Lessons from Amos

6/04/23

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Sermon Transcript

I can still see some of you. Nothing like a minor prophet to attract the big crowds. Maybe I should have chosen a major prophet. Please open your Bibles to the book of Amos. Book of Amos.

Any time we approach an Old Testament prophet or a book of history in the Old Testament, particularly, we need to ask the same questions: “Where are we and how did we get here?” to get the context of the book. A good way to start with that is to look at another question, and that is, “When was the book written?”

With some books in the Bible, that is a very difficult question. But with Amos, it is a very simple question because the very first verse of the book of Amos gives us three temporal markers for when the book was written, and they all point to the first half of the 8th century BC. Uzziah reigned over Judah from 792 to 740 BC. Jeroboam reigned over Israel from 793 to 753 BC. And that notable earthquake that’s mentioned there in verse one likely occurred around 760 BC. So the first question for us is, what was happening around 760 BC?

What was going on? Well, in short, everything looked great for Israel. Everything looked great. It was going great. But it was all just about to fall apart. The wheels were on the wagon and the wagon was doing great, but those wheels were just about to fall off of that wagon.

Assyria had an alliance with Israel at this time that dated back to Jehu and Joash. So at this time, Assyria was not threatening to invade Israel, but they were threatening to invade Syria. Assyria was threatening to invade Syria, and Syria had been at war with Israel. So Syria now had other problems to deal with. Syria had to worry about Assyria and not about Israel. So Israel didn’t have to worry about Assyria, and Israel didn’t have to worry about Syria. And that meant there was a time of peace, a time of peace. It was a strange political situation for Israel to find itself in, a time of peace, but they did, and it allowed them to expand their economic influence all over the area.

Early in his rule, Jeroboam had recovered territories to the east of the Jordan. He had extended the northern borders of Israel. He had extended the southern borders of Israel all the way to the Dead Sea, though he had greatly enlarged the area of Israel. But what about Judah, the southern tribes? Well, they didn’t have it quite so good. They were a vassal state of Israel at this time. They were paying yearly tribute to Israel at this time, and that had been going on since Amaziah’s failed revolt. So they weren’t doing quite as well. In fact, in this book, Amos points to the poverty of the Judeans compared to their northern kinfolk.

So what do we have then? The territory of Israel had been greatly expanded. You also had the southern kingdom of Judah, which they were controlling at this time. So the territory of Israel at this time rivaled that of Israel’s golden age under David and Solomon. And in fact, this period of Israelite history is called the Silver Age of Israelite history. Northern Israel reached the summit of its material power, the height of its economic power, and the pinnacle of its territorial expansion, all in this time. The nations had all the signs it needed to convince itself that God had given them his unlimited favor, and the future appeared to hold limitless possibilities. God’s protection was assumed to be unconditional, so they felt completely secure in their situation and where they were headed. They didn’t know they were heading over the edge of a cliff.

How were the people living during this silver age of their history? Well, let’s take a look at the book of Amos.

• Amos 5:11 tells us they were building costly houses and planting vineyards.
• Amos 6:4 tells us they were furnishing their houses very elaborately with costly ivory.
• Amos 3:15 tells us that the wealthiest of them maintained separate homes for the winter and the summer.
• Amos 6:4–6 tells us that some of them were eating meat, which was a tremendous luxury at this time, and they were drinking wine to the accompaniment of music.
• Amos 4:4–5 tells us the sacrificial offerings were skyrocketing.
• Amos 5:21, 23 tells us that the attendance at the places of worship was rising. They were having religious feasts. They had all sorts of festive music.
• Amos 4:1 tells us that the women were putting demands on their husbands to keep their liquor cabinets well-stocked.
• Amos 8:4–6 tells us business was booming along with dishonest trade.

In short, the well-to-do were at ease and felt very secure, even if others were suffering. And in fact, in their pride, the people of Israel considered themselves to be first among the nations. We see that in Amos 6:1. And the future looked even better in their eyes. They were eagerly awaiting the day of the Lord because they thought it could only bring for them more prosperity. We see that in Amos 5:18.

What happened next? Well, what happened next was Tiglath-Pileser III, an Assyrian ruler who showed up. Amos does not refer to him by name, does not refer to the Assyrians by name, but we see a description of his reign of terror, for example, in Amos 6:14. Tiglath-Pileser III and the ones that followed him, Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, they crushed Israel. They leveled its capital city of Samaria, and it all fell in 722 BC. So right now we’re in the first half of the 8th century, around 760 BC. It all fell apart by 722 BC. They didn’t have much longer to go, but they felt they had forever.

