This passage in Zephaniah chapter
3, beginning at verse 14, this last segment of the prophecy
that God gave to Judah and Jerusalem through Zephaniah, is one of
the most unique and interesting passages of scripture in all
the Bible. And the reason is, is because
it's made up of two songs. You have two songs here. And
I've entitled the message from that. The title is the Song of
the Saved and the Savior. And that's what we have. The
first song is the Song of the Saved, the Song of the Redeemed.
Whenever we think of the Song of the Redeemed, I don't know
about you, but my mind automatically goes to Revelation 5. And that's
because that speaks of the Song of the Redeemed. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain, the glory of Christ. And what a song that
is. Well, this is the same song right
here. He uses different words, but
in reality, they're the same words by definition. The song
of the redeemed. These verses speak of the remnant
of Israel. Back up in verse 13, he spoke
of that. The remnant of Israel shall do
no iniquity, nor speak lies. What's he talking about there?
Well, we've already spoken of that. That's the state and standing
of God's church. Spiritual Israel in the person
and work of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
as talking about believers who have had their sins taken away. And from this viewpoint, they
were looking to the future that that would be accomplished. But
we look back at the accomplished work because we're the New Covenant
church. We're the New Testament church.
We look back at a work accomplished on Calvary. But it's the same
work. And it's a sure work. And it's
one that God promised before the foundation of the world,
and there was absolutely no possibility that it could fail. And therefore,
he speaks of it as if it's a done deal, even in the Old Testament.
And he says this remnant, this spiritual remnant, this remnant
according to the election of grace, will be redeemed by the
grace of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in the coming
day of redemption. And even though God will bring
Judah into captivity. That was Zephaniah's main message.
In fact, most of this book was taken up with pronouncements
of God's judgments against Judah and Jerusalem for their sin.
All the way to verse 8 of chapter 3. But even though God would
bring Judah into captivity, you can rest assured that He will
never forsake His chosen people. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And He's going to save them through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He chose this particular
nation as unworthy and as undeserving as they were, like all of us
by nature now. Don't ever think that we're better
as we've talked about in the study, don't get the accept me
syndrome. I was telling some of the men,
I said, you know, if people were honest about what they believe
in what we call Armenian or free will religion or works religion,
salvation based upon decisionism, your decision, If people were
honest, every time that they profess belief in that, they
ought to have them a rubber stamp that says, except me. And they
ought to put that rubber stamp on every page of the Old Testament
because that's what they believe. And just like Brother Doug read
in the study in Romans chapter 3, the scripture has concluded
all under sin. There's none righteous, no not
one. Put that rubber stamp, except me. There's none that seeketh
after God, except me. But you see, none of us None
of us are worthy or deserving of the grace of God, of the salvation
that God freely provides. But God chose this particular
nation. And the only reason He says He
chose them is because out of His sovereign good pleasure.
It had nothing to do with anything in them or of them or from them.
He says that in Deuteronomy chapter 7 very plainly and in other places. but he chose this nation to bring
Christ through into the earth according to the flesh through
the tribe of Judah the seed of David according to the flesh
without sin but he's going to save his chosen people through
Christ and he'll perform that which he's promised to all his
elect people therefore he calls upon all who trust him even in
the midst of all this judgment even in the midst of this impending
captivity a foreign invasion, a foreign enemy's coming down
and he's going to ransack Jerusalem and Judah. He's going to carry
the people off in three waves. Daniel was in that first wave
of people. He was a very young, young man.
Some people say even a child, but he was carried off in that
first wave. And that's when they carried off the nobles. That's
why they think Daniel was probably one of the nobility, one of the
royal line. But either way, This foreign
invader is gonna come down and bring God's judgments down on
the people, on God's people. But all who trust him, every
individual in Israel, in Judah, in Jerusalem, who truly trust
the Lord Jehovah, the God of all grace, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the God who saves sinners, by promise, the
promise of a coming Messiah, everyone who truly trusts Him.
Here's what Zephaniah says, sing. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Sing and rejoice even in the
face of all this trouble. Sing and worship and praise God
no matter what happens in Judah and Jerusalem, even in the face
of judgment against sin. You see, this is a song of worship
and praise. It's a song of faith. Look at
verse 17. It says, the Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty. He will save, he will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. And
look at the last line of verse 17. This is an amazing thing
to me. He, that is the Lord God Almighty,
will joy over thee with singing. He'll sing. And He'll sing with
joy. Over what? Over us. God will sing with joy over us. Isn't that amazing? God's singing over me, over you. We're the subject of His song
of joy. Think about that. Now, why is
that? Well, that's the song of the Savior. That's what we have.
