Amos - The God Of Justice - Preach The Word

THE GOD OF JUSTICE
David Legge
they know, with the conscience that God has given them and the law written on the
inner man - and therefore all the nations of the world need to sit up and know that
God takes note of all that is done, of all that is committed, both nationally and, my
friend tonight, individually. If you're in this congregation you need to know that God
takes note of how you have broken His law.
Nationally that's an awesome message for the countries and kingdoms of our world,
for the nations that are poor on human rights like China, that our nation and Western
nations are cosying up to. Other totalitarian states, nations guilty of ethnic cleansing,
and genocide, and state-sponsored terrorism. States that are guilty of war crimes
upon soldiers, forces and civilians. Nations that culturally have a caste system, or
have endemic or institutionalised racism, or sectarianism, or discrimination, or general
abuse of political power. Or even in our type of free society, so-called, the murder of
the innocents in abortion and the mass destruction of human embryos - the just God
of heaven takes note! It has not bypassed Him. What is the case nationally is the case
individually. My friend, you have got a conscience, and that conscience intuitively tells
you what is wrong and warns you about wrong and immoral personal behaviour - and
if you disregard it, God takes note and you will answer to God one day! What a lesson
this is for us in our modern society, that this God of justice takes note of what goes on
in nations, and what goes on in homes, and in lives.
A second lesson is that this God of justice holds nations accountable. He's not turning
a blind eye. Kings, presidents, prime ministers, military generals, politicians,
chancellors are all accountable to the God of heaven. We read in the book of Genesis
that Abraham could not enter into the Promised Land at that point because the
iniquity of the Amorites was not full yet - that cup of wrath that was being stored up
for that Gentile race was not full. God holds nations accountable to this very day, and
I wonder, and I ask you the question: what is the limit of iniquity for our nation? What
is the quota for our United Kingdom or for this island of Ireland, the quota of sin
before God will come in judgement? Or could I even ask this question: has the
judgement started already? I believe it has.
A third lesson is that this God of justice judges nations when it pleases Him. You see,
each time He brings an indictment to the accused nations here, He repeats this
statement - look down at it, you'll see it in verse 3 of chapter 1 and right throughout:
'I will not turn away its punishment, I will send fire' - I will not turn away its
punishment, I will send fire. Do you know, our God is a consuming fire - and that is a
New Testament text, by the way. Yes, praise God for the Gospel, and as New
Testament believers in the new covenant, partakers of it, we celebrate God's grace.
We are evangelical Bible believers, we celebrate the cross, we celebrate the shed
blood, we celebrate redemption and justification through that efficacious sacrifice that
our sins are put beyond return for us - as far as the East is from the West, buried in
the sea of God's forgetfulness. That's what we celebrate and we sing, and He rose
again the third day to justify us and all whosoever will freely believe - but God's
justice and holiness is still intact! God has not ceased to be just, and when He
revealed Himself to Moses, you remember in Exodus 34, this is how He revealed His
person: 'The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD God,
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