We'll be in the book of Zephaniah
today. It's found between Habakkuk and Haggai in the Old Testament. This book is only three chapters
long. I've been listening to this through
the audio Bible and the first two chapters, the Lord is just
raining judgment, raining judgment down. Israel had followed after Baal. But God will always have mercy
to the remnant of his people. Always show mercy to them. And for three chapters, right
through to the beginning of this chapter, is a prophecy of judgment,
but scattered throughout the first two chapters are morsels
of mercy. morsels of mercy. And what this
book does is it exposes, it describes the idolatry and sins of the
nations of the world, and it exposes the sins of God's people. Now we deserve wrath just as
much as anyone else. We who are the born-again, blood-lost
children of God, we deserve wrath. But, praise God, we receive mercy.
Mercy in Christ. Again, you've heard me quote
the scripture many times. I'm going to quote it again. For
who made us to differ, and what do we have that we didn't receive? Differ there is distinguished.
Who distinguished you in the Greek? We're a distinguished
people only by God. On our own, in our natural state,
we're just like everybody else. Sinners from the top of our heads
to the bottom of our feet. And every evil that man can do,
we may not have done it, but we may have thought it. Right? If we're being honest,
it's in us. The only difference between us
and the worst criminal in this world is the grace of God in
Christ. That really is. Now, when you say that, people
recoil. Well, that's how great God's
grace is. That's how great God's grace
is. He takes rebels and he makes them saints. He takes cursers
and he makes them praisers. Isn't it amazing? My. He takes prostitutes and he turns
them into objects of his grace and mercy. He takes the doctors,
murderers, David and Paul, and turns them again into monuments
of his mercy. He takes we sinners, saved by
the grace of God, and turns us into monuments of his mercy. Oh, God's so good, isn't he?
We don't get what we deserve. He's so merciful. He's so good. And remember, the nature of the
reprobate was in us, in our natural state. Shaking our fist at God. His heart was our heart before
the Lord changed us. His thoughts were our thoughts.
His deeds were our deeds. And the only one who's made us
to differ is God. And God pours out his wrath on
some, and then he pours out his love and grace upon the objects
of his mercy. Neil and I were talking a couple
weeks ago, and Brother Neil said, God can do whatever he wants
to do. Yep, that's right. And who are we to say anything?
He can show mercy to some, and he can pour his wrath out on
others. It's all up to him. We can't say anything, because
we're deserving of the wrath just as much as those who are
receiving the wrath. But we receive mercy and grace
in Jesus Christ the Messiah. Let us never lose sight of the
fact that the only one who's made us to differ from one another,
from those in the world who are unsaved, is our great God. He's the only one. My, what a difference he's made. Saved. Saved from the wrath of
God. Saved out from under the law.
Saved from the judgment of God. Redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ. born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, a new heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
a desire to come and hear the gospel, a desire to be with God's
people and rejoice. Thanks to the name of this message,
there's reasons for us to rejoice. We have so many reasons to rejoice,
beloved. Oh my. Let's read verses 14 to 20 of
Zephaniah again. And we see God's mercy and grace
poured out upon his people. And then we're going to go through
and look at the verses. It says, sing, O daughter of
Zion. Well, we know Zion's the church.
Shout, O Israel, and be glad and rejoice with all the heart. O daughter of Jerusalem. That's
another name for the church, Song of Solomon. The Lord hath
taken away thy judgments. Look at that. Jehovah has taken
away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord Jehovah, is in the midst
of thee. He's right here. Christ said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, where am
I in the midst of them? He's right here today. His spirit is in us. And may
God, the Holy Spirit, take this message and make it a blessing.
Make it a blessing to God's people. Oh, that's my prayer. He's in
the midst of me. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. In that day, it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not. Do you know why man doesn't want
to hear the gospel? Because they fear God. That's another thing that was
replaced in the garden. Love for God. Adam had love for
God. After the fall, what did he have?
Fear of God. My, oh, my. But now, when you're
born again, that fear of death and of God is turned into now
a reverent fear, a love, a joy, A love for God. We're restored. Isn't that amazing? My oh my. Fear thou not. That's God saying
that to his people. He's saying that to we who believe.
Fear thou not. And desire and let not thine
hands be slack. The Lord, this is Jehovah Elohim,
the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He's not a
peanut God. He's not a God who's at man's
control. He's not a God wringing his hands.
