Book of Amos 16: JUDGEMENT on Israel

well we're going to pick up where we left off last time but before we do let me remind you that we're in the second section of the book which is the pronouncement of judgments on eight different nations and the reason I continually remind you of this is because this needs to be ingrained within you and I want to make sure that it is now of these eight different nations six of the nations were pagan nations or what we would call Gentile nations the other two were Judah in Israel now in chapter 2 verses 6 through 16 Amos pronounce judgment on on Israel and as you read it you can clearly see that God was twice as tough on Israel than he was on the other nations and I explained why last week in fact Amos actually deviated from the normal pattern of listing the one sin that caused the cup of God's wrath to overflow you see Amos began each pronouncement of judgment with the same Hebrew as he Brea ISM for three transgressions and for four and then he would list the fourth sin which was the sin that caused the cup of God's wrath to overflow but Amos didn't do that with Israel yes he did used the same Hebrew ism but he deviated from the normal pattern of listening the fourth sin which again was the sin that cost a cup of God's wrath to overflow and instead he listed seven sins with all of the other nations he only listed one sin but with Israel he listed seven sins in other words there wasn't just one there wasn't just one major sin that caused the cup of God's wrath to overflow there were seven major sins so let me give you the seven sins that Israel was guilty of committing I'll go through them quickly and then we'll look at each one individually last week we got through the first one so we're actually going to get through believe it or not two through seven tonight so here they are number one they were lending money to the poor with the sole intent of taking possession of the mortgaged property through foreclosure in other words because they were not supposed to get interest when they loan to a to a brother in other words to another Jew what they were trying to do was to loan this money out have them put up a land or some type of property and then they would hope that they would make some payments but if they wouldn't be able to finish and pay off the loan therefore they would not only get the money that they received but they would also get the land that they put up as collateral number two they were walking all over the for through unscrupulous business practices we don't actually know what they were doing we'll find that out as we look at this second sin but we do know that they were really walking all over the poor and they were doing it in such a way that was very very calloused and it really irritated God number three they were preying on the vulnerable and taking advantage of them sexually and people that always happens in a very wicked society those who are marginalized those who really have no other recourse to come in and have any type of justification it seems like the wicked prey on them and they especially do it sexually number four when they foreclosed on the poor they were taking every last thing they had including the clothes on their back you know we say that sometimes they even take the clothes off their back but you know they were actually doing that number five they were abusing their power and authority by living unjust fines in order to support their own selfish pleasures number six they were ungrateful to God for the grace and mercy he showed towards them and last but not least they were coercing the Nazarites into breaking their vows and they were silencing God's profits now as I've already said we've already covered the very first sin so now we're ready to look at the second sin which is in verse 7 so look at verse 7 they trampled on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and they denied justice to the oppressed now I want you to underline that phrase trample on the heads of the four people that's a figure of speech that's the equivalent of us saying to walk all over someone you see when you walk all over someone what that means is that you have the power to make someone do what you want without any respect for their feelings you don't care about what they think you don't care about how they feel this is what you're going to do and there's really nothing they can do about it so this is actually a metaphor of power for one group and utter humiliation for the other the one who has the power can dictate the terms and the other has to submit or face the consequences there's really not anything they can do about it now this is a horrible abuse of power and it really angers God and the reason it does is because God could do that to us if he so chose but that's not the kind of God he is and because he doesn't do it to us he's setting an example you know we always talk about God as our Father and we are the children of God and just as in a physical family the father sets the example he models how we're supposed to act God does the very same thing for us and God wants us to realize that if he wanted to he could walk all over us and there's really nothing that we could do about it but he doesn't do that and so it really irritates him when we do it in fact many prophets talk about this but I'm only going to use one example look with me in Isaiah chapter 3 verse number 15 and notice what it says how dare you crush my people grinding the faces of the poor into the dust demands the Lord the Lord of heavens armies and you know they weren't literally grinding the faces of the poor into the dust again it's a figure of speech but what it means is there's not a thing they could do about it they could just take advantage of them do whatever they want they could dictate the terms and that was taking place now Amos doesn't tell us specifically what they were doing to the poor but it was clear to everyone that they were walking all over them so that's the second sin they were guilty of if you're taking notes write this down they were walking all over the poor through unscrupulous business practices now let's look at sin number three which is in the last part of verse number seven notice what it says a man and his father go into the same girl to defile my holy name now what this is talking about is the sexual abuse of a female servant by the men in the family that she serves and more specifically a father and son now the Torah actually provided protection for female servants