WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.359 So we're in um we're in Amos chapter 3. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:20.079 If you are joining us for the first time or you haven't been with us for a while, we we're in we were in Acts 13 and 14, and now we're gonna be for seven weeks in Amos chapter seven. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:22.800 In Amos for seven weeks. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.320 So um last week we looked at chapters one and two. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:31.600 This gets us a little bit of exposure as a church to the Old Testament. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:40.560 And when you look at the prophets, you have to understand that the prophets map onto your Old Testament um history. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:56.640 So you know if you go through the Torah, the first five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you get those books from Moses, then you start getting into your history books. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:09.840 And your history books cover like Joshua, Judges, Ruth, then you've got the kings, you've got Samuel, you've got all that material that's there. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:23.920 So if you um are familiar with your Old Testament history, then you know where those prophets fit in to that Old Testament history. 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:32.079 So, like we said last week, we talked about how the nation of Israel split in half because of Solomon's divided heart. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:38.799 He was the third king in Israel, and God said, Look, because you have a divided heart, I'm gonna divide the nation. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:48.079 And so we ended up with the northern tribe of Israel and the southern tribe of Judah, two different nations with two different kingdoms. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:55.120 And Amos is a prophet to the northern nation that's called Israel. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:02:04.640 So at this time, as Amos is speaking, he's talking to Israel in the north, and then you have Judah in the south. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.959 Amos, he's from the south. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:16.800 He's from the southern nation, and yet God calls him to speak his mission, his message to the north, uh northern region. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:44.240 And so what we're gonna see is that you and I are blessable image-bearing covenant partners, now following Jesus according to his new covenant, and we want to know what the Holy Spirit have to say to us from the book of Amos. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:55.919 So as we're going through Amos, we're recognizing that the way God designed humans was to be blessed, not cursed. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:01.680 He designed them to be bearing his image on the earth. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:03.919 We see that in Genesis chapter one. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:17.199 And that they're supposed to be in a, not just, oftentimes I talk about a friendship with God, but literally you're designed to be a covenant partner with God in the world. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:22.400 You're a blessable, image-bearing, covenant partner with God. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:33.039 And so we bring that into Amos in light of what Jesus has done on the cross, and we want to ask ourselves, what does the book of Amos teach me? 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:39.520 How does the Holy Spirit want to teach me through Amos on what it looks like to follow Jesus? 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:48.000 I just want to show you, at least on your phones, the map of where we're at. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:54.960 So you see down in the southern reading, we have the kingdom of Judah on that slide on your on your phones. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.560 You see the surrounding nations, and we talked about those last week. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:12.159 There was a prophetic message that God gave to Amos to speak to all the surrounding nations, but then Israel was the focus at the end. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:19.920 We spend a good bit of time, it's like the center of the target, the bullseye was the nation of Israel. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:26.879 So that was chapters one and two, and now what we're looking at is uh chapter three. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:31.920 Just in turn, if you weren't here last week, Amos, he's a shepherd. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:38.079 And then we also see in a later chapter that he is a farmer of fig, sycamore figs. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:44.720 He's from an area of Techoa in Judah, called by God to preach to this nation of Israel. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:51.519 And I think it's also important to say what we said last week that you need to know where Israel is at, right? 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:59.839 So God's bringing a message to the nation of Israel, um, and they have a uh a certain thing going on as a nation. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:19.279 They're well off, they're established, they have strong military, they have a vibrant economy, um, they have a vibrant uh pagan worship system that's like a um it was a mix of the surrounding pagan idolatry as well as some of like their Hebrew roots. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.079 And they would worship in a place called Bethel. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:26.160 Um that was their place of worship. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.560 And the king that was reigning at the time was Jeroboam II. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:41.920 What's important for you to understand for chapter three is relationship, reasoning, and then ruin. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:50.800 That's really the that's the alliteration that we could follow is relationship, logical reasoning, and then ruin. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.720 Let me read to you verses one and two. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:05.279 Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:11.600 I have known only you out of all the clans of the earth. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.879 Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquity. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:18.560 Let's pray. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:25.439 Lord, we ask that as we read through chapter three, that you would be our teacher. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:38.639 We ask, Lord, that the work, the active work of your spirit that's promised to us, that you would really surgically apply Amos III into our own lives. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:47.439 And God, we recognize there's a massive time gap, there's a culture gap, there's a language gap of how this was originally spoken and written. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:56.160 And yet, God, we ask that you would bridge all of those gaps right over to our lives and that you would teach us about yourself. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:59.759 Lord, we give you this time, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:00.720 Amen. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:02.240 Amen. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.360 So verses one and two. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:14.560 Verses one and two really um brings forward that idea of relationship. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:30.800 What's important to understand is this this whole arena of prophecy is more like a siren before disaster than the actual trigger of the disaster. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:47.439 So if you think of God having a relationship with his people, he would use these men and sometimes women who were, they they had the title prophet, and and they were sounding the alarm. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:08:03.040 We don't really have many earthquakes here, but like let's say you were to go to Japan, and and everybody in Japan has like an early warning alert system, an alarm system that goes off on their phones, typically 90 seconds before there's a major earthquake. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.920 It's letting you know this is what's coming. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.759 And so a prophet would function like that. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:17.920 It would sound, he or she would sound the alarm on God's behalf of listen, this is what's up with God. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:24.959 When God looks at our nation, this is what he sees, and this is what he's going to do. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:38.639 Now, the important thing for you and I to understand is that the prophet, this role of the prophet, this gifting of prophet, doesn't stop when Jesus comes on the scene. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:49.120 In fact, Paul talks about how that when you and I enter into this relationship with Jesus, we accept the invitation to be his followers. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:52.399 When we respond, we're born again. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.200 And he gives us his spirit. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:59.840 We call that the Holy Spirit, or if you're black, you call it the Holy Ghost, right? 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.080 Amen. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.039 Thank you. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.840 Thank you, Louise. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.600 I gotta warm you up a little bit more out there. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:15.120 You got the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost comes and lives in you. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:19.919 And Paul says that he gifts you in particular ways, right? 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:29.679 And one of the ways that he gifts some of you is with this prophetic gift for the church, right? 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:39.279 And you would function in that gift, it would just be very natural to you to speak the words that God lays on your heart. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:46.399 And it'd oftentimes be the type of truth-telling, speaking the truth out. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:47.840 This is the case. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:55.039 It's usually, it's it's oftentimes a very bold witness to what God, sometimes it's controversial. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:05.919 But in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says, Let those who are gifted with a word of prophecy speak and then let others judge. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:19.360 So it's not like you just get to go and we just have to take your word for it, but there is an evaluation that happens in the church of like, is that from God, or is that person off their rocker or off their meds today, right? 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:26.559 So there's an evaluation, but that is an active work of the Holy Spirit even to this day. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:39.200 So Amos has this call upon his life to be this early warning alert or this siren before disaster occurs. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:46.320 And there is a looming disaster on the horizon for the nation of Israel. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:52.320 They have, as we saw last week, they have been mistreating the poor. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:11:01.759 They've been thwarting the path of the vulnerable, they've been grinding the face of the weak down into the dust. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:04.720 And God is not happy with that. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:17.039 And he's telling the people who are strong and of means, I am opposed to this, and you are going to be judged because you are treating people in this way. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:24.240 What comes up on your screen there? 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:26.639 It just says linked surprise, huh? 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.120 Okay, we'll fix that. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:35.120 This is um again, verses one and two. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:44.960 What I want you to see, just as we go through one and two, is that God's saying, I have a special relationship with you. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:48.639 That you are the ones that I chose. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:55.679 Notice that he says that I I took you, I took you from Egypt. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:07.679 Like, um listen to the message of the Lord that he has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan I brought from the land of Egypt. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:14.480 And then he goes on and he says, I have known only you out of all the clans of the earth. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.639 This is relationship, right? 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:24.480 God's establishing for um Israel that they are unique and special. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:34.159 And there's a right way and a wrong way to take that special relationship. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:36.399 You've got these relationships in your life. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:37.919 You got people that are close to you. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:13:02.159 Maybe it's family, maybe it's it's friends, but people can take either that closeness and abuse that closeness and think they can get away with whatever because they're close to you, or they can steward over the closeness they have with you and realize this is a treasure, there's greater accountability. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:06.960 We're chosen, we're safe. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.480 That can be the mistake. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.840 We're chosen, we're safe, or we're preserved. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.000 We're preserved. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:24.000 And what you need to know is that when God chooses you, there's greater accountability. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:26.559 And that's what's happening with Israel. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:39.919 Israel is facing the scrutiny, the the the um magnifying glass over their treatment of the poor and needy because they're God's chosen people. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:50.879 There was there's a man, he went to the playground, and uh he was watching from afar these two kids messing around and they're kind of fighting with each other and started to get a little heated. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:59.679 Then another man walked up to these two kids and broke up the fight, and the man took one of these kids off to the side and like whooped his butt. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.399 And this guy who's watching runs over. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:03.840 He's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:06.720 You can't just go and hit some kid at the park, you know. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.000 What are you doing? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.440 And the guy that broke it up, he says, Yeah, I can't I can't hit that kid. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.559 I can't spank him, but this one's my son. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:24.559 And he's gonna get special treatment from me, he's gonna get that discipline from me because I have that special relationship with him. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.960 And this is what God's doing with the nation of Israel. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:38.720 He's saying, I'm gonna hold you accountable, you're gonna get a heavenly spanking because of the way that you're treating the poor and needy. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:47.360 So we have relationship, and and this is the thing being chosen by God increases accountability. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.879 It does not grant a hall pass for your sin. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:15:04.720 So we talked, I prayed earlier that we are a people that we celebrate, when we come together as a church, we're not in here like, wow, we are the most awesome, behaved people ever. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.879 That's not like what we're cheering about when we gather. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:16.480 Instead, we're we're together saying, what sets us apart and makes us unique is that we are forgiven people. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.960 We're forgiven people. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:32.320 Don't ever think when you're out there and you're interacting with your friends that are just maybe they're sinning up a storm, they're on a tear, they're on a run, they're doing everything you could possibly do wrong. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.919 Don't start thinking like, oh, you know what, I'm I'm so much better. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:40.879 What makes you different from them is that you're forgiven. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.879 You're forgiven. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:56.080 That needs to be your attitude, not a condescension, because you could just be as you could be just as easily running like they're running, unless God had like rescued you from that, right? 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.440 God's intervened in your life, he's forgiven you. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.840 You've got to walk in that humility. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:07.840 So we're a forgiven people, but we're not a people who have accountability thrown off. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.559 We're still accountable before God. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:14.960 We're gonna go into the reasoning part next. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.679 And I have on your phones there 3-3. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:22.240 I'll read the whole thing from 3 3 through 3-6. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.840 And I want you to see seven questions. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:27.759 Seven questions. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:31.600 Can two walk together without agreeing to meet? 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.960 Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:42.799 Does a young lion growl from its lair unless it has captured something? 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.759 All you young lion experts, you're gonna have to answer that one for me. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:56.240 Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there is no bait for it? 