I invite you this morning to
turn with me to the book of Zephaniah. If you have a phone, you have
it made. The rest of you just do the best you can. While you're finding your text,
let me say again how thankful I am to be here. Thank your pastors
for having trust enough to allow me to do this. But most of all,
I thank God for every time, every time that
he allows me to stand before men and preach his gospel. There's no greater privilege
in this world than this. When you found the text, you
can put a marker there, just leave your Bible open. I want to introduce a little bit
out of this prophet of Zephaniah. I want to give you a little bit
of background before I go to my text. Zephaniah was a prophet
of God. It begins in chapter one saying
this, the word of the Lord came to Zephaniah. That's a frightening
thing. That's a frightening thing and
yet that's exactly what I'm telling you here this morning. The word
of the Lord has come to me. I'm standing here giving you
this morning what I believe is God's word to you this hour,
this hour. I'll never forget, my oldest
daughter was visiting, and she had two little girls just a year
and a half apart, and the oldest one, they weren't old enough
to set out in a congregation, had to go back to the nursery,
and they were coming by, and the oldest one kind of stalled
out a little bit, and she kept looking at me, and finally I
looked over at her, and she said, Papa, are you gonna say the words
this morning? And boy, it went all over me. I said, I hope so. I hope so. I hope I have his word. I hope
I have his gospel. And I hope he'll allow me to
preach it. Zephaniah was a prophet during
a very turbulent, troubled time in Israel. Ammon and Manasseh, who reigned
before the boy king Josiah, brought upon Israel the curse of God. When Zephaniah spoke, he spoke
to a people cursed of God. God said, here's my message.
And he began with his curse on all those that Zephaniah spoke
to. He spoke to a people cursed of
God. God said through his prophet,
chapter one, verse two, I will utterly consume all things from
off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast.
I will consume the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea and
the stumbling block with the wicked. And I'll cut off man
from off the land, saith the Lord. I'll stretch out my hand
upon Judah. He'd already separated 10 of
the tribes of Israel and sent them away, arranged in his providence
for them to be led away. And now he said, I'll stretch
out my hand upon Judah and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
and I'll cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and
the name of the Chimerims with the priest." Chimerims was a
false priesthood. And he says, I'm gonna cut off
this false priesthood with the priest. Them that worship the host of
heaven upon the housetop, stargazers. and them that worship and that
swear by the Lord and swear by Malcolm. That's Moloch. We say, who's that? They built
a big old iron statue and it doubled as a furnace. And they'd
fill that thing full of wood or coal or something and burn
it until its hands, its hands was like this, cradled out. And when that thing got glow
and red, the people would come up and sacrifice their little
babies and lay them down in his hands. Molech. They swore by the Lord and Molech. Wow. That's a That's a distance,
isn't it? Way over here and way over here. But that's exactly what religious
people are doing today. Is it not? We just have one God. He said, I'm God. There's nothing
like me. If you leave him, if you leave
off his testimony and go somewhere else, you're way over here somewhere.
And you're swearing by him and swearing by this one. And God said, I'm gonna curse
this land. They had an unholy alloy, if
you will, of true religion and idolatry. And then in verse six,
and them that are turned back from the Lord. And those that
have not sought the Lord nor inquired for him, I'm gonna wipe
them all out, God said. All of them, they're all under
the curse. Now I'm telling you something,
this reads like yesterday's newspaper to me. This is what's going on
in this world. Now I know a lot of you may be
ignorant of it, but I'm telling you, this reads like yesterday's
newspaper. This is exactly what's going
on in this world. Exactly what's going on in this
world. And I preach, the Lord has made me to see, I preach
to a people cursed of God. Cursed of God. Cursed from the
beginning. Cursed from the very first man.
Isn't that what he says? Sin entered and death passed
and Adam all died. By the offense of one judgment
came upon all men the condemnation, and he said, here's the condemnation. I'll explain it to you. I'll
declare the nature of it. I'll tell you what it is. Light
has come into this world, and men love darkness rather than
light. There's not a man or a woman
or a boy or a girl here today who does not bear that cursed
nature of Adam. We all do. People tell me I look like my
daddy. And people who know him have
said to me from time to time, if I didn't know your name, I'd
know your daddy. You're the spitting image of
your dad. Well, the same thing applies
to us and Adam. We're the spitting image of him.
Just like him. as is the earthy. Isn't that
what Paul preached? As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. We just like him. And as we born the image of the
earthy, we're gonna bear the image of the heavenly. This world
is filled with idolatry, wickedness, perversions, and ungodliness.
