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Zephaniah chapter 2 please. Zephaniah chapter 2 verse number 3 begins by saying, Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. The title of the sermon tonight is Seek Righteousness, Seek Meekness. So you may remember when we looked at Zephaniah chapter 1, we were looking at God announcing the day of the Lord, the day of His wrath, and of course the day of God's wrath in the time of these prophets was the Babylonian takeover. It was the Babylonian captivity. And we're looking at a list of sins in chapter 1. A list of sins that God was angry at, at His people, at His nation, that they were guilty of, sins that, hey, many Australians today, many saved, believers, Baptists, independent fundamental Baptists are guilty of as well. And chapter 1 was really just to awaken us to our sins. It's not good to get comfortable in our sins. Sometimes we need to hear where we are doing wrong or we are doing wickedness and remember that we should be striving to overcome the sins in our lives. But chapter 2 here doesn't just look at the sins of Israel. Chapter 2 is about the sins of the surrounding nations. So God announced His anger, His judgment against His people, against His nation, and now God is announcing His judgment to the surrounding nations around Israel, if that makes sense. So let's start there in verse number 1. Zephaniah chapter 2 in verse number 1 begins by saying, Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired. So God here, after announcing His anger and His wrath against the nation of Israel, now again He's speaking to that nation, it's supposed to be His people, it's His nation, it's the covenant that He created with that nation, and He calls this nation not desired. A nation that's not desired. People of the surrounding nations may look at that nation and go, well, those are God's people, we don't like them. You know what, maybe not desired in the eyes of God either. Maybe God Himself is saying, you're not living up to my standards. Now here's the thing about the Christian life, here's the thing about being the people of God. If you just live godly and righteously, you're not going to be desired by the world. The world's going to look at you and go, I don't like those Christians. But you know what, if you're living righteously and godly, God will look down at you and say, well, they're a desired people. So it's got to be desired. Or you can be like, you know what, I'm going to live a wicked, ungodly life, even though I'm saved, I realise God's going to chastise me, but the sins of this world are too tempting, I'm going to live that wicked lifestyle. Well, you know what, you're going to be desired by the world. The world's going to say, hey, welcome, you're one of us, live like us, and the world's going to desire you. But you're not going to be desired in the eyes of God. So where Christians go, well, I'll have one foot in Christianity, and one foot in the world, and that way I'll be desired by both. No, but when you're lukewarm, no one desires you. No one likes you, right? So this is something you need to decide. You know, lukewarm, nobody desires me, I want to be some place where I'm desired, either I'm desired by the world, and you can do that if you want, live like your Lord. I'm not telling you you should do that, but you could, you could choose that, you're going to be desired by the world, but you're not going to be desired by God, or you're going to decide, oh, I want to be desired by God, and live that righteous life. And so God here is speaking to a nation not desired. Now, can you keep your finger there, and go to Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2, and while you're turning to Titus chapter 2, I'll read to you from 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9, very famous passage that we've read many times already, but it says in 1 Peter chapter 2, 9, Here are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, that's the nation we ought to be. Then it says, a peculiar people, peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So we ought to be peculiar people in the sense that we've left the darkness of the world, and now we're living in the light of Jesus Christ, we're living in the light of the gospel, we're living in the light of the commandments and the laws of God, okay? But we're called to be a peculiar people and holy nation. Now the word peculiar means strange, okay? It means strange, but usually in an unpleasant way, okay? So when we're peculiar, we're peculiar to the world, strange, unpleasant, not desired, the same kind of things that God is saying in Zephaniah. But look at Titus chapter 2 and verse number 11, Titus chapter 2, verse number 11. So if you want to be peculiar, not desired by the world but received by God, it says in verse number 11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation have appeared to all men. So we, as people who have been saved, we have received the grace of God, verse number 12. So now that we are saved, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously. So the title of the sermon again was seek righteousness, seek meekness. We ought to be living righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. But look at verse number 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and look at this, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. So if we're going to be peculiar, or we're going to be not desired, okay, well that ought to come by, as it said there, being zealous of good works, doing what is righteous, doing what is good, doing what is pleasant in the eyes of God, and you will be a peculiar people, you will be a nation that's not desired, but hey, you're not desired by the world. So what? That's what we're called to be, okay? And so I want you, as we go through Zephaniah, we've been looking at the historical context, looking at God's people of the old covenant, how they've been wicked in the eyes of God, but again, we want to pull these truths and apply it to our lives today, okay? Are you peculiar enough? You know, are you not desired enough, not desired by this world, you know? Is that the kind of life that you live in? Are you living righteously? Are you living godly? Are you zealous for good works? Zealous is like being passionate, okay? Do you desire, oh he's more of a, ah man, I've got to do what is right, you know? Are you zealous about excitement? No, I want to do what is right. I want to please the Lord, that ought to be our attitude. Back to Zephaniah chapter 2 verse number 2. Zephaniah chapter 2 verse number 2. Now again, we saw chapter 1, God is very angry at the nation. Then he says, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. You see, God's grace provides a period of time before his anger takes hold, before his anger falls, before his wrath falls, okay? God gives us grace. He gives us a time before the day of the Lord's anger to come upon you. And so, you know, we can talk about this individually, okay? When you're