WEBVTT 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:07.000 A call to repent. This is the second sermon in 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.460 this sermon series. Again, it's a five -week 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:12.539 sermon series looking at Zephaniah. We're going 00:00:12.539 --> 00:00:16.660 to dive right in, and we're going to actually 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:20.079 just work through the verses kind of as we go. 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:22.500 So, April, I'm not going to do that first slide 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:25.460 of the one through three, because... communion, 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:29.780 to me, as we come from the table into not only 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:33.119 the world of Zephaniah, but in the world to kind 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.039 of for us in 22 and 5, I saw such a connection 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.859 this week from the table of grace to what we 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:45.200 are learning in Zephaniah is it is a gift of 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.259 God. We say it all the time. The bread and the 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:49.539 cup that remind us of Christ's body and the blood. 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:54.189 We've proclaimed something. Together, as we partake, 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:56.689 we proclaim the Lord's death. We've tasted his 00:00:56.689 --> 00:00:59.829 mercy. We've communed with not just each other, 00:00:59.869 --> 00:01:02.969 but with Christ himself. But now the question 00:01:02.969 --> 00:01:06.269 is, what do you do after the table? Is it just 00:01:06.269 --> 00:01:07.689 something we kind of check the box? All right, 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:09.510 we took communion beginning of the month. Great, 00:01:09.689 --> 00:01:12.370 now on to the next thing. I think Zephaniah would 00:01:12.370 --> 00:01:16.469 challenge us after the table this morning. We 00:01:16.469 --> 00:01:18.829 don't just walk away full, but we should walk 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:24.219 out changed every time. We experience the table 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:27.980 of grace. Communion is not a closing ceremony, 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:31.900 but a commissioning event. It's what I love about 00:01:31.900 --> 00:01:34.640 doing that the beginning of every month, that 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.719 we're being commissioned through the body and 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.799 blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to go out. And 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:44.390 today, Zephaniah 2 calls us. Or it gives us a 00:01:44.390 --> 00:01:48.670 call for a life after grace. Seek the Lord. Seek 00:01:48.670 --> 00:01:52.030 righteousness. Seek humility. It's not just legalism, 00:01:52.049 --> 00:01:56.790 but it's response to what God is doing. Because 00:01:56.790 --> 00:01:59.530 one thing we can bank on, God's mercy always 00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:03.890 leads us towards transformation. So now, nourished 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:08.009 by his grace, we hear the word. Not as a people 00:02:08.009 --> 00:02:11.949 afraid of the wrath of God. but as a people invited 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:17.689 to a deeper faithfulness to live in a godly manner. 00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:20.250 Have you ever thought about that? That the manner 00:02:20.250 --> 00:02:22.669 in which you live your life should be seen as 00:02:22.669 --> 00:02:25.889 godly. Let's just all take five seconds to feel 00:02:25.889 --> 00:02:28.189 really bad, really convicted, because we look 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:30.629 back at our last week, the things that we've 00:02:30.629 --> 00:02:32.330 said, the things that we've thought, the things 00:02:32.330 --> 00:02:34.710 that we've posted, all of those things, they 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:39.210 may not come off as godly, but yet that is the 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:42.400 call. Because one of the reasons why Zephaniah 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:46.099 is really calling out the people of Judah is 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:50.879 they looked religiously impressive, but that 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:53.539 was basically it. There was not a whole lot going 00:02:53.539 --> 00:02:56.539 on on the inside. You see, if we go back to the 00:02:56.539 --> 00:03:00.479 context, King Josiah was implementing some reforms. 