Be Concerned - Amos - Judgment Comes Home, Part 2

I have met people in churches who know far more about the Bible than those who have been off to school. And I’m not condemning education. I have taught at two different schools and I have been a part of lecturing at schools; I’m in favor of education. I thank God for the training He enabled me to get. But, when God wants to, He can call somebody who’s never been to those schools, doesn’t even know their names, and He can use that person for His glory. So He did with Amos.

Their glorious past: "Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, he was as strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. And it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite."

Let’s stop right there. He talks about the Exodus, how that God had redeemed them. He mentions this again in Amos 3:1: "Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt."

Now, that was a marvelous miracle and a tremendous act of redemption. He brought them out, He led them through, He destroyed the Amorite, He destroyed the Moabites and all the other "-ites" that were there in Canaan-land—the Hittites and the Jebusites and so forth. He destroyed them and He led the people into the land; He defeated the nations in the land of Canaan, and He did it because of His wonderful, wonderful grace.

God went before them, God led them out, God brought them through, God brought them in, and then when they got into the land, He gave them His prophets. Amos 2:11: "I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites."

The word Nazirite means to separate. The Nazirites were the people who, in dedication to God, would not have anything to do with the grape. They would not eat raisins or grapes or even a little skin of the grape. They did not drink wine. They were not allowed to touch dead bodies, and they were not allowed to get a haircut. And they were a living sacrifice, a living reminder of dedication to God.

I thank God for people who are called to special dedication. And then He raised up preachers, He raised up prophets. What a tremendous thing that is. Are you praying that God will raise up from your family, from your church, people—men and women—to teach the word of God, to be missionaries, to be pastors and teachers and workers? We need to do that.

I had a great-grandfather who prayed that there would be a preacher of the gospel in every generation of our family, and there was. There is. I thank God for it; I hope it will continue and we pray it will continue.

Now He raised up prophets, He raised up Nazirites. He said, "Hear the word of God and live the word of God." But what did they do? "Is it not so, O you children of Israel? says the Lord. But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink and commanded the prophets saying, 'Do not prophesy.'" Now, here's an interesting thing: they wanted the Nazirites to compromise and they wanted the prophets to stop preaching.

We have here liberalism and compromise. We have this today. Somebody dedicates his life to the Lord and somebody comes along and says, "Oh, don't be such an extremist. I mean, that was all right for fifty years ago but not in the jet age, not in the nuclear age. No, no, marriage is not that way today. I mean, that's the way it used to be."

There are always those who are saying to the prophets, "Be quiet. Don't give us the word of God." We've been saying here at Back to the Bible, and we’re going to keep on saying it: we have a famine of the word of God today. Oh, there’s a lot of preaching going on, but there’s a famine of hearing the word of God and of practicing the word of God.

And then you find a Christian who wants to be dedicated; they don’t want to get involved in the things of the world. They don’t want to get involved in sin and pollution and defilement, and somebody comes along and says, "Oh, don't be that way. Don't be such a radical. I mean, you can compromise a little bit." And these two things are killing the church today: compromise on our convictions on separation, compromise on the preaching of the word of God, liberalism, compromise—that's what's killing the church today.

Then he launches into their terrible future, Amos 2:13-16. You see, you can't reject the word of God and get away with it. You can't compromise conviction and get away with it. You can't say to those who are serving the Lord, "Now, don't be so extreme. I mean, let's be a little balanced about this."

Amos 2:13: "Behold, I am weighed down by you as a cart is weighed down that is full of sheaves." There's a farmer talking. All of the illustrations that he uses in his book come from the out-of-doors; they come from the life close to the ground, close to the land. Here's a man whose values were right. He said God feels the burden, God is crushed by the load of your sin.

Amos said, "I am crushed by the load that I am bearing" because the name Amos means to be burdened, to carry a burden. By the way, have you ever stopped to think of how your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, the leaders of your church are burdened? How maybe your grandmother and grandfather are burdened for you? They may just be weighed down. They’re at the place in life where they ought to be enjoying life, but instead, their children, their grandchildren are just weighing them down with the burdens because they are not living for the Lord. Well, God and Amos were crushed by the load, and yet the people were complacent.

