How Will you Respond to the Sovereign Lord? (Pt 2)

This is the Prophets final recorded message to the people of Israel. For one final time Amos is calling the people to a response. And in chapter 9 Amos, by means of a final vision from the Lord, draws our attention to who the Lord is.

He is the Sovereign Lord that has undisputed authority and rule over every aspect of His creation. He is the One who guides and governs all events, including the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.

He knows how to judge the wicked and preserve the righteous remnant. He has a glorious plan for His creation, and He is working out that plan over the sweeping years of human history. He permits and allows only those things that work toward His plan. He hinders and prevents anything that does not work out His good plan so that all things should work together for His glory.

This is the God that Amos preaches and it is this Sovereign Lord that we must encounter in our text this morning.

We must see God as He reveals Himself to us! We must see Him in all his awesome glory! We must cast down the false idols of God that we have created in our imagination that are wholly unworthy of his name. That is the main thrust of this text. Behold your God! See Him as He is.

Why is this so important?

Because your obedience this week is dependent upon a proper understanding of God. Only when we see God as He is can we respond rightly to that truth. If your view of God is weak, and ignoble, and unworthy, then your response to God will be weak, and ignoble, and unworthy.

How do we know if our view of God is inadequate? We must look at how we response to God. Does our response to God line up with who God reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures?

This is what the Prophet Amos attempted to do for the Jews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He wanted the Israelites to respond rightly to their Sovereign Lord.

The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.

What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?

I. He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners (vv. 1-6)

In vv. 1-8 Amos relates for us the fifth and final vision that he received from the Lord. The vision section began back in chapter 7 and now finishes here in chapter 9. These visions included a swarm of locusts, a judgement by fire, a plumb line, a basket of summer fruit, and now the fifth and final vision is that of the Lord Himself standing next to an altar.

Amos 9:1 ESV

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.

Notice what the Lord does: He commands! “Strike the capitals, that is strike the tops of the support pillars until the thresholds shake” In other words “Knock the supporting pillars of the temple down so that the entire building collapses.” Why does God want this? To shatter the support pillars on the heads of all the people and crush them to death.

Then those who are left, who escape the collapse of the temple God will have them killed with the sword. NOT ONE of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.

Amos has warned the people over and over again. God has given them every opportunity to repent. And yet they have hardened their hearts. And in 30-40 years the Assyrian army would conquer Israel and this would be their fate.

And God says, I am the Sovereign One who will bring it to pass. You cannot escape.

In vv. 2-4 God lists five possible hiding places that the Israelites think they may go to escape this coming judgement. God knows them all and nothing will keep these people from his judgment.

Amos 9:2–4 ESV

“If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Amos 9:5 ESV

The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

Notice the name of God here: The Lord God of hosts. Adonai Yahweh of Armies. The Sovereign Lord who commands armies.

What armies does the Lord command? All of them!

God uses human armies and spiritual armies alike to do his will. He has undisputed authority and rule over every aspect of His creation.

Touches the earth and it melts. Probably speaking about the power of earth quakes. The word melts is the idea of dissolve or tremble or quakes.

The Sovereign Lord has the power to touch the earth so that it quakes and melts. Like the Nile when it floods its banks and sinks again, God can raise mountains and sink hills with the power of his might.

Amos 9:6 ESV

who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.

God BUILDS and FOUNDS His palace in both the heavens and the earth for he is sovereign over both domains. He summons the waters of the sea and controls the rainfall upon the entire surface of the earth.

THE LORD IS HIS NAME!

Friends, do you see God this way? This is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners. Is this your view of the Lord?

How can you tell? Do you have sin in your life? Is there any fear of the Lord? Do you tremble before this God? Why not? Have you created a God of your own imagination? Is your response to God weak, and ignoble, and unworthy, because the image of God you have manufactured in your mind nothing like the God of the Bible?

What is your view of God? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners? If so how will you respond to Him? Your response to the Lord and to His word, more than anything else, reveals exactly how you view Him. Friends, after reading Amos 9:1-6 what is the proper response to the Sovereign Lord?

Turn from your sin: in salvation or in confession. Get things right with the Lord.

The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.

What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?

Not only is he fully able to judge sinners, secondly:

II. He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to preserve the righteous (vv. 7-10)

One of the groups that gets overlooked in the book of Amos is the faithful remnant. Most of Amos’ messages have focused on the sins of the wealthy elite, the religious leaders, or the corrupt merchant class. What about the faithful few? What about the ones who were not living in sin, who were not living in rebellion against the commands of the covenant? They didn’t deserve the coming judgment, yet because of their connection to the nation as a whole they would still have to live through it. The rest of Amos 9 is a message of hope for the faithful remnant in Israel.

