We're going to turn to the word of God at this time, and we're turning this evening to the book of Amos. Amos chapter four. The book of Amos and the chapter number four, and we'll read the chapter together, pray, and then I'll preach God's precious words. And so it is the book of Amos, the chapter number four, and we'll begin our reading at verse number one. Hear this word, ye kind of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, bring and let us drink. Lord has sworn by his holiness that though the day shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks. And ye shall go out at the breeches, every cow at that which is before her, and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord. Come to Bethel and transgress. at Gilgal multiply transgression and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes after three years and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven and proclaim and publish the free offerings for this like a few or you children of Israel saith the Lord God And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in your places. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One peace was rained upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have ye not returned on to me, saith the Lord? I have smitten you with blastings and mildew, When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increase, the palmer worm devoured them, yet have you not returned on to me, saith the Lord? I have sent among you the pestilence after the manor of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses. And I have made the stink of your camps to come onto your nostrils, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For though he that formed the mountains and created the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. Amen, and God will bless the reading of his precious word for Christ's sake. Let's unite in prayer together, please, and let me encourage you as a Christian to pray that God will be pleased to work and save as a result of the gospel being preached tonight. Loving Father, we enter again into thy presence just to commit this time around thy word once again into thy hand. Lord, I cry to thee for the infilling of thy spirit. Grant, dear God, help and assistance And may, dear Father, the word be sounded forth with clarity and with power, and pray, O God, that thou wilt save the lost, restore the backslider, and encourage and challenge the saints of God. And so come, fill me now with thy Spirit, empty that thou shouldest fill me, a clean vessel in thine hand, with no power, but as thou givest, graciously with each command. Lord, fill me now with thy spirit. I pray these petitions in and through the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. Preachers are reluctant to return to any scriptural texts that they have preached on before because the Bible is an inexhaustible book when it comes to material and truth. that a preacher can take up and preach upon. And so tonight, Having preached from this chapter before, I find myself a little reluctant to return to Amos chapter four, and yet the Lord has very definitely led me back to the solemn chapter within the word of God for this gospel meeting this evening. Now the words of the verse 12 of Amos chapter four are familiar to us all. Prepare to meet thy God. But the context in which those words sit may not be so familiar. The name of the book in which these words rest inform us of its penmanship. Amos, the inspired penman, was not from the upper echelons of Jewish society. Rather, he was a simple shepherd from a village called Tekoa, a village some 10 miles south of Jerusalem and six miles from the village of Bethlehem. Amos ministered around about 800 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. During the years of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam II, king of Israel. Now Amos describes God's call upon his life in Amos chapter 7 in the verse number 15. tells us, and the Lord took me as I followed the flock. And the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Despite being a native of Judah's kingdom, Amos' main ministry was directed not to the southern kingdom of Judah, but rather to the northern kingdom of Israel. Now these were days of great outward prosperity in the kingdom of Israel. These were days of opulence and plenty due to Jeroboam's many successes and victories on the battlefield. And yet with such plenty and prosperity within the kingdom of Israel, wantonness and sin became prevalent among the people. Financially, things may have been good, But spiritually things were at a very low ebb. It was a time of outward religious activity, no doubt about that, but that religious activity was a false activity. The fertility cults of Canaan, Beal worship had been really amalgamated into Israel's religion. The people had now become idolaters and had involved themselves in pagan worship and practices that God had strictly forbidden. It was to this worldly minded and spiritually wayward people that God sent his servant Amos with a message to warn them that judgment was coming. Judgment was about to befall them as a people. I want us to consider this chapter of Amos 4 tonight and preach a message that I've entitled, Unheeded Warnings. Unheeded Warnings. The first thing we need to think upon this evening from the chapter is, why God sent these people such warnings? Why God sent these people such warnings? You see, before God came and executed His severest judgment upon the nation of Israel, he in mercy sent lesser judgments upon them to act as warnings that a greater judgment was on the way. The reason why these lesser judgments were sent was to alert the people of their sin. If you turn back to Amos chapter two and the verse number six to eight, you'll find that there, The nation's sins, Israel's sins are highlighted to us. Amos chapter two, verse six to eight. Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor and turn aside the way of the meek And a man and his father will go into the same mead to profane my holy name. And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God. These were Israel's sins. The first sin of Israel was the perversion of justice. In the days of Amos, the judges and the magistrates neither feared God nor regarded man. The very smallest bride would have induced the judges to give up a poor man to the will of his oppressor. The devil received no mercy from his creditor, and God saw justice perverted, and God hated it. Their second sin was the oppression of the poor. We are told here in Amos 2 that they turned aside the way of the meek, they injured their character, they invaded their rights, they put hindrances up within their paths. Their third sin was the practice of incest. A man and his father will go into the sea and mead. Prostitution was part of the filthy worship of the idols that had now been erected within the nation. The damsel spoken of here in Amos chapter two is probably one of the prostitutes belonging to these false temples that had been erected. This sin was most abominable and worthy of death. Therefore sin was the desecration of biblical worship. told that they drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God. God's house had been forsaken, Bethel no longer the place of public worship. Oh they had assembled, they had built, they had established their own temples to false gods and then those temples, their worship had lapsed into a drunken orgy that had really no semblance to true worship. The worship of Jehovah had been discarded and now the worship of false deities had taken on up traction among the masses. These were Israel's sins and for these sins God brought them as a people into judgment. my question to you tonight is what is what are your sins what are your sins you may not have perverted judgments and justice like Israel did you may not have oppressed the poor ever in your life you may never have practiced incest or involved yourself in some form of degenerate worship, but there are sins, there are sins that do stand against you tonight and to your account. Maybe it's the sin of not giving God his rightful place. The law of God declares, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And yet it may be tonight that you have placed another God before the God of the Bible. Your God may be your business. You've made a God of your business. For others, it may be your career. For another, it might be some sporting interest or sporting hero. For many, it may be your family. For you, it may be earthly possessions. For some, it may be the farm. For another individual, it may be a car. For you, it might be even just yourself. The Bible says that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, and with all of our mind. And so your sin may be the sin of not giving God his rightful place. Your sin may be the sin of idolatry. The law of God declares, Thou shalt not make unto thee any grieving image. And yet is it not the case that you have erected many an idol within your home? You have erected an idol within your mind and within your heart that bears no likeness to the God of heaven. Maybe your sin is the sin of blasphemy. The law of God declares, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord by God in vain, and yet God's name, that precious name, that holy name, that exalted name is taken by you in vain on a daily basis, sometimes even an hourly basis, when you use the word, that precious name as a curse or as an oath. Maybe your sin is the sin of Sabbath breaking, The law of God declares remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and yet there are people today who are still happy to desecrate the Lord's day in light of all that is befalling our nation. Maybe that's your sin tonight. Maybe it's the sin of theft. The law declares thou shalt not steal, and yet you're happy to steal. by illegally downloading music and movies from the internet. Happy to steal someone else's work and passing it off as your own. Happy to take benefits that are not rightfully yours. Happy to defraud the tax man. Happy to take from your employer things that do not belong to you. Happy to rob God of his glory. Happy to rob God of that which he has given to you that we are to return to him. Maybe your sin is the sin of adultery. I speak maybe to you tonight. You're one who has violated the law with regard to God's law that declares thou shalt not commit adultery, and there the marriage has been torn apart because you've been unfaithful to your marriage vows. Maybe that's your sin, sir. Maybe that's your sin, madam, tonight, the sin of adultery. Maybe it's the sin of dishonesty. The law of God declares thou shalt not bear false witness and yet you have no problem in telling lies. You're quite relaxed about being dishonest on a CV, some job application or some benefit claimant form. No problem in being dishonest. Maybe your sin is a sin of covetousness. For the Lord declares, thou shalt not covet. And yet you look with envy and with jealousy at what others have, and you secretly desire to possess it. Ah, but maybe your sins are none of these sins. But maybe your sin is the sin of pride. The pride of life. Maybe your sin is the sin of the love of money. Greed. Maybe your sin is the sin of self-righteousness, thinking that all is well, and you pride yourself in your own righteousness, your own morality, your own church allegiance. Maybe your sin is the sin of drunkenness. Maybe your sin is a sin of sexual immorality. Maybe your sin is a sin of hatred. Maybe your sin is a sin of hypocrisy. Maybe your sin is a sin of being self-willed. Maybe your sin is a sin of unbelief. Maybe your sin is a sin of unthankfulness. Maybe your sin is a sin of anger. Maybe your sin is a sin of Christ-rejection and God-denial. Maybe your sin is atheism. Whatever your sin is tonight, you need to understand that unless that sin is confessed, and unless that sin is repented of, God will meet you in judgment for them to think. to think that he will simply turn a blind eye to your sin is folly and self-delusion on your part. Sin must be judged, either in the person of his own dear son at the place called Calvary or in the life of the sinner. But sin must be judged. God is of pure