 Amos chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 3 Thus says the Lord For three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not turn away its punishment Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime But I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the palaces of carry-up Moab shall die with tumult With shouting and trumpet sound and I will cut off the judge from its midst and slay all the princes with him Says the Lord and so we begin with a very cheery portion of Scripture today We've been looking at Amos. We introduced the book just this last week and in our introduction Amos is Is a prophet a prophet who has been sent to speak of coming judgment to the nation? Now he began a series of prophetic declarations regarding areas that were in close proximity to the Nation of Israel and as we went through chapter 1 We saw how that Amos was speaking of judgment that was coming on on Damascus, Syria on Gaza on tire Edom and on Ammon these are all countries that are close by geographically to the nation of Israel and each one of these judgments as we were going through chapter 1. We saw this came for particular reasons Syria was judged for its cruelty Gaza was judged for making and selling slaves Tire was judged for breaking its treaty with Israel Edom was judged because of its vengeful spirit and Ammon was judged because of its violent crimes But we saw in verse 13 how they had ripped open pregnant women killing both the mother and the babies And so God judged them and was judging each one of these nations and territories In chapter 2 God continues to speak concerning his judgment that is about to come The fact is when you read your Bible we need to remember that especially is revealed in the Old Testament that God is a judge and God is declared to be the judge not just of certain territories But as I've been saying to you he is the judge of all the earth and as a judge Because he's God because he is righteous He is a just judge and he brings fair judgment because he is righteous You see in Psalm 7 verse 11 how it says God is a just judge and God is angry with a wicked Every day and so the Bible portrays God reveals God to be a righteous God who has a righteous anger at Sin and he is a judge and so the nations that have been mentioned were ripe for judgment and God's judgment being fair is going to be equal to the evil As we continue here looking at judgments in chapter 2 We see that in this chapter Amos is writing of judgment that is going to come upon Moab and against Judah and Then Israel I'm going to show you some things about that as we go through this portion of scripture So beginning at verse 1 again. It says thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not turn away its punishment Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime Now we read different words in scripture that speaks concerning Things like sin You'll you'll read of trespasses. You read the word sin The word that is used right here is the word transgression and he says for three Transgressions of Moab for those who take notes just so that you might be interested in what that word transgression means The word transgression simply speaks of rebellion and God is saying that I am going to bring judgment because of your rebellion The word transgression in the Hebrew is used in various ways. It can be used in reference to a Transgression I can transgress against another person. It is used sometimes to speak of a nation transgressing against another nation, but it is most often used in reference to me Transgressing against God it speaks concerning me being in rebellion against the Lord and so this speaks of rebellion and so he's speaking here of Transgressions the transgressions of Moab the Psalmist said in Psalm 5 verse 10 pronounced them guilty. Oh God Let them fall by their own counsels Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against you Psalm 51 verse 1 says have mercy upon me. Oh God according to your loving-kindness According to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions my rebellion The fact that I have been overtly disobedient. I have rejected Please I ask forgive me for that and so Moab the first That we look at that is being judged here in Amos, too Moab is going to be judged for its continual thirst for vengeance You know they had they had gained a victory in battle against Edomites But they had gone overboard in their victory against them. They killed the Edomite King but they went further and even burned his bones and so he's saying this this This vengeance that you've taken is something that I'm judging you for for this transgression No, incidentally, I didn't point this out I might have last time but let me say it again for three transgressions of Moab and for forest is a formula that he uses to say your sins Are innumerable is not just one sin But the sin that seems to stand out that is being mentioned is this vengeful spirit And so he says in verse 2 I will send a fire upon Moab You burned the bones of the king of Edom. I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the palaces of Kerryot Moab shall die with tumult with shouting and trumpet sound And I will cut off the judge from its midst and slay all its princes with him says the Lord and So he speaks concerning bringing a fire upon Moab Last time I was together. I I mentioned to you we were together. I mentioned to you That in the Old Testament you had the nephew of Abram a man. We know by the name of lot I mentioned to you that lot had been delivered out of Sodom and Gomorrah and all and as he had left that city He ended up with his two daughters He had an older and a younger daughter that he was with and He had physical relations with both of his daughters and they both became pregnant through those relations That sexual encounter with his daughters that was induced by them having him drink