The Coming Spiritual Battle (10/03/2004)

Amos 2 and the Sure Sign of the End Times

Turn with me today to the book of Amos and Chapter 2. Well, we 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. Think what he's done for this country in the few short years that we've existed. And 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 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 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.

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 as 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 Sid can you which means the Lord our righteousness. We have none of our own. But he has given us his very righteousness. And Jehovah Shama, 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 Shama, 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.

Tory 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. Tory 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 going to slide into hell as he preached. And then into 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 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 do you know what? It's the people that asked for it they bring preachers that they want and.

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 for preaching the word. When you preach is that 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. 2nd 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 13 22 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 Palana, 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.

Second Corinthians 11 13 for such or 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 realized 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?

Do 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 1 16 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 preach for money and They perished in the game saying of Court, 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 in 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 mouths 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?

The Cart Pressed Down by Sheaves: Judgment on a Nation That Rejects the Word

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 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 profits. You want to bring to yourselves that 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 let 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 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 to 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.

It'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 liven it up a little if you want to. But that wasn't really a 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. Second 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 worshiped 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.

God’s Discipline of His Own 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 are 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. They're Nazarites who had taken a vow not to drink it just for a season wasn't that they couldn't drink it.

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 unknown 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 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. It 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 him 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.