living a wicked, godless life, you have time. God's given you his grace, he's given you time before his anger falls upon you, before his chastisement and judgment falls upon you. Or we could also say an entire nation, as God is speaking to an entire nation here, the nation of Judah. God is seeking a nation, God is seeking Australia to turn back to the Lord, to have a fear of the Lord. It ought to be our hope that our nation will get right with God, that's my hope, you know? Or it could be the entire world, like the end times, where God's anger, the day of God's wrath, is going to fall upon the entire world, and the entire world will be destroyed by the fires of his wrath. You know, so we can look at this, yeah, as the entire world, we can look at this as a nation, or we can look at this individually. But we're being given time, we're being given God's grace to be made right with God. Look at verse number three. Seek ye the Lord, and ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. So listen, if God's anger falls upon this nation, okay, this nation's going to suffer. But if we seek the Lord, if we seek righteousness and meekness, then God's going to hide us from his anger. God's going to hide us from his wrath and the judgment that falls upon this nation, okay? So we can't necessarily stop God's wrath against this nation. I think, you know, I personally believe now, you know, I had some different thoughts before, but when I look at COVID, when I look at all the inconveniences and, you know, the deaths and all this stuff, the whole world's been affected, okay? I can't help now but think this is God's anger, this is God's judgment. You know, God has brought this onto the earth for whatever purposes he may seem fit. Hey, it might be for the reasons for people to turn their hearts back to God, right, to have a fear at least, maybe of death or destruction, right, and turn their hearts. I don't know, you know, I don't know what exactly God is trying to use in this period of COVID. And I understand that the weakness of this world, you know, I understand that the, you know, the aim to put the Antichrist into power is also using these events for their own purposes, I understand that. But, you know, personally I see God's wrath, I see God's judgment. When I'm studying through Jeremiah and I'm looking at how God will judge his nation, I just see too many parallels with what's going on in the world today. You know, I'm not talking about the end times here, okay? God's judgment can fall upon nations many times. You read your Bible, God's judgment falls many times upon different nations, okay? And I truly believe we're just seeing the, you know, hand of God's judgment. And it's taking me time to really think about this and consider it. And I do believe God has a use for COVID, even if it's just to show just a level of his anger, a level of what he's able to accomplish, okay? Before one day he destroys the entire world, right? With multiple pestilences, with multiple issues that will come from his hand. But look, we're given a time of grace. You know, we're given time to get right with God before his anger comes upon us. Verse number three, seek ye the Lord. And by the way, I'm going to come back to verse number, sorry, we are at verse number three, sorry. I'm going to come back to verse number three at the end of this sermon, okay? But verse number three started with seek ye the Lord, seek ye the Lord. Now can you please keep your finger there and go to Deuteronomy, go to Deuteronomy chapter four. Go to Deuteronomy chapter four. We're just going to look a little bit about this idea of seeking the Lord, right? Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth. The meek will seek the Lord. And while you turn into Deuteronomy chapter four, I'll read to you from Psalm 14 verse number one. Psalm 14 verse number one, which reads, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Then it says in verse number two, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. And then it says this, this is what God says after he sees the entire earth, verse number three, They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no not one. And we know that's repeated in the book of Romans. But I want you to remember as we see the wickedness of this world, as we see our nation, this entire world going down the toilet, you know what? God is up in heaven. He's looking down at all the inhabitants of the earth. And he's saying, hey, who is it that understands? Who is it that's seeking God? And you know what? I want you to respond to Psalm 14 and say, I am Lord. I am one that understands. I understand your word. I understand the gospel. I understand that we're wicked people. I understand that we need a Savior. I understand that you want me to walk in your ways, Lord. And I'm seeking after you. I want to know you more, Lord. That's what I want, right? If the Lord is looking down at the Sunshine Coast right now, I'm sure he's just seeing wickedness after wickedness. I'm sure there are crimes. I'm sure there are great sins taking place right now. But his eyes get cast down to a little mountain. I hope he sees this building. And I hope he sees God's people. And he says, look at the hearts of my people. They're seeking me. They're seeking righteousness. They're seeking meekness. That's what I want. That's what I want God to see in our hearts. People that are truly seeking the Lord. Look at Deuteronomy chapter four, verse number twenty-seven. Deuteronomy chapter four, sorry, verse number twenty-seven, verse number twenty-seven. And this is God speaking to his nation, you know, speaking about them turning against the Lord, setting up idols and things like that, worshiping false gods. Look at verse number twenty-seven. It says, and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And then it says, and there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood, and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. So this is a judgment that will fall upon Israel that if they will turn against the Lord, they will be scattered and they will be forced to worship false gods. But I want you to notice verse number twenty-nine. He says, but if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. If thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. So how do I seek the Lord? With all your heart, with all your soul. Is it what you most desire? Is the Lord what you most desire or do you desire other things in this world? What is it that you're truly passionate for? Who are you trying to please in this earth? You know, are you trying to please your fellow man? Are you trying to maybe please your pastor? Listen, just seek to please the Lord. Love the Lord with your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength. Okay? And then he says in verse number thirty, when thou art in tribulation. So are we promised to avoid tribulation? No. When we are in tribulation, when we are in troubles, it says, and all these things that come upon thee, even in the latter days. By the way, we're in the latter days now. The latter days began with the new covenant with Jesus Christ. If thou turn to the Lord thy God and shall be obedient unto his voice. That's part of seeking the Lord, by the way. That's part of seeking the Lord with your heart and your soul is choosing to be obedient to his word. Verse number thirty-one. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which is swear unto them. So we know that's talking about the Old Testament nature of Israel, of course. But it's the same God that we worship today. Okay? You know, even when we're far from God, we don't be scattered and be few and be doing wicked things. You know what the Lord says? If you just seek me with your heart and your soul, he will deliver us from tribulation. He will be there to help us. I want to read one other passage about seeking the Lord which is Psalm 105 verse 3. You don't need to turn there. Because people have this idea of seeking the Lord, you know, like the Catholics, you know, where they beat themselves. I'm just getting closer to Jesus. I'm getting closer to his suffering. It's kind of an idea, right? Or nuns and, you know, priests that, well, you know what, I'm going to just, I'm going to marry God, is basically how they think. That's why they don't get married, right? I'm going to remain celebrate and I'm not going to get married and they think that's getting closer to God. And it's kind of like, many people have this idea, the more you seek God, the more depressed you're going to be, the more sad, right? The more cast down that you're going to be. It's like, oh man, look at that holy man, right? Suffering in that sense. No. That's why I want to read to you from Psalm 105, verse number 3, it says, Glory ye in his holy name, let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord, seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face evermore. And so I want you to notice that seeking the Lord causes you to rejoice, right? A believer that's happy, that's joyful, you know why they're happy and joyful? They're seeking the Lord. They know they're living a life that pleases the Lord. They know they're right with God. They know they've confessed their sins. They know they're picking up their Bibles and reading God's Word. They know they're preaching the Gospel. They know they're coming to church. They know that with the abilities they have that God has given them, the gifts that God has given them, blessing, they know they're right with God. They're seeking the Lord and they're rejoicing. So remember that, brethren, if you're in a sad place, you're depressed, you're cast down, life is too hard, right? Whatever, whatever it is, brethren, you fall in that because you're not really seeking the Lord. If you just sought the Lord, you sought his love, you sought his fellowship, you understand, when you remind yourself that you've been saved from hell, you remind yourself you have great blessings, great promises still in the future, you can't help but rejoice. You can't help but be happy in the Lord. So God was, here, back to Zephaniah, God's speaking to his nation, God is speaking to his people. Then we get to verse number four and now God is dealing with the surrounding nations. He says in verse number four, For Gaza shall be forsaken and Ashkelon are desolation. They shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday and Ekron shall be rooted up. So these are different regions of Gentile people that lived around the nation of Judah. And God is saying that these nations, these regions are going to be rooted up, they're going to be plucked out, they're going to be destroyed. And again, that would come by the hand of the Babylonians. Not only would God's judgment fall upon Judah, but it would fall upon the surrounding nations. And that's why I look at COVID, I look at our current states, and we might say, as God's people were being inconvenienced and things like it's affected church and all this kind of stuff, yeah, but the whole world, have you noticed? It's affecting the whole world. The whole world is suffering. You know, I last heard some of that suicide rates are on the increase, right? People aren't handling the new normal, the COVID world, all that well. But you know what? If we're seeking the Lord, we should still rejoice. We should be happy. You know what? It's just another day. It's just one day that I'm closer to home, as Brother Michael says. One day closer to home. I used to get confused. I'm at home, brother. I'm at home in heaven. Yeah, yeah. You know, being excited about being with our Lord God. Let's keep going. Verse number five. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherithites. Now, the next words are pretty scary. It says, the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will even destroy thee, that there should be no inhabitants, and the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds and fords of flocks. Keep your finger there, and please go to Leviticus chapter 26. Imagine God saying about us, the word of the Lord is against you. I will even destroy thee. Boy, that should strike fear in the hearts of man. It should. And again, we don't hear about this God very much in our churches. A God that will destroy, a God that is against people. This is a true God. Say, well, he's against the Gentiles. He's against those that are worshipping false gods. He's against those nations that he did not create a covenant with. Surely he's not against his people. Surely he's not against the nation of Judah at this point in time. Well, that's why we're going to turn to Leviticus 26, verse number 14. Leviticus 26, verse number 14. Because God said something very similar to the nation of Israel here. Leviticus 26, verse 14. He says, but if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments, and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul shall abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant. Now let's stop there for a moment. Let's think about Australia. We live in the nation of Australia. Does Australia hearken unto God? Does Australia do all these commandments of God? Does Australia despise the statutes of God? Does Australia, the souls of Australians, uphold his judgments, so that we will not do all his commandments? This is like, you know what, we read this stuff and just remember, God's still alive in 2021. God's still on the throne in 2021. God has not changed, okay? Again, we look at these things, we point our fingers to Israel, we shake our heads, Israel, Israel, how did you do it? You had the Lord God, you had the prophets, you had the Holy Spirit, you had God's kings, great men of God, you know, you had the miracles take place. How is it that you turned against the Lord, but our nation has turned against the Lord? And we have something even better. We have the whole Bible. We've had it for how many hundreds of years, at least in English. Since 1611, we've had the King James Bible perfectly translated for us. And in fact, in the first