Zephaniah was the last prophet
to prophesy in Judah right before the Babylonian captivity. And
you know that Babylonian captivity, that was the judgment of God
against the people of Judah because of their sins. If you look at
verse one of chapter three of Zephaniah, look at this. He says,
woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city. You might think, well, surely
he's talking about Sodom or Gomorrah or Nineveh or someplace like
that. No, he's talking about Jerusalem.
Had become filthy and polluted. It had become, instead of a place
where God was worshiped, in the truth that God had given them,
it had become a place of idolatry, even in their temple worship,
even in their sincerity. You know, you think about it,
the Apostle Paul really kind of, in one passage of scripture,
described the sin of Israel the sin of the self-righteous religious
Jews in Romans 9 when he said, they sought for righteousness,
but not by faith, not by looking to Christ, the promised Messiah,
but as it were, by works of the law. And when that started, when
that kind of thing started in Judah and Israel, things went
downhill from there. And it's just like today, you
know, people have gotten so far away from the true worship of
God according to his word. I mean, people who have Bibles,
people who go to church on Sunday, but they don't know the word
of God. They don't know the reality of the gospel, because that's
what it's all about. Everything we do has to be under
that umbrella and founded upon the gospel of God's grace in
Christ. And so Zephaniah's message was
just like Jeremiah's, was just like Habakkuk, Isaiah's before
them. It was a message of judgment
that we deserve. And of course, always when we
look at Israel and Judah in this situation, what we see there
is a picture of ourselves by nature. Because that's what we
are by nature. sinners, ignorant, totally depraved. What does that mean? Well, it
means that we have no capacity and no desire to know and to
worship the true and living God. And even the gospel is an offense
to us. before God opens our eyes and
gives us life and makes us willing in the day of his power. And
that's what Zephaniah's message was an offense to the people
there. Just like Jeremiah before him.
You remember what Jeremiah's message was? He said, judgment's
coming. We deserve it. Let's accept it. That's what he said. He didn't
say let's form armies and rebel and defend ourselves. He says,
no, this is what God's doing because of our sins. And again,
when we look at that, we just have to always thank God that
he has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
He's justified us. He does not impute our sins to
us, because we'd be in the same shape. Well, Zephaniah prophesied
that judgment was coming. This whole earth is headed toward
judgment. And look at verse eight of chapter
three. He says, 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, to pour upon them
mine indignation. That's God's just wrath against
their sins. Even all my fierce anger for
all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
And remember, God's jealousy now is the honor of his character. Our jealousy is normally, it's
sinful because it's selfish and self-righteous. But God's jealousy
was the glorification of himself which he owned and deserves.
But if you read those first eight verses of Zephaniah chapter three,
read the whole book, just three chapters. But what it's talking
about is the judgment of God. that's coming upon Judah for
her sins. But then Zephaniah, like all
the other prophets, even though he had a message of judgment
upon Israel and Judah for their sins, he also had a message of
hope. And that message of hope was
not simply in a temporal deliverance from Babylon, for example, that
they would come back to their land, and that was part of it,
But that wasn't gonna last, and it didn't last. The main message
of hope was of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And one
of the themes that goes through these three chapters of Zephaniah
is the idea of the remnant. And I love that truth of the
remnant, God's remnant. In every generation where the
majority of people were forsaking the Lord God and forsaking his
truth, God always had a remnant according to the election of
grace. And that's an amazing thing.
And what's more amazing is when you consider that if we know
Christ, if we believe in him by the power of God, we know
that didn't come from us. Faith is not natural to us. It
doesn't come from any spark of goodness that we fan into a flame. So that if we believe in Christ,
we're part of that remnant, that elect remnant. Can you imagine
that? So the title of the message today
is Christ the Restorer of God's Remnant. That's what he does. Look at verse 9 of Zephaniah
chapter 3. There's so much here. I can't
cover it all in one message, but we'll get to the meat of
it. He says, for then, now after he pronounced judgment in the
first eight verses. Judgment's coming. You're sinners
and you deserve it. We're all sinners, we all deserve
it. But look at verse nine, he says, for then will I turn to
the people a pure language, that they make all call upon the name
of the Lord to serve him with one consent. Now that's talking
about gospel salvation there. You know, if you think about
the history of Judah, for example, in Babylon, and you look at verses
like this, They were in captivity for 70 years. And then after
the 70 years were up, they were released, and they could, if
they chose, go back to Jerusalem, to Judah. But you know, the majority
of them didn't. Somebody said, I think, that
the first wave that went back was about 50,000 people. But
they stayed in Babylon. So whenever it talks about the
masses coming back and all the people coming, it's not talking
about earthly Israel or earthly Jews. It's talking about spiritual
Israel. God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. And this is amazing how he describes
the people of God here. For then will I turn to the people
a pure language. That's God's work. That's God
doing his sovereign work. And what is that pure language?
