1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,000 You are listening to a sermon from Pastor Collin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:07,120 –> 00:00:14,120 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, openthebible.org. 3 00:00:15,160 –> 00:00:20,959 Let’s get to the message. Here is Pastor Collin. 4 00:00:20,959 –> 00:00:25,580 Please open your Bible at the Book of Joel and by the end of the month we will well and 5 00:00:25,639 –> 00:00:31,280 truly be familiar with this book, I Trust. I have never preached a series on the Book 6 00:00:31,280 –> 00:00:37,220 of Joel before, but around this time last year I camped out on it for a time in my own 7 00:00:37,220 –> 00:00:43,599 prayer and reading of the Word of God. God used it in my life and my prayer is that He 8 00:00:43,599 –> 00:00:49,020 will use it in yours as well. The key word of the Book of Joel is the wonderful word 9 00:00:49,080 –> 00:00:56,259 restore. It’s a book full of hope, the great promise that some of you will be familiar 10 00:00:56,259 –> 00:01:03,000 with. I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten. That’s chapter 2 11 00:01:03,000 –> 00:01:06,860 and verse 25, we’ll come to it, God willing, next week. And that’s why I have chosen 12 00:01:06,860 –> 00:01:14,699 for the series the title Restored – How God can Give Back What You’ve Lost. 13 00:01:15,419 –> 00:01:17,660 Now today what I want to attempt is a very quick 14 00:01:17,660 –> 00:01:25,139 overview of the first half of the book and then to focus in on the passage that we read 15 00:01:25,139 –> 00:01:31,720 in which we are called to turn to God with all of our hearts. The book of Joel really 16 00:01:31,720 –> 00:01:41,019 opens describing the day of the locusts and a call to lament. Chapter 1 and verse 1 – 17 00:01:41,139 –> 00:01:44,739 And the word of the LORD came to Joel, the son of 18 00:01:44,739 –> 00:01:48,680 Peter. God spoke through Joel because there had 19 00:01:48,680 –> 00:01:57,339 been an unprecedented disaster that had come on the promised land. Verse 2 – Has such 20 00:01:57,339 –> 00:02:04,400 a thing happened in your days or in the days of your father? And this calamity that led 21 00:02:04,400 –> 00:02:10,320 to the word of God coming through Joel was of such proportion that you find there Joel 22 00:02:11,139 –> 00:02:15,440 something that will be told to your children and to your grandchildren and even to the 23 00:02:15,440 –> 00:02:21,039 generation that follows. Such a remarkable thing the like of which has never happened 24 00:02:21,039 –> 00:02:27,759 before. You say well what was it that was so devastating well you have it in verse 4. 25 00:02:27,759 –> 00:02:35,240 What the cutting locust left the swarming locust has eaten, and what the swarming locust 26 00:02:35,240 –> 00:02:43,679 left the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left the destroying locust 27 00:02:43,679 –> 00:02:52,880 has eaten. This was a plague of locusts. They came in swarms the locust of course rather 28 00:02:52,880 –> 00:02:59,160 like a grasshopper innocent looking little fellow. But when they came in swarms they 29 00:02:59,160 –> 00:03:07,740 could be absolutely devastating and what Joel describes here is nothing other than a locust 30 00:03:07,740 –> 00:03:15,479 epidemic. National Geographic Magazine some years ago describes a swarm of locusts, the 31 00:03:15,479 –> 00:03:22,919 sort of thing that Joel refers to here, coming in and camping on hills and on plains. And 32 00:03:23,639 –> 00:03:30,440 they laid their eggs in vast numbers. It was calculated that some 60,000 could come from 33 00:03:30,440 –> 00:03:39,800 the eggs planted in 39 square inches of soil. And it’s just a few weeks of gestation. 