Alright, so if we look at Zephaniah chapter 1 verse number 15, it begins by saying that
day is a day of wrath.
I decided to call the title for the sermon tonight, A Day of Wrath.
Now if you're not familiar with the book of Zephaniah, it is almost like a miniature
Jeremiah.
You know, I'm going through Jeremiah, if some people down in Sydney from our church
are listening to the preaching today, you're going to find a lot of parallels with Jeremiah
because that's what Zephaniah really is.
Zephaniah was another prophet that lived in the same time as Jeremiah, and so they're
preaching about the same things, but then Zephaniah just basically summarises all of
Jeremiah into three chapters.
Now I decided to go with the title, A Day of Wrath, because we're looking at God's
wrath.
We're looking at God getting angry at the wicked, God being angry at his people, at
his chosen people, his nation, getting angry at Jerusalem, and there's a bunch of things
listed in chapter 1 that he gets angry about.
A lot of things listed.
And to be honest, I'm going to step on your toes tonight.
It's going to happen, because I already stepped on my toes as I prepared this sermon.
There's a list of things that God is angry at, and I want you to not only consider the
past of how the Jews failed God, but I want you to think about your own personal life
and where are you failing God in certain areas.
Listen, God can be very angry at many of the sins that we commit as well.
So let's start there in verse number 1, Zephaniah chapter 1, verse number 1.
The word of the Lord came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedalel, the son
of Amoriah, the son of Hischiah, in the days, so this is when he preached, in the days of
Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah.
So Josiah was the last godly king of Judah.
And then after Josiah, Josiah reigned for about 31 years.
So this gives us the timeline of roughly when Zephaniah was preaching.
So he's preaching in the days of Zephaniah.
He's preaching during a time where at least there's a godly king on the throne, but even
while there's a godly king on the throne, the nation itself had become still very wicked.
And then we also learn about Jeremiah.
Jeremiah started preaching as well in the days of Josiah, but Jeremiah kept preaching
up to the Babylonian captivity that came and took Judah, you know, destroyed Jerusalem,
destroyed the temple of the Lord.
And so Zephaniah was preaching around the same time as Jeremiah.
So Josiah, King Josiah, he reigned for about 31 years.
Then after him came Jehoahaz, and he only reigned for three months.
After Jehoahaz was Jehoiakim, he reigned for 11 years, and then his son Jehoiakim reigned
for about three months.
And then King Zedekiah, King Zedekiah was planted by King Nebuchadnezzar as the final
king of Judah, King Zedekiah.
He reigned for 11 years, and then at the end of those 11 years, God came, basically allowed
the Babylonians to come and take the people of Judah into captivity.
Okay, so that gives you a rough idea, you know, of how, when Zephaniah was preaching
to the how far, you know, the judgment of God came.
And as Jeremiah was preaching, Zephaniah was preaching the same thing, that God is going
to judge the wicked nation of Judah with the Babylonians.
God would use Nebuchadnezzar, God would use Babylonians to judge them.
All right, let's keep going, verse number two.
It says, I will utterly, this is the words of God, okay, it says, I will utterly consume
all things from off the land, saith the Lord, I will consume man and beast, I will consume
the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the
wicked, and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.
So is God angry?
Absolutely.
He's going to cut off the wicked, you know, when he says here that he's going to cut them
off again, he's going to be using the Babylonians, he's going to be using King Nebuchadnezzar
to come and bring judgment on the wicked nation of Judah.
Now when it says here that he's going to cut off, or consume the stumbling blocks with
the wicked, verse number three, those stumbling blocks are basically idols.
You know, you read about this in Jeremiah, you know, you're going to read about it here
as well, where they set up false gods, where they set up false idols, and these things
became stumbling blocks, you know, from the people, instead of them being able to worship
God properly as a nation, they were worshiping many, many false gods.
So God will put an end to these idols as well, all right?
And I also want you to notice in verse number three, how God says he's going to consume
the fowls of heaven, the birds, you say, God, what do the birds do?
Do they worship a false god?
He's also going to consume the fishes of the sea?
Say what could the fish have done?
One thing that we're reminded in this passage is when man sins, it has not just an effect
on man, but God's creation.
You know, God put man to be above God's creation, okay?
When we sin, when man sins, it affects God's creation.
God's creation, the earth, the animal kingdom, they all groan at the sin of mankind.
You know, when man sin, what did God do?
He cursed the earth, okay?
And so there's always a direct correlation when man sins, all of God's creation suffers
as well.
Verse number four, God says, I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah and upon all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and then he says this, and I will cut off the remnant of Baal
from this place and the name of the Chemarims with the priests, okay?
So notice the first group that God speaks about that he's very angry about, there's
a remnant of Baal in this place.
So even with a godly king, even with King Josiah reigning, okay, he did well.
You know, he cut down the images, he tried to get rid of the false religions in his land,
but still there was a remnant of Baal worshipers in the land, okay?
And so this is the first group that's mentioned, you know, specifically that God is angry at
those that are worshiping a false god.
And then it says, in verse number four, in the name of the Chemarims with the priests.
I was wondering what is Chemarims?
Like what could that be referring to?
I'll give you my best guess just to give you some information, because there's nowhere
else in the Bible, I tried to look up that word in the Bible, you don't find that anywhere
else.
But the fact that they're named with the priests, so we know the priests are the people
that God would use to serve in the temple of God, to serve in the house of God.
Well then I believe the Chemarims are the priests of Baal, okay, the false religious
leaders of Baal, and so God's going to judge them, but he's also going to judge the priests,
because the priests in this time were also corrupt, okay?
