Book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah,
chapter 3. Donnie said something about y'all
coming to hear these men. My hope is that God spoke through
an ass once before, and he'll be pleased It has been a real blessing to be
here with you all, and enjoy your fellowship. I do think very
highly of your pastor and his wife, and have enjoyed the hospitality
and the time with them. just so grateful. I appreciate
that prayer, Donnie, just pray, because I am going home refreshed
and renewed and revigorated, and I'm thankful for that. In the book of Zephaniah, in
the third chapter, beginning in the fifteenth verse, the Lord gives us some reasons
to rejoice. Now, by nature, I'm a pretty
optimistic person, but when I consider the state of affairs as they
really are, I'm in need of a word from God as to why I should rejoice. When I consider the state of
affairs politically, I see that there are some dark clouds on
the horizon that may very well bring a deluge of trouble like
we've never seen before. When I consider the state of
affairs economically, I believe that we are just beginning to
see the effects of the skyrocketing fuel prices on the entire economy,
and there's no easy, quick fix to it. When I consider the state
of affairs morally, Well, it can be summarized by just simply
saying, and young people, please hear this. Please hear this.
Because in our nation, we are today celebrating things that
we ought to be ashamed of. We're celebrating things that
we ought to blush over. We used to, not very long ago.
And now they're being celebrated. Our young people are being raised
up in a culture believing that everything's okay. Religiously,
God has sent a strong delusion. And men had believed the lie. They've swallowed it hook, line,
and sinker. It's a desperate time, and there are a lot of
troubles all around us. All these things being set aside,
all these things being set aside, there's something much more concerning. And that is the fact that life
is short. and that there is a God with
whom we must do. And in that moment of truth,
in that moment of truth when you and I take our last breath,
nothing else, nothing else will be important to us. Nothing. The political situation, the
economic situation, your family situation, what you did or didn't
do in this life, nothing will be important in that moment of
truth when you take your last breath except, are you ready
to meet God? When I consider the sin of my
own heart, the sin that so easily besets me, I'm in need of hearing
from God reasons why I should rejoice, and I cannot settle
for pious platitudes. High in the sky, by and by, won't
do. The world's philosophy of don't worry, be happy doesn't
sustain me. And the religious opiates that
are being served up today, well, they just don't work, do they? God has given to you and I, in
a desperate time, in a desperate day, with desperate circumstances,
a word of hope, a word of truth, a reason why, in spite of all
these things, we can truly, from the heart, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. The first
one is given to us here in verse 15. Let's read verse 14 first.
Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Be glad and
rejoice with all the heart, all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. All those things as they are, We're told of God, that we have
reason to rejoice. And here's the first one. We
see it in verse 15. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgment. You know, if we don't have anything
else, if we lose everything we've got, and everyone that we cherish
in this world, but God takes away our judgment, Well, at the end of the day,
as I said, that's the only thing that's going to be important.
And if we've got that, we've got everything. And if we don't
have that, we don't have anything. For what does a prophet of man
if he gains the whole world, the whole world, and loses his
own soul? What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? God says, I've taken away your
judgment. How'd he do it? How'd he do it? We stand as filthy
sinners before God. And yet God, and God says my
eyes are too pure to look upon sin. I'm a holy God. I must punish
sin. And the punishment for sin is
death. And so what he did was he sent his sinless son. He tried him for 33 years under
the law and proved him to be faithful, sinless. And then at
the end of that time, He unsheathed his sword of justice and plunged
it into the heart of his own son. We just read that in Isaiah
53. And in doing so, he put away. He put away judgment. He satisfied
justice. It's been taken away. He said,
your sin has been separated from you as far as the east is from
the west, and I remember it no more. You know, if you go north, there
comes a point when you begin to go south. And if you go south,
there comes a point when you begin to go north. But if you
go east, you never touch west. If you go west, you never touch
east. East and west don't come together. That's how far He separated our
sin from us. The sacrifice of Himself has
taken away the cause of judgment. The cause of judgment is sin.
In the new birth, Christ being formed in you, he has taken away
the consequence of judgment, death. He's translated us from
the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his light. He's given
us eternal life in the person of his son. By the substitutionary
death of Christ on the cross of Calvary, he's taken away the
curse of the law, the sentence of judgment. put away in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's no more guilt. There's
no more shame. The Lord says there is now therefore
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now I can
find a reason to rejoice over that. I can rejoice. Rejoice in knowing that God is
satisfied. That he's pleased with his son. And in being pleased with him,
he's pleased with me. He sewed up my sin in a bag,
cast it behind his back. Speaking of sin, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, the Apostle Paul says, such were some of you, such were
some of you, but But now you are washed, now you are sanctified,
now you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever else happens, whatever
else happens, if we have the knowledge of the forgiveness
of sin in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin being put
away, if we know That the Lord, do you see that in verse 15?
