July 15, 2018 A Look Forward by Pastor Josh Sheldon

The title of this message for this afternoon is from Zephaniah chapters 2 and 3 and I've titled a look forward.

I will read to you the entirety of those last two chapters of this prophecy we've been in as we continue through the minor prophets and I do hope that as I call them that because that's the common nomenclature for these shorter written prophets that you will with me begin to wonder a bit how anyone can call these messages minor but of course it's not the message that was ever meant to be called minor but the length of the prophecy.

I'm gonna read all of chapters two and three so a long reading please bear with and listen along and what

I want you to listen for as I read these to you is the day of the Lord the day of the

Lord is the core of the message the day of the Lord is the overarching theme in Zephaniah the day of the

Lord is what he is warning the people is coming pardon me and in the day of the

Lord we have both warning and comfort we have both dire judgment coming and rescue and salvation and peace and safety the message is a look forward we look back to the day of the

Lord that we on this side of it can look forward to this coming one with those little tidbits let me read to you

Zephaniah 2 and 3 gather together yes gather O shameless nation before the decree takes effect before the day passes away like chaff before there comes upon you the burning anger of the

Lord before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord seek the Lord all you humble of the land who do his just commands seek righteousness seek humility perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the

Lord for Gaza shall be deserted and Ashkelon shall become a desolation Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon and Ekron shall be uprooted woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast you nation of the

Cherithites the word of the Lord is against you O Canaan land of the Philistines and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left and you

O seacoast shall be pastures with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks the seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah on which they shall graze and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening for the

Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the

Ammonites how they taunted my people and made boasts against their territory therefore as I live declares the

Lord of hosts the God of Israel Moab shall become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah a land possessed by nettles and salt pits and a waste forever the remnant of my people shall plunder them and the survivors of my nation shall possess them this shall be their lot in return for their pride because they taunted and boasted against the people of the

Lord of hosts the Lord will be awesome against them for we will famish all the gods of the earth and to him shall bow down each in its place all the lands of the nations you also

Kushites shall be slain by the sword and it will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy

Assyria and he will make Nineveh a desolation a dry waste like the desert herd shall lie down in her midst all kinds of beasts even the owl and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals a voice shall not a voice shall not hoot in the window devastation will be on the threshold for her cedar work will be laid bare this is the exultant city that lives securely that said in her heart

I am and there is no one else what a desolation she has become a lair for wild beasts everyone who passes her by her hisses and shakes his fist woe to her who is rebellious and defiled the oppressing city she listens to no voice she accepts no correction she does not trust in the

Lord she does not draw near to her God her officials within her are roaring lions her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning her prophets are fickle treacherous men her priests profane what is holy they do violence to the law the

Lord within her is righteous he does no injustice every morning he shows forth his justice each dawn he does not fail but the unjust knows no shame

I have cut off nations their battlements are in ruins I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them their cities have been made desolate without a man without an inhabitant

I said surely you will fear me you will accept correction then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you but all the more they were eager to make their deeds corrupt therefore wait for me declares the

Lord for the day when I rise up to seize the prey for my decision to gather the nations to assemble kingdoms to pour out my upon them my indignation all my burning anger for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed for at that time

I will change the speech of the people's to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord from the beyond the rivers of Cush my worshippers the daughter of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering on that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me for then

I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones and you shall no longer be haughty in the in my holy mountain but I will even your midst of people humble and lowly they shall seek refuge in the name of the

Lord those who are left in Israel they shall do no injustice and speak no lies nor shall they be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue for they shall graze and lie down and none shall make them afraid sing aloud

Oh daughter of Zion shout Oh Israel rejoice and exult with all your heart Oh 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 shall be said to Jerusalem fear not

Oh 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 outcast and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth at that time

I'll bring you in at that time I 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 well you can see here in that rather short reading though longer than we normally do but rather short reading this two -pronged day of the

Lord this day that Zephaniah has been warning the people of he preached in the time of King Josiah I think we established a few weeks ago that he could well have been the prophet who initiated or at least kept going

Josiah's great revival his war against the prophets of Baal and the idols not the product the prophets were gone excuse me his war against the worship of Baal and the idols and those who worshipped the host of heaven and would swear in the name of the

Lord and also swear by Milcom and warns him that this day is coming when their goods will be plundered when all that they have relied upon will be stripped away from them here is this coming day of the

Lord which all who read in the scripture and give any respect to the

God who gives us this scripture would tremble and say what a horrible day is coming what a cataclysm is coming upon mankind to read of this day of the

Lord and that's true this is a book of the book of Revelation is largely about this coming day of the

Lord this ultimate day of the Lord which Zephaniah is the day of the Lord the one that he prophesied the coming of Babylon against Judah was just a hint just the slightest picture the day of the

