introduced Amos as a shepherd from Tekoa who saw visions concerning Israel
1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
the Lord roars from Zion and the shepherd's pastures mourn
2 He said: “Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.”
oracle against Damascus for threshing Gilead with iron sledges
3 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
4 but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.
5 I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says Yahweh.
oracle against Gaza for leading a population into exile and selling them to Edom
6 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;
7 but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces.
8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord Yahweh.
oracle against Tyre for enslaving a people and breaking a covenant of brotherhood
9 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;
10 but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.”
oracle against Edom for pursuing his brother with the sword and maintaining fury forever
11 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever;
12 but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
oracle against Ammon for ripping open pregnant women of Gilead to enlarge their borders
13 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.
14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says Yahweh.
oracle against Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime
1 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;
2 but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;
3 and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says Yahweh.
oracle against Judah for rejecting the law of the Lord and following lies
4 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected Yahweh’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;
5 but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
oracle against Israel for selling the righteous for money and oppressing the poor
6 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.
12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
13 Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.
14 Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
15 neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;
16 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.
pampered women of Israel called cows of Bashan for oppressing the poor
1 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.
3 You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says Yahweh.
4 “Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
6 “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
7 “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.
8 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
9 “I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
10 “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
11 “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
12 “Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13 For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”
lament song over Israel, she has fallen and will not rise, cities reduced by ninety percent
1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”
3 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
God offers an olive branch: seek me so that you may live, not Bethel or Gilgal
4 For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
5 but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
God rejects Israel's festivals, offerings and songs because they lack a true heart
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.
22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Amos replies to Amaziah that he is only a herdsman and fig farmer whom God called to prophesy
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs;
15 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”
promise to raise up the fallen shelter of David and restore Israel, extending to all nations called by God's name
11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.
13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and encouragement we might have hope
1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
3 For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5 Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus,
6 that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.
8 Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers,
9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore will I give praise to you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 Again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 Again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Let all the peoples praise him.”
12 Again, Isaiah says, “There will be the root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
14 I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others.
15 But I write the more boldly to you in part, as reminding you, because of the grace that was given to me by God,
16 that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;
20 yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another’s foundation.
21 But, as it is written, “They will see, to whom no news of him came. They who haven’t heard will understand.”
22 Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you,
23 but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you,
24 whenever I travel to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.
25 But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.
26 For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.
27 Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things.
28 When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.
29 I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
30 Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,
31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;
32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.
whoever is wise let him understand, for the ways of the Lord are right and the upright walk in them
9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor opened in the book of Amos, a prophet from Judah who carried an unwelcome message into the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The sermon walked through all nine chapters, tracing God's case against the nations surrounding Israel and then against Israel itself, before landing on the restoration promise at the end of the book.
What was said
Amos was a herdsman and sycamore fig farmer from Tekoa in Judah, not a trained prophet, delivering his message during the reign of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom, roughly between 767 and 753 BC. The same period produced Isaiah and Hosea, and Assyria was quietly growing into the power that would eventually overrun Israel. The times felt prosperous for Israel, militarily successful and financially comfortable, which made the message all the harder to hear.
The book opens with a series of oracles against seven surrounding nations: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and then Judah. Each oracle follows the same pattern: an announcement that judgment is coming and will not be revoked, the specific charges, and the nature of the punishment. The charges against the pagan nations were social crimes against other peoples, things like enslaving populations, selling them into further slavery, and treating prisoners with extraordinary cruelty. The point the pastor kept returning to was that Israel, listening to this list, would have been cheering along at every one of them.
Then the oracle turns to Israel itself, and it runs three times as long. The charges are not only social but spiritual. God holds Israel to a higher standard because God had given them the law, the prophets, and the Nazarites. They had every advantage of knowing the right way, and they had used it to oppress the poor, corrupt justice with bribes, and replace genuine worship with empty religiosity. God says flatly that their festivals and their songs mean nothing to Him if justice is not flowing out of them.
Chapter five sits at the dead center of the nine chapters and carries the heart of the book. God sings a lament over Israel and then offers what the pastor called an olive branch: "Seek me so that you may live." But that seeking cannot be aimed at the sham temples at Bethel or Gilgal. The famous line follows: let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream. The pastor connected this to Micah 6:8 and to the consistent Old Testament idea that right relationship with God and right treatment of other people are inseparable.
The historical interlude in chapter seven shows what happened when Amos delivered the plumb-line vision. The priest Amaziah reported him to King Jeroboam and told Amos to go home and prophesy somewhere else, because Bethel was the king's sanctuary. Amos's reply was that he never set out to be a prophet. He was a herdsman and a fig farmer. God took him from following the flock and told him to go. So he went. He did not soften the message even slightly in response to the pressure.
The sermon ended in chapter nine, which the pastor called the brightest spot in the silver lining. God promises to raise up the fallen shelter of David and to rebuild it, not just for Israel but so that the remnant of Edom and all the nations called by His name would come in. The restoration described is abundant and permanent. That promise, the pastor said, was pointing forward to the Messiah and to what New Testament Christians now live on the near side of. The dark clouds in Amos are real, but every one of them has a silver lining, and the way into it has always been the same: seek the Lord and you will live.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Nathan pointed out that the Israelites cheered God's judgment on surrounding nations, then fell silent when the oracle turned to themselves. Where in your own life are you tempted to say 'get them, God' while overlooking the same issues closer to home?
Amos was a shepherd and a sycamore fig farmer, not a trained prophet, yet he could not stay quiet about what God had given him to say. Has there been a moment when you felt compelled to speak or act on something God laid on your heart, even though you felt unqualified?
There it goes. Hey, how are y'all? Would you stand with me? We're gonna sing a couple of songs and get us going this morning. Victory in Jesus.
I am thankful for victory in Jesus. I'm preaching from Amos today in the Old Testament and, man, I'm so glad we're New Testament Christians because some of those messages are just so hard. There's always a silver lining on the dark cloud. There's always a way for redemption. God always provides a way.
My goodness, it's such a hard slog to get through it. So, victory in Jesus. I'm glad to have it. Would you sing it with me? Hymn number three fifty three.
We will do a key change on the final chorus, okay?
Amen. We're
going to sing Jesus paid it all and again, after having preached through it one time this morning, I'm so thankful that we have a savior and you he can be known. He can be known. He's so evident. Last week's Easter message, his resurrection appearances, he can be known and he paid it all. Oh, so good.
