ROUTE 66 Destination: Zephaniah Well, tonight, guys, we re in the 36 th book of the Old Testament. It s the 9 th book in the collection of the Minor Prophets And the only stretch of road in front of us until we complete our drive through the Old Testament are the books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. So we re coming to the close of that. And it s really pretty crazy to think we will have gone through in a general way with some real specific stops in each book through the whole of the Old Testament in 51 studies to this night so only a handful more to go. So it s exciting to do this with you. Let s pray before we die in. LORD, thank you for this book. And we thank you for the content, three chapters, in which Zephaniah, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, just floods our hearts with truth. And we don t want miss any of it, LORD. We want to have a sense of it. We want to feel that as we make our drive through this short little portion of Scripture that we would have a sense of your heart in it, that we would understand more about you than ever before. And, LORD, as we walk through it, as we wade through it, we pray that our hearts would be open to the work of the Holy Spirit. And, LORD, that as you open our hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit in the study of your Word, we would ask that you would open your Word to our hearts. And, LORD, for all that you desire to do, LORD, I m very desperate that you would overlook all of my inadequacies as a man and as a teacher tonight. LORD, it s our desire, it s mine, that your Word would go forth in the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power, all to the glory of the name of Jesus. For it s in His wonderful name we pray, amen, amen. Well, Zephaniah 1:1 gives us the timestamp for Zephaniah s prophetic ministry. If you look there in Chapter 1, verse 1 1 in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. Zephaniah lived and he prophesied during the time of Josiah. Now this is something that I ve said and said. And it needs to be said again. Page 1 of 28
The prophetic books of the Bible they weren t written by a bunch of mystics, who locked themselves up in some monastery, hoping to receive prophetic vision. The prophets lived; and they ministered within a very specific historical cultural and spiritual context each of them, some of them overlapping, some of them sharing the same historic cultural and spiritual context. Zephaniah was a contemporary of Habakkuk, okay? He was a contemporary of Jeremiah. It s believed that Zephaniah was prophesying before Nineveh was destroyed, and that he was prophesying some 10-25 years before Nebuchadnezzar came, and finally destroyed the city of Jerusalem. He ministered prophetically during the reign of Josiah. We remember Josiah from 2 nd Chronicles 34, 35. So you can just write that in the margins of your Bible. Write Josiah 2 nd Chronicles 34, 35. That s where his story is recorded. He was the last of the Godly kings of Judah, a remarkable guy. The Holy Spirit, not only gives us the timestamp, the historical context for Zephaniah s ministry, He also gives to us a pretty extensive family lineage. It says 1 The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, As we ve studied through the prophetic books we found that as a rule the authors tell maybe the name of their father, maybe back to a second or third generation, but never out this far. And this information has, I think, a couple of really big implications for us. Page 2 of 28
Zephaniah traces his lineage to Hezekiah the king. In the history of Israel only King David was a greater king than Hezekiah. Zephaniah, because of his kingly lineage, is sometimes referred to as the royal prophet. And in light of his royal lineage I don t think it s coincidental that God gave to Zephaniah insights, not only into the day of the LORD, but past the day of the LORD to the coming of the kingdom age. And the LORD showed Zephaniah the kingdom essentially promised to his ancestor David in the kingly line of Judah. And Zephaniah, the royal prophet, would speak of the reign of Jesus on Earth. We re going to see that. We re going to see that he s speaking of things that are going to transpire when Jesus has returned to this Earth to rule and reign in righteousness. But there s another implication of his royal lineage that s really relevant to every one of us. Zephaniah was a descendant of the king. And being a descendant of a king would give him certain opportunities, certain privileges, would give him access to places of influence. Zephaniah had access to the king because he was a descendant of the king. He had royal lineage. Now we re not sure if it was Josiah s commitment to the LORD that stirred Zephaniah s commitment to the LORD, and led to Zephaniah s call to ministry, and his dedication to serve the LORD as a prophet, or if it was Zephaniah s commitment to the LORD, and his message that stirred Josiah to commit himself to the LORD. The Bible doesn t tell us that. But we know that surely there was a connection in their world. We know that these guys were together. And we know that a work of God was being birthed in them that overflowed into the nation in a way that changed the face of the nation for a period of time. And here s the picture for you and for me. By faith in Jesus - every Christian is a relative of the King of kings; every Christian is a relative of the King of kings. we have access to the throne of God; we have access to the throne of grace; we re children of the King. Every Christian has that privilege. And I think it s important Page 3 of 28
