I've entitled this message, When
God Sings. When God Sings. Do you know what it is to be
so happy that you just have to sing? Probably not very often, but
I believe we've all from time to time, been so happy we just
had to burst out into song. Something made us that happy. Now, believer, this is what the
Lord Himself does as He sees you. He breaks out into singing. You make him happy. He rejoices
over you with joy. You make him happy in that he
loves to love you. Listen to this passage of scripture
in the Song of Solomon. You don't have to turn there,
but let me read it to you. Thou hast ravished my heart. It's what the Lord says to me,
to every one of His people, all of His precious bride. Thou hast
ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished
my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thine neck.
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse. How much better is
thy love than wine and the smell of thine ointments. and all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon." Now, that is the Lord Jesus speaking to His precious
bride. Now, I don't feel that pretty
to you. I don't feel that desirable. I don't feel that lovely. But
this gives us some idea of how real union with Christ is. Union with Him makes me desirable
to the Lord God of glory right now. And the only way I can get
a hold of that is by faith, because I can't see it. But I believe
it. This is God's promise to His
church. He rejoices over thee with singing. This passage of Scripture says,
I love to think of him singing, look in verse, well, in Hebrews
2, 11, we read, for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified
are all of one. That's union with Christ. For
the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
church, will I sing praise to thee. Can you imagine what the
sound of his voice sounds like singing? He will rejoice over us with
singing. He's ravished. My marginal reading
says he will be silent in his love. That means he will never
upbreak you. He will never speak a word of
anger. wrath to us. He will rejoice over us with
singing. We sing to Him, and He sings
to us. And He rejoices over us with
singing the Lord's love for His people. Now, I can't get you, I can't
get you to, I can't get myself to get hold of it. would to God
that the Lord would give us such a view of our Redeemer, that
He makes us, He actually makes us this lovely, so that God rejoices
over us, Christ is ravished by our love, and that He rejoices
over us with singing. Now Zephaniah, as all the Old
Testament prophets do, begins on a low note. Look in chapter
1, the word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah, the son
of Cushah, the son of Gedoliah, the son of Amoriah, the son of
Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, the king of
Judah. I will utterly consume, this is God speaking, I will
utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.
I will consume man and beast. I will consume the fowls of the
heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks
with the wicked. And I will cut off man from off
the land, saith the Lord. And I will stretch out my hand
upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut
off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of Chemerims
with the priests, and them that worship the host of heaven under
the housetops, and them that worship and swear by the Lord
and swear by Malcolm." They mix up their religion. They use the
Lord's name and Malcolm's. And them that are turned back
from the Lord, and those that have not sought the Lord, go
and inquire of him. He says he's going to destroy those people.
Now look in chapter 3. The people are described. Verse
1, Woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing
city. He's talking about Jerusalem.
She obeyed not the voice. She received not correction.
She trusted not in the Lord. She drew not near to her God. Now her political and religious
leaders are described. Her princes within her are roaring
lions. Her judges are evening wolves.
They gnaw not the bones to the morrow. Her prophets are light
and treacherous persons. Her priests have polluted the
sanctuary. They have done violence to the
law. Chapter 3. Therefore, after making this description
of the people, therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord. How often are we exhorted in
the Scriptures to wait on the Lord? Remember, you will wait when
you have no other options. If you have another option, you
won't wait. You'll go in some other direction. But if you have
no other options, you'll wait on the Lord to do something.
You will. May God give us grace to wait
on the Lord. Now look in verse 9. Here's what
we're waiting on. For then will I turn to the people
a pure language. You know, there was a time when
everybody spoke the same language. Can you imagine what this world
would be like if everybody spoke the same language? You know,
every time I'm out in the community and I hear somebody speaking
in a different language, it aggravates me. I don't know what they're saying.
Are they talking about me? Are they saying something bad about
my country? You know, just something about that. Somebody says, well,
why? But I do. I do. I just think,
learn English. That's probably wrong. That's
the way I think. Now, there was a time when everybody
spoke the same language. And you remember what happened?
They decided we're going to get together. There was a big ecumenical
movement. We're going to get together and we're going to build
a tower to God. And God scattered the people and he scattered the
language and everybody started speaking different languages.
