Alright, our study tonight will
be taken from the book of Amos, chapter 4. Amos, chapter 4. And the title of the message
is taken from verse 12, the last line of verse 12, Prepare to
meet thy God, O Israel. I've entitled this message, Prepare
to meet your God. Prepare to meet your God. Our passages of scripture that
we read, Revelation 21 and Ephesians chapter
6 is all about preparation. Revelation 21 and verse 2 speaking
of a bride who's been prepared, prepared by the grace of God,
prepared by the mercy of God. This is the preparation of God.
This is the work of God. This is salvation. and that bride
who was adorned for her husband, that bride who's been cleansed
in the blood of Christ and adorned with His righteousness imputed. That's what Revelation 21 is
speaking of. And here in Ephesians chapter
6 it speaks of the preparation of God's people to withstand
the opposition and the deceptions of the devil and all that comes
against us in the world by putting on the whole armor of God. And
all this, each piece of armor is the product of God's grace
and goodness to us in Christ. And each piece of armor in one
way or another represents the power and the grace and the mercy
and goodness of Christ. And I especially like verse 15
where he talks about having our feet shod with the preparation,
which keeping with the theme of our message, the preparation
of the gospel of peace. We're prepared by God. But now what Amos is talking
about is something a little different. It's on the other side of these
issues because what he's talking about in Amos chapter 4 is a
people who are to be prepared to meet God not in mercy and
grace, but actually in judgment. And that's a sad, sad thing.
It's a tragic thing, especially when you consider all that the
Lord had done for these people, the nation Israel, all of the
providential goodness and privileges and even the revelation that
they had which they didn't understand and see because the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. But either way, they had them
there. And it's such a tragic thing when we see people coming
to meet God in judgment, to meet God in His wrath. And so I'm
going to deal with these verses here as it leads up to this subject,
prepare to meet your God. But I want us to keep in mind
as we go through here that the problem, the main problem, there's
a lot of problems in this nation. You know, you look at our nation
today, I mean, we can talk about a million different problems.
But it all really goes back to one problem, and that one problem
is unbelief. It's sin. It's no fear of God
before their eyes. And that's the problem in Israel.
It's a problem in our nation today. It's a problem in the
world. And that's why these people have to prepare to meet God,
but to meet Him in judgment, to meet Him in wrath. And in
reality, there's not much they can do. Because if you reject
the only way of salvation from God's wrath, which is Christ
and Him crucified and risen again, what can you do? It's almost
like instead of saying, prepare to meet your God, it's almost
like He's saying, brace yourself, it's coming. Brace yourself,
it's coming. And it's going to overwhelm you.
It's going to overtake you. Now, he starts off here in verse
1 of chapter 4, in these first three verses, by pointing out
a particular problem that was going on in this nation, and
it has to do with the evil influence of ungodly women. In fact, he
says, hear this word, ye kind, that's K-I-N-E, that's cattle,
like a cow. Ye cattle of Bashan, mentions
a place called Bashan. And he says, "...ye kind of Bashan
that are in the mountain of Samaria," the capital of Israel, "...which
oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their
masters," or their lords, and that was a common title that
they would use for husbands, "...which say to your husbands,
bring and let us drink." And this is what he's talking about,
he's talking about the way, this is a way of describing certain
very prominent influential women in Samaria, as one commentator
said, women of self-made religion, cows of Bashan, he calls them.
And the reason they use that term is because this cattle of
Bashan, they were highly regarded. This was supposed to be the best
cattle that you could find. They were known to be strong,
they were known to be healthy, even known to be ferocious. And
the idea here is that these women are seeking the best that this
world can offer. The best that this world can
produce. And that's the issue. And it's
not that Amos is letting the men off the hook now. You need
to understand that. He's not just a male chauvinist
here who just decided that one day he's going to pick on women.
Because he's had more and more, and as you know, the scripture
has more and more to say to ungodly men who are responsible to be
spiritual leaders than it does to women. But this is a particular
problem. In fact, I think it's interesting
to note in Psalm 22, just think about this. In Psalm 22, you
remember Psalm 22 is the Psalm of the cross. And it's talking
about Christ going to the cross And it's talking about the opposition
that was shown towards him in the world. And it mentions in
Psalm 22 and verse 12, it says this, "...many bulls have compassed
me or surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me around."
