We are in Amos for the last evening because of time will forego our quiz because of time if that is okay, it is okay, okay Amos 8 Amos 8 So, we actually have a little review quiz at the beginning. So, not a pop quiz like last time. This is just a regular old quiz. We had a pop quiz last time. So, if you remember all the cans of pop, types of pop I had listed there. I was very immature, I know. That's nothing new for me. Okay. So, here we go. Answer first come, first serve. Another name for grasshoppers. The carpentry tool used to show how far Israel was out of line Amos pleaded with God true or false to spare Israel in the visions of the grasshoppers and fire True he did remember on the third one he did not because they were guilty Number four are deep who was the current king of Israel? He's the second Jeroboam II. Jeroboam II is the current king of Israel. E, at what city did Amaziah serve as priest? Bethel. Bethel is correct. Who said, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son? Who said that in chapter seven? Amos. Amos said that, yes. Likely the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. Damascus, Syria, Ashdod, Gath, Gaza, Ekron, Escalon were cities of what heathen people? Pistines. Uzziah served as 52 years as king of what? Southern kingdom. He was king during his prophecy of Amos. He was the king, so Uzziah was the king during that time. Haziel and Ben-Hadad were leaders of what country? Tough question. Syria. Syria's good, yes. Father of the Edomites? before that. Oh, yes, I'll give it. Well, even lot, perhaps a lot, but maybe that'd be Esau, yes. The next one is Ammonites and Moabites. That was, yeah, it was a lot, yes. And Admah, Zeboim, and Bela, or Zor, were neighboring cities to what? Two better known. There were five? Adma, you've never heard of, Zoboim, probably never, and Bella, or Zor, might have heard of Zor if you've gone up Amish country. Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, Zoboim, Bella, Adma. So when Sodom and Gomorrah got toasted, so did Adma and Zoboim. Zor was saved because a lot went there, if you remember. All right, there we go. Four visions, starting in chapter seven through chapter eight. We're gonna pick up right on verse eight, if you would. Chapter eight, verse one, sorry. The plumb line is done, the fire is done, and the locusts are done. So in chapter eight, verse one, and thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit. So Amos is telling the northern kingdom they're going to reap judgment. Northern kingdom would not repent. Bad times are coming. Repent. No, we don't want to repent. So the songs are going to be turned to mourning the summer fruit. Interesting enough, Wiersbe says God often used common objects to teach important spiritual truths, objects like pottery, seeds, yeast, and in this text, a basket of fruit, ripe fruit. Just as this fruit was ripe for eating, the nation of Israel was ripe for judgment. So let's read it again. Thus the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said to Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel. I will not again pass by them anymore. 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. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail. What a castigation of the people of Israel. Now remember, the northern kingdom is the 10 northern tribes, Israel. He's actually a southern kingdom person, pronouncing a judgment upon the northern kingdom. But God is about repentance. If you'll repent, he will. Doesn't mean you're gonna wipe away all, even David, if you remember. David and Bathsheba. David did repent, but he was never the same. His family had all kinds of problems, if you remember, everyone behaved very poorly, even killed each other, half-brothers killed each other, et cetera. So there was still the fallout, even though God forgave him, didn't wipe away the consequences of his actions. And so God would have forgiven them here, God's a forgiving God, but they did not really want to change. They were so involved in idolatry. I think of the verse in Jeremiah 8 20, the harvest has passed, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. And so that's a nation goes so far, there's just like really not going any going back. I know I talk about our own country so often, but I wonder if we're not in that spot ourselves. Can we ever return to a biblical... I pray that we can. God can bring revival. He can. That's what we need, just a revival to spread across our nation, a repentance of doing what's wrong and getting right with God. There comes a time when God's long-suffering runs out. You as a parent, has your long-suffering ever sometimes run out as a parent? Minded sometimes and I know I know I tried I tried my dad mom's nerves. I know I did So we find in why are you laughing Angie? Now Angie and I our first cousin so just so you know that so we can say so that's why I would say Her mom and my mom are sisters. Although my mom's already in heaven, but her Can we go back to our text, please The end is coming. Why is the end coming? Well, it says in verse, here this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail. It's like they continually take advantage, it's the me idea, the me generation of that era where it's all about me and I'm gonna get what I, I know you've heard this, follow the money, but that is so true in the world today. Why do we have this? Why do we have that? And he felt often it's a financial gain for someone. And so here is a financial gain for the rich, and they kept getting more and more rich, et cetera. And so they would wait for the Sabbath to over, and then they would start doing inappropriately. Verse five, when the new moon be gone, that we will sell corn. 