me to Zephaniah chapter 3. We'll be looking at verses 1
through 13, Lord willing, this morning. And the title of the message
is, A Word of Woe and Grace. A Word of Woe and grace. If you were to divide this text
between verses 1 and 13, you'll see that verses 1 through 8 sum
up the woe, tell us the woe that God pronounces upon sinful and
wicked men. And then from verse 9 down to
verse 13, we'll see a word of grace. A word of grace. The first thing is a word of
terrible woe. A word of terrible woe. Look
at verse 1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted. to the oppressing city. Here the Lord God pronounces
a dreadful sentence upon the heathen nations. These nations
who were the oppressors of God's people, these idolatrous nations
who were filled with all sorts of vile, gross immoralities. These people who heard of God's
great power, heard of God's love for Israel, and yet they still
stood in defiance of God and oppressed God's people. You think of Egypt. The Lord gave them many signs
of His power, and yet Pharaoh hardened his heart and would
not let them go. You remember the walls of Jericho. They had heard how God killed
the Egyptians, how God parted the Red Sea and they walked through
on dry ground. They also heard that Israel had
walked over Jordan on dry ground as well. And we read in Joshua
that the walls of the city were shut up tight. In other words,
they defied God to take their city. defied God even after they knew
of His power, of His greatness. You think of the Assyrians, the
Canaanites, all these heathen nations hated Israel and attacked
them at every opportunity. They hated God and they hated
His people even though they had heard God's Word. But these here, Egyptians, Assyrians,
Canaanites, Jebusites, Hittites, all of these heathen nations
are just a picture for us. They are a picture of what and
who we are by nature. So when I say the heathens, I'm
talking about us. I'm talking about us. All of
Adam's race are by nature haters of God. Haters of God. So this woe here, it says, woe
to her that is filthy and polluted. We, by nature, are filthy and
polluted. We are filthy with sin and polluted
from the soles of our foot even to the crown of our head. So then that there is no goodness,
no righteousness to be found in any one of Adam's race. None. There is none. that doeth good, no, not one. When God looked over the face
of the earth in the time of Noah, he said, the imagination of the
hearts of men are continually wicked. Not just our actions. Our very thoughts, our very imaginations
of the natural man is wicked. Behold the word of the Lord then
to filthy, polluted sinners. Look in chapter 2, verse 3. God tells us this word that they
heard. He said in verse 2, they obeyed
not the voice. She received not correction.
She trusted not in the Lord, nor drew near to her God. What
was the word that God gave them? Look at verse 3 of chapter 2.
Seek ye the Lord. Who here doesn't understand that?
Seek the Lord. Search for the Lord. Seek the Lord. This is the message
that God gives. O you meek of the earth, which
have wrought His judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness,
that it may be you shall be hid in
the day of the Lord's anger. The Lord pronounces a wall of
judgment. But he sends a word, seek the
Lord that you may be hid from his judgment, that you may find
a refuge, a place to hide from the judgment of God. When people hear this, sinners
hear this, they start thinking of other people. Well, man, he's
talking to someone else. Seek the Lord. No, I'm talking
to you. Yeah, I'm talking to you, ye,
that singular personal. That means you. Don't look at
anybody else. God is telling you, seek ye the
Lord. Seek His righteousness. Seek
meekness. Seek the Lord. You seek the Lord. The Lord tells you to seek His
righteousness and meekness. Well, do you seek the righteousness
of God? Where is it found? Where is the
righteousness of God found? Let me give you a hint. It's
not in you. You are filthy and polluted. To you the woe is pronounced. But yet God says to the filthy,
to the polluted, seek ye the Lord. Seek His righteousness. The righteousness of God is not
found in you. It's not found in me. Don't look
over here. You won't find it. Don't look.
