 Well, tonight we're in chapter 2 of Zephaniah. And so I'll begin reading at verse 1 in Zephaniah chapter 2. I'll read to verse 3. I'll give you an introduction and remind you of some of the things that we've seen that has led up to this particular portion of Scripture. And so we'll begin here in Zephaniah at chapter 2 with verse 1, reading to verse 3. Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, oh undesirable nation. Before the decree is issued, before 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. Now in our introduction I mentioned to you that Israel, as a nation, had a long history of idolatry. By the time of the writing of the book of Zephaniah, God was judging the nation it was called Judah at that time. In Zephaniah, as we know, as I was sharing with you last time, Zephaniah was a prophet who prophesied during the time of the boy king Josiah. And so the dates of this book are 640 to 612 or so BC. I shared also with you that his father's name was Ammon. He was the son of a man by the name of King Manasseh. And when you read in your Old Testament, you discover that Manasseh was an extremely evil king, as was his son Ammon. Ammon was so evil, he practiced idolatry, and his servants actually assassinated him in his own house. And so when Ammon was assassinated, his son Josiah became king. And Josiah, when he became king, was 8 years old. Now Judah had as a nation practiced idolatry, and God had said that he was going to bring judgment upon them. But he also had said that he would spare King Josiah from seeing the judgment. But the judgment of God is certain. In 2 Kings 22 verses 16 and 17, we read, Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants. All the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched. And so judgment is coming, and it will take place in the near future. We know that Judah suffered under Babylon, but the picture that we have of judgment is not simply of the judgment that will be in their day. But as I've been mentioning to you, by using the term the day of the Lord, it was speaking of the future judgment that would take place upon all the earth. Now Judah is going to suffer under Babylon, but this judgment that we're looking at is greater than local judgment. It's a picture of worldwide judgment that is to come. Again, it's the day of the Lord. Remember in chapter 1 in verses 2 and 3 how it says there, I will utterly consume all things 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 the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land, says the Lord. So he's not speaking just of a judgment that is coming on Judah alone, but this is also foretelling the judgment that God is going to bring on the entire face of the earth. And so what we have here in chapter 2 is a picture of God who is judging the world. Now as he begins to speak in verses 1 through 3, this is being actually directed towards Judah. And so when he says in verse 1 of chapter 2, gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, oh undesirable nation, the Lord is speaking concerning Judah. And what he begins with here is a call to repentance. See, he tells them to come together. He says gather together, gather yourselves together. He tells them come together as a people. And when he says gather together or come together, this is a picture of what would be called a religious assembly. And he's saying as a group of people assemble together in what would be a religious center so that you might cry out for mercy. You see, if you humble yourself before the Lord, perhaps he will turn away from bringing judgment. Another Old Testament prophet by the name of Habakkuk says in chapter 3 verse 2, oh Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid, oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. And then he says something that is very memorable in wrath. He says in wrath, remember mercy. And so this is a cry like that. He's saying gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, oh undesirable nation, before the decree is issued, before 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. Be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. So he's saying assemble together, cry out to God and ask for mercy. Now notice what he calls them. In verse 1 he calls them an undesirable nation. Now that's an interesting way to speak to them. It's not that he doesn't love them, but here it is, it's what they're doing has made them repugnant to him. What they have done has made them undesirable. It's not that God doesn't love them. God does have a love, of course, for the nation. But what they're doing has made God upset with them to the fact that they've become repulsive to him. You see, their sin of idolatry has produced a callous heart. And they're so calloused in their sin that they're insensitive to how deeply offensive their idolatry actually is. There are people who are in sin so deeply and it's so real to them and it's so much what they are and it's what they say others have to accept them for being that they fail to realize how deeply repulsive their behavior, their sin actually is. And they get mad at you because you don't accept them for the way they are. But the way they are is repulsive. The way they are causes you to have disgust in your heart because of what they're doing and how they're doing the things that they do. These people have been into idolatry and God is simply saying to them, you are undesirable. Your sin has made you offensive to me. In the book of Isaiah chapter 47 verses 9 through 11, it says, these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries for the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. You've said in your heart, I am. There's no one else besides me. Therefore evil shall come upon you. You shall not know where it arises. Trouble shall fall upon you. You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly which you shall not know. And so you're saying within yourself, nothing's going to happen. There's no problem. But the problem is your wisdom and knowledge have warped you. There's no one else besides me. The sin. The sin that they're dealing with is habitual and they're dead to shame and they have no sense of decency. Dead to shame. No sense of decency. You know, when we have parades that are intended to glorify sins, you'll see all the apparent festivity of that parade and all. But you don't see what's really going on during that parade. There are things that take place during what are called the gay pride parades that are so profane and offensive that they could not be put on television for you to see. I have happened to see some of the video that has been taken at some of these parades and I won't even repeat what I've seen. But it's very offensive and it's very filthy. And yet, you'll never know that because the way it's presented will never give to you any insight into that. That's what happens with sin. It becomes so normal that your heart becomes very callous and ultimately you'll say there's nothing wrong with me and you create certain arguments to justify it and all of that is simply going to keep you in the bondage to it and that's why the Lord would say your wisdom and knowledge warped you. There has always been sin and an intellectual who will defend it. And that's what we have here. The Lord is speaking to this nation. Your sin is habitual and you're dead to shame. You have no sense of decency. Again, our society that we live in has sin and is shameless in it. We have accepted sin as normal and even preferable and again we have intellectuals who defend it as a right. We encourage people to live a moral and righteous life but when we do we are painted as hypocrites and we are painted as fanatics. And when we stand up and say that way a way that pleases the Lord what happens is our voices are ridiculed, our intelligence is questioned and sin is normalized. In Isaiah in chapter 5 verses 20 through 23 it says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes that drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks will acquit the guilty for a bribe but deny justice to the innocent. And so those days that were during the time of Isaiah later on in the day of Zephaniah are sins that we find ourselves still dealing with today. And so he says in verse 2 before the decree is issued before the day passes like chaff before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you seek the Lord. In 2nd Chronicles in chapter 7 verse 14 God said it like this. He said, If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. You see Zephaniah has a sense of urgency in his words. He's saying do this before it's too late. Do this before judgment comes upon you. Now this kind of urgency has a tendency of being ignored. You can say that today. You can say to people you need to turn from your wicked ways. You need to turn to the Lord. God will forgive you. He is abundant in mercy. He's quick to pardon. And people don't want to hear it. They don't want to listen to the thing that you have to say. That kind of urgency is actually ridiculed and mocked and very often simply ignored even as it was all the way back when we begin to read our Bibles in the days of Noah. When you read concerning Noah Genesis, the Bible tells us that Noah was about 480 years old when God told him to build the ark. You see that in Genesis chapter 6 verse 3 and he was 600 when it flooded. That's chapter 7 verse 6. And so for 120 years this man was building an ark and preaching to the people that God's judgment was coming. Can you imagine? I mean we don't have a grasp of that because when we start using numbers like 480 years old when it began and 600 when the flood came we say, oh come on please. I mean you've seen this guy was 600 years old and all. And so people begin to argue about the age of Noah etc. But the bottom line is is during that day because Earth was under better conditions people had longevity. They were closer to Adam and Eve in terms of when they were born and all they lived longer and over time their span was reduced to like the Psalmist says if they by strength can live up to 70 or 80 years. And that became a sign that you were growing old eventually. But at the beginning they lived a lot longer and so he preached and he preached the righteousness and he did so for 120 years in a place and in time where there was no rain. And so you can imagine what it would have been like for him as he was working on this ark and it was a huge boat. I mean it's 450 feet long. It was 75 feet wide and it was 45 feet high. That's a huge ship. And his neighbors undoubtedly would question him as to what he was doing and why he was doing that. And he was sharing with them concerning the fact that God was bringing judgment. And the Bible makes it very clear that this is a man that nobody listened to because ultimately 1 Peter 3 verse 20 tells us there were eight people who were saved in a world that was filled and very populated. Only eight people listened to him as he warned them. He said the warning of coming judgment is something you see from the beginning all the way in the time of Noah and even in the time of Christ when