Book of Amos 19: America's DEPARTURE From Biblical Standards

turn in your Bible to the Book of Amos chapter 3 and as you're turning there let me remind you of a few things first of all we're in the third section of the book which is actually three sermons now in these three sermons Amos is trying to convince the Israelites that what he prophesied against them is actually going to take place because they didn't believe it and the reason they didn't believe it was because they didn't believe that God would ever bring judgment upon them because they were his chosen people and as long as they didn't totally abandon God they were safe sure they were sinning and not keeping his Commandments and yes they were worshiping other gods but they still believed in Yahweh and regardless of what they were doing they were still his covenant people so in their minds they were safe God would never bring judgment upon them or at least that's what they thought so Amos preached three sermons and had sent to convince them that God was going to bring judgment upon them and right now we're in the process of studying the first sermon which makes up all of chapter three now if you remember from last time Amos began the sermon by affirming the fact that God had elected Israel to be his chosen people people it is a fact Israel is God's chosen people look at verses 1 & 2 in chapter 3 said here this word people of Israel the word the Lord has spoken against you against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt you only have I chosen of all the families of the earth do you see that you only have I chosen now with the great response was that with the great privilege of being chosen by God comes great responsibility as God's chosen people they were expected to be a holy nation you'll find that in Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 through 6 they were also supposed to be a witness to the world you'll find that in the book of Isaiah chapter 43 verses 10 through 12 and last but not least they were supposed to draw attention to God by keeping his Commandments you'll find that in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 5 through 8 when God says that there to be a peculiar people he really meant that they were to be weird they were to be different they were to be a little off just Christians are supposed to be that way today but as a peculiar people it would make others curious and as they studied what they believed because they were curious about them they would begin to discover God that was part of God's plan so with this great privilege came great responsibility and the promise that if they didn't keep God's commandment judgment would come upon them in fact last time I gave you three scriptures where God told the Israelites that if they didn't obey his commandments then he would bring judgment upon them and these are the three scriptures if you're taking notes write them down they're not coming on the screens Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 9 through 10 Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 19 and Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 15 now what Israel didn't understand is that God had to punish them you see from God's perspective it wouldn't be right it wouldn't be just if he didn't punish them because they knew his will and they refused to do it and when children refused to obey their parents they must be punished something is wrong when I watch a parent telling a child to do something the child doesn't do it and then the parent goes oh well and he goes over and does it it is your responsibility to punish them when they do not obey you so God didn't have a choice he had to punish them in fact notice how the NLT translates verse number 2 in Amos chapter 3 he says from among all the families on the earth I have been intimate with you alone in other words I have a special relationship with you I have revealed my word to you but in that word are Commandments and this is what he says that is why I must punish you for all your sins because you know my Commandments but you refuse to obey them so that's the thesis of the first sermon Israel is not only God's chosen people but they're also his children and as his children they must be punished for refusing to obey His commandments now let's pick up where we left off last week which is verse number nine and we're going to continue reading all the way to verse number 15 and that will finish chapter three and it will finish the first sermon so let's read starting in verse nine announces to the leaders of Philistia and to the great ones of Egypt take your seats now on the heels around Samaria and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel my people have forgotten how to do right says the Lord their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence therefore says the sovereign Lord an enemy is coming he will surround them and shatter their defenses then he will plunder all their fortresses this is what the Lord says a shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion's mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear so it will be for the Israelites in samaria lying on luxurious beds and for the people of damascus reclining on couches now listen to this and announce it throughout all israel says the lord the lord god of heavens armies on the very day i punish Israel for its sins I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel the horns of the altar will cut off and fall to the ground and I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy their winter mansions in their summer houses to all their palaces filled with ivory says the Lord now let me break this down for you and then we look at each verse individually and of course we'll go more in depth if you don't mind in verse 9 amos calls the leaders of felicity in egypt to Samaria to witness what the lord is going to do to the people of northern israel in verse 10 amos gives a summary