This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, where Dr. Pete Alanson is our senior pastor. Today's sermon is by Chris Adaway, our director of adult ministries. His message is titled There Is More. It's taken from Joel, chapter 2, verses 28 to 32. Now here's Chris with today's message. Emily Father, you are so great and we're not. That's why we need you. We're so thankful for your love for us, your love that you'd send your son, and he'd come and live and die on the cross for us. And he is worthy. We're so thankful that he wears many crowns, and he reigns even now. It's a reason we're here. It's a reason we can't be here. Lord, and I thank you. I think of so many in our body alone, like Taylor and Rex and Joe and Gloria and David, who have had physical problems and some spiritual problems. Physical problems are easy to find Lord. Spiritual problems aren't. We've had some good news too, and we pray that you'd keep working Lord. You have been working, and it's so obvious. It's so obvious that we need you, and we ask for your blessing upon this time today. I pray that we'd see you and you only, and not the sinful man who speaks before us. Amen. Now, a few weeks ago, I was sitting over there as my usual custom, and I was taking notes. And I like to do that because it helps me sort of get it into my mind and remember what was taught that day. And if you remember Steve Brown was preaching, and so I listened to him, and what he taught was so good, but I was a little discouraged because I was listening to that voice of his, that incredible voice, and I was thinking of my own. And, you know, I thought, what should I do? And so, as I started taking notes, I listened to him, and I remember thinking, I can't say that. No, no, I definitely can't say that either. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, you'd know what I'm talking about. And so, after a while, I just gave up taking notes. And I sat over there and played Sidoku, hidden in my bolts, and so you guys would think I was spiritual. And I was telling about this minister friend of mine about this that I would be following Steve Brown in the pulpit. And he looked at me with this look of pity. And I didn't know if it was towards me or Steve, but I didn't let him talk. I cut him off. I said, but I've got a plan. I've got a plan to remedy my voice. I'm going to smoke seven cigars a day for five days. Hopefully I'm going to lower it down. And he looked at me with a look of disgust. And he said, I think that's a sin. But if you do it, seven times, seven times, you'll be forgiven. So I changed my mind. I smoked 49 cigars. But it didn't work. So let's go to the Lord with the voice we've gotten. In Jolte 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit and all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth. I will burn fire and smoke, columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness in the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. For Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there shall be those who escape as the Lord has said. And among the survivors shall be those who in the Lord calls. And we'll be blessed by the reading of this word. But we don't know much about Joel. That he was a son of Pethuel. We believe he was from Jerusalem. We're pretty sure he was not a temple priest but a temple prophet. And as far as the timing goes, there's some debate about that. But we do look at the language, the historical illusions. And the place in the canon, and most scholars will date it between the 9th and the 6th century BC with many dating it after the Babylonian exile, around 520 to 500 BC. It's really not that important with Joel as it would be with a book like Hosea. With Hosea we need to know more accurately and we do when it was written. Because Joel speaks to so many contexts. It even speaks to our contexts today here in Winter Springs. So early in chapter 1, Joel tells about a locust invasion. These insects are devastating. They come in thick swarms and they blacken the sky. I believe this is a real telling of an actual event. And so these guys come in and they blacken the sky. And I read about this and do a little research about a locust invasion of Palestine in 1915. And the locust came up from the south. And they blacken the sky. And they ate almost everything in sight. And then they stopped just long enough to lay eggs. And the reports say that they laid about 75,000 eggs per square meter of soil. And they flew away. But then the eggs hatched. And they came out in various stages and were destructive. First they couldn't. They could only walk. They couldn't fly. Then they molded. Then they could fly. And Joel tells us about that very accurately. And I believe what happens in Scripture so much is that actual life events like the first locust attack are used in a figurative way later on. And so when Joel later tells about a locust attack, I think he's applying it to the coming day of the Lord. And you can see some examples of this taking of life circumstances is taking of everyday life in Jesus himself. He takes much from his life as a carpenter and applies it to scriptures and uses it in the parables themselves. And then down in verse 13 in chapter 1, Joel tells the people to repent. They're upon sackcloth and morn and whale. And unlike so many other books in Scripture, Joel doesn't tell the people why he doesn't tell them specifically what they've done, but he does tell them what they must do. They must repent and be saved. And so that's a major theme for Joel, repentance. And if you remember in Matthew 3 with John that we have a picture of John the Baptist who's the one that the prophet Isaiah predicted, the one