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 of deceit. They're being dishonest. And we're waiting, just get the spiritual things over so we can start cheating the people again. That was the idea, God says. that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, yay, and sell the refuse of the wheat. The bottom line, follow the money. They were taking advantage. I see a lot, of course, my personal opinion, but I see a lot in that, in the multiplicity of gambling across their own country. We're taking advantage of the poor so that we can have somebody's making something, You get taxes into it, and that's my personal, so please don't judge everybody by me. That's my personal feelings, but we're taking from the poor for what? I think it's a bad way to go, personally. When they did the business, the merchants could use inaccurate measurements so they could rob their customers. The poor weren't able to pay for the necessities of life and had to go into servitude to care for their families, and the merchants would have them arrested for the least little bit of offense, even their inability to pay for shoes. So what's gonna happen? The Lord had sworn, verse seven, by the excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall rise up holy as a flood, and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt. 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, and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and your songs into lamentation. I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, baldness upon every head, and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 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." Of hearing the words of the Lord. And I think it comes, now my wife is different, now she's not here tonight, but I'll tell you, she says sometimes you're listening but you're not hearing. or it's either I'm hearing but not listening. It's one of the two things, but I'm sort of letting it go in one ear and out the other. So I think hearing the word of the Lord, you may listen to preachers all day long, but do you take that, and are you thinking about that? Are you meditating on it? One guy was, in his podcast, a guy at Stephanie's work said, hey, she was telling him how I ask questions on Wednesday night. She said, he told her, have him ask questions from Sunday's sermon to see if they were listening to that. I ask you questions really from the previous week, and now it's been two weeks this time. So help us to remember. So hearing the word of the Lord, the famine for that. But there's so little thirst for the word of God, and there's this famine. 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. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. that they that swear by the sin of Samaria and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall and never rise up again. Do you see the horrendousness, if that is a word, of verse 14? They are swearing by the sin of Samaria. Now, what was that sin back when Jeroboam I took over? put the two calves in Bethel and Dan, and they said, worship the calves. Why do you do that? Well, it was wrong, but they did not want the people going back down to Israel because they're divided and then becoming and staying in the southern kingdom. So we're gonna have you worship up here and you don't have to even go to Israel anymore. So they're swearing by the sin of Samaria. But isn't this God's people? Aren't these God's people? Yes. And yet you are putting more faith and trust in your own man-made stuff. And yet sometimes we, if we're not careful, we may not bow down to a golden calf or he can't even afford a golden calf, but we can bow down to a lot lesser things if we're not careful and put God's provision and his awesomeness, if you would, on the side. John Phillips comments, here the prophet's vision went Far beyond the impending dispersal of the ten northern tribes to the age-long wanderings of the Hebrew people He saw them enduring a spiritual famine at famine as his prophecy has come true The famine began with the rabbis growing infatuation with tradition in time after the crime of Calvary and the Romans destruction of Jerusalem the Jews Substituted the Talmud for the Word of God and for centuries they have tried to feed their souls on religious husks Now what the Talmud is is that's like the oral tradition The Talmud is made up of the Mishnah and the Gemara. It's a discussion commentary on Jewish history, customs, cultures, and consistence of the Gemara and the Mishnah. So it's like God, in their minds, God gave this oral tradition. Now we have, by God's grace, his written word for us. So we can read, understand, and grow. The Jewish people then substituted tradition for God's Word. And so you wonder why the Jews are off base today for the most part. Most Jews today don't believe in Christ as Savior. We actually call them Messianic Jews. I'm not sure they like that title necessarily, but they're true Christians. But most Jews today are living in apostasy. They are apart from God. They don't know they don't worship Christ as God because he died on the cross So the Jewish people today, but we're still waiting for the Messiah So when that Christ comes on the scene and says I'll take care of you just put your trust in me And they rebuild the temple. I just saw a picture just yesterday as I was studying. It's called a temple Institute I believe it's called and they have everything ready. They've already been practicing getting ready for sacrificial system They've got a solid gold menorah worth 50 million dollars and Now, and they're ready to use that. Now, that's not in there. They keep it hidden away. And everything about the Ark of the Covenant, and two rabbis say they know where that is. And so they are going to, as soon as they can, as soon as Antichrist takes over enough, they're going to rebuild. Now, they're going to rebuild in rebellion, the temple, but they're going to have to rebuild the temple. Why is that? Now, you know the answer to this. Why do we have to have a temple? By the middle of the tribulation. Exactly right the abomination of desolation he's going to offer so there has to be a temple for him to defile and so That's that's that's where we are and so they have chosen tradition over God, what a tragedy to have plenty of religion, but no word from the Lord. That means no light in the darkness, no nourishment for the soul, no direction for making decisions, no protection from the lies of the enemy. It