September 22, 2007

Amos 1-5
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1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2. And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
3. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
4. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
5. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
7. But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:
8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.
9. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:
10. But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
11. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:
12. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
13. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
14. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
15. And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

1. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
2. But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:
3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.
4. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
5. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;
7. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.
12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
16. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

1. Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
4. Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
7. Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.
10. For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
11. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
12. Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14. That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.
15. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.

1. Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
2. The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.
4. Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
7. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
9. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
11. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3. For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4. For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5. But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

Thought for the day:
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There are a couple different verses that I would like to call your attention to today. The first is a familiar one found in Amos 3:3 which asks the question,

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

This verse has often been applied to principles of Biblical separation, particularly separation from organizations that have un-Scriptural doctrines or practices, and I believe that it is an appropriate application. In order for a fundamentalist to walk hand-in hand with a new-evangelical or a modernist they must agree that they are going the same direction. The fact is that the fundamentalist is not going the same direction as the other two. His goal is supposed to be Biblical truth, while the others are less concerned about that and more concerned about acceptability. If two people are not agreed as to what direction they are going to walk, someone has to compromise in order for the time of fellowship to take place.

Unfortunately, in spiritual areas, it is almost always the fundamentalist who does the compromising. He gets intimidated by the new-evangelical's accusation that he is "unloving" or a "legalist". He sees the great growth of the new-evangelical's church, and decides that he could have a bigger church himself if he would just surrender some of his Bible-based convictions and standards. He sees greater acceptability for himself in the world or in academia if he would just start fellowshipping and co-laboring with those who do not hold to the Word of God as it is written. So he gives in. Don't believe some church leader who tells you that he is still a fundamentalist even though he spends his time with and recommends the ministries of the new-evangelicals. He has chosen to compromise his doctrine and practice in order to walk with someone who is going another direction. That is the only way that it can be done.

A second familiar phrase is found in Amos 4:12. There the prophet writes

"prepare to meet thy God".

In spite of the Jews attempts to get Jehovah out of their lives, Amos reminds them that they need to prepare to meet Him, because it is going to happen. Men may try to hide, but it will do them no good. Amos puts its inevitability this way:

"As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him" (5:19).

Are you prepared to meet God? Are you saved? Are you in a right relationship with Him? Have you faithfully accomplished the tasks that He gave you to do? Someday you will stand before Him, and it might be sooner than you think.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery