Today, we continue with the book of Zephaniah. If you have taken the time to read the 3 chapters in this book, you immediately see that it is what is called “negative preaching”. This means it is the kind of preaching that sinful people don’t want to hear because it is mostly doom and gloom, turn or burn, preaching.
Notice what Zephaniah 1:714 says: “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire. On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud. “On that day,” declares the LORD, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills. Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them. The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.”
Everybody, that is a good example of negative preaching. If your preacher preached a lesson to you like this, would you take heed to his lesson, and turn away from the things that pull you away from God?