Take your copy of the scripture once again and turn with me to the book of Zephaniah. And now you know where it is, so I need not tell you it comes just before Haggai. The book of Zephaniah, and I'm going to be reading chapter three, verses 18, 19 and 20. Zephaniah chapter three will read those three verses. And then we'll launch into our study. As we look at the fourth point of this sermon, we've seen that I've put the theme is basically God's amazing grace for undeserving sinners. We've seen the desperate need. We've seen the who it is, the undeserving subjects, the sinners. and the stunning display of God's grace and his wonderful love. And now on this message, we look at the eternal reward or the eternal love of God, starting at verse 18 of Chapter three. Again, the Lord is speaking, I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly who are among you, to whom its reproach is a burden. Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame. and gather those who were driven out. I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame. At that time, I will bring you back. Even at that time, I will gather you for I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth. When I return your captives before your eyes, says the Lord. So the reading of God's holy inspired and inerrant word. Well, in the previous sermon, as I mentioned, we looked at these three main headings that I've just mentioned before I read the scripture. And we saw the amazing display of the love of the Lord of Yahweh in the gifts that he gave. He delivered us from judgment. He's living in the midst of his people. We saw his power in saving us and his pleasure as a figure of speech and how he as a divine soloist sings over us. You understand this figurative language. I need not tell you that you already know it, don't you? No one would assume a literal thing there, but yet there is a literal truth behind it. The infinite. Love of God. Now, you would think, at least I would think, that Zephaniah would have ended the book at verse 17. I mean, what can be greater than Yahweh singing over his people? I would have thought he just said, amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord and put his pen down. But he doesn't. He gives us verses 18, 19 and 20. Now, I make a basic assumption here. And I think it's a right assumption. And that is, remember when our Lord Jesus turned the water into wine? You remember what the master of the feast said? You saved the best for last. Well, I suggest to you that verses 18, 19 and 20 are the best. That's why they are the last in the book. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Zephaniah writes these words as actually the words of the Lord God himself. We will see that this is really the climax that is comforting. It gives hope to the remnant in Zephaniah's day and to the church of Jesus Christ in our day. Now, before I begin this exposition study, I want you to understand the word remnant. This word is used three times in Zephaniah, and it's extremely important that we understand this word. The first time it's used is in chapter two, verse seven, where we read these words. And this is when the judgment of the nations is given. This is the judgment of over Gaza, Gaza, Gaza with the Philistines. And the Lord says the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They shall feed their flocks there in the houses of Ashkelon. They shall lie down at evening. For the Lord, their God will intervene for them and return the captives. Now, that's an amazing thing when you think about it. It's for the remnant. Now, you would expect and I know Israel would have expected that rather than using the word remnant, that the Lord would have said. The coast shall be for Israel or for Judah, but he doesn't say that he says the coasts are going to be for the remnant. And what's a remnant? Well, you know, a remnant is a very small piece. I know nothing about sewing, but I've heard that those who sew clothes often have remnants left over. Is that right? I was hoping I was right on that. And so the remnants of very, very small pieces. So here we have a promise that a very small group of people are going to feed their flocks. And there and in the houses of Ashkelon, Clearly, we are not to take this in a literal sense. We must take it in a spiritual sense and we must determine what that spiritual sense is. It's not the whole nation that inherits that piece of land in Gaza. It's a very small group of people. So that's the first. Then in chapter two, verse nine, we have the second use of the word remnant and actually a synonym that's used to in verse nine. And this has to do with Moab. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be like Sodom and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah overrun with weeds and salt pits and a perpetual desolation. The residue, which is a really a synonym for remnant, the residue of my people shall plunder them and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Not the whole nation, not Judah, but the remnant. A very, very small group of people shall do this. And again, this must have a spiritual fulfillment. And then the third place that the word remnant is used is in chapter three, verse 13, where we read these words. And here we have the remnant identified. If we didn't know who they were when we read in chapter two, we find out who they are in chapter three. We read this in 13. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness. There is a very small group. There's a remnant in Israel. And speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed their flocks and lie down and no one shall make them afraid. This remnant has an entirely different heart than the nation of Israel. Now, does that sound familiar? Are you a Jew today? Oh, yes, you are, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, because everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has the faith of Abraham. And those are the true Jews. So he's talking about a remnant. Those who are the true Jews, the true Israel of God, make up this remnant. So we must interpret verses 18, 19 and 20 as having a what is also I should say also when we look at verses 18 and 20, there's another interpretive point we must understand, and that is that they have a double fulfillment. And this is a principle of biblical prophecy of which most of you are aware. Let me illustrate it from Matthew 2, 15. I can only give one illustration. It'll be your job this week to look at all the other instances of this, if you wish. But in Matthew 2, 15, we read this about Mary and Joseph and the babe who had to go down to Egypt because of the slaughter of the infants by Herod. And it says, and remained there, that is, Mary and Joseph and the baby remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. So that is a direct fulfillment of a prophecy in the Old Testament. It's Hosea, chapter two, verse 15, where we read. as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. Now, Hosea is speaking about the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by the Holy Spirit, but he reveals that that was the immediate fulfillment. But the ultimate fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ in him being brought out of Egypt. So, as William Hendrickson says, It is therefore very true, indeed, that when Israel was effectually called out of Egypt, Christ, too, was called out of Egypt. So these two principles, we need to understand remnant and we need to understand immediate fulfillment of prophecy and ultimate fulfillment of prophecy. Now, if we under if you're with me so far, if you're not, oh, the rest of the sermon and make sense to you. But if you're with me so far, we'll see what we can do with this. OK. So these two important principles in mind, I direct your attention to the eternal reward or the eternal love of God's amazing grace for undeserved sinners. And what we have here is really, I wish I were an orator, because if I were an orator, we would soar into the heavens. But I'm not. So you're just going to have to listen to a regular, ordinary country preacher as he tries to explain this. Here we go. Now, in verses eight, verse 18. We start with verse 18. We're just going to study these verses one at a time. I will gather those who sorrow over this appointed assembly who are among you to whom its reproach is a burden. Verse 18, Zephaniah looks into the future for him, not for us, but for him. He looks into the future. Judah would be in captive for 70 years. He believed Jeremiah's prophecy. And he knew that there would be no feast for 70 years. He knew that there would be no temple worship because the temple was going to be destroyed. The godly reign of Josiah ended in 609 BC. In four short years, at 605 BC, Daniel and his three friends were hauled off to Babylon. That was the beginning of the captivity. Then Ezekiel and the craftsman in 597. And then the destroyed city was entirely destroyed in 586. So no feast, no temple worship. What sorrow it brought. But you see, prophetically, what what the Lord is saying through Zephaniah says, I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly who are among you, to whom reproaches a burden is I'm going to get you back. There's going to be peace again. And there was you remember, it was in under under Zerubbabel who brought who brought the people back in 536 BC when Cyrus gave his decree and when they came back, I started building the temple, but the first thing they did was to offer sacrifices and to have a Passover. So you see, Zephaniah saying this is going to happen now. We got to look at the that's the immediate fulfillment, which was future for Zephaniah, but his history for us. Verse 19. was also fulfilled in Zephaniah's day in a in one way. Verse 19, a behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather those who were driven out. I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame. Now, in Zephaniah's day, that is, as he looked in, he didn't see this, but he's prophesying what would happen in immediate fulfillment. that there would be this the sacrifices, the Passover. And then in verse 20 at that time, I'll bring you back. Even at that time, I gather you, for I give you fame and praise among the nations. There is a partial fulfillment again in historically after Zephaniah's prophecy. But you know that you've studied your Old Testament history. You're well aware of it. What happened was, as we read in Nehemiah chapter six, verses 15 and 16, So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days. And it happened when our when all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw things that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that the work was done by our God. So Zephaniah is prophesying that for the encouragement of the remnant who came back to Jerusalem. to begin the worship and to build the wall. It's wonderful, isn't it? Ah, but there's more. And it's the more that I want us to look at, because not only is there this immediate fulfillment that Zephaniah prophesies that we can look at historically, but there is an ultimate fulfillment that we must not miss, which is glorious. Let's see if I can convince you of it. And to show you that what we have here is even beyond. Well, I won't say anything more. It's just beyond what we looked at this morning. This verse 19. I'm going to start at verse 19 as we look at this and verse 19 is represents a persecuted remnant. A persecuted church, if you please. Which is despised by the world. I'm going to deal with those who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather those who are driven out. And I want to. Verse 19 is a very difficult verse to translate from the Hebrew language. My Hebrew is very, very rusty, but I looked at it carefully and