Amos 3:1-8

The book of Amos, chapter 3, verses 1 to 8. Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family, which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he have taken nothing? Can a bird falling in a snare upon the earth with no gin where no gin is for him? Shall one take up a snare from the earth and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants, the prophets. The lion hath roared. Who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy? God bless to us His soul. sacred and holy word this morning. The prophet Amos here is busy arguing God’s case. And he’s like an attorney in the court of law. And it’s like Israel is on the witness stand and he is peppering him with leading questions. He’s attempting to convince Israel of their guilt. The desperate, condition that they are really in. Amos carefully corners Israel with his questions. There really is no alternative. But to confess and admit the truth about themselves, it’s time that Israel faces up to reality. And it carefully thinks about what it’s been doing. As God says in Isaiah, chapter one come now let us reason together and that’s what he’s doing here in this chapter as we begin it notice the special accountability of Israel to God here in verses one and two hear this word that the Lord has spoken unto you, O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt saying you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. God has already pronounced judgment against the Israelites in Chapter 2, both houses, both Judah and Israel. He seems to be here addressing the fairness of the judgment or his decision. The Israelites regarded God in the same way. man or many people I think, think of God today. God is viewed as sort of a rich uncle that you can expect inheritance from somewhere along the line. Only a blessing never a curse. Surely God would favor Israel under all circumstances and all times people thought. This talk about punishment, surely, is out of line. Well, God shows Israel here that they are in a special way accountable to him much more than the heathen nations around them. God says, I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I brought the whole house, the whole family of Israel, both Israel and Judah, whole nation, both kingdoms. And in this one brief clause here. God summarizes the entire history of his dealings with him long ago. They had been slaves in a foreign country with no future but misery. And God liberated them. Led them out of this foreign land. This was an extraordinary act of mercy. It took place because God had known. Israel. Now, in the scriptures, many times this word known is used in the sense of to love or to show affection toward as Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and so forth. God have dealt with them an intimate way. No other nation could claim that. Only Israel could claim that. God said, you only and Israel had to admit, yes, us only. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 7 how that God had chosen them. Not because they were a large nation, not because they have special gifts or ability, but simply because he loved them and he reached out to them. Now as a child, falls under the discipline of its parent. Israel here fell under the discipline of God because of its special relationship to God. Because you were my nation, I will punish you severely. You were privileged. To you, much is given, and of you, much, will be required. That is God’s message. They had a special accountability to the Lord God. Secondly, we have a plea here for sound reasoning in verses 3 to 6. Can two walk together except they be agreed, he says, here in verse 3. Can a marriage survive if one of the partners are unfaithful? Can two people be friends and still socialize? with one another when they’ve had a major disagreement without reconciliation? I’m reminded of Paul and Barnabas and the split they had in the New Testament and how one went one way and one another. They didn’t work together again like they had previously worked. Can two people at odds with one another just pretend nothing has happened? Can I walk with you, Israel, when you and I are both going in different? directions. So Israel’s asked to think here. Friendship is built upon unity. It’s built upon faithfulness. The parting of the ways is taken place. God and Israel just do not agree. God’s judgment is going to fall. Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? The first part of verse 4. Now everybody knows that a lion does not begin to growl until he’s ready to jump on his prey or he has it to pause. Not when it’s stalking the prey. Not when it’s even chasing after the prey. The lion’s roar is an indication he’s already really close to his prey. It’s too late to escape, or he already has it in its grasp. Roaring too soon would alert the prey to the danger. The lion roars the moment it’s ready to crush and devour the helpless victim. Israel needs to realize God has got them cornered. He is ready to pounce upon them. His threat is not an idle one. The punishment is irrevocable. As he said, you know, for the three and four transgressions, I will not turn away to punishment thereof. The hunt is over. The lion is about to move in for the kill. And then he says, well, a young lion cry out of his den den if it hath taken nothing. Second part of verse four. Here, the lion is not trapping his prey. He’s already deviring it. He’s already chewing on the carcass, so