Seeing it as it is: Amos 7

It's nice to be with you tonight. I was in a church in North Eust just a couple of weeks ago

and everybody sat at the back. There were only ten and the church was twice the length of this one

so I really appreciate you sitting fairly close tonight. It was a kind of night just like tonight

outside but the one good thing about it is I had no problems parking my car because we were away

in the middle of nowhere but tonight here I had problems parking but it's good to be here

and this is the sort of a book, it's the sort of chapter that I don't think any preacher would

choose to preach on. So when Johnny sent it to me I thought oh here we go. So if you've got your Bible

it's the book of Amos and it's chapter 7. I'm reading from the English Standard Version ESV.

This is God's Word. This is what the Lord God showed me. Behold he was forming locusts

when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout and behold it was the latter growth

after the king's mowing. When they had finished eating the grass of the field I said oh Lord God

please forgive. How can Jacob stand? He's so small. The Lord relented concerning this. It shall not be

said the Lord. This is what the Lord God showed me. Behold the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire

and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said oh Lord God please cease.

How can Jacob stand? He's so small. The Lord relented concerning this. This also shall not be

said the Lord. This is what he showed me. Behold the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb

line with a plumb line in his hand and the Lord said to me Amos what do you see? And I said a plumb

line. Then the Lord said behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will never

again pass by them. The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel

should be laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Then Amaziah the

priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel saying Amos has conspired against you in the midst of

the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said Jeroboam shall

die by the sword and Israel must go into exile away from his land. And Amaziah said to Amos oh seer go

fly away to the land of Judah and eat bread there and prophesy there but never again prophesy at Bethel

for it is the king's sanctuary and it is a temple of the kingdom. Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah

I was no prophet nor a prophet's son but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.

But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me go prophesy to my people Israel.

Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You say do not prophesy against Israel and do not preach

against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus says the Lord your wife shall be a prostitute in the city

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword and your land shall be divided up with a

measuring line. You yourself shall die in an unclean land and Israel shall surely go into exile away from

its land. And this is God's word. Just a brief prayer. Father we thank you for these great truths that echo

down to us from the dawn of history. We thank you that we're able to have a look here at the sermon notes as it were of this

preacher of long ago. And we just ask for your help tonight that we'll somehow see what he saw

and we'll be able to understand what this is all about. Grant us your help for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Amen. As we open up this seventh chapter tonight and enter into the last section of the book of Amos,

six times in as many verses in the chapter, he refers to the God of Israel as the Lord God,

or as the NIV has it, the sovereign Lord. And in using that language, I think Amos is just reminding us

that the God of the Bible is really God. For the first six chapters, you will know by now

that the imminent judgments of the sovereign Lord have been the burden of the message

that Amos has been called to preach to the people of his day and to Israel in particular.

But what we mustn't overlook is that along with this unpopular, unpalatable message of judgment,

there are also little shafts of light. If you read the prophecy carefully, little shafts of light

that would encourage us to believe that the God of infallible justice

is also a God of incredible mercy.

And I think it's this that guarantees the bringing to pass of God's saving purposes in the world.

If it was just justice and judgment, we would all be wiped out.

But we haven't been wiped out because God is a God of mercy.

The line to the coming of Messiah was being preserved, even amid all the gloom and doom

in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BC.

No question about that.

And the graphic pictures of national judgment in the book of Amos are really preparing us,

I think, for the final eternal judgment that is sure to come.

And yet at the same time, thinking on this theme of judgment, the book is moving relentlessly

to this conclusion.

There's hope.

There's a message of hope.

There are little glimmers of hope peppering the book.

And eventually, Amos is going to tell us, and you feel you want to hear it a lot sooner than this,

but he's going to tell us in chapter 9, the last chapter, that there is hope for us all.

And this is ultimately to be found in the promises concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I'm a bit of a blow-in tonight.

I know you've had six chapters expounded to you, and after I go, you're going to have another two expounded to you.

What I want to do is to try and confine myself to this seventh chapter.

And I want to look with you tonight at three things about Amos in chapter 7,

in terms of his all-round ministry.

I didn't know until this afternoon that the title for tonight is Seeing It As It Is.

I gave my own title to it when I was preparing, An All-Round Ministry.

