Face, O blissful moment, face to face to see and know. Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, above to be sown. Face to face I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him high and high. Amen, you may be seated. And let the little ones need to escape today to class with Mrs. Shorter. They can do that or stay, whatever needs to be done today. And the rest of us can open up our Bible to Joel, chapter two. And we're just gonna touch on a bit of what's going on in this passage as we come into it to kind of understand what Joel is saying and Joel's a prophet, he's a prophet to the kingdom of Judah and his message dealt with current events and so it's dealing with what's taking place nationally as God brings judgment against the tribe of Judah as well as Speaking prophetically about the future and so there's application in what we're going to look at today to what we see taking place right now And certainly it applies to us, but it applied to that day as well there was something specifically taking place as God brought judgment through a nation and that Joel spoke about invading like a plague of grasshoppers or locusts that would invade. He says that in Joel chapter one, so you can turn back, page in your Bible, if you're reading along with this, Joel chapter one, beginning at verse four. And he says, that was the palmer worm hath left, hath the locust eaten. That was the locust hath left, hath the canker worm eaten. That was the canker worm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and howl, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. Why? Because the vineyards are killed. All the wine came from grapes. The grapes came from vineyards. The vineyards were destroyed by this plague. But then he says, what he's speaking more specifically about, for a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion. He hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree. He hath made it clean bare and cast it away, and the branches thereof are made white. So he's speaking about a plague, but in reality what he's speaking about is an invading army. And that army, when it comes in, it comes in as God's judge and God's judgment upon the land. But in the wake of what that army leaves behind, there is nothing. It's completely desolate, what takes place. Unger's commentary says this, The hostile Gentile nation, which was predicted to invade Judah, and was compared metaphorically to the locust invasion, was said to be strong, irresistibly ravaging everything in its path, and without number, as both the Assyrians and the Chaldeans would prove to be. And then he speaks to the future and he says this. The Lord will annihilate Israel's latter-day foes. as he speaks about removing the northern army, literally the northerner indicating that the north in relation to Palestine is not merely the direction from which the invader comes, but it is also his native land, namely the Assyrian prefiguring the last state northern coalition headed by, interesting, Russia. It's interesting because on Thursday nights we've been speaking about that we're into the trumpet judgments in the book of Revelation and the sixth trumpet judgment is these angels, demonic angels, fallen angels that are loose from their bondage. They come out of the Euphrates River. The Euphrates River goes through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq and from the other side of that border comes an army of over 200 million, the Bible speaks about, whether figuratively or by way of exact number. It could be drones, it could be other things that we know about today, but that army is gonna come and invade as God's judgment in the last days. It's interesting that Unger points to Russia, and right now it's like current events, what's taking place with Russia. And so Joel is warning Judah and all people that there's a need to wake up because this judgment is coming. And like Nineveh, if you remember Nineveh, that wicked city that God was gonna judge, and I read this last night in my devotions, Jonah goes there. Eventually, first he tries to flee. The reason he tried to flee is he knew God was a merciful God. He didn't wanna go preach judgment because if he went and preached judgment, he was scared they'd get right with God, and that's what they did. But what you see when it comes to this warning to Israel or to Judah, which is also this warning to us and to all people, that there's a need to wake up to the certainty of God's judgment. There's kind of two responses that we can have. One is continue as we are and face the judgment. or you can turn to the Lord in repentance and see him stay his hand of judgment. That's it. When it comes to what am I gonna do with what God has revealed about coming judgment, one, I can ignore it, act as if it doesn't matter, it doesn't exist, continue on my way. The second is that I can turn to the Lord, and certainly that's the best option for us. But again, Going back to Nineveh, Nineveh, that wicked city, what they did when... I'm having a hard time saying my words here. When Jonah said, judgment's coming, they responded. And in Jonah chapter three, verse four, I wanna just stop and point out, he did not say repent. A lot of people say, what was Jonah's message to Nineveh? It was repent. No, it wasn't. His message was judgment is coming, 40 days, and this city is gonna be destroyed. It wasn't a message of repentance, but the response of the people of Nineveh was repentance, beginning at verse five there. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth. And interesting, their response, notice, it began with faith. They believed God. Jonah came, and for whatever reason, these wicked people, as they heard the message from Jonah's lips, they believed him. They were convinced. And so what did they do? They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, the clothing of mourning, and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way, from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their work, and they turned from their evil way, and God repented. That means He changed His mind of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not. What would have happened to Nineveh if they had not repented, destroyed? In 40 days. There wasn't a lot of time to sit around and think, you know, should I do this, should I not do this? I mean, the judgment was there. It's like the judgment was at hand, and they had to decide, you know, what, am I gonna be serious about this, respond to God's warnings, or perish? Praise God, I'm thankful today with God being thankful as well that they responded, because there were 120,000 people in that city that didn't know the right hand from their left speaking about children in that city. that would have been destroyed except for that repentance. And so here in our text, again, Joel is challenging Judah. We'll find this out as we continue our reading. He challenges them to repent as well. His message is not just like Jonah's, judgment's coming. His message is also repent, deal with your sin, get right with God, find God's mercy. He says this in chapter one, verse eight. lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth from the husband of her youth, a new bride that's been suddenly parted from her spouse just at the beginning of their marriage. And how sad that is when we hear of a tragedy like that. And God through Joel says, weep like that, be burdened like that, like there's been a great severance, a great heartache that's taking place in your life. And verse 13 says, gird yourself and lament, ye priests. How, ye ministers of the altar, come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. And let me stop and say this, that why is the meat offering and the drink offering withholding? It's because the crops have failed. It's because of the plague. It's because of God's judgment. They've got no way to worship God now because what they need has been taken from them. Verse 14, sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord. He's not gonna stop there. This whole book, at least these couple chapters, he's gonna deal with what repentance biblically looks like. What does it really look like for somebody to get right with God and to turn to God in a way that God accepts? And so the message this morning, very simply, is turn to God. Turn to God. And as you think about that, think about this. Are you turned to God? Are you currently facing God? Have you ever turned to God for salvation? Has there been that time of turning away from the world, turning to God for salvation? And then a natural other question would be, have you turned away from God? Because even after we're saved, we could still turn from God. And what the message that Joel had is, look, turn to God, whether it's, in our case, our dispensation, whether it's for salvation, that initial turning to God, or we've turned away and we need to turn back to God. Turn to God, face God. And so let's pray, ask God to help us as we look at biblical repentance this morning, what God encourages us with regard to true, true repentance. Let's pray. God, would you help us as we come to your word and look at what pleases you? Father, I'm thankful this morning. It's like you gave us a book that tells us, if you want to turn to me, here's how to do it. Here's how to get right in a way that I accept. And Father, there's such precious encouragement in this passage to turn. I'm thankful it's not like, just like Minima, judgment's coming, judgment's coming. And they responded, they responded correctly, but they weren't given the proper instruction, at least in the texts that we have, to tell them how to turn. But here with Judah, you're so gracious to them to give them a prophet that explains how to get right with God. Father, it's one of the best texts we have in the Word of God about repentance. And so I pray, would you help me as I speak? Help us as we listen. Father, I pray when we walk out of this place, whether we were that way when we came in or not, that we'd all be facing God and rightly related to God. And so would you help to that end? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so biblical repentance, all right? Turning to God, how to turn to God. And that's the first point, how men turn to the Lord. If you're in your heart, you think, you know what, that's what I need. I need to turn to God. I need to, I want to, I want to successfully go to God and find God. This is what Joel says to do. First of all, you're to turn without reservation. Turn without reservation. Verse 12 says, therefore also now saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart. All your heart. Not partial turning. You know, you look at Lot's wife, and what was Lot's wife's problem? Well, the problem was she only partially turned to the Lord. If you look at, and I understand they were righteous. I hope Lot's wife is in heaven. God mercifully brought her out of that city, but it was like partial turning. It was incomplete, and they warned her as she came out of that city in Genesis 19, verse 16 and 17. came to pass when they brought them forth abroad that he said, escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. But when the fire of God fell, verse 26, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. Why was she judged? She was judged because the fire of God fell on that city and she looked back apparently with sympathy. with desire, with all the thoughts about, oh, that was so good, that was so precious, that was all this affection for that which God hated. And God judged her as well because she impartially turned to the Lord. This past week we enjoyed celebrating. It wasn't our anniversary this past week, but our anniversary was a busy time a couple weeks ago. And so we waited for a good day and we took the day and