Learn from Amos's visions and expect persecution

Text Amos 7 Time 20 02 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

This week we come to a new section of Amos, Amos Chapter 7. We have had the prophecies against the nations in Chapters 1 and 2 and the prophecies more directly to the Israelites in Chapters 3-6. From Chapter 7 on we have a series of visions. In Chapter 7 there are three visions and then a historical section where we learn of some personal interaction between Amos and his persecutors. These latter verses give us some background information about Amos's story. The prophets sometimes speak of seeing visions rather than simply speaking messages from God. Amos's book begins, you may recall, (1:1) The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa - the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. Isaiah and Obadiah begin in a similar way. So two things this evening

1. Consider Amos's visions of locusts, fire and a plumb line and learn from them

The first two visions are similar in many ways but then there is a third vision different to the first two.

1. Consider Amos's first vision, that of swarms of locusts

In verses 1-3 we read This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said.

So either after or at the same time as Amos receives the prophecies recorded in the earlier part of the book, he also receives these visions. They are visions that the Sovereign LORD showed him. In the first one, God was preparing swarms of locusts. Amos says it was after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. We have no other reference to this but it would seem the king's share of the crops would be harvested first and then the rest. There would also be a later crop. The locusts come then before the harvest is fully gathered in. You know how devastating such a swarm can be. Here they strip the land clean. When they had stripped the land clean, Amos cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" Amos recognised that God is sovereign and had the right to send locusts and that Israel deserved to be punished. Here he calls Israel, Jacob, a reminder of their weakness. How can they survive in the face of such an event? They are so small - in the sense that they are weak.

And then we read So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said. We remember it is a vision and has not happened yet, and so God steps back and relents from doing such a thing.

The lesson is no doubt that God can and does send disaster when people sin against him but he is very gracious and can forgive and remove the judgement in response to repentance and prayer. No doubt it is an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - locusts or whatever - may be removed. We too should pray in that way.

2. Consider Amos's second vision, that of fire

You then have a very similar structure in verses 4-6. This time, however, it is the threat of fire. This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.

So again, it is a vision that the Sovereign LORD showed him. This time The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. You know how devastating fire can be. A few years ago the care home next door to the chapel burnt down and everybody had to get out even though it was in the middle of the night. It is gone now. Fire is what kept Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life after they fell. Fire is what destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire is what will destroy this world one day. Here the fire dries up the great deep and devours the land. Amos cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" Again Amos recognises that God is sovereign and has the right to send fire and that Israel deserves to be punished. Again he calls Israel, Jacob, a reminder of their weakness. How can they survive in the face of such an event? They are so small, so weak.

And then we read once again So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said. Again we remember it is a vision and has not happened yet, and so God once more steps back and relents from doing such a thing.

The lesson is again that God can and does send disaster when people sin against him but he is very gracious and can forgive and remove the judgement in response to repentance and prayer. No doubt it is in two forms to stress the truth of this. It is an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - fire or locusts or whatever - may be removed. We too should pray in that way.

3. Consider Amos's third vision, that of a plumbline

Then in verses 7-9 we have something a little different. The wording is a little different This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."

You have seen, perhaps, a spirit level. It is a box containing liquid and arranged in such away that when you place it on a level flat surface the bubble in the liquid will be in the centre. A plumbline is a simple device that builders and others use to check if a wall is straight or, as is said, true to plumb. Plumb is an old word for lead and lead used to be used to make a plumb line, though any heavy metal will do. When you drop a plumbline it makes the string straight and so you can see if the wall you are checking is straight too. Now in Amos's vision, it is the Lord himself who is stood by the wall, checking if it is true to plumb. Amos is asked what he sees and he describes it accurately. The Lord then says "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam." Because the people are not upright, then there is going to be a judgement. they will be spared no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; not by locusts or by fire but with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. As we know, this sword would be wielded by the Assyrians. When they came, they would destroy the corrupt worship of Israel in their various high places and sanctuaries and they would have a devastating impact on the king, King Jeroboam II and his dynasty.

The lesson this time is that God not only can send disaster when people sin against him but he does it when he chooses. It is again an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - fire, locusts or sword - may be removed. However, it is clear that for most it is too late. The time for such repentance has passed. What a warning also for us.

God's judgement is coming; it is coming soon. We must repent.

2. Amaziah attacks Amos and Amos answers Amaziah; expect persecution

The third vision, the vision of the plumbline, is followed by the description in verses 10-17 of Amos and his interaction with Amaziah the priest of Bethel. The link here is probably the prophecy in verse 9 that God would with his sword ... rise against the house of Jeroboam. A man called Amaziah objects to this and claims that it represents a conspiracy against the king in the very heart of Israel. Amos answers Amaziah firmly and clearly. The passage reminds us to be ready to be attacked if we speak God's truth. The truth hurts sometimes. It gives us an example too of how to deal with such persecution. So two things

1. Consider this attack on Amos God's servant by the persecutor Amaziah

Firstly in verses 10 and 11 we read Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"

We know nothing else of Amaziah the priest of Bethel. We know only what is here. When Israel separated from Judah Jerobaom I, their king, set up calf idols for them in Dan and Bethel, as he was afraid that if they went to Jerusalem to worship, his kingdom would be finished. Amaziah was the leading priest at the shrine in Bethel. Having heard Amos prophesy and being close to the king, he sent him a letter suggesting Amos was raising a conspiracy against him in the very heart of Israel. In alarmist tones he suggested The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'" There was truth, of course, in what Amaziah said but Amos was not raising a conspiracy at all. He was not planning to lift one finger against Jeroboam. No, he was simply pointing out what was going to happen if Israel continued in his sins without repenting.