that even as Zephaniah would have had privilege of access into the royal setting, that we should be taking full advantage of our relationship to the King of kings. On the human level God has given each of us a relationship to a specific sphere within culture family, neighbors, classrooms, the workplace, the marketplace, sports, the arts. God has given each of us a relationship to a sphere within culture even as God had given Hezekiah/Zephaniah a relationship to a particular sphere in the culture of Judah. Our place within that sphere that God has placed us in gives to us privilege of access, privilege of influence, privilege of resource. Fallen culture looks at all of those things access, influence, resources in regards to selfadvancement. Think of all the technology. Think of all the apps that have been developed to create profitable relationships that will serve personal success, right? - the whole social networking scene, and all the apps that are geared towards it. Look, God can, and God does use those things to bless us. God can, He does uses those things to provide for us. But that is His business. That s His business. Here s our business. Our business is to see that our human relationships, the particular sphere within in culture that God places us in, and the access and the privilege and the influence that comes from them, is not merely about our own story. And this fits so well with what we learned yesterday in our study of Luke 1 and the birth of John the Baptist. And I can t count the number of times that I ve made it a point to say how it s so awesome to be studying the Bible systematically, to be working our way through the Bible bookby-book, to be working our way through a specific book of the Bible. And historically, except with a couple of exceptions, on Monday night we just have been studying systematically through books of the Bible. On Sunday mornings, with the exception of a few little topical visits here and there that moves us through certain themes of the Bible, we have taken a book of the Bible; and we have studied it through verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, and how God ties that together Page 4 of 28
like it s an dialogue with us. God sets the agenda. God sees how. I don t plan whether or not some guys can some guys do it quite well I never have; and I don t have the ability I don t think to do it where some guys go, Okay, so we are going to do this study of this book. And on this Sunday we re studying this. And they ll map out 40, 50 studies exactly in the way they re going to do it. I just kind of go as far as I can go, and go, Okay, God, I guess the next one is for next week, right. But God knows how far I m going to go. And He puts together these things. And a lot of times He ll have something that happens on a Sunday morning connect directly with something that we re going to look at on a Monday night. Or sometimes on a Monday night we ll see something; and we re going to go, Oh, and we look backwards, rather than Him priming us for something forward. And I just want to tell you, guys, that yesterday as we were looking at John the Baptist dad understanding that his story was a part of God s story, and he understood that he and his wife and their son were privileged to play a role in the unfolding of God s redeeming plans and purposes. And we drew from that, that your story, my story, they re not stand alone stories. We re not spectators in the story of redemption. We each have a part in the unfolding of God s story so that it will result in God s glory. We re privileged to play a role in the unfolding of those things that have been promised from the beginning of the world. And we never ever, ever want to squander the privilege that we have of access and influence on ourselves. Guys, what would it be like to be a part go back a little bit in history - it s still quite significant in Britain - but go back, say, a century ago in England - and the history of the monarchy, as weird and as messed up and bloody history as it is. People who have connection to royalty in England throughout history have had amazing access to resource, amazing access to privilege. And they fully utilize that for their own benefits. But we, as those who have relationship to the King of kings, we should be using all of the privilege, all of the access, all of the resource of that relationship, for His glory, for His purposes, Page 5 of 28
for His plans. Jesus said, To whom much is given, much is required. I want you to think about what is the specific sphere that God has placed you in all of the relationship that s attached to that, all of the access that s attached to that, all of the resource that s attached to that. To whom much is given, much is required. Yesterday, a big thing that we tied this into with parents what manner of child is this? Man, if God s made you a parent, man, He has put you in a sphere of relationship with the most valuable asset that He has a human being. What do we do with those relationships? Do we see them as being all about Him? Guys, we always want to see everything about our lives as a part of a story that s infinitely greater, and ultimately more glorious than our story. And, you know, the shameful thing is, is that there are a lot of men and women who profess faith in Jesus; and they don t see themselves as being a part of God s story. They see their story and God s story as kind of like going along side-by-side, and only on a moment maybe intersecting. But God s story really has to do with helping them out with their story. That s not the way it is. It just isn t. For Zechariah/Zephaniah to make it clear, to go, Let me just tell you something. I m going to tell you what no other prophet has ever done. I m going to show you my family lineage all the way back to the second greatest king in Israel, which means that I m actually in the family line, Page 6 of 28
