Shabbat Shalom, everyone. I hope you have your Bibles with you. We're going to open our Bibles to the prophet Amos today. Amos in English, Amos in Hebrew. We are in Amos Chapter 4 today, in our study of the prophet Amos, to remind you that Amos was a man that was raised in the Judea. He was living in a town called Tekoa. And he was part of the southern kingdom of Israel. He was a herd man. He was a man that picked up a sycamore fruit. And God had raised this man to go to give a message. A message of judgment to the northern kingdom of Israel.

And he faithfully have gone and given this very difficult message. A message of repentance which ultimately was a message of judgment. So, in Amos Chapter 4, we learn today of the second Heal Ye Judgment. I'm going to read these verses. Amos Chapter 4, verses 1 to 13. I would like you to follow me as I'm reading this passage. Hear this word, Ye kind of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, bring and let us drink. The Lord God has sworn by His holiness that, lo, the day shall come upon you that He will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fishhooks.

And ye shall go out at the breaches every cow at that which is before her. And ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord. Come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithe after three years and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven and proclaim and publish the free offerings for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city.

One piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water but they were not satisfied. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blessing and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and the olive trees increased and the palm worm and the palm worm devoured them yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt your young men have I slain with the sword and I have taken away your horses and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah when ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not turned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For lo, he that formeth the mountain and createth the wind and declareth unto men what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts is his name. And I am stopping here with verse 13. Amos chapter 4 verses 1 to 13 was the message or is the message for us for this Shabbat Saturday afternoon and I would like brothers and sisters to point to the map one more time as we are here together.

Good for us always to bear in mind that we are dealing with Israel as a nation who had been divided into two kingdoms Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Two, you might say, separate kingdoms one of them called Malchut Yisrael the kingdom of Israel. The other one is called Malchut Yehudah the kingdom of Judah a divided nation and the reason for the division of the nation was the sin that King Shlomo, King Solomon have committed when he embraced the nations of the world the pagan world and the pagan belief in many, many idols and he ended up bringing upon the nation of Israel the divided state that God had promised that Israel will be or you would say many of the tribes of Israel will be taken from King Solomon because of his own sin.

Now as a look at this map and we see that Israel was surrounded with many countries these God have declared judgment upon the many countries we mentioned them Damascus, Philistia and then we have here the Sidon here and we have Amon, Moab and Edom in the east so we have many, many nations that surrounded Israel and Amos had called to present or to proclaim judgment upon the nation that surrounded Israel of their sin against the Lord but this time brothers and sisters he is no longer pronouncing judgment upon other nations but he is pronouncing judgment now upon the northern kingdom Israel and especially if you notice you have here Beit El here and then Dan

where there were two golden calves that Israel have built and they were building altars and worshipping these golden calves so you remember what I said that in chapter 3, 4, 5 and 6 there are three hear ye judgments you notice in chapter 3 we talked about it in a previous meeting together hear ye the word chapter 3 and verse 1 chapter 4 and verse 1 which we are dealing with today hear this word hear this word and the next meeting together in chapter 5 and 6 once again hear ye this word those are the three hear ye judgment that God pronouncing through Amos upon the northern kingdom of Israel who departed from the Lord we

always have to bear in mind we always have to bear in mind that the verse that I mention all the time throughout the study of the book of Amos the verse that is mentioned in 1 Peter 4 and verse 17 where we read and I mentioned it before and bear with me as I'm rereading it once again for the time is come the judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first began at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God in other words judgment must come even upon God's chosen people God is not happy in pronouncing judgment upon Israel but he is holy and

he must pronounce judgment upon his sinful people who did not repent and turn back unto him so in Amos chapter 4 Amos is really presenting two things before the nation of Israel imagine he is coming all the way from the south here in the south where he lived by Hebron he is going all the way up north he is coming to Bethel and here a man from Judah pronouncing judgment upon the people of Israel imagine there you might say spiritual energy that this man must have had to go boldly all the way to the northern kingdom and pronounce judgment upon the nation of Israel Israel that were opposing the nation of Judah during those days

