May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Joel and the second chapter, and we'll read verse
21. The prophecy of Joel, chapter
two, and reading verse 21. Fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice. For the Lord will do great things. Clearly, Israel of old had reason
to fear. And so the Lord came and spoke
these words, fear not. And I'm sure that the church
of God on many occasions have reason to fear. To fear the judgment
of God. To fear his wrath upon us. And
in such situations, to be brought, as the word indicates here, to
a condition where the Lord would say then, fear not. And as we
read such an account as this, such a word did not just come,
as it were, in a haphazard way. It came to people after the Lord
had spoken to them through His prophet. That was a divine way. In Old Testament times, the Lord
generally spoke through His prophets. And He'd spoken to them. of the judgments which were to
come upon the land. And the Lord still today speaks
of judgments. And there are judgments. And
Israel on so many occasions deserved God's judgments. And so today,
not only our nation deserves judgments, which it does, so
do we. individually. We cannot lift
ourselves up and say, well of course it doesn't apply to me. Because when the Lord shines
his light into our hearts, perhaps only in a small measure, it reveals
to us things that perhaps we never thought were there, or
in any event never really considered, that in fact they were not in
agreement with the way of God and the things of God, and we
were indulging in things which would not profit, indulging in
things which would draw us away from God. And so to be warned
of a situation like that, and here was Joel commanded to blow
the trumpet in Zion. Yes, in the church, amongst the
people of God, that's where the trumpet was to be blown so that
they would hear. It wouldn't just pass over them.
We have the word of God, don't we? What a blessing it is, and
how often we pass over it. We read accounts like this in
Joel. Perhaps we don't read accounts
like this in Joel, but anyway, if we do, we will see the solemn
state that God's people are brought into. And in that condition,
the Lord brings his mercy to bear. But that mercy is brought
about in this way. As it was on this occasion, the
people were brought to a place of repentance. And what a mercy
for you and me today, if the Lord has or does or will bring
us into a place of repentance. And that place only comes, of
course, when we are before God. And the Spirit of God shines
into our hearts and we observe there the sin which dwells within. We won't then be looking around
and casting stones at others and saying, well, you should
do this and you should do that. You see, we'll be convicted in
our own heart. You know, we remember that parable
that the Lord spoke. It wasn't a parable, it was an
occasion when those people that brought that woman had taken
an adultery. And they wanted God, the Lord,
to judge her. And what did the Lord say? Well,
he looked at them all and he said, who have not sinned amongst you,
those who have sinned, let him cast the first stone. Of course
they all went out. They all realised they were guilty. It's a good thing when the Spirit
of God convicts us of our guilt. What does it do? It lowers us
in our own estimation. On the other hand, what does
it do? It raises the Lord up in our
estimation because of his great mercy. and His great favour and
His great blessing in not dealing with us as our sins deserve. Well, in this second chapter,
having pointed out the judgements which would come upon Israel,
it would appear the judgements were in the form of locusts the
Lord sent to them. And then we read, Therefore also
now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart. Simple statement, isn't it? It's
a very deep statement, because it's very easy for us not to
turn with all our heart. By nature, our hearts are divided. We find our hearts are very prone
to listening to the cunning devices and attacks, we might say, of
the evil one, the devil, who will endeavour to turn us away
from the things of God and in any event to perhaps intimate
to us, well, you can serve God but you can also do this and
you can also do that. And what is the result? The result
is that our hearts are divided. So we have this word here, therefore
also now, saith the Lord. It's good, isn't it, to read
a word like that. It doesn't say, well, think about
it, in a year or so's time you can just repent. No, he says, therefore also now,
we're told. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. It's a great blessing when the
Lord comes and causes us to act, causes us to fall down before
God. We don't have to fall down before
people. We fall down before God. And so the prophet is instructed
to speak in this way. Therefore also now, says the
Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning. These things don't come naturally.
These things are the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord
enables us to fast, that means to turn away from the things
of the flesh. And that means to come with weeping
and mourning. That means true sorrow for our
sin. Firstly, we don't like to acknowledge
we've been doing wrong things. And so it is of the Lord's mercies,
therefore, that we are not consumed. It's of the Lord's mercies. Because
his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great
is his faithfulness." What a faithful God we have. How unfaithful we
are, so often. And here we have gracious words
to encourage us. The Lord doesn't leave his people
in a vacuum. He directs us in a right way. A way which we know in our heart
is the right way. and how good it is when the Lord
gives us that grace and that strength and that desire. Naturally
we don't have a desire to live and walk a holy life, but a blessing
in God gives us a desire to live unto the Lord and not unto ourselves. And so here we have this statement.