in the lineage of David. That carried weight, tremendous weight. It opened tremendous doors at a very critical time in the history of Judah. Big stuff! And here s the deal As we seek first the kingdom of God, Jesus adds to our lives everything that we need. Matthew 6:31-33 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? I m going to pause there for a moment. 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, Pause there for a moment. Think about this For the unbelieving person What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? Everybody s concerned about the sphere that they re placed in, the sphere of relationship that they re placed as to how that sphere, the access, the privilege, the resources are going to take care of what they eat, what they drink, what they wear for themselves period advancing their own personal agenda. But Jesus says this He says Don t think that way. You are not to be anxious about those things like the unbelieving world is. He says - 32 and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. It s His business to add to our lives. Our business is to go, Okay, God, you ve put me in this sphere of relationships. That means there is certain influence; there is certain access; there are certain resources, that, LORD, I want to maximize for your story and your glory. Page 7 of 28
Guys, I m telling you, God has given me a life I couldn t have dreamed up. I couldn t have dreamed up the life I have. I couldn t have dreamed up the wife that God has given me. I couldn t have dreamed up the kids God s given to me. I couldn t have dreamed up what I get to do every day of my life in this side of Heaven since meeting Him. Every great thing in my life is because of Jesus. And He s just laid it out in front of me, one by one by one by one, one after another, as I just was seeking Him. I pray that this little bit of information that the Holy Spirit inspired Zephaniah to give to us that s unlike any of the other prophets would remind us of whose story is most important. The name Zephaniah, by the way, means Jehovah hides, or hidden by Jehovah, which is interesting, as we re going to see his book trace a remnant of God s people through the scenes that he foretells. So for the book itself the outline The book is divided into three chapters. And the chapter breaks serve as a good outline with a little bit of overlap, just minimal overlap in themes crossing the chapters. Chapter 1 introduces us to something called The Day of the LORD. Chapter 2 focuses primarily on the judgment of the surrounding nations Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, Assyria, Ethiopia. Chapter 3 is filled with future promises. Now the overarching theme of the book of Zephaniah is the day of the LORD. Now he mentions the day of the LORD specifically seven times. And he uses the term the day or that day nineteen times in three chapters. So without doubt at all the day of the LORD is the overarching theme of this book. Now Zephaniah uses the term day of the LORD in two ways. Page 8 of 28
Number One He uses it to speak about imminent judgment upon Judah for their idolatry. Babylon was going to be God s instrument to overthrow the nation of Judah. That was their current condition in the world. And, again, the prophets had a spiritual, a social, a moral, a historical context for their ministries. Many of the prophets spoke about the reason for God s judgment and the means of God s judgment that was impending in the near future. The second use of the day of the LORD or the day or that day it s a reference to something yet future, and something that s still yet future in our own time in the 21 st century. I personally believe it to be in the near future relative to the 21 st century. In that sense the day of the LORD speaks of the return of Jesus, and the judgment that precedes His second coming. And I believe that some of Zephaniah s prophecies concerning the coming of Babylon have both a near and a far fulfillment. And by that I mean that the destruction of Jerusalem army in 586 B.C. it was a very imminent event. It was in the near future. But it also, in that very real historical event that was so near in Judah s history, it looks all the way out to, I believe, to Armageddon. And we have a glimpse of it, a preview of God cleaning up this world and establishing the millennial rule of Jesus on the Earth. And that makes Zephaniah a remarkable bit of real estate along the route of the 66 books of the Bible. So here we go Chapter 1 In Chapter 1 Zephaniah describes the day of the LORD at the end of Chapter 1. So look down to verse 14 - Zephaniah 1:14-14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. 15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. So he s warning them that this day of the LORD is near. Page 9 of 28
He s warning them that it s going to be bad. Now look down to verse 18. And this is what I m saying, wrapped up in this imminent view of the day of the LORD there s a looking through it out to a yet future way of looking at the day of the LORD. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. So two things here 1. First of all Suddenly the view shifts from the imminent future concerning Judah and Jerusalem, to the distant future. It says all the earth, all the inhabitants of the earth. What s going to happen to Judah in the imminent is a foreshadowing of the judgment that s waiting the world yet in the future that s going to happen to the whole world. 2. Secondly Here s how bad it s going to be when God judges. And it was true of God s judgment concerning the Babylonian army coming. And it s certainly true of what s yet out in front of us, in that period of time that we refer to as the Great Tribulation. He says 14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. You know, there are times when money can be really helpful. Page 10 of 28