Jesus began to prepare us for it. It's interesting how when Jesus was speaking concerning a coming judgment he used Noah as an example. In Matthew 24 verses 37 through 18 Jesus said as the days of Noah were so also will be, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. And so the bottom line Jesus is simply saying that people will continue living life as is even though there will be warnings and even though there will be people saying even as Zephaniah is saying here with urgency get right with God. And what's going to happen is they will be ignored. And we even to this day when we share with people you need to get right with the Lord. Sometimes if not often we the church are ignored also. So there's an urgency here. There's an urgency he says verse 2 again before the decree was issued before 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. He said 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. And so seek the Lord. Now the short term called obviously to those of Judah that there would be a godly remnant in the sea of unrighteousness. And he's saying to them seek righteousness. When he says seek righteousness this is simply another way of saying guard the way that you live. When he says seek humility he's saying resist being lifted up with pride and arrogance. Humble yourself. Humbly seek righteousness. Humbly seek humility. Because humbly seeking righteousness and humility is the outward emblem of one who seek in the Lord. When you look at your Bible and you see the man named Paul we call the apostle Paul. If there was anybody who ever had the ability to boast about accomplishments it would have been the apostle Paul. There's never been another man in history that made the kinds of missionary journeys and had the kind of impact that he had during his life. And Paul could have been somebody who boasted of all the things that he was able to accomplish. He traveled the world that he knew of that day to proclaim the message of the gospel. As a matter of fact he said he made it his aim to take the name of Jesus Christ and to proclaim it where nobody had ever heard it. And so that's what he did with all of his strength to the day that he ultimately lost his head there through martyrdom. And when Paul would speak concerning his accomplishments he never boasted in the things that he had accomplished. The only thing that you see him ever boasting is his infirmity or his weakness. What he did is he humbly understood who he is and how God was working through him. He said in 1 Corinthians 9 16, when I preach the gospel I cannot boast for I am compelled to preach. Then he went on to say, one to me if I don't preach the gospel in Psalm 34 verse 2 the Bible says my soul shall make its boast in the Lord the humble shall hear of it and be glad. So humbly seeking righteousness and humbly seeking the humility is an outward emblem of a person who is seeking the Lord. And that's why he says in verse 3 seek the Lord all you meek of the earth who have appalled his justice seek righteousness. So in verse 3 it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Well, when he says it may be that you'll be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. First, when the immediate judgment comes some of those who are in Judah will be spared. We read the Bible and we look at history. We know that the king of Babylon came Nebuchadnezzar and as he had three he took people with him captive but he left some of the inhabitants of the land behind. And so some of those who were left behind and were not taken into captive very well could have been those that are being referred to here. But there is also a second application which would be the future judgment called the tribulation. Now notice how it says again in verse 3 seek the Lord all you meek of the earth who have upheld his justice seek righteousness, seek humility it may be that you'll be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. You know, when you when you consider what the Scriptures say concerning this period called the tribulation and you begin to look in Revelation chapter 6 through 19 and you see the various judgments that come and you see that they escalate as the judgments come and begin to read Old Testament you'll see that when the judgments happen during the tribulation that Israel is devastated in the Old Testament book of Zechariah chapter 13 verses 8 and 9 we read in the whole land declares the Lord two thirds will be struck down and perish yet one third will be left in it this third I will bring into the fire I will refine them like silver test them like gold they will call on my name and I will answer them I will say they are my people they will say the Lord is our God and so during the time when Nebuchadnezzar came in which was shortly after the writing of Zephaniah there were people who were left behind in the land and undoubtedly they could be the ones that are being referred to when it says it may be that you'll be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger look at the tribulation period because this has its fulfillment in that the day of the Lord Zechariah makes it very clear that a third of the people do make it through that fire so he's been speaking in verses 1 through 3 to the southern kingdom called Judah but now in verses 4 following he speaks to the world in verses 4 verses 4 through 7 he says Gaza shall be forsaken Ashkelon desolate they shall drive out Ashdod at Noonday and Ekron shall be uprooted woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast the nation of the Carithites the word of the