Amos chapter 8. Today's message
is a vital, vital message. It's waiting. It's waiting. It's a vital life and death message. It's life and death. As we continue
to look through this Old Testament together, we're going to see
how the Lord's chosen people, Israel, continually disobeyed God, His
people. They continually disregarded
His commandments. They continually broke His law. And we're also going to see how
the Lord, this kind God, continually sent Him a prophet and said,
Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. If you want to be saved from
your sins, this is what the Lord has to say about it. But here in Amos chapter 8, The
Lord delivers the worst news a sinner could possibly hear. This is the worst news in the
world. Are you ready? Look at verse
11. Amos 8 verse 11. Behold, the
days come. saith the Lord God, this is gonna
happen. There's no question about this.
God says, behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will
send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread. Your Edward
Jones accounts will be fine. nor a thirst for water, the rain
will come, crops will be fine, 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. In that day shall the fair virgins
and young men faint for thirst." Not a thirst for water. "'They
that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth,
and the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall and never
rise up again. A famine of the words of the Lord. Isn't that terrible? Isn't that
terrible? A drought, a hunger, a starvation
of the words of the Lord. Now everybody's going to be fine,
they're going to marry and give in marriage, and money's going
to be good, and food and water's going to be good, and life's
going to be good, but there's not going to be any words from
the Lord. That's terrible. Why is that
such an awful thing? Why would that be the worst thing
ever? It's because Psalm 119 says,
The entrance of thy words giveth light. Without His words, we have no
light. We're in darkness. Without His
words, we're in darkness. Spiritual darkness. Without His
words, we don't know anything about the Spirit of God. Nothing. Hebrews says, the Lord God upholds
all things by the word of His power. Everything remains because
of His word. Listen to this. This is Hebrews
4 verse 12. It says, For the word of God
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intent of
the heart. Hebrews also says, The worlds
were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are
seen were not made of the things which do appear. The things we
see, they were not made from anything that was already here.
They were made by the Word of God. Everything was made, everything
is upheld, including you and me, by the Word of God. Now listen to this, listen to
this. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing the Word of God. Without the hearing of the words
of the Lord, We are going to die in our sins. That's what
God says. That's the truth. It's called
the truth. It's frightening. It's scary. It's fearful. If the Lord chooses to no longer
speak to me, I'm going to die in my sins.
It's His choice. And if that's what he chooses,
I'm going to die in my sins. The Lord said about a man named
Ephraim in the book of Hosea, he said,
Ephraim is joined to idols. Now, Abraham was an idolater.
He worshiped not the true and living God. Anything other than
the true and living God is worshiping idols. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. That's what God
said. The Lord is saying, I'm done
with him. I'm done with him. Isn't that
awful? After the Lord preached a message
one time while he walked this earth, after he preached a message,
his disciples came to him and said, the Pharisees were offended
by what you just said. And the Lord told His disciples,
let them alone. They be blind, leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. Leave them alone. I have nothing to say to them. There's nothing in this life
that could be worse than that. That's the worst. David wrote, Take not the Holy
Spirit from me. Please, Lord, take not the Holy
Spirit from me. Take not the revealer of the
words of the Lord to me. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
He reveals the Word of the Lord to a person. Take not the revealer
of the words of the Lord to me. Jeremiah, who was called the
weeping prophet. He cried. He's the crying prophet. The lamenting prophet. Turn over
to Lamentations. Turn back about 10 or 20 pages
to, or maybe more than that. It's after Jeremiah. Lamentations
chapter 2. Lamentations 2, look at verse
1. How long hath the Lord covered
the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down from
heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not
His footstool in the day of His anger? The Lord hath swallowed
up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied. He hath
thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of
Judah, and hath brought them down to the ground. He hath polluted
the kingdom and the princes thereof. He hath cut off in his fierce
anger all the horn of Israel. He hath drawn back his right
hand from before the enemy. And he burned against Jacob like
a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent his
bow like an enemy. He stood with his right hand
as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye
in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out his fury
like fire. The Lord was an enemy. He hath swallowed up Israel,
he hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his
strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning
and lamentation. And he hath violently taken away
his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden. He hath destroyed
his places of the assembly. The Lord hath caused the solemn
feast and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in
the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. The
Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary,
he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her
palaces. They have made a noise in the
house of the Lord as in the day of a solemn feast. The LORD hath
purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He hath
stretched out a line. He hath not withdrawn His hand
from destroying. Therefore He made the rampart
and the wall to lament, and they languished together. Verse 9 says, Her gates are sunk
into the ground. He hath destroyed and broken
her bars. Her king and her princes are
among the Gentiles. The law is no more. And watch
this. Her prophets also find no vision
from the Lord. He's not talking to them. Israel. That reminds me of America. And God bless America. A God-fearing
nation. And there's a lot of preaching
going on, but God's not talking. I read that, and this thought
went through my mind as I read it. Am I standing on a street
corner with a long beard and a sign around my neck that's,
you know, talking crazy talk about the Armageddon? Or did
I just read the words of the Lord? Isn't that something? Turn with me about four pages
past Amos. We were in Amos. Go towards the
New Testament about four pages to the book of Micah chapter
3. Micah chapter 3 and look at verse 5. Micah 3, 5. Thus saith the Lord
concerning the prophets, the preachers, that make my people
air, that bite with their teeth and cry peace, and he that putteth
not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Therefore
night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision. You're
not going to have a vision. And it shall be dark unto you,
that ye shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over
the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall
the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded, yea, they
shall all cover their lips, For there is no answer of God." God's not talking. Doesn't that cause us to see
why John said this? John said, Beloved, believe not
every spirit. Just because he's on TV, believe
not every spirit. Every preacher. But try the spirits,
whether they are of God. Try the spirits, whether they...
