Let's open our Bibles to the book of Amos. Amos. As the Lord enables, we'll try to work our way through this prophet. And as with all the prophets, let us be reminded that they speak first and foremost of Christ. And though these prophecies have a historical context to them, I'm just so hopeful that the Lord will give us a fresh view of Christ as we read them together. I've titled this message, True and Righteous are His Judgments true and righteous are his judgments. Amos, whose name means burden, brought a message of judgment, first and foremost against the enemies of God's people. And then a word of warning, Amos was from Judah, the southern kingdom, but he was sent by God to take a message of judgment against those other nations that were that were plundering Israel, the Northern Kingdom, but also with a message to warn the Northern Kingdom of the justice and judgment of God that would come against them if they did not repent. And so he carries a message of burden. It's a heavy message. And yet in the end, we must know that the judgments of God As the Lord tells us in Revelation chapter 19, and we'll be turning to that verse in a few moments, the judgments of God are first true, and second, they are righteous. And that is true when God exercises judgments against the enemies of his church. It is true. when he exercised his judgment against our sin bearer, the Lord Jesus, when he bore our sins in his body upon that tree. True and righteous are his judgments. It is true in the circumstances of our lives as we walk in this world as strangers and pilgrims As the children of God, we know that true and righteous are the providential judgments that the Lord executes in our lives. And my hope tonight is that the Lord will increase our faith and enable us to rest in Christ, in knowing that the judgment of God will settle all things in the end, All the things that seem so unfair and unjust in this world in which we live will be all put in order at the end. That we will be able to trust our Lord who orders all things for our good and for his glory in this life. And that we'll be able to look back and know that the judgment of God. His justice was satisfied when he poured out the full fury of his wrath upon our substitute, our sin bearer, our savior, the Lord Jesus at Calvary's cross. So true and righteous are his judgments. Now Amos begins by telling us when he prophesied. Joel, you remember, doesn't give us any indication, unlike many of the prophets, as far as kings and events that took place that we can pinpoint when these men ministered the gospel to the people. So Joel, you remember Isaiah, began his ministry at the death of Uzziah. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord Isaiah chapter 6 and that begins his ministry and Isaiah says, send me. Well, Josiah was a good king, although he died in shame, he was a good king. And he reigned for 52 years before Isaiah. And the scripture tells us right here that it was during Josiah's reign that Amos prophesied. So we know when it was, it was before Isaiah. And it was during Uzziah's reign. 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, two years before the earthquake. Now, Zechariah mentions this same earthquake. It was a sign of God's judgment against his people and the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Lord would do in shaking the earth. There was actually an earthquake, which made a significant impression on everyone that the Lord would do such a thing. Amos now, two years before this earthquake, goes into Israel. Remember, Israel fell into idolatry long before Judah. Judah maintained their faithfulness in the gospel for a long time after Israel. But Israel, whoever could win the throne, whoever could kill the previous king, whoever could intimidate his way into power became king of Israel, the northern kingdom. In the southern kingdom, they were all descendants of David. And so the fulfillment of the promise that a sovereign would reign in David's throne all the way up until Shiloh came, which is Christ, was the fulfillment of that of that promise, but not so in Israel. So Amos, who has this burden, goes into Israel and declares this message that God's going to bring judgment and his judgments will be true. And they did come true. And his judgments will be righteous. I find it very encouraging in this first verse that Amos identifies himself as a herdsman. A herdsman was a very low position in life. It was just like you see, you know, today where these poor Bedouin men might have a staff and they've taken a a few sheep and leading them from pasture to pasture, trying to find, trying to find, that's what Amos was. And how encouraging it is for all of us, I can speak for myself especially, that the Lord is pleased to use nobodies to accomplish his purpose. I like what I've heard one preacher say, that a preacher is a nobody who tells everybody about somebody that can save anybody. And I like that. But how oftentimes in the scriptures we see the Lord doing that. He did it with Gideon. When the Lord approached Gideon about going to battle against the Midianites, Gideon confessed, remember he was hiding out behind the wine press, and Gideon confessed, me? I'm the least member of the least family of the least tribe in all of Israel. I mean, he put himself on the bottom of the barrel. And the Lord said, that's why I'm choosing you. Moses thought he was somebody when he was in Egypt. He, for 40 years, was the son of Pharaoh. Well-educated, he was a man of influence and power and thought that he could use that power and influence to deliver the children of Israel when he went up against that slave driver that was beating one of the Israelites and killed him. Next 40 years, he had to spend on the backside of the desert becoming a nobody in order for