Amos: True Worship - Amos 2:4-16

[0:00] Thank you, bud for reading and worship team for leading us in worship this morning This morning if you have a copy of a Bible with you if you turn to the book of Amos If you're a guest with us today We are studying the we're using our summer months to look at the book of Amos and Amos was a prophet Who was an agribusinessman who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah?

[0:24] And he was sent of the Lord to prophesy against the northern kingdom of Israel and Last week as we looked and I believe you have this map on your listening guide as you Listen along today. We looked at this map last week of how the Lord was speaking Amos was prophesying against all the surrounding nations of Israel and so he's You could see in their scripture in verse 6 chapter 1 he speaks or verse 3 rather Damascus and that is Syria then he speaks to the Gaza the Philistines entire the Phoenicians Edom the descendants of Esau the Ammonites in verse 13 Moab and in chapter 2 verse 1 and if you will it's like the Lord is citing in a rifle and He and he's going around all the nations around Israel

[1:26] And if you're Israel you're thinking yeah, those are the enemies of God Those are not his people they are the enemy of us the people of God Israel and they deserve everything if not more that the Lord is saying against them and Today our text is narrowing in the sites and Now we get to Judah and if you're Amos this must be a sad Word against your own people Amos is of he lives in Judah This is his people and he is prophesying now against his own people It's him that he is saying this word against and what is interesting is the the prophecies against Judah and Israel are different in this respect all of the other prophecies against all the surrounding nations are Against things that they would have known from creation things that they would have known that are obvious to all humanity

[2:29] This is wrong and bad, but Judah and Israel had God's word They had the law of Moses and it's this standard of contrary to the law of Moses that God is now going to hold His people to not just creation what they can what all humanity knows to be true Because of creation and what you can reveal in creation But no it's the revealed word of the Lord that he gave of law of Moses to his people so if you look With me in Chapter 4 or a chapter 2 verse 4 is where our text begins and We looked last week that In pastor Jay's message he had this phrase that he kept repeating don't treat people like things and Things more precious than people And God is calling his own special people

[3:35] Judah To not also treat people like things and and things more precious than people So if you would look with me and In our in our text today, we're gonna see that God's judgment is hastened when certain things occur and We're gonna look at the first way that God's judgment is hastened and that is when God's word his truth in his ways are Spurned so look with me how we see that in verse 4 through 5 this prophecy against Judah Verse 4 thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke the punishment because They have rejected the law of the Lord. They have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray Those after which their fathers have walked What what was

[4:36] Judah's sin They rejected his word remember God is holding Judah and Israel Accountable to their rejection of the law of Moses. This is if you will the high-handed sin This is a breaking of the covenant that God had given them and let's remind ourselves some of the stipulations of the covenant that God had gave them back after The people had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years upon they could see the promised land in front of them They stop and they are reminded of the covenant that God had made with them and listen to what is Said it back in Deuteronomy 28 says this and if you are faithful to away the voice of the Lord your God Being careful to do all of his commandments and the command as I have commanded you today The Lord your God will set before you as a nation high above the earth High above all the nations of the earth the Lord will cause your enemies to rise against you to

[5:39] Defeat you, but you shall go out against them But they shall come out against you and one way and flee before you seven other ways He says you'll be victorious over your enemies Judah if if you obey my voice and obey and obey my commandments But now notice the the curse that is given in this stipulation of this covenant But if you do not this back down in verse 15 Deuteronomy 28 for 15 says this But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God and Be careful to do all of his commandments and the statutes that I've commanded you today Then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them You shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth and your dead bodies shall be food for all the birds of the air and for The beasts of the earth and there shall be No one to frighten them away

[6:42] Do you hear the? The stipulations Israel if you obey these commands you'll be blessed and when the enemies come one way They're gonna flee before you seven ways trying to get out of the way because you will be victorious before them But whoa Israel if you do not keep my word if you do not obey my commandments This is what I will cause to happen is enemies will come one way and you will flee seven ways and Your dead bodies will be scattered about and the birds and the wild beasts will feed on your bodies This is what's prophesied. This is a stipulation of the covenant in Israel Now Judah, what is their problem?

