Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of Amos chapter 3. Amos chapter 3. Now, the title
of this message is this, A People Under Judgment. A People Under
Judgment. Talking about a nation, a people
who are under the judgment of God. for their sins, the judgment
of God's wrath. Now, let me say at the outset
that if we as individuals are not under the judgment of God
for our sins, it's because of the grace of God in Christ. because
if any of us receive from God what we deserve or what we've
earned, it would truly be the same kind of judgment that's
described here by the prophet Amos as he's delivering the word
of God to the nation Israel. You see, in Christ, and this
is where we have to understand the context of this whole thing.
Amos is preaching, prophesying, In Christ, as they would view
it back then, this was probably about 700, 750 years before the
actual coming of Christ into the world. And so by the word
of God and based upon the promise of God, they were instructed
and commanded by the prophets and by other believers and by
the law of Moses to look forward. to the coming of Christ. And
the promise was the promise of salvation. It's the promise of
justification. It's the promise of forgiveness
by the blood of Christ, by the righteousness of Christ, so that
we know that in Christ, we who are in Christ, we are not under
the judgment of God. Christ has already taken our
judgment for us. That's what He did on the cross.
He was judged. He was judged to be guilty. That's
what the scripture says. He was cursed of God for the
sins of His people that were charged, accounted, laid to His
account. To Him. And those sins became
His in that sense. And so he was judged. The judgment
of those who are in Christ has already taken place at Calvary.
And that's why the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, the cross
of Christ is the heart and soul of redemptive history. It's the
ground of our salvation. And so we can say that we're
not under judgment. Now Paul describes that in Romans
chapter 6 and verse 14 by using this language. He says, you're
not under law, but under grace. And that's what that means. When
he says that we who are in Christ, we who believe in Christ, trust
Christ, those as was described in Psalm 25, who fear the Lord. If you fear the Lord, you trust
Christ. If you don't trust Christ, if you don't rest in Him, you
don't fear God. I don't care what else you do.
Am I right? That's right. The fear of the
Lord, that means you respect God, you worship God, you trust
God, you're meek before God, humble before God by His grace,
and that's the only way that you know that. It's not by feeling,
it's not by anything, but to know that I have only one hope
of salvation, of eternal life, of righteousness and glory, and
that's Christ and Him crucified and risen again. So when Paul
says that you're not under law, he's not saying that the people
of God have no commandments from God to follow. We do. Now, the word law and the word
commandment in the scripture is not a dirty word. Now, I know
that self-righteous sinners who don't believe in Christ turn
that into legalism. But we have commandments from
our Savior. He said, a new commandment I
give you, that you love one another. That's a commandment. That's
not a suggestion. He didn't say, now let me suggest to all of
you who are in me that you love one another. He said, no, I command
you to do that. You who believe in Christ are
commanded to confess Christ in believer's baptism. That's not
a suggestion. That's not something you do if
you feel right about it. No, that's a commandment from
God to any sinner and every sinner who trusts Christ, confessing
publicly before men. How do you do that? In believer's
baptism. That's the first ordinance of
faith. That's a commandment. So when he says you're not under
law, he's not saying we don't have commandments that we're
to follow. We do. Now, no commandment is given
in the Old Testament or the New Testament by which a sinner can
make himself righteous in the obedience thereof. That's impossible. In other words, if you're seeking
to keep any commandment, I don't care what it is, all the commandments,
any commandment, in order to make yourself righteous, you
are an abject failure. And if you die in that state,
you die under the judgment of God. That's sad, isn't it? But the scripture's clear. By
deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. But
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Right? Now, so when Paul
says you're not under the law, he doesn't mean we don't have
commandments. What he means is you're not condemned. You're
not under the judgment of God. You're under grace. You're in
Christ, who's already taken your judgment. And that's a glorious
state to be in. That's a marvelous thing to know
that I can glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
Amos is prophesying and preaching to a people who have rejected
the covenant. They've rejected Jehovah. They've
rejected the law of God. The law of God that would expose
their sin and lead them to Christ. But now I want you to look at
the context of chapter 3 here. The first thing that he brings
out is that this people who are under God's judgment, and I want
this to hit home with me and with you tonight. They are a
people of great privilege and great responsibility. And I'll
tell you what, that describes us. A people of great privilege
and great responsibility. He starts out here in verse 1
by showing that his authority to say the things that he did
that were so offensive, especially to the religious leaders and
the civil leaders, and mainly to all the people, his authority
is from the Lord. It's not just a man talking here.