Can't find it for you. I don't have it in myself. There's
only one place the righteousness of God is found. and that is
in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. I tell you, seek the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. That's where righteousness is
found. It's the only place righteousness is found. There's no other place
you can find righteousness. I declare unto you by the authority
of the Word of God that Jesus Christ is Jehovah Tishkanu, the
Lord, our righteousness. He is the only righteousness
of God. Jesus is the righteousness of God. How do I know that? He himself merited the righteousness
of God, earned it, earned it. And when Jesus Christ became
a man, did he need righteousness for himself? He was God, manifest in the flesh. What did He need righteous? He
had righteous. It was His righteousness. But
yet as a man, Jesus came. And I tell you, He obeyed God
fully, absolutely, completely, and every thought and every imagination
of His heart was continually righteous before God. He Himself obtained righteousness. So you need righteousness? I'm
pointing you to where you can find righteousness. In Jesus
Christ alone. That's it. There is no other
place. God says, woe to you that seek
righteousness by your own works. Woe to you. You're polluted.
You're filthy. You won't find any righteousness. Not in you.
The Lord also tells us to seek meekness. Where's meekness found? Found in the same place, Jesus
Christ. When you think of meekness, what
do you think of? Most people think weakness. Meekness is not
weakness. Meekness is not weakness. We're
weakness. We are weakness. We're not meek
by nature. We are weak. We have rebelled
against God. We in our pride and boastful
heart disobeyed God. Why did you not humble yourself
before your Creator? Was it because you were too strong?
No, it's because you were too weak. Why did you not obey the law
of God? Because you were too weak. You could not. You could not be meek. The scripture says, because the
carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to
the law of God, listen to this, neither indeed can be. Try it! Try it! You don't believe me?
Try to obey the law of God! And if you are just a smidgen
honest with yourself, you'll find out you have failed miserably
to obey the law of God. And I'm not even talking about
the law that is written in the Word. I'm talking about the law
that's written in your own heart. Your conscience tells you that
you have defiled the law of God. Your conscience declares woe
unto you. How do I know that? My conscience
declares that. I know it. I can identify with
that. I know what's going on in you
because it's going on in me. We're too weak. We cannot be
subject to the law of God, not by any natural powers. We cannot,
by our will, by our determination, by our reformation, or by our
relocation, obey the law of God. Some people think, well, man,
if I just get out of here, I can start over and do better. Nope.
Nope. Because wherever you go, there
you are. When you failed here, you'll
fail over there. You reform in one thing, you'll
be more corrupt in another. Matter of fact, usually when
we reform, we become more corrupt in pride, don't we? Well, I don't
go to those picture shows like that. Man, that guy, he was a
filthy sinner. I've reformed from that. Well,
you've just elevated yourself to another sin. You've just elevated
yourself to pride, which is worse than the picture show, I promise. We're like that demoniac of Gadara. The chains and restraints of
the law of religion could not keep us from sinning. We by nature lived among the
tombs and walked among the dead. Therefore, seek meekness in Jesus Christ. Seek humility in Jesus Christ. If you want to see the most humble
man that ever walked the face of the earth, then behold the
Son of God. He who received all glory and
all praise from eternity condescended to men of lowest state. He became
the lowest of men. And He did so willfully. When have you ever been humbled
willingly? Not me. I see that He was, He
came, and was obedient even unto death. Behold in Jesus true meekness,
who is the Lamb of God, the holy, harmless Son of God, separate
from sinners, the righteous Son of God, worthy of worship and
praise, and yet He, in humiliation upon the cross, willingly bore
our sins. willingly bore our sins in His
own body. Jesus, in His meekness, offered
Himself completely to God. And if you want that kind of
humility, you're not going to find it in you. You'll find it
only in Him. Believe on Him. Seek your righteousness
that you need, filthy, polluted sinner. Seek your righteousness
in Jesus Christ. Seek meekness, not in yourself. Behold the meekness of Jesus
Christ who offered Himself once to God for sin, satisfying His
justice forever. Believe on Jesus Christ and repent
of your righteousness. I tell you that Jesus Christ
is the end of the law. What does the end mean? What
does that mean? Does that not mean the end? Does
that not mean stop? Andrew runs in races all the
time. And I tell him to run, run, run. But when he crosses
the finish line, I don't tell him to keep running. It's done.
