Amos 5:10-15

[0:00] So today we're going to pick it up in verse number 10, Amos 5 and verse number 10. And let's read through the little section here down to verse 15 just to get our bearings here and get ready to go.

[0:13] So Amos 5, if you're there, verse 10, They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. For as much therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them.

[0:31] Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, they afflict the just, they take a bribe, they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

[0:43] Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that ye may live. And so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you as ye have spoken.

[0:56] And hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. So let's pray and ask the Lord to help us here, and then let's get into it.

[1:10] Father, we come before you in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, claiming nothing but His righteousness, His blood covering our sins. Lord, please cleanse us in that precious blood.

[1:21] We sang about the power that's in that blood. God, each day and each night we need a cleansing. We need to be clean in your sight. We want to approach you, Lord, and we want you to be pleased with us.

[1:32] We want you to dwell with us and speak with us and allow these holy words to come alive and to have something for us tonight. It's my prayer that each person here sitting underneath the sound of my voice would hear from heaven and hear from the Word of God and would be challenged and that their soul would be stilled and that you could work something in us tonight.

[1:53] Thank you for allowing us to come together. Thank you, Lord, for the liberty that we have here and enjoy. And we ask you to be with those traveling. Get them back here tonight safely. And we trust you with that. In Jesus' name we pray.

[2:04] Amen. Amen. All right. So I don't know if you caught it, but three times in these six verses you saw the word gate. It was at the end in verse 15, established judgment in the gate.

[2:16] A little bit earlier in verse 12, it says they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. And then from the very first verse I read, they hate him that rebuketh in the gate. Now, the cities in these towns and the land were surrounded predominantly by walls.

[2:32] They had to be a city to be fortified. It wasn't just because it was some major fortress or defense city, but any city for the most part is going to attempt to put up some kind of walls to keep their enemies.

[2:43] Enemies attacking the land was commonplace. It's all over this Old Testament where the nations are coming in to the borders. It's so rare today, and it's all from distance and missiles, but then it was just feet crossing the border and coming in.

[2:58] And so they built walls against their city, around their cities, and each city had gates, often several gates, but one perhaps predominant gate, which would be maybe the main highway that would come into that town, where a gate would be set up.

[3:11] You're familiar with Samson taking the gates off of the city and walking forever with them and not even thinking twice about it. Probably the larger cities would be the ones that are more built up like that, would have this.

[3:23] These gates were to be closed at night. These gates were to remain closed over the Sabbath day. And if you recall, there was some rebukes going forth from prophets because they were, I think it was Nehemiah, because they were not doing that.

[3:34] They were not observing the Sabbath. They were letting the buyers and sellers bring their wares in, and he had to rebuke them for it. So when he reaches the gate, we're talking about the gate of a city. And it's the place where official business is conducted.

[3:48] There is no courtrooms. There is no town hall. The temple was a place of worship. So the gate of the city was, generally speaking, back in the earliest days, the place where business was conducted.

[4:02] Someone sat in what Jesus Christ called in Matthew 23, Moses' seat. And they sat in that seat of judgment, and this was conducted in the gate. Matters between neighbors were discussed.

[4:13] Judgment was determined. It was a public place of concourse that doubled as a courtroom. They sat in the gate. Do you remember Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom? He obviously had gotten himself into some form, some position, some form of government, if you want to call it that.

[4:30] In Ruth chapter 4, Boaz assembled some men, including some family, to discuss the business of Elimelech's inheritance. And he said, it says that they did it at the gate.

[4:41] They gathered them at the gate. So now in verse 10, they hate him that rebuketh in the gate. And they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. For someone to be rebuking in the gate, well, there's got to be some kind of false work going on here.

[4:58] Something shady's taking place. Somebody's taking bribes. Somebody's doing some false matter, some deceitful business. We read in verse 12, look back at verse 12.

[5:09] I know your manifold 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.

[5:20] From what's rightfully theirs. They're kicking them off their land because they don't have the tax money perhaps to pay. Or maybe they don't have enough burdens of wheat, as it's mentioned in verse 11, from somebody else that's poor.

[5:35] And they're just using their power to overthrow people and kick them off their land and take it for themselves. It's just deceitful work going on here.

[5:47] It's an abuse of power on the part of the judges and the rulers. It may not ring a bell to you, but it's ringing in my ears that when we were back in the book of Exodus, it came up so many times, this concept of betraying or of deceiving your neighbor.