The song of the saved, and the song of the Savior, and I want
us to look at them. First of all, let's look at the
song of the Savior, verse 14. He says, Sing, O daughter of
Zion. What's Zion? Sometimes you'll
see it spelled with an S in the scripture, Sion. We sing a song,
we're marching to Zion. There are nations in the world
who fear what they call Zionism today. And some forms of Zionism,
as people in the political realm and the ethnic realm believe
it, it ought to be feared in some ways. What is Zion? Well, Zion was a mountain, or
a hill, you might say. It was a place, geographically.
And it's the place in the Old Testament, simply. I'm not going
to go over, get you a map out and show it to you. That'd do
no good. It has no meaning to us as far as a geographical location. I'm serious. It doesn't. Here's
what it means to the people of God. Here's the significance
of Zion according to the Old Testament and according to what's
said in commentary on that in the New Testament for us today. It's the place where God dwells. That's what it says. The place
where God dwells. Where do you want to be? I want
to be where God dwells. This is the congregation of Zion. It's the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which has good reason to sing. Sing, O daughter of
Zion. Be happy and rejoice in this. There's a lot to be unhappy about
now. I grant you that. There's a lot
to not rejoice about, but in this, sing. praise, worship,
be happy, rejoice from the heart. He says, be glad and rejoice
with all the heart. This is not to be a half-hearted
endeavor here. This is not just something that
we do intellectually, but this is something that comes from
the very center of our being. This is something that comes
from the heart that has been regenerated. the spirit that
has been given we've been made alive by the spirit of god and
in that were connected with the lord jesus christ by faith and
in repentance and in rejoicing so that we can say with the apostle
paul philippians chapter three we are the circumcision where
the remnant of israel we who believe we who trust the promise
that's right the promise of salvation by grace We worship God in spirit. We rejoice, have confidence in
Christ. Our boast is Christ and Him crucified. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. None at all. O
daughter of Jerusalem. There's Jerusalem. What is the... What are they singing about here?
This nation was about to go into captivity this nation was about
to be destroyed by a foreign invader not not a godly invader
an instrument of God God's providence and God's power but not a godly
invader an idolatrous nation is coming down to bring judgment
at the hand of God upon his people that's that temple of Solomon
which was such a beautiful building, was going to be leveled to the
ground, not a wall standing, mind you. And so what do they
have to sing about? Well, because of the coming of
Christ. That's why. Because God made
a promise, He's going to keep that promise, He's going to send
salvation to His people. He's going to send salvation
for His people. he's going to send consolation
for his people for Simeon called him the consolation of Israel
and he's going to accomplish a great work for his people and
that great work is so powerful and glorious and valuable that
it's going to save his people from their sins eternally unchangeably
forever and ever and ever our sins are going to be taken away
this is the joy of the redeemed. This is the song of the redeemed,
for the kingdom of God is not mead and drink, that which men
by nature are so concerned with and so meticulous about. but
the kingdom of god is righteousness who's god's righteousness in
christ the merit of his obedience unto death as my substitute in
my sin bearer as my sin offering the lamb of god which taketh
away the sin of the world the lamb that was slain who is also
the lion who conquers the lion of the tribe of judah so it's
righteousness in him It's peace by Him, for He is our peace.
He made reconciliation for the people. And it's joy in the Holy
Ghost, for the Holy Ghost drives us to Christ for joy. And then
he says, daughter of Jerusalem, what is Jerusalem? Well, we know
about the city. We know about the geographical
location for that. But there's no reason for us
to rejoice in that piece of land. No reason to rejoice in an earthly
Jerusalem. In fact, If your rejoicing is
in earthly Jerusalem, let me read you a passage of Scripture
just prior to this in Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 1, and see
if you can find anything in the earthly city of Jerusalem to
rejoice in based upon these words from God by the prophet Zephaniah. It says in verse 1, Woe to her
that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city, the city
of oppression. Is that what you're going to
rejoice in? The city that's polluted? The city that's filthy? Of oppression? She obeyed not the voice? That's
the voice of God. She received not correction? She trusted not in the Lord?
She drew not near to her God. Now what is there about that?
to rejoice in. You say, well, it must have gotten
better in Jerusalem. You better go back and read your
Bible history. What state was Jerusalem in in
the time of our Lord's earthly ministry? The same thing. The
same thing. Until God destroyed it completely
in A.D. 70. So there's nothing to rejoice
in the earthly Jerusalem. But what Zephaniah is saying
about is the heavenly Jerusalem. That's what he's talking about.
The Jerusalem that Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah chapter 65. The
Bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22. Let me read
you these verses. Listen. This is the book of Hebrews.
