Okay, I'm going to be in Zephaniah
chapter 3 Zephaniah is right before Haggai.
It's about three little books back from the New Testament Zephaniah chapter 3 And I'm going to begin reading
in verse 14 read through 17 Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. This is good stuff, folks. The
Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He hath 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
to Jerusalem, fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. 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. I'm gonna stop right there. I really liked that. I did. But let me read you something.
This is by Lorraine Bettner. Lorraine Bettner was a Presbyterian. I can't help that. Sorry. He wrote a couple of really good
books and although he did actually mention sprinkling babies and
I don't believe that, but some of the other stuff he wrote was
really good. This is one. Salvation is accomplished by the almighty
power of the triune God. The Father chose a people, the
Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective
by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing
them to willingly obey the gospel. That's pretty good. The entire
process, election, redemption, and regeneration is the work
of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines
who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation. That's pretty good. I'm gonna
tell you something, that's exactly what I see right here in Zephaniah.
That's exactly what I see here. This is the word of the Lord
from Zephaniah. The Lord, thy God, saves his
people. That's it. My title today is
called In the Midst of Thee. I'm gonna start in verse 14. If you
look at verse 14, you see four things. Sing, shout, Be glad and rejoice. That's some good words. That's
some good words. Zion, Israel, and daughter of
Jerusalem. Why? Why should you sing? Why should you shout? Why should
you be glad? Why should you rejoice? Well, listen. The Lord, thy God,
Yahweh, is the reason. He's the reason. Understand what
he says here, and I love this part, I really do. In verse 15,
the Lord hath taken away thy judgments. Thy judgments. Now listen folks, let's be very
clear here. These were righteous judgments.
You can read the rest of Zephaniah. There's a whole load of stuff
I'm not gonna get into other than the fact of this. These believers and Old Testament
people who weren't believers, they rebelled against God. They
rebelled against his word. And God was gonna send them into
captivity only for a time, only for a season, but it was because
of their rebellion. And listen, folks, Old Testament
knew even believers rebelled against God. especially before God saved them. We still do now. But here's the
thing. What'd he say? The Lord hath
taken away thy judgments. Oh, I like that. Like I said,
they were righteous judgments, they were real judgments, and
they were deserved judgments against them. We all sin and come short of
the glory of God. And we all still do. We all still
do. Nevertheless, I'll throw that
word in there for me. Nevertheless, the Lord has taken
away thy judgments. Literally this means turned off,
Walter. I like that. You had judgment
against you, he turned it off. Now he didn't turn it off without
a reason. He had a reason, oh yes. But I like that. Matter of fact, it's talking
about turning off the judicial verdict against you, which was
well-deserved, which was meted. It was meted, that he would punish
us, that he would have judgment against us. Why? Because we had
sinned and come short of the glory of God. But he turned it
off. He turned it off. Oh, I like
that. And I'm gonna tell you something. It was the Lord that
did it. The Lord taken them away. The
Lord Jesus Christ took them away. That's what I'm saying. Jesus
Christ has taken away thy judgments by taking those judgments into
himself. He bore in his body on the tree
our sins. And the judgment for sin is death. and he died that death that we
couldn't die and survive. Oh my, he turned off your judgments,
taken away. But here it is, the Lord hath
taken away thy judgment, why? Because justice has been satisfied
in Jesus Christ. The law has been satisfied in
Jesus Christ. Oh, I like that. His precious
blood was shed for our judgments. For our judgments. Oh my. And they're paid. Paid in full. It is finished is what he said. And it is finished is what he
meant. I don't owe a debt to God now. In Christ. I don't owe a debt
to God. What do you mean? Even in the
future? What am I going to do? Tomorrow? No, no. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He didn't say I didn't sin. He
just said God won't impute it to me. Why? Because the Lord
has taken away thy judgments. Now either he did or he didn't. And if he didn't, I still owe
him and I'm doomed. And if he didn't take away your
future sin, you're doomed. That's just the truth of the
matter. Because God will punish sin. And he did punish it for
his people in Jesus Christ. And he paid the debt we owed.
The Lord hath taken away thy judgments. There's no qualifier
here. He took them away totally, and
he took them away completely. Praise his name, praise his name. Because here's the thing, there
is no judgment against his people. His people, oh my. And not only
that, oh I like this part too. Not only that, he hath cast out
thine enemy. Had an enemy, had an enemy. Found out in the Garden of Eden.