Here’s the question: Can we learn any lessons for us today from this ancient book of Amos? Can we learn anything from a people who lived in a time of tremendous prosperity and security and who thought the good times would never come to an end? Can we learn anything from a people who trusted in themselves and trusted in their political alliances rather than trusting in God? Can we learn anything from a people who viewed religion as a show, there only for their entertainment, and something that made no demands on their lives?

I think we can. I think we can learn something from the book of Amos. So let’s look tonight at 10 lessons from the book of Amos.

1. God Rules Over All Nations

First, Amos teaches us that God rules over all the nations. Now that’s not particularly surprising to us, but it would have been very surprising to people in the days of Amos, because in the days of Amos, the different nations each had their own god. And when those nations went to war with each other, they viewed it as a contest between the two gods, and the winner of that war was thought to have the more powerful god. And in fact, that’s a big reason why when we read the prophets, we see so much anguish, so much anguish over the state of what has become of the people of God. It’s not just because the people of God were suffering. When we look at the prophets and we see what’s motivating the anguish of the prophets, a lot of the time the thing that’s motivating it is that that has caused the surrounding nations to look down on God and to think that their false gods are more powerful than God. And that’s why we see a lot of the anguish in the prophets over that situation.

Amos refutes that error in two different ways. First, Amos confirms that God rules not just over Israel, God rules over all the nations. Yes, the message of Amos is primarily directed to the northern tribes, to Israel, primarily. But that’s not the only nation that Amos addresses here. In fact, Amos has a message for seven other nations in the book of Amos. Look at it:

• Amos 1:3 is Damascus
• Amos 1:6 is Gaza
• Amos 1:9 Tyre
• Amos 1:11 Edom
• Amos 1:13 Ammon
• Amos 2:1 Moab
• Amos 2:4 Judah

Amos has a message for all the nations. Why? Why can Amos have a message for all the nations? Because God reigns over all nations. And Amos does not mention Assyria by name, as I mentioned, but Amos does refer to Assyria, a nation that was coming, that was raised up by God and that was commanded by God. Amos 6:14, Amos 9:4. No one who reads Amos can have any doubt that God rules over all nations.

The great king Nebuchadnezzar would later learn this lesson the hard way. Remember him? He bragged about all he had accomplished, and so God made him live like an ox for seven years. As Jim McGuigan likes to say, Nebuchadnezzar was bragging one minute and munching the next. And what was the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar was to learn? Daniel 4:32: “Until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will.” That’s also a lesson we find here in the book of Amos.

But second, not only does God rule over all nations, Amos repeatedly reminds us that God is all powerful. He could never be defeated by some false god of some foreign nation or by anyone or by anything. God is all powerful.

• Amos 1:2: “And he said, ‘The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. The pastors of the shepherds mourn and the top of Carmel withers.’”
• Amos 4:13: “For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the height to the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts is his name.”
• Amos 5:8: “He who made the Pleiades and Orion and turns deep darkness into morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth. The Lord is his name.”

God is all powerful. So the first lesson we learn from Amos is that God rules over all nations and God is all powerful. And that’s a good lesson for us today, isn’t it? In a day when false gods and false philosophies are claiming supremacy over God, God rules over everyone and everything and God is all powerful. Amos told his people that 2,800 years ago and it is still a lesson for us today.

2. Do Not Rely on False Security

Second, Amos teaches us not to rely on false security. As we saw, the people of Israel during the days of Amos were living at a time of unprecedented wealth and peace, that so-called silver age of Israel. And how did the people respond to that? Were they thankful to God? Did they continue to rely on God even while they were prospering? Or did they trust in themselves and trust in their money and trust in their political alliances? Sadly, Amos tells us it was the latter.

• Amos 6:1: “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations to whom the house of Israel comes.”
• Amos 6:8: “The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts. I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
• Amos 6:13: “You who rejoice in Lo-Debar, who say, ‘Have we not by our own strength captured Carname for ourselves?’”
• Amos 9:10: “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’”

They had a false security. There’s a lesson for us there as well. We must never rely on the arm of man. We must never rely on money.

