Prepare to Meet Your God: The Urgency of Spiritual Readiness

• The Book of Amos [00:03:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides historical background on Amos, identifying him as a prophet from Tekoa who preached to the northern kingdom of Israel during the divided kingdom period, and highlights the historical context of the northern kingdom's idolatry and eventual captivity.
• Idolatry and Syncretism [00:04:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the historical sin of the northern kingdom, specifically the creation of golden calves by Jeroboam I to protect his authority, which led to worshiping these gods instead of the Lord.
• Divine Judgment and Repentance [00:01:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that God is bringing judgment for sin and idolatry, calling the people to repent, and contrasts this with the Israelites' unwillingness to turn back to God.
• The Nature of True Repentance [00:13:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines repentance not merely as feeling sorry, but as actively turning from sin and turning to God, following Him as Master.
• Historical Context of Assyrian Judgment [00:15:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the historical method of Assyrian conquest (hooks, flaying) and how God used them as a tool to punish Israel for covenant disobedience.
• Covenant Curses and Idolatry [00:16:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the punishments in Amos 4 to Deuteronomy 28, highlighting that the people's rebellion and worship of other gods triggered these judgments.
• Critique of Religious Formalism [00:20:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor condemns the Israelites' (and by extension, modern churches') tendency to perform religious rituals (sacrifices, tithes) without genuine heart repentance or obedience.
• Church Methodology and Worship [00:22:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts biblical worship (preaching, prayer, sacraments) with modern church practices (dim lights, rock bands, 'free offerings' that lack accountability) and critiques specific denominational practices.
• The Nature of God's Judgment [00:25:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God's judgment is a means of calling people to repentance and restoration, rather than just punishment, citing the 'cleanness of teeth' and droughts as calls to return.
• The Danger of Worldly Worship [00:29:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the 'God of the Old Testament' with modern perceptions, asserting that God's judgment is a response to human wickedness and the drive to please oneself rather than Him.
• Human Selfishness and Idolatry [00:30:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that modern believers are not morally superior to ancient Israelites, as both groups suffer from selfish drives, idolatry, and a desire to please themselves rather than God.
• The Nature of Sin and Selfishness [00:30:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that modern believers are not morally superior to ancient Israelites, as both groups suffer from selfish drives, idolatry, and a desire to please themselves rather than God.
• The Day of the Lord [00:44:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the 'Day of the Lord' as a concept of judgment in the Old Testament (destruction of Israel) that points forward to the final return of Christ, contrasting it with the idea of a 'free pass' for Jews.
• Judgment and Mercy [00:48:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the judgment described in Amos with the extension of mercy and the gospel, urging believers to 'seek good and not evil' to live.
• The Day of the Lord ([Amos 5](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos+5&version=KJV)) [00:47:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reads Amos 5:11-27, highlighting that the 'day of the Lord' is darkness for the wicked who reject God, and calls for seeking good and justice.
• The Day of the Lord ([Luke 19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19&version=KJV)) [00:50:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, explaining that the 'day of the Lord' was a time of judgment because they did not know the time of their visitation.
• The Day of the Lord ([Malachi 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Malachi+4&version=KJV)) [00:52:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects Malachi 4 to the first and second comings of Christ, describing the 'day of the Lord' as a time of burning judgment for the wicked and healing for the righteous.
• Preparation for Judgment [00:54:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines three steps for preparation: repentance, belief in Jesus, and obedience to Christ's commands.

• Sermon Illustration [00:00:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Billy Graham's tagline 'prepare to meet thy God' and uses an analogy of preparing for retirement, 401k, and taxes to contrast with the lack of preparation for standing before God.
• Sermon Illustration [00:15:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the historical brutality of the Assyrians, including using hooks in jaws, putting rings in noses, and flaying skin, to illustrate the severity of the judgment.
• Sermon Illustration [00:19:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical event at Gilgal where God stopped the Jordan River at flood stage to allow Israel to cross on dry land, using this to highlight the irony of their subsequent idolatry.
• Sermon Illustration [00:27:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the apostle Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 3 regarding the 'fire' that burns up works not done for the Lord, using it to illustrate the concept of being 'plucked out of the fire' but having nothing to show for one's life.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical event of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as an illustration of the 'Day of the Lord' judgment, noting that 1.1 million Jews were killed because they rejected Christ.
• Sermon Illustration [00:50:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical narrative of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 19, using it to illustrate the tragedy of missing the 'time of visitation' and the subsequent judgment.

• Pastoral Charge [00:17:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Obey and follow God
• Pastoral Charge [00:24:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Engage in biblically prescribed worship (preaching, prayer, sacraments with repentance)
• Pastoral Charge [00:35:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Give one's life completely to God and submit to His Word.
• Pastoral Charge [00:42:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Turn away from sin and selfishness, mourn over them, and pray for God's help to be delivered.
• Pastoral Charge [00:42:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Humble oneself before God to receive His lifting up.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > Commit one's heart, soul, and life to God and follow Him.
• Pastoral Charge [00:45:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to pause and reflect on their eternal destiny and their relationship with God.
• Pastoral Charge [00:57:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor invites individuals who have not put God first or have drifted away to come to the front to pray and repent.

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:04] I do want to be sure that you know about the 5th Sunday Sing happening tonight so that we do have several ARP churches who are coming here for that and would hope that you would come for that as well.
[00:00:24] We have different church groups.
[00:00:27] We'll be singing some songs and playing with different instruments.
[00:00:31] And then we'll be able to call out favorites and we'll have some food and fellowship afterwards.
[00:00:39] But, so for our passage this morning, we are looking at Amos chapter 4.
