Are You Afraid of God’s Judgement Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Are You Afraid of God’s Judgement Part 1. He will be reading out of Amos 1:3-10.

that no matter what is unfolding, no matter what is happening in this world and in our own personal lives, that there is a sovereign God. And God is sovereign over all the nations, and He is at work in our history.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and we are broadcasting from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and this is Hope Worth Having Radio Program. We are grateful that you have joined us and tuned in today, and today we’re going to continue our study in the Book of Amos, chapter 1.

We’re down to verse 3 through 10, and I’ve entitled the message, Are You Afraid of God’s Judgment? What we need to do is understand as believers that we can even be confident and secure when God is judging a nation.

We see this in the Book of Amos, so let’s get in there and study together. I want you to take your Bible this morning and join me in the Book of Amos, and you know last week we began a study in the Book of Amos, and we covered the first two verses, but I’m going to make up for it today.

And we are going to try to get through as many verses as we can through chapter 1, definitely. And what I want you to understand is we come to the Book of Amos, that really the Book of Amos is a book about God’s judgment.

And so for the next two weeks in these chapter 1 and chapter 2, we are going to be looking at the judgment of God, and we are going to be looking as to how that defines not only who God is, but who we are.

In a poetic style, Amos opens his prophecies with judgments against all the neighboring nations around Israel. But Amos’ purpose is not so much about God’s judgment, to let those nations know exactly what is the judgment that is to come upon them, but rather it is to bring the nation of Israel under the understanding that God’s judgment is upon them as well.

Remember that Amos was a farmer, he was a man of the land, and he was a very everyday person who was just simply doing his work, and God plucked him out of that circumstance, called him to be a prophet.

We understand that his prophetic ministry was probably about two to two and a half years, and yet as he is giving these prophecies, he is laying out the judgments to come upon these lands, these nations that are around Israel, but they do not hear them.

His audience is not these other nations. But his audience is the nation of Israel. It is the people of God. You remember that the nation of Israel has been divided into two kingdoms. There was so much division in Israel that it became the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.

There was so much hostility that it became Israel and Judah. We talked a lot about that last week, but God is wanting to send a message to his people. And while he is laying the groundwork, he is drawing the people of God into the truth that God is righteous in his judgment.

And the point is that as Israel is receiving these judgments, that they are very much like us, that we are certainly happy and we are certainly glad to see the judgment of God out there. But we are not interested in the judgment of God being upon us.

Sometimes the Bible reminds us that judgment has to begin in the house of the Lord. We like to criticize, we like to find fault, we like to condemn all the people out there in that world that are doing things that are unbiblical and dishonoring to God.

But have we ever looked at our own hearts? That’s what Amos wants. He’s kind of drawing them in, if you will, as they are shouting Amen to Amos. As he is saying, this nation here is going to be judged by God, and this nation here is going to be judged by God.

You can hear the Jewish people yelling Amen, so be it, let it happen. And then all of a sudden Amos in chapter 2 will say, and let’s talk about God’s people. Let’s talk about the division and let’s talk about how we are doing as God has called us.

Remember that the book of James tells us that there is a stricter judgment. There’s a stricter judgment for those who teach the Bible. There’s a stricter judgment for those who lead in the church. There is a stricter judgment for those who have a greater responsibility.

So it is for God’s people. The scriptures teach us in Luke chapter 12 verse 48, for unto whomsoever much is given, of him much will be required. Simply this, it’s not just talking about finances, but it’s talking about us as God’s people.

We have been given his precious word. We have been given his truth. We have been enlightened. We have been. awakened to new life in Jesus Christ. And so much has been given to us. The Bible says we’ve been given every spiritual blessing.

God is not holding back on us. God is not saying to us, hey, listen, I’m just going to give you a portion of the blessings. No, He has poured out every spiritual blessing, whether we access those blessings, whether we use those blessings in our life, that certainly is in our response and obedience to God.

But the point is that it’s all available to us. And yet, have we honored God? Have we kept Him first in our life, for the nation of Israel that has not been true? In the times in which Amos is prophesying, Israel has experienced great prosperity economically, militarily, politically.

