Prepare to Meet Your God, Oh Israel

Introduction

What a beautiful day the Lord has given us as we’ve gathered together to worship. We’re thankful to have an audience today, visitors, and we certainly welcome you. And if we can be of any help to you in a special way, we hope that you’ll please let us know. I hope that you have a Bible with you, that you’ll be opening with me to the reading found in the Old Testament book of Amos. Our text this morning is Amos chapter 4 and in verse 12, where the Lord, speaking through Amos, said, Therefore, thus will I do to you, O Israel. Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. I’m sure this text doesn’t mean to you what it does to me.

For it brings back in my mind memories of sixty years ago when I used this text as I preached the very first time. I just turned 16 earlier in that month of February, and I was asked to speak at the congregation in my hometown, Nakatoches, Texas. At that time, those of you certainly know back in 1955, we had segregation. And so it was a black church on Shawnee Street. They were between preachers. The one that had had moved away, and they were waiting another man to come. And so they sort of asked me as a fill-in on that Sunday night. Well, that’s probably the best place to start preaching. Because if you’ve ever attended in a black church, you know they constantly are encouraging you. Amen, brother.

All over from the audience. You read a scripture, read it, brother. I know it’s so. I read it myself. And on and on, comments like that. So that I would say it was an encouraging time and a place to start. But I’d also have to say, when I read this text, and really became the theme for my lesson on that evening, I did not understand near what the prophet Isaiah was saying like I do today. What the Lord through Isaiah was doing was warning a nation that really were his people, but his people who had forgotten God. God had been ruled out. And so Amos, probably somewhere around 750 before Christ, was warning the people. God through him, like all prophets, really, their main message was repent, or else you’ll find destruction from the Lord.

For indeed the Lord blesses those who serve him, but he punishes those who reject him. And at the time that Amos was prophesying along with Hosea, they were prophesying to what we now know as the northern ten tribes called Israel, where indeed the capital city was Samaria. And was during a time when their king Jeroboam II had reigned, and it was a good time, they thought, at least in a material way. I’ve often thought and wondered how history has re uh does repeat itself. And if the prophet Amos were standing today and we know that he was inspired by God and he’s speaking directly by that inspiration, I wonder if he wouldn’t say some of the same things to our nation as was being said to Israel 750 BC.

Why prepare to meet your God? Because God was warning that there was soon to be destruction if there was not repentance. Now they did not think so. In fact, in passages like Amos chapter 6 and verse 1, they were of a disposition and a heart that, well, everything is going well. You know, we’re living in prosperity, and any enemies who’ve come against us, we’ve been able to defeat them. And therefore, the prophet or God through the prophet would say, Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria, Samaria being the capital city. Oh, they had defeated any skirmishes or uh uh uh any attempts of those surrounding uh enemies, and in fact that enlarge their borders and and it was a prosperous time.

I wonder if Amos were speaking today, if there’s anyone in our land who really is concerned, but that it’s going to be all right for us. In fact, uh, you know, we trust in Washington, don’t we? That they’re going to make the right decisions and defeat any enemies that we may have. Furthermore, Amos wrote in verses, chapter 6, verses 3 to 7, describing in the even indeed their attitude of gratifying. I mean, they could do whatever they wanted to do and did it. Woe to you. Who put far off the day of doom, who caused the seed of violence to come near, who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall.

That’s a sign of their prosperity. You know, they could go anywhere and you did what you wanted. In fact, eat the fat of the land. Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David, who drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves with with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore, and any time you see the word therefore, you know that’s based on what has just preceded. Therefore, they shall now go captive, as the first of the captives, and those who recline at banquets shall be removed. It was a warning. Just because you feel secure, it was a false sense of security. And because there were some temporal advantages, you know, you can do your own thing.

Maybe they were sensuous and selfish kind of living like we experience in many quarters of our nation today. And yet God through his prophet could say, there’s going to be a captivity to you. He could speak more specifically, of course. We do not have a specific prophecy in our land today, but are we not ripe if we are like they were? In fact, Samaria or the northern ten tribes did fall about some 30 years after this prophecy. Samaria was taken into Assyrian captivity. And it was a sad time for these who were God’s people who had ruled God out. Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Oh, they might have said, Oh Lord, don’t you know? We’re your people. Don’t you know? That you you you led us.

In fact, the Lord asked them, have you forgotten this? Was it not I who brought you up from the land of Egypt? And led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite. I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazarites. Do you not remember what God has done? I’m the one who led you. I am your God.

