Words of WarningProphecy from Joel

Adapted from a Jerry Watts sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/

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God for UsJoel 2:18-32

Joel 2:18 NIV Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his

people. 19 The LORD will reply to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the

nations.

20 “I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its

smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things.

21 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great

things.

22 Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree

and the vine yield their riches. 23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD

your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and

spring rains, as before.

24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine

and oil. 25 “I will repay you for the years the

locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent

among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has

worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my

people be shamed. 28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young

men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour

out my Spirit in those days.

30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of

smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before

the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;

for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said,

among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

I begin and end today with one thought- “GOD IS FOR US”! That is, God is for His

people. Those who are blood-bought, born-again, & redeemed. God is for us in that He wants the best for all His children.

Lest I be misunderstood, for those who are not a member of the ‘family of God’,

God is for you also. He is so much for you that He allowed Jesus, His one and only

Son, to be used and abused to the point of death for you.

Jesus died on the cross for your sins which means your penalty of sin has been

paid by Jesus’ death. He rose from the grave to give you new life. The incredible part is that; with all of this being done by

God, He requires a decision from you. He is for you as He desires for you to accept His offer of forgiveness through His Son.

It is only in that decision you can born, bought, and adopted into God’s family!

Then there exists an entirely NEW way in which God is for you. He is now not only

your creator, He now becomes your heavenly Father. As such, you become the

‘apple of His eye.’ He desires for you to become all you were created to become.

Additionally, as we have read in our text, God will then go to the mat for you! He has already gone to the grave so what more can He do? Here what more He

does: He stands for us in the time of His greatest judgment! In reading the

prophecy of Joel, we discover that when time draws to a close,

God will judge the sin & unbelief found in this world and He will judge them harshly. He will do this because God cannot and

will not tolerate sin in His presence now or in the world to come. That being said, God goes the extra step to protect His people through the judgment. Last week, God called for repentance from the corrupt

ways which His people had embraced and then made a plea for fasting, weeping,

and mourning.

In other ways, He desired for His people to be sorry enough for their sin that they

sincerely wept, prayed, & returned to Him so that the lost culture would know that Jehovah was their God. Now, we are ready to move to verse 18 & discover

what He says to us;

18 NIV Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. In verses 18-28 we find when God’s

people come in brokenness and repentance for their sin that He took & He

takes ACTION!

The Hand of God

The text says, He will be jealous (zealous) for his land and take pity on (spare,

commiserate with) his people, then He promised what He would do with the

works of His hands. No matter how far you’ve fallen God will still bring you back

to Himself with His hands.

Now, what does He promise His people?

19 The LORD will reply to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil,

enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. One of the reasons for studying God’s word in a verse by verse manner is to understand the nuances of what He is telling us. Do you remember verse 4 of

Chapter 1?

The Provision from God

Joel 1:4 NIV What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have

left other locusts have eaten.How about after the locust come and ravage the land? Then we read of the

havoc brought about by the “Day of the Lord.” It is like the aftermath of a war. To

reside in a war torn land is (for me) unimaginable.

The best I can offer is that you spend time attempting to make sense from non-

sense! To look at the landscape as has been depicted in this text is to get a sense

of a war-torn land, with people almost wandering aimlessly, and into this

situation comes the Father saying, “Don’t lose hope, I’m still in charge.”

So into the midst of the barrenness of the land God sends the essentials to His

people. He doesn’t send just enough to get by.

The Scriptures are clear God desires not to give us only what is necessary, but

more than we could ever need.

Malachi 3:10 NIV Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in

my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not

have room enough for it.

Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be

poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive."

Luke 6:38 NET

He completely satisfies, gives them full to overflowing, in fact, He sends so much

that they get weary of it. This reminds me of the manna in the wilderness. The applications here are plenty. In those

days, God will provide all that His children need and more.

Spiritually, whatever you may need (i.e. help, hope, healing, etc) God will supply.Paul writes, And my God will supply your

every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

NET

He is my provision, but He doesn’t stop at just providing with His hand, next see;

20 “I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its

smell will rise.”

Surely he has done great things.

The Protection by God

21 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. 22 Be not afraid, O wild animals,

for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the

fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

Admittedly, this passage can be seen in light of history or prophecy, that is what

has already happen and/or what is going to happen; but I suggest that the principle we are to grasp is that God protects His people. Now, He doesn’t keep us from

everything that might cause us pain because the valley of pain is God’s

workshop in our lives. Very little has the power to draw us nearer to God than pain.

In the life of a believer, one might detect their maturity level by the amount of pain required to force them to turn to God for help. It’s kind of like parents guiding their children. The less mature the children the more pressure is required to get them to respond, while the more mature the child

the less pressure required.

So God doesn’t protect us from every little pain, but in the face of the catastrophe

found in God’s judgment we can discover God’s protection. When we depend on Him, He will drive out our enemies and

banish them out of our sight.

