How Will you Respond to the Sovereign Lord?
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Amos 9 is a message of judgement, of preservation, and of promise.
The Prophet Amos wants to fix our eyes upon the Lord. He is mighty lion that roars in judgement over sin.
He is the Sovereign Lord that has undisputed authority and rule over every aspect of His creation. He is the One who guides and governs all events, indulging the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.
He knows how to judge the wicked and preserve the righteous remnant. He has a glorious plan for His creation, and He is working out that plan over the sweeping years of human history. He permits and allows only those things that work toward His plan. He hinders and prevents anything that does not work out His good plan so that all things should work together for His glory.
This is the God that Amos preaches and it is this Sovereign Lord that we must encounter in our text this morning.
We must see God as He reveals Himself to us! We must see Him in all his awesome glory! We must cast down the false idols of God that we have created in our imagination that are wholly unworthy of his name. That is the main thrust of this text. Behold your God! See Him as He is.
Why is this so important?
Because your obedience this week is dependent upon a proper understanding of God. Only when we see God as He is can we respond rightly to that truth. If your view of God is weak, and ignoble, and unworthy, then your response to God will be weak, and ignoble, and unworthy.
TikTok “influencer” “pastors”- these false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, will say things like “God is trans, God is non-binary, God is gay, and queer.” They will teach that Jesus approved of changing one’s gender, and that Jesus’ mission was to throw off systems of oppression. That is nothing but lies and blasphemy. How can they say things like that? Because they don’t know God. They have exploited and twisted the words of Scripture to make for themselves their own “god” after their own image.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
But friends, they are not the only ones who have an inadequate view of God. They are not the only ones who are guilty of exploiting and twisting the Scriptures. If we are not careful we can be guilty of the same things to a lesser degree.
How do we know if our view of God is inadequate? We must look at how we response to God. Does our response to God line up with who God reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures?
“The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.” —A.W. Tozer (The Knowledge of the Holy)
This is what the Prophet Amos attempted to do for the Jews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He wanted the Israelites to respond rightly to their Sovereign Lord.
The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.
What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?
I. He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners (vv. 1-6)
I. He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners (vv. 1-6)
In vv. 1-8 Amos relates for us the fifth and final vision that he received from the Lord. The vision section began back in chapter 7 and now finishes here in chapter 9. These visions included a swarm of locusts, a judgement by fire, a plumb line, a basket of summer fruit, and now the fifth and final vision is that of the Lord Himself standing next to an altar.
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.
Now I want you to put yourself in the place of those Jews hearing this fifth and final vision.
Amos 9:1 (ESV)
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,
Amos says, “I saw the Lord standing beside the altar.” Stop right there. What is significant about the location that God is standing by? He is standing by the altar. We are not told which altar. One of the false altars in the Northern Kingdom, perhaps it was the royal altar in the city of Bethel.
How would the Jews of Amos’ day thought about an altar. What was the significance of the altar? The altar was essential. It was were they went to have their sins atoned. It was were they went to offer sacrifices of all kinds. It was a place of communion with God. It was, to them, an instrument of God’s grace and mercy. This is where they went so that God would accept them. So what do you think they expected to hear out of the mouth of Amos when he begins this final vision with the Lord Himself standing next to an altar? They would have expected their offerings to be accepted and for God to look upon them with favor! What they actually heard must have shocked them to their core.
Amos 9:1 (ESV)
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar
The other important thing to notice here is the name of God that Amos uses. “I saw the LORD standing beside the altar.”
The name of the Lord that Amos uses here is not:
- The most utilized name of God: Yahweh (81 times). The theological significance of this name is meant to underline God’s covenant name and relationship with Israel.
It is not :
“God” (אֲלֹהִים, ’Elohim, 11 times) which highlights God’s power.
Amos uses the title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’Adonai, 24 times) which underscores God’s sovereignty and authority.
And I think this name, Adonai, Sovereign Lord, is very intentional, because it is the sovereignty of God that gets emphasized over and over again in the remainder of this passage.
Notice what the Lord does in this fifth vision:
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.
Notice what the Lord does: He commands! “Strike the capitals, that is strike the tops of the support pillars until the thresholds shake” In other words “Knock the supporting pillars of the temple down so that the entire building collapses.”
Exactly how this command by the Lord would be carried out is not given in detail. In could be the work of an angel, of the coming Assyrian army, or something more natural like an earthquake. The point is the the Sovereign Lord, the one that has undisputed authority and rule over every aspect of His creation, commands, and the pillars fall.
Why does God want this? To shatter the support pillars on the heads of all the people and crush them to death.
Then those who are left, who escape the collapse of the temple God will have them killed with the sword. NOT ONE of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.