[00:00:49] And this is actually a tagline that Billy Graham would use when he first started.
[00:00:56] In chapter 4, verse 12, prepare to meet thy God.
[00:01:03] And so there are a lot of themes here that we need to unpack to really understand this because God is bringing judgment against his people for their sin, their idolatry, for their wickedness.
[00:01:19] And he is ultimately going to restore them, but he is calling them to repent.
[00:01:27] And so far they are unwilling.
[00:01:30] And so the Lord has a message for us in this, in how we look to the Lord.
[00:01:38] And in the fact that in what we find our fulfillment in, Is it first in Christ himself, or is it in what our agenda is and what we want to do?
[00:01:54] And we do not want to be guilty of falling into the same pattern as the Israelites, because we're going to see how greatly they were judged.
[00:02:06] And even as the title of the message is in verse 12, where it says, prepared to meet that God, Christ is coming back. And so when he returns, we will stand before him and we do need to prepare for that. We do need to be ready for that. In a sermon that I listened to
[00:02:29] by Billy Graham, he had said, hey, we prepare for everything else in life. We prepare for retirement, prepare our 401k, we prepare for taxes, we prepare for the space we need in our homes and so on and so forth. But we rarely prepare for when we leave this world and being
[00:02:51] ready to stand before God. So these are great things and deep things for us to think about.
[00:03:00] But before we read the chapter, I just wanted to give you some background for the book of Amos.
[00:03:06] This is not something, this is one of the 12 minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament.
[00:03:12] We did not preach this very much.
[00:03:16] And so it starts out as far as who Amos was.
[00:03:19] So we look at in Amos 1.1, it says, The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel,
[00:03:40] two years before the earthquake.
[00:03:43] And so Amos was preaching this prophecy to the northern kingdom.
[00:03:48] Okay, so the ten tribes that had split from Judah and Benjamin.
[00:03:55] This is after David, after Solomon, so it's a divided kingdom.
[00:04:00] And so Amos preached from around 650 B.C. to 655 B.C.
[00:04:07] And it was only 33 years after this that the northern kingdom went into captivity.
[00:04:12] They were judged, as God said.
[00:04:14] He did bring his judgment upon them, and they went into captivity by Assyria and were carried away out of the land of Israel.
[00:04:25] And one of the sins that the northern kingdom had done, that Jeroboam I, because Jeroboam that's mentioned here is Jeroboam II a few generations after, but Jeroboam I, when he started the northern kingdom split,
[00:04:40] he made two gold calves because he was trying to compete with Jerusalem and said, hey, if people go back to Jerusalem, well, they're going to want to reestablish the kingdom together.
[00:04:51] So to protect what I have in my authority and my kingship, we need to make new gods.
[00:04:58] So they made these golden calves.
[00:05:00] They put one in the north in Dan.
[00:05:02] They put one in the south at Bethel, which means house of God.
[00:05:07] It was a very important city in the Old Testament.
[00:05:10] And it became a place of idolatry and syncretism of worshiping these gods instead of worshiping the Lord.
[00:05:20] And so any king that did that led Israel further and further away from God and into sin.
[00:05:28] And so Jeroboam II at this time, he was a very wicked king.
[00:05:34] He continued in these trends.
[00:05:37] And so God called Amos.
[00:05:38] And so if we look at Amos chapter 7, verses 12 to 15, we see that we saw in Amos 1.1 that Amos was a herdsman, so he was a shepherd, he was in livestock, but he also tended sycamore trees.
[00:05:58] What it says is that Amos was a common, was a regular felon.
[00:06:02] and God called him to this work.
[00:06:06] And I wanted to throw that in there because it's very similar to how God works in our life, that he takes us as regular people and uses us to do his work and to do amazing things by his power and by him working through us
[00:06:20] as we yield ourselves to him.
[00:06:22] And so in Amos 7, 12 to 15, it says also Amaziah, this was one of the high priests for the northern kingdom, for these calves, said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah,
[00:06:39] and eat bread there, and prophesy there.
[00:06:42] So he's saying, go to the southern kingdom.
[00:06:43] Don't be in the northern kingdom here.
[00:06:46] But prophesy not again anymore at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
[00:06:52] Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, or before this I was not a prophet.
[00:06:58] Neither am I a prophet's son, but I was a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
[00:07:03] And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go prophesy unto my people Israel.
[00:07:12] So these are encouraging things for us in the service of the Lord, of how the Lord can use us.
[00:07:19] So let's turn to Amos chapter 4, if you're not already there.
[00:07:23] I'll give you a hint in the beginning as we read verse 1, So, you know, in the King James, it says, hear this word, ye kind of Bashan.
[00:07:42] These are cows of Bashan or Bashan, however you say that.
[00:07:48] But it's talking about the women of Samaria and the women of the northern kingdom and their idolatry and their wickedness.
[00:07:56] And so we're going to we're going to see about that.
[00:07:58] But just just so you know, that's what it's referring to.
[00:08:00] Hear this word, ye kind of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, bring and let us drink.
[00:08:13] The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, lo, the day shall come upon you that he shall take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks.
[00:08:27] and ye shall go out at the breaches every cow at that which is before her and ye shall cast them into the palace saith the Lord this is the Lord being sarcastic here in verse 4
[00:08:40] come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply transgressions and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three years and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven which you weren't supposed to put leaven
[00:08:57] and sacrifices it was to not have it was to put leaven in there was detestable for the lord's sacrifices and proclaim and publish the free offerings for this like of you oh ye children of israel saith the lord god and i also have given you cleanness of teeth in all of your cities he's
[00:09:17] not talking about teeth whitening he's talking about no food um let's see and want of bread in all your places, yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. That refrain occurs five times
[00:09:34] here. It's important. And also I have withholden the rain from you, and there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon
[00:09:48] another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied.