[6:06] Even in the commandments, thou shalt not... Oh, I'm going to say it wrong. I was going to say take false oaths. Thou shalt not... What is it against? Bear false witness against thy neighbor.

[6:19] There's so many of those throughout those verses and the judgments that we're all connected to somebody being deceitful, somebody trying to abuse power, and God was putting it down and putting it down.

[6:30] And here it is. The case in point. Years passed, and they're guilty of doing this very thing God was cautioning and warning against. Now, when somebody stands and rebukes this kind of action in the gate, someone standing against it, they in turn hate him, and they abhor him.

[6:50] And that reaction should come as no surprise because the wicked are trying to get away with something. There's collusion going on here. There's a conspiracy. The leaders are notorious for taking gifts and perverting judgment.

[7:04] Solomon warned his son about it in the Proverbs. He warned him several times against this. It was a problem. But for somebody to speak up rightly, as it says in verse 10, he's speaking up rightly.

[7:18] He's just exposing their practice, and he's rebuking these men or whoever's guilty. It sounds like a preacher, but really it sounds like anybody who has the guts to take a stand for what's right.

[7:33] I read in the book of Jeremiah that he stood in the gate of the temple, and he preached, thus saith the Lord, and he just let them have it for all their sins, and this is going to come upon you for your sins, and God's going to take you and kick you out of this city and out of this land, and if you don't bend your knee to him and follow with what he's going to do, he's going to burn this whole thing with fire.

[7:53] He stood in the gate of the temple, and then he says another place that he stood in the court of the temple. He went inside further into the courtyard and preached to everybody coming and going and paying their homage to God.

[8:06] He stood against their sin, and what did they hated him? They imprisoned him. They locked him up, which is no surprise. That's the way a guilty man responds to a rebuke.

[8:17] Get mad at the one giving the rebuke. Get mad at the preacher. Get rid of him. Lock him up. Shut him up. Get him out of here. It's a strange thing to me. In verse 10, they hate him that rebuketh in the gate.

[8:32] They abhor him, the man that speaketh uprightly. Those are strong, strong feelings toward a person who's just standing up for what is right.

[8:44] Just wants to see things be done right, according to what God would have. That's the motivation. What's the word of God say?

[8:55] What is the right thing to do? What would God have us do? And standing against something wrong, and instead of getting angry with the wrong, they get more angry and hate and abhor the man that stands against him.

[9:11] He's only speaking uprightly. It's not a personal attack. It's not calling names, not belittling the people. Just speaking the truth. And what a wrong response to a man that would stand and speak uprightly.

[9:26] The right response is in verse 15. Not hate him that rebuketh in the gate, but verse 15 says, hate the evil. Imagine that.

[9:37] Hate the evil. Establish judgment in the gate. Let's do things that are right. Let's get this place back to the way it should be. Start hating the covetous practices.

[9:48] Start hating the deceitful dealings. And invite honesty and integrity and uprightness back into this operation. Imagine that when God looks down at his people, he desires to see them operating honestly, one with another.

[10:04] He desires to see their rulers. He that ruleth over men must be just. He desires to see that just spirit. Justice. Judgment and justice. You ever notice those two words?

[10:15] They go together in this book like nonstop. Judgment and justice. God desires those things. When he looks upon his people, he wants to see fair judgment. He wants to see righteousness and truth.

[10:28] And when God looks at you and me, he wants to see you and me hating the evil the same way that he hates the evil. Now come back to Isaiah. With me chapter 1.

[10:40] Isaiah chapter 1. We're going to transport ourselves down to the south, to the southern kingdom of Judah. And move ahead about 25 years.

[10:52] And notice something that's going on down in the southern kingdom. Look at Isaiah chapter 1. Verse number 4.

[11:04] He begins his book calling them a sinful nation. In verse 4. A sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity. A seed of evildoers.

[11:15] Children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backward. This is the condition Isaiah is preaching to this people that are God's people in Judah.

[11:32] He calls them rulers of Sodom. In verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah.

[11:45] To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Verse 12. When you come to appear before me. Who hath required this? He tells them don't come to my temple.

[11:58] Don't. Verse 13. Bring no more vain oblations. Stop it. Stop coming. Verse 14. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth.

[12:10] They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands. Like making some religious pious prayer. When you spread forth your hands.

