Good morning, everyone. Let me
add my welcome to Winston's. Glad to see you here. War and
Peace. That's the title of a classic
written by the Russian Leo Tolstoy. I recall from my high school
days seeing that the name of that book on an optional reading
list that we students were required to pick selections from to read. And being a typical teenage boy,
I steer clear of this book because it's as much renowned for its
length as it is for being a classic piece of literature. Well, I've
chosen that title, War and Peace, as the title for today's sermon,
but don't worry, it's not because of its length that I did that.
And while I may have steered clear of exploring the lengthy
novel of that title, you cannot afford to steer clear of the
subject matter that we're going to explore this morning. I hope
to confront everyone who hears this message with the certainty
of a verdict, a verdict that will be issued to each of us
at the final judgment. And it's a verdict of eternal
consequence. That's a long time, forever and
ever. Will God's verdict concerning me, concerning you, will it be
one that finds us remaining in the condition in which we all
start out this life? That's what the scripture says
of us, though we don't recognize it by nature, that we start out
as enemies. at war with God, or will God's
verdict be one that declares that a peace has been made for
you, between you and your Creator? War and peace. We're going to
consider a prophetic passage here found in Joel chapter 3,
verses 9 through 17, which described the final judgment we all will
face. Joel 3 is a prophecy of the final
conflict at the second coming of Christ, that which Many refer
to from the book of Revelation as the Battle of Armageddon.
But contrary to popular belief, this prophecy is not of a physical
battle to be waged, but rather it's a spiritual battle. And
you can study that on your own from Revelation chapter 16. But this battle is a battle that
has already been won for God's people. It was won at the cross. As we heard this morning in the
10 o'clock hour from Isaiah chapter 40, God commanded the prophet
to cry to his people, comfort ye, comfort ye, he said, because
your warfare is accomplished. Before we turn to Joel, I want
you to see that in John chapter 12. Here in John 12, as the hour
of Christ's resurrection, excuse me, his crucifixion neared, he
said this in verse 31. He says, on the cross he's about
to die on, is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince
of this world, speaking of Satan, be cast out. And then as we read
in Hebrews 2.14, for as much then as the children, the children
of God, are partakers of flesh and blood, he, Christ, he also
himself likewise took part of the same. He took into union
with his deity a humanity that he might die, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil. Now that phrase, destroy him,
it doesn't mean he'll completely obliterate him. It's a phrase
that means he will render him powerless. It's clear to us that
God allows Satan's influence to certainly continue in our
day. But the fact is Satan has no
condemning power whatsoever over those who have been reconciled
to God. Those for whom an everlasting
peace was made by Christ's death. His redeeming work for them on
the cross. They all have life in that eternal. The battle for them was won at
the cross. With that, let's look at our
text beginning in verse 9 of Joel 3 where God is speaking
of the future day of judgment, of final judgment. Speaking through
his prophet, he says, Proclaim me this among the Gentiles. Prepare
war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all
the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares
into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak
say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come,
all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about. Thither
calls thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen
be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there
will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." And I want to comment
on these first four verses before we go further. Some believe this
challenge made by God to prepare war is made to God's allies rather
than his enemies, and a case can be made for that. However,
in my study, I became persuaded, as many others are, that this
is spoken in irony to the enemies of God. We'll see, and I think
that in large part because we're going to see in a moment how
a different charge is given to the allies of God, that is, the
host of angels who are at his disposal. So I think God here
is speaking through the prophet in defiance, saying, bring the
best you've got and let's see if it will stand before me, the
almighty God of this universe. And so he tells them to beat
their plows into swords and their pruning hooks. Now pruning hooks
were like scythes or sickles. What I used to call a swing blade
would be similar. He says, beat them into spears.