because they were very vulnerable to mistreatment by their male masters and this was something that could take place very easily if they didn't have the right protection so the Torah specifically states certain things that protect female servants from being taking advantage of in especially sexually look at Exodus chapter 21 verses 7 through 11 and I'll show you what I'm talking about when a man sells his daughter as a servant and you need to understand something a man didn't do this lightly when a man gets to this point he's a broken man he's literally having to sell his daughter as an indentured servant because he has a debt that he can't pay and he's got a choice either he can sell off his land and then his family has no way to make a living or he can sell off some of his children still work the land with the hope that he can buy her back but a man's very broken when he has to do this and so it says when a man sells his daughter as a servant she will not be freed at the end of 6 years as the men are in other words if she sold into a place where the father can't buy her back and you need to understand this is actually a protection because women really had no way of making a living that's why you get this ho story with Ruth and Naomi they come back and they're women they're very they're very vulnerable there are the marginalized of society and therefore they need a man and if you don't really understand that you don't understand the kinsman redeemer the host subject of the book and so this was actually a protection this kept a woman from being thrown out in the streets if she was bought into it in other words you had an obligation to keep her so let's keep going she will not be freed at the end of the six years as men are if she does not satisfy her owner he must not he must allow her to be bought back again but he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners since he is the one who broke the contract with her but if the servants owner owner arranges for her to marry his son he made no longer treat her as a servant but as a daughter if a man who has married a servant wife takes another wife for himself he must not neglect the watch why rights of the first wife to food clothing and sexual intimacy if he fails in any of these three obligations she may leave as a free woman without making any payment and there's other things that she gets as a result of that but people this makes it very clear that a woman who has been sewed to a family as an indentured servant was not to be sexually abused in any way in order to have sex with her he had to marry her and she was to be treated as a wife as a part of the family if the son married her she was to be treated as a daughter-in-law by the father and the father married her she was to be treated as a mother it's very very clear in the Torah not only that but it was an abomination to God for a father and son to sleep with the same woman look at Leviticus chapter 20 verses 11 and 12 says if a man violates his father by having sex with one of his father's wives both the man and the woman must be put to death for they are guilty of a capital offense if a man has sex with his daughter-in-law both must be put to death they have committed a perverse act and are guilty of a capital offence now what was happening in Israel is that they weren't marrying the female servants in their home but they were having sex with him and they were justifying it by saying well neither one of us is married to her so we're actually not breaking the Torah but what they were doing was horrible you see the only reason women were sewed into indentured servant hood was because they were in dire financial circumstances it was done in order to survive or for the family to survive or to pay off the death of the family but was what was happening was these wealthy men were intimidating these women and having sex with them by using their financial situation against them it was either be sent out in the code or sent back to their families and then the family would have to pay their debt which they couldn't do that's why they were sold in the first place or have sex with them without them marrying them and this became very common in Israel that's how evil they were what they were doing is they were preying on the most vulnerable and taking advantage of them sexually now people you need to understand something we're doing that very same thing here in America women are forced into pornography and prostitution by men who are willing to take advantage of their vulnerability they take advantage of those who are marginalized taking advantage of those who are put in certain situation is that they have no other place to turn when you view pornography urine you're involved in this in this is exactly what you're doing and you to realize that now what else were they doing well let's look at sin number four which is in the first part of verse number eight notice what it says they like that lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge now the phrase lied down is the key to understanding this particular sin that Israel was guilty of first of all they were lying down on the clothes of the poor had put up as collateral on a loan which tells us which particular garment this is referring to you see an Amos day people were a cloak that functioned as a coat during the day but it also functioned as a blanket at night and it's the only piece of garment that you could actually lie down on but the law prohibited a person from taking it as collateral unless you returned it every night to the person who put it up as collateral look with me if you would in Exodus chapter 22 verse number 25 this explains it in quite detail notice what it says if you lend money to any of my people who are in need do not charge interest as a moneylender would if you take your neighbor's cloak of security in other words as collateral for a loan you must return it before sunset doesn't do you much good does it you take it for collateral in the morning and then you have to find them at night return it to them this coat talking about the cloak maybe the only blanket your neighbor has how can a person sleep without it if you do not return it and your neighbor cries out to me for help then I will hear for I'm merciful so you could take a person's cloak as collateral but you had to return to them every night and that would be such a hassle so most people wouldn't even bother was taking a person's cloak as collateral but in extreme cases in extreme