the privilege is mine. I invite you to turn back with
me now to the book of Joel. I have four goals each time I'm
allowed the privilege to preach his gospel. The first and foremost
is that our God will be glorified in what I have to say. It matters
little. Paul said, it don't matter much
to me whether you commend me or not. He said, that's not why
I'm here. I'm not here seeking self glory
or recognition or a name. I know what I am. I'm a sinner being saved by grace. And that's first and foremost
on my mind when I sit down to prepare a message. I want God
to be glorified in this message. And then secondly, I hope that
I've rightly divided the word of God and am teaching my subject
as it was intended to be taught by the Lord. It's very easy in
the scriptures to see things and preach on things and then
find out that's really not what he was talking about. And believe
me, it's embarrassing when it happens. And then thirdly, I
hope that the Holy Ghost will accompany me and the message
I bring and reveal these things and make them effectual in your
heart. If not, we're just, Paul said,
I'm not as one beating the air. I don't care to just stand up
and talk for the sake of talking. I have a hope behind what I'm
saying. And that hope is that God will
use these things. He's ordained them, and I'm convinced
of that. But will He use me? Will He use
this message today? Well, I pray that He will. I
pray that He will. And then lastly, that you and
I might discover afresh the plight of the sinner. That's what we
are. But we need to be reminded. I
need to be reminded every time I sit, which I don't get that
occasion too often, but every time I sit and listen to someone
teach or preach the gospel, I need to discover afresh, be reminded
afresh of what I am. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. And then the full sufficiency
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my prayer this morning is
that the Lord be pleased to bring these things to pass for Christ's
sake. Now, Joel is something of a mystery. I opened up the commentators,
and they had very little to say about it. Well, we think Joel
did this, and we think he was about in this time, and then
they give a hundred reasons why. but they're really not sure,
and you can tell it. He's something of a mystery to
the commentators, and no one seems to know what age he ministered
in, or who these invading armies were that the Lord sent. And even the historians, when
you read them, they're very little help concerning Joel. Joel's
kind of a mystery. He's kind of like Joe. He's just
a mystery. But I thought on that. It's enough for us to know what
God says about Joel. I don't need to know what the
commentator said. I need to know what God said. And here's what God said. The
word of the Lord came to Joel. That's all I need to know about
Joel. He had the word of God. You think on that. Every time
God spoke to his people, he spoke through a man. And this time,
that man's name was Joel. Nobody knew him. Nobody knows
anything about him. But we know this, the Word of
the Lord came through Joel. Well, you say maybe it was a
mistake that his book got entered into the Word of God if nobody
knows anything about him. No, Peter, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, takes the last part of chapter two and
says, this is what the prophet Joel, this man called of God,
this is what he was talking about. This is what he was talking about.
But if you just stop and think about it, and I thought about
this, wouldn't it be wonderful that one day in eternity, or
even today, that that might be said about this message? You
ever think about that when you stand up for it? We beseech you on the part of
God. He that heareth you, heareth
me, Christ said. Well, I tell you, if that don't
weight you down, burden you, I don't know what will. But if you really stop and think
about it, what else do we need to know? We already know his
past. He was a fallen son of Adam.
He was a vile sinner, blind, ignorant, and deceived. Well, you say, I thought you
didn't know anything about Job. Well, I know about all the sons of
Adam. And this is true of every one
of them. But God doesn't call men because
they have great potential or great abilities. He said, God,
He said, look at your calling brethren. That's what Paul said.
Look at your calling. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty and the base
things of the world and things despised hath God chosen that
no flesh should glory in his presence. That's why he did it.
