You know, in the Old Testament
prophets, God speaks to two Jerusalems. One is the greater Jerusalem,
the wider Jerusalem, to whom he says, our Lord Jesus Christ,
this is in Matthew 23, he says to them, behold, your house is
left desolate. You know, that message is clear.
We saw it reading Zephaniah chapter three. It talks about woe to
her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city, or as
the margin has it, to the gluttonous city. That's Jerusalem that he's
speaking to. There's two Jerusalems that he
speaks to. The wider one, to whom he says, behold, your house
is left desolate. The other is the inner temple. The other is Zion, city of our
God. Turn if you can, and don't worry
if you can't, but turn to Revelation 11 and the first two verses.
Revelation chapter 11 and John in his vision there writes this
and there was given me a reed like unto a rod and the angel
stood saying rise and measure the temple of God and the altar
and them that worship therein but the court which is without
the temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the
Gentiles, and the holy city shall lay tread under foot forty and
two months." That's talking about who are the true people of God
in amongst that which superficially looks as though it is the people
of God, the church, the wider Christendom. One, wider Jerusalem
symbolises that Christendom that's all around us, there's religion
all around us. You know, however much we say that, oh, religion's
finished, there's religion all around us, in different societies,
in different forms. But in the midst of it is God's
true Israel. the true temple, that which he
was told to measure. John was told to measure in Revelation
11, 1 and 2. Don't bother with the rest, but
measure the inner bit. What does the inner bit really
consist of? The one, the wider Jerusalem,
we read later on in Revelation, in chapter 17, it looks like
a woman. Looks like a woman. Chapter 17. I'm going to show you, he says,
about this woman. In verse three, so he carried
me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and 10 horns arrayed in color. And the name of this
woman is Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots, the abominations
of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk, this
woman drunken with the blood of the saints, which was the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, The authorised
version says, I wandered with great admiration. That's not
really a very good translation of the text. It's, I was astonished. I was shocked to the core at
what I saw. I was shocked because why? Because
the people of God, the true people of God are often in scripture
pictured as a woman. Revelation chapter 12, there
was a woman who gave birth to the Christ and so on and so forth.
But this woman, he looks and he sees a woman, a symbol of
the church. But then he's shocked. That woman
isn't the true woman. That woman is a harlot. That
woman is false. That woman is Babylon. So again,
we see the true is sitting there in the midst of that which superficially
carries the name of Christendom, of Christ, but is actually false. You see, the true woman of Revelation
is that which is God's church. Revelation 12 verse 1, whom he
puts in wilderness separation from the world where he keeps
and feeds his people. In this world, do you remember
in John 17, Jesus said about praying for his people, he said,
I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, I
pray for them. And I pray, not that they'll be taken out of
the world, but that you, Father, will keep them in the world.
Keep them for the time that is ordained. keep them there. So
what I'm saying is this, the scripture is teaching us that
where we are and how things appear is not a tragedy, it's exactly
what our God has ordained. Exactly. We shouldn't be surprised. All around we see that which
claims to be such successful Christianity. Such successful
religion. And you sort of think, well,
are we doing everything wrong? No, no. What does God's Word
tell us? God's Word tells us that there is a little flock.
Jesus said, fear not, little flock. You see, it's easy for
true believers to be downcast. You know, we look at our lack
of numbers. I know you do in South London. You look around and you see the
so-called successful churches with their hordes and they've
got numbers and they've got resources. They've got such resources. We
were talking to a guy that we used to know down the road passing
their new building. They've bought an office block
and turned it into a church. And we said, Oh, did you, are
you renting it? No, no, no, no. We bought it.
1.2 million. So cheap. We just bought it.
