SERMON: Joel (Repent!)
TEXT: Joel 2:12-17 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 3-7/8-20
It’s great to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
We’re in the second week of the 2020 edition of our Finding Jesus series. For the past few years, we’ve taken some time to explore a variety of books in the Old Testament. And we’ve looked at the books according to the different categories — or groupings — that the Old Testament is usually divided into. For instance, we’ve looked at the books known as the Major Prophets. We’ve looked at the first five books of the Old Testament — the books written by Moses — known as the Pentateuch. And this year, we’re exploring the books known as the Minor Prophets — well actually — we’re only looking at the first six of them and next year we’ll look at the other six.
And here’s a quick reminder of what the sermons are like in this series. I begin by introducing a book of the Bible to you that you may or may not be familiar with. I’ll give you an overview of the book — think of this as a highlight reel. Then we focus on one section of the book. And finally — and this is what I hope will be most beneficial to you — each week I show you how to find the one story that the whole Bible is telling — the story of Jesus. Because the whole Bible is ultimately pointing us to him — so I’m going to show you how to find Jesus in these different books.
And — as I said — in this iteration of our Finding Jesus series — we’re looking at the first six of the books known as the Minor Prophets. And — today — we’ll be looking at the book of Joel. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Joel chapter 2.
Last week we looked at the book of Hosea and in the coming weeks we’ll look at Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. And I hope you’ll grow to know and love these books and spend time in them — finding Jesus and the joy that’s found only in him.
Now one final thing about these books — and I mentioned this last week — but it’s worth repeating. These books are called the Minor Prophets — not because their material is less important or less significant than the books known as the Major Prophets — they’re called the Minor Prophets because of their size — their length. The Minor Prophets — generally speaking — are much shorter than the Major Prophets. And even though I’ve just said that their content isn’t any less significant — truth be told — the Minor Prophets — except for Jonah — are the least familiar part of the Bible for most of us. But hopefully that won’t be the case after this series.
OK — now that we know what’s happening in this series — let’s take a few minutes to get our bearings in Joel — and — I hope — you’ll see that this is a book you’ll want to go read for yourself.
First, what do we know about Joel? Well he was a prophet — and — as a prophet — he was someone who spoke on God’s behalf. Now we’re not sure exactly when Joel lived — though there are some who believe that he lived during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah — when the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt after both Israel and Judah had been conquered.
Something unique about Joel is that he refers to quite a few other Old Testament prophets and their writings. And for such a short book, his references are quite remarkable. He quotes from Malachi, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, Nahum, Isaiah, and Amos. One other unique aspect to the book of Joel — is that Joel — though he talks about God’s coming judgment — unlike the other prophets — he never mentions the specific reason — meaning the specific sin — that’s the reason for God’s coming judgment.
Finally, the book of Joel can be divided into two basic sections. Chapter 1 and the first half of chapter 2 are one section — and the last half of chapter 2 and chapter 3 makeup the second section. And in each of these larger sections you have — what’s basically a call and response — two subdivisions — in each of these bigger sections.
Chapter 1 focuses on a past Day of the Lord — a past time of God’s judgment. And this section is meant to take us back to the Exodus story and the 10 plagues where — in the eighth plague — God sends locusts to destroy the crops in Egypt — but now it’s the land surrounding Jerusalem that’s going to be destroyed by locusts.
Listen to how Joel begins his warning. “Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before? 3 Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation.” (Joel 1:2-3 NLT)
Then Joel begins to describe the locusts. And here’s what happens. A certain type of locust comes and causes destruction. Then another kind of locust follows and destroys whatever the first group left behind. Then another group comes and causes more destruction. Then another and another — you get the idea. So Joel essentially starts by saying, “Everybody wake up! Can’t you see what’s going on? I know you can. Warn your children so they can warn their children. This is what happens when you abandon God — a kind of judgment reserved for our enemies is now coming for us.”