They were also corrupted, and so God begins by saying he's going to take down the Baal
worshippers, those that are, you know, that have false religion in the land.
That's the first group.
Let's look at the next group in verse number five.
Verse number five was interesting to me, because I was struggling a little bit to understand
exactly what the issue was here, well actually, yeah, if we have a look at, and them, the
next group here, and them that worship the hosts of heaven upon the housetops.
So that's the second group that he's angry at, okay?
Notice that every time there's a group, there's a semicolon, that then will lead to the next
group that he's angry at, okay?
So there's those that worship the hosts of heaven upon the housetops, the third group
says, and them that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcolm, okay, or Malchem, alright.
So now, what I found in verse number five quite interesting is, there's a group of people,
it says that, and them that worship, and that swear by the Lord, you go, well hold on.
If they worship and swear by the Lord, surely these are God's people.
And yes, they were God's people, they were God's people.
But one thing that you learn in this chapter, God is angry, even with his worshippers.
We'll soon see why that is.
But let's start with the first group there that's mentioned in verse number five, and
then that worship the hosts of heaven upon the housetops.
So these are people that would come up, go upon the housetops, okay, they had like basically
a second story above the house, you know how our roofs are kind of shaped like a triangle,
right?
So back then, their roofs were flat, they would go on top of the roof, they would have
like a balcony.
And of course, on the roof, they'll be able to look at the heavens, right?
But these are people that would worship the hosts of heaven.
So they would worship the sun, they would worship the moon, they would worship the stars.
Now I know that as Christians, you know, I'd be very surprised if someone, you know, in
our church worshiped the sun, moon and stars, like that would be very odd to me, right?
But you know what, there are Christians that still get involved in the star signs, the
horoscopes, right, the, you know, the astrology, right?
Say what's your star sign?
You know, let's have a look at what the magazine says that your future, listen, to me, you're
basically creating a God, says, well, this God's going to tell us what our future is.
We can just work out your star sign, right?
Well, you know what, God is angry at that kind of worship.
God is angry at people looking at horoscopes and thinking that's going to dictate somehow
your future instead of turning to God and asking him to lead your steps.
You know, Christians should not be involved in any of that, okay?
Horoscopes, astrology, okay, star signs, Christians should not be involved in any of that, okay?
And then the next script that he speaks about, and them that worship and that swear by the
Lord, again, why would God be angry at them that worship and that swear by the Lord?
But notice there's not a semicolon after that, there's just a comma, because these people
that worship and swear by the Lord also that swear by Malchum, okay?
So they worship God out of one mouth, but then out of the other mouth, they worship
in Malchum.
Say, what is Malchum?
Well, actually, you've heard that name before, but I'm going to keep your finger there and
please go to Jeremiah 32, go to Jeremiah 32, because Malchum, the God Malchum is in the
Bible with several names, okay?
Well, you're turning to Jeremiah 32, I'm going to read to you from 1 Kings 11.5, okay?
1 Kings 11.5 reads, for Solomon went after Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Zidodians, and
then says this, and after Milkum, the abomination of the Ammonites.
So Milkum is the same God as Malchum, okay?
So what is this God?
Those names we're probably not that familiar with, but when we look at Jeremiah 32 verse
35, you'll be very familiar with this one, okay?
Jeremiah 32 verse 35, it says, and they built the high places of Baal, which are in the
valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the
fire unto Moloch, it's the same God, okay?
Different names, but it's the same God, the God of Moloch here, which I commanded them
not, neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah
to sin.
So this next group in Zephaniah that God is angry at are people that come to church, or
they come to the house of God, they worship God, they swear by the name of God, but then
they're also worshiping Moloch.
And what do we learn in Jeremiah, what are people doing with Moloch?
They're sacrificing their children, they're passing them through the fire, okay?
They're sacrificing their newborn children, their little children, to a false God.
So how is that possible?
How is it that God's people can be going to church, worshiping God, and then just killing
their children?
He said, that will never happen in our church, that'll never happen in IFB churches.
But it happens, okay, it happens, you know, I don't know how many ladies, how many mothers,
how many wives that go to IFB churches, they come to church, they sing praises to God,
they worship God, and then they're taking birth control pills, okay?
They're taking these pills, oh, because, you know, we can't afford to have more children.
Okay, but you can afford to kill them.
They take the birth control pills, which are supposed to stop, you know, the seed of man
fertilizing the egg.
Hey, well, if that doesn't happen, next thing, when that egg is fertilized, it creates a
hostile environment for that new life to not be able to develop, to not be able to
grow.
Those birth control pills kill your little children, your little babies, the new life
that's been created in the mother's womb, okay, but then they, you know, all these mothers,
they come to church, singing praises to God, worshiping God, but what are they doing?
They're sacrificing their children unto Moloch.
It happens even today, brethren, you know?
I can't believe that in our churches, women have just swallowed the pill, literally, okay,
of taking this birth control because it's just too expensive.
It's too much work.
You know, having too many kids, it's just too much work.
Could you imagine like a father, a husband, you know, the man of the house saying that,
why don't you go to work?
It's just too much work.
Monday to Friday, maybe Saturday, some overtime, 9 to 5, I'd rather not work because it's just
too much work.
Listen, work is awesome.
Being productive is awesome.
Having children is awesome.
Of course it's a lot of work, but there's a lot of joy.
It's what God wants.
It makes you happy.
It's a lot of work.
You know, I feel sorry for my wife sometimes.
It is a lot of work, 11 children, all right?
Sometimes I have to get out of the house because there's a lot of noise, not because they're
screaming and running wild, but it's just loud, right?
