Will you take your Bibles out and turn to the book of Joel, the book of Joel. Today we want to consider the three chapter book of the Bible, the book of Joel. In this book, we learn about the God who has a day, the God who has a day. My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, let's bow before the Lord and ask for his help as we look at his word. Father, thank you for your word that you have given to us. We know that the things that were written before were written for our instruction, written for our learning, that we would be encouraged, that we'd have hope, that we would know how to walk in the way, that we would know how to live before you and how to humble ourselves before you. And Father, as we consider what Joel, by your direction, brought to the attention of your people, We ask that it would come before our eyes, into our ears, and that we would understand what you desire for us as well. We pray for that in Jesus' name. Amen. This is Father's Day. It's a day to honor fathers, those who have raised us, those who provided for us, those who protect us. And from what I can tell by studying online, The first day that was celebrated, Father's Day, was in June of 1910. I understand that the origin goes back to a lady named Sonora Dodd. She thought up the idea while she was listening to a sermon on Mother's Day. You see, she had been raised by her father. because her mother had died in childbirth, so her father had raised her and her five siblings. And so in the month of his birth, the month of June, the first Father's Day was celebrated. And from what I understand, the president made Father's Day a national holiday 51 years ago in 1972. That may seem like a long time ago, I say that seems like a long time ago, probably for my youngest daughter, who this last week on Wednesday turned six. I said, 50 years, wow, that's a long time ago. Well, for some that might not be so long ago, it seems. But there are days for all kinds of occasions. There's days for national holidays, for memorial days, for birthdays, we love birthdays. And for anyone who might be feeling left out Just remember Alice's Wonderland, where if it's not your birthday, it must be your unbirthday. So you're all covered, it's time to party. But today is not only Father's Day, it's the Lord's Day. It's Sunday. Remember the Apostle John talked about the Lord's Day in Revelation chapter one, verse 10? And that was a day that was celebrated ever since the beginning of the church, given to us in Acts chapter two. It's a unique day. And I say the Lord's Day is unique because it's not something that happens only once a year. It happens every single week. Every single Sunday is the Lord's Day. Now could you imagine celebrating Father's Day every single week? I mean, think of all the grills that would require. Or Mother's Day, all the flowers that would require. Or a birthday, all the cakes that would require. Can you imagine having those days every single week? Kids, do you know why Jesus Christ gets to have a day every single week? You see, Jesus Christ was the very first person to overcome death. He overcame death and he rose on the first day of the week on Sunday. Death couldn't hold him down. And so Jesus Christ offers deliverance to anyone and everyone who will turn to him. He holds out to them eternal life with him. That's the Lord's day, and we have the Lord's day every single week. It's a day that we turn away from our own pleasures and we delight in God. It's a day we focus on him. Hundreds of years before John the Apostle talked about the Lord's Day, the prophet Joel wrote about another Lord's Day. Here in the book of Joel, Joel 1.15, it talks about this day and it says this day is near. It says that in 2.1, it is near. It says in addition in 2.1 that it is coming. You see, this day is a future day. This book also tells us that this day is great and very awesome, chapter two, verse 11 and verse 31. You say, what makes this day so significant? In chapter three, verse 14, the day that is the Lord's day is a day that he will make decisions. It says multitudes, multitudes. in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." You say, God's going to make a decision? Doesn't God make decisions every day? I mean, we make decisions every day. You'd think God would make decisions every day. And you think, of course. God made the world. He maintains the world every single moment of every single day. So obviously, God makes decisions as we might think of it. There is a time coming when God will intervene in human history directly. God has already sent his son to earth about 2,000 years ago. And then we realize that he will come again. And when he does, he will sort things out here on the earth. And that's really good news. Because when we think about it, there's a whole lot of things that need to be sorted out. You think about the politics in Washington. It'd be nice to have that sorted out. You think about the politics in town, you know, at the town meeting. Yeah, it'd be nice if all those things got sorted out. And then it can even touch us in a very personal way. What about the politics with the baseball team? Right? In all those areas of life, we think there's some really, there's a lot of sorting that needs to be done. The