Lord is against you Canaan land of the Philistines I will destroy you so there shall be no inhabitant the sea coast 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 and so he begins to speak here concerning the judgment of the world and he says he's not only going to judge Israel he's also going to judge all mankind what you're going to notice when he begins to bring judgments is it's going to be like judgment against the Philistines here in these verses that would represent the west but you're going to see that he's going to bring judgment against Moab and Amon which represents the east then you're going to see that he's going to be bringing judgment against Ethiopia representing the south and then he's going to judge Assyria which represents the north and so it's speaking concerning judgment that is going to take place throughout the world he's not just judging in other words the nation of Israel he's going to bring judgment to the world now when he begins here in verse 4 and speaks concerning these cities if you look at verse 4 and 5 and all but in that passage that I just read Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod Ekron in verse 4 those were all major cities of a region called Philistia it's where the Philistines lived at the time of the writing there was a fifth city by the name of Gath they had actually five major cities and they the place called Gath was under the control of Judah at that time and so they didn't have any power and all now when you read about the Philistines we use the term Philistine to this day you probably don't use it but there are those who do on occasion they used to use it more frequently than now because now people aren't as biblically literate as they used to be if they wanted to say somebody was a real heathen they'd say he's a Philistine that's what they'd say that guy's a real Philistine is how they said it and it was a way of speaking about them as being just a real sinful person who are these Philistines because you read about them in the Bible you see them all the way in the book of Genesis being spoken of in what is called the table of nations and you see them several times heavy role for a long time in the nation of Israel who were these Philistines while the word Philistine literally is migrant or immigrant that's what the word means and when you look in history the Philistines were an aggressive warmongering people who occupied part of southwest Israel between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River it is thought that the Philistines originated in Capthor which is the Hebrew name for the island of Crete and speaks of the whole what is called the Aegean region because of their maritime history the Philistines are often associated with the sea people the Old Testament indicates that the Philistines worshiped three gods they worshiped Astorit, Be'alzebub and a god by the name of Dagon now when you read your Bible you see those names Be'alzebub and Astorot Astorot is also called the starting fertility goddesses but Dagon is an interesting god because Dagon was portrayed as a half man and half fish and the reason that he was half man and half fish is stated is because the Philistines were a seafaring people who applied their trade on the oceans and thus they would worship a deity that represented both land and sea and this is an interesting story that takes place in 1 Samuel chapter 5 how the Philistines had captured the Ark of God and they put it in their temple it's called the Temple of Dagon and what they had done is they brought the Ark of God and placed it before Dagon in order that they might show that their god Dagon had defeated the Jewish god that was represented by the Ark because again remember idolatry the idolaters would carve out figures of the god that they worship but the children of Israel had received the command that they are to have no graven images and so what they had was the Ark of the Covenant where God had said to the nation I will meet with you there and that will be where my presence is but you have no idols there were no images and all and so when the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant they took the Ark of the Covenant the Temple of Dagon now during that time they had the god of the lands and so different places had different gods that they would actually worship and so if I represented one country against Israel Israel's god would be who they fought for but I would be fighting for my god and if I was victorious in my battle I would be saying my god gave me victory over your god and so as an emblem of that they took the Ark of the Covenant which they believed demonstrated that the god Dagon had defeated the god of Israel and they put the Ark of the Covenant and the temple in front of Dagon so they came in the next day and Dagon this Vish God statue was on its face before the Ark of the Covenant and so they are kind of reeked over it and they say wow and they lift him back up and they don't know how that happened and the next day they come in again this time Dagon's head and hands are cut off and so they say we've messed with the wrong god and they take the god they take the Ark of the Covenant they say we have greatly offended the god of Israel we've got to get this god out of here because god broke out upon them and they began to have tumors and which many commentators say were hemorrhoids and so they were in great discomfort and they wanted to get this Ark out and so they got two milk cows and got a cart put the Ark of the Covenant on the cart and the milk cows left and as they