And — in response to all of this — Joel cries out, “Lord help us!” (1:19a)
That’s the call. The response begins in chapter 2 where — in a future Day of the Lord — an army of invaders will come like locusts to destroy the city of Jerusalem. So in the past, God’s judgment was upon a foreign nation and — in the future — God’s judgment will be on his people.
And listen to how Joel describes this great and dreadful day. “Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem! Raise the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. 2 It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again. 3 Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes. 4 They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses. 5 Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make — like the rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle. 6 Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror. 7 The attackers march like warriors and scale city walls like soldiers. Straight forward they march, never breaking rank. 8 They never jostle each other; each moves in exactly the right position. They break through defenses without missing a step. 9 They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows. 10 The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. 11 The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?” (Joel 2:1-11 (NLT)
And both of these subdivisions end with Joel calling the people to repentance and — repentance is going to be how we find Jesus in this book. But let’s move on to the second section of the book before we find Jesus.
So the first half of Joel focuses on how Israel’s sin will lead to disaster — pretty doom and gloom. But the second half focuses on a future hope because of God’s mercy. And this is where Joel shows us that he’s familiar with the writings of other Old Testament prophets.
And what’s so encouraging about this section is how Joel highlights that God will respond to his people if they repent. Joel says that God will defeat the invaders who’ve come to destroy their land. He says the land will be restored — it will produce an abundant harvest once more — and God’s presence will be with his people once again — but only if they repent.
And Joel takes these temporary promises and points them towards — not to a future Day of the Lord — but to The Future Day of the Lord. When God’s Spirit will come and fill his people — “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants — men and women alike.” (Joel 2:28b-29, NLT)— which is what we see happen in the book of Acts as Peter quotes straight from this passage when he preaches his first sermon.
Joel writes about a time when God will come to confront and defeat evil once and for all — which includes a renewal and restoration for all of creation. And this is how Joel ends — with a promise — a future hope-filled vision — that God will make all things new. Listen to the closing words of the book.
““Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy forever, and foreign armies will never conquer her again. 18 In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias...20 “But Judah will be filled with people forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all generations. 21 I will pardon my people’s crimes, which I have not yet pardoned; and I, the Lord, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people.”” (Joel 3:17-18, 20-21 NLT)
So with that overview — let’s turn to our passage — Joel chapter 2 — to discover one way we find Jesus in the book of Joel — and in all of the Bible. Let’s begin in verse 12.
“"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"” (Joel 2:12-17 ESV)
Have you ever heard someone say, “God loves and accepts you just the way you are”? Maybe you’ve said that to someone before. It’s become a bit of a cliche, but there’s actually a danger to the phrase that many don’t see. The danger is how the phrase can be used to justify sinful behavior. The danger is how “God loving us and accepting us just as we are” means that nothing in us needs to change. And if nothing in us needs to change — repentance is completely unnecessary — and so was Jesus’ death — by the way.
Now — according to our culture — that’s exactly right — repentance isn’t important. I — mean — it’s OK to say you’re sorry — sometimes — but that’s about as far as most are willing to go. And even saying you’re sorry can be seen as showing weakness — which we’re told is a bad thing to do. Or — and this is a fun phenomenon we’ve got going on in our country — which — by that — I mean — it isn’t fun at all. But when someone does say they’re sorry for something — everyone questions their sincerity.
So here are the two options we live with in our culture when you say you’re sorry for doing something. One — you’re some super weak fragile of a human being. Or — two — you’re deemed to be insincere and get “cancelled” by our social media and internet culture.
Now something I appreciate about what we see on social media is that people are being held accountable for the things they say or do. Fewer people are getting off the hook these days — and that’s not a bad thing.
But the whole posture is creating an even greater anti-repentance culture in our country because there’s no offer of forgiveness when you do admit your mistake. It’s like we won’t even allow people to learn from their mistakes anymore — so we learn to hide our mistakes — to cover them up — to not admit them. And it’s all fun and games until you’re the one whose mistake finally gets highlighted for all of the virtual pitchfork and torch carrying folks to see and start their attack.
