00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist, now known as the father of psychoanalysis,
00:00:06 --> 00:00:15 believed that all of the world's problems came from the repression of deep desires for pleasure.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 All that to do with sex was his idea.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:26 And therefore, for him, the villains in society are the repressive moral gatekeepers.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 And particularly, he had his sights on the Christian church.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 People need to be free to do whatever they want to do.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:43 Unlike Freud, however, the Christian worldview doesn't locate the problems of this world in one part of the world or in one group of people in the world.
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 That is, Christianity doesn't blame religion for all the world's problems.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 It doesn't blame Muslim terrorists.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 It doesn't blame atheists.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:52 It doesn't blame big business.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 It doesn't blame immigrants.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 It doesn't blame Donald Trump or anything like that.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:04 It locates the problem of this world, the universal problem, as sin.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:08 It's rejection of God, the creator God.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:16 And it locates a solution to the world's problems in the same God's gracious actions towards his rebellious creation.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:24 That is, the Christian worldview declares both a universal solution and a universal problem, or a universal problem with a universal solution.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:40 And in this series in Amos, which we're launching into now, I'll be mentioning some core Christian beliefs that are connected to that worldview, which are repulsive to the average human ear.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:53 Sin, divine judgment, and in fact, even God's solution to the problem, that being the person of Jesus, are some of the most offensive elements of the Christian faith today.
00:01:53 --> 00:01:59 A good number of our society still believe in God.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 So don't believe the new atheists who say that most people are atheists.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 That's not true.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 Most people believe in God.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 Four out of five people in this world still believe in God.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:20 Most, however, have arrived in their own minds at a God of love who supports them no matter how they live.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 That's the job of God.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 His job is to support me.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 And so a survey of believers in the United States, this is Christian.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:34 These are Christian Bible-believing guys in the United States, 2006.
00:02:35 --> 00:02:41 Only 31.5% of them believed in a God who would actually hold people accountable.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:43 One third of them.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47 Two thirds of them, these are Bible-believing Christians in the United States.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 Two thirds of them came up with a concept that God's never going to hold us accountable.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 That's a God that they'd formed in their own minds.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 One person commented, I like to think of a kind God.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 A nice old man with a beard who wouldn't hurt anyone.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:09 The New Testament God who's a God of love and forgiveness and mercy and nice stuff.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 That's pleasant, isn't it?
00:03:12 --> 00:03:13 And that's a common view.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:18 It's like you've got the Old Testament God, he's kind of a bit nasty.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:23 So Richard Dawkins and all those kind of guys say, you know, God's just a bully.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 And then New Testament God, he kind of grew up.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:31 Kind of got over the nasty stuff and became a God of love in the New Testament.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:38 The question is, where do they get this concept that God is love?
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 Because you can't look at the world.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 And you can't look at history.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:50 And in fact, you can't even look at any of the major religions in this world and declare that God is love.
00:03:50 --> 00:04:00 There is no religion outside of biblical Christianity that says that God created this world out of love and out of delight.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:01 Not one.
00:04:01 --> 00:04:02 Christianity is the only one.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:08 The source of the idea that God is love is the Bible itself.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 There's no other source for that except Christian scriptures.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:26 And the Bible tells us that the God of love is also a God of judgment who will make all things in this world which has gone terribly wrong, will make it all right in the end.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:37 And I want to suggest as we launch into this series that until we understand the fierce judgment and anger of God,
00:04:37 --> 00:04:43 we will never grasp the beauty and the wonder and the depth of his grace, his mercy and his love.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:50 Minimize the justice of God and you minimize the grace of God.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 Gut one, you gut the other.
00:04:56 --> 00:05:03 See, what if the nature of God is to be deeply moved to anger by injustice?
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 Wouldn't you actually want that?
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07 I mean, you look at this world, the messiest world.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:14 You know, when you stop to think of it, don't you really want a God who is in fact enraged by the injustices in this world at the moment?
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 And that's the God we meet at the beginning of the book of Amos.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:22 The God who roars.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:22 Look at verse 2.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23 It says,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:28 The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:36 So the very first thing that comes out of Amos' mouth is an image of God who is a lion on the prowl.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 A lion who's roaring.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:48 Now, lions can be 1.2 meters high, 3 meters long, weigh 200 kilos, can run it for a short distance up to 80 kilometers an hour,
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 and have got paws the size of shovels.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 They're meant to be a fearsome beast.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 They are the king of the beasts.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 And when you're confronted with one, awe is the picture.
00:06:01 --> 00:06:07 A number of years ago, I was in Singapore, and I was visiting the baboons in the, not specifically visiting them.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:13 I was going through the zoo, and I came to the baboon section.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:19 And I, I shouldn't really tell you this, but anyway, the first thing I did was I found this banana.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 And so I got this banana, and I hooked it into the baboons.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:29 And when you've got 60 baboons and one banana, it's, it's entertainment is what it is.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:30 It's fantastic.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 But anyway, I moved on from that, and there's this baboon.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 And now baboons have got big teeth, and they're a fairly fearsome kind of beast, right?