This is the end. Jesus Christ is the end of woe. The end of the law for righteousness
to who? Everyone that believeth. Seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Don't worry
about anything else. This is the message to filthy,
polluted sinners. As a preacher of the gospel, it is incumbent upon me to be
concerned for the souls of every one of you who hear my voice. It is a burden and a joy, but
I must tell you, sinner, flee to Christ. Fleet of Christ. Why would you wait under woe
and die when God himself says, seek me? They that seek the Lord early
shall find him. Is that not what God says? As a preacher of the gospel,
I must be honest with the souls of men and I must tell you to
hear His voice. But if you will not hear His
voice, if you will not hear His Word, if you will not receive
His instruction to believe on the Son of God, then I tell you
by God's authority, the wrath of Almighty God rests upon your
own immortal soul. The wrath of God abides on you. I must warn you that if you appear before God
dressed in anything but the righteousness of God, you will die for eternity
in hell. You remember that man with the
wedding garment the Lord spoke of, parable, king set out a feast
for his son and everyone was provided a garment. And this
man thought it best that he provide his own garment. And I'm sure
he thought he was smoothly dressed. I'm sure he thought that his
garment was the best in the whole building. But when the king saw
that he did not have the wedding garment, he said, friend, who
invited you here? Why are you here? And where's
your wedding garment? He was cast out into outer darkness.
And I tell you, if you do not have the robe of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ alone, you will be cast into outer darkness. Now, you may object to this. Some of you may say, well, I'm
just not so bad. You know, preacher, I believe
what you're saying, but I just don't think, I don't feel that
bad. Don't matter how you feel, it just matter what you are.
We are that bad. They say, well, I come to church,
I do a pretty good job of that, I try to be here, and I'm a Calvinist. Oh, yeah, I got a lot of education
in Bible theology. I don't know how many times I've
had fools come up and tell me they're deacons. I really don't
care. That's not going to appeal to
God in one bit. Not going to give you one bit
of righteousness before God. Look at what God tells us concerning
the best of men. Look at verse 3 in your text. He says, Her princes, these are
the best of us. You want to see what the best
of us is? This is what God says about the best of us. He says,
Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening
wolves. They gnaw not the bones till
the morrow. The best of men are as roaring
lions. You know a lion roars when he's
hungry. He's hungry. Wolves, they'll stand all day
without eating, but at night times when they hunt. What this
is saying is the best of men are never satisfied with sin. Sin never satisfies Lust never satisfies. Solomon said, He that loveth
silver shall not be satisfied with silver. The best of men are so full of
sin that they are like wolves that won't stop eating sin until
they devour themselves. Have you ever seen someone con
themselves? That is a sight. But that's how depraved we are.
Men have just conned themselves and they go after sin as though
it were something good, as though it were something great to be
had. But yet when they find out that
it's not great, you would expect, you would think that they would
say, duh, that hurts. But they keep running at it,
and keep running at it, and keep running at it, until they destroy
themselves. That's exactly what we are by
nature. That's the best of us. Look in
verse 4, he describes the most religious of us. He said, her
prophets are light, treacherous persons. That word light has
to do with boiling. You boil water, and as the water's
boiling, those bubbles pop and the steam comes up. In other words, they're vanity. The most religious of men in
the eyes of God are found as nothing in His sight. Their religion's worthless. Any
man who desires salvation to be accomplished or applied by
merit, effort, will, or the knowledge of man is a false prophet, and
anyone that believes it is a false professor. God tells us in Jeremiah chapter
23, He says, they used My Word, but I didn't send them, and I
will not bless them. And that's so. God didn't send
a man if he's not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And
we've got to use words like free and sovereign in front of grace
because people don't know what that means. Grace includes free
and sovereign, otherwise it wouldn't be grace. But yet we have to
because men have so polluted the word grace. Any man that
does not preach salvation by the free and sovereign grace
of God alone through Christ alone is a false prophet, and anyone
that believes that garbage is a false professor. Woe unto them! And just as the Pharisees polluted
the law by their traditions, I tell you, Their traditions
made the law of God of none effect, and anyone who preaches work
salvation makes the gospel of none effect. In Romans chapter 4, verse 3,
the apostle says, for what sayeth
the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. There's a man that worketh, and
then there's a man that's saved by grace through faith in Christ. There's no middle ground. God will not have your works
mixed with His grace. Otherwise, it's not grace. First Corinthians 117 says, For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not
with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of
none effect. I'm not here to tickle man's wisdom. I'm not
here to fluff up your intellect. I'm here to just point you to
