May God be pleased to bless us
this morning. Let us turn to the prophecy of Zephaniah. Zephaniah
comes before Haggai and reading the 17th verse in the third chapter. The prophecy of Zephaniah and
the third chapter and we'll read 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. You may perhaps wonder why we
read the 34th chapter in the second book of the Chronicles
this morning. Well, that was of course shown to us part of
the period when Josiah the King reigned over Judah. And it was at that period that
Zephaniah spoke this prophecy. Because we read the beginning
of the first verse tells us, the word of the Lord which came
unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushiah, the son of Gadoliah, the son
of Amoriah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son
of Ammon, king of Judah. So we have some appreciation
of the scene in which Zephaniah prophesied and the days of Josiah
were relatively good days in the history of Judah. Judah had
passed through some very dark days really, especially in the
reign of Manasseh and Ammon his son. Although Ammon was only
a short reign, Manasseh was a long reign and that followed the good
reign of Hezekiah And so we observe that in the history of the Church
of God, the history of Israel, there were very different scenes. There were scenes of blessing
and scenes of great times of walking contrary to the Word
of God. But generally speaking, throughout
the history of Israel and Judah, they did not walk in accordance
with the Word of God. They did not walk in accordance
with the commands of God. They followed their own inclinations. They followed their own way,
their own desires. And as we are, I'm sure, familiar with,
there were those prophecies. of the prophets who spoke very
clearly about the disobedience of Israel and Judah, and yet
it made really very little effect. And generally speaking, the nation
went downhill. Now, Zephaniah was really warning
them about what would occur, what would happen, as they continued
in that way. But he also then pointed out
the wonderful times of deliverance. And in fact, if you read Zephaniah
carefully and are blessed with spiritual insight, you will see
that this prophecy is not only for that time, but it leads us
to the glorious time when the Church of God will be united
together in heaven. It goes right forward and we
might be thankful for that because as Israel of course, and Judah
in particular, often walked contrary to God, notwithstanding the wonderful
prophecies, so today the Church of God often walk contrary to
the Word of God. And don't forget that is referencing
to the Church of God. And those who profess to be true
Christians, they do not walk today for the most part in accordance
with the Word of God. No, they follow their own inclinations. They're walking contrary to the
Word of God. And that's why really today,
if you look around, we find that we live in a pretty lukewarm
situation, a very carnal state. Many churches today really follow
a social gospel. There's not any real believing
in the true word of God, in the spiritual consideration. They're
more concerned about a natural religion than they are about
a spiritual religion. Well, we're thankful then that
God in his mercy has left on record little prophecies like
Zephaniah. Zephaniah was really the last
prophecy before Israel, before Judah rather, went down captive
into Babylon. And so no doubt they had reason
to think in those 70 years in Babylon of those words which
Zephaniah had prophesied to them. Now just for a moment looking
at the position that Zephaniah comes to at the end of this chapter. He commences in verse 14 and
he says, Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad
and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel, even
the Lord. which of course is the Lord Jesus
himself, is, in the midst of thee, thou shalt not see evil
any more. Well, that was a wonderful, surely,
encouragement to the Church of God in those days, and surely
it is a wonderful encouragement to us today, as we consider the
wonderful truth of God's word, to realize that although our
nation and the world generally have walked contrary to God,
Yet there's still this promise of a wonderful time of blessing
when the people will be united together in glory around the
throne of God in heaven. Well just to inform ourselves
of Zephaniah's prophecy here as he spoke to Judah and he says,
I will utterly consume all things from off the land saith the Lord. Now remember this was in particular
reference to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a most blessed
city. I'm sure we will remember that
there was the temple, there was the wonderful and beautiful worship
of God set before the people, and yet we find that the Lord,
you see, had a controversy with his people, and the result was
that when Nebuchadnezzar came up and destroyed Jerusalem and
destroyed the temple, the holy place was destroyed. No doubt
Israel foolishly thought that would never happen and therefore
they could carry on as they wanted to and as they preferred to do,
following their own ways. But the Lord gave them plenty
of warning that would come, I will utterly consume all things from
off the land, saith the Lord, and I will consume man and beast,
I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the
sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked, and I will cut
off man from off the land, saith the Lord. And he goes on and
he says, and he stretched out his hand upon Judah, Judah, that
privileged tribe, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and
the name of the Chemerims, with the priests, and them that worship
the host of heaven upon the housetops, and them that worship and that
swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcolm, and them that are
turned back from the Lord, and those that have not sought the
Lord, nor inquired of him." Well, that was a pretty desolate picture,
wasn't it, that Zephaniah was prophesying to. And if we're
honest, the day and age in which we live is really not very different
from that, is it? If we look around, what do we
really see? We see desolation. We don't see
very much true worship of God, or if we do, sometimes that worship
of God is just really separated to a small period of time on
the Lord's Day. And then the rest of the week
is occupied with every carnal thing. People think that by just
coming together to worship for a little time, they tick a box. Well, in actual fact, of course,
the Word of God speaks to us very clearly about the true worshippers
who worship God in spirit and in truth. And it is not something
which limits us just to a few hours on the Lord's Day. It's
every day of the week that we should be found worshipping the
Lord God. And so the prophet goes on to
speak to them and he says, And it shall come to pass in that
day, saith the Lord, that there shall be a noise of a cry from
the fish gate and howling from the second. and a great crashing
from the hills. And so he goes on. Therefore,
their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation.
