Blessed indeed is that sinner,
saved by the grace of God, washed in the blood of Christ, robed
in his righteousness, wearing the garments of God's salvation,
born of his Spirit, who can with joyful, confident faith sing
blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. There is certainly an assurance,
a confidence, a security, an ease of heart and soul, which
is both desirable among God's saints and honoring to our God. Assurance, a sense of security
in Jesus Christ, of confidence in the grace of God, is something
that every believer ought to seek and enjoy in this world. Every true believer ought to
walk before God with confident assurance. Nothing is more blessed
than that assurance that our sins are pardoned through the
blood of Christ. Believers ought to be a people
who live in that blessed, blessed assurance. It is a great blessing
indeed to be at ease in Zion if our ease is justified, if
we are truly born of God. Does not our Savior say, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest? God's promise is this. His soul
shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth.
To the righteous, God says, your soul shall dwell at ease. It
is written of God's church. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation. Jacob shall return and be in
rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. The Lord God
tells us plainly that as we stand in the ways and see and ask for
the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, you shall
find rest unto your souls. To have perfect quietness in
Christ is indeed a privilege. A privilege that belongs only
to God's elect and to God's elect only by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We that have believed, the scripture
says, do enter into rest. That means, Merle, we have ceased
from our own works as God did from His. And now we rest in
Jesus Christ the Lord. Believers have found the finished
work of Christ sufficient to give us rest at all times before
God. We rest in Him. the faithfulness
and power of God, well, that's enough to give us comfort and
ease and peace with regard to all things future, no matter
what troubles may come. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is atonement sufficient to give us peace, to give us
ease of heart and mind before God, regardless of what our sins
have been in the past, what they are now, or what they may be
in the future. communion and fellowship with
God, our Father, and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
with His blessed Spirit. These are things sufficient to
give comfort to the believing heart in the midst of all times
and all circumstances. It is truly a blessed, blessed
thing to be at ease in Zion if our ease is justified. So blessed
a thing that it is something absolutely forbidden to the unbeliever. Absolutely forbidden. It is an
ease that is denied to the wicked. The wicked, the scripture tells
us, are like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters
cast up mire and dirt. No matter how religious they
are, the wicked are like the troubled sea, the waters cast
up mire and dirt. Of the wicked it may be said,
thou shalt find no ease. Neither shall the sole of thy
foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling
heart, and a failing of eyes, and a sorrow of mind. Now let
me emphasize what I'm saying. Seek peace. Seek assurance. Seek that blessed rest of faith
that's found in Jesus Christ. Assurance is a blessed, blessed
thing. Let us therefore labor that we
may enter into that rest. The kingdom of God is righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That means, James, if
we're in his kingdom, we ought to walk before God in the peace
and joy of righteousness in God's kingdom. that man, that woman,
that sinner who has obtained the righteousness of God in Christ
by divine imputation, that righteousness which puts us in good standing
with the Holy God, that righteousness which is sufficient to satisfy
the demands of God and of our consciences might well indeed
walk before God with peace, the peace of God that passes understanding. The work of righteousness, we
are told, shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness, and assurance forever. In other words, a babiestus possesses
and walks before God in that righteousness which only God
can give, which God gives in Christ. He walks before God and
has reason to do so with quietness and assurance forever. Oh, blessed
then is that ease which is justified in Zion. But there is a peace. an ease of heart, a quietness
of soul, a sense of spiritual security that's an absolute curse,
a curse that unless God stops you in it and saves you from
it will bring you to your everlasting destruction in hell. And that's
what I want to talk to you about this morning as plainly as I
possibly can. My text is found here in verse
1 of Amos chapter 6. Hold your Bibles open in the
chapter. The peace spoken of here is the peace of those five
foolish virgins described in our Lord's parable. It is the
peace of the hypocrites. It is an ill-founded, unjustified
peace. It is the ease and security of
religion without Christ, of a name of life while death prevails. This peace, this ease spoken
of here is spoken in this way. Woe unto them that are at ease
in Zion. I don't know that I have ever
been more confident that God gave me a message for
a specific occasion than this message. And why for this particular
assembly with those absent whom he would not have to hear it
and those present whom he would have to hear it, I do not know. But this I know. God says to
you and to me, woe unto them that are at ease. The word ease,
if you have a marginal translation, is secure. Secure. Got it all sewed up. Everything's
all right. I'm saved, sanctified, baptized
in the Holy Ghost on my way to heaven and I know it for sure.
