Prepare to meet your God

I believe one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins,

and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

I invite you just to remain standing and bow your heads in prayer.

Father, sometimes things in your word frighten us.

And Father, sometimes when things in your word frighten us,

it goes against our flesh, it goes against how the world thinks,

it goes against how our culture thinks, it goes against what we want to do.

And so, Father, it's very easy for us to almost be like the serpent and say,

did you really say this, Father, and to turn away from it?

Father, we thank you that you love us.

We thank you that you sent your Son to die upon the cross.

We thank you, Father, that your Son in his death upon the cross

and in his resurrection that he has done everything that needed to be done

so that we could be reconciled to you,

and that we receive this purely and only and utterly and completely by faith,

that we can add nothing to the finished work of your Son.

Father, grip us with the gospel so that as we read your word,

we will not be afraid,

but that we will be willing to repent,

to learn, to grow,

and to hold fast to your word

as we hold fast to you.

Father, do this work in our lives,

and we ask this in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So I don't know how closely you were listening while Amanda read,

but you might be saying,

George, did the Bible just say that God causes famine,

God causes drought,

God causes crops to fail,

God causes disease,

God causes plague,

God causes violent death.

Is that what...

I was only sort of half listening, George.

Is that what Amos 4 says?

Is that what Amanda just read for us?

If that's what it says,

it touches a really, really, really deep fear in most of our hearts.

And we want to turn away from it.

And it's in fact one of the deep fears

that many people in our culture have.

In fact, you know,

I've noticed increasingly in Hollywood and in paper

that when they talk about something being really disastrous,

they say it's going to be of biblical proportions.

It's the only time they refer to the Bible

when something's going to go really,

really, really massively badly wrong.

It's just sort of the way we assume that the Bible is what it says.

Is that what the Bible's saying?

Is that, George, is it...

That's a bit worrisome.

So let's look.

If you have your Bibles,

and if you don't, once again,

there's still some copies up there.

You're welcome to take one.

Turn to the book of Amos, chapter 4.

Amos 4 · chapter mention

And if you're a guest here this morning,

one of the things we do at Church of the Messiah

is we preach through books of the Bible.

I try to make sure that every year we have at least one series,

one book in the Bible from the Old Testament at least,

because it's important for us to be able to read

those parts of God's Word as well.

And anyway, so we're going through the book of Amos this summer.

We'll end it on Labor Day Sunday, God's willing,

and then we'll move on to 2 Corinthians.

That will be the next book that we'll be preaching through.

So let's turn to it.

And the book, Amos,

that has this worrisome thing about Amos 4,

whether God's causing famine and plague and pestilence.

Actually, we all know that during the last election,

we all know that the conservatives caused all those things.

Sorry, never mind.

That was a bad joke.

Anyway,

just like whoever wins in the election down there,

it's the people who lost.

It's that party that causes it.

Anyway, never mind.

But the text is saying something really terrible.

But what begins actually with something that's a bit reassuring to us,

which is that God is completely and utterly opposed to robbery

and to oppressing the poor.

So Amos 4, verse 1,

Amos 4:1

this is how, actually, we'll read 1 to 5.

It begins with something comforting,

but actually then goes on to do something which is deeply countercultural.

And not only deeply countercultural,

but actually quite surprising to many people, I think,

who are outside of the Christian faith,

what they think that Christians would think about things.

Because it pairs two things together

that we don't always recognize that the Bible is against equally.

Actually, Andrew, why don't you put up my first point,

if you could do that?

What we're going to see in this very first thing,

it's a bit surprising,

but that the non-religious,

the irreligious,

the religious,

and the spiritual,

you know, the people who are spiritual, not religious,

each are hardening their hearts to God.

Each are hardening their hearts to God.

It's not as if the Bible is going to tell us

that we have to turn from capitalism

to embrace some type of spirituality,

which is what our culture would say.

Let's look at the text.

Verse 1 of Amos 4.

Hear this word,

you cows of Bashan.

Cows of Bashan were plump.

They were highly prized because they were plump.

They were very well cared for and very well fed,

and they could command a higher price.

Hear this word,

you cows of Bashan,

who are on the mountains of Samaria,

who oppress the poor,

who crush the needy,

who say to your husbands,

bring that we may drink.

The Lord God has sworn by his holiness

that behold,

the days are coming upon you

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fish hooks.

And you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead,

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,

declares the Lord.

Just before reading further,

it's an image of complete judgment,

and they'll be taken to a place of judgment

and losing everything,

completely and utterly losing everything.

