Prepare to Meet Your God - Amos 3-4

2:06And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel, so that he called its name Alan Bakuth. God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Padden Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob. No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you. Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. So that's the story of a place called Bethel. Jacob first. Had this vision there, named the place Bethel, and then God tells him when he gets back to the land, go back there. That's where you are to set up my altar. That's where you're going to live. Clean out all the other gods. Come and worship the true God. And I'm promising you, I'm going to give this land to you forever. And that place, Bethel, is where he changed his name from Jacob to Israel. So that's the first place we needed to look. The next place we need to look is Joshua chapter 4. Another city named Gilgal. Gilgal.

3:37So we have Bethel with Jacob. If you're remembering your fuzzy dates, that's around the year 2000 BC. Now we're later after Moses, after the year 1500 B.C. They've just come into the land. God has done something amazing. God has parted the waters of the Jordan River. He's caused the waters that are flowing down to stand up on their end so that the people are able to march across the Jordan River. Verse 14 of Joshua chapter 4. On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life. So because of this amazing work, Joshua is now exalted in the sight of the people. Verse 15, and the Lord said to Joshua, command the priest bearing. The ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan. So Joshua commanded the priests, come up out of the Jordan. And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. So in another special place, Gilgal, this is a place where after they crossed the Jordan, they set up these twelve stones to remember how the Lord had delivered them and brought them through with an amazing work. This will also be the place where this generation is circumcised. We read in the next chapter. They're circumcised, and so their shame is rolled away. That's where the name Gilgal comes from, as the word for rolling. This is also the place where the manna is going to stop. Because it's the first place where they celebrate the Passover together and eat the fruit of the land. And so once they're in the land and not in the wilderness anymore, and they can eat the fruit of the land, then they don't need the manna from God. So the first time they eat from the fruit of the land, the manna stops falling down from the sky. This is also at least close, if not the place where Joshua meets the commander of the Lord's army. So these were two very special places: Bethel, where Jacob meets God, where his name is changed to Israel, and Gilgal, where the people remember how the Lord delivered them, set up the stones, were circumcised, and celebrated their first Passover in the land. One more place to turn before we begin. Turn over to 1 Kings chapter 12.

6:501 Kings chapter 12. The backstory of what's going on in this is, again, fast-forwarding another 500 years, around the year 900 BC. When the kingdom splits into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, the northern kingdom has an issue. If they're going to pretend like they are still worshiping God in the way that he wanted them to worship, their issue is that Jerusalem is in the southern kingdom. Because, yes, for Jacob, God had set the Place of worship as Bethel. And then they followed the tabernacle after the days of Moses and Joshua, wherever the tabernacle went. But David brought the Ark of the Covenant near, and Solomon was able to build this temple in Jerusalem, which then became permanently the place where the Jews worshiped the Lord. But if the kingdom is split and Jerusalem is not in the northern kingdom, then the northern kingdom has to do something.

8:021 Kings 12, verse 25. Then Jeroboam, the king in the northern kingdom, Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Reoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Reoboam, king of Judah. So he's frightened that when the people of the northern kingdom, as they had before, had every year been going up to Jerusalem to celebrate these feasts and do these sacrifices, he's thinking if they keep doing that and going to Jerusalem, it's going to be bad news for him because they're going to start to want to worship. Worship the king in Jerusalem, Reoboam, or worship or honor the king that's in Jerusalem. Verse 28. So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. This is his bright idea. And it seems to have worked. The king took counsel and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

9:34Just like the original golden calf incident. So he's saying, It's been too long that you've had to go all the way down to Jerusalem. Don't you worry. I'm going to set you up a place that's nearer, so you don't have to go as far. You can just worship the Lord here. Verse 29. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Bethel, we know. We just read about it. Dan was a city even further, pretty far north in the northern kingdom. Verse 30. Then this thing became a sin. For the people went as far as Dan to be before one. So the people totally fell for it. It became a sin for them because they would travel a long ways all the way to Dan just to worship in front of one of these golden calves. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the 15th day of the age of 18. Month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar he had made in Bethel on the 15th day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised evil in his own heart, and he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings. So it seems like rather than just totally abandoning their old religion and abandoning the God who truly brought them out of the land of Egypt, it seems like Jeroboam is content to just make a fake. They can still do the same things, they can still offer the same sacrifices, they can still worship in many of the same ways. They just don't have to go down to Jerusalem anymore. He's just trying to help them out. It's closer.