That's why he did it. The only thing we need to know
about Joel or any messenger of God is that they have the Word
of God. Joel was just a man, but he was
a man that God singled out and gave to him his gospel and sent
him to a people to preach it, and he did. Thank God he did. I'd even go so far as to say
that this is the theme of the book of John. The word of God
to chosen sinners swallowed up in a world of sin. That's what
it is, that's the theme of this book. Now you can go over to, I don't
want you to turn there now, but later on today, if you'll go
over to the book of Deuteronomy, I think it's chapter 28, you'll
see what the Lord said. He said, you're gonna leave here. I'm gonna deliver you from here,
and you're gonna go out. And you're gonna chase after
other gods. And when you do, he said, I'm
gonna send you pestilence. I'm gonna send nations, other
nations, and you're gonna be their servants. You're gonna
come down. You're gonna come down from this
state in which I blessed you if you leave me. and you leave
that name that I've declared unto you, and you go worship
other gods, all these things are gonna happen. So when you
begin to read the book of Joel, he starts talking about that
very thing. He starts talking about pestilence.
He starts talking about an army, God's army, that he sends through
there and destroys everything inside. I don't know much about the age
in which Joel ministered, but I think it was very similar to
ours. The circumstance never changes,
does it? Man doesn't change. God doesn't
change. And I believe satanic influence
in a form of false religion had infected the land, had infected
the people. Everything in false religion's
geared to be appealing to the flesh. That's what it's all about. Their buildings, their furnishings,
the smell. Walk in one of those big cathedrals.
It has a smell about it. Candlelight. The minister's dress
and speech. He doesn't talk like he talks
in there. He don't talk like that when
you see him in the marketplace. Proverbs likens their appearance
to that of a streetwalker. And this is always the condition
of the world. It may vary as to how bad it
is, but the circumstances are always the same. And that's what
was going on then, and that's what's going on now. It never
changes. And there's only one cure, only
one remedy for what ails us, and that is a word from God. God has to speak. It doesn't
matter if I speak, but it matters if He speaks. If He speaks, God
must speak. If God doesn't send a messenger
with a word from Him, we're all doomed. We're just gonna go on
and on and on and I see him because there's nothing to constrain
us. There's nothing to hold us back. Destruction and miseries
are in your ways and so you'll self-destruct. All God has to
do is just remove his hand. All he has to do, you'll self-destruct. Paul summed up the whole of the
Old Testament in Hebrews chapter one. saying that God spake to
our fathers by the prophets. That's how they heard. Why? Because that's how it pleased
him to do it. And I tell you, if you ever discover
what you are by nature and where you are and what's around you
and the forces of evil that's against you, you won't mind if
he sends a man that's not fully educated You won't mind if he
sends a man that don't dress like the high priest. You won't
mind who he is. You'll be listening for that
word. Listening for that word. Be more ready to hear, God said,
than to offer the sacrifice of fools. Joel is a book about God's
word, and the word he sends to his people is always the same. It is the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ. That's what this book is about.
In Acts 10.43, Peter said this, to him, to Christ, give all the
prophets witness. Even Joel, even Joel. Even Daniel,
even Daniel. To him give all the prophets
witness. Now here's what they witnessed.
That through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins. That's the message of the prophet. If God is pleased to send a word,
that's the word he'll send. These primetime prophets get
on TV with the Lord told me to tell you. How convenient. Everybody out there send me $100.
The Lord didn't say that. When the Lord's pleased to speak,
this is what he says. Believe on my son. Prophets were not preachers of
the law. They were not promoters of self-righteousness,
nor were they laying some kind of a foundation for ceremonial
religion. I look around and I see these
churches and what they're wearing and how they proceed and the
ceremonies and all. It's like they packed the suitcase
in the Old Testament and brought it over to the new. That's what
it is with all their robes and their special dress and all these
things. These old prophets preach Christ. And Joel tells them in chapter
two in verse 13, to rend their hearts, not your garments. Boy, when that high priest, he
just kept pumping and pumping and pumping, and finally the
Lord told him that he was the Christ. And man, he just ripped
them garments, threw them in the floor. What further thing
do we need to hear? We've got enough here. He said,
Joel said, don't rend your garments. That's the show. Rend your hearts. Rend your hearts. and knock your
garments and turn unto the Lord your God, for he's gracious and
merciful and slow to anger and of great kindness. Who knoweth? Who knows if he'll return and
repent and leave a blessing behind him? I already know what's behind him.
