Amos 7:1-9 "The Plumb Line We Rest On"

[Music] it is a great privilege and a great honor to be before you this morning just knowing Jeff Gleason and calling and saying that he might need me to be here and just to be able to be a part of kingdom purpose here in Augusta is a delight and so I have been preaching through the book of The Book of Amos and so that is where we are going to turn our eyes this morning and and what I have found about these minor prophets is how challenging the words are to us how encouraging it can be as well but also how it points to the amazing grace of our God and as I have looked at this text here's what you will see throughout the Old Testament is how practical it is for mine and for your lives as well as how it points to our God who's really the same yesterday today and forever now I know that for most of you you didn't open up or think in your morning reading I think I'll go to Amos and so it's a book that sometimes we talk about it's flyover territory we just kind of go right past it as we're reading so what I want to do is give you just a little bit of background on where Amos is when we come to chapter 7 this morning so we think about the the Kingdom of Israel it is united in 931 there's going to be this divide and when this divide comes you see from Beck happens in first Kings chapter 12 and so we're tracing the Northern Kingdom in the southern kingdom and the Northern Kingdom continues until 2nd Kings 17 where there's the Exile as we asked this what does God been doing for that almost 200 years in the Northern Kingdom well he sins Elisha and he sends Elisha and he's calling the people to turn back and then we come to the days of Jeroboam ii think 793 to 753 the last long remaining king for these 30 years of six different kings and what God does is he sins almost like what we might say is a one-two punch with Hosea and with a most calling the people to turn back now we might say of the days of Jeroboam like Charles Dickens death of the 18th century it was the best of times it was the worst of times it was the best of times because national security was in place economic prosperity was booming but it was the worst of times because the people's hearts were far from God and so God calls this Shepherd and caretaker of fakes to go to the Northern Kingdom and to preach the gospel and so he goes and he's in the synagogue and he's preaching and he starts by talking about the other nation sins and you could almost see the Israelites they're sitting in their chairs and it might be like somebody pointing out the sins of another person you feel really good because they're not pointing at you and then amo says here's the problem is that you have God's Word and you're living just like the world and then like a father might do to a son he tells the people I want you to know of God's affection for you in chapter 3 he tells them of all the nations God has known you he's had an affection for you it might be like I see you with families and your little ones that you you put your hands around those sweet little faces and you say to you remember who I am my mom I'm dad we love you but the people's affection was lost for God he was no longer their authority anymore when they came to worship it was about making much of themselves as they proclaimed their sacrifices and little thought of God and they had removed the sin offerings indicating that they were not a sinful people in need of a redeemer and then just as you walk around and you talk within the church a most was around as well and he kept hearing them say things like I'm ready for the day of the Lord now a MOS is perplexed like why are they saying this what a most explains to them is that what you believe about the day of the Lord is that it will be ultimately deliverance for Israel and defeat of all the nations that's not what's going to happen the day of the Lord is about the day when the Anointed One when the Messiah will come a second time and he will certainly deliver but he will deliver God's people and all those outside of him will be separated eternally from God he says to the people listen you know where you're resting your hope you're resting in Zion which is Jerusalem you're resting in your religious works and you're resting on Mount of Samaria as well which is the military strength and Amos says those on the day of the Lord will be of no help to you and so now what God is going to do is he's going to give these three visions to Amos locusts fire and this plumb line and where you and I are going to look this morning will look at those well look at those visions but we're going to see who might be the most unlikely person who's really going to mediate for those Israelites and then we're going to see who our God is His grace and His mercy and then we're going to look at the plumb line and the plumb line of IOH who is crooked and who is straight and the only one who we can rest in for a plumb line this straight so let's jump into our text it's going to be yeah sometimes you think Old Testaments way back in the Israelites this is really practical for us today so we're gonna look at a most seven verses one through six initially this is what the Lord God showed me behold he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout and behold it was the latter growth after the Kings mowings when they had finished eating the grass to the land I said Oh Lord God please forgive how can Jacob stand he is so small the Lord relented concerning this it shall not be said the Lord this is what the Lord God showed me behold the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land then I said O Lord please cease how can Jacob stand he is so small the Lord relented concerning this this also shall not be said the Lord God so we have these first two visions visions of a locust and a fire both indicating a catastrophic event that's going to happen for Israel now the locusts would have been devastating in this way we're thinking about a first crop and a second crop and so Israel would plant a crop it would begin to grow and then there would be a second crop now when these locusts are going to come it is at a time where both of those crops are in the ground and as the locusts come it will devastate not only the grain but it will devastate the veget the vegetables as well there will be nothing left with these locusts and while this would be bad we see the second vision as well