It's the seventh book from Isaiah. That'll help you. Everybody can
find Isaiah. Just turn over seven books to
the Book of Amos. Charles, that back door is open
back there. Would you please close it? The Book of Amos. Now, no one in here is in the
habit of keeping company with those that oppose them or disagree
with them, unless perhaps you're married to one such person, but
everyone makes friends of those they have much in common with.
We like to be around people who are very much like ourselves,
or at least people who tolerate us, We like to be around those sort
of people. Nobody likes to be around a disagreeable
and contentious sort of person. I used to know a fellow on the
railroad that I worked with. He was the most disagreeable
person I've ever seen in my life. He disagreed about anything and
everything. Anything and everyone. Whatever
you had, he didn't like it. Whatever you sold, he wasn't
selling. He knew better. Whatever you had, he also knew
better. If you drive the Fords, he thought Chevy was the same.
If you put Goodyear tires on your truck, he thought Mishima
was the only one there. I believe he turned around and
said the opposite. He said, I don't know what I
really need to say. He was just agreed with everything. Everything.
He was the most obnoxious and contentious and disagreeable
person I've ever known. And nobody liked him. Everybody
dreaded to see him coming. He comes up with a lot of phrases
in that evening. Nobody likes him. And it's the same with us. Nobody, no one we'll remain married
to, no one we'll be friends with, no one we'll associate with.
Somebody disagreeable and argumentative and contentious and contradictory
to the things we'll say. We'll make friends with those
who are in agreement with us. And just as it is true with us,
it's doubly This is a very simple thing, a very simple message
here. Look at Amos chapter 3, verse 3. Let's read all three
verses. Amos 3, verse 1. Hear this word
that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against
the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt. They
were a contentious people. The Israelites complained about
everything. They complained they didn't have any water, so God
gave them water. They complained about not having any bread, so
God gave them bread. They complained about getting bread, having too
much bread, so God sent them meat. They just complained about
everything. And in the life of Uhan, God did. He didn't like
the way he did it, and he found false, disagreeable sort of people. Verse 2, God says, Now you only
have our moon. are chosen of all the families
on the earth. You own them. Therefore, I'm
going to punish you," he said. I'm going to punish you for all
your iniquities. Verse 3. And he sums it up by saying this.
Can two walk together except they be agreed? And you'll remember that it was
fulfilled. The people did not walk into
the promised land with him. They're disagreeable or unbelieving
is another word. Did not walk in the promised
land. Walked no more with God. They
died in the wilderness. They died. Now turn over to Genesis
chapter 15 with me. Genesis chapter 15. A very simple
definition of saving a faith can be this. A very simple definition
of faith is just this. with God." To agree with God. To agree with God, and salvation
is working with God in agreement. To agree with God. My pastor
preached from a passage in Luke chapter 7 that said, after Christ
preached, it said the publicans and the sinners heard him gladly,
and said all those who heard him justified God. God. That is what they said when
they heard Christ speak, heard him preach. They declared him
right. They justified God, like David
said, that you might be just when you speak. You be right
whatever you say, David said. Now, to agree with God, to declare
God right concerning all things, is another definition of faith.
Abraham was called the friend of God. He was called the friend
of God, and Abraham was declared justified. That, if you ever
learn the meaning of that word, and I believe many of you people
in here have, if you ever learn the meaning of the word justified,
that means declared holy, righteous, accepted. God said of Abraham,
as He says of many others, I accept you. I receive you unto myself,
that you may beware of me throughout eternity. I justify you, eternal
counselor," God says. How? Not by anything you do. Who knows? By faith. And Abraham
was a great justified, accepted, holy, righteous illustrator of
any wrongdoing, and he certainly had done wrong and sinned like
anybody else, simply because He believed God. Look at Genesis
15, verse 6. Genesis 15, verse 6. And it says,
Obraham believed in the Lord. He believed in the Lord. Not
just that he existed, but he believed in him. That whatever
he said, it was right. And God handed that to that man
for righteousness. And this is good news, Greg,
and this is salvation. Abraham just believed in whatever,
you know when you believe in somebody, that means you trust
them, you, whatever they say. That's right. My daughter believes
in me. I believe in my, in my father,
humanly speaking. I'm just using his description.
