AMOS – The Roar of the Lord
#4 – There’s Still Time
Amos 3:3-15
Rev. John Hannem,
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It is said that the pessimist looks and thinks the glass is half-empty, the optimist thinks it is half full and the realist knows that soon he will have to wash the glass. That may be true, but most of us, even if we are kind of pessimistic ourselves like to be around people who are optimists. Our culture values positive thinking. Perhaps that is why the OT prophets such as Amos are seldom at the top of the list of our favorite books in the Bible.
If you have been here for the first three sermons in this series you might be thinking, “That Pastor John is a real pessimist.” Perhaps you thought “All this talk of God’s judgment and punishment kind of turns me off. Maybe I need to find a church where they are a little more positive about things.” If something like that has been going through your mind, please don’t bail on us, at least not yet. I admit, the purpose of the church is not simply to make people feel good but I have heard people say that the sole reason they go to church, is to feel good. If that is your motive, you will probably be disappointed here for the next few Sunday nights. A big part of why this church exists is to help people understand, love and live God’s truth. As that happens, you will, by God’s grace experience more joy than you ever thought possible. But you won’t always feel good, because some truth is a bit painful. As we go through the OT book of Amos, our focus is on some of those more painful truths. The themes of sin, guilt, judgment and repentance run all through the book. I can assure you, however, that in the months ahead, we will be exploring parts of the Bible that seem a little more optimistic and probably will make us feel better.
Yet, amidst the darkness and gloom of Amos’ prophecy there are still beams of light, and rays of hope, that shine forth. One is simply that God’s judgment upon His people is impending. It is about to happen, but it has not happened yet. The lion is still roaring; he has not yet attacked. It would be another 30 years, 722 BC. before the Assyrian army would conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Since Amos is warning the people of what will happen in the future, the clear implication is that there is still time, still time for the people to repent, turn to the Lord and in someway experience His grace. That message, turn from your sin to the Lord, is one that God’s people in every place and at every time need to hear, including those of us in this room. Our text is Amos 3:3-15. Pray that God would use His Word to impact our lives today.
Our text begins with a series of rhetorical questions. 3:3 ”Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” No. 3:4 “Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey? Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing? I don’t know a lot about lions, but the answer to those two questions is No.
3:5 “Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth where there is nothing to catch? Again, Amos knows more about trapping than I do, and the answer is No. 3:6 “When the trumpet sounds in a city do not the people tremble? In the ancient world the trumpet served as kind of a warning siren, so the obvious answer is yes—people are afraid when they hear the trumpet sound. “When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it or as the NLT reads, “Isn’t it because the Lord plans it?” Though some folk may not want to agree, Amos, and I think the rest of the Bible, says “yes”. Everything that happens on this planet, good, bad or ugly is part of God’s plan. Lots of bad and ugly things are about to fall on the nation of
With that in mind. Amos adds 3:7 “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. If the Lord intends to bring judgment on His people, it only makes sense that He will warn them through his spokesman. 3:8 ”The lion has roared, who will not fear? The sovereign Lord has spoken, who can but prophecy. This takes us back to chapter 1:2 that talked of the roar of the Lord announcing impending judgment. That is indeed a reason to be afraid. When God speaks, a true prophet can not be silent. Even though the people may not know what they are going to hear; even though proclaiming God’s Word may make a lot more enemies than friends, a prophet who is really serving the Lord, cannot dilute or modify the message. Amos did not have an easy task, but because he knows that God has spoken to him, he will not shrink back from saying what the Lord has called him to say.
That is, of course, what God has called pastors today to do as well. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to gain sympathy by telling you what a tough job a pastor has. I sometimes hear colleagues whining about that; I think it’s ridiculous. I consider it a great privilege and a joy to preach God’s Word each Sunday and serve as the Pastor of this church as I have done for almost 7 years.
For me to be faithful to the Lord, I need to make sure I proclaim to you both the promises and warnings that God gives us in the Bible. I must keep a balance in doing that. If I focus on only the promises or only the warnings, I may be accurately telling you what part of the Bible says, but I will be guilty of distorting the Word of God. A big reason we are spending this Fall going through the Book of Amos is because I believe God wants me to be faithful in sharing some of the warnings of scripture with you.
Now, much of what God says to us in the Bible is a very positive message. This book is full of great news. Mercy and love flow from its’ pages. It tells us that no matter who we are, what we have done or how many times we have done it, God graciously forgives all those who place their trust in Jesus Christ. Yet, as we are seeing in Amos, there is another theme that runs through the Bible as well. It is summed up in Exodus 34:6,7 “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin….yet, he will not let the guilty go unpunished. HE WILL NOT LET THE GUILTY GO UNPUNISHED.