so now he is coming to them and in chapter 4 Amos is we can call this chapter here Israel this is the reason for your punishment here are the reason Israel why God is going to punish you the beloved chosen nation of Israel so you notice here we begin in verses 1 to 11 and I would like you to notice the threefold reasons as to why God had to judge his own nation Israel there are three reasons from verses 1 to 11 why God is going to discipline his people the northern kingdom of Israel the first reason is rather obvious from reading the first three verses the first reason is because the northern kingdom have

oppressed the poor and the oppressed the needy notice that let me read verses 1 2 and 3 it says here hear this word ye kind of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria which oppress the poor which crush the needy which say to their masters bring and let us drink notice that in verse 1 he is speaking first of all he says hear ye the word and he is saying ye kind of Bashan the word for kind is really come from the Hebrew word para or parot it is the cows of Bashan the cows who are the cows the cows are those that are standing upon the grass in the area in the north

of Israel you notice here is the cows of Bashan and Bashan is in the north of Israel is basically today present day Golan Heights it's really in Syria the area of Syria and there was much grass for the cows to enjoy there were plenty of trees in the area of Syria Lebanon and it's called Bashan in Hebrew every time you hear in the Bible the time the name Bashan is mentioned you will immediately think of green grass plenty of food much wealth and richness that existed in the area of Bashan you can see it's right below the area of Mount Hermon Mount Hermon is in the north in the Golan Heights and below that all

this area is called Bashan because the Bashan is a place where there is plenty richness of the of the soil and there is a lot of green for the cows and for the sheep for the flock to feed upon and if you would buy a cow from the Bashan you will say boy this cow is a cow that worth a lot because she had been fed she can provide much you might say meat for food or milk for to drink so when you think about the Bashan is basically in the north of Israel north east below Damascus area and you can see the location of the Bashan but I would like to mention that in

this verse 1 of Amos chapter 4 the Bashan is a cow but the word Parot is a feminine cow he does not talk about the bulls the masculine here but here he is speaking about the women of Israel who were abusing the poor in the north of Israel or in the kingdom of Israel and you notice that it says here in verse 1 hear you the word ye Bashan the cows of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria listen to them which oppress the poor which crush the needy and the third thing which say to their masters and the Hebrew word for master is Adonahem it's the masculine the women of Bashan the women

of Samaria the women of Israel the wealthy women of Israel was telling to their husband look what they were telling them bring and let us drink in other words the women of Israel in the northern in the northern kingdom of Israel were not behaving at all in the way that God was called them to behave in submissiveness in you might say in humility in godly character instead they were instigating they were influencing their husbands their masters to take from the poor and the needy so they can have pleasure for themselves and notice at the end of verse 1 let us bring and let us drink in other words they were living in luxury on the

expense of the poor but instead of using what they have gained you might say for the benefit of others they were saying let's bring more my master so we can drink and have party and have celebration and when God saw that the abusiveness of the in this context the women in the northern kingdom of Israel he called them Parot Habashan and the word Parot is the feminine for the cow it's not the bulls of Bashan but it is the title or the name that is called Parot Habashan the wealthy women of Israel who were living in luxury and abusing the poor in order to have a party celebration for themselves without honoring the Lord without

seeking to be submissive to the things of the Lord I would like you for a moment to turn to the book of Deuteronomy and Moses mentioned this before Israel entered into the promised land in Deuteronomy chapter 32 Moshe said this listen to this Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 13 to 16 I'm reading these verses Deuteronomy 32 verse 13 He made him ride on high places this is God made Israel to ride on high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the fields and he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil of the flinty rock butter of kine this is of Chema in Hebrew we call it Chema that