become drunken Not aware of his actions produced two different nations the Ammonites and the Moabites If you were looking at a map both of those nations were located in what is today modern Jordan Moab was located if you were looking at the map You would see a map of Israel if you looked at that you'd see on the north northern third will say is the Sea of Galilee Then you have the the Jordan that comes down then it connects with another body of water called the Dead Sea so if you're looking at the Dead Sea which is in the lower portion just down south of Southeast of the city of Jerusalem if you're going down south in that direction Then Moab would be further down south and to the east and that's what's being spoken of This is the the region of Moab and so he's saying God is going to bring judgment against Moab and it is going to be completely destroyed When he speaks concerning Kariot the palaces of Kariot Kariot was the chief city of Moab and he's saying it's going to be destroyed in the tumult of battle Another prophet by the name of Jeremiah in chapter 48 verse 41 said this Kariot is taken the strongholds are surprised the mighty men's hearts and Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs He goes on in verse 3 to say and I will cut off the judge from its midst And slay all its princes with him says the Lord I'm going to destroy everything. I'm going to destroy everything including the government Prophetically this took place when King Nebuchadnezzar came in and destroyed Moab What you have here, and I'll say this briefly, but you have a practical thought here What you have here is a picture of complete judgment And if you only had this picture of Moab and and some of the scriptures that that refer to it You wouldn't get a full picture of how God had worked with Moab because on the one hand Because of its origin and because of the way they treated the nation of Israel God spoke of Moab as being and this is a quote. He said Moab is my wash pot and yet all you need to do Is read the book of Ruth And in the book of Ruth you have a very powerful story Of a woman who was a Jewess Who had left the nation of Israel and had migrated with her husband and two sons to the region of Moab And while they were there in Moab This woman Naomi Had The two sons marry two Moabites's Naomi's husband Died Leaving her a widow But she had the two sons And the two sons could continue caring for their mother But the two sons Both died And when the two sons both died that left Naomi without any source of support So when you read the book of Ruth You see how Naomi speaks to her two daughters-in-law And says to them I have no way to be able to supply your needs You're still young She says and I'm old I can't produce any more sons for you to marry So you need to leave So you can marry And so that you can have Children and support Because I can't supply the support for you And that's when one of the daughters-in-law leaves Her name was Orpa Orpa is the name that Oprah thought The Oprah's mom thought she was named me anyway But that's that's a fact Her name was supposed to be Orpa, but anyway Not Orca Anyway And so she left She kissed her mother-in-law goodbye And said I'm out of here But Ruth said no Your god shall be my god She said where you go I will go And so Ruth is a picture of that faithful daughter In law to Naomi Ultimately we know the story Where Ruth is out in a field and there's a man by the name of Boaz and Boaz Takes a liking to her And it comes to To Naomi's attention that Boaz is a next of kin is a kinsman to her And as a kinsman Boaz being a well-off man has the right of what is called the kinsman redeemer He has the right to take Ruth as his bride But that right goes to The closest relative And there's one relative that is closer To uh to Naomi in terms of just uh proximity we'll say a cousin second cousin That would be we'll say a first cousin had a closer proximity and thus had the the right of first refusal So the whole story of the book of Ruth is the story of the kinsman redeemer And how that god showed mercy to a jewish to a non- jewish woman a moabitis even though in his word He says moab is my wash pot It shows the picture of the grace and mercy of god how that he was Willing to bring her into not only a place of being supplied in terms of her needs But she finds herself in the lineage of messiah himself jesus christ And so that's the picture of god's grace and mercy and though god is saying i am going to bring judgment on moab We need to remember that god also has shown tremendous mercy to and a good picture of his mercy and grace Comes through the relationship that we have with god through jesus christ who had a descent that included a moabitis by the name of Ruth Now he's saying i'm going to cut off the judge from its midst and slay all the princes with him Say at the lord i'm going to bring complete destruction and it's going to end all the government also Going on verse 4 This is judgment on juda thus says the lord for three transgressions of juda and for four I will not turn away its punishment because they have despised the law of the lord And have not kept his commandments Their lies lead them astray Lies after which their fathers walked But I will send a fire upon juda and it shall devour the palaces of jerusalem Another cherry prophecy juda is going to receive judgment I want you to see why we're going to look at this and look at it for a few minutes here juda is receiving judgment for disregarding and despising the law of god Now after speaking of the coming judgment on surrounding nations Amos is now pointing his attention to juda and israel Though the other nations deserve judgment juda and israel's judgment is stricter That's because greater privilege results in greater responsibility Thus requiring Greater judgment You see there's an old saying that we're familiar with ignorance of