That's where it was promised. What happened to Calvary? He
bruised the head of the serpent, Satan. He's Catholic. The devil can't touch you without
the express written consent of God. That's the truth. I know a lot of people talk about
a lot of things. They don't know what they're
talking about. Even in the days of Job, he couldn't touch Job
until God led him. And God put a boundary on him.
So okay, touch his stuff, but don't touch him. And then he
said, okay, touch him, but don't kill him. And guess what? Satan toed the line every time.
And guess what? He's still toeing the line. God
has cast out your enemy. That's not saying you won't be
tempted. That's not saying you won't be tested. That's not saying
you won't go through tribulation, but God's cast your enemy out.
The prince of the power of the air, as he is called in the epistle,
hath no power over you. God has cast him out. Oh my. What's it say? Fear thou not. In that day it
shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not, fear thou not. What are you supposed to do?
What? Sing, shout, be glad, and rejoice. Oh, I like that, I do. And we
have a reason to. We have a reason to. Oh, I'm
gonna tell you something. The Lord is in the midst of thee. The Lord is in the midst of thee.
I like that, I do. Now verse 17, this is where I
wanted to go. I'm not gonna keep you too long
today. The Lord thy God is what? In the midst of thee. In the
midst of thee is mighty. Oh, I like that. This is the Lord thy God. Yahweh
thy Elohim. Jehovah thy Elohim. Who is the Lord? He's thy God. He's thy God. Oh Israel, oh daughter of Jerusalem,
what are we to do? We are to be glad and rejoice. I like that. More joy. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee, is mighty. He will save, he will rejoice
over. He's gonna rejoice over thee
with joy. We'll get to that in just a minute,
but here it is. In the midst. Now here's the
thing. In the midst of thee. Of thee. Oh, I like that. The Lord thy
God is in the midst of thee. What's that mean? He's the center
of all of his people. He's the center. All of the people
of God are to sing, to shout, to be glad and rejoice. Why?
Because the Lord's right in the middle of it. Oh, I like that,
I do. Oh, and I'm gonna tell you something,
he's in the midst of his people, I'm gonna tell you, always. Always,
oh. But what's the first thing he
actually lists here when he says this? The Lord thy God is in
the midst of thee is mighty. Oh, I like that. Walter said
a few weeks ago, he is the Lord God almighty, the maker of heaven
and of earth. And he, it is he that made us
and not we ourselves. He's the maker of his people,
the creator of his people. Oh. Oh. I'm gonna tell you something.
The Lord God in the midst of thee has all power. All power. There's no power around that
God didn't give it. Walter covered this wonderfully
well. I'm gonna tell you, but I won't say it again. It don't
matter. Satan has no power except what
God gives him. Oh my, the king's heart is in the Lord's hand. And not only that, what's it
say? He turns it. Whithersoever he will. And I don't care how much people
wanna fight about it, the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. You
may not like it, but that doesn't matter. It's true, it's true. Yes, it also says Pharaoh hardened
his heart. which was also true. But it does say the Lord hardened
his heart, and actually I think it says it first. Why does that upset people? Well,
some people it doesn't upset, because it's okay for God to
do that in the Old Testament, but he can't do it in the New.
Jesus came and changed everything. No he didn't. Jesus came and
fulfilled everything. He didn't change anything. The
law's still true. Thank God I'm not under it. Thank
God he sent, he had Abraham cast out Haggai and her son. You know
why? Because the law can't abide with
grace. And grace is not going to abide with the law. That doesn't
make the law not true. That doesn't make the law not
good. It just makes me and you who
believe free from the law of sin and death. Because I'm going
to tell you something, the law never fixed anything. The law
never made anyone righteous. But Jesus Christ has taken away
thy judgments. You know what he did? He made
you righteous. In God's sight. In God's sight. Oh my. Why? He got all the power. I got power over all flesh. Living
flesh, dead flesh, big flesh, tall flesh, whatever. All flesh. Why? That I might give everlasting
life to as many as the Father gave to me. Oh my goodness. And the Lord has taken away thy
judgments. and the Lord is in the midst
of thee, what? With power, with might. Oh, that's
it. Oh my, the Lord thy God is wherever
his people are. What did David say? This is Psalms
139, you don't have to turn there. If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, thou
art there. Thou art there. Behold, thou
art there. Even there, here it is, even
there shall thy hand lead me. Oh, that's good stuff. Thy right
hand shall hold me. Hold me. Oh my goodness. What does the Lord do? The Lord
thy God in the midst of us? He leads us and he holds us. Ah, that's good stuff. Oh, he leads us by his hand.
