The book of Amos. The first words of this book,
now his name, Amos, means burden, burdensome or one who has a burden
or one who brings a burden, lays a burden on someone. And we need
this burden, the burden of the Word, don't we? I'm afraid that
the Word is just not enough of a burden to us. It should be,
shouldn't it? Us and our children. That's what
his name means. And it begins, the words of Amos. Now, Peter wrote no scriptures
of any private interpretation. Holy men's fakes are removed
by the Spirit of God. So though these are the words
of a man, yet in truth they're the words of God. We believe
that, don't we? Paul thanked God that the Thessalonians
received the Word, not the words of men, but as it is in truth,
the Word of God. And I do. You do, don't you?
I don't question any word in this book. I believe it's all
God's Word, don't you? You know how rare that is? We
talked about this precious gift of faith. You know how few people
believe that this is actually the Word of God? A few preachers. And I use the term lightly. But
then and now people didn't hear, they didn't hear Amos. They wouldn't
hear him. They wouldn't hear any of the
prophets. Right? That's what Scripture says. Our
Lord said that. Which of the prophets have you
not killed? Because what the prophets had
to say to man was not good. That is, it had nothing good
to say about us. People don't like that. And so they ignored, either ignored
all the prophets or they killed them. And that prophet came. I mean the Lord from glory. And they killed him. He was a herdsman. Verse 1, he
was a herdsman, a shepherd. How fitting is that? Moses was
a shepherd. David was a shepherd. The Lord
is our shepherd. And the sheep, here's the good
news, the sheep will hear his voice. All the sheep are going
to hear the shepherd and follow him and come to him. Goats? No
matter what you say, they're not going to follow. They're going to butt you. Aren't
they, Stephen? Coats will butt you. So, you know, this man was
a herdsman. Over in chapter 7, look over
there real quick, in Amos chapter 7, there was a high-muckety-muck
fellow, priest, so-called, of Bethel. Look at chapter 7, verse
10. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,
the house of God. Huh. He was not. He was a phony. He was a fake, like so many of
them are, like most of them are. And he said, Amos conspired against
you. He's talking to the king. Amos
is against you. That's what they said about Elijah
then. Ahab said, are you he that's
troubling Israel? Elijah came with a message that
Israel's in trouble, telling them the only hope to be out
of trouble. We're not them, like Elijah said.
We don't trouble Israel. We're not troubling this world.
This world's in trouble. And Amos said, verse 11, he said
of Amos, that Jeroboam the king will die by the sword. This king
was saying that Amos says the king's going to die and they're
going to be led away captive. And verse 12, he said to Amos,
get out of here. We don't want to hear what you
have to say. That's what he said. Don't prophesy here, verse 13. Don't prophesy here at the house
of God. You mean don't speak God's word in the house of God?
Isn't that what they said? Prophesy unto us through things.
Don't tell us about a holy God and a just God and our sin and
death and judgment. Don't tell us that about a God
who punished sin. Don't tell us that. Tell us like
the false prophets did. Tell us how much God loves us
and needs us and can't do without us. But it's a lie, isn't it? And Amos said in verse 14 of
chapter 7, he said, I was no prophet. I wasn't a prophet's
son. I was a herdsman. I was a shepherd. I was a gathered
fruit. I didn't apply for this job.
I didn't take this on myself. That's what he said. The Lord
took me, verse 15, as I followed the flock. Does that sound familiar?
David, Moses. And the Lord said to me, go, prophesy. unto my people." And he went
on to say, now you hear the word of the Lord. He used to tell
me not to prophesy against Israel, against the house of Isaac. He
says, what's going to happen to you? And it came true. So Amos, go
back to the first chapter, and he prophesied against Israel
said, against the house of Judah, and against Damascus, and Gaza,
and Edom, and Tyrus, and all these places. Why? Because all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Amos, and Isaiah, and Hosea lived
at the same time. These three prophets lived at
the exact same time. I went back and compared. They
say an exact same thing. It's amazing what all Amos said
that Isaiah said and Hosea said. Same story. Why? Because God
is the same. The truth is the same. One Lord,
one faith. One hope. One message. Okay? Same message then, same
message now. The God of the Old Testament,
same God of the New. And the preachers now are preaching
the same thing they did in the Old Testament, right? Same thing
Isaiah and Hosea and Amos spoke. All of these books began with
and filled with woe. You know how Isaiah started?
