WE have been considering some of the lessons which are to be found in the opening two chapters of Amos, we now turn to the consideration of the particular warning given to Israel. Amos was sent to prophecy to Israel, and all the previous prophecies to the nations have been leading up to God's warning to Israel concerning their sinful living. Because of this it is not surprising that the message to Israel is far longer and more detailed than the other nations and even more detailed than to the southern kingdom of Judah. What is helpful in looking more closely at the warning to Israel is how this helps us to evaluate and appreciate God's warning to all the other nations.

Let me repeat, what I have already said concerning these terrible warnings of God's judgement, that these declarations of God's wrath and judgement have a gracious purpose. These days people come to the prophecy of Amos, and complain that it is all gloom, and paint it as an unnatural and untrue revelation of God. They say that Amos speaks of God in an unacceptable way as a God of wrath, when God is a God of love. In this spirit the prophecy of Amos is sidelined and its message denied. The fact is that the warnings given here to Israel are full of grace and mercy. It is not gracious or loving to hide from people the holiness and justice of God, and that in his holiness it is impossible for God to overlook sin. It is not act of love to hide the revelation of God that sin must be punished and the soul that sins must die. People would like such Scripture as the book of Amos to be removed from the Bible, but this would be an act of supreme unkindness. God could have refused to warn people of the consequences of sin, and then people would wander through life without any concept of the danger that awaits them in eternity when the judgement of God would be pronounced and the sentence of hell be given. Warnings are an act of grace. The clearer the warning the more abounding in the grace of God. God acts graciously when he gives warnings, for by such warnings there is given the opportunity to repent and seek the grace of forgiveness and eternal life in the infinite loving act of God in giving his Only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. As was the case with Nineveh when God warned them of his judgement by the preaching of Jonah, when people repent and turn to the Lord, mercy abounds in grace.

The warning to Israel has three clear parts. 1. Israel's sin exposed. (v.6-8). 2. The aggravation of Israel's sin. (v.9-12). 3. Warning of the consequence of sin. (v.13-16).-

1. ISRAEL'S SIN EXPOSED. (v.6-8)

The exposing of Israel's sin is given in words that sound quaint to us, but the fact is that it is graphic and vivid and speaks to the heart as well as the mind. The pictorial and illustrative language paints a picture which involves heart, emotion, conscience, and vividly calls us to behold the horror and darkness of the evil exposed. It is so easy to see evil without any of it touching the heart or the conscience. With our mind we can appreciate the evil, but if the heart is not involved sin is not felt and so left alone. For instance society has known the greed and selfish recklessness of bank's trading on the stock market to make money. We can appreciate that many people suffer by such action, but the banks are not concerned as long as they make profit. All this was allowed to go on, and is still allowed to go on. However when people begin to suffer because of this reckless and selfish procedure, then they begin to take notice and cry out against such practice.

So we see that God makes sin visible, and makes the evil clear and abhorrent by using vivid language. Righteous people being sold for silver, and needy people sold for gain, and poor deprived of justice, is described so vividly that it is impossible not to see how evil this culture is. God in his warning graciously exposes sin in all its horrible nature, in order to turn people to repentance.

There are two directions of evil and sinfulness which is exposed. These are not the whole catalogue of Israel's sin, but touch the heart of the corruption in Israel. On the one hand we have a picture of a nation given over to lust for worldly gain and riches. Such is this lust that all kindness and love is obliterated, and for gain the plight of others, even the vulnerable in society, is disregarded. Pain and loss is inflicted in order to make the few rich and prosperous. On the other hand we see a society so given over to sensual pleasure, that the grossest acts on sexual depravity are perpetrated in order to satisfy human lustful sensuality. Greed and lust filled the desires and actions of that society.