It's hard to prepare a sermon in a household full of children.
I've got to get out sometimes, right?
It is a lot of work.
So what?
Would you rather a lot of work and raise children to love the Lord or just kill them?
This is, listen, I know it sounds weird.
We look at this in, you know, in the days of Jeremiah and Zephaniah, but it's happening
in 2021, you know, literally Christian mothers singing praises to God in church and killing
their own children, taking birth control pills, okay?
So again, you know, if you've done that, well, you know, it's a day of wrath.
You know, God's not happy with that.
God is angry at that kind of behavior.
You know, if you're still doing that, you've got to stop, you've got to stop, stop doing
that.
Okay.
This is why I'm saying like, I'm probably going to step on some toes here, but I can't
help it.
And it's the word of God.
It's here.
Okay.
Let's keep going.
Zephaniah chapter one, verse number six, Zephaniah chapter one, verse number six.
What's the next group that God is angry at?
And them that are turned back from the Lord, who else is God angry at?
The backsliders.
Okay.
Yeah.
You used to worship God.
You used to love the Lord, but now you stopped picking up your Bible.
You stopped serving the Lord.
You stopped soul winning.
All right.
The Lord has, you know, He's angry at those that have turned back from the Lord.
Look, what's the next group there?
And those that have not sought the Lord, not inquired for Him.
So those that are not seeking the Lord, not inquiring Lord, these are Christians that
are not picking up their Bibles.
They're not praying.
They're not saying, Lord, help me in this difficulty.
Brethren, when you stop reading your Bible, when you stop praying, God is angry at that
as well.
You want God's wrath upon you?
We don't want God's wrath.
Okay.
You can see here when you stop doing the basic things, going to the Lord, seeking His wisdom,
reading God's word, praying to Him.
Listen, God's going to be angry at you.
I don't know.
Maybe some of you have stopped praying.
Maybe you've not prayed for several days.
God's not happy.
You've got to change that.
You've got to fix that in your Christian life.
Look at verse number seven.
It says, hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God.
So why is it saying that?
Because you know what?
When we're challenged by God's word and we realise we're not walking right, we're not
walking in God's ways, we start wanting to make excuses.
Oh, but you know, I couldn't read my Bible because I had to work overtime.
I got really busy.
Right?
Again, you know, it's just we can't afford to have more kids.
Right?
No.
Listen, just hold your peace.
You know what?
When you realise that you've done wrong and God is angry at you, just hold your peace
at the presence of the Lord God.
Just stand before the Lord and just remember who the Lord God is.
He created you.
He can destroy you.
Okay.
He can do good unto you and He can do evil unto you.
Just remember who He is.
He saved you as well.
And don't forget, He sent His only begotten Son to die in your place.
When you start thinking about what God did for you, alright, then you better be at peace.
You better not talk back.
Don't make excuses.
When you sin, when you do wrong, yeah, don't blame others, don't make excuses, just own
up to it.
Yeah, I messed up.
Okay.
That's how we make changes.
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God.
For the day of the Lord is at hand.
For the Lord have prepared a sacrifice, He have bid His guests.
Alright.
So the context of this, the sacrifice that God is preparing are the people of Judah.
It's Jerusalem and His guests to come and eat of that sacrifice are the Babylonians.
Okay.
That's what's going on here, right.
So this is all about, you know, the Babylonian captivity.
Now I know when we talk about the day of the Lord, often when we talk about the day of
the Lord in our time, we're talking about future events.
But you notice here that the day of the Lord is also used, this phrase is also used to
talk about the captivity of Babylon.
Okay.
It is a day of wrath.
God is extremely angry, okay, at His people, at the nation there.
And so, you know, while we can look at the past and compare maybe how we're living
our lives and would God be angry at us with the way we're behaving or living our lives,
we can also look at some parallels with the day of the Lord in Zephaniah's day, which
was the Babylonian captivity, with the day of the Lord that is yet to come, you know.
And to a lot of Christians these days, and many of them feel that their Lord probably
is not too far away.
I don't know.
I can't say that.
I'm not here to make any predictions, okay.
I kind of still don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime, but we'll see.
We'll see.
Okay.
So again, the guests is Babylon.
It's King Nebuchadnezzar.
They're going to come and feast at this sacrifice.
Don't forget when sacrifices were offered in the house of God, the priest would eat
of that sacrifice.
So it's that same idea.
God's going to sacrifice his people and he's going to give the people to a foreign
power to King Nebuchadnezzar to eat of them.
Can you please keep your finger there and go to 2 Peter chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3,
2 Peter chapter 3, because we're seeing the day of the Lord in Zephaniah's day,
the day of the Lord in Jeremiah's day.
Again, we want to draw some parallels with the day of the Lord, which is yet to come,
might be in our lifetime.
So let's learn about it so we can be ready.
But while you're turning to 2 Peter chapter 3, I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 verse number 1, which reads,
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Okay.
So the reason I'm reading that to you is because the day of the Lord is still coming.
There is still a day of the Lord.
Okay.
So let's take what we see, the principles, the lessons that we can learn from the day
of the Lord in Zephaniah's day, and we can apply it to this day which is yet to come.
So you're in 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse number 10, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse number
10, which repeats the same thing.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth
also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Now this is interesting because when Judah and Jerusalem was taken into captivity, the
Jews were taken into captivity, the Babylonians would come and actually burn down the city.
They would burn Jerusalem.
They would burn the house of God.
They would burn the temple.
And so God is using that illustration to say when his wrath falls in the end times, it's
going to be a time of great heat.
Okay.