• Jeremiah 17:5: “Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”
• 1 Timothy 6:17: “Charge them that are rich in this world not to be high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

And that problem of relying on false security, doesn’t it appear most often when things are going great? When all we have left to hold on to is God, then it’s easy to hold on to God. But when we have many things we can hold on to, it becomes more difficult to hold on to God. Instead, we’re tempted to hold on to our money or hold on to our position or hold on to our nation or hold on to our technology. But one day all of those things will fail us. There is only one anchor that is sure and steadfast through all the storms of life, that anchor is God, anchor is Christ. Amos reminds us not to rely on the arm of man.

3. Great Responsibility Comes from Great Privilege

Third, Amos teaches us that great responsibility comes from great privilege. Yes, God rules over all nations, but the nation of Israel was different. God had a special relationship with the Jewish nation, and they had been blessed by God far above all other nations. And one of the lessons of Amos is that those great blessings to God’s people brought with them great responsibilities, and also brought great judgment if they failed in that responsibility.

• Amos 3:2: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

And again, this is a vitally important lesson for us as well. The verse we looked at this morning, Luke 12:48: “Everyone to whom much was given much will be required.” Are there any people on earth who have been blessed more than we in the church? Are there any people on earth who have received greater privileges than we have in the church? Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.”

But what if we turn our back on that great privilege? What if we fail in that great responsibility that comes from that great privilege? What if, despite having been so greatly blessed by Christ, we turn away? We turn away from Christ. We walk away from His church. What then?

• 2 Peter 2:20–22: “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They are again entangled in them and overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first, for it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own vomit and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the Meyer.”

Amos teaches us that great responsibility comes from great privilege and great blessing, and that is especially important for those of us who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. No one has been blessed more than we have. No one has greater privilege than we do. And what that means is that no one has greater responsibility than we do. What was said about the nation of Israel could also be said about the church today. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”

4. Appreciate the Word of God

Fourth, Amos teaches us to appreciate the Word of God. How many Bibles do you have at home? How many Bibles do you have on your phone? When the book of Amos was written, the answer would have been zero. Both because, of course, the Bible had not been completed yet, but even for those books that had been completed, they were not available to ordinary people to read. In Amos’ day, most people did not read God’s word. Instead, they heard God’s word from the prophets, from God’s prophets. And we see that in the book of Amos.

• Amos 2:11: “And I raised up some of your sons for prophets.”
• Amos 3:7–8: “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants, the prophets. The lion has roared, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy?”
• Amos 7:15: “But the Lord took me from following the flock, the Lord said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel.”

God raised up prophets to declare his word to his people. And how did the people respond when Amos declared the word of God to them? They told Amos to shut up. Look at Amos 7:10–14: “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam 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 has said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel must go into exile away from his land. And Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Oh, seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah and eat bread there and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel for it is the king’s sanctuary. It is a temple of the kingdom.’” They did not want to hear the word of God. They did not want to hear that they were heading off the edge of a cliff. They did not want to hear that the king would die and they would be carried off into exile. They didn’t want to hear any of that. So they told Amos to shut up.

• Amos 5:10: “They hate him who reproves in the gate. They abhor him who speaks the truth.”

So what did God do? You know, I think we see it often in the Bible. We may even see it in our own life. Sometimes the very worst punishment from God is when God gives us exactly what we’re asking for. People don’t want to hear God’s prophets, so God sends them a famine. Not a famine for physical food, but a famine for spiritual food.

• Amos 8:11–12: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”

There’s a lesson there for us. What is the difference between the silence of God’s Word spoken by the prophets and the silence of God’s Word today if we fail to open it and read it and proclaim it? We have the very words of life. What are we doing with them?

• John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.”
• Philippians 2:16: “Holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
• 2 Timothy 4:1–4: “Preach the word. Preach the word.”

If the Church of Christ does not proclaim the words of Christ, the word of God, then who’s going to do it? Who is going to do it? Yes, the world today has largely shut its ears to God’s word. Yes, quoting certain verses or wearing them on your t-shirt today can get you canceled or worse. And yes, despite being surrounded by countless Bibles, there is a famine in the land today for the Word of God. But what that means is that we need to proclaim it even more often and more loudly. People are starving today for the Word of God. They are dying because they do not have the Word of God. We need to feed them with the Word of God and we need to feed ourselves with the Word of God. And we need to be thankful that we can freely read the Bible and teach the Bible. That has not been true for many people throughout the history of this world. And it is not true for many people living today in this world. Just this week, I read a news account of a two year old North Korean child was sentenced to life in prison along with his parents because they were found with a Bible in their possession. Let’s all think about that the next time we blow the dust off of one of our Bibles.