we went up to the Blair Drummond Safari Park and enjoyed the day. And it was nice, this past Monday we had a good time. but at the safari park if you've been there there's this thing called the flying fox and it's a zip line that goes across the the water and where they're got the paddle boats and things you get up and you put your hands through these holes and then grab this bar and you sit on the seat and you're not other than that you're not really fastened to it and you're set zipping across this line maybe I don't know, 40 meters or something to the other side. It's quite fun to do and you enjoy it. But imagine, you know, getting on that and the guy says, okay, you know, pick your feet up and you pick your feet up and you grab the post behind you. You got the post behind you and he's like, hey, wait a second, you got to let go and you're climbing onto that thing. You can't go across the water until you let go and let that line basically just take you across. Worst scenario, let's say it's a rescue line and let's say you got a fire behind you and safety's on the other side. There you are, for whatever reason, let's say it's fear, let's say it's an unwillingness to let go for some reason, you just don't wanna let go. But if you keep holding on, what's gonna happen? You're gonna perish. Safety's on the other side, get to the other side. What Joel's teaching us is turn to God with all your heart. If there is anything that you think of right now and think, you know, I would turn to the Lord, but that kind of thing needs to be set aside. Is that, whatever that is that is keeping you from true repentance and turning to the Lord with all your heart, is it worth perishing for? Is it worth chasing for? God says, get rid of it, deal with it, set it aside. I would, wouldn't to God I could, weep and plead. If I knew something is keeping somebody from salvation, if I knew specifically what it was, I would ask God, God give me tears to plead with that person and say, hey, look, set that aside because safety's on the other side. Turn to God with all your heart. And then you turn, so you turn without reservation. But you turn with sincerity and sorrow. It says, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. What if I said to you, yeah, you know, I'm really sorrowful, but I'm laughing all the time, I'm partying, I'm still doing, you know, whatever it is in life. Does that sound like true sorrow? Or does this sound like true sorrow? Fasting, weeping, and mourning. Yeah, you look at that and you go, that's sincere. If somebody is really troubled by something, there is evidence of that. You maybe have enjoyed watching some of the Euro 2016 football that's been taking place and seeing those games. But as these teams are getting knocked out of the tournament now, what do you see on their faces when they're knocked out? Some of them, tears coming down their face. You can see the fans with their head in their hands, broken hearted. I mean, you don't doubt as you look at that. You don't doubt their affection for their team or their team spirit or their desire to see their team succeed. You know, as God looks at us this morning and with this idea of repentance, does he see sincerity in our hearts? Does he see a true brokenness where, God, I can't, I won't eat, I can't laugh, I'm crying, there is a seriousness, a soberness in my heart, I need to get right with you. I need to have your blessing upon my life. You know, Paul, when he preached repentance, Paul didn't mince words. He said, Acts 26, 20, he showed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem, throughout all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles. Now listen, that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. He's saying, do that which is, obvious to God that you truly mean to repent. You know, in Acts, when people got saved out of sorcery, what did they do? They took their books of witchcraft and they burned them. And it was worth tons of money, but they destroyed it. You know, in the past, people got saved, they burned their CDs, destroyed their CDs, their wicked music, they get rid of it, they unplug things, they tear things up. They make it obvious to God that, yes, God, I'm serious, I wanna get rid of these things out of my life. When the Spirit of God begins to work in our heart about repentance, we gotta take what is offensive to God and deal with it. But how do we do that? With sincerity, with weeping, with true sorrow. And again, I'm not saying this morning, you might be a person that you feel like, I don't cry that easy. Well, try repenting. You might find yourself crying. James Stewart told a story about a man His wife witnessed to him, and she was really burdened for him and praying that he gets saved. And she asked him, will you please come over and speak to my husband? And James Stewart came over and was speaking to him about the Lord. And the man said, you know, I guess I would do that, but I see people crying as they do that, and I can't cry. I haven't cried and said in 16 years or however many years. You know, I've not cried in a long time. And James Stewart said to him, look, you don't have to cry. God is not here saying, you know, get onions, pinch onions until, you know, you get your eyes to tear up and that sort of thing. But what you find is when somebody has a real heart towards God, what happened with this man is that man truly did repent, accepted Jesus Christ into his life. The man that couldn't cry was crying. His heart broke as he turned to God. You know, that's a good thing. But you know, God's not just looking for these outside evidences. He wants internal conviction, and that's the third thing. You turn without reservation, you turn with sincerity and sorrow, but you turn with internal conviction. Verse 13 says, and rend your heart and not your garments. Having said that, he's saying sorrow and weeping and