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The War Against God
Christ Church on May 30, 2021
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The Day of the Lord (Joel CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

We’re in dire need of a revival. Evangelicals need to be born-again. The Pentecostals need to be Spirit-filled. The Reformed need a reformation. The Methodists need a Great Awakening. Joel lays out for us what such a Heaven-born revival consists of, what God’s people should do to ready for it, and the consequences of indifference towards the coming Day of the Lord.

THE TEXT

Blow ye 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 cometh, for it is nigh at hand… (Joel 2)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

After imploring the priests and the people to mourn and fast (1:14) in response to the locust swarms devastating the land––cutting off the ingredients for the meat & drink offerings (1:9)––Joel then invites his audience to look through the locust plague, and discern the cosmic implications.

There are two trumpet blasts in this text (v1 & 15). The first describes the day of the Lord as a marauding army and the right response to it (vv1-14); the second trumpet blast describes how a contrite people will enjoy the relenting of God, and experience the Day of the Lord as a day of the Spirit outpoured (vv15-32). The Day of the Lord is first described as a day of horror, and thus an appeal to repent is made. But then for those who repent, the Day of the Lord is described as a great deliverance.

The warning trumpet should be sounded, for the day of the Lord is near (v1). This is the Helms Deep of the OT. It is a day of unrivaled darkness (v2), Eden turns into Mordor, and none can escape (v3). The locust swarms give way to an invading army: swift as horses (v4), determined, well armored (v5), fierce and fearful (v6), disciplined and indefatigable (v7); they move with remarkable coordination and are not deterred by pain (v8); this invasion will be total, leaving no place to hide (v9); these events shake the earth and throw the heavens into turbulence (v10). This is Lord’s army and has come at His command (v11). The prophet closes this description of the coming day of the Lord with the rhetorical question: “Who can abide it?”

The Lord Himself then speaks to the people to describe the right response to the news of this coming day of judgement: “turn to me (v12).” This returning is to be entire, heartfelt, and accompanied with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and lest they think they can go through the motions of mourning, He admonishes them to rend their hearts and not their garments (v13). This repentance is founded upon God’s covenant mercies (v13, Cf. Ex. 34:6-7). Repentant sinners hope for a repentant God. But should God relent from His wrath, and leave the blessing of the restoration of the meat and drink offerings, it will be purely from His great mercy (v14).

Now the second trumpet blast sounds. All the residents of Zion––the elders and infants, the bridegroom and his bride––are summoned to solemnly assemble (vv15-16, Cf. 1:14). Joel paints a touching picture of what this repentance should look like: priests and people in the temple courts, with the priests crying out on behalf of all the people, “Spare thy people, O Lord (v17).” If Judah responds with this sort of total repentance, the result will be God’s aroused jealousy and pity (v18). What will follow is His restoration of the Deuteronomic blessings: bountiful crops, reproach removed, and the invaders driven back (vv19-20). The land shall be refreshed, and all which the locust had eaten would be restored (vv21-25). The people would enjoy the Sabbath rest of the Promised Land once more, and offer thankful praise without shame, all so that it might be known that the Lord is in their midst (vv26-27).

After this, the Spirit of God would be poured out upon all the people (vv28-29). The Cosmos themselves would reverberate to this radical turning of the redemptive tides (vv30-31). The repentant people, being restored to communion with God, are assured that the Lord shall ever be their Deliverer, and any who call on Him shall enjoy this salvation (v32).

THE LAYERS OF PROPHECY

One of the key tactics of the prophets is how they look through current events. The immediate tragedy of swarming insects was just a forerunner of a greater day of judgement which awaits. Think of it as standing atop a high hill and being able to see the next ridge, and beyond that a higher mountain, and further still the Snow-capped peaks.

Joel has rebuked the people for failing to respond appropriately to the locust swarm (the first ridge). He then employs the locust as a portent of coming invaders (the higher ridge). The prophecy then concludes with a Messianic crescendo foretelling the downfall of all God’s enemies, and Zion enjoying His blessed reign (the Snow-capped peaks).

So the people ought to have responded to the locust with full-throttled repentance. In order to stir them up to this, Joel warns that an army––fiercer than the swarms they just endured––will soon invade (likely the Assyrians, Cf. v20). Looming behind this is an even greater “Day of the Lord” which will be experienced one of two ways: either great blessing, or great ruin. All of it hinges on the sort of repentance. Is it heaven-born sorrow––which God alone gives––or just earthly sorrow?