Amos has warned the people over and over again. God has given them every opportunity to repent. And yet they have hardened their hearts. And in 30-40 years the Assyrian army would conquer Israel and this would be their fate.
And God says, I am the Sovereign One who will bring it to pass. You cannot escape.
In vv. 2-4 God lists five possible hiding places that the Israelites think they may go to escape this coming judgement. God knows them all and nothing will keep these people from his judgment.
“If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”
Notice that last verse!
Amos 9:4 (ESV)
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”
How can God fix his eyes upon His own people for evil? I thought God could not commit evil?
The Hebrew word here for evil can also be translated as calamity. God was not saying he would commit moral evil when he judged his people. He was stating that He would providentially allow calamity to befall them in judgment over their sin. He would sovereignly use the nation of Assyria to bring judgement because of His people’s sin.
Vv. 5-6 fix our eyes on God as He truly is. Here is how the Sovereign Lord reveals Himself to us. And we must correct any wrong thinking about our God if we are to respond to Him rightly.
The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
Notice the name of God here: The Lord God of hosts. Adonai Yahweh of Armies. The Sovereign Lord who commands armies.
What armies does the Lord command? All of them!
Paul speaks of this rule in Ephesians where God’s rule is expressed through His Son Jesus Christ:
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
God uses human armies and spiritual armies alike to do his will. He has undisputed authority and rule over every aspect of His creation. He is the One who guides and governs all events, indulging the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.
How do we know God can do this?
The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
Touches the earth and it melts. Probably speaking about the power of earth quakes. The word melts is the idea of dissolve or tremble or quakes.
The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.
The Sovereign Lord has the power to touch the earth so that it quakes and melts. Like the Nile when it floods its banks and sinks again, God can rise mountains and sink hills with the power of his might.
who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.
God BUILDS and FOUNDS His palace in both the heavens and the earth for he is sovereign over both domains. He summons the waters of the sea and controls the rainfall upon the entire surface of the earth.
THE LORD IS HIS NAME!
Friends, do you see God this way? This is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners. Is this your view of the Lord?
How can you tell? Do you have sin in your life? Is there any fear of the Lord? Do you tremble before this God? Why not? Have you created a God of your own imagination? Is your response to God weak, and ignoble, and unworthy, because the image of God you have manufactured in your mind nothing like the God of the Bible?
Illustration: Modern day example of a misconception of God: Chelsea Smith, wife of Juda Smith who is the pastor of a mega church called Churchhome. He is also the personal spiritual advisor of Justin Bieber and his wife. Chelsea is also a “pastor” at Churchhome. Recently she was on a discussion panel talking about abortion. And Ps. 139:13 was brought up in the discussion.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Chelsea was asked how Christians can basically ignore the teaching of Psalm 139:13 and instead empathize with women that are hurting. She says this, “It’s also taking one verse and making that as black and white as the verses of the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ. It is one verse, verses thousands and thousands of verses that are in the Bible. And we have a conviction that as we look at the Bible we put the emphasis where God puts the emphasis. And He puts the emphasis on love. He puts the emphasis on forgiveness. He puts the emphasis on compassion. And so as a follower of Jesus wouldn’t I put the emphasis there?”
Now it is true that God is a god of forgiveness, and love, and compassion. But God is also a lion who roars in judgement for sin.
The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
What is your view of God? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to judge sinners?
If so how will you respond to Him? Your response to the Lord and to His word, more than anything else, reveals exactly how you view Him.
Friends, after reading Amos 9:1-6 what is the proper response to the Sovereign Lord?
Turn from your sin: in salvation or in confession. Get things right with the Lord.
The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.
What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?
Not only is he fully able to judge sinners, secondly:
He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to preserve the righteous (vv. 7-10)
He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to preserve the righteous (vv. 7-10)
One of the groups that gets overlooked in the book of Amos is the faithful remnant. Most of Amos’ messages have focused on the sins of the wealthy elite, the religious leaders, or the corrupt merchant class. What about the faithful few? What about the ones who were not living in sin, who were not living in rebellion against the commands of the covenant? They didn’t deserve the coming judgment, yet because of their connection to the nation as a whole they would still have to live through it. The rest of Amos 9 is a message of hope for the faithful remnant in Israel.
“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
He is still speaking to the sinful part of the nation in this text. One of the misconceptions among the people of Israel was their arrogance over their elect status. They thought because they were the people of God’s covenant that nothing bad would overtake them. The Sovereign Lord has something to say about this faulty notion.
He compares Israel to the other nations of the world by using two rhetorical questions:
Are you not like the Cushites to me?
Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt?
