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You may turn in your Bibles to 
Zephaniah chapter 1, the prophecy of Zephaniah. He is one of the 
twelve minor prophets, not minor in importance, but minor in the 
length of his work. The major prophets are Isaiah 
and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, because their books are much longer than 
the twelve. And remember that Zephaniah prophesied 
during the reign of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, 
according to chapter 1 verse 1. And Josiah reigned in Judah 
from 640 B.C. to 609 B.C. The nature of the sins rampant 
in Judah at the time of composition would indicate that Zephaniah 
prophesied more toward the beginning of Josiah's reign, before a lot 
of his reforms were put into place. In 622 BC, the law of 
the Lord was recovered from the house of God by Hilkiah, the 
high priest. And as a result, Josiah's heart 
was tender, humble, under the word of God, and he made some 
radical reformation in the nation of Judah. So, more than likely, 
Zephaniah prophesied prior to those reforms under King Josiah. Well, I'll just pick up reading 
in Zephaniah chapter 1 at verse 14 and we'll read through chapter 
2. The great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hastens 
quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord 
is bitter. there the mighty men shall cry 
out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, 
a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, 
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against 
the fortified cities and against the high towers. I will bring 
distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men because they 
have sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out 
like dust, and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver 
nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of 
the Lord's wrath. But the whole land shall be devoured 
by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance 
of all those who dwell in the land. Gather yourselves together. Yes, gather together, O undesirable 
nation. before the decree is issued or 
the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes 
upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you, 
seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His 
justice. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden 
in the day of the Lord's anger. For Gaza shall be forsaken and 
Ashkelon desolate, They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, 
and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to the inhabitants of the 
seacoast, the nation of the Karathites. The word of the Lord is against 
you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, so there 
shall be no inhabitant. The seacoast shall be pastures 
with shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. The coast shall 
be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They shall feed their 
flocks there. In the houses of Ashkelon they 
shall lie down at evening, for the Lord their God will intervene 
for them and return their captives. I have heard the reproach of 
Moab and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have 
reproached my people and made arrogant threats against their 
borders. Therefore, as I live, says the 
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely, Moab shall be like Sodom, 
and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah, overrun with weeds 
and salt pits and a perpetual desolation. The residue of my 
people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my people shall 
possess them. This they shall have for their 
pride, because they have reproached and made arrogant threats against 
the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be awesome to them, 
for he will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth. People 
shall worship him, indeed one from his place, indeed all the 
shores of the nations. You Ethiopians also, you shall 
be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand 
against the north, destroy Assyria, and make Nineveh a desolation, 
as dry as the wilderness. The herd shall lie down in her 
midst, every beast of the nation. Both the pelican and the bittern 
shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars. Their voice shall 
sing in the windows. Desolation shall be at the threshold, 
for he will lay bare the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city 
that dwelt securely, that said in her heart, I am it and there 
is none besides me. How has she become a desolation? a place for beasts to lie down. Everyone who passes by her shall 
hiss and shake his fist." Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, a sober 
passage of Scripture is before us, and we just pray for the 
Holy Spirit now to guide our thoughts. God, help us, knowing 
the terror of the Lord, to persuade men to be reconciled unto You. 
Help us not to minimize the place of Your wrath, the place of Your 
justice and Your judgment, Help us, Lord God, to be mindful of 
the fact that You are the ruler of history, that You raise nations 
up and You set them down, that You are the God and Sovereign 
Father of all that takes place throughout history. We just pray 
as well that we would take seriously the admonition of our brother 
Zephaniah to seek You, to seek righteousness, to seek humility. 