And it will be a completely straight, unheeded way.

There's no wall stopping at nothing.

They're just completely and utterly taken

to having all that they have

and all that they trust

and all that they possess,

all of their wealth,

all of their power, positions, privilege,

completely and utterly removed

in a very straightforward manner.

That's the basic message of the text.

As Canadians, we like the first part

about oppressing.

It's wrong to oppress

and to take away things from the needy.

The last part we find troubling.

Let's go on to verse four.

Come to Bethel.

Bethel and Gilgal are two important places,

religious centers or spiritual centers.

And it would have been,

both of them would have been places

where there were both something

that looked very much like traditional Jewish worship,

hence it would look religious.

And there would have been something

that also would have looked

far more like spiritual, not religious.

To put it in like a modern place,

it would be a place

where right beside a cathedral,

there would be a coven.

Right beside a place

where there's a jazz vespers,

there's also going to be a place

where people are dancing

to call down the moon.

And right beside the place

where they would maybe be having

a very, very traditional sounding worship

and stuff that from the outside

looks like a choir or a praise band.

And right beside that,

there would be people

all meditating together,

trying to get in touch

with their more spiritual self.

And it's describing,

well, it's describing Ottawa.

But they use the word Bethel and Gilgal.

Come to Bethel and transgress,

verse four to Gilgal,

and multiply transgression.

Do you notice that?

To come to a place like this

is to come not to something

that the Bible's going to approve of.

It doesn't approve of religion

or spirituality.

It sees it that to be involved

in these things

is actually increasing

your rebellion against God.

The mosque and the cathedral

and the coven

and the temple

and the synagogue.

Come to Bethel and transgress

to Gilgal

and multiply transgression

or rebellion.

Some of your versions

might say rebellion.

Bring your sacrifices

every morning,

your tithes,

every three days.

Offer a sacrifice

of thanksgiving

of that which is leavened

and proclaim free will offerings.

Publish them.

For so you love to do,

O people of Israel,

declares the Lord.

So it's a very, very surprising text.

Because in fact,

as you know,

like Eat, Pray, Love,

you can think of lots of things

in the culture

and in movies and all.

There's this picture

that you get away from capitalism.

You get away from the rat race

and then maybe you go

and you learn how to meditate

and you learn how to eat

really good food

and you travel

and all that type of stuff

as well as if everybody's

really upper middle class

and rich.

But sorry,

that wasn't what I meant to say.

The point is that Hollywood

will portray that the option

to capitalism

is more like Walden Pond.

It's a simple life.

It's a spiritual life.

It's getting in touch with things.

They probably wouldn't say

that you'd go to a Catholic church

for a mass

or a church like ours,

but you get this idea.

But the first thing

is to see that the Bible

rejects that.

That's not the direction

God wants you to go.

And the other thing is just,

and this is a really important thing

for us,

is that when it talks about

the oppression of the poor

in verse 1

and it talks about

the crushing of the needy,

to think that it's referring

to capitalism only

is a grave mistake.

It's talking about bureaucrats

and socialist czars as well.

To think that governments

don't for their own purposes

crush their people

is a way to allow

the elite in our culture

to not recognize

not only what goes on

in our own culture,

but makes it that we don't

actually hear the Bible.

Amos chapter 4, verse 1

Amos 4:1

is not a socialist rant

against capitalism,

nor is it a capitalist rant

against socialism.

It's saying that,

you know what it's saying?

It's contrasting two people,

two types of people.

It's contrasting the people

who are basically,

you know,

whether you go on Dragon's Den

or some of those other places

and they say,

you know, frankly,

I don't care about

all these things.

You know, basically,

I just want to make some money

and at the end of the day,

after I've made some money,

I just want to be able

to have a drink.

And, you know,

basically, I think that

you want to meditate,

you want to go pray

or sing praise songs.

I think that is

unbelievably boring

and that a glass of Jack

while watching TV,

while watching some sports

is infinitely more relaxing

and they're completely

and utterly irreligious

and the Bible says

they're going to be judged.

And the people who go

to the cathedrals

and jazz vespers

and covens

and mosques

and synagogues,

they're also going

to be judged.

I mean,

this is a surprising thing

in our culture

and we in churches

often talk

purely and utterly

as if it's those

more capitalist

or worldly sins

that the Bible condemns.

But here,

the Bible pairs them

together.

Pairs them together.

