The Message of Amos to the “terminal generation” of his country
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A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PREPARATION TO MEET GOD
A. FIRST NATURAL CALAMITY – “HUNGER” 4:6
Amos 4:6 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
Result: Ye have not returned
B. SECOND NATURAL CALAMITY – “DROUGHT” 4:7-8
Amos 4:7-8 “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
Result: Ye have not returned
C. THIRD NATURAL CALAMITY – “PLAGUE” 4:9
Amos 4:9 “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
Result: Ye have not returned
D. FOURTH NATURAL CALAMITY – “DISEASE & WAR” 4:10
Amos 4:10 “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
Result: Ye have not returned
E. FIFTH NATURAL CALAMITY – “FIERY DESTRUCTION” 4:11
Amos 4:11 “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
Result: Ye have not returned
Therefore- Amos 4:12 “Prepare to Meet Your God”
II. THREE REASONS FOR IMMEDIATE PREPARATION
A. “FACING GOD IS INEVITABLE”
Hebrews 9:27 Just as it is appointed for man to die once, then after that comes judgment
B. “LIFE IS UNCERTAIN”
James 4:13-16 Listen to this, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
C. “DEATH IS TOO LATE”
Ecclesiastes 9:12 For man knows not his times as the fishes taken in a net, and as the birds caught in a snare
II Cor 6:2 “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
Josh 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
III. ONLY REQUIREMENT FOR PREPARATION
A. REPENTANCE OF SIN: NEED FOR SALVATION
Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
Rom 6:23 “The wages of sin is death”
Mark 1:4 (first message of NT) “John proclaimed repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 1:15 (first message of Jesus) “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
B. BELIEF IN CHRIST: STANDARD OF SALVATION
Acts 17:3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah.”
C. ACCEPTANCE OF CHRIST: ACTION OF SALVATION
Acts 17:4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.