00:06:38 --> 00:06:43 This baboon is there behind the glass, big glass panel, this sort of viewing area,
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 and this baboon's sitting there in the corner doing what baboons do, you know,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 licking itself or scratching itself or something.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:53 And so I get down, and I get eye contact with this baboon.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:59 And I'm just staring it down just to see what will happen and see whether or not I can get this thing stirred up at all.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:04 And, and it's kind of glancing at me, and I'm staring at it, and it's glancing at me.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05 And it's going back, doing it, it's glancing at me.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:09 And then all of a sudden, it just stopped, and it just, I got eye contact with this baboon.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:14 And all of a sudden, I don't know what it did, but it snapped, and it just launched itself at the glass,
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 right to me where I was, and bang, it hit the glass, and I fell backwards,
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 much to the amusement of this Japanese tourist which were all there.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 I was scared of baboon.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:31 So a couple of weeks later, I'm at Taronga Zoo, and I thought I'd do the same thing for the lions and see what happens.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 And a lion's walking past, so I'm trying to get eye contact with the lion and stare it down.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:39 And just in one moment, it stopped, and it looked at me.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 And it's like this far away from me through the glass.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 And I'm like, okay, it's time to go and see the tigers now.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:49 You know, like, I was so, I mean, there's a big, thick panel of glass there.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 And even in that moment, it's like, oh my goodness, my heart started pounding.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 These are fearsome animals.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 So you can imagine, you know, Amos here, he's not a professional prophet.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:07 Very first verses tell us that he's a shepherd, and he's out there as a shepherd, taking care of his sheep.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:13 And he hears a lion roar in the distance.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 And it's dark.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 He's got his sheep, and he's armed with a really big, effective weapon, like a big stick.
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 And in that moment, he gets scared.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 He gets scared.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:33 That's the picture of God that we're meant to have as we launch into Amos.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:41 See, Amos is here minding his own business down in the southern village of Tekoa,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:47 looking after his sheep and his fig trees, and God pushes him into action.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 He's not a professional prophet.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:55 Pastoral search committee looking for a senior pastor would not be very interested or impressed by this dude's credentials.
00:08:55 --> 00:09:00 But God doesn't see what we see.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 His job is to preach a message of God's judgment to the north.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:10 Now, it's really helpful as we jump into these early parts of Amos to understand that at this point,
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 we're dipping into the Old Testament story towards the end of it.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 Halfway through the story, the kingdom of Israel has split.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 After King Solomon, there's a civil war because of the sin of Solomon.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:28 And instead of a united Israel, what we now have is a split Israel.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:32 There's Israel to the north and there's Judah to the south.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 Kind of like Tasmania and the rest of Australia kind of thing.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:41 Little guys down the south who've got a chip on their shoulder and the rest of the country.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:48 Now, except in this case, there's blood which has been spilt and there's a simmering tension.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 Not right at this particular moment.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 They've had a relatively amount of peace for about 20 years.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 But right here, there's still this simmering tension.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 So the two tribes down to the south, they're known as Judah.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:02 They're only small.
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 There's only two of them of the original 12.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 But they've got the temple and they've got Jerusalem.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:12 And 10 tribes in the north, they've kept naming rights.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:13 You know, they haven't got the temple, they haven't got Jerusalem.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:14 They've got naming rights.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 So they're still called Israel.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 And they've got this breakaway altar at Bethel where they bring their sacrifices.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 And we'll pop back into that in the coming weeks.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:34 And so into this simmering tension comes Amos from the south with a word especially for Bethel and the northern tribes.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:43 He would not have been well received coming from the south, a shepherd and a shepherd from this little village.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 But Amos is no fool.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:51 He almost has their attention right from the very beginning as he launches into this.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:58 Because what he does is he starts to pronounce judgment on Israel's neighbors.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 He mentions six of them in the first couple of chapters.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:03 And there's a repeated pattern.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 Each judgment starts exactly the same way.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:10 Chapter 1 in verse 3, verse 6, verse 9, 11, 13.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:15 And chapter 2, verse 1 with this is what the Lord says.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19 This is the God proclaiming judgment on these nations.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 The God that these nations did not know.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:28 And in each judgment, we see God saying,
00:11:28 --> 00:11:34 For three sins of whoever it is, even for four, I will not relent.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:44 In other words, God has been keeping a very careful record and account of all the sins of these nations.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 He's got them numbered.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 The evidence is all there.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 He sees it all and nothing escapes his attention.
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 And then comes, in each case, a description of their sins.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 So Damascus, they're treating people as if they have no worth.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 Gaza, treating people for profit.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 Tyre, breaking a word against a brother in order to use him for profit.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:10 Edom, unrestrained hatred and spite towards a brother.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 Ammon, ambition and uncontrolled violence against the helpless.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:20 What's described here in these six nations is war crimes and human rights abuses.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22 Take Damascus.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 We'll just pick on Damascus for a moment.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 What's Damascus done?
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 The second half of verse 3 says,
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:42 Back in those days, these have these big, heavy machines that had these iron teeth,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:50 which were curved upwards, that were dragged across the harvested crops.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:56 And the idea was that it would split out the grains from the straw and all the other rubbish.
00:12:56 --> 00:13:06 And the picture here is what's happened is that Damascus or the Arameans have got these huge bits of gear.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:12 They've hooked them up to their beasts and they've laid their captives,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:18 their enemies' prostate on the ground and they've dragged these machines across the top of them
00:13:18 --> 00:13:22 and slaughtered them in the most despicable way imaginable.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 It's an atrocity.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:26 It's a war crime.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 There's no mercy.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 These people were treated like objects.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 And so what will God do about it?
