Amos Part 3: The Judgment of God

[0:00] I should remind you where we're at, since it has been a little bit here. We took a Wednesday night and kind of did an intro to Amos and to who he is and saw that! he was a herdsman, saw that he was a gatherer of sycamore fruit. He was just a nobody, a common laborer. And the Lord took him while he was doing his common laboring job. And God called him and sent him up to the northern tribes of Israel, those ten tribes. And in those ten tribes, we noticed that he went to Bethel. And there at Bethel was one of those golden calves that has been there for quite a while. And it's been ingrained in the culture of those northern tribes where they would go there to either north to Dan or down here to Bethel.

[0:44] And they'd transgress. And they would worship. And there was a court set up there, as we saw in chapter, I think it was seven. And there was a priest of that court. And Amos gets into it with him later on in this book. We looked at his call. We looked at where he went to and mentioned a little bit about his visions. But then we got into last time we were together on a Wednesday. And it kind of got some general divisions, showing you that chapters one and two stand alone. And then three through six stand alone. And then the last three chapters are the visions of Amos. And we're going to just be focusing in on these first two chapters because in them they're broken down into categories or divisions of God addressing first six Gentile nations surrounding Israel, including as a seventh, the nation or kingdom of Judah to the south.

[1:40] And so you see these divisions in chapter one and verse three, thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Damascus, which is the capital of Syria. And he mentioned Syria at the end of verse five, the people of Syria shall go into captivity. And then in verse six, then he mentions Gaza, which is the one city or a prominent city in Philistia, the Philistines. And he mentions a few other cities of the Philistines. You see that in verse eight, the end of the verse, the remnant of the Philistines shall perish. And then the third people group is in verse nine with Tyrus. And so I showed you on the map there where Syria is to the north and to the north as you're looking to the northeast. And then where was the other one? The Philistines, they're located to Israel's southwest. And then you've got Tyrus, which would be to Israel's west or northwest. And the Mediterranean Sea being the other land or what do you call it? Border. Thank you. That's fine. And so we're getting a complete coverage surrounding these tribes of Israel. And then in Edom is in verse 11, thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom. Edom is to the very south and the southeast of Israel. And below that is Ammon in verse 13, the children of Ammon, they would be to their east, straight across the Jordan River.

[3:08] And then Moab, situated below Ammon. So there's Ammon, Moab, and Edom all covering that eastern side across the river and going down to the south. And so God divides and says a few things.

[3:24] What we looked at last time was he gave them an accusation, is what I called it, the accusations against these Gentile nations. We looked at them, just kind of went through one after the other.

[3:35] Really didn't study it out, really didn't dig into it. My intention is not to cover all of the history of all of this and point out, if possible, in the Bible or even through secular history of what these things are addressing. But we noticed God has accusations against these Gentiles. Why would that be? Well, because he expects them to do what's right. And many of the accusations, but not all, but many have to do with how they treated his people. I gave an example of that, or just one sample in Isaiah 10 of a different nation, the Assyrians, how they came in. God used them to punish his people, but he went overboard. He went beyond what he was ever called to do. And we'll see some more of that as we go forward here. But the Lord expects the heathen to do right because he's their creator. And it's not because they're wicked, so they just do wickedly and do wicked things, and that's just what they are, and the wicked shall be turned into hell, and that's the end of that.

[4:29] Now, they're going to have a reckoning with their creator. God is a, he is the judge of all the earth. And he's not just the judge of the Christians. He's the judge of the whole thing. And he is going to hold them accountable. What I found interesting, notice in verse 2, chapter 2, verse 1, just get to the end of that verse. It says, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

[4:52] And God has an issue with Moab because of something that they did to a different king. Like, you would think, who gives a rip what the Moabites do to the Edomites? Like, they're all just in this, you know, big bucket of wickedness, and we don't care. But God does care, and he's going to bring them into judgment. And we went to Romans chapter 1. This is where we ended last time in Romans chapter 1, seeing that God expects them to give him glory. And he deserves it. And he makes it, his reign to be on the just and the unjust. He's good to all. And he expects mankind to recognize his hand and to serve him and to come before him. And they refuse to, and then he'll punish them likewise. Now, today I want to get into the judgments. We're going to go back through chapter 1 and just into chapter 2.