things, and that's external, but he said also it's from the heart. Rend your heart, not your garments. I mean, it was common for the Jews to show grief by rending their garments, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and so that everybody could look at them and say, obviously, there's something taking place in their life of great turmoil and trial, and they're seeking God. But God says, don't just tear the outside, tear the inside. Rend your heart, not your garments. Unger, in his commentary, said, Jewel urged the people to tear their hearts in deep inner penitence, not merely tear their garments in a superficial display of mere outward emotion. Does just outward signs, that means, you might, you know, let's say in a church, you know, if we had a come forward invitation, and I'd love to have that in our church if people are burdened at the end of a service and they wanna, as a testimony to that, come forward and pray in the front. You know, God's speaking my heart and I wanna deal with that. I think that's a good thing. But you know, somebody could think, oh, if I go forward and make an outward sign, everybody would think, oh, they're a repentant person and they'll stop bothering me. And you can fool everybody but God. because God doesn't just look on the outside, God looks on the inside. That's what the Lord said to Samuel when Samuel was looking for the next king of Israel after King Saul, and he's looking at the sons of Jesse, and he sees Eliab, this big man, and David's not anywhere in the picture even yet, and David's certainly not a big man like his brother Eliab. He's a very young-looking lad that keeps sheep out in the field. He's a shepherd boy. But God said to David, 1 Samuel 16, 7, to Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him, speaking about Eliab. For the Lord seeth not as men see it, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. God sees the heart. And we sing a song in our church, we pray for revival, we've asked God for revival, and we'll continue to pray about revival. But the song says, do you really want revival? Do you really want God's power? Do you really want his spirit to control your life this hour? Oh, repent and turn to Jesus, seek his face and humbly pray. Do you really want revival? And then the last phrase is, are you willing to obey? Why? Because obedience is, can I say this? It's the heart. We talked about this morning at Sunday school. If you love me, that's the heart. Keep my commandments. If you're serious, God wants heart devotion, that's real, that's sincere and says, God, this is an offense to you, God, I don't want it, I wanna please you. It's with the heart, rend the heart and not just the garment. Are you serious about doing what God wants you to do? Matthew 15, eight, the Lord said, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. God knows that. And so, I'm not, and Joel wasn't either, urging anybody to make an insincere profession, oh yes, you know, I'll do this. No, God wants it to be from the heart. That's why when somebody gets saved, I often stress with them, look, do you believe this in your heart, Romans 10, 9, 10, that thou shalt confess with thine mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It has to become internal. And so we wanna get right with God. It has to be not just an outward show, but an inward display before God of its sincere heart. And so you turn with internal conviction, you turn with sincerity and sorrow, you turn without reservation, but you also turn your back on the world. It says, and turn unto the Lord your God. Before somebody gets right with God, what way are they facing? It would be the question. They're facing away from God. Oh, they may not say that. They may not say, I hate God, but in the reality of what God sees, we're facing away. So somebody gets saved, how? Turning to God. Somebody, as a believer, they're walking away from God, like Jonah. What way are they going? Away. What way do they have to turn to? And so you gotta turn your back on the world. I'm not talking about the world as far as Earth. I'm talking about the world as the Bible speaks about it, the world system. This world is anti-God. Look at the gay pride parade that took place in Edinburgh yesterday. Look at society seeking to cast off religious restraints, seeking to make it, you know, dumb down Christianity and bring God down to man's level. Man is against God. Look at the music that this world has, rock music, music of rebellion, and sensuality, and lust, and pride, and arrogance, and vileness. It's anti-God. It's against God. Everything that this world has to offer is against God. The Bible says in 1 John 2, 15 through 17, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Fine, you want to hold on to this? It's temporary. It passes away. I mean, rock music is not gonna be in hell. Sensual living is not gonna be in hell. You probably will hear vile things in hell from the mouths of those that are being tormented by the judgment of God for all eternity, but it's perish, it's not worth it. On the other hand, you got something that'll last forever. You know, only a fool stands and says, ah, you know, this is too important. It's like somebody, you know, holding on to some pet sin. We heard it described at the men's retreat in Ireland by a man that was a former drug addict. He said, sin is like this gushy teddy bear that just says, keep holding me. It's like somebody in a fire, you know, unwilling to leave the fire because I don't wanna leave my teddy bear. No, wait a second. What's more important? What needs to be done is turn your back on that, that thing that is damning you, and seek after God, and follow God. You know, 2 Corinthians 6, 17 says, Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. There's a lot of churches that say, you got all your rubbish over here, all your sin, and you know what, just come to God as you are, and