Let us call upon the name of our covenant God together now in congregational prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, we come unto thee in this morning, this Sabbath morning, which is for thy people a day of rest, which thou hast given unto us that we might have peace and comfort and quietness in the gospel of our Savior. For without is a tumult, without is the sound of war, without are the hosts who encamp against thy church and against thy people. Within thy house we find the wall of our Savior and his love built around us, the wall of his truth and his gospel surrounding us so that we are safe and well protected. We thank Thee, Father, that Thou dost give to us this rest, for in our earthly life we wander through a wilderness. It is for us a dry and thirsty land where no water is. We thank Thee that Thou dost give unto us those oases of rest and refreshment that thou didst give to thy people of old as they wandered in the wilderness, which were for them foretastes of Canaan, and its riches and overflowing bounty, and its refreshment for their souls. We thank thee that thou didst give to us the oasis of thy house, and the oasis of Jesus Christ, and the oasis of the gospel, and the oasis of the Sabbath, the oasis of the worship of thy name, that here we might have rest, and might even have a foretaste of the refreshment and overflowing of heaven, that shall be ours when our earthly sojourn is finished, and that shall be ours fully in the day of Jesus Christ, when he comes to make all things new, to make a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, where we shall forever abide with thee. We thank thee, Father, then, that thou hast brought us to thy house this morning. We thank thee for our Savior, whose one desire that he seeks after is to dwell in the house of thee all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple We thank Thee that Thou dost bring us with Him into Thy very presence. We thank Thee that in time of trouble Thou dost hide us in Thy pavilion, that Thou dost hide us in the secret of Thy tabernacle and set us up upon a rock so that our heads are lifted up above our enemies round about. And we thank Thee, Father, for Thy peace that Thou dost give unto us and the courage that Thou dost give unto our hearts. We pray that Thou wilt look upon us in mercy Wilt thou remember us in our afflictions and sorrows? Remember us in our old age or in our griefs and our loss? Remember us in our contentions and strifes? Wilt thou remember us in our sorrows? Wilt thou remember us in our sicknesses and brokenness and our healing and recovery? Wilt thou remember us who are oppressed? and who are bowed down even by those who ought to protect us, but who are instead assaulted, bearing angry looks and strife of tongues and the reproach of the Savior. We thank Thee, Father, that Thou dost give us the privilege of so suffering this oppression. We pray that Thou will remember us in it, that Thou wilt give unto us the peace that passeth all understanding. And we thank Thee, Father, that though we are troubled on every side, we are not distressed. Though we are perplexed, we are not in despair. Though persecuted, not forsaken. Though cast down, not destroyed. And we thank Thee for the privilege that always we may bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. We pray, Father, that thou will give to us the balm of the gospel for the comfort of our souls this day. To that end, wilt thou remember thy servant as he brings thy word? Wilt thou cause that he speaks truly, thus saith the Lord? Wilt thou open his mouth with the glad tidings of heaven? Will thou set a watch upon his lips, that no evil thing passeth his lips? And wilt thou cause that we as thy sheep might hear, open our ears, that we might hear the glad tidings of heaven and the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ? And we thank thee, Father, that our Savior has promised that we shall hear him indeed. For He has told us, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. We thank Thee for that love of our Savior, that knowledge that our Savior has of us, that He knoweth our weaknesses, He knoweth our frame, He knoweth our sins, He knoweth all things. We thank Thee that He knows His sheep, and we thank Thee that in His knowledge of us He speaks, and causes us to hear His very voice. We pray then that thou will give to us the following of faith, that we might hear our Savior and be glad. We pray, Father, that thou will continue to bless thy people wherever they might be over the length and breadth of the earth. Thou remember our sister Lewa, remember other of thy saints in Singapore. Will thou grant unto them a Sabbath's day rest also. Will thou be with those who listen in on the recordings or the stream. Will thou grant unto them thy peace. Will thou give to us the gospel of our Savior. Thou cause that gospel to go forth with power and to rescue us and deliver us who are ourselves helpless, who ourselves have no strength. For we indeed are weak, but Thou art strong. We are as small here upon the earth as grasshoppers in the field, but Thou art our God and Thou art strong and has made all things. Will Thou give us then the comfort and peace of Thy love in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that thou will bless all of the worship of thy name this day. Thou cause the gospel to be proclaimed, wilt Thou remember us in our praying. We thank Thee for our Savior who has crossed the threshold of heaven and who sits at Thy right hand as our intercessor and whoever liveth to make intercession for us. For we know not what to pray for as we ought. We thank Thee for our Savior who sits in heaven interceding and we thank Thee for His Spirit who maketh intercession for us also with groanings which cannot be