He's saying, take these peaceful agricultural implements and turn
them into weapons. In essence, bring it on. I think
when God says, let the weak say, I am strong, he's speaking literally
of the weak. He means just that. He's saying,
you're weak, but You think you're strong, so let's see if you'll
be able to stand and persevere in your strength. Now, I chose
this passage because of my curiosity about verse 10 and how it compares
with two other similar passages in which plowshares and swords
and pruning hooks and spears are mentioned. Here in Joel,
we see that God's charge is to beat these farming tools into
weapons. But interestingly, in the other
two passages, it's just the opposite. God's charge is to beat the farming
tools into weapons. No, excuse me. It's the other
way around. I just said that. It's to beat the weapons into
farming tools. And anyway, we'll see that in
a moment. I'll clear that up. And from that's where the idea
for this message came, war and peace. But for now, I want you
to consider seriously with me how Joel chapter 3 is a reminder
of the seriousness of this subject and how devastating this certain
final judgment will be for the enemies of God. And listen now,
most who are enemies of God, many who are enemies of God,
I'll put it that way, they're not aware they are enemies of
God. But according to God's Word,
We all start out in that camp, and I'll show you that scripture
in a moment, allied with Satan, enemies with God. And that's
why God calls on all men everywhere to repent, to have a total reversal
in heart and mind concerning God and how they as enemies,
as he as he makes it known to them how we're enemies, how they
are made his allies, how they are accepted into his camp. Notice
here, too, in our passage that God's command, it's issued to
the men of war, and then it's alongside a command to beat the
peaceful tools into weapons. And I think this pictures the
differences found among these enemies of God. Those who all
face the final judgment without the repentance of God-given faith.
Those still at war see with God when they die, when their fate
is sealed, those without the repentance of God-given faith.
And so their verdict is sealed. And among God's enemies you have
the soldiers, mighty men of war. who are summoned to this battle.
And that reminds me of those who are religious, who are engaged
in the battle, so to speak. Some who are religious who call
themselves Christians, even invoke the name of Christ. But I'm speaking
of those who all the while presume to have made their own peace
with God. They presume to be on his side.
They think they're at peace with God. based upon their having
done something. It may be their act or profession
of faith. It may be their so-called free
will decision for Jesus or it's whatever their particular religion
prescribes. But here's the common denominator.
For the enemies of God, it's always something other than or
something in addition to that which Christ alone accomplished
for the salvation of his people. So you have religious warriors,
and then you have others that aren't very religious who they
might could be likened to the farmer here, busy about their
various occupations, just as farming was the predominant occupation
in those days. They were busy, but not yet really
engaged in the spiritual battle, not seriously delving into the
things of God and eternity. So this might describe those
who are indifferent, or perhaps those who are somewhat religious,
but if and when confronted with the good news we preach here,
that is God's gospel of sovereign grace, whereby they're shown
from God's word how all of salvation's conditions were fully met by
Christ and his obedience unto death. When so confronted, they
choose to just agree to disagree, perhaps, or maybe they shrug
it off as just too deep, too hard to understand. Listen, just
not worth the effort to sort through it all. So they won't
engage in the battle. It may be because they're too
preoccupied with their farming, their occupations, other interests,
taking care of their families, as all responsible adults should
be doing. But listen. No other interest
should be to the neglect of your eternal welfare. Eternity, that's
a long time. This is very serious business.
And here at this certain judgment, see, when it's too late for them,
God defiantly commands them, irresistibly commands them, prepare
for the battle now. Maybe it's a battle you chose
to avoid before, put off for a later time. He says, come you
religious warriors, you bring that which you imagine is done
in your own strength to find you with a favorable verdict,
but also you who have not yet been engaged, you bring the best
you have now as well. You're going to face this judgment
and you're going to be engaged then. Eternal destiny will be
right before our eyes at that point. and you're going to plead
something. He's speaking to those who've
departed this life, sealed their fate as his enemy, whether they
recognized it or not, and whatever it is that enabled them to presume
to come out okay. For the religious warrior, it
may be his dedication to his religion and his church. To the
indifferent, it may be just they're presuming, I'm going to come
out okay because you know, I'm a pretty good guy. But something
regarding how they think they will be judged by God allows
them to delay dealing with that. And I think the picture here
is that this day of judgment, he's saying, okay, present it
now. Pick up your weapon. You cannot avoid this engagement.