So I want us just to have a wee peep at Amos in this chapter.

And the first thing I want to draw your attention to is that he's a man of prayer.

You could easily miss that, but you mustn't miss it, and I mustn't miss it.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that in the past, God spoke in different ways and at different times through the prophets.

Amos is a classic example of that.

In the Old Testament, the prophets, they sometimes received the word of God by way of revelatory visions.

That's how God spoke to them.

And this was true of Amos, way back at the very beginning of the prophecy, in the very first verse of this book.

He saw before he spoke.

He was a seer.

He saw before he spoke.

A vision is not about seeing what isn't there.

A vision is about seeing what is there.

It's about seeing things as they really are, and then saying what God wants him to say about what he has seen.

That's what's really happening here.

It's a message given directly by God.

It's not invented.

It's not dreamed up.

It's not imagined by the person receiving it.

And if you're watching carefully and listening carefully as we read through the chapter there, there are three visions in this chapter.

But we want to look at the first two only.

Just for a moment.

We'll come to the third one later.

But we want to look at the first two visions.

To see Amos, in particular, as a man of prayer.

So, let's look at the visions.

What Amos saw in these verses, and we're looking at verses 1 through 6 here.

What Amos saw in these visions, he began to speak.

And he began to write down in words that ordinary people like you and I can understand.

And that tells us something.

Every preacher, and there are, I'm quite sure, a few preachers sitting here tonight.

Every preacher needs to be convinced.

And he needs to be confident of the fact that nothing can compare with the spoken word.

Nothing.

Not drama.

Not visual aids.

Not mime.

Not dance.

Nor indeed any other non-verbal methods of communication.

I'm not saying God can't speak through these other things.

But nothing can compare with the word of God coming in words addressed to our minds and our understanding.

The first vision he sees is that of devouring locusts.

In this vision, God forms swarms of locusts as a potter forms his vessel made of clay.

And that's telling us that God is gloriously active in the normal processes of the created order.

He's obviously made these locusts.

Created these locusts.

And here he gathers them together with the specific intent of them coming across the land of Israel.

Not just in their hundreds of thousands, but probably in their millions to strip the land bare.

I don't know whether you've ever been in a country where you've had a plague of locusts.

I was in Kenya once.

And we had a plague of locusts.

I was covered from head to toe.

And when we got back home into the house, they were clambered onto the windows.

It was an astonishing thing.

The sky was full of them.

And it's that kind of thing that you have here.

God's obviously made the locusts.

He's gathered them together with a specific intent of them coming across the land in their hundreds of thousands to strip the land bare.

The prospect of a splendid crop of grass is being endangered.

The first crop mentioned here, known as the king's mowing, that would be safely gathered in during October.

But the picture here is that of the second crop of lush grass.

After the late rains, during March and April, that crop is going to be devastated by these locusts.

That's the vision Amos sees.

And when it takes place, total ruin stares the whole countryside in the face.

No pasture for the cattle, for the animals, for six months.

And a big problem for the people.

The animals wouldn't survive.

Would the people survive?

That's the first vision.

The second vision is of this consuming fire.

And it's that of God sending fire into his controversy with Israel.

The burning summer heat would produce such a drought that the whole land would be dried up.

Completely devastated.

And it's presenting us again with another picture of even greater severity than that of the plague of locusts.

The locusts would only destroy a crop.

Whereas this fire was going to dry up the whole land, including every place where water was to be found.

And you look at that and it gives us a foretaste, does it not?

Of what is recorded in 2 Peter 3.10 with reference to the end time.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, said Peter.

The heavens will disappear with a roar.

The elements will be destroyed by fire.

And the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

These judgments are a kind of a forerunner to the final judgment.

Now these are visions that haven't occurred as yet when Amos preaches and writes.

The content of these things hasn't really taken place.

They may very well refer to literal locusts and literal fire, bringing famine, bringing drought.

But I think it's only fair to say that some commentators, including John Calvin, believe that they actually symbolize an invading army of men.

That's how Calvin sees it.

Now it's not important for our purposes tonight to know one way or the other.

But however you view it, there can be no doubt that these acts of God in judgment, when they occurred, they would utterly ruin and devastate this nation.