Paul said, I have before proved to you, both Jews and Gentiles,
they're all under sin. All under sin. Paul preached
to the Ephesian church and he said, you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Well, what's that mean? Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
who now worketh in the children who disobeyed. lived out our
days just trying to satisfy the flesh, and he said, we were by
nature children of wrath, even as others. That's the point I'm
laboring to make. Zephaniah preached to a people,
and here's what God said, you tell them, I'm gonna wipe this
earth clean of man. I'm gonna kill them all. I'm
gonna kill them all. And he begins to describe them
and their idolatry and all the wickedness and things that they'd
done. When Paul said he'd proved man
was under sin, he said, here's what that means, they're non-righteous. I went to a church who believed
that you could be self-righteous and satisfy God. He said, they're
non-righteous. Yeah, but I, no, not one, not
one. None that understandeth, while
just in my closet one day and God opened a whole scripture
up to me. Sell it to your grandma, I don't
believe it. None that understandeth, none that seeketh after God,
all gone out of the way, together become unprofitable, none that
doeth good, no, not one. sinners all and under the curse
of God. Now let me show you a little
something about this curse. Josiah, the boy king, he came
after Manasseh. And Josiah was a good king. He
was a godly king. He spent his days cleansing Israel
of idolatry. He spent his days condemning
their ungodly worship. But God said in 2 Kings 23, 26,
notwithstanding, after all that Josiah did, notwithstanding,
the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath,
wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of the
provocations of Manasseh. Josiah come along and all these
things that they were doing, he cleansed Israel of it. He
went through there tearing down the groves and beating up all
those things into powder and dumping them into that brook.
He reestablished the ceremonies as they were set up by God. He
was a godly king. God said, I'm not gonna take
away my curse because of what Manasseh did. What's that mean? That means
all the reformation in the world will not satisfy the righteous
wrath of God. That's what that mean. You can't
quit doing evil and start doing good and satisfy God. God's curse
will remain. When God curses a thing, when
that thing comes out of his mouth, it's not going back. It's not
gonna change. It's not gonna vary. That curse is permanent. He ain't
gonna take it back. Now I'm constantly hearing preachers
telling men if they'll just quit doing this and start doing that,
God'll bless them. Oh no he won't. That's not a
step up, that's a step down. You can pray all you want and
read all you want, attend all you want and preach all you want,
but nothing you do gonna Relieve God's curse on men. It's not
gonna happen. The Lord said, I will remove
Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I'll
cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and my house,
in which I said my name, shall be there. I'm gonna get rid of
it too. Oh, may the Lord help us to hear
what he's saying here. Man is doomed in all creation,
and when his judgment shall be executed, nothing's gonna remain,
nothing. The heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements, Peter said, shall burn with a
fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. People were more religious than
ever, but their religion was born of the chimerims, born of
this idolatrous priesthood. Our high priest is Christ and
his church is his priesthood. We're priests of God, aren't
we? And this world's filled with
men and women straddling the fence, halting between two opinions. A little truth here and a little
error. And God said, I've cursed the
whole mess. Now turn with me to my text in
Zephaniah 3. Look at verse 14. Sing, O daughter
of Zion. Sing? Sing about what? God cursed this whole outfit.
He gonna kill them all. He gonna take away all Israel,
including Judah. What we gonna sing about? Our children, our children's
children, what's there to sing? Shout, he said. Shout? What's there to shout about?
God has sworn that he's gonna consume man and beast. Now listen to this. Be glad and
rejoice with all your heart. Oh, daughter of Jerusalem, rejoice. Why does God's prophet tell these
people to sing and shout and rejoice? Are you listening? Verse 15. The Lord hath taken
away thy judgments. Oh, my soul. You let that sink
in. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. Oh, but I thought you said God
doesn't change. I thought you said God will not
back off his curse once he has spoken it. He won't. But before
God cursed that land, way back yonder in eternity past, He put
us in His Son. He secured us in His Son. He made a covenant on our behalf
and appointed His Son the surety of that covenant. And His people
are not gonna be cursed. No matter what he does to this
world, his people are not gonna be cursed. His people are gonna
be saved. Now you shout, he said. The rest
of the world better tremble. The rest of the world better
repent. The rest of the world do what they will. But you can
shout. You can be glad. And you can
sing. Oh my soul, he appointed him
as our representative head and substitute. He made an eternal
covenant of grace in our behalf. He made eternal provision for
us by his son, whom he chose to be our substitute. To preach reconciliation, Paul
said, is to preach, now listen, to wit, he said. He's not gonna
let you. give your own opinion here. He
ain't gonna tell you what it is to preach reconciliation.
