Turn with me now to the book
of Zephaniah. It's page 1164 in my Bible. And it's the fourth book from
the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah, chapter one. About a month ago, we read some
verses from Zephaniah 3 in a message. And they blessed me so much,
I made a note to, after we came back from Africa, to look at
the book of Zephaniah. I wrote down, read the book of
Zephaniah. So I did, and I very much believe
the Lord has given me a message from it. Zephaniah 1 verse 1
says, The word of the Lord, which came
unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, The son of Amariah, the son of
Hischiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. That will be our text. And I love texts like that. You
already know what I'm going to do with it. I turned to this book and I read
verse one and I thought, let me just see what the definitions
of these names are. And I read them and I realized
immediately that's my message. I just, I love it when that happens.
Just blessed me so much. I hope the Lord will make this
to be a blessing. Actually, there's only three chapters in this little
book and I'd like to look at the whole thing, but I pray the
Lord will make this to be a blessing to you like he made it to me.
Each one of these names, the names in the scripture and places
in the scripture, they always have a meaning. They always do. They were all, you know, people
were given names because of some meaning and places were given
names because of a certain meaning. And we've looked at this kind
of thing before, but quite often the definitions of the names
and the places in the scripture, they tell us the gospel story. All you have to do is just read
the definitions and it tells us. The gospel, and that's exactly
what we have here tonight. In these names, we have the gospel. And I'm always so amazed at the
precision of our Lord. The detail of his word, even
in all of these fathers, just picking names for their sons. Do you realize how much time
was spanned? This is talking about a, you
know, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather,
and then a great, great, great, great grandfather, and then a
great, great, great grandfather. And I mean, this is a long time,
and they pick these names, and just in this one verse, you perfectly
have the gospel. That's glorious to me, that our
Lord is so detailed in moving those men to pick those names,
just amazing. So let's see Christ in these
names. But before we do, before we see
the gospel in these names, I want us to see why we need the gospel
so badly. Why we need the gospel so badly. I just mentioned in our prayer,
we take all this for granted. And you know, we do. I do. I'm speaking on my own behalf. I take these things for granted. But I want us to see why we need
the gospel so badly. This was the word of the Lord
that came to Zephaniah. That's what we just read in verse
one. The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah. Let's begin
by just reading chapter one. And we'll begin in verse two.
We already read verse one. This is the word of the Lord.
He said in verse two, I will utterly consume all things from
off the land, saith the Lord. Okay. That is the same message
from God to mankind right now. That's the same word of the Lord
right now. This day is coming. And I know that that seems unreal. And it seems so far off, but
it could be today. It could be today. It could be
before this service is over. The day is coming. The day of
the vengeance of the Lord is coming. Everybody's fine right
now out in the world. Everybody's fine. Everybody is
marrying and giving in marriage and everything's fine. Life is
good and we got our things that we do and all that stuff. But
all of the sudden, it's coming. The day of vengeance is coming. It is coming so fast. And I want
All of, I want every soul here to know that. I want every soul
here to get a hold of that. I don't care, you know, at the
last day of our life, the day that our Lord individually calls
us home, that's the day, that's the day that a soul goes to meet
God. And one day he will return to the earth and every soul on
this earth is gonna meet God. But old or young, I want every
person here to realize this is a reality. This day of vengeance
is coming. It is going to be a reality for
all of us. Verse three, he said, I will consume man and beast. I will consume the fowls of heaven
and the fishes of the sea and the stumbling blocks with the
wicked. And I will cut off man from off
the land, saith the Lord. I will also stretch out mine
hand upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place and the
name of the Chemerims with the priest. Those were idolatrous
priests. That's what those were. Idle
worshipers, false preachers, preaching false gods. Verse five.
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops,
you know, they worship all the moon and the stars and all that
stuff. And them that worship and that swear by the Lord and
that swear by Malcolm, that was a false God. What he's saying
is those that mix idolatry with God, with God's word. Verse six,
and them that are turned back from the Lord and those that
have not sought the Lord nor inquired for him, He said, I'm going to utterly
consume everything and everyone that does not bow the knee to
me alone and worship me alone. And that's all men and women
by nature. That's the entire world by nature. But for the grace of God, that
would be us. But for the grace of God, that
will be us. But for the grace of God, that
will be somebody in this room. And I don't want it to be anybody
in this room. Verse seven, hold thy peace at
the presence of the Lord God for the day of the Lord is at
hand for the Lord had prepared a sacrifice. He hath bid his
guests and it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice
that I will punish the princes and the king's children and all
such as are clothed with strange apparel. There's only one thing
to be clothed in, and that's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Verse 9, in the same day also
will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which
fill their master's house with violence and deceit. And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be
a noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the
second, and a great crashing from the hills. He's saying the
day of vengeance is coming and there's going to be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Verse 11, How ye inhabitants
of Mattesh, for all the merchant people are cut down. All they
that bear silver are cut off. And it shall come to pass at
that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles, light,
no dark spots, and punish the men that are settled on their
lees, that say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither
will he do evil. God's not gonna do anything.
