Amos #06: an exposition of Amos 5:18-27. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, June 8, 2014.
Intro:
Have you ever had the wind taken out of your sails? Ever been confident of something only to go down in flames? I had been anticipating it for months. I talked about it for weeks. It was in the bag. No question. The day before I told everyone, “Tomorrow I’m Mr. Independent Wheels.” Boy was it humiliating to be driven to school the next morning. Did you know they don’t give you your license when you run a stop sign during the test? I was asked to read Scripture the day of the big chapel service. The one day when students led everything. I was of course the obvious choice. I was a speech major. I had done very well in that interpretive reading class. The student body and faculty would at last hear the Scripture read properly in chapel. I worked on it for weeks. I was subtle yet appropriately dramatic. The pace was good. Diction perfect. Inflection in all the right places. I walked confidently to the pulpit. Announced the text and began. It was masterful…for the 3/4 of the reading. Then it all fell apart. I left the platform in disgrace. Friends said, “What happened?” Foes said, “Hey Harris. Nice job.” I thought I was ready. I was confident nothing could go wrong. Neither experience proved to be life crippling just embarrassing. But what happens when your confidence causes you to be wrong about that which is most important? What happens when your confident assumptions prove to be damning? Our text this evening is found in Amos chapter 5.
Text: Amos 5:18-27
The first 16 verses of chapter 5 are a lament, a song of mourning.
The prophet declares that Israel has fallen and will never rise.
This judgment comes because they have:
Substituted religion for devotion to God
They have practiced injustice
They have trampled the poor
They have hated righteousness
He pleads with the people to seek the Lord and live.
Seek good and not evil.
Love good and hate evil.
As we pick up with verse 18 we discover…
Thesis: The words of the prophet Amos cause the prudent believer to ask some soul-searching questions.
It is clear in the the text the nation of Israel suffers from self-deception.
Their future does not hold what they think it holds.
Their worship is not really worship.
Their god is not the God of the Bible.
This is a sobering text. It ought to cause us to pause and reflect. After all this is not a word to one of Israel’s pagan neighbors. This is to the people of God. On the surface all seemed well. They were faithful to worship and attend to ritual and sacrifice. They enjoyed a robust economy. Their was no external threat. It seemed they were blessed. The truth is they were dead, they just didn’t know it. Such a text should drive us to ask some soul-searching questions. I want us to consider 3 such questions.
- Is your assurance of future bliss based on truth or your mistaken perceptions? (5:18-20)
- Is your worship of God genuine worship or meaningless ritual merely storing up wrath for the day of judgment? (5:21-25)
- This God you worship: is He the God of the Bible or a god of your own sinful imagination? (5:26-27)