An afflicted and poor people

Q: What does the Bible say about God's remnant people?

The Bible describes God's remnant as an afflicted and poor people who trust in His name. In Zephaniah 3:12, God promises to leave a remnant among His people, characterized as afflicted and poor. Despite the wickedness surrounding them, this remnant is distinguished by their reliance on the Lord. Historical examples, such as Noah and Lot, illustrate that even in times of great sin, God preserves a faithful remnant who trusts in Him. The understanding that God's people are often a small minority emphasizes His sovereignty and purpose in preserving a people for Himself throughout history.

Q: Why is being poor in spirit important for Christians?

Being poor in spirit reflects a deep awareness of one’s spiritual need and dependency on God. The term 'poor in spirit' is significant in Biblical teaching, particularly in Matthew 5, where Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who are humble. Being poor in spirit indicates recognition of one's spiritual poverty, a lack of self-righteousness, and an understanding of one's need for God's grace and salvation. This humility allows believers to fully rely on Christ's righteousness rather than their own, as exemplified by the publican in Luke 18 who cried out for mercy. Such humility is foundational for salvation and promotes a genuine relationship with God, as one's dependence on Him grows.

Q: How do we know that God cares for His afflicted people?

God promises to deliver His righteous from all their troubles, affirming His care for the afflicted. Psalm 34:19 assures believers that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from all of these. This truth highlights God's intimate involvement in the lives of His people, especially during times of suffering and hardship. The narrative of figures like Paul, who endured great affliction yet remained steadfast in faith, showcases God's sustaining grace. Furthermore, God's declarations throughout scripture affirm His everlasting commitment to care for His children, ensuring that even when they face tribulations, they are not abandoned but held firmly in His sovereignty.

Q: Why is trusting in the name of the Lord essential for Christians?

Trusting in the name of the Lord signifies reliance on His character and salvation. In Zephaniah 3:12, God's people are identified as those who trust in His name, a theme that resonates throughout scripture. Trusting in the name of the Lord includes relying on His attributes—His holiness, justice, mercy, and love—as well as His provision of salvation through Jesus Christ. This act of faith is not merely intellectual but involves a heartfelt conviction that God is faithful to His promises. Such trust is crucial for endurance in trials and for assurance of ultimate salvation, as believers affirm that Jesus is the embodiment of their hope and righteousness.

Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the Prophet Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 12. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Zephaniah 3 and verse 12. Zephaniah, he was contemporary with Jeremiah. Some 36 or so years before Israel was taken or Judah was taken, into captivity in Babylon. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were called to call over Israel, their cities, warn them, reprove them, but to no avail.

And throughout these prophecies, we have many reproofs, many warnings. But in spite of that land being so full of wickedness, the Lord had been pleased to leave in the midst of them an afflicted and poor people. And it is said that they would be trusting in the name of the Lord.

We think of how it was in the days of Noah, the whole earth filled with violence, wickedness, sin. Noah, a preacher of righteousness, 120 years, but only eight songs say it of all that number. We think of how it was in Lot's day, where there was just Lot and his two daughters that escaped the overthrow there in a city that was given to such wickedness and sin. And today it is the same, isn't it?

Our Lord says at the end of the world, shall he find faith upon the earth? Will there be a people that are believing and trusting in him? Will there be a remnant He's also said that, as in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the day of the Son of Man. Men shall be buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, like they were before the flood came. Life goes on. But God sees the wickedness. He sees what this world is like.

And we know there will be a people when the Lord comes again. Because the apostle says, and he speaks it in words as if he is to be on the earth, when the Lord comes, he shall come with his people in the clouds of heaven, and that the dead in Christ shall be raised first, and we which are alive. shall be caught up with them in the heavens. So there will be a people, still right to the end of time, but just a remnant, just a small people, a people like here in our text, that is in the midst, an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. This should be an encouragement to us.

It won't be if it is speaking of perhaps what shall happen. You think of what the Lord says, in the world you shall have tribulation, in me you shall have peace. Well, if we are living in peace and ease, then such a word we think great trouble is coming. That's not very comforting to think that, even though there's a balance with it. But if we're already in trouble, already in affliction, already we feel such a minority, so few, that fear the Lord.

And the chapels and the congregations are getting less and less and the world getting more and more wicked. Sometimes it really is emphasized. I was preaching at a conference yesterday in Osset, got back just after midnight, across in London, after being one of those major football tournaments, and the heaving masses of people of all sorts, all of, you might say, the city of wickedness. The contrast, those of us that are just used to a country, not a city mass.

