When God Relents | The Book of Joel | Gary Hamrick

we're rounding out the Old Testament by looking at these last twelve books of the Old Testament a section of the Bible known as the Minor Prophets now I mentioned last week I'm gonna say again today and maybe I'll say it one more time the Minor Prophets versus the major prophets of the Bible it's not like the Minor Prophets just weren't good enough to play ball with the major prophets it's not baseball this is just simply called the Minor Prophets section of your Bibles because the Minor Prophets tended to write books that were shorter and whose messages were more succinct and for that reason I decided here on Sunday mornings that we're gonna take one book of the Minor Prophets every single Sunday instead of spending a few weeks these are very short books as you'll notice today the book of Joel is only three chapters so rather than make any kind of a lengthy series like we did through the Book of Daniel to get through all that information the Minor Prophets can be summarized more easily so I'm going to be doing that every Sunday as we round out the book as we ran out the Old Testament we're gonna look at these last twelve books of the Bible the Minor Prophets taking one book a week so last week was Hosea today we come to the book of Joel a little bit of background on Joel before we actually read and get into today's study we don't know anything about Joel I mean there's just there's no other information he's he's not quoted anywhere else in the Bible there's there's no background to this guy's life we know nothing other than the fact that mentions in chapter 1 verse 1 if you just take a quick glance it tells us that he's the son of petty well so we know his dad's name that's it and petty well in Hebrew means persuaded of God but we don't even know anything more about his dad either so there's nothing in the Bible that helps us to understand Joel we don't know where he's from we don't know what years he prophesied we don't know what Kings were raining at the time of his ministry we don't know if he was married and had children we know nothing about this guy what we do know is his name his name is given to us here but there's no Jay in the heap alphabet and so his name is really with a why it's Yoel and Yoel puts the emphasis on the e al because anytime you see a prefix or a suffix to a word with a L it is always a reference to a lo heem the name of God and so you're well in Hebrew means Yahweh is God Yahweh is God's a very strong name now since there is no reference point about the time or date of Joel's ministry the best we can do is to try to figure it out based on a comparison between a verse and Joel and a verse in the next book which is the book of Amos another prophet because if you'll notice in your Bibles if you want to take just a quick glance with me at Joel chapter 3 and you look at verse 16 the first part of verse 16 in chapter 3 it just says this the Lord also will roar from Zion you know he is the Lion of Judah the Lord also will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem okay now if you go over a page and look at Amos the next prophet and Amos chapter 1 verse 2 it's almost identical language in Amos 1 2 it says the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem it's almost word-for-word so the way that the book of Joel ends is the way that the Book of Amos begins which Bible scholars say is a little bit insight as to perhaps the time that Joel ministered because probably means he was a contemporary with Amos well we do know from Amos that he ministered during the time of the reign of King Uzziah that places Amos is ministry and then likewise probably Joel's ministry in the middle of the 8th century BC so we're talking roughly 750 BC this is about a hundred and fifty years before the Babylonian invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah so again your Bibles are not necessarily in chronological order when we were in the Book of Daniel a few weeks ago that was during the time of the Babylonian invasion well the book of joel pre the Babylonian invasion by about a hundred and fifty years so this is not in chronological order and the audience that Joel ministered to again remembered during this time of history that Israel is a divided nation you have ten of the Jewish tribes living in the north known by the larger name Israel you have two tribes living in the South known as Judah and Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah in the south and it appears that Joel's ministry was directed to them the southern kingdom of Judah because he makes several references to Zion which is a reference to Jerusalem he talks about the priests and their duty in Jerusalem at the house of God and he mentions God's holy hill and he mentions Jerusalem by name and so it indicates to us he's probably ministering to the southern kingdom I'm gonna read here from Joel chapter one and then we're gonna skip and read a little bit in Chapter two as well so if you'll turn back to chapter one let me read the first four verses the word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pepe well here this you elders and give ear all you inhabitants of the land has anything like this happened in your days or even in the days of your fathers tell your children about it let your children tell their children and their children another generation and then here's here's what he wants them to always retell and remember verse four what the chewing locust laughed the swarming locust has eaten what the swarming locust left the crawling locust has eaten and what the crawling locusts left the consuming locust has eaten jump over to chapter 2 and look at verse 12 chapter 2:12 says now therefore says the Lord turned to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning so rend your heart and not your garments return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and he relents from doing harm who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God and then finally still in chapter 2 look at verse 28 