That will echo down through eternity. And by grace we'll stand on your promises. And by faith we'll walk as you walk with us. Speak, O Lord, till your church is built, and the earth is filled with your glory. Amen. People of God, we come to the hearing of God's Word, our text, Zephaniah 3. Anticipate that this will be our last week in our series as we've been working through Zephaniah. Not the longest prophet, but one of the Book of the Twelve, We think it's sometimes called the book of the 12 because they may have been able to fit all 12 of the minor prophets on one scroll back when they wrote the books of the Bible out on scrolls. And so Zephaniah comes to us near the end of the Old Testament, Zephaniah chapter 3. We will, in again an effort not to split up too much, the song of verses 14 to 17. We'll begin reading at verse 14, we'll read to the end, and we'll focus on verses 16 to the end. Page 1004, most of the few Bibles. Perhaps it's getting a little bit easier to find Zephaniah anyway. Let us hear the word of God. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. 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 exalt over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time, I will deal with all your oppressors, and I will save the lame and gather the outcasts, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time, I will bring you in at the time when I gather you together, for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, are you ever so excited that you can't speak clearly? Or maybe it's a moment where you said something, you don't even know if you said something, you don't know what you said. Think perhaps of the birth of a child. The next day comes, you don't even really know what has happened. We sometimes use the phrase, it was a blur. There are moments in life, I hope, where you have such joy that you look back and you say, that was a blur. I can't remember really if I said anything. And if I did say something, I can't remember what I said or how I said it. You know, there are some who are gifted with words, right? There are some who can, even in their daily speech, they have a certain eloquence. They are careful to follow the rules of grammar. They perhaps are able to write poetry. Certainly not a gift that I have, but I know some who have that kind of a gift, right? But there are times when constructing some kind of eloquent statement is just not in the cards. It's not what the moment demands or allows. The book of Zephaniah is written by a man who God uses with his own gifts and talents. It displays a great amount of complexity. We've looked at some of that. We've brought it out at times as we've walked through the book. It's one of those books of the Bible, all of scripture is inspired, but certain books do have a certain kind of structure and we might say external beauty to them that make it even fascinating for the wrong reasons to scholars of the world. Zephaniah is one of those books. And so it's fascinating that there will be those who aren't Christians and they just look at some of the structures, some of the movements of the songs and poetry that's interwoven. And then you get to the last three verses of Zephaniah. And it's not that they're totally devoid of structure. You still have that says the Lord, the first words of the book and the last words of the book that pull it together. But there are those who who do not know what scripture really is, who say, well, this isn't even written by Zephaniah. It's like all of a sudden a child is speaking in broken sentences. It no longer has a smoothness to it. It's no longer written by the equivalent of a literary professor carefully constructing a poem. It now has almost a childlike character. And then there are other reasons, too, why the world would say that these last three verses, in particular, are not written by Zephaniah. It's because his ideas are too far forward-looking for ancient Israel. Other claims, such as this, made by fools. But what's Zephaniah describing here? Zephaniah is looking forward. And Zephaniah is describing what the Lord will do. He's describing what kind of peace is wrought in the people of God. And so those of us who know what this is, that it's the word of the Lord first through the prophet Zephaniah who's used, we can imagine that in his excitement there would be a certain smoothness which goes out the door in these final words of glory and rejoicing at the mercy of God. And we know that God has always had his far-reaching plan. The plan of redemption has been set from the very beginning and was proclaimed even in a seed state to Adam and Eve. And so, of course, the prophet Zephaniah can look far forward and reflect on what the Lord will do even on the final day. These are the last words of the book. These are the last words of the prophet Zephaniah. This is what he wanted to leave us with at the end. This is the great message of hope. God will bring peace to his people. The lame will be saved and rescued. Those who suffer dishonor in this life will be brought to a time of honor. And it's this joy that we'll consider together this morning. We'll first look at the response of the Lord to the fears of his people. We'll then look at the transformation that God will work the restoration of the restored ones, we might say. And then finally, we'll briefly look at how the great restoration of God includes the response of the whole world also. So what is the Lord's response? What is the Lord's work? Well, let's notice some things in the context. First of all, when it says in verse 16, on that day it shall be said to Jerusalem. Well, that's a reminder of the day of the Lord, which has been a theme throughout this book. And here is a reminder, setting up these words of how there is great mercy on the day of the Lord, that the day of wrath and the day of mercy are the same. The difference is who will seek the Lord, who are those who are humble, who are those who are restored by God. But it's the same day, it's the same day that has been spoken of throughout this book. And it's not as though this book has nothing to say to the particular context of the day of judgment