We turn to God's Word in the
Old Testament, the book of the prophet Joel. In Joel chapter
2 and reading from verse 28 through to the end of the chapter, Joel
chapter 2, verses 28 to 32. And it shall come to pass afterward
that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and
upon the handmaidens in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant
whom the Lord shall call." The theme that's set before us
then in this passage is that of the promise of the Holy Spirit
and all that accompanies the fulfillment of that promise,
the call of God's grace, the ministry of the Gospel. We see it of course fulfilled
in the chapter that we read there in Acts chapter 2 and especially
of course at verse 17 following where Peter in the course of
his preaching makes specific reference to this passage that
we just read and speaks of the Word of God there on the day
of Pentecost having its glorious fulfillment. And so, considering
tonight this portion, to say something with regards to this
promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now, let me just make
some general remarks with regards to the content of the book, this
prophecy of Joel. We have promise of material blessing
back in the earlier part of the chapter at verse 18 and the following
verses look at what it says then at verse 24 the floor shall be
full of wheat and the fat shall overflow with wine and oil, and
I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten the
canker worm and the caterpillar and the palmer worm, my great
army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and
be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that
hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be
ashamed." He is speaking quite clearly there of great material
blessing and material prosperity that is what follows what was
really a terrible judgment that God had sent upon his ancient
people from the opening verse in the first chapter right through
that chapter in fact right through here to verse 17 of the second chapter, that whole
section is very much speaking of the judgment that God had
sent in the form of a locust plague and other plagues. In verse 4 of chapter 1, that
which the palmyr wyrmath left hath the locust eaten, and that
which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten, and that
which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten."
It was a terrible judgment that God had visited upon his people. There would be great dearth because
of these plagues. And all of these insects were
under the sovereign hand of God. In fact, God speaks of them all
as His army. Here in verse 11, the Lord shall
utter His voice before His army, for His camp is very great, for
He is strong that executed His word. For the day of the Lord
is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? Again, remember what we just
read at verse 25 where he speaks of these various insects, these
creatures, and he says, my great army, my great army, which I
sense among you. And what was God's purpose in
all of this? It was that there might be such
awakening amongst his people that they might be brought to
see the folly of their sinful ways, that they might be made
a people ready for repentance. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion.
Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh
at hand. Oh, there's an alarm in these
things. God will call his people to their senses. Again, he says
here at verse 15, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call
a solemn assembly. And what is the significance
of that fast? God will have them to be brought
to repentance. In verse 14 of chapter 1, sanctify
your fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders, and all the
inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God
and cry unto the Lord. Alas for the day, for the day
of the Lord is at hand as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
They must be brought to see their need of turning from their follies,
turning from their sins and seeking the face of God in the way of
repentance. There was then that death that
came upon them was very physical. God sends all this terrible plague
upon them. But God, as I said, will yet
restore them. He will not altogether cast off
that people that He has loved. He will favor them yet with those
material blessings that are spoken of here at verse 24 and the following
verses. But not only do we read of material
blessing we also have the promise of spiritual blessing and that
is really what we see in the words that I read for our text
these words right at the end of the second chapter it shall
come to pass afterwards says God that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions,
and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
will I pour out of my Spirit." Now observe the language, he
says here in verse 28, it shall come to pass afterwards What
is the afterward that is being spoken of? Well, when we find
Peter in his sermon in Acts 2 expounding this scripture, that's what we
really have in the sermon that the apostle preached on that
occasion. This is his text, which we're considering tonight, and
there he is expounding God's words, and applying God's words,
but it doesn't speak of afterward you will observe there in Acts
2, 17 that afterward becomes the last days the last days the words that
we have before us tonight are not to be confined to the nation
of Israel in the days of Joel we know that these things are
written for our learning it says the Apostle upon whom the ends
of the world are come. John says in his first epistle,
little children, it is the last time. The last days, to use Peter's
expression there in his sermon, the last days, the last time.
Paul says all these things happened unto them for examples, they're
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. And so, when we come to consider
this passage of scripture, we're not simply to understand it in
its historical context, we're not to disregard that. It was given in a certain day,
in a specific situation, there were Real events, concrete events
taking place, and God gave His words. But the application of
that word is much wider. It's a gospel word that we have
here. The promise of the Holy Spirit. So I want us to consider
what is being said here tonight. First of all, it is the voice
of God, you see, that is being heard in the fulfillment of this
passage of Scripture. God does have a voice. And how
is God's voice heard? Well, God speaks really, we can
say, in His providences. There is a voice of God in providence. And isn't there some reference
to that here in verses 30 and 31? I will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth. blood and fire and pillars of
smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."