Get into the words of the Lord and see, is that man of God or
not? It's life and death. Our soul
depends on this. Now let's go back to our text,
Amos chapter 8. Look at verse 12, it says, 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." They'll look for it. They'll run to and
fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. What do you mean they shall not
find it? It's right here. What do you mean? Well, let me ask you this. We've
talked about this before. First of all, as new translations
continue to come out, and they continue to come out, and it's
a translation of a translation. Do those Bibles still say this? Really? Do they still say this? This is hard. You know, I thought
about this. I'm a human. I like preaching
happy things. I really do. I like telling good
news. This is hard. People like to take that stuff
out. They want to take it out. They want to change it. Now, if they do, if it is, are
men really standing up and preaching this? Really? Are the people
actually hearing the words of the Lord? That's the question.
Because if they're not, it's dangerous. They're going to die
in their sins. Verse 13 says, In that day shall
the fair virgins and young men faint all the way down. Faint, die for thirst. Verse 14 says, They that swear
by the sin of Samaria. That's when they made a golden
calf. They started worshiping a golden calf. And they say, Thy God, O Dan,
Dan did the same thing. They made two calves, they put
it in two cities. In the manner of Beersheba liveth,
even they shall fall and never rise up again. Okay, now I have
two questions this morning. That's been a bunch of bad news.
I have two questions this morning. Two questions for each of us.
How can I tell if I'm in a famine? How can I tell? Because it's
supposed to be good, right? Everybody's supposed to be happy,
and the bread is plentiful, and the water's plentiful, and life
is plentiful. How can I tell if I'm in a famine? And if I am, what must I do to
get out of this famine? What must I do to be fed? All right. How can I tell if I'm
in a famine of hearing the words of the Lord? Well, first of all, what are
the words of the Lord? What are the words of the Lord?
What is the words of the Lord? So let me quote a few scriptures
to you. John 1.1 says this, In the beginning was the Word. And
it goes on to say, And the Word was God. Okay. Genesis 1.1 says, In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. And then it says in Genesis
1.3, And God said, Let there be light. The Word
spoke. And then Genesis chapter 3 verse
8 says, after Adam and Eve sinned, they heard the voice of God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day. The words of the Lord is Jesus
Christ. The words of the Lord is Jesus
Christ. This famine is not a famine of
religion. It's not a famine of religion. It's not a famine of churches. We have a lot of churches in
this town. It's not a famine of religious
buildings and it's not a famine of religious people. Religion
is who we are. It is. Everybody's religious
about something, right? It's a famine of Jesus Christ. That's what it is. It's a famine
of Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Now, how can I tell if
I'm in a famine? In a place of religion, what
are the signs that there's a famine of the words of the Lord? A famine
of Christ there. We talk about doctrines, right? We talk about everything. How
can I know if there's a famine of Christ in that place? All
right, here's the first sign. Here's the first one. in a place where there's a famine
of the words of the Lord. Men preach. There's a lot of
preaching. It's hard to tell sometimes.
You look and, well, they're doing this and they're doing that.
Men preach, but they preach without the power
of the Holy Spirit. And I'm not talking about an
emotional movement. I'm not talking about that at
all. Men are good at bringing on emotions. As a matter of fact, that's all
I'm talking about. It'll just be emotions. That's
it. A man's voice is going to be
the only voice that's heard. Just a man's voice. Word only,
the Scripture says. No spirit. And when the Holy
Spirit of Christ is not there, there will be no conviction of
sin. Let me show you that. This is
vital. This is vital. Turn with me to John chapter
14. John chapter 14 and look at verse 16. The Lord said, I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. This Comforter
is the Holy Spirit, 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. Now go to John
16. Verse 7 says, Nevertheless I
tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. The Spirit
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you, and watch this, when he is come, he will reprove,
that means convince the world of sin. That's his first purpose. And
of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. They don't believe I'm who I
say I am. No, that's not God. God is love. He would never do that. Of sin,
because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. This man Jesus is God. Of judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, howbeit when he the
Spirit of truth is come," now watch this, "...he will guide
you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever
he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things
to come. He shall glorify me." That's
his job. For he shall receive of mine,
and he'll show it unto you." When the Holy Spirit of Christ
is not in a place, there will be no conviction of sin, no sorrow
over sin. There will be no true revelation
of Jesus Christ, who He is. There's gonna be no true regeneration. That's new life in a person.