And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, we saw last 
Sunday how there was an announcement of the Day of the Lord in verses 
2 to 13. Here the Day of the Lord is described. The concept was introduced by 
the prophet in verse 7 of chapter 1. Be silent in the presence 
of the Lord God, for the Day of the Lord is at hand. And here 
the Day of the Lord is unpacked. the details, the particulars, 
those things that are important for sinners to hear. Then in 
chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, there is an exhortation to seek the 
Lord. This is our response. This is 
what we are supposed to do in light of the coming day of Christ, 
when He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. We need 
to take seriously this admonition. And then thirdly, we notice there 
is a statement concerning God's judgment upon the nations in 
chapter 2, verses 4 to 15. The nations surrounding Israel 
will be visited by God with judgment also. And I believe this serves 
a purpose in the exhortation or in the prophecy as a whole. You'll notice that chapter 2, 
verse 4 begins with the word for. It is a reason. It is something, or it is calling 
their attention to something specifically. And I believe in 
the context it has to do with the exhortation of verse 3. Seek the Lord, for the Lord is 
going to judge the nation surrounding Judah, but then the Lord will 
judge Judah according to chapter 3, verses 1 to 8, which God willing 
we'll look at chapter 3 next Sunday night. One man, O Palmer 
Robertson, in his good commentary on the prophet Zephaniah, says 
the prophecy of Zephaniah clearly presents itself as a treatise 
on the wrath of God. He goes on to say, the great 
day of Yahweh is coming soon. On that day, the God who has 
pledged Himself repeatedly and in various contexts by the oath 
of the covenant shall devastate all who have broken the covenant. 
This terrible judgment is inevitable and unavoidable. The day is coming 
soon. And here the historical outworking 
in the prophet's time was the coming invasion of Judah by Babylon 
which occurred ultimately in 586 B.C. with the utter destruction of 
the city of Jerusalem. But notice with reference to 
the description of the day of the Lord in verses 14 to 18, 
we see two things. We see first of all the wrath 
of God and secondly the sinfulness of man. And with reference to 
the wrath of God, the prophet speaks of desolation in verses 
14 and 15. The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord 
is bitter. There the mighty men shall cry 
out. The mighty men themselves will 
not be able to stand on this day of visitation. The mighty 
men themselves will not be able to withstand the fury and the 
wrath of Almighty God. We saw a similar concept or a 
similar construction in the prophet Amos. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Amos chapter 2 speaks of coming 
judgment and it develops this idea that men will not be able 
to withstand their abilities, their skills, their might notwithstanding. In Amos 2 at verse 13, Behold, 
I am weighed down by you as a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. 
Therefore, flight shall perish from the swift The strong shall 
not strengthen his power, nor shall the mighty deliver himself. 
He shall not stand who handles the bow. The swift of foot shall 
not escape, nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself. The most courageous men of might 
shall flee naked in that day, says the Lord. And of course, 
a parallel construction is at the opening of the sixth seal 
in Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6, I looked 
when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great 
earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and 
the moon became like blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the 
earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by 
a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll 
when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved 
out of its place. And the kings of the earth the 
great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every 
slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in 
the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, 
fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne 
and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath 
has come, and who is able to stand?" That is an emphasis of 
the coming judgment of God that needs to be highlighted by the 
church. The day of wrath is coming. There is none who is mighty enough, 
who is skilled enough, who is able enough to withstand the 
fury and the wrath and the terror of the living and the true God. 
Zephaniah says, on that day, there the mighty men shall cry 
out. Men who are renowned for their 
strength will be wailing in the streets like babies as God the 
Judge comes riding on His cloud of justice and judgment to punish 
the nation. The prophet goes on to speak 
of a time of distress. He says in verses 15 and 16, 
notice, some have seen a likeness to the creation week here. The 
repetitive mention of the word day, as God created the earth 
on six days and rested on the seventh, all was very good. But when God comes to judge, 
it will be a day of wrath. a day of trouble and distress, 
a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, 
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against 
the fortified cities and against the high towers. Notice the distress 
of verse 17. I will bring distress upon men, 
and they shall walk like blind men. This is straight out of 
the curses of God's covenant. in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy 28 verse 29, And 
you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness. You shall not prosper in your 
ways. You shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and 
no one shall save you. God, when He executes the vengeance 
of the covenant, the recipients of His wrath will grope about 
as blind men. on a day of utter distress. And He speaks of this day as 
one of destruction. Verse 18, He says, Neither their 
silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day 
of the Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured 
by the fire of His jealousy. For He will make speedy riddance 
of all those who dwell in the land. Isn't that interesting? 