And some of you believe in me. You believe what I tell you,
I'm going to do it. What has the God said? The believer says,
that's right. He'll do it. He'll do it. He's
able. He's willing. He'll do it. It's
right. And Abraham believes God. Abraham
believes whatever God said, in spite of whatever's said, he
believes God. Contrary to popular opinion,
it sure wasn't popular back then, was it? All those people were
mumbling and grumbling and complaining about everything, just as they
do now. In spite of contrary to popular opinion, every man
believed God. And I don't care what y'all say,
all I care is what He says. And God smiled on that man. Smiled
on him. Even enough to listen to his
family. God said, every man, come on out to me family now.
Come on out. And I'm sure they said, where'd
you go? What'd you do this for? I believed God. I love you, yes,
but I believe God. I love Him. I believe Him better.
More. And God declared that man to
be righteous simply because... Now, I can't make it any clearer,
any plainer. Can't make it any simpler. But
faith is just the glory of God. Whatever He says. It's right. It's right. It's good. can't
be any other way. All things. And Abraham believed
and declared the character of God, the ways of God before the
people, his family. Turn over to Romans chapter 4
with me. Romans chapter 4. Abraham bowed
to, submitted to, was agreeable to and in love with the person
and the work of his Lord God. Amen. And you and I are justified
the same way, exactly the same way. I'll read that to you from
Romans 4. Look at verse 20, Romans chapter
4. It says, Abraham staggered not
at the thought, He said he didn't stagger. God
said something miraculous to him. God said something horrible
to him. Take your son up there. Horrible.
God said to Charles, he didn't stagger at the promise of God
for your unbelief. I mean, you just can't believe
it. Oh, sure. No. No. He didn't stagger. He didn't stagger for your unbelief. But he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And there's a key to this thing,
giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, he was able. He was able also to perform. And therefore, it was imputed
to him. It was charged to him. righteousness. He didn't do anything. God did
this before Abraham took his throne up, before Abraham did
anything. God imputed or declared him to be a righteous and holy
man before Abraham did anything. God just said, Abraham, I'm going
to bring a seed from you. I'm going to multiply your seed.
Okay? Abraham, I want you to come out
this way. Okay. And we're going to figure out
in a minute how this is the same thing holds true with us. It's
a simple agreement. It's profound in that God has
changed these hell-bound, rebellious, devilish worlds of ours to have
our own way. My, my, my, like we were talking
about our son and kids. My, my, God has changed that. It's profound in that it takes
a miraculous work of God to change a hell-bound sinner and rebel. into an agreeable submitting
child of God. That takes the work of God. But
that's what it is, nevertheless. Agree. Agree. And it takes nothing
less than the work of God. God chose, God justifies, God
sanctifies, God loves, God befriends, God accepts only of those who
believe in and submit to and bow to his Son. Look at it there
in verse 23. It was imputed, verse 23, it
was imputed to Abraham, a charge to his account for righteousness,
acceptance. Now, verse 23, it wasn't written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but Christ also,
to whom it shall be imputed also, if we just, what, live a good
life? If we go to church every Sunday,
if we are tired and oppressed, no! Belief on Him that raised
up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. Now, understand me. I'll explain what it is to believe
here in a moment. Christ was delivered by a pension and was
raised again for our justification. These are things necessary to
believe. Therefore, verse 1, being justified by faith, that
is, simply believing, trusting, resting in Him, being agreeable
to God and His Christ and His way of salvation by faith. We have peace with God. Who doesn't
want to be with God? God says, OK, you can be around
me. I got that now. We don't like to
have anybody around. We won't tolerate it, especially
in our children, you know, as parents. Don't tolerate a disagreeable
and rebellious child. Don't do it. And my, my, God,
there's no rebellious children or disagreeable children. None,
none. They all agree with everything. Whatever God's plan is, it's
right. Father knows best. Every one of them. And we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We can walk with
Him. Now, the Scripture says, To this man will I look, O woman. To him who is poor, poor in necessity. Don't have anything that can
recommend them to this holy God. Don't have any holiness, no righteousness. Poor. Don't have what they see
that they need to be accepted by this God. Poor of a contrite
or humble, broken spirit that is seeing that they're not only
lacking what God deserves, but they're full of what God hates.