34 00:03:39,800 –> 00:03:46,919 Once hatched, the new brood started crawling across the ground at a rate of 400 to 600 35 00:03:47,720 –> 00:03:57,000 per day, 200 yards a day, devouring every scrap of vegetation in their paths, so 36 00:03:57,000 –> 00:04:05,800 six inch hole, 60,000 within a few weeks, 200 yards of complete devastation moving through 37 00:04:05,800 –> 00:04:11,399 the vegetation, eating everything in the path. So imagine a field of corn, you’ve been out driving 38 00:04:11,399 –> 00:04:15,720 in the countryside in Illinois, one of our neighboring states, and the broad leaves and 39 00:04:15,720 –> 00:04:23,239 the swelling cobs, and can you imagine how this vast army of insects, and it’s advancing over 40 00:04:23,239 –> 00:04:31,640 line after line after line of the corn. 200 yards in a day from just a cluster coming out of six 41 00:04:31,640 –> 00:04:38,440 inches hole in the ground. If you were sitting watching this, you could almost see the field 42 00:04:38,440 –> 00:04:47,480 receding hour by hour as you watched. And as the line advanced, just chewing through this vegetation, 43 00:04:48,760 –> 00:04:55,720 what’s left behind is nothing more than whitened stocks a few inches above the ground, and all of 44 00:04:55,720 –> 00:05:02,600 the earth exposed, and in the exposed earth, these things, are digging six inch holes and giving 45 00:05:02,600 –> 00:05:11,559 birth to another 60,000. And now try and imagine on a bigger scale, if this epidemic were to come 46 00:05:11,559 –> 00:05:16,839 to a country, and before there were the opportunities of chemicals, to try and deter such 47 00:05:16,839 –> 00:05:22,359 an advance, and try and think of all the cornfields and think of a map of all the cornfields of 48 00:05:22,359 –> 00:05:27,559 Illinois and of Indiana and of Iowa and of Kansas, the breadbasket of the world, 49 00:05:27,559 –> 00:05:35,880 and imagine the locust line being charted by our scientists, moving across the states 50 00:05:37,720 –> 00:05:41,559 and devastating the harvest, leaving absolutely nothing 51 00:05:42,679 –> 00:05:49,320 behind. Now notice that in this verse, Joel describes the locust in four ways. We’ve got 52 00:05:49,320 –> 00:05:53,239 reference here to the cutting locust, the swarming locust, the hopping locust, and the destroying 53 00:05:53,239 –> 00:05:57,559 locust. Lots of discussion about why that is. Is this different varieties of locust? 54 00:05:58,119 –> 00:06:05,399 Is this the locust in different stages of its life cycle? Matthew Henry suggests, 55 00:06:05,399 –> 00:06:11,480 and I’m very drawn to what his suggestion is here, that the fourfold description may well 56 00:06:11,480 –> 00:06:19,160 represent that the plague of locusts came in four successive years, that four consecutive 57 00:06:19,160 –> 00:06:24,839 harvests were completely devastated by the same plague. And the reason I’m drawn to that is 58 00:06:24,839 –> 00:06:33,959 because God says later, I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten. 59 00:06:35,160 –> 00:06:39,640 Now, the effect of this four-year plague, if that indeed is the correct way to understand this, 60 00:06:39,640 –> 00:06:45,239 are obviously devastating. On the land. Look at verse 10. The fields are destroyed. The ground 61 00:06:45,239 –> 00:06:49,640 mourns because the grain is destroyed. The wine dries up and the oil languishes. 62 00:06:50,600 –> 00:06:56,839 It affects not only the land, but the animals. Verse 18, how the beasts groan. The herds of 63 00:06:56,839 –> 00:07:01,480 cattle are perplexed because there’s no pasture for them. And even the flocks of sheep suffer. 64 00:07:03,399 –> 00:07:08,279 It affects the people. Verse 12, because all the trees of the fields are dried up, 65 00:07:08,279 –> 00:07:14,119 gladness dries up from the children of man. Go across the whole country. You don’t find 66 00:07:14,119 –> 00:07:22,440 any happy people. Nobody clapping about the place because it is wretchedly difficult 67 00:07:23,559 –> 00:07:32,359 to survive in the third and the fourth year of this absolute devastation. 