When God Sings | The Book of Zephaniah | Gary Hamrick

here we are today the book of Zephaniah if you have your Bibles open to chapter one of Zephaniah we are making our way through the Old Testament on our way into the New Testament from cover to cover and the last twelve books of the Old Testament are known as the Minor Prophets again not because these prophets are less important but because generally their writing is shorter and Zephaniah is no exception only three chapters and and so he is number nine out of the twelve minor prophets and as a little bit of an intro to Zephaniah we actually know more about him than we do much of the other prophets because in chapter one verse one as he writes he gives us insight into his own heritage he goes back four generations and so we know a little bit about his family line and so for those of you note takers here's what we understand about the Ministry of Zephaniah he tells us in the first verse of chapter one that he is the great great grandson of King Hezekiah so he has a royal heritage his name in Hebrew is pronounced Zeff Anya Zeff Anya is from two Hebrew words the faun meaning hide to hide and yaa at the at the end of his name the suffix is for Yahweh so his name means the Lord hides Yahweh hides and we'll talk more about his name when we get into our study a little bit further and scholars believe that he prophesized around six-30 BC to the southern kingdom of Judah which is that part is clear but the timeline is based on the fact that he tells us in chapter 1 verse 1 that he ministers during the reign of King Josiah who was king of judah the southern province of Israel with Jerusalem as the capital city and Josiah reigned from the year 640 to 609 BC and so as believed that Zephaniah ministered in the early part of his reign and throughout his reign and so we'll see it here from chapter 1 verse 1 I'm gonna read the first three verses of chapter 1 and then we'll also read the first three verses of chapter 2 but follow along in your Bibles if you have it open there now zefa as F&I a 1 verse 1 says the word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi so his dad's a little soft he wasn't really very stern disciplinarian he was just he was cushy the son of Gedaliah the son of a Mariah the son of Hezekiah in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land says the Lord I will consume man and beast I will consume the birds of the heavens the fish of the sea and the stumbling blocks along with the wicked I will cut off man from the face of the land says the Lord let's pause there go to chapter 2 look at the first three verses of chapter 2 verse 1 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 one of the most often repeated phrases in the book of Zephaniah in fact more than any other book of the Old Testament is the phrase the day of the Lord 19 times he uses that phrase he's speaking of the day of God's wrath the day of God's anger why is God so angry we'll talk about it as we unpack this book together this morning let's first pray father thank you for your grace in our lives and thank you that you've given us your word that we can understand more about you that we can grow in our relationship with you that we can have an understanding of who we are in light of who you say you are Lord that we would humble ourselves and surrender our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ we thank you that you first loved us and gave your son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins we are grateful we are thankful for those who already know Jesus we celebrate for those who don't know Jesus in a personal way we pray that the eyes of their heart would be opened that they would acknowledge and trust him as Lord and Savior speak to us now to the pages of this ancient text because we know that it is timeless truth for our lives and Lord we do pause to pray for our government leaders we thank you for them and those who know you and those who don't we know that you will use men and women for your divine purposes but we we don't want to neglect praying for our leaders Lord and ask that your grace would be upon them that your wisdom would be upon them that your protection would be upon them Lord and that again you would use them for your purposes and we thank you for this time together in your word is in Jesus name that we pray and everybody said amen when we open up the book of Zephaniah here it's an interesting time in Judah's history the Bible tells us here in chapter 1 verse 1 that the king at this particular time is a guy by the name of Josiah and this is the time during which Zephaniah is called as a prophet to minister so let me talk a little bit about King Josiah first so that you understand the backdrop to this story and why Zephaniah was inserted at this particular time in history so Josiah became king of Judah when he was just eight years of age his father before him King Amon had been assassinated and so after the assassination of his dad here he is eight years old they instantly make him King that's the way it worked back in the day the son succeeded the father typically and so Josiah finds himself as king of the most powerful Kingdom on earth at this time at the age of eight you know I mean the real crown didn't even fit him it was it was too big for his little head they had to run out to Party City and get a little paper hat for him I want you to imagine trying to you know rule what would life be like if you were king at the age of eight I mean try to imagine that unlimited TV right you're on your iPhone and nobody's going to tell you to get off you know you like you you have all control over everything of your schedule bedtime is whenever you jolly want it to be you're eight and you're king you're eating ice cream and Lucky Charms it's a magically delicious life and so here we are eight years old but the Bible tells us that Josiah was one of the few good Kings in all of the history of Judah when the nation of Israel had Civil War and they divided you have Kings to the north in the nation of Israel Kings to the south in the nation of Judah there was not a single good King in the north not a single one recorded in Scripture there were a couple of good ones in Judah to the south and Josiah is one of them and the Bible says that