God accepts you as you are, and you're fine. It doesn't matter if you have a lifestyle that's against God, it doesn't matter that you're disobeying God, just come to God and God accepts you, that's bio. You can't turn to God while you're facing the world. If you wanna come to God biblically, the Bible says repent. I mean, put the world in its place. It's here, God's here, turn to go to God. And so biblical repentance and turning to God. And so how to turn to God. Secondly, why men turn to the Lord. This is comforting. This is where the blessing is of this passage as we look at it. Because what Joel has said is judgment is coming. It's awful, and I mean, this morning we can look at hell, we can look at the chastening of God and what that's like. And that's heavy. But then what he looks at now is the blessing. Why men turn to the Lord? Because of who he is. because of who he is. Again, Joel, he's been speaking about the wrath of God, the judgment of God, and people could look at that and say, oh, God is mean. God is an ogre in heaven. If God does those things, I want nothing to do with that God. People could think that. But they would have no idea about who God is. People that shake their fist at the face of God say, if God sends people to hell, I want nothing to do with them. Need to look at the cross. They need to look at what Jesus Christ, the son of God, did because of their sin. What God allowed his son to go through because of their sin. See, God's love is immense, right? God's love is great and so I'm so thankful that Joel doesn't just say, judgment of God, judgment of God, turn to God. He stops and he goes, look, he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness, and repented them of the evil. Wow, I mean, stop and think about those words, gracious. We saw the queen yesterday, it was kind of neat. She's a gracious lady. I'm sure she has her moments where, probably in private, she isn't gracious, perhaps, but she's a very gracious lady. I can't picture her really railing on somebody or chewing somebody out. She's very gracious. When she's around people, she's very gracious to them. God's that way. He's gracious. You don't have to think this morning, well, God's gonna, he's so mean, you can't He's gracious. He's merciful. That means I'm not worthy to come into his presence, but the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient for me. And he's merciful, he'll give me mercy. I deserve hell right now. You deserve hell right now. But he's merciful. What else? He's slow to anger. Because they could be thinking, oh, God's an angry God. Yes, he is an angry God, but he is slow to anger. I mean, if he was quick to anger, we do one thing and that's it. That's it, it's all over, but God's not that way. He's slow to anger, He's of great kindness. I mean, you might get before God and you feel like, oh, I just feel miserable. You know, I gotta go to God, and how's He gonna receive me? He's of great kindness. I mean, God's gonna encourage me more than any man would encourage me today. God wants to encourage me like that. God wants to strengthen me. He wants to help me. And he repented of the evil. That means he'll change his mind. He said, this judgment is coming. It's coming, hell's real, but I'll change my mind. I'll send you to heaven if you'll accept. I'll change my mind. I'll stay in my hand of judgment if you'll accept. Here's the thing. God does not do that by saying your sin is okay. God today does not pat me on the back in my rebellion against him. If I want his anger, just keep my back towards God. But if I want his mercy and I turn from my sin and I face God, this is who I see. It's kind of like what you see in Revelation. The world saw the lion of the tribe of Judah. John saw the Lamb of God. What do you wanna see? Keep your back to God if you wanna see the lion of the tribe of Judah. If you wanna see the wrath of an angry God, keep your back to God. But if you wanna see who we're speaking about here, the merciful, loving, gracious God, then turn your back on your sin and turn to Him. And He is there ready to meet with us. You know, sin isn't a mistake, is it? Sin is a choice of rebellion against God. but it's also a choice to repent. And that's the choice that deals with that sin that's in our life. The Bible says, Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death, that's the line of the tribe of Judah, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, that's the lamb. That's the merciful God that's there waiting to receive you as you ask His forgiveness. You know, if I worked... Imagine that I worked for somebody a lot longer than you had worked for them, and you just got hired into the company, and I've had all these years of experience with this employer and this boss, and you messed up. I mean, you really messed up, and you're crying, and you're thinking, oh, I'm gonna get fired. I just know I'm gonna get fired. He's gonna hate me. If I knew my boss well, and I knew who he was, and I knew this was true of him, I could say, look, You're okay. You messed up big time. But I want you to know something about our boss. He's gracious. He's merciful. He's slow to anger. He's of great kindness. He repented them of the evil. You know, all you gotta do to get right is to go and own up to your mistake. Own it. So don't make an excuse for it. Don't blame it on somebody else. Don't say, boss, it was somebody else that did this. And because they did this, that's why. No, own it. And go before that boss and say, boss, you know, I'm sorry. I really messed up. Please, will you forgive me? And will you restore me? And I would tell you, I'd say, look, he will. Isn't that precious about God? Then I can say to us this morning, just like Joel said in this text, he said, look, God is, God's there. He's that dad looking for the prodigal son, standing on the porch, longing for you just to turn, just