and we'll look at verse 28 through the end of this chapter and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions by the way Peter quotes this in the book of Acts chapter 2 in regards to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost and subsequent to that day the availability of the baptism of the Holy Spirit even for us today so Joel writes about this Peter quotes in Acts chapter 2 about how your sons and daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions verse 29 and also on my men's servants and my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days future 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 coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance as the Lord has said among the remnant whom the Lord calls let's pause there and pray father God we thank you for another day that you've given us the breath of life is even a gift and so we thank you that you have sustained us that you love us then you watch over us and provide for us and Lord we thank you how much you love us by giving your son Jesus to die on a cross for us and we pray that as we look at this Old Testament book that we will understand it in the light of our own lives in the in light of our own day and that we would just surrender more and more to you that we would Lord just humble ourselves before you our desire is for you to be glorified in all things and for us to become more conformed into the image and likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and whose name we pray and everybody said well I'm gonna give you the summary purpose of the book of Joel right at the beginning so we can understand where we're heading for you no takers the purpose of the book of Joel is to warn people about a coming day of judgment and to encourage people about a gracious God who responds to repentance that's basically what this book is about now as is typical of Old Testament prophets there is a contemporary as well as a prophetic element to what they wrote in other words their ministry this is this is pretty much for all the Old Testament prophets their ministry was directed both to their own generation but then there's also an element to the prophets that was prophetic thus they're called prophets that pointed to a time in the future and in Joel's case some of the things he says applies to the times and the people of his day and some of the things he says applies to our day and even beyond some of the things that he prophesized here in these three short chapters have to do with the future even beyond our day and so what the book of Joel is about is what would occur in his own day and what will occur in our day and beyond our day concerning the judgment of God and so he starts out here by addressing his own generation by talking about something that occurred in their past and it appears that it was in their immediate past and in their recent past that God had expressed his judgment against the people for their idolatry and for their rebellion against God in the form of a very devastating invasion of locusts when we read here back in Chapter 1 if you go back to chapter 1 when we read the reference here to these locusts and by the way Joel kind of writes here and the different stages of the development of a locust he's talking literally this is not figurative language there was apparently in Joel's day or you know shortly just before a devastating invasion of locusts and Joel writes about it to let the people know is actually an expression of God's judgement against you so back in chapter 1 verse 2 he he asks the question has anything like this happened notice past tense it has happened has anything like this happened in your days or even in the days of your fathers he's like can you think of another time when something so devastating like this has happened this kind of freak invasion of locusts because because it was so unusual then it's not a common occurrence joel was trying to get them to realize you realize that this is God trying to get your attention here and and then he adds the whole thing about the different developmental levels of in Ilocos he goes in verse 4 he goes what the chewing locust left the swarming locust has eaten and what the swarming locust left and again this is past tense the crawling locust has eaten and what the crawling locusts left the consuming locust has eaten you know I I don't know that any one stage of the locust is good there I don't want to I don't want the swarming well I don't want the crawling I don't want the consuming but here they are and they've invaded the land now the people of Joel's day would have understood that because this is not a common occurrence this is God trying to get our attention you know what will come later because unfortunately they don't get the little wake-up calls this is a little wake-up call compared to what's coming the Assyrian army is going to come to the north the Babylonian Empire is going to come in the form of an army to the south this is mild in comparison to that you know this is often the way that God deals with us he gives us these little nudges every once in a while before the hammer has to come down if we don't respond to the little nudges then guess what it hurts more and so what he's doing at this point is you're some locusts I want to get your attention here's what's happening do you see the devastation do you know it's for my hand now here's why they would also know this is from the hand of God because God spelled it out clearly in the Old Testament books and particularly Deuteronomy chapter 28 when God was bringing the Israelites into the promised land he gave instructions for belief and behavior in the Pentateuch the first five books of the Old Testament and in particular in the book of Deuteronomy God instructs Moses I want you to write down it's doing around a chapter 28 I want you to write down here is what's gonna happen in terms of blessings if you obey me when you get into the land and here's what's gonna happen in terms of curses if you disobey me when you get into the land