68 00:07:33,320 –> 00:07:41,320 And notice that even God speaks of this in terms of a personal loss. Verse 7, 69 00:07:41,320 –> 00:07:46,600 the loss touches the Lord, It has laid waste to my vine, this is God speaking, 70 00:07:46,600 –> 00:07:51,959 it has splintered my fig tree. Remember the promised land in the Old Testament is always 71 00:07:51,959 –> 00:07:57,000 in a very special way, the Lord’s, which is why the land was always held on a kind of leasehold 72 00:07:57,000 –> 00:08:02,200 basis rather than on a freehold basis, or at least that was the commandment of the Lord. 73 00:08:03,799 –> 00:08:09,959 And the first fruits of the Lord’s land were always to be offered to Him, the grain offering 74 00:08:09,959 –> 00:08:13,799 and so forth, but how can there be a grain offering of the firstfruits to the Lord when 75 00:08:13,799 –> 00:08:19,799 there are no fruits, because they have been devastated by the plague of locusts? And so, 76 00:08:19,799 –> 00:08:24,279 verse nine, the grain offering, the drink offering, they’re cut off from the house of the Lord, 77 00:08:24,279 –> 00:08:28,200 and so the priests mourn, as do the ministers of the Lord. So, you get the picture? 78 00:08:29,079 –> 00:08:37,159 This is a scene of sustained, devastating, absolute national disaster. 79 00:08:39,080 –> 00:08:43,239 Now, that raises the question, because the Word of God comes into that situation, 80 00:08:43,239 –> 00:08:48,359 and the obvious question is, how are God’s people to respond to disaster? 81 00:08:49,880 –> 00:08:55,640 Any disaster? What is to be in our hearts and in our minds? What are we to do? 82 00:08:58,200 –> 00:09:06,039 What are we to do when we see war and violence sweeping, as it were, like an army of locusts 83 00:09:06,039 –> 00:09:18,200 across the Middle East. What are we to do when we see an invasion of drugs, as it were, sweeping 84 00:09:18,200 –> 00:09:23,880 across the United States of America, ruining not plants, but the lives of people. 85 00:09:24,840 –> 00:09:32,200 What are God’s people to do when, like an army of locusts, there is a movement of shallowness 86 00:09:32,200 –> 00:09:40,200 and unfaithfulness that sweeps across the church, emaciating the vibrant faith of God’s people 87 00:09:40,200 –> 00:09:49,159 and cutting out the life of costly obedience? The answer is in verse 13. Here’s what God says 88 00:09:49,159 –> 00:10:01,320 we are to do—lament. Put on sackcloth, verse 13, and lament! That’s what God says. 89 00:10:03,000 –> 00:10:13,479 O priests, wail! O ministers of the altar, go in, pass the night in sackcloth! O ministers 90 00:10:15,080 –> 00:10:15,880 of my God! 91 00:10:15,880 –> 00:10:23,320 Early this summer I had the opportunity of attending the Free Church conference 92 00:10:23,320 –> 00:10:29,640 in New Orleans. There were many good things in the conference, and one of them was a lecture 93 00:10:29,640 –> 00:10:36,440 from Professor Magari of Trinity here on The Psalms of Lament. You will know that 94 00:10:36,440 –> 00:10:41,799 there are a whole group of psalms that have the character of being a lament. 95 00:10:42,760 –> 00:10:51,479 And Magari began by pointing out that there is, of course, a massive sweeping change that is going 96 00:10:51,479 –> 00:11:03,000 on in our culture. Godliness increasingly being swept back. And he said, people want 97 00:11:03,719 –> 00:11:08,840 to do something about it, but they don’t know what to do. And then he said, here’s the problem. 98 00:11:09,080 –> 00:11:18,200 We do not know how to lament. Christians who’ve been brought up on a diet of, you’re great, 99 00:11:18,200 –> 00:11:22,840 God’s good, and everything’s going to be just fine, have nothing to say 100 00:11:24,359 –> 00:11:28,359 with regards to disaster or to a suffering world. 101 00:11:29,799 –> 00:11:36,200 And Magari said to a group of us pastors gathered in front of him earlier this summer in New 102 00:11:36,200 –> 00:11:43,320 Orleans, he said to the pastors, we need to learn how to lament, and then we need to teach 103 00:11:43,320 –> 00:11:49,559 God’s people to do the same. Now, do you see that is exactly what Joel says here? 104 00:11:50,919 –> 00:11:57,239 It has to begin with the ministers. Put on sackcloth and lament, O, priests. 105 00:11:58,119 –> 00:12:03,960 Wail, O, ministers of the altar. These are the folks who vocationally are called to ministry 106 00:12:03,960 –> 00:12:08,359 in Old Testament terms. Then notice how it extends to the group 107 00:12:08,359 –> 00:12:15,400 that are described here as the elders. Verse 14, consecrate a fast. That’s what the ministers are 108 00:12:15,400 –> 00:12:22,039 to do. Call a solemn assembly. And then what do they do? Gather the elders. Verse 14. Then what 109 00:12:22,039 –> 00:12:29,400 happens? It spreads through all the people. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land 110 00:12:29,400 –> 00:12:37,000 to the house of the Lord your God. Friends, what do we know about lamenting? 111 00:12:39,400 –> 00:12:48,039 Where do we do that? In a culture where everything is geared to people having a 112 00:12:48,039 –> 00:12:53,559 feel-good church experience, how in the world do Christian people ever learn to lament? 113 00:12:53,799 –> 00:12:59,960 What happens in that culture is increasingly, that the church turns 114 00:12:59,960 –> 00:13:06,520 a blind eye to a suffering world and even public prayer becomes a matter of, 115 00:13:06,520 –> 00:13:09,559 Lord, we thank You for all of these wonderful blessings that You filled our lives with, 116 00:13:12,039 –> 00:13:15,080 and the world says, this is supremely irrelevant. 117 00:13:15,080 –> 00:13:25,080 When do the people of God cry out to God for His mercy on our land? 118 00:13:27,400 –> 00:13:31,719 You know the church is a place for people who want to become serious about following Jesus, 119 00:13:33,239 –> 00:13:38,359 and do you remember that Jesus knelt down and He wept over Jerusalem? 120 00:13:38,359 –> 00:13:42,039 And if we’re going to be like Him, 121 00:13:43,400 –> 00:13:48,520 there has to be something at least sometimes of that in our experience. 122 00:13:50,840 –> 00:13:54,520 Now friends, we dare not simply talk about these things, we must do them, 123 00:13:55,960 –> 00:13:59,559 and earlier this summer I spoke to you very much from the heart, 124 00:13:59,559 –> 00:14:04,840 remember the Straight from the Heart series that began with the depth of our praying? 125 00:14:05,559 –> 00:14:10,599 I said to you then that we would establish a regular gathering for prayer 126 00:14:10,599 –> 00:14:15,320 at every campus of the orchard, and that begins, thank God, this week. 127 00:14:15,960 –> 00:14:17,880 Joel says, verse 14, 128 00:14:17,880 –> 00:14:24,039 gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your 129 00:14:24,039 –> 00:14:26,760 God and cry out to the Lord. 130 00:14:26,760 –> 00:14:30,200 Friends, we have an opportunity to do this this week. 131 00:14:30,280 –> 00:14:38,919 I hope you will come as we seek to lament and then do what Joel is going to tell us 132 00:14:38,919 –> 00:14:43,479 in a moment—to repent and to call upon God, 133 00:14:43,479 –> 00:14:48,679 not only for the immediate needs of our own church life, which we must always do, 134 00:14:48,679 –> 00:14:57,799 but also call upon God for His mercy upon our land and upon a suffering world. 135 00:14:58,099 –> 00:15:05,039 Bible is actually shaping how we live. So that’s the first part—the Day of the 136 00:15:05,039 –> 00:15:13,880 Locust, and the call to lament. The second, and there are only two today, the 137 00:15:13,880 –> 00:15:19,119 Day of the Lord and the call to repent— the Day of the Lord and the call to 138 00:15:19,119 –> 00:15:27,559 repent. Notice in verse 19 of Chapter 1 that there is a change of picture. It’s 139 00:15:27,559 –> 00:15:34,400 quite different. To you, O Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures of 140 00:15:34,400 –> 00:15:41,359 the wilderness and flame has burned all the trees of the field.” Now locusts ate 141 00:15:41,359 –> 00:15:48,719 the vegetation, but they obviously did not burn it, and from verse 19 onwards 142 00:15:48,799 –> 00:15:52,400 quite clearly Joel is now speaking about something else. He’s moving to a 143 00:15:52,400 –> 00:15:56,659 different picture. He’s speaking of a different day. In some way, the plague of 144 00:15:56,659 –> 00:16:01,020 the locusts has made him think about something else, and God has moved his 145 00:16:01,020 –> 00:16:05,419 mind to speak about it, and what is it? Chapter 2 and verse 1. It is the day of 146 00:16:05,419 –> 00:16:11,460 the Lord which is coming and is now near, and Joel describes what that day – the 147 00:16:11,460 –> 00:16:18,260 day of