uttered. We pray that thou will hear our prayer for the sake of that Savior at thy right hand. Will thou remember us also in our singing? We thank thee for the Psalms of Zion that thou hast given to thy church. We thank thee for the revelation of Jesus Christ therein. We thank thee that we might learn through the Psalms to see all things through Jesus' eyes, the eyes of the sweet psalmist of Israel, and to hear all things through his ears, and to speak all things through his mouth, that we might know all things that he knows and that he has shown unto us. that we might know even the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and might know the wonder of thy love for thy people. Remember us also in the giving of our offerings. We thank thee, Father, for what thou hast bestowed upon us. Will thou grant that in all our giving thy name might be honored and glorified, for what we have is not our own, but belongeth unto thee. We pray thy blessing also upon our elders. Watch over them as they oversee the worship this day, as they guard the pulpit, as they see to it that what is brought is the pure doctrine of the gospel. Will thou give them understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom and comfort them with the knowledge that the king of the congregation is no man, mere man, but is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our eternal King. Will thou remember our deacons also, give unto them grace as they gather many good means for those who are in need. Will thou give unto them the overflowing abundance of the gospel of the Savior as they bring to those who are in distress and relieve their burdens with the gospel of Jesus Christ and those things that are necessary. And will thou comfort our deacons with the knowledge that the priest of the congregation is no mere man, but is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our high priest. And will thou comfort us also with the knowledge that the prophet in our midst is no mere man, but is our chief prophet and teacher, whom thou hast raised up for our salvation. Forgive the sins that we have committed. Wash them away in our Savior's blood. We thank Thee for the good news of salvation that Thou dost love us in Christ, and in that love has constituted us righteous by our Savior's perfect work. We hate our sins. We are sorry for them. They are wretched. We beseech Thee, Father, that Thou wilt give us the peace and the comfort of the gospel of our forgiveness. And wilt Thou keep us from sin? Wilt Thou give unto us the good works that thou hast before ordained that we should walk in, and cause that men might see these good works and glorify thee in heaven, so that no glory, not an ounce of the glory redounds unto us, but so that all of the glory belongs unto thee. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Will thou hear our prayer now? Will thou answer us in thy mercy? For Jesus' sake, amen. We worship the Lord now in the giving of our offerings. The first offering is for the general fund and the second is for benevolence. So, Psalm 67. Psalm 67. We'll sing the second version of Psalm 67. The title of the psalm to the chief musician on Naginoth, the psalm or song. Psalm 67 teaches the worldwide, universal salvation of God's elect out of every nation. As we sing through the psalm, we'll see the call to all the people to praise the Lord. Verse 3, for example, or God's way upon the earth to all men being known. Verse 2, Or verse 6, then shall the earth yield her increase? God our God bless us shall. We have here the salvation of God's people from every nation, tribe, and tongue throughout the entire earth. Psalm 67 begins with very familiar words, Lord unto us be merciful, do thou us also bless, and graciously cause shine on us the brightness of thy face. We recognize that as that great benediction or that great blessing that God spoke on his people through Aaron. The blessing that we use at the end of every evening service, the Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be merciful unto us and lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. And what we have then here is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that great high priest who bestows the blessing on his people. And the Lord Jesus Christ as the psalmist, who has the head of the church, receives that blessing for his people. And there is marvelous comfort in that, that even in the reception of the blessing, we are not our own and not on our own, but belong unto Jesus Christ. We'll sing all of the seven verses, which amounts to all of the five stanzas. I'll ask the accompanist to play through the unfamiliar tune once, and then we'll sing all seven verses of Psalm 67, the second version. Come to us, be merciful, do Thou us also bless, and graciously bestow on us the brightness of Thy face. O'er thy way upon the earth through all that may be known. Also among the nations all thy saving health be shown. O let the people praise thee, Lord, let people all be praised. O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy always. O rightly thou shalt people judge, when nations rule on earth. And people praise thee, Lord, shall the earth yielder increase, but our God bless us shall. Thou shalt us bless, and of the earth the end shall fear him not. We turn in God's word this morning to Joel 2. Joel 2 and continue our series on this Old Testament prophet who prophesied concerning the great day of the Lord. Joel 2. Our text is verses 28 through 32, the end of the chapter, but we'll read the entire chapter. Joel 2. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and 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. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. A great people and a strong hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth. The land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained. All faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks. Neither shall one thrust another. They shall walk every one in his path, and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city. They shall run up upon the wall. They shall climb up upon the houses. They shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them. The heavens shall tremble. The sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great, for he is strong that executeth his word, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breasts, Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. And I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen, but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the East Sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring. For the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye 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. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats 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. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. I now begin the words of our text this morning. And it shall come to pass afterward 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 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. This is God's Word, holy and inspired. May he bless it to our hearts this morning. Beloved congregation and our Lord Jesus Christ, we have seen that the prophet Joel was given from God a sight of the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on the clouds of glory so that Joel's prophecy concerns the great day of the Lord. God gave Joel that sight of the great day of the Lord through the historical incident of a great plague of locusts that descended upon Jerusalem, upon Mount Zion, upon Judea, so that the land was utterly laid waste. All of the crops were eaten. The three main staples that Israel grew, the corn, the grapes, and the olives, well known as the corn, the wine, and the oil, were all destroyed. The luxuries of the people were destroyed so that the fruit trees did not bear fruit. Everything had been stripped bare by that great plague of locusts, a great army that had come in and eaten all things. That plague of locusts was immediately followed by a terrible drought so that even the seed that could be sown was wasted and rotted in the ground. And the people of God were in terrible, terrible straits. God used that great plague of locusts to show Joel a vision of the day of the Lord so that the prophet Joel saw with that prophetic perspective all the way through that plague of locusts to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He could see the end of the world. He could see the end of all things. He could see the sun being turned to darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. He could see all of this because the Lord was showing him, for the sake of the church, the interpretation of all of these things. And the interpretation of all of these things that concern the day of the Lord is this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes. The Lord Jesus Christ comes for his people. He comes with salvation for his people. He comes with deliverance for them. The day of the Lord is terrible. It is a very great day. The question that resounds regarding that day is this, who shall stand or who shall abide in the great day of the Lord? And the answer of the prophet Joel, which is the answer of Jehovah God himself is, my people shall stand. My people shall stand. I shall feed them with corn and wine and oil. I will make their vats to overflow. I will give them all things that I have promised them in Jesus Christ. And that's comfort for the church. The church finds that the Lord is full and rich unto her and gives her refreshment and all things through Jesus Christ and his salvation, his death and resurrection. In the text that we consider this morning, now at the end of Joel 2, we have God's great promise of deliverance. God emphasizes that word deliverance. He brings our attention to that word deliverance. It's almost the last thing he says in this glorious passage in Joel 2 as he promises people all the good that he shall pour upon them. In chapter 3, Joel is going to make a transition to talk about the judgment and the gathering of all of the nations and what God will do to the wicked who oppressed God's people, blowing them away as the chaff. But now at the end of Joel 2, God through Joel brings all of it down to this idea of deliverance. Verse 32, 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. That's the gospel message of God for his people in light of the great day of the Lord. That's the gospel message of God for his people in our days, which is the beginning of the great days of the Lord. For these are the days of the pouring out of the Spirit, the days of Pentecost, as Peter would quote this passage to show in Acts 2. We're living in that great day of the Lord with the signs of his coming all around us. And the message of the great God who comes with great power and great glory and with thick darkness and in a cloud, the message of the great God to his church is this, I will deliver you. I will deliver you. And God shows the wonder of His grace and mercy in that deliverance because this is a promise that He makes to the unlikeliest of recipients. He makes this promise to the remnant. He makes this promise to Zion and Jerusalem, which were nothing, they were destroyed. He makes this promise to those people who have absolutely nothing, who are utterly emptied out. He makes this promise to those who have no earthly use in this world. God says to those who are the unlikeliest of all, I will deliver you. There is deliverance for my remnant whom I have called, the