May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning. As we consider his word, let
us turn to the prophecy of Zephaniah chapter one and we'll read verse
12. The prophecy of Zephaniah chapter
one and reading verse 12. And it shall come to pass at
that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles, 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. Zephaniah was a true prophet
of the Lord, and he was sent by God to speak to Judah and
Jerusalem in the days of Josiah, which of course was not all that
many years before God's wrath was poured out upon them in a
terrible way so that Jerusalem was slaughtered and the walls
broken down, the temple also destroyed. And how we read in
the Word of God, a great part of the Word of God is given over
to the warnings to the church at that time with regard to the
judgments which would come upon Israel. But we sadly recognize
that those words which were graciously given were for the most part
ignored by the church in those days. Now Zephaniah lived before
Haggai and Zechariah before that time and here he was in speaking
to Judah and Jerusalem about those things which would come
and we see how Israel were departed at this time. Now, we don't know
exactly when this was written in Josiah's life, because Josiah
was a good king, but when he commenced his reign, the country
was in a terrible condition. But he was able to bring it back
very largely. But again, as it may be towards
the end of his life, when things again were beginning to slip,
we're not sure when Zephaniah was commissioned to prophesy,
but nonetheless, he prophesied faithfully and he prophesied
needfully. And the Lord speaks about the
judgments that he will bring in an amazing way He says, he
will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the
Lord. I will consume man and beast. I will consume the fowls
of the 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 my 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
Khmerims with the priests, and them that worship the host of
heaven upon the housetops, and them that worship and swear by
the Lord, and that swear by Malcolm, and them that are turned back
from the Lord, and those that have not sought the Lord, nor
inquired of him." Well, we get some idea, don't we, of the tragic
scene that existed. Remember, he's addressing Judah
and Jerusalem. The people have been so blessed
over so many, many years with the privilege of having the temple
in their midst, the high priest amongst them, the continual burnt
offering day and night, the annual day of atonement, a wonderful
privilege. And yet we see here so many people
just not following the way of the Lord. are following other
gods, false gods, not concerned, and they have not sought the
Lord. Well, how tragic it is, isn't it, when a people turn
away from the Lord God. And I suppose if we therefore
consider the day and age in which we live, surely it's a very similar
age, isn't it, when people have turned their back upon God. They've worshipped false gods,
We see it all around us, do we not, in a day and age in which
we live? And so we have the prophecy that
the Lord speaks. He says, Hold thy peace at the
presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He hath bid his guests 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. In the same day also will I punish
all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses
with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord, There shall be the noise of a cry from
the fish gate, and a howling from the second, and a great
crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh,
for all the merchant people are cut down, all they that bear
silver are cut off." So we see the grim picture which is prophesied
to Israel. And we might think, well surely
with a prophecy like that the people are going to turn from
their evil ways and to truly seek unto the Lord God. But we know it was not so. We know that the people ignored
the true Word of God. And isn't that true today? For
the most part, people ignore the Word of God. They ignore
the truth of God. They just want to hear easy things,
soft things. things that just perhaps are
acceptable to their natural mind, things that please their natural
reasoning. They're not prepared to listen,
not prepared to be instructed by the truth of God, the great
things of God, the deep things of God, the blessed things of
God, the eternal things of God. No, men and women, boys and girls,
want to live for time. They are not concerned about
eternity. My friends, today, what a blessing
it is that we are found here together, worshipping the Lord. But again, the Lord looks upon
