I please Almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the prophecy of
Zephaniah and we're a third chapter and we'll read verse 17. The prophecy of Zephaniah chapter
3 and reading verse 17. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Surely it is very remarkable
that the Lord in his great goodness ordained that Zephaniah the prophet
should be directed to write such great truths and to encourage
the believers. In this chapter and of course
in this short prophecy we read of the situation which existed
at the time and it was of course in the days of Josiah, the son
of Ammon, king of Judah, and Israel had sunk to a very low
place. They'd walked contrary to God
again and again. They'd been warned again and
again that they would be taken into captivity. And yet, for
the most part, they ignored it. And yet, of course, we know that
it did come to pass. They did go down into Babylon.
Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed and
they were there for those 70 years of hardship, away from
any place of worship really. And yet, you see, God was gracious. God didn't deal with them as
they deserved. Surely they deserved to be cut
off completely. But no, God was kind and God
was gracious. And we ought to realise that
we have the same God today. If we look around today, we live
in a very dark day. There's no doubt about it. Not
only in our nation, but really worldwide, there are very, very
few who are actually concerned about their spiritual standing,
concerned about doing the will of God, or they're concerned
about following their own inclinations, pleasing themselves, and yet
still today we are blessed with the Word of God. We're able to
read it and be instructed by it. Well this last part of the
third chapter is indeed encouraging for the Church of God and it
must have been in those days, perhaps it would have been very
difficult to imagine what Zephaniah spoke in such days of darkness
and rebellion against God. When we read, for instance, the
14th verse, which says, And of course, the prophecy there was
speaking to the Church of God, But what a blessing it is if
we're able, therefore, still in our day, to recognise that
our God is still alive, He's still all-powerful, and what
a mercy, therefore, to recognise these great truths. And then
the prophecy goes on to say, The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee, thou
shalt not see evil anymore. In that day, it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. Of course, such a word is appropriate
for us today, isn't it? We may look around, we may fear. We may fear what the future holds.
Indeed, things are not rosy. They're dark, really. Man despises
the word of God. Man doesn't desire to do the
will of God. Man wants to please himself.
And we see on every hand much and many abominations. And yet we know our God reigns. And so what a mercy it is to
read such words as this. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. And that really means that we're
not just to sit down and fold our arms and think, well, we
can't do anything about it. You see, we are to pray. We are
to pray earnestly. The Lord will remember the Church
of God. The Lord will return. The Lord
will do great things. Indeed, to remember then, as
we have it in this 17th verse, the Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He always has been, he is, and
he always will be. May that be a wonderful encouragement
to each one of us in our lives. We each have our special life
to lead, to live, a life that God has given, which caused us
to be born into this world for such a time as this. The days of Esther were not good
days, were they? And yet, Morikei told her that
perhaps she was on the throne for such a time as this. And you and I should not therefore
think that we live on this earth for no purpose, for no good.
It may be for such a time as this. The Lord has placed us
in the environment, in the homes that we're in, in the locality
that we're in, and we should not think this is by chance.
