I bring you greetings in our Savior's name as we gather together this Lord's Day morning. We gather in a very unusual way, but then again, these are most unusual times. So, we make use of the means and are grateful for the means that the Lord has given us in this season. If you weren't with us on Wednesday evening, we used the Zoom format for our prayer service for the first time, and it worked very well. And you probably have gotten an email by the time you watch this message, but we're planning, contrary to what we'd announced previously, that we'll do our evening service tonight by the Zoom format as well. And there'll be instructions in the video or in the email, if you haven't seen that yet, with a link to the meeting. We thought it would be a good time and we'll let you come in about 5.45, so we'll have 15 minutes or so to greet one another and visit in that virtual way. before we have our service together. But if you were with us on Wednesday, I think you'll agree it was a good time of fellowship, it was a good time of prayer as well. So we're gonna make use of that probably on all the Lord's Day evenings to have some live interaction one with another. But we come together today for a more regular message, though not regular with regard to our meeting. And I come with Mixed thoughts, to be sure. This is Palm Sunday, and normally it would be our practice to turn our attention to the gospel narratives of our Lord's earthly life and ministry, and certainly those key and crucial events in the week that we call the Passion Week surrounding our Lord's death and resurrection. This is also the first time that I've addressed you with a formal message, since the onset of the coronavirus, and that in itself begs attention. And it is more to that that I want to direct our thoughts today, sadly in some ways, than from a normal Palm Sunday message. As I look back over our years of ministry, I can only recall four occasions that I pulled aside from our regular messages, whether in a series or whatever, and just took a focus on current events. One of those was probably the most obvious, if you think back, was on 9-11. That wasn't a Sunday or a Sunday message that I took following that, but rather we gathered on the Tuesday that it happened and had a special message and a season of prayer, in some ways the only way to respond to that crisis. There was another occasion, that I remembered, actually I think it was during the first Gulf War, way back in the 90s, that I took occasion, it was the first Sunday of the year, early in the year anyway, and spoke about the real war of that year. While our thoughts might be to this, and rightly so, for the welfare of our men and all of that, there was spiritual conflict in our own hearts and lives, the spiritual warfare Paul describes in Ephesians that demands our attention. There was another occasion, perhaps more similar to what we look at today, that I preached after a series of devastating hurricanes that came ashore and caused great loss of property and life. And the other time was after the death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt. I was so taken back with the media coverage in the week following his passing that There had just been so much coverage on what would Dan want us to do? Would he want us to go ahead and race again? And perhaps many of you remember all that. I thought, well, what do the dead really desire? And we have occasion in the Gospels to see what one that spoke from the dead or asked the Lord to speak. And it was to send a message of the Gospel to those that were left behind. But I think those are the only occasions that I've broken from just our regular messages and dealt with current events. And it's certainly something we do with care and not overly frequently, which is obvious. But I thought it would be fitting, given the level of concern and the different pieces of this crisis, that we pause in our studies in 2 Peter and consider something of a more, well, I don't want to say relevant because all of scripture is always relevant, but something more pertinent to consider alongside of this virus. There are obviously a lot of levels of concern with regard to the virus. There's the health concerns, the welfare and safety and health of all that we would know and care for to be sure, the fears, They come, there's sorrows, some are already experiencing. We learned yesterday of someone very near to our generation in school that was a nursing student that has succumbed to the virus as a nurse in Michigan, I believe. And so those concerns are obvious and we pray with and for one another. We pray for healthcare workers, some in our own midst and others that we know in different circles of our influence and families and so forth. There are also, obviously, concerns of a financial nature. I mean, just the losses in the stock market, in some ways, it's sobering to see just how quickly a third, basically, of our economy, if you measure it by that standard, can be wiped out. Those are out of work. So many different things to consider in that regard, and we don't know yet where that will be and where it will end. and it's certainly a cause for prayer and concern. There are political, national, constitutional things that are involved. Those are worthy of thought and certainly of prayer. It sobers me at times to see the politicians. One was noted as having said, never let a good crisis go to waste. And those are things that cause us pause. and we need to keep in prayer as well. So none of these things should be ignored. But obviously for us as Christians, the thing that primarily grasps our attention and draws us out are the spiritual and the moral issues that are at stake. I mean, questions that