James writes, So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. James

4:7 NETWhen we resist evil, we release God to do battle for us and God can finish any battle in which He is engaged. Not only will He drive them out He will put them to death.

23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you

the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both

autumn and spring rains, as before. 24 The threshing floors will be filled with

grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

The Plan of God

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and

the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent

among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has

worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

In the New Testament, Jesus encourages planning.

Luke 14:28 NET For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough

money to complete it?In other words, before you begin

something, make sure you have a good plan. Within God’s judgment of sin, God

has a plan for HIS PEOPLE.With the works of His hands and the

words of His mouth God says, “Be Glad and Rejoice in the LORD.”

Even in the midst of persecution and struggle, the word is “Rejoice.” Nehemiah

tells us “the Joy of the Lord is your strength”, (Neh 8:10) in Paul’s writing the second fruit of the spirit listed is joy, (Gal

5:22) the angel told the shepherds he brought good news of great ‘joy’, (Luke 2:10) in the upper room Jesus told the disciples

that your sorrow will turn to ‘joy.’ (John 16:22)

The plan of God formed by His own hand is for His people to be a people of joy! It’s not simply joy about being joyful, rather it

is the joy found IN THE LORD!

Here is what we need to get our minds & hearts around; God’s people should be

rejoicing folks.Next month, we celebrate “RESURRECTION DAY,”

our Lord is alive!

When someone dies and then rises from the dead for me, everything else should become a snap. Sadly, when a preacher says something like this people roll their eyes and say something like, “yea, but

you don’t understand my situation.” Maybe I don’t, but He does and it’s not a surprise

to Him.

If God had the crucifixion under control and how that would work out, I know

whatever you have going on, God has a handle on it. In God’s hands lay the plans

for your life. Trust Him. He is for you.

27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my

people be shamed28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit

on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream

dreams, your young men will see visions.

The Heart of God

29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those

days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be

turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and

dreadful day of the LORD.

32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount

Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said,

among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

In verses 27-32, we can grasp what God desires for us as His ‘Crown Creation.’ His

heart is for us to become as we once were. When God created the first man &

woman, they were perfect, walking in perfect harmony with their creator. This is where He is leading us, where His heart desires to take us, and where His people

will one day abide.

In verse 27, we see that His heart is for us to be clear in our knowledge &

commitment to Him. He wants us to be ‘with Him.’ How does He help? Verses 28-32a is the text that Peter quotes in Acts 2 at Pentecost. The fulfillment did not end on Pentecost. According to God’s Word

immersed believers have the Spirit working in their lives today.

28a“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit…31b before the coming of the great

and dreadful day of the LORD. Most Commentators indicate afterward is

referring to “the last days” which is the Christian age. God pouring out His Spirit on the earth after the Battle of Gog and

Magog can’t be the only fulfillment. Peter’s said it was being fulfilled at Pentecost.

The Raining of the Spirit of God

According to Peter & Paul’s words the Gift of God’s Spirit is working in immersed

believers lives today. The Spirit is active when we come to Christ in our conversion.

Acts 2:38 NET Peter said to them, "Repent, and each one of you be baptized

in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:11 NET Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the

name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Throughout the New Testament we see the Spirit working in, through & for us. In

those times after God’s judgment, whether in the days of Israel and Judah’s rebellion

or in the time known as the Second Coming

or even today, in the aftermath of Spiritual and moral devastation which decimates

the land, our God is ready to pour out His Spirit on us. It seems God is raining down His Spirit today and we may be missing it. The heart of God is to commune with us daily. I think in the heart of God rests the desire to always reach to His people with His Spirit to bring about spiritual renewal.

Never doubt the strength and even the resolve of God. He designed this world, including you & me, as HIS OWN. From

the garden when man fell until today, man & land remains in rebellion to God. In the last days (which by definition we are living

in) He will display His strength in the heavens.

The Revelation of the Strength of God

At another time, we may consider the end-time prophecies as the Bible lays them

out, but hear this, “At His word both Heaven & earth will pass away &

everything you and I count as important on this earth will be gone.” He will do it but

He has made a way out for fallen mankind.

I have said ‘reclaiming of God’s salvation’ because the first man & woman knew

God’s salvation only to walk away from it in their selfish rebellion. Jesus came that we might regain and reclaim what God intended for us in the beginning of time.

The Reclaiming of the Salvation of God

Don’t take this to mean that God, in His sovereignty, was caught off guard by the disobedience in the garden, but rather, to that first couple was paradise, perfection,

and a choice. Today, you are given a choice. God calls and you respond. He is

for you.

He has proven this on many occasions and in many ways. But in His being for

you, He will not overlook your sin. Your sin cost Jesus his earthly life. Now, God

working in your spirit, is drawing you to call on Him. Will you do so?