Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Conscientiousness
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Have you ever been at church when their was a guest preacher?
Or perhaps maybe you have had to go to an unfamiliar place and give a presentation?
What usually happens?
Their is usually a period of time where whomever is speaking tries to build rapport with the audience.
You talk about things that you have in common.
Maybe throw out a few zingers at a common enemy.
What this does is it helps the audience to see the speaker as one of them which gains the speaker the ability to speak to a listening audience.
Have you ever been at church when their was a guest preacher?
Or perhaps maybe you have had to go to an unfamiliar place and give a presentation?
What usually happens?
Their is usually a period of time where whomever is speaking tries to build rapport with the audience.
You talk about things that you have in common.
Maybe throw out a few zingers at a common enemy.
What this does is it helps the audience to see the speaker as one of them which gains the speaker the ability to speak to a listening audience.
That is whats happening in chapter 1 of Amos.
Remember Amos is a nobody from nowhere.
He is in the northern kingdom Israel but he is from Judah the southern kingdom.
He is sent by God to prophesy to Israel.
He opens up by talking about all the non-Jewish peoples around the region.
He talks about their godlessness and idolatry, their poor treatment of the Jews, and their sins.
And then he says that God is going to judge them.
Amos repeated this 6 times, declaring judgement on 6 different foes of Israel.
You can imagine the joy of the audience.
Amos was likely getting some AMENS.
The people were eager to listen to Amos.
If you were to look at a map of all the peoples that Amos declared judgement on, you would see they are surrounding Israel like the rings of a target.
At the center sits Israel and Amos is about to unleash the word of God on them.
Bullseye
Amos 2:6-16
Big Idea: The last place we want to be is in the crosshairs of an angry God.
The LORD says:
I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four, because they sell a righteous person for silver and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground and obstruct the path of the needy.
A man and his father have sexual relations with the same girl, profaning my holy name.
8 They stretch out beside every altar on garments taken as collateral, and in the house of their God they drink wine obtained through fines.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced; his height was like the cedars, and he was as sturdy as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.
10 And I brought you from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness in order to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites.
Is this not the case, Israelites?
This is the LORD’s declaration.
12 But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets, “Do not prophesy.”
13 Look, I am about to crush you in your place as a wagon crushes when full of grain.
14 Escape will fail the swift, the strong one will not maintain his strength, and the warrior will not save his life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground, the one who is swift of foot will not save himself, and the one riding a horse will not save his life.
16 Even the most courageous of the warriors will flee naked on that day— this is the LORD’s declaration.
Imagine being an Israelite hearing Amos read the indictments of all your enemies, and the surprise you’d feel when God ends with judgment against you.
Not only that, but the judgment on Israel is twice as long as any other judgment Amos brought.
God’s judgement does not come out of the blue.
There are signs and warnings along the way, but like Israel, we have the ability to ignore these signs and face God’s judgement.
Let’s not make that mistake.
This morning we are going to look at the pattern that often presents itself in times of God’s correction of His people.
1. God’s grace
In His grace, God displays amazing longsuffering.
One of the charges that people will often throw against Christianity is that the God of the Old Testament is so mean.
They bring up His righteous judgment on people like those in our passage tonight.
They say, “how can a loving God promise to burn and break and cut off and devour people?”
But when they ask that question, they forget about how long God allowed them to live in rebellion.
For three crimes, even four.
In Hebrew thought, numbers were very important.
They meant something.
Remember when Peter asked Jesus how many times they were supposed to forgive someone?
Peter thought he was being gracious when he said seven.
But what did Jesus say? 70 times 7. Now, by that, did Jesus mean that we only have to forgive someone 490 times?
Should we keep a little counter with us to keep tabs on how many times we forgive?
No.
When Jesus said 70 times 7, He was making the point that the number is incalculable.
Three was a number of completion and fullness.
So when God said that the nations committed three transgressions, He didn’t mean that they had only done three things wrong.
God isn’t a baseball umpire.
He doesn’t work on three strikes and you’re out.
They had committed transgressions to the fullest.
They had sinned to their capacity of sinning.
God had mercifully and graciously allowed them to exist until their rebellion against Him had reached its max capacity.
And then what did He do?
Did He judge them?
No, He let them have a little more time.
And they used that time to overflow in their sin.
For three transgressions—the max capacity of sinfulness.
And for four—your overflowing iniquity.
Now God is going to judge.
His grace allowed them time.
Time to repent .
Time to turn away from their sin and turn to Him.
But how did they use that time instead?
They used it to rebel even more.
But what if God had given them more than time?
What if He had given them more opportunities?
More advantages?
Well, He did with His people.
He gave Judah and Israel every opportunity in the world.
Judah and Israel were His chosen people.
Chapter 2:4 says that He gave them His Word—His Law—His commandments.
But in God’s grace, He gave them even more.
Look in verses 2:9-11:
“But as my people watched, I destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots.
I destroyed the Amorites,
though they were as tall as cedars
and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed the fruit on their branches
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