My text this evening is Zachariah
chapter three, or Zephaniah chapter three, verses 14 through 20. A little over 30 years ago, I
was preaching up in Northern Michigan and met a man from Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, Brother Herm Roseboom. After the meetings
were over in Michigan, before we left, Brother Herm asked me,
that if I get some folks together, would you come preach to us?
And I said, if you'll rent a public place, I'll be happy to. A few
months ago, I got a call from him. He'd arranged a time for
some meetings and rented a hall. And I went and preached. That
was the beginning of the church at Rock Valley, Iowa, where Brother
Joe Terrell is pastor now. I went up a number of times and
preached for them. Various appointments were made
and kept, and God gathered a group of believers together. And when
Sears offered the first video equipment, Brother Herm called
me and said, if I buy the camera and recorder, would you tape
all of your services and send them to us? We'd like to meet
and sing the songs as you sing them and hear the messages and
meet every Sunday morning and Sunday evening that way. And
they did for a number of years. And that's how we got started
sending out VHS tapes. I've told you that to get to
this. I can remember certain portions of scripture by which
God, for the first time, spoke to me from that particular passage. I'm talking about spoke in such
a distinct way that I just can't forget it. There was a man in
Ashland, Kentucky, by the John Howson, who found out he had
M.S. He was in the Air Force when
he found out he had M.S. and began to show some signs
of the period, the disease deteriorating his health. His wife left him
and he retired from the Air Force, moved to Ashland. We've been
hearing about the mayhem on television. And then after a period of years,
John was pretty much confined to his house. He could get around
some. He'd been here a few times in that little Omega he used
to drive around and he was confined to his house. And I'd hear from
him every little bit. John got all of those videotapes. What did they have? Five, six,
seven messages on them. And obviously we didn't have
time to watch every one of them. He'd watch every one of them
and let me know if there was something errant, something amiss,
some reason to not send that tape out because it wasn't a
good enough quality. And when he'd write, he couldn't write
except to take his computer keypad with a pencil in his hand and
letter at a time. I'd get cards from him every
little bit. I got a card from him. with this text of scripture
on the card. Just a greeting. Hello. And this
was the reference to the game. Zach Zephaniah, chapter three,
verse 14. This man who could hardly. Well,
he couldn't set up on his own. In pain, every minute of the
day. Rights to me and says, seeing O daughter of Zion, shout, O
Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem. 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. In that day, it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. 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. I will gather them that are sorrowful
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, and 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 the time that I gather you, for I
will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth. When I shall turn back your captivity
before your eyes, saith the Lord. I don't know what God's saints
observe on this earth who are with the Lord in heaven. But
our friend, Brother Housen, has been a long time now in the presence
of our Redeemer. And to him, I owe great gratitude
for calling my attention to this text. Now, may God speak to you
by it as he has to me. John Gill wrote every word in
this text carries in it something very encouraging to the church
and people of God. And is an antidote against those
fears and faintings we are subject to. Let's look at the text together. First, in verse 14, Zephaniah
says, Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, Be glad and
rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. And then he gives
us 10 reasons for doing so. 10 reasons to rejoice. That's my subject this evening.
Let's look at them one at a time. Number one, the Lord hath taken
away thy judgment. The rest of the world, all the
rest of the world, by reason of sin and guilt, is under the
wrath of God. But you, children of God, have
this word from God. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. Now, I'm not talking here about
what the Lord wants to do or tries to do. or even what he's
going to do. Bobby, this is what he has done.
The Lord hath taken away thy judgments by the work of his
free almighty sovereign grace. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
God and Savior, has taken away, completely taken away our judgments,
taken away the judgment of God from us so that fury is not in
him. His anger, he has turned away.
