So we're up to Zephaniah chapter 3 and look at verse number 5.
Zephaniah chapter 3 verse number 5 begins by saying,
The just Lord is in the midst thereof.
The title for the sermon this evening is The Lord in the midst.
The Lord in the midst.
In fact, this term, the Lord be in the midst,
comes up five times in this chapter.
So I thought it was a great thing for us to pause on and think about,
you know, we think about the Lord being in the midst.
We think about the church, you know,
Christ said that if the two or three gathered together,
that he'd be in the midst of them if they gathered together in his name.
So we know that it's associated with church.
Unfortunately, we can't be in church right now, can we?
We're not gathered for church.
But look, the Lord is in the midst of his people
and he's in the midst in other situations.
So this chapter gives us a good flavour as to when the Lord is actually in the midst.
And he can be in the midst of his people.
He can also be in the midst of a very corrupt and crooked city,
even amongst wicked people.
And so what does this mean when we talk about God being in the midst?
Of course, we mean that he's present,
that he's aware of the situation, right?
So we're looking at that topic tonight.
Once again, the title is The Lord in the Midst.
All right, let's start doing verse number one.
Verse number one begins by saying,
Woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city.
So verse number one begins the topic of this chapter, right?
The city that is filthy and polluted.
And of course, this is speaking about Jerusalem.
All right, Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah.
Now, just a reminder, for those that have been listening to the Zephaniah series so far,
chapter one was about the nation of Judah, God's people as it were,
the sins of God's people, the sins of God's nation,
and how God was going to judge his people, all right?
Then chapter two was about the surrounding nation, the Gentile nations,
how God was looking at their wickedness and that God will too judge those wicked nations.
So what is chapter three about?
Chapter three now, God is focusing not just on the entire nation of Judah,
but he's focusing in on the capital city of Jerusalem.
Of course, Jerusalem was the major city in the land of Judah,
the capital city of all of Israel when it was one United Kingdom.
And so we might look at it when, you know, when it comes to Australia,
I know Canberra is considered a capital city, right?
And there is great wickedness in Canberra.
Oh, man, there's a lot of wickedness, right, amongst those politicians.
But when we think about the biggest city, we think about obviously Sydney, okay?
Melbourne being a close second.
But Sydney being, you know, the biggest city in Australia,
I guess in many other nations, they would consider the largest city of the capital city.
And so, you know, if we consider that God is looking down at Australia,
he would be narrowing down to the greatest city, which is Sydney,
because what you're finding in many nations when it comes to the capital city or the main city,
you know, the wickedness that begins, that is allowed in that city,
will ultimately flourish into all the land, okay, into all the country.
And so if you want to look at the, you know,
basically want to consider what the most wicked place on any nation it'll be,
it'll obviously be where the biggest cities are, okay,
where the biggest cities, the greatest things that take place.
And so God is saying that the city of Jerusalem is filthy and polluted.
Let's keep going, verse number two.
He says, she obeyed not the voice, she received not correction,
she trusted not in the Lord, she drew not near to her God.
All right, so we see the great sins of the city of Jerusalem,
you know, it's not obeying the voice of the Lord,
it's not receiving instruction, it's not trusting in the Lord.
Now, it's so important that we don't give up, right?
If we live in a city, right,
while I'm here in Sydney, you guys are up on the Sunshine Coast, right?
If we live in a place that's populated by people,
that we don't give up, you know, no matter how wicked we are seeing our city,
because God has a purpose for His word or His voice to go out to the people, right,
to go out to the community.
Because if we have these churches established, right,
we have New Life Baptist Church on the Sunshine Coast,
then nobody on the Sunshine Coast can ever blame God,
no one can ever turn around on the Day of Judgment and say,
well, God, we never heard your voice.
You know, what God will say, no, we had New Life Baptist Church planted down there,
you know, on the Sunshine Coast,
my voice was being preached, my voice was being heard,
but you did not hear my voice, you did not obey my voice.
So we serve a purpose for everyone, no matter how wicked our nation gets,
no matter how wicked our community or our cities become,
we need to keep pronouncing and proclaiming God's word, God's truth,
because we're going to be the ones that God will turn to on the Day of Judgment to say,
no, I had my church, I had my people there to preach to you directly.
So it's so important that we go door to door, soul winning,
because there are going to be some people that claim,
well, Lord, I never had the chance to hear the gospel.
And you know, every door we've knocked,
every time someone has said, I'm not interested,
God will be able to say, no, I sent my witnesses to you,
I sent my ambassadors to you,
I sent my prophets to your door to tell you how to be saved,
but you did not hearken, you did not obey my voice.
And so we should never give up, no matter how filthy,
no matter how polluted our city should be,
God is using his people, his saints, his churches for his purposes, okay?
Let's keep going, actually no, keep your finger there,
and please go to Matthew chapter 23,
keep your finger there and go to Matthew chapter 23,
we're going to look at some words of Jesus Christ.
And we want to see how, you know, how he looks at the city of Jerusalem,
and we know that when it comes to Zephaniah,
God is bringing judgment upon Jerusalem through the Babylonians,
they're going to be taken into captivity for 70 years,
and one day, at the end of that 70 year period,
they're going to return back to the land, right?
And the other thing that was mentioned there in Zephaniah chapter 3 verse number 2,
it says, she drew not near to her God.
Okay, so Jerusalem is not seeking God,
she's not seeking to be drawn near to God.
And while you're turning to Matthew 23,
I just want to read to you from James chapter 4 verse 8,
because maybe you haven't drawn near to God, right?
