AMOS – The Roar of the Lord

#2 - No Excuse

Amos 1:3-2:3

Rev. John Hannem, Calvary Baptist Church, North Sydney, NS September 11^th 2005

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          Have you ever heard something like this at your place? But mom, you never told us that we could not shoot our paint ball guns in the house.  “Well, I don’t care if I told you that or not, that is no excuse.  You should just know better than to do something like that.”  Has that type of conversation ever occurred at your house?  As parents, we expect that our children will not only follow our instructions, but will also use common sense in areas where we haven’t given them specific guidelines. 

          Friends, in a similar way, God expects people to do and not do things even though they may be unaware of His specific instructions.  It is not just common sense, but the conscience which is to guide people in their moral decisions.  Now, like every other aspect of our being, the conscience was weakened and warped because of human rebellion against God.  Thus, to simply “Let your conscience be your guide” can lead one down some dangerous paths.  Through out history people have done very terrible things in good conscience, truly believing their wicked behavior was justified.  I am afraid many of the radical Muslim terrorists are in that boat. 

          As we continue our journey through the Old Testament Book of Amos, we will see people who were ignoring their conscience and because of that, were in big trouble.  Our text today is, Amos 1:3-2:3.  Pray that the Lord will help us hear His Word today and understand what it means for our lives. Read Amos 1:3-2:3

          This passage describes the impending judgment and punishment from God which

6 nations surrounding Israel faced about 750 years before the birth of Jesus.  Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab are names that appear throughout the Old Testament and some of them show up in newspaper headlines today.  They are very real places full of very real people.  These people are not worshipers of the true God, the Lord, the God of Israel and have done some terrible things.  Thus, they face punishment from God.

         The first message Amos has is for Damascus, the capital of ancient Aram—now modern Syria.  Aram is located northeast of Israel.  In verse 3—that phrase “For three sins, even for four” is simply a way of saying for many sins, not just one or two.  These people will be punished.  The specific sin, which has evoked God’s wrath, is 3b—“She threshed Gilead, the part of Israel east of the Jordan River.  This incident is described in 2 Kings 13.  Hazael and his army committed multiple atrocities against the Jewish people.  The Aramites showed no more respect for the Jews than a threshing machine does for grain.  Because of that, Hazeal’s descendents including his son Ben-Hadad, will experience God’s judgment.  Their kingdom would fall.  This prophecy comes true when the Assyrians conquer Damascus and herd its people to the city or Kir, an event recorded in 2 Kings 16:9.

          Next on the list (v. 6-8) is Gaza and three other cities in Philistia.  Today we still have Gaza strip and some claim the word Palestine is derived from Philistine.  This area is southwest of Israel.  The sin on which Amos focuses is slave trade.  1:6b—“She took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom.”  Apparently the Philistines raided villages in Judah, captured and sold them as slaves to the Edomites.    This blatant disregard from human freedom and dignity incurs God’s wrath.  The Philistine city’s world became totally destroyed.  That is just what happened over 100 years later when Philistia was conquered by the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar.

   The third prophecy (v. 9-10), is against Tyre, the most important city in Phonecia.  This area is north of Israel and is now known as Lebanon.  Like Gaza, capturing and selling slaves was the evil which the Lord singles out.  However, the sin of Tyre is worse.  They 1:9b—“sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding the treaty of brotherhood.”  The slave commerce violated a treaty made years before between King Solomon and Hiram, the King of Tyre.  Israel and Phonecia had been allies, but now there had been betrayal.  Thus God will punish Tyre and it will soon fall to the Assyrians.  They will regain their independence, but then Nebuchadnezzar will besiege the city.  Eventually Phonecia will be conquered by the Greeks, under Alexander the Great.

          Next, (v. 11-12) is Edom, which is southeast of Israel.  The sin, which the Lord points to is 1:11--“He pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion because his anger raged continually.”  Edom is another name for Esau, Jacob’s brother.  The Edomites were cousins of the Israelites, but didn’t get along at all.  There had been an almost continual feud for over a thousand years.  They were a constant thorn in the side of Israel.  Because of that, God says He will destroy their cities.  In about 30 years, they would be conquered by the Assyrians and later would fall to an Arab tribe known as the Nabateans.

          The 5^th nation to face God’s judgement (13-15) is Ammon.  This is the area east of Israel;  the capital was Rabbah.  Rabbah is now called Amman and is the capital of modern Jordan.  These people will experience God’s wrath 1:13 because they “ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead.”  We don’t know when this happened, but  perhaps when Israel was occupied in battle against Aram.  The Ammonites invaded the eastern part of Israel and attacked women whose husbands were away at war.  This horrible, inhumane atrocity clearly merited God’s judgment and it would come.  Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the city of Rabbah, take many Ammonites captive and Arab tribes would come and take possession of the land.  The Ammonite kingdom would be no more.

