Jon Kim, “Full Yield Restoration”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4BlVNhhB8k
TEXT: Joel 2:18-29
[18] Then the LORD became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
[19] The LORD answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
[20] “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard into the eastern sea,
and his rear guard into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
[21] “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things!
[22] Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
[23] “Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the latter rain, as before.
[24] “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
[25] I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
[26] “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
[27] You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit
[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.
[29] Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
SERMON: “Full Yield Restoration”
The main point I would like to get across to you today is this….
Rejoice! Be Glad! Because the Holy Spirit is living in you today and he is empowering you, and if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, he is bringing full restoration to your life.
And all of this is possible because of what Jesus has done on the cross.
3 Points:
Restoration of the Land
Indwelling of the Spirit
Ultimate Restoration from the Spirit
So first, Restoration of the Land
In our passage today, you see a big shift. For the past two sermons in Joel, from Joel 1 to Joel 2, we’ve been seeing a lot of destruction and judgment. We’ve been talking about this “Day of the Lord,” where there will be much destruction for God’s people. And if you remember how we ended our time together last time. The way we ended was this… What are you called to do when you are faced with the judgment and destruction of God. When the land of your life, whether spiritual or even physical has become barren. What are you to do… And the answer was this… Return to God. Return to Him. And why should you return to Him? And basically what we learned last time is that if you return to God, he will answer you. And you see God’s answer to your returning in our passage today. Verse 18 begins with this… “Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.” And what you learn is that if you come to God, God meets you not with judgment or anger, but with compassion. And because God is a jealous and compassionate God, what is it that God will do for you? Verse 19…. “The LORD answered and said to his people, ‘Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.” At first glance it can feel like God is saying, he will give you material things, and provide for you in this life, but God’s answer to your returning is much more deeper than that. I don’t know if you noticed this important. detail, but God says here, “I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil.” And where have we seen the mention of “grain, wine, and oil” before? It’s been a while… But you see the mention of grain, wine, and oil specifically from Joel chapter 1. Joel chapter 1, verse 10 says this when describing God’s judgment… “The grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.” And so what is it that you basically see in verses 18-26 today? It’s not so much that God is giving you material resources in this life, but rather HE IS RESTORING ALL THAT WAS LOST. What you’re seeing is restoration from all the judgments that you saw happening in chapters 1 and 2. It’s restoration.
And so when you have lost everything in this life, when you’re at your wit’s end, when you come to a dead end or rock bottom, even if you’re unaware that you’ve lost anything…. return to God, because when you do, he will restore all that you have lost. And you will be made complete. I think verse 25 really encapsulates the nature of God’s restoration. Verse 25 says this…. “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.”
So what does God’s restoration look like for you. And there are two specific things I want to share. The first thing is this from verse 25… God’s restoration looks like God rewriting all the things in your life that have felt like a waste and a loss. When you’ve been struggling with sin and addiction for years on end, when you’re suffering with sickness and not getting better for years on end, when you’ve been wandering spiritually, when you’re going about life with no intention and purpose for years on end, when you’ve given all your time to work and not to your family for years on end, or when you’ve given so much time and finances to a relationship that didn’t work, it can feel like wasted time, and loss of precious years. These moments in life can feel like a waste. But when God comes to you with his restoration according to verse 25, what you see is that God rewrites all the years that have felt like a loss or a waste. What once felt like meaningless suffering he rewrites with deeper purpose. No struggle, no toil, no suffering is wasted when God restores you. Rather he fills them with a greater purpose. God does not say in verse 25, I will restore the years that you lost by giving you the same amount of better years in the future. It’s not tit for tat. It isn’t transactional. It is God restoring not parts of your life, but the whole. The entirety of it, the best parts and the worst parts. God does not say in verse 25, I will restore to you the very years that the swarming locust has taken away. Even if you’ve lost much in this life, there is much hope because when God restores you, he rewrites all your losses with something new and better. I don’t know exactly what that new and better will look like but I do know it’s new and better because this is the promise that God gives you and me. And this leads me to the second thing about what God’s restoration look like for you.
The second thing I want to share about God’s restoration from our verses is that God’s restoration is not simply a re-creation of the past. Often times, when we’re going through difficult times, we like to say, I just wish things were like they used to be. People often mistake God’s restoration as giving us everything we once had in the past. But in reality God’s restoration is something completely different, new, and better. And that is what you see all throughout our passage today if you look at the details. God doesn’t give the Israelites the exact same harvest they had before the locust plague, but God is giving the people a better harvest, a super harvest. Verse 22. The fig tree and vine, not only give a good yield, but the tree will give a full yield.” Verse 23. God will give you early rain… and not just early rain, but latter rain. And when it rains, he will pour down on you ABUNDANT RAIN. Verse 24. The vats shall overflow with wine and oil. God’s restoration is an overflow. It is more than you expected. It is a picture of his love and grace for you. When God brings to you restoration, he does not just re-create the past for you… he’s not making things the way they were… but he gives you something completely new and better. And I know for some of you that doesn’t feel true. For those of you who’ve hit your mid-life crisis and feel like your best days are behind you. For those of you who have a lost a loved one and can’t bring them back. For those of you who are facing chronic illness. You may say to me, Jon, how can you say to me, restoration is possible even when it feels like life is only getting worse.
