Amos chapter eight. Now I have
a lesson this morning that is of the utmost importance. It's
of the utmost importance to each of you individually in your spiritual
life. And it's of the utmost importance
to this church, the continued spiritual life of this church.
It's of the utmost importance. And I hope that you'll listen
very carefully and prayerfully. It's very, very important lesson. The title of it is The Famine
of Our Day from Amos chapter eight, verse 11. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord. I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread or thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. Now Amos was the prophet in Israel
about 750 years before the birth of our Lord Jesus. During this
time, the nation Israel enjoyed a great time of peace and prosperity. Government was stable, the economy
was booming, people were very well off. Many people had two
homes, they had a summer home and a winter home. Some people
were so rich, they had houses built of ivory, great estates. But all this prosperity was just
a mirage. The nation was religious, Israel
always was, but their religion was idolatry. Now, they still
observed the ceremonies. At this time, they weren't worshiping
Baal or other idols of stone and things. They observed the
ceremonies of the Old Testament in the name of the Lord, in the
name of Jehovah. but it was idolatry. And they thought their religion
was just fine. They thought the Lord was pleased
with them because they enjoyed such a time of material blessing.
And God sent a prophet to this urban, rich, successful people. And the prophet that God sent
was a hillbilly. Amos, as an uneducated farm boy
from south of Jerusalem, come to the big city as a prophet
of God, warning the people of God's judgment against sin, but
nobody believed it. They were so prosperous, they
just thought what he's saying can't be true. Amos warned them
that God's judgments would increase and increase and increase in
severity until they were destroyed, but they wouldn't listen. And
the problem was the people were religious, but they left the
worship of the Lord. They observed the ceremonies,
but you know what they did? They made an idol out of the
ceremony. They worshiped the ceremony instead
of worshiping the Lord. Now that can be very subtle,
but it happens. It happens to this day. And they
thought because of their prosperity, they were just fine in their
religion, and they refused to listen to this hillbilly Amos
upset the apple cart. And you know, the Lord did just
exactly what he said he'd do. Look back at chapter four of
Amos. He did see an increasingly bad plagues. until the people
were finally destroyed. Look at verse six. And I've also
given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and one of
bread in all your places. Yet you have not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. And also I've withholding the
rain from you when there was yet three months to the harvest.
And I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to
rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon and
the piece were upon it rained not withered. So two or three
cities wandered into one city to drink water, but they were
not satisfied. Yet have they not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. I smitten you with blasting and
mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees
and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them.
Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And I've
sent among you pestilence after the manor of Egypt. Your young
men have I slain with the sword and taken away your horses. And
I've made the stink of your camps to come up into your nostrils.
Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And I've
overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And you are as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Yet you have
not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And that continued until
the Lord finally sends the worst plague that he can send to a
man this side of hell, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Now I think a famine of food would be horrible. I just, I
can't imagine waking up this morning and have nothing to eat.
Going through all day, have nothing to eat. Going to bed tonight
hungry and getting up tomorrow morning and starting the same
process all over again, nothing to eat. Just slowly die of starvation
and malnutrition would be just awful. And the famine that the
Lord sent Israel here is much worse than that. It's a famine
of the word of God. He took away his word. The worst
thing that God can do to a people who decide of hell is to take
his word away from them. And he does it. Remember what
he said about Ephraim? Ephraim's joined to his idols.
Let him alone. Leave him alone. And if God leaves
us alone, you know what's going to happen. We're going to go
to hell. Remember the time the disciples came to the Lord and
said, oh, what you said offended the Pharisees. And what did the
Lord say? Leave them alone. They'd be blind
leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind,
both of them are going to fall into the ditch. Leave them alone. The Lord does that. And my worst
fear for Hurricane Road Grace Church is that God would give
us a famine of his word. It's my greatest fear. Because
if there's a famine of the bread of life, there's gonna be a famine
of spiritual life. There'll be no spiritual life.
If there's a famine of the word, there won't be any regeneration.
Because this word's the seed that God uses to give life. If
there's a famine of the word, there won't be any comfort for
God's people. You know, what comforts your heart? It's the
word, isn't it? I have a message, as I said,
that cannot be more applicable to our day. The situation in
Israel on Amos Day is the situation in the United States of America
in 2016. This very chain of events has taken place in our country.
Our country has sought hard to take away God's word out of our
daily lives. You can't put verses of scripture
up on a wall in public anymore. You can't pray before a public
event anymore. You can't do anything to publicly
acknowledge as a society that God is. Now, we're religious,
aren't we? People have more access to Bibles
today than at any time in the history of the earth. So what
has man done? They've taken and made new translations
of the Bible. They change words of the Bible.