I mean great portions, if you know about the end times, I'm not going to go into all of
that right now, but great portions of the earth are going to be burnt up by the anger
of the Lord, by the wrath of God.
And so we see those same illustrations passing by here.
And you know, when you think about our earth being burnt up, you know, I think we all love
the Sunshine Coast, don't we?
I talk about it a lot because I think it's pretty.
Like coming from Sydney, coming to the Sunshine Coast, I think it's a very pretty place.
And I talk to Brother M. and you know, he's always telling me how beautiful this place
is, right?
The fresh air and the oceans and the hills and the mountains and Mount Coolum, et cetera.
It is a beautiful place, but you know, it's all going to burn up.
It's all going to burn up.
This whole place is going to burn up.
And then you might be, wow, that's my Sunshine Coast though.
Well, God, you really need to burn this place up, right?
Hopefully everything burns except this building we can keep coming to church.
I don't know.
Who knows?
No, everything's going to burn up, everything's going to burn up.
But the reason I'm saying that is because we can get attached to the world, can't we?
I mean, sister, you're just telling me about how you're doing renovations in the house.
Nothing wrong with renovations.
Beautiful.
Great.
But you know what?
It's all going to burn up one day.
You know, Brother Matt, you've recently bought a new car.
You love the car, but you know, it's going to burn up.
The stuff that we like to talk about and get, nothing wrong, nothing wrong with those things.
We need those things in life, you know, it's all good, but it's all going to burn up, okay?
And the point behind it is we don't want to get too attached to this world, okay?
Let's enjoy it while it's here, but understand we don't want to be so attached that we won't
allow God to use His wrath and His anger to burn this entire place up, because that's
what He deserves, okay?
Look at 2 Peter 3.
It says in verse 13 then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
So see, when you think about this entire place being burned up, we should consider ourselves.
We're not going to be burnt up with this world.
We need to consider ourselves, our behaviour.
Are we walking in this holy conversation?
Are we being godly in this world?
We need to be separate.
Yes, we are part of this world, we live in this world, but brethren, we are not really
of this world, are we?
We're of heaven, you know, we're citizens of heaven.
We have a heavenly home, you know, God has created mansions for us in heaven, okay?
That's the renovations that are going on there, it will never burn up in heaven, praise
God, okay?
But we need to remember that we're not part of this world, we can't be too attached
and understand, yes, great, God's going to destroy this place one day.
Look at verse number 12, looking for and hasten unto the coming of the day of God.
We should be looking forward to it, the Bible says here.
We must be looking forward to God destroying this place with fire and his wrath.
So we ought to think about the day of the Lord that's coming.
God's going to destroy it all, okay?
But that's to help us, okay?
We shouldn't be people going, oh Lord, hold it, just hold back from your wrath please,
Lord, just delay it further because I still, you know, I still need to do things on the
Sunshine Coast, I still need places to visit, right?
No, no, Lord, just bring it.
The day of the Lord, we ought to be excited, Lord, yes, bring it, because we're looking
forward to the new heavens and the new earth to come, but God's going to restore everything
brand new, no more sin, no more sin, okay?
And it's hard, it's hard because when you read, if you go through Jeremiah, you'll
notice every time God would just, you know, give Jeremiah a great prophecy of destruction
and Jeremiah would consider it, he'd break down.
It was like too much for him to consider, too much for him to bear as a man to think
about his entire nation being destroyed by the hands of the Babylonians.
So it is this struggle that we have within ourselves, right?
And you know, if you are a little bit attached and you don't really want to see this place
destroyed, I understand Jeremiah was like that as well, okay?
But the more we see the weakness in this world, the more we understand God's wrath, you
know what, the easier it's going to be for you to detach yourself, you know, from the
affections that you may have toward worldly, you know, wicked, wicked things in this world.
All right, back to Zephaniah, please, chapter one, verse number eight.
Zephaniah chapter one, verse number eight.
And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice that I will punish the princes
and the king's children and all such that are clothed with strange apparel.
So we learn something strange here, strange apparel.
So the princes, people in authority and power and riches and the king's children, for some
reason they're dressed or they're clothed with strange apparel.
But then there are others that are dressed with or clothed with strange apparel.
What do we learn?
We learn of another group of people that God is angry at.
Something else that God is rough all about is people putting on strange apparel.
Now here's the thing, brethren, I'm only going to take a guess of what the strange
apparel is.
The Bible doesn't tell us what it is, okay?
But when you think of the word strange, what do we think about?
We think about something that is unfamiliar, something that is unusual, okay?
It's clothing that a Christian should not be wearing, okay?
Clothing that's ungodly, clothing that is wicked, clothing that speaks of this world
but does not speak of Jesus Christ.
You know, I don't know, brethren, I don't know, I don't go to your house, I don't check
your cupboards and your drawers, but you may very well have some strange apparel in your
house, okay?
And once again, don't forget, God's preparing the sacrifice.
He's preparing these people with the strange apparel to be destroyed by the Babylonians,
all right?
So strange apparel could be men wearing skirts and dresses.
It's happening these days.
You know, in the U.S. it's LGBT month or something, right?
I mean they're just parading men in skirts and dresses these days.
That's strange apparel.
Now, okay, the world does it, but that should not be in the house of God.
That should not be in Christian families.
Now, that's easy to preach against, but what about women wearing pants?
Say, Pastor Kevin, that's not strange.
You know, it's society norms for women to wear pants.
Well, you know what?
It's strange to God.
And God says, you know what?
You want to put that on?
Then you can be part of that sacrifice.
