Amos 3:11-15

[0:00] That's easy to sing. So, all right, let's get into the Bible now. Let's find the book of Amos. And we are in chapter 3 of Amos.

[0:10] I'll give you a second to find it. Amos chapter 3, and I believe we stopped in verse 10, the last time we got into this book.

[0:26] So we'll pick it up in verse number 11. And one thing I just today, and looking over the notes that I have over the last several times that we've been in this book, I was just glancing through them, just kind of skimming over the pages of the notes.

[0:47] And one thing that struck me was how many different references to different books of the Bible that we've turned to while we're studying this prophet. And it's a blessing to study your Bible like that, not just to put Scripture with Scripture, to learn something or to expound on the text, but to get, like, we weren't just doing that.

[1:09] We've been in Romans and in 1 Peter and in 1 John and in Ezekiel and in Genesis and Deuteronomy and the Psalms. And I was kind of just thought, man, if I could take a list of all the books of the Bible and start crossing off the ones that we've turned to already, we've already got quite a list covered just in studying this book of Amos.

[1:28] The Bible is put together like that. It is, you can't unravel it completely. It's too intertwined. It's all connected. And when you change it and when you mess with it or when you take something out of it, you're messing with something that is holy and you're destroying something that would give you light otherwise.

[1:49] So, all right, let's continue in our study. Amos chapter 3. And let's pick it up in verse number 11. The Bible says, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, an adversary there shall be even round about the land and he shall bring down thy strength from thee and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

[2:08] And so God is threatening through the prophet. He's threatening this people of Israel. They're very guilty before him. We've covered some of that in chapter 2. In the most recent thing we saw in verses 9 and 10, he is calling for some Philistines and calling for some Egyptians to come up to Samaria and just to sit and watch what he's going to do to them or at the very least to observe their own filthiness, his own people.

[2:33] And so God's about to do something and here he says that he's going to bring down their strength and their palaces shall be spoiled. So historically speaking, the king of Assyria has come over here to the land of Israel.

[2:49] He's taken them captive and he destroyed their land. And as I showed you in chapters 1 and 2, the word of God is not just a book about history. It's a book of prophecy at the same time, like literally at the same time.

[3:04] And so a verse that may be historically have an application to the Assyrian king and to captivity of Babylon also has a prophetic future view beyond that, goes out far out beyond that into the tribulation.

[3:19] And what we would say is the adversary is the Antichrist that's going to come into the land and do some more destruction and the Lord's going to show up and defeat him. And so I want you to remember that as you study these prophets and as you read your Bible, that there are multiple applications to the word of God.

[3:37] It's not, it's never isolated to just a historical application. And much of the scholars or much of the commentators that have something to say or perhaps even in your Bible, your study Bible, they'll make the comments to say, well, that happened in this year or that happened by this king and it was fulfilled.

[3:54] And yes, historically true. But God is, he is not limited to that. He sees more than just what's going to take place on this earth with a king that he's going to bring to punish his people.

[4:06] He sees beyond that and he puts, he says them both in one way. It's only God can do that. It's like he's killing two birds with one stone and the birds are thousands of years apart.

[4:18] And only God can do that. It's a holy book and you've got a special book in your lap when you're reading this. So be aware of that as we study this. But you know something else beyond just a historical application and a future or prophetic application, there's another application that oftentimes we can make and it's a spiritual one or a devotional one.

[4:40] And the Bible doesn't, it uses the word adversary in verse 11. It doesn't name a name. And you know what the Bible says about an adversary of the believer? You know who that is in 1 Peter 5 verse 8?

[4:53] Does anybody know? Yeah, what's the verse say? Does anybody know it off the top of their head? Or can you get it started? He walketh about. Be sober, be vigilant for your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

[5:13] You've got an adversary, the devil. And he's roaring as a roaring lion. What does this passage say about a roaring lion?

[5:24] Look at verse 4. Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Well, if that's true, then that roaring lion Peter warns us about has taken some prey.

[5:35] Because a lion doesn't roar and the prey takes off. They run. They run for their lives. But he must have taken some prey and our adversary as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

[5:50] So he's already taken some prey and he's seeking some more. It's the same. And so there's always more to a verse than meets the eye. Just be careful reading through too quickly and not letting the Bible open up.

