It's right next to the book of
Nahum, Habakkuk, and then Zephaniah. And then if you need to go further,
Haggai is too far. So if that helps. If that helps. Zephaniah. Chapter 1. And the title of the
message this evening is Complete Destruction and complete salvation. Complete destruction and complete
salvation. The Scripture here says in chapter
1 that the Word of the Lord came to this prophet, Zephaniah, and
this is the Word. In verse 2, we find the Word
concerning justice and judgment. The Scripture says, the Lord
says, I will utterly consume All things from off the land,
saith the Lord. The first words of this book,
of this prophecy, are that of destruction. Destruction. God says, I will utterly, completely
destroy all things from off of the land. And so that's our first
point this evening is the utter consumption or utter destruction
of the curse of God upon man. Now we know that this prophecy
is physically regarding the destruction of the nation of Israel and Judah
concerning their sin. We know that the Lord hears prophesying
of sending the Babylonians to come and to destroy the nation
of Judah. Because they had left off their
God. And this truly happened. This prophecy was fulfilled in
that sense. That the nation of Judah was
taken into captivity by this by the hand using, the
Lord using these Babylonians. But I want us to see the greater
sense of this. It is not just a physical prophecy
of the captivity, the coming captivity of Jerusalem, but I
want us to see that this scripture here is in reference not just
to this physical act, but rather the curse. The curse of man. We can see this. Look at this.
He says in verse 3, I will consume man and beast, I will consume
the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea. This is not just
talking about the Babylonians coming and killing the fish or
killing every beast. We know that that didn't take
place. But this is rather talking in a spiritual sense of what
God has done regarding the sin of Adam. Regarding the sin of
Adam. Remember, believer in Christ,
that our father, Adam, was first created upright and perfect. He was created sinless and in
communion with God. And yet, he sinned. He sinned
against God, not being deceived, the Scripture says, but with
his eyes wide open. Our father Adam, with open eyes,
deliberately, on purpose, defied God and disobeyed the commandment
of God as to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Now this sin, This sin is no simple slight against God. This sin of our father was no
light rebellion or mistake. This was no small deviation. This sin of Adam was nothing
less than high treason against God. If Adam could have done
this, if he could have leaped into the throne of God, he would
have removed the diadem from his head and crowned himself
as God. Adam, when he sinned against
God, purposed to rob God of His glory and His right to rule. Therefore, the result of this
treason God says, I will utterly consume all things from off the
face of the earth. I will utterly destroy, I will
utterly consume all men with death. Is this not what happened? Is this not what happened when
our Father fell? If we go to Romans chapter 5,
we see this very clearly. In Romans chapter 5 and verse
12, the Scripture tells us, Wherefore, by one man sin entered into the
world. I know that men despise the truth
of original sin. They do. Men despise the truth
of original sin. They despise the doctrine that
declares without apology that Adam was the representative man
of all the human race. This is clearly determined here. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world. But no matter how men spit and
kick, I've read some things this last week that would make your
hairs curl, that the utter blasphemy and rejection of this doctrine
of truth, this truth that Adam represented all man, they kick,
they spit at it, They despise it, but I tell you, they can
do that all they will. And it does not remove this from
the truth. It does not move this truth one
bit. Matter of fact, man's hatred
of this truth only proves it. It only proves this to be true.
Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world. And what
was the result of this? Death, the Scripture says, so
death passed. And death by sin, so death passed
upon all men, for all have sinned. The result of this sin was utter
destruction. I cannot express that truth enough. When Adam sinned, the curse of
God fell on all the human race. So that no man, no man shall
escape his nature. No man shall escape this curse. And when this death fell on Adam,
it was a personal death. and not only a personal death,
but it was a corporate death. Death is the result of sin. This
was the sentence of God's justice when He placed Adam in the garden.