00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:03.419 It wasn't for a couple more years until he really 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:05.719 starts to get it right. But he's doing a lot 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.110 of work. You see, he's cleaning the idol altars, 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:11.909 right? He's cleansing those. He's repairing the 00:03:11.909 --> 00:03:14.150 temple. He's calling the people back to the law. 00:03:14.370 --> 00:03:19.509 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23. But the deeper disease 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:23.409 remained. And this is where, right off the bat, 00:03:23.490 --> 00:03:26.490 you're going to be like, oh, pastor, no. This 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:28.990 is just, this is uncomfortable. I don't like 00:03:28.990 --> 00:03:33.349 it. As though there's cleansing going on, there's 00:03:33.349 --> 00:03:35.770 repairing going on, and people are being called 00:03:35.770 --> 00:03:37.889 back, whether they've come back or not, to the 00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:42.169 Lord, the deeper issues remain. Pride, idolatry, 00:03:42.169 --> 00:03:49.370 and apathy. Pride, idolatry, and apathy. They 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:52.330 had a temple. They had their sacrifices. But 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:55.729 they lacked the broken and contrite heart that 00:03:55.729 --> 00:03:59.150 the psalmist David calls us for true worship. 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.300 Because here's the thing, some of us come to 00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:06.759 worship every week not really thinking we have 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:11.020 to. Not really thinking that we get the opportunity 00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:14.240 to worship God. And again, guys, it's not just, 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.459 you don't need to do it today for an hour. You 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:18.660 should be doing it all the time. Our lives should 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:21.139 be lives of worship, right? We should be living 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:24.459 out our lives of worship in all that we do. Families, 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:28.279 jobs, friends, communities, sports teams, all 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:31.720 of those things. But Zephaniah's message comes 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:35.660 into that tension. He's speaking directly to 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:37.920 then and to now, as we're going to see at the 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.180 end, as if he is saying, you have seen grace 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:46.480 extended, Munster Church. Now don't harden your 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:51.000 heart. You have seen grace extended, but don't 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.959 harden your heart. What does that mean? That 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:56.139 means that we can be a people who have received 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:58.800 grace, yet still think we're better than others. 00:04:59.449 --> 00:05:02.490 Still harden our heart with that pride or hold 00:05:02.490 --> 00:05:06.029 to our idols or become apathetic in our walk 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:09.689 with Jesus. Yeah, I've been through all the things. 00:05:09.730 --> 00:05:12.089 I've done all the things. I even did VBS when 00:05:12.089 --> 00:05:14.709 Munster Church had it decades ago. I'm good. 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:17.790 That is never the life of a believer. It never 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:21.550 should be. So Zephaniah, speaking into the tension, 00:05:21.910 --> 00:05:26.699 don't harden your heart. Because pride, idols, 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.579 and apathy are three good ways to harden that 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:32.639 heart. Because what is a hardened heart? A hardened 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.439 heart is a stubbornness, right? Now, this is 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.560 not a time to elbow your significant other, the 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.339 person sitting next to you. But hardening your 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:44.379 heart means, God, I got it. If you declared, 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:46.500 all of our worship this morning had a theme, 00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:51.639 didn't it? I need you. Recognizing that you need 00:05:51.639 --> 00:05:56.279 God is recognizing that you lack something. And 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:57.759 so as we're going to see, what Zephy's trying 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.439 to do is bring not only these thoughts and ideas 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:03.139 together, but bring the people together to recognize 00:06:03.139 --> 00:06:07.339 who they are in Christ. So gather together. Verse 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:14.019 1. What sums up this verse is shame. So now, 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:17.160 April, I'm going to go through verse 1. Gather 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:25.269 together. Yes, gather. O shameless nation. Let's 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:29.050 just gather together. Yes, gather. O shameless 00:06:29.050 --> 00:06:33.209 nation. And we'll get to verse 2. Let's just 00:06:33.209 --> 00:06:41.189 stop there for a second. What? It's a shameful 00:06:41.189 --> 00:06:45.089 nation, right? What did I say? Shameless. Okay, 00:06:45.209 --> 00:06:47.529 shameless, shameful. I think it's the same, right? 