 So beginning at verse one and only reading verse one given an introduction and moving into our study Amos chapter nine beginning and reading verse one I Saw the Lord standing by the altar and he said strike the doorposts that the thresholds may shake and Break them on the heads of them all I will slay the last of them with the sword He who flees from them shall not get away and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered and So this chapter as we get into chapter nine is a concluding chapter of the book of Amos and this chapter chapter nine Contains the fifth and the final vision that the prophet Amos received Chapter nine concludes with the message of judgment a Message of judgment that that God gave to a prophet again by the name of Amos to proclaim Amos continues the theme of judgment But I want you to know that he's going to conclude with words of encouragement When we get to verse 13 it it'll begin at that point to say behold the days are coming says the Lord When the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treacher of grapes him who sow seed The mountains shall drip with sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it I will bring back the captives of my people Israel They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them I will plant them in their land and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them says the Lord your God and so as he's been going through all of this Proclamation of judgment We will have the opportunity to conclude with words of Encouragement and so I look forward to getting to that point so that we can end this book on the note that the Lord would have us to end on but he's continuing the theme of judgment in Isaiah 54 verse 8 it says with a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment But with everlasting kindness, I will have mercy on you says the Lord your Redeemer I've been angry at you But I'm also going to be kind to you and we'll be seeing that as we go through this book Now as we've gone through Amos from chapter 1 all the way to this point here We've been seeing that God has made pronouncements concerning judgment We saw that he had begun by speaking concerning judgment on the nations that are north southeast and west and all Of the nation of Israel and then he moved on to concentrate on judgment that would fall on On the northern and southern kingdom and we've been seeing that he's been speaking Pronouncements especially against the northern kingdom now for several chapters So as we went through this book, let me remind you of some of the things that we've seen We've seen that Israel has not valued her special place in the world We've seen that she has built pagan worship shrines and altars that she ordained a pagan priesthood That she rejected justice she robbed and pillaged the poor Polluted her tithes and offerings to the Lord. She offered unacceptable sacrifices Refused to return to God She had undergone drought and famine she rejected correction Ignored the word of God created worship songs that God called noise and refused to hear gave herself to greed and sexual immorality and Refused to repent when hit by plagues and other judgments She even went so far as to tell Amos a prophet to just get out of town and to preach his message Elsewhere that sounds like today. It sounds like the church But that's what the nation of Israel was going through and so God it brought a message a message of judgment But as he has brought this message of judgment of impending judgment as we've been going through him as we've seen That they're not listening to what he's saying In spite of the judgment that God is bringing he continues on though to say in spite of this judgment I will recover you and I will deal with you But what is needed is repentance What's great is that God foresees that that will occur They're going to come back to him Though they endure as a nation very severe judgment The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12 no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it When you have gone through chastening it is not necessarily an enjoyable time or season We all know that every believer in here has gone through chasing it and will continue into the future to have it because Every son that God has Receives chastening we can receive God's hand upon us dealing with us And as you're going through that chasing it as you're going through that time where God's pressure is upon your life It isn't necessarily the most joyful time that you've ever had there are times that perhaps you'll even cry out and say God How long how long are you going to deal with me this long? How long are you going to be treating me this way? When are you going to release me from this and the Lord will simply say within our hearts in one form or another It'll be I will let up when you learn your lesson And so me I was one of these kids who like to learn my lessons as quickly as possible My father didn't have to spank me in my lifetime more than maybe four or five times and I'm exaggerating probably at this time My father didn't spank me My father just put me behind a car and dragged me with a rope. No, my father never my dad never Never spank my mom on the other hand Mom was a little quicker to spank but not my dad my dad wasn't and the interesting thing about that is I had a habit of trying to learn the lesson. He was trying to teach the first time and And when I got saved and began to realize that God is my father I Began at that point to try to learn the lesson. He was teaching me the first time because I have never enjoyed being spanked I don't enjoy the chastening and even as the writer of Hebrew says to us No, no