The bulls of Bashan, that would be the men. So he's not letting
men off the hook. The Bible doesn't do that at
all. Ungodly men, the human race, fallen human race, stood against
the Lord of glory and crucified Him with evil in our hearts.
Now, of course, God meant it for good. God was working His
sovereign will the whole time, but we meant it for evil. So
this term, bation, is common in the Old Testament. And here
he's talking about the cattle of Bashan. But again, he's not
letting men off the hook. It's the responsibility of men
to be spiritual leaders and to stand firm in the truth. But
you know, I want you to understand, you know, godly women have a
special place in the scriptures. And you can think of so many,
like in the Old Testament, you think about the Judge Deborah.
She was a godly woman. She was a believing woman. She
was a woman of grace. You can think about Ruth. that
Moabitess, that idolatress who was brought up out of that idolatry
and into the glory and grace of God in Christ. You can think
about Hannah. Hannah's prayer is one of my
favorite passages of scripture, 1 Samuel chapter 2. Many of you
have studied that. Think about Abigail who against
her ungodly husband supported David. You can think about Esther
who interceded for the people of Israel. And then in the New
Testament, we can talk about Lydia. That Lydia, that seller
of purple who believed the gospel and who supported Paul and the
apostles. You can think about Timothy's
mother and grandmother who brought him up in the scriptures. These
godly women. You can think about Priscilla.
Remember Aquila and Priscilla. Priscilla was Aquila's wife.
Look over at Philippians chapter four. Let me show you this. Now,
I think it's important that we see this. that, listen, you know,
even though godly women are not to set themselves up as authorities
in the church, they have a special place of ministry and witness
that no man could even begin to take the place of. And look
here in chapter 1 of Philippians, verse 1 of Philippians chapter
4, Paul says, And then he mentions two women who are at odds in
this church. And he says, I beseech, or I
beg you, Odius and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind
in the Lord, and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, that's
fellowship now, fellow workers, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with my fellow laborers
whose names are in the book of life. He had a special place
in his heart for those godly believing women. who helped him
in the ministry. And we don't know how they helped
him, but I know they supported him, I know they prayed for him,
all of these things. But they have a special place
in Scripture, and we don't ever want to forget that. The Bible
is not a chauvinistic book. In fact, I believe what one old
writer said, the Bible and the grace of God is the greatest
liberator of women that you'll ever find in Scripture, in the
world, in literature. It is. But back here in Amos
chapter 4 now, Those women who use their charms and their devices
for evil, selfish, ungodly influences have also a special place of
derision in the Scripture. And of course we can think about
several in that way. You can think about Jezebel.
Turn over to Revelation chapter 2. You know the name Jezebel
means a lot. You know, Jezebel was the queen,
the woman whom Ahab married, and she was from an idolatrous
nation, and she exerted pressure and ungodly influence over her
husband Ahab to allow idol worship in the land. And her name became
so infamous that it's used here. Look at Revelation chapter 2.
And look at verse 18, this is the message of Christ to the
church at Thyatira in the last days. He says in verse 18, "...and
unto the angel," or the messenger, probably the pastor of the church
in Thyatira, right? "...these things saith the Son
of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his
feet are like fine brass." Now that's judgment. That's what
that stands. He's talking about Christ in
his office as judge here. So he's got a judgment to bring.
Now he says, I know thy works, and charity, and service, and
faith, and thy patience, and thy works. So this was a busy
church. They were doing a lot. And he
says, and the last to be more than the first, verse 20, notwithstanding
I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest or allow
or put up with that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess
to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols. Now, I personally don't believe
that there was a particular woman in this church named Jezebel.
I believe he's using the name Jezebel symbolically here. And
he's talking about a spirit of fornication, a spirit of idolatry
that reaches back to the real Jezebel who was the wife of Ahab
because that's exactly what she did. She exerted pressure. She exerted influence. She used
her charms. She used her devices to bring
her husband to rebel against God and to allow idolatry in
the land. And he says in verse 21 of Revelation
2 here, listen to this. He says, I gave her space to
repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold, I will
cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her
into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds, and
I will kill her children with death. You see the judgment here
that's being issued forth? And all the churches shall know
that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will
give unto every one of you according to your works. What he's talking
about is this is an evidence of unbelief. This is an evidence
that you don't know Christ. And if you don't know Christ,
and if you don't have Christ, you're going to be judged according
to your works. And that's death. That's what
that is. We'll go back to Amos chapter
4 now. We could think about other ungodly. We think about Lot's wife. All
she did is just reveal where her heart really is. When they
left Solomon, she turned back and looked because that's where
her heart was. You know, it wasn't just looking at it. It was that
she desired it. That was the problem. And so
we need to understand that. But the idea here, now look back
at Amos 4, the idea here, and don't miss this now, is that
these ungodly women, these kind of bashing, they want to get
ahead in this life. That's what it's talking about.