I don t know if you ever notice, but in the popular apocalyptic genre of movies there s usually some commodity that becomes the prevailing unit of exchange, right? Depending in which particular little brand of apocalyptic movies that you look at, there s always something that was the big commodity. This was the medium of exchange that was most valuable. But in the day of the LORD, guys, in the day that God judges there s no monetary instrument; there s no treasure; there s no precious metal; there s no stocks; there s no bit coin; there s no digital currency that s going to help in that day. I don t know if you remember back to the whole Y2K thing. And, man, guys were all of a sudden buying gold; guys were building their little bunkers; and they were storing up all this stuff. And, man, you could have owned all the gold in the world you wanted; but you can t eat it. And when you look out into the accounts in the book of Revelation of the Great Tribulation, you can t buy oxygen with gold. But when the eco-system is trashed by the judgment of God your gold s good for nothing, when the water systems are polluted as God judges this Earth. When the ecosystem can do what it was made to do then what s your gold going to buy you nothing; it can t buy you anything. There s only one currency that can help you, that can deliver you in the face of God s judgment; And that s the precious blood of Jesus Christ. It s the only currency that bears any value when you face the judgment of God. So Chapter 1 not only describes this coming day of the LORD; It also gives us to the cause of the coming judgment. Page 11 of 28
Let s look at verse 4 4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests, 5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom, 6 those who have turned back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him. Now remember there s a very real context for Zephaniah s prophecy. He s living in the time of Josiah. In 2 nd Chronicles we have the record of what looked like national revival under the leadership of Josiah. Thousands upon thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem to make a public commitment to follow the LORD. And that s so radical! When I was thinking about that today, I was thinking what would it look like - just the city of Roseville, 135,000-145,000 is the population now? And then think of the city of Rockland. Think of Granite Bay, Newcastle, Auburn, Folsom, every city, every town represented in this room. Think about them coming out, almost in total making a public commitment to the LORD. We would think, Whoa, God has transformed the region. But the judgment that Zephaniah is foretelling tells us that the revival under Josiah was not quite what it seemed to be. God knew that for all of the outward reform, by and large, for the most part, there was no inner transformation. Verse 5 pulls back the curtain on the hearts of the people that were caught up in the apparent revival. It says - 5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom (or Molech). Even though there was outward reform under the leading of Josiah the people were swearing this important by both Yahweh and Molech. For all of the outward reform and response there as a divided heart. It looked like the whole of Jerusalem, the whole of the southern kingdom was openly, publicly professing loyalty to God. And yet their hearts were divided. Page 12 of 28
Their compromise reminds me of the words of Elijah to the people in the northern kingdom long before this time. In 1 st Kings 18:21 - How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. Zephaniah is saying that the problem with Judah is that they had not chosen one God. They showed up by thousands. And if we would use like New Testament language here They showed up by the thousands, and did church. But by their lives they were showing loyalty, they were under the names of two gods not one. 5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, In the Middle Eastern culture of Biblical times the rooftop was more the patio or living room for a family. And, again, using New Testament language to kind of get the picture here the people went to church; they made a public profession of faith; but when they got home in the privacy of their homes they were still living for idols. Their personal lives didn t match their church life. At church they were singing and saying the name of Yahweh. At church they were singing and saying that his name was sacred and holy. But in their private lives, if you would, in their life outside of church - They were living by the standards of Molech, not Yahweh. They had a place; they had room in their lives for both names. What did it mean to be living for Molech? Well, people worshipped Molech with all sorts of sexual behavior. And in meaningless sex, the lives that were conceived in meaningless sex were meaningless to them. And then they would take that baby that was born out of their worship to Molech; and they would take their children into the Valley of Hinnom; and they would present their little babies to Molech. And the statues of Molech would have the arms stretched out like this. And they d have a fire burning beneath them. And the stone or the metal idols Page 13 of 28
