The Coming Spiritual Battle (10/03/2004)

Turn with me today to the book of Amos and chapter 2

Start with verse 9 this morning. I want to speak to you this morning about the sure sign of the end the sure sign of the end times

Let's start with Amos 2 in verse 9 While we read it think about what

God has done for America I think what he's done for this country in the few short years that we've existed

In verses 9 and 10 will remind you of that victory It says yet destroyed

I the Amorite before them whose height was like the height of the cedars they were giants and He was strong as the

Oaks Yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath You go over the

Middle East you won't find any Amorites today They are gone because God destroyed them as The people of Israel Obeyed him and went into the

Promised Land Also, I brought you up from the land of Egypt. They were slaves and God redeemed them and Led you 40 years through the wilderness

To possess the land of the Amorite that possessed land is a picture of victorious

Christian living and yet the desert wilderness is a picture of Sometimes the life that we can have on this earth and yet the

Lord is with us through it all If you think about the history of our nation Certainly God destroyed many giants in front of us

You think about our? Independence declaration of independence and the battles that ensued and The miraculous victory that we had there

We should have literally been snuffed out of existence at the moment of our birth as a nation, but we were not and you think of World War one in World War two

You think of the times that our Our Moms sent their young boys off to war

The World War one got so bad that they began to send their husbands off and all of a sudden

They were just about to to draft people in their mid 40s almost my age

If that war had continued You think about the Giants that God has defeated in the history of this country

World War two then comes along and You're more familiar with that story

Think of the political stability that we've had in this nation since its birth Think of the economic might that we have in this nation today and Think of the staggering military superiority that we really do have because of technology

Think of the freedom of religion that we exercise today and the freedom of speech free education for every

American and Think of the health care that God has given us the way the

Lord has given down through certain scientists and doctors the medicines that we have and Things that were commonplace

Caused death just a hundred years ago or easily cured today I Think of all those things and we can see how the

Lord has destroyed many Giants before us. We ought to be thankful now look at verse 11 and I raised up for you sons for prophets and of your young men

Nazarites Is it not even thus? Oh you children of Israel sayeth the

Lord. So not only the Physical blessings of might in battle has he brought this nation

But it says that the Lord Jehovah has raised up prophets for us

Remember we studied in recent days the names of the Lord Jehovah meaning the self -existent one who reveals himself

Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide the Lord who provides

Jehovah Rapha the Lord that healeth Jehovah Nisi the

Lord our banner in battle. There is never a battle that we fight that is not his battle

And so he is there in the midst of it as we fight Jehovah Shalom, which means the

Lord our peace peace because of the blood of the Lamb Jehovah Rah, ah, which means the

Lord our Shepherd This whole life can be seen as a stroll through the valley of the shadow of death

But he is there with us as our Shepherd leading us all the way along Jehovah said can you which means the

Lord our righteousness we have none of our own But he has given us his very righteousness and Jehovah Shalom, ah, which means the

Lord is present the quickest way to tempt God is to Pretend that he is not present

For his name is Jehovah Shalom, ah, which means the Lord is present Jesus means

Jehovah saved And so we see the many names of our

Lord and it is this Lord who went in before us and slew the Giants and It is this

Lord who also gave us sons for prophets Think of our glorious history in that area here in this nation

DL Moody Who could fill up a tent with more people than the world's fair More people would come to hear him preach at the same time.

The world's fair was going on Tori who came in and became his

Right -hand man and was the true doctor and theologian Moody was a self -taught preacher who never went to seminary

Tori was well schooled in doctrine came along and became his predecessor and Then men like Billy Sunday who could

Sweep into a city and preach for a few days and all of a sudden the bars would be closed down the whole city changed

Men like Jonathan Edwards who could preach Sinners in the hand of an angry

God and people in the church would grab hold of the pillars thinking they were gonna slide into hell as he preached

And then in the more modern times dr. Criswell the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas Texas and Lester Roloff of Roloff homes there in Corpus Christi and Men like Schaefer who wrote great theology books and all the way to the present men like MacArthur Who is one of the only clear voices on the radio today that teaches true doctrine, but God has given us

These men and As Israel he rose up sons of the prophets and so forth now go to verse 12

We have been greatly blessed as a nation the verse 12 starts with the word but And that's a bad thing

Because we're going to have a contrast now. We're gonna have a change It says but Ye gave the

Nazarites wine to drink You see the Nazarite was a was a vow that the young men would take and they were not supposed to drink any wine as long as they were a

Nazarite and God says but the nation of Israel the people would see these young men who had given their life to Consecration for a few years not their whole life necessarily but for a few set time period and they would find these young men in that time period and offer them wine to drink and It says and the people commanded the prophets saying prophesy not

We don't want to hear from the voice of God Reminds me of 2nd Timothy 4 1

It says I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom?

