–B.N. Rundell  (Black Hawk)

       “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

                    –Ecclesiastes 12:14(NKJV)
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“Yay, Amos!”  “Preach it!”  “Tell ’em like it is!”  “Sic ’em, Lord!”  Yells the crowd as Amos begins to preach and proclaim the message of the Lord.  There are two phrases that are in each pronunciation, and today we’ll look at Amos 1:3-10, three of the prophecies to other nations.
     The first phrase:  “For three transgressions…and for four.”  Lloyd Ogilvie says, “this phrase communicates the divine patience for repeated crimes that are piled on the judgment scale and then one that overloads and tips the scale making God’s punishing intervention unavoidable.”  God is patient, but there comes a time when it is time for judgment.  Over and over He has allowed evil, crime, wickedness but now, there is the proclamation of doom.  The term “transgressions” emphasizes a turning away or breaking away from God’s holy standards of righteousness and morality; it depicts ungodliness in its worst forms.  How much more ungodliness will He allow America as we continue to turn away from His holy standards?
     The second:  “I will not turn away its punishment.”  This is a declaration of judgment which is irrevocable.  “Turn away” affirms that God will not reverse or withdraw His divine verdict.  This judgment is for crimes committed and the Lord finally says, “Enough is enough!”.  Is the time coming, or has it already come when the Lord has declared that He will not revoke His coming judgment?
     Our attention goes first to Damascus.  Damascus, the world’s oldest inhabited city in the capital of Syria.  The transgression that tipped the scales to bring judgment:  “they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron.”  This was an inhumane practice of riding over conquered prisoners, as well as those slain in battle, with sharp-bladed iron threshing machines.  Imagine the screams of the captives as they lay there and the blades used to thresh the grain now cut them apart.  Listen, we must remember, that nations, as with people, are not immune to God’s judgment.  “His eye is not only on the sparrow, but also on the deeds of sin, whether done openly or in secret.” (Gary G. Cohen)
     Judgment and punishment will come, says Amos.  The royal household would be destroyed and its reign terminated; its citizens would be taken from their homes and placed in exile (a common practice of the Assyrians).  In fact, it is the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III who will bring this destruction upon Syria and Damascus.  “Fire” does not necessarily mean literal fire from heaven, but represents the holiness and judgment of God.  The writer of Hebrews declares, “For our God is a consuming fire” (12:29, NKJV).
     Our attention now goes to Gaza (Philistines) and Tyre (Phoenicians).  Gaza, a familiar name that is in the news today.  There is much history surrounding Gaza; powerful, destroyed, rebuilt, however, judgment is on the way.  The Philistines will perish, there will not even be a remnant remaining.  Ironically, when Alexander the Great captures Gaza in 332 B.C., 30,000 inhabitants were sold as slaves.  Tyre would be destroyed by fire.  Their evil, their crime was the slave trade, or as we would call it today, “human trafficking.”  The Philistines would raid a village and all inhabitants would be taken into captivity to be sold.  Tyre was especially known for its trade in slaves.  These people “were used as things, objects of trade with blatant inhumanity” (Ogilvie).  God is always concerned with human rights and the dignity of man.  Note to whom they were sold–Edom–keep that in mind.
     The people of Israel were piously pleased with Amos’ pronouncements.  They were smiling and rejoicing over the prophecies against their enemies.  Pause:  slicing up captives–think of the millions of innocents, the unborn, who are sliced up in the womb due to selfishness, wantonness, and greed.  Pause:  human trafficking was the second most profitable illegal industry in the United States in 2021, bringing in $150 billion.  The number of victims is estimated at fifty million in 2021.  Has the Lord given an irrevocable edict against the United States?

                    –Psalm 55:8 (HCSB)
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Imagine!  Imagine your life without God.  If God wasn’t there to guide your steps what possibly could have happened?  If the Holy Spirit wasn’t directing you in decision-making, where might you be?  That is something we should think about and is the thoughts in the first few verses of Psalm 124.