when Josiah in the eighth year of his reign in other words when he turned 16 years of age that the Bible says he began to seek the Lord for himself as this teenager he just begins to press into God and seek and seek the Lord the Bible then says at the age of 20 he gets convicted about idolatry in the land as a result why of seeking the Lord so when he's 16 he seeks the Lord when he's 20 he removes idols and idolatry from the land of Judah and then the Bible says when he's 26 years of age he renovates the temple the temple had been closed nobody was going in making sacrifices worshiping God for years before Josiah his father his grandfather was Manasseh it was a wicked guy his father was wicked too that's why he got assassinated so Josiah comes from a line at least his father his grandfather were pretty wicked man and thus they weren't worshipping God the temple of God had been closed Josiah at the age of 26 says wrong and open up the temple when they do they discover something that had been hidden for years the book of the law they hadn't been reading scripture they hadn't been taking out the scriptures and reading what God says and so Josiah then is given the book of the law look what we found in the temple and the process of restoring the temple they dusted off Josiah sees that it is the Word of God and he implements spiritual reform throughout the land of Judah it's a remarkable story when you think about it and if you forget anything I have to say today please remember this much from Josiah's life because here's what happened at 16 he sought the Lord at 20 he removed idols at 26 he opened up the Word of God those three things became the recipe for a life that is after the heart of God when you seek God get rid of idols in your life and open up the Bible man your relationship with God becomes strong and this is what happened with Josiah he sought the Lord he removed idols and he opened up the Bible and as a result he begins to implement sweeping reforms spiritually among the land of Judah this is the time in which God sends Zephaniah God sister Stephanie I want you to come at this time as a prophet of mine and I want you to go about rebuking the people for their sin and helping to implement the reform that Josiah is bringing so you have a godly King Josiah you have a godly Prophet Zephaniah and between the two of them there's going to be this wonderful spiritual sweeping reform throughout the land of Judah there are two primary sins that Zephaniah addresses when he is sent by God to speak to the people of Judah and the two primary sins are these idolatry and complacency idolatry and complacency we'll start first with idolatry if you look at your Bibles here at chapter 1 verse 4 God says I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem I will cut off every trace of bale from this place circle bale the names of the idolatrous priests note that with the pagan priests verse 5 those who worship the hosts of heaven on the housetops those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord but who also swear by milcom milcom by the way is another name for Moloch he's better known by Molech another God false God those who have turned back from far the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired of him so God furs F&I first addresses the problem of idolatry in the land and he points out the worship of bail there in verse 4 more properly pronounced by Allah but all was the principle god of the Canaanites the ancient people who preceded the instruments in the land there that God had given to the Jewish people but I'll just simply in a Semitic language meant Lord or master and so they would call their gods bale bile and the Israelites the Jewish people had adopted these false gods of the neighboring nations they got caught up in idolatry in addition to the worship of a veil they also were worshipping Moloch here or milk Amon verse in verse 5 he was the National God of the ammonites and we've talked about Molech before the worship of Molech involved child sacrifice and so the Jewish people were even sacrificing their children in the worship of Molech so this is not just some passing little you know a season that they were going through where they were once in a while you know worshipping the wrong God I mean idolatry plagued the Jewish people for centuries where where they forsook the worship of the true and living God and instead worship these gods made out of wood stone and metal and they would bow down to these gods and they would worship these gods it was an age-old problem of the Jewish people for centuries and they they they began to to honor and worship and deify inanimate objects they would prop their little gods up in the corner of their houses and and they would bow down to them these were gods that they would pray to but gods who would never answer them these are gods who who they would turn to to seek aid from who would never help them these were mute gods they were they were deaf gods they were they were objects they would try to love these gods but these gods would never love them back because because they weren't real and as foolish as this seems to us just the whole idea of even carving little statues little images bowing down these things thinking that these little things are going to help them and save them and healed them as foolish as this seems to us it just simply illustrates the innate need that every human being has to worship someone or something greater than himself or herself because we were created in the image and likeness of God God met within us not just the capacity but the desire to connect and commune with him and what happens is if we don't turn to Him and worship him for who he is if we don't connect and commune with God the creator of the universe then what we will end up doing is deferring that to something or something else and we will worship that something or that someone else to satisfy the innate need we have to worship this is what God is placed within the heart of human beings but because again if we don't worship the true and living God we will turn to something else or someone else because of this innate need we have to worship that's why quite honestly you know we see an aspect of this kind of thing happening in in our world today where we have somewhat