Seek Yahveh, the God of Judgment & Discipline, Salvation & Blessing Jumping for & Hoping in Him!

[0:00] Wow, we're finishing Zephaniah.

[0:12] How fun. Take your Bibles, go to Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter three. If you're visiting with us, you can take that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:24] 668. It's that black Bible. Zephaniah chapter three. You hit Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. If you hit Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, you've gone too far.

[0:40] Zephaniah chapter three. Zephaniah chapter three.

[0:51] I'm gonna finish the chapter, I'm gonna finish the book, verses 14 through 20. Zephaniah chapter three, 14 through 20. Zephaniah chapter three, 14.

[1:05] Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult wholeheartedly, O daughter of Jerusalem. Yahweh has taken away judgments against you.

[1:18] He's cleared away your enemies. The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst. You will fear disaster no more.

[1:31] In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, do not be afraid, O Zion. Do not let your hands fall limp. Yahweh, your God, is in your midst, a victorious warrior.

[1:44] He will exult over you with joy. He will renew you in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. I will gather those who grieve around the appointed feast.

[1:58] They came being reproached and burdened. Verse 19. Behold, I'm gonna deal at that time with all your oppressors. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts. I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.

[2:14] At that time, I'll bring you in, even at the time when I gather you together. Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.

[2:30] Amen. September 17th, Sunday, the Denver Broncos were playing Washington Commanders.

[2:47] I didn't watch the whole game, but when I was at Chloe and Jordan's house, they caught the last part of the game. So the Broncos were down by eight points. It was first and 10.

[2:58] There was only three seconds left in the game. And they're on the 50-yard line. Eight points down on the 50-yard line.

[3:09] What are you gonna do? Just chuck the ball as far as you can and see if you can get anything. So, Wilson hikes the ball, blah, blah, blah, does a Hail Mary, tipped once by a commander, tipped twice by a commander, and in the end zone, a Denver Bronco wide receiver catches the ball, touchdown.

[3:35] touchdown. But then they lose the game. There's a long story behind that. I was really upset about it. I'm not a Broncos fan either. I'm not a Broncos fan. But the Broncos fans, when they were playing there in Washington, they were going wild.

[3:51] They were just screaming like, ah! They were so excited about this. I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

[4:03] Why don't people get excited about Jesus that way? Now, not that we want Travis to be running in with his, you know, painted blue, saying, yeah, Jesus!

[4:13] You know, I mean, you could do that. You could. You know, some people lined up, J-E-S-U-S. Paint it on your face. Maybe not that.

[4:24] Then we paint ourselves blue, royal blue, right? But Christians aren't excited that God has been so gracious to us. You know, what's interesting from the text is as the command is given to us to be excited about how God has been so gracious to us, you actually see God is the one who's excited.

[4:48] God is the one who's excited over his people. As we come to this part, seek Yahweh, the God of judgment and discipline, salvation and blessing.

[5:00] That's the driving force of Zephaniah's prophecy here. Today we'll see, seek Yahweh, jumping for and hoping in him.

[5:11] Jumping for him. Hoping in him. There's a call to sing. There's a call to rejoice.

[5:26] You're commanded to shout for joy. To jump for your Lord. To hope in your Lord. Jumping for and hoping in him.

[5:40] We jump for joy for Yahweh. We strongly hope in Yahweh. We're commanded to do this. And then we're commanded not to fear.

[5:56] Don't fear because Yahweh's our king. He's our warrior. And he's our bridegroom. We jump for joy for our God.

[6:09] We strongly hope in our God. Another way to put it. We shout. We rejoice. We jump for joy. And we hope in Yahweh, our God, because he gives us his grace.

[6:21] And he's with us. He's present with us. As for God's people, as we've been trucking through Zephaniah, they were undergoing Yahweh's discipline for their sin.

[6:41] But they would no longer undergo this discipline, this judging punishment. They would be rescued and have victory. And Yahweh would bring them home as his bride because he has great love for his people.

[6:58] He has such love for his people. So we shout. We rejoice. We jump for joy. We hope in Yahweh, our God, because he gives us his grace.

[7:11] And he's present with us. Walking through the text. Notice there's actually two commands from the text. The first, command number one, has actually four commands from this one command from verse 14.

[7:25] Shout, shout, rejoice, jump. Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice. Wholeheartedly. Exult.

[7:38] Four commands here. Exult has the idea of jumping for joy. When you're excited, you jump for joy.

[7:48] And interesting too, four commands is given three different references to God's people, to Judah, as opposed to the, how they were described in chapter three, verse one.