They shall also build houses, but not inhabit them. And they
shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. The great
day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly. Even the voice of the day of
the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. It is a time, it was a time of
desolation then, it is a time of desolation today. And the
Lord came and he spoke, and he spoke in this way, and he said,
and it shall come to pass at that time that I will search
Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their
lees, that say in their heart The Lord will not do good, neither
will he do evil. The Lord will not leave the situation. He will search it out and search
out whether there are any true believers or if for the most
part what he finds is those people who have settled down in a very
easy life and perhaps their religion doesn't cost them anything. They're
happy to carry on in this evil way. And that's just how Judah
were. They were carrying on in opposition
to the word of God. And so you can read through this
little epistle of Zephaniah and you will see how the Lord spoke
very clearly through Zephaniah to Judah at that time. And I believe that therefore
he speaks not only to Judah but to the church of God through
the ages. it speaks to us today. We should
not think the Old Testament is therefore out of date and it
has no application to our condition. It does have an application to
our condition and therefore we should realise the truth of it. He says, Therefore, as I live,
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall
be a Sodom, and the children of Ammon a Gomorrah, even the
breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of my people shall
spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their
pride, because they have reproached. magnified themselves against
the people of the Lord of hosts the Lord will be terrible unto
them for he will famish all the gods of the earth and men shall
worship him everyone from his place even all the isles of the
heathen well We won't go on, but you can go on at your leisure
and just read the prophecy of Zephaniah and see how the Lord
speaks about the Church of God. And so we come down. Therefore,
wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up
to the prey. For my determination is to gather
the nations that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour out upon
them indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth
shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will
I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the
name of the Lord to serve him with one consent. What a time
of favour that will be when the Lord comes and returns and blesses
his church and he says, I will also leave in the midst of thee
an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name
of the Lord. That means not a people who are
proud of their own condition, who are satisfied with their
natural religion, not those people, but very different people, a
people who are afflicted and poor. Afflicted and poor in their
own eyes. They don't emulate themselves,
but are happy to recognise their true condition as the Spirit
of God shows them what they really are in the eyes of the Lord. those are blessed because the
Word of God tells us and they shall trust in the name of the
Lord. So how important it is that we
can recognize ourselves as the Spirit of God shows us our real
condition and we conclude yes this is my position and afflicted
and poor people yes because I the poverty of myself. I'm not a
great person. I'm a very poor person and I'm
afflicted. What are we afflicted with? We
are afflicted with sin and you see that affliction of sin is
so powerful that it brings us down. It lowers us and causes
us to cry out. Can ever God dwell here? Now that's the revelation of
the Spirit of God to our souls to show to us our true condition
as we stand before a righteous and a holy God. We cannot think
then that in and of ourselves there's anything really good.
