I thought I was free. Then Jesus came to set me free. Shed forth his light and made
me see. My guilty soul he shook with
fear. ? Stoning blood appeared ? ? Now
awakened from my deep distress ? ? I trust His blood and righteousness
? ? Though vexed I am with all sin ? Before my God, I'm pure
and clean. My God declares, how can it be? Himself resides in me. It's from His suffering I learn
of. ? That saving grace to sinners
flows ? ? To justify and pardon too ? ? This fallen sinner knew
? ? A worthless work I now possess ? ? In Christ all grace and righteousness
? ? All glory to my Savior God ? ? Who bought me with His precious
blood ? I'm gonna ask you to turn to
the book of Amos, Amos. Now, Amos, like to find it, which you'd
like to do. Start in your Old Testament,
Daniel, then Hosea, and then just a couple of Joel, you find
that, then you're gonna find Amos, Amos. I'm gonna make some, Lord willing,
some references out of this book from a couple of chapters, but
mainly will be in chapter nine, Amos chapter nine. The heart of this text will be
found out of Amos chapter nine, verses eight and nine. Chapter nine. Let's just read
Amos 9, verse eight and nine, and then Lord willing, we'll
look. I know this is a book that we don't preach out of. I don't a lot, but my heart was
moved to this passage of scripture, and Lord willing, I'm gonna try
to preach out of it. Amos 9, verse eight and nine.
Behold the eyes of the Lord, God, And upon a sinful, let me start
over. Behold, the eyes of the Lord
God are upon the sinful kingdom. And I will destroy it from off
the face of the earth, saving that I will not utterly destroy
the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For lo, I will command
and I will sift the house of Israel Among all nations, like
as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain
fall upon the earth. Now, the day in which we live
is like every other day that has been upon this earth, because
there's two truths that are exhibited. our day and every day since the
fall. Two constants. Number one, man
is a depraved creature. Man from the fall has rebelled
against God and man before God comes into this world a sinner,
helpless, spiritually dead. Romans 3.23. Now listen how thorough
this is concerning all men. Romans 3.23. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now how many does that entail? That word A-L-L. have sinned
and we've all come short of the glory of God. That's the common
ground of all men. Every person comes into this
world and there is but one way. There's only one way that any
man, any woman is accepted Jesus Christ said, John 14, 6,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes unto the Father, cometh unto the Father, but by me. All
men, all men, all women, everybody, we all come to this world spiritually
dead. sinners, rebels against God.
One way, one way. I have often wondered about the
myriads of religions that's found in this world. I've often said
everybody and their brother has got a different way to approach
God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the way. I am the way. No man comes to
the Father but by me. There's none exempt. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Man is born into
this world with no respect for God. None. He has no respect. Oh, he makes little, you know,
outward, cute, little, feeble attempts Show people how religious
he is, and he's got little religious symbols, and he's got this, and
he'll put a little lapel pin on or something like that. But
man by nature does not respect God. He doesn't. Psalm 14, one and two, the fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good. That's the first given in this
world. I said there's two of them. That's
the first one right there. All of sin. All of it. But here's
the second truth. Absolute truth. In the midst
of the total depravity of mankind, Almighty God has been pleased.
to show mercy, mercy, mercy. Undeserved, none of us deserve
it, but God has been pleased to show mercy to a people of
his choosing. The scripture sets forth when
Moses asked the Lord, I beseech thee, show me I've quoted that scripture so
many times, and I just, I wanted to look it up, find out what,
when he said, show me, cause me to perceive or regard, show
me, call me to perceive it, regard it. I thought to myself, how
many times have we heard the gospel, but hear Moses praise,
would you cause me to regard it? Or would you give me a heart? Perceive it. Show me thy glory. Show me your dignity. Show me
your splendor. The Lord said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. If God shows mercy. God is gracious
to anybody. That is a miracle of God's grace
because I'm gonna tell you something. None of us deserve it. We've
all come short of the glory of God. While man speaks of God's
mercy, I will show mercy. I think about You know, how many
times? And we've all done it. We're
all guilty. Let's go ahead and just lay everything
out on the table and just realize this. We're all sinners by nature. And if the Lord's been pleased
to show mercy, a lot of times we'll hear that word, mercy.
