God for Us Joel 2:18-32 Adapted from a Jerry Watts sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?ContributorID=&SermonID=145706

2. Joel 2:18 NIV Then the LORD will be
jealous for his land and take pity on his
people. 19 The LORD will reply to them: “I
am sending you grain, new wine and oil,
enough to satisfy you fully; never again
will I make you an object of scorn to the
nations.

3. 20 “I will drive the northern army far from
you, pushing it into a parched and barren
land, with its front columns going into the
eastern sea and those in the rear into the
western sea. And its stench will go up; its
smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things.
21 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and
rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great
things.

4. 22 Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the
open pastures are becoming green. The
trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree
and the vine yield their riches. 23 Be glad,
O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD
your God, for he has given you the
autumn rains in righteousness. He sends
you abundant showers, both autumn and
spring rains, as before.

5. 24 The threshing floors will be filled with
grain; the vats will overflow with new wine
and oil.
25 “I will repay you for the years the
locusts have eaten—the great locust and
the young locust, the other locusts and the
locust swarm—my great army that I sent
among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat,
until you are full, and you will praise the
name of the LORD your God, who has
worked wonders for you; never again will
my people be shamed.

6. 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God, and that
there is no other; never again will my
people be shamed. 28 “And afterward, I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your
sons and daughters will prophesy, your
old men will dream dreams, your young
men will see visions. 29 Even on my
servants, both men and women, I will pour
out my Spirit in those days.

7. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and
on the earth, blood and fire and billows of
smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood before
the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there
will be deliverance, as the LORD has said,
among the survivors whom the LORD
calls.

8. I begin and end today with one thought-
“GOD IS FOR US”! That is, God is for His
people. Those who are blood-bought,
born-again, & redeemed. God is for us in
that He wants the best for all His children.
Lest I be misunderstood, for those who
are not a member of the „family of God‟,
God is for you also. He is so much for you
that He allowed Jesus, His one and only
Son, to be used and abused to the point of
death for you.

9. Jesus died on the cross for your sins
which means your penalty of sin has been
paid by Jesus‟ death. He rose from the
grave to give you new life. The incredible
part is that; with all of this being done by
God, He requires a decision from you. He
is for you as He desires for you to accept
His offer of forgiveness through His Son.

10. It is only in that decision you can born,
bought, and adopted into God‟s family!
Then there exists an entirely NEW way in
which God is for you. He is now not only
your creator, He now becomes your
heavenly Father. As such, you become the
„apple of His eye.‟ He desires for you to
become all you were created to become.

11. Additionally, as we have read in our text,
God will then go to the mat for you! He
has already gone to the grave so what
more can He do? Here what more He
does: He stands for us in the time of His
greatest judgment! In reading the
prophecy of Joel, we discover that when
time draws to a close,

12. God will judge the sin & unbelief found in
this world and He will judge them harshly.
He will do this because God cannot and
will not tolerate sin in His presence now or
in the world to come. That being said, God
goes the extra step to protect His people
through the judgment. Last week, God
called for repentance from the corrupt
ways which His people had embraced and
then made a plea for fasting, weeping,
and mourning.

13. In other ways, He desired for His people
to be sorry enough for their sin that they
sincerely wept, prayed, & returned to Him
so that the lost culture would know that
Jehovah was their God. Now, we are
ready to move to verse 18 & discover
what He says to us;

14. 18 NIV Then the LORD will be jealous for
his land and take pity on his people.
In verses 18-28 we find when God‟s
people come in brokenness and
repentance for their sin that He took & He
takes ACTION!

15. The text says, He will be jealous (zealous)
for his land and take pity on (spare,
commiserate with) his people, then He
promised what He would do with the
works of His hands. No matter how far
you‟ve fallen God will still bring you back
to Himself with His hands.
Now, what does He promise His people?

16. 19 The LORD will reply to them: “I am
sending you grain, new wine and oil,
enough to satisfy you fully; never again
will I make you an object of scorn to the
nations. One of the reasons for studying
God‟s word in a verse by verse manner is
to understand the nuances of what He is
telling us. Do you remember verse 4 of
Chapter 1?