00:13:36 --> 00:13:36 Verse 4,
00:13:36 --> 00:13:41 I will send fire upon the house of Haziel that will consume the fortress of Ben-Hadad.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 I will break down the gate of Damascus.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 I will destroy the king who is in the valley of Avon.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:50 All six of these nations are guilty of war crimes against humanity.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 And the penalty is in every case, it says God will destroy them by fire.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:59 It's an Old Testament picture of the judgment of God.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 It's normally judgment of God in the Old Testament is normally described as fire.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:07 So if you're looking at a map here,
00:14:08 --> 00:14:17 we'd notice that every one of Israel's neighbors is going to be judged by God and it's going to burn.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 And the picture here for Israel coming out of the mouth of Amos is,
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 guys, you're going to look around and you're just going to see smoke everywhere.
00:14:24 --> 00:14:25 They're going to burn.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:27 You're going to be judged.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:33 And Israel would have been listening to this from this prophet from the south and gone,
00:14:33 --> 00:14:38 actually, that's great.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 We've had problems with these people for ages.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:43 Good on you, God.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:44 Yes.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46 Wicked pagans.
00:14:47 --> 00:14:48 Destroy them all.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50 Let justice be done.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:57 At the very least, these pronouncers are reminded that God is sovereign over all nations and all people.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 Even though they didn't have the word of God,
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 they weren't without moral responsibility,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 even though they didn't have direct knowledge of God,
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 but they did have direct accountability to God.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 Even though they might not have the law of God written in tablets of stone,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 they did have the law of God written on their consciences.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 But that's not the case for Judah.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:29 You can maybe feel the crowd go just a little bit silent at this point in Amos 2, verse 4,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 when Amos says,
00:15:31 --> 00:15:35 For three sins of Judah, even for four,
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 I will not relent or I will not turn back my wrath.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 Now, Amos is probably most likely won over his audience at this point
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 until he starts,
00:15:46 --> 00:15:46 Judah?
00:15:46 --> 00:15:51 That's a little bit close to home.
00:15:54 --> 00:15:58 Israel expected God to be angry with the neighbours for all their atrocities,
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 but now he's talking about the people of God.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02 And look at the charges.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:08 You see, the human rights abusers get God riled, no matter who does it.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:09 But this is different.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:11 This bit's personal.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:16 Judah has the words of God's covenant and they have ignored it.
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 Back in Deuteronomy, God said to his people,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 Make sure that when I take you into the promised land,
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 that you don't go following other gods,
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 or I'm going to throw you out of the promised land, frankly.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 And look at what Judah's done.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 Chapter 2, verse 4,
00:16:31 --> 00:16:44 See, there's one thing that really angers God.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 It's when his covenant people,
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 his special people devote themselves to gods of wood and stone
00:16:50 --> 00:16:54 and gold and plastic and metal and brick and cement.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 When they become just like the people around them.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 Judah has had a history of God's revealed presence
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 and his mighty deeds in their midst.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05 They've got a history of it.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:10 They also have a history of the prophets who proclaim God's word to them.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 And yet what we see here is having God's word
00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 is no substitute for embracing God's word
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 and the God behind his word.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:22 Judah had it.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 They had the word of God, but they didn't embrace it.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 And God's going to judge Judah as well, just like the rest.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 Now, it must have been tempting, I think, at this point for Amos to go,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 that's the final point of my sermon.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 Must have been so tempted to stop here.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 If he did, he could have possibly been the most popular preacher in all the nation.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:49 And I think, potentially, Israel expected him to stop at this point too,
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 because they've heard a pronouncement at this point,
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 of seven nations.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:59 And the astute Israelite would know that the biblical number for completion
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 is the number seven.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 But the message of Amos, and in fact, the whole Bible,
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 is that no one misses out.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 2 Corinthians 5.10 says,
00:18:11 --> 00:18:26 You see, Amos had made the journey from Tekoa in the south up to the north,
00:18:27 --> 00:18:34 not primarily to bring a message of God's anger to all of Israel's neighbours,
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 but to bring it to Israel itself.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 The kind of things listed from chapter 2, verse 6 onwards,
00:18:41 --> 00:18:44 is exactly what God told them not to do.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 There's abuse of power.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 The first half of verse 6.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:48 Sorry, second half of verse 6.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 They sell the righteous for silver,
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 and the needy for a pair of sandals.
00:18:53 --> 00:19:01 The idea was that a sandal was used as a symbol of exchange in a property deal.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:04 That'd be pretty good, wouldn't it, nowadays?
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 You take your boot off, and here you go.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:06 I'll buy that house.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07 Here goes my shoe.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:08 It'd be awesome.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:15 And what it's saying here is that the poor were being exploited by the rich
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 in property deals and other financial transactions.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:21 Verse 7.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 They trampled on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 and denied justice to the oppressed.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:27 They abused power.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 Legal protection was only for the rich.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 And they thought that God didn't notice.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 They turned up to the altar each week.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 It's like they went to church week in and week out.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 They brought their offerings.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40 They sang their praises.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 They did their prayers.
