Doug McMasters: All right.
Doug McMasters: So if you have a Bible you can turn to.
Doug McMasters: The book is Zephaniah, and if you don't know where Zephaniah is, you can turn to page 835 in the pew Bible in front of you.
Doug McMasters: Pedro, do you want a pew Bible?
Doug McMasters: There we go.
Doug McMasters: Welcome back to Route 66.
Doug McMasters: We've traveled quite a ways down this road.
Doug McMasters: Already we are in the ninth of 12 minor prophets and it won't be very long that we'll be in very familiar territory in the New Testament.
Doug McMasters: So congratulations to all of you who have worked your way all the way through all of these books of the Old Testament.
Doug McMasters: So when you get to heaven and you meet Haggai or Zephaniah, you'll go.
Doug McMasters: I know who you are, right.
Doug McMasters: So this evening we're in the book of Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: How many of you have read Zephaniah?
Doug McMasters: Most of you, right.
Doug McMasters: How many of you heard a sermon on Zephaniah?
Doug McMasters: One You're about?
Doug McMasters: Well, I don't think a sermon series ever, but I've heard sermons from Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: Okay, all right.
Doug McMasters: Well, tonight I want to give you just three points and we're going to weight it on the last point.
Doug McMasters: We're going to talk about the person of Zephaniah, the place of Zephaniah and then the prophecy of Zephaniah, and the first two we're going to cover fairly, fairly quickly, and we can get an introduction to the person of Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: Basically all we know about Zephaniah from the first verse, the word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah, son of Cushai, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah in the days of Josiah, son of Ammon, king of Judah.
Doug McMasters: That's literally all we know about him.
Doug McMasters: But as we look at this, we notice there's something unusual here.
Doug McMasters: A four-stage genealogy and an introduction to someone is actually a pretty rare thing.
Doug McMasters: I think this might even be the only time it's mentioned.
Doug McMasters: So there's something unique about this introduction and there's some discussion about who these forefathers are, of Zechariah or Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: I say Zechariah a couple times here, but I mean Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: So if I end up just slipping, you just put in the right word.
Doug McMasters: For me, zephaniah's name means Yahweh is hidden right and he grew up during the time of Manasseh.
Doug McMasters: Now Manasseh, as you may know, was the son of Hezekiah.
Doug McMasters: We'll be talking about Hezekiah when we get to the chapters 36, 37, 38, and 39 of Isaiah.
Doug McMasters: Hezekiah was a reformer, he was one of those good kings of Judah, but his son, manasseh, was not, and Manasseh had the longest reign of all the kings, the longest reign of all the kings, and Zephaniah grew up during that dark days of Manasseh's kingship.
Doug McMasters: There's a little bit of supposition about this, but look at the last one.
Doug McMasters: The last one's name is Hezekiah.
Doug McMasters: It's possible, and I think many people would say that it is likely, that this was Hezekiah the king.
Doug McMasters: And so Zephaniah here quite possibly has some royal lineage, right?
Doug McMasters: He kind of traces back.
Doug McMasters: His great-grandfather is the king Hezekiah, right?
Doug McMasters: But also notice something else here he's called the son of Cushai.
Doug McMasters: Cushai, that's an interesting word, because in these three chapters there's two mentions of the people of Cush.
Doug McMasters: So if you take a look at chapter two, in verse 12, you notice there you Cushites will also be slain by my sword.
Doug McMasters: So there's a statement of judgment on them.
Doug McMasters: But if you go to chapter 3 and verses 9 and 10, there's also a statement that speaks of restoration.
Doug McMasters: So verse 9, for then I will restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose From beyond the rivers of Cush, my supplicants and my dispersed people will bring an offering to me.
Doug McMasters: So there's some debate as to whether this name, this mention of Cushai, is talking about a proper name or if it's actually talking about a name about a person who represents the people they come from.
Doug McMasters: Okay, on my mother's side we're called Smiths.
Doug McMasters: My mother's surname was a Smith.
Doug McMasters: Why was she called Smith?
Doug McMasters: Because somewhere back in there one of my ancestors on my mother's side was a blacksmith right, so an iron worker.
Doug McMasters: It's possible that this person was called Cushi because he came from the land of Cush, right?
Doug McMasters: It's quite possible.
Doug McMasters: So what is Cush?
Doug McMasters: Cush is the sub-Sahara area of the continent of Africa, so this would not be sort of the Mediterranean Africa, but the sub-Sahara Africa.
