Amos #03: from Amos 3:1-15. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 13, 2014.
Intro:
The gospel is glorious. It really is good news. It is the story of God’s love for wayward sinners like you and me. Though we are deserving of his just, eternal, burning wrath God has chosen to love us. He has chosen to redeem us. To be gracious to us. And that choice came at great cost. It cost his Son. Because God is holy, because he is righteous, he could not just ignore our sin. In order to be gracious he cannot deny his holiness. Sin must be dealt with. The wages of sin is death. The wrath of God must be appeased. Thus God gave his Son to die in our place. Because of Christ we live. Because of Christ we have fellowship with God. Because of Christ the Father lavishes his grace upon us. This is the best possible news.
There is a danger in this. If we are not careful we fall into the trap of presuming upon his grace rather than resting in his grace. We insist on forgiveness. We expect mercy. We demand grace. That is a perversion of the truth and it can be devastating as Israel discovered in the last half of the 8th century B.C. Our text this evening is found in the third chapter of Amos.
Text: Amos 3:1-15
Amos, a fig picking prophet from Tekoa, came to the Northern kingdom of Israel with a message. God called him to deliver a message of judgment. It is clear from his first sermon that God is no respecter of persons. Israel is condemned along with her pagan neighbors. No doubt they were stunned to hear of God’s judgment coming against them. Sure those “God-haters” deserve God’s wrath but we are his unique people. His chosen ones. Why would he condemn us?
Working our way through the text we are reminded that…
Thesis: Faithfulness to the biblical gospel demands that we speak the truth of God’s wrath as well as his grace.
If we preach the grace of God without reference to his wrath we’ve failed to present the truth. His grace only makes sense in light of his wrath. To appreciate grace you must see it against the dark background of his holy and righteous wrath.
Now, God’s wrath is not a burst of anger.
Wrath is not God’s losing his temper and lashing out.
Rather it is his settled disposition against sin and unrighteousness.
Amos makes three things very clear in this text.
- The fact that we have known God’s blessing demands that God judge our sin. (3:1-2)
- The certainty of God’s judgement demands that we warn of that coming judgment in the hope that there will be repentance. (3:3-8)
- Without repentance judgment will be devastating, leaving no place to hide. (3:9-15)
Conclusion:
This reminds me of those described in Revelation 6 who at the time of God’s judgment cry out for the mountains to fall on them and bury them that they might be relieved. (Rev. 6:16-17)
“…for the great day of the wrath has come. Who can stand?”
That’s the question isn’t it?
Who can stand in the judgment of God?
Only those who stand in Christ who stood where we stand and bore the wrath of God in our place. Only in him will we find shelter from the inevitable judgment.