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 And they thought that everything was okay.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 And look what happens in verse 7 while they are there.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 Second half verse 7.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 Father and son use the same girl and go and so profane my holy name.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 They lie down beside every altar on garments pledged, taken in pledge.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 In the house of their God, they drink wine taken as fines.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 It's a picture of debauchery.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 Debauchery at church.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:13 Deuteronomy says that if a poor man has to give his cloak over,
00:20:13 --> 00:20:18 the only cloak that he owns as a security for a debt,
00:20:19 --> 00:20:20 he owes a debt.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:23 And what he had to do is he had to take his coat off and give it to the bloke
00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 as a security for the debt.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:26 The word of God said in Deuteronomy,
00:20:26 --> 00:20:30 don't hang on to the cloak overnight because the bloke might get cold
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 and he's got nothing to sleep on.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 And here it is.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 It says that they kept it.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 And not only did they keep it,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 instead of returning it to the poor person,
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 they kept the cloaks
00:20:43 --> 00:20:48 and all the cloaks that they kept,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 all the ones that they confiscated from the poor people,
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 they piled them up
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 in front of the altar
00:20:54 --> 00:20:57 and father and son rolled around with prostitutes on them
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 so they didn't mess up their own jackets.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 It says here as well that Israel had silenced the prophets.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 They had mocked the vows of the Nazarites
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 who vowed not to drink alcohol,
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 not to cut their hair.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 Samson was one of those.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 And the Israelites laughed at those vows
00:21:20 --> 00:21:23 and they forced them to have alcohol.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 When the prophets spoke,
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 the Israelites said,
00:21:27 --> 00:21:27 we don't want to hear it.
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 We don't want to hear from God.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:32 And so verse 13,
00:21:33 --> 00:21:33 God says,
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 Israel is going to be flattened.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 Now then I will crush you
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 The swift will not escape.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 The strong will not muster their strength
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 and the warrior will not save his life.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 The archer will not stand his ground.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 The fleet-footed soldier will not get away
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 and the horseman will not save his life.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:55 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 declares the Lord.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 It's one thing for Israel to point the finger
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 at their neighbours and say,
00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 pagans, celebrate their judgment.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 This word is for them.
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 You see, privilege brings responsibility.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 Israel was in a very privileged position.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 God loved Israel in a way that he didn't love
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 the other nations around
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 and in a way that they certainly didn't deserve.
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 You see, the back story to all this
00:22:22 --> 00:22:23 is the covenant relationship
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 that God had established with Israel.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 It's described in Deuteronomy chapter 9.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 I'll read it to you.
00:22:30 --> 00:22:30 It says,
00:22:30 --> 00:22:54 It's not because of your righteousness
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 or your integrity
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 that you're going to take possession of this land,
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 but on account of the wickedness of these nations,
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 It's accomplished what he swore to your fathers,
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 Understand then,
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 it is not because of your righteousness
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 that the Lord your God is giving you this land,
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 good land to possess,
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 for you are a stiff-necked people.
00:23:18 --> 00:23:19 I want to make it really clear,
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 you're not better than anyone else.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 You're no different.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:24 And so the picture here
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 at the beginning of Deuteronomy
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 is that of a wedding ceremony
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 and it's a major mismatch.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:32 It's one of those weddings,
00:23:33 --> 00:23:36 which you may or may not have been to,
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 where the people are nodding
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 and prodding with each other
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 and whispering and going,
00:23:41 --> 00:23:45 What on earth does he see in her?
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 It's one of those kind of weddings.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:49 That's what's happening here.
00:23:49 --> 00:23:53 There is nothing special about Israel
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54 and yet God has,
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 in an incomprehensible way,
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 chosen to love these people.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 And it's this special love story
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 which stands behind what's written here
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 in chapter 3, verse 1.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 Hear this word,
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 people of Israel,
00:24:08 --> 00:24:10 the word of the Lord has spoken against you,
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 against the whole family.
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 I brought you up out of Egypt.
00:24:13 --> 00:24:16 You only have I chosen
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 of all the families of the earth.
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 Therefore, I will punish you for your sins.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24 God rescued them
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 and he loved them
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 and he'd been patient with them
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 with all of their waywardness.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:30 But he said,
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 Enough's enough.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:33 Enough's enough.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:40 It's hard for us to hear about a God like this.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 Though on the other hand,
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 we don't want a God
00:24:42 --> 00:24:44 who doesn't get rolled by rapists
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45 and people traffickers
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 and perpetrators of genocide
00:24:48 --> 00:24:48 and things like that.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 God's patience has run out for Israel
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 because of their disregard of each other.
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 So it's not just all the big crimes.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 It's not just war crimes
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59 and crimes against humanity.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 This is because of the way
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 they've treated each other.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 It's the way that they've treated
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 the poor and the oppressed.
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 How do you think Israel
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 responded to this message?
00:25:13 --> 00:25:15 They ignored it.
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 They actually ignored it.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:19 Why?
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 Because things were good
00:25:21 --> 00:25:21 and they just assumed
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 because things were good
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23 it was because God was blessing them.
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 Life was better than it had been
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 for a couple of hundred years.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 Religion was flourishing.
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 There was no...
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 I mean, it's not surprising.
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 Everyone wanted to be at church.
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 You know, it was...
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 Religion was flourishing.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:37 There was no military threats.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 Finances were fantastic.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 There was wealth.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 In fact, it was so wealthy
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 that people were buying
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 multiple holiday houses.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 We'll see that in the coming weeks.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 Thought they had God in their pocket
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 and they could live how they pleased.
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 We're the people of God.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 What's there to worry about?
