Main idea: Humbly worship the sovereign Lord of Lords who will judge the nations and will establish His kingdom forever!
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Good morning church. My name is Nathan. And I'm also one of the pastors here. And I'm thankful that I get to be with you this morning and bring God's word. Look at God's Word together. echo what Brian said, just a welcome to everyone who's here, all of you who are always here, we're so glad to be together, to gather together to worship, to learn, to love each other. And to love the Lord and those of you are visiting, we're glad glad you're here to challenge all of you who are members here, I just encourage you to have a goal of this summer maybe getting together with one person who's new to you. Maybe the benefit Bellatrix a long time, but you don't know them very well, or someone who's new to our church and try to have a coffee Park data, dinner or barbecue, invite them to your ghost groups activity. So as you look around and see new people and just encourage you think about because they're one time this summer, we could connect with somebody and really get to know them better and encourage them. So definitely encouraging to you and encouraging to them. We're gonna look at Zephaniah. In a moment, we'll stand in and read it together. But I want to remind you, the theme of Zephaniah we're seeing God's judgment has wrath, and God's grace, His salvation. And I want to encourage you, as you look at this passage, as we read through it, see how God is using his judgment of nations to bless and to care for his people. See how God uses wrath, judgment, to give salvation. And really when we think about the wrath of the Lord, the day of the Lord, it's always about judgment and salvation. God is judging his enemies and He's saving his people. So notice, can a little bit of a Where's Waldo, as you're looking through this passage? Where do I see the salvation that God has given through this judgment? Where do I see God's character has his attributes in this so stay with me if you're able to, to read Zephaniah two, one through three, eight, it's a longer passage so standing for a long time, it's hard for you it's okay if you want to stay seated as well. It's definitely a two verse one. Gather together. Yes, gather Oh, shameless nation, 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. Seek the Lord or you humble the land, who do his just commands. seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. For Gaza shall be deserted, and ask Ashkelon shall become a desolation. Hashtags, people shall be driven out at noon, and Ektron she'll be uprooted. Woe to you, inhabitants of the seacoast your nation of the Jaredites the word of the Lord is against you, okay, the land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. And you will Seacoast shall be pastures with Meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks, the seacoast shall become the possession of the remnants of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening, for the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. I've heard the tons of Moab in the writings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory. Therefore as I live declares the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Saddam, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles, insult pets, and a waste forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors that my nation shall possess them. This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the LORD of hosts, the Lord will be asked him against them, he will finish all the gods of the Earth, into him shall bow down each in its place, all the lands of the nations. You also Kushite shall be slain by my sword, and he will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Assyria. And he will make Nineveh desolation, a dry waste like the desert herds to lie down in her midst all kinds of beasts, even the owl and the hedgehog show lodge in her capitals, of which shall Hoot and the window devastation will be on the threshold for her cedar work will be laid bare. This is the exultant city, they live securely that said in her heart, I am and there's no one else. What a desolation she has become a lair for wild beasts, everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist. Whoa to her who is rebellious and defiled the oppressing City. She listens to no voice, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord. She does not draw near to her God. Her officials within her a roaring lion sir judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the morning. Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men, her priests profane what is holy, they do violence to the law. The Lord within his righteous he does no injustice. Every morning he shows forth as Justice each dawn he does not fail, but the unjust knows no shame. I have cut off nations their battlements are in ruins. I've laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them. Their cities have been made desolate without a man without him. habitant I said, surely you will fear me and we'll accept correction, then your drilling would not be cut off according to all that I've appointed against you. But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. Therefore, wait for me declares the Lord for the day when I rise up to seize the pray, for my decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them, I indignation, all my burning anger, from the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. God, we bow before you humbly, we seek you, we worship you. We recognize that indeed all of yours will be consumed by your wrath, by the fire of your jealousy, all those who rebel against you who are wicked, all those who sin against you will be destroyed in your wrath. God, we thank you that even though that includes us, we are those who have sinned against you, you have made a way for us to be saved. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for being God in the flesh for coming and becoming a man and then living a perfect life and dying in our place for raising again, thank you that you provide us a shelter, a refuge, that if we trust in you, we are saved from the wrath of God. We find righteousness, we find humility, we find you thank you that you want a relationship with us. For everyone here this morning, hearing these words that you administer by your Spirit to each of our lives. Help those who are suffering who are afflicted with physical difficulties, give them strength, give them hope, and you give them endurance and we pray that you would touch them and help them go and pray for those who are facing relational and emotional and spiritual difficulties. God help us all to look to you to fix our eyes on you. Help us to seek you and to find you got to pray for our city that you would be working all around your city, drawing people to yourself through VBS through UGM, Camp through whatever things we're doing it individually. We pray for other churches that are also preaching your word like Souto Bible Church, pray for John Underhill, for interest to Husky for Brad Pearson as they leave that church that you would bless those men, bless men and women there who are seeking to worship you and make you know, and I pray for them as they do their own UGM camp this week that you would use them as they reach out to grant elementary gotta make yourself known through them. God we pray for people all around the world who are seeking to make you known. I pray that you would establish your name worship of you would be happening in the Finisterre mountain range in Madang were frank and Jacqueline Rishi are going, we pray for those in Southeast Asia that were we'll be partnering with that Eli's already partnering with you'll be working in a mighty way reaching the different people groups that are unreached there. God help us now to worship you and know you through this passage. We pray in Your name Jesus, Amen. May be seated.