[00:10:03] Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[00:10:08] I have smitten you with blasting and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased.
[00:10:16] Blasting referring to heat and scorching and mildew referring to fungus and dampness that would rot the crops.
[00:10:27] the palmer worm devoured them, the fig trees and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me, saith the Lord.
[00:10:38] Now he's talking about locusts there.
[00:10:40] I have sent among you the pestilence after the manor of Egypt.
[00:10:44] Your young men have I slain with a sword, and I have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your camps to come up into your nostrils, yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[00:10:57] I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[00:11:13] Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
[00:11:23] for lo he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind and declareth unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness and treadeth upon the high places of the earth the lord the
[00:11:37] god of host or the god of of the armies of heaven is his name so this is comes across as thus sayeth the lord this is the lord in judgment to his people and you you have to get the picture this
[00:11:54] is his people he is punishing them because they are worshiping other gods because they are saying god does not see us we can do whatever we want to they were reveling in their sin they were doing
[00:12:09] whatever they wanted to and they thought that it was okay and god says because you have done this you will stand before me and you will give an account and i will pour out my judgment and my
[00:12:25] justice against you because god is loving but he is also just he is the holy one says in habakkuk 113 that his eyes are too pure than to look on evil or to look on sin and if that is the case
[00:12:44] how are we ever able to stand before him it is only through christ and christ taking our sin upon himself. But we have to repent in the name of Jesus. And repent means to turn, right? Does it
[00:13:02] not? It doesn't mean just to be sorry and say, okay, I got caught. You know, I've got myself in a mess. I'm going to try to do better. No, it is turning from your sin and turning to God and
[00:13:16] following him and striving to obey the lord who is our master and so here as as we just just in in running through uh some of the things for amos 4 that are important uh we mentioned that the kind
[00:13:35] are referring to cows to the women of samaria and the reason he is coming down on them is is is you What it says here, that they oppress the poor, they crush the needy, they say to their masters or to their husbands,
[00:13:51] they're like, hey, bring and let us drink.
[00:13:53] Do whatever you have to so that we can have a luxurious lifestyle and do whatever we want to do.
[00:14:00] It doesn't matter who is affected.
[00:14:02] We just want to live a certain way in sin and in self-satisfaction.
[00:14:08] And the Lord is bringing judgment upon them.
[00:14:12] And it says the Lord has sworn by his holiness, by his perfection, by the perfect standard of righteousness.
[00:14:24] It's like God wouldn't call us to be perfect if he wasn't perfect.
[00:14:28] But he is.
[00:14:30] There is no sin in him.
[00:14:31] There is nothing wrong in him.
[00:14:33] And so he says you are to follow and to obey me.
[00:14:36] And God does not grade on a curve.
[00:14:40] it is why Jesus came to die on the cross to take the full wrath of God against sin upon Him and He did and He suffered and He died for it and because He had no sin
[00:14:55] of His own He was able to rise from the dead because He is God He is God the Son that was in the flesh but that is eternal and now He is alive forevermore and He will forgive us
[00:15:10] but we have to repent we have to turn from our sins okay so verse 2 says that the day shall come upon you that that he will take you away with hooks and your prosperity with fish hooks and
[00:15:27] this is the lord god saying he will do this but he was going to use the assyrians and this was a tactic that they would do to people they had conquered they would they would strip them down
[00:15:37] naked they would put a ring in their nose and then they would put a rope on that ring or they would put a hook in their jaw with a with a rope attached to the hook and they'd pull you it was
[00:15:50] terrible the assyrians were very barbaric uh that they were known for their captives in making an example to others to to like totally flay the skin off of those that were captured uh there's more
[00:16:07] more, more, more. The Lord finally did destroy Assyria as he had prophesied because of their rage against God and what they did to his people. But the Lord used them as a tool to punish his
[00:16:22] people. Now, one of the things that we see here in Amos 4 is that all of these things are a fulfillment of the curses for the covenant for not obeying God that he gives in Deuteronomy 28.
[00:16:38] All five things that are mentioned here of the Lord's punishment are mentioned. The Lord says, if you do these things, if you worship other gods, if you revel in sin, if you don't look to me
[00:16:51] first and for everything, then I will bring all of these things upon you. I will bring famine. I will bring drought. I will bring pestilence and diseases against you. I will bring blasting and mildew. I will bring locusts. And he says, all the diseases that I put on Egypt,
[00:17:12] guess what? I will put on you. And this is his people. And this is why he is telling them, you have to obey me. You have to follow me. And I mean, when you think about just starting
[00:17:27] when God delivered His people out of Egypt.
[00:17:30] Remember all the things He did.
[00:17:32] Remember how He parted the Red Sea, how He fed them with bread from heaven, with manna.
[00:17:40] How He sent quail, how their shoes didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out.
[00:17:45] For 40 years, the Lord blessed them and prospered His people.
[00:17:50] His blessings were upon them and they continually rebelled against Him even in the wilderness.
[00:17:56] It was why the generation that came out of Egypt, only two men survived, Joshua and Caleb, because they followed the Lord with all of their heart.
[00:18:10] And the other Israelites, they went away from the Lord.
[00:18:16] They worshipped other gods.
[00:18:19] They wanted their fulfillment and their trust and their salvation to be in everything else.
[00:18:26] All right.