We should recognise God has ordained it and ordained it for his purpose. And so may we remember then the
Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, is mighty. God has lost
none of his power. What a mercy then to remember
that God is still on the throne. Men and women, boys and girls
today, ignore the reality that the true God exists. Indeed,
that there ever was a true God, but we're thankful to know that
there is a true God. And we can trace out, can't we,
through the word of God, the Lord thy God in the midst of
thee is mighty. So many occasions in the Old
Testament and in the New Testament, we have where we see the mighty
power of God set forth so many times. Israel of old, Judah of
old, needed God to appear for them. And so many victories were
granted. You only have to read through
the Old Testament and you have to read through perhaps Samuel
and Kings and Chronicles to read again and again. how God appeared,
and the enemies were slain. Sometimes the Lord did it without
the help of man. Sometimes he did it with the
help of man. But nonetheless, it was very
evident that God was the mighty God, and that God was in the
midst of his ancient people. And we can go back, can't we? Before that, to the times of
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, they had difficult times, didn't
they? But God was with them. God appeared for them. He was
mighty in the midst. Then, of course, when He brought
Israel out of Egypt, what a time that was. There they were, Israel,
suffering greatly, unfairly treated. Unjustly treated. What did they
do? They cried under God Did God
turn away their cry? No, he heard their crying in
due time a Wonderful deliverance was brought about they didn't
have to fight today God brought about those miracles Last miracle,
of course was the death of the firstborn of all the Egyptians
and on that momentous Passover night. The result was that Pharaoh
let the children of Israel go and then of course he tried to
chase them and then God slaughtered all those Egyptians in the Red
Sea. Israel had gone across safely
and all those who followed was slaughtered as the waters returned. And we see there a very clear
demonstration of the power of this God and the timing of this
God. He knew what he would do in those
days. And my friends, he still knows
what he will do in our day in which we live, in your life and
my life. we perhaps sometimes think we're
almost irrelevant well we're not irrelevant if God has called
us if God has a wonderful plan for us and he does for all of
his children and as we read in the 107th Psalm he led them forth
by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation and
it's true to you and me today us in the right way that we might
go to a city of habitation. We must always link those two
things together. The right way is to bring us
safely home to glory and it's good therefore if we're able
to have an understanding of God's way, God's plan and It may not
be revealed to us. We are to walk by faith. We may
have to say, I don't understand my way. But it's good to commit
our way unto the Lord and to trust also in Him. The Lord knows
what He will do. And the Lord has a perfect plan
for each one of His people. And what a blessing if He has
a perfect plan A perfect plan. God doesn't make
any mistakes. Sometimes we may think He's made
mistakes, but He never has. And His plan is to bring all
of His people safely home to glory. And it's good, therefore,
if we have an understanding of that. And we're able, therefore,
to recognise the relevance of it and how blessed it is to realise
that God has us in his hands and he's dealing with us not
as enemies perhaps we were enemy at once perhaps we were against
God perhaps we didn't want to follow God perhaps we didn't
want to do his will and yet you see in love to our souls he led us forth by the right
way and that's why we have here such a wonderful statement the
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty to think he's
in the midst how amazing that is How good it is to understand
that Almighty God, the Creator of all things, the Almighty God,
don't lose sight of that. He it is who is in the midst,
is with His people to guide them and direct them. What a blessing! And that's why He tells us, the
Lord thy God is in the midst of thee is mighty." Well, Zef and I was directed to write
these words. How comforting they should be
to the whole Church of God as you and I press on Remember,
in the days of Job, Job had a hard time, didn't he? He was very
affluent, very wealthy, had everything he wanted, and then the Lord
saw fit to allow Satan, you must remember that, He allowed Satan
sometimes to come in, come into our lives. It did in Job's case,
and caused havoc. And we might think, as Job did,
that God must have forsaken him. But you see, Job was blessed
with that faith to believe. And this is what he said, he
knoweth the way that I take. And when he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. And that's true of all the church
of God. You and me, in our little lives,
we don't wander around. without recognising that God
is with us. God's watching over us. God's
preserving us. God's guiding us and directing
us. And what a mercy if God is preparing us for our eternal
home. And in that preparation, we're
favoured to walk in this way, to grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. If you and I were
to choose our own path, be sure of this, we wouldn't groan grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And you may say, well, why do
you say that? Because the fellowship with Christ
is a fellowship of the path of sufferings. It's not a pathway
on the mountaintops. Sometimes the Lord does grant
us a blessed experience and the blessed evidence of his goodness
and mercy toward us. But also there is much blessing