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 And even when God sent his prophet
00:26:02 --> 00:26:02 to warn them,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 they would not listen.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 You can just imagine the response.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 Oh, Amos.
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 You're taking things a little bit too far.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:12 Come on, man.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 Loosen up.
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 No one believes in the judgment of God anymore.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17 This is 750 BC, man.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 Get with the times.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 Our grandparents believed that.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:20 Not nowadays.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:21 Yes.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:27 Here's a bit of serpent theology
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 that often infects our minds.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 It's the thinking that God won't do
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 what he says he will do.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 Remember Genesis 3,
00:26:35 --> 00:26:36 Garden of Eden.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 Serpent comes in
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 and attempts Eve to eat the fruit.
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 And she remembers God's warning
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 and says,
00:26:43 --> 00:26:43 No, no, no.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 If I do that,
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 I will die.
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 And the serpent mocks it.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 Ah, no.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:52 You're not going to die.
00:26:53 --> 00:26:53 Don't believe it.
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 God's not going to hold you accountable.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:59 He's a God who delivers on his promises
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 to bring not just mercy,
00:27:01 --> 00:27:02 but also to bring justice.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05 And he's not a God to be trifled with.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 In 734 BC,
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 Damascus was destroyed by the Assyrians.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 You can see that in 2 Corinthians 16.9.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 Gaza was destroyed in 734
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18 by the Assyrians as well.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 Judah was destroyed by Babylon
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 between 597 and 588 BC.
00:27:24 --> 00:27:27 Edom rejoiced at that point.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 They rejoiced at the fall of Judah,
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 but they fell to the Arabs
00:27:31 --> 00:27:32 in the 5th century.
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 Tyre thought it was impregnable.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 They had this little sort of city fortress
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 just off the coast.
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 Sort of sea was in between
00:27:42 --> 00:27:44 and they thought it was impregnable.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 Alexander the Great came along
00:27:45 --> 00:27:48 in 333 BC,
00:27:48 --> 00:27:50 built a ramp to Tyre over the ocean,
00:27:51 --> 00:27:51 walked over the walls
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 and destroyed the place.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 What happened to Israel?
00:27:57 --> 00:27:59 Israel was taken little by little
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 until the capital of Samaria
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 was all that was left.
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03 And then in 722 BC,
00:28:03 --> 00:28:06 28 years after Amos spoke,
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 the final judgment came.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:12 You can see that in 2 Kings 17.5 and 7.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:15 Tiglath-Pileser III.
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 They thought it was a good enough name
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 to name their children
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 in several generations.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 Tiglath-Pileser III,
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24 the Assyrian king,
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 came from the north.
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 He destroyed Israel.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 This is the man
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 who boasted one of his conquests
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 where he said,
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 I slit the wombs
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 of the pregnant women.
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 I gouged out the eyes
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 of the infants
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 and I cut the throats
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 of the young men.
00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 God handed Israel over
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 to Tiglath-Pileser III.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:48 Tens of thousands of Israelites
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 were violently driven
00:28:50 --> 00:28:50 from their homes,
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 taken into captivity,
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 and those people
00:28:53 --> 00:28:55 never re-entered world history again.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 Israel,
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 10 tribes of Israel,
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 destroyed, gone.
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 Never came back.
00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 God said he would do it
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 and he did 28 years later.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 I think what we're meant
00:29:05 --> 00:29:06 to get here from Amos
00:29:06 --> 00:29:07 is that this God
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 is not a safe one.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 It is unwise
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 to mistake God's patience
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 for his weakness
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14 or a lack of resolve.
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 Don't make the mistake
00:29:15 --> 00:29:16 of thinking he hasn't
00:29:16 --> 00:29:17 so he won't.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 Or I've got away with it
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 so I will get away with it.
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 Be careful
00:29:23 --> 00:29:26 of complacency.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29 The lion roars
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 and the prophet speaks.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:34 So let's
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35 us
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 who have the word of God
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 in front of us
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39 make sure we're listening.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 We should ask the question.
00:29:46 --> 00:29:47 We see it there
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 eight times.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 I will not relent.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 I will not relent.
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 I will not relent.
00:29:56 --> 00:29:56 That is,
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57 I will not turn back my wrath.
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58 I will not turn back my wrath.
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 You've got to ask yourself
00:29:59 --> 00:29:59 the question,
00:30:00 --> 00:30:00 is there any way
00:30:00 --> 00:30:01 that he possibly would
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03 or possibly could?
00:30:04 --> 00:30:05 What would it take
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 for God to relent?
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 What would it take
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 for him to turn
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 back his wrath?
00:30:11 --> 00:30:11 See,
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 in the death
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 and resurrection of Jesus,
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 we see that God,
00:30:14 --> 00:30:14 in fact,
00:30:14 --> 00:30:16 does turn back his wrath
00:30:16 --> 00:30:19 and that he has turned back his wrath
00:30:19 --> 00:30:21 and that he will turn back his wrath.
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 That's what it takes.
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 It takes the cross
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 of Christ
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 where God's justice
00:30:27 --> 00:30:29 and his mercy meet.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 His white,
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 hot anger
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 is poured out
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 on the person
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 of the Lord Jesus.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 The Old Testament says,
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 cursed is anyone
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 who hangs on a tree
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40 and God places himself
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 under his own curse,
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 takes his own
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 white,
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 hot anger.