[8:03] Shoot over to chapter three, verse one. Notice how Judah was described there. Woe to her who is rebellious, defiled, tyrannical. Look at the contrast from verse 14.

[8:15] Daughter of Zion. O Israel. Daughter of Jerusalem. These are terms of affection. And these verbs, these four verbs, these four commands, they call for noisy jubilation.

[8:36] Rejoice wholeheartedly. Shout aloud. The word, the Greek word used here, that's in the LXX, similar to what's used when Jesus came into Jerusalem in the triumphal entry.

[8:53] This is the idea. People were shouting out, so excited to see Messiah coming. And interesting too, as we walk through the text, so sure and certain that these events would happen, that it's regarded as past tense that these things have already been accomplished, they've already taken place.

[9:15] And back to these three different references to Jerusalem, to God's people, to Judah, it's signifying something. It signifies that the covenant relationship between them and Yahweh has been restored.

[9:34] That should excite them. God's people should be excited to gather together to worship because God has been so gracious, so kind.

[9:46] He's been so loving toward us. There's no center beyond your mercy, we sang that. Gladness, joy, shouting, exalting, extreme jubilation.

[9:58] This should be a response all because God has been so gracious to us in Christ Jesus. Well, yeah, he gets into the why. Verse 14, the commands, shout, shout, rejoice, jump.

[10:11] Why? Why? There's three reasons here from this command. Rejoice, rejoice, shout, jump. Why? Number one, Yahweh takes away judgments.

[10:25] Yahweh takes away his judgments. Verse 15, the first part, Yahweh has taken away judgments against you. Why? The judgments for their sins have been done away.

[10:37] Yahweh justly and harshly disciplined his people and rightly so. They rebelled against him. But now he has taken away the judgment, judgment mediated through their enemies.

[10:54] Yahweh had Judah's enemies come against him to discipline them. Yahweh takes away judgments and yet now, but now, he extended his pardon to them.

[11:05] He removed the barrier put in the way due to their sin. He showed them his grace. Fear and apprehension over his judging discipline.

[11:19] It was gone because Yahweh has forgiven Jerusalem of her iniquity. He removed her guilt. So reason number one, why?

[11:33] Shout, shout, rejoice, jump, why? Yahweh takes away judgments. Number two, Yahweh clears away enemies. Again, verse 15, he's cleared away your enemies.

[11:44] Yahweh would take away their enemies from them by his grace. like I said a few moments ago, these enemies were used by Yahweh as instruments of discipline because of their rebellion.

[12:00] Jerusalem's rebellion, Judah's rebellion against Yahweh. But now, his people will be restored. He's taken away these judgments.

[12:12] He clears away their enemies. But even greater, an even greater reason, number three, Yahweh, your king, is with you.

[12:25] The last part, verse 15. The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst. You will fear disaster no more. He would personally reside in Jerusalem.

[12:42] He'd be in their midst. You're gonna see three different descriptions which I mentioned earlier. Three different descriptions of Yahweh. The first being their king. Yahweh, your king is present with you.

[13:00] And what's the result? You will fear disaster no more. They'd be safe from harm. Safe from disaster. Safe from evil.

[13:11] You're secure now. They would have no need to fear because Yahweh, their king, would be with them. And for us, we know this took place when Christ came as our messianic king.

[13:27] And what they didn't get was he would come first to save us from sin's power. Later, he would come to save us from sin's presence. But when Jesus came, he inaugurated the messianic age.

[13:40] And he rids us of our enemies, nailing our sin to the cross. So an initial fulfillment, we've talked about this before, an initial fulfillment has taken place with Jesus' first coming at the cross.

[13:55] He takes away our sin. He takes away our enemies. He's now present with us. So what is it that brings us even more jubilation? The fact that Yahweh will be present with us.

[14:07] He will be in our midst. And he is in our midst through the Lord Jesus Christ because what did the angel say to Joseph? His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.

[14:23] And he's here in this room now by his spirit residing inside us as believers, as followers, as Jesus' disciples.

[14:36] But then you see here, not just an initial fulfillment, but then there's going to be a greater, later, grander fulfillments in the future.

[14:48] It will come when he will rid us of sin's presence and reign in Jerusalem over all. So that first command, or commands, rejoice, rejoice, shout, jump.

[15:03] Or shout, shout, rejoice, jump. And then notice the second command, the second part we see here, command number two, don't fear. There's two.

[15:15] Don't lose hope. Verse 16. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, do not be afraid, O Zion, do not let your hands fall limp.