He's taken away our sins, the cause of judgment. Now, once
in the end of the world, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. David said he hath not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
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. Years ago, Brother Dan Parks
Preaching just years ago. He said I'm so thankful that
he said east from west not north from south You can go from the
north to the south and you can reach one pole and then go south
to north and reach the other pole But you go east to west
and you never come to a meeting point. There's no East Pole no
West Pole the Lord has so completely Taken away our sins They shall
never meet again on us. He's removed them from us as
far as the East is from the West. That's redemption. And our great
God, our Savior, not only took away our sins, the cause of judgment,
in his work of redemption at Calvary, he has taken away our
spiritual death, the consequence of judgment. Turn to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians chapter 1 hold your
hands here in Zephaniah turn over Colossians 1. I want you
to see this Paul is writing to these Saints
of Colossi and expressing his thanksgiving to God for his grace
upon them verse 12 giving thanks unto the father now watch this
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the Saints in light He's made us neat. The word is
worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. You and I, who are by nature,
vile, wretched, guilty sinners. That's our nature. That's what
we are by nature. That's what we are through Adam's
sin and transgression. That's what we are by our own
transgressions. We're guilty, fallen, depraved,
sinful men and women. But now the Lord Jesus has made
us, us who believe, worthy of heavenly glory. Worthy of God's approval. Worthy of God's acceptance. Not by something we did, but
altogether by the work of His grace. A two-fold work of grace. Redemption accomplished and redemption
applied. Redemption was accomplished at
Calvary. But the shedding of Christ's
blood, the washing away of our sins, the fulfillment of righteousness
for us as our substitute does not make us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. That's only part of
the word. The new birth is just as necessary. Redemption must be applied, applied
to us by the Spirit of God in regenerating grace, giving us
faith in Christ so that in order to enter into heaven, I must
stand before God. A man who has completely obeyed
God's law. A man who has fully satisfied
God's justice. A man who is completely holy
in himself. Perfect before God. What's that? Christ comes in the new birth
and he's in you. That new man in you is Christ
formed in you. Made partakers of the divine
nature. So that there will be no greater
God will no more accept you, James, when you leave this world
than he does now. He will no more accept you and
smile on you when you stand before him in resurrection glory than
he does now. What's going to happen? You're
just going to lose this flesh. That's all. You're going to drop
this body of flesh. That's all. He's made us meat
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Now, see
what he says. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. That's the new birth. He's taken
away the curse of the law, the sentence of judgment. And Christ
Jesus came and delivered us from the bondage of guilt when he
gave us faith by his spirit. He, the spirit of God, sprinkles
the blood of Christ on the conscience and purges the conscience from
dead work so that now we stand before God new creatures in Christ,
believing on the Son of God, accepted by the blood of Christ,
made righteous, the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, not only
by righteousness being charged to us, imputed to us, but by
righteousness being created in us in the new birth, in that
new nature given us by the Spirit of God. Here's the second thing,
back in Zephaniah chapter 3. He hath cast out thine enemy. Satan came into the land of Mansoul
by the door of sin as an invading enemy. But Christ, our mighty
man of war, the captain of our salvation, has cast him out. You can read about this in Revelation
chapter 12, back before Adam sinned, back before the transgression
in the garden. Satan led a revolt against the
Lord Jesus our mediator and led one-third of the heavenly angels
in rebellion against God and the Lord Jesus Cast him out of
heaven cast him down to the earth Cast him down and the scripture
says in Revelation 12. He's in a rage For he knoweth
he hath but a short time Satan has known since the Savior cast
him out at the appointed time the Savior would crush his head
and cast him forever into hell so the Lord Jesus cast him out
of heaven before the world began or before Adam was made in the
garden and Then he comes at Calvary the Lord Jesus cast him out of
his place of influence among the nations of the world you'll
read about it in John 12 and The Son of God broke Satan's
usurped power over the nations of the world. He deceived the
nations. Deceived the nations. Only the
seed of Abraham, only the Jews had the Word of God and the worship
of God. Everybody else worshiped whatever
they imagined. Stumps and stones and stars and
moons. Our forefathers were all barbaric,
heathen idolaters. That's what the whole Gentile
world consisted of. We like to give it fancy names.
