Words of WarningProphecy from Joel

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

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Get ReadyJoel 2:12-17

Joel 2:12 NIV “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and

he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—grain

offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those

nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your

people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’

”

In the first part of the prophecy of Joel, we have been reminded of the Day of the Lord and what will happen on that day.

It’s not pretty, but it is a reality.

Our text today calls us to GET READY for Christ’s return.

Matthew 16:24 NET Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to become

my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever

wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his

life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to

what he has done. (An allusion to Psa 28:4; Psa 62:12;

cf. Pro 24:12)

Joel prophesied people had to do things to GET READY. Jesus calls each of us to

deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me, because, when he returns he will

reward each person according to what he has done.

Are we doing anything!Salvation demands ACTION!

1 Thessalonians 4:16 NET For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with

these words.

We know about getting ready for things. We get ready for events, school, work, weddings, church and much more. We don’t want to go somewhere and not be

ready. How do we get ready to meet God and eternity? Realizing that our world, society, and even church culture has

missed God’s mark (which, by definition, is sinful) and that nothing sinful is ready to

meet God, what do we do?

For the people of Israel, after this prophecy with eye-opening judgment, God

gave Joel the way to get ready.

These verses suggest 3 actions which a church and a culture need to

“GET READY.”

The first line in verse 15 is a repeat of verse 1, “Blow the trumpet” yet here it is

for a different reason. Verse 1 is an alarm while verse 15 is a call to gather.

Picture it this way.The Emergency Broadcast Tone or

tornado sirens are sounding an alarm.

1. Assemble God’s Children

The Church bell, the same as the bell at the farm, calls workers to come in to be

fed & nourished. Joel says, “Call all God’s children together” and the call of the New Testament is the same, “Come Together.”

Why?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

When we speak of this assembly, the modern day counterpart is the church. The assembled church has incredible power. Just as Jesus gave them to Peter, the

church has the KEYS to spiritual things in heaven and hell.

The Power of the Assembly

The idea is not that Peter will admit people to heaven, but that Peter opened the door of the kingdom to both the Jews (Act 2:38-39) and the Gentiles. (Act 10:34-44) (Guzik)

The power to open the gates of the kingdom of heaven was expanded into the

great missionary commission,

- a commission that was understood by the apostolic church to be addressed not

to the eleven apostles only, but to all Christ's followers without distinction.

(ISBE) Therefore go and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20 NET

But this is the church that is assembled and together.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit fell when they were all together in one place.

Acts 2:1 NET Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all

together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from

heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on

each one of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit

enabled them.

In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed diligently & passionately for His people to

walk in unity and harmony.

John 17:20 NET "I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those

who believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you,

Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will

believe that you sent me.

22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one — 23 I in them and you in me — that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and

you have loved them just as you have loved me.

God has chosen to work through His church (the assembly) so there are many other issues which we can glean from the text. We read of the call to ‘fast.’ In simple

terms fasting (though not practiced by most believers in modern times) is a

commitment to put God & His walk ahead of EVERYTHING!

16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders,

gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her chamber.Maybe the better way to state this is the

“participation” in the Assembly, but it seems to me that the Prophet is giving us

a picture of our expected priority and participation.

The Priority for the Assembly

Look at all the people who are mentioned; the elderly, children, babies, & even

newlyweds. It would seem that the word of the Lord is this: “Let nothing stand in your way of getting together, it’s that important!”

We are living in an era of ‘I’ and ‘me’. Most of us are tired of hearing about this

because (for many) it smacks us in the face. What flimsy excuse have you heard or used? “Sunday’s the only day I have to relax.” “I don’t like coming back Sunday

evenings,” or if “I” have nothing else to do this week, “I” may be there; are all

statements which are commonly used.

In many minds, the Assembly is a man made institution which does not deserve first priority, yet this line of thinking is not

from the mind of our Lord.Jesus loved and loves the church. He

birthed her, died for her, empowered her, and one day is coming back for her.

We claim to be a member of the church, but are we if we’re not a participant? Are we as useless as an appendix & need to

be cut out? Look at the picture Jesus draws.

John 15:1 NET "I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. 2 He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears

fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

The Holy Spirit was sent when there was an assembly gathered. Things happen

when God’s people assemble!The main thing is Jesus promises to be

there, shouldn’t we be there also?Matthew 18:19 NET Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven

will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am

there among them."

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your

people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’

”

The Prayer by the Assembly

It was very common for the leaders and thus, the priests to offer corporate prayer

for the assembly.

In verse 17 we sense the passion for God and His people.

The leaders are told to pray standing between the temple porch and the altar. With their back to the altar because they had nothing to offer & their faces to the Temple where God was enthroned, they were to pray with a broken heart. Why

were their hearts broken? Because of the corruptness of God’s people.

Perhaps the reason God answers so few of our prayers today is because He sees

no brokenness over our sin, our unfaithfulness and even our inconsistent lives. I think if we are to get ready for the

Day of the Lord, we must be like Joel speaks and be broken.