Lord has to do with our eschatology eschatology from eschaton the study of last things eschaton the last ology is a study of the study of last things and particularly biblically recorded last things the wrap -up of history if you will so not the end of things in general as though the eschatological fulfillment of a wedding is you may kiss the bride though that is the end of the wedding but the end of the world the end of history and the day of the

Lord is an important part of that it means the day when God visits his people in judgment for their sins in Zephaniah it came up in in chapter 1 in verse 7 where I stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and I'll cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests and those who bow down the roofs and these others that we alluded to a moment ago verse 14 says the great day of the

Lord is hastening fast it is coming it is imminent it is at the door pounding to get in and verse 15 in this course

I didn't read to you a moment goes back in chapter 1 it's described what is coming it's a day of wrath excuse me a day of wrath is that day a day of distress a day of anguish a day of ruin and devastation a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and thick darkness and so a small wonder that the prophet

Amos should chastise the people and say why do you say you look ahead you look forward to that you're welcoming this day of the

Lord because this day of the Lord is coming against you to say

I welcome this is to disbelieve God or if you believe God and to say I would welcome this is to say

I happen to know that I am NOT going to be affected this no one would come after me in such a way even

God it's stunning to think what it must take to to ignore such a word is that the day of the

Lord is usually thought of in those kind of apocalyptic terms judgment and wrath and it is that it's

God's fury finally bursting forth from his holiness and making this complete and this terrible end of sinners on the day of the

Lord they get what's coming to them you ever think of it that way you ever read

Revelation and think of it that way there's a lot to be said for it just a little bit I read from Zephaniah or alluded to from Amos would support that view and many others that would take too long this afternoon to read but let's not leak neglect the fact that the day of the

Lord is also a time when God's grace is manifest it is true that the day of the

Lord has God doing as he said he would do and he comes in covenant fury against those who refuse to keep the covenant and openly sinned against him it is that the day of the

Lord is a time of grace the threatenings of that dread and awesome day are paired as you heard at the end of Zephaniah with the hope of rescue where he's calling them to gather together and be the humble ones to whom the earth will then be handed over after this time where Zephaniah 1 warns of devastation and gloom and Zephaniah 2 is very specific about those nations the

Philistines and so forth against whom this violence is coming then the first couple of verses of chapter 2 that I read offer the hope of delivery most of chapter 3 from verse 9 to the end is dedicated just this idea the deliverance of a remnant on the day of the

Lord let me read to you a quote from Calvin about this he says the more severe than God is when he chastises us and makes known our sins and sets before us his wrath the more clearly he testifies how prick how precious and dear to him is our salvation for when he sees us rushing headlong as it were into ruin he calls us back by threatening and chastisements whenever then

God condemns us by his holy word let us know that he will be propitious to us if touched with true repentance we flee to his mercy for to affect this is the design of all his reproofs and threatening the day of the

Lord how does a Christian respond to reading this day of the Lord well in the one sense we can look upon this and as we look at this day of the

Lord and know that at the end of the Bible there's a greater and final and eternally meaningful day of the

Lord coming they fall down and praise to God he's given you faith in J in Christ Jesus that your sins which would make you otherwise under the wrathful part the judgment part of the day of the

Lord puts us on the other side of it because the sins that would have deserved that were put on him put on the

Lord Jesus Christ let us remember also that the day of the

Lord as we read it in the scriptures remember Romans 15 for from this morning they were written for us they were recorded here so that we here today this day this afternoon read read it and take comfort and encouragement and have hope we have a forward look also we have a forward look to that great and final coming day of the

Lord from which we will be spared there's a remnant that's saved by great that's the grace that's

Romans 11 1 through 6 the day of the Lord is a winnowing God visits

God judges and in judges in judging he separates the wheat from the chaff you know much of that is the whole of Jesus's so called

Olivet discourse where he has all those parables the the ten foolish virgins distinguished from the ten the ten who were wise and prudent he speaks of the two women one who were taken and the other who was left

God visiting in judgment the day of the

Lord explains the whole exodus we spoke a lot about this morning there's there's a separation that comes you heard this just in the reading of Zephaniah where there's that remnant there's that group there's that faithful few and they're told to trust in this word and to take measures you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds which you have rebelled against me for then

I will move from you from midst your proudly exalted ones and you shall no longer be haughty and so forth that God will in his redeeming love rescue that people in the

Exodus there is a separation began with the fourth plague but on that day I'll set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell so that no swarms of flies shall be there that you may know that I am the

Lord in the midst of the earth Israel's livestock was spared in the next plague the seventh plague was the hill that turned to fire teaching us a responsibility to respond to what

God says because those who feared the word those who understood it as the Word of God Egyptian and Israelite alike brought their people in and brought the livestock in and they were thus spared when darkness came over the land in the ninth plague it was darkness in the land except in Goshen where God made that separation he maintained the light there and then of course the death of the firstborn of everyone without the sign of blood on the lintel of their house and they have the

