Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/48202/zechariah-31-10/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] We'll start reading in verse 1 of Zechariah chapter 3. Verse 1 says, And he shootingly Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan, standing at his right hand to resist him.

[0:17] And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. And is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

[0:30] Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that slip before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him.

[0:41] And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused none iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair miter upon his head.

[0:52] So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my court.

[1:12] And I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Here now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at.

[1:24] For behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave thee thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

[1:41] And in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine, and under the fig tree. And that wraps up that chapter. And I don't know that will preach the entire chapter.

[1:54] But if you go back to verse one in Zechariah chapter three, says, And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan, standing in his right hand to resist him.

[2:09] So in this vision that the man of God, the Zechariah, is having the prophet of God, this vision that God himself has given him, he sees Joshua the high priest.

[2:20] Now, this isn't something that would have been this vision of a four time or many years before Joshua, the high priest, was the high priest, the actual high priest, while Zechariah was having this vision.

[2:35] Joshua was the actual high priest in the house of the Lord to the service of God. And it says, He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

[2:51] So just as in the present time, just as in these times that the prophet Zechariah was writing this, both Satan stands to accuse the brethren, both night and day, according to the book of Revelation.

[3:09] It hasn't changed one bit. It hasn't changed any. Over the years, Satan constantly stands to accuse the brethren he stood next to Joshua here next to the high priest of God to accuse him.

[3:22] Now, did Joshua have anything to be accused of? Yes, he did. But folks, I want you to keep in mind that Joshua had no blacker sin, no more evil sin, no more filthy sin than you were.

[3:36] I mean, how did I last for all that sin and come short of the glory of God? Joshua may have been the high priest. He may have been the head over the service of God in the temple over the things of God, over the ordinances of God, and all of these things.

[3:55] But his sin was no dead nastier, no filthier, no darker, and no blacker than my sin, or your sin was. He was a wretched soul.

[4:05] Without him mind, we need to keep it. We need to keep it in mind that Joshua's sin and your sin are equal on the plane with God. I praise God. It doesn't matter if you're a priest or if you're a pulper, if the ground is little, if the foot of the cat, it doesn't matter how much money we have, it's the prestige we have, how much authority we have.

[4:29] None of these things matter to God. The only thing that matters is the part of Jesus Christ on the heart of those who believe. That's what matters as far as having a relationship with Almighty God.

[4:43] Amen. Glory. Amen. God showed the high priest, he's standing there. He's standing before the angel of the Lord, this angel of the Lord.

[4:53] This would be God. This would be Jesus Christ. He would have been standing before. How do we know that? Hope's he was standing there in judgment. No angel has any authority to judge.

[5:05] Jesus Christ says at the end of the gospel of Matthew, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power is Jesus Christ. Only he can judge. And I praise God that that's the case.

[5:16] The problem is we have a society full of people that say only God can judge me. And that's the problem. They forget that one day he will do that.

[5:27] He will judge them. He will judge them according to their words, according to the scripture. Some words will be burned up as hands stubble. Others will be turned as their righteousness.

[5:40] But God will judge. And only Jesus people, everybody will stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Paul said, for we all must stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

[5:53] The great Wathermann judgments are completely different things, but we all must stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Joshua, we're the high priest here. He is standing before God.

[6:03] He is standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing in his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord that had chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee, is not this a brand, put out of the fire.

[6:20] So he said, so the Lord stands before Satan himself. Hey folks, you and I, we have no power against Satan. We have no authority over Satan.

[6:30] Only Jesus Christ has that kind of authority. And without Christ in our life, we can't rebuke. We can't do anything against Satan. Satan is more powerful than you or I or anyone else that has ever lived on this planet other than Jesus Christ.

[6:49] He says the Lord rebuked thee. The Lord rebuked thee, but he tells him lie. He says, it's not this a brand, put out of the fire. It's not this a brand, put out of the fire.

[7:02] He looks over. He looks over at Joshua with the high priest. Listen folks, Joshua had some charges against him. The entire priesthood had some charges against him.

[7:12] The entire nation of Israel had some charges against him. But it began at the priesthood. It began with the pollution of the God's altars. It began with them offering, blame the sacrifices.

[7:24] I'm the God, don't take my word for it. You read in the book of Malachi, what the priesthood had become. They had the very service of the priesthood, had become an annoyance to the priests of God.

