WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:07.000 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 00:00:07.000 –> 00:00:13.620 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, 00:00:13.620 –> 00:00:19.440 OpenTheBible.org Let’s get to the message. Here is Pastor Colin. 00:00:19.440 –> 00:00:23.980 Well now, please open your Bible at Joel and Chapter 2, as we move forward in this 00:00:24.000 –> 00:00:32.619 marvelous book, Joel 2 and verse 25, where God says I will restore to you the 00:00:32.619 –> 00:00:43.980 years that the swarming locust has eaten. And today we’re going to gaze into the 00:00:43.980 –> 00:00:50.599 mystery of an amazing promise. And I describe it as a mystery because 00:00:51.160 –> 00:00:58.020 restoring years is obviously impossible, cannot be done. You lose money, there are 00:00:58.020 –> 00:01:03.180 different ways in which money can be restored, property can be restored, you 00:01:03.180 –> 00:01:07.099 can restore an old car, you can restore a painting, you can restore an old house, 00:01:07.099 –> 00:01:11.860 relationships can be restored, forgiveness, reconciliation, wonderful. 00:01:11.860 –> 00:01:20.220 But one thing that cannot ever be restored is time. Time flies and it does 00:01:20.239 –> 00:01:26.599 not return. Years pass and whatever stage of life you’re at, you never get these 00:01:26.599 –> 00:01:33.360 years back. And so here we find, as I say, we’re staring into a mystery, 00:01:33.360 –> 00:01:43.739 because God is promising the impossible. I will restore to you the years that the 00:01:43.739 –> 00:01:51.139 locusts have eaten . Now the immediate meaning of this wonderful promise is 00:01:51.139 –> 00:01:55.680 very clear. We saw last time that God’s people had suffered the complete 00:01:55.680 –> 00:02:00.180 destruction of their entire harvest. It had come through this 00:02:00.180 –> 00:02:06.059 invasion of locusts. Great armies, swarms of locusts, that had kind of marched 00:02:06.059 –> 00:02:11.059 their way through the crops row by row, field by field and had destroyed the 00:02:11.100 –> 00:02:16.860 entire harvest of the country. Not in one year, but we saw most likely in four 00:02:16.860 –> 00:02:21.740 consecutive years. And as these armies of insects are moving 00:02:21.740 –> 00:02:27.059 forward, they’re simply multiplying themselves week after week as they move. 00:02:27.059 –> 00:02:32.779 And with four years of devastated harvests the people of the promised 00:02:32.779 –> 00:02:38.839 land, God’s people, were brought to their knees in more ways than one. And we read 00:02:39.520 –> 00:02:44.039 in chapter 2 and verse 18 that the Lord became jealous for His land and He had 00:02:44.039 –> 00:02:49.759 pity, compassion, mercy on His people and God said, 00:02:49.759 –> 00:02:54.779 Behold, I am sending you grain. What they hadn’t had for four years, and wine and 00:02:54.779 –> 00:03:03.080 oil, and you will be satisfied. And from verse 19 onwards you see that the good 00:03:03.080 –> 00:03:06.960 that God is going to do to His people continues line after line in this 00:03:07.500 –> 00:03:10.759 promise. Verse 20, the enemy who’s come from the 00:03:10.759 –> 00:03:15.940 North, an enemy that has taken advantage of the weakness of God’s people and has 00:03:15.940 –> 00:03:20.539 encroached across the borders, that enemy is going to be pushed back, going to be 00:03:20.539 –> 00:03:25.600 removed. Verse 22, the animals that were groaning, we saw that last week, without 00:03:25.600 –> 00:03:31.080 adequate sustenance, they no longer have the grief that they have experienced 00:03:31.080 –> 00:03:35.699 because the pastures of the wilderness have now become 00:03:36.020 –> 00:03:41.000 green. And in verse 23, you see the children of Zion they also can be glad 00:03:41.000 –> 00:03:46.360 There’s joy for these children because the rain has returned and now it is 00:03:46.360 –> 00:03:52.259 nourishing what for years has been very very parched and dry ground. And