[5:43] We look at these six surrounding nations. And just to start tonight, just skim, collectively skim what God says his judgment is against these nations. And you're going to notice a reoccurring phrase.

[5:55] And so that's what's interesting about this book here, this beginning, is how he addresses, just deals with them in the exact same format, one after the other. Okay, so notice, we'll start in verse 3, and then we'll start to hop from place to place. So I'll go through this first one, 3 through 5. Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. That's the accusation against them. Now the judgment, but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. And I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Avon, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden.

[6:40] And the people of Syria shall go into captivity and occur, saith the Lord. Likely, this mention of a bar of Damascus has to do with a gate of the city, likely.

[6:53] Otherwise, I have no idea what that might mean. But it seems to be, I can't really give you too many cross-references on this, nor give you the time for that. But that's what it seems to be. Just God showing their power, their structure, their gated cities. God destroying them, breaking them, like something Samson did back with the Philistines. And so that's his judgment against Damascus, or Syria. Now skip verse 6, and here's the judgment against the Philistines, namely of Gaza first.

[7:28] And verse 7, but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon.

[7:39] And I will turn mine hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God. So just for reference, we'll come back through this in a minute.

[7:49] But you'll notice these are all cities in what, at the time, Philistia, the Philistines, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron. Those are four. There was five major ones. The one that's missing is Gath, which is where, who was from? Goliath of Gath. That's the Gittites. They're of Gath.

[8:11] And so there's four of the cities mentioned that God's judging. All right, skip ahead to verse 10. This is the judgment on Tyrus. But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus. You're starting to see this reoccurring phrase again, which shall devour the palaces thereof.

[8:26] And so there's the judgment on Tyrus. Now Edom is verse 11, and the judgment is in verse 12. I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

[8:38] There's some argument about these locations, if they're cities or regions, and some say that Teman's the region, Bozrah's the capital of it. In Edom, maybe, maybe not.

[8:50] It's not really a big deal here, but you understand God's judging Edom. This area, the nation of Edom, the Edomites, and their palaces in Bozrah, where the king or where the princes were, the mighty men.

[9:02] And so God's just, you know, focusing in his crosshairs on that in his description of judgment. So Ammon, and now in verse 14 is the judgment, I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of a whirlwind.

[9:20] And their king shall go into captivity, and his princes together sayeth the Lord. One more is Moab, and the judgment in verse 2 of chapter 2, I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Cariath.

[9:34] And Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, with the sound of a trumpet, and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, sayeth the Lord. So there all is the six Gentile nations.

[9:47] Judah is yet to come. We'll save that for probably next time. But those six nations, you're reading a mixture of threats that have been, they have a historical fulfillment, but they also have a prophetic element of a future event.

[10:06] So to read these judgments against these nations, and to try to put all of that into the past, would be a mistake. And that's what a lot of the Bible scholars do with these, is they try to say, well then, in a certain year, God came in and did this, or this nation came in and did that, and they try to put all this in the past.

[10:23] To do that would be a mistake, but also to put it all into the future would also be a mistake. What you're reading here is something that only the Word of God does and can do, is it gives you, just like we studied on Sunday, in rightly dividing the Word of Truth, how you can have one verse or one passage, it can be aiming two different directions.

[10:46] It can be aiming to something that was historical in its moment, and also pointing out to something else in the future. And that's what you're reading here in Amos. Consider, this isn't an accurate statement at all, but consider that Amos was a preacher and a prophet.

[11:01] Really, it's just one thing, but if that helps you divide it. He's preaching historically to Israel, to the sins that was done there, and to the surrounding nations, what they were guilty of.

[11:12] He's letting them have it for that, and warning them, but he's also prophetically speaking to something else that's yet to come out into the future. The key to knowing this and to understanding this, something we looked at last week, verse number two of chapter one.

[11:28] Verse one says, The words of Amos, verse two, and he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem. The habitation of the shepherd shall mourn, the top of Carmel shall wither.