Sin. And it makes them contrite and
repentant before God and ashamed of themselves. God said, I look
on that person. I look on them with favor, grace,
favor, compassion. I look upon that person. The
person is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. Trembles at what
I say. Now, the only way anybody is
going to tremble at God's Word is if they believe it, aren't
they? Now, if a man says, I have trouble
with election. Now, what does that mean? You may not understand it, but
you'd best be believing it real fast. Right? Now, you may not
understand God's providence, but you'd best be believing it
real fast. Right? And somebody might say,
I don't understand that. That's fine. There's a lot of
things I don't understand. Most things I don't understand. But I believe. I believe. And to tremble at God's word
means, ooh. God sent that, didn't He? You know what it means? It's
not Well, I don't know about that. Who said it over here?
I don't know. That's my trembling in his word,
isn't it? Trembling in his word, isn't
it? Believe it or not, most people seem to only want to argue about
God's word. Huh? You know, it's the people you
run into. Look over at Psalm 119 now. Let's
look at this. This is the text over in Psalm
119. Perhaps the greatest man to live
on the face of the earth. was David, a scriptural basis
for saying something like that, because he was the man whom God
chose to be the clearest type of Christ in all the scriptures,
I believe. David. As God used David to pin the
very words of his son on the cross, he wouldn't entrust that
to just any old man, would he? David. This was the man God used
to represent the gospel in such a clear manner. The man God called
his son. Son of David. Son of David. And he called David, he said,
this is it. God said, I'm looking for somebody. I'm looking for a man just like
me. A man after my own heart. A man
that thinks like I think. A man that loves like I love.
I'm looking for a man. Now we know that's a picture
of Christ, but he said that to David, didn't he? Because that's
a picture of Christ. But he called David a man after
his own heart. Now, I say that about, you've
probably said that about some people. Oh, he's a man after
my own heart. Why? Because he agrees with you. He
likes the same things you like. He appeans you highly. And look at this. David said
over Psalm 119, verse 128. Look at verse 126. I like this. Verse 126, David said, It's time
to leave this old Lord to work. Anybody ever said that? Oh, I
wish the Lord. Oh, I wish he'd move. I wish
he'd move. But where? Because they've made
void your law. I'm getting sick of these idiots.
I'm getting sick of them. You think you're sick of these
false prophets and all this hypocrisy and blasphemy that goes under
the name of Christ. You think how God kills us. If
he's wiser than us, he knows, he sees where he's coming, he
knows exactly when it is, and it's already done. But we don't,
and we just gnash our teeth. Don't we? Let me hear these guys,
them gals. He says, it's time for you to
work a little. They've made void of your law.
That isn't your word. They're making void of the word
of God. Look at verse 127. But I love
your word above gold, fine gold, verse 128. And this is the reason
he was declared a man after God's own heart. I seem all this richness
concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. I'm just a beggar like every
child of God. was God's yes man. You've heard
of the yes man, haven't you? Back in the old gangster movie,
the yes man, you know the man that'd be the big boss man and
he'd have some little fella beside him and the boss man says, we're
gonna get this job. Yeah, we got that, yeah. And
he'd say, let's go down there and the other guy says, right
boss. You know, yes man. Whatever the big boss said, yeah,
right, let's go. Yeah, he was agreeable to everything.
And you, if you're a child of God, where God says, yes, ma'am. Where he says, yes, whatever
God says, yes, Lord. That's right. Right. Whatever
he says. Whatever God does is right. That's
right. It's good. It's good. It's the best thing.
Yeah. Whatever God purposes, that's
all right by me. You know best. You know best. And it'll be the same way with
you if you're a true child of God and a disciple of Christ. Christ said this. He was speaking.
He was preaching to a multitude of people. And He was saying
some hard things. He was saying some... He was
preaching doctrine. He was preaching God's sovereignty.
He was preaching justification by faith. He was preaching election.
He was preaching His incarnation. How God, He had become a man. And how He was preaching the
necessity of a new birth and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
All these things. Preaching doctrine. Hard doctrine. And that's just what some of
the people said. Some of them, after they heard it, they said,
I don't know about that. I can't buy that election stuff. Let's go. Honey, you ready? Yeah.
Let's go. And they went and walked no more
with him. At the end of it, they were walking up until that point.
They said, I don't know. Did you see the election? Yeah. All right. Come on. and walked
no more with him. He cried. After they left, he
turned to his disciples and said, uh, you wanna go too? You gonna go? Peter? James? You
wanna go? You wanna go? What'd they say? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No. You didn't have the words
of life. Your life is their life. Life. Life. He said what they were saying
in essence was, your life itself. Your life is their own thing.