[12:21] I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. They are guilty. So he says in verse 16.

[12:32] Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Watch this.

[12:44] Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Do you ever wonder why those are the things that he's hitting?

[12:56] Because that's what they're guilty of. They're sitting in the gate of the city. Doing the same thing that their cousin or sister so to speak. Israel was doing some 25 years ago.

[13:07] And what's just become culture in the land. Is abusing the poor. Taking from the poor. They're guilty of blood. In verse 19. If you be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land.

[13:18] But if you refuse and rebel. Ye shall be devoured with the sword. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. How is the faithful city become a harlot? She's just selling herself.

[13:32] A harlot. Just getting what she can get. Materialistic. It was full of judgment. Righteousness lodged in it. But now murderers.

[13:44] Thy silver has become dross. It's not silver anymore. Thy wine mixed with water. It's not really wine anymore. You've watered it down.

[13:54] Made it something that it's not. Thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loveth gifts. And followeth after rewards.

[14:06] They judge not the fatherless. Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. They're guilty of that same thing. The same thing going on by these rulers and judges.

[14:19] These powerful men in their society. Is taking advantage. Getting richer and richer. And taking advantage of God's people. Of a helpless widow. Of the fatherless children.

[14:31] And seeing them as an opportunity. As prey for their pockets. And this is 25 years down the road. From when Amos is preaching. To the ones up in the north.

[14:41] Now I want you to notice. That it always starts somewhere. Before it overtakes the land. It started in Israel. It became commonplace in Israel. It came preached against.

[14:52] And addressed in Israel. And it was practiced. And it spread. And it spread into Judah. Judah wasn't as guilty as Israel was at this time. But just give it some time.

[15:02] What's getting them big men. Fat pockets up north. Is going to speak to their pockets too. Down south. And I just can't help today. But think about a similar situation.

[15:15] In our land. And maybe you could say. In the state of California. I saw read. I didn't read the book. But I got attracted to a book called. I'm not sure what the title was.

[15:25] It called California the Great Experiment. And it was leading to the whole west coast. And all the liberalism out here. And all of that. It was saying that. That for a state to govern without morals.

[15:38] And the only compass of our land. Is quote unquote compassion. And I give the users their drugs. Because we feel for them. And whatever anybody.

[15:51] Whatever makes people feel good. And just do whatever you like. Celebrate someone's perversion. Celebrate their confusion. Never say that anything is wrong. If it feels good.

[16:02] If you like it. It's okay to embrace whatever identity. Or whatever debauchery. That you find yourself living in. Anything goes. And it's been embraced in this state.

[16:14] And then. It's spreading. It's spreading. It's out there. It's. The results are everywhere. In my view. The floodgates have opened. And they're not closing.

[16:25] And that you can't put it back in. It's like you can't put toothpaste. Back in the tube. What happened. And that's happening in this land. I don't blame the state of California.

[16:36] But. That the. Smarter people than me. Have come up with this. And said. You've played with some things here. And it's spread.

[16:47] And it's always going down. Always going downhill. You know. The results are in the states. And. I've. I remember.

[16:58] Our first. We came out here. Moved. And there was just homelessness everywhere. And weirdos everywhere. It was such a shock. And after. I don't know. I don't know if it was the next year. Maybe it was two years. Some.

[17:09] Sometime we took a trip back to Pennsylvania. To visit the family. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. To. We got into our hometown. And. In the town square. Small town.

[17:19] In the town square. There was a bum. Laying on the park bench. Just laying there. Like. Just normal. You know. Just like they are laying across the street. Here on the sidewalk sometimes. Or in the parking lot. Believe it or not.

[17:30] Or on our park bench. Right here on our property. There's. They're just laying there. And it just had the whole place furious. They. They took out the bench. To get rid of him.

[17:41] But I. I remember coming back into the. Into town. And looking at it. And being like. Ha. Yeah. You got one too. Like. Quit. Quit. Talking all that smack about us.

[17:51] Moving to California. And dealing with all the garbage. Like. Yeah. It's here too. But then. The truth is. It wasn't just that. That's there too. All the weirdos are there too.

[18:02] All the. All the ideas. All the. Types of people. That exist in our planet. That you run into. That kind of. Repulse you in some ways. When they talk to you. There may be more here.

[18:13] But. They're there too. And I can't help to notice it. In this passage. It starts here. While Judah was living right. 25 years later. God doesn't even want to do it.