Christ. That's all. If I try to do anything else,
I have made the gospel of none effect. Galatians chapter 1 chapter
5 verse 1 says stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage behold
I've Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised Christ
shall profit you nothing in other words you make circumcision with
Christ's work that Work of Christ profits you nothing So that's the best of us, and
that's the most religious of us, polluted, vile, never satisfied. Look in verses 5 through 8 and
see God's witness concerning His holy judgment. Look at verse
5, it says, "...the just Lord is in the midst thereof. He will
not do iniquity. Every morning does He bring His
judgment to light, He faileth not, but the unjust knoweth no
shame. Time and time again. God has been faithful every day,
every minute, every hour of every year of every century to be faithful
to declare His justice before men. He is faithful to give you
a true word. Creation is in front of every
one of God's creatures as a witness against them. The law of God that is written
in the heart of man is faithfully there convincing men, telling
men of their sin. Every day. God does not fail
in His witness. If you go to hell, it will be
your fault. That's just so. You won't be
able to look to God and say, well God, it's your fault you
didn't elect me. Nope. You won't blame God. There's
no iniquity in God. The iniquity's in you. And if
you suffer the wrath of hell, it'll be your fault, not God's. Time and time again, the Lord
has showed us by providence that the wicked shall be destroyed.
He said, I've cut off the nations. I made their tires desolate.
I made their streets waste. They pass by these cities and
there's nobody there. I showed you that I will be just,
that I will be holy, that I will recompense evil, that sin will
be punished. We've all got internet. You can
at least go on the websites and look at those old places and
see their ruins. You can see God has passed by
them in judgment. They're not there anymore. God's
testified what He'll do to the wicked. He'll cut them off. Where
are they? Where are the Babylonians, the
Assyrians? Where are the Egyptians that
defied God? They're in hell. Right now, they're
in hell. God destroyed them. That should
be a faithful witness to every one of you that God will be just. that God will punish sin. And
yet I tell you all these things. I tell you of hell. I tell you
of God's justice. And you think that that would
move somebody. You think that would scare people. I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm just telling you the truth. I'm just telling you what God's
going to do. I'm not trying to scare you into some decision
or anything. I'm just telling you the truth.
But look what happens to people like that. But, verse 5, the
unjust knoweth no shame. In other words, I can tell you
this until I'm blue in the face, but me telling you about the
justice of God is not going to save you. I'm supposed to tell you. I'm
supposed to warn you. But I know this, the unjust know
no shame. Can you not see that? You don't see the unjust who
are polluted and lost in their sin that there's no shame anymore. I say anymore, there's been no
shame since the beginning. There's been no shame, but we
just see it in our generation because we're here. And we say,
yeah, this must be the worst generation. Well, I don't know
about that, but I'll tell you this, they're still not ashamed. Fornicators, and whores have
no shame. There's no shame in that, is
there? Not today. It's called a lifestyle. That's what it's
called. Oh, they're just living an alternate
lifestyle. No, they're adulterers and whores. What else can you
say? I say it, but they're not ashamed
of it. Homosexuality in the scriptures
is an abomination. They call it civil rights. No shame. No shame. Abortion, that is murder, is
called a choice. No shame. No shame. In Isaiah 5.18 it says, Woe unto
them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it
were a cart-rope, that say, Let him make speed and hasten his
work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One
of Israel draw nigh, come, that we may know it. In other words,
men draw iniquity to their breast and they defy God. You say you'll
judge me. Come on, give it to me if you're
going to judge me." They defy the living God by their lack
of shame and disobedience to God. They draw it in like a man
draws a card to their... takes fire into his own breast
and says, burn me with it. Defies Him. Woe unto them that call evil
good and good evil. that put darkness for light and
light for darkness and put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Men of this wicked generation,
men who are wicked and filthy, are not ashamed of their sins
and they draw them as quickly as they can. I tell you, woe unto you that
call good evil and evil good. Make no mistake about it, God
will punish all sin. Have I made the justice of God
clear? Well, now that I'm going to give
you something that's a far better word. A word of grace. Look in your text. God says in
verse 8, therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the
day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms and pour upon them
mine indignation, all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall
be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure
language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord to
serve Him with one consent." This is a word of grace. God
has promised woe upon all those who will not hear His voice,
but here is a word of grace to all who do hear His voice. Here's a word of grace. He says,
I promise, I promise I'm going to gather all of the wicked.
