From rags to riches | Zechariah 3:1-5

Zechariah 3 verse 1 to 5 Then he showed me Joshua

Zechariah 3:1–5

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

Zechariah 3 · chapter mention

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

Zechariah 3 · chapter mention

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

Exodus 28 · chapter mention

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

Zechariah 3 · chapter mention

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.