The whole head is sick, the heart is faint, from the sole of the
feet to the top of the head, no sound of sin. Come now, let's
reason together here. Woe and warnings because of what? This is not a good place. It's
an evil place. And the words of the true prophet
then and now is unlike the false ones. It's not peace, peace.
It's not like Jeremiah 23 said, no evil shall befall you. God
has a wonderful plan for your life. That's what all false prophets
said. But there were dire warnings
then and a call to repent. That's the first message, repent.
Imminent wrath and judgment upon an evil world. Amos preached,
fire is going to fall. Did you read it? Who read this
book? Over and over again. Look at
verse 3. Thus saith the Lord, for three
transgressions, for four. verse 4, I'm going to send fire. Verse 7, it says I will send
fire. Verse 10, I will send a fire. Verse 14, I will kindle a fire. Chapter 2, verse 2, I will send
a fire. Verse 5, I will send a fire. Now, there's much in Scripture
concerning fire, like water. Fire, like water, can damn you
or save you, kill you or make you alive. The
first mention of fire in the Scripture, do you know where
it was? The Garden of Eden. when man sinned against God,
and God put a flaming chariot with a sword. Fire. You can't
come here. You can't pass through this fire.
You'd be consumed. The next mention of fire was
when fire fell on Sodom. The world scoffed at that, like
they do now. The next mention of fire, Genesis 22. And Abraham and Isaac
went up on that mountain, and the father had fire in his hand
and a sword and a knife. You know that story. The last
mention of fire is Revelation 21, where the fearful and the
unbelieving and the sorcerers and all that shall be cast into
the lake of fire, where everything's finally gone. Now, where is Christ in Amos?
Where is Christ? He's the fire. He's the fire. Jeremiah 17 says,
It's not my word as a fire. Malachi 3 says, He shall come
like a refiner's fire. Who shall abide the day of His
coming? Matthew 3, John said, He will baptize you with fire. Didn't it say that? Hebrews 11,
29 says, Our God is a consuming fire. Our Lord Himself said,
I am come to send fire on the earth. And it's already kindled. Fire destroys. Fire is the only
thing that truly will disintegrate anything and everything. All wood, hay, and stubble is
going to be burned up. And that represents man and everything
he is and everything he does, especially religion. It's going
to be burned up. The only thing fire won't destroy
is gold and silver and precious stone. purifies it, removes the
dross. Fire burns with pain, doesn't
it? Oh my, if you've ever been burned,
it's one of the most painful things you'll ever go through.
If the burn is severe enough, it is unbearable. Fire. But then, fire can warm
you. Oh, nothing else can warm you.
You know, electric heat won't warm you. A heat pump won't warm
you. Boy, the fire will. Isn't this such a picture of
Christ? Fire kills. Fire purifies. Is not my word, he said, like
a fire? Is this not Jesus Christ? All
of this, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal. I have the keys
of hell and death, and He's the key of heaven. He's going to
destroy all the dross, purify the sons of Levi. Now, there
are several scriptures that are often quoted in Amos. Look at chapter 3. We're not
going to look at... We're just going to browse through
here. Chapter 3 of Amos. You know this verse, verse 3.
Quoted all the time. It says in verse 3, after talking
about punishing the world for their iniquities, it says, Can
two walk together except to be a group? Alright, Enoch walked with God.
It says Moses and Noah walked with God. As do all of God's
people. Abraham was a friend of God.
To be his friend, you have to walk with him. All of God's people
did. They knew and they walked with
God. Who? Who did they walk with? Who did Noah walk with God? God's a spirit. Who did he walk
with? Who was he walking with and talking to? Who came down
to Moses on the rock? Who came down there and said,
I'm coming down? Who is that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God. God came to this earth,
and He walked among men, and men walked with Him. Proverbs
8, you remember that series of messages we did on His, He rejoiced
in the habitable parts of the earth, how that we looked at
the Lord, His pre-incarnate appearances to men, like in the garden, and
Abraham, and so on. His delights were with the sons
of men, rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth." Proverbs
8, 31 says. God came to this earth, and most
rejected Him. Some believed Him. Some walked
with Him. Why did they walk with Him? He
called them. He revealed Himself to them.