Now, perhaps you may know and remember the Nazarite vow was one described in number six where anyone with that vow would not drink anything of the vine, nothing of the grape, and his hair would not be cut, and he would not touch a dead body. There were certain restrictions if you’re a Nazarite, especially devoted in this vow to the Lord. But what had these people of Israel done? The Lord would say, Is it not so, O children of Israel? Says the Lord, you gave the Nazarites wine to drink. And you commanded the prophets, saying, Do not prophesy. Wait a minute, does that sound like some modern preaching of the day that says, oh, we don’t need to take the Bible literally? You know, society sort of rules today what’s right and wrong.

The common thinking in many quarters of our land is that, well, God loves us all. And it’ll be all right. Don’t be so literal that says we have to do exactly what the Bible says. Let’s just take it figurative. And no, I mean society has said it’s all right to have some homosexuality and same-sex marriages. Doesn’t the society claim to say it’s all right? Therefore it must be alright. That’s the way some people view the Bible today. And no doubt even in the day of Amos there were some, well, it won’t hurt if we give the Nazarites wine to drink, everybody else drinks. And indeed, don’t come back being so strict, Amos and Hosea. Don’t prophesy. We don’t want to hear that. Yeah, we’re religious. But God would say, Behold, I’m weighed down by you.

Can you imagine? The God who is all powerful and so mighty to create the heavens and the earth, and yet he becomes so burdened with the attitude and the sins of the people that he could say, I’m weighed down. Like a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. What a sad description that the Father has come to describe like that. In fact, when he spoke about their sacrifices, yeah, he knew they were sacrificing. They were religious. You know, we can say in our country, we’ve got you go to any city, and there are multiple of church buildings in the cities. And so God would say, even then, I hate, I despise your feast days. If your attitude is such that it doesn’t matter what the what the word of the Lord is, and you can change it to suit yourself, then I want you to know your sacrifices are meaningless.

I hate. God hates this God of love. God would say, I despise your feast days. I do not savor your your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burn offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.

From our God of love.

Yet they went into captivity because they did not repent. They paid no heed to his word. Well, perhaps, even like today, they thought everything’s going to be all right. You know, we’re here preaching today. Well, you know, pretty much everybody’s going to go to heaven, aren’t they? You ask the common person on the street today, if he believes that there is God and he believes there’s a heaven and a hell, there’s this attitude today that says, Well, take it easy. God is full of love and God is grace. And somehow, some way we’re all going to be alright. And therefore, with that attitude comes complacency. An attitude, it’s going to be alright. But what God through the prophet said, the time of judgment is going to bring a surprise.

In chapter 5, verses 18 and 19, he said, Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It’ll be darkness, not light. It’ll be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him. Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. It’s going to be a surprise. Will it not be even for our generation of those who’ve, well, taken the word of God rather lightly and rather figuratively and sort of ignored, really, doing what he says to do. Oh, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Can you not hear, as the prophet would say, or God through the prophet gave them warning, you have time.

I wonder sometimes how many there are who would say, Well, you know, I really believe in God, and I believe Jesus is the Son of God, and someday I’m going to get right with the Lord, but I’ve got time. We’ll do it some other time. That was the attitude in the day of Amos, and that’s why the ten northern tribes indeed were taken into captivity. Well, as I said, I didn’t know that much about Amos back when I preached this sermon. I had a good text, though. It was a text that said the right words. I’m not sure where I got the outline 60 years ago. Probably I got it from some kind of a workbook or a book that preachers gave sometimes here some sermon outlines, and and I thought it sounded pretty good, and I’m sure at that time, and and you know what I thought today I just sort of share with you some of the same points that were made.

I still have the outline, and as I look at it, I thought, you know, it’s still good. And you know why? Though we may have changed, God’s word has not changed. Though our society may change and have changed considerably since our nation was founded. Yet God’s word is still the same. And no matter what generation of time we may live in, indeed, his word still applies. I’ll tell you, in 1955, we didn’t have near the advantages in a physical way that we do today. Well, in in 1955, if you had a television, you were lucky not everybody had a TV, and if you did, it’s black and white. And you had to get up and go across the room and change the the channel. Uh if you had more than one channel.

