10 September 2006: FAMINE OF THE HEARD WORD – Not of Eating and Drinking!

TOPIC: Word (of God); Apostasy, End Times, Faith, Famine, Scripture
TITLE: FAMINE OF THE HEARD WORD – Not of Eating and Drinking!
TEXT: Amos 8:11-12

Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What may we learn from Amos and the Israelites?
CONCISE OUTLINE:

I. THE REALITY OF THE PAST!
II. THE REALITY OF THE PRESENT!
III. THE REALITY OF THE FUTURE!

TRUTH/CONTEXT: What we have here is a sheepherder and fig grower … not “a prophet or the son of a prophet” [7:14]; a contemporary of Hosea in the north and of Isaiah and Micah in the south. His messages were to the Northern Kingdom, even though he was a Judean.

The bible tells us …

… the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17

How do we find this righteousness, peace, and joy? God is not here to tell us! There are no Johns the Baptists, no prophets, no apostles, no Pauls, no seers, no diviners … how are we to find these things?

Clearly the only revelation we have is His revelation, the Scriptures Old and New!

I must admit I’m somewhat surprised by the lack of concern here … a kind of “que sera, sera”! What ever will be, will be!

After all the Scripture says, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment …” [Hebrews 9:27].

More and more we see people who are unable to understand the Scriptures ... why is that?

The world seems to be on an unstoppable journey to destruction and yet the Bride is silent … lives are lost and slip into Hell at an ever increasing rate; few are earnestly trying to prevent their eternal damnation!

People have been calling this the post-Christian era; that offends me. How could that be with over 80% of those surveyed saying they have an abiding faith in God?

Yet, more than half of those have never read the Bible, couldn’t tell you where Amos is located, nor could they to which category of Old Testament literature his prophecy belongs, and probably can’t tell you what you must do to be saved.

For example …

[SALT] Now we have Newsweek's mia culpa ...

Correction: In the original version of this report, NEWSWEEK misquoted Falwell as referring to "assault ministry." In fact, Falwell was referring to "a salt ministry"—a reference to Matthew 5:13, where Jesus says "Ye are the salt of the earth." We regret the error.

That's hilarious, where can I enlist for that ministry? But the point is that the reporter and the editors of a major magazine didn't recognize one of the most often quoted verses in the bible.

I have noticed a phenomena in this age … people don’t like to read like they used to. Bible reading has suffered the most from this, in my opinion …

[John Mark Reynolds] If we love God, then we will love His book. Why would we want someone else to read it for us? Why would we want someone else to tell us what it means when we could unlock those precious truths for ourselves?

The “post literate” Christian has turned over his theology to someone else. He could not possibly check the abuses of his leaders nor could he gain the joys of the text on his own. Both joys and sorrows will come from his masters who tell him what God’s word says. Why would any Christian do this?

God doesn’t have to send the famine upon us, we have imposed it upon ourselves.

Here we are living in a post-Christian era, evidently in a post-literate state; all the while standing in the shadow of judgment.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What may we learn from Amos & the Israelites?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:

I. THE REALITY OF THE PAST!

A. The bible tells us to learn from the Old Testament …

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

B. The context of Paul’s teaching was the wilderness experience.

C. And then in the days of Samuel’s youth when Eli’s sons were blaspheming the temple …

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

1 Samuel 3:1

D. And in the days of Ezekiel …

Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders.

Ezekiel 7:26

II. THE REALITY OF THE PRESENT!

A. Judgment comes swiftly from God, not as man measures time however; thus the present to God is eternity past to eternity future.

B. The Jews would become wanderers (i.e., Wandering Jew).

We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.

Psalm 74:9

C. So we don’t know when or for how long; but the evidence is everywhere seen, just as in the days of Amos and David.

D. It takes a great deal of mental gymnastics to deny the reality of the present.

E. Notice how Amos’ contemporary sees it ….

The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.

Micah 3:7

F. Is that not a picture of our day?

III. THE REALITY OF THE FUTURE!

Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

Amos 8:11

Therefore it will be night for you -- without vision and darkness for you -- without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them. The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.

Micah 3:6-7

A. J. Vernon McGee said …

“Amos … declared that all nations were responsible to Him. The measure of responsibility is created by the light which a nation has. … In a day of prosperity, he pronounced judgment. [The] judgment of God await[s] nations living in luxury and lolling in immorality.”

B. This was written close to 30 years ago, before the world’s developed nations became debauched.

C. And He said to the disciples,

"The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.”

Luke 17:22

D. Amos is famous (smile: “Famous Amos”) for his plumbline, a prophetic reference to the coming of the Meshua, Jesus Christ.

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line. In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.

Amos 7:7-8

E. Jesus Christ has now come and gone; but the plumbline remains.

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: I’m concerned this is now; haven’t we all noticed the lack of …

• Faith (i.e., an absence of “hearing”)?
• Knowledge of the word?
• A hunger for the word?
• An ability to apply what is heard?
• Obedience to the Word?

The book of Hebrews opens with this …

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

Hebrews 1:1-2

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard ….

Hebrews 2:1-3

Hebrews then quickly turns to an admonition to avoid being like the Israelites who tested God in the wilderness and thus suffering the same fate [Hebrews 3].

Our text says …

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD.”

How does this affect us?

So faith comes by hearing, and hearing [comes] by the word [Gk., rhema] of Christ.

Romans 10:17

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 2:8

[DUST] Years ago Kitty Wells sang an old Americana standard "Dust On The Bible" (Kitty Wells, © MCA 1992). Need I say more?

The reproach to God is not that your bible goes unread, but that you dust it like any other piece of furniture!

GENERAL TAGS: Homoletics, Preaching, Sermons
SPECIFIC TAGS: Amos, Illumination, Word