Chapter 12 verse 22. It's, and what he says is, you're
not come to Mount Sinai. You didn't, we didn't come, when
God saved us, we didn't come to Mount Sinai for salvation.
That's the law, all it can do is pronounce a curse. There's,
by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight.
But you're come unto Mount Zion. Now who's he talking about? Some
of those people had never been to that geographical location.
I've never been there. Some of you may have been there
geographically, but that doesn't matter. Most of us haven't. But
you're come to Mount Sinai and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel." That's Jerusalem. We're citizens of
the heavenly Jerusalem. Look back at Zephaniah 3. Look
at verse 15. Now, what do we got? Here are
the reasons for our rejoicing. Now, I want you to notice the
main theme Or let's put it this way, the main foundation of the
song of the saved is he will, he will, he will, God will, God
will. You see, our main song, the foundation
of our song is not what I'll do, I will, I will, but what
God will do and has done. And the main theme of the song
of the savior is I will, I will, God speaking. So listen to this,
he says in verse 15, here's what the Lord has done, and he speaks
of it in past tense. He says, the Lord hath taken
away thy judgments. Now the rest of the world by
reason of sin and guilt is under the wrath of God. The scripture
says that. He that believeth not, the wrath
of God abides on him. But he says to his people here,
the remnant of Israel, the Lord has taken away your judgments.
He's not talking about what the Lord wants to do, like preachers
today talk about. He's not talking about what the
Lord hopes to do. And he's certainly not talking
here about what the Lord is trying to do. He's talking about what
the Lord has done. What an amazing thing. Actually,
in time, it hasn't happened yet in the sense of redemption because
Christ has not yet come. But let me tell you something,
it's as good as done in eternity because Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. This is a salvation that was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And nothing,
nothing would stop Him from coming to this earth becoming incarnate
and doing His great work. Notice the language. The Lord
has taken away thy judgments. By the work of His free, almighty
and sovereign grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and
Savior, has taken away our judgments. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. He's taken away our sins. You
know what's the cause of our judgment? Our sins. Christ bore
our sins away in His own body on the tree. He went under the
justice of God, the wrath of God for my sins. He was made
a curse. He was made sin. Christ was in
order to take our punishment, and that's what He did. And that's
why there's therefore now no judgment, no condemnation to
them that are in Christ. That's why we can say without
fail, without a shamaness, we can say without timidity, that
no one can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. God's
taken away our judgments. Our judgment fell on Christ.
That's what happened there. That's what happens when the
Holy Spirit convinces us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
He convinces us, God's people, in showing us our sinfulness
and driving us to Christ, that Christ has taken our full judgment
for us. And He's taken it away. There
is no judgment now in Christ. Redemption was effectually accomplished
for God's people when Christ died upon the cross, and the
new birth In the new birth, he takes away our spiritual death
and brings us to Christ to show us that judgment has been taken
away on Calvary. So that our hearts cannot condemn
us. They may try, but God is greater than our hearts. Look
on, he says, here's another thing, he says he's cast out by an enemy.
Who is our enemy? Well, Satan is our great enemy. The Bible calls him the accuser
of the brethren, but Christ has cast him out. John 12 and verse
31, he says, now he's the prince of this world. Cast out. In Revelation
12, it said, when Satan cast his arrows of accusation, charging
the people of God, that we turn him back by pleading the blood
of Christ. Again, no charge against God's
elect. Our Lord casts Satan out of our
hearts in the new birth when we see the glory of God in Christ,
and that darkness is removed. And He'll cast Satan into the
pit of the damned at the last day, the scripture says. So He's
cast out our enemy. He goes on, He says in verse
15, the King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee.
He's the heart and life of His church. He dwells in the hearts
of His people by His Spirit and by His Word. He holds us and
He'll never leave us nor forsake us. And He will not let us go.
He says, Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Now one thing about
it, let me show you this in verse 15. He says, Thou shalt not see
evil anymore. Now that proves that He's not
talking about the earthly Jerusalem here. Because I want to tell
you something, even from the time of their captivity in Babylon,
and even in the time that they were brought back into the promised
land and they rebuilt the temple under Zerubbabel, even from that
time on they saw nothing but evil the rest of their days.
There was a moment in time of of obedience but it didn't
last very long and when we get to the books of haggai and zachariah
malachi you'll see that and then all their days that four five
hundred years of darkness in between malachi and matthew it
was nothing but evil it was nothing but a descent into religious
depravity ceremonialism legalism that's all it was And you see
that in the by-product of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and
all of those sects of Judaism which denied Christ, rejected
Him. That's what man by nature does.