come from the cow and milk of sheep with fat of lambs rams and rams of the breed of Bashan notice the word Bashan mentioned here again in other words God made Israel to enjoy the many blessings that come out of the land of Bashan like butter like milk and as we have here the fat and so on God blessed the people of Israel and he made them you might say wealthy and blessed blessed and goats he said and the fat of kidneys of wheat and thou did drink the pure blood of the grapes in other words God gave Israel so much and Moses is even before God allowed Israel to enter into the promised land

he says look what God is going to give you but I want you to see what's going to happen to you when you are not going to be grateful in verse 15 he says but yeshurun wax fat and he says he kicked thou art waxed fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation Moses already predicted the death what will happen happen when Israel will enter into the promised land and they will enjoy the blessing of the Lord but what they are going to do they are going to kick and eventually they are going to deny the God who

has given them all these things and eventually God will have to respond to the wrong doing that they have done so when you think beloved brothers and sisters of the bulls of the cows of the Bashan you think in a feminine the feminine the women the rich wealthy women of Israel who abused the pool and said to their husbands husband why don't you go and take more and take more from the poor and bring this to us that we can drink and celebrate and have pleasure for ourselves while the poor and the needy are being devastated by the behavior of the women of Israel in those days now can you imagine and I am speaking

especially for the sisters today because the sisters the women of God are called to be different the women of Israel remember what we read about the virtuous woman in Proverbs chapter 31 who can find a virtuous woman a woman that is such a blessing to her husband a woman that is a good testimony for the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the same way the women of the day today in the church of Yeshua the Messiah in the assembly of Yeshua the Messiah are called to do the very same thing they are called to be godly women that give give a blessing to their husband honoring the Lord look what Peter said in 1

Peter chapter 3 he said wives likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husband that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife by the behavior of the wives while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of plating of the hair of the hair and of wearing of gold but let it be the hidden men of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which in the side of God is a great price look at the difference God was calling for the women of

Israel for the women of the body of Messiah to be godly to be those that influence their husband in a godly way to lead them closer to the Lord but here look at this look what we read here hear this word ye kind of Bashan ye parot of Bashan women of Israel that are in a mountain of Samaria which oppress the poor which crush the needy which say to their masters bring and let us drink they don't say to their masters don't do that take care of the poor and let us be thankful for what the Lord have done for us no the opposite they have done that which was dishonoring unto the Lord and

you see God have seen these beloved brothers and sisters and God is now proclaiming judgment upon the women of Israel who were described like the kind of Bashan the cow of Bashan which are wealthy and have so much abusing the poor influencing wrongly their husbands and now God is pronouncing judgment on Israel because of the behavior of the women in those days and notice that how sad how sad by the way if you notice brothers and sisters that in the time when the Lord Jesus when Yeshua the Messiah was on earth it was the godly women that served the Lord it was the godly women that ministered to Yeshua the Messiah it was the godly

women who have influenced many around him to follow the Lord and how we need the godly sisters to be an influence upon each and every one of us to be a help to the people of God no wonder God had given Eve to be a helpmate to her husband Adam and how we need this today but look this kind of behavior that was going on during the time when Amos was preaching sometime at about 770 765 BC eventually led to this kind of behavior led eventually to the coming judgment of God and so in verses 2 and 3 here is the promise of the coming judgment and so look what we read Amos 4 verse

2 and 3 the Lord has sworn by his holiness just pause here for a moment you see God is holy the Hebrew word for holy is kadosh and God on the basis of his holy character and nature has to provide a judgment upon people who rebel against him even if they are his own people and so he says on a basis God has sworn by his holiness that lo look what he said he is now predicting what's going to happen about 722 721 BC when the nation of Israel will be taken captive by the Assyrians and so he says listen the Lord God has sworn by his holiness that Lord the days will come upon

you that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks and he shall go out of the breaches every cow he says here at that which is before her and ye shall cast them into the palace say as the Lord notice verses 2 and 3 is the promised judgment of God God is saying listen because I am holy and I am just I cannot allow you my people treat dishonor me in such a way and judgment has to come and so what does he say he says listen the day is going to come that he will take you away with hooks in other words he's saying just like a fisherman go

