The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I’m your host, Steve Schwetz, and the book of Amos is all about a man called by God to point out people’s sin. Tough job, right? But wouldn’t you want someone to show you what’s keeping you from having a close relationship with God? I know I would. So as you get ready for our study, Greg and I have some letters to share from our home groups around the world.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Steve, this is a topic that is very near and dear to our hearts. We’ve had a lot of personal contact with this amazing ministry, whether it’s in South Asia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and now in Africa, Ethiopia.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, whenever we end up talking about home groups, and especially when I see the countries of Bangladesh and India on there, it’s like, oh man, I know some of these people, and we’ve met them face-to-face, and Ethiopia as well. So let’s get to this first one. This is from a group leader in Bangladesh. He says, I really like to listen in my own language. I am a Christian, but from a church that practices rituals. I never understood the Bible and no one really teaches it. I am learning so much. I really like to listen with my group at home with my wife every day. I encourage my grandchildren to listen and obey the teaching that we learn and apply it in their daily lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
And, Steve, we may never have made this clear, but most of the tens of thousands of home group leaders we have are volunteers around the world. We do have some people that are on staff that help coordinate these massive networks. But most of the people, they’re sacrificing personally their time, their energy. Sometimes they may be persecuted for leading a home group. But you can see the effect on families and generations from what you just referenced.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m also so encouraged. Whenever I hear Bangladesh and home group, I go back to that 10-sided building that we went in and participated in a home group in, and it was about the size of two king-size beds. One king-size bed was the living room couch and family bedroom and everything else, and just gathered around there listening to the radio and the fact that In Bangladesh, at least, up to one-third of the people are Hindu or Muslim, and they’re coming and they’re participating and they’re learning about God’s word. And it’s so exciting because lives are being changed.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s contrary to human wisdom that in a country that’s 98% Muslim that you could have that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. That’s the truth. Yeah, it’s wonderful.
SPEAKER 03 :
I was getting discouraged. Once we began listening to your studies, everything changed. Now we study the Bible and attend church. We fellowship together. I am so happy. We have also been inviting community members to join us. All glory goes to God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Man, we’re almost out of time, but I saw the same thing repeated in the testimonies that we went to in Liberia where there was a women’s conference for the day. Several women got up and said this exact same thing. They were losing their teenage kids to the world. They had no interest in going to church. She literally starts playing the radio home group thing in the home. The kids start listening, and they end up wanting to go to church, and they want to engage with Scripture. and they’re showing evidence of fruit and salvation in their lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s so simple, but it’s so powerful.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Let me pray for us, Greg, as we begin. Heavenly Father, we praise your holy name for the way you’re moving in people’s lives and that you would use Through the Bible as a small part of that. We pray that you would continue to bless the ministry as it goes out, not for the glory of Through the Bible, Lord, but for your glory alone. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Open with me to the book of Amos as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, last time we had come to the little book of Amos, and I had gone over to the seventh chapter to begin with. I’ve never done this before. But I wanted us to get acquainted with this man, Amos. He was a herdman from Tekoa. Tekoa was the last stop. before you dropped off into that awful wilderness and desert that leads down to the Dead Sea. And this man knew that area. And he was a herdman and also a pincher of sycamore fruit. Well, that sycamore fruit was a type of very small desert fig. And he was a migrant worker, you can see. And God called this man to go out of the southern kingdom of Judah up to the northern kingdom, to Bethel, the capital, and to speak there. Well, may I say to you, he was really a country boy come to town. And they rather ridiculed him. At first they did. And they found out this man had a message and he reached the heart of many people. The word of God transformed many and it disturbed the liberal element. It disturbed them and they plotted against him. Liberals always talking about brotherhood. Now, the worst demonstrations of brotherhood, I have received less brotherhood from them than any group on the earth. I think the bartenders have been nicer to me than the liberals have been. And so they plotted against. This man, they sent Amaziah the priest. He was the clever politician. He went to the king and poisoned Jeroboam II against Amos. Then he went to Amos and practically insulted him. I say practically, he did. And we begin today with verse 13 of chapter 7 here where Amaziah has come to Amos and he’s told him in verse 12, O thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah. In other words, get lost, go home. We don’t want you here. And there eat bread and prophesy there. In other words, you’re just out for the money that’s in it. And therefore, we don’t want you here. And now verse 13, I tell you, it’s the crowning insult of all. He says, but prophesy not again anymore at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and it is the king’s court. Now, that’s the height of this man’s