Sin Judged, God’s People Sustained

Amos 8:1 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: There shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, Even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, Making the ephah small, and the shekel great, And falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes; Yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, And every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; And it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, And baldness upon every head; And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, And the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, And say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; And, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; Even they shall fall, and never rise up again. 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: And cut them in the head, all of them; And I will slay the last of them with the sword: He that fleeth of them shall not flee away, And he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; Though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, Thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: And I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5 And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, And all that dwell therein shall mourn: And it shall rise up wholly like a flood; And shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, And hath founded his troop in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, And poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name. 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, Like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, Which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, And close up the breaches thereof; And I will raise up his ruins, And I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, Which are called by my name, Saith the Lord that doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; And the mountains shall drop sweet wine, And all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, And they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, Saith the Lord thy God.

1. The end is coming Amos 8:1 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

2. God shows Amos that He is bringing judgment on His people

3. He has been merciful and given them time but now is time for judgment Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts: And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

4. Their music is going to turn into screams of pain with all the death around them Amos 8:3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: There shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

5. God is angry with their sin

6. They used their businesses to take advantage of the poor Amos 8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, Even to make the poor of the land to fail,

7. They hated the fact that religion got in the way of their business Amos 8:5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, Making the ephah small, and the shekel great, And falsifying the balances by deceit?

8. The new moon got in the way of their selling

9. The sabbath hindered their business

10. They cheated the people with their false scales

11. They sold junk for wheat Amos 8:6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes; Yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

12. They foreclosed on the poor just to get their money

13. God will not forget their sin and abuses Amos 8:7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

14. Horrible earthquakes will come Amos 8:8 Shall not the land tremble for this, And every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; And it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

15. The land will tremble and rise up like in a flood

16. Everyone will be in mourning

17. The heavens will be affected Amos 8:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in the clear day:

18. All joy will be turned to sadness Amos 8:10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, And baldness upon every head; And I will make it as the mourning of an only son, And the end thereof as a bitter day.

19. Sooner or later sin gets judged

20. God hates sin and sin has consequences

21. Sin hurt people, makes us victims

22. We have victory through the Lord Jesus Christ

23. Sin has no dominion over you as a believer Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

24. You decide to yield to sin or not to Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

25. Sin can not win unless we allow it

26. We are judged to not be condemned

27. We live with the consequences of our sins

28. In all the tragedy, God will quit speaking to His people Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

29. God has been available and working in their lives

30. He turns and says that He will no longer be there

31. They will seek Him and not find Him

32. There comes a point in your life when God gives you over to the sin you so love Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord: 30 They would none of my counsel: They despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices. 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, And shall be quiet from fear of evil.

33. God’s people were not hearing His Word

34. That is why we strive to preach His Word

35. Our goal is to bring the book Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

36. We read it and pay attention to what it says Nehemiah 8:3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

37. Our goal is to cause God’s people to understand God’s Word Nehemiah 8:7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

38. So we read distinctly from the Word of God Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

39. Then we give the sense and cause God’s people to understand the reading

40. The sin of Samaria Amos 8:13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, And say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; And, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; Even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

41. They mixed God’s truth with the world

42. They brought in idol worship to the worship of God

43. They followed a model of worship that was popular with the people instead of God

44. Our desire is to hear from God

45. We do not want entertainment

46. We do not look for stories and jokes but for truth

47. We come to church to hear from God and what He has said in His Word

48. God, Himself, is bringing the judgment Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: And cut them in the head, all of them; And I will slay the last of them with the sword: He that fleeth of them shall not flee away, And he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

49. God says that He will slay

50. People will not be able to run away from Him Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; Though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:

51. You can’t go high enough to escape

52. You can’t crawl into a hole deep enough to getaway

53. When God starts this judgment, no one will be able to get away Amos 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

54. God has decided that they will suffer and they will Amos 9:4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, Thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: And I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

55. The point that all should learn is that He is God Amos 9:5 And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, And all that dwell therein shall mourn: And it shall rise up wholly like a flood; And shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, And hath founded his troop in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, And poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

56. God is going to destroy the sinful kingdom that has done exactly what the worldly nations around them have done Amos 9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; Saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

57. God is sifting out the weeds, the bad seed, the filth to find those that love Him Amos 9:9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, Like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

58. God is judging His people, the nation of Israel

59. He is removing the false worship

60. He is finding out the false worshipers

61. He is cleansing His nation of the sin that permeates them

62. He is not through with them but He needs to call them back to Him and who He is

63. They will know that God is real and that He is at work in their midst

64. God will restore Israel Amos 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, And close up the breaches thereof; And I will raise up his ruins, And I will build it as in the days of old:

65. God is not getting rid of Israel but preparing to work in them.

66. He will raise up and build

67. He will bring them back from their captivity Amos 9:14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, And they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

68. He will cause them to have great success once again

69. He will put them back in their land and they will never be removed again Amos 9:15 And I will plant them upon their land, And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, Saith the Lord thy God.

70. Remember that God always keeps His promises, He cannot lie Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

71. So in this story, we see God blessing His people

72. Then they get used to the blessings and forget God

73. He calls them to Himself but they ignore Him

74. He sends judgment but they do not respond

75. He will send great tribulation and they will be purged and respond

76. He will establish them, the nation of Israel, again

77. God will keep His word to the nation of Israel and He will do the same to us

78. You can read the Bible and know that it is true

79. What it says can be trusted because it is the Word of God

80. We will believe God and what He has given us

81. Great lessons to take home

82. God is in charge and at work in the world, our country, your life

83. He knows the end of things and will bring it about

84. He judges sin and sin never is good or right

85. He is at work in the affairs of men

86. Realize that in this passage of Scripture, you are seeing future events

87. Right now, God is at work offering grace

88. Soon there will be a time of horrible tribulation

89. The heavens will be affected

90. The earth will quake

91. Men will die by the millions

92. In this time of tribulation, God will prepare His people once again

93. He will give them back their land and fulfill all His promises to them

94. He is still giving an opportunity to be saved and to come to know Him

95. Do not get caught up in religion without Christ

96. Do get into His Word and know what He says and not what men might say

97. God gives grace and time for you to respond

98. He has been moving in your life

99. He has offered you the truth

100. You may reject it but you will do so at your peril

101. Today God is still at work calling you to salvation, will you believe Him?