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This past week, we celebrated the Fourth of July 1776. July 4 was when our country declared independence from the King of England. We celebrate with hotdogs and fireworks and whatever else. But the reality is that they back then decided it was about who had the right to govern who is the sovereign. And the colonists and what we now call the United States of America declared, we have the right to be governed by people of our own choosing people from among us, we're gonna choose people from among us to govern us. They were declaring the King of England has no right to rule over us. His rule is taxation. And their estimation was not just was not right was not legitimate. They declared that they were independent of him. And today, we would all agree that there are many rulers around the world who have no right to rule over us no jurisdiction here. We would all agree the new prime minister in England doesn't have the right to rule over us new president in France, King Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Putin in Russia, the Ayatollah of Iran, many others, we would say they're not a ruler, we do not answer to them. And in the end, the ability and the right of any ruler to rule over people as based on their mind, their power, as well as their goodness and fairness of their rule. But we all have one ruler, one Lord, one king of kings, to whom everyone on the planet must answer every nation, every time every people group, no matter where they are, belong to the one king, the Creator who made us all he has the authority and the power to rule his throne is above every throne. Psalm 145 13 says Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your Dominion endures throughout all generations, every single human being born, including all of us sitting here, we all owe our full allegiance to the King of kings. He is the sovereign when he's on his throne. And he does what he pleases. Psalm two says all the nations are seeking to throw off his rule to rage against him. But God will establish His Son, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings on his throne, and he will ultimately finally destroy God's enemies on the day of the Lord. And He will save all of God's people from every tongue and drive nation for himself. And so I encourage you as we think about the sovereign rule of God, as we see it in Zephaniah, two and three, seek the Lord humbly bow your knee to Him, seek the Lord of lords, the host of the King of kings, he will judge the nations and establish His kingdom forever. So we think about the historical context of Zephaniah, like we talked about Last week number Zephaniah was a cousin, a distant cousin, perhaps of Josiah the king and Judah. Remember Judah and Israel had split and performed two kingdoms. And the 10 tribes of Israel had been taken off into captivity by Assyria because of their idolatry in rebellion. And now God is confronting Judah, he's telling them, listen up, you have been worshipping other gods, you have an idolatrous, you've been wicked, and he is rebuking them. But he's not just rebuking them, because he's going to punish them or to discipline them. He wants them to come to Him, to seek him. He wants them to repent and to trust in him, his heart and declaring this wrath this coming day of the Lord, is that they would turn to Him and the same thing is true for us. If you've already turned to him, this should encourage you, yes, this is my God, this is my Savior and keep turning to him. If you haven't turned to Christ, I would encourage you as you look at this, Christ wants to be your king, your Savior, we see a couple raft sandwiches here, you might enjoy a pulled pork sandwich, but a rat sandwich you do not want. In Zephaniah one, we see God addressing the nations of verse two and three, saying I'm gonna judge all the nations. And then he adjusted addresses Judah in verses four through 16. Then he goes back to the nation. So we see nations do the nations a wrath sandwich. And then in chapter two, verses four through for chapter 215, he's addressing the nations again, and then he turns back to Judah, and three, one through seven. And then back to the nations and verse eight, Judah nations do the nations and other rest standards, we have two routes, sandwiches, huge and terrible. Awesome. You don't want those in the middle, we have chapter two verses one through three, which we looked at a little bit last week, we only got it again. We see this expectation, seek the Lord, the wrath of God is coming. The wrath of God is coming. Seek the Lord, there is salvation. Zephaniah means the Lord hides, you can be hidden from the wrath of God, if you trust in Christ, and so that should motivate us to seek Him. We all need to be encouraged to seek the Lord, we need to fear the Lord. If you look at your notes, today, there's a fear of the Lord continuing now that we borrowed from Ed Welsh. My notes here anyway, you'll see there though it talks about being terrified, trembling, being afraid. When we see God's wrath, especially if you're not in Christ, you should be afraid, I should be afraid if I'm living as a rebel against God, because we know what's coming. He will certainly pour out His wrath and all of his enemies who have not repented. But we shouldn't be moved those of us who trust in Christ, we should be moved as we see God's glory, the glory of the Lord and his passage, we should be moved from trembling from fear to ah reverence, trust worship. You can be encouraged in your worship of the Lord as you behold His wrath, his judgment, which also results in salvation for his people. How can we have conviction to fight sin to hold hold the wrath and the grace of God? How can we be motivated to really be thankful for our salvation? Behold, the Wrath and the grace of God? How can we be encouraged in our ministry to others behold the wrath from the grace of God here in this passage. So look with me, and want us to see that we should humbly worship the Sovereign Lord of lords, who will judge the nations and establish His kingdom forever. Humbly worship the Lord is our first point from chapter two verses one through three. Let's look at those again. It says gathered together Yes, gather Oh, shameless nation, that word gathers like gathering stubble. If you drive down the bluestone highway 95 And you see all those fields where they cut the grass and the gathered together that hey, that grass to feed the horses and the other animals, right? They gathered together. This word is literally gathering together, the dry stubble gathered together. What happens if you throw your cigarette into that pile of stubble? Or you light your fire? We're gonna shoot it into there.