us and we have these words then, that Zephaniah brings the people
and he says, and it shall come to pass at that time that I will
search Jerusalem with candles. We can think of that in a physical
way, can't we? Jerusalem, a great city, and
we can see therefore people are going about lighting candles
to look into these secret parts and the secret places to see
if there was any treasure, if there was anything to be found
in those locations. Well, of course, that might be
naturally, but this book is a book which speaks to us spiritually,
and very clearly then, this word is directed to us today as it
was to Israel of old. The Lord will come to pass, he
will search Jerusalem with candles. What does that really mean in
a spiritual sense? Jerusalem represents the Church
of God. What it means is therefore that
God will come and it will search our hearts, the hearts of the
Church of God, and as it were to light a candle. We might not
be so familiar to that today, but it may be if you think in
a modern situation there might be taking of a torch which shines
a good light and we know sometimes the torches today are very powerful
and they can search and they can look into very dark corners
and discover any secrets which are there. Well, the Lord can
search our hearts, as it were, with his light, his searchlight. And he can search into the very
corners of our heart. And you know, in those corners
there will be things which will be discovered. Things which may
be good, but also things which may be bad. evil things, which
may be lurking in our hearts. And the Lord says, he'll come,
he'll search them out, and his light will shine therefore into
our hearts, and we won't be able to hide, we won't be able to
think, well, of course that's well hidden. Because when God
shines his light, it's no longer hidden. no longer hidden, the
light shines into those secret places and he reveals. Now it would be a wonderful blessing
in our lives if God shines, as it were, with a really bright
torch into our hearts and discovers to us there things that perhaps
we may have forgotten about, things that we didn't realise
were lurking there, things that were not doing us any real good,
but we weren't turning them out, we were letting them still reside
in our hearts, and the effect was to not bring us into the
light, but to bring us and to keep us in a state of darkness. And the Lord says he will search
Jerusalem with candles. Well, As we look at ourselves,
has God searched you and has he searched me? My friends, not
in a very casual way, but in a very detailed way, as that
light has shone into our hearts and the Lord has discovered to
us things that perhaps we were ashamed to realise, perhaps we
were ashamed to admit, we were harbouring in our heart. And perhaps they appeared to
be hidden from men, but they're not hidden from God. And it may be that because of
those things, we are in not a healthy place in spiritual things, because
we are harbouring things which are not God-honouring. do not
bring blessing to God. Perhaps we have idols there. You may say, well, I don't bow
down and worship Baal. But no, you and I may bow down
and worship an idol in our heart, which is not evident to other
people. We must always remember that
true religion is the religion of our heart. And the effect
of the religion of our heart, of our very soul, will be evident
in our walk and will be evident in our conversation. We may not
like to confess, we may not like to admit the situation which
exists, but we can be thankful if we have a God who does come
and shines into our heart and reveals to us evil things which
are there, which are stunting our spiritual growth. It's a very hypocritical thing
to pray for spiritual growth when we are harbouring evil things
in our heart. Because we are trying really
then to serve two gods. We're trying to serve the god
of self and the living god. And we will not be able to serve
two masters. You see, Israel in Old Testament
times, they would have pretended very often to worship the true
god. But they may have had these Secret
gods. They may have been, like these
people, worshipping the host of heaven upon the housetops.
People probably wouldn't have been able to see them on the
housetop. But God saw them, and God knew
what they were doing, and God knows our life. And he knows
what we're doing in secret. It may not be, perhaps, in a
very outgoing way. It may be, as it were, a secret
way. Nonetheless, God looks into our
hearts. And here we see this great statement. It's the Lord who does the searching. The Lord who does the searching.