They say, I want to make this easier for you to understand,
but they're not saying no to what they're doing. They're changing
the meaning of God's word. They've taken God's word away.
You've got man's interpretation of God's word, not the word of
God. See how dangerous that is? And
sooner or later, God's going to make it so we cannot hear. So we cannot understand his word. God's going to let us alone. and go our own way. And that
way will be straight to hell. Now we'll always be religious.
If suppose the Lord saw fit to give a famine of his word in
this place, we'd still be religious, wouldn't we? We'd still show
up on Sundays and Wednesdays, but Christ won't be there. What
is the word of the Lord? The Word of the Lord is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word of God is
the Lord Jesus Christ, and my greatest fear is that He would
depart from us, take the Word away from us, and leave us alone.
Well, I have two questions this morning. Number one, how can
I tell if I am in a famine of the word? You know, that can
happen to an individual, and it can happen to a whole congregation.
How can I tell if I'm in a famine of the word of God? And secondly,
what can I do to avoid, or what can I do to get out of a famine
of the word of God? So first, how can I tell if I'm
in a famine of the word? Well first, when men are in a
famine of the word, they still preach. but they preach without
the power of the Spirit. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1. 1
Thessalonians 1 verse 5. This is what happened when Paul
came to the Thessalonians. He says, for our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy
Ghost and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. When the Spirit came in power
and blessed Paul's preaching there in Thessalonica, oh, he
raised up a great church, didn't he? Many people were saved. What
a blessing that they had because the Spirit blessed the preaching.
But when men preach without the power of the Spirit, It's just
words. All it is is a religious show. I remember Jim Meadows saying
one time the spirits left that place. It's just words. It's
just words. There's no conviction of sin
without the power of the spirit. Look back in John chapter 16.
When it just becomes words, there's no power in the message. There's
no glory in the message. There's no conviction of sin. In John chapter 16 verse 8. And
when he, the comforter, the Holy Spirit has come, he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. That's what the Spirit does when
he comes. He applies the word in power
to the hearts of the people. Without the Spirit, there can
be no regeneration, no new birth. It's the Spirit that quicken
it. There's no turning to Christ. Christ is not revealed without
the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit that takes the
things of Christ and reveals them to us. So verse, we can
tell we're in a famine of the word when men preach, but it's
just words. There's no power of the Spirit
in the message. Where the word of the King is,
there's power. And when he's not there, there's
no power. Secondly, there is a famine of the word when Christ
is not there. Now there'll still be form, there'll
still be ceremony, there'll still be the activity of religion,
but Christ won't be there. Look in Luke chapter two. We
have an illustration of this in Luke chapter two, verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem
every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12
years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. And they, supposing him to have been in the company,
they thought he was with other family and things, you know.
They went a day's journey, and at the end of the day, when they
sought him among their kinfolk and acquaintance, And they found
him not. They turned back again to Jerusalem,
seeking him. They went a whole day's journey,
supposing the Lord was in the company. And when they looked around,
he wasn't. Everything seemed okay, didn't it? But the Lord
Jesus was not there. And there are places, so-called
churches right now, that have the right terminology. They have
a lot of the right doctrine. but they don't have Christ. Just
like Israel of old made an idol of the ceremony, they've made
an idol out of the doctrine. I'm telling you, you can make
an idol out of the doctrine of grace. They've made an idol out
of the form and ceremony of religion, but they've missed Christ altogether. And the sad thing is, is they
don't even realize it. And if it happens here, we won't
realize it either. Here's a good warning for you. Don't ever mistake the means
of grace for God's saving grace to sinners. Don't mistake the
means of grace for God's grace. There is a big difference between
a rain cloud rain in there. Don't mistake the means of grace
for grace itself. And I tell you where this starts. Always. It starts with arrogance. Well, the Lord's blessed us here
in the past. So he always will. You know,
the Lord's not going to leave us alone. Look at all this we've
done, you know, the Lord's not going to leave us without a witness
here. He's not going to leave us alone. There's believers here.
We have the means of grace here. He's not going to leave us alone. I wouldn't be too sure about
that. Look at revelations chapter two. I just wouldn't presume
on that. Revelation chapter two. Now unto
the angel, the angel is the pastor of the church of Ephesus, right?
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience. I know how
thou canst not bear them which are evil. You see those that
have the wrong doctrine, and in sin you can't bear them, I
know that. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles,
and are not, and hast found them liars. You recognize false prophets. I know how you've borne, and
hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not
fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. because
thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I'll
come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of
his place, except thou repent." See, his church at Ephesus, they
left their first love. Their first love when they met
together used to be here in Christ. Now, They've fallen away from
loving Christ and they've fallen in love with having the right
doctrine. We got the right doctrine. They
don't. We've got the right works. They
don't. And they left their first love.