Therefore also now, don't forget that, saith the Lord, no one
else. It's God speaking, and when God
speaks, you and I should tremble, shouldn't we? It's not just the
voice of a man. It's not just the words of a
man. It's the voice and the word of Almighty God. Therefore also
now, saith the Lord, turn ye. even to me." Clearly the inference
is that we have not been looking to the Lord. We have not been
following the Lord. We have not been observing his
gracious words. We've been turned away from the
Lord. Israel had turned away from the
Lord. Many times serve we. Therefore, what a mercy to know
that we have a compassionate God. And so he instructs us here
in these words, turn ye even to me. No one else turns to the
Lord. And with all our heart, and with
fasting and with weeping and with mourning. It's quite a vivid
picture, isn't it? We might say, well, it's quite
a demanding position. Well, God gives grace and God
gives more grace. What a favour that is. And then
you see the Prophet goes on to direct us. It would seem hear that the Blessed
Spirit directs us to the deceitfulness of our own heart. And therefore
he says, and rend your heart and not your garments. It's not
just an outward appearance, just perhaps to try and impress
people. No, it's an inward dealing of
the Holy Spirit. within us. It's rending our heart. God sees. God knows. God tells us, rend your heart
and not your garments. And he comes again and says,
and turn unto the Lord your God. I suppose we would think, what
an obvious statement. So it is. My friends, how we
need to be reminded of it, how we need to be instructed of it,
how easily we turn in a wrong way, how easily we turn from
the right way, how easily our minds are affected and afflicted,
and we do not do that with all our heart. We may do it with
some of our heart, What a mercy when God comes and gives us the
strength and the desire to do just this, to rend our heart
so our heart is open to receive the gracious instruction from
our God. We haven't got a closed heart
that turns away, doesn't want to hear the Word of God. What a blessing. The Lord enables
us to open our heart to the Lord. What does that really mean? Pour out our heart in prayer
to our God. Confess our sins. Confess our
shortcomings. Yes, to rend our hearts. Well,
it's a mercy when you and I are blessed with a spirit of prayer
as we come in a right way, a spirit of contrition, a spirit of repentance. It's God that does this and it's
very humbling and yet it's a wonderful evidence of God's love toward
us in inclining us to come to our God in this way. Rending
our heart, opening our hearts, and turning unto the Lord, our
God. You might think it's obvious,
but you need the grace of God to do that. And you can bless
God when we receive it. And what's the result? We say,
like the prophet, for he is gracious and merciful. He hasn't dealt with us as we
deserve, as our sins deserve. He hasn't cut us off as a cumbra
of the ground. He is gracious and merciful. What a blessing that is, isn't
it? If it wasn't so, we wouldn't be here, would we? The Lord is
good. For he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."
Now, do we know something then of the great kindness of our
God? Well, if the Lord has been gracious
to us and turned us, enabled us to rend our heart, enabled
us not to just be concerned about rending our garments, and to
recognize the Lord has drawn us aside so that there is that
fasting and weeping and with mourning. It is because the Lord
is gracious. It is because the Lord is merciful
and thankfully for us, slow to anger. You look back in your life, Surely
we've deserved the anger of God. And yet, we haven't received
it. Slow to anger. This is our God. And of great kindness. Not a
little kindness. Great kindness. Great is the
Lord. And great is kindness. And what
a favour it is, When the Lord comes then and blesses us in
this way. Now, these things are not the
things that describe a person who just has an out religion,
just a whited sepulcher, just something which appears to be
alright. This is the dealings of the Lord with the soul, that
which is innermost. That which people don't see outwardly,
but God comes and deals with us. And what is it? It's an evidence
of his love toward us. It's an evidence. He hasn't left
us to ourselves to wander on to the broad way and to end up
in destruction. It's because he's watching over
us as the good shepherd. Yes, he's looking after us, how
humbling, how undeserving we are. And yet, here we have this
glorious God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness,
and repenteth him of the evil. And then he says, who knoweth
if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him,
even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God. The Lord turns these situations
into times of blessing and that blessing is in this way. We realise how good the Lord
has been and how humbling it is to us. We haven't received
that which we deserved. No, what a favour it's been. And so we can thank God for his
goodness and mercy. And then the prophet comes on
and says, again, blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. and call a solemn assembly. Now, such a situation is not
worldly entertainment. Such a situation is that which
is godly, and that which is holy, and that which is God-honouring.