You know, you can take on my wrath if you want, if that's what you want, right?
Strange apparel in the eyes of God.
Men wearing women's clothes, women wearing men's clothes.
What about tight clothing, you know, where the body is just being revealed?
Like yeah, I'm covered, but see every single shape of your body, right?
I think that's strange.
I think that would be strange to God.
What about the flashing of the thighs?
The Bible's very clear that the thighs are nakedness.
You know, men and women wearing clothing, you know, revealing the thighs.
That's nakedness, brethren.
That's strange apparel.
It should not be part of our dress.
It should not be part of our standards that we have as Christian families in our homes.
Strange apparels.
You know, sometimes I, you know, women that, you know, they're learning, they're growing,
they come to church maybe with skirts.
I've got a skirt on.
I don't have pants on.
But then they've got to split all the way up their thigh, you know, showing their nakedness.
It's still strange, all right?
Or just tight-fitting skirts.
Look at my shapely body.
Strange apparel, you know?
I'm talking about men as well, all right?
Men showing off your thighs, strange.
You know, here on the Sunshine Coast, you go to the shops, well, not so much now because
it's cooler weather, but you go to the shop, you go to, you know, what's the shops here
in Caloundra?
You go to this court?
What?
Stocklands, right?
Yeah.
They're walking around literally in their underwear, in their bikinis.
That's strange apparel, brethren.
You know, clothing that promotes death and darkness, you know, the goth look.
You know what I'm talking about, right?
You look like, is that a zombie?
You know, is that a vampire?
Is that a werewolf?
Right?
They're promoting death and just depression and sadness, that goth look.
Strange apparel.
We have to put on the gay, what was the gay conversion therapy clothing?
You know what?
We need to look at our cupboards.
We need to look at it.
We're in the cooler months now, we're heading back into the summer months soon, all right?
And we need to look at it, you know, as families and really consider, would God be pleased
with the clothing that's in our house, you know?
Would he be pleased?
Would it be part of the Lord's sacrifice here or would I please him in the way that I dress?
Let's keep going, verse number nine.
In the same day, also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold which fill their
master's houses with violence and deceit.
So if these are, if they have master's houses, we're talking about servants here, servants
serving masters, employees, you know, employers and that relationship there.
So in what way are employees or servants filling their master's houses?
Are they doing it with honest hard labour?
No, it says here they're doing it with violence and deceit.
So you can see there's corruption even in the business world, right?
Corruption, criminal activity, greed, people taking advantage of one another, you know,
I'll screw you before you screw me kind of mentality, you know?
There are people like that, it's strange, you know, you meet people and they think you
want to harm them, they think you want to take advantage of them, they think you're
trying to rip them off.
Boy, I'm trying to buy a house these days.
That's what they think.
It's like, how much can I get from you?
It's all greed, brethren.
You know, houses are overpriced, it's crazy.
Greed.
You know, instead of working an honest job and just making an honest living, you know,
we can see there's criminal activity, there's corruption, you know, in the business world.
So God's angry at that behaviour as well.
Verse number 10.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be a noise of a
cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the
hills.
So the Lord's saying there's going to be this loud noise, this cry from the fish gate,
you know.
And you know, if you remember, basically in Jerusalem, they had many, many gates around
the city.
And there was a gate known as the fish gate.
And this gate was basically used to bring in the catch of the day.
You know, it was probably like a fish market nearby.
So they would bring the catch, all the fish, and they would have a market there, most likely,
or it makes sense.
But that fish gate, if you don't know, was actually located on the northern, sort of
northwest wall of Jerusalem.
So this makes a lot of sense now.
If it's located on the northwest wall of Jerusalem, the reason this makes a lot of sense is because
in Jeremiah, quite often again and again and again, it keeps repeating that God's judgment
is coming from the north.
Again, that's talking about the Babylonians.
So Babylonians coming from the north, they're going to be hearing the sound of the Babylonians,
their armies coming from that gate.
The great crashing from the hills.
That's what the Lord's referring to, I believe, that this northern kingdom is coming to destroy
them.
Verse number 11, how the inhabitants of Machtesh, for, now, I'm not sure exactly what Machtesh
is, but I think the rest of the verse gives us a bit of context here.
It says, for all the merchant people are cut down, and they that bear silver are cut off.
So I believe verse number 11 is basically speaking about the financial district, you
know.
It's like in the US, in New York, you've got Wall Street, right, where all the financial
dealings take place.
You've got the stock market and all these things.
I think that's what's taking place here.
I think this is like the financial district of Jerusalem.
You know what?
When the Babylonians are going to come, they're going to wipe them out as well.
These wicked people with wicked practices, you know, greedy, living after money, living
after filthy Luca, God's going to judge these wicked people as well.
Again, please, remind yourself, these are people that God is angry at.
You know what?
Our hearts can easily be turned toward money, can easily be turned toward filthy Luca, okay?
It's easy to become greedy.
It's so easy because we need money to live.
We need money to survive, right?
But instead of thinking of it as a tool and understanding that our faith plays a part
of God's provisions to take care of our needs, you know what?
We think we need to take care of that ourselves.
We amass wealth.
We amass volume.
Actually, we're going to look at that group soon as well.
Let's keep going.
Verse 12, and it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles
and punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, the Lord will
not do good, neither will he do evil.
So the Lord's saying, look, there's coming a time when I'm going to come with a candle.
Going to think about it like a torch maybe, right?
So it's all going to be dark.
God's searching everyone out.
What is he saying?
No one's going to escape God's judgment.
They're all going to perish.
You know what?
Even God's people, even people like Daniel and, you know, his free friends and who else?
