Amos 8
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
**Wylie Coyote about to get run over by a train and pulls the shades down**
-Sometimes, we as humans can be more like this than we realize
-Sometimes, instead of thinking through and dealing with the realities of hard truths, we just pretend they don’t exist or try to distract ourselves
-This is why people get into credit card debt
-They swipe the card and try not to think of the money they just spent for that 70 inch TV that they don’t have the money for
-Our country is similar, as we spend an exorbitant amount of money each year and try not to think of the trillions of dollars in our national debt
In this sermon here from Amos 8, God gives us some hard truths
-It’s a chapter all about the judgment of God
-And as Christians, sometimes we would rather not think of these kinds of things
-We don’t like these chapters in our Bibles, and we don’t really want to hear them preached
And it could be easy to think things like:
“Why can’t we just hear a happier sermon before we go home and take a nap or watch football this afternoon?”
-The answer to that question is simple? I’m preaching on God’s judgment this afternoon because that’s what the text is about
-We know that all of God’s words are breathed-out by God, and all of them are profitable for building up and equipping the people of God
-As a congregation, we want to be a church that is marked by faithful exposition and not backing away from anything that the Word of God has to say to us
-So I want to encourage you, even in sermons that may cover more difficult subject matter, be humble and ready to receive the word of God
-Let’s not ignore or shy away from hard truths, but instead accept them meekly and learn to live the way that God wants us to in light of these hard truths
Background:
Background:
-The book of Amos is collection of prophecies given directly by the Lord of the Universe to a man named Amos, directed at the people in the Northern Kingdom of Judah
-From the time that it split apart from the Davidic Kingship and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Israel had never had even one king who sought after the Lord
-Despite this consistent pattern of rebellion, God had been gracious and longsuffering and had put up with the nation of Israel for well about 170 years up to this point
-But Israel, though enjoying prosperity and the reign of Jeroboam II, was full of wickedness and corruption
-So God calls a man named Amos, a sheepbreeder and tender of sycamore trees to go and deliver His message of judgment and call to repentance to this rebellious and wicked nation
And this particular sermon from Amos centers on the judgment of God on the nation
**Read text**
We see here 4 observations regarding God’s judgment from the text, and then we’re going to talk through how we can apply this text as a congregation and as individuals, right here, in Lake Wylie, in 2024 as NT Christians
1. The Judgment of God is final
1. The Judgment of God is final
-Notice from the text that Amos sees a vision
-This is now the fourth vision that Amos sees, and he sees a basket of fruit
-What does this mean?
-Well, The Lord asks him what he sees, to which Amos replies, “a basket of summer fruit.”
-The Lord then says, “The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.”
-Now the connection to the basket of fruit is not immediately clear
-The best two explanations are
1. that there is a Hebrew word play going on: since in Hebrew, the word for “fruit” here and the word for “end” sound almost the same
2. that the ripe fruit represents Israel being ripe for judgment
Either way, the point the Lord is making is clear: God’s judgment is coming, and there is a finality to it
I grew up playing basketball, and there were some years as a kid that we were good, and some years that I played on some pretty bad teams
-I remember one year playing where our team wasn’t that good, and one particular Saturday, we were playing the best team in the league and we were getting absolutely stomped
-I don’t remember the exact point differential, but I remember it got so bad that they turned off the scoreboard
-I guess they didn’t want to wreck the self-esteem of a bunch of 11-12 year olds
-Now, after the game, what if I had waited for the other team to leave, and I had grabbed the basketball and went to the goal and scored 50 points all by myself and then declared that our team was the winner?
That would be absurd
-It doesn’t matter how many baskets I make, because after the final horn sounds, the game is over
And similarly brothers and sisters, when God finally chooses to enact his judgement, it’s final
-There’s no do-overs
-There’s no overtime
-There’s no appeals
Our God rules in the heavens, and when He enacts His judgement, it is final
Notice verse 7
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
“Surely I will never forget any of their works.
When God enacts His judgment, there is finality.
God gets the last word, not you, not me, not our president, not our Supreme Court, and not any ruler or celebrity in the entire world
God’s Judgment is final
2. God’s Judgment is Deserved
2. God’s Judgment is Deserved
What did the Israelites do to deserve this kind of judgment?
