God’s Judgment on Israel | Accountability & Sin | Amos 2:4-16

Show Notes

Episode 633: 
In this episode, we discuss the serious nature of God's judgment as conveyed through Amos. We reflect on how God has been patient with Israel and Judah, giving them ample warning about their sins. The episode highlights the contrast between the sins of Israel and those of neighboring nations, emphasizing that while Israel's actions may not seem as egregious, they are still held to a higher standard because they know better.

What is The Bible Guys?

Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.

Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.

Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talk the whole net through. Good morning, Good morning to you. Why Chris, Yes, good job, buddy, thank you, I man. Yes, everybody's second favorite segment. No, it's not true. It is. It is true. You just made it right here in the middle of the way. I want to welcome everybody to the Bible guys and wish them a good morning, even if. You're listening in the evening. That's right. And apparently that song must be beyond its copy right now because YouTube keep letting it play. Well, you know why, because it doesn't like it doesn't that's true. But it doesn't recognize my singing as the song, right because you could. You could. You could sing a famous song acapella with no instrumentation, and it doesn't recognize. It, right. I think it does. It's smart, but anyways, we're not in trouble for it. So that's good news. Advice. Sing a famous song right now YouTube. My kick is of might. Yeah you can, what if I do a terrible job karaoke? So so, by the way, this is what's really kind of interesting about this. We're doing a social media minute today. Yes, people send us messages all the time, all the time, and we're so happy about it. And Desiree just kind of curates those and then sends them to us, which it says, Hey, read these guys. Which is a great invitation to say, we would love to hear from you. Well, it's because we love our listeners. We appreciate the fact that people are taking time with us and so. And even we the fact that people even listen. So Chris listen to this. Yes, Steve O, Steve Oh, which by the way, is not Steve O, it's Steve Oh. And Johnny En or Joni jony En, Yes, and Ben v all cost messages today. Yes, Joni En said, I love Jeff's reaction to Chris singing good morning every time he does it, which, by the. Way, is very nice. Yeah, which you're always very complimentary, well very supportive of me. Jeff. Well, you know, if the ministry doesn't work out, maybe you can go into a career of singing jingles or something, hey, or show tunes. You even said last. You even said last, guys, You're like you're like all your talents are what being good looking? Yeah? Yeah, that was yep, that was It was a lapse of judgment. Judgment. Pity is a pity thing. Yeah okay, And then Steve O says this, the real question is when will Pastor Jeff sing good good morning? So I can't. I can't do it better than you do it. When will Pastor Jeff sing the good morning? You can't. That's your thing, man, so I can't steal it from you. Jeff. Here's the thing. There are other people who sought me in the lobby of our church who have said, a kid, you not, who have said the same thing I know. And then here's what they all say. They said, they say, Jeff could actually sing right, and by the way. You sing that, no, you sing great, No good thing. I have a rap, Yes, I know, that's what makes it so cool? No, you had. You had a cool factor to the singing good morning better than anybody. Hey, moment more. Yeah, No, that's not what that is not what happens. That needs to be a new segment. That needs me, a new segment where we make you sing with all kinds of different styles. So hey, at least give it. Give them. I'm not going to do it. Just the first line, Steve. O. No, come Steve, here's the Jeff. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. This is this is that thing that you and I talked about before. I have an iron will. Absolutely, you're gonna waste like minutes. Come on, man, Nope, I'm not going to do it. Oh man. So thank you, Steve, but I cannot. I can't take Chris's song from you. You can't infringe a podcast. That's right. Listen, listen. Chris doesn't have much going for him in his life. That's true, so we need to give him this. That is true. You are you to take that away from me too? Yeah, that's right. That's right. So you already took away your name be coming first. It's the Baba guys with Jeff and Chris. Yeah, you took it. You took it, Yeah, because somebody had to take it. Taking it or well, I think it was just a logo thing. Actually, I think it reads better with Jeff with Chris Chris. Jeff and Chris Chris. Feels like it's a tag on at the end. Better. No, it's the exclamation point. Chris, Jeff and Chris. It's the guys, you know, with Jeff and Chris. Yeah. Reads it just kind of squeezed me the and then here you go. Ben V says, Hi, Ben, Hi, Ben, a great episode again today, Fellas which one was he listening to? I don't know. You answered all my questions before the end of the discussion today, all of his life's questions he's ever had in life. That's answer meaning, uh, talking about a thorough show man. We should go find