directly conditioned on obedience and faithfulness here and now.

Kaiser, Walter C., and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Vol. 23. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1992. Print. The Preacher’s Commentary Series.

God tells Joshua he must walk in His ways. This may remind you of many exhortations of Paul, such as we see in Ephesians 4:1–3

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

So Joshua was told to walk in God’s way, just as Paul tells us to walk in a way worth of our calling. Our good behavior as Christians is not to earn salvation or attain righteousness. As we saw earlier, our own righteousness is downright disgusting. Instead our response to the grace of God is to live according to His Word.

In this vision, Joshua and his friends are a sign; and coming will be the Branch. The Branch will do something that will take away all the iniquity of the land in a single day. Well, I’d like to know more about this branch, so let’s take a look at what scripture says. The Branch is Christ, but Zechariah was not the only prophet to use this language:

Isaiah 11:1–5 ESV

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 4:2–4 ESV

In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

Jeremiah warns of shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep, but the Branch will be raised up:

Jeremiah 23:1–6 ESV

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

The Branch is Jesus, He completes the prophecies in part and will soon complete them in full. He is the one who silences the accuser, Satan. He is the one who removes our filthy garments and replaces them with pure vestments. He is the one who removed the iniquity of the land in one day. Do you put your faith in Him? Do you trust the promise is true? Does the Word of God speak to you this morning? We who have received Christ are accepted by God. We have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, because our own righteousness is a disgusting, dirty cloth. If we can realize how filthy we were, then we can live in a daily repentance and remain in the grace of God, as Luther pointed out. If we can realize how clean He has made us, then we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling and though we stumble, we can ignore the accusations of Satan and look to the promise of the risen Savior!

It is Christ who silences our accuser, Christ who puts new garments on us, Christ who sets us apart, and Christ who advocates for us. He appoints the Holy Spirit to seal us, He fills us with the Holy Spirit to empower us, and He gives us the Holy Spirit to comfort us. And all of this is done, as the prophet Ezekiel says in 36:22: “It is not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name.”

Rejoice that Christ silences Satan for you. Rejoice that Christ clothes you in His righteousness. Rejoice that He sets you apart. Rejoice that He appoints the Holy Spirit to seal you, rejoice that He fills you with the Holy Spirit to empower you, rejoice that He gives you the Holy Spirit to comfort you. But remember that He doesn't do it to glorify you and I, but to glorify the Father! It is to His mighty name, to His fame, to His honor, that we should live our lives.

We are a blessed people, who have received Christ. We are a blessed people, who love His Word. We are a blessed people, who have His Holy Spirit. We are a blessed people who are clothed in righteousness from above. We are a blessed people who know Satan is already defeated. We are a blessed people who are willing to be accountable to one another in our faith. We are a blessed people who live in unity in the body of Christ. We are a blessed people when we offer Him our love and service to His church. We are blessed when we gather to worship Him. We are blessed when we are insulted because of our love for Him. We are blessed in every way, and more important than all these, we are blessed with the blessed hope of eternal life in the care and presence of Christ, the Coming King!

Are you ready? Will he find you waiting in expectation, always evaluating your readiness? Always killing the old self, always fighting the spiritual battle? Are you preparing for the way of the Lord? Are you proclaiming the gospel to every creature? Are you making disciples? Are you staying close to the Savior in prayer and the reading of His Word?

Many pastors conclude with what they call their marching orders. This is the application of the sermon. Today’s sermon has been thoroughly preached. We are to remember our fallenness in order that we stay in a readiness for His coming, a constant attitude of repentance. We are to gratefully realize how Christ makes us clean, and take action to remain clean, and to continue cleansing our garments in preparation for His coming. And we are to realize that there are many if/then statements in scripture. How will we know them if we never read it? We must be in the Word and in prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. Your Marching orders for today? FORWARD MARCH!