of what israel is guilty of just as a judge does right before he sentences sentences a criminal those of you who are familiar with court procedure know that when a vertie verdict is being given the criminal stands to hear the verdict and after he's being convicted the judge will give a summary of what he's guilty of before he pronounces his sentence well verse number 10 is the summary of what Israel is guilty of verse 11 is the sentence the judgment this is what's going to happen to them because they've been convicted by God verse 12 uses imagery to illustrate just how destructive God's judgment is going to be verses 13 through 15 goes into greater detail of the destruction that's going to come upon them so now that you have an overview of the segment of scripture let's look at each verse individually beginning with verse number nine here's what verse 9 says announce this to the leaders of Philistia to the great ones of Egypt take your seats now on the hills around Samaria and witness very important word the chaos and oppression in Israel now the Mosaic law required at least two witnesses in cases where the death penalty was imposed turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 6 and I'll show you what I'm talking about notice what it says but never put a person to death on the testimony of only one witness there must always be two or three witnesses now this is Israel's first clue that God's judgment against them is the death penalty because the Prophet has called for two witnesses not just one two but it's also interesting who was called to be a witness félicité in Egypt these two were not only Israel's arch rivals but they were also known for their excessive violence and oppression something Israel had been accused of by God and the implication is Israel has surpassed these two nations in wickedness because their victims are their own people you see Philistia and Egypt were well known for their excessive violence and oppression but not upon their own people in fact they actually took care of those who were marginalized those that were poor of their own people but they thought nothing of warring against other nations and literally killing babies taking everyone selling them into slavery they oppressed everyone but not their own but what Israel is guilty of is oppressing and having violence against their own people which God says is so much worse it's one thing to be violent towards others and to be oppressive it's another to be that way toward your own people and that's what Israel had done which brings us to verse 10 now remember verse 10 is a summary of what Israel was guilty of remember in a court of law summary is given before the sentence is pronounced so this is a summary of what they're guilty because God is not going to sentence them until they understand exactly what they're guilty of so verse 10 is the summary look at verse 10 my people have forgotten how to do right says the Lord their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence now most of us would just kind of read over that very first statement in this verse and we would go to the second statement we would think that that was the summary but no you need to understand what he's saying in that first sentence he says they had forgotten how to do right now the word ride is translated from the Hebrew word neck acha which means just honest decent and proper in other words Israel society had over the years so thoroughly departed from the standards of the Mosaic law that they no longer knew what it meant to be just think about that in fact I know that's a long sentence so let me let me state that again Israel society had over the years so thoroughly departed from the standards of the Mosaic law that they no longer knew what it meant to be just that's why they were guilty of perpetrating violence and oppression against their own people they no longer kept the year of Jubilee so the port had no way of recovering their family land or having a chance to start over there was no clean state slate if your land was sold and in 98 percent of the economy in northern Israel and even in Judah came from agriculture from farming so if you lost your land you lost your means of making an income and they were no longer keeping the year of Jubilee so if you were poor you were plumb out of luck they no longer obeyed the Mosaic law concerning indentured servants after six years after you served that on the first day of the seventh year you were supposed to be set free according to the Mosaic law but they were no longer observing that if you had debt and you sold yourself into slavery you were not set free after six years not until your debt was paid off and it was almost impossible to be able to do that so you became a slave for life not only that if you were able to pay it off by some lucky break maybe a fan member found out about him came and paid your debt they still didn't stake you so you went out with nothing therefore you were really under the mercy of the people who owns you they no longer obeyed the Mosaic law concerning loans and collateral so the rich got richer and the poor got poor and that cost a trickle-down effect you see when the rich take advantage of the poor the poor have no way to get ahead so they begin doing anything they can to survive just look at our inner cities because that's what's happening today without opportunity the poor turn to crime so that's the problem with our inner cities today there's no hope you know the family has not instilled within them that if they work hard and they get an education that they can go on and they can actually leave what they've always known and that they can get out there like being Carson and they can be successful now the raising environment because we perpetrated that you know we we have literally made these people dependent upon us and therefore they think there's no hope and as a result of that they turned to crime that's why our inner cities are