“The Valley of Decision”

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The Valley of Decision

"The Valley of Decision"

(A Message to the Multitude)

(Preached Sunday Morning, May 17, 2020)

Please turn with me in your Bible to Joel 3:13-16.

  • Today is Sunday (Sunday morning),
  • the 17th day of the month of May,
  • in the year 2020, the officially recognized 20th year after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who even now sits at the right hand of God, and who very soon shall return to judge you, to judge the people of the Earth.

We are the S.A.L.T. (The Savior’s Ambassadors Laboring Together), and this morning we seek to express our Lord’s mercy and even more importantly his love. How? By seeking to wake you from a spiritual slumber before the heat of Hell and the Lake of Fire leave you all too awake, too late, forever!

  • This morning, we speak to the multitudes of the world;
  • To those made ignorant to the truth
    • either by self-neglect;
    • or by neglect of those around them who knew the truth but by self-love feigned as friendship kept back that truth from being told;
  • Or (perhaps more certainly) we speak this morning to those of whom it is so precisely and so divinely written that they
  • “Are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:20-22)

Please now look down at your Bible, at the passage, beginning at Joel, chapter 3, verse 13; which we had you turn to at the beginning of this message, and to which we will continue returning to, until all that can be said right now to help you has been said – has been offered unto you!

“Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

“The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

(Joel 3:13-16)

What need have we of speculation and opinion when the Word of God is so clear.

  • Stand and let us all read together: Joel 3:13-16.
  • You may be seated.

You may argue with your teachers, with your bosses, with your parents, with your preacher, with me; but you cannot and will not win an argument with God. You cannot refute what God has written.

  • Stand and let us all again read together: Joel 3:13-16.
  • You may be seated.

You may deem the churches of the Living God to be non-essential. You may cast out of your society those who have instead surrendered to following his Son, Jesus Christ. You may then and eventually will seek to destroy them as you unsuccessfully sought to destroy their Savior upon a bloody cross. All this but you will not succeed; you will not win; you cannot refute what God has written.

  • Stand and let us all once again read together: Joel 3:13-16.
  • You may be seated.

Hear this now…

I. Judgement is here!

“Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” (Joel 3:13)

  1. “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe:”
  2. “Come, get you down;”
  3. “For the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.”

Hear this now…

II. Judgement is judging!

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:14)

  1. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:”
  2. “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”

Hear this now…

III. Judgement is coming!

“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” (Joel 3:15)

  1. “The sun and the moon shall be darkened,”
  2. “And the stars shall withdraw their shining.”
  3. Judgement can and must be averted, now!

IV. Judgement can and must be averted now!

“The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” (Joel 3:16)

  1. “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem;”
  2. “And the heavens and the earth shall shake:”
  3. “But the Lord will be the hope of his people,”
  4. “And the strength of the children of Israel.”

 

OUTLINE:

“The Valley of Decision”

  1. Judgement is here! (Joel 3:13)
  2. Judgement is judging! (Joel 3:14)
  3. Judgement is coming! (Joel 3:15)
  4. Judgement can and must be averted, now! (Joel 3:16)

 

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