Amos 6:1: "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion." There's where we are today as a church. At ease. Not at attention, not in the battle—no, no, we’re at ease. We’re taking it easy.

The key word in the Christian vocabulary today is enjoy. Enjoy worship. I wonder how Isaiah enjoyed worship in Isaiah 6:1 when he saw what a sinner he was. I wonder how John the Apostle enjoyed worship in Revelation 1:1 when he saw the Lord Jesus and fell down at His feet as a dead man. We want to entertain, we want to enjoy. At ease in Zion—don't get too stirred up. "Oh," says the prophet, "we’re weighed down."

Amos 2:14-16: "Therefore flight shall perish from the swift." In other words, there's no escape. The runner is not going to make it. "The strong shall not strengthen his power"—even if you can't run, you can stand and fight, but his strength will be not worth a thing—"nor shall the mighty deliver himself." He can't save his own life.

He shall not stand who handles the bow. You say, "Well, I can't run, I can't fight, and I can't stand, but I can sure use my weapons." He said, "No, the bow won't be of any use." "The swift of foot shall not deliver himself, nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself."

The nation of Israel was very proud of its military establishment. They really had an army and they had the equipment. And you know what Amos is saying? He’s saying the most energetic will not make it, the best equipped will not make it, the most experienced will not make it. Amos 2:16: "The most courageous men of might shall flee naked in that day, says the Lord." What day? The day when judgment comes to Israel. And it came. It came.

In the year 722 BC, the Assyrians swooped down upon Israel, took them, and that was the end of the ten tribes of Israel. Now God knows where they are, but that's not the point Amos is making. He is saying, "You have a terrible future before you, in spite of your military, in spite of your experience, in spite of your courage, in spite of your equipment, in spite of all of your energy and ability. You can't run, you can't stand, you can't fight, and even the horses won't save you because judgment is coming."

God speaks to us today and He says, "What are you trusting? Is there sin that needs to be dealt with?" And we need to say, "Lord, is it I?"

Now in Amos 3, Amos changes his approach and he delivers some sermons. He looks within. He looks into the hearts of the people and delivers sermons that reveal what's really going on down inside. In chapters 1 and 2, he was concerned about the nations; now he's concerned about individuals. And in chapter 3 he says, "Hear this word." Amos 4:1: "Hear this word." Amos 5:1: "Hear this word."

Why is he constantly saying, "Hear this word"? Because he knows there's a famine of the hearing of the word of God. Amos 8:11: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." And by the way, we’re seeing that famine today.

Oh, there’s a lot of preaching, a lot of publishing going on, but there’s not much "Hear the word of the Lord." It’s somebody’s opinion, it’s somebody’s idea, it’s some clever thing; it comes, it goes. So much today is not the word of the Lord. And there’s a famine of the hearing of it.

People don’t want to hear the word of the Lord. They want to have quiet little devotional talks that will encourage us and help us, and not convict us too much. And someone has well said that the religion of the average Christian is like a vaccination: just enough not to get the real thing. And I fear that many, many people are so-called worshipping in our churches and they're not truly born again.

Amos delivers three messages: chapter 3, it's a message of explanation; he’s going to explain four different calls in chapter 3. Amos 4 is a message of accusation; he’s going to name their sin—the sins of luxury and hypocrisy and obstinacy where they refused to listen to God, they would not return.

Amos 5 and Amos 6, a message of lamentation. "Oh, hear the word which I take up against you, this lamentation." A funeral dirge. The nation is going to be buried. And Amos says, "I want to lead the funeral dirge. You wouldn't listen. Oh, had you listened, this would not have happened." Well, in the year 722 BC, the Assyrians came down and took the ten tribes, the northern nation of Israel, and that was the end.

Let's get started now in chapter 3 and notice God's call of Israel. "Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt saying..."

Now he's not just talking to the northern tribes, he's also warning Judah—the whole family. When God called Israel out of Egypt, it was one nation. After Solomon died and Rehoboam was foolish, and then Jeroboam caused a division—in fact, God caused the division—then you had the northern ten tribes and the southern two tribes. And now he’s saying, "I want the whole family to listen."

Judgment is going to come to Israel, and judgment is ultimately going to also come to Judah. But Judah would not learn from Israel. It has well been said that the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.