Maybe you are far from God right now,
maybe you feel like God's presence is far away,
maybe you can look at your life and say,
well, I'm filthy and polluted, where is the Lord?
I don't see God's presence in my life.
Well, the Bible says in James chapter 4 verse 8,
it says, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
How do we draw nigh to God? Well, it keeps going.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
You see, in order for us to draw close to God,
we need to purify ourselves, we need to cleanse our hands,
we need to stop committing those filthy sins
that got us far from God in the first place.
Now, here's what's wonderful about our God.
If we just draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to us.
So sometimes we might feel, well, God is so far away,
may feel that way.
Well, you know what, we take one step in God's direction,
God says, I'm going to draw nigh to you.
God takes a step in our direction, okay?
So for every step that we take to draw close to God,
we're actually two steps closer,
because God himself has drawn nigh to us as well, okay?
So God is seeking our fellowship.
God wants to be close to us.
He wants to be near to us where his blessings are.
But go to Matthew 23, you should be there by now,
Matthew 23, verse number 37,
because even after they came out of captivity,
and we know that after some 400, maybe 500 years after captivity,
we have the birth of Christ,
then we have Christ studying his ministry in Judah.
Unfortunately, Jerusalem never learned their lesson.
They never, you know, fixed themselves completely, all right?
Even though, yeah, when they came out of captivity,
things were good for a few generations,
but then it quickly went back to the same place they were before,
far from God, to the point where Jesus Christ says in verse number 37,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, look at this,
thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not.
So God has given Jerusalem chance after chance,
sent prophet after prophet after prophet,
but Jerusalem has killed the prophets.
Once again, brethren, I don't know what our eternal fate will be.
God knows.
But look, you know, if we are proclaiming God's Word,
if we're teaching God's Word,
we are like unto a prophet to our cities, all right?
And God will, you know, give Sydney,
God will give the Sunshine Coast,
you know, opportunity after opportunity to draw close to God
so God will not judge the city, okay?
But we serve a purpose, all right?
Even if it's to the point of death,
even if we have to faithfully serve God till death,
that would be our purpose, all right?
We should never stop serving God.
We should never stop proclaiming God's Word.
And once again, we're both in lockdown, aren't we?
But thank God for the technology.
Thank God that we can still proclaim God's Word
even if it's over the Internet.
Back to Zephaniah chapter 3 in verse number 3.
Zephaniah 3, 3.
The Bible says,
Her princes, so now we're talking about the authorities,
or the governors in Jerusalem,
okay, our politicians as it were,
her princes within are roaring lions,
her judges are evening wolves.
They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
All right, so we're talking about the judges,
talking about the princes,
those in authority,
those that pass laws,
those that pass judgment on the people.
Well, you know what?
People in authority,
people that serve in a public office,
they're meant to be public servants, right?
Our police, you know, our politicians,
our governors,
they're meant to be serving Australia.
They're meant to be serving Australians, okay?
They're public servants.
And unfortunately, okay,
they get drunk with power.
They get drunk with the power and the authority that they have
and, you know, this is why we see the kind of lockdowns that we see.
You know, I believe a lot of this is unnecessary.
Now, I do believe we ought to obey our governments
as long as they're not asking us to sin.
But at the same time,
I also recognise that they abuse their authority,
they abuse their power.
They get drunk on power, okay?
And it's the same thing that happened in Jerusalem, right?
The princes, the people in authority are called lions,
they're called wolves, right?
These are, you know, beasts of prey, right?
These are vicious animals.
And instead of being servants,
you know, unfortunately, our politicians,
those in power, they want to destroy.
They want to hunt down their people
and just flex their muscles unnecessarily.
But again, there's nothing new under the sun, okay?
This happened in Jerusalem.
This happened in God's nation.
So, we shouldn't be surprised that it happens in Australia.
And, you know, just this morning,
when I was looking at if there was any latest restrictions
and, you know, if there was any latest whatever,
you know, whatever's going on,
you know, I was surprised to see the deputy commissioner
of New South Wales Police come out, you know,
to the media and basically boast
about how it had given 59 infringement notices.
You know, people that aren't following the COVID rules, right?
And most of these people are in public transport,
trying to get to work, just trying to make a living, right?
And maybe they forgot their mask or something
or they've copped a fine.
They've copped a $200 fine or whatever it is.
59 infringements, all right?
People that are just trying to go about their business.
They're not criminals.
They're not sinners.
They're not breaking the laws of God.
They're just trying to make a living.
They're just trying to have an honest life, right?
And look, again, you know, I believe we should follow, okay?
Whatever the authorities are passing down,
I believe we should be doing the mask or that kind of stuff.
Not because I believe in resolving the virus.
I believe we ought to obey the authorities
that God has put in place, okay?
So I'm not saying that, you know, yeah, you know what?
You deserve it because you didn't wear a mask.
You know what?
These people aren't criminals.
You know, our police force, you know, our law enforcement,
they're not, you know, they're not going after the bad guys.
Let's put it that way.
They're not going after the criminals,
the real criminals that are in our nation, okay?
Who are the real criminals?
How about the abortion doctors?
How about people that are killing little babies?
They're criminals, aren't they?
What are the rapists that are getting out there, right?
Doing their filthy crimes?
What are the sodomites?
Hey, these are all crimes in the laws of God.
But instead of chasing these people down,
now that they're like lions or like wolves,
they're just like, oh, you forgot your mask.