[6:03] And that's why it's good to come together and just park on it and study it. There's more there. So let's continue. Verse 11 ends by saying thy palaces shall be spoiled.

[6:15] Just hold on to that mention of their palaces. It's going to come back soon. So verse number 12 is a peculiar verse. Let's read this one together. Thus saith the Lord, as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus in a couch.

[6:39] Now there's differing views on this because it's an awkward wording to this verse, I think. And the lion, and the picture I see is the lion is the adversary.

[6:53] And the adversary comes and he devours and he destroys of the flock of God. And in the case of this prophecy, that's something God sent to destroy them and deservedly so.

[7:07] The good shepherd, though, is going to defeat that lion. How does he take anything out of the mouth of the lion if he hasn't defeated him or killed him or something, subdued him for sure?

[7:18] I don't see a shepherd, some of the commentators say, oh, he must have thrown rocks at him and scared him off. But it says he took it out of his mouth. So I'm going to say that he killed him in the picture, this is, at least in the picture.

[7:32] The shepherd takes out of the mouth the two legs and the ear. The good shepherd salvages what he can of that destruction in his own conflict or fight with the lion.

[7:44] And if that's our adversary, the devil, then, well, that's another application. Let me skip that. The shepherd salvages or taketh out of the mouth what remains, or the Bible word is a remnant and takes that remnant and keeps that for himself.

[8:03] Look at Ezekiel 34. I'm going to show you another passage that might line up with this pretty well. If this is the case, then the children of Israel are so far destroyed and defeated by their adversary that there's not much left.

[8:24] And there's another place, actually there's two places that the Bible refers to Israel in Amos here later on and then one time in Zechariah to the city of Jerusalem referring to them as a brand or a firebrand plucked out of the fire like a stick that was burning and about to be consumed to ash and completely gone but it's pulled out just in time.

[8:48] And that's what the children of Israel likened unto in their judgment. Ezekiel 34 and take a look at verses 11 through 16. For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out.

[9:05] As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out of my sheep and will deliver them out of the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

[9:18] And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in the inhabited places of the country.

[9:29] I will feed them in a good pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

[9:40] I will feed my flock and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God, and I will seek that which was lost. Sounds like Luke chapter 15 and the Lord Jesus Christ. I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick.

[9:59] But I will destroy the fat and the strong and will feed them with judgment. And there's just a passage that kind of pictures the Lord retrieving his own and bringing them back into the land and restoring them but not before great destruction and demise to them for their sins and their transgressions against God.

[10:20] So moving on, verses 13 and 14 back in Amos chapter 3. Hear ye, there's Amos' phrase that he likes to say, hear ye and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord God, the God of hosts, that in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

[10:45] He says altars, plural, and then he says, the altar shall be cut off. And so there's plural altars in Bethel, but it seems that there's this one particular altar that he's going to do some major destruction to.

[11:00] And if I'm reading the Bible right, it would match something that has been set up and established a long time ago under King Jeroboam. We've already looked at this a few times back in 1 Kings 13 when he said, you can't go down to Judah, you can't go down to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, so instead I'm going to set up two golden calves, one in Dan, one in Bethel, and there they're going to worship instead of going to God's temple.

[11:25] This was a great sin that Jeroboam made Israel to sin. Now, God says that he's going to visit the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

[11:38] But I want you to consider something that 200 years ago the altar at Bethel was already rent and that means it was ripped open and the ashes were poured out.

[11:49] Do you remember reading that where God sent a man of God out of Judah and he sent him up there to Bethel and the king Jeroboam was standing there by the altar and the man was told to prophesy against that altar and cry against it and his cry had to do with a future.

[12:06] Down the road a king would be born, his name's going to be Josiah and he's going to burn bones upon that altar and I'm going to give you a sign that this is going to take place. This altar's going to be rent and it's going to be ashes poured out and the king says take hold of him and when he does the thing shakes and breaks and the ashes pour out and what's interesting or sad is that 200 years later Amos is preaching against that altar.