What a blessing it is when God comes and doesn't allow us to
continue in a sinful way of thought. Sinful way of thought. Yes, to
think that God comes and he searches us out and reveals to us the
hidden things which we have been holding fast and not prepared
to give up, not prepared to leave behind. Now, the Prophet says
therefore, and it shall come to pass at that time that I will
search Jerusalem with candles. We'll come back to that in a
moment. But I want to just move on to this aspect. And punish
the men that are settled on their lees. Now this is a strange expression
really to us. But it really has a statement
with regards to leaving wine to ferment and leaving wine to
settle. so that all the impurities in
that settle to the bottom, and it's left alone to settle, to
come, as the Mahajan says, to be coagulated. Now then, what
does it really mean in reference to the spiritual man? It means
this, that to be settled on our leaves means to be intoxicated
with pleasures, perhaps strengthening ourselves with wealth and wickedness,
and progressing in that way which seems to be easy. That's really the definition
of, in a spiritual sense, of this situation being settled
on their lease. Now, the Word of God here tells
us The Lord will punish such. He will punish such. And we know
that when he spoke to Judah and Israel, they were punished. They
were punished greatly. The Lord does not speak words
and then forgets about them. The Lord doesn't speak words
and they do not come to pass. The Lord speaks and it is done. My friends, when the Lord speaks
like this, we should be very concerned that we are not found
in this day and age in which we live, intoxicated with the
pleasures of the things of this poor world. And it will therefore
be a great blessing if God comes and searches our heart. You see,
the devil, the devil today, he wants everyone to be pleasure-seeking. He wants everyone to be seeking
after their own things. He doesn't want them to put away
and place the effect of using their time well. He wants them
to use up their time in pleasure seeking and being intoxicated
with such things. Therefore we should be thankful
today that we have a word like this to speak to us and direct
us As you come to pass at that time. I will search the God will
search Jerusalem with candles and then punish the men that
are like this intoxicated with pleasure and wealth and wickedness
and I just endeavoring to leave to live an easy life You know
by nature we like to have an easy life. The Bible tells us
if we are true Christians we will not have an easy life. We will not have an easy life. The Bible is very clear and if
you and I follow the accounts of many in the Word of God we
will find they did not have an easy life. They had opposition. They may have been blessed on
many occasions, but there was much opposition. Much opposition. You know, you think of Abraham,
for instance, he had much opposition. And you think of Jacob, he had
much opposition. You think of Joseph, he had much
opposition. And you think of Daniel, he had
much opposition. You think of the New Testament,
You can think of the apostles, they had much opposition. You
think of the great saviour himself, he had much opposition. And why
should we be any different? Why should we expect our life
to just be an easy life to wander through this world. No, you and
I will prove that it is not so. If we are the true household
of faith, the true children of God, and if we are living our
life as unto the Lord and not unto ourself, we will not find
our life is an easy life. And if we are adopting that posture,
we can expect what the Lord says here, that he will punish those
who are walking that way. So if you are looking for an
easy life, expect the Lord to bring his judgments and his punishments
upon you. No, we are called upon to serve
the Lord. We are called upon to follow
the Lord. And my friends, there is no easy
way. No, but bless God, the Lord doesn't
leave us in the way. See, that's the encouragement,
and that's the blessing. We only have to trace out, don't
we, the people that I've spoken of, Abraham and Joseph and Jacob
and Daniel and the apostles, the Lord was with them in their
trials. The Lord blessed them in those
situations. He didn't forsake them. And he
strengthened them through those times of testing, which they
are. You see, they're times of testing
to see whether we will, if our religion is that which will follow
the Lord, follow his gracious, glorious and wonderful example,
or whether we will carry on and look for an easy way. No, my
friends, that's not the way of the children of God. The way
of the children of God is a way of difficulty and tribulation
and hardship. But don't forget this. It has
a good end. It has the end of eternal life.