00:06:47.649 --> 00:06:51.209 It is gather together, yes together, oh shameless 00:06:51.209 --> 00:06:55.209 nation. Oh shameless, you are being, this is 00:06:55.209 --> 00:06:59.069 not a good thing. This is a summons to collective 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:04.649 repentance. Now we do this, right? We have time 00:07:04.649 --> 00:07:08.509 of kind of confessional prayer. You have time 00:07:08.509 --> 00:07:12.509 of individual confession. You confess your sins 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:15.209 to God. He forgives you if your heart is pure. 00:07:15.350 --> 00:07:17.509 As far as the east is from the west, he remembers 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:21.529 your sin no more. But the visual here I find 00:07:21.529 --> 00:07:24.910 amazing. The Hebrew word, chahesh, means to gather 00:07:24.910 --> 00:07:29.449 like dry stubble. Exposing how spiritually brittle. 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:32.069 Again, because Hebrew is all about kind of visual 00:07:32.069 --> 00:07:35.579 pictures. It's really not a verbal language. 00:07:35.620 --> 00:07:38.579 It's more imagery. That's what I love and hated 00:07:38.579 --> 00:07:40.319 about learning it. That's why it was so hard, 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:45.040 in my opinion. Exposing how spiritually brittle 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:50.000 the people of God had become. Have you ever felt 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.680 that way? That you're just spiritually brittle? 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.360 In your mind, what comes to mind when you think 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.819 of something brittle? One or two people. Brittle. 00:07:59.769 --> 00:08:01.550 I don't know if you use that term a lot in your 00:08:01.550 --> 00:08:03.170 life, but when you think of something brittle, 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:07.370 what comes to mind? Someone say bowels? I hope 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:11.910 not. Fragile, okay? What was the B? Someone had 00:08:11.910 --> 00:08:13.350 a B word. I want to make sure I heard that right. 00:08:14.520 --> 00:08:17.139 Bones, okay, that's way better than bowels. Yes, 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.279 sorry, Evan. But understand that bones can be 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:23.740 brittle, absolutely. You may have a relative, 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:26.160 you yourself may have more kind of brittle bones 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.920 where things just tend to break or crack very, 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.279 very easily. Brittle, it's not necessarily a 00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:35.480 good thing, especially not here. They've become 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:38.879 spiritually brittle. Shameless doesn't mean that 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:41.639 they didn't sin. It means they weren't bothered 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:53.470 by it. There was no shame in them sinning. It 00:08:53.470 --> 00:08:55.909 doesn't mean they weren't without sin. They weren't 00:08:55.909 --> 00:08:58.750 even feeling bad. They were becoming apathetic 00:08:58.750 --> 00:09:03.830 about sin. Well, yeah, I messed up. Well, yeah, 00:09:03.850 --> 00:09:05.450 Yahweh's either going to forgive me or he's not. 00:09:05.590 --> 00:09:08.490 That's kind of up to him. What kind of relationship 00:09:08.490 --> 00:09:12.149 is that with God the Father? This apathetic understanding 00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:15.690 of a brittle faith of just kind of a fickle relationship. 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:18.830 Think about a good friend or a significant other, 00:09:18.909 --> 00:09:22.330 a spouse, a family member. What if that was the 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:25.470 definition of your relationship? The depth of 00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:28.549 your intimacy? Well, take it or leave it. We'll 00:09:28.549 --> 00:09:32.009 see. What does that show? That shows I really 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:34.590 don't have a connection. If I felt that way about 00:09:34.590 --> 00:09:38.350 Carrie, she wouldn't feel that love. Like, Carrie, 00:09:38.409 --> 00:09:41.029 this is me. Take it or leave it. Maybe you said 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:42.730 that to your spouse this week or a significant 00:09:42.730 --> 00:09:45.590 other. What does that say about you? It says, 00:09:45.590 --> 00:09:47.389 I really don't care what you think. I'm going 00:09:47.389 --> 00:09:50.870 to be who I am. I don't think that that's the 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:54.149 right understanding of a healthy relationship, 00:09:54.269 --> 00:09:56.350 but let alone our relationship with God, whether 00:09:56.350 --> 00:09:59.230 that's our look of God or we think what God looks 00:09:59.230 --> 00:10:03.370 at us, it's not a good thing. What is Zephaniah 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:07.009 saying practically? You need more than religion. 