made a God out of the earth it's pantheism it's been around forever all this preoccupation with the environment has given the earth a god-like status where nature and trees are worshipped and Greta Thun Berg is the goddess of the earth have you seen this girl Greta Thonburi Google or if you haven't heard of her they put her on the cover of Time magazine as Person of the Year why she's a 16 year old kid who's talking about the environment and and you know she's from sweet and she's kind of lecturing environmentalists saying you're not really true environmentalist you know and you know you're killing the earth and the planets and all this kind of stuff so that's what's happening we've got this kind of godlike status that we've attached to the earth and to the environment now let me just hasten to add because someone came up to me after the first service and in a very gentle spirit and the right and right tone just said you know are you trying to you know infer that we shouldn't be concerned about you know the environment listen if you personally want to do things that help the environment okay you know it's God's green earth I get that I get that what I'm talking about is the bigger picture of this move there's an environmental movement and the movement is trying to ascribe godlike status to the earth let me illustrate it like this just this week a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Trump administration by three environmental organizations on the basis of because in their opinion quote the Trump administration has failed to protect the green sea turtle habitat in South Florida so they're suing the federal government right now just happened last week suing the federal government for not protecting the green sea turtle habitat in South Florida all the while listen to me on this all the while some of those same people will sit on their hands during Trump State of the Union address and not applaud when he talks about outlawing late term abortion and preserving life in the womb why is that [Applause] [Music] it is a terrible day when the green sea turtle has more favored status than a baby in the womb are you hearing me on this and so my point is when environment and created things are cherished above the Creator and what God determines is valuable in terms of like life when you see this imbalance it's this idolizing idolizing making an idol out of something that should not be idolized idolatry is all around us idolatry is all around us and even some world religions still bow down to carved images I had a couple a couple of weeks ago come up to me between services in the atrium from India both believers but both love Jesus but she was telling me about how her family still is in Hinduism and how her family still vows down and worships idols just objects now Hindus would strictly speaking they would say that they do not worship the idols themselves but what they believe to be the presence of God through the idols that doesn't make it any better I'm just I'm just trying to distinguish what they would say and in fact if you go to Hinduism today.com they would say this says this right on their website quote Hindus do not worship a stone or metal Idol as God we worship God through the image we invoke the presence of God from the higher unseen worlds into the image so that we can commune with him and receive His blessings okay well that that doesn't clear it up for me in fact that makes it even worse because the idea of invoking a spiritual presence from the unseen worlds into an image is not just idolatry that's demonic idolatry and so we need to pray for Hindus we need to love induce but but that's that's misguided that is idolatry any way you slice it now of course in our educated Western world we would never bow down to some inanimate object that's beneath us our form of idolatry is much more sophisticated than that we buy expensive toys and then we completely ignore God while we devote ourselves to the god of materialism or we seek addictive pleasure with the god of sex or alcohol or drugs or our time is consumed by the god of technology right click on the back of your phones it's an apple with a bite taken out of it any coincidence I don't think so we even tend to make people gods we idolize people idolatry is in the heart of every one of us at some level competing with God for our time attention love and devotion it might be a more sophisticated form of idolatry but please hear me on this it is no less offensive to God than the idolatry of other world religions Paul said in Colossians 3:5 that covetousness is idolatry did you know that when you lust after covet when you want what someone else has that that's called idolatry in the Bible why because covetousness drains our contentment in Christ whenever we are looking at what we don't have wishing to have what someone else has it robs us of our contentment in Christ it's idolatry it's covetousness Paul simply put it this way in first Corinthians 10:14 he said therefore my beloved flee from idolatry so this is a New Testament thing not just Old Testament in fact John the Apostle would write in first John 5:21 keep yourselves from idols so we have to be very careful what are the things that compete in our hearts for affection and devotion that should be unto the Lord that have captured our own hearts instead I've talked about idolatry often through our study through the Bible because it's all through the Bible so how can you avoid the topic but I had somebody come up to me one time when I was talking on the subject of idolatry between services it it was tongue-in-cheek I know but the person came up to me and they said you know all this talk about idolatry and you point out different things that are idols but I have yet to hear you talk about the idolatry of Krispy Kreme mm-hm because if you're new to Cornerstone I love Krispy Kreme and so this person was like yeah I noticed you never have Krispy Kreme on the list I said here's the reason why you need to understand it's not an idle because I don't know anybody who destroys an idle and if you bring me a box of those little idols I will destroy every single one of them within minutes it's not an idol because I destroy them number two is complacency idolatry complacency look in your Bibles chapter 1 verse 