Preach the word Be instant in season out of season to reprove rebuke

Exhort with all long suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap unto them teachers having itching ears and They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables little stories

Have you ever seen a day like today when preachers will stand up read about that much of a verse and then tell stories the rest of the time people love that People love that kind of preaching because it makes you feel good emotionally

Having itching ears preach what we want to hear preach to make us feel good We live in a similar day that Israel lived in and you know what?

It's the people that ask for it They bring preachers that they want and there are always plenty of those kind to be found and They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto stories fables

But watch thou and all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy

Ministries, there's one thing about it. God will judge the church and his pastors for these things

Or Preaching the word when you preach is it the Word of God that is preached?

secondly for being instant Which means literally to stand upon will you be found standing upon the

Word of God? and to reprove which means to compute or to Admonish or to convince people of the truth of the

Word of God and to rebuke which means to tax Upon or to censure or admonish?

people or even to forbid things that are wrong and To exhort

Which is an interesting word because it's the Greek word para Kaleo and the word for the

Holy Spirit is the paraclete the comforter. So the para Kaleo, which means to come near and invite

To listen to the truth exhort one another come near and be comforted by the truth and on it goes with patience and with doctrine to be watching and enduring and to Be teaching the gospel evangelizing and to make proof of thy ministry

These are the things God will judge in the preachers But the people in the end times will be looking for preachers who don't care about those things

The people choose preachers to fit themselves Second Thessalonians 2 3 says let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come

Except there be a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition

Matthew 24 24 says for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders

There'll be no lack of miracles that these preachers can do In so much that if it were possible

They would deceive the very elect that tells me that there will be born -again Christians who go to these churches and think they're wonderful Mark 1322 for false

Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders But the purpose of them is to seduce if it were possible, even the elect the word seduce here in the

Greek language Literally means to lead astray it comes from two little

Greek words oppo which means away and Polana, oh which means to roam and Literally, it means that these false preachers will cause the people of God to roam away from the truth of the scriptures by telling them stories

Fables and things that are not from God 2nd

Corinthians 11 13 for such are false prophets deceitful workers Transforming themselves into the

Apostles of Christ. It's interesting in the English. It says transforming themselves into The Apostles of Christ, but in the

Greek language, it's one word and it's called pseudo Apostle Transforming themselves into pseudo

Apostles The little word pseudo means untrue in the Greek language and whatever word you put after it

It just changes that from a true thing into an untrue thing so an

Apostle is one thing a pseudo Apostle is an untrue Apostle a Spurious Apostle who pretends it carries the idea of pretending to be something that one is not

Churches are full of these kind of men today. And the sad thing is it's the people that asked for them

The people want to hear from these kind of men Because it appeals to the flesh and So these men come in and seduce with their words and their miracles and their false

Apostleship second Peter 2 9 says the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to Reserve the unjust into the day of judgment to be punished

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government doesn't mean necessarily government, but it means

Biblical authority is actually what it means Presumptuous are they self -willed?

They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, which means literally evil of God's ways

Whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusation against them before the

Lord But these false prophets are as natural brute beasts

Made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things that they don't even understand and they shall utterly perish in their own corruption and Shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime

Spots they are and blemishes Sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast

With you they are among us They feast with us they call themselves a part of the church and yet having eyes full of adultery and that Cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls

Unstable people who haven't been in the word They draw them away in heart.

They have exercised with covetous practices. They preach for things They preach for money and you can see it by how they dress

How they act? By the two or three homes that they may have different parts of the country that they bought with tithes and offerings of God's people

They are cursed children The Bible says which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness

That is found in Numbers chapter 22 and verse 5 and we see that Balaam this prophet was hired

By the enemy to prophesy against God's people to curse them for money

And our modern -day prophets who are off the Bible and on to all manner of things

Are doing nothing more than cursing the body It's as if they have been paid to bring curses to the church and to weaken it and to bring it into tangents

That are not the ways that the Word of God leads the church to go 2nd

Peter 2 17. These are wells without water They are a well therefore they look like they have water but When you hear them, you don't get real water

There are clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever

For whom when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh.