And in the first part of verse 11, then God commands the heathen
to gather around. And I agree with many that the
latter part of verse 11 is kind of like an aside comment, whereas
God was speaking through the prophet, now Joel himself interjects
saying, and Lord, you bring your mighty ones down. Most likely
in reference to the host of angels at his beck and call. That's
in keeping with 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul wrote, and look
at this, this drives home the seriousness of this. He wrote
of the time when the Lord would be revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels to take vengeance on those who obeyed not the gospel
of Christ and to punish them with everlasting destruction. And so what started out in verse
11 sounding like a challenge becomes an irresistible summons
is the heathen, it says there, are awakened at the time of Christ's
return. They're raised from the grave
to face this judgment, to come to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Now, Jehoshaphat was the name of a godly king, and many debate
over and try to identify a physical geographical location for the
valley of Jehoshaphat. Spiritual significance is really
found in what that name literally means. The name Jehoshaphat means
the judgment of the Lord. And we're going to see more of
that in the verses that follow because this same valley of Jehoshaphat
we'll see is referred to later as the Valley of Decision or
the Valley of Threshing. One person I read, he referred
to it as Verdict Valley, and I think that's appropriate. You
see, there will be no deciding done there, but rather a verdict
of what our state was before God when we departed this physical
life or when Christ returns, either one still at war or two
at peace with God in Christ. And the scripture here is depicting
God as if he's sitting like a judge in a courtroom. with a warrant
having been issued for all to appear. None will escape this
judgment where God's going to pronounce either guilty, depart
from me, or else innocent, innocent in Christ, accepted in him, the
believer's savior, mediator. And you know, the scripture calls
him the believer's advocate, the lawyer, the lawyer before
the Father who will plead his own precious blood and righteousness
on their behalf. And then as we reach verse 13,
we now see the charge, I think, made to the army of God. As it reads, put ye in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe. Come get you down, for the press
is full. The vats overflow, for their
wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be
darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord
also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem
and the heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will
be the hope of his people and the strength of the children
of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling
in Zion, my holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy,
and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore. With
that first verse there, verse 13 in mine of Joel 3, look with
me at Matthew 13. There Christ had just related
now the parable of the wheat and the tares. Now a tare is
a weed that looks like a weed, grows up with a weed, but it's
not weed. And as you know, parables use
earthly things to describe spiritual truths. And so after he had told
the parable, the disciples asked the Lord to explain the symbols,
explain that parable. And so beginning in verse 37,
he answered and he said unto them, he that soweth the good
seed is the son of man, referring to himself, Christ. He said,
the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the
kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The
enemy that sowed them the tares is the devil. And look at this,
the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the
angels. So back in Joel 3.13, it would
appear this charge is directed to the reapers, God's angels.
This is the time of harvest, and the charge is made to the
reapers, the angels, the same angels that the book of Revelation
says will pour out the vows of God's wrath. You know, we don't
like, people often will refer to a message like this as if
it's a hellfire and brimstone thing, and we don't like hearing
these things, but we need to be confronted with them because
of the seriousness of the subject. Often the wine press, as it's
used here in scripture, is a symbol of God's wrath. Before the holiness
of God, it said, see, of both the religious who trust in their
own might, as well as the indifferent, irreligious. We see the picture
here of how they all shall be crushed as grapes in the wine
press of God's holy wrath. Now why? I mean, You know, I
know a lot of good people who would fit this description, who
trust in their own strength and their own might. And truly, I
mean people as we measure people, salt of the earth, good people.
Now, is God then unreasonable in being dissatisfied with them?
No. You see, as it reads here, because
their wickedness is great. Now, our problem is it's complicated
by the fact that in our natural state, as we're born into this
world at enmity with God, apart from the new birth in God's grace
to believe his gospel, multitudes will face this judgment unaware
of their wickedness. We think of wickedness as being
murder, thieves who steal, the heinous
crimes that we picture when we think of evil. But there's another
type of evil that comes forth from God's Word that we'll look
at here in a moment. We're just not convinced by nature
of sin. We know we make some mistakes,
we do some things wrong, but not of the total depravity before
the holiness of God. of our desperate need for a righteousness. And when I say that, I'm speaking
of a perfect righteousness, a perfection before God who's holy and who
cannot accept anything less in his presence, a perfection we
cannot produce. We do not see by nature the need
for the perfect righteousness of the Savior to be put to our
account. Our need to have been made one
in Christ accepted in him, having not a righteousness of our own,
not of our own strength, but his very righteousness made to
be mine. Then in verse 14, we're told
that the multitudes will be summoned to this valley of Jehoshaphat,
here called this valley of decision or threshing. It says multitudes,
multitudes. Multitudes of the enemies who
died while remaining at war with God, although, as I've said,
many will not have recognized it during their lifetime on earth.