And it's a big thing to see All of that, and you think, are there those of the Lord here? Are there those that fear the Lord? And we may feel really like we are in a minority, so few. But when we have a text like this, the Lord is in control. He knows what the world is like. He knows what he's writing for, and he knows where his people are, and he has chosen to live in the midst of the nations, and afflicted and poor people that trust in the name of the Lord. When we see things as we are, and the Lord says, I know, I know, You were in there too. I put you in there too. Not taken me by surprise. How many times the Lord sought his people to serve him in their day and generation. To not inquire why were the former days better than these. The Lord's providence, his purpose moves on. And bless the Lord for where he has placed us, when he has placed us, but bless him mostly if we are amongst the remnant that call on his name and trust in his name.

I want to look this afternoon firstly where God's people are to be found. our text, in the midst of thee, or the midst of the nations. And then secondly, the description of God's people are described as an afflicted and poor people. And then thirdly, what good is said of them. And the good that is said of them is that they shall trust in the name of the Lord. But firstly, where God's people are to be found?

We read in Psalm 107 that he shall gather them from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Yes, in all nations, in all countries, in all peoples, God's people are to be found. We picture it in the days of Ruth. There is Ammon. Ammon that the Lord said that the Ammonite should not come into the congregation of the Lord for the 10th generation.

But in that nation, there is one of God's children. And God in his providence, he brings Naomi and her husband to come into that country, to bring their sons there, and they marry. One of them marries Marlon, marries Ruth. And the Lord removes for the hand of death Naomi's husband, Lemuel. and the two sons.

We find there between Orpah and Ruth a difference. Both clave to her first, but then one goes back to her people and her gods. But Ruth claves to her. And there she is plucked, as it were, as a bran from that nation, and brought to be into Israel and into the line to Christ. Replicating also with Rahab in Jericho. We have these instances where the Lord's people are found. We think of our Lord, he must needs go through Samaria There is one of his and later many others called them. But God's people are in the midst.

The Lord said of them that they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. In the world but not often. His prayer was, Father keep them whom thou hast given thee from the evil. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world. No, it is God's will we be scattered. You think of what the Lord said, that his people are salt and light.

If you have a big room and you've got just one little light, it's only shining light just around that light, isn't it? So if you're going to light a bigger area, you scatter a lot of lights around. Or if it's salt, you don't need much salt to season a meal. It's just grains and it's scattered in it.

God's people are pictured in that way. I feel that as time goes on, it will be like when our Lord was on the earth. There was the established church, as it were, hierarchy, the scribes, the Pharisees, the religious ones of their day, but they weren't the remnant. The remnant were those like the man born blind, the ones that were despised, the ones that were cast out and rejected, they were the remnant. And with us too, we may have the established church of England, we may have the mainstream that gets all the notice and the publicity, and there's much religion like that. but those that are truly the lords where he has placed them, the despised ones, the ones that will be persecuted for righteousness sake because they are righteous. The Lord said, I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them. If there's any mark of the predominant religion today, It is that the Word of God is cast away. It's not adhered to. It's not known. It's walked contrary to, open to. And if we speak of the Word, then men hate us for it.

The Lord has foretold that. But God's people are, by His decree and by His purpose, put in the midst of the world. we are told not to have fellowship with the unfruitful workers of unrighteousness. But the Lord says that it is not just in anything, it is not to have fellowship as spiritual fellowship or around the Lord's table in the church, but he says If we would all together be separated from them, we must needs go out of this world. But the Lord has said no. So you and I, we will work with, study with, be neighbors to those that are of this world, the nations of this world. who know not the Lord, nor the ways of the Lord at all.

We are not to think, well, because I go to chapel, because I have a religion, I'm better than my neighbours, therefore I must be the Lord's. Our text goes on to describe who the Lords are. And it's not just seeing a religious difference between the multitudes and those that have a religion. You and I need more than being religious.

We need a work of grace, we need God's work, we need eternal life, we need Him to stand His image upon us. The apostles, it was said, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. The apostle Paul, he says, be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ. May we remember this position where God's people are.

It doesn't mean that we go out of our way to go and mix and to be with those of the ungodly. But sometimes in our callings and in our journeys, what we do, we are in the midst of them. Feeling to be a speckle bird, feeling to be out of place. And when we get into those places, may we think of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?

We ourselves are already, we are defiled, we are sinners. that when we go in the midst of perhaps dens of iniquity or see what others are going through, we feel the contrast. But what did our Lord feel when he was absolutely spotless, no sin whatsoever, and yet he heard, he saw, he had those that accused him of being the prince of devils, casting out devils, What our Lord suffered, just a being in this world and in a people, in the midst of a people that were so hostile, sinful, hating Him, deriding Him. If our Master has walked that path, then we must expect the same as well. We need the same keeping, the same blessing, the same God. An interest in our Lord's prayers to keep us from the evil. So in this place, this first point, I will also leave in the midst of the, in the midst Nations where there is much iniquity, the Lord leaving a people. Why is he leaving them there? Is he not for witness? Is it not for his honor and glory? Will it not be when he comes to gather them home?