good news is that Jesus Christ will come again and he's going to sort things out. He's going to make the calls. There is a day, there is a time that he has planned to set things in order here. And that's a truth that you need to believe. You need to believe that. More than that, you need to prepare for that. In God's grace and his mercy, God gave his word to the prophet Joel so that the people would prepare for the Lord's day, the great day of the Lord. And it just so happened that there was an event in Joel's life that would serve as a perfect springboard to talk about the day of the Lord. In Joel's time, as we think of what happened in Israel, in BC, What was on the newspaper headlines? Well, the locusts came. Let's read about them and the locusts. Chapter one, verse four. It says, what the cutting locusts left, the swarming locusts has eaten. And what the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts have eaten. And what the hopping locusts left, the destroying locusts has eaten. So what was the headline? The headline was about grasshoppers. Lots and lots and lots. of bugs. You say, that is a strange headline. Well, the locusts destroyed the land. Look at chapter 1, verse 11, the end of the verse. It says, the harvest of the field has perished. And that might not hit us because we're not an agrarian culture like they were, but Israel depended on what was planted and what was harvested in their fields. They depended on all the green around them to live, to get along. And the problem with that was this. The locusts have eaten absolutely everything. It is all gone. And this destruction was nothing like the people had ever seen before. Chapter 1, verse 2. It says, has such a thing happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children to another generation. Now we've had some strange things happen to us recently in our society. COVID shut us down, it locked us down. And then the Canadian smoke kept us inside for a bit. And you repeatedly heard people say, never seen this before. This has never happened in my lifetime. Yet what happened in Israel far surpasses COVID or Canadian smoke. This plague of locusts destroyed everything. I mean, the animals had nothing to eat. Look at verse 16. It says, food was cut off. You know, food was one of those things that God had made, and God had given man as one of man's good gifts, and man gave, or God gave man the responsibility to work. And now there's no food, and there's no field to tend, there's no work to do. It's all gone. All the good things that Israel depended on were gone. So what can you do? Will you cry to the Lord for help? Look at verse 13. Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests. Wail, O ministers of the altar. Verse 19, to you, O Lord, I call. And honestly, what else can people do when they're brought so low but call upon the Lord? You think, well, right, everyone should be calling on the Lord. That seems obvious. But that's not always what people choose. Remember back with me for a moment 9-11. For those of you who can remember 9-11, that was a day in September when two airplanes flew into the Twin Towers in the city, and then another airplane into the Pentagon. And you remember at that time that people flooded back into the church. They sobered up, but only for a time. They're not here anymore. They're all gone. But you know what has stayed since 9-11? Airport security. I mean, security exploded since 9-11. You see, our society has devised ways to prevent that kind of thing from ever happening again. At least our society has tried to do so. And that's why we have to go to the airport so early and pack certain things in certain amounts and the list goes on and on. But when you think of Israel and the plague of the locusts, There was absolutely nothing they could do to prepare for this. And even all the seed that they had stored up, that wouldn't help them. Look at verse 17. The seed shrivels under the clots and the storehouses are desolate. The granaries are torn down because the grain is dried up. There was a drought even after this plague of locust. I mean, all of their securities are completely shot. There's no way that they have insurance for what just happened. There is no hope but to turn to the Lord. And that's what the people needed to realize about the day of the Lord. There's no hope but to turn to the Lord. You see, the locust had come. That's what was in the daily news. That's what everyone knew and experienced. It had brought destruction. But one day, the Lord's army would come. Look with me at chapter 2, verse 11. Chapter two, verse 11, the Bible says, the Lord utters his voice before his army. For his camp, that's his army, is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and awesome. Who can endure it? You see, God's army is going to destroy the land. That's what we see in chapter two. And this destruction is gonna be like nothing that people have ever seen before. Look at verse two. A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Like blackness, there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people. Their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. See, the Lord is sending his army, and this destruction is inescapable. Verse three, fire devours before them, that army. Behind them, a flame burns. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them, a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes. This is a unique time because you might think, well, I have safeguards. I can escape this. No, this is something that no one will be able to get away from. There is no arc this time for this flood. It's inescapable. We'll talk about the ark in a moment. And this destruction is fearsome. Look at verses four through six. Their appearance, that is of this army, is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling chariots, they leap on the mountaintops like the crackling of the flame of fire, devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them people are in anguish, all faces grow pale. They bring great dread and fear, and their coming is unstoppable. Verse seven, like warriors they charge and nothing will stop them. Where they go, they will overcome. Just like that plague of locusts, when the swarms came in and landed on everything and ate everything, There was no stopping it. So one day the Lord's army will come, because the Lord's day is a day of destruction. Chapter 1, verse 15, it says this, Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. So you see the parallel that Joel makes? As the locusts had come upon Israel and destroyed the land, so the Lord will one day come and destroy. But there is good news. There is an arc, there is a way of an escape. Look at chapter two, verse 12. Even as we see the details for this great and terrible day of the Lord, we see hope. Verse 12, yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me. You see, people need to respond in this day of the Lord. And they need to respond by turning to the Lord for help. And you think, why would God's people need to turn to God? I mean, they're God's people. Well, there's the issue. The reality was that Israel was God's people, but they weren't God's people at heart. Look at verse 12 and 13 again. Return to me with all your heart. Verse 13, rend your hearts and not your garments. Joel doesn't give us any clue exactly of where the hearts of God's people Israel were, but what we do know is that they weren't with God. They were somewhere else. And it seems to be that God's people were acting very religiously. They were going through the motions of being religious, but their hearts weren't with God. And God doesn't want just a religious show. He wants sincerity. He wants your heart. Young people, I was reading a book written by a man named C.S. Lewis. He also wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. He wrote a book titled The Screwtape Letters. And here's a plot for you. This is how a senior demon teaches a junior demon how to be a demon and do a good job. Quite a plot. I have the book if you want to read it. But in these letters, one of Satan's devices is to encourage people to get close to God by religious observance. So the demons talk, the little demon, the junior demon, you know what you need to do is get people to go to church. Because if people think, well, I'm at church, I must be good with God, then they'll never give their heart to God. They'll be close to what they need, but never end up getting to what they need. Young people, I want you to know that one of the chief seats to hell is the one that might be underneath you, the one in church among God's people. You know, Jesus would later, Jesus said that many, many, many, many who named him and who worked for him, he will one day reject them. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say that playing religion is not what God wants. Making a show is not what God wants. Checking the box that you went to church is not ultimately that God wants. God wants something far more. He wants your heart. He says in chapter two, verse 12, he says, return to me with all your heart. So there's the real issue. The issue is a matter of your heart. So I ask you today, young and old, Where is your heart? And have you turned? Because your heart is not naturally the Lord's. The question is, have you turned to the Lord from the heart? You're here, I'm glad. This is a wonderful place. But this seat is not far enough. God wants your heart. You say, why should I turn to the Lord? You should turn to the Lord because of the kind of person he is. Look at verse 13 and 14. God is willing to show mercy. Return to the Lord your God for or because, return to him because he's gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. You see, even though your heart, the heart of God's people, Israel, was elsewhere, God was willing to show them mercy. And we just studied together the book of Hosea, where we saw that God was willing to love someone who was unfaithful to him, who was having an affair. And isn't it the case that people, people like Israel, people like us, we feel that God doesn't want us because we've sinned and we feel ashamed of our sin. And how could God ever love someone like me? Well, it is true that sin separates us from God. It is true that sin brings us shame. It is not true that God won't forgive you. He will forgive. That's what we get wrong. So he tells this prophet, the prophet Joel, to tell the people to come to him, not just to make an outward show, not just to go to church for a few Sundays like they did after 9-11, no, to come to him in an inward way with the whole heart. You see, the day of the Lord is a day of destruction. So the way you respond to that is by turning to the Lord with all your heart. You say, what will happen then? Well, the day of the Lord in the second half of this book, from chapter 2, 18 to the end of the book, shows us that God is gonna bring deliverance to his people. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. It says, for behold, in those days, and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, God's gonna turn things around for his people. He's gonna restore them. Why? Because of who he is, chapter 2, verse 18. God is gonna have pity on his people. It says, then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. You see, God is willing to show kindness. God is willing to restore. And he shows his kindness, he shows his love, by restoring those things that were lost. Look at verse 25. God is able to restore all that was lost previously. He says, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter. My great army, which I sent among you, you will eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You'll know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never be put to shame again. You see, God knows how to restore everything that we think that's lost, it's gone. And God is gonna send his spirit, Joel chapter two, verse 28. It shall come to pass afterward I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh. And you think, I've heard that verse before. You're right. Because we've often gone through Acts 2 together, and Peter talks about that. On the great day of Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer, and Peter said that this is what the prophet Joel was talking about. God promised to send a spirit to indwell all true believers, And it has happened. And Peter goes on to say what Joel says, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's the gospel that's held out. You see, God can change everything. There is a way to escape the destruction of God's day. There is a day to be kept and delivered from it. And it is by turning to the Lord today. So I ask you again. Have you ever called on the name of the Lord? Have you ever felt your need for the Lord because of all your sin and realized you couldn't handle it on your own? You could never make up for it by doing as much good as you could. But your only hope was to say, Lord, I'm sorry. Have mercy on me. God says he'll save those The last thing we see is that God will deal with all the rest. He's going to remove the nations. He's going to judge them. Look at chapter 3, verse 14. It says, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. This is not a time when people are gonna make decisions. This is a time when God is going to make decisions about people. And what we see is the Lord roaring from Zion, verse 16. He's gonna utter his voice. What's going to happen is God will harvest the earth for his great wrath. You see, God is going to get rid of those who oppose him. He's going to sort things out. All the things that we don't like, of all the wrongs that people do, God is actually going to come and sort it all out. It's not our place to sort it out. It's his and he will. What's our responsibility? What should we do? Verse 16, the Lord's a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. You see, we're supposed to go take refuge in the Lord. There is a way to escape the destruction that God will one day bring, and it's by turning to him now. You say, what is our hope then? As it says in verse 17, it says in verse 21, one day, The Lord will dwell in Zion. He'll no longer be outside, away, us wondering where is he, what is he doing? He will be with us and he will sort everything out. I began by talking about days today. Today's Father's Day, a day to honor our fathers. It's like Mother's Day, honor our mothers. It's a wonderful day, like a holiday, Memorial Day, a birthday, an unbirthday. But there are some days that are really important, like the Lord's Day, a day to focus our attention on him. But the prophet Joel wanted us to know about a very specific time, the day of the Lord, a day when he will make decisions, when all the things that are wrong in our world, he is going to sort out. That's an inescapable day, it's coming. Everyone has to believe it. But are you prepared for it? The Lord says, whoever will call on him, he'll save. That's how you prepare. Father, as we consider this, we ask that you would help us to do business with you. If we thought that the seat we're sitting in us was gonna get us to heaven, cleanse us of that thought, because it will not. But instead, Lord, Help us to realize that our heart has not been toward you, has been away from you, and you want our heart. So Lord, cause people today to turn in their hearts to you, with all their hearts, and to call on you, and to know that you are a God who is gracious and merciful, a God who's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Lord, thank you so much that for us who know you We have known, we have known what it is to be delivered and to have that great burden of sin lifted from our shoulders and we thank you for that and we praise you in Jesus' name, amen.