The non-religious,

the irreligious,

the religious,

and the spiritual,

each are hardening,

their hearts

to God.

In fact,

this text,

you know,

one of the things

that we say

sort of in our culture

is that there's

many,

many different paths

to God.

And actually,

I think the Bible

would say

that that's

completely wrong.

The Bible would say

that there's

many different paths

to hardening

your heart

to God.

There's not

many paths

to God,

just many paths

to hardening

your heart

to God.

For some,

it's making money

and drinking jack

and for others,

it's being

deeply spiritual.

Now,

some of you

might be saying,

George,

that is

one of the most

hard-hearted,

judgmental rants

I've heard

in a long time.

No wonder people

don't want to

come to church.

Don't you think

that's hard-hearted

and judgmental?

And,

don't you think that?

And,

I mean,

I'd have to say

that it's very,

I don't think

I was being hard-hearted

and saying,

I was just trying

to bring out

the Bible,

but I do want

to acknowledge

that it's very,

very easy for us

to read texts

like this in a way

that are very hard-hearted

and judgmental.

It's easy for me

to do it.

It's one of the reasons

why the rest of this text

is very,

very important

and that we need

to call out

to the Father

to never have

our hearts hardened

even as we read

the Bible.

You see,

one of the things

which is condemned

in verses 4 and 5

about religion

and spirituality

is that it's religion

and spirituality

that we declare

for ourselves.

We make up

for ourselves.

We set the rules.

We do it

for our own purposes

and for our own

advancement.

for our own exalting.

And it's easy

for us to slip

into doing this

even when we're

reading the Bible,

even when we're

doing things

we think in a way

that's obedient to God.

But it's very easy

for us to slip

into having everything

be around ourselves.

One of the things

I struggled with

last week

was I actually

thought my sermon

last Sunday

was one of the

worst sermons

I've done

in a long time.

I know some of you

are shocked.

You were here

last Sunday

and you thought,

George,

that wasn't even

in your top ten

of your worst sermons

in the last year.

Boy,

you've really

been missing the boat.

But I,

you know,

I really struggled

for several days

throughout the week

because I thought

I had done

such a poor job.

and then the Holy Spirit

slowly but persistently

had to do a work

in my life

because why is it

about me?

Like,

I didn't see anything

unorthodox

and I tried to explain

the Bible

and I don't think

I did a good job

and then I felt

really bad

and the reason

I felt really bad

is I thought

it was about

my performance

that I thought

it rested

on my shoulders

that I had to do

things in a different

way so that

by my efforts

things would go better

and you know what?

All of a sudden

I've moved into

an area of

self-declared,

self-centered,

self-organized,

self-structured

understanding of religion.

So I don't want you

to hear this text

and I definitely,

especially God,

really worked

in my life.

Sorry if you had to

sit through a bad sermon

last week

but God

really worked

in my life

in preparation

for Amos 4

to help me

realize

just how easy

it is

for us to take

even good things

that are really

literally coming

from God

and turn it

in a subtle

twisted fallen way

into something

which is hardening

my heart to God.

But the rest

of the text,

in fact,

the text that

really worries us

is in fact

the way

into a deeper

comfort and

confidence

confidence

with God.

So

the hard

drinking,

money-making

or bureaucratic

control

person,

that's the first

thing and then

the religious

and the spiritual

and then we get

into this very

hard part

in verse 6.

I gave you

cleanness of teeth

in all your cities.

By the way,

in the Hebrew

the I

is emphatic.

So if we were

to almost be

re-editing this

we'd bold it.

We'd bold it

and maybe even

underline it.

I gave

you cleanness

of teeth.

It's an image

of famine.

Cleanness of teeth

in all your cities

and lack of bread

in all your places

yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

And we're just

going to pause

there for a second.

And some of you

maybe are going

to think to yourself

is this

now, George,

where you tell us

that in the original

language it's not

as bad as it sounds.

Well, I looked

at two academic,

three academic

commentaries this week

and I can tell you

it's translated

the Hebrew

very accurately.

It's translated

the Hebrew

very accurately.

In fact,

the Hebrew

as I just mentioned

actually makes it

more,

for us Canadians

it makes it

actually harder

because all the way

through

every one of the

eyes

of the five

sections

is emphatic

in Hebrew.

Actually,

maybe

and so

when it says

about God

causing famine

that's actually

what it says

and I'm not

going to actually

try to explain it

away.

Maybe before I read

any further,

Andrew,

could you put up

the next point

or Rebecca,

could you put up

the next point?