          The 6^th judgment (2:1-3) is spoken against Moab.  This territory is southeast of Israel, located between Ammon and Edom.  The crime that the Lord points to as the reason for His wrath is verse 1, “Burning the bones of the kingdom of Edom.”  This phrase means either to burn the corpse or skeletal remains.  In that culture this was seen as desecrating the dead.  Burning a king’s body would be an atrocity against a whole nation.  It is likely this event occurred around the time Israel, Judah and Edom were allies in a war against Moab, an event recorded in 2 Kings 3.  The Lord will not let this wicked deed go unpunished.  Verse 2—“Moab will go down in great tumult against war cries and the blast of the trumpet.”  The Assyrians and Babylonians would both conquer Moab and then, Arab tribes would come in and take the land.

          Six nations surrounding Israel would all experience God’s judgement because of their evil deeds.  When the Jewish people heard Amos’ prophecy, there was probably some applause and high fives.  The Lord was going to take vengeance on the enemies who had harassed and tormented them for years.  However, this euphoria would be short lived.  The next part of Amos’ prophecy (which we will explore next week) tells of the Lord’s impending judgement upon Judah and Israel.  Tonight we will focus on God’s punishment of six enemy nations that surround Israel.  There are two things that jump out to me as I read this passage.

#1. - God holds us accountable for how we treat others.  As the Lord identifies the various sins of those surrounding Israel, the focus is not on failing to honor and serve God, but on mistreating other people.  God is going to punish them not for breaking the first great commandment, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”, but for violating the second, “Love your neighbor as yourself;” These people were guilty of failing to do both, but it is their actions toward others, especially the people of Israel that evokes God’s wrath.  This is a powerful reminder to us that God cares about how we treat others.  You might say, “Wait a minute, Pastor,  I may not be the nicest person on this planet, but I sure don’t do the kind of things that we read about in Amos.”  I’m certain that you don’t do those things to that degree.  If you did, you would be locked up, but I suspect we all do those kinds of things sometime. 

   These atrocities against innocent people grew out of a view that other human beings are simply objects to be used however one likes, even if it means finding pleasure in another’s pain.  This still happens.  Children are sexually abused in their own homes.  The abuse of Iraqi prisoners and the abuse inflicted by Muslim terrorists are both examples of people being treated as objects.  There are also reality TV shows where viewers apparently find pleasure in being able to see someone in pain.  I am afraid every human being has the capacity to act in an inhumane way.  The enslavement of others is rooted in a belief that money is more important than people.  Do you think there are people today who believe that?  Yes, there are people intent on getting ahead financially and they don’t care who they step on to get there.  Betrayal is still a common sin, though I am sure no one here has ever broken his or her word to a family member or friends.  Each of us probably has a story about how a family member or friend has let us down. 

          Friends, my point is that people today often don’t treat others, as they should.  We don’t always treat others, as we should.  When that happens, God doesn’t like it.  There are folks, maybe some you have met, who think because they go to church every Sunday or give a bit of money to the church, that the Lord is pleased with them, even thought they treat people like dirt.  God is not pleased.  If there is anyone around us, a family member, a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend, even an enemy that we have been treating as anything less than a human being made in the image of God, it is sin, a sin that God hates, a sin of which we better repent.  Oh I know, if you are like me, you are probably thinking, “Yes, that’s true, but my particular situation is different.”  No, it’s not.  The Lord is very clear about this.  We are to strive to love others—our neighbors, even our enemies, even that one person we have such a hard time getting along with, as we love ourselves.  If we don’t do that, God will hold us accountable.  How exactly, I’m not sure.  I do know that I don’t want to find out.

  #2.  God holds people accountable even if they have never seen a Bible.  The people in these 6 nations were not guilty of breaking the Old Testament law, but of violating their conscience’.  They did not have a Bible.  There had been no Moses or any other true prophet speaking God’s word to them.  The Lord had never specifically told them that the things they were doing were wrong.  Yet, God is going to punish them.  Is that fair?  Yes, it is.  It is fair because they should have known better.  They have no excuse.  The bloodshed, the slavery, the betrayal, the murder of pregnant women—these are all things they knew were wrong, but did them anyway.  Thus, they face God’s judgement, not because they have disobeyed specific commands God had given in His Word, but because they violated the law that is written on the heart of every human being.  The problem is not for example, that they have violated the dietary laws of Leviticus and eaten a ham sandwich.  They faced God’s judgement because they did things even they knew were wrong.

   In the first chapter of the Book of Romans, the apostle Paul says that both Jews and Gentiles (anyone not a Jew) are equally responsible to God and equally guilty of failing to live as God desires.  Paul says the Jews were guilty because even though God had spoken to them in the Old Testament, the written Word of God, they had not followed those instructions.  The Gentiles were guilty because even though they had never had a chance to read the Bible, God had given every one of them a conscience, an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong.  Because they violated that conscience, Gentiles too, deserve God’s punishment.