[15:26] Now I want to stop before we go into the commands. Notice what it says here. In that day, what's the day? It's the day of the Lord when Yahweh, remember, we talked about this last week, talked about this some weeks prior.

[15:40] Yahweh will judge the nations. He will discipline his people. He will save Gentiles. who will become his people. Last week we look at he will preserve his remnant and he will be their gracious good king.

[15:58] In that day, the day of the Lord. And notice it says to Jerusalem, do not be afraid, O Zion, Jerusalem, Judah, God's people. And Gentiles will be united to Israel so that there's one people of God.

[16:13] And so here's the command, two of them actually, do not be afraid. Don't fear. Assurance is given. Yahweh is their king is with them.

[16:27] No need to be afraid. Yahweh, your king, promises to protect you. And then the next command, do not let your hands fall limp. What does that mean?

[16:38] In other words, don't give up. Like, that's the idea, the expression, physical expression, they say, hands, kind of give up.

[16:54] No, don't give up because there's hope. They do not need to lose hope. Yahweh would be with them, which is why they can have such hope.

[17:04] It's why we have hope. We don't have hope just for hope's sake. We have hope. Why? Because we're supposed to have hope. That's ridiculous.

[17:15] We have hope because Yahweh, king, is with us forever. And he would perfectly rule fear and powerlessness are things of the past because God is here in Christ.

[17:34] So, do not fear. He says, do not fear. Don't lose hope. Here's reasons why. Why? Verse 17, because number one, Yahweh, your warrior's with you.

[17:49] Notice a change. It was king. Now he's your warrior. Verse 17, Yahweh, your God, is in your midst, a victorious warrior. They're again assured of Yahweh's presence but this time he's our warrior, a victorious warrior ready to rescue, ready to deliver us.

[18:11] A valiant warrior for his people. What comes from mind is Revelation 19 when Jesus comes with the hosts of heaven. He's riding on a horse. There he is.

[18:22] He's a warrior ready to strike the nations. This is who he is. He's with us. He's on our side. Don't fear.

[18:34] Don't lose hope. Why? Yahweh, your warrior's with you. And here's the second reason. Yahweh will exult over you. Look at what it says.

[18:45] A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. The word here, exult means to be cheerful, to be glad, to be bright.

[18:56] And here, in verse 17, these next few phrases, they're probably one of the most shocking, most astounding, most unbelievable verses in the whole Bible, if not the most astounding.

[19:19] We just sang, we take great delight in our God, and we joy, have such joy in our God. And yet here, notice what's happening. It is Yahweh, God, who would exult over his people with joy.

[19:37] Do you see that? He would take great delight in his people. Wow. He's cheerful over me. Yes.

[19:49] This is amazing. And we know that this is directed to God's people, and because we are in Christ, we are also God's people, because we're trusting in Christ, so this means that God exalts over us.

[20:04] He's glad over us. And this relationship, I mean, you can think of it as like a shepherd to a sheep, but even better, this is where we're moving to from, from being a warrior to a bridegroom.

[20:22] Like a bridegroom was his bride. He would rejoice over them. Isaiah 62, verse 5, says this, For as a young man marries a virgin, your sons will marry you.

[20:51] And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, your God will rejoice over you. He's with you.

[21:05] He will exult over you. Notice the next phrase, which is the next reason. He will renew his love for you. I take the view from the ancient versions that it should be translated like that, instead of he will be quiet, he will renew his love.

[21:20] The idea is that God's love is great for his people. He renews his love for his people, so much so that he would rejoice over them with shouts of joy. Yahweh sings over his people.

[21:31] Yes, that's the fourth reason. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. It's like how the Lord delighted to save people from Luke chapter 15.

[21:48] Or like the return of the son who was lost in Luke chapter 15, the prodigal son. That's our God. He will sing over us.

[22:01] He will sing over us. And then one writer puts it like this, quote, Given all our warts and plain sinfulness, despite the stupid things we do, despite the stupid things we say to each other and do to each other, he rejoices over his people.

[22:28] God truly loves us as people. Why? Because we're trophies of his grace. We're trophies of his mercy.

[22:41] We show that he's gracious, merciful, compassionate, loving. God is a God of justice and holiness and righteousness, but also love and mercy and grace.

[22:56] God of judgment and discipline, but also salvation and blessing. What a beautiful verse. Probably one of the most beautiful in all the Bible.

[23:10] O follower of Jesus, know that God the Father sings over you. God the Father sings over you.

[23:23] It's not because you're lovable. It's not because you're worthy. It's because he's loving and he's worthy. Shout, shout, rejoice, jump, don't lose hope, don't give up.