is a dangerous place. I think that pictures a lot of the world today. They have a religion, but no word from the Lord. See, Christianity is not really... it's a relationship, not really so much a religion. People call it religion. I guess you won't call it that. But really, Christianity is about Jesus, about having that relationship with Him. It's much more than a religion that has nothing behind it. It's statues who can't hear, see, talk, etc. Interestingly enough, a historical note, the reason for Israel's coming judgment was their infatuation with idolatry. So infatuated were they that they took oaths by the sin of Samaria. This phrase is doubtless a reference to the nearby calf worship at Bethel, the center of Israel's idolatry, which was sanctioned by the king, whose capital was Samaria. Farther north, people praised the golden calf at Dan and swore by the life of the God, of the life of a lump of metal, rather than trusting in God. What apostasy that was. 2 then, chapter 9, and number 2 is one vision of God of judgment. And starting chapter 9, verse 1, we find then, I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, smite the lintel of the door, and the post 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. He that escapeth of them shall not be delivered, though they dig into hell. Sheol, thence shall mine hand take them. Though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves on 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, the Leviathan, and he shall bite them. 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. Well, I tell you, there's nowhere to go. There is nowhere on earth, under the earth, in the sea, on top of the mountain, you can go to hide from God. And that's what he's saying to the people. Remember, the city of Samaria was in like a cave, like a hollow, or we'd call it a holler, but a really big, a really big holler, if you would, between two mountains, and it was on a rise, so it was elevated. They thought they're pretty safe up there. You're not safe from God. Is it not in Revelation that they want to hide in the caves to get away from God? And they can't. They can't. This same idea in verse 1 of smiting the lentil is the same as in Judges 16 when Samson asked to have his hands put on the two big pillars and he pushed them apart, or pulled them, I guess he had to push them apart, and the entire thing went down and crushed all the Philistines. Can you imagine seeing the Lord in verse 9, verse 9-1? I saw the Lord standing upon the altar. Evidently, it probably was that, that was, Philip says, the high altar at Bethel, the altar used by the king, the altar set up by his namesake. This comes with absolute civil recommendation and promotion and pushing, if you would. This whole worshiping, worshiping, whole worshiping of the calf instead of God comes with the sanction of government. The king was doing it. The king is the one and the bible the king often was the one who either really rose or fell We have a king, Josiah comes in, okay, this is the very end, but they will come in, and Hezekiah comes in, and there's all these great changes, and then his son comes along, and he undoes, undoes, undoes them all. And this king has such a responsibility in Israel's era that they had such a great influence, and they're gonna be held accountable. Our government's gonna be held accountable. The governments of France gonna be held accountable for this decision of just yesterday. to constitutionalize the taking of their own children, the lives of their own children. It just, it's, it seems like we're getting so close to the time when Christ's gonna return for his church, but we don't know yet. The Lord knows we don't. the Lord's comprehensive judgment, and secondly, the Lord's almighty power. Look at five and six, what beautiful verses. And the Lord God of hosts is he that touches the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn, and it shall rise up holy like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth. He that calls for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord, Yahweh. is his name. So the very one that you are casting aside for some golden calf or whatever it is, is the one who makes it all. And one day, they will see that. It's like delayed gratification. My generation has struggled with delayed gratification when it comes to things. Your parents, or maybe perhaps you, would work and we'd get things, and once you had them, then we got them. My generation comes along and says, well, I want to borrow the money to get the things that my parents worked 30 years, 40 years for. And so we just had a different mindset, not a good mindset, necessarily. So that's the delayed gratification. We serve God now, and we are looking for reward in heaven one day. People today want all they can get in this life. Think about if this was all there is, would that be discouraging? This is all there is. The best you're ever going to have is right now in this life. I tell you, seniors being the golden age, turning old is not for wimps. I'm only 62, but I'm learning. Turning old, and I see some of you are a lot further along than I am, and you could probably say the same thing. It's not for wimps. It can be the golden ages as we work and get closer to God. I think that would be his desire, that as we get older, we become more and more mature, and we give good counsel. And they come to us for wisdom, not us, but to you for wisdom, or us to wisdom as you get older. That should be our mindset. We walk closer to God. The Lord's impartial justice, verse seven. 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 Keptor, and the Syrians from Kir? 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. 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. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, the evil shall not overtake or prevent us. All those who are saying, we will not be held accountable, the evil will not come to us, are the ones who are going to die. Is God going to destroy Israel completely off the face of the earth? No, he's not. Let's just read up the last part then. And in that day, verse 11, 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, that they may possess the remnant of Edom. And all the heathen which are called by my name saith the Lord that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 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, and I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the way cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, and they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them, and I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled out of their land, which I have given them, saith the Lord by God. Wow, so what does that mean to us today? It means that Israel's going back home. You don't, maybe you don't know this, but I was listening to a pastor speak this week and he said, he's been to Ukraine at least 40 times. He says, since Russia invaded, Ukrainian Jews are the most wealthy and the most respected people in the Ukraine are all leaving. They go to the Bible college we started for one night and the next day they go out and get on trains and they fly back to Israel. Israel is going home. They may not want to go home, but God's making them go home because they've got a big plan yet. Matter of fact, it says in Matthew, God says, Jesus says, he cannot come back at the end of the tribulation till Israel turns to him as their Messiah. So where does Israel have to be? It has to be back in the land. So when you see all the Israelites, in 1948, there were 600,000 Israelites I think that is correct, 600,000 Israelites in Israel. Today, over seven million. So they're going back, getting ready for what God has in plan for the end of times, end of times. We've been in the end times since Christ went to heaven in some capacity. Now I think we're at the end in times. And so Israel didn't want to go back. So God has forced them through various things. The most persecuted people on earth, hands down, are the Israelite people. And so they've been persecuted from the time past. They're going to be persecuted until now there's going to be a respite. Mr. Womack has just mentioned that at the beginning of the tribulation period, the Antichrist says, oh, trust me, I'll take care of you. We are so ready. I know there's this world reset there wants to be a world reset and we're gonna talk about that in a few weeks probably on Sunday mornings the economic reset etc the economic forum But God's has them there's gonna be a change and the world's gonna get so bad and Israel's gonna have a short time of respite and then there's gonna be this trouble and then everybody's gonna the people don't gather to fight the Antichrist I believe and then they're gonna all turn to fight Christ when he comes back and he's got a clean house then Israel this thing they're waiting for for so long, it's going to finally happen. The Millennial Kingdom. What they have been wanting for They ask about, what will be the signs of your coming? When does this start, et cetera? In Matthew 24 at the beginning, it's gonna happen. And so we are gonna be a part of that. It says right here, 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 my God. What a promise. They are going to be there. So if the Muslim people would just read this part, you're fighting a losing battle. This is their land. Go find another land. There's a lot of land over there. Just don't pick that where God's given Israel and you'll be happily ever after and leave them alone. But if you've noticed how much land they got in different wars, the part they have now is just a minuscule part of what they even had at one time. But they want to take that little bit of part that they have and still take that from them. Why? Because they want to. This two-state thing is never going to work. Because every reconciliation you give to the people, they just hate Israel. They're just going to take that and then go forward. Give them an inch, they're gonna take five miles because they hate Israel. We need to remain on Israel's side. Israel turned against God. God says, I'm going to judge Israel. I can almost say, it doesn't say specifically in the Bible, but if I judge Israel, America, you will also be judged for your lack of trust in me. Every single nation on earth who's turned their back on God has reaped the consequences. And there is a phrase a phrase used by the pro-palestinian from the river to the sea and That's from the Nile from the Euphrates River to the sea at Mediterranean Sea and what they're saying is you know what they're saying, right? You know, that's anti-israel Yes, all Jews are eliminated from the river to the sea. And so that's so we have to pray for Israel. God will preserve them and keep them. We just have to praise our God. He is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And we will one day be privileged to serve him forever. It's going to be amazing. Only there's only one book in all the world that has prophecy has been fulfilled. There's only one, none other. The Vedas of India, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, none of them have fulfilled prophecies. The Bible has Christ alone, 318 in the Old Testament. That's God's Word. Yes, God's Word. And that's why, what Mr. Lauda does, it's living. It's the living Word. I think you cannot separate Christ from this. And that's why it's so exciting and you learn, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. Let's pray. Good thoughts. Lord, we're just thankful for your word. As we close up, we want to give you praise for saving us, for keeping us, for preserving your word, giving it to us to learn and grow. May we be people of prayer, be people of the book. Lord, in our prayer that our world would turn, pray for our own country, our own county, our own counties. that they would turn to you, that the leaders would look to you for wisdom and direction, that as Christians we'd repent and revive, be revived, and our love for you would spill over to those who do not know your Savior. Bless us as we go home. We have many, many requests tonight, please. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.