[7:36] It had become a hindrance. It had become something that was mundane and something that they didn't even want to do. So yes, Joshua had some radical charges against him.

[7:49] God says, this is one of mine. This is one of mine. He says, I chose Jerusalem. I chose Jerusalem. I chose this priesthood.

[8:00] I named this priesthood. That was the tribe of Levi. Way over in the book of Genesis. I chose this line of people to my service. Who are you Satan to come in here and accuse my chosen and my led, those that I have chosen upon the foundation of the world rose.

[8:19] That I will send my son in the future to die for their sins. Who are you to do this thing? Yeah, yeah. He says, he's chosen Jerusalem.

[8:33] He says he refuges. He's not this a brand, plucked out of the fire. Folks, you and I are in the same boat. We are brands. If you're saved, born again, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, believing in the works and the life and the ministry and the death and the burial of the resurrection and the soon coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:55] If you have that kind of belief about you and you are born again, you are indeed a brand that has been plucked out of the fire. If you were saved from the flames of the hell, you were saved from the wrath of God.

[9:08] You are a brand that is out of the fire and on the tip of the gun to tell you that the brand that God has plucked out of the fire, Satan has no right.

[9:20] He has no claim. He has the capacity, no ability to throw that brand back in. Well, God's got his claim on you.

[9:31] God's got his claim on your life. He's got his claim on your soul. Satan cannot do anything about that. Satan cannot do anything about that. When he's gotten the Joshua, was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel.

[9:46] This is indicative of the sin. Not only the Joshua's life. Who was Joshua? Joshua was the high priest of the nation Israel. It was indicative of the sin, not only in his life, but in the life of all the nation.

[10:02] He was the representative of the nation Israel. Under God, on the day of Atonement, only the high priest could go back into the holy of holies. Only the high priest could offer up the blood.

[10:13] Only the high priest could go into the presence of the creator of the universe on that day. Therefore, these filthy garments symbolize the sin of Joshua and the sin of an entire nation.

[10:27] The boast and reflection of that, God's choosing of Jerusalem and God's choosing of Israel, the very apple of his eye, in the forgiveness, in the washing away, in the release of all the sins of Joshua.

[10:43] God was saying, this is my chosen people. This is who will serve me. I am cleansing them of their sin as well. Oh, she's done it for the entire church.

[10:55] He's done it for the entire realm of believers. He's done it for us all. If you have been born again, you have washed in the same blood, and you're forgiven by the same guy as I am.

[11:08] It ain't a different way for one as it is for others. It's all through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's only through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's not the blood and plus something else.

[11:20] It's not the blood and minus something else. It is the blood and the blood alone of Jesus Christ that brings salvation. I'm demand power.

[11:30] Holy God. Praise God. Oh my God, for that. Oh, Lord Burnett said this morning, I'm glad that so I can't provide, it's dependent on me and my works. I've been in trouble. Yeah, I've been in trouble.

[11:41] While in the world, people want to live under the law. I have no idea. While in the world, they want to depend on their ability, or rather their inability to keep the law. I have no idea especially when Paul wrote to the Roman church that classed as the end of the law for righteousness.

[11:57] He is the end of the law as far as righteousness goes. He's the end of the law. Let the salvation Jesus Christ did that so that you and I could be set free from these ordinances that no one but he was able to keep.

[12:15] Amen. Glory to God. Thank you Jesus. You guys are in the space under those that step before. So you take away the filthy garments. So who's speaking here? This is the end of the law.

[12:27] This will be Christ. This will be the King of the universe. The end of the law is saying these things. He entered and spake unto those that stood before him. Say, take away the filthy garments from him.

[12:37] And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused uniniquity past from thee. And I will clothe thee with a changer of rank. I will cause uniniquity past from thee.

[12:47] But no angel, no created angel, not Gabriel, not Michael, or any other angel has that kind of authority.

[12:58] It had to have been Jesus that he was speaking to. He is the only one with that kind of authority to say, I am going to get rid of your sins. I will cause your trespasses to go away.

[13:10] I will cleanse you from your iniquities. Folks, no angels can do that. Only Christ can do that. He said, Behold, I have caused uniniquity to pass from thee. And I will clothe thee with a changer of rank.

[13:22] And I said, who's speaking here? It had to have been Zechariah in this vision. It says, And I said, let them set a fair matter upon his head. So they set a fair matter upon his head and clothed him with garments of the angel that the Lord stood by while all this was going on.

