Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Welcome

Last week we left everyone in a bad place

Amos has just pronounced judgement on all the nations surrounding Israel and Judah

Then he moved to Judah and finally to Israel itself

There is a progression to the oracles from those nations that weren’t directly connected to God to those that are - those who didn’t have a covenantal relationship with God to those that did

A change is evident in the level of accountability in these oracles because both Judah and Israel have received the covenant stipulations in the Torah and are not just dependent on conscience to develop their sense of right and wrong

Another interesting point to mention is the utter sovereignty that Amos ascribes to God through these oracles

J.A. Motyer writes this:

It is the crowning evidence that Amos is speaking of the God of the whole Bible, the God of the Bible-loving Christian, that in the name of his God he faces a whole world, in all the reality of its cruelties, its unresolved injustices, its privileged and under-privileged peoples, and submits it totally and without reserve to the sway and judgment of the one and only God. … Feel the weight of the monotheism of Amos!

When he reviews the world of the have-nots, the nations who have never received any revelation of Yahweh (1:3–2:3), he takes absolutely no cognizance of the fact that each worshipped a god of its own.

Such information was quite irrelevant.

It was not to that god that they were answerable, nor could that god save them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath.

There was only one God over the whole earth, and to him they must and would render account.

“But much more is it the message of Amos that this truth has its foremost and more abundant application to the people of God themselves (2:4–3:2).

To whom much is given, of him much shall be required.

Judgment will not only come to but will begin at the house of God, and will be manifest there in a seemingly pitiless and all-destroying intensity.”

Tonight we’re going to look at how Amos finishes out this oracle against the nation of Israel

He’s going to shift gears on them a little bit

Instead of merely proclaiming judgement he’s going to remind them of who they are and what God had done for them

First he’s going to talk about God’s provision in Amos 2:9-11

Then he’s going to reveal Israel’s rejection in Amos 2:12

And finally God’s reaction in Amos 2:13-16

Let’s read the text and then explore what it has to say to us today

God’s Provision

Amos 2:9-11; Genesis 15:16; Numbers 13:29, 32-33;

The Amorites

Amos starts off his recounting of God’s provision in an interesting place - with the destruction of the Amorites

The Amorites is a blanket way of describing all of the Caananite people groups

They had inhabited the promised land from the time of Abraham

Amos uses the two strongest and most massive of the native trees in the region emphasizes the stature of the Amorites and draws a clear picture for the Israelites in their mind

These are the people that the spy’s gave the report about when they returned and influenced the Israelites not to enter the Promised Land

God reminds them that He destroyed this people before them with a complete and total destruction

fruit above is a reference to the seed that would allow the tree to survive through generations - destroying the seed would allow no possibility of future life

the root below is a reference not only to the population but the entire civilization that had been established - blotting out all memory of them as if they had never existed

Much like the Anasazi people who disappeared from the southwestern United States in the 12th or 13th centuries

Amos reminds the Israelites that it was not their impressive skills or abilities that defeated the Amorites it was God’s sovereign action on their behalf

The Exodus

The exodus was the singular event that defined the Israelite nation

Amos now turns to this event to remind the Israelites of God’s gracious provision for them in rescuing them from bondage in Egypt

It is a common occurence for the Jews to remind each other of the Exodus

The Psalmists refer back to the Exodus

Stephen referred to the Exodus in his defense before the Sanhedrin

The Exodus points to the deliverance of His people from bondage

The Wilderness

The Israelites took a 4 day journey and turned it into 40 years

They were on the very cusp of entering into the Promised Land when they believed the stories of the 10 spies over those of Caleb and Joshua and refused to enter in to the land God had promised to give them

Despite everything they had seen in Egypt and on the shores of the Red Sea they still doubted

As a result they lost the opportunity to enter in to the Promised Land

Yet God still provided for them

manna from Heaven to feed them

Water from the rocks to give them drink

A pillar of fire to lead them during the night

A cloud to lead them during the day

He protected them from their enemies -

The Nazirites and Prophets

It is interesting that these are the groups that Amos is guided to as an example for the people

This points to the fact that the priesthood was utterly corrupt and therefore a poor example for the people

The nazirite vow was established in Numbers 6

They were to be an example to the Israelites of what a holy life looked like

The two Nazirites that Scripture gives us as examples are Samson

and Samuel (although Samuel was also a prophet)

Prophets were sent to the Israelites to call them back to their covenantal obligations to the Law and to the Lord

Through these two offices God provided for the Israelites a model and guidance for life in their land

God says “is this not so” - this is a rhetorical question because none of these provisions could be disputed

How does this affect us today - can you see God’s provisions in your life through this oracle?

He defeated an enemy in the Amorites that the Israelites could not have defeated on their own

He rescued us out of bondage through the power of His Son’s shed blood

He is even now leading us through the wilderness of this world on our way to the promised land

He has provided us with His Gospel as well as mighty men of the faith that we can listen to and learn from

Have you submitted to His provisions for your life?

Israel’s Rejection

The provisions found in the destruction of the Amorites, the Exodus and in the Wilderness were irrefutable

But Israel still found ways to reject God - the same way they always had - they attacked His teaching and His teachers

This was not new - it had happened during the Exodus

During the time of the Judges

This was the pattern that went all the way back to the Garden of Eden when the Serpent attacked what God had said

This group of Israelites had corrupted even these examples of pure living

They’d forced the Nazirites to compromise their vows by making them drink wine

They’d forced the prophets to stop speaking

In effect this was telling God we don’t want to hear from You anymore - we’re good without You

The same thing is happening in our day and age

Churches have given over to the world’s standards - compromising what has been given down to us in favor of looking like the pagans

homosexual marriage

liberal theology

Bible teaching pastors have been replaced by zip-line riding, Spiderman dressing clowns who do nothing but entertain and exegete the latest Disney film rather than the Bible

A.W. Pink said this

“The vast majority of the churches are in a sorry state!

Those that are out-and-out worldly are at their wits end to invent new devices for drawing a crowd.

Others which still preserve and outward form of godliness often provide nothing substantial for the soul; there is little ministering of Christ to the heart, and little preaching of sound doctrine without which souls cannot be built up and established in the faith.

The great majority of the churches summon some professional speaker to the aid who puts on a high-pressure campaign and secures sufficient new ‘converts’ to take the place of those who have lapsed since he was last with them.

What a farce it all is!

A.W. Pink died in 1952.

Paul warned us that it would be this way

It’s also in the way that we worship, pray and think about God

When we worship are the words that we sing solely about what God is going to do for us without ever recognizing how beautiful, amazing and glorious He is?

How have we rejected God - even by saying thanks for dying for me but I’ll take it from here....

We may not like the reaction

God’s Reaction

Amos 2:13-16;