fleet, when the first fleet arrived to Australia, the first book that was read before a congregation was at the King James Bible. I mean, as Australians, we've had this Bible since the beginning of our modern nation, okay? But then what does God say in verse number 16? I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart, and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it, and I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. So notice how God can get angry even at his people, at his nation, okay? That he would turn his face against you, he would allow the enemies to slay the people, alright? And the verse number 17, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. You're so afraid all the time, fear all the time, you think everyone's against you, and you run away. But what I found interesting was verse number 18, because when we read those verses, we think, man, God's going to destroy these people. But then in verse number 18, he says, and if ye will not yet hearken for all this, sorry, I'll read it again, and if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, because sometimes God allows destruction, God allows turmoil in a nation, so we can hearken to God. So we can turn and say, God, what's going on? Wow, you really hurt us, God, okay? And he says, look, if you will not hearken even after I've done all this to you, he says, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. God says, look, this is not even that bad. It can get seven times worse if you don't hearken unto me when I judge the nation. And I look at COVID again, I think it's God's judgment. I think it's a soft judgment, actually. It's quite a soft judgment. I've got to wear a mask. Man, you're not suffering. It's not that bad, right? It's not that bad. But listen, I see God's judgment here, and if our nation, if this world does not hearken to God, if our nation does not turn and say, God, help us, okay? Let's humble ourselves before an almighty God. Let's turn to the Bible and see what God has to say. You know what? It's going to get seven times worse. That seven times worse may very well be the end times. Again, I'm not saying that it's around the corner. I don't know how far it is. But sometimes God allows us hardships, an entire nation to suffer, an entire world to suffer so we can just turn back to God and say, Lord, we're sorry. Help us to get back on track. Unfortunately, I don't see our nation changing. I don't see our world changing. All I see is, I mean, it's Pride Month, right? The LGBT, the homosexuals, the sodomites, right now it's their month apparently, okay? It's just, look, it's just getting worse. It's getting worse. We'll touch upon the homos soon, okay? Verse number seven, verse number seven, Zephaniah 2, verse number seven. And the coast shall be for a remnant of the house of Judah. So God is saying, look, when I destroy all these people that were mentioned before, the Cherithites, the Canaanites, the Philistines. He says, I'm going to give that coast for the remnant of the house of Judah. He's going to give it to his people. They shall feed thereupon in the houses of Echelon shall they lie down in the evening. So Echelon will build their houses, but God's people are going to live in those houses. They're going to eat of the fruit of the crops, the vineyards. It says, for the Lord their God shall visit them and turn away their captivity. So God here is speaking about how the nation of Judah will one day be brought back out of captivity. You know, it's a 70 year period in Babylon. But because God has also wiped out through the Babylonians all the surrounding nations, that basically the Israelites, the Jews are going to be able to come back in this time and basically they're going to have a choice of where they want to live. You know, not just Judah, but also the surrounding nations. You know, they're going to be houses that are made and they're just going to be able to move in without having to work hard and be able to continue living on the work of these wicked nations. So we can apply this in two ways, of course historically, which is the direct context here. But also we can think about the end times when we know that God will one day destroy this earth. He's going to pour out his wrath in the day of the Lord, the future day of the Lord to come. And once he's done that, once he's finished with his wrath and his judgment, then Christ is going to come. Don't forget, rule and reign for a thousand years with us. God's going to wipe out the earth and then we're going to enjoy the spoils. We're going to come and enjoy and reign with Christ and be rulers over the earth. It's a great promise to have. We're going to inherit the earth. It's going to be ours. We're all going to be allocated different nations and different countries and different regions. I don't know. I don't know exactly how God's going to do it, but we're going to be in charge. We're going to be the government. We're going to be those in authority. We're going to judge the wicked in those days. A thousand years we've got. Looking forward to it. Hope you are. But also I think that this verse how God can take from the wicked and give to his people is a blessing. I've already mentioned this a few times, but just this building, these chairs. I mean, don't forget, there was a wicked, tongue-speaking, charismatic church in this place before we moved in. And you know what? We were struggling for a building, weren't we? Sometimes we didn't know whether we were going to meet or not. And you know, there was all those issues that we had in the past for those that were here in those days. And it's like I look at other places. I look at other churches on the Sunshine Coast. I look at these charismatics. I look at these people that preach a false gospel. It's like, God, how come these guys seem to be flourishing? How come they seem to be blessed? You know, and we're struggling for a place to meet? Well, little did I know that God was allowing them to build this place up, okay? To work hard and build the house and get the chairs and make great investments because we didn't have a lot of money in those days, right? I mean, what we paid was very little in comparison to what it would have cost to have everything put together for us. And then when the time was right, God's judgment fell upon that wicked church. It was cut out of here, right, like a bad cancer. It's been cut out and God's people was allowed to come here, move in and take the spoils for ourselves. This is like a little picture, alright, of the millennium, okay? Instead of it just being this one building, we're going to have the whole earth. And again, I want Sunshine Coast. Hopefully, if I have a choice, I'll take the Sunshine Coast, alright? Fairfield. Fairfield. If that Kabab place is still there, yeah, maybe Fairfield. Let's keep going, verse number eight. I have heard the reproach of Moab and the reviolence of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their border. It's like Queenslanders, magnifying