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:02.639 Does a trap spring from the ground when it has caught nothing? 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:08.960 If a trumpet is blown in a city, aren't people afraid? 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:14.559 If a disaster occurs in a city, hasn't the Lord done it? 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:24.880 Amos is giving questions that have the same logical framing behind it, cause and effect. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:29.200 He's saying, like, well, let's go to the one that's on your screen here. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.799 Can two walk together without agreeing up to meet? 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:39.440 In other words, can you have a meeting with somebody without agreeing to have a meeting? 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:52.640 Well, you kind of, you mean you run into people here and there, but in general, you're not going to go for a walk with somebody else unless you agree, let's go for a walk, right? 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:57.440 Another one that he gives here is this trumpet. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:05.359 He says, if a trumpet is blown, bless you, if a trumpet is blown in a city, aren't people afraid? 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:07.680 Or, you know, if the alarm goes off. 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:14.480 I used to live in a place where we would get like tsunami alarms that would go off to just check the system. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:18.880 And there was a sense of like, oh my gosh, is there a real tsunami that's coming? 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.200 It's cause and effect, right? 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:30.720 Amos wants you to grab a hold of that idea of cause and effect because he's going to justify his ministry. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:37.680 Please hold on to this because in a few weeks, after we're done with Amos, we're going to get to 2 Corinthians. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:56.720 And the book of 2 Corinthians, one of the undercurrents of that book is Paul being led by the Holy Spirit to justify and legitimize his ministry to a people who had other spiritual, so-called Christians at their church trying to undercut Paul. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.319 And so Amos and Paul kind of are in the same boat for a chapter. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:09.680 And here Amos is setting that defense up by showing that there is cause and effect. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:18.559 When we get here, to the middle of verse 6, he says, if a disaster occurs in a city, hasn't the Lord done it? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:33.759 There is this sense in what Amos is saying that judgment is not random. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:41.519 It follows a chain reaction. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:55.440 If we go a little bit further, verse 7, he says, indeed, the Lord does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.359 Who was I talking to about this earlier? 00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.599 Not not here. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:00.720 It was earlier this week. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:01.920 It was somebody in this room. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:08.559 We were talking about how God just gives you a sense of something before it happens. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:09.759 It was Friday morning. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:10.799 We were together. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:13.279 I can't remember. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.880 But but when we go together, we're going to be in the Experiencing God book. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:21.920 For those of you that sign up for waypoints in the fall and you're able, you've done the first two classes. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:40.880 When we get to experiencing God, you're going to see that Henry Blackaby uses this text to justify his framing about your spiritual experience as a principle that God doesn't, he does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants, the prophets. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:47.440 And when we go through this in experience in the Experiencing God book, hopefully we have some vibrant conversation about this. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:49.759 Of like, is this always the rule? 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:54.240 Is this the principle that is always the case, or is it a general principle? 00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:10.480 I would I would put it in the category of a general principle that God gives you a like being a Christian, one of the aspects of following Jesus, being a follower of God, being in touch with the work of the Spirit, is that He is giving you a sense of anticipation of what's coming. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:24.400 And the reason, and the way I would, I would defend that idea is when we read through Matthew, we saw all the times where Jesus was telling his disciples, aren't you looped in? 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.119 Like, don't you see what's going on? 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.920 He's rebuking the rabbis and the Pharisees. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:30.400 Remember that? 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:36.319 He's like, you know the weather, you can discern the weather, but you're not aware of what's going on in this moment. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:50.079 There is this expectation that Jesus brought to the table that the people of God are keyed in on the kingdom narrative or God's story unfolding. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.480 So what does that look like for you and I? 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:59.680 Well, we already talked about it in one sense that sometimes God gifts, like us as a church, he may gifts. 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:03.119 Somebody in our church with the gift of prophecy, right? 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:09.759 And somebody may have a prophetic word about, hey, here's what's going on. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:16.319 We we had that, we have a lady, I don't know if I've seen her recently at the compassion center, but she's got a gift of prophecy. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:26.400 And she doesn't wear a shirt that says, I've got the gift of prophecy, but you go up and you talk to her at the compassion center, and she just begins to speak over your life. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:37.519 She comes to get food and she'll say stuff over my life where it's just like, there's no way you would say that to me unless you knew what was going on in my heart. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:43.039 Because it's like she's got an insider view into like the things I'm thinking about and praying about. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:50.480 So sometimes God's doing this where he's revealing his counsel through that gift of prophecy. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.079 Other times there's dreams. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:23:01.200 Some of you will have almost prophetic dreams, dreams where it's just like you remember them, there seems to be a significance about it, and then you just got to pray. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:06.240 Like, God, do you want to give meaning or interpretation to that dream? 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:26.720 I've told you my story that three weeks before 9-11, I had had a dream that I woke up from, and I remembered vividly carrying the the side of a the stretcher of a woman who was bloodied, and she had, and it was like some war-type event, and we were taking her to a triage center. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:33.440 And I remember waking up that thing with this clear sense, something's about to happen in our country. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:35.599 Three weeks later was 9-11. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:42.720 Six months later, they had like the USA to USA Today or US News and World Report commemorative 9-11 edition. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.000 And I'm thumbing through it, and one of the pages is a picture. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:50.559 Literally, the image in my dream is the picture in the magazine. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:54.960 And it literally says, here's this woman being carried to a triage center, right? 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.920 So God can give us that sense of like, oh, this is what's coming. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:06.480 Now, in Hebrews, it says that our spiritual exer our spiritual senses have to be exercised. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:13.440 Because when you're spiritually immature, you start thinking like every coincidence is like, oh, it's God, God's doing that. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.240 Oh, that's what it is. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:19.279 And it can be kind of misinterpreted or over-spiritualized. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:31.119 But just because when you're young in the faith, you kind of can get stuff wrong doesn't mean that you mature and to stop looking for God's patterns and signals and revealing. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:41.279 It just means that just like you learn to appreciate third-wave excellent coffee from like a ceremony coffee shop as you get better in drinking coffee. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:50.960 In the same way, the more you're reading your Bible and listening to the Holy Spirit's voice, the older you get with Jesus, the more you're able to discern that's the Lord. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.319 He's giving me a sense of what's about to happen. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:55.279 Man, I can't remember. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.400 Who was it on Friday? 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:57.839 We were talking about this. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.640 Nobody's gonna offer, right? 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.200 You won't you don't remember who we're who I was? 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.359 Okay, maybe it wasn't somebody here. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:10.319 But yeah, God just He wants to give you a sense of what's going on. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:17.519 And Amos, what he's saying is, listen, I'm playing a role in a logical sequence. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.880 You're all screwing up as a nation. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:24.640 God has decreed that you're gonna be judged. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.079 And my job is to communicate to you that that judgment is coming and to tell you exactly what you're doing wrong. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:48.480 To open up the service, we read from Psalm 51, God put Nathan the prophet into David's life, and Nathan the prophet came to David and said, through a parable, this is what you have done wrong. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.039 And David had the opportunity to respond and repent. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:26:01.839 And then he wrote his repentance as Psalm 51, so that the nation of Israel had language to express. 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:09.200 David provided for the nation devotional language. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:27.440 Moses provided the law, the guardrails, the structure, the societal framing, but then David was used by God to gift the nation devotional language to say, I'm sorry, or I love you, or I need you, do you hear me? 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:28.640 Do you see my pain? 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:30.480 That's what's in the Psalms. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:40.720 And they should have, they should have, as a nation, taken that, and they should have repented of their sin, but they didn't. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:48.319 And so God is decreeing that he's going to judge. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.920 You have the cause and effect. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.680 Amos is the effect. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:27:10.720 He's not the cause of God's judgment, he is the result of God's determining because God loves his people, and he is the one who does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants, the prophets. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:12.960 Are you tracking with me? 