WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:17.679 Welcome to our worship time together. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:27.440 I trust that that has all led you to a worshipful reverence for who God is and what he's done for us. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.880 Just love the content of those songs that have just drawn us to Christ and to the cross and what he's done for us. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:42.079 Well, I hope that you will come back this evening at 5 o'clock for our pie fellowship. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:47.359 Part of gathering together as God's people is loving being together. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:51.039 So I trust that you will love to be together with all of us tonight. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:57.520 And last year I made the mistake of telling you what my favorite pie was. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:00.880 So we were inundated last year with that pie. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:07.120 So I will not this year make the mistake of telling you that I love fruit pies. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:09.760 Just saying. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.159 Would you turn to the Old Testament book of Amos? 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.239 If you have your Bible or if you have a pew Bible in front of you. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:32.879 We have been working our way through this Old Testament prophet seeking to answer the question, does God care? 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.319 Does God care? 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:41.439 Each section of the book has an appendage, I guess you could say, to that question. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:52.079 And our text this morning adds the appendage, does God care about the acts of the religious and the wealthy? 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:58.560 Now that might seem like a strange group to put together, but Amos puts them together. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:03.280 And I trust that as we work through this you will be able to see why. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.319 I'd like to look with you for our time together. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.400 Amos chapter 5, beginning in verse 18. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:15.919 And we'll read all the way through the end of chapter 6 if you would like to follow along. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.479 Again, that's Amos chapter 5, beginning in verse 18. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:25.840 Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.120 Why would you have the day of Yahweh? 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:31.759 It is darkness and not light. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:42.479 It is as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or as if he went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.000 Is not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light? 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.800 And gloom with no brightness in it? 00:02:49.759 --> 00:03:06.639 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies, even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fattened animals I will not look on them. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:19.759 Take away from me the noise of your songs, to the melody of your harps I will not listen, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:26.319 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:40.159 Now you shall take up Sakuth your king and Cayun your star god, your images that you made for yourselves, and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:53.439 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations to whom the house of Israel comes. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:59.759 Pass over to Kalna and see, and from there go to Hamath the Great. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:02.400 Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:04.719 Are you better than these kingdoms? 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.800 Or is your territory greater than your territory? 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:14.400 Or you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:39.680 Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves out on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:49.199 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:05:02.560 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself, declares Yahweh the God of hosts, I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:07.360 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:18.879 And one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there anyone still there with you? 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:20.480 He shall say no. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:26.000 He shall say, Silence, we must not mention the name of Yahweh. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:33.759 For behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.079 Do horses gallop on rocks? 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.160 Does one plough the sea with oxen? 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:50.480 But you have turned justice into poison, the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:57.040 You who rejoice in nothing, who say, Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves? 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:10.240 For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, declares Yahweh the God of hosts, and they shall oppress you from Lebo Hamath to the bookbrook of the Arabah. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:11.839 Amen. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:24.240 One of the most astonishing acts of God recorded in Scripture occurred during an act of worship. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.399 During an act of worship. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:38.000 Much of the Old Testament book of Exodus details the layout and the construction of the tabernacle, sort of a tent-like traveling temple. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:52.160 The next book, Leviticus, begins to lay out all of the requirements for worshiping God at that tabernacle, all of the purification rites, all of the rules and regulations for offerings and sacrifices. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:59.040 God was preparing his people to come together and worship them at this tabernacle. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:10.319 And then finally, God took Moses' brother Aaron and his four sons and set them apart as priests. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:22.480 They offered a sacrifice that was intended to atone for their own sins so that they would be purified to serve as mediators between God and the people. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.759 That is how the ninth chapter of the book of Leviticus ends. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.120 It's a great and awesome part of Scripture. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:43.600 It's a great and magnificent moment, as everything is now ready in the life of Israel for Israel to meet their God at the temple, to come and gather together and to worship him. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:47.680 It's a wonderful, wonderful position in which to be. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:53.759 And then we read in Leviticus chapter ten these words. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:09.199 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censor and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.920 Now pause and process that statement for just a moment. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:27.759 Two of the four sons of the newly ordained high priest of Israel are present and excited and ready to serve God and to worship him with all of their people. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:30.800 They're enthusiastic about doing that. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:36.960 Just as I trust all of us were enthusiastic to come and worship our God together this morning. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:44.240 So they grab some religious implements and they proceed to do just that. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:45.600 But there are two problems. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:49.360 First, they offered strange fire, it says. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:56.720 And that strange fire leads to the second problem that was not commanded by God as something that they should do. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:01.120 Taken together, those two issues tell a clear story. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:07.039 These two newly minted priests did things their own way. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:18.639 They decided that they had the right and the authority, the training and the knowledge to worship God the way they desired to worship. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:22.080 God had never authorized what they did. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:28.480 He never approved of it, and so it was considered strange, out of the ordinary, not normal. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:37.120 Now, today, today Nadab and Abihu would be lauded as trailbreakers in the ways of worship. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.679 They would be the headliners at the creative worship conferences. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.240 But then comes the astonishment. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:53.360 In the very next verse, it says, And fire came out from before Yahweh and consumed them. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.559 And they died before Yahweh. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:05.200 However, we might react to that, and I'm sure there are various ways, one thing is clear. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:11.759 From that passage, we know God cares about how his people worship. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:17.759 Nadab and Abihu ignored God's prescriptions for worship. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:31.519 And so Moses went on to explain in that chapter that Yahweh said, Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, I will be set apart, and before all of the people I will be glorified. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:38.320 You see, Aaron and his sons were to be the standard bearers of God's holiness. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:46.799 They were to display before all of the people that God is holy, that he is set apart, he is distinct, he is different. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:53.919 Instead, they turned worship into something common, not holy. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.120 And God took their lives. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:04.639 It should not surprise us to hear that things were not much different 650 years later. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:14.000 The pattern of ignoring what God had said, what God had prescribed, and worshiping however one wanted was the rule of the day. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:18.240 And in response, Amos proclaims to them three woes. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:27.759 Now that's kind of an ancient way of saying what we would say today as watch out and not in a good way. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:32.480 God is coming and he's not happy. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:36.480 You've heard the phrase, Mama is not happy, then nobody's happy? 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:40.480 Well, take that a hundred times more. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.120 God's coming, he's not pleased. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:51.759 I'd like you to look with me at chapter 5, verses 18 through 27, as we really get into what's going on here. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:57.679 Here we see the detailed pattern of worship that Israel had come to accept as normal. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:05.600 In verses 18 through 20, we see that the people are theologically confused. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:11.919 And then in verses 21 to 24, we see their patterns of worship condemned. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:18.480 So let's look back at verses 18 through 20 first at being confused about the day of the Lord. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.799 They really, really wanted this day of the Lord to come. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.120 Now we're not told what they thought about it. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:31.919 We're not told how they viewed it, except that they were excited about it and they wanted it here now. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:41.679 Typically, in ancient Israel, the day of the Lord was viewed as a time of God's victory over all of his enemies. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:47.759 That was good news for Israel because Israel thought, hey, God's enemies are our enemies. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.799 Our enemies are God's enemies, so if God is coming in victory, that's good news for us. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.080 Our enemies are going to be abolished, they're going to be gone. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:01.759 Why would anyone not want God to come in crushing victory over his enemies? 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.039 We're told that they longed for this day. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.559 Of Israel wandering in the desert. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:18.080 You remember this story, I'm sure. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:21.919 They were wandering in the desert and they were craving what they had left behind in Egypt. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.759 They were craving meat. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.960 They wanted good, solid meat to sink their teeth into. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.279 Of course, that wasn't a good thing because they weren't trusting God. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:42.320 Same word is used in 2 Samuel 23 of someone who is so thirsty that even a drop of water would be refreshing. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.039 They craved a drink of water. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:52.879 Solomon says in Proverbs 21, verses 25 and 26, the desire of the sluggard kills him. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:55.919 All day long he craves and craves. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:01.200 This word is so intense that it is connected to the idea of coveting. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.399 Israel is coveting the day of the Lord. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:12.559 Sadly, they had become overzealous about a good thing. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.519 That never happens to us, right? 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.639 Some of us might become a little overzealous about pie this evening. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:23.600 That might not be a good thing. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:28.720 Few days at Thanksgiving, we might be a little overzealous about all the good food that's put in front of us. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.360 That's not, you get what I'm saying, right? 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:37.440 Now we think of the day of the Lord as the end times. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:46.000 Israel probably wouldn't have thought that way so much as the day of the Lord being the time when they could get a leg up on their enemies. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.879 When they would be the ones in control. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:53.360 So if God were to help them along in that way, it would be even better. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:01.200 Wanting God to fulfill his plan is a good thing. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:06.559 Wanting God to carry out what he has promised to do is a good thing. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.639 But Israel was confused about what that good thing was. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:15.200 And as a result, they became very unbalanced in their theology. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.000 It's a good warning for us. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.600 Sometimes we struggle to be balanced people. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:26.639 We can become so caught up in our eschatology that it becomes a bad thing. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:38.080 Parts of Christendom today emphasize blessing from God, and as a result of that overemphasis on the blessings of God, they move into the false doctrines of a prosperity gospel. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:46.720 Some today overemphasize the work of the Holy Spirit and become off-center in their beliefs about the work of the Spirit. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:53.360 Israel was driven to desire a twisted form of the day of the Lord. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.120 Watch out, Amos said. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:02.799 Why would you desire the day of Yahweh? 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:07.200 It's a day of darkness rather than a time of celebrating God's victory. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:09.200 Oh, you wonder about that? 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.159 Let me give you a couple of examples, Amos said. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:18.879 Imagine that you are scared out of your mind because a lion has come out of nowhere and is chasing you. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:29.840 You are fleeing with all of your might away from the lion, and as you're running away from the lion, you only come face to face with a 700-pound grizzly bear. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:32.639 Is that really what you want? 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:39.600 Or after a long, hard day, all you want to do is go home and relax. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.080 The couch is calling. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:52.720 So you go home and you just stretch out on the couch, and then seconds later you shriek because a snake has slithered out from beside the cushions and has bitten you on the hand. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.600 Is that really what you want? 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:06.640 Is not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it? 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:18.400 Watch out, friends, lest your enthusiasm over a particular doctrine or practice lead you to a warped view of God's word. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:31.119 We don't know exactly when the prophet Joel wrote, but he said in Joel chapter two, the day of Yahweh is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:40.960 He describes an army, like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people, their like has never been before, nor will be again after them. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:54.799 Speaking of the Assyrian army, and yet Israel sat comfortably in place, with no fear of what was going on around them, feeling quite secure in their twisted theology. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:58.319 And that theology drove their worship. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.720 Worship that God detested. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.359 Imagine that. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:13.359 Imagine God saying to us gathered here this morning, I hate your worship. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.279 Just stop it. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:25.920 Every aspect of Israel's worship is spoken to here in verses twenty-one to twenty-four. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.279 Religious feasts and solemn assemblies, burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:40.799 Even the melodies of their worship songs have become nothing but noise to the sovereign God. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.759 And don't just don't just glance at those verbs. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.839 Don't don't just rush through them. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.440 Let the voice of God reverberate in your soul for a moment. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:55.039 I hate your worship. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:58.559 I despise it. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.720 I take no delight in your offering. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.000 I won't accept it. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:09.839 Get it away from me. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.200 I'm not gonna look on your offering. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.839 Take it away. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:18.880 I'm not going to listen to you. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:45.279 Commentator Doug Stewart has written, like the student who received an F for a paper he thought was brilliant, or the employee fired after doing what he thought was excellent work, or the person whose spouse suddenly announces that he or she wants a divorce when the marriage seems to be going so well, the Israelites were undoubtedly stunned at such a reversal of their expectations. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:48.079 Astonishing. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:05.920 Back in Amos chapter 2, Amos shined a light on the hearts of God's people, describing what they were doing. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.839 Amos said, You trample on the poor, you crush the needy. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:16.400 They hated truth and they crushed people. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:26.160 And yet they wanted God to crush their enemies while they ignored what he had to say and worshiped him improperly. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:33.279 Watch out if you think you can play fast and loose with God's word without consequences. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:39.680 Watch out if you think God will accept your self-centered versions of worship. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:42.720 For Israel, it was all a show. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:52.400 But they came dutifully, every opportunity to offer sacrifices, to do their duty, without any heart change. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:59.440 That's why God said, Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:11.200 Rather than seeing God as someone in whom they could trust, they saw God as merely another one of the panopoly of gods that they could manipulate. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:17.920 They claimed to be God's people, but there was no inward change from their faith. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:22.240 The evidence of faith should have been seen in their treatment of other people. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.960 But there was no evidence. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:32.960 Like a small stream that dries up with the heat of summer, any sense of God's character dried up within Israel. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:45.839 Justice, that which is right in the eyes of God, disappeared like water in a small stream evaporating in the middle of summer. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:51.599 Righteousness, that character of God that his people ought to mirror, is absent. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:06.880 Proper theology informed not Knowledge of God's word and biblically driven, heart-motivated worship leads to ever-flowing streams. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:25.039 If you truly know God's word, and if you worship him in spirit and in truth, if you have, like the scriptures that we heard a little bit earlier, had that heart of stone taken out and replaced with the heart of flesh, his character will be seen in you like an ever-flowing stream. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:34.960 God says that looks like righteousness and justice, doing what is right, acting what is right, expressing the character of God. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:39.359 That's the exact thing that God had been telling his people for centuries. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.759 That's what he tells us in Psalm 96. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.839 Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:57.519 Say among the nations, Yahweh reigns, yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved, because he's judging. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:58.480 How? 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:03.759 With equity, with evenness, with rightness. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:11.519 Psalmist goes on to say a little bit later in verse 13, He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in faithfulness. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:13.359 That's the character of your God. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:17.440 Your character, the character of your God is right. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:18.880 He does what is right. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.599 The judge of the earth will always do what is right. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:35.519 He is always faithful, he is always righteous, he is always just, and that same character will be seen in us if our faith is genuine and our worship is informed by God and his word. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:40.640 But God's people struggled to do that 2,600 years ago. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:47.920 But if we're honest with ourselves, we may still struggle with that today. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:54.240 Because it's very easy for us to be carried away by every wind of doctrine and empty philosophy. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:24:03.359 And if we're not careful before we realize it, we're worshiping idols of our own making without realizing it. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:06.640 That was the path Israel took. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:21.440 When false doctrine rules our theology and worship, we are moved then to a false understanding of what God says, and then we are open to moving away from God Himself toward things that begin to compete with him. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:28.319 As time progressed, Israel came to accept the worship of other gods alongside Yahweh. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:33.200 Amos mentions a couple of them Sakuth and Cayun. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:40.240 According to archaeological records from Mesopotamia, these idols represented the planet Saturn. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.920 Yes, they had moved to worshiping planets. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:53.839 Bad theology led to improper worship where things that are not gods competed for Israel's trust and love. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:00.640 So God said they would go into captivity along with their gods. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:02.559 Why is that? 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:08.319 It's because the sovereign God detests when idols compete with him. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:17.680 It's a fascinating but incredibly sad and ironic story. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:33.279 Sometime before God killed his two sons for improper worship, Aaron, Moses' brother, had led Israel to construct a golden calf in the desert to represent Yahweh. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:46.000 He gathered all the gold that he could in an offering, and they fashioned it into a golden calf, and Aaron stood before them and said, Behold, O Israel, the God Yahweh who led you out of Egypt. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.480 Aaron led them into false theology and false worship. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:56.079 And in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, Stephen referenced that moment. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:05.680 Stephen said this, and they made a calf in those days, and they offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the work of their hands. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:15.839 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:29.039 Little did Aaron know that he was setting the stage for his own sons to be sadly misinformed, and to participate in misdirected worship and lose their lives. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:40.400 And then eight hundred years later an entire section of God's people would be further drawn to idols, somehow thinking that worshiping a planet would be okay with their God. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.480 That God would accept the competition. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:53.119 Because of their departure from God's word into idolatry, God would lead them and their idols far, far away. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:01.920 Reformer John Calvin wrote, and I agree with him, all who forsake the word fall into idolatry. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:10.160 That's why on the front of your bulletin you will see the very first thing declaring the word of God. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:14.960 It's our only hope to remain proper. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:22.960 But we must ask ourselves the question: what do we allow to compete with God? 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:29.680 What do we allow to come into our lives to compete for our hearts and minds and our attention? 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:36.799 Well, the idols we construct are not, hopefully, going to be carved out of wood. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.279 They're not going to be chiseled out of stone or overlaid with gold and silver. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:52.880 But we lie to ourselves and we belittle the sovereign Lord if we say that we don't allow things to compete for our heart's attention. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:28:01.440 We allow time and money to compete for our attention. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:03.680 Take the place of God. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:08.079 Places or people compete to hold our affections. 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:17.519 The things to which we desperately cling, that we know ought to be given up, they compete for God's attention. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:19.920 Think for a minute of what is important to you. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:22.799 What matters to you in life? 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:35.759 If God would suddenly come to you and say, I'm taking that away because I hate it, would you be able to let go of that and relinquish that without anger and bitterness and disruption to your life? 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:41.440 If not, then it may be an idol that competes for your love and trust. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:55.759 You're here because of faith, perhaps a desire to be religious, to express an association with God. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:03.440 See, God cares when his people claim to be religious, but their hearts are far from him. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:14.480 They make a good show of being faithful, but their hearts allow competition to come in with God. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:26.559 Amos 6 now shifts to a second and a third woe, this time addressing another group, another category. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.960 They may be the same people, the rich and the powerful. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:37.279 Starts out, woe to those who are at ease, woe to those who feel secure, who think themselves first. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:45.599 Israel had prosperity, they had ease, they had security, they had status and position. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:52.480 And all of those elements of God's blessing provide a fertile growing ground for pride. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:03.519 So as he has before in this book, God directs their attention to other nations in a challenging way, sort of saying, Hey, think about all of these other people around you. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:04.880 Are you better than them? 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:05.839 Really? 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:08.720 Are you better than these nations? 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:15.359 They were not, but they believed they were. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:22.240 And they were so secure in their belief that God was on their side that they believed danger to be a world away. 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:27.279 God could see that in their indulgences. 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:33.519 Verses four, five, six, and seven describe a particular kind of cultic banquet. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.559 A lavish banquet where they indulge the appetites. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:43.039 And it's full of images of wealth and finery. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:48.160 There are beds of ivory, couches to stretch yourself out on. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:56.160 Most of the common people might only have meat once, twice, maybe three times a year at special moments. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:01.920 Here they are specifically raising fattened animals to have in their feast. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:11.119 They're indulging in their desires of food and fat and fun. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:17.599 They had so much leisure time that they could invent their own instruments. 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:27.119 Rather than drinking from ordinary cups, they wanted their wine to come in bowls so that they could have more of it, gorging themselves. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:42.400 Only the finest of oils would cover their bodies, and so gluttony, luxury, and drunkenness ruled all at the expense of other people, and God then comes to them and says, But you're not grieved over the ruin of my people. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:48.000 All of these blessings, God says, I've given to you. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:50.559 They've only led to your ruin. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:52.720 And it doesn't grieve you. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.920 In their pride, they thought they were the first of nations, the people of God. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:02.799 Well then God said they would be the first to go into exile. 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:09.119 Because God despises when his blessings are used in proud self-indulgence. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:15.359 This is such a challenge to us in the Western world. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.200 We are incredibly blessed, wealthy on a worldwide standard. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:26.559 To what end do we use the blessings that God has given us? 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:37.119 Do we take freely from the hand of God to only benefit ourselves, to indulge our own desires of leisure, fun, and luxury? 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.160 Do we build ourselves up while we ignore others? 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:48.720 Do we look at all that we have, all that we've obtained, all that we possess, and all that we've become, and say with Nebuchadnezzar, look at what I've done. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:01.920 God calls his people to live out his character of justice and righteousness. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:12.000 Because he knows that when he continually pours out blessing on us, that can turn our hearts away from him to the blessings themselves. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:19.359 In this last section of chapter six, self-indulgence turns to self-confidence. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:22.799 Verse 8 is God's judgment. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:29.279 The one who is justice and is righteousness, that's his character, declares his hatred of his people's sin. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:36.000 He says, I abhor the pride of Jacob, hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:50.240 God's blessings were initially received with joy, with gratitude, with thankfulness, and then they were viewed expectantly, and then with ambivalence, and finally with pride. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:53.200 Look at what I've done. 00:33:55.680 --> 00:34:01.359 We see here that God despises when self-confidence replaces humility and trust in him. 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:07.920 God's people had turned away from him and said, Look at what I've done. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:13.840 You might remember that Hosea served a few decades after Amos. 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:17.519 He summarized God's desire. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:25.519 God said, For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:41.360 Self-confident pride will replace humility and trust when our when our connection with God is primarily external rather than a change of heart. 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:51.280 If you're here because you feel obligated, if you're here because you think it's expected. 00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:59.599 That's the kind of thing that we mean when it's external, when there's no heart-motivated reason for what you're doing. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:02.000 That's God's people here. 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:08.559 Just listen to Hosea's record of God's response. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:10.639 This is what God said of his own people. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.079 So imagine yourself being the recipient of this. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:17.280 God said, They dealt faithlessly with me. 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:22.639 The iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, the evil deeds of Samaria. 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:24.800 They deal falsely. 00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:28.400 The thief breaks in and the bandits raid outside. 00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:32.239 They do not consider that I remember all of their evil. 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:33.920 None of them calls on me. 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:35.840 They do not return to Yahweh their God. 00:35:35.920 --> 00:35:36.719 They don't seek him. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:39.199 They've strayed from me, they've rebelled against me. 00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:42.000 I would have redeemed them, but they speak lies against me. 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:44.320 They devise evil against me. 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:53.199 In fact, when a people go so far from God that they begin to embrace idols, the word of God becomes strange to them. 00:35:54.400 --> 00:36:01.119 God said, Were I to write for my people my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as strange things. 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:04.400 Imagine God's word being a strange thing to you. 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:12.960 And then as a final blow, God said, Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces. 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:17.920 So I will send a fire and will destroy her strongholds. 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:22.320 Amos says that judgment would kill just about everyone. 00:36:23.199 --> 00:36:30.159 And those remaining would be so terrified of the name of Yahweh as a result that they would ask that it not be mentioned. 00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:39.760 The emblems of her prosperity and blessing would be crushed, all of their homes, the big ones and the small ones, would be demolished. 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:49.519 God says, you would never consider galloping a horse over a field of rocks. 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:52.159 That would be foolish. 00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:59.519 It's ludicrous to think of taking your yoke of oxen out into the sea and plowing the sea. 00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:00.880 That's foolish. 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:02.159 That doesn't even make sense. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:08.000 And yet somehow it made sense for Israel to turn God's character into opportunities for sin. 00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:13.039 Instead of benefiting people, justice became a poison. 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:20.239 And righteousness became bitter because they trusted in their twisted religion, their status, their wealth, and their power. 00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:24.880 But God desires a genuine faith that pursues him. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:34.800 He desires a trust that follows him in humble obedience, that trusts him and displays his character in everyone. 00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:45.119 As in all of the passages that we've looked at so far in Amos, Jesus is our example. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:48.320 He is the one that we imitate. 00:37:49.199 --> 00:38:00.639 And as you consider all of this, this heaviness that's here, this judgment that God is just pouring out on his people, don't forget to think of Jesus. 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:05.679 All of this is intended to motivate us to consider Jesus. 00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:09.199 So let's consider Jesus for a moment from Isaiah chapter 11. 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:12.480 This is God's prophetic statement about his son. 00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:17.280 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:24.239 He shall not judge by what his eyes see, he will not decide disputes by what comes into his ears. 00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:30.320 But with righteousness, with rightness he will judge the poor. 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:34.960 He will decide with equity for the meek of the earth. 00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:43.760 Yes, he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked, but righteousness shall be the belt of his waist. 00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:46.400 He's going to have faithfulness tied around his garments. 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:53.119 What Israel failed to do, Jesus did perfectly. 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:11.760 When we were weak, even sinning against God Himself, Jesus came to redeem us, to deliver ultimate justice to us. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:18.639 Not by wiping us out, but by taking the judgment for our sin upon himself. 00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:24.320 So that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.199 God says to us through Amos, look at your heart. 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.960 Now look at what I've done to come and change that. 00:39:36.320 --> 00:39:38.159 And so we trust in him. 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:40.559 We trust in his obedience. 00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:43.599 We trust in his faithfulness and his righteousness. 00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:58.079 And so now, through the work of his spirit within us, Jesus' justice and Jesus' righteousness must now roll down like an ever-flowing stream that waters the world with the character of God through you. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:02.079 Let's pray together. 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:05.039 Lord Jesus, we confess our sin to you. 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:11.679 We know that we fail so often to have our hearts right. 00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:43.679 And so we come and we bow before Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and through whom we now stand before you by faith in Jesus, declared righteous, clothed not with our own dirty garments, but with the robes of Jesus, the Son of God. 00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:48.159 His robes are ours. 00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:01.360 Not because you see us, but because you see Jesus. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:09.440 Your people come to you and ask that you would bless us. 00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:25.039 Not with blessing that distracts us or turns us away, but with the blessing of your spirit within us so that we might be fruitful people who display your character to a needy world. 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:26.000 Amen. 00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:31.199 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:38.239 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:42.639 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.