Would y'all y'all can have a seat? I've got a few announcements for you and maybe a report too. The announcements are these. Monday nights at first be is happening with pastor Carl. I know what know not what that mysterious figure is up there.
But pastor Carl is presenting, on the wisdom that is from above from James three, tomorrow night, 06:00, Monday nights at first b happens down the hall in the fellowship hall. Awana starts out in this room. It's kids club because kids matter to God. It's to get scripture into their minds to reach their hearts. So they have game time and counsel time and scripture memorization time.
We have a prayer group that meets on Wednesday mornings in the church office at 07:30AM. So right in here in Diana Nick's office, the front church office right there is 07:30AM prayer meeting. That's a good time to pray for missionaries and whatever else is going on in the church. We have directories out there. We have come up with paper directories and there are some in the little copper containers out there in the vestibule.
And I'm going to invite Phil, if you would come forward. Phil is Phil Baxter. He is acting as moderator at First Bee right now.
Thank you, sir.
And he's got a related but unrelated message.
So I need a show of hands. Who here believes in the power of prayer? That just about covers everybody. So that's terrific. So this should be fun and interesting for you.
You might know that right now, Muslims around the world are celebrating Ramadan. It's a month of for them, a holy month where they they fast, and they have intense prayer and big on relationships during that time. The last day of Ramadan is an extremely special day for them. They believe that on that day or that night, God will reveal to them truth and a fresh a refreshing of their spirit and a knowledge deepening knowledge of God. So that night, there'll be about a billion Muslims praying for to God to reveal to them truth.
So there's gonna be about, at the same time, there's about 60,000,000 Jesus followers around the world. We've been invited to be a part of that that will be praying that God would indeed answer their prayers, but they would that God would reveal to them the supremacy of Jesus Mhmm. In signs and wonders and miracles and dreams. So we wanna be a part of that. So we're gonna have a prayer vigil.
You see it on the screen right here, Wednesday night, 07:00. We'll be praying for that, and we'll also be praying we've identified 25, specific unreached mega cities in the world. And we already have organization already has teams going into those cities right now and asking the Lord to allow the gospel to penetrate these darkest and most dangerous cities. You know him by name, Karachi and Damascus and Mecca and Tehran, and it goes on and on. But so that'll be part of our prayer vigil too.
So I hope that you can join us this Wednesday night and be a part of what we are prayerfully expecting a major harvest for the kingdom of God. Thanks.
Thank you, Phil. Appreciate that. We have a between well, it's May 15. There'll be a breakfast between services for Kaylee McClinighan. Kaylee normally comes the first service, but she's been working with Habitat for years.
She has an engineering background and she is going, and moving to Senegal to help out, the people of Senegal with all that she has been blessed to know and with carrying the gospel forward. So, if you would, come join us for this French toast fundraiser, May 15. And I think oh, this is another one. This is probably mostly for the little tykes, but maybe not. So some of y'all come in with a coat and you leave and you leave your coat behind.
Please check the lost and found. There is a mound of stuff back there in the back of the sanctuary kind of beside the gray couch back there. So check that out. As the seasons change, it usually fills up. And I'm going
to invite up Dan Tolson, representing the Tolsons and the blocks and the Lampas and Anika Lampa actually is coming forward too. And they have a little missions moment, I
guess we could call it, about a trip over spring break. There you go. Click or two.
Lakesh is a Mayan word that means greetings, brothers and sisters to whom I am spiritually spiritually. I did that in the first service too. Spiritually connected. So to you guys, and thank you for giving me, and Anika a moment to share about a trip that we took. My name is Dan Tolson, and my family and two other families from our small group went on a, mishcation during spring break to investigate and to connect with a ministry group that that we had not, prior been with.
And this wasn't a first b mission trip per se, but a lot of you supported us by buying cocoa and burgers on the corner here for just about every Sunday afternoon all winter long, and we appreciate that. So here's the update, and I'm gonna share about the ministry that we worked with. And Annika is gonna talk about our experience a little bit, and then we have a real short, video. And, so we went to work with the Yucatan Peninsula Mission, and it was a mutual connection with, Dancey's sister who who put us in touch with them. And the Yucatan is in The Caribbean, and we flew into Cancun.
And a short drive from Cancun, puts you into the jungle surrounded by a really rich cultural heritage of Mayan people and communities. And, so we were in a a small town called Leona Vicario, and we stayed at the Instituto Yucatan. And the the YPM ministry is a sixty year old ministry focused on, positive community change in what they call the Zona Maya, which is that Mayan area of the Yucatan. And, for the last eighteen years, though, it's been led by a really wonderful couple named William and Ehrli, and that's them circled there. They were our hosts during the week, and they were able to acquire this little piece of land in Leona Vicario and build a compound, to host work groups like ours.
And for the last sixteen years, they've been developing their mission footprint in the Yucatan, using groups from The US. The location is strategic in that there are over 36 communities within an hour drive of that compound that is easy striking distance for for groups to go work with. They shared with us a a vision for twenty thirty that they're working towards, and it was a long presentation. I'm just doing a very quick summary here. But their focus is on affecting their communities, those 36 communities with in mind, body, and spirit.
So improving, you know, physical health, education, and spiritual transformation. With the mind, and this is where we work specifically, they've developed, an institute that includes a a high school and a university. And the university offers a a wide gamut of degrees, and they have master professors teaching classes and degrees at this university. They graduated their first class last fall of fifteen, and this incoming freshman class for this fall has over a 100 students enrolled. And those are students from the area that have grown up, you know, with their ministry focus and in the high school that feeds into this university.
The most kids in the area there, if they're lucky, go to two or three years of elementary school, maybe to learn to read, but that's about all they get. So their focus is saying, if we can educate their mind and get them to where they can own a business, start a business, affect their community positively, then then that will transform their area. They're helping with, public health in that they developed a water plant. And all these projects I'm talking about were done with work groups from America for the most part. They you know, these these were facilitated by volunteer mission groups, short term mission groups.
Their water plant, I can't really say it. It's called Chienja, and that has a a deep Mayan meaning, but I don't know what it is, provides clean water to the community. They they undercut the other clean water businesses by about 50% to provide to provide clean drinking water and education to the community and ex and gives them an in to talk about the gospel and to get kids enrolled in their school, and it and it serves their purposes. And the spirit they minister to in the form of church planting, training pastors, training community leaders. William, who is our host, is also a pastor, and he told us when we first got there that he is a pastor of 12 different churches.
