 Here we are in Zephaniah. Let's begin reading at chapter 1, verse 1. I'll read to verse 3 and give you a prolonged introduction, and then get into the message today. Zephaniah, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 3, the word of the Lord, which came to Zephaniah, the son of Kushi, the son of Gadalia, the son of Amoriah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. 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 with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land, says the Lord. What a cheery introduction we have here in the book of Zephaniah. Now, I'll give you a little bit of a background. It's going to take a moment to develop this with you, but it'll help us all to understand the direction of this book and its context. This book here, the book of Zephaniah, was written somewhere between the years 640 to 612 BC. It was written during the reign of a king by the name of Josiah. Josiah was a king who ruled over Judah, and he ruled over Judah from around 640 to 609 BC. When you look into the life of Josiah, Josiah was godly. He ascended the throne of Judah when he was only eight years of age. When you look in the Old Testament book of Second Kings in chapter 22, in verse 2, 2 Kings 22 says that he did what was right in the side of the Lord, walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. He ultimately, as I mentioned a moment ago, reigned in Jerusalem for 31 years, according to 2 Kings, chapter 22. Now, when you look into the life of Josiah, you're going to see that under him, two attempts at reformation in the nation were made. The first one took place when he was 16 years of age. Now, he ascended the throne when he was eight. But the first attempt at reformation came when he was 16, according to 2 Chronicles 34, verses 3 through 7. Those verses tell us that at the age of 16, Josiah tore down the altars of Baal, destroyed pagan incense altars, pulverized the wooden, carved, and molded images, and scattered their dust. He burned the bones of the false prophets on their altars and destroyed the various altars in the land. Now, in his 18th year of his reign, Josiah, used the money that had been brought to the temple in order to repair the damages due to neglect over the years. And so, when the command was given to get the money so the temple could be repaired, the high priest, his name was Hilkiah, said that he found the book of the law. And the book of the law was read to Josiah. Now, when Josiah heard what was written in the law, the Bible tells us that he tore his clothes in grief and repentance. And he saw that the troubles that Judah was enduring was because of disobedience to God. In 2 Kings 22, verse 13, we read, Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. So when he heard the word of the Lord read to him, it provoked him to repentance in grief. Well, the high priest led a delegation to speak to a prophetess whose name was Hilda. And she sent a message to Josiah. She said, God is going to bring judgment upon Jerusalem because of idolatry. But because Josiah was tender towards God and he had humbled himself, Josiah would go to his grave in peace and he was not going to see the calamity that was going to befall Judah. When you get into chapter 23 of 2 Kings, that chapter records that Josiah gathered the priests, the prophets and the people in Jerusalem. And he read to them the words of the covenant and they made a covenant with the Lord. In 2 Kings 23 verse 3, the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all the people took a stand for the covenant. And so you have the priests, you have the prophets and you have the people of Jerusalem as they're hearing the word of the Lord and making an oath to God that they're going to follow after him. Now after that took place, he began to clean house in Judah. He removed the idols that had been placed in the temple and he burned them outside of Jerusalem. He removed the idolatrous priests who had burned incense on high places in Judah. He tore down the booths of, and this is what it says in the New King James as well as the King James, he tore down the booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord. The booths of the perverted persons. The term perverted person is a term that speaks concerning temple prostitutes. There were temple prostitutes in the temple of God in the city of Jerusalem and the temple prostitutes were men who not only had relations with women but also had relations with other men. He tore down pagan altars, he broken pieces sacred pillars and he tore down an altar that had been built by a man by the name of Jeroboam in the city of Bethel. Then he had all the pagan priests executed because they had led the people to sin. And that was according to the law of Moses because the law specifically ordered the elimination of all who led Israel to sin. You see, God had been revealing himself to man and ordering them to obey him and worship him alone. And so he gave a law concerning those who would lead them astray. In Deuteronomy 13, verses one through five, it reads, if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him. Keep his commandments, obey his voice and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. And so in the Old Testament, that's how they dealt with false prophets and under Josiah, they put these false teachers to death. Under Josiah, reform took place and there was an outward change in the nation. But the sad fact is there was only an outward change but there was no permanent change of heart. Zephaniah brings a message that is intended to reinforce the message that judgment is coming. You see God said he would spare Josiah but he