And today we have color TV, and some have it in every every room. Back then, if you had a TV, what you saw were programs like uh I Love Lucy and uh the Andy Griffiths show. But today, what do we have? All manner of immorality and violence that’s portrayed in the majority of homes today. And those who do not read the Bible may think, well, this is commonly accepted, and and that’s why even homosexuality is so commonly accepted, because that’s what’s thrown at us over and over again, and such immorality. In the day of Amos, they had ruled God out. And I’d say in our day, basically, we have ruled God out as a nation. Prosperity has increased for us. Times are good. We trust in Samaria, our Washington.

And in fact, we have two cars instead of maybe just one, as many families then had if you had one car. But we have two cars or maybe more in our garages. And why we have even walked, we’ve sent men to the moon, they’ve walked on the moon and come back, and we have an international space station about 200 miles above our earth circling around now. Aren’t we smart? Aren’t we able to do what we want to do? And you know, we we are we are we are people that we can take ease. The fear of the Lord does not pervade our nation as it should. We very never hear, I start to say very seldom here, I would say we never hear, uh in Congress in a debate going on about what maybe laws we ought to, in fact, how many times you ever heard say, Well, the Bible says this is what’s right or wrong.

1. Everyone Needs to Prepare

We just don’t hear that today. Times have changed, but God’s word has not changed. Prepare to meet your Lord, O Israel, needs to be said even today. So here’s the basic outline. Uh, the basic outline after a few words of introduction was everyone needs to prepare. Everyone. The fact is that even the Bible, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 13 and 4 gives us some understanding. What is the purpose of life? As the wise man Solomon wrote through inspiration, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s law. The King James Translation says it is the whole duty of man. I kind of like that better. If you want to know the purpose of life, then get in perspective that we need to prepare by fearing God and keep his commandments.

Why? For God will bring every work into judgment, with including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

There’s the promise.

Everyone needs to prepare, certainly. But also the outline went like this.

2. The Tests for Entering Heaven Are Rigid

The tests for entering heaven are rigid. Now, can you think our God of love has made it hard and difficult to enter heaven? Well, he certainly didn’t say, look, all you got to do is raise your hand and say a prayer. I believe in Jesus, or I accept Jesus. It wasn’t at all. You don’t find that anywhere in the Bible. Listen to Jesus. In Matthew 7, 13 through 14, he spoke of two ways of life. Jesus said, enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. What that says is God’s made a way.

But it isn’t because you just have some kind of casual experience of the Lord. If you weren’t here at the 9 o’clock hour, I hope you’ll get a, at least maybe go on our website and listen to the lesson by Brother Greg Klein on commitment. What it really means to serve the Lord, to be crucified for him. It isn’t just a casual experience. What God wants are people who love him. And if you truly love him, we’re going to obey him. We’re going to give up our sight of ourselves unto him. And so, in that sense, yes, the way is narrow. The gate is difficult.

3. Some Things Man Cannot Escape

But it can be accomplished. It isn’t impossible. God hasn’t made it so that no one, that anyone who tries may find it that he can’t get there. You can go. God wants you to go. He wants everyone to be saved, in fact. But then as we went through the lesson, the fact is, there’s some things man cannot escape. And so the sermon went looking at some of those things that man cannot escape, quite obviously. We cannot escape death and judgment. We might want to put off and ignore, maybe some of us just, I just do not go to a funeral. I’ve seen people who will not go because they don’t want to face death. But the reality is, as Hebrews 9 27 says, it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment.

Just look around and you know there will be death. I do not know when, but death is certain to come to all if God lets time go on. Man cannot escape that fact. Frankly, man does not escape bowing before Jesus Christ. You may want to ignore him today, and you may not read from this word and follow his will. But the fact is it is written as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. Every tongue shall confess to God. So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. That’s sort of sobering, isn’t it? Can you imagine? Stop and think. What if you died today or tomorrow? By this time next week, what will happen? Well, it’ll be a judgment day.

And you’ll bow. You may ignore him now, but it’s going to come. Not only will you not escape death or bowing before Christ, you can know by what means you’re judged. The Lord won’t say, Well, now let’s see. You were a pretty good person once you’re a good husband and provided for your children, and you were honest in your dealings with other people. Oh, I’m going to let you into heaven. Is that all there is? Or you were a good wife and morally straight, and is that all there is? Well, that’s part of it. God wants us to be honorable men. Let justice and righteousness be said of us. So those good moral traits ought to be characteristic of people who love the Lord. But you know what?