We also read in verses 12 and 13 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! (the old word for prophet) Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. (They like this sort of thing down there). Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."

This is the sort of persecution God's servants can expect. Their words will be twisted and they will be accused of various things.

• We will be accused of wanting power, as is the implication here.
• We will be told to go away, as Amos was here. An implied threat is likely here and in many cases.
• It will be implied that we are in it for the money (hence Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there)
• We will be told not to speak in certain places, as Amos was here.
• We will be told that it is against the law or custom to speak in certain places, as here.

We simply have to expect this sort of thing. There will always be people ready to persecute and attack believers.

2. Consider this answer to his attacker Amaziah by Amos God's servant

Amos's answer is in the final verses of the chapter, verses 14-17.

Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, "'Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.' "Therefore this is what the LORD says: "'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"

Amos gives a little of his background here - how he did not come from a family of prophets, nor had he been to one of the prophetic schools that existed then. Rather, God himself had called him from tending the flock and said to him, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' And so Amos was not about to give up prophesying just because Amaziah didn't like it or thought it was against the rules. He could not simply swan off to Judah at his own whim.

Further, and here Amos no doubt had a special prophetic insight, Amaziah needed to know not only that Israel would surely go into exile, away from their native land but he himself would witness his own wife becoming a prostitute in the city, no doubt in order to raise some cash when the city came under siege at the hands of the Assyrians, and his sons and daughters would fall by the sword wielded by the Assyrians. Further, he himself would experience his land, which may have been quite extensive, being measured and divided up by the Assyrians and he himself would die in a pagan country, a pagan country where he could hardly keep up his religion, which he so loved, any longer.

Now when we are confronted by persecutors we will not know what their future is exactly but we do know that if they continue to resist the Lord Jesus Christ then they will end up in hell. It is not always helpful to remind people of this but it is important that we stay true to the Word and faithful to the preaching of the gospel.

And so once again, here is a reminder of the judgement and the need to repent before it is too late. With it there is a reminder of how people will resist our message and try to malign us in order to undermine us. We must press on speaking God's message, nevertheless.

A warning against complacency and pride

Text Amos 6 Time 13 02 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We come this week to Amos 6 and it is more of the same as we have had in Chapters 3-5 - lots about the coming judgement and about the need to repent before that time. In particular, Amos warns us in Chapter 6 against complacency, pride and self-sufficiency. The chapter does not divide in any obvious way but let's take it in three chunks and say

1. Woe to professing believers who are complacent in light of the judgements of God

The chapter begins with a woe. Amos uses a word that the prophets use around 50 times all told and more often than not in a warning sense. Normally, the word woe means something terrible or sad, something that causes grief. When the prophets say woe like this, they most often mean "Watch out! A terrible thing is coming, a judgement." This woe is directed against the complacency of the leading men of the time. So here it is

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, that is Jerusalem where the Temple was and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the northern kingdom you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! In Chapter 4 he had the women in mind but now it is the leading men in Israel and to some extent Judah.

In order to support his statement, Amos recommends that his hearers do some research and go on a tour of places that had in recent times suffered God's wrath. He mentions Kalneh, Hamath and Gath. The first two were probably to the north of Damascus in Syria, one near Aleppo and one north of Homs. Gath is the fifth of the Philistine cities in the west. He says (2) Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?

We do not know the stories behind what happened in those places but it is clear that Amos is saying "Look! Those cities seemed to be pretty solid and sure and as though they were going to last forever but now they have been overthrown." Perhaps today he might have said "Think of Nagasaki or Hiroshima and how quickly they were wiped out." Or perhaps he would have mentioned Raqqa and Ramadi, overthrown by ISIS not so long ago. What about Kharkiv and Luhansk in Eastern Ukraine? We do not know what might happen there in the next few weeks.

"Do not think that you will last when the Assyrians come" Amos is saying. We also need to realise how fragile our state is by nature. We cannot imagine London being overthrown, I'm sure. Yet only 70 or 80 years ago bombs fell on this city and there was severe damage and heavy casualties. If you look at old pictures of this chapel, you will see a lovely rose window. It does not look like that now because of the war. In the street where I live you will find two houses much more modern than those either side because the houses previously on that site were hit by a bomb. It was even worse over in the docklands area of London. By the war's end, just under 30,000 Londoners had been killed by the bombing, and over 50,000 seriously injured. Tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless. Yet it is still hard to imagine. Similarly, we cannot imagine dying, perhaps, but such a thing can happen in a moment. The Day of Judgement will soon be with us.