This is not just Amos giving his opinion or taking a survey. This is the Word of God. This
is, thus saith the Lord. God's judgments are always according
to truth and to justice. And God's judgment against them
was in light of His goodness towards them. Look at verse 1.
Here, this word, that the LORD, that word LORD again, capital
letters, who's that? That's the covenant-keeping God. That's the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. That's the God who saves sinners
for Christ's sake. So now when this God pronounces
judgment against sin, you think about that. It's not because
there's not a way out. It's not because there's no way
of relief or way of salvation. This is the Lord Jehovah. This
is the one who promised to send the Messiah to take the judgment
of His people. Isaiah 53 describes it so well,
the Lord taking the judgment of His people, by His stripes
we are healed. For our iniquities, He bare our
iniquities, they were laid on Him. So hear this word that the
Lord hath spoken against you. Now you know in Romans chapter
8 it talks about if God be for us, who can be against us? But now if God is against us,
who in the world could be for us? What good would it do for
anybody to be for us if God's against us? You see, that's why
this thing of salvation is not determined by numbers. You say,
well, all those people can't be wrong. You better read your
Bible. All those people can be wrong.
How do you know? Read the book. Hear this word
that the Lord hath spoken. That's what we need. Whether
it's one or one billion, we need to hear this word that the Lord
hath spoken. And he says, against you. How
can I know that God is for me and not against me? Look to Christ. You say, preacher, you keep saying
that. God helped me to keep saying it. Because that's what you need. That's what I need. It's simple.
It's not complicated. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, it's got to be more to it than that. And I said,
I think God there is not more to it than that. Because if there
was more to it than that, we'd be under God's wrath. Look to Christ and rest in Him. Plead His blood. What Stan read
there in 1 John 1, if we confess our sins, we'll see a little
bit more about that in a minute, He's faithful and He's just to
forgive us our sins. On what ground does He do it?
Through the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin.
That's God's justice and wrath poured out on him. Think about
that. On Calvary, God... God actually
was against his son in that sense. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And his judgment was poured out
upon him. So how can I know if God is for me? Look to Christ. Now, if you're not looking to
Christ, I'm telling you right now, I pray that God will change
your heart. and bring you to Christ, because
if you die in that state, I can tell you right now, God was and
is against you. He says, O children of Israel,
this is the nation Israel, the people that he brought out of
Egypt, he said, against the whole family which I brought up from
the land of Egypt, saying. Now that shows you that their
national deliverance in an earthly way out of the land of Egypt
did not ensure eternal salvation. And that shouldn't surprise us
because for them to think that their physical connection with
Abraham and their circumcision and their law keeping and all
of the great things that God did for them as a nation on earth
When they began to think that that proved or meant that God
was in favor of them or God had justified them based on those
things, the prophets came along and said, oh no, oh no. That's
not the ground of salvation. That's not the ground of deliverance.
That's only in the promise that the covenant-keeping God made
to send His Son, the Messiah. You see, nothing will do you
any good as far as attaining or maintaining salvation and
being justified before God except Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. You may be driving down the road
tomorrow, and you may avoid a deadly automobile, as we say, accident. You may escape something like
that. And you may feel that God really delivered you. And let
me tell you something. I'm not arguing that point, but
I'm going to tell you something. That does not mean that you're eternally
in God's favor or eternally blessed. God delivered this nation out
of Egypt, out of the bondage of Egypt. And the majority of
that nation that He delivered out of the bondage of Egypt,
the Scripture says in Hebrews chapter 3, perished in what? unbelief. Perished in unbelief. So God's judgment against them
was in light of the fact that he had really been good to them.