And I was like, 12 church how do you pastor 12 churches? And then he went on to explain that, well, he he has planted 12 churches, and he mentors the pastors at all of those, and they visit them on a regular basis. And so the the top picture there is a church they had just recently, done a big expansion of, and they hold services there even though there's no doors, there's no windows, and there's no chairs, but they just peck away at the construction. The bottom picture is the church that we attended on a Sunday when we were there and, worshiped with them.
Okay. As mister Tolson said, my name is Annika, and I'm just gonna show you guys a couple pictures and share a bit about my personal experience at YPM. So our main project was pouring floors at the university, and I would say we developed a pretty efficient system. We had it dialed in. Here are some of our buff young shovelers filling buckets, And, the sand that the sand and the gravel that they shoveled would be dumped into the mixer and combined with water and cement, and then our concrete haulers would go and pour it down for the guys with trowels to smooth out.
So in the evenings, we had another ministry where we hosted VBS with the kids in the area. And there's nothing that keeps a smile on your face better than playing sharks and minnows with the kids who are all dressed up in their nicest clothes and talk your ear off even after you tell them, This is a picture of a skit we did about Jesus calling Andrew and Peter to be fishers of men. So looking back on the trip, I was wondering to myself, what made it so fulfilling and so fun for me? And I came up with this. When I made myself available to God and the work that he had for us down there, he revealed in me a passion and a purpose and a peace.
But the thing is we don't have to limit that experience that he gives us to a missions trip. So here's my challenge for both myself and extending as a sister a sister of Christ. What can we be doing every day to make ourselves available for God so he can work through us to advance his kingdom? First Corinthians ten thirty one says, well so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
So the leadership at first be feels very passionately passionately about missions, and there are lots of opportunities to get involved with mission work. This isn't the only one. It's a good one, but there's other ones in Mexico, Guatemala, Africa, all over the place. So if you're so inclined to make yourself available, like Anika said, definitely reach out and somebody will get you plugged into a to a group.
Thank you, Dan. As a you all know we were missionaries before we came here. Seven years of receiving work teams, it is an amazing thing to be receiving the team and then getting a huge leap forward. Like they're always pecking away at this a little at a time. But when you have a team there, it's good news from a far country and its financial resources, everything else that are needed to make a just a huge quantum leap forward.
So thanks to the blocks and Lampas and us for doing that. Would you stand with me? We're going to sing a couple more songs and then, how about we skip this song, Judy? Is that alright? I heard the first sermon.
So, we want to give it all the time it needs, okay? How about Worthy is the Lamb? How about that? Number three zero three. Preacher went long in the first.
Thank you. I'll just have y'all have a seat. And it is time for the worship through giving. So it's the offering time this morning. And would you pray with me?
God, I'm thankful to see your gospel going forward in a missions moment or in an interaction between services where, someone is telling me good news of a loved one who has believed. God, I thank you for bringing, new life. Easter brings new life, Lord. Thank you for your resurrection power that is available and that your word, Lord, is going forward, and transforming, doing what it was designed to do, and it will not return void. Lord, may your word and your way ever be on our lips and in our hearts.
I pray, Lord, that you would use us with our words and our deeds to do whatever it is that you have with your kingdom purpose in mind, that you would advance your good gospel through your willing and humble servants. In Jesus' name, thank you for including us as a part of this plan. Amen. Jesus.
Amen.
You, Florine. God is so good. I am up to the parable of the soils in our New Testament study. And we've been in the New Testament for almost ten years now, straight ten years of this. And I have been kind of pursued lately.
I asked you all to read the book of Amos. I asked for it about a month ago and then reminded you a couple of times since. I am going to go through it hopefully rather quickly. I don't want to get bogged down in every single detail, but I can tell you in general, the minor prophets are very, very dark clouds, okay? Very, very dark clouds.
And it looks like, wow, there's a lot of storm and wrath and judgment in those clouds. Every one of those clouds has a silver lining. They all point forward to the New Testament, to the coming Messiah, to the coming redemption. But we're gonna go through Amos today, and Israel had passed the point of being forgiven. At this point in temporal history, Israel had passed the point as a people grew.
They had passed the point and God was very upset with them and their neighbors. So if you start off the book of Amos, it's a collection of the sayings. So this was not written like an epistle, of Paul is written to a certain place at a certain time with a certain list. This is over a period of time when Amos was prophesying, and it gives us some clues as to when it was, and I'll go forward into that. But I wanna talk about a couple of New Testament verses first.
Now these things happened to them. This is about the Old Testament, particularly about the wilderness generation in Exodus. But these things happened to them. They went through that as an example and they were written down for our instructions. So we can take, even as New Testament Christians, we can take the Old Testament, see what they did, see the conditions, and see what is the heart of God towards those particular conditions and how we might make an adjustment.
It's a wise person who can learn from the mistakes of other people. Right? A lot of times we have to make those mistakes ourselves. But this is, they were written down for our instruction and in Romans 15 it says, whatever was written down in the former days, this is speaking of the Old Testament, was written down for our instruction. That through endurance, and I tell you, it's gonna take some endurance to get through the sermon today.
Okay? It's nine chapters of Amos. Endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures that we might have hope. Praise God that we have a savior. Praise God that we have redemption.
But these things were written down so that we will get a glimpse of the heart of God and the nature of human beings. Okay? So here we are. The main theme of the book of Amos is social injustice. It's about the conditions that are at that time and in the surrounding areas and within Israel itself, things were not just socially.
Now before you cross your arms and think, oh gracious, raised down. Gone liberal. He's talking about social justice. All I hear from the other side is social justice. No, this is the message of the book of Amos.
It's about social justice. Really it's about a picture of the social injustice and the judgment that it will incur. Okay. So here we are starting off. Who is this guy?
Amos one. These are the words or a collection of the words of Amos who was among the sheep herders from Tekoa which he saw in visions concerning Israel have And strong the pretty easy. We don't even know which earthquake it was because there were so many. But we do know when those kings ruled, this is a southern boy in Yankee territory. Alright?