There's a $200 fine for you, okay?
59 infringements.
Wow, who cares?
Okay, but these people are just drunk on power,
drunk on authority.
Well, once again, this happened in Jerusalem, okay?
Let's keep going, verse number four.
Now we have the prophets, we have the religious leaders.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons.
Her priests have polluted the sanctuary.
They have done violence to the law.
Okay, so they violated the law.
We've got God's law, all right?
Thus saith the Lord, and the priests say,
oh, no, don't worry about it.
Who cares what God's law says?
You know, feel free to do whatever you want.
They're violating God's laws, these religious leaders.
But notice it says her prophets are light
and treacherous persons.
Now keep your finger there and go to the book of Jude.
Go to the book of Jude,
and Jude is a chapter that deals with false prophets.
Okay, that's the main purpose for the book of Jude.
It deals with false prophets.
So when the Bible says the prophets are light,
it basically means that they have no substance, right?
They're worthless, okay?
They're not weighty, as it were, right?
They're light, they're worthless,
they have no knowledge, right?
These prophets will preach and you walk away going,
well, I just wasn't fed God's word today.
I didn't learn anything new today, right?
It's light, it's pointless.
This is the way of the false prophets.
They do not know God's word.
They do not know how to feed God's people
the word of God, all right?
And in Jude, verse number 12,
Jude, verse number 12,
speaking about false prophets, it says,
These are spots in your feasts of charity.
When they feast with you, look at this,
feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds they are without water,
carried about of winds, right, being tossed around.
Trees whose fruit wither off without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
But I want you to notice that they're clouds without water.
All right, what are clouds without water?
Well, they'll just pass by, right?
When there's a heavy wind, they'll blow away.
And sometimes you might be looking at clouds,
maybe, you know, it's a time of famine,
and you're looking for the rains, right?
And, oh, man, praise God, there's a cloud.
It passes over, it didn't rain, right?
It did not nourish God's people.
That's what a false prophet is, they're lights.
They don't know the Bible.
They can't teach God's word.
They keep it fluffy and light,
feel-good sermons that do not benefit anybody.
You know, it pats your back for maybe 20 minutes,
you feel good about yourself,
and then you're, oh, I'm not any closer to God.
I don't have any greater knowledge of the Bible.
These are false prophets, you know.
Make sure that you get yourself under the teaching
of a man of God that knows the Bible,
that you can walk away by saying,
you know what, I've been fed today.
I've learned something today from God's word.
Let's keep going, verse number five,
Zephaniah chapter three, verse number five.
It then says, the Lord, sorry,
the just Lord is in the midst thereof.
So that's where we get a title for the sermon, okay?
He's in the midst thereof.
In the midst of what?
Well, let's keep going.
He will not do iniquity.
So God will not do iniquity.
We know when Christ walked this earth,
he was without sin.
Of course, God cannot sin.
Then it says, every morning
doth he bring his judgment to light,
he faileth not,
but the unjust knoweth no shame.
So the Lord is in the midst thereof,
again, speaking of the city of Jerusalem.
God is in the midst of Jerusalem.
So point number one for you, brethren,
that I have for you,
is the Lord is in the midst of each city.
The Lord is in the midst of each city.
God knows.
God's presence is here,
you know, in city where I am.
God's presence is on the Sunshine Coast, okay?
Our God can be everywhere at once at the same time.
He can be at all places at all time at once.
We serve a great and powerful God.
And you know what?
The corruption, the wickedness that goes on in our cities,
God is in the midst.
He knows what's going on, okay?
The wickedness, the sin does not pass him, okay?
People who are doing wicked things, ungodly things,
they're not getting away with it.
God is bringing his judgment.
God is watching what is going on.
And this gives me great comfort.
It ought to give you great comfort.
When it seems like the wicked get away with their sins,
it seems that way.
But you know what?
God is in the midst of Jerusalem.
God is in the midst of our cities.
He's watching the crime.
He's watching the wickedness.
He's watching the ungodliness that takes place.
And his judgment will fall, okay?
He will judge to light.
The unjust knoweth no shame.
The unjust, the wicked, they're going to continue sinning, all right?
Until they get judged by God, until they get destroyed,
they're going to continue sinning.
Well, God will hold all those sins accountable to them on the day of judgment.
Sometimes that judgment may fall on the earth,
but otherwise, if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ,
the judgment will ultimately be in the lake of fire, in hell, okay?
So point number one, Brevin, the Lord is in the midst of each city.
God sees the wickedness of every city.
And boy, when it comes to Australia,
the most wicked city that I can think of is Melbourne, okay?
And you know what?
God does judge each city differently to one another.
So we're going to have a look at this.
If you can keep your finger there, go to Matthew chapter 11.
Matthew chapter 11, please.
Matthew chapter 11, we're going to look at the words of Jesus Christ here.
Matthew chapter 11, verse number 20.
Because what we learn, not just in this passage, but in other passages,
that not only will God one day judge everybody individually,
okay, for our own personal sins,
and of course, if you're saved, God's not going to judge you for your sins,
your sins have already been judged on Jesus Christ, right, on the cross.
So this is about unbelievers.
I'm not talking about believers here.
I'm talking about unbelievers, okay?
Instead of them just only being judged for their own personal sins,
they're also going to be judged in accordance to the sins of their city,
of their generation, okay?
The generation, the city that they're in, the generation they're part of,
the sins of that city, they're going to be counted,
worthy of the punishment that comes upon that city as well.
So if we look at Matthew chapter 11, verse number 20.
