Turning to God With All Your Heart

Joel 1:1-2:17
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Pastor Colin Smith begins his sermon by introducing the Book of Joel. He has never preached a series on this book before but finds it significant as it speaks of restoration and hope. The key verse he highlights is, “I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25), which forms the basis for the series titled “Restored – How God can Give Back What You’ve Lost.”

The sermon starts with an overview of the first half of the Book of Joel, focusing on the devastating plague of locusts that serves as a backdrop for the call to lament. The locust plague, described in vivid detail, brings unprecedented disaster to the land and affects the people, animals, and even the offerings to God. Pastor Colin points out that such calamities call for lament, a practice that modern Christians need to learn and adopt more seriously.

He emphasises the importance of lamentation, especially among church leaders, and urges believers to gather and cry out to God for mercy. This is not just for individual church needs, but also for the broader suffering world. Pastor Colin is encouraging his congregation to participate in regular prayer meetings to seek God’s intervention.

Moving to the second part of the sermon, Pastor Colin shifts to the “Day of the Lord” and the call to repent. He describes this day as a forthcoming judgment when God will come in power and glory to bring justice to the earth. He draws parallels between the devastation caused by locusts and the final judgment day, urging people to reflect on their lives and return to God wholeheartedly.

Pastor Colin stresses that every disaster serves as a reminder of the need for repentance. He underscores that repentance should begin with those who know God. He speaks about the grace and mercy available through Jesus Christ, who endured the judgment on behalf of humanity, and invites everyone to turn back to God to find forgiveness and steadfast love.

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

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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