and so Deuteronomy 28 is a whole chapter devoted to the blessings and curses from God depending on whether or not a person obeyed or disobey them so the first part of Deuteronomy 28 it is just wonderful it reads wonderfully it's just you know here's all the blessings of God here's what God's gonna do it you obey me here's how I'm gonna take care of you here's how I'm gonna bless you I'm gonna provide for you I'm gonna watch over you I'm gonna keep you well but then it shifts listen to this you don't need to turn there Deuteronomy 28 15 but it shall come to pass that if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his Commandments and his statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you and then there's a list and in the list we find in Deuteronomy 28 38 here this you shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little like no harvest for the locust shall consume it okay and also in Deuteronomy 28 verse 42 locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land so it's clearly spelled out in the laws God's like if you mess with me you disobey me you rebel against me locusts are gonna come and destroy all the vegetation and it's gonna wreck you agriculturally economically it's gonna devastate you personally maybe then you'll look up to me okay so this is what is happening here and Joel is addressing this and he's like has anything like this ever happened can any of you people remember when anything like this has ever happened and he spells out actually in Chapter 1 different people who get impacted by this invasion of locusts in different ways I find some of this a little amusing for example in chapter 1 verse 5 he talks about how even the drunks are all upset why because the locusts have destroyed the vineyard and when they destroy the video there's no more grapes so there's no more grapes there's no more wine and in verse 5 of chapter 1 is like even you drunk you're all upset are you because there's no bubbly for you and he mentions it in verses 7 and 8 he says the land is mourning like a woman whose husband died in verses 9 through 11 he addressed priests and farmers he said the priests are all upset because nobody's bringing any grain offering to the house of God in worship of the Lord and part of that grain offering the Levites could take as their provision well there's there's no wheat harvest there's no barley there's nothing growing anymore because the locusts have destroyed it no grain offerings are coming in no drink offerings to the house of God because for the same reasons the vineyards have been destroyed the farmers are grieving as a result also their livelihood is is in the tank because of the locusts and in chapter 1 verse 18 he says even the cattle moan and the Sheep suffer because there's no pasture to graze this is how devastating it was now when the Bible speaks about locusts it's not talking about don't think cicada alright think grasshopper cross alpha all right think this guy right here the last major swarm of locusts recorded in Israel was 1915 and I'm gonna show you some actual photographs from that 1915 invasion but this is what we're talking about we talk about locusts we more commonly refer to them as grasshoppers so from 1915 from the last major invasion of locusts in Israel here a couple of pictures first a picture of the sky might be a little difficult for you to see but the swarming little those dots in the sky those are all grasshoppers and in that same swarm check out the pants legs of this guy here okay that's from 1915 National Geographic ran a story on this 1915 swarm of locusts in Israel and they actually published some what-what are referred to as hand colored silver gelatin prints because it's 1915 and so I want to show you a before and after picture this is actually what ran in National Geographic in 1915 so here's a tree in Israel prior to the invasion of the locust after they came through this is what that same tree looked like in the account in the National Geographic account about the 1915 plague in Israel John whiting wrote in National Geographic that the locusts were so voracious and numerous that they quoting now they could swarm over an unguarded infant and devour its eyes within a few minutes a swarm of locusts can cover up to 460 square miles and there can be 80 to 160 million locusts in one square mile in 2004 one swarm in Morocco was measured at a hundred and forty two miles long and contained an estimated 69 billion locusts 1 million locusts gobble as much food as 5,000 people eat in a day a locust can eat up to its weight each day so a swarm of locusts can easily eat more than 400 million pounds of plants in a single day so when we talk about an invasion of locusts that's what we're talking about you know don't think all that 17-years cicada event that's a nuisance yeah that's a nuisance that's all that is but for them in this day an invasion of locusts was devastating it was devastating on the earth it was the destruction of all vegetation it was a disaster economically and agriculturally and it left the people in great despair so when Joel comes along here and says the invasion of these locusts is specifically the reserve of your violation of obeying God's commands its Deuteronomy 28 fulfil they would have understood this they would get this so he speaks about God's judgment in the form of these locusts it's what happened it's past tense now he switches to future tense in chapter 2 if you look with me in your Bibles in chapter 2 verse 1 he says blow 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 is coming for it is at hand notice the tense has changed now it's it is coming the day of the Lord underline that phrase in your Bible Joel uses it five times do you know in the entire Old Testament that phrase the day of the Lord is only used 17 times five of those 17 times are contained in this little book of Joel just three chapters the day of the Lord speaks about it's a phrase that is commonly used it reference to the coming of the Lord it's not a necessarily a specific day although it