11:23But of course, it's twisted worship. It's not what God wanted. So now turn over to Amos chapter 3. It's going to be clear in our text today that though those original altars were at Dan and Bethel, it seems like some other famous altar had sprung up at Gilgal. And it kind of makes sense that if they're trying to find a substitute place, no, the northern kingdom's not going to go down and worship in Jerusalem like they should, but can they at least find a place that would kind of make God happy? Well, what about the place where God met Jacob? What about The place where God said to set up this altar, the 12 stones, at Gilgal. Aren't these very special places in the history of Israel? Wouldn't God be pleased if we just worshiped there a little bit instead of in Jerusalem where he was present? We're going to see that in our text today.

12:18Amos chapter 3. Pray with me before we begin. God, we pray that you would help us. We pray that as we come with a little bit of back knowledge and a little bit of understanding to this text, that it would help us to truly understand it. It would help us to understand your character and what you're saying to your people so long ago. Thank you, Father, for giving us your word. Help us pay attention and learn. In Jesus' name, amen. If you remember the setting of Amos, last week we spent maybe a little too long looking at the history, but he seems to be writing around the year 760 B.C. So this would have been about 150 years after the incident we just read about with Jeroboam.

13:10And an important marker to remember is that he's writing around 760 B.C. But the northern kingdom is going to be sacked and completely destroyed, taken into captivity by Assyria in 722 B.C. So that judgment is coming in just 40 years. In fact, in In just about 20 years, they're already going to be under the thumb of the Assyrians, and they'll keep rebelling against the Assyrians until the Assyrians finally just destroy and totally wipe out the northern kingdom. This is the setting that Amos is preaching to. He's preaching to this northern kingdom that in 40 years is about to be destroyed. But for right now, they're feeling like they're on top of the world. They have riches. There's a rich class that's oppressing the poor.

14:02They are ignoring the Lord. The Lord has been very clear to them. And Amos is yet another prophet that God sends to be very clear specifically to the northern kingdom. Last time we saw that God's message through Amos is to these different nations that are all around, these different nations that have oppressed or been violent or things like that. God is saying, Judgment is coming for you, Tyre. Judgment is coming for you, Edom. Judgment is coming for you, Moab, all the way around down to Judah, the southern kingdom. Judgment's coming for you. And then, surprisingly, at the end, he says to Israel, for three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke the punishment. So he moves right on to this northern kingdom and says, You are just as wicked, even though you're my people, and judgment is coming to you as well. That's where we ended last week. Look at Amos chapter 3, verse 1. Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

15:28You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. I think if we're not careful, we would have read that statement and filled in the blank something like this. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will overlook some of your iniquities. I'm not going to punish you like these other nations. I think that's what they were expecting. Instead, God says the opposite. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore, since I have known you, because I have known you, I will punish you for all your iniquities. The standard actually has become higher. God has brought them out of Egypt. He's done so much for them. He's brought them to this land and cared for them. He's given them his prophets to guide them and warn them.

16:30God has known them in a very special way, and therefore, when they sin, it's not like when the other nations sin. When they sin, God says, therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. God is being very clear with them. The next section, it seems like maybe they're not listening to this. Maybe they're thinking, oh, that Amos, he's just a crazy shepherd. He's not speaking the word of God. We're never going to be judged. God has always only blessed us. We're not going to be judged. But look at verse 3. Chapter 3, verse 3. Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?

17:20What's the answer to that question? No. Right? Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet? You have a cause and effect. You have an event and a reason that people are walking together because they got together to meet. Or they agreed to meet. Verse 4. Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth when there's no trap for it? Why would a bird? Bird just fall right into a snare. There has to be some kind of trap to catch them. Does a snare spring up from the ground when it has taken nothing? Does a snare just act of its own accord?

18:16Is a trumpet blown in a city and the people are not afraid? Again, the answer is no. The trumpet signaling warfare or an attack. Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? All of these are saying, are presenting this relationship of cause and effect. Stuff doesn't just happen. There's this cause and effect relationship. If a bird gets caught in a snare, it's because you know there was a trap that sprung. If a trap sprung, then you know it's because something was there to spring it. If people are walking together, then you can know that that meant they agreed to meet.

19:00If a trumpet blows in a city, people will be afraid. If a disaster comes to a city, you should know that the Lord has done it. That, as a side note, is important for us to remember, again, in this trial. When disaster comes, whether it's a health disaster or the resulting economic disaster, nothing has escaped God. sight. All of these things are cause and effect relationships. He's saying these things don't happen for no reason. What's his point? Verse 7. For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophets.