In the hope

that people

will return

to him,

God does

at times

bring disaster.

That's what

the text says.

I'm not going

to spend time

about all of

the different

ways that God

interreacts

to his created

order and

know that those

of you who sat

through my

Revelation series

and when we

went through

Romans,

you know that

there's sometimes

God just allows

things and

etc.

etc.

There's a range

of different

options here

and you can

read big

complicated books

on it but

the fact of

the matter is

that this text

does tell you

just how I think

I've summarized it

in the hope

that people

will return to

him.

God does

at times

bring disaster

but the refrain

is important.

Let's read

verses 6 to 11

and I'll read

verse 6 again.

I gave you,

this is God

speaking,

cleanness of teeth

in all your cities

and lack of bread

in all your places

yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

I also withheld

the rain from you

when there were

yet three months

to the harvest.

I would send

rain on one city

and send no rain

on another city.

One field

would have rain

and the field

on which it did

not rain

would wither

so two or three

cities would wander

to another city

to drink water

and would not

be satisfied.

Yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

I struck you

with blight

and mildew

with your many

gardens

and your vineyards

your fig trees

and your olive trees

the locusts devoured.

Yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

I sent among you

a pestilence

after the manner

of Egypt.

I killed your young

men with the sword

and carried away

your horses

and I made the stench

of your camp

go up into your nostrils.

Yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

I overthrew

some of you

as when God

overthrew Sodom

and Gomorrah

and you were

as a brand

a piece of wood

plucked out

of the burning.

Yet you did not

return to me

declares the Lord.

You know this

isn't completely

you know

I'm not

I mean for some of us

this is not even

remotely abstract.

Some of you

are dealing

with maybe

really serious

illnesses

or serious

financial disasters.

I know that

there's a

people in this

congregation

who have survived

attempts at genocide.

People who are

going to murder them.

I mean it's a very

very small thing

but my daughter

Victoria

her husband

was in a

multiple car accident

this week

on the Queensway

and suffered a

concussion

amongst other things

as car was totaled.

And that

just happened

this week.

In fact I didn't

know about it

I was going to go

I'd been working

in a West End

coffee shop

and I went to get

on the Queensway

and it was backed

up forever

and it must have

been just a few

minutes after the

accident

and I got off

the Queensway

and went around

it and found

out later on

that Sean

had been in

the accident.

So it's not

abstract

is it for us?

So I just want

to say a couple

of things about it.

The first thing

that I want to

say about it

is that this

fact that God

does things

sometimes that

are disasters

to bring people

back to himself

it's the flip

side the exact

same doctrine

that we in

other contexts

we place so

much hope in.

Like later on

in the service

we're going to

pray for sick

people.

Why do we

pray for sick

people?

Because we

believe that God

can sometimes

heal people

slowly by

apparently natural

means.

Sometimes he

will heal people

through drugs

and medication.

Sometimes he'll

heal people

instantly through

prayer.

There are many

people here in

this congregation

who could probably

tell you stories

either in their

own lives or in

lives of people

that are close

to them of God

acting in quite

remarkable and

miraculous ways to

bring healing.

people.

And you know

one of the most

precious doctrines

for the Christian

is the doctrine

of eternal

security.

The doctrine

that when you

put your faith

and trust in

Jesus, when you

reach your hand

up to Jesus

and realize that

he is God's

provision, that

God sent his

son to die upon

the cross and

rise from the

dead to be the

means by which

human beings

could be

reconciled to

him and that

when we reached

out to Jesus

in a sense we

can't reach Jesus

but that it is

his heart to

reach down to

us and to

take our hand

in his and

that when he

takes our hand

in his because

we have put

our, we want

to, we're

trusting him to

do what only

God can do

which is to

reconcile us to

him and that

when Jesus takes

us by that hand

he will never

let us go.

He will never

let us go.

And what is

part of the

ground of that

security is that

God is sovereign.

That God knows

all of the

events in the

future.

That there's

not going to

be an event

in the future

that will mean

oh dang it I

let go of

George as he

falls.

That that just

won't happen

because God is

sovereign and

he'll never let

you go.

Jesus will never

let you go.

You know the

basis of

prophecy that we

believe that Jesus

will return.

We can believe

that Jesus will

return because he

defeated death and

he rose from the

dead and he

ascended into

heaven and he's

going to come

back and we can

trust that he's

going to do that.

Why?

Because God is

sovereign and

all powerful and

we can trust him.

