Thanks, Nikki. We are in Hidden Treasures, a
journey in Zephaniah. Prior to me announcing
this a couple weeks ago in the seven of you that
probably went back to A double check, Zephaniah
was a book of the Bible and maybe read it. How
many people have ever really spent time in the
Minor Prophet Zephaniah prior to 45 days ago?
That's about right. Because it is a these minor
prophets don't get a whole lot of play if you
will outside of maybe Advent Because there's
usually one or two very specific Specific verses
and on these little minor prophets that because
all of it is pointing toward Jesus right good
reformed theology We see Jesus in every jot and
tittle of the book Every chapter can be pointed
toward the person of Christ. Every book speaks,
whether in upcoming messianic texts or gospels
and post -resurrection and ascension. But what
we have to understand about Zephaniah is that
he is an urgent prophet. Now I would kind of
think most prophets had a sense of urgency because
prophets were called. That's the big thing about
prophets. Prophets were called for a specific
reason in a specific season for the life of Israel
life of the church of God's people if you will
and So we hear this prophet saying very specific
things now all of the prophets even the last
prophet who would be deemed who? The last prophet
for a cup of coffee in a conversation with Pastor
Jim would be most theologians believe it is to
be No Gotcha. No? This could go a very long time.
John the Baptist, that he is the prophet, the
voice in the wilderness pointing towards the
Lord. We go prophet, we go Old Testament. There
was a prophet in the New Testament. It was John
the Baptist, cousin of Jesus. I will enjoy that
coffee by myself. But understand that prophets
had a job to do. Prophets in the Old Testament
was someone sent by God to remind people of the
truth. That was their job. We see it done in
a variety of different ways. You think of the
prophet Nathan having to call out the adultery
in David and the repentance and the relentness
that took place as far as David keeping his calling.
You see the prophet Daniel. helping Nebuchadnezzar
with dreams, only to have kind of a hit put out
on his life. He ends up in a lion's den, yet
doesn't get eaten. So prophets' journeys were
not all that easy. You have prophets like Jeremiah
and Isaiah, known as the weeping prophets. And
they weren't always tears of joy. They were running
for their life. They were heartbroken to, oh
man, heartbroken doesn't even do, they are devastated
by the fickleness of the people of Israel. That
the prophets were seen as seers but not in any
kind of like black magic way. You think of Eli
and Samuel. You think of the jobs they had to
do with the kings of Israel. That part of the
prophet's job was to call back, to call the people
back to the covenant that God made with them
that we see through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Call people back to obedience. Call people back
to God's heart. They pointed people again and
again to God's commands, Old Testament. Follow
the law. And we see now, in some ways, we are
all prophets of the resurrected Jesus, calling
people to love God and to love their neighbor.
That part, kind of the main part of a prophet's
job. was showing God's people their sin, not
to shame them, but to lead them to repentance.
And then when Israel didn't want to do that,
they had to get kind of urgent, if you will,
with them. So we have Zephaniah, a prophet that
I deemed on the edge of collapse. Zephaniah needed
a counselor. Zephaniah needed some mental health
in this season of his life because He feels like
the world around him, the church, you and I are
failing him, disappointing him, and so to understand
the force and the urgency of Zephaniah's message,
I have imagined him kind of looking back on this
great kingdom that was Israel, now corrupt and
crumbling. So I put Zephaniah, a prophet, at
the edge of collapse. But real quick, who was
Zephaniah? Zephaniah was a prophet during the
reign of King Josiah of Judah. Zephaniah 1 .1,
we'll get there. Likely in the early part of
Josiah's reign. One of the ways that you actually
can read the prophets is by reading the historical
books that go along with it. There's a thing
called the internet that you can actually look
up and find some of that. But reading, reading
Isaiah by itself is awesome. Though you're going
to be like, what are all these trees? He must
have been a tree lover. Like, he talks about
trees all the time. No, that actually meant something.
And you can actually find that in 1 and 2 Samuel.
You can find some of those prophets in the historical
books. They do combine in the Good Book. But
this is before King Josiah. It's during the early
part of Josiah's reign, before Josiah has the
great reformation of his heart. Zephaniah's genealogy
is traced back four generations, possibly, as
I found, which I didn't even know, even to King
Hezekiah himself, which would make Zephaniah
of royal blood. That if he was the lineage of
Hezekiah, who was a king and a priest, then he
would have been in the line of Aaron that he
would have had kind of royal Davidic blood. This
gave him both access and credibility to speak
boldly to the religious and political elite.