insolence and his arrogance. And he uses here the satirical method and a satire that’s not only biting, but is poisonous. He says, remember, you have been speaking in the leading church here in Bethel, the king’s chapel. And you have been in the king’s sanctuary and he’s dissatisfied with you. And the king attends there and your message disturbs him. And there’s a lot of people that don’t like you. You don’t use a very diplomatic method. You don’t flatter them. You don’t pat them on the back. You don’t tell them how wonderful they are. You do not cultivate the rich and the affluent and that crowd. And you’re not very reverent. You tell funny stories every now and then. You’re not dignified. You pound the pulpit and you lack graceful gestures. You do not use a basso profundo voice as if you were thundering out of heaven. What you need is a course in homiletics. And you don’t seem to have read the latest book. By the way, have you read the latest book, Baal Goes to Yale? Have you read that book? And of course, poor Amos hadn’t read that latest book. Now, I want you to listen to the answer of this great prophet of God, this man that preached the righteousness of God and the judgment of God. And there are those that like to call him a hellfire prophet. Will you listen to his answer and notice how gracious it really is? I’m reading now verse 14. Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet’s son, but I am a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock. And the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. And then he continues on. We’ll pick up that message later on that he had to give. I’ll just read verse 16. Now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. Thou sayest, prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. And then he has some pretty harsh words to say to this man, Amaziah. But now we’re going to come back to that here because this is very important. Now, I ask you a very fair question. Does his answer sound like that of a fanatic? Frankly, I have one criticism of Amos. He’s too naive. He’s rather artless. He’s rather simple. Now, down in the desert of Tekoa, he knew his way around. He could avoid dangers at home in the jungle that was filled with wild beasts. But on the asphalt jungle of Bethel, he was rather helpless. And by the way, there is a jungle in this world today The world is a real jungle, the world of flesh and the devil. And today you’ll find in church circles sometime, in the liberal circle, it’s a little dangerous. And it’s a little dangerous in the fundamental jungle at times. You’re not really safe today. There will be someone there that will want to tear you to pieces. There’ll be the roar of some big lion, Mr. Gut Rocks, and he’s on the board of deacons. And I tell you, you better pat him on the back. You better play up to him. And then there’s the hiss of a serpent in the asphalt jungle today. That’s Mrs. Jo Doakes. She’s got a poisoned tongue. You remember James said something about poison is under their lip? Worse than a rattlesnake bite to have some of these criticize you today. It’d be better if you were bitten by a rattlesnake. And this man Amos, he’s very naive. He says, I know it. You say I’m no preacher. I know it. I’m no preacher. You say that I’m not a prophet. Why, I’m no prophet. I’m not even a prophet’s son. I’m a country boy. But God called me. But listen to him at verse 15. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock. And the Lord said unto me, go prophesy unto my people Israel. He says, you want my credentials? Here they are. And may I say to you, if you give out the word of God today, you’re going to be challenged. It’s quite interesting that The very day that I’m making this tape, a letter came in from Salt Lake City, Utah, and it has a very devious argument here, but he concludes. He says, I’m interested in knowing how you got your authority. Well, may I say to you, I can answer that very easily. When I was in my teens, God called me. And I knew he called me. Now, somebody says, then you had great faith. And as a poor boy, I had no faith at all. I never believed the Lord had ever let me get through school even. Be very frank with you. I had no faith at all. I just had a tremendous and overweening desire to want to do the thing. And that’s the thing that prompted me to go on. But I’m now toward the end of the journey, and I have news for you. I know now I was called. And so I don’t need to give you my authority, by the way. And I want to be just as naive as this man is. But he’s a little too naive the way I look at it. But the Lord was leading him. Now, he wasn’t giving the message of man. He was giving a message from the Word of God. He preached against sin. He was no mealy-mouthed preacher. He was not giving out saccharine sweetness and artificial light and ersatz bread. He wasn’t spraying the perfume of synthetic human goodness over a lot of foul-smelling garbage. This man knew that you could not take a gallon of Shalimar perfume and pour it on a pile of manure and make it any sweeter than it was. He made it very clear that God was not soft. He was not sentimental. He was not shallow. And he did not indulge in random speaking and entertaining. He did not deal in vague generalities. Someone put it like this concerning a preacher several years ago. He says the way he preached was, you must repent as it were, believe in a measure, or be lost to some extent. Now, there are three areas in which this man spoke, and we are going to note them as we go through this little book of Amos when we get to them. Now, to me, the most amazing thing about this man is this. He was practically an unknown when he arrived in Bethel. He’s still rather unknown, but Amos in our day is a name that is associated with another name, Andy. That is, those of us of the older generation remember Amos and Andy. Well, actually, in Amos’ day, back in Bible times, it was Amos and Hosea. They went together. They were contemporary prophets. I’m sure knew each other. And as we’ve already seen, Hosea emphasized the love of God, but that a God of love intended to judge sin. Now, Amos, he speaks of the lofty justice and the inflexible righteousness of God. that causes God to lead to judgment. And then I’m presented here at the beginning. Now I go back