19:53The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy? God is saying through Amos, there's a reason Amos is saying these things, and it's because God speaks through his prophets. He always does. There's an effect that you're seeing, that Amos is telling you the truth, and he's calling out and he's prophesying. That's an effect. The reason is the Lord has spoken. Who can but prophesy? That's what must happen. Back in chapter 1, verse 2, he said, the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. The pastures of the shepherds mourn in the top of Carmel withers. That was this heading of this terrifying call of judgment to all these nations all around, and especially the northern kingdom.

20:57Now Amos is saying, the lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy? Amos is telling the truth, and the people are to listen. Look back at verse 7. Isn't this an astounding truth? For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophet. The Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophet. I find that amazing because, number one, we don't have any privilege or right to know those things, and the Jews didn't either. They were so blessed by God that anything significant in their history, he was willing to tell them beforehand. Whether this was way beforehand, back in Deuteronomy, where he told them all about the exile to begin with, or whether this was leading up to their later exile, where he told them again and again and again through the prophets, this is coming, this is coming, this is coming, and then it came. God is saying, for the Jews, I don't do these things without telling you first. I always speak through my prophets. What a privilege for the Jewish people that they had these prophets. But I also want to note that this is the character of God, that he uses his prophets and apostles to. Speak about the future. And this is, even for us, an extraordinary privilege. I think as we come to Scripture, one of our biggest habits sometimes is anytime we get to a passage about the future, our mind just goes numb and kind of assumes there's no way we could ever understand this. I know there's people that believe this about the future and this about the future and this about the future. There's no way I can come to the text and understand what God is saying about the future. But instead, I think God is saying, Look, to my servants, I speak. And these prophets write down what I've said. And this is a privilege. And I have revealed these things. It's part of my character. And so I think our attitude should be the opposite: that we come to God's Word and seek to learn as much as we can about the future.

23:20Let's keep going. Verse 9. So far we've seen that God said, You only have I known, therefore I'm going to punish you for all your sins. You're not being shown favoritism. Instead, you're being held to even a higher standard. This is the word of the prophet. You wouldn't see this effect without the cause of the Lord speaking. This is the truth. It's really going to happen. Verse 9. Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdon, that's a city of the Philistines, and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her and the oppressed in her midst.

24:00They do not know how to do right, declares the Lord. Those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds. God is saying to the foreign nations, come and look at my people. Look at how clueless they are. They don't know how to worship me. They don't know how to act. There's robbery. There's violence in their cities. He's telling the other nations that should be the ones that should be wicked, that should be able to come to the Jews and learn the truth about God. He's saying, no, come and look at how wicked they are. It's like in 1 Corinthians when Paul is getting on to the Corinthians about how there is sin in their midst in the church, that even those outside the church would look at it and be appalled at it. And yet the church is boasting about it. But you have the same idea. He's saying, four nations, come and look, verse 11. Therefore, thus says the Lord, an adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered. So because you're so wicked that even the nations can see it, there's going to be an adversary that comes and brings down all your defenses and plunders all your strongholds. Verse 12, thus says the Lord, as the shepherd rescues, listen to this, as the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of legs. Of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

25:41If you're not careful, it sounds like that's something positive. Oh, they're going to be rescued. But he's not saying something positive. He's saying, as a shepherd goes up to a lion and is trying to save a lamb, and all he can get from the mouth of the lion is two legs or a piece of an ear. So shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria, which at this time was probably the main city of Israel in the New Testament, whenever it talks about the Samaritans, it kind of expanded to describe the whole region. But he's saying about this stronghold, at least, that they're going to be so ransacked that it's going to be as if the lion has so totally devoured it that all the shepherd has left is a little bit of proof that there at least was a lamb to begin with, even though that lamb is gone. Verse 13, hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord God, the God of hosts, that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. I will strike the winter house along with summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end, declares the Lord. So God said, When I send this adversary against the northern kingdom, everything's going to be wiped out. The normal safe places, like in a time of warfare when the people would flee for refuge to the altar, and maybe people would have mercy because they're not going to kill somebody at their place of worship. God's saying, No, those altars, I'm going to destroy those. The horns of the altar that you would cling on to for safety, those are going to be gone. The altars are going to be gone. The rich people that we mentioned earlier, the rich people who maybe have a summer house and a winter house, an ivory house and a great house, maybe they're thinking, oh, it's fine if my house in Samaria gets destroyed. I'll just go and live in my house in Gilgal, or I'll go and live somewhere else. I'll go visit my winter house. Surely they won't destroy the whole place. And God is saying, No, I'm wiping out everything. This adversary is going to come. He's going to wipe out the whole land. There's not safety at the altars. There's not safety at any of your houses.