Think of others.
I can't remember right now.
You're right.
Even these people were caught up in God's judgment, and these were godly men.
Sometimes we forget that, you know, when God's judgment falls, you know, even God's people
are going to be affected.
Now, of course, as God's people, he's going to protect us.
You know, we're not going to suffer the same level of, you know, judgment as the wicked
do, but even the godly get affected by the wickedness of the nation.
Now, our nation's getting worse, worse.
I mean, it loves death now, or it is again, you know, legalizing euthanasia, you know,
making it legal, you know, helping people to kill themselves.
That's coming in Queensland, the conservative state, right?
The God-fearing state, so I thought, and I think that's why we need New Life Baptist
Church.
So maybe we need to make it God-fearing.
Maybe that's our job, all right?
But God's saying, look, I'm going to search you with candles.
I'm going to find you out.
You can't hide from God's judgment.
And notice these people.
It says at the end of verse number 12, they say in their heart, the Lord will not do good,
neither will he do evil.
So I'm kind of reminded sometimes when I go door-to-door soul-winning and people reject
the idea of God and say, well, if God was really good, if God could do good, if God
is loving, then why doesn't he take care of world hunger?
Why doesn't he do good?
They say.
Well, God doesn't do good.
That's basically what they're saying, okay?
And then you've got others, even within churches, that do not believe that God will do evil.
Neither will he do evil, you know?
You go to church and you hear about the good God and he is a good God.
You hear about the loving God and the merciful God and he is a loving and merciful God.
But how many times do you hear about God's wrath?
How many times do you hear about God's judgment?
In these other churches anyway.
It happens here.
I know it happens here.
Okay.
But in these other churches, they don't talk about sin.
They don't talk about hell.
They don't talk about God being angry at the wicked every day.
And so people go away going home thinking that God does no evil.
In fact, I heard it recently by someone that should know better, we're living in the age
of grace, brother.
God doesn't punish us for our sins in the age of grace.
It's all grace.
How do you, where do you go?
What God do you worship?
You know?
But listen.
Yeah.
People are like this.
They think God doesn't do good.
They think God doesn't do evil.
You know?
It's just yin and yang, the powers of the universe or something, you know?
And God's angry at those people as well.
Okay?
Hey, we ought to be a people that understand that God will do us good and God will do us
evil.
Okay?
Even Job was able to say when he lost everything.
You know?
He spoke about God's goodness and he also said, well, God can do evil to us as well.
Okay?
God can do both.
And you know what?
Sometimes we need God to do evil to us.
Sometimes we do need God to punish us.
We do need God to harm us a little bit because when we go off rails and we go away from the
Lord and we start walking a path that only leads to destruction, we need God's chastisement
in our lives to get us back right.
All right?
To hear some good preaching and understanding.
Just be reminded how much God hates sin.
How God will destroy the Jews.
He will destroy Jerusalem.
How many times did Jerusalem praise in the Bible?
You know what?
At the end of the day, if you're wicked, if you're sinful, just destroy it then.
We think of the temple as this wonderful, you know, so much gold and so much wealth
in Solomon's temple.
But you know what?
If the people's hearts are wicked, God will just rather destroy that place as well.
Now those things are insignificant to God.
God wants our hearts.
God wants our obedience.
God wants us following His word.
God wants us following His commandments.
Verse number 13.
There's another group of people that God is angry at.
This is what I was kind of, I started talking about before but I stopped myself.
It says, therefore, their goods shall become a booty and their houses are desolation.
They shall also build houses but not inhabit them.
And they shall plant vineyards but not drink the wine thereof.
So you can see part of God's judgment here is when people would amass wealth, amass
possessions but God will not allow them to enjoy it.
You know, can you please keep your finger there and go to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter
12.
We live in a rich country, a prosperous country.
I do believe we're living on the blessings of the past.
I don't know how long we can live on the blessings of the past.
You know, but Australians, you know, they want the good life.
They want the easy life.
They don't want to work hard.
You know, if they get part-time work, retire early, it's like I made it as an Australian.
I've got a house.
I've got a few investment properties, you know.
My wife's been working hard her whole life as well so we can afford some of these things.
We haven't had any kids but hey, we've got our things.
We've got our houses.
We've built our houses.
We've built our vineyards.
Let's retire early.
Well, we have a story like that and I know you guys know it but let's remind ourselves
Luke chapter 12 verse number 16, Luke chapter 12 verse number 16.
Speaking of Jesus, and he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain
rich man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying, what shall
I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.
Now, let's stop there for a moment, brethren.
Let's say God blesses you financially with possessions and you turn around and say, boy,
I've got so much.
I've got no place to put these things.
What should be your heart, you reckon, if you've got too much?
You just, boy, God's really blessed me.
Shouldn't as Christians, shouldn't we go, hey, is there a brother in need?
Hey, is there a missionary that's struggling out there in the field that's actually doing
the work of God that we can support?
Hey, maybe we can give to the house of God.
Maybe the house of God needs, you know, further assistance in that area.
I mean, God gives us plenty so we can be a blessing in return to others.
But that's not the mindset of Australians, though.
Okay, this is the Australian here.
It says here in verse number 18, and he said, this is what I do, I will pull down my barns
and build greater.
That's literally what happens, right?
The construction in the industry, it's crazy, right?
I mean, yeah, fine, you need to build houses for people, I understand, you know.
But aren't people just pulling down old houses and just building greater?
That's Australia.
Okay, I've got too much, I don't know what to do with it, I'll make a bigger house.
And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
Take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry.
So you know, let's retire, right, just enjoy the works that we've all put together.