left they walked right into the region of the Israelites the Israelites had the Ark return to them slaughtered the cows as an offering to the Lord and that's an interesting story that you see in 1 Samuel chapter 5 now these ballistines were pagans and so the Lord God is speaking about judgment against them and that's why in verse 4 he says which is a city a major city they shall drive out Ashtad the third city and Ekran shall be uprooted now when it says they shall drive out Ashtad at noonday that may not be significant to you when you first read it but during that time they actually would take siestas from noon to two because of the heat so what he's actually saying here your destruction is going to come and take you when you're not prepared for it it's going to come sudden and unexpectedly and so he's pointing out that the Lord is going to bring judgment in a moment that they're not expecting and so he says Ekran shall be uprooted verse 5 woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast the nation of the kerathites the word kerathites is also in reference to the phallistines the word of the Lord is against you I will destroy you so there shall be no inhabitant the sea coast shall be pastures with shelters for shepherds folds for flocks the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah they shall feed their flocks there and the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening for the Lord the God will intervene for them and return their captives and so he's making it very clear that they are going to be judged and ultimately he's saying to them they will cease to exist it's interesting when you note these ancient people phallistines being the first one there are no phallistines anymore other than using it as an image for somebody who's a pagan they all were destroyed even as the Lord said and ultimately what happened it says in verse 6 the sea coast will be pastures with shelters and so they were displaced and the area remained uninhabited for almost 1900 years when it says in verse 7 the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah there would be Jewish settlers in that area who were feeding their flocks now that occurred a while back but this is another picture of what will ultimately take place in the future at the end of the tribulation or the day of the Lord Israel will once again inhabit that area in peace that is the place that is referred to today as the Gaza Strip and so that is a place that one day will be a place of peace where Israel once again is lodging now in verse 8 I have heard the reproach of Moab the violings 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 the people of Ammon like Amorah 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 each one from his place indeed all the shores of the nation so this is a judgment against the east pictured as Moab and Ammon Moab and Ammon are in what is the southern Jordan this is across the Jordan river this land that is being spoken of now notice how he says in verse 8 I have heard the reproach of Moab and the revilings of the people of Ammon these people are being judged because they reviled they reproached they made arrogant threats against the Jews when you look in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel 25 verses 2 and 3 it says son of man against the Ammonites prophesy against them say to the Ammonites hear the word of the Lord God thus says the Lord God because you said against my sanctuary when it was profaned and against the land of Israel when it was desolate against the house of Judah when they went into captivity set your face against them because I'm going to judge them because of how they treated my people he says in Ezekiel 25 verse 11 now this particular prophecy has been fulfilled in the past when the Jews returned from captivity now when it says in verse 10 this they shall have for their pride because they have reproached and made arrogant threats their their threats and statements and arrogance was taken personally by God he's dealing with them because when these people were mocking God's children God took it personally you remember the story of Saul of Tarsus how he was breathing out threatening against those who were followers of Christ and how that he had gotten authority letters of authority so that he could go to Damascus should he encounter any who were Christians he had the authority to put him in chains bring him back to Jerusalem to try him as heretics so that they might be executed and as he was on the road to Damascus you see it in the book of Acts chapter 9 as he was on the road to Damascus there was a sudden bright light in the sky he was blinded he fell off the beast that he was riding and a voice spoke to him and said Saul Saul why do you persecute me and Saul said who is it Lord that I'm persecuting and then the response was I am Jesus what's interesting is when you look at it he was breathing out threatening for those who were followers of Christ but Jesus took it personally Jesus took the persecution against his children in a personal way that's why he said you are persecuting me it's hard to kick against the prods why are you resisting and why are you persecuting me but I'm not persecuting you I'm taking these heathens these infidels these heretics and I'm trying them for their blasphemy he says no when you are persecuting them you are persecuting me it's the same attitude that God has here when he's speaking to Aminan and to Moab Jeremiah 48-42 says Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord now in verse 11 the Lord will be awesome