Look at verses 4-6 in our text
First of all, these Israelites oppress and take advantage of the poor
-We’ve talked about this a lot already in our series in Amos, but the poor were being taken advantage of
-Justice was being withheld from the poor
-It seems that because the poor were unable to pay off people in the justice system with bribes, they were not given justice and fair treatment
-It also seems like they were charge taxes that were too much for them
If you look down at the end of verse 5 and then in verse 6, we see that they were using false scales and measurements to maximize their profit
-I remember as a kid, us 4 boys loved collecting baseball cards
-We would save up money to buy them, and we would get them for our birthday
-But then, we also loved to trade them with each other
-And I remember pretty early on in this endeavor that my Dad made a rule that no one was allowed to make a trade with another brother of baseball cards until he had final approval
-Why?
-Because it could be easy to manipulate and trick your younger brother who was 4 or 5 years old into a really bad trade!
-You could manipulate him into thinking that it was a really good idea for him to trade you this card of a really good player, if you gave him about 5 cards of players who know one had ever heard of
-And in a similar way, these merchants would use deceitful weights and measures to maximize profit
-When they were buying, they’d use weights that were lighter, allowing them to get more!
-But when they were selling, they’d use heavier weights so they could give away less for the same cost
but I think verse 5 really gets to the heart of the Israelites’ sin
We see in verse 5 that these people were not engaged at all in true worship:
-they couldn’t wait to through the boring Sabbath meant to worship and honor God and get back to making money
-They couldn’t wait till through the New Moon festival meant to draw near to each other and God so they could get back to their exciting business adventure
Because here’s the bottom line. Here’s why the Israelites experienced the judgment of God, and here’s why any person in the world today or at any other time experiences God’s judgment:
Because they don’t love God
All sin by unbelievers is an outward demonstration that they don’t love God
If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!
That’s why Paul describes unbelievers in Romans 1:30 as “haters of God.”
God is supremely worthy and supremely satisfying, and those who experience God’s judgement deserve it, because they ultimately don’t love God and don’t love His truth
Brothers and sisters, the biggest problem with your unsaved coworker who is a lesbian is that they don’t love God
-The biggest problem with that unsaved drug addict you see outside of walmart is that they don’t love God
-The biggest problem with your unsaved neighbor who lives an immoral lifestyle is that he doesn’t love God
-The biggest problem with that unsaved friend of your’s who is a nice person and decently moral is that she doesn’t love God
And when someone doesn’t love God, they sin against him and it doesn’t really bother them at all
So we see first of all that the judgment of God is final, we see secondly that the judgement of God is deserved,
3. The judgement of God is devastating
3. The judgement of God is devastating
Look down at verse 3
-Notice how this judgment is characterized
-It’s a day of wailing
-It’s a day of dead bodies
The Assyrians would come against Israel, and they would pillage and plunder and rape and kill
-The Israelites would watch their cities burned, their loved ones hurt and killed
-And then afterwards, after all the wailing, there’s just silence in the devastated streets
Look at verses 8-10
-In verse 8, this judgement is characterized by upheaval as people get their lives entirely turned upside down
-Verse 9 characterizes this day as a day of darkness
-This is a time without hope for these Israelites who have sinned against God and rebelled against Him without repentance
-Verse 10 speaks of the day of God’s judgment as a day of deep mourning
-There are no feasts, no joyful songs
-Instead, there is mourning, lamentation, sackcloth, and shaving of the head to show sadness
-It’s like the mourning of a mother who tragically loses her only child
-It’s a day of sorrow and grief
-Every now and then you hear people say that they want to go to hell so they can party with their friends
-Our culture through movies or TV shows or comedy sketches makes light of the doctrine of hell
-In a famous commercial, atheist Ron Reagan, son of 40th president Ronal Reagan, famously ended the commercial by saying that he’s not afraid of burning in hell
Brothers and sisters, God’s judgement is devastating, and is not something to be laughed at or taken lightly
-Ask the Israelites who heard the word of Amos and did not repent
So we’ve seen that the judgment of God is final, is deserved, is devastating
4. The Judgment of God is Silent
4. The Judgment of God is Silent
I think verses 11-14 are some of the most poignant verses in our Bible
God promises to send a famine
