All right, I'm going to have you turn to a section of the Bible that you may have to look in the table of contents for. Zephaniah. Zephaniah. Fourth from the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. So if you're coming to math, you just turn back five books. All right? Zephaniah. For the next month, Pastor Rick and I are going to tag team. I'll be preaching this week, and then Rick, and then me, and then Pastor Rick, and then me, and so forth. And when I'm here, we're gonna be going through Zephaniah chapter three. Today's title is A Day of Judgment, A Day of Hope. When you think of the minor prophets, That first part is what your mind would normally go to if you have any idea of what the minor prophets are about. Judgment. It's God sending his prophets, those prophets writing of God's judgment on Israel or Judah because of their sin. Mainly their sin of idolatry, but whole slew of other sins as well. But it's judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. Now the context, the historical setting of Zephaniah we find in the first verse of the book. The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, son of Gedariah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. Zephaniah was written to the southern kingdom of Judah. By this time, the northern kingdom of Israel is no more. The Assyrians have come. They've deported them all. They've destroyed it. It's no longer in existence. But this book was written to the southern kingdom of Judah under the righteous reign of Josiah. Now, unlike his father Ammon and unlike his father Manasseh, who was terrible, Manasseh erected an altar to Baal in the temple of God. That's how terrible he was. He sacrificed to the god Molech as well, and he practiced sorcery. But unlike Ammon and Manasseh, this is what the scripture says of Josiah. He did what was right. in the eyes of the Lord. During his reign, he destroyed the idols. He took that altar of Baal, that idol of Baal out of the temple, smashed it to powder, put it in the brook Kidron. He tore down all the high places and smashed them to smithereens and the brook Kidron just took it out of Israel. killed all the priests of Baal, he killed the sorcerers, the witches, all that were around. He did away with all of that and he started a restoration project in the temple. It had come to a ruinous nature. And while they were in that renovation project, somebody broke open into a broom closet something, and they found a copy of Deuteronomy. Now, the law of Moses had been lost for years. It was just orally brought down, and here is a copy of God's word. And it was brought to the king, and the king says, read it. And so it was read to him. And when you read Deuteronomy, it's just a re-spelling rewriting of the law of Exodus that we find in Exodus and so it's rewritten and at the end of Deuteronomy We have all of Israel gathered together on two different mountaintops. And one relates all the blessings that God will give to his people as long as they remain true. I'll bless your fruit of the land, your womb, everything. There's blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing. But in counter to that, those on the other hand are saying, if you don't obey, this curse comes. This curse comes. this curse comes. And hearing that as Deuteronomy ends, Josiah tears his clothes, which is a sign of humility, and repents for the nation. And he says, surely God's judgment is upon us. And then he asks for a word from God, from a word from a prophet. And it says in 2 Kings 22, Verse 13, go inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. And Zephaniah, in his prophecy, he lists many of these things that they have not done right. In verses four through six, it's idolatry. In verse nine, there's violence and deceit. In verse 12, they're guilty of complacency and indifference. In verse 11, there's greed. And in verse 18, there's trusting in riches rather than the Lord. Josiah's concern for the country. If God has said, we do these things and all these curses come upon us, woe is us, what's gonna happen? So he inquires of the Lord, what is gonna happen? And so the scribes go to a prophetess named Huldah and she says, it's just what you've read. God's word's gonna be true. You've sinned and judgment is coming. but she also offers a little bit of hope. For he says, because Josiah tore his clothes and came before the Lord in humility, it won't happen in his lifetime. So you've been granted a little bit of a reprieve here, Judah, because of the righteousness of your king. And Zephaniah writes basically the same thing as Huldah. His reply was one of wrath, but also one of hope. Now the contextual setting of writing here, this day of hope begins in verse 9 of chapter 3, but not before the warning of the day of judgment, which is chapter 1, chapter 2, up to chapter 3, verse 8. That day of judgment, that day of wrath is called the day of the Lord. The minor prophets all use this terminology, the day of the Lord, speaking of the time of judgment of God upon his people, upon sinners. Look back at chapter one, verse seven. This is basically the theme verse of Zephaniah. Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. Verse 14, the great day of the Lord is near and hastening fast. The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind so that they shall walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung." What a picture here, huh? What a day this will be. What kind of judgment, what kind of wrath this day of the Lord is. Well, let's now look at it from chapter three. We'll be looking at chapter three, the next three times we come together. The day of judgment is the first part of Zephaniah three, where there is a warning given verse one. Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city. She listens to no voice. She accepts no corruption. She does not trust in the Lord. She does not draw near to her God. Her officials within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing till the morning. Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men. Her priests profane what is holy. They do violence to the law. Judah has sinned. and had sinned grossly. Because of her rebellion, because of her defilement, because of her oppression, this once holy nation had become unholy and had earned God's woe. That's how he begins, verse chapter three, woe to her. Now a woe is a threat or a curse directed against enemies that great suffering is coming. Now this usually, in scripture, is directed against heathen nations, against Israel's enemies. For instance, he uses it back in chapter 2, verse 5. Woe to you inhabitants of the sea coast, you nation of the Charithites! And he continues, chapter two is mainly a judgment against the nations. So it's used, but now in chapter three, this same word, woe, is used as a warning against Judah to turn from her sin, to turn from the Lord. And God has given them many examples. to warn them to turn from your sin and turn back to the Lord. They had seen it, of course, way back in Egypt. They had seen it against Ammon. They had seen it against Moab. They had seen it against the Canaanites under Joshua. They had witnessed it even against her own sister. To the north, Israel. Israel was idolatrous from the start, and they grew more and more wicked. And for that, God destroyed them by bringing the Assyrians in and capturing them and bringing devastation and destruction. And such providential devastation against sinful nations should have caused Judah to sit up and take notice. Proverbs talks about rebuke the fool, rebuke the fuel, the fool and the simple will beware. You, that are parents, when you discipline one child, did that cause the other children to sit up, take notice, and they behave too? That's what's going on here. That's what should have happened. Judas should have taken notice, but they didn't. They continued and continued and continued in their sin. They should have left their complacency and turned back to God, but instead of repenting, they shamelessly pursued their sin. Judah in verse 1 of chapter 3 had become rebellious, defiled, oppressive. In verse 2, so hard of heart, so far from God and unbelieving that it affected her civil rulers in verse 3, and her religious leaders in verse 4, so much so that God could no longer keep his wrath quiet. He saw every sin that they practiced. For verse 5 says, the Lord is within her. He was in their midst gathering evidence of her unfaithfulness, of her corruption, of all of her evil. And being omniscient, he knows it all. There's no errors in his record keeping. He knows what you've done. He knows how you've done it. And he knows why you did it. He knows your actions. He knows your motives behind your actions. So his judgment is always just. It's always based on fact. And that should have caused Judah, the thought of justice should have caused her to turn from her sin. You don't want justice. We don't want justice because justice gives us always what we deserve. But wicked Judah could care less. Verse 5 says, they had no shame. The Lord within her is righteous. He does no injustice. Every morning he shows forth his justice. Each dawn he does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame. In other words, Judah, it had become easier and easier and easier to act like all the heathen nations around them. In fact, that's what it says, verse seven. I said, surely you will fear me. You will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you. But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. Now that thing that says all the more eager, or some verses might say rising early, it means they were so eager to commit sin that they set their alarms for the early hours so they could wake up earlier and get at it at more sinning. So as their sin increased, they became more impervious to God's warnings. No more did they blush at the grossness of the sins committed. They had grown indifferent, complacent. And indifference and complacency are not necessarily sins we get too worked up about. But they're deadly. Remember the Laodicean church in Revelation 3? They were condemned by Christ because they were neither hot nor cold. They were laxadaisical. hearted, lukewarm, and God said, what, to the church of Laodicea? I will vomit you out of my mouth. They were so content that life is so good that they didn't realize their spiritual poverty, that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Don't ever slide so far down