[00:18:26] so in verse 3 when it talks about says and ye shall go out at the breaches this is in the weak places of the city where the when the Assyrians would come in says every cow which is before her
[00:18:40] are all these women and it was judgment against the men and the leaders too says you shall cast them into the palace now this is not a good thing this is the judgment that is against the palace
[00:18:50] that is against Israel that is against the leadership and these this judgment would come upon them and then verse 4 as we said the Lord was being sarcastic he was saying come to Bethel and transgress the Lord's not calling them to sin he's saying this is what you do and what what
[00:19:09] does Bethel mean means house of God and they're coming and they are that their their hearts are not with the Lord they are divided against him and it says that Gilgal multiplied transgressions And Gilgal was an important city in where the covenant started.
[00:19:31] Gilgal is when they crossed the Jordan, and the Lord stopped the waters of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed on dry land.
[00:19:44] It was at flood stage.
[00:19:45] It probably was almost a mile wide.
[00:19:48] A raging river, and God stops it.
[00:19:51] They walk across on dry land.
[00:19:53] the Lord tells Joshua to get the twelve, I mean like big stones out of the middle of the river that are only in the middle of the river and get them out and make a
[00:20:04] monument and pile them up and say this is the Lord has brought us out of Egypt, he has brought us across the Jordan he has brought us into this land he is the one who will bless us
[00:20:16] and yet they were sinning at a place like Gilgal and doing their idolatrous worship and and sinning against the lord he says uh bring your sacrifices every morning they were supposed to bring their sacrifices to the lord once a year but but
[00:20:33] that they were making up things to seem more holy that that that they were not worshiping the lord how he told them to but they were wanting to live their sinful lives and try to cover it up
[00:20:45] they were saying and your ties every three years now in some translations this is three days It's kind of like in this context, three days fits a little bit better, but it still means the same thing in that they were adding things
[00:21:00] in trying to go through the motions of seeming holy and righteous before the Lord of things they didn't have to do.
[00:21:10] They would just bring their tithes every three years according to Deuteronomy 26.12, especially with agriculture and crops.
[00:21:19] They could bring their tithe in every three years.
[00:21:22] But they were adding things that they didn't have to do, but in their hearts they were not following God.
[00:21:30] In verse 5 it says, Offer a sacrifice with leaven.
[00:21:33] You're not supposed to put yeast.
[00:21:36] Leaven is yeast.
[00:21:37] You're not supposed to put yeast in the sacrifices.
[00:21:41] It is detestable unto God.
[00:21:42] When they do Passover, you have no yeast.
[00:21:46] It says that anyone who uses yeast during the festival of the Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread will be cut off from his people.
[00:21:55] That means killed.
[00:21:58] It was that serious.
[00:22:01] And it says, and proclaim and publish free offerings.
[00:22:05] That's kind of like, hey, anybody come.
[00:22:07] You don't have to worry about repenting.
[00:22:09] Just come and party.
[00:22:10] And, you know, this is the animal that we cooked.
[00:22:13] Hey, let's just have a big feast.
[00:22:15] Let's just have a big party.
[00:22:18] And the Lord is calling them on this.
[00:22:22] And this has something to say for the worship of the church today.
[00:22:29] If the Lord was this specific about not putting yeast in sacrifices, then churches today that want to do things to attract a whole bunch of people, and they have church in a way that is not prescribed according to the scriptures
[00:22:48] and according to what God says his worship is to be, are they right or are they in error churches that will will kind of cut corners and do things just to get people to come in a sense of having a rock band making it seem seem like a concert
[00:23:13] having you know having all these things you know like smoke in there and and and things and very very dim light this is a methodology that is not prescribed in the scriptures when like so you know
[00:23:33] let's just say for churches that try to make it dark inside what was jesus say that he is he is the what of the world he is the light of the world it says that we are to praise god that people are
[00:23:46] to sing not be entertained it comes down to that methodology of how god says in the scriptures that he is to be worshiped what we are to have in church is the preaching of the word
[00:24:02] we are to have prayer we are to have the sacraments and the sacraments of the lord suppers to be taken in the right way with repentance and coming before the lord and not just this mass thing of whoever wants to come.
[00:24:20] What does the United Methodist Church say about communion?
[00:24:23] All come, all welcome.
[00:24:26] Out in front of their churches, they have transgender flags, they have LGBTQ flags.
[00:24:31] It's like there is no accountability for sin.
[00:24:37] This is what the Lord is saying when he says, proclaim and publish the free offering.
[00:24:44] You don't have to worry about your sin.
[00:24:46] Just come to the Lord.
[00:24:47] He'll accept you.
[00:24:48] He grades on a curve.
[00:24:50] Jesus died on the cross for nothing.
[00:24:53] God forbid.
[00:24:56] But you see the point.
[00:25:01] In verse 6, Amos says, he says, I've given you cleanness of teeth and want of bread in all your places.
[00:25:07] And then that refrain, yet you have not returned to me.
[00:25:13] This is an important point that I think the Western church has ignored, forgotten or just doesn't realize that the lord can use judgment his judgment against our sin in the preaching of the gospel that god can say hey you are not right with me i'm going to bring
[00:25:36] judgment upon you and it can be a call to come to him so that we will get right so that we will repent and seek his forgiveness do you understand that so in all these things god is doing it so
[00:25:49] his people will come back to him and say hey we are sorry we have sinned please forgive us pour upon us the mercy and the grace of Christ when when God's when God's people do that God
[00:26:05] listens that's how he listens that's how he saves that's how he comes to our aid and delivers is when we come to him and we confess our sin and we are turning to him.
[00:26:21] We see in verse 8 that he brings drought.