Lord is God's visitation of his people in judgment and in separation in judgment of those who refuse his word who do not turn to him in faith those who will not obey the gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ and also in grace and in assurances given and safety put upon those who have it's always the same believe

God that he will come and order your affairs accordingly some people go overboard on this they examine the headlines they chart out events they use computer algorithms algorithms and tie all these things into the

Bible and once they figure out who Gog and Magog are then they've solved all mystery there's one thing they get right though the day is coming it was of utmost importance to Jesus that the

Apostles and we know this what does the day of the

Lord mean to us today and so often in the Bible we're to appreciate what

God has done in the past as the basis of our hope in the future it's not some fantastic fairy tale meant to terrify children and keep them in check like some

Grimm's fairy tale or anything like that it's a literal time of the Lord's visitation on earth when he will judge all men

I think Jesus this question is appropriate to our view of the day of the

Lord he says in Luke 18 8 when the

Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth will lanterns be full of oil and their bearers alert or will they be empty the holders hoping to borrow from others this is no more possible than for my faith to save you or your faith to save anyone else in chapter 2 in verse 9 which

I read a few moments ago therefore as I live declares the

Lord of hosts the God of Israel Moab shall become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah a land possessed by nettles and salt pits and a waste forever it's interesting how we see in the day of the

Lord progressively as you go back to the first ones of them like in Egypt and the day of order this repeating cycle how

God resolves things puts an end to things brings final judgment this reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and Moab and the

Ammonites do you remember the the relationship that those have together it was when

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed that lot left with his wife and his daughters remember the wife looks back this is

Genesis 18 looks back and she's turned to a pillar of salt and lot goes with his daughters and from their unholy

Union who do we get the Moabites and the Ammonites and here this day of the

Lord is going to put an end to them the day of the Lord is a reconciling time a resolving time a time when

God vindicates himself he refers back to Sodom and Gomorrah to show how final is this judgment because those towns those cities were destroyed and there are salt pits now and never to recover well we today of course we do not look upon this day with dread because if you're in Christ Jesus then he has made all the preparation needed for us to be spared on that day when

God judges sins once and for all the sins that Jesus suffered are over with his punishment for you and me satisfied

God's demand for justice we are prophetically warned here just as we're

Judah of a coming day of the Lord dreadful darkness destruction everywhere devastation to every turn the whole book of Revelation is about that coming day

Jesus who is the Lord of that day in the Olivet he repeated something a simple word about it not when it comes only the

Father knows that when it's going to come not if it comes because God's Word says not only that it will come but records the many tremors that prove the coming quake the certainty of it you know there's that traditional

Easter greeting we're on Easter you say the Lord is risen and the responses he has risen indeed

I wonder if we can play off of that just a little bit I wonder if we could have a greeting something like the the

Lord is coming with an answer he is coming indeed I'm not advocating that I'm not gonna say a

Providence we need to start saying that but it's this level of expectancy that I think might be good for us

I feel a bit like Richard Nixon who says well

I am not a crook well I am NOT a dispensationalist but you know there's something about this yearning for that day this constant looking for it this intensity of its expectation

I think has a lot to commend it if I said to you the

Lord is returning you said he is returning indeed would that up our expectancy and our hope in that day just a little bit would it give us just a little bit of a reminder it's not a fairy tale it's not something

God put in here just to scare us it's a real and literal coming which he has done cyclically throughout history the ultimate coming of the

Lord of course in the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ now

I've been off a lot of scripture and I'm very likely to go back and we'll pick this up in smaller chunks and go through some of the lessons that we can learn from this

I was trying to give us a grand picture of this day of the Lord and what it means to us and as we look back was it not a day of the

Lord in Genesis in chapter 3 when God visited his people in judgment said

Adam where are you he knew where Adam was we all know that he knew what Adam had done we all know that God knew that but is that not a day of the

Lord when God comes in judgment of sin and punishes the sin did he not close the gate of Eden to Adam and Eve and put the cherubim with the flaming sword to guard a re -entrance into it and in that same day of the

Lord where sin was judged where Adam and Eve had to pay Eve had to pay the price for what they had done did not on that day of the

Lord God give hope Genesis 3 15 he shall bruise his foot but he shall crush his head

Exodus was a day of the Lord God's visiting you by the washing regeneration of the

Holy Spirit Titus 3 5 God giving you a heart of flesh to believe this gospel was a day of the

Lord because in that day you were convicted of your sin and you're shown the terrors of hell the ultimate day of the

Lord God showed you that you would sinned against the Holy God who is real who's literal who is your maker to whom you owe an account and that account leaves you desperately short and in that same day of the

