Thru the Bible

Steve Sweets: Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm Steve Sweets, and I'm so glad that you're here as we begin a short study in the Old Testament book of Zephaniah. Now, Zephaniah is in exactly what some would call encouraging. In fact, many say its message seems really rather harsh and cruel, but our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee turns this thinking upside down as he explains what he calls the dark side of love. So, go ahead and get comfortable, and while you do that, Greg and I have a quick update on what's happening. This time, how about Pakistan?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: Yeah, how about Pakistan? And and there's a larger subject I'd like us to be thinking about as we share one or two of these amazing things. And that is that we know that there is so much going on around the world using Through the Bible that we don't know.

Steve Sweets: Don't know about.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: If that if that confuses you. In other words, God's spirit is moving people to take the resources, the flinging of the sea. And every once in a while, we get a little feedback, and I'm happy that we can share this report that came. But we I didn't know anything about this until an email came from our friends over at Door International. And essentially, what it is is there is a listening group. Now, they don't call it a home group in Pakistan. They just formed a bunch of listeners.

Steve Sweets: Yeah.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: And and they're actually it's a viewing group if you want to be technical about it because this is our Urdu satellite TV program. And here's what the email says, Steve. This came from one of our contacts in Pakistan. And he said this, one of my pastor friends based in Rahim Yar Khan, a rural city located about where I'm going to convert the kilometers, about 400 miles from Karachi, which is the the capital city of Pakistan. He has this pastor has taken a significant step towards spreading the gospel. Coming from a Hindu background himself, he's been actively serving among Hindu tribal communities, particularly the Marwari people.

Upon my suggestion, he began a weekly Bible study discipleship class in his church as well as in different locations throughout his town, including remote villages and desert areas where he often travels. Now, let's just stop Steve and take in the wonder of the fact that we at Through the Bible, all of us, all of our listening family, those of you that pray for this ministry and support it, you are helping us fling resources, the word of God. And this is the kind of thing that happens. We didn't make this happen, Steve.

Steve Sweets: Yeah, and it's incredible because the pictures that have been that have come in with this report show him in front of I'm counting three groups.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: Yes.

Steve Sweets: Three different groups where he is holding a phone and they're watching the phone and then going through a Bible study together. It is so exciting.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: Yeah, and you and I have been in other similar places. Often we think of that time in Bangladesh. Remember? You say we were basically they were having the home group sitting on like a king-sized bed.

Steve Sweets: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, inside. Absolutely.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: And and these kinds of things, it's so exciting to consider that we just have a small part in providing the resources, but these resources are so precious that pastors and itinerant evangelists will take them and will spread them to remote places around the world.

Steve Sweets: Yeah, and I'm particularly excited about our thrust into technology and the digital initiatives that we have because before all of Dr. McGee's teaching really only lived in the radio airwaves. And your only way to receive it was with a radio receiver. And now, we can give this to pastors, and they can have the full five-year teaching on a smartphone, on a on a USB drive, so many different ways. And that that becomes very hard for governments or other people to control and squash. And it's just exciting to see how the Lord is moving using this time technology for good.

I Technology rightfully so gets such a bad rap. You know, social media and everything, and yet God will use the medium for for his good and for his glory and for our good.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: Yes. It's a Yeah. Yes. Yeah, and I I just can't wait until we get to heaven. And when we have one of those many celebrations that you've spoken of in Pavilion B or wherever it's going to be, where where we get together and we hear how God used our humble efforts to just fling the seed out there and and the way he multiplies it. It's exciting.

Steve Sweets: Yes. Yep. Yeah, and we are thankful for those of you that are listening and are part of that through praying and supporting the ministry through the Bible. Let's pray as we as we begin our study. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the way you have just opened your word to us through the teaching of Dr. McGee and the way that's been made available to people all over the world, particularly this time in Pakistan and these groups. We pray for those listeners, Lord, that they would come to an understanding of Jesus Christ and that they would glorify you.

I pray that you protect this pastor as well and and bless the teaching as it goes out today in Zephaniah. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Now, here's Zephaniah as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee / Greg: We come now to the little book of Zephaniah. I told you at the beginning when we took up Nahum that we were putting together three remarkable little books, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. And I'm sure that most of you now agree that the first two books, Nahum and Habakkuk, are unusual books. Well, Zephaniah is not far behind. In fact, it's not behind at all. It another remarkable book that we've come to. Now, I do not think the little book of Zephaniah will ever take the place of John 3:16 or the gospel of John as number one in Bible popularity.

But the contents of this little book have never been familiar. I doubt whether little books been read very much. I'm going to ask a question that I asked a long time ago regarding another book. And that is, how many of you have ever heard a sermon on Zephaniah? I dare say that few of you have ever done that. I asked that question several years ago when I was pastor one Sunday morning when I was going to preach on it. And out of a congregation of between 2,500 and 3,000, there were probably two hands that were put up that had heard a sermon on Zephaniah.

