Are You Afraid of God’s Judgement Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Are You Afraid of God’s Judgement Part 2. He will be reading out of Amos 1:3-10.

God is the one who rules and reigns in this world, and we are called to obey Him, and we are called to be surrendered to Him, and we are called to live our lives for His cause and for His purpose, and our life needs to be all about the glory of God.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and it’s time for Hopeworth Having Radio broadcast. Thank you for joining us. We’re continuing our study, Are You Afraid of God’s Judgment? We’re in Amos chapter 1, verse 3 through 10.

The message is intense, but it is a message that calls us to reflect and examine our life in light of the coming judgment of God, not only upon a nation, but upon all those who refuse to believe in Christ, and that God will use it in a great way.

Let’s get into the book of Amos and study together. 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 6. He says, for three transgressions of Gaza and for what? I just want to make sure you’re awake. Verse 9, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyre 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 8 o ‘clock on Sunday morning and to learn English To learn about the different Ways that God expresses his message to us an idiom is simply a group of words That have a meaning that are not obvious by the word 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 You 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 8 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 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, oh no, He is the sovereign Jehovah God. He is the God who is in charge. And the one thing that we have 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’t be.

It can be scary, but listen, you just read that last chapter, and I want to tell you something. We’re on the winning side, and Jesus is the victor, and we are with him, and he’s going to 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 going to 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 going to 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, on fire 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 turn away its punishment. We jump over to verse nine 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 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 him?

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 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 sins, 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. You don’t believe me? Go to Romans chapter one, verse 14.

Romans chapter one, go ahead. If anything describes our nation, it’s Romans chapter one. I want you to go there real quickly. Go ahead and turn your Bibles there. People say, what’s going on, Mike? Let me tell you something.

God is judging a mirror. Verse 18, For since creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were dark and professing to be wise. They became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and the birds and the four -footed animals and creeping things therefore, and here’s what I want you to highlight.

Therefore God also gave them what church? Gave them up to unclean. You see that? Look at verse 26. For this reason God gave them what church? Yeah, yeah. Verse 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind.

What I’m trying to say to you is that as the book of Genesis says, God’s spirit will not always strive with man. And that there comes a point where God has had enough. And he says, I’m going to bring judgment.

Now, the final truth that I want you to learn this morning is that God’s judgment is purposeful. God has a reason that he brings judgment upon a nation. God has a reason that he brings judgment upon people.

God has a reason that he judges individuals. Let’s learn what those reasons are. If you’re taking notes or you can follow along in the app. Number one is always to display his glory. To display his glory, Revelation 14 .7, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and.

worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. You and I may not think in these ways, but even in the judgment of God, His name can be glorified. Even when God rains down judgment, He is sending a message that He is the boss.

He is the one in charge. And it doesn’t matter what others may think. And it doesn’t matter what others are doing. It doesn’t matter what people think they’re accomplishing. God is the one who rules and reigns in this world.

And He not only reigns in this world, but He reigns in our hearts. And He is the boss of our life. And we are called to obey Him. And we are called to be surrendered to Him. And we are called to live our lives for His cause and for His purpose.

And our life needs to be all about the glory of God. Not the glory of a nation, not the glory. of a person, but the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, one day during the second coming when God is raining down judgment upon this world in the tribulation period, God will be glorified and we are to praise Him because He is judging sin.

The second reason God’s judgment is purposeful is to vindicate the righteous. In Revelation chapter 6 and verse 10, the Bible tells us that they cried with a loud voice. Who are these people? They are the people who have come to God in the tribulation.

They have given their life for God. They are the martyrs during the tribulation. Remember, believers are raptured out, but what happens during the tribulation? Yes, people will come to Christ. Why? Because there will be 144 ,000 evangelists crisscrossing the world, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ like never before.

All the efforts that we have been making in bringing the gospel to every nation and every ethnicity and every people group will finally be fulfilled. It will be a part of the signs of the times of the coming of Jesus Christ that He talked about in Matthew chapter 24.