But the same God

who can act in

such a way that I

will never be let

go.

The same God who

can act in such a

way that we can

pray for rain or

that we can pray

for healing.

That is a God who

can heal who can

do those things.

And it also means

that he is a God

who for his own

sovereign purposes

who only desires

that his fallen

creation and

creatures would

return to him

might sometimes

also do things

like cause famine

in the hope that

people will return

to him.

For me to deny

this text would

be to deny that

we can pray.

It would be to

deny that we can

have eternal

security.

It would be to

deny that we can

have any hope.

You can't have

one without the

other.

You can't have

one without the

other.

But there's

something else as

well.

And by the way,

this is one of the

things here.

This, you know,

if you read, for

those of you who

come to faith in

Jesus and you

start to read the

Bible, every

Christian at

different times in

their life, they're

going to have to

make a decision.

will I trust the

Bible and want

to have my mind

conformed to the

Bible?

Or will I do

this?

For many of us,

this is one of

those times.

But I want to say

something else about

this text.

If you could put up

the next point,

Rebecca, please.

It is only because

God is sovereign

and all-powerful that

human beings have

freedom and hope.

It is only because

God is sovereign,

that means he rules

and has authority,

and he's all-powerful

that human beings have

freedom and hope.

Just this, a few

months ago, our

church, people from

our church joined up

with a few other

people as well,

and the Dig and

Delve Apologetics

organization to

sponsor a conversation,

a dialogue between

Aus Guinness.

We worked with the

main atheist

organization in

Ottawa, and they

picked a person to

speak, and we got

Aus Guinness.

It actually happened

to be right here.

They sat down.

Some of you were

here for it and had

a conversation.

He is a philosophy

professor from the

University of Toronto,

and Aus Guinness is a

D. Phil from Oxford,

well-published speaker,

and if you go dig and

delve and you Google

it, Aus Guinness, in

this debate here in

Ottawa, you'll see

something very, very,

very remarkable.

The debate, the

conversation was over

whether you can have

meaning in life without

God.

And I think for many,

many people who were

there, the shocking

thing for us was how

weak the atheist case

was.

And one of the many

shocking things is that

he actually wasn't able

to say whether we have

any freedom from an

atheist perspective.

If you don't believe me,

go looking for it.

Dig and delve.

If you can't find it

easily, email the office

or email me this week.

No, I'm going on

holidays soon.

Anyway, just, we'll

let you, we'll find it

for you somehow.

Somebody will check it,

we'll send it about,

but you Google it.

So here's the thing

about all of this.

This is a very, very

shocking truth.

It's a very hard truth.

But one of the things

is many people, when they

think about this truth,

they just think about

this idea that God can

cause these terrible

things, and they don't

like it.

They don't like the idea

of God being sovereign.

They don't like the idea

that human freedom,

here's the thing, every

system of, there's no

neutral place.

Every system of thought

has to come to term

with the fact that on

one hand we seem to

have human freedom, and

on the other hand there

seems to be causality.

Every system of thought.

And so it isn't as if

somebody might say,

this is terrible, I'm

going to reject this,

this is completely and

utterly a horrible thing.

Well, one moment, how

do Muslims deal with

it?

How do Buddhists deal

with it?

How do Hindus deal

with it?

How do atheists deal

with it?

And I want to tell you

this, I want to challenge

you and say, if you're

there horrified at this,

that if you end up

looking at Muslim

thought, and you look

at Hindu and Buddhist

thought, and you look

at atheist thought and

secular thought on this,

you will end up

thinking, you know

what?

The Bible makes the

most sense.

because, you know,

you think about it

from a fundamental

secular point of view

that everything is just

a result of causality.

Then really, if you're

on a mountain and an

avalanche starts to come

towards you, you have a

perfect image of human

life.

And if an avalanche is

coming towards you, you

have no freedom and you

have no hope.

But if it's God who is

using a hard time in

your life, you can call

out to him for mercy.

Or you can call out to

him and know that he will

be with you in the midst

of that really hard time.

You see, it goes beyond

this sermon.

Sometimes when very hard

times come, maybe it

is something that God

is specifically doing

and we have to call

out to him.

Maybe he is trying to

get our attention because

we have to repent or we

have to return to him.

Maybe it's something

that is just something

that we're going to have

to endure because our

enduring will endure in a

way that brings him

glory.

I mean, I just think,

again, I've mentioned

her many, many, many

times that in my early

ministry, one of the

most horrible things,

one of the hardest

things I had to do was

to visit a woman.