He then sums up the present attitude of complacency that reigned in Israel. He uses a series of five phrases to describe how it was among the elite and brings out the complacency that existed at the time and the danger that that put them in. He says

3 You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror. Yes, Amos and other prophets warned them about the day of disaster and what they needed to do but they kept procrastinating and so failing to do what needed to be done. All that their attitude was doing was not to make the danger less likely but simply to bring near the reign of terror when the Assyrians would come and attack. There is the same danger today - the danger of simply ignoring the warnings of preachers.

4a You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. He describes how they loved the luxuries of their day - beds adorned with ivory and couches on which they loved to lay down. It was not as common then but even in the eighth century BC for a very special banquet they would use couches to lie on and no doubt Amos has that in mind here.

4b You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. There was plenty of food to eat at these banquets too. They loved to dine like this. There was always some reason for a dinner party with the choicest lambs and with well fattened calves.

5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. With the couches and the food, there was music. This time Amos pictures them strumming away on their harps and improvising on various musical instruments. That like David is ironic. They thought that they were in David's tradition with the praise songs that they composed to entertain each other but they were simply just indulging themselves in another form of leisure and luxury. You can see them in your mind's eye composing and practising their songs, which they were so proud of.

6a You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions. There was also drinking at these feasts and the use of oils or lotions on their bodies - so lots of drinking and only the finest lotions and perfumes. You can picture them at these parties perhaps, drinking copious amounts of wine "by the bowl full" and smelling of the best quality perfume and after shave.

And then that final line (6b) but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

They are something like the people dining in first class and hearing the orchestra playing on the Titanic before it went down. They are like Belshazzar and the guests at his feast before the writing on the wall stunned them all into silence.

What a warning for us in our affluent age. How easy to fail to grieve over the needs of God's people and to be so caught up in a whirl of food and drink and music and pleasure that we have no time to consider our true position.

2. Realise that judgement is coming on the proud and self-sufficient

And so we come secondly to the words of judgement found from verse 7 onwards. In verse 7 Amos says Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. The thought is that because the people he addresses have failed to grieve over the ruin of Joseph and have instead lounged on couches and spent their time in partying and self-indulgence, when the Assyrians do attack, which they certainly will, these leading men will be among the first to go into exile and so their feasting and lounging will come to an abrupt end.

In verse 8 it says very solemnly The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself - the LORD God Almighty declares: It is important to be reminded from time to time just who is speaking here. "I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it." God has never hated his people as such but he does hate their sins. It is the pride of the people that the LORD hates, their self-security. This is why he is going to deliver up the city and everything in it by the hand of the Assyrians.

Then in verses 9 and 10 we have one of those little sort of cameos, if that is the right word, a little bit like that scene in Chapter 5 where the man runs from the bear only to be met by a lion and when he tries to hide in a house he puts out his hand and is bitten by a snake. This time it is an even more real scene.

Verse 9 says, speaking of the time when the Assyrians invade - If ten people are left in one house, a home perhaps where a large or extended family live, they too will die. And then comes along the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them burial was the norm but in extreme cases like this, such as when there had been a battle cremation would sometimes be used. If this relative asks anyone who might still be hiding there, "Is anyone else with you?" and he is told "No," no there is no-one still alive in the house then he will go on to say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD." The instinct might be to ask why the LORD has done this or to complain of it but no. Amos has made perfectly clear what was going to happen and when a person finds himself in such a position he will know it is exactly as was prophesied. It will be too late to pray then For the LORD has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits. They are all going to be smashed - the house that holds ten and the house that holds just two. And so now is the time to pray and to repent before the LORD. Do not leave it to some later time.

3. Judgement is coming on the proud and the unjust

In the last verses of the chapter (12-14) Amos begins by referring to two things. There is some argument about what exactly he says but the niv is probably right with

Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plough the sea with oxen?

When people race horses they usually race them on turf or on a dirt track or an artificial track that mimics those surfaces. They do not run them on rocky crags. The going may be hard, good, soft or heavy but if it is like rock, as when it freezes over they do not run the horses.

Similarly, you plough a field not rocky crags or the sea. Before you plant seed you turn over the soil to prepare it to receive the seed.

Amos highlights these practices in order to emphasise how incongruous it was that God's people had turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. They had acted in the strangest and most unacceptable manner with their injustices and lack of righteousness.

Further, they were very proud and self-sufficient failing to see that the Assyrians would easily overcome them in the future. Under Jeroboam II there had been expansion and he had won victories for Israel. In verse 13 Amos notes how they rejoiced in these victories, in the conquest of Lo Debar and and over Karnaim so that they said to one another "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?" There is a little word play here perhaps as he actually refers to Lo Debar in a form that sounds like no-thing or nothing and because Karnaim means horns or strength it may be they were saying something like "Didn't we get horns for ourselves when we took karnaim?". They were very proud of those victories up in the north east near Galilee and in Bashan.