[13:38] While Zechariah said, let them put a fair matter upon his head. And the other angels, the other hosts that were standing by, those other servants under God, fellow servants to you and I, they were changing their clothes and they were setting the mire.

[13:54] The Lord Jesus Christ was standing by and he was observing everything that was going on. But something else in this verse that I think of when I read it, it says that Zechariah said, And I said, let them set a fair matter upon his head.

[14:09] Hey, in this vision Zechariah was seeing everything that was going on. And he heard everything that was going on. He knew what was going on in this bar of God and this judgment bar.

[14:22] And he heard that the iniquities and the sins had been forgiven. He still prayed for Joshua, the high priest, even though he saw what was going on.

[14:32] He saw the goodness of sin. He said, let them lay a fair matter upon his head. He still had his thoughts on the one man of God that was there.

[14:43] Folks, we need to have that same mindset. When we see somebody, we see somebody God's working on. We've all seen that. We've seen people under conviction of God.

[14:56] We've seen people being blessed of God, such as Joshua, the high priest here. We've seen all of these things taken place. Those people need prayer. Those people need prayer.

[15:07] When it's conviction, yes, they need prayer. But folks, when God is blessing someone, you continue to pray for those people. You continue to pray. Hey, why is that, folks?

[15:17] Sometimes we can let the blessing get in front of the one who gave the blessing. Sometimes we can let that which is given get in front of the one that is the giver. Those people need prayer.

[15:28] You and I need prayer. Every time the blessing of God comes in our life, yes, we should give them praise. Yes, we should give them glory. And yes, we should thank God for the congregation and anyone else that will hear it, but we still need prayer.

[15:44] We need prayer. We need prayer. Where there will be blessings, where there will be conviction in our lives. Zechariah, it shows me that the man had some discernment about it.

[15:57] And I said, let them set a fair moderate upon his head. So they set a fair moderate upon his head and clothe them with garments and the angel of the Lord. And I said, by folks, this talks about how disgusting, how disgusting the priesthood had become.

[16:14] God gives strict orders in the book of Exodus about how the priest starts to dress, about what their robe should look like, what their turban's or their modders should look like, what every bit of apparel that the priest wore, that God gives strict instructions to what it should look like.

[16:32] And here was Joshua in filthy garments, as the scripture says. So filthy that God didn't want him anywhere near his job. He said, I'm going to take this off of him. I'm going to put on what he's supposed to have upon him.

[16:45] I'm going to put on him the robe of the priesthood. I'm going to put on him the robe of the high priest. Zechariah says, put on him a put on his head a fair moderate. Said, I will place that moderate upon his head.

[16:58] Why is that because Joshua was being restored to the office that he was originally meant to be in? Joshua was going to be the high priest once again.

[17:09] He was going to serve God just as he was supposed to once again. And he was going to lead the people of Israel in worshiping the one and true and living God just as God had called into.

[17:22] And God said, if you're going to do this, you'll look like you're supposed to. You'll look like you're supposed to. And you will do what you're supposed to do. If you're going to be my man.

[17:34] God addressed him accordingly. He addressed him the way that God prescribed. The angel of the Lord protested under Joshua saying, let's say the Lord of hosts, if I will walk in my ways, if I will keep my charge, and I shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give these places to walk among these that stand by my goodness.

[18:02] What a promise that's being made under Joshua the high priest. What a promise that folks, this is a conditional promise. This is a conditional promise that God is making to him. It says, let's say it to the Lord, if, if, if I will walk in my ways, and if, that will keep my charge.

[18:21] This is personal, or this is a promise. It's conditional, and it's on two levels. It's on the personal level, and it's on the level of service of God.

[18:33] If you'll walk in my ways, that's personal. That goes for everybody. That ain't just for the priests. That's for everybody. He says, and you'll keep my charge. I understand. That goes for everybody.

[18:43] But he was speaking specifically about the charge to the priests, what they're supposed to do. Hey folks, when the people came into the tabernacle, and when they came into the temple in later years, and they brought their sacrifices to the priests, were to take those sacrifices.

[18:57] And when they walked into the temple, there to their right was the brazen altar. There was a sacrifice made there. Folks, that's one of the reasons, praise God, that's just on the side. No, that's one of the reasons that I promote the use of the altar in prayer.

[19:10] I know it's not a half two. I know it's not a must. But folks, that's where the killing was done. That's where the blood was shed. That's where the beginning of the service of God took place.

