Amos - The God Of Justice - Preach The Word

THE GOD OF JUSTICE
David Legge
The God Of Justice - Chapter 2
"The First Charge: Aimlessness"
Copyright 2011
by David Legge
G
ood evening to you all again, it's wonderful to be here, and to see so many
gathered in the congregation tonight to hear the word of God. Thank you for
coming, we do trust together that we will know the blessing of God as we have
already been knowing these mornings and last evening. We're turning in our Bibles to
the prophet Amos, if you have a copy of the word of God do turn with me there - it's
three books after Daniel, so if you can find Ezekiel and then Daniel, you'll find Amos.
We are in chapter 3 tonight, last evening we looked at chapters 1 and 2.
Amos chapter 3, we've taken as our title 'The God of Justice', and last night, if you
weren't here, we looked at 'The Accused' - who God was accusing in the nations, and
Judah and Israel, for their sin. Tonight we're looking at what I have called the first
charge against Israel, and that is of 'Aimlessness'. Verse 1, and we're only reading
chapter 3: "Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of
Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
'You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for
all your iniquities'. Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Will a lion roar in
the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught
nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it? Will a
snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in
a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD
have done it? Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His
servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has
spoken! Who can but prophesy? 'Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces
in the land of Egypt, and say: 'Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see great
tumults in her midst, and the oppressed within her. For they do not know to do right',
says the LORD, 'Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces''. Therefore thus
says the Lord GOD: 'An adversary shall be all around the land; he shall sap your
strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered'. Thus says the LORD: 'As a
shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the
children of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria; in the corner of a bed and on the
edge of a couch! Hear and testify against the house of Jacob', says the Lord GOD, the
God of hosts, 'That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit
destruction on the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall
to the ground. I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the
houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end', says the LORD".
Amen.
Let us pray together, and as I said last evening and will do each night, if you're in
touch with God I invite you to come with me now as we unite in prayer, and let there
15