by the ocean or by the river and he's throwing a net or fishing rod he's fishing with a rod and he's pulling and surely he's pulling by the mouth by the fish that bit on that hook and he's pulling that fish and with all the pain that's involved with it that is what God is predicted for Israel to happen in 721 722 BC the days will come upon you he will take you away with hooks and your posterity notice the word posterity those are the last ones even at the end the last ones you're going to take the early one and you're going to later on you're going to allow someone to come and take

you Israel by like a like fish you out of your own land and drag you to another place and verse 3 it says and he shall go out at the breaches every cow at that which is before her and if you know from some if you read a little bit about what the Assyrians did to our own nation Israel during the time of the dispersion when the people of Israel were taken to Assyria they led them one after the other and they were pulling them were dragging them and they were treating the people of Israel in such an evil way and they were taken away to Assyria and they dispersed for many many generations in

Assyria in the greater Assyria they put the Hebrews the Israelis in so many areas in that land of Assyria in fact if you just read with me 2nd Kings chapter 17 look what we read there that it actually happened in the days when Israel were taken captive by the Assyrian 2nd Kings chapter 17 verses 4 5 and 6 we read and the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosherah for he had sent messengers to Saul king of Egypt and brought no present to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison then the king of Assyria came up throughout all

the land and went up to Samaria this is Shomron in Hebrew and he besieged it for three years and look and look what happened after the three years in the ninth year of Hosherah the king of Assyria took Samaria and he carried Israel away into Assyria and placed them in Hala and in Havor by the river of Gozan and in the city of the Medes a little bit further down in verse 22 we read for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Yeruvam which he did they departed not from them and look at verse 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight as he had said by all his servants

the prophets so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria and notice at the end it says unto this day and beloved brothers and sisters really when you think about those ten tribes in the northern the kingdom of Israel who were carried away all these ten tribes were carried away by the Assyrians they were dispersed in many areas and some called them the ten lost tribes we know that they are not lost to God because God eventually is intending to restore his own people Israel but they were carried from out of the land they had to leave the land and they were carried to Assyria and there they were scattered by the

king of Assyria to many other countries surrounded the area that belonged to then that known the land of Assyria and imagine it is because God said that he is sworn by his holiness that he would take them away and he will fish them like a fisherman fish using a hook to draw the people and take them out of the water to draw the nation of Israel and take them out of the promised land of Israel so reason number one as to why the punishment will come upon the northern kingdom is because of the behavior of the women how they have treated the poor and they were saying to their masters to their husband bring more

bring more and let us drink let us have a party never mind how we treat the poor God saw it God eventually came in judgment and here Hosea predicting the future judgment of Israel in verses 2 and 3 so that is reason number one as Amos is giving the hear ye message to the northern kingdom now listen to the second reason that the second reason is found in verses 4 and 5 and the second reason is that Israel became an idolatrous nation the sin of idolatry worshipping idols offering sacrifices for those that are no gods violating the law of God which says thou shall have no other god before me in Exodus chapter 20 and

so here Amos is mentioning in verses 4 and 5 the behavior of the nation look at this they were saying like to each other in verse 4 come to Bethel and transgress come to Bethel multiply transgression bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven and proclaim and publish the free offerings for this liketh you all ye children of Israel sayeth the Lord God notice that they were telling to each other just like you know imagine these are the people of God the people of Israel imagine that believers today who belong to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah who are part of the body of Messiah

the body of Christ will say to one another hey don't go to this meeting come let us offer sacrifices there there is someone there that claimed to be divine let us go there and offer sacrifices and worship there you see what they were saying come to Bethel and transgress you can live in sin you can carry on you can violate the word of God hey come multiply your transgression you remember what Shaul Paul said to the Romans believers in Romans 6 he said shall we continue in sin that grace may abound oh God has been so gracious Yeshua the Messiah died for our sins so now because we are forgiven and we are the people