And can you imagine the confusion that was caused by that? What's
he saying? What do they mean? What's behind
it? I don't understand. But God is
going to turn to His people a pure language. The language of grace. Pure grace. That's the pure language. Not mixed with works. Pure grace. The pure Word of God. A pure
faith. Christ only, a pure righteousness,
His, a pure motive, His glory. And here's what will arise out
of this pure language. Verse 9, For then will I turn
to the people of pure language, that they all may call upon the
name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
my Even the daughter of my disperse shall bring mine offering." Notice
it doesn't just say they'll bring an offering. They'll bring mine
offering. And that's what I'm bringing
right now into His presence because I have nothing else to bring.
I bring His offering. I don't come pleading anything
about myself. All I've got about myself is that which I'm ashamed
of, which I'm scared of. I bring His offering. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Plead my cause. Hear me for His
sake. And verse 11, in that day, When
you are turned to this pure language, when you call upon the name of
the Lord with one consent and when you bring this, His offering,
in that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein
thou hast dressed against me. What a wonderful thought. In
that day. I'm. I'm so ashamed right now. I'm so ashamed before Him of
my sin, my sin in His sight. I'm ashamed. But you know, on
that day, I'll have nothing to be ashamed of. That's how powerful
the work of Christ is. I will have nothing to be ashamed
of. That's not taking away the reality
of my sin. I've got plenty to be ashamed
of. But on that day, I'll have nothing to be ashamed of. Sin is going to be wiped out
so much that I'm going to stand before God in complete confidence,
not ashamed. That's the power of the gospel,
isn't it? The gospel is a powerful, powerful gospel that can do something
like that. It can make me stand before God
not ashamed because His righteousness is my righteousness and you Put
the screen of my life on and there won't be anything but good.
There won't be anything to be ashamed of. His life is my life before
God. For then, he says, I'll take
away out of the midst of thee then that rejoiceth in thy pride,
and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mouth. Now,
you know, I thought, this is amazing that I can be haughty
and proud. And yet I am. That's utterly
amazing. Proud of what? As sinful as you
are. As weak as you are. Proud? Yes, that's amazing. That's utterly amazing that a
man can be proud. But he can. But on that day,
there won't be any more pride. The Lord is going to take it
away. Verse 12. He says, I will also leave in
the midst of thee an afflicted and a poor people. Now this is a description of
those people who were saved by his sacrifice and afflicted,
and that word afflicted means depressed. Depressed. Sorrowful over sin. Poor. Needy. having great needs. Now, these
are the people that trust in the name of the Lord. Notice,
he says, I'll leave in the midst of thee and afflicted and poor
people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Now,
let me give you two reasons why they trust in the name of the
Lord. Number one, because there's nothing else to trust. That's
simple enough, isn't it? There's nothing else to trust.
His name is utterly trustworthy. There's the second reason. His
name, his person is utterly trustworthy. They trust in the Lord because
there's nothing else to trust. They can't trust themselves in
any way. They trust him. He is utterly
trustworthy. The remnant, look in verse 13,
the remnant, and I love the way the people of God on the earth
are always described as a remnant, a small number. There's a remnant
here tonight, compared with the rest of the world. The remnant
of Israel shall not do iniquity. Now, there's only one way I can
understand that. And this is the way it's to be
understood. If I'm in Christ, I do no iniquity. I have his righteousness. I am
without sin. I do no iniquity. That's what Psalm 119 says. They
do no iniquity. What about 1 John 3 where it
talks about they do not commit sin. They do not iniquity. Christ's
righteousness is mine, not some kind of legal document imputed
to me that says that. No, I do no iniquity. That's how real His salvation
is. I do, and that's not make-up,
that's not make-believe. That's the truth regarding every
believer having his righteousness. I do no iniquity. Neither shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouth. They're not going to speak lies.
Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. Blesses
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blesses
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose
spirit there is no guile or deceit. They're honest before God. None shall make them afraid.
Now look in verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart. O daughter of Zion, now this
is a command to every believer. Sing. Shout. In your heart, don't do it right
now, I'm preaching. But when you get out of here,
shout all you want. This is a command to rejoice. in the Lord. And the following
verses tells us why we are to sing, shout, be glad, and rejoice. Verse 15, ìThe Lord hath taken
away thy judgments.î Romans 8, 1 says, ìThere is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.î I love
that hymn, ìNo condemnation now, I dread, I am my Lord's and he
is mine, alive in him my living head, and clothed with righteousness
divine. He's taken away my judgments.