against Jerusalem. You know, we spoke at the end of chapter one about how there's even specific geographic details about the portions of the cities of Jerusalem. But really, Zephaniah does even more so than some of the other prophets. He looks so far forward. He's so focused on really that final day, not just what happens in the day of the judgment of the kingdom of Judah. This is one of those times where we look and we say, well, the application is quite direct. Because he's speaking, he's looking so far forward that it's a day which is also future for us, just as it was future for the original hearers. And so the applications are a direct line. And this is not one of those times when we have to be so careful to think first about what it says to the people of Israel and how it speaks to us. No, Zephaniah is looking forward. It's that day, but it's a day which includes mercy and restoration. And so on that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, there's a time when this will happen, when God will say, fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. This is a little bit different than the removal of fear in verse 15. In verse 15, he has cleared away your enemies, and you shall never again fear evil. It says at the end of the verse. Well, what kind of fears are those? Those are the fears related to external things. Those are fears related to the outside pressures of the world. What's the fear not of verse 16? The fear not of verse 16 is fear not in yourself. This is deeper. This is any kind of fear. This is your, not the external enemies, this is your internal emotions. This is your very deep-rooted fears and anxieties. It's not only the enemies that are removed. It is fear itself at the inner, internal, deep, Gone. Our emotional health, when God says, fear not, is fully restored. Surely this is something which only God can bring about. are our inner fears, the deep fears which exist even from youth. Night terrors. We know that even in the womb you can feel pain. So we might say there's even fear that exists in the womb before you're even born into the world. fears which exist to the end of life, doubts which can linger in the oldest saints. Only God can remove this. You know, there's a sense in which external fears can be removed by a human army. Now, we know we serve a God who laughs at the nations, right, and all these things, but we can speak in a sense about the joy of the cities that were occupied by Nazi Germany when the Allied forces came in to liberate them, right? There's a joy there. There's a removing of external enemies, which a human army can accomplish to some degree. We could even imagine someone saying, or almost saying, you know, I'm free from external enemies. But who is free from all internal fears? And, you know, as a human, we can say to, you know, to friends, to family, you know, we can say, fear not, in the sense of encouraging, you know, we can, but that's not something we can do. When we say fear not, we say, look to God and fear not, because I can't take away your fears. A general can remove external enemies to some degree if the Lord uses the power of the sword of a government rightly, that kind of a thing, but we can't remove the internal fears of our brothers and sisters in Christ, can we? God alone can do this. And when God says fear not, when God says fear not, the fears are removed. In the context of that day, in the context of the final day, This is God who is both powerful, the God of power, the God of might. The Lord your God is in your midst, verse 17, a mighty one who will save, who is also the God of peace. Now, do we hear these two titles in the same place? Those who are even the youngest here, listen to Isaiah nine, verse six. Do you hear both the title of power and the title of peace there in the same verse? Isaiah 9 verse 6, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. It is Jesus Christ who can remove inner fears. including the fears of our own weaknesses and our own sins. We can have a fear of our own sin. There's all kinds of fear we can have. There's a sense in which I don't want to say anything too specific because I think we can all think about what fears mean, can't we? And it's probably a little bit different and sometimes a lot different for each one here. But the day will come when God says, fear not. And when He says it, it is done. If we do think just a little bit about the fears tied to sin and our own struggle against sin, though, we could rightly turn to 2 Corinthians 5 This is the power that God has. 2 Corinthians 5. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. All this is from God. This is God's power, the power to even make reconciliation for that brokenness of sin and the fears that come with that. This is what God can do. Do you think your fears are too much? Do you think your sins and the fears tied to your sins are too much for God to take away? Fear not. When He says it, it is done. So then what are we called to do instead of living with internal fears? Let not your hands grow weak. I think here I actually prefer the NIV, let not your hands grow limp. because I think this is, it's kind of the positive that follows the negative. It's fear not, and then replace that fear with, it's not replaced with nothing, it's replaced with strength and with service. We're not then limp for nothing, We're then restored to, well, now is maybe a good time, appropriate to think about the broader context, right? We're restored to praise and worship, verse 9 and verse 20. We're restored to the act of trusting and resting in God, to seek refuge in him, as it says at the end of verse 12. We're restored to rejoicing in Him as is described in verse 14. Verse 14 is describing the joy that we are to have. Shout aloud, O daughter of Zion, O Israel, rejoice and exalt with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Fears are removed and we are restored, we are reversed so that we now have a reverent fear and a holy awe and a praising bent. We're not even bent to praise as we should be here below, but there will be a time when all those fears are removed and our hands will not be weak, they will not be