of God we have license so we can do as we please come you know let us continue in sin because God is going to show us more grace and more grace and more grace Paul said God forbid how should we who have been dead to sin and God have already paid the price to Yeshua the Messiah for our sin shall we continue in sin in such a behavior is that what with God people are commanded for and you see that's what they were saying to each other hey come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal now do you notice the two names that we find here Bethel in Hebrew Bait house El God it was Yaakov

many many years ago when he fled from his father Esav Esa when Isaac his father Yitzchak gave him the birthright and Yaakov had fled and he landed in a place that he called Beit El he laid down there he put underneath a rock a piece of stone and he saw a vision from the Lord that letter going up to heaven and there were angels going up and down and up and down and he saw that dream and he committed himself to God at that time calling the place the house of and now the house of God Beit El became a place where they were worshipping idols transgressing against the Lord and it was in this

very same location Beit El when when Jerob the first had built a golden calf and made altars there and in Dan in the north and Israel went to these places in order to offer sacrifices and you notice that the two locations here is Beit El and here is Dan Jerob Am who was the first king of the northern kingdom did not want the people of Israel to come to Jerusalem to worship in the temple anymore so you know what he did he said I will build a golden calf here and an altar and I will build another one in Dan and an altar and I will send the people to go to these two locations

that they will not come to Yehudah to Yerushalayim to worship in the God and he led the whole northern kingdom to this kind of behavior the remaining part of their history until the judgment of 721 came BC 721 BC came when the Assyrian came and delivered them or took them away from that land of Samaria the northern land of Israel but it's not only mentioned here Betel you notice it's also mentioned the name Gilgal the Hebrew word Gilgal means rolling away and you know in the area of Gilgal is where our people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt and they were for 40 years in the wilderness all the older

generation died in the wilderness physically but their children that were born they were not circumcised so in Gilgal they came to inside the land and they were circumcised we read it in Joshua chapter 5 verses 5 to 9 there the new generation the boys of the new generation were circumcised in an area called Gilgal which means to roll away the flesh circumcision brit milah in Hebrew means cutting off of the flesh represents putting the old nature to death and allowing the new nature the new life now to take over the lifestyle of the people of God but look what happened in Gilgal now the place where historically the people of Israel say I put to

death my own nature and I want to live for the God of my fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob now look what happened they say come to Bethel and transgress and go and multiply transgression continue on with living a life that is dishonoring to the Lord willfully you see how it was displeasing God to the extent that God was now going to send them away to Assyria and fish hooks away from the promised land look what he's saying here in verse 4 he said they say to each other come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply transgression bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years and notice verse 5 offer sacrifice of thanksgiving

but they add the word with leaven while in the book of Leviticus chapter 2 God commanded Israel that when they offer sacrifices no leaven should be part of the sacrifices because it speaks of sin leaven speaks of sin but you see what we learn here here is another another amazing lesson that we learn here is that willfulness self will and lack of submissiveness to the Lord will ultimately bring judgment upon God's people that's why we read in scripture humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time God resists the proud but he gives grace unto the humble you see beloved brothers and sisters I was reading this morning

a verse in Proverbs chapter 29 where King Solomon says listen to this verse verse verse 1 Proverbs 29 verse 1 he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and death without remedy when the heart of the nation of Israel even ours as well when our hearts are being hardened as believers as the people of God he has to discipline his own people judgment has to come upon his own people that's why he that often has been reproved and hardening his heart shall suddenly be destroyed and death without remedy King Shlomo said in Proverbs chapter 29 and here is the people of Israel were saying come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal

multiply transgression bring your sacrifices every morning your tithe after three years and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving but don't offer it to God offer it to those idols and add to at leaven and proclaim and publish the free offering for this liketh you you love to do this you're doing this willfully in denial of the truth that you know you know the pleasure of sin is only for a season Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season and so here God is seeing the behavior of the people of Israel in what they did in verses 4 and so we find out that