to them for he will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth people shall worship him each one from his place indeed all the shores of the nation I've said this before every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father that's the message of the gospel one of the things that that people today who don't know the claims of Christ and like to simply put Jesus' teachings on the same level in the same plane as other religious leaders in the past one of the problems they have is the fact that Jesus Christ did not declare himself to be equal to any other Jesus never said I'm one of many he never said that I'm one for just the Jews he never said I'm just one at this time this period of history for this particular Mediterranean location but in a few hundred years after me there'll be another who rises up and this person will bring some truth for the Arab nations he never said anything like that when Jesus Christ is here on the face of the earth he made it very clear to us they were to take this truth called the gospel he said and to proclaim it throughout the entire world and to make disciples he said teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you and I am with you always even until the end of the age and so from that point on in Jerusalem in the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon those hundred and twenty who were there in that upper room and they spilled out of that room and they began to speak with unlearned languages the mighty works of God and caused people to gather around and to see the nations a variety of nations 16, 17 nations are listed there in Acts chapter 2 they came and began to mock them all these people are filled with new wine the apostle Peter who is filled with the Holy Spirit stands up and says men of Israel we are not drunken as you should suppose it's too early in the morning the bars aren't even open yet but this is that which was spoken of by Joel the prophet who said in the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and he began to speak concerning that event that God had promised in the Old Testament called the baptism of the Holy Spirit the work that God had prophesied in the Old that Jesus spoke about in the New if you ever want to read concerning the longest that Jesus ever speaks concerning the Holy Spirit all you need to do is read John 14, 15, 16 and into chapter 17 and he gives a very thorough teaching of the work of the comforter who is to come and so Jesus says you need to tarry Jerusalem until you receive power from on high and the 120 are there waiting in prayer in anticipation and the day of Pentecost fully arrives and they are baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit they flood out of that room and they who had been afraid of the Jewish authorities they who had hidden in fear because of the Jewish authorities they were afraid that they would be incarcerated and put to death even as their master had are now baptized in the Holy Spirit they come out of that room and they are now going to take this message called the gospel to Jerusalem Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth and that's what Jesus said he said you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth you see so the Christian faith is not a faith that is selected because while we're in the United States and there are a lot of people who profess to be Christians lots of churches in cities every city has a multitude of churches and all and we're a Christian nation and all it isn't just an American religion it isn't just a religion that was intended for Jerusalem, Jesus said take it to the whole world and that's what's been going on for 2,000 years and he intends us to take this out and he intends us to speak it why? because it's at the name of Jesus Christ that salvation is granted it's because every knee will bow and the tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord that includes every knee that includes Mohammed that includes Buddha that includes Sigmund Freud he's probably going to say you're a figment of my imagination but it's very serious Christianity and your Christian faith once you understand it and once you realize the claims it transforms your life it transforms you the way that you think the things that are important the way you view people the way you see eternity the way you make your plans the way you raise your children the way you live in your society the way you work on your job it transforms everything about you everything is transformed because of Jesus Christ that is an extremely important thing to understand and God is blessed the Lord and God is saying people shall worship him each one from his place all the shores of the nation it's going to be all united worshiping and praising God I can hardly wait for that I can hardly wait for that when every voice is singing to the Lord when everybody's heart is filled with love and gratitude and thankfulness I'm looking forward to that I am I'm looking forward to that so much and that's what has motivated me for all these years that's what transformed me from some hippie punk doper to somebody who who cares to somebody who is learning to love for somebody who who wants my children to know Christ somebody who wants my grandchildren to know Jesus Christ somebody who wanted my dad to know Jesus Christ even though my dad would get upset at me for telling him that he was a sinner and needed Christ for my mom to know Jesus it's because I believed it and I still do more now than then we need the Lord because one day we're going to be together