He showed that to Moses, didn't he? That's his glory. That's
his glory. And there's no answer for our
troubles, nor for the troubles of our nation, which I hear so
much about, except Christ. Christ. I'm gonna tell you something,
if he spares this nation, it'll be for Christ's sake. It'll be
because he has a people here. And he has some preachers that
he singled out to preach. And he's got some more of his
elect that he intends to call out and mature and establish
in his gospel, and he'll preserve it to that end. When that's over,
I don't know. Joel 2.23, he said, be glad then,
you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he
hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause
to come down for you the rain. The former rain and the latter
rain in the first month. Now I have three questions I
hope to ask and answer this morning, which I hope will be a blessing
to you. My first question is this, what
is this rain? What is this rain that he's talking
about? The rain. I will cause to come
down for you, be rain. Not a rain, not some rain, be
rain. Well, let's look at the word
of God and let it interpret itself. Let me quote you something from
Psalm 72. In Psalm 72, he's talking about
God giving to the king his judgments. and his righteousness. So we
know who he's talking about here. He's talking about Christ. And
he's gonna give them to the king's sons. And here's what he says
about in verse six, Psalm 72. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass as showers that water the whole earth. And
then a few pages back from my text here in Joel in Hosea chapter
six, in verse five, verse one. He said, come and let us return
unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath
smitten and he'll bind us up. After two days, he will revive
us. In the third day, he'll raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Now watch this. Then shall we know, if we follow
on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning,
and he shall come unto us as rain, as the latter and the former
rain upon the earth. Now the rain Joel's talking about
is the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. That's what
he's talking about. He's talking about, I know it
talks about pestilence and it talks about armies and it talks
about hunger and drought and all these things, but these things
are spiritual. And there is an application to
the natural, but I don't wanna waste my time with that this
morning. I'm going straight to the spiritual. This thing's talking
about the gospel of God's sovereign grace raining down, raining down. In James chapter five, the apostle
tells us, be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of
the Lord. Behold, the husband man waiteth
for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience
for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. And then turn with me to this
one over in John chapter 15. Let me see if I can paint one
more stroke on this picture. In John chapter 15 and verse
one, Christ said, I am the vine. Now
listen, and my father is the husband man. He's the husband
man. The world from its beginning
to its end is the garden of God. It's the garden of God. Everything
he intends to raise in this garden is connected to this vine, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, if those branches don't
bring forth fruit, it's because they're not grafted into me.
And if they don't bring forth fruit, if it's just a false profession
of faith, I'm gonna cut them off, because they're fit for
nothing but to be burned. All those branches grafted in.
God is the husband man. And he don't plant a faulty garden.
Everything he plants is gonna flourish. And this world from
its beginning to its end is the garden of God. Everything he
intends to raise in this garden is connected with this vine.
And if there be any fruit on it, it'll be because it's connected
to this vine. And then the rain that God sends
from heaven is to water his garden. And he'd been watering this garden
from the very beginning. Hosea said, his going forth is
prepared as the morning and shall come unto us as the latter and
the former rain. At the dawn of creation, God
commanded the light. This was his first work. He commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. And he called the light day and
the darkness night. And what'd he say? The evening
and the what? And the morning was the first
day. Now if you'll take time to study
Genesis chapter one, you'll find out that he wasn't talking about
the sun here, S-U-N. He's talking about the sun, S-O-N. It wasn't until the fourth day
that God put the sun in the heavens and the stars and the moon. And
he tells y'all, goes into detail, tells y'all about it. But in
chapter one, he's talking about the light. That light that lighteth
ever man that cometh into the world. He's talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, that light. Before God ever created anything,
he put this light here so you'll know what this creation is all
about. This is my garden and I want
you to see it. I'm gonna make it known, I'm
gonna reveal it, I'm gonna preach it, I'm gonna declare it. I'm
gonna have you to watch it grow. And so he records it from Genesis
all the way through to Revelation, and we watch this garden grow. You see him back there in those
very first words, let there be light. We say, that ain't what
he's talking about. Well, that's what Paul said he
was talking about in 2 Corinthians chapter four. He said, as God
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, even so he hath
shined in our hearts. to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so we see
that vine when God planted it, and then we watch it grow. All
through the scriptures, we watch it grow. Joel said, God hath given you
the former reign moderately. He didn't wash the seed out of
the garden. He didn't uproot the vine. He
just moderately rained, moderately rained. Here a little, that's
what the prophet Isaiah said, here a little, there a little.