And the likes of us, we look and we think, gosh, what resources,
what resources. our apparent lack of success
compared with others but God gives us his word and why does
he give us his word? Whatsoever things, Romans 15,
4, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. Now here in Zephaniah chapter
3 judgment is pronounced on the gluttonous city, verse one, the
oppressing city, the gluttonous city and the corruptions of it. God pronounces his judgment as
he had done in previous chapters on the nations around Moab and
Ammon and so on and so forth. He pronounces his judgments as
so much of the prophets do. But here in chapter three he
pronounces his judgments on Jerusalem greater Jerusalem, outer Jerusalem,
the corruptions of it, because it was corrupt in so many ways. It was corrupt in the days when
Christ came and walked its streets. It was corrupt then. It was corrupt
with its self-righteousness. It was corrupt with its falsehood.
Look at verse 4. Her prophets are light and treacherous
persons. The preachers, the preachers
who are supposed to be bringing God's truth, God says of them,
they are light and treacherous. Why are they light and treacherous?
They say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They tickle
people's ears because they like to have their ears tickled. They
don't like to be challenged with the truth of God. Her priests
have polluted the sanctuary. The priests that were supposed
to stand as pictures of Christ interceding between the people
and the holiness of God and the inner sanctuary, they've polluted
the sanctuary with their sins. They've done violence to the
law. God pronounces his judgment against
it all. but assurance is given that God
still has his people hidden in the midst. In verse 12, this
is our text, verse 12 and 13, verse 12 says this, this is God
speaking by the prophet, I will also leave in the midst of thee
an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name
of the Lord. In amongst all of this activity
of superficial religion, of greater Jerusalem, and all that God condemns,
and he's quite clear, he condemns it, but he says, I will leave
in the midst of thee, you polluted, wider city, and afflicted and
poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. the
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 that's what
I want to look at with you in this time that we have available
now God comforts and encourages his little flock, his remnant
according to the election of grace. First of all, God's decree. What does he say? God says this,
I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor
people. I will leave in this fallen world
a people. God says he will have a people
in this fallen world. And when God says I will, who
is it that's saying it? See I might say I will do such
and such a thing tomorrow and the best of my intentions get
frustrated you know the traffic's busy or it rains when I didn't
want it to rain or something else happens I can't get something
working that I wanted to get working but when God says I will
believer be encouraged our God is sovereign Do we understand? That's like saying, our God is
God. What is a God if God is not sovereign? This is the very essence of God.
He's sovereign. He speaks it, and who's going
to stop it? He speaks it, he decrees it,
and who's going to turn it on its head? Nobody. I will. There's certainty. When God says,
I will, there's certainty in it. There's no speculation in
it. There's no degree of probability.
There's no conditions in it. God has sworn. And when he swears,
when he promises, he promises by himself, because he can promise
by no greater. It says in Ezekiel 24 verse 14,
I, the Lord, have spoken it. And because of that, it shall
come to pass and I will do it. You think we're almost vanishing
off the face of the earth, the people that believe the true
gospel. God says, I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted
and poor people. God will always have his people
in this world, surrounded by its false religion, surrounded
by its kingdom of antichrist. and everything that goes with
it. In these days which get more and more wicked, as time goes
on, we see that all of the things that the book of God tells us
about the kingdom of Antichrist, and they're coming to pass, are
all around us, all of the time. Terrible things are being put
forward. Did you see recently that there is a move based on
a study that was done in the House of Lords to insist that
everybody working in public service Whatever capacity that might
be, counsellors, politicians, teachers, all in public service,
probably some of you here, that there's a move to try and get
everybody to sign up to a pledge that we totally agree with all
of the things that are happening in society under the guise of
diversity. And if we're not prepared to
sign up, you cannot do that, you cannot be a teacher if you
do not sign up. And it goes completely contrary
to what we're told in the scriptures. But don't fear, God has his people,
God maintains his people. I will have my people in this
world. However hard it becomes, God
will have his people, for he is sovereign. There's an omnipotent
decree has gone out. I will leave in the midst of
thee an afflicted people. In this world, in this kingdom
of Antichrist, in this religion all around us that is really
Babylon, as Revelation 17 shows it, he will have a people. In
Revelation 13, and the message isn't on Revelation, but it's
very fresh in my mind from the series we did about 18 months
ago, but in Revelation 13, if you read that, you get this terrible
picture of the world that I've just been describing. It's our
society of today, and it's all coming to pass. You read it,
and it says towards the end of it that those that do not have
the mark of the beast, those that will not sign this pledge,
will not be able to buy and sell. won't be able to earn a living,
won't be able to trade. Isn't it? It's coming that way.