He gave him every tree of the garden. Is that not gracious
of God to give Him lease over all His creation? And He says,
there's only one that belongs to Me. Don't eat it. It's Mine. And yet in the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. This was God's justice that promised
utter destruction. And when lust hath conceived
in Adam's heart, sin was its offspring, and death, the judgment
of God against sin, fell personally on Adam. We know that in the
moment he ate, the scripture says, both of their eyes were
open. When Eve ate, nothing happened. She represented no one. Adam
represented us all. Therefore, when Adam ate, both
of their eyes were open, and they knew they were naked. He
felt guilt. He knew his guilt. His spiritual
death was evidenced by His running from God. Running from the presence
of God. When God spake in the cool of
the day and came to Adam, He ran and hid. His spiritual death
was manifest when He was confronted with His guilt and He blamed
God. And He blamed the woman instead
of confessing His sin. Even so, has this spiritual death
passed to all of us? This is the result of Adam's
sin, is that death has passed. The darkness of death has covered
the entire human race. And God said, I will consume
all. And that's what happened when
Adam fell. The curse consumed us all, covered
us all. So that all men, those who have
the law written on the tables of stone, Paul said, and those
who have the law written on the tables of heart, all men are
without excuse before God. All men by nature are completely
consumed with the curse of spiritual death. Adam's death and guilt
was passed even to the unborn. Consider that. That even the
unborn, the scripture in Romans here, he said that death reigned
even on those that sinned not after the similitude of Adam's
transgression. In other words, those who have
not done neither good nor evil, that consider this, the nature
of death is past even to the unborn. David said in Psalm 51 and verse
5, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. In Psalm 58, verse 3, it says,
The wicked are estranged from the womb, speaking lies. I was reading a message from
Spurgeon, and he said, You take a little child, and as soon as
he can walk, he'll run to sin. You don't have to teach him.
And if you let him go, he'll continue in it until his gray
hairs, unless God, by His grace, save him. You remember in Genesis, before
the Lord sent the flood, He said He would consume all men because
every thought of the imagination of the heart of man was evil
continually. And you know what God said after
the flood? He said the same thing. He said
in Genesis 8, 21, He said even after the flood that the thoughts,
every thought of the imagination of the heart of man is evil from
his youth. You see, this nature, no one
escapes this. No one escapes this nature. Has
God not consumed all from the land with the curse of spiritual
death, so that none escape? And I tell you, you go back to
your text and you see this, not even the creation escaped. Look
at that in verse 3, I will consume man and beast, I will cause the
fowls of the air and heaven, the fishes of the sea, the stumbling
blocks of the wicked, I will cut off man from the land, saith
the Lord. In other words, the whole creation
is corrupt. The whole creation is defiled. Sin has covered and blanketed
everything in this world. All the race of Adam, listen,
are wholly born spiritually dead. The whole man is corrupt. Now, when I say the whole man, some of the early writers divided
man into three parts. The heart, the mind, and the
soul. The heart, the mind, and the
soul. Consider the heart of man as the seat of emotion. The seat
of our passion. The seat of our affection is
completely and wholly corrupt. The heart, the scripture said,
is deceitful and desperately wicked. Above all things, who
can know it? Out of the heart, Christ said,
perceived evil thoughts and murders and envy. It is from the heart. The root of man is corrupt. Therefore,
all of his affections, all of our desires are corrupt by nature
and only continually produce the filth of sin constantly. So that the Scriptures are clear
that there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They
are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Not one. The mind is corrupt, which has
to do with the thoughts, the intellect, the will, the volition
of man is completely bent on sin. The Scripture says in Romans
8 that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed, listen, can be. This is how corrupt
man is by nature, is he cannot do the things of righteousness. He cannot follow righteousness.