[00:26:24] Verse 9 that he brings blasting and mildew with crops and he brings a locust invasion.
[00:26:31] He says, yet you have not turned back to me.
[00:26:35] In verse 10, he brings pestilence and diseases.
[00:26:39] He says in verse 11, I mean, this is huge.
[00:26:42] He says, I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
[00:26:48] Totally destroyed them.
[00:26:50] He's like, I've totally destroyed some of you, and yet you have not returned to me to seek my face, to seek my favor and my love and my forgiveness.
[00:27:03] And he says, and yet, or and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the fire.
[00:27:09] He says, those who were not totally destroyed, I just plucked you out of the fire like a stick that was burning.
[00:27:16] Paul, the apostle Paul, uses this example in 1 Corinthians 3.
[00:27:21] He says that, and this pertains to what we're talking about.
[00:27:26] He says, everything that is in your life that is not lived for the Lord is going to be burned up.
[00:27:37] So what does that mean?
[00:27:39] That means that everything that we do in our lives needs to be for God, right?
[00:27:43] and everything we do is we do we do it through it to point people to god and everything we do we do for his glory we ask for his help with things for his for his leadership for his guidance
[00:27:58] so that we do things according to his plan and so everything that is not done in that way is going to be burned up and so the lord is saying there for what apostle the apostle paul says
[00:28:16] In 1 Corinthians 3, it says that even if you are saved, if you have truly repented of your sins, but you're not living for me at all, if a person hasn't crossed over, or if they were even saved in the first place is what I'm meaning.
[00:28:32] It's like your life and your soul will be saved, plucked out of the fire, but you won't have anything to show for your life.
[00:28:40] That's what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 3.
[00:28:42] The same thing that is here in Amos.
[00:28:46] And so verse 12, Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, he says, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
[00:29:01] The Lord says, I have created everything.
[00:29:03] I am over everything.
[00:29:06] He says, I hold your very soul and your life and your next breath in my hand, for I am the Lord, the God of the armies of Israel, The God of hosts is my name.
[00:29:22] That's pretty hard.
[00:29:23] And not that I agree, but there's a reason why some people are like, you know, I don't want to mess with the Old Testament.
[00:29:34] I don't want to mess with the God of the Old Testament, judgment and fire and wrath.
[00:29:40] But why does God do that?
[00:29:46] Because of the wickedness and the sinfulness of our hearts.
[00:29:51] Because everything we do is to go away from Him.
[00:29:56] And you might think, you know, I'm a pretty good person.
[00:29:57] I love God, I try to love God, I try to live for Him.
[00:30:02] Well, let's kind of turn the microscope on us and on me for a second.
[00:30:10] I would assert to you about what the Scripture is teaching, that we are not any better than the Israelites, even though they were worshiping other gods.
[00:30:21] And we're like, well, you know, I don't have an idol set up in my house.
[00:30:25] But if we are honest with ourselves and with the Lord, we have lived with a selfish drive to please ourselves.
[00:30:33] We have wanted to satisfy our needs and our wants and our desires before the Lord and before His Word, submitting to His Word, and before His worship on the Sabbath.
[00:30:50] And we have wanted to satisfy ourselves before living for Him.
[00:30:58] Now you all are in church today and that is great.
[00:31:02] I praise the Lord for that.
[00:31:05] But there could be some here and there could be some in other churches that go to church just out of habit or begrudgingly.
[00:31:13] And you might be thinking, yeah, there's a whole lot of other places I'd rather be, a whole lot of other things I need to be doing.
[00:31:19] You know, if I could just get out of coming to church, I'd be all right.
[00:31:24] I mean, I think we can say that that's not putting the worship of the Lord first.
[00:31:31] That's putting our selfish and our sinful desires, what we want to do, what we think is important, even though the Lord is the God of the whole universe, right?
[00:31:41] What we want to do is more important than being here, especially in our heart.
[00:31:51] We are motivated by what we think will fulfill us from sex to social media to movies to money to substances and addictions to houses to cars to just stuff, to music, to sports.
[00:32:14] And we do this before we think of putting the needs of others before ourselves in our families, in the church, and in the people that we are around every day.
[00:32:30] And when we do get around to thinking about the needs of others, we constantly say or think about how ungrateful they are for our time and for our help, right?
[00:32:44] We have put ourselves on the throne of the universe and then try to be righteous and say, oh, all that I have is by the grace of God.
[00:32:55] And I would be nothing without what Jesus has done for me.
[00:32:59] Not that those things can't be true, but when we are honest, even if we say or think those things, We have not really confessed our selfishness and the putting of ourselves and our needs and our desire for happiness first.
[00:33:18] And we haven't really confessed that we put these things before the needs of others and especially before the Lord and obeying Him and following Him and worshiping Him and making Him our first love.
[00:33:37] and instead of our love and commitment to Christ motivating everything that we do and instead of unselfishly putting the needs of others before ourselves, we complain and we have reservation and we do things begrudgingly.
[00:33:58] Now, if I'm wrong, then tell me and I'll be quiet right now.
[00:34:04] But all of us, including myself in some way, shape or form have done this to God because we want to do what we want to do.
[00:34:23] And we have not repented of those things.
[00:34:28] And if we have repented, it's like we continue to do and we don't turn from our sin and cry out to God and say, help me in moving past this.
[00:34:37] Help me conquer this.
[00:34:45] But in order to turn from it, you have to want to.
[00:34:49] And you have to feel that the Holy Spirit is convicting you to do this.
[00:34:55] or believe that it is, to know that it is.
[00:34:58] If there's that tug inside you right now that is like, man, I am just, I am tore up about this.