[7:25] Notice in verse 4 they have rejected the law of the Lord. They have not come at kept his statutes. They have They have been led away by the lies which also are idols The lies and their lies have led them away after the which their fathers have walked It Judah you have broken the covenant that the Lord has made with you you knew better And The essence of the lies have not changed much since the garden God's people believe lives even today When Satan first tempted Eve he lied to her about the nature of God's commandments saying did God say?

[8:09] Did God say? Today the nature of God's commandments are being also questioned What does it say about marriage and human sexuality that this gift?

[8:21] Is only to be reserved in the context of marriage and in a covenant relation between members of the opposite sex for life And that that one thing did God say is being questioned second Satan then has lied about God's veracity that the true the pure truthfulness of who God is He will not die God God is lying to you That is how Satan tempted Eve is he lied about God's veracity Thirdly Satan lied about his own superior interests in Eve's welfare You'll be like God So something Eve is being withheld from you and that is God doesn't want competition You'll be like him if you eat of this fruit Satan played the role of having Eve's better interest than God and

[9:25] Satan's temptation to you and me is the same ever since these same lies Lies about the nature of God's commands lies about God's veracity and lies about Satan's better interests in your life than the Lord are still true to this day It's the essence of every temptation that you take and sin One of those is being questioned if not all And so what's the consequence so in verse 5 for Judah what what does Judah have to look forward to?

[10:04] So I will send fire upon Judah and I will devour the strongholds of Jerusalem So approximately 150 years from Amos's prophecy King Nebuchadnezzar the second conquered Jerusalem Fulfilling this prophecy and you can read about it in 2nd Kings 25 verses 8 through 10 Jerusalem was the city of peace the Lord had caused his name to dwell upon that city Jerusalem will house the great temple the very house of God It was the capital of God's people Israel Judah was the tribe from which Messiah would come Judah and Jerusalem were too great to fail In their own eyes Yet God will not tolerate an equal Nor will he forbear with the people forever And he judged Judah destroying Jerusalem And having the nation of Judah being taken into Babylon captivity for 70 years Church America is not too great to fail either

[11:17] We are just one nation among many in human history that will rise and fall through the God's judgment And America is now committing sins that the world has not openly practiced or celebrated for some time And that is among many the mutilation of human bodies of minors May we be a church that offers our neighbors hope May we be a church that offers our neighbors hope In a place of refuge from sin That are destroying lives By being a holy people set apart to him alone May we repent May we not miss The opportunity to be a people who have the message of the gospel to offer hope for those who are hurting May we not be a people who spurn God's word who spurns God's truth and spurn God's ways

[12:21] Let us not be a people like that So Judah was judged Now if you're Israel you're thinking wow that was close God has prophesied judgment around all the surrounding nations and even Judah That is right those Judah people the 10 northern tribes Israel has not been judged against and they're hearing this judgment And they would be thinking that's right Rehoboam back when our tribes split to to the south Benjamin and Judah and the 10 tribes to the north That's who we are as Israel they that's right. We were right. They were wrong. They have every reason to be judged like that But then the next verse And this is the whole rest of the the amos is going to be targeted in on Israel And they have been reserved for last and now it's their turn to receive judgment So amos speaks In verses 6 through 8 he itemizes the sins that Israel has committed thus says the lord verse 6

[13:28] For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke the punishment because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals Those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of after the afflicted a man and his father go into the same girl So that my holy name is profaned But they may they they lay themselves down beside the every altar on garments taking in pledge And in the house of their god they drink the wine of those who have been fined There's seven sins here that are mentioned But let me let me begin with how Israel the 10 northern tribes got their start They they split after the king Solomon Rehoboam in the south the king was pronounced and And Jeroboam the first was was the king of Israel the 10 northern tribes and Jeroboam Thought to himself, you know every year we're supposed to make pilgrimage several times a year to observe the feast of Israel

