The Plumb Line Among Us, (Amos 7:1-8:3)

are you here this morning to begin with you don't know what this is Brad knows what it is he's a carpenter okay this is a plumb bob all right and I have this plumb bob it's a pretty nice one here because there was a time in my life when I was what you call a or what was called a field engineer and that means that I went and I did all the layout on big construction projects put all the points in check them all after people began to work I was the one that determined where things went and whether they were straight and true or not that was my job for a couple of years when I lived in well Arizona and Texas okay so this this tool right here was one of my main tools and on my tool belt I didn't have anything else I had this and I even had a holster for my plumb bob that's how important it was to me but this plumb bob has something to say to us over the nasa next several weeks as I preach from Amos and Amos himself talks about a plumb line and you can look on our banners that Marian Melissa worked on this week and a see that that's going to be our theme for awhile and the first thing I want to do this morning is show you how to use a plumb line so Tate come up here if you would and I need another helper here bill why don't you come on up here alright and you probably knew I had to stick up here for something but here you go you know fine once you stand right over there buddy okay now bill you you hold this kind of stand to the side of it and keep it obviously out of plumb all right I'll take you stand right there now Tate stand back a little further don't stop no fall to step there but stand on back okay stand on back as far as you can there all right now I'm close one eye closed one eye now you move and tell the plumb bob down at the bottom is in line with the bottom of that stick you move gonna have to move that way close one eye look to your lined up okay all right now you tell bill as you're looking with one eye up and down this line when that stick is plumb go ahead and move it bill slowly to let him tell you when to stop looking through the line make sure it matches the line you got it telling when it's fun okay there you go that's how you tell so you see this is plumb guaranteed because this weight works one of the great cosmic forces that God created gravity all right it's plumb so you know it is it's the standard this is the standard all right so what you do is you make other things meet the standard so you know this is plumb you know it's true to plumb when it meets this true standard that's guaranteed all right so that's what we're talking about you guys can sit down now now that you all know how this works and what Amos does in his vision he tells the Israelites he says there's a plumb line in your midst you are being compared to a plumb line there is a standard so true so true that it cannot be questioned all's we have to do is drop this in your midst look through it at you okay and see if you are true to the unquestionable undeniable standard and that's what we're going to be looking at over these next few weeks and we're just going to be looking at that through the Book of Amos he does the same thing to Israel and we're going to be asking ourselves as individuals are we true to the standard as a church are we true to this standard as Americans even are we true to this standard if that's precisely what Amos is doing let's pray together before we look into the word together let's pray we're God as we are about to look into this Old Testament story this thing that really happened we can learn from that Lord what the standard is we can learn from that what you think about two things and peoples and countries when they fail to measure up to the standard we can learn from this Lord what you love and what you hate and what I pray that you give us all that we need to recognize where we do not conform to the standard and to change so that we come into alignment with the true standard in Christ's name we pray amen now I am going to be saying some things that are inconvenient to hear and to say that another way sometimes it's convenient to not know some certain things okay because then you don't have to think about them then you don't have to measure yourself against them sometimes it's just easier to not know to be apathetic if you will and just don't think about it but I am going to be mentioning some of these things the same as Amos has done for Israel okay now I'm going to tell you first about the situation before I begin to read Israel we're talking about when we mention Israel we're talking about here in this particular case the ten northern tribes there were three kings in the beginning of the monarchy of Israel Saul David and Solomon and under Solomon's reign Israel came to it's great its height when all the twelve tribes were united under one King Solomon it was the wealthiest most influent influential country on the face of the planet at that time well Solomon died and his son Rehoboam became King in his place and there was a rebellion when that happened because Solomon he brought this country up to this place of prominence through a pretty heavy hand forced labor heavy taxation things like this and the tender northern tribe said look riobamba you let up you don't push so hard and we'll follow you but rio bom said no no my pinky my pinky is thicker than my dad's thigh i'm gonna press it down all the harder that's what he said so they rebelled and they chose their own king and his name was Jeroboam and then you had two countries the southern country of Judah with the tribe of Judah and a tribe of Benjamin and the northern country