It’s had some divisions, but even the northern and southern kingdom have done well. They have defeated their enemies. And God is wanting to send a message through His prophet that Israel’s future greatness is not secured through her military might and wealth.

But it is only secured through God’s justice and judgment. That’s the message. And that is that we have to come to this passage, realizing that all nations are accountable to God, but all people are accountable to God.

And yes, as we say, yep, look at those nations, they should have never done those things, and we’ll highlight those things this morning in the scriptures. Remember, there is a more profound message. There is a deeper message to each of us, individually and collectively, as the body of Christ.

that God is demanding accountability of our life. So let’s learn a little bit more about this prophecy that has been given to us in Amos chapter 1. There are several nations, six to be specific, that are being addressed here.

First is Syria in verse 3 of chapter 1. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshold Gilead with implements of iron, but I will send a fire into the house of Haseil which shall devour the palaces of Benadat.

I will also break the gate bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Avon. And the one who holds the scepter from Beth Ededin, the people of Syria shall go captive to Curr, says the Lord.

Then he brings judgment upon Philistia, verse 6, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they take captive the whole captivity to deliver them to Edom, but I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, which shall devour its palaces.

I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashtad, and the one who holds the scepter from Ashgallon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord. Then we jump down to verse 9, and we see again another judgment upon another nation.

This particularly is the nation of Tyre. Verse 9, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyre and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood, but I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces.

We come down to verse 11, now we have the nation of Edom, for three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever, but I shall send a fire upon Tymon, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

We continue to verse 13, and here he He is dealing with the nation of Amon for the three transgressions of the people of Amon and for four I will turn away its punishment because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead that they might enlarge their territory.

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabah and it shall devour its palaces amid shouting in the day of battle and its tempt in the day of the whirlwind. Their king shall go into captivity. He and his princes together says the Lord.

Chapter 2 verse 1 here is the nation of Moab thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not turn away its punishment because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.

But I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the palaces of Karioth. Moab shall die with tumult. with shouting and trumpet sound, and I will cut off the judge from its midst and slay all its princes from within him, says the Lord.

Now right there are a list of all the nations that are enemies of Israel, and they have caused Israel a lot of pain and a lot of struggles. And Amos is exposing the evil of this present world. He is reminding them that God’s judgment is to come upon them.

It is certainly a message to all of us that through God’s judgments, He is always speaking. All the events, all the circumstances, all the situations that we see unfolding in our life are only a manifestation of God speaking into our world and into our life.

One thing can be certainly true is that as we look upon history, knowing that God is the Lord of history as we learned last week, that He judges the world by identifying and condemning its sin. One author put it like this in relation to what Amos is communicating, that God is measuring human wickedness and there will be a reckoning.

Amos is preaching against the injustices and the oppression that existed in his day. And he uses a phrase here that we see repeated over and over. Remember, if you’re going to have good Bible study, you’ve got to ask good questions, but also you have to look for repetition.

When you see words repeated, when you see phrases repeated, that is a message. God is trying to get something across to us. But I want you to note again as we go back to verse 3, for three transgressions of Damascus and for four.

We go again to verse six. He says, for three transgressions of Gaza and for what? I just want to make sure you’re awake. Verse nine, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyree and for what, church?

Okay. You’re with me. Verse 11, for three transgressions and of Edom and for four. So over and over, he is using this phrase. Now this is often referred to in the Scriptures as an idiom. The Bible has idioms in it and you may have been sleeping during English class when you were taught about idioms.

And so that’s why it’s so wonderful to be up at eight o ‘clock on Sunday morning and to learn English. To learn about the different ways that God expresses his message to us. So the Bible as an idiom is simply a group of words that have a meaning.

that are not obvious by the words. For example, you may have gotten up this morning and said, my goodness, it’s raining cats and dogs. Now, is it raining cats and dogs? If you’re a literalist, you’d say, I don’t see any cats and dogs falling out of the sky.