5. God is Concerned About the Poor

Fifth, Amos teaches us that God is concerned about the poor and so must we also be concerned about the poor. A major theme of the book of Amos is that God’s care and concern for the poor and the needy.

• Amos 2:6–7: “Because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth.”
• Amos 4:1: “Hear this word you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy.”
• Amos 5:11: “Therefore, because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him.”
• Amos 8:4–6: “Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,” later in that section, “that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

God is concerned about the poor and the needy. Do we have the same concern for the poor and the needy?

• Luke 1:53: “He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.”
• Mark 10:21–22: “Jesus looking at him loved him and said to him, ‘You lack one thing. Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. And follow me.’”

We live at a time when it’s easy to turn our back on the poor. It’s easy to come up with reasons why we shouldn’t help them and why they really don’t need our help anyway. But we should be thankful that God did not feel that way about us.

• 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.”
• Proverbs 14:31: “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker.”

Amos reminds us that God cares for the poor and for the needy, and so must we.

6. God is Concerned About Sin

Number six, Amos teaches us that God is concerned about sin, and so must we also be concerned about sin. There were people in Amos’ day who were not concerned about sin, who rather made light of sin.

• Amos 2:7–8: “A man and his father go into the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned. They lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined?”
• Amos 6:6–7: “Woe to those who are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile.”
• Amos 3:10: “They do not know how to do what is right, those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”

Do we have the right attitude when it comes to sin? Do we remember how serious sin is? Do we remember the price that was paid because of sin? Do we ever have a light and carefree attitude when it comes to sin?

• Matthew 5:29–30: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.”
• Romans 6:2: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
• Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin.”

The book of Amos reminds us of the seriousness of sin. Sin is what nailed Jesus to that cross. Sin is what separates mankind from God. Sin is the source of death. Sin is the source of bondage. God was so concerned about sin that he sent his only begotten son into this world so that we could be saved from the penalty of our sin. We need to be concerned about sin. Sin in our own lives, sin in the society that surrounds us, sin is serious. That’s how God views it. That’s how we must view it as well.

7. God is Concerned About Justice

Number seven, Amos teaches us that God is concerned about justice. And so must we. One thing that shines very clearly out of the book of Amos is that the nation of Israel at this time had been divided into the haves and the have-nots. And Amos tells us that that division, as it always does, had created a lack of justice in the land. The haves operated under one set of rules, the have-nots operated under a different set of rules.

• Amos 5:7: “Oh, you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth.”
• Amos 5:12: “You who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, who turn aside the needy in the gate.”
• Amos 8:6: “That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat.”

What does God think about that? Well, Amos tells us. In fact, one of the most beautiful verses about justice found anywhere in the Bible is found right here in the book of Amos. We had it read to us just a moment ago, Amos 5:24: “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” That is the justice that God wants in the land.

• Amos 5:15: “Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate.”

Are we as concerned about justice as God is? Are we as concerned as God is when justice in the land turns out to be not quite as blind as it claims to be?

• Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God, do justice.”
• Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tied dill mint and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law. Justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.”

And we should remember something about our Lord and Savior. Justice was denied Him.

• Acts 8:33: “In His humiliation justice was denied Him.”

And that is all the more reason why we as the people of God, the Church of Christ, should do justice and seek justice in the land. That is a message of the book of Amos. “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream.”

8. God is Concerned About Worship

Number eight. Amos teaches us that God is concerned about worship and so must we. We see a lot of worship in the book of Amos, but we do not see worship that pleases God.

• Amos 4:4–5: “Come to Bethel and transgress, to Gilgal and multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings. Publish them, for so you love to do, O people of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

But then Amos 5:21–23: “I hate, I despise your feast. I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs, to the melody of your harps, I will not listen.” This so-called worship was popular. They were doing something, but it was not pleasing to God. God says he hated it. He despised it.

You know, we might ask why the people were worshipping at all, given how far they seemed to be from the Word of God and the ways of God. Well, the sad answer is that they thought they were pleasing God. The good times were rolling and they were clocking in with God once a week thinking, well, you know, maybe God had something to do with this. So let me clock in and kind of go through the show to keep the ball rolling. In fact, they were so confident in their approval by God that they did not fear the day of the Lord.

