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Donna Gaines teaches from Zephaniah 3 about God’s judgment, restoration, and delight in His people, encouraging women to grow in biblical fluency and rest in His love.
Welcome to Bellevue Women, a ministry of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. Find out more about us by going to www.bellevue.org/women today!
It's so good to see you all this morning. And isn't it fun to actually get to pull out sweatshirts and sweaters? We're ready to say goodbye to 100 degree weather. We are moving into Zephaniah chapter three. And I wanna talk just a moment about the lesson that we are learning from the prophets. And the bottom line is, the people do not know the word of God, so consequently they don't know the God of the word, and everybody's doing what is right in their own eyes. Sounds much like our world today, does it not? So as Bellevue women, why do we do what we're doing this morning? I said for years that I want women to be biblically literate and that biblical literacy is the greatest apologetic. Because once you know the word of God, you know the God of the word, and consequently you don't doubt him. You know that you know. So that increases your faith, right? Well, I heard Jen Wilkins say not too long ago that she taught for the same purpose until recently. And she said, now I say I am teaching for biblical fluency. So what is fluency? The ability to speak or write a language easily, well, and quickly. And cool thing is, I was talking to a former missionary yesterday, and she said, oh yeah, we all say you know you're fluent when you begin to dream in that language. So we're not just going for literacy anymore, we're going for fluency. And why do we want to do that? Because we want to be able to think biblically. We want to think biblically. We want to know the word of God so well that we are thinking biblically. And when we think biblically, we are going to stand in stark contrast to this world. We are not going to fit in. And that's exactly what the prophet is saying to the people of Judah. In fact, Merriam-Webster's dictionary defined fluency as capable of using a language easily and accurately, effortlessly, smooth, and flowing. Which made me think about Deuteronomy 6, four through nine, where God was speaking through Moses, telling the people about how they're to teach their children the word of God. What does it say? Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one, the only God. This is from the Amplified Version. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind, with all your soul, with all your strength, your entire being. These words which I'm commanding you today shall be written on your heart and your mind. You shall teach them diligently to your children. Now listen to the explanation. Impressing God's precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with his truths. And shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be used as bands, frontals, frontlets on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. That is immersion in the word of God, which is literally how you learn a language. When you are really trying to become fluent, you immerse yourself in a culture so that you are only with people who speak that language, so that you have to use that language. That's what we're doing. We are immersing ourselves in the word of God, and then we want to pass these truths on to the next generation, to our children. And it also tells us that we have, or show, mastery of the subject. So biblical fluency allows us to think biblically, and when we think biblically, we're not deceived by the world, our flesh, or the devil. That's from James 3, 15. So listen to that passage, James 3, 13 through 18. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above, okay, so that sounds like the world, right? But the wisdom from above is in stark contrast. What does it say? It's first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So we have the contrast here. If there's strife and jealousy, there's evil and disorder in every evil thing, and that's what's going on out in the culture. And it's so easy for us to get sucked into that. So how do we fight that? By immersing ourselves in the word of God so that we think biblically, so that we see the world through a biblical lens, and that's our desire. So as we move into the last chapter of the book of Zephaniah, we're going to get to some really good stuff. So he starts out first, though, with the woe. He's getting their attention. Let's look at verses one through four. Woe to her, and he's talking to Judah, Jerusalem, who is rebellious and defiled, the tyrannical city. She heeded no voice. She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the Lord. She did not draw near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are wolves at evening. They leave nothing for the morning. Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. So he is personifying Jerusalem, the evil city, and he's saying even the leaders are corrupt, and they're leading the people into corruption. Why? What did it say in verse two? They do not trust the Lord. He was a God, as we've said, they did not know, because they did not know his word. What does Isaiah 26 three say? You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast, that is committed and focused on you in both inclination and character, because he trusts and takes refuge in you with hope and confident expectation. It's the verse that says he keeps in perfect peace those whose mind is stayed, laid down flat on him. So we will live in stark contrast to the world when our mind is stayed on him, when we're filling our mind with what is true, and that's the word of God. So the prophet's telling them she didn't trust God, and she did not draw near to her God. What do we know about sin? Sin separates. We