SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/12/2015
10:19 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Woe to the Indulgent
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 6:3-7
Message of the
verses: “3 Do you put off the day of
calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? 4 Those who recline on
beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And
calves from the midst of the stall, 5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have composed songs for themselves, 6 Who drink wine from
sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet
they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore, they will now go
into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass
away.”
We have to begin this SD with a quote from Warren Wiersbe
as he writes about how what we are looking at in this section of Amos applies
to nations today and before our day: “When
nations get pleasure-mad, it’s a sign that the end is near. Belshazzar and his leaders were enjoying a
sumptuous feast when the city of Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians (Dan. 5). The Roman citizens enjoyed free ‘bread and
circuses’ as the empire decayed morally and politically and eventually fell to
the enemy. One of the marks of the end
is the fact that people become ‘lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God’ (2
Tim. 3:4). No wonder Jesus warned
followers, ‘But take heed to yourselves, lest you hearts be weighed down with
carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you
unexpectedly’ (Luke 21:34).” A couple of
things that I wish to add and that say and one is that I changed the chapter
reference to Daniel chapter five and also the statement that Jesus makes in
Luke 21 is a part of the Olivet Discourse, which speaks to the end times, but
we surely can apply it to the nations today and to believers today too.
It would probably be a true statement to say that there
are not too many people today that worry about the sins of the nations that
they are living in, and the sins of the church that they are going to, but they
should be, for when a nation or a church becomes too sinful then the Lord will
bring them down. We saw this in our
study of Revelation chapters 2-3 which are Christ’s words to the seven
churches. An example of when politicians
and churches are not concerned about the sin in their nations or churches is
the Samarian politicians and also the church at Laodicea as we see in
Revelation chapter three. Dr. Wiersbe
writes “Too many Christians are laughing when they should be weeping (James
4:8-10) and tolerating sin when they should be opposing it (1 Cor. 5:2).”
Dr. Wiersbe continues with a story: “Dr. Vance Havner told of having dinner in a
dining room that was dimly lighted. At
first, he could scarcely read the menu, but then he found he could see fairly
well. He said to his friends, ‘Isn’t it
strange how easy it is to become accustomed to the dark?’ That’s one of the problems in the church
today: we’ve gotten accustomed to the
darkness, and our lights aren’t shining bright enough.”
When we look at verse seven we see that since these
wealthy exploiters of the poor thought themselves to be the first in the land
Amos writes “Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away.”
“7 But here’s what’s really coming: a forced march into exile. They’ll
leave the country whining, a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings (Message).” Why would this be so? Because with the
greater responsibility they had then they will have the greater
punishment. Let us look at Amos 7:10-17
to show the truth of this statement: “10
Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying,
"Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the
land is unable to endure all his words. 11 “For thus Amos says, ’Jeroboam will
die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’" 12
Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah
and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! 13 “But no longer prophesy
at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."
14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I
am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a
grower of sycamore figs. 15 "But
the LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, ’Go prophesy
to My people Israel.’ 16 “Now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, ’You
shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of
Isaac.’ 17 “Therefore, thus says the LORD, ’Your wife will become a harlot in
the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will
be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil.
Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’"”
10/12/2015 10:44 PM
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