    Romans 2:14-15 (New Living Translation) says, “when Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, instinctively follow that the law says, they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong.  They demonstrate that God’s law is written within them, for their consciences either accuse them or tell them what they are doing is right.”    So, as Paul says in verse 12,  “God will punish the Gentiles when they sin, even though they never had God’s written law.”  Next week we will see how the Jewish people were in trouble because they had disobeyed the written law that God had given to them.  In our text today, we see that these Gentile nations are in trouble because they have disobeyed their conscience.  So……. God’s decision to punish them is totally just and fair.

          One of the big questions that people both inside and outside the church seem to have, is about how God will deal with people who have not had an opportunity to read the Bible or to hear what it says.  Some say that God certainly accepts people from religions other than Christianity, since many on our planet have not even heard about Jesus Christ.  Others say “No, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus alone (Jn 14:6) is the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to God the Father except through Him.”  I think the latter is right.  The Bible seems clear on that part. 

However, our text reminds us that God doesn’t judge people on the basis of what they know.  Those who know nothing of the Bible, nothing of what Jesus has done, will be judged on whether they have been faithful to their own conscience.  The problem is as Paul spells out in Romans 3---it is questionable whether there is anyone, anywhere on the planet that has really been completely faithful to his or her own conscience.  Whether the standard is the Bible or the conscience, Paul says Romans 3:23—that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  The only way we can find salvation from the punishment for our sin that we all deserve is by God’s grace.   The Bible tells us that this grace is experienced through faith in Jesus Christ.  Romans 6:23 tells us that “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

          Friends, this means it is foolish to try to find any comfort in the idea that God is going to “go easy” on people who are basically ignorant of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am afraid we sometimes make that assumption, maybe even unconsciously.  A number of years ago when I was in exile in Western Canada I did a memorial service at a local funeral home.  The person who called me was someone I knew who happene to be married to the nephew of the husband of the daughter of the woman who had died. Don’t worry, I’m not sure I figured out exactly what the relationship was.  Anyway, this individual called me because no one else in the family knew a pastor or had any church background.  I don’t doubt that was the case.  At the end of the service, I asked them to say “The Lord’s Prayer” with me and probably 2 or 3 of the 50 people in the room seemed familiar with it.  Now, there is not great spiritual value in being able to say the Lord’s Prayer, but it did confirm to me that most of those folks had no clue about that the Bible teaches and what salvation through faith in Jesus is all about.    

          What really struck me, however, was my own complacency concerning this situation.  Yes, through my message I had attempted to clearly communicate the gospel message.  That was good.  Yet, I really did not feel the sense of urgency that should accompany a realization that many of the people there were without God and without hope in this world and unless something changes, are headed for eternal hell.  Was my complacency a result of a lack of compassion?  Did I not really care about what happens to those people as long as it doesn’t happen to me?  I suppose that maybe some of it.  Yet, I think a bigger problem is that I often don’t take the reality of God’s judgement as seriously as I should. 

          In the back of my mind there is sometimes the assumption that because God is merciful and loving, He is not going to deal harshly with people as we might think.  I would not count on that.  God is indeed gracious and loving, and He has the right to extend His grace to whomever He chooses.  If He wants to overlook someone’s sin, that is His call, not mine.  Keep in mind that only sins that God has told us He is going to overlook, the only sins He has promised to forgive are those committed by people who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  As Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, that is there is no one else but Jesus Christ, by which we must be saved.”      

          Friends, at least half the population of this planet, about 3 billion people are basically ignorant of what the Bible says.  Some of them are deep in an African jungle; some of them live next door.  Their ignorance is not an excuse.  God will not punish them for what they don’t know, but they will be punished for violating their own conscience and failing to treat God and other people, as they know they should.  Their only hope is the Gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Yet, because they are basically ignorant of what the Bible says, they don’t know about this marvelous salvation.  It is our job friends, to tell them.  As 2 Cor. 5:20 says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us.”

          The question is----are we doing our job?  As God enables, are we willingly helping those who are ignorant of the Gospel, whether they live on the other side of the globe or next door? Are we helping them learn of God’s amazing saving grace through Jesus Christ? 

   What your specific assignment is tonight, I’m not sure.  I do know that if you are a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, that God has an assignment for you.  Maybe your job is to give a ton of money to help missionaries bring the message of Jesus to people who have never heard of him.  Maybe your job is to be one of those missionaries.  Maybe your job is to tell a friend at work or school what the Lord has done is your life and what He will do in theirs.  Maybe your job is to invite your next door neighbor to come to church.  I don’t know.  What I do know is that people out there that don’t know about Jesus Christ will really have no excuse when they stand before God and that we really have no excuse for not sharing the gospel message whenever God gives us that opportunity.