As you are seated, I pray that you would find your way to Zephaniah. Once again, Zephaniah chapter 1. We're going to begin reading today in verse 14 and read through the end of chapter 1, verse 18. Zephaniah chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. Near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming quickly. Listen, the day of the Lord. In it the warrior cries out bitterly, a day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the high corners. I will bring distress on men, so that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's wrath. And all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth. The grass withers, the flowers fade and fall, but the words of our Lord God endure forever. Heavenly Father, we pray that as we come to you and hear your word, that living word that you have given to us, that our hearts would be moved that the realization that the things in this world will one day be shaken and many things destroyed. And yet those who are standing safe and secure in the arms of One who calls us as His children, who is our Savior, will know that safety and security for all eternity. Father, we do pray that you would direct our thoughts, our minds, that you enable us, Lord, to give full and complete attention to the authority which is your Word. Father, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Some of you may be wondering what this is for. And although this is a little unorthodox for me, I'd like to play something for you before I begin directing our attention to this Word. Okay? Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Dies Irae. Dies Ile. Words written by Thomas Solano, a 13th century Italian Franciscan friar, who wrote those words based on these words in Zephaniah chapter 1, verses 14 and following. They're words I'll spare you the reading in Latin, but give you some of the English translation. Day of wrath and terror looming, heaven and earth to ash consuming. What horror must invade the mind when the approaching judge shall find and sift the deeds of all mankind. There are 17 stanzas, 17 verses if you will, of this. Another one, verse 5, is the written book shall be brought forth in which is contained all from which the world is to be judged. Dies Ili. Dies Ili. The day of wrath. The day of God's judgment upon the earth. Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz. What you heard there was Mozart. in a requiem based on the verses from this passage of Scripture. And until 1970, there was a particular group, the Roman Catholic Church, that allowed these words to be sung at masses, at requiems, in a liturgical setting. And as a result of Vatican II, Through the direction of a man by the name of Archbishop Bugnini, this occurred, and I read these words, that the text of those words were gotten rid of, were eliminated, out of the liturgy of the church. of that particular church, because they smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved text as Libera me Domine, or the Dies Irae, and others that overemphasized, they said, judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with text urging the Christian to have hope and giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection. But essentially, that body, that group of people eliminated the text of Zephaniah verses 14 and following. because they were too oppressive, they were too depressing, they were too negative. They gave us to a sense of fear and judgment and despair. And yet, today, you hear that music and you hear the words, often in things like the soundtrack from Steven Spielberg's Close Encounter of the Third Kind. It's there. In Disney's animated musical, The Lion King, D.S. Yeodai can be heard orchestrated in the soundtrack in the movie when it shows the Shadowland. The first few stanzas of D.S. Yeodai are said in the opening song, The Bells of Notre Dame from the Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. D.S. Yeodai is referred to several times during the soundtrack of the Matrix series. X-Men United, X-2, an adaptation of Mozart's setting. D-E-S-E-I is played during the Nightcrawler's attack in the White House. You see, we don't hear it liturgically, but you hear it often, every day, and in ways that are subliminal that are there, because the world knows in their hearts and in their minds that there is a day of judgment. Why do we not hear it in the context of the church anymore? Very little theological emphasis is placed on this text, either from the Word or in liturgical music, in music that is written in the context of the church. I believe it's a reflection of the church's and even the world's dissatisfaction of hearing for any extended period of time that there is a day of judgment, that there is a day of wrath, that there is a coming day in which God is going to roll up the corners of time, as it were, and men and women and children from all time will stand before Him and give an account for their lives. even in our own personal lives. Those who are called as Christians, as believers, who are living out their faith in fear and trembling. How often do we find ourselves reflecting in biblically appropriate ways on the wrath and the fury of God? We don't like to do that, do we? We don't like to be around people who get angry. who raise their ire and wrath against those who are around them. We don't like to be around those people, do we? How deep of an impact does this theme make in our own lives? What difference does it make in our behavior, in our attitudes, in our love, in our zeal for worship, and for fellowship, and