“I’ve only officiated one wedding so far.” But one thing I will always try to say at every wedding going forward is this.. “I hope your wedding day isn’t the best day of your life as a couple.” And I mean that with no disrespect. But if your wedding day is the best day of your life with your spouse, that means that every day after is only going to get worse. But I say this because my prayer and hope for married people is that when you live through the better moments, and also the worse moments, when you get richer or even poorer, when you get sick and face death one day, your love would grow into something more beautiful and deeper than it was than your wedding day. A love where dying for your friend is greater than just physical attraction or similar hobbies. And I think that’s what I’m trying to describe God’s restoration as… even if you’re. Not married in this room. Not a re-creation of the past where things are exactly the way they used to be, but something more beautiful, deeper, and new. I have a friend whose mom has had multiple brain hemorrhages, she’s disabled now, and basically needs help for everything in life. And as a Christian, how does any of this look like God’s restoration from the perspective of the husband and the wife. And my friend’s dad, the husband, posted something on instagram when his wife had her second brain hemorrhage that will always stand out to me. He said this in his post, “A thought; The first time Josefina had her brain hemorrhage almost 23 years ago, a man came to visit me. His wife had gone through the same thing, and after talking for a while he looked at me and said, “We are the lucky ones, because we get to actually do what we promised our wives we would do on our wedding day.” And I can’t speak for Josefina, but I think she is experiencing a deep unconditional love from her husband where she has to be the one receiving help from him constantly. Difficulties will come. Suffering will come. We will fail. But when we call upon the name of the Lord. He restores and rewrites our stories into something new and better. We may not always understand God’s restoration or even recognize it, but one thing you can be certain is that because God is jealous for you and compassionate, he will restore you. And when he restores you, as verses 26 and 27 say, “You shall never again be put to shame.” You shall never again be put to shame.
And shame here doesn’t mean what it means in our culture. Shame in our culture means…, how I view myself… “You told me I treated you badly… Now I feel like you’re calling me a bad person.” That’s kind of how many of us define shame in our world. That’s not what God means when he says, “You shall never again be put to shame. In the Old Testament times, shame wasn’t so much about how you viewed yourself, but it was more connected to your religion and the god that you worshiped. In the Old Testament, shame was this, SOMETHING BAD IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE, YOUR GOD has ABANDONED YOU. Why do you worship a god who don’t care about you. That was shame in the culture of the Old Testament. And so when God says, “You shall never again be put to shame.” What God is saying is that he will never abandon you even at your worst moments. Even when you’re kicking and screaming. He will always be present with you and will continually be kind to you. This is why verse 27 says this…. “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.” Brothers and sisters, you shall never be put to shame because God promises to be with you in every moment. And if he is present he will restore all things. And you can have full confidence that God will never abandon you or put you to shame because he promises to you his very own Spirit. And this leads me to our second point.
Indwelling of the Spirit
All of us in this room have grown up with a friend in high school or college, who’s very privileged and well off. And they don’t realize how well off they are. They say things like, “Oh man, I really want my dream car but my parents said no…. So now, I have to drive my family’s old range rover?” All of us probably have a had friend like this… If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just saying, you might’ve been that friend. But people get annoyed with these friends not because they are well off, but because they don’t realize just how good they have it. And the reason why I bring this up is because if you have put your faith in Christ…. More likely than not, you don’t realize how good you have it.
If you have any familiarity with Joel, you probably know Joel 2:28, where it says, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” And you may know this passage because Peter quotes this verse on Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit comes down and everyone starts speaking in tongues. But ever since Acts chapter 2, if you’ve put your faith in Jesus you receive the Holy Spirit. And I think as Christians you can take this news for granted. I don’t think you realize how radical Joel 2:28-29 is. How mind-boggling it would be that god poured out his Spirit on all of you in this room. And the reason why this is so radical is because when you look at the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, the word used for Spirit is wind. And the thing about wind is that wind can go one direction and next thing you know it can go in another direction. It comes and goes. There’s a temporary nature to wind. And the Spirit of the Lord is basically described as wind because the Spirit would come and go upon people all throughout the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon or “fill” only certain individuals. And these individuals were usually leaders, prophets, kings. God was selective on whom he would fill his Spirit with. In the book of Judges, only the leaders and judges of Israel were filled with the Spirit in order to defeat the enemies of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord would fill Saul and David in 1st Samuel to accomplish being a king. Prophets would be filled by the Spirit to speak the Word of God to others. The Spirit would give these leaders a special and new ability to accomplish a specific task. It wasn’t for everybody.
Furthermore, in the same way that individuals would be filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of God would also depart from those who disobeyed Him and continued to. Sin. The Spirit departing from you would be a sign that you are cursed by God and not blessed. In 1 Samuel 16:14, as Saul sinned before God and failed to be the king of Israel, it says this… “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.” And because David knew that the Spirit would depart from people… this is why David in Psalm 51:11 pleads with God after his sin…. “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” The Spirit would come and go. It would only be for certain leaders for Israel.