And the soul of man is corrupt. What is the soul of man? It's
that immortal part of us. It's that part that continues
after death. It's that part of man that either
goes into glory to be with God forever, or it is that part of
man that goes down and is cast into hell forever. And what does God say about the
soul? The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. And of a truth, of a truth as we have all sinned
in Adam, we have also sinned of our own accord. When you sin, did anyone make
you sin? You did it because you wanted
to do it. By nature, all of us are guilty
of breaking the law of God, and know this in our own conscience,
that we have defiled ourselves. This is the destruction that
has so consumed all of mankind, so that man is totally incapable
of restoring himself. We cannot rescue ourselves. We cannot break free from the
chains of our sins. We cannot love God with our hearts. We cannot know God with our intellect
or our reasoning. We cannot redeem our souls from
the justice of God. This is the utter consumption
of God. This is the curse that has fallen
upon man. This is a very dark and bleak
situation. Where then is there hope? If you know this is true about
yourself, then you know this. You need hope. Well, the hope here is found
in verse 7. Look at this. Verse 7. The Scripture says,
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord. Hold thy peace. If there is to be any hope, if
there is to be any hope, the mouths of men must be silenced. And you must come before God
in confession of your guilt. If there is to be any hope for
man, it must be in this. Come before thy God in silence. Hold thy peace, O vain, depraved
man. Cease from murmuring against
God. Hold your tongue in the presence
of God and submit to His absolute right and authority of His holy
justice to condemn you. Submit that God has the absolute
right to do with you as He pleases. this is where all salvation must
begin it must begin at the feet of God and Daniel we know this when
the Nebuchadnezzar came to himself in Daniel chapter four he came
to this conclusion he said I praised and honored
him that hath that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. Nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand. or say unto him, what
are you doing? Isn't that what lost man does?
He says, God, what do you think you're doing? But the sinner who knows his
depravity comes to God in silence, recognizing God has absolute
authority. Lamentations 3 said, if there
is any hope of mercy. He must put my mouth in the dust. If there's any hope for you,
God must put you in the dust. He must. Have you seen the destruction
of the curse of God upon us all? Have you seen the destruction
of God's curse upon your own self? Then come before thy God, confessing
thy sin. Confession of your corruption.
Be wise as Job was wise. When Job was in the presence
of God, he said this in Job chapter 40 and verse 4, Behold, I am
vile. What shall I answer thee? I lay
my hand on my mouth. Job confessed he was vile and
put his hand on his mouth. He said, I can't speak anymore.
He was shut up, shut up. Notice then the stream of God's
mercy to all who come in silence, those whose mouths have been
stopped and become guilty before God. Listen, here it is in verse
7. For the day of the Lord is at
hand, for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. Here's the message to everyone
who's been shut up. Have you been shut up? Here's
the message. Here's the message that men who
have not been shut up will not hear. But to us who must be shut
up, here's the message. The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. What do such sinners need to
come before God and be accepted? You that have borne the curse,
how is it that you shall bear the blessing? How is it you can
be accepted before God? Here's the message. God has prepared
for Himself a sacrifice. A sacrifice. We all need a sacrifice. Like Adam, by nature, we seek
to hide our sin. Cover them. Adam covered his
sin. He took the leaves from the fig
tree and covered his nakedness. And even so do men try to hide
their nakedness in religion, in their church going, in their
good works, in their good deeds. They take the leaves of their
works and try to cover themselves. They seek to hide behind religious
traditions, legal loopholes. But when God reveals His holiness,
these works do fade as the leaf. What happened when Adam picked
the leaf off of the tree? It began to die, didn't it? It
began to die. That's what works do. You pluck
them off, you cover yourself, and they begin to die. And what
do you have to do? Grab more. You gotta get more. It's never enough. When God reveals
Himself, those leaves begin to fade away. And what shall we
do? What do we need? Standing there
naked before God, what do we need? With our mouths shut, what
do we need? We need blood. We need blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Without blood, there is no hope. Blood is the remedy for sin. Not your blood. Remember, our
blood is cursed. Our blood is covered with guilt. What do we need? We need the
blood of an innocent. Isn't that what God pictured
to Adam? God promised a Savior. He said, the seed of the woman
shall crush the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise his heel.