Silver and gold do not profit on the day of God's wrath. Certainly 
Solomon identified this in Proverbs 11, 4. Riches do not profit in 
the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. And they 
will find that out in Judah. The merchants, the tradesmen, 
the money hoarders, those who look to their silver and gold 
as affording them protection, The Lord God says their silver 
nor their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of 
the Lord's wrath. Again, Robertson comments, the 
prophet now proceeds to describe the hopelessness of any possibility 
of escape from the overflowing wrath of the day of Yahweh. Customarily, an invaded nation 
could buy off its conqueror. By paying adequate tribute, some 
semblance of national integrity could be maintained. We see that 
in the very history of Israel themselves. They paid tribute 
at times to Assyria. They paid tribute to Babylon. He goes on to say, but when Yahweh 
comes on the terrible day of His conquest, nothing can deter 
His purposes. In establishing perfect justice, 
He shall utterly devastate the wicked. Sin inevitably evokes 
the overflowing wrath of God. His long suffering and patience 
over many years, decades and centuries must not be misrepresented 
as complacency or lack of commitment to render a just punishment to 
the transgressor. You see that? Men will attempt 
any means possible to escape on the day of God's wrath. trying 
to cut a deal with the judge of all the earth. Let me give 
you my silver. Let me give you my gold. Just 
don't hurt me. The prophet says that that will 
not avail. You can have every bit of earthly 
riches there are. But as Jesus said, what shall 
it profit a man if he gains the whole world? He loses his soul. Or that fool in Luke 12, that 
young successful entrepreneur. The yield of a certain, I don't 
know if he's young, the ground of a certain rich man yielded 
plentifully. And he was faced with a dilemma. 
His dilemma was simply this, I don't have enough place, or 
enough barns to put my goods. What does he do? He thinks within 
himself and he says, I will build more barns. Hires the contractors, 
hires the framers, gets the places built, and then he stocks all 
of his fruits and vegetables in there. Puts his feet up, sips 
his iced tea, and he says to himself, soul, you have many 
goods laid up for many years. God says to him, thou fool, your 
soul is required tonight. All of the produce, all of the 
barns, all of his hard work is not going to buy off God. And the same thought is present 
here under the prophet Zephaniah. That is a description of the 
day of the Lord with reference to the wrath of God. But notice 
the sinfulness of man. In a very brief statement, Zephaniah 
summarizes the reason why this distress is upon them. Verse 
17, I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like 
blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. That's 
a simple and brief statement, isn't it? But it's so powerful. Alec Motyer says, humans may 
categorize their sins into the serious, the mediocre, and the 
insignificant. To Zephaniah, the mere fact of 
sin excited and merited the whole weight of divine rage. These are heavy things, heavy 
topics, heavy themes in the Scripture. He says, the simple statement, 
they have sinned, is sufficient. Sin, of course, would be no more 
than a pity in that it blights life, were it not that God is 
what He is. Were He complacent or like the 
gods of Canaan, morally neutral, no harm would threaten the sinner. 
But He is the God of fiery jealousy, and therein lies our problem. Salvation is not, in the first 
instance, doing something for the sinner, but doing something 
with reference to God. Propitiation. Jesus propitiates 
the wrath and fury of God Most High. That satisfies His holiness. We've already seen the particular 
sins rampant in the days of Zephaniah. Idolatry. They were committed 
to Baal. Moloch. All of the gods of the 
nations surrounding them. Syncretism. They swear oaths 
to the Lord by Milton. Practical atheism. Verse 6. Those who have turned back from 
following the Lord and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired 
of Him." Verse 12, complacency. The Lord searches out Jerusalem 
with lamps and He punishes the men who are settled in complacency, 
who say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, nor will He 
do evil. This was not a confession. This 
was a practice. It wasn't as if they were arguing 
there is no God there. They were arguing there is no 
God here. Those were the sins rampant in 
the days of Zephaniah. The sins of the leaders. They 
assimilated foreign customs. They adopted pagan religious 
practices. Verses 8 and 9. their fastidious 
obedience to leaping over the threshold in imitation of the 
Philistines with their false god, Dagon. And yet, they fill 
their masters' houses with violence and deceit. You see, the reign 
of Manasseh, that 53 year long reign, affected Judah. Amon was consistent with his 
father. Josiah would introduce reforms, 
but it was not overnight. that those things vanished from 
the face of Judah. The sins of leaders have an effect 
upon those who are being led. The sins committed in high places 
affect those of us in low places. This is why Paul tells us to 
pray for the governing authorities, to pray for the civil magistrates, 
This is why the exiles in Babylon were told to pray for the peace 
of the city that they were in. You mean pray for Babylon? Yes, 
God said to. Brethren, when they sin, it affects 
us. Righteousness, in the language 
of Solomon, exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any 
people. Now notice, secondly, the exhortation to seek the Lord. 