What's important for us is that we take careful note in this and not miss it on the way through, of Amos' response to what he sees and understands in these two visions.

When Amos sees what's in God's agenda for Israel, what does he do?

He gives himself to prayer.

And I think that's the important point we need to grasp from it.

Following the visions are intercessions.

Amos has a lesson to teach us here.

He converts what he sees and what he understands by what he sees into prayer.

He doesn't think to himself, okay, sara, sara, whatever will be, will be.

That would have been to embrace fatalism.

No, he didn't do that.

He prayed.

And if I may be allowed to say this, the man who truly understands the doctrine of the sovereignty of God will believe in the importance and absolute necessity of prayer.

He'll not sit back with his arms folded and say, well, God's going to do it, God will do it.

No, no, not at all.

I would be surprised.

And if I had to ask you the question, do you believe in prayer?

I would be very surprised if anyone within these walls would say no.

Surely we all believe in prayer.

But the reason we know this man believed in prayer is because he prayed.

He didn't say, I believe in prayer.

He prayed.

That's how we know he believed in prayer.

If disasters are to be averted, if deliverances are to be experienced, if doors are to be opened, if doubts are to be scattered, if divine intervention is to happen, we must give ourselves as the people of God to prayer.

I think that's the lesson we learn from Amos here.

That's exactly what Amos did on both occasions.

He prays in verse 2 after the vision of the locusts.

And then in verse 5 after the vision of the consuming fire.

Listen to him pray.

They're very short prayers.

He cries out in verse 2,

Oh, Lord God, please forgive.

How can Jacob stand?

How can he survive?

He's so small.

And then in verse 5 he cries out,

Oh, Lord God, please cease.

I beg you to stop.

How can Jacob stand?

How can Jacob survive?

He's so small.

You see, the situation was this.

The people of the land of Israel thought they were something special.

They thought they were the people.

They were proud.

They were spiritually proud.

They were self-sufficient.

But Amos knew better than that.

So he pleads on their behalf for mercy.

He pleads with the Lord on their behalf for forgiveness.

He humbles himself before the Lord on their behalf.

And he acknowledges, if the people will not do it,

their smallness and their sinfulness.

He tells the Lord in just a couple of sentences,

he tells the Lord,

Lord, if you don't step in and do something for these people,

they're going to be blown away by your judgment.

And cease to be.

And what happened in answer to his prayer?

God held back his hand from judgment.

On both occasions we read,

The Lord relented and said,

This shall not be.

Now some translations have the words,

The Lord repented.

Not the Lord relented.

Some translations have the words,

The Lord repented.

But as John Wycliffe says,

God doesn't change his mind,

as men do,

but he changes his course of action in answer to prayer.

And that change is quite consistent with his eternal purpose.

Now you need to think that through.

What I'm trying to do is explain the unexplainable.

There is a mystery here with regards to the sovereign God.

But the bottom line is that the eternal purposes of a sovereign God

are continually being worked out through the prayers of his people.

Even John Wesley,

who gets a bad press in some circles,

even Wesley believed that.

He said that the prayers of the saints were the decrees of God being worked out.

Now from our perspective,

with our little finite fallen minds,

and from our viewpoint,

it may appear at times when we pray

as though there has been a change of mind on God's part.

But it is, in actual fact,

simply a change in his course of action.

That's what happened with these two visions.

Judgment was deferred because Amos prayed.

He humbled himself,

and he prayed for mercy,

and he prayed for forgiveness,

and the judgment was averted,

and it was postponed,

but it was not annulled,

and it was not cancelled.

God doesn't change his mind.

God didn't change his mind,

but he can change his course of action

when people give themselves to prayer.

Now you need to think that through and work that out,

but that's what's happening here.

Amos, the man of prayer.

Here's the second thing.

Amos and the message of the plumb line.

Verses 7 through to 9.

It brings us to the third vision,

the vision of the plumb line.

Having said all that I've said,

under the last heading,

Amos, the man of prayer.

Let me just say this.

I'm sure you've heard people say it before.

There is a time,

I know not when,

a place,

I know not where,

that seals the destiny of men

for glory or despair.

And no amount of praying will alter that.

Or divert it,

or avert it,

or defer it,

or postpone it.