00:10:07.070 --> 00:10:11.730 You need actual repentance. You need to be broken 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:15.669 for your sin. If your sin isn't breaking you, 00:10:15.710 --> 00:10:18.309 that means you're used to it. And friend, that's 00:10:18.309 --> 00:10:21.429 not a good thing. Zephaniah is addressing a nation 00:10:21.429 --> 00:10:24.690 that has wandered from covenantal faithfulness, 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:29.080 calling them back before. This decree takes effect 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:31.600 of the day of the Lord. Now again, covenant contract. 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:33.740 I've done this many times. I'm not going to go 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:36.179 through it again. We don't have time. But understand 00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:40.200 that our covenant love with God is God will be 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:43.000 with us whether we're faithful or not. That's 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:47.080 not an opportunity. Ooh, we get to be unfaithful, 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:48.320 but God's going to be faithful. This is going 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.299 to be great. No, that's like spiritual abuse. 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:54.000 That's an understanding. That's taking advantage. 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:56.399 That's what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace. 00:10:57.579 --> 00:11:00.279 That's on a Monday saying, oh boy, I plan to 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:02.639 sin Friday and Saturday, but I know Sundays God's 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:08.279 going to forgive me. How you can tell that that's 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.440 not a good relationship with God is that's not 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:14.679 how you would want people to treat you. Oh man, 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:16.860 I plan on hurting and backstabbing that person 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:18.879 on Thursday, but guess what? On Sunday they're 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.559 going to forgive me. That is not a good way to 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.419 do it. And that's where Zephaniah continues in 00:11:25.419 --> 00:11:29.750 verse 2. Before, right? Before the decree takes 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:33.929 effect. Oh, that's so hard, right? So he's already 00:11:33.929 --> 00:11:36.990 called us a shameless nation. Before a decree 00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:39.950 takes effect, before the day passes away like 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.269 chaff, before there comes upon you the burning 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:45.909 anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you 00:11:45.909 --> 00:11:49.409 the day of the anger of the Lord. Anger of the 00:11:49.409 --> 00:11:52.710 Lord, not a good thing. Not something we're like, 00:11:52.789 --> 00:11:55.129 yeah, I want to see the anger of the Lord. Let's 00:11:55.129 --> 00:11:58.309 see what he's got. That is never, should never 00:11:58.309 --> 00:12:02.529 be our understanding of God. The word before. 00:12:03.950 --> 00:12:07.490 Shameless, complacent. You guys have fallen. 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:09.190 You've missed it. You don't understand it. You're 00:12:09.190 --> 00:12:13.049 confused. Before is God's mercy again. We see 00:12:13.049 --> 00:12:17.429 God's mercy in the word before. Judgment is real. 00:12:19.340 --> 00:12:22.539 But God always warns first. You can see it throughout 00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:25.879 the scriptures. There is always a warning. Now, 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:29.580 in the bowels of Pastor Jim, so to speak, one 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:32.639 of the kind of videos I love, I love jump scare 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:35.139 videos. I don't know what it is. Maybe it just 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:38.200 pricks my anxiety or something, but I like it. 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:40.120 I know that's weird. I'll talk to my counselor 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.519 about it. But I just love people getting scared. 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.490 This does not mean you all get to do that. I 00:12:45.490 --> 00:12:48.049 like to watch videos of people being scared. 00:12:48.090 --> 00:12:51.269 Do I like to be scared? No. Because I know that 00:12:51.269 --> 00:12:53.830 it would make an incredible video. But understand 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:56.750 that there's something about that, that all of 00:12:56.750 --> 00:12:57.970 a sudden people don't think something's going 00:12:57.970 --> 00:13:00.090 to happen. It does, and they freak out. Now, 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:02.370 half of it I know is staged, but I want to be 00:13:02.370 --> 00:13:06.370 entertained anyway. But this is the warning before 00:13:06.370 --> 00:13:09.789 the day of the Lord, the day of God's anger. 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:14.340 There's a window of opportunity. It's a not live 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:18.279 in fear, but it's a wake up before it's too late. 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.940 We heard that last week. This echoes Hebrews 00:13:20.940 --> 00:13:25.519 3 .15. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:30.179 your hearts. This is where it becomes apocalyptic 00:13:30.179 --> 00:13:32.789 again. We know what apocalypse means. We went 00:13:32.789 --> 00:13:34.870 through Revelation. This is Zephaniah pointing 00:13:34.870 --> 00:13:38.490 toward apocalyptically to the day of the Lord 00:13:38.490 --> 00:13:40.769 when the Lord is going to come down. This is 00:13:40.769 --> 00:13:43.269 the day of the Lord's anger. This is the judgment 00:13:43.269 --> 00:13:47.190 that this prophet has the obligation, the duty 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:51.649 to tell the people of Judah. Zephaniah is urging 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:55.750 preemptive repentance before the full judgment 00:13:55.750 --> 00:13:59.659 comes. This emphasis is on the window of opportunity. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:03.899 Before it is too late, the Lord is slow to anger, 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:08.379 but is not indifferent to sin. Think about that. 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:12.740 He's slow to anger, but not indifferent to sin. 00:14:12.820 --> 00:14:15.340 This is one of the balances I love between Carrie 00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:19.860 and I, right? Not many of you are fans probably 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:22.100 of the TV show Parks and Rec. It's one of my 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:27.000 absolute favorites. And there is an episode where 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.860 this little town of Pawnee, Indiana, it's fictitious. 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:32.139 You can feel free to go to sleep for three minutes. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.299 I'll wake you back up. They have kind of their 00:14:34.299 --> 00:14:36.419 sister city come out. And there's an interview 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:39.419 about, and it's, Mandy, do you remember the town? 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:42.809 The Eagleton, no, it's the other one, the one 00:14:42.809 --> 00:14:44.990 down in South America. They come, anyway, it 00:14:44.990 --> 00:14:46.450 doesn't matter. They're talking to their general, 00:14:46.549 --> 00:14:48.929 and they're interviewing him about, they just 00:14:48.929 --> 00:14:51.870 went to this town hall meeting, and it was absolute 00:14:51.870 --> 00:14:54.590 chaos. Just people yelling and throwing at things, 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:57.549 and he kind of, coming from more of a militaristic 00:14:57.549 --> 00:14:59.649 city, he's like, we don't have anything like 00:14:59.649 --> 00:15:02.029 that there, because if you raise your hand, you're 00:15:02.029 --> 00:15:04.460 going to jail. And he goes through this laundry 00:15:04.460 --> 00:15:06.419 list of things. It's hilarious. He's like, if 00:15:06.419 --> 00:15:10.399 you undercook fish, you go to jail. If you overcook 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.059 chicken, you go to jail. Like all of these things. 00:15:13.299 --> 00:15:16.840 You can wake back up. Here's the point. That's 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.779 not what it is. God is slow to anger. This isn't 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:26.460 a one and done. This isn't really the difference 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:28.220 we carry an eye in the way that we discipline. 00:15:28.860 --> 00:15:31.580 Right? I can be like that, right, when it comes 00:15:31.580 --> 00:15:33.779 to the boys? Like, it's like, you didn't close 00:15:33.779 --> 00:15:36.600 the garage door, go to jail. Like, you didn't 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:39.019 take out the dog when I asked, go to jail. You 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:42.860 didn't, you get the drift. And care's like, no, 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:46.840 there is no jail. Like, you said go to jail, 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.340 you now go to jail. I've been sent to jail by 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:52.990 her. Like, there's this understanding of... I 00:15:52.990 --> 00:15:55.289 lack that, what's a good word for it? I lack 00:15:55.289 --> 00:15:58.110 that patience, I know, big shock, where Carrie's 00:15:58.110 --> 00:16:00.509 been given abundance. How do we know? She married 00:16:00.509 --> 00:16:04.750 me. She was going to need it. But understand 00:16:04.750 --> 00:16:07.090 that this window of opportunity is showing the 00:16:07.090 --> 00:16:11.490 mercy of God in that he wants you to get it. 00:16:11.570 --> 00:16:14.090 He wants me to get it. He wants to throw those 00:16:14.090 --> 00:16:17.090 signs up there, those warnings, and say, repent, 00:16:17.330 --> 00:16:20.970 turn. Meaning, I see the road you're going down. 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:23.889 Turn. He may bring a good friend around you and 00:16:23.889 --> 00:16:26.389 say, hey, this is where you're headed. Turn. 00:16:27.149 --> 00:16:29.250 Those are those little prophets in your life. 