also said the people were to be judged. In 2 Kings 22, 16 and 17, thus says the Lord, 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. He went on in chapter 23 verses 25 through 27 to say, before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might and according to all the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him. Nevertheless the Lord did not turn away or did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath with which his anger was aroused against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. The Lord said I will also remove Judah from my sight as I have removed Israel and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen and the house of which I said my name shall be there. In this prophecy he speaks of sins that were rampant before King Josiah had begun to reign. King Manasseh was the most evil king and he reigned for 53 years and he had a son by the name of Ammon and Ammon reigned too and both of them were exceedingly evil and they provoked Judah to sin by encouraging idolatry. Both of them did. So when Josiah began to reign, Judah had become thoroughly idolatrous and did not fully recover. Zephaniah is gonna be writing of the day of the Lord and his judgment on Judah as well as the world and he's gonna say that God will not just deal with Judah but he will also judge the world for its sin. Now, God had future plans and he desired to bring blessings but in the future they're gonna reject him and there would be others who would not. A key verse is gonna be found in the second chapter in Zephaniah chapter two verse three where it says, 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 that's a brief background concerning the context of Zephaniah and so we begin at verse one where it says, Zephaniah chapter one verse one, the word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Kushi, the son of Gdahlia, the son of Amoriah, the son of Hezekiah in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, King of Judah. So this is interesting in that he traces his lineage back four generations all the way back to Hezekiah. More than likely he's speaking of King Hezekiah so that makes Zephaniah the only prophet of royal blood and that granted him easier access to the King, to King Josiah. And so he gives to you his pedigree if you will and then goes right on in to speak in verse two where the Lord says, I will utterly consume all things from the face of the land, says the Lord. I will utterly consume. That word consume simply means to destroy completely. You see in 2 Kings 21 13, it reads, I will stretch over Jerusalem, the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. God had said I'm gonna consume them, I'm gonna destroy you. I am gonna destroy you completely. He's saying I am gonna bring judgment and this judgment will be complete. This is a judgment that I'm bringing that will wipe you out. Now as we go through the book, we're gonna see that it's not just these who are hearing the words during the time of Zephaniah that are gonna be judged because it speaks of God's judgment being worldwide and you'll see that as we go through this book, this small book. So God's judgment is worldwide and so what we'll be seeing is that the day of the Lord is another way of speaking of not simply this period of time that is taking place during Zephaniah, but as a word that is also speaking of and especially speaking of what we call the Great Tribulation that is found in the book of Revelation chapter 6 through 19. We're gonna see that this is speaking profanically in the sense that it applies to these people at this time, but it's complete fulfillment is really a portrait of what's gonna take place in what is called the Great Tribulation. You see God's judgment is spoken of and you'll see this as we go through Zephaniah as basically being worldwide. So Revelation reveals that this time that is referred to as the day of the Lord is actually what we call the Great Tribulation. And in the Great Tribulation, when you read in the book of Revelation, that which is called the Great Tribulation, you see that the Great Tribulation is spoken of from chapters 6 through 19 in the book of Revelation. And in those portions of Scripture, in those chapters, you see that God actually has what are called escalating judgments that he brings upon the unbelieving world. We'll see that, you see that they have the sealed judgments, the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments. And that is what is actually gonna fulfill the picture that we have here when it speaks concerning the day of the Lord and God utterly consumes all things from the face of the land and that's what will be taking place during the time that God brings his worldwide judgment. He says in verse three, 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 that is clearly revealed in various judgments that occur, but especially during the tribulation. When you look in the tribulation period, as mentioned from Revelation 6 through 19, when you look at Revelation chapter six, Revelation six reveals escalating judgments that this is part of what is called the sealed judgments. And you see judgments like war and famine plagues and earthquakes. When you look in Revelation chapters eight and nine, that is another series that is called the trumpet judgments. And verses chapters eight and nine reveal the vegetation is burned, a third of creatures in the sea are poisoned, drinking water is polluted, which kills people, that there are four angels leading 200 million, a 200 million member army that marches and a third of mankind dies in that judgment. And then in Revelation 16, we have the bowl judgments