[11:41] What in the world? He's setting, he's giving us the setting of all of this. Look, I'll remind you of this. Let's review Joel chapter three, look one page back. Joel three, verse 16.

[11:54] The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake. We've got, this is second advent, and if you went from, man, the whole thing.

[12:09] If you went from verse nine, especially, proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, prepare war, beat your plowshares into swords, you better get ready, because the Lord's coming to get you.

[12:21] He's threatening them, he's telling you to get ready to go, in verse 13, verse 14, verse 15, verse 16, that is all second advent, very strong, when Jesus Christ comes back to this earth.

[12:33] And so Amos, from the very beginning, he's not stealing somebody else's prophecy, or words here. It's helping us set this, and understand that there's a second advent, application, to what he's about to preach, and declare.

[12:50] And to imagine that this is all fulfilled in history, all of these things with Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the burn the wall, and the palaces, and all that, to imagine that all that was, was just something in the past, would be a big mistake, and it would be to ignore, the biggest and most major event, forthcoming, to this earth, when Jesus Christ comes back, and it's going to be on.

[13:13] And that's written right here in Amos. So, this is not a complicated concept, by the way, to say that the Bible can declare, multiple events, in one passage.

[13:28] And again, I refer back to Sunday, when we looked at, just as the simplest example, is the prophecies, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where a prophet, the scripture is talking about, Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[13:44] And nobody has any clue, they just see David, they see David talking about, his garments being rent, or giving them gall vinegar, and just, this is, this is just some poetic form, of a cry, of the afflicted, mourning their cause, before God.

[14:02] That's all anybody sees. And yet all along, all sprinkled through there, are literal prophecies, fulfilled by the Son of God, when He came and died, upon Calvary. And we, and you didn't, you didn't understand it, until it happened.

[14:17] So like, get that thought. You didn't understand, any of that was about the Christ, until it happened. And how many times, did it say, such and such happened, and then was fulfilled, that which was spoken of, by the prophet.

[14:32] But nobody up to that date, realized, that was spoken of the prophet, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in that same vein, or idea, is this truth, about the prophet's messages, of judgment, upon heathen nations.

[14:49] There is a historical application, and at the same time, there's a future, application, to these very same, surrounding nations of Israel, when the Lord Jesus Christ, comes back, and gives it to them.

[15:05] So if you can understand, that this took place, in the life of Christ, that it's the scripture, that's capable, of speaking it, to two different times, and two different themes, and events, at the same verse, the same statement, then just take that concept, and plug it into, these minor prophets, and understand that, the scholars, and some just want to put it all, in the past.

[15:29] And to do that then, they have to spiritualize, some of the wording, and they have to imagine, that some things, aren't literal. And I want you to get this, I want you to see, and understand in your Bible, that this thing, this book is holy, and divine, and it's far, far higher than you or I, and it goes on, and can address some things, and it's a wonderful book, it's tricky, and it's hard to understand, and I agree, I fully admit that, yet getting that concept down, can help you to see, that this has double application.

[16:06] Alright, so let's move on from there. Now God said this thing, to everyone, all six of them, I will send a fire, or in verse 14, I will kindle a fire. So I believe that phrase, is both figurative, and literal.

[16:20] Some will just say, it's one or the other, but I think it's both, and I believe it's, just unfolding, what we're discussing here, that it's figurative, and it's past fulfillment, as a reference to war, sometimes with literal burnings, of cities, or of walls, or such and such, but often, I don't have the time again, this night's flying, we don't, I don't have the time, but you could run some references, on this surely, and find out how God, kind of, he uses that language, to say that I'm going to, like a fire is going to come forth, out of such and such, and do this, and devour this, and this, it's not like a literal fire, is going to burn, like a forest fire, it's, he's talking about judgment, and vengeance, is going to come out of that, that nation, you know, like be born, or raised up in that city, and then go out, and devour, this region, he's going to execute judgment, so he uses that term, I'll kindle a fire, or set a fire, it's a figurative statement, I believe mostly, in it's past fulfillment, but very, very, very literal, in it's future fulfillment, very, very, very literal, that God is going to come, to this earth, and the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to torch this place, and you can go through Isaiah, he's going to talk about it, more than anybody else, you're going to get it, in the Psalms, you're going to get it in, in Ezekiel, in a few spots, let me take you, to one more step, go to Matthew 25,