circumstances for the poor didn't have anything else they could put it up as collateral and if they didn't want to beg for a handout what they would do is they would offer their cloak as collateral but they really didn't expect the person to take them up on it how many have ever seen a person that's standing out there with the sign and I'm not saying whether this is right or wrong whether you should do this or you shouldn't do it I'm using this as an example they have a sign and they say we'll work for food and whatever seen that then you pull up to them and you say well I got some work to do they go mm-hmm but I just want you to understand the certain thing you know they really don't expect you to say well jump on in I'll take you home and your work no they don't expect that and that that was the Israelites at this time they really didn't have anything to put up as collateral but they were desperate for food they were desperate for money and so what they would do is they would ask someone to please not give them because they were too proud to bake so they would say please loan me a few coins I'll put my cloak up for collateral not expecting that person to actually take it because in the tour it says if you take it as collateral you have to return it at night and that's too much of a hassle so what they expected them to do was to say don't worry about it and give them a few coins it was actually a handout but people the works the rich weren't doing that because they were so greedy instead of giving them a handout which the Bible refers to as alms and we should be giving alms they would take or they would loan them a few coins and then they would take the cloak as collateral knowing that they wouldn't be able to pay them back by that evening so what they would say is was just a few coins you take this but if you much cloak back just come see me pay me back tonight you can have it back and we're supposed to do that but they were doing it literally taking everything that they had including the clothes on their back so the rich were literally taking every last thing that the poor had including the clothes on their back but the same goes even deeper if you read this closer look back at verse number eight and notice where they were when they laid down on the cloak that they had taken from the poor it says they lie down by every altar on clothes taken and pledge now under the Mosaic sacrificial system you never lay down by the altar of God there was no place to do that if you've ever been to Jerusalem or maybe you've even studied the temple and you know where it's at on the Temple Mount and you look at all of the buildings that were there what you'll find is there is no place for anyone to lie down by the altar in fact women never even got close to the altar your they have the court of the Gentiles and then the Gentiles could go any further if if they went further than that if they were uncircumcised if they were a Gentile they went further than that there were literally signs that said if you do this you will be put to death and that was what Paul was accused of doing they had seen him in town in Jerusalem with Gentiles they knew he was preaching to Jinja Gentiles Gentiles were being converted so these Judaizers who didn't like Paul they saw that and then they accused him of bring Gentiles past the court of the Gentiles now after the court of the Gentiles you went to the court of the women women you could go that far but you could not go where the men could go you could only take that animals so far your offering so far the priests would have to meet it he would have to take it further on the Ming could go on and they would go in and they would offer this offering but there was never any place to ever lie down and they wouldn't even allow you to do that so what you would do is you would take your offering to the temple the priests would offer it to God on the altar and then you would take your portion of the offering home but there was no place to lie down but if the pagan temples you had rooms specifically set up for temple prostitutes around the altar so you brought an offering to the pagan temple and then you went into one of those rooms to have sex with one of the temple prostitutes because that was part of the type of worship that they had they practiced something that was called imitation magic and what imitation magic means is that you believe that there are such things as fertility gods and if these fertility gods have sex in the heavens or wherever they are then your soil your ground your land is going to be fruitful your wife is going to be fruitful the more sex they have the more fruitful your ground is the more fruit for your crops are the more fruitful your animals and your livestock are they're more fruitful your wife yes and so what they would do to try to stimulate these gods to have sex is that they would have sex so you had these temple prostitutes and they literally raised money for the temple by sleeping with these men now again these were marginalized women they were bought as slaves they were raised up to be this and that's what they would do so you brought your offering to the pagan temple then you went into one of these rooms to have sex with one of the temple prostitutes and that's what this is referring to when it says that they laid down by the altar on the cloak that they took as collateral on the loan of a few coins so sin number four was actually a combination of two things instead of giving the the poor a few coins as alms they were loaning it to them and literally taking every last thing that that person had including their cloak which was to keep them warm during the winter and also provide a blanket for them at night they were taking as collateral and to make it to make matters worse they were doing this on the way to pagan temples to sleep with their prostitutes now why were they going to do this when they took these cloaks because that's where the poor would gather how many of you remember the story about the crippled who was that the gates beautiful you know when Peter comes up there and and he's asking for alms and Peter says silver and go to have I none but what I have I given to thee and the name of Jesus get up and walk and he grabs him he pulls him up most of us don't think anything about it but here's what you need to understand if you wanted to be a successful beggar if you wanted to make a lot of money you had to be in the right place have you ever noticed when the homeless are