all of 00:03:52.259 –> 00:03:57.080 this, line after line of God’s wonderful promise, leads up to its climax in verse 00:03:57.080 –> 00:04:02.960 25, that’s our focus today, for God says, I will restore to you the years 00:04:03.160 –> 00:04:10.759 that the locust has eaten. And what this meant for these people of course was 00:04:10.759 –> 00:04:16.799 that God would give back harvests that had been destroyed the coming years. God 00:04:16.799 –> 00:04:20.959 says he was going to give an abundance that would really make up everything 00:04:20.959 –> 00:04:25.279 that had been lost. Verse 24, the threshing floor is going to be full of 00:04:25.279 –> 00:04:32.420 grain, the vats are going to overflow with wine and with oil. And verse 26 you 00:04:32.480 –> 00:04:38.859 shall eat not just adequately, but you shall eat in plenty, God says, and you 00:04:38.859 –> 00:04:45.119 shall be satisfied. So this is a wonderful promise and as it’s 00:04:45.119 –> 00:04:52.700 specifically applied to these people, it means years of abundant harvests that 00:04:52.700 –> 00:05:00.760 will follow these four years of utter desolation because of the locust, I will 00:05:00.859 –> 00:05:04.600 restore to you the years that the locusts 00:05:04.600 –> 00:05:15.320 have eaten. But God has put this promise in the Bible for us. Everything that has 00:05:15.320 –> 00:05:20.500 been preserved in the Bible is not simply for people to whom it was first 00:05:20.500 –> 00:05:28.820 spoken long ago, but if it’s in the Bible, God has put it in the Bible for us. So 00:05:28.859 –> 00:05:33.940 the question that we have to ask as we come to this great promise is, what do 00:05:33.940 –> 00:05:44.019 locust years look like for us? And how can God restore years that the locusts 00:05:44.019 –> 00:05:56.160 have eaten for us? Let me suggest to you that locust years, wasted years, lost 00:05:56.179 –> 00:06:05.519 years, years that you can’t get back, and that causes you grief. They come in many 00:06:05.519 –> 00:06:11.679 varieties. Let me suggest some to you so that we tune our mind in to how 00:06:11.679 –> 00:06:18.000 wonderful this promise really is. The years that the locusts have eaten are 00:06:18.000 –> 00:06:22.859 certainly fruitless years. That would be a good place to begin. Think of these 00:06:22.859 –> 00:06:28.019 folks. A lot of hard work went into cultivating the fields in the years 00:06:28.019 –> 00:06:32.200 that the locusts had eaten. The farmers had planted seed. They have 00:06:32.200 –> 00:06:38.579 cultivated crops. They had raised up what looked like it would be a great harvest. 00:06:38.579 –> 00:06:43.019 Green shoots coming out of the ground. They labour. They work day after day and 00:06:43.019 –> 00:06:46.820 week after week and then as we’re coming towards the harvest what happens? The 00:06:46.859 –> 00:06:52.920 locusts arrive and they clean out the lot. And that leaves the farmer then 00:06:52.920 –> 00:06:59.760 saying now all this work I’ve done, I’ve been working at this all season. Day 00:06:59.760 –> 00:07:04.299 after day back breaking work I’ve put in and what did I get out of it? Absolutely 00:07:04.299 –> 00:07:10.179 nothing. The locusts have taken the lot. And some of you know what that is like 00:07:10.399 –> 00:07:23.140 in business. A failed venture. A bad investment. A misguided policy. And all of 00:07:23.140 –> 00:07:27.700 the effort that you’ve been putting in day by day and week by week and month by 00:07:27.700 –> 00:07:31.799 month and perhaps year by year and you thought that it was going to lead to 00:07:31.799 –> 00:07:36.079 something very, very marvellous. And what it’s led to has been massive 00:07:36.079 –> 00:07:39.519 disappointment. And you say now the years that the locusts have eaten. What 00:07:39.519 –> 00:07:46.359 has come of all my effort? And after all that work how did I end up with only 00:07:46.359 –> 00:07:56.660 this? Been there? Secondly, locust years can be painful years. Sorrowful years. 