Expository Sermons on Amos

I believe it is God’s grace that we can bring the message Amos preached to this generation. For through Amos’s cry, proclaiming judgment on the people of Israel for their sins, we have looked again at the wars between nations today and been able to look back on our own sins.

When Amos proclaimed that God’s fierce judgment would come because of the sins of Israel and its neighboring nations, his heart was an earnest plea: repent before judgment comes. Before bringing great suffering on Israel, God had him proclaim judgment on Aram, and then on Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab and even Judah, calling them to repent because judgment was coming. Judgment came on so many nations because of the sins they had committed. The Gentile nations could at least make the excuse that they did not serve God, but Judah and Israel had broken God’s law and committed the sin of worshiping idols. Having seen and heard of the judgment on the other nations, Israel should have repented like the people of Nineveh who heard the word of judgment from Jonah. Yet Israel mocked and harassed Amos, who proclaimed judgment.

Because Israel thought of God as one who would help them no matter what, they would not listen, however much Amos pointed out their sins. Caught up in the idea that they were the chosen people, they held the mistaken belief that God would bring judgment on their enemies.

Are we not making the same mistake today? Our country is doing so well now; surely war won’t break out? I go to church, so God will protect me. I go to church every week, I worship and give offerings, and I pray every day, so he will drive away every evil spirit and every evil person. If this is what we are thinking, we are no different from Israel, clinging to the idea that it was the chosen people.

Just as Israel watched the other nations hear the word of judgment and thought it had nothing to do with them, if we look at the wars in Ukraine and Israel as someone else’s business, we will receive God’s wrath, just as judgment came upon Israel and Judah.

When the word of judgment was proclaimed to Aram, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab and Judah, Israel should have looked back on its own sins and repented. If, instead of remaining in the place of sin until God’s wrath came, they had honestly confessed their sins, repented and turned back, God would have withdrawn the judgment he had proclaimed through Amos. Now we must hear the judgment Amos proclaimed as a word addressed to us, and this nation and people must repent before God. If we repent, one by one, of our sin of failing to give thanks for the grace of God, who has given us a life of plenty, and of our sin of failing to obey his command to preach the gospel to Samaria and to the ends of the earth, God will withdraw his wrath.

Do not be a stumbling block that hinders God’s work, like Amaziah, who mocked Amos as he proclaimed judgment; I hope you will be believers who praise God and take part in his will. I hope that you will hear the word as the word, do what is good, and fulfill your calling, living in grace.

We at Watercourse Church publish books and give them away free of charge, and I thank the members of Watercourse Church who have given themselves to bring this seventeenth volume of expository sermons into print. The members of Watercourse Church are earnestly praying that those who receive this book will open their hearts and receive Jesus Christ.

February 2024
Pastor Cho Chun-sook, Watercourse Church