I agree with the ones who have kept up on their Hebrew. I think that the Legacy Standard Bible and the ESV get the last phrase of verse 19 much in a much more accurate and understandable way. So I'm going to read from the ESV because it's ESV and the Legacy Standard are essentially the same. The first part of verse 19 is the same as it is in the New King James. Behold, at that time, And just follow along the new King James, because that's what most of you have. I will deal with all your oppressors and I will save the lame and gather the outcast. And so far you're you're following me, aren't you? In your translation. But then this last part is what's different. The ESV and the Legacy Standard Bible say something like this. And I will change their shame into praise and renown in all of Europe. And I think that's more accurately reflecting the Hebrew, according to at least the scholars that I looked at. And so what we're saying here is that the lame and the outcast are going to be changed into the praise and renown in all the earth. And unfortunately, again, the New King James version is not consistent. It translates it land. The word is earth. Ellis, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So as Zephaniah is saying, there's going to be something that happens in all the earth, not just the land of Judah, but in all the earth. So what is the Holy Spirit teaching us here? Well, what he's teaching us is this. He's teaching us that there's something even better than the divine soloist quieting us with his love. As wonderful as that is. This is ultimately fulfilled in the eternal state when the praise and frame and fame of the remnant will be known in all the earth. We had young men reading the book of Revelation. Remember what they read in Revelation chapter 21. If you've forgotten, you can turn back there and follow as I read a few verses. Now, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was also no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them. He will dwell with them. Notice that he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be with them. And then notice this and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. No more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I will make all things new. And he said to me, right. For this is true, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega. We know that's what's coming in the end. And that is the ultimate fulfillment of what Zephaniah is saying here. Zephaniah is saying at that time, I will bring back at that time. I will gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, among all the peoples of the earth. I'm going to give you praise and fame. So this is the glory that awaits the remnant. Are you part of the remnant? Who are the remnant? We looked at that this morning. The remnant are those who are humble and trust Christ, who have nothing to offer him. They simply believe on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me put it this way. There is a sense. In the eternal kingdom. That we're not going to have to have. The divine soloist singing over us. Now, that's for now. The divine soloist singing over us is for now where there's tears and sorrow and afflictions and doubts. But in that day, all tears are swaddled up. All pain is swaddled up. And the divine soloist can quit singing because we will behold his infinite love and will never behold entirely his infinite love, but will behold it will be in the presence of infinite, eternal love. And there we will be forever and ever and ever. The divine solace is for now. Ah, there's something much better coming. All the former things are passed away. I hope this helps you as you face present troubles and difficulties, trials and so forth. Yes, I rejoice to know there's a divine soloist, but I know there's something better coming. The best wine is saved for the end of the feast. It is safe. And I throw away the doubts, rest on the promises. You know, as I was preparing this, I thought about Pilgrim's Progress, the second part of Pilgrim's Progress, where Christiana goes to the to the eternal city. And as Christiana is nearing the end and going into the heavenly city, she gives some advice to some people who were less than joyful. You remember them? One was Mr. Ready to halt. He had to go through this whole Christian life with crutches. Poor guy. And so she said to him that she says the crutches will just make it sweeter for you when you finally get there because you won't need them anymore. So, but be ready, Mr. Ready to halt because your hour is coming. And then after him came Mr. Despondency. And then his daughter, much afraid. Whom she said that is, Christiana said, you want with thankfulness forever to remember your deliverance from the hand of giant despair and out of the doubting cancel. In other words, why are you much afraid you were delivered? But indeed, they still carry despondency and much fear. But then they entered, they entered the river and passed through. And here is how Bunyan describes it. And with this, I end. But glorious it was, Bunyan says. to see how the open region was filled with horses and chariots, with trumpets and pipers, with singers and players on string instruments to welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one another in at the beautiful gate of the city. The best is yet to come. I thank God for the divine soloist. And I'm thankful that the best is yet to come where we won't need a divine soloist anymore. Will be enveloped in the eternal, infinite love of God. Bless his name. Father, thank you for the promises of Scripture. Help us to rejoice in them. as we await the final entrance into glory. But until then, we thank you for your love expressed in singing over us with joy and taking pleasure in us. Help us as we enter into prayer and as we sing together, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.