When he comes to the judgment? that then it will be seen whose they were, whom they were serving, and the Lord before all nations uphold them as his people for whom he died. Never, never be ashamed of our God in the midst of this world. The word says, my people shall never be ashamed. And the Lord said, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, of him shall my father be ashamed before the angels. You know, dear Peter denied his Lord, ashamed as it were.

The Lord prayed that his faith fail not. and is brought then to be restored and then with the Spirit to boldly proclaim the name of the Lord. There may be times that you and I have felt as well we've been ashamed, but blessed be God if he restores us and make us sorry for that and mourn over that and count it a privilege if we are found in the midst like this and in our text.

Who maketh thee to differ? It is God that leaves his people in the midst of a nations that makes them to differ. I want to look then secondly the description of God's people How does the inspired, infallible Word of God describe God's people here? An afflicted and poor people. Many of the Lord's dear people are afflicted in a literal way. They are sick, they have infirmities, they have pains, often severe pains. And very often, materialistically, they are amongst the poor. But not always.

We don't hold to the idea of a prosperity ministry. and some ministers, especially in America, who would say, if you are the Lord's, the Lord will give you health, he'll give you strength, he'll give you wealth, and that is a sign of the Lord's blessing. But in this description, the Lord completely destroys that picture, false picture, of what his people are. they're afflicted and they're poor, the very opposite of what these false teachers are setting forth. But we would go from what is as well common with many that do not know the Lord and think of how it is specifically a characteristic of God's people Maybe if we began with the Apostle Paul. Paul had wonderful visions, caught up in the third heavens, and God gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him.

Now I know we're not told what that thorn was. We wouldn't want to undermine or take away from any who's been really comforted and helped through poor situation. But we can have quite a good idea that it was concerning his eyesight. He couldn't recognize the high priest. He says of the Corinthians that they were willing at one time to pluck out their own eyes and give them to him.

And he prayed that it might be taken away from him three times. But the Lord said, no, it is to remain, that my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. You may have heard me say this before, but one of the Lord's dear people over in Geelong years ago, He was very crippled with arthritis in his knees, very, very painful. He used to have gold injections every three months to keep the pain down.

I said to him one day, I thought that what the apostle had was not an illness or affliction like that because it was said a messenger of Satan. And he looked at me And he said, Roland, it is not the affliction. He said, it's not my painful knees. It's not that which I have.

It's what Satan does with it. He stirs it up. He says that God is against you. He's an unjust God. He's an unkind God to let you have all that pain and all that affliction. And he said, the last thing I want to do is to think evil against my God. and reply against him, but he stirs it up.

It is a messenger of Satan because Satan uses especially those sicknesses, infirmities, afflictions of body or of mind to turn God's people against their God, to divide between brethren, refine between chief friends, and that makes sense. to be a real affliction for the people of God.

How many of you know what it is to be afflicted and pained when things come suddenly into your mind against your Lord? You think, how can I think that? Where did that come from? Why am I like that? And that causes you sorrow and trouble. God's people upon this earth. are the only people that really know what sin is. As many might give a definition of it, sin is a transgression of the law of God. But to know it as something that is so bitter, to join with David in Psalm 51, Against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And you can see the pain and the sorrow.

That is an affliction. That is what makes a people poor when they see they're under the law, they're under the sentence of death, and that they struggle with these sins and temptations and sorrows. They're in, as Paul says, a body of death. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? When I would do good, evil is present within me. It is an aspect of suffering and affliction and of poverty that is not known by the world.

It is a distinctive for God's people. We read together in Matthew chapter 5 where the Lord is pronouncing a blessing, blessing on those that are poor, What, materially? No, poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They're not proud. They're not self-righteous. They're like the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. Those that mourn, what are they mourning over? Over their sins and after Christ. What are those that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Those that feel they have no righteousness of their own. They have no goodness of their own. They feel their blackness, their sinfulness, the evilness of their heart. And it brings them to be low and to be poor.

Those that are persecuted for righteousness sake. because of following the Lord, obeying him and serving him, that then man had cast him out as evil. We read in Psalm 34, and it's a beautiful psalm, a prophetic of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we read that it was written in the time that David was driven out from Abimelech, when he could have lost his life as they recognized him as David who'd slain their champion, Goliath. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, saved him out of all his trouble, not just some of them, all of them. Many of the afflictions of the righteous that the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

And we have this picture that joins together the Lord Jesus and his people. Our Lord made sin for us who knew no sin. These things make a people to be a poor and a needy people, destitute of life except the life that the Lord gives them in their souls, destitute of righteousness except what the Lord gives them, no dependence upon the Lord. They haven't got a store. Children of Israel, you know, they're forbidden to have a storehouse. They'd have the manor fresh day by day. And God's people need it day by day. They haven't got a stock on nature's ground.

