“There's Still Time”

According to the National Geographic website (their kids' version that is) the Pufferfish can inflate into a ball shape to evade predators. Also known as blowfish, these clumsy swimmers fill their elastic stomachs with huge amounts of water (and sometimes air) and blow themselves up to several times their normal size … But these blow-up fish aren't just cute. Most pufferfish contain a toxic substance that makes them foul tasting and potentially deadly to other fish. The toxin is deadly to humans—1,200 times more deadly than cyanide. There is enough poison in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote.

Like Pufferfish, human beings can blow themselves up with pride and arrogance to make themselves look bigger than they are. And this pride can become toxic to a marriage, a church, or a friendship. No wonder the late Bible scholar John Stott once said, "Pride is your greatest enemy...”

It is said that pride comes before a fall. And it is pride that will be our downfall as a society, culture, and or community. Pride will destroy us. And in our current culture, it is pride that is pervasive. There is a story told about a salesperson who closed hundreds of sales with this line: "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn't afford." It seems that many of us struggle with it.

But what is more… pride is one of those things that even those in non-Christian behavior sciences have to address its devastation. An article in Psychology Today by Dr. John Amodeo he writes, “Perhaps there’s a good reason why pride has been considered one of the seven deadly sins. We’ve all been repelled by people who have an inflated view of themselves. They may talk about themselves excessively and rarely show interest in others. They pump themselves up and come across as snooty, exuding an attitude that makes others feel judged. Such over-confidence and arrogance push us away. Instead of relating to us as equals, they display an obnoxious superiority that makes us feel small. They have the knack of making us feel the shame that they refuse to face within themselves. Pride is often driven by poor self-worth and shame. We feel so badly about ourselves that we compensate by feeling superior. We look for others’ flaws as a way to conceal our own. We relish criticizing others as a defense against recognizing our own shortcomings.”

But family, the scriptures have been clear on this for some time now. Pride is how we deal with shame. We inflate ourselves. We do not live honestly with others. This is how we deal with out shortcomings. And this is devastating when it comes to the living God. This is the underpinning that causes people to reject the gospel. How do you get a person so inflated, so self-absorbed, so self confident, so full of pride and arrogance to see their need to repent before the living God? We can receive mercy and grace, but it is pride that will lead to wrath and destruction and we will see this dynamic in our passage of scripture today. There is still time…but pride will wait till its too late. Let’s take a look.

Zephaniah 2:1–3 NLT

Gather together—yes, gather together, you shameless nation. Gather before judgment begins, before your time to repent is blown away like chaff. Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins. Seek the Lord, all who are humble, and follow his commands. Seek to do what is right and to live humbly. Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you— protect you from his anger on that day of destruction.

The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

Gather

Seek

The first thing we will look at today is the all important having the right perspective as to who we are when we gather. Second, we will explore the significance of humility in receiving grace from the Lord.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be blind to the reality and true perception of ourselves, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see that the Lord opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

I. Gather

- Getting the right perspective.

A. One of the reasons why I’m still in favor of studying biblical languages like Hebrew and Greek, we sometime lose the imagery. First things first, anytime we see a repeat, there is something being emphasized here. The imperative to gather together is repeated… so heads up. But the Hebrew image here is rather striking. The scripture here is helping us to get perspective.

B. The command to gather is clear in our translations…and it is clearly right. It is said that the verb used for Gather is unusual coming from the root for stubble. So we should understood that there a a bit more being communicated than simply gathering. So maybe… gather together like stubble. Getting the right perspective.

Dr. O Palmer Robertson, “Understood in this context, the admonition may be interpreted as a form of derogatory address. Judah is worth no more than stubble. It populace ought to bunch together in a manner that acknowledges this utter worthlessness.”

C. We are gathered like that which is useful only to be burned. Worthless. Gather together all of you who are worthless stubble. Wait... so God is calling the people of Judah worthless. Yes. Its a derogatory address. That’s just rude. That seems uncalled for. Mighty disrespectful. How could he talk to people like that? Well, here we go again… I will not apologize for God. Because I do not need to. The Lord is not subject to our policies and ideologies of current popular and acceptable behavior decided by the standards of men. So many will reject the Lord because of stuff like this and why many a preacher will try to soften it. But are we getting the right perspective?

D. What would you think about a person who stands before a mirror that shows him that he has dirt and mud on his face and hair that is messed up and then he screams at the mirror, cusses at it, complains as to how rude it is, hits it and walks away thinking that his face is clean and having a good hair day. Would we not here think he lost his mind? It is the same with our Lord.

E. He is not doing this because He is insecure. He is not doing this because he has to make us look bad so that he can look better. He is not trying to manipulate. He is not trying to get some kind of sick enjoyment out of it. When he calls us worthless… it is because we are. We have to get the right perspective. He is trying to get us to see what we are so that we will know exactly what it is we need. If we see we are worthless bundles of stubble destined to be burned and blown away in the wind, then we would ask in humility if there is a way we can be saved from the fire. We have to get the right perspective.

F. It is our pride that keeps us from getting the right perspective today. It is the reason we cannot operate in true humility. And it seems that getting a true perspective these days is getting harder and harder. Mankind from the very beginning desired its independence and its autonomy this is what led to the fall. And from the time of the fall there are pattens after patterns of methods to make ourselves appear better than we really are. Philosophers call out the weakness and dangers of humility and humbleness seen as detrimental to human progress. Even though modern psychologists do outline the dangers of pride, it is done carefully and broadly not wanting to stop any human desire to progress in independence and autonomy… its ability to decide right and wrong for ourselves. We have to get the right perspective.