judgment – the day when God Himself winds up human history in this 148 00:16:18,419 –> 00:16:22,799 world as we know it, and the King Himself comes in his power and in His glory and 149 00:16:22,799 –> 00:16:29,359 brings judgment to the earth. And he describes here a vast army moving into 150 00:16:29,359 –> 00:16:33,419 the land just like the plagues of locusts. This is an army that sweeps across 151 00:16:33,419 –> 00:16:37,780 the land only it’s burning everything in its path. Fire devours before them, verse 152 00:16:37,780 –> 00:16:45,380 3, and behind them a flame burns. The land, verse 3, is like Eden before them but 153 00:16:45,960 –> 00:16:51,179 there is a desolate wilderness. That’s an astonishing turn around from what 154 00:16:51,179 –> 00:16:55,580 Isaiah said. Remember, Isaiah spoke about how the wilderness would become like a 155 00:16:55,580 –> 00:17:02,359 garden of Eden. Joel says, on the day of the Lord the beauties of the earth will 156 00:17:02,359 –> 00:17:06,040 become like a wilderness. This is what Peter speaks about when he says the 157 00:17:06,040 –> 00:17:13,479 earth is going to melt with scorching heat. And Joel describes the astonishing 158 00:17:14,400 –> 00:17:19,300 and universal proportions of that day in verse 10. Not only are the people 159 00:17:19,300 –> 00:17:25,520 terrified but the earthquakes, the heavens tremble. This is not locusts now, 160 00:17:25,520 –> 00:17:30,680 this is the day of the Lord. The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars 161 00:17:30,680 –> 00:17:36,520 withdraw their shining. So, you see what is happening here, 162 00:17:36,900 –> 00:17:43,459 the devastation of the plague of locusts is leading the Prophet as God speaks 163 00:17:43,459 –> 00:17:48,020 through him to say. Now, you feel the weight of that devastation. Now, you 164 00:17:48,020 –> 00:17:55,060 must think of something even greater because it is eternal. The day of the 165 00:17:55,060 –> 00:18:05,760 Lord – verse 11 – the Lord utters his voice before his army for his camp is 166 00:18:05,760 –> 00:18:11,219 exceedingly great, and he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the 167 00:18:11,219 –> 00:18:19,739 Lord is great and very awesome, who can endure it? The obvious answer to 168 00:18:19,739 –> 00:18:25,479 that question is no one can, and of course the people of being experienced 169 00:18:25,479 –> 00:18:30,920 the devastation of insects in vast numbers that are just two inches long. 170 00:18:30,920 –> 00:18:39,479 If we can’t endure two-inch insects, how in the world would we ever stand if 171 00:18:39,479 –> 00:18:49,579 our enemy were God? And so out of the locusts comes the call to lament, out of 172 00:18:49,579 –> 00:18:56,739 the day of the Lord comes the call to repent. Even now, declares the Lord, 173 00:18:56,739 –> 00:19:06,739 return to me with all your heart. Perhaps you’ll take this away from today, and it 174 00:19:06,739 –> 00:19:15,020 will stay with your mind as I hope it will stay with mine. Every disaster 175 00:19:15,099 –> 00:19:23,260 brings a call to repent every disaster is a reminder to us that a day is coming 176 00:19:23,260 –> 00:19:26,979 when the whole history of this world itself will roll up God will roll it up 177 00:19:26,979 –> 00:19:37,060 like a stroll the heavens the earth the stars every disaster brings a call to 178 00:19:37,060 –> 00:19:43,339 return to the Lord and never is that more astonishingly made clear than on an 179 00:19:43,420 –> 00:19:47,739 occasion that you might recall or perhaps not recorded in Luke and chapter 180 00:19:47,739 –> 00:19:53,060 13 Luke tells us about an occasion when some people who were listening to Jesus 181 00:19:53,060 –> 00:20:01,560 told our Lord about an unspeakable atrocity that had recently taken place 182 00:20:01,859 –> 00:20:12,859 Pilate who was a wicked man had launched an attack on some people from Galilee 183 00:20:12,859 –> 00:20:21,339 while they were in the act of worship offering their sacrifices and these 184 00:20:21,339 –> 00:20:27,260 people came to Jesus and they spoke to Jesus of how Pilate 185 00:20:27,660 –> 00:20:31,579 chapter 13 how Pilate had mingled the blood of 186 00:20:31,579 –> 00:20:36,300 these people with their sacrifices. 