calling out in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord. And John's doing that. He's preaching a message of repentance and he's baptizing in the Jordan and all of a sudden the Pharisees and Sadducees come up and he shouts out at him. You're brutal vipers. Who warns you to flee from the coming wrath? See, they didn't think they needed to repent. They didn't think they needed this little ritual. They thought themselves holy, but John knew different. John knew that they needed to repent. And so John is giving the same warning of the coming day of the Lord there. So last week or this week, we actually dodged some potentially bad weather. But it could have been much worse. It could have been an actual thunderstorm. Yeah, bad things happen. Sometimes it's direct result of our sin. Sometimes it's not. As in the case of Joel here, it may just be a way to warn us about the coming day of the Lord. And so understand that when Scripture gives us a symbolic view of future events, we can't, there's no way that it can fully give to us what it's going to be like. For example, the coming day of the Lord, the fires of hell will be much, much worse than Scripture ever describes. But also heaven. Heaven is going to be much more glorious, much more loving than we could ever understand and we can ever imagine. We can't know the mind of God to know when these bad things happen in our lives to know if it's something directly related to something we've done or not. But we do know what Scripture tells us to do. Repent. Repent and be saved. John the Baptist preached it. Jesus preached it. Peter and Paul preached it. And it's a major theme in Joel, we'll see. So the people were told to repent in the midst of destruction and the midst of devastation. They have nothing to eat, no way to find anything to drink or to satisfy these cravings. They must have felt lost. They must have felt devastated. They must have felt deserted knowing that the coming day of the Lord would be much, much worse. Now I went to Holly Hill Elementary School over near Daytona Beach for first grade as did my mother and my daughter. And my parents both worked and they used to take turns picking me up after school. And I still remember that school even though it's gone. It was off of US one. What I thought at the time was a big hill. I'd never been outside of Florida. I thought it was a big hill and a very impressive building. And I would sit out in front of that building on a bench and I was a little fellow and my legs wouldn't reach the ground. And so I'd sit there just kicking my legs in the in the breeze, waiting for my parents to come. And one day I sat there and I sat there and I sat there and no one came to get me. And after a while I looked down and that was the same wooden trusty, worn bench that I always sat on every day and I was in the right place. And then the teachers all laughed and they asked me, they said, Chris, are you okay? I said, yeah, my parents are coming to get me. No, they didn't. And I sat there. And then the janitor left and he kind of looked at me curiously as he was walking away and he didn't say anything. And I have to admit when he drove off I was getting a little scared and a little nervous. And I must have felt a little bit like the people of Israel in their day. Not knowing who to turn to, not knowing who to call. And so Joel tells them to repent. They do. And so there's more. As Pete is so faithful to preach in this place and I'm so thankful for him. There's God's mercy in his grace, there's hope and there's comfort. And so Joel tells the restoration of the people. They repent and so they're restored. God drives away their enemies. God restores the rain and the livestock and even the days that the locusts have taken, God restores it. And so the people will eat till they're full. They'll drink and be married. They need to praise God. They need to thank him. The Lord their God has listed to them. It was a real time of celebration. And so I hope this reminds you a little bit of a picture of Israel in Egypt, the slavery. God listened to the cries of his people and he saved them. And it's a recurring theme in all the scripture. And for us, for all of us, we have times in our life when things look pretty bad, when things look pretty bleak. We don't know who to turn to. We don't know who to call on. We think that no one's listening to us, especially God, but know this. God your father hears your cries. He hears the cries of his people. He's faithful to his promises. And so if we read in Joel through verse 27, chapter 2, verse 27 and we stop right there, it's a pretty good story. The people have been restored. They've gotten a lot more than they deserve to get. But the cool thing is, there's more. Remember when Joe got restored? He lost it all. His family, his livestock, all its riches and wealth, and it was restored to him even greater than he had before. But the scripture says then, he died, after 140 years, he died old and full of days, end of story. He doesn't tell us anymore. But Joel does. There's more. There's restoration. Now, I don't know Billy Graham or Bill Bryant or Dr. Occongay as Dusty Brown, nor do I custom spit quite like he does, but I did go see the X-Men movie, which I'm sure he did not. And to stop reading at verse 27 and Joel to be a little bit like seeing that X-Men movie and leaving as soon as the credits were rolling down the screen. You know, it was a pretty good movie and for those of you, I don't think I'll be ruining anything, the good guys went in the end. But it was no plot twist, no surprise. And it looked like for a time, no, the bad guys would win. The X-Men were beaten down. They'd taken advantage of Xavier's good