It has the end of eternal blessing. Remember, you and I are passing
through this world. We're just pilgrims. We're just
strangers. We're passing through it. And
so we have this statement before us here. and it shall come to
pass. If you and I, my friends, are
one of the Church of God, expect God to come and to search your
heart. Expect God to shine his light
into it and to discover things that you were trying to hide
down. By that I mean this, you're trying
to hold, you're trying to continue with, and you want them to remain
there. No, the Lord comes. and he will
cause a separation, a separation from the vanities of life and
a separation unto himself. That's the blessing, isn't it,
of true separation. We're separated unto God and
we're separated away from the things of this world. In this time of searching and
in this time of blessing, which it is, to the true Church of
God, the psalmist himself, David, he was no exception, was he,
to this path? No, he wasn't. And he tells us,
it's good, isn't it, we have a record of some of the desires
and some of the experiences and testimonies of a man of God like
David. And he tells us, Psalm 139, he
says, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Now, are we a companion with
God's servant David? And can we say this morning,
yes, God has searched me. If he has, if you say that honestly,
what's been the effect? What's been the effect of God's
searching? Lord thou has searched me and
known me. They was able to say yes the
Lord knew him and it was an evidence of God's love and mercy towards
him that he had been searched. God hadn't left him just to a
life of ease, a life to continue in this world. God has searched
him. He's able to come and say to
God You see, it's really a prayer here to God, isn't it? It's wonderful,
isn't it, when we can come and have a conversation with our
God. And here was a conversation with
a man of God, to his God. He says, Thou knowest my down
sittings and mine uprising, and thou understandest my thought
afar off. You see, when this light shines,
these candles, directed to our hearts, it's the thoughts, and
God knows our thoughts. He knows them. We get the evidence
of it here. My thoughts are far off. They
encompass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with
all my ways. When God searches us, he shows
us, I know all the ways you're going, I know all the deviations
you're taking, I know all the wrong ways you're lurking and
going after, for there is not a word in my
tongue. But lo, O Lord, thou knowest
it all together. The Lord knows not only our thoughts,
he knows every word that we speak, every word. Can we think before God that
the words that we speak are always righteous words? They're always
without guile? They're always with honesty?
They're always with fervency for the Lord? The Lord says,
there's not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it all
together. Thou hast set me behind than
before, and laid thine hand upon me." If God has searched us,
it means that God, the Almighty God, and what a wonderful thing
it is to think that God has put his hand upon us. And he's perhaps
stopped us. Perhaps he's hedged up our way. We might not have liked it. We
may have kicked. The Word of God gives us an illustration
like a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. We didn't want to
be kept in, we didn't want to be hindered in the things that
we wanted to do. What a blessing it is to know
that God's hand has been upon us. Yes, thou hast set me behind
before and laid thine hand upon me. And then he comes and says
this, and this is a great word, isn't it? Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go for thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee for thy presence? If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, thou
art there." You see, David had a little view of the greatness
of God. My friends, when God searches
us, when God, as it were, searches our heart like Jerusalem candles,
then we have perhaps a little idea of how great God is. The majesty, the holiness, the
favour, the mercy of Almighty God toward us this great God
has not left us and he hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve. You see this searching is very
strong and it's very powerful and you and I won't be able to
avoid it. If God has a purpose of love
and mercy toward us We will recognize and we will realize the powerful
searching of Almighty God upon our hearts. The Apostle Paul,
when he wrote to the Hebrews, he speaks about God's word. And of course, God's word is
the written word. And what a blessing if that word
searches you and me. And so the apostle says, for
the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and is under the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Well, has the candle
of the Lord shone into our heart in this way, to direct us to
the power of Almighty God, and that His Word has come and has
cut us, has penetrated into our heart. Oh yes, it went right
down deep there, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Well, we see then
the strength and power of Almighty God. So we have this looking
into our heart and discerning all those things which are bad,
all those things which are evil, all those things which are sinful.
But on the other hand, what a blessing it is when the Word of God The
light of God shines into our heart and reveals to us there
His work, His work toward us. It reveals to us His work that
has revealed to us how we stand before a holy, holy God. It's a wonderful blessing. It's
the Spirit of God, His light has shone like that into our
hearts. And we are not able to therefore
condone ourselves. We're not able to support our
sinful condition. No, the Lord reveals to us something
of the evil of our heart, the sinfulness of our nature. And we realise that, well, in
fact, we're not good at all. The Spirit of God shows us the
badness of our heart. Now you know, it's good to realise
that this is the Spirit's work. This is God shining into our
heart and showing us the things which perhaps we didn't want
to see but God shows us. And what's the effect? When God's
light shines, like this candle, it makes us come and cry out
to God in confession. that God would have mercy upon
us, that God would be gracious to us, that the Lord would take
away our sins, the Lord would forgive our sins and all our
iniquities, the Lord would turn us unto himself. It would be
the cry of our heart and we would understand, perhaps like David,
when we read in the 51st Psalm when he said, against thee, thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, and it's
the Spirit's work, and it's the evidence of God's work in our
soul, when he shows to us our sinful condition. Yes, that light
has shone like this candle, and I will search Jerusalem in candles,
but has that come to pass in your life and my life? Has it
come to pass? The Lord says, I will. He will
search. Has he done it, my friends? Has
he revealed to us our true condition? And if he has, we can bless God
for it. And if he has, then has he led
us and directed us then to look to himself as the only saviour
of sinners? It brings us to this condition
where we cannot look to any hope in ourselves. And it may be,
we come and say with the hymn writer, no hope in self I find. They're off to sort it well.
