Well, it is a privilege to be here this evening to be able to open up God's Word and to preach. I'd like to thank your minister, Reverend Higginson, for the invitation and for the words of welcome. It's a pleasure to be here. It was here, just down at the back, second row, that the Lord spoke to my heart. A great power, conviction came upon me, a trembling. I knew I deserved hell. That's where I deserve to be. And that night I went home from a service that my own minister was taking, the Reverend William McRae, and I got down beside my bed. and I called upon the Lord. And so, it's a blessing to be here this evening. It's really been a blessing to hear the brethren minister in song, and we trust the Lord will really meet with us. When we sing that, him be in time, I don't know if that's a nod towards the preacher, that he is to be in time, but the Reverend Higginson assures me that I have my time, my liberty, but I will not prolong the service, but we'll bring the word that God has given for this evening. I invite you to turn in the word of God to Amos chapter four, please. Amos 4, and we will read from verse 4 down to the end of the chapter. So Amos chapter 4. And we'll read from verse 4. So let us hear the word of the living God. Come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven. Proclaim and publish the free offerings. For this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, a wont of bread in all your places, Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One peace was rained upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? I have sent among you the pestilence after the manor of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword. and have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your camps to come up onto your nostrils, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, And because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For though he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. Amen. And we trust the Lord will bless his word to our heart. Let's take a moment, please, and look to the Lord in prayer. And I ask you as God's children to enter into prayer. And let's look to the Lord to bless us this evening in the moments that remain. Let's look to the Lord. Eternal God and gracious and loving Father, we thank the Lord for the great privilege of being in thy house, being, Lord, in a meeting place, where not only we can meet the one with the other, but most especially we can meet with thee, because we have thy covenant promise that where two or three are gathered in thy name, that there thou art in the midst. Blessed Father, Lord, we pray that we will know and experience God drawing near. This is the need of the hour. Very thankful for the invitation to come. And yet, Lord, we lift our hearts to thee, and we ask for the outpouring of the blessed Holy Spirit, that God the Holy Ghost will come. And I stand now, and I stand in one that is in need of a cleansing. in the precious blood of the Lamb, confessing my great need of thee, and by faith claiming the promised Holy Ghost. I pray, O God, as already been mentioned, Lord, I pray that thou will shut away distraction, elevate, O God, even, yea, the weariness of the flesh, quicken the mortal frame. Lord, we pray that you'll give attentiveness to the word, and we ask, O God, that the Holy Ghost will come and speak. And, Lord, its souls will tremble beneath thy word. So, Lord, hear prayer and bring glory to thy Son. For this I pray in his worthy and his all-prevailing name. Amen. Now, it's been a strange old year for the weather, and I was reading an article the other day that actually said that the rainfall was not excessive. In fact, it was below average for the last five years. Now, the reason why it didn't seem like that is simply because it rained a little most days, and there was no real long stretches of dry periods. Now, when you mention the weather and the changes that were seen, of course, it's not long until the aggressive agenda and the narrative around climate change raises its head. It seems to be the buzzword at the minute. Every interview on TV, well, they try and squeeze in the climate change. Well, climate does change. No one is denying that. But we're really dealing with a relatively small range of data, and strong assumptions are made concerning man's impact upon it. Most political parties, well, they have some sort of climate change reference to it in their manifesto. Scientists have made bold predictions concerning it, even end of human life scenarios, but some dates have come and already gone. We have those activist groups and they're seeking to disrupt sporny events and defacing public buildings and public monuments and art masterpieces and blocking streets. Yes, we are custodians of the world that God has created. We are to be good stewards of what God has provided. And I will not deny that man's activities do have an impact on the weather. How much is up for debate? Yet as a Bible-believing Christian, I do believe in a sovereign God who is in control of the weather. Speaking to a man the other day, walking back from school, and he was telling me about a report that he was reading that he saw in some country, that some country is trying to control the weather, especially generating rainfall. I know some countries, they practice cloud seeding. And there's all sorts of concerns about the chemicals that are put into the air and the freak weather events that occur. And I said to that man, well, it's just another attempt at man playing God. But in Amos chapter 4, in the verse 7, we read about the sovereignty of God over the weather. He says, through the prophet Amos to Israel, and also I have withholden the rain