out and they're begging for money on streets sometimes they get into fights why do they get into fights because there are certain corners there are certain streets that are more lucrative and that's where you want to be you make more money there more people come by me because the right kind of people well if you had to beg where you wanted to beg was at the temple because even in the pagan religions they were normally required to give alms especially when you were going to worship the gods and so this is where they were they were at these teams these pagan temples and so they would come and there's the syncretism here there they're mixing their religion with these pagan religions but these these beggars these poor people are there because they're asking the rich please please do this take my cloak take my cloak as collateral just low me some money and there we go alright I'll take your cloak and they give him a few money they take that in they didn't want to lay their clothes down you're going to be sleeping with the prostitute you know there's been a lot of men in there so they would lay down that person's cloak and then they would do this so those were the two things that they were doing and let me tell you God was very very upset not only were they taking advantage of the poor but then they were coming in and taking their things and using it in a way that was an abomination to God but also laying them down and using in a way that they didn't even want to do their own cooks and that's what he's talking about now let's look at scene number five would just mentioned in the last part of her site and they drink wine bought with unjust fines now I want you to underline the word fines if you don't understand that word you don't understand what this is talking about the word fines is translated from the Hebrew word on Ash and it refers to a fine that a person pays for breaking the law just like we would pay a fine for speeding I don't know if you realize that they moved the police station to a different place and if you're going down this way towards the bypass and you go down that hill a little bit too fast you just might get pulled over for speeding if you get pulled over for speeding you're gonna have to pay a fine or maybe if you park where you shouldn't be parking maybe it's in a fire zone you're in front of a fire hydrant well you're gonna have to pay a fine you break the law you pay a fine well in Israel you had judges just like we do today and if you broke the law we're not talking so much about the Torah you had the Torah you had laws but you also had civil laws that were actually written in the Torah and then of course the rabbi's they made these different laws that were part of the city and if you broke these laws or maybe you had a case against someone else you had to come in front of the judges these judges normally met at the gates of the city that's why when you read the Old Testament they're always talking about the minute said at the gates of the city many of them were elected as judges just like we do today and these judges would impose a fine and all Nash and the fines were supposed to go to one or two places they were either supposed to go to the city coffers just like it does today Oh or if maybe you had roamed someone the find that you were supposed to pay will go to the person that you had wronged now these finds were supposed to be paid in coins or money which went to the city coffers to the person they had roamed as an example look at Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse number 19 this is just a good example they must also find him that we're fine is the Hebrew word on Ash a hundred pieces of silver now why do I bring this up because they didn't want you bringing three lambs and two bushels of wheat and a cask of wine no no you go sale that you exchange it for money we don't deal with that when you have to pay a fine you pay a fine with money so he says you must also find him a hundred pieces of silver which he must pay to the woman's father because he publicly accused a version of Israel for shameful conduct so they literally put this is what the fine is and the Torah did that many times on certain things but then the cities would also have these fines there laughing but then there are also finds that it was left up to the judge so the fines were supposed to be paid in coins or money which again went into either the city's coffers if you violated one of the laws of the city but if you roamed someone these fines were what you paid to the person you had wronged but here's what the judges were doing they were taking wine in lieu of them paying a monetary fine which means that they were taking bribes you see you could either take them a bottle of wine and pay a small fine or you could pay a huge fine now when I say bottle of wine you understand that I'm actually talking about the leather flask I'm not saying like they had bottles of wine today I'm just trying to get you to understand like you would do today but what would happen is you would go to the judge and you would say you know I know you've always been a fair person you meet them at their house I brought a little gift for you just once you know I respect you and that was kind of a wink-wink I'm coming before you and when I come before you make sure so I don't have to pay too much and so they were doing this and and I'll tell you what the judge you become quite wealthy by doing this you literally could have all of your pleasures met simply by saying alright I understand I know you didn't mean to do that yes you took that wine in there and then when they came before you the next morning you said well you are guilty but you don't have to pay a stiff of a fine and that's exactly what they were doing this is what he was talking about he talked about unjust fines and when you look at that word unjust in the Hebrew what it means is the fines did not fit the crime and sometimes when we think about that we had the tense thinking well that means that they had to pay more than what they were supposed to but actually the unjust means no if you paid off the right judges you didn't have to pay as much and so what took place is the poor couldn't do that so if you wrong someone who was poor and you know that mmm this is bad I'm gonna have to pay a lot you went down to the judge and you said you know we've been friends a long time I just happen to be walking past your field and I realize you're Bulls not too good you know I've got a bull that