17. Joel 1:4 NIV What the locust swarm has
left the great locusts have eaten; what the
great locusts have left the young locusts
have eaten; what the young locusts have
left other locusts have eaten.
How about after the locust come and
ravage the land? Then we read of the
havoc brought about by the “Day of the
Lord.” It is like the aftermath of a war. To
reside in a war torn land is (for me)
unimaginable.

18. The best I can offer is that you spend time
attempting to make sense from non-
sense! To look at the landscape as has
been depicted in this text is to get a sense
of a war-torn land, with people almost
wandering aimlessly, and into this
situation comes the Father saying, “Don‟t
lose hope, I‟m still in charge.”

19. So into the midst of the barrenness of the
land God sends the essentials to His
people. He doesn‟t send just enough to
get by.
The Scriptures are clear God desires not
to give us only what is necessary, but
more than we could ever need.

20. Malachi 3:10 NIV Bring the whole tithe into
the storehouse, that there may be food in
my house. Test me in this,” says the
LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw
open the floodgates of heaven and pour
out so much blessing that you will not
have room enough for it.

21. Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to
you: A good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over, will be
poured into your lap. For the measure you
use will be the measure you receive."
Luke 6:38 NET

22. He completely satisfies, gives them full to
overflowing, in fact, He sends so much
that they get weary of it. This reminds me
of the manna in the wilderness. The
applications here are plenty. In those
days, God will provide all that His children
need and more.

23. Spiritually, whatever you may need (i.e.
help, hope, healing, etc) God will supply.
Paul writes, And my God will supply your
every need according to his glorious
riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
NET
He is my provision, but He doesn‟t stop at
just providing with His hand, next see;

24. 20 “I will drive the northern army far from
you, pushing it into a parched and barren
land, with its front columns going into the
eastern sea and those in the rear into the
western sea. And its stench will go up; its
smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things.

25. 21 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and
rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great
things. 22 Be not afraid, O wild animals,
for the open pastures are becoming
green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the
fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

26. Admittedly, this passage can be seen in
light of history or prophecy, that is what
has already happen and/or what is going
to happen; but I suggest that the principle
we are to grasp is that God protects His
people. Now, He doesn‟t keep us from
everything that might cause us pain
because the valley of pain is God‟s
workshop in our lives. Very little has the
power to draw us nearer to God than pain.

27. In the life of a believer, one might detect
their maturity level by the amount of pain
required to force them to turn to God for
help. It‟s kind of like parents guiding their
children. The less mature the children the
more pressure is required to get them to
respond, while the more mature the child
the less pressure required.

28. So God doesn‟t protect us from every little
pain, but in the face of the catastrophe
found in God‟s judgment we can discover
God‟s protection. When we depend on
Him, He will drive out our enemies and
banish them out of our sight.

29. James writes, So submit to God. But resist
the devil and he will flee from you. James
4:7 NET
When we resist evil, we release God to do
battle for us and God can finish any battle
in which He is engaged. Not only will He
drive them out He will put them to death.

30. 23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in
the LORD your God, for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness. He
sends you abundant showers, both
autumn and spring rains, as before. 24
The threshing floors will be filled with
grain; the vats will overflow with new wine
and oil.

31. 25 “I will repay you for the years the
locusts have eaten—the great locust and
the young locust, the other locusts and the
locust swarm—my great army that I sent
among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat,
until you are full, and you will praise the
name of the LORD your God, who has
worked wonders for you; never again will
my people be shamed.
In the New Testament, Jesus encourages
planning.

32. Luke 14:28 NET For which of you, wanting
to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and
compute the cost to see if he has enough
money to complete it?
In other words, before you begin
something, make sure you have a good
plan. Within God‟s judgment of sin, God
has a plan for HIS PEOPLE.
With the works of His hands and the
words of His mouth God says, “Be Glad
and Rejoice in the LORD.”

33. Even in the midst of persecution and
struggle, the word is “Rejoice.” Nehemiah
tells us “the Joy of the Lord is your
strength”, (Neh 8:10) in Paul‟s writing the
second fruit of the spirit listed is joy, (Gal
5:22) the angel told the shepherds he
brought good news of great „joy‟, (Luke 2:10)
in the upper room Jesus told the disciples
that your sorrow will turn to „joy.‟ (John
16:22)

34. The plan of God formed by His own hand
is for His people to be a people of joy! It‟s
not simply joy about being joyful, rather it
is the joy found
IN THE LORD!
Here is what we need to get our minds &
hearts around; God‟s people should be
rejoicing folks.
Next month, we celebrate
“RESURRECTION DAY,”
our Lord is alive!