there would get glowing hot. And they would put the baby onto the arms of that idol. And the baby would recoil from the burns, and fall into the fire and be consumed. Today people call themselves Christians. They go to church. And they sing the name of Jesus. And they say the name of Jesus. But things aren t like that when they get into their private lives. There are Christians that sing and say the name of Jesus in church. But they ll live in sexual sin and have abortions. I remember this just still seems like impossible to think that this really happened; but I m telling you it really happened This one woman came into my office when I was on staff down in Costa Mesa. And I d counseled her prior to her getting married to this guy who, it was kind of like, You don t want to marry this guy. This guy s not walking with Jesus. Well, she marries this guy. She was a gorgeous girl. She marries this guy. And then after she s married he spends a lot of money on her to have breast augmentation done. And it was like this girl just didn t need any help. She has this breast enhancement. And then she gets pregnant. And her husband s upset that all that money he spent on her breast enhancement s going to get ruined by the pregnancy. So she has an abortion. The name of Jesus; And the name of Molech. By way of Zephaniah God says, That s not how it works. By way of Zephaniah God says, You can t use my Name; But not recognize the authority of my Word. You know, in the Psalms it says that God esteems His Word above His Name. Real loyalty and real love for God transforms lives on every level. Page 14 of 28
inside church, and outside of church, in church, where everyone sees you, and in your living room, where only a few people see you. Look at verses 10 and 11 10 On that day, declares the LORD, a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills. 11 Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! In this sequence it s really remarkable. Zephaniah actually outlines in advance the way that Nebuchadnezzar s troops would enter the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem has the Brook Kidron, and the Kidron Valley on the east side; It has the valley of Hinnom on the south side natural defences. The walls are high there. They re elevated. They can t just be assaulted without great effort. The one weakness of the city historically was always in the north. That s where the Damascus Gate is. It s where the Fish Gate is, where the fishermen from Galilee would come with their catch to sell in Jerusalem. And that s exactly how Nebuchadnezzar came. He came in through the north side, the weak side of the city. And from there he broke down into the Tyropoeon Valley, or what s called the Valley of the Cheesemakers, which comes under the heading of the Mortar amazing; looking ahead to exactly the way Jerusalem would fall! Verse 12 is radically relevant to us 12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill. This complacency is related to their sin. In other words I m not bothered about my sin because God s not going to do one thing one way or another. Here s the deal Our adversary the Devil Page 15 of 28
he ll never convince a genuine Christian that Jesus isn t real; he ll never convince a genuine Christian that the Bible really isn t the Word of God. but he ll convince Christians that there s no need to be urgent about the things of God; he can convince us that there s no need to be in a hurry, when it comes to dealing with sin. he can convince us that we can compromise just a little bit longer; because God s not done anything good or bad up to this point. A lot of people mistake the discipline of God not happening in an immediate moment. They mistake it, like God doesn t care; or God s not going to act. And that s exactly where they were, like, Whatever! God s not going to do good. God s not going to bad. Nothing s happened yet. The enemy of our soul can convince us that there s no need to be in a hurry when it comes to dealing with sin, that there s no need to be in a hurry in regards to dealing with compromise. We can just carry on a little bit longer in our compromise. Guys, that s one of the master strokes of Satan s strategies. It s exactly what he was doing in the time of Zephaniah. Satan s playbook Page 16 of 28
it s not long; it s not deep. He s just got a few. And he s honed them over time. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 deals with God judging the surrounding nations. But the opening verses of Chapter 2 that s where a bit of this overlap from Chapter 1 happens. Look at Chapter 2, verse 1. 1 Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, 2 before the decree takes effect before the day passes away like chaff before there comes upon you the burning anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the LORD. And then verse 3 opens with the words 3 Seek the LORD Guys, this is remarkable that God is making this plea with them. If you re thinking, Oh, the God of the Old Testament, He is just angry ; This is so much grace it s unbelievable. God is pleading with these people out of His grace. He s pleading with people, a nation that He s already declared judgment on. He says, Before you re burned ; Before the fierce anger comes ; Before these things God makes this amazing offer of grace. He says, 3 Seek the LORD 3 Seek the LORD Notice how the LORD frames the context for Page 17 of 28