They've fallen in love with their fame or how the Lord's blessed
them and all the great things that they've done instead of
being in love with Christ. Now it's true. God won't leave
himself without a witness. We know that, don't we? We know
that because he said it, but he can move the candlestick from
here to there. And if he does, there's going
to be a famine of the word. So there's a famine of the word
whenever Christ is not there. Thirdly, there's a famine of
the word when the word is taught to the head and not applied to
the heart. Remember the disciples on the
road to Emmaus after our Lord's death? They were walking down
that road, talking. They had the right doctrine,
didn't they? They knew the ABCs of the gospel. They had the basic
tenets of this thing down. They knew the Messiah was going
to come and redeem Israel. They knew something about this
third day business and something about a resurrection. They had
some understanding of that. But as they talked about these
things, they were sad. There was no joy in these things.
They were sad. They had a head knowledge of
some facts. but the word wasn't in their
heart. And then the Lord had resurrected. He appeared unto
them. He walked along with them along
that road. And as they walked, he expounded
unto them the scriptures. And when he talked to them of
the scriptures, he didn't talk about all the nuances of the
Old Testament, did he? He expounded unto them the things
of Christ. He revealed himself to them from
the word. And then he left. And what did
they say? Oh, didn't our heart burn within
us as he opened the scriptures to us? What happened? What was
the difference? The word was applied to their
heart. Look at John chapter 14. This is what the spirit does
for God's people. He takes the word and applies
it to the heart. John 14 verse 16. And I will
pray the father and he'll give you another comforter that he
may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth
him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be
in you. When he's in you, the spirit
applies the word to your heart. Well, what happens when the spirit's
in your heart and he applies the word to your heart? First,
there's comfort. He says in verse 18, I will not
leave you comfortless. I will come to you. There's comfort
when the spirit applies the word to the heart. And second, when
the spirit applies the word to the heart, there's peace. Look
at verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. So let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. There's peace when the spirit
applies the word to the heart. But if all we've got is a head
knowledge, there's no blessing. Fourthly, there's a famine of
the word when the ordinances are observed, but Christ is not
observed. And what I mean by that is this.
There's two ordinances, baptism in the Lord's table. We still
baptize if there's a spirit, if there's a famine of the word,
we'll still baptize. We'll still go through that ceremony,
but baptism will become about numbers. Baptism will become
about, look, since we're having these baptisms, this is proof.
God's blessing us. It becomes about numbers. It
becomes about us rather than about a sinner confessing the
Savior. Baptism just becomes a ceremony
if we have a famine of the word. And it's not about confessing
my sin and my total inability and confessing that Christ is
my savior, that he saved me by becoming a man, that he saved
me as a man by suffering and dying for my sin as my substitute
and being raised again because the successful mighty savior
has put my sin away. It's not about confessing Christ
anymore. and there's a famine of the word,
we'll still observe the Lord's table. I mean, it's easy to get
unleavened bread and wine and get some men to pass it around,
you know, but it becomes just ceremony instead of causing heart
worship. I hear you often say there's
something special about observing the Lord's table. Why? because it's a clear remembrance
how the Savior put my sin away. His body was broken for me. His blood was shed for me. I
identify with it. I take that bread and I eat it.
I have union with it. I take that blood and I drink
it, I have union with it, like I have union with the Savior.
That's why it's special. But it could happen like it happened
at Corinth. The Lord's table turned into
a party dinner. instead of observing that Christ saved us from our
sin. And this falls under being, becoming gospel hardened. And
it's very frightening to think about being, becoming gospel
hardened. It's frightening to us because
many of you have heard the gospel your entire lifelong. Can we become gospel hardened?
We've heard the word so often that It doesn't soften the heart. It doesn't break the heart anymore.
We've just heard it so many times. Yeah, I've heard that before.
And it stops being amazing to us. When that happens, the local
church begins, the people in the local church begin to use
that assembly for social climbing rather than gathering together
as a body to worship. One of my great fears. becoming gospel hardened. So
we observe all the ordinances, all the form, but Christ is not
observed. Then lastly, there's a famine
of the word. When the scriptures, God's holy
scriptures become a source of controversy rather than a source
of conviction and comfort. We've got really big problems
when God's word is used for debate rather than instruction. I hesitate to bring these, they
have these boards, you know, on the internet. I hesitate to
bring it up because if you don't know about them, I don't want
you to know about them. But if you do know about them, don't ever
go on them. Don't ever, ever even look at
them. Because you know what their purpose
is? It's to debate the scriptures. The other scriptures are not
meant to be debated. They're to be believed. And we've got
big problems when men take the word and they say, I've got this
pet doctrine, this is what I believe, and I searched through God's
word for something to prove it, to prove what I believe. That's
not what this book is for. We're to take this book and to
read it. Let's find out what God says and believe that, whether
that's my preconceived notion or not. Let's take God's word,
read it, pray that God will reveal it to us and believe that. That's
what God's word is to be used for. We believe this because
God said it. And there's a famine of the word when people have
God's word and they're doctrinally straight, but there's no love
for Christ. There's no love for others. There's
no, there's not a broken heartedness over the lost. That's what happened
to Corinth too. And it can happen here too. So
that's, that's how we can recognize how am I in a spiritual famine
or not? Here's my second question. How
can I get out of a spiritual thing? Is there a way I can avoid
having this famine of the word? We'll look back at Psalm 51.