Amos 9:7 ESV

“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?

Amos 9:8 ESV

Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.

God’s eyes were upon the sinful kingdom, He knows the ones that are deserving of judgement. He will destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the face of the earth. Very soon they would cease to be a nation. And if the text stopped there it would be very disheartening for the faithful remnant.

But, Amos goes on. Except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob. God would preserve Himself a remnant. Why? Because God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God made a covenant with David. Because God made a New Covenant with the combined nation of Israel and God is faithful. He will keep his promises. He will preserve for Himself a righteous remnant.

How would God do that?

Amos 9:9 ESV

“For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

Notice the first person command here, “I WILL COMMAND, and I WILL SHAKE.” This is a wonderful and awesome sense of the power of God’s sovereignty.

God says that He is going to shake the entire house of Israel along with the nations. And it will be like shaking grain in a sieve.

Think about what God is saying. He is going to bring the nations to the doorstep of Israel. He is going to bring Assyria and her armies and God is going to throw the entire family of Israel into judgement. He is going to sort out the valuable pieces of grain from the useless pebbles. He will make sure that none of the sinners would escape His judgement. But He will also make sure that the faithful remnant is preserved through it all.

Imagine a God who is so powerful that though the chaos of war he can both judge sinners and at the same time preserve the righteous. Wow! I can’t even begin to process the amount of detail under the direct soverign control of God in order for him to keep his word! It is incredible. God is sovereign, what He says He will do! Period. Beware the doubters!

Amos 9:10 ESV

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

Friends, do you see God this way? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to preserve the righteous? If so, how should you respond?

Friends what situation are you facing right now?

Friends, after reading Amos 9:7-10 what is the proper response to the Sovereign Lord?

Trust the Lord. Do what is right even when the situation seems bleak. Wait patiently for the Lord preserve you, to rescue you, to shake you through his sieve. Trust the Lord, put your full weight upon Him.

The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.

What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?

He fully able to judge sinners. He is fully able to preserve the righteous, and finally:

III. He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises (vv. 11-15)

This is my favorite part of Amos. In this final section Amos dramatically shifts his message from sin and judgement to promise and hope. Amos ends with a message of grace, a promised hope for the faithful remnant and for you and I.

Notice the first person verbs that mark this final passage!

Amos 9:11 ESV

“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,

“In that day” - a reference to the coming Day of the Lord.

“I will raise up the booth of David”- the word “booth” refers to a makeshift kind of dwelling similar to a tent.

In Leviticus 23 God commanded the Israelites to keep the feast of booths (same word).

Here God makes reference to the booth or the tent of David. This likely speaks of David’s dynasty. At one time David ruled as a mighty king over a strong house. Now is Amos’ day that strong house was tottering and in need of repair. It was merely a tent. And it was a tent that had fallen and had many breaches. It was in ruins and needed rebuilding. The king and the kingdom had become a shadow of its former glory.

But, God promises his people that one day He would restore the kingdom of David to its former glory. He would rebuild the house of David. He would repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. How would God do this? By raising up the Messiah to sit on David’s throne. By establishing Messiah’s kingdom and causing Him to become King with glory as in the days of old.

Amos 9:11 NET

“In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by.

Notice who will get to share in this glory!

Amos 9:12 ESV

that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.

The restored Davidic Kingdom, with Messiah sitting on David’s throne will include “the remnant of Edom” and “all the nation who are called by my name.” Do you know who that is referring to?

Acts 15:13–17 ESV

After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things

Amos 9 12: that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.

Acts 15 17: that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah The Lord’s Promise of Plenty (9:13–14)

The possession of Edom should not be understood as military subjugation but as “spiritual incorporation into the restored kingdom of David.”

Clearly, James applies Amos 9:12 to include Gentiles. That means we get to be part of Messiah’s kingdom as well! And it was foretold in the OT!

What will that kingdom be like one day?

Amos 9:13 ESV

“The plowman shall overtake the reaper.” This pictures a harvest so abundant that the gathering of one crop will not be finished before time to plant the next crop takes place!

“The treader of grapes him who sows the seed.” The harvest of grapes will be so abundant that the workers who press the grapes into juice will not be able to finish harvesting before it is time to sow new seeds.

The harvest will be so great that the mountains will drip with sweet wine and all the hills flow with it!