It's the language of grace. No, it's not tongues. It's the
language of the gospel. You see, when we preach the gospel,
when we witness the gospel, that's a pure language because that's
God's word. How God saves sinners. And of
course, this points forward to the promised Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is the remnant, this
remnant that's coming back. They're going to speak this pure
language. They're gonna witness the gospel of how God justifies
the ungodly by his grace through the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah to come, who is the surety, substitute,
and redeemer of his people, would accomplish salvation by himself
for his people. And Christ did it. He said it's
finished. He says here, a people of a pure language. That's praise. That's what that
means. Praising the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord. It's not me, it's not you. We
didn't save ourselves. Christ didn't just give us a
leg up or a jump start and then we made the decision and sealed
the deal, no. Because if that were the case,
none of us would be saved. if left to ourselves. So he says,
then will I turn to the people of pure language that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent. That word consent is, some people
translate it as shoulder. In other words, they're gonna
come together shoulder to shoulder, all speaking the same pure language.
And again, that's the gospel. Doesn't mean, like I said, it
doesn't mean tongues, it doesn't mean international languages
or anything like that. It means the gospel, the good
news of the glorious person and the finished work of Christ.
We're all together in that. There's not one person here who's
a believer who speaks another language of a different kind.
As far as the gospel is concerned, how God saves sinners. And look
here, he says in verse 10, from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
my suppliants, or suppliants, some people pronounce it, a suppliant,
I've gotten your lesson here, is one who comes with a need.
It's a needy person, begging to have that need fulfilled.
And when I saw that, I thought about the old publican. God be
merciful to me, the sinner. And that's where God brings all
of his remnant, all of his chosen people. We're all suppliants
in that way. Because when the Holy Spirit
came in the preaching of the gospel and convinced us of sin
and righteousness and of judgment, that's what he made us. We came
begging for mercy. We had an elder up at 13th Street
in Ashland, Brother Cecil Roach, and he always talked about himself. He said, I'm just a mercy beggar.
And that's what we all are, begging for mercy. And God says, I'll
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. In verse 11, he said, or verse
10, he says, from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants,
even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering. In
other words, there's gonna be a remnant out of the Jews too. Jew and Gentile, a remnant according
to the election of grace, God's chosen people. Somebody asked
me one time, said, well, do you have to preach election every
message? Yes, in some form or another, because that's the gospel. That's the remnant. And how do
you know? Well, go back up to verse nine.
He says, they may all call upon the name of the Lord. Well, what
is his name? Well, his name is many names. He's the God of all grace. He's
Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. He's all of those
things that identify and distinguish him from idols. So look at verse 11. Excuse me. He says, in that day, that's
the day of the Lord, shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings? He says, 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. All of this
language shows how God is going to bring his people, his remnant,
to himself. And he's gonna bring us off of
our pride. He's not saying here that those
who come to God in Christ are not sinners, we are. And he's
not saying we don't need to be ashamed of our sins, we do, godly
sorrow over sin, but he's talking about how we stand in Christ
in relation to God our Father. No sins charged to me. No sin
charged to you. God forbid, you say, that we
should stand before God without Christ. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness. That's our relationship
with God our Father in Christ. And in Christ, the Bible says
that when we come before God in judgment, Because of our standing
in Christ, we shall not be ashamed. Now you think about it, I'm gonna
talk about this in the message later on. We've got a lot to
be ashamed for in ourselves, don't we? We go through this
life, we're supposed to be as believers, we're supposed to
be at war with ourselves, at war with the flesh, war with
our own sinful thoughts and actions. And the Bible promotes, God's
word promotes what the Bible calls godly sorrow over sin. Paul spoke of it in Romans 7,
2 Corinthians 7. Oh, how ashamed we ought to be.
But what he's talking about here is how we stand in Christ. And
because of Christ, Not because of ourselves now. Understand
this. In Him, we don't have anything
to be ashamed of. Because His work is a perfect
work. His work is a holy work. His work is a righteous work.
And standing before God in Christ, washed in His blood and clothed
in His righteousness, we shall not be ashamed. And I love that. That's boldness in the day of
judgment. Look at verse 12. He says, I will also lead, excuse
me, I will also, can't get my throat going here. I apologize, the Lord's making
me work for this. I got one. All right, in verse
12 he says, I will also of thee and afflicted and poor people,
and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. God is gonna show
us our poverty in order to make us see and be appreciative of
his riches. And that's what he's talking
about. They shall trust in the name of the Lord. Don't trust
in themselves. We can't trust ourselves. We can't trust each
other. We trust in the Lord and so he
says in verse 13, the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity
nor speak lies. Now, again, same thing we were
talking about. Are we sinners? Yes. Do we do
iniquity? Yes. But blessed are those whose
iniquity is not charged to them. You know, when God in Psalm chapter
five says he hateth all workers of iniquity, how can that not
include me? Because I'm a sinner. The only
way that it cannot include me or you or anybody is as we stand
before God in Christ by his grace. Think about those who stood before
him at judgment in Matthew seven, pleading their works, Saying
and hear him say depart from me you that work iniquity Well
now he's not going to say that to his redeemed ones He's not
going to say that to his remnant Well, why not aren't we sinners?
