This morning we have reached Part 3 of our series on the minor prophets of the Old Testament. We began with Jonah two weeks ago and studied the story of Hosea last week.
Zephaniah, was a priest who ministered to Israel at about the same time as the prophet Jeremiah.
The first two chapters of Zephaniah speaks on the consequences of sin and rebellion.
Warning the people of that day, and warning us, to turn from sin and to turn to God.
Chapter 3 closes with an amazing image of redemption and celebration, a message of hope.
Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exult over you with loud singing.”
Did you get that image? God is singing and rejoicing over His people.
God sings and rejoices over YOU!
Our Lord, our Father, our Savior is chanting a song over you, over everyone in this sanctuary.
During today’s message, please try to imagine the idea and the sound of it: God singing over you.
God loves you so much that He breaks into singing over you!
That is so important that it is worth repeating.
God loves you so much that He breaks into singing over you!
That is amazing! God is lavishing us with His love and praise. WOW!!!
Today is a message of God’s outrageous love for you.
That’s a hard idea for some.
You are more likely to think about God correcting you
than singing over you.
Zephaniah speaks loudly to me that God takes your life, my life, and our relationships with Him seriously.
The central theme of the book of Zephaniah is the Day of the Lord.
The prophet foresaw the devastating consequences of God’s judgment on sin.
It is clear from Scripture that this day will not only be a time when God will pour out His judgement upon the wicked,
but it will also include a time of blessing for the Lord’s faithful ones.
The Day of the Lord points directly to Jesus.
Zephaniah ends with a message of hope through restoration in the Lord.
Zephaniah 3:14-17.
14 Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. 16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
For those that turn to God, He is a loving Father.
He is a God of restoration and hope.
Today, if you would ask people on the street “What does God think about you?”
You would hear many different answers:
· There is no God.
· God has given up on me!
· God is mad at me.
· God is mad at me and He should be.
· God loves me.
· And even many other responses.
I doubt that you would hear many say “God is rejoicing and singing over me.”
The question today for you is “What do you think God thinks about you?”
Do you believe that God is singing over you? (Pause)
I pray that after today’s message, you will have a different idea of God.
Zephaniah was written in 640-621 BC during a time of almost two generations of Godlessness.
Zephaniah boldly spoke God’s judgment against idolatry, unjust killings and, believe it or not, child sacrifice.
The people of the day were sinful to the core.
Zephaniah cried out for godliness and purity in God’s people.
The people of Zephaniah’s day were well established, prosperous, and they no longer cared about God.
They had come to trust their own abilities.
They were proud of their money, their things and their successes.
Their wealth gave them a sense of security that would turn out to be false.
It was written during a time that the people rebelled with worship to Baal, Molech and the worship of the heavenly bodies-the sun, moon, and stars.
The priests were also guilty of leading the people astray by being involved with pagan practices.
Today in 2023, there are false gods, new idols with different names.
Think about it this way…whatever a man or woman sets their heart on and trust in the most, becomes their god.
Just to name a few, today many worship little ‘g’ gods such as:
· Identity. We tend to define ourselves by our social media “likes”
· Substances.
o There are obvious ones, like hard drugs, but there are less obvious ones that help to numb the pain or provide spice to our boring lives: Such as comfort food, alcohol or nicotine, just to name a few.
· Money. There is absolutely nothing wrong with money. We need money.
o But for the ‘love of money’ people do crazy things.
§ Bernie Madoff is an example. Bernie’s love of money, led to one of the biggest financial crimes in modern day. In 2009, Madoff was convicted and sentenced to 150 years in prison for running what was described as the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.
· Family/Children. I would be so happy if I could just get a wife, or if I had a husband, or if I had kids. Right?
o Our spouse and our children are blessings from God. However for some, their family, their kids, their spouse, have become an idol– more important to them than God Himself.
There are so many idols in the world in which we live. Many more than what I have named.
The beginning two chapters of Zephaniah announce the Threat of Judgment.
The world had become exceedingly wicked, much as in the days of Noah, and God had determined to administer judgment.
HOWEVER: Although Zephaniah spoke on the judgement of sin, he ended with a message of hope through the restoration of God’s chosen people.
We live in a time that we can see sin all around us.
We have atheists who do not believe in the existence of God or gods.
We have agnostics who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.
Then we have folks that say, “There is more than ONE way to heaven.”
We live in a time that some believers justify sin in their own lives or in the lives of others.
I would go as far to say that there are believers who go to church every Sunday, who check the box that they attended, without ever experiencing a heart change towards God and towards people.
What about you?
Are you resisting God? Are you running from God? Are you blaming God for something that has happened?
Do you know what Zephaniah confirms for you?
If God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it!
If God had a wallet, your picture would be in it!!!
God is with you, and He loves you.
Zephaniah Chapter 3:17 says five key points:
17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
Point 1: I am with you.
He is with you. He is in the midst of everything going on in your life.
Often when things are going wrong, and pressures are all around,
we may be facing difficult times, and we find ourselves in seasons of waiting, and we begin thinking “Where is God?”