We call it Greek mythology. It's just the same thing as you
have going on in New Guinea right now. Just worshiping stumps and
stones and stars and moons, nothing else. Our whole Gentile world
was that way, under the influence of Satan. But Christ Jesus comes
in John 12 and says, now is the prince of this world cast out. We read about it again in Revelation
20. He cast him out so that by that he says he came this mighty
angel with a chain, a mighty chain in his hand and he bound
the old dragon for a thousand years. Bounding for thousands
of years that he should deceive the nations no more And he sends
the gospel into all the four corners of the earth He sends
the gospel to every nation kindred tribe and tongue and calls out
his elect by the power of his grace Satan's influence being
bound We give too much credit to the devil We give too much
credit to the devil He is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Yes, he is. He is a power, an
influence, a devil whose power and influence we cannot resist
and we cannot overcome and we cannot defeat. We recognize that. He's too great a foe for us,
but not for our Redeemer. He's God's devil. You understand
that? He's God's devil. The Lord Jesus
has bound him with a mighty chain and he can do nothing except
that which the Son of God sends him to do. Nothing. You mean, brother Don, Christ
is in complete control of the devil? Of course he is. Either
that or the devil's in control of him. Take your pick. Either
he's king or he's not. Either he's Lord or he's not.
That roaring lion can do nothing, Bill Raleigh, but roar. He can
do no harm to God's people. And then our mighty, omnipotent
Savior comes in the power and operation of His grace. Turn
over Isaiah 49, if you will. I want you to look at this. He
comes in the power of His omnipotent grace and takes those who were
held captive by Satan at His will. Cast the devil out of the
hearts of his people. He describes it in Matthew this
parable he gives he said he comes into the house of a strong man
and It binds the strong man and it cast him out the Lord Jesus
comes in saving grace and binds the devil and your heart and
cast him out and sets up his throne and there he rules and
reigns as king in his people look here in Isaiah 49 verse
24 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 and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered and For I will contend with him
that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And when the Lord Jesus is done,
when he's performed all that God purposed him to perform before
the world began, when all the will and purpose of God is accomplished,
when all God's elect are gathered into heavenly glory in the resurrection,
When all the judgment is over we read in revelation 20 that
our mighty savior the lord jesus Will cast the old serpent the
devil into the bottomless pit He's god's devil He can do nothing
except according to god's will and when god's done with him
god will cast him into hell forever He's cast out your enemy back
in zephaniah. Here's the third thing the king
of israel Even the Lord is in the midst of me The Lord is with you The Lord
is with you The Lord is in the midst of me You remember the
Shekinah glory the pillar of cloud that? Followed and lady
or led Israel by day in the pillar of fire that led them by night
you remember the manifestation of God's glory, the Shekinah
in the Holy of Holies when the tabernacle was filled with the
glory of God. God was in the presence of the
camp of Israel, manifestly so. He made himself known in the
presence of the camp of Israel throughout the days of their
journey. All the time of the Old Testament, the Lord is in
the presence of Israel. But now he speaks of his true
Israel. Scattered to the four corners
of the earth some most of us We only know just a few. How
can I put it? We just know a few of the members
of this church this Israel of God We met just a few but the
Lord is in the midst of Zion wherever she is That means he's
with you each of you all the time The Lord is in the midst
of thee Look at Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 41. These two very, very familiar
texts of scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
king of Israel, the king of his church, and he's in the midst
of us. Oh, that ought to fill our hearts
with unspeakable joy and peace. What blessed security is our
security in Christ? Isaiah 41 10. Fear thou not. Oh my heart, be at ease. Whatever tomorrow's news may
be. Oh my soul, be at peace. Whatever trouble may arise. Be comfortable. Fear not. Fear not. Nothing. Anytime. Anywhere. For any reason. Now, Rex, that's
just, that's something I've never yet been able to find myself
capable of doing. Not being afraid. And, uh, I can't tell you how
I hate to acknowledge that. When I was a boy, I often walked
away from places with black eye and bruises and bloody nose because