And then God gave him a picture of what that bruising of his
heel would look like. He killed the innocent to cover
the guilty. This has always been the gospel
from the beginning. God would kill the innocent to
cover the guilty. God says, behold, I've prepared
myself a sacrifice. That sacrifice, my friend, you
and I who believe on Christ know this. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice
for sin. He is the prepared sacrifice
for sin. Consider this, that the world
believes God to be a failure because Adam sinned. God, they believe God to be a
failure. They say, ah, see God, He didn't know anything about
this. He was taken by surprise. No, He wasn't. No, He wasn't. God is no failure because of
Adam's sin. God purposed Adam's sin. God purposed it. God purposed
it for the express reason of manifesting His glory. The glory
of His grace. God purposed before the creation
of anything to save a people. And He purposed how He should
save them. He should save them by the blood
of another. By a sacrifice that He has prepared. Even His Son. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
God's elect people because God purposed Him to be the Savior. God purposed Him to be the Sacrifice. According to the good pleasure
of His will, the Scripture said. According to the praise of the
glory of His grace. He hath made us accepted. Where? In the Beloved. In the
Sacrifice. The elect of the Father were
chosen of Him by free grace. They were given to Christ, who
was purposed to be the Lamb of God, that by His death He should
redeem us from all our sins. In Revelation, He is seen as
the Lamb slain. When? From before the foundation
of the world. See that God has prepared a sacrifice
even before there was consumption. Even before there was the curse,
God had already purposed a remedy. A remedy. Even the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And even so, we see this. This was prophesied. This book
was hundreds of years written before the Lord came. But now
we see clearly that this is speaking of Christ. We see clearly that
He is the prepared sacrifice. Because He that was to come,
has come. He has honored God's law that
you and I have broken and despised. He has honored. I love this. You know, for years, I mistakenly,
when I thought of the Ark of the Covenant, when I pictured
those things inside of the covenant, I pictured the broken law. I
don't know why I pictured that. I don't know why I thought that.
It's not in Scripture. It wasn't the broken law that
was put in. It was the law. It was the law
written by God the second time. It was put in. Why? It is to
picture that Christ honored the law. That broken law is what
we have done. The whole law, Christ has honored. He's honored it completely. And
as a perfect offering, a perfect lamb, He offered himself without spot
to God. And it was God who imputed our
sins to Him. God charged our sins to Him and
He suffered for them all. Do you realize this? Look at this in verse 12. He
says, "...and it shall come to pass at that time I will search
Jerusalem with candles and punish men that are settled on their
leaves, that say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither
will he do evil." In other words, God's going to find out every
sin and make sure it's punished. There's not one sin that's going
to go unpunished, not one. What then did God do with all
of the sins of His people? He put them on His blessed Son. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. This is the sacrifice prepared
of God. This was the sacrifice prepared
of God before the foundation of the
world. For who? Who are these elect? Who are these chosen before the
foundation of the world? Who are these? I'll tell you what, if there's
to be any hope for you, you must be one. You must be one. One for whom God has prepared
a sacrifice. Who are these? We'll go over
to chapter 3 and we'll see who these are. Look over in there
in verse 9. Verse 9, he says, this says God,
For then will I turn to the people of a pure language, that they
may call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one mind,
one consent. These who are the elect to whom
the sacrifice was prepared and offered, these are they that
God turns to who are of a pure language." A pure language. This is all the hope of the salvation
of sinners, it rests in this, God's will. If you want to know
what this whole matter of salvation hinges on, it hinges on the will
of God. I have two children that I love
dearly, and it is my heart's desire and prayer to God that
they should be saved. But I know this, it is not based
upon my will, and neither is it based on their will. It is upon the will of God, if
He will save them or no. And I tell you it's true of my
children, it's true of me, and it's true of you. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to be called the sons of God, which were born
not of the will of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. If you're ever born again of
the Spirit of God, it is by the will of God. It is because He
willed to turn to you and make you of pure language. All the hope of salvation rests