So all they saw was evil. But here, he says, thou shalt
not see evil anymore. What's he talking about? He's
talking about those who belong to Christ. We'll see the goodness
of God in all things. Oh, we'll see sin in ourselves,
in the world, but we'll know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, who are the called according
to His purpose. We see the purpose of God in
all things. We'll see that evil cannot overtake
us, cannot separate us from God, We'll see that Christ has taken
care of all the evil that would stand against us so that we will
not see evil anymore. And then look at verse 16. He
says, In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou
not, and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack. All of this shows
us how God is with us. Fear thou not. We don't have
anything to fear from man. We really don't have anything
to fear from Satan. Why? Because the Lord, verse 17, thy
God in the midst of thee is mighty because of God's power. Paul
said this, he said, for the which cause I suffer these things,
I'm suffering persecution, I'm going through trials, I'm in
bonds, in jail, nevertheless I'm not ashamed, he said, for
I know whom I believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. You
know what I've committed unto Christ? You know what Paul committed
unto Christ? Everything. The whole complete
well-being of his soul. His salvation. You see what I'm
saying? If you committed all your salvation
to Christ, or if you held back a little for yourself, Paul said,
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep, not I'm able, that he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. Wherefore, he's able to save
them to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's able. and that's why we don't have
to fear that's why we don't have to quit that's what it means
let not thy hands be slack don't faint don't give up because he's
able to keep that which we've committed unto him against that
day and not only is he able look at verse seventeen it says he
will save he will save he's not only able but he's willing he's
willing the scripture says he told his disciples he said the
Good Shepherd gives his life for the... you know that's what
happened on Calvary man didn't take his life Christ was not... I know man had murder we had
murder in our hearts don't get me wrong man has murder in his
heart we didn't murder the Lord of Glory he gave himself freely
he said no man takes my life from me he said I'm giving it
up willingly Scripture says in John 13 and verse 1, the reason
he did that is because he loved his own. Who are his own? He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. His own are his sheep. The good
shepherd gives his... He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them I must bring. And he gave his life willingly. So don't think that he's unwilling
to save sinners. He's willing to save any who
come to him for salvation. And then look at this, it says
here, now this is speaking of the Lord. He will rejoice over
thee with joy, he will rest in his love. He's going to rejoice
just like the Bible pictures it this way in the book of Isaiah
62 and 61. As a bridegroom rejoices over
his bride, the Lord our God, Jesus Christ rejoices over his
people. And why does he rejoice? Because
we're such a good addition to Him? Or because He finally persuaded
us to do something we didn't want to do? I'll tell you exactly
why He rejoices over us. Because it glorifies and honors
Him. In the salvation of unworthy, undeserving sinners. That's why there's more joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over the ninety and nine
that need no repentance. Now on earth there is no nanny
and nun that need no repentance. But he's teaching a lesson there.
This is the glory of God. And that's what he says here.
He says he will rest or be silent in his love. It's his glory to
rest in his love for us. He doesn't rest in our love for
him. We're fickle. By nature, we don't love him
at all. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. He rests. He is silent. That
means he's at peace. That's what that means. You might
see in your concordance there, it says he will be silent. That
means he'll be at peace. in His love. Not in ours, for
Him, but in His love for us. Because this love glorifies Him.
This love exalts Christ. And listen to me. This love,
His love for us, ensures the eternal salvation of all His
people. All whom He loves. And when He
saves us by His grace through Christ, the work is all done.
And that's why he rests in that love. It's finished. There's
nothing else to be done. Nothing more to do to secure
our eternal well-being. Now, all he has to do is bring
in the fruits of it. I thought about this. Think about
when our children, you know, our children, our grandchildren,
think about when they get sick. Or they're going through a time
of trouble. A bad time. And we worry. And we fret. And we just pray and plead and
our hearts just drop. But then think about when they're
healed. Or when they're delivered from that problem or that trouble.
Then we rest in peace in our love for them. Well, we know with our children
it don't last very long, does it? That rest. It's because they
grow up. And things get a little different,
you know. But in God's, it's eternal. It's unchangeable. It's always the same. It never
varies. It never wavers. It's always
there. And He rests in it. Now, let
us rest in His love for us. That's what salvation is. That's
what faith is. It's resting not in my love for
Him. Oh, I do love Christ. Not like I ought to. Not perfectly. And I know that if my salvation
were conditioned on my love for Him, I would have no salvation. So I love Him and I want to love
Him more. But I don't rest in my love for Him. I rest in His
love for me. It's His love for me that sent
His Son to die on the cross for my sins. And so He'll rest in
His love. He'll be silent because of His
love. He won't upbraid us. He won't browbeat us when we
fail like we do ourselves and like we do each other. But He'll
be silent in peace towards us because of His love. That's the
song of the redeemed. Look at the song of the Savior.