The Lord hath, hath, please notice the verb tense. He hath done it. It's a past
tense thing. It's a finished work. When the
Lord Jesus Christ said on Calvary's cross, it is finished, it was
done. It's done. Nothing else to add to it. Don't
add your righteousness. Don't go to Bethel. Don't go
to Gilgal. Don't go to Beersheba. Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
The Lord hath taken away thy judgments. On a God-ordained day, some 2,000
years ago, there was a man. A man sentenced to die. The Scripture tells us that he
was guilty. He had no defense. He had no
appeals. He was guilty of insurrection.
He had rebelled against the Roman government. And in that rebellion,
he and his partners in crime had actually murdered a man.
And so he had been found guilty of murder and insurrection. There
was a cross that was already prepared for him. Him and his
two partners. He had nothing to say. No hope
of escape. But in the last minute, bar son of Abbas Abba father,
the son of the father Barabbas, a symbol of everyone for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ became the substitute, the sons of God,
Barabbas, the Scripture says, was released, and the Lord Jesus
Christ was delivered up in His place. That cross had been prepared
for Barabbas. The day of crucifixion had already
been planned and prepared. But the Lord Jesus' time had
come, and He walked into that set of circumstances of which
He had ordained. and purposed in order to take
Barabbas's place. Taking away his judgments. You know the scripture doesn't
tell us anything about Barabbas. I hope he was able to rejoice. He was given to us for one reason,
to symbolize every one of God's people for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ became their substitute. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. Now whatever else happens, we
ought to be able to rejoice in that. And if the Lord teaches
us that truth to the heart and convinces us of it through faith,
we will rejoice. We will rejoice in spite of whatever
happens. We'll rejoice in knowing that
God satisfied and the judgment for my sin has been taken away. Taken away. He had cast out. Look at the next phrase in verse
15. He has cast out thine enemy. Satan. entered into the house
of man's soul through the door of the first Adam. When the first Adam sinned, Satan,
the deceiver, the author of lies, cast the entire human race, all
the descendants of Adam, into that sin and made them responsible The scripture tells us that Christ,
the last Adam, came as the man of war to destroy the works of
the devil. Satan was cast out of heaven
when he opposed the sovereign reign and purpose of God. Satan
was cast out of his dominion over God's elect when Christ
was lifted up on Calvary's cross. I'll show you that in the scriptures.
Turn with me to John chapter 12. I was so encouraged with
that message we heard from Brother Don the other night about the
Lord saying to Satan, the Lord rebuked you in contending for
the body of the law of Moses. The Lord has put him away. The Lord has dominated him and
destroyed him. John chapter 12, look at verse
28. Finally, Father, glorify thy
name. Then came their voice from heaven
saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it. Some said that
it thundered. Others said an angel spoke to
him. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of
me, but for your sakes. Now, Now is the judgment of this
world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Cast out. There was a time when
you were not able to believe. You were held captive by the
sin of unbelief. That's our natural condition.
Having believed the lies, we've been taken captive by unbelief. And the scripture says, He hath
cast out thine enemy. The gates of hell shall not be
able to prevail against it. I've got a people held captive
in the sin of unbelief, but the gates of hell are going to be
carried away. And I'm going to march in and take the captive.
At the end, the Lord will cast Satan chained into the eternal
link of fire, for all his angels and those who believe his lies.
Eternal, infinite, torment. Bound by the immutable justice
of God, he hath," again, past tense, Can you rejoice over that? Can
you rejoice in knowing that the works of the devil have been
destroyed? That the Lord Jesus Christ has
done everything necessary to set his people free? The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy. Come back with me to our
text. in Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 15. The king of Israel, even
the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Can you rejoice right now, right
now? In knowing that where two or
three, and we've got a few more than that here this morning,
are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. We just join our voices together
in praise to him, and he tells us, I inhabit the praise of my
people. The light of the gospel is shining
forth in testimony, in song, and from his word, and he says,
I walk in the midst of the camels. You see it in verse 15, the king,
the king of Israel, the sovereign ruler, even the Lord, God, the one who has sovereign
control over all things. The scripture says that no man
can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? He takes
from the same lump of clay and makes some vessels of honor and
some of dishonor. Does the sovereignty of God in
salvation discourage faith? It is the cause of faith. The sovereignty of God in salvation
is the only reason that a sinner would cry for mercy. If God's
not sovereign in your salvation, then there's something other
than faith that you can do to earn it. There's no conflict between God
choosing a people before the world began and us coming to
Him in faith. They work together. Behold, the scripture says, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God. The King of Israel, even the
Lord, is in the midst of thee. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. Paul tells us like this, rejoice
in the Lord always. Always. Always rejoice in the
Lord. And again, in case you didn't
hear it the first time, I say to you again, rejoice. Why? Because the Lord is at hand.