Doug McMasters: So it's possible that Zephaniah was a black Judean who had a mixed racial background, coming from African ancestry on one side of his family.
Doug McMasters: So if we think about him possibly being biracial and possibly being of royal lineage, we can see that it kind of melds together a couple ideas that are threaded in Scripture a lot the hope of the Davidic line, particularly the king that will come, jesus.
Doug McMasters: And here's a believing man, zephaniah, who is part of that lineage possibly, but also representing the nations as part of his family line, comes from Africa itself.
Doug McMasters: Little is really known about him, like I said, other than that.
Doug McMasters: But when we read these three chapters we realize he's familiar with the culture of the times.
Doug McMasters: He's very, very understanding about that.
Doug McMasters: He knows about the royal palaces.
Doug McMasters: He's got a good understanding of those things.
Doug McMasters: Chapter 1, verses 8 and 9 talk about that.
Doug McMasters: He's familiar with the city of Jerusalem and his prophecies speak about his familiarity with the nations he talks about Judea, nineveh, ammon, moab, Egypt, cush All of those are mentioned here.
Doug McMasters: So he obviously seems to be a very learned man.
Doug McMasters: Verse 1 tells us not only his personage but also about his place, and his place is in the ministry of Josiah.
Doug McMasters: Josiah, if you might recall, is one of the ones who came across the book of the law.
Doug McMasters: For a long time God's word was hidden to the people of God.
Doug McMasters: It's surprising for us to think that way, but it was.
Doug McMasters: There was a mandate written in the book of Deuteronomy for the kings to write out their own copy of the book of the law right and to be able to be careful about leading the people by God's revelation.
Doug McMasters: But all of the kings, up until the time of Josiah, had not done that.
Doug McMasters: And then Josiah is reading this and he's like terror stricken.
Doug McMasters: What have we been doing?
Doug McMasters: And he starts to bring reform into the life of the people.
Doug McMasters: It's about that time that Zephaniah's ministry is happening.
Doug McMasters: A lot of people think sometime after the discovery of the book of the law, but sometime before all of the reforms had taken strong hold in the life of the people.
Doug McMasters: So Zephaniah would have been a wonderful partner to the King Josiah to proclaim the message of covenant, faith and obedience.
Doug McMasters: You know what it's like when you're working hard and working alone on something difficult and yet important, and then to find there's someone with the same heart and the same voice next to you.
Doug McMasters: It's a heartening thing.
Doug McMasters: And I'm sure that Zephaniah was that kind of partner to Josiah as he sought to bring God's word into the life of the people, as he sought to bring God's word into the life of the people.
Doug McMasters: So let's move on to the prophecy of Zephaniah.
Doug McMasters: When people read the book of Zephaniah, when they preach on the book of Zephaniah, they normally break it down into three sections.
Doug McMasters: They'll break it down into something like this Chapter 1, verses 1 to 18, destruction.
Doug McMasters: And there's a word that shows up there that we heard this morning the day of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: That gets mentioned.
Doug McMasters: So obviously, judgment is a big theme in the first chapter.
Doug McMasters: Then in chapter 2, running into chapter 3, they would talk about repentance and, as we'll see, that's also a theme that's there.
Doug McMasters: And then, thirdly, in chapter 3, in the latter part, from verses 8 to the end, would be restoration, restoration.
Doug McMasters: So you've got a declaration of judgment, a declaration of repentance and a declaration of restoration.
Doug McMasters: Some people divide it up a little differently.
Doug McMasters: They'll talk about threats to Israel in the first part, threats to the nations in the second part, and then promises to both the nations and to the people.
Doug McMasters: So threats and promises, kind of a twofold.
Doug McMasters: But tonight I want to give you a different framework.
Doug McMasters: I want you to think about this somewhat like we thought when we looked at the book of Habakkuk.
Doug McMasters: When we looked at the book of Habakkuk, what was the major structure there?
Doug McMasters: Do you guys recall For those of you that are going to the Simeon Trust workshop, you can answer this question what's the structure of Habakkuk?
Doug McMasters: Yeah, so it's a dialogue between God and the prophet, right?
Doug McMasters: So Habakkuk starts off with these questions.
Doug McMasters: God answers, habakkuk reacts to that, demands an answer.
Doug McMasters: God gives him an answer.
Doug McMasters: Habakkuk replies let the whole earth, including myself be silent before God.