to chapter 1 and start here that we might see the message of the man. I think now we know a little something about this man. He’s a fearless man, an outstanding man. And he is giving out a message. But the thing that really startles me is that this man has a world view. He has a global conception. He speaks first here to the nations that were contiguous to and surrounded the nation Israel. And he spoke to the great world powers of that day. Now, that wasn’t something new. Later on, the other prophets did it also. You find that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and certainly Daniel. But the method of those men was first to speak of God’s judgment of the nation Israel. Then they would take up the different nations. Now, Amos reverses that method. He speaks of God’s judgment of the nations round about. Now, when he spoke at first there at the king’s chapel, God was going to judge Syria. And God was going to judge these other nations that were round about, Philistia, Phoenicia, and Edom, and Ammon, and Moab, while everybody filled the king’s chapel. He really was drawing a crowd because they were very glad for him to preach on the sins of the Moabites, you see, but not on their sins. There are a great many people today, they like for the preacher to preach on the sins of the Moabites, which they committed 4,000 years ago or even longer. And that’s all right, but don’t step on our toes or you’re in real trouble. Well, this man, this is one place he exercises, it seems to me, a great deal of diplomacy. And he was an eloquent man, although he was out yonder from the desert, and he was a country preacher. He had the language of a Shakespeare. And some of his statements are eloquent statements. And he was, in my judgment, a great preacher. I disagree with Amaziah, who told him that he ought to get out of town. I disagree with Amaziah. Now I’m reading verse 1 of chapter 1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa. which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. I’ll not go into detail about the date. That earthquake is mentioned by Zechariah nearly 200 years after this. It was, according to Josephus, took place during the reign of Uzziah. Be that as it may, that is really not the important thing. Other than it does help us to see that he was a contemporary with Hosea, and he’s one of the first of the prophets, and he is a prophet to the northern kingdom. Now, will you notice, “…and he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” Now, this, of course, is very figurative language in many ways, and very eloquent. “…The Lord will roar from Zion.” Now, you will recall that Joel used that expression later on. It suggests the roar of a lion as it pounces upon its prey. And believe me, this is some way to begin. The Lord will roar from Zion. like a lion, and it speaks of the coming judgment of God upon the nations that were round about. And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. And that speaks apparently of a drought that was coming and of a famine that would come upon the land. It would be a famine that would extend throughout the entire land. I came over Carmel, where Haifa is, and I noticed how beautiful it is there and the wonderful shrubbery they have today and the lovely flowers that are there. Must have been that way in the day of Amos, also in the day of Elijah. But now there is coming this drought, that Carmel that was so beautiful shall wither. Now we have in verse 3 a section, and I think probably I ought to give you something of the outline. To understand the book of the Bible, You ought to outline it. That’s what we send out for every book of the Bible, outlines and notes on it. Now, we have here judgment on the surrounding nations, that is, the nations that surround Israel. And that begins here now with the very first verse here. And it goes down in chapter 2 through verse 3. And there are certain nations that are taken up. Now, the first nation that is considered is Syria, and Damascus was the capital of it. Now, will you notice, Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four I will not turn away its punishment, because they have thrashed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.” Now, what are we talking about here? Well, may I say to you, when he says not for just three and not for four, he’s not attempting to give you a list of them. He means not three and not four, and he could have said not five, not six, for many transgressions. In other words, the cup of iniquity was filled up, and nothing now could hold back the judgment of God that was coming upon that land. Now, he says that the thing that they have done, they have used these thrashing instruments. Those thrashing instruments were sharp, and they were to beat out the grain. And that’s the way that they had treated Gilead. Now, what does he mean by Gilead? Well, Gilead was on the east bank of the Jordan. It was the land that actually came up as far as the Sea of Galilee. And you have Reuben and Manasseh. Rather, the half-tribe of Manasseh and Gad, the tribe of Gad, they stayed over on the wrong side. And Syria, that’s right north of there, came down. Now, they had come down against God’s people and just thrashed them. And he is judging them for their cruelty. for their brutality, and for their cruelty. Now, we’re going to see that that has a record in the historical books of the Bible, and we’ll have to wait until next time to see that. Then we’ll see the judgment against these other nations, and there’s always a different reason that God judges these other nations. We must leave off there until next time. May God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, Amos may have been a country preacher, but he spoke the word of God with authority. Be sure to join us next time as the journey continues. Until then, if you want to be in touch, just contact us through our app. It’s super easy. You can also call 1-800-65-BIBLE or email biblebus at ttb.org. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll meet you back here as together we go through the Bible.
SPEAKER 04 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you’ll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It’s a blessing that keeps on going. That’s what we believe at Through the Bible.
