Amos 8_1-14

Secular:

Uncertainty does not equal humility…

Not knowing… does not equal humility
Neither does knowing equal pride…
Claiming or pretending no to… lacks integrity

Throughout history…

From Abraham who knew…

To the point of sacrificing his son

Through prophets who knew…

Despite its unpopularity

Through the Apostle’s
The early church fathers…

Who gave their life….

The true church has been led by

Apostolic teaching…
Preserved in God’s Word

Perspicuity of God’s Word… readability

If you can read… well over 95% is very straightforward… God is good that way

Remember God has made himself clear in Nature… Romans 1:18-20
Remember God’s expectation is that His Word is Readable and applicable… 2 Tim 3:16
Culture says its is hard…

It is an excuse…
If there is no God… I am God…
If God speaks in a muffled voice I can make up what I heard….

It leaves room for the Synergies the Israelites pursued… and Amos calls them on…
We need to heart this too!
Is God’s Word clear?

Are we challenged otherwise?

Uncertainity is does not equal humility…
Humility is not living for self first… God first and submitting to what He does say!

Biblical:

NAU Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. 3 "The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day," declares the Lord GOD. "Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence." 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, 6 So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?" 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds. 8 "Because of this will not the land quake And everyone who dwells in it mourn? Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt. 9 "It will come about in that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon And make the earth dark in broad daylight. 10 "Then I will turn your festivals into mourning And all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring sackcloth on everyone's loins And baldness on every head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day. 11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. 12 "People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it. 13 "In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst. 14 "As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' They will fall and not rise again."

Personal:

Synergy pollutes truth…

Amos is saying token religion doesn’t count

Can’t just have ceremonies
Can’t just have festivals
Can’t just claim it
Then fail to live the relationship

Integrity…

Heart and action in concert

I want to be your friend… then they gossip
I Love you… then you he gives that love to someone else
I with you all the way… and then
Synergy of faith pollutes
Faith isn’t religion…

It isn’t practice
It isn’t about being seen doing “right”
It is about a relationship…

With Love, Obedience, Integrity…
It is living transformed

Bridge:

Living transformed…
That’s Amos message…

Above the call for Justice
Above the call for right worship
It is to know God, grow in relationship…

The Sign, The Sin, The Suffering
Has really meaning for us…
Take to heart the warning to the children of God…
Take hope in the promised relationship…
Seize hold… and live sold out

Body:

The Sign:

NAU Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.

The time is ripe… summer fruit… ready…
Israel’s sin has matured…
Time for the grapes or olives to be pressed

Turned from God – Rejected…the true God

Synergy
Effort
Token religion
Lived for self first

Reassigned God - Idol

Neutered God
Remade him… in their image
Tamed God
Claiming God would never…

Disobeyed God – Injustice

Cast aside His Righteousness
Stopped living for Him
Stopped hearing his commands
Stopped loving

Suppress God – Denied God

Refuted their own history
Failed to see God
Failed to acknowledge
In Light of evidence… they denied

The Fruit of their Sin is ripe….
Time is up…. There comes an end.

The Sin

3 "The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day," declares the Lord GOD. "Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence." 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, 6 So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

The failure of the people is not knowing about God… it was an integral part of their society
The failure wasn’t even about doing the “right thing”

Though we will see that they did not…

The failure was to acknowledge, trust, follow, obey, be in relationship with God….

Their Saviour-Redeemer and their Lord.

… Because they failed to be in right relationship…. They did not have the capacity to live according to the will of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

When we are living for Christ… we are hope… we are challenging… we are a light….
God instructed his followers to follow his plan…

Only those in genuine relationship would or could heed the call….

Exodus 23:6 "You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.
Leviticus 19:10 'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 15:7 "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;
The world suffers when those entrusted with the word of God… don’t live in right relationship to God… don’t declare truth
The Children of God suffer when we don’t live in right relationship to God

The poor are oppressed with no champion
The evil schemes go unchallenged
There is no love for those who are unloved
Life becomes less valuable

Many of us plead with God for revival…
This is what Israel was being called to…

Live the dynamic faith you have been set apart for…

Savour the relationship with God
Live it in the midst of this world

BUT HOW?

It takes repentance…
The Word was clear…

Yet the prophets had to declare it
Jesus came not to change the Word… to reveal it
Preachers declare it
That we ALL would turn… and live lives in the fullness of our relationship to GOD!!

It isn’t about doing…
Doing is the manifestation of being…
God calls us into being… a new creation, set apart…

To know you are called…. The Blessed Assurance… is to manifest that faith in your life…

Free gift… originates with God… nothing within us made us appealing…. Yet… by divine in his divine mercy and for his glory died for our sin… and by divine grace… He called us unto himself… and will sustain us… that sustaining us is evidence of our salvation… that living daily unto the glory of God… not perfectly… but passionately consumed with bringing glory to God….
The Israelites didn’t…

They claim to be the children of God but did not live a transformed life…
There is the warning…
God preserves those who are his…
And does not those apart form him…

We need to be in right relationship…
So that the passion of God’s heart is manifest in our lives…
Carry on the family traits…
The Sin… to know about God… and not to be in relationship
Failure to be Transformed

The Suffering

7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds. 8 "Because of this will not the land quake And everyone who dwells in it mourn? Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt. 9 "It will come about in that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon And make the earth dark in broad daylight. 10 "Then I will turn your festivals into mourning And all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring sackcloth on everyone's loins And baldness on every head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day. 11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. 12 "People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it. 13 "In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst. 14 "As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' They will fall and not rise again."

God promises… by his promise… to never forget!

Devastation and mourning
Unstable… like Nile
Turn everything you know upside down

Sunset at noon…
Darkness where there should be light

Joyous festivals into mourning
Songs… into laments
Sackcloth… for clothes
Loss of hair…

The FAMINE in the Land
11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. 12 "People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.

Biblically anorexic
Stop looking for the Word
Till we don’t desire it anymore
And it fades to the background
Ideas of Man

Philosophy instead of theology

Charisma

Following a person (cult of Celebrity)

Feelings

Follow and emotion

Famine because who is God?

Man-centred
God-centred

Verse 11-12
Know God is no fool!
He is capable of preserving his truth

It has happened….

From the Promise… Abraham…

Genesis 22:16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

To Maturity of Sin…

Isaiah 2:8 Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.
Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains."

To Refusal of the cure…

Uncertainty does not equal humility
Submission to truth… God first… is humility… loving others enough to share the truth…. Despite what they will say or do…. Is humility….
God’s Word is truth…

His promises hope
His mercy perfect
His glory… unmatched

Conclusion:

The Solution

Know your times

See not with Human eyes…
See with God’s eyes

The Sin

Time to call for repentance

To hear the Word
Follow the Lord
Proclaim truth

The Suffering

Instead… blessing

Others
Self
Church
Family!