I'd like you to use don't don't worry about it next day you go to the judges in front of the things you're supposed to pay oh no you don't have to pay as much and the poor they were taking an advantage of because they didn't have the ability to do that so the rich were taking care of the rich and they were sticking it to the poor through these unjust fines now looks like a sin number six was mentioned in verses 9 and 10 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 in his route 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 now I want you to notice that word amirite there are certain words that refers to groups of people that if you don't understand how it's used you truly don't understand the story you don't understand the Old Testament giving an example many times Israel which was the Northern Kingdom that's what the back kingdom was called after the Kingdom of Israel divided remember when Solomon died and his son came up and you know they asked him to lighten the load and he said well let me talk to my advisers his father's adviser said you need to do that if you do that they'll love you the serve you forever ever the younger advisors the ones that were his friends said don't do that you tell them you're gonna be even more strict than their father and they said that of course they split and Jeroboam became the king of the northern tribes so now you have two tribes you have Israel that's what they took their name as and then you also had Judah which is the two southern tribes now here's what's interesting as you're reading through the Old Testament you'll come across this word Ephraim and you think well who is he for him and you know it must be just this one tribe no sometimes it refers to the tribe of Ephraim but sometimes it refers to the whole Kingdom of Israel why because Ephraim was the firstborn and asked the firstborn his name became an eponym for the northern kingdom so sometimes the northern kingdom is referred to as Israel sometimes it's referred to as Ephraim you have to read it in context to tell in fact there's one prophecy that most people don't understand because it talks about in the last days God will take Afrim and Judah and take these two sticks and he will make them into one and people go what what he's saying is he'll take those two kingdoms that were divided when Jesus Christ comes back all the Jews will no longer be two separate kingdoms two ten northern tribes were one Kingdom the two southern guys were were two southern tribes were another Kingdom but what he's going to do is he's going to unite them and they're just one kingdom called the nation of Israel that's what it means now this word amirite is the same way sometimes it means one thing sometimes it means another you say if the word amirite is used in a narrow sense it describes a specific ethnic group but if it's used in a broad sense it describes all of the inhabits of cainan prior to the children of Israel coming into the Promised Land look at Genesis chapter 15 verse number 16 and I'll show you what I'm talking about this is the promise that God is making to Abraham and he's telling Abraham I'm gonna bless your seed and I'm gonna turn your children your seed into a mighty nation but I want you to understand something they're gonna go into Egypt he told Abraham this before that ever happened he said your seed your children are going to go into Egypt and they're gonna remain there for four hundred years and they're gonna be slaves and then I'm gonna bring them out but I want you to notice what he says let's read this this is Genesis chapter 15 verse 16 he says but in the forth generation and this is why we don't know what a generation is sometimes the generation is 100 years so if a generation is a hundred years and we know that this generation will not pass and we start when Israel became a nation we could go as far as 2048 take away the seven years of the tribulation and your 2041 we start looking say well we know somewhere between there Jesus is going to come back depending upon whether you're a pre-tribulation Estate's eighty years sometimes it's 80 years sometimes it simply means that you go from the generation of the father's passing away and the children coming in this particular situation we know because of the context he speaks other places the degeneration is a hundred years so here's what he says but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the amorite s' is not yet for full and so what this is saying is the reason you're going to have to be in slavery in Egypt is because I have no land to give you and the reason I don't is because I'm not going to kick these people out of the land I'm not that kind of God I'm not going to judge them and take it away from them until their sin is so full that they deserve to be judged and they deserve judgment coming upon them but here's what's interesting when you read this and you don't understand it comes to the word amirite you think that it's talking about one specific ethnic nation and it's a small tribe here and so all these other different ethnic tribes that are different than the em rights you know they deserve to be judged but I'm holding out for this one no no no that's know what it means this isn't talking about the specific ethnic group known as the amorite he's using this in a broad sense to refer to the Canaanites who lived in the promised land before the Israelites conquered them so all of the different ethnic groups that were living in the cane in the area of Canaan were known as what Emma writes it was used in a broad sense just like what would we be telecoil ends what would we be telecoil i'ts tell tell tell aqua onions all right or telecoil i'ts or whatever but we're also Oklahomans we're also Americans do you understand what I'm saying so you have to kind of know these names so when you use the word amirite it can be used in a narrow sense and it refers to the specific ethnic group or can be used in a broad sense that refers to all of the people that were living in the land of canaan now of course when Amos mentions the amorite s-- he's using the term in the broad sense and what he's saying is that you got to remember what God did for you Israel he brought you into the promised land it was God who destroyed the Emma rights when you came to Kadish Barnea and you sent spies in the land they saw that it was a land of milk and honey but they also saw that saw that the amorite were like giants and that's why he's talked about they were as tall as