So this prophet is from Tekoa in Judah and maybe I have a map. So he's a native of Judah but he's prophesying in Israel. He's in Yankee territory. If you look at the map, there it is. Judah, the yellow star there is right on Tekoa just South of Jerusalem.
And Israel is this land up above. And during this time period, Jeroboam had he was a warrior king. He had gained a lot of ground. They even got across the Jordan River, which Transjordan is kind of outside of the limits of what we commonly think of as Israel. But that circle up there, they were having a grand time militarily and they were taking home a lot of spoils of war.
And so they were pretty comfortable financially speaking. Judah and Israel, that's the relationship. So he was a native of Judah, prophesying in Israel. He was a sheep herder. It says that in the first verse.
And in chapter seven, it tells us he was a sycamore fig farmer also. So he was a working guy. He was not a wealthy guy. There are people who have made the argument from reading the grammar in the Hebrew and saying, they wouldn't have listened to him if he had been just a poor shepherd farmer. And to that, I say, they didn't listen to him.
They didn't pay any attention to him. They told him to go back home. So shepherd and a sycamore fig farmer. The times were the reign of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom. That there are the dates for him.
And Uzziah in the Southern Kingdom. But both of those guys started off as a co regent, so they were kind of king for a while with someone else still considered to be the king. So I would say this is between 767 and 753. That's pretty specific. If you wanna know other prophets who were active at the time, Isaiah.
You know what Isaiah said? I dwell in amongst people of unclean lips. This is a terribly sinful place right now. And Hosea. Hosea was the same time period.
Isaiah was the same time period. So that will help you locate it. If you study history, you'll see and actually if you study second Kings, you'll see that Assyria is on the rise at this time. Assyria is getting to be more and more and more powerful, but they're never mentioned by name here. Sometimes the prophet will say, a nation is going come conquer you, but he won't say which nation.
Assyria is on the rise and, spoiler alert, forty years later, Assyria whips them unmercifully. So they do go down just like Amos said they would. Assyria is up off the map to the north. Egypt is down off the map to the bottom. And God often through the prophets says, I'm the one who brought you out of exile in Egypt.
I'm the one who brought you through the wilderness. I'm the one who did this. And he'll say that in Amos. Amos one two. I know this is the second verse.
I'm not going to cover every single verse. But I want you to hear this. The Lord roars from Zion. What happens when you hear a lion roar? Well, a movie's about to come on usually when we hear a lion roar.
But if you hear a lion roar, it is it's a sound that you cannot ignore. Right? Tanya said that in Africa, when they were on a mission trip, she heard a lion roar. And she heard it. She was still awake.
Pascal wasn't. Pascal in her sleep started to shake. Cause it's hard to ignore when a lord when the Lord is roaring from Zion. From Jerusalem, that's in the Southern Kingdom, he utters his voice and the shepherd's pasture grounds mourn and the summit of Carmel dries up. Right here, starting in verse three, he begins several oracles to the nations.
It's actually gonna be seven nations and then a plus one at the end, you know. If you're delivering a speech to a group, the very first verse said that this was to Israel. And then when he starts to give these oracles against the nations, they are words of woe, words of warning, words of judgment. And it starts with seven nations around Israel. The characteristics of each one of these oracles is going to be this.
We're going to hear an announcement of judgment. And the announcement of judgment is goes like this, for three infractions and for four. You know, it's saying, one might have gotten away with three, the perfect number of infractions, might have, but you've done way beyond that. You've gone beyond. I have been merciful up to a point, but I will not relent.
It's an announcement of judgment. The reason for the judgment, so the reason the charges against you are these, and then the nature of what the judgment will entail. And in most cases, it'll entail being overthrown, being burned with fire, being decimated, in some way destroyed. So that's the characal characteristics of all of the oracles. So Amos deals with those seven kingdoms first and here we go.
The oracle against Damascus. Now Damascus is the capital city of Syria, so this can be taken as against all of Syria. This is what the Lord says for three offenses of Damascus and for four. I will not revoke its punishment, and the charges to Damascus was because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. Militarily, they whipped Gilead unmercifully, and God held that against him.
It's a social sin. It's a social crime. It is man against man or nation men against men, nation against nation. But it's something that they went beyond what they should have done and they threshed them mightily with iron sledges. I could go into the history of all that stuff, but it suffice it to say, they went beyond.
And God says, so the nature of my judgment was, I'll send fire upon the house of Hazael and I will consume the citadels of Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad is a son of one of their gods. He's the king. Considers himself to be son of a god. I will also break the bar of the gate of Damascus.
So he's saying, you have vaunted yourself and you are going to be knocked down because of your cruelty to other communities. This is what the Lord says. Now it's Gaza. So if you're looking at a map, Damascus is up here. Gaza is down here on the other side of Israel.
The Philistines. Gaza is also known as the Philistines. This is what the Lord God says, for three offenses of Gaza and for four. I will not revoke its punishment. That's the announcement.
It's happening. You've passed the point. Because they led into exile an entire population. So they, in war, took on prisoners of war and made them slaves and they, it says furthermore, turned them over to Edom. They sold slaves to the Edomites.
So I'll send forth fire on the Wall Of Gaza and it'll consume her citadels. He lists four major cities. And if you're historian and you're thinking about why didn't he list Gath? Gath, that's where Goliath was from. Gath, that's the only Philistine city I know.
Why is that not listed? Because it had just been decimated and destroyed by somebody else. No need to destroy it again. I'll direct my power and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, says the Lord God. That's Gaza.
And so I imagine Israel is going, yeah, get them God. We can't stand those Syrians. We can't stand those Philistines. They've been a thorn in our side forever. Three hundred years plus since David whipped Goliath and they're still just hated enemies.
This is what the Lord says, for three offenses of Tyre and for four, I will not revoke its punishment because they turned an entire population over to Edom. So the the last guys, the guys of the Philistines, had taken some people captive and had sold them to Edom. They, God says that the folks of Tyre have taken over an entire people group and enslaved them and sold them in slavery to Edom. And they didn't remember the covenant of brotherhood. They went against an alliance to protect.
So slavery, enslavement of the oppressed, and they went against their word towards their covenant. So that's Tyre. Yeah. God, get them. They're ugly, nasty people.
We don't like them, Israel might say. How about Edom? Oh, Edom. You know, Israel is the nation that is descended from Jacob, but Edom is the nation that's descended from Esau. So there's been enmity since birth between Jacob and Esau.
