Sermon Tone Analysis

The Plummet Line

The Lord has been dealing with man for a long time.

And as we start, I want you to get an understanding of how God thinks.

They Transgressed the Covenant

Lets turn to

You’ve seen this, early in the morning when the ground is wet, maybe a light foggy haze above the grass.

But in an hour, as the suns heat comes, it is all gone.

This is how God feels about the love of Israel for him.

Lets go to vs 7

If you read the Genesis account, God covers Adam and Eve, and sets them outside the garden, but it doesn’t say any of this.

Adam not only broke the covenant, but he did it because he didn’t have any faith in God.

The Way of Old

Now, lest go to Job.

This is a rebuke of Job by a friend, but it highlights the challenge of sin in

This is false accusation against Job, his calamity did not come on him because he must “remove wickedness from his tent” in Job 22:23

but there is a recognition that calamity comes to the wicked.

I am Going to Set a Plummet

The Lord has been dealing with the children of Israel and speaking to them through the prophet Amos.

My Lord Yahweh’s Call for a Legal Case

Amos 7:1–9

Amos sees a plague of locust coming on the land

and Amos spoke out in

Amos 7:3 but the Lord did something we might find unusual.

He was going “to call for a legal case with fire”

There is a courtroom in heaven.

The Lord does operate by a system of laws and justice and again

Amos spoke out in

and again the Lord relented

Amos 7:6 The Lord persists though and then said in

The Lord says to us, and people often quote, in

And it is on this basis that intercession is made, as Amos has done here.

But the Lord is not acting without cause

So even though he relented, there was still a need for action.

The Lord had reason “for a legal case” in Amos 7:4

and we sometimes forget the statements that follow after Isaiah 1:18 in

The intercession of Amos could not turn aside the judgement of the Lord against evil.

The Lord set, in Amos 7:8, a plummet, a standard, a dividing line

“The plummet line was used not only in building, but in destroying houses (2 Ki 21:13; Is 28:17; 34:11; La 2:8).

It denotes that God’s judgments are measured out by the most exact rules of justice”.1

and then he says in Amos 7:8 “I will not pass by them again”

meaning, I will “not forgive them any more (Am 8:2; Pr 19:11; Mic 7:18)”.1

The Way of the Righteous

Lets go to a commonly quoted section from the Psalms.

The righteous doesn’t “walk in” or follow the advice of wicked people.

The righteous doesn’t “stand in” or participate in the way of sinners.

The righteous doesn’t “sit in” or gather with mockers.

Mockers

4329 לִיץ‎ (lîṣ): v. ; ≡ Str 3887; TWOT 1113—LN 33.406–33.411

(qal ) mock, scorn, formally, talk big, i.e., speak words which show no respect for the object, and make fun of the object, with a possible focus of speaking in the situation with confidence and authority (Pr 9:12+ ); (polel ptcp. ) scorner (Hos 7:5+ ), note: for another parsing, see 4372.5; (hif ) mock (Ps 119:51; Pr 3:34; 14:9; 19:28+ ), for another parsing, see 4372; (hitpolal) show oneself a mocker (Isa 28:22+ )1

1 Swanson, J. (1997).

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.).

Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The way of the righteous is a way of living, it isn’t a one time action or one time statement.

This describes the righteous, but how did they get there?

I can’t say every gray haired person is righteous, but I can say they have lived long enough to have gray hair and I will take his promise to me in

This I can say, when you seek the path of righteousness, the Lord is there to help in

but we have a role to play.

God doesn’t just do this for us.

I take action in

I desire you

I seek you

The Path of the Righteous

This is something we learn.

We teach ourselves to follow the path of righteousness.

This doesn’t just come to us it is active seeking and application.

Listen

Meditate

Think about how it applies to your life

This isn’t a passive exercise of chanting some words over and over, it is asking questions, seeking answers.

Seeking like silver is digging through rock to find the vein

Searching her out like treasure is following clues like on a treasure map.

Going to places you have never been before.

Taking some risk by putting other things aside to find the treasure.

Here is where you meet God.

He will give you wisdom, knowledge, understanding.

He gives revelation.

He is the guardian of “the paths of justice”.

He keeps the way of the faithful.

Understanding, wisdom, discretion, right discipline, or for us as Charismatic Christians, the fruit of the Spirit.

And all of this is in

This instruction in righteousness, this learning God’s ways takes us from darkness to light.

This path is not hidden.

There are many that have travelled before us and we can also learn from them.

But this isn’t a path to a destination, it is a path to fulfilling God’s perfect will.

The Path of the Wicked

There is also this other path and there are those around us that would take us there.

On this path, there is darkness.

They can’t see the end, and maybe not even the calamity right in front of them.

The Path of Life

Peter quoted this in

Acts 2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your presence.’

“The path of life was unknown before Christ, since it was still untouched by the foot of anyone who rose from the dead.

But when the Lord rose, once the path become known, it become well worn by the soles of many, about whom the Evangelist says: “The bodies of many holy people arose along with him and entered into the holy city.”45

So too, since the Lord said at his own resurrection: “You have made known to me the paths of life,” we are also now able to say to the Lord, “You have made known to us the paths of life.”

For he who showed us the way to life has himself made known to us the paths of life.

He made known to me the paths of life when he taught me faith, mercy, righteousness and chastity.

By journeying along these, one arrives at salvation.

Even though the shadow of death encompasses us at the destruction of our body, still life does not forsake its steps; we walk quickly through the very midst of the decrees of hell by the power of Christ.

For this reason, the holy prophet says: “Even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils, for you are with me.”46

Psalm 23:4.