Abraham was an idolater. He was 75 years old, steeped
in Methodist or Catholicism. It's all idolatry. Doesn't matter
what name it goes by. Right? Freewill Baptist, Southern
Baptist. He was a 75-year-old Southern
Baptist. But God came down to this earth
and held Abraham. You follow me? You walk with
me. To walk with God means you agree with Him. Can two walk
together except they agree? No, they can't. So to walk with God, you have
to agree with God. About everything He says about
Himself. Everything He says about you.
Everything He says about salvation. Everything He says about His
Son. I agree. I agree, don't you? Do you? What a blessing. We agree completely
with God, with Christ, don't we? We have implicit faith. Our faith is not as strong as
it should be. It's not. We have faith. But we have faith,
and this faith is implicit faith. We believe everything God says. We believe everything He said.
We believe God is God. We're such a rare people, we
actually believe that God is God. What a strange God we have. The world says, this is strange.
Strange doctrine. We do, we believe that our Lord
Jesus Christ is God. No, He's the Son of God. No,
He's God. Yes, He's Son, but He's God. How can that be? I
don't know, but I believe it. That's strange. Chapter 3, verse 6, look at this. Look at all this. This is wonderful.
I love this. Shall a trumpet be blown in a city and the people
not be afraid? Shall there be evil in the city
and the Lord hadn't done it? God says in Isaiah 45, He said,
I create peace, I make evil. Didn't He? How did the Lord do
all these things? Nothing and no one can do anything but God. Right? You believe that? What
comfort, what possible peace could you have if God didn't
want something to happen and it happened anyway? What good
can that God do me? But, buddy, now this is comfort.
All things work together, good and evil, and God's doing it. He's not the... I'm not going
to stop and explain that. I'm just going to say it. We
know. You know. You talk too well.
Verse 7 says, Surely the Lord will do nothing. It means He's
not going to stop the evil. He's not going to stop. He's
going to let it go. And it will do His will. Now
he revealeth, verse 7, he revealeth his secret unto his servants,
the prophets. And then verse 8, I love this,
the lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken,
who can but prophesy? The lion hath roared. The lion
hath roared. Who is that speaking of? The
Lion of the tribe of Judah. I passed over this. Well, I didn't,
but I didn't. Joel, chapter 3. Go back just
a couple of pages. Joel, chapter 3. Isaiah said
this about the Lion. Let me read you Isaiah while
you're turning to Joel while I'm trying to find it. Isaiah
42. Listen to it. Isaiah, the Lord shall go forth
as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. Joel, chapter 3, verse 16. You know John 3, 16? Remember
Joel 3, 16. Look at Joel 3, 16. The Lord
also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. Heaven and earth shall shake. Are you looking at it? But the
Lord will be the hope of his people. The strength. Heaven and earth
are shaking. You read with the Amos 1, you're
wondering about the earthquake. You don't so much need to know
about that. It actually happened. But that's
not the one you need to be concerned with. It's the last one. And
Hebrews said, once more I shake, not the earth only, but the heavens
and the earth. And only those things will remain
that cannot be shaken. There was another earthquake.
The whole earth did quake. When? When our Lord hung on Calvary. That's when fire fell. Lord Jesus. Now, this lion, in Revelation
4, John saw a vision of a beast with a lion. The first face was
the face of a lion. First was a calf. Next was a
man. The last one was an eagle. That's
four Gospels. The first is a lion. Chapter
5 of Revelation, when John wept, nobody was worthy to open the
book. I said, weep not. The lion will. Before he's called
a lamb, he's called a lion. And from there on out, the lamb,
the lamb, the lamb. Lion. This is the Lord Jesus
that few people know. Like fire. Like fire. I'm coming
to bring fire. This is the Lord Jesus. This
is the Lord Jesus. Unlike another Jesus men talk
about. He's not fire. He's not a lion. Oh yes he is,
Ted. That's the first way you'll come
to know him. and fear him, and bow before him. And then, as
you see him as a lion, you'll see him as a calf. Substitute
a man, an eagle, on whose wings you'll soar. The lion. We've seen him, haven't
we? The lion. Chapter 3, verse 13. Well, let's go on. Chapter 4.