[19:20] For the priests, when they went in, and with folks according to the scripture, we are all kings and priests. Those of us which are and trust Jesus, we are all kings and priests. You're your own priest.

[19:31] I'm my own priest. We have a high priest though, that is seated in the heavens, and the right hand of the Lord, and the right hand of the Father. He is made the only sacrifice that matters, the only sacrifice that is acceptable.

[19:45] I still encourage all to pray. Now, because that's a hat too, because that's where the killing was done. What does the Bible say Romans 12?

[19:56] Offer ourselves with living sacrifice, and to God, only an acceptable end to God, which is our reasonable service. We're gonna be a living sacrifice. That's just on the side now.

[20:07] Let's say the Lord goes, if I will walk in my ways, and if I will keep my charge, then I shall also judge my house, and should also keep my chores, and I will give thee places to walk among these, as stand by, making a promise.

[20:22] And the Joshua here, if you do these things, if you do these things. Now, he says, he said you'll also judge my house, and also keep my course.

[20:37] Oh, it wasn't the priest's job to be judged. It was their job to do the service of God. It wasn't their job to judge.

[20:47] It was their job to offer the sacrifices. It was their job to kill the animals. It was their job to go into the labor, to wash themselves, to wash their feet.

[20:58] It was their job to go back and offer up the incense unto God, which was symbolic of the prayers of the saints. It was their job to go before God on behalf of their fellow men, but it was not their job to judge.

[21:10] But here is God telling Joshua, telling Joshua himself, that shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my course.

[21:22] And I will give thee places to walk, among these to stand by. This is looking forward. This is looking forward to one that would stand as king. To one that would stand as king.

[21:33] This was the job of a judge and a king, what we're talking about here. And it was looking forward that Jesus crossed the very next branch, or the very next verse brings that up and speaking of the branch.

[21:43] He says, here you know, Joshua, the high priest, that one of our fellows that sit before thee, but they are men, wonder that, for behold, I will bring forth my servants the branch.

[21:54] Folks, the verse presiding this, this was a conditional promise given under Joshua saying, that if you go forth and you do these things, and you keep my charge, and you do exactly as I say, then you'll be able to do these things.

[22:07] But the very next verse is an unconditional promise. Hey, it didn't matter if Joshua kept the ordinances or not. It didn't matter if Joshua kept the charges of God or not. God had already purposed in his heart and purposed in his mind that this branch was coming one day.

[22:22] And God, he had already made it clear through the prophet Isaiah. He had made it clear in the Psalms. He had made it clear from Genesis, all the way through the megalocles.

[22:32] That there was a branch coming. There was a Messiah coming. There was a Savior that was coming. And there was nothing that he wanted in the world to do about it.

[22:43] Thank you. We got a conditional promise. Thank you. Well, I got a conditional promise. Amen. All I can say is, I will bring forth my servant, the branch.

[22:54] How do we? I'll be nothing in there about Joshua. If you do this, then I'll send Messiah. I'll send your Savior. I'll send one to rescue Israel. I'll send one to be a blessing under the nations.

[23:06] I'll send one that will give his very life. If you do these things, Joshua, I don't read that in this verse. This is a promise God made unconditionally for behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes.

[23:21] Behold, I will engrave, the engraving thereof, sayeth the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. And he said, for behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes.

[23:37] There's different interpretations as to what this stone was seven eyes means. Folks, I'm not positive. I wasn't there when it was written. And you know what? I don't think that's what I knew for a hundred percent sure but exactly that the Lord was talking about when these words were briefed to him by the Holy Spirit of God.

[23:54] I can't tell you though, in the book of Jeremiah chapter 39 and chapter 40, I can tell you that the eyes being upon someone that was a symbol of protection.

[24:06] It was a symbol that God was going to be with them. He was going to watch over them. He was going to see them through. Behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, say it's the Lord of hosts and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

[24:19] I will remove the iniquity of what land folks in context and what this is speaking of. He's talking about the land of Israel. He's speaking about his chosen people, the apple of his eye.

[24:29] He's going to remove their iniquity in one day. Folks, that day has kept it come to pass. That day has not been fulfilled as far as this goes. But one day it's going to happen.

[24:41] One day God is going to come down. God is going to come. He is going to deal with his people. Right now, he's still dealing with the Gentile church. Right now, we are still in the New Testament church today, which is comprised mostly of Gentiles.

