The Day of the Lord | Hidden Treasures

Thanks, Nikki. We are in Hidden Treasures, a

journey in Zephaniah. Prior to me announcing

this a couple weeks ago in the seven of you that

probably went back to A double check, Zephaniah

was a book of the Bible and maybe read it. How

many people have ever really spent time in the

Minor Prophet Zephaniah prior to 45 days ago?

That's about right. Because it is a these minor

prophets don't get a whole lot of play if you

will outside of maybe Advent Because there's

usually one or two very specific Specific verses

and on these little minor prophets that because

all of it is pointing toward Jesus right good

reformed theology We see Jesus in every jot and

tittle of the book Every chapter can be pointed

toward the person of Christ. Every book speaks,

whether in upcoming messianic texts or gospels

and post -resurrection and ascension. But what

we have to understand about Zephaniah is that

he is an urgent prophet. Now I would kind of

think most prophets had a sense of urgency because

prophets were called. That's the big thing about

prophets. Prophets were called for a specific

reason in a specific season for the life of Israel

life of the church of God's people if you will

and So we hear this prophet saying very specific

things now all of the prophets even the last

prophet who would be deemed who? The last prophet

for a cup of coffee in a conversation with Pastor

Jim would be most theologians believe it is to

be No Gotcha. No? This could go a very long time.

John the Baptist, that he is the prophet, the

voice in the wilderness pointing towards the

Lord. We go prophet, we go Old Testament. There

was a prophet in the New Testament. It was John

the Baptist, cousin of Jesus. I will enjoy that

coffee by myself. But understand that prophets

had a job to do. Prophets in the Old Testament

was someone sent by God to remind people of the

truth. That was their job. We see it done in

a variety of different ways. You think of the

prophet Nathan having to call out the adultery

in David and the repentance and the relentness

that took place as far as David keeping his calling.

You see the prophet Daniel. helping Nebuchadnezzar

with dreams, only to have kind of a hit put out

on his life. He ends up in a lion's den, yet

doesn't get eaten. So prophets' journeys were

not all that easy. You have prophets like Jeremiah

and Isaiah, known as the weeping prophets. And

they weren't always tears of joy. They were running

for their life. They were heartbroken to, oh

man, heartbroken doesn't even do, they are devastated

by the fickleness of the people of Israel. That

the prophets were seen as seers but not in any

kind of like black magic way. You think of Eli

and Samuel. You think of the jobs they had to

do with the kings of Israel. That part of the

prophet's job was to call back, to call the people

back to the covenant that God made with them

that we see through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Call people back to obedience. Call people back

to God's heart. They pointed people again and

again to God's commands, Old Testament. Follow

the law. And we see now, in some ways, we are

all prophets of the resurrected Jesus, calling

people to love God and to love their neighbor.

That part, kind of the main part of a prophet's

job. was showing God's people their sin, not

to shame them, but to lead them to repentance.

And then when Israel didn't want to do that,

they had to get kind of urgent, if you will,

with them. So we have Zephaniah, a prophet that

I deemed on the edge of collapse. Zephaniah needed

a counselor. Zephaniah needed some mental health

in this season of his life because He feels like

the world around him, the church, you and I are

failing him, disappointing him, and so to understand

the force and the urgency of Zephaniah's message,

I have imagined him kind of looking back on this

great kingdom that was Israel, now corrupt and

crumbling. So I put Zephaniah, a prophet, at

the edge of collapse. But real quick, who was

Zephaniah? Zephaniah was a prophet during the

reign of King Josiah of Judah. Zephaniah 1 .1,

we'll get there. Likely in the early part of

Josiah's reign. One of the ways that you actually

can read the prophets is by reading the historical

books that go along with it. There's a thing

called the internet that you can actually look

up and find some of that. But reading, reading

Isaiah by itself is awesome. Though you're going

to be like, what are all these trees? He must

have been a tree lover. Like, he talks about

trees all the time. No, that actually meant something.

And you can actually find that in 1 and 2 Samuel.

You can find some of those prophets in the historical

books. They do combine in the Good Book. But

this is before King Josiah. It's during the early

part of Josiah's reign, before Josiah has the

great reformation of his heart. Zephaniah's genealogy

is traced back four generations, possibly, as

I found, which I didn't even know, even to King

Hezekiah himself, which would make Zephaniah

of royal blood. That if he was the lineage of

Hezekiah, who was a king and a priest, then he

would have been in the line of Aaron that he

would have had kind of royal Davidic blood. This

gave him both access and credibility to speak

boldly to the religious and political elite.