No, it's only that which God does for us. And so he says,
remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies neither
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth for they shall
feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid those who are
under the blessed influence of the holy spirit of god desire
to walk in his ways and to follow his example and to rejoice in
what he has done and not what they have done so then The prophet
then comes down and brings these words, these words of encouragement
to sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and
rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. What a change then,
what a different picture. Remember here, Zephaniah pointing
out to Judah the true condition they were in and then as it were,
He leaves it off and breaks forth into that which is to come and
a reason there is to rejoice and to sing. The Lord has taken
away thy judgments. He has cast out thine enemy,
the 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
in Jerusalem, fear thou not, and to Zion let not thine hands
be slack. And so we come down into these
words, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. And how necessary it is that
we have an understanding of the greatness of God, that he is
a mighty God. a mighty God. Do we have a right
view of God? You see, these people that, for
the most part, Zephaniah was prophesying to, they didn't have
a right view of God. They didn't realise they had
to deal with the almighty God, that one who controlled every
detail in their life. They thought they could control
their lives. They thought they could please
themselves. They thought they could do what they wanted to
do. But it wasn't so. It wasn't so. No, they didn't
realise that they were disobeying and walking contrary to the way
of the Lord. They didn't realise how great
the Lord God was, how mighty he was. And what a blessing it
would be for every one of us today if we have some appreciation
of the greatness of God and to think that that God has a right
and a perfect right to control your life and my life and to
control that life to such an extent that our lives bring forth
honour and glory to God. Well I wonder if we are able
to look into our hearts this morning a spirit of God may give
us those eyes to look within and to see what our real attitude
is before God. Whether our concern, our desire
is to walk humbly before our God. Whether our real desire
is to follow his commandments, to follow those instructions
that we have in the Word of God. The words of the Lord Jesus himself,
as he laid down for us so many gracious words of example, especially
you might think of the Sermon on the Mount. If you think of
those words in the 5th, 6th and 7th chapter of Matthew, the Lord
gave The wonderful evidence there of a godly life, and what we
should be found desiring, and what we should be found walking
in and speaking of. And to realise we have this mighty
God that has spoken those words. You see, the Lord Jesus, he spoke
those words when he was in human flesh. But he was still the son
of God. He was still almighty God. He was a great God. And he was, of course, in the
midst of the people in those days. And my friends, today,
we are thankful to believe that that same God stands in the midst. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. So perhaps this morning to think
that that great God is here in our midst. Here in our midst. If God was to be here in a physical
sense, in a physical form, in our midst this morning, I wonder
how we would react. I wonder how we would react.
Well, first of all, I'm sure we would tremble at the presence
of God. I'm sure we would tremble. If
that almighty God was here in a physical presence, his power
would be so great that we would do nothing but be wholly attentive
to that greatness. We would not be able to. have
our minds wandering at all, would we? Because there before us was
almighty God. Now, my friends, let's realise,
not in physical presence, but in actual presence, that same
God is here this morning. And I wonder, therefore, how
we really react. I wonder how we've reacted here
this morning, so far this morning. whether we've acted as though
Almighty God is here in the midst, or whether we've just come casually
and not very worried about whether we listen or not, and in actual
fact, ready to criticise this and that. You see, if you're
in the presence of God, you'll bow down and bless God if we
worship, So we hear this statement this morning, the Lord thy God
in the midst of thee is mighty. Well, has our attitude in our
worship this morning evidence that we believe that this word
is true? The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He's not a little God. He's not
a God to trifle with. We have Many evidences in the
Word of God of those who trifled with God. You know what happened? God struck them down. God struck
them down. Yes, there were those sons of
Aaron who brought false fire in their senses. And they thought
they could do what they wanted to do. It died immediately before
God. You may think this morning, well,
of course, those years have finished and it doesn't apply. Well, it
could apply. And it would be a blessing if
you and I realise that we are in the presence of Almighty God. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. Now, if that is so, and it is
true, God is here today. He is in our presence. Are we
thankful for it? Are we glad? And do we rejoice
in the truth of such a word as this? Because that's what Zephaniah
prophesies here. Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout,
O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter
of Jerusalem. Well, we might think, well, of
course, I just can't be in that real frame. Well, of course,
we may not be, but we can look forward, can we not? To that
great day, that great situation of eternity. It is not time,
it is an eternal state. The Church of God will be all
there together, all those who have been saved, and they will
be singing. They're the Church of God, shouting,
they'll be glad and rejoice with all their heart. Yes, there won't
be anything then to take away a bit of our heart, a bit of
our affection, to shove it on one side. No, we'll be taken
up with the glory of God, the blessing of the Saviour, to view
Him there. Yes, what a day that will be.