turn. Stop going your way. Stop seeking after your things. Just repent because God is there. Again, I'm glad this morning. Why would people repent? Because of who he is. That's who he is, he is the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the earth. He's the loving father that gave his son to die on the cross for you. He's the one that wants to give you his third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, into your heart to live in you because he can clean you up that precisely and make your life worthy of him. Praise God. Because of who he is. But also because of what he does. Because of what he does. It says, 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. Now you might wonder, what's that about? Who can tell what he'll do if he'll repent? We know what that's about because that's like Jonah. It's like judgment's coming, God repents, the judgment doesn't come. It doesn't come. And so we understand that, but then it says, who knoweth if he will leave a meat offering and a drink offering? What's that about? Well, remember, because of God's judgment, they wanted to worship God, but the priests are standing there and they've got empty hands. Why? Because the crops have failed. Because of God's judgment, they couldn't even worship God as they desired to worship God until God repented and gave them into their hands what they needed to then properly worship God, meat offerings and drink offerings. We read this past week, we're reading the story of the songwriter, Sankhe, Ira Sankhe, and he talked about in Dundee there was a mother that wrote her son in the United States and said, Moody and Sankhe are back there in the United States, promise me you'll go here in one time. And this son, fulfilled that promise that he gave to his mom. He went and heard him not once but twice and he ended up getting saved. Went into the room with Sankey, spoke to Sankey, and Sankey was able to lead him to the Lord. But as he got saved, he wrote back to his mom these words, I found Christ. And she wrote back, praise the Lord. He couldn't wait to send a letter, so he wired her, and she responded. You know what that mother could rejoice in? My son could not worship God in the way he was because he was against God, but now he's been restored. He can properly worship God. You know, somebody, before they get saved, they can't properly worship God. They're not rightly related to God. They have nothing to offer to God. They have no way to come to God because the only way to God is through Christ, and they don't have Him. But when they get saved, they receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're rightly related to God. And after they get saved, they might get into sin, and if they turn their back on God, they're away from God. If I regard iniquity in my heart, what, the Lord will not hear me? They can't worship God, they can't please God. But when they repent, God restores them, and now they can go to God again. God restores when he, When he repents, he allows us to properly be related to him in worship. And so we see that. So why do men turn to the Lord? Because of who he is. He's right there, he's waiting, he's interested, he's desirous. Because of what he does, he restores to proper worship. And then we see as well, who of men need to turn to the Lord? Who of men need to turn to the Lord? First of all, the congregation as a whole. Verse 15 and 16 says, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation. The trumpet call goes out to the multitude announcing that this solemn fast is gonna take place and that as a group they're gonna seek the Lord and they just blow the trumpet and say come. And I can't help but think as we read that, I know this is different times, different dispensation back in the Old Testament, but I think about the church. The churches that called out assembly, they're the ones that have heard the voice of God and have responded by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and have come out from the world to become a congregation of those that seek the Lord. The Bible says in Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. If somebody really desires to turn to God, what's gonna be evident is the fact that when the church is assembled, they're there. They're seeking God. They wanna be there to worship God. They wanna be there to please God. And can I say this? There's churches that because people don't come to a service, what happens to that service? They cancel it. And what happens to that church? They get down to a single service, then nobody comes. And what happens? The church closes. The church ceases to exist when the church ceases to assemble. Have you ever thought about that? You might think, why is it important for us to come together? Why is it important for us to gather together? Because there is, the church exists as a unit. It's part of our existence. But how important for us to think about this idea of them seeking God, how important for them as a group to come together to seek the face of the Lord. So the congregation as a whole, well how old do you have to be to be a part of that congregation? Well, it's people of all ages. It says, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breast. And it's speaking about nursing infants even. And so you've got elders, that's the older people in the church and the congregation there in the Old Testament. And then you've got these nursing babies in. And you might think, well, what's the point? Can that baby understand anything that's taking place as the congregation seeks God? But can I remind us that that baby has a mom and dad that have to care for them? And if that baby's not in church, where's that mom and dad? They're not there either. And that child that comes to church, have you noticed how kids learn things quicker than adults? Steve Anderson was telling me that when they started learning French, they dropped