Amos 6:18-27

The Day of the Lord

Reoccurring theme and Shadow of a looming event

1 Thessalonians 5:2 ESV

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–2 ESV

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

1 Thessalonians 2:1–2 ESV

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.

What God Hates!

Sincere hearts vs False Pretense

What God Loves.

Amos

Amos 5:24 ESV

24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:24 The Message

24 Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

Amos 5:24 NLT

24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

Injustice today:

Cyclical poverty

Broken Justice system.

Senseless immigration laws

Religious persecution

Elderly suffering poor care.

Children dying because of abortion

Starfish Story

Matthew 5:16 ESV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

2 Peter 2:12 ESV

12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,

1 Peter 2:12 ESV

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Be consistently, quietly, peacefully good people.

Idolatry

Putting finances above all.

Putting career above all.

Putting family above all.

Putting stuff above all.

Idolatry allows Indiscriminate wealth gain and sexual immorality.

Hell!

“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that he believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.”—Bertrand Russell, atheist (The Case for Faith, p169)

“Hell is God’s great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice.” —G.K. Chesterton, Christian (The Case for faith, p 169)

"We need to distinguish between whether we like the idea of hell and if it’s right to do.” —P172 (The Case for Faith p 172)

Ezekiel 33:11 ESV

11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Ez 33:11

Not a torture chamber

Loving & Compassionate

AND

Moral & Just

Hell=Relational

God’s Fall-Back

Answering questions on hell

The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel

Children in hell?

Degrees of Hell?

Matthew 11:20–24 ESV

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Infinite punishment for finite crimes?

How long does it take to murder someone?

How long would it take to steal this baby grand piano?

Scale of punishment=Scale of deed

Matthew 22:38 ESV

38 This is the great and first commandment.

Matthew 22:38–39 ESV

38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Why not force people to heaven?

Matt

Intrinsic vs. Instrumental value

Why not snuff people out?

Daniel 12:2 ESV

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

How can heaven and hell both exist?

Hell doesn’t have veto power over heaven. —C.S. Lewis

Why doesn’t God just create those who would follow him?

Why no second chance?

Question assumes God hasn’t done all He could do to lead someone to Him.

This is beyond what we can know and not something we can determine for anyone.

The sight of the judgment seat of Christ would be coercive.

Reincarnation?

Doesn’t make sense, we are body and spirit.

What’s God to do?

“Hell is not a place where people are consigned because they were pretty good blokes, but they just didn’t believe the right stuff. They’re consigned there, first and foremost, because they defy their maker and want to be a the center of the universe.

Hell is not filled with people who have already repented, only God isn’t gentle enough or good enough to let them out. It’s filled with people, who for all eternity, still want to be the center of the universe and who persist in their God-defying rebellion. (The Case for Faith, p 193)

What is God to do? If he says it doesn’t matter to him, then God is no longer a God to be admired. He’s either amoral or positively creepy. For him to act in any other way in the face of such blatant defiance would be to reduce God himself. (The Case for Faith, p 193)