28:04You're being wiped out so that all that's left is a couch or part of a bed. Next, he's going to move on to the women of the land. These women, we hear a parallel passage in Isaiah chapter 4. Isaiah 3 and 4, you can write that down if you want to look it up later. But Isaiah 3 and 4, we hear of the women of Judah who were so arrogant, these rich. Women that went twinkling along and thought they were above everybody else, but were so sinful, and God proclaimed judgment upon them as well through the prophet Isaiah, who is about 20 years after the prophet Amos. But Amos is saying that same thing towards the women of Israel. Look at chapter 4, verse 1. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan. He calls them cows.

28:58Bashan was known for being this super fertile part of the land, and so the cows that would graze there were very fat and robust. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, Bring that we may drink. So you get the picture of these women, these rich women that are fine just trampling on the poor, crushing the needy, who are commanding their own husbands to bring that we may drink. You get this picture, right, of this arrogant rich woman. Verse 2, The Lord has sworn by His Holiness that behold, the days are coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fish hooks. And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead, and you shall be cast out into harmony, declares the Lord.

30:00This, again, is another reference, I believe, to Assyria. They were famous for dragging their captives along with hooks, even in their nose or other painful places, like their ears or something like that. But they would be dragged along out of their cities with these hooks, and then you shall be cast out into Harmon. We don't really know where Harmon is, but there's one option that's way, way north, kind of on the way to Assyria. So if they were being taken captive, then by the time they get to Harmon, maybe they're cast out. And that word's probably about casting out a dead body. So they're brought out of their cities. It's not pretty. It's violent. It's gruesome. Even these women are being so judged by the Lord that they're not even going to make it all the way to Assyria before they're cast out. Their dead bodies are cast out. Verse 4.

31:00Some sarcasm from the Lord. Come to Bethel and transgress. To Gilgal and multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices every morning. Your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened and proclaim free will offerings and publish them. For so you love to do, O people of Israel, declares the Lord God. This is something else that we see in the early chapters of Isaiah. Again, to the southern kingdom in chapters 1 and 2 of Isaiah. But this is to the northern kingdom 20 years earlier. God is saying, look, I see your sacrifices. I see your tithes that you love to do. I see that you love to proclaim them out loud and publish them so that all can see that you're pretending you're worshiping God.

31:55But it's all fake. God's saying. Feel free. Go and go keep doing your sacrifices every morning. They're not buying you anything. They're not doing anything. Come to Bethel, one of these false altars that we read about, and transgress. To Gilgal and multiply transgression. They thought that they were trying to appease God. Maybe even these rich people that were giving the best of their flock, but maybe they stole that from the poor or something like that. You know, these people that are pretending they're so righteous and religious. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings. Publish them. For so you love to do, O people of Israel. They're pretending like they're following the Old Testament law. They're pretending like they're doing all these sacrifices, not even the required ones, but the free will ones, going above and beyond. But they're not doing it at Jerusalem. They're not doing it where they... should.

33:03Not to mention that, they also are having this life that doesn't back it up. They're living a completely wicked life and just thinking that if we make up our own way of how to worship God, he'll be appeased with us. Verse 6. I gave you cleanness of teeth. in all your cities. It sounds like a good thing, right? It could be a slogan for a dentist. I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, but it's actually a bad thing. He's saying, I made it so you didn't have any food. I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. What's he talking about there? You can write down Deuteronomy 28 if it's been a while since you were in Deuteronomy. Such an important chapter and one that gets mentioned all through the scriptures. It's the blessings and the curses for the people of Israel, that if they obey the law, they get these blessings. If they don't, God's going to send them these stair-stepped curses, one after another, after another. And he's saying, return to me, return to me, return to me, all the way to when they don't. After all of these warning signs that the Lord has given them, he's going to let them go into exile, which he does. God's saying, I gave you all of these warning signs. Verse 7, I also withheld the rain from you when there is yet three months to the harvest. I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One field would have rain and the field on which it did not rain would wither. So two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water and would not be satisfied. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. That was another one of the warning signs. Verse 9, another one, I struck you with blight and mildew, your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees. The locust devoured. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I destroyed your plants with disease. I destroyed your plants with locusts. Both of those were two different warning signs. They should have been picking up on this. They should have been trusting that if they were obedient to the Lord, he would have blessed them. They had forgotten to trust that. I sent among you a pestilence, verse 10. After the manner of Egypt, I killed your young men with the sword and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. Verse 11, I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. All of these things, God's saying, I sent you a warning sign, just like I said I would in my word. I sent you warning sign after warning sign after warning sign. And every time you did not return, you did not return. You did not return.