their son off at a tutor, or not a, no, they went to the tutor, but they dropped the son off at somebody that's just gonna mind their child all day. And when they got back to get their child, the boy, or whatever, opened the door and said something like, oui, oui, papa, or something like that. He said, he's speaking French. When that kid was picking up quicker than mom and dad going to the tutor, why? Because kids' minds are like that. And so that child is gonna grow up in that congregation seeking the Lord. So people of all ages, then individuals, no matter their excuse, it says, let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet. And speaking about the Old Testament law said, when you get married, you take a year to cheer up your wife. And so there's no military service for that first year of marriage. And so, but God said for this, seeking God in this fast, set that aside, no matter if you've just gotten married or you've been married six months, you're to be here seeking the Lord. You know, when it comes time again to repent, there's no excuse. No saying to God, well, God, I would, but I've got, you know, well, well, I've just got, well, you know, all these excuses. God says, no. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call you upon him while he's near. And then lastly, this morning, when men turn to the Lord, what happens? When men turn to the Lord, verse 17, Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, spare thy people, O Lord. Give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God? The priest, as they come, they're with me and say, God, the heathen are looking at your people. It's like, God, they're ruling over them. And they look at us and say, where's their God? You know, in our day and age, can we not look at what's taking place in politics, in society, and understand that the world is ruling over the church. They are dictating terms to the church, and the church is like, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, we're so happy to oblige, and yes, we'll change that doctrine, because that offends you. And so, we're just gonna make it so it pleases you. Yes, bow down to the world. They're ruling over the church, and they're looking at the church going, where's your God? Where's your God? They despise, they despise, yeah, it's fake, it's just a bunch of whatever. They see no power because the power's not there. You know, it'd be good for us to get this burden that these priests had and say, God, we need a day where the power of God is seen, where the church stands for what is right, what's true. It doesn't bow down and kiss the feet of politicians and people that say, this has to be done. that stands up for the truth of the word of God and says, you know what, this is what pleases God, and here I stand. I can do nothing else. And God, that your power would again be seen. Because we are the priesthood, according to the word of God. 1 Peter 2.5, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We're a holy priesthood, so a part of a priesthood is this intercessory prayers, praying and saying, God, please, please, we're seeking you, why? We're turning to you, why? Because we need the power of God to go forward. You know, like the Ninevites, as we look at the story, Israel or Judah here could have blessing if they would turn to the Lord. And so Joel promises them, verse 18 and 19, then, if you do this, if you turn to the Lord, 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 you shall be satisfied therewith and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen. You know, can God do great things in our day? Yes, absolutely. But he's not gonna do great things with people that don't turn to him. He's not gonna do great things with people with their back to God. He's gonna do great things by those who turn to him in biblical repentance. He's able to work, he's desirous of work. You know, have you turned to God with all your heart? If you're gonna be honest this morning, is there something in your life that you're holding on to? And it's like you're saying to God, God, I wanna come across, I wanna come across, I wanna come across, but you're holding on to that. Let it go. It's not worth perishing because of holding on to something that displeases God, that incurs God's wrath, that God's judgments against. Turn with all your heart. Again, is there anything keeping you from turning to God? Are you willing to repent of that and turn away from that? Don't you know this morning that God's willing to forgive you? that you could have the lamb instead of the lion if you'll come to God in biblical repentance? Are you willing to be a part of the assembly that joins together and say, look, let's seek the Lord, let's seek God, let's assemble so that we can be there, so that we can have God's blessing as a group? Are you gonna plead with God to take away his judgment just like those priests? If we do that, we can say with Joel, this is a precious verse, You ought to memorize it. Verse 21 says, fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. We could be absolutely confident of that this morning if in our hearts we're serious and we say, look, the answer is turning to God. That's it. Why don't we have the power of God? Why don't we have the blessing of God? Why am I not living a victorious life? Look, turn to God. Turn to God. That's the answer, biblically, to repent and have God's blessing. Let's pray. Father, take your word, drive it deep into our hearts. This is what we need. This is what our land needs. Father, this is what the church in Britain and the church in Scotland and the church in the United States and the church around the world needs. It needs to turn to God. And so I pray, God, take the truth of your word, drive it deep into our hearts. May we really consider it this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. 366, have thine own way, Lord, 366.