I'm going to gather all of them and judge them. But for you,
I will give my people a pure language. What is that? What's
a pure language? What is he talking about? This
is the language of the Holy Spirit. This is the language that only
believers in Christ understand. This is the language of someone
who has been born again of the Spirit of God. This is the language
that understands the gospel of God's free grace, and takes it,
and eats it, and loves it, adores it. That's somebody who speaks
the language of this book. It's a pure language. It's a
holy language. It's a language that only God
can teach you. I can't teach you to love the
gospel. I can't teach you to love Christ. Only God can give
you this. Only God can give you, teach
you this language. The scripture says, and all the
children shall be taught of the Lord. If you know anything about
the gospel, it's because you've been taught of God. You've been
taught of God. All believers know in Christ. Believers in Christ know the
gospel of Christ. And we all have one heart. We have one heart of consent. When I speak of the blood of
Christ, you and I speak the same language. When I speak of the
grace of God in salvation, you and I speak the same language
if we're taught of God. It's a pure language, taught
of God, and we all have one consent, that God has chosen us, the Son
redeemed us, and the Spirit calls us and keeps us. We have one
object, faith in Christ alone. Believers, we know that God has
scattered his people throughout this world. But God here promises that he
will bring us to himself. Look at verse 10. From beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia, my worshipers, even the daughter of mine dispersed,
shall bring my offering. Who are the people of God? They
are the ones that bring God's offering, not their own. We bring
God's offering. Who's God's offering? Christ.
Remember when Isaac was up with Abraham and he said, here's a
fire and here's this. Where's the sacrifice? And Abraham
said, God will provide himself a lamb. We bring Christ to God. That's my only acceptance. Would you be free from the law?
You must bring God's offering, not your own. You must bring
God's sacrifice, not your own. We come to God by faith in Christ,
and we who come to God, we were made ashamed of our sins. Were
you made ashamed? I hate my sin, I despise my sin,
I loathe my sin, but I also know this, that Jesus Christ has taken
all my guilt away from me. All the shame that I feel, God
says, You shall not be ashamed. Why? Christ has taken all my
sin away. Jesus Christ was made a shameful
thing for me so that I should not be ashamed before God. Look at that in verse 11, In
that day thou shalt not be ashamed. for all thy doings wherein thou
hast transgressed against me 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." Poor sinners, defiled sinners come to God by Christ Jesus paid
it all. How much did He pay? Did He leave any for you? Not
one. Not one. Jesus paid for all my
sins. All my sins in the past, all
my sins even right now, and all my sins in the future, He has
already taken them away. That doesn't encourage me to
sin. Does it encourage you who are believers? You speak this
language. Does it encourage you to sin? Absolutely not. Oh, God
forbid we should do that. I love God. I love His law. But
I know this, I find in Christ everything I need to stand before
God. So now then, I have a refuge. The woe of God fell on Christ
and did not touch me. You hear it? God's satisfied.
His justice is accomplished. It's finished. His woe has already
been poured out on Christ. What's left for me? Glory. That's what's left. Life is left for me. Look at
this. He says this in verse 12. I will
leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people. Is
that not the church? Did He not leave us in the midst
of afflicted and poor people? He left you in the midst of this
afflicted and poor person, and He left me in the midst of you.
We're together in this. We are afflicted and we are poor. But see this, the remnant of
Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies. Neither shall
a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed
and lie down And none shall make them afraid. That just sounds relaxing, doesn't
it? To feed, to lie down, and to not be afraid. I don't like to be afraid. Do
you? I admit, I do fear. But God says, none shall make
you afraid. If God be for us, who can be
against us? That's a word of grace. We deserve
the woe. Praise God we got the grace. I'm thankful. Are you thankful? Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Why will you die in your sins when there's such a refuge
as Christ? May God bless it. Let's stand.
We'll be dismissed in prayer.