[14:30] And that is too hard for us. Why don't why don't we? We're Judah is in the same place Why don't we we're Judah is in the south? Why don't we make a a a temple in Bethel and a temple in dan and let's take from the egyptian gods and put An ox there to worship we don't have to make pilgrimage to Israel anymore Let's make a worship of idolatry and make a worship of convenience because we don't want to make pilgrimage anymore And so from the very beginning false worship and a worship of convenience was instituted these sites Had an egyptian bull on them and they established a non levitical priest to officiate and receive offerings from the people They devised a form of worship that they borrowed from the canaanite bale as well into their System of Worship this was a deliberate act of apostasy

[15:31] And some of the most grievous sins were common in israel and they're itemized here To name a few and I would categorize these seven sins into this in three categories first is sins against others The sins of against others and what is this?

[15:49] The this is under the category of god's judgment is hastened when justice and morality are perverted Justice and that's what you see in these seven sins justice and morality are perverted The seven sins are in three categories first the sins against others They were seeking material possessions And the sins of covetousness They they they sell the righteous for silver it says can you imagine being blameless?

[16:18] and poor And one cannot get justice the needy in this case are the ones who are innocent they are the blameless poor in the day And they are fighting for their rights justice is perverted In this process of seeking justice instead of them retaining their property or the very little they had they found themselves sold into to Slavery to settle a debt so they sell the righteous For silver you have the selling of humans For profit and for gain for a little bit of money To show how little They the they value human life the verse the next one this sinning under the sin against others is the Says the needy for a pair of sandals They they buy and sell humans for a price And they are devaluing human life at a ridiculously low payment That is made to purchase the poor the the oppression of the poor is unconscionable

[17:23] A human life for the price of a pair of sandals People are doing this for their gain wanting more and never satisfied Is the church guilty of sins like this today where we devalue human life in unconscionable ways Would pornography exist If we didn't That is someone's daughter mother Someone created in God's image endowed with immeasurable value dignity and worth And how much are we guilty of devaluing human life Third sin against others that is mentioned it says those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth And turn aside the way of the afflicted

[18:26] Justice is being so perverted the idea of the powerful wealthy landowner stepping on the poor Their head in fact into the dirt Is they are treating people less than dirt Those who need to be pushed off the road are turned aside bullied by the oppressed wealthy I want to Take an aside here and share with you something I've had to reevaluate in my own heart recently. I am Displeased with our state's policies toward homelessness and the poor and so in my heart I have I have I have sinned And so I want to take you on my journey just a little bit to help us make sure that we're not close to also Oppressing the poor I was aided by two books that I've read of recent one is called toxic charity

[19:27] The other one is called when helping hurts But let me share with you some ways that I have been aided in my thinking about the poor Because if I think poorly of the poor And I take issue with some things then likely when I have opportunity I will too exploit the poor I too will take advantage of the poor So Let me first begin with this However, you define a problem that however that needs to be done very carefully because that will then give you the remedy for the problem Let me illustrate if all four tires of my car are flattened And I change the engine of my car thinking I fixed my car I have the wrong diagnosis. Yes, my car may run better at idle But not at speed. It does not help me to go anywhere to have four flat tires and a new engine I if I wrongly prognose the problem, I'm going to bring the wrong remedy So when we think about the poor, let's think about what is the issue?

[20:25] And here's How our culture Thinks about the poor is There is a social issue The poor is there is a social economic Measurement that is given if you're below x amount of dollars. That's poor And so because we put a dollar sign to The problem then what do we do to solve the problem?

[20:49] We throw dollars at the problem because that's the problem And so we supply all these resources and we supply all these things to the poor because that's the problem We've defined it in economic terms and so we throw money at the problem because that's the solution What if that's not the problem?