which would be even worse it is a fire now we don't know exactly what that fire would be but what we do understand is that it would likely be something of some kind of you think Africa Sahara Desert you think about a heat that would come that would dry up the depths of the waters it would take away the crops it would have significant impact on the livestock but the people and so we see an escalating of judgment that is going to take place now when some read this text especially if you're talking to a friend in the community they'll say things like I just can't believe that a God a God of the Bible would bring such kind of events and others might come to you and say you know what I sure am glad that I the New Testament God a God who's a God of love and of grace and I don't have to I don't have to worship the God of the Old Testament who's a God of of wrath and judgment and what I want you to see is that that is a wrong theology our God is the same yesterday today and forever and so I want you to think about it in this way as I as I see the children here I want you to imagine your son or daughter who is headed for some great difficulty hardship there was a cliff in front of them and they're headed in that direction to be indifferent and say nothing would not be loving at all you would never watch your child head for that cliff and say nothing why because you love them deeply so what would you do you would probably stop them at first like I might with one of mine and say Tristan listen son you don't want ahead in that direction and then if he doesn't listen and he's continued to head in that direction I'm not going to stop I'm going to walk after him and put my hand on his shoulder and I'm going to turn him around and say son that is not your greatest good and if he continues in that path I will grab his shoulders to pull him back and so what we see is this is this is what God is doing he has sent the prophets to speak to the people to tell them to turn back but the direction of which they are going is not their greatest good but as they do not listen he will begin to ratchet up just as I would with my son ratchet up the discipline the judgment that they may see with gospel eyes and not clogged blind eyes it's a little bit like who's they a 5 12 and 14 God as compared to a moth at first you know what happens when you're reading a book and it's you got the light on up and the that's just kind of up in the up in the life it's kind of flickering was it do it just kind of distracts you it's what God will do distract you away from your sin to see what is right but what happens when a moth gets maybe in your closet they can begin to eat on the cloth and be destructive so what does God going to do he's going to ratchet up at times why because he loves you and and Hosea 5:14 you know what he says if you don't listen to that he will be like the lion so here's what I want you to do I want you to see who your God is that your God will not sit idly while we are walking in sin but that he will come to his people even if there's great difficulty and hardship to direct us back to the place we need to be and sadly it takes at times famines plagues Wars difficulties and hardships to pry the sin out of our hardened hearts you see what God will do is he will shatter the illusion that you and I are self-sufficient and when he does it can hurt our hearts often so often we'll look and hope in every aspect of the world we'll rest our hope on the things in the world and God will take those things from us that we may see that our hope is found in Christ alone these are the warnings and the judgments that God brings and sometimes he will even bring us to the brink of death to weed out the sins in our hearts that you and I struggle with so often that blinds our eyes and clogs our ears so when you see some of these judgments see them not simply as a wrathful God see them as a loving parent who is calling out to a child to come back is our God because you know what happens at times we find our little sins and we compartmentalize them and we try to separate the world from them and here's what we do is we protect those sins at all costs and God says that thing you're hoping in I will take it I will expose it and it might hurt but I love you that much now as God reveals these visions to Amos who do you think if you were in the congregation you're in the synagogue and if you and I were there and we asked the question who do you think would be the last person who would intercede and intervene for Israel I bet a bunch of them would raise their hand and say that Amos I bet he would not be the one because he's the one that's that's speaking these what seemed to be harsher words to us he's speaking of these judgments and do you know what we've done to him we've reached out to Jeroboam to tell Jeroboam of how this man is speaking these words against him we've tried to bring harm to Amos we've actually told Amos to close his mouth and quit speaking and we've told that southern prophet to pack his bags and head back south because we don't want to hear it he might likely be the one that we all think would be the last person to intercede but look at the text look at verse 2 it is Amos pleading for the Israelites and verse 2 Amos pleads Oh Lord God please forgive them and then and again in verse 5 oh lord please cease you see Israel the one you think hates you because he spoken hard words is really the one who truly loves you John Calvin says this of Amos he says for though you think of me to be adverse to you as I am constrained daily to threaten you I yet feel compassion for you and wish you to be saved for the Lord had first resolved to destroy you but yet he waits for you and therefore suspends his extreme vengeance that by his kindness he may allure you to himself and this has been done through my prayers do you see what Amos is doing he is pleading with God o Israel on your behalf a Moses words then are not meant to destroy or despise you but it's an appeal to the heart of Israel that they would see where their greatest good is o Israel Israel you've seen a MOS all wrong he doesn't hate you he doesn't desire destruction you see a ammos is putting himself at risk undergoing persecution resentment and while you spew those false words against Amos he pleads for you Amos is in the gap Oh doesn't he point to Jesus who is the one person who is in the gap between the holy God and you