How do they draw the crowds? They make sure they provide things in their services that feel good to the old man so many people today

Can't even distinguish the difference between that which is spiritual and that which is soulish

Because only this book can divide asunder the soul from the spirit And so the unlearned

Christian can't tell the difference if he feels something and it feels good. He just assumes that spiritual

It could just as easily be from the soul Rising up from the flesh and these prophets realize this and therefore they allure through the lust of the flesh

Through much wantonness those that are clean escape from them who live in error

Titus 1 10 says for there are many unruly and vain talkers and Deceivers, especially they of the circumcision many of these people are legal legal oriented

Whose mouths must be stopped Who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not to teach for filthy money's sake

You notice that God says their mouths ought to be stopped. That means we're not supposed to just sit by idly

And say nothing about it. It does not mean when we speak against People who err in this way that we hate the people

It simply means that we hate it when their leaders and their preachers allure through the fret flesh and Teach things that they ought not

Men like MacArthur stand up every day and hold them up to the

Bible and no one likes it No one likes it

They say he's mean he's not mean I've met him personally He's one of the most gentle men

I've ever met But he preaches the word and if the shoe fits wear it if it steps on the toe of false doctrine

Then it just does He is a true man of God This is what our country needs, but it's not what the people are asking for So the people have itching ears and they bring in prophets that make them feel good every

Sunday and As they do their nation is slipping away from them little by little

Titus 116 they profess that they know God But in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient unto every good work reprobate

Jude 11 says woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain in other words, they're worshiping

God their own way rather than God's way and They ran greedily after the error of Balaam.

They preached for money and They perished in the game saying of course

They buck authority if there is a true man of God that God has his hand on Then they say well we can do that as well as you

These are spots in your feasts of love When they feast with you they feeding they're feeding themselves without fear

Clouds they are without water carried about by winds

Trees whose fruit withered without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame

Wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever

And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of Saints to execute judgment upon all and To convince all that are godly among them of all

I'm sorry All that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds Which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him

These are murmurs Complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouth speaketh great swelling words

Having men's persons in admiration Because it's to their advantage It's interesting that Enoch that goes back way back in human history

Enoch prophesied that in the last days these kinds of prophets would be there and that the

Lord would come with his thousands of Saints That's the second coming and will rebuke that very type of preacher

So it tells us that those are the kinds of preachers that will be around in the end days And these are the kinds of churches who will hire these preachers

Who will tickle their ears? So The great sin of the end is

To bring preachers that will preach what you want to hear rather than preaching the Word of God that you need to hear

If that's true, what is the great sign of the end look at verse 13 now back in Amos Back in our passage this morning

Amos Chapter 2 verse 13 God started out and he said

I freed you from slavery. I brought you out of Egypt He said I gave you great military power economic power

Destroyed Giants before you and then I raised up prophets from your sons to preach the true word of God to you

And then he said and then you began to give the Nazarites wine to drink to get them off track

And you began to bring into yourselves false prophets and then it comes to verse 13 behold

I Am pressed under you God says now. This is a fearsome verse.

I Want you to picture this God gives us a picture from agriculture

He says I am pressed unto you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves

So picture a little old -fashioned cart Made of wood and they stack it so full of the harvest as as The ox or whatever starts to bring it towards the barn

The old wheels are just wobbling and you can tell just would take one more piece of corn or whatever

Kind of crop is in there just lay one more on it and it just falls apart and falls down the wheels fall off That's how full this cart is that God is picturing and he is saying because of your sins and because of the kind of prophets

You want to bring to yourselves? It won't preach what I say or preach what you want to hear.

I'm like a cart. That's just about to bust Now that is a sign of the end times

It is said in different ways, let me read you a couple in Micah chapter 4 verse 9

Now why does thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Look around you or are you lacking good leadership in your country in your nation?

Do you have men that would like to be president that would be a joke if they won?

Look around yourselves. Is there no king is Thy counselor perished no wisdom.