When you consider this third vision,

you can see from verses 7 through 9,

the Lord's standing by a wall.

It's been built true to plumb.

He has 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.

He was the king

in the northern kingdom.

The sovereign Lord

is standing with a plumb line

in his hand

to test this wall.

The message in this vision,

as distinct from the first two visions,

is crystal clear.

The message here is that

with regards to these people,

the day of grace is over

and judgment is inevitable.

The time of his mercy

has run out

and no prayer,

no prayer

is to be offered.

That's the striking thing here.

That's the frightening thing here.

It's as if God is saying

in this particular vision,

enough

is enough.

And this is a very solemn thing.

Here is God

whose name and nature is love.

Here is God,

the master builder.

And he's standing beside

a perpendicular wall

that clearly represents

the nation of Israel.

He had set his love upon them.

Brought them into being

as a nation.

He had protected them.

He had provided for them

not just during their wilderness wanderings,

but over the centuries.

He had given them his law,

the Torah.

And it was his law

that symbolized

by the plumb line

in his hand.

It was his word

that made them

what they were

in times past.

It was his word to them

that had galvanized them

into being

the people of God.

He had said to them

in chapter 3

of this prophecy,

you only have I known

of all the families

in the earth.

That's what he said to them.

You only have I known.

But he expected them

to say to him,

you only will we worship.

They were different

from all the other nations.

They were his chosen people.

Even people who've got problems

with the doctrine of election

would never have a problem

with that with regards to Israel.

They were his chosen people.

He had redeemed them

from Egypt.

They were called to be

an obedient people.

They were called to be

holy people,

even as God is a holy God,

as they ordered their lives

according to the law

and according to the testimony,

according to the Torah.

But those days

had long since gone,

it would appear

in this vision.

God brings the exact

same plumb line

to the exact same wall

that he had built

from the calling of Abraham

out of Ur of the Chaldees

up to the days of Moses,

the wall representing

the nation.

He brings the plumb line out

in order to inspect

the nation.

And in order to carefully

examine the nation,

the Puritans used to say,

God is a precisionist.

And here's God

measuring the nation

against his own standards

of measurement

as in the law

and as he does so,

he notices the wall

is bending

and it's tottering

and it's out of line

and the cracks

are appearing everywhere

and it's about to fall

and come crashing

down to the ground.

In this vision,

Israel has failed

to pass the test

of the Torah.

The God of creation,

the God of eternity,

the God of history,

the God of Israel,

the sovereign Lord,

he can spare them

no longer.

They had become

an embarrassment

to him.

They had paid no heed

to the law

and to the testimony

over a long period

of time,

even though God

had sent his servants

to them,

his prophets to them.

They thought they knew

better than God.

substituting man-made

centers of religion,

introducing man-made ideas

into their religious

practices,

they're going to be

destroyed.

God has made up

his mind.

The high places

in the northern

kingdom of Israel

were repeating

the error of those

who were building

the Tower of Babel.

They thought they

could get closer

to God by climbing

steps and erecting

buildings that were

reaching up to heaven

and God tells the

nation of Israel

through the lips

of Amos,

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.

When the Assyrians

would come

and they came

in 721 BC,

when they would come

all these things

that they had done

and treasured,

they would have to go.

What I'm saying to you,

and I say this

with thought in this,

I'm not saying this

carelessly,

there is a time

when even praying

can't make any difference.

The prophet Jeremiah

was told something

similar by the Lord

in Jeremiah 7 and 16.

God said to Jeremiah,

do not pray

for this people,

nor offer any plea

or petition for them.

Do not plead with me

for I will not

listen to you.

That's what God

said to Jeremiah.

It's in the Bible.

So why mustn't

Amos pray

for these people?

Why mustn't he pray?

They are guilty

of idolatry.

They had crossed

the point of no return.

Do you think

it's possible

to do that?

God said to Jeremiah,

do you not see what,

this is with regards

to the southern kingdom,

do you not see

what they're doing

in the towns of Judah

in the streets

of Jerusalem?

The children

are gathering wood,

the fathers light the fire,

the women need the dough,

and make cakes of bread

for the queen of heaven.

They pour out

drink offerings

to other gods

to provoke me to anger.