to speak. And the roar here is in a pleasure and delight over what he has accomplished his catch. Israel’s condemned already. Israel may feel secure, but God is already beginning devoured. The teeth of judgment are now gnawing away against them. Can a bird fall into a snare upon the earth where no gin is in for, is for him? Verse 5, first part. Does a bird fall into a snare? when no trap has been set. The snare mentioned here is a net that’s covered by two frames of wood or screens that closes quickly, like a woman’s purse would snap shut. So that the bird falls in it and is captured. Such a trap doesn’t spring up automatically. It doesn’t close automatically. Israel went for the bait, and now it’s caught in this spiritual and moral evil that it’s pursued. And it is going to be punished. Sin cannot easily be escaped. You’ve entangled yourself in the netting. Therefore, you deserve the judgment. You’d like a foolish little bird. Shall one take up a snare from the earth and have not nothing at all. Verse 5, the second part. Notice that the word one here is italicize. The idea is not that someone picks up the trap from the ground, but the idea is that the snare springs up from the ground. It’s like a net that one would walk into and then lifts up its prey and captures it. The mouse trap doesn’t snap shut unless the mouse trips the lever. Israel got caught red handed with their fingers in the cookie jar, so to speak. They’re guilty of sinning. You’ve chosen the course you’re on. So the bird gets trapped. But it’s your own doing. Israel, examine yourselves. Nothing but your own heart has led you to this point. So you have no right to be surprised at God’s judgment. And then sixthly, he says, shall trumpet be blown in the city and that people not be afraid in verse six. First part. Does the trumpet sound by the watchman without the population being alarmed? Approaching danger usually puts fear in the people. If the enemy is about to attack the city, the trumpet warns the people. The point is that Israel has been warned. Amos is, is. Amos is been blowing the trumpet. And yet Israel is not taking the warning to heart. They’re not paying attention. They’re going on with their normal, everyday type of sinful living and not heating the blowing there’s danger coming. And you’re missing it. And then he says, seventhly, shall there be evil in a city? And the Lord have not done it. In verse 6. God is not mocked when a disaster strikes a city. It comes from the hand of the one who providentially works all things, who controls all events in his life. Calamity never falls without the decree or the purpose of God. When misfortune, and disaster occurs, you know who sent it. It doesn’t come by chance. It doesn’t come by accident. God rules this world. He’s executing his own justice in it. Many judgments were visited upon Israel in those days. Israel was affected by many things. Look at chapter 4, if you would. Versus 7 to 10 for a second. And I also have withholding the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I cause it to rain upon one city, cause it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered under one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet they have not returned unto me, said the Lord. I have smit you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devired them. Yet have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Your young man have I slain with a sword and have taken away your horses and I have made the stink of your camps to come up under your nostrils. Yet have you not return unto me, said the Lord. all these evils God says I have brought against you and you’re not paying attention. So here is a plea here for sound reasoning. These questions are meant to prompt Israel’s conscience here. To make them think. Thirdly, Amos has delivered God’s message and the people should be afraid. Versus 7 and 8. Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants, the prophets. The Lord has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord has spoken. Who can but prophesied? Now, the Lord himself spoke to Amos. The message he brings, he brings from the Lord. Therefore, when he prophesies here, what’s going to happen, it is God’s message to them. God’s usual policy is to inform the name. through his prophets. The prophets of the Lord stand in a place of special fellowship with God and he reveals his secrets and his purposes to them and they are to reveal them to the people. Thus you find Elishes astonishment when something important to his ministry was withheld from him because he expected God to reveal things to him. The death of the Shunamite son and when she came to Elisha and grabbed hold of his feet and pleaded for help, he said to his servant, let her alone. for his soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me and that not told me. It’s unusual. Now because of Amos’ relationship with God, he is given this unique task to bring to Israel God’s very words. God has spoken to him, how can he not but prophesied, like Jeremiah, the fire burns within him. He has to speak God’s word. And because it is the word of God, God, the lion, has roared here. Shouldn’t there be fear on the part of Israel? After all, the lion’s roaring is not a pleasing sound. It’s not a comforting sound. It strikes fear into people. And Amos has compared God’s voice to such a sound. It’s an unsettling roar. So Amos has delivered God’s message and the