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And on the news, there's another fire with your name on it, right? There's gonna be a fire. He's telling them you were like stubble gather together in humility. Realize that you are in a precarious spot. Because of your idolatry and rebellion. He's telling you to you're about to be you're about to be consumed in the wrath of God. If you are a pile of stubble, with a blazing torch aimed right at you, you are in danger. Not sure what you are. I know if you're not in Christ, you are. You should be humble. We Should All Be humble before God because we deserve his wrath because we're sinners against him. It's not God being unfair. If you reject God, author of life, you will have death. That's what he's telling them is coming. So he's saying Be humble, gather together, repent as a group come together and repentance don't just individually repent come together and repentance. And truly as a church, we gather now right we gather because we want to encourage each other. We want to obey the commands of Christ. We want to worship him together, want to gather together and take our worship of Him seriously, and help each other to worship him. When he says in verse two before this decree takes effect, before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, God is telling them, this is coming. Do like Psalm two says and kiss the sun bow before the sun lest you be consumed in his anger. There is an opportunity for them to repent and to go to the Lord before this judgment came in the judgment is going to come in 586 BC whether they repented or not, but they would be swept up in God's wrath or they could be saved permanently and forever by His grace and maybe even spirit from that, that judgment. And the same is true for us. The day of God's wrath is coming the day When Christ returns on his white horse, and he judges all the nations, the great throne of God, the white throne, he's gonna judge everyone that's coming. But you can, you can now repent before so that you're ready. When that day comes, you've been hidden in Christ, where you can stand and say, I got this, I don't need anything, I'm good. And then when God's wrath comes like a tsunami, you'll be taken out. You have the option, though, before the day of the Lord comes to repent, to seek him. Look at verse three, though, this is the crux of it. All of chapter one up to two, two, it says, it's all leading to this point. And then to phoron is pointing back to this thing, do this, seek the LORD, turn to the true God, stop going after idols, stop going after other things that don't profit turn to the ones who God stopped trusting in yourself. Turn to the Lord seek him. He's not just saying seek relief from my discipline, secret cigarettes are being rescued from my wrath. He's saying seek Him. This is why God speaks to the people of Judah through Zephaniah. This is why God speaks to you this morning through his word, he wants you to seek him. He wants you to have a relationship with him. He warns us of His wrath, because he wants us to flee from those things which are vain and don't profit and which are empty, and to go to him. He wants you to be with him. That's why he says these things. He wants to give you forgiven forgiveness and pardon. He wants to give you grace. He wants you to say I am guilty of being a rebel of idolatry. I'm guilty of rejecting you, forgive me, seek Him. Like we sang that song, knowing you, right, knowing you, Jesus knowing you there's no greater thing. You're my all you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you, Lord. When you seek the Lord, you find him, you find that he's wonderful. When you trust in Jesus, you know that God has forgiven you. And God has accepted you because of Jesus, and he's loved you. It's amazing, right? And then you keep seeking the Lord, you seek because you know that there's hope of finding you seek until you find and you keep on seeking because you want him. If you have a really good friendship with someone, you don't just say, well, we have a once that's good enough, I'm good. I don't anymore. Like if you go watch a movie, you might say, Okay, I'm done with that. I did that. I'm gonna check it off. You go to Disneyland, at least for me. I went, Okay, check it off. Some of you want to go back. But for me, I'm like, okay, I'm good. Seeking, the Lord is not like that. You want to keep on going back? No one is like him. Being with him is like nothing else. His grace, His glory, His mind his power is His Holiness. Nobody's like him. When you seek Him, you want to keep on going back. Like you drink water yesterday, because it was hot, or humid. Like I don't even water today. I drank yesterday, I'm good. Now you keep drinking. If it's pure, cold, fresh water, you drink. It's good. It's not like drinking Coke, or having a frappuccino. Or you're like, Okay, that's too much sugar. I'm good. And I don't need any more of that for a couple of years. Now you drink water, you want more the next day and the next day and the next moment you keep on drinking. The Lord is saying seek me I want to give you from myself. I'm a founder living water. You want you to receive Him, to be blessed by him to know him. Who gets to seek him. Look at verse three. All you who are humble of the land and do his just commands. We don't seek the Lord saying you're pretty lucky to have me God. God, great. I am. Look what I did yesterday, like I did the day before. I'm pretty awesome. You're pretty lucky that I get to be with you. No, it's not like that. You seek Him with humility. You recognize God, I'm not worthy of you. I have sinned against you. I'm not good enough to be in your presence. But Jesus has forgiven me and he's given me his righteousness. So now I seek you. Seek the Lord, those who do his commands. We don't seek Him, earning his presence but with our obedience, but we seek Him with a heart that submits to him. He's not our Genie. You don't get to rub God in God say well give me whatever I want. You don't put a quarter in God and He's of any mission. He gives you whatever you want. He is the Lord of lords, not us. He's the king of kings, not us. We seek Him as humble, obedient, submissive, people who say yes, God, whatever you want, you are my God. We we see it we seek righteousness. How do we seek righteousness Philippians three, verse nine says, in Christ to be found in him having the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus, you get righteousness, which is being right with God having the right standing just as means that you conform to standards, you do what he wants, which is necessary to be with him. You have to love Him and love others. How do we get that perfect, righteous standing. It's not their own efforts. None of us are righteous on our own. We all have fallen short. It's through Christ. Christ is the righteous one, and he gives you His righteousness when you trust in Him. So you seek righteousness by believing in Jesus, and He gives you a position of righteousness, you become one who God says he or she are righteous, He declares you righteous and then we keep seeking to live in light of who we are. God has made you righteous now you're supposed to act like it by faith with the Holy Spirit working in you, you work out your salvation. Philippians 212. Right. You start God's made you patient so you start working on being patient. God's made you selfless and sacrificial. So you work on being selfless and sacrificial. He's made you holy. If you work on being holy, he's made you Loving so you work on Being Well being it's a process you seek, you keep seeking your whole life. And there's hope. It's not like you're seeking after something and he's like, I'm not gonna give it to you. No, you seek it. He gives. Jesus says, Seek and you'll find, seek to be like Christ as one who's been made righteous in Christ, and he'll make you more and more like Him, seek Him. positionally. You're there. If you have faith in Christ, practically, it's a lifelong process. And in perfection, we seek one day, as we see Christ face to face, he's going to make us perfectly righteous, and forever, righteousness will reign on the new earth and new heavens will be righteous perfectly, because of Christ. It's all his work. But we trust in Him, we look to Him for it. It says, Seek humility, seek to be humble, to humble yourself before God, to love him to love others, to see him as the greatest not yourself, not myself. And then he's saying, perhaps you'll be hidden from the anger of the Lord. This was true, there are people that were there and Judah, who were going to repent, and then when the judgment came in Babylon came in 586, they were going to be swept away in the exile. Some of them might have even been killed. But if they sought the Lord entrusted him, they were gonna be saved. Ultimately, they're gonna be with Him forever. When Christ returns, they will be resurrected, they will live forever with us who trust in Christ, and some of them might have been spared. We just talked about this render, there's gonna be a remnant. Remember, God told Isaiah there'll be a remnant of people who are going to be saved. a remnant of Judah, there's always some that keep on being faithful. And that's what God is producing through this warning from Zephaniah's, more people who are trusting him. Hopefully today, as you hear this, you're encouraged trusting the Lord, seek Him, seek your relationship with him. You don't just read the Bible to check it off and pray, you do listening because you want to know the Lord. He wants to show you himself. He wants to spend time with you and make you know him. That's why we gathered together on Sunday we what He wants us to know Him to worship him.