[18:23] Anything to do with them. But. Christian. You can stand against it. They hate him. That rebuketh in the gate. They abhor him.

[18:34] You can speak up rightly. You don't have to go out there. And go against anybody. And take. You know. You don't have to. One on one. Scream in somebody's face. But. You can be different.

[18:45] And you can tell people. You're different. Because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you believe the word of God. Is truth. And you're going to live your life. According to what he. What pleases him. If they don't like it.

[18:57] What are you going to do about it? Just going to try to please God. But you can take a stand. And you can know from the word of God. What is right. And you personally can choose. To live what is right.

[19:08] Now back in Amos 5. Find your way back there. I'll tell you what. We're not going to get there yet. Go to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs. This phrase.

[19:19] Rebuking in the gate. It's become synonymous. With something today. That we call street preaching.

[19:34] And that verse in Amos chapter 5. And verse 10. Has even been used as a slogan. For some preachers. Some street preachers. That have a ministry of street preaching. And they'll use that phrase.

[19:46] They hate him that rebuketh in the gate. They abhor him that speaketh uprightly. So look at Proverbs chapter 1. Let's take a look at a few verses here. Start in verse number 20. Proverbs 1.

[19:57] 20. Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice. In the streets. She crieth. In the chief place of concourse.

[20:08] In the openings of the gates. In the city. She uttereth her words. Saying. How long. Ye simple ones. Will ye love simplicity. And the scorners delight.

[20:20] And their scorning. And fools hate knowledge. Turn you. At my reproof. What's this. What's happening here. This is. Outside. This is public. Preaching.

[20:31] And it's very popular. In the Bible. It's better known today. As street preaching. Wisdom is crying. Outside. Without. In the streets.

[20:42] She's uttering her voice. In the gates. The public place. The chief place. Of concourse. Did you see that. Where they're doing this. Where they congregate. Where the crowds are.

[20:53] And she's lifting up her voice. And she's crying. To turn the simple. And to turn you. She says. At my reproof. She's calling for them to repent. To repent.

[21:06] Now I told you. I've heard some street preachers. Use these verses. And they. That's kind of like their slogan. For their ministry. I don't know how familiar. You are with street preaching. Or with this. As a ministry.

[21:16] Maybe you know of us. Talking about going out a little bit. Or others. But there are men. And even. Families. That this is what they do. Full time. They travel from city to city. Some of them are in the states.

[21:28] Some in Europe. They travel from city to city. And preach on the street. In the city. And they go. Passing out tracks. And they try to win souls to Christ. And they move on. Some of them do it.

[21:39] You may remember. A man came here on a Sunday morning. His ministry is to go to college campuses. All around the United States. And try to preach to them. Jesus Christ. And he says. My goal is to make Jesus big.

[21:50] I think is what he called him. And he's a super guy. And he knows how to handle the situations. When he gets in them. When the people turn on him. And all that. He's just got a gift.

[22:02] Now. This is a thing. And there's some good ones. And in my opinion. There's some that are not so good. And I'm not going to stand in judgment too heavily. On what other guys do for the Lord.

[22:14] And where their heart is. I can't do that. But some preach Jesus Christ. Some win souls. And hand out tracks. And others make their ministry about topics. Hot topics.

[22:25] You know. The buzz topics of the news. The things of the. Whatever's happening politically. That's what they preach against. Or they preach against abortion. And hold up banners. And hold up pictures of aborted babies.

[22:37] And disgusting vile things. They put that up. Because that's what they think people need to see. And makes their case. Some of them preach against sodomy. And all that perversion. And they make that their ministry.

[22:50] And so I want to suggest something to you. While we're thinking on this thing. Of rebuking in the gate. And crying publicly. In the chief places of concourse. Public preaching in the Old Testament.

[23:03] Was corrective. Corrective. It was to turn the hearer away from their sin. To cause them to repent. And to do righteousness.

[23:14] Like Amos is telling them. To seek good and not evil. To. He tells them. To hate the evil. Love the good. Establish judgment in the gate. That's what God has called for. Essentially.

[23:25] They're calling to turn them back to the law. But the New Testament I find is different. A major, major event. Changed.

[23:37] The message. That is proclaimed by preachers publicly. Do you know what that event is? It's the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[23:49] And when a man goes out to lift up his voice in public. Now he's preaching. Not corrective. Get back to living right. He's preaching the cross of Jesus Christ.