and I who are sinful even as we struggle even as we at times turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ he's there sitting at the right hand of God the Father interceding for you and I I want to get real practical with you this morning there may have been there may be now there may be in the future a brother or sister who's come to you that has what seems to be a little harder word to you because of your actions because of the way that you might be living and what is our tendency when somebody says words to us about the way that we're living our lives we'll say things I you you just don't understand me you don't understand what I'm going through that was critical you obviously don't care about me speaking to me in such a way but if you have someone who is speaking truth and grace I want you to be very careful how you perceive this person because it might not be at all that he doesn't love you or care for you but that what he just had to say to you was probably the most difficult thing that he or she is had to say and and that person didn't desire to say that to you in any way but they loved you that much and they see that your greatest good is not in the course of action that you're taking and they delight in you and want you to turn back you who are in this congregation you could love one another you care for one another if you hear a word from someone about your own life it's not that they hate you they love you and they want your greatest good as leaders as well I want you to see that silence is not an act of love in fact it can be very unloving there are leaders of this church that are here if you see those things be courageous speak in grace and truth you are leaders in your own household moms and dads do not be indifferent and be silent speak those truths and you little ones who are sitting in these pews you will go to school you will be around and see other people be those leaders that know your God and you speak grace and truth why because you love those who around you I want you to see another very important point here is that you and I all know that we have those people that we are to be praying for maybe your congregation or in your family your co-workers and you know how often it is it's it's hard at times to pray for all those that you know you need to be praying for but how hard is it to pray for someone who you think have hurt you or maybe even done you harm or have sinned against you the Israelites sinned against Amos he's praying for them now when we do pray what do we usually pray for when there's that occasion where your spouse has hurt you or a co-worker's hurt you what do we tend to pray for we tend to pray for justice what does a hemos pray for grace and compassion that the Israelites would see their heart and turn back unto God may that be our heart our tendency is to say Lord I want them to have justice may we be a people who say God I want you to have compassion and Grace on their heart that they may see who you are turn from their ways and unto you God may that be our prayer as we continue to look at a Moses prayer in God's response avos prayer was not based some of this it was not based upon Israel's repentance it wasn't based upon Israel's righteousness there was zero question that Israel deserved exactly what the Lord identified would come Amos pleads on the character of God on God's grace and God's mercy and not alone and what does God do with regard to the locust and regard to the fire he relents he relents the hebrew word there that he speaks up for relent is the same Hebrew word in a home that is found in judges 218 for the Lord was moved to mahom to pity by their droning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them do you see what is happening God was moved to compassion in pity for the Israelites into the lay bringing such judgment to give the people more time to repent you see who your God is he has compassion somebody tells you that the Old Testament God is a different God from the God today it is wrong our God is a compassionate God he has slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and so maybe the philosophical question is this will grace ultimately override justice or will justice drive out grace should hear that question again will grace ultimately override justice or will justice drive out grace you know the answer is neither both find their full expression on the cross with Christ and Calvary you see God loves his people so much that he will have you with him in eternity that he would not relent of the judgment of the locust and the judgment of the fire and all the judgments but that he would lay them on the head and the back of Jesus Christ all that wrath and judgment on him that you and I would have grace and mercy Jesus Christ would take all of that wrath from the moment he says my God my God why have you forsaken me to those three hours later that he says into your hands I commit my spirit that Jesus Christ could take the full realm of that wrath in three hours tells you about the man who hung on the cross the dignity he honor and God himself that's how much he loves you that's how much a whole Testament Christians New Testament Christians and at the greatest depths of your souls I need you to know this that the idols and those sins that you love pay will never free you they will enslave you and when it comes time to be there for you on that day of your death of the day of the Lord they will sacrifice nothing for you but God will lay down his son he will put his son in front of the freight train of his wrath because he loves you that much so I want you to know that I want you to delight in that I want you to I want you to see that and so he's saying to Israel stop going through the motions see that there's a feast that God has laid out for you and his name is in Christ stop feeding on the crumbs feed on the feast of Christ let him be the thing that you have an affection for may he be the thing that guides your every thought and so when it comes to your marriages and it comes to your relationships take your eyes off yourself take your eyes off your own pains and your your own hurts and what that person deserves and doesn't deserve and I want you to think vertically on the compassion and the grace that God has given you and you meditate on that and when your spouse has hurt you when your children have hurt you when a co-worker's hurt you do you think