What a blessed situation to be found in there. And then the
Lord God in the midst of thee is mighty, eternally so. Of course, the Lord is the same
yesterday and today and forever. He is eternally great. He's eternally
mighty. He always has been. He is and
always will be. But we today, we believe, we
walk by faith. We believe. I hope we do. I hope
you all believe today the Lord is here in our midst. And I hope
you always are looking forward to that time when you will be
in glory. When your life and your pilgrimage
I like to think of it in those words. Our life on this earth
is a pilgrimage. And what is a pilgrim? A pilgrim
is a stranger in a strange land. He's not home in the land. He's
a traveler. Now, blessed be God if you and
I are pilgrims on this earth. We're just traveling. Where are
we traveling? I hope we're traveling home to
God. I hope we're looking forward
to that great day when we will be with Christ, which is far
better. But indeed, we shall then view
him with our eyes, face to face, and know, yes, the Lord thy God
in the midst of thee is indeed mighty. He will save. He will save. He will save his people. There
will not be one person for whom Christ died that he will not
save. He will not save. What a wonderful
thought that is, to think that all the Church of God, all those
whom the Lord has chosen in eternity past, will gradually be revealed,
will gradually be brought forth, will gradually be called, called
by grace, called as the Apostle Paul tells us, he was called
by the grace of God. And therefore to know this truth
that he will save, the Lord will save, and what the Lord does
is done. But the Lord speaks, is sure
to come to pass. My friends, there are no failures
with God. We're failures. We're often a
failure. There are no failures with God.
And therefore, when the Lord makes a statement like this through
his prophet, how true and wonderful it is, the Lord thy God in the
midst of it is mighty. He will save. He will save his
people from the wrath to come. will save them from their sins.
He will deliver them from their sins. He will save. What a blessing it is then to
know we have such a God. Remember, a mighty God. It's
only a mighty God, my friends, that could save your soul, that
could cause you to seek unto Him, to pray unto Him, that you
might know that blessing of spiritual life within, that you might know
that the Lord Jesus has indeed died for you, taken away all
your sins, that you are complete in him. The Lord thy God, in
the midst of thee is mighty, he will save, he will save. And then we read, he will rejoice
over thee with joy. Well, just ponder that for a
moment. As we look at ourselves this
morning, I'm sure, at least I hope, none of us can think that in
ourselves we're a righteous person. And therefore, why should the
Lord rejoice over us? Why should the Lord rejoice over
us with joy? Because there we are, a sinner. A black sinner. A sinner that
doesn't really get any better. Because we still sin. Evil thoughts,
wrong thoughts. Are they sin? Yes they are. Why
should the Lord look upon us? He looks upon us because He has
determined to save because, bless God, He has saved us. And therefore,
the truth is that all our sins are indeed washed away. As the Apostle said when he wrote
to the Romans, there is therefore now, not tomorrow, now, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Now, you see, We are washed in
the blood of the Lamb. Our sins are washed away. Yes,
we still have a sinful nature, but my friends, they are forgiven. They are taken away. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
And we see here, the Lord looks at us, those for whom he has
died, those for whom he was crucified, those for whom He endured the
cross, the ignominy, the agony. He sees us as His chosen ones,
those whom He has loved with everlasting love, and therefore
He rejoices over us, those who will be with Him throughout eternity. His Church, we as His bride,
His people, He will rejoice over thee with joy." Well, it's a
tremendous truth, isn't it, to think of that. Yes, as we look
at ourselves, we might think, well, what is there to rejoice
in, in myself? In our old nature, my friends,
there's not. But in that new nature, new nature
which God has given to us, all those whom he has called by his
grace, all those who is given that new life, that new birth,
all those who is quickened into life, there is that new nature
and that new nature is pure, that new nature is holy. The
Lord looks then at that new nature and we are indeed complete in
him. Oh my friends, What a mercy to
realise that the Lord God has washed us from all our sin and
given us that new nature, that new nature. And that new nature
is indeed the spotless robe of the righteousness of Christ. There is given to us to cover
our nakedness. And so the word tells us he will
say he will rejoice over thee with joy. personal statement,
a statement applicable to the whole Church of God and applicable
personally to everyone. What an amazing thought, isn't
it? The Lord should say that of you and me if we are amongst
those whom he has called. I will rejoice over thee with
joy. He will rest in his love, his
love toward us. Well, do you and I know anything
of his love toward us? That love which saw us, all you
and me, ruined in the fall, the fall of Adam, yet loved us, notwithstanding
all his loving kindness. Oh, how great! It's something
which we cannot really understand, can we? That the Lord should
love us, such an unworthy sinner, And yet here we see this statement,
he will rest in his love, his love toward us. And as you and
I have some evidence of that love in our hearts, we will then
respond in our love to him. It's not the other way around.
We love God because he first loved us. That's the gospel. And so this morning Do we love
God? Because He first loved us, He
will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. Yes, here we have a wonderful
picture, do we not, of the truth of God's words directed to His
church those whom he will indeed call and bring safe home to glory. And just moving on, these last
few paragraphs really, from verse 14, it's an inclusive paragraph,
He says, and I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn
assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a
burden. Well, I wonder this morning whether
you and I can classify ourselves that the Lord has gathered us
together for the solemn assembly. It is a solemn assembly when
we're in the presence of God, isn't it? It must be so, mustn't
it? Yes, it's a solemn assembly.
If the Lord is in our midst, in the presence here, it must
be a solemn assembly. And so he says, I will gather
them that are sorrowful, sorry for their sins. You see, those
are those who will come to the solemn assembly. Those are sorrowful
for their sins and yet thankful to believe the Lord Jesus Christ
has died to atone for those sins. who are of thee to whom the reproach
of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo
all that afflict thee, and I will save her that halteth, and gather
her that was driven out, and I will get them praise and fame
in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time
I will bring you again, even in the time that I gather you,
for I will make you a name and a praise among all the people
of the earth when I turn back your captivity before your eyes,
saith the Lord." Now, again, the Lord here directs Judah to
the time they will be in captivity, but the time when the Lord will
deliver them and bring them out of captivity. Before your eyes,
saith the Lord. And of course it came to pass.
They had to continue a few more years yet in Judah until the
Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar to bring them and capture them and to
take them down to Babylon and then 70 years there, but the
Lord did come and did deliver. And I believe it's the same too
with the Church of God today. You see, the people of God, they
perhaps, they turn their back sometimes on the great truths
of God, and he brings them down into captivity. It may not be
70 years, but nonetheless, there are those times when you and
I are captive. We're not free as it were. And
it's because we've disobeyed the Word of God. We've turned
our back upon the Word of God. Now I wonder whether you understand
what I'm saying to you this morning. Whether in your lives you've
turned back on God. And what's been the position? Has it been a joyful one? No
it hasn't. Judah were not joyful in Babylon.
They had time to reflect. They hung up their harps upon
the willows. They didn't sing. They were asked,
the people said, sing us some of the songs of Zion. No, they
couldn't do so. Because they turned their back
upon God. And they were in Babylon. Maybe in our lives, you may now
appear in your life, when perhaps you turned your back upon God.
And you, as it were, in spiritual Babylon, you were in captivity.
But oh, bless God, the time of deliverance came. And I will
turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord. What
a favour it is that the Lord has, or if he is, turning back
our captivity so that once again we can return and come to Jerusalem,
as it were, come to the Church of God, come to that time when
we may worship and praise our God in the beauty of holiness,
Israel will be restored. Well, of course, this was true,
and it's also true with the whole Church of God, and it will be
true with them when they bring them at last safe home to glory. Yes, all their captivity will
be forever behind them, and they will then be united to Christ
and to be found forever with the Lord. It is surely a wonderful
and blessed prospect for the Church of God to look forward
to that day. And surely that's why we're here
this morning, to hear about God, to hear about his great provision,
hear about his great salvation, and to believe that by his grace,
we shall come and observe the truth of these words, 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
enjoy over thee with singing. Amen.