Amos 6:1-7

Amos chapter 6 and verses 1 to 7 for our text and study this evening. Woe to them that are at ease and Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came. Pash ye to Colna and sea, and from thence, Yita Hamath the Great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better than these kingdoms, or there are border greater than your border? Ye put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near, that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their cowboys, and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the soul, that chant to the sound of the vial and invent to themselves instruments of music like David, that drink wine and bulls and anoint themselves with chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go, captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretch themselves shall be removed. May God bless to us is sacred and holy word this evening. Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 is certainly a day that will live in impony. It was a dark day for the United States, a day in which the Japanese armed forces caught America at ease in complacency and unprepared. America knew in advance that Japan was certainly preparing for war, but they expected the first blow really to land in the Philippines or Malaya, not Pearl Harbor. Thus the United States received a very severe jolt on that day. Eight battleships were either sunk or severely damaged. Nearly 260 aircraft were destroyed most of them on the ground, not even in the air to fight the enemy. And almost 5,000 casualties with 3,220 men killed. The Japanese attack was a tremendous blow to American strength and pride. Israel, like the United States, is about to endure a tremendous blow that they are unprepared to receive. They too have been warned ahead of time. God had told them that they would go into captivity by an enemy force that was coming, and that would be the Assyrians. You remember the last chapter ended, chapter 5, verse 27 with these words, therefore, I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, said the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. But instead of responding to God’s message, they remained at ease and in complacency, and they were lulled into a false sense of security, believing that. God’s blow of judgment would surely not fall upon them. You’ll notice in verse 3, ye put far away the evil day. They did not expect it to come. They expected things would continue as they were. You’ll notice here that the whole of God’s people are addressed in this passage of Scripture. We read about those who are at ease in Zion, which speaks of Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom, and those who trusted in Samaria, which was the capital of the northern kingdom. It was to these two great nations that the House of Israel had come. In other words, they had been, they had resided. now in these two nations. What used to be one nation now resides in these two separate nations. As we begin tonight, let me begin with a false sense of security that we see in the first six verses of this chapter. We see that Israel rested in their preeminence as a nation. woe to them that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaritan. which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came, pass you to Kona and see. From thence go ye to Hamath, the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better than these kingdoms, or their border greater than your border? Israel, whether we talk about the northern or the southern kingdom, both of them in a sense, were looked upon as chief of nations in this particular time in their particular area. In the Palestine area, Israel was the first of nations, a leading nation, a major player, if you would, in the area. Even if the neighboring nations were bold enough to attack Israel, there were still the great strongholds. The castles up in the country. the mountains, whether you talk about Zion or whether you talk about Samaria, you are very strong, fortified cities. Amos asked them to consider who they are comparing themselves to. in verse two. And he asked two questions, and the answer to these two questions is, yes, Israel is better than these other cities. And no, the land of the other nations is not greater. than that of Israel and Judah. Amos uses, though, a sense of irony here. He speaks here about Hamath the Great. Now, we must take this as a grain of salt. It is a mocking of the position of Hamath. Kana, Hamath, and Gath were the capital cities of time. tiny kingdoms between Egypt and the Euphrates River, what we might call Iran today. Kalna was near the Euphrates River. There’s little known about this, but it seems to be a very small city. Hamath was a hit-type town just north of the northern kingdom of Israel. Small. And then we know perhaps about gas. It was once one of the mighty fortresses of the Philistine. They had five cities that were sort of called the belt. That they’re fortified cities all in one area. And they made the hub up for the, really the strength of the Philistine nation. But they’ve been conquered several times, and certainly Gath had been overrun. So where presently it was in. It was in a state of ruin. It was not a very strong nation at all. There’s no longer a nation than the commanded respect. You remember that Gath was the birthplace of Goliath, when the Philistines were very strong at one point. So Israel was sort of just the big fish and a small pond. That’s all. Israel was a golver among the miniature Lilliputans around them. Israel gloried in its position. Among these small kingdoms, it was a power to be reckoned with, certainly respected. It was a leading nation. Not one of the tiny kingdoms would dare to attack it. Not the powerful Kulna, not the great haymath, not even the gigantic gath, speaking in a mocking manner, here of the people. these small, tiny kingdoms. Israel is like the schoolboy who thought he was a math wizard because he got 96% on his arithmetic test. What the poor kid had to face when he took algebra, real mathematics was something completely different. It was a disaster. He was completely overwhelmed. Israel here is not considering the great power, Assyria, that lay off in the distance to the north. This is the real giant. The nameus never mentions by name, but it is the nation that will indeed do