can be but it also can measure time in terms of a particular season a particular event and in general when Joel here talks about the day of the Lord is coming he's speaking about future tents the the the judgment of God that will be expressed in a parallel way only in a much more severe way than an invasion of locusts an invasion of locusts devastating it's terrible but in comparison to what's coming because God will bring his judgment upon the earth you can't even make a comparison the day of the Lord is coming and that whole reference refers to tribulation the Tribulation Period refers to the return of Christ the first to a new heaven new earth it refers in general to the coming of the Lord and the judgment that will accompany him because of a rebellious people who have forsaken him and disobeyed him so Joel not only looks in his own day and says hey that was God's judgment you guys are rebelling against him you guys are sinning against him he also looks to a future day and says well the day of the Lord is coming and here we are now reading this some some 2700 years later and this still applies because we're there sin and disobedience to the Lord it must be met with his judgment otherwise he would not be a just and holy God if God winked at our disobedience and did nothing about it he would not be a just and holy God and so our sin will result in our punishment our judgment if we don't get right with him and so the same message applies whether it's 750 BC or whether it's 2019 or on God is saying his judgment is coming if we don't get right with them we will suffer the consequences so this is what he refers to here in Joel chapter 2 verse 1 also verse 2 says a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness like the morning clouds spread over the mountains a people come great and strong the like of whom has never been nor will there ever be any such after them even for many successive generations and so in the near interpretation Joel may be referring to hey the the Babylonian army is going to be coming here but in the distant interpretation he's referring to the Battle of Armageddon and the coming armies that will converge in the valley of Jezreel to fight against God and to fight against Israel to fight against everything that stands for God and everyone who worships Jesus and so Joel here is describing future tense future battle future army that's going to be happening here and he describes the appearance of this army a little further down still there in chapter 2 look at verses 4 and 5 he says their appearance is like the appearance of horses and like swift steeds so they run now I want you to notice the language that he's using here these are similes it's like he's finding it difficult to describe why because he's living in roughly 750 BC and he's seeing to our day and even beyond how does a guy living in 750 BC describe modern warfare in the 21st century how does he describe the sounds of artillery how does he describe you know the weapons that that we fight with today and and how does he describe you know all that is used and the things that are that are a part of you know modern-day warfare so he says it's like the appearance of horses and like swift steeds so they run he says in verse five with a noise like like chariots not not really chariots this is why most Bible scholars when they read this are like well he's probably not talking about the Babylonians because he's using these similes that refer to something beyond what they would typically use here is it's not actually chariots but it's like chariots and and he says in verse five they go over mountain tops the parted part of the the the army that he sees has the ability to go over mountain tops and then and the noise that they make like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble like a strong people set in battle array so he's using his own language to describe something way in the distant future and when he talks about sounds like chariots and leaping over mountain tops I mean he very well could be referring to something like Apache helicopters or he could be referring to the sonic sounds of f-16 fighter jets that go over the mountains and and engaging in warfare and and so he's seeing these things he's trying to describe these things he says listen there's gonna come this time where God's judgment is gonna be released and armies are gonna come there's gonna be this great battle and he says there jump further down chapter 2 verse 30 he says they're quoting God in verse 30 and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the Sun this is verse 31 the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord now this is how we know he's probably talking future tense because John when he's inspired to write revelation uses identical language to describe the Battle of Armageddon in the future tribulation that is coming you don't need to turn there but I'll read out of revelation 6 verses 12 and 13 I looked when he opened the sixth seal and behold there was a great earthquake and the Sun became black as sackcloth of hair this is what Joel said the Sun becomes dark John says and the moon became like blood that's what Joel says here the moon turns into blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind and so Joel sees into the future here and he writes about it he sees into our future he sees even beyond our day and he sees a parallel judgment and this is the way he writes he says listen whether whether you're living in 750 BC and you sin against God there's judgment whether you live now I'm gonna apply it in monitors whether you live in the 21st century and you sin against God there is judgment you cannot escape the fact that where there is disobedience against God it will invite the judgment of God but all right this is important but there's a remedy to the judgment of God whether you live in the eighth century BC or whether you live in the 21st century AD there is a remedy to God's judgment for our sins and it is the same as what Joel said the people of his day as it is to ourselves