And that's your experience, ain't that what you find when you say,
oh my, look at this. And you see that little bit there,
and then you discover, oh man, look at this over here. And then
as you get a little older, you say, these things are connected. They're connected. I got all
excited the other night. I'm not a puzzle person, but
my son-in-law and his wife are, and they were all over there,
and the kids and everything, and I sat and I stared at that
puzzle for 45 minutes. Finally, I saw a piece and got
it and put it down and it fit. I was so happy it fit. Aren't you like that when you
find something in the scriptures? Look, this fits. This fits. This is what this is talking
about. This is his son, this is that
light, this is that seed. Oh, he gave you the former reign.
Moderately, he spoke in types and pictures and figures for
the time then present and shadows of good things to come. And then
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Rain and rain and more rain. Here little, there little, until
he came as the rain promised that he would. What is this rain? The rain which God gave us from
heaven. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ,
God's dear son. And then secondly, what's the
purpose of this rain? Well, rain in a natural sense
is necessary to produce that seed that the farmers plant. Too much and the garden molds.
Too little and it dries up and withers. But spiritual rain,
now listen to me, is always sent at the proper time. You remember that story, Paul?
He wanted to go over there where Lydia was. I don't think he knew
Lydia, but he wanted to go to that town. Oh, he wanted to go
there so bad. And he made arrangements to do
it, and he packed to do it, but the Spirit of God forbade him
to do it. His providence blocked it. He couldn't go over there.
So here he is, and he's showed up in this little town. Nowhere
to worship, there wasn't even a synagogue. You had to go down
by the river, and a few of the women were down there by the
river. Guess who was there? Lydia. If he'd went to that other
place, there wouldn't have been anybody there, but there was
somebody here. There was somebody. This rain
always falls at the exact time that it should. Always does. spiritual reign, sin of God,
at just the right time, and just the right amount, and just the
right words. Paul said this, he said, we're
laborers together with God. One of us plants, and another
waters, and God gives the increase. That's how it works, that's how
it works. There are two things necessary
to a garden, rain and light. Christ is both. His gospel's
both. The purpose of the rain or the
gospel of Christ is to raise dead sinners to life, to call
them out of darkness into his marvelous light to produce the
fruit which God created them to do. We're his workmanship
policy. You go back and read Ephesians
chapter two, and he said, we were by nature children of wrath,
even as others, but God, who rich in mercy and for that great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses
and sin, hath raised us up together. He quickened us, raised us up
together with Christ, seated us together with Christ in the
heavenlies. That, in order that, in the ages
to come. Huh, what ages? Those ages he
purposed, and the ages to come. He might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship. We're created to be able to do
these things. Created to believe. newly created
to repent were his workmanship. I love
what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, I think it's verse 30, of
him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that gloweth, let him glow in the Lord. It's the Lord who sends this
rain. And I could show you a lot of
different references that I use for this message, and some of
them say the rain that came down from heaven. Oh, I love that
verse, I love that verse. And the reign and the purpose
behind it and the objects of it are a mystery to this world.