[17:50] Matthew 25, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to come back, as a devouring fire, and judge, and burn up, these nations, that are against, his people, and remember that theme, through this judgment, is, much of it is, because you did, such and such, to my people, and so, I'm going to kindle a fire, and in some cases, it's a reference, to just their standing armies, the Lord coming back, and devouring them, but I'll take it, I'll take it a step further, in Matthew 25, and verse 31, when the Son of Man, shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels, with him, then shall he sit upon, the throne of his glory, and before him, shall be gathered, all nations, and he shall separate, them one from another, as a shepherd, divideth his sheep, from the goats, do you know this passage here, this judgment, because on the one side, there's sheep, these are nations, then the other side is goats, as it's described, and the sheep, he's like, come on in, inherit the kingdom, because you were good to me, in verse 35,

[18:57] I was in hungry, and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty, ye gave me drink, I was a stranger, ye took me in, and they're like, what are you talking about, in 37, they said the righteous, answer him, say, Lord, when saw we thee in hungry, or fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink, when did this take place, and his answer is, when you did it to my brethren, to the nation of Israel, verse 40, the king shall answer, and say unto them, verily I say unto you, and as much as you have done it, unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me, when you took care of those Jews, maybe specifically, when they were on the run, from the antichrist, and they were scattered about, maybe, but then the wicked nations, the rest of this chapter, guess what they get, verse 41, then shall he say unto them, also unto them, on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, so they're going to get cooked, verse 46 says, these shall go away, unto everlasting punishment, but the righteous, and the life eternal, now that's like, all the way to the end, of this thing, taking that fire, literal, all the way to its nth degree, so come back to Amos now, and let's, man, we're going to fly, okay, you ready, ran you through the judgments, now I'd like to go back, and, and just kind of pull out, little things, out of each one of these, or, or a few of them, at least, in Amos chapter 1, in verse number 4, when he's dealing against Damascus, or Syria,

[20:32] Damascus being the, I believe, the capital city there, he mentions, in verse 4, Hazael, which shall devour, the palaces of Ben-Haden, he mentions that man, you should recognize that, that name, although it shows up, I think it's got, I think the name, is more than one person, I think it's a name, given to many, with both of those, but come back, to 2nd Kings, chapter 8, and, while you're turning, I'll remind you, what the, what the accusation, against them was, that they have threshed, Gilead, with threshing instruments, of iron, they've threshed, Gilead, the picture there, is a reaping, and a, just a total destruction, and annihilation, like going through, the field, and just wiping it clean, of any crops, that there was, they're going to thresh, this thing, and just beat it, and after, you know, the threshing floor, when they take the crops, what they've gathered, and they beat them, and beat them, and beat them, and get rid of the chaff, they throw it up in the air, and what, they're separating the grain, and so forth, he's using that analogy, to say that, that's what this guy, did to my people, in 2nd Kings 8, oh, don't have time, to get into this, so,

[21:54] God sends, Elisha, to that very name, Hazael, you see him, in verse 9, he went to meet him, took a present with him, and so, Elisha meets him, and, verse 11 says, he settled his counsel, and steadfastly, until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept, and Hazael said, why weepest that my Lord, and he answered, because I know the evil, that thou wilt do, unto the children of Israel, their strongholds, wilt thou set on fire, their young men, wilt thou slay with a sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women, with child, he responds saying, but what is thy servant, a dog, they should do this thing, and so, when he finds out, that he's, this is going to be the case, he goes back to his country, his boss, the king is sick, he ends up, you know, killing him, a thick cloth, dipped in water, spread it on his face, killed him, took over, now look a little bit ahead here, to chapter 13, 2nd Kings 13, this is the same guy, and, the Lord sends him, after his people, chapter 13, verse 3, the anger of the Lord, was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them, into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand, have been Hadad, the son of Hazael, all their days, and the, the king of Israel, seeks the Lord, and the Lord kind of, he, backs off of this, but, the damage was done, notice verse number, oh, verse 7 says, well let me read through here, let me read through here, verse 4 says, then Jehoahaz, that's the king of Israel, besought the Lord, the Lord hearkened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria, oppressed them, and he did it too much, the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they went out, from under the hand of the Syrians, the children of Israel, dwelt in their tents, before time, nevertheless they departed, not from the sins of Jeroboam, made Israel a sin, but walked therein, there remained the grove, also in Samaria, neither did he leave, this is back to, what's his name,