But here is the bottom line (verse 14) For the LORD God Almighty declares, "I will stir up a nation against you, Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah." from the very north to the very south. As we have said it is the Assyrians who he has in mind and who would invade Israel and carry people off into exile in 722 BC, only 30 or 40 years later.

Certain things can puff us up and we can get quite self-confident. We think we can face anything. Rather, we should realise that we need to get ready for the coming judgement as unless we are trusting in Jesus Christ on that day we will be without hope.

Seek God and live

Text Amos 5 Time 06 02 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We've begun to look at the Book of Amos. Amos lived in the eighth century BC. He was from Tekoa in Judah but was sent to prophesy in the north, in Israel. So far we've looked at the first four chapters.

In Chapters 1 and 2 Amos prophesies to the various nations around about - Damascus, The Philistine cities, Tyre, etc but including Judah and then, in more detail, Israel itself.

We have looked at two of the three chapters, Chapters 3-5, which focus on Israel and her sins and the coming judgement. Chapter 3 begins with a series of questions for those who profess to be God's chosen people, urging them to see that things happen for a reason. Life is not random. So when God is at work, we ought to be awake to the fact. We should realise that he is active. God always announces his judgements to sinners through his prophets, as he does here through Amos. For the people of Israel at this time the threat was in the form of invasion by the Assyrians but we are all in danger of judgement if we go on in our sins, temporal judgements and eternal judgement. A good parent warns before punishing, Here are God's warnings of coming judgement.

Chapter 4 includes the famous statement Prepare to meet your God and so last week we considered how we do that, chiefly by repenting and putting faith in Christ. We need to see that religion will not save us and we must stop ignoring these many judgements that are happening all around us and return to the LORD.

Chapter 5 is similar to the previous two chapters but now Amos is singing a lament for Israel, so dismal is the future. We can divide into four parts and say these things.

1. Here judgement is again prophesied and we are called to seek God and live

1. Here judgement is again prophesied in terms of lament

Once again a court scene is in the background and Amos speaks in God's name. He says

Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:

"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up."

He adds in verse 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left."

So Amos looks forward firstly to a time when the Assyrians have done their worst and Israel, pictured as a young woman, has fallen never to rise again. She has been deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up. He is singing a lament for the tragedy she has undergone.

In verse 3 a different picture is presented. This time we see militia from the towns and cities of Israel marching out to face their enemies. Here is an army of a thousand marching out of one place and a hundred marching from a smaller place. No doubt they march out confidently but the city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left and the town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left. They are going to be decimated at the hand of the Assyrians.

We can be quite confident at times but we need to wake up to our danger. God can bring judgement when he chooses.

2. And so we are called again to seek God and live

In verses 4-6 Amos makes clear what it is that Israel should do in the light of these coming judgements. It is what we ought to do also - seek God and live.

This is what the LORD says to Israel:

"Seek me and live;

do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. These were the popular religious centres of the day. Bethel and Gilgal we have mentioned. Beersheba was way down south in Judah but it had become a centre for pagan worship. They were not to look at these places, however, For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. When the Assyrians invade. Rather and it is repeated

Seek the LORD and live,

or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph an alternative name for Israel like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

We might say today "Seek God and live; do not seek Rome or Canterbury, do not go to Geneva, do not journey to Tibet. For these places will not last. Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through you like a fire; it will devour you and no man made religion will quench it."

Before the great day of judgement or any temporal judgement God may send, we must seek God and find salvation in him, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Consider the sins of Israel and your own sins and the fact they invite judgement

We then have another enumeration of Israel's sins. Three times Amos says There are those ... and then speaks of sins common in those days. Again they are chiefly to do with justice.

In verse 7 there is a general statement There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. They were not concerned about fairness and equity nor about living a righteous life in those days. It is often like that today in our society.

In verses 8 and 9 there is something about God himself, which we will come back to. In verse 10 and 11a other sins are spoken of. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. This is similar to verse 7 and again it is true of many in our own times. They hate justice. They hold honesty in contempt. Then comes a more specific charge - You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Also in verse 12 Amos says There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. In verse 13 he observes how because of this the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. One can argue whether these prudent people are prudent and godly or merely worldly wise. If they are godly and prudent then there is an argument for keeping our heads down in evil times and not making a big fuss. The danger is that we allow Christianity to be privatised and shut out from the public square. However, I think the times probably call for something of that nature.

It really does not sound a million miles from our own times when there is a general disregard for the poor and the needy and vulnerable. Think of the position of the unborn child in our society, and increasingly the elderly and the sick. Think of the general disregard for the poor and the outsider.

Now in the midst of these condemnations Amos reminds us of just who God is. He is (8, 9) the one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land - the LORD Yahweh, he uses God's own name. With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. He is the powerful and majestic God of creation and of providence. It is against this God that we sin when we are unjust or unrighteous or dishonest. It is his law that we break.