And here below they confess, as those in Hebrews 11, that they're strangers and pilgrims in the earth. In the midst of these nations, they're strangers. and their pilgrims, the Lord leaving an afflicted and poor people. Notice how it is put. The Lord doesn't say I've left in the midst of thee a people with great assurance and hope in me and that have peace and quietness and joy. The Lord's people may have those things, but the description that God has chosen to put is this description. I feel the Lord's people know this. Those are sweet the moments rich in blessing which before the cross we spend.

But for a lot of the path, we walk as a people in a strange land, in the midst of a people that's not our people and we do not want to spend eternity with them. And yet we have a body, a body of death, a constant conflict between the new man of grace and the old man of sin. The hymn writer says, when the soul is called from that moment, the conflict begins. And this makes the people poor and afflicted.

Well what good is then said of them? I want to look at this in our third point because the good that is said they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is saved. I am that I am, God Almighty appeared unto Moses. And in John 10, I am the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. There's one name that these people will trust in. the one name given among men whereby we must be saved.

Another name of the Lord is the rock. Upon this rock I'll build my church. Gates of hell shall not prevail against him. In all of the afflictions and all of the troubles, the Lord who changes not, David spoke of his rock. May that be also what we trust in. The Rock of Ages, in writing, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Is that where our trust is? They shall trust in the name of the Lord.

What about the name that is common to the Lord and his people in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 23, 33. Jeremiah 23, this is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That is our Lord Jesus Christ, that is his name. But in 33 is the name of the church, the name that she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. we read in Matthew 5, a people that hunkered and thirsted after righteousness.

Paul, who desired his people to be saved in Romans 10, he saw them ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, no salvation that way. but where we have a people that trust in the name of the Lord, His righteousness.

There is a people that is safe, not my goodness, not my works, but His works, His finished work, His deeds. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that puts away the sin of His people. And his righteousness, imputed to a believer, is our fitness for heaven, faultless before the throne. The Lord not only pays arrears and pays our debts, but he furnishes and fits us with a wedding garment for heaven as well.

They should trust in the name of the Lord. In Isaiah we have many names that are set forth. We think of him as the branch, several times he's set forth as a branch through scripture. We think of our Lord speaking, I am the vine, he are the branches. There is that where we derive that sap and that life from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In Proverbs, he's set forth as wisdom. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.

The first hymn, where shall I find a guide to direct, right, skillful, and kind, brave to protect? Beautiful hymn. The Lord used that hymn, blessed that hymn to me in beginning the exercise of the ministry. Bless me in the first verse of it, and as I sung it through, going to the last verse, only be living to publish thy praise.

You don't forget those times. But it's the Lord that directs his people, the Lord that is their wisdom. I am the way. the truth and the life. And this people is trusting in him. Paul says, I am running the race and let us run the race is set before us looking unto Jesus. There is their hope and their trust, out of self looking unto him, resting in what he has done, his finished work.

What a contrast is here. is the people in themselves afflicted and poor. But their trust is in the highest name, the blessed name, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved. There can be no other more blessed than the people that is trusting where true salvation is. Those of you that are afflicted amongst us here this afternoon, or those maybe in your homes, can you join with the latter part of this?

You can humbly say, Lord, Thou knowest I trust in Thee. I trust in Thy righteousness. I trust that Thou who hast begun a good work in me, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. But thou wilt not let me go, but wilt hold me fast, and bring me safe home at last.

Is that where your trust is? Do you think the Lord would set such a blessing on poor and afflicted people like me and let them down, and not do for them what they're trusting in? tells them here, he knows them, scattered as they are, and he owns them. He loves them and they are what they are because of his grace.

They have this picture set before them in the Word. May this picture be of you and of me. Paul, he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And could we look at this picture here? So these poor souls, by the grace of God, they are what they are, poor and afflicted, but they are trusting in the name of the Lord.

May this word be an encouragement and a help to you. The Lord will bring you safely home. He will care for you. He will gather you at last. May the Lord bless you with that witness of His Spirit and that comfort that you are amongst that number, the number of His people scattered amongst the nations. You gather and bring them to be with Him forever. Amen.

An afflicted and poor people

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's remnant people?

Why is being poor in spirit important for Christians?

How do we know that God cares for His afflicted people?

Why is trusting in the name of the Lord essential for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Rowland Wheatley

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An afflicted and poor people

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's remnant people?

Why is being poor in spirit important for Christians?

How do we know that God cares for His afflicted people?

Why is trusting in the name of the Lord essential for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Rowland Wheatley

Comments

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