The exhortation to seek the Lord. Isn't God good? He puts this right here. Here's 
what the day of the Lord is going to look like. Here is the visitation 
that you will receive. Here is the heat. Here is the 
wrath. Here is the fury. But I am providing 
you a refuge. I am providing you a safe haven. I am providing you amnesty. I am providing you blood atonement 
through my own dear Son. There is a three-fold ground 
of urgency in the prophet's exhortation. Notice in verse 2, there are 
three befores. This indicates to them that time 
was not on their side. We think we have all the time 
in the world. We think we are impenetrable. 
We are it. If I want to get right with God, 
I'll do that in ten years. The prophet Zephaniah says, before 
the Lord's decree, before the Lord's anger, before the Lord's 
day, time is not on our side. Once judgment comes, it will 
speed through the land like flying chaff. It will be as terrible 
as fire. It will be the coming of the 
Lord Himself. That's the urgent plea. This 
is what Zephaniah is saying. It is similar to Paul in the 
book of Corinthians. Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. Some of you children actually 
think you're going to live to be 80 or 90 years old. I don't 
know whoever told you that. I'm not here to scare you. I 
don't want you to go home and cry, unless it is to cry out 
to God to save you from your sin. There is no promise in the 
Bible that we will have tomorrow. In fact, James chides the people 
he is writing to who say that tomorrow we'll go to such and 
such a city and make such and such a profit and do such and 
such a business transaction. James says, you don't even know 
what you are. You're like a vapor. You're here 
for a time and then you're gone. Moses, that man of God, says 
if a man does live 70 or 80 years by strength, then he flies away. You see, the prophet's message 
is tinged with urgency here. And if you do not know the Lord 
Jesus Christ, take this lesson from Zephaniah 2, verse 2. Before the decree is issued. 
Before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you. Before the day 
of the Lord's anger comes upon you. Before the second coming 
of Jesus. before that great and awful day 
when He will come in the glory of His Father with all of His 
holy angels and He will take vengeance on those who know not 
God, on those who do not obey the Gospel. Don't pretend that 
you'll always be here. You don't have an expiration 
date on your birth certificate. I heard an old guy once say, 
you know, every morning I wake up, I check the obituaries just 
to make sure. I'm not there. Sometimes we live as if there's 
an expiration date on our birth certificate. Oh, I've got until 
2025. All gets serious in 2024. Well, do you think it was similar 
in the days that Zephaniah prophesied? I would say absolutely. See, 
men generally don't think about the wrath of God. It's not something 
we like to contemplate. I mean, how often do you think 
about the wrath of God? How often do you take seriously 
the coming day of Christ? How often do you look at 2 Thessalonians 
1 and say, wow, Jesus is coming again. And what is highlighted 
in that coming passage is His taking vengeance. on those who 
know not God, on those who do not obey the Gospel, certainly 
to be marveled at in the presence of all those who have believed 
on Him. The primary aspect of that passage 
is to show that it is right with God to pay back those who afflicted 
the Thessalonian Christians. You see, we don't like to think 
about the wrath of God. We don't like to think about unhappy things. 
We don't like to think about God coming to distress and render 
desolate and utterly destroy all that we know and love. The prophet's words need to be 
heeded before the decree is issued, before the Lord's fierce anger 
comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon 
you. It's interesting how the peoples are called in chapter 
2, verse 1. Gather yourselves together, yes. 
Gather together, O undesirable nation. Shameless nation. What is nation to the Israelite? It's the goyim. It's the Gentiles. Generally, that word nation is 
applied to the Gentiles. You might even hear Jews today 
speak of the goy. It means non-Jews. That means 
Gentiles. The prophet is chiding these 
people. You shameless goy. Gather yourselves together. Don't live as if there is no 
God. You may have lived complacently. You may have said in your heart, 
the Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil. But the Lord 
God is so good that He dispatches Zephaniah. And Zephaniah will 
not allow you to conduct yourself in complacency. He will not let 
you be happy and content as you're living as practical atheists. 
