Amos: The Plumb Line

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

God’s Patients,

The wickedness that God has already endured,

The golden Calf

Baal worship

Assure

Moloch

The ignoring of his sabbath

We are small, the mighty nation of Israel could not sand against a few bugs doing God’s will.

The children song “we are weak but he is strong.”

If you are Able, please rise for the Reading of God’s Word

Amos 7:1–9 ESV

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord. 4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. 7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

May God Bless The Reading of His Holy, Infallible, and Sufficient Word

Let’s Pray

Transition

We are going to pick up in verse 4 verse 4 - 6.

Body

Again He Relents

Amos 7:4–6 ESV

4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

“This is what the Lord GOD showed me”

Adona YHWH (Lord GOD)

God is not obligated to reveal his plans.

He could have said, I already told you.

“15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Dt 30:15–20, ESV).

Yet he pleads with them, he pleads with every sinner, but hey will not hear him.

His patients is for his elect. So that they might Obtain the promises given to Abraham, (Romans 11:7–10)

We will come back to this in application later.

“the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.”

Notice the wrath is greater, we went from bugs to fire.

“The Prophet shows that God had not once only spared the people, but that when he was again prepared for vengeance, he still willingly deferred it, that, if possible, the people might willingly recover themselves: but as all were unhealable, this forbearance of God produced no fruit. Now as to the words of the Prophet, we see that a heavier punishment is designated by the similitude of fire, than by what he said before when he spoke of locusts.” [1]

Magma flows and the ground is no more. it eats up the land.

Where once you had will able soil, you now have rock. The locus’t only consumed the plants that could be regrown. This wrath destroys the land itself so there is no more growth.

Friends can you imagine the fires of hell? I tell you that you cannot.

A place where there is no relenting from the wrath of God! It’s full force continuously

If you think you can know what they is like, the terror that must be felt, in the face of God’s unbridled wrath, you are fooling yourself.

This is what the shepherd Intercessor saves us from, this is what he took in our place.

The same refrain again in verse 5-6,

“Then I said, “O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The LORD relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.” (Am 7:5–6, ESV)

We are small, we cannot stand,

Transition

The wrath of God is an eternal constant and the scripture tell us that it is stored up to be unleashed at Gods time. Romans 2:5 says. “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Ro 2:5, ESV) That is why in verses 9-7 we see no Intercession.

No Intercession when God want to Show His Wrath

Amos 7:7–9 ESV

7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Notice there is no intercession here,

If you can glance at verse 10 really quickly.

“10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” (Am 7:10–11, ESV)

The priest of God, Bethel is where the tabernacle was, but the ark of God was moved to Jerusalem by David.

So there is a plumb line

A plumb line if for measuring the straitness of something.

The line is the Word.

“We indeed know, that the Israelites had ever in their mouths the examples of the fathers, like the woman of Samaria, who said to Christ, ‘Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,’ (John 4:22.) So also the Israelites were wont formerly to allege, that the holy patriarchs worshipped God in those places,—that God appeared in Bethel to holy Jacob, and also that in other places altars were built. Being armed with the examples of the fathers, they thought them to be their shield. The case is the same with the Papists in our day; when they hear of anything as having been done by the fathers, they instantly lay hold on it; but these are vain excuses. Like them were also the Israelites; hence the Prophet says, “Behold, ye gain nothing by this fallacious pretence; for destroyed shall be the high places of Isaac, even those which are now covered by an honourable name: and at the same time the temples or palaces of Israel shall be overthrown.” [2]

It is possible and many do it, to believe in tradition, and have faith in tradition

The Israelites did, they said God will never destroy this place, this is His Temple.

Judah did is, God will never destroy Jerusalem.

The phrases "have you not read" and "it is written" appear 61 times.

That 61 exhortations by Jesus and the Apostles warning us that the Plum Line God will draw his lines with is the word of God.

The author of Hebrews tells us that

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Notice that the Plum Line here is also for dividing.

The Lord is saying the same thing to Isreal that he would alter say to King Belshazzar when the writing was on the wall.

Is it not funny that our culture in the majority hates Christianity (especially biblical Christianity) but there are still sayings like the witting is on the Wall. Where do you think that saying came from. You cannot escape God word when you live in God’s world.

“TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Da 5:27, ESV)

So cut to the bottom line of the bottom line, those that do not measure up to the line will be destroyed.

Those the trust in tradition, will not escape.

Understand my dear family in Christ, you do not measure up to this mine by yourself.

The Plumb Line of God’s word shows us that we are not able to meet the standard, we often, daily, willingly, fall short of it.

That is why we started with repentance,

All have sinned and fallen short, no one meets standard

but one

What is repentance?

There is a moment recognizing you don’t meet the standard and you have remorse.

On going repentance is trusting in the one who does.

Conclusion

Conclusion Here

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

References

[1] John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 332.

[2] Ibid, 337–338.

Bibliography

Calvin, John, and John Owen. Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

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