Look at chapter 4, verse Amos 4. He said in verse 4, you come
to Bethlehem and you transgress. You come to the house of God,
but you transgress. Verse 5, you offer these sacrifices
with leaven. He's condemning religion. Like
Joel. Condemnation of religion. Like
Isaiah. Condemnation of religion. Like
Hosea. Like Jeremiah. A complete condemnation
of man-centered, man-willed, man's works, man's religion. A complete Jewish religion. Judaism. Jerry Falwell, that
false prophet, used to always talk about Judeo-Christian ethics. No. Take it away the first, and establish
the second. We're not on a Judeo law. No, no. The Jews don't worship Jesus
Christ. The Jews aren't God's people. He is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly. Why do you think happened to
the Jews what happened to them? It's still happening to them.
Why do you think that is? They rejected Jesus Christ. And any and all
who do will be rejected themselves. And so he condemns all religion
that's not Christ, that's not Jesus Christ. There was a man
in the Southern Baptist religion one time that he was president
of the Southern Baptist Convention. And he said something that caused
an uproar everywhere, in Israel and everywhere. He said, God
doesn't hear the Jews when they pray. He said, he actually said that.
Like, like, oh, uh, uh, uh, that priest who was a priest that
said what he said, he spoke the truth. It's expedient for one
to die for the people. Who was that? I forget. One of
the high priests, Caiaphas or somebody. Well, that man said,
God doesn't hear the Jew. It's right. It's true. If you don't call on God in the
name of Jesus Christ, He's not hearing you. He's not going to
hear you. This is what the Jews hated.
Christ said, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And they said, we don't like
that. So they killed him, but they
did what God... The worst act of evil ever perpetrated
on this earth was when they killed God's Son. Who did that? God did. Men meant it for evil,
but it brought about the greatest good. That's our God. In chapter
4, he says over and over again, verse 6, you have not returned
unto me. Verse 8, you have not returned
unto me. On and on it goes. Verse 9, you have not returned
unto me. What did our Lord say when He
walked this earth? You will not come unto me that you might have
not. Who will? Somebody said there's no good
to be found. There's hardly any good found in the Book of Amen.
Well, that's because there's hardly any good to be found on
this earth. You have to look real hard to find just the remnant
of the Gospel. But it's there. Do you believe? Do you? Have you come unto Him? Have
you come to Christ? Have you? Why? Because Christ said, all that
the Father giveth unto me shall come unto me. I have. I keep doing it. I keep coming.
Don't you, John? Why are you here? I think most of you are
here this morning because you've come to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? He must be one of His sheep. He must be one of those hard-to-find
people in here. They were there. They were there. Look at chapter 5. You'll see
this. Verse 3, it says, The city went
out by a thousand and leave by a hundred. They went forth by
a hundred and they leave by a tenth. A tenth? You mean there's a tent? Yep, that's exactly what Isaiah
said in chapter 6. I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. Always me. Always unto us. He
said, you go, Isaiah, and preach. He said, they're not going to
hear you. But there will be a tent that will. And they'll return. Because I'm going to make them
turn. I'm going to turn them, and they're going to come to
me, and they're going to repent, and they're going to believe
on the Lord. Bless His holy name. Grace to the remnant. Chapter
6. Let's go on real quickly. Chapter 6 of Amos, verse 1. Woe to them that are at ease
in Zion. Surely this speaks of us. Is
this you? Ever? Omar goes on to talk about
sloth and excess and all of that. The story of the child in the
field in Ezekiel 16. That's us. You know what she
did, don't you? She grew up and forgot the one
that gave her life. Just like Omar. Right? You know the story. And what
Ezekiel said, here's the sin, the sin of your sister Sodom. He said, the sin of your sister
Sodom, you're guilty of. He said, here it is. They were
full of pride, full of bread, and abundance of idleness. He
said, you know what I did to her, don't you? God be merciful. This is why
we're constantly crying, constantly repenting. We never stop. We
never quit quoting, never quit crying like David did. Have mercy
on me, O God. According to thy loving kindness,
blot out my transgression. Purge me with hyssop. Wash me. Right? God's people
never quit repenting. We're guilty. Chapter 7, it says
in verse 2, Amos said, Lord, by whom shall
Jacob arise? He's small. By whom shall Jacob
be delivered? He can't do anything. He's weak. He's small. He's helpless. Verse
5, he said, Lord, by whom shall Jacob arise? He's small. Yeah, that's it, verse 5. And
the Lord said, verse 7, now here it is, chapter 7, verse 7, 7,
7. He showed me, and the Lord said,
he stood on a wall, and he had a plum line in his hand. Any of y'all remember this? Remember
this? No? Man, you're going to have
to teach it again. Plumb line. This is all she dealt
with because there's just not enough time to deal fully with
a plumb line. Some men in here have done some
carpentry. Plumb line. If you don't use a plumb line,
nothing will be straight. it'll be off-centered. A plumb
line is something that you measure straightness with to get to the
exact point of reference where it's supposed to start. If you're
going to lay a corner, you hang this plumb line until
it stops. And when it's still, completely
still, that's the point. That's where you start building. It's straight. It's to the point. That's the corner. Everything
will be built from there. Everything built on that, from
that point, will be straight, plumb, flush, square and level.