and these bowl judgments produce sores, seas of blood that kill every living creature, the drinking water becomes blood, the sun scorches men with fire, darkness settles on the earth and the world staggers on to a battle called Armageddon. And so when he's speaking in verse two and three here in Zephaniah, it's something that occurs not only during the time of the writing to those who are receiving it, but it's a picture of what's gonna take place in the future that is yet to come. You see, he says in verse three, I will cut off man from the face of the land. Now, when that takes place, you would think that judgments such as that would draw people to repentance. I mean, how much, how long does it take for somebody to realize that God's angry? And I probably ought to say I'm sorry. But when you read the book of Revelation, the Bible tells us in Revelation 16, verse nine, everyone was burned by this blast of heat and they cursed the name of God who sent all of these plagues and they did not repent and give him glory. And so in a prophetic sense, when God is pouring out his wrath on earth, instead of them responding with repentance, they end up continuing being judged. They do not repent and they will not give him glory and God is saying that during this time, again in verse two, I will utterly consume all things from the face of the land and he speaks of consuming man, beast, birds, fish. He said, I'm gonna cut off man from the face of the land, says the Lord. That did not take place during the time of Zephaniah. That will take place in the time that is called the tribulation. In verse four, he says, I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests, those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops, those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom, also known as Molek. Those who have turned back from following the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him. And so he says, Judah and Jerusalem are being singled out for judgment. And now what is it and why is it that they're singled out? What is it that makes them worthy of judgment? And in one word, it's the word idolatry. They were guilty of idolatry. He says in verse four, I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place. Now, when you read your Old Testament, you will read the name Baal. When you go into the New Testament, you also see it as Baal's above, or Beel's above. And so Baal was a Canaanite deity. He was associated with agriculture and was believed to be the giver of life. Mankind was dependent upon him because he provided what was necessary to sustain the farms and the flocks, the herds. And so worship of Baal was rampant. And the worship of Baal included sexual orgies. The word Baal means Lord or Master. The Canaanites believed that Baal was in absolute control over nature and over people. It was he who was in charge of the rain. He was in charge of the weather. And man's survival was dependent upon his provision. And Baal worship entered into the nation of Israel. Now, when you read the book of Judges, it's interesting how that the decline of the nation of Israel is clearly presented. And there are various steps that are outlined that reveal how a nation declines. And not only was that evident in the book of Judges as it pertains to Israel, but let me speak about it for just a moment as it pertains to nations in general. When you look at Judges, and I'm looking forward to teaching Judges because it's a very powerful book, and it's only been about 30 years since I taught it last. So when you look in the book of Judges, you can actually see a pattern. The first step of them descending into idolatry and walking away from God, the first step is simple rejection of faith in God. And then it points out that when you reject faith in God, that leads to moral degradation. And what's interesting is when you reject faith in God and the nation becomes morally degraded, it also points out that there is anarchy politically. And so when a nation steps away from worshiping God and walks away from faith in God, that nation will also inevitably give itself over to sexual promiscuity. And when that nation gives itself over to sexual promiscuity, that nation also develops a political system that enables and allows that to become the new norm. And if we don't see that today, we're doing the same kind of things today here in the United States that the nation of Israel did during the time of Judges, walking away from faith in God, walking away from morality and having our whole political system polluted with a mentality that sin is acceptable and laws that will be written that will cause the person who rejects that law to actually be fined or even put in jail. You can see that kind of spirit in many denominations to this day. Churches that have stopped seeking the Lord and have stopped following the word of God. And what happens is when you begin to walk away from faith in God, the first thing you're gonna walk away from is belief that the word of God is necessary. And when you walk away from the belief that the word of God is necessary, then you're gonna begin to give those things that you think the people desire to hear. And when you begin to give the things that the people desire to hear, you're gonna not say anything to do anything to cause them not to come back unless you'll water down any message you give in order to make the place more accepting, more loving, and as a result of that, instead of having the love of Christ there, you're gonna substitute that with the love of the world. And when the love of the world is there, that there's gonna be all kinds of sin that's acceptable. There