[12:34] The altar that God miraculously powerfully destroyed in the presence of the king that had it built and worshipped there what's sad is that that altar must have been repaired and that altar must have they resumed worship at this same place where the Lord showed up and cried against it by the word of the Lord and that king stood there and he heard it and he experienced this whole thing and he heard the prophecy against it and after it went away at some point he said fix that altar back up I want to worship here some more I don't want to read I don't want to give up my kingdom because that's what he feared was going to happen if the hearts of the people went to Jerusalem to worship God so he said I heard what you said preacher I saw what happened I experienced the Lord moving but I'm I'm not going to change and what kind of commentary is that not just on that king because it shows in the passage when you follow that through the history of his son and his son's son and it went through the generations of the kings of Israel they're all sinned according to the sin of Jeroboam that thing just kept on and kept on and kept on one thing that shows me and teaches me is how deceitful and desperately wicked the heart of man is myself included our hearts are just as dirty as that king's when we hear the word of God and we experience the Lord in front of our face dealing with us or showing us something and then we just go right back to it what would make us change what is going to have to happen to get us to change let me offer something to you keep your place in Amos obviously but go to the book of Galatians and the passage that our sister was just quoting chapter number 2 this is something the apostle Paul says and it applies very well with what took place with King Jeroboam and the generations that followed him it had to do with some religion with something that they were believing in or holding on to and verse 18

[15:02] Galatians 2 18 Paul says this for if I build again the things which I destroyed I make myself a transgressor so how can we keep from building things back up or from repairing the altars that God breaks down in our lives and that once gives us a victory how can we keep ourselves from going back to it and building it back up to worshiping at that altar again well later in that passage the verse that was quoted verse 20 let's read that together Paul says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I think the answer to that question of how can we keep ourselves from going back and repairing those things that God and you and I have vowed or we have committed to the

[16:06] Lord we've destroyed them in the name of Jesus Christ how can we keep ourselves from going back I think the answer has everything to do with Jesus Christ and with what you want out of your relationship with him if you just want salvation from hell then that's all you'll get from your relationship with Jesus Christ he'll save your soul by his blood that he shed for your sin he will save you eternally plus nothing and he'll ask nothing he'll demand nothing he'll just take your sin and if that's all you want from him then that's all you'll get from him but if you want more if you want to walk with him if you want to walk in the light as he is in the light and if you want fellowship with the father with his son Jesus Christ take a look at chapter three of Philippians chapter three of Philippians it's going to have everything to do with your relationship with Jesus

[17:11] Christ and what do you want out of that relationship do you want victory over your sin do you want to keep yourself from going back to it and building it again do you want that victory and do you want to keep it then I'm going to say you're going to have to build up your relationship with Jesus Christ not build up your resistance not build up you resisting the devil build up your relationship with Jesus Christ Philippians three and let's read a few verses here starting I'll start in verse six just to tie it back to what he was Paul was talking about in Galatians building again the things which he destroyed in verse six he says concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless and that's what he destroyed was what he had earned under the law verse seven but what things were gained to me those I counted loss why Paul for Christ for Christ

[18:15] I wanted Christ so I dumped all of that because I wanted Christ verse eight yea doubtless I count all things but loss I destroyed them for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord because he wanted to know the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord he held knowing Jesus Christ up so high it excelled compared to what he had he counted that but dung the verse says for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung why again Paul that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death he said

[19:16] I'm crucified with Christ here he refers to the sufferings the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Paul said I want that I want him I want him if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and we could continue the rest of the chapter but we got to stop the apostle Paul put everything on all of his desire all of his focus all of his future it's all on Jesus Christ and the rest of him the life that he lived he just counts it but dung he's not going to pick it up one more time because in his mind he's destroyed it all so that he can have

[20:26] Jesus Christ so he can know Jesus Christ so that he can walk with him being conformable unto his death that's one that we just we're not very good at right there is being crucified with Christ I wonder if you could if you personally believe that you could stand up right here in this church don't do it but just do you believe you could stand up in this church and declare I am crucified with Christ could you declare that in all honesty before God I'm crucified with Christ now I'm not trying to be hard on you and say no you can't I mean to say that's what Paul said he could say it he meant it nevertheless I live but yet not I it's a tough one right there it's a really tough one it's a good one it's one to strive toward it's one to press toward and forget those things which are Christian life you need to build up your relationship with