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Receive Judah was proud. And they chose to put their trust in Wicked corrupt leaders and idols and false gods. And we in the United States we have, we have a powerful economy, we have a powerful military, we can be tempted to put our trust in the United States of America. And it's great to be thankful for our country for the rights and privileges we have. We can take those things for granted, we can put our trust in them instead of the Lord. Ultimately, God raises up nations and He brings them down. Our trust is in the Lord to heaven over the God of heaven and earth. He is the one to whom we look, not to our country, not to our economy, not to the security that we have, we trust in the Lord. We're not better than other nations, right? We serve the God who is the god of all nations and who saved people from every nation. He is the one we trust in. So let's continue looking at his, his glory, as we see Zephaniah 243 through 215. We see he's judging these nations, to save his people, God judges the nations in order to save his people from the nations and from Judah and Israel. And to four through 215 he starts talking to these four nations and He says first for for God's shall be deserted in the forest telling us he's telling them this so that they will be motivated to seek him. He's telling them I'm gonna judge these nations to your West before Philistine nations so the West Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, anacron, I'm gonna judge Moab and and months, your east, I'm gonna judge coos switches Ethiopia to yourself, and I'm gonna judge a Syria to your north, God's telling them all these people that you've been worried about for centuries, that have been bothering you and afflicting you, and taking the land that I promised you, I am going to deal with them through my righteous judgment. And in doing that, I'm going to save all of you who are humbled and are part of my people. He's telling them, I'm going to rescue you. And he's really illustrating what he's already said in one, two, and three, I'm going to wipe out the earth, you said, we just given them four examples. I'm going to wipe out all the earth who are rebelling against me, including these people, these people, these people, nice people, it's like if you're a kid on the playground, right? And Billy over here is always picking on you. For years, he's been picking on you. He's always taking your lunch. He's always bigger than you, it doesn't matter how much you grow. Billy is always taking your stuff and messing with you. Then there's Suzy over here who's always making fun of you and gossiping about you behind your back. And there's that drug dealer over there who's a disaster and is messing with some of your friends, families. God's saying, it's like God son is going to play and I'm gonna take care of Billy, I'm gonna take care of Susie, I'm gonna take care of that drug dealer over there. I'm going to deal with those people who are your enemies. Now? Is it just limited to those? No, God's going to deal with all of his enemies, all the nations, these four groups are representative of all of them. God's saying, I'm going to deal with everybody, and it's going to be for your salvation. God is the judge of the whole world. He is the king of the whole world. And his judgment will mean salvation for those who are His people. So look at the first one judgment of the Philistines to the West. We see what do you say says for Gaza should be deserted Ashkelon shall become a desolation. Ashdod people should be driven out at noon anacron shall be uprooted. So God promised Abraham all this land of Canaan, right? And part of that land was what the Philistines had had. And when the Philistines were there, they had five main cities there was Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and the Necrons a little bit inland, and then Gaff. Gaff was already kind of going downhill at this point. Zephaniah is talking about these four other cities that have been so powerful and have been an affliction to you. During the time of the judges. They were messing with them during the time of David. When David fought Goliath. Goliath was a Philistine. And God started giving them victory over the Philistines. God is saying, I'm going to deal with those people who are your enemy, who have been living in this land that I promised to you. God is promising that he will, ultimately in the final day of the Lord, fully, and then maybe even before that temporarily or intermediate way God is going to deal with them. So we see in verse five, would you inhabitants national charity sites, they're originally from Crete. And so that's why they got the new chair, that's the Philistines. The word of the Lord is against you. God is going to destroy these enemies of Judah, through His Word. God doesn't need nuclear bombs, he doesn't need swords. He doesn't need bullets. He doesn't need all these things. God by his own word, he can speak a word, and his enemies fall. What does it say in Revelation 19, Jesus is going to come back on the white horse. And by this sort of his mouth, by the word he speaks, he's going to wipe out his enemies. It won't be hard for him. No, nothing could stand, no fortress, no bunker, no Iron Dome, can stop the word of the Lord, just like that. He speaks. Just like he created, right, he spoke and it was created by the word of the Lord, He will destroy his enemies. When God's telling them this to motivate them to seek him. He wants people to seek Him, not just from Judah and Israel, but from all the nations. Now this happened temporarily when Babylon came down in the late the early part of the sixth century, they did invade and do damage to the the fourth Philistine cities, and it kind of started to disappear at that point. But as far as Judah taking possession of that land, that hasn't happened yet, right? That's going to happen when Jesus comes back. And he rains on the earth for 1000 years, and your name is on the earth, the new heavens and new earth for forever. He's going to give to the nation of Israel, like we read and read in Romans 11, this, this part, this land, and then all the other nations are going to have their own places to, and God is going to reign over the nations. Jesus is going to be king on the earth over all the nations and they're gonna all worship Him. They're gonna all come to Jerusalem and worship him as the King of kings. This is going to happen in Revelation 19. So Brian preached about two weeks ago in Romans 11. But first, what's happening? First, God is saving the fullness of the Gentiles. He's saving people from the Philistines. He's saving people from the people who live in Gaza right now. He's saving people from all the nations and then he'll turn back to Israel and the humble, believing Israelites who come to Christ will be the ones who will inherit this land. So is this how does this relate to the modern situation in Gaza? The conflict with Israel? Well, we don't need to conflate these two and make them the same thing. God is going to certainly judge and destroy the pride of the earth. He's going to judge and destroy proud Israelites who reject him. He's going to judge and destroy proud Palestinians who reject and rebel against him. He's also saving people from Israel and from the Palestinians who are humble. Now the actual people of the Philistines probably are already dispersed and have gone other places that people who are currently in Gaza and Palestine, it seems like from other people groups. So this is really a situation where Israel is fighting Hamas. It's a nation seeking to bring peace by the sword like Romans 13 says, but there are people in Gaza, from all different people groups, and some of them are going to be saved. There's people in Israel, some of them are going to be saved as well. What God is going to do and Romans nine in Revelation 18, is by His righteousness, he's going to establish the kingdom of Israel, he's gonna give them the land, not by retribution. The work of the current day leaders is not the same as the Prince of Peace, His work, He will wipe out the wicked in the crowd and He will put His people in the land. Now we should pray for all those people, we should pray for the Palestinians, we should pray for the Israelites that God would draw people to Himself that He would save people. And right now it seems like more Arabs are turning to Christ than then Jews. Although we know one day God will turn back to the Jews, like Romans 11 says. So. In the meantime, we need to read carefully realize that this is talking about ultimately the end when when Christ comes back and establishes people in the land, they're gonna get the land in the end.