Right? And then after Jacob tricked his his dad into giving the birthright to him instead of his brother Esau, Edom just never forgot that. Esau didn't forget it and Edom has not forgotten. And in fact, that's part of the charges against him for three offenses of Edom. And for four, I will not revoke its punishment because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled his compassion.
That's an interesting one. Someone was trying to be compassionate. Now you feel that you've got something to hold against them and they're trying to do the right thing and you chase them with a sword, it's hard for Israel to do the right thing if Edom is always against them, never forgiving them and constantly trying to conquer them. His anger also tore continually and he mained his fury he maintained his fury forever. Meaning that not just when Esau died, but his people still hold this family vengeance against Israel.
Are you all with me? I know it's dense history and there's a lot of it. I know. So I'll send fire upon Teman and it'll consume the citadels of Basra. I guess if I had to sum up right here, I like the New Testament and I like to think surely the goodness and the mercy and the loving kindness of the Lord endures forever.
That's what I like. I really like that. And it does. And there is a path and there is a way out. In chapter five, he'll mention it.
But there comes a point when you've crossed the line with God. Right? In this time, without the cross looming so gloriously as it does today, there is a time where you pass over. Now the most popular heresy of our day is universalism. If I had to say that everybody, every love wins.
God's eventually gonna love everybody into the kingdom. Only problem with that theology is it doesn't go in line with the old or the new testament. Okay. Oracle against Ammon. And if you're paying attention, it has gone like this.
Let's say Israel's right here. Okay. Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and it's just closing in. The circle is getting smaller and smaller. Ammon is closer to Israel than anyone before it because this this is what the Lord says, for three offenses the sons of Ammon and for four, I will not revoke its punishment.
Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders. Selfishly, they not only defeated the people of Gilead, but they cut into the pregnant women of Gilead. And you might say, well, they didn't know the law of God. Yeah, but everybody knows that's wrong. Everybody knows that's wrong.
And God's judgment is for everybody based on his law. Now ignorance of the law, we're building to something here. Everybody knows that that was wrong. Everybody knows. So I'll kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbi, I'll consumer citadels.
The war cries on the day of battle amid the storm in the tempest. Their king will go into exile, he and his princes together says the Lord. That's Ammon. Now to Moab, the starting of chapter two. This is what the Lord says for three offenses of Moab and for four I will not revoke its punishment because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
That seems rather insignificant to modern people, I think, since cremation is a normal thing for us. But it was desecration of a king of a neighboring people. And whether they overthrew them to do that or whether they happened upon his bones in the time of their own prosperity and they just were insulting and desecrating to the communities around them, they weren't playing well with others. So I'll send fire upon Moab, consume the citadels. Moab amidst the panic of the battle, amid war cries, it's a lot of judgment and judgment is usually carried out by a neighboring country taking you over.
There were little mice and big cats. Assyria is a big cat. Egypt's a big cat. The Babylonians are big cat at different times. And then usually Israel and Judah are rather insignificant mice comparatively speaking.
But during this time, Israel had grown and was fairly wealthy and they were able to call some of the shots. So they were growing up. So that's the oracle against the nations. And Amos deals with those six kingdoms first, but he's got more. There are eight to be included.
So people of Israel, if I had to guess, were listening to this going, yeah, I can't stand those Syrians. Get them, God. Yeah, I can't stand those people of Tyre. Ugh, they make me sick. Get them, God.
We know that's wrong. Everybody knows that's wrong. How could you even think that that would be right? Get them, God. And then, he turns to Judah.
Now Judah and Israel are separate kingdoms, but they're closely related. Really, really closely related. Divided kingdom. Everybody knows United Kingdom was better. Sorry, not great, the United Kingdom Of Israel was better.
But it's been about a hundred and fifty years since the northern kingdom seized the land from the Southern Kingdom. And this is what the Lord says for three offenses of Judah. Now Israel's going, yeah. Even you can't even get Judah. Yeah.
They deserve it. Those holy, holy baloney people can't stand them. They say it's not good for us to worship where we worship. They say that they've got a cornered the market on this whole God thing and I know better than that. This is what the Lord says for three offenses of Judah and for four, I will not revoke its punishment.
Because why? Now all of the other ones up to this point were social crimes that really it's man on man or man on man, nation against nation, and you should have known better. You should have been able to play along with others. But this one is spiritual in nature. It says, because Judah, the people of Judah have rejected the law of the Lord.
They quit paying attention to his statutes and have not kept them. Their lies have also led them astray, those which their fathers followed. This points back to that wilderness generation too. In fact, when Jeroboam the first, not the second, but when he set up worship in the Northern Kingdom after the split, he set up two different temples that were easy to get to and put golden calves in both of them. Ain't that crazy?
And thought that's the place where you worship the Lord in the Northern Kingdom, Bethel and Gilgal. The last led them astray, those which their fathers followed. That this is about Judah though, not about Israel. So I'll send fire upon Judah and I'll consume the citadels of Jerusalem and that came to pass. But if you're Israel and you're listening to this message, and these oracles probably were all delivered as one message altogether.
So far so good for Israel. Everybody else, yeah, get them God. It's fine with me. Not in my backyard. It's, you know And then he goes into an oracle of judgment for Israel.
It's three times as long and it is a lot more intense, I think. This is what the Lord says, For three offenses of Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment. Because why? And this is what the social injustice that I was talking about at the beginning. This is where it shows up because they sell the righteous ones for money.
They don't care about righteous people. They sell them for money and they sell the needy for a pair of sandals. Those who trample the head of the helpless into the dust of the earth. They also divert the way of the humble. Nice guys finish last.
Okay. That's the good folks are being oppressed by the wealthy and by the judges. And this is what God is holding them accountable for. A man and his father resort to the same girl so as to profane my holy name sex is worshipped in that culture. And on garments seized as pledges, this is about credit.
Garments seized as pledges, they stretch out beside every altar and in the house of God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Honestly, I don't see a much better picture of the prosperity gospel than this. Where they fleece the poor sheep and they aggrandize themselves and it's not a good picture. And it's a current picture still today, but the Oracle against Israel oppressing the poor. Now God gives an explanatory note right here.
I won't read all of it, but he says, yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them. It was I that did that. I am the one that has caused them to gain the ground that they have gained. I am the one that gave over these other armies into their hand. I'm the one who sat the other opponents down.