eyes. and to behold iniquity and cannot look upon sin. And so I pray that you will bring your sin to the cross, to Calvary, to the place of great sacrifice and blood-shedding and see to that sin's transferral to Christ by an act of faith, because when that happens, whenever the sinner gladly and willingly relinquishes their sin, and casts it upon Christ, and sees to its imputation upon the blessed Son of God, and sees the transferral of sin and guilt and shame to the Lamb who for sinners was slain, then judgment cannot be meted out twice against sin. You will be pardoned and spared eternal judgment and hell. payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding's surety's hand, and then again at mine. If judgment is meted out upon Christ for sin, then I, the trusting sinner, am spared such judgment. Oh, the wonder of it all! Oh, the grace of it all! Oh the majesty of it all, God dying for me, Christ loved me and gave himself for me. He bore the wrath, he bore the judgment for my sin. Oh the wonder of it all. You come to experience that very wonder. But I want you to look specifically with me in the second place at what the warnings were. I said that God sent lesser warnings to these people before he sent his severest warning to them or judgment upon them. But what were those lesser judgments? Well, the first judgment that God sent was that of famine. If you note in Amos 4 in the verse number 6, you'll see that God sent famine to Israel to invoke a return on the part of his chosen people. Notice what it says. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in your cities and want of bread in your places. This is what God did. Now we brush our teeth after that we have eaten food in order to remove food that gets lodged between our teeth. However, such was the lack of food available within the nation of Israel, due to God's judgment upon Israel, that these people had cleanness of teeth. Cleanness of teeth. No need for them to take a brush or some type of cleaning instrument to make their teeth clean because their teeth were already clean. No bread had went in and thus no need to partake or to involve themselves in the activity of the brushing off the teeth. Such was the lack, such was the want of bread, such was the lack of food within the nation, that there was cleanness of teeth in every city, in all your cities. Such was the extent of the famine, that even bread, one of the most basic food products, was in want in every place. The whole seal shortage of food across the nation was God's first warning. That's my first warning. The widespread shortage of food across the nation. The second judgment that God sent was that of drought. Look at the verse number seven, because we're told that God withdrew the latter rain. That was the rain that came just before the harvest, three months before the harvest that caused the grain to swell and to bring and result in a good harvest. Verse seven, it says, I was holding the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. By this judgment, By this warning, God brought the agriculture sector to its knees. God brought the agricultural sector to its knees. He saw to it that the other basic necessity to maintain life, that of water, was in scarce supply. Verse 8 speaks of the citizens of two cities making their way to another city to find water, but they were not satisfied. The third judgment God sent was crop destruction. The crops that survived the shortage of rainwater, we are told that God smoked with blastings and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured them. Fruitful fields and prosperous vineyards were destroyed in one fell swoop. Before judgment, God inflicted upon them as a people was that of pestilence and war. In verse 10, we're told that God sent among the people the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword and taken away with your horses. The hope of any nation, the young men were killed in battle while pestilence broke among the general population that saw many perish. The fifth judgment God sent was an earthquake. The words of the verse 11, I have overthrown. I have overthrown some of you as God overthrown through Sodom and Gomorrah. These words seem to refer to the earthquake mentioned in Amos chapter one. Complete cities were leveled by a violent shaking of the earth as God overthrew them as he did in Sodom and Gomorrah. These judgments, famine, drought, crop destruction, pestilence, war, an earthquake were all sent by God to warn a people who had forsaken Him and who had turned from Him. I wonder what warnings has God been sending you? What warnings has God been sending across your pathway to alert you of your spiritual need? Surely this COVID-19 pandemic is at least a warning from God. the spiraling death toll and the indiscriminate nature of the virus infecting young and old, rich and poor, royalty and the general public are all fearful matters that bring to our attention our own mortality and the need to be reconciled with God with whom we will all have to do. This is one of God's warnings. It's reminding us that we must needs die, that we too shall die, and that man at best is but like the grass of the field that flourisheth in the morning, and in the evening it is cut down and it withereth. Oh, listen to the warning, sinner. Listen to the warning. Maybe it's some personal sickness. that has taken hold of your life, that God is wanting to use to alert you of the frailty of the body and the uncertainty of life. Maybe it's been the death of a loved one, a friend, a next door neighbor, some work colleague that has really shaken you to the core of your being. Do you realize that God has been trying to get your attention? Maybe it has been unremitting troubles and difficulties that just continue to roll in to your life day after day. When it seems that everything that you put your hand to falls apart, these are means that God is employing to awaken you from that spiritual sleep of death that you're in. Oh sinner, listen to the warnings. The story is told concerning that great ship, Titanic, that she was alerted on many occasions concerning