And then multitudes of the saved for whom peace has been made,
whose warfare has been accomplished. Those who during their respective
lifetimes were providentially, by God's grace, brought to hear
and embrace this preached gospel of peace. They learned of how
an everlasting peace had been made for them by the doing and
dying of Christ, the Prince of Peace. And so all will face this
final judgment as denoted here by this gathering in the Valley
of Jehoshaphat. Remember that word means the
judgment of the Lord or what's now called the Valley of Decision.
Your Bible may have the same reference mine does showing that
that word decision actually is a word that means concision as
in cutting or threshing. The picture is that of the old
threshing floor where they would gather the wheat, they would
separate the weeds, the tares from the wheat and bind it up
and all would be left is the dust on the floor. This is where
the wheat and the tares are separated, where the enemies of God will
be cut down as they face the sickle of God's wrath. God, being holy and just, he
must pour out his wrath upon all sin. As our former pastor
last week spoke about how unlike a civil judge in our society
who may take the first offender and say, well, this is your first
offense. Even though you're guilty, I'm going to let you off this
time. God being perfect and holy and just, that's a perversion
of justice. And God cannot do that. He must
pour out His wrath upon all sin to stay consistent with the perfection,
the holiness of all His attributes. And those who remain at enmity,
enemies at the judgment, they're going to experience His wrath
as they're sentenced to an everlasting separation from God and the torment
of hell. But did you know this? God's
wrath is also poured out on all sin, on the sins of all those
for whom peace was made. In fact, that's how their peace
was made. God's wrath was poured out on
their substitute and surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly
took on the guilt of all their sins and died on the cross to
provide for them an everlasting righteousness, that is a perfect
satisfaction before God's bar of justice. A satisfaction, a
righteousness which God has graciously imputed or charged to their accounts,
just as He imputed or charged to Christ's accounts, their sins
that He might bear the penalty due unto them. You see there
in verse 15 it speaks of the sun and the moon being darkened,
the stars not shining. I think, as some do, that this
may literally take place as God's wrath is poured out at that time,
and I think that because it took place when His wrath was poured
out on Christ at His crucifixion. You remember how there were three
hours of darkness? Regardless, for sure we know
this, it will be a dark day for all those who fall under His
just wrath, when they shall be cast, as the Scripture says,
into outer darkness. cut off from all comfort and
joy. Verse 16 speaks of how the Lord
shall roar out of Zion, and here Zion, as it often does in Scripture,
represents His church, all true believers, the dwelling place
of God. The Scripture refers to Christ,
you know, the promised Messiah, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
and here He's depicted as the all-powerful, whose roar and
voice shall be heard from Jerusalem. And again, Jerusalem here, as
elsewhere in Scripture, is referring not to the physical city in Israel,
but to the heavenly city of Jerusalem. Can you imagine how devastating
and frightening that roar will be to the multitudes who have
been summoned to this battle, the ones who shall perish? But
I want you to look at the end of this verse. This is good news.
