A CALL TO REPENTANCE Amos 5:18-27

In this passage,

God's people were being called to repentance.

They needed to get things right with God.

In our day there are times when God's people

also need to hear this call to repentance.

Horribly Inescapable Judgment (18-20)

2 Peter 3:3–4 NASB95

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

Galatians 6:7 NASB95

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

Micah 7:7–10 NASB95

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord Because I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, And I will see His righteousness. Then my enemy will see, And shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look on her; At that time she will be trampled down Like mire of the streets.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah No Brightness in the Day (5:20)

Defeat of God’s enemies and blessing for God’s people were the two cardinal elements of the day. But God’s people failed to understand the nature of their relationship with the Lord. By their corrupt lives they had become God’s enemy, and as such they would experience defeat and destruction.

Hatred Stated (Vss. 21-23)

God hated their religious celebrations

because of their sin.

Isaiah 1:11–14 NASB95

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

Honesty Required (Vs. 24)

God called individuals to be honest

in their dealings with others.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah No Sacrifices or Offerings in the Wilderness (5:25)

The missing ingredient in their worship was authenticity manifested in a lifestyle of obedience.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah No Sacrifices or Offerings in the Wilderness (5:25)

Here justice would mean “reparation for the defrauded, fairness for the less fortunate, and dignity and compassion for the needy”; righteousness would entail “attitudes of mercy and generosity, and honest dealings that imitate the character of God” as revealed in the law of Moses.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah No Sacrifices or Offerings in the Wilderness (5:25)

Religious activity is no substitute for national or personal righteousness. It may even sometimes be a hindrance.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah No Sacrifices or Offerings in the Wilderness (5:25)

God demanded that justice and righteousness be produced in Israel like a wadi in the rainy season. But he did not want it to be restricted or sporadic but pervasive, overflowing like a flood, and permanent, like a river that never runs dry (cf. Ps 46:4; Rev 22:1–5). God’s expectations of justice and righteousness in society have remained constant generation after generation.

Micah 6:8 NASB95

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

Hypocrisy Described (Vss. 25-26)

No; they were not offered to God, but to devils, to the golden calf, and to the host of heaven

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah Idolatry (5:26)

With Hos 6:6 and Mic 6:8 this text stands as one of the great themes in prophetic literature with regard to the nature of sacrifices and true religion. God is not pleased by acts of pomp and grandeur but by wholehearted devotion and complete loyalty.

Deuteronomy 32:16–17 NASB95

“They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. “They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah Exile (5:27)

The Assyrian war god Adar also was called Sakkut. Likewise, the following phrase translated “the pedestal of your idols” is better (and more literally) rendered “and Kiyyun, your idols.”249 The Assyrians worshiped an astral deity they called Kaiwan, otherwise known as Saturn. “The star of your god [or gods]” apparently refers to the latter.250 The spelling of these names as Sikkut and Kiyyun probably is the result of substituting the vowels of the Hebrew word šiqqûṣ, “abomination,” in the names of the two astral deities.251 This was the prophet’s way of ridiculing these pagan gods.

Acts 7:41–43 NASB95

“At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. “But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? ‘You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

Isaiah 40:18–20 NASB95

To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.

Harm Promised (Vs. 27)

God judges sin.

Hebrews 12:5–11 NASB95

and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Proverbs 14:12 NASB95

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

Romans 6:23 NASB95

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now is the time for Repentance

John:

Matthew 3:2 NASB95

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus:

Mark 1:15 NASB95

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Peter:

Acts 2:37–38 NASB95

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 7:9–10 NASB95

I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.