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 His righteous anger
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47 is righteously satisfied.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 Jesus places himself
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53 under God's wrath,
00:30:53 --> 00:30:54 not for his sin
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 or his rebellion,
00:30:57 --> 00:30:57 but for ours.
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 2 Corinthians 5.11
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00 makes the exchange clear for us
00:31:00 --> 00:31:01 as God made him
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03 who had no sin
00:31:03 --> 00:31:04 to be sin for us
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 so that in him
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 and what he's done,
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 we might become
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 the righteousness of God.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:12 We might have a right standing
00:31:12 --> 00:31:12 before God.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 Not because we're righteous
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 just like Israel
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 in Deuteronomy 9,
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 not because we're righteous
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 but because we are wicked,
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 not because we deserve
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 God's blessing,
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 but because he longs
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 for us to enjoy it
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 in spite of who we are
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 and what we've done.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 Psalm 2.
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 Psalm 2 summarizes
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 the message of defeat
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 of these nations
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 around Israel
00:31:34 --> 00:31:35 quite memorably.
00:31:36 --> 00:31:36 It says,
00:31:37 --> 00:31:38 Therefore you kings,
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 be wise,
00:31:40 --> 00:31:42 be warned you rulers
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 of the earth,
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 serve the Lord with fear
00:31:44 --> 00:31:46 and rejoice with trembling.
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 Kiss the Son,
00:31:49 --> 00:31:50 lest he be angry
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 and you be destroyed
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 in your way
00:31:52 --> 00:31:55 for his wrath can flare up
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 in any moment.
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 Blessed are all
00:31:57 --> 00:31:59 who take refuge in him.
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 Our refuge is in Jesus,
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 the Son of God.
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 Ironically,
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 our refuge
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 is in the lion
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 who roars.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 That's the irony.
00:32:18 --> 00:32:19 Our refuge is the same God
00:32:19 --> 00:32:21 who is angry with our sin.
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 He took our place,
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 atoned for our sins,
00:32:23 --> 00:32:24 carried our guilt
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 so that we do not have to face
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 the fate of,
00:32:27 --> 00:32:29 that these nations faced.
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 Christ,
00:32:29 --> 00:32:31 the same cross
00:32:31 --> 00:32:31 that reveals
00:32:31 --> 00:32:33 the awesome justice of God
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 is the same cross
00:32:34 --> 00:32:34 that reveals
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 the incredible patience
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 and goodness
00:32:36 --> 00:32:37 and generosity of God
00:32:37 --> 00:32:40 as the just anger of God
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 is satisfied
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 in the death of Jesus.
00:32:43 --> 00:32:43 Our sin
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 is that serious.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 Look at the cross
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50 and be reminded
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 of the seriousness
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 of your sin
00:32:51 --> 00:32:52 and the awesome
00:32:52 --> 00:32:54 justice of God.
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 to think of ourselves
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 in any other way
00:32:56 --> 00:33:00 regardless of how long
00:33:00 --> 00:33:00 we've been Christian
00:33:00 --> 00:33:01 or how long we've been
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 sermon at church
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 is to make the mistake
00:33:05 --> 00:33:06 that Israel's doing
00:33:06 --> 00:33:07 right here
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 in the time of Amos
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 and that is not
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 to hear the word of God.
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 To be comfortable,
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 to be complacent,
00:33:15 --> 00:33:15 to go,
00:33:15 --> 00:33:15 well,
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 right,
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18 things aren't that bad.
00:33:18 --> 00:33:19 I think of people
00:33:19 --> 00:33:20 worse than I am.
00:33:22 --> 00:33:23 If we believe
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 in the Son,
00:33:24 --> 00:33:25 God's wrath
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 is turned aside.
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28 It gets focused
00:33:28 --> 00:33:28 onto Jesus.
00:33:28 --> 00:33:29 If we reject Jesus,
00:33:29 --> 00:33:31 His anger stays on us
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33 which doesn't mean
00:33:33 --> 00:33:34 for a moment
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 that if you are
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 sheltering behind Jesus
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 that you have
00:33:40 --> 00:33:40 any room
00:33:40 --> 00:33:41 of complacency
00:33:41 --> 00:33:42 whatsoever.
00:33:43 --> 00:33:44 John 15
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 verses 1 and 2
00:33:45 --> 00:33:45 says,
00:33:45 --> 00:33:46 I am the true vine
00:33:46 --> 00:33:46 and my Father
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 is the gardener.
00:33:47 --> 00:33:48 He cuts off
00:33:48 --> 00:33:49 every branch
00:33:49 --> 00:33:49 in me
00:33:49 --> 00:33:51 that bears no fruit
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 while every branch
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 that does bear fruit
00:33:53 --> 00:33:54 He prunes
00:33:54 --> 00:33:54 so that it will be
00:33:54 --> 00:33:55 even more fruitful.
00:33:56 --> 00:33:56 And then down in verse 6
00:33:56 --> 00:33:57 it says,
00:33:57 --> 00:33:58 If you do not remain
00:33:58 --> 00:33:59 in me,
00:33:59 --> 00:33:59 which means
00:33:59 --> 00:34:00 if you do not
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 obey me,
00:34:02 --> 00:34:03 you are like a branch
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 that is thrown away
00:34:05 --> 00:34:05 and withers
00:34:05 --> 00:34:06 and such branches
00:34:06 --> 00:34:07 are picked up,
00:34:07 --> 00:34:08 thrown into the fire
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 and burned.
