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Bob Davis: Amos cries out humbly to God. Amos doesn't say, I thought you were a God of love. I thought you were If you're a God, why are you He cries out and he just asks for mercy. Notice I don't think it's smart to slap God twice and then ask him for a favor. God, I don't really appreciate what you're doing. I don't know what you're all about, but I'll tell you what. Would you please do this? It's wrong attitude. It just God is not dumb. That's not how we deal with an almighty righteous God.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his word in our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Our study of the book of Amos continues in chapter 6 as God warns Israel that their current comfort will not protect them from the coming destruction. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: In chapter 6 verse 1, woe. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came. Woe, he starts out chapter 6. We've seen him say it before. It's all about the judgment that is coming upon the people of God. God loves his children and because he loves his children, God will tell us that a father will chastise the son that he loves. And so woe to them that are at ease in Zion. They had grown at ease.

They're complacent there at Mount Zion. Now Mount Zion obviously is the the area that that's Jerusalem, the capital of the South. And of course, they felt safe and secure in Mount Samaria, not just Zion, the holy city, Jerusalem, but in Mount Samaria. So again, a reminder to us, and this has been over and over. This is not new to you as we've been studying through Amos, a reminder that the kingdom of the South is included as well as the kingdom of the North. The North, the capital would be Mount Samaria. You know, the capital would be Samaria.

The South would be Mount Zion, Jerusalem, that area. That's the capital. Now when when we leave one another, it's very common for us There's an expression that people say, take it easy. Okay, I see it. Take it easy. But God says that alas for you who are taking it easy. That's just what Israel was doing. The message to Israel right now isn't, you know, I love you, God bless you, take it easy. The The message is, woe to you that are taking it easy. You're too comfortable, so safe, so fat. That's what God's telling them.

Woe to them that are taking it easy in Zion, that trust in the mountain of Samaria. Their name chief of the nations, these are capitals to to whom the house of Israel came. You see, everybody comes to the capitals, you know, to to check out what's happening. That's where it's all going on. So he goes on and he says, And see. And from there, from thence, go ye to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better than these kingdoms? Or their border greater than your border? God just lists some cities here.

What he's doing is he's listing cities, and we've seen him do it before. Cities who were proud of the fact that they couldn't be conquered. All these cities now that that he says, go check them out. They're conquered. And then God asks the questions here in verse 2 as well. Are you bigger than they were? Do Do you think you're stronger than they were? Are you better prepared to defend yourselves than they were? You know the answer to the question. We know the answer, and the answer is of course not. But that's not what Israel thought.

When When When God asks him, do you think you stand a chance, they would go, Yeah, yeah, pretty good chance. Yeah. They're not getting it, in other words. Verse 3 says, you that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near, that lie upon beds of ivory Doesn't sound soft to me, but anyway. And stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall. They chant to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of music like David.

They drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. He says, all of you that think the trouble that's coming is far off in the King James language, you that put far off or far away the evil day. And he says, you got to think about this, guys. You that think the evil day is far off, you that think judgment is way out there somewhere, you know, it might hit my great-grandchildren. I'm not even going to have to deal with it. It's out there. We're We're sitting pretty.

We're relaxed. We're kicked back. It's out there. Yeah, troubles come. Oh, I can see that in America. Yeah, but it's out there. Far, I probably won't never have to deal with it myself. God says you think it's not going to touch your generation. You think it's far away. They were, he says, guilty of wasteful lifestyles. While the poor suffered, the rich consumed. They pampered themselves and they were really into the stuff. And they weren't content. I guess this is so great. They weren't content to drink wine out of a cup. Notice they're drinking it out of bowls, he says here.

You know, a cup or a goblet's not enough. You can big old bowl. And of course, they had their orgies and their parties, and their parties were filled with loud music. Now David is mentioned here. David was an outstanding musician, meaning he he was skilled. He played well. He knew more than 4 and 1/2 chords on his guitar. And you see, they got their parties blaring. They were trying to be like David. It's a big thing you got to know about David. David was a man after God's own heart. He was their shepherd king, a little bit different than what they were all about and the kind of music they were all into.