Now, that's not due to the mediocrity or the inferiority of this little book. I can assure you, but it's been neglected because actually its theme was known. I think it would be appreciated. And that is, it has the same theme as the gospel of John has. John is called the apostle of love. And he is an apostle of love. But we come to a little book and he is the prophet of love. Now, it's going to be difficult for you to believe that. It's hard to believe it, but let me give you a verse from that.

We're acquainted with John 3:16. How about Zephaniah 3:17? Listen to this. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. He will rest in his love. Lovely, isn't it? Well, may I say to you, this little book is a little different though than the gospel of John. This verse I've given you is just like a small island that is sheltered in the midst of a storm-tossed sea because much of this little book of Zephaniah seems rather harsh and cruel.

It seems like it's fury poured out. And the reason for that is there's just too much judgment that's in this little book here. He begins chapter three of Zephaniah with woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city. And my starts out in that vein. And that's not very popular today. Now, how can love be the theme? It's like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. I think I can illustrate this by telling you a detective story, giving you a mystery story. Now, that seems a very peculiar way to begin Zephaniah.

Well, let me give you a mystery story here, and it's going to help us understand this little book. Now, I want to brief you here on the very terrifying scene, by the way. And we are going to look now at the dark side of love. Now, here is my story. It was late at night in a suburban area of one of our great cities of America. A child lay restless in her bed. A man with a very severe and stern look. He stealthily entered a bedroom. And he softly approached her bed. And the moment the little girl saw him, a terrified look came over her face and she began to scream.

And her mother rushed into the room and went over to her. And the trembling child threw her arms about her. But the man withdrew to the telephone and he called someone who was evidently an accomplice. And in a very soft voice made some sort of an arrangement. And hastily the man reentered the room. He tore the child from the mother's arms. And he rushed out to a waiting car. And the child was sobbing. And he attempted to stifle her cries. He drove madly down street after street until he finally pulled up before a large sinister and foreboding looking building.

All was quiet. The building was partially dark, but there was one room upstairs ablaze with light. And the child was hurriedly taken inside up to the lighted room and put into the hands of the man with whom the conversation had been held over the telephone in the hallway. In turn, the child was handed over to another accomplice. And this time it was a woman. And these two took her into an inner room. And the man who had brought her was left outside in the hallway. Inside the room, the man that took her in there, he took a long, sharp, gleaming knife and he plunged it into the vitals of that little child.

And she lay as if she were dead. Now, I want to what your reaction is at this point. Maybe you are saying, well, I certainly hope they'll catch that criminal who abducted that little child and is responsible for such an awful crime. May I say to you, friends, I have not described to you the depraved and degraded action of a debased mind. I've not taken a chapter out of the life of a man in cell 2455 Death Row. I haven't told you a story that comes from one of these murder mysteries that we have too much probably on TV today.

I have not related to you the sordid and sadistic crime of a psychopathic criminal. On the contrary, I have described to you a tender act of love. In fact, I can think of no more sincere demonstration of love than I've described to you. Now, I'm sure you're amazed when I say that. Now, let me fill in here and then you'll understand. You see, that little girl had awaken in the night with severe abdominal pains. She had been subject to such attacks. And her parents were watching her very carefully. The doctor had said to do that.

And it was actually her father who had rushed into the room. And the little girl knew that she might have to make that trip to the hospital. And when the father rushed into the room, she screamed, of course. And he talked to the specialists about it. And when he saw the suffering of the little girl, you see, he went to the telephone. He called the family physician and he arranged to meet him at the hospital. And he had rushed his own little girl down to the hospital. And he handed her over to the family physician.

And the doctor had taken her into the operating room with the nurse. And he performed an emergency surgery. Through it all, every move and every act of that father was of tender love, anxious care, and a wise decision. I have described to you the dark side of love. But love, nevertheless. Now, the father loved that child just as much on that dark night when he took her to the hospital and delivered it to the surgeon's knife as he did the next week when he brought her flowers and candy. It was just as much a demonstration of deep affection when he delivered her into the hands of the surgeon as it was the next week when he brought her home and delivered her into the arms of her mother.

My friend, love places the eternal security and permanent welfare of the object of love above any transitory or temporary comfort, our present pleasure down here upon this earth. In other words, love seeks the best interest of the beloved. That's important. That's what this little book of Zephaniah is all about. It's the dark side of love. Now, let me move on here. Now, in our nation today, we have come through a period when the love of God has been exaggerated out of all proportion to the other attributes of our God. And it 's been presented in such a way that the love of God is a weakness rather than a strength.

It has been presented on the sunny side of the street with nothing of the other side ever mentioned. There is a love of God presented that sounds to me like the doting of grandparents rather than the vital and vigorous concern of a parent for the best interest of the child. The liberal preacher today has chanted like a parrot. He has used shopworn clichés. He's taken tired adjectives and he said God is love, God is love, God is love until he's made it saccharine sweet. And he has not told about the dark side of the love of God.