I would not allow anyone to see fear in my eyes. It's just a
guy thing. I might be scared to death, but
I ain't going to show you. I ain't going to show you. But with regard
to these things involved in this spiritual warfare and life in
this world, oh, what fears possess us. Needless, stupid fears. Needless, stupid fears if we're
gods. Look what it says. Fear not,
for I am with 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. Turn over a page to chapter 43. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Thus
saith the Lord to you, Jacob." Fallen, tricky, deceitful, cunning,
crafty, sinful Jacob. And then he says, he says, Don't
be afraid, for I form you, O Israel, prince with God, chosen, redeemed,
called by grace. Don't be afraid. You men and
women, who are both sons of Adam and sons of God. You men and
women who are both born by nature and born by grace. You who are
people with two armies in your soul, flesh and spirit. He says,
I'm talking to you now. Fear not. For I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. So when you pass through the
waters, I'll be with you. And through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. No harm is going to come to you.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now, what was it you said you
had reason to be afraid of? What cause of fear is justifiable? What sense of dismay is reasonable? I'm your Savior. I'm with you. I've called you by name. I've
redeemed you. Don't be afraid. Read on. Did
Egypt get in your way? I gave Egypt for thy ransom.
Did Ethiopia bother thee, Seba? I gave Ethiopia and Seba for
thee. Verse 4. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, Thou hast been honorable and I have loved thee therefore
Whatever comes whatever trouble therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life? Fear not for I am with thee No
wonder Paul said rejoice in the Lord always Again, I say rejoice
let your moderation be known to all men the Lord's at hand
I've told you many times, in bare repetition, that word moderation
in Philippians 4 means gentleness. Let your ease, your gentle, comfortable,
stable peace be known to all men. Let your ease of disposition,
your ease of mind, your inability to be disturbed. Your inability to be shaken. Let it be known to all men the
Lord's at hand. He's God at your elbow. God with
you. The Lord thy God is in the midst
of thee. He's with you to support you,
to help you, to strengthen you, to guide you, to provide for
you, to protect you at all times and in all places. Back here's
Zephaniah. Here's the fourth promise. Thou
shalt not see evil anymore. Oh, what a promise. What a promise. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him. The Lord God promises us in Jeremiah
32, I will not turn away from them to do them good. They shall see evil no more. Brother Scott Richardson. Heard him say it many times,
he said, there's been no bad news since I got the good news. Robert Hawker said concerning
this, the redeemed soul is a secured soul, a safe soul and happy soul. Even his afflictions are as angels
and messengers of sanctification and wisdom all Tending to his
good all Tending to his good now look at the next line here
in verse 16 of Zephaniah 3 In that day it shall be said to
Jerusalem Fear thou not and to Zion let
not thine hands be slapped Oh, there's a sermon. Let not thine
hands be slack. I have never yet in my life as
a believer, particularly as a preacher of the gospel, I have never yet
thought to undertake any work that I didn't find a thousand
reasons not to do it. Never yet. I've never yet thought
to undertake any task. I didn't immediately find a thousand
reasons not to do it. Never yet. When Church at Lookout
called me as pastor there. I immediately I mean immediately
found every reason under the sun not to go there. Too much
of this too much of that I was young they were old. Church had
been fussing and fighting for a hundred years. Thousand reasons
not to go. But I went and God blessed the
work. You folks call me a big pastor
here. I came down here and immediately realized. Now, now, now, now. And God was in it. And I knew
immediately this where God had me to be. I didn't have any question
about it. I've known it since the beginning, but a thousand
reasons not to come. And oh, how I thank God. Here I am. How I thank God for what he's
done for us and with us. How blessed of God we are. I
get ready to go to one place or another. I remember Back years
ago, going to Jamaica when they were having riots. And I mean,
just government warning folks, don't go to Jamaica. The Americans
don't go to Jamaica. But I was scheduled to go down
and preach. And some of you, dear brothers, and my dear wife,
so concerned, please don't go. Please don't go. And there were
lots of reasons not to go. Lots of reasons not to go. But
I went. And God saved some folks. And
I came back. And you know, nobody touched
me. Nobody harmed me. Let not your hands be slack.