was a book that was written a long time ago. Some of you perhaps had a read in one of your history classes. It's called The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. It was written by a man by the name of Edward Gibbon. And this is what he said led to the destruction of the nation of Rome. He said, Rome fell because of the undermining of the sanctity of home and family. Rome fell because of the increasing taxes. The taxes that were levied in order to pay for free bread and entertainment. Rome fell because it was an increasing hunger for pleasure. Rome fell because of the decay of individual responsibility. Rome fell because of the rejection of religion and its power to influence life and provide guidance for the people. Does that sound familiar to anybody in this room? Does that sound like anything we're going through right now? Rome fell this great empire that had a thousand year rule because the home and family was undermined because taxes were increased in order to give away free things and entertain people. It fell because people had an increasing hunger for pleasure. It fell because people no longer took individual responsibility for their behavior. We have that today. It's interesting to me to see that people will very quickly tell you the reason they robbed that bank is because somebody made them do it. Somebody didn't give them enough and they wanted more. And that's the mentality that we have today. The rejection of religion and its influence caused the internal moral barometer of Rome to be short circuited and people began to do things that were right in their own eyes. And we're seeing that right now. You see, what's going on in Zephaniah is saying God is going to judge the nation because the nation has rejected him and has embraced idolatry. And when a nation rejects God and embraces paganism, it also will embrace immorality and anarchy. And the immorality was embodied by Baal and his consort, her name was Astarti. And that replaced the worship of Jehovah in the nation of Israel. Now God is very upset with all of this and he makes the statement in verse four. He says, I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priest with the pagan priest. So he says, I am going to cut off the names of the idolatrous priest. Now when he says the idolatrous priest, the word idolatrous is rather a Hebrew word that is literally translated the black ones. And the reason it's referred to as the black ones is because it spoke of their robes. The robes that they wore were black. And it was speaking concerning the morbidity and the evilness that was characterized by the way that they dressed. You see what they were doing is they had entered into idolatry and had begun to worship the heavens. They began to worship the stars and the moon and the sun. And they began to worship the creation rather than the creator. And that was expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse two. God actually speaks to the nation of Israel that had given itself over to astrology and he says in Isaiah 47, 12 through 14, stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries in which you have labored from your youth. Perhaps you'll be able to profit. Perhaps you will prevail. You are weary in the multitude of your councils. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticator stand up and save you from what shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be as stubble. The fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It shall not be a cold to be warmed by nor a fire to sit before. Go on to your astrologers. Go to those who are charting the stars. Go and speak to them and see if they can save you. And the point he's making is of course they can't. God had forbidden them from worshiping creation. And yet we see a resurgence of nature worship to this day. We're seeing people who are worshiping nature. And another thing that I'm finding interesting in this generation is our concern for animal life seems to be surpassing that of our concern for human life. I mean, who here would say that a gorilla should be shot and killed who is in captivity in a zoo? Well, none of us would say that unless that gorilla is potentially gonna kill a small child. And anybody who has, well, he thinks or she thinks with both sides of the brain is probably gonna think human life is more valuable than animal life. And yet when that gorilla recently was shot because it was in danger of killing a child, you had over 300,000 people signing petitions saying that they thought that was wrong. But how would we as a nation, even though what was right or wrong, we've gotten away from the value of human life anyway. In the same time that one gorilla is being killed and 300,000 people are signing petitions, there are thousands of children worldwide being aborted. And nobody's saying anything about that. We've accepted the death of human life even to the point where we're legalizing euthanasia. We're saying it's okay and as a matter of fact, there's a movie that's out right now that glorifies choices to take your own life and the hopelessness of something like that. And people are moving towards this amorality, this sense of not having a sense of value or worth because they've gotten away from what God declares to be right and what God declares to be wrong. And I'm telling you something and I've said this recently, I'll say it again. You know what's happening right now in the church world and you'll see it if you don't already see it. Anybody who teaches through the whole word of God, the counsel of God, if you take it from A to Z, anybody who does that is gonna start having almost a prophetic style ministry