187 00:20:37,020 –> 00:20:40,859 It was as heinous a crime as these folks could imagine. 188 00:20:40,859 –> 00:20:44,780 Here they’re making the sacrifices. Now their own blood gets mixed 189 00:20:44,780 –> 00:20:50,380 by Pilate with the sacrifice, an attack on the people he governed while they 190 00:20:50,380 –> 00:20:55,260 were in the act of worship. 191 00:20:55,260 –> 00:20:59,579 It was an unspeakable atrocity. How in the world could a ruler ever 192 00:20:59,579 –> 00:21:04,939 do such a thing? And they bring that question to Jesus. 193 00:21:05,260 –> 00:21:09,739 And of course, even as I say that, you’re so aware as I am that that is 194 00:21:09,739 –> 00:21:13,819 exactly the question that is on everyone’s mind today 195 00:21:13,819 –> 00:21:20,300 as we see evidence of a gas attack of horrific proportions 196 00:21:20,300 –> 00:21:27,020 on men and women and children in Syria. 197 00:21:27,020 –> 00:21:32,859 And we ask how in the world could such an atrocity take place 198 00:21:32,859 –> 00:21:38,540 and what should be done about it? A question, by the way, that should 199 00:21:38,540 –> 00:21:41,900 bring all of us as believers to pray for those who 200 00:21:41,900 –> 00:21:47,739 we elect to govern over us who have the responsibility of such decisions. 201 00:21:48,060 –> 00:21:52,699 But the point I want to make to you as your pastor today 202 00:21:52,780 –> 00:21:57,099 is that they brought that same question to Jesus. 203 00:21:57,099 –> 00:22:02,060 What about Pilate and these people whose blood was mixed with their 204 00:22:02,060 –> 00:22:08,060 sacrifices? And I wonder if you remember what Jesus said in response to that. 205 00:22:09,260 –> 00:22:13,339 It is one of the most astonishing things that Jesus 206 00:22:13,339 –> 00:22:16,060 ever said 207 00:22:16,780 –> 00:22:20,380 because He took the disaster. 208 00:22:20,380 –> 00:22:26,459 He turned it to say well now you should be thinking about eternity, 209 00:22:26,459 –> 00:22:35,500 and what He said in Luke 13 is, I tell you that unless you repent 210 00:22:35,500 –> 00:22:40,140 you will all likewise perish. 211 00:22:40,780 –> 00:22:47,420 Every disaster brings with it a call to lament 212 00:22:47,420 –> 00:22:55,020 and a call to repent for the people of God, 213 00:22:55,500 –> 00:23:02,219 and it’s all of us who are to repent. Notice verse 15. Consecrate the 214 00:23:02,219 –> 00:23:05,339 congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children 215 00:23:05,339 –> 00:23:07,900 the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom lead 216 00:23:07,900 –> 00:23:12,380 his room and the bride her chamber. This is the entire community 217 00:23:12,380 –> 00:23:15,900 of the people of God. The call to repentance comes to us 218 00:23:15,900 –> 00:23:23,579 folks. It is very easy, especially in a day, like the day in which we live, 219 00:23:23,579 –> 00:23:27,099 for Christian people to say that the nation needs to repent. And how 220 00:23:27,099 –> 00:23:30,619 self-righteous we sound when we say it. Oh yes our nation needs to repent. We 221 00:23:30,619 –> 00:23:35,579 need to turn back to God. Well that’s true. But repentance in the 222 00:23:36,380 –> 00:23:39,979 begins with those who know God, not with those who don’t. 223 00:23:39,979 –> 00:23:44,939 It begins with those who believe. And among those who believe it has to begin 224 00:23:44,939 –> 00:23:49,819 with those who are most spiritually mature and those who lead them. 225 00:23:50,060 –> 00:23:53,420 E.W. Tozer described how Christianity in America 226 00:23:53,420 –> 00:23:58,540 is being emaciated. Faith that really trusts God just being replaced by a bare 227 00:23:58,540 –> 00:24:03,739 profession of belief. Christianity being gutted of repentance, 228 00:24:03,739 –> 00:24:09,099 gutted of cross-carrying and of costly obedience. 229 00:24:10,219 –> 00:24:21,420 Friends, we will never see a repenting nation until we have a repentant church. 