Psalm 51. Before David wrote this Psalm,
David had been in a time of a spiritual famine, a famine of the word.
Remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba? Then
he tried to cover up his sin having Uriah killed and he did
it. There was no conviction of sin. David just went along like
he had been. Everything seemed to be fine.
You know, he married Bathsheba and everything seems wonderful.
There was no conviction of sin. There was no troubling about
this. And you know why there was no
trouble about this? Why there was no trouble in David's
soul? There were no presence of the Spirit. He had a famine
of the Word. And then God sent Nathan to tell
David, David, you're the man. Oh, now the thing's exposed. And what does David do? He cried
unto the Lord from a broken heart. And we know the Lord heard him.
We know the Lord heard this prayer, answered his prayer, and the
famine ended. So first of all, if you would avoid, or you want
to get out of a famine of the Word, Continually, not just once,
but continually cry for mercy. Look at verse one. Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. I tell you, don't ever rise above
being a mercy beggar. Adam mercy beggars never starve
to death. Just be a mercy beggar. Second, if you would avoid or
you want to get out of a famine of the word, continually confess
your sin before the Lord. Verse three, for I acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Against
thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judge. Just confess your sin. Lord,
you'd be right to damn me. You'd be right to condemn me
because of my sin. John said, if we confess our
sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Then always confess your sin. Don't ever rise above. Don't
ever think you've been taught doctrine well enough that you've
risen above being a sinner. Don't rise above being a sinner,
because God saves sinners. Come before him confessing your
sin. Third, if you would avoid a famine or you would get out
of a famine of the word, continually acknowledge the root of the problem.
I tell you, my problem is not my sins. My problem is my sin. my sin nature that causes all
these sins. Look at verse five. David confesses
the root of the problem. Behold, I was shaping an iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I'm a sinner. I'm guilty
in Adam. That's the root of my problem.
Fourth, if you would avoid a famine of the word, or you would get
out of the famine of the word, always plead the remedy for sin. Always plead the blood. Always
look to the blood of Christ. Verse seven, purge me with hyssop
and I should be clean. Wash me and I should be whiter
than snow. Now what he's referring to there
is the blood of the Passover lamb. Remember the hyssop? They
took the hyssop and they dipped it in the blood of the lamb and
they applied it to the doorpost. Purge me with hyssop. Apply the
blood of Christ to me. Verse 9, he says, hide not thy
face from my sins. Blot out all mine iniquities. Blot out my sin with the blood
of Christ. Wash me in his blood. If you'd
get out of a famine of the word, plead the remedy. Plead the blood
of Christ. Make much of the blood. If you're in a famine of the
word and you desire to hear the word of God, I tell you what
would be a smart thing to do. Ask God to give you an ear that
hears. Look at verse eight. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Lord, give
me a hearing ear. Make me hear the word so I will
hear it. If you want a new heart, if you
want God to apply his word to your heart, ask God to give you
one. Look over here at verse 10. Create
in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within
me. Give me a new heart, renew a right spirit within me. And
if you don't want to be left alone, if you're like me, and
your greatest fear, this side of hell, is God leaving you alone,
leaving you to your own devices, then ask God not to leave you
alone. Ask God to give you his spirit. Verse 11, cast me not
away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me."
That's how you can avoid or get out of a famine of the Word. It is my earnest prayer that
God would give us the faith, the heart to individually and
as a congregation to continually seek Christ, to come here every
Sunday, every Wednesday seeking nothing but to hear a word from
the Lord, to hear the word of God, to be enabled by the spirit
to worship Christ. That we'd always have this attitude,
that we'd never have the attitude of being puffed up and confident
because of all the Lord's past blessings, but always keep this
attitude. Christ is all, and I'm nothing. If we keep that attitude, I believe
The Lord will keep feeding us. He feeds the hungry. He feeds
the needy. If he'd give us a needy attitude,
a needy spirit, I believe he'd feed us. I pray that the Lord
make it so. All right, the Lord bless you.