Ease in Zion. The ease spoken of here is a
carnal ease, a fleshly security. It's not the confidence of a
person who is pardoned, but rather it is the ease of a hardened
wretch who has learned to despise the death chamber. He's lived
so long on death row that as he looks at the death chamber,
he just learned to harden his heart against it, and he doesn't
even quiver when he anticipates it. It's not the assurance of
one who is built upon the rock, whose house is steady, built
on the rock by the hand of God, but rather it is the assurance
of a drunk, whose house in the midst of a terrible storm or
earthquake is about to totter from its sandy foundation. And he's so stupefied, he doesn't
even know what's going on and doesn't have sense enough to
care. It's the ease. Not of a soul calm and at peace
with God, but rather the ease of a madman who doesn't have
enough sense to know he's in danger. A few nights ago, I was
up late, couldn't sleep, didn't feel like studying anymore, turned
the TV on, saw one of those old war movies. Some of y'all may
have seen it. I don't even remember what it was now. But Second World
War, the American soldiers had to take a place and the Germans
were occupying a nuthouse. And man, there was shelling,
gunfire going on, folks getting killed all around them, machine
guns popping everywhere, and folks sitting there just partying.
Just having a good time. How come? Why, they were at ease.
Not sensible ease, not well-founded ease, but the ease of a madman. The ease of someone who was absolutely
unaware of the circumstances they were in. Now, I don't doubt
for a moment that there are some here deluded by such a curse
of carnal security. Secure and at ease in Zion, though
you have absolutely no knowledge of Zion's God, I therefore will
speak as plainly as I can to your soul. May God enable me
by his grace to speak to your heart. Wherefore he saith, Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light. Now look at verses one through
six of this sixth chapter of Amos, and hear how God himself,
by his prophet, identifies five specific things which give men
and women a sense of security and ease among his people, though
they do not know him. Indeed, these are the very things
that fill the hearts of men and women with a false ease and security
in religion in every age. Number one is presumption. Look at verse one. Woe to them
that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria
which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of
Israel came. You come to the house of God
week after week and leave just like you came in proud presumption
because You're religious. Because you're religious, you
presume that you're righteous. Because you gather with God's
saints and sing the songs of Zion, you presume that you're
one of God's saints and numbered among the people of Zion. Because
you walk in the company of God's elect, you presume you're one
of God's elect. You say to yourself, my mountain
stands firm. I'll not be moved. Everything's
all right with me. Everything's all right with me.
Presumption. You're an absolute fool if you
presume everything's well when nothing is well. If you presume
that because you have religion, you have Christ. If you presume
that because you behave better than other folks do, then you
have God's favor. You're an absolute fool if you
presume upon the salvation of your soul. The second thing mentioned
is in verse three. It's procrastination. Here is
how the procrastinators described. You are those that put far away
the day of evil. You have any question about what
he's talking about? Now I know I'm a sinner. I know that God's
going to punish sin. I know that judgment's coming.
I know that men and women, when they die, will spend eternity
either in heaven or in hell, but man, those things are a long
ways off. Judgment day is sure, but it's
not soon. Judgment day is coming, but not
right now. Often like Felix, you tremble at the preaching
of the gospel, tremble at the hearing of righteousness and
judgment, tremble at the hearing of the word of God declared plainly
and clearly, but often like Felix, you've said as you tremble before
the word of God, go your way, I'll call for you at a more convenient
season. But a more convenient season
hasn't yet come. Procrastination is a snare by
which Satan has carried many to hell. The old serpent of hell is some
more deceiver. Linda talked about it, Lindsay
talked about it this morning. How he deceives, deceives, deceives. When the gospel is preached and
begins to break your heart, Satan says, you got plenty of time.
You don't have to be in any hurry. The Lord will always be merciful.
The door will always be open. God will always be gracious. And then after a while, the word
comes and your heart's pricked and the fiend of hell hisses
at you and says it's too late. It's too late for you. No point
in you even paying any attention now. It's all too late. Procrastination. You put away from you the evil
day. I've watched people all my life
as a pastor and I've been pastoring most of it. For 30 years, I've
been watching people, young and old. Every time you have the notion
that you got cancer, it's just horrifying. Every time you, my
dad's got cancer. I better go check up. My mom
died of a heart attack. I better go check up. Oh, how quickly things happen.
One of your friends gets killed in a car wreck. Somebody else
gets shot down the street. And for just a brief minute,
you think, well, man, I may be close to eternity. And then you, just like cattle
out in the field, just go about eating your grass and go on.
Look up for a minute and forget it. The evil day won't come.