I think she had a

Lou Gehrig's disease in

the very, very final,

final year of her life

and she could, by the

end of it, all she could

do, she couldn't move

anything.

She could hardly even

blink.

She'd move her eyes and

look at me.

She had these haunting

eyes.

They'd follow you around

the room.

She had a little tube

right here by her mouth

and all she could do is

just, she'd speak into it,

try to amplify her voice

and half the time I

could only understand,

most of the time I

could only understand

half what she said.

And she loved Jesus.

I didn't bring her any

comfort at all, I think,

when I went to visit her

because I was so deeply

addicted to wanting to

be able to pray for

healing or do something

to fix it.

And there was nothing to

fix, only to endure.

And let me tell you,

wouldn't you rather

endure that knowing that

you can talk to God and

that he loves you?

That after a short time

in comparison to

eternity, that we will

have resurrection bodies

and that we will be with

him for all eternity?

Wouldn't you rather

endure that knowing that

you have a Savior who

died on the cross because

he loved you?

Than to endure it like

being on the slope of a

mountain, seeing the

avalanche coming at you?

And you are powerless

and hopeless.

And I don't want you to

choose it because one of

them is a fanciful tale,

an imaginary tale that

gives you hope.

Our hope ultimately is on

the fact that God sent

his son.

That God worked a miracle

in the womb of Mary and

he sent his son and that

his son walked amongst us

and that eventually his

son died upon the cross.

And that which seemed like

the defeat of evil and the

defeat of empire and the

and that which seemed like

a victory of empire and a

victory of armed might and a

victory of religion and a

victory of spirituality over

God's own son ended up

being in fact the means that

God used to reconcile

fallen human beings to

himself.

Why don't you return to me?

And we have a sure and

certain hope because on the

third day the grave was

empty.

The grave was empty because

he was no longer there.

He was risen.

And he will come again.

And there's other things you

can say in terms of the

wisdom of the philosophy and

the power of the narrative.

But we Christians have a

sure and certain hope.

Some of us our response is

still going to be

I don't like having to

decide George.

I would I even hate thinking

about the fact that God

would do something like

this.

It just makes me angry.

I mean I know that there's

people in this room that

they know people who've left

the Christian faith because

of something that happened

to a person that was really

good.

And it makes them angry at

God.

It makes them hate God.

And they don't like this

language of return.

It's just the whole thing.

George it might very well

be the case that if I

studied Islam and if I

studied natural sciences

and if I studied atheism

and if I studied Buddhism

and Hinduism I still might

come to the conclusion

George that the Christian

answer is a better way to

understand how human

beings work.

That it's only the Bible

that ultimately can really

account that causality is

really causality yet human

beings really have freedom

and if we have freedom and

if there is a God that does

exist and he sent his son to

die upon the cross that we

can have some hope but it

still makes me angry.

I'm going to turn my back

away and I'll have to deal

with it.

Just before we read the last

two verses here's the thing

that this whole text is

trying to communicate to us.

If you could put it up for me

please.

God is untamed and untamable.

He is only good and wholly

just.

He is present and he is

all powerful.

He is truly real and he is

inescapable.

He is inescapable.

So heed him when he speaks.

Receive the gospel.

And live each day knowing

you will meet him.

Every one of us meets God

every day.

But we meet God every day in a

way that we don't recognize it.

We don't thank him for air

conditioning.

We don't thank him for the

breeze that cools us.

We don't thank him for our

breath or for our thoughts.

We don't thank him for even the

tiniest bit of health that we

have or the fact that we have

money.

We don't recognize his design and

order and that he's all around

us and that he's present to us

that he's closer to our breath.

But the time will come when the

inescapable God will be

inescapably recognized.

Verses 12 and 13.

And note in the Hebrew how he

repeats himself twice.

It's for emphasis.

Therefore thus I will do to you

O Israel because I will do this

to you O Israel.

Prepare to meet your God O Israel.

Many of you have heard that

phrase prepare to meet your God.

This is where it is in the Bible.

Amos 4.

Prepare to meet your God O Israel.

For behold he who forms the

mountains.

Who creates the wind.

Who declares to man what is his

thought.

Who makes the dawn darkness and

treads on the heights of the

earth.

The Lord.

The God of hosts.

Is his name.

Is his name.

You know it's very very

interesting thing.

This is a text of mercy.

You know all the way through it

says yet you did not return to me.

Yet you did not return to me.

Yet you did not return to me.