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Look at verse seven. We see God's mercy here. It says in verse seven, the seeker shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall gaze God is going to give grace God's going to give this land to the remnant of Judah, those who saves from Judah from Israel. The reminisce talking about those who are faithful who believe in Him, in the houses of Ashkelon, Israelite on in the evening for the Lord, that God will be mindful of them to restore their fortunes. Look at that, in verse seven, the Lord their God will be mindful of them. The New American Standard Version says the LORD their God will care for them. God will care for them. Who is he going to care for? This people of Judah who have been rebelling against Him, He's going to care for them. He's gonna have mercy on them. They've rejected him. They've rebelled against him. He's judged them as he judged Israel as he's gonna judge you in five minutes, excuse me, but now after he's gonna be mindful of them and care for them. The same is true for us. What does our record with God? Have any of us been perfect? Have any of us not rejected him and lived and lived in rebelling against Him? I mean, he was never disobeyed our parents, and he was never lied. I mean, he was never not loved our neighbor. I mean, he was never not loved God, with all of our heart. We're all guilty, right? But God will care for those who humbly SEEK Him who trust in Him who come to Him, who trust in Christ that will be cared for. He's going to restore Judah and Israel and he's going to restore us with them to dwell on the land and the new heavens and new earth. Ever with Christ draining. And so we see God judging the Philistines but also saving his people. And that should motivate us to seek the Lord Matthew five says that the poor in spirit will, will inherit the earth, the kingdom of God is going to be for those who are humbled were peacemakers. We see second in verses eight through 11, God judging the mobiles and Ammonites, so that people on the West will be judged. The Philistines and now the people on the East. He says in verse eight, I've heard the tones of the mobiles and the writings of the Ammonites, how they're targeted by people and made that boast against their territory. We have had someone who just was constantly making fun of you, like their job in life was to humiliate you to try to make you look bad, to just be excited about you falling like you trip and they're super excited. You get a bad grade, they're excited, something horrible happens to you. And they're really happy that that bad thing happened. That's what the mobiles and m&s were for Judah. They were always wanting them to fall, when they came back from Egypt, they didn't want to give them any water or food. During the time of the judges, they were, they were messing with them. They were, they were wanting them later on. When they went back to the land, they were wanting the not to build to build the walls or build the temple. They have been a thorn in the side of the people of Judah and Israel. And God is saying, I see that you've been messing with my people. And I see. He sees their pride, he sees their violence and listen to what he says in verse nine. Therefore, as I live declares, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moabs will become like Saddam, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, Alam, possessed by nettles and salt pits waste forever. We know where the Moabites ammonites came from, right? They were the descendants of Lot, remember a lot is Abraham's nephew, and he and his wife and his daughters are living in Sodom. And God is going to judge that place because it's so wicked, and he tells them get out of there. So law and his wife, and their two daughters leave. And when they're leaving, Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt she wants, she longs for the things of Sodom, Gomorrah, it seems like she doesn't really want to leave. And then lot in his two daughters, horrible things happen. And then that motivates me that's come from that. So they're the result of a lot and his daughters, and what happened after the Judgment of Solomon Gomorrah, and now these people groups have developed and grown. And they're living there in the east of Judah as God's enemies, afflicting them messing with them. And God is saying, I'm gonna turn you in to a Sodom and Gomorrah where I'm going to make you a wasteland. They've seen that for centuries, they've been looking at those assault pits and the destruction that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, and they've been living there looking at that, and God saying, You're gonna become like that. But look at the beginning of verse nine, we see some things about God. He says, As I live, declares the LORD of hosts, you can't make a more powerful oath than that as I live. As the Lord lives as far as existence locates in God using that existence. Life is located in Him as He lives, He is the EverLiving one, you and I came into being because of a cause, right? We had a cause. You had parents, they had parents, their parents, their parents, all due back to Adam and Eve. God doesn't have a cause. He's the the uncreated one. He's always existed. He is self sufficient, self existent. I need oxygen, food, water, and a lot of other things. Just like you, God doesn't need anything. He's self sufficient, has everything he needs in himself. There's no kryptonite. You can't kill God. Jesus became men. And he died, of course, the humanity was enabled him to die in our place, but God himself God, the Father, the Son, is the spirit eternally, they can't die there. He's eternal. God is self sufficient. And so he is the one in whom all life is located. And he's telling them you have rejected me and you've rejected my people, and now you're going to die. If you reject life, what happens? You can death. That's what's happened to them. And then he says, As I live, declares, the Lord of hosts. Now phrase the Lord of hosts, shows that God is the God of great power and might, he's the Lord of every potentiality and power, the existence in power. There's no power life that operates outside of his sustaining empowering hand, Satan himself in his rebellion against God is sustained by God. If God takes away his sustaining power in life from satan stops existing, your heart beating right now. You're breathing.