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:20.000 So there's on your screen, on your uh on your phone there, you have a chain of judgment. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:29.039 God plans and reveals, the prophet speaks, people ignore, judgment arrives. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:33.039 That is the that's the logical sequence of what's going on. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:45.279 And Amos is saying, hey, just like just like there's just every day cause and effect things that you are familiar with, God plays by the same rules of cause and effect. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:52.799 And I'm just in that sequence of chain and effect bringing to you what's about to happen. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:56.480 Let's look at verses 10 and 11. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:02.640 10 and 11, well, nine. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:23.759 Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod, on the citadels in the land of Egypt, assemble on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great turmoil in the city and the acts of oppression within it. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:25.839 So what's going on here? 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:30.400 Amos is calling to these two foreign nations. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:35.200 He's calling to Ashdod and Egypt. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:39.519 And he's saying, You guys are the bleachers. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:41.599 Imagine like an arena. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:50.400 You got Egypt on one side, you've got Ashdod on another, and they're peering down, and on the field is the nation of Israel. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.960 And he calls them as a witness. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:29:02.240 Remember, Amos is kind of like a lawyer making a using the covenant language to make his indictment against the nation. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:08.720 And he's saying, I want you to observe what God does with his people in this arena. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:11.599 I want you to see the great turmoil in the city. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:18.400 I want you to see the guilt of the people, what they're doing wrong, their acts of oppression. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:21.039 That would be embarrassing. 00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:25.759 He invites them to see what's going on. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:35.759 Do you have a thing there that pops up on your phone? 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:40.720 I don't know why that's popping up there in that spot. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:42.480 That's from Honey. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:43.920 I shrunk the kids. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:47.039 Did you ever watch that movie? 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.000 Cause and effect, right? 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.000 He shrunk the kids. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:58.240 There was a cause, and you ended up with these like microscopic little kids running around in the movie, right? 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:00.000 Cause and effect. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.559 And what Amos is saying is like, listen, you need to understand. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.039 I bet that broke my slides too. 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:10.000 It did. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.680 Oh yeah. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.519 What you need to understand, you're gonna have to turn. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:19.839 If you don't want to look at honey, I shrunk the kids for the rest of the sermon, you're gonna have to turn your phone off. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:35.440 What you need to understand, what Amos is saying is listen, God is, He is up, there's like this impending judgment that is about to happen. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:49.759 I want the nations to watch it, I want them to observe, and I want them to be aware of what um I how I handle the violation of the covenant. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:55.200 He goes on, he says, the people are incapable of doing right. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.240 This is the Lord's declaration. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:04.640 Those who store up violence and destruction in their citadels. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:10.480 In that amazing language, the people are incapable of doing what is right. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:21.759 It reminds you of like Noah before the flood, when when um when God's about to send the flood, there's like there's no one that does any good. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:31.279 He says there you you as a people are incapable of doing what is right, and the Lord's declaring it. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.920 They're storing up violence. 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:38.240 Here's one of the things we hit on this last week, we're gonna hit on it every week. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:48.640 If you're a person that's facing violence, destruction in your personal life, God sees it. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:54.880 It's easy to read this and feel like, man, that guy's Amos, he's beating up on me. 00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:58.000 But maybe that's not what you're supposed to hear from Amos. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:02.960 Maybe what you're supposed to hear is that God sees your suffering. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:22.960 He saw the suffering of the vulnerable in the nation of Israel, he saw the poor, he saw the needy, and God's about to go ham on these rich people in Israel that are just like destroying. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:27.759 Like literally, the imagery last week was like pressing their face into the dust. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:36.079 And you know, if you've been in that place, that you're if you're vulnerable the essence of being vulnerable is you're powerless to change your circumstance. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:44.079 And yet here's God showing up with his prophets speaking, saying, This is what's about to happen to you. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:47.519 Verse 11. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:58.880 Therefore the Lord God says, An enemy will surround the land, he will destroy your strongholds, and plunder your citadels. 00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:01.759 Amos, man, he loves this word. 00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:04.640 This was all over like one, two, and now here we have it again. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:09.759 It's like the your palaces, your fancy rich houses, basically. 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:12.319 They're gonna get destroyed. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:20.400 The Lord says, as the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of ear, this is like a poem, okay? 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:29.759 A piece of an ear from a lion's mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued with only the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch, right? 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:43.920 Imagine a shepherd is like the sheep gets grabbed by the lion, and the lion runs off with the sheep, and you're the shepherd, you chase him down, and you're like, you get there just in time to just grab like a piece of an ear out of his mouth. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:45.920 But pretty much he ate the whole thing. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:53.440 There's gonna be a remnant, there's gonna be a small leftovers after this judgment occurs, but it's only gonna be a fragment. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:34:04.960 Or if you had a piece of furniture that you threw into the back of a garbage truck, and that garbage truck door comes down and is crushing it, and you're like, oh, I wanted that. 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:09.840 Try to grab a piece, it's like, oh, there's only a cushion, half a cushion left, you know. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:12.639 He says, That's what you're gonna be like as a nation. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:16.320 There's only gonna be fragments of you that remain. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:20.800 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:26.159 This is the declaration of the Lord God, the God of armies. 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:32.239 I will punish the altars of Bethel the day I punish Israel for its crimes. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:37.360 On the day I punish Israel for its crimes, the horns of the altar will be cut off. 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:41.039 The horns of the altar was, so this was their worship place. 00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:46.880 They went, wouldn't go to Jerusalem, they would worship in Bethel with a like a false religion. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:54.000 And the horns were like handles, so they would rub the blood of the the um animal sacrifice on the horns. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:56.320 It was the most important part of the altar. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:03.440 And so God says, I'm gonna cut off the horns of the altar and fall to the ground. 00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:04.719 It's gonna be broken. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:11.920 You're like the the the the central place of your worship is gonna be destroyed. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:15.039 I will demolish the winter house in the summer house. 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.800 Like these guys are rich, right? 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:21.360 They got the winter house, they got the summer house. 00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:24.320 Yeah, no, I'm gonna dis demolish it. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:26.880 The houses inlaid with ivory. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:30.719 We've we've found these, we've found these ivory pieces. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:38.880 Archaeologists have seen that they were sold out of Egypt, brought to this uh northern Israel area. 00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:45.039 Uh the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed, and the great houses will come to an end. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:47.599 This is the Lord's declaration. 00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:57.679 Remember, God we started off with relationship, and then we get to reasoning. 00:35:57.679 --> 00:35:59.920 Why is this message happening? 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:03.599 And it's Amos saying, look, this is how God works. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:08.639 And then we get to the results or the ruins of the people. 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:18.639 And you just need to know that the way that Israel felt as they were listening to this guy was, Amos, you're crazy. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:21.119 Look at how much money we have. 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:23.840 Look how strong our military is. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:26.960 Look at, I've got a winter house and a summer house. 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:28.239 Like, are you kidding me? 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:30.719 Like, who's gonna overcome this? 00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:37.440 And yet, when we step back, we look at history, God's word came to pass. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:45.199 When God speaks and God declares, there's no escaping from it. 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:48.400 So, where do we fall as believers? 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:50.000 And we'll we'll end with this. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.920 Where do we where do we land as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:36:53.920 --> 00:37:08.639 Because this is um this message was given to people who are under the old covenant, but you and I are followers of Jesus under the new covenant, which we'll celebrate in just a minute. 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:18.000 And I just want to give you four quick things because the pieces, do you ever play the game Tangos as a kid? 