“America, Ripe for Judgment”
Amos 8:1, 2

Introduction

• Amos was not a priest, but a Judean minor prophet.
• Amos’ name means “burden” or “burden bearer.”
• Amos was a man whose occupation (job/work) was to breed sheep.
• In chapter 8, God gave Amos his 4^th vision, which in turn was a message to Israel.
• In chapter 8, God gave Amos 2 visions…1) Vision of the fruit basket, 2) Vision of the altar.
• Israel was at peace with it’s enemies at this moment in time, but not at peace with God.
• Israel was spiritually bankrupt with increasing moral decay and corruption.
• Amos preaches against two of Israel’s primary sins… 1) The absence of true worship, 2) a lack of justice.
• Israel was ripe (ready) for judgment.
• Next week, America will celebrate its annual Independence Day.
• I believe that America right now is ripe for the Judgment of God for its sins that are like the sins of Israel.
  

I. God’s Patience Has Expired

A) What do they see

• Amos 8:1…Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
• In the word of God we must remember that the word “fruit” is often a metaphor meaning…the result of work performed.
• God showed Amos “…a basket of summer fruit.”
• It was a picture of fruit that was ripened by the summer’s sun which metaphorically speaking…Israel was ripened by God’s judgment.
• The basket of fruit also represents…the harvest is finished.
• I believe that today, America is ready for harvest. America is ripe for judgment.
• Look now at verse 2a) And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit.
• Amos sees exactly what pastors in America see “…a basket of summer fruit.”
  

B) A warning from God

• Verse 2b…Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore.
• Here is two very important warnings for Israel to pay attention to…1) “The end is come” and “…I will not again pass by them anymore.”

• When God said “the end has come.” He meant that it is time for His Judgment upon Israel for their sins.
• The end has come for America. God’s judgment is about to take place.
• Then secondly, God warns Amos that He “…will not again pass by them anymore.”
• This means that God is not going to be their guardian anymore. Their protection against the enemy is not going to be there.
• America needs to wake up and hear the words of God through the message of Amos!
• If we continue down this steady decline of moral decay and no justice, God will pass judgment on America by not being it’s guardian.
• Other countries will attack America and God will allow it to be destroyed.

II. What the Judgment Will Be

A) Happiness replaced with death

• Amos 8:3a…And the songs of the temple shall be howlings (wailing/lamenting or crying out of grief and pain) in that day, saith the Lord GOD:
• In other words… happiness is gone out of God’s house.
• Verse 3b…there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
• In America we no longer see people who are happy about coming to church. It has become a drudgery, a last resort, a thing of the past.
• People in America today have become tired of Christians making them feel guilty of their sins.
• God tells Amos that Israel will see “…many dead bodies in every place.”
• This is already a judgment in America. We see people killed in their homes, at movie theaters, in shopping malls, at schools, in parks, on the streets of every big city, in hospital, in churches, and as God says “…every place.”
  

B) Why the Judgment

• When a person points their finger at someone, it brings attention to that person.
• God is pointing His finger at those who are guilty of specific sins…
• Amos 8:4…Hear this,
• …ye that swallow up the needy, You cause people who are in need of something to suffer and never be able to crawl out of their hole. The government makes demands of its people that can’t be met.
• …even to make the poor of the land to fail, The poor people have no way of getting back on their feet again.

•  5) Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
• This verse shows that Israel’s priests and godly people have lost their conscience. They are cheating the poor people… “falsifying the balances by deceit.”

• Christians today are no longer convicted about working on Sunday. Do you know WHY? Because they are more interested in making money than worshiping God.
• The excuse is…If I don’t work on Sunday they will fire me! Christianity is about making sacrifices. God expects His children to sacrifice themselves for Him.
• There are thousands of jobs in every major city of America that are not open on Sundays. You have to apply yourself and take a job that you may not like.
• Christians have become lazy and choose jobs that satisfy their flesh not God.
• Amos 8:6…That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
• The church buys their produce for just enough money to clear their credit, no extra. 
• In verses 4-6, we see the reason WHY God’s Judgment …
• Lack of concern for the poor and needy
• Love for money
• Cheating for material gain
• Religious hypocrisy
• Abuse of power (in terms of slavery)

C) God will not forget

• God points His finger in judgment against Israel saying…Amos 8:7… The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob (Israel), Surely I will never forget any of their works.
• When God brings judgment to America, He will not forget what is people have done to Him!
• Should America tremble (become nervous) because of the way it has treated God and His people?
•  Amos 8:8…Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
• God brings Amos to realize the penalty for not heeding God’s warnings and oppressing God’s children.