God's with you. God's with you. Children of God
fear nothing. God's with you. Now, that was
my sermon to me. Look at the next line here in
our text. Zephaniah 3. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. I read that and I think, Now
I recognize this is inspired of God. Zephaniah wrote exactly
what God the Holy Spirit directed him to write. But it seems to
me as you read the text, Zephaniah is writing and he's saying, oh,
wait a minute, wait a minute. When I told you the Lord's in
the midst of thee, I meant to tell you something else. The
Lord thy God in the midst of thee, he's mighty. He's mighty. I'm glad he remembered to put
that in. The Lord thy God who's with you. who walks with you in the midst
of you. He's mighty. He's the omnipotent
God. He's the Lord God. And he's our
God. He is by God, by his own covenant
grace. He is by God, by the miraculous
incarnation in the gift of his son. God with us in our nature. And he is by God, by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's mighty. He's mighty
to save to the uttermost. To deliver us from the hands
of every enemy. To give us triumph in the face
of every conflict. To hold us and preserve us in
the midst of every temptation. To sustain us in the midst of
every trial. And to bring us safe at last
into his heavenly kingdom. Here's the sixth thing. The Lord
Thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will say. He's not only able to save. He's willing to save and he will
say. He readily undertook for us before
the world was in the covenant of grace. He came in the fullness
of time to seek and save that which was lost. He's wrought
out salvation for us by his obedience unto death. He sees to it that
that salvation is applied to every believer by the power of
his spirit. And he will come again to put
us in the full possession of that salvation that he's accomplished
for us in the last day. He says freely, fully, and everlastingly. He saves from sin and Satan and
hell from death and the grave and saves us from all the evil
consequences of sin He will save us from every temporal and every
spiritual enemy in time and eternity and soon He will save us from
all our troubles There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes
No more trouble. No more trouble. David saying,
redeem Israel, oh God, out of all his troubles. And then he
said, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. All right, stay with me. This
good news just gets better. 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 the Lord thy God in the midst of
these mighty He will save Now look at the seventh line in our
text He will rejoice over thee with joy Shall God Rejoice over me Shall be Almighty rejoice over
you Indeed he does He rejoices over his elect with exceeding
great inexpressible joy Zephaniah the prophets here seems to be
searching for words to describe God's joy over his people I know
what that's like. Time to preach. I look for words
to express the thoughts that I want to express to you. As
a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, the Lord God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, rejoices over his people. And when we
stand before him on that great day, he will publicly rejoice
over us. Isaiah 62 you want to look at
it Isaiah 62 The Lord speaks about he rejoices over us as
a man rejoices over his bride Isaiah 62 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord and a diadem of beauty in the
hand of thy God Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
my delight. And thy land, Beulah, married. For the Lord delighteth in thee.
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Isaiah
61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvage, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with jewels. Now, let me give you a hint of
what's going to take place. Turn to the last book in the
book, Revelation 19. Revelation 19. When God gets done, when God
gets done. He shall rejoice over you and
me with joy. Revelation 19, verse one. After
these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power
unto the Lord, our God, for true and righteous are his judgments.