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:22.719 T A N G O E S Tangoes? 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:30.559 You'd get these geometric shapes and you'd get a card, and you had to make like the geometric shapes look like what was on the card. 00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:31.920 Anybody ever play that game? 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:32.639 Was it just me? 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:35.119 Oh my gosh. 00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:37.119 I'll bring it. 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:40.239 If my if my phone app was working, I would show you a picture of it. 00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:40.880 It's so fun. 00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:41.599 It's like a puzzle. 00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:43.519 You gotta put it together with the pieces. 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:51.199 The reason, the reason I I wanted to bring that up is because it's the pieces under the new covenant get rearranged. 00:37:51.199 --> 00:38:04.880 You still have, you still have covenant, you still have the idea of relationship, privilege, responsibility, judgment, warning, consequences. 00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:09.199 All of those things still exist, but they're rearranged. 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:10.800 They're rearranged. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:18.239 And the center of gravity under the new covenant, it shifts to Christ and his finished work on the cross. 00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:26.079 So the nation of Israel was in a covenant relationship with God based off of Moses' law. 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:34.719 So there was a covenant relationship, but but the covenant was not the same covenant that you and I relate to God with. 00:38:34.719 --> 00:38:37.760 We relate to God under the new covenant. 00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:50.400 And so the first thing you need to know is that as we finish out this chapter, there's this declaration of a curse, basically, that destruction is coming on your homes. 00:38:50.400 --> 00:39:00.239 And you need to understand that Jesus was cursed and destroyed for your sin and your rebellion. 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:12.400 And so you don't live in a place, you're not living in a place where you're afraid that these things, God's not dealing with your life in the same way. 00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:23.679 Jesus took the curse of the law so that you do not have to face the same curse outlined under the law. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:29.920 There is still a form of judgment, but it comes as discipline in our life. 00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:35.920 The way that God relates to us is not like Zeus, I'm gonna smoke you with a lightning bolt. 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:37.760 That's not how God deals with us. 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:45.760 When we are walking in sin in our life, what he does is he disciplines us like a father does with a child. 00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:49.360 Like if you really love your kids, you're gonna discipline them. 00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:52.400 And that's the relationship that we have with God. 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:58.079 Not a smoke them, destroy them, tear them down, but more of a corrective. 00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:09.199 I'm gonna let you experience some pain, not because I'm super mad at you, but because I deeply love you and I have given you the resource to change that pattern in your life. 00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:19.519 Third, the final judgment, the final judgment like this moves on to this, what we call an eschatological horizon. 00:40:19.519 --> 00:40:23.840 That's a fancy word for the end time events. 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:35.199 So, judgment like that, this is still a reality under the new covenant, but it's anticipated as a future event that will happen with the return of Christ. 00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:39.039 That there will be this ultimate judgment that occurs. 00:40:39.039 --> 00:40:49.760 So in the old covenant, in the old covenant, the covenant people themselves absorbed the brunt of the judgment in history. 00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:53.440 In the new covenant, the mediator, who's our mediator? 00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:59.519 Jesus, he absorbs that judgment, the curse. 00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:09.760 We experience instead fatherly discipline and sometimes temporal consequences, but not wrath. 00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:17.599 We can think in terms of direct parallels as well as Christ-fulfilled differences. 00:41:17.599 --> 00:41:27.679 We don't have time this morning to go through all of those, but we have, we are a privileged people just like the people of Israel were privileged people. 00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:31.840 We have responsibility just like the people of Israel had responsibility. 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:35.440 God gives us warnings just like he gave them warnings. 00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:40.639 There are consequences just like there were consequences for them. 00:41:40.639 --> 00:41:44.159 But the differences are just this the curse. 00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:47.280 Jesus has taken the curse on himself. 00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:58.800 He's taken the curse on himself so that you and I can be in this place of abounding grace, where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. 00:41:58.800 --> 00:42:07.360 That God has got a reservoir of grace for you that will always outdo your sin. 00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:10.239 And so stop sinning. 00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:11.440 Right? 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:17.840 Stop walking in dumb, stop walking in rebellion. 00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:26.400 Let the work of the spirit in your life move you towards those patterns of living as a kingdom person. 00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:27.519 All right. 00:42:27.519 --> 00:42:29.760 Let's pray together. 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:42.800