from you. When there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city, one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. There are weather systems and patterns. And that's how meteorologists, they predict the weather with varying degrees of accuracy, but all is under the control of Almighty God. He sends the rain upon the just and the unjust according to His eternal decree. Now, Amos was a prophet sent by God to a people who were materially and prosperous, but they were spiritually and morally bankrupt. They had turned their back on the ways and the will of God. And Amos the herdsman, he compares the rich and the powerful ruling elite to those, the kind of Bashan, a breed of cattle notorious for their strength and stubbornness. Those that broke through hedges, threw down fences, trespassed on neighboring pastures, and gored lesser cattle. The judges and the magistrates, they were in cruel collusion with the masters who oppressed the people. And Israel's two major sins were the absence of true worship and the lack of justice in the land. They were going through their ritualistic religious exercises, but their heart was far from God. They were more concerned with their own possessions and pleasure and little time for God or for doing that which was right. In fact, they lived at a time when good was called evil and evil was called good. And it's really like reading a commentary on our own day. We're going to consider this passage that I've read this evening under the heading, Ignoring the Warning Sign. ignoring the warning signs. Firstly, I want you to notice with me the messages that were imperceptible. The messages that were imperceptible. The Lord had spoken to these rebellious people through different providences of their need to stop, to consider their ways, to repent of their sin, and to turn again to the Lord. The people had experienced famine. We find that expression there used in verse 6, cleanness of teeth. And the people, well, they lack bread because the rain was withheld from them in the harvest field. And we read about that there in those verses 6 and 7. And this is something the Lord said He would do if His people turned from Him. Read Deuteronomy 28. And there we have the list of curses that would come upon the children of Israel for their disobedience, and God keeps his word. We also read here that the crops, they suffered blight and other mildew infestations and pests devoured whatever was left. Read about that in verse 9. The pesticides that you and I have today, well, they weren't available in those days. And in the infestation of any sort of animal or mildew would have wiped out the crop for that season. It's thought to have taught the people that they were in fact not self-sufficient, but that they were dependent upon the goodness of God. If God withheld the rain, or if the sun failed to shine, well, they would know and they would experience field harvest. You know, if God, even in our own day and generation, if he withheld the rain or he caused the sun to cease to shine, well, our own society would soon realize that we are dependent on the goodness of God, on his mercy. But you know, unfortunately, the sinful heart of man is such that he would never appeal to God. He would not acknowledge his need or his dependence upon God, just as those in Amos' day. They're also a people, they suffered from various diseases. Read about that in verse 10. Pestilence was sent among them, just as the Lord had sent upon Egypt in judgment. And even though sickness was rife in the land, it seemed that no one stopped to ask the question why this was happening, why so many people were getting sick. There was no one was able to correlate what was happening to them, what had happened to them, and what had happened to their one-time oppressors in Egypt in judgment. sickness should have spoken to them about their mortality, that they would not live forever. It should have spoken to them about the fragility and brevity of life, and that they needed to turn again to the Lord and cry out unto him. But again, they didn't. We think about our own day and generation, isn't there so much sickness around? The crippled NHS, well, it's really testament to that. You know, people, they do not stop to consider. It seems to be that people are heedless and careless, and they don't stop to think about the day of their own death, and that someday they're going to stand before Almighty God. People also suffered from many wars. Many young men, they were slain by the Egyptians. But again, the people could not discern that this was judgment from God. This was a call on them to consider their way. And in verse 11 we read of an extreme weather event, or a geological event, that rocked a nation. And the Lord says, I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand procked out of the burning, yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Some are suggesting this speaks of an earthquake or lightning storms. But again the people did not return unto the Lord. This is a repeated refrain in this portion. Five times the Lord charges them, yet ye have not returned unto me. You see, the purpose of God sending these things into their lives was to warn them, to teach them that sin must be judged, that it will be punished, and that there was a judicial consequence as to how they were living, and that they needed to turn to the Lord. Now, the messages in themselves, they were clear. Obviously, the people could see those things happening in their nation, but the problem lay with the people. You see, they could not discern that these were judgments from God, because they were blinded by their sin, and they were in love with their sin. And the reality was