this tree and their fruit was so huge and it was like we wanted what they had been man we were scared to death of him the inhabitants of Canaan and so what he was saying was I'm the God who led you through the wilderness to possess the land of the MRI it's also known as the Canaanites and as a result of God doing that you would have expected the Israelites to be grateful and one of the signs of being grateful is what to keep his Commandments if you love me Jesus said you will do what you'll keep my Commandments the whole thing we've been talking about it's called ethical monotheism if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor then you're a liar if you say you know the truth and that you love the truth but you don't keep his Commandments you're a liar and so they said they were grateful for God to do this but they didn't keep his Commandments but his point is this the reason you didn't keep his commands is because you're not truly grateful to God for all that he's done for you and people that was their six cent sixth sin let me tell you something when you're not grateful to God for what he's done for you it takes God off you know I've always said this I'll do anything for my girls you might be like this when we go out to eat it doesn't matter that my daughter is 31 and her husband is 31 and my other daughter is 28 years old I get to check I always pay for it and you know I realize what's gonna happen it won't matter when Micah finally finishes her residency and my son-in-law does and they're both doctors and making great money and macey gets married and doing it I can guarantee you I'll be 70 years old and we're gonna go out to dinner who's gonna get the check it's gonna be me and I love blessing my kids I really do I love blessing them with gifts if they need anything I tell them this you're the reason I work you need money you come to me often they don't know this but I would deny myself to take care of them but let me tell you what would tick me off what would tick me off is to give to my girls and they're not grateful for it the reason I'm giving to my girl schools are very grateful God is like that many times God's not blessing you and I'll tell you why he's not blessing you he's not blessing you because you're not grateful for what he's giving you you're all complaining about what you I'm gonna tell you why you didn't get what you on it but you're not grateful for what you have right now one time I was mad at God I've gone to the ministry I've given up businesses and I was on the fast track to making some money and to go into ministry we had reverted back and I was poor poor and my girlfriend's very little but I still couldn't do things for him that I wanted to do and I was mad at God and God spoke to me very harshly and said if you can't appreciate what I'm doing for you now that I can't bless you with anything else that's an attitude adjustment so we get to this six sin and God tells him you're not keeping my Commandments coz you're not grateful to me there's one thing I can't stand it's an ungrateful bunch of children now let's look at the 7 sin which is mentioned in verses 11 to 12 I raised up some of your sons as prophets your children I raised up some of them as prophets and some of your young men as Nazarites is it not so oh you children of Israel says the Lord but you gave the Nazarites wine to drink and you commanded the prophets saying don't prophesy shut up now most of you probably are not familiar with Nazarites Nazarites for men who dedicated themselves to God and who lived a consecrated holy life now some of the Nazarites were Nazarites for life how many of you can think of a couple of examples of Nazarites for life anyone Oh Testament first one should come to your mind is Samuel yeah who said Samuel yeah Samuel was one you remember dedicated to the Lord she couldn't have children and so we you know well I'll dedicate my first bore God opens up the womb she waits until he's about five years old he's completely weaned she takes him tune heart breaking but she gives him to God and he's a Nazarite from then on what's another one that really didn't turn out very good we know in this one of the judges we think he's very very strong absent the strength was in his want why was the strength in his hair because he was a Nazarite we'll find that out in just a second now did the New Testament have any Nazarites oh come on people who prepared the way for Jesus John the Baptist long flowing hair camel skin around him eating wild locusts in the wilderness this guy's a Nazarite it's written all over him led with the Essenes this guy's a Nazarite now some of them were Nazarites for life Samuel wasn't as right for life it was something it was a vow he took and from the time he was 5 years old he was a Nazarite to the day he died Samuel even though he didn't do what he should have done and he revealed that his hair was cut lost his power and then his hair began to grow back he rededicated his life to God and he destroyed the Philistine pushed it over John the Baptist but then you had national rights that were Nazarites just for a specific period of time in fact Paul takes that vow if you remember they begin when they take the valves and Nazarite and they cut their hair they shave their hair and then from that point on they're not going to and it's for a specific point they've got this valve not gonna drink anything divine but let me just kind of show you what it is turn to Numbers chapter 6 verses 2 through 8 and you kind of understand what a Nazarite is give the following instruction to the people of Israel if any of the people either men or women women could do it to take the special valve a Nazarite setting them us themselves apart to the Lord in a special way you are consecrating yourself to a holy life to God they must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks they must not use vinegar made from wine or from other alcoholic drinks they must not drink fresh grape juice and they must not eat grapes or raisins anything from the vine as long as they are bound by their Nazarite vow because you take a vow if you're not one for life for a specific amount of time how many have ever fasted for a period of time three days seven days ten days 12 days anyone ever done that you're going to eat for a specific period of time well these would take a Nazarite Val but it wasn't four days that was four months maybe years they are not allowed to eat or drink anything that comes from a grapevine not even the