WE have been learning about the promised spiritual restoration described in Zephaniah 3: 9-13 which God promised to Israel through the prophet Zephaniah. We have been seeing how this is a description of the revival blessings which God pours out on his church from time to time all down history. We have seen that this revival blessing or restoration is a work done by God's Spirit in the hearts and lives of individual people. This work is something that characterises every person who is born again by the Holy Spirit, and is the essence of being a Christian. In times of spiritual restoration this work in the lives of individuals increases in an amazing way. People already born again are revived and revitalised and many new people are brought into the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus and experience this new life. How we need to see that our lives as Christians show the evidence of this restoration in a true, real and deep way. We need to pray this for ourselves, for true revival begins with the house of God.

In verse 13 we come to the last of these expressions of restoration. Each one we have considered and are recorded in these verses follow one another inevitably. It is true that there is different gradations of expression of this restoration in each life, but elements of each must be found in all. In all of us there is a progression to deeper expressions of this restoration as we live by faith in obedience to the Lord.

Verse 13 has two parts. The first speaks of holy living, and the second speaks of the blessing that results – so we have first holy living and then safe living described as the result of restoration and revival by the Spirit of God.

HOLINESS.

Holiness is described here in verse 13 as the result of spiritual restoration. In the first place holiness is described as doing not wrong. This encompasses the whole of the concept of holiness. Holiness is seeking to cease to sin, and positively to think and act righteously. Then holiness is given a particular description. Holiness is described as speaking no lies – that is telling the truth always and living honestly. Holiness is described as being devoid of deceit. Deceit is usually expressed by speech, just as lies are spoken by the mouth, but this is the outward expression of the condition in the heart. As we think so we are, and this is expressed audibly. Deceit is an attitude of mind and heart that holds back the truth, and seeks to deceive people. This is usually an expression of an evil desire to gain selfish purpose and use others for personal gain.

When we read this description of the restored soul we find it describes a condition of life which we feel is not true of us, however much we try and wish it to be true in our life. It describes a person who is sinless, and we cannot say that we are sinless. We mourn and grieve all the time that we fall short of the glory of God. So how do we understand what the truth of God is here?

For this we can do no better that refer to the first letter of John. The whole letter is descriptive of the facts concerning holiness in the life of the true believer, but let us look at two verses. The first is 1 John 3: 9 which reads “No-one who is born of God will continue in sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he is born of God.” The other verses is 1 John 5: 18 which reads “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;” These verses speaks of something new taking place in the life of the believer. This something which describes the nature of being born again. This is found in the first quotation where John tells us that God' seed remains in him. There is divine life now in the believer which is the essence of new birth. Because of this divine seed it is impossible for the one who has been born again to continue in sin.

If you remember in the sermon on verse 11 of Zephaniah 3 we learnt about the fact of being account righteous in God's sight through faith in Jesus, so that God records no sin against us because Christ has fulfilled all righteousness in our place. This suggests that it may be a license to sin. Now what we are being told in verse 13 is the reality that holiness is now the essence of the saved person who is accounted righteous in God's sight. The reason for this is because God's seed remains in us. This new life is God's divine life, and is now permanent. Let us now seek to understand what this actually is.

When Adam sinned he plunged humanity into a state of death. Because of this all human beings are born into this world with body and mind, but the spirit or soul is dead. We are like a three legged stool with one leg cut off. Because of this we can have not fellowship with God and we are governed by our flesh, our sinful nature, and so we lived for the world, without hope, without God, in the world. When we were born again, born of the Holy Spirit the spiritual was recreated, and this became the real person that we now are. This is the seed of God.

To understand this more fully we need to go to Ephesians 4: 24 which reads “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” The truth about the believer is that our spirit, created in us by new birth, is like God in true righteousness and holiness. We are not like God is his power and authority, but like God in his character. This new inner being is without sin, and loves holiness as God is holy, and seeks to express this holiness in daily living. Because this inner being is without sin because it is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, it is place where the Holy Spirit can dwell, and so Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. However the trouble is that the only way this new creation can be expressed in our daily living is through our bodies, in which reside still our sinful nature, called in the New Testament 'our flesh'. Paul tells us in Romans 7 that in the flesh dwells no good thing. It still is a force in our lives, and so as Paul gives testimony to “for what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – I keep on doing, which Paul tells us because of the sin living in me. What he means by this is the flesh or our sinful nature which is as corrupt as it always has been. It can't be it can't be improved. It can only be mortified, that is put to death. This why Paul speaks in Galatians of the flesh and the Spirit being in conflict.

