CASE DISMISSED 

 

Zech 3:1-5

            This story is told, "A friend once showed John Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which a blot of ink had been made.  'Nothing can be done with it now,' said the owner.  'It is absolutely worthless.'  Ruskin made no reply but carried it away with him.  After a time he sent it back, to the great surprise of the friend, who could scarcely believe his eyes.  In a most skillful and artistic way Ruskin had made a design in India ink, using the ugly blot as the center for the design.   A blotted life is not necessarily a useless life.  Jesus can make a life beautiful if it is yielded to Him."  Here in America because we have access to so much, we often throw away many items because they have lost their usefulness to use.  Often times there may be very little wrong with the item; out of style clothes, toys and gadgets with missing screws, a dress with a little spot or trousers with a small hole.  Sometimes we are too lazy to repair things that are torn or broken, we simply discard them.  Their value to us is not worth the time it would take to repair the items.  But today I am thankful to God that when we His own children are not performing our function, when we have a huge stain and are ripped into many pieces, He never believes us to absolutely worthless.

            However many times the blots in our lives make us see ourselves as and declare ourselves to be unworthy of God's blessings, God's calling and even God's love.  Our feelings of unworthiness are intensified when those blots are associated with sins committed after we accepted Christ as our savior.  If we are not prayerful, we can become consumed by guilt when after we have walked with Christ for a while and one day find that we have not just slipped into sin, but rather have plunged into it. 

            I am not by any means implying that we should be unmoved or unaffected when we fall short of the mark that God has set for us.  If the Spirit of God is alive in us, then we will be moved by our spiritual failures.

John 16:8

            It is the job of the Holy Spirit to reprove or convict the world of sin, to show the world what is right in the sight of God and to convince the world of the coming judgment of God.  However there is a difference in feeling convicted and feelings of guilt.  Conviction is God's way of showing displeasure with the actions of man.  The goal of conviction is to lead man to repentance.  God told Israel in Jerm. 31:33-34, that as a part of the new covenant He would right His word in their hearts, He would forgive their iniquities and He would remember their sin no more.  In Isaiah 43:25 He says, 'I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.  Once man has repented God does not hold his sin against him.  He does not throw it up in our faces, neither does He condemn us. 

John 3:16-17

            God did not sent Jesus to pronounce condemnation or judgment on us for our sins, rather He was sent to provide for us a means of escaping the judgment and condemnation due to us for our sin.

Rom. 7:15-8:1

            After explaining the nature of the war that goes on within man, Paul concludes that those who live in union with Christ, living a life that followers after the Spirit of God rather than the flesh of man, will not be condemned or declared guilty.  God has justified the believer and thus has left no avenue of condemnation. 

            Conviction leads to repentance, but condemnation leads to fear; the fear of judgment.  II Tim. 1:7 declares that God did not give us the spirit of fear, but rather he gave us the spirit of power, love and a sound mind.  God does not want us to respond to Him out of fear, but rather in faith, because we love Him and because we have considered His character and determined that we should follow after Him.

            Yet believers can repent of their sins, believe that God has forgiven them, and still be plagued by a tremendous sense of guilt.  Guilt is a painful feeling of self reproach or self blame resulting from a belief that one had done something wrong or immoral.  Guilt keeps our actions ever before our face.  It rubs our faces in our failures; taunts us, often leading to depression and feelings of worthlessness.  Guilt will not let you make peace with your actions, even though you have repented. 

Matt. 27:1-5

            Judas realized that he had done wrong.  He was sorry for his actions.  But even more, he was so overcome by the guilt associated with his actions that he hung himself.  Feelings of guilt are an attempt of the enemy to keep us focused on the wrong we have done as opposed to focusing on God's plan and will for our lives.  Guilt will leave one feeling desperate, dejected and full of despair.  Guilt is the enemy’s way of accusing us to ourselves.  Rev. 12:10 says that he accuses us before God both day and night.  Unfortunately for the devil, but fortunately for us, the blood of Jesus silences any accusations made to God against the believer.  This holds true whether the accusations are true or false.  We can handle it quite well when the devil is falsely accusing us to ourselves and to God; when we know our motives were pure though things may not have worked out quite right.  But when what he is saying to us is true, the struggle to walk in God's forgiveness is much tougher.