in union with Christ, because it's the evidence that we are
his children. He's dealing with us as sons
and daughters. We're not walking a path outside
of the knowledge of the Savior. He's leading us and he's bringing
us into that time of fellowship, as I often refer to what Paul
said when he wrote to the Philippians. He knew the blessing it was to
have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ in his sufferings. And you and I should take note
of that. Sometimes we might wish our path
was a little different, our path was a little easier perhaps,
but you see God is preparing us for our eternal home. And that's the important issue. that you and I need to remember
because it puts things in a right perspective. It gives us to realise
then, yes, God is dealing with me as a son and a daughter of
the Most High God and he's instructing me and letting me know that this
is not my rest. As we read, here we have no continuing
city but the blessing is but we seek one to come and if we
are seeking one to come that means that God is preparing us
for that kingdom preparing us for that day when we shall leave
this earth and to go to be with Christ which is far better. You know, sometimes we might
think, well, such statements really must be rather morbid. Well, they're not really. To
the true Church of God, we should be looking ahead and looking
forward to that great and glorious time when we shall be with Christ. And so, therefore, let us remember
such a statement as we have here. Fear not. fear thou not and to
Zion let not thine hands be slack the Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee is mighty never underestimate the power and the might of God
God is able to do that for you and me which may seem to be impossible
and sometimes God brings us into situations to test our faith,
to show us that the things which are impossible with men are possible
with God. And when God hears and answers
prayer, what a wonderful evidence it is that we are a true believer. But God hasn't left us. He hasn't
forsaken us. He hasn't cast us away. No, but
this mighty God is in the midst of us. And then you see the prophet
goes on to tell the Church of God in the day and age in which
this was written and for all ages. He will save. He will save. He will redeem
his church. He will save his people. Sometimes,
again, we may think, well, God's not saving me. God's not going to save me. We
may think, perhaps, that we've just sinned against God. We may think we've sinned against
light and knowledge. And we may fear that God will
not save us. Well, Israel, ancient Israel,
so often turned against God. And yet, you see, God ordained
Zephaniah should write such a great and wonderful statement. He will
save. He will save. Be encouraged by
that. He will save in his time and
in His way. God has a perfect time. Yes, God has a perfect plan. But the truth is, He will save. All of His people, He will save. Not one will be left behind. It was like Israel, wasn't it?
When they came out of Egypt. You know, we read that statement,
not a hoof shall be left behind of course that referred really
to everything all the animals as well nothing would be left
behind what a mercy to know that we worship the same God today
he he will save no one else no one else is able to save us but
God does come and he saves in his way, in his time, and it
is peculiar to each one of his children. God has ordained a peculiar way
for each one of us. He has determined a time in your
life and my life, perhaps before us, perhaps behind us, time when
we have the evidence that He will save, that He has saved,
that He has looked upon us, He hasn't cast us off as we deserved. He will save and again just consider
the scene here that Zephaniah directs us to the wickedness
and the evil which existed in the day and age and yet you see
he's directed by the Spirit of God to write such a very positive
statement. He will save. Let us not be put
off by the temptations of Satan. Satan, you see, is one who will
not accept that God's people will be saved. He doesn't want
to. He wants to turn them away. But you see, we should remember,
the devil is a conquered foe. A devil may be saved. You won't be saved. Well, you can point to the Word
of God. I often think, it's a wonderful
example we had in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ when he
was baptised, and led of the spirit, don't forget that, of
the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and
the devil did tempt him and how did the saviour respond? he quoted
scripture to the devil you see, we have here a statement that
you and I can direct the devil if he says there's no hope for you There's
no hope for you. You can turn to this verse and
tell him, the Lord has said, he will save. And that will be
your support. It will be your strength and
your encouragement. And he doesn't just say that,
he will save. He goes on. And he tells us,
he will rejoice over thee with joy. Isn't that wonderful? You and I might look at ourselves
and realize that so often we've turned our back upon God. In our heart, perhaps may not
have been in words, but in our hearts we may have said, I will
not have this man to reign over me. To think then that this great
God says, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He'll rejoice
over us when that work of salvation is wonderfully revealed. And
we are shown that we are indeed a true child of God, a true believer. And to think that Almighty God,
Almighty God rejoices. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. It's quite astounding, isn't
it, to think that God The Creator of all things condescends to
rejoice over such sinners, because we are a sinner by nature, and
our old nature is evil. Left to ourselves, we're at enmity
with God. But what a great blessing it
is to know that God has come and broken down the barriers.