I tell you what, I think about my sin, it scares me, but I think,
it's gone! He's taken it away! And I stand
perfect before God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God He's taking away your judgment. Beloved, don't fear judgment. Look forward to it. Don't fear
death. Look forward to it. The only
thing that makes you afraid is sin. Well, He's taking care of
that. What does He say next? Verse
15, He hath cast out thine enemy. Now we have enemies, our sin,
those who hate our gospel, but the enemy he's speaking of is
Satan, the father of lies. He's cast out our enemy, the
evil one, the accuser of the brethren. He was cast out of
heaven, wasn't he? And he was cast out when Christ
died. Now is the prince of this world
judged. He was cast out in regeneration
when you were born from above. He didn't run the show in you.
But God cast him out when he gave you a new nature. And he
will one day be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Oh, the terrible judgments upon
the enemy. His day is coming. Now, here's another reason to
shout. It says. In verse 15, the king of Israel, Even the Lord is in the midst
of thee. He's present. And this is a reason to shout
for joy. He's present right now. He's present because he's omnipresent. He's everywhere at once, so obviously
he's present in that sense. The Lord's here. The Lord's here.
But not only is he present in the sense of his omnipresence,
he's present providentially regarding everything. Doesn't matter what
it is. He says, it's I. It's I. Be in good cheer. He is in control
of everything. So whatever happens, it's his
will being done. Isn't that wonderful? I mean,
I could just I could just relax when I start thinking about how
I need to manipulate things to get my will done. I just stretches
me out. But when I can just his will is done. He's in the midst
of us providentially, and here's what's best. He's in the midst
of us graciously. He has promised, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. I don't need to fear what man
will do unto me. He's promised, I will never leave thee. I'm
never going to be abandoned by him. Now, I can see why I would. As far as what I am, I've not
been a faithful bride. Oh, I can see why he'd say I'm
divorcing him. I'm getting rid of him. I got
it coming. But he has promised, I will never
ever, ever leave thee, nor forsake thee." Now, is that a reason
to rejoice? This is the promise of His grace. He will not turn
His back on His people. And look what He says next in
verse 15. Thou shalt not see evil any more. It's all good. Whatever it is. You know, it's easy for me to
say this. It's easy to stand up here and
say this. But you know, when you're going
through a severe, severe trial, and the Lord enables you to say
from your heart, not to anybody else, Praise God from whom all
blessings flow. Praise Him, all ye people here
below. Knowing that whatever's happening,
it's Him. And it's all good. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. It's all good. Now let's go on
reading. And that day, verse 16, it shall
be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. If the Lord's in control, what
is there to fear? If I don't have any sin, if he
sees me as perfect in Christ, what is there to fear? Fear thou
not. Let not thy hand be slack or
faint or discouraged. And here's how come the Lord
thy God in the midst of thee, that one who's in your midst,
is mighty. And he's talking about his omnipotence.
And I love to think of the omnipotence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has all power. He said, all power is given to
me. And there's two things that make
me have some kind of glimpse of just how powerful he is. It's
how powerful the Lord Jesus Christ is. He can take me, who am nothing
but sin. That's all I am. And he can make me stand perfect
before God. without sin. Now that's power. That's power. When I'm made to
stand before God in judgment and I'm going to be perfect without
sin, you're going to see the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He makes me to be what I wasn't, And he makes me to not be what
I was, sinful. And he makes it to where that
sin that I had is no more. It's gone. Like the Day of Atonement,
I love the way that they led that scapegoat by the hand of
a fit man into the wilderness to a place not inhabited. I don't know where that's at,
but it's gone. Christ went into the tomb with my sins, and he
went out of the tomb without my sins. Where are they? They
are no more. Now, that's power, isn't it?
Oh, the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever He wills,
He has the power to make sure His will comes to pass. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. Look what it says next. He will save. Not only does He
have the power to save, He will save. And something I'm very
thankful for is the fact that there's no if in that verse.