Not all the prophets could say that. Not all
the prophets had that ability. So what's going
on? What is kind of the who, what, when, where,
why, how of Judah? So Zephaniah prophesied during
a time of spiritual confusion and social corruption.
I could probably say that, that he was prophesying
in 2025. King Manasseh's long reign before Josiah,
55 years, had plunged Judah into idolatry, child
sacrifice, and injustice. The temple had been
desecrated, pagan altars were even built within
the courts, 2 Kings 21. Though Josiah would later
begin reforms and kind of get back on the straight
and narrow, if you will. He had not done that
yet. That had not been taken a hold. It was surface
level at best. And how do you know kind of the
mental health of a prophet is look at what the
king is doing. Because more times than not, these
prophets were called to come alongside the king
as some kind of spiritual advisor. I mean, more
than that, it was a prophet of God. People were
religiously apathetic. They were kind of trying
to find what all religions had to do with each
other and tried to live that kind of universalist
line, offering lip service to Yahweh while worshiping
Baal, Molech, and the stars. There was kind of
a newfound sub -religion of just worshiping nature
for nature's sake. Socially, what was going on?
The poor were being oppressed. The courts were
corrupted. and violence run rampant. Not a fun
time to be a prophet of God. That call would
have easily been like, God, can you please go
find somebody else? But unfortunately, Judah
is ripe for judgment, and Zephaniah was sent
to declare that God's patience had a limit. Let's
pause there for a minute. Some of you might be
going, I didn't know God's patience had limits.
Every good parent's patience has limits, even
the holy one, that is God. But one of the things
we see in the Old Testament time and time again
is the anger side, the justified, righteous anger
of God who audaciously loves us. Excuse me, I
have a tickle in the back of my throat. That
sometimes, as a parent, you need to discipline
your kids. to try to get them back on the straight
and narrow. And time and time again in the Old
Testament we see this. One of the things I think
we have to understand if we're going to really
dive in the next five weeks to Zephaniah is what's
going on in the world. So we have what's going
on in Judah with God's people, but the Assyrian
Empire dominated the region and destroyed the
northern kingdom of Israel. This was roughly
722 BC. But that was starting on the decline.
We see some opportunities for God's people to
rise up. But Babylon was rising. It had not fully
taken power yet. And Josiah's Judah found itself
in a brief window of opportunity. Kind of a pause
between the two empires. This was a strategic
moment to repent, to reform, and to return to
God. That would have made a good sermon. That
we need to repent, reform, and return to God.
So there's an urgency here. We see This window
of time that God calls Zephaniah, he brings in
the righty to try to bring the people of God
to a good place. But there's urgency because
of that short period of time. What I love about
these minor prophets is they kind of get in,
do their job, and get out. That seemed to be
their role. Zephaniah's message is one of impending
judgment. That's why the urgency, not just for
the pagan nations, but for God's own people.
Prophets weren't just prophesying so the Israelites
could understand, but they wanted, as kind of
evangelism of the Old Testament, to let all the
other world religions know that, hey, this Yahweh's
coming down, and he is gonna take over. He is
not vague. Zephaniah speaks of a day that is
near, total, and inescapable, the day of the
Lord, and we'll get to that in the coming weeks.
This wasn't just about foreign enemies, but it
was about the moral collapse that was going on
within the people of God, and I think what we
could say is the moral failings of ourselves.
Zephaniah speaks into a world not unlike our
own. Religious compromise, injustice, corrupt
leadership, global instability. The call then
is the same call now, friends. Wake up, return
to the Lord, prepare for that day. So let's jump
in. Let's jump in with what we call it what I'm
kind of calling the anatomy of judgment that
if we're gonna understand a prophet you got to
understand the judgment they're bringing much
like you're not gonna understand the Israelites
time in Egypt without understanding the judgments
of the plagues why judgments Why can't God just
kind of snap his fingers and everybody and start
over? Well, he did that once he does that with
the angel of death the last the last plague in
Egypt I liken it to God doesn't want to go to
death first. He wants to give opportunities,
signs, wonders to wake people up to go, wow,
God is God, he is bigger than me, and that's
okay, and I'm gonna live for him. So let's start
in verse two. God's sweeping judgment will purify
creation. I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth declares the Lord.
I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep
away the birds of the heavens and the fish of
the sea and the rubble of the wicked. I will
cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares
the Lord. I will stretch out my hand against
Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off from this place the remnant of
Baal and the name of the idolatrous, someone
else say it for me. Thank you. Priests along
with the priests. declares the Lord. Prophets
got to say this. That was part of their role.