arise, is God behind this? Is this a good thing or is it a bad thing? How do we respond? How do I best love God and love my neighbor in a season like this? Well, not to bring up all of those questions, but at least to the first we can answer with a resounding yes, God is behind it because God is in sovereign control of everything that comes to pass. And even things that we can't understand, even things that on the surface may look like great tragedies, we know all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. and that is a bedrock and anchor that we as God's people rest upon. So we come and address it today and we come and I remind you the obvious that we don't live in times of direct revelation. We can't approach the news media or approach our neighbor as Isaiah or Jeremiah and say, thus saith the Lord. At times perhaps we might wish that we could, Perhaps there are other times where we don't speak and we should be raising our voice. The best we can possibly do in such times is to look throughout the Scriptures, the whole of the Scriptures, and attempt to bring the general truths we find there, and even searching out perhaps parallel situations to what we face. and see how God's people responded, how God spoke to and ministered to and through his people in those days. And with that in mind, I want to turn you again today to the prophecy of Amos. If you turn to the third chapter of Amos' prophecy. And while you're turning, I just share with you, I spoke from a different section of Amos, it really brought some other things together. in that message that I preached following that series of hurricanes so many years ago. So there'll be some, I guess, parallels between that message and this, but I want to put before you again today why I've turned us to this prophecy. There are certain passages in this prophecy that very clearly have a parallel, at least, to what we see in such a calamity as we're experiencing now on these different levels. But Amos is a prophecy, if I can share with you, that it captured my attention as a young man. It captured my attention as a teenager, actually, because I was reading through, and I came up to chapter seven, and that phrase that the Lord utters to his prophet and through his prophet there about a famine, of his word. It says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, I'll send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirsting for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And he said that they would wander from the north even to the east. They would run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and would not find it. And that really hit me between the eyes as a young person. Now in those days, as you know, I was what we often speak of as an unconscious Arminian. I did not understand really and embrace the fullness of the doctrines of grace. And so that didn't really click with my theological grid. Somebody seeking God and seeking God's word and God saying, no, I'm not gonna let you find me. I'm not gonna let you have my word. That didn't set well. And so I began to read through the prophecy trying to get some clues, trying to figure something out. And that study of Amos as a teenager was a piece of my transition that the Lord used in bringing me into the doctrines of grace. It actually is one of the things the Lord used in calling me to the ministry, some particular parts of this prophecy. But one reason then when I learned more about this prophet and what he was dealing with, One reason that it captured my attention in such a way is because I believe Amos's situation is so closely parallel to our own. And I hope we'll bring some of that out here as we proceed today. But I just draw your attention then to this prophecy and some truths General truths, yes, truths that were true particularly for that people in that nation in that time, their sins and their chastenings and their judgments. But yet I think a word for us, a sober word, and yet as we'll see, Lord willing, as we close, some encouraging things as well. Let us read together first Amos chapter three, the opening eight verses of the chapter. Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole nation or the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Will the young lion cry out of his den if he hath taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no gin is set for him? Shall one take up a snare from the earth and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? And there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it. Now that's a phrase that readily comes to mind in our context. You remember evil often in the Old Testament as it is translated in our authorized version as evil, is not necessarily a moral wrong or a sinful thing. It can have the idea of calamity, of a tragedy. So Amos is saying here, can there be tragedy, a calamity in a city and the Lord hasn't done it? The Lord sovereignly controls and oversees all things, even tragedy. Surely, verse seven, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Well, we'll end our reading there, and trust the Lord will add His own blessing to the reading of His Word. And I'll ask you now to pause with me, and let's seek together the Lord's help as we consider His Word today. Our Heavenly Father, we come with grateful hearts for the privilege of gathering in this unconventional way and yet gathering together around your word. We heard one brother share with us, even in this week, the text from Timothy or Paul's letter to Timothy. When Paul was in prison, he could say, the word of God is not bound. And Lord, you're not limited today. In many ways, your word perhaps is going forth to more today than it would on a normal Lord's Day. As many gather, perhaps those that aren't normally under the word, would we trust have a sober thought this Sunday and seek through the internet or the radio and other means something of the word of God. Lord, bless us around your word today. Make use of this word today that we would share. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. As I said, my thoughts today came again to the prophecy of Amos. As I described, Amos' situation is so similar to ours. I don't want to review the history in great detail, But just suffice it to say that Amos was an early prophet. He was really perhaps the first of the writing prophets. He was from the southern kingdom of Judah, but God called him to minister to the northern tribes of Israel. And if you recall the history of the nation, once the nation was divided, the northern tribes after Jeroboam, the first king named Jeroboam, Didn't want the people to travel to Jerusalem to worship, he thought that would lessen his control over the people politically, so he set up two places to worship the Lord apart from the temple. One he set up in Dan, the other in Bethel. And the idolatrous worship of the golden calf was then incorporated as it had been in the wilderness. with the worship of the Lord, and it was just the beginning of the many sins and apostasies that the northern tribes entered into. Actually, it's a refrain. If you read the history of the northern kings, they followed on in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. But Amos ministered under another Jeroboam, Jeroboam II. And after the succession of kings that had come, there had been various trials. Jehu had sought to rid, though through violent means, rid the kingdom, the northern kingdom of Baal worship, but there was a dearth in the land following that of leadership and so forth. But when Jeroboam II came to reign, he showed himself a capable leader. There was an interval, as it were, between the power struggles of the emerging Gentile nations and empires that we see in the later history of the Old Testament. And during that season of relative peace, Israel, situated on the trade routes, was enabled to prosper. Israel prospered to such a degree that, as Amos describes in his prophecy, people had winter houses and summer houses. They drank wine in bowls. They were enjoying the good life in many ways. But while they enjoyed those tangible earthly benefits, they were lacking greatly in spiritual good and spiritual things. And Amos then preached to a materially prosperous and yet spiritually bankrupt people. And it doesn't take a lot of connecting the dots to see parallels between those circumstances that season in Israel's history and the history of our nation, particularly our lifetimes as we see the sad fruit of apostasy rearing its head in place after place in our land and in our day. So I want to look today Amos is a section, as we'll see in a few moments, where he lists a succession of chastenings that God sent upon the people. One of them was pestilence. One of them was disease. And it may be we can't connect every dot with regard to the disease that we are struggling with now or everyone that succumbs to the disease or catches the disease. and recovers. And we know we have to exercise care. The scriptures don't just draw a direct line between any calamity, any suffering, and God's hand of judgment or God's hand of chastening with regard to sin. I mean, you can see that in the classic Old Testament book of Job. You see that in our Lord's earthly ministry. He describes those that perished under Pilate. He mixed the Galileans' blood with their sacrifices. But was it because of their great sin? There was a tower in Jerusalem that fell and killed 18 people. The Lord said, were these 18 people more sinful than others since the tower fell on them? The Lord said, no, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. And so calamity can come upon the righteous and the unrighteous. There are times in scripture we see God protecting his people from plagues or various things. There are other times where the faithful among God's people are caught up with the chastening. like in the captivities and so forth. So there's always great care that we have to exercise when we speak to such things. And I would certainly not want to imply that anybody that catches this virus is under the wrath of God. But yet we have to step back. When we see something of this significance, whether it's the virus itself or the ramifications of it financially and politically and in every other way, It's an event of such significance, it causes, it should cause all to pause and seek to think of eternal things when temporal things are so disrupted. Of course, believers, we should always be thinking of eternal things, even when temporal things are going well. Sometimes that's the most dangerous season for us spiritually. easier to forget God. But I want to take just a survey from this prophecy, if you will, of five areas of what are common circumstances between the days of Amos and the days in which we live. I'll let you in on a secret. This is the second version of this message I preached earlier, a trial run, working with the equipment and so forth. And that one was a little long. I hope I don't mess this one up and you have to view the long one, but perhaps a little shorter this time around. You don't get that privilege when I preach live, but five areas of common circumstance from Amos' day to our own. And the first one I would put before you is this. The fact that within Israel there were forsaken privileges The people that Amos ministered to had been recipients of great blessing, of great privilege, and yet they had cast them off, they'd abused them. You know, Paul speaks about the privileges Israel knew in Romans, where he begins to outline that, and when he speaks about the spiritual aspect of The gospel, in contrast to mere physical circumcision, there's a question that pops up, and they say, well, what advantage does it have the Jew? What profit is there of circumcision? And Paul answers, much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. They were the recipients of God's word. And we find that emphasized for us in Amos. If you turn back to the second chapter of Amos, We find an outline of many of the privileges that God had given to them. In verse nine of chapter two, read these words. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed him and his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. Talking about the conquest of the land of Canaan and the Lord driving out the Canaanites and giving them that inheritance of the land. Verse 10, also, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, led you 40 years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorites. And if you go from that early privilege to the sustaining of God through the history to the day of prosperity, we'll not turn it up, but it speaks in this book about the couches that they dwelt upon, drinking wine in bowls we mentioned earlier, winter houses, summer houses. The prosperity was great. It was so great that these chastisements we'll see in a few minutes, seemed really to have little impact upon the people. They were able to absorb those calamities. I wonder how much we've lived in times where great tragedies have come and yet the wealth that we enjoy is of such a nature that we can just absorb it. Billions lost with buildings and whatever through hurricanes and yet Here comes the insurance company. Here comes the government bailout if the insurance companies fail. Here comes the rebuilding of newer and nicer and bigger and better. And on and on and on it goes until it doesn't go on anymore. Well, these people had great material prosperity. They were able to reap the benefits of a season of peace. And these people, during that time of benefit, Did they draw closer to the Lord or further away? Not only did they have material provision and privilege, they had religious provision and privilege. Read on in chapter two, verse 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O you children of Israel, saith the Lord? You think of the blessings they had, and as Paul said, we quoted earlier, much every way, chiefly because it unto them were committed the oracles of God. Third chapter, the opening verses there show verses with regard to this privilege that are some of the strongest verses in the Old Testament. Read here, verse one, hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel. against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Obviously, God wasn't ignorant of the other countries, but the word no there has the idea of special acknowledgement. God entered into a special relationship with Israel. He showed them while others were being hardened and hardening themselves. He showed them more of his word, more of his unfolding promise to send Christ to redeem his people from their sins. And here, I say, is one of the most striking statements in all the Old Testament with regard to God's election of the nation. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. What privileges Israel enjoyed. Well, it doesn't take a lot of finagling. I know there are the national, historical, and even the prophetic differences between Israel's national existence and that of other nations and that of our own. But in our own nation, in our own history, we have been blessed in remarkable ways with the knowledge of God, with the Word of God, with a faithful preaching, with the presence of a vast number of God's people. I mean, if you just think percentage-wise in the early days up through to today in our nation of those that have known the Lord's Word and have known the Lord Himself. Think of the revivals that have come forth in these shores. Think of the mission works that have gone from these shores to the ends of the earth. We have been a people that have known great privilege, spiritually and financially and materially. But I fear in many ways, as Israel, we are a people that have forsaken those privileges. Consider with me a second thought. Israel, in the midst of all this privilege, had fallen into and engaged in unacceptable worship. You can turn the pages of this prophecy. Part of the people were still claiming the name of Jehovah, the name of the Lord, and worshiping the Lord through those inappropriate means we mentioned that Jeroboam had set up. Others were fully embracing the gods of the heathen that surrounded them. They were worshiping the hosts of heaven, Some of the constellations and portions of astrological worship are mentioned in Amos as being present among the people. There were things that God had given them that they cast off. We read in chapter 2 of the Lord raising up of their sons for prophets and Nazarites. Read verse 12 following on. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. The other portions, if you want to look at them, that Amos has that are striking with regard to their attitude to the preachers of truth. In chapter five and verse 10, we read, they hate him that rebuketh in the gate. They abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Now you ponder that. The gate, you'll recall in the scripture in the Old Testament has to do with the street, the section or the, the interactions we have together, sometimes political leaders and meetings would be held in the gate of the city. It's just to do with, say, the man on the street kind of thing. They abhor him, or they hate him that rebuketh in the gate. They don't want anybody in the streets of their city speaking against their sins, rebuking their sins. They abhor him. that speaketh uprightly. Now I ask you today, what are you met with as a believer? If you speak truth, if you call something that God calls evil, evil. How does our formerly privileged nation deal with truth and rebuke? You know, they speak of someone preaching against sin as engaging in hate speech. But it's really they that hate the presentation of truth. There's another section, chapter 7 and verse 10. I'll not turn it up, but there's a false prophet that approaches the king with regard to Amos preaching in Israel, and he says the striking phrase, he tries to first accuse Amos of conspiring against the king, you know, this guy's trying to harm you politically, we gotta get rid of that, which was not true of Amos. Amos was just preaching truth against the people's sins. But Amaziah said this, the land is not able to bear all his words. Friends, does that not ring true today for someone that would cry out against the evils of our land? I mean, when we stop and think about the Lord allowing calamity to come upon us, we could go through a host of examples of sin and wickedness that prevail, not only prevail, but are promoted, sanctioned in this land that once was known for godly living and the preaching of truth. I mean the slaughter of countless innocent children and the protection, some would even argue the promotion of that practice, the highest levels of government in our land. Of the recognition of same-sex marriage, the highest levels of our mind. Can we ignore these realities when God can't ignore them? We again could go through a host of other evils as well. You think of what permeates the internet and entertainment industries today and the uncleanness But I say in the heart of this unacceptable worship. Because all the while these sins are going on among the people. I mean, if you read through Amos, they'd even reached the level of cultic prostitution. Church and prostitution brought together. We haven't quite seen that, although perhaps there's some tendencies toward that in some circles if we were to turn over enough stones. But how does God deal with this unacceptable worship? There's some striking phrases in the book. Look with me in chapter four, remembering that Bethel was a center of worship for the people. This is the Lord speaking through his prophet. Come to Bethel and transgress. And Gilgal, multiply transgression, and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish free offerings for this liketh you. O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. Now we have to be careful in our life and experience with the use of sarcasm, because very often we use it sinfully and we use it in order to hurt. But God himself engages here in sarcasm as he looks at the people's worship. Go ahead, go worship. Offer your sacrifices. Come and approach me in all the means that you've chosen. And yet God throughout this book and through his prophet is condemning their worship, showing that they're worthy of and about to receive judgment for their corruptions. God expresses his hatred of them. If you look over in chapter five, again, some staggering terms. Verse 21 of the fifth chapter, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them. Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me. This one always strikes me in our modern context. Take away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials. God here is saying, I hate your worship. I hate your church. You're coming and you're inventing all this of your own imagination. You're not worshiping me according to how I prescribed in my word. You say everything is right between you and me, and yet it's not. a distaste for truth, an appetite for error. Again, does this not characterize our day? I want to pause here and try and utter some words of caution. The context we're living in now, we need a lot of wisdom and discernment. What we're going to see in a moment with regard to the chastenings, often under seasons of pressure and trial. People try and help each other, they try and work together. And there's a lot of good, and there's even a lot of necessary good in seeking to help others in that way. But let us exercise discernment, especially when it comes to the things of religion and faith. They're false prophets. Jeremiah's day was not uncommon. Other days, Ezekiel mentions it. It's obviously on display here in Amos. There were prophets that spoke peaceful words, peaceable words. Everything's fine. Don't listen to the doomsday preacher, the naysayer. He's just the odd duck. Let him be. There are times in which we have to speak the sober word, because the sober word is the truth. And perhaps it's all the more necessary because there's so few that are speaking it, because there's no appetite for truth. But for those that bring religion to the table, as it were, in a time of crisis, Christianity is not just one among the religions. One of our local news channels is asking ministers of all denominations and even all religions to send in recorded messages of hope for people during this time. I'm still wrestling with sending in my 45 seconds and what those 45 seconds would include and whether they would ever get aired or not. False religions. Even apostate versions of the Christian religion can't bring truth to the crisis because they exist to promote error and a false gospel. And so we can't come alongside and say, yeah, we're all in this together. And his false gospel is just as good as my good one, my true one. No. We need discernment. Maybe we don't have to say, well, my neighbor's gotten sick, he needs my help, or my neighbor needs