I'm the one who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you in the wilderness for forty years so that you might take possession of that land. And I raised up for you some of your sons were to be prophets. Prophets are those who proclaim, thus saith the Lord. It's not just foretelling the future, but it's foretelling. This is what God has said.
They already had his law. And so the prophets were a gracious gift given by God to proclaim to them, this is what God has said. And some of your young men I gave to you to be Nazarites, consecrated and holy. They were not to drink wine. They were to grow their hair.
Is this not so you sons of Israel declares the Lord. Did I not give you what was necessary for you to know the right way? Now, all of those other nations were pagans and didn't know any better. Judah should have known better and Israel definitely should have known better. This says, I gave you the prophets and I gave you the Nazarites and then you made the Nazarites drink wine.
You made them break their covenant to me. You forced it on them. And you commanded the prophets saying, you shall not prophesy. Before the end of this book, we're going to have one of the leaders of the temple telling Amos, you shall not prophesy. They're not listening.
And so the nature of judgment, behold, I'm making a rut in the ground beneath you. Just as a wagon makes a rut when it's filled with sheaves, refuge will be lost from the swift and the strong will not strengthen its power nor the warrior save his life. The one who grasped the boat will not stand his ground. The swift of foot will not escape nor would the one who rides the horse save his life. You are not gonna get out of this.
Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked on that day. It's a bad scene. And what's the problem? He says it flatly. Bribes.
You corrupt justice by using bribes. Pledges. This has to do with credit. It's a deeper issue than I can get into right now. But it is oppressing the poor financially.
Splatly, immorality comes out of that. If you stop worshiping the holy God and you turn to Asherah or Baal or one of the other gods, you are going to consciously or unconsciously move in your direction who you think God is. And God is holy. He is not immoral. He is moral.
And immorality was a big part. Oppression of the poor, it'll come up again. And then if I had to sum it up in just one, God's grace, I am the one that brought you up. Actually, you and you alone have I known in chapter three. God says, I chose from all the families of the earth and I gave you this good word and this good law and you should know better and you are making a mockery of it.
God's grace is answered with sin. So then he gives three chapters of sermons and these are probably at different times. But the first one starts off with God's election bringing responsibility. Israel, you didn't do anything to deserve this, he's saying. I made a covenant with Abraham and he believed me.
And that was counted to him as righteousness. And growing from there, the blessing grew. You alone have I known and yet you have rejected me. That's chapter three. Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you sons of Israel, against the entire family.
You only have I known among all the families. Therefore, I'll punish you for all your wrongdoing. He's saying with great what's the Spider Man thing? All of sudden it just love. Great power comes great responsibility.
Right? That's the way it is. He's given us a great gift and we should be responsibly using that. And being a light to the nations. They flat were not doing that.
He asked them a lot of questions. And then in verse eight, he says, a lion has roared. He said that in verse two, right? A lion has roared. Who will not fear?
You should fear the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom. The Lord God has spoken. Who can do anything but prophesy? For Amos, he couldn't not do it.
He had to carry it forward. I'm gonna go quickly through this. Chapter four is almost embarrassing to even read. It says, against the pampered women of Israel, he called them cows of Bashan. That's tough.
Cows of Bashan. Bashan is a very very fertile place with deep grass and not as many livestock and they just fatten themselves up there. And that's what he said that the pampered not everybody in Israel, but the pampered ones were. And he said those pampered women were explicitly oppressing the poor, and for that, captors would drag them away. It's hard.
Proverbs twenty two twenty two. I I mentioned this on a week actually. I know I'm I'm gonna finish this. Forgive me. I'm gonna finish it.
Alright? I'm going all way to the end of this book. Do not rob the poor because he is poor nor crush the needy at the gate. We had this week come into our office, one from a person who is almost absolutely destitute, has been homeless much of the time that I've known the person. And this week, they came in having believed a scam.
And it was somebody that took advantage of the poor. They said, in fact, it was under the heading of pandemic what was it? Pandemic Intervention and Relief Fund. They had sent her a message in from a from a person that looked like, if you ever get an email from me asking you for money or gift cards or anything, it ain't for me. Okay?
But they'll take someone that the person knows as an authority and they'll say, hey, can you help me out here? All you need to do and I know, hey, it worked for me. This is what a friend, it looked like it came from a friend. All you got to do is just send in $550 And if you do that, they'll send you $70,000 out of this fund. People have paid for it.
It's a government program. All you have to do is just pay the administrative fee. And then after they paid that, said, I need $200 to deliver it overnight. It will be there tomorrow morning. And then when she went for that, yes, $7.50 is out.
And then, oh, if only you will sign off on who you are and bring your paperwork, we'll prove and get an IRS certification for $1,700 It was at that point that I can't. I don't have any more. And then they vanish. So $750 out. That is do not rob the poor because he is poor.
And you might say, well buyer beware. Anybody should have known that. But when people are desperate, they're easy to manipulate. Nor crush the needy at the gate. Why?
For the Lord God will plead their case, and he will take the life of those who rob them. That's a proverb. That's actually a messianic proverb. It is some from Proverbs 22. Go ahead and bring your offerings.
This is a summary of chapter four. Go ahead and bring your offerings. Go ahead. Yeah. You're taking your offerings to Bethel or Gilgal.
Go ahead. Lay them down. Whatever. It's only a joke. It's not real.
And then God is sarcastic in that. He's going, yeah. Do what you do. It's your normal thing. It's not righteous in any way, but go ahead and do it.
It's pointless. I gave you cleanness of teeth. I gave you a famine. Cleanness of teeth is what he says. I gave you cleanness of teeth.
Famine. You didn't have enough food. And what that should have done when you're going through hard times is you should have turned to me and you didn't. I gave you drought, which meant there was a scarcity of food. Prices went up.
There wasn't sufficient water. And what that should have done is you should have turned to me in desperation and said, God, forgive me. Please, can we? But you didn't. As a people, they didn't.
Plagues, they didn't. Having just been through a pandemic, this plague jumped off the page at me this time and you just go, wow, difficult times are given by God so that we will turn to him. Now in their case it says, but you did not return to me. Is that the case for us? God's conclusion in chapter four is, Prepare to meet your God.