For he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth
with her fornications, and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia,
and their smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. Verse five, And the
voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye
his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And
I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Verse
7. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And his
wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage,
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. For he saith unto me, These
are the true sayings of God. He will cause wandering worlds to see His wonders and to worship Him who saved
us by His grace. To bow down and confess Him Lord. Acknowledge Him Lord. Acknowledging
that He's done right and done right in saving His people. Here's
the eighth thing. He will rest in his love. The Lord Jesus Christ. Finds
great complacency. Great delight. Complete satisfaction. In loving us. and in revealing
his love to us in all its expressions. It's pleasing to him. To love
us. He's soulless is himself. In his love for us, can you imagine
that? I dare say there is not a greater, fuller verbal expression
of Christ's love for us in all the Bible than this. He will
rest in his love. In the song with Solomon, he speaks to his bride, his church,
and he says, thou hast ravished me. Oh, what language. He looks at
you and says, with one of your eyes, you've ravished me. You've
ravished me. Oh, what infinite condescending
grace. God not only loves us, but he
loves to love us. He's pleased that he chose us
as the objects of his love. Oh, my heart be then ravished
with his love. Christ love for us. Is without beginning. Without
change. without variation, without cause
and without end. The phrase might be translated.
He will be silent because of his love. He will never abrade us because
of our sins. He will never speak a word of
anger or wrath against us. And he will put all our enemies
to silence as well. He will be silent because of
his love. I recall. Back in 1969. Came back to Winston-Salem, Shelby
and I had been engaged for over a year, nearly two years, and
we'd been separated for nine months. I saw her at Thanksgiving,
saw her at Christmas, didn't see her again till June. I've
actually been separated for six months, but the whole nine months
just saw a couple of times. We'd write every day, call every
day. And I got home late, late, late at night, late at night.
My parents came to meet me in Knoxville, Tennessee, and drove
on the rest of the way to Winston-Salem. And Shelby and I were getting
married the next week. And the first time we had a loan,
you know what we did? It'd be all right, I can tell
you. We just sat and looked at each other. Didn't say much. Wasn't much to be said. Couldn't
say much. Because you couldn't express
what you felt. That's the picture. Our Redeemer
embraces us with such love that words can't express it. He will be silent because of
his love. Oh, as completely overwhelmed
with love. Our savior says he will be silent
because of his love. Here's the night thing. He will
joy over thee with singing. Again, the prophet seems to be
searching for words. He rejoices over us with joy
and joys with singing. Imagine that. I read some years ago a statement
by Spurgeon, an illustration he gave. I'm not familiar with
the European Skylark, but he said the European Skylark, after
tending to her newborn brood, soars into the heavens singing,
all the while looking down upon her nest. And soon she descends
upon her babies again, still singing, appearing to rejoice
over them with every possible expression of satisfaction, love,
and delight. So it is with our Savior. The
God of all grace and goodness looks on us And He rejoices over
us to do us good and with His whole heart and with His whole
soul He does so. That means, Alan Kibbe, God our
Savior is in the totality of His being in all that He is for
you. Delighting in you, resting in
His love. Then in verses 18 through 20, Zephaniah gives us 10th reason
to rejoice and be glad. He declares God's word of promise
to his people concerning the glory that shall be ours in the
resurrection. I can't do anything but read
it. I'll let you expand on it. I will gather them that are sorrowful
for the solemn assemblies. 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 that halteth. Remember
Jacob halting on his thigh. Here we are, the sons of Jacob,
God's bride. 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 people of the earth. When I turn back your
captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. Zephaniah's name means Jehovah
has treasured. How we ought to thank God for
the words he's written to convince us that we are treasured of God. His name means the secret of
the Lord, the revealer of secrets. What precious secrets he's opened
up to us here. Robert Hawker puts a similarity
between Zephaniah and Joseph whom Pharaoh named Zeph-nath-paneah,
which means treasury of glorious rest. Now, in the light of these things,
I say to you who trust our God, our Savior, sing, O daughter
of Zion. Be glad and rejoice with all
your heart. Fear thou not, let not your hands
be slack. And to you who yet believe not. To you who yet refuse to trust
the Savior. To you who yet stop your ears and run
madly to hell. Why? Why would you not believe
such a God? Why would you not trust such
a Savior? O Spirit of God, give these dead
ones life and faith in Christ the Lord. Amen.