They want to have a good time. They're selfish. to get all that
they can get, to oppress the poor, crush the needy, and say
to their husbands, bring and let us drink. It's not saying
that they want to stay drunk all the time. They just want
to enjoy this life. That's what he's saying. Now,
you know, Solomon, he wrote several times in the book of Ecclesiastes
that there's really nothing wrong with trying to get ahead in this
life. And there's nothing wrong with
enjoying this life. Nothing wrong at all. But not
at the expense of our spiritual well-being. Not at the expense
of worshiping and glorifying and honoring and serving and
trusting and seeking the Lord. And that's the problem here.
This is the problem here. Keep that in perspective. So
listen to what he says. It says in verse 2, "...the Lord
God hath sworn by His holiness." That's the same thing as saying
God swears by Himself. He swore an oath. You know, one
of my favorite passages is Hebrews chapter 6. Look over there just
a moment. Where he's talking about the promise that God made
to Abraham. I love this passage. Hebrews
chapter 6 beginning at verse 16. And he's talking about men
swearing oaths. He uses that analogy. God swore
an oath. What that means is that God engages
Himself. He swears by Himself. And he
says in verse 16, For men verily swear by the greater. Now if
you're going to swear an oath, what he's saying, the common
practice is to swear by something greater than yourself. And that
way, that elevates the oath. Now, somebody says, well, I thought
the Bible said you weren't supposed to swear oaths. The Bible doesn't
tell you not to swear oaths. The Bible tells you don't make
oaths, swear oaths that you don't intend to keep. That's what that's
about in Matthew chapter 6. But when you swear an oath, you
swear by something greater than yourself and that elevates the
oath and that's supposed to support your word. And he says, and an
oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife, an end
of all the argument. That should end it. Wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, who's
an heir of promise? That's a believer. That's a sinner
saved by the grace of God, by the promise of God in the gospel,
the gospel promise, the promise of God to save me, to keep me,
to bless me, and to bring me to glory in Christ. And he says, he will him more
abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel. That cannot change, you see.
God can't change his mind. He won't go back on his oath.
If he says, I'll do it, he'll do it. You know, that's what
he means. And he confirmed it by an oath. Now, that means what's
behind it, all right? God swore the oath. He made a
promise. And he's faithful to his promise,
that's what the immutability means, God's faithful. If he
said it, if God said it in Genesis 3, 15, it's just as good as if
he said it in Revelation 22. And 2010 and 2011. It's just
as good now as it was then. He doesn't change. Alright? So,
what's behind that to support it? Well, he confirmed it by
an oath. Well, what was his oath? Well, he swears by his holiness.
Now, holiness is an attribute of God. But really, it's more
than an attribute. It's sort of like, you could
put it this way, holiness is in every attribute of God. You
see what I'm saying? In other words, it's just a way
of just showing the totality of who God is. You talk about
God is love. Yes, He's love, but He's holy
love. God is mercy. Yes, He's holy mercy. You see
that every attribute of God, immutability, He's holy immutability. And that means He's unique and
separate, there's none like God, there's nothing to be compared
to God, that's why He forbids people to try to make likenesses
of Him, or to try to compare Him to anything. He's so unique,
He's so special, and He is morally pure, Because there's no sin
in him, that certainly makes him separate from me. How about
you? Makes him separate from anything, anyone. And so holiness
pervades everything that God is. So when it says he swears
by his holiness, he swears an oath, that means God has engaged
everything that he is behind that promise. Or, sad to say,
for those in Amos and all who don't know Christ, he's engaged
everything that he is behind a threat. So that when he says, he that
believeth not shall be damned, that's a threat from God. And
he's engaged himself behind it, he swears in his holiness. But
that when he says, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, That's his promise. And so look what he says in verse
18 of Hebrews 6, "...that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
comfort, and assurance who have fled for refuge." Refuge from
what? Refuge from the wrath of God
against sin. "...to lay hold upon the hope
set before us." And that hope is Christ. Now go back to Amos
4, verse 2. The Lord hath sworn by His holiness. He's engaged Himself. You see,
He can't go back on this. He can't renege on this. He can't
say, well, today I feel better, so therefore I'm going to just
forget it. He can't do it. No more than He could go back
on His promise. And He says, that lo, the day
shall come upon you. That He will take you away with
hooks, that's meat hooks literally, like cows, they put the meat
on a meat hook. That's what He's saying. And
your posterity with fish hooks, like a fishing line, you see.