I'd love to have heard that sermon firsthand. The dirge over Israel in chapter five. I am going to read chapter five. He sings a song of mourning to start off with. I imagine that it had the full orchestration of a lament song.
And everybody knew the form and it would have been horrible to hear firsthand. And then a call to embrace true values. Actually, let me just read it. Hear this word which I'm taken up for you as a song of mourning. This is the lament house of Israel.
She has fallen and she will not rise again. For three and for four, I will not relent, God says. She has fallen and she will not rise again. The virgin, Israel. She lies unnoticed on her land.
There's no one to raise her up. For this is what the Lord God says, the city which goes forth a thousand strong will have only a 100 left. That's a 90% reduction. That's pretty heavy. And one which goes forth with a 100 strong will have only 10 left to the house of Israel.
There is always a remnant and that is a little bit of hope right there. 10% will be left. For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel. Seek me so that you may live. This is an olive branch that God is handing out.
Now, judgment is coming and it is sure. Most of you will be will be destroyed but seek me so that you may live. But don't resort to Bethel, fake worship around the golden calf. Don't come to Gilgal, same thing, nor crossover to Beersheba. Beersheba is actually in the Southern Kingdom.
And so if you think that no, not Bethel, and no, not Gilgal. If you think I'm gonna get across that border, maybe the Judas did maybe they did have it right, and maybe you can only worship in Judah. Well, maybe I mean, he said don't even come to Beersheba. Don't. Gilgal is certainly going into captivity.
Bethel will come to nothing. Seek the Lord so that you may live. Now he just said, seek me so that you may live. Seek the Lord so that you may live. Or he'll break through like a fire, house of Joseph.
It'll consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel, for those who turn justice into wormwood. Again, with the bribes. Again, with the diverting justice and obstructing it. And those who throw righteousness to the earth. If you want to know, righteousness have to do with right relationships.
Being at a right relationship with God and with your fellow man. Righteousness has to do more with how you are with God and with your fellow man than how right you are in your thinking. Okay? So righteousness is at peace with God and at peace with man. And justice is the concrete action that you take to maintain that state.
You're not oppressing anyone. You're trying to lift up the oppressed. Those who turn justice into wormwood and throw righteousness to the earth. He goes on and says, I am the one who made it all. I have the right to make these decisions.
And it goes forward. For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great. Now this is the same time as Isaiah. Right? Isaiah says, though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow.
Seek the Lord and you may live. Seek me and you'll live. Seek the Lord and you'll live. I know your offenses are many and your sins are great. You who are hostile to the righteous, you who accept bribes, kickbacks, and whatnot, and you turn away the poor from justice at the gate.
Therefore, at such a time, the prudent person keeps quiet because it is an evil time. Oh, man. When the righteous people, the humble people, and the prudent people are staying quiet is a very evil evil time. Amos is speaking up for the poor. He's speaking up.
Seek good and not evil so that you may live. Seek me. Seek the Lord. Seek good and not evil because they're all the same thing so that you may live. And so may the Lord God of armies be with you just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good and establish justice within your own gate. It matters how you walk out the gospel that you believe in. It matters. If you have received the mercy and the forgiveness and the love and the riches of God, then you will be sharing those things with others. Establish justice within your own gate.
Perhaps the Lord God of armies will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. There's always a remnant. And Joseph is the one that has the greatest population in the Northern Kingdom. So that's why it says Joseph. Little dot dot dot.
This is one of the hardest things, but it's the very dead center of this book. Out of nine chapters, the fifth chapter is right in the middle. This one is probably getting at the heart of the book and the social justice issues worse more than anything else. It says, woe to you. Israel was looking forward to that great mighty day of the Lord when he would vanquish all of their foes and they would be lifted up as his only child.
Woe to you who are longing for the day of the Lord. For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It'll be darkness and not light. As when a man flees from a lion and a bear confronts him. He thought he got away from the lion but he was confronted by the bear.
And he goes home to that place of safety, leans his hand against the wall and a snake bites him. Will the day of the Lord not be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it? God's saying to the lion's share of the Israelites, I hate, I reject your festivals. Yeah. You're mighty religious, but I hate it.
Nor do I delight in your festive assemblies even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fattened oxen. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. That's heavy.
What he's saying is religiosity does not mean anything unless it's motivated by a true heart of gratitude. Recognizing God's gracious provision and sharing that with the world. This one is a quote. Actually, it's the next thing in line. If you go straight from this, 23 to 24, it says, but but instead of acting like that, let justice roll down as waters.
Act justly. Micah six eight would say, I've told you what's required of you. Just act in justice and walk humbly with the Lord your God. Let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty or ever flowing stream. Let justice roll out like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
To get through this, that if I had that one is what we need to do. We pay attention to that. Live your life in such a way that you are practicing not the law of the land, but the law of God. Taking care of the stranger and the less fortunate. Look at other cities, you sprawling strumming gluttons.
That is about picking, improvising on the guitar, sitting around and playing a song just to please yourself. Look at these other cities, you sprawling, strumming gluttons. You'll be the first ones to go into exile, and don't be complacent, and don't be arrogant because God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. Seven is a dialogue between God and Amos. And actually it starts off with a locust vision where it looks like God is gonna send locusts and Amos says, please don't do that.
And it says, I'll relent. This is earlier obviously than the he says, I'll relent from that. And then he has a vision of fire. And he goes, Oh Lord, please don't do that. He said, I'll tell you what, I'll relent from that one too.
But I am gonna put up a plumb line. I'm putting up a plumb line. It's an objective standard. This plumb line is gonna be straight up and down and it's gonna show how crooked Israel is. And the next chapter actually, there's a historical inaloo.
Let me skip these four slides for a second. And go to this. The next one is another vision from God and it's about summer fruit. This fruit has already been plucked. It is no longer abiding in the vine.
It's been plucked and it's in a bowl and it's starting to rot and it is either going to be consumed or thrown out. It's a explicit warning to dishonest merchants and Sabbath abusers. People who are not resting there, overworking to be rich, guess. So here we go, plumb line vision. Now after he got to the plumb line vision, this is interesting because it's a historical interlude.
Amos is carrying this message and carrying this sermon. And when he delivers it to Amaziah, who is the priest of Bethel, he's the priest at the sham temple. Okay? And Amaziah is like, listen, I can't take this anymore. The priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam the king, because they're in cahoots, saying, Amos, this dude, Amos, he's conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel.