          1 — “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” let Israel now say–
          2 — “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us,
          3 — Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;
          4 — Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;
          5 — Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.”  (NKJV)

     This Psalm can speak of the past history of Israel, but it might also be a song regarding the current trek.  The road was full of dangers from obstacles to thieves who would not hesitate to steal and beat the pilgrim and then leave him for dead.  This is a Psalm of great encouragement!  Think back to the times when the Lord delivered you.  F.B. Meyer states, “One shudders to think what and where we might have been without the delivering, preserving hand of our God”.
     Stop and think for a minute of those times.  See, this is a very important Psalm for us to consider.  It should remind each of us of the times that God delivered in the past, and if He did it then, when present trials and troubles come our way we can more easily depend on Him for deliverance again.  Maybe the writer looked back down the trail at the ravine that he just crossed.  He may remember a time when he was almost washed away in a flash flood.  Being from Colorado, and also here in Texas those flash floods come without warning.  What was the flood in your life that almost swept you away?  Maybe there was more than one.  How did you make it to safety?  It was not because of advance warning, because the waters came suddenly and rapidly.  
     Think for a moment of the floods that have come your way.   A flood composed of sickness, a traumatic accident or diagnosis, crime, natural disasters, the betrayal of a friend. and others that could be listed.  But wait, you went through them, or were kept from them.  God doesn’t promise to save us from the trials and troubles of life.  Daniel went into the lions’ den.  The Hebrew children went into the fiery furnace.  The children of Israel traveled through the waters that were parted.  In dire times the words of Jesus may come to you, “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” (Luke 12:4, NKJV)
     One more thought:  who is it that you give credit for salvation?  Who saved you from the terrible flood?  Who brought you through to victory in the terrible battle.  When the storm howls, and do not forget that Satan howls like a roaring lion, who is it that holds you secure?  Since you have looked back at some of the trials and victories in your life, now go back and give proper credit for the success, for the salvation.

               “‘Til the storm passes over,
               ‘Til the thunder sounds no more,
               ‘Til the clouds roll forever from the sky,
               Hold me fast, let me stand
               In the hollow of Thy hand:
               Keep me safe ’til the storm passes by.”
                         –Mosie Lister

                    –Song of Solomon 2:15 (Living Bible)
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               “Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?” — Psalm 49:5, NKJV

I had a Boston Terrier when I was a kid.  He loved to run and try to catch your pant leg, but often he would grab hold of your leg.  Not fun.  Then when I was older and married, we had a Beagle.  She was a fast, happy dog who would run and snatch the slippers off your feet when you walked by.  Here, in the Psalm, we see that it is iniquity that is nipping at our heels.
     There is no Goliath in front of us.  There is no storm coming in to frighten us, or a battle that is raging, but some snipping at our heels.  “Temptation is very often indirect,” states Percy Ainsworth–ain’t that the truth.  Remember, the devil sets snares, and is adept at covering his attacks.  He often is lurking around, not doing anything, just waiting.  Waiting for that moment of weakness, or a time when we drop our guard.  He doesn’t make a frontal attack for he knows we can see that coming.  
     Ainsworth writes, “The stronger a man is, the more subtle and difficult are the ways of sin, as it seeks to enter and to master his life.  There are many temptations that never face us, and never give us a chance of facing them.  They follow us.  We can hear their light footfall and their soft whisperings, but the moment we turn round upon them they vanish.”  The problem is, they don’t vanish for good.  When we relax our search, when our vigilance falters and we do not keep an eye on our back trail they show up again, snapping, snarling, and trying to grab at our heels.
     Have you ever noticed how hard it is at times to get a tune out of your mind?  That’s the same way these imps operate.  Sometimes a suggestion comes, you cast it away, but it doesn’t completely leave.  You pray, you sing a song, they go for a while, but soon you hear the snapping of their teeth.  Those thoughts, at times, seem to haunt us.  We’re used to wrestling, to fighting the fight in hand-to-hand combat, but these…these imps are different.  They snap and are gone.  We try to trample them, but too late, they are gone.  These imps take time and patience and prayer to get rid of.  “If we cannot prevent sin from following us, we can at least prevent ourselves from turning and following it.” (Ainsworth)
     We choose our path, and we determine our course.  As we continue in our upward trek to our heavenly home, “these evil things fall off and drop behind.” (Ainsworth)  As we walk the pilgrim pathway, understand that “the battle with sin is not an incident in the Christian life; it is the abiding condition of it.” (Ainsworth)  There will be obstacles in the way, mountains to climb, gorges to cross, that is the way of life.  There will be storms and battles in which we may have a Goliath or some other giant to slay, however, as Ainsworth writes, “there are others we have to outgrow.  They are overcome, not by any one supreme assertion of the will, but by the patient cultivation of all the loftiest and most wholesome and delicate and intensely spiritual modes of feeling and of being.”
     That old sin, that old temptation may change forms.  It may be like cutting off the head of Hydra.  Today, the temptation is anger, and it is conquered, cut off.  The next day you are in despair, a new imp nipping at your heels.  That is taken care of but the morrow will present bitterness, or regret, or, or, or…  Maybe, just maybe, since these are not sins that reveal our need of strength, but just maybe “the sin that dogs our steps has a deeper lesson to teach us–our need of heart-deep holiness.” (Ainsworth)  See, that is the purpose of sanctification, not to clear the path ahead but to quiet the dogs snapping at our heels.  Ainsworth says, “only purity of character can rid us of the persistent haunting peril of the sin that plucks at the skirt of life.”  
     