Too wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
now watch this, not charging their trespasses unto them. They
were as guilty as any of those idolaters, but he's not gonna
charge you with your sins. He gonna charge them to his son. God is perfectly just and righteous. How will he not charge them with
their sins? Well, he said, we pray you, and
Christ did be you reconciled to God, for he hath made him
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He delivered us, Paul said, from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree. The Lord has taken
away thy judgment. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. That's something to sing about,
isn't it? That's something to shout about. He took away our
judgment. God didn't change His judgments.
He judged His Son. But He took away our judgments.
Secondly, in verse 15, Zephaniah 3, He hath cast out thine enemy. Oh, but preacher Satan's still
active. He's still active in the world. Yeah, he is. But he don't rule in your heart
if you're a believer. He don't rule in your heart anymore. Our Lord said in Luke 11, 21,
He said, when the strong man arm keepeth his palace, his goods
are at peace. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him and overcome him, he taketh away from him all his
armor wherein he trusted and he spoils his goods. He takes
his house from him. Conversion is a new kingdom,
it's a new king and a new authority within, the stronger than he
boots him out. And though Satan is active in
the world and very active in false religion, he'd been defeated
in the hearts and heads of God's people and Christ rules over
the house. Satan doesn't dictate what I
preach anymore, Christ does. I don't get my message from him
anymore, I get it from the Son of God. What's a strong man armed with?
Lies, deceit, philosophy, worldly reasoning, lying wonders, false
refuge. When God casts out our enemy,
he's taken down by the gospel of Christ and he's overcome with
the truth and the Spirit of God. You have cast out our enemy. And then thirdly, verse 15, the
King of Israel, even the Lord is in our midst. He's in our
midst. When Christ saves a sinner, we
become one with him. It's not Christ for you, although,
He may have been. Or it's not Christ to you, though
he was presented to you, but it's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Well, I'm a Calvinist. Well,
I am too, but that's not my hope. Christ in me, that's my hope.
That's my hope. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4
that Christ has given to us pastors and teachers and evangelists
and apostles and prophets for the perfecting of the saints. Now, when is a saint made perfect? Or maybe a better way to say
it, is he? Is he made perfect? Well, he
made perfect in Christ as his substitute and representative.
We're in union with him, and being in union with him, we have
no fault. No fault. He presents us before
the Father. They can't even correct us as
he presents us to his Father. Christ abides within, which Christ? The one who wants to and can't, The Christ whose hands are tied
by the will of man? No. The King, even the Lord,
he said, is in our midst. You won't find Christ preached
in the Bible the way they preach him in these Arminian churches.
When you read about Christ in the Bible, he's Lord. He's King
of kings, Lord of lords. The blessing and only potentate. I challenge you to listen to
what these men preach on TV, radio, whatever. You listen to
what they preach and see if that Jesus that they're preaching
in any way resembles a potentate. He reminds me more of a homeless
man who can't do anything. He's entirely dependent on you.
And if you don't do something, everything he did gonna be for
nothing. That's what they're preaching. That's not the Christ
that Zephaniah preached. He's the king. And then he says, fourthly, thou
shalt not see evil anymore. Now if I understand this verse,
it's talking about our experience in this life. Everything that
comes our way is for our good and his glory. It's not an evil
thing. This curse, this curse that was
falling upon Israel, falling upon the land, was not evil to
God's people. God's people were already delivered.
Thy judgment's been taken away. It's a good thing. What God's
cleansing is not, He's not cleansing His church here. He's cleansing
the whole country from idolatry. that reminds me of what Joseph
said to his brethren. He said, you put me in a pit,
and you sold me into slavery, and you meant it for evil, but
God meant it for good. Huh? You don't see evil anymore. I don't see it. You're gonna
see God's hand, God's blessing. God's blessing. Oh God, help
this poor sinner to see past all the things in this world
and the calamity of this world and see the king of glory arranging
all these things for his honor and for our good. What do you mean? I mean, if
I'm a prisoner, let me say with Paul, I'm a prisoner of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If I become homeless, let me
say I'm a sojourner in the land of promise. If I'm made to wander,
let me say with Abraham, I'm looking for a city. It's got
foundations, who's builder and maker's God. And if I suffer
the reproach of Christ, let me say in my heart, I count it greater
riches than all the treasures in Egypt. You see what I'm saying?