[23:46] And he gives reasons, but then there's more reasons. So if he can't give you enough reasons, he's going to give you more reasons. It's not enough. I'm going to give you more reasons. That's why else, verses 18 through 20, the first is, because Yahweh, your bridegroom will gather you.

[24:04] And this is where the bridegroom comes in again. I will gather those who grieve. Notice it says this, verse 19, he'll gather the outcasts.

[24:18] Notice again, verse 20, even at the time when I gather you together. Three times, gathering. He would gather his people. They would not need to be sorrowful.

[24:30] It says here from verse 18, during these festivals, it wouldn't be a reproach anymore. It's kind of hard how to translate this here in verse 18, but the idea is that they would come to these festivals, they would come to these times of celebration, they would be a burden upon them because they'd be reminded that they acted so stupid, they were so rebellious.

[24:52] No, he says, it would be rather, or it should be, a time of rejoicing because of Yahweh's love for them. They had experienced a burden. They had experienced reproach because of their sin.

[25:05] They experienced scorn from the nations, but Yahweh would show his gracious mercy and love by gathering together the grieve, gathering together the lame and the outcasts, gathering together, gathering them all together.

[25:24] It reminded me of what happens in the book of Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah, chapter eight, Ezra was reading the book of the law from verse six of Nehemiah, chapter eight, Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people answered amen and amen while lifting up their hands and they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.

[25:51] And then it says this, starting verse nine, the Nehemiah, who was the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, this day is holy to Yahweh your God.

[26:04] Do not mourn or weep for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Why? Because they faced the reproach, they faced the burden.

[26:17] Then he said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, send portions to him who has nothing prepared for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

[26:29] The Levites calmed all the people saying, be still for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. That's what's gonna happen at the end of time. We will see that we should mourn and grieve but the Lord's gonna say, no, there's no need for that.

[26:47] No need for that. You can rejoice. Notice it says in verse 19, he'll gather together the lame, gathering the outcasts, all those who are scattered.

[26:58] He would gather together his flock from the diaspora and bring them to Jerusalem. He would gather them together again from verse 20. So why else do we rejoice, shout, and jump?

[27:13] Why else should we not lose hope and not give up? Yahweh, your bridegroom, will gather you. Number two, he will save you. He will save you.

[27:25] Look at verse 19. I will save you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts. Notice it says from verse 19, look, I'm going to deal at that time with all your oppressors.

[27:37] Look, behold, see what I'm gonna do with all those who've oppressed you. Even though they oppressed you because they were the ones who were executing my judging discipline upon you.

[27:50] I will liberate you from your oppressors. I'm gonna save those who have been afflicted and oppressed. That's what lame and outcast mean.

[28:01] I'm gonna save you who've been afflicted, you've been oppressed. I'm gonna save you who's gonna give grace. Third reason, he will turn. Notice the next part of verse 19. I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth instead of shame.

[28:17] That shame will be turned into praise. It should be known in all the earth. And that's where it says the next fourth reason, he will give. He will give to you.

[28:29] They be given a name. Given a name, praise and renown in all the earth. That's what the word means, renown. I'll give you a name. He says it again in verse 20. Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth.

[28:44] That's why it's so important. So important was this that Yahweh said it twice for emphasis. Verse 19 and in verse 20. Yahweh is going to gather you.

[28:57] He's going to save you. He's going to turn to shame. He's going to give to you. Verse 20. At that time, I will bring you in even at that time when I gather you together.

[29:09] Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth. Yahweh, our bridegroom, would tend to his people by bringing them together to unite them as the one people of God.

[29:25] And state it again. They'd be praised and honored by all the nations. They'd have a good reputation with all the nations. This is what the Lord's going to do. This is why else you should shout, shout, rejoice, jump.

[29:40] Why else you should lose hope? Don't give up. When? When is he going to do this? When is all this going to happen? Notice the last part of verse 20.

[29:52] When I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh. He's going to restore their fortunes. Remember you said this before. Chapter 2, verse 7. For Yahweh, their God, will care for them, restore their fortunes.

[30:04] Verse 9. The remnant of my people will plunder them and the remainder of my nation will inherit them. to be restored to glory among the nations.

[30:16] They have a place again. God would act on behalf of his people and fulfill his promises. So as we look at all this, verse 14 through 20, we see something.

[30:28] We see this. Judah or Israel, and really, all of God's people will be restored to the land of Judah where Yahweh through the Lord Jesus Christ would reign as king, warrior, and bridegroom over his people in this millennial kingdom.