And we get all panicky that, oh, how terrible it is. But listen,
turn over a page. You don't need to do it. I'll
do it for you. Turn over into chapter 14. And I looked. And lo, a lamb stood on Mount
Zion. And with him, 144,000 having
his father's name written in their foreheads. Do you know,
you can speculate all sorts of things, but I am increasingly
convinced that this is not talking about God's people in heaven,
this is talking about his people on earth. While chapter 13 and
the Kingdom of Antichrist goes on, Christ is still here on Mount
Zion with his 144,000 that he's redeemed from the earth, they're
here with the Lamb, the redeemed from the earth and as it says
in verse 13 of Zephaniah chapter 3 they'll not do iniquity, they
shall feed and lie down. In this kingdom of Antichrist,
all around us, because of God's sovereign grace and mercy to
his people that he will have, they shall feed and lie down.
Does that remind you of a psalm? Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. They shall feed and lie down.
If you're expecting to be devoured any second, the last thing you
do is lie down, isn't it? You're on your toes, you're ready. No. Because of God, who is sovereign,
and he will have his people. They shall feed and lie down. Let's be encouraged. Second point
I want to look at is the character of his people. An afflicted and
poor people. That's it. What's the character
of these people? They're afflicted and poor. That
doesn't sound like something you want to be part of, does
it really? You know, I want to be with the ones that are winning,
the ones that are on top, the ones that are, you know, I don't
want to be with the ones that are afflicted and poor, but in
what sense are these afflicted in distinction from the generality
of mankind's afflictions? In what sense? Because you see,
everybody without exception, the people of God and those who
are not the people of God, the generality of humanity, all suffer
sickness, don't they? It's not that the cancer strikes
only the people of the world, but it doesn't touch, oh it does,
it does, God's servants get these things, these sicknesses come
along, these trials, all of us come to death All of us do, all
experience hardship of different sorts, whether it be financial,
whether it be psychological, all of us suffer these things. As Job said, man is born unto
trouble as the sparks fly upwards. You light a fire and you'll watch
the sparks flying upwards. It's what happens, it's what
they do. and that's what happens to mankind
in general. No, we're not poor and afflicted
in the same way that the generality of mankind is poor and afflicted
because we're all afflicted in the same sorts of ways. And young
folk, don't think that you, you know, when you've got your life
in front of you, you think, oh gosh, those old people, mum and
dad and grandma and granddad, they had all those problems,
but that's not going to happen to me because I'm going to order
events, I'm going to go and get my education and everything will
be fine. Listen, Get a good education, do what you can, be responsible,
but don't think you can make fundamentals any different. No,
we're all subject to trouble. So what is it that is distinctive
about the affliction and poverty that Zechariah, God through Zechariah
is saying here? What is it? It is spiritual. That's what it is. I will have
a people who are spiritually afflicted. and spiritually poor,
is what he's saying. It's the result of the Spirit
of God's quickening action. The Spirit of God makes a distinction. He comes upon a person and makes
them alive to the things of God. and in sovereign grace he gives
spiritual light. Gives that light. The natural
man, the natural man as he is, you and I as we're born, natural
man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to him, neither can he know them. Why? They're spiritually
discerned. Well where are you going to get
spiritual discernment? It is the gift of God. It's the gift
of God's Spirit. He comes and makes alive. As
Jesus said to Nicodemus, the wind blows where it listeth.
And you hear the sound thereof, but you don't know where it comes
from. Do any of you? Yes, I know we've got the big
weather charts, but fundamentally, as good as they get with their
massive computers, and I'm a fan of it, I'm quite keen on knowing
what the weather's going to do. I've got my little app that tells
me if it's going to be raining in a couple of hours' time. You
know, I like all that sort of stuff. But you know something,
more than two days out we still haven't got a clue basically.
We still don't know where it comes from or where it goes to.