Who's doing this?

Some tribe

in the middle

of Papua New Guinea?

No,

these are the people

of God.

And the same message

was given to Jeremiah

in chapter 11,

verse 14,

to a people

who had broken

the same covenant stipulations

again and again.

God said to Jeremiah,

don't pray for this people

nor offer any plea

or petition for them

because I will not listen

when they call to me

in the time

of their distress.

Do you know what's happening?

Do you know what the picture

Amos is getting here

in this vision?

What was happening

was that Israel's creator

is now becoming

her executioner.

Now,

the book of the law

that they had jettisoned

is the book

that is now going

to judge them.

The writing's on the wall

in this vision.

Like Belshazzar

in the book of Daniel,

they're weighed in the balances

and they're found wanting.

Constant rejection

of the Lord

led to ultimate rejection

by the Lord.

This frightening thing

still happens,

brothers and sisters.

When you have a people

who are privileged

to hear the word of God

on a regular basis,

I would wager

that you're sure

to find somebody

in that gathering

is going to continually

reject it

until one day

God eventually

rejects that person,

gives them up,

to use Paul's phrase

in Romans 1.

Gives them up

to their own desires

and no amount

of praying.

No amount

of praying

will ever be able

to change their destiny.

I'm just saying tonight,

don't let that person

be you.

Amos had stopped

preaching

in order to pray.

Now he must

stop praying

in order to preach.

Now both these things

are vital

and both have their place

in the economy of God.

God,

there was a time

to pray

and there's a time

not to pray.

But let's look finally

at how he was called

to exercise

the ministry of preaching

now as I bring us

to a final conclusion.

Amos,

the man of prayer.

Have a wee look

at this chapter

when you go home.

Just see how brief

his prayers were,

how pointed they were,

how simple they were,

how profound they were.

Amos,

the man of prayer.

What he sees,

what he understands

by what he sees,

puts him down

on his knees

to pray.

Then have a look

at Amos

and the message

of this plumb line.

Keep in mind,

this wall

is Israel.

It's bending,

it's tottering,

it's cracking,

it's going to crush

to the ground

because it's being measured

by the very plumb line

that made them

the people of God.

It's now judging them.

Now Amos

in the ministry of preaching

from verse 10

to the end.

We've no doubt

that we've read

some of his sermon notes

in the earlier chapters,

but there are some aspects

of Amos' preaching

that are mentioned

exclusively

here in the seventh chapter

that I want to leave you with.

They're worth considering

and especially

if anybody in here

is giving serious thought

to preaching

being God's will

for their lives.

Two things in particular

to pay attention to

that are of great importance

from this passage,

which incidentally

is the one

autobiographical section

in the whole book.

The first is this.

I want to underline

the origin

of authoritative preaching,

the origin

of authoritative preaching.

How did such a man

as Amos

ever get himself

involved

in the prophetic ministry,

in preaching

the word of God?

Well, let him speak

for himself.

We read from verse 10 onwards

in a conversation

he had with Amaziah,

who was the priest

at Bethel,

during which time

Amos tells us

how it all began.

We read in verse 14 and 15,

that Amos said

to this Amaziah,

I was neither a prophet,

he says,

nor a prophet's son,

but I was a shepherd

and I 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.

And you read that passage.

I tell you what came

to my mind

when I read it.

That passage in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

Brothers,

think of what you were

when you were called.

Not many of you

were wise by human standards,

not many influential,

not many of noble birth,

but God chose

the foolish things

of the world

to shame the wise.

God chose the weak things

of the world

to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things

of this world,

the despised things,

the things that are not,

to nullify the things that are

so that no one

may boast before him.

Who was this guy Amos?

He was no religious professional.

He hadn't even been groomed

in one of the prophetic schools,

one of the schools

of the prophets.

And he certainly hadn't been

given the opportunity

to study for a theological degree

at the University of Jerusalem.

Although there is nothing wrong

with getting a theological degree,

but this man's not in that league.

But he's called by God.

And he's called by God

to preach God's word.

And this is what gives him

his authority

to do what he's doing.

He's probably a man of few words

under normal circumstances.

I mean, he's a shepherd.

He was used to his own company

on the hills

looking after his sheep.