people should be afraid. Now, as we look at this passage of scripture tonight, let me draw a couple of practical thoughts. And the first is this. Notice here that the Christian faith appeals primarily to your reason, not to your emotions. Through this series of leading questions, God has been reasoning with Israel. Come, let us reason together. God is making them think about their present condition and how they deserved his judgment. All through the Scriptures, You find that faith in Christ is not an emotional experience per se, but first and foremost, it’s about biblical facts. It’s about truth. God appeals to the mind, to the rational part of the individual. And the sermon on the Mount, when Christ said, behold, the fowls of the air, consider the lilies of the field, when he talked about the foundation, of the house that was to be built. Whether it was built on the rock or on the sand. He’s appealing to their reasoning. Think about this. Look at the day of Pentecost. Peter doesn’t say, well, feel the Holy Spirit’s presence. He talks about what the Spirit of God has wrought and produced. Now, how is the fulfillment of the Scripture? scriptures. God hath made that same. Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ, the Morris Hill sermon. Paul doesn’t give an emotional story, but he says, look around you. The true God has made this world. That unknown God, you ignorantly worship, he is the one who cannot be contained, or somehow confined to a mere temple, but he fills all the earth. This is the God I’m talking about. He’s a point at a time when he’s going to judge all nations, all people, through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he raised from the dead. Repent. Look at Paul before Felix. The Bible says he reasoned directly pointing to the mind, you see. reasoned of righteousness and of temperance and of the judgment to come. Too many people in the churches today are appealing only to the emotions of their hearers instead of their minds. We have emotional music, call it move music, we might call it, to touch the sensitive chord in the person when it’s played. We have emotional stories. which bring tears to your eyes when they are told. I remember sitting in a church service one time when they had an evangelist that came and spoke. It was an Armenian. But he told this tear-jerker of a story about a dog’s, a boy’s dog that died. Sort of like old yeller, you know. And, you know, it was so sad. And then, of course, with the music and the story, after all that. Then there’s appeal to receive Christ as a Savior in 10 verses as just as I am, so you’ll walk down the aisle and make a decision. How sad. How sad? They’re going to appeal to people’s emotions like this, pray on the emotions, without laying before them what the facts are from Scripture. This is going about things in the wrong manner. You need to reason. with sinners like Paul done with Felix and others did. Ask them questions. Make them think and respond. Do what God does here with Israel. When Christ was talking to the woman at the well, he asked a series of pointed questions to her. They were all geared really to expose her need of of a Savior. Even when he said, why don’t you call your husband? I don’t have a husband. Well, you rightly said you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five, and the one you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. Oh, I perceive you are a prophet. The whole purpose is to make her think about her sinfulness and her need for Christ. He asks her questions. Works on the conscience of people by the power of the spirit. Remember it is God’s truth from His Word. applied by the spirit to the conscience that makes the difference here. It’s a rational faith that is required. Not some type of an emotional experience. Now, I’m not denying that emotions may not be involved in it. I mean, after all, there can be tears of sorrow and joy in outpouring of thankfulness to Christ or maybe tears of sorrow when we realize how wicked and sinful we are in the eyes of God, things of this nature. I remember one time when I was teaching at a Bible study at the gym, and I had a Catholic woman that was there. And I was pressing the need of Christ, and, you know, if you don’t know Christ, you’re going to perish. She starts crying. It did affect her emotional. But I didn’t appeal to her emotions per se. I was appealing to her reason and our need of Christ, but it did affect her emotion. And I’m not saying that we can’t have some emotional aspect that involves, but what I’m saying is that’s not our primary focus. Our primary focus is revealing the truth to people and let the spirit bring about the emotional response, if that is what is necessary. You know, when we ask people questions, questions like why is their death? Why does your conscience bother you when you do something wrong? What happens after you die? Why are you here in the first place? What is your purpose in being here? Who created the world, this vast universe in which you live? If we start beginning to ask questions about things that will bring about a biblical response, a biblical answer that we can give them, we’ve got to get them to think about what’s going on. Satan would have them blinded. He’d keep them thinking only about the things of this world. And our duty is to present God’s truth in such a way. Even if we have to bring up questions to lead to that answer, the whole purpose is to get