In other words, God has put His character, His reputation on
the line here. He swears by His holiness that
He's going to cart you away like cattle, He's going to catch you
like fish, and look at verse 3, and you shall go out the breeches,
every cow at that which is before her, and you shall cast them
into the palace, saith the Lord. Now what He means there in verse
3 is this, He's going to march you in captivity over the rubble
of what you used to think was your safety, the palaces, your
protective walls. You thought you were safe in
here. That's going to be torn down and God's going to march
you out through the rubble. And you're going to look around
at those walls that you thought were so strong and so safe, and
you're going to find out that it was nothing. Now, to put that
in a spiritual application, think of Matthew 7, 21 through 23. What was their refuge? Those
false preachers who stood before the Lord, and he said, many will
come to me in that day saying, Lord, Lord, have we not... What
was their refuge? What was their safety? What was
their consolation and comfort and assurance? Well, we've preached
in your name. We've cast out demons. We've
done many wonderful works." You see, that was like their palace,
you might say. That was their refuge. Look at
what you've enabled us to do. We've done it in your name. But
you see, he says, I'm going to tear down those walls. Any sinner
who comes to God seeking salvation by works, and listen, and it's
so sad, is so sad. I've heard people who don't know
Christ say that they think they're sure for heaven as if they were
already there, or they know that when they die they're going to
wake up in glory. Well, that's okay if you have
a good hope. If the walls of your refuge are
made up of the grace of God in Christ, then that's fine. But
my friend, if there's anything in those walls, of the works
of man, of the will of man, religion of man, God's going to tear those
walls down and He's going to carry you out on a meat hook
through that rubble. And that's so sad, isn't it?
And not only that, His character, His reputation is on the line
here. You see, here's the point. Let
me tell you something. God cannot save a sinner except
by His grace. Now, I've heard people say, well,
God, He could save you any way He wants to. Well, first of all,
He's not going to want to save anybody but by grace because
that's the kind of God He is. I heard somebody say one time,
He didn't have to send Christ down here to die for our sins.
All He had to do is snap His fingers and we'd be saved. Oh,
no. You see, He swears by His holiness. God has to be both
a just God and a Savior. He's got to be just. His reputation's
on the line here now. It's not my reputation or yours,
it's his. As one old writer said, I don't
remember who it was, he said, if God were to allow one sinner
for whom Christ died to die and go to hell, he would lose more
than that sinner would because he would lose his deity. Because
his reputation is on the line here. God cannot save any sinner
except by His grace through Christ. And the reason is because of
who He is. And He cannot send any sinner
to hell who is in Christ because of who He is. That's right. He cannot do it because He's
God. He ceased to be God. Well, look
here. Now he talks about the evil of
ungodly religion in verses 4 and 5. He says in verse 4, and this
is sarcastic now, you know the prophets a lot of times, and
you got to watch them now, you got to read them in context.
You know, a lot of times they use sarcasm. I'll give you a
great example of that is Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount
Carmel. Read that sometime. Remember
what Elijah did one day? Remember when he let them go
first and they were dancing around and doing all their religious
stuff, you know, and he'd say, where is your God? Maybe he's
asleep, you know. Maybe he's busy, you know. That's
Elijah doing that. And sometimes they use sarcasm,
and that's what Amos is doing here. He said, now here's what
he said. He says, come to Bethel and transgress. It's almost like
saying, go to church and just sin, sin, sin. Well, now, these
people, when they went to Bethel, it wasn't in their mind that
that, well, we're going to transgress. But that's exactly what they
were doing. I've talked about Bethel a lot out of the book
of Hosea and the book of Amos. You remember Bethel. You know
the history behind Bethel. That means house of God. That's
where Jacob's well was. It had a lot of great history
there. God had done some marvelous things in Bethel. But when Jeroboam
I, when the kingdom split, I mean after Solomon, there was Jeroboam,
there was Rehoboam. Jeroboam split, he took the ten
tribes north. And he set up two or three places
of worship, one in Bethel, one in Dan. He set up other places,
one in Beersheba. There were several places. But
in Dan and Bethel, he built those golden calves, and they called
that golden calf Jehovah. And you remember when Hosea,
in his sarcasm, he made a play on those words. He said, instead
of Bethel, let's call it Beth-Avon. Instead of house of God, let's
call it house of evil. So when they went to Beth-El
with their good intentions to worship, what they were actually
doing was transgressing. They even had an altar there.