Lord for you as an individual did he not then give you the hope of the gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ and faith to believe it we look back on the day of the

Lord in order that we can look forward because God's history good

God has done in time and space proves what he will do next the promises the hopes the

Bible gives us I think if we greeted each other and I'm not saying do this but just think about it if we expected it if we got a little bit more up on our tiptoes a little bit more excited that he really is coming back he really might be here before we step out of this place this very afternoon

I said the Lord is returning he is returning indeed if we said that how much more would that set our hope on the future and setting ourselves on the future ground us in the now the day of the

Lord is not just for those old people then and those bad people in revelation that had come

Titus chapter 2 11 through 14 for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled upright and godly lives in this present age the meaning of that is clear the imperative upon us is easy to pull out there renounce ungodliness worldly passions live self -controlled upright and godly lives in other words live like a

Christian live like a converted person walk in the light as you are children of the light but then the next phrase how are we to do this what foundation does the

Apostle give us to live this life this way and we'd like to say well he reminds us doesn't he right away reminds us that we're not capable of it we're just lousy sinners saved by grace and then except by the

Spirit of God we can do nothing and Jesus said that without me you can do nothing at all and we know that and we believe that we do believe that what does he say waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ this coming day of the Lord as an incentive as a foundation for living this way now our

Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify himself for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works how did he redeem us on the day of the

Lord of all days of the Lord at the cross at the cross where sin was put on display in a way that will never happen again and never happened before then at the cross where mercy and truth meet and kiss as the psalmist says in Psalm 85 the

Apostle says there one way we live now is because we're waiting for the initiation of that day of the

Lord the coming the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ this expectations is a means of grace to keep us living rightly

Hebrews chapter 10 verses 23 to 25 say much the same thing let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works brethren that's the church as we come together and stir each other up to love one another to good works for one another to put others needs is more important of our as our own all the one another's of the

Bible let's consider how to do that not neglecting to meet together as is a habit of some but encouraging one another and here's the incentive and all the more as you see the day drawing near I mean love and good works what makes them of any use well first the

Lord commands them and that's enough but also they mean something about our faith when

Christ comes will he find the kind of faith on earth that emanates in love and good works towards each other when the

Son of Man returns will he really find faith on earth these are all so far from the

Apostle Paul and he's looking at this day of the Lord he says because that day is coming live this way not to earn anything not to save ourselves from the terror of that day

Jesus has done that because we love this Jesus because we love this

God who sent this Jesus and gave us faith to believe in him and knowing he's coming again and the real question here in these passages

I've read is what do we want him to find us doing when he returns that means does that mean if we doing the wrong thing when he comes back that we're in big trouble no no all the big trouble is put on Jesus it's an incentive

Philippians 4 4 through 7 rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice let your reasonableness be known to everyone the

Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus let your reasonableness be known the

Lord is at hand there's a couple of ways that that can be taken something it means that he is with us now by his spirit he's at hand he's nearby others think this means that he is coming soon that is his day is at hand so all the more as you see the day approaching would be the sense of that for those in Christ Jesus the day of the

Lord holds no terror there will be on that day a great vindication of our faith in God's wisdom as we go through more of these prophets will see that the people who were spared when

Babylon came this day of the Lord this precursor to the great day of the Lord God in them and by sparing them vindicates himself and those people are then vindicated for their faith for the foolishness of staying or going or fleeing before the

Babylonians or in some cases supposed to stay there's a different ways that they were commanded to respond to this but in the end on that day of the

Lord when they are spared God's mercy is vindicated God's judgment his wisdom his mercy all vindicated well we think this afternoon we come to the

Lord's table once again as we do each Sunday and the ultimate vindication of God's justice

God's wisdom which is of course the cross on that great day of the

Lord sin was accounted for your sin and mine were accounted for when

God visited man in Jesus Christ when God judged man in Jesus Christ and when

God placed upon him the sins of his people and he suffered and died for those and in that day of the

Lord also by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that our sins have been addressed they have been resolved they have been atoned for the cross being we're steadfast love and faithfulness me where righteousness and piss peace actually kiss one another the cross is why we can know that when

God finalizes all that the cross initiated that we will be safe in his arms the day of the

Lord at the end of our communion each Sunday do not say for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the

Lord's death what till he comes our living Lord our living

Savior is going to return and each time we take the table and we look back to the day of the

Lord when Jesus died the bread and the wine his broken body his life poured out we also look ahead that this

Lee this Jesus who saved us will come back and bring us to himself so the day of the

Lord must be this forward look we look back because we know that God did it in history therefore we know he will do it again in his own good timing and because we can look back on that we can say we now have this anchor for here and now all those passages

I read to you from the Apostle Paul the Lord is at hand and so forth and with great faith and hope and serenity and peace of spirit know that when that final day comes when these vindications are eternally set that we whose faith is in the