know that from the garden, right? Sin separated Adam and Eve from each other, separated them from God. We know sin separates, and because Jerusalem and Judah was living in sin, they were separated from God, and only repentance will remove that separation. The New American Commentary said sin is rebellion against God that pollutes or defiles the very being of the sinner, because when we have sin in us that separates us from God, we're not connected to him spirit to spirit. We're not sensitive to his spirit. We're not able to learn and hear his voice as easily when we open the Bible to read. Let's see here. Yes, sin is rebellion against God that pollutes or defiles the very being of the sinner who then strikes out by pressing others, and that's what their leaders were doing. They were living well, but they were oppressing the people, and they were taking advantage of the poor. When we're walking in sin, James 3.16 becomes evident in our life, and we then begin to live like the culture where there's jealousy and strife and disorder, chaos, basically, and we know that her priests and leaders did not obey the Lord. Zephaniah implies an answer. True society arises from committed obedience, not rebellion, and from personal holiness, not defilement. Social reformation arises from return to God and to individual moral integrity. In other words, you can't legislate morality, right? The only thing that changes a culture is for people to be saved and begin to immerse themselves in the truths of God's word and begin to think and act biblically. That is what God is calling us to, and God is in their midst. That's what he's reminding them. Let's pick back up in verse five. The Lord is righteous within her. He will do no injustice. Every morning, he brings his justice to light. He does not fail, but the unjust knows no shame. I have cut off nations. Their corner towers are in ruins. I have made their streets desolate with no one passing by. Their cities are laid waste without a man, without an inhabitant. He's talking about the countries that he has brought judgment upon. He said, surely you will revere me, accept instruction. You've seen this. You've seen what happens to the fall of Assyria, now the rise of Babylon. Will you not trust me? Surely you will revere me and accept instruction in verse seven. So her dwelling will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her, but they were eager to corrupt all their deeds. Therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord. For the day when I rise up as a witness, indeed, my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them my indignation, all my burning anger, for all the earth will be devoured. Now, when do we know that will happen? End times, okay? So he's shifting now from current to talking about end times events. By the fire of my zeal, for then I will give to the peoples purified lips that all of them may call on the name of the Lord to serve him shoulder to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my worshipers, my dispersed ones.
will bring my offerings. In that day, you will feel no shame, because in that day, there will no longer be any sin. Because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against me, for then I will remove from your midst your proud, exalting ones, and you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain. But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong, and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths, for they will feed and lie down with no one to make them tremble." Here we're talking about millennial reign in times, events that God is revealing to Zephaniah as he's speaking to his people in Judah. And he's talking about the day of the Lord in verse eight. And one of the commentaries, David Baker said, this development of the two-sided nature, judgment and blessing, and the universality of the eschatological day, so the end times day is what he's talking about, culminates in Christ's second coming, the final day, which is both two-sided and universal. So what is he saying? I am going to bring judgment on Judah, but I'm also going to follow with the blessing, because I have promised you that you're going to be in captivity for 70 years, but I'm going to bring you back. I've already established that I'm going to have a king, because the Medo-Persians are gonna defeat the Babylonians, and Cyrus, the first king, is going to declare that they can go back and rebuild Jerusalem, and he's going to foot the bill. God had already prophesied that through Isaiah. So what he's saying is, yes, I am bringing judgment because of your rebellion, but I am still going to bless you, because that's who I am. But when he jumps to end times, he's saying it's still two-sided. God is coming to judge the earth, but those of us who are in Christ will receive the blessing, and our shame will be gone, and we will be able to lie down and not ever have fear again. Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes, and we're going to experience the manifest presence of God. Our eyes will see him. That's what the blessing will be for us, because Yahweh is our Savior, and he tells us in these verses we've just read that Gentiles will be included. People from all over the world will be a part of those that he will save in the end times, who will be with him, and there will be a remnant of Israel as well, who will believe and will be with God. Those who trust in the Lord are contrasted with the proud and arrogant who trust only in themselves and the might of their hand. And then we move into verses 14 through 20, which are the best. Did y'all just love this as you studied this week? Oh my goodness, listen to this. Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. What he's saying is you should rejoice with your entire being, because what is going to come, what God is preparing for those who love him, is so far beyond our wildest imagination that we need to be rejoicing now, because it's going to be so good. The Lord has taken away his judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You will fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, do not be afraid, O Zion. Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy or with songs. I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feast. They come from you, O Zion. The reproach of exile is a burden on them. Behold, I'm going to deal at that time with all your oppressors. I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, even at the time when I gather you together. Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord. What joy. What, can we even begin to comprehend all that God has prepared for us and all that Jesus did for us? Because when he says your judgments have been taken away, that's exactly what he means. Jesus bore our judgment in his body on that tree. And he is telling us in this passage that we are loved. And it's not a fickle human love. It is the Old Testament Hebrew word hesed, which is unconditional love. It's God's covenant love. It's undying loyalty and unending commitment. In their commentary, Barker and Bailey said that the holy one should experience ecstasy over the sinner is incomprehensible. What God is saying here is, we should exalt and rejoice because he loves us, but he rejoices and exalts over us because he loves us. Robertson called the verse the 316 of the Old Testament. Here we have the reasons for their deliverance, namely God's satisfaction with the remnant and Yahweh's own power to save. So let's look back at Genesis 317 from the New Living Translation. It says, for the Lord your God is living among you. Now what do we know? As believers in Christ, he not only is with us this morning as we gather, which he says when two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. We welcomed his presence this morning, but his presence is within us as well. So not only is he with us, he is within us. He is a mighty savior. He has proven himself to be our savior. He has saved us from our sins when we turn to him in repentance and faith. And he will take delight in you with gladness. He delights in you. He delights in us this morning as we're gathered around his word. As we're opening his word and as we're asking him to speak to us and teach us with his love, he will calm all your fears. What does 1 John 4, 18 tell us? Perfect love casts out fear. We have perfect love, the perfect love of God that has been lavished upon us. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. If you are reading through the chronological Bible this year, you read Luke 15 yesterday. Remember, it's the chapter of lost things, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. In the commentary before the day's reading, listen to what it said. It just so fit into this. Allegiance to Christ requires giving up previous loyalties in exchange for lasting joy. Great joy characterizes Jesus' disposition and the topic of faithful stewardship of one's resources pervades his teaching. Jesus' joy is captured in the three lost parables of the sheep, coin, and son. He rejoices over the lost ones who have been found and he invites others to rejoice with him in their restoration. Heaven's joy matches Jesus' joy when the lost are saved. And we know that the Bible tells us that all of heaven erupts in praise when one person comes to Christ. So we get to experience here, on this side of spending time with the Lord forever, real joy because we have Jesus, the author of joy, living within us through his spirit. Amy Carmichael, the great missionary to India, who, if you've not read her biography that Elizabeth Elliot wrote, A Chance to Die, that needs to go to the top of your to-read list. It's excellent. But she wrote in one of her books, Gold by Moonlight, when our Lord spoke of his Father's love, he knew his Father's heart. So she's contrasting here the love of God that we have received to human love. On the evening of his betrayal, he did not desire for us the less costly love, the natural love, which shrinks from a hard way for a beloved one and never contemplates anything approaching shame. Human love, with its loopholes of escape from the supreme demand, was not in his mind. It was divine love that he desired should be in us. The love wherewith he himself was loved. Divine love, with all its agonizing possibilities, but with great certainty of eternal joy. We have lowered the standard. That which should be usual has become so unusual that we're surprised and stirred and write books about these great particular stars in our firmament who have shone brightly in love. In other words, what should be normal, because we have received this perfect love from God that cast out all fear and because we have been forgiven everything, we should be able to love others with the love of God, which is perfect, and we'll cast out fear. And so we are to see others as God sees them. We're to cast them in the best light. We're to in honor prefer one another. And as we love each other like that, guess what happens? There's peace and unity within the body. We're united and God commands a blessing upon that unity. So it makes great sense that the evil one comes in to divide and to cause us to be selfish, right? And separate, that's what the evil one does. But he is saying, no, we have been brought into the very joy of the Lord. We have received God's perfect love now dwelling within us. And this should be the natural, that we love one another, which is exactly what Jesus said would be how we are known. They'll know you're my disciples by your love for one another. And to think that God delights in us, now that just kind of blows my mind. I'm gonna show you some pictures of three of our preschool grandchildren.
