JOEL’S CALL FOR REPENTANCE
#675 JOEL’S CALL FOR REPENTANCE
Scripture Joel 2:12-18, NIV
Orig. 9/7/1977
Passage: Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them. 4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle. 6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. 7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line, not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. 9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. 10 Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 11 The Lord thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
Rend Your Heart
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord’s Answer
18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land
and took pity on his people.
Introduction
Joel, like Elijah and Elisha before him, enters the scene of history and destiny with no letters of credit. They lived in the two generations just prior to him, and served in Israel while Joel’s ministry was undoubtedly to Judah. Other dates besides the 8th Century are offered for him, but only that date satisfies all of the internal evidence. He is called Jo’el, meaning “Jehovah is God,” and is identified as the “son of Pethu’el.”
He was doubtless a deeply spiritual man. His knowledge of Jerusalem and the Temple mark him as a man who knew what was going on around him and who was gravely concerned about what this was doing to the people. The contemporary enemies are identified. They are the nations of Phoenicia, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt. After establishing what is happening, and the part Israel’s sin has in this, Joel gives a spiritual object lesson using the invasion of locusts as a metaphor of what their enemies are doing.
Finally, he calls attention to the ultimate judgment the peoples of the earth must face in the will of God, and that it is now His purpose for them to be delivered through repentance to the abundant blessing which He has ever been holding out to His people.
I. The Plague of Locusts. 1:1-2:27.
There are successive plagues and droughts that bring some unparalleled devastation. Some say the vastness of locusts prove that this is apocalyptic.
· “Locust” burner of the land.
· Reported to have caused the death of 80,000 in North Africa. W.M. Thomson1, “The Land and the Book”—“took four days to pass . . . consuming every green thing in their path.”
The debilitating effect will be to all kinds and classes of people. V5, The drunkard without his drink; v8, the new bride bereft of her husband; v9, the priest denied the offerings of ministry and livelihood; v11, the farmer watching crops wither.
The prophet calls upon the people in their dark hour to repent. Vv 12-14. (The event seems to be II Chronicles 2/II Kings 8.) Under Jehoram, Edom revolted.
Next come spiritual application of literal events, 2:1-27. The “day of the Lord” is no longer imminent, it is there. 2:1 and 2:11. The “day of the Lord” is expressed in terms of the locust invasion. The people are called to repent. “Rend your heart and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God.”
The effect of change in them will have the appearance of God changing. God will work to bless rather than to bring to repentance. Then will be seen God’s ability to redeem and restore. 2:18-27.
· Material blessing—v19, I am sending you; v20, I will remove; v23, and He will cause to come down for you the rain; v25, I will restore the years; v27, I am the Lord your God.
· Spiritual blessing.
II. The Blessing and Judgment of God, 2:28-3:21.
· Sidelight from the Hebrew, 2:28-32 seen as 3:1-5.
· The Messianic Prophecy, read 2:28-32.
· Fulfillment in Acts, read 2:16f.
· Joel tells what is yet to be, 3:1-21. Judah and Jerusalem will be avenged, vv1-8; v2, in the valley of Jehosaphat, II Chronicles 20:26; v3, cast lots for my people; v8, what you did will be done to you.
· War and Judgment upon the Nations, vv9-16; we supply our best, v9; God will supply the rest, v11.
· God’s everlasting Blessing upon His people, vv8-21.
References
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1Thomson, W.M. (2019, January 30). The Land and the Book. https://archive.org/details/39020001828188-thelandandthebo
THE FIVE “R’s” OF A WINNING WITNESS
#509 THE FIVE “R’s” OF A WINNING WITNESS
Scripture Acts 1:8, NIV Orig. 6/30/1968 (12/1976)
Rewr. 1/11/1987
Passage: 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Purpose: To observe Witness Commitment Day, and to call my people to a deeper understanding of their need to express their faith in regular witness.
Keywords: Conversion Repentance Salvation Sin Witness Revival
Introduction
We are beginning to receive information from the Internal Revenue Service. We are getting tax booklets that define our responsibility. We may be getting reminders that there is additional material that we may order to assist with everything but paying our taxes. This material is a witness to us that tax-time is here again. Once a year we are affirmed as dues-paying citizens of a free republic, the greatest country of all. None of us want to be anywhere else.
When we fill out that tax form in a few weeks, the form itself will be a witness. It will witness our material well-being, or lack of it. It will also be a witness to the level of our faith. Do we take God’s Word seriously? Do we give earnest consideration to the blessings that have come to us from God? It also may witness whether we are honest persons or not.
An IRS deputy tells of an occasion which he was witness to in pursuit of his job.
“Some guy with an income less than $5,000 claimed he gave $624 to some church. It was within the 20% limit, but it looked mighty suspicious. I dropped in on the guy and asked about his return. I thought he’d become nervous like most of them do, but not this guy. He came back at me about the $624 without batting an eyelash.
“‘Have you a receipt from the church?’ I asked, figuring that would make him squirm. ‘Sure,’ he said, and he went off and brought the receipt.