Your children. Everybody else's life. Your children. Your is
a way. Every other way is going to lead
to destruction. That's what they said. You're
my only hope of righteousness with God. I never feel the right. We can't get together. You're
my only hope. You're my wisdom. Everything
else is foolish, including me. I don't know what to do, where
to go, what to say, how to do it. You're my only hope. That's
what they're saying. You're salvation all over Christ. Every other person is a fool
and a robber. Look at David. Look what he says
here in Psalm 119, verse 129. Look at it. He says, They're wonderful. You must go
keep them. They're your claim to them. No,
no, how about you? I'm a claim to them. I'm going
to let them go. Verse 130. The entrance of your
way is regular life and understanding. I'm such an ignorant fool. I
mean an apt, apt fool. I'm still a fool, but I've been
here so long. Believe it or not. But God's
word gives life and understanding. I was a young, ignorant fool. But the entrance of God's word
gives life and understanding. Understanding. He gives understanding
to the simple. There's a simple-minded simpleton,
little pinhead. He gives understanding to them. David said, I was one, and he
heard me. And he talked to me. He spoke
to me. Look at verse 137. Righteous,
that is true, are you, O Lord, and upright are your judgments,
your testimonies, that you have commanded. They're right. You
see what I'm saying here? They're righteous and very true
and faithful. They're right. You go out of here just hearing
one word, I tell you, that God is right. You will have heard
enough for your salvation. God is right. God is right. By testimony that you've commanded
a righteous and very faithful, very faithful, that's 139. He said, My zeal is consuming
me, because your enemies have forgotten your word. Anybody
know where he's coming from here? Do you know where he's coming
from? God's enemies have forgotten this book. You'll see them, you
know, these false prophets. They might read one verse. They
might. And they might not. And then
they'll go around and they'll grab their hanky-shank and start,
you know, forget God's Word, let me see how clever I am. Let
me go on a Saturday. Or either that, or they twist
it, or make it say what it doesn't say, withhold from it, add to
it. Many ways they corrupt God's
Word. Like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2, many ways they corrupt God's
Word. Verse 140, Oh, but your Word
to me, Joseph said, is pure. It's pure. It's just, it can't be added
to. It can't be taken away from.
It's pure. It's perfect. And I loved it. I love it. Look at verse 160. That word is true from the beginning.
It's true now and always has been and always will be true,
whatever God said, whether men like it or not. This is what
I'm trying to do this morning, give all glory to God who is
right and demand that we all believe Him and bow to Him. Every one of thy righteous judgments
endureth forever." Look at verse 165. He says, "'Great peace,
everybody, which loveth thy law, thy word, thy commandment, and
nothing shall offend them.'" Nothing shall offend them. Nothing. Because all of God's
people say this. They say, "'Let God be true,
and every man alive.'" Nothing and no one they send
me. Well, you know, sir, you don't look much like a Christian.
Well, I know, I'm sorry, I'm ashamed of myself, but God says
I'm justified. He says there's no condemnation.
Well, but you ought to be, too. No, no, wait a minute. No, no,
no. God said it, sir. Well, I don't know much about
the Bible, but I know that... Well, you don't know much, Ken,
at all. You don't know much about the Bible. But this is what I think. I know
this thing. You just want to say what God
said? Let's hear from God's Word. Let's hear what He said. When God said, every believer,
every child of God, says that God is right, declares, justifies
God. When God says, I'm holy, I'm
holy. Absolutely, unapproachably holy. And you're sinful. Every one
of God's people say, true. It's true. We're all together,
undaunted. You're all together, lovely.
and holy. When God says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, that means they're ungrateful
and wretched and undeserving, and hell is their end. All have
sinned. There's nothing good in all of
them. And God speaks to all of them and says, that's true. I've
never done a bit of good, ever will. That's true. We haven't been ungrateful. We haven't acknowledged you.
We haven't glorified you. We should have prepared for you
what we deserve. Every one of them says that.