God will destroy the wicked suddenly without warning. It's written
over and over and over and over again. Sheva and I were driving home
a few weeks ago from Lexington in God's good providence. We
were just a couple of minutes late getting away. Just a couple of minutes earlier,
we'd been coming around 34, and those dead folks on the highway
out there would have been us. Just a couple of minutes earlier.
Well, I want you to understand, there is indeed but a breath
between you and God. One of these days you're gonna
stand before God and you're gonna be judged out of this book. God's
gonna lay righteousness to the line. He's gonna drop a plummet
that you can't measure up to. And that plummet is absolute
righteousness. Absolute righteousness. Absolute
perfection. Absolute satisfaction. And you
can't render it. The third thing with which the
Lord God charges these who are at ease in Zion and falsely so
is perverseness. Look at verse three again. They
cause the seat of violence to come near. And the seat of violence
here is not the violence of cowboys and Indians. That's not what
we're talking about. Not even the violence of war, though that
certainly is included. It's the violence of perversity.
the violence of corruption, the violence of that foaming depravity
and oozing sore of corruption, that canker in your heart, you
cause violence to come near. Many who find their place in
the assembly of God's saints every Sunday morning, spend their
lives walking in the council of the ungodly, standing in the
way of sinners and sitting in the seat of the scornful. Here
you sit this morning. Sing, blessed is yours, Jesus
is mine. I wonder where you were last night and what you were
singing. Oh, preacher, you know it doesn't
matter how fellow lives as long as he believes in Jesus. I'd
feel like you told me that the other day. I said, don't blame
me. You know, I've got this thing sewed up. I can do what I want
to. Those are words. I can do what
I want to. Everything's all right. After
all, I believe on the Lord. And it's no wonder fools believe
those kinds of things. I heard Jerry Falwell sitting
on national television and discussing this thing of homosexuality.
And some homosexual said, well, I believe in the Lord Jesus.
You're telling me I'm not saved? And Falwell said, oh, no, if
you believe in Jesus, you're saved. Oh, it's so hideously, hideously,
hideously sad. You listen to me. You listen
to me. I don't care what you pretend to believe. If you walk
in the course of perversity, bring your perversity near everyone
around you. I'm telling you, you don't know
God. You've never experienced his
grace. You love to imagine that Christ is your savior, but you
refuse to bow to him as your sovereign. You bring the violence
of hell home with you every day. Bring it into the house of God
every Sunday. By your pretense of religion, you deceive yourself,
dishonor the name of Christ, and lead everyone around you,
everyone influenced by you, by your hand to dishonor, to ungodliness,
and ultimately to hell. I've corresponded for several
years with a young man. He got in trouble, went to prison,
got out of prison, got a gal pregnant, Broke parole, he's
back in prison now. I've corresponded with him for
a long time, on a fairly regular basis. Right after he got thrown
back in prison, he wrote to me and he said, he said, Brother
Don, would you send me some good literatures? I can't stand these
Armenians down here. That's what he said. I wrote
him back. And I say, would you please keep
your mouth shut? Don't tell anybody you're identified
with me, Jesus Christ, or the gospel of God's grace until you
experience it. Why? Oh, how could you do that?
How can you dare say such a thing to a man? Because this book speaks
so plainly. It speaks so plainly. You who
are secure and at ease in Zion, convinced by some hellish delusion
that you're a child of God, and yet walk in the course of violence
and bring the seed of violence near. You must hear God speak. Woe unto them that are at ease
in Zion. Look at verse four. The Lord
charges such with pleasure. Here Amos describes those of
whom the apostle speaks when he says their God is their belly.
These men and women who are indeed lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, they are self-serving, self-indulgent worldlings who
wear the name of Christ but only wear his name. They don't know
anything at all about his character. Look at how he describes them.
They are such as lie upon beds of ivory, stretch themselves
upon their couches, and eat the lambs Out of the flock and the
calves out of the midst of the stalls Now I read that And I
thought somebody read that text of scripture. He may read it
this morning. I said, well, well, what can be wrong with that?
Some folks really said well now there you go Rich folks are all
going to hell. No, there's not anything wrong
with lying on ivory beds if you got one There's nothing wrong
with stretching yourself on a comfortable couch if you have one. As a matter
of fact, it's kindly foolish to sleep on a dirt floor in the
barn if you've got an ivory bed in the house. That's not what
he's talking about. There's nothing wrong with eating
the calves out of a plentiful herd or eating the lambs out
of a bountiful flock if those things you have. As a matter
of fact, it's kindly foolish to eat molded bread when you've
got a barn full. It's just foolish. Well, what
on earth is he talking about? The sin described here is the
sin of living for the riches and pleasures of this world.
Multitudes are at ease among God's saints, secure in Zion,
though they live only for themselves. Now, you know your name. You
may not own it, but you know it. You don't live for Christ,
you live for the world. You don't live to serve, but
you live to be served. Somebody said God made us to
use things and serve people. We serve things and use people.
And that's just about right. You don't seek the welfare of
others, you seek your own welfare and happiness. The most extravagant,
self-indulgent, self-serving people I know think they're the
most sacrificial, the most devoted, and the most ill-served. Isn't
that amazing? Those who do the least presume
they do the most. Those who are least caring about
other people grumble the most because folks don't care about
them. They want to be happy. Happy. Get so tired of hearing
folks, I'm not happy anymore. Man says, I'm not happy. I want
to leave my family. Woman says, I'm not happy. I want to leave
my husband. Well, la-dee-dah. Who gives a flip about your happiness?
Who said this world was made for you to be happy? It's nuts. I mean, we live in a... I told my daughter all the time,
she was growing up outside these four walls, the whole world's
absolutely bedbug, insane, crazy, and it's getting worse. It's
getting worse all the time. You're too fixated to get married?
You and Nancy fixated to get married? Man, your happiness
got nothing to do with your commitment. Nothing at all. Nothing. Somebody, something happens,
you have to take care of that. That young man is an invalid the rest
of his life. And he doesn't know you from
beans. Well, and I'm not happy. What's that got to do with anything?
What's that got to do with anything? Doesn't change any responsibilities.
Two things are almost always, always manifest in self-serving
men and women. Those who are lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God. They live only to gratify their
pleasures. Look at verses 5 and 6. In verse 5, they chant to the
sound of the vial and invent themselves instruments of music
like baby. What on earth does that mean? Well, they think life is one
big party thrown just for them. That's what it is. They're just,
they're careless and carefree. Anything gets in the way of their
happiness, Anybody gets in where their happiness any responsibility
gets in where their happiness Anything anything it stands between
them and their pleasure They'll kiss it. Goodbye in a heartbeat
In a heartbeat, but there it is inside Look at verse 6 They drink wine
in bowls not in glasses in bowls They anoint themselves with chief
ointments. They got to have the best of everything. Lavish everything
they can get upon themselves. Everything that might give them
a little pleasure, a little temporary gratification. Do the words of God's prophet
describe you? You who are at ease in Zion but
have no concern for the word of God, the truth of God, the
will of God, the glory of God. No more concern do you have for
those things than for the size of a Chinaman's dog, and yet
you comfort yourself with the idea that everything will be
all right when you die. There's one last thing mentioned
in verse six, and that's painlessness. They are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph. There are multitudes, many found
in Zion, among God's people, at ease and secure in religion
without Christ, because they know nothing of the affliction
of soul which is common to all the Lord's people, to all who
walk in Joseph's steps. Some of you are at ease, secure
in your delusions, secure without Christ, Secure because nothing
bothers you. Nothing disturbs you. And Rex,
that man, that woman, who's not disturbed by anything, doesn't
know God. Just doesn't know God. You've
never been disturbed by your sin. You've never been disturbed
by your guilt, by your depravity, by the corruption of your heart.
You wonder why you can't Why you can't find anything that
is enthusiastic about this business of Christianity? Because you've
never been disturbed by needing a Savior. You don't know what
you are. You've never been disturbed by
any warfare, any conflict in your own soul. You don't know
anything about the grieving affliction of Joseph, which causes a man
to hate himself, to despise what he is. To long for righteousness
he can't perform. To long for obedience he can't
give. To long for humility he can't
muster. To long to honor a God whom he
loves but can't love as he would. You don't know anything about
it. You've had no pain from the father's chastening rod. Don't
know anything about it. Nothing. And I'll tell you why. It's because
you're bastards and not sons. Is that what the book says, Lindsey?
That's what it says. That's what it says. Oh, you may have stumped your
toe a time or two, had a headache a time or two, and thought, oh,
poor me, nobody ever suffered like I do. But what it is to
have a tormented mind, a crushed heart, a broken spirit, you know
nothing about it. to them that are at ease in Zion. Oh may God be pleased to stir
up your ease and give you unrest until he makes you flee to Jesus
Christ his Son and find rest for your soul. Let us therefore
labor that we may enter into that rest. Amen. All right, Linda, you lead us
into him.