the iceberg within the Atlantic Ocean. So many warnings came the direction of the radio operator that he turned off those warnings. and failed to send those warnings to the captain of the ship. And as a result, thousands perished in the icy waters off the Atlantic Ocean that fateful night. What happened? They never heeded the warning. The oft-repeated warning was rejected. The individuals on that ship were deaf to the warning. And as a result, Titanic struck the iceberg. Within a number of hours, she lay on the sea bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. God speaks. in such days. One person put it like this, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain. Has God been speaking to you in recent times? Has he been trying to get your attention? Then heed his warnings, listen to his counsel, Miss not the divine lessons God is trying to teach you that are bundled up in life's storms and trials. In these uncertain days, may you come to learn the brevity of life. May you come to learn the vanity of life. May you come to learn the uncertainty of life. And being convinced of such things, may you then be convinced by the Spirit of God to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near. These were the warnings. I don't know what God is using in your life, but whatever it is, listen, heed the warning, turn to the Savior, seek His mercy, Find refuge in the wounds of Calvary. Get your sins dealt with to the satisfaction of God. Come into saving union with Jesus Christ. Repent and believe the gospel. Heed the warning. There's a third matter that's worthy of our consideration in this chapter, namely the purpose behind the warnings. behind the warnings? What was God's purpose? What was God's intention? What was God's plan? Is it that God is some kind of vindictive dictator in heaven that is sadistic and loves to see individuals suffer on earth? Was that God's intention? I say it wasn't. I would remind you that what God did here in sending such things into the nation of Israel, that God did it because God loved these people. God desired that these people would turn to Him. God wanted, God longed that these individuals would turn from their sin, repent of it, and seek mercy from God. This was God working in grace. This was God working in mercy. This was God working in love. What was his purpose? What was his intention? What was his plan in sending such warnings to these people? Well, I believe that a repeated phrase throughout this chapter gives us the answer to that very question. Note the words at the end of verse six. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Look at the words at the end of verse eight. Have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? The words at the end of the verse 9. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? Verse 10. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? Look at the verse 11, the end there. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? God intended that each warning would cause these people to return on to the Lord. But such a return never materialized. These people just continued to live on in their sin. They continued to rebel against God. They continued to deny Him. They continued to reject Him. Though the return was desired, yet it never, never materialized. But that was God's intention. His intention was that they would return. His intention was that they would seek mercy. His intention was that they would abandon their sin and find the grace and the love and the mercy of God. That was God's intention. One preacher remarked, afflictions of every kind should humble us. Awaken us to serious reflection and earnest inquiry as to their meaning. They are never sent in vain. A gracious purpose is behind them, or a fatherly rebuke is in them, or the dark cloud is ominous of coming wrath if we haste not to repent. These warnings were intended to chasten them. These warnings were intended to soften them. These warnings were intended to reclaim those who had gone away from God. And thus, there is the mention of a returning. Here we read it five different times. We read it within the chapter about the returning on to God and yet it never takes place. I put it to you tonight that God is looking for your return. Your sins have taken you to a place that is far off from God. The Bible declares in Isaiah 59 verse 1, as he looks for the return of the subject to the king, as he looks for the return of the sinner to the Saviour. And that return will involve a renunciation of every evil way and an abandonment of every evil course of life. And so I ask you tonight, sinner, will you return unto God? Will you return unto God, that God that you have rebelled against, that God that you have ran from for so many years? Will you return? Will you return? Why should you return? You should return because life is short and uncertain. Proverbs 27 verse 1, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You should return because the longer you delay in sin, the less probability that you will ever turn to God. You should return because the coming of Jesus Christ is hastening on. Matthew 24 verse 44, Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. And for you to stay on in your sin, you're heading towards the severest of God's judgments. For you who are listening tonight, who once walked with God, who once served the Lord in some capacity, but now you're far from God, let me encourage you to return. Return to your first love. Return to the place of blessedness. Return to the God of mercy. Return to the Father's house. Return to the one who has promised to heal your backslidings. Return to the one who has said that he will restore unto you the years that the locusts have eaten. Listen, listen no longer to the accuser of the brethren who would say to you, the backslider, that there is no possibility of ever being restored into fellowship with God. I remind you that he is a liar from the beginning. Return! Backslider, return, for your God has promised, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely. Return. Return. Let me close this gospel message on a most