“Restoration”
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In 1981, a Minnesota radio station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, were laced with poison. The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait. Now the police and the owner of the VW Bug were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than to recover the car. So often when we run from God, we feel it is to escape his punishment. But what we are actually doing is eluding his rescue.
Sin and rebellion is and has been a thread woven throughout the course of human history. Sin and rebellion is and has been a thread woven throughout the course of church history. And dare I say, sin and rebellion is and has been a thread woven throughout the course of the Baptist church history. And because of this… the seriousness of this… we are surrounded by warnings and threats of judgement from the Lord.
I had a person come to me once and said, Shane bro the Bible is full of judgement and warnings, what’s the deal… its like trying to live with a mom and dad who always warns you and always threatens to discipline you. I want to read the prophet’s in the Bible but all it is, is warnings and judgement. Even the NT has constant warnings, judgement, reproving, and scriptures of discipline. Everywhere I go in the scriptures… its just judgement after judgement after judgement. Shane, its like trying to live with a mom and dad who always warns you and always threatens to discipline you. Misery. I mean misery.
I hear ya. But, get this why when faced with issues like this do we always think that the issue lies in the disciplinarian then ourselves. Maybe you are trying to live with a mom and a dad who always warns you and threatens to discipline you because you need it constantly. Because you are constantly rebelling and sinning. Is that not possible. Why do we always assume something is wrong with God and what He does, before we take a good look at ourselves to see if the problem is with us. And here it is...
Maybe God has to constantly warn us and threaten us with punishment or discipline. Because we are constantly sinning, rebelling, blaspheming, stealing, lying, cheating, scheming, misjudging, misusing, and misunderstanding or rather misleading. Could it possibly be that the problem is with us?
And what we do today is to give relief to people by softening the seriousness of sin and soften and even eliminate the reality of the coming judgement of the Lord which will be a terrible swift sword. We don’t want to call sin “sin” anymore. We love to redefine our transgressions calling lies truthful statements that contradict and call stealing cost of living adjustments. And we got popular preachers telling people that there will be no real judgement by God and God is love and no one is gonna be punished in hell. These are lies upon lies and what the false prophets of old used to do to the people.
They offer superficial treatments
for my people’s mortal wound.
They give assurances of peace
when there is no peace.
The answer is not this… the answer is the gospel message and the wonderful promise of salvation. Yes we are lost in sin and yes the Lord is coming to judge. But our hope is not in a lie but in the promise that the gave to save us from our sins. God promises to seek and save us. God promises to restore His people. God promises to purify His people. God promises to free us from our shame. God promises to make us Holy. And He does this work in us and He is pursuing us to bring us into the shadow of His wings. But will we be like the car theif… Christ is pursuing us to save us, but will we keep running from the salvation of the Lord? Judgement is coming but, Salvation is here… lets take a look.
“Then I will purify the speech of all people,
so that everyone can worship the Lord together.
My scattered people who live beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
will come to present their offerings.
On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed,
for you will no longer be rebels against me.
I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you.
There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain.
Those who are left will be the lowly and humble,
for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.
The remnant of Israel will do no wrong;
they will never tell lies or deceive one another.
They will eat and sleep in safety,
and no one will make them afraid.”
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.
Promised Restoration
Salvation Belongs to God
The first thing we will look at today is the promise of restoration at the end of the decree for judgement by Zephaniah. Second, we will see how restoration comes from the hand of God and only by the hand of God in the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus.
Thesis: Though sin, the lies of false teachers, and the pattern of this world, may cause us to run from the the pursuit of God with salvation in His hand, it is the power of the Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause our hearts and minds to be opened by the preaching of the gospel to run into the loving arms of the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
I. Promised Restoration
- Salvation, Unashamed, Sanctified, and No need to Fear.
A. So here we have a transition of the graphic and horrible judgement that is coming to the promise of restoration. We must see however that there is in no way any inkling of the possibility of avoiding the wrath and judgement to come. There is no way to avoid, the fires of judgement will fall. But there will be a forgiven and purged people who God will restore. The Lord will not even let the folly of His people ruin that which covenants and possesses. He will not let His people end. So what does he do?
B. Number 1. He purifies the lips or speech of the people. Purifies the speech or language of the people who speak ill of each other and the Lord. But it is not specifically denoting harsh language or cussing or even telling lies and deception. It is not directly dealing with foolish talk or corse joking… or salt and fresh water flowing from the same spout. This is not a point to sanctify, but the point to save. He will change their lips so that they can be saved… how so?
He will change the speech of the people… so and the ESV makes it very clear here… so that they all will call upon the name of the Lord. This is the picture of salvation for us all. Calling upon the name of the Lod.
C. Bailey and Barker write in their commentary, “Calling on the name of the Lord means reaching out in faith for his all sufficient grace.” And they get this so right. And happens when we do this? As we see in the scriptures something significant comes from this. Almost every single Sunday I declare this at the end of almost every sermon. What happens to all who call upon the name of the Lord?