the way they are so Israel had sinned at the top of society and sinned at the bottom of society but it starts at the top by taking advantage of the poor not giving them an opportunity to prosper and get ahead let me tell you what's so great about judeo-christian values judeo-christian values tells us that everyone in God's eyes is equal we all come from Adam and Eve and if we want to get technical because everyone was wiped out at the time of Noah we all come from Noah so it doesn't matter what color your skin is we still are related because we can all trace our ancestry back to Noah and in God's eyes He loves us the same yes Israel was God's chosen people but he chose them for a reason and that reason is so that they could bring forth the Messiah and save the world through Israel all the nations of the earth were to be blanched and the great thing about judeo-christian values is that if you follow them you can prosper and succeed even if you're in a third-world country let me just tell you something interesting and most people don't know this after world war ii when all of Europe had been bombed and had so been destroyed the IMF was set up and America went in to help rebuild this and all this money poured in to help rebuild Europe and within five to ten years Europe was back up and running and they were prosperous again and so this great idea came well you know if we did the very same thing with these third-world countries then they would be up and they would be prosperous and they would be running and so guess what they did they loaned all this money to these third-world countries and nothing happened you had a few that took control of it they actually became dictators they controlled all the wealth but there was no prosperity it never trickled anywhere else but the reason it didn't is because the culture was different you see what what you're a pad that others didn't is that literally their societies were based upon judeo-christian values and as a result of that that prospers people but when you went in these third-world countries because of their culture it didn't prosper them okay that was a little freebie for you now how do I know that northern Israel was not keeping the year of Jubilee how do I know that everyone knows what the year of Jubilee is right it's very very important that you know this because if you're not keeping the year of Jubilee you're not keeping the other laws you're not keeping the laws of the indentured servants we know that again because in Chapter one in chapter two when I went through the seven sins they were guilty of we saw that but how do I know for sure that they weren't keeping the year of Jubilee well turn to Leviticus chapter 25 verses 8 and 10 and first let me explain what the year of Jubilee is so you'll understand what it is before I explain how I know that they weren't keeping it it says this in Leviticus chapter 25 verses 8 through 10 in addition you must count off 7 Sabbath years seven sets of seven years adding up to 49 years in all then on the day of atonement in the fiftieth year you get this the year of Jubilee happens every 50 years everyone with me blow the ram's horn loud and throughout the land set this year apart is holy a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who lived there it will be a jubilee year for you when each of you may return to the land that blown to your ancestors and return to your own clan now jump down to verses 23 through 28 we're still in the st. chapter chapter 25 says the land must never be sold on a permanent basis do you see that the land must never be sewed on a permanent basis for the land belongs to me who God you are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me with every great message on stewardship that I'll preach some day I have all these messages I want to preach something with every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back if one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land then a close relative should buy it back from him if there is no close relative to buy the land but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it the price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years into the next year of Jubilee in this way the original owner can then return to the land in other words they can't buy it they can only lease it because on the fiftieth year every year of Jubilee the land will go back to its original owner but if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land it were made with the new owner until the next year of Jubilee and the Jubilee year the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land so on the year of Jubilee all of the people all of the debt was forgiven so all of the people all of it if they had was forgiven in any land in your family that had been sowed returned to the family so in essence you never really sold your land all you really did was lease it it was leased into the year of Jubilee at which time all land was returned to the original owners this kept the land that was allotted to each tribe within that tribe and with the family that it was originally allotted to so no matter how poor your family became on the first day and the year of Jubilee all debts were cancelled and the land that was originally allotted to your family was returned to you so you along with everyone else in Israel had a chance to start over with a clean slate but Israel wasn't keeping the year of Jubilee they weren't doing this so the port had no way to start over they had no way to better themselves now how do I know that northern Israel was not keeping the year of Jubilee well I know that because Umrah who was a king in Israel bought land from a man by the name of Shama and he built a city on it look with me if you would at first Kings chapter 16 verses 23 and 24 it says our I began to rule over Israel now again when it says Israel this is during the divided Kingdom period which means that you had the ten northern