Doug McMasters: Let him be seen as holy in his temple, all of those things.
Doug McMasters: So it's a dialogue.
Doug McMasters: This is somewhat similar in the sense that there's two speakers but they're not talking to each other like Habakkuk is.
Doug McMasters: There's two speakers and there's rounds of dialogue that happen here that go back and forth, and these two speakers are speaking the same thing, sometimes sort of bolstering what one says and sometimes adding to what the other says.
Doug McMasters: And these two speakers are God and the prophet.
Doug McMasters: God and the prophet.
Doug McMasters: When you look at Zephaniah, by noticing the first person singular I or me or the third person singular he, right.
Doug McMasters: So the speeches are evident by this movement from first person to third person, back and forth, the first person being God speaking of what he is going to do, and then the third person aspect of the prophet, zephaniah, speaking about what God will do or what the people need to do in response to what God's doing.
Doug McMasters: So in this I'm going to take you through seven sets of speeches.
Doug McMasters: Seven sets of speeches.
Doug McMasters: So if you want to write this down or if you want to mark in your Bible, you can feel free to do that.
Doug McMasters: And I want to take you through these seven sets, because in these seven sets the plot moves, the themes are opened up and expanded, we find attention building and at the end we find a resolution.
Doug McMasters: Set one, verses two to six of chapter one, is God speaking, god speaking, and God establishes the tone of the early part of Zephaniah by speaking about judgment.
Doug McMasters: Judgment is announced very, very clearly, comes quickly out of the gate.
Doug McMasters: Look at verse 2.
Doug McMasters: Right after we've been introduced to Zephaniah these first words, I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth.
Doug McMasters: Why, we don't know, to whom we don't know.
Doug McMasters: But it's cataclysmic already.
Doug McMasters: It kind of going back to our Isaiah theme of creation.
Doug McMasters: As we look at these first verses two to six, men and birds and fish, everything is ruined.
Doug McMasters: Everything, all of it's going to share in destruction.
Doug McMasters: At the very end of it we start to hear why Take a look at verse six.
Doug McMasters: At the very end of it, we start to hear why Take a look at verse 6.
Doug McMasters: Those who turn back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord, are in choir of him.
Doug McMasters: These are the people of Israel who have claimed to have followed the Lord but aren't, who have rebelled against him by turning away from him.
Doug McMasters: And then, in verse 5, we see what they've done.
Doug McMasters: Instead, in verses 4 and 5, I'll stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place.
Doug McMasters: The names of the pagan priest, along with the priest, those who bow and worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky, who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lord.
Doug McMasters: So it's a synchronistic worship.
Doug McMasters: They still say Yahweh, but they also say Baal at the same time, and in so doing they've denied Yahweh.
Doug McMasters: So here we have, in this first round, the introduction of judgment being pronounced.
Doug McMasters: It comes swiftly, it comes strongly, it comes powerfully, with indictments.
Doug McMasters: Then we hear from the prophet, verse 7.
Doug McMasters: What does Zephaniah have to say?
Doug McMasters: Be silent in the presence of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: God, for the day of the Lord is near.
Doug McMasters: Indeed, the Lord is prepared to sacrifice.
Doug McMasters: He has consecrated his guests.
Doug McMasters: Zephaniah is now speaking to the people and he's saying Amen.
Doug McMasters: Don't try to give an excuse, don't try to give an answer.
Doug McMasters: You've got nothing to say in your defense.
Doug McMasters: The best thing you can do is be quiet and just listen.
Doug McMasters: I've had to say that to my children sometimes, right.
Doug McMasters: I've had to say that to my children sometimes, right, you know, when they get in trouble and they've got four or five different reasons why they disobeyed what you told them to do, and you're like, just be quiet, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear any of it.
Doug McMasters: And this is exactly what Zephaniah is telling the people.
Doug McMasters: You know you're guilty, you have nothing to say, so don't say anything.
Doug McMasters: And in this he announces something.
Doug McMasters: He opens up these words in verse 7.
Doug McMasters: Be silent in the presence of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: God, for the day of the Lord is near.
Doug McMasters: Does that sound familiar?
Doug McMasters: We looked at it this morning, didn't we?
Doug McMasters: The day of the Lord is near.
Doug McMasters: Just to sort of bring what we said this morning, there are aspects of the day of the Lord that are historical, and there are aspects of the day of the Lord that are historical and there are aspects of the day of the Lord that are ultimate right.