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:32.309 Your friends can be that for you. You can be 00:16:32.309 --> 00:16:35.669 that for your friends. Because God is slow to 00:16:35.669 --> 00:16:39.889 anger but is indifferent to sin. So now we've 00:16:39.889 --> 00:16:42.970 paused, right? And you've all had this this week, 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:45.210 sometime in your life. You could have taken this 00:16:45.210 --> 00:16:47.730 step into sin, but something, conviction, maybe 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:50.090 a person, maybe a devotion, whatever, maybe the 00:16:50.090 --> 00:16:52.549 sermon last week, who knows, got you to stop 00:16:52.549 --> 00:16:56.649 and got you to turn a little bit. Turning is 00:16:56.649 --> 00:17:00.070 one thing. Walking, then, in a different direction 00:17:00.070 --> 00:17:04.170 is repentance. Right? In easy, we always say 00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:06.529 it's the 180 back to God. I'm going down this 00:17:06.529 --> 00:17:08.509 sin nature. Actually, I'll use the cross. I'm 00:17:08.509 --> 00:17:12.490 going down this sin nature. Stopping it is a 00:17:12.490 --> 00:17:15.670 good thing. Turning is a great thing. But walking 00:17:15.670 --> 00:17:20.970 now toward the cross is the repentance. It's 00:17:20.970 --> 00:17:24.269 not repentance if we're just doing this. I should 00:17:24.269 --> 00:17:26.970 say this. This actually is repentance. But walking 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:30.150 is the way of a believer. That is what Zephaniah 00:17:30.150 --> 00:17:33.509 is trying to get at in verse 3. So verse 3 says, 00:17:33.589 --> 00:17:37.880 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land. Who 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:41.900 do his just commands? Seek righteousness, seek 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:45.059 humility. Perhaps you may be hidden on the day 00:17:45.059 --> 00:17:48.180 of the anger of the Lord. So this is the pause, 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.380 this is the turn, and now the walking is seeking. 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:55.319 These are not random phrases, but a great three 00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:59.920 -point sermon by Zephaniah. It's one unified 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.180 call to what we call covenant renewal. We see 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:05.980 this throughout the Old Testament. Covenant renewal. 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:09.769 And guess what? Who's the one renewing it? Us. 00:18:10.029 --> 00:18:12.789 God never breaks it. We're the one that breaks 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:15.509 it. We're the ones that have to stop and seek 00:18:15.509 --> 00:18:20.549 him again. Seek the Lord. Pursue a relationship 00:18:20.549 --> 00:18:25.349 with the living God, not just a ritual. Man, 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:31.380 I think it was, I think it was. I think it was 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:33.480 him that said, just because you go into a garage 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:35.700 doesn't make you a car. Just because you come 00:18:35.700 --> 00:18:37.480 into a church doesn't mean it makes you a believer. 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:40.140 I think it was James Dobson that said that. If 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:41.819 not, it doesn't matter. It was some good guy 00:18:41.819 --> 00:18:43.480 because it was a great quote. But understand 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:47.359 that coming here on Sunday is fantastic. It doesn't 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:51.240 make you a believer. Seeking the Lord, laying 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.599 down your life, picking up your cross, acknowledging 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.779 Jesus as Lord and Savior is the relationship. 00:18:59.040 --> 00:19:02.440 Seek righteousness. Live as God commands, shaped 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:06.200 by his holiness. It's not just a one and done. 00:19:06.339 --> 00:19:09.299 It's a continual journey until the day of the 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:13.819 Lord. And then finally, seek humility. Acknowledge 00:19:13.819 --> 00:19:18.420 our sin and throw ourselves onto his mercy, which 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:21.839 is renewed every morning. After the table, we 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:25.920 do not walk in pride. We walk in seeking, as 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.440 though gripped by grace. So perhaps you may be 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:34.339 hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. That 00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:37.519 perhaps isn't because God is unsure. It's an 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:41.799 invitation to humility. It's saying, don't presume. 