Innovation is often mistaken for repentance. But just because we’ve made some innovations culturally, doesn’t mean we have repented. Repentance is a returning. Returning to God’s Word. Our modern debates within Christendom center––as they always do––on the authority of God’s Word. The rejection of God’s word as the standard for justice, in favor of embracing Marxist and humanist definitions of justice indicates that we are not truly interested in righting wrongs. Those loudly ringing the bells of social justice are offering a semblance of repentance, but it is mere innovation. It is not reformation, which would be a humble return to God’s Word.

THE SERMON AT PENTECOST

This text from Joel was the text which the Apostle Peter went to in Acts 2:17 to describe the day of Pentecost. Peter insists that what Joel prophesied had come to pass in this marvelous outpouring of the Spirit. This wasn’t innovation, this was a return to what God had promised He would do when Messiah came. Peter informs us how to read Joel. The Day of the Lord had come

God’s compassion forms the basis for Joel’s vision of the future blessing of the outpoured Spirit. An army of destruction comes, but those whom God mercifully humbles and brings to repentance––the first fruits of the outpouring of the Spirit––will enjoy deliverance. The fire fell, and now empowered a nation of priests for prophetic service in a new temple, the church (Cf. Num. 11:16-30).

A PROPHETIC PEOPLE

Joel’s vision is of a prophetic people. To quote Spurgeon: “Unless we have the spirit of prophecy resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive.” The Spirit emboldens us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (Cf. Rom. 10:13). When the Spirit applies what Christ purchased, the result is a new heart. A heart assured that sin is forgiven.

A mom no longer riddled with shame will be bold in teaching her children to follow Christ. A formerly resentful teen will no longer cower before his peers. A businessman whose confidence is in Christ’s work and not his own will freely speak up about Jesus in his workplace. This is because the Spirit gives boldness.

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A Swarm of Locust (Joel CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

The phrase “senseless tragedy” is often employed when describing some crime or calamity. But as Christians, no tragedy is senseless. How are we to understand national tragedy? Joel gives us the pattern for how to respond to such tragedy, by his response to a swarm of locust.

THE TEXT

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth… (Joel 1:1-5).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

After the brief personal introduction (v1), Joel invites the old men to give their assent to the uncommon magnitude of the tragedy that has befallen Judah, and then commands them to tell of this tragedy to future generations (vv2-3). Typically this command to tell future generations is in regard to great deliverances by the Lord’s hand (Cf. Ex. 10:1-2, Deu. 6:7, Josh. 4:6, Ps. 44:1), but here the devastating tragedy is to be retold to children’s children. The plague is then described in vibrant simplicity: the land has been devastated by wave after wave of locust (v4).

The drunkards are implored to weep, for their source of pleasure is cut off, and now must face the world (v5). The locust are likened to a foreign nation, fierce as lions (a theme then developed in 2:1-11 and then employed by St. John’s Apocalyptic vision); and the ruination the locust swarms brought was total (vv6-7).

The nation of Judah (often likened to a virgin, Cf. Amos 5:2) is to lament like a bereaved virgin (v8). The reason for the lamentation is that the locust swarms have utterly consumed the elements of the meat and drink offerings (vv9-10). The farmers and the priests are both exhorted to mourn, for the livelihood of the one and the ministry of the other are cut off (vs11-13).

The response to the tragedy should not be passivity. Rather, in the midst of the mourning, the priests should gather the elders and call a fast (v14). Joel provides a prayer for the nation to pray (vs15-18). The locust plague heralds that the Day of the Lord is soon at hand, and that Day will bring an even more severe judgement (v15), the rites of worship are unable to be performed, and joy and gladness along with it (v16), the Promised Land, which ought to be a land of rest, is laid desolate (v17), the flocks groan in the pangs of starvation and drought, and winnowing must follow (v18). Joel then speaks for himself (v19), demonstrating true prayers of contrition, the devastation was total––even the wild beasts who receive their meat and drink from the Lord (Cf. Ps 42:1, 104:21) were touched by this devastation (v20)––and from the Lord alone can there be restoration (Cf. 2 Chr. 20:12).

MEAT AND DRINK OFFERINGS

Leviticus 2 gives the prescriptions for the meat offerings. For the grain/meat offering, the worshipper would bring fine flour, oil, and frankincense. The priest would take a portion of these elements and burn them, while the rest would be a portion for the priests. The drink offering (Lev. 23:16, Num 15:6-7) varied in amount (between a quarter to half a hin––which is a little more than our modern gallon). It was never offered on its own, but always accompanied other offerings, and was explicitly only to be performed once Israel entered the land (Lev. 23:10). The wine could only be enjoyed once Israel entered her rest.

When examining the Mosaic offerings, the propitiatory nature of the sacrifices is often prominent. However, what ends up in our peripheral vision is that because our sin has been covered we’re enabled to meet with God (Ex. 29:42).

