Untitled Sermon (5)

Introduction

Joel 1:1-4 “The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. 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.”

Joel 2:12-14 ““Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”

Joel 2:28-32 ““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

Have you ever had a “come to Jesus meeting?” A come to Jesus meeting is a moment where your life or attitude has to change. You have to make the change of face the consequences.

Jesus says that the disasters of the world are a moment to repent. Disasters are a sign of our mortality, and they remind us that God’s judgement is coming.

Luke 13:1-4 “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?”

Joel is faced with a similar task. He must warn Israel that God’s judgement is coming.

Joel is one of the last prophets. Scholars believe that he was prophetically active around the time of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah and Ezra).

He quotes most of the prophets who had come before him, and he assumes that his listeners have HEARD these earlier prophets of God’s judgement and SEEN God’s judgement firsthand.

Joel writes a message of God’s grace for the people, but it is prefaced with repentance for sin.

CIT: The Day of the Lord is a day of God’s reckoning for sinners and grace for His saints. The knowledge of the Day of the Lord should lead all to repentance.

Explanation

The Day of the Lord (mentioned 5 times in Joel and 18 times throughout the OT)

Joel

Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.”

Joel 3:14 “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”

Old Testament Prophets

Isaiah 2:12 “For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;”

Amos 5:18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,”

Ezekiel 30:3 “For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.”

The Day of the Lord is...

For a lack of a better term, it is a “come to Jesus meeting.”

It is less focused upon a person than a group of people.

I think of our nation, and - with the blatant immorality and woes - that the Day of the Lord is upon us.

A day of judgment that belongs to the Lord.

Small - The famine that has swept over Isreal.

Large - The Exodus, The Resurrection of Christ, Pentecost, etc.

Ultimately, the Second Return of Christ is the great day of the Lord.

While judgment comes upon those who have sinned, those who have walked righteously with the Lord will be delivered.

On the day of the Lord, God reveals his character - mighty, powerful, and holy.

The Day of the Lord, of God’s judgment, leads his people to repentance.

Often, the Day of the Lord is associated with a cataclysmic event. It often carries

Sinners and the Day of the Lord

Sinners on the day of the Lord will be broken.

The Day of the Lord is a day that God reckons men to their sins and judgment.

The best that the world has to offer is the best that the unsaved will ever see.

They will never see eternal bliss.

They will never see God’s grace.

God’s justice is against them.

Saints and the Day of the Lord

Saints will be bruised, but they will not be broken.

The worse that the world has to offer is only temporary.

Even death will give way to eternal bliss.

They can trust in God’s unfailing grace for them in times of difficulty.

God’s justice is for them.

Joel’s Teaching on Repentance

Repentance is a consistent calling of God’s people.

If you do not know God, repent and be saved.

If you do know God, repent and walk in fellowship with Him.

Biblical repentance is turning from sin to God.

It is not turning from sin by itself.

A man can only turn from sin to sin, but a man in a relationship with God can turn from sin to God.

God tells Isreal to (2:12-13):

Return to me with all your heart

Return with fasting, weeping, and mourning

Repentance is sorrow over one’s sins.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. This mourning isn’t over the death of a loved one - but over sin.

Rend your hearts and not your garments

Repentance is not a display - it is a heart change.

Repentance is a response to God’s character.

We can return to God ALWAYS, because He is (2:13-14)

Gracious and merciful

Slow to anger

Abounding in steadfast love

Relents over disaster

Invitation

Repentance and Faith bring about salvation.