THE WRATH OF GOD

#678                    THE WRATH OF GOD

(According to the Prophet Amos)

Scripture         Amos 3:2, NIV                                                                                                         

Orig.     11/1/1964

Rewr.    10/5/1977

Passage:           “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Introduction

              William Blake, the English poet, has a classic statement dealing with anger, and how to handle it.  “I was angry with my friend, I told my friend, my wrath did end.  I was angry with my foe, I told it not, my wrath did grow.”

              In those supple lines, this 18th Century poet sees into the very heart of God, as He determines that His people shall know when they suffer under His hot displeasure.  It is in the knowing that proper steps can be taken to correct our errors.

              Not much bitterness could survive if we went as quickly to those with whom we are angry, for nothing dissipates so quickly as anger not fed on resentment.

              Even so, the Lord calls upon His prophet to be a spokesman to His people in their rebelliousness.  Who the prophet is, is unimportant.  The message of judgment and redemption is of utmost importance.

              In our first lesson the various words for “prophet” were considered.  Ro’eh—to see; chozeh—seer. Navi (9 of 10)—to announce.  Specific meaning to specific people escapes us.  I Samuel 9:9, “He who is now called the prophet (navi)was formerly called the seer.” Jeremiah 28:28, “Let the prophet (navi) who has a dream tell his dream, but he who has my word, let him proclaim  it faithfully.”

I.           God’s Wrath is Made Perfectly Clear through Human Instrumentality.  1:1,2, Amos identifies his prophetic calling. 3:7, Surely, the Lord will do nothing without revealing it to His servant the prophets.

·         Adam forewarned that as there was a tree of life, even so a tree of death.

·         Noah discovered in ample time to make the necessary provisions that there would be a flood.

·         Both Abraham and Lot learned of the impending judgment upon Sodom.

·         Moses delivered God’s message of the blood-atonement that would ward off the death angel in Egypt.

·         Jonah was even sent to forewarn the Ninevites of their danger.

·         Amos also was sent from Judah to Israel less than ½ century before fall of Samaria.  Only Hosea would follow him.

II.          God’s Wrath is Universal in Scope.  Chapters 1 & 2 define this with absolute certainty.

·         Damascus—to the northeast of Israel

·         Gaza—to the west of Judah

·         Tyre—to the north of Israel

·         Edom—to the south of Judah (the descendants of Esau)

·         Ammon—to the east of Israel

·         Moab—to the east  of Judah

·         Judah

·         Israel

              Some observations about the impending judgments.

·         They sinned with impunity until no escape.

·         The judgment would be one of fire (Israel--Genesis 15:17; Exodus 3:2; Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 33:14; Malachi 3:2).

·         The rebuke is at the point of cruelties to other people.

III.         The Wrath of God has as its Primary Target, God’s Own People.  3:2, Key verse, You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.

              I Peter 4:17, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins first with us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

IV.         The Ultimate Source of God’s Wrath is Found in the Idolatry of His People.  4:4, Come to Bethel and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression.  (Bethel—House of God.)

·         Genesis 28:17-18, Jacob’s ladder—How dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God, . . . the gate of heaven.

·         Judges 4:5, Deborah judged Israel from near Bethel.

·         I Samuel 7:16, Samuel’s circuit—Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah.

·         I Kings 12:29-30, And he (Jeroboam) set one in Bethel. . . .  And this thing became a sin.

·         I Kings 13, Prophet from Judah rebukes Jeroboam and curses his altar at Bethel.

·         II Kings 2:2, Elisha follows Elijah to Bethel.

·         II Kings 23:15, Reforms of Josiah begin with Bethel.

V.          God’s Wrath is Directed Toward the Restoration of Righteousness.  3:12, As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued.

              9:14, And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. . . .

Conclusion

              Julia Ward Howe’s moving “Battle Hymn of the Republic”:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat,

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.

O, be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet:

Our God is marching on.

“YOU CAN IF . . .”

#752                                                “YOU CAN IF . . .”

                         (The Answer to the Question, “Can I Believe the Bible?”)                                  

Scripture   II Peter 1:19-21 NIV                                                                            Orig. 8/17/1979

Passage:

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Purpose:          To call my people to a high and holy awareness of the greatness of the Word of God, and to increase their awareness of its total truth.

Keywords:      Belief              Bible               Word of God              Redemption               Christ

Introduction

            It was 10 years ago this week.  A killer storm raced ashore in southern Mississippi.  Nearly 300 people were killed.  Some 400 others were injured.  The stories that broke out of the darkness of that night, and into the wire-services are legend.  The combination of wind, water and darkness brought an unknown dimension of fear into the lives of the thousands who had chosen to stay and ride out the storm.

