You can't fix it. The folk you know can't fix it.
The folk you thought had the power to fix it won't fix it. Dr. Tony Evans says when there's no human solution in sight, there's a message for us. That means it's not man's day. It's the day of the Lord. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
Have you ever tried to get your point across to someone who simply wasn't paying attention? Today, Dr. Evans talks about how God deals with that kind of frustration with us. Let's listen in. The book of Joel is a book calling God's people to a serious sacred gathering. What he calls more than once in these few chapters a solemn assembly. A serious sacred gathering of God's people.
Why did he call them to this gathering? Well, he tells you in verse 4 of chapter 1, what the gnawing locusts have left, the swarming locusts have eaten, and what the swarming locusts have left, the creeping locusts have eaten. And what the creeping locusts have left, the stripping locusts have eaten. Israel, God's people, were undergoing a locust invasion. The state of Maryland and the city that I was born and raised in of Baltimore experiences this invasion.
They live underground for 17 years, and then they come to the surface to mate, then to bury their eggs for the next 17 year cycle. This was a locust invasion, and this locust invasion had wrought havoc. Now, if you are an aguarian people, that is, if you are a farming community and your community survives on the farmland and you have a locust invasion, your economy is in trouble because you live and die by the by the work of the farm, by the planting and the harvesting. Israel is an aguarian society.
It is an agricultural environment. And as you read in verse 1, the locusts were coming in waves. What one group of locusts didn't get, the next group got, and what that group didn't get, the next group got. And it went on and on and on and on and on, and it was wreaking havoc in the nation. In fact, he says in chapter 1, verse 6, For a nation has invaded my land, mighty without number.
Its teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of lioness. It has made my vine a waste, and my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away. It was wreaking havoc on Israel's economic stability.
It was an economic crisis. This crisis is described as the day of the Lord. Verse 15 of chapter 1, Alas, for the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
The locust invasion, described in verse 1, is called the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord's destruction. There are two days in the Bible, the day of man and the day of the Lord. The day of man is when man appears to be calling the shots.
Man appears to be running the show. It's when you say, boy, I can't believe people would do that, because it looks like men are having their way. But there's another day. It's called the day of the Lord. It is when God decides to no longer let men call shots anymore, and where he directly intervenes in the human situation in order to bring judgment that he might bring restoration. In other words, the reason that there was a locust invasion is because God was now making a spiritual point. But God's people back then, like God's people today, failed to make the connection between what appears to be a natural phenomenon and the supernatural work of God.
We just think the economy has tanked, because we've not made the connection between economic disaster and the day of the Lord. The Bible notes numbers of ways in which God manifests himself. He manifests himself meteorologically through weather patterns, the Bible says. Here he uses the force of nature through locusts, and destruction was ruling. It was the day of the Lord. They needed to now understand the spiritual components behind their economic disaster.
God said, these are not just locusts, these are my locusts, my army that is devouring your crops and causing your chaos. Unless you and I understand that the destructive things in our lives are not merely natural phenomenons that take place, but the visitation of God, then we will only use natural means to fix it and not spiritual means to get it right. The call for a solemn assembly was because there was a crisis that they could not fix. One of the ways you know it's a divine visitation is men can't fix it. You can't fix it. The folk you know can't fix it.
The folk you thought had the power to fix it won't fix it. There is no human solution. That means it's not man's day.
It's the day of the Lord. You and I are driven to the doctor when the over-the- counter stuff won't work. You've tried it over the counter, you've tried to fix it yourself, you've tried to do it yourself, you've used all the homemade remedies that you can think of or know about, and nothing is working, and so you are driven to somebody else. God knows how to drive us back to Him by creating negative scenarios that men can't fix.
Over-the-counter solutions won't work. He calls them to a solemn assembly to blow the trumpet in Zion, the official call because there was a spiritual issue, and if they wanted to fix the locust problem, they had to deal with the locust sender. He said this is the time of weeping, of mourning, of sadness, and of sorrow. We all like comedy shows. We all like to laugh. We all like to party. We all like to have fun.
Nothing wrong with that, but you don't do that on this day. If you are really sick, partying is not on your mind. If you're really sick, comedy shows are not what you're after.
You're after help and healing. If you have lost your job, it's not funny because you're facing something now that is detrimental to you and your family's well-being. A solemn assembly is not a fun time. That's not a time where you're laughing and you're shouting and you're celebrating.