But He will preach the gospel. People will come to Christ. They’re refusal to take the mark of the beast. They’re refusal to worship the antichrist will lead to their martyrdom. And the Bible tells us that they will be before the throne of God, Revelation chapter 6, and they will say, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

God is going to vindicate the righteous. And through judgment. He does that for those who choose to live for God. Why does God bring judgment? Not only to display His glory and to vindicate the righteous, but to defend the weak.

The Psalmist said in Psalm 140 verse 12, I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. God is a God who defends the afflicted and the weak and the poor. Over and over we are called to help the poor.

We are called to help the weak. We are called to help the least among us. We are called to step out and to step up in big ways to help these individuals that God has a special anointing on and a special cause for and that we are not to look down on people, but we are to recognize that every person is a creation of God and every person is created in the image of God Almighty and we’re to love them, we’re to care for them, but I’m telling you that we live in a world that takes advantage of the weak and the poor and oppress us, anyone that they can hurt.

Sometimes they couch it in ways that are deceptive and evil, but rest assured that when God judges, he is judging to defend the weak. Why does God judge, number whatever three, four we’re on, to bring salvation to people?

You may not think that the judgment of God would bring salvation to people, but I’m gonna tell you all that’s been going on. Everything that’s been happening in this world has led me to have more spiritual conversation like never before.

And they have opened new doors to witness for Christ and to help people understand that we are living in the last of the last days. And if anything is important, you better make sure that your life is right with Jesus Christ and you better be ready to meet your maker because we cannot boast of what tomorrow may bring because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

We cannot think that somehow we’re gonna live forever. We are vulnerable people and we must recognize that God will one day give an account of our life and we will stand before God and we must be ready to meet him.

And is that simple truth that is opening doors for people to surrender their life to Jesus Christ? Why does God judge to punish sin? To punish sin? the sin that we see in this world, sometimes we wonder why the heathen rage.

We may question, are people getting away with this? Why isn’t something being done? Man’s ability to bring justice into this world is limited. And know this, that whatever man cannot achieve in bringing justice, there is a God in heaven who is all powerful, all mighty, and he will right every wrong in this world.

It’s not that he’ll do it when we want it, but he’ll do it in the right time, in the right way that will bring the most glory to him. He will punish sin. People may think they’re getting away with sin.

People may think they can live however they want, but there will be a reckoning. The final thing I want you to understand about why does God judge? It is to turn people to him. It is to turn people to him.

Now look, even as believers, we can get off track. We can go down the wrong road and God will allow and he will bring judgment into our life so that we will be totally committed to him. You might be just a little like Pastor Mike, you might be hard -headed.

Are there any hard -headed people left in this world? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. But, the thing is this, that God knows how to get our attention, doesn’t it? And he is speaking.

And maybe God is speaking into your life through all the events, nationally, world, platform, or even personally. And here’s what God says. I want your heart to be fully surrendered to me. The only answer, church, is Jesus.

He’s our only hope. And so I hope today that as you look at all these judgments that you’re not out there in the stands cheering on the judgments of God for those nations, not realizing that as soon as he gets done with those nations, he’s coming to his people.

And so these are warnings. Let’s be ready. Let’s make sure that our hearts are fully surrendered to God. And if you’re here and don’t know Christ, Jesus took the judgment of God for your sins on the cross.

the wrath of God for you so that you could have eternal life. And when you repent and believe in Him, then you can be covered under the protection of the blood of Jesus Christ. And the judgment of God will not fall on you because your life is in the safety of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God’s judgment is a heavy topic, but we want you to know that the Bible teaches us that our God is holy. He is just and He is righteous. And so I hope today that as you’re studying the word of God, that He is balancing your heart in knowing who He really is.

And that as you see the great righteousness of our God and the great justice of our God, that this will compel you to worship Him and to adore Him and to give praise and that you can rest in His sovereignty.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.