And so there is this warning tucked away in parts of verses 11 and 12 Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offences and how great your sins. As we have said, these were peaceful and affluent times - something that most of us can easily identify with.

Many of us too have lovely homes and many luxuries available to us. Now all that can be lost in a moment, if God so chooses. He can take it away in an instant. Even if we hold on to it in this life, there is a life to come where we will not have those earthly stays. Judgement is coming. We need to be ready.

3. A word of hope if there is repentance and a word of warning if there is not

Next in verses 14-20 we have a brief word of hope but then more warnings.

1. Hear this word of hope, if there is a change

Verses 14 and 15 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

At this point, the judgement is not inevitable. There is hope for those who Seek good, not evil ... Hate evil, love good and maintain justice in the courts. Those who do that will live. They will know the LORD God Almighty ... with them in truth and then Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on some.

Amos is speaking to the people of Israel, Joseph and the other tribes, in light of the Assyrian threat but the more general truth is that we can hope for mercy on the day of judgement if we will only Seek good, not evil ... Hate evil, love good and be eager for justice. We will only do this if we seek God and he transforms us so that we begin to live as we should. Let's seek to do good then through Jesus Christ.

2. Hear this warning of punishment on the day of the Lord

Verses 16-20 bring us back to the warnings of judgement so characteristic of Amos and the other prophets too.

16, 17 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. Again the Assyrian invasion is in mind but wailing and cries of anguish and mourning is a typical response to all God's judgements. When God comes near, unrepentant sinners wail and grieve.

Then in verses 18-20 we read Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light - pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

The people of Israel were accustomed to thinking of the Day of the LORD as a day of vindication, a day when it would become clear that they truly were the people of God but Amos warns them. It will not be like that. Rather, it will be a day of darkness for them - darkness, not light - pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness. In a powerful picture he describes it as being like when a man flees from a lion only to meet a bear coming the other way. It is as if seeking to escape lion and bear he goes into a house and rests his hand on the wall, relieved that he is safe at last. But at that very moment he is bitten by a snake. Again and again people think they will be safe from the judgement because they did something noble or good or they did something religious but they will find that none of it saves them and they will be judged. Be warned.

4. Remember that religion is not enough, righteousness is what is required

The final verses of the chapter repeat the truth that religion is not the answer but righteousness. The people of Israel thought their religion would save them but it was false religion and would do nothing to save them.

21-23 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me." God says. "Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps."

It is put in Old Testament terms, of course, but we could easily update it.

"I hate, I despise your meetings; your services are a stench to me. Even though you bring loads of prayers and large offerings, I will not accept them. Though your ministers preach the most wonderful sermons, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your hymns! I will not listen to your singing."

What dies God want then? Rather (24) let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! That is the important thing. Religion is useless if it does not lead to a righteous life.

The chapter ends with these words (25-27) Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god - which you made for yourselves. Israel from the Exodus to the period just before the Assyrians invaded was marked by idolatry and wandering from the truth. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty. They are going to go into exile. We can also expect judgement if we go the way the professing church of God has generally gone down the years - marked by corruption and confusion.

Prepare to meet your God

Text Amos 4 Time 30 01 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We've begun to look at the Book of Amos. So far we've looked at the first three chapters. In Chapters 1 and 2 Amos prophesies to the various nations around about - Damascus, The Philistines, Tyre, etc but includes first Judah and then, in more detail, Israel itself, the land to which Amos had been sent to prophesy, from Tekoa in Judah, in the eighth century BC.

Last week we began to look at Chapters 3-5 which focus on Israel and her sins and the coming judgement. Chapter 3 begins with a series of questions for those who profess to be God's chosen people, urging them to see that things happen for a reason. Life is not random. So when God is at work, we ought to be awake to the fact. We should realise that he is active. God always announces his judgements to sinners through his prophets, as he does here through Amos. For the people of Israel at this time the threat was in the form of invasion by the Assyrians but we are all in danger of judgement if we go on in our sins, temporal judgements and eternal judgement. A good parent will warn first, before punishing, Here are God's warnings of coming judgement. Do you not see where it will lead, if you refuse to repent? This is the lesson then - to turn from sin and find forgiveness in Jesus Christ before the great day of judgement arrives when God will judge this world in his wrath.

Now in Chapter 4 we have more of the same sort of thing. Chapter 4 contains (in verse 12) the most famous phrase in the whole book, one of the most famous phrases in the Bible, Prepare to meet your God.

Traditionally it is the text that those men with sandwich boards that you used to see in cartoons would use. In Bath there is a Baptist church called Widcombe. For years they have had four texts painted on the chapel roof that can be seen from miles around. This is one of them - Prepare to meet your God. In context, verses 12 and 13 are the last verses of the chapter and they say

Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God. God is then defined as He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the LORD God Almighty is his name.