No. So it is with the Spirit of God.
He comes sovereignly and makes alive and gives sensibility of
the things of God, gives discernment of the things of God, gives a
consciousness of sin. Is that not the greatest grace,
the initial grace? I love that hymn, I know I quote
it like every other sermon I preach, but it's in that hymn it says,
a sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost has made him so. Yeah? The other thing is, there's not
many sinners, are there? You show me a sinner. Oh, I know
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but you
show me one who in his heart is cut to the core, that before
the justice and holiness and majesty of God is a sinner. to know what you are by nature
before God, to know that you're mortal and that you must die,
that it's appointed to man to die once and then the judgment,
to know I'm a sinner and what must I do to be saved, as that
Philippian jailer who had the scales taken from his eyes, I'm
sure there was a revelation in that moment, and he cried out,
not Primarily because he was scared of the people that employed
him and the prison had been, he knew where he stood before
a holy God because of what he'd heard Paul and Silas preaching
and singing in their chains in that prison. And he cried out,
what must I do to be saved? Because that was the thing that
drove him to seek salvation. Why don't people want to be saved?
Because they don't know they've got anything to be saved from.
They don't know that they're sinners before the justice and
holiness and purity of God. Oh, we're an afflicted people.
If God has spoken to you, you're an afflicted person. You're afflicted
with the consciousness of sin and enlightened to the holy nature
of God. Afflicted, by which I mean stripped
of fleshly confidence. Stripped of it. Philippians 3
verse 3, marking out the true people of God. They worship God
in the spirit, they rejoice in Christ Jesus, and they have how
much confidence in the flesh? None. None. None whatsoever. No pride? There's nothing of
their pride that they can lean upon. Self-worth. Oh, oh, he's such a, oh, he's
such a humble Christian. Oh, he's such a humble man, is
this man. He's so proud of his, oh, whoops,
he's so proud of his humility. Ooh, ooh, that kind of turns
it on its head a bit, doesn't it? Self-righteousness. Oh, I've
been pretty good. You know, I'm learning more and
more to subdue the works of the flesh and I'm getting so much
better. And, you know, we come from fundamentally better stock
than those over there, don't we? You know, we've got this
social superiority. We've got this dignity. We conduct
ourselves correctly in our religion. We take it so seriously. We've got intelligence. Ah, you
know, we stand head and shoulders above the rest because we've
got intelligence to work out the truth of God for ourselves.
We've got our free will, you know, I might do God a favor
and choose Him and decide to follow Him. All of those things
are the things that subconsciously and consciously people grasp
onto, but when we're afflicted by God, we're stripped of all
of that. And we're brought to know that
we're poor. What is it to be poor? It's to be lacking resources.
But in the realm of our relationship with God, as we are as sinners,
utterly bankrupt. Without the currency to redeem
a soul. I love this verse in Psalm 49.
Psalm 49. speaking about people who, in
verse six, trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches. Oh, we'll be all right, you know,
the rich man with his barns. I've had a good harvest, so I'll
build more barns. I'll tear down my old ones. They
weren't big enough. And then I'll sit back and enjoy
myself, because I'll have everything that I need for a long life.
And what did Jesus say that God will say to him? Thou fool, this
night your soul will be required of you. No, none of them. with their riches, can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.
Why does God require a ransom? Because we've sinned. We've offended
his law. We've offended his justice. And
what's needed? A ransom. There must be a payment.
There's a debt to be paid. That debt must be paid. But none
of our brothers and sisters in the brotherhood of mankind. None
of them can by any means redeem his brother. None of them have
got the currency to give to God a ransom that will satisfy the
justice of God. Why? For the redemption of their
soul is precious or costly. Costly. And it ceaseth forever. You'll never do it. You'll never
do it. None of them can redeem his brother. and were brought
to realize, being afflicted and poor, brought to realize the
worthlessness of all our efforts. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, as Isaiah says. And by God's grace, are brought
to ask the question that Job asked, how should a man be just
with God? We're so completely unlike many
of the professed church, the wider Jerusalem, the outer court
that seems to be so thriving, great success, great numbers,
financial resources, and they all, talking to that guy, oh
God's been so good to us and his timing was so perfect and
the money he put in our bank account was just exactly the
amount that we needed at that time, you know, all of these
things seem to be going so well. And you know, it sounds to me
so much like the people at Laodicea. You know, in the letters to the
churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the last one to Laodicea,
where the risen Lord Jesus Christ says to them, you say, I am rich,
we're rich, we're increased with goods, we have need of nothing. But in reality, he says, you're
wretched. and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked, or that God would show us what we are by
nature. But you see, listen, Jesus said
in the Sermon on the Mount, the first thing he said, blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. blessed
are those who are stripped of all confidence in the flesh blessed
are those who know their poverty before the holiness and justice
of God for theirs is the kingdom of heaven God's true people that
he leaves in the midst verse twelve are blessed eternally
in being stripped of all their presumed resources, their own
presumed resources and being stripped they find all their
righteousness in God. They find all their righteousness
in God, don't you? Child of God, being stripped
of all your own, you find all that you need in God. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? They shall be filled. They
continually hunger and thirst, and continually they're filled.
by the grace of God. In verse 13, it says of these
people who've been brought to know that they're nothing in
themselves, that all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags, that they
have no goodness in and of themselves, it then says they shan't do iniquity,
nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in
their mouth. It says the same in Revelation 14 verse 5 about
those people the 144,000 on Mount Zion with the Lamb and it says
there's no guile found in them without fault before the throne
of God you say hold on a minute, hold on what's he saying? what's
he saying? didn't John say if we say we
have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us I'm
not saying that in the flesh we have no sin but what I am
saying is this that in the Lord Jesus Christ In Him we have that
holiness and in Him alone we have that holiness without which
no man shall see God. How holy must you be in order
to be accepted in God's heaven? Nothing that defiles shall enter
in. How holy must you be? As holy
as God himself. Where are you going to get that
holiness? From your law works? From your attempts to be good?
No. by faith resting in Christ, for by his faithfulness he has
accomplished all that is necessary. And so we're stripped of self-righteousness
in Christ, stripped of it, and made, what does it say? 2 Corinthians
5.21, made the righteousness of God in him. That's it. We're made the righteousness.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity. If we strive for
justifying or sanctifying righteousness in flesh works, In law works,
it all amounts to filthy rags. That's right, it really does.
But resting What is it to rest? It's to Sabbath. Sabbathing. Resting in the finished work
of Christ. Resting in Him. Jeremiah 50 verse
20. The iniquity of Israel, the people
of God, this little people, this afflicted and poor people, the
iniquity of Israel, the Israel of God, Galatians 6.16. The iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for. And there shall be none. How
clear is that? The sins of Judah and they shall
not be found. Why? Because Christ has taken
them out of the way and hiding in Christ they cannot be found
for he has satisfied the law. And so we saw this verse a few
weeks ago when we were looking in the book of Ecclesiastes and
it very much struck me. Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 7 where
we read there go thy way eat thy bread with joy Drink thy
wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works. How does God accept the works
of a believer? Only as we rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We know we're sinful. We know
we need a daily washing of the feet, which is what Christ taught
when he washed the disciples' feet. But God accepts the works
of his people. That's how he can say here, they
don't speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in
their mouth. Spiritually bankrupt, yet possessing the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed is he that is poor in
spirit, the kingdom of heaven is his. Every spiritual blessing
belongs to the people of God. Ephesians chapter one, every
spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. How do you
know? All of it, apprehended, sensed. by faith in Christ. On what basis? On the basis of your faith in
Christ? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Your faith in Christ is not
a work that gets you right with God. No, your faith in Christ
and what he faithfully did to redeem his people, to buy his
people, to pay the ransom for his people's sins. On the basis
of that, the faithfulness of Christ and looking to it and
trusting it, every spiritual blessing in him. So where would
you sooner be? You see, I would liken it to
the sinking sand of successful religion, or the solid rock of
the eternal purpose of God. So then, final point. They shall
trust in the name of the Lord. His people's trust, this poor
and afflicted people. What do they trust in? You see,
it's quite distinctive. you ask around religion what
they trust in and you get a real mix of answers but his people
trust in the name of the Lord what God's afflicted people trust
in is the name of the Lord now in scripture the name I mean
I'm called Alan and Wickham is called Wickham and Harry's called
Harry and Christine's called Christine and quite honestly
doesn't really you can't tell anything about my character or
any of the others as a result of that but in scripture the
name speaks of the character what is it to trust in the name
of the Lord you know right back in Genesis 5 I think it was and
you've got Seth and the line that came with from him and it
says and people began to call upon the name of the Lord what
is it to call upon the name of the Lord what is it to trust
in the name of the Lord is to trust in the character of God.