How close is He? How near is He to you? He's as
close to you as your hand. The Scripture says He's as close
to you as your lips. The Lord is at hand. The omnipresent God is with His
people. in providence and in grace, and
he says, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, and I'll work all things together
for good. People finish that birth to them
that love him and to them that are called according to his purpose. You know, the world's got this
phrase. I've heard it a lot lately with young people. It's all good.
It's all good. They're whistling through the
graveyard. It's all they're doing. It's all they're doing. Trying
to convince themselves everything's going to be okay. It's all good. You know, believers can say that
in truth. It's all good. Scripture says that there's no
trial, there's no temptation. that we have, except that which
is common to all men. The Lord's telling us, don't
ever get in a pity party and thinking that things are worse
for me than anybody else. But God is faithful. And He will
not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able.
People cut that verse off right there and say, oh, God's never
going to give me more than I can bear. If God never gives you
more than you can bear, then you don't need Him. And if He
ever puts the guilt of your sin on your heart, then you'll know
that you can't bear it. You cannot bear it. No, that
verse says He's faithful, and He will provide the way of escape
that you might be able to bear it. The Lord Jesus Christ is
that way. He's that way. When in God's providence there
are circumstances placed on you beyond your ability to bear,
the Lord says there's a way of escape. There's a way of escape. And he's the reason for rejoicing.
Why? Because he's with you. Look with me at the rest of this
verse. Verse 15. Reasons for rejoicing. The Lord
has taken away thy judgment. He's cast out thine enemy. The
King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. and
thou shalt not see evil anymore." That's what we were just talking
about. There's no bad news after you've
received good news. There really isn't. There really
isn't. There's no evil anymore. It's all good. In the providence
and purpose of God, it's all good. Proverbs 12, 21. Here's
what God says. There shall no evil happen to
the just. The other night, I don't know
if we sang the hymn. I remember hearing it played.
It is well with my soul. In the mid-1800s, a man lived
in Chicago, Illinois by the name of Horatio Spafford. His doctors
told him, he was an attorney, his doctors told him that he
needed a reprieve, he needed a vacation, he was having some
health problems. He sent his wife and his four
daughters on a ship out of New York to go before him to England
where they were going on a vacation, racking up the rest of his business. He was planning to follow them
and meet them over there. The ship collided with another
ship in the North Atlantic and sank. Word came to Mr. Stafford in
Chicago that the ship had sank and that there were some survivors,
but that most people perished. Not knowing the fate of his own
family, he waited until he got a telegram from his wife that
read, survive alone. He went to New York and boarded
the ship and headed over to meet his wife in the same areas where
his four daughters perished. He wrote, when peace like a river
attendeth my way, when sorrows like soup billows roll whatever
my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with
my soul. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. That's a reason to rejoice. Judgment has been taken away. The enemy has been cast out.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee,
and thou shalt see evil no more. Look at the next verse, verse
16. And in that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou
not, O Zion, fear thou not. Let not thy hands be slack. Why?
For the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is all powerful. Not only is he with us and for
us, but his power is available to us. I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me. All power, the Lord Jesus said.
You know, we value greatly, we value greatly men's last words. We sit and listen at their bedside
to hear what they might say. And in the last moments of life,
we summarize for our loved ones the things that are most important
to us, don't we? The Lord Jesus, in ascending
up to heaven, just before leaving his loved ones, his disciples,
he said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, therefore
you go. And I will be with you always,
even unto the end of the earth. Not only is he with us, but his
power is able to subdue all our enemies. and to give us the hope
of salvation and enable us to rejoice. You remember the story
of 2 Kings when the prophet Elisha was being pursued by the king
of Assyria. And they surrounded his house.
I always imagined Elijah's house being sort of out in the country
like your pastor's house. Down in a little valley surrounded
by mountains and hills. Elijah sent his servant out. And his servants saw the army
of the Assyrians surrounding his place. And he came back in
and he said, Master, Master, what do we do? Remember what
Elisha said? Don't worry. Don't worry, them
that are with us are more than them that are with them. And you can just hear the wheels
turning and the mind of the little servant boy saying, the old man's
lost it. The old man's lost it. Just me and him. The whole army
of Assyrians. The prophet said, God open his
eyes. Open his eyes. And he went back
outside and looked and he saw flaming chariots. And God blinded
the enemy right there and allowed him to let them right back into
the city of Israel. Open our eyes. Oh, that God would
open our eyes and enable us to believe what He has said. The
Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, and He is mighty. If God be for me, who can be
against me? Look at the next phrase. He will say. He will save. Now, I see two
things in that. First of all, He is going to
save. He is going to regenerate in the power of His Spirit all
for whom Christ died. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His
life for all that God had chosen in the covenant of grace before
the world began. All of God's elect are secure in the death
of Christ. And the salvation of those people will happen when
the Spirit of God comes in His time and in His moment and touches
and says, It's your day of love. It's your day of love. He shall
save. He's going to do it freely. He's
going to do it fully. He's going to do it without money,
without price. He's going to do it eternally. He's going to
save us from sin. He's going to save us from Satan.