people whom I love and have delivered in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel, the good news for weary hearts this morning, the deliverance of the remnant. Let's consider this passage then this morning under the theme, The Remnant Delivered. In the first place, consider who? In the second place, consider what? And in the third place, consider how? The Remnant Delivered. Who? What? And how? God refers in the last verse of our text to the remnant. That's the who that shall be delivered. It is the remnant. And as we have seen before, that word remnant in scripture is a powerful word. It's a word that's full of all kinds of meaning and comfort for the church of Jesus Christ. It's not a word that gives us comfort in ourselves, because it's a word that describes God's people, and all of God's people, all of God's elect people are the remnant. That word describes God's people as nothing. The remnant is nothing. The remnant always is the useless part. It's the part that you cut off and throw away. The remnant is not the part you save. The remnant is not the part you eat. The remnant is not the part that you make the garment from. The remnant is the leftovers after you've eaten. And the remnant is the leftovers after you've made the garment. The remnant is the chicken bones that you don't gnaw on, but throw away into the garbage or cast to the pigs. The remnant is the leftover part that there's no earthly use for. The remnant is not the fabric that you make the garment out of, but it's the leftover little threads and clippings after the garment is made that you throw away. If in art class in school, you use a scissors to cut out a shape, then you might be left over with a few little slivers of the colored paper that you cut. And you wipe those slivers away and throw them away. That's the remnant. Always, that's the remnant. It's the part nobody has any use for. It's the part that cannot do anything. It's not good for anything. The remnant is the part that is discarded. In fact, the word that Joel uses here for remnant is especially powerful from that point of view because this particular Hebrew word that he uses means the one who survived a great onslaught. And this is the picture that that word portrays you. Imagine a great onslaught of an army coming into a town, let's say a little village. And that army rides through the village on its horses. Let's have it a medieval army riding through a village on its horses. And as they go through that town, they kill all of the people who are a threat to them. When the young men come running out of the house to defend the house, they're cut down by the swords of the army. And at the end, there is littered across the ground all of the dead of that town who were utterly destroyed by the army. But there are a few people left, a few people who escaped that slaughter. Way in the corner there of one of the huts, you find an old woman who couldn't lift a sword and was no danger to anybody. And there, out in the field, you find a little infant who was no threat to anybody. There's just a few, a tiny little fragment, a tiny little remnant that's left over, and they're left over because they were no threat to the invading army. They escaped the slaughter because they posed no danger to the foe. That's the idea here in this word remnant. It's useless. It cannot fight. It cannot help itself. It is from all appearances, earthly appearances, absolutely helpless. That's what this idea of remnant then emphasizes. It emphasizes that we are small. That's what God's people are, small. It emphasizes that we are helpless, that we are powerless, that we are useless. The remnant is the helpless one. And that's always the church's condition in this world. The church is always a remnant. God's people are never the strong ones. We are never mighty. We never impose our will on the earth or the great events of the earth. The remnant of God's people are the small and despised. As far as the world and the false church is concerned, the world has no use for the remnant, nor does the false church. The false church in the world throw the church away. They discard the church. They have no use for the church. They can't do anything with the remnant and so discard them. The church herself is so powerless. The church finds that too. The church looks around and says, well, why can't we convince anyone? Or the church looks around and says, why won't anyone listen? Well, that's because we're the remnant. The power isn't ours to impose understanding. The church is absolutely helpless, absolutely powerless. That's who God is talking to here in the end of Joel. It's the remnant. It's that church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is talking about that remnant throughout the entire passage. It's not just that last word in Joel 2. The whole passage is about the remnant. You go back to the beginning, those probably the most famous verses in Joel, verses 28 and 29. And it shall come to pass afterward 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 my spirit. What's going on in those two verses is that God is talking to a people about people in their midst who were not at all candidates for holding any kind of office in the church. God is speaking about people who are going to prophesy, people who are going to teach. And he speaks about those who are going to prophesy and teach using the Old Testament symbols that often accompanied prophecy. In the Old Testament there were often visions that were given so that by those visions the people or the prophet would know the will of God and could speak that will of God to others. Or there were dreams that were given. God would give that dream as a means of direct revelation to his people so that they would understand directly his will and