There are times for that. The solemn assembly is a serious gathering. This is deadly serious because God has manifested himself in a way that allows for and actually brings about destruction. So what did God expect out of that solemn assembly? We'll hear the answer when we return with more of this message from the Alternative Broadcast Archives in just a moment. First though, today's lesson is part of a compelling 13-part sermon series titled, Turning a Nation to God.
In a divided culture, distinguishing truth and staying centered on what truly matters becomes increasingly challenging. While in this powerful two-volume collection, Dr. Evans urges us to remain true to our faith and calling, focusing on God's kingdom values. For a limited time, we're offering you the complete set of these full-length messages, available on CD or digital download, along with a special bonus, a straightforward booklet that condenses these principles into a practical guide titled, How Should Christians Vote? If you reach out to the Alternative Broadcast with a donation today, we'll send you the booklet and all 13 messages in this sermon collection as our thanks for your support. Get the details and make your request online at TonyEvans.org or give us a call anytime of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222.
We have team members ready to assist with your resource request 24-7. And for a deeper dive into the role of faith and government, we offer Dr. Evans comprehensive book and companion Bible study called, Kingdom Politics. Find out how you can get these added resources when you contact us at TonyEvans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222.
We'll get back to today's lesson right after this. In a world shrouded by fear, prophecy seeks to make sense of it all. Dr. Tony Evans' latest book, Thy Kingdom Come, reveals the secrets to deliver us through dark times.
Now is the time to gain clarity in the midst of confusion. Be prepared for what's to come by picking up your copy of Thy Kingdom Come at TonyEvans.org. Comes with a bonus sermon series, Staying Right with God.
Arm yourself against the impending storm. Well, let's get back to our lesson now with Dr. Evans' teaching from the book of Joel. What was God after? Chapter 2 verse 12, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Verse 13, rend your hearts, not your garments.
Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil. What's the purpose for a solemn assembly? Returning to God.
That's the purpose. Why was there a locust invasion? Because they had left God.
Why was there deterioration in their economy? Because they had left God. It was because they had left God, which is why He has to tell them to return that chaos ruled in their world. If chaos is ruling in your world, if the locusts, the circumstances are chewing up everything you're trying to plant and produce, every time you're trying to go forward, if you're being driven back, then you must at least raise the question, have I left God? See, the question then is not, have I met the right people? Am I hanging out in the right places?
Am I employing the right strategy? That's not the question. The question now is, have I left God? He says, return to me. It's like a sergeant calling his troops to an about-face. To come, you're pointed in the wrong direction.
You're going the wrong way. It's another word for repentance. A change of mind that reverses a direction. Instead of going away from God, now I'm coming back to God. But he explains what he means by coming back to God, and this is to be your focus and our focus. He says that this returning to God is a return of the heart and not merely a tearing of the garment. You see, when religious people back then were in asylum assembly, they would often put on sackcloth and ashes, sort of a canvas kind of cloth, or they would rend or tear their clothes without returning their hearts. The asylum assembly only works if your heart's in it. It doesn't work just because your body shows up.
He says, tear your heart, not your clothes. In other words, the asylum assembly only works if this is internally driven and not merely externally driven. If you're merely going through a formality, you've wasted your time.
You shouldn't do it. Because the asylum assembly is serious. It is seriously returning to God. It is seriously saying, I want to get back on the right page with God. It is seriously saying, I want God to have his way in and through me. He says, return with all your heart.
And when the Bible uses phrases like that, it's taking a physical reality that we are aware of to make a spiritual principle that may not be quite as concretized for us. We all have a heart. You're here today because your heart's working. The fundamental function of your heart is to pump blood throughout your body because the source of life in your body is blood. The job of the heart is to keep the blood flowing. That's why a heart attack is corrosion of the vessels so that the blood is no longer able to flow. When you get your heart examined, they're checking the flow of the blood because everything else banks on that. Parts of the body die when they don't get the blood. The brain can die or limbs can't function properly because they must have the blood. Therefore, they need the pump to get the blood there. The pump's called the heart. Well, God says what we have in us spiritually is like what we have in us physically.
That's why he uses the word. When he says, come to me with all of your heart, he is saying, relate to me as your fundamental source. Just like the blood gets everywhere because the heart is pumping, so I am to flow fully throughout your life because I am the center. I am the heartbeat, the reference point for you. Simply showing up won't work, he says.
