INTRODUCTION:
We have learned that as the deceiver Satan uses lies to attack the mind to make us ignorant of Gods will. If Satan cannot defeat you by deceiving your mind, He will try to destroy your body. Then he goes after your will. Suppose that the believer does not take advantage of their victorious position in Christ. Suppose they refuse to use the spiritual defenses provided. The believer sins, what then? You would think that Satan, having led the person into sin would leave them to suffer the consequences, but this does not happen. Satan has one more trick up his sleeve to make the Christian doubly defeated. We read about it in Zechariah 3:1-7.
I. In the Bible, we are warned repeatedly to be aware of our enemy.
A. Eph. 6:11-12 (pp)
1. Paul is telling us that we have a fight on our hands. Our enemy is not against flesh and blood but our enemy is the “rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.” Our enemy is Satan & his demons.
• 1 Pet. 4:8 (pp)
2. This scene unlike the others we have looked at occurs in heaven
II. The Target (Our heart and conscience)
A. The setting is like a courtroom.
1. God is the judge
2. Joshua, the high priest is the defendant
3. Satan is the prosecutor
• He appears to have a case
• Joshua is wearing filthy garments
• The high priest was to wear clean clothes
4. Zachariah had this vision at a time when the nation of Israel had sinned against God.
• They had returned to Israel after there captivity
• Hoped they would follow God they did not
5. Explains why Joshua’s garments where filthy
• Jewish men where divorcing their wives
• Merchants charging high interest rates
• The priests where stealing from God
B. Satan new the where sinful
1. Imagine his arguments
• Have you considered your children in Israel
• Sinful and disobedient people
• You chastened in Babylon, hoping to teach them obedience
2. Now they have returned to their land, by your goodness
• And they are disobeying you again
3. You are a holy God
• Israel is supposed to be a holy people
• If you are as holy as you claim you must judge them
• If not you are not who you claim
• They are guilty
C. How did Joshua feel
1. Broken heart
2. What was his defense
• When we disobey God, Satan moves in for the kill
3. He attacks us in our heart and conscience
• You’re supposed to be a Christian
• You’re not a very good one
4. Before we sin he tempts us
• After he accuses us
5. He represented the people before God
III. Satan’s Weapon Accusation
A. When Satan talks to you about God, he lies.
1. When he talks about you to God he sometimes tells the truth
B. He is the accuser of the brethren
1. He has access to heaven, the very throne of God
• There he reminds God of the condition of his saints
2. We must learn between Satan’s accusations and God’s conviction
• Guilt and shame only good if comes from Holy Spirit.
• When the Holy Spirit convicts you, he uses the word of God in love and seeks to bring you into fellowship with the father. (Peter)
• When Satan accuses you, he uses our own sin in a hateful way, and seeks to make us feel helpless and hopeless. (Judas)
3. Despair and spiritual paralysis result from listening to Satan’s accusations
• When you have that helpless hopeless feeling, you can be sure Satan is accusing you.
• We cannot control the origins of our troubles, but we can control the outcome
IV. Satan’s purpose is to bring an indictment by God’s will
A. Satan wants you to feel guilty
1. He wants us to experience regret and remorse
• But not repentance
2. He wants to keep accusing you so that you focus your attention on yourself and your sins.
B. Walk by faith not by sight
1. When you look away by faith to Jesus, you will repent and confess.
• You will find cleansing and restoration
2. As long as you are feeling guilty, you are under indictment and you are moving farther and farther from the lord.
C. As Christians we must not fall into Satan’s trap
1. There is a place for spiritual conviction
• We cannot major in guilt
2. Paul had a situation like that in the church of Corinth.
• 2 Corinthians 2:6
• 2 Corinthians 2:7-8, 11
3. Excessive guilt and sorrow can only lead to depression, despair, and defeat.
V. Our defense
A. The interceding Son of God
1. Satan stands at our right hand to resist us and accuse us
2. But it is also true that Jesus stands at God’s right hand to intercede for us.
• 1 John 2:1
B. Jesus finished His work on earth and returned to heaven to take up His unfinished work
1. Perfecting us and preparing us for glory.
• Hebrews 13:20-21
C. This perfecting ministry has two aspects
1. High Priest
• Intercedes for us and provides the grace that we need when we are tested and tempted.
• If by faith we turn to him and come to the throne of grace he will see us through to victory
2. Advocate
• If we yield to temptation and sin, then he ministers as our advocate to forgive us and restore us to fellowship once again
• 1 John 1:9
D. Courtroom again
1. God, the judge, is on the throne
2. Joshua, the high priest stands before guilty before God
3. Satan stands at his right hand to accuse him
4. Jesus stands at God’s right hand to represent Joshua and restore him
• This explains why Jesus returned to heaven with wounds not scares
Did God close his eyes to the reality of Joshua’s sin? Of course not! God will never defend his children’s sins, he will however defend his children. When Abraham lied in Egypt, he defended Abraham not his sin. When you listen to Satan’s accusations, you will focus your attention on yourself and your sin, this will lead to defeat and despair. When we listen to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, we will look by faith to Jesus, our advocate at the throne of God. Notice the three stages of Joshua’s experience: (Zechariah 3:1-7) Satan’s resistance, God’s rebuke of Satan, restoration. God’s rebuke of Satan is based on His grace toward his people. Resistance, rebuke, restoration are the stages in the experience of confessing sin and returning to fellowship with God. Satan will accuse you do not listen. Turn by Faith to Jesus our advocate, and confess our sins to him. Depend on what God’s word says, not on how you feel.