36:00And so it's too late. Israel, the northern kingdom, is now on a trajectory. They have proven themselves so wicked that they are past the point of no return. They are now on this trajectory to be completely annihilated in 40 years. Verse 12: Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel, because I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. God is going to visit them with judgment. He doesn't say in this verse, he says, thus I will do to you. And then in this verse, he doesn't say what it is, but it's the judgment that he's been talking about this whole time.

36:54This judgment where they're going to be so devoured that it's going to be like when a lion only leaves an ear or a couple legs. This judgment where even the women are carried away by hooks out of the city. This judgment that's coming. God is doing that to them. It is time for them to prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Prepare to meet your God. For behold, he who forms the The mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the height of the earth.

37:41The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. Let me read that again. Just picture the majesty of this God. This is the God there to prepare to meet. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God of armies, is his name. This powerful God, the one who is bringing an army, bringing an adversary to completely annihilate the northern kingdom. Yahweh is his name. He is the God of armies. And he's coming, and God is saying, prepare yourselves to meet me.

38:28I've given you my word through Moses. I've given you my word through the prophets. I haven't kept any of this secret from you. And yet, you still refuse over and over and over to return to me. Your doom is coming. Prepare to meet your God. That word prepare could be like military preparation. He might be saying, you know, get ready for battle. An army coming. He's about to attack you. But it usually just means prepare. You know, get ready. This is a judgment event that's happening on you, and you're about to meet God face to face. I think he's striking, he's trying to strike fear and terror into them. They have no idea how bad this judgment is going to be, but soon they are going to see God face to face in judgment. And he's saying, I hope you're ready.

39:35Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. If you're listening to this in your homes, even maybe someone invited you over to their home, or maybe your parents are making you watch this and you've never trusted in the Lord, I would call you to do the same thing. You know that you've sinned, you know how wicked you are. You know that if it was time for you to meet the Lord face to face, that it wouldn't be a good thing right now.

40:11And so I encourage you to prepare to meet your Lord. The day is going to come sooner than you realize that you will meet Him in judgment. And just like God knew all of their sins and even knew their hearts, so even when they pretended to be religious, he knew what was going on. God knows the same thing for you. And so I encourage you You to repent and prepare to meet your God. Our God has made a way.

40:42Our God has made a way because Jesus Christ, like we read about this morning, came to earth. He had a mission to die on the cross and he went all the way through that mission. He did die on the cross so that we can find forgiveness of sins. He offered to pay that penalty for us, and then he rose again from the dead. That payment can be paid for you forever. So if you're not ready to meet your God, then prepare to meet your God and come to Christ and ask for forgiveness.

41:25The forgiveness that he gives is so thorough and so complete, forgiving you of every sin and removing it as far from you as the east is from the west, that instead of being in terror when you stand to meet your God, you will be able to stand with confidence before the God of the universe, with confidence and joy, because of the righteousness that he's given you. So I encourage you to prepare to meet your God, believers. As you hear these words, I just encourage you to remember, to be in. Of this God.

42:03Remember his greatness and his glory. But also, as we looked at earlier, remember to pay attention to his word. If only they had been reading Deuteronomy 28 and believed it. God told them all that stuff beforehand. He said, Look, if you see this and this and this and this, it's because I'm telling you you're not obeying me. If you don't see these blessings, it's because you're not obeying me. If they were just paying attention to God's word, they would have seen those things and returned to him.

42:46At least they should have. And now, again, this shepherd, Amos, is coming to talk to them. He has a message from God, and it seems like they don't even believe this. But God is saying, Look, Amos isn't speaking for no reason. The lion has roared. The Lord has spoken. And the prophet is going to prophesy. It's time to pay attention to his word because the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophet. God has been so gracious that throughout human history, he's given us what he's about to do before he does it over and over and over. We've seen it already all over the book of Amos.

43:32And so we should come to the word and cherish it, study it and understand. Pray with me. Father, help us not have this stubborn attitude that refuses to come to you and bow the knee before you. Help us look forward to the day when we meet you. Help us look forward to that day with joy because of the forgiveness that we've received. Remind us to tremble at your judgment as we think about the world and sin, world that can be forgiven if they come to you.

44:32Help us to pay attention to your word. Even the parts that seem far away, even the parts that were written long ago, all of it was written long ago for us. But I pray that even as we come to your word and Amos, that we would pay attention. Help us read your word with a mind that seeks to understand. To really wrestle with it and grapple and not just skim over things we don't get. Help us have a heart that approaches your word as this amazing privilege that you have revealed through your prophets and your apostles the things that are going to come and even revealed your character through these words and through Jesus Christ, the word of God, the word made flesh.

45:40Help us pay attention and understand. Help us fear and grow. In Jesus' name, amen.