even evangelism? What difference does it make for us? The first chapter of Zephaniah has been about the wrath of God against sinners, especially those people who, like Israel of old, would claim to be God's people, but who do not serve Him with their whole heart, with their mind, with their very being. Zephaniah begins with an exposition of that wrath of God in calling sinners to a position of repentance. And this morning, he brings that message. of wrath and judgment, condemnation against the sinner to a climax. He brings it to a head as we come to these verses, verses 14-18. What is the prophet's main message to his people, to those who are listening? What is the main point that the Lord was driving home through his prophet Zephaniah? The main point is this. Because people have sinned against the Lord, People have sinned against the Lord. God will soon, Zephaniah says, destroy them through His great and His terrible judgment. This has been Zephaniah's theme all along, and it will continue to be his theme through chapter 3, although we get to see glimpses of that light and that hope of salvation that lest we had the glimpses of darkness, the light would mean nothing to us. So Zephaniah builds that foundation, builds and paints that picture with light and with dark that we might know who God is that we stand before. The word of the Lord that came to him was first a word of judgment to an idolatrous and unrepentant people He has declared God's judgment upon the idolaters, upon those who have something other than the one true God in the place that God should be. He has announced, Zephaniah has, the day of the Lord. He has elaborated the character of those who will fall under God's judgment on this great and this terrible day. And now the prophet makes it clear that this judgment is near. It is near. It is dreadful. It is final. And it comes because people have sinned and continue to sin against the Creator God, the Lord. Four headings we'll look at here in the time that we have allowed to us the judgment. It's nearness. It's terror. It's finality. And it's reason. It's justification. I racked my brain to try to figure out some sort of alliteration there, and it just didn't work. So, there you have it. Nearness, terror, finality, and justification. The judgment, Zephaniah says, is near. Verse 14. Near is the great day of the Lord. Now this is a phrase that's repeated almost verbatim in verse 7. Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated His guests." Having looked at verse 7 and understanding that ultimately what Zephaniah is pointing to by the inspiration of God is that coming of Christ, the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the end of the age. Although he uses this to point Judah, God's people, to that judgment that they would receive at the invading armies of Babylon as they came in to take over the city, the holy city of Jerusalem. Zephaniah prophesied over 600 years before the first coming of Christ. And yet here, what does he say? The day of the Lord is near. It is near. Now we look back and it's over 2600 years since Christ came. And we read these words, the day of the Lord is near. And I know we have to sit and wonder, is it really? Is that time coming? God has said it, and it will be. How can it be near though and coming quickly? as he adds those words in verse 14. Near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming, not quickly, but very quickly. And why doesn't He come now? Why doesn't He come as I speak if He's coming so quickly? Because God is a God of grace and patience, not desiring that any whom He has called be lost. Even those hearing today, in the midst of this congregation, listening to the words of God's promise that He is coming quickly to those who are sinning and continue to sin, who do not turn to the one true and holy God through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, will be found in the position of condemnation and judgment. on a day of the Lord. Paul even wrote in Romans 13, verse 11, do this, he says, knowing the time that is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than we believed. And that even in the first few years after our Lord's death. Paul wrote those words. The day of the Lord is near. There's a sense of expectancy in the writing of Paul about the coming of Christ. There's even a sense of expectancy in the writings of Zephaniah, inspired by this God who is coming. That He is coming, and He is coming quickly. There's a couple ways that we can understand that. First, is the primary reference that Zephaniah gives is to that invasion of Babylon. coming in to destroy the city of Jerusalem. And that happened less than 50 years after he gave this prophetic warning. And yet as we look back over 2,600 or so years, how big of a blip on the line of time is that 50 years? It's small. It hardly even shows, does it? How big of a blip when we look at 2,600 years is that in the context of eternity. It's small, isn't it? Our lives are but vapors. The 70, 75, 80 years, depending on where you go to look at the life expectancy of Americans, is small with respect to eternity and God's call in time. You see, the writer of Hebrews said that we live And we die. And after this comes what? Judgment. Any one of us could be gone this afternoon. Tomorrow. Next month. A year from now. Two years from now. And even that, the older I get, the more precious days and seconds become in service of God's Kingdom. in preparation for service in His Kingdom for all eternity, our small number of years that we have that God has given to