This same all-powerful line is going to be manifested as the
strength and the hope of his people, spiritual Israel. Those see chosen just like that
nation was under the old covenant, Israel, but that which they typified
is spiritual Israel, those chosen from all nations unto eternal
deliverance. And the word hope there, that
designates a place of repair, as in those whose sin problem
has been fixed. It's been taken care of. It denotes
a safe harbor from the storm of God's wrath. And notice it's
their hope. How do we know who's going to
be in this camp? Well, it has been made all their desire as
it pertains to their salvation. Because see, God's people are
those who, under the sound of this, his gospel of grace, were
convinced before they left this lifetime of their wickedness,
of their deserveness of God's wrath. And so they're brought
to see the necessity of Christ's work for them, of being made
one with the sinless Christ, so as to be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of their own, but having His as their
own. And notice that Christ is their strength. I think that's
in contrast to what we read back in verse 10, to the weak, there
when God says and defines, you who are truly weak, you go ahead
and say now you're strong. Let's see how that will measure
up. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12,
he said, when I am weak, then I am, then am I strong. See,
God's people see their own weakness as they're brought to see all
the strength they need in Christ. And then in verse 17, God declares
they shall know him dwelling in Zion, his church, which he
calls his holy mountain. Then he says Jerusalem. This
is again not referring to the physical city in Israel, but
referring to all true believers everywhere from every age. He
says Jerusalem will be holy. Wow, sinners like me and you
are counted holy. having the holiness, the righteousness
of Christ imputed, put to their account. And you know, as viewed
in their substitute and their representative, they are and
they always have been holy in Him, in God's sight. Paul told
the believers that at Colossae, beginning in Colossians 1.20,
he said, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Now there
it is, the cross of Christ. That's how peace was made for
those whose hope is in him. By him to reconcile all things
unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and look at this, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death. To present you you otherwise
wicked sinners." You know, as judged in them, they're no less
wicked than what we read there in Joel 3 when he said, great
was the wickedness of those who would perish. But he says, he
will present you in the body of his flesh through death, holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Jerusalem's going
to be holy. You former enemy, see, he's saying
you have his perfection put to your account. And then at the
end of verse 17, we see the finality of it all as he adds, there shall
no strangers pass through her anymore. It's over. Only those
found holy in Christ shall remain. The tares will have been identified,
cut down, and separated from the wheat. And in God's true
church, there'll be no more false doctrine, no more confusion within
its professing ranks. They will all, from every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, they'll all have one mind in
Christ. And their mind will be this,
as we read in Joel 3. He will be their hope and their
strength. Now, my hope is this message
on this subject will awaken men and women in this lifetime, awaken
us to the urgency to come to grips with how we as sinners
must be found holy if we're going to be included in this eternally
blessed camp, this holy, heavenly Jerusalem. See, when the time
of Joel 3 arrives, it's too late. In Hebrews 9, beginning in verse
27, we read, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, your days
are numbered and mine are too, just as sure as that day is appointed
after this, the judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, that
is those, see, whose hope is in him, and his offering for
their sins, shall he appear the second time without sin and to
salvation. Christ's glorious return will
be without sin. See, he got the job done when
he died for those sins, when he bore them away at Calvary,
The perfect satisfaction of His precious blood offering put them
away. The Bible says it put them away
as far as the east is from the west. He bore the full wrath
that was justly due under those sins. And God says, I'll remember
them no more. So flee to this crisis your hope
for salvation. Forsake the distractions of this
world that will have you put off dealing with it. forsake
the natural religion of us all, whereby we initially try to think
we can make our own peace with God, and here's where the wickedness
of that lies, okay, that we, men, we just can't see by nature.
We were attempting, it's to imagine that we can do that which took
and which only his precious blood could and did accomplish for
all who are saved. Don't place any work of your
hand in rivalry with the precious blood offering of Christ. Consider this picture. Here in
Joel, we have among the enemies a mighty man of war, which I,
as I've suggested, I think can be likened to lost religionists.
And you know, it's really tragic for those who are sincere, who
leave this world thinking they are at peace with God, but only
to hear the words such as those spoken by Christ in Matthew 7,
beginning in verse 22, when he says, many will say to me in
that day, he's speaking of the day of judgment, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? We're talking about preachers
who preached in the name of Christ. And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, And then
while I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity." I don't think there's any sadder words
in scripture. But they're just. Here are the
practice of their religion. What they sincerely thought was
good, which would commend them to God. God calls iniquity, He
calls it sin. iniquity, that which is inequitable. You see, inequitable with what
he requires. It does not measure up the very
best of men. None of us measure up to the
perfect righteousness needed to be found acceptable before
a holy God. And then we've also seen there
will be the irreligious who will be drafted into this spiritual
battle at the judgment. There won't be any draft dodgers.
They can't put it off any longer, but who must bring whatever it
was that caused them perhaps to just not give it much thought
or not be seriously interested in those matters. You know, the
weapon of choice may be the calculation. You know, if so and so, who everybody
says if anybody's going to heaven, he or she is, you know, if they're
okay, then I know deep down, I'm just as good, in some ways
I may even be better than they are, so I must be alright." Listen,
the outwardly righteous among men is not the standard. These preachers of Matthew 7,
they brought their very best, but it won't measure up either.