the laws no excuse And the fact is juda and israel Had more because god had given them more that they needed to Be accountable for In in the old testament, there's a book called leviticus And leviticus chapter 5 verse 17 says If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the lord's commands Even though he does not know it he's guilty and will be held responsible I don't think any of you have ever been pulled over by a police officer for traffic violation. I'm sure none of you so hypothetically the police officer pulls you over and They will say something like Do you know why I pulled you over? Anybody here ever hear that? You know why I pulled you over And then you go. Yeah, I was going 97 in a 35. No, you'll you'll you'll say You usually will just cop to it, right? Yeah, I should you know you cop to it But what happens if you say, I didn't know I didn't realize it. I I didn't see do they say, oh, okay It's okay. You didn't know No ignorance of the law. There's an old statement ignorance of the law is no excuse You broke the law even though you didn't know it existed. You're still guilty. That's how it works And so even in the old testament it says that in in Leviticus 5 17 if a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the lord's commands Even though he does not know it. He is guilty and will be held responsible Even though you didn't know it yet. You still violated it every man every woman stands guilty before god Even though we may not realize that we did that which is forbidden In the new testament in luke chapter 12 verse 48 Jesus said the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows From everyone who's been given much much will be demanded And from the one who has been entrusted with much Much more will be asked And though you didn't know You still violated you still are dealt with But if you know And still willfully reject you have a stricter punishment And so israel has greater responsibility Because they had greater privilege When you look in the bible you see if they had prophets Miracles had been performed amongst them. They had great deliverances that had occurred. They had the priesthood They had the law. They had the temple And all of that produced greater knowledge and all of that produced greater privilege Because they had all of these advantages Fast forward to to today Christians today have greater understanding And therefore have greater responsibility before god The more you know the more you own So when you're getting to the word and god begins to instruct you you have more accountability That's how it works in the kingdom of god And so juda had tremendous privileges in juda. They had the temple They had temple sacrifice priesthood. They had all of that. They had the law juda had prophets juda had so much that tribe That area And as i mentioned to you What had happened is there had been a division of the nation Under jeroboam when there was a king by the name of reha boom and then another king that took his place Took his place as a king named jeroboam and jeroboam Divided the nation from the 12 tribes into the 10 northern to southern juda is part of what is called the two southern tribes So it begins with juda juda having greater privilege and more responsibility Because juda had all of that heritage plus it had the temple So he begins with juda the southern kingdom Now amos came from juda though he was a prophet to those who were in israel And it says in verse 4 For three transgressions of juda and for four I will not turn away its punishment because they have despised the law of the lord And have not kept his commandments their lies Lead them astray Lies after which their fathers walked But i will send a fire upon juda and it shall devour the palaces of jerusalem You have many sins to be confronted with But this is the most obvious You have despised the law and you have not kept god's commandments You have the law But you have regarded it as without value And you have been habitually disobedient You've been given both god's word as well as instructions on how to worship him Yet you have regarded it lightly You have not esteemed it And you've dishonored god In this neglect Notice how it speaks of their lies leading them astray When it says their lies lead or led them astray Some commentators will say their lies could be in reference to their idolatry But most commentators are saying when it speaks of lie lies leading them astray Would be speaking of false prophets and lying priests What what is happening is the false prophets And the lying priests who were misrepresenting and mishandling the word of god Were not giving the full counsel and direction of the lord to the people of israel and The people of israel had gotten the taste for false teachings The people of israel in the neglect of the of the word of god and the neglect of obedience to it in the disregard And despising of it had actually gotten to the point where they preferred lies over truth In jeremiah Chapter six verse 14 speaking of these false teachers They have healed the hurt of my people slightly Saying peace peace When there is no peace In jeremiah chapter 14 verse 14 the lord said to me The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them commanded them nor spoken to them They prophesy to you false vision divination a worthless thing And the deceit of their heart isaia chapter 30 verses 9 and 10 and other prophets said this is a rebellious people Lying children Children who will not hear the law of the lord who say to the seers do not see To the prophets do not prophesy to us write things Speak to us smooth things prophesy deceits Don't tell us the truth Don't say things that are hard to swallow Please Don't say things that convict our hearts Or reveal our sin Say things to me that makes me feel better about myself And please even though you represent the kingdom of god and even