God's been good to them. And yet they turned their backs
on God. That's natural man. That's man
left to his own will, right there. And I want us to think about
this. How good has God been to us? how we're so privileged. Look at verse 2. He says, "...you
only have I known of all the families of the earth." Now that
doesn't mean that God didn't have knowledge of the other nations.
He did, but this knowing here had to do with His connection
with them in a covenant way. God chose them, this nation,
Israel, out of all nations, and He chose them not for their goodness
or for their number or for their power or for their intellectual
capacities. He didn't choose them for any
reason that had to do with anything within themselves or of themselves.
Read Deuteronomy chapter 7 sometime. When God says, I chose you and
I set my love upon you not because you were the greatest of all.
You were the least, He said. God does things His way in His
wisdom to confound us, to confuse and confound the wise, those
who are wise in their own eyes. But He said, I've known you of
all the families of the earth. He chose them. He elected them. And He says, therefore I will
punish you for all your iniquities. You know, If we ever really,
if a sinner ever really comes to understand the reality of
election, the doctrine of election, God choosing a people before
the foundation of the world, I'm going to tell you something,
if you ever really understand that and receive that by the
power of the Spirit, it will not puff you up or make you proud.
It will humble you like nothing else ever has. That's right,
because the Bible says that whomever God chooses unto eternal life,
it is a remnant according to what he calls the election of
grace, Romans chapter 11. If we ever understand and grasp
hold of the reality of God's electing grace in Christ, it
will not make us irresponsible, disobedient, fatalistic, or even
lazy. It'll drive us under such a sense
of great responsibility and privilege, knowing that we didn't deserve
it and we didn't earn it, that we are nothing but trophies of
God's mercy and grace and drive us to obedience and love to this
God who saved us in His mercy and grace in Christ. And the
point here he's making is here in Amos, the greater our privileges
and our light and our gifts, the greater our responsibility. The Bible says, our Lord teaching
in Luke chapter 12 and verse 48, he says, for unto whomsoever
much is given, of him shall much be required. And to whom men
have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Don't ever
forget it. And this nation Israel had been
given the greatest revelation and privileges of any nation?
Why didn't God give it to the Hittites or the Amorites or the
Amalekites or the Perizzites? Why not? It seemed good in His
sight. But here they turned from the
ways of God to walk in darkness and in idolatry and in self-righteousness
And in lies, Israel was the very house of God in a covenant way
on this earth. But they turned the house of
God into a house of iniquity. You see that in the mention of
the name Bethel here in this chapter. Bethel meaning house
of God. And you remember the prophet
Hosea, who was a contemporary with Amos, he called it Beth-Avon,
which means house of evil. They had the revelation of the
law and the gospel. They had the Ten Commandments
to show them how much of a sinner we really are. They had the Passover. God said in the Passover, you
remember the lesson of the Passover? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. What did that animal blood picture,
that blood of the Lamb that was put over the door post with the
hyssop, what did that picture and typify? Behold the Lamb of
God that beareth away the sins of the world, the sin of the
world. Picture of Christ. If you want to be out from under
the judgment of God, look to Christ, the Lamb of God. He said,
when I see His blood, I'll pass over you. They had the feasts,
they had the sacrifices, they had the priesthood, they had
the tabernacle, the temple, they had the altar, they had the mercy
seat, they had all these wonderful things in the revelation of God
to point them to salvation by God's grace. But they willfully
rejected God's revelation in spite of all the goodness that
God gave them that was intended to lead them to repentance. You
see, none of the good things that we have that God has given
us is intended from God to be a means of making us proud as
if, well, you know, I deserve these things. And somebody else
doesn't. No, sir, meant to drive us to
repentance, to look to Christ. They despised God, they despised
His Word, they despised His prophets. And they're under the judgment
of God. And you know what the result of that is? Look at verse
2 again, the last line. He says, I will punish you for
all your iniquities. Now let me ask you this question.