right now in the next verse you know they willfully have done these offerings to sacrifices to idols therefore God had to judge the people of Israel and the judgment will surely come he will pronounce it as he has done so in verses 2 and 3 so reason number one is oppressing the poor by the women of Israel reason number two for the coming judgment is that the people of Israel were sinning in worshiping idols and offering sacrifices to demons to idols to the golden calves in both Bethel in Gilgal and also we know it from other passages in Dan as well and for this God was going to discipline his people but now listen to

reason number three reason number three found in Amos chapter 4 verses 6 to 11 and I want you to notice it's very interesting because in these verses God is mentioning the five fold judgment that he had already placed upon Israel in the past and they did not repent he had already judged them in the past but there was no change in their behavior and so you notice you will find out the word I have I have notice verse 6 I also have verse 7 and also I have verse 9 I have verse 10 I have and verse 11 I have notice that he says five times speaking about the past and he was mentioning the

fact I have given you I have withheld from you I have smitten you I have sent against you I have overthrown you but there was no positive response from the people of Israel in repenting towards the Lord notice the five I have that we have here in verses 6 to 11 we also have the five yet have ye not returned unto me notice that and I'm reading those five responses that God did not receive from Israel notice what it says in verse 6 in the middle yet have ye not returned unto me in verse 8 in the middle yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord in verse 9 at the end yet

have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord in verse 10 at the end yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord and in verse 11 yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord five things that God have done and punished Israel in their past history and five times in which they did not change and they did not repent can you imagine brothers and sisters how God must have felt imagine when God in our own lives warning us and says listen if you are going to behave in such a way and you are going to turn away from me I am going to warn you something is going to happen I

will have to discipline you and have to bring punishment upon you and imagine that the rebellion both of Israel and it's very possible in our very own hearts we rebel and we don't listen we don't respond in other words God is charging us he is challenging us he is speaking to us but we just don't turn away from the evil way and eventually it made it necessary for him to come his final judgment so I just wanted to highlight what he says those five five I have activities of the Lord against Israel in the past look at this look at them just the first one quickly verse six God judged Israel with famine verse six

and I have given you a cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord in other words God brought famine to the land of Israel that expression cleanness of teeth mean that they didn't they have a clean teeth because there was no food they were not eating and it didn't help they didn't respond positively beg the Lord to forgive them because you see what he says he brought their shortage of bread no food and yet the hardness of the heart yet ye have not returned unto me saith the Lord in verse six at the end look at the second

I have this is that God withheld the rain from Israel the second one is not so much famine but he brought drought upon upon the land of Israel look at verse seven and also I have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city one piece was rained upon and the piece where upon it rained not withered in verse eight so two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water but they were not satisfied you know God it's amazing to think about the fact that God is in full control with

respect to the rain who does he give rain and who he does you know just recently we have experienced the hurricane that happened in the south and how one one island was completely devastated when we look at the videos at the clips about the condition of the Bahamas completely devastated and somebody told me the other day actually yesterday or the day before he said how is it possible that God allowed the judgment or you might say the hurricane to fall upon one area which people who are poor really not as well as the others and then in other area like America in the area of Florida it gonna pass by lightly some wind a little

bit of rain but no not as severe now it's not because there was something wrong in the Bahamas and something right in America or in Canada or in anyone else but you can see that the nature is in control of God God is sovereign he could have withhold that hurricane from touching the Bahamas and he could have allowed it to continue straight into the sea and nothing would have happened but you see beloved brothers and sisters God is in control we see it in these verse 7 and 8 here I have withheld the rain from you and one city received rain another city didn't receive rain and then running from one place to another to

try to drink water and were not satisfied because then God allowed the drought to occur but yet how said at the end of verse 8 it says yet have ye not returned unto me sayeth the Lord God want response he want the people of God the people of Israel in our case the believers in Yeshua the Messiah to respond to him and to be restored into fellowship with him because eventually as we read here in earlier verses he swore by his holiness that he must declare judgment upon the nation of Israel and he surely did in 721 BC when the Assyrian took them to Assyria look at verse 9 the third judgment verse 9 God