themselves against the border, alright? I don't know if I'm going to be able to cross next week. We'll see what happens, right? I'm just joking about that. But Moab and Ammon, these are the two nations resulting from Lot and his two daughters from that story. The Moabites and the Ammonites. And so what they had done, they had reproached the people of God. They had reproached the nation of God. So they were against Israel, okay? And don't forget, when you're being attacked by the world, when you're being mocked by the world, right? When people are boasting of themselves against you, remind yourself that God sees it. God is looking down, right? God sees how people treat you. Not only sometimes we seek God's protection and safety, God can do that, he will do that, okay? But don't forget, he's going to punish the wicked as well, alright? These nations are being punished because they had magnified themselves, they were boastful, they looked down upon God's people. You know, when it says that the reviolence of the children of Ammon, that's basically being abusive. Abusive toward the Jews of this day. Now, can you please turn, keep your finger there and turn to Galatians chapter 3, verse number 29. You know, as a child, I was bored in church because I went to a Baptist, you know, Baptist Union church. Preaching was alright sometimes, but many times, honestly, I was just bored, bored, okay? But I loved the Lord. I loved the hymns, the old hymns that we used to sing. I used to love reading my Bible, picking up my Bible, right? And you know, when you start, as a child, you know, every time you read the Bible, you start with Genesis, right? You start with Genesis. And I remember, just as a child, without any bias, without trying to put things in God's word, you know, without, you know, having the higher education of dispensationalism and Zionism, without any of that stuff, I would read, I would get to Genesis chapter 12 in verse number 3. And I would look at the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12, 3. And it says, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And I remember as a kid just reading that, go, man, yeah, God. So you're going to bless those that bless Abraham. You're going to curse those that bless, that curse Abraham. And I'm one of the children of Abraham. I'm of the faith. I have the same faith as Abraham. And I remember just as a child looking upon that and just resting easy and say, you know what, people that do me well, Lord, you're going to bless them, right? People that do me bad, people that curse me, people that try to pull me down and make fun of me, God, you're going to take care of them as well. You're going to curse them as well. And then when I got into church, ah, that's not for you. That's for the Jews in Israel, like in the land of Palestine right now. If we bless them, brethren, then God will bless us. If we curse them, then God will curse. So we've got to get involved in their fights. You know, when they're fighting the surrounding nations today, they'll say, you've got to get behind them, support them. That's if you want to be blessed by God. And I just remember, man, how are these things taught, right? How is it that a child can read the Bible and come with a different understanding than the higher educated, learned people supposedly, you know, of God? I've never really understood that completely. But that's why I go to turn to Galatians 3.29, which says, And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So when God promises to Abraham, because I'm in Christ, it's my promise too. Boy, you know what? We ought to bless each other. If we bless each other, God's going to bless us. If you curse one of your brethren, God's going to curse you. And good for you, right? If the world curses you, if the world does bad to you, if they do wickedly toward you, God's going to take care of it. I remember just as a child just being, man, that's awesome. I love this promise. I'm kind of like indestructible. Because God can see it and he can step in and take care of it the way he sees fit. And I can be happy. I can be satisfied with that. And then when I got into my later years, obviously those churches teaching dispensation, I tried to take that promise away from me. It's like, it's not me anymore. Thank God for Galatians chapter 3, which confirms once again, if you're in Christ, you receive the same promise that was given to Abraham. Let's go back to Zephaniah chapter 2 verse number 9. The Lord says, Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall spoil them, and the remnants of My people shall possess them. Alright, so this is not the first time God mentions the word remnant there in verse number 9. I think it's in verse number 7. Yeah, verse number 7 it says, And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah. And then we saw in verse number 9, once again, And the remnants of My people shall possess them. Okay, keep your finger there. Let's go to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Once again, just talking about this doctrine of dispensationalism. And they'll teach, well see, they'll apply this to the end times. And they'll say, see when God destroys the wicked in His wrath, right, then God's going to give the Jews all the lands. Alright, all the Jews, because apparently they're supposedly the remnants of God that's mentioned here in verses number 9 and verse number 7. It does say about the God of Israel, it does speak about the God of Judah. Okay, but in what sense is someone a remnant of God? Is it because you descend or you're part of a nation? Is that, you know, a physical nation? Is that what makes you the remnant? Okay, that's why we turn to Romans chapter 11 and verse number 5. Romans 11 verse number 5, it says, Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant, now notice what the remnant is, according to their DNA. According to their ethnicity, their nationality, as long as they can prove that they've descended from Abraham, that's the remnant. Is that what it says there? Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace. Okay, so what makes you the remnant of God? Those that are saved by grace. Okay, so yes, if you know Romans 11, Paul is definitely speaking about his people, his nation, the Jews, and yeah, you know, even amongst the Jews, there is a remnant. Okay, those that have been saved by grace. And if you're like, I'm not sure this is about salvation, look at verse number 6. And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, and if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. So look, obviously those that live in the Middle East today, Judaism, is that a religion of works? Of course. You know what, every religion is a religion of works, except biblical Christianity. So if their religion is one of works, they are not the remnants. They are not of the remnants. The remnants are those that are according to the election of grace. Look at verse number 7. What then? The next words are so important, okay? It says, Israel hath not obtained that which is seeker for. You say, what have they obtained? Salvation by grace. Let me read it again. Israel hath not obtained that which is seeker for. Then it says this, but the election have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Who are the election? Again, verse number 5. The remnant according to the election of grace. So this Bible makes it very clear, this passage makes it very clear here, that just because you're of the Jews, or just because you're nationally of Israel, it means nothing. They are blinded, the rest are blinded. They're not the remnants. The remnants are those saved by grace. So that includes, yes, Jews that are saved by grace, that includes Gentiles. That includes New Life Baptist Church that is saved by grace. We are all that remnant. We are all of that Israel of God. And so when we read these passages again, yes, we look at it historically, and we also look at it prophetically, because there are prophetic places, and then we apply this to ourselves. Say, if we're the people of God, if we've been saved by grace, Israel has not obtained that which is seeker for. Stop worshipping the Jews. Stop worshipping, I know you guys don't do it. We're going to stop worshipping a physical people, and thinking if we just blessed them and touched them somehow, that we're going to be blessed by God. No, we've been given the same promise that was given to faithful Abraham. We are that remnant. There's always going to be a few of us that are saved, because it's always a remnant. Let's go back to Zephaniah, chapter 2, verse number 10. Now remember, Moab is being compared to Sodom, so here's where we're going to go to talk about the Sodomites. You've got to be able to kick this dog every time it comes up, right? And the children of Ammon has Gomorrah, so we know these cities were destroyed because of their wicked homosexuality, the LGBT. But notice what it says in verse number 10. This shall they have for their pride. Now, it's not necessarily saying that Moab and Ammon are full of homosexuals, though they could be. That's not what it's really saying. But their wickedness is basically compared to, they're acting like Sodom and Gomorrah, and in that same sense, they're acting out of pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of hosts. Reverend, let me just tell you this. Homosexuals are not your friends. They don't love you, okay? They don't care for you. They don't love you, okay? They don't care for you. If you're a child of God, they're full of pride, and they hate the people of God. Pastor Kevin, how can you say that? You've never met them. You've never spoken to all of them. How do you know? I know because God's Word tells me. They're full of pride. They've reproached themselves against the people of God. They've magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. We are those people, okay? We are those people. And once again, you know, I'll quickly read to you from Ezekiel 1649. Again, speaking of Sodom, it says, Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. And then it says, number one, pride. Pride, okay? Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. The homosexuals, pride. And this is their pride month apparently, all right? And all the companies changing their logos to the false rainbow colors, all right, the six-colored rainbow of the LGBT, right? These wicked people are full of pride. Love is love. They're proud. They're wicked. They're vile, all right? They're so disgusting that God tells us from the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, how He would destroy these cities because of their sin. It's a wicked lifestyle. They're full of pride. They march around with their pride, don't they? They think they're so good. Oh, we're just proud of ourselves. Yeah. I know you're proud of yourselves. That's what the Bible told me already. You don't need to tell me that. I know you're full of pride, okay? Those wicked people, hey, they hate God's people. You may find yourself working with them in your workplace or having to deal with them from time to time and they might treat you well and speak of you. Listen, they're just trying to get you on their side. They hate you. They hate the people of God. They know that we stand on God's word. They know what God has to say about them. They know because they've rejected God and God has rejected them. They've become reprobate. So full of pride. And you know what's strange? God has allowed COVID to infect our world, right? And we're worried about the virus. We're put on masks, right? Washing our hands, socially distancing ourselves. But you know what? That's how we should be treating these homosexuals that are full of AIDS, that are full of diseases, okay? I mean, they're more vile, they're more filthy than COVID with their sexual sins, with their sexual diseases, their AIDS. Listen, when a homosexual walks past, then I should be put on the mask. Hey, get away from me. Social distance, please. Stay away. Isn't that how we should be treating it? If we're going to be treating COVID like this, I mean, why not? Isn't there filth and diseases much worse than what COVID is? This is the thing, right? So God sends us, let's say God sends us COVID, sends us the world COVID, so we can have a fear of God. So we can start seeing these deaths. We can see how diseases can just wipe out people. It's not the first time God's allowed something like this to happen. And he wants our hearts to turn back to God. He wants a fear of God to be instilled in the nations. And instead, what do they do? They bring out the worst vial, the dogs of this earth, to march around in their pride instead. What's God going to... I'm expecting seven times worse, brethren. I don't know when it's coming, but I'm expecting seven times worse. Zephaniah 2, verse number 12. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. So Ethiopians aren't going to get away with their sins. Verse number 13. And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness. So if you don't know, Nineveh was the capital city of ancient Assyria and the northern kingdom of Israel were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. But now it's time for the Assyrians to be judged by God and he's allowing the Babylonians to basically come and conquer Assyria as well. Verse number 14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations. Both the komorant and the bitten shall lodge in the upper lintels of it. Their voice shall sing in the windows. Desolation shall be in the threshold, for he shall uncover the seed of work. So this is all about Nineveh. And then verse number 15, it says, This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. So the rejoicing city, again, is Nineveh. It's going back to Nineveh there. And then it says, look at this, that said in her heart. This is what Nineveh says in her heart. This is what the nation thinks about itself. It says, I am. Who's the I am? Who's the great I am? The I am that I am. Well, this city is saying, I am. And there