[24:01] The one way. Unto the Father. I think I've noticed something. And it's just my personal perspective. Take it or leave it. I think I've noticed that some public preachers.

[24:12] Get a little mixed up over what I'm suggesting. Old Testament. New Testament. It's not that they're confused. Dispensationally. And don't know the gospel.

[24:23] That's not the case. But it's rather that they get a little. They attempt to imitate Old Testament preaching. Against sin. Against sin.

[24:33] Against this wickedness. Over the New Testament view of. Christ is the cure. Christ is your way to heaven. They see the ungodly deeds of the wicked.

[24:44] They see it in the land. And they stand and rebuke it in the gate. They go out and preach against it. The drunkenness. The fornication. The abortion.

[24:55] Or the sexual perversion. And the rainbow flags. And it's an abomination to God. And so they go out and preach against it. And it feels to me.

[25:05] In viewing this from. From sometimes a distance. And yet sometimes right there with them on the street corner. They make their ministry about reproving sinners.

[25:16] When they ought to be focused upon preaching Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the greatest need every sinner has. It is not stop sinning.

[25:27] Stop sinning. Stop sinning. It is trust Jesus Christ. Then get him in you. Then the sinning can start to get worked on.

[25:39] It's a little backwards when you're just attacking and condemning the sin. And not making it about Jesus Christ and his salvation. Now if this is confusing to you.

[25:49] Just consider this. Amos is an Old Testament preacher. There was no Jesus Christ to preach about. There was no believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Israel.

[26:02] That wasn't the message at all. The message was always corrective. It was you forsaken him. Get back to his ways. Follow his law.

[26:14] Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. God's preachers were preaching to his chosen people. Look at Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58.

[26:26] This is a key thing to note. If we're building a ministry off of these Old Testament preachers. They were called to preach to. Predominantly to God's chosen race of people.

[26:39] A people that he had already covenanted with. A people that he had already known. And they know him. And when they step out on him. The preachers come to get them back.

[26:52] Look at Isaiah 58. Here's another passage that street preachers love. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet.

[27:04] But notice. And show my people. Their transgression. And the house of Jacob. Their sins. And the nation.

[27:17] He goes through this saying. They're just a bunch of hypocrites. And they're not living for me the way I told them to. The street preachers take this verse too. And don't get me wrong.

[27:28] Don't think I'm against street preaching. And I'm trying to attack. I want you to please. I'm trying to just make a point here. And we'll try to have grace with it all. And understand how to handle it correctly.

[27:39] But the verse is telling them to go out there. Cry out. And show the sin. Not to sinners. Or to lost people today. But to the house of Jacob.

[27:50] Who already know God. And his ways. So to equate this with today. To equate Amos' message. Or wisdom in Proverbs 1.

[28:01] Or in this case Isaiah's message. We'd have to say. It's like preaching to Christians today. Do you understand what I mean? Preaching to Jews in the Old Testament.

[28:11] Would be kind of like. Preaching to Christians today. That know God. That have his word. And have slipped. And backslidden. The preacher can come and preach against their sins.

[28:23] To get them back to their relationship. And fellowship with Jesus Christ. But is that the same message. He takes out to the public. That he presumes are lost. And reams them out against their abominations.

[28:37] Can a leopard change his spots? You going to change them by preaching against their sins? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I believe you reboot Christians for their sins.

[28:51] But you preach the cross. To the lost. In this age. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And let's read a few verses here.

[29:13] And just notice the emphasis of Paul's ministry here. Verse 17. Begin here. For Christ sent me not to baptize. But to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words.

[29:25] Lest the cross of Christ. Should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross. Is to them that perish foolishness. But to us which are saved. It is the power of God. He didn't preach against their sins like that.

[29:38] Did he? You show me in Paul's ministry. Where he is preaching against sins. He might be exposing some idolatry. For what point?

[29:50] To show them who the true God is. To show them their confusion. But show me where he is preaching to lost sinners. And telling them to turn from their sins. Repent of their sins.

[30:01] He says it to Christians. Verse 19. Verse 20. Verse 21. For after that in the wisdom of God. The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.

[30:13] To save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign. That's what they want. They want a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. That's what they want.

[30:26] But we preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews a stumbling block. He's preaching Christ to the Jews. And under the Greeks foolishness.