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God is sustaining that. In Christ. all things hold together and have their being God is the one sustaining all life. And that's the one that they're rebelling against. They're rebelling against the author of life. The one giving them life is the one they're rejecting and not worshiping. And so he's rebuking them, Muse rebuking Moab and emin. And he says, At the end of verse nine, the remnant of my people shall plunder them, the survivors in the nation shall possess them. So in the end, when God does finally judge more of an imminent they were temporarily intermediately judged by Babylon, they got taken over by Babylon and then intermarried and dispersed all around, so they kind of got overthrown already. But we don't see the people of God possessing that land just like we don't see them possessing the land on the the West yet that will come when Christ returns. When Christ returns, He will give that land to the people of Israel, as it gives the whole world and taught to his people to the different nations. And so what is he saying to them, he's saying in verse 10, their lot for their this will be their lot in return for their pride because they taunted and boasted against the people who are the posts below. It'll be awesome against them. God is punishing them for their pride, he's disciplining them. They have they have been prideful and exalted themselves over God and over his people. What about So we probably will sometimes one of the biggest temptations is to wake up in the morning and think that life is all about me about me getting what I want about people thinking great things about me, thinking it's about me. And the reality is I need to have my my mind corrected my mind renewed by the truth, though I see here that life is about God. It's not about me about my pride about what I can do. It's about people seeking Jesus, people knowing him and worshipping Him. To God is saying, he is going to judge and destroy the Moabites ammonites because of their pride. The Lord will be awesome against them. That literally means that God is worthy to be feared. He is awesome. I eat ice cream, like I it's my skin yesterday. And it's not just like ice cream was awesome, but it's not really awesome. Like I shouldn't fear ice cream, unless it's really spoiled and has a bad bacteria in or something. But you're going to fear ice cream. You can see fireworks and say those are awesome. Well, unless they like blow up in your face, they're probably not going to suddenly be afraid of right or they're your stubble of hair wheat. God is awesome. He's worthy to be feared. God's true nature should inspire awe and fear. The Moabites, the Ammonites, the people who filled the Philistia all of us we should fear the Lord, we should tremble before him liquid he says he will famous all the gods of the earth. What does he mean by the gods of the earth? All these idols are made of wood, hey, gold, silver, they're not alive. But behind them. First Corinthians eight says, Are these evil spirits that want us to worship them instead of Christ? God is going to famish them starve them, what do they feed on? They feed on the false worship of the nation's people worshipping them and thinking that they're great. They feed on that God's going to starve them. God is going to destroy not just the mobiles, and Ammonites, but all all of the false worship of the earth, when Christ comes back will be destroyed. All the earth will see that those things are empty. They're nothing. There's only one true God. And it's the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God will destroy the gods of the earth by destroying all the false worship. That's what you see in Revelation, right? See all this worship of Babylon the Great, the Antichrist, the beast, the False Prophet, God will bring it all down and show that he is God, that He is the Lord, they will know that He is the Lord. And look at what God's goal is in verse 11. and to Him shall bow down each in its place, all the lands of the nations. He's saying that people will bow down and worship the Lord, from each place from all the places of the earth from Spokane, Washington, from Genie, from the West Plains, from Spokane Valley, from Newman Lake, from all over, people will bow down and worship the Lord, not just from Jerusalem. But from all these places. God will show himself powerful, he will make himself known. Indeed, he's gonna do that in the end, but he's doing that now as the Jesus Christ is proclaimed. Philippians two says she has humbled himself to the point of death. And now God has exhausted him that every knee should bow every time she confesses, Jesus is Lord, people are going to worship Him from the finish to your mountains, those 50 people groups that Frank and Jacqueline are going to help reach. People are going to wish them from their from Indonesia, where we have people right now serving people are going to worship God from all those people groups. People are going to worship and bow down to him and say, Yes, you are God, you are Lord, and he's going to make himself known through his judgment. Do you see how his wrath leads to grace? He shows us that He is God. So we'll turn to Him and seek Him. The humble, those who seek Him are going to be saved and blessed by getting to worship Him forever. Listen to Isaiah 25, six through 12. This is describing the mountain in Jerusalem where God is going to rule it where Jesus is going to rule from Isaiah 25 Or six on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of will aged wine, a rich food full of marrow and age, wine, well refined, sounds like something even better than what Josie is a good cook, right? Just amazing feast with God and above his people. In verse seven, and He will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples the veil that is spread over all the nations. He's gonna swallow up the nations have been blinded. For centuries, the nations followed up your false gods, they're afraid of this spirit, that spirit I gotta say this thing, I got to do this thing to try to not die. God will remove that covering, he will show them that He is God and there is no other he will show them how to be saved in Christ. And that's what he's doing right now. He's removing the veil, through Christ through the proclaiming the gospel. God is taking away the veil so that we can see him so that you and I can worship him. Look at verse eight, and Isaiah 25, He will swallow up death forever. Lord, God will wipe away the tears from all faces, the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken. It will be setting that day Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord we have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. God will save his people perfectly, wiping away every tear that sounds like revelation 21 That is or at least 21. Right? When God rains on the earth, when Jesus rains on the earth, he's gonna wipe away every tear. He's gonna bless His people forever. From it says in verse 10, for the hand of the Lord who rests on his mountain. Now we get to know out from our passage and Moab shall be trampled down in his place as straw is trampled down into dunghill. And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads out his hands out to swim, but the Lord will lay low, his pump his pride together with the skill of his hands, in the context of God talking about Joe isn't to the whole world. He talks about no app. Do you know what a dunghill is? It's like a pile of dung, right? You collect that dung. And then he says that straw gets trampled down into a dunghill. So imagine the straw pushed out into the dunghill, the straw particles are down in the dung. And now he's saying, the Moab and everyone else who's pridefulness, everybody gets trampled down like that straw. Imagine trampled down in the pile of dung, God's wrath. And he says, he's going to spread out his hands in the midst of it just swim like a swimmer, like imagining a dung pile. You're just trying to get through it. It's terrible. That's the judgment is coming on out for their pride, for rejecting the God of the universe. And that is what will face any one of us who reject Christ, we will be in that as it were in that pile of dung trying to make our way and we're stuck, or stuck. Or we can be saved by Christ. Those are options, salvation in Christ, or rebel against God and say, I don't need you, God, I got this and face his wrath, we should be motivated to seek the Lord. There