You're crazy, God is not gonna do anything. Therefore their goods shall become
a booty. That means stolen treasure. Somebody
else's stolen treasure. And their houses a desolation.
They shall also build houses but not inhabit them. They shall
plant vineyards but not drink the wine thereof. That means
all their works will be in vain. Everything they've done will
be in vain. We think that life on this earth
is so important. We think it's so important. There's
things we've got to accomplish. We've got to reach these levels
before we die. You know, it's so important.
On this day, none of it means anything. I mean, it's over.
It means nothing. It counts for nothing. Verse
14, the great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hasteth
greatly. It is coming quickly. It's coming quickly. Even the voice of the day of
the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. Mighty at
one time on this earth, they're gonna cry bitterly. Verse 15,
that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day
of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm
against the fenced cities and against the high towers. And
I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind
men because they have sinned against the Lord. And their blood
shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their
gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's
wrath. But the whole land shall be devoured
by the fire of his jealousy. For he shall make even a speedy
riddance of all them that dwell in the land." That is going to
happen. That is going to happen. The
day of the vengeance of the Lord is going to come like a thief
in the night. He will come back. in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men and women are going
to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now, if that's
the case, what hope do we have? That's going to happen. He's
coming back in the whole world. If that's the case, what hope
do we have? This warning must still go out. You read chapters like this and
you think, wow, we still need to read chapters like this. I
read a chapter similar to this for our scripture reading, 1
Thessalonians 5, and Paul said, you make sure you read this to
all the holy brethren. The day of the Lord's coming
is a thief in the night. This must still go out because
this is yet to come. And if that's so, what hope do
we have? Here it is. Here's the message
of salvation that is in, by, through the person, the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow in this, because everything
in chapter one is bad news, it's horrible news, somehow this really
stands out to me, just how glorious the goodness of the Lord is.
All right, here's our hope. Verse one, the word of the Lord,
which came unto Zephaniah, In the meanings of these names,
we're gonna hear the gospel. The gospel of our salvation.
Zephaniah means, this is what it means. Jehovah has treasured. Jehovah has treasured. Who is Jehovah? Jehovah is the
Lord our God. Who is the Lord our God? Jesus
of Nazareth. the Lord Jesus Christ. He has treasured. He has made up a treasure. His name means to hide. What do you do with a treasure? You just put it out there for
everybody to see and just leave it alone and walk away from it?
No. It means to hide, to cover, to reserve, to protect, to keep in a secret
place, Jehovah has treasured. You want
to hear the good news of the gospel? All bad news concerning
this world, all bad news concerning men and women, but Jehovah has
treasured. The Lord Jesus Christ is safely
keeping you hidden in a secret place. This is coming. It's going to be bad. It's going
to be so bad. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
keeping his people hidden in a safe place. You know, whenever
Moses said, show me your glory. And the Lord said, I'll make
all my goodness pass before you. And he said, I'm going to do
that by putting you in a cliff to the rock. And he said, I'm
going to put my hand over it. And I'm going to pass by and
you're not going to be able to look directly on me because no
man can see me and live. I'm going to hide you from my
judgment. the glory of my judgment. And
that's what he does for all of his people. He is keeping them
safely in a secret place. That secret place is Christ.
Verse one says, the word of the Lord, which came unto Zephaniah,
the son of Cushiah. His name means their blackness. That's what Jehovah has treasured
us from. That's what Jehovah has covered,
the blackness of our sin, the darkness, the evil, the wickedness
that required all of that vengeance from God. That's what Christ
took from His people by laying it on Himself. Their blackness,
their deadness, their ruin. Verse 1 says, The word of the
Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, The son of
Gedaliah. His name means Jehovah is great. That Jehovah is great. It means Jehovah has become great. The Lord has become great. It's
not that our Lord was not always great. He does not change. What
He is, that's what He always was. But Philippians 2 says,
because our Lord was willing and obedient in laying the blackness
of our sin on Himself and suffering the death that was owed to us
in our place, even the death of the cross, because of that,
it says, the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him a name
which is above every name. to the point that at the hearing
of His name, every knee bows, every tongue confesses that He
is Lord. Great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised. Jehovah has become great. Great
is He, great is He. Holy and true are all His ways. Let every creature shout His
praise. We are gonna be thanking God.