Justify God. When God says a soul of chance,
it must surely die. The child of God says, true Lord,
if I did, I did, I deserve it. God says only my will will be
done in heaven as it is in earth. Only my will. And every one of
God's people say, true Lord, my will is bound by sin. I can't
do what I would. I only do the things I would
not. God said, if I don't choose you, you'll not be chosen. So
he said, and every one of God's people say, true, Lord, blessed
is the man whom God chooses. He called the disciple of Solomon.
I'll go my own way. Unless you've stopped me and
chosen me and brought me to your care, I wouldn't have come. It's
true, Lord. God says, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. And every one of God's people and everyone
here to believe us say, true, Lord, your thoughts are higher
than the heavens. When God says, My ways are not your ways, every
one of God's people say, True, Lord. Your ways are holy and
righteous and just. My ways are altogether simple
and ungodly and wretched. When God says, Build this house
as I will in the begotten Son, the only one I'm going to approve
with. All of God's people say, True,
Lord. I've never done anything worthier
of wealth, even in your sight. Never. When God said, He's the
only way that a sinner can approach unto me, every one of God's people
say, True, Lord. He's the door. He's the way. When God said, He's the only
righteousness I will accept, I want to accept your pitiful
filthy works, every one of God's people say, True, Lord. True,
all mine will be filthy works from day one. When God says He's my only sacrifice,
the only sacrifice I'll accept, I'll accept your filthy sacrifices,
your humors, your sabbaths, your solemn meetings, away with them,
my sole hatred, all so true, Lord. Full of hypocrisy. Full of hypocrisy. And only the
blood and sacrifice of Christ is a sweet-smelling savor to
you. Oh, my lips are stinking. Stinking. When God says, Believe
in my Son, Believe in my son, that is Lordship, and you'll
be saved." Every one of God's people say, Okay, Lord, I bow. He's Lord. He's Sovereign. He's King. I believe. Would you help my belief? When
God says, Accept I give you faith, The gift of faith, you're not
going to believe. Because faith is my gift. You can't dumb it
up. No matter what you do, you can't lose it. Every one of God's people say,
true Lord, we're kept by your sovereign power. We cannot keep
our sin. And when God said, trust my son
and hear him and believe him, Every one of God's people say,
Amen. Okay. Amen. And when God says,
You're standing through for giving me, every one of God's people
say, Thank you. Thank you. The third rule has said in his
heart, there's no God. No God. The Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They're all gone aside.
They're all together to come here. If there's none to do us
good, no one I want. What do you say to that? What do you think? Amen? He said, Why should I strike
you anymore? Why should I chase you anymore? Why should I do
anything anymore to you? You will grow more and more.
The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint from
the sole of the feet to the top of the head. There's no soundness
in it. Who do you say that? That you? That's me. When God says, All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. The nations are a drop of a bucket
counted as small dust to the balance. Nothing. Grasshoppers
not fit to be burned. What do you say to that? That's
right, isn't it? That's right, isn't it? When God said, There's no fear
of God before their eyes, for all their sins come short of
the glory of God. And He says, Whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith unto them that under the law they
should shut their mouths, and become guilty before God. By the deeds
of the law no flesh should be justified in his sight. That's what Paul said over and
over again in Romans. He said, What do you think these
things? What do you think these things? And what you say and
how you act with these things, how you act toward these things proves your
condition before God Almighty. And I've described that there's
some people in here that, by God's mercy and grace, agree
They seem to agree with God, actually agree with him, and
actually are trying to live by faith. Well, he said this, and I'll
quit. He said, Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ at the
end of the law for righteousness. So my advice to you and my advice
to me and everyone that would hear us and hear the Word of
God is to bow to and submit to and believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Submit to Him, His righteousness. Trust Him and Him alone. Bow
to and believe in the Lord God that whatever He does is right.
and true and necessary, and we'll work out what we're down to,
give glory in our doing. And that person, based upon God's
Word, based upon God's Word, that person will be eternally
safe, eternally safe. He has God's Word on him, and
God's truth, God's right, whatever he says. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. It's our only source of comfort
and hope and encouragement. We beg Your forgiveness for our nonchalance lackadaisical attitude towards
your word, the wish that you would send your spirit to move
us, to cause us to react with joy,
and cause us to preach right, cause us to hear right, cause
us to be able to worship our God like he ought to be worshiped
in spirit and in truth. Lord be with us this evening
to be your will, be with us, enable us to worship, bring folks
back to worship, to hear the gospel which is our only hope. Forgive us for what we are, in
Christ's name, amen.