in our day and it's found right here in chapter 2 right in the middle between chapters you know one in three is inserted right here look at chapter 2 again verses 12 to 14 I read this at the beginning of our study I'm going to read it again chapter 2 verse 12 to 14 now just underline these verses highlight them star them and your Bibles but notice this verse 12 now therefore says the Lord turned to me with all your heart with fasting and with weeping and with mourning so rend your heart and not your garments okay let me just pause in that day as a sign of mourning they would tear their clothes and God is saying don't bother ripping your clothes just tear open your heart and get humble and get right with me just you know beat be remorseful over your sin be broken over your sin you don't need to go around tearing your clothes you said rend your heart not your garments return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness some of your Bibles say abounding in love and he relents from doing harm who knows he might turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God and so God inserts himself in the story and I just want to close out chapter 2 by looking again at verse 32 if you look in your Bibles the very last verse of chapter 2 verse 32 kind of summarizes it all when he says there in verse 32 and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance as the Lord has said among the remnant whom the Lord calls see this is just a wonderful truth inserted in the middle of another awesome truth which is that yes God's judgment follows the disobedience of people but he's made gracious provision that we might not have to experience the judgment of God in the wrath of God if we would turn from our sins and turn to Him because God is gracious and merciful he is slow to anger he is abounding in love and he relents from doing harm because god's intention is to forgive us and receive us and restore us in the right relationship with him this is what god tells us right in the middle of this story and he adds there and i you know i I just love the simplicity of all this where God just basically says if you'll turn to me with all your heart if you'll humble yourself if you feel sorry and be sorry for your sin that is what is meant there by a fasting and weeping and mourning turned to me he says that I will relent from being bringing judgment upon you why because verse 13 God is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and of great kindness abounding in love and then he adds there in verse 32 what we read and if you call on the name of the Lord anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved that verse Paul quotes in the New Testament which is how we know that this message is not intended only for for Joel's people of his day this is also intended for us because Paul picks up on that verse there in Joel 2 verse 32 and he quotes it in Romans chapter 10 when he says this that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him raised Jesus from the dead you will be saved for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved and then Paul adds for anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved and he quotes from Joel - 32 amen now just to make sure that everybody understands the terminology if you've been a Christian long enough you know how to speak Christian ease but not everybody knows Christian ease I mean it's here in the Bible but for those of you who aren't certain about what what does it mean to be saved you might ask save from what everybody calls the name of Lord shall be saved saved from what saved from the judgment of God because of our sin saved from the consequences that we deserve because of our disobedience against God listen folks here are the plain facts God is righteous and holy and perfect and we are none of those things we are sinful we are proud and we are very imperfect people we all fall short of that perfect standard of God now I I know the common the common phrase that is used in our day we probably all use this at some point that phrase about how well nobody's perfect and so we can't already know that about ourselves but at the same time you know why people use that phrase because it's a way of justifying one's own bad behavior by comparing oneself to the bad behavior of everybody else say well everybody you know and nobody's perfect right I mean I'm just like everybody else everybody's just like me and nobody's perfect and so in some sense we think we're off the hook because after all nobody's perfect and I'm a part of that support group so we're all in the same group nobody's perfect the problem is other people are not the standard god is not measuring you against the behavior of other people or the heart of other people it's not it's not like God looks at you goes you know what you got a terrible boss your boss is wicked evil you already know that and so and God's just like compared to that that guy or that lady you're good to go god god listen to me on this God does not grade on the curve god does not look at your life and say well compared to so and so you're pretty good so I'll take you to heaven that's not the way God operates God evaluates every single person on the basis of his or her own goodness no way because some of you like that's heresy listen to the rest the problem is none of us is good so when God looks at us what does he see he sees the same sinful nature in every single person because no one is good enough he is the perfect standard against which all of us will be measured and none of us measure up now I know some of your traditions perhaps maybe if you've come out of the prynt traditions religious traditions you may have been taught that if you're just a good person if you do a lot of good things if you're you know really careful to you know be nice and do good things and and you know put in some good works that you'll be good to go that as long as your good works outweigh your bad works you're gonna be okay and you're on your way to heaven that is just simply not true none of us can