The horror of this sort of living is described at the end of verse 7. The horror is that it profanes the holy name of God. All sin is not just sin against human beings or society, it is first and foremost sin against God, and this is the greatest evil of sin. God is holy. Sin defiles and profanes his holiness. No wonder God's wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It is a wonder that God bears or bothers with human beings at all. It is a surprise that he does not blot society out as he did with Sodom and Gomorrah.

The tragic thing in this revelation of sin is that it paints a picture which almost exactly mirrors our society in Great Britain, and indeed in all the world. How the world needs to heed the prophecy of Amos. How greatly the ministers' of Christ need to proclaim the wrath of God against sin, so that people may have an opportunity to repent and avail themselves of God's infinite grace in the sacrifice of his Son to atone for sin on the cross.

2. THE AGGRAVATION OF ISRAEL'S SIN. (v.9-12).

The aggravation of Israel's sin is given us in these next verses. God's complaint against Israel is that they sinned against wondrous love and grace. In spite of all that God had done for them Israel had departed from the Lord, and gone their own way in complete disregard, not only of his holiness, but also his loving action towards them. It is a fact that sin becomes more culpable and evil when it is committed in the light of much kindness and mercy of God.

What had the Lord been to Israel and given to Israel? In the first place God had given them the land in which they lived. The strength of the Amorites are described vividly to make plain that Israel could not have subdued this nation in their own strength. Such is the everlasting truth about the goodness and grace of God. If God does not save us and provide us with salvation, we would not be saved. There is no strength or ability in fallen humanity to meet the demands of God's holiness, nor any merit which mankind can produce to atone for sin. God must save and He alone. So it was with Israel. The Amorites possessed the land, and only God could defeat them and so provide a haven for his people Israel. In spite of this fact Israel took their habitation for granted, and because God had blessed their armies with many victories they supposed that with the arm of the flesh they had obtained their land. So often Christians proudly walk in the idea that they have contributed to their salvation in some way. This is a grievous sin in and of itself, but it produces the further sin, which Israel showed, in taking God's mercy for granted, and living sinfully with impunity.

God reminds Israel that it was He who saved them. He brought them out of slavery in Egypt, and led them safely through the desert into the land they possessed. God reminded them He had cared for their souls by sending them prophets and holy men to nurture their souls. In spite of this Israel aggravated their sin by disregarding all God's love, and despising his grace. The aggravation was even more severe when Israel despised the gift of prophets and holy men, and went out of their way to persecute them and despise them.

All sin is evil and deserving of the wrath of God, but sin against the love and grace of God is even more deserving of wrath. How hurtful it is to us when people take our love and goodness toward them for granted, and despise our love. How much more is it hurtful to God when we despise his love. The fact is the church in Great Britain has been blessed with gracious intervention and blessing down our history. How are we deserving of the wrath of God in the present state of the church which has departed from, and despising of, the Bible, God's precious word.

3. WARNING OF THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN. (v.13-16).

What a dreadful and fearful warning is given by God in these closing verses of Amos 2. Israel prided itself on their armies. They had achieved great victories. They had captured back land that had been taken from them by others. God had given them victory, and now they trusted not in God but in the arm of their own strength.

What a picture of utter defeat and its consequences is vividly described here. Brave men being cut down. Men who had been so brave before flying from the enemy in fear. Fleeing men finding their horses not able to run fast enough to save them. The bravest warriors humiliated and totally overcome.

Such is the truth about the judgement of God poured out in his wrath. There will be no escape for sinners from the wrath to come. We need to take this to heart. It is because people refuse to regard the truth of God's omnipotent power that they secretly despise such prophecy of judgement. Others have so little concept of the holiness of God and the evil of sin, that they deny that God judges in such a devastating way. But the word of God through Amos is true. God is not only able to destroy souls in hell, but he will destroy unless people repent.

It is the wonder of the grace of God that he has given such warnings. If we do not listen and turn from our evil ways, and so suffer awful judgement, then it is not the grace and love of God that is lacking, but the fault of our unrepentant hearts which refuse to heed the revelation of God, and spurn his love.

CONCLUSION.