Boy, the Lord's been merciful to me. You know, what we're really
saying is that we're talking about these things, mess and
stuff. that we have. Boy, I tell you
what, the Lord's been gracious to us, been gracious to America. He sure was gracious to us in
this, you know, here last few months. But do you know the greatest
exhibit, if I can say it like that, the greatest manifestation
of the grace of God. I began to think on that. I will
be gracious. I will be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. And I began to muse on that and
think on that. What is the greatest in my little
feeble, fickle thinking? What is the greatest exhibition
of the mercy of God, of the grace of God? I'm getting ready to
open up a big category here. If I was going to, somebody would
ask me, say, well, what do you think the greatest exhibition
of God's mercy is to you? I jotted this down. I pray that
I'm saying that which is respectful unto our Lord. God forbid that
I should say anything, but I'll tell you what I thought about.
The greatest exhibition of the mercy of God. is that the Lord
was not silent to me, that the Lord would be pleased to reveal
unto me the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would open
my eyes, give me a heart, eyes to see it, a heart to believe
it, and a mouth to confess it. I want you to know that what
we are doing today, meeting together in the name of the Lord, hearing
the gospel preached. Beloved, this is mercy unimaginable. I can't even express to you the
indescribable blessing of God to cause a preacher, a preacher
to cross my path and to preach to this center, Christ and Him
crucified, to tell me what God Almighty has done for me and
what the Lord has been pleased to show me in the hearing of
the truth according to the scriptures. Because without the hearing of
the gospel, faith cometh by hearing. by the Word of God, by the preaching
of the Gospel, by the preaching of the Gospel. You think about
this. I thought about this statement
that I made. The greatest exhibition that I can perceive is that God
was not silent. David said, Lord, if you're silent
to me, I'm going to be like those that go down to the pit. Lord,
if you don't speak to me, I'm lost, I'm not gonna make it. 2 Thessalonians, I've read this,
quoted it, I'm gonna read it again. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13,
14. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Where into? He called you. He called you
by our gospel. to the obtaining, the possessing
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hearing the gospel, hearing
the truth of free and sovereign grace. God, keep us from being satisfied. God, keep us from being satisfied
with anything else. Keep us from that. The gospel,
the gospel. It's so easy, beloved, to have
somebody say, well, you know, I mean, now I will admit that
my pastor doesn't preach it, you know. I had one of my relatives
tell me this. That, well, my pastor don't preach
it dogmatically as you do, but he's basically saying to me,
no, no. God forbid, God forbid that we
should hear anything but the sovereign saving truth of God's
electing, predestinating grace, the preaching of salvation. The
Apostle Paul says this preaching, the preaching of the cross, the
preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ
bearing the guilt, the sin of his people, bearing in His own
body the truth of what we are by nature, sin, made sin. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved. Actually, I looked it up. It's
setting forth. Those that are being saved, that's
what we're being, we're being saved. It's the power of God. This gospel, the gospel, the
preaching of salvation in Christ alone, preaching of righteousness,
the peace and reconciliation before God by His precious shed
blood. That God Almighty would satisfy
His own demand for righteousness. That's nonsense to this world.
That's what this world is. That's nonsense. That's nonsense.
Oh, but to us, that Almighty God's been pleased to call out
of darkness. This is the power of God and
salvation. This is the power of God and
salvation. Now that's, that's two truths.
It's absolute. Two truths. Now today in the
book of Amos, I'm going to try to, I'm going to try to make
a few comments out of this with this with this foundation that
we've just set forth. God had promised to the nation
of Israel, because of their rebellion, God had promised in the book
of Amos that he was going to send a famine in the land. He had blessed this land. He had blessed the land. They had the privilege. They
had the privilege to hear the gospel. To hear the gospel. They
had the privilege. God sent the gospel to this place
in Israel. And the Lord had been pleased to
cause them to hear that which was absolutely essential. And they cast it off. They cast
it off. And the Lord said in Amos chapter
8 verse 11, I'll read this to you. He said, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not
a famine of bread or thirst of water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord. You that believe, is it not the
greatest blessing in the world that you can come and just hear
the gospel, hear the gospel? that you, we've been given a
little place. I've said this before, Katy,
West Virginia. Don, I've told them here before,
I said, where's Katy, West Virginia? You know, I'm telling you, it's
just a little old bitty speck, a speck. But God was pleased
over 70 years ago to send the gospel here. He sent the gospel
here. And he raised up a people. And he's kept it just like he
did there in Israel. And because it was despised,
because it was treated as a light thing, the Lord said, the days are coming.