and I promise you it'll be so cool and I hope we're together somewhere in heaven and we can say hey you made it you know the bible says Psalm 66 verse 4 everything on earth will worship you you will sing your praises shouting your name in glorious songs in Revelation 15 verse 4 who shall not fear you oh lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested the day is going to come and even as he says the Lord will be awesome to them he will reduce to nothing all the gods are there there'll be no false gods there'll be no idolatry and people will worship him each one from his place indeed all the shores of the nations now he speaks judgment against Ethiopia which represents the south and it's very simple here verse 12 you Ethiopians also you shall be slain by my sword end of story that's basically it Ethiopia represents the south Ethiopia is on the continent of Africa and this is again just revealing for us that the judgment is worldwide it is massive when you look at Ezekiel in chapter 30 verses 4 and 5 it says there a sword will come against Egypt and those who are slaughtered will cover the ground their wealth will be carried away and their foundations destroyed the land of Ethiopia will be ravished Ethiopia, Libya Lydia and Arabia with all their other allies will be destroyed in that war so he speaks concerning judgment against the south and finally judgment against the north against Assyria he will stretch out his hand verse 13 against the north destroy Assyria and make Niva a desolation as dry as the wilderness 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 set in her heart I admit there's none besides me how how has she become a desolation a place for beasts to lie down everyone who passes by her shall hiss and shake his fist judgment against the north Assyria Assyria is modern Iraq Assyria when you read of the nation's history Assyria was a very powerful nation and Assyria was also a nation known for its cruelty the city's capital or the nation's capital was Nineveh when you read the book of Jonah you discover that this particular city had no less than 120,000 inhabitants the city was a place that the Jews had come to not only fear but the Jews had come to hate Nineveh when you read some of the things that are historically preserved for us you see how evil that that place really was it was one by the name of Sennacherib who ruled from 705 to 681 BC and this this one said speaking of prisoners I cut their throats like lambs I cut off their precious lives as one cuts a string like the many waters of a storm I made the contents of their gullets and entrails run down upon the wide earth their hands I cut off Asher Bonapal from 669-626 he ruled during that time describe the treatment of a captured leader this is what he said he said I pierced his chin with my keen hand dagger through his jaw I passed a rope put a dog chain upon him made him occupy a kennel he later boasted of hanging Egyptian corpses on stakes and stripped off their skins and covered the city walls with them cruelty no wonder the prophet Nahum 663 to 612 wrote concerning Nineba in Nahum 3 verse 1 he said woe to the city of blood full of lies full of plunder never without victims in chapter 3 verse 19 you can heal your wound your injury is fatal everyone who hears the news about you claps his hand at your fall for who has not felt your endless cruelty when you look at a map Nineva ancient Ninevas ruins are across from Mosul it's located on the east bank of the Tigris Nineva actually was sacked by the Medes and Persians in 612 BC and what you have here in this picture is a picture of complete ruin and destruction this was a city that was filled with pride and arrogance like he says in verse 15 a rejoicing city that dwelt securely said in her heart I admit there's none beside me I've been up in that area I only spent a couple days up there we have some vets in our church they spent a lot more time there than I ever did but I have been up there and I have seen the desolation to this day that continues to exist how dry it is, how hot it is how barren it is and the Lord was saying that's going to be the way that landscape is going to be it at one time had been a city that was filled with a party in a rejoicing city it was filled with a sense of false security it was a sense of arrogance where it says in verse 13 I admit there's none beside me it's a city that at one time thought that it was the end all the be all of everything it was a city that was filled with pride it was filled with arrogance it was a city that was also filled with cruelty but God said it will be brought to ruin Isaiah 10 verse 12 says and therefore it shall come to pass when the Lord has performed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem that he will say I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his haughty looks and again the ruins of Nineveh exist to this day the area is dry and in many ways is desolate it says that it says in verse 15 second part there how has she become a desolation a place for beasts to light down and the past is by her shall hiss and shake as it is so God brought judgment in the past that judgment is still something we can see to this day because there's judgment that's still resting on certain regions that are even spoken of here but here's something for us as we conclude this chapter God brought judgment on nations in the past but God's word says he will yet judge them in the future we're living in a day and I'll close with this one last encouragement, exhortation word whatever as I'm watching our world I