chastening seems to be joyful at that time for the present when you're going through it It is not something that you at that time are so grateful for but afterward it yields up the the fruit of righteousness The peaceable fruit that God wants you to have and so God is going to bring chastening He's bringing punishment upon the nation of Israel But ultimately they're going to be able to rejoice that he's going to have the work that is finished We'll see that in just a moment and so Amos is speaking of judgment That would soon come upon Israel in the near future and as I've been pointing this out to you as we've been going through this book In the near future Assyria will enter to the northern kingdom and will decimate it So this chapter speaks of the judgment to come But it does conclude with the promise of restoration now the judgment is in reference to what has been called the Assyrian invasion in the invasion of Assyria occurred around 722 BC now we know that Amos was written around 760 to 753 BC so the invasion that has been spoken of is on the horizon It's about to happen and so initially is speaking about this judgment that is about to come now as he looks at this at all Notice verse 1 here in Amos chapter 9 how he says I saw the Lord standing by the altar and he said Strike the doorposts that the thresholds may shake break them on the heads of them all I Will slay the last of them with the sword he who flees from them shall not get away and He who escapes from them shall not be delivered he is speaking about the invasion of Assyria Assyria is coming into the 10 northern tribes Came around 722 and it's going to decimate the 10 northern tribes now As we begin again in verse 1 when he says I saw the Lord standing by the altar Up until this time Amos has been speaking in this way He's been saying the Lord God showed me or or he showed me but now I want you to notice He says I saw the Lord So Amos is getting a vision of the glorious light that indicates the presence of God It's not that he's looking directly at God and I always say this quickly, but I need to say it It's not that he's seeing God in God's complete glory Because that isn't possible to do When you read the book of Exodus the Old Testament book back to Exodus second book of the Bible We have an interesting conversation that takes place between Moses and God and As God and Moses are actually having a Conversation if you will Moses said this it's found in Exodus 33 18 through 20 Moses said to God, please show me your glory Then he said God spoke back. I will make all my goodness past before you I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion But he said you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live Who alone has immortality? You see God is immortality has immortality and he lives in an unapproachable light. No one can see my face and live Moses you're asking me to reveal my glory to you, but if I were to reveal my glory to you You wouldn't survive What seems to be a century ago? There was a movie called Raiders of the Lost Ark Some of you. I'll let you think for a moment. Oh, yeah Somewhere in the early 80s that movie came out and and the Ark of the Covenant is what it's being spoken of and at one point in the movie the Ark is opened up and Then this bright light comes out and all the faces of the people begin to melt and all of that a very dramatic thing What they were trying to emphasize I would assume is that no man can see the glory of God and live and God actually is saying that to Moses Moses You're asking to see something you couldn't survive You're asking to see my glory No man can see my glory and live so when When Amos is saying I saw the Lord He would not be speaking of seeing the full glory of God But he'd be seeing the radio of the light the rate the radiance if you will of God He's seeing the presence of God But is not seeing him in his full revealed glory in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 16 Paul said God alone has immortality Dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power amen So you know sometimes we'll say oh God show me your glory and God would say to you No, because if you were to see me in my unmitigated glory You couldn't survive it and so what God has done is he took upon himself human flesh It's called the incarnation and he dwelt amongst men and we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten son of God Jesus took upon himself human flesh and he basically clothed the glory of God with humanity So when you want to know God's glory you see his glory revealed in Christ and When you want to see God Clearly that's why you would look at Jesus That's why Philip said show us the father and it'll be sufficient for us in John 14 and Jesus said have I been so long a Time with you and yet you have not known me Philip He who has seen me has seen the father. How say us thou then how can you say then show us the father? If you've seen me Jesus said you've seen God in human flesh You're asking for a revelation that has already been given to you The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ is God clothed in human flesh and so what we have here is we have Amos having an opportunity to see part of the glory of God But not his full and complete face and so what he sees is the glory of the Lord standing by the altar Now a second thing I want to point out here in verse 1 when it says I saw the Lord standing by the altar That altar that he's speaking about is not the altar that you would find in Jerusalem the altar that is there before the temple This is not the altar in Jerusalem What he's seen is an altar that is a pagan altar that was in a place called Bethel