grape seeds or skins they must never cut their hair throughout the time of their Val there's why Sampson got in trouble she should have known this tells you that he was with the woman he shouldn't have been he was unequally yoked anyone who was an Israelite knew my Samson was strong she was a wicked Philistine he had no business being with her every woman who was an Israelite knew his strength was in his air wine well they never cut their hair throughout the time of their vow for they are holy look at this they are holy and set apart to the Lord until the time of their vow has been fulfilled they must let their hair grow long and you don't ever cut it and they must not go near a dead body during the entire period of the vow to the Lord even if the dead person is their own father mother brother or sister they must not defile themselves for the hair on their head is the symbol of their separation to God this requirement applies as long as they are set apart to the Lord yeah now were there were two reasons why a person would take the Battle of an ass right the first one was for personal reasons and foremost it was to show their gratitude to God in other words they were so thankful for God's grace that they purposely changed their lifestyle to show their gratitude and during the time of their vow they purposely sought to grow closer to God it was one of these things that I Love You God I want to I want to grow closer to you and just like we fast and pray or we set aside a time to do this they would say for the next three months of the next six months or for the next year you know I'm taking this vow I'm not going to eating these things when normally everyone's doing this I separate myself I'm in the word I'm in prayer the second reason was to publicly confess their dedication or commitment to Yahweh and by doing that they became an example of holiness to others and their lifestyle during that time was a reminder the people to be holy even as God is holy so these Nazarites were easy to see and that's why God didn't want him to cut their hair man did not wear long hair like we think they did back then they would cut it off and you said we get to the shoulders and they would cut it off it was a shame as Paul said for a man to have long hair where it was the glory of the woman as o men didn't have long hair like we think so Jesus down to here down no you didn't do that but when you saw a man and he had hair I mean it was down to here and that would have been John the Baptist's are down to his rear and you know you could just tell he he lived this holy ascetic life and it was a reminder that we have people who are dedicating their life to God they are praying for our nation they are seeking God they're exhorting people they're keeping the law and they're exhorting other people to keep the law so that's the second reason they would do that now let's talk about prophets because not only did they do this to the prophets but they also I mean to the Nazarites they also tried to silence the prophets so let's talk about prophets before we look at specifically what they did in the Nazarites in the end of the prophets prophets were the mouthpieces of God and if you've been coming for a while you know what happened when an Old Testament prophet prophesied what happened to an Old Testament prophet when he prophesied well the Holy Spirit would come upon him remember he would go into an open-eyed trance and everything that came out of his mouth was the Word of God was almost as if he was a puppet we've gone through that and so these prophets in the Old Testament were mouthpieces of God God would send them they would prophesy everything that came out of the mouth had to come to pass if one thing didn't come to pass they were not a true prophet of God why that that meant that the Holy Spirit didn't come upon them they wouldn't an open eye trance and God didn't have control of time because any time God takes control they're doing everything that comes out of the mouth it happened now the Israelites wanted to shut down every channel of divine communication at least all communication that came from Yahweh the false gods you know I hate to say this but all of these false gods they're God's a pleasure maybe you like serving them in order to worship them you have sex in order to worship maybe you do these things but not Yahweh not only expects you to be holy Yahweh expects you to be righteous and so they wanted to shut down every channel the divine communication that was coming from Yahweh so they coerced the Nazarites into drinking wine which violated their vow it was funny to them to slip them wine or to say you just ate that and had grapes in it you didn't realize that did you you broke your vow they were purposely doing this why because they were making fun of Christians much like what America does today let's continue on and they did everything they could to try and muzzle God's prophets now people when you read through the Old Testament you have to understand when Amos was prophesying and he was prophesying during this divided monarchy time so when you're reading through the Old Testament that deals with this time period you see several examples of this I'm gonna go through this real quickly to come up on the screen but let me just give you some examples if you remember Jezebel tried to muzzle Elijah and the other prophets of God when did Elijah minister he ministered during the divided monarchy period shortly before Amos came along and Jezebel tried them to muzzle him look at first Kings chapter 18 verses one through four says later in the third year of the drought the Lord said that he lied to go and present yourself to King Ahab tell him that I was still soon sin rain so Elijah went to appear before a head meanwhile the famine had become very severe in Samaria so Ahab summoned Obadiah who was in charge of the palace Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord once when Jezebel had tried to kill all of the Lord's notice that's all caps Yahweh's prophets oh but I had hidden hundreds of them into caves he put fifty prophets in each cave and supplied them with food and water a half Jezebel's husband King Ahab he muscled Micaiah look at first kings chapter 22 verses 25 through 27 I'm not going to read it you can go back and read it joe-joe room attempted to kill Elijah how many of you remember he was going to cut his head off and he lies and notice what's happening cuz he's a prophet of God more come to the front door tells the