this seeking the LORD, this returning to the LORD. He says, 1 Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, 2 before the decree takes effect. Why would God repeat, Gather together? Well, the surest way to lose your intensity as a Christian is to isolate yourself from other Christians. And you can be in this room tonight and still be isolated. You can be in this room, and actually carry on a few cool conversations, but still be isolated, still not truly really honestly engage with other Christians and live out your Christian life in community with them. You know, the way you extinguish a fire is just separate the coals, because they feed off of each other. You want to make a fire go out, and you haven t got any water, just separate the coals, just separate the chunks of wood that are burning from each other. They ll go out because they need one another to fuel each other. Guys, our adversary the Devil is always busy trying to isolate believers, always. I want you to think about it. I want you to process these things. As you leave here in the future, as you have these things happening in your life, remember this, Oh, oh, wait, wait. This is working against God s Word to gather. This has to be the work of the enemy of my soul to keep me from gathering. Listen! How does our adversary the Devil work to isolate believers? Well, he does it by breeding a critical spirit in the heart of men and women. Maybe that s you. Maybe you re the one with the critical spirit. Or maybe it s somebody around you that they re taking their critical spirit; and they re just dumping their view, their critical view of everything that happens in the church on you. And here s what happens. People with a critical spirit end up bailing on church because no church, no gathering of believers, no church leadership can survive their critical examination. And they go from one church to the next church to the next church to the next church, because no church, no believers collectively, no leadership can survive their critical scrutiny. And they ended up isolated. Page 18 of 28
Here s another way that Satan works to isolate. He does it by breaking up marriages. In the marriage that s crumbling, the marriage that s maybe ended in divorce, the ex-spouses feel like they can t go to church where their ex is, or where their kids are going. And they end up never going back to church. And I m not excusing the personal responsibility of an offended believer, the responsibility of that spouse to find a place to fellowship because they need to be healed from whatever it is that was so twisted and wrecked and broken in their own hearts that it ended in the demise of their marriage, or whether or not their hearts were wrecked by a spouse, and their unfaithfulness. That person cannot afford to be isolated. But the enemy will use that, and go, I can t go to church. And they don t take their own responsibility to find a place that they go. Or they go to another church, and they just miss the church they used to be a part of. And they can t get over not being a part of that church. And they finally just give up. I m not dismissing personal responsibility. I m just saying that s how the Devil gets a foothold in somebody s life to isolate them. And if you know somebody who s in that predicament, you need to encourage them, and say, No, do not isolate. Do not isolate. The same is true for friendships. Our adversary the Devil loves to wreck relationships with the ultimate end in mind of isolation. Our adversary the Devil will use moral failure in the lives of church leadership to leave people so disillusioned with church that they end up isolated from other believers. I can t count how many Christians I ve seen over the years who have isolated themselves from church. And as a result they ve not grown in their faith. And they re totally ineffective for the kingdom of God. And everything that we said, tracing back to Hezekiah/Zephaniah, the sphere of culture that God put him into, the access, the privilege, the resources that were there that caused them to be maximized for the sake of our King Jesus, like, that s just all gone, all gone, because they re not in grace and in the knowledge of their LORD and Savior. Now here are the elements of repentance. Look at verse 3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land; seek righteousness; seek humility. Guys, seeking the LORD at any time requires humility. Page 19 of 28
You see, seeking the LORD is an acknowledgment that He is more, that He is all; it s an acknowledgment that we re dependent on Him. LORD, I haven t been seeking you. I ve been content to just sit on the sidelines, be self-informed, self-defined, self-directed. I haven t pressed into you. I haven t been in your Word. I haven t been seeking you in a devotional life. I come to church; but I m not really seeking you. I m just kind of hanging out. But to really seek the LORD Now let me challenge you You guys are awesome! This many people in a room on a Monday night to be studying the Bible, to be studying the book of Zephaniah it s amazing! But I want to challenge you to the reality you can be here, and not really be seeking the LORD. After this three-verse overlap that kind of spills over from the first chapter, the focus shifts to outside of Judah. And the Bible tells us that judgment begins at the house of the LORD. But it tells us that it doesn t end there, that it s going to go to the nations next. And by the way, I don t know if that s ever been a sobering thought for you. In the New Testament it says judgment will begin with the house of the LORD. And we just keep cruising along in American church culture like God s not going to clean His house up. Well, Zephaniah s going to prophesy that judgment begins with the house of the LORD. And it s going to go outside of the house of the LORD. From verse 4 of Chapter 2 into Chapter 3, Zephaniah goes onto prophesy about judgment, particularly with the nations. Chapter 3 is filled with future promises. But again there s an overlap. Before God speaks to the future, the millennial kingdom, God revisits kind of all that He had to say to Judah in Chapter 1. In verse 1 of Chapter 3 it says 1 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! 2 She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God. Page 20 of 28