00:34:10 --> 00:34:10 Jesus is speaking
00:34:10 --> 00:34:11 to His disciples
00:34:11 --> 00:34:12 at that point.
00:34:13 --> 00:34:14 Don't blame you sin.
00:34:14 --> 00:34:15 Don't excuse it.
00:34:16 --> 00:34:17 Privilege brings
00:34:17 --> 00:34:17 responsibility
00:34:17 --> 00:34:19 and repentance
00:34:19 --> 00:34:19 is needed here
00:34:19 --> 00:34:20 which means
00:34:20 --> 00:34:21 walking away
00:34:21 --> 00:34:22 from the vengeful acts
00:34:22 --> 00:34:23 of Moab
00:34:23 --> 00:34:24 and the exploitation
00:34:24 --> 00:34:26 of Gaza.
00:34:26 --> 00:34:26 It means
00:34:26 --> 00:34:27 being people
00:34:27 --> 00:34:28 of mercy
00:34:28 --> 00:34:28 and compassion
00:34:28 --> 00:34:30 because that is
00:34:30 --> 00:34:30 what we've experienced
00:34:30 --> 00:34:31 from God.
00:34:31 --> 00:34:32 This is such a connection
00:34:32 --> 00:34:33 between Amos
00:34:33 --> 00:34:33 and what we've just
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 walked through
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 with Love Thy Neighbor
00:34:35 --> 00:34:36 for the last
00:34:36 --> 00:34:36 five or six weeks
00:34:36 --> 00:34:37 or whatever it is.
00:34:38 --> 00:34:39 Being a Christian
00:34:39 --> 00:34:40 is not about rituals
00:34:40 --> 00:34:41 or belonging
00:34:41 --> 00:34:42 to a social group
00:34:42 --> 00:34:43 or having a spare time
00:34:43 --> 00:34:44 interest in religion.
00:34:44 --> 00:34:46 It demands
00:34:46 --> 00:34:47 the whole of our being,
00:34:47 --> 00:34:48 the whole of allegiance
00:34:48 --> 00:34:49 to Christ.
00:34:50 --> 00:34:51 We cannot declare
00:34:51 --> 00:34:52 allegiance to Christ
00:34:52 --> 00:34:53 and then go on
00:34:53 --> 00:34:55 living in disobedience,
00:34:56 --> 00:34:57 willful sin
00:34:57 --> 00:34:59 because the two attitudes
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 are mutually exclusive.
00:35:01 --> 00:35:02 Mutually exclusive.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:05 So I think
00:35:05 --> 00:35:06 in the coming weeks
00:35:06 --> 00:35:06 Amos is going to
00:35:06 --> 00:35:07 remind us
00:35:07 --> 00:35:09 that we've got
00:35:09 --> 00:35:10 some thinking to do
00:35:10 --> 00:35:11 and how we put
00:35:11 --> 00:35:12 this stuff
00:35:12 --> 00:35:13 into practice.
00:35:14 --> 00:35:15 It's just so easy
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16 to be lulled
00:35:16 --> 00:35:17 into not really
00:35:17 --> 00:35:18 noticing our sin
00:35:18 --> 00:35:19 and get so used
00:35:19 --> 00:35:19 to our sin,
00:35:20 --> 00:35:22 get so complacent
00:35:22 --> 00:35:22 with it,
00:35:23 --> 00:35:24 saying we're the people
00:35:24 --> 00:35:24 of God
00:35:24 --> 00:35:25 and just taking Jesus
00:35:25 --> 00:35:26 and his mercy
00:35:26 --> 00:35:26 for granted.
00:35:26 --> 00:35:27 He's in the business
00:35:27 --> 00:35:28 of forgiveness.
00:35:28 --> 00:35:29 That's what he does.
00:35:30 --> 00:35:31 So I'll give him
00:35:31 --> 00:35:31 some more stuff
00:35:31 --> 00:35:31 to forgive.
00:35:35 --> 00:35:36 A complacent lifestyle
00:35:36 --> 00:35:37 that says
00:35:37 --> 00:35:37 we're the people
00:35:37 --> 00:35:38 of God
00:35:38 --> 00:35:38 and yet ultimately
00:35:38 --> 00:35:39 serving our own comfort.
00:35:39 --> 00:35:41 This is about us.
00:35:42 --> 00:35:43 It's about how
00:35:43 --> 00:35:44 we treat each other,
00:35:44 --> 00:35:45 how we think
00:35:45 --> 00:35:46 about people.
00:35:47 --> 00:35:47 In Christ
00:35:47 --> 00:35:48 we might have
00:35:48 --> 00:35:49 shelter from God's anger
00:35:49 --> 00:35:49 but that's not
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50 a license
00:35:50 --> 00:35:51 for complacency.
