Amos 5:18-17

Intro

Amos is one of the 12 minor prophets. He prophesied to Isreal and Judah around 760 to 750 B.C. He was not born of a prophet nor was he raised to be a prophet. He was a shepherd that God called and used as a prophet to proclaim the Word of the Lord.

As we turn to the Scriptures (mention what you are going to read) let’s see the importance of ‘Holding Fast to the Word of God’....

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Prayer of Illumination

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Sermon intro.

As most of you know I grew up coming to this Church. A couple of you even taught me in Sunday School. If my memory is not mistaken, my first Sunday School class was in the room that is now my study where I prepared this sermon. My next Sunday school class, was in the room that I now teach School in, well before the outbreak anyways. The lesson that was taught to me here have been with me throughout my life, even has I moved away and stop attending church. Through has I grew, I grew to question the claims of Scriptures. I always believed in God, but questioned if the scriptures actually knew God. I been to studies the Scriptures and along with other forms of religion. But, it was the Holy Spirit working with the Word of God that gave me the understanding that the Old and New Testament are not 66 separate books. The Old and New Testament are one book, one word, never contradicts itself, infallible, it is our only rule for faith and practice, there is victory through it, and there is no hope without it.

We learn from this passage , Hold fast to the Word of the Lord,

hold fast and look to the Word of God: for there is no hope without it

hold fast and look the Word of God: for it is our only rule

hold fast to and look to the Word of God:

Hopelessness

The first section I draw your attention to in this passage is verse 18-20. The first thing to notice is the Day of the Lord.

The day of the Lord,

The day of the Lord, The day of Yahweh

The day of LORD, there has been many theories of what this day actually intells for humainties. Some believe that Amos is speaking of a holy war, others believe it refers to the day Yahweh was made king over Isreal, or when the Lord comes to make Isreal the head nation. These theories of the Lord day are not wrong but they are not complete.

The day of the Lord is speaking of the day they are in the presence of the Lord. This will intell all the theories I just mentioned. Yahweh will be recognized as the one true living God as revelations says every knee will bow and every tongue confess Christ is king, God will destroy all evil, Isreal- as the family of Believers in Christ will be glorified and have domion over the land by the grace of God, and God will judge the quick and the dead.

The people that Amos is speaking to, are looking forward to the day of the Lord. They believe that it will bring glory and salvation. It is here in their thought of the Day of the Lord, that is wrong and what Amos is sent to warn them about.

look with me at verse 18-20 next side

“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18–20, ESV)

The Lord is tell them there desire for the day of the Lord is misguided. So there desire to meet the Lord is misguided because they do not realize what the Day of Yahweh truly has instore for them.

The imagary here is unmistakable. Flee from a lion and meat a bear, lean on wall and get bite by a snake, darkness not light.

The people are trying to escape the world (the Lion) and they THINK they will find rest (the wall) in the Lord. But, they are mistaken in their thought.

Rest or Worry

Have you ever leaned agaisnt a wall or tree and saw a snake. I have and let me tell you, it will make you jump. It will take your rest and turn it into worry and fear. A snake maybe to wildreness for our culture today, who is stuck in cities and on sidewalks. How about a spider, not as scary for some, maybe more scary for others like myself. You go to lay down or lean on your outside wall and see a black widow clawing towards you, I do not know about you but getting away quick, and if the spiders in the bed, I am not getting any rest that night.

The Lord is telling the people that what they think will be rest will actually be their doom.

Darkness not light

Have you ever experience true darkness. The darkness I am speaking of here is a darkness in which you can touch you face without seeing your hand on you face. Complete and total darkness in where there lies no hope.

That is what this section is getting at there is no hope in the day of the Lord for those whom Amos is speaking to. They are in a hopeless state. They run form the wrath of world only to face the wrath of God, they look to God for rest but will only find poison. They believe there is hope in the light of God, but they will only find darkness.

Illustration-

When assembly something often I do not look at the directions, I just look at the picture the final product. Many of us do this, it a stereotype of men in general to not look at the directions to think we no the way. That is what the Israelites are doing in this passage they see the final picture the glory of God and eternal joy, but skip over the way to joy in the presence of God. But, unlike assembling a new toy, on the day of Lord there is no starting over no escaping judgement.

Application

There is only one way to know what to expect on the day of the Lord, that is by holding fast to the Word of God and looking to it for there in no hope without it. It is only by faith in Christ that final judgement day will be a blessing and not a curse. Christ says that day will come like a thief in the night. I not saying that your life on earth will be perfect i can ensure you it will not be perefect.

One Rule

In this next section of the passage we see why there is no hope for them in the day of the LORD.

Look with me at verses 21-23

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.” (Amos 5:21–23, ESV)

Inside three verse there are six negative statements. Double the amount of verse. This is a clear indicator that something is very wrong. But what is wrong and why is it wrong.

let us take one question at a time. What is wrong? Next slide

What

the word here for feasts in the Hebrew, refers to a religious festival. Some theologians says that the people of Isreal are treating the worship of God as parties, and are not focused on God.

The Lord hates and despise their religious festival.

form the feasts before it and the burnt offering after solemn assemblies we see the author is referring to the assemblies of worship. Which the Lord takes no delight in.

theses offering are part of what the people of Isreal are commanded to do. We see offering as a part of worship and honoring God starting in Genesis 4 with Cain and Able. They are offering that are a part of there worship to the Lord.

Praising the Lord with our voice in songs is nothing new to worship. Every sunday we sing a hymn of praise to our God.

To answer the question what is wrong.Their Feasts, solemn assieblies, offering, and their songs of praise are what is wrong. All of these things listed involve the worship of God, and it is the worship of God is being done in a wrong manner. There was no value in the services the Israelites were performing.

Why

Why is anything we consider wrong? Why is it we can do something but there is no value in our action?

Let us think back to Cain and Able. When Cain was angry what did God say to him?

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Gen. 4:7

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The worship they were preforming in the time of Amos, was not done well. The people let sin rule over them. They did not hold fast to the Word of the Lord. and for that reason they did not do well in their worship. We must hold fast to the Word of the Lord because it clearly shows what happens if we do not hold fast to the Word of God.

In Lev. 10 we see the son’s of Aron who are priest of the Most High God. They do not hold fast to the Word of God. The sons of Aron decide they could use any fire they wanted to. I mean fire is fire right some are hotter than others. Blue flames means it reached 2300 to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. We may think fire is fire, but there is a major problem with our thought. The problem is it is our thought, our plan, our decision, and it was not God’s decision. The sons of Aron consumed by fire that came form the Lord. The Lord said to Aron, after his sons were consumed by fire.

Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.

Aron held his peace because he knew his sons did not hold fast to the Word of God.

they did NOT hold fast to the Word of God.

The people of Amos’s time did not hold fast to the Word of God. They worshipped God in ways that was not authorized. To use language of the New Testament, they did not worship in spirit and in truth, they did not come to God with reverence and awe.

They treated their feast and assemblies like a party. They made offering to God in a cult like manner, following the traditions of pagans. Their songs were not of praise to the Lord, but more than likely they were songs of boastfulness and self pride.

Justice and Righteousness

Look with me at verse 24:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

Justice, what is justice- The word justice here in Amos is used in a sense that means quality of being free form favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception. To do something because it is morally right, not because it will better you. To worship God for it is the right thing to do, and not so you can get something out of it.

Righteousness- righteousness is referring to honesty, justice, honor, piety, and being upright

Both Justice and Righteousness are used in a quality sense. It is the quality of the worship that is wrong in this passage. The people do not uphold the Word of God and treat worship with the honor it is due. The psalms tell us to come to God with a contrite heart and broken spirit; to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Jesus the Christ tells us to worship in spirit and truth, Hebrews tells us to approach with reverence and awe.

We are to worship with justice and righteousness, but let me draw your attention to how God describes them. It both cases he refers to them being like water.

Roll down like waters, Like an everflowing stream

Let think about water for a second. Water is the most dangers substance on earth. We need to live, yet too much and it becomes poison. Water always takes the path of least resistant, and that is because nothing stop flowing water, it will continue to move until it finds and opening and burst through it.

That is how we are show justice and righteousness in worship, like the most dangerous substance on earth, never ceasing.

ill-

When fishing a lot of baits, you try to hid the hook, but that is not always the chase. Some baits use hooks, pular, as part of the attactrion. The hooks cause the baits to move more which attracts the fish. We are the same way, we use multiple senses to find what we desire. That hook of Satan is not always hidden, bot our sense our broken and we see the hook as pleasing when in reality it means death.

Application: We see form this section of Amos that we must hold fast to the Word of God for it is our only rule for how we may glorify and enjoy the Lord. Now there is only one man who has ever worshipped God the Father perfectly, and the is God the Son, Jesus the Christ who was crucified dead and buried and rose on the third day by glory of Father so that we too may walk in a newness of life. You may be think that this has been you before, not treating the worship of God with justice and righteousness, maybe your thinking this is you right now. If so come to the Lord with your fears and insufficiencies, come to the Lord, and Hold fast for as it is written Christ our King has full-filled the Law perfectly and HE is our righteousness. HE is our justice before the Lord. Hold fast to the Word of the Lord and look to the Word of God for it is our only rule for how we may glorify and enjoy the Lord.

Victory through the Word of God

Look with me at verse 25:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

The reference he as some know is to Exodus, and what happen to the people after they worshipped the golden cafe. The forty years of wondering is often used as a reference throughout the Scriptures. It is a reminding agent. The reference is meant to cause the people to remember why what happened during those forty years and why it happened. We know why, they did not hold fast to the word of God and the result they worshipped a golden cafe, and all who worshipped it died. They had pride, self interest, and thought they new best.

The answer to verse 25 is no, they did not offer sacrifeces during the 40 years.

What happened during those 40 years, Duet 8:5 answers that

English Standard Version Chapter 8

5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.

parts of that discipline, as found in Duet. 8: 1-4,

English Standard Version Chapter 8

The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

are humbling, testing of the heart, the Lord let them hunger and then fed them, taught them that man does not live on bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes form the mouth of the Lord. Hold fast to the Word of God it is life.

Look with now at verse 26 and 27

English Standard Version Chapter 5

26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

First we see in verse 26 that they are committing in idolatry. Making images that they think represent their god. Second we see God’s punishment for their idolatry, which is exile to Damascus.

At then end of this section we have this power statement, and what is at the heart of this message. Look with me at it

English Standard Version Chapter 5

says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Says the LORD, this is the heart of our passage today, the Word of the Lord. The Word of God is true and firm. If God had decreed it, then it will come to pass. God’s word is law and it is life. So we must hold fast to the Word of the Lord. Looking to the word for it is our only rule, there is victory through the Word, and without it there is no hope.

Verse 25-27, are meant to remind the people of Isreal of the forty years in which their ancastors were humbled, and because they have sin they to will be humbled. This is not just a remberance to punishement. The hearers of theses words are the descendents of those who were humbled. It is a reminder that yes there will be humbling, but the Lord will save those who humble themselves before him and hold fast to the Word of God. There is victory through the Word of God.

ill

There are many things that trigger our memories, and some of them are good and some memories are bad. More often through memories retrain both good and bad qualities. Think of WWII, for many it automatically brings up a memory of something evil, and that it one part of WWII that is part of the memory. But, another memory of WWII is, that good triumph over evil, the world came together to face off against evil. Another thought that brings back memories, the cross. For some the cross brings to mind one of the most brutal and ingenis ways to truture and kill. I pray for all who confess to be Christian that the mention of the cross would be to mind Christ victory over death and through His work and his death we have victory over death.

application

When we come to the Lord in worship, when we come to the Lord to give thanks, there is only one way to do it, and that is to be humble. What does it mean to be humble? To not be arrogant, prideful in yourself, to express submission, to have a low estimate of one’s importance. We can be humble, we can submit because of the one we submit to, the LORD. The one who dwells with his people, are covenant keeping God, who sent His Son our LORD Jesus the Christ who died and rose form the dead so we to way walk in a newness of life. In our darkest times on this earth we can trust in the Word of Lord and hold fast to it because there is Victory through the Word of the Lord. We may not see that victory on this earth, but day of the Lord will come and judgement will be render on the righteous and the wicked.

What Now

As you leave this place and go about your life, Hold fast to the Word of the Lord. Let God’s Word be with going around in your head, like a song that wont leave. God’s Word is our only rule, there is victory through it, and no hope without it. Remembering in life it easy to get distracted, self -centered, and trick by our own sense so hold fast to Word of God submitting yourself and your worries to Christ only trusting in the Word of the Lord. We were never meant to carry the burdens of life alone, but fully dependent upon our Lord.