Message:
Today we look at a farmer who stands on the Word of God and who takes on a King who has replaced the word of God with a lie.
It is really a David and Goliath kind of story but this farmer never throws a stone he just uses God’s word to cut this king down to size.
This farmer goes to the capital city right into the very Sanctuary of the King and tells the King that his days are numbered and that his kingdom is about to fall because the worship of God has been replaced by a false religion.
D.L. Moody said of this text that “we discover four things here…
There is one God
We are all accountable to Him
We must one day meet Him
We need preparation to meet Him” - Believers Bible Commentary- Amos 7
Saints we too live at a time when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is compromised by false religions that teach the traditions of men and idol worship instead of the truth of God. These false religions have their own kings as well.
These false religions have grown very large and very powerful over the years and some are even now manipulating events in Israel.
They have gained control over Sacred sites and made political and religious deals with Israel’s enemies while pretending to be friends.
All this may sound alarming to you but such events have been played out in the past when Israel was a Divided Nation. We will look at that past today.
The false religion of that time was one set up by Jews instead of Gentiles but it was no less evil or opposed to the Living God than what we see today.
In Amos time it was set up to keep the people of God distracted about the truth and power of God’s word and was in fact denying the people of their true birthright exchanging their true faith for a lie.
This took place at a time when Israel was a two nation state known as The Divided Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom was called Israel consisting of 10 Tribes and the Southern Kingdom was called Judah consisting of 2 Tribes.
Strange that today the world is trying to force Israel to become a two state nation again. We will see from the Book of Amos that it did not work then so why should we think that it will work now?
In Amos time the tribe of Benjamin and Judah made up the Southern Kingdom known as Judah that held on to Jerusalem and the Temple built by King Solomon but the King of Judah took liberties regarding the worship of God and sinned leading the people astray.
The Northern Kingdom was called Israel and was made up of the other 10 tribes.
God took issue with how both Kingdoms were failing to worship Him as they had been taught. God’s patience had run out and now it was time for God’s judgement.
To express His anger and His decision to judge the Northern Kingdom Israel God sent a man named Amos to each major town to tell them what was coming.
Amos was just a regular guy of his times not a prophet, not a preacher just a farmer who owned a sheep breeding business. But God called him and Amos obeyed.
He lived in a very small town that almost no one ever visited. It was so small and obscure that even the Google Map car couldn’t locate it. The town or village was named Tekoa.
God spoke to this man and called Amos to deliver a message to the King. Amos was a man set apart by God because Amos had a heart for God. He spoke plainly using everyday words to communicate God’s wrath. Amos started telling all the surrounding towns how God was going to judge them for their sin.
This actually appealed to the neighboring cities. They did not object to these other towns being taken to task until Amos showed up on their main street to repeat what God was going to do to them.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee said
“it was like the preacher who was preaching about a variety of sins one Sunday morning. He preached about the sin of drunkenness, and a woman gave out a loud “Amen! He preached about the sin of smoking and she Amen-ed again. Then when he started preaching against the sin of chewing tobacco, she sifted her wad of tobacco to the other cheek and grumbled… Now he’s quit preaching and has gone to meddling.” Thru the Bible Commentary – Dr. J.V. McGee – Amos 7
God used Amos as a plumb line to call the people back from their collective sin and idolatry but the people refused to listen. Amos was meddling. Israel was doing well at this time. It was very prosperous and lots of people were getting rich.
The poor were being neglected and treated badly and slavery had become popular again.
They replaced the worship of God with golden calf’s.
1 Kings 12:28
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
They created a new priesthood and religious services all built around a false religion to distract the people and keep them from going to Jerusalem like they were supposed to. Then Amos shows up and challenges everything that they are doing wrong.
The High Priest of this false religion twists the words of Amos and tells the King that Amos is threatening to kill the King and that Israel will be led into captivity. This does not stop Amos from proclaiming God’s judgement on Israel and he includes a prophecy against the High Priest Amaziah as well.
In the next chapters we see God back up the warning He had Amos proclaim.
Fearful earthquakes begin, darkness covers the earth during the daylight hours, and the cries of mourning can be heard from every house.
People now long to hear the word of God but it is withheld from them. God sends them famine and drought you might call it divine climate change.
War breaks out all around them and there is no escape multitudes die.
But God saves a remnant of Jacob’s seed and promises to restore them once again.
Today the Jews are looking to the time when God will be worshiped by Israel once again and Jerusalem will be the center of that worship. But just as in the days of Amos a false religion will replace the true worship.
Saints that time is fast approaching and we need to call people to repentance now.
Do you know someone caught up in one of those false religions?
Show God that you can be a fearless farmer like Amos be willing to warn those all around us that it’s time to get right with the Lord before His wrath is poured out on our sinful generation.
Turn to Jesus today – Amen.