though Your responsibility is to rightly divide what god has said and to present it as the messenger of god We saw that in malachi 2 7 That the priests were to be the ones that that the people came to Because they were the messengers of god The people were supposed to be looking at the prophets and the priests as being those representing the kingdom The priests would take the word of god and rightly divide it as they were supposed to in order to teach the people how to worship god in truth and spirit The prophets would bring the mind of god to the people and say thus saith the lord This is what god would have for you And and the people who were to be believers in god were to follow the things that were said in order that they would be obedient to god and blessed by him But because sometimes because of the rebellion that was Was wrapped up in the hearts of the people when they would hear something they didn't want to do it So they would say prophesy to us smooth things In the new testament we have Paul speaking concerning the same kind of mentality When he says that in the latter days that people will no longer Put up with healthy teaching But what they'll do is they will heap unto themselves teachers Having itching ears and they will voluntarily turn themselves away from the truth and be turned into fables. It's the same mentality which is this Please tell me things that make me feel good for the moment because that's all that matters right now It's just the moment Do not see they say to the seers to the prophets don't prophesy to us right things Speak to us smooth things prophesy to seats And that's what the lord is speaking of when he says their lies lead them or led them astray Lies after which their father's walk falls teachings By false prophets an improper handling of the word of god as led them astray There is always going to be keep this in mind. It's very basic, but keep it in mind There is always fruit to the things you believe What you believe Is what determines how you behave Somebody all day long can say I believe a certain thing, but if their works are different than their words What they do is what they really believe So they can say oh, I believe in a holy and loving and just god But if they live in constant rebellion and rejection They may mentally say they believe and who am I to say they don't mentally believe But in fact they're living their belief Because the sermon that that is best preached is the one that is lived best And when the word of god doctrine is being presented to us and we listen by faith and receive it Healthy doctrine is intended to produce healthy spiritual lives And so that's why you go through the word of god so that the word of god can find a home in you You see juda had the true temple in its myth But juda failed to worship god in spirit and truth They walked he says in lies Even as those who had gone before them had done So what is it going to do? Well verse 5 he says I will send a fire upon juda It shall devour the palaces of jerusalem In the near future a king a Babylonian king by the name of nebuchadnezzar Will send his armies and they will destroy juda When you read your bible, especially as you look in the book of second kings and all you'll you'll see that Nebuchadnezzar's army invaded that region in 605 5 97 as well as 586 And in the third invasion of that area according to second kings 25 verse 9 He burned the house of the lord and the king's house All the houses of jerusalem that is all the houses of the great he burned with fire Which is what the lord said when he said in verse 5 I will send a fire upon juda it shall devour the palaces of jerusalem And that indeed took place under the invasions by nebuchadnezzar Moving on into verse 6 This is the judgment on israel thus says the lord For three transgressions of israel and for four i will not turn away its punishment because They sell the righteous for silver and the poor For a pair of sandals They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor And pervert the way of the humble A man and his father Go in to the same girl to defile my holy name They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god Now amos speaks of god's judgment on the northern kingdom kingdom of israel the judgment Is for injustice immorality and blasphemy Notice he says in verse 6 i will not turn away its punishment Because they sell the righteous for silver What do you mean you sell the righteous for silver the judges are corrupt They sell their judgment to the highest bidder Of course no politicians do that now but it happened back then This has resulted in the righteous being robbed of fair judgment Now obviously judges were to be impartial when god set the judgment the judgment when the judges were to judge They were to use scripture as their basis of all judgment And their judgment was to be along with scripture and impartial You see this throughout the old testament exodus 238 You shall take no bribe for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous Deuteronomy 16 verse 19 you shall not pervert justice You shall not show partiality nor take a bribe For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous Isaiah 5 23 speaks of those who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man And so judgment is to be impartial But what they're doing is they're actually being bribed and in doing so They're actually not judging with righteousness. It says they sell the righteous for silver He goes on to say and the poor for a pair of sandals They sell out for almost nothing Even for a used pair of shoes In verse 7 he says they pant after the dust of the earth Which is on the head of the poor and pervert the way of the humble And so when it says they pant after the dust of the earth We need to remember that people at that time would throw dust in the air when they were mourning And these men would want even