He's done all he can, now the rest is up to you. That's not
the God of the Bible. This is the God of the Bible.
He does whatever he pleases. And he's in the midst of us.
Oh my. I think that gives us a lot of
joy. Look at this, the Lord thy God
is in the midst of thee, is mighty, he will save. Look at that statement.
It's not he might, if you let him. It says he will save. It's his
will to save sinners. It's his will to save those who
are in Christ. He will. Look at that. This is
wonderful. And if God saves us, are we kept?
Yep, we're kept by the power of God, the scripture says. If
God saves us. Now look at this. I was looking
at this and my mind just started fizzing.
You know God rejoices over you and I as believers? The God of the universe, the
earth is his footstool. Look at this. He will say, he
will rejoice over thee with joy. Imagine that, brother? God rejoices over us with joy. That's an incredible statement. My oh my, what great love God
has for his people in Christ. And then look at this, here rests
in his love, here rests in his love for us. The eternal everlasting
love, he just rests in it. He will joy over thee with singing. My oh my. I will gather them that are sorrowful. Oh my, when the Holy Spirit starts
to work on the heart of a sinner. And we're showing our sin. We're
sorrowful, aren't we? Oh, my. I will gather them that
are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, his assembly, who are
of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at
that time I will undo all that afflict thee, and I will save
her. We're told again, I will save
her. that halteth, and gather her
that was driven out, and I will get them praise and fame in every
land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I
bring you again, even in the time that I gather you, for I
will make you a name and a praise among all the people of the earth
when I turn back your captivity." Oh, we were in such bondage.
We were in bondage to sin We were in bondage to the law. And
look at this. This is magnificent. The Lord
has turned away our captivity. He's gone. I'll remember your sins no more,
no matter how dark they were, how wicked they were. And we
know how wicked our sins were. We still know how wicked our
sins are, don't we? Look at this, he says, I'll turn back your
captivity before your eyes. You're gonna see it. And have
we, the redeemed, not seen it? Have we not seen what God's done
for us? And we're not the same again,
are we? He saved us by his grace and his mercy. He's taken our
captivity away, that which had us bound up, our sin. He carried
it away. The scapegoat carried him away. That's my Messiah. He's the altar. He's the sacrifice on the Day
of Atonement. He's the scapegoat on the Day
of Atonement. He's the first man who takes
the scapegoat away. And he did it all by the shedding
of his precious, precious blood at Calvary's Cross. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did for his people. That's what he did
for sinners. We're sinners, aren't we? Look
at this. Oh, this is wonderful. I'll turn back your captivity
before your eyes, say it, Jehovah." Is anything too hard for Jehovah?
Nothing. He does whatever he pleases. In Zephaniah, again, he spoke
almost everything was almost all judgment in the first two
chapters. I encourage you to read it. Read the book. And it
was just sin and judgment throughout the whole prophecy. But in chapter
one, after describing God's sure judgment and idolatry, he speaks
this in verse seven, the day of the Lord. See, there's morsels
of mercy scattered throughout, even with the judgment. And he
declares, the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. Who's that sacrifice? That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't it? And then it says, he hath bid his guests come. The Spirit and the bride say,
come, right? Come to Christ. He's God's sacrifice
for sin. He's the only hope for sinners.
There's no hope anywhere else. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Then verse eight of chapter one,
he says, the day of the Lord's sacrifice. See, so through judgment,
scattered through chapter one, there's again, morsels of mercy. The Lord's sacrifice. Who's the
Lord's sacrifice? That's Christ. He's the Lord's
sacrifice. Oh, that's Christ in him alone. And this is talking about the
great day of the Lord, commonly called the Gospel Age. Which we live in right now. My. And his church is called
the Holy Nation. The Holy Nation. In the third verse of chapter
two, the prophet calls for this nation not desired to take refuge
in Christ. Let's turn over there. Chapter
two, verse three. Seek ye the Lord. Seek to take
refuge in him. All ye meek of the earth. which
have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness.
It may be ye shall be hid in that day of the Lord's anger.
See, God's people, you know we're called the hidden ones in scripture? We're hidden from the wrath of
God, the judgment of God. We're hidden from all that. How? How can sinners be hidden from
that great day? In Christ Jesus our Lord. And
only in Him. Only in Him. Now we got reasons
to rejoice, don't we, beloved? Oh my. Seek ye the Lord, all you meek
of the earth, and have wrought His judgment. Seek righteousness.