limp, but they will be strong to praise the Lord and to rejoice in Him. Now is God slow to do this? God is described as being slow to wrath, but what about mercy? How is the mercy of God described? Surely God is abounding in mercy. God delights to do this. And so we not only have verse 14, which describes the joy that we are to have in that city, the joy that we are to have when we see the King of Israel, the Lord in your midst, but also the Lord rejoices when this day comes. It's not like the day of eternity comes and all of the saints are called to praise God. And God is sitting there as some stoic King who just looks down and says, you know, yes, you know, worship me. And that's all he says. And there's no expression to God. No, on the contrary, verse, 17 describes the joy of the Lord. Verse 14 describes our joy, our exaltation, which we are to give to Him. And certainly, that is ultimately, right, we're to give praise and glory to God. But God is not some emotionless Father, he's like the father of the prodigal son who sees the one coming from a long way off and feels compassion and runs to embrace and kiss him. This is verse 17. He will rejoice over you with gladness. Who is the he? This is still the song of verses 14 to 17. So it's the people speaking. The he is the Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one who will save and he will. God will rejoice over you at this time with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will remove all those fears and he will rejoice to do this threefold, not only rejoicing over you, not only quieting you with his love, but also exalting over you. And we have to use the word exalt, not joy, because that's what's the same as going on in the Hebrew. It's not just joy, it's what's the most expressive word we can use. He will exalt over you with his loud singing. This is the father who rejoices to bring his people home. He rejoices to embrace you and bring you to his home. We do not serve an emotionless father. We serve a father who longs to gather you in. And when he does gather you in, he embraces you with shouts of joy. It's not only the people of God who shout for joy on that day, it's God himself who shouts for joy on that day. God rejoices. God doesn't rejoice to see his people persecuted. He doesn't rejoice that we have fears and anxieties on this earth. He rejoices with loud exultation on the day when you are brought to his city and all of those fears are gone because he says, fear not. No wonder the prophet starts to lose some of his smoothness. No wonder he can no longer speak eloquently. father rejoices to welcome home his sons and his daughters." And he's the one that makes this transformation. I think the first point is the longest, so we're now at point two. He's the one who makes the transformation. To put it in the terms of the parable in Luke 15, God is the one who both gathers the wandering prodigal son to bring him home, and there's a sense in which we're all that wandering son, we all struggle with sin, all we like sheep have gone astray. And God is also the Father who rejoices at the return of those whom he has gathered. And notice as the song ends in verse 17, we get to verse 18, it again returns to the speech of the Lord with all of his I will statements. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival. I will save the lame and gather the outcast. I will change their shame into praise. I will bring you. at the time when I gather you together. Now, what's this morning for the festival? That phrase might sound a little strange. If we look back at Zephaniah 1, it's clear, right? What is going on in the house of God? Well, there's not true worship, 1 verse 4. I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of idolatrous priests, along with the priests." Remember those are the two different words for priests. The priests of the world have intermixed with the priests of Israel. In other words, the places of worship which should be the places of turning to the Lord and seeking of Him and inquiring of Him, verse 6, are instead the places where they swear to Malcolm, verse 5. Instead of coming properly to the sacrifice of the Lord, there are those who profane the house of worship and will themselves become the sacrifice. In verse 7, there will be those who are punished. In verse 9, everyone who leaps over the threshold, perhaps we remember as kind of that obscure reference to this pagan practice of entering the temple in a superstitious way. In other words, the temple has been profaned. So, in 3 verse 18, I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival. What kind of mourning is that? That is the righteous of God who see the perversion of true worship, which is going on around them, and they mourn. They say, this is not how it should be. This is not what worship for God should look like. The house of God becomes a house of pageantry and emotion and entertainment. The house of God becomes a place of mixing the ideas with the world, with the worship in spirit and truth that we are called to worship God with. and there are those who see that, and they see it being done in the name of the Lord, and we mourn. Do we not? Do we not see false worship and mourn? Do we not see the imperfections of our own unity here in this very place and mourn? We mourn for the festival. We mourn because of the pollution which exists here, But what does God do? God will take those who mourn because of the profaning of the Sabbaths and the festivals and the feasts, the sacrifices done with the wrong heart or in the wrong way or both. the mourning because of our own weaknesses which still exist on this earth in each and every saint. And those who mourn for the festival in that way will be brought to the festival that is perfect. That's the movement that's going on here. There's a transformation. You mourn for the festival now. And you suffer reproach for this, right? Are there not those who speak out against the profaning of God's name and they're ridiculed? Do we not see that? But that reproach will no longer exist because the Lord does. want there to be even a pure and perfect festival, and he will bring his people