is no other Savior, the God of the Bible is the only God. He is the one we should seek, we should go to, with humility, rejecting idols rejecting pride. And we see God judges, the people in the West. Those on the east night talks about those in the south ricochets. Chris was the way that they described the nation of Ethiopia, Eastern Africa. And this Ethiopian dynasty of Cush was, was controlling Egypt, there were a massive force to be feared. And there's a lot of prophecy about in Egypt in Ethiopia, a lot of interaction with them and Israel. And then in Judah, the God is saying, I'm going to slay them by my sword. We know that God can slay like, like we saw a minute ago by the word of the Lord, by his sword, not by others or by his sword. He there will be slain. And we see that when Babylon came, Ethiopia was afflicted and was beaten back. But then eventually, in 520 BC, they were fully defeated by the canvases. Another another group, God did it though, and in the end, they're ultimately going to be destroyed all those who are part of this group who are rebelling against God, they will be destroyed by the sword out of Christ's mouth and Revelation 19 He will judge that nation. And then in the north, the Assyrians terrified, everybody. They were proud of being very terrifying and wicked. Look at verse 13, Zephaniah 213, he will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Syria, killing Nineveh desolation, a dry waste like the desert. Remember, God sent Jonah to Nineveh a couple 100 years before, in Nineveh repented, they turned to the Lord. But then they rejected him again and turn back to their idols, and they were wicked and harsh and cruel. And naval is another prophet that was written shortly before Zephaniah and he's addressing the same group of Ninevites telling them God's wrath is coming. God is angry. The Assyrians were very wicked. If you go to the British Museum in London, you'll see drawings on the wall in stone of the Assyrians and they would fly people, they would take them and tie them from side to side and torture them horribly. And they were proud of it. They wanted everybody in the world to be terrified of them and say, No, this series are coming. Yes. Well, we'll submit to you, we'll give you whatever you want. Please don't, don't do that to us. They were terrifying and cruel. And God is saying, I will search on my hand against you. I will make you a desert and Nineveh was a very lush city that had rivers on both sides, irrigated the city. Look what he's gonna do, verse 13, I will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert. This lush green city became like a desert and this happened in 612 BCE, the Babylonians defeated Nineveh, the Assyrians. And then by 401, there was a historian or a writer named Xenophon. He was in Nineveh 200 years later on, you said there's just sand, just sand, you know, just sand. That's all that was left. God's prophecy about them came through. All of this is going to come through ultimately in the end, but but the one against another came came through even sooner. God judged them for their pride. You look at verse 14, herds are lined out in their midst all kinds of beasts. When you have a lot of people, the animals don't come around as much, right? Except in medical, like the deer they're unafraid of the people but that's different. This sign of all these animals being there, that's because the people are gone. herds are gonna light on even the owl and the Hedgehog, probably a pelican, the word for hedgehog there, we're not sure about that. It's some kind of bird, bird animal, we're going to lodge in our capitals. That's the tops of the pillars of voiceover in the window, devastation on the threshold, so from the tops of the pillars to the windows to the threshold, the cedar works is like the luxuriant, beautiful, carpentry work there. It's all going to be destroyed, God will destroy and innovate in Syria, whatever is 15 he's judging them for their pride. This is the exultant city that lives securely that said in your heart, I am and there's no one else there like look at us. We're the ones we're the greatest and look at how God has humbled them. God will always humble the proud he's opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble. Listen to what no one verse two says the Lord is a jealous and avenging God, Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great and power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. And God did that to Nineveh, God judge them. Listen number seven, and they one, the Lord is good, a stronghold and they have trouble. He knows those who take refuge in him. Even from Nineveh, even from Assyria, if people would take refuge in Christ's, they will be saved. And so we see that God raises up nations of governments, and ultimately, they're all accountable to Him. God uses them and continues to use them for his purposes. evil rulers and nations that dishonor God may be used for him temporarily, but they're ultimately subject to him, it will suffer His wrath for their continued disobedience, like we see with Assyria and Babylon, God raises them up, uses this here to judge Israel raises the Babylon uses them to judge all these other nations, including Judah, and then God brings them down. All current and future nations and their respective governments are subject to the Almighty God. And he's ultimately going to deal with them when he gathers them for the judgment on the future day of the Lord. So these four judgments should give us cause to tremble. God is going to pour out His wrath on the whole earth. And we right now have the opportunity to seek him to seek humility to seek righteousness. Our third point is not the same as in your notes. It's kind of a little different. Zephaniah three, one through eight. The point is, repent of pride and humbly worship the Lord, as you wait for judgment, salvation, but that's appointment in the notes. But the passage is really three ones, right? He's addressing Jerusalem. He's rebuking Jerusalem and saying, repent, repent of your pride, humbly worship the Lord as you wait for his judgment and salvation. Because definitely three verse one, now returns to address Jerusalem, which represents all of Judah, the nation he's that Zephaniah is writing to, says, Bow to her who's rebellious and defiled, depressing city, why does it say Well, would you send chapter one, because judgment is coming, the day of the Lord is coming against them, as it came in 586 BC as it came later in 70 ad and as it will come, in the end, you are the cause of the rebellious, defiled, depressing city rebellious against God, that implies they have a coven relationship with God and they're rebelling, they're saying, No, God, we're not going to do what you want. They were defiled personally by their sin. They were oppressing each other. So God is rebuking them. Look at verse, verse two, this is really what God wants them to do, to recognize that they're doing this and to change, says she listens to no voice, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord. She was not drawn here to her God. This is what they're guilty of. God sent prophet after prophet to the people of Judah. And they were listening to his voice. Now we have God's voice here. We have his voice in His Holy Word, how you listening to his voice. And then you look at the next phrase, they they do not accept the correction from God. We've done a three seven. He says, also, surely you will fear Me, you will accept correction. God wants them to accept the correction. He's addressing their idolatry. He's addressing their unfaithfulness, their rejection of him. He's saying, seek Me received a correction, I'm speaking to you seek me and they weren't they weren't accepting correction. What about you? Are you being stubborn? Are you rejecting God, as he speaks to you and seeks to correct you? He doesn't correct you to be mean, or to steal your fun. He corrects us because He wants us to be with him. He wants you to seek him. It's like you're driving 70 miles an hour, and you're about to go over the cliff, and go down and die in an inferno. And he's correcting you say, no, come this way. This is the road of life. This is the highway that will give you everything you actually want. It's me, the God of heaven, the creator, the King of kings. He's correcting them so they won't kill themselves and destroy themselves. He says they didn't trust to rely on God, they weren't trusting in Him. They're relying on themselves.