INVITATION TO MOURN

The locust swarm, and subsequent famine, directly impacted this important symbol of faithful worship. In light of this devastation, Joel invites all the people of the land to mourn and lament. While the mourning over the fact that the sign of communion with God was cut off, Joel is eager that they not neglect what the sign pointed to: their covenantal union with God by His free grace.

National lamentation is a bitter pill that only God can prescribe, and which we desperately need in  our own time, in order to heal our cancer of proud self-sufficiency. Edward Topsell put it this way, “Oh how stubborn is the conceit of our hard hearts, which will not be taught till they smart, nor yet be instructed till they be corrected.” Tough cuts of meat often need to endure a salty brine to make them tender. Stubborn nations and sinners often need a salty brine of suffering in order to soften their hearts. But national tragedies should bring about national lamentation and thus, in the end, national repentance and reformation.

But the plague of locust isn’t merely an event that happened and that Joel is simply responding to. He’s not using the locust swarms as a helpful sermon illustration. Rather, Joel wants us to see that the tragedy transpired at Yahweh’s command and according to His purpose, and, as such, are revelation. Swarms of locust are Divine revelations. God was saying something to Judah through clouds of insects.

WHEN GOD SHUTS THE TEMPLE

So what was God saying? We get a main clue by what Joel highlights as worthy of great mourning. The wheat, oil, and new wine were cut off. The rites of worship in the temple would also be unable to be performed. God is the one who sent the swarms, and so it was by His hand that the meat and drink offerings were suspended. God, who commanded Israel to commune with Him and meet with Him by these offerings, put His foot in the side of these offerings. The God of the offerings, cancelled the offerings.

When man is in rebellion to God, the primary symptom is various attempts to invert the Gospel. Man tries to make God palatable to man, instead of making man acceptable to God through Christ. We have churches ordaining women to offices which scripture explicitly state are reserved for men. We have churches repenting for sins conjured up by the woke-craft of Marxist mobs. We have churches providing cover for sodomy and all other varieties of sexual pollution. They do it all in an attempt to make God palatable to man, instead of bringing man to God.

Many a church has an orderly worship service, a liturgy based on biblical principles, they have bread and wine on the table, and water in the baptismal font, and yet they are tombs. God has seen fit, this year, to empty many such churches. God shut the temple. God cancelled the meat and drink offerings. Faithful mourning, as Joel demonstrates, can only come from loving what God loves and hating what He hates. This pandemic we face should bring us up short. God hates false religion so much that He cancelled church. God hates pretentious and presumptuous worshippers, and so he sent them to cover their faces and hide in their houses.

MAY THE SMOKE ASCEND

But this is why Joel invites Judah to mourn. We mourn that God has withdrawn Himself, and we plead with Him to relent. True mourning longs for the glory to be restored. For the smoke to ascend once more.

When Christ ascended, He brought us with Him. Our worship is the offering of ourselves, and it is in our worship that we ascend to God by Christ as a sweet savor. But if our worship is all tidy and in order, but our hearts are full of bitterness, our minds are polluted with lust, our hands are covered with the blood of hatred towards our brother, God will look on it all and say, “Time to shut it down.” Only through Christ, can our worship be made right.

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A Message on Plagues

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Introduction

The prophecy of Joel is about a coming disaster in Israel, the hope of repentance and reformation, and the promise of international justice. We do not know the full nature of the hardship we are facing, but we know that it is from the Lord. It is for our good, it is for His glory, and it is part of His plan to fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. But one of the great lessons of Joel is the centrality of worship to all of life. Joel confronts our national sin of thinking that worship is not related to plagues, politics, economics, and family life.

A Summary: The Locusts & the Acquittal

The book opens with the word of the Lord describing a locust plague of epic proportions (1:2-4), but by the end of the book the Lord is declaring the condemnation of Egypt and Edom and the acquittal of the bloodshed of Judah (3:19-21). So we need to know how Joel gets from locusts to the judgment of nations. A big clue is found in the canonical run up to Joel. It’s striking that Daniel foretells the coming of four kingdoms (Dan. 2: image dream, Dan. 7: four beasts). In the latter vision, Daniel sees a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great beast representing four empires (Dan. 7:2-23ff). And Hosea follows also promising that God will be to Israel like a lion, a leopard, a bear, and a wild beast (Hos. 13:7-8). So when Joel tells us that four kinds of locusts are coming, we should take note (Joel 1:4, 2:25). On the one hand, locusts are one of the plagues of judgment that God promises to send on His people if they forget Him and break His covenant (Dt. 28:38-42). Foreign nations are also described as devouring locusts in various places (Jdg. 6:5, 7:12, Jer. 51:14, 27, Nah. 3:17). Putting this together, I take Joel to be describing an actual, literal locust plagues (past, present, or future), but he is also clearly using that to foretell the invasion of foreign nations (1:6, 2:2-11, 20). And this is confirmed by the resolution of Joel’s prophecy being the great judgment of the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (3:2-12, 19). So the judgment of locusts is a sign of an international crisis facing Israel.