of Israel then that had the other ten tribes and this was a situation then when we look at our story today and Jeroboam when they when they started this new independent country then even though the Israelites were supposed to worship at Jerusalem he made idols and he set a golden calf up at Bethel and he set another one up at Dan to prevent his people from going to Jerusalem in Judah to worship because he thought if they go down there they're gonna have some kind of Allegiance then toward the southern kingdom and they're gonna turn against me so I set up idols for them to worship in fact in later years though some of the people did defect to Judea but today we find this Israel only slightly less than a couple of hundred years old this new independent and sovereign nation of the north we find them in a terrible situation they might not have thought themselves to be in a terrible situation because they were at the height of their prosperity they were at the farthest extent of their boundary extensions they thought they were doing pretty good they thought they were doing pretty good until Amos came and told them otherwise so this is where we find Israel today at the beginning of this story when Amos comes to preach so here I'm going to begin to read chapter 7 of Amos and begin at verse 10 and this speaks of a priest at this temple and Bethel where one of these golden calves resides then a messiah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam now this particular Jeroboam is not the same Jeroboam who began as king of this nation this is another Jeroboam almost 200 years later as the nation is older sent to Jeroboam king of Israel saying Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel the land is not able to hear all of his words for thus Amos has said Jeroboam shalt die by the sword and Israel must go into exile away from his land and as a messiah said to Amos Oh seer go flee away to the land of Judah and eat bread there and prophesy there but never again prophesy in Bethel for it is the king sanctuary and it is a temple of the kingdom then Amos answered and said to him a messiah I was no prophet nor prophets son but I was a herdsmen and a dresser of Sycamore figs but the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me go prophesy to my people Israel now therefore hear the word of the Lord you say do not prophesy against Israel and do not preach against the house of Isaac therefore thus says the Lord your wife shall be a prostitute in the city your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword and your land shall be divided up with the measuring line you yourself shall die in the unclean land and Israel shall surely go into exile away from this land so you have a messiah here who is priest in this temple of Israel where they worship this Idol this is a messiah Amos Amos is from the southern kingdom of Judea and God tells him go up here and preach to Israel in the north Amos he says Amos says of himself I'm not a prophet I didn't go to school to be a prophet I wasn't of the from the schools of prophecies my dad wasn't a prophet you know what I was I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore figs so he spent his days probably out with the Sheep taking care of the sheep he spent his days out picking figs to sell to people who ate figs in their diets he was just a regular old Joe okay and God says Amos you're the one you go up and you tell him you tell him what I tell you that's what Amos is assignment is and Amaziah the priest there he says shut up pack up and go back to Judea we don't want to hear these things that's your preaching that's what a messiah is telling Amos the preacher now again Amos doesn't have anything to say that's convenient to hear does he everything he's saying is very inconvenient to know everything that he's showing them is very inconvenient and unpleasant to see about yourself that's the kinds of things the Amos is talking about but a messiah says you get out of here we don't want to hear it our country is going just fine we're wealthy we're in a prosperous era just leave us alone we don't want to hear it now Amos he heard these things this regular guy and I want you to sympathize with him sympathize with this herdsman sycamore tree figured a sycamore fig tree tender think about what position he's put in to go up here and prophesy against the key in another land in that King's Own land think about what that would be like think about what it would be like to go up among a people that are not your own people and to prophesy these very terrible things against them why would he do it back in chapter 3 verse 8 hear this the lion has roared who will not fear the Lord God has spoken who can but prophesy you see what he likens it to what would really compel him if God said just tell him a little bit of that oh well that's that no that's not what happened he's like is it to this the Lord is roaring in my ear that's what he says he's roaring who can but help say it if the gut Lord God Almighty is roaring in your ear you're gonna have to go because you're not going to lay down at peace at night and not say what he's told you to say it would be too nerve-wracking they hear the roaring continue on and on in your ear so you obey the Lord God Almighty in spite of the fact that you aren't qualified in spite of the fact that you're a nobody inspire the fact that you're not recognized as a prophet you go and you say because you know you go and you say because you know that what the Lord is telling you is true so this is a mice's situation that he has to deal with let's look then at what Amos prophesized let's look at his visions