the conquering, especially of the northern kingdom, but it also threatens the southern kingdom, and invades and tries to conquer Jerusalem, as the book of kings tells us about. Assyria was a nation that could easily swallow up small kingdoms and certainly was a danger to both Israel and Judah at this point. Israel’s statesmen just didn’t look far enough north. That’s all. The Amos in his prophetic vision here sees its coming and it’s coming from the north. Beyond Damascus, Damascus was in the north, the kingdom it was the capital of Syria, which the Northern Kingdom had put down recently. So let’s go beyond that to the north, and there is Assyria there. So Israel rested in their preeminence as a nation. Israel rested in their presumption that an evil day wouldn’t come. We see that in verse 3. Ye that put far away the evil day and caused the seat of violence to come near. A false sense of security led to inevitably a way of life based upon the fact that no evil was going to come their way. So they didn’t have any worries. They didn’t see any threats. They thinking that they were safe come with May, they indulge the sins of the flesh. They pursued the pleasures. of this world and they just didn’t see any danger on the horizon. The security of the city provided the environment for luxurious and loose living. After all, they were trusted in the mountain of Samaria. This was a very fortified city. Even Zion, as we said, was very strong and fortified city as well. So they thought they were sort of insulated from any foreign power that could come. and harm them. The citizens didn’t believe that their manner of life would any way affect the city’s safety, that they were sadly mistaken. From day to day, as they indulge their sinful desires, we find that they were stirring up the wrath of God so that they caused, as he says here, the seat of violence to come near. It’s coming because of their own wickedness in this regard. So Israel rested in their presumption that an evil day wouldn’t come. Israel rested in their pleasures, which were abundant, as we see in verses 4 through 6A, that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, that chant to the sound of the vial, and invent themselves instruments of music like David, that drink wine and bulls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments. Now this passage doesn’t teach us that physical comforts are evil in and of themselves or that the Christian must avoid any comfortable living and live like some austere monk in a monastery and be deprived of all the comforts of life. Amos is concerned, here about excess. He is concerned that everything is geared to greater enjoyment, greater pleasure with the main intent and concern and interest of everyone in this area. At their great dinners, they recline on rich couches and laid with ivory panels. Now, at this particular time, the traditional custom was sort of city in some fashion is the book of judges and first kings indicate. The new style, though, is to lie on these couches of ivory. Smacks of laziness and excess on their part, a self-indulgent lifestyle. They feasted here on the veal and the lamb, the best of the flock, the best of the the herd. the choice cuts with their refined taste, they had to have the very best. No hamburger for them when they could have steak. And of course, especially were concerned about entertainment. Verse 5 talks about their music that they engaged in, even inventing musical instruments to play. They thought perhaps following in the footsteps of David. The David, We know, was busy inventing instruments for the purpose of glorifying God, where they are doing so for the purpose as satisfying the flesh. They chanted, or at least they sang their idle songs to the sound of a harp, a viol, or Josephus says it was a 12-stringed instrument that was was plucked, or strong in some fashion. They drank wine in bowls, not in cups. Again, they have the idea of excess. This gives you an idea of perhaps of the quantity also that they consume. I remember Ray and I were first married. We had some friends. I went to a seminary with the gentleman that lived in the same apartment complex with us. I lived in the same apartment complex with us. after we got married, he got married, and we had lived in the dorm together. And so we were like four apartments apart on the second level. And we were at each other’s houses every day. We were always, we went to church together. We were each other’s houses all the time. And down in Texas, they drank a lot of iced tea. I guess it was hot. Ice tea was the deal. And so Leslie would be drinking ice tea like crazy or any of you’d have to get up and get him a new glass, you know, fill his glass, the time with more ice tea. We have two large pitchers ice tea before the evening even began before even did anything that evening. So one day, Rayna thought, I’ll fix him. She got a punch boy. It was like this big around in diameter, but this deep, filled it with iced tea and set it right at his table. So he drank out of that the rest of the night. You know, I don’t even if you asked for any refills or anything, I don’t remember. But he drank. It was one of those, it was a little joke on him, but remind him as I read this, I thought, yeah, drink it out of a big bowl, you know, because you’re going to drink so much of it. And then there was a tremendous amount of personal vanity they annoyed themselves with the chief ointments, the lotions, if you would. They had to have the very best. They wished to appear attractive and smell attractive. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is excess of concern here about the body with the neglect of the soul. No ordinary lotion would do. They had to have the finest. You know, it’s sort of like bathing in Chanel number five instead of Calgonne bubble bath. They had to have the best. So everything here is geared to essential pleasure. They’re happy to be a company of wine bibbers, if you would, drowning out the world with their songs. That’s the picture that we get here with regard to Israel. They rested in their pleasures, which were abundant. So here’s the false sense of security they had. In their preeminence, in their presumption of things, not nothing bad going to happen, and in their pleasures. Secondly, we see that God’s judgment will dash and pieces Israel’s false security. The latter part of verse 6 here says, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, therefore now shall they go captive with the first they go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. Amos concludes his condemnation of Israel by indicating that there is going to be a coming judgment, and soon the partying that they been enjoying will be over. The pleasures will be gone, and they’re going to go into exile. The banquets, the lazy lounging about, will come to an end. And even in this warning of punishment, the prophet here throws in a little bit of irony, or God does, in giving it to the prophet, you’ll notice he talked about them being the first. He says, yes, you want to have the preeminence, you want to be the first in everything. Well, you will be the first in captivity too. We’ll give you the preeminence in that. Those who had a false sense of his security are going to be shattered. The city walls that they trusted in, they’re going to leave behind because they will be overcome. Those who had a false sense of values didn’t care about the ruin of their people, would lose all their comforts and all their pleasures. There’s no concern, he says, about the affliction of Joseph. Here, we have the idea of the nation not having any concern about their fellow citizens who were on the poor side, who they were exploiting all the time as we have seen in the book of Amos, who are suffering greatly while they lived high on the hawk. They cared not one whit about them. Now there seems to be perhaps here a reference to the story of Joseph. Remember Joseph was the dreamer, the ones his brothers hated, and what did they do? They grabbed him and threw him into a pit, took his coat of many collars, tore it up, put some blood on it to make it look like he was destroyed and ended up selling him into slavery. And when he was in that pit and he cried out for help, they ignored him. They ignored all his pleas. Isn’t that what Israel is doing here? With their fellow citizens? So in a similar way, they’re acting here as Joseph. brothers acted toward him. They were cold-hearted persecutors. And so we see the situation. So God’s judgment is going to fall on those resting in human security, personal pleasures, with no concern for their fellow human beings, their neighbor, no love for their neighbor. No concern about their brothers here at all. So God’s judgment is going to dash in pieces Israel’s false security. Now let me draw a couple of practical thoughts from this text tonight and ask, are you at ease in Zion? There is no room for the church to be at ease. If we’re at ease, it breeds, it breeds a carnal sense of security that all is well and nothing’s going to happen. One of the most dangerous things that people of God can do is to be comfortable and satisfied where they presently are. To be sort of like the Laeotisian Church which said, hey, we’re rich, we’re increased with goods, we have need of nothing. And what does God say to the Laeoticaean Church? He says, knowest thou not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. You don’t know what you really are like. You’re happy where you are. To follow in the steps of Israel and to be complacent lying on beds of laziness and do nothingness to have, if I can put it this way, a comfortable Christianity that’s practiced. by many. They live like the world around them. They indulge in the lust of the flesh and the pleasures of this world while never enduring any hardship for the cause of Christ, never thinking that they need to be good soldiers in the cause of Christ, and they miss the point. For the scripture says that they’re to put on the whole armor of God. They are to fight the good fight of faith. They’re to be prepared for battle. But that’s not the case with many. There’s a war going on in this world. There’s a spiritual conflict that we are engaged in as the people of God. This is not a time for ease in putting up the rifle, so to speak, and put it up the sword, so to speak. It’s a time to be prepared. To put on the armor, not take it off. to have the sword of the spirit ready, not to have it laid down somewhere, gathering dust on the shelf. It was while men slept, Jesus said in one of his parables that the devil came and so tears, and caused his damage. Thus the Bible tells us to awake to righteousness. It’s time to be diligent about the master’s business. We ought to be faithful to attend the service of the church unless we’re providentially hindered. We ought to be faithful to pray for each member of the congregation. For all of us, need prayer. We ought to be faithful to uphold the pastor in prayer that the preaching of God’s word would be effective and benefit all of us. We ought to be faithful to witness and seek the salvation of those who are around us. We ought to be faithful to bring our ties and our offerings to the Lord. We ought to be faithful to submit to those who have the rule over. us the elders of the church. We have to be faithful to study the word of God personally because it’s our spiritual warfare manual that we might be prepared for the day of battle. It is necessary to redeem the time because the days are evil, Paul said. No opportunity for victory, for success should be ignored. And so there is no room for the church to be at ease. also tonight. There is no room for presumption about the welfare of the church. The trouble with Israel is they presumed that everything was going to remain a-okay, that nothing’s going to happen. They believe they were safe from harm. They put away the evil day, far from them. They felt that God would preserve them, no matter what, that God is faithful, who never let Jerusalem or Samaria a fall, so they’re absolutely safe. Now, can I update this idea for you? This evening? A church can never become complacent and think that the work of the Lord will always go on and he will protect it. I read in scripture and we’ve studied this as we went to the book of Revelation. That when the church at Ephesus slit with regard to their love for Christ, Christ warned about coming and taking away their candlestick. That’s a serious statement with regard to the church at Ephesus. If we won’t do God’s work, he’ll raise up another church to do it. There’s nothing to prevent God from allowing, you know, Liberty Baptist Church or any church to disintegrate. and disappear if