The new nature being created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness is already fit for heaven, and desires above all to express holiness in life all time in this earthly life. However it is hindered by the flesh which stimulated by the devil. Paul speaks of the Christians feel about this conflict at the end of Romans 7 by speaking of himself as wretched because he can't expel sin from his life, but he rejoices in the fact that through Jesus Christ he has the victory because when this life is over, this sinful flesh will die and be left on the earth, and only the now true new born self will enter the heavenly glory, free from sin at last.

Because in our true self we are created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness, we hate sin. We want to be rid of it. We are never happy when we fall into sin. We are seeking always to mortify our sinful nature, and are only truly happy when we progress in holiness and holy living and thinking. This why John says in his first letter that the one born again can't continue in sin, and Zephaniah describes the restored soul as doing no wrong.

Where there is no progress overall of holiness in our lives we may well question our new birth. However, it is a fact that true believers do backslide sometimes, and are seduced by Satan into committing sin and sometimes very grievous sin, but this is not the condition of heart the Lord sees within us, and he is working always to deliver us from sin, and bring us back into holiness. The true believer is never happy when known sin is found in his or her life, and will always be brought to repentance. As we have already discussed in a previous sermon, we have no confidence in the flesh, and mourn over our failure in holiness all the time.

SAFETY.

This safety is described in the second part of our text. The words are “They will eat and lie down and no-one will make them afraid.”

There are two truths here for us to consider. In the first place those who have been restored to new life and favour with God have become God's children. We read in John 1: 12 “Yet to all who receive him (the incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus Christ), to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” This is our second birth. By our first birth we were born into a human family. By this second birth we are born spiritually as a new person in God's eternal family. It is because of this new birth and new family we know our heavenly Father will look after us, and we do not need to fear or be anxious because our heavenly Father is watching over us, providing for us, and guiding us through our earthly in order to bring us to his everlasting kingdom in heaven.

This is true even if our heavenly Father orders our life through trials and difficulties. As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8 – all things work together for good for them that love God and who are called according to God's purpose. All things mean all things including the difficulties and trials. We are safe in the arms of Jesus.

The second truth is to do with God's dealings with us. God as a loving Father disciplines us, and as we read in Hebrews 11: 7-11 God as a loving Father may chastise us for our good. These verses in Hebrews 11 reward careful study and meditation.

There will be times in the life of the believer when things of life don't seem to be going very smoothly. We have to experience illness. It may be something else like facing difficult relationships at work or at home. It may be that at our employment things may become very difficult, and we find ourselves not appreciated. It may be that we are demoted at work, of our pay is decreased. There are a multiplicity of things God uses to discipline and teach his children. We have the case of Job which is clear that God allowed all his trials to bring Job to a truer and deeper understanding of God and his holiness.

God orders our life in this way to wean us from the world, or teach us to trust him, or rebuke us for some sin. The corrective treatment will go on until we have learnt the lesson God is teaching us, or have repented of wrong, or grown in grace and truth. The chastening may seem very grievous, and we may feel God has forsaken us, but it is allowed by God in everlasting love. God views the big picture. God's concern is to make us, his bride, beautiful and pure for his everlasting kingdom. Paul tells us that though these trials are painful, they work the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

We know the most of what the last part of Zephaniah 2: 13 is telling us when we learn what God is teaching us. When we are living in the light of God's word and will then the experience of our life will be such as Zephaniah speaks of. We will find that God supplies all our needs, and that we are at peace in the assurance that because God is our Father, we are safe in his everlasting arms.

CONCLUSION.

The truth of this verse is expressed in a well known hymn. Let us take the words of the hymn to heart. The words are these -

When we walk with the Lord,
In the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.