Amos - The God Of Justice - Preach The Word

THE GOD OF JUSTICE
David Legge
Do you know something? God is roaring today. He is roaring against the Western
world that lives in relative peace, the Western world that is up to its neck in capitalism
and is wealthy and prosperous, the Western world that is living in luxury. God is
roaring at a wealthy people, and much of that people has enough religion to drown
themselves! God is roaring at a people in the West, even who take the name of Christ,
who have wealth, and who have religion, but neither affects their lives to make any
difference in the communities in which they live - a people for whom making money
has become more important than worshipping God! The God of justice is roaring, can
you hear Him? He is roaring to get the attention of the nations of our modern world,
just like He did the nations roundabout Israel in Amos' day - but no one is listening!
Maybe that's why you can't hear Him tonight.
It says here in verse 2: 'He utters His voice from Jerusalem' - that's very significant.
Where was Amos? He was up north in Israel, he was at Bethel. Jerusalem was down in
the south in Judah. What Amos was saying was: though Israel is the Northern
Kingdom, they had established their own way of religion, their own religious centres of
worship in Dan and Bethel and Gilgal, they had devised their own approach to God,
but the prophet of God was reminding these people that God has not changed. They
may have changed location, they may have changed their inclinations as to how they
felt they should worship God, but God had not changed - He was still roaring from
Jerusalem! What a message for the world in which we live. I believe God would be
reminding the nations roundabout this world of ours that all roads do not lead to God.
There is great pressure for us today in the 21st-century to accept that teaching. We
live in a pluralistic, politically correct society - but God roars today, still from
Jerusalem, and this holy God that we've been hearing about in the mornings, this God
of justice, He is still a jealous God who will have no other gods before Him. That's the
first commandment, and you know that's New Testament teaching - 2 Timothy 2:5:
'For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus'.
Well, Amos begins each of his indictments in this manner. If you look at it, you see it
in verse 3 of chapter 1 and all the rest of the judgements against these nations, he
says: 'For three transgressions, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment'. Now
that's a strange expression, 'for three transgressions, and for four', and it's really
what we call an idiom, an expression of language that doesn't equate exactly. So what
Amos is not saying is that these nations each committed three or four transgressions
literally, it's a term that is used for an indefinite number of transgressions that had
finally come to an end. In fact, the Bible teaches that before God the nations have a
cup of wrath, and that wrath comes to overflowing and then God executes judgement.
We praise God that He is long-suffering, but this expression teaches us that even His
patience comes to an end. You see, to try God's patience is to tempt the Lord, and
when we try God's patience and tempt the Lord we're inviting judgement. I hope
there is no one here tonight, maybe someone who has wandered in, come with a
friend and you're not a Christian, and you've heard the gospel many many times, or
maybe you're in a backslidden state, and you're trying the patience of God, you're
tempting God. Do you know what you're doing? You're inviting His judgement. It's as
if you're saying, like the wee fellow on the football pitch: 'Come on! Come on and get
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