He's a very ordinary guy,

it would appear.

He's doing a hard day's work.

And he apparently needed,

you know,

to take on an extra job

on the side

gathering figs

to keep body and soul together.

But he knew something

of the grace of God

in his life.

And he knew he was doing

what he was now doing

because God had called him.

He didn't choose his vocation.

He hadn't waken up one morning

and said,

I would like to be a prophet.

He hadn't responded

to an advert for a vacancy

in the evangelical times

of his day.

He had an unmistakable

call from God.

Now, we might call this man,

forgive the term,

a layman.

He's a layman.

He had been faithful

as a shepherd

looking after sheep

with four legs.

And the Lord

puts his hand on him

and says,

now I want you to look

after my sheep,

those that have got two legs.

You've had plenty of training.

Now I want you to go

and talk to my people

and faithful deliver

a message to them.

It was as simple as that.

It was as serious as that.

But when it comes to authority,

when you read Bob Files

commentary on this,

it isn't the prophet.

The authority is not in him.

It's in the prophecy.

It isn't the messenger.

It's the message.

It isn't the preacher.

It's the preaching

that stamps it all

with divine authority.

It's the authority

of the word

given by God

and not the personality

of the preacher

that's all important.

Even when the preacher

knows he's called by God

and even when he takes

his calling seriously

and even when he prepares

himself thoroughly,

the authority

in preaching

is this book here

and woe betide

any man

who tries to preach

anything else.

The second thing

and the last thing is

opposition

to authoritative preaching.

Apparently,

Amos' preaching

had a considerable

impact on the nation

even although

the people

didn't repent.

that seems like

a contradiction

in terms.

But there it is

from the king

and the throne

downwards.

I think it's all

summed up.

Here's the response

of the nation

at all the different levels.

Verse 10,

The land is not able

to bear his words.

What a statement that is.

The land is not able

to bear his words.

They couldn't stomach it.

They didn't listen.

They certainly heard

loud and clear

what he was saying.

They got the message.

If we could picture

what was taking place,

God's word

must have come

like a fire,

like a double-edged sword,

like a hammer

coming from the lips

of Amos.

It was a ministry

that burned,

that purged,

that cut to the quick,

that smashed to pieces

the status quo

in the nation

from top to the bottom.

I like to think of Amos

as the 8th century BC

equivalent of John the Baptist.

Nobody was coming up

to Amos after he preached

and said,

well done son,

that was a great sermon.

I tell you,

they were shaking

in their shoes.

But for the vast majority

of them,

it didn't make

a slight bit of difference.

Such a faithful preacher,

such authoritative preaching

as you can imagine,

is sure to be misrepresented.

It's sure to be misunderstood.

What he says

is liable to be twisted

and perverted.

That's exactly what happened.

And who by?

The religious professionals.

Ahaziah,

the priest

from Bethel,

he conspires against him.

He wants to get rid of him.

A-S-A-P

as soon as possible.

So he accuses Amos

of things

of which he wasn't guilty.

Amos wasn't guilty

of an attempted coup

of the king.

Not at all.

Nor had he predicted

Jeroboam's death.

Although Amosiah

said he had.

It's true that Amos

spoke of the death

of the house of Jeroboam,

but not of the death

of the king.

He spoke of God's sword

rising against

the dynasty of Jeroboam,

but not against Jeroboam

himself as a person.

So Amosiah

is twisting it.

Personalizing

what the preacher says

is a common tactic

by those who want

to discredit the preacher

and his preaching.

They did it

with the apostle Paul.

Read Galatians.

Amosiah the priest,

he comes across

as an unscrupulous politician

speaking out

against Amos,

the uncompromising prophet.

He resents

what Amos is preaching.

He'll go to any lands

to have this prophetic

voice silenced.

He tells Amos

in verse 12

to go back

to where he came from

and prophesy there.

He's telling them,

will you go back

south of the border, son?

Earn your money there.

He may very well

be implying

in what he's saying

that Amos is in

this whole thing

for the money

just like Amaziah

was in it for the money

and that Amos

was a hired hand

just like Amaziah

was a hired hand.

But of course Amos wasn't.

But he's reminding Amos

for sure

that he's not a preacher

because he's not

been officially registered

or personally recognized

in Israel.