which was in the southernmost section of the of the geographic location of the ten tribes and This particular altar that he's seen is one that has been dedicated to Baal in ancient Samaria and so he's not seen The temple's altar he's seen a pagan altar And that's why you read where it says strike the doorposts that the thresholds may shake Break them on the heads of them all I'll slay the last of them with a sword and he who flees from them Shall not get away and he who escapes from them shall not be Delivered so when Assyria invades the people are going to rush into this pagan temple Because they think that by running into this pagan temple. They're going to find protection I don't know if you're old enough to remember this. I look out here, and I think you probably aren't But some of you are you're just pretending you're not But you may remember That in times of tragedy it actually still happens in times of tragedy Where's the first place people run? It used to be I mean without exception the church Without exception if there was some problem taking place the first thing you would find is people rushing to church We've seen that kind of phenomenon phenomenon even in our in our day when 9-1-1 occurred churches were filled When there have been massive earthquakes churches are filled because people have a tendency of running for protection to what they consider to be a sacred place during this time when Assyria is going to come in invade and People are being decimated the first thing people begin to do is they run to Bethel to a pagan altar a Shrine a place dedicated to paganism in order to be protected So they rush to this place But God's making it clear that the doorposts are going to be he says we'll strike the doorposts That the thresholds may shake break them on the heads of them all so he's saying that you may be running into your pagan Place of protection, but it's actually going to be your doom Now some may break away He says I'll slay the last of them with the sword he who flees from them shall not get away some may get away for a moment But he's saying there's not going to be any safety for you ultimately. You're not going to get away So not only will the people die But notice how he says I will slay the last of them not only will the people die But when they die any children that might have been born to them will die also And so he's basically saying I'll slay the last of them with the sword because in in one person dies His lineage dies with them. By the way, that's that's one of the reasons that God in the Old Testament Actually enacted capital punishment It's because in the Jews to this day understand this in the church ought to and perhaps by saying this will Will remind ourselves of this when you slay a man You are not only slaying that man, but you're slaying all the children that would have been born to that man and That's why that's one of the reasons why it is such a grave sin such an offense Because you're not slaying just the man by himself, but say he's a 20 year old guy You're slaying not only that man, but any children that would have been born to him And so this is that image when he says I'll slay the last of them Not only is that person going to die in judgment, but any descendants they would have had will also be wiped out as that person dies Any who temporarily escape ultimately will be caught. They will be taken into captivity in Second Kings chapter 17 verses 5 through 7 it says it like this the king of Assyria Went throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years In the ninth year of Hosea The king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria and placed in a Hala by the by the Haber the the river of Gozan and In the cities of the Medes For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God Who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt and They had feared other gods and so it's a picture of what happened. They came people died others were taken into captivity There are ancient Assyrian records that that indicate that in this invasion 27,290 of these people from the north were taken captive and resettled So the Lord is saying you fleece from them shall not get away He who escapes from them shall not be delivered when Assyria comes in you will be taken and Many will be slain. He goes on in verse 2 and says this Is this is real cheery though. They dig into hell From there my hand shall take them though. They climb up to heaven from there. I will bring them down Though they hide themselves on top of Mount of Carmel From there I will search and take them though. They hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea From there I'll command the serpent it shall bite them Though they go into captivity before their enemies from there I will command the sword it shall slay them I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good. You don't want to get God mad at you the thought the thought is You can hide yourself You can hide yourself in a cave You can dig into the ground and and hide there in a deep hole in the earth But you're not going to escape It's like what it says in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 10 go into the rocks hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty try and hide from him So this is a way of saying that no matter where you go You will not escape his judgment even in captivity You will still be experiencing his wrath. Oh Long time ago. I discovered that there's no place to flee from God. Have you discovered that? There's no place to flee from him It's interesting on the one hand if if I'm an unbeliever if I'm somebody who doesn't have a right relationship with the Lord That