He holds us by his right hand. The Lord stays in the midst of
his people. Oh, I like that, gosh. Luke 24
and verse 36. This is after the death and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. As they thus spake, speaking
of the disciples, Jesus himself stood, where? In the midst of
them. In the midst of them, and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you. Oh, I like that too. I'm gonna
tell you this, in the midst of thee, he speaks peace. I'm gonna
tell you something, if he speaks peace, you got peace. You got
peace. Oh, I'm gonna tell you, you have
peace with God. You have peace with God. Whether
you know it or not, whether you feel it or not. Because I understand. Circumstances affect us. And
lots of times, not well. But circumstances do affect us.
But you still have peace with God. You know why? Because he
said it. That makes it so. That makes
it so. Oh. He who is our peace speaks peace
to his people. Where from? Right in the midst
of them. Right in the midst of them. Oh,
I like that too. And you have peace with God.
And here's the thing, Matthew 18 verse 20 says this, for where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I. Where? In the midst, in the midst,
oh, in the midst of them. Oh, there am I. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee. He's in the midst of us, believers. He spoke to us 2,000 years ago.
He ain't changed his mind. He hasn't changed his mind. He hasn't changed his way. He
hasn't changed his walk. He hasn't changed his work. What
Christ said is always true, whether we know it or not. I'm gonna
tell you something, he's in the midst when we gather in his name.
That's what it says. And let me point this out, just
one little quick aside here, because of this word, this word
he uses here, the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee. That
word thee can be used as a singular word or a plural word. It's one
of them weird words. It just depends upon who the
subject is. And I'm gonna tell you, in this case, it's used
for both. Because he's in the midst of his people. I'm gonna
tell you this, he's in the midst of thee. He's in the midst of
you. Oh, what's it say? It is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. The Lord is in the midst of thee.
That gave me a little chill bump there. The Lord is in the midst
of his people. Every single individual believer. And he is in the midst of us
as a group. When we gather to hear the gospel
preached, and we gather to preach the gospel, the Lord is in the
midst of thee. Oh, that's good stuff. Oh, and here's the thing. The Lord in the midst of us,
is mighty and gracious and merciful. He leads us, he holds onto us,
and it's all by what? His mighty power. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. You understand, he's not gonna
lose anything he's got a hold of. Nobody's plucking us out
of his hand. Nobody says unto him, what doest
thou? Because if it's your business,
he'll tell you, and if it's not your business, you just listen. His word tells us. He is mighty,
he is mighty, oh my, and he's in the midst of thee. He leads
us and he holds us and he gives us peace. What? By his power. He's got the power to do it.
And he says, he's done it. He's done it. Oh my. Then what's it say? It says, the Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty. Three words. He will save. Oh, that's good. He saves his
people. The Lord saves his chosen people. Chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. All that the Father giveth to
me will come to me, shall come to me. And I will in no wise,
what? Cast him out. You know why? Because
I'm gonna be in the midst of him. I'm gonna be in the midst
of him. The Lord has taken away our judgments. He's cast out our enemy. And
the Lord has saved his people from their sins. That's what
the angel told Joseph. Call his name Jesus. Why? For
he shall save his people from their sins. Now did he or didn't
he? That's what he came to do. Did
he or didn't he? The Lord, what? The Lord hath
taken away thy judgments and cast out thine enemy. I'm saying
he did it, folks. This was looking forward to our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we're looking back. And 2,000 years
ago or thereabouts, our Lord Jesus Christ did save his people
from their sins. Says it in Hebrews, the Lord
Jesus Christ has sanctified and perfected forever those that
he sanctified. How do you do it? By one offering. By one offering of the Son to
the Father, of Jesus Christ to the Father. What? The offering
of his own blood. Shed for us. That's what it says. Shed for
us. Mark 16 verse 16 says that, he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Now, if you want, I'll give you
the really deep theological meaning of that. It means he that believeth
in Jesus Christ is saved, and he that believeth not is damned.