Why does it say that?

Many of us are familiar with this

famous line for Augustine.

You have made us for yourself.

And our hearts are restless.

Until they rest in you.

It's funny.

It's a sign of how deeply

addicted we are to being God.

That we are bothered by being

told that we are a creature.

A creature created by a creator.

And when our creator created you

and me.

He made us in our in his image.

And we were always meant to be in

relationship with him.

And when we turned away from him

and decided to become God

ourselves there was a rending of

that relationship.

But every human being has a God

shaped space in their life.

And we might try to fill it with

robbing and drinking and having

lots of money.

We might try to fill it with

meditation.

We might try to fill it with

religious rituals of our own

choosing.

But at the end of the day it can

only be filled.

By our creator.

And that's why it says return.

That's why it says return.

Return.

Return.

Return.

Return.

Return.

And then it's very very surprising

because still God shows grace.

Because we don't return.

We don't return.

We don't return.

We don't return.

We don't return.

We don't return.

And then it doesn't say prepare to

meet your doom.

No.

There's still time.

It says prepare to meet your God.

And the phrase your God is only

found two times in the book of

Amos.

And the time the second time it is

found in the book of Amos is the

very end of the book of Amos where

God talks about how he will restore.

He will redeem.

He will ransom.

He will reconcile.

And he will provide a means by which

his people are in relationship with

him.

So there's a choice.

We can say.

Lord at first when I heard about the

fact that you caused all of these

things.

I always knew.

I think I said this last week.

I always believed that you hated me.

I've had so many bad things that

happened to me.

I just believed you hated me.

But now I hear that you don't hate me.

That you want me to return to you.

And that even now I can prepare to

meet you.

If we don't prepare.

We still will meet God.

And then it will be our doom.

We'll be crying just like that.

Only a lot worse.

But this is does not have to be your

fate because it says prepare to meet

me.

I will be your God.

God.

You can be my child.

By adoption and grace.

Prepare for it.

And then it just reminds us to make

sure that we don't understand that we

are to meet God in our own image.

And in verse 13 in five these little

descriptions six descriptions it gives

us in just like you know how some

people can take a drawing and just I can

hardly draw a stick figure but they can

just like oh this they go like this and

they can go like this and they can go

like and with just five or six lines you

can say that's a person I recognize

that and that's what that's what he

does here in poetic imagery.

Who is God?

He is the one who forms the mountains.

If you go to Vancouver and you see the

Rockies just think those look really

big they're really majestic it rains all

the time in Vancouver but people always

tell me but it's always worth it because

every once in a while the rain goes

away the clouds go away the sun comes

out and there are the Rockies and they

are awesome.

God is bigger.

God formed them with his hand.

He formed them so they would be just so.

God is bigger than the mountains.

He formed them.

He creates the wind.

In the Hebrew there's different words

for the word creation and the word

that's used here in the Hebrew is only

used of God creating.

In fact ultimately the Bible would say

that human beings don't create.

We're not creators in the same way that

God is.

We are sub creators because in a sense

only God creates but God creates the

wind.

If you go out and there's a beautiful

breeze God creates that wind.

He creates the invisible that still has

such an impact and an influence in your

life.

And that God is not just something who is

big and makes mountains and and sort of

invisible and can cause the wind that we

cannot see yet it feels us.

God is closer than our thoughts.

He knows every thought you have.

He's there right in the he's closer than

our breath.

He declares to man what is his thoughts.

He's present so close.

He's as close as my thinking as close as

my words as close as the imagination as

close as all of the things that go on in

my head.

He's closer than that.

He sees it all.

And then there's this wonderful line and

in Hebrew there's the in English they try

to smooth it out.

It's actually the way Yoda would speak.

It really is a need to have a Yoda version

of the Bible.

The maker of maker of dawn comma darkness.

That's what actually says literally in

Hebrew maker of dawn comma darkness.

Darkness.

Light and dark.

The beginning and the end.

The presence and the absence.

And he treads on the heights of the earth.

But he is not an impersonal God.

He is not a force.

Merely a force.

You cannot call God it.

We can tame it eventually.

You cannot tame God.

He is the Lord.

That is the name of the covenant God.

The God who desires to be in a covenant

relationship with people.

He is the God of hosts.

The God of the angel armies.

And it's his name.

He is a he.

A person.

So given such a God.

How on earth can we prepare to meet him?

In Amos' time.

750 years before the birth of Jesus.

The first thing that he could do is realize that the God who was a person speaks.