Well, who's the righteousness spoken of in the gospel? The
righteousness of God is revealed. Who's that? That's Christ. That's
Christ Jesus our Lord. Seek meekness. Don't vault yourself
up. Let Him be vaulted up. Let Christ
be exalted and let us be put down here, right? My, it may
be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger, Jehovah's
anger. See? Tim James said one time in a
message I was listening to, he said, people think that God's
a genie. Whatever they ask for, he'll give. He's like some kind
of, he called him a cosmic muffin man. But he's not like that. He's not like that. God is a
God of order, a God of power, a God of wrath,
a God of judgment, A God of mercy and a God of grace. God who is
holy. A God who is just. God who is
righteous. And it says here, seek ye the
Lord. Seek ye Jehovah. Seek Christ. There is no other refuge for
a sinner other than Christ. And then look at Zephaniah 2.7.
He speaks of a remnant here. That's a cheering word for God's
people, a remnant. That cheers our hearts. Whenever
the Lord speaks of his elect or his remnant, he always promises
mercy. And in the midst of the wrath going on and the judgment
in this book, again, here's another morsel of mercy. And the coast
shall be for a remnant of the house of Judah. They shall feed
upon they shall feed their pond. In the houses of Ashklon shall
they lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God shall
visit them and turn away their captivity." Oh my. God's people are a remnant. And
he's turned away our captivity, hasn't he? You heard all those
things I listed earlier. Sin hath us captive. The law
hath us captive. Judgment of God hath a claim
on us. Set free. Set free in Christ. Oh, what
mercy. And then in verse 9 of chapter
2, the Lord speaks of the remnant again and promises, the residue
of my people shall spoil them, that being all their enemies,
and the remnant of my people shall possess them. And then in verse 11, God again
declares that the day would come when the Lord would, by preaching
the gospel, famish all the gods of the earth. and cause men from the four corners
of the world to worship him. That's happening right now, isn't
it? In the gospel age. How is that done? By the mighty
operations of God the Holy Spirit. taking the preaching of the Word
of God, regenerating lost sheep, saving their eternal souls, because
Christ purchased them on Calvary's cross. And now it becomes real
for the believer, doesn't it? Now it becomes real for us. Now when we get to the ninth
verse of chapter 3, after declaring that God will devour the nations
in his furious wrath, and he will, in indignation, in the
earth with the fire of his jealousy in verse 8, we see our great
God declares what he will do in mercy and love. Look at verses
9 to 13 of Zephaniah chapter 3. For I have turned to the people
a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the
Lord to serve him with one consent. Look at that. What's that pure language? That's
the gospel. That's the gospel, beloved. Oh,
it's wonderful. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
my supplicants, even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine
offering. In that day, that's the gospel
day, Thou shalt not be ashamed for
all my doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me. Look
at that. Look at that. That's mercy right there. In
that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all my doings. Not ashamed
about what God does. We don't always understand what
he does, but we're not ashamed of what he's done, are we? He's
good. He's merciful. He's great. And
look at this, wherein thou hast transgressed against me, our
sin is against God. When we sin, it's against the
Almighty God of the universe. For I will take them 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. See, God's
people, we get abased. He takes the proud rebel and
makes him humble. It's all by his work. We can't
make ourselves humble, can't make ourselves meek, but God
can do that for us, and he does. I will also leave in the midst
of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust
in the name of Jehovah. That's us. The remnant of Israel shall not
do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found
in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down and none shall
make them afraid. Our peace comes from God, in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a peace that passes
all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds upon him.
Now, in our lives, and because of us, in our sin, we can find
times when we're troubled. But there's always that peace
with God, isn't there? Because it's from Him. It's from
Him, in Him alone. So the pure language of God brought
forth in verse nine, that God brings to His people, it's the
gospel, beloved. It's the gospel. He sends it
out to the nations of the world by the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, by the mighty operations of His grace. And He causes the
work of His grace to prosper, doesn't He? I get up, I preach every Sunday,
preach from my heart, preach what the Lord puts on my heart.
I can't tell you about someone who I don't know. I get excited
because Christ saved my soul. But I can't make that word prosper. Only God can. Somewhere between
my mouth and your hearts, he takes those words and just, and
you rejoice like I rejoice then. Because when I'm putting this
message together, I'm rejoicing. I'm getting a blessing. Isn't
it wonderful? Oh, it's just amazing. But we're
not ashamed of his doings, where and now transgressed against
me. He causes his work to prosper from the four corners of the
earth. Out goes the gospel from here, and he uses it for his
glory, his honor, and his praise, don't he? To do with it whatever
he wants. We see here in Zephaniah 3 that
God speaks by his prophets and promises grace, free, abundant,
saving grace in Christ, mercy in Christ for sinners. Verse
11 says, in that day, these words are used again repeatedly in
the Old Testament to bring forth the gospel age. The gospel age. The age in which we now live. So the things which Zephaniah
is describing, which are written specifically with reference to
you and I in this day, in the gospel day, in the time which
we live, And look at the promises, the promise that the God of all
grace gives to us as his people. He makes sinners who are caused
by his grace to look to him and live. It says, thou shall not
be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed
against me. In Psalm 25.3, it says, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. We're waiting on the Lord. People
say, well, where's your God? Oh, he's coming. I don't know, he's coming. Psalm
119, six says, then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect
unto all thy commandments. When we start thinking about
God and who he is. See, before we were saying, I
didn't want to talk about God at all, did you? Because I feared him. I didn't know him. Now we get
together and we desire to talk about the Lord, don't we? Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that incredible? Who made us to differ? God and
God alone. Praise his mighty name. And we have respect under all
God's commandments and his law because Christ fulfilled them
for us. He honored the law of God and
magnified it in our room and place. And everything that Zephaniah
has written here, he gives us reasons to sing. Just in those
verses there we just read, he gives us reasons to sing. Even
in the circumstances that we find ourselves in today. I was
thinking about something this morning. I shared it with Vicki
this morning. I woke up and I was thinking about the world and
everything going on in the world. We look at it and say, what a
mess. But we know God's in control.
But you know what I was thinking? You know what came to my mind? As soon
as I thought that, you know what came to my mind? There's nothing
new under the sun. Do you remember, do you remember
our parents saying, these young kids, they don't know how to
work? You remember hearing that? They're just a bunch of lazy
kids. Now I hear older folks now say, These kids nowadays
are just a bunch of lazy folks. And they were the folks that
people were complaining about years ago. Nothing new under
the sun, is there? There's nothing new under the
sun. The way the world's going, it's always been like this. We
say, well, it's getting worse. Let me tell you. 6,000 years, we've had sinners
upon this world, haven't we? There's nothing new under the
sun, Solomon wrote. And the true author of that is God the Holy
Spirit, right? Nothing new under the sun. Same world, same sinners,
just a different generation with fancy gadgets now, right? That's all. Still sinners. Had them fancy gadgets and still
go to hell, right? I like the fancy gadgets too.
I'm not saying I don't. But it doesn't matter. See, no
matter how advanced man becomes, we're still just sinners. We're
still in desperate need of Christ. And I don't care what nation
we live in in this world. Men and women in this world need
Christ. Look unto me and be you saved.
All the ends of the earth, Isaiah says. That's Christ. Look unto me.
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Come unto me, all ye that
are labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. My. And think of this. Standing in
Christ before God, we have no cause of shame before him. Isn't
that amazing? My, oh my. Now we're gonna look
at some reasons to rejoice. Some reasons to rejoice. Let's
read verse 14 now of Zephaniah chapter three. No matter what
the trouble is we're going through, no matter how broken our heart
is, no matter the soul that's in our hearts, God is always
with us, beloved. And here are some reasons for
us to rejoice no matter what we go through. Look at verse
14. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout,
O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. And then look at verse 15. So
he calls us to sing and rejoice at verse 14. Well, we're going
to go through verses 15 to 20 and we're going to see the reasons
why. Here's the first reason. The Lord's taken away your judgments. The Lord has taken away all your
judgments. Look at this, Zephaniah 3.15. The Lord has taken away
thy judgments. He's cast out thine enemy. Look
at that. He's taken away our judgments. The rest of the world,
by reason of sin and guilt, are under the wrath of God. But rejoice,
we who are the born-again, blood-washed children of God, the Lord, hath
taken away thy judgments. He's taken them away. Where's our sins? He's cast them behind his back.
Where's God's back? If the earth is his footstool
and the heavens is his throne, they're gone, beloved. washed
by the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'd
taken away thy judgments. All by the work of his free and
sovereign grace and mercy in Christ. That's how it was done. By the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For God's elect, the Lord has
taken away our sins, the cause of our judgment. Our sins are
the cause of our judgment. Well, if he's taking away our
judgment, then he's taking away our sins, beloved. Scripture
says this, now once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's what Christ
did. He's sinless, but he's putting away sin. Whose sin? The sin
of all his people. We don't know who they are, so
we preach the gospel to everyone. Leave the saving in God's hands,
right? There you go. Psalm 103, verses 10 to 12. He
hath not dealt with us after our sins. God doesn't deal with
us after our sins. We who are in Christ. Nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities. If we got what we were to be
rewarded or earned, it would be hell. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Remember I said if you keep going
east, you'll never stop going east. You will never meet west. And if you turn around and start
going west, you'll always be going west. You'll never meet
east. And the reason the Lord didn't use north and south is
because there's poles. You just keep going around all
west the whole time. Isn't that wonderful? They're
gone. See, in that circumstance, east never meets west, does it?
So what's that mean? That's a reason to rejoice, isn't
it? That's a great reason for us to rejoice. And again, all
this comes by His free and sovereign grace. This is redemption, beloved.
This is redemption. Our great God, our Savior, has
taken away our spiritual death, the consequence of judgment. The consequence of our sin is
judgment. He's taken it all away. He's
taken it away. The curse of the law is gone.
The sentence of judgment that was against us, gone. The claim
that God's law had upon us, that the justice of God had upon us,
satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. Oh my. And this redemption is fully
accomplished by Christ. Fully accomplished by Him. And then we see redemption applied.
Well, how? Because Christ has delivered
us. He's delivered us from the guilt
of our sins. When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, it says this, how much more shall the blood of Christ
through the eternal spirit offered himself, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot, he's sinless, to God, who
we sinned against, to purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God, Hebrews 9.14. My, what a reason to rejoice. Our judgment is taken away. Oh
my. Now the second reason to rejoice
is because God has cast out our enemies. Cast out our enemies. Who's our greatest enemy? Religious
folks say, Satan, our greatest enemy. No, Dave just pointed
right to himself. We are our worst enemy. The flesh. The flesh, beloved. Look at Zephaniah
3.15. Now we're born again now. Now
the spirit wrestles against the flesh now. Didn't before, because
we had a dead spirit. Now we're born again. Look at
this. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out
thine enemy. The King of Israel, even the
Lord is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore.
Oh my. We fell in Adam. We went from
loving God to loving self. We went from loving God, again,
to fearing God. See, when Adam was in the garden,
it was all about love for Christ, love for God. But when we fell,
now man loves self. Look out for number one, right?
You heard that when we were growing up? Look out for number one.
No. No. My, oh my. And then Satan's
also our enemy. And Christ crushed him at the
cross. He bruised his heel, which speaks
of his humanity. Christ bruised his heel, which
speaks of his humanity. But he crushed the power of Satan.
He crushed it. My, oh my. Satan, he comes into
the land of man's soul by the door as an invading enemy. But
Christ, our mighty captain, the captain of our salvation, has
cast him out. We're under new management now,
aren't we? My, oh, my. And rejoice, because
Christ Jesus, the Messiah, he broke Satan's usurped power and
dominion over the nations of the world at the cross. In that
sense, he cast him out. He cast them out. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the
Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away. We
were held captive. And the prey of the terrible
shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that contendeth
with thee, and I will save thy children. Oh, the Lord saved
us. Now, the third reason for us
to rejoice in this text, look at this. Remember how we looked
at our magnificent God? But the earth is His footstool.
He's so magnificent, we don't understand. Look at this. This is just glorious. And remember,
He's with us all the time. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Look at this. Zephaniah 3.15. And here's the
third reason to rejoice, because the King of Israel, even the
Lord, that's Jehovah, is in the midst of thee. The Lord hath
taken away thy judgment. He hath cast out thine enemy.