There’s more to it. Jesus says, He who rejects me and does not receive my words, has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. I don’t have to wonder the standard by which I’ll be judged. The words Jesus said that I’ve spoken. And so will there be some question, maybe? When Jesus said, for example, in Matthew 7 21, not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father which is in heaven. And will we make any wondering why he said, like in verses 22 and 3 of Matthew 7, many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name?

4. What Must One Do to Prepare?

And didn’t we cast that devils in your name? And then we do many wonderful works in your name. Religious people. But they’ll hear the Lord say, I’ll profess unto them, I never knew you. You who work iniquity, you who do lawlessness. Those of you who do not really keep my word, obey my will. Men will not escape death and judgment, bowing before the Christ, being judged by his word. Therefore, really, you can imagine this sermon had to follow. If the sermon was prepare to meet your Lord, O Israel, the question must be raised, what must one do to prepare? And it’s not that hard if we look at the Bible. You know, sometimes people look at the Bible and they pick out one verse here or there.

They like John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, and they say, That’s it. As though that’s all you need to know is that one verse. But if we truly believe in Jesus Christ, we know he said more things than just believe. In fact, uh Jesus talked about that commitment that we ought to have in him, and he’s told us what’s involved with it. So therefore, really, if we want to prepare to meet the Lord in the day of judgment, we’ll want to hear his word. Romans 10 and verse 17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So our hearts were open, and we keep our Bibles open.

And we’re wanting to reason together what is the will of the Lord. It’s not just choose the church of your choice and find one you kind of like and just go there because it’s like what you think it ought to be. But rather it ought to be, what does God’s word say? Is this a church that says, let’s really follow the Bible? And if you think we do some things that are not in the Bible, please bring it before us and we’ll try to get right with the Lord. Or on the just the other way, if we’re not doing what the Bible says, we’ll try to be right with the Lord. That ought to be the attitude. It’s not that the name on the building has the right name.

Church of Christ isn’t the right name necessarily, you know. If if I thought that’s all it took to be saved, I’d get a bucket of paint and paint Church of Christ on every church building in town. But that doesn’t make it right. You have to say, What is right? We hear what the word of God says. And with those who attend there ought to say, This is what the Bible says. What makes one saved is not, oh, I’m a member of this or that church. The church doesn’t save. Christ saves. And his word is the standard by which we shall be judged. That’s a pretty simple rule. But faith comes by hearing. So if we really hear God’s word, then we must believe. Jesus Himself, before he ascended into heaven and giving the great commission in Mark 16 and 16, said, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.

He who believes not shall be condemned. To believe, to believe is really to obey. In that simple attitude that says, if God said it, that’s what I’ll strive to do. I’ll try to be his servant. And if you don’t do that, Jesus clearly said you shall be what? Cond. And think about it. The Bible that also says it is the point unto man wants to die after this the judgment. Also speaks about a second death. The second death is a total and eternal separation from God. You die physically, that’s the first death. You stand before the Lord in judgment and say, Well, I, you know, I just didn’t want to follow your word. I rejected your word. Then there’s that second death, the eternal separation, and a place the Bible describes as hell.

Jesus described it that way. In fact, he said it is a place of darkness where there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Surely you don’t want to go there. But it’s not hard to keep from going there. The way may be narrow. But it is open. And all what you must do then is as a believer is have the attitude that I’m going to repent of evil. I’m going to strive to serve the Lord in the right way. For Jesus said, except you repent, you’ll perish. That within itself says there’s more to it than just a mental agreement and saying, Oh, I believe. I’ve got to do something. Repent. And frankly, to confess my faith in him. In Matthew 10, verses 32 and 3, that with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

You really believe in Jesus, don’t be ashamed of him. But walk in a way that you gladly and openly would testify that you believe Jesus is the Son of God, and you’re striving to be a Christian. And you may be persecuted for it, you may be ridiculed for it. But if you truly believe, you’re glad to do that, to serve Him. In fact, you’ll be baptized. In Acts 2 and verse 38, in that first gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost, as Peter is recorded as preaching that first sermon about the Christ, that he indeed is the Son of God. He is, according to the scriptures, was crucified. It wasn’t just that men were stronger and put him to death against his will. It was according to God’s will that he was put to death.

And that he would be raised. Even the prophets, as Peter preached and quoted from the Psalm, that his resurrection had been foretold by the Scripture. And as he came to that conclusion of that sermon, the scripture says they were pricked in their heart, touched as believers. Fifty days earlier, at the time of Passover, when asked, they said, crucify him, crucify him. But now it all comes together. They understand he is the Christ. And they said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter answered at Acts 2 38, Repent and be baptized. Every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the nation’s sins, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t it remarkable on that day there were about 3,000 souls who did just that?