I'm gonna send a famine in the land. Not gonna be a famine of
bread and water. It's gonna be a famine of hearing the word
of God. And you that believe, just try to enter into that.
What if I had no place to go? What if I had no place to go? Oh, and Amos. Book of Amos chapters. I won't read it. I'd read over
this. I'm looking at my notes right here just for the sake
of time. But from chapters 7 to 9, chapters Amos 7 to Amos 9,
we find a record of the Lord's goodness in those chapters right
there to send vision after vision after vision warning Israel of
the justice that was due their rebellion. He kept telling them. He kept reminding them. And in
the last recorded vision, in chapter nine, these visions,
I'd read them and read them. And he kept telling them over
and over and over. I'm going to send judgment. Send
judgment. And then in Amos chapter 9, look
in verse 1. Amos was moved to say, I saw
the Lord standing upon the altar. And he said, smite the lintel
of the door that the posts may shake, and cut them in the head,
all of them. And I will slay the last of them
with the sword. He that fleeth of them shall
not, he that fleeth, he that fleeth of them shall not flee
away. He that escapeth of them shall
not be delivered. I thought, oh, the longsuffering
of God. How many times has it come back
to me? Lord, thank you for your longsuffering.
Thank you for your mercy. The Lord in Amos' vision was
standing on the altar That place where justice, I looked this
up, it was speaking of, because of the different altars that
are found in the Word of God, this was where justice must be
satisfied. Set forth, it was the burnt altar,
the brazen altar. Amos was moved to say, I saw
the Lord. And that word right there, I
saw the Lord standing up. It kind of remade me, made me
think about this times, you know, sometimes you might have, you
know, you talk to somebody and all this kind of sudden, if they
stand up, Don, they stand up, you think, uh-oh. I saw, he said,
I saw the Lord standing up on the altar. And the Lord said,
smite him. smite them all, smite all of
them. Oh, I'm telling you, the Lord,
in chapter nine, verse eight, the
first half of that chapter eight, I mean of that verse eight, behold,
the eyes of God are upon, the Lord God are upon the sinful
kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the earth. I just said
first, God sees, God knows. We're not kidding Him. We're
not fooling Him. We think we're getting by with
something. Oh, but in the midst of what the Lord revealed concerning
His justice. I read those words and I thought,
Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy upon us. I want you to look at the second
half. of that eighth verse in chapter
nine, and then read through verse nine. I'll read that first, that
verse eight again, so we can get the context. Behold, the
eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will
destroy it from off the face of the earth, saving, except,
except, except I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith
the Lord. For lo, I will command and I
will sift the house of Israel among all nations like corn is
sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon
the earth. Beloved, in the midst of this
world, There is absolute, total rebellion
against God. Except, except in those places where
God has been pleased to show mercy to a remnant, to a few. And I read these verses and I
thought, Lord, Could it be that you'd show mercy
to me? Could it be that, Lord, you'd
show mercy to this community, to this congregation? Could it be? Saving. I will destroy
it. Saving. I will not utterly destroy
the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For, lo, I will command,
and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations. Oh,
what mercy that Almighty God would send a sifting. Now, you
know what sifting is. It's just, what's he doing? He's dividing. He's separating. He's making
a distinction. I'm going to destroy it all,
but I'm going to sift. What a mark. What a mark of distinction. I'm going to sift them. You know,
there's a, there's a, there's a trial. The Lord going to deliver
his church. He going to deliver them, but
he has promised that he's going to send chastisement trials. If you be without chastisement,
you're none of his. If you be without correction,
if you be without the Lord showing us what we are, showing us our
need of him, Lord, I need, I need you to show me, teach me. But these trials that come, these
trials are not judgment. I can tell you this. If you're
gonna live godly in Christ Jesus, you're gonna suffer persecution.