ought to be scary That ought to be scary. I mean somebody thinks well, I can get up and escape his presence Jonah thought that Right Jonah thought that I'll just go climb on a ship go off to Spain God says that I'm supposed to go off to the east I'll go to the west instead of going and and speaking in Nineveh I'm going to go down to Spain and take my my ease there and and there he goes He goes in the ship He goes down into the into the bottom of the ship and he's there and then the storm hits and everything begins to Happen and people begin to say cry out to your God perhaps. He'll save us and that's when Jonah says well I serve the Lord God and it's because of me that this storm has come upon you. Just throw me overboard. It's going to cease You think that you can get away from God and you can't you think that you can hide from him And there are various ways that people try to hide from God they can hide from God and obviously sinful things going through different Relationships getting involved in drugs and alcohol. There's a variety of ways to try and hide from God You can even try to hide from God but becoming religious There are a variety of ways to try and hide from the hand of God and God is saying it very simply saying listen I'm going to bring judgment You can try and flee to heaven and you can dig your way into hell. You can do everything in between But the bottom line is as you can't escape me judgment is going to come So for those who don't know the Lord the idea that God will pursue them To that end it ought to be frightening for those of us who love the Lord that ought to be comforting Because on the other hand, he doesn't forsake us nor does he leave us and he pursues us And one of the things I've discovered about following the Lord and it's been said in this way that the Holy Spirit has been called the hound of heaven He just pursues you he pursues you and Before you're saved the hound of heaven is on your tracks Convicting you and ultimately if you reject him, then you're going to be condemned for rejecting them when you're a believer You can be stepping into the wrong direction and the hound of heaven still pursues you and you know what I'm saying There's it's called conviction it's called oh God's pressure in your life and And and some of you understand exactly what I'm about to say because I've experienced it myself When I have gone someplace we'll say and I've heard before I was pastoring this church and and all as a young believer And I wasn't doing well with the Lord and I would go someplace and to hear a message simply because that's what Christians do Isn't it we go to church? And while I'm there I I hear this preacher and he's getting me mad and I'm not liking him I'm getting mad at him Because I don't like the way he's talking about me That's conviction that's conviction and So long time ago God began to try to teach me that the first time he speaks I ought to listen and So sometimes people will go to a church and in the church service. They they walk away feeling bad But let me tell you something sometimes we need to I'm not saying we should every time we go I'm not saying that but I'm saying that sometimes Sometimes that's the right response because sometimes that's what God is trying to provoke in me a Godly sorrow so I could turn for my sin so I can be restored to him Reconciled to him so that he can continue blessing my life and and I don't end end up reaping the consequences of poor decisions and Another aspect of this is as a believer It gives me great comfort to know that I can't escape the Lord I cannot escape the Lord that God loves and pursues me and he does the same for you The question is asked in Psalm 139 verses 7 through 10 Where can I go from your spirit or? Where can I flee from your presence if I ascended to heaven? You're there If I make my bed in hell behold you're there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there your hand shall lead me your right hand Shall hold me. You know those are words of comfort and hope. You're never alone. You're never alone Jesus taught us this God says it to us in his word. I Will never never never forsake you Isn't that a beautiful word? You know some of you have been forsaken all of us in one way or another have been You fell in love Promises were made You got married And then one day you discovered you've been abandoned The deepest love that you ever had the strongest commitment you ever had The holiest vows you ever made when you stood before God and man and you said I will love this person for the rest of my life And they said the same to you till death do us part and Then a year or two years five years down the road There was a parting and in that parting is a brokenness in that parting is a broken heart in that Forsaking You could have gotten bitter and angry. I've talked to a lot of people over the years I've received a lot of testimonies from people over the years who have said things like When I was left I decided I you know, what is love? What does that matter and I remember a young woman years ago now saying how she began just to go out with Different guys sleep around and all of that. She said I had no value I'd been forsaken by the person who loved me the most And then she came to faith in Christ and they'd she realized She's the only person who will never forsake me and will never leave me You know one of the things we all know is this that as a human being Even if you don't intend to and you don't want to you will let somebody down you will we all do I think I did it once years ago. No, we will We will let people down But I am here to tell you and remind you that there's one who has told me That his