us are insignificant. So that when we look at this and we see that Zephaniah says, near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly, how should we then live? As if He were coming now. with hope, with expectancy, with preparation, with proclaiming the nearness of our Lord in judgment. God, Zephaniah says, is near and is coming quickly. Matthew used the word picture of lightning And if any of you have seen lightning or even been close to it as it has struck, as it has evidenced itself in the landscape, so as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, Matthew says, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. It's near. And it comes so quickly that we don't even expect it. that we don't even have a chance, have any time hardly to react. There will be no time for confession. There will be no time for changing of minds. There will be no time because time will not be. There will be no time on that day as Christ returns. in His swiftness and suddenness to usher in judgment before God's judgment seat. Zephaniah goes on as he says, God's judgment is near. And as we begin to think about, what do you begin to think about? My palms start to sweat. Not because I'm just standing up here doing this, but because thinking about the coming of our God. In all His glory, in all His wonder, in all His might, in all His power, knowing that I am safe and secure in Christ, I still have sweaty palms. Knowing that we are going to meet the One who has made us should bring us a sense of terror and awe and righteous fear as we step into His presence. Up until now, Zephaniah has been dealing with who the day of the Lord will come upon. Now he deals with what the day of the Lord will bring. And it will bring, as he says, listen, silence before the Lord God. Listen. The day of the Lord. What's going on? The one who has been prepared for battle from the very beginning, he says, the warrior cries out bitterly. This is one who is ready. And yet, what does he do? He cries out bitterly. Because it is a day of wrath. It is a day of trouble and distress. It is a day of destruction and desolation. A day of darkness and gloom. A day of clouds and thick darkness. a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities, against those places that have seemed to be impenetrable. Those places that have been set up in our lives and maybe even in our hearts that seem to be indestructible. Those places, God says, will be destroyed. the high corner towers of the fortified cities. Who understands, the psalmist writes, the power of your anger and your fury according to the fear that is due you? And we don't like to think about anger and fear and power and might overwhelming us, and yet, that is here. in the truth of God's Word, that we might know His love and His compassion for us. Spurgeon wrote of this passage, he said, what the power of God's anger is in hell, and what it would be on earth were it not in mercy restrained, no man living can rightly conceive. Imagine a situation that you are terrified of, that you would not want to find yourself in ever, ever in this life. Imagine how terrified you are, whatever that might be, from looking over the side of a 50-story building to riding in an airplane with serpents. whatever it might be. Imagine that terror. Imagine that fear. The day of the Lord no man can conceive. That terror that we experience through our phobias today is insignificant. It's not even a blip on the experience chart. It's not even there. We cannot even fathom it. as God comes against sin. Near is that judgment. That judgment will come with terror. It will come with finality. It will be finished. There will be no discoverable means of escape. No one has at that point in time a second chance. You cannot. escape from the judgments of our God. He will bring distress on men so that they will walk, Zephaniah says, like the blind. Have you gotten up in the middle of the night? Ever? Pitch dark blindness. Maybe even experience this. Get up one night and shut your eyes in a strange place and try to negotiate that place. What do you do? You stumble. You fall. You hit your toe. You might be tempted to say a few choice words as you move around, right? This day that God is coming will be a day of blindness, he says. So they will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord. Though in their lifetimes these people may try to deny the judgment, though they might think that they will avoid the judgment when it comes, though men might delude themselves and try to convince themselves that it's not going to be there, that they'll be able to stand on that judgment day and give an account to the Creator God that will change His mind about their position for all eternity, is nonsense. It will not happen. What needs to happen is today. While we have breath, the truth is that this judgment is coming. And everyone who is found in his or her sins, when that lightning strike comes, when that change comes with the twinkling of an eye, will fall under the terror and the judgment. of their Creator and God. Their blood will be poured out like dust. Their flesh like refuse. One translation says, you go back to the Hebrew, and almost invariably, where this word is used, it means excrement. It's stuff you pick up in the backyard after the dog has run through the backyard. That's what it is. And when I read this Scripture at first to you, I said refuse. Because I didn't want you to get hung up on that word. But it's dung. I vacuum. And what do I throw out of the vacuum cleaner? Nasty looking stuff that I don't want to