Not all the prophets could say that. Not all

the prophets had that ability. So what's going

on? What is kind of the who, what, when, where,

why, how of Judah? So Zephaniah prophesied during

a time of spiritual confusion and social corruption.

I could probably say that, that he was prophesying

in 2025. King Manasseh's long reign before Josiah,

55 years, had plunged Judah into idolatry, child

sacrifice, and injustice. The temple had been

desecrated, pagan altars were even built within

the courts, 2 Kings 21. Though Josiah would later

begin reforms and kind of get back on the straight

and narrow, if you will. He had not done that

yet. That had not been taken a hold. It was surface

level at best. And how do you know kind of the

mental health of a prophet is look at what the

king is doing. Because more times than not, these

prophets were called to come alongside the king

as some kind of spiritual advisor. I mean, more

than that, it was a prophet of God. People were

religiously apathetic. They were kind of trying

to find what all religions had to do with each

other and tried to live that kind of universalist

line, offering lip service to Yahweh while worshiping

Baal, Molech, and the stars. There was kind of

a newfound sub -religion of just worshiping nature

for nature's sake. Socially, what was going on?

The poor were being oppressed. The courts were

corrupted. and violence run rampant. Not a fun

time to be a prophet of God. That call would

have easily been like, God, can you please go

find somebody else? But unfortunately, Judah

is ripe for judgment, and Zephaniah was sent

to declare that God's patience had a limit. Let's

pause there for a minute. Some of you might be

going, I didn't know God's patience had limits.

Every good parent's patience has limits, even

the holy one, that is God. But one of the things

we see in the Old Testament time and time again

is the anger side, the justified, righteous anger

of God who audaciously loves us. Excuse me, I

have a tickle in the back of my throat. That

sometimes, as a parent, you need to discipline

your kids. to try to get them back on the straight

and narrow. And time and time again in the Old

Testament we see this. One of the things I think

we have to understand if we're going to really

dive in the next five weeks to Zephaniah is what's

going on in the world. So we have what's going

on in Judah with God's people, but the Assyrian

Empire dominated the region and destroyed the

northern kingdom of Israel. This was roughly

722 BC. But that was starting on the decline.

We see some opportunities for God's people to

rise up. But Babylon was rising. It had not fully

taken power yet. And Josiah's Judah found itself

in a brief window of opportunity. Kind of a pause

between the two empires. This was a strategic

moment to repent, to reform, and to return to

God. That would have made a good sermon. That

we need to repent, reform, and return to God.

So there's an urgency here. We see This window

of time that God calls Zephaniah, he brings in

the righty to try to bring the people of God

to a good place. But there's urgency because

of that short period of time. What I love about

these minor prophets is they kind of get in,

do their job, and get out. That seemed to be

their role. Zephaniah's message is one of impending

judgment. That's why the urgency, not just for

the pagan nations, but for God's own people.

Prophets weren't just prophesying so the Israelites

could understand, but they wanted, as kind of

evangelism of the Old Testament, to let all the

other world religions know that, hey, this Yahweh's

coming down, and he is gonna take over. He is

not vague. Zephaniah speaks of a day that is

near, total, and inescapable, the day of the

Lord, and we'll get to that in the coming weeks.

This wasn't just about foreign enemies, but it

was about the moral collapse that was going on

within the people of God, and I think what we

could say is the moral failings of ourselves.

Zephaniah speaks into a world not unlike our

own. Religious compromise, injustice, corrupt

leadership, global instability. The call then

is the same call now, friends. Wake up, return

to the Lord, prepare for that day. So let's jump

in. Let's jump in with what we call it what I'm

kind of calling the anatomy of judgment that

if we're gonna understand a prophet you got to

understand the judgment they're bringing much

like you're not gonna understand the Israelites

time in Egypt without understanding the judgments

of the plagues why judgments Why can't God just

kind of snap his fingers and everybody and start

over? Well, he did that once he does that with

the angel of death the last the last plague in

Egypt I liken it to God doesn't want to go to

death first. He wants to give opportunities,

signs, wonders to wake people up to go, wow,

God is God, he is bigger than me, and that's

okay, and I'm gonna live for him. So let's start

in verse two. God's sweeping judgment will purify

creation. I will utterly sweep away everything

from the face of the earth declares the Lord.

I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep

away the birds of the heavens and the fish of

the sea and the rubble of the wicked. I will

cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares

the Lord. I will stretch out my hand against

Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

I will cut off from this place the remnant of

Baal and the name of the idolatrous, someone

else say it for me. Thank you. Priests along

with the priests. declares the Lord. Prophets

got to say this. That was part of their role.