is none beside me. Whoa, hold on, those words belong to someone else. How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in? Everyone that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his hand. Alright, so let me just quickly read to you from Isaiah 44, verse number 6, which says, Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts. I am the first, and I am the last. And then he says, And beside me there is no God. Boy, what's Nineveh saying? Yeah, we are, I am. We are God, you know. We're such a great and powerful city. We are gods on this earth, is what they're claiming. There's no one else like this city of Nineveh. What saddens me about this is, I love the story of Jonah. Like, I really love that story. I love how he's a bit of a timid prophet. You know, he just wants to see God destroy the wicked. He doesn't want to go and preach God's word to the Ninevites. He doesn't want to do it. He gets swallowed by the whale. He gets his hand forced, right? He gets spat out. He preaches against the Ninevites, hoping that God will destroy them soon. But then they get right with God. Remember, God gives us time. God is merciful. He's gracious, alright? Was it 40 days? I think it was 40 days, right? Jonah preached that God would destroy them in 40 days. They appeal to God's grace. They get right with God. You know, many of them get saved, of course, alright? The king has a change in heart. That's what I want for Australia. That's what I want for Australia. Our prime minister is supposed to be a Christian. Supposed to be. But we know he's unsaved. We know he believes a false gospel. Because he's a charismatic, okay? They believe they can lose their salvation and all this kind of stuff. They don't believe in salvation by grace through faith alone. On the death, burial, resurrection of Christ alone, okay? They believe they're good works, but at least, you know, at least he has some fear of God. At least. At least something, okay? And I'm hoping whatever is in his heart, that he would look at the world and look at the earth and go, man, we've got to get right with God. You know, I want to say, man, I want him to say God's judgment is coming. I want him to pick up his vibe. I want him to listen to this sermon tonight and go, boy, God is also a God of judgment. God is also a God of wrath. I've got to get myself out of this charismatic church that's telling me God is a Santa Claus, okay? Just doing good all the time and never does anything harmful, anything evil. No, he needs to get right with God. You know what? If our king, as it were, our prime minister, had a fear of God and decided to turn back to the Lord, boy, we can change this nation. But we can't rely on them alone, can we? God has given us new life at this church and blessed up at the church down in Sydney. You know, God has put these churches together. I'm sure there are other great churches out there. And you know what? We just need to be like the people of God, seeking righteousness, seeking meekness, all right? That's all we can do. And you know what? If it's not enough for this nation to be saved, as in saved from destruction, then at least, as we saw at the beginning, God can hide us from his destruction. God can protect us. I don't know where I was going with that, to be honest. But like I said, what made me sad is just Jonah kind of fixed his city with preaching. And that's all I can hope for. I can hope for that more churches start that will preach the truth without compromise, that will not be afraid to call out the faggots, the sodomites, all right, for what they are, the filth that they are. You know what? If we just start heading down this direction, maybe we can change things. I hope so. I'm going to be hopeful, okay? Until I see fire and brimstone raining from heaven, I'll remain hopeful until then. Now, if you can go back to Zephaniah chapter 2 verse number 3, let's just end on this, chapter 3. Let me just read it again. Seek ye the Lord, this is about God's people. All ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. All right, so we want to be hid in the day of God's anger and God's wrath if he decides to judge and destroy Australia. And, you know, it's not the end times yet and, you know, we're on this earth and we're here. Well, all we can seek, all we can hope for is to be hid from his anger, okay? But again, we've got to be people that are seeking the Lord, okay? And it's said here to seek righteousness. Let me just quickly read to you from Matthew 5.5. The Bible says, Blessed are the meek. Okay, we're seeking meekness. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Then it says in verse number 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Okay, so if we're seeking righteousness, okay, the title for the sermon was to seek righteousness and meekness. If that's what we're seeking for, then we need to be hungry for righteousness. You know, just like when you get hungry and you're, you know, I'm so hungry I can eat, you know, something. I need to get to, I don't know, what's a good place to eat? I was going to say KFC because that's not, I don't know. You know, I want to go to Hogg's Breath. I'm so hungry, right? That's how we ought to be, that's the hunger we ought to have for God's righteousness. To do what is right. We know what righteousness is, right? To do what is right. But it's not just seeking righteousness, it's also to seek meekness, okay? So we ought to be righteous, but we ought to be meek in our righteousness. What do I mean by this? Well, meekness sometimes gets confused with humility, though these things are very interchangeable many times. But humility is more how you see yourself, okay? You lower yourself. You know, you don't see yourself above your measure. That would be humility. Meekness is how you see others, okay? We should esteem others better than ourselves, okay? It's how you see others, okay? So we ought to be people living a righteous life, but also being meek about that. Can you please, we'll turn to one more passage, go to Matthew 23 verse number 4. Matthew 23 and verse number 4. Obviously I deal with many Christians, not just in our churches, but also just others that I communicate with on a regular basis. And what I often see is a desire, that hunger for meek, for righteousness. I often see that. But many times, people that are living righteously, even Christians, can be filled with pride about their righteousness, okay? And because they're living holy and righteous, they'll look down at others that do not live as holy or righteous as they do, okay? Now that's obviously a bad place to be. That's not what God wants from us. Righteous are great, but meekness, alright? Meekness is understanding that others are on their journey as well. They're trying to do what is right, but they may not be living as holy as you, okay? They may not be living as righteously as you, okay? But meekness is how you view others, esteem in others, okay? We need to remember this, that we're all at different journeys in our Christian