beginning at the first verse of chapter 7 this is what the Lord God showed me behold he was forming locust when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout and behold it was the latter growth after the Kings mowings when they had finished the grass of the land I said Oh Lord God please forgive how can Jacob stand he is so small the Lord relented concerning this it shall not be said the Lord so you see he has this vision these locusts are going to come and they're going to decimate all of the plant life they're going to decimate everything they depend on to eat now it says the second mowing that's what it says the first mowing went to the king so he would get his share the king and the wealthy who surrounded him the very wealthy around him they would get their share but Amos is very precise here to say this is the second mowing people this is the average guys food it's going to be gone decimated and these people it's not going to be a quick death it's going to be starvation and misery and when the Amos sees this when he gets this vision he says oh no he has an emotional response I can't bear to see it Lord don't do it and he says how can Jacob stand now listen Jacob was Israel's other name okay Abraham Isaac Jacob and the Lord changed Jacobs name to Israel so this is this is just a play on words here when he says Jacob he's talking about Israel the nation how can he stand he's so small so small in this cosmic array so small in the presence of the Lord God Almighty and His Majesty he's so small how can he stand it has this emotional response and he intercedes he pleads for Israel Lord I see what you're doing lord please don't do that to them please don't so that's his reaction and the Lord relents in verse four we have another vision this is what the Lord God showed me behold the Lord God was calling for a judgement by fire and devoured the great deep and was eating up the land and I said O Lord God please how can Jacob stand he is so small the Lord relented concerning this this also shall not be said to Lord God so once again all's Amos can see here is the outcome of judgment he sees it and it just tears his heart to pieces he says Oh Lord don't do this to him very emotional response so he pleads and intercedes for the nation and Lord God relents now this next vision is different because the Lord doesn't go straight to judgment he doesn't go straight to oh I think I'm gonna send locusts he doesn't go to straight to oh I'm going to just burn it up with fire instead he shows Amos he shows him why why would the Lord do this to Israel this is what he showed me behold the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line but they plumb line in his hand and the Lord said to me Amos what do you see look around through this Pomeroy plumb line what do you see and I said a plumb line then the Lord said behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel I will never again pass them by the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be way laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword he doesn't intercede this time instead of just seeing the judgment he sees the reason for the judgment so the Lord drops the plumb line in the midst of his people Israel and he turns around and he looks at Israel through that standard and he doesn't plead for them this time and there stands why it must be he understands the sin of Israel he understands the nation's condition he understands the leadership of the nation's condition he understands the religious hypocrisy he understands the injustice and the oppression that this nation is producing so then he prophesies in Chapter eight this is the next vision this is what the Lord God showed me behold a basket of summer fruit and he said Amos what do you see and I said a basket of summer fruit then the Lord said to me the end has come upon in my people Israel I will never again pass them by the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day declares the Lord God so many dead bodies they are thrown everywhere silence a summer basket for basket of summer fruit that just means it's right to happen it is right the conditions in Israel have become so bad in the midst of their prosperity in the extent of their boundaries have become so bad that they are ripe for judgment it will happen now they didn't want to you remember to know about these things and over the next coming weeks I'm telling you I'm going to say some uncomfortable things and we're going to look through the plumb line when that happens when that happens will you be like Israel and say that's too inconvenient to know we'll just ignore it when that happens will you be like Amaziah who you say shut up preacher we don't want to hear it go back home will you be like Amazon or will you be like Amos when you look through the plumb line when you look through it yourself and hear the roaring of the Lord in your ear will you understand and speak up well you understand and speak up the Lord said here we find that they didn't want to hear they tell any must be quiet they say go back home we don't want to hear it there was another prophet that was close to the same time prophesying to Israel his name was Hosea and this is what the Lord says in his prophecies people without understanding shall come to ruin it shall come to ruin so hear it hear it in these coming weeks and seek to understand it so that we the people of God that Clemens can measure up to the plumb line let's pray the only father we

Channel: Stacy Abernathy

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Length: 23min 42sec (1422 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 23 2011