[24:57] But one day God is going to give his people the Jews, Israel, their opportunity to accept the same Christ that they rejected. In the same book, in the same book that we're reading, but a Zechariah, I believe a Zechariah 13, maybe 12, that says they should look on him who they appear.

[25:20] They'll look at the hold in his hand. They'll look at the hold on his side. Say, where did you receive these marks? And you'll say, I received them in the house of my friends.

[25:30] I received them in the house of my friends. Folks, that's all for the Jews there. That is all for the Jews. But in context, this is all for the Jews.

[25:41] But one day, in one day, God will remove every bit of sin from your life and from mine. Folks, there can be no sin.

[25:51] There can be no sin where we are held. And thank God for that. If it weren't for sin, there would be no sickness. If it weren't for sin, there wouldn't be blunders, there wouldn't be deathness.

[26:02] There wouldn't be handicaps. There wouldn't be any of that. We talk about that all the time. When I go to heaven, I'm going to run. When I get up counter, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that.

[26:13] Things that I've been able to do in years or decades, or in the case maybe, you'll be able to do those things one day because there is no sin. There goes sin. Canner into those gates.

[26:24] There can be no sin. The same reason the flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God because our flesh is corrupt. It is cursed by God. It was cursed back in the garden and it's cursed to this very day.

[26:37] This flesh and this blood that we wear right now, it cannot and will not inherit in the glory. But one day, God, in one day, He is going to remove every bit of sin, every bit of illiquity, every bit of doubt, every bit of worry, every bit of stress, every bit in our lives.

[26:57] God will remove that, that we can worship Him and we can praise Him with pure worship and pure praise. Hallelujah. Morning, God. David.

[27:07] We can't do that right now. Elker, how hard we try? We try. Why? Because of this sinful flesh that we wear. Because of what we wear around here.

[27:19] We can't worship God perfectly. We might feel like we do sometimes, but we don't. That's right. And we can't while we are in this flesh. But one day, we will get to do that.

[27:29] In that day, Saint the Lord of hosts, say you call every man his neighbor under the vine, under the fig tree. In that day, say you call every man his neighbor, and every man's going to have plenty.

[27:44] Every man's going to be able to meet under the vine, right under the fig tree. He'll be able to eat those hearts content. He'll be able to do his heart's content. Now, listen, again, if you keep in mind we're talking about Israel, in context, we're talking about Israel here.

[28:00] But folks, one of these days, one of these days, they won't be going to live as to what we can do as far as praising God, as far as giving Him thanks, as far as going home to that shore.

[28:13] One day, one day after a while, we will have more than we could possibly ever need, according to God's riches and glory.

[28:23] We will have all the food we need. We will have all the comfort we need. We will have all the companionship that we need. But all these days, I don't know much about it, even though I'm married not alone, I walk to places.

[28:36] Sometimes here in this walk, there's times in my life I still feel lonely. And if you tell me you don't, you're a liar. I'm talking about on the human plane. I know we've got Jesus, and I thank God for that.

[28:47] We can go to Jesus anytime we can. But even though what drives us to Jesus, loneliness drives us to Jesus, honey, it drives us to Jesus. I'm talking about spiritual hunger.

[28:58] Hey, the Bible says, listen to the third hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. What is righteousness? Righteousness is Jesus' cry. He is all righteousness.

[29:08] And if we're hungry, and we're thirsting after righteousness, we're hungry, and we're thirsting after Jesus, as if we can't get enough of it. We're like the Psalmist said, as far as the deer that panicked up through the water, hey, folks, I'll pan after Jesus' crowds.

[29:24] All my life, if you get filled enough with them, I can't feel them enough. I can't get enough of this horror. I can't get enough of all this spirit. I can't get enough of my God.

[29:35] But one of these days, I will have enough when I am with them. It is very pleasant. It is glory sharing in that glory with each and every one of you that are redeemed with me.

[29:47] Yeah, man. Hallelujah. Praise God. It's not happening in that day, in that day. Here, we're always going to have hindrances. Folks, Joshua the priest that we've been talking about tonight.

[30:01] He had hindrances. You're even at Ezra 5. Ezra chapter 5. And Joshua, the son of Joseph, is a real bell.

[30:14] They all forgot to sacrifice. These were the children of the captivity. They were never returning home to a land that God had promised them. And if you think that little strip of land that they got them there right now is the promised land of Rome, you take the dimensions that scripture gives of the promised land.

