Punish the men that are settled on their lees. Zephaniah 1


We have it here —
I. DIVINELY PORTRAYED. It is marked by two elements.
1. Carnality. "The men that are settled on their lees." The image is taken from the crust that is formed on the bottom of wines that have been long left undisturbed. It is marked by —
2. Atheism. "They say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil." This atheism is —(1) Not a theoretical denial of the existence of God. "They say in their heart, The Lord will not do good." They assume His existence, they have no intellectual conviction for or against. The most popular and pernicious atheism is that which theoretically admits the being of God. It is a stupid, stolid, thoughtless state of mind, and you cannot argue with it. This atheism is —(2) A heart misrepresentation of God. "They say in their heart, The Lord will not do good," etc. They have a God; but He is inactive, dormant, and concerns Himself with neither good nor evil. He is a mere fiction of their depraved heart. We have religious indifferentism here —
II. DIVINELY DETECTED. "I will search Jerusalem with candles," or lamps. The language, of course, is highly figurative. Omniscience does not require lamps to light Him, or to employ any effort to discover. He sees all things. "There is not a word on my tongue but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." The language means, God's complete knowledge of this religious indifferentism wherever it exists. He sees it. —
1. He sees it though it may not reveal itself in any palpable forms to men. Though it may conform to all the rules of social morality and popular religion, He sees it.
2. He sees it though it may be robed in the forms of religious devotion. It may attend churches, join in liturgies, sing psalms, — yet He sees it.
III. DIVINELY PUNISHED. I Will "punish the men that are settled on their lees." "Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out" (Amos 9:3). The religiously indifferent must be punished sooner or later. How? By burning moral convictions. Convictions —
1. As to the absurdity of their conduct. They will one day have the miserable god of their own hearts and the God of the universe brought into contact within them.
2. As to the wickedness of their conduct.
3. As to the ruinousness of their conduct. "Because I called and ye refused, I stretched out My hand and ye would not; therefore I will laugh when your fear cometh, and mock at your day of calamity."
(Homilist.)

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