that you lose sight of what is biblically good and right and moral. Don't slide down so far that you lose all shame over sinful behavior and become so easy to run after it. If you do, you'll be like Judah, headed toward judgment. For the warning is followed by wrath, in verse eight. Therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey, for my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed. God here is furious with Judah. Jeremiah was a prophet after this time, that was living during the time of the day of the Lord against Judah, during the time where Babylon came against Judah and destroyed her. And he says in Jeremiah 7, verses 13 through 16, because you have done all of these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear. And I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, I will do to the house which is called by my name as I have done to Shiloh. I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren, the whole posterity of Ephraim, Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to me, for I will not hear you. In other words, Judah's beyond hope. They should have heeded the warning against Ephraim, he mentions. That's another name for Israel. But he says, they did not hear. And so the Lord tells Jeremiah, don't pray for them, for I will not hear. It's too late. And Zephaniah says here in verse 8 that God says, therefore, wait. I hated that word when I was a kid. We'd be in a department store, Fred and I, and we'd be misbehaving, ignoring mom's correction. And all of a sudden, dad would say, wait till we get home. We knew what that meant. And it wasn't a pleasant wait. Or we'd be at home, and we'd be bickering and fighting. That's what siblings do. And after a long time of putting up with it, dad would say, go to your room and wait for me. We went, and we waited apprehensively for judgment to fall. And this is what God means when he tells Judah, wait for me. I've warned you time and time and time again. Verse two of chapter three, you've listened to no voice. What's that? They've remained disobedient. They accept no correction. In other words, they stay obstinate in their rebellion. And as they wait, her continual sin makes the judgment hotter. Notice again in verse 8 how that judgment is described. Wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise to seize the prey for my decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms to pour out upon them my indignation or my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed." Notice the terminology used there, indignation, burning anger, fire, these are all terms describing God's righteous anger and hatred of sin, that kind of intense judgment. will come on the world just as it came on the world one other time, remember? Back in Genesis six, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Isn't that what he says in verse eight? All the earth shall be consumed. It's the same thing. God did it then with a worldwide flood. And Zephaniah's language points to the same thing. Total destruction. It's the same judgment God reserves for the nations of the world. Look back at chapter 1, verse 2. I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. And then as you continue through Zephaniah, he describes it as a day of sacrifice, in chapter 1 verse 8, a day of punishment, verse 9, a day of mourning and wailing, verse 10, a bitter day, verse 14, a day of blood, verse 17, and the most terrible description of all, verse 15 of chapter 1, A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. But immediately following this terrible description of wrath in chapter one, there is a glimmer of hope in chapter two. In the first three verses, let's just read verse three. Seek the Lord, all you humble the land, who do his just commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. Perhaps, it may be. God was here being gracious and merciful, but it was just a glimmer of hope. because the wrath continues in verse four and following. It continues with destruction and desolation, forsakenness, uprooted, made nothing. But then the glimmer of hope in chapter two is fanned into a blaze of hope in chapter three, verses nine through 20, as God's grace blows upon the embers. Though much is said about judgment, in Zephaniah, hope has the last word. And it's a hope, when you read these verses, that includes singing, rejoicing, gladness, peace, and salvation. Let's read those verses together, verse nine through 20. For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush, or Ethiopia, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. On that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me for then i will remove from your midst your proudly exalted ones and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain but i will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly they shall seek refuge in the name of the lord those who are left in Israel. They shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue, for they shall graze and lie down and none shall make them afraid. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing and will gather those of you who mourn for the festival so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time, I will deal with all your oppressors, and I will save the lame and gather the outcasts, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time, I will bring you in. At the time when I gather you together, for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord." Wow. Here in what some have called the hottest book of the Old Testament is one of the longest sections in the Minor Prophets that speak of a glorious hope in the day of the Lord for the people of God. So let's leave the day of judgment and now go to the day of hope. Notice first of all the certainty of this hope, verse nine. For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech. Notice the two words, I will. Who says that? God says that. Now the prophecy of wrath had this same certainty. God said in chapter one, verse two, I will certainly consume everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord. And so that we don't miss that point, Zephaniah repeatedly makes that point. In verse three of chapter one, I will consume, I will cut off. Verse four, I will stretch out my hand, I will cut off. Verse eight and nine, I will punish, I will punish. Verse 12, I will search. Verse 17, I will distress. but this same certainty is found in the hope section, not just once here. Verse nine, I will restore. Verse 11, I will take away the proud. Verse 12, I will leave within you a meek people. Verse seven, Zephaniah says he will save, he will rejoice over you, he will quiet you. Verse 19, God says I will deal with your oppressors, I will save, I will give. Verse 20, I will bring you back, I will give you praise. And if the sovereign God of the universe says he will, he will, he will do these things, it is certain they will come to pass. But what are the characteristics of this day? Well, the first one is restoration. Verse nine again. Therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up, no, that's verse eight, sorry, verse nine, for at that time I will change the speech of peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord." Now that word change is also the word restore. It means a turning around, a transformation, a total change. But it's not a slow change. but a sudden, radical change, break with the past. In the day of the Lord, God will radically effect change in hearts and lives. But whose lives? What are the objects of this restoration process? Well, historically, it's the Jews of Judah. The Lord had made this promise of restoration to the Jews, but not all of them. He identifies them in verses 12 and 13 as a remnant, those that remain who shall call on the name of the Lord. Four times in Zephaniah, God is referred to, the people of God are referred to as a remnant. You see, though the Babylonians would defeat Judah and bring judgment against Judah because of their rampant sinfulness, God would make sure some survived. In reality, that's what salvation is. It's God's preservation of a remnant. Though we all deserve God's judgment, God and love will turn the hearts of some and lead them to faith in Christ and save them. And in Zephaniah, in the midst of scathing judgment, God gives hope to a remnant. who will, verse 13, live in safety, verse 14, I mean, experience joy, verse nine and 10, will worship God, verse 20, will know prosperity and fulfillment, and who, verse 17, will enjoy God's presence in their midst. Historically, this remnant of Jews were those who returned to the land. They were exiled by Babylon. They went into other Babylon places and regions. But when the king of Persia, Cyrus, attacked the Babylonians and defeated them, one of the first things he does as king over the entire empire is to issue an emancipation proclamation. all those captives can return to their homelands, including the Jews. And those Jews that return were that remnant. But was this the final fulfillment of the remnant prophecies? No. You see, here's another example of the now and not yet in biblical prophecy. It's fulfilled, and here it's fulfilled, and here it's fulfilled, and then it's finally fulfilled. You see, Judah experienced the wrath of God under Nebuchadnezzar that was prophesied. And Judah also experienced the hope of restoration under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel who led them back to the land. But that did not complete Zephaniah's prophecy of hope. There's more. And as Paul intimates about it in Romans 11, a day will come when all Israel will be grafted back into grace and be saved. But this remnant includes more than just historical Israel. There's also the theological objects of restoration. And to answer the identity of those people, we need to ask three questions. Number one, what is the remnant? The theological word dictionary of the Old Testament gives this definition of remnant. Whatever is left over after an elimination process is the remnant. In other words, a remnant is that which remains and survives what survives of the whole. So when we put that definition in the context of Zephaniah, a huge question arises. If all things are going to be consumed, chapter 1 verse 2, chapter 3 verse 8, what remnant will remain? If everything's going to be consumed, what remnant is there going to be? And that's a legitimate question. Nahum 1.6 says, who can stand before his