Look here. He says, He will joy over thee
with singing That's amazing. Here is the song of our Savior
singing over us. Why does He sing over us? There's
only one reason. Because the salvation of a sinner,
a Jacob, an unworthy, undeserving sinner,
the salvation of a sinner glorifies Him. exalts His grace, exalts
His mercy. It exalts Christ, the Lord our
righteousness. It gives Him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow and every tongue confess. And here's the six things he
sings about. Here's what he's going to do.
Here's the song of the Savior. The song of the Lord. Verse 18.
I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly. That's
the calling of the remnant unto himself under the preaching of
the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. And why are they
sorrowful? They're sorrowful over sin. That's
the description of a sinner who's been convicted of sin by the
Spirit. A broken and a contrite heart.
That's the work of God. Did you know that? A broken and a contrite heart,
a circumcised heart, that's the work of God. He sings over his
own work. He goes on, he says he's going
to come for the solemn assembly, that means he's going to bring
them together on one foundation, and that foundation is Christ. And He says, "...who are of thee
to whom the reproach of it was a burden." You'll bear the reproach
of it no more. The reproach of sin will no more
be on us because Christ took our reproach. He took our burden. Our sins were laid upon Him and
He nailed them to the tree. And we don't bear them anymore.
Not the guilt of them. We're still sinners, but our
sins have been taken away. He bore it. Look at verse 19. He says, Behold, at that time
I will undo all that afflict thee. Christ has dealt with everything
that afflicts us. He's dealt with sin. He's dealt
with Satan. He's dealt with the curse of
the law. And in time, all enemies will be put down forever and
ever. They'll know more. Just like
when Moses told the children of Israel as they were about
to cross the Red Sea, He said, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. And he pointed back there to
Pharaoh, the most powerful king and powerful army on earth at
that time. He says, you'll see them now no more forever. And
that's the way it is with our sins. I think it was either Brother
Gary or Brother Randy brought this out. You know, when the
scripture talks about that God will cast our sins away as far
as the east is from the west. And they brought out this, you
know, if you look at a globe of the earth, if you go north
to south, you know, if you're going north, eventually you're
going to turn and be going south. But east and west, you'll always
go east. You'll never turn and go west. And that's what it is. They'll
never meet. That's what he's saying. He put them away. All of them. Everything that
comes against us. And then he goes on, he says,
look here in verse 19, he says, I will save her that halteth.
That's lame. Remember how God made Jacob lame
when he wrestled with him? Wrestle with Christ, that pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. You know why he made him lame?
That's a picture of man trying to walk his way by his works
into God's favor. You can't do it. We're not just
lame, we're spiritually dead. But just like Jacob was made
lame in order to heal him, so will all spiritual Israel. Just
like man by nature, he goes on, he says, and gather her that
was driven out. We were driven out when Adam
fell, driven out of the garden. And the justice of God, that
sword that symbolized the justice of God, would not let us back
in. and we've been alienated from
God ever since and just like man by nature alienated as we
were driven from the garden and we'll be gathered together in
one under Christ he brought us back in he's the way the truth
the life no man cometh under the father but by him and then
he says I will get them praise and fame in every land where
they have been put to shame what he's going to get us praise and
fame in every land where we've been hated and persecuted and
put to shame? What does that mean? Well, it's
not praise and fame for ourselves and in ourselves and of ourselves
and for ourselves. It's praise and fame for the
glory of God because a sinner saved by grace is a trophy, you
might say. He's a trophy of the grace and
the mercy and the power of God in Christ. And that's what makes
Him famous in a sense. That's His name. He's Jehovah,
our Savior. And all of it has to do, this
praise and fame is not to me or to you, it's to Christ. It
has to do with our association with Christ, our identification
with Christ, our redemption by Christ, who alone is to be praised
and who alone is to be known. And he says, at that time, look
at it in verse 19, he says, or verse 20, he says, at that time
will I bring you again even in the time that I gather you. I
believe he's talking about judgment there. Final judgment. Because that's when the remnant
of Israel, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the redeemed
of the Lord, the chosen of the Lord, those washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness, justified, will be made known
before the whole universe as the people of God, the people
of grace. And every knee will bow and every
tongue confess. And he says, for I will make
you a name and a praise among all the people of the earth.
Again, our name as we're married to Christ. What's his name? Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our
righteousness. What's the name of the church?
She shall be called Jehovah Sid Canu. We took his name. And he
says, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. This is a praise to the God of
all grace and glory in salvation. And that's his song over us. All right.