There'll be no comfort for sin and there'll be no spiritual
growth. No spiritual growth. Everything will pretty much just
be dead in a person. Does that make sense? Alright, here's the second sign
of fandom. When religion is thriving, when
religion is thriving, but there's a famine of hearing the words
of the Lord, people will come together on Sunday. Everybody
will come together. But the Lord and His Word is
not with them. He's not with them. They really
have no idea what religion, and what church and what worship
is all about. They have no idea. You remember when we looked at
our Lord when He was 12 years old? Remember that? It said Mary
and Joseph went a day's journey, supposing Him to be in the company. They traveled a day. They thought
He was there. Supposing him to be in the company.
When there's a famine, people just suppose. They just suppose. Did you meet with God today? Well, they had a steeple. You know, they had pews. Well, did God speak? And what
did he say? Straighten up and fly right? It's better to be a good person
than a bad person? You know, that would be like
going to a doctor because you have cancer. There's something
wrong. And the doctor says, you have
cancer and here's my prescription. Straighten up and fly right. Really? Was that a real doctor? Was knowledge of medicine plentiful
there? He was in a doctor's office.
I mean, I made an appointment. I had a receptionist. He had
a white coat on. You see what I'm saying? Doctor, what should I do about
my cancer? Well, you need to love it away.
Love is the answer. No. Well, why don't you join
the hospital basketball team? That'll fix it. Doctor, I think there's a lack
here. I think there's a famine here.
There's something missing. There's something missing. Something's not right. When the
Spirit of Christ is there, He reveals the words of the Lord. And the people walk away knowing
We heard from God today. They know it. What did He say? He said, I have an awful disease
called sin. And then He told me what my remedy
was. It's something called substitution. He said, I could have it for
free. It's pro bono. I got wonderful news today. I got a wonderful report today. Third, when there's a famine
of hearing the words of the Lord, the Word of God is read. But there's no applying of that
Word to my heart. Those two on the road to Emmaus
didn't say, oh, weren't our minds astonished? They said, didn't our hearts
burn within us? What was that burn? Love. Love for God, love for Jesus
Christ, and love for His Word, no matter what it says. Love. Especially because of what it
says. Love. Somebody said this. We have listened
to the preacher. Truth by him has been shown.
But we need the great teacher from the everlasting throne.
Application is the work of God alone. Christ must be there. If we're all here this morning
without Christ, the words of the Lord, we're meeting in vain. Nothing's going to be applied.
A man's going to stand up and preach. The Word is going to
be read. And you really missed out on
something good. You could have been watching a NASCAR race or
a football game. Sorry for you. When there's a famine of hearing
the words of the Lord, Baptism and the Lord's table and prayer
and these things are observed. People are baptized. We had seven
baptisms this morning. But they don't mean anything
to the person observing them. They really don't. Religion says,
do you want to be saved? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I want to be saved. Well,
then you need to be baptized. Okay. Okay. I want to be. Let's do this. I want it. Well, what does that baptism
mean to you? It means I'm saved. How do you know? Because I was baptized. If the Word of the Lord is not
there, it's just meaningless ceremonies. Meaningless. True
baptism is something that happens on the heart. And then that heart
greatly desires to confess it to everybody else, but it's something
that God did to the heart. Prayers can be made continually. I know of a place, bless their
hearts, they are so happy for the fact that they have had prayer
24-7 for like the last 40-something years in this place. You sign
up and you get on like a couple of hour rotation. Bless their
hearts, they get up at like 3 o'clock in the morning to go pull the
graveyard shift over there. Prayer can continually be made. But if the Holy Spirit of Christ
is not there, it's useless. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
1. Isaiah chapter 1. All right, now look at verse
10. Isaiah 1, verse 10. Look at the first six words,
okay? Hear the word of the Lord. This is the words of the Lord.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto
the law, of our God, ye people of Gomorrah, to what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? Why are you doing that? Saith the Lord, I am full of