Simply looking the part won't do. There must be, as a part of this, a sincere inner desire to allow me to reclaim the pumping part of your life, the source, for everything else because the blood is pumped for everything else. I am to be the source for everything else. It is relinquishing the self-life for the God life. It is no longer simply going through ritual, doing the thing because I'm supposed to. It is now the relational.
It is, I want to return to you. I want a relational priority with God. That's why he calls for fasting. He calls for fasting because of the relational priority. Fasting, as I said earlier, is giving up something physical to gain something spiritual. It is forcing the physical in the background in order that the spiritual may come to the forefront. It is the sacrifice. It is saying, I'm willing to be hungry at dinner because I'm hungrier in my soul. Why does God call for a fast? Because the pain of the locust, the seriousness of the situation, required something deeper and something more. You return to me, and he says, and I will return to you.
How important was this assembly? Consecrate a fast, verse 15. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, get the elders involved, get the children involved, and the nursing infants. Tell the bride and the bridegroom to come out of that chamber.
And if there's any time you don't want to be dealing with an asylum assembly, it's on your honeymoon. He was saying this to illustrate how serious the gathering is, how important the assembling is, the suspension of normal activity. Blow the trumpet in Zion, verse 15. Again, he says, sound the alarm.
Call the people together because this locust problem is not just locusts. It's the day of the Lord. It's divine interruption. What do we want God to do? Again, verse 13 says, in the middle of the verse, he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil.
Here it is. God is willing to change his mind. That's a powerful statement. Relenting of evil. He actually wants to change his mind. He actually wants to tell the locusts to go back home, to go back underground. He wants to reverse the situation. He wants to flip the switch.
I mean, he really does, because it takes him a minute to get hot, slow to anger, and he likes to overflow with loving kindness. Verse 14, who knows whether he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind? I can't predict what he's gonna do with you.
You can't predict what he's gonna do with me. Who knows? I don't know. I don't know what he's gonna do. I don't know when he's gonna do it.
Who knows? God is sovereign. He'll choose what he's gonna do when he's gonna do it.
All I know is he's willing to do it. Now, everybody's situation is different. You're gonna be going to God about personal things in your life that's different than my life. All I can say is, he says, return.
But then there's a bonus. Verse 25, then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locusts have eaten. The bonus here is, God can not only reverse, he can make up.
He says, I can restore the years that the locusts have taken. You know what many of us have lost that's more precious than anything else? Time. I'm showing the sound of my voice that many people who, if you could have done it all over again, if you could turn back the hands of time, if you could just go back and and do it all over again, you wouldn't have done it like you did it. And you can look at the days, the months, and the years that have been lost because of bad decisions, wrong decisions, and you've lost all this time, years.
That's time. He says, I can give you back the years that the locusts have stolen from you. How he's gonna do it, I don't know. You're gonna have to taste and see that the Lord is good. Dr. Tony Evans, wrapping up a message called A Solemn Assembly for Revival, part of his classic series examining the role our Christian faith plays in the way we interact with society. Turning a Nation to God is a two volume 13 lesson sermon collection looking at what it means to be a citizen of heaven living here on earth. When you contact us and make a donation toward the alternative broadcast ministry, we'll say thanks by sending you the complete Turning a Nation to God set on CD or digital download, as well as a copy of that booklet I mentioned earlier, How Should Christians Vote?
Get in touch before this special offer runs out. And don't forget you can go even deeper in your study and understanding of this important topic with the help of Tony's in-depth book and Bible study called Kingdom Politics. Get all the details when you call our resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 or when you visit us online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org.
I'll tell you what's in store for us next time right after this. Are you hungry for more of God, more of his truth, more of his power, and more of his wisdom applied in your life? Then you need to connect with the community of passionate believers who are growing in God's Word through the Tony Evans Training Center. With exclusive video and audio teaching from Dr. Tony Evans, this interactive online study experience allows you to explore theology, biblical history, and real-life application of the kingdom agenda anytime, anywhere. Visit tonyevanstraining.org to get started today. That's tonyevanstraining.org. You know, when we don't drink enough water, we not only thirst, but our bodies aren't able to function properly. Tomorrow we'll hear about the spiritual drought that sets in when we won't allow the Holy Spirit to rehydrate us. I hope you'll join us for that.
