Gold for the heart

Amos 5

The Lord wants us to hear Him and live

1 Hear this word that I take up for you as a lamentation/funeral dirge, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel has fallen; she will rise no more: she is forsaken on her land; there is none to raise her up. 3 For the Lord God says this; The city that went out by a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that goes out by a hundred will have ten remaining to the house of Israel. 4 The Lord says to the house of Israel, Seek me and you will live: 5 But do not seek Bethel or enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing.

Bethel and Gilgal were worship centers for the northern kingdom.
They had idols.
Do not seek the church or the church leaders or the spiritual leaders or the denominations.
That makes them into an idol…seek the Lord!

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7 You who turn judgment to wormwood/poison, and castoff righteousness in the earth, 8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth: The LORD is his name/person.

God’s title Lord means two things: First, intense, eternal self-existence (JHWH) and second, controller of all things (Adonai).
How much honor does that deserve compared to the things we tend to honor like big churches and their leaders?
Lets get things into right perspective. The LORD made the heavens and the earth; He makes the constellations and the rain.

Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to abide his indignation.

God knows our many transgressions and mighty sins

9 Who causes destruction to flash out against the strong, so that destruction comes against the fortress. 10 They hate the person that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly. 11 Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor, and extort a tribute of grain from them: you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know your many transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

If not for Christ’s death on our behalf, the eternal court of heaven would have a warrant out for our arrest.
Notice that God is calling them back to Himself by a strong warning.

1John 3:20 …God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have spoken. 15 Hate evil, love good, and establish judgment/justice in the gate/government: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says this; In all streets there will be wailing; and they will say in all the highways, Alas! Alas! And they will call the farmer to mourning, and those skillful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards will be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD. 18 Cries of grief to you that desire the day of the LORD! What good is it to you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man flees from a lion, and a bear meets him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Very dark with no brightness in it?

God told them to get their professional mourners ready.
Just when they thought they were safe, judgment would come.
When the day of the Lord comes it will be like being chased by a bear for the disobedient.
Death runs full speed behind you and you will not escape.
These warnings are designed to turn men back to get right with God.

God hates empty worship

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the songs of your harps.

Worship is a response of the heart to how wonderful God is.
When we focus on the ceremony or the service rather than on God it is not worship.
If we make it about the presentation rather than who is presented, about the worship rather than who is worshipped, if we make it about the music rather than the One we are singing to it is not worship.

1Samuel 16:7 … for the LORD does not see as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

24 But let justice run down like waterfalls, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream. 25 Have you offered me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god that you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts/armies.

‘God of hosts’ reminds us that God rules over the countless angels of heaven.
They are much smarter and stronger than man. They dwell throughout the universe.
Anything we make is not God.
He made us, not the other way around.
Idolatry leads to eternal death and is a crime punishable by death according to God’s law (Leviticus 20).
God sent His people into captivity to stop their evil and give them more time to return to Him.

2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

Amos 6

1 Cries of grief to those that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, the distinguished men of the foremost nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 2 Pass unto Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? Or their border greater than your border? 3 Do you put off the evil day, or cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 that sprawl on ivory beds surrounded with luxury, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent themselves musical instruments like David; 6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

God sent them to see what He did to other nations that disregarded Him.
These were the leaders of the nations.
They trusted false things for safety and lived in extreme luxury and lived for pleasure.
They were unconcerned about the trouble of their brothers and the affliction of the people.
God’s people were to represent Him to the world, to help the world know Him so that they might enjoy peace, abundance, and eternal life.

The Lord delivers to evil those that follow evil

7 Therefore they will go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of those that stretched themselves out will be removed. 8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

God looks at the heart, not a beautiful homes or cities.

1Samuel 16:… for the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

He raises up nations against them

9 And it will happen, if ten men remain in one house, they will die. 10 And ones uncle or his undertaker will take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and say to him that is beside the house, Is anyone else with you? And he will say, No. Then will he say, Keep quiet: for the name of the LORD is not to be mentioned. 11 For, behold, the LORD commands, and he will strike the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 12 Will horses run on the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? For you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 13 You that rejoice in worthless things, who say, Have we not taken Karnaim by our own strength and power? 14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says the Lord God of the armies, and they will afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

When God mentions that He is the LORD the God of hosts He is reminding us that He is the ruler of all the universe, all the countless armies of angels.
He gives us our existence and controls all things.
He is not someone to be ignored or taken lightly. Injustice afflicts the people.
The heart is poisoned when leaders confiscate property through passing laws and murderers get away with killing the innocent.

2Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Psalm 9:9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

Amos 7

The Lord turns back from the judgment when someone intercedes

1 The Lord GOD showed me this; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 And when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you: by whom shall Jacob rise? For he is small. 3 The LORD repented for this: It will not happen, says the LORD.