Hallelujah. The King of Israel, even the
Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of Israel, beloved, and he's in our midst. He's in our
midst. Let the church of God rejoice.
that he's ever with us. We're alone at home or anywhere,
he's with us. He's never leave us, never leave
us nor forsake us. Do we hear that? Do we hear that? This is truth proclaimed. The
King is in our midst. The Lord Jesus Christ is in our
midst. In our midst. Oh, unspeakable
joy comes flowing from our hearts over that, doesn't it? He's in
our midst, beloved. Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Who's
that? That's Christ. Isaiah 41, verse 10. Christ Jesus
our Lord is always near, always near his people. He's our God
at hand. He's right there. See, it's us
who wander away. We're wandering sheep, aren't
we? I once was a wandering sheep. I love that song. Oh, my. We
were. We were once a wandering sheep,
lost. Didn't know anything about God.
But we were a sheep, and we didn't even know it. Oh, it's amazing. He's near to assist us and strengthen
us, protect us, defend us. The Lord is in the midst of us.
This meaning is threefold that Zephaniah sets here before us.
He is essentially present because he's omnipresent God. Number
two, he's providentially present because he determined to do good
for us. He's graciously present. because
he's promised to never leave us nor forsake us. That's comforting,
isn't it? Oh, that's so comforting. He's
in the midst. He's with us. No matter where
we are, no matter if there's no one around, he's with us. Oh, what a great God. Look at verse 17. The Lord thy
God is in the midst of thee. He's mighty. He's mighty. He's mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. Who's in the midst of us? The
Lord Jehovah. The bean of beans, the eternal,
immutable, all-powerful, all-sufficient God. The Lord thy God. And he's our God by covenant
grace and mercy, beloved. because he purposed it to be
so. He's also ours by miraculous
incarnation, God in the flesh, redeemed our eternal souls, bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh, he saved us by his mercy
and his grace. He is the Lord. And our God is
almighty. He's all-powerful. He is the
creator of all things. He's the upholder of all things. All power in heaven and in earth
has been given to the Messiah, the man Christ Jesus. Therefore, he is able to save
to the uttermost those who come to him. Oh, it's wonderful. And he's
also able to keep those he saves because he's all powerful. He
who has begun a good work in us will finish it, won't he?
All according to his mercy and his grace. He's able to sustain
us in every trial, every tribulation we go through. He's able to sustain
us. And he's able to bring us safely
home to heaven. We have friends and loved ones
who are already there. One day soon, his life is just like a
vapor, right? We're going to be there with
him. Oh, it'll be glorious. Worshipping the king sinless.
It'll be glorious. The fourth reason to rejoice
in our text is the fact that he will save. He will save. We're living proof of that. And when the last sheep of God
is saved, it's all over, beloved. It's gonna roll up like a scroll. Oh my, look at this verse 17
again. The Lord, Jehovah Elohim, thy God, God there is Elohim,
so that means the mighty one. Jehovah Elohim is in the midst
of thee. He's mighty. He will save. Does that sound like a God who
wants to, but now the rest is up to you? Don't sound like that
to me. That's a statement of fact. He
will save. And we are living proof of that.
We are living proof of that. Oh my. That'll cause us to rejoice,
won't it? He's not only, and think of this,
Brother Dave, he's not only able to save us, He's willing. Woo! My! He's willing! He's willing! And Sister Dee,
He made us willing and gave us power to come to Him. And we're
rejoicing now. We rejoice over this marvelous,
marvelous fact, don't we? Not only is our God able, but
He made us willing, and He's willing that we'd be saved. when
we're not willing. Oh my, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you, it just does, you know, just when you think it can't
get any better, it gets better and better and better and better,
doesn't it? It's marvelous. Oh my. Who is a god like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. That's our God, he delights in
mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us,
he will subdue all our iniquities, and out will cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea. There's no more judgment against
us. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. Micah chapter 7, verses 18 to
20. Who is like unto our God? A God
that pardons iniquity. And we say, praise be to God,
don't we? He's part of our iniquity. God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, readily undertook to
save us in the covenant of grace. God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, came in the fullness
of time to seek and to save that which was lost. That was us.
God himself, the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has wrought out salvation for us by his obedience unto
death. God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, sees to it that salvation
is applied to every chosen, redeemed sinner. He will get every one
of his sheep. There won't be one of them lost
for whom he died. God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come again to put
us in full possession of that salvation which he has accomplished
for us. When he comes again the second,
those of us who are dead and buried, our bodies will rise. It don't matter where they are.
It don't matter how scattered they are. It's not too hard for God to
do that, is it? He knows where every molecule
of our bodies are. Even after we just turn to dust.