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:46.619 Don't assume this. Seek him with urgency, with 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:49.660 sincerity. This word hidden, right? The same 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:52.940 root word of Zephaniah's actual name. Yahweh 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:56.539 hides and protects. Isn't that cool? That this 00:19:56.539 --> 00:19:59.640 prophet is speaking of his own name, pointing 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:04.539 back to the relationship with God. So what does 00:20:04.539 --> 00:20:08.039 it mean to be hidden? Well, now in 2025, in a 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:12.579 post -resurrection, ascended Christianity, what 00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:16.220 Zephaniah hoped for, we have received. We are 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.119 not hidden in our own righteousness, but we're 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.759 hidden in Jesus. Paul writes in Colossians 3 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.480 .3, for you have died and your life is now hidden 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:29.819 with Christ in God. So when God appears, you 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:33.619 will be revealed to him in glory. We are the 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:36.480 people for whom God's wrath was satisfied on 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.539 the cross. At the table of communion, we remembered 00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:43.799 that Christ took the burning anger onto himself 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:50.660 so that we could be covered in mercy. Because 00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:53.920 Christ is the great hiding place, isn't it? Not 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:55.799 to hide our sin and our secrets and all that, 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:58.500 but he is the one that died for our sins and 00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:02.019 our secrets, and he is our hiding place because 00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:04.940 we take him on, as Colossians 3 will continue 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:08.859 to say. Zephaniah urges the faithful to seek 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:14.299 humility and hope in being hidden. The hope is 00:21:14.299 --> 00:21:18.400 fully realized in Jesus Christ. In the two articles 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.640 of the Belgian Confession, help us understand 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:24.339 this. Article 20, God sent his only son to assume 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:27.279 the nature in which the disobedience had been 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:30.700 committed, to make satisfaction in that same 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:34.019 nature. And Article 23 affirms, we rest on the 00:21:34.019 --> 00:21:38.940 obedience of Christ crucified alone, in which 00:21:38.940 --> 00:21:44.220 we believe in him. So if we've been hidden with 00:21:44.220 --> 00:21:49.279 Christ, People should see that in our life. People 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:52.339 should see that grace that we get from the table 00:21:52.339 --> 00:21:55.059 in our life. So how in the world do we walk this 00:21:55.059 --> 00:22:01.119 out? How do we go on living from the table? Well, 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.920 here's where our kind of application brings us 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.960 to the end as I land the plane. First and foremost, 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:10.299 if you've been given the grace, then we should 00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:15.839 seek God daily. Not out of fear. but as one who 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.599 has tasted grace. We should practice repentance. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:23.660 Communion doesn't erase our need to repent. It 00:22:23.660 --> 00:22:28.940 awakens our need to repent. We should live humbly. 00:22:29.339 --> 00:22:32.380 The cross humbles the proud and lifts up the 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:36.759 lowly and the lonely. And then finally, we should 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:39.740 tell others. You just partook in the visible 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:43.240 gospel, the visible means of grace. Now proclaim 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:48.829 it. with words, and with life. That's the response, 00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:54.609 my friends. That is the response. So, much like 00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:58.589 every prophet, major or minor, again, it's just 00:22:58.589 --> 00:23:01.829 book size, they're telling the people then and 00:23:01.829 --> 00:23:04.309 us now, because that is how we can read the good 00:23:04.309 --> 00:23:07.829 book, which is awesome. Then, what is Zephy telling 00:23:07.829 --> 00:23:11.869 them? Judah had a temple, the law, the sacrifices. 00:23:12.670 --> 00:23:16.769 but their hearts had grown cold. God warned them 00:23:16.769 --> 00:23:21.589 not to destroy them, but to turn them back to 00:23:21.589 --> 00:23:25.910 him. So what does that mean for us today? We've 00:23:25.910 --> 00:23:28.990 just shared the Lord's Supper. We've seen his 00:23:28.990 --> 00:23:33.769 mercy. Now the question is, will we seek him? 00:23:34.849 --> 00:23:37.569 God's word calls us after the bread and the cup 00:23:37.569 --> 00:23:42.180 to live differently, to seek, to repent. and 00:23:42.180 --> 00:23:47.299 to walk humbly with our God. So friends, don't 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:49.839 let communion this morning be the spiritual high 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.480 point that fades, but let it be the launching 00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:59.059 point to faithful, humble obedience. Let's pray. 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:01.980 Lord God, thank you.