We could stay here all day talking about God’s character and still only touch the

surface. Yet, to read verses 13 & 14 is to see common characteristics of our Lord. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he

relents from sending calamity.

2. Acknowledge God’s Character

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—grain

offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

Think about those first three attributes which we have read; gracious and

compassionate, slow to anger. I think one word encompasses all of these thoughts; merciful. Would it be fair to say, that God

has not given us what we deserve?

He is Gracious

He has given us kindness, understanding, leniency, and the best gift of all, His Son.

God is THE God who takes the first step toward us so that we can find Him.

He is so rich in love that He (of His own choice) can be merciful! Almighty God is good to us in that He offers us His love

and the assurance that when we come to Him, He will abundantly pardon. Consider this: God is so gracious and good that He desires that no one fall under His divine judgment. He sent Jesus to die because

He desires that no one perish.

He is Good

However, make no mistake: His goodness is only exceeded by His righteousness and Holy God will indeed judge unholy

man because God will judge and punish sin. Getting ready for the Day of the Lord means recognizing that He is gracious,

good and;

God’s character is such that when we come to Him ‘who knows’ what He might do? He may replace His judgment with a

blessing. We know that James the brother of Jesus writes that ‘every good and

perfect gift comes from the Father’ (James 1:17) and we know that Jesus taught that if

“we who are sinful give good gifts to our kids, what do you think God will do?” (Matt

7:11; Luke 11:13)

He is Generous

Never forget, God is rich! He is rich in grace, He is rich in life, and He is rich in love: He is generous with all that He has! Too many think that God wants to ‘cramp their style’ and ‘take away their fun’ when actually the opposite is true. We will never be ready for His coming until we recognize

the true Character of God.

(for repentance)We are familiar with the call to repent.

John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministry calling people to repent. In Acts 2, the people cried out “what must we do?”

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.

Acts 2:38 NET

3. Accept God’s Call

He didn’t stop proclaiming this message. In Chapter 3, after healing the lame man

he preached again saying, Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins

may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of

the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you — that is,

Jesus. Acts 3:19-20 NET

Jesus’ message rings clear; No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish

as well! Luke 13:3 NET

There is no exception. To look in verse 12 & 13 is to know that God was talking with

His own people.

12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with

fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he

relents from sending calamity.

The TimingThe TurningThe Tearing

He says,“Repent”

and gives us 3 pictures to see;

He says “EVEN NOW.” Paul writes, For he says, "I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I

helped you." (Isaiah 49:8) Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of

salvation! 2 Corinthians 6:2 NET

The Timing

God never says you can, will, or should wait. He says, “Do it now, do it quickly.” Many will respond, “I’ll repent however, I

want to wait.” First of all, if you can wait—it probably won’t be true repentance

because true repentance comes from a broken heart. Generally, no brokenness

equals no repentance.

To turn to God means turning from something. Most of the time it means turning from self. This is not easy or

desirable. Just like you can never turn toward the east without turning your back on the west, you can never turn to God without turning your back on the world.

The Turning

To be a friend of God is to be an enemy of the world (and visa-versa). Maybe this is

why turning to God takes such action.Notice the three participles; fasting,

weeping, and mourning. A participle is the adjective form of a verb. A verb is the

action word and just like turning, all three of these require us to take action. Can you sense the hurt of the heart when you see

weeping and mourning?

I think the act of fasting, weeping and mourning is the bridge which leads to the

“tearing.” In Old Testament days it was common to tear your clothes and dirty

your face to demonstrate your repentance. However, the prophet says, ‘Don’t stop

with your clothes, tear your heart also.’ It is only when we tear our heart that we will

become tender enough to return to the Lord with no excuses.

The Tearing

God calls us to “Get Ready for His coming.” We must be ready in our hearts

and with our lives.In an article for Youth Ministries magazine,

a 14-year veteran of the Navy SEALs describes the color-code system they use

to indicate levels of combat readiness. Each stage has a parallel in spiritual

warfare.

Condition White: The soldier is relaxed and daydreaming, unaware of his

surroundings. A Christian in this condition is easy prey for Satan.

Condition Yellow: The soldier is relaxed physically but alert mentally. A believer at this level may sense trouble coming, but

he’s not ready to confront it.

Condition Orange: The soldier is physically prepared, mentally alert, and

ready to fight. A believer at this stage has on the full armor of God.

Condition Red: As in condition orange, the soldier is ready to fight. The difference is experience. A battle-seasoned Christian knows quickly what to do because of his experience and familiarity with Scripture.

Wherever we as followers of Christ happen to be--at work, in the mall, on a

business trip, even among fellow believers--we need to know about Satan’s

methods and be prepared to resist. He always seems to attack at our most

vulnerable moments. But if we stay alert and armed, we can fend off his most

powerful attacks. --DCE

Which color code describes your spiritual condition?

How have you responded recently to temptation?

Are you studying and obeying God’s Word?

THINKING IT OVER