12 and it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps look at how God is growing too much effort to to seek out and punish the men who are settled in complacency who say in their heart the Lord will not do good nor will he do evil so complacency as mentioned there in verse 12 circle that word in your Bibles Zephaniah calls out this lazy apathetic attitude toward God among God's people they are detached they are unconcerned they are disengaged and because of that they justify because they think that's the way God is that's why they say there at the end of verse 12 well the Lord will not do good nor will he do evil you know God God's not concerned about anything either why should we be in the NIV it says the Lord will do nothing either good or bad so that's how they were justified in their own lives well God's not going to do anything about anything so why should we why should we care about spiritual things why should we care about communing with God worshiping him honoring him living for him and so they were complacent they had checked out spiritually they didn't care about their walk with God they were lazy opulent idle and indifferent the new American Standard Version instead of saying complacent it says they were stagnant in spirit I like that they were stagnant in spirit you know it's easy to happen we can get stagnant in our walk with God we can become complacent in our walk with God life presses in we get busy we get tired we get preoccupied with a lot of other things and so we end up kind of putting God on a shelf and we only bring him down when we need him and the thing that usually jolts us out of complacency is a crisis that's when we get real serious ever notice that in your life you can be you can be just kind of coasting very complacent very just kind of unconcerned about God and then all of a sudden you you hit a bump in the road and now you're really crying out for the Lord and that's exactly what God uses here to jolt his own people out of their complacency he's going to he's going to bring distress he's going to bring distress in the form of the Babylonian army and they're gonna come and they're gonna besieged Jerusalem and Zephaniah is sent 25 years in advance to warn the people God's judgment is coming the day of the Lord is coming the day of the Lord is coming and so he gives warning because God is going to bring distress upon them look here in your Bibles chapter 1 verse 14 to 18 verse 14 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 your money won't 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 God says your idolatry and your complacency are going to destroy you so I will bring distress upon the land to jolt you out of your idolatry and out of your complacency now it's interesting we're not going to read it but you can write in the margin of your Bible right next to those verses I just read there you can write revelation 6 verses 12 to 17 revelation 6 verse 12 to 17 those verses are very similar in language to what we just read here in Zephaniah 1:14 to 18 it's very similar to revelation 6:12 2:17 which tells us this and this is a true statement for most of the prophets in the Old Testament whenever they would prophesy not always but often they would have a dual meaning what the Prophet said applied in the near term and in the distant future it often had two applications the near and the far so in Zephaniah stay he's talking here about the judgment that's coming in the form of the Babylonians you people need to get right with God or you're gonna see the distress coming in the form of the Babylonian army but in revelation 6 it's speaking of the Tribulation Period that is going to come upon the earth language is very similar so Zephaniah was prophesying both near and far because God tells us in revelation 6 that upon a god forsaking christ-rejecting world he's going to bring similar distress called the tribulation it's gonna happen it's coming so what is happening here in Zephaniah is a microcosm of the tribulation that's going to happen upon the earth in a day that is to come so you can go home and read revelation 6 because it is a warning to us that we likewise need to get right with God before his judgment comes now all of this book here has a lot of Wrath in it and judgment and destruction because of idolatry and complacency and if that's where the book ended it would be pretty depressing but that's not where the book ends and in relation to us this much should give us hope as well I'm going to share two last passages with you very quickly if you go to chapter 2 I'm going to read again the verses I read at the top of our study because F and I had closes this book by telling us two important things our Redemption and God's rejoicing our Redemption and God's rejoicing in chapter 2 verse 1 gather yourselves together yes gather together o undesirable nation before circle that word it's going to be repeated two more times 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 see righteousness seek humility it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger notice three times in three verses actually three times in just one verse verse two the word before is mentioned here because God sends F an ayah 25 years before the Babylonians come to warn them you know sometimes we can read our Bibles and we think God seems to be a little harsh in the Old Testament doesn't he I mean you know there's a lot of wrath there's a lot of judgment there there's a lot of bloodshed here but what you need to always understand is that God gives fair warning every single time every single time 25 years before the Babylonians come he sends F&I to warn them before this happens before this happens before this happens get right with God and then if you get right with God it maybe this is the end of verse 3 it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger it's a play on words do you remember at the top of our study I showed you what the Zephaniah name means in Hebrew Zephaniah means the Lord hides the Lord hides it's a play on his own name he says if you get right with God before the day of his judgement you will be hidden in him you will be hidden you will be sheltered from the coming wrath you will be able to avoid the judgment of God if you get right with him before his judgment