Illustration: I love to plant a garden. One of the veggies we always plant is cucumbers. Typically, I wait until labor day to plan the cucumbers. And if I am careful and take really good care of them they will last until the first frost, around September or October. Then there is a gap from October until next year at the end of May when I replant my cucumbers. Apparently, when Jesus comes back and establishes his kingdom, I am going to plant my cucumbers in May and in a year’s time when I go to plant my cucumbers again, I am still going to be harvesting the cucumbers from the first year’s planting. In other words there will be an abundance unparalleled to anything we have ever seen. Empty grocery store shelves will be a thing of the past.

Not only that but the quality will be unparalleled. We also love to plant lettuce. The best lettuce is the first growth of lettuce- the first harvest. It is tender and sweet and so yummy. If you cut lettuce correctly you can harvest it three or four times. But, the more you harvest and it regrows the more bitter it gets until you can’t really eat it any longer. Not so when Jesus comes to reign. The mountains will drip with sweet wine and the fills will flow with it. The produce will be in abundance and the quality of that produce will be like nothing we have tasted before.

When Messiah comes it will be a time of great restoration to the creation. And we will be part of that kingdom!

Amos 9:14–15 ESV

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Messiah was a great hope to the people of Isreal for future restoration! This is a wonderful prophecy of the future Millennial Kingdom. Key phrase: “they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them.” That hasn’t happened yet. It is very possible that Israel today could be uprooted again out of the land. It is not until Jesus, the Messiah, comes back, conquers all the nations, raises up the booth of David that is fallen and repairs its breaches, and raises up its ruins and rebuilds it as in the days of old. Then, Israel will dwell secure in the land and they will never be uprooted ever again. And we get to be part of that future kingdom. We, the church, will have the privilege of ruling and reigning with Christ. So in a way, Israel’s hope is our hope.

And God is the the one who will sovereignly do all that He has promised.

Now that is all well and good to say sitting here in the comfort of a climate controlled building. The time that our faith is tested in when we are going through the storms and the fires of life.

Think about who Amos is preaching this message of hope to? He is preaching to the small faithful remnant. He is also preaching 30-40 years before the Assyrians came in judgement. It would have been easy for the faithful remnant to trust God when times were good. Israel was going through its Silver Age at the time of Amos’ ministry. Things were, humanly speaking, pretty good (at least for the wealthy elite). What about in 30-40 years time when the most powerful army in the world came knocking on their door? What would it have been like then?

We don’t have to wonder. The prophet Jeremiah records for us what it would have been like to go through a siege and to suffer a defeat at the hands of your enemies. Now, Jeremiah is recording the destruction and defeat of the Southern Kingdom, of Judah. But, I think the same feelings and emotions would have been true for the faithful remnant in the Northern Kingdom as well. Listen to Jeremiah’s lament.

Lamentations 1:16 (ESV)

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Lamentations 3:48 (ESV)

my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Lamentations 2:11 (ESV)

My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.

Lamentations 2:12 (ESV)

They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom.

Lamentations 2:13 (ESV)

What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?

How would Amos’ words be a light to the faithful remnant when they are in the middle of this kind of despair?

Lament is good for our soul. We are actually going to be starting a series on the topic of Biblical lament. It is OK to cry out to the Lord, to express your tears, to express the emotions that make your stomach turn. But, we can never stop there. We can never allow ourselves to wallow is self-pity. Biblical lament always turns. It turns away from the pain and fear and hopelessness and it turns towards God.

Lamentations 3:20–26 ESV

My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

This is why Amos leaves the faithful remnant with a message of hope. Amos knew that one day their eyes would flow with rivers of tears, that their stomachs would churn and their bile would be poured out to the ground. In those moments of despair is when our faith in the promises of God are really tested. In those moments we must call to mind the promises of God.

Amos 9:13–15 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

We call God’s promises to mind, and we put our trust in our Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises!

Friends, do you see God this way? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises? If so, how should you respond?

I am reminded of the text from several Sunday’s ago:

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Peter 4:12–13 (ESV)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

These great a precious promises about our future hope, about the coming kingdom have so many applications to our daily living.

How Will You Respond

to the Sovereign Lord?

Don’t get distracted! Keep the main thing the main thing.

Don’t get discouraged! Your true life is hidden with Christ, and when Christ appears then you also shall appear with Him in glory.

Don’t be deceived! Don’t believe the lie of this world. Don’t allow despair to overwhelm you.

The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.

What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?

He fully able to judge sinners!

He is fully able to preserve the righteous!

He is fully able to keep all His promises!

Friends how has the Holy Spirit worked in your heart this morning? How have you been challenged in your own life? In the way you respond to the Lord! Let me encourage you to make a change! Based on the revelation we have received about our Great Sovereign Lord this morning, take the plain and obvious step of obedience. Implement this into your life this week.

Related Media

Related Sermons