work our way to heaven I mean who are we kidding do you think in a day just take one common day in your life do you think in a day you've done more good things than bad things if you think that you're not being honest with yourself just think about your different thoughts think about different things you say think about the way you act we are all fallen people and the perfect standard is God and we don't measure up and God knowing this said so here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna make gracious provision for you to be able to have your sins forgiven I'll even take you to heaven is your ultimate eternal reward if you will just turn from your sin and turn towards me and here's what God does because he is as Joel writes there another place in the Bible because he is gracious because he is slow to anger because he is abounding in love he demonstrates his love by offering his son Jesus on a cross for our sins no greater love as a man than this that he laid down his life for his sins in Romans it tells us God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life God is motivated by love because God is love and God's purpose is to redeem you and me from our sins and to bring us into right relationship with him and we can't get there on our own we don't have the ability to do that because we're all fallen people we're all sinful at the core and knowing this God offers His only Son first on a cross and then he says this I will put my judgment intended for you the consequences that you and I deserve because of our sin I'm gonna but all that on my son Jesus so that if you would just simply believe by faith that he died in your place as a perfect sacrifice your sins will be forgiven and you'll have an eternal reward in heaven when you die all because by faith you're gonna accept God's gracious provision that Jesus died on a cross he took the punishment intended from me he took the consequences I deserve all of it was placed on him the Bible says by His stripes by his crucifixion were healed were made whole that if we put our faith and trust in him it's what Paul said if we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved for it is with our hearts that we believe and are justified it is with our mouths that we confess and are saved therefore anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved are you saved [Applause] if you don't know whether or not you're saved you can leave here today knowing for sure that you are by turning to him by surrendering your life to Jesus I'm gonna lead us in a word of prayer right now if you wouldn't mind just bowing your heads as we pray father we thank you that even though we are sinful people you made a gracious provision for us by offering your son Jesus on a cross to die in our place to suffer in our place to pay the price for our sins even though he committed no sin it was the great exchange his perfect life for our sinful lives all of our sin and our shame and our guilt everything we've ever done in disobedience to you the consequences of all of that was placed on Jesus and now Lord you just simply invite us to trust Jesus to surrender to Jesus to accept what Jesus did in a cross for our sins that we might be forgiven cleansed justified made righteous before you so lord I pray for those right now who don't know you they don't know that they're saved because they've never really opened their heart to Jesus and I pray Lord that you would move in their hearts right now that they would humble themselves and they would come to you and they would invite Jesus into their hearts and lives to be Lord and Savior now I'm just gonna pause in my prayer with your head bowed and I'm gonna just give you the invitation to pray and receive Christ as your Savior right now you can just pray this prayer with me right where you're seated I'll go slowly enough you can just pray this with me say Lord Jesus I thank you that you love me so much that you died on a cross for my sins I want to be right with you so I call upon the name of the Lord that I might be saved I confess with my mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead that I might be saved right now today by faith I receive you Jesus as my Lord and Savior now still with your heads bowed who prayed that prayer with me just raise your hand just if you prayed that prayer with me yeah god bless you god bless you several hands here god bless you yes here's what I want to ask you to do I'm gonna close the service with prayer now and I want to ask you I saw many hands go up just take a moment when I dismiss to come down front get a Bible from one of our pastors to remember today's decision because the today is the day of a new beginning for you it's a new journey in a relationship with Jesus Christ so if you haven't a moment just come down get a Bible from one of our pastors take it home as our gift to you to remember today's decision Lord you saw the many hands that were raised and you know all our hearts those who have invited Christ into their lives today we thank you that you are a gracious compassionate God slow to anger abounding in love and I pray over all those who received you as Lord and Savior today that you would fill them afresh with your Holy Spirit and that you would show yourself strong in their lives to protect them to encourage them to keep them safe from this world in the enemy that they might live for your glory all the days of their lives and we praise you together in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Chapel Leesburg Va, Bible, Sermons, Teaching, Faith, Christian, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Hamrick, Calvary, Biblical sermons, salvation, evangelism, Pastor Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Connection, radio, hamrick gary, understanding the book of joel bible, A summary of the book of Joel, joel 1-3 summary, study of the minor prophets in the bible, The minor prophets BTS, Minor prophets: joel

Id: n1XIfnx527g

Length: 43min 2sec (2582 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 25 2019