Amos,

this is not your patch.

This is not your pitch.

It's my patch.

It's my pitch.

Off you go.

And he accuses Amos

of invading his space

and preaching on his turf

and on his territory.

How did Amos respond to that?

Verses 16 and 17.

He said to Amaziah,

you say stop preaching.

But this is what the Lord says.

When I was in Ballymen,

I was in Ballymen for 10 years.

I was in a big church.

And there was a few

sort of things being said.

You know,

grapevine,

is that what you call it.

And the elders' court

was convened

and some of these things

were brought to our attention

and this wee man

in the elders' court

is,

oh,

he was almost 80 years of age.

He put it like this.

They say,

what do they say?

Let them say.

Let's keep on preaching the Bible.

You say,

stop preaching.

Is that what you're saying, Amaziah?

But this is what the Lord says.

Amaziah wants to see Amos go away,

never to come back.

But Amos tells Amaziah

that he's the one

who's going to go away

and the whole nation

will go with him,

the northern part of the country.

And it's Amaziah

who'll never come back.

Unconverted men,

hired men,

men who are in it for the money

or because they think

it's a cushy number,

they don't like to hear

a message on judgment.

Even if that message

at times is tinged with mercy,

they can't stand it.

They don't like

the whole counsel of God.

When Paul preached

in his missionary journeys,

we're told he reasoned

with people

on the truth of judgment.

I can't think of a subject

that will give more bite

to preaching

than the certainty

of judgment.

Can you?

I can't think of any other subject

that will cause people

to look for the healing balm

of the gospel

of the Lord Jesus

more than the message

of judgment.

Can you?

Now thankfully,

it's not the only note

that needs to be struck,

but it is a note

that is missing

in today's Western world

as it teeters

on the brink of disaster,

just like Israel

in the 8th century BC.

John Piper says,

sometimes the people

need a holy fright.

Amos was the guy

who brought it.

It's thought by some

that Amaziah

was eventually able

to have the prophet Amos

deported back to the south.

If that's the case,

but no proof of it,

his voice may have been silenced

in the north,

but he became one of the first

of the writing prophets,

and although he's long since dead,

he's still speaking today.

I don't want to steal

anybody's thunder,

but as you go through this book

with its recurring theme

of judgment,

it's important

not to lose sight

of what's coming

in the last chapter

where God's mercy

becomes clearer

as the long night

of judgment

comes to an end.

I picked up a book

by Mark Deaver.

Some of you will know

who I'm talking about,

American.

He says he loves

to answer the question,

how are you doing?

You know, people,

how are you doing?

He loves to answer

the question,

better than I deserve,

is how he loves

to answer that question.

Better than I deserve,

and he says,

because it reminds him

of the gospel.

Well, brothers and sisters,

can I tell you something?

If it was only down

to justice being done,

you and I would be

cast off.

Even in how we've lived

the Christian life,

never mind how we lived

before we were Christians,

but God is a God

of incredible mercy.

Can I give you the words

of a hymn just to finish?

Just a verse.

After all these years.

Is this not the language

of our hearts tonight?

All of us,

if we really know ourselves

in the light of these

great truths that are

in this book,

nothing in my hands I bring.

Simply to thy cross

I cling.

Naked.

Come to thee for dress.

Help us.

Look to thee for grace.

Foul.

I to the fountain fly.

Wash me, Savior,

or I die.

We said it a long time ago,

did we not?

Are we not saying it again tonight?

God, be merciful to me.

I am a sinner.

You're the judge of all the earth.

You're going to judge

the secrets of all men.

What Amos is saying here

way back in the 8th century BC

is just a forerunner

of the great day

that is yet to come.

But we know

that in Christ

the promises of God

are all yes

and amen.

And there's hope

for us all

in Jesus.

Let's just pray.

Father, thank you

for Amos,

his fearlessness,

his faithfulness.

Help us, Lord,

in the small way

that we are able

to be just as fearless

and just as faithful

and to preach your truth

and to live out

your truth in love

and grace

and with mercy

but not to choose

the things

that we want to say.

To say the things

that you want us to say

even if that strikes

the note

of a righteous judgment.

Hear our prayer.

For Jesus' sake,

Amen.