So the message tonight is to prepare to meet your God - the God who made you and all things, the God who speaks in the Bible, the great and powerful God who turns darkness to light. But why is that needed? Because of what God is going to do. And what is he going to do? To know that, we need to look at the first 11 verses of the chapter. So three things this evening

1. Listen, you proud sinners, see that your religion won't save you; you are going to be judged

Amos speaks first, focusing on the women of Israel. He is not very diplomatic. Hear this word, he says (we are in the court room again) you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!" As we have said, this was a period of peace and prosperity for Israel and so the people had grown rich and complacent. That included the women. These women, says Amos, are like fat cows on the rich pasture of Bashan to the east of Galilee and in Samaria. They were guilty of oppress(ing) the poor and crush(ing) the needy. You can picture them on their sun loungers by the pool, or whatever was the equivalent in those days, and telling their husbands to bring them more martinis to drink. Meanwhile they didn't care what was happening to their servants or the poor of their communities.

They need to know that (2) The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: (what a contrast with them) "The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon," declares the LORD. We are not sure what Harmon refers to but again this is the warning that the Assyrians are going to come and carry the people off into exile. Having called the women cows, Amos says that hooks will be put in their noses to take them away and the tiddlers will be caught with fish hooks. They will go out through the breaks in the city walls that the Assyrians have destroyed.

The people of Israel did not think of themselves as sinners. Indeed they were very religious and so Amos says, full of irony, that you sometimes get from the prophets (4, 5) Go to Bethel where they had set up an altar and sin; go to Gilgal where they also had altars it would seem and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings - boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do, declares the Sovereign LORD. Yes, they were very proud of their religious activities but it was all doing nothing to prevent the judgement that was surely going to come.

So let's apply it to ourselves today. In world terms we are all very affluent. We each have a roof over our head, plenty to eat and drink, luxuries too, to some extent. Are such things dulling us to the fact of sin in our lives? Are we well fed while others go hungry? Are we forgetting about those in need? Think of the persecution many Christians in the world are suffering in our day. Do we not realise that a day of judgement is coming?

And don't hide behind your religion. "Look, I'm here Sunday evening and I pray and read the Bible at home too." Good, but let's not assume that will save us. And is our religion as pure as it should be, anyway? Are you sure that false motives are not creeping in here and there? Is all your thinking about God what it should be? Yes, we may largely escape temporal judgements but even if you have the easiest life imaginable there is still a judgement to face at the end of time. You will have to stand before God to be judged by him. Never forget that.

2. God has sent many judgements but have you ignored them and not returned to him

In verses 6-11 there is an obvious pattern. Five times the LORD speaks about temporal judgements that have come on Israel and five times Amos repeats the phrase yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD. The examples of temporal judgement he gives here are famine; drought; blight, mildew and locust plagues; plague and sword and, finally, fire of some sort. So

1. Famine. 6 I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD.

2. Drought. 7, 8 I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD.

3. Blight, mildew and locust plagues. 9, 10 Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD.

4. Plague and sword 10 I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD. The bobonic plague was the scourge of mankind for hundreds of years.

5. Fire 11 I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me, declares the LORD. It is not entirely clear what the reference is here but to some sort of Heaven sent disaster, such as an earthquake.

The truth is that God sends disasters on people and one of the reasons he does so is to wake them up to their danger, to stop them in their tracks so that they begin to look up to him and remember to seek God. They are reminders of the final judgement that is going to come. The problem is that these judgements come and go and if we survive them then we quickly forget and move on.

Just think of the troubles that have come on this country in recent years.

• Back in the early 80s there was AIDS. Now this disease mainly affected those who engaged in homosexual activity, which is sinful, but it was passed on to others such as their wives and sometimes babies and haemophiliacs. Today worldwide some 36.7 million people are living with HIV, and 35 million have so far died from AIDS.
• Then there was what was once called mad cow disease but that we learned to call BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy).and its human from vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). In the UK since 1996, 177 people have died from vCJD, while over four million cows have been destroyed to prevent the spread of BSE.
• In 2001 there were some 2,000 cases of Foot and mouth disease in farms throughout the British countryside and more than six million sheep and cattle were killed in a successful attempt to halt the disease. Another outbreak in 2007 was even better contained.
• We more or less escaped SARS but there were cases overseas and about 200 deaths. Again Ebola was not something that affected many British people though many died in Africa.
• Norovirus has been with us for some time and still more than 50 people die in the UK each year. With 'flu it's over a thousand.
• And then, of course, this covid pandemic has killed millions worldwide and well over 150,000 people in this country.
• And now inflation is back with us and those of you who have lived through such times know what troubles that brings.

And yet has there been a general revival of interest in the things of God? Have people been repenting in the light of these various calamities? Now, I'm sure there are examples of individuals who have been led to repent because of these troubles but for the most part there has not been repentance. It is the same for the troubles that have faced people personally - cancer and heart disease, financial troubles, family tragedies and so on.

On one occasion people came to Jesus and they told him about an incident where, as Luke puts it (13:1), Pilate had mixed the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - (another known incident at the time) do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Whenever trouble comes in any shape or form it should produce repentance in us. Repent before it is too late.