the dust that they were throwing up in the air When it says in verse 7 they pervert the way of the humble This is interesting when you think of it because the humble would not stand up against him to defend themselves And because they didn't stand up to defend themselves, they were getting no justice This may have made them bitter because of the partiality of the judges They began to feel that there was no justice for them And they became very embittered When they became embittered they were beginning to forsake the path of righteousness And that's something God has a real problem with You see something similar in terms of sentiment in Matthew 18 verse 6 Where Jesus said whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea And God says no you've been perverting these people's lives. You're twisting them and causing them to be stumbled I will bring judgment on you He also says in verse 7 A man and his father go into the same girl to defile my holy name It could speak of more than one thing one it could speak of a father and son visiting the same prostitute A father and and the son go into the same girl But it could also speak of a son being intimate with his father's wife And the father being intimate with the sons You say oh come that that sounds gross and it is In the new testament we have an incident that paul actually had to deal with that was taken place in a church In first Corinthians in chapter 5 Remember what it says in verse 1 where paul said It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you And of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate A man is sleeping with his father's wife and so In the Corinthian church what had happened Is a man was sleeping with his father's wife, which would mean he's not saying a man is sleeping with his own mother A man is sleeping with his father's wife So he wasn't related by blood to that woman But he was still violating a relationship in that way And paul said the problem with eukarythians is it has been reported to me of this kind of immorality That is is not even found In pagan society. I mean the greeks themselves frowned upon that kind of sexual behavior And yet the church instead of repenting was actually boasting about it And paul all you need to do is read first Corinthians 5 and you'll see paul's outrage Over what was taking place because he said instead of mourning over this you're glorying in it And there are commentators who believe that the Corinthians were glorying in the lack of discipline of the church in this in this event Because they were saying well look at the kind of grace that we show to sinful people And paul said this is wrong. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the entire lump of dough Don't you know that when sin goes unchecked it has a way of spreading to the rest And not only that did you not know that this kind of sin Isn't even tolerated by pagans and when pagans see you practicing sin that they reject You're bringing dishonor to the name of god In the new testament very often what has happened with new testament believers Is we have used the word grace in such a way that we sometimes will actually permit sin In the name of grace where paul would argue vehemently in scripture We see that he does that against such behavior because he would say to us How was it that we who have been set free from sin? How can we continue in it any longer as grace been given to us to continue in sin? He said god forbid God forbid no grace has been given to us not that we continue in sin Grace has been given to us to set us free from his bondage And so in continuing in sin We're bringing dishonor to the name of the lord you see that in the new and you see that in the old And so god here speaking in the old is speaking about what is taking place Because these people are perverting the ways of the lord and thus the people are looking at the nation of israel And they're saying that these are an unholy people He says in verse eight They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge and drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god Now when it says they lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge During that time if a person was very poor They would have and they had nothing they could use as collateral in any way To save them from from um from creditors and all They would use their their robe that they had their outer garment as collateral But the law states in deuteronomy 24 verses 12 and 3 12 and 13 if the man is poor you shall not keep his pledge overnight You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down Then he may sleep in his own garment and bless you And it shall be righteousness to you before the lord your god And so that's how god intended to care for the poor And what they were doing is they were taking the only thing that they had that was keeping them against the The coolness of night. They were taking it against Taking it from them and showing great cruelty as they did that now That will give us some insight Into the story of blind bartimaeus That you find in the new testament when the lord jesus christ was there by the city of jericho And as he was walking This the scripture speaks of a crowd of people being with him And as he's coming down this pathway there by jericho There's actually two beggars, but bartimaeus has spoken of bartimaeus sinnetimaeus And asks who is it that's passing by he's blind But he hears the sound Of the christian parade if you will as they're passing by And bartimaeus says who is passing by and they say jesus of nazareth So bartimaeus when he knows it's jesus of nazareth begins to scream at the top of his lungs So that jesus will hear him above the din of the crowd and he begins to yell and he says jesus son of nazareth have mercy on me And the people turn to him and they say be quiet Don't disturb the mass be quiet But we're told