00:35:52 --> 00:35:53 1 Corinthians 10
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 verse 11
00:35:54 --> 00:35:56 the Apostle Paul
00:35:56 --> 00:35:56 lists
00:35:56 --> 00:35:58 the sins
00:35:58 --> 00:35:59 and the punishments
00:35:59 --> 00:36:00 of Israel
00:36:00 --> 00:36:02 and then he says this
00:36:02 --> 00:36:04 These things
00:36:04 --> 00:36:04 happened
00:36:04 --> 00:36:06 to them
00:36:06 --> 00:36:07 as examples
00:36:07 --> 00:36:08 and were written
00:36:08 --> 00:36:08 down
00:36:08 --> 00:36:10 as warnings
00:36:10 --> 00:36:11 for us
00:36:11 --> 00:36:12 on whom
00:36:12 --> 00:36:13 the culminations
00:36:13 --> 00:36:14 of the ages
00:36:14 --> 00:36:16 have come.
00:36:16 --> 00:36:18 So if you think
00:36:18 --> 00:36:19 you are standing firm
00:36:19 --> 00:36:21 be careful
00:36:21 --> 00:36:22 that you don't
00:36:22 --> 00:36:22 fall.
00:36:24 --> 00:36:25 The application
00:36:25 --> 00:36:26 is that we are
00:36:26 --> 00:36:27 to tremble
00:36:27 --> 00:36:27 before God.
00:36:28 --> 00:36:29 We are to flee
00:36:29 --> 00:36:29 from our sin
00:36:29 --> 00:36:30 and find refuge
00:36:30 --> 00:36:31 in Jesus
00:36:31 --> 00:36:32 who has turned
00:36:32 --> 00:36:33 God's anger
00:36:33 --> 00:36:33 away from us.
00:36:33 --> 00:36:34 God's message
00:36:34 --> 00:36:36 of judgment
00:36:36 --> 00:36:36 in Amos
00:36:36 --> 00:36:37 is also
00:36:37 --> 00:36:38 ironically
00:36:38 --> 00:36:39 a message
00:36:39 --> 00:36:40 of his grace.
00:36:42 --> 00:36:43 You see
00:36:43 --> 00:36:44 this message
00:36:44 --> 00:36:45 not only served
00:36:45 --> 00:36:45 as a warning
00:36:45 --> 00:36:46 to Israel
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47 but as an opportunity
00:36:47 --> 00:36:48 for Israel
00:36:48 --> 00:36:49 to repent.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:52 If God
00:36:52 --> 00:36:54 didn't
00:36:54 --> 00:36:54 if he wasn't
00:36:54 --> 00:36:55 gracious
00:36:55 --> 00:36:55 he
00:36:55 --> 00:36:56 boom
00:36:56 --> 00:36:58 no warning
00:36:58 --> 00:37:00 and it
00:37:00 --> 00:37:00 is giving
00:37:00 --> 00:37:01 him an opportunity
00:37:01 --> 00:37:01 to repent
00:37:01 --> 00:37:02 to be restored
00:37:02 --> 00:37:03 to come back
00:37:03 --> 00:37:03 in repentance
00:37:03 --> 00:37:06 and if you're
00:37:06 --> 00:37:07 sitting here
00:37:07 --> 00:37:07 and you still
00:37:07 --> 00:37:07 got breath
00:37:07 --> 00:37:08 in your lungs
00:37:08 --> 00:37:08 and you can
00:37:08 --> 00:37:09 still hear me
00:37:09 --> 00:37:09 speak
00:37:09 --> 00:37:09 and you still
00:37:09 --> 00:37:10 can see me
00:37:10 --> 00:37:11 God is patient
00:37:11 --> 00:37:12 with you
00:37:12 --> 00:37:12 right now
00:37:12 --> 00:37:12 and he's
00:37:12 --> 00:37:12 patient
00:37:12 --> 00:37:13 with me.
00:37:14 --> 00:37:14 Every day
00:37:14 --> 00:37:15 you've got
00:37:15 --> 00:37:15 every breath
00:37:15 --> 00:37:16 you've got
00:37:16 --> 00:37:17 left in your
00:37:17 --> 00:37:17 life
00:37:17 --> 00:37:18 with breath
00:37:18 --> 00:37:18 in your lungs
00:37:18 --> 00:37:19 is a day
00:37:19 --> 00:37:20 where his
00:37:20 --> 00:37:20 patience
00:37:20 --> 00:37:21 is still
00:37:21 --> 00:37:21 with you
00:37:21 --> 00:37:22 and he's
00:37:22 --> 00:37:23 got an
00:37:23 --> 00:37:23 opportunity
00:37:23 --> 00:37:23 to repent.
00:37:23 --> 00:37:26 If we seek
00:37:26 --> 00:37:26 to live
00:37:26 --> 00:37:27 in obedience
00:37:27 --> 00:37:28 we will
00:37:28 --> 00:37:29 often fail
00:37:29 --> 00:37:30 we will
00:37:30 --> 00:37:31 often fall
00:37:31 --> 00:37:32 but if our
00:37:32 --> 00:37:33 lives are
00:37:33 --> 00:37:33 characterized
00:37:33 --> 00:37:34 by repentance
00:37:34 --> 00:37:36 by trust
00:37:36 --> 00:37:37 by obedience
00:37:37 --> 00:37:38 God turns
00:37:38 --> 00:37:39 towards us
00:37:39 --> 00:37:40 in compassion
00:37:40 --> 00:37:41 and mercy
00:37:41 --> 00:37:42 and the
00:37:42 --> 00:37:43 lion who
00:37:43 --> 00:37:43 roars
00:37:43 --> 00:37:45 becomes our
00:37:45 --> 00:37:45 safe refuge.
00:37:46 --> 00:37:47 Amen.