they did not want to turn again to the Lord. Not only could they not see, not discern it, they did not want. They did not want to see it. You know, I'm sure there were those in those days, and, well, they were explaining away all the judgments as a result of some other factor other than sin. I'm sure there are those who are coming up with policies and solutions and manifestos as how things could be sorted out, just like we have today. We have all sorts of government reports as to why this and that is in such a bad state. But you know, the report never comes back, and the finding never states that sin is the cause. Sin is the reason. Disobedience to God's moral law is why these natural, national disasters come upon a people. But sin is the reason why. God was sending these people these messages, these judgments, and it was to warn them of a greater judgment to come. But they ignored his warning. added to those providential warnings that are in view in this chapter, there were also prophetic warnings. You see, God had sent them, prophet after prophet, to warn him, to call him to repentance, to turn from their evil ways, and he would receive them, but they would not. Providential and prophetic warnings ignored, unheeded. My dear friend, all these things that we see around us that make this old world to rock and reel, extreme weather events that bring devastation, famine, war, pandemic, epidemics, should cause you to sit up, to ponder, to think, to consider your ways, and to turn again unto the Lord in repentance, and He will receive you. But not only that, think about all the messages and all the messengers that God has sent onto you, warning you that there is a judicial consequence for your sin. Can I ask you this evening, what have you done with those warnings that God has sent? Can you not discern that God is speaking to you? Are these things imperceptible to your understanding? God's warning. On the 18th of May, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the United States had broke its silence of 123 years. A mighty eruption tore 1,300 feet from its top and devastated some 230 square miles of beautiful landscape, killing more than 60 people. But you know, that eruption did not come without warning. Nearly two months in advance, a sizable earthquake occurred in that area, and many other smaller quakes followed at an increasing rate. On the 27th of March, the mountain had belched out a plume of ash and steam four miles up into the air. And although the mountain had become relatively calm by April, a noticeable bulge was forming in the north face, growing at a rate of five feet per day. the scientists, these signs clearly indicated an impending eruption. And warnings were issued for the people to leave the mountain, but the warnings were ignored by many. Harry Truman, The lodge owner, he lived on Spirit Lake at the foot of the mountain, and he refused to be evacuated. He had lived there for nearly 50 years and could not believe that his beloved mountain would change the tranquility of his surroundings. Alders drove around roadblocks and remote lodging roads in order to camp and watch the mountain and see the eruption take place. But when that massive explosion came, Ash and hot gases were hurled from the mountain at speeds of 200 miles per hour. Millions of fir trees were leveled in moments and the lives of unheeding people were snuffed out. Mud flows were moving from that mountain at a rate of 50 miles per hour. One helicopter pilot was warning people in the path of that mud flow, but some refused to heed his warnings. He said, I couldn't believe that I told them it was coming, and they just laughed and waved me away. Shortly thereafter, their cheer, laughter, it turned to panic. And Harry Truman was one of them, and he was buried in 40 feet of boiling mud. They ignored the warning. They could not discern the danger that they were in, and they paid the ultimate price. The messages that were imperceptible. But secondly, notice the meeting that was inescapable. That brings us to the most well-known verse of this chapter, verse 12. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. God had patiently given these rebellious, sinful people warning after warning, not only through providence, but also through His prophets. But they rejected God's messages and God's messengers. And it is in light of that, God said, therefore. You see, they were accountable. They were responsible for bringing God's judgment on them. This was not some capricious act of the wrath of God on his part. He was long-suffering to them. It wasn't just one warning, but multiple warnings. Being a people blessed with the oracles of God, well, they had no excuse. They should have known why these things were coming upon them. A sinner, you too, you're without excuse. You're bringing judgment upon your own head. God pronounces the therefore upon you. This is what he says. Your sin has a judicial consequence. Understand that. You will know if you die in your sin. You will not be left to wonder why. Your eternal calamity has come upon you. It is the therefore. It is in the light of the many rejected messages and warnings of God. God says, therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel. Now this is an interesting declaration, for it's marked by silence. Do you know that heightens the suspense and the dread? The Lord here does not say what he's going to do, but he's already told them what he has done, even though they couldn't discern that it was done by him. And so the thought here is that the judgment that he would send upon them would be far worse than anything they'd ever experienced before. This world is filled with suffering. It's filled with misery and