tribes was were their own nation and the two southern tribes were their own nation the southern tribe or the southern nation was known as the kingdom of Judah the northern tribes were known as the kingdom of Israel so when it says I might begin to rule over Israel it's not referring to what we think of all Israel it's referring to northern Israel because this is during the divided Kingdom period so I'm going to begin to rule over Israel the 31st year of king aces reign and Judah he reigned twelve years in all six of them in ters a-- that was his capital or that was the capital city of northern israel at that time then i'm rye bought the hill now known as samaria from its owners Shamar for a hundred and fifty pounds of silver he built a city on it and called the city Samaria and honor of Shamar and of course Samaria became the capital city of northern Israel but here's what you need to understand no one would have ever built a city on land that they were leasing because they would have lost it in the land of Juba or on the year of Jubilee but Israel had stopped keeping the year of Jubilee by that time and that's why Alma rebuilt his city on the land he bought he didn't lease it he bought it because the northern kingdom was no longer keeping the year of Jubilee which meant they weren't keeping the other law that benefited the poor in the Mosaic law you see here's the thing about it if you had land if we still abided by that and you had land and you were in debt needed to sell it's your family land I would lease it from you but I would know anything I built on that land would be yours when the year of Jubilee came so if I built a house on it guess what when the year of Jubilee comes maybe it's in the thirty second year and so I only have eighteen years left I need to know that in eighteen years if I build a house on that your land is is given back to you and any improvements on the land is yours now this benefited the poor and I'll tell you why because if they sowed their land the people they sold it to work the land so it didn't gonna it didn't just fall apart and trees start growing up and it hasn't been plowed it hasn't been worked if you had a vineyard it doesn't mean that the vines were going everywhere and now it just was wild there no someone was working your land so when it came to the Year Jubilee and you went back not only did you get your family land back but it had been worked there was a well there with water someone had dug the irrigation ditches someone had been plowing it up someone had been weeding it it was ready for you to go right into it now here's what I'm telling you are I would have never built a city on land that he purchased if they observed the year do you believe all scholars will tell you that because the city if they were keeping the year of Jubilee would have reverted back to the people who owned the land the family of Shamar yeah so that also meant that if they weren't keeping the year of Jubilee they weren't keeping the other laws that benefited the poor in the Mosaic law and that's why violence and oppression ruled when the poor brought up the Mosaic law in court they were overruled when they tried to take the law into their own hands they were assaulted and eventually their society was no different than the pagan societies now knowing that look back at verse number 10 let's read it again it says my people have forgotten how to do right says the Lord their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence they had forgotten how to do right because they had forgotten the Mosaic law people when we don't study the Bible when we for the Word of God then we forget how to do right that's what the accusation was this is what you're guilty of this is a summary of what you're guilty of you have forgotten how to do right because you have forgotten the Mosaic law you're not doing it but then he goes further look at the second part of the verse their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence now I want you to underline the word fortresses fortresses is translated from the Hebrew word armed own which referred to a multi-storied structure that formed part of a city's defense system they served as storehouses for goods and valuables and most of the time they were part of the king's palace most people don't realize this they think that the Acropolis is is located in Athens Greece how many of you believe that the Acropolis is is located in Athens Greece well it is but how many of you knew that every ancient city had an Acropolis how many of you knew that so every ancient city that you visit you go to the rooms you'll always see that it's built on a hill it always has water some way to be able to get water to it because that was very necessary in case that's an enemy laid siege to you but in case someone broke into the city you had the Acropolis and the Acropolis was the palace and it had its own walls it's where the King lived and here's why where's the best view up high and who has the best view the rich and so the king is the richest he also has the most valuable things and so what he would have was a fortress and that was the Acropolis and he had this storehouse in case there was a siege and in case they broke through the city walls then he had his own little fortress up there and he had all of the supplies that he needed plus all of his valuables were kept and if you go to any ancient city and I think Rocky was very surprised to see this when we went to see the Seven Cities of Revelation because every city we went to he said well there's an Acropolis at every city I said every ancient had one so these fortresses served as storehouses for goods and valuables and most of the time they were part of the king's palace but when you had a wealthy class of people who could afford to build palaces it wasn't just the king who had fortresses the will thiol so built them in their mansions or palaces were also referred to referred to as fortresses because