He will rouse you and call you to gather yourselves together. Yes, gather together, O undesirable 
nation. Heed the word of the prophet. Heed the word of the evangelist. Heed the word of the apostle. 
Paul said in 2 Corinthians, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, 
we persuade man. This is what Zephaniah is doing. 
He has portrayed the terror of the Lord. And now He has come 
to persuade men. And He mentions a three-fold 
command to seek the Lord. In the spiritual realm. The Lord. The direct opposite of what was 
occurring in Judah according to chapter 1 at verse 6. Remember? Those who have turned back from 
following the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired 
of Him. The first leg of this exhortation 
is to seek Him. And as I mentioned this morning, 
that quote again from Alec Motyer. He says, typical of Scripture, 
the first move is to go directly to the Lord. Every other religion 
says, become righteous. Become humble. Then perhaps God 
will accept you. But in the Bible, the only way 
to flee from God is to flee to God. Let that sink in. That's what we need. That's how 
we flee the wrath of God. By running to the Lord and finding 
our refuge in Him. The name of the Lord, according 
to the Proverbs, is a strong tower. The righteous run to it 
and are safe. Don't continue to resist the 
Lord. Oh, I've sinned against Him. 
I've offended Him. I'm not going to go to Him. He 
knows you've sinned against Him. He knows you've offended Him. 
He has sought out sinners. Jesus said, I have come to seek 
and to save that which was lost. Not that which was a little bit 
hindered. Not that which was a little bit 
down. That which was a little bit astray. 
I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. And in context, 
he is reproving a grumbling audience who were upset that Jesus had 
saved Zacchaeus. As far as they were concerned, 
there was no more loss than Zacchaeus. I mean, when you're a Jew working 
for the Roman government, taking money from your fellow Jews, 
you're not popular. That's why when Jesus told the 
parable about two men who went to the temple and prayed, He 
used a Pharisee and He used a publican. Jesus Christ came to seek and 
to save that which was lost. Seek the Lord. He goes on to 
speak of the moral realm. Seek righteousness. A recurring 
theme in the prophets. If God's judgment is based on 
His covenant, then certainly men ought to live in terms of 
that covenant. Seek righteousness. It's not 
okay for you to be wicked. It's not okay for you to carry 
on. It's not okay for you to live as if God doesn't exist. You're not supposed to steal. 
You're not supposed to lie. You're not supposed to bear false 
witness. You're not supposed to covet. 
You certainly aren't supposed to go into your neighbor's wife. 
You're not supposed to murder. You're not supposed to blaspheme 
your God. You're to live righteously. Remember 
in the prophet Micah, with what shall I come before the Lord? 
And bow myself before the high God. Shall I come before him 
with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be 
pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall 
I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the 
sin of my soul?" That was the response of Israel at the time 
of Micah. They were not being sincere, 
brethren. That is not a sincere plea. Shall I come before Him, 
or will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? If He's so 
upset with us, maybe thousands of rams will appease Him. Shall 
I give my firstborn for my transgression? Is this the way we pacify God, 
is by killing our firstborn and offering up as a sacrifice? They 
were treating God as if He was Moloch. What's the prophet's 
response? He has shown you, oh man, what 
is good. And what does the Lord require 
of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with 
your God? Your problem is not that you 
don't know. It's that you don't obey. You 
don't have to have a Bible study to be taught how to approach 
God. You have to take the information 
that you already possess and go and do it. It's the same thing 
in Zephaniah 2, verse 3. Do you think they all put their 
hand on their heads? What do you mean? Righteousness. 
Oh, they knew? He's exhorting them, seek the 
Lord. Seek righteousness and seek humility. Humility is a 
necessary virtue, especially in light of the fact that pride 
is more often than not the driving factor to these other types of 
sins. Pride causes men to seek Baal. Because pride says, I should 
get whatever I want and Baal will avail me. Pride moves a 
man to secretism. He's got his best interests in 
mind. He wants to hedge all his bets. 
Well, yeah, I'll worship the Lord, but I'll keep Milcom out 
in the parlor. Pride drives practical atheism. 