You're not gonna experience evil anymore. God taken it out. And
then fifthly, look at verse 16 here in Zephaniah. In that day,
it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let
not thine hands be slack. Why? Verse 17. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. Didn't say he wanted to, said
he will. Didn't say he's gonna do the
best he could, said he will. How'd I know he would? Because
he's mighty. He's mighty. Now some of you may question
sometime when you're reading a book or your pastor's talking
to you and he's talking to you about the character of God and
he's talking about his justice and all the things that make
God, God. But let me tell you something.
Every part of the character of God is engaged for your salvation. His justice, His righteousness,
even His righteous wrath, it's all engaged for your salvation. He is mighty and He will save. And the difference between the
religion of this world and true religion is that true religion
has a God who's mighty to save. That's how he described idolatry
in the book of Isaiah. He said, they pray to a God who
cannot save. You know how hard it is to save
a sinner? Huh? His mind and his heart are hostile
toward God. His nature's totally depraved.
At his best state, he's altogether vanity. He drinks iniquity like
water. He has no fear of God before
his eyes. He lives for the sole purpose
of glorifying the desires of his flesh. It says, God himself
searched mankind and said, there's none righteous, none that understandeth,
and none that seeketh after God. The prime candidate for salvation,
the rich young ruler, came before the Lord, and the Lord sent him
away with his tail tucked between his legs, and the disciples said,
who then can be saved? And the master, knowing their
hearts, said this, with man, it's impossible. It's impossible. But with God, he said, all things
are possible. because God's in their midst and he will save. And then lastly, it says he will
rejoice over thee with joy. I tell you, you can't look yourself
in the mirror and convince yourself that God could joy over you,
could you? Huh? But if you look in that
glass that God's given us, that mirror, and see Christ, you'll
see why he joys over us. He will rejoice over thee with
joy, he'll rest, now watch this, in his love. Not yours, his. He'll joy over thee with singing. Can you imagine? God singing
over me. Isn't that what he's saying? That's exactly what he's saying.
And God will rest in his love. I want to read you a few verses
concerning God's love. In Ephesians 1, 3, he said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. That is in perfect harmony
with the character of God. And without blame. Who gonna accuse you before God
who justified you? Perfectly righteous, justified. Now listen, before him in love. Not your love for him, but his
love for you. And I read this verse at home
like this. Before him being loved. Because that's what the apostles
say. He chose us in Christ that we might always be before him
being loved. We were blessed with God's eternal,
unchangeable, effectual love before the world began. And this
love is secure in his Son. In Romans 8, 38, having declared
our complete justification by God and a reason for it, the
death of Christ and the intercession at this present time of Christ
in glory, he makes this statement. He said in verse 38, I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Doesn't
put any stipulations on it. He doesn't say, I'll try my best
to love you. He doesn't say he'll love us
if, He secured his love for us and
his son. I think about that, that prodigal son who left and
he's down there in the hog pen and he's so hungry and he's looking
at them hogs and they already ate the corn and now he's considering
the husks. And he said, man, the servants in my father's
house have it better than this. He said, I know what I'm going
to do. I'm going to go back to my father's house. And he made
up this little speech when he got there. He was going to tell
him he didn't deserve to do this and that and the next thing.
He had all this stuff all planned out, just like people do. They're
going to get things fixed up between them and God. And they
get all this stuff all arranged in their mind, just how they're
going to do it. And I had a fellow come in church one night. Somebody
gave him the wrong time and he got there early and he was just
pacing the floor and finally he looked at me and he said,
I'll tell you what we're gonna do. He said, I'm gonna kneel
down here and you all get around me and I'm gonna pray and give
my heart to God. And I said, no, that's not what
we're gonna do. What you're gonna do is sit down
and shut up and I'm gonna preach the gospel to you and then we'll
see what God will do. I don't know if he's a savior
or not, but he's not gonna save you doing this. You gotta hear,
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. But this
prodigal son, he made all this stuff up and he runs up to the
father and before he can get there, here comes his father,
running. Can you imagine God running to
meet you? He comes running out and the
son didn't know what to say, he didn't have any words, and
his father just throws his arms around him. And he calls for
the best robe that they had, bring it out here, put it on
my filthy son, put it on him. And he take the ring off his
finger with the signet on it, the seal, put it on him. It's my son lost, he's found. He's found. That's love. That's love. He will rest in
his love. 1 John 4, 10 said here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be a propitiation for our sins. If God can rest in his love,
I'm pretty sure I can. If he can rest in spite of all
that we are and all that we've done and all that's around us
and all of our enemies and all the evil, if he can rest in his
love, I guarantee you we can. We can rest in his love.