Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20100704.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Amos: Heeding The Word Of The God Of The Whole World
Part XII: Our Great Need To Avoid Self-Sufficient Pride
(Amos 6:8-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. Pride is not only a great sin because it led to Satan's fall (1 Timothy 3:6; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 737), but it can lead to a self-sufficiency that shifts one's faith from God to trust himself in subtle idolatry.
    2. Because of this sin, Amos 6:8-14 foretold God would judge Israel, a passage with great application for us:
  2. Our Great Need To Avoid Self-Sufficient Pride, Amos 6:8-14.
    1. God bound the full force of His integrity to a solemn oath that He would surely deal out His judgment of complete destruction on Samaria, the capital city of Israel, Am. 6:8a, c; Bib. Know. Com., O. T. , p. 1443.
    2. The depth of such divine intolerance was directed at Israel's pride in relying on her military fortresses, Amos 6:8b. There was no excuse for this sin, either, for God had taught in Deuteronomy 17:16 that His people were not to trust in the military might of horses so as to return to Egypt to acquire them, implying they were to rely on Him and His protection of the nation, Ibid., p. 295.
    3. The completeness of Samaria's destruction is described in Amos 6:9-11 as follows:
      1. God said that if ten men managed to survive the invaders and hid in a house, they would die there of disease, Amos 6:9; Ibid., p. 1443.
      2. Then, if a relative came to burn the bodies, and if he found someone there alive, he would be so afraid of God's judgment that he would tell that survivor not to mention God's name for any reason lest it attract God's attention, and His wrath be leveled against them to slay them as well! (Amos 6:10; Ibid.)
      3. Following this destruction of the people, the invading commander would command under God's will that all the large and small houses be smashed to pieces, no longer left to be places of refuge in contrast to the trust the people of Israel had once falsely put in their fortresses, Amos 6:11 with 6:8.
    4. Further explaining the sins of Israel's leaders that would lead to such an outpouring of God's wrath, God presented two impossible illustrations to depict the great perversion of Israel's leaders, Amos 6:12:
      1. First, God asked if horses could run on rocky crags, an impossible and absurd idea, Amos 6:12a; Ibid.
      2. Second, God asked if oxen could plow such rocky crags, another absurd idea, Amos 6:12b; Ibid.
      3. However, equally absurd was the sin of Israel's leaders in turning justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, Am. 6:12c; this is explained in Amos 5:7-13 (Ibid., p. 1443, 1439-1440):
        1. These leaders hated good judges who reproved them and witnesses who told the truth, Amos 5:10.
        2. They had used the courts to gain ownership of the land of the poor and force them to give a large fee of grain to stay as tenants on the land so the abusive could build up their own homes, Amos 5:11.
        3. They had so deprived the poor of justice through court bribes that a man considered himself prudent to stay silent versus giving even a true witness lest he himself be falsely convicted, Amos 5:12-13.
        4. Thus, the court system meant to correct its wrongs had been used to poison society, Ibid., p. 1439.
    5. These leaders had falsely thought their retrieval of Lo Debar meant they were safe: Lo Debar, a town east of the Jordan that Israel recovered from foreigners, God here called "Lo Dabar," meaning "nothing", as He implied their pride in Lo D ebar's recovery meant nothing re: their welfare, Am. 6:13a; Ibid., p. 1444.
    6. These leaders had falsely trusted their past recovery of Karnaim from foreigners, a city whose name meant "horns", the symbol of "strength", meant they could rely on their own strength instead of God, Am. 6:13b.
    7. Accordingly, God would judge Israel to be destroyed by invaders opposite this false trust, and that so all the territory they had held from the northern frontier of Lebo Hamath to the southern border of the Arabah, the valley from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, would be taken by the invasion, Amos 6:14, Ibid. This would cause Israel to realize it was God, not they, who had made their nation secure! (Ibid.)
Lesson: Israel's leaders proudly relied on their own military prowess measured in recovered cities and fortresses instead of the Lord, a subtle form of idolatry, and it had led to a lack of accountability to the Lord with its accompanying abuses that poisoned their court system. God thus planned to punish them.

Application: (1) May we repent of any proud self-sufficiency we might have in any area of life! (2) May we always sense our need for God that we remain humbly accountable to Him in how we treat others!