God is here. He will never leave you.
Immanuel, the name Immanuel literally means “God is with you.”
People let you down, but God will never let you down. God is always faithful.
Jesus ends Matthew 28 by saying “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” God is with us! God will never abandon you.
Philippians 4:4-9 says, “God is always with you.”
How can you stress less and relax more? Choose to trust that God is with you.
God is with you in the good times and the bad. God is with you when things are really, really good and even when the world feels like it is falling apart.
As you spend time with God, you get to know Him, and that He cares about you.
I am an early morning person. I begin my days alone with God.
I talk to Him about everything.
I spend time reading His Word and writing in my prayer journal.
I love watching the birds outside, and listening to the Holy Spirit to guide and direct my day.
The Lord is not disappointed or frustrated by your struggles, doubts or pain. He can help you address them. God is with you. Great is His faithfulness always!
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
Point 2: A mighty warrior who will save you.
God is saying: I will save you.
The Hebrew word for mighty is gibbowr (ghib-bore’) which translates as powerful.
He rescues us from our sins. God can save anyone.
There is no one outside of His reach.
The name Jesus means, “God saves.”
God saved me!! And He will save whoever asks for His forgiveness.
Jesus whole purpose was to come to save the lost.
When we are saved, we begin to experience the freedom of God, so that we are no longer in the bondage of sin.
God is a deliver!!! He wants to heal you from:
· Addiction
· Hatred
· Selfishness
· Allowing your past to dictate your present and future.
· Unforgiveness that continues to cause you bitterness.
· Being negative. He wants you to stop being negative.
· You fill in the blank.
God knows and He can save you!! He can save anyone who comes to Him.
It is NEVER too late for God.
Thomas and I have a friend. To protect his confidentiality, I will call him John.
When I met John, he was 24 years old, homeless, addicted to drugs and alcohol.
His parents were alcoholics. After meeting John, I invited him to church.
I remember John getting out of jail. Thomas and I were waiting outside to take him to U-Turn for Christ in Pennsylvania, a Christian-based rehabilitation center.
John agreed to go.
John called me on Father’s Day from the rehab center, because he couldn’t get his dad on the phone to wish him “Happy Father’s Day”. His dad had just died, and I was the one to inform John of this news.
Through encouragement and love, John stayed at the program and didn’t return home when his dad died. John graduated the program.
2023, 10 years later, John is clean from drugs and alcohol. He is working a full-time job, and he recently got his very first apartment. John loves Jesus. He is faithfully attending church and serving.
The Lord is able to heal us from all addictions.
He will take great delight in you;
Point 3: He will take great delight in you.
The word delight means “to gain great pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.”
God rejoices in our thinking, feeling and doing what is right.
In this verse, God is saying:
I delight in you, and you, and you, and you. (Point to the individuals in the congregation.)
The words ‘He will’ is a promise.
When the Bible says “He will”… That is a promise from God.
Do you believe that God delights in you?
YES…Y-O-U!
Let me tell you, “You are precious to the Lord.”
Yet you may think, “That’s sweet. But that is only a lovely thought.”
No, this truth is much more than a lovely thought.
It is the very key to your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul.
It is the secret to entering into the rest God has promised you.
Until it becomes a foundation of truth in your heart — you won’t be able to withstand the trials of life.
Let me say it again…God delights in you!!!
He doesn’t just like you…God delights in you!!!
God loves you so much that the Bible tells us that “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” Isaiah 49:16.
The Bible tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” John 3:16
To believe, to trust, and to know that God delights in you will change your whole life. God loves us because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.
If we really believe that God delights in me, in us, we will see the world differently:
· Our cup will be half full instead of half empty.
· When we sing praises to the Lord, we will sing with all of our heart.
· When we give, we will give generously of our time, our talents, and our resources.
· Our prayer life will change. We will pray without ceasing.
God delights in you!!!! God delights in me!!!
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
In the NIV translation it says, “I will calm you down.”
Point 4: I will calm all of your fears.
God knows exactly what you need to hear to calm you down.
God knows what is going on in your heart and mind.
On a particular Sunday, when the pastor says exactly what you need to hear from the pulpit.
It seems that someone must have given the Pastor the words to speak directly to you, however, that didn’t happen, that is the fact that God knows. He cares and He shows up.
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
The King James version says “…He will joy over thee with singing.”
I love this translation because the word ‘joy’ is used. The Hebrew word for ‘joy’ is ‘giyl (gheel) which means to spin around, to be joyful, and to rejoice.
Point 5: I celebrate you.
Many passages in the Bible are about us as His people ‘singing and worshipping the Lord’.
However, this passage is speaking of God celebrating you! He is celebrating me!
God is singing over you. A song of joy. A song of love.
Video: God’s love. 2.12 minutes. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vab3nrtuw3o1dip/AACu19imcelX0PU_AzNsOn02a?dl=0&preview=Gods+Love+Story+2_12.mp4
Nothing will separate you from God’s love.
God is rejoicing over you!!!