Amos 12: The Problem of Pride

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Opening

This morning, we will pick up the last part of a thread that the Lord started back in chapter 5, verse 1 of this message to His people through the prophet Amos. There, the Lord began a lament for His people, a dirge or funeral song over their impending judgment because of their sin: sins of bribery and injustice, false worship and idolatry, and their complete unwillingness to respond in obedience to the Word of the Lord. The summary of the message of Amos is that “The Sovereign Lord roars,” but I suppose since He is singing a lament for two chapters, maybe this section would be better referred to as “The Sovereign Lord weeps.”

Let’s read the final section of the Lord’s lament in Amos, and let us stand in honor of His holy Word as we do so.

Amos 6:1–14 CSB

1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria— the notable people in this first of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to. 2 Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours? 3 You dismiss any thought of the evil day and bring in a reign of violence. 4 They lie on beds inlaid with ivory, sprawled out on their couches, and dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. 5 They improvise songs to the sound of the harp and invent their own musical instruments like David. 6 They drink wine by the bowlful and anoint themselves with the finest oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore, they will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and the feasting of those who sprawl out will come to an end. 8 The Lord God has sworn by himself—this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies: I loathe Jacob’s pride and hate his citadels, so I will hand over the city and everything in it. 9 And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die. 10 A close relative and burner will remove his corpse from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?” That person will reply, “None.” Then he will say, “Silence, because the Lord’s name must not be invoked.” 11 For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble. 12 Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does anyone plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— 13 you who rejoice over Lo-debar and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?” 14 But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel— this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies— and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.

PRAY

I must confess that this week has been a difficult week for me, and I can’t put my finger on just one reason for that. But for me, the past week has been incredibly heavy. I’ve been convicted of the weight of the position that the Lord has called me to perhaps as I never have been before, and of my complete inadequacy in myself to fulfill it. I’ve been engaged in personal conflict with people that I love. I’ve witnessed some of the darkness that resides in the hearts of humanity as I’ve watched things transpire on social media. I’ve reflected on the train wreck of a presidential debate and divisive fallout that has ensued since, as if we needed any more of that in our nation. I have literally felt sick at my stomach over the hopelessness, the brokenness, and the hate that we see all around us, and in some ways, within us.

And all the while, I’ve been studying this message from Amos, and the weight of it for the people of God. And all of it leads me to ask us a question this morning.

What is wrong with us? What is our problem? And the answer to that question, at least in this passage of Scripture, is pride.

It is pride that we see being played out in the hearts of politicians who care more for their party than the people, the hearts of newscasters more concerned with their take on things than actually reporting factually on it, the hearts of those who would take advantage of the state of our nation and of the world for their own personal gain, the hearts of our friends and neighbors who post without caring, without thinking, without necessity.

But it’s not just in “their” hearts. It’s in ours as well:

It is pride that allows us to be cruel when we find ourselves in a disagreement with someone we are supposed to love.

It is pride that allows me to refuse to try to understand another’s point-of-view, even if I don’t agree with it.

It is pride that is that little voice inside of us that whispers about how wise we are, or how righteous we are, or how moral we are… how much better we are than that person, or that person, or that person.

I once confessed to this congregation from this very place that I need your prayers, because if there is an area of sin that is most seductive to me, it is pride.

Now, before I am misconstrued, I don’t mean the idea of being proud, as in pleased or satisfied, with a blessing from the Lord. I am proud of my daughters, because of the people that God is fashioning them to be. I am proud of my wife, because of how she pursues Jesus. Webster’s 1828 dictionary calls this kind of pride:

“generous elation of heart, a noble self-esteem springing from a consciousness of worth.”

So, I can somewhat understand what an incredible worth there is in having daughters such as I have been given, and a wife such as Melanie who loves Jesus, and that understanding gives me reason to rejoice, or to “be proud.” It’s not a comparative thing, it’s a gratitude thing.

This is not the kind of pride I’m referring to this morning. No, I’m referring to the type of pride that Webster said is:

“inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.”

Pride is a real problem. I have said before that I’ve seen it argued that pride is “the garden in which all other sins grow,” and I believe that there is great insight in that. It was a selfish pride, a desire to elevate themselves and take God’s place, that brought Adam and Eve to the eating of the fruit. Pride that caused Cain to kill his brother Abel. Pride that drove Jacob to deceive his father Isaac. Pride that brought Joseph’s brothers to the point of selling him into slavery. Pride that caused Moses to not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Pride that brought King Saul low, and nearly unraveled King David’s life. Pride that had consumed Solomon’s son Rehoboam and brought about the Divided Kingdom. Pride that caused Jeroboam to set up festivals and idols in the Northern Kingdom in contradiction to the Word of God.

Yes, pride is a real problem. And it’s an incredible problem for God’s people.

This morning, my outline relies heavily on the message “Scourge for the Slumbering,” by Charles Spurgeon, who preached on this passage on November 3, 1861, and also on the commentary on this passage by James Montgomery Boice.

In the first six verses of our focal passage today, the Lord sets out His condemnation of not just the Northern Kingdom, but the Southern Kingdom as well. While pride isn’t directly stated in those first six verses, the cornerstone of this final stanza of the Lord’s lament is found in verse 8, where the Lord declares, “I loathe Jacob’s pride, and hate his citadels.”

We find in those first six verses a list of five evidences of pride that bring God’s ire on His people:

1) Pride makes us presumptuous.

When we are presumptuous, we take things for granted, we presume that we deserve something just because of who we are. The people in both Kingdoms of the Divided nation of Israel stood accused of this by the Lord:

Amos 6:1–2 CSB

1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria— the notable people in this first of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to. 2 Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

“Zion” is another name for Jerusalem, where the Lord’s Temple was located, which was the capital city of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. "Those who are at ease in Zion” were those who believed that because they were God’s people and because they lived where the Temple was that they didn’t need to give any thought to how they actually lived. They presumed upon the grace of God on the city where His Temple was, because certainly, God would never destroy His own house, would He?

Those who “feel secure on the hill of Samaria” were those in the Northern Kingdom, as Samaria was their capital city. It was built on top of a hill with fairly steep sides, and with strong fortifications, making the military defense of that city fairly easy to manage. These people presumed upon the safety that their location and might provided for them.

God had them look at other cities that had formerly been strong and independent, but who at this time were subject to Israel and Judah. Calneh, Hamath, and Gath likely never thought that they would be in such a position. If God could do that to them, why should Israel and Judah trust their location or their military might to save them?

Spurgeon likened the presumptuousness of Israel and Judah to our tendency to trust in our works to justify us, which is something that we’ve looked at several times in the course of this series, so I will make my reminder of this fact short:

Scripture tells us that it is nothing that we ourselves do that justifies us before a holy God, because He has done that Himself in Jesus. Nothing that we do that obligates Almighty God to love us, because He has declared clearly that He already does. Nothing that we do that allows us to stand before Him as if we are perfect, because we never can be apart from the sacrifice of Christ and the giving of His perfection to us when we surrender ourselves to His finished work of grace:

Titus 3:4–7 CSB

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

We must not be presumptuous, assuming that God must bless us because of the fact that we come to church, or make time to view it online, or give, or fast, or pray. Instead, choosing to do good works should flow out of gratitude for what God has done for us.

Titus 3:8 CSB

8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.

We are saved by God’s grace because of His love and mercy, and then appointed to the good works which God has prepared for us to walk in. He saves us for a purpose. If we do not care to serve the Lord out of a heart of thanksgiving and love, instead just sitting back and resting and expecting everyone else to do it, should we walk in confidence of our continued blessing? Or do we presuming upon the grace of God?

2) Pride makes us procrastinate.

I believe that this one is perhaps the sneakiest and most dangerous of the bunch. Pride makes us think that “that will never happen to me.” Look at how the people in Amos’ day were condemned:

Amos 6:3 CSB

3 You dismiss any thought of the evil day and bring in a reign of violence.

Just last week, we talked about the coming of the Day of the Lord—that the reference to it in Amos was the earliest reference in Scripture, but that the people of Israel certainly had an understanding of what that concept included. They were so proud of their position that they didn’t even concern themselves with the coming of that terrible Day. They had no need to take any action to correct their sin, because they thought that they would have tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that, and a whole slew of tomorrows to worry about God and His judgment. They were like King Hezekiah would later be, when he was warned that his foolishness would bring about the downfall of Judah, but not during his lifetime, he said that that was “good,” because it at least wouldn’t be in his lifetime (1Chr 20:19 for reference).

Brothers and sisters, we are called TODAY, and EVERY TODAY to walk with the Lord in faith, encouraging one another in obedience and righteousness, as the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 3:

Hebrews 3:12–13 CSB

12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

My friends, is the Lord convicting you of some sin in your life? The day of response is today. The day of confessing is today. The day of repentance is today. Do not put off until tomorrow what God is calling you to do today. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to us! Consider the rich man in Luke 12:

Luke 12:16–21 CSB

16 Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? 18 I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 “That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

It may be that this very night, your life is demanded of you. Humble yourself before the Lord in repentance and faith today, and every day.

But an even more critical perspective on the pride we see in this verse is this: Are there those in the congregation this morning who have been putting off their surrender to Jesus until “tomorrow?” You know, for now you’ll do your thing and live your life and have things your way: that’s pride talking. You get that Jesus died for you, and you appreciate that fact. You just don’t want to actually stop going your own way in order to Him to be your Lord. I’ll trust Jesus tomorrow. I’ll surrender my life to Him next week or next month or next year or on my death bed. No! TODAY is the day of salvation, because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Just a little bit further in Hebrews, it says:

Hebrews 4:7 CSB

7 he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Jesus died so that we can have life now and have it to the fullest, because through Jesus, we can have a relationship with God. He took our punishment, solved the problem of our sin and the wrath of God that we deserve, and He defeated death so we can live forever if we belong to Him through faith. While it is still called today, surrender your life to Christ and cry out to Him. Don’t foolishly cling to your pride and procrastinate trusting in Jesus.

3) Pride makes us self-indulgent.

The pride of the people of God also made them self-indulgent. They had used and abused their own people in order to line their own pockets, and they used that wealth in order to live a life of luxury.

Amos 6:4 CSB

4 They lie on beds inlaid with ivory, sprawled out on their couches, and dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

Now, there is nothing wrong with wealth. Nothing wrong with enjoying nicer things if you can afford them. We can’t just lift this verse out of context and say that these things are bad. We have already seen that the problem was in HOW they got their wealth back in chapter 3. The problem isn’t the value—it’s the problem of pride derailing how we view and the priority we place upon the resources that God has given to us. When money itself becomes the goal of our lives, or the ends themselves, instead of a means to the ends of glorifying God with our lives, that’s when we run into trouble… because it’s become an idol.

Let me try to make this a little bit clearer: even the poorest among us hearing this message right now can approach money and things with a prideful attitude in this way. Consider the wicked servant in Matthew 18: Having just been forgiven by his master of an immense debt which he could never repay, he went and choked a fellow servant who owed him a paltry sum. He did not respond in gratitude and grace to the beneficence of his master. He did not love others as he himself had been loved. Instead, he though he had nothing viewed his fellow servant without mercy and without grace, but only through the lens of what he was owed.

4) Pride makes us careless.

When I say that pride makes us careless, I mean that an attitude of pride also leads us to be lazy in the most important areas of our lives. Consider verses 5 and the first part of 6:

Amos 6:5–6 CSB

5 They improvise songs to the sound of the harp and invent their own musical instruments like David. 6 They drink wine by the bowlful and anoint themselves with the finest oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

Again, there is nothing wrong with making music or learning a skill or having a hobby, like these people. There’s nothing wrong with having the finest oils and taking care of your skin. We could certainly have a discussion about alcohol, but the question of the vice or virtue of drinking is not really the point of this passage, either. It’s that these people gave themselves wholly to these things, while neglecting what was most important from an eternal perspective.

We must live life, certainly, but to go on our merry ways without giving thought to the things of God, to sit around caring more for our music or our appearance or our drink than we do about the things of the soul is to be careless. Jesus spoke about this in Luke 12:

Luke 12:35–40 CSB

35 “Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. 36 You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. 37 Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Church family: Are we giving care to the state of our souls—to the quality of our walks with the Lord, walking with expectation of our Lord’s imminent return? Let us not be careless, as the Israelites were.

And the final result of selfish pride:

5) Pride makes us indifferent.

This last one comes from the very last phrase in verse 6:

Amos 6:6 CSB

6 They drink wine by the bowlful and anoint themselves with the finest oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

Using “Joseph” was just another way of referring to all of the Divided Kingdom collectively. Due to their pride, those who were so self-focused in Israel and Judah gave no thought to the state that their nation was in. They should have been listening to the message from Amos and been heartbroken over it, but instead, they didn’t give it really any thought. They should have been grieved, but weren’t.

Two perspectives here: First, do we actually care about the trials, the struggles, and the sin of those around us in the church? Do we grieve when a brother or sister breaks fellowship, or dives headlong into sin, or is hurt or wounded in some way by the church? We should. Second, look around at the world! Do we grieve the brokenness of humanity, the state of civility in our nation, the erosion of the vision of our founding fathers? And more personally, do we see the brokenness in the people around us who do not know Christ, who do have not have the hope that we have, and who need to hear the message of the Gospel? Do we grieve over their ruin, which should prompt us to step in to share the hope that Jesus brings?

I have one final point, and we’ll be done:

6) The Lord hates selfish pride, and He will judge it.

The Lord clearly tells Israel that He has had it with their pride, and that is part of why judgment is coming on them, and what form that judgment will take:

Amos 6:7–11 CSB

7 Therefore, they will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and the feasting of those who sprawl out will come to an end. 8 The Lord God has sworn by himself—this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies: I loathe Jacob’s pride and hate his citadels, so I will hand over the city and everything in it. 9 And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die. 10 A close relative and burner will remove his corpse from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?” That person will reply, “None.” Then he will say, “Silence, because the Lord’s name must not be invoked.” 11 For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.

Amos 6:14 CSB

14 But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel— this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies— and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.

The powerful, the influential among the Lord’s people in the Northern Kingdom have lived as they wanted to, caring really only for themselves, and as a result, they will go from being the “notable” or first among what they call the “first of the nations” to being the “first” of those captured and taken into exile. The things that they trust in and call important will come to an end. Their houses will be ruined, and some will lose their lives when this nation being raised up comes upon them. Assyria for Israel, and eventually Babylon for Judah.

In James 4, we read:

James 4:6–10 CSB

6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Notice how this passage answers all of the points that we saw in our passage in Amos. The presumptuous are called to submit. The procrastinators are commanded to take action over and over. The self-indulgent are called to cleanse their hands, while the careless and the indifferent are called to change their ways, changing their laughter and joy into mourning and gloom, and to mourn and weep over their sin. And at the beginning and at the end, the promise of God giving grace to the humble, and lifting them up. There is hope in humility.

Closing

Brothers and sisters, are we arrogant? I confess that I can be so. Are we proud? Let us repent of our pride! Let us take heed of the warning of the Lord against the pride and arrogance of the people of Israel, and humble ourselves instead before the Lord, remembering His great kindness to us in Christ, giving Him glory for His majesty and out of gratitude for His condescension to save us, and striving to live lives that are not presumptuous, procrastinating, self-indulgent, careless, and indifferent.

If you need to spend some time on your knees in repentance this morning, the steps are available during our time of reflection.

Selfish pride would tell us that we don’t need anyone or anything. It would tell us that we can go our own way, make our own path, and save ourselves. But this is foolishness. Instead, Scripture tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, and He will make our path straight. Trust Jesus this morning for your salvation, confessing your sinfulness to Him, acknowledging your need for His saving grace, and declaring your surrender to Him as Lord. Humble yourself before Him, and He will exalt you.

Those of you taking this step this morning, trusting in Jesus to save you, we want to be able to celebrate with you and to help you on this new journey of faith. So in a few minutes, when everyone is dismissed, please stay in your seats, and we will come and find you to talk more about your decision this morning. For those online, please let us know by email or on our website, or in the comments on Facebook or Youtube, so that we can reach out and connect with you.

There may be those here this morning who believe that God is calling them to join this church family in formal membership. Please remain in your seats when everyone is dismissed, and I’ll come by and meet with you so that we can make an appointment to talk further about that.

As Donna comes to play our reflection song, let’s pray

PRAY

Closing Remarks

Bible reading: Romans 7 today, through Romans 14 next Sunday.

Please remember that the church office will be closed this Thursday and Friday.

Our dismissal plans.

In person and online: Thank you for being here to worship with the rest of the church body this morning. I pray that you have a blessed week.