Amos - The God Of Justice - Preach The Word

THE GOD OF JUSTICE
David Legge
us, the Lord chastens us - and it's not with a purpose to make us miserable, it's with a
purpose to make us holy!
Amos wanted them to see that their chastening was in order to seek the Lord, that's
my first point tonight. They needed to see that their chastening was in order to cause
them to seek the Lord. He was giving them a way out, hallelujah! That is our God!
Let's not water down His character: He is a God of justice, and He's a God of holiness,
and that's a side of His character that you hear very little about today - but it's not all
about Him. He is a God of love, He is a God of mercy, He is a God of grace, He's a
God of deliverance, He's a God of salvation, He's a God who gives a way out! He
makes very clear where it is to be found, verse 4: 'Thus says the LORD to the house
of Israel: 'Seek Me and live; but do not'', verse 5, ''seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor
pass over to Beersheba' - but seek Me and live, not Bethel. The people flocked to their
services, we saw that, didn't we? They heaped sacrifice upon sacrifice in offerings, but
God wasn't to be found in any of it - it couldn't save their soul, nor could it sanctify
them. I want to tell you tonight - I hope to God that you have not misunderstood
anything I have said these evenings, and I know I've been preaching against sin in all
our lives, but I don't want you to think for one moment that I'm expecting you to go
out and, with a spiritual bar of carbolic, clean yourself from head to toe - because you
cannot! You cannot make yourself acceptable by good works, you cannot make
yourself acceptable by legalistic ritual or rite or rule, it is only by seeking the Lord and
seeking His grace!
Is that what we do? Sometimes I feel - and I identify with this, I'm talking about
myself - sometimes when my back's against the wall, the last thing I do is seek the
Lord! When things are bad, what do you do? Do you go to church? That's not a bad
thing to do, but sometimes we seek solace in church, or we bury ourselves in some
kind of activity. Or maybe it's our denomination, and we're head and ears in it? Or
maybe it's a movement that we're involved in? Or maybe we run to a personality
preacher, or a prolific author? Or maybe we take solace and security in the
sacraments, or in some kind of charitable deeds? A lot of people, instead of seeking
the Lord, they seek a new doctrine, or they even seek a true doctrine, and it takes the
place of seeking the Lord. Or maybe an ecstatic experience, they want the hairs to go
up the back of their neck, they want the bright lights to shine for them - sensuality -
but there are very few people, very few people who truly seek the Lord for the Lord's
sake, that He might be seen by them and they may share in His likeness, holiness.
Duncan Campbell said: 'Do you know what our problem is in this modern church age?
We have everything but God'. Do you know why that is? Sometimes we seek
everything but God. Well when things are as bad as this, as they were in Israel - and I
believe they are in the Western church today - do you know what we would really be
better doing? Now this might shock some of you: sometimes I think we'd be better
cancelling our normal programs, and we'd be better calling a solemn assembly, and
we'd be better getting on our faces - like the prophet - with the tears tripping us,
broken, crying out to God: 'We want to seek You and live again! Where have we gone
wrong? What is the reason for Your divine chastisement on the nation?'. It's there!
You're blind if you don't see it! 'What is the reason for Your displeasure in the church?'
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