The land is unable to endure all of his words For this is what Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile. That's a summary of what he has said. Okay? And then Amaziah said to Amos, go. Get out of here you seer.
Flee to the land of Judah. Go back home. Eat your bread there and do your prophesying there. I don't care if you proclaim, just don't do it around here. But do not prophesy at Bethel any longer for it is a sanctuary of who?
The king. Mixing politics. And the practice of religion is a very dangerous thing. Do not prophesy at Bethel any longer for it's the sanctuary of the king and a royal residence. The king lives here, not God lives here.
So Amaziah says, go home and prophesy there. And Amos's reply is contained in verses 14 through 17. Here it is. Then Amos replied to Amaziah it's one of my favorite little comebacks in the whole Bible. Listen.
I'm not a prophet nor am I the son of a prophet. I didn't do this for my own good. I didn't go study to do this. I'm a I'm a he says it flatly. I'm a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.
I'm a simple guy. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, you go. You prophesy to my people, Israel. So now hear the word of the Lord. Y'all are saying, you shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall your prophecy against the house of Isaac.
And therefore, this is what the Lord says. And this is awful, but it is what the Lord says. Your wife will become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be parceled up by a measuring line, and you yourself will die upon unclean soil.
Furthermore, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile. Did he change the message? He only intensified the message. It was already implicit in the rest of the message, but he didn't change it. Even though I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, I'm just a working guy, he replies that he must be what God has called him to be.
What's God called you to be? I hope it's not Amos, crying out loud. I don't want to do this every single Sunday. Right? I mean, I do want to proclaim God's word, but I don't want to have a message of doom every Sunday.
But whatever God has called you to be, that's what he's made you to be. And so what's he called you to do? You need to be doing that. So the summer fruit, saw that already. And now we're into the last chapter, chapter nine.
If I had to sum up the first few verses, listen, God's gonna get whoever tries to run away from him. It's just it's pointless. He's almighty God. You're not gonna outrun him. You're not gonna hide.
So from there, he's offered an olive branch and said, seek me and you'll live. Seek the Lord and you'll live. Seek after good and not evil and you'll live. So run to it in repentance. That's the way.
That's the way out. So here we go. This is the last and this is the brightest spot in that silver lining in this cloud. There are two more slides left and that's it. On that day, I will raise up the fallen shelter of David.
All of the rest of the book has been about destruction and righteously so because God is a righteous judge. All of the rest of the book has been about destruction. But here in 11 through 15 he says, and on that day, what day it'll be? Nobody knew at the time. I'll raise up the fallen shelter of David and I'll wall up its gaps and I'll also raise up its ruins and I'll rebuild it as it was in the days of old so that they may possess the remnant of Edom.
Wait a second. Possess the remnant of Edom. These are God's people. He's saying he's gonna be making a peaceable kingdom, the line of David by way of the Messiah. And it's not just gonna be for Israel, but it's gonna extend the bounds to include Edom also.
There will be those from Edom that are the remnant that trust in God and they will come into the kingdom. And it says all of the nations who are called by my name. We are to be after all tribes, tongues, and nations with the gospel. And they will come in, declares the Lord. Who does this?
It's God's work to do it. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper. That's a pretty good season. Think about that. The guy who's going out to plow, the reapers are still reaping.
It is a very full year. And the plowman will overtake the reaper. The one who treads the grapes will overtake the one who sows the seed. They will not have run out before a new season begins. When the mountains will drip grape juice and all the hills will come apart.
I will also restore the fortunes of my people Israel and they'll rebuild the desolated cities that live in them. They'll also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit and I will also plant them on their land and they will not be uprooted again from their land which I have given to them, says the Lord your God. The end. That's the end of the book right there. So there's restoration.
There's always a silver lining, but man, what a hard thing. If, like I said in the first two slides, God had them write down these things for our benefit, what can we take away from it? What can we learn from it? Not in any particular order, but God calls and equips people for service. Amos probably didn't like public speaking.
Yeah. Numbers are not with him. Nobody likes public speaking. I don't like public speaking. But if God calls you, he will equip you for whatever he's called you to do.
True faith should always lead to righteous action. Tree is known by its fruit. If you don't have any righteous action or as James says, if you don't have any deeds to go with that faith, it's probably not faith or not true faith. Not religiosity, but actions reveal a heart's condition. Religiosity really, as God put it to them, he said, that doesn't matter to me at all.
Nothing. Seeking him does matter. Humble seeking him and he'll be found. But if you just try to do the right things the right way, that doesn't mean anything to him. Our covenant privilege or our election or our salvation, however you want to put it, our salvation brings with it an immense responsibility to carry the gospel forward.
Like one beggar telling another beggar where bread can be found. I think that that's the last slide. I've got one more verse from Hosea, but I'll save it for the benediction. Would you stand with me? I'm gonna invite Judy back up to the to the front, and it's gonna be take the name of Jesus with you.
Since we were doing an Old Testament and we didn't mention the name of Jesus in Amos, It was looking forward to a redeemer. It was looking forward to a time when the Davidic line would be picked up never to fall again. Take the name of Jesus with you. We'll go with this one. Last verse.
So I've got a couple of verses here, Hosea and James. Hosea was a contemporaneous guy. His story is even harder than Amos' in a lot of ways. But at the end, it says this, whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them for the ways of the Lord are right.
And you may buck up against the judgment of God. You may just say, that's not right. But no, he defines what is right. And there is a limit to what we understand. It says, whoever's wise, let him understand.
Whoever's discerning, let him know. For the ways of the Lord are right and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. I've got one more thought while you're standing people we meet with every Sunday and go, that group of people over there are horrible. They deserve God's judgment. Amen and amen.
It's coming. Get them, God. Just like Damascus, Ammon, Moab, Edom. We might look at another group, which is not this group. We're fine with that group.
This group over here, get them, God. This book of Amos and Hosea says, look at yourself. You worry about yourself. Don't be looking around. The crosshairs are on you.
Pay attention. Whoever's wise, let him understand these things. James, here it is. And if any of you lacks wisdom, this is the way New Testament gives you a way out. If any of you lacks wisdom, just ask God.
He gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Now, he will eventually judge on the front side of that judgment. There's always a silver lining and a way out. Lean into and run towards God, and he'll make the way. Amen.