[21:07] What if God's definition of the poor is different? Let's start where it all began with Adam Adam's sin And what happened when Adam sinned is all kinds of relationships were broken His relationship with God was broken his relationship with how he understood himself was broken His relationship with his wife was broken everything about all of the relationships with adam were now severed What's what's the definition of poverty?

[21:41] Broken relationships. So then what's the means by which we help the poor is to then reconcile relationships Let's assume. I'm a homeless person I'm a homeless person and let's assume for the argument's sake for this to work. I'm in my right mind I need So what do we do to help the poor?

[22:03] We need to introduce the gospel to reconcile the relationship with that person with the lord Then does this person now understand who they what the implications of being rightly understood of who I am in light of God I'm a person of immeasurable value dignity and worth I have been given resources that I can now be reconciled to a relationship with an employer because I have some things that I can do Then I need to reconcile my relationship with my My family. Why am I homeless when I have a family?

[22:38] We're told in 1st Timothy that if family doesn't take care of their own you're worse than an unbeliever So there's got to be a reconciliation with family. But do you see this is slow? Arduous work to reconcile someone's relationships It's far easier to throw money at it This is why I love the union gospel mission you can ask my wife who is on the road today she's returning to Spokane, but You can ask my wife. I am accustomed to picking up individuals who by the way, I'm not recommending everyone do this This is not a prescriptive thing But I will visit with a homeless person on the street and I will offer them if you the best means of help I can do If you will get in my car right now and I will take you to the union gospel mission Why?

[23:32] Because the union gospel mission defines poverty and homelessness the root problem is broken relationships And so they are in the business of reconciling relationships with a person That's the best means of help I can do And believe me, I understand the problems just today I think I got here at the church facility at shortly after six o'clock Barbara are one of our custodians already beat me here and today she picked up two garbage bags of trash around the building I understand But let's not let our frustrations Drive us to get to a place where we exploit the poor This is the problem that israel was doing So every time you have some frustration Ask yourself When should I volunteer at the union gospel mission?

[24:31] There are people uh melissa for example she and her family with some young adults serve at the women's shelter with the union gospel mission One day a week There's others who lead men's groups who are in this church and there are Others who are a paid counselor helping to reconcile a person to the relationship with the lord and to themselves and to others And and so these individuals are in our church who are helping the poor in very meaningful ways But again, this is the slow arduous process All that to say is this all of us in this room are also poor All of us in this room have broken relationships And may we not look down upon others For the same problem we may share Let's reconcile relationships They have other sins that are mentioned here the sins against revelation

[25:41] Notice when it says a man and his father go into the same girl that is what you think it means and so the my holy name is profaned When we when israel sinned in such a way and when we sinned what was the the the cause of that his holy name is profaned It's as if we communicate to others who are observing us when we sin Our god that we serve is less than holy And we profane his name And that's what israel was doing to all of its neighbors and the lord Thought of it as unconscionable it is contrary to his covenant with them And when I think about this sin in particular What what saddens me chiefly is This sin and then in juda's sin in verse four the bottom of verse four and they walked after the ways of their fathers

[26:50] Is you have men who are leading generational and sin And I cannot emphasize the importance of what it means for a man to be godly To lead his family As a man goes so his family goes so a nation goes And what can one godly generation do to affect a family lineage I know in part the answer to this question because my father is a first generation believer And he's the one who I attribute a family culture of knowing the lord in my in my life He to this day has influence in my life And he is one of the few men who will ask me very pointed questions About how I am doing he doesn't say how I'm doing he says how are you treating your wife?