00:07:56.660 –> 00:08:04.880 Years of suffering. I’m thinking of folks who have lost a loved one and you had 00:08:04.880 –> 00:08:08.959 plans for the future. You had it mapped out in your mind as to what these next 00:08:08.959 –> 00:08:13.059 years were going to be like. You hoped that these years would be full but now 00:08:13.059 –> 00:08:18.119 your whole life has changed and you find yourself feeling that they may be very 00:08:18.119 –> 00:08:25.000 empty. I’m thinking of folks as I prayed around the congregation just in the 00:08:25.000 –> 00:08:30.880 process of preparing and a whole range of different life situations come so 00:08:30.880 –> 00:08:36.799 quickly to mind. People who experience great illness. A 00:08:36.960 –> 00:08:43.700 severe condition that comes to the body or perhaps to the mind and you had 00:08:43.700 –> 00:08:46.559 always thought in terms of what you would like to do and what you would be 00:08:46.559 –> 00:08:51.780 able to do and so forth, but then with this condition it has made your years 00:08:51.780 –> 00:08:57.700 different from what when you were young you had hoped or expected. It can happen 00:08:57.700 –> 00:09:06.760 early in life. You move into high school. You move into college and perhaps the 00:09:06.760 –> 00:09:11.539 thing you’re excited about is you’re going to be on a team in some sport and 00:09:11.539 –> 00:09:17.059 then you have an injury and it keeps you out for the entire season and you find 00:09:17.059 –> 00:09:21.919 yourself saying, well I will never have my junior year or whatever it is ever 00:09:21.919 –> 00:09:29.039 again. It’s gone. I just lost it. The year that the locust has eaten is gone and 00:09:29.039 –> 00:09:34.619 you have to find a way of living with that. It’s a massive disappointment 00:09:34.799 –> 00:09:42.559 because you had so much that was stored up in your own mind and hoped for in 00:09:42.559 –> 00:09:50.320 that regard. Locust years can be selfish years. These are very different varieties 00:09:50.320 –> 00:09:56.760 but the locust come in different forms. Here’s a story that’s been repeated 00:09:56.760 –> 00:10:03.299 thousands of times. Picture a person. This is a composite picture, I’m just 00:10:03.299 –> 00:10:08.239 going to take the name Jim. Jim has made a commitment to Christ but it’s 00:10:08.239 –> 00:10:13.820 never really run that deep. He has a faith in Jesus but his faith of Jesus is 00:10:13.820 –> 00:10:19.099 a kind of slice of the big pie of his life. It’s a busy life and it’s full of 00:10:19.099 –> 00:10:26.059 all the stuff that Jim wants to pursue. Then one day God gets hold of Jim and 00:10:26.900 –> 00:10:34.520 Jim is spiritually awakened and he looks at his life over these past years and he 00:10:34.520 –> 00:10:40.820 says this whole thing has been about me. And now that he’s awakened he begins to 00:10:40.820 –> 00:10:44.159 see other people in the church and what they’re doing and how they’re serving 00:10:44.159 –> 00:10:47.739 and how they’re sacrificing for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and he says 00:10:47.739 –> 00:10:53.479 what in the world have I been doing? I’ve been calling myself a Christian but 00:10:53.520 –> 00:10:57.320 there’s been no depth, there’s been no reality, there’s been no substance to 00:10:57.320 –> 00:11:07.719 this in my life. How could I have been so shallow for so long? What has come of 00:11:07.719 –> 00:11:14.760 all these years then that the locusts have eaten? He comes to a new place in his 00:11:14.760 –> 00:11:19.559 life he says I really want to count for Jesus Christ, I want to live as a person 00:11:19.559 –> 00:11:22.859 who is filled with the Holy Spirit, I want to be someone who’s now going to 00:11:22.940 –> 00:11:26.739 make a difference in the world, but the locusts have eaten half the years of my 00:11:26.739 –> 00:11:35.799 life? Locust years can be fourthly loveless years. A division comes to a 00:11:35.799 –> 00:11:44.380 family, there’s an alienation from a loved one. Years are lost, children grow 00:11:44.479 –> 00:11:53.479 up and what might have been cannot now be. And some of you know what it is to 00:11:53.479 –> 00:12:01.780 endure a marriage in which love has been burning low for many many years. You see 00:12:01.780 –> 00:12:10.859 a couple who really in love and you say, oh how I would love to have that. Or you 00:12:10.859 –> 00:12:16.799 have not met the person that in your heart you had hoped you would meet and 00:12:16.799 –> 00:12:25.320 your own sense is that years are going by and life is moving on. And that weighs 00:12:25.320 –> 00:12:31.460 in on you. Locust years can be rebellious years. 00:12:31.460 –> 00:12:38.940 Perhaps you have been like the prodigal son, the prodigal daughter. You grew up 00:12:39.020 –> 00:12:44.599 with many blessings. But in your heart you found, as you grew, there was an 00:12:44.599 –> 00:12:48.900 instinct to rebel. You didn’t really fully understand this instinct to rebel, 00:12:48.900 –> 00:12:55.820 but you gave yourself to it. And what you found as you threw yourself in 00:12:55.820 –> 00:13:00.500 increasingly to a life that was the opposite of what you knew was right you 00:13:00.500 –> 00:13:03.820 thought that it would bring you pleasure but increasingly as you got further down 00:13:03.900 –> 00:13:09.979 that road you found that it was bringing you pain and now you look back on years 00:13:09.979 –> 00:13:13.840 that you have spent and you look back on them with regret and they are in 00:13:13.840 –> 00:13:24.099 your mind years that the locust has eaten. For others among us followed a 00:13:24.099 –> 00:13:31.239 godly path but life just hasn’t worked out as we hoped and we regret some of 00:13:31.340 –> 00:13:34.460 our decisions, they weren’t sinful decisions they were just choices about 00:13:34.460 –> 00:13:41.200 what to pursue and so forth. Locust years can be simply misdirected years you 00:13:41.200 –> 00:13:45.760 know the path you chose the career you ended up with after you chose a 00:13:45.760 –> 00:13:50.500 particular path perhaps it was in in college or whatever and what you found 00:13:50.500 –> 00:13:55.280 was that it took you into what increasingly you felt was a dead-end, 00:13:55.280 –> 00:14:00.679 you made a move, you’ve then found yourself in a place where you just 00:14:00.700 –> 00:14:07.219 didn’t fit. You look at your life and you say now how did I end up here and if 00:14:07.219 –> 00:14:11.580 only I had made a different choice I could have been on a different path but 00:14:11.580 –> 00:14:16.820 I’m to far down the line now and options seem to be so much less and you find 00:14:16.820 –> 00:14:23.900 yourself more and more saying oh if only if only if only only had taken that 00:14:23.900 –> 00:14:29.640 opportunity if only I’d not made that move or had made that move. But the 00:14:29.679 –> 00:14:36.580 moment has passed it’s gone and you can’t go back to it and you’re left 00:14:36.580 –> 00:14:46.820 with a profound sense of having many locust years. Christless years are locust 00:14:46.820 –> 00:14:53.880 years. All Christless years are locust years. This is we’re thinking about for 00:14:53.880 –> 00:14:58.479 anyone who has not yet made a wholehearted commitment to Jesus Christ 00:14:58.479 –> 00:15:07.599 if you ask anyone I guarantee you this ask anyone who became a Christian later 00:15:07.599 –> 00:15:13.580 in life they will tell you that they wished they had become a Christian 00:15:13.580 –> 00:15:20.140 sooner. I guarantee it. I have never met a person who wished that they became a 00:15:20.140 –> 00:15:25.799 Christian later. It just doesn’t happen. How much foolishness I would have 00:15:25.840 –> 00:15:29.700 avoided if I’d come to Christ earlier? How much more good might have been done if 00:15:29.700 –> 00:15:39.260 that had happened? There are many many ways in which we come to a place of 00:15:39.260 –> 00:15:44.900 feeling that years have been lost, that years are passing, that life is moving 00:15:44.900 –> 00:15:52.619 on, that opportunities have been missed and we can’t get them back. And when you 00:15:52.619 –> 00:15:57.239 tune yourself into the fact that these things in different ways are the 00:15:57.239 –> 00:16:02.039 realities of life for different people all across our congregation you realize 00:16:02.039 –> 00:16:11.260 how amazing this promise is that God should say, I will restore the years that 00:16:11.260 –> 00:16:23.039 the locust has eaten. I want to gaze into the amazing mystery of that promise. Now 00:16:23.039 –> 00:16:29.119 two questions very simply here’s the first. To whom is this promise given? Who 00:16:29.119 –> 00:16:34.900 is it for? It is given to particular people whoever they are I want to be 00:16:34.900 –> 00:16:40.080 among them because this is a great promise and the second question is how 00:16:40.159 –> 00:16:46.619 can this promise possibly be fulfilled? Can’t have time again so in what way can 00:16:46.619 –> 00:16:54.179 God restore years that the locusts have eaten? Now the question to whom is this 00:16:54.179 –> 00:17:01.500 promise given is answered back in verse 19 and before. Notice the verse 19 tells 00:17:01.500 –> 00:17:06.339 us that the Lord answered and that everything that follows verse 19 00:17:06.339 –> 00:17:10.819 including the great promise that we’re looking at is God’s answer, and it’s 00:17:10.819 –> 00:17:15.859 God’s answer to a particular prayer and the particular prayer is back in verse 00:17:15.859 –> 00:17:24.000 17. So what did these people ask for that gave or led to this marvelous answer and 00:17:24.000 –> 00:17:29.099 there are two things that they asked for. Notice first that the 00:17:29.099 –> 00:17:33.520 promise of restored years is given to people who feel their need for God’s 00:17:34.400 –> 00:17:39.000 Mercy. Verse 17, these people who are given this marvelous promise, they’ve 00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:44.920 been praying this, spare your people Oh Lord and make not your heritage your 00:17:44.920 –> 00:17:54.619 approach. Spare your people oh Lord. Have mercy, pity. Here are these people and 00:17:54.619 –> 00:17:58.680 they’re aware that they’ve been placed under the discipline of God and they 00:17:58.680 –> 00:18:07.439 felt their need of mercy. Spare your people. Friends, you cannot pray that 00:18:07.439 –> 00:18:16.560 prayer as a Christian. Spare your people, without your mind surely going to Romans 00:18:16.560 –> 00:18:24.119 8 and verse 32, where we are told that God did not spare his one and 00:18:24.239 –> 00:18:33.000 only Son. The mercy of God that came to them and comes to us, comes to us for 00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:42.040 this reason. We are spared, because Christ was not spared. And here’s our 00:18:42.040 –> 00:18:48.760 confidence in asking for the mercy of God. God promises all this good to those 00:18:48.939 –> 00:18:54.400 who know and feel their need of His mercy and here’s our confidence coming 00:18:54.400 –> 00:19:02.959 to Him for mercy. He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, 00:19:02.959 –> 00:19:12.280 well now how will He not also, along with Him, with Christ, give us all things. You 00:19:12.359 –> 00:19:21.319 come in your needs with a sense of your dependence upon God simply to survive 00:19:21.319 –> 00:19:25.780 what you’re going through and you can have confidence here. He did not spare 00:19:25.780 –> 00:19:32.800 his own son. So I will spare you and you can pray this with confidence. He gave 00:19:32.800 –> 00:19:37.040 Him up for us all. How will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all 00:19:37.040 –> 00:19:40.800 things? The promise of restored years is given to people who feel their need of 00:19:41.000 –> 00:19:48.500 mercy, and it is given to people who want, verse 17, God’s name to be honored. Notice 00:19:48.500 –> 00:19:52.699 what they’re praying there. They’re bringing a reason to God. They’re 00:19:52.699 –> 00:19:57.079 