because they are little people that I absolutely delight in. The first one should be Ann-Michael. Ann-Michael just had her fifth, okay, that's actually Margo, she's the baby. Look at those blue eyes. Okay, could you tell that baby no? I delight in this child. I mean, and what's interesting is we have 18, I delight like this in every one of them. They are each unique, they're absolutely perfect as far as I'm concerned. I'm just over the moon over every one of them. Okay, the next one, let's see who comes up next. That's Walker, how cute is he? He just had his third birthday also and he lives in Washington, D.C. with his mommy and daddy, Allie and Gentry and I'm gonna get to see him next week and I'm so excited. Yes, look at that face. Okay, and I know, you know what? I can look at your grandchildren and melt as well. There's something about a child's face that just does me in. It has something to do with just their joy and exuberance over life and especially the preschool years. Everything's an adventure, it's wonder, they're so excited to see you and in fact, we call it the double hug when we come in and I scoop them up in my arms and they wrap their arms and legs around you and you just squeeze them and I was at Grayson's ball game the other night and Margo, the first one you saw with the big blue eyes, just comes right over and grabs my leg and of course, I scoop her up and I'm kissing her neck and blowing on her neck and she's just giggling and giggling and I drop her down, I scoop her back up and kiss her again, I said, I'm getting all your sugar, I wanna get all of it. I could just eat them up. Okay, guys, if I being evil, love my grandchildren like that, how much more does the heavenly Father love us and delight in us? Now, I know it blows your mind as much as it blows mine to think that the God of the universe who spoke all that we know into creation looks at you and you and you and you and every one of us and he delights in us. It moves his heart. He loves us that much and I wanna tell you something. When you know you're loved like that, you want to please the person that loves you. It does something to your heart. So what does the enemy do? You're not loved, you're not good enough, you're inadequate, he tells you lies. So we have got to refuse the lies of the enemy and replace them. I don't know, my Father delights in me. I am the apple of his eye and so are you. So is every woman in this room, so is every person who professes the name of Christ. He loved us so much, he sent his Son to lay down his life for us. I would lay my life down for anyone in my grandchildren, for my children. I felt that way about them, but I tell y'all all the time, grandkids are even better because it's all the love without the responsibility. It's just great. It is great. I was reading a book that had been given to me. It's called Insane for the Light and it's talking about the last quarter of your life and how to live to give your life away, but he actually talks about the love of a grandparent and he compares it to the love of God as being the purest love this side of heaven that's the closest to being like God's love. Listen to what he says. The love grandparents have for their grandchildren is surely the purest form of love in this world. A grandparent has just the right degree of intimacy and just the right degree of distance to be able, that's the no responsibility, to be able to look at the grandchild and spontaneously bless her. That is, see her, admire her life, energy and beauty without a trace of self-interest. They don't reflect on me. It's not like the parent, you know, where parents want their kids to act well so that they look like they're good parents. That doesn't reflect on the grandparent at all. You don't have to worry about any of that. Without a trace of self-interest, without considering the cost, be willing to give up anything for her life, well-being and joy. A loving grandparent's gaze is one of pure admiration. Now listen to this. And its effect on the child is incalculable in terms of helping her develop a healthy self-image in which she feels free and not shamed in her natural energies. The payoff is also for the grandparent. Being a grandparent is not only the purest experience of love on this planet, but also the most joyous. He nailed it, didn't he? That is so, so true. Some of you that were in our Ecclesiastes study, and then we used it again, will remember the diagram of what it means to live above the sun or under the sun. And we know because we're seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that the enemy is under our feet. And we know that Romans 8 tells us that we're no longer bound by the law of sin and death, but we've been set free by the law of the spirit of life in Christ. So we're literally seated in heavenly places and we've gone from being condemned criminals to resurrected royalty. Think about that with me just a moment because a condemned criminal acts very different than someone who is resurrected royalty. The criminal acts out of shame and guilt, and what did we just read? Our shame's been taken away, our guilt and judgment has been taken away, and from a perspective of scarcity. But a child of the king acts out of confidence from the abundance of their royal position. Because we are the object of his love, we can be assured that his will for us is for our good. He is good and only does good, and we can rest in his sovereignty. So for all of us, what that means is, for me as a new widow, for you with whatever circumstance or situation you're going through, our Abba Father sees. It's the name Hagar gave him in the Old Testament, Jehovah-Roy, the Lord who sees me. And not only does he see, but he loves you. And he loves you with chesed love, it's covenant love, it's never-ending love, love that's so sacrificial he was willing to die that you might be with him forever. He delights in you, far greater than even