would be able to speak that will to others. These dreams and these visions do not mean that in the New Testament age now we should look for dreams and visions, direct revelations from God, new revelations from God. All of that is given to us in the New Testament in the scriptures. That's how we know the will of God. The scriptures which reveal Jesus Christ and his perfect will. The scriptures are the way God reveals to us. Now, he's talking in those Old Testament symbols and picture languages about those who were going to be speaking God's will and teaching God's will to each other. And as God goes through that list of people, you find that not one of them fit the qualifications for being a priest in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, a priest must be a male. and a priest must be at least 30 years old. Men would learn how to be priests. They would learn how to serve. They would take care of some of the menial tasks of the priesthood when they were younger than 30, but they could not enter into the full exercise of the office until 30 years old. That's not the people God's talking to in verses 28 and 29. It's everybody but those who are qualified to hold the office of priest. And that's God's point when he says, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. He's going to say all those people that never thought they could know the will of the Lord. That's who I'm going to reveal my will to. That's who I'm going to give my spirit to. All flesh, all kinds of flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. They weren't prophets, the sons and the daughters. These were sons younger than 30 and daughters. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids. And those servants and handmaids were not only the Hebrew indentured servants, that sometimes belonged to a family because they had found themselves in poverty and had to sell themselves to pay their debts. But these handmaids and these servants would include the foreign slaves who were more like chattel among Israel. Foreign slaves who could be bought and sold. Foreign slaves who belonged to a family in their generation. Those people would have the Spirit of the Lord poured out upon them so that they would see the will of God. God is describing there, therefore, in verses 28 and 29, more of the remnant. It's the people nobody would look to to hear the will of the Lord or to learn the will of the Lord. God continues speaking about that remnant in verse 32 when he says, Zion and Jerusalem. You imagine what Zion and Jerusalem looked like in the day that Joel was giving this prophecy. If you had climbed up the hill Zion and stood in that city Jerusalem and looked around at the surrounding countryside, there would be nothing. Zion was the last place on earth anybody would go at this time. All the crops were totally destroyed. The ground was bare. They were in danger of starving to death. Zion and Jerusalem are nothing. There are big cities in the world at this time. There are powerful nations stirring and rising as there always are. But Zion, Jerusalem, that's the remnant. That's the nothing. That's the useless part. Everybody threw away Zion and Jerusalem. And yet God says to Zion and Jerusalem, to all flesh, to the remnant, I will deliver you. One more thing to know about the remnant. to whom God speaks in this promise is that the remnant is beloved. And here the mercy and grace of God is infinitely, infinitely deep. He loves the remnant. No one loves the remnant. No one has any use for the remnant. No one looks out for the remnant. But God does. God judges differently than men do. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. The useless leftover of the whole world is the beloved of God, whom in his mercy he has set his grace upon. What all the world throws away, God comes in his mercy and gathers to himself and speaks to them in his love and in his compassion for them. There is deliverance for you, remnant. There is deliverance for Mount Zion and for Jerusalem, and I will give my spirit to all flesh not just to those who, according to all appearances, are qualified for it, but I will give my spirit to the little ones, to the nothing, to the no ones, to the oppressed whom all men have thrown away. What man discards, God gathers in his infinite divine love. That remnant is identified as the beloved in the passage, in the words, whom the Lord shall call. That is lovely mercy. That is a tender description of the remnant. The remnant are the ones that the Lord shall call. And the idea is not this, that God is standing way over here and the remnant is standing way over there. And from that great distance, God comes to the remnant and he gives them some kind of an overbearing command. You better get over here. You better come here right now. That's not the idea of this call, but rather the idea of the call is that the Lord comes right to his people, right to where they have been cast away. He comes to those people who are totally helpless, who cannot help even themselves, those people who are useless for anything in the world. God comes right to those people and with his mouth right by his ear, according to Psalm 25, whispers to them and calls to them right in their ear, I love you. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. That's the call of the Lord. It's not an angry summons. But it is a word of mercy, the word of the gospel, the word of peace to them. Listen to what the whole world says to the remnant. Listen to their evaluation of what the remnant is. You're nothing. There's no use for you. And over against that, Jehovah God comes to his people and says, but I love you. I love you. And I bring you to myself. You've been cast out. but I gather you unto myself and my love and everlasting grace. It is those to whom the Lord gives his call, that call of the gospel, that call of his love, so that we see in that remnant whom the Lord shall call even an echo of that great covenant formula of Jehovah. What's the covenant formula? The covenant formula is this, you are mine and I am yours. You are my people. I am your God. It's the tenderest formula. I am yours. You are mine. And there's an echo of that in this remnant, whom the Lord shall call. He calls them as his own. He calls them to himself, gathers them as his own people. There is the tenderness of God, the grace of God, and mercy of God for his people. That mercy of God to his people as the remnant goes all the way back into eternity. These are the people whom the Lord has chosen. They are his elect. That idea of the remnant is often associated with election in scripture. There is the whole garment. That whole garment perishes. but a little corner is ripped off, and there's the remnant that the Lord preserves. Or, in Romans, a remnant according to the election of grace, so that God, in his mercy and love for his people, has chosen them from all eternity to be his. They didn't become the remnant after the locust plague came through. We don't become the remnant in the course of our life in this world, but God has set apart that remnant for himself from all eternity. It's the remnant who from all eternity he has called and chosen in his everlasting love. And that means that this remnant is the remnant belonging to Jesus Christ. And there is the hope and the peace of the people of God. How is it that God has a remnant? Not this, that he went through and plucked one and one and one, totally unrelated to anything. But God's remnant is this, that he chose his people in Christ Jesus Christ is the elect. He is the remnant, and we are chosen in him. He's the one cast away by the world. They had no use for him. All they could do was hate him, pushing him from themselves, thrusting him up on the cross as the way of declaring that he had no place among them. The Lord Jesus Christ was the one who was cast away, but he's the remnant of God, the elect remnant of God, and all who are in him, all who are chosen in him. And do you see what that means about that remnant? It means that that remnant cannot be thrown away. It cannot be cast away. The world will. The false church will. The world will constantly throw it away. But God will never, never throw that remnant away. Never! Because he has loved that remnant from eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. His elect he saves and he saves to the uttermost in the head of the elect. And so this idea of the remnant To whom God is speaking is very rich with comfort for the Church of Jesus Christ. It's a very tender scene. It is the shepherd with his sheep, as he calls his sheep, speaks to them of his love, declares to them, you are mine, you belong to me, you're my sheep. It's that tenderness of the shepherd as he delivers his own and speaks to them in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's to whom Joel is speaking this word of deliverance. And what Joel speaks in this word is their deliverance. That word is emphasized in the passage As we come to verse 32, all of these things are leading to this idea of being delivered. 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. What is that deliverance then? Well, in the first place, that deliverance is whatever is contained in the message of the gospel. There's something contained in the message of the gospel. There's a word, a thought, a truth that God proclaims in the message of the gospel. And we know that that's the deliverance because God specifically calls attention to what he says in verse 33. There shall be deliverance as the Lord has said. Well, what is it that God says? What is this message of deliverance that he says? And the message of deliverance from the beginning to the end has always been Jesus Christ. That's the message. It's the gospel. The deliverance that God is speaking of here is what Jesus Christ does for his people in the Old Testament. They had that in types and figures and shadows. They had the blood of animals sacrificed. Their whole society was awash in blood from the morning to the evening and from the beginning of the year to the end. Sacrifice after sacrifice, after sacrifice, after sacrifice. Because in those sacrifices, God was speaking. He was saying something. What he was saying is that's deliverance. Deliverance through the blood of the sacrifice. Deliverance from your sin and death through the lamb that is slain. The message of the gospel through the entire Old Testament and all of those shadows was deliverance through Jesus Christ. The people who could not help themselves They could not save themselves from their sin, their death. They're full from anything. Those people were covered. All their sins were covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. And they were delivered. That's the same message of the gospel today. That's what the preaching of the gospel is. That word concerning Jesus Christ. So that Jesus Christ and all his perfect work is proclaimed to you. you and me who are helpless, you and me who cannot deliver ourselves from that sin and in fact only add to it so that our burden is greater now as far as what we have done than when we began the worship service. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ has taken all that sin, all of it, and put it upon himself and covered it. That's the message of the gospel. That's the deliverance that is spoken to the remnant. In the second place, that deliverance is the spirit of Jesus Christ poured out upon the church. That's what verses 28 and 29 are dealing with. It shall come to pass afterward. And we're living now in that afterward, as Peter quoted this at Pentecost in Acts 2. It shall come to pass afterward 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 my spirit. Well, what is that spirit? that is poured out. It's God's spirit, my spirit, he says. But as Peter interprets this passage in Acts 2, Peter says, this is the spirit of Jesus Christ. It belongs to him. Peter quoted this passage and then immediately quoting it said, men and brethren, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and went on to teach Jesus Christ, And then say, this one who was crucified and risen ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God. And there hath received the promise of the Spirit, which he has shed forth upon you. The pouring out of the Spirit was the pouring out of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Well, why is that significant? It's significant because the Spirit is what's in you. The Spirit is what has all your things. The Spirit is what knows all your things. The breath of man in man is that breath that is within him. That breath is warmed by the man's body and blood so that it carries forth the very warmth of his heart into the world. The breath in man knows all man's secrets. That breath in man is right around his heart, deep in him. And so the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ that is poured out is the spirit that is warm with the heart and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ who knows all the Lord's things and who carries, therefore, the life of the Lord to his people, all the gifts and blessings of that salvation to his people. This is what God is saying is the deliverance for the remnant. I am going to come to you who know nothing. who are utterly helpless, who think that you are going to be ashamed. I am going to come to you and pour into you my own spirit, that spirit that has all the things of Christ, that spirit that knows all the truth of Christ, so that you too are going to know what is true. You will know the truth. You will know the gospel. You will know what I have said. That's the significance of them prophesying then. Before you prophesy, you have to know. There has to be a knowledge. That's what God is saying, My Spirit, the Spirit of Christ will be in you so that you know Him. You know Him and what He has done. You know all His finished work. You know that for you. That's the deliverance that He gives to His people. God's people in this world otherwise know nothing. God's people could know nothing. The only thing we could ever conclude, according to our flesh and our unbelief and all the circumstances of our life, the only thing we could ever conclude is we perish. We perish. That's all there is for us. We perish. But that's not the message of the gospel that is carried into our hearts by the Spirit. The message of the gospel is this, but I love you. I love you. And let me show you that love in Jesus Christ and His cross and all that He has done. What the prophet is describing here then is that office of believer, sharing in the anointing of the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that spirit, knowing all things that our chief prophet and teacher has revealed unto us. It is that office of believer of having assurance by the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are his and can never be plucked away No wonder that the foes always attack so vigorously the office of believer and the knowledge that God's people have by the gospel. seeking to tear away that knowledge of the gospel and put instead the comforts of man or the will of man or whatever it may be of man in its place. But against all of that, this is the deliverance that God gives his remnant. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Yes, even upon you who are nothing. Yes, even upon the handmaids and the manservants, those chattel slaves, even upon you who are nothing and have no help, I will pour out my spirit upon you and you will know my love in Jesus Christ. And then in the third place, the deliverance that the prophet gives or that the prophet speaks to the people is that they will stand in the day of judgment in Jesus Christ. That's what's going on in verses 30 and 31. We have those well-known descriptions of what things will be like as the Lord Jesus Christ returns. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." What that will look like is tremendous as God turns out all the lights in the world, the sun and the moon, so that it's pitch black and there is nothing left to see except the rending of the heavens and Jesus Christ shining with the light of God's own countenance coming down from heaven in the final return. The prophet is taken to see those events right before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the reason that the prophet brings those up now is in order to show what the coming of God is like, what the coming of God in judgment is like. There is this great day of the Lord, and the Lord will come in great judgment, and he's a judge who knows everything. He's a judge who has in his hand life and death. There's never been a judge like him. There will be wonders before him. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. He is a powerful, almighty judge. And so the question for us people, us creatures of the dust here, is who shall stand? That's the question that has been coming up through Joel. Made explicitly in chapter 2 verse 11, for example, the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? God speaks through Joel concerning that day which will be filled with thunders and lightnings and clouds and all of those signs of the power of Jehovah God. He comes with a word of comfort for the remnant. Who shall abide? You shall abide. You will stand. There's deliverance for you. There's deliverance in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. There's deliverance for the remnant whom I have called. There is deliverance for you. How is it that you're going to stand there? Well, that's the message of the gospel, the same message of the gospel. It's one thing all the way through. You're going to stand in Christ there. There will be no condemnation for you. There cannot be. All that darkness, all those clouds, that came on Jesus already. during those three hours of darkness upon the cross. All of those signs of the fierce wrath of Jehovah God fell on him because the real thing was falling upon him, the curse. There's no curse for you, that's been removed. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes on the clouds of judgment, then you will stand, you'll stand before him. There's deliverance for the remnant, deliverance for those who could never stand in themselves, but who stand in the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That message of the gospel is known by the church and she is delivered from all her sin and iniquity. And now the great question is how, how is that deliverance given to us? How is it known to us? And Joel answers that too. When he says in verse 32, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. calling on the name of the Lord. That's how. And now what are you going to do with that? What is that calling on the name of the Lord referring to? Is that setting before you some work that you must do? I better call on the name of the Lord. Is that setting before you some prerequisite, some condition so that you forever have to be plagued with whether you've called on the name of the Lord well enough? If that's the case, then how in the world can I have peace? In the light of the coming day of the Lord, how could I have peace? I've never called on the name of the Lord well enough, never. And with that old man of sin, I never will. There's always in that flesh doubt and unbelief. If this means that here's a work for you to do in order to obtain all this, then you will never, and I will never be delivered. But that's not what the prophet is referring to. The apostle Paul quoted this very verse of Joel in Romans 10. And he quoted this verse to prove that there's salvation for Gentiles too, as well as Jews. But there is salvation for Jews and Gentiles apart from the working of the law, which means by faith alone, The Apostle Paul in Romans 10 says in verse 11, we'll start with, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no different 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. There's our text. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? And then verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The prophet here, as interpreted by the apostle, is speaking of salvation for all of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not us. That is, that faith is not of us. That faith is not our doing. That faith is not our contribution. The whole meaning of that faith is Jesus Christ who is its object. The whole meaning of faith is God and his mercy and what he has done through Jesus Christ so that this deliverance of the remnant is not by the goodness of the remnant. That makes no sense. The remnant isn't good. The remnant is the thrown away part. It's useless. The salvation of the remnant is not by the goodness or the working of the remnant or the faithfulness of the remnant or the standing of the remnant or any such thing. The salvation of the remnant is by faith in Jesus Christ, by the mercy of Jehovah God who has given him to be our Savior. What a way to live in the day of the Lord, in this New Testament age as we see the signs of the Lord's coming more and more increasing. What a way to live to see this mercy of Jehovah God to the remnant, so that in Zion and Jerusalem, which is nothing, which is wasted, in Zion and Jerusalem there is deliverance. For the Lord loves his remnant and gives her that salvation through faith, for she is the remnant that the Lord has called. This is the gospel to his people. Hear this gospel. There is deliverance for God's remnant. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank thee for the gospel thou hast given to us. Will thou bless it to our hearts, cause us to know it. Will thou give unto us that gift of faith to see these things. We thank thee for thy spirit, the spirit of Christ who abides in us. Apply this word to us that we might go to our homes with thy peace. Forgive our sins, keep us from sin. For Jesus' sake, amen. Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Psalm 3 is the psalm that expresses how many foes our Lord suffered during his life. The title of the psalm is a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son And under that picture and type of David who had many foes, the Lord sings of his many foes. And yet God gives salvation from those foes. We'll sing all the eight verses, which amounts to all the five stanzas of Psalm 3. I'll ask the accompanist to play through the tune once and then all the verses of Psalm 3. Lord, how far my foes increase against me when he rise, when he say ♪ Well thou my shield and glory art ♪ ♪ The lifter of my lap ♪ ♪ I cry then from this holy earth the Lord be at my side ♪ ♪ I'll lift thee down and slap thy face ♪ ♪ For not such day it be ♪ ♪ I'll fill the middle house with tents ♪ ♪ And crown thy guests with me ♪ ♪ Arise, O Lord, save me, thy God ♪ ♪ For thou my foes hast wrought ♪ I sing Our blessing be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only do with our treasures in glory bless us. who only doeth wondrous works in glory and excel. And blessed be His glorious name to all eternity, The whole earth let His glory fill, Amen, so let it be. The whole earth let His glory fill, Amen, so let it be. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.