230 00:24:21,819 –> 00:24:25,020 Repentance and faith are the two sides of the same coin. 231 00:24:25,020 –> 00:24:28,540 All who truly believe repent and all who truly repent 232 00:24:28,540 –> 00:24:34,140 believe. That’s how you know a Christian. 233 00:24:34,300 –> 00:24:38,140 And then having given the call, Joel wonderfully 234 00:24:38,140 –> 00:24:43,180 gives us this draw, how in the world can we repent, how can we repent. 235 00:24:43,180 –> 00:24:46,619 Verse 13. Return to the Lord your God. Why? 236 00:24:46,619 –> 00:24:51,900 Because He’s gracious. He’s not gonna treat any of us as our 237 00:24:51,900 –> 00:24:55,579 sins deserve, that’s why you can come to Him today. 238 00:24:55,579 –> 00:24:59,979 Because he’s merciful, he has pity, has compassion, 239 00:24:59,979 –> 00:25:04,540 his arms are outstretched to all of us in Jesus Christ even today. 240 00:25:04,540 –> 00:25:09,900 He’s slow to anger. Oh the day of the Lord is surely coming 241 00:25:09,900 –> 00:25:13,420 but it has not come yet. Today is the day of grace and we may 242 00:25:13,420 –> 00:25:18,540 come to Him. He is abounding in steadfast love and he relents 243 00:25:18,540 –> 00:25:23,660 over disaster. Friends, people don’t repent because 244 00:25:23,660 –> 00:25:27,420 they’re told that what they’re doing is wrong. 245 00:25:27,500 –> 00:25:32,060 Repentance means turning to God and people repent 246 00:25:32,060 –> 00:25:36,859 on seeing that God is good. That’s why the best place to repent is 247 00:25:36,859 –> 00:25:41,500 where we’re coming right now to the Lord’s table where we see mercy 248 00:25:41,500 –> 00:25:47,420 and grace extended towards us drawing us 249 00:25:47,420 –> 00:25:55,900 and calling us, turn to me he says God with all of your heart. 250 00:25:56,859 –> 00:26:01,180 You know Joel asks the question the day of the Lord it’s so terrible who can 251 00:26:01,180 –> 00:26:06,380 endure it and of course the old testament answer is obviously nobody. 252 00:26:06,380 –> 00:26:09,420 And then when we come to the new testament we find 253 00:26:09,420 –> 00:26:13,099 a greater and a better answer to which the old testament points 254 00:26:13,099 –> 00:26:16,380 which is who can endure the day of the Lord one man 255 00:26:16,380 –> 00:26:21,260 did. And that man was God himself God for us God with us 256 00:26:21,260 –> 00:26:25,180 God in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to himself 257 00:26:25,180 –> 00:26:29,339 by Jesus going to that cross and bearing everything 258 00:26:29,339 –> 00:26:32,939 that was due. The judgement that was due to 259 00:26:32,939 –> 00:26:36,699 all who would be in him bearing it on that cross 260 00:26:36,699 –> 00:26:41,260 and now as our risen lord holding his arms out and saying come to me 261 00:26:41,260 –> 00:26:46,300 turn to me. And here you’ll find mercy and here you will find grace and here 262 00:26:46,380 –> 00:26:49,660 you will find steadfast love. And if you will turn to me and if you 263 00:26:49,660 –> 00:26:53,420 will follow me. There is no condemnation for those who are in 264 00:26:53,420 –> 00:26:56,300 Christ Jesus. 265 00:26:56,459 –> 00:27:00,619 This is the appeal that comes to all the people of God it is the appeal of grace 266 00:27:00,619 –> 00:27:04,859 that leads to repentance and when are we to repent notice what he 267 00:27:04,859 –> 00:27:09,339 says verse 12 even now 268 00:27:09,420 –> 00:27:13,579 even now declares the Lord return to me with all of your heart 269 00:27:13,579 –> 00:27:19,579 now at the height of your trouble now while you’re still in your sin now 270 00:27:19,579 –> 00:27:23,579 while you feel ashamed and unworthy now says the risen 271 00:27:23,579 –> 00:27:28,479 lord Jesus Christ I call upon you turn to me 272 00:27:28,479 –> 00:27:33,900 with all of your heart and you will find mercy 273 00:27:33,900 –> 00:27:39,099 and you will find grace and you will be embraced 274 00:27:39,260 –> 00:27:41,479 step by step 275 00:27:43,479 –> 00:27:47,640 you’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of open the Bible to 276 00:27:47,640 –> 00:27:53,540 contact us call us at 1-877-open-365 or visit our 277 00:27:53,540 –> 00:28:00,579 website www.openthebible.org