right hand will hold me Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I don't walk alone. I am never alone I only have given my full testimony one time in the and that title of that tape that they had way back Then was simply never alone Because that is what the Lord gave to me when I got saved Because as an abandoned child emotionally abandoned child as I was You know, I I felt alone all the time and that's one of the reasons why as a kid was always trying to find somebody who Would love me. I wanted them to be committed to me I wanted them to never leave me because I had felt abandoned by my own family Some of you understand what I just said abandoned. I felt left alone. I was alone and Then I heard the gospel and Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you and for some reason That was the message that spoke to my heart. You mean you'll never never never leave me and you'll never never never forsake me That's what I said Jesus prayed he said now I'm alone and yet I'm not alone for you are with me and If Jesus said though man is forsaken me and fled yet my father never will that gives to me a hope That is beyond anything that I could ever have on the face of this earth There is one who is faithful to you his name is Jesus and we need to understand that today And so here we have a promise on the one hand where God is speaking and saying to the unbeliever You can't escape me judgment will come But we can also realize as believers that God will never forsake us and it will always hold us in his hand Again in verse 4 though they go into captivity before their enemies from there I will command the sword it shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good judgment Is going to come in verse 5 the Lord God of hosts He who touches the earth and it melts and all who dwell there mourn All of it shall swell like the river and subside like the river of Egypt He who builds his layers in the sky and has founded his strata in the earth Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth? The Lord is his name and so it's speaking concerning judgment judgment is coming The Assyrians it's a picture. This is a picture of the invasion the Assyrians will invade But it is God who moves them to invade In Isaiah 8 verse 7 says therefore behold the Lord brings Brings up over them the waters of the river strong and mighty the king of Assyria and all his glory He will go up over all his channels and go over all his banks Isaiah 28 verse 2 the Lord has a mighty and strong one like a tempest of of hail and a destroying storm like a flood of Mighty waters overflowing who will bring them down to the earth with his hand So he's saying judgment is coming and it is something that I am bringing Notice in verse 6 when it says he who builds his layers in the sky And has founded his strata in the earth who calls the waters of the sea pours them out In the face of the earth the Lord is his name The Lord is his name the Lord is the all-powerful one It is interesting Again he who builds his layers in the sky Who calls for the waters of the sea? It's interesting to see that God is speaking concerning how powerful he is There's an interesting psalm it's psalm 147 verses 4 and 5 And I was thinking about this today. So I thought I'd add this it it says he counts the number of the stars He calls them all by name Great is our lord in mighty in power. His understanding is infinite now As I was reading that today He calls he counts the number of the stars and calls them all by name And then he concludes by saying his understanding is infinite So I thought how many stars are there? I'm no scientist But I have a friend that I consult sometimes his name is google So I asked him today Almighty google, can you tell me how many stars there are in the universe? So I open up this page that's dedicated to that subject listen to this There are probably more than 170 billion galaxies In the observable universe Stretching out into a region of space 13.8 billion light years from us in all directions If you multiply this the number of stars in our in our galaxy By the number of galaxies in the universe You get approximately 10 to the 24th power stars That's a one Followed by 24 zeros That's called a septillion Or our national debt, but anyway But there But there could be more than that It's been calculated that the observable universe Is a bubble of space 47 billion years in all directions so Again He counts the number of the stars He calls them all by name Great is our lord mighty in power His understanding is infinite that gives you an idea of understanding The word infinite means something It's beyond calculation That's the god by the way that you serve the lord is his name He says in verse seven are you not like the people of ethiopia to me? Oh children of israel says the lord did I not bring up israel from the land of egypt The philistines from kafter and the syrians from ker Behold the eyes of the lord god are on the sinful kingdom and I will destroy it from the face of the earth Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of jacob Says the lord For surely I will command and will sift the house of israel among all nations as grain is sifted in a sieve Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword who say the calamity shall not overtake us nor confront us Now when he says are you not like the people of ethiopia to me? Oh children of israel don't think that you have special privileges And have become exempt from my judgment I'm going to judge you as readily as I would judge any other nation That's why he would speak of the people of ethiopia When it says in verse eight behold the eyes of the lord are on the sinful