comes he will hide you he will protect you he will shelter you from his judgment isn't this what we see in the Bible at different times for example the story of lot lot that his family were rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah before the judgment of God came upon those twin cities Noah and his family were rescued before the flood came upon the earth the same is true in the day of the tribulation that is coming the Bible teaches that we will be rescued before the great and dreadful day of the Lord and the fact of the matter is that it is true for every single of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are hidden in Christ and kept from the wrath of God why because Jesus took on the wrath of God intended for us though he had committed no sin he dies in a cross and he takes the punishment intended for us because of our sin therefore Paul writes in Colossians 3 verse 3 you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God Amen that's what God does for us he wants none to perish no not one he wants to hide us in Christ in his son he wants to shelter us from his judgment he gave the people fair warning of the day of Zephaniah he gives us very warning we don't have to suffer the judgment of God if we turn before we die if we turn before he comes again if we get right now with God we are hidden with him in Christ Colossians 3 verse 3 this is God's mercy towards us but as if that's not enough Zephaniah adds one more thing I want to show you in chapter 3 go to chapter 3 about how God actually rejoices over us this is a very unique verse in all of the Bible I want to point it out to you starting in verse 14 of chapter 3 and then we'll close chapter 3 verse 14 sing o daughter of Zion shout o Israel be glad and rejoice with all your heart o daughter of Jerusalem see now he's looking ahead to the time when God's people get right with God verse 15 the Lord has taken away your judgments why because now you're hidden with him he has cast out your enemy the king of Israel the Lord is in your midst you shall see you shall see disaster no more in that day it shall be said to Jerusalem do not fear Zion let not your hands be weak look at verse 17 this is a great verse actually I'm going to put it up on the screen as well the Lord your God in your midst the Mighty One will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will cry you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing with singing I don't know if you've ever thought about if you ever contemplated the idea about God singing or what makes God sing but the answer is you do you actually make God sing when you come to him humble and broken and contrite and you surrender your life to Jesus he rejoices over you with gladness he quiets you with his love he rejoices over you with singing imagine this the creator of the universe has a song about you now some of you might say well that's probably just figurative isn't it Pastor G I don't think it's figurative what Zephaniah is saying to us is that redeemed people bring so much joy to God that he expresses his emotion concerning his love for us with a song now he's not singing because of what we've done he is singing because of what his son Christ has done in giving his life for us that it might mend the broken relationship that we have with God so that by the death and sacrifice of Christ we might have once again mutual relationship with the creator of the universe and this is why God sings now some of you your perception of God is scary and don't misunderstand he is a holy and righteous God I get that he is just and perfect in all his ways but some of you need to have an understanding that God is also a God of mercy grace love and compassion who actually received over his redeemed people that's how much God is in love with you and whenever the enemy tries to play games in your head by trying to make you think that God could never love you God could never forgive you all the stuff that you've done all this and all that you're just a miserable broken person you're just trash the next time that the enemy reminds you oh and tries to make you think you're just trash you you remember that God is always in the recycling business and that he takes lives and he redeems lives and he restores lives and he rejoices over lives of his children who have been redeemed by the blood of his son Jesus Christ father we thank you for your word and while we need to search our hearts for idolatry and complacency we do if there be those sins in our lives we need to rid ourselves of those things we need to constantly be looking at different idols that come in different forms those things that compete for our time and attention and devotion with you and we need to renounce those things as sin then we need to wake up if we're complacent if we have just kind of coasted for a while and we've been stagnant in spirit we need to wake up we need to draw near to you we need to get right with you before the judgment of God but Lord how we thank you that you end this book on such an uplifting reminder to us that when we come to you you hide us from your wrath we are hidden in Christ Colossians 3:3 from the coming judgment and wrath of God because of what Jesus has done for us and that you is the creator of the universe actually sing over us you rejoice over your redeemed people because of what Christ has done for us to bring us into relationship with you so lord the next time that we believe the lies that we are unforgivable and on an unloved by you may we remember the words of Zephaniah that you rejoice over us with gladness and you quiet us with your love and you rejoice over us with singing to God be the glory thank you Lord in Jesus name and all God's people said

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, cornerstone connection radio, great sermons by great preachers, Cornerstone Connection, The book of zephaniah, When God Sings, Zephaniah: When God sings over you, the book of zephaniah explained, Zephaniah 1-3, What does it mean for God to sing over me, sermons on zephaniah, Overview: Zephaniah, Are you ready for God's judgment, Are you ready for judgment day

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Length: 37min 42sec (2262 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 10 2020