upon the will of God. All God elected to salvation,
Christ redeemed. And to whoever Christ redeemed,
the Spirit of God will turn at the appointed time and give them
life. This is the time of love. When the Spirit of God comes
in power and He resurrects, He raises the dead soul to life. This time of love, God the Holy
Spirit comes and quickens to life through the preaching of
the gospel. As Ezekiel stood over those dead,
dry bones and preached the Word of God, it was the Spirit that
moved. It was the Spirit that rattled
the bones. It was the Spirit that put the
flesh on them. Yes, He did it through that means
of preaching of that man, but it was the Spirit that gave them
life. And if there's any life to be
had, it must be given you by the Spirit of the living God. What is the evidence of this
life? The evidence of this life is
those who have a pure language. I like this picture, a pure language. The language of the depraved
man is one of works. One of works. The language of
depraved man is one of free will and merit. This is the corrupt
language of the natural man. The whole works religion that
tries to rob God of His glory and salvation. Now these men
speak of Christ crucified. They talk of grace. But their language is not pure
grace. seeing they try to mix their
works and will with the perfect work of Christ. You want to know
if a man's of a pure language? Listen to his gospel. And if
he is not speaking pure language of grace, then here's something
wrong with his language. He's not a pure language. I like
this. This is illustrated for us in
Judges 12. If you remember Judges there, Ephraim came in and they
started attacking Gilead and God's judge. And when they were
defeated, they couldn't pass over Jordan. Jordan was shut
off to them. And so when they tried to sneak
over, there was a test that the men of Gilead gave them. And
it was... They would have to pronounce
a word. Shibboleth. But they couldn't phrase the
word right. Their language betrayed them. And when their language betrayed
them, they were killed. They were killed as traitors. Even so, all whose language is
a mixture of works and grace, their language betrays them,
and they will be killed under the justice of God. You remember
in that day when God will divide all men into two groups, His
sheep and the goats? What is the language of the goats?
The language of the goats is, Lord, when did we not do these
things for Thee? We always did this. We always
did that for You. And he'll say to them, depart
from me, you cursed into everlasting darkness. I never knew you. But what is the language of the
sheep? It's a pure language. It's a language that says this,
Lord, I've not done one thing for you. Isn't that what he says in our
text? Look at that in verse 11. He says, In that day shalt thou
not be ashamed of all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed
against me. We have transgressed against
God. We know that. We're not pretending
we haven't. No believer can pretend such
a thing. Our language is, I am ashamed.
I am ashamed. We confess our sins before God. We take our place. That's what
a believer does. He takes his place before God
as a sinner, as the publican did. The publican took his place
and he said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Mephibosheth, when he came to
David, he said, What is thy servant but a dead dog? This is no false humility. But
this is the pure language of grace. that comes by the Holy
Spirit that causes us to cease from our pride. Notice this, for then I will
take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy
pride. And thou shalt no more be haughty
because of my holy mountain. Those who speak a pure language
of grace, we fall at the nail-pierced feet of our Savior, pleading
only for mercy. You know, I desire nothing greater
than that. I need mercy. I need free, absolute free mercy
without merit. That's a pure language that only
God can teach the sinner. And it's no false humility, it's
true. See then the grace of God to
all sinners who come to Christ. I will take away out of the midst
of thee, them that rejoice in pride, thou shalt be no more
haughty because of my holy mountain. Behold, friends, the holy mountain,
Jesus Christ. Isn't He the rock of our salvation? This same Christ is the rock
upon which we are broken and upon which we rest and find all
our acceptance with God in Christ alone. Behold Christ who was delivered
wholly for us, completely to remove the utter destruction
of the curse. Whereas once we boasted in self
and sin, whereas once we were proud of our religion, proud
of our works, now then our heart has been changed. Matter of fact,
it hasn't been changed. The old one's been taken away,
and the new one's been given. That's the promise of the covenant,
isn't it? The covenant promise, I will
take out that stony heart, that heart that had no affection for
God. What is it now? It is a heart of affection. See,
I'm not indifferent about this matter of God and Christ. I'm
not indifferent about that. I love Him. I don't love Him like I should,
like I want to. But herein lies the difference.