Doug McMasters: There's God acting in a significant way in history, and then there's God acting in a significant way of bringing history to an end in which he will usher in the new heavens and the new earth, in which he will usher in the new heavens and the new earth.
Doug McMasters: And this is one of those points where God is going to act to reestablish order and reestablish the correct way of honoring him.
Doug McMasters: The prophet makes an enigmatic statement here at the end of verse 7 about the Lord preparing a sacrifice and consecrating his guests, and we don't know if that's sort of going to go the direction of judgment or propitiation.
Doug McMasters: There's just a little teaser there, a little inkling that there might be something beyond judgment introduced, but we can't really even put our weight on it yet.
Doug McMasters: And that leads us to set two, set two of seven.
Doug McMasters: Again, the Lord begins the speech in the second set.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verses eight to 13.
Doug McMasters: In the second set, take a look at verses 8 to 13.
Doug McMasters: And in this section we have an amplification of what was introduced in the first set.
Doug McMasters: God's anger is still raging and he seems to interrupt the prophet in verse 7 and begin his second speech in verse 8.
Doug McMasters: On the day of the Lord's sacrifice, I will punish the officials.
Doug McMasters: Oh, so maybe that wasn't a hope of propitiatory sacrifice after all, maybe it was the people themselves who would be sacrificed.
Doug McMasters: I will punish the officials, the king's sons, those who dress in foreign clothes, and on he goes to talk about people from the princes and the king's sons, in verses 8 all the way down to verse 12, where he says he will punish those who settle down comfortably, who seem indifferent about God at all.
Doug McMasters: The Lord will do nothing, good or bad.
Doug McMasters: The Lord will do nothing.
Doug McMasters: Good or bad, life really doesn't matter if God is here or not.
Doug McMasters: We'll just do our business and act as if he didn't exist, because he doesn't hold sway over anything that happens here.
Doug McMasters: Does that sound like your neighbor?
Doug McMasters: Sounds like my neighbor?
Doug McMasters: Live my life as if God didn't really even exist.
Doug McMasters: These are the Israelites acting that exact same way, this general apathy about God and the land.
Doug McMasters: And here the Lord seems to know everybody's thoughts.
Doug McMasters: He knows everybody, from the highest of society to the laziest in society, to society to the laziest in society.
Doug McMasters: The prophet begins to talk in the second part of set two, in verses 14 to 16.
Doug McMasters: The great day of the Lord is near, near and rapidly approaching.
Doug McMasters: Listen, the day of the Lord when the warriors cry as bitter, that day is a day of wrath.
Doug McMasters: The day of the Lord, when the warriors cry as bitter, that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and total darkness.
Doug McMasters: It's dark, and so Zephaniah, who introduced the term day of the Lord, is now giving us a deeper understanding of what it is, and he talks about its imminent nature.
Doug McMasters: It's near.
Doug McMasters: He talks about its terrifying aspects, he talks about how it's going to disrupt everything and he warns the people of their fate.
Doug McMasters: Day of judgment's coming.
Doug McMasters: And that leads us into set three, set three.
Doug McMasters: Yahweh speaks again, starting the round, in verse 17,.
Doug McMasters: He only speaks a little bit.
Doug McMasters: I will bring distress on mankind and they will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord.
Doug McMasters: Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
Doug McMasters: It doesn't seem quite so strong.
Doug McMasters: It doesn't seem quite so strong, doesn't seem quite so forceful, but it seems all the more determined in its brevity.
Doug McMasters: You know those points in your conversations when you just say look, I'm done talking, this is what I'm doing, you don't need to say anymore, you've said everything that needs to be said and you're just summing it up.
Doug McMasters: This is that kind of talk here.
Doug McMasters: But what he does by this short statement is he opens the doorway for the prophet to give his first long speech.
Doug McMasters: Everything that Zephaniah has said so far has been sort of a support or amplification of what God has said, kind of a listen to him, if you will, kind of statement or a this is how bad it's going to be.
Doug McMasters: But now Zephaniah talks more than God does, and in this section that runs from chapter one in verse 18, all the way to chapter two in verse seven, so it skips over into the second chapter is a development of something that's important for the rest of the book.
Doug McMasters: There are two things that get inserted into the conversation here.
Doug McMasters: Up till now all we've had are statements of judgment to the people of God in Judah.
Doug McMasters: Two more things are going to be added to that.