solemn note. Because I want you to think with me in the fourth and final place about the consequence for failing to heed the warnings. The consequence for failing to heed the warnings. Did you notice how many warnings God sent these people? He sent them five. Five is the number of grace. God, in grace, was warning them. He was alerting them. He was attempting to awaken them to their need to return to Him and to turn on to Him. However, Each of those five appeals fell on deaf ears as they refused to return on to God. And it is within that context, it is within that context of an unwillingness to heed the warning, an unwillingness to turn on to God, that God's servant then makes this terrible, solemn pronouncement in Amos 4 verse 12. Therefore, in light of all that I've tried to do to bring you to God, in light of that and in light of your rejection of that, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God. Prepare to meet him, for he's coming in judgment. All the warnings which had been sent to these people previously were but heralds. They were but forerunners of the greatest judgment that was still to come. Let me remind you this evening that there are events yet future that require you, the sinner, to prepare to meet your God. Death is one such event. Sinner, you don't want to die without having prepared to meet God. God would have you to avail yourself of his salvation today, now, So that if death would overtake you, then you would be prepared to meet God in death. But the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is another such event. He's coming again, and this time to judge the world in righteousness. In light of that return, you ought to be prepared to meet God. You're told that he's coming in the glory of his Godhead. accompanied with a multitude of the heavenly hosts and before him shall be gathered all nations. Each and every one of us will appear before that tribunal. We must meet God in the judgment. I asked you, are you prepared for that awful meeting? If the eastern skies were to break tonight and Christ was to descend in clouds, would you be prepared? for that coming and His coming. Prepare. Oh, sinner, prepare. Let me say, prepare personally. Prepare personally. To those boys and girls you're watching in, your mother and your father's salvation will not avail for you. You need to prepare personally. You need to seek the Lord for yourself. You need to call upon him while he is near. You need to repent of your sin and exercise faith in Jesus Christ. Prepare personally something else. Prepare promptly. There's no time to waste. Death is coming. The judgment will soon be here. Christ is soon to come. The spirit may leave and no longer strive with your soul. So there is the need to prepare promptly. Seek him now. Behold now is accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Yes, and prepare properly. What I mean by that is prepare as the Bible tells you to prepare. What does the Bible tell me to do? The Bible tells me that I must first admit, I must admit that I'm a sinner in need of God's salvation. I need to acknowledge that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that means me. And then secondly, I am to believe. I am to believe the gospel. I am to believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins upon the cross, and that He rose again from the dead, and that He is a Savior for those who would believe in Him. And then I am to call. The sinner is to call upon the Lord for salvation, and that call will include confession of sin. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is how we prepare properly. O sinner, prepare to meet thy God. God sent numerous warnings to these people. they would not heed. And so the most severest of judgments was about to break. And in light of that, Amos the prophet came with one final appeal. Prepare to meet thy God. Oh, that you would prepare tonight, that you would be saved, that you would call upon the Lord. May God be pleased to give you the grace to prepare to meet God. May God bless the preaching of his word. For Christ's sake, amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer, please. Let's seek the Lord together. And as you are in the quietness of your home, your car, wherever you are tonight in the world, the Lord is only a call away, only a prayer away. The dying thief said, Lord, remember me, and I comest into thy kingdom. A simple cry from the heart, a willingness to leave your sin behind, An exercising of faith in the finished work of Christ is sufficient to translate you out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God's dear Son. If I can help you, there are three ways in which you can contact me in these days. You can contact me via Facebook Messenger. And so if you desire spiritual help, and please contact us by that means, you can contact us by the church email, which is portlanonfpc, P-O-R-T-N-O-N-F-P-C. G-L-E-N-O-N-E-F-P-C, all one word, Port Glen 1, F-P-C, all one word, at hotmeal.co.uk, or you can contact us via the Mance. 02825 821 765. 02825 821 765. You can use any of those means. We'll be glad to speak with you about spiritual matters. If God has spoken to your heart, or maybe God has brought you to saving faith. May you then witness and confess that. Let us know, and we'll rejoice with you and send material that will help you on your journey as a Christian. Let's seek the Lord together. Loving Father, we commit, O God, this meeting into thy care. We pray that thy will will be done. Apply the word with power. And may, O God, the warnings, may they not go unheeded, But may many heed the warning, and may many turn to Christ. May there be tonight, across this province, men and women, young people, boys and girls, preparing to meet God. Answer prayer. Glorify thy son, and may the blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest and remain upon every child of God in these dark and difficult days until the day comes when all shadows flee away. Answer prayer. For I offer these petitions in the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior. Amen and amen. May the Lord bless you indeed.