What is being said is that throughout this day that has been uttered
in, this day referred to as afterward, the last time, throughout the
whole day of grace, the gospel dispensation, God will do wonders
in the earth. And that is a fact. These things
happen, tragedies, awful events that we cannot really begin to
understand or to explain. Doesn't the Lord Jesus himself
say that it would be just so? When he speaks there at the end
of his ministry concerning His return is coming again in Matthew
chapter 24. Look at the language of the Lord
Jesus. Verse 6 He says, "...Ye shall
hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled,
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet
come." For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes
in diverse places." This is the case, is it not? It has been
the case through the centuries. All these things are the beginning
of sorrows. Throughout this day of grace,
God does these remarkable things, but then when it comes, to the
end of that day there will be a remarkable increase, a remarkable
increase in these sorts of events. That's what the Lord is saying
there in that 24th chapter in Matthew. As the time comes near for the
Lord Himself to return in all His power and glory, at the end
there at verse 30, then shall appear the sign of the Son of
Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He
shall send His angel with the great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other. Oh, when that time comes, there
will even be greater calamities upon the earth, And we have it
here, you see, the sun and the moon darkens. Isn't this associated
very much with the judgments of God? Look at verse 10, the
earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the
sun and the moon shall be dark, the stars shall withdraw their
shining, and the Lord shall utter His voice before His army. All God's judgments, all of these
things are harbingers of that day, that terrible day that was
to come when the Lord Himself would return, the one to whom
the Father had committed all authority. The Father judges
no man, but all judgment into the hands
of His only begotten Son. Well, God has a voice, you see. God speaks, and God speaks in
His dealings, in His works. The Lord's voice crieth unto
the city, says the prophet. The man of wisdom shall see thy
name, hear the rod, and do as appointed it. Nothing comes by
chance amongst all the nations of the earth. When we think of
the utter confusion that our own nation is in at this time,
doesn't this have a voice? Doesn't this indicate that God's
hand goes out against us? And we made a laughing stock.
Righteousness exalted to nations, sin is a reproach. To any people
we're a reproach. Now, I'm not saying that other
nations are any better than we are. as wickedness amongst all
the nations of the earth but how God has favoured this particular
nation unto whom the Lord giveth much of the same shall the Lord
require all we need to be wise, whoso is wise and will observe
these things are we those who are careful then to hear God's
voice to discern what God is doing, what God is saying in
all the acts of His sovereign providence But here we're thinking
particularly principally of that glorious event that came to pass
on the day of Pentecost. And what do we have there? It's
not so much God's voice in Providence, it's God's voice in grace. And there are three aspects to
God's call of grace in the Gospel that I want us to observe. Now
as I said at the beginning, here we have the promise of the Spirit, the ministry of the gospel that
we see brought in, in a sense, there on the day of Pentecost,
and the call of God's grace. The three things I want us to
observe with regards to that gift of the Spirit. First of
all, God's calling grace is indiscriminate. Secondly, it is direct. And thirdly, we see that it is
that that is effectual. First of all, then, observe how
God calls indiscriminately. And we see it here in the language
that is being used. Verses 28 and 29, It shall come
to pass afterward that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions,
and also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those
days will I pour out of my Spirit." Now, the terminology very much
belongs to the Old Testament dispensation. What is the evidence
of the Spirit? Well, the evidence of the Spirit
is seen when there are prophesyings, and the dreaming of dreams, and
the seeing of visions. That is the case with regards
to the Old Testament. We see that many times. So we
take account that the terminology is Old Testament terminology,
but it's not so much the terminology, it's the principle that we have
here. Things are different under the Day of Grace than they were
under that Old Testament dispensation. But the important thing is to
see how indiscriminate it all is. It speaks of all flesh. It
speaks of sons, daughters, old men, young men, servants, handmaidens,
all sorts and types of men and women. It is so indiscriminate. And now we see it again there
when the day of Pentecost comes and those who are present at
Jerusalem and those who are to hear this remarkable sermon that
was preached by the Apostle. There were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, it says, devout men out of every nation under heaven.
Not just those who were born Jews, but those who were proselytes,
converts to the Jewish religion. And we're taught where they came
from. Verse 8, How here we every man in our
own tongue wherein we were born, they ask. Parthians, and Medes,
and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea,
and Cappadocia, in Pontius, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia,
in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers
of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, We do hear
them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. It is
so indiscriminate, this call of God that comes with the glorious
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. You see, there's no difference
now. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile, that's ancient
division. that was so much the mark of
God's ways under the Old Testament. And Paul, of course, the great
apostle to the Gentiles, how he spells these things out in
the course of his preaching. There in Romans 10-12, there
is no difference, he says, there is no difference between the
Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Oh, that is the Gospel. There is such a breath. There
is such a freeness here in the Gospel. The Gospel, you see,
bears its mark. It's indiscriminate. It comes
to all sorts of peoples. That's the wonder of it. Not so in the Old Testament.