And so, there is a call. A call from God. The trumpet
sounds. And that sound tells us that
we might be sanctified. That means to be made holy and
that we may indeed fast, seeking only the blessing of the Lord
and gathering together in a solemn assembly. And it's good to see
how the Lord then calls His gathering. It's inclusive. He tells us,
assemble the elders, the children, and those that suck the breast,
the babies, the little ones. They're all to be gathered, the
bridegroom and the bride. They're all to come to this solemn
assembly. We're not to leave any outside.
It's easily done, isn't it? Well, this is the Word of God. This is the encouraging Word
of God. This is the direction that we
should be found walking in. You see, the Lord has described
the condition and now He said, blow the trumpet in Zion. This
is what should be done. This is what the people should
hear. And then He tells us that the
priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch
and the altar And let them say, spare the people, O Lord, and
give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen shall rule over
them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their
God? Oh, my friends, we don't want
to be left so that there's no evidence that God is with us. We don't want to be in such a
situation so people say, well, where is their God? It's a blessing when there is
the evidence that we are serving the true God, the living God. And more than that, we are in
communion and union with our God. And that's what we desire
and pray for and seek after, communion with God. Indeed, fellowship
with the Lord. You know the Apostle Paul, as
we often refer to it, it's worth referring to again when he wrote
of course that epistle to the Philippians. He spoke of this
great blessing and this great favour which was so needful and
he tells us that I may know him. This was the desire of the Apostle. Surely Paul knew him. Of course
he did. He wanted to know him more. And
that's the sign. And that's the evidence of liveliness
in our souls. Here was the apostle setting
before us a good example that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death." There's a few words there, but
there's great depth in them. And to the true living child
of God, to be found in desiring to walk in this way, and to be
blessed therefore in this time of true worship. This is really what the church
was directed to in those verses. The worship of God. Does our worship fall far short? Perhaps it does. Does our heart desire spiritual
health, spiritual liveliness, I hope it does. Where is it found
in desires like this? Where is it found in enjoying
answers to such desires, such prayers as this? Here was what
the Apostle said when he began this third chapter. I know there
weren't chapters in the original, but he does say, finally my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. And you and I, by the grace of
God, will rejoice in the Lord when he graciously comes and
blesses us with this favour of knowing him, the power of his
resurrection. That was to raise the dead to
life. The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
Yes, union with Christ. to appreciate and understand
something of what it cost the Lord of life and glory to redeem
our souls and in that position to walk with the Saviour. To the flesh is not a pleasant
path. Remember the flesh dislikes the
way but faith approves it well. Because it draws us to the Saviour. We're healthy in our soul. We're
enjoying union with Christ. Fellowship. We talk about fellowship,
don't we? Here is true, real, blessed fellowship. And the Apostle Paul knew the
value of it. Fellowship. of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. Conformable unto his death. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit inclines our heart to follow and desire a path like
this. You see these words were not
written in a haphazard way. They were by the Holy Spirit
instructing us today in our little life. And so he tells us, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He wanted to be amongst those
who were truly spiritually alive. And as you read the testimony
of the Apostle, as he writes his letters to those churches,
how encouraging and how direct he is. And what do we see? Time
and again, Christ crucified. What do we see? Time and again,
the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessing of
true worship. And indeed, when he wrote to
the Corinthians in the first chapter, he tells us, for the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. He's directing
us here to the death of the Saviour, the power of God. Oh what a wonderful
thing it is if you and I are drawn therefore to this great
truth, the power, the power of the cross, the power of the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, yes. Without it, without his death,
without shedding of blood, there's no remission, there's no forgiveness.
Oh, ponder it. Desire to be there. And so we're
thankful that we have such words as this. Let the priests, the
ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, and
let them say, spare the people, O Lord, and give not thine inheritance
to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore
should they say among the people, where is their God? Oh, may it
be evident in our life that we do know our God and that we are
following our God and our life testifies to the truth of religion,
the truth of the grace of God, the truth of his love, the truth
of his mercy. Then will the Lord be jealous
for his land and pity his people. You see, when the Lord brings
us into these situations, grants us the wonderful favour of repentance,
the wonderful desire to be Christ-like, then you see, then will the Lord
be jealous for his land and pity his people. Yes, he will pity
us. He remembers that we're dust.
