Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

I wondered to myself as I wrote this sermon what was I thinking taking on an Old Testament prophet this early in my preaching career

And to tell you the truth I haven’t come to an answer for that question yet

But as I look at these passages, as I study and have truths revealed I see that this book is critical at this time

It is a hard time to be in ministry

There is so much going on - last week it was hurricanes and shootings, this week California is burning to the tune of 13 lives lost and up to 150 people missing in Northern California

And the question is - why?

Why is this happening right now?

We looked at an answer for that question last week as we saw in Amos 3:6

The Lord allows these events in His sovereign will to bring people to repentance and faith in Him.

That is a hard truth to grasp.

That a good God would bring calamity on His own people.

It was a truth that the Israelite people struggled to grasp and it’s one that we still struggle with.

The one thing that keeps revealing itself is that we’ve forgotten Who God is.

Tonights passage is going to reinforce that truth for us again.

Read Amos 3:9-15

Pray

You Could Learn Something

Amos 3:9; Deuteronomy 17:6; Genesis 15:14; 1 Samuel 5:2-5;

Two Witnesses Required

Amos calls two witnesses to observe Israel’s depravity

The Mosaic law required that there would be a minimum of two witnesses in a capital case

The case that God has laid out against Israel requires a complete destruction

But Amos doesn’t just call any witnesses

In most criminal cases the District Attorney tries to call the most credible witness they can find

Amos calls two of the worst violators of human rights in the ancient world as well as in Israel’s history

The hypothetical coming of immoral barbarians from neighboring states to judge the morality of Samaria would have a dramatic impact on the the listeners

Egypt had oppressed Israel for more than 400 years

Just as Egypt had been judged for their oppression of the Israelites

Israel would be judged for their treatment of their own people

Calling on Egypt to be a witness to the events taking place in Israel is doubly scathing to the inhabitants of Samaria

It was their treatment at the hands of Egypt that resulted in the Exodus - it is again a reminder to them of what God had done on their behalf

And it points to the impending exile of the people of Israel

After the oppression at the hands of the Egyptians the national relationship between Israel and the Philistine people is the most notably contentious

Whenever you think of Israel these are the two nations that come to mind the most - Egypt for the Exodus and the Philistines for the David and Goliath narrative

Naming only Ashdod rather than the entire Philistine nation is significant

Ashdod was the center of the Philistine religious life - it housed the temple of Dagon

When the Israelites had lost the Ark of the Covenant to the Philistine’s it was to the temple of Dagon in Ashdod that they took the Ark

It didn’t go real well for Dagon

God doesn’t play well with other gods or share His glory

In these two witnesses we find that Israel is going to be judged for the social treatment of people as well as their religious perversions

Amos is rhetorically calling these two nations to witness what is taking place in Israel as if to say - you aren’t that bad, take a look at what’s happening here - you could learn a few things

Even people long used to living off the labor of others would be shocked to see the level of exploitation practiced in Samaria

Amos highlights two aspects of this community

great tumults and oppressions

The ruling class in Israel had created such a climate that no one could know what was going to happen to them

This promoted a culture of confusion in which your possessions, livelihood and even existence were held in the tenuous and fickle grasp of those who had the power

This is completely contrary to the treatment of others prescribed in the Mosaic law and the Ten Commandments

Amos calls on those whose lives should have been most contradictory to the lives of the Israelites to witness just how like them the Israelites were - and not even just like them but that they had surpassed them in their oppression of people - and not just people but their own nation.

Today this same request could be made regarding the church - the visible church -

where the divorce rate the same as the secular world but even 10% is unacceptable.

Where 76 % of young men ages 18-24 admit to actively using porn - and 33% of women the same age.

A recent Barna group study from early 2016 cites that 14% of Pastors and 21% of Youth Pastors admit this is a current struggle in their lives

Child abuse takes place in the church - Calvary Chapel North Coast just had a pastor arrested for this in June

Gay bishops suggest that God is female, or suggests that Jesus was a bigot

We are supposed to stand out from the world yet in many ways we are indistinguishable from it - and can even teach it a few things about depravity

One reason is the same as what the Amos says about the Israelites....

They’ve Lost Their Way

Amos 3:10-11; Judges 21:25; Amos 2:7-8;

They do not know how to do what is right

This is much different from what is said about the nation of Israel in various places in the Old Testament

The last line of the book of Judges says that “every man did what was right in his own eyes”

but here the Lord declares that His people do not know how to do what is right

They had lost touch with the Mosaic Law and the ordinances of worship

The Israelites worshipped two golden calves at Dan and Bethel right alongside altars to Baal and Asherah poles

One expression of the tumults alluded to in verse 9 are rampant sexual orgies that would take place right next to the altars

Samaritan society had over the years so thoroughly departed from the standards of the Mosaic covenant, standards of which Amos was a divinely appointed enforcer, that its favored citizens generally would not know what those standards were.

The concept of the dignity of human life is one of the first principles to depart society when the Bible is not taught and so the nobility felt justified in their treatment of the poor because they held all the power

They filled their these fortresses with wealth taken by theft and violence against the people of Israel

Because of these departures there must be Divine judgement

Amos promises this in the form of an unnamed nation that will surround the land

This nation will plunder their fortresses

This is the first step that God lays out to detail the complete destruction of Israelite society

In the ancient days of Israel, these fortresses were the main form of protection for the people

Samaria was situated high on a mountain with sheer cliffs surrounding it

The people felt safe there

Think the Keep from the Lord of the Rings movies - a seemingly impregnable fortress that the people expected to protect them from attacking armies

Just like that fortress had a fatal flaw - so did the Israelites plans - they didn’t take into account who would bring their destruction upon them

This is the calamity promised in Amos 3:6

They will be surrounded

Their defenses will be torn down

The fortresses they had taken such care to populate with plunder and valuables would be plundered

In some ways the visible church is the same way

Charles Spurgeon once said “There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write damnation with your fingers”

And I’m afraid that this standard is little different today

Biblical illiteracy is on the rise in the church

Preachers preach their own ideas supported by a verse here and there rather than carefully working from and through the Word of God

7 ways to have a new marriage by Friday

3 ways to experience more joy in your life

We have walked away from the truth and have forgotten how to do what is right

As a result of this the world is now encircling and getting ready to invade the church

We are no longer able to stand on Christian principles in the marketplace

In June Russell Voight, during his confirmation hearing as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, was verbally assaulted by Senator Bernie Sanders for an article he wrote in support of Wheaton College following their suspension of a professor who wore a hijab in support of Muslims in what amounted to a religious test for political office.

His primary objection was Mr. Voight’s contention in the article that if Muslims don’t believe in Christ they can’t be saved

Incursions are even now being made into our fortress and the foundation has been given over for words that tickle the ears and provide a temporary sense of relief

But we must, we must, get back to our foundation

J.C. Ryle said this

Let us read the Bible regularly, daily, and with fervent prayer, and become familiar with its contents.

Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing, which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.

Let our rule of faith, our touch-stone of all teaching, be the written Word of God.