Doug McMasters: One is the possibility of escaping judgment, and the second one is the condemnation or judgment will not only fall on the Israelites, it will come to the nations as well.
Doug McMasters: So take a look first of all at the possibility of escaping judgment.
Doug McMasters: Look at chapter 2 in verse 3.
Doug McMasters: Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who carry out what he commands.
Doug McMasters: Seek righteousness, seek humility.
Doug McMasters: Perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord's anger.
Doug McMasters: Now remember, god came right out of the gate saying he was going to wipe away creation.
Doug McMasters: Right, I'm taking everything away Humanity, things on the earth, things in the seas, everything's gone.
Doug McMasters: For the first time, there's this possibility that maybe that won't happen to everybody Right, everybody right.
Doug McMasters: It's possible that there is some hope in the midst of this judgment, but it's only a possibility at the moment.
Doug McMasters: It isn't expanded on much, but it is there.
Doug McMasters: And the second new aspect to this is the condemnation of the nations.
Doug McMasters: The nations, the enemies of the people of God, will be also judged on the day of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse four.
Doug McMasters: Gaza will be abandoned, ascalon will be ruined, ashdod will be driven out at noon, ekron will be uprooted, and it just keeps going on and on and on and on.
Doug McMasters: As it mentions all of the peoples, they too are going to be facing judgment.
Doug McMasters: So there is an interesting movement here to the plot judgment to the people of god for ignoring their lord, for acting as if he didn't really even exist, syncretistically worshiping baal, and now moves into possibly hope or everybody's ruined.
Doug McMasters: And that brings us into set four, chapter two and verses eight to 10.
Doug McMasters: Yahweh speaks again.
Doug McMasters: This is one of those unusual movements, because in set three, zephaniah introduced those aspects of the possibility of release from judgment and of condemnation to the nations.
Doug McMasters: Now, in set four, the Lord is the one buttressing the prophet's words by speaking about the possibility of release from judgment and the condemnation to the nations in these three verses 8 to 10.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 10.
Doug McMasters: This is why they get for their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the people of the Lord of armies.
Doug McMasters: The nations are going to be judged.
Doug McMasters: But he also speaks of hope.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 9.
Doug McMasters: Near the end of verse 9, it says the remnant of my people will plunder them.
Doug McMasters: The remainder of my nation will dispossess them.
Doug McMasters: So there is some hope.
Doug McMasters: So there is a remnant, not just the possibility of release from judgment for the people of God, but for the Israelites.
Doug McMasters: There are going to be some people escaping judgment.
Doug McMasters: And that leads the prophet in verse 11 to give a one verse answer.
Doug McMasters: The Lord will be terrifying to those when he stars all the gods of the earth.
Doug McMasters: Then all the distant coast and isles of the nations will bow and worship to him, each in its own place.
Doug McMasters: This section doesn't add anything new.
Doug McMasters: It reinforces what was introduced in the second and third rounds.
Doug McMasters: But what it does is it gives us a little bit of time for the plot tension to build, for it to sort of lay out this sort of conflict between judgment and hope.
Doug McMasters: That hasn't been until we get to the next sections, set five, verse 12 of chapter two Yahweh speaks, but again it's only a short statement.
Doug McMasters: You Cushites will also be slain by my sword, don't think you guys will escape.
Doug McMasters: The prophet speaks in another long speech.
Doug McMasters: So again, this is the second long speech by Zephaniah, verses 13 of chapter two, all the way to verse five of chapter three.
Doug McMasters: And what does he talk about?
Doug McMasters: He takes Israel's greatest enemy and compares them to Israel.
Doug McMasters: He takes the Assyrians and the Israelites and says you guys are just like each other.
Doug McMasters: It's not something you'd enjoy hearing, right, that your worst enemy and you are exactly like each other.
Doug McMasters: This is what he does.
Doug McMasters: He tells that Nineveh is going to be as devastated as Moab and as Ammon, in chapter 2 and verse 9 and verses 13 and 14.
Doug McMasters: And then Israel also is seen.
Doug McMasters: And in chapter 3, verses 3 to 5, he just goes all the way down through society.
Doug McMasters: The princes are roaring lions, her judges are wolves in the night, her prophets are reckless.
Doug McMasters: Her priests profane the sanctuary.
Doug McMasters: Everybody is wicked.
Doug McMasters: You may think the Assyrians are bad Israelites, you're just as bad.
Doug McMasters: And so here we have the conflict fully presented.