That was something they got to use. A card they

could play. We have to be very careful with it.

I liken that to the kid, one of the kids in my

very first youth group, who came to me and said,

Jim, I feel the Lord is calling me to not only

ask out this girl, but that one day I'm gonna

marry her. I go, do you know her last name? He

says, no, it doesn't matter. I said, have you

talked to her? No. Okay, do you think God told

her this? It doesn't matter, he told me. I said,

I wouldn't lead with that. Okay, sometimes as

youth pastor you have to coach relationships,

right? He did, didn't go well, never talked to

her again. Understand that when we have those

kind of thoughts and unfortunately you may have

been the victim of or have caused kind of that

spiritual abuse to another person where you say,

the Lord is telling me to tell you this. Oh friend,

that is such a dangerous place to be in. That's

that whole understanding. If you're gonna throw

stones, you better make sure that you're clean.

You better make sure your nose is clean before

you call it out on somebody else. didn't have

to worry about that because they were called

by God. They were called to bring a message and

normally it was a message of judgment and destruction.

One of the things we see here, we see in what

Zephaniah is saying is that God has a plan to

wipe everybody out. It's not a fun saying. Don't

know anyone that wants to just ring a bell and

go down Ridge Road or go down 41 and say believe

or you're all gonna burn Believe or you're all

gonna burn if you enjoy the evangelism like that

Let's have a conversation because I don't think

that's the best way to do it But the thing is

prophets minor or major and again The only reason

why they got those titles is the size of the

book that they wrote Minor prophets had small

books major prophets had major books. That was

pretty much it. Don't go too far else with it

That complacency is the danger. You fall complacent,

the next step according to Zephaniah is just

flat out open rebellion against God. For those

that are parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents

and you're babysitting and the kid knows that

you're the babysitter. There's some deep understanding

of what it means that you're not my mom and dad.

And they think they can actually say that. I

hope to be the kind of grandparent one day that

my grandkids will know not to say that to me.

Because the easy comeback is what? I created

your mom and dad. That is that trump card that

you get to play. But understand that if there's

that complacency, If that's not checked, it turns

to open rebellion very quickly. And we see that.

And think about it. Think about being the people

of Israel in this time. You could just turn one

degree right, or one degree left, and you could

be a part of that world of religion. You could

be a part of that world of religion. I don't

think it's too different than today. That if

you say, ah, Christianity, not for me. Ah, this

God, this Yahweh, mm, I'm not gonna do it. You

could turn tomorrow and be endowed because of

the internet. with all kinds of information of

a new way to live your life. Friend, that's open

rebellion against God. It starts with a complacent

moment, hour, day, week, year, season of your

life. Complacency is just as dangerous as open

rebellion because judgment begins at the house

of the Lord. We're gonna see him use the word

woe, W -O -E. Now, people say the word woe, My

mind goes to Uncle Jesse in Fuller House. That

just shows a little bit of my age. But understand,

little ones, you don't understand that. He doesn't

say it in Fuller House. What a joke. But anyway,

that's not what this is. W -O -E, never a good

thing. Woe to you if, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, we'll get there. But judgment, the first

and foremost job of a prophet was to bring judgment

to the house of the Lord, to the people of Judah.

So verse seven. Verse seven, be silent before

the Lord God. For the day of the Lord is near.

The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated

His guests. And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice,

I will punish the officials and the king's son

and all who array themselves in foreign attire.

On that day, I will punish everyone who leaps

over the threshold and those who fill their master's

house with violence and fraud. On that day, declares

the Lord, a cry will be heard from the fish gate,

the whale from the second quarter, a loud crash

from the hill. Whale, O inhabitants of the mortar,

for all the traders are of no more. All who weigh

out silver are cut off. At that time I will search

Jerusalem with lambs. I will punish the men who

are complacent. Those who say in their heart,

the Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.

Their goods shall be plundered and their houses

laid rest. Though they build houses, they shall

not inhabit them. Though they plant vineyards,

they shall not drink wine from them. Not fun

things, but judgment begins at the house of the

Lord. This passage resonates with one of our

confessions. It's Belgian Confession Article

29, which reminds us that the true church is

marked not by a mere outward appearance, but

by a life of faith and repentance. What Zephaniah

is saying, you may be religious, but are you

righteous? And that's the first record, right?