[27:53] How is your prayer life? How is your time in the word? And when my father passes I will miss that influence in my life And then there's Other sins that are mentioned sins against grace sins against revelation, but here's the point Israel are itemized seven grievous sins And they are a just where justice and morality are perverted and god's judgment is hastened when he sees those things What is interesting in all of the other judgments is With all the other seven nations is there's their sin and their judgment are said sin judgment sin judgment And so I'm going to skip a middle portion here And we're going to conclude with that but i'm deliberately going to skip some verses to go to their judgment

[28:54] So what what is the common rhythm? So notice the judgment because these sins is real here's what I am going to do says the lord Behold I will press you down verse 13 in your place as a cart full of sheaves pressed down flight Shall perish from the swift and the strong shall Not retain his strength Nor shall the mighty save his life he who handles the bow shall not stand and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself Nor shall he who rides on the horse to save his life And he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day declares the lord Here's the point god's judgment is hastened when god's inescapable judgment is rejected His judgment is inescapable it's interesting there are seven sins that are itemized in the previous verses

[29:55] And there are seven ways that are mentioned trying to escape Seven ways that people assumed in that day i'm going to avoid this judgment The swift the strong the mighty the bow the swift of foot the one who rides the horse the the stout of heart They all will be destroyed nothing can escape them from the judgment that is pronounced in verse 13 I will press you down in their place as a cart full of sheaves presses down And in 722 a bc the assyrian empire came down and and took the northern 10 tribes of israel into captivity And nobody escaped His judgment was sure But you know There is a sure judgment for All who live on the face of the earth and all who have lived All will face either one of two judgments when the lord returns one Being the great white throne judgment of revelation 20 verse 10

[30:57] In this judgment It is reserved for those whose names are not written in the lamb's book of life That is one who has never believed in Jesus Christ the toning work on the cross for the forgiveness of sin When one believes and subsequently one's name is written in the book They avoid the second death this eternal lake of fire Where it is a perpetual state of torment God's judgment is sure The lake of fire one day will be occupied death and Hades are we're told are thrown into the lake of fire It one day will be occupied There's only one way of escape of this judgment Today if you Believe in the person in work of Jesus Christ and believing that Jesus lived perfectly he died Sacrificially and rose victoriously forgiving sin to all who repent and believe Today I can't encourage you enough to believe in Christ His judgment is sure But in this case there is that one way of escape

[32:04] Which will lead me to the second judgment we're told in 2nd Corinthians 5 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that we may receive what is due to us the things that we were done in our body Whether they are good or bad So for the believer who does not face the great white throne judgment, we too have a judgment And this judgment is sure there is no escape from it But notice It is a judgment for those who have believed And notice it is a judgment for those who have believed And notice it is a judgment of recompense that is a reward Or the loss of reward based on the things done in the body for the believer this judgment is sure There is no escape So if you are harboring unconfessed sin or if you are trafficking in willful sin today, I call upon you to repent This judgment is sure and there is no escape for those in christ Thirdly

[33:06] Now we'll go to that section that we skipped and why did I do that? This is the part of The Prophecy that is different than all of the previous nations all other seven nations didn't have this But for israel gods if you will tells them why?

[33:26] Why am I going to judge you this way? And it is god's judgment is hastened my principle is this that When god's providence and his grace are ignored I'm going to read this section, but I'm going to place emphasis on this and see if you can hear god's providence and his grace gone ignored Reading with me in verse 9 Yet it was I who destroyed the amorites before them Whose height was like the height of the earth And who is strong as oaks I destroyed His fruit from above and his roots beneath it was I who brought you out of the land of egypt and led you 40 years in the wilderness to Possess the land of the amorites. It was I who rose you Some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for the naserites Is it?

[34:16] Not indeed so oh people of israel declares the lord, but you Made the naserites You made the naserites drink wine and commanded the prophets saying You shall not prophesy Do you see what is emphasized? Do you see god's providence over his nation? Do you see his grace?