[00:35:05] I am cut between, cut to the heart because I've not followed God as I should wholeheartedly.
[00:35:15] Then that is the Holy Spirit that is convicting you and you have to give your life completely to him and in submitting to his word.
[00:35:24] And our response to the Lord in turning from our sin and selfishness has to be what the Apostle James says in chapter 4.
[00:35:42] It's got just a little more of hard stuff to hear.
[00:35:46] In the end of chapter 4, the end of this passage, it does get more positive in how the Lord will forgive us.
[00:35:53] He will raise us up.
[00:35:54] I mean, it's beautiful.
[00:35:59] James 4.1, From whence come wars and fightings among you?
[00:36:03] and this is talking about it can be wars but it's also struggle within our lives it's also us fighting for what we want right it's it's it's it's where when jesus said if if you act in anger
[00:36:17] toward your brother or sister that you have committed murder it's the same as committing murder for us getting what we want come they not hence even of your lust that war in your members ye lust and ye have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and ye war and
[00:36:41] yet ye have not because ye ask not because of all the things that we're looking for fulfillment in life when's the last time we brought it to the lord not saying hey lord give me that sports car
[00:36:52] but lord how can i live for you and you give me what i need verse 3 ye ask and you receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it on your lust.
[00:37:13] I'm going to tell you, this is hard stuff.
[00:37:15] I mean, it's hard for you to hear.
[00:37:16] It's hard to say.
[00:37:17] It's hard for me.
[00:37:18] It's like this is describing what my heart looks like before God, before I repent, before I turn from my sins.
[00:37:27] And notice I'm using I.
[00:37:32] Verse 4, this is even harder.
[00:37:35] Ye adulterers and adulteresses.
[00:37:37] It's like we've committed spiritual adultery against the Lord by going after all these other things.
[00:37:45] Know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity or hatred with God?
[00:37:52] Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
[00:37:57] I'm not telling you to go and throw your TVs and your cell phones and all those things away.
[00:38:04] But we certainly need to do a better job of all the things that turn us away from God and embracing the world and being a part of it and not coming out and being God's holy people.
[00:38:19] We have to be in the world, but not of it.
[00:38:22] The verse that everybody likes to say, including myself, that greater is he who is in us, who lives in us, than he that is in the world.
[00:38:31] The only way that applies is if you are truly seeking the Lord with all your heart is if you were repenting of your sins and not sitting in your sin and wanting to keep satisfying yourself.
[00:38:47] Notice this, verse 5.
[00:38:48] Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
[00:38:54] Now that almost sounds kind of bad, but it's not.
[00:38:57] In other translations, it has maybe a little bit more clear.
[00:39:01] It says that the Spirit that dwelleth in us yearns jealously.
[00:39:08] This is the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:39:09] This is God the Holy Spirit.
[00:39:11] It's that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit so want us to be with them and to walk with Him and to submit to His Word and put Him first.
[00:39:23] Then He will bless us.
[00:39:26] He will pour out His mercy upon us.
[00:39:28] He will give us more blessing and spiritual blessing than we have even room for, He says.
[00:39:35] but he wants us to come to him and to walk with him and to stay with him he's like don't go to the world that is emptiness if we go to the world and we stay there then it might be that you're in
[00:39:50] hell forever and you're separated from god and you're tortured for all eternity with satan and his demons i mean why do you think that satan and his demons fight so hard against god because they
[00:40:03] know there's no hope for them because of their rebellion against god so they want to get as many of us to rebel against god so that we can share in their misery and they will afflict us or they
[00:40:18] will afflict people who are in hell that is that that is why there's this gospel call even in judgment it is like come to christ live for him all right let's see verse six this is where it
[00:40:36] turns it gets a little better all right but but but it's through repentance but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith god resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you so god gives us grace to the humble
[00:41:00] so we can't be proud right we can't think hey i've got it all together i'm gonna do what i want to do nobody's going to tell me how to live my life that is pride then you'll be with satan
[00:41:12] for all eternity separated from god and suffering and i mean we're talking when when people say it's like hell on earth they have no idea how bad it will be submit yourselves therefore to god
[00:41:31] humble yourselves before god resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you i mean you can hang your hat on that verse you draw close to god you you want to
[00:41:49] live for god well guess what he's gonna he's gonna draw near to you he's gonna it's like we see him with all of our heart he says i will be found by you i will meet you there cleanse your hands ye
[00:42:03] sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded go away from our sin go away from our selfishness be afflicted and mourn and weep mourn for our sin i mean do you ever think like i just can't
[00:42:19] get away from my sin i wish i could turn from it i wish i could do better and you pray for god's help because he's the only one who can deliver you says let your laughter be turned to mourning
[00:42:35] and your joy to heaviness humble your sight humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and he shall lift you up it says that god will exalt you if you humble yourselves before him i mean that's beautiful that is what christ did for us he humbled himself and became man
[00:42:55] and came and died on the cross for us and then because he was obedient because he was perfect because he took our sin upon himself god raised god the father raised him up three days later he
[00:43:07] exalted him you see how that works but it's only as we commit ourselves and our hearts not just like a few decisions for god you commit your hearts and your soul and your life to god and
[00:43:23] in following him and we want to do that rather than just going through the motions rather than just sprinkling a little bit of holiness and goodness of the lord on our lives while we still
[00:43:37] do what we want to do that's what God is talking about here in Amos 4 now we are running a little short on time and I'm not going to go to 12 30 all right but I could if I did everything here
[00:43:56] all the scripture that Emilio has back in the computer I could go to 12 30 okay so I'm going to try to sum this up and use just a few verses this is also talking here about the day of the
[00:44:08] lord when christ will return but in the old testament it talks about it calls certain destruction that god brought when he destroyed the northern kingdom and sent them away to exile when he destroyed the southern kingdom and took them away to exile in babylon and and other things
[00:44:29] that that judgments that he pours out on them he describes it as the day of the lord and the thing is, is that all of those things, including the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, where the Jews
[00:44:41] were judged because they rejected Christ. I want you to hear that. The Jews don't get a free pass and automatically go to heaven. They have to receive Christ as their Messiah, otherwise they will go to hell. God will draw some of the Jews, some of what were his chosen people, along with
[00:45:07] thus the Gentiles.
[00:45:09] But, so when the Lord destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, that was described in terms of the day of the Lord.
[00:45:20] But all of those things point toward the great day of the Lord when Christ will come.
[00:45:26] And for all of you that feel like, like, man, I just wish we could end this.
[00:45:30] I feel like I'm being hammered.
[00:45:32] I feel like this is heavy.
[00:45:36] I want you to stop and think.
[00:45:39] I want all eyes up here.
[00:45:40] what will you do when you stand before the Lord God Almighty?
[00:45:49] What will you say?
[00:45:52] What will you tell Him when you say, well, Lord, I wanted to live for You, but I probably didn't do it all the time.
[00:46:02] And He might say, did you confess your sin?
[00:46:05] Did you repent?
[00:46:06] Did you seek Me for My mercy and My strength to help you?
[00:46:12] And we might say no.
[00:46:15] We just thought if we came to church and we, you know, if we prayed once a month, that that would be okay.
[00:46:23] And we, you know, maybe read a verse every so often that is not submitting to Christ or His Word or committing your life to Him.
[00:46:36] Do you see what I'm talking about?
[00:46:39] And so when the day of the Lord, when Christ will return, and He's coming, He is coming.
[00:46:46] It might be in our lifetime, it might not.
[00:46:49] It might be a hundred, a thousand years from now, but He is coming.
[00:46:54] All the signs are pointing.
[00:46:56] It's like, hey, it's getting closer.
[00:47:02] And we know that Christ is real.
[00:47:04] We know that He's risen from the dead.
[00:47:06] We know that He ascended into heaven, that He is at the right hand of the Father.
[00:47:10] We have the truth that says this is who God is.
[00:47:15] And all of the judgment He talked about in the Old Testament, guess what?
[00:47:19] It happened.
[00:47:19] we can know and trust that he is coming back and so this so what is said in Amos 4 points to that so I want to read just a passage from Amos 5 to give you an idea of the day of the Lord
[00:47:36] and then look at into the New Testament and then we will wrap up look at Amos 5 verses 11 to 27 for as much therefore as your treading is upon the poor and ye take from him the burdens of wheat.
[00:47:59] Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them.
[00:48:05] Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
[00:48:09] For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, that they afflict the just, they take a bribe, they turn aside the poor and the gate from their right.
[00:48:19] Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time.
[00:48:23] And here the Lord in judgment is extending mercy and the gospel.
[00:48:28] Seek good and not evil that ye may live.
[00:48:31] And so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you as ye have spoken.
[00:48:36] Hate the evil and love the good.
[00:48:38] Establish judgment or justice in the gate, that it may be that the Lord of hosts will be gracious under the remnant of Joseph.
[00:48:47] Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord saith, wailing shall be in all the streets and they shall say in all the highways alas alas and they shall call the husbandmen to mourning and such as are the skillful of lamentation to wailing
[00:49:03] and all the vineyards shall be wailing for I will pass through thee saith the Lord woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is
[00:49:17] darkness and not light as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him he shall not the day of the lord be darkness
[00:49:33] and not light even very dark and no brightness in it and then jumping down to verse 27 i'll just read that because the lord confirms he's sending them into captivity says therefore i will cause
[00:49:48] you to go into captivity beyond damascus saith the lord whose name is the god of host let's look at luke chapter 1941 to 44 this is where jesus weeps over jerusalem oh and a good passage to look at
[00:50:19] for the day of the Lord on your own is from Joel 2, 28-32.
[00:50:24] It talks about when the Lord pours out the Holy Spirit, but it has this reference that God's wrath will be poured out on sin as well.
[00:50:35] Talking about the day of the Lord.
[00:50:38] Luke 19, 41.
[00:50:40] And when He was come near, He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known even now at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from their eyes he said if you'd only come
[00:50:55] to me and embrace me as the messiah for the day shall come upon thee that thine enemy shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee
[00:51:11] even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in the one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation when judgment was coming do you know
[00:51:26] how many jews were were were killed and slaughtered when rome destroyed jerusalem in 70 a.d 1.1 million it was huge in the in their destruction and it was because they rejected Christ as their Messiah
[00:51:46] and as their Savior. And so I want to read one more verse before we get to the end and the conclusion. This is in Malachi 4.
[00:52:03] Because this is a great passage. It combines the first and the second comings together of when Christ came to die for our sins.
[00:52:12] The wrath of God poured out on him. It was seen as this smaller day of the Lord and looking forward to when he was going to come back malachi 4 1 through 6 for behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the
[00:52:28] proud yea all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up say if the lord of hosts that it shall not leave neither root nor branch this is the the day of
[00:52:41] the lord when christ shall come back and unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness is speaking of Jesus, arise with healing in his wings and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of a stall
[00:52:57] that Christ would come for us, that he would bring salvation for those who will repent before him.
[00:53:04] Verse 3, and ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
[00:53:13] Remember ye the law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgment.
[00:53:23] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet who was in John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah as he was promised before the coming in the great dreadful day of the Lord.