That's it. That's what he said, that's what
he meant, and you can take it out of your Bible if you want
to. I know places do. You won't find it other than
in italics in the NIV. But this is what Christ said
and this is what he meant. John six and verse 47 says this,
verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. In John 11, 25, put it even better
as far as I'm concerned, Jesus saith unto her, I am, I am. the resurrection and the life.
What? He that believeth in me, here
it is folks, though he were dead, though he were dead, yet, yet
shall he live. You wanna know why? The Lord
thy God's taken away thine judgments and he's cast off thine enemy
and the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, and he is mighty. He is mighty. He will save. He will save. He's not asking
for your cooperation. He's not asking for your work.
We're talking about his work right here. He's gonna save his
people from their sin, and he did, and he's doing it now. He's
calling them out. Because here it is, the Lord
thy God Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of faith. So he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life has been given the faith of Jesus Christ. Because he that believes will
understand. Oh, I like that stuff. Understand
this. With his bountiful, perfect offering, Jesus Christ has obtained
eternal redemption for us. For us. Oh my. What does it say in Hebrews 2
and verse 10? For it became him. Who? The Lord thy God. or it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons to glory, to glory. Oh my, to make the captain of
their salvation perfect through sufferings. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is bringing many sons unto
glory. He told us, other sheep I have
that are not of this folk, them I must bring you. He's gonna bring them. He's gonna
bring them, and I'm gonna tell you something, folks, he's gonna
bring them unto glory. Oh, I like that. The Lord, thy
God, will save in the midst of thee. In the midst of thee. Oh, I like that. What's he say? He will save, he will rejoice
over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over
thee with singing. I'll tell you something. Remember the parable of the lost
sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. There's two places in there.
I say unto you, this is Luke 15 and verse seven, I say unto
you that likewise joy shall be in heaven. What? Over one sinner that repented. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. One sinner repents. There's joy
in heaven. There's joy in heaven. Luke 15
and verse 10 says this, likewise I say unto you, there is joy
in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. The Lord thy God has taken away
thy judgments, he's cast out thine enemy, and he will save. He's mighty. and he will save
and he will rejoice over thee. That's what it says. I mean,
this is just, over us, miserable rotten sinners who were without
hope, without God, and in the world. But he'll save and then
what? He will rejoice over thee with
joy. He will rest in his love. and he will joy over thee with
singing. Isn't that just amazing? That's amazing grace. And that's
a sweet sound. That's a sweet sound. Oh, he
saves and he joys. And we're to joy also. Sing,
shout, be glad and rejoice, folks. Oh my. The Lord God Omnipotent
reigns. The Lord God Omnipotent saves. And the Lord God Omnipotent rejoices
in the salvation of the people that he gave to his son. Oh,
he saves and he joys. He brings in and he rejoices
and he gathers them together and he gives peace. He gives
peace. Because I'm gonna tell you this
folks, the Lord thy God is glorified in the salvation of his people. In the salvation of his people.
Every single one of us. The Lord Jesus Christ brings
in his people, gathers his people together, in the midst of them,
joyfully. Joyfully. The Lord thy God rejoices in
the midst of thee. In the midst of thee, I like
that. John Newton wrote this verse. There midst the flock
the shepherd dwells. The sheep around in safety lie. The wolf in vain with malice
swells, for he protects them with his eye. I'm gonna tell
you, God dwells with his people in the midst of them, in the
midst of them. And God saves his people in the
midst of them. And God rejoices in the salvation
of his people in the midst of them. Because the Lord thy God
is in the midst of thee. Oh, fear thou not, fear thou
not. Trust in the Lord. If you know Christ, rejoice. Shout, sing, be glad. If you don't know him, come to
him. If you'd like to know him, come
to him. What does it say in that verse?
I got the last verse in my last stanza. Jesus ready stands to
save thee, full of pity, love, and power. Power. He's got the power, folks. Come
to him. Call upon the name of the Lord.
Come unto him, all that labor and are heavy laden, He'll give
you rest for your soul, for your soul. And the Lord is always
in the midst of his people. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
this time, this place. Lord, this opportunity to try
to praise your holy name. You've given us your son, who
is our Lord, Jesus Christ. the ruler of heaven and on earth. Oh, the King of kings and Lord
of lords, Lord, bless your word to our hearts and let us carry
it deep and bring your son's words to our memory. Be with
Walter as he comes to preach, be with Paul as he stands elsewhere
and be with all of your men everywhere preaching your gospel to be heard
today. In Christ's name we pray, amen.