Amos 05: Come On Back

Amos 5 reveals God's incredible grace even while pronouncing judgment on Israel, as He urges them to "come back to me and live" despite their religious hypocrisy and exploitation of the poor.

• God simultaneously sings a funeral song for Israel while offering them a way back home
• Israel was economically prosperous but spiritually bankrupt, making religious offerings while oppressing the vulnerable
• God rejects empty religious rituals, wanting "a flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living" instead
• The practical path back to God: "Do what is good and run from evil"
• God promises to be our helper when we take steps toward Him
• Making a list of good things to pursue and evil things to avoid is a practical first step
• The "day of the Lord" would bring darkness, not light, to those persisting in rebellion
• God has already taken the first steps toward us through Jesus; now we must respond

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Amos 5: Come On Back
• 1:58 The Funeral Song and Path Home
• 4:51 God Hates Religious Hypocrisy
• 7:24 Steps to Return: Do Good, Run Evil
• 10:46 Making the First Step Back Home
• 12:39 Prayer and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, amos, chapter 5, and today's title is Come On Back, come On Back. And I love this one because at one point, amos is to the point where he is actually planning their funeral, but at the same time, he is just challenging them, urging them, begging them to come on back to God. And that's one of the things I love about God is his door is always open. So we're going to jump into that in just a moment. So, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Amos, chapter five While you're doing that, if you're new around here, take just a moment, like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. The more we dig, the more we find, and you can find access and links to all of that stuff at thebiblebreakdowncom. Well, if you've been with us over the past several days, what we've been talking about is this idea of Amos as just really telling the nation of Israel that justice is coming and so he's just saying let justice roll. I mean, it is on its way and there's really not much you can do to stop it unless you repent. And what is really interesting we've been covering this idea is that Amos is not even from Israel. He is from Judah and he is writing to these people and I know these are, you know, these are relatives. These are like cousins for one another. But for a long time Judah and Israel have really not liked each other. I mean, they have. They have fought a lot, and so for Amos to write this to them is very interesting. But he is telling them bad things are on the way, but Israel is not wanting to listen because they are very economically prosperous right now. They're doing a great job. I mean, they are absolutely winning because they are doing all of these backhanded deals with other nations and all the stuff they shouldn't be doing. And he is just telling them hey, listen, because I'm from the outside looking in. I can tell this is not going to end well. The Assyrians are gaining power every day and they're going to take over. God's going to let them. You got to fix it, you got to get better. So come on back to God. Come on back to God. And we're going to see that today, how, at one end, he is writing their funeral song, but at the same time, there is still this overwhelming message of come on back to God. So if you're ready, let's dive into this. We're going to look at Amos.

Speaker 1: 2:56

Chapter 5, verse 1 says this Listen, you, people of Israel, listen to this funeral song. I am singing. The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on the ground with no one to help her. The Sovereign Lord says but now, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the family of Israel. Here it is Come back to me and live. Don't worship at the pagan altars at Bethel and don't go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba, for the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing. Come back to the Lord and live, otherwise he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won't be able to quench the flames.

Speaker 1: 3:56

You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. And it is the Lord who created the stars and the Pleiades and the Orion. Those are constellations. He turned darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name. In other words, yahweh is his name. Yahweh is the one we're talking about. With blinding speed and power, he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.

Speaker 1: 4:29

How you hate honest judges, how you despise people who tell the truth. You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them, for I know the vast number of. So, those who are smart, keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live. Then the Lord, god of heaven's armies, will be your helper, just as you have claimed, hate evil, love what is good. Turn your courts into true halls of justice, perhaps even yet, the Lord, god of heaven's armies, will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Therefore, this is what the Lord the Lord, god of heaven's armies, will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord, god of heaven's army, says, they will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you and summon professional mourners to wail. They will be wailing in the vineyard, for I will destroy them all, says the Lord.

Speaker 1: 5:46

What sorrow awaits you who say if only the day of the Lord were here. You have no idea what you are wishing for. The day will bring darkness, not light. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his head, his hand, against the wall in the house and is bitten by a snake. Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of hope or joy.