keep around. For protection of my life. For protection of me. I throw it away. Where do I put it? I throw it in the garbage. And I put it in the garbage can outside and the garbage man picks it up every Monday. And I never see it again. I hope that it won't. It says their blood will be poured out like dust. Their flesh, like that stuff I pick up in the backyard periodically, and thrown away. It's useless. Never to be used again. Neither is their silver nor their gold. Will they be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's wrath? No matter how much money you have, you will not be able to buy a higher rank or position in the presence of the one true God. It's level ground there, folks. No matter how much we have here today, no matter how much people are depending upon materially, it's worthless in the sight of God. And all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy We serve a jealous God who's jealous for our love for Him, for our respect of Him. He's jealous that we will glorify Him and Him alone, for He will make a complete end. Indeed, Zephaniah says, a terrifying one of all the inhabitants of the earth. God is jealous for His name. He is jealous that we serve Him rightly, that we serve Him wholly and completely. He is jealous for His glory. Near is this day of judgment. It is a day of terror. It is a day of finality. What is the reason? What is the justification for this judgment? Look at the middle of verse 17. I will bring distress. We can summarize everything that is in these verses in that verse. I will bring distress. So they will walk like the blind. Why? Because they have sinned against the Lord. They have sinned, not against man, they have sinned against the Lord. Sin is an affront to God. It's an assault upon Him as Creator, as authority over our lives and this creation. Sin comes from a heart of pride, a heart of selfishness that seeks to be like God. Sin is self-sufficiency. Sin is independence. Sin is saying, I don't need you when we do. often with young people, I have a chance to talk to them about these things, about sin, about their lives, and about what they're trusting in for their salvation. And one response I got back from a young man recently was this. He said, I have never sinned against God. I've never sinned against God. Now, yeah, you know, maybe I've done some things against my fellow student, or maybe even against a teacher, against my parents, but I've never sinned against God. That's a lie, folks. Sin. Even though in our minds we think we haven't sinned against God, when we sin against those who are in authority over us, who do we sin against? We sin against God. Amen. The reality is all sin. No matter who it is against, no matter whether it is small or large in our minds, it is a sin against God. And it deserves what? It deserves His wrath and His curse. And that's why as we sit and we listen, we can be thankful if we are trusting in the one true God. If we put our faith and our hope in the One who took that wrath upon Himself on our behalf, then we have nothing to fear when we come into the presence of the one true God. But you know, if we're sitting here today, and you're hearing these words, and maybe even hearing them for the first time, God will judge sinfulness. God's wrath is going to be poured out upon you if you're standing anywhere other than in the arms of Jesus Christ. That wrath that was poured out on Him on the cross will be poured out on the one who stands alone before the throne room of God. It may not be currently politically correct, It may not be comfortable to hear these words and to proclaim the day of the Lord's judgment. But now that we've heard them, and heard them new, and heard them fresh, and they've been a reminder to us, the question is what are we going to do with these words? How will the truth about the wrath of God affect us? Will we continue in our sin? Or will we turn from our sin in humble repentance and reliance upon that sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf? Understanding that each and every sin, past, present, and future, no matter how grievous, no matter how public, no matter how private, is an affront to the Creator God, and we will answer to those sins. It might make us feel better to push aside the reality of the truth of that day, the day of the Lord, but it won't take away the reality that the day of the Lord is near. Heavenly Father, we pray that these words would weigh heavy upon us. But Lord, as believers, as those trusting in Christ as the living Word, as the hope of our salvation, that we would search our hearts, Lord, knowing that sin is grievous, and that we, even as believers, sin every day, moment by moment, against You, our Creator. Father, our hope and our joy, even in the midst of this wrath, is to know that we will stand before you clothed in the righteous robes of Jesus Christ. And we look forward to that time. Even so, Lord, quickly come. And yet, Lord, if we're hearing these words and we are standing anywhere outside the embrace of Jesus Christ, Father, it is a precarious and a horrible, a terrible place to be, knowing that the wrath that we see poured out on the nations here in Zephaniah will be poured out on the sinful nations and individuals of today and tomorrow. Father, You are a good and a gracious God. You are slow to anger. We thank You, Lord, for Your salvation. the salvation that you have given to us in Jesus Christ, and pray that we would live as becomes believers in the one true and holy God. Father, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.