hardship. Let me tell you, dear friend, all those things in comparison to the judgment that is yet to come, they're nothing. It's as if the horrors of judgment that's going to come upon these people. For the Lord says to them, thus will I do unto you. And He doesn't answer, He doesn't say what He's going to do. But as if the horrors of the judgment are so great that God Himself remains silent. See, He will judge those who have sinned against Him. refused to repent and remained impenitent. Thus will I do unto thee, O Israel. He will not spare them, though they had many privileges, nor would he spare them, though they issued from the loins of faithful, godly Abraham. No, they had sinned, and so they must be punished." You see, there is personal judgment for personal sins. God will not spare you because you know much of the gospel. God will not spare you because your mother is saved, or your father is saved, or your spouse is saved. If he spared not his own son, the very sin-bearer, there is no way he's going to spare the unrepentant sinner who is a sin-committer. Since they had refused to listen to God, God says to them, prepare to meet thy God." I'm coming in judgment. Those other things were instruments, they were providence, but now I'm coming. All those judgments were heralds, forerunners of the judgment to come. If they continued on living the way that they were living, they should prepare to meet Him. he comes in most severest of judgment." It was inevitable that they would meet God. It was a meeting that was unavoidable, and so they were to prepare for it. One man said on this word, prepare, This is a military phrase and is to be understood as a challenge to come out to battle. As if the Lord had said, you know, I'm coming and battle against you. Throw yourselves into the posture of defense. Summon your idols and your gods to your help and see if they will avail you against the unconquerable arm of the Lord of hosts. It's given, a challenge is given by way of irony. You've withstood me in the judgments that I've already sent. You've not hearkened. You've ignored Him. You have not made preparation. Well, now I'm coming. You're to prepare to meet me in judgment. Meet the Almighty. All the things that they had been trusting on, all the things that had captivated their attention would do them no good against the Almighty God. You see, a meeting with God in judgment is inevitable for those who continue in their sin, for those who will not repent. Sinners are warned in Scripture time and time again about the final judgment. We read that judgment is committed into the hands of Jesus Christ. Read Revelation chapter 20 about the great white throne judgment and the dead. The small and great stand before God. and the seas shall give up their dead." You see, there is a meeting that is unavoidable, something you cannot escape. Those who have broken God's law, those whose transgressions stand against them, will be pronounced guilty and will face the just punishment that they deserve. You see, dear friend, just because your judgment is deferred, it does not mean that it will not happen. God has been merciful to you. God has been gracious to you. God has been long-suffering to you. He sent you many messages, but you have failed to discern that they're tokens of his goodness to warn you of the final judgment. You know, maybe you've been seriously sick at one stage in your life. Maybe you've been at the very point of death, but God has raised you up again. That's God reminding you that your must needs die. You know, sinners, they avoid gospel meetings for various reasons. For many, it's just simply disinterest. For others, well, they have better things to do. But for some, well, they don't like to hear what they're gonna hear, and so they avoid the gospel meeting. But here is a meeting that is inescapable. Prepare to meet thy God. And so there was the messages that were imperceptible, and the meeting that was inescapable. But finally this evening, I want to draw to your attention the mercy that is indispensable. Since these people had forfeited any right to the favor of God, because of their sin, they were now dependent on the mercy of God. You see, the mercy of God was indispensable if they were to avoid divine retribution. They could not appeal to God's justice because they had broken His law, and they were guilty. However, even after all their sin and all their rebellion, it would appear that the door of mercy was still open to them. This is a marvel of our God. Though they had spurned, though they had ignored His warnings time and time again, and His messengers, the prophets, yet the door of mercy is still open. We have to go into the next chapter to find it. Look at verse 4 of chapter 5, "'For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Listen, seek ye me, and ye shall live. But seek not to Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, nor pass to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall utterly go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. Seek the Lord, ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel." You know, they wouldn't be able to flee to any other town or place of refuge. Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba, they would be conquered, they would be flattened to the ground. So what were they to do? Well, simple. were to seek the Lord, and they would live. To seek the Lord, it implies turning from sin, You read on down in that chapter in verses 14 and 15. But it also implies faith. That's what it means to seek the Lord, dear friend. It means to turn from your sin, to forsake your sin, to exercise, to place, to put your trust, your faith in the Lord. That's what it means. Such an offer to such a people was mercy, dear friend. Matthew Henry, he commented, Since we cannot flee from God, we are concerned to prepare to meet Him. And therefore He gives us warning that we may prepare, resolve therefore to meet Him as a penitent, to meet Him as thy God and covenant union with you. In Isaiah chapter 27, the verses 4 and 5, we have There are a couple of interesting verses. Isaiah 27, verses 4 and 5, it says, Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them. I would burn them together, or let them take hold, or let them take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. See verse 4 there, Isaiah 27, it speaks of the futility of meeting God as an enemy in battle. But verse 5 shows us the way of mercy, the way of peace, the way to be reconciled, the way to be spared destruction. It is to lay hold upon his strength. That's what it tells us there. What does that mean? What does it mean to lay hold upon his strength? Well, the word strength, the Hebrew word, can also mean refuge or a fortified place. You see, there is a place of refuge. from the wrath of a sin-hearing holy God. And that, dear friend, the Scripture points out to us time and time again, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the place of refuge. He is the one that you need to lay hold upon. He is the strength of Jehovah God. If you want to be spared from final retributive judgment, it's Christ to whom you must flee. It's Christ to whom you must run. There is a place of refuge. You see, it's by His blood that sinners have peace with God. And this is the grand old message of the everlasting gospel. Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done, the eternal Son, becoming the Son of Man, entering into this world, being born under the law. under the duty to obey it, and also the penalty should it be broken. And yet he never broke it once. He never transgressed the law. He fulfilled the law. He kept it perfect. A life of perfect obedience, obtaining for the sinner a justifying righteousness with which God would accept them. But not only did he live for sinners, but dear friend, he died for sinners. He went to the tree. He bore sin. He hung, he suffered, he bled and died, that a sinner might run to him and take hold upon him and find in him a place of refuge from the final judgment that is to come that God himself remains silent about. Such is the horrors of everlasting hell. Dear friend, God is warning you. God is warning this nation. God is sending judgment upon judgment, the judgment of a famine of hearing the Word of God. We're in the midst of judgment, Christians. We're being judged by God. Emptying churches, empty inquiry rooms, Men filling pulpits that know nothing of the redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ were in the midst of judgment. Hospitals bulging, hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, broken lives, broken homes, broken families, broken society, all judgment sent by God as heralds. the people to stop, to consider their ways. You see, dear friend, you're here tonight, and I want to tell you the door of mercy, it's still open. The door of mercy is still open when you think about the sins of these people. Look at how God speaks by way of irony to these people. Come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression. A sinful people, their worship was so corrupt and it departed so far away from what God had prescribed in His word, in His law. And yet in the very next chapter, he says to them, seek the Lord, ye shall live. I ask you tonight, have you sought the Lord? You see, the door of mercy will not remain open forever. And mercy, dear friend, is indispensable. You see, mercy is not injustice. It is non-justice. Non-justice towards the sinner. Why? Because Christ has been judged in their stead. And therefore, God can withhold from you what you justly deserve. You know, if the warning lights come on in your car, You don't ignore them. If you do ignore those warning lights, well, you're going to meet with the inevitable. God sends these warnings through providence, through preachers, in order that you might take action. For meet God someday. you will. Don't ignore the warnings, but lay hold upon Christ this evening, and you shall be saved. He's abundant in mercy, plenteous in redemption, valuable and willing through Christ to forgive you of your sins. And I trust that you will heed the warning, and this night you'll come to Christ. Just hand over to the Reverend Higginson to close in a word of prayer. Let's unite our hearts together, please, in prayer, just briefly. It may be that as Mr. Stewart has opened the Word of God, and brought this message of challenge to you, that you have realized you need to get right with God. Maybe there's been things happening in your life and experience that have been convicting you. If you're in need of a Savior, why not even now in the closing moments of this meeting, call upon the name of the Lord. He's nearer tonight than hands or feet. He's here in our midst, and you can call upon Him and trust Him just where you sit and get right with God. Heavenly Father, we are thankful tonight for thy word. We thank thee for the mercy of God in sending judgments in time to show us our need of a Savior. And we thank the Lord for the Son of God who went to a cross and bore our guilt and bore our shame. And we thank thee, O God, that he's a Savior for all who will come and put their trust in him. Lord God, write thy word upon our hearts, Speak into our lives, O God. Remember those, Lord, who need to prepare. And Lord, may they prepare even now by coming to the cross. Write thy word upon our hearts, we pray in the Savior's name and for God's eternal glory. Amen.