walk, okay? And you know, I don't want to be putting down other people because they're not living just like me, okay? Now one thing that I learnt about being righteous and doing what is right, okay, like I said, you can have this different attitude. It could be pride or it can be meekness. And you know, for example, even before it was cool, you know, we decided to homeschool our kids very early. Even before I was married, even before I had any kids, anything like that, I said, you know, to my wife, she wasn't my wife, she was my girlfriend, I said, you know what, when I get married, I want to make sure we homeschool our kids. That was probably the dorkiest thing I could say, okay? It wasn't cool, all right? Not at all. You didn't have supporting families and you didn't have other, I didn't even know like IFB churches, some of them support that. I had no idea, right? I just said, you know what, now this is right. I want to do what is right. And I would like tell people, you know, not really tell people, but you know, when we started having kids and we started to homeschool, so what school do your kids go to? Oh, home. They get taught at home. It's like, what's wrong with you people, right? I mean, not just friends, but family. Hey, even church members. So how are they going to socialize? How are they going to interact? You know what? I just took the attitude, you know, I'm doing what is right. And I'm going to be meek about this. I'm going to do what is right and I don't care what anyone else has to say. I don't care if it's my family. I don't care if it's my church that I go to. I know what I'm doing is right and I just have to do what is right before the Lord. And if they don't want to homeschool, so be it. It's between them and God. They're going to face the consequences, whatever they might be, by putting their kids in public education or whatever, right? And you know, that's what it ought to be. If you're doing what is right, it shouldn't matter to you what everybody else is doing. I mean, if you're so sure that I'm living righteously and godly, that's what I'm seeking after. Well, be pleased that God looks down and is happy that you are doing what is right. You know what? You don't have to make everybody else's life hell around you. Well, you're going to put your kids in public school, you know, and they're going to end up to be drunkards and fornicators and, you know, they're going to support you. Listen, that's your business. You're going to have to deal with it when those consequences, whatever they might become. You know, when you do what is right, you don't need to prove yourself to other people. You don't need to be full of pride, okay? Look at Matthew 23 verse 4. Matthew 23 verse 4. Because unfortunately, I'm seeing a lot of Christians with this attitude, the attitude of the Pharisees. In Matthew 23 verse 4, it says, So if you're a Christian, if you're saved, right, you're doing what is right, but instead of being meek about it toward others, if you become prideful, okay, the Bible tells me, you don't do, the reason you do this is to be seen of men. To speak highly of yourself. Look at me. Look how righteously I'm living. That's the way the Pharisees, okay? Meekness is how you see others. You see, there are Christians that do what is right, and I'm glad they're doing what is right, and they have personal convictions, and what have you, alright? But it's like they want to force this down the throats of others. You've got to do it the way I do it. You've got to see this the way I see it. And if you don't, you're not right with God. That's pride, Reverend. Okay, because when people are this way, it's not that they're looking at their relationship with God and saying, I'm doing what is right. Their confirmation of what they're doing is right is based on whether other people are doing what I'm doing. That ought not to be the case, okay? We do what is right, we be meek, and understand that other people may see things a bit different, and so be it, okay? They might be more righteous than you. Great, praise God. They might be less righteous than you. Praise God, okay? They're trying to serve the Lord the best they know how, with what they have, with the resources they have. You know what? We just need to make sure that we operate out of meekness. I personally have seen that if I just live righteously, and I'm meek about it, I have more influence over people to do what is right. But when you're doing righteously, and you try to force down someone's throat, they're not going to be convinced. They're not going to be convinced that what you're doing is right. And in fact, you might even turn people away from that kind of lifestyle, or to live righteously. It's all about meekness. It's all about being mindful about other people. These things should go together, alright? Now the problem with the Pharisees, they will put in great expectations on other people, but they themselves will not live it out, okay? Now, let me give you a quick example. Let me just end on this one, alright? We've had COVID. We've had these experiences here. We've had the restrictions. We've had the inconveniences, alright? And we've had the masks at, let's say, Downing City. We've had masks in church, right? And people aren't happy about it. Great. I understand. I'm not happy about it. I don't like wearing this thing on my face, okay? But hey, you know what? I believe we also obey the governments, okay? I don't believe it's a sin to wear a mask. Oh, but brother, it is a sin. It is wrong, right? We should be fighting against this, I've heard. Only to find out later that they would go to the shops and wear a mask, alright? Or they'll catch public transport and wear the mask. And when I found out, brother, what's going on? Why is it that you're putting certain expectations on me as the head of the, not head, but as the one that's leading the church? As the one that has authority in the church? But when you are taking your own risks in the shops or in the public transports, why is it that you don't do the same things that you expect from others? You know, it's strange. It's the Phariseedical approach, right? You have to live righteously and you have to have these convictions that I have, but actually I'm not even going to move it with one of my fingers. Okay? That's not meekness, okay? So, righteous, yeah, let's be righteous. Let's be meek, okay? I honestly, brethren, I truly believe the best way you can influence others is just by moving me. Doing what is right, being convinced what you're doing right before the Lord, and then being meek toward other people. And let them observe your life. Let them watch you. Let them watch your family, watch your children, right? Watch your zeal for the Lord. And I find that to be a lot more motivating, a lot more influential to other Christians to get behind you and support you and to, you know, for you to be that encouragement to others to live a more righteous and meek life. Alright, brethren, let's leave it there. Let's pray.