3. Therefore you need to prepare to meet the LORD God Almighty

So you see the background to what is said in verses 12 and 13. Therefore given their sins and their empty religion this is what I will do to you, Israel, says God and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God. God that is who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the LORD God Almighty is his name.

So how do you prepare? We know we are going to meet with God one day and so we need to be ready. But how? What should we do?

I think there are four things we can say.

1. First, remind yourself daily that there is a God and that he is the God with whom we have to do. It is very easy to fill our heads with all sorts of other things and to forget about God. We dare not o that. We must learn to (as some call it) practice the presence of God. As we go about our daily tasks we need to do it conscious that God is watching over us and is present always.

2. Then there must be faith in Jesus Christ. There is a great judgement coming and at that time we will have to bow before Jesus and confess that he is Lord. We need to do that now and trust in him for forgiveness of all our sins.

3. With faith there must be repentance, repentance from every known sin. Daily we must be turning from sin to Christ. On that day our sins will be brought before our eyes unless we have forsken them and found forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

4. Finally, think of that day. See everything in the light of that great day of judgement when it will all be out in the open. It is the day when, as Paul puts it (Romans 2:16), when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. This is why Jesus himself says (Luke 8:16) there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

An old story is told of a king in bygone days and his 'jester', who would sometimes say very foolish things and sometimes very wise things. One day the jester said something so foolish that the king, handing him a staff, said, 'Take this, and keep it until you find a bigger fool than yourself.'

Some years later, the king was very ill and lay on his deathbed. His courtiers were all called; his family and his servants also stood around his bedside. The king, addressed them and said, 'I am about to leave you. I am going on a very long journey, and I shall not return again to this place: so I have called you all to say "Goodbye".' Then his jester stepped forward and, addressing the king, said, 'Your Majesty, may I ask a question? When you have gone on progress visiting your people, staying with your nobles, or paying diplomatic visits to other courts, your heralds and servants have always gone before you, making preparations for you. May I ask what preparations your Majesty has made for this long journey that he is about to take?'

'Alas!' replied the king, 'I have made no preparations.'

'Then,' said the jester, 'take this staff with you, for now I have found a bigger fool than myself.'

Know that God is going to judge sinners

Text Amos 3 Time 23 01 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We began to look last week at the Book of Amos. We said that Amos lived in the eighth century BC and was from Tekoa. He had no background in being a prophet but God suddenly called him to leave home and head north and prophesy to the Land of Israel.

We looked last week at Chapters 1 and 2 where Amos begins by prophesying to the various nations around about - Damascus, The Philistines, Tyre, etc but including first Judah and then, in some more detail, Israel itself.

Having made that dramatic beginning he comes in Chapters 3-5 to focus on Israel and her sins. We will just look at Chapter 3 this evening.

It is a little like being in a court of law. You can imagine a court, I'm sure. It's not difficult as they are like churches or chapels. Amos is the prosecutor and he has Israel before him and he lays out the charges against them. There are three main things to take in.

1. Hear this series of questions for those who profess to be God's chosen people

So chapter 3 begins Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the LORD has spoken against you - against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: So here is a message. It is a message this time not for any other nation but for Israel - for the people that God brought up out of Egypt. He says (2) "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth;" that was the situation. It is Israel that God chose, the descendants of Abraham, not anyone else. I don't know if those who heard that phrase felt a little proud when they heard it - yes, that is what we are - the people of God, the only people of God. If they did, then the next phrase would have come with something of a sting in the tail - "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins." Privilege brings responsibility. These people needed to see that simply being God's people did not mean that they could do whatever they wished. No, it meant that they were liable to get God's attention in a way that others would not. "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins."

This leads on then to a series of penetrating questions that are simply so many illustrations of the inescapable fact that actions have consequences. We do not live in a world that is totally random, where there is no connection between one thing and another. No, things happen for a reason. If you do this then that will happen.

So

1. (3) Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Here are two friends walking along in the same direction. Why? Now it is possible that they both happen to be heading in the same direction but look, they are in step, they are talking to each other. No, they are walking together because they have agreed to walk together. That is the obvious explanation.

2. (4) Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? Amos was a shepherd you recall. In his day there were still lions about and Amos had heard them roaring and growling from time to time when he worked as a shepherd.. He knew it meant something. If you heard a lion roaring in the thicket ... it was not that he just that he fancied growling. No, there was a reason for it. It was because the lion had caught something. Lions don't growl in their dens when they have caught nothing.

3. (5) Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? I don't know how much bird catching Amos had done but he knew that the reason bird traps work is because they use bait and the reason that they are triggered is because something has flown into them. Birds don't fly into traps without bait. Traps don't spring if nothing comes near them. No there is a reason why that bird has been trapped. it is not a fluke.

4. (6a) When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? Cities would have a warning system in those days - a watchman would be ready with a trumpet, with a ram's horn. If the city was about to be attacked the trumpet would be sounded by the watchman. It's like a siren going off to warn of an air raid or a fire alarm going off to warn of a fire. When you hear it, it makes you panic a little, it makes you fear. It could be a drill, of course, but may be not. How reasonable for people to tremble at the sound.

