“Some WILL NOT Repent!” – FBC Morning Light (6/27/2024)

Well a good Thursday morning to you. I hope you've had a good week thus far and you're following along in the Bible reading. Today we're reading Amos chapters 3, 4, and 5, and tomorrow we'll look at Amos chapters 6 through 9, the rest of the book.

But today I want to continue some of these observations from the book of Amos that we started yesterday. And again just a couple of things from today's reading. The first is seen in chapter 3 with a rhetorical question at the end of verse 6.

It's sort of a climactic rhetorical question that follows on the heels of several other rhetorical questions that are not so poignant. Let me explain. The rhetorical questions begin in verse 3 when the prophet asks, can two walk together unless they are agreed?

And let me pause a moment to explain what that means. I've known some who've taken that verse to suggest that you can't work with anybody unless you agree in every detail. That's not what this is talking about.

What this is talking about is it's just simply asking a very practical question. Can two people walk together unless in the first place they've agreed to meet for the purpose of doing so and have a mutual destination in mind?

The obvious answer to that question is no. And then there are several other rhetorical questions that require a no answer, like will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? No. Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing?

No. Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap for it? No, and so forth. So you have the series of rhetorical questions that have an answer of no, and then there are a couple of rhetorical questions in verse 6 that require an answer of yes.

And the first one is, if a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? And of course this is referring to that sound of alarm that would be a trumpet blast if there's an enemy approaching.

And people, if they hear that sound, they know trouble is underfoot. It's kind of like, you know, I live in the Midwest and in this time of year we can get severe thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes will crop up, and every once in a while we'll have a tornado warning.

And so we see the skies darken, we know this storm's coming, and we hear the threat of a tornado warning, but it doesn't get really serious. Some would argue otherwise, but I don't personally think it gets really serious until you hear that siren wail that tells you that a tornado has been spotted nearby, you better take shelter.

Well that's the idea here for the first part of verse 6, trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? Yes. Well then the second question is the climactic rhetorical question that can startle us a little bit, because it asks this, if there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?

Now some people want to hear that question and say, well no, no, no, the Lord doesn't send calamity in a city. That's not the answer the Prophet wants to hear, that God wants to hear. The answer is, well yes, yes, the calamity that comes upon the city is under the sovereign control and hand of God, and it doesn't come if he doesn't let it come, or actively, deliberately send it for some specific purpose.

And what the Prophet is getting at here is calamities coming upon you, Israel, because God is sending it, God is sending his judgment. Now the other observation that I want us to see is in chapter 4, in this repeated statement that, and you have not returned to me.

And it follows on the heels of a series of things that God does to chasten his people, and to confront them with their sin. So for example, in verse 6 of chapter 4, he says, also I gave you cleanness of teeth in your cities.

That doesn't mean God made sure everybody had toothbrushes and plenty of toothpaste. That's not what it means. What it's getting at is, you have clean teeth because you haven't had anything to eat, you're suffering from famine, you have a lack of bread in all of your places, and yet you have not returned to me.

And he follows through with that same theme in verses 7 and 8, then 9, 10, and 11. God sends this chastening, God sends this form of punishment, and he does so to get his people to return to him in repentance and faith, and they haven't done so.

So here's the observation. Some people will not return to God, they will not repent, regardless of how severely God chastens them. Instead, they become more embittered and hardened in their sin. Well, we want to make sure that's not our heart, that our heart is sensitive to the chastening of the Lord, that we would swiftly return when that hand of chastening is meted out.

May God help us. Our Father and our God, we thank you for these challenges from your Word today. May we take them to heart, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Thursday.

May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.