Whatever it is that we are facing in this moment – whether it is a plague of a virus or a plague of complete panic or both, biblically literate Christians should ask what is God saying to us? And for that answer, we must look to His word and not the newspaper and not our best guesses.

A Famine of What?

What is striking about the book of Joel is how he connects the judgment of God to the international political situation they are facing. And one way to see that is by noticing what’s missing. There are at least two major things missing in the book of Joel. There’s a great plague coming, and repeated calls to lament, wail, fast, sound the alarm, cry out, mourn, and return, but the prophet does not dwell on “what” they should cry out, mourn, return from. There are a few hints, but the sin of Judah is not described in much detail. So a great deal of the message of Joel is: you know what you need to do. Turn, cry out, repent. You know what you need to do. This is what true repentance and conviction looks like. When God is at work, you know exactly what needs to be done.

Second, the effects of the locust and invading nations are not what you’d expect. Yes, there’s “wasted land” and “food is cut off” (1:10, 16) and the earth has become a “desolate wilderness” (2:3), but that isn’t the worst of it.

“Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord.” (1:9).

“Be ashamed, you farmers, wail you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley… Gird yourselves and lament, you priests… for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God” (1:11-13).

“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?” (2:13-14).

Or after the promise of returning the years devoured by the locusts, Joel says: “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God…” (2:26).

The real crucial issue for Joel is not merely the sin itself, nor the material, economic, or political effects of plagues and invasions – the really crucial issue is the lack of worship in the temple, the lack of grain and drink offerings, the lack of praise from God’s people.

“The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain… And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk… a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord…” (3:16-17). Where does healing and fruitfulness flow from? The house of the Lord.

It slowly becomes clear that the real famine, the real tragedy caused by the locusts and invading armies is the lack of worship. It’s not hunger and drought first and foremost – the lack of harvest means a lack of worship. Other prophets dwell on the precise sins (e.g. greed, injustice, idolatry, sexual immorality, etc.).

It isn’t that Joel doesn’t care about those things, it’s just that he knows the root problem is the lack of true worship of the true God. Joel says that it’s lack of true worship that leaves them prey to the nations (2:19). It’s lack of satisfaction in God’s good gifts that leaves people vulnerable to sin. But when He sends the rain and the fruitful harvests, it is precisely so they will remember the Lord and rejoice in the Lord and so not be overrun by their enemies (2:21-27). The worship of God is their fortress.

The Spirit of God & Calling on the Lord

Joel’s description of God’s salvation is really quite striking. And what’s striking is the order of events recorded in chapter 2, leading up to the pouring out of the Spirit (2:28). There was a very clear historic fulfillment of that promise in Acts 2 as Peter noted – which incidentally means that the “wonders” of earth, blood, fire, and smoke are symbolic of the great cataclysm of the end of the Old Covenant era, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD (e.g. Is. 13).

But Paul quotes this same passage in Romans 10: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved… For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-13)

This teaches us that Joel not only had a historic fulfillment at Pentecost, but Paul teaches us that Joel also gives us general description of Reformation and Revival. But what’s striking is that when the people mourn their sin and turn to the Lord, the joy of the Lord fills their hearts and it’s in that moment that they know that the Lord is their God – and then after that, the Spirit is poured out in power. First, the Spirit is poured out then people call on the name of the Lord to be delivered from their enemies (2:32). In other words, people don’t call on the name of the Lord in order to receive the Spirit; they call on the name of the Lord because they have received the Spirit. This is true in the moment of conversion and the whole process, but it is also true for Reformation and Revival – the cataclysmic cultural and political turning of nations back to God.

The order of reformation and revival according to Joel is this: Mourning/repentance — Joy — Worship — Knowledge — Spirit — Deliverance — Justice.

The Spirit is poured out because God’s people have turned to Him and rejoiced in Him and in His good gifts and come to know Him. Of course God’s Spirit is at work in every step of the way – we can do nothing apart from God, but there is the work of conversion and there is great deliverance from enemies.