• Amos 5:18: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light.”

They were not pleasing to God. Their worship was not accepted by God. They thought they could live any way they wanted and still be pleasing to God in their worship, and they were wrong. They were wrong.

Are we as concerned about our worship as God is? Do we worship in spirit and truth? John 4:24. Or do we ever worship in vain? Matthew 7:7. Do we give God our very best when it comes to our worship, or do we find it boring? God demands that worship offered to him be given in spirit and in truth. Nothing else is acceptable. God is concerned about our worship, and so must we be as well. And we cannot separate how we live from how we worship. The people in Amos’ day made that mistake. We cannot separate those two things.

• Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

9. God’s Plan for the Church Has Always Included Both Jew and Gentile

9. Amos teaches us that God’s plan for the church has always included both Jew and Gentile. In Acts 15, we read about a council in Jerusalem that met regarding a dispute about the Gentiles. The issue was that some were saying that the Gentile convert needed to be circumcised to be saved, Acts 15:1. After listening to Barnabas and Paul, James rejected the view that the Gentile Christians had to be saddled with the old law. In making that judgment, in Acts chapter 15, James quoted Amos chapter 9. Let me read from Acts chapter 15:16–18, and you might want to look at Amos chapter 9:11–12 while I read. “After this I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old.”

What does that quotation from Amos tell us? Well, first it confirms something we already knew about the church. It’s a restored kingdom. It’s a restored kingdom. Right there it says that, “Rebuilt and restored the tent of David that had fallen.” When Jesus began to rule from the throne of David, he restored the throne of David. Once again, there was a king on the throne of David. There had not been one for a long period of time. Jesus came to occupy that throne forever as the eternal King of the eternal kingdom. And we read that right here in Amos. But second, that quotation of Amos 9 in Acts 15 confirms that God’s plan for the church has always included the Gentiles, always. We know that because James applies the quote from Amos 9 to the church. That’s what he’s applying it to in Acts 15, the church. We also know it from Ephesians 2. But we know from Amos 9 and Acts 15 where it’s quoted, that God’s plan for the church has always been, always been to have both Jew and Gentile together at peace in one body with Christ as their head. It has always been God’s plan for the eternal kingdom. Amos tells us that.

10. Be Sober and Watchful

Number 10, Amos teaches us to be sober and watchful. The people in Amos’ day thought that their prosperity would go on forever and that God’s judgment would never apply to them and would never catch up with them. And they were wrong.

• Amos 9:10: “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake us or meet us.’”

They thought they could hide from God, but they were wrong.

• Amos 9:2–3: “If they dig into Sheol, from there I shall take them by my hand. If they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them. If they hide from my side at the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent and it shall bite them.”

They had no place to hide from God. And what was God’s message to such people? It’s the same message that God has for us today.

• Amos 4:12: “Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel, because I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Prepare to meet your God.”
• 2 Corinthians 6:2: “Now is the day of salvation.”
• 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.”

We must always be sober and watchful because we know not the hour or the day when Christ will come again to claim his own, and we know not the hour or the day when our own soul will be required of us as we depart this life to face eternity. “Eat, drink, and be merry.” That was the prevailing philosophy of life in Amos’ day, and it remains the prevailing philosophy of life in our own day. But one day the food will stop, one day the drinks will run dry, one day the merriness will come to an end. And what then? But if when that day comes, we have not prepared ourselves to meet our God.

We’ve looked at ten lessons today from the book of Amos. Let’s end with one more. Are we looking for true security? Are we searching for blessings from God? Are we looking for a home that will never be uprooted? Those blessings can all be ours today. There is only one way to obtain them. They can be found only in Christ and in the kingdom of Christ, to which God will add you after you obey the gospel of Christ. Can the gospel be found in the book of Amos? The answer is yes. In the very last few verses of the book, the gospel rings out with clarity. Amos’ final words to his people were words about Christ and words about the kingdom of Christ.

• Amos 9:13–15: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God.”

That is a wonderful prophecy about the church. And those promised blessings are here today. Great blessings are available to all who will obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, all who will be baptized to wash away their sins so that God will add them to the eternal kingdom of his Son. “I will plant them on their land. They shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them.” If you want security like that today, it can be found only in Christ.

If we can help in any way tonight, please come while we stand and while we sing.