But the counter to our “you better not make a mistake because we won’t forgive you” culture — is the Christian faith — which shows us a radically different approach. For the Christian faith teaches that none of us are without the hope of being healed and forgiven for our mistakes. In fact, we’re all offered a way to make all things right, which God has made possible — not through something we have — or will accomplish — but God’s made it possible for every wrong that you or I have done — or will ever do — to be made right — through what Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection. But the way to “all things being made right” is through repentance — a turning away from our sin as we turn to Jesus in faith.
So — spectacular news — you ready for this? God — unlike us — always forgives those who come to him in repentance. Thus we — should always be willing to accept the repentance of others — even when we’re the ones who’ve been sinned against.
So let’s go back to our verses in Joel and see who we repent to, why we’re to repent, and how we repent.
Verse 12. “"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me... Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12a, 13b ESV)
Who do we repent to? The Lord our God. Who is this Lord — what is he like? Joel tells us. He is gracious and merciful. He’s slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster. This is the Lord our God.
Another prophet — who we’ll look at in a few weeks — the Minor Prophet you’re probably most familiar with — Jonah — says this exact same phrase about God. But — as we’ll see when we look at Jonah — unlike here in Joel — Jonah doesn’t say these things about God to emphasize the hope of what happens if we repent. But that’s for another week.
But I love what Joel’s done here. After a chapter and a half of focusing on the sins of the people, Joel — as he talks about repentance — gets our focus on God. “Let’s talk about the character of God because the better you know him — the more you understand who he is and what he’s like — as we learned last week — the more you know God — the more sense repentance will make to you — not just intellectually, but spiritually. Because you’ll see that the One to whom you repent is infinitely trustworthy — he’s a loving Father and his arms are wide open — ready to embrace his children when they turn back to him. Oh — he can play the role of righteous Judge — but that’s not the relationship he desires to have with you. He wants a relationship built on love and trust.”
One last thought — on why you can trust God — why you can look weak to him — vulnerable to him — without fear. Notice that he’s the One who initiates the discussion about repentance. God starts the conversation. He says, “Return to me.” We’re not out there looking for him — “If only there was a God I could repent to?” — no — he graciously comes to us — calls us back to him — pursuing us in love before we seek him.
We read this earlier, but let’s begin back in the last half of verse 13 to discover why we’re to repent.
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him...Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"” (Joel 2:13b-14a, 17 ESV)
So why do we repent? Because disaster — eternal destruction — is coming our way if we don’t. I mean, look at the prayer the priests are to pray. “Spare your people, O Lord.” The people have just been warned that — unless they repent — an army will invade their land and destroy their city. That’s disastrous. That’s destruction. And though a city being destroyed isn’t to be made light of — The Future Day of the Lord — that Joel speaks of — is meaning for us to think of eternal destruction for those who don’t repent.
But did you see that “who knows” in verse 14? “Who knows whether God will not turn and relent…” Here’s what the “who knows” is all about. God is gracious and steadfast in his love towards us — but — we can’t be presumptuous in our relationship with him. And this is exactly what we find in our culture that denies a need for repentance while presuming on God’s grace and love.
And here’s the wild thing. God’s not obligated to extend his compassion and forgiveness to any of us. Do you understand that you don’t deserve God to be gracious to you? You don’t deserve God’s love and neither do I. And even though that’s 100% true — we’re still prone to presume upon his grace and love. And a sign of our presumption is a lack of repentance. And this can be just as true for a Christian as it is for someone who isn’t a Christian. Assuming God will be gracious and loving towards you without your repentance is eternally damning. You’re putting all your eternal chips on the table of presumption and you’re gonna lose them all.
So that’s one kind of motivation for repentance — “avoid something terrible — God’s judgment!” But there is a positive motivation for repentance. John the baptist preached on it — and later — Jesus did when he began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”” (Matthew 4:17b, NLT) God’s Kingdom is near — and the way to be welcomed into his eternal Kingdom is through faith and repentance. Repent of your sins — not just to avoid Hell — repent so that the Kingdom of Heaven will be your eternal home.
