## The Path to Spiritual Ruin

## Zephaniah 3:1-7

One thing that I've found in traveling is that if you aren't careful you can get turned around and headed in the wrong direction. Another thing is that once you are on the wrong road, it may be a while before you realize it. But usually there will be a sign or some other indication to show you that you are headed wrong. A person can avoid taking a wrong turn and wasting time and money if he will study his map well and keep a watchful eye upon the road. In our spiritual life we also sometimes get side-tracked. If we aren't careful we can take a wrong turn in our life and waste precious time or even worse. To avoid that from happening, God has provided the Bible for our map and the Holy Spirit as our guide. And yet with all of that, still many Christians get side-tracked in the world. However, there are some sign posts along the way.

READ: Zephaniah 3:1-7.

These verses were written to the backslidden nation of Judah, but they offer some valuable information for us today. Look around and we can see the same warnings, the same signposts, to let us know that we need to make a change. When we find ourselves headed in the wrong direction, there is only one intelligent thing to do: turn around! The Bible calls that repentance; or changing our direction. Notice four sign posts in verse two.

I. Disobedience "she obeyed not the voice"

A. The voice is God's

1. God sent many prophets to deliver His message of warning.

2. But still they refused to obey.

3. In fact, they tried to silence the message by killing the prophets.

B. God speaks to us today.

1. His message is found in the Word of God - the Bible.

2. Nowhere in the world is the opportunity greater to hear God's voice than in America.

3. We can listen by radio or television just about any time of the day or night.

4. America has more Gospel-preaching churches than any other country.

5. And yet many Christians choose to disobey His voice.

a. Preachers preach the Word, but they do not listen.

b. The Scriptures are read, but they will not learn.

c. The Holy Spirit pleads, but they refuse to follow.

C. The first signpost on the path of spiritual ruin is disobedience of God's Word.

II. Disregard "she received not correction"

A. God's judgments were ignored.

1. God sent calamities, pestilences, and droughts upon them.

2. But they refused to repent.

Jer 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

B. God's chastening is out of love.

1. He knows what will happen if we continue down the wrong path.

2. He sends chastisement to get us to return.

3. But all too often Christians begin to complain and resent God's loving chastisement.

C. Rather than humbling themselves they begin to harden their hearts against Him,

D. Another signpost that we find along the path to spiritual ruin is disregard for God's correction,

III. Disbelief - "She trusted not in the Lord"

A. Judah put her trust in the might of the Assyrians.

1. When an attack from Syria and Ephraim was imminent God sent her this message:

2. "Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass." Is. 7:7

3. But she refused to trust in God and entered into an agreement with Assyria which resulted in her downfall.

B. Often it seems that Christians would rather lean on the arm of the flesh than on the arm of the Lord.

1. Why would we do this?

2. Because of unbelief - lack of faith.

3. Our tendency is to trust in ourselves rather than God.

Ps 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

4. We know that is true, but we continue to depend upon ourselves or others rather than God.

C. Our unbelief - failure to trust God - becomes a source of frustration for us… [5]

1. Men, in their unbelief, need something they can see and touch.

2. This is one reason God so hates idolatry - it feeds man's unbelief,

3. Man says, "Seeing is believing" while God says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Heb. 11:1 4. Consequently, Christians on the wrong track are trusting in things and wondering why they are not experiencing the blessings of God.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

D. Disbelief and lack of faith indicate that we are on the path to spiritual ruin.

IV. Distance - "she drew not near her God.'

A. God longed for Israel to repent.

1. But instead of growing closer to God, they were getting farther away.

2. James 4:8a, "Draw nigh unto God and, He will draw nigh unto you."

3. God had sent His Word - but she had refused to obey.

4. He sent correction, but she only hardened.

5. He invited her to trust Him, but she chose to place her trust in man.

6. He desired for her to return, but she drifted farther and farther away.

B. The longer we travel down the wrong path, the farther we get from God.

1. The farther we go - the harder it is to retrace our steps.

Ge 45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.

2. Many Christians waste their entire lives traveling the wrong path.

C. Distance from God is another signpost along the way to indicate that we have taken a wrong turn and are headed for spiritual ruin.

Perhaps you are here this morning, and you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord. If that is the case, may I invite you to come and allow us to show you from God's Word how you can be born again? Trust in the Lord today! He will save you, and He will give you purpose and meaning for your life. Believer, perhaps we need to do some checking this morning. Are there any of these signposts in our lives? Disobedience… Disregard… Disbelief…or Distance? If so, will you come home to the Lord today?