The saving character of God. Let me give you some of God's
names. And this is just scratching the surface. Jehovah Jireh. You know where that one first
came? Abraham with Isaac on Mount Moriah. Jehovah Jireh. Why? God
will provide. What has he provided? Do you
trust in the name Jehovah Jireh? Yes? You know it's appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment, Jehovah Jireh. God
will provide himself a lamb for a sacrifice. I trust in the name
of the Lord. The lamb that he has provided
is our Passover lamb. For Christ, our Passover is sacrificed. He's the provider of that. He
is the provider of that. He's Jehovah Rapha, which is
the one who heals. The one who heals, he speaks.
Oh, I'm a sinner as much as the leper is afflicted with leprosy. And he's the one who heals his
people from their sin. And what a powerful healing. Look how much he's healed them.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity. They'll look for
the sins of Judah and Israel and they shall not be found.
He's Jehovah Nissi, which is the banner, the banner of love
over his people. Oh, do you feel that? The sense
that God in Christ is a banner of love over his people. Shalom,
Jehovah Shalom, peace with God. How much do we need peace with
God? He has made peace. has he made
peace? You see, there's a false gospel
around that God has become less holy and it doesn't matter so
much to him. So he just says about our sin, he says, Oh, it
doesn't matter. It's okay. You can go. No, he doesn't. God
is angry with the wicked every day. It's a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God. Our God is a consuming fire,
but no, he has made peace. Where did he make peace? through
the blood of the cross of Christ. He's made peace there. He is
Jehovah Shalom, our peace. He is Jehovah Raha, the shepherd. What does the shepherd do for
his sheep? He leads them. He cares for them. He takes them
to pastures. He causes them to lie down safely.
He protects them from the wolf and the bear and the lion. He's
Jehovah Raha, the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. There's nothing that I will be
lacking. I will have everything. Ah, will you have that which
you need to see God, to go to heaven, to be in that place where
nothing that defiles will enter in? He's Jehovah Tzidkenu, the
Lord, our righteousness. That is his name. You know, I
love it in Jeremiah where the first time you read that verse,
This is his name, speaking of Christ, the Lord, our righteousness. And then 10 chapters on, he talks
about his people, the church, and he says, this is her name,
the Lord, our righteousness. Why? Because she is married to
him. And you know, like the bride,
And those of us that believe in scriptural marriage, the bride
takes the name of her husband, because it's a picture of the
bride of Christ, taking the name of her husband who is Christ,
the Lord, our righteousness, and she becomes Mrs. the Lord. Please don't take that as an
irreverent statement, but she becomes the wife of the one who
is the Lord, our righteousness. He is Jehovah Shammah, the immanent
presence. That means the God who is with
us in all situations. Because He promised, I will never
leave you, nor forsake you. Therefore, sons of Jacob, you
are not consumed. His name speaks of His saving
grace. You know, I quote this so often,
but Moses asked God, show me your glory. You know, there he
is on the mountain with God giving the law, show me your glory.