bringing an argument to God, if you like. They’re presenting a case to God and 00:19:57.079 –> 00:20:01.680 here’s the case. Why should they say among the peoples, 00:20:01.680 –> 00:20:09.319 where is their God? It’s a very powerful way to pray, by the way. The people to 00:20:09.359 –> 00:20:16.880 whom this promise is given are people who are concerned for God’s name. They’re 00:20:16.880 –> 00:20:22.160 concerned for God’s honor. They’re concerned for God’s reputation in the 00:20:22.160 –> 00:20:28.500 world, and they come and they pray, and they say, now, God, unbelieving people are 00:20:28.500 –> 00:20:32.160 watching. And when they see trouble coming to a 00:20:32.160 –> 00:20:38.599 child of God, they use it to speak against your name. You see, the point of 00:20:38.599 –> 00:20:45.800 this prayer, Lord, your name is at stake here. Your reputation is at stake here. 00:20:45.800 –> 00:20:52.280 We’re asking that you will spare us, that you will look upon us with mercy and 00:20:52.280 –> 00:20:59.400 that you will do it for the sake of your name. I wonder how you end your prayers. I 00:20:59.400 –> 00:21:06.000 use a number of different ways of always referring to Jesus at the end of my 00:21:06.339 –> 00:21:13.060 prayers. I say in Jesus name. When I first prayed as a child, I always used to say 00:21:13.060 –> 00:21:20.020 for Jesus sake Amen. Maybe you end your prayers that way. It’s a very good way to 00:21:20.020 –> 00:21:28.880 end prayers. For Jesus sake. Now, that’s not just a way of closing a prayer, that’s 00:21:28.880 –> 00:21:34.260 actually presenting a case to God, as an attorney might present a case before a 00:21:34.260 –> 00:21:43.520 judge in a court. Lord I am asking these things for the sake of your Son. He gave 00:21:43.520 –> 00:21:49.579 His blood to redeem a people. And I am one of these people. 00:21:49.579 –> 00:21:57.979 Now, hear my prayer, not because of me but because of Him. And so, here are these 00:21:57.979 –> 00:22:02.540 people. In verse 17 they’ve heard the call to prayer and they have been 00:22:02.540 –> 00:22:06.739 on their knees and they’ve been coming before the Lord in humility and they 00:22:06.739 –> 00:22:11.900 have… are very aware of their own need of God’s mercy and they’re very concerned 00:22:11.900 –> 00:22:20.060 for the honor of God’s name. And verse 19 says, God answered them and when 00:22:20.060 –> 00:22:25.900 God answers He pours out this blessing that culminates in our verse 25 and he 00:22:25.939 –> 00:22:35.380 says to these people, I will restore the years that the locust has eaten. So I 00:22:35.380 –> 00:22:40.380 want to be someone then who is always aware of my need for God’s mercy and 00:22:40.380 –> 00:22:46.599 always committed to the honor of God’s name. And I want to be someone who is 00:22:46.599 –> 00:22:55.680 praying into that and praying from that. That’s to whom the promise is given. And 00:22:55.760 –> 00:22:59.660 then here’s the other question. I want just to answer it as simply and as 00:22:59.660 –> 00:23:07.599 briefly here as I can. How then can God do this? How can God do the thing 00:23:07.599 –> 00:23:16.020 that is humanly impossible and restore the years that the locust have eaten? 00:23:16.699 –> 00:23:27.339 Let me suggest this first. That God can restore lost years by deepening your 00:23:27.339 –> 00:23:35.160 communion with Jesus Christ. Notice first 27. The people who had known the loss of 00:23:35.160 –> 00:23:39.160 the locust years, here’s the special promise to them, that they’re going to 00:23:39.160 –> 00:23:47.339 experience the presence of the Lord in their midst, in the midst of Israel, you 00:23:47.339 –> 00:23:56.060 will know that I am the Lord your God. And to these people who have endured so 00:23:56.060 –> 00:24:04.439 much this wonderful restorative promise is given, that they are going to know a 00:24:04.680 –> 00:24:12.260 communion with the Lord that they have sought, that is greater than anything 00:24:12.260 –> 00:24:18.319 that they have ever known in their religious lives before. Remember how the 00:24:18.319 –> 00:24:23.479 Gospels tell us a story about a woman, who had lived an especially sinful life and 00:24:23.479 –> 00:24:29.520 she came to Jesus and she poured ointment over His feet. Christ had 00:24:29.959 –> 00:24:36.280 her from some terrible dark powers that had bound her, and now her love for 00:24:36.280 –> 00:24:39.839 Christ was greater than any other love she had ever known in her life before. 