But in our passage today, something completely new happens… this is what it says… Verses 28-29
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.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
God won’t just fill certain leaders with his Spirit, but he will pour it on the sons and daughters of his people, the young and the old, even on servants. No matter who you may be. No matter your status. No matter what you may have done. No matter what others may say about you. If you have our your faith in Christ… The Holy Spirit has been poured out upon you. And not only is the Holy Spirit poured out on everybody, but also there’s no longer a temporary nature to the Spirit’s indwelling. Meaning the Spirit will never leave you. In Ephesians 1:13 it says that you have been sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16-17, Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you FOREVER.” The Spirit is the seal that dwells with you forever. And how is it possible that you have received the Spirit, even if you aren’t an amazing leader. How is it possible that the Spirit promises to remain in you forever\ no matter how bad you may have been.
Galatians 3:13-14. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” It is possible that you received the Spirit not because you were righteous, rather you were too sinful…., but because Christ became a curse for us on the cross, you get the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God and because God cannot dwell in the presence of sin, the Holy Spirit would come and go amongst people. But because Christ paid for your sins once and for all, the Holy Spirit no longer comes and goes within you and me. You may quench the Spirt, but the Spirit will never depart from you. And this is a sign that you are not cursed by God, but that you have all the heavenly spiritual blessings in this life. Because Jesus removed our guilt of shame on the cross. Because you have been given Christ’s righteousness. That is the full power of the cross. You get the Holy Spirit. God himself dwelling in you and empowering you today and tomorrow, and until the very end. Not because of anything you’ve done, but as Galatians 3 says, simply by faith in the one who won it for you, Jesus, our savior. Let us look to Jesus in faith as our only salvation and hope is this life… for when you do, you receive the Holy Spirit. And why does it matter that the Holy Spirit is in you.. Because the Holy Spirit leads you to your restoration. This leads me to the Last Point.
Ultimate Restoration from the Spirit
You are privileged. Romans 8:11 says this… “If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, God, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” God raised Jesus from the literal dead through the power of His Spirit. And that same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead lives in you today. And I think what stops us from transforming at times is because as good presbyterians we really focus on how bad we are, and that’s great…. But sometimes we forget to emphasize the victory of God that has been won for us, that Jesus’ grace is bigger than our sins, that the Holy Spirit. Who resurrects people to life is living in you. The good news is not just that you are a sinner, but that God is greater than your sin.
Today in the sermon, we talked about two topics, restoration and the Holy Spirit. And how do these two topics connect? Why does God promise the Holy Spirit after promising his restoration? These aren’t two separate topics. Rather they are intimately connected because the way that God restores you, rewrites everything in your life, is through His Spirit. When you look throughout the New Testament , the role of the Holy Spirit is to give you new life. Restoration! Romans 8 says that the Spirit bring you to life. Galatians 5 says the Spirit produces fruit in you to it’s fullest yield. The Spirit leads you to conviction and repentance. Acts 16, the Spirit opens up your heart to receive the gospel. The Spirit intercedes for you and reminds you that you are a child of God. Is this not God’s grace, love, and blessing over your life. Is this not proof that God is jealous for your life, for your victory, your liberty, and your restoration. The Spirit restores you.
If I had to guess…. Most of you don’t feel this victorious about life. Because you may be struggling with sin. Because you may be wrestling with God. Because you may still feel like nothing in your life has changed. And I think sometimes when people think of the power of the Holy Spirit, people think, that must mean that a crazy miracle must happen.. Speak in tongues. Freed from addiction. Move mountains. And I remember something my dad told me that I will never forget. He said this.. The fact that God’s Spirit could even convict somebody of sin in this world to make a person who is dead, alive. Just even the act that they would repent and say Jesus, you are my only hope. That they would fight their sin instead of just enjoy their sin. That is just as great of a miracle as someone who has been physically healed miraculously. And I think this is how the Holy Spirit often works in our lives. A friend once told me this… “I know theologically, we’re once saved always saved.” But when I live my life, I feel like I’ve been saved a million times. And I think that’s what the restoration and the work of the Holy Spirit often looks like in this life…. Where it feels like you’ve been saved again by Jesus in your heart. Where the Holy Spirit reminds you that you are truly forgiven when you are doubting. That the Holy Spirit would finally lead you to forgive someone you thought you could never forgive. When the Holy Spirit gives you enough strength to put one foot in front of the other in trials. I mean, the fact that you would give up your Sunday to come here. That you would even have a desire read your bible or pray to God. These are all miracles in a sin ridden world.
And my hope today is not to give you an endless to do list or application. But rather simply this… for you to enjoy what you have. Rejoice and be glad. That because the Holy Spirit lives in you, there is a promise from God to restore your hearts. Do not overlook the small ways that the Holy Spirit has lead you and miraculously transformed your heart. Let us put our faith in the triune God, Father, Spirit, Son. And let us see restoration here at Christ Our Redeemer. Would you join with me in prayer.