that episode and like put some money behind it, promote it. Have all your questions answered, just like ben V. I'm pretty certain he was meaning questions about the passages of. All that day. That the question that came across that Jeff, Okay, I'm grateful for how you guys break the stuff down. Just wanted to drop you a comment and let you know yet again, I appreciate you guys. Have a good day, ben V. We appreciate you. Yeah, for sure, it's right. And so once again, you can send us any email at info at the Bible guys dot com, or you can you know, comment on any of our YouTube things or is there another way to reach out. So in the in the like, if you're listening on a podcast, you can always once you've listened a few of the podcasts, you can leave comments on the show. You can rate the show, give us five stars. If you're going to rate it for anything less than that, then go do it on. Somebody else than right. That's all. That's the only thing we accept. We're sorry, it doesn't accept anything else other than five. Every Uber driver says the same thing. That's right, So would you please give me five stars? Yeah, so that was amazing. I got excited there for a minute thinking if we could figure out what episode Ben v watched, we could promote. It to people. Yeah, this is this is this is the one podcast to answer all your questions. You know that lawyer in your head. It's broken on that one. It's a little anyways, thank you Ben and Joni and Steve. Yes, for sure. How great. Yeah, and by the way, thank you for again. We are sincere when we say. This, good morning, good morning. Hey, he did it. There you go. I'm almost happy with that. Almost there you go. That's it. That's the friends we're going. I don't want to steal I don't well I can't. I can't steal it. You like this, You're like I was whispering on it because this is in my head. I want to be like you. I want to be I am so envious. Wow of your skill sets. I'll give them. We're boots today. But hey, so no, I was just going to say, we really truly are appreciative of our listeners and if we can help in any way, uh, you know, if there's constructive criticism or suggestions, you know, you know, uh, then yeah, we would. Love to hear from you. Yeah, that's great, constructive's criticisms to give. Hey, guys, don't spend seven minutes horsing around like that. Yeah, talking about constructive criticism. Oh, God had already sent this message to Ammon and Moab and Gaza and the Philistines and Damascus, and now he's turning the page and he's continuing and giving constructive criticism to both Judah and Israel. Would I would definitely call it a level above construction criticism. Well, I'm just trying to make that transition. Yeah, okay, So yesterday we ended in Amos after two verse three, and then it continues in verse four. This is what the Lord says, the people of Judah have sinned again and again. Remember that that's the phrase on all these They've sinned again and again, and I. Will not let them go unpunished. Phrase. They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrease. They have been led astray by the same lives that destived their ancestors. So I will send down fire on Judah, and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed. This is what the Lord says. The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished. They sell honorable people for silver, and poor people for a pair of sandals. They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and sons sleep with the same woman, crepting My Holy name. At their religious festivals, they lounge in clothing their debtors put up as security, and the house of their gods. They drink wine bought with unjust fines. But as my people watched, I destroyed the Amorites. Though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots. It was I who rescue you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years so you could possess the land of the Amirites. I chose some of your sons to be Prophets and others to be Nazarites. Can you deny this, my people of Israel, ask the Lord. But you cause the Nazarites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets shut up. So I will make you grown like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain. Your fastest runners will not get away. The strongest among you will become weak. Even mighty warriors will be able unable to save themselves. The archers will not stand their ground, The swiftest runners won't be fast enough to escape. Even those riding horses won't be able to save themselves. On that day, the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives, says the Lord. Wow, he's not messing around, even on that most courageous On that day, the most courageous. Of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives. That's right, God's not messing around. No, for sure, he's not. And you know it's this thing that you mentioned yesterday, which is you know, when judgment comes on other people. Uh, you know, it's it's one thing, but then all of a sudden, that same judgment comes back, and now it's on Judah and Israel and those are the two you know, parties that make up the once united Israel that's not divided. And uh and and by the way, there's a sermon in. There right off the bat, because doesn't Jesus say, first, take the wooden