JESUS IS IN THE MIDST

Sermon of the Week #200627 – July 9, 2006

There are several times in the New Testament in various situations where you can find the statement that Jesus was in the MIDST. There definitely are many situations in life where Jesus, being in the MIDST, makes all the difference in this world, and the world of eternity. So here is a short list of various places where Jesus is found to be in the MIDST of His people. The first one that comes to mind is in the gospel according to Luke in the second chapter, “Jesus in the MIDST of the Doctors in Jerusalem.”

JESUS IN THE MIDST OF THE DOCTORS

Doctor Luke informs us that Mary and Joseph went up every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. When Jesus was twelve years old, He also went up with them to the feast. On the journey back to Nazareth the boy Jesus tarried behind at Jerusalem, and Mary and Joseph knew it not, but supposed Him to be in the company of kinfolk. They were already one day out of Jerusalem, and now have to make a hurried trip back to the city. When they got there it took them three more days to find Him sitting in the MIDST of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. The boy Jesus could not understand why they took so long to find Him. He said, “How is it that ye sought Me? Knew ye not that I would be in My Father’s house?” They found Him in the MIDST.

Jesus always belongs in the MIDST in any theological, religious question. He has the answer to any question about the Judgment Day, or about Heaven or Hell. Somewhere between the front and back cover, between the statement in Genesis the first chapter verse one, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, and the last word in Revelation, “Even so come Lord Jesus”, you will find the answer.

Paul tells us, “The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Many parts of the Word of God make no sense at all if people try to understand with human wisdom. We must always understand according to the wisdom of God.

But some are quick to say, “Yes, but the scholars say this or that.” Always remember that no matter what kind of a screwy idea you can come up with, you can always find somebody who has a PhD. in it. And remember too that the Apostle Paul also said, “The wisdom of men is foolishness with God.” even the wisdom of a PhD. And he also said it another way when he said, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.” Listen to the wisdom of scholars only in so far as they do not contradict the words of Scripture, which is the mind of Christ. Let Jesus always be in the MIDST.

JESUS IN THE MIDST OF WORSHIP

Another time when we find Jesus in the MIDST is in Matthew 18:20 Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name; there am I in the MIDST of them.” When the Church gathers together for worship, Jesus needs to be in the MIDST of them.

It is obvious there are several ways where Jesus is in the MIDST in time of worship. He is in the MIDST when we gather together for preaching. Paul tells us, “I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

In John 12 there was a Greek delegation that came to Jerusalem to see Jesus at the Passover when He was crucified. They came to Philip and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Philip told Andrew, and Philip and Andrew together took them to the Lord.

I was in a Church one time and there was a beam of wood that stretched across the auditorium with a message on it for the preacher. The congregation could not see the message from where they sat. It was a personal message for the preacher only. In large letters the preacher could not miss as he stood in the pulpit was that request of the Greeks, “SIR WE WOULD SEE JESUS!” So Jesus should be in our MIDST during the time of the preaching of the gospel.

Another area where He is in the MIDST in the matter of worship is in the observance of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord has invited us to come to His Table when He said, “THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.” The Christian has received this personal invitation of Jesus to come to His Table on the first day of the week to eat of the bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of Him. There were five wounds the Lord received when He suffered at the crucifixion.

So, COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE. The first wound was when they platted a crown of thorns and pressed it down on His head. When He returns, John tells us He will be wearing many crowns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but one crown He will not be wearing then will be the crown of thorns since He suffered once to put away sins. COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE.

The next wound was when he was scourged and beaten, “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed.” COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE.

The next wounds were the nails in His hands. The hands that were laid upon the leper and upon the sightless eyes of the blind were riveted to those timbers of torture that we call the cross. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him.” COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE.

The fourth wounds were the nails in His feet. The same feet that walked on the water, the same feet that now walk the golden sidewalks of the New Jerusalem were fastened to the tree. COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE.

Then after He was dead they mangled His body by the spear thrust in His side, and blood and water came out. The blood and the water remind us of the two great ordinances of the Church. The water reminds us of the baptism. Saul of Tarsus was told, “Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins.” And the blood reminds us of the Lord’s Supper when Jesus said, “This is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many unto the remission of sins.” COME A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TABLE, and remember the personal invitation of Jesus, “THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME!” He is in the MIDST at the Lord’s Table.

Then there is a very important area of worship where Jesus is with us in the MIDST; the area of prayer. Jesus said in John 14:13 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Because we have this promise of prayer in His name the words of Hebrews 4:16 mean much to us when we are told to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy, and may find grace in time of need.

In a very literal since, multiplied thousands of people are gathered together at this moment in this unseen radio audience listening to this message about Jesus Christ, in far away places. Jesus is in the MIDST.

JESUS IN THE MIDST OF SINNERS

Again we read how Jesus was in the MIDST on the cross. John tells us, “They took Jesus therefore: and He went out bearing the cross for Himself, unto the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified Him, and with Him two others, on either side and Jesus in the MIDST.” Jesus had a police record in Jerusalem, the Holy City, as a criminal, and not only a criminal, but also the worst criminal of the lot. He was in the MIDST.

Luke reminds us that Jesus was regarded as such a dangerous character that when a choice had to be made as to whom should be crucified they released Barabbas who was a murderer, and voted to crucify Jesus. The people of the Holy City thought they were safer with a murderer running around loose than Jesus. He was numbered with the transgressors. Jesus was in the MIDST.