          “More about Jesus let me learn,
          More of His holy will discern;
          Spirit of God, my teacher be,
          Showing the things of Christ to me.”
                  –Eliza E. Hewitt

                    Psalm 73:21 (NLT)
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     Look at the question posed by Jesus:  “Do you see this woman?” (Luke 7:44).  Apparently to Jesus’ thinking, he doesn’t.  She was right in front of Simon.  He sees not a woman but a sinner.  Gary Inrig gives some insight, “Jesus sees not a sinner but a worshiper.  He sees her present, not her past–her forgiveness, not her failure.”  That should help us in our walk with the Lord, He sees our heart, our worship, our love.  He then begins to list the things the woman did to show “that love is not just an emotion that is felt, it is also a life-changing event that cannot help but be revealed in deeds.” (Edward Starks)
     “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” (Luke 7:47, NKJV)  I like the way Henry Harbuck translates this, “…she has shown to Me amazing love and tenderness…”.  It is important to see that “this woman is not forgiven because she loves.  Rather, her love is the evidence that she already has been forgiven” (Inrig).  In this scenario we need to ask:  If gratitude is a sign of forgiveness, of what is the lack of gratitude a sign?  If I don’t have gratitude, am not thankful for the grace of God, of the love He has bestowed, what does it say about my relation to God?  Inrig further states, “An unforgiven person can treat Jesus Christ with polite formality; a forgiven sinner cannot.”
     What then, we must ask, was Simon’s condition?  The great theologian John Owen says, “he who has slight thoughts of sin never has great thoughts of God.”  This was Simon.  He either thought of himself as not being a sinner, or only a “little sinner.”  He really didn’t understand the depth of God’s forgiveness.  Both Simon and the woman had a debt, one they could not pay.  They were both spiritually bankrupt (see verses 41-42) and in need of a Savior, someone to pay the debt.
     Verse 48 is an astounding verse, especially to those in attendance at the feast.  Look at the implications.  “Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”  It wasn’t just Jesus’ opinion; it was fact.  He declared the woman forgiven, “laid aside–cancelled–remitted” (Harbuck).  In that act He was declaring Himself God and those at the feast realized it.  Listen, Jesus does not trivialize sin; it was sin that put Him on the cross.  Paul writes, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7, NKJV).  
     When we think of little sins versus large sins, or think “that sin wasn’t so bad” we are not seeing what sin did to Jesus.  When we trivialize sin we are demeaning the purpose of the cross.  Inrig states that, “A society that discounts sin inevitably cheapens forgiveness.”  William Barclay shows us the true character of Simon and of so many of us:  “Simon was conscious of no need and therefore felt no love, and received no forgiveness.  Simon’s impression of himself was that he was a good man in the sight of men and of God.”  Foolish and self-centered.  He did not hear the words in his heart that Jesus directed to the woman.
     Let me close this little study of this parable with some thoughts from Gary Inrig regarding forgiveness:
          1)  Forgiveness is costly — Jesus was the sin-bearer; it cost Him His life, but through it “sins are finally and completely gone, totally obliterated by the work of Christ.”
          2)  Forgiveness is final — There is no such thing as partial or temporary forgiveness; when we are forgiven we stand absolutely clean before God.
          3)  Forgiveness is also free — it is received by faith; the value of Christ’s blood.
          4)  Forgiveness is public — it is not simply a private transaction between the soul and God; it is shown in our actions, our love.