kingdom. I'm going to destroy it That speaks of israel as the divided nation the divided kingdom, but again ultimately it will be united Until that time that it's reunited it remains divided But ultimately in the future The nation of israel which was divided into ten northern and two southern tribes in the future the yet future In the most biblical way It will no longer be regarded as being ten northern tribes and two southern tribes It will remain divided until it regains its existence under the final movement of god in the very last of the days When he says in verse eight the eyes of the lord are on the sinful nation. I'll destroy it Again That speaks of the divided kingdom for surely verse nine I will command and will sift the house of israel among all nations as grain is sifted See israel ultimately was was scattered throughout the world But god called them back together and god in the end will do so in its most complete form I've said this before i'll say it very briefly now many of you have already heard this and already know this But in the history of mankind there hasn't been a nation like israel that at one time was scattered throughout the world and then regathered You can go into countries throughout the world And open up a phone book You can do that in germany you can do it in russia You can do it in south america. You can do it in china You can do it throughout Many many many of the nations of the world open up a phone book And look for the name cohen A jewish name You'll find it Because israel was scattered when when rome in ad 70 came in and and Destroyed the temple The romans also took many jewish jewish prisoners took them captive if you go into rome there's actually A monument of sorts that if you look at it you will see that it's all the way back from ad 70 and you will see Somebody had carved out in this monument Jews who are being taken captive you can see it as they're carrying the holy utensils of the of the temple That took place in ad 70 and from ad 70 the year 70 ad until 1948 There was no nation that was specifically referred to as an existing nation called israel What the romans chose to do is the romans chose to change the name of israel As a matter of fact the name that the romans gave to israel is the name that most of the world still uses in reference to israel And that word is palestine The word palestine is really simply the word philistine And the romans used the name philistine or palestine to designate the nation of israel So that started very early The jews didn't refer to themselves as as palestinians the world referred to them as palestinians And so that nation that at one time was a sovereign nation Under that judging hand of god in ad 70 the people of that nation were taken and scattered throughout the world And I have met jews from various portions of the world and again I'll say it like this sometimes you get caught up with the stereotypes of what a jewish person looks like And and we all have been and for whatever reason those caricatures have continued throughout history and And and so you may have pictures in your mind what a jewish person looks like But I guarantee you You cannot tell what a jewish person looks like normally Just by looking at them. Why? Because the jewish nation was spread throughout the world. So you will go into israel And you will encounter people That You wouldn't stereotypically think we're jewish at all Marie and I were in migito And marie comes walking up to me. We're in we were in a in a shop that they have there I was hiding but she found me she was in the shop And she comes to me and she says honey, you've got to come over here I want you to meet somebody because she makes friends with everybody where she goes. I said, okay So I go walking in to this shop and she says tell him where you're from And the the guy behind the counter he's looking at me And he says i'm from mexico And I said, what are you doing here? You know He said i'm jewish I'm jewish. I said, oh you're a jewish mexican. He said yes. I'm jewish We were in israel last year We went into a shop and I had one of our guys with me his name's jose He's on staff with us here jose is with me We come walking out of this shop and there's this guy Doing some work on the building jose looks up at him and speaks spanish to him Where are you from? And the guy says i'm from mexico And so mexican jews in israel. I still can't compute that You will see russian jews german jews You will see jews from south america You will see ethiopian jews It is a melting pot Because the jews were scattered throughout the world there has never been a time in history in this hassis To us as christians you need to see the value of what i'm trying to say There has never been a time in history When a nation has been scattered from that small geographic area and ever returned To once again be that people You know you read your bible the philistines. Where are they? They're gone You look at the different people the various jebusites And and others that their names are to us interesting canaanites But you don't go into that area where they were and you don't find the jebusites And you don't find the canaanites You can't go throughout the world and see the cellulites, but that's another study entirely They're everywhere too I don't know why I just do But there are still israelites There are still israelites Because they are the people that god did not let He did not let them be absorbed into the other peoples This bible that you have in your hand is an amazing book Because it speaks concerning these days that we're living in with prophetic certainty and accuracy They were scattered the assyrians came took