That was something they got to use. A card they
could play. We have to be very careful with it.
I liken that to the kid, one of the kids in my
very first youth group, who came to me and said,
Jim, I feel the Lord is calling me to not only
ask out this girl, but that one day I'm gonna
marry her. I go, do you know her last name? He
says, no, it doesn't matter. I said, have you
talked to her? No. Okay, do you think God told
her this? It doesn't matter, he told me. I said,
I wouldn't lead with that. Okay, sometimes as
youth pastor you have to coach relationships,
right? He did, didn't go well, never talked to
her again. Understand that when we have those
kind of thoughts and unfortunately you may have
been the victim of or have caused kind of that
spiritual abuse to another person where you say,
the Lord is telling me to tell you this. Oh friend,
that is such a dangerous place to be in. That's
that whole understanding. If you're gonna throw
stones, you better make sure that you're clean.
You better make sure your nose is clean before
you call it out on somebody else. didn't have
to worry about that because they were called
by God. They were called to bring a message and
normally it was a message of judgment and destruction.
One of the things we see here, we see in what
Zephaniah is saying is that God has a plan to
wipe everybody out. It's not a fun saying. Don't
know anyone that wants to just ring a bell and
go down Ridge Road or go down 41 and say believe
or you're all gonna burn Believe or you're all
gonna burn if you enjoy the evangelism like that
Let's have a conversation because I don't think
that's the best way to do it But the thing is
prophets minor or major and again The only reason
why they got those titles is the size of the
book that they wrote Minor prophets had small
books major prophets had major books. That was
pretty much it. Don't go too far else with it
That complacency is the danger. You fall complacent,
the next step according to Zephaniah is just
flat out open rebellion against God. For those
that are parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents
and you're babysitting and the kid knows that
you're the babysitter. There's some deep understanding
of what it means that you're not my mom and dad.
And they think they can actually say that. I
hope to be the kind of grandparent one day that
my grandkids will know not to say that to me.
Because the easy comeback is what? I created
your mom and dad. That is that trump card that
you get to play. But understand that if there's
that complacency, If that's not checked, it turns
to open rebellion very quickly. And we see that.
And think about it. Think about being the people
of Israel in this time. You could just turn one
degree right, or one degree left, and you could
be a part of that world of religion. You could
be a part of that world of religion. I don't
think it's too different than today. That if
you say, ah, Christianity, not for me. Ah, this
God, this Yahweh, mm, I'm not gonna do it. You
could turn tomorrow and be endowed because of
the internet. with all kinds of information of
a new way to live your life. Friend, that's open
rebellion against God. It starts with a complacent
moment, hour, day, week, year, season of your
life. Complacency is just as dangerous as open
rebellion because judgment begins at the house
of the Lord. We're gonna see him use the word
woe, W -O -E. Now, people say the word woe, My
mind goes to Uncle Jesse in Fuller House. That
just shows a little bit of my age. But understand,
little ones, you don't understand that. He doesn't
say it in Fuller House. What a joke. But anyway,
that's not what this is. W -O -E, never a good
thing. Woe to you if, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, we'll get there. But judgment, the first
and foremost job of a prophet was to bring judgment
to the house of the Lord, to the people of Judah.
So verse seven. Verse seven, be silent before
the Lord God. For the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated
His guests. And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice,
I will punish the officials and the king's son
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
On that day, I will punish everyone who leaps
over the threshold and those who fill their master's
house with violence and fraud. On that day, declares
the Lord, a cry will be heard from the fish gate,
the whale from the second quarter, a loud crash
from the hill. Whale, O inhabitants of the mortar,
for all the traders are of no more. All who weigh
out silver are cut off. At that time I will search
Jerusalem with lambs. I will punish the men who
are complacent. Those who say in their heart,
the Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.
Their goods shall be plundered and their houses
laid rest. Though they build houses, they shall
not inhabit them. Though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them. Not fun
things, but judgment begins at the house of the
Lord. This passage resonates with one of our
confessions. It's Belgian Confession Article
29, which reminds us that the true church is
marked not by a mere outward appearance, but
by a life of faith and repentance. What Zephaniah
is saying, you may be religious, but are you
righteous? And that's the first record, right?