Do you remember God’s judgment upon Egypt?

Egypt had enslaved God’s children, ignored the plagues of judgment for not letting His people free from bondage.

America has started to bind the hands and mouths of the Christians. We no longer have prayer of bible reading in schools or court houses or any public places.

Remember the words of God through Jesus His Son… Matthew 25:40… And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

When you oppress God’s children you “…have done it unto Me (God).”

When the judge brings judgment upon a person it is after all the evidence is brought before the court. The judge does not forget!

Americans need to remember what Jesus said, remember the woes of Egypt and God’s warning for Israel through His prophet Amos!

III. In That Day of Judgment

A) God gives warning through nature

• Amos 8:9…And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
• This event had already taken place in 763 B.C. which is probably talking about the eclipse of the sun or the earthquake.
• Whenever we see God’s hand controlling our weather, or cosmic activity, we can know His judgment has arrived.
• Examples are found also in …
• Isaiah 13:10…For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11) And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (Job is chastened/spanked by God)
• Matthew 27:45…Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. (God’s judgment for mans sin at the cross)
• Isaiah 29:6…Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
• Matthew 27:54… Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
• When we see earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, stars fall, or eclipse…God’s hand is at work for the judgment of man’s sin. Scripture proves it.

B) God brings judgment upon the people

• After the judgment of God warns man through nature, God then brings judgment to the people.
• Look at Amos 8:10…
  • And I will turn your feasts into mourning, meaning, all celebrations will be stopped due to people focusing on the bad things happening.
  • … and all your songs into lamentation; people will feel like crying due to the events rather than being happy through song.
  • …and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, God will see to it that people everywhere will be grieving over lost loved ones and nature’s fury.
  • …and baldness upon every head; everyone will be losing their hair. (Could be in the future speaking that of nuclear fallout.)
  • …and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, When you lose a child it is always very depressing and causes great grief and mourning. However, the loss of an only child is much worse.
  • …and the end thereof as a bitter day. To be bitter or taste something bitter is never a good thing. It makes you change your feelings.
• These are all judgments that will come upon every person’s life.
  

C) God’s Judgment continues

• Now then, God is bringing a famine (a shortage of something) to the land in  Amos 8:11…Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
• God will not hear people nor bless people nor have any contact with them whatsoever. Complete abandonment!
• Who is it that delivers God’s word? The preachers, the pastors, the priests. They will not be around to bring God’s word to them.
• We need to understand that God gives His word to the preachers to warn them and advise them of sin.
• It’s up to the people to repent or be judged harshly.
• When God issues warnings that go unheeded…He dishes out judgment.
• Then God said people will want to seek God and not be able to find Him in verse 12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
• One day soon, God’s word will not be available. Man keeps changing God’s word by removing His name, removing complete verses, and changing the meaning of verses.
• Now then, the word of God is no longer “His word,” it is “man’s word.”

• These verses will no longer apply when the Judgment of God is here…
• Matthew 7:7…Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: No more asking and receiving, no more knocking and it is opened. The door to salvation is closed.
• John 15:3…Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). He will no longer be there for those who are in Judgment.

• Amos 8:13…In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
• Again it is said that people will “thirst” for the word of God, and it will not be there. Here Amos brings out specific people being thirsty for the word of God being virgins and young men.
• Amos 8:14…They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
• Here is how twisted they had become in their beliefs… ”Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth;” They didn’t say “Thy God Jehovah liveth” or “May the manner of Jehovah (God) liveth.”
• Their god’s were Dan and Beersheba!
• America has become a country of many gods like Dan and Beersheba to its citizens.
• America is ripe for the Judgment of God!

PRAY FOR AMERICA