that's what they looked like it looked like a king's palace and they had this place where they were kind of protected the common people couldn't come in they had these walls it's nice and there was always a storehouse to keep their valuables because everyone knew that they had a vault or a locked storehouse but they were filled with wealth according to God taken by theft and violence it was taken by violating the Mosaic law so verse number 10 is a summary of what Israel was guilty of they had departed from the Mosaic law and now they had forgotten how to do right and as a result of that they were taking advantage of the poor and they were getting richer so they were building these storehouses but the way they received this wealth was by faith and violence and God says that's wrong now look at verse 11 and remember verse number 11 is the sentence the judgment it's what's going to happen to them now that they've been convicted verse 10 is the summary this is what you're guilty of verse 11 is the sentence this is what's going to happen to you because you've been convicted so look at verse 11 therefore says the sovereign Lord an enemy is coming he will surround them and shatter their defenses than he will plunder all their fortresses now we're not told who the enemy is because Assyria was not a world power at the time that Amos prophesied this but in a few short years they would be and since they weren't a world power at that time no one would have ever believed that Assyria could do what Amos was prophesying and remember the whole purpose of these three sermons is to convince the Israelites that what Amos was prophesying was truly going to happen so if he said if he said Assyria is coming they would've come now we know it's not going to happen if we were to say Mexico is coming we would all go well we know that's not going to happen see Assyria wasn't a world power then but a few short years later Wow man things turned around so Amos didn't name the enemy but notice what is Syria was going to do look back at verse 11 therefore says the sovereign Lord an enemy is coming he will surround them and shatter their defenses then he will plunder all of their fortresses not only would the enemy surround them and shatter their defenses but they would also plunder all their fortresses in other words everyone's wealth was going to be taken there would be no gold left no silver no valuable stones or valuable pieces of property or art or furniture all these things the wealthy have a cat accumulated as a result of theft and violence all these things that had taken place the things that gathered because they had refused to keep the Mosaic law all of that was going to be taken from them every bit of it stripped from them now look at verse 12 and remember verse 12 is using imagery to illustrate just how destructive God's judgment is going to be look at verse 12 this is what the Lord says the Shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion's mouth will recover only two legs or piece of an ear so it will be for the Israelites and Samaria lying on luxurious beds and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches now let me explain something about shepherding so that you can understand the imagery that Amos is using if a goat or lamb was killed by a wild animal such as a lion or a bear the Mosaic law required the Shepherd to recover whatever remained of the animal to prove the to the owner of the flock that he hadn't sowed it to another person and pocketed the money and then lied to the owner said well a lion stole it how would you know if you had a shepherd that you hired he's a hireling and he was supposed to take care of your flock and you had this flocking you know you're getting this detail detailed record from him but you're also about every week or two you're sending someone out there and you're verifying it and you go out there one day and you find out that you're missing five sheep how do you know if the shepherd is telling the truth when he says well the bear came and you know he he took five sheep and there's nothing I could do and he ate them up how do you know he's telling the truth how do you know that he didn't just sell five sheep to someone else because they're having a feast and he says don't tell anyone you can have these as a good deal he pockets the money and then he tells the owner how do you know that well look at X's chapter 22 verses 10 through 13 and I'll show you what the Mosaic law says to protect the owner and to protect the Shepherd here's what it says now suppose someone leaves a donkey ox sheep or any other animal with a neighbor for safekeeping but it dies or is injured or gets away and no one sees what happened the neighbor must then take an oath in the presence of the Lord if the Lord confirms the neighbor did not steal the property the owner must accept the verdict and no payment will be required now again this is not giving it to Shepherd this is just asking someone to watch over it all right you're going to be gone for a while but then it gets to Shepherdson verse verses 12 and 13 but if the animal was indeed stolen the guilty person must pay compensation to the owner if it was torn to pieces by a wild animal the remains of the carcass must be shown as evidence and no compensation will be required now look at verse number 13 again if it was torn to pieces by a wild animal such as a lion or a bear the remains of the carcass must be shown as evidence and no compensation will be required now if you couldn't produce part of an ear or part of the skin or the skull or any part of the carcass then you had to pay the owner what the animal was worth because there wasn't any proof that the animal had been taken and eaten by a wild animal this kept Shepherds honest and again as I said from selling the sheep and then just saying that they were eaten by a wild animal but here's what Amos is telling Israel by using this imagery he's telling them that only