But that would be an idiom that the words don’t give the obvious meaning, but we understand culturally that’s an expression that means it’s raining really hard. How about this one? That’s the straw that broke the…

That’s another idiom. And in the Bible, the Bible uses idioms. And that’s exactly what Amos is saying when he says for three transgressions and for four. Here’s what he’s saying is that God has had it.

That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. That these nations have been living in wickedness. They have been living out of God’s will. And now God is tapped out, if you will. And he is bringing down his judgment upon them.

So we could go through a lot of the cruelty and the acts of inhumanity that are in the scriptures, but we read a lot of them and I would encourage you. It would take us hours, hours, trust me, for us to understand all the cruelty and disobedience that was evident.

But I want us to learn three things this morning about God’s judgment. I want to bring this message home to you in a way that helps you to understand who God is. and how it applies to your life when it comes to his judgment.

So if you’re taking notes, I want you to first learn that God’s judgment is sovereign. We jump down to verse eight. And as God has been telling Amos what to communicate to these nations, he interjects in verse eight an interesting expression of who God is.

Amos says that the remnant of the Philistine shall perish says the Lord God. Now he had been just saying the Lord. We’ve been noticing that if he would begin and he would end it, he would just be saying the Lord.

But here, when he uses the phrase the Lord God, he is referring to God as being a sovereign God. When we think about the word sovereignty, we have to think in terms of this, that God is in control and God is in charge.

And that is so true about today, that no matter what is unfolding, no matter what is happening in this world and in our own personal lives, that there is a sovereign God. And God is sovereign over all the nations.

He is sovereign over the nation of the United States of America, and He is at work in our history. We do not have to tremble. We do not have to be full of anxiety. We don’t have to operate in fear and thinking, oh my goodness, what’s going to happen to this nation?

Because we have a sovereign God who is in control and He is in charge. And He is not only allowing, but He is bringing about what His great purposes are, so that His name will be glorified. Ultimately, behind everything that is happening, that is taking place, God is orchestrating the course of history, even when there are injustices in this world.

Even when it seems like evil is prevailing, even when it seems like things are just going awry, how is it? Where is God? I assure you this morning that even as Amos was prophesying to the many nations that had really gotten off track and their cruelty and their inhumanity and their injustices was way more than the nation of the United States.

That Amos was interjecting over and over again. That God is sovereign. He is that or not. He is the sovereign Jehovah God. He is the God who is in charge and the one thing that we have to remember to remember is that God has a plan and God has a purpose.

And here’s the wonderful news, you and I, we know that plan, we know that purpose. If we’ll just stay in our Bible, if we’ll just keep reading the word of God, if we will just keep going to, and I know sometimes you can get scared of the book of Revelation.

And it can be scary, but listen, you just read that last chapter and I wanna tell you something, we’re on the winning side and Jesus is the victor and we are with him and he’s gonna bring it together the way that it should be and we can just continue to worship him and give him glory forever and ever.

Now, the only thing that’s gonna last in this world is the kingdom of God. And I’ve said to you before church and I say it again, I love America, thank God for the freedoms, but America’s not gonna last forever.

I don’t know what generation. I don’t know what time. I’m not a person who can say, hey, this is the end of this or this is the end of that. All I can say is this. The only thing that is forever is the kingdom of God.

And what’s most important is for us to focus our hearts on the kingdom of Jesus Christ and do everything that we can to win as many people to Christ as we can so that we can help them to grow in their faith to stay focused on the Lord Jesus Christ to not be discouraged, to not be defeated.

What the devil wants, he wants to show these shiny things over here. He wants you to be distracted. He wants you to be defeated. He wants you to get up every day discouraged. He wants you to walk around like you’ve been baptized in lemon juice.

He just wants you to be negative and critical and hateful and rude. He doesn’t want you to be an effective, joyful, unfire, full of grace. Christian, he doesn’t want you out there making a difference for Christ.

He doesn’t want you choosing joy. He doesn’t want you trying to win people to Christ. The devil wants you to stay at home and be discouraged and be defeated. But we have to choose joy. And we choose joy not because we got it all figured out.