Ah, here comes the earthquake, wind and fire of... Oh, just forgotten his name,
sorry, completely deserted me. Oh dear. Elijah, Elijah, of course
it was Elijah. That's a senior moment, isn't
it? I just forgot for a moment. So
Moses is there and it isn't in anything flashy and profound. God says this, I'll show you
my glory. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion his name
perfectly accords with his gospel the gospel of God that's the
gospel Romans 1 verse 1 the gospel of God manifested in the person
of his son the Lord Jesus Christ and his people trust in that
name Jehovah Jesus is the name, summarising all those other names,
Jehovah Jesus. We trust in him. His people shall
trust in the name of the Lord. We've been asking in our services
in recent weeks whether the gospels of the seemingly successful religion
all around us in the world are genuine or fake you know we've
been doing like an antiques roadshow if you've ever watched that you
know sometimes they get they get two or three articles and
one's the genuine thing and another one looks like it but it's fake
and the experts and they have to guess which one is which and
it turns if it turns out that they've guessed and they've opted
for the one that's the fake you know what currency does that
have to buy them no it's worthless But if you've got the genuine
one, it's got value. It's got value. Take it to the
auction room. It's got value. Well, we've been looking at the
Gospels that are all around us, and we've been comparing with
God's true Gospel. We've been looking at those who
follow, just to summarize, what I might call the alpha course,
universalism type of thing, or reformed legalism, or Pentecostalism
or free offer duty faith all of these different ones they
all show up when you look at them through the lens of scripture
in the light of scripture alone if they speak not according to
this word there's no light in them they all show up to be forgeries
and not the doctrine of Christ and all false gospels that take
offense at the Christ of scripture you know Matthew 11 you know
when John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus there's john
the baptist in prison what is it all going wrong what's what's
going on are you the christ or do we look for another and jesus
said to them when they've been with him for a while and seen
him work jesus said to these disciples of john you go and
tell john and you can speculate whether john needed to know or
whether john was just telling them because He wanted them to
be sure. I wouldn't take issue either
way. But Jesus said, go and tell John
the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf can hear. All of those
miracles that Messiah would do are being done. The poor have
the gospel preached to them. And then he finishes by saying
this, and blessed is he who is not offended in me. And all these
other gospels, these false gospels are offended by Christ, by his
true divine person. This name, the name of the Lord,
they're offended by it. They're offended by his precepts,
his gospel precepts, his precepts of truth. They're offended by
his cross. Galatians 5.11 speaks of the
offense of the cross. Why would people, why would religion
be offended by the cross? That that shameful method of
death is the only means of acceptance by God, and the one hanging there. Redeeming blood. I don't need
blood, I'm good enough as I am. No, redeeming blood is what is
needed. And redeeming blood that is particularly,
this is the one, this is the one, This is the one that marks
out more than any other particular redemption. God's sovereign grace
and particular redemption. You know when Jesus clearly preached
that in John 6, it wasn't long before the crowds that were with
him left him, went away, and he said, will you also go? And
Peter said, to whom shall we go? And this is what God's true
people say. You have the words of eternal
life. God's own poor, afflicted people
may be weak and failing in many respects, but they take no offence
at the Christ of Scripture. We may feel a lack of enough
fellowship with him, and enough awareness of him in our daily
walk, but we take no offence at his doctrine. We take no offence
at his gospel. We rejoice in him, as Philippians
3 verse 3 says. And we have no confidence in
our own flesh. And the result of it all, I'm
finishing. Don't worry, nearly done. I'm finishing. Verse 13,
at the end of it, they shall feed and lie down and none shall
make them afraid. None shall make them afraid.
Child of God, when you contemplate the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and its saving efficacy, that it's accomplished its purpose,
that it is finished, We sing with the hymn writer, bold shall
I stand in that great day, and who ought to my charge shall
lay, there's nothing, no charge to bring, while through the blood
absolved I am from sin's tremendous curse and shame. Where are you? Where do you want to be? Numbered
with greater Jerusalem or with the poor, afflicted people of
God in the midst of this world and wider religion? Where do
you want to be? In which one? Oh, I'm sure if
the gospel has touched your heart, you say, I want to be with that
little poor afflicted people. Well, what does the scripture
say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's what Paul said to the
Philippian jailer. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
himself say? Whosoever believeth on me, hath everlasting life. Amen.