we’re lazy and unconcerned about glorifying the Lord. We should never get to the idea that the evil day cannot come. That God won’t allow harm to befall us. I will say this. If we remain faithful to the Lord, I believe God will remain faithful to us and you’ll preserve us. But unfaithfulness is sowing the seed of disaster. It really is. Unfaithfulness ripens us for the judgment of God. As we read here in this text, you cause the seed of judgment that draw near. So there is no room for presumption about the welfare of the church. Third point tonight, there is no room for comparing the preeminence of a church to others in the area. Israel thought, wow, we’re one of the chief nations. We’re great. Really, it was just the biggest fish, as I said, of a small pond. Israel was stronger and more powerful than little Kulna or Hamath or Gath, but they were just tiny kingdoms. What were they? Not worth comparing to, really. Now you might look around you and you might think about the modern equivalent of these little nations. Yes, when you compare a reformed church to many churches in the area, it may be true that has distinct advantages in doctrine and practice. But less fates its friends, there’s really not much out there at times. A church cannot be complacent because of its local preeminence. It might happen to be one of the larger churches in the area. Israel did that, and it ended up a disaster. The question is, is this reformed church reaching God’s standard. The danger we always have in this life is we compare ourselves to others. when we ought to be comparing ourselves to God’s standard found in his work. That’s what we have to do. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if a reformed church is light years ahead of so-and-so church in the neighborhood. Forget about comparison with other churches. Look at Revelation chapters 2 and 3 very carefully. You notice that Jesus never compares one church to the other. he always compares them to his standard whether they be large and can take on you know false prophets and apostles and so forth like Ephesus or whether they’re small more like Philadelphia which we read had just a little strength it’s it didn’t matter the comparison was with what Christ said they should be in each case what about Liberty Baptist Church how do we compare to God’s word if everybody Baptist church keeps its eyes on what God’s commands it can never be at ease because there’s always something to reform there’s always something to improve in the church there’s always something to do better and we are weak compared to some of the ideal churches perhaps that are portrayed in scripture think about that just because you are more mature than other Christians that you may meet who go to other churches doesn’t mean you have reached biblical maturity it doesn’t mean you have reached the standard God would have you have be in so we must seek to come back to the touchstone of the Word of God that’s the measuring stick that will keep you from being self-satisfied because God can easily blow up the candle of any church at any time greatness must always be found in God’s eyes and not in the eyes of men and not a comparison with other men so there is no room for comparing the preeminence of the church to other churches in the area and finally there’s no room for pleasures to take priority over people the welfare of the fellowship of the people of God must always take primary attention over the pampering of yourself. There is a godly self-care without which you’re not prepared to help anybody else. If your spiritual life is not kept up, then how are you going to be a benefit to someone else? Remember, Scalachians talks about ye which your spiritual can restore the one brother who has fallen and has failed. But there is also an ungodly self-concern which progressively blind you to the afflictions of Joseph and the ruin of others. In these verses, it’s all a problem of looking itself here. Unconcerned about their brothers. The others, like Joseph that we read about in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis. All they’re concerned about their bed and their food, their drink and their deodorant, and their most significant thing, their pleasures and entertainment. They’re concerned about that. That’s their priority. And all the wild Joseph, the people of God are going to pot. Literally, the brinkered. breaking of Joseph is taking place. Friends, bad circumstances, deep sorrow, poor finances, overwhelming family circumstances, and other things can break the spirit of people who are your brothers or sisters in Christ. We’re all Joseph’s to each other, if you would think of it that way. Mutual care should mark the fellowship of our church. We can’t be insensitive to the cries of God’s suffering people. You cannot be insensitive to the needs of others, whether that need be spiritual or whether that need be material. You need to be able to weep with those who weep. You need to be able to grieve with those who have afflictions in this life as the people of God. This sympathize with your fellow believers in Christ. Perhaps you’re comfortable in your life. Perhaps you’d like to just stay isolated and not get involved, stay aloof from the problems and the trials and difficulties of other people, but the Lord will not let us do that. For the Lord says, we as a church are like a body. And those who are the arms or the legs must be concerned about the thumbs and the little pinkies on the toes. and so forth, all the others in the body. If one person in the body of Christ is hurting, then we all in a sense are hurting. We have to have this mutual concern that I’ve been talking about. A loving concern for brothers and sisters in Christ. And that’s one thing that really shows the unity of the church when we show this love for one another that we’re compassionate about. We’re praying for them. We’re concerned to help them in their trial, that shows a real bond of unity within the assembly of the people going. Well, Pearl Harbor was such a devastating blow because the United States wasn’t prepared for it even though they had signs of warning about it. Spiritual disaster can be avoided if we heed the warning of the Word of God. If we don’t follow in the same footsteps here as we see here, Judah, and Israel doing in our text. So let us close over the word of prayer.