Jesus did not die between two Apostles, or two prophets, lest there be some that would worship them and share His glory with others. Jesus is the One who died for us, and when He died for us He paid it all. The price He paid covers every sin of any sinner who obeys the gospel; there was not even one sin left to be burned off in the imaginary fires of Purgatory. Jesus told the Apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.” Some in vain try to avoid baptism as a part of the salvation process and will say the Lord did not say, “He that is not baptized shall be damned.” That was because a person who won’t believe cannot be baptized anyway. And he that believeth not shall be damned.

So Jesus died in the MIDST of two thieves and was numbered with the transgressors. However the two thieves were not the only transgressors. Paul reminds us in Second Corinthians, “Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus was numbered, not only with the two thieves, but also with us as transgressors, and actually as the worst of transgressors, because on the cross He felt as though He was guilty of every sin we ever committed.

As a child I sometimes took a magnifying glass and focused the rays of the sun on a piece of paper until in burst into flames. On the cross the rays of God’s justice were focused on Jesus, and the combined guilt of all our sins focused on Him, caused His Spirit to suffer the fires of Hell telescoped and compacted into six horrible hours on the cross. Jesus died in the MIDST numbered with all transgressors, so that we might be numbered among the redeemed on the pages of the Lambs book of life. Listen to John in the closing pages of the New Testament regarding the results of the Judgment Day, “And if any was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire.” Thank God Almighty, Jesus died in the MIDST.

JESUS IN THE MIDST IN THE RESURRECTION

Jesus was in the midst on the day of the resurrection. One place where John said He was in the MIDST is in John 20:26, “And after eight days again the disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the MIDST, and said, Peace be unto you.”

Jesus was in the MIDST when He appeared to the Apostles in the upper room the Sunday after the resurrection. The week before, on the Sunday of the Resurrection Day He had also appeared, the doors being shut, and stood in the MIDST. He was not only standing in the MIDST of the Apostles, but to all intents and purposes, He was standing in the MIDST of every Christian on the Lord’s Day of every week since that time.

Paul tells us in First Corinthians 15, “For now hath Christ been risen from the dead the first fruits of them that sleep.” If Jesus is the first fruits of His resurrection then it naturally follows that there is another resurrection to follow. Paul continues that thought when he further said, “And since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.” Even before He went to the cross Jesus declared, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

Jesus will appear suddenly again not in an upper room but in the heavens above when He descends with a shout and the voice of the arch-angel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ arise first, then we who are alive unto His coming shall together be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air and He will be in the MIDST of all His disciples of every tongue and tribe, and nation for ever and ever.

JESUS IN THE MIDST OF HIS CHURCHES

Now we see Jesus in the MIDST of His Churches. In Revelation one we hear John say, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, What thou seest write in a book and send unto the seven Churches.” The Churches were at Ephesus, Syrrma, Thyatira, Pergamum, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. When John turned to see the voice that spake unto him he saw Jesus walking in the MIDST OF SEVEN GOLDEN CANLESTICKS. Jesus identified the candlesticks as Churches. Jesus is walking in the MIDST OF His Churches. Jesus apparently is inspecting His Churches and tells us what He saw.

For one thing five of the Churches were told to repent. Whatever they had going for them they needed to repent. The church at Laodicea was a strong doctrinal Church. They were quick to discover there were false prophets among them and dealt with them accordingly. They had been well taught by Paul. This was the Church that Paul told them there were one Body, and one Spirit, even as you have one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God. They had the doctrine straight, but going to services there was like going into a refrigerator. They had lost their first love and needed to repent.

The Church at Thyatira had a woman preacher named Jezebel and that is enough to reveal about that Church.

The church at Sardis was dead in spite of the fact that they had a big reputation for being a live wire Church, but Jesus said it was dead. What does a Church have to do to have a live reputation? A dancing, shimmying praise team is a sure-fire way to provide a little excitement and will always draw a bigger crowd.

The church at Laodicea was a rich Church, but Jesus said they were poor, they thought they were dressed in the latest fashion, but Jesus said they were naked.

The Church at Pergamum was as much like the world as the world itself. There was no differences in the life style of the Christians there than the people who were pagans. This seems to be the way it is in many Churches today. People become members of the Church and don’t give up any thing.

I read of a man one time who said he was a Christian, and he made this admission to a friend. He said, “I smoke, I cuss, I drink, in fact,” he said, “I guess you could say I am a drunkard. I cheat on my wife, I am on drugs, I smoke pot, I gamble, but there is one thing I have never done, I have never given up my religion.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I meet people like that every day.

If five of these Churches out of seven were told to repent, then five people in every seven in any Church needs to repent. I do not say that all you listening to this program at this time need to repent, but five out of seven do.

JESUS IN THE MIDST IN HEAVEN

Finally in Revelation 5:6, “And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though it had been slain.” The Lamb was not standing there as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, but as a Lamb that had been slain; His throat had been cut. This slain Lamb was standing between the throne and all those who would approach unto the Father. Jesus is in the MIDST.

Remember too, Jesus did say in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” And is it not also a reminder of the words of the Apostle Peter in Acts 4:12, “And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

This reference to the Lamb that was slain will be a continual reminder to the redeemed in Heaven that we were permitted to approach the Father only through the blood of the slain Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. In Heaven Jesus will always be in the MIDST.