I do love Him because He first loved me. My heart has been changed. My mind has been changed. Whereas
once our mind was at enmity, now we see the wisdom of God
in how that God can be just and justify this ungodly sinner by
Jesus Christ alone. My soul, my soul has been changed. My soul has been given life. My soul has been justified before
God by the precious blood of the Savior. My soul has been forever perfected
and robed in the righteousness of Christ and washed in His blood
to the elect that are called of God to grace by grace to salvation. Christ is our holy mountain upon
which we rest and worship and are accepted and in whom we have
hope to be fully saved, fully saved. You know what? I am completely saved. I've just not experienced the
fullness of it yet. And neither of you. Now notice
what God says about that in verse 12. I will also leave thee in
the midst of an afflicted and poor people. And they shall trust
in the name of the Lord. These afflicted and poor people.
Is that not speaking of this world we live in? Are those lost souls around you
not poor and afflicted? O then, believers, should you
not have compassion? We should never compromise, never
accept or acknowledge their religion, but truly we should pray for
them, because we were poor and afflicted. And now, by God's
grace, we have been made rich. Isn't that so? We've been made
rich. By His poverty, we've been made
rich in mercy, rich in righteousness, rich in redemption, rich in justification,
rich in eternal life, rich in heavenly glories that are all
ours. We're rich. You wouldn't know that by looking
at me. You wouldn't know it by walking around in my house. But
I'm rich. I am filthy rich. I am wealthy
beyond imagination. I just haven't received it all
yet. And therefore, truly, let us
not see that and become proud. Let this mind be in you which
was in Christ Jesus, who, being God, humbled himself. You being heirs of God should
humble yourself. You're in the midst of a poor
and afflicted people. You should be merciful. Share
your bread with the starving. Share the gospel with those who
are poor and afflicted. This also could mean ourselves,
didn't it? Aren't we who are rich in all
things yet we are poor and afflicted? That's a good picture of the
church, isn't it? Poor and afflicted. Though I have all things, yet
I know this, I am constantly afflicted in this world. Constantly afflicted. Constantly
tossed about. I will leave thee in the midst
of a poor and afflicted people, and they shall trust in the name
of the Lord. Believer, God has always had
a remnant in this world. And He will bring that remnant. Who is He going to use? The poor
and the afflicted. That's who. He's going to use
the poor and afflicted to bring in the poor and afflicted. Why else are we here? Why are
we here? Why are you left here? You're
left here because Jesus has sheep that are not of this fold. Them
he also must bring, and he will. Verse 13, the remnant of Israel
shall do no iniquity, nor speak lies. Neither shall the deceitful
tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid. You who are the elect of God,
you who have been redeemed, do you realize this, that your
God finds in you no sin? Is that not the most astounding
thing that you've ever heard? Because I can't go one second
without seeing it. And yet the God who sees all
cannot find it. He can't find it because it's
been removed. As far as the East is from the
West, so far has He removed our transgression from us. In that day shall the iniquity
of Judah be sought for, and it shall not be found. It'll be
sought for and none, there shall be none. Jeremiah 50 and verse
20. The God who cannot miss sin will
not in us find any sin. What then do we have to fear? The curse is removed. God has truly utterly destroyed
mankind in that he, in justice, pass the sentence of death upon
us all. But God, in mercy, prepared a
sacrifice. And that sacrifice is for all
of his elect. Christ has come, he's removed
our sins, and in time he has come in the Spirit and called
us to faith. But while we're here, we'll pour
an afflicted among the poor and afflicted to call the poor and
afflicted. And God says, in you, I find
no more sin. Is that not the most wonderful
message of grace? It is to a sinner in need of
God's mercy. Christ is all. May God bless
this to your hearts.