that he cried out the louder jesus son of son of jesus son of david have have mercy on me And and and jesus stops and you can almost see everybody bumping into one another as jesus stops and the crowds Has to wait and he and he hears the voice of this bartimaeus. He's crying out And he says bring him to me And when he says bring him to me the bible tells us that bartimaeus threw away his cloak That's symbolic that reveals something to me because he knew that he was about To be blessed in such a way that that cloak was no longer necessary That god was going to do a work in him that was going to make it unnecessary for me to have this one bit of clothing Because now that I can see i'm going to be able to work i'm going to be able to produce an income I'm going to be able to live on this is going to happen right now In the old testament if you had owed me something and you had nothing to pay with I could take as collateral I could take that that cloak, but I was responsible to give it back because that's all you had to keep you warm when it was cold But what these people were doing is showing no mercy or compassion whatsoever And so they were taken from the poor the little that they had and god says i'm a post of that That is not something that I will that i'll close my eyes to I will deal with that he says they lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge So i'm going to take care of them in verse 8 he goes on and says and and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god They were using the money that they had made To go get drunk in pagan festivals It would be like A person who is a christian Going to um What do you call it? Mardi Gras It's like that this guy's a professing believer in christ But he's out there sinko the mile getting drunk Partying and that's that's what he's saying you you are taking the money that you're making You're using it to buy alcohol and get bombed And partying and this he said is something I hold against you He goes on in verse 9 and says yet It was I who destroyed the amorite before them whose height was like the height of the cedars And he was as strong as the oaks yet. I destroyed his fruit above his roots beneath Also, it was I who brought you up from the land of egypt and led you 40 years to the wilderness to possess the land of the amorite I raised up some of your sons as prophets Some of your young men as nazarites Is it not so old you children of israel says the lord But you gave the nazarite wine to drink and commanded the prophet saying do not prophesy So he reminds them of god's work of deliverance and salvation Now what are you speaking about here when he's talking about the amorites there in verse 9 It was I who destroyed The amorite Whose height was like the height of cedars and strong as the oak I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. This is a reminder of when joshua began to enter into the promised land The amorites dwelt there on the on the border And also their land Was a little west of the jordan river In the region that is including jericho And when you read the story of joshua entering into jericho Jericho was under the power and influence. It was in the region of the amorites And so god begins to say to them from the very beginning when you entered in to take the land And I showed you my grace mercy and power And gave you the order to just march around but to do nothing until the last day and then to blow the trumpets I am showing you my merciful grace and my power to deliver And you're to remember that all the way from the beginning when you entered into the land And that's why in numbers 248 He says I brought you into the land of the amorites who dwelt on the other side of the jordan They fought with you But I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land and I destroyed them from before you And so I was able to take care of you and you remember when the spies went into the city of jericho And it was heard that some spies from israel had entered in And rehab this harlot Had taken and hidden them from those who were seeking for them And made them promise to deliver her and her family And they said we will deliver you and the family but this under this one condition That you will put this scarlet rope this this scarlet outside of the window if you don't put the scarlet When we come to destroy and it's the scarlet is not covering your family We are not held responsible for the loss of life that will take place And she put out that scarlet rope And was protected scarlet being the picture of being under the blood of christ It's a prophetic illustration of us being under the protection of christ when god's judgment comes And she was preserved and so he's saying from the beginning I have protected you from the beginning. I have been with you From the beginning. I have cared for you And he says in verses 10 11 It was I who brought you up from the land of egypt and led you 40 years through the wilderness God is simply saying listen think of what i've done I delivered you from slavery I cared for you protected you. I raised up prophets who declared to you Things that you needed to hear from me and I gave to you these nazarites Now when it says in verse 11 I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as nazarites Is it not so oh children of Israel says the lord You gave the nazarites wine to drink and commanded the prophets saying do not prophesy I gave you advantages and two things and i'll look at this with you and try and make application These nazarites and these prophets The nazarite when you see the nazarite the nazarite Is an individual who is to be dedicated to the service of god the word nazarite Speaks of somebody who is consecrated The nazarite is found in in the book of numbers chapter six Verses 1 through 21 The nazarite would take a vow That they were going to be separated to god And as part of