Matthew 11, verse 20.
Then began he, that's Jesus, to abrade the cities, the cities,
wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.
So, if you repent, right, if you repent from your unbelief,
you repent from your false beliefs, you repent from your false gods,
you repent from your trust in your works, or whatever it was that you trusted in,
and you actually get saved, then you're not counted in this judgment.
Once again, it's for those that do not repent, all right?
But here, Jesus Christ is judging cities.
Verse number 21.
Woe unto thee, chosen, woe unto thee, Bethsaida.
So these are cities in Judah, in Judea.
These are cities of the Jews, as it were, right?
God's people, supposedly.
God's going to judge these cities because they didn't repent,
they didn't believe on Jesus Christ.
Because then he says this,
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
Tyre and Sidon are Gentile cities, okay,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
So Christ is walking in these cities, doing amazing works, preaching amazing things,
offering salvation, offering healing, offering casting out the devils,
doing great works of God, but these cities, they do not repent.
God says, if I did these same works in the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon,
boy, they would have repented a long time ago.
Do you notice that God is judging each city for what they've received?
Once again, you know, one day God is going to judge the unbelievers of the Sunshine Coast, right?
And again, they're not going to be able to run away and say,
Well, we couldn't hear your word, God.
No, mighty works were done on the Sunshine Coast.
When New Life Baptist Church sent out their preachers going door to door preaching God's Word,
you know, when the preaching of God's Word was happening Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon,
and Wednesday night in the house of God, where anybody could enter,
look, mighty works, mighty preaching has been done in that city.
You know what?
And those that reject Jesus Christ on the Sunshine Coast,
they're not just going to suffer for their own sins,
they're going to suffer for the sins of their generation,
for not hearing, not obeying God's Word, when they could have, okay?
God has given them New Life Baptist Church, it's still available to them, all right?
And I hope, I hope our church increases in attendance.
I hope the hearts of the people of our city up there, right,
turn their hearts to God, they repent, they believe in Jesus Christ,
and avoid the judgment that will fall on that city.
Let's keep going, verse number 22.
But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyron Sidon at the day of judgment than for you.
So Tyron Sidon, they're also going to be judged.
Unbelievers of that city are also going to be judged,
but their judgment is going to be more tolerable than those where the mighty works of God were done, all right?
Meaning that hell is not the same for everybody, okay?
The more opportunity a city has had to hear God's Word and get right with God,
and they reject that, the greater the punishment will be, okay, in hell.
And for those cities that did not have the same level of opportunities,
well, their judgment, their punishment is going to be more tolerable, okay?
It'll still be torment day and night, forever and ever,
but it won't be as bad as others who have had God's Word, God's works done in their city.
This is why we should never give up, okay?
God is going to use us one day to bring judgment upon a wicked city,
those that have rejected Jesus Christ.
Let's keep going, verse number 23, Matthew 11-23.
And thou Capernaum, that's another city of the Jews, right, of Judea,
which are exalted unto heaven, so they're full of pride,
shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for thee.
So we know that Sodom is going to be judged by God, right?
In fact, it got judged by God, fire and brimstone which fell from heaven, right?
Destroyed for their wicked sins, for sodomy, homosexuality.
Well, you know what, it's going to be more tolerable for them than for,
sorry, what city was that? I missed it.
Than for Capernaum, where they had Christ walk in the streets,
where they had Christ performing miracles, you know, preaching God's Word.
It's going to be worse for Capernaum than it was for Sodom.
Think about that for a moment.
You know, these reprobate cities, it's still going to be worse for Capernaum
because they rejected Jesus Christ when they had the chance.
And of course, if Christ was walking the earth back before Sodom became reprobate,
before they became a city full of homos, yeah, and He did His works,
He preached His Word, yeah, they would have repented.
Yeah, that city would remain until this day.
I do believe what Christ said is true, okay?
But unfortunately, you know, for that, well, you know, unfortunately for them,
okay, they become rejected, that city became rejected, the Sodomites, right?
And they're going to face a terrible destruction,
not just hellfire on the earth, but all those people burning in hell for all eternity,
not just for their own personal sins, but the sins of their city.
But once again, it's going to be worse for Capernaum, okay?
Because they had the opportunity, they had Christ walk in those streets.
And so, you know, if you're somebody that is unsaved today,
maybe you're listening to the live broadcast, you know,
and you live in one of these cities that has a good church,
you're listening to God's Word right now, okay?
And you're not saved, you haven't believed on Jesus Christ,
you're still trusting your works, you know what?
It's not going to end well for you if you do not believe on Jesus Christ.
You know, take heed of the warnings that we see in the Bible
and understand that one day God's going to judge this entire world,
including you, for your own personal sins.
And if you have not believed on Jesus Christ,
you have not received His death, burial, and resurrection for salvation alone,
then you too are going to be judged.
You too are going to be thrown into hellfire and tormented day and night forever and ever.
You need to get right with God.
If you're not right with God, if you don't know if you're saved,
if you're not 100% sure that if you were to die today that you would not go to heaven,
if you're not sure about that, you know, reach out to us.
Reach out to our, you know, go to our, you can contact us.
I'll just give you the email once again, contact at newlifebaptistchurch.org.au
or you can just call me.
Call me on 0497 868 329 if you're in Australia, all right?
I'm more than happy to give you the gospel while we're in lockdown, right,
over the phone or whatever it is.
I've done it before where I've given people the gospel over the phone during lockdown
and they've been saved.