What a mercy that is. Yea, the Lord will answer and
say unto his people, behold, I will send you corn and wine
and oil, spiritual food, spiritual food, my friends, the wine and
oil and corn, spiritual blessings, which are to be found in Christ
and Christ alone. And ye shall be satisfied therewith. And I will no more make you reproach
among the heathen." Well, it's a great blessing, isn't it, when
the Lord pours forth a blessing and grants us, as it were, a
feast of fat things, well refined on the lees. The blessings of
God, the truth of God, the wisdom of God, and they all flow together.
And we rejoice in what God has done. And then you see, He says, I will
remove far off from you the northern army and will drive him into
a land barren and desolate. Now, as I said earlier, this
probably had an application to those pests, the locusts, et
cetera, which came upon the land. But it has, of course, also a
deep spiritual condition and reference to us today, the Lord
will remove far off from us, yes, the Northern Army, those
things which bring coldness into our souls. To have them removed
by the Spirit of God, yes, you'll need that. You'll need the Lord
to remove things which make us cold and hard in our spirits. As the Lord brings it, it's all
for his honour and glory. We come and realise it's all
of his grace from beginning to end. That's why we bow down and
worship the Lord and praise his name for that which he has done. I will remove far off from you
the northern army and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,
with his face toward the East Sea, and his hind apart toward
the utmost sea. And his stink shall come up,
and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great
things." And that, of course, was great things in an evil way,
not great things in a good way, great things in an evil way.
But now, now, what does the Lord say? Fear not. We have the background,
we have the direction, we have the word of the Lord's toward
us. And now he says, fear not, O land, fear not, the people
of God, fear not. Not only fear not, be glad and
rejoice. For the Lord will do great things. There is here a gracious anticipation. What does it mean? It means that
God gives us faith to pray in faith, believing the Lord will
hear, the Lord will draw near, he will draw us, he will feed
our souls, he will lead us unto himself. Fear not, O land, be glad and
rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Well, we need the
Lord. We need the Lord to do great
things. And my friends, the great things
the Lord does is to reveal Christ to us, to lead us into all truth
as it is in Jesus, to draw us away from all the temptations
of this vain world and draw us unto himself. This, you see,
will make us glad and rejoice. We'll be thankful. The Lord is
such a gracious God. The Lord is such a merciful God.
And to realize that he will do right things And if the Lord has given us
true prayer, and that's a wonderful gift. And it's not often that
God's people are granted a spirit of prevailing prayer. We pray
and it's right to pray. But sometimes the Holy Spirit
enables us, as it were, to break through. And we enter in through the Saviour
to the holy place. Now then, when the Lord gives
us such prayers, the answer to those prayers, without doubt,
will be for the honour and glory of God. And also, without doubt, you
and I will be very humbled to realize that unworthy sinners
we are, vile sinner, wicked sinner. The Lord has looked upon us. He smiled upon us. Why? Because he's seen his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who's died for us. He's seen that we are clean through
Him. Yes, we are indeed one of the
beloved, beloved of the Saviour, one of His children, those for
whom He gave His life. What a wonderful blessing it
is to realise that the great God enables us to come to the
Holy Father through our blessed High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a beautiful picture in
the Old Testament of the High Priest entering in to the holy
place on that Day of Atonement, not without blood. And my friends, you and I today,
cannot enter into the holy place without the blood of Jesus. There is a passport into the
holy place, redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ. That's the way of entry. And
as you and I are able to come in that right way, When the way
is opened, the Spirit of God enables us
to cry unto Him. We enter in and it's through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is precious. Jesus must be precious. There's no other name. given
under heaven whereby we must be saved. The name of Jesus suits
us well. So, fear not, not because of
anything that we've done, but we can fear not because of the
evidence of God's gracious work in our heart, which has strengthened
us and inclined us to follow such a way that we've outlined
this evening. Fear not. Good words, aren't
they? Encouraging words. How many fear
nots there are in the word of God? We need them. We're thankful
for them because we know that naturally we do need to fear.
Fear not because Christ has died. He rather is risen again. and
is now ascending up on high, having led captivity captive
and received gifts from men, yea, for the rebellious also. Yes, rebellious, as the hymn
writer says, rebellious thou hast been and art rebellious
still, but since in love I took thee in, my promise I'll fulfill. We can rely on the promises of
God. Here is a promise. Fear not,
O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Well, may you and I be witnesses
to the truth of such a word and to pray and to watch for his
appearing and to fear not and to be encouraged by his word
and to seek for that grace to be found walking in the way outlined
this evening. Blessed with true godly repentance
and be found looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Amen.