a few of them would survive and only enough to prove that they once existed in other words just as a shepherd tries to recover the bits and pieces of one of its flock that has been taken and eaten by a wild animal so we can show it to the owner to prove that he hadn't stolen it or sowed it the same would hold true for Israel only bits and pieces would be left after Assyria destroyed them to prove that they once existed people that's the imagery Amos is using you want to know how bad it's going to be only bits and pieces would remain to prove that they once existed we know that Judah once existed we not only have the New Testament we also have the writings of josephus we have so many other extra biblical writings that tell us the history Burke's confirm it we know Judah existed how do we know northern Israel existent archaeology has found bits and pieces to show us that they once existed because when they were carried into captivity in 722 guess what they didn't come back to form their nation again not like Judah did now remember as I told you that Assyria was conquered by Babylon later on so when Cyrus who was the Persian when he conquered Babylon he allowed them to go back everyone was allowed to go back but they had so intermingled that very few came back but northern Israel was never again created as a kingdom they became known as the region of Galilee and also Samaria and if you remember the Jews avoided that area so the only thing that we have today to prove that they existed is bits and pieces to prove that now look at verses 13 through 15 and remember verses 13 through 15 goes into greater detail of the destruction that's going to happen upon northern Israel says now listen to this and announce it through all throughout all Israel everyone needs to hear this says the Lord the Lord God of heavens armies on the very day I punish Israel for its sins I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground and I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy their winter mansions in their summer houses to all their palaces filled with ivory says the Lord now there are two things in this final passage of Scripture in this first sermon that I want to point out the first is in verse number fourteen notice that it says that the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground now let me explain something about the sacrificial altar the altar was the place for the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled or poured and on which the sacrifices were burned so that the atonement could be made and since it was a place of atonement a guilty person in fear of his life which sometimes run there and he would grasp the horns of the altar to seek asylum let me give you an example and there's many in the in the Old Testament let me just give you one look at first Kings chapter 1 verses 50 through 52 now I'll show you what I'm talking about Adonai ji was afraid of Solomon so he rushed to the sacred tent see this is before so I almost just become King David was not allowed to build a house for the Lord to put the Ark of the Covenant in so they still had the tent the tabernacle that the Ark of the Covenant was in and then of course if you remember you had three different sections you actually had the outer court you had the inner court and he had the Holy of Holies and so the altar was in the inner court so here's Adonai Jia he's afraid of Solomon because he realizes that he screwed up Solomon is now the king and uh-oh I'm in trouble Solomon's going to kill me so he rushed to the secretin and he grabbed on to the horns of the altar word soon reached Solomon that Adonai Jihad seized the horns of the altar in fear and that he was pleading let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me Solomon replied if he proves himself to be loyal not a hair on his head will be touched but if he makes trouble he would die you say no person would dare kill him as long as he was holding on to the horns of the altar wine because the horns of the altar symbolized the place of atonement when they offered these sacrifices and they would burn them on these altars they'd also take the blood and many times they would either smear them sprinkle them or pour them on the horns of the altar and so when you come in and you grab the horns of the altar what you're doing is you're coming to the place of atonement and you're seeking asylum you're saying please spare me don't kill me knowing that as long as you're holding on to that no one's gonna kill you why because they would desecrate this the holy altar it's only for the sacrifices that have been slain if you slay a human being that's holding on the horns the altar you've desecrated the altar so I denied you that's the only thing he can it runs to the tent and because it's the outer court the men were allowed to go in there he brushed by them got there as quickly as he couldn't he grabbed on to the horns of the altar and he said he pleaded don't let Solomon kill me and Solomon realizes we got a problem here because he can as long as he stays there I can't kill him so he says all right I'll give him mercy but this is what I'm gonna tell him you can live as long as you're loyal but if I see that you're not loyal Oh kill you Solomon people he wonder what you thought he was most you've never read your Bible now he was a very very wise man and he sought the guy he saw God early in his life but he moved away from God in fact the reason the kingdom was divided was because of his sin it was prophesied because of what he had done that it would be in anyway here's what I want you to say if you were in fear of your life you ran to the altar and you grasp the warns of it to seek asylum but Amos is telling Israel that the horns of the altar they're going to be cut off they're going to fall to the ground which means you don't understand this but they did there will be no asylum no forgiveness no safe haven just death or captivity you see when