about the abundance grace that God has given you you think about that and you then that vertically to that other person you think about what marriages and our relationships would look like if our eyes were not on ourselves and the hurt that someone has hurt me and my eyes are simply on my heavenly father with an overflow of his affection on me to another I think as long as he continues to give me compassion I'll do the same and I'll stop giving compassion when he stops giving compassion to me he will not stop we come to a most seven verses seven through nine this is what he showed me behold the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line with a plumb line in his hand and the Lord said to me famous what do you see and I said a plumb line then the Lord said behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people of Israel I will never again pass by them the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword in this third vision God asked Amos Amos what do you see heimo says I see a plumb line I want you understand what a plumb line is a plumb line is a stream and on the bottom of the stream would be a pebble a rock or some kind of weight and what a builder would do is as they built the wall in those days they would take that plumb line and as it and as gravity pulled it straight down they'd be able to look at the wall to see is it vertical is it straight now here the Lord is the builder and he's going to check Israel to see if the nation is as of right as they claim to be and like a wall that was once straight as God brought them in to the kingdom under David now they are crooked in disrepair and so what God says is just like a wall that is now crooked and bent they are to be taken down so Israel will be taken down as well why verse 9 talks about the corruption of the national religion these high places and these sanctuaries they went to the synagogue's they went to the sacrifices but do you know why they went because they thought the works would save them they thought because their daddy was Abraham and that mom and dad had believed maybe in the past and that if I did these works it would save me and God says that's not how it works and then he says there's something else going on it's Jeroboam he is to be a king who is a type of the anti-type which is God himself he used to be a king pointing to him and he's leading the people away from me so I want you to think about yourself as well as as leaders and again leaders in your own home where are you leading your children where are you leading those who are beside you are you leading them to yourself are you leading them to themselves are you leading them unto God you see how we have to ask ourselves are we taking those who are following us to the Savior are we taking them astray Paul says this in Philippians 4 9 what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace with you the God of peace will be with you he's saying listen Paul sing live in a sense how I'm telling you because I'm pointing you to Christ now as he tells Israel to take the plumb line and measure themselves we have to ask ourselves how is the plumb line as it measures you and I you see we live in a society today that says you're okay and I'm okay morality is vacillate all over the place and really at the end of the day we'll say a lot of times that I'm pretty good because why because we compare ourselves to someone else and we're always going to think a lot highly of ourselves than we are of others and so we say we are good until God sends the true plumb line the true standard of measure Christ I want you to see how this works just an illustration that James Montgomery boy said and children y'all listen to this this will be y'all well this is about children right so think about this there's a there's a teacher and the teacher comes in and says class what I want you to do is I want you to draw a straight line then she gives that instruction and about the time the principal calls are over and says handy to have it I just talked to you for a little bit now one of the kids do they all say well we're just going to go ahead and start drawing the lines and so you've got you got a little Billy and he starts drawing his line and Billy's drawn his line and then Johnny's drawn his line and Johnny looks at Billy's and Johnny says well mine straighter than yours and they all kind of look and they say yeah actually it is straighter than yours Billy and then Mary begins to draw a line and they all look at that line as well and everybody agrees that Mary's is straighter than Billy's and Johnny's and the teacher walks in and the classes guess what we've done we've all drawn our lines just like you told us it's just to know what I wanted you to do was draw a line with a ruler and as they did guess what not one line was straight you see before God steps in we all think that our lives are straight and Jesus comes in and there is no line straight in comparison to Jesus and so that's the trouble with appealing to God's justice many think that they want from God as justice so say God we want justice and they'll say God it isn't right for you to judge us with locust or fire because some of us are better than others and we demand you take those differences into account and so God says all right we'll really see who measures up to be God or who measures up to be strength and Jesus Christ lives the perfect life and you and I are not called to be pretty good recall to be perfect and so in a pill to justice will save no one all will be condemned by God's justice but if you and I will forget our pride abandon our arrogance and instead not ask for justice but ask that we live for the mercy of God we will be saved as I close this morning you and I everyone will have a plumb line laid in front of us every one of us but for those who are in Christ Christ steps in front of us it says to the father measure the plumb line according to me and we will be straight in Christ not because you did anything good or bad but because the mercy of our God and because he has been so compassionate to you via people who extend that same compassion pray for those who are hard to pray for that this church at cliffwood that you and your lives you and your families would be a people who delight and our Lord let's pray

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 34min 52sec (2092 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2020