I don't need God. I'm sufficient in myself. Pride drives these sins. And 
so the prophet says, seek humility. Pride is manifested in the judgment 
of God upon the nations surrounding Israel. We'll see that in just 
a moment. Pride is opposed by God, but 
He gives grace to the humble. And then notice, he says at the 
very end of verse 3, it may be that you will be hidden in the 
day of the Lord's anger. He's not doubting the power and 
the mercy of God. He's not doubting the grace and the kindness of 
God. He is acknowledging that power and he is acknowledging 
God's freedom, God's sovereignty. Again, Alec Motyer says, a trembling 
humility accompanies a true sense of sin and a true appreciation 
of what is involved in seeking divine forgiveness and reconciliation. It is in relation to this that 
Paul says, if, and Zephaniah says, perhaps. Neither word evidences 
any uncertainty that the Lord will pardon, cleanse, relieve, 
Rather, they yield a proper sense of the enormity of what is being 
asked and of the sinner's temerity in asking it. It may be that 
you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Remember, 
the prophet's name means hide, or the Lord hides, or the Lord 
has hidden. A bit of a play on his own name 
here. You seek the Lord, you seek righteousness, 
you seek humility. It may be that the Lord will 
hide you. That doesn't mean their houses wouldn't be sacked by 
Babylon. It doesn't mean that their silver 
and gold wouldn't be defunct. It doesn't mean that their money 
and their supplies and all the good things that they treasured 
wouldn't be invaded when Babylon came. The idea here is eternal 
well-being. I heard a good message recently 
and the man made a distinction between 1 Timothy chapter 6, 
the rich often put their trust in uncertain riches. Isn't that 
what Paul tells Timothy to tell them not to do? Make sure in 
your Bible study with the rich, you tell them. Not make sure 
you're giving a whole lot. He says, help the poor. The first 
item is to not trust in uncertain riches. And he contrasted that 
with Proverbs chapter 8 where Christ is speaking His wisdom. 
He says in verse 18, riches and honor are with me, enduring riches 
and righteousness. There are the uncertain riches 
of this world. There are the enduring riches 
of Jesus Christ. There are the lasting treasures. There are the lasting blessings 
that come from faith in Christ. They are laid up in heaven. They 
are secure. They are in a place where moth 
and rust cannot destroy. They are in a place of utter 
protective custody laid up for the believing sinner. That's 
what Zephaniah is exhorting the people of his day. That concludes 
his exhortation to the people in his day. And that's going 
to conclude our study this evening. We'll pick up the judgment, God 
willing, upon the nations next Lord's Day. I don't want to assume 
that we will be here next Lord's Day, but if we are, then God 
willing we will be able to study that further. But just a couple 
of closing thoughts and then we'll pray. First of all, please 
do not neglect that biblical theme of the wrath of God. If 
there has been an element neglected in the preaching of the Gospel, 
it is in this area. And you know, if we strip away 
this, the Gospel really loses something of its luster. In fact, 
the very word Gospel means good news. Good news presupposes bad 
news. The bad news is this. God is 
holy, and you are not, and He is going to judge you. Paul begins 
his presentation of the Gospel with just that fact. He says, 
"...for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness 
and unrighteousness of men." They suppress that truth in unrighteousness. God has shown Himself to man, 
but they say, we don't want you. And brethren, if we don't have 
that wrath revealed, The gospel of Romans 3.21 loses something 
of its savoriness. Paul makes a concerted effort 
to show this contrast. The wrath of God is revealed, 
Romans 1.18. But now, Romans 3.21, the righteousness 
of God is revealed. That is when He opens up that 
glorious declaration that sinners are saved by grace through faith 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. By neglecting the wrath of God, 
we have taken something away from the luster, the beauty, 
and the glory of the Gospel of God. Please do not neglect it. Please do not forsake it. Please do not proclaim Jesus 
as just an additive to an already happy life. We live in a day 
and age where people have been very happy economically and materially 
for a long time. And when the church comes and 
says, believe on Jesus and you will be happier, that strips 
away something from the Gospel. When we come and we preach that 
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against you, you 
need to flee. You need to go to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who alone saves His people from their sins. Then people 
who have been materially and economically blessed and privileged 
will see something of their need. You see, Jesus Himself said, 
I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We 
don't preach the wrath of God. We don't preach the sinfulness 
of man. Because when we preach the wrath of God, we naturally 