their separation they wouldn't cut their hair They didn't drink any wine And they didn't touch or come near a dead body All of that was intended To demonstrate that they were completely Dedicated to god And what he is saying is this and this is so practical How did you treat? How did you treat these consecrated men? How did you treat these men who were prophetic and set apart? How did you treat them? You know what you did verse 12 you gave the nazarites wine to drink and commanded the prophets saying don't prophesy How did you treat them? You gave them wine And you told them shut up Okay, here we go. This is practical And I hope some of you hear it If you don't hear it, I'll say it again next week On the one hand I've been sharing lately some of you perhaps heard this last week I I've been sharing on the one hand Every every minister Is is is still a person who's a sinner saved by grace and thus we have to be very careful That we don't Raise people who are servants of god to a position That puts them above everybody Because Eventually you will see that this person isn't perfect And i've been sharing that there's only one perfect person. That's jesus. We need to keep our eyes on him And we all agree with that and yet There is a tendency today especially today I i'm supposing for a variety of reasons including the fact that there are very few heroes So we have a tendency Of giving honor to men That sometimes can go to their heads And sometimes the men who are being given this honor begin to not only appreciate the honor But they can begin to expect it from people And when that minister begins to expect the honor from people That minister begins to slowly fall into the trap of forgetting That that minister is exactly what the term means a servant Someone who has been called by god to be a servant When that person begins to give messages That they themselves cannot live up to And people cease expecting them to because after all they're so busy and so important in the church of So large and there's so many things going on When we begin to expect less from them They're also able to live in a less appropriate way On the other hand if we expect too much from them We can cause them to be discouraged. There needs to be a balance What we have today in church and i've seen it and there are failures There's some men who were were very popular and had very large works I was reading of one particular individual whose ministers in another state whose congregation was somewhere around 30 000 people Who recently was fired by his board for not living up to the qualifications of an alder in his own church So his board fired him and this is a man whose influence was 30 000 people But whose whose total influence in the general area including other areas was up to a hundred thousand people And this person Began to drink and as he began to drink he began to use it to deal with his depression as he began using it with his depression He began to violate biblical Mores and have problem in his marriage and before you know it There are the people standing up in front. There's his elder standing up in front of his church This just happened last week standing up in front of his church saying The pastor so-and-so is no longer pastoring this church What happens is we get bigger we can a minister can get bigger in his own estimation And we'll always have people who are there carrying him along To make him feel as important as he's as he's feeling be careful how you treat those who are supposed to be serving you And make sure that whoever it is that is serving That you encourage them in the ways of the lord because at the end of the at the end of everything The only thing that really matters is whether that person encouraged you to know jesus better And you had an opportunity to grow better and closer to the lord. That's the key in all ministry In this particular case what they did to the nazarists is they gave them They they actually encouraged them to break their vow You know, you don't have to be So consecrated But not only did they encourage them to live less than their vows that they had given to god But they also told them and don't be talking to us. They commanded the prophet saying stop prophesying We don't want holy people and we don't want holy word We don't want either one And that's what happens when a congregation gets away from the god of the word You don't expect anything And so he's saying what you have done Is you have given them wine and told them to keep quiet in Jeremiah chapter 6 verses 16 and 17 It says thus says the lord Stand in the ways and see ask for the old paths where the good way is walk in it Then you will find rest for your souls, but they say we will not walk in it Also, I said watchman over you saying listen to the sound of the trumpet But they said we will not listen And so that's what's taking place Speak to us smooth things Be one of us Years ago 30 almost 35 years ago now I was teaching a bible sit down a Sunday morning And I said I still remember I was standing there and I was I was trying to be as serious as I could And I said as a pastor I I want to Make sure that that I that I don't stumble you my my my life is supposed to be spotless now I was 31 years old at that time young man And I said my life is supposed to be an evidence of the grace and power of god And and I don't want to be a stumbling block to you and then I said this I said What would you feel like if I invited you and it was a hypothetical I said if I invited you to my house What would happen if you came to my house and you walked up to one of my cabinets and you opened up The cabinet and you looked in and you found a bottle of whiskey What would you do and that was just a rhetorical question? I wasn't expecting a response But there was a guy sitting in the front row and when I said if you found a bottle of whiskey In my house, what would