[24:00] Hazael, neither did he leave, of the people to Jehoahaz, but 50 horsemen, and 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot men, for the king of Syria, had destroyed them, and made them like the dust, by, there's your word, threshing, by threshing, he just, just destroyed, their people, their economy, their whatever you want to call it, this is what that man came in, and did to the nation of Israel, and God's now going to settle the score, and the thought here, is that this man, like the other one, I showed you last time, he did not have to go, as far as he did, he was sent in, to do a job, and he crossed the line, somewhere along there, and the Lord holds him, accountable for it, and he's going to judge him, for it, and free will, that God gives to you, and I, just like to that man, can get you in trouble too, God's not going to tie your hands, and say don't touch that, he'll let you touch it, but you better know, when to stop, and you better learn, how to submit yourself, to the Lord Jesus Christ, because he may, he just sent this man, and said go do some damage there, and the man just went, and just thought, oh I can do whatever I want, and decided to, just open up shop, so Hazael, gets dealt with, back in Amos chapter 1, he's the first guy, and now let's go back, to Amos chapter 1, and look at, the Philistines, remember those cities,

[25:29] I mentioned, those four cities, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ashkelon, Ekron, seven and eight, those cities, ought to ring a bell to you, and I really wanted, to run some references here, and so I'm going, to run this one with you, and then I probably, won't be able, to go too much further, unless you just, want to stick around, take your Bible, and go back, to Joshua chapter 11, and let's very quickly, try to rush through, Joshua, and first Samuel, and a couple of these books, and just get a little, background, on these cities, and what this helps, I like this stuff, because it helps, tie your Bible together, because it is, completely, perfectly tied together, it's just our ignorance, when we're reading through it, that we don't see, these connections, and we don't always make them, and then we just feel like, I don't know what it's talking about, and that's common, but the more you study it, the more you learn it, then you start to see, the connections, and they're all over this book, and so let's go back, to Joshua 11, and let's see here,

[26:33] Joshua's going into the land, right, they came in to conquer the land, notice verse number 22, verse 22, there was, none of the Anakims left, those are some giants there, none of the Anakims left, in the land of the children of Israel, only in Gaza, in Gath, we're familiar with one of them, and in Ashdod, there remained, look at those three cities, those are three of the Philistine cities, where there's some of these Anakims, or these giants, living there, now the giants aren't the point, but it's, there's those cities, and they're supposed to go in there, and conquer these cities, look at chapter 13, verse 1, now Joshua was old, and stricken in years, the Lord said unto him, thou art old, and stricken in years, and yet, and there remaineth yet, very much land, to be possessed, this is the land, that yet remaineth, all the borders, of the Philistines, and all Geshurai, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even under the borders of Ekron, northward, which is counted to the Canaanite, five lords of the Philistines, the Gazathites, and the Ashdathites, and the Eshcolonites, and the Gittites, and the Ekronites, also the, so there's, there's the Philistines, that have not yet been conquered, and yet they should be,

[27:50] God's expecting them, to go do their job, look at chapter 15, quickly, 15, and when God, when Joshua's, giving out these lots, to the different tribes, Judah is getting his, in 15 and verse 1, this then was a lot of the tribe, of the children of Judah, by their families, the inheritance of Judah, verse 20, it says this, and it starts giving all of these cities, and as we skim down through this, just want to get to the spot, is verses 45, through 47, you notice Ekron, with her towns, and her villages, from Ekron, even under the sea, all that lay near, Ashdod, with their villages, Ashdod, with her towns, and her villages, Gaza, with her towns, and her villages, on the river of Egypt, that's going south, that's all the Philistines, I should have brought you, a picture here, you could see this, but you don't even need, to see it really, you can just get on Google Maps, and you'll see Gaza, you'll see Ashkelon, and you'll see Ashdod, those three cities, that's what they're named, it's on Google Maps, right now, it's not some old historical, biblical map, that's what they're called, still today, and if you found Gaza, you know the Gaza Strip, you're very familiar with that, and so you find that major city of Gaza, and you start going up the coast, you may miss,