[21:28] Jesus Christ so that Jesus Christ replaces the altar that you once bowed down before or the idol that you once gave yourself to or the sin or whatever the thing that is that you it's yet not I no more but Christ liveth in me would Jesus Christ come into you and build those things back up in your life absolutely not once destroyed it is not the work of the new man it is the old man you're giving him way too much liberty and you think in your own heart God deal with your own heart of those things that you've gotten victory or you've committed to Christ or you've repented of you've laid at the altar or at his feet at the cross and sought forgiveness for and then you go letting it back in and it gets in and your heart warms up and wants it and you're making yourself a transgressor and you need to get it right that king back there he must have repaired that altar because

[22:38] God says I'm going to destroy that thing I'm going to take it out so let's go back to Amos chapter 3 your relationship with Jesus Christ what do you want out of that relationship that will determine how much you build up or don't build up Amos 3 we read verses 13 and 14 let's finish the last verse I will smite the winter house with the summer house and the houses of ivory shall perish and the great houses shall have an end saith the Lord now obviously he's addressing the rich having their winter houses and summer houses and I think you can get the idea I don't have two houses and I don't get to travel around depending on the season so this doesn't apply to me but you see them having houses of ivory and great houses and the verse earlier that we read in verse 11 thy palaces shall be spoiled!

[23:49] year in

[24:49] Los Angeles California 2026 it has not changed a bit there are many many many that are greedy and filled with lust and covetous hearts they're deceiving and defrauding and lying and stealing and cheating because they want wealth they want power they want to be on top they want summer houses and winter houses they want palaces and ivory they want it all and they do whatever it takes but Christian don't be deceived and don't allow your heart to envy the wicked because you see them every day you drive around and live your life and you see the great houses and you see it on the news and on the television on your phone you see the people with wealth being propped up in front of your face all the time influencing you to enjoy their lifestyle or to desire it and let me caution you and remind you from the word of God to stay away from that you can't even pull up to an intersection without seeing some car that's three times the value of yours and I can't do it

[26:02] I can't sit there and think man and I'll be honest with you sometimes I'm like Lord I look down I start to despise the Volkswagen Passat that I drive it's got 200 whatever thousand miles on it and makes noises and it's got things that need to be fixed on it and just trying to bide my time on that not throw money on a piece of junk metal but I pull up and see the vehicles and sometimes they're all around me and I'll be honest I think man I deserve that I mean Lord could do that Lord could drop that into my lap and I could be the preacher that drives around in a Mercedes Benz and it would be a blessing because I would put something on a bumper sticker I don't go far with that but I'll be honest I see it and it does when I see it it makes me look down upon what I have it makes me think man this thing is this thing even going to last another year and I don't think that way if I was driving through a place where people are walking everywhere and they barely have shoes on their feet

[27:19] I'm driving past them I wouldn't be thinking that I'd be like I'm a king get out of my way you peasants it just depends where you live I'm telling on myself too much so let's go to Psalm 37 let's not be deceived and allow our hearts to envy the wicked because we can barely pay our rent but let's consider what the word of God has to say about the riches verse number one you find Psalm 37 the Bible says fret not thyself because of evildoers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb trust in the Lord and do good in other words turn your attention on the Lord

[28:19] Jesus Christ and do something for him instead of letting your eyes drift into what the wicked have in this world so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed that's the promise you'll be fed didn't say you're going to get what they have just says you'll be fed delight thyself also in the Lord amen and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart commit commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday God will raise his children in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints and he says that he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light one day it's going to be a day of darkness cast into outer darkness for the evil doers there is no reason why a child of God children of light should look upon the evil doers and workers of iniquity and be envious of what little time they have with some money their life is but a vapor just like yours the

[29:34] Bible says it's like a hand breath it's nothing it's gone in a moment and if this is all the joy and satisfaction they get of having a nice home and having a few nice cars and some things let them have it because you know what's coming for them compared to what's coming for you they're going to be according to the Bible they will be suffering torments in the lake of fire forever and ever where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched and in that moment in the very minute they would give it all up if they could have another chance to come to Bible Baptist Church just once and to hear the word of God and to understand what Jesus Christ did to save them from that place they would burn it all in a minute if they understood and if they knew our future is far far brighter than theirs so no