Their sole concern, no pun intended, was to relax. Look at verse 7. Therefore Okay, you knew that was coming. God just doesn't point this stuff out to say, God's got reasons. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive. The banquet of them that stretch themselves shall be removed. The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord, the God of hosts, I abhor excellency of Jacob, the and I hate his palaces. Therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. And it shall come to pass if there remain 10 men in one house, they shall die.

And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him to bring out the bones out of the house and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, is there any yet with thee? And he shall say no. Then shall he say, hold thy tongue, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord. God says, because of your lifestyles you've turned from me, because the poor are in such desperate need and you are living lives based on your own comfort and your own sexual pleasures and your own whatever, God says, here's what I'm going to do.

You will go into captivity if you're not killed. And God swears by himself. In other words, I promise you I will do this. And there's nothing higher God could swear upon than himself. The palaces that God says he hates are full of corruption. The storehouses are full of plunder. Where did the plunder come from? It came from the helpless and from the poor. They were taking whatever the poor had. The poor had nothing. They still took it. The destruction will be so great that those who will be will remain will be afraid to mention God's name.

God says destruction is going to be so much that if you happen to live, you know, your house may the enemy came by and burned it to the ground and you ran outside and you were hiding in a ditch, let's say, and some of your relatives came by to go through and see like I guess they burned down my my nephew or my my friends and and they and they hear something moving, they come over to there to where you are and they say, you're alive? Yeah. And then they say, whatever you do, don't mention the Lord.

You know why? Because the Lord missed us. We don't want him to come back through. You get it? That's why they're not mentioning the Lord's name. They're scared if they say, what the Lord, we need to call him. No, we call him now. He'll say, oh, I missed too. You see what they're thinking? They don't even understand. Scared to death. God says you'll be so afraid, but you will know that it was me that did it. Well, verse 11 says, for behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great house with breaches, the little house with clefts.

Shall horses run upon the rock with one with with one plow there with Or I'm sorry, with one plow with there with oxen? For you have turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock. People's homes will be destroyed. Probably lately most of you haven't had a home destroyed. The land will also be completely devastated. He He brings up horses running on the rocks. Horses I'm not a horseman, but this I do know. Horses can't run on rocks very well. They slip too easily. Mules are are much better, but horses slip too easily.

In other words, what's what's the point of that? Well, basically put, I think you're in deep trouble because uh there's no way to escape. There's just no way to get around all this. There There's no way out. And we're told the same thing, when the wrath of God comes upon the world in the book of Revelation, you know, Jesus says it himself, there is no place to escape to. There's no It's the whole earth is involved. There's no place to get to. That's the idea that's being said here. Now look at verse 13. You which rejoice in the thing of nothing, which say, have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

Behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, the God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath to the river of the wilderness. Israel's basically boasting. We're too strong. We're You know, it's not going to happen to us. We're too strong. We're too strong militarily for our enemies to even try to attack. They're not that crazy. See, Israel thinks they're invincible. God says not so. I'll bring an army against you and you will be beaten into the dust, as a matter of fact.

You'll be crushed and destroyed. Hamath was way up North in Syria, outside the borders North of the borders of Israel. God says it will start up North and we'll have the armies work their way on through all the way across down. Through the entire extent of the land the enemy will come down from the North and destroy. And that's exactly what the Assyrians did. In other words, if you look at history, this will be In chapter 7 verse 1 says, thus hath the Lord God showed unto me. Behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth.

And lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. You think what? Well, Amos now is going to tell us about a vision that God gave him. Matter of fact, a few visions. The first one he says, God gave me a vision. He says, I saw God preparing a swarms or swarms of locusts. He calls them grasshoppers here. They're locusts. And they happen to come at the nation's most vulnerable time of the year. In other words, you you've you've probably said it yourself. Oh my goodness, this couldn't have happened at a worst time. Haven't you ever felt that?

Your car breaks when you have no money left. It could If it would have been 2 weeks ago or next week, but it It couldn't happen at a worst time. And that's what Amos says, the vision God gave me is the swarms of locusts, and it couldn't have come at a worst time. A swarm of locusts were the most dreaded things in the Middle East in that day. Think about it. How could you stop a swarm of locusts? There was no There was no bug spray. You dreaded that because locusts came through and they destroyed all of it.

If locusts came through, you were not going to have crop that year. That was just that there's no way to stop them. So God likens the coming enemies to locusts. You can't defeat them. There are just too many. By the way, the king always took of the first crops. That's why God said to Israel, you don't want a king. You don't want a king. Yeah, we do. No, you don't. He will take your young men as as servants and your young women as as as concubines and whatever. He will gather together horses. He will take the first of crops.

He will tax you. You don't want a king. Yes, we do. Okay, have a king. The king took the first of the crops, and the locusts were coming right after the king's share, meaning the king might have something, but the entire nation then went without. So verse 2, it came to pass that when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said As he watched this vision and watched the locust destroying the land, uh Amos says, I said, O Lord God, forgive. I beg you. By whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small.

He He prayed, I beg you, don't let this happen. Verse 3 says, the Lord repented from this. It shall not be, saith the Lord. Hm. Prayer. Prayer. What's going on here? Amos cries out humbly to God. Amos doesn't say, I thought you were a God of love. I thought you were If you're a God, why are you He cries out and he just asks for mercy. Notice I don't think it's smart to slap God twice and then ask him for a favor. God, I don't really appreciate what you're doing. I don't know what you're all about, but I'll tell you what.

Would you please do this? It's wrong attitude. It just God is not dumb. That 's not how we deal with an almighty righteous God. Amos cries out to God, O Lord, forgive. I beg you. In other words, he just He doesn't say, we don't deserve this. We do deserve it, but Lord, I'm asking for mercy. Please forgive. Uh He says, O Lord I'm going to paraphrase it. O Lord, forgive. I beg you, for we have been cut down to size. We are so weakened. We're too small to stand if you let this happen. So don't let this happen, Lord.

And then the literal language, in case you're worried that God's repenting here, you know, because people will take that word and say the King James God contradicts himself in his word because the Bible says God is not a man that he should repent. And here the Bible says the Lord repented. Well, the original language doesn't say that. The original language says the Lord relented. The literal language says, and the Lord relented. And God says, I will not weaken you in this way. Now when Amos told you that When Amos said, I saw a vision and there were locusts coming and and they just destroyed the land and God said they're coming and I prayed, Lord, forgive.

We We've already been cut down to size. We could We confess, forgive, have mercy. And God says, all right, I will. Now wouldn't you think that all the people would go, oh man, we missed that by missed us by that much. Be a great time to repent. Be a great time to turn to turn back for all of us and say, you know what, that was just a little too close for comfort. I don't need this. It would sure be easy, Lord, if you just forgive me and get me back to where I belong. Verse 4 says, thus hath the Lord God showed me.

Here's another vision. Behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire and it devoured the great deep and did eat up a part. Then said I, O Lord God, cease. I beg thee, by whom shall Jacob rise? For he is small. The Lord relented from this. This also shall not be, saith the Lord God. Here's another vision. God shows Amos a judgment by fire. It looks like it's actually, because of the language, a severe drought, so dry that it would burst into flames. We've seen that in out here in the West quite often. It gets so dry, any little thing uh could spark a fire that would burn millions of acres.