But verse number 20, and God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee, then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Reverend, we're not going to take our possessions with us to heaven.
You know, you die, it's going to stay here, and then it gets burnt up, okay, in the day
of the Lord, okay.
So do we want to be rich on this earth or do we want to be rich toward God?
Listen, if God may bless you with riches, I think as Australians in general, even if
you think you're on a low income, just compare yourself to the rest of this world.
Honestly, just stop for a minute, stop comparing yourself to your neighbors, compare yourself
to people in Africa, compare yourself to people in South America, compare yourself to people
in Asia, okay, you're very wealthy, you're very wealthy, okay, you're very wealthy on
this earth already.
Okay, well good, not bad, God bless you, hey, now it's time to be rich toward God.
God, what can I, all the labor, all the things you've given me, all my possessions, how can
I use this for your glory, you know, instead of amassing wealth for oneself?
So God's not happy with this kind of attitude.
Build, build, build, retire early, enjoy life, eat, drink and be merry.
No, God's angry at that behavior as well.
We should be putting all our resources toward, you know, ensuring that the work of the kingdom
of God is being, you know, spread throughout this whole world.
Verse number 14, Zephaniah, sorry, Zephaniah chapter one, verse number 14.
Now we're going to look at the great day of the Lord and you'll notice a lot of parallels
once again with how God speaks about the Babylonian captivity and what we're still to look forward
to.
Yeah, we're looking forward to it now, aren't we, because we're looking for the new heavens
and the new earth.
So you will see a lot of parallels here, but verse number 14, the great day of the Lord
is near.
It is near and hasteth greatly.
Even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wastedness and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet
and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers.
Now notice Zephaniah is preaching this.
He's preaching this in the days of Josiah.
Don't forget, there's still many kings after him, okay.
And so if Zephaniah is preaching this, like let's say he's preaching this on the last
year of King Josiah, King Josiah's last year of life, okay, let's pretend, okay, as the
best case scenario.
Well, that means the day of the Lord is still at least 23 years away, 23 years away.
And God's already angry at them, okay.
Now this should bring us to remembrance about God's wrath, okay.
Yes when it falls, it's damaging.
Yes it burns with fervent heat, okay.
But the Bible also tells us about God in Psalm 103 verse 8.
It says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
Slow to anger.
You know what?
God's given them at least 23 years to get right with him.
He sent them prophet after prophet after prophet, okay.
He's given them time.
You need to remember this.
If you're in sin, if you're in rebellion against the Lord, if maybe some of these sins you
have in your life, you say, well, it seems like I'm getting away with it.
You're not getting away with it, okay.
The Lord is merciful and gracious.
He's given you time to fix it, okay.
I don't want to see any of us become sacrifice to God's judgment.
You know, I don't want to see all the efforts and the work that we put in being taken away
from us and given to another to enjoy.
But you can see here that God's anger is slow.
He's slow to anger, plenteous in mercy.
So brethren, if I've preached so far something that may step on your toes, may get a little
bit hurt, hurt feelings or something, well, go to God, don't go to me, okay.
Go to God, okay.
He has mercy.
He's wanting to help you.
He wants to forgive you and he wants you to do better.
He wants you to do what's right, okay.
You may have 23 years.
I don't know.
I don't know how long God will give us, you know, before his judgment falls on us.
But he's slow to anger.
Now what I thought was interesting was the parallels with the future day of the law to
come of the verses that we read there.
So you may have noticed in verse number 14, it said, even the voice of the day of the
Lord.
And so I was thinking about in First Thessalonians chapter four, verse number 16, talking about
the rapture.
And we know that the rapture takes place on the day of Christ, also known as the day of
the Lord, the day of Christ to us, because we're looking forward to Christ, the day of
the Lord for those that remain on the earth after the rapture.
It says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, then it says, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first.
So notice that both these days have to do with a voice, you know, a shout as it were
that takes place.
Also in verse number 14, at the end of verse number 14, it says, the mighty man shall cry
their bitterly.
Well, in the future day of the Lord, in Revelation chapter six, verse number 15, it says, and
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains,
and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, fallen us and
hide us from the face of him that sit upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,
for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?
So once again, it doesn't matter how mighty you are on this earth, Reverend, when God's
wrath comes, you know what, the mighty men will cry bitterly, okay?
Your status in this earth won't matter.
You know, the Hollywood elites, you know, they love to talk down to us peasants about,
you know, global warming, you know, you know, accepting, you know, LGBT, sodomites, homosexuals,
the vile filth, you know, they talk down, you know, we're so righteous, we're so mighty,
you know, we're summoning this earth, they're going to be crying bitterly on the day of
the Lord.
What else was mentioned there in that passage?
Verse number 15, it says, a day of darkness and gloominess, for in the future day of the
Lord, in Revelation chapter 6 verse 12, it says, and I behold when he had opened the
sixth seal and lo, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair
and the moon became as blood.
So guess what?
Yep, the day of the Lord.
It's a day of darkness.
A day of gloominess.
The sun's going to stop shining.
It's going to be, it's going to be night everywhere on the earth, okay?
You won't even get the light of the moon.
It's turned to blood.
The stars fall from heaven, but then we have the glory of Jesus Christ come in, which is
going to be wonderful.
What else is mentioned in that passage?
It says in verse number 16, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities.
Well, doesn't that remind us of the day of the Lord again, in the future day to come?
In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse number 52, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye
at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible
and we shall be changed.
Boy, when that trumpet sounds, I'm going to be excited.
Yes, I'm getting the new bodies.