thousands of people captive and yet there was a remnant The romans centuries later came scattered them There was still a remnant and these people went to different places different countries learn different languages and cultures But retained their identity as jews And that to me is an amazing amazing thing again When it says in uh verse 10 all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword who say the calamity shall not overtake us nor confront us Ultimately the true Will be separated from the false The true those who genuine have a genuine faith in god They will be preserved But those who refuse to turn to the lord ultimately die without him Now in the very end of the last days and all There will be that regathering And they will be repopulating in israel in the last day since will actually be In operation again, the temple had been rebuilt and and all of those things we're talking about the tribulation And that will be when it actually is fulfilling The prophecies that relate to the last days and all and there's an interesting portion of scripture It's found in zekariah 13 verses 8 and 9 Where it says it shall come to pass in all the lands as the lord that two thirds in it shall be cut off and die But one third shall be left in it. I will bring the one third through the fire We'll refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested They will call on my name and I will answer them I will say this is my people and each one will say the lord is my god So he had said not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground Now all the sinners of my people shall die Who say the calamity shall not overtake us nor confront us? So those who are not true to him at the very end obviously will be dying But there is a sifting that takes place and there are those who will be a remnant Who will trust and believe in the end? and finally On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of david which has fallen down repair its damages I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old That they may possess the remnant of edam And all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the lord who does this thing Behold the days are coming says the lord when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes He must sow seed the mountains shall drip with sweet wine the hill shall flow with it I will bring back the captives of my people israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them They shall plant vineyards drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them I will plant them in their land no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I've given them says the lord your god So he closes with encouragement and a promise The days are coming After all this writing concerning judgment Amos closes with a promise to israel One of my my favorite scriptures that there reminds me of the goodness of the lord is found in the psalms at psalm 30 verse 5 I've read this recently But it bears repetition as we're about to close Amos Because in psalm 30 verse 5 it says his anger is but for a moment His favor is for life Weeping may endure for a night But joy comes in the morning Weeping may endure for a night There's a season of pain But the season of pain Is overwhelmed By the joy that god brings ultimately The nations of the nation of israel Is being buried in the psalm The season of israel Is being dealt with by god Amos is prophesying a near judgment as well as future judgment But he's also saying that when god completes his work with you You will be purged of sin And you'll be fresh and blessed by god He will draw many nations people from many nations And they will worship god along with restored israel and zekariah 2 verse 11 Many nations will join themselves to the lord on that day. They too will be my people I will live among you. You will know that the lord almighty sent me to you So the nation will be united The nation will be blessed by god and the nation will once again be called the land of milk and honey God will join the 10 northern tribes with the two southern tribes and no longer will there be division They will be just a single tribe the single people of god And the promise is that god will restore them to the land and once again They will worship him and will do so forever In germanyah 31 33. This is the new covenant. I will make with the people of israel on that day says the lord I will put my laws in their minds I will write them on their hearts I will be their god They will be my people God I'll close with this and then we're going to pray I've said this recently. I'll say it again And I'll conclude with this thought children of israel had the law And the law was first given to them by the law giver moses moses went up on mount sinai And while there god gave him the tablets of the law The tablets of the law as we speak of it in that fashion refer to the 10 commandments The 10 commandments can are broken into two segments one is is duties towards god and the second is duties towards men When god gave the 10 commandments to moses When moses originally was to bring these commandments to the children of israel he discovered that the children of israel Had thrown off restraint while he was receiving the commands and began to to party and to commit immorality And ultimately judgment sprang upon them god moses was so upset that he broke those original tablets ultimately going back up onto mount sinai and receive in a second And in those commands Were the found to be the duties of man to god and man amongst man The first four commandments related to man's duties to god Because the foundation of all relationship with humanity begins first with the