to that festival. Behold, at the time I will deal with your oppressors, I will save the land, I will gather the outcast. there will be a feast where the worship of God is perfect and pure with no pollution at all. And that includes the pollution of the false worshiping is removed. Also our own internal lameness is gone. And our own external relationship difficulties that exist on this earth. There will no longer be an outcast. There will no longer be sects and cliques. There will no longer be oppressors for the people of God. The lame the internal lameness is removed. By thinking about the festival and the oppressors, I think we've already reflected on what it means that I will deal with your oppressors and I will gather the outcasts, all those external, there's kind of this going back to the external and the internal, but also I will save the lame. What is the Holy City? It's a place where the body which is sown in dishonor is raised in honor. Are you one who suffers from chronic pain? That will be gone. Do you have a lame body in another way through sickness, disease? That will be gone. Do you have lame eyes, blindness? That will be gone. Are you surrounded by wickedness and distressed by the perversion that takes place in the name of God? You will be gathered into a perfect fellowship where all weakness and wickedness will be gone. No reproach? No oppression? Instead, the Lord will bring His people to a place of honor, and that's our final point. You know, we've looked at how the people of God are to rejoice, verse 14, and also the Lord himself rejoices, verse 17. Well, what happens on the final day? God is glorified, and it's right to think about that first. Perhaps Philippians 2 comes to your mind. Every knee will bow. All will acknowledge the power of Christ. The humiliation of Christ will be turned into the great exaltation when all acknowledge His power and the glory and the honor which is due to Him. That will happen on the final day, Philippians 2, 5 to 11. But just as God himself rejoices too. God will also lift up his people. And because God so chooses, God's people will also be honored at that day. It's first, foremost, the glory and the honor of God, certainly. But what's Zephaniah saying here? Zephaniah is saying the reproach of God's people At that time, I will bring you in, I will gather you in, and I will make you renowned and praised. The reproach against the people of God is reversed. Now the wisdom of the gospel, the truth of the word of God, now the world calls that foolishness, and you will be persecuted. You will be reproached on this earth. That's part of the calling of the Christian life. But that reproach, that foolishness that is claimed against those who praise God, that's reversed and God's people are honored. Now, I hope you think first about the glory which will come to God on the final day. But, Zephaniah is saying here, God will also honor his people. Are you in Christ? Are you the humble of the land? Do you seek the Lord, those words of repentance at the center of this book? Then rejoice, all the reproach, all the persecution will be turned to praise. And this is public. Who will praise? I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes. This is done publicly. Now there's no single verse that that teaches this explicitly, but we sometimes talk about the public adoption as the sons and daughters of God. That's what this is talking about. There will be a day. Do you look to the Lord? Do you call Him your perfect Father? There will be a day when He publicly before, for your own eyes to see and for the eyes of the world to see, adopts his sons and daughters. 1 Corinthians 6, do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Daniel 12, verse two, And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above." This is the kind of public honor a reversal of the shame suffered on this earth that God will bring about for His people. The same God who delights to embrace you and gather those who He has gathered and fold into His arms those whom He gathers and restores, that restoration will include honor for the people of God. Surely Zephaniah relays these words with wonder. It is a great mystery that God would take sinners like you and I and bring us to a place of honor. That is a great mystery. But God has said this is what he will do on that day. Fear removed, honor restored. We are called to rejoice, certainly. To give praise and honor to God, first of all, certainly. But God himself will rejoice. And God himself will bring his people to public honor. Do we know the beauty of the love of God, that He would send His Son to make this possible, and that He would raise up sinners and embrace them with exaltation? Seek the Lord, all you humble, and know this restoration in Him. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we rejoice to hear the work which you do for your people. Fears removed? We desire this. We long to hear you say those words, fear not. A place of honor which we do not deserve but you choose to give us? Father, we'll wait for that day. And all eyes who look to us, we will direct them to the one who sits on the throne. Because we'll rejoice to know that this is what you do. Mighty God, Prince of Peace, amen. People of God, our song of application 466. Standing to sing 466. of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away. Oh, let me from this day be holy thine. to my fainting heart, I still inspire. As thou hast died for me, O may my love to thee, pure, warm, and changeless be a living fire. Where sunbeams of dread and griefs around me spread, be thou my guide. In darkness turn to day, wipe sorrows, tears away, nor let me ever stray. When life's transient dream, When death's cold, sullen stream, Shall o'er me roll, Let Saviour then in love, Fear and distrust remove, Oh, bear me safe above A ransom sold. People of God, it's now time for our gifts, our offerings, which the deacons will come forward to collect. This morning our offering is the General Fund. Following that, standing for the benediction and the doxology, number 567. So, If you would stand, if able. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.