indignation and who can endure the fierceness of his anger? John also writes of this in Revelation 6.17, for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand? Combine that with Zephaniah and there's no hope for anyone. There's no hope for anyone because we're all facing destruction. But Zephaniah says there's hope. And if he says there's hope, and if he says there's a remnant, then some are going to survive the great day of the Lord. But how? And that's our next question. How can there be a remnant? There can be only one answer to that. And that's grace. God's grace. All people deserve wrath. We all deserve it. You look at your own life. You look at your sin. You're not without it. That's for sure. What do you deserve because of your sin? You deserve God's wrath. Eternal death. That's what you deserve. But Zephaniah says there's a remnant. And so there's hope. That's God acting in sovereign grace. There can be no other explanation for a remnant remaining after the day of God's great wrath. We see this same grace in the midst of wrath when God flooded the earth back in Genesis 6, 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That was after verses six through five where he says, I'm going to destroy everything from the face of the earth. But Noah found grace. And what happened? There was a remnant of eight souls that survived that great flood. Grace is always the reason for a remnant. Isaiah 1.9 says, unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah. Ezra chapter 9 verse 8, now for a little while, grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape. Jesus also speaks of this, this great day of the Lord in the future, Mark 13, verses 19 and 20. In those days, there will be tribulation such as not been seen since the beginning of the creation, which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless the Lord shortens those days, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days. In other words, Jesus says God will move in grace and shorten the length of that judgment, and he'll do so because of the elect, the chosen remnant. The only way any can escape divine judgment is because God has graciously caused them to survive. It's not because they earned it, but totally because of grace. Romans 11. Verses three through five, Paul is quoting Elijah here in first Kings. Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life. But then Paul asks, what does the divine response say to him? God says, I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And then Paul adds this comment. Even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Elijah thought he was the only true prophet left. Jezebel was on the rampage. She was killing all of the prophets. You would know this if you had been here on Wednesday listening to Pastor Rick's lessons. And sorry, that's an advertisement here, Rick, right? That's for free, like David says. So Jezebel's on the rampage, all the prophets of God are being killed, all the righteous are being killed, and Elijah has a poor me pity party saying, I'm the only one left. But he realized, no, you're not the only one. God says, I have a remnant. 7,000 I'm hiding from Jezebel. And Paul says there is now a remnant according to God's gracious election. But who is that remnant? That's the third question. Who has been given the grace to survive God's wrath? Well, let's look what Zephaniah says, verse 13. Those who are left in Israel shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue, for they shall graze and lie down and none shall make them afraid. Who are the survivors according to Zephaniah? Israel. That's what we said earlier. You say, well, wait a minute. I'm not Israel. I'm not Judah. Isn't there hope for me? Well, notice what comes before. these words in verses nine and 10. For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my worshipers, the daughters of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. All right. So who is it that's included in the remnant? Judah only? Israel only. Verse 9 says the nations or the peoples, not just Judah, all the nations of the earth. Isn't that what God promised Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12? In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Isaiah 55 verse five, surely you shall call a nation who you do not know and nations who do not know you shall run to you. And Zephaniah even hints at this earlier in his prophecy. Look back at chapter two and verse 11. The Lord will be awesome against them for he will famish all the gods of the earth and to him shall bow down each in its place all the lands of the nations. In Zephaniah three, nine and 10 gives us greater detail of a Gentile remnant. He mentions the peoples in verse nine and he describes them in verse 10 as beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. Now Ethiopia was the furthest southern people whom the Jews knew about. It was the outer rim of the known world and Zephaniah uses it to indicate that people from the farthest regions of the earth will be restored. You see, the hope of Zephaniah is not just the hope of Israel or present-day Israel. He extends to us. God has chosen from the Gentiles a remnant to be combined with the remnant of the Jews, and we all will