God says to Israel, you old ones, You only have I known of all
the nations of the earth. Of all the families of the earth,
they were the only people that were favoured. The psalmist speaks
of it, remember? Psalm 147. He showeth his word
unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He
hath not dealt so with any nation, as for his judgments they have
not known them." But all that is now gone. All that is now
gone. And as I said, it's Paul who
in particular is the one raised up to be the great apostle to
the Gentiles. This man who was such a Jew.
A Hebrew of the Hebrews. So proud, you see, of his Jewish
pedigree. Of the tribe of Benjamin. He
was a Pharisee, he was a son of a Pharisee. And the strange
ways of God, this is the very man that God has chosen to be
the apostle to the Gentiles. The one through whom this great
mystery of the calling of Gentile sinners is to be revealed. Now, Paul says that, doesn't
he, there in that third chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians? He speaks of that which in other
ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now
revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."
This is what the Spirit has come to reveal. That's the Gentiles. "...should be fellow heirs, and
of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the
grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his
power unto me." who am less than the least of all saints, is His
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ." All these gospel friends, so, so indiscriminate. It is whosoever, look at verse
32, which shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered. isn't whosoever a
great gospel word? Oh, it's a glorious gospel word,
this word, whosoever. In fact, it's almost the last
word of Holy Scripture. There in the 22nd chapter of
the Revelation, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let
him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come,
and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely."
Oh, what gospel language is this? Whosoever is able to freely take
of the water of life, this is that call that comes in in the
gospel. And we see it here in the Old
Testament in the language of the prophets. God's call then
onto the gospel with the coming of the Spirit is indiscriminate. All sorts, all types, all conditions. And here also we see this that
God calls directly. God calls directly. Here in verse
32 it is the remnant whom the Lord shall call. The remnant
whom the Lord shall call. or there is a direct call in
the gospel. I know it says this, many are
called but few are chosen. The indiscriminate call comes,
you see, through the preaching, the preaching of the apostles.
But how that general call that is made when the gospel is preached,
proclaimed, how that God then comes and God applies that. And
there's that that is wrought directly by the Spirit of God
in the soul of a sinner. That immediate work of God's.
But how God is pleased to own preaching. It's God's own appointment,
it's what God himself has ordained. He pleases God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. the foolishness of preaching. And as I said this morning, it's
not just the act, the man standing and proclaiming his message,
it's the very subject matter, the content of the message. It's
foolishness. To men, they dismiss it. But,
oh, it's the power of God unto them that believe. But look at
the language, the language of Paul when he writes concerning
preaching in Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 verse 13 he says whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed and thou shalt
they believe in him of whom they have not heard and thou shalt
they hear without a preacher and thou shalt they preach except
they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring their tidings
of good things he is clearly speaking here then of the office
of the ministry the preaching of the word of God and he makes
it clear how that faith cometh by hearing but hearing what?
Well, it's not just hearing of the gospel. It's more than that. He says, "...how shall they believe
in him of whom they have not heard?" There in verse 14. But in fact, more literally what
it says is, "...how shall they believe in him whom they have
not heard?" There's a sense in which that little word of is
quite redundant there. Because the verb to choose, the
verb to hear, would usually take a genitive when it refers to
a person who is hearing. It's not of whom, but it's whom. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? And there's a vast difference
between that. Hearing of Christ is one thing, but to hear Christ
when he comes and speaks to us directly, is quite another thing. And wasn't that the way in which
the Gospel came to those Ephesians? The Lord Jesus himself was never
there in Ephesus in person. He was very much aware that his
ministry was confined to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
his ministry takes place in Palestine, And yet Ephesus is there in Asia
Minor. It wasn't the Apostle, it wasn't
the Lord Jesus that went to Ephesus, it was the Apostle. It's Paul. And what does Paul say to those
Ephesians? There in Ephesians 4.20, "...Ye
have not so learned Christ." "...Ye have not so learned Christ,
if so be that ye have heard him, and been taught by him." as the
truth is in Jesus." How were they taught by Christ? How did they hear the Lord Jesus
Christ? The Lord owns and honors the
preaching of His Word. He comes in the Word. And surely
that's what we should desire when we have God's Word set before
us and we hear the reading of the word in public and we hear
the preaching of the word our desire should be this that we
might hear not the words of any man but we come to hear the word
of the Lord Jesus we want the Lord Jesus Christ himself to
speak to us and to speak to us directly and this is what the
Lord himself has promised because this preaching is his own ordinance
and He owns it, and He honors it, and He blesses it. Or we sometimes sing the hymns,
those lovely words of Anne Still, the Saviour calls. Let every
ear attend the heavenly sound, ye doubting souls, dismiss your
fears. Hope smiles reviving round, the
Saviour calls. It's the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the
sons of men. We see Him there so clearly speaking
in the book of Proverbs. Solomon,
of course, the human author of the Proverbs, such a remarkable
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shouldn't surprise us then,
when we read the Proverbs, that here we have the voice of Christ
as He comes and as He speaks so graciously. And then the opening
chapter, verse 20, Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice
in the streets, She crieth in the chief place of concourse,
in the openings of the gates. In the city she uttereth her
word, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning. And fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out of my spirit unto you. I will make know my
word unto you. Oh, it is the Lord Jesus, you
see, He is there on the day of Pentecost in the preaching of
the Apostle Peter, but He owns the ministry, the preaching of
the Word. The Lord comes and He speaks so directly. And what
do we see in this? We see something of the glorious
freeness of the Gospel. Oh, what freeness there is, friends!
Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye by and eat. They come by wine and
milk, without money and without price. This salvation that is
in the Lord Jesus, it's free. It's free, we don't have to bring
anything. We just come with all our need and there's all that
freeness and all that fullness of salvation in Him. What does
He say? All that the Father giveth me.
All that the Father giveth me, they're given to Him in the eternal
covenant. And you say to me, how can I
know that I'm one of those given to Him? How can I know that I'm
of that blessed company of the election of grace? Well, He doesn't
just say, all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me.
But He goes on and says, and whosoever shall come unto me,
I shall in no wise cast out. There's the mark. Are we those
who come unto Him? Mark what he says, all those
three monosyllabic words. He says, in, no, wise. He that cometh unto me, I shall
in no wise cast out. Those three simple words. What
a glorious freeness we see there. All the freeness of the Gospel,
the simplicity of faith. You know, faith is not a difficult
thing. Well, we... we deny easy-believism. But there's
nothing complex or complicated about faith. What is the language
of faith? You know the language of faith.
The Lord says, come, take, eat, receive, hear, hearken. That's
the language of faith. We are those who desire to hear
His voice. And the Lord comes and He speaks
so directly, the remnant, whom the Lord shall call. All this call of God in the Gospel,
then it's indiscriminate. It's direct. And then it's so
effectual. Oh, it's an effectual call. It's
in the remnant that His voice is heard. It's in that blessed remnant. Where the word of a king is,
there is power. That's the great wonder of it. Look at the language here in
verse 32. It says, in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, in the remnant. That's where his voice is heard.
It's a doctrine of that remnant. Fear not! Fear not, little flock! It is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. It's a little flock, you see,
but God's good pleasure centers in that people, that little flock.
It was so in the Old Testament, the language of Isaiah the prophet.
There in the opening chapter of his book, except the Lord
of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. we should have
been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah. Oh what sins, what sins, what
wickedness. There amongst God's ancient people
they were like Sodom, Sodomites. Like Gomorrah, those wicked cities
of the plain. Except the Lord had left unto
us a very small remnant, not just a remnant or a small remnant,
a very small remnant, so few. But it's there that God works
so mightily, so effectually, where the word of a king is,
or there's power. Thy people shall be willing,
is the promise that he's given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. What does the Lord say concerning
His own ministry? He speaks of that ministry as
such an effectual ministry. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. When the Lord comes and
speaks to us directly, why there's life in the words that the Lord
speaks, And how the Lord exercises that
ministry, we see it through the apostles. When Paul addresses
himself to the Thessalonians, he tells them, Our gospel came
not unto you in word only, he says, but in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. And then he goes on, remember,
in the second chapter of that first epistle to the Thessalonians
he says for this cause also thank we God without ceasing because
when you receive the word of God the word of God which you
heard of us you received it not as the word of men but as it
is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you
that believe it is an effect you call an efficacious word
that is being spoken it accomplishes God's goodwill and pleasure.
Or the words of the Lord Jesus, those gracious words of invitation,
Come unto me, he says, or ye that labour, and I have elated,
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. Or the simplicity, you see, that
is involved with regards to faith. It is simply a coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord doesn't cast out any
that come to Him. He is pleased to receive sinners
and He will receive them so freely. They simply come as poor needy
souls, beggars. That's all we can do. We can
come and beg of Him that He would have mercy upon us. and now the
Blessed Spirit comes and He comes as that One who is indeed the
Spirit of Christ or when He takes of the things of Christ and reveals
them unto us, opens our eyes to see the wonder of the Gospel
of the grace of God it shall come to pass afterward that's
the last days God says I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh and then it shall come to pass that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath
said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to utter His voice and to speak salvation into all of our hearts. The Lord bless to us His Word.
Amen.