He has watered love down making it sickening rather than stimulating, causing it to slop over on every side like a sentimental feeling rather than an abiding concern for the object of love. Now, let me add this. God deals with us according to our need. I want you to notice that there is the dark side of the love of God. The great physician will put his child on the operating table. And he'll use the surgeon's knife when he sees a tumor of transgression or a deadly virus sapping our spiritual lives or when he sees the cancerous growth of sin.

He does not hesitate to deal with us severely. We must learn this fact early. He loves us just as much when he's subjecting us to surgery as when he sends us candy and flowers and brings us into the sunshine. And sometimes the great physician will operate without giving us so much as a sedative. But you can always be sure of one thing, when he does this, he'll pour in the balm of Gilead when he sees that it is best for you and for me to go down through the valley of suffering that it will be for our eternal welfare.

He'll not hesitate to let us go down through the dark valley. Someone has expressed it in these lines. Is there no other way, oh God, except through sorrow, pain, and loss? The stamp Christ likeness on my soul. No other way except the cross. And then a voice stills all my soul as still the waves of Galilee. Canst thou not bear the furnace if midst the flames I walk with thee? I bore the cross. I know its weight. I drank the cup I hold for thee. Canst thou not follow where I lead? I'll give thee strength.

Lean hard on me. My friend, he loves us most when he's operating on us. That's what we saw. You remember back in Hebrews 12:6, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. He child trains. He disciplines. And there's another figure that the Lord Jesus presented yonder in the upper room. And you will find that in the gospel of John, the gospel of love. John 15 verses one and two. He says, I'm the genuine vine. My father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit he prunes it that it may bring forth more fruit.

May I say to you, we must remember that the father reaches into your life and mine and prunes out that which is not fruit bearing and it hurts. But as a Puritan divine once said years ago, the husbandman is never so close to the branch as when he's trimming it. The father is never more close to you, my friend, than when he's reaching in and taking out of your heart and life those things that offend. It was Spurgeon who noticed the weather vane that a farmer had on his barn was an unusual weather vane for on it the farmer had the words, God is love.

And Mr. Spurgeon asked him. He says, do you mean by this that God's love is as changeable as the wind? The farmer shook his head. No, he said, I do not mean that God's love changes like that. I mean that whichever way the wind blows God is love. Today it may be the soft wind from the south that he brings to blow across your life where he loves you. And tomorrow he may let the cold blast from the north blow over your life. And if he does he still loves you. It has been expressed in a very wonderful poem.

And I've used it before. I hesitate to use it again, but I want to bring out this point. God if not promise skies always blue, flowers strewn pathways all our lives through. God hath not promised we shall not know toil and temptation, trouble, and woe. He hath not told us we shall not bear many a burden, many a care. And then I'll lift out the last stanza. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the laborer, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love. Beloved, if you are a child of God and you're in a place of suffering, be assured and know that God loves you.

Regardless of how it may appear, he loves you and you can't ever change that. And that's what we have now in the little prophecy of Zephaniah. It sets forth the dark side of the love of God. I have a notion that very few of you, when I asked the question a moment ago, had you ever heard a sermon on Zephaniah? Very few of you, I'm sure, would have put up your hand. And since it presents the dark side of God's love, I can well understand how it would be unpopular because it opens with the rumblings of judgment, the judgment of God that's coming upon this earth.

And you find that as we get into it, this little book. But I want to say something now in closing, just this one word about the writer of this little book because it's pretty important for us to get acquainted with him and know him because he introduces himself. You see, Zephaniah identified himself better than any of the other minor prophets. Now, we have been looking at Habakkuk. Actually, Habakkuk concealed himself in silence. We know nothing about his background, but Zephaniah went to the opposite extreme and he told us more than is ordinary. He traced his lineage back to his great great grandfather who was Hezekiah, king of Judah.

In other words, he was of the royal line. So, let's just get our foot in the door of the book before we get through today. I read verse one. The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushai, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. So, he not only told us about himself and his lineage, but he tells us at the time that he wrote. And it was a dark day for the nation. According to the arrangement of the Hebrew scriptures, Zephaniah was the last of the prophets before the captivity.

He was contemporary with Jeremiah and probably he could have been, I guess, with Micah, but I doubt that. His was the swan song of the Davidic kingdom. And he's credited with giving impetus to the revival during the reign of Josiah. And we're going to see in this little book sweetness and light that's ordinarily associated with love on every level. And I think rightly so, but this aspect actually does not exhaust the full import of love. Love expresses itself always for the good of the one who is loved always. That's what real love is. Love is kind.

This is the reason that it's difficult to associate love with the judgment of God. And so many people think of God as if he's a sort of a super Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One nature of his is expressed by love, and the other nature is expressed in wrath by judgment. And these two appear to be contrary to the extent there seems to be actually two God's. Well, Zephaniah is filled with the wrath and judgment of God, but there is the undertone of the love of God. And that is the story we told you today, the dark side of love.

So, until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Sweets: To be in touch, call us at 1-800-65 Bible or email us at biblebus@ttb.org. I'm Steve Sweets, and I'll meet you back here for another great adventure in God's word. We're grateful for the faithful and generous support of Through the Bible's partners whom God uses to take the whole word to the whole world.