“Found by the God Who Sees, Restored by the God Who Invites”

Amos 9 — with reference to Matthew 11:25–30

Good morning. Today we come to the end of our journey through Amos.

And what a journey it’s been. For the last several weeks we’ve walked with a shepherd-prophet who refused to soften the truth, dilute the message, or pretend everything was fine. Amos has been our wake-up call — a prophet who cuts through spiritual noise and religious comfort, and who has been gently, consistently asking us:

“What does it look like to be God’s people in real life?”

We’ve explored justice, worship, economics, privilege, complacency, repentance, and hope. We’ve been confronted, exposed, comforted, encouraged, stretched, and invited to live with a deeper integrity before God and one another.

And today, in Amos 9, everything draws together. The whole book — the warnings, the visions, the oracles, the calls to repentance — narrows down into a single, climactic moment.

If Amos were a piece of music, this is the final, dramatic movement: judgment and hope, collapse and rebuilding, darkness and dawn all held in one chapter.

And at the centre of it all stands God Himself — the God who sees everything, judges perfectly, and restores beautifully.

Let’s walk through it one last time as we conclude the series:

The God Who Sees Through Everything (vv. 1–4)

The God Who Judges With Truth and Mercy (vv. 5–10)

The God Who Rebuilds What We Cannot (vv. 11–15)

The God Who Invites the Weary to Rest (Matthew 11)

1. The God Who Sees Through Everything (Amos 9:1–4)

We’ve seen throughout this series that Israel’s biggest issue wasn’t their rituals — it was their pretence.

They were worshipping, sacrificing, singing, attending festivals… but their hearts were elsewhere.

They proclaimed allegiance to God, while simultaneously building a society where:

the poor were crushed,

the courts were corrupt,

the powerful were untouchable,

and religion became a performance.

So Amos’ final vision is devastating:

“I saw the Lord standing beside the altar…”

Not blessing. Not embraced in praise. Not surrounded by worshippers.

Standing in judgment.

The altar — their symbol of forgiveness — had become their hiding place. And God tears down the very structure they used to avoid facing the truth.

Then God declares: “There is no hiding place from Me.”

He lists every possible escape route:

Sheol — the depths

Heaven — the heights

Carmel — the wilderness

The sea — the impossible place

Exile — running from your enemies

Israel had spent years convincing themselves that their religious observance insulated them from reality. Amos ends by telling them:

God sees everything — not to crush them, but to heal them.

After nine chapters, Amos brings the theme home: nothing in our life is hidden, nothing escapes God’s attention, and nothing is beyond His reach.

And perhaps this is what we’ve been discovering through the series too. Amos isn’t comfortable — but he’s good. He’s the prophet who refuses to let us live shallowly.

Because the God who sees everything is not a God who humiliates us, but a God who refuses to let us pretend our way through life.

And when the illusions are torn down, hope can finally begin.

2. The God Who Judges With Truth and Mercy (Amos 9:5–10)

Verses 5–6 are a hymn — a reminder for anyone tempted to shrink God down to something manageable.

He is:

the Creator of mountains

the Caller of oceans

the Lord of winds

the Architect of heaven

the Foundation of the earth

God is not an accessory to Israel’s national story - He is the Lord of history itself.

That’s why Amos asks the question that would have hit Israel like a thunderclap:

“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?”

Meaning: “You don’t get a special exemption because of your heritage.”

Over the series, we’ve seen Amos return to this again and again. Yes, Israel is chosen, but chosen for holiness, not immunity. Chosen for justice, not indulgence. Chosen to reflect God, not to hide behind God.

God then announces a sifting — not total destruction, but thorough refining:

“I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations.” “But not a pebble will fall to the ground.”

God’s judgment is always:

righteous

consistent

purposeful

discriminating

aimed at restoration

This matches every major theme we’ve explored in this series:

God

Amos has shown us a God who cannot be managed, downsized, or confined. He is Creator, Sovereign, and Judge over every nation.

Judgment

God sees injustice — whether it’s documented or silently endured. He opposes exploitation. He confronts hypocrisy. He refuses to accept patterns that wound His image-bearers.

Society

Amos has taught us that society is moral. The economy is moral. Courts are moral. Business is moral. Politics is moral.

Because everything touches the people God loves.

