AS we procede in our learning from Amos we must continue to appreciate and apprehend the picture and the meaning of the prophecy to the Israelites in the time of Amos. Only as we do this thoroughly will we be able to apply the words of Amos to the condition of the church today and everyday.

THE PICTURE.

God is addressing the condition of Israel described in the two previous verses. In those verses the sin and ungodliness of the nation is exposed before the heathen nations around them. These two verses before us begin to tell us of the response of the Sovereign God to this situation in Israel – that is in the church at that time. Notice how God reveals himself. He reveals himself as "the Sovereign Lord". "The" indicates that this God is the only true and real God. "Sovereign" is a description of God's authority which is omnipotent. He alone rules and has power to rule and carry out his will. "LORD" indicates that he is the one to be obeyed and served.

In verse 11 we have a description of what is going to happen in Israel. The enemies of Israel were going to come in force and overrun the land, pull down and destroy the defences Israel had set up and built to protect them from attack, and then devastate the land.

We need to remember the history we considered in our first two sermons on Amos. Under Jereboam II God had granted great success against the enemies of Israel, and Israel's armies had successfully driven back the enemy, and won back all the land they had lost before. They had been given by God a time of peace and prosperity. In spite of this, and even becuase of this, Israel were trusting in their own might, forgetting that victory was given by God; and in the light of this had come to trust in themselves, and live for themselves and not for God. Because human nature is fallen and sinful, the living of those in power in Israel became selfish and oppressive so that they could enjoy their comforts. Israel felt secure.

From this picture we can deduce the nature of what is predicted. God had given Israel victory over their enemies. Israel attributed their victories to their own strength. Now God was telling them through Amos that he was going to withdraw from Israel, and leave them to their own resources, and that this would mean their enemies would be able to overrun their armies and land. God would show them that without him Israel could do nothing, and all their own power and defences were useless and ineffective.

The picture in verse 12 gives the result of this withdrawal of God to defend them. Israel with their previously victorious armies would find that all their efforts to defend Israel, and save the people from the power of the invader, would be totally futile. Just as a shepherd seeking to rescue a lamb from a lion found only a piece of the animal left, and all the rest devoured, so it would be with Israel after they were deserted by the Lord. All the elite in Israel, who had sat in comfort in their houses and cities, would be overcome, having nothing left. They would experience a total loss of all their safety and possessions.

APPLICATION.

In the church today we do not face a physical enemy like the nations that surrounded Israel, but none the less we are surrounded by real and powerful enemies. Like Israel our strength to defend ourselves from these enemies, and advance God's kingdom, depends on the power of God alone. If the church departs from obedience to the Lord, and embraces the flesh in one way or another, as described in part in the previous sermon, then the word of the Lord to us comes powerfully in the words of Amos.

The enemy will overrun the church because God has withdrawn his protection and presence from his church. When the church struggles against the enemy and his inroads into the life of the church, like Israel the church will find that nothing much can be saved from the devastation of the enemy. Death will be found to have come, spiritual death in the case of the church, and only a small remnant of true godliness will be able to be preserved - two legs or a piece of and ear.

WHO IS THE ENEMY OF THE CHURCH.

At its source the enemy of the church is Satan himself. In practical experience the enemy is the world and the flesh. Satan attacks the church within through the sinfulness of its members, and from outside by the culture of the world.

When the church departs from faithfulness to the Lord and departs from his holy Word, the Bible, God withdraws and Satan creeps in, and erodes true godliness, true understanding of God's truth, and leads the church into ways and practices which is contrary to God's revealed truth, and destroys the Gospel of salvation.

When God withdraws from his church because of the departure of the church from his truth, all the church has is human wisdom, which is a fruitful ground for Satan to pervert God's truth. Man in his wisdom does not know God. So the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians. Without the Holy Spirit man's wisdom, even in studying the Bible, will destort God's truth, and bring in spiritual darkness.

THE RESULT OF ALL THIS.

The first thing that is seen is error creeping little by little, but effectively, into the life of the church. The ministry is effected by this infiltration, and then the people are taught what does not save the soul or lead to God, and the people love to have it so. In the place of true spiritual life given by the Holy Spirit there will be found a spirituality founded on human wisdom, real but not saving. The signs of this decline will be seen in people led to trust in the ministrations of the church and not in Christ. This decline will be evident in the preaching and life of the church where the church will glory in everything except the cross of Christ. Preaching may well be good, interesting and valuable, but one thing will be profoundly lacking, and that is the centrality of Christ and his death for us.

This decline will be seen in the church being active in many things which are both right and good, such a social issues and caring, and will be sidelined by many important issues which have crepted into the life of the church and which will take up time and energy, but find little solution.

In this scenario their will be much activity. The clergy will be busy and the institutions will be preserved, and in consideration of this the decline in the church will be missed. If and when the decline is observed and the church seeks to turn the tide of this decline, the church will find that all its efforts have little impact.

IS THIS DECLINE VISIBLE TODAY?

Surely, if we are honest and not blind, then we can see this decline. Churches up and down the land have diminishing congregations, only where the Bible is believed as the infallible Word of God, and faithfully taught, and Christ and his cross is proclaimed faithfully, is this decline halted and growth observed.

This decline is marked by the church lacking funds to meet the needs of ministry, not least the maintenance of the ministry. The number of the clergy have declined. Churches are grouped together under one minister. But this is not the most serious issue. The quality of the ministry is declining. Clergy are working as hard as ever, and there is perhaps more going on by their efforts than there was, but the ministry has lost its way. Because Christ and his cross are not preached, the people are not converted and remain in the flesh. The Holy Spirit's work is missing, and so the love of Christ in his death for sinners is not appreciated. Because of this people are more like Simon the Pharisee, who loved little, than the woman who annointed Jesus with precious ointment, who loved much. Only those who know and appreciate and have experienced deeply the love of Christ in saving them from their sin will love much, and so give much to Jesus in money, time and talents.

This decline is seen further in the decline of the influence of the church in society and in the state; and the growth of the influence of the world over the church, bringing into the church the values of the world which erodes holiness. We are seeing today the world and the state effectively forcing the church back, and forcing compliance to its wishes.

WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

Of course the church must stand against the inroads of secularism, but this will achieve little, for without the Lord on our side we are powerless.

Israel was defeated because the Lord withdrew himself from them, and left them to their own resources in which they gloried. The church is in the condition it is in at the moment because the Lord has departed from Israel, the church. We must recognise this for if we don't there is no help for us. We must return to the Lord in penitence. We must cry to the Lord to reveal to his church the errors and practices which are contrary to his truth revealed in his Word. We must be ready to return in obedience and faith in his revealed Word. Unless we do this the Lord will not return to his church.

Then, in the power of God through his Spirit the emphasis must be on proclaiming Christ truly and clearly, and calling people to him. One of the reasons Christ and his cross is not valued today is that we have lost a true perception and knowledge of God's holiness, of the necessity of God to pour out his wrath against sin. We have ceased to believe that all people are lost sinners before God and destined for hell justly, and will end up in hell unless they are saved. Because of this Christ in his substitutionary death is not believed or valued.