I or you. Delight in our children, our grandchildren. As much joy as they bring us, we bring him greater joy even than that. And he's singing over you. How many of you sang to your children when they were little? Y'all, I don't sing worth a toot. But when I, I mean, I can't stay on key, I go all over the place. And it's amazing that all my kids can sing, but I did take elementary music class and the teacher told us that if you will sing to your children when they're little, they will develop an ear for music, even if you're not accurate, even if you're not on pitch. So I'm just gonna sing away then because I want them to be able to sing. And of course, Steve had an ear for music and that either they inherited it from him or they got it from me singing to them, I don't know. But I had a rocking chair in my nursery and I, before I put them to bed or down for a nap, I would sit and sing and it was usually the same medley of songs that I sang over them. Like Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Victory in Jesus, The Old Rugged Cross, because that was my grandmother's favorite song. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, that Gaither song. And I would just kind of, but it kind of ended up being the same ones every time. And when Lindsey, our second one, was old enough to talk, because they sang them from the time they were babies, I sang these same songs over them. So by the time they could talk, they could sing those songs. They knew the words because they'd heard them every single day. And I was singing Victory in Jesus. And when I got to the part that says he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood, she was singing it, and her version was he punched me to victory beneath the Lindsey's flood. And how fun is that? You know, in her childishness, she thought that song was all about her. But we are to rejoice in him. Why? Because he rejoices in us. If we could grasp that, it would change the way we live. It would literally lift us above our circumstances and enable us to see and think with biblical fluency. Because we want to think like God thinks. We want to see as he sees, but we can only do that through the lens of his word. And the more we know his word, the better we know him, and the more we can literally bask in his love for us. And then we desire to obey. That obedience flows out of knowing we're loved. That's exactly what John 14, 21, when Jesus, just before he went to the cross, was talking to his disciples. He said, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is who loves me, and I will love him, and he'll be loved by my father, and I'll reveal, disclose myself to him or her. Do you love him? Are you obeying him? Did the Israelites love him? No, they loved themselves more. And they cared more about fitting into their world. And consequently, God had to bring judgment upon them because he is holy, and righteous, and perfect. But he's love. On the other side of that judgment comes the blessing, the restoration, the healing that only he can bring. And what he's saying to us this morning is, come to me. I delight in you. I love you with an everlasting love. And if you will believe me, it becomes so much easier to obey him. If we truly believe he loves us. We must choose to follow the example of Christ, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the father. We too, for the joy that is set before us, can endure whatever's going on right now, because we have a father in heaven who loves us with everlasting love. He is delighting over us.
this morning and he is literally singing songs of joy over us. You know it's interesting I was just thinking a friend of mine was telling me about her father's last moments on this earth and he had been unresponsive for quite some time but all the sudden he started singing almost like humming and she said it sounded like a hymn and so we started singing hymns around his bed and then he was gone and I said you just have to wonder if he wasn't singing along with heaven maybe he was literally hearing the joy and the songs of heaven. So what's our job on our way home? Keep our eyes on Jesus and bask in the fact that we are chosen and loved eternally. Let's pray. Father Wow I have been so overwhelmed this week. Lord as I have just just sat in the fact I don't even have words. Lord as you just revealed to me my love and delight in my grandchildren and I'm evil I'm sinful how much more is your love and delight in us because you are perfect and holy and you are love. So father I pray for every woman in this room who has believed the lie the enemy that she is not enough that she will take that thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and replace it with the truth that God loves her that she is delighted in that right now he is singing over her. God made that transform not only the way we see ourselves but the way we see and trust you. God you've told us we can come boldly before your throne that literally means with confidence with freedom of speech just run right in to our Father to the very throne room to receive grace and mercy to help in our time of need and God you are faithful. Lord fill us with your love that we might love each other the way you love us. That people might know we're your disciples by our love for one another and Lord may we leave here today with our perspective completely changed knowing that we are delighted in by our Father and that we truly are daughters of the King and may we live from that abundance as we put all of our faith and trust in you. Thank you Father. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for how you reveal yourself to us through your word. Thank you for your prophets who stood in stark contrast to their culture. Thank you that you always have men and women who speak for you and point people to Jesus. Help us Father to follow in their footsteps and it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen.