Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Monday
October 14, 2019
Pastor Rick Kabrick
The overall theme of Amos is that everyone sins and all have fallen short of the glory of the LORD. But the good news of Amos and the LORD is that the LORD waits for us to return to HIM, through repentance and returning to the LORD’s way.
Amos means burden or the bearer of burden. And his message from GOD to the people of Israel was one that dealt with burden. Not unlike many of the other prophets.
CH 1-2 is a list of accusations regarding those nations around Israel and then also accuses the people and the leaders of Israel.
CH 3-6 are sermons, actually more like poems.
CH 7-9 are visions of Amos.
AMO 7:14-15, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son.
I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit and the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”
(This is a reference to the 10 tribes of the North)
The prophet Amos occupied one of the most humble positions in the society of his day. No one but the poorest men would cultivate sycamore figs for it was very difficult work and the fruit was not in big demand, so the pay was low.
Amos’s prophecy was issued primarily at Beth-el, the seat of idolatry in the Northern kingdom. He attacks Satan’s stronghold, Bethel (which ironically means the house of GOD).
And there is a lesson for us individually, not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.
Think of it in terms of us, most people love to hear of the wrong things that others are doing, especially those who don’t like us.
There is a great attraction to it because of the OSN. But we certainly don’t like it when someone tells us of our wrongdoings.
Amos will eventually address Israel’s two primary sins”
1) An absence of true worship, and
2) A lack of justice.
What Amos is doing is picking out the nations around Israel. And telling of their sins against GOD.
And the people of Israel love it. They were saying preach it brother, those people of those lands hey they are bad news and deserve to be punished, go get them.
The phrase “for three sins even for four” is a common phrase in Amos. Used a total of eight times in the book, these words play a special role in the way Amos communicates sin and warns of coming judgment.
Whether or not a nation believes in the One true GOD or not, that One true GOD will not be mocked.
So the expression is not meant to imply a specific number of sins (3-4), but rather to communicate that there is an excess of sin that has led to GOD’s judgment, and remember it was because they were un-repentant.
First, there is the phrase “for three sins . . . even for four.”
Second, one or two specific sins are mentioned regarding the nation being addressed.
Third, a judgment is given. Amos starts with Israel’s enemies and ends against Judah and Israel.
PHI 2:12, Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
Thus says the LORD,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four
I will not revoke its punishment, (whoa, what did he say?).
In combination, the whole picture is almost overwhelming. Amos pictured men committing sexual immorality, keeping warm with a garment taken from the from the poor. There were having sex everywhere. They were having sex after getting drunk on the wine that they bought with the money they extorted from the people.
It is a reminder to us as well, to remember what the LORD has done for us, and that gratitude we should have towards HIM.
Each of Amos’s eight messages follows a similar pattern.
First, there is the phrase “for three sins, even for four.”
Second, one or two specific sins are mentioned regarding the nation being addressed.
Third, a judgment is given. Amos starts with Israel’s enemies and ends against Judah and Israel.
- Flight will perish from the swift.
2. The loyal warrior will lose his strength.
3. The mighty man will fail.
4. He who grasps the bow will not stand his ground,
5. The swift of foot will not escape,
6. He who rides the horse save his life.
7. The bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day”
2KI 18:13, Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
2KI 19:32-37, Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it.
“By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,”’ declares the LORD.
2KI 18:28, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD. “Do not listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!”
You know no matter who anyone is in the human realm, powerful or not, rich or not, King or president or PM you cannot think more highly of yourself than you ought to.
You must have true humility.
Hezekiah received that warning from the messenger and read it.
Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. The King said look LORD what this person is threatening your people with, and your anointed and you LORD.
That’s a good example for us, learn to place the trials and tribulations of life in HIS hands. That is the faith rest drill. If your living inside of HIS plan for your life, ultimately… you can’t lose.
We can take a lesson from this. To depend on one’s self or the things we possess, is an action in futility.
We must depend upon the GOD who created us.
COL 3:2, Set your attention, your energy on things above, not on things on the earth.
Amos employs a sight he probably saw as a shepherd; the parts of a mutilated sheep killed by a lion, to describe Israel’s coming destruction.
Thus says the LORD, “Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear,
So will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away With the corner of a bed and the cover of a couch!
The LORD gives a vivid description of the small remnant left in Israel after the Assyrian invasion. That is what is intended by finding a leg or an ear left in the lion’s mouth, vivid indeed.
1KI 1:51, Now it was told Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put me to death with the sword.’”