            In our text -- Zech. 3:1-5

Verse 1 -- We see Joshua the high priest standing before the Lord, Jesus incarnate.  We also see Satan standing to Joshua's right; acting as the prosecuting attorney, to accuse him.  Jesus here acts as the judge.  At this point He has not died for the sins of mankind and thus can not act as an attorney for Joshua.  However, turn to

I John 2:1

            John did not say, if you sin or if a sinner sins, he said if we, which means that he included himself in this group.  If he as a believer can include himself among those who might sin and have an advocate in Jesus, we too can claim Jesus as our advocate.  Because of the finished work of Calvary, we now have an attorney who stands with us to plead our case to the father.  Our advocate always has a trump card that he can play.  He stretches out his arms, showing his palms to God.  God replies, case dismissed.  It does not matter what evidence Satan has, the verdict is the same, case dismissed.

            But back in Zech., Joshua stood without an advocate, but the outcome was the same.  Satan accused Joshua of improperly carrying out his office of high priest.  The high priest was never to perform his duties without being both physically and ceremonially clean.   The accusation that Satan raises against Joshua is symbolic of the accusation that he raised against Israel.  He accused them of being unfit to be called the children of God.  They were sinful and repeatedly turned their backs on God to serve idols.  Although the accusation being presented was true, the Lord offered, nor did he ask for any excuse or explanation.  In verse two he makes it clear that it is not the action of Joshua that caused him to rebuke the enemy.  It was simply because he chose to.  He had chosen Jerusalem and the children of Israel to put his name on..  It was nothing that they had done that precipitated his chose.  He simply chose.  It is nothing that we have done that caused the Lord to save us and therefore there is nothing that we can do that will cause him to turn his back on us and walk away.  Israel like all of us was like a reed or chaff headed for the fire and nothing but the grace of God plucked any one of us from the fire.  God does not tell the devil case dismissed because we are being falsely accused, nor does he do it because there is enough evidence on our behalf to find us innocent or to justify our actions.  His choice to dismiss all charges against us, is simply His choice.  The death of Jesus on the cross as payment for the sins of mankind only provided God with a just mechanism for carrying out His choice.  Long before Jesus every came to earth, God had decided that He wanted the case of sin against man dismissed.  Rev. 13:8 says that the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world.  Before God made anything He already had the plan how the charges against man would be dismissed.  There is nothing mankind could have done to change God's plan.  For God had already considered everything that we would or could do.  The plan is solid and unshakable and all who will yield to God's plan of salvation will find no charges pending against them.   The case of sin against the believer has been dismissed.

            The proof that Jesus has dismissed the case against Joshua is found in verses 4 and 5.  As Joshua stands in the presence of Jesus, Jesus orders that his filthy garments be removed and he be dressed in proper attire for a priest.  In other words, Joshua is restored to his priestly duties.  Even in the midst of all of our shortcomings and failures, we must chose to come and stand before Jesus, yielding ourselves to Him, that He through the Spirit of God our tainted and ragged lives to the glorious lives He has purchased for us. 

            Satan throws the guilt of our sins in our faces in the hopes that he can discourage us from coming to Jesus to find the peace and strength that we need to continue in the Lord.  Satan recognizes that the case against man has been dismissed and that the only way he can now keep  believers from rejoicing in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us, is to plague us with guilt, and feelings of worthlessness.  But God accepts no charges against us, rather true or false.  He has dismissed all charges.  Rather than allowing the enemy to discourage us, hinder us and stunt our growth, let's reply to him, the case has been dismissed.