We've seen it. We're It's very common. Well, that's what he was seeing. So hot and dry fires would break out and spread in all directions and just burn the land. And Amos begs the Lord to stop again. Please, Lord, I beg you. Have mercy. Don't do that. And God hears the cry of the righteous and he relents once again. So notice God's loving kindness and his mercy and his patience. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is patient, longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

This would be a great time not to play with it, not to play with it, but to really, honestly, turn back to the Lord. Well, more more more more more verse 7. Thus he showed me. Here's another third vision now. And behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what do you see? King James, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a plumb line. Then said the Lord, behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.

I will not again pass by them anymore. What's a plumb line? It's a weight attached to a string or a line. And builders would use it to make sure that their walls were going up straight. Hold it at the top and the weight would go down toward the ground and you Once it stops swinging around, you'd see whether that wall was going up correctly or not. The line was not only used in constructing the walls, but after the wall was finished, the plumb line is used to see how much the wall had settled and if it tilted or shifted at all while it was settling.

Didn't God say he made Israel straight? Now he's going to hold the plumb line up and see how they've gone. Have they settled too far? And I can promise you that the people aren't going to measure up. They're going to be crooked. They've settled too much. The nation had been built true to plumb, but now they don't measure up anymore. And God says, here's the language, I will not again pass by them anymore. What did you just say? This is your third vision, Amos. The last two you asked and I held back. I will not do that anymore.

Don't bother to ask. The high places of Isaac shall be desolate. Sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Then Amaziah priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. Did Did Amos say that? No, he did not.

Also Amaziah sent to Amos, O thou seer, go. Flee thee away into the land of Judah and there he bred and prophesied there. But prophesy not against again anymore at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel and it is the king's court. Amaziah Who is he? You You may remember the name. You may recognize. Amaziah is the priest at where? Bethel. What does Bethel mean? House of the Lord. But what's there? What's he the priest of? He's the priest of the golden calf. He's not a worshiper of the true God. He's a false teacher. He's a false priest.

He's a false everything. But his congregation is huge. By that I mean the whole nation from the South looks to this guy, somebody to be reckoned with, wouldn't you say? And he sends a note to the king and he outright lies about the prophet Amos. His words were, and I, God, will raise rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword, which simply meant warfare would come and it did come to Jeroboam. By the way, when you teach God word, I don't care who you are, doesn't matter, you will be misquoted. People will not like what you've got to say.

They'll twist it to make it fit. The reason they didn't like it so they can walk away or judge you or not like you. It's going to happen. It happened to Amos. It happened to Isaiah. It happened to Jeremiah. It happened to Ezekiel. It happened to John the Baptist. It happened to Jesus. It happened to John the apostle and Peter and James and It just happens. When you're going to teach the Bible, you're going to be misquoted. Then Amos answered, said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son. I was a herdman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel. Now therefore he says, I 'm not finished with you though, Amaziah. I got a little prophecy for you now. I would worry. Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord. Thou sayest, do not prophesy against Israel and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore since you told me not to do this and God told me to, here's what God says, thus saith the Lord, your wife shall be a prostitute in the city.

Oopsie. And your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword. And thy land shall be divided by line and you shall die in a polluted land. And Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of of his land. And sure enough, when the Assyrians came through, as you remember from your history, what did they do? They put most of the men to death. And what were the women used for? Prostitutes out in the streets till they were killed. So Amaziah's wife by the way did end up a prostitute out in the streets. They put to death his sons and daughters.

Those that weren't killed were taken into captivity and scattered throughout the world. As for Amaziah himself, he was taken captive and he died outside of the land of Israel in a polluted land, in a land that had nothing to do with God. Are you surprised? How sad that people don't want to hear God's word. And even more sad that today that they refuse to listen. That's what Amos was trying to warn him of, the judgment that's coming. Turn back to the Lord now before it's too late.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are 9 and 11 a.m. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. and a Monday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within 2281 West Seltease, Post Falls, Idaho 83854 or call us at 1 800 572 8851.

That number again 1 800 572 8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.