That is the weak record for all of us. You may
be religious, but are you righteous? Because
all of the symbolism that was just said it would
take hours to go dive through it But these people
fell in love with their commerce they fell in
love with making money. They fell in love with
trade They fell in love with building their houses
in certain ways mob families all of these things
None of it got honoring all of it open rebellion
against God Though you may be religious are you
righteous but as you see He's pointing to a day.
He's pointing to a day. Not a glorious day that
we sung about. A day of terrible judgment. He's
pointing toward it. Sense the urgency. Lean in
to what he is trying to get across. And he kind
of finishes this thought in verse 14. The great
day of the Lord is near. Near and hasting fast.
The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The
mighty man cries aloud there. The day of wrath
is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a
day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against
the fortified cities and against the lawfully
battlements. I will bring distress on mankind
so that they shall walk like the blind because
they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood
shall be poured out like dust and their flesh
like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them on the day of the
wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy
all the earth shall be consumed. For a full and
sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants
of the earth." There's a lot there. Notice that
jealousy word? It goes back to the Ten Commandments.
In one of the most vivid descriptions in scripture,
the day of the Lord's judgment is described.
Now, all of us at Munster Church, and if you're
new, and you didn't journey with us last year
in the journey of Revelation, some of that, you're
like, oh no, we got that. We did a whole sermon
series about that day in the book of Revelation.
This is just a very shortened version of it.
But it's just as terrible, and it's just as great.
Not great as in woo -hoo, give me another, but
great as in This is it. The great and terrible
day of the Lord. But three things that we need
to pull out of this today. A Lord that gives
a message like this is a Lord that's near. I
liken that to just disciplining somebody. Right?
If you have to discipline someone over speakerphone,
Will Schenkel, when you have to do that to your
kids or Bethany, when you... Is it mean as much
if you do it over speakerphone as to face -to
-face? Why? Why? Yeah, and I could just turn
you off, right? End. Mid -sentence. No, when
it's face -to -face. If I have to call, if I
have to text my boys, you know, you better be
ready when I get home. That's very different
than if it's my voice or they see it in my face.
What the prophets job was was to be the voice
and face of the Lord a God that is near bringing
a message because he loves them Discipline rooted
in love is the discipline or chiding of the Bible.
It's the discipline of our Lord. He is near Being
an absentee parent and trying to absentee discipline
doesn't work and really all that does it frustrates
your kid probably makes him sarcastic and discourages
them But a God that is near loves near and also
disciplines near One of the things we need to
pull out there is a bitter and full crying aloud
This meant something to God's people then it
should mean something to us now Clean the household
get your life right because you don't want to
be on the other end of this The third thing is
that the day of wrath Distress, anguish, ruin,
darkness, gloom, trumpet blasts, battle cries
is not a good day. But if you are in the Lord,
though your temporary may be affected, your eternal
day is secure. There is a purpose and an ending
to this kind of suffering. Oh, but pastor, I
don't really wanna, I don't like suffering. I
don't really wanna have to worry about suffering.
Friend, then Christianity is something you don't
understand. That as believers, we are going to
suffer in this life, whether from doing things
to ourselves, having other people do things to
us, or us do stuff to other people. Suffering
is part of that, but there will be an end. See,
Zephaniah's not holding back. Because this is
a warning of mercy. If there's a warning of mercy,
that means there's a reason for mercy. He ends
with this truth, neither their silver nor their
gold shall be able to deliver them from the wrath
of God. What does that mean for us? What are
you relying on for your security? Is it a love
of money? Comfort? Religious habit? Friends,
these cannot save, Zephaniah is reminding you
and giving you a pretty grand description of
how they're gonna get taken away. Only God's
mercy can save. So I think that points us to,
then what is our need? Okay, if I can't put my
comfort in all of these things, why do I put
my comfort in? Well, the person that is your
comfort, the person of Jesus. You see, he, in
this scripture, in what we can pull out, Jesus
is the justice, the purification, and the mercy
in Zephaniah's words. Zephaniah points forward
to a fuller day of the Lord in Christ. Jesus
bears the fullness of God's wrath on the cross,
taking the judgment we deserve. That Jesus is
the true remnant, the faithful one who stood
in our place. He will return again to judge the
living and the dead. The Heideberg Catechism,
question answer 52. In all distress and persecution,
with uplifted head, I confidently await the very
judge who has already offered himself for me.
When you have a relationship with the judge,
the consequences lessen. Though again, initially
it may hurt, we understand that in eternity it
won't. The day of the Lord is both a warning
and a hope. Because through judgment comes refining.