because instead of just saying the things that tickle the ears of the listeners or make them come back, when you get the whole counsel of God from A to Z, you see the blessings as well as the warnings. And when you get the whole counsel that teaches us how to live properly and warns us against living in a way that displeases the Lord. But I guarantee you that that is not popular. You know that and I know it too. Because people wanna say, they say, speak to us pleasant things, speak to us good things. I can remember on one occasion where there was a man by the name of Walter Martin. He's been with the Lord. He died a long time ago. But he was on what would be called a Christian television program. And there was a woman at that time. Her name was Jan Crouch who was speaking to him. And Walter Martin was pretty direct and he was saying things concerning bad doctrine. And Jan did not like it when he did that. And so she said, can't you be more kind when you're speaking? And Walter Martin says, kind? And she says, yeah, can't you be more kind when you're speaking? And Walter Martin says, well, how about this? Woe unto you. And he starts speaking about whitewashed tombs filled with dead men's bones. And he starts going on and on and gone. And his voice is raising and his eyes are almost popping out of his head. And he looks at her and he says, do you know who said that? She says who? He said, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, love in the flesh, made those statements. She says, well, I know he said that, but can't you smile when you say it? I'll never forget that. And that was 20-some years ago. That spirit of accommodation had already begun to enter into the church where people said, prophesy to us happy things. Don't speak to us things that cut to the heart. And so Zephaniah is bringing a word to the people. And he's saying God is bringing judgment because under Josiah you had two movements towards reformation. Some say there was a minor revival, but the outward life of the nation had been changing but the internal life of the people had not. With their mouth they honored God, but their hearts were far from Him. Josiah had been told, you are honorable, you will be spared from what will take place in the nation, but I will not withhold my judgment from the people of that nation. You'll be spared from seeing it, but they will endure it. So, time of judgment during their day that also has application to the future. Now, this is interesting because one, he's saying they worship the heavens, the stars, moon, and the sun. But he goes on to say also those who swear oaths, notice by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom. Milcom is another name for God known as Molech. And Molech was a Canaanite fire deity. And one of the ways to worship Molech was child sacrifice. When you see a statue of Molech, the statues of Molech had a man's body and a bull's head. And very often his arms were outstretched at an angle. And the worshipers of Molech would bring their newborn infants. And in his belly he was made of brass. There was a fire that had been built in his belly. And it was blazing hot. And around Molech would be musicians who would be playing all kinds of loud, discordant music. So it was just loud and distracting. And they were shouting and chanting loudly and singing loudly. As the mother would bring her baby, as the baby would be brought to Molech, and then placed in the arms of this idol, and the baby would roll down the arms, slide down the arms into the belly of Molech, where the fire was. And when that infant hit the fire, that baby's screams were being drowned out by the priests and the worshipers. And this was the way they worshiped because along with the killing of children, which was to guarantee prosperity and fertility, so they'd have other children in the killing of the babies because it was such a gruesome thing, they made a lot of noise to try and drown out the screams of an infant that was being incinerated alive in the belly of this beast. That was Molech worship. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 32-35, they built the high places above all, which are in the valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I commanded them not. Neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. Now this is a very devious form of idolatry. And I want you to see this because it says very clearly here, they swear oaths by the Lord, but also swear by Molech. Interestingly enough, it's the attempt to worship God in the world at the same time. These are people who said, I worship God, but these are also people who served Molech and they were actually doing both. Molech was a God of the flesh and Molech's adherents gave themselves over to fleshly sins. So the people, with their mouth served God, but with their lives, they served Molech. That's in the church today. I forgive me because it sounds like I'm, I don't want to make you think that I don't have hope for the body of Christ or that I don't love the church I do, but as somebody who's been in ministry for a long time, I've seen it. I've seen and heard of those who on a Saturday go out and party and then on a Sunday, on a Sunday, they serve in the children's ministry. I know of a church in New York that has what they call beer and baptisms. So when the baptism takes place, they have an open bar and the people who are coming for the baptism drink their beer and cheer on their friends who are being water baptized and that's looked at as being acceptable. The same church recently, it was posted on YouTube, perhaps some of you might have seen this, the same church had a women's conference where