So maybe I should listen.

See that's the problem.

That's the problem with the rich and the bureaucrats.

Who don't listen to the voice of conscience or revealed religion.

That it's wrong to oppress the poor and to oppress the needy.

And it's a problem.

It's very interesting.

They talk about leaven.

In other words, it's even when the worship seems to be very, very traditional and religious.

They still completely and utterly stop listening to God.

The Bible says not to put leaven in the worship.

In your sacrifices.

And they go ahead and put leaven in the thing.

Even when it's most apparently traditional.

Even if it's a very, very fancy cathedral.

And they're all walking around very, very solemn.

It doesn't, you know, if they're all walking around very, very solemn.

And it's to an organ music.

But they're singing to God as she.

And they're going to celebrate a same-sex marriage.

I've just been very controversial.

The Bible says that all you're doing is refusing to listen to me.

And hardening your heart.

See, it's why we need to pray that our church is reformed by the Bible.

And is always reformed by the Bible.

Because it's so easy for us to go astray.

So first we can listen.

But for people in Amos' time, they would realize that there is no way they can prepare to meet a God

who's so close that he's closer than their thoughts and can shape, can create the wind and can shape mountains.

And how can you ever prepare for that?

And so before the cross, all they could do is say, Lord, have mercy.

There is a riddle here in what you've asked.

And I don't understand how you're going to solve the riddle.

All I can do is call out to you for mercy, trusting that you will solve the riddle of how I listen and prepare to meet my God.

I have to throw myself on your mercy.

If you could put up the next point.

Three scripture texts.

Amos, prepare to meet your God.

Second one, found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

This is my beloved son.

Listen to him.

And the third quote from John, Jesus himself.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his son, his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

On the cross, Jesus bore our doom.

And on the cross, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are not only exchanging places with Jesus so that he has borne our doom, but he offers to us his perfect standing for the Father.

His righteousness can stand for mine.

So this is not, this then means that it's not that we have to all of a sudden deny the world or anything like that.

It's a matter of being gripped with the gospel and then living in the world as God's creatures.

Living, reconciled to our creator.

Saying no to being the center of the universe in God.

Knowing we're going to keep messing up and being gripped by the gospel.

If you could put up the final prayer.

You see, this text is calling us to hear it because we're so blessed that we're reading in this text after the cross.

That we have to be gripped by the gospel.

It's not just calling us to religious busyness.

And we're being called to be a disciple of Jesus, to know him.

The Bible isn't another type of religion.

It's not calling us to religion.

It's calling us to a relationship with God.

In response to good news from God.

About what he's done for us in the person of his son.

It's inviting us to live a relationship with God.

Always mindful that the only basis we have is not because we are better than other people.

But purely and utterly because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

And that when we receive that, we are responding to the cry of God.

Why won't you return to me?

Why won't you return to me?

Every single person you see today on the street.

God is saying to them.

Why won't you return to me?

If we say some small thing pointing them to Jesus.

All we are doing is acting in accordance with the direction of the heart of God.

Who says to each human being.

Why won't you return to me?

Because that is his heart.

And this text is inviting us to be gripped by the gospel.

Now living for his glory not our own.

Calling us to obey his word.

And to live every day in a growing knowledge.

That God is all powerful.

That he's real.

That he's good.

That he's untamed.

He's inescapable.

To live.

To begin to learn to live every day knowing that God is inescapable.

For a Christian, a non-Christian, this prayer is the beginning of your Christian walk.

For a Christian, it's an entering into deeper discipleship.

God is inescapable.

Please stand.

And I invite you to pray this prayer with me.

As I said, for some of you, if you have never given your life to Jesus, then, you know, there's nothing special about these words.

And I know some purists would say it's missing this little aspect or this little.

You know, if it's your words to be connected to God for the first time as his child, then pray it out.

And for those of us who God is touching, it's a call for us to live each day knowing that he is inescapable.

That he's bigger than every promise, every problem we face.

And that we can live not as religious people or as spiritual people, but as people gripped by the gospel.

I invite you to pray it with me.

Dear Lord, please make me a disciple of Jesus, gripped by the gospel, who is living for your glory, by daily obeying your word, and growing in the knowledge that you are all-powerful, really real, only good, untamed, and inescapable.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Make us such a people.

Father, make me such a man.

Make me such a pastor.

This I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated as we go into a time of intercession.

As we enter this time of prayer, please feel free to take whatever position helps you to communicate with us.