35. When someone dies and then rises from
the dead for me, everything else should
become a snap. Sadly, when a preacher
says something like this people roll their
eyes and say something like, “yea, but
you don‟t understand my situation.” Maybe
I don‟t, but He does and it‟s not a surprise
to Him.

36. If God had the crucifixion under control
and how that would work out, I know
whatever you have going on, God has a
handle on it. In God‟s hands lay the plans
for your life. Trust Him. He is for you.

37. 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God, and that
there is no other; never again will my
people be shamed
28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit
on all people. Your sons and daughters
will prophesy, your old men will dream
dreams, your young men will see visions.

38. 29 Even on my servants, both men and
women, I will pour out my Spirit in those
days. 30 I will show wonders in the
heavens and on the earth, blood and fire
and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be
turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the LORD.

39. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of
the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem there will be
deliverance, as the LORD has said,
among the survivors whom the LORD
calls.

40. In verses 27-32, we can grasp what God
desires for us as His „Crown Creation.‟ His
heart is for us to become as we once
were. When God created the first man &
woman, they were perfect, walking in
perfect harmony with their creator. This is
where He is leading us, where His heart
desires to take us, and where His people
will one day abide.

41. In verse 27, we see that His heart is for us
to be clear in our knowledge &
commitment to Him. He wants us to be
„with Him.‟ How does He help? Verses 28-
32a is the text that Peter quotes in Acts 2
at Pentecost. The fulfillment did not end
on Pentecost. According to God‟s Word
immersed believers have the Spirit
working in their lives today.

42. 28a“And afterward, I will pour out my
Spirit…31b before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the LORD. Most
Commentators indicate afterward is
referring to “the last days” which is the
Christian age. God pouring out His Spirit
on the earth after the Battle of Gog and
Magog can‟t be the only fulfillment. Peter‟s
said it was being fulfilled at Pentecost.

43. According to Peter & Paul‟s words the Gift
of God‟s Spirit is working in immersed
believers lives today. The Spirit is active
when we come to Christ in our conversion.
Acts 2:38 NET Peter said to them,
"Repent, and each one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

44. 1 Corinthians 6:11 NET Some of you once
lived this way. But you were washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God.
Throughout the New Testament we see
the Spirit working in, through & for us. In
those times after God‟s judgment, whether
in the days of Israel and Judah‟s rebellion
or in the time known as the Second
Coming

45. or even today, in the aftermath of Spiritual
and moral devastation which decimates
the land, our God is ready to pour out His
Spirit on us. It seems God is raining down
His Spirit today and we may be missing it.
The heart of God is to commune with us
daily. I think in the heart of God rests the
desire to always reach to His people with
His Spirit to bring about spiritual renewal.

46. Never doubt the strength and even the
resolve of God. He designed this world,
including you & me, as HIS OWN. From
the garden when man fell until today, man
& land remains in rebellion to God. In the
last days (which by definition we are living
in) He will display His strength in the
heavens.

47. At another time, we may consider the end-
time prophecies as the Bible lays them
out, but hear this, “At His word both
Heaven & earth will pass away &
everything you and I count as important
on this earth will be gone.” He will do it but
He has made a way out for fallen
mankind.

48. I have said „reclaiming of God‟s salvation‟
because the first man & woman knew
God‟s salvation only to walk away from it
in their selfish rebellion. Jesus came that
we might regain and reclaim what God
intended for us in the beginning of time.

49. Don‟t take this to mean that God, in His
sovereignty, was caught off guard by the
disobedience in the garden, but rather, to
that first couple was paradise, perfection,
and a choice. Today, you are given a
choice. God calls and you respond. He is
for you.

50. He has proven this on many occasions
and in many ways. But in His being for
you, He will not overlook your sin. Your sin
cost Jesus his earthly life. Now, God
working in your spirit, is drawing you to
call on Him. Will you do so?