[30:46] I'm not being sarcastic but let them have their day now next time you get envious! let keep your piece of junk that's barely on the road or keep scraping to get by and working to the bone just to keep a light on and remember that what God promised you is half has never been told you don't know you don't even know what's coming for you Jesus Christ said woe unto them that are rich for ye have received your consolation you've got it right now and when it's gone and when you breathe through your last breath you're damned so our future is looking pretty good and let's just let our mind be focused on that as far as a future application to what we're looking at in Amos come to James and we're probably going to have to quit here look at James chapter one

[31:47] God's telling him he's going to smite their houses of ivory and their great houses and their palaces it's not going to do them any good when the Lord comes by and judges them there's a future application to consider when we're receiving warning against the rich and you may remember here in the New Testament it kind of puts the spotlight on the rich man a few times but it's never in a good light James chapter one look at verses nine through eleven let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways there's more warning look at chapter two and verses five and six!

[32:59] says hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him but ye have despised the poor do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called if I could back up a little bit you'll notice there if a rich man shows up I'll start in verse one my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Lord of glory with respect of persons for if there come under your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man and vile raiment and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou here in a good place and say to the poor sit thou there or sit here under my footstool are you not then partial in yourselves become judges of evil thoughts and then he goes on to say these the rich men they're the ones that are persecuting you they're the ones that defile you this place and they speak evil against the name of

[34:05] God they blaspheme that worthy name so what's he telling them don't have respect for them don't admire them don't revere them don't follow them on their social media they're the ones that God's going to judge and condemn and in the future setting this kind of ties into some tribulation doctrine they're going to be oppressing just like the Old Testament the stuff matches right on they'll be oppressing the poor and they'll be gaining their wealth and the whole system of the world coming under one world order and the mark of the beast and the worship of the beast and the economy all being set up like that it'll go one direction if you're not part of it you're not going to have any wealth you're going to be scraping to get by and they're going to be blaspheming that name literally and so they're just as godly in the future day as they are in Amos day and then there's a warning look at chapter five of

[35:08] James chapter five there's a warning against the rich imagining that they're secure in their riches verse number one go to now ye rich men weep and how for your miseries shall come upon you your riches are corrupted your garments are moth eaten your gold and silvers cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and ye shall eat your flesh as it were fire what in the world ye have heaped treasure together for the last days behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields which is of you declaring that you're guilty and you didn't pay when you should have and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabbath sabbath so they didn't pay their laborers they kept back their money by fraud and now the Lord is going to make them pay for it you have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton and been wanton you have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter and you condemned and killed the just these guys are so guilty that

[36:22] Jesus Christ warned! once I think it's in Luke he warned against the man that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God so back in Amos just closing off that chapter the judgment of God comes upon the rich and Amos message is aimed at the rich and rich men God can give wealth to one of his children if that child of God has a heart toward him and the money doesn't have his heart he can be a channel and can give and can be a blessing and can support and there's nothing against having money if your heart is given to Jesus Christ but that's not the case with these men and that's not the case with the ones Jesus Christ preached against and the one that James is warning against the money has their heart and they're using their power and influence to destroy what would be the Lord's work or just to oppress the poor and afflict them and so the Lord says I'm going to settle the score with you and once and for all it's going to come out in the wash and so for us today let's not envy them let's understand their end let's be cautious to live a life of humility and contentment with what the

[37:41] Lord Jesus Christ has given to us and I know that that flies right in the face of Americans to be content because there's nothing in this world or in your life that's trying to help you be content everything is trying to tell you don't be content with that you deserve something else and that same spirit is going to try to seduce you and pull you away from your heart being in complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and riches do certainly make themselves wings they fly away but there's another verse I was going to couple with that I lost it so I'm not going to chase it let's just close with that and by the grace of God let's serve him till he comes and gets us father thank you for this evening thank you for the study in this book I pray that it's beneficial to each one here that we learn from it that your word helps us and steers us clear from our foolish hearts our deceitful hearts

[38:42] Lord help us to repent of the things that we have built up and allowed to come back in if that's the case give us courage and give us victory may we seek and desire the Lord Jesus Christ to be our all in all today and forever and Lord give us victory please bless as we go we pray that you'll be upon each one and that you'll grant safety that you'll help us to be a light in this world and to walk in righteousness as children of the day we pray this in Jesus name for his sake alone amen amen well good night you're dismissed a