Yes, that means those who never receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, who as the Bible puts it, “Die in their sins”, will experience God’s eternal judgment in Hell. It also means, as we have seen in Amos, that when God’s people are unfaithful to Him, they can experience His judgment. When we as Christians persist in sin, when we rebel against the Lord, we too experience God’s punishment or discipline in our lives. The good news is that there is still time for us…….turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. I’m always delighted today to hear how someone turns to Jesus Christ after they have lived the normal 70-80 years of life. One man I knew in
Maybe you are someone who has gone to church for a long time; you trusted in Jesus as your savior many years ago and for a while your faith was something that really excited you. As the years went by, other things began to absorb your time and energy. Maybe it was a career, which became your focus. You worked long and hard trying to get ahead, and being involved at church no longer fits into your schedule. Maybe it was your kids and all their activities or other family events, which consumed almost all of your “free time” so there was little left for God. Maybe traveling, building a home, some sport or hobby became your focus and you really had little passion left for the Lord.
For whatever reason you have kind of put Jesus Christ on the back burner of your life, a place He clearly doesn’t belong. The good news is that there is still time; it’s not too late. If you repent, confess your sin of neglecting the Lord and turn to Him, you will receive free and full forgiveness and will be restored to a marvelous relationship of love with our heavenly Father. If you are a living, breathing creature, there’s still time; it is not too late for you to turn to the Lord.
Let’s go back to our text. In verses 9-15, Amos spells out 3 reasons why the people of
1. The first involves the mistreatment of one another; this was happening in
Now, it would be foolish to claim that things within the church today or even in North American culture have sunk to the level it had in ancient
Frequently, non-Christians are more willing to forgive and accept those who have made mistakes than Christians are. A teen age girl who gets pregnant, a man who has been arrested for drunk driving, or a woman who has gone through a divorce may find that his/her friends who don’t go to church are more sympathetic and more helpful than the “friends” who do go to church. Some of you may be thinking, “But Pastor, those things are not just mistakes, they are sins and we have to stand against sin.” Yes, we do. But when someone repents of any these sins we need to forgive, help and encourage that individual. What if the person has not acknowledged that what he/she has done is wrong? Well, then we need to confront them. Only after we have done that, only after that person refuses to repent of sin, do we have the right to make any type of judgment.
Friends, I have seen Christians treat each other in some very nasty ways. Malicious gossip, angry outbursts and long standing grudges are found in many churches. Folks who do not go to church may not treat each other any better, but there should not even be a contest. We as Christians, Jesus says, (Jn 13:35) should be known by everyone around us for our love for each other. We need to repent whenever our actions or an attitude toward other believers is anything less than loving.
2. The second sin for which
A number of years ago, Neil Postman wrote a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death. He talked about how a desire to be entertained has led to a shallowness in our culture. For many folk, nothing is more important than having to relax and do what they want to do.
3. The third sin for which
Tragically, the same thing is happening in the church today. As we talked about last week, there are Christians today supposedly worshiping the goddess Sophia. Many professing Christians have embraced various parts of new age teaching. Some congregations see themselves as “affirming congregations” which is simply a nice way of saying they don’t believe the sin of homosexuality is wrong at all. Some congregations are enthralled with the Gnostic gospels, books about Jesus that are not in the Bible, which present a supposedly kinder, gentler Jesus who accepts people as they are and endorses many different paths to God. Churches and individual Christians who reject the authority of the Bible and embrace these various distortions and corruptions of the Christian faith need to repent.
Friend, just like the nation of
This week someone told me that the Lord had used last Sunday’s evening sermon to convict them about the amount of time they spend reading and studying the Bible. That was not something we specifically talked about last week, but it was something that the Lord spoke to this individual about. God may be calling you to repent of what seems like a big sin, or of something that seems like a real small thing. You might need to deal with a sin that you have committed countless times over many years, or with one thing you did this evening before you came to church. It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that if God’s spirit is convicting you of sin, you need to repent. This simply means to:
Acknowledge that what you have done or are doing is wrong..... Ask God to forgive you
and by God’s grace resolve in your mind and heart to stop committing that sin and then finally, turn to the Lord and ask for His help and His strength to enable you to be free of that sin.
Maybe you are thinking, Pastor, I’ve done that before, but I’m still struggling. That’s ok—do it again. No matter how many times we keep coming back to God to ask for forgiveness, we can be certain He will never turn us away. The promise of Jn 1:9 is always true. (If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
There is still time, but later may be too late. - #370 – I’ll Live For Him