[30:36] He's preaching Christ to the Greeks. Well they want to hear about the wisdom. He's not reaming them out about that. He's preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. His ministry wasn't attacking where they're wrong.

[30:48] It was offering them what they need. And then the Holy Ghost of God in them can illuminate them to the things that are wrong in their life. I'm not saying you don't preach against sin.

[30:59] That's the last thing I'm saying. I am not saying it's wrong. Even going out to the public to communicate with them that God is against their sin. That's great.

[31:10] They need to understand God is against them. They're a sinner. And they're under condemnation because of their sin. And if you have to identify some sins from the Word of God to get them to that, yes, yes and yes.

[31:24] All of that though is to bring them to Christ. To point Christ out. It's not to take a stand to bring the United States of America back. You know to put the rainbow flags down.

[31:36] To restore this nation. This is not the church. It's not how it works. It's twisting something. So preach Christ.

[31:47] If you're going to go out in public and you're presuming that the people are lost, then preach Christ. If you're preaching to the saved, show them their sins. Because they know better. So the other day on Saturday morning, I was with Samuel up in Central Park.

[32:03] And I ran into a brother that was up there and he was scouting out a spot to preach. He was going to do some street preaching. And he was going to do it because there was a big music festival. Boots in the Park, it was called.

[32:15] And I'm completely unaware of what this thing is. They do it every year. And some of you have been there a bunch every year. Some of you know what the idea is. So it seems to me like it's some country music festival.

[32:28] I don't know. But we were up there playing a round of disc golf. And it got blocked off where we wanted to finish our round. And so we had to go. And I could hear them doing a sound check just real loud.

[32:41] Like there was some kind of stage, it seems, set up way across the way. And so we were leaving. And this brother was there. He said he's going to do some preaching. And I said, what's this? What's all about? What is this?

[32:51] You know, I guess it's a concert or something. He's like, oh, it's a bunch of harlotry, a bunch of drunkenness and lasciviousness. And he invited me to join him, but it was not happening.

[33:03] I had plans already. And so I left. And I was going home. And I was thinking to myself, if I was going to go to this and join, I thought, what would I preach? What would I say to this crowd coming in the doors or congregating on their way to this concert or on their way out?

[33:20] And I thought to myself, I guess I wouldn't stand and just preach against country music or worldly dress or drinking.

[33:31] But I thought, I think what I would say is try to identify some Christians. I think I would say, you know, do you claim the name of Jesus Christ?

[33:41] Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? And if anybody responded to that, I'd say, then what are you doing here? This is not a place where any child of God belongs, entertaining them. I would go that direction because this is worldliness.

[33:54] This is ungodliness. This is not built to bring glory to Jesus Christ. And I bet they do have somebody get up and pray before it. And I bet they do say the name of God somewhere in the whole thing.

[34:05] And people probably cheer to make it sound religious enough, palatable enough, so they can continue in their worldliness. Whatever. Anyway, that's what I thought I would probably bring because that seems to me like a message that would fit.

[34:18] Is to preach against the Christians that are there partaking in worldliness. Anyway, get back to Amos chapter 5. We're running out of time tonight.

[34:30] Amos 5. Verse 10 says, They hate him that rebuketh in the gate. They abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Let's continue.

[34:40] Verse 11 says, For as much, therefore, as your treading is upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them.

[34:51] Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. God's informing these sinners, these powerful people that are doing this shady dealings and destroying innocent people.

[35:04] He's saying, you use your power and you use your authority to take from other people. I'm going to use my power and I'm going to use my authority to take from you.

[35:16] You did it to the poor. You tread upon the poor and took from them burdens of wheat. So you know what? Your nice, beautiful house, you're not going to dwell in it. I'm going to take it from you. Your pleasant vineyards, all that land you got, guess what?

[35:30] You're not getting anything out of it. I'll see to that. What are we looking at here? It's called in Galatians chapter 6, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

[35:42] It's not karma. It's not fate. It is God. It is the Word of God operating in the natural world. That's what it is. Some people call it a principle. Some call it a law.

[35:53] I say it's the Word of God operating in the natural world. He spoke it. He declared it. So it's set. It's set. You want to try to get around it? You're not.

[36:05] Because whatsoever a man soweth, be not deceived. Saved or lost. Be not deceived. You can't get around it. You can't get around God.

[36:15] The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. This is true in the sense of sowing seed into the earth.