God to be able to use him. to come back and bring the children out of Egypt. Who am I, Lord? Why would you call me? 40 years out there leading sheep, taking care of Jethro's flock. Elisha, the prophet, was called from plowing. He was plowing behind an oxen, and God laid his hand on him and called him. took the oxen and offered as a sacrifice and took the plow and used it for the wood for the fire and left everything to follow the Lord. You remember when Samuel came to David's house to choose one of the sons and And Jesse brought all of his sons before Samuel, and they were all kingly looking. And the Lord told Samuel, no, no, no. And finally Samuel said, you got any more? Well, the youngest boys out in the yard take care of the sheep, but surely you wouldn't be interested in him. Bring him in. And that's the one. Brethren, we see this. So when the Lord Jesus called his disciples, He called fishermen. When they were brought before the Sanhedrin, after the Lord ascended back into glory and they were being interrogated for preaching the gospel, they took notice that they were unlearned and ignorant men, but they had been with Jesus. There's the difference. There's a lot of smart, educated, powerful, influential people in this world. but they haven't been with Jesus. They haven't been with the Lord. They know nothing. God takes nobodies like Amos, who was a herdsman. Why? One simple reason, that no flesh will glory in his presence. Let's look at that verse real quick. First Corinthians chapter one, I was listening to somebody recently and they were reading a document that was found in the first century AD after the death of the apostles and it was a letter that was sent between some Christian churches and this person that was commenting on the letter was not a Christian. or that wrote the letter was not a Christian. He was just writing it as an observation of what these followers of Christ were doing. And he made note that one of the most influential servants in the church was a slave girl. You know, at that time, the population of slaves outnumbered the population of the Romans. And of course, the slaves would have been very receptable to the gospel. I just wonder, you know, scripture doesn't tell us, but I just wonder what percentage of the New Testament churches were made up of slaves. Look at verse 26 in 1 Corinthians 1. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, the base things of the world, and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are. Slaves were just property. They weren't even considered people. They were just passed around as property. Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him, but of God the Father, are you in Christ Jesus? You didn't get there by yourself. God put you there. He put you there in the covenant of grace before time ever was. He put us in Christ. He loved us with an everlasting love. This is God's, this is God's work. And he didn't look down through the quarters of time and see who would be influential and who would be powerful and who would be willing and choose them. No, he did just the opposite. He chose the Gideons and the Amos's and the Peter's and the, who of God is made unto us. God put us in Christ, God made Christ to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. Isn't that encouragement, brethren? God doesn't require great ability or education or influence or power. He makes us willing in the day of his power. And like Amos, let's go back to Amos. Like Amos, he burdens us with a message. And he burdens his children with their own flesh so that they have a need for him continually, continually. Lord, I'm so weak. But when I'm weak, then I'm strong. For your strength is made perfect in my weakness. The unbeliever can't identify with this. All religious people will feign humility They will pretend to be humble because they know it's a virtue that ought to be, but this being nothing and having no ability in ourselves, Lord, I can't save myself. We open this service by reading from Psalm 117, and the Lord calls on us to praise, and what did we pray? Lord, you're gonna have to enable us to do what you've that God has commanded us to do. We can't praise you, we can't worship you, we can't believe on you, we can't serve you, we can't see you, Lord, all the things that you demand of us and require of us, you have to provide. There's no glory in his presence so that if we catch a glimpse of his glory, if we're able to be delivered troubles of this life for just a little while, if we're able to enter into worship, if we're able to rest, if we're able to believe, he gets all the glory. He did it. He made us able. The words of Amos who was among the, back to Amos chapter one, the words of Amos who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. He saw these things. How did he see them? Same way you see them. Yes, God spoke often audibly. He spoke miraculously to the hearts of the prophets. but we have God's word now recorded in scripture. We have the full revelation that God has ever given to every generation of believers, given to us in his word. And when by the Holy Spirit, his word is open to our hearts and the bread is broken, we see, we see, Lord, I see that. I see who Christ is. I see who I am. I see what you did in judging my sin and my sin bearer and my substitute. Lord, I see that there is truth and righteousness in your judgments and that there is gonna come a day when you're going to settle all the books. That justice and judgment will be done in the end. And how hopeful and how blessed we are. to be able to rest in the one who suffered our judgment for us. Lord, I see that. Verse two, and he said, the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the habitations of the shepherd shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither. Now, Carmel