Remember back in chapter 3, he said, I'm going to tear down
that altar. I'm going to tear the horns off that altar. Remember the horns
on the real altar in the tabernacle that went all four directions,
meaning that God, showing even in their furniture in the tabernacle
that God had a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation all over the world, Jew and Gentile. and all that
representing the sinners who come to Christ. Well, when they
went to Bethel, they weren't doing what God told them to do.
They were breaking God's law. When they went to Bethel, they
weren't coming as sinners seeking mercy in the promise of a Messiah
to come. who would put away their sins
by the sacrifice of himself. They were coming in their pride.
They were coming in their works, you see. They were trying to
establish a righteousness of their own. They weren't coming
in submission to the righteousness of God that Christ would bring
in. And so he says, we'll come to Bethel and transgress. At
Gilgal, you remember Gilgal? That was the place where they
camped before they went over the Jordan. And he says at Gilgal
multiply transgression. Transgression upon transgression.
You see, all your religion is sin and transgression. He says,
bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years.
Literally, in the original manuscript, that should be three days. Every
three days. Verse 5, offer a sacrifice of
thanksgiving. Now, what's the next two words?
With what? With leaven. Was there any sacrifice given
in the book of Exodus or Leviticus that was to be given with leaven? Absolutely not. Why? Because
leaven is a type of sin. What do we have here? We have
religion with no truth, religion with no heart, religion with
no grace, religion with no Christ. And so they're offering, they're
going through the ceremonies, they may have good intentions
in their minds, but it's not according to what God had revealed,
and they're offering it with leaven. Verse 5, he says, and
proclaim and publish the free offerings, your freewill offerings.
Now, what are freewill offerings? Freewill offering is not teaching
freewillism. Free will offerings were just
extra offerings that men could give or withhold according to
what they had in their heart. It wasn't commanded of God. And
He says, you bring these, and He says in verse 5, for this
liketh you, or literally, this you love. This is what you love
to do. You love religion. You don't love God. You don't
love His grace. You don't love His truth. You
don't love His Christ. But you love religion. Now, my
friends, isn't that a great description of our day today? Men and women
love religion, but they don't love Christ. He says, O ye children
of Israel, saith the Lord your God. It's like He's saying, woe
is unto you. Woe is unto you. Well, look at
verse 6. From verse 6 to the end of the
chapter, He shows the evil of men under judgment. Well, you'd
think. You'd think that strong and frequent
manifestations of the judgment of God, the wrath of God, would
bring people to repentance. It does not. It does not. The phrase that is continually
repeated throughout verses 6 through 13 is this, Yet have you not
returned to me, saith the Lord." You've turned to religion. You've
turned to church. But you haven't turned to God.
You know, one can turn to religion and not turn to God. One can
have a moral reformation and not come to repentance. Isn't
that right? Listen to what he says in verse
6, "...and I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all
your cities, and want of bread in all your places." That just
means they didn't need. If you don't eat, your teeth don't get
dirty. That's what it means. That's just a way of saying that
back then. He said, "...I withheld food
from you." In Israel, that was a curse from God. You see, this
was a land flowing of milk and honey. This was a land of harvest.
And God told him, he said, if you don't obey my word, you won't
have that. He said, I've withheld that from
you. Look at verse 6, yet have you not returned unto me, saith
the Lord. You didn't repent. You didn't
return to God. Verse 7, he says, and also I've
withholding the rain from you when there were yet three months
to the harvest. He said, even three months before
the actual harvest come, I withheld the rain. and I caused it to
rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city,
one peace reigned upon and the peace whereupon it reigned not
withered." He said, so two or three cities wandered unto one
city to drink water but they were not satisfied. You know
what he's saying there is all these manifestations of judgment,
God made it so that they couldn't figure it out. I mean, here it
rained, there it rained, didn't rain here, didn't... Why here?