Isn't that amazing? And God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, it is he who has saved
us freely, fully, and everlastingly. Everlastingly! Isn't that wonderful?
Boy, that causes us to rejoice, won't it? Oh my. God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, saves his people from
their sins, from Satan, from the law of God, from death, from
hell, from the grave, and from all evil consequences of sin,
forever. That's our Savior. That's what
he's done for us. Now we see reasons why there's
no more judgment against us. Because Christ the God-man has
redeemed us with the shedding of his precious blood and the
giving of his life in our room and place as the great sacrifice
for sin. And God himself, the second person
of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, it is he who will save
us from every temporal and every spiritual enemy in time and all
to eternity. Look at this, our text proclaims,
he will save. He will. He will. Can't save ourselves. God will save us. And again,
we're living proof. So rejoice, beloved of God. So
far we've seen that the Lord has taken away our judgments.
He's cast out our enemy. The King of Israel, even the
Lord is in our midst. We will not see evil anymore.
The Lord, thy God, who is in the midst of us, he's mighty,
and now he will save. He will save. The fifth reason
for us to rejoice, found in Zephaniah 3.17, is our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, will rejoice over thee with joy. I read this, and I
went downstairs and I said, Vicki, do you realize God rejoices over
us? I was absolutely stunned. But
think of it. When a groom first sees his bride,
he rejoices, doesn't he? I'll never forget when I saw
my wife walk through the doors. I'll remember that, Lord willing,
until the day I die. And just overwhelmed. And you
ladies seeing your groom up there. My oh my. Look at this. Verse 17, 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. He
will joy over thee with singing. Does God rejoice over his people?
Yes, he does. It's right there. Oh my. I'm not gonna say anything
on that. I'm just gonna let that sit.
Isn't that incredible? The sixth reason for us to rejoice
is that God will rest in his love. Look again, verse 17. The
Lord thy God is in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save,
he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love,
he will joy over thee with singing. My. The Lord finds great satisfaction
and great delight in loving and expressing his love to his people. Oh, isn't this amazing? This
is amazing love, isn't it? There's not a greater, fuller,
more verbal expression of Christ's love for all of us in the scriptures
than this. He will rest in his love. He does rest in it. What infinite, immeasurable joy
is placed here before us. What infinite, immeasurable love
God has for his people. for those whom
he was sent to redeem. He's pleased that he chose us.
He's pleased that the Father chose us in him, and we are now
objects of his love. May my heart be ravished with
his love. Ravished with his love for us.
This love that Christ has for us is without cause. There's
no cause in us for him to love us this way. It's without beginning. We don't understand that, do
we? Because there's a time when we fell in love with our bride
or our bride fell in love with us. This is without beginning. Think of this too. It's without
change. This love does not change due to circumstances that we
do or how we act. It doesn't change. And this one, too. It's without
end. It's without end. It follows
us in death and spans all the way out into
eternity, beloved. Oh, my. The seventh and last
reason for us to rejoice is he will joy over us with singing.
Look at verse 17 again. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save, he will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. So the prophet here, he's searching
for words that describe God's love for us. And he brings forth
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God that Christ rejoices over
his people with joy with singing. You ever been so full of joy
you're singing? Oh my. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? The prophet here is telling us
that God himself is delighted with his people. Delighted with
his chosen ones. Delighted with his redeemed ones. Let's read the last three verses
of our text. Zephaniah 3, verses 18 to 20. I will gather them that are sorrowful.
Oh, he gathers his people, doesn't he? For the solemn assembly who
are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at
that time I will undo all that afflict thee. Here again, I will
save her. Again, I will. I will, God wills. Marvel in that this week. God
rejoices in us, and it was his will to save us. I will save
her that halteth and gather her that was driven out, and I will
get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put
to shame. At that time I will bring you
again. Even in that time will I gather you, for I will make
you a name and a praise among all the people over the earth
when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.
That last little section there, God has turned back our captivity,
beloved, before our eyes in Christ. My, what reasons we have to rejoice,
eh? He will save His sheep. He will
gather them from wherever they are. And He will gather them
by His mercy and His grace. And in here bring us home to
glory. And we praise His name here on
earth while we're here on this earth, don't we? But one day soon, we will praise
him forever in his presence. My. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that wonderful? My. Brother Kevin, can you close
us in prayer?