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.’
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
just as the Lord has said.
These will be among the survivors
whom the Lord has called.
D. Restoration is promised by the Lord. Salvation is coming. The Lord will do this… He will purge us and He will purify us. He will purify our lips our speech. And instead of rebelling and rejecting Him… we will call upon the name of the Lord. And when we do we will be saved.
E. Number 2. We will no longer be ashamed. Dr. John McKay writes, “In the day of the Lord those whom he recognizes as truly his people will not have to answer for their rebellious acts.” The people of God will be purged from all guilt. The stain of guilt will no longer be upon them. The Lord declares that he will remove the proud, the arrogance and the haughtiness. There will be no more of it. We will no longer be ashamed. This is a beautiful result of salvation.
as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
F. There will no longer be a need to be ashamed. No longer are we needing to cover our shame with fig leaves sewn together. No longer are we plagued by guilt because of the work of the Lord. The hand of God will bring us freedom and cleansing. We are justified, just as if I’d never sinned. We are covered by the blood of Jesus.
G. And what else will He do? Number 3. He will sanctify us. The Lord will make us humble and meek. And because of affliction and because of oppression … He will make us those who will trust in the name of the Lord.
Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion;
they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
H. They will do no wrong. This is talking about the new creation of the restoration of the people of God. They like God will do no wrong. They will be made into the likeness of Christ.
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
They will not cheat or deceive each other. They will live in harmony. And they will not be afraid. You do not need to fear when the Lord has restored you.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper,
so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?”
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
I. This is the salvation of the Lord for those whom He will restore. What an amazing picture of salvation in the decree of judgement. Pretty hard and vivid declaration of judgement from the beginning of the book of Zephaniah. But right here is a beautiful picture of the salvation of the Lord. God will judge terribly, but He will also save gloriously.
- There will be the giving of a new heart and and a born again change that happens in our hearts and because of this we will have faith and believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and because we do we will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
- The forgiveness that we receive will make us whiter than snow. He said He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Christ will cause us to be able to stand unashamed before the Lord. How much so? So much so.
- David even after what He did with Uriah and Bathsheba when He repented and humble asked for forgiveness, He received restoration from the Lord so much so that He would even refer to himself as righteous and blameless. If the Lord forgives you and if the Lord cleanses you, you are cleaner than you think you could ever be. You are cleaner than you could ever be. Do not ever ever call unclean what God has made clean.
- Though we will receive affliction and oppression in the world we live, it will all make us meek and humble so that we truly do trust in the Lord in all things. Facing trials of many kinds so that we can develop patience so that might be mature complete and not lacking in anything. We become sanctified and perfected.
- He will make us more like Him. He will purge us from all wickedness. He will make us more and more like Christ. He will cause us to walk blameless before the Lord. And we will not be afraid. In the salvation of the Lord we do not need to be afraid.
II. Salvation belongs to the Lord
- He will cause us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
A. One of the most comforting thing about what we see here, and it may be difficult for some us us to hear. It is all done by the hand of God. He does not say in these passages that He is making it possible for them to be restored. He is saying that He will restore us. He is not hoping that we take Him up on HIs offer, but that He will save us.
B. Jesus came into this world to seek and save that which was lost. It does not say that he came to seek and make the lost save-able. He is not reaching out a hand waiting and hoping for us to reach out and grab a hold of His hand. We were dead in our sins. Dead people cannot reach out. He had to breathe life into us before we could have faith in Christ. Dead people do not have faith. Christ will give us life, cause us to be born again so that we can see and have faith. Regeneration comes before faith. We don’t have life because we have faith. Because we have life we have faith.
C. Why is this an issue? Because today there is a desire to be pleasing to the Lord so that we can receive a blessing from Him. We want to know what to do to be pleasing to the Lord. How much what to do be what we need to be so that it makes God happy and if God is happy He will bless us he will reward us.
D. The scriptures teach us that Christain’s desire to be pleasing to the Lord not to receive the reward, but because we already have the reward. We do not seek to be pleasing to be accepted by the Lord, but we seek to be pleasing because we are already accepted by the Lord. We do good not to become a child of God, but because we already are a child of God. We do not do to get, but we do because we already have. And it is what Christ has given to us first.
E. Faith and repentance brings to us the blessing of salvation. But faith and repentance is a gift from God. We only have because He gave. There is no reason for us to boast in restoration and salvation.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
F. We think we were saved by God, but we now gotta get sanctified by our own hard work.
How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
G. Oh but Shane we gotta work out our salvation… yeah finish the passage. Why fear and trembling?
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
H. And it is God who does it. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And salvation is here for us today.
I. Yes judgement is coming. And yes there is salvation and it is here for us today. We have prayed that God will give us the gift of salvation. And this is possible for us today because Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried… The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance...
J. And the promises continue… that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart… and here it is… all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
K. This is reason to rejoice. We do not rejoice because of what we get for doing what Jesus would do. We rejoice for what we get from what Jesus has already done.