Friends, there are consequences for action. That's
why forgiveness is so important. Have you sinned
against someone this week? Seek forgiveness.
Has someone sinned against you? Go and show them
their fault, Jesus says in Matthew 18. Seek that
forgiveness. Do the work. But if we're honest,
it's hard. It's hard because what are they gonna
think? How is that relationship gonna go? Is
there going to be, is that relationship going
to end? Sometimes it does. But if the relationship
ends without the forgiveness, guess what? The
forgiveness is still needed. We can unfriend,
we can block, we can delete, we can do all these
things. But if you're harboring an unforgiveness
against them, that is active sin. And guess what?
Don't plan to partake next week. in the table
of the Lord. Seek that forgiveness, be forgiven
by God and others, so you can come rightly to
the table of the Lord. Paul doubles down on that
when it comes to the sacrament of communion.
Because he says, if you take it in an unright
manner, you are taking anyone? Damnation onto
yourself. And you're like, oh, I didn't want
to swear in church. But that's what he says.
Do you see the importance of being a prophet
of God, of giving the word of the Lord and giving
the testimony of his truth? The day of the Lord
is a warning and a hope because through judgment
comes refining. And as we're gonna see, we're
not done just after today, restoration is on
the horizon. That is one of the greatest things
I love about Jesus Christ. Lord and Savior, is
when He forgives, He forgives. When we forgive,
we should forget, though that is hard. And I
know the whole forgive and forget thing, especially
in modern day psychology, gets like, well, that's
kind of a dangerous thing, because you're setting
yourself up to be hurt again. I push back on
that. That there's forgiveness from the situation
or the sin and forgetting it, it's kind of like
God says from the East is from the West, I remember
your sin no more. What that is, is I'm not tacking
it to your person anymore. When I engage you,
I'm not engaging that sin because I have forgiven
it. I see you now as a new creation, a new thing.
And 99 .9%, 100 % of us really stink at that.
Because I'll forgive you. We'll be forgiven.
The next time I talk to you, I may throw it in
there again, or I may wait. No, we can't do that.
Well, Jim, doesn't that mean I'm just setting
myself up to be hurt again? Yeah, if you put
yourself in that situation, but that's a you
issue at that point. Forgive and forgiveness
are two huge aspects of the body of Christ. The
church should forgive. The church should be the
leader in forgiveness. Friends, I love you. We're
the worst at it. Oh, you sinned. I think you're
out. Some of you have been a part of churches
like that. A one -and -done strategy? I don't
see that in Scripture at all. Now, I'm not saying
let's just completely sin because we know we're
going to be forgiven. Cheap grace? No. We'll
never be a church like that either. But where's
the ground the most level? at the foot of the
cross. That no matter what your week has been
like, whether you're wailing like Weston over
your sin or you're trying to hide it, the Lord
sees it and wants you to lay it down between
you and him at the foot of the cross, because
his judgment is coming. What do we do with all
this today? We're going to kind of end these
sermons in similar as to the last one, but add
a very different kind of major ending. The practical
stuff. What do we do with this? Zephaniah, or
as I'm going to call them, Zephy, because I think
we're friends. First things first, friends. Take
sin seriously. Don't presume upon grace or hide
in religious activity. Second, are you living
with urgency in your message? The nearness of
God's judgment should stir us to repentance and
gospel boldness. It should. Third, return to
reverence. Zephaniah calls us to be silent before
the Lord. So, first and foremost to me, Jim,
stop talking. Two of you didn't have to laugh.
Stop posturing. Stop explaining. Start listening,
confessing, and responding. Let me say that again.
Return to reverence. Join me as I try to do that
in my life. Zephaniah calls us to be silent before
the Lord, to stop talking, stop posturing and
explaining. Start listening to one another. Start
confessing one to another and respond. Respond
how? with the sword in the stone? No. With a
hug. With a cup of coffee. With a, I forgive
you. So as we're gonna end all of these, a good
prophet is talking about then and talking about
now. So what is Zephy trying to tell us? Then
and now. Then, God's people had grown complacent,
corrupt, and spiritually indifferent. Zephy and
I had declared, wake up! Especially all those
that are asleep now. The day of the Lord is near.
What does that mean for 2025? We live in a world
that similarly mocks God's justice and minimizes
sin. Zephaniah calls us to honest self -examination,
repentance, and renewed reverence. And as he
prepares to see, and as he prepares us to see
that even judgment is not the end of the story,
but Christ is. Let's pray.