Jerusalem didn t listen to the LORD. God sent prophet after prophet to remind the people of God s Word. They came with God s Word. But she would not listen. And she would not be corrected by the Scriptures or by God s prophets. You remember by way of the prophet Samuel God spoke to Israel s very first king. You can put this in the margins of your Bible there next to verse 2 of Chapter 3. Put this there - 1 st Samuel 15:22-23. 22 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king. God says, Don t tell me that you love me when you have no desire to obey me. Remember what Jesus said the night before He died. He said, If you love me obey me. He didn t say, Obey me so that I ll love you. He said, If you love me, obey me. God doesn t want us to show up at church, maybe serve for a handful of minutes, put something in the offering, God wants our lives. and then live for ourselves. There s a purpose for hearing His voice. It s not merely to pile up Biblical information. The purpose of hearing God s voice is not to stack up information. It s to the end of personal transformation to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, to be transformed by growing in grace and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior. It is a very dangerous thing to be merely hearers of the Word of God. Page 21 of 28
James 1: 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. You see, you could come and walk through the whole Route 66 series; You can go from Genesis to Revelation. But if through all of that you re just accumulating information, and it doesn t result in transformation, you re deceived. You think that the information has changed you. No, the information by itself doesn t change you. It s the Holy Spirit ministering that truth to your heart and you bowing to it; you submitting to it; you surrendering to it; you treasuring it up in your heart. I ve got to tell you, this is such a warning to me. I m looking at this; and I m looking at it in a 64 point font. I hear the Word of God in my preparation. The question isn t Did I hear it? Do I accumulate it? Do I then just in a mechanical way regurgitate it? But am I giving you something that I ve really heard from the LORD; And I m really taking to heart? So they didn t listen. They didn t receive correction. And they didn t trust the LORD. Page 22 of 28
How many of you have ever told somebody, Oh you just need to trust the LORD? I hope you have! It s not a trick question. I m glad to see that so many of you have had the opportunity, and the concern to look at somebody in a moment, in a circumstance, and say, You just need to trust the LORD. But here s the problem. And I m going to own it right up front. Anybody else wants to own it, that s between you and the LORD. I find it easy to serve up that dish to others. But I ll choke on it when I have to trust the LORD in a hard spot. It s so easy to look at somebody else, and say, Brother, just trust the LORD. But when that is served to me I have a million reasons why it s hard to trust the LORD, rather than just saying, You re right. I need to trust the LORD. At the bottom of this threefold indictment is the fact that the people of Judah, and in particular, Jerusalem they just weren t interested in the heart of the LORD; they just weren t interested in fellowship with the LORD. You see, real faith that brings you into relationship with God, everything is wrapped up in Him. We ll say, It s all about Jesus. It really is all about Jesus. And at the end of the day the question is Am I interested in the heart of Jesus concerning my life, concerning the world? Am I interested in fellowship with Jesus, like really having an intimate friendship with Him? If we keep that real, there s nothing for the LORD to say. He ll just go, You re all good! Oh I see your flaws. I see that you tripped over here. I see this issue in your life. We re working on that one. But if we re really interested in His heart, and we really treasure our fellowship with Him, that s the whole deal. Page 23 of 28
Now verse 8 of Chapter 3 brings us to the crux of the day of the LORD. I believe it s looking all the way down to the end of the Great Tribulation. Look at verse 8. 8 Therefore wait for me, declares the LORD, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, (you want to underline this) So this is looking past the imminent invasion by the Babylonian armies of the city of Jerusalem. We re looking way past that now. 8 For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, (underline that) to pour out upon them So it s not talking about Jerusalem, but upon Gentile nations to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. So that brings this concept of the day of the LORD to its crux, to its pinnacle. But verse 9 is the turning point of the book. Remember I said the overarching theme of the book is the day of the LORD. Verse 9 is the turning point. And I believe it s looking all the way down to the day when Jesus returns to the Earth at the end of the Great Tribulation; and He rules the world in righteousness. God, from verse 9 forward, is going to promise that the Gentiles shall be converted. That was staggering for the Jew. They didn t get it. Even the first Christians didn t quite get it; Because, you remember, they were stunned that when God extended the offer of salvation through faith in Jesus to Gentiles, they didn t know what to do with it. The God of Israel will be the LORD of all the Earth. Even the Gentile nations will honor and serve Him. Look at verse 9. 9 For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples (plural) to a pure speech, This isn t a reference to language. The Old King James Version says, pure language. It s not a language. It s not a linguistic thing. It s a heart thing. Jesus said that we speak out of the abundance of our hearts. Page 24 of 28