[36:29] And this is true in the sense of sowing sin into the mind and into the body. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. I might note here that in verse 11, when they are treading upon the poor, he says, you take from him burdens of wheat.

[36:46] God's saying, I saw every single time you did it. I'm aware of what you've been up to. I know how much you've done. And I will require the reaping. You can count on it.

[36:57] The lesson we need to take away, church, is that God still sees everything. And the cleaner and the holier that you can live before him, the more you can surrender yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, the less you'll have to reap in this life and the less you'll have to give account of in the day of judgment.

[37:23] But sowing and reaping has not come off the table. That thing is going to be there till you die. And I'm a testimony to it. I think probably everybody in this room that has a head on their shoulders can testify.

[37:38] That's true. God's true. And he gets you. Now, there is a way around it. There is a way around it. Look at Hosea.

[37:50] It's just back to your left, a page or two. Look at Hosea. Let me find it.

[38:02] Chapter 10. If you've sown in wickedness and sown to the flesh, you'll of the flesh reap corruption.

[38:13] That's the word of God. But there is a way, maybe saying a way around it's not the right way to say it. But watch this. Verse 12. God says this.

[38:26] Sow to yourselves in righteousness. Reap in mercy. Look a little before this in verse 10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them.

[38:41] That's what they deserve. However, if they would sow in righteousness, God will be merciful to them.

[38:54] When the chastisement is deserved and earned, they've sown wickedness, they're going to reap the chastisement. But God says, because I delight in mercy, so if you'll start sowing some righteousness, I'll hold off on what you deserve.

[39:11] It's like, I'll give you an umbrella when my judgment starts falling. And it's not going to hurt you if you'll start sowing in righteousness.

[39:23] And if you stay under that umbrella of sowing in righteousness, you'll have mercy when the judgment comes. There's a way around having to pay for all of your sins in this flesh and all of the things that you've sown in your life and all the mistakes you've made.

[39:41] The way around it is to start to walk with God, repent, and sow and write. Start doing what you know is right to do. It's not like you're tipping the scales. No, God just to say, that's my child.

[39:53] He loves me. I'm going to, it's going to be awful hard for me to chastise him right now because he's, man, look at him. Look at him doing right. God, he's going to pour some mercy upon you.

[40:08] He'll be merciful to you. This is a reason to get real close to God. The old preachers would give illustrations. I've heard it so many times about a child, a boy that misbehaves and his father needs to punish him.

[40:24] And the child runs way up to his father. Instead of running in front of him, where he'd get whipped, he runs up to him and hugs him on the leg. And he said, it's awful hard to whip him when he's holding on to your leg.

[40:37] And it's a good picture of a child of God instead of continuing to run where the chastisement is going to come, getting up there tight and close to him where you're going to find some mercy.

[40:49] And that's our God right there. That is our God. So in the passage we read a little bit later, he tells them, seek good, verse 14, he says, seek good, not evil, that ye may live.

[41:00] At the end of verse 15, it may be that the Lord of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Why? If they would hate the evil and start loving the good, if they would turn, get back to God, he's so willing.

[41:16] So willing. So we're running out of time here. I'm going to have to close it here. Didn't even quite finish with some of this, but it'll be a good place to start next week with this balance in the Christian life where it's seeking good and not evil.

[41:31] Verse 15, hating evil and loving good. And I want to show you the balance next week. It's very biblical. It's all the way through. It's evident in the life of Jesus Christ. It's something that needs to be evident in ours.

[41:42] So let's just shut her down there and be dismissed with prayer. Father, it's been a good night and I'm thankful for my brothers and sisters here. I pray that the Word of God would have ministered to them and Lord, we want to thank you for your mercy.

[41:58] I want to thank you for allowing us to get up underneath your mercy and not to have to taste your condemnation and wrath. Thank you for being so good to us.

[42:08] We've all gone astray in an evil way and you've called us back to you and here we are on a Wednesday night attending church service.

[42:18] And Lord, please just bless that in our life. Bless that we came. Bless that we did something tonight for your sake. And I pray, Lord, that you'll use us this week to minister to others.

[42:32] Give us an opportunity and boldness to tell them sinner they need Christ and to do it with compassion. And I pray that you'll be with those again that are traveling. Get them home safe. Be with Mrs. West and help her mind and her health to be restored.

[42:47] Lord, and I pray she could be here again on the weekend. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.