[30:45] Yahweh would intervene for his people and the Jews along with the Gentiles would be restored to the land of Palestine. And there, Yahweh would reign as king, as their warrior, as their bridegroom.

[30:58] So as we look through from the beginning of Zephaniah here to the end, you see a book that began with catastrophe and tragedy and judgment wrathful discipline, like really bad news.

[31:15] It's all this coming against the whole world and even against his own people, and yet it ends with hope and grace and love, restoration, salvation, blessing.

[31:31] Instead of total destruction, there's glorious restoration. Instead of deserved discipline, which happens, there'd be gracious gathering, and then God would dwell on earth with his people and there'd be great joy.

[31:46] God's love reigns despite the sins of his people. He puts their sin, their guilt, and shame behind him. He willingly restores a broken relation with them.

[31:58] They have no reason to fear despair because God's love will come through for them. Why? Because of Christ, because of Christ, because of Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the ultimate display of God's love for his people, and the only way he can maintain his justice but also be able to justify this ungodly people.

[32:18] Our sin is put on Christ, and we get his love. That's the heart of the gospel. God should judge us and condemn us. He has every right to, but instead, God put his judgment upon Christ, upon the Lord Jesus who came, he died, he faced the wrath of God as a substitute for sinners and died on a cross and resurrected from the dead for all those who turned away from sin and put their trust in Jesus.

[32:47] And you get God's love, not judgment. That's the heart of the gospel. So God's grace triumphs over his judgment. It always triumphs over his judgment.

[33:01] He took the initiative by forgiving his people, restoring them, gathering them back, gathering them back to the land, giving them a place of honor, not shame. This is what he does for God's people.

[33:15] So seek Yahweh as we started this in August. I think so. Seek Yahweh, the God of judgment and discipline, but also the God of salvation and blessing.

[33:28] God, because of his grace, ultimately desires to restore his people in a relationship with him whereby we share in the love he has had for himself for eternity.

[33:42] Seek Yahweh, the God of judgment and discipline, but salvation and blessing. Seek him. He's actively, personally involved to show his love and his grace towards his own, blessing them with himself through his love.

[34:01] So we shout, we rejoice, we jump for joy. We hope in Yahweh, our God, because he gives us his grace and he's with us.

[34:15] That's why this is perfect. We plan this, right? It's all coincidental, right? It's perfect. We're gonna rejoice, we're gonna shout, we're gonna jump for joy, we're gonna hope in Yahweh because he gives us his grace in Christ, celebrate that with the elements, and he's with us because of Christ.

[34:36] And we celebrate that also with the elements. We jump for joy for Yahweh, we strongly hope in Yahweh. That's the essence of why we take the Lord's Supper because it reminds us of how God should have been so judging and condemning us and yet he shows mercy and we have the very tangible way of his love and his grace.

[35:02] We touch it, we smell it, and we taste it. And then we assimilate it and it becomes a part of us so Christ is part of us.

[35:14] He dwells in us so we live out Christ in our lives as we worship him and we praise him, ready for him to come and take us home.

[35:28] So let that be your focus as we come to this time where we celebrate the Lord's Supper. And if you're from a church of like faith and practice where you're like, hey, I'm not a member here, but you come from a church of like faith and practice, join us in the elements.

[35:43] If you prefer you're baptized by immersion, join us. Take the elements with us. If you don't know Christ, it's not for you. It's for you to see and observe, but not for you.

[35:56] And if you're a Christian, you have something against someone, I'm not talking about someone where you've tried to reconcile, you can't reconcile. That's one thing. It's where you have not gone to reconcile with someone.

[36:09] If you have not gone, maybe you should not partake of the Lord's Supper. Wait. Come the next time. Go try to reconcile because God's reconciled with you. He's reconciled with them.

[36:22] This is for us to celebrate and to think about gospel truth and to see how God's been so gracious to us when He didn't need to. That's why it's called grace, right? Undeserved favor.

[36:34] Let's thank Him for it. we shout. We shout. We rejoice. We jump for joy.

[36:55] We hope in you. Father, thank you for your love shown to us in the gospel.

[37:09] Thank you for Christ Jesus. and we pray as we come to this time where we celebrate the Lord's Supper that we will relish and be so shocked that you would sing over us that you would be so kind to us and as we partake these elements together we'll be reminded that you are one people of God the one body committed to Christ allegiance to Jesus commitment to your Son and we know we're not worthy we know we're not lovable we know our sin is there so we come confessing and repenting and thanking you that's by grace alone through faith alone and Jesus alone that we are saved.