This is about transformation of hearts on a global level. 9 that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. Josiah, the last of the Godly kings, the guy who was reigning during Zephaniah s ministry, Josiah crushed into powder the idols in Jerusalem. But he was unable to obliterate idolatry. The people still bowed their hearts to things other than God. They were using the name of Yahweh. And they were using the name of Molech. He crushed the idols to powder. But he couldn t the crush the idolatry in people s hearts. There s coming a day when God is going to do away with idolatry in the hearts of men and women. And that s going to change everything. It s going to change everything. The nations will serve the true and living God as one people. Nations, people groups, ethnic groups will no longer be divided. That is mind-blowing. When it says serve him with one accord, the New International Version translates the Hebrew there as serve him shoulder to shoulder. You can write these references down. I ll give them to you in a moment. But Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, they teach that during the Kingdom Age the Gentiles are going to go to Jerusalem to worship and serve the LORD. In the book of Isaiah - Chapter 2, verses 1-5, and also Chapter 4, verses 1-6; In the book of Ezekiel - Chapters 40-48; And in the book of Zechariah - Chapter 14, verse 9. The God of Israel will be the LORD of all the Earth. Page 25 of 28
The Gentile nations are going to honor and serve Him. The descendants of Abraham that have been scattered into the nations are going to return to their land. And Gentiles will be worshipping the LORD. They re going to be bringing offerings to Him. They re going to be called His worshippers. Guys, the cross of Jesus changes everything. Before the death of Jesus on the cross there was a huge difference between the relationship of Jews and Gentiles to each other, a huge difference between the way they relate to the LORD. But because of the cross of Jesus the middle wall that separated them has been taken down. Paul writes that in Ephesians 2:11. Because of the cross of Jesus both Jew and Gentile can share in the spiritual inheritance, the spiritual blessings that belong to us by faith in Jesus. Look at Romans 10:12-13. This is how it reads in the New King James Version 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon Him. 13 For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. And that s going to be on display before the eyes of the whole world, as the Gentile nations trust and worship the God of Israel. And, by the way, God always had that in mind, right? Because on the Temple Mount, remember they had something called the Court of the Gentiles. And the point is that Israel was to be a light to the nations. And if a Gentile wanted to come and inquire they couldn t go into the temple precincts; they couldn t go into where the Jew could go and worship the LORD, as prescribed in the Law of Moses; but they could come into this place that was set aside, where the Gentiles could ask the Jews about their God. Page 26 of 28
But nationally Israel failed. But because of Jesus the Gentile nations will come to trust and worship the God of Israel. Let s close with this. 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! By the way sing aloud, shout, rejoice, exult with all your heart that fits us; that should fit us by the way. 15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. Guys a world without fear, a world without violence, a world without child abuse, a world without human trafficking, a Jerusalem that is safe and without fear from any of the nations of the world coming against them. Think about this What will the news be like in that day? The newspaper will be like one page if there is still a print newspaper around. The news on TV will like 5 minutes long, just sports. Men and women are longing for that world. The world that mankind so deeply longs for, a world that s marked by peace and love, justice, mercy, kindness, compassion is a world ruled by God. Page 27 of 28
And what we just saw in those verses of Zephaniah happen when the King comes back to this Earth. The hope of the Christian, and the only hope for all of mankind is the kingdom of God. And when we look at the world today, the outlook might be dark; but in light of God s Word, in light of Zephaniah 3 the up-look has never been better. Father, thank you for this time in your Word. LORD, thank you for this incredible three chapters. You astound us with your mercy, your long-suffering, your honesty, with your pleading with people who have utterly been unfaithful to you, your justice, your judgment. We can say that because you re holy that even that is beautiful, LORD. But, LORD, the end of the story is bigger, more glorious than anything we could have ever dreamed up. LORD, may we take seriously the place that we occupy in culture, the access, the privilege, the resource. May it always be about your story, not ours. LORD, deal with any complacency in our hearts. Deal with any duplicity in our hearts, professing loyalty to the name of Jesus, and yet living in the ways of Molech. LORD, help us; help us. And for the man or woman who doesn t you, and needs to know you, I pray tonight, LORD, that they would stand in awe of you, and say, I need to give my life to this God. Page 28 of 28