[30:34] They'll have an area a little bit bigger than the size of Texas. That's a big old area. That's not what they have right now. That's not what they've ever had.

[30:44] But they're returning home, little by little. But these were the children of the captivity. They took them into captivity in Babylon for 70 years. You read through the book of Ezekiel.

[30:55] You read through the book of Daniel. And you'll read nothing about the sacrifice being made under God. You'll read about nothing about bloodshed posts. If you want communion with God and you want fellowship with God, it has always been through the blood.

[31:09] God made that very clear in the book of Leviticus. He made it very clear that the sacrifice had to be made. And blood had to be shed in order to have communion with Him.

[31:19] That wasn't just for the priests. And that wasn't just for the high priests. It wasn't just for the Levitical priesthood. It was for every human being. Blood had to be shed. And for 70 years, these Israelites had not shed one drop of blood.

[31:35] I think, in the book of Ezra, we have Joshua with the high priest. Ezra chapter 5, offering up the sacrifice, probably, probably, the first one in 70 years time.

[31:49] What happened? What happened that he would stand before God in this state, in this vision as the Korah had? What happened to him? It was just four chapters later in Ezra chapter 9.

[32:03] You see the princes. You see them come. They say the Levites and the priests, they've gone against God. They've trespassed against God.

[32:14] They've taken wives of the surrounding nations. They've done these things that God strictly forbid. Who was the priest? Who was the Levite? That was Joshua.

[32:25] And that was his brethren. That was the Levite. What happened from chapter 5 to chapter 9 of Ezra? What happened temptation happened? What happened sin happened?

[32:36] What happened desire happened? And lust happened? You get desire after the things of God, and you want to have room for the lust of the flesh? Amen.

[32:47] That's what happened. That's what happened. And it only took four chapters for that to happen. Four chapters. Ain't no different. And over in the book of Genesis, let's go back even further to Ezra.

[33:00] Over in the book of Genesis, Genesis 6, we have God telling Noah, I'm going to send the flood. Should I? Even I will send the flood.

[33:10] I'm going to kill everything in existence. Who will kill all the animals? Who will kill all the people? Noah, you built this heart? You make it just how I say? You make it out of what I say too?

[33:21] You do all these things? And Noah and his family? Now, if everybody that was on planet Earth at that time, eight people were saved. You see them in Genesis chapter 8. They are all saved by the grace of God.

[33:33] Noah didn't do anything to deserve that. Go back to the one we read tonight and securize. I don't read anything in those scriptures where Zachariah done anything to deserve the favor of God.

[33:48] Nothing. God just said, have I not chosen Jerusalem? Have I not chosen these to be my servants? Have I not done this? That's not a brand, looked out of the fire.

[33:58] Genesis 8, we see Noah and his family come out the boat. I'm sorry, Jesus is not. Jesus is not. He's seen coming off the ark. Jesus is alive. Two chapters later, the entire world has fallen into idolatry.

[34:14] Two chapters! The entire world has fallen into idolatry. I know there was a lot of generations that took place in those two chapters. I understand that. But only two chapters of scripture later, and they're building the Tower of Babel.

[34:29] And God says, let us go down. Let us see what they're up to. And God had to come. And he had to come down the languages. And he had to disperse the people.

[34:39] I said, chapters. From the time Noah and his family stepped off the boat, to the time everybody that was on planet Earth, two chapters later, had fallen into idolatry.

[34:51] Coach, you be careful. If you're a priest, and this Bible says that you are, if you're a born again child of God, if you're a priest, what kind of shape is your garment seen? What kind of shape is my garment seen?

[35:02] Are they filthy? Are they clean? Are they what we're supposed to be where? Do we only put it on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings and Wednesday nights? And for revival meetings? And for Saturday night segments?

[35:14] And then we take it off when we go back home. And we put back on the filth of the world. We put back on what we truly want. Hey, folks, if that's the life you're living, you are not a born again child of God. If you are doing that, and you have no conviction, and you are alive, there is no way that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within you.

[35:32] I'd be checking up. I'd be checking up. What kind of shape is our garment seen? That day, said the Lord of hosts, show you, show you call every man's neighbor.

[35:43] I'm the vine, I'm the fig tree. It ain't happened yet. It ain't happened for Israel yet. It ain't happened for us quite yet. But it will one of these days.

[35:55]  It will one of these days. God bless y'all.