Both of these questions were meant to get Israel to realize that they were no less accountable to God than the other nations of the world.
Yes God brought up the nation of Israel from the land of Egypt and settled them in the promise land. But the Sovereign Lord has done much the same thing for other nations of the world as well. Amos mentions the Cushites, the Philistines, and the Syrians.
Listen to Deut 2.
“Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir.
Then the Lord said to me,
‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward
and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful.
Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. “And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab.
And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’
‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
God is sovereign over all the nations and peoples and time periods and boundaries lines and dwelling places. The Lord sovereignly reigns over them all.
This is God’s point in Amos 9 7
“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
Yes, God sovereignly lead His people out of Egypt to the Land He had given them. But he did much the same thing for the other nations in the world. Israel is no less accountable for her sins. It did not make them immune from God’s judgement.
Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.
God’s eyes were upon the sinful kingdom, He knows the ones that are deserving of judgement. He will destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the face of the earth. Very soon they would cease to be a nation. And if the text stopped there it would be very disheartening for the faithful remnant.
But, Amos goes on. Except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob. God would preserve Himself a remnant. Why? Because God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because God made a covenant with David. Because God made a New Covenant with the combined nation of Israel and God is faithful. He will keep his promises. He will preserve for Himself a righteous remnant.
How would God do that?
“For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
Notice the first person command here, “I WILL COMMAND, and I WILL SHAKE.” This is a wonderful and awesome sense of the power of God’s sovereignty.
God says that He is going to shake the entire house of Israel along with the nations. And it will be like shaking grain in a sieve.
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah Death Sentence (9:10)
The function of the grain sieve was to trap what was undesirable so that it could be thrown away. Undesirable elements would include pebbles, husks, and pieces of stalks. The grain would fall into a container. Just as no pebble would fall to the ground, so thorough would be the screening process of God’s judgment that none of the “sinners” (v. 10) would escape. God’s judgments sift his people to remove the bad from the good.
Think about what God is saying. He is going to bring the nations to the doorstep of Israel. He is going to bring Assyria and her armies and God is going to through the entire family of Israel into judgement. He is going to sort out the valuable pieces of grain from the useless pebbles. He will make sure that none of the sinners would escape His judgement. But He will also make sure that the faithful remnant is preserved through it all.
Imagine a God who is so powerful that though the chaos of war he can both judge sinners and at the same time preserve the righteous. Wow! I can’t even begin to process the amount of detail under the direct soverign control of God in order for him to keep his word! It is incredible. God is sovereign, what He says He will do! Period. Beware the doubters!
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’
The word here for disaster is the same word used in v. 4.
Amos 9:4 (ESV)
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”
God promises that he will fix his eyes upon them for disaster.
And in v. 10 those same people say,
Amos 9:10 (ESV)
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’
God says, “All sinners of my people shall die by the sword.” And at the same time he says “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.” I will sift them through my sieve. I will judge the sinners and preserve the righteous.
This makes me think of 2 Peter 2.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
2 Peter 2:9 (ESV)
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
Friends, do you see God this way? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to preserve the righteous? If so, how should you respond?
Illustration: While working for FedEx office, years ago, there was a job that we were supposed to have done by a specific time. It was a large job and somehow it fell through the cracks, and we didn’t have it done on time. I remember being on the phone with the customer trying to explain the situation. My coworker and my boss were in the room and they were motioning and whispering for me to make up an excuse, essentially to lie, so that we would not lose this job, lose the money. So, at that moment I have a choice. Do I do the right thing and get in trouble at my work, or do I go along with what my employer wanted me to do and lie to the customer?
How would a proper view of God effect my response in this situation?
2 Peter 2:9 (ESV)
the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment
“For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
Friends what situation are you facing right now?
Husband and wife
Fiends
Work
Country / Foreign Nations
Friends, after reading Amos 9:7-10 what is the proper response to the Sovereign Lord?
Trust the Lord. Do what is right even when the situation seems bleak. Wait patiently for the Lord preserve you, to rescue you, to shake you through his sieve. Trust the Lord, put your full weight upon Him.
The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.
What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?
He fully able to judge sinners. He is fully able to preserve the righteous, and finally:
He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises (vv. 11-15)
He is the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises (vv. 11-15)
This is my favorite part of Amos. In this final section Amos dramatically shifts his message from sin and judgement to promise and hope. Amos ends with a message of grace, a promised hope for the faithful remnant and for you and I.
Notice the first person verbs that mark this final passage!
“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,
“In that day” - a reference to the coming Day of the Lord.
“I will raise up the booth of David”- the word “booth” refers to a makeshift kind of dwelling similar to a tent.