We're gonna be thanking God all through eternity. After we see
this great day, and all of God's people watch it and say, even
so, amen, we're gonna be thanking God. Verse one says, the word
of the Lord, which came into Zephaniah, the son of Cushi,
the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah. His name means Jehovah
has promised. He has promised, he made a covenant
in this matter and he will not go back on it. He made a covenant
to hide his people. He made a covenant to cover their
blackness. And he will not go back on it,
he said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I have made a promise, I've made
an everlasting covenant concerning you, ordered in all things and
sure. We couldn't have a better word
of promise from our Lord. We just could not be given a
more sure word of promise. He said, I have saved, I will
keep. I'm your God, you're my people
forever. I promise you that. I promise
you that. I love how Hebrews says, because
he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Jehovah
has promised. Verse one says, the word of the
Lord, which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushiah, the son of
Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah. His name
means Jehovah is my strength. Moses said, the Lord is my strength
and my song. He has become my salvation. When
we see the goodness of the Lord and what he did for us of his
own doing. He did this for His people before
His people were ever even created. He did this for His people before
they ever even sinned against Him. He did this for His people
before they ever had any clue. He said, you don't even know
my name and I did this for you. And because He has done this
for us of His own accord, of His own will, begat He us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
His creature. Because of that, He's our strength. He's our strength. Just hearing that word of promise
gives us so much strength and comfort and assurance. This man's name continues in
meaning. It means the Lord is my rock. The Lord is my foundation. The
Lord is my courage. I love that one. The Lord is my victory. I don't
feel like I win at anything, but the Lord is my victory. We can say that with Him. He's
my strength. He's my life. He's my all. Verse 1 says, The word of the
Lord which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of
Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hischiah, in the days
of Josiah. His name means Jehovah has healed. Jehovah has healed. I am the
Lord that healeth thee. The Lord, our healer, the Lord,
our great physician, you know, he really does heal all of his
people. We get these sicknesses and diseases
and he heals us from them and then we get another one. And he heals us from it and then
we get another one and it keeps going until one day. No more
sicknesses. One day is an eternal healing.
The moment he calls us home, he said, that's it. No more sickness.
No more sin. No more ruin. He's our healer. He's our physician.
Psalm 103 says, forget not all his benefits. Who heals all your
diseases, delivers your life from destruction. Our Lord said, the whole, the
well need not a physician, but the sick do. The sick do, and
that's what we are. Every sick soul that was given
to him and drawn to him can say, the Lord Jesus Christ, my God,
has healed me. He's my healer. He's my healer. I can't heal myself. He is my
healer. He treasured me. He removed my sin from me. He humbled himself to the obedience
of the cross for me. He made a covenant promise concerning
me. He laid a sure foundation for
me. And he healed me. Because of all of his work, everything
that he's done, I'm healed. And the last name in verse one
is Ammon. And this is what it means. The
master workman. The master workman, the one who
mastered the work. And that's Christ. He mastered
the work. Well done. Well done. It is finished. The work is finished. The work of our salvation could
not possibly be more complete than it is. It could not be more
complete than it is. I do something and it always
still has room for improvement. Not this work. It's as complete
as it can possibly be. He's the master workman. So verse
one says, the word of the Lord, which came under Zephaniah, the
son of Cushiah, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of
Hischiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. Not only do names have meanings,
but places do too. And the name of the place, Judah,
means praise, celebrate, confess, revere, worship, give thanks
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, our God,
all because of Him we're saved. That's our hope. Something very
terrible is coming to this place because of sin. What's our hope? What's the only hope we have
of standing in the day of judgment? Here it is. He treasured us,
removed that blackness of sin from us, humbled himself to the
cross for us, made a promise to us, laid a foundation for
us to stand on, healed us, and finish the work. Because of that,
we praise, we celebrate, we worship, we give thanks to the Lord Jesus
Christ for everything he's done. I pray the Lord will make that
to be a blessing.