Yes, but we're saved by his grace and grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord And so he says in verse
13, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth,
for they shall feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid.
We'll lie down in the green pastures of God's word in Christ. And
that's where peace is. And that's what makes us truthful
before God. That's what brings the honesty
out. by nature were dishonest. You
know, any person who believes, any sinner who believes that
they themselves make the difference between saved and lost by their
decision or their works, they're not being honest. Now, they may
be sincere. They may believe, but they believe
a lie. But see, God makes us honest,
and so he brings out here in these last verses two songs,
the song of the redeemed and the song of the redeemer. Listen
to this as we go down through it. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Zion is the church. That word
typifies the church, the dwelling place of God, where the people
of God dwell in fellowship with the Father through the Son. Oh
Israel, he says. What does Israel mean? It means
those who have prevailed with God. How do you prevail with
God? You plead the blood and righteousness
of Christ. You come to him as a sinner seeking
mercy. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, oh daughter of Jerusalem. Those who are at peace with God.
Joy and peace in believing. And what do we believe? We believe
in Christ. We rest in him. 15, the Lord hath taken away
thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
How did he take away our judgments? Our judgments fell on Christ.
Our sins were imputed to him and he went under the wrath of
God for his people, for that remnant. And he restored us unto
God. We fell in Adam. became alienated
from God in our minds by wicked works, and Christ restored us,
the restored remnant. And he cast out the enemy. That's
Satan, the accuser of the brethren. And what do we do? We plead the
blood of the Lamb. And that stops the air that come
from Satan. He says, the King of Israel,
even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Christ said, where two
or three are gathered, there I'll be in the midst of them.
Christ dwells within us by His Spirit and by His Word. He will
not leave us. He will not forsake us. Thou
shalt not see evil anymore. Well now, I'll tell you one thing
about that now. He's certainly not talking about physical Jerusalem
here, because they saw evil all the days of their lives. And
He's not talking about us in this life, because we see evil
every day. We see evil in ourselves. So
how will we not see evil anymore? We will not see evil condemning
us, holding us back. We will not see evil blinding
us from the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We were
blind, now we see. We were in darkness, now we're
the light, in that sense. And so he says in verse 16, in
that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not, and
to Zion, let not thine hands be slack, or be faint. Don't give up. You know, there's
a lot in this world that makes us give up. We talk about it all the time,
about some of us, you know, how we don't watch the news anymore,
because we've given up on it. It's just a burden to watch it,
and because of how this world is going. But I'll tell you what,
in this gospel, in salvation, don't give up. And we won't,
because he won't let us. Perseverance, we talk about perseverance,
that's continuing. Well, why do we persevere? Because
he preserves. He won't let go of us. That's
right. And it's the work of God. He
who began the good work will finish it, complete it to the
end. So don't give up. Verse 17, the Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty. This is the song of the redeemed.
God is mighty. I'm not gonna sing about my power
or my strength or my, I'm gonna sing about his. He's able to
keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He
will save, look at that, in verse 70. He will save, not that he
probably will, or he will if you will, he will save. He shall save his people from
their sins. And then it says he will rejoice
over thee with joy. Now comes the song of the Redeemer.
Christ rejoicing over us. Does he see anything about me
or about you to rejoice over? Well, the answer is yes. Well,
what is that? Trophies of his grace, his power. This is one of his remnant. that he restored. This is one
whom he redeemed. This is one whom God has justified. You see, the joy has nothing
to do with anything in us or anything done by us. It's all
his work. We're his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. So he says he will rejoice over
thee with joy. He will rest in his love, he
will joy over thee with singing. Some translation says he will
be silent. That is in contrast to God speaking
out in wrath against those who are found in their sins. As opposed
to that, he'll be silent, he'll rest in his love. And what does his love provide?
here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. He will joy over
thee with singing. Think about the Lord singing
over us. We sing over him, don't we? We
sing his praise. But he's looking at his people
as trophies of his work, his power, his grace. and His goodness,
and then verse 18, I will gather them that are sorrowful for the
solemn assembly for worship, who are of thee to whom the reproach
of it was a burden. All of this in His good time. And verse 19, behold, at that
time I will undo all that afflict thee. Everything that afflicts
us will be done away with, is done away with. And he says,
and I will save her that halted and gather her that was driven
out. I will get them praise and fame in every land where they've
been put to shame. So everything that sin has done
to his people will be overturned. There's not one portion of it
that will remain. And when we're glorified together,
it'll all be gone. And so he says in verse 20, at
that time, In Christ will I bring you again even in the time that
I gather you, restoring the remnant, for I will make you a name and
a praise among all people of the earth when I turn back your
captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. Now there came a time
when Judah was brought back to their land, but they really weren't
a praise among all the people of the earth. When's that gonna
happen? at His second coming, when He displays His people before
the whole universe, to the praise of the glory of His grace, and
He's gonna reveal who His people are. These are my redeemed ones,
these are my restored ones, this is my remnant, this is my people. And it's gonna be declared before
the whole universe at one time, okay.