That is the weak record for all of us. You may

be religious, but are you righteous? Because

all of the symbolism that was just said it would

take hours to go dive through it But these people

fell in love with their commerce they fell in

love with making money. They fell in love with

trade They fell in love with building their houses

in certain ways mob families all of these things

None of it got honoring all of it open rebellion

against God Though you may be religious are you

righteous but as you see He's pointing to a day.

He's pointing to a day. Not a glorious day that

we sung about. A day of terrible judgment. He's

pointing toward it. Sense the urgency. Lean in

to what he is trying to get across. And he kind

of finishes this thought in verse 14. The great

day of the Lord is near. Near and hasting fast.

The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The

mighty man cries aloud there. The day of wrath

is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a

day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness

and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against

the fortified cities and against the lawfully

battlements. I will bring distress on mankind

so that they shall walk like the blind because

they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood

shall be poured out like dust and their flesh

like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold

shall be able to deliver them on the day of the

wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy

all the earth shall be consumed. For a full and

sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants

of the earth." There's a lot there. Notice that

jealousy word? It goes back to the Ten Commandments.

In one of the most vivid descriptions in scripture,

the day of the Lord's judgment is described.

Now, all of us at Munster Church, and if you're

new, and you didn't journey with us last year

in the journey of Revelation, some of that, you're

like, oh no, we got that. We did a whole sermon

series about that day in the book of Revelation.

This is just a very shortened version of it.

But it's just as terrible, and it's just as great.

Not great as in woo -hoo, give me another, but

great as in This is it. The great and terrible

day of the Lord. But three things that we need

to pull out of this today. A Lord that gives

a message like this is a Lord that's near. I

liken that to just disciplining somebody. Right?

If you have to discipline someone over speakerphone,

Will Schenkel, when you have to do that to your

kids or Bethany, when you... Is it mean as much

if you do it over speakerphone as to face -to

-face? Why? Why? Yeah, and I could just turn

you off, right? End. Mid -sentence. No, when

it's face -to -face. If I have to call, if I

have to text my boys, you know, you better be

ready when I get home. That's very different

than if it's my voice or they see it in my face.

What the prophets job was was to be the voice

and face of the Lord a God that is near bringing

a message because he loves them Discipline rooted

in love is the discipline or chiding of the Bible.

It's the discipline of our Lord. He is near Being

an absentee parent and trying to absentee discipline

doesn't work and really all that does it frustrates

your kid probably makes him sarcastic and discourages

them But a God that is near loves near and also

disciplines near One of the things we need to

pull out there is a bitter and full crying aloud

This meant something to God's people then it

should mean something to us now Clean the household

get your life right because you don't want to

be on the other end of this The third thing is

that the day of wrath Distress, anguish, ruin,

darkness, gloom, trumpet blasts, battle cries

is not a good day. But if you are in the Lord,

though your temporary may be affected, your eternal

day is secure. There is a purpose and an ending

to this kind of suffering. Oh, but pastor, I

don't really wanna, I don't like suffering. I

don't really wanna have to worry about suffering.

Friend, then Christianity is something you don't

understand. That as believers, we are going to

suffer in this life, whether from doing things

to ourselves, having other people do things to

us, or us do stuff to other people. Suffering

is part of that, but there will be an end. See,

Zephaniah's not holding back. Because this is

a warning of mercy. If there's a warning of mercy,

that means there's a reason for mercy. He ends

with this truth, neither their silver nor their

gold shall be able to deliver them from the wrath

of God. What does that mean for us? What are

you relying on for your security? Is it a love

of money? Comfort? Religious habit? Friends,

these cannot save, Zephaniah is reminding you

and giving you a pretty grand description of

how they're gonna get taken away. Only God's

mercy can save. So I think that points us to,

then what is our need? Okay, if I can't put my

comfort in all of these things, why do I put

my comfort in? Well, the person that is your

comfort, the person of Jesus. You see, he, in

this scripture, in what we can pull out, Jesus

is the justice, the purification, and the mercy

in Zephaniah's words. Zephaniah points forward

to a fuller day of the Lord in Christ. Jesus

bears the fullness of God's wrath on the cross,

taking the judgment we deserve. That Jesus is

the true remnant, the faithful one who stood

in our place. He will return again to judge the

living and the dead. The Heideberg Catechism,

question answer 52. In all distress and persecution,

with uplifted head, I confidently await the very

judge who has already offered himself for me.

When you have a relationship with the judge,

the consequences lessen. Though again, initially

it may hurt, we understand that in eternity it

won't. The day of the Lord is both a warning

and a hope. Because through judgment comes refining.