he said that we read it we go so the horns will be austere cut off and fall to the ground whoopee no you don't understand what he's saying when destruction comes Kings listen to me all of you who are in high seats of government positions and authority there will be no asylum Assyria will cut your heads off you can seek asylum you can seek for a safe haven but there will be no safe haven no mercy will be extended if you don't die you will be carried into captivity and that's exactly what happened the second thing I want to point out is in verse 15 notice that it says and I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy that their winter mansions their winter mansions in their summer houses in other words this just won't happen to the city of Samaria which was the capital city of north israel northern israel it will happen to all of northern israel using their winter homes and their summer homes were in different parts of the kingdom because you entered in the warmer regent regions and you summered in the cooler regions so if you are very wealthy you're like the wealthy today they don't just have one home they might have two or three homes you know if they want to go to the beach they've got the family compound in the Bahamas if they want to go skiing they go to the condo that they have in Steamboat Springs or Breckenridge or one of the Vail or Aspen probably Yeah right more expensive you can tell I go to the cheaper place but anyways they have these winter homes and they have these summer homes and you winter in the warmer regions and you summer in the cooler regions so what this is saying is that the destruction coming on northern Israel will happen in all regions of the kingdom there won't be a region escapes and that's exactly what happened you see sometimes we went a nation you would literally just take one or two cities the capital city and maybe one other and you left the others alone oh no oh no they destroyed every city and they took them all captive and the only ones they laughed were the poorest of the poor who had nothing so let me ask you reading this what's going to happen to America what's going to happen to us if we continue down this road that we're going on if our culture continues to do what it's doing well first of all what was said of Israel will be true of us God said to Israel they had forgotten how to do right which meant that they had departed from the standards of the Mosaic law so they no longer knew what it meant to be just now their definition of just was entirely different than God's definition of just their definition of righteous was totally different than God's definition of righteous their definition of what was fair was not God's definition of what was fair because they had departed from the Mosaic law and that will be true of us if it's not already America will have departed from the standards of the Bible so we'll no longer know what it means to be just and we might already be there what we call just is not what God calls just and what we call fair is not what God calls fair and what we call evil is not what God calls evil and what we call good is not what God calls good look with me if you would in the book of Isaiah chapter 5 I'm gonna look I'm gonna read verses 2021 it's not gonna come up on the scripture you're literally gonna have to read your own Bible and if yours is on your telephone it's okay to look on your telephone but if you're looking at Facebook you're gonna go to hell if you look at Facebook while you're in church it's a sin and it's not a venial venial sin it's a mortal sin and you go to hell so don't look at Facebook look at your Bible on your phone I'm just teasing there'll be someone gonna say well he said if you look at Facebook and he was serious when he said it good lord okay Isaiah chapter 5 I didn't bring my glasses but I think I can read it went off in memory says what sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good as evil that dark is light and like his light is dark that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter what sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever is that not America if you want to know why I chose the Book of Amos I chose the Book of Amos because as I was reading through it last year sadness this is America and what will happen to us well just as their wealth was taken away our wealth will be taken away our wealth will be plundered and our economy will fail and there will be no asylum or safe haven in fact only bits and pieces of the American dream will be left to prove that it once existed you see we don't need a prophet to come tell us what's going to happen we don't need that because first corinthians chapter 10 verse 11 tells us these things were written as an example for us in other words what happened to them will happen to us if we do the same things that they did and if we forget what is right if we depart from the Bible and if we call good evil and evil good then we will be plundered we might not have another nation come but let me tell you we'll get to the point where our wealth will be taken away and there'll be no safe haven there'll be no escape and they'll only be bits and pieces of the American Dream left so that it will prove that it once existed but it no longer is here

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 2,473

Rating: 4.7818184 out of 5

Keywords: americas departure from biblical standards, americas downfall, fall of america, book of amos bible study, amos, prophetic literature, minor prophets, book of amos, minor prophet amos, bible, prophecy, holy spirit, god, america christian, america is a christian nation quotes, old testament, old testament prophecy, old testament preaching, biblical history, America's Departure From Biblical Standards | Amos Part 19, book of amos chapter 3 israel, book of amos chapter 3 study

Id: Tcbmf2efBwQ

Length: 44min 17sec (2657 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 28 2018