Read Matthew 5 where Christ declared in his Sermon on the Mount that,
except your righteousness exceed the scribes and Pharisees, they
were considered the best of the best, perhaps the most moral
men who ever lived on earth. Except your righteousness exceeds
theirs, you'll not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And at
the end of the chapter, he tells us just how far it has to exceed
theirs. How much better do we have to
be? Be ye therefore perfect. even as your Father, which is
in heaven, is perfect. You must be found just as righteous,
just as perfect in obeying all the revealed will of God, listen,
not only in deed, but in thought, in purity of motive, and that
from the day you were born until the day you die, just as perfect
as the impeccable Son of God was when He walked on this earth. in perfect, sinless obedience
to God the Father. In Acts 17 31 that we often look
at, it declares that it's His righteousness by which all shall
be judged. And you and I can't produce that
righteousness. You must have righteousness.
You gotta have the merit of His doing and dying graciously put
to your account. Whoa, if I believe that, then
there's nothing I can do to be safe. I'm truly at the mercy
of God. Right, that's right. You truly
are. But you know what? If you come to see that, if that's
what you must have, you're one of the mercy beggars then for
whom God has been gracious and shown mercy in Christ, because
we won't get there unless we're one of them, for whom that gift
of faith was purchased by his shed blood for us on Calvary.
So let's review just a bit. Remember now, I said we all start
out in Satan's camp, allied with him. Enemies with God. You see how the gospel is at
the great level of us all? There's no room for boasting
in this gospel. Ephesians 1 and elsewhere clearly
teaches that we all are born as spiritually dead sinners.
So we begin here on earth void of the spiritual mind, as Paul
calls it in Romans 8. Void of the mind of those who
truly have spiritual life. the spiritual faculties to discern
the things of God. Scripture says the natural man
cannot know the things of God because they're spiritually discerned. If we're born dead, dead people
can't see, can't hear. They can't know. Instead, we
begin with what Paul calls in Romans 8, a carnal mind. And
he says of that natural state in verse 7, that the carnal mind
is enmity against God. That means that hatred with enemies
of God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be." The Bible declares of us
that we start out as enemies. We don't think of ourselves that
way, do we, initially? We're not subject to the strictness
and the standard of perfection required by God, and we can't
even see our need for that because we're spiritually dead, void
of spiritual sight. As Christ told Nicodemus, we
must be born again, born of the Spirit, given the spiritual and
eternal life, listen, which Christ purchased for everyone for whom
he died on Calvary's cross. Now, the enemies cited in Joel
3, whether they're religious or indifferent, they're those
who remain in this state of spiritual blindness until it's too late,
found there at the final judgment. And God commands them, as we've
seen in defiance at that time, to beat their tools into weapons,
to bring their best, even though it won't prevail. That battle's
already been won. Their warfare for those who are
saved was accomplished at Calvary. And I mentioned that plowshares,
swords, pruning hooks, and spears are mentioned two other times
in scripture, and the context in which they appear is very
important. We've established that the context here of Joel
3 is the day of final judgment. But in the other two instances,
the context is what is called the last days. That means the
gospel or church age, the time between the first coming of Christ
and his second coming. And that's the time we all live
in today. in which the gospel sees now gone out to all the
world, the gospel that God uses to call his sheep spiritual Israel. So during this age, see, it's
no longer confined as it was in picture and type under that
old mosaic economy to the nation Israel. that temporal covenant
that Christ abolished by accomplishing it, by fulfilling all that it
pictured and prophesied. All those lambs that were slain
on the altars, they were picturing the blood of Christ, the Lamb
of God. First look with me in Isaiah
2, 4. We read, and he, the Lord, shall judge among the nations.
Now this judgment is by the preached gospel going out to the Gentiles.
Remember he told his disciples, they that believe it will be
saved and they that believe not shall be damned. And he says,
and he shall rebuke. Now that means convince, call
to repentance, many people. And these that are called to
repentance, they shall beat their swords in the plowshares. and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword
against a nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." You
see, their animosity that is so often seen between the nation
Israel and all of their Gentile enemies. That won't exist anymore. They'll be one in Christ. Sinners
will lay down their weapons by which they oppose God. They'll
no longer take sides with Satan. They will surrender to the truth
of the gospel of God's grace. See in their need, see for the
peace that only Christ could and did establish for them, and
they're going to enter into that peace. How can you again know
if you're one of those in his camp for whom he lived and died?