them to think about spiritual matters. So God’s way of dealing with the sinner here is filing our text. He asked some questions. We should fall in. a biblical example. He appeals to the reason. Secondly, God still speaks today. And what is our response to that? Now, it is true that God no longer speaks directly from us, from heaven, to us from heaven. You can’t expect to hear voices in the night or get a dream or something of this nature. He’s not going to speak to you the way he spoke to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob more of a direct time or through a dream or like he spoke to the prophets in many ways and yet you are in a position to hear God’s voice all the same the Lord has spoken directly to you in the Bible God’s scripture is his word to you it’s his voice to you he speaks indirectly to you through his providence. The Lord speaks in your life through minor episodes, major turning points, through the evil that he visits upon your life. The only thing is, you need the word of God to interpret providence. You can’t understand providence without God’s word giving you a grasp of it. But when you sin against God and you see that the soul that sinneth, it’s going to die, or I’m going to bring judgment against you, and then something bad happens. you ought to be able to put two and two together and say this is God’s hand. This is God’s telling me, I’ve done wrong. I shouldn’t have done this. Providence in and of itself is not easy to interpret. But if you have God’s word to guide you, there’s an indirect way in which it speaks to you. So you have God’s revealed will in the Word of God. If God would appear before you, I can tell you this. He’s not going to tell you anything different than he’s already told you in his word. God’s the same. Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever. Everything that we have here is what God wants us to know. Now, there are two responses you ought to have to his voice. They’re both found in verse 8. The lion hath roared? Who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesied? Perhaps we can look at this from two different perspectives. If we are an unbeliever, or if we’re walking out of line with God’s will, the first part should apply to us. It should motivate us here and we start to be thinking about in fear of the Lord. However, if we’re believers, perhaps we should also be thinking about the second part here. Because if God has spoken to us, How can we not be spokesman for him and give out the message that he has given us? So by asking this type of question twice here, Amos sort of gives us two different responses to it, doesn’t he? First, there’s a fear. It’s not just a fear here that circumstances could get worse or somehow, rather fear of poverty or war or something of this nature. But there should be a genuine fear. the Lord. The lion is roaring. Men should cower when God speaks this kind of language to them. The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom, and the first response to God’s word in your life should be sort of a reverence of his presence, a fear that he is saying these things to you. A trembling before the voice of Almighty God. How sad that the word of God could be spoken to us and have little or no effect upon those who hear it. That we’re like to be like Israel not paying attention. The trumpet is blaring. And we’re not paying attention. The line is roaring. We’re not paying attention. It should be frightening to hear God’s demands and realize how far short you have fallen. And what that means. My friends, this is no ordinary book. This is the living word of God. And when he speaks, through this word, it is very powerful. But secondly, God has spoken, and therefore you need to speak for him as a belief. Has he given you his message? What do we do with it? Now, Christians often talk about how God’s going to judge the world. But where are the prophets who are going to be his spokesman? It’s easy to complain about, you know, how wicked the government is or the world. is in such a terrible shape or we might talk about the church and being in sad condition or that many of the preachers are really false shepherds and so forth. We can talk about all those things. Sure, there’s a lot to be critical about when we think about the world in which we live. There are many who could be complainers. We could be critics. We could be fault finders. But we also need to be prophets in the sense of being spokesman. It doesn’t do us. It ain’t good to tell the world how wicked and perverse it is unless we’re God’s prophets and also tell them there is a way of remedy for the state that they’re in. Doesn’t the world need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be brought to repentance? Are we speaking God’s message and are we even complaining about how bad the world is? God’s message does come. It does bring condemnation, but it also brings hope. Perhaps we could see, you know, the sword of God. God’s word has two edges to it. It does cut and convict, but it also provides a way that also will deliver us. Is this the message we’re bringing to our neighborhood? Are we speaking for God or merely murmuring about how bad the times are? Are we relayed God to God to others? That’s what’s important here, too. You have the message? If you have it, you should speak it. Give it to others. That’s what Amos did. He felt compelled to do it. Well, let us close with a word of prayer tonight.