the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and
I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of
he-goats. Quit doing it. I'm tired of it. I'm full of it. Look at verse
12. When you come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?
Who told you to do that? Verse 13. Bring no more vain
oblations. Incense is an abomination unto
me. Quit burning that stuff. The new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity. It's
all sin. You're so proud of it, but it's
all sin. Even the solemn meeting. Everybody's holding the solemn
meeting. Verse 14, your new moons and your appointed feast, my
soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I
am weary to bear them. You're tiring me out. Verse 15,
And when you spread forth your hands, everybody's up there spreading
forth hands. When you spread forth your hands,
I will hide mine eyes from you. I'm not even going to look at
it. I'm turning my head. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Oh, man. How awful! How awful! Now you see why men like David
and Solomon constantly said, Lord, please hear my prayer. Lord, we don't assume anything
on you. You're God. and we're dust. Please hear my prayer. A place is full of drought, full
of drought. It's nothing but dry ground.
A person is full of drought when the Scriptures become a source
of controversy instead of comfort. Controversy. Well, I know that's
what it says. I know, I see the words of the
Lord, but I'm going to argue that. Here's what I think. When they become a source of
debate instead of just instruction, let's read the words, let's hear
the words, let's learn and say, okay. Learning. Inspiration. When we're
more concerned with proving our doctrine, than proving ourselves
by this Word. There's a famine. Well, this has been our doctrine
for generations and generations, and we got the original testimonies
of faith from the who-knows-who, and we're really not too concerned
about what that says. We got them up on the wall right
here, and that's what we go by. There's a famine there. Now, if I'm in a famine, how
do I get out? Alright? How do I get out? And
if I fear this famine, if I don't want to be in this famine, how
do I keep from falling into it? Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Alright, now, notice
with me the heading. To the chief musician, a Psalm
of David. when Nathan the prophet came
unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba." Now everybody
here knows what he did, right? Everybody know what he did? He
went into this married man's wife. David was in a drought, a famine. And here's why I know this. He
was not convicted of that sin. He took that man's wife, he sent
that man to the front lines in war, and that man died, and David
didn't care. He was not convicted until Nathan
came to him and said, Thou art the man. That's when it got him. David was in a famine. He was
in a drought. The convicting words of the Lord
were not there. But when they came to him, and
Nathan said, Thou art the man, then David cried out to God to
pull him out of this drought. And God heard David. How do we
know this? God wrote it in His book. He
recorded everything David said. Now this is the seeking sinner's
guide. If anybody needs to know, this
is the seeking sinner's guide and this is the believing sinner's
comfort. Okay? If we follow this, he'll
hear us. Four things brought David out
of his famine. Four things. Here's the first
one. He cried for mercy. Look at verses 1 and 2. David
said, Have mercy upon me, O God. Nathan came to him and said,
ìDavid, youíre the man.î And he immediately said, ìHave 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.î He doesn't claim to be owed anything. He doesn't claim to have earned
anything. He didn't say, now Lord, before
I did that, don't you remember all those things I did for you
before? Don't you remember how I put that rock in a sling and
I delivered our people? I've done a lot of good things. He doesn't claim anything. He just begs for mercy from a
loving and kind God. Lord, You're loving. You're kind. Your Word says You will have
mercy. Oh God, would You have mercy
on me? The second thing that brought
David out of his famine is he confessed his sin. Look at verses
3 and 4. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and 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 judgest."
He was honest. He was honest. He acknowledged
what he was and what he'd done. Now listen to this, and I'm almost
done, I promise. He took sides with God against
Himself. He took sides with God against
Me. The third thing that brought
David out of his famine is he acknowledged the root of the
problem. Look at verses 5 and 6. Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. He wasn't just sorry because
he'd been caught. That's every criminal on planet
earth. I've seen the show Cops. Every time they get caught and
they're in cuffs, they're crying and they want their mamas and
they're sorry because they got caught. He wasn't just sorry for what
he'd done. He said, Lord God, I'm sorry
for what I am. I am sin. It's not just
what I've done, it's what I am. He cried for mercy. He confessed
his sin. He acknowledged the root of his
problem. And here's the fourth thing that
brought David out of his drought, out of his famine. He saw his
remedy. He caught a glimpse of his remedy. Look at verses 7 and 8. Purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Lord, I'm low and I'm broken,
but I know if You purge me with hyssop, and if You wash me, and
if You make me hear the words of joy, these broken bones are
going to rejoice. They're going to rejoice. Hyssop
was what they dipped in the blood of that Passover lamb, and they
sprinkled it on the doorpost. Hyssop dipped in blood. God said,
when I see the blood, I don't care what you've done, I'm going
to pass over you. When I see that blood, you're
clean. You're washed. You're purged. You know what that is? Do you
know what that is? That is food to a hungry soul. That's food to a hungry soul. That's the words of the Lord. That'll end the famine. It'll
end it. No more famine. Well, I pray
the Lord would bless us with that. Let's stand together.