So how do we repent? Let’s read the entire text one last time. Verse 12.
“"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"” (Joel 2:12-17 ESV)
To repent — in the most basic sense of the word — means to have a change of mind. One dictionary states that this change of mind “may affect the feelings, the will, or thought. It is seldom a function of the intellect alone.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel and trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 978.) A second sense — of the word repentance — is “regret” or “remorse.” The same bible dictionary defines this sense as a “dissatisfaction with thoughts [you] cherish, plans [you follow], acts [you] perform. In the dissatisfaction there may reside no more than the wish that these things had not been thought, willed, or done, even though good.” (Ibid.) Finally, the word repentance “bears witness to a sense of committed faults which must be corrected. It expresses pain or grief at what has happened.” (Ibid.) And all three of these aspects of the word are wrapped up in Jesus’ words, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
And — what we learn from Joel —and this is found in the entire Old Testament — but here in Joel we learn that repentance is to be total. Which means it’s to be accompanied with outward signs of grief — in the Bible this included things like fasting and tearing of clothes and wailing and mourning — but it’s also to include a true, inner reflection of sorrow — that’s the “return to me with all your heart” part. So repentance is both outward — a change of behavior — and inward — a change of desires.
But — practically speaking — you may wonder, “What does repentance look like?” Because as soon as we talk about things like — “return to me with all your heart” — well it all starts to get fuzzy, right? So practically speaking, repentance begins with honesty — we’ve got to be honest about our need for repentance. Because you won’t repent unless you know you need to be forgiven by God. And you won't be forgiven as long as you’re trying to cover up your sin with self-righteousness.
Second — beyond knowing we need to be forgiven — we must confess our sin. Real repentance demands full confession. The only way to be fully forgiven is by being fully exposed. God knows when we’re being fully transparent with him and when we’re not. And only ruthless honesty with God will do. Now for some of us — because we’re so set on doing the right thing — and work really hard at avoiding the wrong things — this may be the hardest step for you. But just because you strive to do the right thing — well that doesn’t mean you’re always successful. So we must confess our sins. Now don’t fret if you can’t remember every sin you’ve ever committed — confess the sins you can remember — and confess to God your need of him to forgive you of the sins you can’t remember.
Third, we then hide in God. Adam and Even — when they sinned — they hid from God in the Garden. They tried to hide their shame behind fig leaves. And all of us have been trying to master the art of hiding our sin from God ever since. And we’re total failures at hiding our sin from him — by the way. I may fool you and you may fool me but none of us are fooling God. And the opposite of hiding our sin from God is hiding ourselves in him. Instead of hiding behind our self-righteousness, we hide in his righteousness. Instead of putting on an outward show of perfection — we hide in Jesus’ perfection. Instead of hiding behind a false self-defined holiness — we hide ourselves in the Holy One.
And finally, to repent means we turn away from sin as we turn to Jesus in faith and with hope. Remember his unfailing love. Don’t presume it — but remember it. Remember God’s promises to his people. That he is the Father of prodigal sons and daughters and receives them with great joy and open arms when they return to him. So — though you may be worried about admitting your mistakes to God — fearing that he’s going to punish you because of your sin — know that God looks at those who come to him in repentance — seeking forgiveness — know that God looks at the repentant and says, “I can deal with this sin of yours. And — no — you’re not a problem — you’re my child whom I love.”
And — hey adults — did you catch how our repentance brings a blessing to the next generation? So those kids in Kidway right now — those toddlers and infants being cared for — our middle and high schoolers — God blesses them when we repent. That’s why Joel tells the people — in verse 16 — to bring the children and the nursing infants along to hear the news. Because — unlike earlier when everything was doom and gloom and destruction — now — the people are called to hear hope-filled and hope-giving news. The news that God will restore their relationship with him if they repent. And the kids and youth of Gateway need to hear this and they need to see repentance in our lives — for they will be blessed by our repentance.