No one to counsel For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail now, this is in Micah Hangs have overtaken you as a woman about to have a baby

Be in pain and labor to bring forth Oh daughter of Zion like a woman in travail for now shalt thou go forth out of the city

Now shall dwell on the field and now shall go even to Babylon. You're gonna be taken captive By the enemy there shall there there shalt thou be delivered

There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of the enemies, but you will have to go there first Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say let her be defiled and that our eye look upon The nation of Israel as if she were naked

It's Interesting that that mentions birth pangs because in Mark chapter 13 verse 6 of an easily overlooked verse a

Couple of verses it gives us some truth about the end times. We've always had earthquakes

We've always had diseases We've always had wars and rumors of wars

But look what it says in the end time mark 13 6 for many shall come in my name saying I am

Christ and shall deceive Many so there will be an uprising of false preaching in the end times and it goes on and says and when you shall hear of wars and Rumors of wars be not trouble for such things must needs be but the end shall not be yet For a nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

Now the word Nation Is the same word as the word race so one of those is referring to Races rising up against other races and the other one literally means countries more like America is a mixed country

They'll rise up against each other also and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places and there shall be famines and troubles

Now this last phrase is key. It says these are the beginning of sorrows and in the

Greek language That means birth pangs These are the birth pangs

Same thing that was said in the Old Testament in the book of Micah That when you see these things

Getting stronger and stronger and closer and closer together. The birth is about to take place the second coming is about to take place and so We see that the result of The people of God turning away from the

Word of God is defeat Now back in Amos chapter 2 go to verse 14 It shows the sad result

Therefore the flight shall the flight shall perish from the swift

In other words those who were swift among Israel will not be able to flee swiftly anymore and The strong shall not strengthen his force neither shall the mighty deliver himself when we get away from the

Word of God, we grow weak as a nation as More and more of our churches fall into liberalism

Where they teach the Bible is not even God's true word or that parts of it is not part parts are

They have the smartest preachers in the country because they have preachers so smart they can pick out which is which for you

I Don't believe any man could do that. Do you? So we have liberalism taking over many of our old line

Denominations and Then we have new things coming in that never existed before the year 1900

New things new names for churches new ideas about how it should be done

And the preaching of the Word is not the focus of services And now we have a new idea of worship that it has to do with something other than being in the

Word of God That's something other than God's voice and God's Word can bring us to worship.

That's a lie Jesus Said so clearly in his day to the woman at the well

He said the day cometh and now is when you shall no longer worship in Jerusalem That means physical worship outward worship

He said for God seeketh those who would worship him in spirit from the heart for God is a spirit

We have a movement in our nation today that's moving back towards Jerusalem worship It's focused on the place the building the trappings

All the things that go on inside there during quote modern worship I'll tell you this if you've read anything about church history you'll know that Jonathan Edwards used to stand behind a pulpit with spectacles on his face and Stand there holding the pulpit like I'm holding it today and read his sermon from a pre

Made message that he made the night before or the week before at his study and he would just read that to the people with absolutely no emotion and It was so filled with the

Word of God that the people as he read sternly

Would begin to weep and cry and gnash out and grab hold of the pillars thinking that they might really

Slide into hell if they weren't saved Such a different view of how worship services were then and now and yet we're in the end times today

This brings great weakness to the nation Verse 15 says neither shall he stand that handle it the bow and He that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself

Neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away

Naked in that day saith the Lord all of this is a physical picture of a spiritual battle We come before our enemies the world the flesh and the devil and we flee away naked half the time

Because we are so weak in this nation. I Tell you the truth.

I've had people come in our church before That came from other Groups and stay about a year and learn things such as eternal security

Learn salvation by grace that they had never known before they thought they saved themselves and they could lose it and then they would learn these great truths from the scriptures and Then I've seen them

Last about a year and then leave for reasons such as The music's not good.

I Remember this one particular woman. She was actually the piano player in our church. Well, she was so good

We asked her play the piano. She played the piano for a year. She's the one that left because of the music And they sat my study and I said you're providing the music

Well, I've ended up a little if you want to but that wasn't really the reason they were leaving So they left this church and went to a

Different type of church that they were looking for and within the first couple of months their teenage daughter met this boy

Who ran away with her and lived in a bus on the side of the road? And broke the mother's heart who called me for counsel now she had another pastor by that time

But she came to me when she wanted counsel because she knew I knew the Word of God She didn't go to the one that was taking about that much scripture and telling stories

But I couldn't help her very much at that point. I read her some scriptures and and tried to help her the best

I could and I believe the family went on and literally disowned her

What a sad story Let me tell you there are repercussions that take place

When you become a people who want to have the ears itched

It brings such weakness that when spiritual warfare comes you don't know how to battle it

And all of this is pictured by the scripture where it says that he that handles the bow

Can no longer stand he that is swift of foot in battle cannot deliver himself even he that rides the horse can't deliver himself and The mighty shall flee away naked in battle saith the

Lord Because none of us can fight in the flesh And if all we do is we appeal to that doesn't add any strength for the battle 2nd

Thessalonians 2 3 says let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come

Except there be a great falling away first and That man of sin shall be revealed the son of perdition

Who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God?