00:24:39.839 –> 00:24:45.180 And she comes into a home where Jesus is eating with a bunch of career 00:24:45.180 –> 00:24:49.780 professional people who are doing very well for themselves and she kneels at 00:24:49.780 –> 00:24:56.640 the feet of Jesus and she worships. Christ had forgiven the sins of her 00:24:56.880 –> 00:25:05.599 locust years and because she knew that Christ had forgiven her much, she loved 00:25:05.599 –> 00:25:12.099 much. The extraordinary thing is that the folks in the house were embarrassed by 00:25:12.099 –> 00:25:17.660 the extravagance of her worship and of her devotion. Here’s the irony, they were 00:25:17.780 –> 00:25:27.359 enjoying fellowship with Christ around the meal table. But this woman who was 00:25:27.359 –> 00:25:33.859 worshiping at his feet enjoys a far deeper communion than any of these 00:25:33.859 –> 00:25:44.260 Pharisees could have begun to imagine. Christ can restore lost years by 00:25:44.300 –> 00:25:51.060 deepening your fellowship with him. Why shouldn’t you ask him for this? Why not 00:25:51.060 –> 00:25:55.500 ask him for this? When for whatever reason you have a sense of years are 00:25:55.500 –> 00:26:00.540 passing and opportunities slipping away and not what I thought I would be or 00:26:00.540 –> 00:26:04.239 what I would have hoped to be in relation to the Lord, why would you not 00:26:04.239 –> 00:26:10.560 ask him for that? Tell him, Lord I have spent too many years at a distance from 00:26:10.640 –> 00:26:15.479 you. Or perhaps you’ll say today, Lord I’ve spent too many years without you. 00:26:15.479 –> 00:26:22.280 Now fill my heart with a new love and a new gratitude for Jesus Christ. Let the 00:26:22.280 –> 00:26:28.520 loss of these years make my love for Jesus Christ greater, stronger, brighter 00:26:28.520 –> 00:26:35.280 than it ever would have been otherwise. Restore to me the years that the locusts 00:26:35.439 –> 00:26:44.260 have eaten. And there’s another way in which God can restore lost years. He can 00:26:44.260 –> 00:26:51.060 do it by multiplying your fruitfulness. This is so wonderfully encouraging. 00:26:51.060 –> 00:26:55.099 Remember the harvest for these people. They’ve been wiped out for four years. 00:26:55.099 –> 00:27:00.180 All this work. Nothing much coming off it. And then, when God restores the 00:27:00.180 –> 00:27:03.160 years that the locusts have eaten for these people, what happens? They have 00:27:03.180 –> 00:27:06.760 these bumper harvests. I’m meditating on this and I’m thinking, 00:27:06.760 –> 00:27:12.800 oh, a bumper harvest. That made me think of Jesus’ parable of the sower. And you 00:27:12.800 –> 00:27:17.040 remember that at the end of the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks about a 00:27:17.040 –> 00:27:25.380 harvest that could be 30, 60, or a hundredfold. Now folks, there’s a huge 00:27:25.500 –> 00:27:33.260 difference between these three. Three years at a hundredfold is as much as ten 00:27:33.260 –> 00:27:44.199 years at thirtyfold, restoring the years. Now why should we not ask Him for this? 00:27:44.199 –> 00:27:50.920 Lord the locusts have eaten too many years of our lives. You have called us as 00:27:50.959 –> 00:27:58.099 your disciples to bear fruit that will last. Too many fruit less years have 00:27:58.099 –> 00:28:08.680 passed. Now Lord we ask of you give to us some years now in which there will be 00:28:08.680 –> 00:28:15.400 more lasting fruit born than from all our years of small harvest. Why would we 00:28:15.400 –> 