5. (6b) When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? And so when some sort of trouble comes to a city, to a place, there must be a reason. And is it not because the LORD has caused it? It doesn't happen for no reason. It is not some random thing.

We too need to be alert in our own day. Things don't happen for no reason, They are not random. And so when God is at work, we ought to be awake to the fact. We ought to realise that he is active.

2. Hear this reminder of the way God announces his judgements to sinners

Next we come to verses 7 and 8. Amos wants to remind the people next that when trouble is about to come on a place God sends a warning. Like the roaring lion or the trumpet, God warns people what is about to happen. And so Amos says (7,8)

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared - who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken - who can but prophesy?

It is the pattern with God that when he is about to bring disaster first he reveals his plan to his prophets. He reveals what is going to happen. He announces it in advance.

Well, as we might put it, The lion has roared - Amos has heard him and so everyone should fear. The Sovereign LORD has spoken - and Amos has no choice but to prophesy and tell the people what is going to happen.

It is part of God's grace that he warns people when his judgement is about to come. He does not simply say nothing and then suddenly strike.

Imagine a parent who would suddenly strike out at a child with no warning. You are sat there and then suddenly your mother or father comes up behind you and starts smacking you. That is not good parenting. A good parent will begin with a warning. There will no doubt be many steps before we get to corporal punishment, which will hopefully become unnecessary.

I remember when I trained as a school teacher they gave us this helpful list of disciplinary actions. It started with proximity control. So first you just walk up to the naughty pupil and hope your presence will stop them doing wrong. If that doesn't work, in those days, you put your hand on their shoulder, etc, etc.

God works with us in that thoughtful and measured way. Before he judges us he sends his messengers and they draw attention to the wrong that we are doing. Sometimes he will send more than one messenger as he did in the eighth century. If we listen to his messengers then there is hope for us. If we will not listen then what can we expect but his wrath and judgement.

3. Understand the actual judgement with which God's people are threatened because of sin

In the final verses of the chapter, in verses 9-15 Amos describes what the coming judgement is going to be like. He is thinking here of the overthrow of the country by the cruel Assyrians, which sadly did come to pass. There are temporal judgements such as that and there is also the ultimate judgement that such judgements point to. We must consider such things.

Remember the court room setting we have mentioned. In verse 9 it says Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people." So Philistines and Egyptians are called to be witnesses on the mountains of Samaria in the very heart of Israel, to the unrest and oppression that are going on there.

Verse 10 gives the charge against God's people "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD, "who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted." Plundering and looting have marked their way of life.

We too have sinned in different ways and so we can expect the same sort of thing that is spoken against them, which is in verse 11.

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "An enemy will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses." This is what was going to happen. The Assyrians were going to overrun their land, pull down their strongholds and plunder their fortresses.

We do not know what temporal judgements may come on us for our sins but we do know that if we go on in sin, we have to expect judgement at some point. We must take these warnings seriously.

In verse 12 Amos draws on his shepherd background. This is what the LORD says: "As a shepherd rescues from the lion's mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued, with only the head of a bed and a piece of fabric from a couch." The nation was going to be attacked and carried off and very few were going to survive. There would be some few that would survive, and it is there as an encouragement. But most would be overcome.

Again it is a warning not just for them but for us too.

Further (13, 14) "Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob," declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty. "On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. When Israel split with Judah they lost easy access to the Temple in Jerusalem and so instead they set up altars at Dan and Bethel. Here we read how the most prominent of these altars, the one at Bethel, is going to have its horns cut off and fall to the ground. In other words, it was going to lose its power. It would no longer be the centre it had been.

Finally, in verse 15 Amos says I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished, declares the LORD. Israel had grown rich in the years of peace and prosperity that they had known. But all that was going to be lost when the Assyrians invaded and carried the people off into exile.

Think of a parent again. A good parent will warn first before punishing, Here are the warnings of God's judgement. Do you not see where it will lead if you refuse to repent? Repent today. This is the lesson then - to turn from sin and to find forgiveness in Jesus Christ before the great day of judgement arrives when God will judge this world in his wrath.

Back in 1980 there was a major eruption in America of a volcano called Mount St Helens. It wasn't a sudden event. For two months before the massive blast - the most deadly and destructive in American history - earthquakes and volcanic activity had been signalling that a major event was underway. Authorities had plenty of time to sound the alarm and warn those living nearby of the looming danger. Yet despite the seriousness of the threat, some people chose to disregard the warnings.

Probably the best known example is that of Harry Randall Truman. The eighty-three year old man was the owner and caretaker at the Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake. He had survived the sinking of his troop ship by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland during World War I, and he was not about to leave just because scientists thought there was danger. He told reporters, “I don't have any idea whether it will blow. But I don't believe it to the point that I'm going to pack up.” On May 18, 1980, Truman and his lodge were buried beneath 150 feet of mud and debris from the volcanic eruption. His body was never found. There is a proverb (27:12) that says The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. Be prudent and run to Jesus before it is too late.