Do we suppose that they deserve this punishment? Did they deserve
that punishment? The answer is yes, yes, yes. Let me ask you another question.
Do we suppose or judge that we deserve less? The answer is no, no, no. We
don't deserve less. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 130
verse 3, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. How can we escape punishment?
How can God be just and not punish us? I love that passage in Psalm
103, which makes this statement, The Lord hath not dealt with
us after our sins. Doesn't say the Lord hath not
dealt with our sins, it just said He hadn't dealt with me
after my sins, or you who know Christ. God made Him to be sin,
Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the way of salvation. There's no other way. And listen,
the only reason that we do not despise and reject the revelation
of God And that repentance that God gives to His people is because
of His mercy and grace in Christ. It's His power. Look at verse
3. Now He begins to show us a people
under deserved judgment. In other words, this is not...
Now listen, you have to understand this. You know, I hear people
talking about the God of the Old Testament being such a vengeful
God. He's the same in the New Testament, friend. And if you
haven't seen that, you haven't seen the New Testament. But God
never punishes anyone who doesn't deserve to be punished. God is
always just and right. His judgments are always according
to truth. And what he shows here, he gives
seven questions from verses 3 to verse 8 that have obvious answers
that show this. And here's what he's trying to
show. If God punishes anybody, there is a just and righteous
cause. If God does it, it's right. And
he starts off with this question, verse 3, can two walk together
except they be agreed? Now most people when they look
at that, they talk about people agreeing with each other. And
that's really not what it's talking about. It's talking about agreeing
with God. Now certainly believers are to
agree with one another on the issues of the gospel. Literally,
what this really means is if you're walking together, you've
got to have the same destination. That's really what it means.
In other words, if you take off with somebody walking in the
same direction, you're going to end up at the same place,
and if you don't, that's because you part company. Well, believers
are to agree we come to God the same way, through Christ. He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Same Christ, the God-man mediator. The same cross, the same atonement,
the same redemptive work, the same blood, the same righteousness. There's no difference. If there's
a difference there, then we don't walk together. The same purpose,
that is, for the glory of God and the salvation of His people.
The same goal, and that is to glorify God. This speaks of agreement
and walking with God. Our walk together with each other
is grounded and founded upon our walk, our fellowship with
God in Christ in His truth by the Holy Spirit. That's why I
had Brother Stan read 1 John 1. He's talking about our fellowship. And he says, truly our fellowship,
my fellowship with you and your fellowship with me is actually
with the Father and with the Son. So that if you don't agree
with God on these issues, you don't agree with me or any other
believer. That's what he's talking about.
So we must agree with God. Well, what do we agree with God
on? Who God is. God is as He reveals Himself.
Whatever God says about Himself from Genesis to Revelation, that's
what we've got to agree with. You can't go around denying that
and then claim to be in fellowship with God. I heard a fellow stand
up on TV several months ago and he made this statement. He said,
God is not in control. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
He's not in fellowship with me, but more importantly, he doesn't
agree with God because God says in this book that He is in control. I read here in this book about
a God who says that He works all things after the counsel
of His own will. That's in the book of Ephesians
chapter 1, I believe verse 11. Now that sounds to me like a
God in control. In Isaiah chapter 46, He said,
I'll do all my pleasure In Romans 8, 28, he says that all things
work together for good to them that love God who are the called
according to His purpose. Now, let me ask you this question.
Who is it working all things together? Is it you? Or is it
me? Is it fate? Is it Mother Nature? Who is it doing that? God is. So when that fella stands up
on national TV claiming to be a prophet of God and says God's
not in control, right away I know he's not talking about the God
of this book and we're not walking together. You say, well now I
just can't understand how God works all things together and
works all things after the council. That is not the issue. In fact, if you came up and told
me you could understand that, I would want to get away from
you. That's not the issue. Whether
you understand... The fact that you can't understand
and put God in a box, I'm going to tell you something, that makes
me feel pretty good about you. Because I know something about
God, what He reveals. I don't know everything about
Him. But He's God, and you're you, and I'm me. So, you know,
just because that fella, he couldn't jive that in his mind, so he
says, well, God's not in control. We're living in a world of chaos,
according to him. And everything dependent on man's
decisions. Well, man decided to rebel against
God in the garden, and we fell in at him. That's man's decisions. And man's decisions has not saved
us or made this world really any better as far as its spiritual
condition. It's still dead. So who is God? God is just and holy. He must
do right. That's what this book says. And
if you cry out that God is unfair in any way, You don't agree with
this? You can't walk with God. You
can't be like Enoch. He walked with God. I want to
walk with God. How about you? And if you walk
with God and I walk with God, we're walking together. We're
in agreement. We've got to be in agreement
on who we are and what we deserve. The moment you look at yourself
and say, well, now, I deserve better than what I've got, you're
not agreeing with God. Because I want to tell you something. We have much more than what we
deserve. The next breath that you take
is more than we deserve. You believe that? You say, preacher,
you're being awful hard on people. Not as hard as God is. You say,
well, I worked hard to get this good job, and you should, but
I want to tell you something. Ultimately, that's a gift from
God. You say, well, I deserved it. Well, I could probably find
somebody, if that were true, I could probably find somebody
who deserved it better than you. But here's the fact of the matter,
we don't deserve anything good from God. We don't deserve. We have to take, one preacher
said it this way, he said, we have to take sides with God against
ourselves, and that's true. And how do we do that? Well,
we just read it in Psalm 103. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? If God gave me at any time at
my best or my worst, what I deserve, what would it be? It would be
the judgment of His wrath. And see, that's what Israel rejected. We deserve better than those
Hittites and those Amalekites and those Amorites. You see,
we're better people. We're the children of Abraham.
I've got a greater, I've got a better pedigree than you. We
just don't want to mix with that kind. My soul. We have to agree with God on
who Christ is and the way of salvation. It's one way. It's by God's sovereign grace
and no other way. Nothing added, nothing taken
away from it. Men want to complicate it and
confuse it and add to it and bring things in that will allow
them to be proud. Let me ask you a question. You
claim to be saved. What is it in your heart that
makes the difference between saved and lost in your case?
I'm going to tell you something, if it's anything but Christ crucified
and risen again, you're not in agreement with God. I'm telling
you the truth, one way. So he says, here's the question,
can two walk together except they be agreed? The answer is
no, that's obvious. Look at verse 4. Will a lion
roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Will a young lion cry
out of his den that is in satisfaction or pleasure if he hath taken
nothing? If a lion roars, that tells you something. He's caught
his prey. If a young lion growls with satisfaction, he has food.
That's obvious, isn't it? Verse 5. Can a bird fall in a
snare upon the earth where no jinn or no trap is for him? Shall one take up a snare from
the earth and have taken nothing at all?" In other words, if a
bird's in a trap, someone had to set the trap, there's a trap
set for it. That's obvious, isn't it? It's
almost like Amos saying, don't you realize this, you big dummies? It's like I told a fellow one
time who was trying to argue for evolution. I said, well,
let's say you were walking out in the woods and you just looked
down and saw that shiny watch there. I said, now would you
logically conclude from that when you picked it up and looked
at it that that evolved there by billions of years of evolutionary
process and change or that some higher intellect constructed,
designed that and constructed it? Which would you conclude?
What's the obvious answer? Well, look at the order of this
world. Look at verse 6. He says, he says, That's a strange
verse, isn't it? What's he talking about? He's
simply saying this, if the warning trumpet sounds, That means something. It means
disaster is near. And when it strikes, God stands
behind it. God is just. The evil that he's
speaking there is not sin. The evil that he's speaking there
is the judgment of God against sin that comes in the form of
disasters. A tornado, an earthquake. Isaiah
chapter 45 speaks of that. God creating evil in that sense. These are manifestations of God's
judgment against sin. He says in verse 7 there, he
says, Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His
secret unto His servants, the prophets. God has a secret but
He doesn't keep it a secret. If the judgment of God is coming,
He has forewarned us. That's what He's saying here.