Conclusion

The Spirit is not a genie that we summon up. The Spirit is poured out with power on those who seek God with all their hearts, who rejoice in Him, who study His word and His ways. Joel teaches us that when God’s people turn away from Him, the central thing they have turned away from is worship of Him. And so He removes His blessings from their midst, and the central sign of that judgment is the removal of public worship from their midst. If we were ever in any doubt about whether we are under the judgment of God, let there be no mistake: we are under the judgement of God because we are not worshipping God together this morning. He has taken away the grain offering and drink offering from the house of God.

But if we will call on the name of the Lord. If we will turn back to Him with all our heart, and seek His word and seek His ways, He will pour out His Spirit upon us once more and deliver us from all our enemies.

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Surveying The Text: Joel

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Introduction

The occasion of this prophecy was a swarm of locusts that devastated the land of Judah. That was a true disaster that was a portent of another follow-up disaster, an invading Gentile army. Joel calls upon the people of God to repent, and promises them true restoration if they do so. Part of his description of all this contains a prophecy of the day of Pentecost, which shows that God will in fact bring that repentance about. God invites Israel to repent, and promises that same repentance.

The Text

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, As the LORD hath said, And in the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joel 2:32).

Summary of the Text

The reason for this great judgment was that the religious life of Judah had become external only, and therefore degenerate. The judgment falls on their ability to worship God ( Joel 1:9, 13-14, 16). They are called to worship God in response ( Joel 2:15-16), but they are pointedly told to refrain from mere externalism. “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil” ( Joel 2:13).

Judgment comes on Judah in waves. The first is the locust swarm ( Joel 1). The second chapter may be a particularly vivid description of that same locust swarm, or it may be that the locusts were a precursor to an advancing army. In other words, in the expression of one sage, the first chapter was a statement that things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got worse.

But in the middle of the second chapter, God invited His people to repent, and by the end of that same chapter, He promised that they would in fact do so. In the third chapter, God promised vengeance on the nations that had come against His people, and He declared that He would then bless His people with great prosperity.

Decreation Language

The New Testament teaches us how to understand and interpret the language of the Old. In this passage of Joel (2:28-32), we are told that the restoration of God’s people is going to be striking—when the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, their sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men will dream dreams. Young men will see visions. But this is described in language that seems to go far beyond people speaking in tongues in the street. No, there will be wonders in the heavens. On the earth, there will be blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon will become blood.

All this will happen before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

So when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were wondered if the first disciples had been drinking too much, Peter gives them a reason for doubting that—it was too early in the morning for it—and then goes on to say that this whole section of Joel was talking about the day of Pentecost. The New Testament tells us that this apocalyptic vision was fulfilled then, there.

But everywhere else such language occurs (Is. 13: 10; 34:4; Ez. 32:7; Amos 8:9), some kind of cataclysmic judgment is in view, which means that the 70 A.D. judgment on Jerusalem by the Romans may be lumped together with the prophecy about Pentecost. This is particularly the case if you couple Paul’s citation in Rom. 10:11 with his use of Is. 28:11 in 1 Cor. 14:21. Tongues were a precursor, a foretaste of what was to come, and it was a sign of judgment for unbelievers. If you will not understand precept on precept, then maybe you will understand when your streets are filled with soldiers speaking another language.

The passage concludes with the promise that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and so Peter goes on to invite them all to do just that.

Jesus is Jehovah

But much more is involved than learning how to interpret current events with a set of apocalyptic glasses. All of this is ultimately about who Jesus is. Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4), and after His ascension into Heaven, He was granted universal rule and authority. He was given an iron rod, and the first city He smashed with it was the city of Jerusalem (Ps. 2:9). This meant that the men who condemned Him would see this judgment with their eyes (Mark 14:61-64).

In the Hebrew of Joel 2:32, we are told that everyone who calls on the name of YHWH will be saved. YHWH was the covenant name of Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and earth. God had revealed Himself to Moses in a special use of YHWH (Ex. 6:2-3). In that passage, He is God Almighty, but He also has the name YHWH. So according to Joel everyone who calls on the name of YHWH will be saved.

Our pronunciation of Yahweh comes from the use of the consonants of YHWH, and the vowels of Adonai, another name for God. Our English Jehovah comes to us via a similar route. Somewhere along the line, the Jews became wary of saying this name for God, and so no one really knows how the name was originally pronounced. Fortunately, it does not matter because the translators of the Septuagint rendered YHWH as kurios, and the apostle Paul does the same thing in Romans 10. This shows that God is not particular about His name in translation.

More important is the identity of this God. In Romans 10, Paul insists that the fundamental Christian confession is that Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9). Everyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame (Rom. 10:11; Is. 2816). Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [kurios] will be saved. This is our faith; this is our life.

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