Doug McMasters: This is not just a judgment on Israel for their slackened worship.
Doug McMasters: This is the world, all of them standing before a holy God, with the danger of judgment coming.
Doug McMasters: And the Lord is going to send his judgment on all offenders, every single one.
Doug McMasters: And, and we have to ask ourselves as we get to this point, what about those whispers of hope?
Doug McMasters: Did they just go away?
Doug McMasters: Was it just a fleeting moment of wishfulness, or is it ever going to be a reality?
Doug McMasters: And that leads us to the sixth set.
Doug McMasters: Again, the Lord speaks.
Doug McMasters: First, verses six to 13.
Doug McMasters: And in the first couple of verses it just seems to drill down more on judgment, in verses six and seven and eight.
Doug McMasters: But then, when you get to verse nine, right after it says my indignation will be poured out of them all.
Doug McMasters: My burning anger for the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy.
Doug McMasters: Then you get to verse 9 and everything changes, for I will then restore pure speech to the peoples, so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.
Doug McMasters: You see, the day of the Lord not only is a day of judgment, the day of the Lord is also a day of grace.
Doug McMasters: And what's interesting about this?
Doug McMasters: Just as there was in Isaiah, chapter 11, the first people that get spoken about when grace is interjected into the conversation are not the Israelites.
Doug McMasters: It's the peoples that are first mentioned here.
Doug McMasters: Did you see that, verse 9.
Doug McMasters: I will restore pure speech to the peoples, that's us.
Doug McMasters: The day of Yahweh will conclude with grace for the peoples, and they will call on him and serve him with a single purpose.
Doug McMasters: And then, in verses 10 to 13, israel gets spoken about From beyond the rivers of Cush.
Doug McMasters: My supplicants, my dispersed people will bring an offering to me.
Doug McMasters: On that day, you will not be put to shame because of everything you've done in rebelling against me, for then I will remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant people.
Doug McMasters: The people that once were like the Lord's not going to do anything, good or bad, we'll just live our lives is now taking refuge in God.
Doug McMasters: He takes away their shame, he forgives their sin, he purges their wickedness and he leaves what was once an old, proud people into a new, humble, holy remnant.
Doug McMasters: No longer do we have whispers of possible escape from judgment.
Doug McMasters: Now we have declarations of God actively bringing about restoration.
Doug McMasters: Did you see all of that?
Doug McMasters: He's doing it.
Doug McMasters: The prophet speaks in verses 14 to 17.
Doug McMasters: And what does he talk about?
Doug McMasters: He talks about the presence of God and his plan for restoration.
Doug McMasters: He joins his voice with Yahweh's and speaks about the same thing.
Doug McMasters: And here we have a unified voice.
Doug McMasters: As they were once singing, perhaps in harmony, now they're speaking in unison with one another and they're saying exactly the same thing.
Doug McMasters: And they're saying exactly the same thing.
Doug McMasters: God's gracious activity is coming, and so we find the prophet speaking the word of God, clearly speaking about judgment to the unrepentant, but also clearly speaking about reconciliation for those that God will bring to humility.
Doug McMasters: And that's a good sign to look for when you're looking for someone who's going to be a declarer of God's word, one who would clearly speak the truth about God's holiness and just wrath against sin, but also about God's glorious grace to forgive.
Doug McMasters: The prophet stops now.
Doug McMasters: The prophet's done everything the prophet could do.
Doug McMasters: He started his ministry by giving warnings Let everybody just be quiet, you have nothing to say.
Doug McMasters: But he ends with exhortation Sing, sing about this, god of grace, lift up your voice with joy.
Doug McMasters: Judgment and salvation are the two prongs of his message.
Doug McMasters: And that leaves us with set seven.
Doug McMasters: And in set seven only God speaks.
Doug McMasters: God has the final word In verses 18 through 20, at the end of the chapter, and here he kind of summarizes his acts of grace.
Doug McMasters: He's going to deal with Israel's oppressors, he's going to save their weak ones, he's going to bring the scattered ones home.
Doug McMasters: For a book that started off pretty strong, it ends just as strongly, in a completely different way.
Doug McMasters: It seemed to be absolute annihilation of all creation because of the sin of God's people, but now God is a God of grace and restoration and hope.
Doug McMasters: These movements, these seven movements of two speeches until you get to the seventh, one in one, carry along the themes and they move the plot and they build up the tension and conflict and give a glorious resolution of God's grace.
Doug McMasters: Zephaniah is meant to be a message of hope in the midst of a despairing reality of God's people, and in the last chapter he talks about these people that will be in a place of reconciliation, be in a place of restoration, that will be in a place of rejoicing over God's salvation, and I just want to leave us with a question Are you one of them?
Doug McMasters: Are you one of those ones that God's going to rescue instead of ruin?
Doug McMasters: And how do you know?
Doug McMasters: Well, let's take a look at the last chapter, in verse 9,.
Doug McMasters: The first way you can know whether or not you're one of those is that you call on the name of the Lord.
Doug McMasters: I will restore pure speech to the people so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.
Doug McMasters: So now we see that the first evidence is someone who calls on God's name, and this is not some just perfunctory thing.
Doug McMasters: This is wholehearted worship.
Doug McMasters: This is trusting God to the exclusion of all others.
Doug McMasters: Baal, not going to worship him, living my life as though he didn't exist, not doing that anymore.
Doug McMasters: I'm trusting in the living God and I'm calling on him.
Doug McMasters: My life is his.
Doug McMasters: My life is worship to him.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Because God has given me something different.
Doug McMasters: My lips that once profaned his name are now purely speaking his name, are now purely speaking his name.
Doug McMasters: You see, the priests claim to be the Lord's servants, but they're also Baal's servants.
Doug McMasters: The people claim to swear upon the name of the Lord, but they also swore on other gods.
Doug McMasters: But now this is calling on the name of the Lord with a sincere heart.
Doug McMasters: The second test is found in verses 11 and 12.
Doug McMasters: On that day you will not be put to shame Hmm, paul says that in Romans.
Doug McMasters: Might want to take a look there, because of everything you've done in rebelling against me, for then I will remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant people and you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain.
Doug McMasters: So the second test is has God taken away my pride and has he interjected in my heart humility?
Doug McMasters: I was talking to a friend this week about Israel who was once named Jacob.
Doug McMasters: Jacob wrestled with the angel all night and in wrestling with the angel, the angel touched his leg and from that point forward the man limped.
Doug McMasters: He couldn't run like he used to run.
Doug McMasters: He couldn't be the fastest like he was.
Doug McMasters: Perhaps he was no longer the supplanter Jacob, he was a limping prince of God named Israel.
Doug McMasters: Has God caused you to limp?
Doug McMasters: Has he caused you to say I am not the proud, boisterous person I was.
Doug McMasters: God has humbled me, but he's also changed me and given me a new name.
Doug McMasters: That's the second test.
Doug McMasters: And then the third test comes in verse 13.
Doug McMasters: The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies.
Doug McMasters: A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.
Doug McMasters: They will pasture and lie down with nothing.
Doug McMasters: To make them afraid Doesn't mean you're a perfect person, but your aspirations of your heart are to follow God and to do His will.
Doug McMasters: And, at the end of the day, the thing that upsets you the most is not that you had to follow God, but that you didn't follow Him as well as you wanted to when you woke up that day.
Doug McMasters: That the things that bother you are the ways that you didn't honor him or speak about him clearly, because your heart's been changed, because the things that God wants are written here now, not just out there.
Doug McMasters: Here now, not just out there.
Doug McMasters: These are the people that God says can rejoice.
Doug McMasters: These are the remnant from the peoples and the Israelites.
Doug McMasters: And if that's you, well, let's do exactly what verse 14 says Sing for joy, daughter of Zion.
Doug McMasters: Shout loudly, israel, be glad and celebrate with all your heart.
Doug McMasters: The Lord has removed your punishment.
Doug McMasters: That's something to sing about, right?
Doug McMasters: All right, let's pray, father.
Doug McMasters: Thank you for, zephaniah, these three chapters that give us so much understanding about you, so much about what you said you would do.
Doug McMasters: And as we read these verses, we see all of it coming through the work of Christ, our Savior, to make us born again, to transform us, to make us new.
Doug McMasters: The things that we did not love we now love.
Doug McMasters: The things that we once loved, we now abhor, and we thank you that you've caused us to want to worship you with our whole heart.
Doug McMasters: We find ourselves humbled because we're sinners saved by grace, cause us to be obedient, to want to walk with you in sincerity and true love.
Doug McMasters: Lord, receive from us now our song of praise as we rejoice together in this salvation that you've brought so undeservedly to those who really ought to have been judged, and we pray this in Christ's name.
Doug McMasters: Amen.