Sitteth in the temple of God Showing himself that he is God and yet he is

Satan incarnate Leads us to Amos chapter 3 verse 1

The final thought is That when these things happen God then has to punish his children

Why because the book of Hebrews says because he loves his children Hear This word that the

Lord hath spoken against you Oh children of Israel against the whole family, which I brought up from the land of Egypt saying now look at verse 2

You only have I known of all the families of the earth You talk about election

The same is true today only it's not a nation that he knows it's his children Jesus Christ came to save all which means all men not just the

Jew, but the Gentile also and Yet those who are his are

Elect and he has known them of all of the other people of the earth

But then he says therefore will I punish you? The reason that we get a spanking is because he knows us

We're his children We are his own. He doesn't spank the devil's children

He spanks his own therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities?

How did they start out this process by the way? They began to give wine to their young men

Their Nazarites who had taken a vow not to drink it just for a season wasn't that they couldn't drink it

It's just they promised God they wouldn't for a season and they weren't supposed to during that season. That wasn't legalism

That was just a vow. They took could have been for two weeks could have been for two years But the people would bring wine to them and tempt them even in the midst of their vow because you know

Why if they can make them fall they won't preach as hard will they? We live in such a day that People love to have preachers like that Here this word

That the Lord had spoken against you Oh children of Israel against the whole family Which I brought up out of the land of Egypt.

I brought you out of slavery out of bondage and Then you began to give wine to your young men.

You began to tell your prophets to prophesy no more And you only have

I known of all the families of the earth Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities and the last verse says can two walk together

Except they be agreed. We use that verse out of context all the time when we have two Christians that don't get along We say well, it's probably better if they go to two different churches because if they don't agree, they can't walk together

This isn't talking about two Christians This is talking about God and his children

This is talking about God's own children get in the place where they don't agree with God anymore because they're not in the word anymore

Because they're into the flesh and the things that feel good They're not systematically studying the great doctrines of the

Word of God Nor are they systematically studying through the great books of the Bible? What they're doing is they're systematically reading a little verse and in preaching something that feels great

Hour after hour week after week Sunday after Sunday as this country goes and farther and further

Towards this very punishment that God says will come To his people you say well this nation in the

Christian nation No, it's not but it's filled with God's children everywhere from shore to shore even in San Francisco.

I mean, they're everywhere The elect are everywhere, but so many of them are in these kinds of churches

That they are not going to be stamped able to stand up with the bow when the battle comes they're not going to be able to flee quickly in battle and When the enemy really gets on top of them they'll turn and run they'll turn their back and run away naked because the enemy reached and grabbed and grabbed their armor and their clothing

And ripped it off as they ran away Because they don't have the strong word of God in their mind and in their heart

Because they'd slowly moved away from it And to walk together except they be agreed

God said There comes a time when he stops walking and he begins whooping

Spanking And when he does it's tragic sometimes for whole nations

Look at Europe if you don't believe it Look at the great nations of Europe such as Germany where Martin Luther preached

There is no God there. It's totally agnostic Look at England where the great

Spurgeon the prince of preachers preached churches there that are built for 5 ,000 have 20 and 30 people in them this morning over there this nation's going the same way

It's sad, but you know what we don't have to join We can stay in the word

Just stick with the Word of God you young people as You go out you find churches where some little preacher stands up and reads a

Chapter or two from the scriptures and it seems boring to you be thankful that you're hearing the

Word of God in that church Because that's the only thing that will give you strength in battle

Stick with the word stick with it in your family stick it with it when you read on your own at home

Stick with it when you come to church That's all that we have The battle that we're in I'm glad Roger told his story a physical battle that you fought preparing you maybe literally for True battle where there is an enemy worse than drill sergeant

Facing you in a picture This is of the spiritual battles that we face and will face even stronger and stronger

We had better be spiritually running the nine miles Right now Let's stand and have prayer together

Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for How you warn us of exactly how it is and will continue to to move into the end times

We thank you that you give us the glorious truth that your son will come again with thousands of his

Saints and Will judge those who were false And would judge the nations of the world who are the goats

And will set them apart from the sheep and will say to the goats depart from me. I never knew you

But to the sheep he'll say enter in and into my rest Lord thank you that we can rest even now in Christ We can have a

Sabbath rest even in the midst of the battle so long as we stay in Christ We thank you

Lord Jesus that you gave us your word and you said my words are spirit and they are life

Keep us in the true word of God we ask Lord prepare our hearts now as we go to fellowship one with another