The grasshoppers ate all the produce of the land causing famine.
God turned back from the judgment that Israel deserved because Amos interceded in prayer.
In Ezekiel God looked for someone to intercede and found no one.
Christ has interceded for us; He stands between us and the God’s holiness that would destroy us because of our sin.

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, to make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Hebrews 7:25 he is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him, since he ever lives to make intercession for them.

4 The Lord GOD showed me this: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part. 5 Then I said, O Lord GOD, stop, I beg you: by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small. 6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, says the Lord GOD. 7 He showed me this: and, behold, the Lord stood on a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel: I will spare them no longer: 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

High places were places of idol worship.
They were leading people to eternal death.
Jeroboam was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel.
He placed a golden calf in the north and south of his domain so that his subjects would not go to worship at Jerusalem.

Psalm 96:5 all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Revelation 20:15 And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

10 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. 11 Amos says, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, go, O seer, flee into the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there: 13 But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was not a prophet, nor was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: 15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.

Amaziah accused Amos of conspiracy and tried to get him to leave the country but Amos told him that God had sent him to say these things to Israel.

He wants His word to be spoken so people will turn to Him and live

16 Now therefore, you, hear the word of the LORD: You say, ‘do not prophesy against Israel, and do not speak against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore the Lord says this; Your wife will be a harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you shall die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go forth into captivity out of his land.

Amaziah had been unfaithful to the Lord in many ways.
Now his wife would be unfaithful to him with many men.
srael would be taken captive by Assyria (this happened in 722 BC).
Has worry taken us captive, loneliness, or lust?
They truth of God’s words sets us free from all things that hold us captive.

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Amos 8

1 The Lord GOD showed me this: behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the LORD said to me, The end has come on my people of Israel; I will spare them no longer. 3 And the songs of the temple will be howlings in that day, says the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them out silently.

God’s only desire is to bless.
This was the result of their rejection of God, who is life.
He will not bless wrong and evil.
He empowers us to turn from evil.
He cleanses our hearts, souls, and minds with His word.
He strives with us but will not force us to turn from wrong and evil.

John 15:3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Hear this, O you that swallow up the needy to make the poor of the land fail,

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may set out wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

God always tells why.
Lust for money caused cheating people of what was rightfully theirs to the point that the people became so poor that they had to be sold to pay their debts.
Even the waste was being sold at outrageous prices.

7 The LORD has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Will the land not tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwells in it? It will rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, like the Nile of Egypt. 9 And in that day, says the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into funeral dirges; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; and I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come, says the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day the fair virgins and young men will faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Your god, O Dan, lives; and, The way of Beer-sheba lives; they shall fall, and never rise up again.

The golden calf idols brought death.
God is life, apart from Him is death.

Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Amos 9

The eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom

1 I saw the LORD standing on the altar: and he said, Strike the capital of the door and the thresholds will shake: and break all of them in the head; and I will kill the rest of them with the sword: not one of them that runs will escape away, and he that escapes of them will not be delivered.

Strike the lintel of the door: The door is the way to Him.
The head leaders of the nation were leading the people to death.
The Lord stood on the altar, the place that portrayed that He was to be sacrificed for our sin.
This reminds us that He alone has the right to judge.
He made us and then died for our sins. He has all the rights.
The people have not accepted His work on their behalf and must face the consequences of their deeds.
Amos 8:13 tells of their worship of the golden calves that Jeroboam had put in the north and south of the land.
Today we worship self, power, money, sex, relationships, children, education, and pleasure.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will commune with him, and he with me.

2 Though they dig into hell there my hand will take them; though they climb up to heaven, there will I will bring them down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they are hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and he will bite them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them: and I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

Romans 1:18 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because what may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it to them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that touches the land, and it will melt, and all that dwell in it will mourn: and it will rise up wholly like a flood; and will be drowned, like the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that builds his upper chambers in the heaven, and has founded his vaulted dome over the earth; he that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.

The title ‘LORD’ means self-existent controller of all things.
No other being exists without being sustained by anything or anyone.
The Lord sustains and controls all things.

7 Are you not like children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? asks the LORD. Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the LORD. 9 For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not a grain will fall to the ground. 10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, Disaster will not overtake or confront us. 11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and wall up its breaks; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations that are called by my name, says the LORD that does this.

Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God will greatly bless His people

13 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes overtake him that sows seed; and the mountains will drop sweet wine, and all the hills will melt. 14 And I will turn the captivity of my people of Israel, and they will build the wasted cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink their wine; they will make gardens, and eat their fruit. 15 And I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be pulled up out of their land that I have given them, says the LORD your God.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

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SUMMARY: Amos 5-9

The Lord wants us to hear Him and live
God knows our many transgressions and mighty sins
God hates empty worship
The Lord delivers to evil those that follow evil
He raises up nations against them
The Lord turns back from the judgment when someone intercedes
He wants His word to be spoken so people will turn to Him and live
The eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom
God will greatly bless His people