judged Israel with spoiled crops it it says in verse 9 I smitten you with blasting and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased the polymer worm devoured them in other words he sent the as it says here the polymer worm this is the gazam in Hebrew the one who eats it all up even when the crop came then God sent the gazam the polymer worm and the worm eat all the food so the crops was spoiled by the Lord and you would think Israel will turn to the Lord and say God be merciful to us we repent it says in verse 9 yet have ye not

return unto me sayeth the Lord Israel did to the Lord even after the third judgment of past history verse 10 Amos chapter 4 verse 10 God judged Israel with pestilence and sword in Hebrew we call it Dever Vacharev in verse 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt do you remember when you came out of Egypt your forefathers had been delivered by the God of Israel through Moses when God sent upon the Egyptians the ten plagues now the very same one of the plague that he laid upon the enemies of Israel he is now laying it upon his own people in judgment upon his own people verse 10 I have

sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt your young men have I slain with a sword and have taken away your horses and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils and now there were dead bodies of animals of humans imagine what have happened there and you would think that will change the mind of the nation when the nation was so far away from God it says in verse 10 yet have I know have ye not return unto me saith the Lord he's taking them back to history and he tell them listen it's not only what you do now you did not even repent in past days

when I brought judgment and judgment after judgment upon you you still remain in your own self will it is necessary for me to bring the Assyrian and to take you into the captivity of 721 BC look at a final judgment in Israel past history found in verse 11 God judged Israel by overthrowing and destruction that happened like it happened in Sodom and Gomorrah look at verse 11 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as firebrand plucked out of the burning you see Israel I have already punished you with the fact that I overthrew you I brought upon you judgment that caused chaos in the midst of you

that some of you who were sustained and came alive out of it were like as a firebrand plucked out of the burning and yet he says listen yet have ye not returned unto me sayest the Lord now brothers and sisters this is so sad to read but we have a message from Amos to the nation of Israel warning them about the coming judgment and say look I'm reasoning with you remember what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 1 come and let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isaiah 1 there God is reasoning with Judah with the southern tribe which later on had been taken captive by the

Babylonian in 586 BC as well five fold things that God have done he have given them no food he have withheld from them the rain he have smitten them with pestilence he sent against them all sort of judgment and eventually overthrew many in the land of Israel the those that remain alive were like those that were taken out plucked out from the burning fire yet there was no response now imagine if you and I have sons or daughters and we love them we want the best for them and we besiege them listen go in the right way do the right thing do the thing that will honor God and stop in your evil way just

stop it and carry on turn back to the Lord and imagine if they say I don't care I don't want to listen to what you say I am going to continue my way anyways and I don't have any respect towards you I couldn't care else what you say how you will feel how you and I would feel as parents it will grieve our hearts it will set in our hearts and therefore God is saying listen I love you Israel I want the best for you but eventually I will have to judge you and so there were three fold reasons that Amos in chapter 4 saying to Israel here oh Israel this is the reasons why

the punishment must come upon you reason number one you were oppressing the poor reason reason number two you were sinning in offering sacrifices to idols reason number three is that you failed to repent after so many punishments that I have given you in the past now for me it is the time to punish you and to send you away from your very own land which I have given to you Israel so you notice brothers and sisters in the last two verses we have the pronouncing of the judgment upon Israel by Amos speaking on behalf of God and look at that look at this therefore thus verse 12 therefore thus will I do unto thee O

Israel and because I will do this unto thee look at the last line prepare to meet thy God O Israel prepare to meet thy God O Israel there is a day coming and I am going to send the Assyrian and you going to have to meet God now not to meet him in a place of protection but to meet him at a time of judgment to meet him when he will unleash upon you that which you deserve because you fail to repent and to turn to the Lord now you notice that he doesn't say prepare to meet God or Israel but prepare to meet thy God Israel is still called God's people and God is

still called Israel's people Israel prepare to meet your God in other words here is a time coming when I will have to discipline you because of what you have done and when I thought about this verse immediately there was one verse that came to my mind in 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 10 where the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians who did not live a moral life as believers he said to the Corinthians who were the saints that were belonging to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah he said to the Corinthians in verse 10 of 2nd Corinthians 5 he says for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ of the Messiah that everyone

may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done whether it be good or bad Paul told the believers of the present day age in which you and I live in part of today he says listen there is one day coming for we must all I Paul and you Corinthians and all believers we must all appear one day before the judgment seat of the Messiah of the Messiah and everyone one day we're going to have to stand before the Lord Jesus the Messiah and notice how he clearly said that everyone as it says here in verse 10 that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he

has done whether it be good or bad you know brothers and sisters we know that we are forgiven we are saved because Yeshua paid for our sins but we will also have to stand one day before God before the Lord Jesus the Messiah at the judgment seat of the Messiah now the Lord will not send us into hell because he has already paid for our sins he have already washed our sins away past present and the sins that we commit after the meeting today but he will have to deal with us with respect to the rewards in a future day everything that was done for the Lord will remain but everything that was done to

dishonor him as believers here on earth will have to be burnt God cannot allow this to enter into his kingdom into his heaven after we have been taken out of here at the end of the judgment that we are going to go through and this verse came that prepare to meet thy God the question was how are we handling this kind of thought do we realize that one day we are going to stand before the same Lord Yeshua the Messiah who washed our sins away and paid for our sins and do we recognize that one day we like Israel had to stand before God and so he's warning Israel and he said Israel prepare to

meet your God I'm telling you that something is going to happen when the day is approaching and 721 BC will come and you're going to be taken captive by the Assyrian and then you're going to look to say boy how I violated God's word and I should have been living different lifestyle and I blew it I dishonor my God I was worshipping golden calf instead of worshipping the God of my father I was offering sacrifices to an idol instead of offering sacrifices to my beloved God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so he said Israel prepare to meet thy God very solemn when you really think about that this time they will face God in

judgment and so he concludes the whole second message of hear ye this word in verse 13 to show them who is the God that they are going to stand before and in verse 13 this is the final verse for today he says prepare to meet your God who is the creator he is the God who knows everything that is going on in the world in which we live in it says in verse 13 for law he this is God he that formeth the mountain and createth the wind and declareth unto men what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness and treading upon the high places of the earth the Lord the God of hosts

is his name notice he says five words about this God he is the one that is formed all things he is the God who created all things he is the one who declare all things he is the one who make all things and he is the one that treadeth upon the earth upon his creation he is in full control he knows all things in fact he is omnipresent omniscient and omnipotent he is all powerful he is everywhere and he is all knowing and Israel prepare to meet thy God because the judgment of 721 BC will surely come to pass and sadly it did and imagine from 721 BC until today Israel is scattered out of

the 15 million approximately 15 million Jews or Israelis or Hebrews that are in the world today more than half of them are not in the land of Israel and those that are in the land of Israel today since 1948 and earlier of course are people who came out of the Holocaust that happened to our own nation where the Nazis murdered 6 million of our own people imagine the history that have happened to our own nation our own people Israel for so many generations waiting the day of Israel's final restoration which will happen and God will surely bring it to pass Israel will be restored Israel will be blessed in a future day and be shining

blessing to the world in a coming messianic kingdom but look at that sad results of constantly violating the word of God having their own way which made it necessary for the judgment of the Lord to come how God desired to see his people living for him he desired from you and I beloved brothers and sisters also we belong to the Lord by grace but God wants to have his people enjoy him living for him serving him giving a good testimony here in this world so when we're going to go to be with him in heaven he can say well done good good good and faithful servant and we will all cast our crown before the

Lord Jesus the Messiah and say not us but you are the one that is worthy to receive all the praise and honor and the glory because of what you have done for us so beloved brother may the Lord encourage us and lead us on and give us a desire to respond to God's challenge and not to have a hard heart that made it necessary for God to discipline us even today in these days and age may the Lord bless his word can we say amen