Seeking God- God’s search for man.

In Zephaniah 1:4-6 God complains about three classes of people.

1 “Them that are turned back from the Lord,” e.g., such as those who:

a. Draw back from God.

Hebrews 10:38:  But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

b. Turn away from God.

Hebrews 12:25: See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

c. Fall away from God.

Hebrews 6:6:  if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

II. “Those who that have not sought the Lord, e.g., such as those who:

a. Do not even miss him.

Jeremiah 2:1-8  

1 The word of the LORD came to me.

2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.

3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the LORD.

4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel.

5 This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

6  They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

b. Have forgotten him.

Jeremiah 2:32  

Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

c. Have other interests.

Jeremiah 2:13  

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

III. Those who have not enquired for him, e.g., such as those who:

a Became weary of God.

Isaiah 43:22: “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob; you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.

b. Are glad to be away from God.

Jeremiah 2:31:  “You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?

c. Do not say “where is the Lord”,

Jeremiah 2:6:  They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’