Or not because everything’s going great, but because our God is sovereign. And he is in control and our life is in his hands and we’re okay with that. We have the tremendous confidence that he is a God who is at work.

The second thing I want you to learn this morning is that God’s judgments are not only that he is sovereign, but they are irrevocable. They are irrevocable. Go back to verse three again. Of Amos chapter one and he says, in the middle there he says, I will not be a God.

turn away its punishment. We jump over to verse 9 and again he says, I will not turn away its punishment. We go to verse 13, I will not turn away its punishment. When you do the study that I’ve been doing all week of the depths of the cruelty of these nations and the scriptures use terminology that were applicable to the day in which the people were living and we may not fully grasp every phrase and every thought but simply say this, there was a lot of oppression and there was a lot of evil in the day and when you read that phrase you might think, well why is God being so hard on us?

When the Bible tells us that I’m not going to turn away, God says I’m not going to turn away. by punishment. That’s it. As I told you earlier, God is in a sense saying, I’ve had it. Understand that all this time God has been very patient for not just a few years, but hundreds of years.

He has been patient with these people. He has been patient and He has been sending His prophets to them and He has been sending His messengers to them that they might turn to God, that they would worship God, that they would leave their idols and that they would give up their cruelty and they would give up their injustice and their oppressions, but that they would fully surrender to God, but yet time and time again, they chased the prophets out.

In many cases, they even killed the prophets and they would not listen to the message of God. The judgment of God is irrevocable. Go to chapter 2 and look at verse 1. Go to chapter 2. Look at verse 1 and note what He says.

Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab and for four, I will not turn away its punishment because He has burned the bones of the king of Edom, but I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the palaces of Karyaph.

Moab shall die with tumult with shoutings and trumpet sound and I will cut off the judge from its myths and slay all its princes with Him, says the Lord. Why would God do this? Why would He be so harsh not just to those who performed this hideous act of digging up a king that they resented and that they hated, that they dug up His bones after He had been dead for many years, they dug up His bones and they burned Him.

just to show their revenge and their anger and their hate. Kind of how cruel they were. God says, I’m going to wipe them all out. I’m going to wipe them all out. You remember in the Old Testament, many times, God would tell David, wipe out all the people.

Wipe them all out. Why? It’s not that God hasn’t been patient. It’s not that God hasn’t been merciful. It’s not that God hasn’t been loving. It’s not that God hasn’t reached out to them. It’s not that God did not give them the opportunity or opportunities.

It’s that time and time again, they have rejected God. And time and time again, they have pushed God out of their life. And time and time again, they have refused to hear the word of God. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10.

Verse 26 through 27. Because what I want you to understand this morning is that yes, we look at these other nations, but there is a message for us. It is a warning to each of our hearts that you can come to the point in your own life, even as a believer that you will cross the line and God’s judgment upon you will be irrevocable.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26 through 27 says, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries.

God means business. We see this again in Amos chapter one, verse four. Go again there and I want you to see a phrase over and over again, but I will send a fire. Go to verse seven, I will send a fire.

Go to verse 10, I will send a fire. Go to verse 12, I will send a fire. Go to verse 14. I will kindle a fire. Go to chapter two and verse two. I will send a fire. Go down to all the way to verse five.

I will send a fire upon who? Judah. God’s judgment is not just for those who do not believe in Christ, but God will judge believers who will not follow him and live obediently to him, who refuse to deny self and take up the cross and follow him.

We have to remember. that if we continue to resist the kindness of our Lord and the grace of our God, He will come to a threshold and say, that is it. Jesus took your judgment on the cross, and therefore you do not have to be afraid, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But if you do not know Christ, you definitely should be afraid of the judgment of God, and you need to let that fear drive you to your knees to cry out to God for eternal life that you might receive Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Now I want to remind you that if you would like to hear this message in its entirety, don’t be afraid to go to our YouTube channel, and I know it will encourage you and strengthen you in your faith. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.