[00:53:34] This is both the first coming of Christ and the ultimate second coming of Christ.
[00:53:39] And he, as in John the Baptist, will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
[00:53:55] One day Jesus will come and we will stand before him as described in Matthew 25, where he says he will separate all humanity as the sheep from the goats.
[00:54:06] The sheep will be on his right.
[00:54:08] The goats will be on his left.
[00:54:09] The goats will go into everlasting destruction.
[00:54:12] The sheep will go to eternal life.
[00:54:16] I mean, there are so many other great verses in Revelation, in Revelation 6, Revelation 19, and Revelation 22, where the Lord says, I am coming quickly.
[00:54:31] Be ready.
[00:54:34] And so, how do we prepare to meet the Lord?
[00:54:40] There are three things here.
[00:54:43] One, this is not the first thing, this is getting into it.
[00:54:47] You cannot do it on your own.
[00:54:48] has to be God drawing you to come to Him.
[00:54:54] And then once you have that conviction of the Holy Spirit, you come and you bow before Christ and then, one, you repent of your sins in the name of Jesus.
[00:55:07] The Lord says in Isaiah 118, He says, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
[00:55:14] Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
[00:55:19] Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
[00:55:22] It says the Lord will wash you of your sins if we will but come and repent.
[00:55:28] And there's repenting the first time, and there is a continual repenting.
[00:55:33] We should have an attitude of continual repentance before the Lord, bringing our sins before Him because we sin every day, brothers and sisters, at least once.
[00:55:45] If you're like me, it's a lot more than once.
[00:55:47] the second thing is that we believe on the lord jesus christ as your savior and as your lord now this word believe in the sense is not just a mental ascent to say yes i believe in jesus
[00:56:03] therefore i'm a christian no when we believe in him we commit ourself to him we are we want to worship him we are wanting to follow him romans 10 9 and 13 says if you shall confess with your
[00:56:18] mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. That is true. That is what all this leads to in preparing to meet our God. In verse 13,
[00:56:34] whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And three, we have to obey Christ and follow him we have to serve him and serve others in his love the apostle john says in first john
[00:56:53] chapter 5 says whosoever believeth that jesus is the christ is born of god and everyone that loveth him who that begat loveth him that is also begotten of him in the sense of loving the father
[00:57:10] and the son if we are born again we will want to serve him and then verse two is more explicit by this we know that we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments
[00:57:23] if you are truly a believer then you walk in his ways you strive to obey him you strive to be in the word and to keep it now does that sound so hard so what god wants us to forsake our selfish
[00:57:40] desires in what we want to do he wants us to come and to put him first and to bow before our king and submit to him and so this is not just for salvation but it is also if if you have gone
[00:57:58] away from god if you have not put him first then you need to come and repent you can do that now you can come up here and pray while we while we sing our last hymn if you want to come up and
[00:58:10] commit your life to him and be saved you can do that too pastor joseph will come up here and we we will talk with you and pray with you for you to get right with god for you to give your life
[00:58:23] and your heart to christ so that you will be ready and prepared to meet your god when he comes that we will know that we have forgiveness of sin and eternal life and so god says that we need to
[00:58:40] come to him, even if it's in your heart and your spirit, even if you need to talk to me later, even if you need to talk to somebody else about how to love and to serve God like he calls us to, please do.
[00:58:54] For God loves you. He came and he died for you and he wants you to commit your way to him so that he might pour out his mercy and blessing upon you.
[00:59:05] Amen? Amen. Alright, let's close in prayer.
[00:59:12] We're not closing, but we're praying.
[00:59:14] Father, Lord, we do confess our sins to you.
[00:59:19] Lord, we ask that you would make us your holy people.
[00:59:23] Lord, we pray that if there is anything that we are embracing of the world that is keeping us from looking to you all the time, Lord, we pray that you would help us to get rid of it.
[00:59:34] Lord, give us an undivided heart to follow you and to follow Christ.
[00:59:39] Lord, help us that your power might be in us, that you might use us for your glory.
[00:59:46] Lord, that we might look to how you want us to live rather than what we want to do, for you will lead us in the right ways.
[00:59:55] Lord, as Jesus told his disciples, said, come and follow me and give your lives to me.
[01:00:01] Lord, that is what you are telling us.
[01:00:03] Help us to do that.
[01:00:05] Lord, we pray that you would bring revival.
[01:00:08] We pray, Lord, that we would be on our knees.
[01:00:12] Lord, it is not that this whole front of the sanctuary has to be full of people repenting of their sins.
[01:00:18] But, Lord, what if that happened?
[01:00:21] What if you led us to that?
[01:00:24] Lord, that we would want to be so filled of you and our hearts purified to follow you.
[01:00:31] Lord, that we would be on our knees mourning for our sin.
[01:00:36] Lord, if not now, help us to do that soon.
[01:00:39] Help us to go home and get on our knees and say, Lord, forgive me.
[01:00:43] Have mercy upon me and strengthen me that I might live for you and how you want me to live.
[01:00:51] Oh, Lord, thank you for your mercy and your long-suffering toward us.
[01:00:57] But, Lord, you are coming back.
[01:01:00] The Lord Jesus is coming, and we need to be ready.
[01:01:05] We need to prepare to meet our God.
[01:01:10] We pray this in the great name of Jesus, our Savior, and our Redeemer, and our King.
[01:01:16] Amen.
[01:01:18] All right, so we are going to not do the Apostles' Creed, and we're just going to have our last song.
[01:01:25] It's Just As I Am.
[01:01:27] It started out in the Baptist church.
[01:01:28] It seemed to fit.