nature and helpful spirit. But in the end, they were restored. You leave happy. That's good. But there's more. You see, during the movie, Xavier is destroyed. He's their leader. He gives them hope. Something to stand for and he's the one they're named after. And so you left. You feel a sense of loss. It was a good story. Good was restored. It's okay. But if you listened, if you waited 10 minutes, you see the next chapter. And if God ordains the next X-Men movie will be made, you'll see that Xavier comes back to life in a new body. Sound familiar? And so it is for the people in Joel's day, they get more. Not only do they get the restoration of what they lost, they get something greater. Simply the restoration is a sign that they are God's people. But they get something unheard of, something unimagined. God moves them beyond mere restoration to total renovation. God's grace is coming in a huge measure. A new era, the era of the spirit, the age of the Messiah. And so this passage here doesn't directly talk about the Messiah. But when you take it together with new covenant passages like Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 or Ezekiel 39, and you put them together, you see that it's plainly talking about the Messiah. It's talking about the gift of the Spirit. And so what Joel is doing is explaining to us about the Messiah and his kingdom. And so that's nothing less than the working of expanding his kingdom in our lives, the lives of men and women. And so the Spirit could not come until Jesus' work was done. So Jesus, the interal son, took on flesh. He lived a life of obedience in our place. And he went to the cross because of this obedience. The cross is central. At the cross, the desire and wish of Moses, the prophecy of Joel and his fulfillment in our right relationship with God the Father meets the cross of Christ. O, Palmer Robertson says that Joel stands midpoint between the patriarch Moses and the apostle Peter. And he grabs one by the arm and he grabs the other by the arm and he finds them together. And that's what we see happening here, verse 28. 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, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. This is afterward or after this, and I want translation you have. It shall come to pass. What? What shall come to pass? I will pour out my Spirit on all people. No, wait a minute, Father. You know, it's great that you restored all our stuff, but you're going to give this Spirit, but now you only give to a few people, you know, kings and prophets and special people like that. Now you're going to pour it on all flesh, even women, your sons and your daughters will prophesy. No more different status before God for the sexist. Sure, we have different roles, but before God in the plan of salvation, there is no difference. Your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. Now this isn't saying that what it is saying is, there is no more age distinction, but what it isn't saying is that old men will only dream dreams and snore, and that young men will only see visions. Right, Blaine? But it's a way of saying both, regardless of age, will be channels for the revelation of God. So age barriers have been torn down. Even on my servants, both male and female, servants could be slaves. Both male and female, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. So social class barriers have been torn down. It's an incredible democratization of the Spirit, no more age, no more sex, no more social class barriers before God the Father. We are all to commune with Him equally because of the Spirit, and that's the emphasis of this passage. When, Lord, when will this be? Afterward, God tells us. God answers this right there, afterward. Now that answer reminds me of an answer to the great theologian, Mr. Miyagi of Karate Kid fame. See, Mr. Miyagi just saved Daniel's son from a severe beating, maybe worse, and then he promises to teach him karate. And in the midst of this, Daniel's son is complaining. When will we finally get to karate training, he says, he's been working like a slave, sanding the floor, and painting, and building Mr. Miyagi's kingdom? And he doesn't realize that he's been training all along. Now at this point, Mr. Miyagi is not inclined to tell him. So his answer to him is, the Father does this for us too. He is preparing us for our glorious future, our glorious future worshiping Him and communing with Him. He's doing it even now, and most of the time we don't even have a clue. I want to look at Acts 2, Acts 2, verse 15. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the Prophet Joel, and in the last days it shall be, God declares, and I'm going to skip to verse 21. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. Joel just quotes, I mean Peter just quotes Joel directly the passage we've been looking at. But the verses just before this, is when the Spirit came at Pentecost, in Acts 2, 2, it says, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And so the witnesses who were there, they thought these men were drunk. Now notice Peter doesn't say, oh no these men are tea-tolders, they never get drunk. And he says no, it's only the third hour, it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. No way they're drunk, they wait till much later to do that. But this is what was uttered through the Prophet Joel. Peter says, listen guys, what Joel said is happening right now, right before you. Peter explains it. You know, this is a great example for us. Scripture explains Scripture. Now to be honest, I'm really not all that smart, and I didn't have to work that hard in explaining Joel to you today. Holy Spirit, through Peter, did it for me. So all I