-Now in any context, whether in agricultural societies like Israel, or in wartime situations in more modern countries, famines are absolutely devastating
-The thought of not having enough basic necessities like food or water available in our land is a hard concept to even imagine
But this is not ordinary famine that God is promising
-This is “not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the LORD”
-Just in the previous chapter, Amaziah, the priest at Bethel which was in Israel, told Amos to go away and stop preaching because they didn’t want to hear it
Well, in just a few short years, God was going to give them exactly what they wanted
-God’s pattern is that when sinners tell God over and over “we don’t want you, we don’t want you, we don’t want you”
-Eventually, God gives them exactly what they want
In verse 12, Amos says that the Israelites will wander around, wanting to hear a word from the Lord, but will not find it
-Even their young and vigorous in their society, will faint in that day from a thirst of hearing from God (vs. 13)
Vs. 14
-Those who live in idolatry, who swear by other gods, will fall under the judgment of God, never to rise again
Brothers and sisters, understand this: the worst part of hell for those who are unsaved will not be just the physical torment of fire, but it will be separation from the love of God forever
-Eternally separated from the Only One who can give lasting joy and peace and love
And the Scriptures tell us that sometimes, when people continually reject God, God gives them over to their sin, even when they’re still living
3 times in Romans 1, God tells us that God gives people up to their sin when they continue to reject Him
Brothers and sisters, we intuitively understand how severe silence is in relationships
-The most heartbreaking and devastating thing in a relationship is when someone is silent
-When they simply ignore
-Won’t speak to you
-Cut you off entirely
Brothers and sisters, the most severe judgment of all from God is when God no longer is willing to be found
-When he gives people over to their sin
God’s judgment is final, when it comes it’s deserved, it’s devastating, and finally, God’s judgment is silent
Application
Application
So, what are we to do with this rather difficult doctrine of God’s judgment?
How are we here, in Lake Wylie in 2024 supposed to apply this promise of judgment to the Northern Kingdom of Israel 2,700 years ago?
Well, let’s start with this:
all people deserve God’s judgment
-Every one of us is born a sinner, and therefore born under the just wrath of God
And there is one way for escape from the judgment of God
Amos gives it back in 4:4
“Seek me and live”
God commands all men everywhere to repent, and to take shelter in the coming judgment
God, in His love has provided the only shelter from His coming judgment: His only Son Jesus Christ
Brothers and sisters, if you have repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then you have been forgiven and have no need to fear the coming judgment!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
What an awesome God we serve!
-What a reason to rejoice!
-Jesus Christ has taken the wrath and judgment of God that you and I deserved
-I want to encourage you to worship God, even now, as you rejoice in your salvation!
But, there are those all around us who have not taken refuge in Jesus Christ, who are still under the wrath of God
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Brothers and sisters, we must keep this at the forefront of our minds, as uncomfortable as it may be
-Our lost relatives, neighbors, friends, and coworkers are living under the judgment of God
Brothers and sisters, individually, we must seek to share the Gospel with the lost!
We must be praying for the unsaved, and praying for opportunities to witness to them!
But also, we need to consider this corporately as well:
-There are people in this community that God has called us to share the Gospel with
-Are we being faithful as a church to reach our community with the Gospel
But even beyond our community, there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups in the world
Around 3.2 billion people are unreached, meaning they have little to no access to the Gospel
Brothers and sisters, we must be faithful in reaching these people with the Gospel
Jesus has come in the flesh and died for the sins of the world
-He has Risen and ascended to the Father, and He is willing to forgive those who repent and trust in Him
-We who know the joy of worshipping Jesus must be faithful to bring this good news to others so that they too may worship our great Savior
So let this be an encouragement and a challenge to us!
-The money you give to missions each month is not wasted
-The time spent passing out Christmas baskets is not wasted
-Your gospel conversations with your neighbor or unsaved friend from the gym are not wasted!
-God is using these kinds of things to bring people to safety in Jesus Christ
-Be encouraged in these things!
And let’s also be challenged!
-Let’s be faithful to give faithfully to missions
-Let’s be faithful to go if God is calling us
-Let’s be faithful to witness to those around us
The call still goes forth from our great God:
Seek Me and Live!
Let’s pray