But it's a glorious thing to those who truly believe. And then thirdly and quickly,
what are the effects of this reign upon men? In Joel 2.26,
he tells us, you shall eat in plenty. All you could ever want. All
you could ever desire. Paul said Christ is all. All. You shall eat in plenty, now
watch this, and be satisfied. And praise the name of the Lord
your God that hath dealt wondrously with you. And my people should
never be ashamed. I heard the word of God proclaimed
for years and years on many occasions by different men. Open this book
and try to teach from it. Open this book and read things.
I was never satisfied. Never satisfied. And when his
word, the word of his gospel comes to you by God's messenger,
and God the Holy Spirit enables us to eat of it, to drink it
in, oh my, now you're satisfied. Now you're satisfied. Around Nashville years ago, there
was a very famous guitar player. I think his name was Chet Atkins,
but I'm not sure I got the right man. But at any rate, he had
been off to a gig somewhere, and he was on his way home, and
it was late, and he wanted to get there. He was tired, and
so he decided to take a shortcut through the mountains. Don't
ever do that. There is no shortcut through the mountains. But he
did, and he wound around and around and around and around,
finally run out of gas. 2 o'clock in the morning. And he gets out and he walks
and he walks and he walks till he just don't think he can walk
anymore and there's no light, there's no houses, there's no
nothing. He's just out in the middle of
nowhere and all of a sudden he sees a light way off in the distance,
just a faint light. And so he starts walking toward
that and when he got a little closer he could tell it was a
window. So there's a house there. And so he stumbled around in
the dark and found the little path leading up to the house
and he went up and knocked on the door and this fella came
to the door and he said, my name is Chet Atkins and I've run out
of gas. He said, I need to use a telephone. He
said, do you have a telephone? He said, oh yeah. He said, I
have a telephone. He said, and I recognize who you are. You're
Chet Atkins. You're the guitar player. So
he invited him in, sat down, he called the record for him,
and got him something to drink, you know, and gave it to him.
He said, I listen to you a lot. He said, I'm a big fan of yours. I love to hear you play the guitar.
And he said, okay. Finally, he said, I play the
guitar. He said, would you like to hear me play? Well, he ain't
gonna tell him no. So he said, okay, you go ahead.
So a guy gets a guitar and he just boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom But he said, that's for folks that are
looking. He said, I found mine. That man who knows the gospel,
he's found his, and he'll just keep plunking. It's irritating
to the world, but not to those who love that sound. Oh, that
sound of the gospel. Beautiful sound. Once a person hears Christ, He
has no interest in anything else. He's the early rain. And he's
the latter rain. And he's all the rain in between.
He's the first and the last. He's the beginning and the end. His light shines. And as it shines,
we discover that he's the morning. Isn't that what Peter said? Just be patient. You just keep
reading until the day star appears. He's the morning. He's the bright
morning star. And after this former ladder
rang, God said, I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh. We live in one of the most blessed
of any age. Any age. People say, boy, I would
like to live back there. Not me. I like it right here. We're living in one of the most
blessed of any age. The latter rain has fallen. The
spirit of the living God has been poured out, and the glory
of God in the gospel of Christ is declared in its clearest form,
in its clearest form of revelation. Oh, may the Lord take our eyes
off these petty pestilences, arguments, and politics of this
world. and make us to see what's really
going on. What he's really doing. Give
us a clear vision of his garden and his reign upon that garden.
That's what it's all about, isn't it? Huh? We want to glorify Christ,
that's the vine. That's the Father's vine. And
I'll tell you, I know this about a gardener. When his garden is
complete, he glories in what he gets out of it. I was up here
the other day, and when I got home, my broccoli came in, and
it had heads on it like that. I just wanted to show everybody
in the church this broccoli. Oh, it's so good, so big, so
nice, that garden. That's the Christ I'm trying
to preach to you. He's everything. He's everything. We say, I just want to glorify
God. You can't glorify God any more
than you do when you believe in his son. You believe in his
son, you glorify him.