keep telling myself something and maybe some in this room may benefit from this I keep telling myself something it's always darkest in the dawn I believe that the United States are going through a very dark time right now but I haven't given up yet I don't intend to give up on the hope that people can come to know Jesus Christ I'm not overly concerned about the ungodliness of our society to the degree that it bothers me constantly I am more concerned about is the ungodliness in the bride of Christ that the church has fallen asleep at the switch that we have slowly but surely been sucked into this age that we're living in and that many who at one time had been on fire for Christ have gotten caught up with the cares of this world have begun to become choked and non-productive so my prayer is for the church for the church to wake up to actually smell the coffee to actually be aware of the commission is yet to be fulfilled and to actually begin to love the Lord with more commitment than ever before and to love our neighbor and to be active in our serving and sharing and our ministering and our living we can't expect the newspaper to preach the gospel we can't expect the news to want to present Christians in a positive light you can't expect that and shouldn't be surprised when we're presented as being the cause of all the evil I was reading something by an ACLU lawyer representing the LGBT community who said that they believed that the recent massacre at that particular homosexual nightclub in Orlando is really the result of 200 bills that have been presented in the Congress of Florida that were sponsored by conservatives you can read that as by Christians and this lawyer was saying that the real cause of the hatred is coming from believers that the real cause of this rejection and that kind of behavior in terms of gunning people down is the fault of Christians and I have that as a quote I'm going to be sharing it not in here but in a church service I'm doing someplace else but I was mentioning to you the other day that the church has been presented and is being presented as a hate filled organization listen at the beginning of the history of the church I would have asked a Roman in the first century a Roman citizen if you'd have said to the Roman citizen can you tell me what a Christian is the Romans were saying things like behold how they love one another now some of the some of the charges that had been lodged against Christians were that we were idolaters because we only worship one God they were saying that we were religious because we call each other brother and sister and still marry them and that we were haters of mankind because we didn't yield to the persuasions of the day and actually spoke against its evil we were looked at as being bad citizens because we wouldn't burn a pinch of incense in front of the statue of the Caesar we were regarded as being enemies of the state but if you'd have asked somebody what is a Christian the first thing they would have said is they would have said they are people who love one another which is interesting because today if you ask a non-Christian if you ask a non-believer a non-Christian if you said what is a Christian they'd say a Christian is somebody who hates a Christian is somebody who judges somebody who doesn't do certain things and it's interesting how at one time we were known as people who did something we loved we were known as that we were known as people who loved and now we're looked at as people who hate and we have to be careful that we don't march to the to the drum of anger all the time always mad about something where you can say what's he mad about today in the name of Jesus because there's a lot of believers who are just mad all the time I'm sick of this and I'm sick of that we expect unbelievers to be acting like Christians why would I expect that why would I expect them to show me courtesy at a store why would I expect them to wait in line why would I expect them to do those things why would I expect them to do that so we have to be careful that we don't get caught up being mad at everybody all the time because you can waste an entire life always being angry is there a time for anger yes there's a righteous anger that we should have we should be angry over the mass murder of children we should be angry over a variety of things just but that anger ought to provoke us to righteousness to do that which is right before the Lord and to love people and share the truth and be encouraging to them to withstand the sin but to show grace and mercy and love to the sinner is that easy no no not at all you know sometimes we still have pastor I do pray I do pray I was driving the other day and somebody cut me off and kill him no that's not the kind of prayer I'm talking about love one another love God with all your heart this world needs a witness but remember what the world does to good witnesses the world crucifies them don't forget that either but is it worth telling people the truth absolutely it's the truth that sets people free it's the love of Jesus that these people need they already condemn themselves I don't have to list all their sins sometimes you have to mention them because the scripture does they know they're not good they know they're not right they know they need help and what we do is we try and point them to the one who can make them well Jesus Savior great physician healer of our soul lover of us because ultimately amen because ultimately ultimately people shall worship you and it's my desire for as many people as possible to do that