He's going to save us from death. He's going to save us from hell.
He's going to save us from the wrath of God. He's going to save
us from the curse of the law. He has done it. He is doing it.
He will do it. He will save. Now, there's a
reason to rejoice. But there's something else I
see in this phrase, he will save, and that is this, he is more
willing to save than you are to be saved. You think about that. He is more
willing to save than you are to be saved. If you're saved,
it is all God's fault, and he gets all the glory. If you're
not, it's all yours. If you say, that doesn't make
sense, that's inconsistent, that's nonsense. No, it's not. It's
what the Bible teaches. He's willing to save. Our lost condition is our fault,
not His. No man will be able to stand
before God on the Day of Judgment and say, well, God, I wanted
to be saved. I wanted to be saved, but You didn't elect me, You
didn't choose me, You didn't will me to be saved, so I couldn't
be, so it's not my fault. How can the clay say to the potter,
why hast thou made me such? And if it's of God, then how
can God blame me? That was the argument that Paul
gave, wasn't it? And what did he say? Who are you, old man,
to speak back to God? If you are not saved, it's all
your fault. All your fault. And if you are, it's all God's.
That's just the truth. That's just the way it is. That's
the way it is. Turn with me back to Micah, just
back a few pages to the left. Micah. Chapter 7. And look at verse 18. Look at verse 18. Who is a God
like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will save. He's willing to
save. He's able to save. Our lack of
salvation is not his fault, it's ours. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities.
And thou will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.
Thou will perform the truth of Jacob and the mercies of Abraham,
which thou has sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
He will save and he's willing to be saved. Psalm 34, verse 6 says, The poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all
of his troubles. Out of all of his troubles. He
saves the poor. He saves the needy. The lack of salvation is only
because men are not poor and they're not needy. Trusting in
their own righteousness. Going about to establish their
own righteousness. Denying the righteousness of
God. the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law for all
righteousness. The Lord, turn back with me to
our text, I'll finish this up. The Lord, thy God in the midst
of these mighty, verse 17, he will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy now. If there's anything In all the
Scriptures, as a believer, I don't know if I'm saying this right,
but this is one thing I have to believe purely by faith. Purely by faith. We rejoice in
Him. We're thankful for Him. We believe
Him, but that He would rejoice in me. Look at the rest of this. He
will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. You know, most of the time, I
just kind of think that God tolerates me for Christ's sake. Isn't that
the way we think? It's not what he said. He said,
you're my bride. You're my bride. I love you.
These preachers have done weddings. I've done a lot of weddings.
Young ladies, if you're not married, let me give you a tip. If you're
standing at the altar to be married, and your husband is standing
at the altar, and you come in that back door, and he doesn't
beam with joy in looking at you coming down that aisle, you turn
around and leave. Turn with me to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. The bridegroom rejoices and sings
and looks at his bride with joy. She's the apple of his eye. She's the love of his life. And he rejoices over her and
sins over her. Revelation 19, look at verse
8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. And he saith unto me, Right,
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These things
are true sayings of God. He delights in her. In Song of
Solomon, the Lord says, Thou... Now this is God speaking of you
and me. This is Christ talking about
His bride. And He says, Thou hast ravished
my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes. Not only does He love us, but
He loves loving us. He loves loving us. He loves us without a cause,
without a beginning, without change, without end, everlasting
love. Though we feel as though He has cause, He has no reason
to speak to us in harsh anger. His wrath is all gone. There's
nothing left but loving affection. You know the ironic thing is,
That the view that the world has about this loving God who
has no wrath is in one sense true of our God. It's not true
of theirs, but it's true of ours. His wrath has been satisfied. His judgment has been put away. And He loves us with an everlasting
love. He will sing over thee with joy.
My delight, He says, no longer. Isaiah 62. And I'll close with
this passage. Isaiah 62. Verse 3. Thou also, this is the church,
this is the bride. Thou also shalt be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of
thy God, a trophy of His grace. One day, the Lord's going to
take all for whom Christ died, all that He redeemed, all that
He recalls to rejoice in Him, and He's going to parade them
before all of creation and say, look what I've done. This is
my bride. These are the trophies of my
grace. Thou shalt no more be turned
forsaken, neither shalt thy land any more be turned desolate,
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. My delight is in her. And thy land, Beulah, married. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. Brethren, it's not pie in the
sky. These aren't pious platitudes.
This is the truth of God's Word, and in spite of all the circumstances
that would speak otherwise, we have reason, real reason, to
rejoice.