Speaker 1: 6:13

I hate all your show and pretense, the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all of your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise. I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living. Was it to me that you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during 40 years in the wilderness of Israel? No, you serve the pagan gods offerings during 40 years in the wilderness of Israel. No, you serve the pagan gods, succoth, your king god, and Kauan, your star god, and the images you made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile to the land of Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of heaven's armies.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Wow, notice how. What God is saying over and over again is he's saying so, come back to me. But he's saying come back to me and live, but you're going to have to do it the right way. I love how, in verse 14, he says do what is good and run from evil so that you may live. Do what is good, run from evil here's the big idea of today's chapter from evil. Here's the big idea of today's chapter.

Speaker 1: 7:30

What he is saying in Amos, chapter five, is he is saying I am singing a funeral song, but part of the funeral song is the funeral doesn't have to happen. But here's what you got to do. You got to come back to me and live. But you got to come back to me and you have got to do it my way. You've got to come back to me and you have got to do it my way. You've got to come back to me and you've got to live for me. You've got to put away all of the idols, put away all the things that you have put before me, in front of me, above me, and you've got to put me as number one in your life. And so maybe you know, yesterday we talked about how maybe that was your wake-up call, and so maybe you know, yesterday we talked about how maybe that was your wake-up call Today, maybe for all of us, it's God. Say this is your way back to me. Can I tell you I've talked to people over the years and they've said a version of this, and that is, they have said I know I'm not where I need to be with God.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Or they've even said I know I'm not where I want to be with God. I'm not close to God the way I used to. I want to get closer to him, but I do not know how to get started. Can I tell you, maybe for all of us, or, if you're there today, this is God's calling for you and that is come on back to me and the first step is to do what is good and to run from what is evil. If you want to live, do what is good and run from what is evil, and the Bible literally says in verse 14, then the Lord, god of heaven's armies, will be your helper. You know what God wants to do is. The Bible says in the book of James if you will draw close to him, he will draw close to you, god. God is not, he is.

Speaker 1: 9:07

I know that a lot of people love, you know, the God Chasers by Tommy Tenney a long time ago, and I think it was good. I think it was meant well. The problem is is it almost seems as though God is playing a game where he is trying to, you know, move away from you so that you have to constantly be chasing him. And there's an element of that where God wants you to draw after him. But it's not as though God is purposely trying to almost play a game with you.

Speaker 1: 9:31

What God is doing is he is saying this is where I am and I want to come close to you, but I've already taken the first step. When Jesus came and died on the cross and rose again, that was him taking the first ten steps toward us. And so at some point he says but you've got to take a step toward me. Well, pastor, how do I take a step? There's many steps you can take, but if nothing else, verse 14 says come to me and live. And how do I do this? By doing what is good and running from what is evil. And if you will do this, then the Lord will be your helper. In other words, if maybe today you would say I want to come on back home to God. I know God Jesus is my Savior, but I don't really feel like he's my Lord right now and I want to come back to him. I don't even know what to do. Well, then do this.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Why don't you make a list today what are the good things that you could and should do? Second list what are the evil things, that's in your life that you know you should not do? And then take a step. And all the good things. I'm going to take a step toward what is good and I'm going to take a step away from what is evil. And if you will put forth the effort, you know what God promises. He promises that he will be your helper. He will give you the strength to do what you cannot do yourself. But he's already taken so many steps toward us. We have to take a step toward him. So make a list. What are the good things I should do? I should be spending time in God's word. I should be praying every day. I need to be around the people of God. I need to love, serve, give of my finances, give of these things, like not putting myself above all. These are all good things to do. What are evil things? Sin, addictions, things that take me away from the things of God and start taking steps, and the Lord promises to be our helper. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 11:24

God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you that your word challenges us to be more than what we are right now. We are not what other people say we are. You say we have the ability to do what is good, to run from what is evil. We can't help what has happened to us. We can't help what we do with it. And today we decide to run to you, to run from evil, and we grab onto the promise of chapter 5, verse 14, that says you will be our helper.

Speaker 1: 11:59

I thank you today, god, for the courage to take the first step and to know that you're not just with us in the next step, you're with us in the first step. That, as we put our lives in your hands, you lead us every step of the way. Thank you, jesus. In Jesus' name we pray amen. You know what God's word says in Amos 5, verse 24,. He says instead I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. That's my prayer for us today. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Isaiah, chapter six.