“Well, he had me. One look and I knew he was on the level. I apologized for bothering him. . . . [As I was] leaving, he invited me to his church. ‘Thanks, but I belong to a church myself.’ The he said the strangest thing. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, ‘that possibility hadn’t occurred to me.’
“As I rode home, I kept wondering what he meant by that last remark. It wasn’t until a Sunday or so later, when I was in church and started to put my usual dollar in the offering plate that it came to me.” (Pulpit Helps—1/1977)
We are witnesses, you and I. We need to renegotiate the terms of our witness, and offer a more positive face to unbelieving friends and acquaintances. To that end I share “The Five ‘R’s’ of a Winning Witness.”
I. Realize—that Man in His Natural State is Separated from God.
The Old Testament concept of sin is shared by those who knew its power, and the grace of God’s forgiveness. Psalm 32:1 (David), “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Proverbs 11:3 (Solomon), “The perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.” Isaiah 59:2 (Isaiah), “Your iniquities have separated between you and God.”
These were men who had walked under the heavy burden of personal sin, but who had experienced God’s forgiveness. Realizing that through which they had been, they were bound to witness to others of the way out.
This ancient concept of sin, and separation, was not altered by the teaching of Jesus, nor by the instrumentality of the church. John 3: 19 (Jesus), “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Luke 15:17f (Jesus), Parable of prodigal son/loving Father. Romans 3:23 (Paul), “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And, risking misunderstanding here, I remind you that Jesus knew about sin from personal experience. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He knew that sin separated. That was reason enough to dread the cross.
II. The Next “R” is to Recognize that We Cannot Save Ourselves.
A story was told in “Reader’s Digest” a while back entitled “The Trail.” It was the story of a man who went back to a wilderness trail that he had traveled with his wife. He was in a state of agitation because of her death. She had been killed in a needless accident. While on the trail, there came a sudden worsening of the weather, and he suddenly became resigned to his own death on the trail, rather than to struggle to safety and survival. Suddenly, as his strength was ebbing, he heard a cry for help. Managing the strength to reach the victim, he found a boy injured in a snowmobile accident. He cared for the boy through the night, and with daylight, managed to get the boy to safety. Visiting the boy in the hospital he heard him say, “‘Thank you for saving my life.’ I did not say so to him, but it was he who saved my life.”
How often has the word of a friend turned us from despair to destiny? Why should it seem so unbelievable that God chooses to arrange our salvation through another? John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.” Ephesians 2:5, “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ.”
III. Next Comes Repentance. I John 1:9, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin.” Luke 13:3, “Except ye repent, ye shall all . . . perish.”
We must not overlook any important aspect of repentance. One can easily claim to be a Christian: Brought up in home/church; taught the language; participate in the extraneous. With glibness we measure ourselves by our functions rather than scripture. We may even know 4 Spiritual Laws. Can we point to an experience of “repentance” with life-changing emphasis?
Nothing brings sin home to us like repenting of it. It’s like living in a house with dirty windows, refusing to go outside because it looks so dismal. Finally, being forced out, we discover that the bleakness is over us, not the world.
IV. Hence Comes the Two-Fold Stage of Request and Receive.
No because of what we are, but because of what God is that they can’t be separated. To come to His altar, to seek His grace, . . . is to receive His bestowal. Romans 10:13, “For whoso shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them God gives the power to become His children.”
We must be reminded where that altar is: Not the place where we stand, [but rather] a place for which we are reaching. Just as marriages are not sanctified by a place, but by a vision for which we are reaching, by two who together are seeking the will of God in communion with each other.
May it be stated as simply as ever it can be, “to seek . . . is to receive.” The burden that is upon the preacher is that of proclaiming unadulterated truth with simplicity. The story is told of Andrew R. McCheyne: Talking with a fellow preacher he asked what he had preached the Sunday before. “That the wicked shall be turned into hell.” McCheyne replied, “Were you able to preach it with tenderness?”
V. Finally, is the Certification that the Believer Rejoices in His Salvation.
To hear gladly is to believe gladly. Mark 12:37, those who heard Jesus “heard him gladly.” Likewise, those who believe in Jesus, “believe in Him gladly.”
The very word “gospel” is from a Greek word meaning “good news.”
Christmas brought and brings a proliferation of the word joy, in a form that rolls out as “jolly.” Anyone can be jolly: the clown beneath his external hilarity .. . , even Santa Claus, behind grandfatherly beard, and pink cheeks—may be grieving to death or loneliness. But Christian joy is something else—not a mask (Mardi Gras) or cloak (expensive furs); it is an inner presence that no misfortune can conceal.
Conclusion
A message preached years ago carried a story of an event of early WWII vintage. Protectionism was running scared, especially on the West Coast. Threats were seen everywhere. A bottle washed ashore. Inside, a message, but sun and salt had bleached the words. Suspicion developed immediately. FBI, and Secret Service were called in. Every skill applied. Finally, “two quarts of milk, no cream.”
What is the real message, told by our inner lives, though we try to conceal it from the world? What kind of witness do you want to be?
McCheyne: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/he-died-early-in-the-smile-of-god