It doesn't say he will save if. It just says he will save. He's willing. That leper, when
he came to Christ, he wasn't sure if Christ was willing to
save him. Now, he knew he had the power
to save him, but he wasn't sure about his willingness. And I
can understand that. I've thought the same thing. He said, Lord,
if you will. You can't make me clean. I know you can, but I'm not sure
if you're willing, and I understand if you're not. You know what
the Lord said to him? I will. Be thou clean. He will say. He will rejoice over thee with
joy." Now, because he saves, and that
means I'm saved from sin. I'm saved freely, I'm saved fully,
I'm saved everlastingly. He saves from sin, Satan, the
law, hell, death. He saves from every temporal
and spiritual evil. Listen to this scripture. No
weapon that's formed against thee shall prosper, and every
tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. Now, the Lord looks at every
one of his people. He looks at me right now. And he rejoices. Look how perfect
he is. Look how beautiful he is. Look
how righteous he is. He's ravished with me. Now, that's true of every believer. He's ravished. And we rejoice. It says he will rejoice over
thee with joy. The joy of the bridegroom and
his bride. Boy, I got to thinking about
that. I never will forget. This is one of those things just stamped
into my memory. It was September 11th, 1982,
driving from Ashland to Lexington after my marriage, thinking. I'm going to be with this woman
the rest of my life, and I can't even express the joy I felt in
that. The joy of the bridegroom over
his bride, and that is nothing in comparison to the Lord rejoicing
over his bride. He says he'll rejoice over thee
with joy. Now, let's go on reading. He says in verse 17, he will
joy over thee with singing. I just can't get a hold of that. The Lord looking at me and breaking
out into a song? But there it is. It's like that
verse in John chapter 17 where the Lord says, Thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. There ain't no way I could believe
that unless Christ said it. And I'm believing what He said. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee. He will rest in his love. And there's not a fuller
expression of his love to his people in the Bible than this.
He rests in his love toward us. He sees us all together lovely,
and there's nothing more to desire. That's what that means. Him resting
in his love toward his people. There's nothing more to desire.
You've got it all. The perfect bride. nothing more to desire, he'll
rejoice over you with singing." Now, is that a reason to rejoice
and shout? It's real. You know, it's sad. It's sad to me that we read this
and we don't much believe it. Maybe a little bit, but we don't
much believe it. You know, and I hate it. I'm not trying to elicit response. I hate it when preachers do that,
when they start trying to get people to do it. You know, come
on, y'all. I remember, I'll never forget when I was, what do you
call it? Ordained, when I was ordained,
the guy that was preaching. I remember he said, he was preaching
all of a sudden, he stopped, he said, come on, y'all help
me. And I thought, what do you need help for? Are you telling
the truth? I don't want somebody to try to elicit a response out
of it. You know, if I'm, you know, when
we're doing that, I'm going to get as stone-faced as I can.
That's just the way I am. But understand this, if we really
believe this, we'd be doing flips right now. We'd be jumping, shouting
for joy if we really believe this. May God give us grace to
really believe this. Who I am in Christ Jesus, someone
who the Lord sees as altogether lovely. Now, he says in verse
18, he gives six I wills. I love the Lord's I wills. You
know, when the Lord says I will, it's already happened before
it takes place. That's how supreme his will is. If He wills it,
it's done. It's not going to be done. It
is done. That's how supreme His will is.
Now, if I say, I will, it means nothing. I will do this. Well,
maybe you will, maybe you won't. You don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow. You don't know what's going to happen in the
next five seconds. You know, as far as that goes, the way
we speak, it's the Lord willing. We'll do this or we'll do that.
But when He says, I will, oh, it's totally different because
of the supremacy of His glorious will. Now, read with me. Verse 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful. Blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over what? Mourn over sin. I will gather them that are sorrowful
for the solemn assembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach
of it was a burden, the reproach of the gospel that men had, it
vexed these sorrowful people. Behold, at that time I will undo
all that afflict thee, and I will save her that halteth. Now, that word can be two different
things. I'll save her that limps. You
know, Jacob and all of his sons walk with a limp, don't they?
Remember how the Lord took his thigh out of joint and he limped
the rest of his life? And we walk with a conscious
limp. Our sinful weakness, And it also
means fall. Paul. You know, David said, I'm
ready to halt and my sorrow was ever before me. Now the Lord
promises I'll save those who fall. And he says, I'll gather
her. That was driven out. And I will get them praise and
fame in every land where they've been put to shame now. The meaning
being, the very glory of Christ belongs to every believer. And
they're going to get praise and fame, his praise and his fame. This is how real this is. The Lord is going to say to every
one of his people, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Now, when he says that, He's
not pretending. It's because you have done well.
If Christ did well, I did too. That's my righteousness before
God. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou
in to the joy of thy Lord. That's what every believer is
going to hear. At that time, verse 20, when
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 before your eyes, saith the Lord."
And I think I know something about what that captivity is. Paul expressed it in Romans chapter
7. He knew something about being
a captive. He said, Oh, wretched man, that
I am. Not that I was, but that I am. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. I'm in this captive state. But one of these days, he's going
to turn that captivity before my eyes. And I won't even know
what it means to be captive when He turns it around. Now, what
a salvation. What a salvation. May God give
us grace to believe what He says. And would to God that when I
lay my head on my pillow tonight, I can think of the Lord singing
over me. Let's pray.