Should have been more, because there were many more Jews in Jerusalem at the time. But there were at least 3,000 who heard and who received and who obeyed the word on that day. Would you have? If you’d been of the number in that crowd, what would you have done? In fact, I ask you, what is attitude even now? Are you of the disposition to prepare to meet your God, O Israel? Am I speaking to anyone in this audience who would be quite frightened if all of a sudden the last trumpet should begin to sound and the Lord coming again in judgment? Or would you, on the other hand, say, Come quickly, Lord? We look forward to your coming. We’ve done our best to serve you. We’re not perfect.

5. God Has Done a Lot to Prepare for You

But by your grace we have forgiveness of sins because we we’ve by faith tried to serve you faithfully. I hope this will be your spirit, your experience. God has done a lot to prepare for you. You think about it. While He’s issued us the invitation to prepare ourselves for Him, He’s prepared for us. Because even as we learn in the Bible the story, the first sinners at that point in time, God set forth the penalty for sin, for He told Adam and Eve, in the day you eat of this tree of knowledge and good and evil, you shall surely die. The penalty for sin is death. Not just physical death, but that second death, the eternal separation from God. That’s the penalty for sin. And in fact, Jesus prepared in such a way that we can escape that.

We say that the blood of Jesus Christ, he prepared the way. Have you thought about it though, really? You know, in the Old Testament, God set up with His people the means of worshiping Him. And through the law of Moses, He even taught them the importance of blood being shed. Animal sacrifices, the blood of bulls and goats were offered for the sins of the people. Hebrews chapter 9, the writer essentially says this was symbolic. You know what happened? There was one day out of the year called the Day of Atonement in the seventh month. And on that day, the high priest would take blood and enter into the Holy of Holies. There was a separation between the holy place in the tabernacle in the temple, and a veil separated it from the most holy.

And the most holy place was the Ark of the Covenant. And on the top of it was the mercy seat. Overshadowed on either side were cherubims whose wings overshadowed. God said in Exodus 25, I’ll meet you there. Every year, one time a year, the high priest would enter through the veil to offer blood on that altar, the mercy seat. And it was such an important day, though it was symbolic of what was later to come. It was such an important day. It says that by tradition, the Jews would sometimes tie a rope around the foot of the high priest. Because if something happened in there that he did that was wrong, he may be struck dead, and no one else could enter. And they had that rope so they could pull him back out.

I mean, you talk about understanding the sobering fact of serving the one true God of heaven and earth, they understood it. In Leviticus 16, though, God taught them, taught the high priest what he was to do. Among the sacrifice of blood that he did on that day of atonement, he took two live goats. And these two goats, the one they would cast lots, which it would be, and the one on whom the lot fell was to be the offering. And the high priest would kill that goat, and he would take that blood, and he was to go into the holy of holies and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, and also on the horns of the brazen altar just outside the tabernacle. But the other goat, the live goat, that became the scapegoat.

It was on that one that the priest, the high priest, then would come and place both hands on the head of that goat. And he was to confess all the sins of the people, all the transgressions of Israel. And then that live goat was to be let go. And as he would go through the congregation into the wilderness where no one lived. He was the scapegoat. He bore the sins of the people. He represented the sins as being left them. Gone, forgiven. Jesus Christ is our scapegoat, symbolically. He is the one who has taken away our sins. I tried to visualize Leviticus 16. How do you think the people must have felt as they saw this goat that now represented their sins and going through them out into the wilderness?

Conclusion

Ought it to have been an emotional day. And it should be for you and me as we think about what God has done through Christ Jesus for our sins. Well, I ask you, have you prepared to meet God? Are you ready? That sermon 60 years ago still is preachable today, isn’t it? And it’s needed in our generation, and if God lets us have another 60 years, he’ll still be. But to you, you have to examine your own heart. Are you ready to meet the Lord? If not, we’re going to sing a song. We call it an invitation song because by it we extend just that opportunity. That if you need to openly confess your faith, having repented of your sins, you can be baptized, immersed this very hour, and go forth forgiven of sin.

Or if you’ve once done that, but you’ve turned back into the world, turned away from the blood of Christ, why not turn back in obedience? We’ll pray with you as you confess your faults. The Lord has promised to forgive those who truly repent. If you’re subject to that imitation, why don’t you come right now as we stand and while we sing?