            Unquestionably, sufficient warning had been given.  The warning of land-fall, the intensity of raw power had been stated.  Many people, however, felt that they had a hedge about their lives, and that the storm could not touch them.  Some of them arrogantly planned, and invited their friends to, a so-called “Hurricane Party.”  At least fifteen people lost their lives even though they had taken security inside the sanctuary of a church.

            Many of those people listened carefully to all of the reports.  They heard the forewarnings relative to land-fall and intensity.  They allowed themselves, in blissful ignorance, to interpret the meanings of those storm warnings in any way they chose.  Having interpreted wrongly, they suffered the ultimate indignity of a wasted life, a needless death.

            The eternal God chose, through the pages of a book we call the “Bible” to give us the forewarnings of the dimension of the storms which occur when man tries unsuccessfully to live together in society.  Many people continue to raise an age-old question, “Can I believe the Bible?”  I would simply endeavor to answer that question this morning.  “You can if!”  And I would remind you at the outset that the Bible is not on trial here, we are.  We can believe the Bible . . . if!

I.          You Can Believe the Bible if You are Willing to Accept the Whole Bible. II Peter 1:21 “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

            The Bible is no Book of bits and pieces.  It is a book of completeness. To deny any portion of it is to disclaim confidence in all of it.  (Paul Harvey The Rest of the Story.)

            The purpose of the Word has always been to heighten the intensity of man’s faith in God’s intent to make Himself known.  It was a prayer that David prayed in Psalm 119:18.  It was a prayer that his faith would not be chained in slavery to his doubt.  “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of the law.” When I Peter 1:21 was written  (“21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God”), there was no New Testament.  In Luke 24 Jesus joined himself to those disciples on their way home to Emmaus.  “We thought it would be he who would redeem Israel.  But he was crucified.  Even though those women went to the grave and found it empty.”  Jesus replied, “You are so foolish.  Why are you slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said?”

            Then, as God make Himself known, He determines to make His Word known.  In a long ago dismal day, God’s people were under heavy siege in Jerusalem.  The Babylonians were about.  God’s principal prophet, Jeremiah, was in prison.  Not at the hand of the Babylonians, but due to his own people.  King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah.  “Is there any word from the Lord?”  (Jeremiah 37:17).  Even then, there was a mandate from God.  If they  would believe, and if they would heed, the outcome would be different.  They did not like Jeremiah’s message. They chose one more to their liking.

            Voltaire wrote “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”  God has given complete freedom, freedom to deny, to dispel, to disclaim.  Jeremiah 34:17 “So now, I, the Lord, say that you have disobeyed me. . . .  Very well then, I will give you freedom: the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation.”

II.         You Can Believe the Bible if You Are Willing to Accept it as a Book about God’s Redemption.  “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

            This is not principally a book of history.  Certainly,  it contains history.  It is accurate history.  It is interesting history.  It is unbiased history.  But [it is] a great deal more than history.  Its purpose  is not primarily philosophical, though it contains the highest ideals, the principal virtues, supreme social consciousness.  It is not a manual of grammar, a textbook on sociology.  It does not stand as a proof-text on the biology of creation, or the pathology of man. 

            It is the story of God’s loving effort to redeem man.  It is, then, from the very first, an admission of man’s sin and his lostness.  Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  But it is the great, good news that God has done something about that lostness, when man could do nothing.

Word of God, across the ages comes thy message to our life;

Source of hope forever present in our toil and fears and strife;

Constant witness to God’s mercy, still our grace whate’er befall;

Guide failing, strength eternal, offered freely to us all.

III.       You Can Believe the Bible if You Believe that it Points from Old Testament or New Testament to Jesus.  II Peter 2:1, The damnable heresies of those who deny “the Lord that bought them.”

            The ultimate message of the Old Testament is that God is going to bring His Redeemer in to the focus of man’s understanding.  Isaiah 11:10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. Hebrews 4:1, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

            The supreme revelation of the New Testament is that the Old Testament message is fulfilled in Christ.  Galatians 3:16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.  He saith not, “And to seeds,” as to many; but as of one, “And to thy seed,” which is Christ.

Story of man’s wondrous journey from the shadows of the night;

Garnered truth of sage and prophet, guiding forward into light;

Words and deed of Christ our Master, pointing to the life and way;

Still appealing, still inspiring, ‘mid the struggles of today.

IV.       You Can Believe the Bible if You Remember to Love, Worship, and Obey God Rather than a Book. II Peter 1:4, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.

            Believing the Bible is not our goal.  Believing the  promises of God is our goal.  The Bible is the instrument through which we discover the capability of God to communicate with man on man’s own level.

In the tongues of all the peoples may the message bless and heal

As devout and patient scholars more and more its depths reveal.

Bless, O God, to wise and simple, all thy truth of ageless worth

Till all lands receive the witness and thy knowledge fills the earth.

Word of God, Across the Ages:  https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3904.aspx