G. Just like those mirrors in the department store when you go clothes shopping… it slims you just right and you look awesome. So much in our culture is skewing our perspective. We just can’t see reality anymore. Its like the world is nothing but skewed mirror all around us. All of our faults and transgressions are minimized or prettied up. A person is not lazy, he is merely “motivationally dispossessed”; a shoplifter is not a thief, he is “a cost of living adjustment specialist”; a prostitute is not a prostitute, she is a “sex care provider.” Homosexuality is now called sexual deviancy, Lying is called true statements that are contradictory, Lust is called admiration, Rebellion is called the exercise of freedom, Pride is called confidence, Envy is called economic stability, Destruction of property, burning down buildings, and vandalism is called peaceful protest, Abortion is called population control, and the dishonoring Father and Mother is called adolescence. We have to get the right perspective.

H. Even in the church the pollution of the self-esteem movement has slithered into everything. One famous preacher once said to not tell people that they are sinners, it is bad for there self-esteem. I think God the Father must have missed that memo. I had a christian woman tell me not to say anything negative to her I only want to hear what is positive. Number 1. What is positive is relative right? You head it said, if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all. How many of you have ever upset someone when you were being nice. “Cheer up… You are awesome… look there were so many better guys I could have married but I chose you.” Number 2. I asked but what if it isn’t true? You want me to say everything is gonna be ok, when it is not? She actually told me yes. Be positive even if it is a lie. So you see we got skewed mirrors and it seems some of us want it that way. We have to get the right perspective.

I. We are living in a time a real augmented reality. We do not see ourselves the way we need to see ourselves. And fueling this, is this awful thing called pride. We are being deceived. We are being led astray. We are blind being led by the blind. We are walking in the dark. We are running in clouds of confusion. Our pride has deceived us even too great heights.

Jeremiah 49:16 NLT

You have been deceived by the fear you inspire in others and by your own pride. You live in a rock fortress and control the mountain heights. But even if you make your nest among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord.

J. No more deception. Stop lying to yourselves. Break the skewed mirrors deceiving us today. Let the light of the Word of God be our guide. Let our perception of ourselves be shaped and reflected by the truths of the scriptures. If the Bible calls us liars, then we are liars. If the Lord calls us worthless then we are worthless. If the Lord calls us liable for judgement then we are. No matter how rude it sounds. Get the right perspective. The right perspective, will show us the right path to seek.

II. Seek

- God gives grace to the humble.

A. One of the biggest mistakes we make as Christians today is believing that the God of the OT is a mean and wrathful God. The NT God is the God of grace and mercy. First of all, the Bible says that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is not like man that He should change. Our immutable God does not change. And what we find here is the great great great grace and mercy of our beloved heavenly Father.

B. In this passage, we find Zephaniah declaring that there still may be time for us. Judgement is coming and there is still time to find mercy. Hear it … seek the Lord and seek humility and perhaps the Lord will hide us in the day of the Lord. For real?

Psalm 91:1 NLT

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 103:8 NLT

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

C. Even with all the transgressions, the horrible acts of violence, the horrible acts of perversion, the rebellion, the defiance, the blasphemy, and the Idolatry, and the Lord still wants to show us mercy. How patient is He. How longsuffering is He. How unconditionally loving is He. After everything they did, He still want to give grace.

D. Zephaniah declares, seek the Lord. There is still time. Stop being complacent. The only way to escape the coming and or looming catastrophe is to come to the Lord. The Lord is the only way. The Lord is the only answer. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Though it is not said, this is the picture of repentance. Turn away from the life you have been leading and turn to the Lord. Seek Him with all your heart.

Isaiah 55:6–7 NLT

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

E. Do not turn to pride. Pride is destruction. Seek the Lord and humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. Zephaniah calls us to Seek righteous and to seek humility. If you have come to a right perspective in light of the Word of God we will realize that we cannot do anything and cannot say anything to change, so we fall to our knees and beg for forgiveness.

F. Humility- It is the disposition of valuing and assessing oneself appropriately. Having the right perspective. This is foundational to the grace of God.

James 4:6 NLT

And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

G. And we need grace today don’t we. Why?

Romans 5:2 ESV

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

H. We need to get the right perspective. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. We need to get the right perspective. And this perspective comes from the scriptures. And the scriptures continue to say...

Genesis 6:5 NLT

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

I. People with the wrong perspective will say things like, follow your heart. NO NO NO. Why? The right perspective says...

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

J. But what of the good things we do? People with the wrong perspective will say things like… I’m a good person. I have done a lot of good things in my life. The right perspective says

Isaiah 64:6 NLT

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

K. And if today you find yourself with your back turned away from God. With a long list of transgressions. With pride upon pride upon pride in life and of life. Judgement is real. Judgement is serious. Judgement is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternal fire. Judgement is coming. Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead. But there is still time.

L. There is still time. There is still salvation today. Turn to Christ. He is the only way. We have life in Christ. Christ did a wonderful work. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised from the dead according to the scriptures. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

M. And the promises continue… if you confess with your mouth… all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There is still time today.