Religion

Israel had a full religious life… but empty hearts.

Rituals without righteousness. Songs without substance. Worship without justice.

Amos calls this out — not to shame them, but to save them.

Hope

Judgment isn’t the end. It never is in Scripture. Because judgment is God taking sin seriously so He can take restoration seriously too.

And that’s where the chapter — and the entire series — turns.

3. The God Who Rebuilds What We Cannot (Amos 9:11–15)

Out of nowhere, the darkness lifts. It always does with God.

After the collapse… comes rebuilding. After the sifting… comes restoration. After the truth… comes mercy.

“In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter.”

The dynasty is broken. The kingdom is in ruins. The glory days are long gone.

But God is not finished with His people. Not then. Not now.

He rebuilds what we break. He restores what we lose. He renews what we exhaust.

The picture becomes one of abundance:

crops so full the workers overlap

vineyards overflowing

cities rebuilt

land healed

joy returning

the people secure

God dwelling with them

This is not escapist fantasy. This is God’s promise — partially fulfilled in the return from exile, ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, and waiting for its final fulfilment in the kingdom to come.

Amos ends with hope, because God’s story always ends with hope.

4. The God Who Invites the Weary to Rest (Matthew 11:25–30)

And into this whole message — the God who sees, judges, rebuilds — Jesus steps and says:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Not a different God. Not a softer God. Not a “New Testament upgrade.”

The same God. The God of Amos. The God of creation. The God of justice. The God of hope.

The God who tears down what enslaves us is the God who invites us into rest.

And for some of us, after a whole series in Amos, rest is exactly what we need.

Because it can feel overwhelming to hear:

God’s holiness

God’s justice

God’s searching gaze

God’s moral standard

God’s call to repentance

God’s vision for society

God’s refining and sifting

God’s rebuilding and renewal

It’s beautiful, but it’s also heavy.

Some of us feel tired — tired from the world, tired from work, tired from the news cycle, tired from pressures, tired from expectations, tired from pretending we’re okay, tired from carrying the weight of our own spiritual life.

Amos names what’s real. Jesus meets us where Amos leaves us.

In a world that drains us, Jesus gives rest.

Not escapism — but rest. Not laziness — but rest. Not apathy — but rest. Not denial — but rest.

Rest because God carries the judgment. Rest because God carries the restoration. Rest because God carries us.

This is the invitation that sits at the end of Amos, and at the beginning of Advent — a season of waiting for God to finish the work He’s begun.

As we wait for Christ’s return, we do not wait in fear. We wait in faith. We wait as people rebuilt by grace. We wait as people made whole. We wait as people who know that justice and mercy meet at the cross.

Final Invitation

So as we close this series — and prepare our hearts for Advent — hear this invitation:

If Amos has exposed anything in you… bring it to Jesus.

If you feel the weight of injustice in the world… bring it to Jesus.

If you are tired of trying to hold everything together… bring it to Jesus.

If you are weary of pretending you’re fine… bring it to Jesus.

If you feel overwhelmed by the truth of God’s holiness… run toward the God who restores.

The God who sees everything is the same God who welcomes anyone.

The God who judges truthfully is the same God who rebuilds tenderly.

The God who searches the heart is the same God who gives rest to the weary.

And the God who speaks through Amos is the God who speaks through Jesus:

“Come to me. Come honestly. Come humbly. Come without fear. And I will give you rest.”

And so, sisters and brothers, we stand before the God who truly sees us — every hidden motive, every weary place, every quiet hope. The God of Amos, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who creates, judges, restores, and calls. The Lion has roared, the plumb line still hangs, and yet Christ has come — born for us, living among us, dying in our place, rising to rebuild what we could not. And in a world that keeps pushing us toward exhaustion and self-protection, Jesus offers rest — not an escape, but a holy resistance, a turning away from the world’s frantic pace so we can turn fully toward Him. And from that rest, that deep, restoring centre, we are sent back into the world to answer the question Amos has pressed into us from the very beginning: what does it look like to be God’s people here and now? What does it mean to face injustice with courage, to confront unfairness with compassion, to live the life Jesus lived and — in costly faithfulness — to die the death He died? Rested in Him, restored by Him, we rise to live as His people in the world He loves.

Let’s let Him remake us again, His Church, His People, His Creation.

Amen.