Praise God for that when that happens, okay?
Let's keep going.
Back to Zephaniah chapter 3 verse number 6.
Zephaniah chapter 3 verse number 6.
Now God turns attention to the nations, the surrendered nations once again,
but again He's speaking to Jerusalem.
He says in verse number 6,
So God says when you look at other nations, when you look at other cities
and you see the destruction, you see the hand of God,
He has destroyed other places, other empires.
You know what?
In our past, in our history, there's been great empires, right?
But they've been destroyed.
They've been taken down.
We should be able to look at those cities.
We should have a look at those empty places.
We should have a look at where there was once a mighty nation,
but now there are nothing people or whatever and say,
well, God's hand of judgment fell upon them because of their weakness
and we need to learn from that.
We need to make sure that our people, that our nation, that our cities
do not fall in the same way.
So we need to continue serving God.
Let it be a reminder when you look at history,
when you see the destruction of nations, destruction of cities,
one power taken over and now another power,
empires crumbling and falling apart,
that should bring to your remembrance,
well, God has judged these people.
God has judged these nations.
And you know what?
I need to be reminded to walk in His ways
because I don't want to face that judgment as well.
I'm going to quickly read to you from 1 Corinthians 10.6.
Now, God here is speaking to the Corinthian church, right?
So we can say, well, God's speaking to New Life Baptist Church
or to our New Testament saints that we have.
And He says, He's speaking about the Old Testament saints.
He's speaking about Old Testament Israel.
And in 1 Corinthians 10.6, it says,
Now these things were our examples.
To the intent we should not lust after evil things,
as they also lusted.
Do you have a problem with lust?
Well, you know what?
You better, you know, you've got to overcome that, okay?
We've got some examples of how people in the past have lusted
and God brought judgment upon them.
Verse number 7.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them.
As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink
and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,
and fell in one day free and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted,
and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured.
Are you murmuring because of lockdowns?
Are you murmuring?
Are you whining, complaining?
I hope not.
Let me read that again.
Verse number 10.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured,
and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Then it says in verse number 11.
Now all these things happened unto them for end samples,
and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh his standeth
take heed lest he fall.
So why do we have all these stories in the Bible, in the Old Testament?
It's for us, it's for our admonition.
When we look at how God's people have turned against him,
how God has judged nations, and judged people, and judged cities,
that ought to remind us, and we ought to learn from that.
We go, Lord, we don't want to make the same mistakes
that we've seen others make.
Yes, even believers, even mistakes that believers have made,
we ought to learn from that, and say,
boy, if other believers have made these mistakes,
I can make those mistakes too,
and I'd better make sure that I'm close to God.
I'd better make sure that I draw nigh to God,
and he'll draw nigh to me.
He will uphold me.
He will help me not to fall in the same sins,
the same temptations that these other people have.
Back to Zephaniah 3, verse 8.
It says,
The word indignation is like very anger, right?
It's full of hatred, full of anger, right?
It says, look at this,
Now, if I look at verse 8 once again,
it says, just the second sentence there,
or the second part of it says,
You know God is determined to judge and wipe out this earth?
He's determined to do it, and he will do it.
He's going to burn up this place one day with his anger, right?
With his fierce anger.
Why? Why?
We serve a jealous God.
You know, the name of our God is jealous, the Bible tells us, right?
He is a jealous God.
Why is he jealous?
Well, we think of jealousy in a negative term.
No, because all this earth, the whole earth belongs to God,
and it's right to be jealous about the things that belong to you.
My wife belongs to me.
I ought to be jealous about her, right?
If there's other men giving her attention,
I ought to get jealous about that.
She belongs to me, she's my wife.
I belong to my wife as well.
You know, if other women are giving me attention,
she ought to be jealous for me as well.
Well, you know what?
This earth belongs to God,
and if this earth is not given God his due honour and praise,
if this earth is rejecting God's word,
then he's going to be jealous for this earth, okay?
And it's going to be full of anger,
and one day he's determined it's going to happen.
He's going to destroy this earth with the fierceness of his anger,
with the fire of his jealousy.
Now, that takes place, of course, in the end times in the book of Revelation.
I had some passages to read.
I'll skip that over.
I'll skip over that, but, you know, one day,
when the Antichrist comes on the scene,
he's going to gather the kings of the earth,
the armies of the earth against the Lord,
and, you know what, when Christ comes back on that horse
with the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds out of his mouth,
he's going to wipe out this nation.
And, again, God's wrath is going to fall one day.
He's going to burn up this place,
and then we're going to have the blessings for those that have believed on Christ.
We're going to be able to rule and reign with him those thousand years.
Let's keep going.
Verse number nine.
It says there,
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.
Why is it that God brings judgment?
Why is it that God destroys?
Why is it that he's so full of anger
and his fire can wipe out a people?
Because he's seeking that people have a fear of him
and call upon the name of the Lord.
You know, the Bible says,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
All right?
So God's destruction doesn't just serve the purpose
for God to pour out his wrath and anger,
but for those that are still able to come to the knowledge of salvation,
you know what?
It ought to be a fearful thing to think about God's anger,
and that would cause them,
and they see God's hand of judgment
should cause them to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
Now, the Bible says there in verse number nine,
For then I will turn to the people a pure language.
What is that pure language?
I've heard people sort of debate this.
You know, is it Hebrew?
Is Hebrew the pure language, right?
Is it the perfect language?
There was a person in one of my old churches that said,
You know, when we get to heaven,
we're all going to speak Spanish because it's the best language, right?
It's the pure language.
I was like, oh, man, come on.
What is the pure language?
What is the pure language here?
Well, keep your finger there
and go to Isaiah chapter six, verse number five, please.
Go to Isaiah chapter six.
Now, I don't believe this is saying there is one language,
like Hebrew or something.
Well, I mean, look, the Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
So which of those is the pure language?
Is it Greek?
I'm sure if you're Greek, you'll be like, yeah, that's my pure,
that's the pure language, right?
You know, what's wonderful is every language is beautiful.
You know, whether you think it or not,
every language is beautiful because it's been made by God, okay?
Any language worth speaking,
any language worth speaking by any nation, any tribes,
it's beautiful because God created language, all right?
From the Tower of Babel when He separated people, created nations,
God gave them languages.
You know, on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two,
when the Holy Ghost came upon His disciples,
they were able to preach the gospel in various languages, okay?
God's Word is pure in any language, okay?
God's Word is always pure.
It doesn't matter what language it's said in.
As long as it's perfect,
the pure translation of God's Word, listen, that is a pure language, okay?
I mean, the only language that I know that man has created,
maybe there's others, you know, I think about Pig Latin.
I mean, I remember in high school, some girls were talking Pig Latin.
I didn't know what they were talking about.
But look, how popular, like, what nation in this world is speaking Pig Latin?
I mean, you know, it's hopeless.
You know, men try to create languages.
I know some, like, fictional writers, for example,
have created their own language in their own fictional world.
Hey, but what tribe, what people are speaking that language?
No one, okay?
You know, every language is beautiful.
I've never been a fan of mocking.
You know, I remember, you know, again, back in school,
you learn how to do bad things, right?
But people mock in Asians, right?
Mock in Chinese, you know, ching chong, chang wow.
You know what? It's a beautiful language.
I learned a bit of Mandarin, and I couldn't speak it.
It's challenging, it's complicated, but it's a beautiful language.
When you think about the complexity of every language,
it's only by the hand of God.
You know, it's just like we shouldn't mock people's appearance
because God made them that way.
We should not mock language because God is the creator of language, okay?
Now, what is pure language?
What could be spoken about here?
Well, just like anything that God creates, man can corrupt, okay?
God has made language beautiful.
Unfortunately, man corrupts language as well, okay?
So when we look at Isaiah 6, verse number 5, it says,
Then said I, this is Isaiah speaking,
Woe is me.
Now, Isaiah's a great man of God. He's a faithful man, right? Amen?
A man of God? Prophet of God?
But then he says, For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
Isaiah says, Man, my lips aren't clean.
You know, the people that I'm around, my city, my nation,
they've got unclean lips.
For mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar,
and he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips,
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
You see, this is speaking about a nation that would return from captivity.
They've used their lips for unclean purposes, right?
They've spoken wrong things, they've spoken sinful things,
they've used their lips to praise false gods.
Well, one day, this nation of Israel, this nation of Judah, I should say,
will return back from captivity, but they're going to have a clean language, right?
They're going to have a pure language.
It's going to be a new generation who have not worshipped false gods,
a new generation that have not blasphemed God from their mouth,
and they're going to return back, and they're going to have that pure language, right?
So in other words, it's not a specific language.
It's about what you say.
And you know what, brethren? We ought to think about what we say.
We ought to speak about the words we speak.
If we're honest, we'd be like Isaiah and say, man, we're a man of unclean lips.
I'm sure there's been a lot of filthy things, a lot of wrong things,
a lot of wicked things that have come from our lips.
We need to seek God to forgive us, to cleanse our lips,
and do the best we can to speak with a pure language, right?
Back to Zephaniah, chapter 3, verse number 10.
And beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliance,
even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering.
So they're going to one day come back into the land.
They're going to come back and offer their sacrifices.
Again, that's in the past. That was after the 70 years of captivity.
Verse 11.
In that day, shalt thou not be ashamed of all thy doings,
wherein thou hast transgressed against me?
Now notice the next words.
For then I will take away out of the midst of thee, there's the midst again,
them that rejoice in thy pride,
and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
The word haughty is also another word like pride, same thing, okay?
So God is, point number two that I have for you,
the Lord is in the midst of the proud.
The Lord is in the midst of the proud.
You know, God can see the hearts of men.
He sees the haughty. He sees those that are lifted up.
And so God is saying, when I bring you back into the land, right,
and you're going to have that pure language,
God is going to be there and He's going to be observing the proud, okay?
And what is He going to do to the proud?
You see, there are some people that were so prideful,
they thought, well, we're God's chosen people, we have the temple,
we have the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and they've been lifted up with pride, right?
They've looked down on others.
Instead of reaching out to others with the gospel of Christ, right,
instead of inviting people into the kingdom of God,
they've lifted themselves up thinking that they're greater than the other nations.
Well, what did it say there in verse number 11 again?
For then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride.
You know, God looks down. He can look down at a church.
He can look down at His people and He can see the hearts of men.
He sees those that are proud, okay, and He's in the midst.
He's watching the proud.
One day He's going to take them away.
He's going to remove them from God's people, right?
And so point number two, brethren, the Lord is in the midst of the proud.
The Bible also says in Proverbs 8, verse number 13,
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance,
and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate.
You know what? We ought to be people that have a fear of God.
We ought to be a people that hate pride and arrogance.
We ought to be a people that hate the evil way, the froward mouth.
It's fine to hate those things.