You're going through it, but it's not judgment. It's not judgment. I don't know anything, truly.
I really don't. I've known some people that suffered. I don't, I really don't know.
I don't really know about the depth of suffering like some
have. The Lord has allowed me the privilege
to be able to go through a few, but oh, how merciful he's been
to me and to you. You know, you will admit it,
Lord. Lord, you've been pleased to put me through the sieve,
and you've shown me of myself, shown me of my needs, but Lord,
thanks be unto God that you didn't leave me as you were separating
the tares and the wheat, that you didn't leave me to myself.
God's people must be tried, that those who are approved might
be manifest. What a wonderful blessing that's
been given to needy sinners in this passage. There's not a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ that would do anything other than
say, thank you. Thank you, Lord. I can see, Lord,
what you say is true. I can see in the rebellion. But
Lord, that you'd be pleased to show mercy. to your beloved. And Lord, that
you show mercy to me. I thank you. I thank you for
that. Bless the Lord. He will not leave his own to
themselves. But he promises, he promises
that he will divide. He's gonna divide. He's gonna
divide the precious from the vile. And only he knows who they
are. I don't know who they are. Only
he can perform the business The blessing of separating the husk
from the wheat. I don't know what I need, but
whatever I need is for my good and for his glory. But I want
you to notice in closing, the complete safety. I've often thought, and it's
just gone through my mind, And you have to, you that have suffered
some of these things. It goes through your mind. Lord,
what's my future? What are you gonna do for me?
Lord, what will you be pleased to do? And I know this, I don't
know the answer to that. I don't know, I don't know. I'm
here, I'm right here today, and for that I'm thankful. In closing,
I want us to notice the complete safety. Those kind of thoughts
I just mentioned, they kind of cause turmoil, don't they? I
don't know. I don't know what's going to
happen. What's going to happen to us here? I don't know. I don't know. But listen to this. In that last part of verse 9,
I'll read verse 9. Although I will command, I will
sift the house of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted
in a sieve. And listen to this, yet shall
not the least grain fall upon the earth. Not the least, not the littlest,
not the tiniest, not the weakest, not the most helpless, I'm going
to sift them. I'm going to sift them. Like wheat tears are sifted,
I'm going to sift it. Concerning the wheat, not the
grain, not the least grain is not going to fall to the earth.
Lord, thank you for that. Thank you for keeping. Thank
you for showing us. Thank you for revealing your
mercy to us again, again. Every one of God's sheep are
precious in his sight. Like the shepherd, the good shepherd,
will not lose one of his sheep. The Lord is not going to lose
one of his redeemed. Not one, not one. Beloved, let
us rejoice that we are, by the grace of God, preserved. in Christ Jesus. Amen. I'm going to ask the men if they'll
come forward and we'll partake of the Lord's table. The Apostle Paul was moved in
the book of 1 Corinthians 11 to relate that which we're doing
here, the importance of it, the preciousness of it. And he said
in 1 Corinthians 11, 12, for I've received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same
night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given
thanks, he'd break it, said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Let's thank the Lord for the
broken body of Christ. Our Father, we thank you. Lord,
we thank you as we wish we could. Thank you. We do thank you all
for the preciousness to know, Lord, that the body of your Redeemer,
of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, was broken for us. Lord, as we
take of this little piece of bread, would you help us to remember? And Lord, help us to show the
respect that is due unto you. For Christ's sake, we pray. Amen. And after the same manner. Also,
he took the cup when he had stopped saying this cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till
he come. Let's thank the Lord for the
cup. Again, our Father, we thank you,
Lord, for drawing our heart, for giving us, Lord, a heart
to praise you and bless you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming
into this world. Thank you for showing us, Lord,
of ourselves and yourself. Thank you that you've given us
this precious time to be able to remember you in the eating
and drinking of these elements. For it's in Christ's name we
pray, amen. Let's stand together.