have hope in the day of the Lord. And the New Testament speaks about this much. Paul indicates a whole section of Ephesians, Ephesians 2, verses 11 through 22, saying that both groups, Jews and Gentiles, are members of the household of God. He says in verse 16 that Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God in one body through the cross. And in verse 18, he says, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. You see, Zephaniah is talking about you, he's talking about me. That same, he's saying that some receive mercy and survive wrath. You see, it's not based on nationality. It's not based on ethnicity. It's not based on your age. It's not based on your gender or your social class. God has called out from all the nations, from all peoples, a people to be trophies of his grace. These are the objects of his restoration. But what is the outcome of the restoration process? Well, first of all, salvation. Again, verse nine. For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord. Now this reference to a pure language speaks of God's activity in salvation. Does this remind you of anything? How about Isaiah? Remember Isaiah and his salvation in Isaiah chapter six? I have it on your outline. He writes, woe is me. This is after he sees God in all of his holiness and it reveals his sinfulness. And he says, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. The transformation of his lips was from contact with coals from the altar. And this is not from the burn up. Well, we'll get to it. He took the coals from the altar of incense just within the veil. And beyond that is the Holy of Holies. You see, the sacrifice was made at the altar, the outward altar, the bronze altar out in the courtyard. And then the daily job of the priests were to take coals from that burnt offering, from the burnt offering, from the bronze altar, and put it in the altar of incense. And that blood-soaked coal would be the smell, the perfume that would rise to God that would remind God that the sacrifice has been made for sin and forgiveness obtained. And it was one of those blood-soaked coals that touched Isaiah's lips and purified him. And we are also purified from the blood of another altar, the cross of Christ. Last week, as we learned from 1 Peter 1-2, salvation comes to us through the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Romans 3-25, God sent him as a propitiatory sacrifice by his blood. Romans 5-9, having now been justified by his blood, we will be saved from what? Wrath. The day of the Lord will not touch us. because of our relation to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.7, in him we have redemption through his blood. And with Christ presently seated in heaven, interceding for his people, he perpetually reminds God a sacrifice has been made on their behalf. So they stand before God like Isaiah, a changed people having purified lips and lives. There's been an abrupt change in their lives. There's been a conversion, or in the words of Zephaniah, a restoration. Of the Gentile nations whose lips have cursed God, there will be a remnant whose blasphemous speech radically changes to praise as they call on the name of the Lord, Zephaniah says. Calling on his name is a petition of acknowledgement of sin mixed with a confession of faith in Yahweh alone as Savior. There's another minor prophet that links the day of the Lord with this widespread calling of the Lord as well. Joel 2 verse 32. It shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls. And that same phrase from Joel 2 is quoted by Paul in Romans 10, 13, speaking of Jesus, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You call on the name of the Lord, you're in that remnant. The remnant are the ones who call on the name of the Lord. In other words, these words of Zephaniah and Joel and Paul present a soteriological hope for us. It's whoever calls on the name of the Lord. It can be Jew, it can be Gentile. Whoever calls on him shall be saved. But there's another outcome to this restoration as well in verse nine. They will call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord from beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughters of my dispersed ones, so bring my offering. The whoever that call are saved, and those that are saved will serve. They will serve him, verse 10, wherever they live. If it's here, if it's beyond Ethiopia, wherever. And doesn't this correlate with the commission of the Lord Jesus and ask when he told his disciples, you'll be witnesses to me in Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, or go therefore and teach all nations. serve the Lord Jesus, give the world the message of this hope that's found in Jesus Christ. And this has been the message of the church from the very beginning. It began right away at Pentecost where Peter preaches from Joel 2 and calls on the people to call on the name of the Lord to be saved and 5,000 do. It continued through the preaching of the apostles and especially the apostle Paul preaching and extending that to other nations besides Jews and going throughout Asia Minor. It continued through the beginnings of the early church as they went from place to place to place to place preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It continued on into the dark ages where it seemed there was only a remnant, a few who had called on the name of the Lord. Get out of those dark ages, a morning star shone brightly. That term morning star, you read that in church history. The morning star is usually referred to either as the planet Venus or the star Sirius. It appears brightest at pre-dawn, the time when darkness is still severe, but the time of a promise of dawn and the rising sun. And so John Wycliffe is called the morning star of the Reformation. Why? Because living historically in the dark ages, before that great light of the Reformation, he was really the, God used him as the cause of that great light of the Reformation period, for he put the language of the scriptures from Latin, which no one could read, into the common tongue. so that people could see for themselves and learn of the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves them from their sin. And upon his shoulders stands us and Calvin and Luther and Knox and all other men of the Reformation period. and following them were the Puritans, and after them, the Great Awakening with George Whitefield and the like, and the missions movement, and the revival era, and it continues to this present age. You and I are to give the message of Jesus Christ, the one slain on the altar of the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And if we are faithful, This prophecy of wrath and hope will be fulfilled when all of God's people are finally gathered together after the great and awful day of the Lord. And our lips will sing forth his praise with joy. Verse 14. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. In the day when hope becomes sight, The remnant will sing the words of the new song of Revelation 5.9, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. So Zephaniah writes of a remnant securing the blessed hope from God and because of the witness of those who are past, because of their service, we are now in that remnant and we should serve him as well. Though we deserve God's judgment, God in love and grace will turn the hearts of some and lead them to faith in Christ who bore that wrath for them on the cross. Is that your reality? Are you part of this remnant? If not, don't you want to escape that judgment? Don't you want to escape that wrath? Well, Zephaniah has some words of wisdom for you. Some words of advice. Chapter two, verse three. Seek the Lord while you humble of the land. You see, if you've always said no to Christ, you're not humble. You're full of pride. Self-rule is your life. But in order to be saved, you need to seek the Lord, humble yourself before him, bow to him as Lord, seek him out. It seems like simple advice, just seek the Lord. Look to the Lord. That's how Spurgeon was saved. The guy got up and preached in the preacher's absence, says, look to the Lord. Just, young man, look to the Lord. That's all you have to, it's simple. We're to seek the Lord. Turn from our sin, turn to Him. It's like the person who says, how can I avoid getting a speeding ticket? It's simple. Obey the speed of law. Don't speed, obey the speed limit. How can I have salvation? Seek the Lord. It's that simple. Seek the Lord. Humble yourself before him. And then chapter three, verse nine, call on the name of the Lord. Trust Christ. Ultimately, that's the bottom line. Trust Christ alone. Paul writes, Romans 10, 9 and 10, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's it. For with the heart you believe and with the mouth you confess and are saved. Now, it's not politically correct to say this. that Jesus is the only way. But the Bible's clear. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In other words, our only hope is to humbly trust in Christ alone. Rest your eternal soul in Jesus Christ, who died for sin, and claim him as your king, as your ruler, as your Lord, as your Savior, your only hope of eternal life. Let's pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you in my life that you saved me from the day of wrath and you have preserved me unto the day of hope. And every believer here in Christ can say amen to that because we know who we were We knew that in our previous life of sin, we pursued it like Judah did. It came easier and easier and easier to sin until that day when you arrested our steps to the work of your Holy Spirit in our lives and you turned us around and you restored our souls so that we that day called on the name of the Lord and was saved. I thank you for that day in my life. Then next to my dad, I called on the name of the Lord and was saved. And every person here who knows Christ thanks the person who showed it to them so that they too now are saved and saved from the wrath of almighty God that will fall upon all sinners and consume them in his almighty fiery indignation. But Lord, if there's someone here that is in that state wrath. May they turn to Christ today. May they just stop speeding. May they stop their waywardness and their mad long rush to hell in sin and just turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Call on him. Surrender their life to him and be saved. In this we pray in the wonderful name of Jesus who saves us. Amen.