This is not something that's hidden. This is not something
that the people have not been forewarned. The prophets come
along and they tell the people, judgment is coming. I'm telling
you tonight, judgment is coming. You've been forewarned. You either
believe it or you don't believe it or you don't care, which is
not to believe it. One way or the other, you'll
either walk out believing it, looking to Christ, running to
Christ, fleeing from the wrath to come, fleeing to Christ, or
you'll walk out totally unaffected. Either way, you've been forewarned.
That's right. There's only one way that you,
as an individual, can escape the coming wrath of God. And
I don't know when it's coming. It may come tonight, it may come
tomorrow, it may come a hundred years, I don't know, but it's
coming. And there's only one way that I can escape it, and
there's only one way you can escape it, and that's to flee
to Christ and rest in Him. Now, you've been forewarned.
That's what he's saying there. Isn't that obvious? He says in
verse 8, "...the lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God
hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" God does not do these things
in silence. He forewarns by His prophets.
And the only reason He calls it a secret is because it's got
to be a revelation from God. But God does reveal it. The wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of
men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. It's coming. And then look here
at verse 9. Here's a people under great humiliation. Now listen to this. Publish in
the palaces of Ashdod. Ashdod was the capital of Philistia,
the Philistines. Publish it there. The wrath of
God's coming upon the nation Israel. Tell the enemies of God
that The wrath of God's coming upon His covenant people. What
humiliation. What shame. And in the palaces
in the land of Egypt, Egypt that enemy of Israel. The bondage. Tell them to publish it there.
You see, God summons the pagan nations here and He says, say,
assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria. That was
the capital city of Israel, the northern kingdom. Remember, Jerusalem
was the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. Samaria was
the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. And he says, you assemble
yourselves, these pagan nations, upon the mountains of Samaria,
and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the
oppressed, or the oppression in the midst thereof. In other
words, I'm summoning these pagan nations, God says, to view the
judgment of God and to be instruments of God's judgment. And he says
in verse 10, for they know not to do right, saith the Lord,
who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. Now that verse
is a little difficult to interpret because of the word they. Who
does they refer to? Some commentators say it refers
to Israel. But you see, the whole point
of Amos here is that they do know better. They've had all
these privileges. They've had the prophecies. You
know, Paul says that in Romans chapter 9 about Israel. He said
they had the oracles of God. These are the oracles of judgment.
In other words, they know better than what they're doing. But
it could be that he's simply saying that they've gone so far
into their rebellion, they've lost sight of what's really right
and wrong, and that's possible. I believe this nation's like
that. I really do. But now, they could refer to
the pagan nations, and I tend toward that way. Listen to what
it says, for they know not to do right, saith the Lord, who
store up violence and robbery in their palaces. And what I
believe he's saying here is this, these pagan nations, even though
God is using them as instruments of judgment against his people
to punish his people for their sins, they don't know that. You
know what they have in their mind? Let's go down there and
kill Israel and get their goods. Let's plunder them. Let's conquer
them. Let's put another notch in our
gun. In other words, Ashdod or Philistia and Egypt, they're
not saying, well, boys, look at what an honor we have. We're
going to be the instruments of God's justice. That's not why
Napoleon tried to conquer the world. That's not why Caesar
tried to conquer the world. That's not why Cyrus of Persia
tried to conquer. They did it for one reason, to
lift up self. So they don't know to do right
or wrong and so God holds them accountable even though he overrules
their evil to bring about his justice against his people, he
holds them accountable for their murderous intent, their greedy
intent, their proud intent. So don't think that these pagan
nations get off scot-free. You see, the whole issue here
is they deserve judgment, but so does Israel. And the whole
point here of the gospel, anybody without Christ deserves judgment,
deserves wrath. So he goes on, verse 11, "...therefore
thus saith the Lord God, an adversary there shall be, even round about
the land, and he shall bring down thy strength from thee,
and thy palaces, shall be spoiled. You see, God as their enemy would
use their enemies to bring down everything that they loved, everything
that they cherished, everything that they worked hard for. And
I'm afraid this nation is in the same shape. You see people
working to gain everything you love and set your heart on. It's
going to be destroyed. Verse 12, he says, "...Thus saith
the Lord, as the shepherd taketh out the mouth of the lion two
legs and a piece of an ear." That's all that's left after
the lion gets through with his lamb. "...So shall the children
of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of
a bed, and in Damascus in a couch." He's saying here that the only
thing that's going to be left of Israel to prove God's judgment
is just a small remnant. In other words, you're going
to know that God destroyed this nation. You know, they talk about
the lost tribes of Israel. There are no lost tribes. All you'll find is two legs and
a piece of veneer. Dead. And you know, back then,
if a shepherd who worked for an overseer who owned the flocks,
if one of those sheep got attacked by a lion, That shepherd had
to bring back whatever was left of the lamb to prove that a lion
got it and that he just didn't lose it. Because if he just lost
it because of dereliction of duty, he had to pay for it. So
he had to bring back the remains, whatever was left. And that's
the picture here. He said there's nothing going
to be left except the dead remains that proves that God's judgment
fell upon this nation. And it's even going to fall upon
those who have made a covenant with the enemy, those who dwell
in Samaria in the corner of a bed. They're comfortable, but they're
not going to remain that way. Those who dwell in Damascus on
a couch, the rich, It's going to come to them. Look at verse
13. He says, Hear ye in testifying the house of Jacob, saith the
Lord God, the God of hosts. Somebody said that's the longest
name of God in the Bible there in that verse. He's the Lord
God, the God of hosts. He's the God of salvation, but
He's also the God of judgment. He's the God who saves sinners,
but He's also the God who damns sinners. He's the Lord of hosts. He's the God of a great invincible
army. His judgments cannot be thwarted. It's His word today for all who
reject and will not bow to Christ. You see, there's no hope. But
then look on. Look at verse 14. He says, that
in the day that I shall visit, that visit with punishment, the
transgressions of Israel upon Him, I will also visit the altars
of Bethel. That's the altars that Jeroboam
I turned into idolatry. Remember, he had them make two
golden calves. He put one in Bethel and then
one in Dan. And they called that golden calf
Jehovah. But you know, visual aids are
needed. Sounds like people today, doesn't
it? Turned it into Beth Avid. And the horns of the altar, apparently
they had built an altar with four horns on it just like the
one that was in the original tabernacle. And it says, the
horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. Now
what's he saying here in verse 14? He's saying this, religion
will not save sinners. Religion won't do it. You can
build a thousand altars, a thousand church buildings, a thousand
steeples. It will not save you. Only Christ
will save you from your sin. Only the blood of the Lamb of
God. only the righteousness of God's
Son. And then he says in verse 15, "...and I will smite the
winter house and the summer house and the houses of ivory shall
perish and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord."
What he's saying is this, everything that Israel saw as a blessing
from God, because they rejected God's way and God's commandments
and God's grace, because they were proud and puffed up and
self-righteous, Everything that they looked upon as a blessing
will be turned into a curse. Be no blessing at all. No blessing
at all. Winter houses, summer houses,
ivory houses. Oh, how God has blessed us. Oh,
no. No. What you see as a blessing
will be your downfall. Be your curse. You see, the blessings
of God are wrapped up totally in the person and work of Christ.
Ephesians 1, 3 says that we are blessed with all spiritual blessing
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now you know that applies
to every sinner who rests in Christ for all salvation. Whether
you have an ivory house or a wooden shack that leaks. You see what
I'm saying? There's only blessing in Christ.