plank out of your own eye before you try to remove this speck out of somebody else's eye. And and uh so, uh my, our good friend Dave Wilson wrote a song about that, and it's called log Eye. He's like log Guy. It was really funny, you know, just this guy walking around with this big wooden plank out of his eye and uh and it really is that way. Yesterday we actually uh you know, it was a couple of days ago on on our weekend service at a church that we serve a called Heritage, we talked about, uh, this idea of like rules and and uh, you know, the commandments and the Bible and different things like this. And there are times where there are just certain people who love to impose rules on other people. But don't take the time to let those rules. You know, they don't reflect on the rules in their own lives, right, right, And you know, the Bible says, hey, that's if the rules from God, if we want God to be just, and we want God to be fair and got to be merciful and all those other things, then they apply to us as well. So it's interesting. You know, I mentioned yesterday how enthusiastic Israel and Judah must have been as Amos was proclaiming all these judgments from God on the enemies, right. And there's a note here that says Amos pronounced God's judgment on nation after nation around Israel's borders, even Judah. Perhaps the people of Israel cheered when they heard the rebukes leveled against those nations, but then Amos proclaimed God's judgment on the people of Israel. They could not excuse their own sined us because the sins of their neighbors seemed worse. God judges all people fairly and impartially. Yeah, right, So the fact that there's more wicked people around us doesn't justify the fact that we're also misbehaving, right, So it's interesting to me that all of these judgments are three verses long, Damascus is three verses, Gaza is three verses, Tire is only two verses, Adam is two verses, Ammin is three verses. Moab is three verses. Right, Israel is two verses. I mean, Judah is two verses. But then Israel gets from six to sixteen, they get ten verses. Wow, right, but then look at what he does here. So hey, we talked about it yesterday. Moab, you know, hacking pregnant women, you know, horrible stuff, horrible stuff. Thenk God comes to Israel and he goes, let me talk to you people. You've got some issues selling the poorest slaves. Well, he mentioned slavery in one of the other ones, right, so justice against it. Exploiting the poor. This is sinful, by the way, God had already said in Deuteronomy fifteen and an Amus eight, don't sell people. Right, then in Exodus twenty three and in Deuteronomy sixteen, you don't exploit the poor. God's already commanded. This isn't a secret. It's like, oops, we accidentally exploited the poor. God told him don't. And the people of Israel were supposed to be built around God's laws. Then engaging in perverse sexual sins over and over and over and over. God talks about sexual purity and Leviticus twenty specifically about the sin he's talking about here, husband and son, you know, abusing the same woman and then taking illegal collateral for loans Exodus chapter twenty two, Deuteronomy twenty four. And God is really specific these are the things you can do for collateral if somebody gives a loan. These are the things you can't do. And what he's talking about is is is shady business practices, abusive business practices, taking advantage of your clients, taking advantage of your customers, taking advantage of. People in your community. God's really ticked off about that. And then he also comes after them with regard to worshiping false gods, which I mean in the Ten Commandments, don't have any other gods before me, let alone all the other times that God warns them. So it's interesting. They're not cutting pregnant women, they're not burning kings alive, they're not doing anythings. It's just like, you know, they're a little shady in their business. They're you know, pretty frisky in their sexuality. There there with what is it called with family. Yeah, that's called in sas or whatever. Well, it looks like it's the husband and the father and the son are abusing the same woman. As it may be kind of a gang thing there, okay, but the right and then there's a pressing the poor. But hey, business is business. Right. You look at theirs and you go, really, is this is bad? And God gives them ten verses and he's saying, you know better, That's what he's saying to Israel, you know better. These other countries there are a bunch of pagans. Remember when when God talked about Nineveh, he said, they don't even know their left hand from. The right hand. Right, these people, they just don't even know any better, right, And so he gives he gives them ten verses. He gives two and three verses to all the others places. He gives them ten verses. Com people, you know better, you have my words. And so while you might say, well, at least we're not as bad as Moab, but. He goes out his way and says, can you deny this? My people? A visual asks the Lord? Yeah, yeah, right, So he's calling them out, yeah, and. He's actually you know, sort of giving them a speech of you know, sort of shaming them, And. They said, don't you remember I'm the one that delivered you from the Amorites. Don't you remember