[34:38] He sent time and time again To reassure to say you are my people. You are the blessed ones You are the nation So I see four divine actions mentioned that I'm going to share at this time Notice the first divine action that god took this is god's providence only he did this Unilaterally he himself alone did this Four divine actions first one. He destroyed the amorites Yet it was I who destroyed the amorites before them the height of the cedars and as strong as oaks And and notice how Totally these these seemingly Insurmountable odds these tall oaks It's he's speaking metaphorically of the amorites these tall oaks and in cedars these huge trees As images of this formidable army of the amorites But notice how low he lays them bare

[35:42] Before them I will destroy their fruit that is there's no possibility of the amorites future nation no way for the fruit to propagate I will so eradicate them. There's no Chance of their resurgence And if you think that's not enough and the roots beneath there is no possibility of future life for this nation the amorites And it is I israel who did that for you and on your behalf as you went into the nation to conquest And kicked out all the enemies of them the amorites were one of them and it was I who did that for you I did that number two second divine action That god took unilaterally exodus from israel Also, it was I in verse 10 who brought you up out of the land of egypt and led you 40 years in the wilderness to possess The land of the amorites that was me Who was it that sent the 10 plagues Who was it that On the tenth plague

[36:43] Told you ahead in advance Please put blood of the animal on the lentil and the doorpost of your house and the death angel when it comes Your firstborn son and your firstborn animal will survive They won't be killed like the egyptians and they did so who did that for you?

[37:00] That was I Who who was it that parted the red sea israel who brought you out of the egypt? I did that? I unilaterally And here's what we see God is building this argument and i'm going to say this time and time again God's abundant provision is the basis for his judgment God's abundant provision is the basis for his judgment Third action divine action we see is the establishment of the israel as a nation to lead them in the desert for 40 years Who was it that led you by the pillar of cloud by day?

[37:37] and the pillar of fire by night Who was it that provided manna in the morning? Who was it that led you to build a tabernacle and so that the god's presence that I could dwell with you?

[37:48] Who was it? That introduced a sacrificial system by whereby sin could be atoned for that would ultimately find its fulfillment in christ Who was that israel? Whose redemptive act was it to provide them the land that possessed?

[38:05] Whose redemptive acts demonstrate his providential care for his chosen people? Israel I did that god is saying who was I that did that? And god is building the argument for the sake of redundancy That god's abundant provision is the basis for his judgment fourth divine act that we see here Is the gift of spiritual leaders?

[38:28] It was I who rose up some prophets and some young men to take the nazarite vow Indeed was it not so old people of israel? It was I God raised up prophets to the northern kingdom specifically will come Jonah Joel Amos Hosea Isaiah Micah Elijah Elisha I sent those to you I did that I sent them warning you Israel repent And not only that I caused some of your young men to be nazarites those who would take the nazarite vow That is who would those who would be the people of Israel That is who would those who would abstain from alcohol and not cut their hair and abstain from corpses samson is the most famous of them in in the old testament But he said I sent you many of them. I sent them to you to warn you Israel repent And what is he doing god is building the argument that god's abundant provision is the basis for his judgment

[39:35] I have done all of this for you Israel and so then he speaks his judgment And as a way of reminder, I just want to share Some things that god unilaterally unto himself did for you before you were even saved And see if you have any of god if you can appreciate god's providence and grace and let's not ignore it Here's just a few that I came up with this week there we could go on and on God before we were saved God gave us creation to reveal to humanity what he is like Namely his eternal power and his divine nature Having sin we were objects of his wrath God condescended to earth in the second person of the godhead in Jesus Christ taking on human form being born of a woman

[40:41] He was tempted in all ways and yet without sin having lived a sinless life He died sacrificial death To forgive and atone for sin He then rose victoriously conquering sin and death. He took the penalty of sin that we might be declared righteous And all who believe by faith in Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection to forgive sin alone For the enjoyment of salvation and peace with God are now accepted in him He gave us even the faith to believe in him He chose us before the foundation of the world. He predestined us as adoption to himself through As sons through Jesus Christ and he awaits to return not wishing any to perish And making it possible for more to believe I don't know about you. I can't do that And that is God's providential

[41:41] Grace and I don't want to ignore it And then you say but but I'm saved Scott. What has God done for me even now today?