00:28:21.660 not ask that of God. Do you know Spurgeon says God can do more in a year or in a 00:28:21.660 –> 00:28:26.979 day than all of us together can do in a lifetime? I love that, and encouraging 00:28:26.979 –> 00:28:31.359 preachers he says this, one sermon preached in the power of the Holy Ghost 00:28:31.359 –> 00:28:38.160 will be worth ten thousand preached without him, and then expanding his 00:28:38.160 –> 00:28:42.319 range he says this, if you go into your Sunday school class, he’s talking to 00:28:42.319 –> 00:28:45.280 those who are teaching little children, if you go into your Sunday school 00:28:45.380 –> 00:28:50.199 class with a divine anointing resting on you there will be more children brought 00:28:50.199 –> 00:28:54.260 to Christ by a little of your living loving teaching, than would ever have 00:28:54.260 –> 00:29:02.079 been by whole years of your unspiritual talk, thus God can by endowing us with 00:29:02.079 –> 00:29:09.319 greater power, and firing us with fuller zeal, he can restore to us the years that 00:29:09.359 –> 00:29:16.239 the locust has eaten.” That’s wonderfully encouraging. Why should these next years 00:29:16.239 –> 00:29:26.280 not be the most fruitful years of your life and of mine, and of ours? Why should 00:29:26.280 –> 00:29:33.640 we not ask God for that? I hope in your heart you are saying right 00:29:33.640 –> 00:29:44.719 now, that’s what I want. And God can bring long-term gain from short-term 00:29:44.719 –> 00:29:52.079 loss. Peter puts it this way. He says, your faith is going to be tested, but God is 00:29:52.079 –> 00:29:58.119 going to prove it to be genuine, and that means it’s going to rebound to praise 00:29:58.920 –> 00:30:04.359 and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed. The thing that will most glorify Christ 00:30:04.359 –> 00:30:12.219 for all eternity, in your life, will be the power by which He has sustained your 00:30:12.219 –> 00:30:21.660 faith through the hardest years and experiences of your life. Last thing I 00:30:21.660 –> 00:30:25.359 simply want to say is this. Thinking about the years that the locust has 00:30:25.839 –> 00:30:31.680 years that have been taken, my mind went to something that Isaiah said about 00:30:31.680 –> 00:30:40.920 Jesus. Remember that Isaiah says of Christ that He was cut off from the land 00:30:40.920 –> 00:30:47.439 of the living? Here’s Jesus, and He’s in the prime of life. Three years into 00:30:47.439 –> 00:30:53.400 ministry, 33 years old. You would think that a man launching a new enterprise at 00:30:53.459 –> 00:30:55.619 age of 33 has everything in front of him, 00:30:55.619 –> 00:31:00.280 and Isaiah says, no watch this, He’s cut off. 00:31:00.280 –> 00:31:05.119 The reason He was cut off was that he came under the judgment of God, not for 00:31:05.119 –> 00:31:13.180 his own sins, because he had none, but for the sins of others. For my sins and 00:31:13.180 –> 00:31:19.900 for yours, our sins, our griefs, our sorrows were laid on Him. Our judgment 00:31:20.219 –> 00:31:34.939 fell on Him, our locusts swarmed over Him on the cross, and God’s tender 00:31:34.939 –> 00:31:38.719 shoot coming out of the ground is the way Isaiah describes 00:31:38.719 –> 00:31:46.280 Jesus, was cut off, cut off. And on the third day, 00:31:46.280 –> 00:31:52.160 the Son of God rises from the dead and the power of an eternal life and He 00:31:52.160 –> 00:31:57.339 offers Himself to you and He says to you today what no one else will ever be able 00:31:57.339 –> 00:32:11.119 to say to you, I will restore the years that the locust has eaten. Father, do your 00:32:11.260 –> 00:32:17.319 restoring work and make us the kind of people in which it is accomplished, for 00:32:17.319 –> 00:32:21.599 your name’s sake, Amen. 00:32:25.640 –> 00:32:30.260 You’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. To 00:32:30.260 –> 00:32:35.959 contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit 00:32:35.959 –> 00:32:39.939 our website OpenTheBible.org