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If you rely on rat poison to sustain you, said a good thing. When you have steak over here, or delicious fish you just caught trust in the Lord, He's good, he will sustain you, He will give you forgiveness in life. This other thing is gonna give you death. Since it did not draw nearer to God, God want him to draw nearer to him to be close to him. They didn't give attention to God, they weren't submitting to him. They weren't relying on him and they didn't have fellowship with Him. And those are all the things you wanted. Pay attention to me. Submit to me rely on me have fellowship, peaceful enjoyment of His presence. That is what God wants for them. He's urging them to seek Him. And look at the comparison between God and the rulers of Judah. Verse three and four, we see the rulers of Judah. Not good. And then we see God verse five, amazing. So look at verse three, her officials within her roaring lions or judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing till the morning. How Kinder wolves and roaring lions do they share with a catch? Come on over here, gazelle, you can have some of this other No, that doesn't make sense doesn't know. They just they're just selfish. They just devour everything for themselves. That's the way these leaders were. Her prophets were fickle, treacherous. They weren't speaking the truth of God. They were leading people to death by telling them lies, their priests instead of teaching holiness for profaning the law. And so God is telling them don't do what they're doing. Don't trust them, Repent, gather together and seek me. Look at verse five. This is the Lord who we should seek the Lord within his righteous. He does know injustice. Every morning he shows forth His justice each dawn he does not fail, but the unjust knows no shame. Does God ever do that? One thing. No, he always does what's right. He always does what is just and true. God has never, never makes the wrong call. He never says soothe or out. And when it was actually safe, like he's always he makes the right call, right? Whatever God says, That is what's true. He never gets it wrong. And not only does he never get it wrong, but he's always good. What he decides what He decrees is always good and wise, and it's best. So who should we look to? We look to ourselves, as falling and falling and fallible as we are, we look to our, our, the people around us to save us or we look to the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the God in whom is life and existence. He is the one we should seek, not anyone else, not anything else. He is perfect. As we see in chapter two, all these judgments that God unpacks the people of Judah should say, yes, yes, yes, you do what's right. We've seen verse six, God has done all these things, with the hope that they would turn to Him. God says, I've cut off nations and the battlements are in ruins. I've laid waste other streets so that no one walks in them, their citizens in a desolate without a manner without inhabitant. I said, surely you will fear me and accept correction, then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I've appointed against you. God has worn them in Deuteronomy. He's sent judgment already. He they've seen a seer Israel fall to Assyria. And God says, I thought you would accept correction. That was his hope, obviously, God's sovereign and knew everything that was gonna happen. But God was doing those things. So they would turn to him but they've been foolish. Look at the end of verse seven, they were all the more eager to make their deeds corrupt. That's what the world does. You look at Revelation nine, God pours out His judgment, the trumpet judgments, and the people of the earth do not repent. They do not give God glory, no matter how much God shows them, his wrath. They continue insisting on sin. And so if you have a heart that's humble, and this morning and you say, God, I want to trust in you, I want to bow to you and submit to you. That's God's grace. He's giving you grace. Because the natural human heart is prideful and rebellious against the Lord. So what does God say to them now that they've rebelled against him and continued to be corrupt? And now they're gonna get this judgment that says in verse they will finish this different wait for me declares the Lord says, wait for me. Kids, if you're going to the store, and your parents need to go to the restroom, and they're like, Okay, wait for me right here. Like, I want to keep taking care of you. Imagine you're three years old, and your mom or dad says away from you right here. Don't go anywhere. Don't go for the new strangers Wait for me. I'm gonna come back. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna keep you safe. I'm going to keep feeding you. Wait for me. If you go to the restroom, and the kid runs off into the street to find somebody else, that's not gonna be good for him, right? God is saying, wait for me. I'm gonna judge the nation's, I'm gonna judge my people, I'm gonna sort you out. And then God's saying, wait for me. And next week, when we look at the end of the book, we see the salvation that God is gonna give them. Wait for me because I'm gonna give you something that you need. A humble heart that worships Me with pure lips. God will give us what we need. He will give us humility, righteousness, the ability to seek Him, He will give us himself. Listen again to Isaiah 25 Nine. Isaiah 25 Nine and behold, this is our God, we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Do you want to be waiting for God trusting in Him? Or do you want to be in that dung pile like the straw trying to get out and stuck because there are choices. God is a good guy. And he says he is going to judge the nation's Look at Verse eight for my decision as to gather for the day when I rise up to seize the pray Wait for me. He's going to judge for my decisions to gather nations to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger from the fire, my jealousy, all yours to be consumed. God is saying the day of the Lord is coming. You're gonna see intermediate temporary judgment on Jerusalem. And finally, the sixth and seventh ad you're gonna see nations rise and fall. Know that the final day is coming when I will establish my kingdom forever. Wait for me, hoping me. And just like God destroyed Judas enemies, we will destroy them. God destroys our enemies. Through Christ. What is our worst enemy? It's not what conditions are we're sending me as our own sinful heart, our sin, the rebellion, the idolatry, the wickedness, the defilement in us that makes us reject God, Christ through His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, his reign in heaven and a second coming. He is the one who can save us. He saves us when we seek Him from ourselves from the worst enemy. And he's going to destroy satan. He's going to destroy death. He's gonna throw all that in the lake of fire. And then we're going to live with Him forever with Christ running on his throne. Wait for that. Wait for Jesus. And He will meet you today, tomorrow and the next day. In the end, you will be saved through him. Wait for him.
Nathan Thiry is the Growth Groups & Outreach Pastor at Faith Bible Church. He enjoys biking and outdoor activities, and has a passion to see the gospel spread throughout our community and the whole world!
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