groceries, he can't get out, whatever. I'm not gonna help him because God's judgment's on us now. No, I wanna be a light to him. I wanna help him in every possible way that I can, but I wanna be careful what message I communicate. I can't communicate a message that every other religion is the same. It's God's gospel of grace. Perhaps one of the most prevalent ways in which Amos' time was parallel to ours is that with regard to unacceptable worship. But let us come quickly to our third area of common circumstance. And this is one that perhaps drew my attention again to this prophecy, because if you look in chapter four, Amos gives us in the latter portion of the chapter, beginning in verse six, A sequence of five chastenings, five seasons, five examples of chastening that God had brought upon the people. And the thing that's striking about it is there's a refrain that is repeated after the statement of each one of these calamities. Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Read with me from chapter four, verse six. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places. Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I also have withholden the rain from you. When there were yet three months to the harvest, 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. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Verse nine, I've smitten you with blasting and milled you, yet you've not returned unto me. I've sent, verse 10, among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I've overthrown, verse 11, some of you has God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Natural disaster, calamity, earthquake, tsunami, whatever, yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. That repeated refrain. And we have to wonder, whether it be the horrors of war, terrorism, natural disaster, disease. Again, we exercise care, but in all of these things, should there not be a call for God's people, for all that are under his mighty hand, to return unto him? And yet, our nation goes on, and sin and the violence that comes with it just escalates on every hand. I remember being taken back, I mentioned this in the message on hurricanes. A phrase with regard to the drought, you know, there's famine and drought and pestilence and these chastenings that are mentioned. And the one with drought, the Lord says, it caused it to rain upon one city, caused it not to rain upon another city. So the one withered and dried up. So two or three cities wandered under one city to drink water. Yet you've not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I'm always smitten with that thought because what has happened in our prosperity and all the calamities that have come, we, you could almost repeat the phrase if I put it before you, what's the first thing in the news stories? What's the first thing out of the person's mouth when they go to where the tornado struck and they talk about the neighborhood and how things are going? The phrase is we came together. I'm not saying stay apart. I'm not saying don't help your neighbor. I'm not saying thumb your nose at the guy who just lost everything. Not at all. I think we should go and help. I think it is wonderful to see among the first that go out to help in such situations, the Lord's people and offering a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus, et cetera. But there's an underlying spirit when you have the whole of a nation or of communities that are as a whole, in measure, in apostasy, in unbelief, in the embrace or the sanction of immoralities, certainly in the plural. And there's no returning to God. There's no repentance. And yet we It's almost like the spirit of Babylon. Babylon, as you know, that spirit of human unity while separated from God. Really, the call of the gospel is to come out of the world and be separated unto God. We can help. We can give. We can heal wounds and feed the hungry and all of these things, but never apart from a call to return, to repent. The repeated chastenings God had sent and yet unheeded, I wonder how much that is true of our nation in the last 50 years. But let me come to our fourth thought today. If you look in chapter seven, and again, we're just giving a survey of a very rich and full prophecy. But from chapter seven, verse one, really through the end of the book, there's a sequence of five visions that Amos receives. There's a common phrase, or similarly, you'll see, thus hath the Lord God showed unto me. You see it in verse one, you see it in verse four. You see verse seven, see verse one of chapter eight, verse one of chapter nine, these five visions. But at least in the opening sequence of these visions of chastening and of the Lord's dealing with his people, there's another element to it. Amos is interceding. Amos is praying for the people, and you see in the first ones, God turns. Again, there's one of those words we have to wrestle through. He says God repents him. God isn't repenting because he did something wrong. He's turning away from a means or a channel of activity that he had threatened out of mercy. So he pulls back from this calamity or he pulls back from this judgment and all along Amos is interceding. Now there comes a point for Amos The point we find prominently in Jeremiah, when the Southern Kingdom is coming to the point of judgment and the Babylonian captivity sent by God's hand, that God tells Jeremiah, don't pray for this people. He names notable prophets. If Daniel and Moses and Job were here, I wouldn't hear their prayers for this people. There is a point of no return with regard to God's judgment and chastening. But I said, the prophet is interceding. And isn't that contrary to what the man on the street or the ungodly, maybe