have to do is read in Acts and I understand Joel. You guys can do it too, try it. Next time you're studying in Scripture, pick it up and read it, pray over it and read it. And then look at the cross-references of the other Bible verses in the middle of your book. And go there, you'll be amazed at how many times Scripture explains Scripture. And then you can get up and do this next week. And in the last days it shall be. Again, I don't have to worry about eschatology or last things too much. Peter tells me, the last days have started. He claims they're happening then and there. Not only the days immediately before Jesus comes back, but right there when people are there. And for other confirmation of this, I'm not going to, don't worry, I'm not going to go through it. Hebrews 1-1, Hebrews 1-1, 2 Timothy 3, verse 1 and 14, verse John 2, 18, and 1 Peter 1-20, all the say the same thing. So Peter tells us this is the age of the new covenant, the age of the Spirit, the age of the Messiah. It's something else you catch our attention there. It's not only that the Spirit's come, but the fullness of the Spirit is coming to those who have it. And so there's more, the fullness of the Spirit. And so I'm not saying that the Spirit didn't work in the Old Testament. He did. But what we're talking about is the new age, is uniquely the age of the Spirit. Judah will not only have water, but living water that brings eternal life. And so for the Old Testament people have gone, this is so radical. It's such a change because at this point there have been a spiritual dryness in Israel. And so here comes Joel telling these things, helping them to be restored and telling them more about the Spirit. And it's just a shock. Hey, Jewish women are going to have it. But there's more. People of all races would have it. All flesh as Joel says. Now just a few minutes ago, I talked about Opholm or Robertson and Joel and Peter. Now I'm going to talk a little bit about Moses, where this starts. Numbers 11, 29. That's the root of Joel's promise. In the midst of a story about Moses, it was pretty bad time for Moses. The people were complaining of their wilderness diet of mana, mana, and mana. And Moses, likely out of sheer physical weariness, was tired of their complaints and the burden of just carrying all the desires and wishes of the people. And so does that sound like dinner at your house? God sympathized with him. And he told him, he said, bring 70 elders of Israel before the intensive meeting. And I will pour out my Spirit upon them so that you don't have to carry this burden alone. So they did that. But only 68 showed up. The Spirit poured out on all 70. And so even the two that weren't there were prophesying in the camp. And some of them that were close to Moses were jealous. And they were complaining. Even Joshua said, Moses, stop them. Forbid them from prophesying in the camp in Moses. Verse 29 is Moses's response. He says, are you jealous for my sake? With it all, the Lord's people were prophets. The Lord would put a Spirit on them. Moses's desire for all the people will come true. We're told about it in Joel. We see it happening in Peter. Romans 10, verse 11-13. Now this verse in Joel, these verses in Joel's are quoted alluded to over nine times in the New Testament. Access is definitely the most prominent. But Romans 10 here is another prominent area. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord as Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. So Paul uses this first to explain to them, there's no longer distinction between Jew and Gentile. But rather the outpouring of God's Spirit will come to both. Why? Because he supports out of Spirit on all flesh. And so Israel becomes much bigger. All who call in the name of the Lord are Israel. And so the two parts of this are given to us supported by the inclusion of age, gender, and social barrier, meaning that all of Israel. And then Paul goes on to tell us who all Israel is, it's all who call in the name of the Lord, all flesh. And so we're all one in Christ. Protestants have made much of the priesthood of all believers. Rightly so, we're all to preach Christ and word indeed. And notice from Joel, there's another point. It's not the phenomenon of the Spirit that is the emphasis here, but that we all have it. We all have it fully in order to be communing with God. So if you focus too much on the phenomenon, I think you're missing the main point. And so like the people in Joel's day, we all focus on times of trial and tribulation. But that happens. Cry out to the father. He hears the cries of his people. He loves you and he wants you to know that. Unlike the heavenly father, the earthly father, that little boy on the bench forgot about him. And so when my parents both came home and saw that they didn't have me, they were in a panic, I'm sure, and I know my dad raised to that school unlike he's ever raised anywhere in his life. And I was still sitting on that bench just swaying away, waiting on him. I was scared, I was nervous, and I was real tired of being there. But I knew, I knew without a doubt that my father was coming to get me. And there's more. Not only did he come to get me, he took me to get an ice cream cone on the way home, even though it was already dinner time. If you remember the devastation, if you were his, remember the devastation, repent of your sins and live your not life here and now, secure the knowledge that your sons and daughters of the living and holy God. Live with an eye towards heaven, your home, and know that the coming devastation is not for you. Jesus will come back to take you home. And maybe just maybe he'll stop and get you a double waffle cone for the trip. Amen.