That's Proverbs chapter 8, verse number 13.
If you have a problem with pride, okay, if you think yourself higher
because I've been saved longer, I've served the church in this capacity or that capacity,
you know, I've been a deacon, I've been a pastor,
and you think yourself higher just because of all these things,
you're just any other man, okay?
You've got wicked lips. You've done wrong things.
You need God's forgiveness, all right?
You know, work on your pride.
Take down that ego because God is in the midst.
He sees your heart, and if you don't get it right, He's going to remove you.
He's going to take you away, and He's going to judge you harshly.
Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 12.
It says,
I will also leave in the midst of thee.
There's another reference to the midst of thee.
An afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
So God's going to remove the proud,
and who is He going to leave in the midst of God's people?
The afflicted and poor.
You know what?
We ought to be a people, a church, that accepts the afflicted and the poor, okay?
Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5, 3,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So the third point that I have for you, brethren,
the Lord is in the midst of an afflicted and poor people.
You know what?
Many of you are saved because you've been afflicted,
because you've gone through hardships, okay?
There's been something that's transpired in your life that God has allowed.
God has allowed your affliction so you could get saved.
So you could go, I need the Lord.
Lord, how can you help me?
How is it that I can be sure of heaven?
And it's been brought forth because of your affliction.
If you had just a perfect life, with no problems,
we would not have grown close to the Lord.
God allows these afflictions to come our way so we can seek Him for salvation.
You know, the Bible also says in Matthew 9, 10,
I'll just read it to you, it says,
And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house.
Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples,
Why eat of your master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them,
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
So God is in the midst of an afflicted and poor and sickly people, spiritually sick.
We ought to care for those that are poor, that are afflicted.
We ought to care for those that do not have the hope of salvation.
That's why we ought to be soul winners.
We ought to be people that preach the gospel.
If we have visitors come to our church, we've had visitors recently,
we ought to find out, hey, is this person saved? Is this person afflicted?
Do they need the gospel? We ought to love them in that same sense.
We ought to be like our great physician, following his steps,
and find the sinners, find the publicans, find those that need a savior.
Christ is in the midst of them.
And when we have them visit our church, it's so important
because God has brought them into our presence
for the opportunity that they can hear the gospel if they're not already saved.
Verse number 13.
The remnant of Israel, and I don't have time to cover this, but that's a saved.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies,
neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.
Why? Because they've got a pure language.
For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
So when God brings them back from captivity, he's going to feed them and lie them down.
They're going to find rest back in the land of Judah, back in Judea.
And none shall make them afraid.
Now when I read this passage, I couldn't help but think of the most famous psalm, Psalm 23.
I'll just quickly read it to you. Psalm 23, verse 1.
The Bible says, The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
So brethren, you may not feel at rest right now because you're in lockdown.
Again, you might be murmuring, complaining, frustrated.
I know what it's like. I've been there. All right?
But you know what? God wants to feed us, and he wants us to lie down.
He wants us to be at rest. He wants us to be at peace.
Again, thank God that we have technology.
Thank God that we can use YouTube, the live streaming right now,
so we can use this past to feed you God's word.
He wants you to be fed.
Even though we may not be in church, we don't have the blessing of the fellowship right now,
to be able to sing praises to God together right now.
But you know what? You can still be fed God's word.
You tune in today, hopefully you're learning God's word.
Hopefully you can say, hey, I'm being fed.
God has sent me a pastor to feed me his word.
And it's not because I'm a great man or anything like that.
It's God doing it. The Lord is your shepherd.
The Lord is the one giving you the facilities, the resources,
the ability to hear God's word, to lie down, to be at rest.
And it's all from the hand of God. Praise God for his blessings.
You know, the Bible also says in Jeremiah 3, verse 15,
it says, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart,
which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
So that's my job, to feed you knowledge and understanding.
And again, this is God's work.
God is the one that will provide pastors to feed you his word.
You know, if at the end of this sermon you feel like you've been fed,
you don't have to thank me. Thank God. Go and praise God.
Say, God, I received from your words today. I've been fed.
Help me to be at peace.
Thank you for the green pastures that you've given me.
Verse number 14.
Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord have taken away thy judgments.
He have cast out thine enemy, the king of Israel,
even the Lord, look at this, is in the midst of thee.
Thou shalt not see evil anymore.
So point number four, the Lord is in the midst of our rejoicing.
You know, when we rejoice in the Lord, when we sing him praises,
when we thank the Lord, the Lord is in the midst.
You know what? The Lord is close to you.
If you want the presence of God, you know what you need to do?
You need to rejoice. Be thankful.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for what you've given me.
Yes, even thank you for the lockdowns.
Thank you for the restrictions that we have, Lord.
You know, you rejoice in the Lord,
he'll be in the midst receiving that praise, receiving that worship.
You know, if the Lord sings far from you tonight,
my question to you is, are you rejoicing?
Have you been rejoicing? Have you been singing his praises?
Once again, if you need a hymnbook, please contact us.
We'll send you one so you can sing along with us.
Now, if these lockdowns continue for an extended time,
I know right now, New Life for Sunshine Coast, it's a three-day lockdown.
Hey, if they continue it, maybe, and for the people in Sydney, if you're listening,
maybe we'll just have a song service.
Maybe we'll just have an online song service.
We just take our hymnbooks. We just play some music online.
We sing together. You sing at home.
We praise God. We rejoice in the Lord,
and the Lord promises to be in the midst of us.
So point number four, brethren, the Lord is in the midst of your or our rejoicing.