[29:14] I think it's, Ashkelon's the next one, and then Ashdod's the next one, up on the coast, you may miss it, unless you zoom in closer, but you'll see, those three cities, are still right there, Ekron, which is mentioned here, in Joshua 15, is a little more inland, but so what it says, was Ekron, even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with her villages, and that whole region there, belonged to Judah, according to the Bible, all right, now go forward, a little bit further, look at Judges, Judges 13, remember this guy, Samson, Judges 13 verse 1, the children of Israel, did evil again, in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them, into the hand of the Philistines, what are the Philistines doing, in the land, what are they even doing there, that belongs to Judah, they should be long gone, if the children of Israel, would have fulfilled, their calling and duty of God, when God said, this is the land I'm giving you, now get in there, and I'm going to go before you, and I'm going to push them out, drive them out, but he also said,

[30:27] I'm going to leave some of them, to prove you, so that you learn war, you learn how to stand on your own feet, you don't just expect me, to do everything for you, you learn how to fight, your children need to learn how to fight, and this is early in the book of Judges, where God's talking like that, back in Judges chapter 3, and chapter 2 I think, so there they are, the Philistines are giving them fits, and God's using them, against his own people, when they, his people do wrong, look at chapter 16, in verse 1, then went Samson to Gaza, and Saul there in Harlot, went in unto her, was told the Gazites, there's Samson, Samson, we know him, he leaves home, and goes, right over there to the shore, to the coastal city of Gaza, later on the Philistines get a hold of him, and he wist not the Lord departed from him, verse 21, the Philistines took him, put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and did grind him in a prison house, that's where that man was, right there, isn't that modern day, action going on over there, that's where they killed Samson, likely, in this house full of men and women, all the lords of the Philistines were there, and they, you know the story, now we're not done with this, go a little bit further, to 1 Samuel 5, couple books ahead, this is the same timing,

[31:50] Samson is the last guy, and the Philistines are on top, and when you pick up the story in 1 Samuel, you're just going right through, and so you have a few chapters at the end of Judges, and you have Ruth, but you're reading the same time frame here, with Samuel, and I think some of it overlaps as well, the Philistines get a hold of the Ark of God, chapter 5 verse 1, and they brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod, there's one of those cities, and that's where Dagon was, where the house they had built for Dagon, and you know this story a little bit, with Dagon being falling down and all that, and so let's get to this, just this one part here, chapter 6, five lords of the Philistines, mentioned in verse 16 and 17, and notice verse 17, see the end of the verse, the five lords, for Ashdod, for Gaza, for Ashkelon, for Gath, for Ekron, there's those five lords of the Philistines, and the only one missing in Amos, was Gath, as I mentioned already, we're almost done, with this part, look at chapter 7 and verse 10, they're always having problems with the Philistines, verse 10,

[33:10] Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day, upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, they were smitten before Israel, the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, smote them until they came to Bethkar, and Samuel took a stone, set it between Mizpah and Shen, called the name of Edenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us, so the Philistines were subdued, notice this, and they came no more into the coast of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines, all the days of Samuel, and the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were restored to Israel, from Ekron, even unto Gath, and the coast thereof did Israel deliver, out of the hand of the Philistines, so that, they took their land back, that was supposed to be theirs, they finally got it back, but one more thing, look at chapter 14, 14, and the very end of this, just a note about the times of the reign of King Saul, verse 52, says, there was sore war against the Philistines, all the days of Saul, sore war against the Philistines, now that's just a brief history, to this ongoing conflict, that is still on the table, in Amos, when he's writing there against Israel, but before he gets to them, he starts talking about these surrounding nations, there's got to be a lesson to get out of this, this is territory that belonged to Israel, in God's eyes, in his view, from when he, through Joshua, brought them into the land, centuries, this was land that belonged to Israel, and yet, they, they, were negligent, to go take it, and to fight the battles of the Lord, and to subdue it, and to remove them, from the land, and this enemy, that they allowed in their land, imagine, the picture is your heart, and your life, and the Lord says,