He's drawn us to Himself. We've been given to understand
there is a great and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who condescended, amazingly so, to come into this sinful world
to redeem your soul, and to redeem my soul. See, everything is very
personal. How humbling it is to think that
Almighty God, the Creator of all things, the One who always
was and is and always will be, has condescended to come and
to save our souls. And as he saved our soul and
the evidence of it is there, that he's rejoicing over us with
joy. Well, may that be a support to
you and me as we travel on. And then he tells us he will
rest in his love. His love. toward us. We never deserved it, we never
earned it, but it's because he loved us from everlasting. Again, it's good sometimes just
to ponder these things, just to think about them, to show
the greatness, the majesty of Almighty God, who is in the midst
of us, is mighty, To think that He's loved us with everlasting
love. Love doesn't change. Love doesn't
change. God's love is the same. Yes, that's very humbling, isn't
it? To think that Almighty God has
loved us. When we're walking contrary to
Him, when we care perhaps nothing for the things of God, Perhaps when we turned our back
upon God, perhaps when we'd said in our heart, I will not have
this man to reign over me. And then to think that God has
loved such a rebel. That's what we were. We were
rebels. But his love was so great. He
took us in hand. as He drew us to Himself and
there at one time we saw no beauty in the Saviour and then when
His love was such we were drawn to Him we saw a beauty in the
suffering Saviour we saw a wonderful majesty in Himself we stood amazed
at the cross and viewed by faith the Lord Jesus Christ finishing
that work that His Father had given Him to do in order that
our soul, your soul and my soul might be redeemed. Such times were surely a blessing. And what a mercy, therefore,
to have faith to believe that we will truly enjoy such privileges
and such favours, because here Zephaniah was writing in those
difficult days, and yet days when the Lord was looking upon
his church, still the same, He hadn't changed, it was still
the same. What a wonderful mercy it was. The psalmist David, David knew
ups and downs in his life and yet he had trust, he had confidence
in God's grace. In the 24th Psalm he writes these
words, lift up your heads. O ye gates, perhaps our heads
are hanging down, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up,
ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and lift
them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come
in. Think of that. The King of Glory
comes in to the hearts of His children. Who is this King of
Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the
King of Glory. Well, we're thankful that David
was able to record such great and glorious truths that might
be a strength and a blessing to us. Remember, he says, lift
up your heads. Often our heads are hanging down
because of disbelief, the unbelief of our natural hearts. But what
a mercy it is if we hear His voice. Lift up your heads. What
that really means is, look unto Me. Don't look down, look up. Look to the Saviour. Look to
the Saviour. He will rejoice over thee. Yes,
it's the power of God in our hearts. And Christ rejoices to
see His work appearing. And it is a wonderful work. to
the Church of God. Lift up your hearts. He will
rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He can rest in his love because
his love is an unchanging love. It doesn't get hot, it doesn't
get cold. Our God is the same yesterday
and today and forever. He will rest in his love and
then finally he says he will joy over thee with singing well
it's a tremendous statement isn't it to think of that almighty
god singing with joy to see our salvation his salvation in our
life to see the glory of his redemption to see the outcome
of the work which he performed on the cross to redeem his church.
And it comes to pass in the life of each believer, each child
of God, this work appears. Oh, my friends, bless God that
the Lord ordained that in this age in which this was written,
a dark age, there was this glorious shaft of light flowing out. And it's good when the shaft
of the Gospel, the light of the Gospel, shines into our soul,
to realise it's the work of the Spirit of God. It's not our work. It's not something that we could
produce. It's that which God did in our hearts. Why? Because He loved us. with an everlasting love. So
this morning, my friends, as we read together, the situation
which existed in Judah and Israel in the days and age in which
Zephaniah lived, the days of Josiah, he'd taken on Josiah
from his father Ammon, who was an evil king. And there was this
hope, this ray of hope, my friends, there is still today. the glorious
hope of the gospel. Never give up. Always remember
God's promises. Remember, therefore, such a statement
as this. And may it be an encouragement
as we read, fear thou not, fear thou not, the Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty, He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. Just realize the number of positive
statements there. There's no doubt for the things
of God. He will. He will. He will. He will. You know, you and I
may be able to come to our God and plead His promises are here
for you and me to plead. And God hears and answers our
prayers. He tells us, I will also leave
in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people. Perhaps that's
how you feel. That's a good place. And they
shall trust in the name of the Lord. Well, may you and I be
found trusting in the name of the Lord, trusting in his word,
putting all our hope in the promises recorded in the word of God. And remember, the Lord thy God,
thy God, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.
He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest
in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.