flow into why God is wrathful. And the prophet says, because 
they have sinned against the Lord. And you know, there is 
no new thing under the sun. The very sins rampant in the 
days of Zephaniah are the very same sins we confront even today. Baalism, just to remind you of 
how we defined it, or of a quote from last Sunday night. Baal 
was the god of productivity. His function in Canaanite religion 
was to make land, animals, and humans fertile. Baal was another 
name for the gross national product. and wherever people see bank 
balances, prosperity, a sound economy, productivity, and mounting 
exports as the essence of their security, Baal is still worshipped. Baal was also the god of religious 
excitement and sexual free-for-all. Human sexual acts were publicly 
offered to him to prompt him to perform his work of fertilization. Wherever excitement in religion 
becomes an end in itself, and wherever the cult of what helps 
replaces joy in what's true, Baal is worshipped. We're not 
just reading a 7th century B.C. prophet and saying, well, you 
know, that was then. Oh, Baalism is alive and well today in this 
world and in the church. Syncretism, practical atheism, 
complacency. You see, all these things are 
rampant, alive and well. So therefore, we preach on the 
wrath of God, the fury of God. Psalm 7 says God is angry with 
the wicked every day. The church has adopted that slogan, 
God loves the sinner but He hates the sin. No, He doesn't. He really 
doesn't. These six things the Lord hates, 
yea, seven are an abomination to Him. You don't see lying lips 
disconnected from sinners. I have yet to see haughty eyes 
floating mystically through the air. Hands that shed innocent 
blood are connected to arms, which are connected to shoulders, 
which are connected to torsos, which surround the soul. When 
Solomon says these six things the Lord hates, He is targeting 
seven categories of sinner that He hates. Psalm 5-5, a text we 
don't like, but is nonetheless true. God hates the workers of 
iniquity. We say that's the Old Testament. 
What's Paul say in 1 Corinthians 16, 22? If anyone does not love 
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. What's that mean? It means damned to hell. You 
see, you cannot confine it with some dispensational hermeneutic 
and say, well, that's just the Old Testament. What about the 
words of Christ when He says, depart from Me, I never knew 
you. That's not an expression of love, 
brethren. You see, the church, in seeking 
to woo sinners, have neglected one of the great themes in awakening 
men to the danger of a holy God. Please don't play into that. 
And then if you do not know Christ here tonight, seek Him and you 
will find Him. That's the clear teaching of 
Holy Scripture. Well, I don't know what that means. Believe 
all that the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Believe that He 
came, that He lived, that He died, that He rose again. Believe 
that He will save you from your sins. That's what it means to 
seek the Lord. That's what it means to go after 
Him, to believe on Him. And then when you have done that, 
then you seek righteousness, you seek humility. That's living 
the Christian life. But the first and foremost thing 
is to seek God. I love that. I love that observation 
from Montyer. It's not seek righteousness, 
seek humility, and then maybe you'll find God. It's the essence 
of false religion. It's the essence of all man-centered 
religion. You do this and God will reward you. That is not 
what the Bible teaches. That's why it's an affront to 
men. Men want that self-sufficiency. 
We're going to meet all kinds of self-sufficiency and pride 
among the nations surrounding Israel. And you know what the 
prophet is doing? He is saying God is the sovereign 
over the entire world. Philistia was to the west. Moab and Ammon were to the east. 
Cush, or Ethiopia, was to the south. And Assyria was to the 
north. You know what the prophet is 
saying? God is Lord over all the earth. And God will visit 
all the earth with His wrath and with His judgment. That's 
what Zephaniah wants you to know. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for the Holy Scripture. We thank You for this prophecy 
of Zephaniah. And our God in heaven, we pray 
that You would just help us to be seeking You, to be seeking 
righteousness and humility. God, this is our answer in the 
days that we live. This is always the answer. And 
we pray that You would give us that spiritual mindedness, give 
us that mind that sets itself upon the right hand of God where 
Jesus Christ is. And we pray, Lord in heaven, 
that as those who know something of the terror of the Lord, You 
had put it in us to persuade men to be reconciled unto You. 
Lord God, give us the mindset of Paul and Zephaniah and Jesus 
and all of the prophets and all the apostles who, knowing of 
Your wrath, went out and preached the Good News that Jesus Christ 
saves. We ask that You would go with 
each one of us now, that You would watch over us, that You 
would keep us, and that You would help us, Lord God Most High, 
to be seeking You each and every day. And we pray through Christ 
the Lord. Amen.