[35:15] I'm going to go into that land, and I'm going to place my name in that land, you're going to be a holy nation unto me, and a kingdom of priests, and you're supposed to just, remove everything out, and all their gods, and all their idols, they got to go, the picture of the Lord, coming into your life, into your heart, and saying, now I'm going to come in here, and put my name inside of you, and it's time for you, to get everything else out, that doesn't belong, and that's the picture, conquering the land, and getting victory over sins in your life, and there's some sins that just, they didn't want to conquer, they didn't have the faith, or they didn't have the fight in them, to conquer and subdue, and when you don't remove, the things that God tells you to remove, it's going to come back to hurt you, maybe early, in the judges, maybe later, during the kingdom of Saul, and all the way through, when you don't get rid of, get out of your heart and life, you're going to suffer, you don't get those things gone, that God wants out, it's going to come back to get you, and there will be consequences, when you don't obey God, the Bible says, therefore to him, that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin, and there's Israel, they should have got him out, and they didn't do it, and they knew they should have done it, and yet they let him in, and they let him stay in, and they became enemies, they became, they subdued them, the Lord even used them, against his people, when they turned their back on him, there's much to study with this, much to uncover, and lessons to draw out of this, when we see, that God is against them, and he's going to hold them accountable, and he's going to cause them to perish, but man, that should have been, that should have been taken care of, a long time ago, shouldn't have to wait, for God's judgment day, to get the things settled, is the point,

[37:13] I think you get what I'm saying, so there's more things, I want to point out here, but we run out of time, we've gone long, so I guess I'll stop there, in our study of Amos, I wanted to finish chapter one, with a few more little notes here, but we'll catch it next time, and just pick it up, and continue, and finish this, through chapter two, Lord willing, and try to pick up, and learn some lessons, along the way, so tonight, let me recap, these two thoughts, before we go, that one man, Haziel, never had to go, as far as he did, but he crossed the line, and God's going to judge him for it, and the thought I had there, was that your free will, can get you into trouble, God will let you do, whatever you want to do, but it can, and it will, get you into trouble, if you let it run rampant, secondly, seeing the Philistines, they never should have been there, and yet they were, and they caused problem, and they caused trouble, and I know it's easy to say, you just need to get the sin out of your life, and then you'll be happy,

[38:17] I know it's easy to say that, but you know, if there's that sin, that keeps surrounding you, and it does easily beset you, then, maybe the Lord just wants to see, if you got any fight in you, and he, you know, there's, there's some of the nations, that he drove out, there's some battles, that the Lord just worked, miraculously, like Jericho, good night, that thing was all the Lord, and more beyond that, and the same, it's true in your life, the Lord is, he's done some things for you, there's some sins, that are already gone, from your life, that it wasn't because, you just worked so hard at it, the Lord gave you the victory, but there's still, these other ones that exist, don't they, why didn't he just wipe them out too, why didn't he take that away, when he took the other one away, maybe it's because, he wants to see you, do something about it, maybe it's because, he's given you the power, in his son, to get the victory, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, if we'll stand up and fight, and if we want it, so there's probably, some Philistine land, in your heart, and it's probably got, some of those filthy, uncircumcised Philistines, in it, and in that, far down, corner of the land, they're worshipping idols, they're, they're filthy people, and that stuff is in there, and God doesn't want it in there, so maybe learn from that, if you can, and let the Lord use that, to help you, and we've got to stop, so Father, thank you for tonight, and for our study in the Bible, and please let this, continue to come to life, and show us lessons, and teach us things, from the study of this book, pray that you'll bless it,

[40:07] I believe it's your will, I believe that you will bless it, and already are, and Lord just help us, to be submissive, and obedient to you, as you teach us things, and show us ourselves, we pray for this, in Jesus name, Amen, Amen, alright, Lord willing, we'll see you Sunday morning, Amen,