I'm the one who led you out of captivity in Egypt. Don't you remember I'm the one that sets you up for this. So I gave you my laws, you're rejecting those, and you've forgotten who I am. Come along, people, So there is something about that as Christians, as godly people. Yeah, man alive if you know the truth. Jesus said, to whom much is given, much is required. Right, So so you might look around and go, look at how bad my neighbor is. Well, hey, your neighbor might never have known God. Your neighbor might not know his left hand from his right hand spiritually right, But you know better. And this is why the judgment seems stronger for them. It reminds me when I was in Bible College, I was talking with a friend who or maybe it was right after. I got out of Bible College. I was pretty young in ministry, but I was talking to a very good friend who was in ministry and he was also a pastor, and obviously he, you know, knows God's word pretty well, and his wife was telling him that she wanted to have a better marriage. And she's like, hey, you know, we need to we need to like pray together, we need to do these things together, you know, like, and she's sort of she's expressing that she was unhappy with the level that their marriage was at. And I said, well, what did you say? And this guy said to me, he goes, well, he goes, you know, you know the way that we both grew up, because you know, I knew him from a long time. He goes, you know, you know, we grew up the same way. He goes. I looked at her and said, hey, I don't yell at you. I don't beat you. He goes, I don't. Uh. He goes, you know, he goes, you have it good. I let you stay home, you don't work. He's like, he's like, why are you complaining? And I looked at him and I said, there's no way you responded that way. I said there's no way, and he goes, yeah, and I go okay. I said, so basically, here's let me recap. I said, your wife said I would like to strive for the bar that God sets what every marriage should be. And Hey, come on, honey, let's strive to get as close as we can to the bar that God sets and says it's a good marriage. A great marriage, a great marriage. Let's go God's way and have a great marriage. Yes, and what you said, as you said, at least I'm not as bad as the lowest bar I could think of, which is which is literally abuse, right, which is some of the worst that you could that you could know. And it's like, I said, are you kidding me? And then he looks at me and goes, what are you on her side? And I go, no, I'm kind of on God's side. I'm like, what are you thinking? And I sort of I sort of like I was sort of appalled. But the mindset was, hey, man, like, I know I'm not perfect, but like, do you realize how much better I am than most of the people around me? And dude, that is literally the problem. That's what Israel. It probably feels like they don't say it, but but basically it's everything you just set up to this point, right, because the sins that God has listed aren't nearly as bad as their enemies, and yet they have more discipline because yeah, they know better, They're the ones that know God's word. They're the ones that have a relationship with God. They're the ones. And by the way, wait, that's another sermon. The other sermon is, uh, you sort of already said it too much? Who is given? Much is required? You know, it's it's if we know better. We're now responsible for that information, right, We're not responsible. So it's it's like it's like if we if we understand what God wants us to do and we don't do it, you know, we are accountable for knowing what God wants from us and not doing it. Yeah, so you know, you would think that God's faithfulness in the past, throughout the history of Israel. Remember they didn't have TVs back then. You've been in cultures where there's no TVs, no radios, no smartphones. So the whole culture, it's all if the entertainment is storytelling. It's like out in the bush in the po coot Jeff's house growing up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we didn't have a TV. But you know, the entertainment is storytelling, and they retell the legends that the stories of the culture, and so these things are all known by the people. It's not like they're hidden it's not secrets, so they're known what God is, that God's faithfulness was incredible. And instead of them recognizing God gave us laws to follow and obey and we should we should follow because because he's so good to us, why wouldn't we follow him? Instead, they kind of have this entitlement that, of course God takes care of us. Were God's chosing people. We're circumcised, so so we're good, right, and so we're we're gonna we can just do whatever we want to do. And God kind of owes it to us kind of a mentality, and. Then they just go do whatever they want. To do and it just wipes them out. So this judgment is going to be a little stronger for them. And he says, so listen, I'm gonna make you grown. It's coming right. Yeah, he says, your fastest runners aren't going to be able. I'm going to pursue you. I'm chasing you down. You know that terror. Have you ever been being chased by a bully? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, you know that. Oh you know you're running sweating. He's using a battle illustration, Yes he is. He's saying. He's saying, when I come. For you, you're not going to be able to flee like you are from you're within battle, right right. And then your courageous men, the tough guys, Yeah, they're going to run too, right, even the toughest. The mon you're going to run. And it looks like it's interesting it says on that day right verse sixteen, On that day, the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives. So there's a note here. And then we need to reference what Nazarites are, because this is i think the first time other than Samson, this first time we've read about Nazrites. On that day refers to the time when Assyria would attack. Is we'll destroying Samaria and take the people captive. This military defeat came only a few decades after this pronouncement. You want to talk about how patient God is, Yeah, God says, dude, I'm going to wipe you out twenty years from now, right, So he's still remember Jonah, your unfailing love, your mercy and compassion. God is saying, listen, it's going to be really bad from you a couple of decades from now if you don't turn around between now and then that's half a generation, right, right, right, God is still being paid with these people. Let me give you a laundry list of all of your stuff. Fix it or it's going to get rough. And they don't fix it, and they take God's mercy and kindness for granted, and so he does eventually have to send. The Assyrians in and they wipe them out. But yeah, twenty years. So you read this and go, wow, this is horrible, and you realize God gives them a couple decades before it actually comes true. Well, it says a few decades. I always intriuree that as thirty years. Yeah, I wonder what's the actual Oh it says seven to twenty two BC. Yeah, yes, and. This is seven sixty so almost forty years for twenty eight years. Wow, wow, twenty eight years? Oh yes, so thirty yeah, thirty eight years, yeah, thirty eight Okay. You know that's just incredible to your point, because God is patient and. So the sound brutal, but he's so kind and giving them a long morning. It's it's way out in advance of what's coming, right yeah. Yeah, And don't a lot of the prophecies seem to be this way, right, Yeah, you know, whenever God proclaims things, it seems to happen way down the road, which is such a great reminder that God is not bound by time, and God sees them, you know, like one big story, you know, like you know, we look at the Old Testament and the New Testament, we look at creation to revelation, and we see that as you know, such a long time, whereas I would have to think that God and his you know, take one of the omni traits right where he just you know, looks at us and just sees the humanity is one big story unfolding, which how often he talks about it too, He doesn't talk about individual sins necessarily as much as he does talk about you know, as a society. You guys have for the most part rebelled against me. You know, I'm up here watching you, and you as a nation have rebelled that He lists in this particular case, all these different examples. And by the way, we didn't talk about this in the house they drink wine bought with unjust finds. There's a lot that goes into that, right, So there's like this celebration of prosperity, but it's sparity by cheating. Yes, so it's dishonesty, right, and so's there's just there's something there that just feels pretty acu and then. And then he's kind of going after them. Just let's let's jump in on this Nazarite thing real quick. We'll take a minute or two. The Nazarites were there's almost no modern equivalent to it, except if you think of monks, monks and nuns. Yeah, that kind of idea. It wasn't exactly that way. But just to understand, Nazarites were men of God that were set apart from the rest of the people for a special service. Right, And so there's a note here. The Nazarites took a vow of service to God. The vow included abstaining from wine and never cutting their hair. There were a lot of other things, but those are the two big ones. But instead of being respected for their disciplined and temperate lives, they were being urged to break their vows. It's amazing how sinners want everybody else to join them in their sin, right, and that's what they're trying to do. If the Nazarites were corrupted, there would remain little influence for. Good among the Israelites. And so this was kind of the last little kind of a prick in their conscience. Yeah, hey, if we can get the Nazarites to join us in the drinking and the crowsing and the shady business deals and the crazy lifestyle, then finally we won't feel guilty aymore, because there's nobody holding out right. But these guys were like, no, we're going to follow God. We want it. But they were trying to encourage them to do the wrong thing. So just to understand how perverted they were becoming, was they even wanted the best among them to pervert themselves rather than respect the fact that there's some people doing some really good things. So once they went, Once the Nazarites fell, then it was going to be you know, pretty bad for everybody because there's no more voice for or influence for doing the right thing anymore in the country. So yeah, that's great. Well, hey, that is our time together, so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible gush