Verse number 16.
In that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem,
Fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands be slack.
Look at verse number 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.
So now we have the fifth time that the Lord being in the midst is referenced here.
So point number five, brethren, the Lord is in the midst of his people.
Once again, we're scattered right now.
We're not gathered together. We're scattered.
We're in our homes, wherever you're listening in online.
But you know what? The Lord is in the midst of his people.
Praise God.
Again, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.
Our God is the Almighty. He is the mighty God.
There is none stronger than our Lord.
There is none stronger.
He is the most mighty being in this universe, whatever it is, brethren, that exists, right?
He is the most mighty of all, and that mighty being is in the midst of his saints.
Think about that for a moment. Think about how weak you are.
Think about how weak I am, right?
And we have a mighty God in the midst of us.
Not only is he in the midst, but when he's in close fellowship with us,
when we're walking close to God, when we've drawn near to God and he's drawn nigh to us,
what are all the things that he says here?
He will save, not only will he save us from our sins and from hell,
but he will save us in our troubles. He will be our help in tribulations.
It says he will rejoice over thee with joy.
So God is happy about you.
He's so glad that you're his child.
He's so glad that you're saved, that you make up the kingdom of God.
He rejoices over you. We ought to rejoice about the Lord.
The Lord rejoices about his children.
Praise God!
He will rest in his love.
God has a great love for you.
You're not just some dirt.
Yes, we're made out of dirt.
We're made out of dust.
But you know what? Since you've been saved, you've become a child of God.
You're a son of God. You're a child of the king.
You're part of the royal family.
So you're someone special in the eyes of God. He loves you.
It says he will joy over thee with singing.
So hey, I'm saying that we ought to sing to the Lord.
Will the Lord sing about us?
Have you thought about that? That's what it says.
He will joy over thee with singing.
God sings to us.
So boy, you know, we look forward to the time that we're in heaven
and the church of the firstborn, we're all gathered together finally.
Every Christian of every generation of every nation
gathered together singing praises to God.
Oh boy, how about when God sings?
What's that going to be like?
Hearing our Lord God sing to us.
What a blessing.
So point number five, brethren, the Lord is in the midst of his people.
Let's keep going. Verse number 18.
He says, I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly.
Who are of thee?
To whom the reproach of it was a burden.
So God can see those that are sorrowful.
He sees those who have burdens.
He's there. He's watching us.
We're his people. He's in the midst of us.
He wants to give us comfort. He wants to give us joy.
Verse number 19.
Behold at that time I will undo all that afflicts 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.
Again, the direct context here is Babylonian captivity.
One day they're going to be brought back into the land.
Those that afflicted them, you know, God will stop them from being able to do that.
And God's going to gather his people.
It says, and gather her that was driven out.
You know, you might feel like you're somebody that has been driven out, as it were.
Driven out because of your faith.
Maybe you've been driven out of your group of friends,
driven out of your family because of your faith on Christ.
Or God is there to comfort you.
You know, one day he's going to gather, not just as he did in the past,
gather his people out of Babylon back into the land.
One day God's going to gather us as well.
Let's keep going. Verse number 20.
At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I will gather you.
For I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth,
when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.
So that's the end of the 70 year captivity.
Again, as I said, God's going to gather his people out of Babylon,
bring them back onto the land.
And they're going to be a people with a pure language, you know,
rebuilt city of Jerusalem, rebuilt house of God.
The sacrifice is all going to start again, you know,
and then ultimately that would lead to the coming of Jesus Christ
some, you know, 400, 500 years later.
But the point that I wanted to end with here,
you know, we're not part of that gathering of the past,
but yes, God will gather his people one day once again.
And I'll quickly read to you from 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 1.
It says,
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and by our gathering together unto him.
You see, one day God's going to gather all of us
at the coming of Jesus Christ, the rapture, the resurrection.
And what a gathering that will be.
Could it be in our lifetime? Some people seem to think so.
I don't know. I don't think so, to be honest.
Could it be 100 years? Could it be 500 years?
Could it be 1,000 years from now? Who knows?
But even if you were to pass away, we know that those that died in Christ,
they're going to be raptured first anyway.
They're going to be there at the rapture.
One day God's going to gather his people.
We're going to be in the clouds with Jesus Christ.
We're going to be delivered from this wicked world.
And as we read, you know, Zephaniah is about the day of the Lord.
It's about God's judgment.
It's all going to fall on this earth one day.
It's all going to burn one day.
So just remind yourself, don't be too attached,
don't be too emotionally attached to this world.
The more wicked this world becomes,
the more you see the hand of God's judgment fall upon this earth,
that should help you pull away any kind of emotional attachment you have to this world.
You know, detach yourself, believers, from this world.
Detach yourself and attach yourself to Christ.
Attach yourself to God.
Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
So in summary, Reverend, just the five points that I had for you.
Number one, the Lord is in the midst of each city.
He sees the wickedness that takes place in our cities.
Verse number two, he's in the midst of the proud.
He sees those. He sees the hearts of men.
He's going to remove those people, right?
Point number three, the Lord is in the midst of an afflicted and poor people.
If you're suffering affliction, God is there. He wants to be your help.
Point number four, the Lord is in the midst of our rejoicing.
So if you want to be close to God, learn how to rejoice.
Learn how to sing praises. Learn to worship God.
Point number five, the Lord is in the midst of his people.
God is always there. He's always available for us.
If we just reach out, we draw nigh to him, he will draw nigh to us. Let's pray.