In Leviticus 23 God commanded the Israelites to keep the feast of booths (same word).
Here God makes reference to the booth or the tent of David. This likely speaks of David’s dynasty. At one time David ruled as a mighty king over a strong house. Now is Amos’ day that strong house was tottering and in need of repair. It was merely a tent. And it was a tent that had fallen and had many breaches. It was in ruins and needed rebuilding. The king and the kingdom had become a shadow of its former glory.
But, God promises his people that one day He would restore the kingdom of David to its former glory. He would rebuild the house of David. He would repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. How would God do this? By raising up the Messiah to sit on David’s throne. By establishing Messiah’s kingdom and causing Him to become King with glory as in the days of old.
“In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by.
Notice who will get to share in this glory!
that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.
The restored Davidic Kingdom, with Messiah sitting on David’s throne will include “the remnant of Edom” and “all the nation who are called by my name.” Do you know who that is referring to?
After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
Amos 9 12: that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.
Acts 15 17: that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah The Lord’s Promise of Plenty (9:13–14)
The possession of Edom should not be understood as military subjugation but as “spiritual incorporation into the restored kingdom of David.”
Clearly, James applies Amos 9:12 to include Gentiles. That means we get to be part of Messiah’s kingdom as well! And it was foretold in the OT!
What will that kingdom be like one day?
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
“The plowman shall overtake the reaper.” This pictures a harvest so abundant that the gathering of one crop will not be finished before time to plant the next crop takes place!
“The treader of grapes him who sows the seed.” The harvest of grapes will be so abundant that the workers who press the grapes into juice will not be able to finish harvesting before it is time to sow new seeds.
The harvest will be so great that the mountains will drip with sweet wine and all the hills flow with it!
Illustration: I love to plant a garden. One of the veggies we always plant is cucumbers. Typically, I wait until labor day to plan the cucumbers. And if I am careful and take really good care of them they will last until the first frost, around September or October. Then there is a gap from October until next year at the end of May when I replant my cucumbers. Apparently, when Jesus comes back and establishes his kingdom, I am going to plant my cucumbers in May and in a year’s time when I go to plant my cucumbers again, I am still going to be harvesting the cucumbers from the first year’s planting. In other words there will be an abundance unparalleled to anything we have ever seen. Empty grocery store shelves will be a thing of the past.
Not only that but the quality will be unparalleled. We also love to plant lettuce. The best lettuce is the first growth of lettuce- the first harvest. It is tender and sweet and so yummy. If you cut lettuce correctly you can harvest it three or four times. But, the more you harvest and it regrows the more bitter it gets until you can’t really eat it any longer. Not so when Jesus comes to reign. The mountains will drip with sweet wine and the fills will flow with it. The produce will be in abundance and the quality of that produce will be like nothing we have tasted before.
When Messiah comes it will be a time of great restoration to the creation. And we will be part of that kingdom!
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
Messiah was a great hope to the people of Isreal for future restoration! This is a wonderful prophecy of the future Millennial Kingdom. Key phrase: “they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them.” That hasn’t happened yet. It is very possible that Israel today could be uprooted again out of the land. It is not until Jesus, the Messiah, comes back, conquers all the nations, raises up the booth of David that is fallen and repairs its breaches, and raises up its ruins and rebuilds it as in the days of old. Then, Israel will dwell secure in the land and they will never be uprooted ever again.
And we get to be part of that future kingdom. We, the church, will have the privilege of ruling and reigning with Christ. So in a way, Israel’s hope is our hope.
And God is the the one who will sovereignly do all that He has promised.
Friends, do you see God this way? Do you see Him as the Sovereign Lord who is fully able to keep His promises? If so, how should you respond?
I am reminded of the text from several Sunday’s ago:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 Peter 4:12–13 (ESV)
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
These great a precious promises about our future hope, about the coming kingdom have so many applications to our daily living.
How should you respond?
Don’t get distracted! Keep the main thing the main thing.
Don’t get discouraged! Your true live is hidden with Christ, and when Christ appears then you also shall appear with Him in glory.
Don’t be deceived! Don’t believe the lie of this world. Don’t fill your barns full of useless stuff! Live for the coming kingdom.
The Sovereign Lord wants you to respond rightly to who He is.
What do we need to understand about our Sovereign Lord in order to respond rightly to Him?
He fully able to judge sinners!
He is fully able to preserve the righteous!
He is fully able to keep all His promises!
Friends how has the Holy Spirit worked in your heart this morning? How have you been challenged in your own life? In the way you respond to the Lord! Let me encourage you to make a change! Based on the revelation we have received about our Great Sovereign Lord this morning, take the plain and obvious step of obedience. Implement this into your life this week.