AMOS

Big Idea: God Humbles the Proud

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Introduction:

Several years ago my youngest daughter and I were sitting eating lunch at the Cincinnati zoo.

I don’t know if you have ever been there, but one of the eating spots looks out over the Africa exhibit...

All of a sudden, one of the lions roared....

People screamed.

Kids started crying.

and my daughter fell out of her seat and looked at me terrified.

I will be honest with you…it was terrifying..

I remember sitting there wide eyed...

I knew the lion wasn’t able to get to us..but despite that…I was afraid...

If you hadn’t been awake, or aware you were having lunch feet from a lion....you were now..

Amos 1:2 starts out saying..The Lord roars from Zion..

Amos starts out his book with a picture of God that says..

The Lion has roared.

This is serious.

Are you listening?

We find out in vs 1 that Amos was a shepherd.

To a shepherd- lions meant danger.

I will be honest, a brief study of the animal kingdom tells me that lions roar in order in order to paralyze their prey before pouncing on it.

I found this interesting....that before a lion pounces…He roars..which means- that after the roar...there is a moment of opportunity to respond...

So while this book is dark…filled with judgement…sort of a doom and gloom- within it we continue to see the character of God on full display.

We have been on break..so before we jump back into this second half of our study. I want to take a moment to bring us back to where we started at the beginning of the year.

By reminding you to focus on the character of God as you open up and read His word....

The goal here is not to somehow dilute difficult topics or minimize the judgement we find in many of our OT scriptures…instead, the goal is to give us a correct view of God as we read- so that we walk away knowing who God is as He reveals Himself to us in His word.

One theologian and pastor said it this way: God is so much more than we we see, He is nothing LESS than what He has revealed, but He is certainly more than what he has revealed He must always be who he is and He can never be who he is not.”

So…who is God…as I read these, do something for me…just listen, don’t write..God is...

3 in one. self-existent. self-sufficient. eternal. infinite. immutable. All Knowing. Wisdom. All-powerful. transcendent. omnipresent. faithful. good. just. merciful. gracious. loving. holy and sovereign.

That is our God..He is all of these things…all of the time.

So many times we compartmentalize the attributes of God.

Thinking that in one area he is good and in another he is just.

One author says it this way: “God’s attributes are never at odds with one another, nor do they switch places depending on God’s mood they are Him. God is his attributes. When God reveals Himself as judge, pouring out his cup on the deserving, he has not ceased to be loving, or holy…in all that He is and all that He does, He is always Himself.”

Did you what doesn’t make the list of attributes..

judgement…wrath..

See- judgement and wrath are not who God is.

Judgement and wrath exist where righteousness does not.

In order to understand God’s judgement, we need to separate the idea of justice we have come to know in society and see what God says about it.

Because while our justice system is flawed. God is perfectly just.

In fact, more than that, he cannot be unjust- it isn’t in his nature.

And because he is perfectly just- then we can trust that all of his judgements are right.

The book of Amos teaches us that all God’s judgements are just.

This is why we HAVE to know who God is- because that determines everything we read and understand about His judgement

So- keep your EYES on who God is…don’t ever take your eyes off Him.

Keep His person as your anchor point...

- Today- as we jump into the book of Amos. We see God- the roaring lion- pronounce judgement.

- Now- it’s important to understand as we read this scripture that Amos is not pronouncing final judgement- what we read here is not the final judgement where one day, God will ultimately judge all sin.

- This prophecy, given by Amos is a specific prophecy meant to humble a specific group of people who have turned away from God.

- We are going look at the book of Amos in 3 divisions:

- 1: Pride Exposed Amos 1-4

- 2: Path to Humility Amos 3-6

- 3: God’s Amos 7-9

DIVISION 1: .PERFECT GOD./PRIDE EXPOSED- AMOS 1-2

in vs. 1 we learn that Amos was prophesying during the reigns of Uzziah and Jereboam II to the nation of Israel.

So remember- the kingdom has divided- this is the northern 10 tribes.

What we know about this time period is that things were going pretty good for Israel.

There was political stability as well as economic prosperity.

So- in comes Amos, and in 1:3-2:5 he starts by giving pronouncing judgement on ALL the nations surrounding Israel.

(MAP)- Look at this Map-

With each judgement comes the repeated phrase “For 3 sins of Damascus, even for 4 I will not relent.”

This is a Hebrew idiom that basically means “enough is enough”…

Your notes outline the judgements of each of these nations, so be sure to read those, but..

For a moment- go with me- you are from Israel....

Here comes this prophet. Who is honestly some random dude you don’t know- He is just a shepherd..and from Judah, he isn’t even from Israel. But, alright, you will hear what he has to say...

So he starts by pronouncing judgement on all your enemies.

Can you see the crowd?

I wonder if there was cheering...

A sense of justice swelling up inside of them as they heard of the coming judgement for their enemies..

by the time he gets to the 7th judgement of Judah- some of the excitement may have started to go down a little- Judah hits a little closer to home...

but then, we come to chp. 2:6…and all of a sudden…Amos turns his judgements to Israel.

This is the climax of all the judgements Amos brings- and at the climax- is Israel...

in fact- from this point on- the rest of the book is solely about Israel.

Not only that- but the reasons for their judgement are given more space than for any other nation.

I imagine that any popularity Amos gained during the 1st part of his speech was quickly squashed in this moment.

I want to think for a moment- when the accusations are suddenly turned towards you- what would be your initial reaction?

Many times when God points out our sin- we look around like?

What?

Me?

We get angry- or we push Him aside.

Earlier- among the many attributes of God- we were reminded that God is Holy....

and because God is Holy. He is sinless.

and while God is holy. We are not.

So this leaves us with a problem.

because in order to be in relationship with a perfectly Holy God- we too have to be perfectly Holy…to be righteous- to have no sin in us...

So many times, in our pride- we continue on thinking that we are better than we are.

We look at our lives and measure ourselves against the world instead of measuring ourselves against a perfect and Holy God.

When we measure ourselves against a perfect and Holy God we find that we are in fact…sinners...

We are incapable of upholding the law God gave in Deuteronomy- to his covenant people...

and because of that…God is perfectly just in his judgement of sin.

Main Truth: Because God is perfectly Holy, all His judgements are just.

Division 2:

The 8 oracles in chp’s 1 & 2 are meant to get your attention

As we move into chp. 3, Amos begins by giving a series of 3 messages in chp’s 3-6 explaining why the judgement is deserved and how it will be given. Each message in these 3 chapters is separated by the phrase

“Hear this word”

Chp. 3 gives us the 1st message

in vs.’s 1-2 we are reminded that Israel is God’s covenant people.

He says “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

This word “chosen” is the same word in Hebrew to signify an intimate, marital relationship between God and Israel.

Now- at first glance- this seems unfair. I mean- if he really loved them, why would he bring judgement?

But It is out of his love for them that he bothers to even punish them in the 1st place.

One of my girls was a runner when she was little- around age 2.

I mean- if I turned around- BAMB- she was gone.

Now, my oldest child was extremely cautious- still is...

but my youngest- knows no danger- she goes full speed ahead and most of the time doesn’t bother to consider the consequences.

I remember one specific time we were in a parking lot and she was bolted for the street into oncoming traffic.

Like any mother would- I yelled to get her attention and grabbed her by the hood of her jacket and yanked her back as fast as I could.

She of course started to cry and was upset with me...

I had yelled at her and when I yanked her back- it hurt.

I’m of course looking at her like- hello- I just saved your life you should be thanking me..

I remember thinking- as my heart was pounding- I will do WHATEVER it takes to keep you from doing that again…

because continuing to run towards oncoming traffic will ultimately result in death.

So, the next time she ran for the street- I again grabbed her- and this time-I also punished her.

Because I loved her way to much to let her continue to run for destruction. And I was desperate to do what it took to get her attention to see the danger in continuing to go the direction she was headed.

Our God is no different.

These are His covenant, chosen people.

He longs to be in relationship with them- to spend eternity with them- but yet- they are continuing to run for destruction-

God here is grabbing them by the hood and yanking them back- He is in their face screaming DANGER...

DANGER,,,

He is bringing judgement as an invitation back to Him..

in 3:2-6 Amos gives a series of rhetorical questions- and he does this in order to make a point!

If you are Israel you are going…the answer to all of these questions is of course..”yes”

he is pointing out a cause and effect relationship.

Amos wants the people to stop and think about the inevitability of the coming judgement.

He is emphasizing that God is sovereign and what God says will happen…will happen.

vs. 3:8- The Lion has Roared…who will not fear?”

Here God again is referred to as the roaring lion...if you weren’t paying attention the first time he roared- you better be now…

Do you see the heart of God here- God is coming to judge in a way that is going to grab your attention. It’s an invitation back to Him.

Surely, surely Israel will listen and come to it’s senses.

3:9-10- God shows just how far their rebellion and rejection of Him has gone...

in vs. 10 he says “They don’t know how to do right.”

In other words- they are so far in the wrong direction that they have forgotten how to do right- they don’t even know what right is anymore...

So- in chapters 3-6- ?

God’s goal here is not to give them a long laundry list of each and every specific sin they have commited.

So God lays out their sins...

Injustice

economic exploitation

religious hypocrisy

luxurious self-indulgence

boastful complacency

In each of these sins Israel was unfaithful to God.

They were not holding up their end of the Mosaic covenant given to Moses..remember, the Mosaic covenant required Israel to follow the law God had given- and if they did, then they were promised land flowing with Milk and Honey.

However, if they chose to rebel and do things their way, there would be consequences and they would be removed from the land.

Amos is not saying anything new here to the people.

What God says will happen…will happen.

Now

in Chp. 4 Amos paints a vivid picture of the ways God has tried to get Israel’s attention and in it he repeatedly gives us the reason for God’s actions.

vs 6- I gave you empty stomachs.

Yet you did not return to me.

vs 7-9…I withheld rain....people staggered from town to town for water…Yet you did not return to me.

vs 10 I killed your men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps..

Yet you have not returned to me..

…so....

What will it take? What will it take for you to return to God- for you to stop willingly continuing in sin because?

God wants to humble his people- for them to see their sin- for them to return to him.

Chapter 5 starts with a lament from God..

People frequently refer to Amos as a prophet of doom- but yet- here in the middle we see God lamenting over the choices of his chosen, covenant people.

in the middle of his judgement,

3 times in 5:1-17, we see God plead with them once again...

vs 4...Seek me..and live..

vs 6...Seek the Lord and live...

vs 14....Seek good, not evil, that you may live.

Do you see the invitation- God is inviting them to stop running for death and run towards life.

God is saying..trust me..seek me...follow me..turn away from your sin and turn to me like your life depends on it…because guess what…it does..only in me do you find life.

the end of chapter 5, vs. 18-27 and chp. 6:1-7 bring 2 woes to Israel.

Do you recognize your sin before God?

Or in pride- do you ignore his warnings of judgement- pushing them aside- continuing on as if you know best?

God is the same yesterday. today. and forever.

God is after you....and he will do what it takes to get your attention.

We saw this with Jonah- we see it with the people of Israel-