they had, I guess, the different landmarks and things that you associate with the city of New York and so they had someone dressed like the Statue of Liberty and they had some of these little figures that you'll see in Times Square where people get their pictures taken with them and they have somebody there in New York City called the Naked Cowboy. I wonder how many of you have ever even seen or heard of that. I've been to New York many times and they have a guy that called the Naked Cowboy and he's walking around bare-chested and only puts his guitar in front of him and they had one of the assisting pastors, I don't remember if he's the youth pastor or what, but they had him on the stage at a women's conference as the Naked Cowboy. And they're all cheering and excited about this and that's taking place right now. Who in the right mind would argue that that's something honorable or proper? Who in the right mind would say that that honors God? And yet, what we have, even in the Old Testament, is the Lord saying, you on the one hand are making your oaths to God and on the other hand, you're making your oaths to Moloch, you can't have both. That's what Jesus was speaking about when he made it very clear to us in Matthew 6, 24 that no one can serve two masters. He said, you'll hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and money. You make up your mind who you're gonna serve like Joshua said to the children of Israel, choose the day whom you shall serve. Whether it's the God on the other side of the river or whether it's the God who brought you here, he said, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You make the choice. Which one are you gonna serve? And God is saying that you, he's saying to the nation of Israel here, he's saying you are compromisers. On the one hand, saying your oaths to God, on the other hand, making your oaths to Moloch. He says in verse six, those who have turned back from following the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired of him, he speaks of them saying he will judge both the ones who appear to follow him and really don't as a ones who never did. This is all gonna take place, he says in verse four, when I stretch out my hand against Judah. Verse seven, be silent in the presence of the Lord God. For the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has invited his guests. Be silent, he's saying because you have nothing to say. Be silent, he says, because you're in the presence of the Lord. Now this day that's being spoken of, the day of the Lord is yet future. But it's coming, is certain, and man cannot say anything. Interestingly enough, when he says he has invited his guests, these guests are the ones who are drawn to Israel. But in reality, they're the ones that are going to die there. In verse eight, he says it shall be in the day of the Lord's sacrifice that I will punish the princes and the king's children and all such as our clothed with foreign apparel. In the same day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's houses with violence and deceit. No one is going to escape judgment is the point he's making, from the peasant to the prince. Notice how he says in verse nine, in the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's houses. What is he saying there? Well, leaping over the threshold speaks of servants of the rich who eagerly are taking property from the poor. The middle class slowly disappears while the rich get richer. He says, I'm going to punish you for that. In verse 10, he says, and there shall be on that day, it says the Lord, the sound of a mournful cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter and a loud crashing from the hills, wail you inhabitants of Maktish, for all the merchant people are cut down, all those who handle money are cut off. And so on that day, on the day of the Lord, there's going to be the sound of crying and sorrow in Jerusalem. When he speaks concerning the fish gate, for those of you who've been to Israel, this is what is also called today the Damascus Gate. And he's saying basically, any direction that you go and turn to, you will find people wailing and mourning. When he speaks of, in verse 11, the inhabitants of Maktish, Maktish was a marketplace. It was in a valley that ran by the temple. It may have been located near what is called the Western Wall. And he's saying there's going to be sorrow everywhere and everybody will be cut off. In verse 12, it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps 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. Therefore their goods shall become booty and their houses a desolation. They shall build houses but not inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards but not drink their wine. He's saying it's going to come to pass and I'm going to search through Jerusalem with lamps and I'm going to punish them. I'm going to seek you out. Like somebody who has a flashlight looking for something that is hidden. This reminded me of Amos in chapter nine verses one through three where it says, I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, strike the tops of the temple column so hard that the foundation will shake. Smash the column so the roof will crash down on the people below. Then those who survive will be slaughtered in battle. No one will escape. Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, I'll reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I'll bring them down. Even if they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, I'll search them out, capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send a great sea serpent after them to bite and destroy them. In other words, God is saying you could run but you're not going to be able to hide. I'm going to find you. You see, they're living this good life, they're resting unconcerned about pleasing God. They're also thinking they're never going to be judged. They are settled in complacency. It's a dangerous place to be. When I first got saved back in 1970 and early into 1971, coming into a faith of price and all I was going to Calvary Chapel in, and there was this tremendous sense that we need to get out and do the work of the Lord because Jesus is coming any day now, any moment now, Jesus is going to return. And that was poured into us. A lot of people were caught up with prophecy at all at that time and we're looking at the signs of the times and I can still remember the various things. As I began to read the Bible, they said to read the Bible and I did and I was going through the New Testament and I got to Matthew 24 and I began to read concerning earthquakes and pestilences, the various things that were going to take place, wars and rumors of wars. And I can still remember that I was in bed on one night having come home from a Bible study and early in the morning, there was an earthquake that shook everything up. It was February 9th, 1971. And everything, my house that I was in, my parents' house was shaking and I can still remember, I had just heard a Bible study that earthquakes were going to come just before the Lord Jesus returns and I can still remember as I was laying there, I was 20 years old, I was laying in the bed and the house is shaking, it's a massive earthquake and I still remember raising my hands up, saying, oh, come quickly, Lord Jesus. I don't know if I'd do that now, but I did it then. I remember one time, Marie and I were home in bed and all it was early in the morning and our children were very small at that time and an earthquake hit and she had a different response than I did that time long before because when the earthquake hit, all I remember some of you married guys will understand this, is all I remember is that Marie jumped over me. You see, I have an assigned spot in the bed. I was assigned that, I didn't even know I had that. I used to just lay wherever I wanted to, not anymore. I haven't done that for a long time. No, you have on the bed, you have the left side and Marie has the right side and that's just the way it is. I mean, if I want to confuse her, I'll get on the right side. No, that doesn't happen. I have to be on the left side, but anyway, I'm on the left side of the bed and next to me is the doorway that leads to the hallway that leads to the children's room. The children are all small at that time and the earthquake hit and our house was shaking pretty good and I awakened to feel somebody climbing over me. Just went right over me, I hear them hit the ground and run down the hall and then before you know it, there's these kids, my kids, that have all been ushered underneath a door jam and mama hovering over them as I'm laying in bed and so the earthquake ended and she put them back in bed and she climbs in bed next to me and I found my worth that night. I said, you make sure everybody got up and you left me here. She said, you're big enough to get out of bed on your own. Earthquakes, anyway, I'll get back to that. We were taught a long time ago that these were signs of the times, but what you do is you prepare for it and what is happening, I believe, is the theology of the moment and it's been going now for some time, has been get as much as you can here on earth and don't necessarily prepare people for that moment when the Lord takes the church. I was taught to live today as if it's the last day I'll have on the face of the earth because Jesus could come at any moment. I was taught that and I am ready because if I have this hope, as First John 3.3 says, if I have this hope, then what am I to do? I purify myself even as he is pure. The hope of the return of Christ is a purifying hope that should cause us to be active in our pursuit of Christ and seeking the transformation that comes through relationship with him. We are not called to complacency and the Lord is speaking concerning that when he says I will punish the men who are settled in complacency who say in their heart their Lord will not do good nor will he do evil and that's how people think. They're saying God isn't even involved in the equation. There's nothing going on that I should be concerned about. They are what would be called comfortably agnostic. They believe that God does neither good nor will God do anything evil and he says I'm going to deal with you. When he speaks concerning their goods and their houses becoming desolate and they're losing their goods and all of that, the things that you connive to get are going to be taken from you in the same way that you took them from others. He says in 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 loud. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble, distress, devastation, desolation, darkness, gloominess, clouds, thick darkness, a day of trumpet, alarm against the fortified cities, against the high towers. I will bring distress upon men. They shall walk like blind men because they've sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out like dust, 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 its jealousy, for he will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land. The tribulation. After Josiah died, there never arose in the southern kingdom another good king. And judgment will come upon the nation because of their forsaking God. Not to this degree, this obviously is speaking of the day of the Lord. Because when he describes it, in verse 15 begins to describe it, it's described as a day of wrath, trouble, distress, devastation, desolation and all of that. And so the words describe the severity of the judgment that those who reject him will receive. He speaks of it as a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities. During that time, trumpets were sounded when danger was close. But in this case, nothing is going to save them. He says, I will bring distress upon men. They will walk like blind men because they've sinned. Like it says in Isaiah 59-10, we grope for the wall like the blind. We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noon day as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. You see, all that money that they had gathered is useless to save them. As God brings this judgment on the world. Let's close with a couple of thoughts. You wanted all that money, you got all that money, you sat complacently, but judgment came and you weren't prepared. So what mattered? Did your money matter or did your relationship with God really matter? Do relationships matter more than money? And do the proper relationships matter more than the improper ones? What has value? And when we look at it like that, we can say this, what has value in your life? When my mother was still alive, mama went home to be with the Lord three years ago, but when my mom was still alive, she would listen to me, she lived in New Mexico and she would listen to me on the radio. And one day I was sharing and my mom was not slow when it came to telling me what she didn't like about anything I said. My mama had her opinions and she freely gave them away and she gave them to me all the time. Mama's prerogative. And so I had said something on the air that she was bothered by and so when I went to New Mexico to visit her, she was one of these and she would kind of wait until she had opportunity and then she'd share what bothered her and so it was one of those moments and I was seated there with my mom and she said to me, you know, Dave, the other day you were sharing on the radio, she said, I was listening to your church service because she would listen online and you said something. She said that when your father died, she said, you said that the things that he left to you had no value to you because in a study here on a Sunday morning I had said that my dad divided up his worldly possessions amongst his four children but I really didn't want his worldly possessions. Mama didn't listen to the whole statement because all she heard was he didn't want it so she's waiting for me to show up and I did and so she's upset. You said you didn't want your dad's things and I smiled at my mom and I said, Mama, what I said was I wanted my dad, not the things my dad had. That's what I said. What matters to you the most? The things or the person? The things, a lot of people, listen, you can divide humanity, very often it's done into those who like things and those who love people, those who love things and those who use people. It's easy. All you have to do is ask yourself, what is more important to me? What would I rather have? Would I rather have a lot of money? You say, yeah, because I could buy friends. No, would you, sometimes you'll see on television some not very attractive man, older, with a very beautiful woman and you'll say, he must be very rich because on looks alone, he's not gonna have arm candy like that. Very often it turns out he's very wealthy and she invested her life in the wealth. That's a fact, we know that happened. But what matters? This is the most important thing for us as we close this because God is simply saying the things that you acquired over your lifetime that caused you to be at ease, complacently thinking I would do nothing. Those things have lulled you like an opiate into an inability to even see what's going on around you and your judgment is crashing upon you and it's gonna catch you unaware. It is very important for us to put first things first. That's why the Lord in so many different places says the same kind of thing where he says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. You can be at peace and have great joy when you don't have two nickels to rub together if you're with somebody who loves you. Marie and I, all through our life, it wasn't the places we went, it was the person we were with. When I come home from a trip, I'm not coming to a house, I'm coming to a person. That person is Marie and wherever Marie is, is home for me because it's relational. God is simply saying you have gotten complacent, you think the things you acquired and you did it through thievery, you had people who went out and took things for you, you got rich, you sat complacently by, but you didn't even realize that the sudden danger was coming upon you and you were gonna be struck and you were gonna be judged. So one, the nation of Israel or Judah, the nation of Judah at this time is about to enter into the judgment that God had promised that he would spare Josiah from but would pour out on the nation because they had rejected God, entered into idolatry and were only paying lip service to him. Well, they were on the one hand making oaths to God and the other hand were worshiping Molek. He said, all of this is gonna come upon you, I will judge you, which he did. But it's also a prefigurement of that other day that takes place in Revelation 6 through 19, which is called the day of the Lord when God pours his wrath on a Christ rejecting world and that world goes through a series of judgments in its destruction. So God is prefiguring that even as he's speaking about that in the first chapter of Zephaniah.