relationship with god So you honor god you worship god. You don't have false gods before him or create grave in images and things of that nature You make him preeminent and then as a result of this faith and relationship that you have with almighty god You don't steal you don't kill you don't bear false witness. You don't commit adultery and you don't don't do those social things That are social evils that relate to poor relations with humanity So it always begins with a relationship first with god and then your duties towards man But these were on tablets of stone. They were on the outside And so man could look at these tablets and they could say I can memorize these I can I can get to understand these things but but nobody ever was able to To keep all those commands and great stories found of that that rich young ruler came to christ and said You know what what good thing must I do to have eternal life and jesus said you know the commands And began to give the social commands didn't even give the commands towards god He gave the commands towards man He gives a few of them and and and the young ruler looks at him and said all these things from my youth up I've kept what do I still yet lack In other words, I've already obeyed these things. I've already done these things These are the things that are part of the airmarks of my life. These are the things that I practice I've I've read those rules. I know those obligations and they remember with me You may have 10 commandments But as I've shared with you before there were actually 613 specific commands that the nation of israel were to obey Not just the 10, but there were 613 and that's why people would come up to christ and ask him What is the great command in the law because they were reductionist? They'd like to take the 613 and try to find the most important And that's why jesus would boil it down and say love god with all it's in you and love your neighbor as yourself Why because love does no harm to a neighbor therefore love is a fulfillment of the command So if you're going to wrap up the commands of god It will always be found in the love for god and love for man But the problem is is that man does not love god completely and cannot love another person completely Why because we're so busy loving ourselves That we have no room for god or man So you can have all the rules that you want on the outside They used to have civil codes that they would put out in front of restaurants when I was a kid to drive up and And you were ordering your food in one of those Those ordering booths like a jack-in-the-box and all and they would have civil code right in front of you and say no profanity No alcohol the codes were right in front of you some of you don't remember that but some of you may You used to have code you cannot use certain words you cannot act in a certain way Because our society had rules and regulations and the more evil the society the more rules you get That's how it works. That's why you're constantly getting more laws and more laws and more laws Is because those laws cannot change a human being's heart The only thing that can is the gospel of jesus christ That's the only thing and i've shared this with you before i've said it more than once because it's important to remember You can pass a law that I can't call somebody a certain name And you can forbid certain words from being used. It's interesting that you can't use some words on tv But you can use god's name in vain on tv That's interesting to me Because we don't regard god, but we do regard people's feelings You can pass all the laws you want tell me I can't say this I can't say that But that doesn't mean I can't think that And it doesn't mean I can't feel that You can restrict my behavior But you can't change my heart Like that two-year-old who was running around the house and mama said stop running around Little boy said no stop running around are gonna make you sit down. No He keeps running around you puts him in the chair. He folds his arms looks at his mom says You got me sitting in his chair, but inside i'm still running around this house That's human nature You can restrict my behavior, but you can't change my heart You can't What changes a heart The gospel of jesus christ What empowers you The power of the spirit And so when this young man is saying i've kept all of these things yet. I'm lacking something It's because the law for him was on the outside But god wants to do is write his law on your heart That's his promise It's not that you're going to go and see the 10 commandments on the supreme court wall and that's going to change behavior Those commandments are going to be written on the tablet of your heart and therefore you will love god Therefore you will love man Because he's the one who transforms you and that's the promise god is giving He says i will write upon the tablets of your heart my law You will worship me from the inside out not because it says but because it is And that's called transformation To us That's called christianity That god has written his law of love On the tablets of our hearts because our hearts were so rancidly impure god had to give me a heart transplant He took that evil stony heart out And he gave me a heart of flesh And he says i'll transform you from the inside out And that's why we have to be careful that we don't judge people on outer appearance Because man looks at outer appearance But god says i look at the heart and it's the heart that's transformed by the grace of god And that's the promise god gives to us. So with all this judgment for nine chapters He ends up saying but i'm gonna do good for you because i love you and that's the god we serve