servant don't let him in the door until God intervenes that second Kings chapter 6 verse 31 go back and read it and of course Amaziah tried to muzzle Amos in fact when you get to Amos chapter 7 verses 13 12 through 13 you'll see that let's read that if you don't mind we have time to do that then Emma's I ascend orders to Amos get out of here you prophet going back to the land of Judah and earn your living by prophesying there don't bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel this is the king sanctuary it's not gods this is the king sanctuary it's not gods and the National place of worship man they had missed it am I here from God you know America is becoming like that when we speak out and we say this is a sin people don't want to hear that and what do they say that's hate speech no it's not it's love speech because if I don't tell you that you won't get to heaven if you're going to continue to practice those things if I don't tell you that you're a sinner and you need Jesus and you die you got to stand before God one day and be thrown into the lake of fire and did I really love you no but you see when you're doing things you don't want anyone to tell you you're doing anything wrong so that was there 7 sin they were coercing the Nazarites into breaking their vows and they were silencing God's prophets because they didn't want anyone from God telling them that they weren't living right that what they were doing was sinful they didn't want anyone coming and saying you're breaking God's law and if you break God's law you're going to be punished maybe not in this life but in the life to come and the only way to get away from this and we know is Jesus Christ so let me list all of the sins they were guilty of I'll leave this up here so you can take notes when we finish here they are number 1 they were lending money to the poor with a sole intent of taking possession of the mortgage property through foreclosure number 2 they were walking all over the poor through and scrupulous business practices number 3 they were preying on the vulnerable and taking advantage of them sexually number 4 when they foreclosed on the poor they were taking every last thing they had including the clothes on their back number 5 they were abusing the power and authority by living unjust fines in order to support their own selfish pleasures number six they were ungrateful to God for the grace of Mercy it showed towards them and number seven they were coercing the Nazarites into breaking the vows and they were silencing God's prophets now people these seven sins had caused the cup of God's wrath to overflow and now judgment couldn't be stopped and this is the judgment that would come upon them their army would be completely destroyed and they would be carried into captivity look at verses 13 through 16 and we're closing with this behold I am weighed down by you as a cart full of sheaves his way down you know God said you burdened me so much I can't even get up that's how burden you've made me there for flight shall perish from the Swift the strong shall not strengthen his power nor show the mighty deliver himself he shall not stand who handles the bow the Swift if it shall not escape nor show he who rides a horse deliver himself the most courageous men of might shall flee naked in that day says the Lord now you don't get what this the same because you know our military is not like this if it was saying it in today's terms it would say the Marines won't be the first to enter and the last to leave they'll all be destroyed the Navy the ships will sink in the sea the airforce though they'll refuse to fly and those to fly will be shot down the rest of them will be destroyed on the air strips and they would go through everything the army the infantry will be afraid to march into battle and when they decide to retreat they will be cut off this is what he's saying the Swift can't get away the strong loses his power even the person on the horse can't get away so what he was actually saying is no one will escape unless exactly what happened in 722 BC they were conquered by the Syrians and they were carried into captivity and the army that they had put their faith in was completely destroyed and then what we know as the northern kingdom will not be re-established into the Millennium are there people that know their heritage even now yes you have those who know that they're from the tribe of Sydney and they're from the tribe of Reuben there's from the tribe of GAD they're from the tribe of Manasseh they're from the tribe of Naphtali they're from the tribe of Asher they know that Zebulon they no they're from those tribes it's a car you can go to Israel they'll tell you what tribe they're from they kept that all these years but one day God's gonna put it together and they're all back one nation and that's what he's talking about now here's what we're going to do they didn't treat the poor right so how do you treat the poor or how do you help the poor without hurting them that's what we need to teach on and I'm not gonna do it on the winds tonight we're gonna move on next week but on a Sunday morning I'm actually going to do a series on how to help the poor without hurting them because let me tell you something people we have a responsibility to help the poor that's part of the gospel of Jesus Christ when John the Baptist wasn't sure if Jesus was the one why because John the Baptist was a Nazarite he lived a holy ascetic life and Jesus comes alone and he's turning water into wine and you know they're saying he's a wine-bibber and he's partying with sinners and he sends his people says are you the Messiah or should we look for someone else and Jesus says you go back and telling this and the very first thing says the gospel is being preached to the poor the gospel has certain qualities about it that can break the bondages of poverty but the church doesn't teach it and the church doesn't practice it and therefore we're not doing what we're supposed to

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 2,987

Rating: 4.6799998 out of 5

Keywords: judgement on israel, book of amos bible study, amos, prophetic literature, minor prophets, book of amos, minor prophet amos, Judgement on Israel | Amos Part 16, amos chapter 2 explained, amos chapter 2 judgement on israel, judging israel, judging israel in bible, book of amos chapter 2, book of amos explained

Id: ACkDC45BgGM

Length: 52min 49sec (3169 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 22 2018