You know, those people, they're bad people, you know, they need
to be in a famine. But now, here it's not raining
over here. They ran over here to get water, ran over here to
get water, and they weren't satisfied. You can't figure this out, you
see. Man can't figure it out. God kept them confused. He sent
them confusion of faces, confusion of minds. He says in verse 9,
I've smitten you with blasting and mildew. That's where their
crops would go bad. When your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm
or the caterpillar, it's like the locust in a certain stage,
devoured them, ate them up. Yet have you not returned unto
me, saith the Lord? You didn't repent. Verse 10,
I've sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Just
like he sent pestilence in Egypt, send it to you. Your young men
have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses,
all their symbols of youth and vigor and power. And I've made
the stink of your camps to come up under your nostrils like death
camps. Yet have you not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. That didn't bring them to repentance.
I've overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. In other
words, the whole nation wasn't consumed like Sodom and Gomorrah. God spared a few, like He plucked,
but He said, yet have you not returned unto Me, saith the Lord?
You didn't do it. Therefore, thus will I do unto
thee, O Israel, And because I will do this unto thee, prepare to
meet thy God, O Israel. Verse 13, For lo, he that formeth
the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man
what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth
upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is
his name. Make no mistake about who's doing
this. This isn't the devil bringing
all these bad things to you. That's what he's making sure
they understand. You know, people say, well, if there's a big hurricane,
earthquake, volcano, that's the devil. Oh, no. Make no mistake
about it. The Lord, the God of hosts, is
His name. This is God's judgment. So you
prepare to meet your God in judgment. What's happening? Well, God is
punishing them for their iniquities as He said back over in chapter
3 and verse 2. And He's showing them this, that
without God, without the God of the covenant, now think about
this, without the God of grace and mercy, without the God who
saves and accepts and blesses sinners through the blood, through
Christ, Nothing will save you from the judgment and wrath of
God. Notice, man under judgment, left
to himself, will not repent. I like those passages in the
book of Romans. Romans 11 and verse 22, when
he says, Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God
on them which fell severity, those who were judged under the
wrath of God, but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in
his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off." What is it
to be in God's goodness? What is it to continue in his
goodness? It's to be in Christ and to continue
in Christ. Romans 2 and verse 4, he talked
to Israel, he said, Do you despise the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness
of God leadeth thee to repentance? The goodness of God that's meant
not to swell us up in pride as if we deserved it, but that goodness
which is to humble us down and seek the Lord and say, God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. I have no right, I have no right
and title to any of it. What did God tell them before
they even left Egypt? When the judgment of God was
coming through, to smite all the firstborn in Egypt. What
did he tell them in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 13? He said this,
Israel, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. They weren't going to Bethel
and Gilgal to plead the blood. They were going to Bethel and
Gilgal to worship the golden calf. which represent... You know why they worship...
Somebody asked me one time, why do they worship a golden calf?
Well, why wouldn't a silver cow or a silver horse? Well, it was
a calf because that represents youth, strength, vigor. That
represents man worshiping his own power and his own works. And it was golden because that
represented... It represented self and what
they valued what was really valuable to them. Even represented deity,
it was man trying to take God's place. And that's what they were
doing. They weren't coming to God as
sinners in need of mercy, sinners in need of grace. My friend,
listen, let me tell you something. If you come to God without Christ,
without humbling yourself before God by the power of His Spirit
to seek mercy, mercy, then you prepare to meet your God because
you're going to meet Him head on and He's a God of wrath and
judgment and justice. But all who come to Him at the
mercy seat, do you remember? He says here, prepare to meet
your God. Remember back in Exodus 25 and
verse 22 when He was telling them how to make the mercy seat?
He said this when he said, he said, and there will I meet with
thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat
from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the
testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel. That, it's above that mercy seat
where God will meet with and commune with sinners in Christ. My friend, without him, we're
nothing. Without Him, the only way we're
going to meet God is in vengeance and justice and wrath. Oh, flee
to Christ. Prepare to meet your God. How do I prepare, preacher? What
do I do? Do I join the church? Do I get
baptized? Do I go to Bethel? Do I go to
Gilgal? Do I hit up with this group,
follow this preacher? Do I give my tithes? What do
I do? I tell you what, you run to Christ.
And you beg Him for mercy. And that's the only way that
any sinner can prepare to meet God in grace, and in love, and
in mercy.