Christ is the plumb line. Listen to Isaiah 28. You're telling me these men didn't
collaborate? They didn't. Had the same message,
had the same Lord that taught them, the same word. Isaiah 28,
listen to this. He said, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation stone, a triad stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
hate. Here's where you're going to start. Judgment will I lay
to the line and righteousness to the plummet. This whole thing is built on
Christ, the solid rock. His righteousness. Is that important? This is a plumb line of righteousness.
And Paul said this in Acts 17 when he was talking about that
unknown God that nobody knows. He said, this is the unknown
God that nobody knows. He said, God has appointed a
day in which he will judge all men in righteousness by that
man. In other words, we're going to be
judged standing beside him, and it would be clearly seen
who's the holy one and who's not. Or were we judged standing
in him? Which do you want? Paul said, Oh, that I might win
Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of him. He is our righteousness, our
standard, our plumb line. And when God judges us, if we're
found in Him, we're righteous. We're just as He is. So are we. Isn't this the best thing you've
ever heard? You say, I didn't see that. Good. Good. Now you did it. He's the plumb
line. He's the fire. He's the word. He's the line. He's the plumb line. He's everything.
He's the word. He's everything in between. In
chapter 9, look at this. I saw the Lord standing on the
altar. Does that sound familiar? He smite the little of the door,
he said. And I slay with a sword. He shall
come with a sword of his mouth and slay him. And yet he was
a two-edged sword. And it ends like this. The book
of Amos ends. All the judgment, all the wrath,
all the anger of God, all the fire falling to destroy all the
dross, all the wood, hay, and stubble. It ends this way in
verse 11. In that day I will raise up the
tabernacle of David, his father. The good news here in the end.
The tabernacle of David. What's that? That's the temple.
That's the way to worship. Close up the breaches thereof.
I'll raise up the ruins. I'll build it as in the days
of old, that they may possess the remnant of Eden and the heathen,
which are called by my name. Sayeth the Lord that doeth this.
What's that? That's us. That's the church. The days come, he says, it's
going to be like Joel. Joel prophesied of the great
outpouring of God's Spirit on the earth after Christ's crucifixion. And the days have come, there's
going to be so much harvest that the plowman's going to overtake
the reaper. Wait, we're not through reaping yet. We're plowing right
behind you. And it happened then. Over in
chapter 8, Amos talked about a basket of summer fruit. Well,
you see, Amos, he said, chapter 8, a basket of summer fruit.
See, there's harvest. There's the former harvest and
there's the latter harvest. Summer harvest and the fall harvest. And that's the last harvest.
Is there as much fruit in the last harvest as the former? Here
a little, there a little. So, this outpouring has happened. I don't personally see in scripture,
in the very last of the last days, that now, of any great
outpouring. I just don't see it. Because
our Lord said, when he comes, will he find faith on you? Knowledge covered the earth
at one time, but then we went through the dark ages, didn't
we? And he says in verse 14, I quit. Don't want to, but I
will. He said, I'm going to bring again
the captivity of my people. Starts out in captivity. He said,
I'm going to recover them. They're going to be able to waste
cities and inhabit them, plant vineyards and drink the wine
thereof and make gardens and eat the fruit of. I will plant,
I will plant, the Lord said, them upon their land. They won't
be pulled up. Plants of the Lord planted, trees
of the Lord planted, trees of righteousness which the Lord
planted. And I've given them this. I've done this and I've
given it to them. By grace you say, thus saith
the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amos. Amen. Okay.