was in Israel, the northern kingdom. And so he's telling these Israelites, because of their idolatry, that judgment of God is going to come. But then the rest of the chapter, he identifies the surrounding nations of Israel that are pillaging them and persecuting them and killing them. And he begins with the judgment against those nations. Verse three, for thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions. You're going to read this several times in this first chapter, for three transgressions and for four. Now the meaning of that is that three transgressions would be sufficient for the eternal wrath and judgment of God. The fourth transgression is just an added. In other words, there's no, when the Lord talks like this, what he's saying is there's no escaping this judgment. This is, they've crossed the line, there's no escaping what God's gonna do. For three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. Now, we've had a modern day, example of the kind of things we're going to read about here in this first chapter in terms of what Hamas did to the Jews two years ago. And we haven't seen all the videos and pictures, but we've heard about them. And the people have seen them are very credible testimony of what these terrorists did to babies and children and pregnant women. I mean, that was just two years ago. And this goes back 7th century BC. Nothing's changed. And that's what God said, this is the judgment that I'm gonna bring against these nations because of what they've done to my people. I will send a fire into verse four, I will send a fire into the house of Haziel, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad, I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the plain of Avon, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden, And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Ker, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have carried away captives, the whole captivity, to deliver them to Edom. And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof, and I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ascalon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they delivered up the whole captivity of Eden, and remembered not the brotherly covenant. They couldn't even have any sort of sympathy toward the fact that they were doing this to another human being. In other words, the Lord is saying, you treated my people as if they weren't even humans. You slaughtered them. I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, verse 10, which shall devour the palaces thereof. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. And I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their own border. That's exactly what happened two years ago. And I will kindle a fire in the way of Rabbah and it shall devour the palaces thereof with shouting in the day of battle and the tempest in the day of the whirlwind and their king shall go into captivity and he and his princes together saith the Lord. The Lord is making a distinction between his people and the enemies of his people. And this distinction has always been. We see it first demonstrated between Cain and Abel, the first two men brought into the world by Adam and Eve. And Cain kills his brother out of jealousy, out of hatred. Why? Because God had honor for the offering that Abel made, and God had no respect for the offering of Cain's hands. And out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother. And this same thing continues with Isaac and Ishmael. When God brings Isaac, the child of promise, into the world through Sarah's womb at 90 years old, And Ishmael was cast out as the bond woman, with the bond woman, Hagar. And that conflict is what we're seeing happen today. Always been, hadn't gone away. But it's a gospel story. It's a gospel story, brethren. This isn't just a historical thing that we look to and relate to. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Just as we're encouraged, Galatians 4, I'm sorry. Just as we're encouraged to know that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, he changes not. He works the same way today that he worked then. He chooses nobodies today so that no flesh can glory in his presence. and those men that boast in their abilities and they're just, they're nothing to him. They're a drop in the bucket. And now we see here that this perpetual conflict that happens between light and darkness, it happened between Cain and Abel, happened between Isaac and Ishmael, happened between Jacob and Esau. It's a light and darkness. It's that which is holy in the gospel versus that which is profane in man. And that those who are, you know, just to bring another perhaps little example of this to light in current events, The reason why, and I'm not suggesting in any way that Israel and the Jewish people today are God's chosen people, all the promises that God made in the Old Testament were fulfilled in Christ and applied to the church, the New Testament church. I know that. But why is it that Jews are so hated in the world? Because they claim to be God's chosen people. That's why they're hated. And all the discussions about, everybody hates them because they say that they are God's chosen people. It's always been that way, nothing's changed. Look at Galatians chapter four, verse 28. Now we brethren, here's the application for us. Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is so now. Those that are born after the flesh, the Esau's of this world, hate those who are born after the spirit, that are born according to promise, that are the chosen people of God. You've seen that in your own family and with your own relationships when you have an opportunity to talk to people about the truth of the gospel, about sovereign election, about particular redemption. And what do people do? What do they do? They accuse you of being self-righteous. They call you names. They say you go into a cult. They say you're narrow-minded, you're unloving, you're intolerant. You think you're special? What makes you so special? You see, the jealousy hasn't changed. Now, I'm almost embarrassed to talk about this in light of what these believers were going through. You know, the New Testament was written during the time of the Roman emperors who demanded that they be worshiped as God. That was, Caesar had to be, he had to be acknowledged as God. And if you refuse to acknowledge him, it was a death penalty. And many of the believers, because they would not bow and confess him as God suffered with their life. Perhaps that's another point of encouragement from this whole passage that You know, that we're not, we have such freedom and liberty and our persecutions are so light. They're so light compared to what so many believers have had to suffer. Verse 30, nevertheless, what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. Hagar, Ishmael, you gotta go. Now Ishmael was Abraham's son and Ishmael loved, Abraham loved Ishmael and Ishmael loved Abraham. I mean, Abraham had taught him everything he knew. And he's 12 years old now. When Isaac comes on the scene and God says, put him out, put him out. Verse 31, so then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free, of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Everybody else has a works gospel. Everybody else has a message of salvation that depends upon man to do something in order for God to be able to save him. And the only difference between one religion and another is what that do is. What do I have to do in order to make what God wants to do work for me? And we have a message because we're of the free woman, child of the promise. We have a message that gives to Christ all the glory for our salvation. We are, in this world, sojourners. We are strangers. We are pilgrims just passing through. This world is not our home. Abraham was looking for a city. There were a lot of cities between the Ur of the Chaldees and where Abraham ended up in Egypt. A lot of cities. He could have stopped at any one of them and made that his home. The Bible says Abraham was looking for a city. whose builder and maker was God. He was sojourning through that land, waiting for that time when God would take him to the heavenly Jerusalem. And that's what we're doing. We're just passing through, passing through, waiting for the time when the Lord will take us to that new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven. Let's go back to our text. The true and righteous judgments of God. The other thing I see in this chapter that we just read is that God's love for his chosen people is seen in his protection of them and his punishment against their enemies. The Apostle John was exiled to Patlas when he wrote the book of Revelation. And yet the entire theme of the book of Revelation is judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. These believers were suffering greatly under these Roman emperors that were demanding emperor worship. Many of them were being put to death because of their unwillingness. And the book of Revelation is the message of encouragement to God's people, saying to us, don't capitulate. Remain faithful. Judgment is coming. All believers will be recompensed in the end. Your husband will defend your honor. His judgments are righteous and his judgments are true. Everything will be set straight. God's justice will be satisfied in the end. We wait. All that is unfair in this world will be reconciled. More importantly, your testimony of the gospel will be proven to be true. All those gainsayers now that call into question what you believe and what you say is true will know that you were right. All the accusations that they make will be exposed as lies. Everything they say about us being unloving and intolerant and narrow-minded and They'll know when the judgment of God comes. Now, the Bible teaches us to love our enemies, to do good unto those who despitefully use us, to turn the other cheek, to pour hot coals of kindness on the heads of those who would oppose the gospel. So how do we reconcile all of that with what Amos is saying and what Revelation teaches us? Turn with me to Revelation chapter 19. Yes, Revelation chapter 19, look at verse one. This was after chapter 18, which is the exposure and destruction of the great harlot of Babylon, the false gospel church, the works, freewill messages of salvation in the world, manmade gospels. will be exposed for what they are. And after these things, chapter 19, verse one, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments. That's the title of this message. For true and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the church joining her voice with the Lord Jesus in the exercising of his wrath and judgment against all the enemies of Israel. How do we reconcile that? How do we reconcile that with Romans chapter 12? Turn with me there real quickly. Romans chapter 12. Look at verse 17. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible as much as life, and you live peaceably with all men, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. And if he thirst, give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome. of evil, but overcome evil with good." One more passage, Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6. This was after the four horsemen of the apocalypse come, the white, the red, the black, and the gray horse, bringing the wrath and judgment of God to this world. This is the whole theme of the book of Revelation. God's going to bring judgment. Just wait. Wait on the Lord. And in verse 9 of chapter 6, we read, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cry with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwelleth in the earth? How do we reconcile these things? A couple things I think answer this question. First is that we know by personal experience that we're still sinners, and that there is a very real sense in which our sin is worse than their sin. What do you mean by that? We love Christ. We're trying to worship him. We're trying to serve him, trying to follow him. And yet, brethren, how the evil of sin remains in our flesh and in our hearts. And when a believer sins, he's sinning against light, he's sinning against love, he's sinning against grace. The thoughts of sin, the attitudes of sin, the words of sin, yes, the actions of sin, for a believer, of an unbeliever, just doing what comes natural. They're just operating off the one nature they have, which is just the nature of flesh. So there's one reason why we're commanded not to demand judgment and justice now. What Revelation 19 is talking about is the state of being that we're going to have when sin is no more. We've got a resurrected body. We're no longer plagued. with a sinful nature. We're in perfect union with Christ and in perfect agreement with all that he's doing to execute his righteous and true judgments. The evidence and the testimony of the sin nature that remains in us is seen in our inability to rejoice in God's glory whatever the cost in everything. What do you mean by all that? Scripture says that we're to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice and we do by faith, by faith, regardless of the trials or troubles that the Lord purposes for us. We rejoice in that he has saved us and forgiven us and given us life and we rest in him. But we do it by faith and we don't do it. We don't do it without We don't do it without fear. We don't do it without sorrow. We don't do it without some... In other words, this faith that we have is all in the new man that God has given us, but how to detach him from that old man, It's not going to happen for us until we depart this world. I've talked to people about what we looked at this past Sunday, our anticipation of the coming of Christ. We long for that and we look for that. And what a glorious day that will be. We know that. It's true by faith. And yet I've talked to people and they say, well, yeah, but that's true. But you know, I was kind of hoping to have this experience or that experience before that happens. Or I was kind of, you know, I want to be married. I want to have children. I want to have grandchildren, something, you know, or along the more noble complaint. Yeah, but you know, I've still have children that are unconverted and I don't want the Lord to come until until that happens, and that might sound okay, but nothing's going to be missed and nothing's going to be changed when the Lord comes. It's not like, you know, well, if he'll just wait a little longer, maybe there'll be a better chance for them to be saved. No, when the Lord comes, he's gonna come when everything's gonna be finished and complete and perfect. But we can't, here's my point. We can't identify with that fully and completely like we see the church in Revelation when the Lord Jesus comes on that gray horse of death and slaughters the world and destroys the world and the whole of God's people cry out. Even though some of those people that are being sent into hell might be their own loved ones. And yet, now, without sin, they have no sorrow and no doubt that what the Lord Jesus is doing is just and righteous. And His glory, His glory now, is the only thing that's important to them. We know by faith that the glory of God is what everything is ultimately about. We know that. God's glory is the grand cause and the great end of all things. We've experienced enough of God's glory in our salvation to know that eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination of man, the things that he's prepared for us. The sufferings of this world cannot be compared, the scripture tells us, with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And we know that the greatest display of God's glory was at Calvary's cross, when the Son of God bore all the sins of all of God's people and put them away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself, suffering the full wrath of God's justice against him for our sin. We know these things are true. We believe them. But when we try to think about What exactly is God's glory? When I try to imagine it, my imagination is limited to my experience. You know, we try to imagine heaven, being in his presence, and you know, We know that it's not just an improved version of what we have here. We know that it's not just life without the sin and troubles and trials and sicknesses that we have here. It's got to be more. It's much more than that. But what is it? I don't know. That's gonna be glorious. You see, here's why. This is why we love the enemies of God now. Number one, we're sinners. Number two, we can't enter in to what the Lord says about His judgments being just and true and righteous. We just can't. We believe it. We know it's true. We agree with it. We would never say, God, this is not right. But what it means, I don't know. I don't know. The glory of God is just too magnificent. It's eternal, it's infinite. It's beyond our comprehension. It's beyond our imagination. That one day His glory will be our only interest. It'll be our only interest. And when he exercises his wrath against this world in protecting his glory and in bringing honor to his wife, all we're going to say is hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Our Heavenly Father, Thank you for your word. Press it to our hearts. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Scott, number 12 in the spiral hymnal. Let's stand together.