And we've had to give up looking to ourself. And to look out of
ourself, because in ourself is only evil. To look out of ourself,
to where? To the Lord Jesus Christ. And
why should we look to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why should we look
to him? We look to him because he is
the only hope of salvation. He is the only one that can help
us. He's the only one that really
understands us. He's the only one who can speak
comfort to our soul. He's the only one that can show
to us what he has done for us, on our behalf. Oh, my friends, then, you know,
when the Spirit of God, when the light shines and directs
us then to the glory of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, What
a work it was. My friends, it was a, oh, a blessed
work. And it was a work. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, in that work, he fulfilled that which was needful
for your and my salvation. And what was it? Amazing thought. The Lord, took our sins. Every one. The ones which the
candle of the Lord reveals. He took them. He carried them. He bore them away. They were
all washed away. How were they washed away? Because,
my friends, the Lord satisfied the holy demands of Almighty
God in dying for you and me. He took our sins. He took the
dying traitor, the place of the dying thief. You think, my friends,
of that thief? Yes. Where did he look? To the Saviour. What did he say?
This man has done nothing amiss. We deserve the due reward to
our sin. My friends, as you and I are
shown by the Spirit of God, we will come empty. Empty. Because we have nothing
to bring. And we need a Saviour. And then to realise Yes, this
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, he died upon Calvary's cross, he
shed his blood to take away all sin, all my sin. Oh, you're blessed
God then, that that candle has shone into your heart, into the
deep recesses and there there was that little hope, that little
hope which was sprang up, that hope of eternal life. Oh, what
a blessing it is to know that we have such a Savior. Well, the prophet goes on, it
shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem
in candles and punish the men that are settled on their leaves,
that say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither
will he do evil. You see, men today, hearts are
hardened. They're hardened, they're like
a rock, they're like a stone. And there's no effect upon them
through the Word of God. Therefore they are in this condition.
They're saying, remember in their heart, secret thoughts, perhaps
they don't give out to the world at large or to anyone. It's in
their heart and they're saying, the Lord will not do good, neither
will he do evil. therefore they continue in their
own sinful way and will at last perish in their sins and fall
into hell forever and ever. Oh my friends, it's a desperate
condition to be left to ourselves. My friends, there's no hope in
self, no hope at all. The only hope we have is in the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, we fail,
the Saviour did not fail. Praise God for that today. Bless
God for the great work of salvation. Bless God today if you have a
hope in his death, a hope in his shed blood that's taken away
all our sins. So here we have then this word
spoken to the people in the day of Josiah. They were solemn words,
they were needful words and my friends for the most part it
didn't have any effect upon the people. They carried on in their
own sinful ways. My friends today I'll make a
word of God, speak to our hearts divine power from on high and
may we have the blessed evidence that God truly has come and searched
us, searched our hearts, spoken to us, revealed to us our lost
condition, directed us to the saving work of the Lord Jesus
Christ and given us that good hope that by his grace we shall
be with him through eternity. around that throne of God in
heaven to sing his praises, glory to the lamb that was slain. Well
this morning can we thank God for his word, thanks God for
his grace, wondrous grace. Thank God he has given us faith,
living faith to believe the gospel and to have that evidence in
our life that we are one. those blessed whom God has searched
and has found that good thing in our heart, his work, his grace,
his mercy, so that we therefore have that evidence and that good
hope that it is well with our souls. Amen.