Did you know that Heaven won’t be full of perfect people — it’ll be full of forgiven people. Men and women who were honest about their sin, who confessed it to God, who hid themselves in him as they turned to him in hope. This is how repentance points us to Jesus — for he’s the One in whom we hide as we turn from sin and turn to him.
Who are you turning to for your hope?
In Luke’s gospel — after his death and resurrection — Jesus ate some food with his disciples. As you can imagine, the whole experience shook them up. For starters, Jesus had just been killed days earlier. And — now — he’s spontaneously showing up in their presence. Well after they had eaten food Jesus said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44-48 ESV)
So if you believe in Jesus, you’re a witness of these things — of how Jesus is the point of what’s written in the books of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms — you’re a witness of how the whole Bible is telling the story of Jesus. And now — Jesus says — your job and my job — our job together — is to go and proclaim to people of all nations that what is available? That repentance for the forgiveness of sins is available — in the name of Jesus. So no matter where you are in the Bible — when you see this theme of repentance — may it point you to Jesus. The One who’s made repentance and the forgiveness of sins possible. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of repentance. And for the fact that you were the One who initiated our relationship with you being restored. You called out to us to repent before we were seeking forgiveness. You pursued us while we were still running from you. You loved us while we hated you. So gracious Father — and gracious to us is who you are — gracious Father help us to trust that we can admit our sins and failures and weaknesses to you and won’t experience you canceling us out — like our culture so often does — we won’t experience you calling us some puny excuse for a human being — your response will be to say, “You're forgiven. And I’ve already taken care of this. So let’s work together in making all things right in this broken world. And that begins with you being a witness for me now. So go and be my witness. Proclaiming the news of my Son and that forgiveness is found through repentance and faith in him.”
So for the sake of the newborns and toddlers, for the preschoolers and elementary kids, for the sake of the middle and high schoolers — help us to be a repentant people. For through our repentance they will be blessed. Help us not to just say we want the next generation to be blessed — help us to live in such a way that they will be blessed. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today as we turn to the Lord’s Table, we’re reminded once again that repentance does matter for — without repentance — this meal — which is a powerful display of God’s love for us — this meal becomes a sign of judgment — not forgiveness — for those who come to the meal unrepentant.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:24b-26 ESV)
And with these words our Lord commands all believers to eat this bread and to drink this cup in true faith and in the confident hope of his return in glory. God graciously declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (Adapted from the Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 75, 80) And as we pray, we’ll have some time for silent prayer — a time for us to repent. And after some time of silence I will lead us in prayer. Let’s pray.
Father, we give you thanks for your Son, Jesus. For his obedience and suffering during his life on earth, and for his giving up of his body and blood on the cross. Give us assurance that our sins are pardoned through his blood and may your perfect love drive out all fear. Fill our minds with your peace and turn our eyes to Heaven, where Christ is at your right hand interceding for us. Unite us with each other through your Spirit so we live in the freedom you’ve given us until our Savior returns. Amen.
At this time, ushers will be passing trays with the bread and the cup down your rows. You may take the bread immediately, but hold on to the cup, which we will all drink together.
Let’s feast on God’s grace together.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, in your wisdom, you have made all things and you sustain them by your power. You formed us in your image, setting us in this world to love and serve you, and to live in peace with one another. When we rebelled against you — refusing to trust and obey you — you did not reject us, but still claimed us as your own. Then in the fullness of time, out of your great love for us, you sent your only Son to be one of us, to redeem us, to heal our brokenness, to cleanse us from our sin, and to defeat our greatest enemies of Satan, sin, death, and Hell so that we could be free. And now, you call us your sons and your daughters. In response to these great truths, we now praise you in song together. Amen.
May you go with great confidence in God’s love for you so you joyfully turn to Jesus in faith as you turn from your sin in repentance. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
The notes for this sermon can be found here.
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