Joel 1:2-4

-What is the worst alarm or wake up call you have ever received? I can remember when I was eight camping with some friends out by Mccall Creek near Brookhaven. Waking up after a cooler of creek water was poured on me, we get all different types of calls or alarms

-In the hospital there is a certain call, a code that is announced and it is called code blue, when they sound that alarm you have a team that is alerted, and they respond quickly, they respond to call as quick as they can

-the prophet Joel brings a call, an alert to the people of Judah, it is a wake up call if you will - the call is one to acknowledge how they have sinned against God and to repent

-Why did Joel have to make this alarm and call?

-because of the seriousness of sin

-the need to repent

-we cannot allow sin to remain

-But I want you to think for just a moment about the call, the Lord gave this word to Joel to sound the alarm, to call the people of Judah to repentance

-In fact without God’s call Judah would be doomed, without God’s call we would be doomed

-It shows us the grace and mercy of God, that God does not allow us to stay in our sin

Proverbs 3:11–12 ESV

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Evangelical repentance is not at the beck and call of the creature. It is the gift of God.

Arthur Walkington Pink

-So let us see the beginning of this call, what is the first thing Joel calls the people of Judah to do?

A Call to Listen

-Joel starts the call with a double command:

-Hear = listen

-give ear = heed

-We have this conversation every day in our household with out children, how they are to listen to their father and mother, the truth is that know and have heard instruction. We have vocalized expectations, we have made sure they are alert to hear what we expect of them. But heeding what they have heard is essential, they may have heard the instruction but have not heeded the instruction, have they obeyed?

-Joel is clear that they must not only hear this audible message, but because it is the word of the Lord they must heed it, they must respond to it, they must take it seriously

-You know I can think of scenario of a teacher apprentice who enters a room that is chaotic, the kids are throwing paper, sitting on desks, yelling across the room, just utter chaos, the teacher apprentice says settle down class, take your seats, they may not heed that word, but imagine the principal walks in the room (lets say with the paddle in his hand) and he says settle down, sit in your seats, imagine the difference

-it matters that we know this is the Word of the Lord, and because it is it is to be heard and obeyed

-We find the command to hear, listen, to heed several times throughout scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Deuteronomy 32:1 ESV

1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Hosea 5:1 ESV

1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.

Matthew 11:15 ESV

15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

-this is not just a command to listen to some casual news, but it is a command to take heed to the severity of the message

-notice who Joel addressed:

-elders

-elderly, older in age

-mature

-who was Joel addressing? Some say he was addressing those older in age since he mentioned telling it to children, the thought is that only the elderly would know whether or not such a terrible locust plague had ever happened before, and also he only instructed them to teach the younger generation, not necessarily to lead the people

-others suggest that it is the leadership that Joel addressed since it should start with the leadership, we do find that Joel addressed the priests in Joel 1:13

Joel 1:13 ESV

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

-either way, there is a group who is responsible

-all inhabitants of the land, to cover all the bases everyone needed to listen, everyone needed to be alert to the message of God given to Joel, and not only did they need to listen they needed to heed the message that God has delivered

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent’ he called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

Martin Luther

-from the leadership down to every single individual

A Call to Understand the Severity of Sin

-Joel brought up the issue with a rhetorical question

-We find that Isaiah and Jeremiah often did the same thing

Jeremiah 18:14-15 - Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? But my people have forgotten me;

-rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered

-you have experienced it before, rhetorical question is asked and someone tries to answer it, but a rhetorical question is not to be answered because the answer is already known, it is stating the obvious but also getting the listener to think about the obvious

-Joel was calling them to wake up and see the issue of their sin

-it was obvious that sin had brought God’s judgment

If we are chastened, we whine at God’s severity. If we are not chastened, we descend into debauchery until the very foundations of society are threatened.

D. A. Carson

-I believe it was alarming to Joel to have to address the severity of sin hints why the rhetorical question, the stating of the obvious, the elders and all the inhabitants should have known the severity of their condition, all they need to do was to look around, all they needed to do was to look back on how God had already judged them in the past

-the sin is severe not because of comparing our behavior and actions with others, but when we compare to the holiness of God

Jeremiah addressed this attitude of living in sin and yet thinking everything is ok

Jeremiah 7:4 ESV

4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

-My friend is no different in our day, there is still this idea that I can live however I want, that I can just sweep my sin under the rug, and act like everything is fine, put a smile on my face and keep living life

-This is why Joel asked the rhetorical question, they must know the severity of sin, the must know it is not ok to sin against the holy and just God, and he requires repentance

Sin may be the occasion of great sorrow, when there is no sorrow for sin.

John Owen

A Call to Teach the Next Generation

-Joel stressed the importance of teaching the next generation the severity of God’s judgment of sin

-This is not the first time it has been mentioned to teach the next generation:

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Joshua 4:6–7 ESV

6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Whether we teach young Christians truth or not, the devil will be sure to teach them error. Come Ye Children, Page 9

Charles Spurgeon

-Why was this something that Joel stressed? Why is it important to teach the next generation?

-They must know the holiness of God, if we fail to teach the next generation of God’s holiness then they will take seriously their sin, and we are living in dangerous times ourselves, there are many gatherings today that will only speak of the love of God, they would not dare speak of God’s judgement, they would not even mention the sin that stands in total disgrace towards God, our children must know that God is holy, He is set apart, He is God and is to be respected, He is to be revered, because when we see God as holy then we see the seriousness of our sin

-2nd reason - is so they can learn from past mistakes, that is our responsibility (something that has come to light to me is how I have handled money as an adult, so Kendra and I have talked about training our children to not make the mistakes that I have, to learn from my mistakes to teach them), we are to teach our children that sin is serious, we are to share with them how we have repented and what God has done to redeem us from our sin - this prepares them to be ready to receive the salvation that is in Christ

-Joel sounded the alarm, God has called them to recognize their sin

-God is sounding the alarm for us today - wake up, don’t think it is ok to live in sin, see sin for what it is a deadly disease and our only hope of cleansing is to turn to Christ, our only healing is in the blood of the Lamb, repent turn to Christ and live