A PIECE OF AN EAR

A PIECE OF AN EAR

AMOS 3:12

Amos 3:12 (CSB)

12The Lordsays: As the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion’s mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued with only the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

Three examples of sin for a season.

Sin at the first seems like fun and games; but as we will see in these few examples that when it is done it leaves the sinner with two legs and a piece of an ear.

1. DRUNKENNESS

King Belshazzar Daniel 5

· Took the golden vessels from the spoils of the Babylonians and drank from them and praised their gods with them

· God’s hand wrote on the wall Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.

· They bring Daniel into the Hall to explain the writing

· He reminds them of Nebuchadnezzar and how he exalted himself above God and he lived in the fields eating grass until he acknowledged God as the rightful ruler.

· The interpretation

· Mene’ means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.

· ‘Tekel’ means that you have been weighed on the balance and found deficient.

· ‘Peres’ means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Two legs and a piece of an ear

What alcohol does Proverbs:

Proverbs 23:20–32

20Be not among winebibbers; Among riotous eaters of flesh:

21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.

23Buy the truth, and sell it not; Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: And he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, And she that bare thee shall rejoice.

26My son, give me thine heart, And let thine eyes observe my ways.

27For a whore is a deep ditch; And a strange woman is a narrow pit.

28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, And increaseth the transgressors among men.

29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

30They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek mixed wine.

31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it giveth his colour in the cup, When it moveth itself aright.

32At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.

2. Sensual sins

David and Bathsheba 2 Sam 11

David should have been at war; but instead, he was at home.

What happened when David sinned:

· Uriah was murdered.

· The child conceived died.

· Amnon raped his sister 2 Sam 13:16

· Absolam Kills Amnon 2 Sam 13:26

· Absolam is killed by Joab 2 Sam 18

Two legs and a piece of an ear

3. Greed Acts 5

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession

They did not have to give all the money, but they said they did and lied to the Holy Spirit.

If God dealt with people today as he did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, every church would need a morgue in the basement.

Havner, Vance

Our big mistake is that we think we are cleverer than we are. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could get the best of both worlds.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Luke, in declaring that Ananias kept back part of the money for himself, chooses the verb nosphizomai, which means to ‘misappropriate’ (BAGD). The same word was used in lxx of Achan’s theft,6 and in its only other New Testament occurrence it means to steal.7 We have to assume, therefore, that before the sale Ananias and Sapphira had entered into some kind of contract to give the church the total amount raised. Because of this, when they brought only some instead of all, they were guilty of embezzlement.

John Stott

and they were killed for it.

Two legs and a piece of an ear