you do and he yelled out in church? He said I'd help you drink it pastor That wasn't what I wanted to hear I'd help you drink it No, that's not what I want you to say. I want you to say that isn't proper I want you to say that that wouldn't edify me um I don't know and I don't I'm I'm gonna get weird here. I shouldn't but I'll take a moment and I will um I'm over 21 I know it surprises you I know They don't card me except for senior discounts, but um So that means that legally right I have the right To leave this study and go down the street go into a bar and drink Right, I do. I have that right What would happen if I did What would happen if you came into one of the local restaurants where Marie and I go to quite often in the area But what would you feel like and I'm I'm not asking to respond, but what would you feel like? alphabetically If you came in and there I was with a picture drink and bury it in my pizza Would you say praise the lord? I've got a cool and hip pastor Is that what you would think would you would you think that? I I don't I don't maybe you would maybe you think that's cool. Maybe you think that's holiness Maybe you think that's a spiritual leader. Maybe you think that's all right. What's the problem? Why might make an issue maybe you do I can guarantee you there are huge amounts of people who would be stumbled by that Huge they would see me and they'd say no wait. Wait a minute. Wait. Wait. You were an alcoholic. You've told us your testimony You couldn't drink a beer. You drank six packs In my Friday night started with a quart of beer and a half gallon of wine. That's how it started when I was 17 So I was a drunk. I wasn't a drinker. I was a drunk and I've shared that with you And if you walked in and you saw me at one of the local restaurants here eating a burger and having a beer I'm sure some of you would be stumbled. I'm sure that you would say that's not right. I've told you there's a church It's in New York. It's Hillsong in New York They have beer and baptism And it's cool. The people love it. They stand in line to get in Stand in line to get in that's a fact And if you're not 15 minutes while if you're 15 minutes early, you don't get in That's how many people go beer and baptism Is there anything That doesn't go together Like the words beer and baptism But some people some people maybe even right now or who will hear this will say don't be illegalistic What's wrong with you man the bible and you'll get your argument going with me About why you have freedom in christ to do that I have never met Maybe they're maybe they exist. I haven't met and I've only been a christian 45 years so I Haven't ever met a beer guzzling evangelist I just haven't People who love the lord abstain from the flesh They abstain from the flesh They died of things that may have they may have liberty to do But for the sake of the gospel of jesus christ and for the lost Their liberties and their freedoms No Now listen, I'll say this because I want you to hear this Um, if I ever walked into a restaurant and you're sitting there with a beer, I'm not going to walk up and go I'm not I'm not going to judge you and I'm not going to be harsh with you. I'm not I'm not I'm not going to do that understand that I'm not judging you But I am seeing this When a people want their ministers To be just as fleshly as the most carnal person There's something wrong with that church There's something wrong with that church There's something wrong with their understanding of salvation There's something wrong with their definition of holiness and separation to god and the nation of israel The nation of israel Was saying To the nazareth the one who was dedicated to god Drink some wine And to the prophet who was speaking forth the mind of god Don't talk to us anymore And that's why god said i'm bringing judgment on you I'm bringing judgment on you Because holiness is disregarded and undermined And god's word is despised And I will judge you for that May god wake the church up Because we're in danger In verse 13 following I am weighed down by you As a cart is weighed down That is full of sheaves Therefore Flight shall perish from the swift The strong shall not strengthen his power Nor shall the mighty deliver himself He shall not stand who handles the bow The swift of foot shall not deliver himself Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself The most courageous men of might Shuffly naked in that day Says the lord You have burdened me is what he's saying I'm weighed down by you What a comet I am weighed down by you And because your sins have loaded me to the point of weighing me down The result is judgment And it is sure The things that you have relied on Are the things That will not protect you the things That you would ordinarily do to escape Will not Allow for escape this time And god is saying to israel for the things that you've done for these transgressions For your injustice For your immorality For these kinds of things god says Judgment is sure And I will bring it upon you Those are very very sobering words In the midst of all of that God still desires to do a work of grace in the nation And god still desires to do a work of grace in us God help us God help us the church in the 21st century God help us to love his word And to say god every day god fill me with your spirit Because it's through your word and by the power of your holy spirit That i'm going to be able to have the victorious life and the darkness that is surrounding this nation in this world Without your word and without your power I'm helpless But lord I'm asking you to fill me with your spirit And may I abide by your word So that as I walk with you you might bless me and I might be a blessing to others God does bring judgment on israel But as we continue going through amos you'll also see he has a great plan for the nation We'll get there soon enough