Oh, we say it won't happen to us. We see someone in the church who gets out of the will of the Lord and God begins to spank them, and we say, "Well, that happened to them, but I can get away with it. I can get away with these things I'm doing." No, we don't get away. God was long-suffering toward Judah because they did have some good kings, but ultimately, Judah had to go into captivity because they had sinned just like Israel.

The thing that Amos is reminding them of is this: God had called them. Amos 3:2: "You only have I known (and that word 'known' means 'chosen') of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."

Now His call was a gracious call. "You’re the only ones I have known." This word "known" is used for the most intimate relationship that two people can have. Genesis 4:1: "And Adam knew his wife." You find this phrase in scripture. The word "known" doesn't mean "I knew about you, I was cognizant of you, you were on my mind." It’s much more than that.

When the Bible says, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous" in Psalm 1:6, or "I have known Abraham," for example, he says in Genesis 18:19. Or God knew the people of Israel. Doesn't mean mental cognition where God says, "Oh yes, I know about the Jews." No, no.

That word "known" means "I have lovingly elected you, I've chosen you." "Whom He did foreknow," that means much more than knowing beforehand—it means choosing beforehand. Here are all the nations of the world: Egypt and Babylon and Assyria and the Amorites and the Moabites and all these other people, and God says, "My gracious call went only to the people of Israel."

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 talks about this: "You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

Therefore—notice the responsibility that's involved—therefore, know that the Lord your God, He is God. Deuteronomy 7:11: "Therefore you shall keep the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which I have commanded you today to observe them."

Now, that's what he says in Amos 3:2: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore (on the basis of this divine election) I will punish you for all your iniquities."

Now some people would read this, "I will not punish you. Oh, because you are my children and I've saved you, I will not punish you." It’s just the opposite: privilege brings responsibility. He applies this to their own lives. He says, "I've chosen you, I've blessed you, and therefore because you've sinned, I will punish you."

By the way, the church can read this with much fear and trembling. Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

And these churches that brag, "Oh, we have so many noble people, important people, wealthy people in our congregation"—well, I'm glad they’re saved, I hope they’re saved—but not many of them are chosen. Not many wise, not many mighty—God doesn't look for the great, He looks for sinners.

Now God has chosen us. "You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you," says the Lord Jesus Christ. And that means we have a responsibility. God's call of Israel was a gracious call. It was an effective call; He delivered them: "I brought you up from the land of Egypt."

When God calls, He does something; it's not just words. God speaks and something happens. It was an effective call. It was an exclusive call. He's the only one that chose the nation of Israel. He didn't choose the other nations that were bigger and stronger. No, He chose this little nation of Israel because He loved Israel and He would reveal Himself to them. And my, how many blessings He gave to Israel.

Romans 9:4 Paul reminds the Jewish people of all that they had because of God’s call: "Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption (God’s the only one who chose them, they were the only ones chosen), the glory (God’s glory dwelt in the Holy of Holies), the covenants (God never gave His covenants to Greece and Rome), the giving of the law (that marvelous law that He gave only to Israel), the service of God (the priesthood), the promises (think of all the promises He gave to them), of whom are the fathers (there’s a high privilege: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, oh my, the patriarchs)—of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God."

Imagine being so honored that from your nation would come the very Son of God. Well, it was an effective call, an exclusive call, a call that involved responsibility: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Not "You’re going to escape." "I'm going to punish you because of all I have done for you."

Let's apply this to Christians today. Don't go around saying, "I'm one of the elect," unless you live like it. "The Lord knows them that are his," and let those that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19). Ephesians 1:4: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"—but don't stop there.

Election brings responsibility. The privilege brings responsibility. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Now there’s a responsibility. You say, "Well, I'm one of God’s chosen"—then prove it by the way we live.

John 15:16: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you"—but don't stop there—"that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." Now wherever you look in the Bible to find election, you will find accountability and responsibility.

1 Peter 2:4-5: "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." You see, we are chosen by God to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Oh, we are chosen to worship God. He has chosen us.

Verse 9: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people"—but don't stop there. That's privilege. Now responsibility: "that you may proclaim the praises of Him (that you may advertise the virtues of Him) who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."