Now think about the lost.
Think about the wicked when they hear these trumpets of the Lord.
Boy, you know, it's alarm, okay?
What are these noises?
What is going on?
It's going to be a shock to them.
In Zephaniah chapter 1 verse number 17, it says, and I will bring distress upon men that
they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood
shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung.
So I know this sounds like poetic language, I think it kind of is, but I also think it's
literal because when we read in Jeremiah, when the Babylonians come and the armies of
Jerusalem and Judah would fight, those dead bodies would just basically lay in the streets.
Like they would not have time to bury these bodies and give them an honourable funeral.
It's not going to happen.
You know, many times in Jeremiah it's just the place that's going to be filled with dead
bodies, right?
And basically the beasts of the earth are going to feast on those dead bodies.
And so when we look at how it's kind of illustrated there, you know, the blood shall be poured
out as dust, you know, because I believe the blood will bear all over the earth and
the flesh as the dung.
So you know, I guess the earth is going to be fertilised with dead bodies, you know,
that kind of imagery there.
And so, you know, these dead bodies laying all over the place, no time for a proper burial.
But something similar takes place again in the day of the Lord, future day of the Lord
to come, when Jesus Christ comes back at the end in Revelation 14 verse 19.
The Bible says, And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress,
even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
You know, when Christ comes back, the earth is going to be full of blood, full of dead
bodies.
These people that have turned against the Lord, these people have taken the mark of
the beast and worshiped the beast and the dragon.
Okay, so you can see a lot of parallels, right?
But don't forget, what we're looking at Zephaniah really primarily ties in with, of course,
the Babylonian captivity.
Look at verse number 18, Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his
jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
And so these people, hey, they've got silver, they've got gold, these are precious metals,
money, wealth.
They thought this would deliver them from the wrath of God, not at all, not at all.
No amount of wealth, no amount of investments and whatever people may have, it's all going
to be destroyed, like we saw, it's all going to be burnt up, you know?
And you know, sometimes, you know, Christians read this passage and they think, well, then
maybe I shouldn't save up.
I shouldn't have a nest egg, I shouldn't have investments, I shouldn't have some savings
for a rainy day.
No, no, that's fine.
You know, there are many good principles in the Bible, kind of like Joseph.
You know, he knew that there were going to be seven days of, seven years of famine, but
seven years of plenty.
And so what did Joseph do?
He saved up, got himself ready, you know, for the years of famine.
There's many good principles in the Bible about having some savings, being ready for
difficult times, you know, difficult tribulations.
But that's not what we're talking about here.
This is not tribulation.
This is not tribulation of the saints.
We're talking about God's wrath, God's anger against the wicked, God's anger against
the lost, those that have rejected Jesus Christ.
Well, you know what?
That money is just not going to do them any good.
You know, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9, for God hath not appointed us to
wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, the day of the Lord is a day of wrath, but thank God we're not appointed to that
wrath.
We're going to be raptured.
We're going to have our new resurrected bodies, okay?
And then we're going to watch the Lord torch this place, okay?
Just finally, can you please turn to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 4, please.
Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse number 23, we'll end on this one.
Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 23, the Bible said in Zephaniah that the whole land shall
be devoured by the fire of his jealousy.
Now God warned them.
God warned them a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, all the way back to Moses.
We know the book of Deuteronomy was written by Moses.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse number 23.
This is what God instructed them.
It says, take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God,
which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which
the Lord thy God have forbidden thee, for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even
a jealous God, okay?
So God warned them a long time ago.
You start making images, you make idols, you worship these things, well God's going to
be a consuming fire.
He is a jealous God.
Now brethren, we're not under the Old Testament, are we?
We're not part of that covenant, but we are part of the New Covenant, we are part of the
New Testament.
You know, let us not be like the Israelites of old, let us not be like the Jews of old
that forgot the covenant of the Lord.
Don't forget that you're saved, that you're in Christ Jesus, that you're a new creature,
that you have a home in heaven, that you're an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
Don't forget that you're a faithful, you're supposed to be a faithful witness for Jesus
Christ and his gospel.
Don't forget this covenant that you've entered, yeah, it's free, it's a free gift, but you
know what?
God expects a lot from us now.
He wants us to walk in his ways.
He wants us to be a representative of heaven, an ambassador, okay?
But sometimes we get busy with life, and there's nothing wrong with getting busy with life.
We've got to work, we've got family, we've got other things, we've got family, friends,
and people to visit, and things to do, and places to be.
Nothing wrong with any of that, but brethren, don't forget the primary reason you're on
this earth.
If God was free with us, we'd be in heaven right now.
God has a work for us.
God has a job for us.
He wants us to represent Christ on this earth.
Let's not forget the covenant that we have with God.
He is a jealous God.
He deserves our praise.
He deserves our worship, right?
Let's not be people that worship God from one side of our mouth, and then on the other
side we're acting like the Jews were here in Zephaniah chapter one.
All right, well I hope that was a challenge for you, brethren.
None of us are perfect.
We're all growing.
We're all trying to learn God's ways and walk in His ways and His commandments.
Don't be someone that looks at other people in the church or says, well yeah, brother
Caleb needed to hear that one today.
We look at our own lives and we're not perfect.
We all, even me, pastor, I'm not perfect.
We have things that we need to work on.
And you know what, don't forget that the Lord is slow to anger.
He's slow to anger.
But He's slow to anger.
And let's make sure we take advantage of the merciful, the gracious God that we have.
We can go to Him, ask for forgiveness, and ask for His help to help us overcome the wickedness,
the sins that we have in our lives.
Let's pray.