Friends, there are consequences for action. That's

why forgiveness is so important. Have you sinned

against someone this week? Seek forgiveness.

Has someone sinned against you? Go and show them

their fault, Jesus says in Matthew 18. Seek that

forgiveness. Do the work. But if we're honest,

it's hard. It's hard because what are they gonna

think? How is that relationship gonna go? Is

there going to be, is that relationship going

to end? Sometimes it does. But if the relationship

ends without the forgiveness, guess what? The

forgiveness is still needed. We can unfriend,

we can block, we can delete, we can do all these

things. But if you're harboring an unforgiveness

against them, that is active sin. And guess what?

Don't plan to partake next week. in the table

of the Lord. Seek that forgiveness, be forgiven

by God and others, so you can come rightly to

the table of the Lord. Paul doubles down on that

when it comes to the sacrament of communion.

Because he says, if you take it in an unright

manner, you are taking anyone? Damnation onto

yourself. And you're like, oh, I didn't want

to swear in church. But that's what he says.

Do you see the importance of being a prophet

of God, of giving the word of the Lord and giving

the testimony of his truth? The day of the Lord

is a warning and a hope because through judgment

comes refining. And as we're gonna see, we're

not done just after today, restoration is on

the horizon. That is one of the greatest things

I love about Jesus Christ. Lord and Savior, is

when He forgives, He forgives. When we forgive,

we should forget, though that is hard. And I

know the whole forgive and forget thing, especially

in modern day psychology, gets like, well, that's

kind of a dangerous thing, because you're setting

yourself up to be hurt again. I push back on

that. That there's forgiveness from the situation

or the sin and forgetting it, it's kind of like

God says from the East is from the West, I remember

your sin no more. What that is, is I'm not tacking

it to your person anymore. When I engage you,

I'm not engaging that sin because I have forgiven

it. I see you now as a new creation, a new thing.

And 99 .9%, 100 % of us really stink at that.

Because I'll forgive you. We'll be forgiven.

The next time I talk to you, I may throw it in

there again, or I may wait. No, we can't do that.

Well, Jim, doesn't that mean I'm just setting

myself up to be hurt again? Yeah, if you put

yourself in that situation, but that's a you

issue at that point. Forgive and forgiveness

are two huge aspects of the body of Christ. The

church should forgive. The church should be the

leader in forgiveness. Friends, I love you. We're

the worst at it. Oh, you sinned. I think you're

out. Some of you have been a part of churches

like that. A one -and -done strategy? I don't

see that in Scripture at all. Now, I'm not saying

let's just completely sin because we know we're

going to be forgiven. Cheap grace? No. We'll

never be a church like that either. But where's

the ground the most level? at the foot of the

cross. That no matter what your week has been

like, whether you're wailing like Weston over

your sin or you're trying to hide it, the Lord

sees it and wants you to lay it down between

you and him at the foot of the cross, because

his judgment is coming. What do we do with all

this today? We're going to kind of end these

sermons in similar as to the last one, but add

a very different kind of major ending. The practical

stuff. What do we do with this? Zephaniah, or

as I'm going to call them, Zephy, because I think

we're friends. First things first, friends. Take

sin seriously. Don't presume upon grace or hide

in religious activity. Second, are you living

with urgency in your message? The nearness of

God's judgment should stir us to repentance and

gospel boldness. It should. Third, return to

reverence. Zephaniah calls us to be silent before

the Lord. So, first and foremost to me, Jim,

stop talking. Two of you didn't have to laugh.

Stop posturing. Stop explaining. Start listening,

confessing, and responding. Let me say that again.

Return to reverence. Join me as I try to do that

in my life. Zephaniah calls us to be silent before

the Lord, to stop talking, stop posturing and

explaining. Start listening to one another. Start

confessing one to another and respond. Respond

how? with the sword in the stone? No. With a

hug. With a cup of coffee. With a, I forgive

you. So as we're gonna end all of these, a good

prophet is talking about then and talking about

now. So what is Zephy trying to tell us? Then

and now. Then, God's people had grown complacent,

corrupt, and spiritually indifferent. Zephy and

I had declared, wake up! Especially all those

that are asleep now. The day of the Lord is near.

What does that mean for 2025? We live in a world

that similarly mocks God's justice and minimizes

sin. Zephaniah calls us to honest self -examination,

repentance, and renewed reverence. And as he

prepares to see, and as he prepares us to see

that even judgment is not the end of the story,

but Christ is. Let's pray.