Well, Christ said, I'm the good shepherd. I give my life for
the sheep." And he said, but my sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. See, it's those whose hope is placed solely in Him. And
you won't do that, I wouldn't do that, we can't do that, unless
and until we're given the blood-bought gift of faith. As Romans 10.4
teaches, Christ is the end, the completion, or fulfillment the
finishing of the law for righteousness, the righteousness we all need
to everyone that believeth. Is he your fulfillment of the
law, of the righteousness we all need? Is that the righteousness
you must have? He is for every true believer.
There's an almost identical prophecy to Isaiah 2 found in Micah 4.3. And in the interest of time,
I'm not going to read that. You can see it there on the screen.
But it's the same truth. It says that one difference there,
it speaks of how they shall be, he'll rebuke strong nations afar
off. And I think that's referring
to, again, how we all by nature trust in our own strength, but
who now become convinced of the futility of that as they beat
their swords into plowshares. As we read in Joel 3, Christ
shall be their hope and strength. So to recap, we all begin life's
journey as enemies of God, but at some stage, either now or
at the judgment, we're going to be engaged, engaged in a battle
against Him. And you know, if you're religious
at all, I want you to consider how our first religious thoughts
involve warring with God in opposition to His way of salvation. And
hear me out. seriously consider our eternal
destiny. Our initial thoughts go something
like this, don't they? I want to be saved. What do I
need to do in order to be saved? Isn't that a natural question?
It's a question the Philippian jailer asked. But do you see
embodied in that question is a deadly assumption, assumption
that you can do something to be saved. And that's diametrically
opposed to God's glory and salvation. His way of salvation is set forth
in the gospel of salvation by grace, favor you cannot merit. God's gospel teaches us from
Romans 3.20 that by the deeds of the law, by our doing, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. That means by our
doing, none will be declared just, not guilty, For by the
law is the knowledge of sin. Those truly convinced by God
the Holy Spirit come to see his strict requirement for holiness,
of the need for perfect righteousness that they as sinners are helpless
to produce. But you know, they only see that
as they hear of and submit to the perfect righteousness Christ
established by his doing and dying. You know, that's the righteousness
that Paul said is revealed in the gospel that is the power
of God unto salvation to all who believe it. Christ perfectly
obeyed the Father as He walked on this earth without sin, and
He perfectly satisfied the justice of God for all those sinners
He represented by His substitutionary death for them on the cross,
where through, as we've read, the shedding of His precious
blood He paid in full the just penalty due unto all their sins,
all for whom He lived and died. And just as sure as sins demanded
His death, righteousness demanded His life, and it demanded it
for all those for whom He lived and died. So we all start out
as enemies. Sadly, multitudes will face this
judgment still at enmity with God. But what about those others?
Let's look at the positive side. The multitudes in that day of
judgment gathered in Verdict Valley that are described as
those who found their hope and strength in Christ and His righteousness
alone. It says they are holy. They're
holy in Him. I guess you could say they visited
the blacksmith before it was too late. They had already beaten
their swords into plows in this lifetime, rather than tragically
hearing the irresistible command to do just the opposite as they
faced the judgment. So these eternally blessed of
God, they've laid down their weapons. They've seen they had
no strength to make peace, but they see the perfect peace. the
eternal reconciliation made for them by their substitute and
their savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a judgment
to face. And listen, whatever, ask yourself
this, whatever you believe will make the difference in your receiving
a favorable verdict, that identifies your hope. Where you've placed
your trust, is it in your own strength? Is it like it used
to be for me? Because I thought I made a decision
or a choice that others wouldn't. Is it because you presumed to
maybe somehow made your own peace with God? Maybe because you,
unlike others, decided, as so many are often apt to say, you
accepted Jesus as your personal savior, something others wouldn't
do. Or is it because you figure, I just measure up pretty good
in comparison to other sinners, you know? Surely I'm going to
be okay. Or will you be found among those
who truly trust in the Lord, resting solely in what He accomplished
for you, the righteousness and peace that He established for
you by His perfect obedience unto death? Will you be found
at the judgment at war with God, beating plows into swords, or
will you be among those who find their hope, strength, and peace
in Christ alone, having already beaten their swords into plows,
before it's too late? At the judgment, there's going
to be two groups. One still at war with God, the other with
a perfect, everlasting peace. War and peace. And which group
will you be found?