[41:55] Oh, these are just a few I'm glad you asked You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and the Holy Spirit now dwells in you Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Lord And he lives to intercede for the saints He hears your prayers. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him We have obtained an inheritance and positionally. We are righteous before Christ God has given us a special revelation his word the Bible that we might know him More and more God Sanctifies us in this truth and his word is truth God began our prayer It is truth God began our sanctification and continues in the process We have the privilege of participate in the world's greatest plan and that is declaring him among all nations Making disciples We get to be his witnesses in Jerusalem Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth We look forward to his appearing in glory

[43:00] As he is preparing for us that day in us that day We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works with an immeasurable purpose And when every temptation comes God provides a way of escape so we don't have to sin He has given us the Holy Spirit and we enjoy the fruits of the spirit and love and joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control God has given us the church Church elders to lead said an example preach and herald God's word as a gift His gifted us with the body The church for encouragement and accountability and the privilege to minister to one another I hope you see God's providence. I hope you see grace And his judgment is hastened when his people ignore that and God is building an argument An argument That a God's abundant provision is the basis of his judgment

[44:05] Conclusion and application Warn others evangelize I was sitting in a dentist chair recently and It's amazing theology. You can learn sitting in a dentist chair I was listening to the guy next door to me in the other room and he was kind of bantering with the dentist and he says well How important is flossing anyway as it was the guy's statement He was kind of bantering and and the dentist kind of bantered back and he says well, you only need to floss those you want to keep And I thought yeah, you only have to evangelize those you want God to save There's a lot that evangelism has to do with dental hygiene With flossing in particular You only have to warn the ones you want to see God save And how will they believe if they have not heard

[45:15] Share the gospel Second For ourselves repent and be grateful I along with you are reading the New Testament and I came across Luke 17 this week and I was struck by this story You're familiar with it Jesus traveled in Samaria and he entered the village and there were 10 lepers And they cried out with a loud voice master have pity on us And Jesus saw them he said go show yourself to the priests and they went and they were cleansed And one of them When he saw that he was wheel healed he came back and it says praising God with a loud voice and he threw himself at Jesus's feet And he thanked him And he was a Samaritan and Jesus asked we're not all 10 cleansed Where are the other nine who are not expressing gratitude?

[46:11] Are not expressing gratitude and I feel like I'm often the nine And I I don't see God's providence and grace I don't I I see it, but I don't acknowledge it. I don't I don't express gratitude to the Lord to say thank you. Thank you Lord Thank you Because why God is building an argument that his abundant provision is the basis for his judgment And may we be a people who see his abundant provision and say thank you Lord Thank you Lord Thank you Lord Father Lord I I want to be a people who take heed to this warning Lord I recognize that this is an Old Testament prophet prophesying against Israel They were taken into captivity. They had broke their covenant with you

[47:16] And Lord I recognize we're under a new covenant a covenant of grace Yet still you desire for us to be a holy people Lord forgive us for the times in which we See your abundant provision And neglect to say thank you Thank you Lord for the ways in which you work in ways that we don't often Want to express gratitude for of things of adversity or suffering For you are doing a work evil and you are doing a work evil and you are doing a work evil And you are doing for you are doing a work even in these things We recognize your providential hand in every respect of our life And may we be a grateful people Lord cause us to be thankful. Thank you for a church Lord to be able to commune with one another to declare that which is true about you to one another to hold each other accountable, to remind ourselves of that which is true.

[48:28] Thank you for the body of Christ. And thank you Lord for your headship. Thank you Jesus for being the head of the church. You are so kind, so good to us.

[48:42] And Lord may we be eager to warn those who don't know you. Judgment is coming and you've provided a way of escape. We love you Lord and it's in your name Jesus we pray. Amen.