even the media today would say of someone preaching a message like this one? That we should consider the prospect of this being a chastening from God, a warning from God? I said, oh, that's hate speech, that's a bad guy. Amos, Jeremiah, others, they wept for the people. They prayed, you remember Moses when God threatened in the very early days of the nation with the golden calf and their idolatries in the wilderness. He said, I'm gonna wipe them out, start over with you, Moses. The Lord says, Lord, don't do that. Be merciful to this people. Here's Amos interceding, Lord, don't bring this. And that's something that you and I need to pattern ourselves after. Lord, make use of this. Whatever purposes you have in sending it, turn it for good. Awaken many hearts to their sin. Draw them to Christ. Strengthen and help your people. Purify your church. Awaken a sleeping church. It's interesting, there's several that have found together. Our brother Stephen Lee with Sermon Audio asked at the conference that those gathered there and any others they could impact Take a season on Saturdays in this year of 2020 to intercede together for God to move, for God to stir us and send something of a breath of revival. I confess many ways I've engaged others and myself, and yet there have been some Saturdays that it's just been more routine than a special season of prayer. But should we not pause as believing Christians and ask God as Habakkuk prayed, in wrath remember mercy, to intercede for our neighbors, to intercede for the church, that God would stem the tide of apathy, of worldliness, That was part of this fire and brimstone preacher from Tekoa named Amos. The love for the people he had to preach such hard things to. But let me come finally and quickly to our last thought. Amos is a book that foretells a coming judgment. after a series of various chasings. But Amos is also a book that has promises to the remnant. Remnant promises. God has throughout history blessed and preserved his own promise and his own name through a remnant. When you think about Noah, the earth so filled with wickedness that God sent the flood upon the earth and yet he remembered his promise. and he spared Noah and his sons and their families and blessed a remnant and carried the torch of truth through the judgment into the new world, as it were. And so it is here. It's interesting because you go to the book of Acts in the New Testament in chapter 15 of the first Jerusalem council, we joke and say the first meeting of the presbytery in the New Testament church, but there was a question as to, the Lord blessing the Gentiles and calling out of the Gentiles of people and bringing them together with Jewish believers in the New Testament church and how they can interact. What about circumcision? What about the Jewish feast days and the Jewish rituals and all of that? And part of the discussion in that day in the council in Jerusalem, James stood up and he quotes from the prophecy of Amos. There's questions with regard to our views of the millennium and prophecy and so forth about if there's something beyond the church age in a millennial kingdom, or if it's just the church age itself that is the fulfillment of those prophecies. But the thing we draw out from this, he calls from Amos. If you look in the closing chapter, verse nine, it says here, in that day, verse 11, will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof. I'll raise up his ruins and I'll build it as in the days of old. The promises to David, well, God's threatening Israel. He's gonna threaten Judah with captivity and judgment by their enemies, and yet, he's not gonna totally forsake them. He's gonna preserve a remnant, and he's gonna look forward to a day of ultimate and final blessing. I say this with firm conviction, I have as many questions as the next guy with regard to the details of prophecy. I have a general outline that I hold in my own heart with regard to that. But I say this, all of the views anticipate the greatest revival that will ever be is yet to come. The revival that will come at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What mercies will God show? Yes, there are fearful judgments that come, anticipating and at the very point of that day. But the blessings will far outweigh the judgments. God has a remnant even now. Let us praise his name to be part of that. Let us seek to be a witness, even if it's but a remnant witness. little Amos in the northern kingdom to call people back to the glorious gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the only remedy for sin. Well, these are just five areas, I say, of common circumstance between the prophecy of Amos in her own day May God give us wisdom in drawing from this book and applying it to our times. May God use us as a good testimony in the midst of uncertain days. Let's bow our heads together. Heavenly Father, we ask that you might prosper your word that you might give us grace in understanding it, grace in applying it, grace in living it. Whatever may come in the uncertain days that are just in front of us, Lord, we trust you with it. In the promise of your presence with your people, even in difficult times, as Paul could Say from a prison cell, the word of God is not bound. Lord, take up your word. Even this Lord's Day, through radio, through the internet, through various means, stir up more than would normally seek out such a message in this day. Draw souls to yourself. Challenge your own people. Strengthen the church. And get glory to your own name. Make us jealous for that glory. Let us be strong as an Amos and even speak unpopular and undesired words in times when they're needed most. We ask and pray these things in Jesus' precious name.