A Grace Like No Other

Joel 2

GOOD MORNING

BIBLES OUT, JOEL 2

LAST WEEK RECAP:

Hosea- A love like no other

Illustration of the Lords unconditional love for His people through the marriage of Hosea to his adulteress wife Gomer…

Through this union…The Lord is able to tell His people, I know you have turned away from me, but I still love you…return to Me!

Stop worshipping false Gods, to stop breaking His commands and come back to Him…

This morning…as we jump into the second minor prophet Joel…

We are going to see in a practical sense IN WHAT MANNER WE ARE TO RETURN TO HIM…

HOW WE ARE TO DO IT…

WHEN WE ARE TO DO IT…

AND THROUGH THE ANSWER TO BOTH OF THOSE QUESTIONS…WE WILL COME OUT OF THIS WORSHIPPING GOD FOR HOW INCREDIBLE GRACIOUS AND PATIENT HE IS!

Joel Background:

Written around 400 BC

Written to the kingdom of Judah

We talked last week about the northern Kingdom of Israel…

And how sinful they had been..

This week the prophecy goes to the southern Kingdom of Judah…

Who was arguably worse…

Last week we saw how Israel was getting warned that the wrath of God was coming for them as a nation…

Today as we look at Joel…they are already experiencing some of the Lords wrath for them…

There is a terrible plague running through this region of Judah at the time

This destruction by the locusts led to a great famine in the land of Judah…

Locusts plague during this time was the perfect illustration for the end times prophecy (Revelation)

Joel 1:4 “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.”

HERE IS WHAT THEY WERE ENCOUNTERING!

Locust Picture (Illustration)

Fields destroyed…Food Gone…Livelihood gone…

God is using this punishment to not only push the people of Judah to return to Him…

But also to show them how much worse it will get in the final days of the world…

This is what we see at the beginning of chapter 2…

The destruction of the evil world will not be a pretty site…

All of this in graphic detail is recorded in the last book of the bible (Revelation)

God is telling His people “if you think this locust plague is bad just wait its going to be worse…the world will be punished for its sin”

Its like when your really bad for mom when dads at work…

And she says “Wait till dad gets home” (illustration)

Joel tells us “when our father returns, all of sin will be punished”

BUT THERE IS HOPE!!!

WE CAN BE SPARED FROM THIS PUNISHMENT!!!

AND starting in verse 12, the Lord instructs us on how we can be saved from the righteous wrath of the Lord…

READ V12-14

Point 1- REPENT! (V12-14)

Yet even now… Return to me!!

So full of grace that even in the face of annihilation He is still willing to restore His people

He is just calling them to repent

Repentance= the changing of mind/sorrowful

How to Repent? (V13a)

Rend= to rip or tear

Ancient Israeli custom when they were grieved or repenting their sin to rend or tear their clothing

This was an outward showing

Here bible calls for us to have a true repentance of the heart

The breaking of your heart over sin

Does your sin distress you?

When you slip up does it grieve your heart?

Repentance is a changed mind over sin…

You need to be able to see sin as sin!!

When you break a command of the Lord, you truly repent when you know that the sin you commit is a sin against the Lord…

and that sin tears your heart because you have walked away from fellowship with the Lord…

You have turned away from the Lord…Just like the people of Judah

We need to be serious about our sin problems…

True Repentance isn't flippant

(Illustration) When our kids fight, we make them “say sorry”…There is a huge difference in saying your sorry and truly being sorry…

Our sin needs to rent our heart…Our repentance needs to be genuine

Look what the apostle Paul says about true repentance…

2 Corinthians 7:9–10 “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

GUILT ISN’T TRUE REPENTANCE

True repentance is a marker of our salvation…when we have a truly repentant heart we know we are saved

MacArthur QUOTE: “The pleasure of sin is brief while the sorrow it produces lasts; the sorrow of repentance is brief, while the joy it produces lasts.”

But worldly grief produces death…

wordly grief over sin (hopelessness, guilt, shame, depression)

THESE ALL PRODUCE DEATH!!

THINK ABOUT JUDAS (WHO BETRAYED JESUS)

After he betrayed Jesus, Judas didn’t have true repentance he had guilt, and that guilt was so deep that it led to his suicide…

God’s word calls us to true repentance!!!

KNOWING WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST GOD…CONFESSING OUR SIN TO HIM…AND TURNING BACK TO ABIDING IN HIM!!!

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

He has provided the way of escape from His wrath…

ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS REPENT AND PLACE OUR FAITH IN JESUS!!!

How is repentance possible? (v13b)

This is only possible because: GOD IS gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

SO merciful that He came down from heaven to die on the cross for our sins (GOSPEL)

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

SO NOW WE KNOW HOW TO REPENT…

BUT WHEN ARE WE TO REPENT??

Point 2- NOW! (V15-17)

TRUMPETS ARE BLOWN FOR 2 REASONS…

1- A call to arouse and alarm (v1-14)

2-A call to gather and instruct (v 15-17)

CALL THE PEOPLE TOGETHER

CALL THEM TO REPENT NOW!!!

NO MATTER WHAT AGE (ELDERS, CHILDREN,INFANTS)

NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! (BRIDE AND BRIDE GROOM)

GATHER THEM NOW!!!

THE TIME IS NOW!!!

THE LORD IS COMING!!!

1 Thessalonians 5:2–4 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.”

SO WHAT CAN WE TAKE FROM THIS????

For Non Christ followers: REPENT NOW!!!

HEAR THE GOSPEL!!! REPENT OF YOUR SINS AND PLACE YOUR FAITH IN JESUS

What is preventing you??

What if you wait to long???

For Believers: BLOW THE TRUMPET!!! GO and tell the people of the world that the Lord is full of perfect grace and to repent of their sin and put their faith in Jesus!!!

What is preventing you?? (FROM SHARING THE GOSPEL)

What if you wait to long??? (TO SHARE WITH THE UNSAVED PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE)

TIME IN PRAYER!!!